Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Max Müller, Friedrich
MAX MÜLLER, FRIEDRICH (1823–1900), orientalist and philologist, was the only son of the distinguished poet Wilhelm Müller (1794–1827), and of Adelheid, eldest daughter of Präsident von Basedow, prime minister of the small duchy of Anhalt-Dessau. Born at Dessau on 6 Dec. 1823, and losing his father when scarcely four years old, he lived with his mother and attended the grammar school of his native town till 1836. He early showed a talent for music and came into contact with several distinguished composers, such as Felix Mendelssohn and Carl Maria von Weber. He was the godson of the latter, and received his name Max from the leading character in the ‘Freischütz,’ which had been finished just before his birth. For a time he seriously contemplated taking up music as a profession, but was dissuaded from doing so by Mendelssohn. The last five years of his school life he spent at Leipzig, living in the family of Dr. Carus, an old friend of his father, and continuing his education at the ‘Nicolai-Schule’ there. He had decided to adhere to the study of the classical languages; but in order to qualify for a small bursary from Anhalt-Dessau he found he would have to pass his examination of maturity (‘Abiturienten-examen’), not at Leipzig, but at Zerbst, a small town in that state. For this purpose he was obliged to acquire a considerable knowledge of mathematics and other non-classical subjects in an incredibly short time; nevertheless he succeeded in passing his examination with distinction. He accordingly entered the university of Leipzig in the spring of 1841. There he attended no fewer than ten courses of lectures, on the average, during each term on the most varied subjects, including the classical lectures of Professors Haupt, Hermann, Becker, besides others on old German, Hebrew, Arabic, psychology, and anthropology. He was, however, soon persuaded by Professor Hermann Brockhaus, the first occupant of the chair of Sanskrit, founded in 1841, to devote himself chiefly to learning the classical language of ancient India. The first result of these studies was his translation of the now well-known collection of Sanskrit fables, the ‘Hitopadeśa,’ which he published when only twenty years of age (Leipzig, 1844). He graduated Ph.D. on 1 Sept. 1843, when not yet twenty, but continued his studies at Leipzig for another term. Then, in the spring of 1844, he went to Berlin. Here he attended, among others, the lectures of Franz Bopp, the celebrated founder of the science of comparative philology, and those of Schelling, the eminent philosopher. To the early influence of the former may be traced his studies in the subject which he represented in the university of Oxford for thirty-two years; to the teachings of the latter was doubtless largely due that interest in philosophy which he maintained to the end of his life.
In March 1845 he migrated to Paris, where he came under the influence of Eugène Burnouf, eminent not only as a Sanskritist, but also as the first Zend scholar of his day. One of his fellow-students at Paris was the great German orientalist, Rudolf Roth, the founder of Vedic philology; another was the distinguished classical Sanskrit scholar, Dr. Theodore Goldstücker. At Burnouf's suggestion young Max Müller set about collecting materials for an editio princeps of the ‘Rigveda,’ the most important of the sacred books of the Brahmans, and the oldest literary monument of the Aryan race. He accordingly began copying and collating manuscripts of the text of that work, as well as the commentary of Sāyana, the great fourteenth-century Vedic scholar. All this time he was entirely dependent on his own exertions for a living, having a hard struggle to maintain himself by copying manuscripts and assisting scholars in other ways.
In pursuance of his enterprise he came over to England in June 1846, provided with an introduction to the Prussian minister in London, Baron Bunsen, who subsequently became his intimate friend. Receiving a recommendation to the East India Company from him and from Horace Hayman Wilson [q. v.], he was commissioned by the board of directors to bring out at their expense a complete edition of the ‘Rigveda’ with Sāyana's commentary. Having, in company with Bunsen, visited Oxford in June 1847 for the meeting of the British Association, at which he delivered an address on Bengali and its relation to the Aryan languages, he returned to London. Early in 1848 he went back to Paris for the purpose of collating manuscripts. Suddenly the revolution broke out, when the young orientalist, fearing for the safety of the precious manuscripts in his keeping, hurriedly returned to London, where he, accompanied by Bunsen, was the first to report to Lord Palmerston the news that Louis Philippe had fled from the French capital.
As the first volume (published in 1849) of his edition of the ‘Rigveda’ was being printed at the university press, he found it necessary to migrate to Oxford. There he settled in May 1848 and spent the rest of his life. In 1850 he was appointed deputy Taylorian professor of modern European languages, and in the following year was, at the suggestion of Dean Gaisford, made an honorary M.A. and a member of Christ Church. On succeeding to the full professorship in 1854 he received the full degree of M.A. by decree of convocation. As Taylorian professor he lectured chiefly on German and French, including courses on middle high German and on the structure of the Romance languages. He was made a curator of the Bodleian library in 1856, holding that office till 1863; re-elected in 1881, he retired in 1894. In 1858 he was elected to a life fellowship at All Souls' College.
In 1859 he married Georgiana Adelaide, daughter of Mr. Riversdale Grenfell, who already included among his brothers-in-law J. A. Froude, Charles Kingsley, and Lord Wolverton. In the same year he published his important ‘History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature,’ which, dealing with the Vedic period only, contained much valuable research in literary chronology, based on an extensive knowledge of works at that time accessible in manuscript only.
In May 1860 Horace Hayman Wilson, professor of Sanskrit at Oxford, died. Max Muller, whose claims were very strong on the score of both ability and achievement, became a candidate for the vacant chair. He was opposed by (Sir) Monier Monier-Williams [q. v. Suppl.], an old member of Balliol and University colleges, who had been professor of Sanskrit at the East India College at Haileybury till it was closed in 1858. The election being in the hands of convocation — a body consisting of all masters of arts who keep their names on the books of the university — came to turn on the political and religious opinions of the candidates rather than on their merits as Sanskrit scholars. Party feeling ran high. His broad theological views, as well as the fact of his being a foreigner, told against Max Müller, especially in the eyes of the country clergy, who came up to Oxford in large numbers to record their votes. The election took place on 7 Dec. 1860, when Monier-Williams won the day with a majority of 223, the votes in his favour being 833 against 610 for Max Müller.
There can be little doubt that this defeat was a bitter disappointment to Max Müller, and exercised a very decided influence on his subsequent career as a scholar. Sanskrit studies had formed the main interest of his intellectual life for almost twenty years. Had he been successful in the contest, his activity would probably have been almost entirely limited to his favourite subject, and, though he would in that case have been less famous, he would doubtless have produced, during the latter half of his life, works of more permanent value in the domain of research.
His marvellous industry was now largely deflected into other channels. He began to pay considerable attention to comparative philology, delivering two series of lectures on the science of language at the Royal Institution in 1861 and 1863. These lectures soon raised him to the rank of the standard authority on philology in the estimation of the English public. Though much of what is contained in them is now out of date, there can be no doubt that they not only for the first time aroused general interest in the subject of comparative philology in England, but also exercised in their day a valuable stimulating influence on the work of scholars. Here he first displayed that power of lucid popular exposition and of investing a dry subject with abundant interest, which has more than anything else contributed to make his name at least as famous as that of any other scholar of the nineteenth century. Another of his works, in spite of its title, ‘The Science of Thought’ (1887), is largely concerned with the subject of language, its main thesis being the inseparability of thought and language. In 1865 he was appointed oriental sub-librarian at the Bodleian, but, finding the work uncongenial, resigned the post after holding it for two years. In 1868 Max Müller, vacating the Taylorian chair, was nominated to the new professorship of comparative philology, founded on his behalf. This chair he held down to the time of his death, retiring, however, from its active duties in 1875. Four years after his election he was invited to accept, a professorship of Sanskrit in the newly founded university of Strasburg. Though he declined this appointment, he consented to deliver a course of lectures at Strasburg during the summer term of 1872. The honorarium which he received for the work he handed over to the university authorities, who founded with it a triennial prize, called the ‘Max Müller Stipendium,’ for the encouragement of Sanskrit scholarship.
Max Müller was not only the introducer of comparative philology into England; he also became a pioneer in this country of the science of comparative mythology founded by Adalbert Kuhn with his epoch-making work, ‘Die Herabkunft des Feuers,’ published in 1849. Beginning with his essay on ‘Comparative Mythology,’ which appeared in 1856, he wrote a number of other papers on mythological subjects, concluding his labours in this domain with a large work in 1897. His mythological method, based on linguistic equations, has hardly any adherents at the present day. For most of his identifications, as of the Greek Erīnyus with the Sanskrit Saraṇyūs, have been rejected owing to the more stringent application of phonetic laws which now prevails in comparative philology. Nor does his theory of mythology being a ‘disease of language’ any longer find support among scholars. Nevertheless his writings have proved valuable in this field also by stimulating mythological investigations even beyond the range of the Aryan family of languages.
Allied to his mythological researches was his work on the comparative study of religions, which was far more important and enduring. Here, too, he was a pioneer; and the literary activity of the last thirty years of his life was largely devoted to this subject. He began with four lectures on the ‘Science of Religion’ at the Royal Institution in 1870. These were followed by a lecture on ‘Missions,’ which dealt with the religions of the world, and was delivered in Westminster Abbey at the invitation of Dean Stanley in December 1873. He further led off the annual series of Hibbert lectures with a course on ‘The Origin and Growth of Religion,’ delivered in the chapter-house of Westminster Abbey in 1878. Subsequently he discussed four different aspects of religion as Gifford lecturer before the university of Glasgow during the years 1888 to 1892.
Of even more far-reaching influence than all these lectures on religion was the great enterprise which Max Müller initiated in 1875, when he relinquished the active duties of the chair of comparative philology. This was the publication by the Oxford University Press, under his editorship, of the ‘Sacred Books of the East,’ a series of English translations, by leading scholars, of important non-Christian oriental works of a religious character. This undertaking has done more than anything else to place the historical and comparative study of religions on a sound basis. Among the ‘Sacred Books’ are several of the earliest Indian legal works and texts on domestic ritual. The series is thus also a valuable source for the comparative study of law and custom. By its publication Max Müller therefore rendered an inestimable service to the science of anthropology. Of the fifty-one volumes of the series, all but one and the two concluding index-volumes had appeared before the death of the editor. Over thirty volumes represent the Indian religions of Brahmanism, Buddhism, and Jainism, being translations from Sanskrit, Pali, and Prakrit; but the series also includes versions of Chinese, Arabic, Zend, and Pahlavi works. Max Müller himself contributed three complete volumes and part of two others to the series.
Though debarred by his defeat in 1860 from officially representing Sanskrit in the university, Max Müller continued to promote Sanskrit studies in many ways. In the first place he finished in 1873 his ‘Rigveda,’ a second revised edition of which was completed in 1892. This was his magnum opus, which will secure him a lasting name in the history of Sanskrit scholarship. He also published several important Sanskrit texts. Thus he initiated the Aryan series in the ‘Anecdota Oxoniensia’ with four publications of his own, partly in collaboration with pupils; and the three other contributions which had appeared down to the end of 1900 were all undertaken at his instigation. He also brought out some Sanskrit books of an educational character, besides publishing several translations of Sanskrit works. In 1883 he further printed a series of lectures on the value of Sanskrit literature, which he had delivered at Cambridge, under the title of ‘India, what can it teach us?’ The main importance of this book lies in the ‘Renaissance theory’ which it propounds. He endeavours to prove that for several hundred years there was a cessation of literary activity in India, owing to the incursions of foreigners, but that there was a great revival in the sixth century A.D. This theory, though now disproved by the evidence of inscriptions, exercised a decidedly stimulating influence on Indian chronological research. Max Müller was, moreover, always ready, in spite of his dislike of regular teaching, to help students of Sanskrit informally. Thus he gave up much of his valuable time to directing the studies of three young Japanese who came to Oxford on purpose to learn Sanskrit, and all of whom published valuable work connected with ancient India under his guidance. One of them, Bunyiu Nanjio, translated, at his instance, in 1882, the Chinese catalogue of the many hundreds of Buddhist Sanskrit books which were rendered into Chinese from the first century A.D. onwards. Another, Kenyiu Kasawara, compiled a list of Sanskrit Buddhistic technical terms, which was edited by him in the ‘Anecdota Oxoniensia’ series; while the third, Takakusu, at his instigation, translated from the Chinese, in 1896, the travels of the pilgrim I-tsing, who visited India during the years 671-690 A.D. Again, the first three Sanskrit books published by Monier-Williams's successor in the Boden chair were undertaken under Max Müller's influence. It was through him also that most of the European Sanskrit scholars who went out to India in the sixties and seventies received their appointments. As one of the delegates of the Clarendon Press he acted as literary adviser to the university on Indian subjects for more than twenty years (1877-98). He constantly stirred up scholars to search for rare and important Sanskrit manuscripts. This insistence led, for example, to the discovery in Japan of a Sanskrit manuscript dating from the sixth century, the oldest known at that time (1880). He himself acquired, in connection with his edition of the ‘Rigveda,’ a valuable collection of Vedic manuscripts from India, to the number of nearly eighty.
Max Müller had a great literary gift, doubtless inherited from his father. A foreigner by birth and education, he attained command of an English style excelled by few native writers. This he displayed in numerous contributions to English journals, especially the ‘Edinburgh’ and ‘Contemporary’ reviews, in the ‘Fortnightly’ and the ‘Nineteenth Century.’ Most of these were subsequently republished in a collected form in his ‘Chips from a German Workshop’ (4 vols.) Some of the most attractive of his articles, consisting of reminiscences, appeared only a year or two before his death in book form, under the title of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ (vol. i. 1898, vol. ii. 1899). The poetical colouring of his temperament was perhaps most clearly exhibited in ‘Deutsche Liebe’ (1857), one of his early works, which, in its original German, has passed through thirteen editions, and has been translated into French, Italian, and Russian, as well as English. This romance describes, in the form of recollections, the love of a young student for an invalid princess; and though the scene is laid in the old castle of Dessau, the story is purely imaginary.
Max Müller also now and then discussed important public questions, such as the linguistic training of British officers at the time of the Crimean war, and the necessity of founding an oriental institute for the practical teaching of eastern languages in the interests of British trade. He also championed the German cause during the Franco-Prussian war in letters to the ‘Times.’
It was only by a remarkably methodical arrangement of his work and disposition of his time that he managed not only to get through an enormous amount of literary work, but to deal punctually with a vast correspondence. Though he fell dangerously ill during a visit to Germany in June 1899, and after a remarkable recovery had a relapse a year later, his literary activity continued to within ten days of his death, which took place at Oxford on 28 Oct. 1900; he was buried in Holywell cemetery, Oxford, on 1 Nov. In the last year of his life he defended the justice of the British cause in the Transvaal war against Professor Mommsen in German journals, and contributed three articles on the religions of China to the ‘Nineteenth Century’ in September, October, and November. 1900. On his deathbed he dictated to his son alterations and corrections in his autobiography, which unfortunately brings the story of his life only down to his early days at Oxford.
Max Müller's family consisted of three daughters and a son. His eldest daughter died at Dresden in 1876; the second, married to Mr. F. C. Conybeare, fellow of University College, Oxford, died in 1886; the third married, in 1890, Mr. Colyer Fergusson, eldest son of Sir James Ranken Fergusson, Bart. His son entered the diplomatic service, and in 1900 was second secretary to the British embassy at Washington.
Max Müller's world-wide fame was largely due to his literary gifts and the extensive range of his writings, as well as to his great ability, industry, and ambition. But it was undoubtedly enhanced by a combination of opportunities such as can rarely fall to the lot of any scholar. When he began his career Vedic studies were in their infancy, and he had the good fortune to become the first editor of the ‘Rigveda,’ the most important product of ancient Indian literature. Again, nothing was known about comparative philology in England when he came over to this country; being the first in the field, he introduced and popularised the new science, and was soon regarded as its chief exponent. He was, moreover, the first to inaugurate the study of comparative mythology in this country. Lastly, it was not till the latter half of the nineteenth century that the necessary conditions were at hand for founding a science of religion. At this precise period Max Müller was there to supply the needful stimulus by means of his Hibbert lectures, and to collect the requisite materials in the ‘Sacred Books of the East.’ Thus there was a great opening in four highly important branches of learning; but no one could have taken adequate advantage of them all unless he had been, like Max Müller, one of the most talented and versatile scholars of the nineteenth century. Though much in his works and methods may already be superseded, the great stimulating influence his writings have exercised in many fields will give him a strong claim to the gratitude of posterity.
Scholar and voluminous writer though he was, Max Müller was at the same time quite a man of the world. Familiar from his earliest days with court life on a small scale at Dessau, he was, when quite a young man, a frequent visitor at the Prussian embassy in London. By Baron Bunsen he was introduced to the late prince consort, and so came to be well known to Queen Victoria and the royal family. He was also personally acquainted with several of the crowned heads of Europe, such as the Emperor Frederick, the present German Emperor, the King of Sweden, the King of Roumania, and the Sultan of Turkey. He knew most of the leading men of the day, foreigners as well as Englishmen, and entertained many of them at Oxford. His house was a place of pilgrimage to all Indians visiting England; for, owing to his ‘Rigveda’ and his writings on Indian philosophy and religion, he was far better known in India, though he never visited that country, than any other European scholar has ever been.
On account of his social qualities Max Müller was much in request as president of societies and congresses. Thus he was the first president of the English Goethe Society, and in that capacity delivered his inaugural address on ‘Carlyle and Goethe’ in 1886. He was also president of the International Congress of Orientalists, held in London in 1892, and took a prominent part in most of the series of oriental congresses which began in 1874.
Probably no other scholar ever obtained more of the honours which are bestowed on learning. He was one of the knights of the Prussian order ‘Pour le merite,’ a knight of the Corona d'Italia, and a privy councillor in this country. He received the Northern Star (first class) from the King of Sweden, and subsequently the grand cordon, and was decorated with the orders of the French legion of honour, the Bavarian Maximilian, the German Albert the Bear, and the Turkish Medjidieh. He was an honorary doctor of Berlin, Bologna, Buda-Pesth, Cambridge, Dublin, Edinburgh, and Princeton. He was a foreign associate of the Institute of France, of the Reale Accademia dei Lincei at Rome, of the Royal Berlin, Sardinian, Bavarian, Hungarian, and Irish academies, of the Imperial Academy of Vienna, of the Royal Society of Upsala, and of the American Philosophical Society; a corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Lisbon, and of the Royal Society of Göttingen; an honorary member of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, of the German Oriental Society, and of more than twenty other important learned societies.
A portrait of Max Müller, by Mr. G. F. Watts, R.A., has been presented by the painter to the National Portrait Gallery, London; there is another by Herkomer, and a bust by Mr. Bruce-Joy, both in the possession of his widow.
After Max Müller's death a fund was opened at Oxford to commemorate his services to learning and letters. Among the contributors have been King Edward VII and several Indian princes, while the German emperor gave the munificent donation of 500l. It is intended, after supplying some personal memorial at Oxford, to turn the sum collected into a ‘Max Müller Memorial Fund,’ to be held by the university in trust ‘for the promotion of learning and research in all matters relating to the history and archaeology, the languages, literatures, and religions of ancient India.’ A Japanese ‘Society for Oriental Research’ has also been founded at Tokyo in commemoration of Max Müller. His library was acquired by the university of Tokyo in July 1901.
As Max Müller's writings were so numerous and ranged over so many fields, a classification of them under different heads will afford the best survey of his works.
Sanskrit. — ‘Hitopadeśa,’ translated into German, Leipzig, 1844 ; ‘Meghadūta,’ translated into German, Königsberg, 1847. ‘Rig Veda Saṇhitā, the Sacred Hymns of the Brahmans translated and explained’ (twelve hymns to the Maruts), London, Trübner, 1869; the same, with thirty-six additional hymns, under the title of ‘Vedic Hymns,’ in ‘Sacred Books of the East,’ vol. xxxii. 1891. ‘Rigveda,’ with Sāyaṇa's ‘Commentary,’ 6 vols. London, 1849-73; 2nd edit. 4 vols. London, 1890-2; text only, 2 vols. 1873; 2nd edit. 1877. ‘Hitopadeśa,’ text, with interlinear translation, 2 parts, London, 1864-1865. ‘Rigveda-Prātiśākhya,’ text, with German translation, Leipzig, 1856-69. ‘Vajrachhedikā’ (‘Anecdota Oxoniensia,’ Aryan Series, pt. i.), 1881; ‘Sukhāvatīvyūha,’ in collaboration with Nanjio, ib. 1883; ‘Prajñā-pāramitā-hṛdaya-sūtra,’ in collaboration with Nanjio, ib. 1884; ‘Dharmasamgraha,’ prepared by K. Kasawara, and edited by Max Müller and H. Wenzel, ib. 1885. ‘The Upanishads,’ pt. i., ‘Sacred Books of the East,’ vol. i. 1879, pt. ii. vol. xv. ‘The Larger and Smaller Prajñā-pāramitā-hṛdaya-Sūtra,’ ib. vol. xlix. 1894. ‘A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, as far as it illustrates the Primitive Religion of the Brahmans,’ London, 1859; 2nd edit. 1860. ‘A Sanskrit Grammar,’ London, 1866; 2nd edit. 1870 ; new and abridged edition by A. A. Macdonell, 1886. ‘India, what can it teach us?’ London, 1883; new edit. 1892; reprinted 1895; in collected edition, 1899. Introduction to Takakusu's Translation of I-tsing, Oxford, 1896.
Pali. — ‘The Dhammapada,’ translated from Pali, in Rogers's Burmese translation, London, 1870; reprinted in the ‘Sacred Books of the East,’ vol. x.; 2nd edit. 1898.
Science of Religion. — ‘On Missions’ (lecture delivered in Westminster Abbey), London, 1873. ‘Introduction to the Science of Religion,’ London, 1873; new edit. 1882; reissue, 1899. ‘The Origin and Growth of Religion, as illustrated by the Religions of India,’ London, 1878; 2nd edit. 1878; new edit. 1882, 1891; re-issue, 1898. ‘Natural Religion,’ London, 1889; 2nd edit. 1892. ‘Physical Religion,’ London, 1891; new edit. 1898. ‘Anthropological Religion,’ London, 1892; new issue, 1898. ‘Theosophy, or Psychological Religion,’ London, 1893; new edit. 1895; new impression, 1899.
Comparative Mythology. — ‘Essay on Comparative Mythology,’ part i. of Oxford Essays, 1856. ‘Essays on Mythology and Folklore’ (‘Chips,’ vol. iv.); new impression, 1900. ‘Contributions to the Science of Mythology,’ 2 vols. London, 1897.
Comparative Philology. — ‘On the Stratification of Language’ (Rede Lecture), London, 1868. ‘The Science of Language,’ 2 vols. London, 1861 and 1863; 14th edit. 1885; new edit. 1890; last edition, 1899. ‘On the Results of the Science of Language’ (inaugural lecture in German), Strasburg, 1872. ‘Essays on Language and Literature’ (‘Chips,’ vol. iii.); last edit. 1899. ‘Biographies of Words and the Home of the Aryas,’ London, 1888; new edit. 1898.
Philosophy. — ‘Kant's Critique of Pure Reason,' translated, London, 1881; new edit. 1896. ‘The Science of Thought,’ London, 1887. ‘Three Lectures on the Vedanta Philosophy,’ London, 1894. ‘The Six Systems of Indian Philosophy,’ London, 1899.
Biography.—‘Biographical Essays’ (‘Chips,’ vol. ii.), London, 1884; new impression, 1898. ‘Rāmakṛṣṇa, his Life and Sayings,’ London, 1898; twice reprinted, 1899; in collected edition, 1900. ‘Auld Lang Syne,’ vol. i. London, 1898 (3 editions), vol. ii., ‘My Indian Friends,’ London, 1899; ‘My Autobiography. A Fragment,’ London, 1901.
German.—‘The German Classics from the Fourth to the Nineteenth Century,’ London, 1858; new and enlarged edit. 2 vols. London, 1886. ‘Deutsche Liebe,’ 1st edit. Leipzig, 1857; 13th edit. 1898 (altogether 18,000 copies); a pirated translation, under the title of ‘Memories,’ has had an enormous sale in America; French transl. 1873; a new transl. 1900; English transl. (by Mrs. Max Müller) London, 1873; 4th edit. 1898. ‘Wilhelm Müller's Poems,’ edited with introduction and notes, Leipzig, 1868. ‘Schiller's Correspondence with Duke Friedrich Christian of Schleswig Holstein,’ edited with introduction and notes, Leipzig, 1875; ‘Scherer's History of German Literature,’ translated by Mrs. Conybeare and edited by F. Max Müller, Oxford, 1885; new edit. 1891.
A collected edition of Max Müller's essays, entitled ‘Chips from a German Workshop,’ was published in four volumes between 1867 and 1875; a new edition came out in 1880. A full collected edition of his works began to appear in 1898, and fifteen volumes had been published in it down to the end of 1900.
[This memoir is based on Max Müller's Leipzig Lecture-book (Collegienbuch); on Oxford University Notices from 1850 onwards; on ‘Auld Lang Syne,’ vol. i.; on ‘My Autobiography;’ on bibliographical notes furnished by Messrs. Longmans, Green, & Co.; on details supplied by Mrs. Max Müller; and largely on personal knowledge (1876-1900).]