The Elegant Magister 111of the Collegium Fridericianum. Freytag had studied in Königsberg, and he
taught at a high school (the Domgymnasium) in Königsberg from 1747
until 1767, when he left to become pastor in a neighboring village. He died
in 1790. During the fifties, he and Kant were very close.
Kypke, half a year younger than Kant, had studied with Kant both at
the Collegium Fridericianum and at the University of Königsberg, but, un¬
like Kant, he had become a member of the faculty relatively early.^51 In 1746
he was appointed as associate professor in Oriental languages, and in 1755 he
was promoted to full professor. In addition to his specialization in Orien¬
tal languages, Kypke also held lectures on the "English language," which
awakened a great deal of interest in all things English among his stu¬
dents.^52 He translated Locke's Of the Conduct of the Human Understanding
in 1755, which some believe was a very important work for Kant early on.^53
In any case, Kypke and Kant were close not only in their philosophical con¬
cerns during this period, but also in other ways.^54 Hamann wrote to Lind¬
ner in 1756:
Wolson seems to live very merrily. I was once with him in Schulz's garden where I
found Magister Kant... Mr. Freytag, and professor Kypke. The latter now lodges in
their house and has his own household because of which he has gained much weight.
They talk here of a recommendation which he gave for a maid, and in which he other¬
wise praised her, but then noted that she was obstinata and voluptuosa. Yet one must
imagine his accent and his facial expressions in order to find what is funny in the things
we laugh about when they are told.^5 '
At least early on, Kypke, "an acute and often satiric judge of the arts," placed
great emphasis on elegance.^56 From 1755 until 1777 Kypke was the govern¬
mental inspector of the synagogue in Königsberg. It was the task of this
inspector to make sure that the phrase "for they bow down and prostrate
themselves before what is vain and futile and pray to a god who cannot help"
in a prayer said at the end of each service was not used. The allegation was
that it referred to the Christians. Kypke had his own reserved seat in the syn¬
agogue and he received a salary of one hundred Thalers for the service.^57
Funk, who was a doctor of jurisprudence and junior barrister at the court,
was an even closer friend than Kypke. "With him he was really friendly."^58
"He interacted most with him."^59 Borowski tells the following interesting
story, which probably took place during the break between the winter se¬
mester of 1755-56 and the summer semester of 1756:
Once, during his first years of teaching, I went early in the morning with Dr. Funk to
him [Kant], A student had promised to come this morning and pay his honorarium for