to teach him Hebrew. Beyond this point, Mezzofanti's knowledge of
languages was almost exclusively the result of his own unassisted
study.

From a very early age, he was destined for the church, and he received
holy orders about the year 1797. During the period of his probationary
studies, however, he obtained, through the kindness of his friend F.
Respighi, the place of tutor in the family of the Marescalchi, one of
the most distinguished among the nobility of Bologna; and the
opportunities for his peculiar studies afforded by the curious and
valuable library to which he thus enjoyed free access, may probably
have exercised a decisive influence upon his whole career.

His attainments gradually attracted the notice of his fellow-citizens.
In the year 1797, he was appointed professor of Arabic in the
university; a few years later, he was named assistant-librarian of the
city library; and in 1803, he succeeded to the important chair of
Oriental Languages. This post, which was most congenial to his tastes,
he held, with one interruption, for a long series of years. In 1812,
he was advanced to a higher place in the staff of the library; and in
1815, on the death of the chief librarian, Pozetti, he was appointed
to fill his place. When it is considered how peculiarly engrossing the
study of languages is known to be, and especially how attractive for
an enthusiastic scholar like Mezzofanti, it might be supposed that for
him the office of librarian could have been little more than a nominal
one. But the library of Bologna to the present day bears abundant
evidence that it was far otherwise. The admirable order in which the
Greek and Oriental manuscripts are arranged, the excellent _catalogue
raisonné_ of these manuscripts, and the valuable additions to the
notices of them by Assemani and Talmar which it contains, are all the