Page - 364 - in Maximilian Hell (1720–92) - And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe

Chapter 8364 intermediary in a surviving Jesuit network who supplies brethren with travel money on their way to the remaining bastions in the Russian Empire (in this particular case, a Dutch fellow en route to Mogilev)—Hell wrote an angry re- tort, and threatened legal steps against the editors in case the “fabrications” were repeated.70 Elsewhere, he was even listed as having died—morally speaking—in the year 1773, in the midst of his “struggle for the good cause.”71 Freedom of press took its toll on the ex-Jesuit, who complained to Kästner: You will, renowned gentleman, forgive my long silence if you learn that I am not at all enjoying the kind of peace of mind I did just a few years ago. The Viennese scribblers impugn men of all standing with full freedom, so even I, who have not hurt or harmed anyone, and have never written any- thing apart from astronomical matters, cannot be tranquil […]. I cannot even sleep, and I am forced to refute the slander and the lies of those who want to ruin my reputation […].72 A visitor to Vienna in the autumn of 1784, the German-speaking Danish citizen Friedrich Münter (1761–1830) has left a detailed diary that can be compared with the testimony of Hviid from six years earlier. Like Hviid, Münter was on a study trip, transcribing old manuscripts and visiting libraries and archives. Un- like Hviid, however, Münter was a freemason, and on the very day of his arrival in Vienna, he visited von Born. In fact, during his seven weeks in the Austrian capital (from August 30 to October 20, 1784), Münter paid visits to the von Born family virtually every day. He also went to see the papal nuncio, Garampi, whom he appears to have sympathized with, despite the denominational dis- tance. It was through Garampi that Münter was introduced to Hell, “a thin, deteriorated little man, in whom the sly Jesuit is at the same time before one’s eyes.”73 Münter met Hell on only three occasions, but heard from various sources enough sensational rumors about this famous ex-Jesuit to fill several pages of his diary. 70 “Anekdote zur Beleuchtung des österreichisches ex-Jesuitismus, oder Jesuitismus,” Wie­ nerische Kirchenzeitung, no. 34 (August 23, 1786): 549–50; “Erinnerung an das Publikum,” Wiener Zeitung, no. 75 (September 20, 1786): 2246. 71 Steinmayr, “Geschichte der Universitätssternwarte,” 272. 72 Hell to Kästner in Göttingen, March 6, 1785. nsubg; Hungarian translation in Csaba, Hell Miksa írásaiból, 57–58. 73 Frederik (Friedrich) Münter, Frederik Münter: Et mindeskrift ii; Aus den Tagebüchern Friedrich Münters; Wander­ und Lehrjahre eines Dänischen Gelehrten, vol. 1, 1772–85, ed. Øjvind Andersen (Copenhagen: P. Haase & Son, 1937), 62 (entry on September 7, 1784).