An ornamental headpiece featuring a repeating pattern of stylized floral scrolls and fleur-de-lis motifs.

THE LIFE

OF MR.

LEIBNITZ.

Birth of Mr. Leibnitz in 1646.

A decorative woodcut initial 'G' with leafy ornamentation in a square frame.Gottfried Wilhelm The original French text uses the translated name "Godefroi Guillaume." Leibnitz (a) was born in Leipzig, a city in the Circle of Upper Saxony The "Circles" were administrative districts of the Holy Roman Empire.—rich, commercial, and well-populated—on the 3rd of July, 1646 (b). He was the son of Friedrich Leibnitz, a Professor of Moral Philosophy and Clerk of— The text breaks off mid-word at "Gref-", likely intended to be "Greffier de la Faculté de Droit" (Clerk of the Faculty of Law).

(a) I follow this manner of spelling Mr. Leibnitz’s name because it conforms to the ending of German proper names. It is true that when he himself writes in French, he usually signs as Leibniz, as I have had occasion to see in various copies of his letters that fell by chance into my hands; but it seems that he employed this spelling to better accommodate the pronunciation of the French language, while signing himself elsewhere in Latin as Leibnitius, instead of Leibnizius, which would have rendered the name Leibniz much better. After all, if I err in my conjecture, it is not a great error.

(b) That is to say, New Style The "New Style" refers to the Gregorian calendar. During this period, Europe was divided between the older Julian calendar (Old Style) and the modern Gregorian calendar, which were 10 days apart.. Mr. de Fontenelle, who records the birth of Mr. Leibnitz as the 23rd of June, left a degree of obscurity in this date by not noting that he follows here, contrary to his custom, the Old Style. The Journalists of Leipzig, by assigning the birth of Mr. Leibnitz to the 23rd of June Old Style or the 3rd of July New Style, have brought the distinction to my attention...