Born on 28th November, 1820, at Unter-Barmen, of the 
Evangelical faith, pupil of the Elberfeld gymnasium since the 
autumn of 1834 (October 20th) and since the autumn of 1836 
(October 17th) a member of the Prima of the same, has taken 
pains to be of very good behaviour, especially during his stay in the 
Prima form, has commended himself to his teachers particularly 
by his modesty, frankness and good-natured disposition, and 
equally displayed commendable endeavour, supported by good 
talents, to acquire the most comprehensive scientific education 
possible, for which reason also his progress has been gratifyingly 
conspicuous, as the following special compilation of the separate 
subjects shows more precisely. 


I. Languages 


1. Latin. He finds no difficulty in understanding the respective 
writers either of prose or poetry, namely, Livius and Cicero, 
Virgil and Horace, so that he can easily follow the thread of the 
longer pieces, grasp the train of thought with clarity and translate 
the text before him with skill into the mother tongue. He has been 
less successful in mastering the grammatical part with thorough 
assurance, so that his written work, although not without visible 
progress towards improvement, yet left something to be desired in 
respect of grammar and style. 

2. Greek. He has acquired a satisfactory knowledge of morpholo- 
gy and the rules of syntax, in particular good proficiency and skill 


* Upper, or First, Form in German secondary schools, corresponding to the 
Sixth Form in England.— Ed. 


Appendices 585 


in translating the easier Greek prose writers, as also Homer and 
Euripides, and could grasp and render the train of thought of a 
Platonic dialogue with skill. 

3. German. His written essays, particularly in the last year, 
showed gratifying progress in general development; they con- 
tained good, independent thoughts and were for the most part 
correctly arranged; the exposition was duly exhaustive and the 
expression perceptibly approached correctness. Engels showed 
commendable interest in the history of German national literature 
and the reading of the German classics. 

4. French. He translates the French classics with skill. He has a 
good knowledge of grammar. 


II. Sciences 


1. Religion. The basic doctrines of the Evangelical Church as well 
as the chief elements of the history of the Christian Church are 
well known to him. He is also not without experience in aos 
the New Testament (in the original). 

2. In history and geography he possesses sufficient lucid knowl- 
edge. 

4 In mathematics Engels has on the whole attained gratifying 
knowledge; he showed in general good power of understanding 
and could express himself clearly and with precision. The same 
holds 

4. for his knowledge of physics. 

5. Philosophical propaedeutic. Engels followed the lectures on 
empirical psychology with interest and success. 

The undersigned discharges with his best blessings a dear pupil 
who, due to private connections, stood particularly close to him 
and who in this position endeavoured to commend himself by his 
religious feeling, purity of heart, agreeable habits and other 
prepossessing qualities, on his going into business at the end of the 
school year (September 15th of this year), which he found himself 
induced to choose as his outward profession in life instead of the 
studies he had earlier intended. May the Lord bless and guide 
him! 

Elberfeld, September 25th, 1837 


Dr. J. C. L. Hantschke