In this place it may not be improper to recount some honours conferred
upon him, which, if distinctions are to be rated by the knowledge of
those who bestow them, may be considered as more valuable than those
which he received from princes.
In June, 1731, he was initiated in the university of Altdorft, and at
the end of the year 1732, the synod of the reformed churches, held at
Christian Erlang, admitted him to be present at their consultations,
and to preserve the memory of so extraordinary a transaction, as the
reception of a boy of eleven years into an ecclesiastical council,
recorded it in a particular article of the acts of the synod.
P. 383. _He was too much pleased with science and quiet_.
Astronomy was always Barretier's favourite study, and so much
engrossed his thoughts, that he did not willingly converse on any
other subject; nor was he so well pleased with the civilities of the
greatest persons, as with the conversation of the mathematicians. An
astronomical observation was sufficient to withhold him from court, or
to call him away abruptly from the most illustrious assemblies; nor
was there any hope of enjoying his company, without inviting some
professor to keep him in temper, and engage him in discourse; nor was
it possible, without this expedient, to prevail upon him to sit for
his picture.
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