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 OP 
 
 OF 
 
 PETER DANIEL HUET, 
 
 i 
 
 BISHOP OF AVRANCHES: 
 
 WRITTEN BY HIMSELF; 
 
 AND TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL LATIN, WITH 
 COPIOUS NOTES, BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL, 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN AIKIN, M. D. 
 
 IN T\YO VOLUMES! 
 VOL. 1. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, BEES, AND 
 
 OKME, PATERNOSTER ROW J AND CADELL 
 
 AND BAVIES, STRAND. 
 
 M.DCCC.X.
 
 \ 
 
 Printed ty Richard Taylor and Co., Skoe Lane, Lond<m>
 
 'VI 
 
 ' 
 
 To WILLIAM ROSCOE, ESQ. 
 
 DEAR SIB 
 
 it a matter of consideration with 
 me to whom I could with most propriety 
 address a work proposing to afford a view 
 of an interesting literary period, no name 
 would sooner occur to my mind than that 
 of the biographer of Lorenzo de Medici 
 and Leo the Tenth : and were I to take a 
 survey of those remaining friends for whom 
 1 feel the warmest affection, and in whose 
 intimacy I should be most inclined to pride 
 myself ; the beloved associate of my youth> 
 and the object of my peculiar respect and 
 a 2 esteem
 
 iv DEDICATION. 
 
 esteem during a long course of years, would 
 immediately present himself. 
 
 Under both these titles, then, I request 
 you to accept, with the cordiality with 
 which it is offered, this public testimonial 
 of my unalterable regard ; and to believe 
 me, most sincerely, Yours, 
 
 ^ J.AIKIN. 
 
 Stoke Newington, 
 Pel. 18, 1810. 
 
 INTRO-
 
 ~f i'\ ' ' >" T 
 
 . 
 
 i* r J ' ' ' " f- 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 .BF THE TRANSLATOR. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL narratives of which the 
 same person is both the writer and subject 
 can scarcely fail of affording to the reader 
 something both amusing and instructive. 
 Men know much relative to themselves 
 
 L. 
 
 that is a secret to the rest of the world ; 
 and they can take up their own history at 
 an earlier period, and continue it more 
 uninterruptedly, than it is possible for a 
 biographer to do, who has probably en- 
 gaged in his task only from acquaintance 
 with its subject at a mature age, and who 
 must content himself with vague and de- 
 fective accounts of all that passed before 
 he was produced on the public stage. As 
 far, therefore, as a complete view of the 
 
 origin
 
 VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 origin and formation of a human character 
 is an object of curiosity and interest, self- 
 biographies are particularly valuable. The 
 political and philosophical life of a Franklin 
 might be composed by a bystander ; but 
 who besides himself could have communi- 
 cated those incidents of his childhood and 
 youth which are so precious to a student 
 of human nature, and perhaps afford more 
 important lessons to the moralist than all 
 that he acted upon the open theatre of the 
 world ? 
 
 There are, indeed, peculiar sources of 
 deception in this species of biography ; but 
 for the most part they are such as cannot 
 escape the notice of one endowed with an 
 ordinary portion of sagacity, or knowledge 
 of mankind. The motive by which a per- 
 son is induced to acquaint the public with 
 the particulars of his own life will com^ 
 monly be a desire of appearing to advan- 
 tage of bringing to light merits which he 
 thinks not sufficiently divulged, or of re-* 
 
 moving
 
 INTRODUCTION. VU 
 
 moving prejudices against himself which 
 he supposes to prevail. At least, if this 
 be not his primary inducement, it is a bias 
 that cannot fail to exert a constant influ- 
 ence over his pen while relating his own 
 story. Even they who appear the most 
 frank and undisguised have their reserves 
 
 o 
 
 and glosses ; and it is a shrewd remark of 
 Bayle's concerning Cardan, that, freely as 
 he has exposed many of his vices and frail- 
 ties, a well-informed observer of his cha- 
 racter and conduct, who should have writ- 
 ten his life, would have made public much 
 to his discredit that he has suppressed. 
 But, in counteraction to the designing spirit 
 by which the self-biographer may be con- 
 cluded in general to be actuated, there is 
 a kind of blabbing loquacity incident to 
 those who talk much of themselves, that 
 will scarcely permit them to persevere in 
 a consistent policy. Unguarded disclosures 
 >will occasionally be made, by means of 
 which disguised facts may be discerned in 
 
 their
 
 viii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 their true colours, and real motives of 
 actions may be detected under the varnish 
 of pretended ones. The experienced reader 
 will readily discover vanity beneath the 
 mask of modesty, and selfishness beneath 
 that of public spirit. From uncalled-for 
 apologies he will be able to infer concealed 
 imputations : and from avowed foibles, 
 unacknowledged vices. 
 
 But although from almost every work of 
 this class some addition to the knowledge 
 of human nature may be derived, yet this 
 knowledge is purchased at more than its 
 worth, when time is consumed in perusing 
 the gossiping narratives of persons neither 
 eminent in their several walks in life, nor 
 distinguished by remarkable characters or 
 adventures. Of such performances there 
 is a superabundance ; and the encourage- 
 ment given to them under the name of 
 anecdote is a token of a trifling age. To 
 justify that demand upon the attention of 
 the literary public which is made by the 
 
 writer
 
 INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 writer of a book concerning himself, there 
 should exist the consciousness of having 
 something to communicate which the ordi- 
 nary round of life does not furnish. This 
 may consist either in what is external, or 
 what is internal ; in the extraordinary 
 events of which a man has been the subject 
 or witness, or in the extraordinary opera- 
 tions of his own mind. The former more 
 commonly belong to persons conversant 
 with the busy scenes of the world ; the 
 latter may distinguish the most recluse, 
 whose lives have been spent in the pursuits 
 of learning and the labours of genius. It 
 may be equally interesting to listen to a 
 Frederic describing his actions, and a Rous- 
 seau tracing his thoughts. 
 
 The Bishop of Avranches, whose Me- 
 moirs are here presented to the English 
 reader, was a person greatly celebrated in 
 his age for profound and extensive erudi- 
 tion, and for the use he made of it as an 
 author of various esteemed works. That 
 
 he
 
 * INTRODUCTION, 
 
 he raiks among men of the first order of 
 intellect, I by no means intend to assert ; 
 but he was one of those who fill a certain 
 space in the literary history of their time, 
 and whose name is too fumly associated 
 with the durable monuments of lettered in- 
 dustry to be in danger of perishing. The in- 
 cidents of his life were not very different 
 from those common to scholars and eccle- 
 siastics ; yet the manner in which he was 
 trained to each of these characters was 
 marked by certain peculiarities which ren- 
 dered him a distinct individual in those 
 orders of men. Long his own master, and 
 enabled to pursue what studies, and in 
 what mode and company, he chose, he 
 considerably varied his objects and his 
 places of residence. An enquirer from 
 youth on religious topics, and familiarly 
 connected with protestants, as well as with 
 the members of his own communion, he 
 imbibed a degree of learned Catholicism 
 which did not entirely quit him even when- 
 become
 
 INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 become a prelate ; and which induced him 
 to cultivate a freer and more promiscuous 
 acquaintance among his lettered contem- 
 poraries than could have been the lot of 
 one brought up in the trammels of a reli- 
 gious order, or originally destined to an 
 exclusive priesthood. On these various 
 accounts, added to a life protracted to 
 nearly a century, the biography of few 
 men affords so wide a basis for the super- 
 structure of a literary history of the age in 
 \vhich he flourished. 
 
 I shall not proceed to anticipate the 
 matter of the ensuing narrative, or to in- 
 fuse any prepossessions concerning the 
 person who is its subject into the breast of 
 the reader. The Bishop shall be left to 
 tell his own story, in his own manner, with 
 no other interference than that of occasional 
 moral and critical remark. I think, how- 
 ever, that it may be useful to premise a 
 summary view of the state of European 
 literature anteriorly to the commencement 
 
 of
 
 Xll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of this biographical history, or in the early 
 part of the seventeenth century ; in order 
 that the reader may be enabled to form an 
 idea of the kind of education a scholar was 
 likely to receive at the time when Huet 
 entered upon his studies, and of the pro- 
 gress that had already been made in those 
 branches of science and literature which he 
 and his contemporaries were engaged in 
 cultivating. 
 
 o 
 
 The brilliant period of letters in Italy, 
 which had restored a kind of classical age 
 in that favoured country, was at an end ; 
 but it had^ produced the effect of diffusing 
 throughout Europe a correct knowledge of 
 the ancient languages, and a taste for pure 
 and elegant composition. Critical learning, 
 in particular, was cultivated with great 
 assiduity and success ; and the writings of 
 antiquity were elucidated by all the aids 
 afforded by profound erudition and exer- 
 cised judgement. Some of the greatest 
 names in the class of critics are to be met 
 
 with
 
 .INTRODUCTION, s Xlll 
 
 with among the scholars who flourished 
 about the commencement of the seven- 
 teenth century. Joseph Scaliger, Casau- 
 bon, Grotius, Meursius, Gruter, Daniel 
 Heinsius, Ritterhuysius, Barthius, Dousa, 
 .Gerard-John Vossius, Salmasius, form a 
 group which would confer lustre on any 
 period of philology. 
 
 The Italian literati of the preceding age 
 had for the most part avoided theological 
 controversy, to the subjects of which many 
 of them were in their hearts totally indif- 
 ferent, whilst its technical language was 
 grating to their classical feelings. But 
 the progress of the Reformation rendered 
 it necessary for the partisans of papal Rome 
 to contend pro arts et focis against the 
 fierce attacks of its different enemies. The 
 cardinals Baronius and Bellarmine, one as 
 an ecclesiastical historian, the other as a 
 polemic, stood in the first rank of catholic 
 champions, and were supported by Alla- 
 tius, Du Perron, Spondanus, and many 
 
 others,
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 others, to whose zeal the inexhaustible 
 wealth of the Romish see administered 
 substantial aliment. On the other side, 
 Sarpi stood by himself as a dauntless op- 
 poser of papal usurpations, while he ac- 
 quiesced in the general doctrine of the ca- 
 tholic church. Grotius employed the stores 
 of his extensive learning and powerful un- 
 derstanding in commenting upon the Scrip- 
 tures, without enlisting under the banners 
 
 7 O 
 
 of any particular sect, and gave the fairest 
 example of philological theology. The 
 cause of reformed religion was strenuously 
 pleaded by Duplessis Mornai, and Du- 
 nioulin, in France, and by others in diffe- 
 rent protestant countries ; while the con- 
 troversies among the separatists themselves 
 were carried on with no small vigour by 
 Arminius and Gomarus and their respec- 
 tive partisans, as well as by other leaders 
 of subordinate sects. At the same time, 
 the atheistical writings of Vannini, and the 
 deism of lord Herbert of Cherbury and 
 
 others,
 
 INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 others, had roused up defenders of religion 
 and revelation upon general grounds ; and 
 from all these causes men's minds were at 
 this period earnestly engaged in specula- 
 tions relative to theology, to which they 
 brought the same resources of learning 
 and argument that have since, though per- 
 haps with improved skill and accuracy, 
 been employed on those topics. 
 
 In abstract philosophy various attacks 
 had been made upon the authority of Aris- 
 totle, which for so many ages had reigned 
 paramount in the schools. The revival 
 of Platonism had been attempted by some 
 learned men ; others had shown an attach- 
 ment to the system of the Stoics, espe- 
 cially in morals ; and some daring geniuses, 
 as Jordano Bruno and Cardan, had pro- 
 posed new methods of philosophizing, 
 though with little success : but upon the 
 whole it was evident that the human in- 
 tellect was no longer disposed to submit 
 to the shackles which had been imposed 
 
 upon
 
 i.Vl INTRODUCTION. 
 
 upon it. Bacon had lately published those 
 great works which were destined to effect 
 a mighty change in the pursuit of know- 
 ledge in general, but it does not appear 
 that their influence was immediate. 
 
 In the meantime, natural philosophy, in 
 its several branches, had been greatly ad- 
 vanced by the labours of some men of 
 superior genius. In astronomy, Tycho 
 Brahe, of whom much is said in these 
 Memoirs, had- made many valuable disco- 
 veries ; and though his scheme of the solar 
 system deviated from the simplicity and 
 truth of that before proposed by Coper- 
 nicus, but which the world was not as 
 yet prepared to receive, yet it contributed 
 to subvert ancient errors. At length Ga- 
 
 o 
 
 lileo, one of the few names that make an 
 era in the history of mental acquisitions, 
 diffused a bright and unextinguishable 
 light over physical science ; and, being fol- 
 lowed by Torncelli and other eminent 
 disciples, introduced that broad day of 
 
 knowledge
 
 INTRODUCTION. XV11 
 
 knowledge which has since shone upon 
 the world. The sublime geometry of 
 Kepler, applied to investigate the laws 
 which govern the motions of the heavenly 
 bodies, powerfully aided the progress of 
 astronomy, and afforded firm ground for 
 Descartes, and afterwards for Newton, to 
 stand on. The animal economy had also 
 been much elucidated by the sagacious re- 
 searches of many eminent anatomists ; and 
 that fundamental law, the circulation of the 
 blood, had been demonstrated by Harvey 
 a short time before the birth of our author. 
 
 Upon the whole, though the state of 
 human knowledge was, in many particu- 
 lars, only that of infancy, compared to 
 the maturity it has attained in another 
 century and a half, yet the impulse was 
 given, the mind was put into a right track 
 of pursuit, and industry and genius were no 
 longer in danger of being wasted for want 
 of a direction to proper objects. The art 
 of writing was well understood ; and if 
 
 VOL. I. b learning
 
 XVU1 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 learning was still infected with pedantry, 
 and taste had not attained its highest de- 
 gree of refinement, there were not wanting 
 respectable models in almost every specie* 
 of composition. 
 
 Of the countries to the productions of 
 which a scholar's attention, at the period 
 of Huet's entrance into literary life, would 
 principally be attracted, Italy had ceased 
 to hold the supremacy it once possessed. 
 The learned and candid historian of Italian 
 literature, Tiraboschi, in the preface to his 
 eighth volume, observes, that whereas he 
 had found it necessary to employ three 
 volumes on the literature of the sixteenth 
 century, that of the seventeenth would oc- 
 cupy only one ; and he does not deny that 
 this circumstance was in great part owing 
 to the declension of letters in the latter 
 period. Physical science, indeed, had its 
 ardent votaries in Italy, for it possessed 
 Galileo and his followers ; but the erudi- 
 tion, of the country was chiefly employed 
 
 in
 
 INTRODUCTION". XIX 
 
 in supporting the claims of the Roman see ; 
 and freedom of discussion was watched 
 with the greatest jealousy. Accordingly, 
 scarcely any Italians appear among Huet's 
 acquaintance or correspondents. 
 
 Holland, in consequence of the cara 
 taken to fill the chairs in its universities 
 with able professors invited from all parts^ 
 and of the advantages of its free press, 
 seems at that time to have been the ma- 
 gazine whence the greatest number of va- 
 luable publications issued, and the chief 
 centre of learned communication through- 
 out Europe. 
 
 Germany maintained its well-earned 
 reputation for solid erudition, and was 
 abundant in learned men, many of whom, 
 however, were driven to the neighbouring 
 countries, especially to Holland, for want 
 of encouragement at home, and through 
 the widely-extended ravages of the thirty 
 years' war. 
 
 England
 
 XX INTRODUCTION. 
 
 England had formed a flourishing school 
 of literature of its own ; but all its pro- 
 ductions in the vernacular tongue were 
 lost to the continent, where its language 
 was as little read as those of Denmark 
 and Sweden may now be ; and what it 
 contributed to the general stock by means 
 of Latin currency was of small account. 
 In England, too, at that period, civil com- 
 motions either entirely diverted men's 
 minds from learned pursuits, or in great 
 measure limited them to political and thoe- 
 logical controversy. Perhaps few British 
 names except those of Bacon, Camden, 
 Buchanan, Selden, and Usher were fa- 
 miliar to the scholars of the rest of Eu- 
 rope in the earlier part of the seventeenth 
 century. 
 
 In France itself Huet would find exam- 
 ples of literary eminence in many who had 
 decorated the age of Richelieu, which was 
 introductory to that of Louis XIV. The 
 
 university
 
 INTRODUCTION, XXI 
 
 university of Paris was never without its 
 illustrious members. In some of the other 
 French universities civil law had been elu- 
 cidated with great learning and ability; 
 and many members of the legal profes- 
 sion had distinguished themselves as writers 
 in various branches. The Latin language 
 had been cultivated with success both in 
 verse and prose ; and while Huet was yet 
 a young man, the celebrated " Provincial 
 Letters " had given an example of a pure 
 and elegant French style which has scarcely 
 admitted any subsequent improvement. 
 The masterpieces of Corneille were render- 
 ing its theatre the rival of that of ancient 
 Greece ; and France was beginning to take 
 that lead in polite literature which she so 
 long retained. Though the capital was 
 undoubtedly the seat of the highest mental 
 cultivation, yet Huet's birth and early in-/ 
 struction in a provincial town were not un- 
 favourable to the formation of his mental 
 character. Caen, the seat of an university, 
 
 and
 
 XXM INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and long one of the head-quarters of Cal- 
 vinism, had imbibed a learned tincture, 
 and had not lost the regularity of manners 
 which usually accompanies a reforming 
 sect. The Jesuits, who had succeeded to 
 the principal share in the institution of 
 youth, presented, in their college, those 
 incitements and aids to early study which 
 have preeminently distinguished the semi- 
 naries of their order. Thus, before he was 
 endangered by the allurements and dis- 
 sipation of a metropolis, he had acquired 
 such an attachment to learning, and such 
 habits of application, that his character 
 was fixed, and the ruling passion was im- 
 planted which governed his whole future 
 life. 
 
 The literary reputation early obtained 
 by Huet introduced him to a large ac- 
 quaintance with men of letters, both native 
 and foreign. Among the former were 
 many eminent individuals of the Society 
 of Jesus, which in this century was pecu- 
 liarly
 
 INTRODUCTION. XXUI 
 
 liarly distinguished in France for the suc- 
 cessful culture as well of profound as of 
 elegant literature. Among the foreigners 
 were several celebrated professors in pro- 
 testant schools and universities, in which 
 every branch of learning was liberally fos- 
 tered. Few pages occur in his Memoirs 
 which are not decorated with the names 
 of eminent literary characters, pointed out 
 more or less to the reader's attention by 
 anecdotes and observations. All these 
 have by the translator been made the 
 subjects of biographical notes, in which it 
 has been his aim not to enter into minute 
 details of their lives and writings, but to 
 present characteristic sketches, whence just 
 ideas might be formed of their deserts both 
 moral and literary, and of the rank they 
 held among their contemporaries. It is 
 hoped that these additions will render the 
 work of Huet more interesting and in- 
 structive ; and that they may collectively 
 
 afford
 
 XXIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 afford a tolerably extensive view of the 
 state of letters on the continent of Europe, 
 during a period which must ever stand 
 distinguished among those in which the 
 human mind has made the most sensible 
 progress. 
 
 MEMOIRS
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 OP 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 .//*>,'^'jgiv>:> vkl). ' a .f : 
 
 AUGUSTINE, an author of the greatest weight 
 both in doctrine and practice, and of the highest 
 authority in the Christian church, when, on 
 the approach of old age, he reviewed the trans- 
 actions of his past life, if any thing occurred 
 to his mind in which he had merited the praise 
 of piety and virtue, he gratefully referred it to 
 the beneficence of his Creator ; and whatever 
 he recollected to have done contrary to the di- 
 vine law he washed away by a wholesome pe- 
 nitence, and even appeared as his own accuser 
 for it before the world. " Have I not," says he, 
 " O my God ! declared to thee, against myself, 
 all my offences ? and thou hast done away the 
 wickedness of my heart*." Although so illus- 
 trious an example long since invited me to ex- 
 
 * Augustini Confess, lib. i. c. 5. 
 VQL. i. B punge
 
 2 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 punge the stains of my former life, yet a more 
 urgent cause has given me the final impulse, a 
 severe and nearly fatal disease, with which I 
 struggled, for six whole months, and from which, 
 after an interval of some years, I am still not 
 entirely recovered. By this sharp yet salutary 
 admonition I felt myself summoned by God to 
 scrutinize the ingrained spots of my conscience, 
 and most humbly and submissively lay them 
 before his sight. I therefore thought I should 
 perform an useful task in presenting an account 
 of my past years to Him, the witness and judge 
 of all my delinquencies, and the author of all 
 grace, goodness, and beneficence, if I may hope 
 to have acquired any merit for my actions in 
 his eyes. To this motive was added the almost 
 daily reproach of my friends, who, having heard 
 me relate many anecdotes concerning the most 
 learned men of this age, with whom I lived in 
 close intimacy, urged me to undertake such a 
 work, through the desire of obtaining some 
 certain information respecting them, and the 
 wish that the memory of what they had already 
 heard should not be lost. 
 
 Do thou, therefore, O great God, who wishest 
 and commandest thyself to be regarded, as thou 
 
 really
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 3 
 
 really art, the parent of all mankind, cherish 
 with thy favour this work undertaken at thy 
 instigation ; that in writing and publishing it, 
 my mind may be so disposed, and my affec- 
 tions so directed, as to augment the love of thee 
 in the hearts of my readers ; when they shall 
 behold me deprived of both parents almost in 
 my infancy, and scorned and rejected by all my 
 kindred and relations, yet upheld by thy pater- 
 nal kindness, and through the chances and dan- 
 gers of a long life, to extreme old age, guided 
 and protected by thy merciful right hand! 
 
 A few years after the decline of the Calvinist 
 faction in France through the loss of Rochelle*, 
 I was born at Caen, of noble parents. My fa- 
 ther, Daniel Huet, then advanced in years, had 
 formerly been of that party : my mother, Isa- 
 bella Pillon de Bertoville, of Rouen, a woman 
 of excellent endowments, was in the prime of 
 life. She had before borne two daughters, Maria 
 and Susanna, and a son named Francis ; two 
 more daughters were born after me, one of 
 whom, as well as Francis, died soon after birth. 
 I regard an especial favour of God that he was 
 
 * This was in 1626, under the direction of cardinal Riche- 
 lieu. The year of Huet's birth was 1(530. 
 
 B g was
 
 4 MEMOIRS OF ill LT. 
 
 was pleased to make me the son of catholic pa- 
 rents. For although my father was born and 
 bred in the midst of the errors of Calvinism, 
 yet, through the influence of divine grace, and 
 the exhortations both in person and by letter 
 (many of which are in my possession) of John 
 Gontier, a pious and learned man of the order 
 of Jesuits, he submitted to the authority of 
 the church, and renounced the fatal doctrines 
 which he had imbibed. Nor was he cold in 
 the cause of the religion to which he was a 
 convert ; for he had diligently studied the con- 
 troversies relative to the defence of the catholic 
 faith, and greatly interested himself in them 
 for the purpose of extending the boundaries of 
 the catholic church. And when his mother, 
 from whom he had derived his erroneous opi- 
 nions, was attacked by a severe disease that 
 brought her life into imminent danger, the 
 prayers of this excellent person for his parent's 
 salvation, and his urgent exhortations, were so 
 efficacious as to bring her to a sense of the truth ; 
 and renouncing the doctrines of her nefarious 
 sect with her dying voice, she calmly slept in 
 Christ. When this event was made known to 
 Gontier, overjoyed that the person whom he 
 
 had
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 5 
 
 had converted to the true religion was able to 
 confer the same benefit on others, he thought 
 it proper that the transaction should be made 
 public and handed down to posterity. By his 
 own efforts and those of his friends the con- 
 version was celebrated in a collection of Greek, 
 Latin and French verses, to which was sub- 
 joined an elegant eulogy of the life and vir- 
 tues of this respectable woman. These, as a 
 perpetual memorial, my father caused to be 
 engraved on a marble tablet placed over her 
 tomb in the church of St. John at Caen. In 
 the same temple he afterwards built a chapel 
 for himself and his posterity, fenced in with 
 an elegant screen, provided with a splendid 
 service of sacred vestments, and endowed with 
 an annual stipend, in which he directed his 
 own body and that of his wife to be deposited 
 after their decease. He likewise was induced 
 by his piety and fondness for divine worship, 
 to add to the simple and customary chants of 
 the church, musical accompaniments and sym- 
 phonies with instruments ; and he gave to the 
 church and consecrated to pious uses the mu- 
 sical instruments which he had purchased for 
 his own amusement, music being an art of 
 
 which
 
 6 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 which he was a great lover and a skilful prac- 
 titioner. He was also an elegant dancer, and 
 was considered as so well versed in this art, 
 that once when a splendid ballet was in pre- 
 paration at Caen, and he was confined to his 
 bed with a slight illness, the dancers came to 
 him, and constituted him the spectator and 
 sole judge of their intended exhibition. He 
 had likewise exercised himself in poetry, and 
 found Apollo not unpropitious, both in his 
 juvenile prolusions, and his more serious com- 
 positions for the theatre. Nor, if the cour- 
 teous reader will excuse a son perhaps too 
 fondly dwelling upon the actions of his father, 
 shall I omit to commemorate another office of 
 Christian piety performed by him towards the 
 father Carmelites of the house of Caen. When 
 the whole cloister of their ruinous monastery 
 had fallen to the ground through age, and the 
 occupiers, obliged to poverty by their vow, 
 were without funds for the repair, my father 
 lent his timely aid, and took upon himself the 
 care of the whole business, and in great part 
 that of defraying the expense. Nor was this 
 religious order unmindful of the benefit ; for 
 they expressed their gratitude by engraving 
 
 the
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 7 
 
 the arms of our family in different parts of the 
 wall of the cloister. These and various other 
 examples of deserving well of the church, 
 might have been suggested to me by my pious 
 parent, had not the allurements of the world 
 drawn my attention to other objects. 
 
 I was held at the sacred font by a person of 
 opulence and one of the first consequence in 
 Caen. On the next new-year's day -he made 
 me a splendid present a silken bonnet deco- 
 rated with heron's plumes fastened by a circlet 
 of o-old studded with diamonds. To this he 
 
 O 
 
 added a belt embroidered with gold, from 
 which depended a little sword accommodated 
 to my stature ; and a gold chain, so weighty, 
 that when, at a more advanced age, I walked 
 adorned with it, and swathed in its many coils, 
 I was almost oppressed under the load. My 
 excellent father did not long survive the birth 
 of his children. He was attacked with a 
 dropsy, under which, after trying in vain va- 
 rious remedies, and especially the acid waters 
 of Pouhon, he quietly sunk. The guardian- 
 ship of our persons and properties upon this 
 event was committed to my mother, who, 
 during three years, administered her charge 
 
 with
 
 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 with great prudence. She often took me to 
 the country-house of her sister, my aunt Ca- 
 tharine Pillon ; near to which dwelt a poor 
 woman who became very fond of me, and often 
 invited me into her cottage by caresses and 
 little presents. Once, on running to her house, 
 I found her lying upon the ground by the fire, 
 with her head wrapt up, so that I could scarcely 
 reach her mouth to kiss her. She gently re- 
 pelled my advances, and turning from me, de- 
 sired me immediately to leave her; and not 
 without good reason, for she was labouring 
 under the plague, which carried her off the 
 following night. I escaped the infection, and 
 should be highly ungrateful were I to ascribe 
 this signal preservation to any cause but the 
 immediate protection of God, which I have 
 never ceased to experience from my tender 
 years. 
 
 I had now passed my fifth year, and seemed 
 capable of imbibing something of that first 
 literature, which is, as it were, the infancy of 
 grammar, and is termed by Varro " literatio." 
 At this time we had for a neighbour Alain 
 Aii^te^ a person in holy orders, distinguished 
 for piety and abilities, not void of classical 
 
 learning
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 9 
 
 learning and a talent for poetry, and particu- 
 larly versed in controversial divinity, as he 
 proved by his publications. As my mother 
 had destined him for my domestic tutor, she. 
 committed to him the care of teaching me the 
 elements of letters. I had already made some 
 progress, when our hopes were interrupted by 
 the premature death of my most affectionate 
 mother, who had not reached her fortieth year. 
 This misfortune threw our domestic affairs into 
 such confusion, that there appeared a danger 
 of our being stript of the whole of the family 
 property. But the almighty father and guar- 
 dian of orphans lent us his timely aid, and 
 raised us from our fallen and deserted state ; 
 so that I can truly say of myself with the 
 Psalmist, " My father and mother have for- 
 saken me, but the Lord has taken me up." 
 Our whole kindred was reduced to few per- 
 sons, and these were chiefly solicitous to avoid 
 the trouble of a long guardianship. My pa- 
 ternal aunt was then married to Gilles Mace, 
 who was therefore the presumptive heir of our 
 property in the event of the death of myself 
 and my sisters. u But," says Justinian, " the 
 agnates whom the law calls to the inheritance, 
 
 it
 
 1O MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 it also appoints to be guardians ; because, 
 where is the emolument of succession, there 
 ought also to be the burden of wardship." 
 This Mace was in great fame for his mathe- 
 matical knowledge, and especially for his skill 
 in astronomy, which he displayed in a learned 
 work on the motion of the comet of the year 
 l6l 8, surveyed by him with the help of ac- 
 curate instruments made for the purpose, which, 
 with all his mathematical apparatus, came to 
 me by favour of his son Daniel Mace. I shall 
 not however conceal that Gilles appeared too 
 much addicted to the vanity, or rather the 
 fatuity, of casting nativities. Unmindful of 
 our relationship, and regardless of his duty, 
 thinking all the time lost which was withdrawn 
 from his beloved studies, and dreading the 
 burden of a guardianship which would involve 
 him in other cares, he determined, if possible, 
 to free himself from his office. He therefore 
 repaired to his friends at Paris, where, while 
 he was attempting by their influence to bring 
 his purpose to effect, he fell a victim to disease 
 before he had attained to old age. (1)* 
 
 Whilst the nomination of a guardian in place 
 
 * The figures refer to the notes at the end of each book. 
 
 of
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 11 
 
 of my mother was in agitation, I was taken 
 to the house of Mace, and the care of educa- 
 ting me was committed to my aunt. Near the 
 house was the monastery of the fathers named 
 Porte-Croix or Crucigers, to one of whom I 
 was sent with other boys of family to be in- 
 structed in juvenile learning. But although 
 he was of a mild disposition, and used no se- 
 verity in teaching, yet I well remember that, 
 having hitherto been brought up in a tender 
 mother's embraces, 1 shuddered at the aspect 
 and voice of a stranger, and when several years 
 older, could not help trembling all over at the 
 sound of the bell by which we were called to 
 school. 
 
 In the meantime all our surviving relatives, 
 who were in the degree of legal proximity to 
 our family, assembled at Caen in order to con- 
 sult about our education, and especially to 
 choose a new guardian. To this office a kins- 
 man was appointed, who resided in the district 
 of Pontaudomere, two days' journey from 
 Caen ; a worthy man, and acquainted with 
 business, but whose nomination was a great 
 detriment to our property, on account of the 
 expenses incurred by his frequent journeys, 
 
 and
 
 12 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 and long absences from his own concerns while 
 detained at Caen. An untimely death, how- 
 ever, did not permit him long to execute this 
 office ; and Daniel Mace, the son of Gilles, 
 was appointed in his stead. All our relations 
 concurred in the plan of sending my sisters to 
 Rouen to be educated in a nunnery of Domi- 
 nicans, among whom two of our maiden aunts 
 of distinguished piety had formerly taken the 
 veil. Another aunt, that Catharine Pillon al- 
 ready mentioned, was lately dead. She had 
 been settled in marriage at Caen, and had for 
 some time been a widow, with five sons who 
 were now growing up, and all older than I. To 
 these I was joined as a fellow-boarder and scho- 
 lar. Some of them were attending the public 
 schools ; others, nearer to my age, were taught 
 at home by a worthy priest, well fitted to train 
 young persons in the principles of Christianity, 
 and to form their morals, but altogether illite- 
 rate. For their parts, so averse were they to 
 literary studies, that whenever the days and 
 hours arrived of their attending school, they 
 seemed as if condemned to grind in a mill. 
 Six whole years did I pass in this society, 
 chained down to the rudiments of language. 
 
 Being
 
 HOOK THE FIRST. 13 
 
 Being then grown bigger, though still quite a 
 boy, I was sent to the College of Mont Royal 
 in Caen, and was put under the care of the 
 father Jesuits, the rectors of that college, by 
 whom I was five years instructed in polite lite- 
 rature, and three in philosophy. And had not 
 my preceptors, pleased perhaps with my dis- 
 position to learning, stimulated me by their 
 admonitions and exhortations, whatever there 
 was good in me might have been extinguished 
 by the perversity of domestic example. For 
 when my love for letters had excited the envy 
 of my companions, they did every thing in 
 their power to interrupt me in my studies : my 
 books were stolen, my papers torn, or wetted 
 or greased so as not to bear ink, and my cham- 
 ber door was barred, that whilst they were at 
 play I might not be lurking in my room with 
 a book, as I was frequently detected in doing. 
 When we were in the country during the au- 
 tumnal vacation, it was held as a crime to take 
 a book, and they compelled me to pass whole 
 days in playing, hunting, or walking. In 
 order to indulge rny own taste, it was my cus- 
 tom to rise with the sun while they were buried 
 in sleep, and either hide myself in the wood, 
 
 or
 
 14 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 or seek some thick shade which might conceal 
 me from their sight whilst I was reading and 
 studying in quiet. It was their practice, how- 
 ever, to hunt for me among the bushes, and 
 by throwing stones or wet clods, or squirting 
 water through the branches, to drive me out 
 from my hiding-place. But the more my ef- 
 forts were impeded by the malignity of my 
 fellow-scholars, the more they were urged on 
 by that innate and boundless thirst for learning, 
 which from my birth had so wholly taken pos- 
 session of my soul, that readily conceding to 
 others the glory of letters, if I might claim a 
 superiority in warm and constant attachment 
 to them, I feel that I have a right openly to 
 challenge that degree of merit. And among 
 the benefits which God has with so liberal a 
 hand conferred upon me, I ought to regard 
 this as one of the principal ; since by the in- 
 cessant labours and nobler aims of study, I 
 was without difficulty diverted from those in- 
 temperate pursuits and juvenile excesses, to 
 which a natural vivacity of disposition, and 
 tlie ardour of a temper not easily submitting 
 to controul, afterwards too frequently exposed 
 me. From this unabating love of letters, and 
 
 perpetual
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 15 
 
 perpetual occupation in my studies, besides 
 innumerable other advantages, I have derived 
 this benefit, which alone 1 regard as of the 
 highest value, that I have never felt that satiety 
 of life, that weariness with all its objects, of 
 which other persons are so often heard to com- 
 plain ; and that the loss of time has of all 
 losses ever appeared to me the greatest, which 
 I have attempted to repair by incessant dili- 
 gence and exertion. 
 
 I recollect that while I was a mere child, as 
 yet untaught my letters, when I heard any 
 one read stories in a book, I felt a vast desire 
 of acquiring this faculty, thinking that I should 
 be perfectly happy if I were able to amuse 
 myself in the same manner by my own powers, 
 and without foreign aid. Afterwards, when I 
 was able to read, but not to write, if I saw any 
 one opening and reading a letter, I thought of 
 the great pleasure I should enjoy if I could 
 in like manner converse with an absent friend. 
 By such desires my appetite for study was 
 sharpened, so that I used to devise arguments 
 for obliging me to enter upon new objects of 
 instruction. This disposition did not escape 
 my preceptors, who encouraged my puerile 
 
 ardour
 
 l6 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 ardour during the five years' course through 
 the lower schools, either by little presents, or 
 by prizes to be contended for. One of them 
 contracted so tender an affection for me, that 
 when I had accidentally received at play a se- 
 vere wound of the head from a stone, he was 
 so much alarmed at the news of my danger, 
 as to be immediately attacked with an illness 
 that brought his life into great hazard. With 
 such encouragements I might easily disregard 
 the envy and malice of my associates. This 
 noble college of Caen, the theatre of my ju- 
 venile exercises, has therefore always been 
 dear to me; and whenever I have had an oppor- 
 tunity of revisiting it, I have received great 
 delight from the view, which seemed to make 
 me young again, and recalled the memory of 
 my past years. 
 
 What Augustine (Confess, lib. 1. c. 13.) has 
 recorded of himself relative to his aversion to 
 Greek literature in his early studies, occurred 
 also to me ; but becoming at length sensible of 
 the utility of that language, I employed all 
 my industry in repairing my deficiency. My 
 great passion, however, at this time was for 
 poetry, which agitated my mind like inspira- 
 tion ;
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 17 
 
 tion ; and the highest literary attainment ap- 
 peared to me to be the faculty of pouring out 
 verse at pleasure upon every topic, with less 
 regard to elegance and correctness than to fa- 
 cility and copiousness. And as I found all 
 classical poetry interspersed and seasoned with 
 the fables of antiquity, I set myself the task 
 of learning them thoroughly ; nor could any 
 one of my companions be readily found who 
 was better furnished with this kind of know- 
 ledge. Perhaps this happy disposition for 
 poetry might have produced good fruits, had 
 it not been depraved by the management of 
 an injudicious preceptor under whose care I 
 was then placed. Making me lay aside Virgil, 
 Ovid, Horace, and the other best guides to 
 Parnassus, to the imitation of whom I ought 
 then especially to have been stimulated, he put 
 into my hands certain light and ignoble poets 
 of modern times, Italians and Belgians ; in- 
 genious, indeed, and witty, but who sought 
 commendation from points and unexpected 
 turns of sentiment, in compliance with that 
 false taste, which by degenerating from the 
 majestic simplicity and chastity of ancient 
 poetry, had extinguished the genuine grace 
 VOL. I. c and
 
 18 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 and dignity of verse. My juvenile fancy, 
 caught by these brilliancies, as with a new play- 
 thing, was easily perverted from the right way, 
 and did not recognize its error till taught by 
 maturer age to distinguish these sophisticated 
 and meretricious charms from natural beauty. (2) 
 At eight years of age I received the sacra- 
 ment of confirmation from John Peter Camus, 
 bishop of Bellei, venerable for the sanctity of 
 his life, his genius, eloquence, and the number 
 of his writings, whom, a long time afterwards, I 
 succeeded in the abbacy of Aulnay. (3) In 
 the course of my ninth year I was attacked 
 \\ith the puerile diseases termed small-pox 
 and measles. I call them puerile, though ex- 
 perience, especially of these late years, has 
 
 proved them to belong to every age*. 
 
 ***** * # * 
 
 When I first began to study at the col- 
 lege of Caen, 1 had for a fellow-scholar Ber- 
 
 O J 
 
 nardine Gigault de Bellefonds, who was after- 
 wards 'a marshal of France. His domestic 
 
 * Here follow in the original three or four pages, re- 
 specting the Latin names and antiquity of these diseases : 
 which, as being wholly digressive, and superficial, it has 
 not been thought necessary to translate. 
 
 tutor
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 19 
 
 tutor at that time was Brebeuf, a poet of 
 an elevated genius, who subsequently acquired 
 a great name by his vernacular translation of 
 Lucan ; and though I was yet a boy, in conr 
 sequence of my passion for poetry I could rea- 
 dily perceive that his mind was by no means 
 of an ordinary rank. (4) I therefore fre- 
 quently questioned him respecting the excel- 
 lence of the ancient poets, and endeavoured to 
 discover his opinions, that I might form my own 
 upon them. I could not, however, acquiesce in 
 the contempt he expressed for Virgil, and the 
 preference he gave to Lucan above him and all 
 the other poets of antiquity. We have since 
 seen Peter Corneille, the $rst of French dra- 
 matic writers, under the influence of the same 
 delirium ; as we learn that Francis IVJaJherbe, 
 second to none of our countrymen in lyric poe- 
 try, was infatuated with the noise and rattle .of 
 Statius ; so true it is, as J have elsewhere often 
 experienced, that there .are fewer sound judges 
 of poetry than estimable composers in it. (5) 
 About the same time 1 had the fortune to 
 see another man distinguished by the amenity 
 of his genius, and the charms of his poetry : 
 this wasoJohn Francis Sarasin, who came to 
 c 2 attend
 
 20 MEMOIRS OF HUfiT. 
 
 attend the funeral of his father, one of the 
 company of treasurers of France at Caen. I 
 looked up to him with eager eyes, as one who 
 was rising to distinguished celebrity. (6) 
 
 My sisters Maria and Susanna, being now 
 marriageable, were taken from the society of 
 their Dominican aunts, and restored to their 
 aunt at Caen. A few years afterwards they 
 were very respectably matched, and Maria be- 
 came the mother of several children, from 
 whom proceeded a numerous progeny: Su- 
 sanna had only one son, who died young. 
 
 Havingat length completed my course of belles 
 lettres, and appearing fit to commence that of 
 philosophy, though as yet not past my thir- 
 teenth year, I was freed from the mischievous 
 society of my cousins, and to my great advan- 
 tage removed to the board and tuition of An- 
 tony Halle, regius professor, a man of pro- 
 found learning, and of great fame for the po- 
 etical talent which he displayed in some pro- 
 ductions published towards the close of his 
 life. He was likewise distinguished for his ac- 
 curate knowledge of geography, on which he 
 more than once lectured publicly in the uni- 
 versity of Caen. With this science 1 was en- 
 tirely
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 21 
 
 tirely unacquainted, not having as yet been 
 taught its first elements ; but Halle would not 
 suffer one whom he saw ardently desirous of 
 acquiring other branches of knowledge to re- 
 main shamefully ignorant of this, and under- 
 took both by public and private instruction to 
 initiate me in it. By means, therefore, of his 
 daily and domestic conferences, I not only re- 
 ceived a valuable accession of learning, but 
 was freed from many errors imbibed in my 
 childhood. To this favour he added a singular 
 kindness, or rather parental love towards me, 
 which he retained to the latest hour of his ex- 
 istence. For while he was just breathing his last, 
 calling to him William Pyron a learned man 
 by whom Claudian has been illustrated with 
 an excellent commentary, he said, " No one, 
 my friend, is so well acquainted as yourself 
 with the affection I have ever borne during life 
 to Huet: I desire therefore you will signify 
 to him that even in death I was mindful of our 
 ancient friendship, and that I earnestly re- 
 quested of him that he too would persist, as 
 he has hitherto done, in cherishing and hold- 
 ing it sacred." With these words he quietly 
 expired. I have obeyed his injunction, and 
 
 shall
 
 24 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 shall certainly continue so to do as long as life 
 remains.- 
 
 At the time that I was placed under the 
 care of Halle, he was rector of the Sylvan col- 
 lege (Du Bois) in the university of Caen ; in 
 which rhetoric was then taught to a great con- 
 flux- of auditors by Antony Gosselin, from 
 Amiens, regius professor of eloquence, and 
 pastor of 'the parish of the blessed Virgin at 
 Caen. This person was well acquainted with 
 Greek and Roman literature, and had been 
 long and deeply engaged in the investigation 
 t)f Roman antiquities, ; within the limits of 
 which it would have been for his reputation if 
 he had con-fined nfinself. For when he ex- 
 tended his research to the relics of Gallic an- 
 tiquity, and wrote a bbok -upon that topic, 
 though to some ignoradt judges he appeared 
 to have fulfilled his -object, he afforded scope 
 for censure to the learned, and especially to 
 that adept in rare and recondite literature, 
 Bochart ; who, in a letter full of erudition ad- 
 dressed to Moisant de Brieux, marked him 
 with an indelible brand. (7) 
 
 At that period I entered upon the study of 
 philosophy under the direction of Peter Mam- 
 
 brun,
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 23 
 
 brun, of the society of Jesus, who, after having 
 taught rhetoric with great applause during four 
 years at Paris, came to occupy the philoso- 
 phical chair at Caen, thus calmly reposing 
 himself in the bosom of the noblest study. (8) 
 On becoming his disciple I acquired his notice 
 and affection, and he resolved to bestow pe- 
 culiar pains in forming me. In consequence, 
 he called me to him during the vacation of the 
 schools, and privately acquainted me that he 
 intended to treat me as Plato formerly did his 
 
 */ 
 
 disciples^ whom, by a law openly promulgated, 
 and fixed upon the school doors, he excluded 
 from his auditory, unless they had previously 
 imbibed a tincture of geometry. 
 
 When, under the eye of Mambrun, I had 
 gone through the six first propositions of the 
 first book of Euclid, I was obliged to leave him 
 and go into the country. But even this slight 
 taste of geometry had inspired me with such 
 a longing after the acquisition of so admirable 
 a science, that I spent days and nights in 
 studying it, and almost looked with contempt 
 upon the pursuits which hitherto had given 
 me so much pleasure. Nor did I, indeed, pay 
 so much attention to philosophy as its dignity 
 
 and
 
 24 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 and importance demanded, whilst every thing 
 appeared inconsiderable to me in comparison 
 with geometry. Mambrun, the author of the 
 mischief, vehemently disapproved this pre- 
 judice, which he endeavoured to obviate by 
 frequent admonitions, telling me that I acted 
 ( preposterously in despising philosophy in com- 
 parison with geometry, since the latter was 
 to he studied only for the sake of the former, 
 But his representations effected nothing more 
 than to make me dissemble my passion tq 
 him, and allot somewhat more time to philo- 
 sophy, my course of which I completed in the 
 customary two years. 
 
 About that time there arrived at Caen a 
 company of Dominicans devoted to a more 
 austere rule, for the purpose of restoring to 
 its pristine strictness the relaxed discipline 
 of the order in that town. With the spirit 
 of piety displayed^ in this new form, I was 
 so much captivated, that I became ex- 
 tremely desirous of being admitted into the 
 society, and made an earnest request for that 
 purpose to the superior, a man of primitive 
 sanctity of manners. He did not discourage 
 the design ; but the whole city was very in- 
 dignant,
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 25 
 
 dignant, suspecting that I had been fraudu- 
 lently enticed by these friars ; and some per- 
 sons waiting on the superior,- made use of se* 
 rious menaces should they persist in inveig- 
 ling an incautious youth by their artifices, - 
 for this, though erroneously, they supposed to 
 have been the case. My own relations, affec- 
 tionately, yet pertinaciously, detained me a sort 
 of prisoner in their houses; and thus was ob- 
 viated a design undertaken, as I supposed, on 
 the divine suggestion. And although it ap- 
 peared to many to have been a movement of 
 juvenile levity, and even to myself, after I had 
 been persuaded by the unanimous solicitations 
 of my friends to lay it aside, yet I might re- 
 cognize in it the voice of the Almighty, gra- 
 ciously calling me to himself from the vanities 
 and pollutions of the world For even from 
 early childhood I was conscious of no obscure 
 wishes to enter into the service of Christ ; and 
 J frequently felt the sparks of this pious de- 
 sire bursting forth in my soul, which were re- 
 pressed by a vivacious disposition, obnoxious 
 to the light inclinations and futile blandish- 
 merits of the world ; until at length conquer- 
 jpg Grace threw the rein over my reluctant 
 
 spirit,
 
 26 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 spirit, and entirely subjected it to its own do- 
 minion. (9) 
 
 I was then admitted to the pious fraternity 
 instituted in the Jesuits' college of Caen for 
 celebrating the praises of the blessed Virgin 
 Mary ; as it was in the other houses of that 
 society. For, as Mambrun was its president, 
 I thought it right to follow the same guide in 
 the paths of heaven, who had led me through 
 the course of my studies. 
 
 Being now become through advancing years 
 more wary, and a more capable estimator of 
 things, although 1 by no means repented the 
 labour I had bestowed on geometry, yet I was 
 rendered sensible of the injury I had sustained 
 by the neglect of philosophy, concerning 
 which it was said by the ancients, that no gift 
 more excellent had been, nor would be, con- 
 ferred by the Gods upon mankind. Revolving 
 this sentence in my mind frequently, and not 
 without compunction, I thought the best way 
 of repairing the loss would be to return to the 
 goal, and again run through the philosophical 
 career. For I considered that I had not yet 
 passed my sixteenth year ; whereas the greater 
 part of the ancient philosophers, whose fame 
 
 survives
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 2/ 
 
 survives to the present day, engaged in the 
 science late in life, and almost in old age. I 
 was further swayed by the authority of Mam- 
 brun, whose affection for me daily increased. 
 When i disclosed to him my purpose of renew- 
 ing my philosophical studies, lie tenderly em- 
 braced me, and assured me that he not only ap- 
 proved of it, but had intended to recommend the. 
 same thing to me ; " but," he added, " on the 
 condition that you remove from your sight all 
 books relating to mathematics." Although 
 this seemed to me a hard stipulation, yet I 
 acquiesced in it, and for a time laid aside all 
 my geometrical and astronomical apparatus. 
 I then began diligently to apply to philo- 
 sophy ; nor did 1 derive a small advantage 
 from my former studies, however slight, 
 especially from the admirable method of in- 
 vestigation practised by geometricians. But 
 while I was eagerly following this track, Mam- 
 brim himself, who had again brought me to it, 
 induced me to forsake it and resume my 
 mathematical studies. He represented to me 
 that it was just I should reap some fruit from 
 the great labour 1 had bestowed on these pur* 
 suits; and that he thought it would be pro- 
 per
 
 28 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 per to propose some splendid disputation in 
 which I might publicly respond on all the 
 parts of this noble science ; that he had 
 satisfied himself with respect to my ability, 
 and did not doubt that I should acquit myself 
 with credit. I acceded to the opinion of one 
 whom I thought better acquainted with me than 
 I was with myself. The disputation was held 
 before a great circle of the inhabitants of Caen, 
 who were extraordinarily pleased with the 
 novelty of an exhibition, nothing similar to 
 which had yet been known in a place to which, 
 however, learning was not a stranger. 
 
 In the vast field of mathematics which I 
 had opened to myself, Mambrun procured 
 me a moderator and guide in Erad Bile, a 
 Lorrainer of his own society, who was then 
 professor of moral theology at Caen. This 
 person possessed consummate knowledge in 
 the abstruse sciences, which was concealed 
 under a veil of singular modesty. He dili- 
 gently exercised me in this course of study; 
 and the excellent instructions of such a mas- 
 ter would have enabled me to make great pro- 
 gress, had not his pious ardour for the conver- 
 sion of the American tribes, led him to em- 
 bark
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 2$ 
 
 bark on a mission, in which he perished by 
 shipwreck. (10) 
 
 George Fournier of the same order, who 
 manifested his skill in these sciences by an ex-- 
 cellent work on hydrography in the vernacu- 
 lar tongue, and by other writings, was also with 
 us at that time, and I derived much advantage 
 from his acquaintance, (ll) Nor was I less 
 profited by the society of Peter Gautruche, the 
 companion of Fournier, a man of extensive 
 erudition, who enriched the republic of letters 
 with various works, especially relative to po- 
 lite literature. (12) 
 
 At this period Descartes published the 
 principles of his sect ; and as, during the three 
 preceding years, I had given my attention to 
 philosophy, and was abundantly furnished with 
 the dogmas and precepts of this science, I felt 
 an ardent desire to become acquainted with 
 the opinions of this writer. I could not rest 
 till I had procured and thoroughly perused 
 his book ; and I cannot easily express the 
 admiration which this new mode of philoso- 
 phizing excited inmyyoung inind,when, from 
 the simplest and plainest principles, I saw so 
 jaiany dazzling wonders brought forth, and 
 
 the
 
 SO MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 the whole fabric of the world and the nature 
 of things, as it were, spontaneously springing 
 to existence. In fact, I was for many years 
 closely engaged in the study of Cartesianism, 
 especially when I beheld so many grave and 
 learned men in Holland and Germany at- 
 tached to it as by a kind of fascination; and I 
 long wandered in the mazes of this reasoning 
 delirium, till mature years, and a full examina- 
 tion of the system from its foundations, com- 
 pelled me to renounce it, as I obtained demon- 
 strative proof that it was a baseless structure, 
 and tottered from the very ground. (13) 
 
 Mambrun, having at length completed his 
 philosophical course of lectures at Caen, went 
 to repeat the same at Paris for four years 
 more ; and was then sent to la Fleche, where 
 he passed the remainder of his life, about nine 
 years, in teaching theology, though worthy of 
 a more illustrious auditory. He amused his 
 leisure hours with poetical exercises, and pub- 
 lished some excellent productions in this 
 walk, which will never cease to be esteemed 
 by the genuine votaries of the Muses. Our 
 friendship was not in the least diminished by 
 distance and absence, which we alleviated by 
 
 a fre-
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 31 
 
 a frequent epistolary correspondence. I could 
 not forbear, however, to pay him occasional 
 visits at la Fleche, as if 1 had foreseen that it 
 would riot be long before a premature death 
 would snatch him from me. But the memory 
 of our delightful intercourse has ever remained 
 fresh in my mind, and shall continue so while 
 I live ; and I concur with the poet in wishing 
 that the earth may lie light upon those, 
 
 Qui praeceptorem sancti voluere parentis 
 Esse loco j Juvenal. 
 
 and who regard a preceptor as " a real parent, 
 not, indeed, of the body, but of the mind." 
 Quint il. 
 
 I was now, according to the usual custom, 
 called to the study of law, and I found that 
 part of Roman wisdom which relates to the 
 decisions of the learned, and the sanctions of 
 laws, highly agreeable to me, But on the 
 other hand I was invited to resume the pur- 
 suits of general literature and antiquities, by the 
 Sacred Geography of Samuel Bochart, which 
 then began to be published at Caen. (14) 
 By this rich store of Hebrew and Greek litera- 
 ture, I was not only rendered sensible of my 
 
 own
 
 32 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 own poverty, but was made ashamed of it; sol 
 that I adopted the resolution to abstain froiri 
 all other studies until I might be reckoned 
 not altogether uninformed in these. I recol- 
 lected to have read in the celebrated epistle 
 of Joseph Scaliger to Dousa(l5) that being 
 entirely ignorant of these languages at the 
 age of nineteen, he learned them under no 
 other master than himself. I certainly might 
 say the same with respect to myself, having 
 formed the grammar of the Hebrew tongue 
 from the analogy I discovered in the Mosaic 
 books, and afterwards applied it to the con- 
 jugation of the verbs and extraction of their 
 roots. And when, relying upon Scaliger's 
 veracity, I hoped to conquer the Greek lan- 
 guage at the first onset, and to learn all Homer 
 in one-and-twenty days, and devour all the 
 other Greek poets in four months, I found by 
 my own experience that this was one of the vain 
 boasts, of which many are scattered through- 
 out the works of this highly learned and in- 
 genious man, but who was too much addicted 
 to self-praise. My plan was to begin with 
 Homer, and then to apply diligently to the 
 perusal of the other Greek poets, with the aid 
 
 of
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 33 
 
 of the ancient scholia, which are authentic 
 sources of all fabulous history ; after which I 
 undertook the historians, among whom, find- 
 ing Thucydides somewhat crabbed, 1 laid him 
 aside for a time, till I should be able, with the 
 assistance and advice of Petau, to overcome 
 his difficulties. 
 
 After I conceived myself to have acquired 
 a competent knowledge of the Greek lan- 
 guage, 1 determined to make trial of my pro- 
 ficiency, by translating from the Greek into' 
 Latin some author of whom I was not possessed 
 of any version. The pastoral tale of Longus 
 was of this kind, which I rendered into Latin, 
 little suspecting how much the impurity and 
 licentiousness of that author, whom 1 had 
 never before read, might contaminate the 
 morals of youth. Of this Bochart was equally 
 ignorant, whom I consulted about my design, 
 which he did not disapprove. 
 
 I was not, however, so much absorbed by 
 my love of Greek literature as to neglect the 
 Hebrew, to which I devoted some stated hours 
 every day. At length I grew dissatisfied with 
 this slack mode of proceeding in a study so 
 important as that of the Holy Scriptures ; and 
 
 VOL. i. D some
 
 34 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 some years afterwards (in l68l) repeated it 
 with greater exertion. And from that period, 
 during thirty years, no day has passed in which 
 I have not spent two or three hours in this 
 study, either perusing the sacred volumes, or 
 turning over the writings of the Rabbins, di- 
 verted by no obstacles either of travelling or 
 business ; so that I have at this time read 
 through, from the beginning to the end, all the 
 Hebrew books of the divine law, four-and- 
 tvventy times. 
 
 Since I have begun to give an account of my 
 studies, I shall here add, that I have reason 
 to be highly grateful to God for his singular 
 favour, in framing me so, that not only during 
 the vigorous period of youth, but down to my 
 present state of senile debility, no protraction, 
 of study by day or night, no want of exercise 
 in a sedentary life, has ever given me a sense 
 of fatigue or languor ; but I have always, after 
 six or seven hours without intermission spent 
 over my books, arisen from them fresh and 
 cheerful, sometimes even in high spirits, sing- 
 ing to myself and the Muses, in contrast to so 
 many others, who leave study sunk and ex- 
 hausted. I cannot therefore concur with the 
 
 medical
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 35 
 
 medical tribe in their general maxims, that 
 the corporeal powers are debilitated by rest and 
 invigorated by motion. How many literary 
 men have we known who have reached ex- 
 treme old age with a sound constitution ? 
 When I was a young man I frequently visited 
 the most learned James Sirmond, who had then 
 arrived nearly at a century, with a cumbrous 
 indeed, and inactive, but healthy body ; and I 
 usually found him sitting among his books, 
 rarely going out of doors, and taking no other 
 relaxation than that arising from conversation 
 with such of his friends as came to him, if it 
 can be termed relaxation to hold discourse 
 upon serious and literary topics. (16) How 
 many decrepit, yet sound, old men do we see 
 attached to the courts of law, or passing their 
 days in the uniform tenor and pious tranquil- 
 lity of a cloister < how many sedentary arti- 
 sans ? on the other hand, how many field-la- 
 bourers, huntsmen, travellers, grooms, fencing- 
 and dancing-masters, and others, whose whole 
 occupation consists in motion, do we behold 
 broken down before their time by perpetual 
 toil and exercise, and dragging on to age a 
 weak and powerless frame ? (17) 
 
 p 2 Meanwhile
 
 36 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 Meanwhile my attention was engaged by 
 that "Sacred Geography" of Bochart, which had 
 for some time been passing through the press ; 
 and while I compared this inexhaustible store 
 of sacred and profane erudition with my scan- 
 ty and inconsiderable stock, it was a real aX- 
 y$ov oppotrwv, (pain to the eyes) and made 
 me much dissatisfied with my penury. I then 
 thought if I were to wait upon the author, and 
 contract an intimacy with him, I might de- 
 rive some fruit from his abundance, and ob- 
 tain assistance from his advice or communica- 
 tions. Nor was I deceived in my hopes : he 
 received me with liberality and kindness, and 
 a friendship was speedily commenced between 
 us. But as at that time the controversies con- 
 cerning Christian doctrine between the Ca- 
 tholics and Calvinists, of the latter of whom 
 Bochart was a minister, were carried on with 
 peculiar warmth ; lest those of my persuasion 
 should entertain suspicions of the soundness of 
 my faith, it was agreed between us that I 
 should pay my visits with caution, and for the 
 most part by night, and without witnesses. (18) 
 Although I can positively assert, that during a 
 familiarity of so many years, not only no dis- 
 putation,
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 3'f> 
 
 putation, but even no conference, concerning 
 controverted points of doctrine ever took place 
 between us, as we both studiously avoided it. 
 Once only, when in Germany we were survey- 
 ing the pictures hung up in the Lutheran 
 churches, we touched upon the question of 
 the worship of images, but slightly, amicably, 
 and without any contention. Nor did he ever 
 make any objection to my observations on 
 Origen when I sent them for his examination, 
 though there are many chapters in them con- 
 nected with those controversies. It was not till 
 long after, that our minds being exasperated 
 by causes hereafter to be related, we disputed 
 concerning Origen's opinion on the Eucharist 
 and the invocation of angels, and, indeed, 
 keenly and in earnest. But as this controversy 
 is before the public, I shall here say nothing 
 more of it. 
 
 When Bochart saw me at a very early age 
 ardent in the study of Greek literature, and 
 frequently questioning him respecting the 
 ancient Greek writers, or communicating to 
 him my observations upon them, he spurred 
 the willing steed, and strongly exhorted me 
 to undertake the history of Grecian learning, 
 
 and
 
 38 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 and form a series of the authors in this lan- 
 guage; that what Gerard Vossius had laudably 
 performed with respect to the historians, might 
 be effected by me with respect to the other 
 Greek writers : a vast work, of great time and 
 labour, but useful and almost necessary ; 
 which, however, I had rather see in the hands 
 of another than in my own. 
 
 I thus resigned myself to an entire inti- 
 macy with Bochart, and the whole train of 
 my studies depended upon his advice ; and as 
 he had received an invitation from Christina, 
 queen of Sweden, I resolved upon being the 
 companion of his journey. But before I enter 
 upon the narrative of this expedition, it is 
 proper that I should commemorate some excel- 
 lent persons, joined with me in friendship, 
 and especially those who by their learning and 
 merits enhanced the literary glory of Caen. 
 Among these was Stephen Cahaignes, a re- 
 lation of the other Cahaignes, who not inele- 
 gantly composed the eulogies of the illustrious 
 natives of Caen. Among the letters of Joseph 
 Scaliger, I would particularly recommend to 
 notice that which he wrote to this James 
 Cahaignes, a physician of Caen, after he had 
 
 receive^
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 3 
 
 received from him a very polite letter, together 
 with a curiously embroidered purse, for which 
 kind of work Caen was formerly much cele- 
 brated. This little present James Cahaignes 
 sent to Scaliger, by the hand of Stephen, when 
 he went to Holland for the purpose of prose- 
 cuting his studies. On his i-eturn to Caen, 
 he also was incorporated into the college of 
 physicians, and became my friend and medical 
 adviser. I frequently heard him relate from 
 memory entertaining anecdotes respecting 
 Scaliger. He said, that as soon as the purse 
 above mentioned was brought to him, and ex- 
 posed on the table to the view of the by-stand- 
 ers, the consort of the prince of Orange came 
 to pay a visit to Scaliger, who presented her 
 with the purse. As Cahaignes possessed some 
 skill in painting, he requested permission of 
 Scaliger to take his portrait in colours : this 
 he readily granted, and I have seen the pic- 
 ture he made, which is not unlike the com- 
 mon ones of that learned man. In the fol- 
 lowing year, when Scaliger died, Cahaignes was 
 applied to, to assist in the funeral solemnity. 
 For when the office of bearing the pall was to 
 be committed to four persons of family, two 
 
 noble
 
 49 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 noble Frenchmen were joined to two noble 
 Dutchmen for that purpose, because Scaliger 
 was French by birth and Dutch by residence. 
 Cahaignes also purchased some books at the 
 Scaligerian auction, marked in various places 
 with marginal notes in Scaliger's own hand, 
 of which he granted me the use, and they were 
 afterwards presented to me by his worthy 
 son. (19) 
 
 My literary wealth was likewise augmented 
 by some epistles written in French by Scaliger 
 at different times to James Dalechamp of 
 Caen, when the latter practised medicine at 
 Lyons. (20) At his death his relations were 
 heirs to his property, and whatever remained 
 of it was brought to Caen. Through their 
 kindness these letters of Scaliger came into 
 my possession ; together with some of Cujas 
 (21) written in Latin and Greek with great 
 elegance, and, what may seem more extraor- 
 dinary, with great facility, as by one in a care- 
 less mood, and engaged in other things. I 
 likewise received some valuable books, bearing 
 manifest tokens of the hand and learning of 
 
 O 
 
 Scaliger, from the liberality of Stephen le 
 Moine, which he had purchased at the auction 
 
 P
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 41 
 
 <*f Heinsius's library. Among these was the 
 first edition of his work, " De Emendatione 
 Temporum," containing an infinite number of 
 corrections, notes, and additions, afterwards 
 engrafted into the posterior editions. 
 
 About this time there flourished at Caen 
 two eminent Grecians, Louis Touroude, of 
 Rouen, and James le Paulmier de Grente- 
 mesnil de Vandeuvre. The latter had a hap- 
 py talent for Greek verse, to which he gave 
 the taste and flavour of antiquity, and ani- 
 mated with the fire of youth even at an ad- 
 vanced age. Of this kind is a piece " On 
 Fowling for Woodcocks," which he addressed 
 to Bochart on sending him a brace of those 
 birds ; and another in which he celebrated the 
 birthday of the Dauphin. He also composed 
 readily in Greek prose. I recollect that at 
 Vandeuvre, whither I had gone to visit him, 
 he read me a pleasant narrative in Greek, in- 
 terspersed with Attic salt, and not devoid of 
 the elegance of ancient Greece, in which, now 
 an old man, he commemorated his juvenile 
 amours. At this time he was employed on 
 his great work " Graeciae Veteris Descriptio," 
 |p which his studies were chiefly confined. 
 
 But
 
 45 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 But as it ran out to length, and he was advan- 
 cing in years, I strongly advised him to lay 
 aside a work which he was never likely to 
 complete, aiid give to the world his numerous 
 learned and acute observations on authors in 
 both the ancient languages, whereby he would 
 confer a great benefit on students, who were 
 much interested in the preservation of the 
 marginal emendations and explanations of 
 obscure passages with which his books were 
 filled. This advice, which he at first neg- 
 lected, he afterwards in part adopted. I can- 
 not here refrain from relating an unheard-of 
 and almost incredible exploit of this person, 
 who, when nearly in a state of decrepitude, 
 passing his time chiefly in the country with 
 the rustic noblesse, once thought himself in- 
 sulted by a rude and petulant young man, and 
 challenged him to single combat ; the result of 
 which was, that by his courage and dexterity 
 he compelled his antagonist to beg his life and 
 deliver up his sword. There was at that time 
 at Vandeuvre another James Paulmier, the son 
 of the former James's brother. He was a 
 youth of an elegant turn of mind, and possessed 
 of a talent for extempore verse, which was so 
 
 natural
 
 .BOOK THE FIRST. 4$ 
 
 natural to him that his sportive effusions were 
 scarcely equalled by the elaborate efforts of 
 other poets. (22) 
 
 At this very time, Touroude, whom I have 
 mentioned, seeing that scarcely any hope re- 
 mained of the completion of Paulmier's vast 
 and arduous work, himself undertook the de- 
 scription of ancient Greece. And conceiving 
 that he should not be able to acquire an ac- 
 curate knowledge of objects from the mereper-r 
 usal of ancient monuments, without an ocular 
 inspection of the shores, rivers, mountains, and 
 ruins, he took a voyage to Greece, where he 
 visited many celebrated spots, examined re- 
 mains of antiquity, measured distances, and 
 took notes of every thing that he thought 
 likely to be of use to him. He returned laden 
 with riches of this kind, and had already made 
 a commencement of his work, and had shown 
 me descriptions, prepared for the press, of 
 Illyricum, Epirus, Peloponnesus, and Achaia, 
 which I advised him, as if presaging the event, 
 to publish singly, leaving the remainder to 
 another time. For after his death, his heirs 
 seized upon all his treasury of manuscripts, 
 Jx>oks, and papers, and, rejecting the offers of 
 
 booksellers
 
 44 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 booksellers to print his description "of Greece, 
 rather chose that the fruit of so many labours 
 and vigils should perish, and the memory of 
 their kinsman should be defrauded of its me- 
 rited glory. He was, indeed, a person tho- 
 roughly skilled in Greek literature, and I con- 
 fess to have greatly profited by my frequent 
 and almost daily intercourse with him. But 
 as he was an extremely fastidious estimator 
 of the performances of others, if 1 ever made 
 an attempt in Greek verse, and submitted 
 it to his judgement, he bent his brows, .and 
 plainly dissuaded me from aspiring to the imi- 
 tation of the ancients till 1 had strengthened 
 my powers by long and assiduous exercise. 
 Out of patience with this contempt, and con- 
 scious, perhaps too confident, of my skill, I 
 composed two Greek epigrams, to which I 
 added two of an early, and two of a middle 
 age; and having written them out without any 
 regard to order of date, I carried them thus 
 mingled to Touroude, proposing to him the 
 trial of distinguishing mine from the rest, in 
 order to display his boasted perspicacity. He 
 unwillingly undertook the task, in which he 
 had the misfortune to fail ; for of my two epi- 
 grams,
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 45 
 
 grams, he judged one to be ancient, and the 
 other of a middle age. Thus he was caught 
 by me nearly in the same manner that Scaliger 
 had formerly been deluded at Rome by Mu- 
 vetus ; who presented to this dictator of the 
 critical art an epigram written by himself, as 
 if copied from an ancient manuscript ; when 
 the great man was so convinced of its antiquity, 
 that he could scarcely be made sensible of the 
 fraud. (23) 
 
 Another of my intimates was James Grain- 
 dorge'de Fremont, at that time eminent atCaeii 
 for the study of Roman antiquities and numis- 
 matics ; a person of elegance, urbanity, and 
 acuteness ; whose eulogy I have made public 
 in another work inscribed to his brother An- 
 drew, the rival of his virtues, and also my friend. 
 The latter had practised physic during twenty 
 years at Narbonne, when, upon the untimely 
 death of his brother James, he was obliged to 
 return to his native province and family. For 
 many years we were very agreeably associated ; 
 for he was extremely conversant in the philo- 
 sophical studies, to which I was so much ad- 
 dicted, and especially in physics ; and was 
 also not alien from the study of antiquities, 
 
 particularly
 
 46 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 particularly of old coins and medals, of which 
 he had collected a great quantity in the Nar- 
 bonnensian province, and brought to Caen. 
 James had not entered upon Greek literature, 
 and Touroude and I frequently admonished 
 him of the loss he thereby sustained. But al- 
 though by repeated exhortations we urged him 
 to the study of this language, assuring him 
 that he would find the pains bestowed upon it 
 well repaid, yet he was so averse to labour 
 that he chose rather to remain without the 
 benefit, than to take upon himself a new task. 
 At length our perpetual reproaches induced 
 him to shake off his indolence and become 
 ashamed of his ignorance ; and he set himself 
 to redeem his past negligence with so much 
 vigour, that he added this branch of learning 
 to his former acquisitions. I recollect employ- 
 ing his example to stimulate two great men to 
 undertake the study of Greek literature : one 
 of these was that consummate general of our 
 times, Louis Bourbon prince of Conde, who 
 to his various learning added a profound 
 knowledge of Roman antiquities ; the other 
 was the duke of Montausier, well exercised in 
 the daily perusal of the Latin authors. Both 
 
 of
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 4 ? 
 
 of them, however, were diverted from such an 
 attempt by other cares, nor could they easily 
 bring down their minds to the study of gram- 
 mar rules. Fremont had relapsed into his 
 constitutional indolence, when he was impor- 
 tuned by the academy of Caen to investigate 
 and transmit to posterity the antiquities of our 
 native place ; a task which I myself did not 
 undertake till he had absolutely declined it, 
 alleging as a reason, that all the ancient re- 
 cords of Caen were destroyed either by pil- 
 lage in the English wars, or by fire, and that 
 no memorials of antiquity had survived ; 
 whereas, on the contrary, I asserted that this 
 very ignorance of remote events, and destruc- 
 tion of public records, was a part of the re- 
 quired history; and that he who should fully 
 ascertain it, would at least know that nothing 
 
 * o 
 
 more could be known, and that a further re* 
 search would be mere lost labour. Of this, 
 Fremont was indeed perfectly sensible, and 
 he coincided with me in opinion ; but he 
 wished to throw a false colour over his laziness, 
 and was used jocularly to excuse himself by 
 the Italian adage, " that i$ is a heavenly thing 
 to do nothing." 
 
 Hitherto
 
 4S MfififOlRS OF HUET. 
 
 Hitherto the love of letters had taken such 
 hold of me, that although a disposition to 
 piety, fostered by my preceptors, had struck 
 tolerably deep root in my mirtd from child- 
 hood, yet, trampled down by the constant 
 course of profane studies, and deprived of the 
 celestial dew afforded by a frequent recourse 
 to the holy sacraments, they had nearly 
 withered. The evil was increased by the ex- 
 ample of my young companions, who, being 
 carried away by the pleasures and amuse* 
 ments of the world, and the pursuit of human 
 praise, easily drew me in to be the associate of 
 their manners and errors. I therefore fre- 
 quented the circles of men, and especially of 
 women, to be a favourite of whom I regarded 
 as the surest proof of politeness. In this view 
 I omitted nothing that I thought necessary to 
 ingratiate myself with them ; such as care of 
 my person, elegance of dress, officious and 
 frequent attendance upon them, amatory 
 verses, and gentle whispers, which feed the 
 insanity of love : practices which I have with 
 too little reserve displayed in a metrical 
 epistle addressed to Menage, well known to 
 the public. (24) 
 
 On-
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 4$ 
 
 On the other side, my guardian, perceiving 
 the fervour of my youth beginning to subside, 
 and that it was time to inure me to bodily 
 exercises, took me to the schools for fencing, 
 dancing and riding, to which last art he was 
 himself much addicted. As a dancer I was 
 always awkward and unskilful ; but in fen- 
 cing and riding I became so expert as to ex 
 cite the envy of my companions, and even of 
 the masters. For my agility was so great, 
 that I could leap up to whatever place I 
 could touch with my hand ; and in run- 
 ning, left all at a distance behind me ; and 
 such was my strength of limbs, that sitting on 
 the ground with two very strong men, they 
 holding a stick on one side, and I on the other, 
 they were unable to wrench it from me or to 
 stir me from the place. 
 
 From childhood I had learnt the art of 
 swimming, without a master and without 
 corks, but accidentally. For being, like other 
 boys, accustomed in the hot weather to bathe 
 several times in the day for the sake of cool- 
 ness, it once happened that I ventured into a 
 stream without first trying its depth, and im- 
 mediately sunk to the bottom ; when being 
 
 VOL. i. E roused
 
 80 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 roused to the utmost esertio&i by the urgency 
 of the darker, I smuggled so hard with my 
 hands and feet as to raise /myself to the surface 
 of the water ; and having thus discovered that 
 I possessed a faculty with which 1 was before 
 unacquainted, I swam across a deep river on 
 that very day. From that time, by frequent 
 practice I acquired such a proficiency in this 
 art, that I was able to dive to the bottom of 
 the deepest streams, and take up oysters from 
 the ground, so that none of my companions 
 were reckoned to surpass me in this respect. 
 
 Having thus passed the early years of my 
 life, on the entrance upon my twenty-first, 
 according to the custom of Normandy, I was 
 made my own master, and was at length 
 released from the authority of a guardian 
 by whom I had been rigorously treated, and 
 even so illiberally with regard to money 
 matters, that I was obliged to borrow of 
 rny friends to defray my juvenile expences. 
 This kind of parsimony, though apparently 
 intended to augment the pupil's fortune, I 
 can by no means approve ; as calculated to 
 break the spirits of youth, and tempt them 
 to sordid practices and unworthy arts for the 
 
 supply
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 51 
 
 scpply of their wants. Being now in easier 
 circumstances, I began to entertain new de- 
 signs ; and especially I felt a vehement inclina- 
 tion to visit Paris, as well on account of the 
 celebrity of the city, as through a curiosity to 
 see those distinguished characters in the literary 
 republic who were already known to me by 
 their works and reputation ; but most of all 
 for the purchase of books, without which my 
 studies must have languished, or even have 
 "been entirely suspended. I therefore flew 
 thither with great alacrity ; and with greater, 
 to the 'booksellers' shops, i found however 
 all the fund I 'had destined to that purpose, 
 presently exhausted ; a circumstance that 
 often ^happened to me in the sequel ; for what- 
 ever sums, by sparing from -my pleasures, 1 
 was able to scrape together*, were all sunk 
 among the booksellers of St. Jacques ; so that 
 my purse, during my youthful years, was 
 usually in a very exhausted state. On the other 
 liand, my library was so much augmented that 
 'no other in our district equalled it either in 
 num'ber or choice of volumes. Jn selecting 
 them, my principal object was to become pos- 
 sessed of all the ancient writers, paying little 
 E2 or
 
 53 MEMOIRS CF HUET. 
 
 or no regard to elegance of bindings, whether 
 in parchment or Morocco leather, which nicety 
 I left to the luxury of financiers and farmers 
 of the revenue. Being also conscious that I 
 had collected books not for idle ostentation, 
 but for my own use, I cared little about 
 keeping them unsoiled ; but if during the 
 perusal any thing occurred to me worthy of 
 noting, either by way of emendation of 
 the text, or understanding of a passage, I 
 marked it in the margin. One idea, however, 
 greatly disturbed me, which was, that a library 
 formed by so much labour and expence, .the 
 dearest solace and food of my mind, would 
 hereafter be dispersed, in alleys and upon 
 booksellers' stalls, and come into the hands of 
 the ignorant vulgar. As my feelings recoiled 
 from such a prospect, I resolved to obviate 
 the evil, as I afterwards did in the manner 
 that will be mentioned. 
 
 Nor were my frequent journeys and long 
 residences at Paris useful to me only in the ac- 
 quisition of books ; for upon my visits there I 
 made it my business to introduce myself to 
 those eminent and excellent men, whose singu- 
 lar erudition had raised them to so high a de- 
 gree
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 53 
 
 gfee <*f reputation ; especially Sirmond, Petau, 
 Labbe, Vavasseur, Rapin, Cossart, and Com- 
 mire. Sirmond was now turned of ninety ; 
 yet he remitted nothing of his ardour for 
 study, and devoted this extremity of life to 
 writing and commenting. He was besides 
 possessed of uncommon courtesy and elegance 
 of manners, as one whom you might recog- 
 nize to have been long conversant both in the 
 pontifical and royal courts. Although I had 
 heard much of his urbanity, my reception 
 from him surpassed my expectation ; for al- 
 most immediately after our first interview 
 he opened to me his soul and his cabinet, and 
 favoured me with the soundest advice for the 
 direction of my studies and the forming of 
 my manners. He likewise wrote to me in 
 my absence the most agreeable letters, and I 
 should have derived great pleasure and emo- 
 lument from our intercourse, had it not soon 
 after been broken off by his unexpected and 
 almost sudden death*. 
 
 Dennis Petau was of a more reserved cha- 
 racter, and bore an aspect of seriousness and 
 
 * See Note 16, B. l. 
 
 severity,
 
 54 MEMOIRS OF UET. 
 
 severity, which, however, softened upon ha- 
 bitual acquaintance. By my assiduity and at- 
 tentions I so well ingratiated myself with him, 
 that although he was then closely engaged ia 
 his immense work of "Dogmata theologica," 
 in which he recalled theology from the frivo- 
 lities and fetters of the schools to the open 
 fields of the ancient church, trodden by the 
 feet of the Fathers, yet he descended without 
 reluctance to the lighter cares of my studies, 
 and seemed in them almost to renew his for- 
 mer years. And as I was then engaged upon 
 Thucydides, who, in many parts of his work, 
 and especially in his speeches, lias obscure 
 passages, which, as Cicero formerly remarked, 
 are scarcely intelligible, whenever any thing of 
 this kind occurred to me, I immediately applied 
 to Petau, as to the Pythian tripod ; and he 
 seemed really to take pleasure in my bold in- 
 trusion, and readily submitted to the loss of 
 his valuable hours. (25) 
 
 With the other persons above mentioned I 
 formed a close intimacy, and especially with 
 Kapin and Commire, both distinguished for 
 their poetical talents. The literary merits of all 
 these have been made known to the world by 
 
 the
 
 600K THE tflRSTV 55 
 
 the productions of each in his respective walk. 
 For towhom is unknown thatvast ocean of learn- 
 ing Philip Labbe, or what branch of literature 
 has he left unexplored ? (26) His fame might 
 have been equalled, or perhaps surpassed, by 
 that of Gabriel Cossart, had not the latter, with 
 a- happy genius, been impatient of labour and 
 wasteful of his time, whence he lost in glory 
 all that he remitted in study. He was particu- 
 larly celebrated for an extemporaneous oration 
 with which, in some academical dispute, he on 
 the instant replied to the contumelious decla- 
 mation of a certain famous professor, sharply 
 and clearly confuting him amidst the applauses 
 of a numerous audience of the leading mem- 
 bers of the Parisian academy. (27) Francis 
 Vavasseur, who chiefly confined himself to 
 poetical composition, was distinguished as a 
 lever of pure diction, and a searcher after the 
 elegances of the Latin language, which he pur- 
 sued with so much attention to correctness, 
 that whilst he aimed at the praise of a skil- 
 ful grammarian, he was stigmatized as a tame 
 and- spiritless poet. I was, however, attached 
 to the man, and possessed so much of his affec- 
 tion, that he made me the principal partaker 
 
 and
 
 56 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 and arbiter of the fruits of his lucubrations. (28) 
 Neither did Rapin and Commire expatiate 
 much further beyond the bounds of poetry. 
 The French compositions of Rapin are slight, 
 as he came to the task slenderly furnished 
 with the learning requisite for such topics. 
 But his verses are full of amenity and sweet- 
 ness, and the product of a facile and favouring 
 Muse ; though they are not marked with that 
 poetic fire and enthusiasm without which 
 Democritus denied that a poet could deserve 
 the epithet of great. The recollection of this 
 excellent person is a source of much pleasure 
 to me; I received singular kindnesses from 
 him, and, as long as he lived, paid him the 
 most respectful attention. (29) The verse of 
 JohnCommire possessed more vigour with equal 
 facility ; for he was capable even of extempora- 
 neous effusion ; and I have sometimes seen him, 
 by way of amusement, and, according to the 
 phrase, standing on one leg, pour out verses as 
 it were from a spring-head. (30) 
 
 J also received great pleasure from finding 
 here Steplien Agard de Champs, a native of 
 Bourges, likewise of the order of Jesuits, and 
 conspicuous for having passed through all its 
 
 dignities,
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 5 J 
 
 dignities, whom I had formerly known as 
 teaching rhetoric in the college of Caen. 
 Besides a majestic person, he was endowed 
 with a fine understanding, cultivated by liberal 
 studies, and a memory comprehensive and te- 
 nacious almost beyond belief, which he had so 
 much improved by art and exercise, that after 
 a great number of words had once been recited 
 to him, he was able to repeat them all exactly 
 in the same order, to the astonishment of the 
 hearers. He acquired particular consideration 
 in his fraternity during the Jansenist contro- 
 versies, by a work published under the name 
 of Antoine Ricard, in which he undertook to 
 prove that Jansenius had borrowed his doc- 
 trines from Calvin. (31) In the society of 
 learned men with which I was become ac- 
 quainted, a distinguished place was occupied 
 by John Gamier, who had made himself 
 known by several writings, and was afterwards 
 much more famed for his edition of Marius 
 Mercator, a writer who in the age of Augustine 
 vigorously attacked the heretical dogmas of 
 Pelagius and Nestorius. It would be a culpa- 
 ble omission were I to pass over in silence the 
 sedulous aiid valuable assistance he afforded me 
 
 when
 
 5$ MEMOIRS O IIUET. 
 
 when I was to draw up the history of Origen, 
 and arrange according to exact chronological 
 order all the circumstances relative to that 
 writer. (32) 
 
 Nor must I omit to notice those illustrious 
 literary characters out of the limits of this so- 
 ciety, with whom at this period I contracted a 
 friendship. Among these the principal were 
 the brothers Peter and James Du Puy, whose 
 name, ennobled by the virtues of their ancestors, 
 and especially by their own r is of itself an 
 eulogy. In addition to the most agreeable man- 
 ners, they were adorned with exquisite learn- 
 ing, particularly Peter, the spirited vindicator of 
 the dignity of the French empire, and the com- 
 munities of the Gallican church. The rich trea- 
 sures ofthe royal library being committed to their 
 custody, they were daily visited by many eminent 
 B3en,from whose learned conversations I received 
 great delight, especially after the noble pair 
 of brothers had introduced me with their kind 
 recommendations ; so that without any efforts 
 ef my own, and beyond my deserts, I found 
 Myself admitted to the friendship of these di- 
 stinguished persons, and saw my name inscri- 
 bed in thtir listau. (33) Among' these, Francis 
 
 Guyet
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 
 
 Guyet was highly esteemed for his poetical 
 talents : he was a votary of sound antiquity, a 
 rival of the ancient bards, nor indeed much 
 inferior t,o them, even though the venerable 
 rust of early Rome might be wanting ; so much, 
 did he flatter the ear with his rotundity of 
 phrase and harmony of numbers. He also 
 cultivated and practised the critical art, but 
 too licentiously, assuming so much authority 
 in deciding on the writings of the ancientSj 
 that he seems almost to commit an assault upon 
 them. I have seen a Virgil which he used to 
 read, with marginal emendations written by 
 his own hand: in these, such immoderate 
 liberties were taken, and the original was so 
 foully disfigured, that if the poet had been 
 published in this form you might have sought 
 Virgil in Virgil. (34) 
 
 I was also very intimate with Ismael 
 Boulliau, who then lived with the Du Piiys ; 
 nor when we were afterwards separated by my 
 return to Caen and his continuance at Paris, 
 did we intermit the offices of friendship ; for 
 we frequently interchanged letters, in which 
 I acquainted him with the progress of my 
 studies, and he gave me information of all that 
 
 was
 
 66 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 was going on among the learned. In 
 commerce we were by no means upon equal 
 terms; for what entertainment could be de- 
 rived from a provincial by one who was placed 
 in the very seat of learning, and was himself 
 a stranger to no kind of erudition ? The 
 rank, especially, that he held among the first 
 astronomers of the age, may be estimated from 
 his * f Astronomia philolaica," in which he so re- 
 stored the sidereal science of the ancient Py- 
 thagoreans, long become obsolete, that he may 
 be regarded as its founder. His geometrical 
 knowledge was sufficiently displayed by his 
 commentary " De lineis spiralibus;" his phi- 
 losophical, by his edition of Ptolemy's treatise 
 Ilfp/ Kptryptov Ktxt yyspoviKov, with an interpre- 
 tation and notes ; and he abundantly proved 
 his proficiency in polite literature, as well by 
 his familiar conversation, as by his letters to 
 numerous correspondents. (35) 
 
 On my arrival at Paris there was no one 
 with whom I formed a closer connexion than 
 Gabriel Naude, who had long been known to 
 me by his reputation, and more by his 
 writings. At this time he had the direction of 
 the Mazarin library, which he had collected 
 
 with
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. l 
 
 with great labour in many journeys through- 
 out Europe, and had brought to such an 
 extent, that it was equalled by none in France, 
 with the exception of the Royal library. Yet 
 not long after, amidst the civil tumults, it was 
 put up to auction and dissipated. In the 
 mean time, whilst I was expending more in 
 the purchase of books than my fortune allowed, 
 Naude brought me to reason, favoured me 
 with his advice and assistance, and in a friend- 
 )y manner admonished me to be on my guard 
 against the craft of booksellers. (36) 
 
 Not long before, there had arrived at Paris 
 a sister's son of Luke Holstein, Peter Lam- 
 becius of Hamburg, who of late years has me~ 
 ritoriously presided over the imperial li- 
 brary at Vienna, of which he has published 
 a very valuable catalogue. As soon as he 
 reached Paris, he edited critical lucubrations to 
 illustrate Aulus Gellius, and introduced him- 
 self to Naude. As we were both in the habit 
 of coming thither, I contracted an acquaint- 
 ance with him, which ripened into a firm 
 friendship through the mediation of Naude ; 
 who was so much pleased with observing two 
 young men attached to solid literature, that 
 
 he
 
 62 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 he often invited us to his rural retreat, amd 
 seemed to renew his youth in our company. 
 When I passed through Hamburg ^ome years 
 Afterwards, I would not leave it without sa- 
 luting my friend Lambecius. by whom I was 
 liberally entertained, and presented with his 
 'estimate work "De-onginibns Hamburgensi- 
 fcas." <37) 
 
 Durivrg tftie time I spent at Paris in aug- 
 menting my library, on returning home in the 
 evening and surveying my treasures, I was 
 particularly attracted by the "Dogmata theo- 
 log'ica" of Petati, lately published, and in high 
 reputation with the learned. As I knew, 
 loved, and greatly esteemed the author, the 
 dignity of the subject, the clearness of the 
 style, and the interspersed 'erudition, engaged 
 my attention for whole ni girts. Bat while I 
 examined by my own scales the arguments 
 which he brought in proof of his doctrines, 
 if any of them seemed to me to be deficient in 
 weight, my faith in the doctrine itself was 
 shaken, as I imagined that nothing more cer- 
 tain could be adduced in its defence than what 
 had been the result of the deliberate research 
 of so great a man. This rash opinion, pro- 
 ceeding
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 63 
 
 ceeding from juvenile levity, impaired my for- 
 mer convictions respecting some of the tenets 
 of our holy religion, and the reverence with 
 which I had hitherto regarded it ; nor did I 
 recover from this morbid state, until, my 
 mind being illuminated by brighter rays from 
 Heaven, the clouds were dispelled, and my 
 faith struck firmer and deeper roots. (38) 
 
 
 NOTES
 
 65 
 NOTES 
 
 TO 
 
 THE FIRST BOOK, 
 
 NOTE (1), PAGE 10. 
 
 VJILLES MACE, born at Caen in 1586, and 
 the son of a man of learning, was an advocate, 
 and obtained applause at the bar : his favour* 
 ke study, however, was mathematics, which he 
 taught publicly in the university of Caen. He 
 wrote verses, which are said "not to have been 
 contemptible." He died at Paris in l&Jf. 
 
 NOTE (2), PAGE 18. 
 
 This is a valuable observation. Modern La- 
 tin poetry having little intrinsic value, the 
 practice of it should be regarded chiefly as a 
 lesson in the language, and as conducing to a 
 true relish of the works of the Roman poets. 
 It should therefore be founded upon imitation 
 
 VOL. i. F of
 
 66 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 of the best models which antiquity has left 
 us; for although such an imitation precludes 
 originality and fetters genius, it attains the 
 end properly aimed at by such compositions. 
 The English scholars have been nicer in this 
 respect than most of those on the continent ; 
 whence, though less copious in their Latin 
 effusions, they have been more distinguished 
 for classical purity. 
 
 NOTE (3), PAGE 18. 
 
 JEAN-PIERRE CAMUS was one of the great- 
 est ornaments of the Gallican church. Though 
 -promoted to the see of Bellei by the favour 
 of Henry IV. before the age of twenty-six, he 
 engaged with all the seriousness of mature life 
 in the duties of his function, and no one could 
 surpass him in zeal and diligence. These 
 qualities, with the strictness of his morals, 
 rendered him a great enemy to the monks of 
 his time, whom he attacked with so much 
 severity in his sermons and writings, that they 
 found it necessary to engage the interposition 
 of cardinal Richelieu. One of his strokes in 
 a sermon preached before the Cordeliers them- 
 selves
 
 NOTES TO BOOK I. (>/ 
 
 selves on St. Francis's day will suffice to show 
 the freedom with which he treated them : 
 " Fathers, admire the greatness of your saint ! 
 his miracles surpass those of the Son of> God 
 himself. Jesus Christ, with five loaves and 
 three fishes, once in his life fed five thousand 
 persons : St. Francis, with an ell of cloth, by 
 a perpetual miracle, daily feeds forty thousand 
 sluggards." In the following lively antithesis 
 he sufficiently displayed his notion of monas- 
 tic vows. " My friends, ( said he, as he was 
 about to begin a sermon, ) a young gentle- 
 woman is recommended to' your charity, who 
 is not rich enough to take a vow of poverty." 
 His taste in writing partook of the grossness of 
 the age, which freely mixed the serious with 
 the ludicrous ; but his piety was solid, and his 
 intentions were pure. After refusing two more 
 considerable bishoprics, and resigning that 
 which he possessed, he retired from the world to 
 an apartment in the hospital of Incurables at 
 Paris, where he died in 1652 at the age of 
 seventy. He is said to have written more than. 
 200 volumes, few of which long survived 
 him. His " L'avoisinement des Protestans avec 
 1'Eglise Romaine " is asserted to have been re- 
 F 3 vived
 
 6'S MIMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 vived in a new dress in Bossuet's " Exposition 
 of the Catholic Faith." One of his pious pro- 
 jects was to gain over romance-readers, by 
 writing for them a number of stories, the in- 
 cidents of which were contrived to inspire a 
 horror of the influence of the tender passion ; 
 but the design appears to have been attended 
 with little success. 
 
 NOTE (4), PAGE 19. 
 
 GEORGE DE BREBEUF, born in ]6l8 at 
 Thorigny in Lower Normandy, was a French 
 poet of considerable talents, though perhaps 
 not of the purest taste. He is said to have 
 laboured under a perpetual fever of twenty 
 years, which may have contributed to that fer- 
 vour and? inflation of style which marked his 
 translation of the Pharsalia, but which was 
 also in part doubtless inspired by the diction, 
 of the original. This vyork was very popular 
 soon after its appearance in 1608, but has lost 
 credit since the taste in French poetry has be- 
 come more correct and refined. It may be ad- 
 ded, that Luran was not an author to be much 
 favoured in the arbitrary reign of Louis XIV. 
 
 Brebeuf,
 
 NOTES TO BOOK I, 69 
 
 Brebeuf, who died at the early age of forty- 
 three, was of a mild and modest character, and 
 seems naturally to have possessed a turn rather 
 to ingenious than sublime writing. His first 
 attempt upon Lucan was a parody of the first 
 book, which he converted into a lively satire 
 upon modern nobility. His Miscellaneous 
 Works contain pieces of verse reckoned pretty, 
 among which are a few of the 152 Epi- 
 grams which he wrote against a woman who 
 painted. 
 
 NOTE (5} 9 PAGE 19. 
 
 In such comparisons as those between 
 Homer and Virgil, the latter poet and Lucan, 
 and others of the like kind, it is generally 
 rather the taste than the judgment that is 
 concerned ; that is to say, individual taste 
 formed by habit or association, which inspires 
 likings and dislikings very different from 
 the conclusions of criticism even in the same 
 person. There might be a perfect agreement 
 in opinion as to the different points of merit 
 in two poets, such as style, ordonnance, inven- 
 tion, &c., and yet the degree of pleasure de- 
 rived from their productions might be ex- 
 
 tremelv
 
 TO MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 tremely different to those who thus agreed, be- 
 cause it arises from circumstances not taken 
 into the comparison. Thus, the high moral 
 and political sentiments of the Pharsalia may 
 give greater delight to one of a congenial mind 
 with the author, than any of the more poetical 
 beauties of the Eneid, and he may therefore, 
 for his own reading, give the preference to 
 Lucan, without allotting him a higher seat on 
 Parnassus than Virgil. This is a distinction 
 to which it is important to attend in estimating 
 different tastes, as it may serve to correct the 
 disposition to dogmatical censure, and incul- 
 cate the spirit of literary toleration. 
 
 NOTE (6), PAGE 20. 
 
 SARASIN, born near Caen in 1604, ranks 
 among the French literati in the class of the 
 lively and agreeable. He was pleasant in soci- 
 ety, welcome to both sexes and to all charac- 
 ters, and well calculated to make his way with 
 the great. He was secretary and favourite 
 of the prince of Conti. Accompanying that 
 prince once upon a progress, as they were 
 passing through a small town, the mayor and 
 
 sheriffs
 
 NOTES TO BOOK I. 7* 
 
 sheriffs came to pay their compliments to 
 his highness, when the orator on the occa- 
 sion had the misfortune to stop short at the 
 end of the first period. Sarasin immediately 
 jumped out of the coach, placed himself by 
 the side of the orator, and went on with the 
 harangue in a style so original and comic 
 that the prince was extremely diverted. He 
 felt, as other wits have done, the burden 
 of being expected always to be witty; and 
 was used to say, " I envy the lot of my attor- 
 ney, who has made his fortune, and without 
 fear of criticism begins all his letters with 
 ' I have received the honour of yours.' " The 
 works of Sarasin are miscellanies in prose and 
 verse, of which the best known is a mock-heroic 
 poem entitled "Defaite des bouts rimes," 
 'meant to ridicule the literary frivolity of 
 rhymed endings, then much in vogue, 
 
 NOTE (7), PAGE 22, 
 
 ANTONY GQSSELIN, a Picard, was educated 
 at Paris, and first obtained 1 a chair in the 
 university of Poitiers, of which, at a very 
 early age, he was made rector. It was on the 
 
 recommen-
 
 73 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 recommendation of the learned Scevole de 
 Sainte Marine that he was invited to Caen. 
 He became principal of the college Du Bois 
 in that university, and died in that charge in 
 1645, being then for the seventh time rector of 
 the university. 
 
 NOTE (8), PAGE 23. 
 
 
 
 The Jesuit MAMBRUN ranks among the 
 principal Latin poets produced among that 
 order, which, especially in France, seems 
 particularly to have aimed at reputation in 
 that walk of literature. He was a close, and 
 apparently a servile, imitator of Virgil, not 
 only copying his diction, but, like that poet, 
 dividing his compositions into Eclogues, 
 Georgics, and an epic poem of 12 books, en- 
 titled " Constantine ; or Idolatry destroyed." 
 To the latter is prefixed a peripatetic disser- 
 tation on the epic, in which he applies the 
 rules of the Aristotelic philosophy as the pro- 
 per laws of poetic composition, laying down 
 this maxim, "Veritas sine Aristotelis philo- 
 sophia ne in Poetica quidem locum habet." 
 That no real poet would ever adhere to such 
 
 rules,
 
 NOTES TO BOOK I. f3 
 
 rules, we may be well assured. The Georgics 
 of this father are metaphorically so named, 
 their subject being the culture of the mind 
 and the understanding. Mambrun was born 
 hi 1600 in the province of Auvergrie, and 
 died at LaFleche in l6b*l. 
 
 NOTE (9), PAGE 26. 
 
 In all countries where there are orders of 
 men devoted to a life of religious austerity, it 
 is common for young persons, especially those 
 who have leisure for study and reflection, once 
 in their lives at least to be inspired with an 
 inclination to enter into such societies; of 
 which the most rigorous are usually preferred, 
 as the most captivating to the imagination, 
 and affording the greatest scope to the passion 
 for doing something extraordinary, which is 
 usually the true source of this propensity. 
 Segrais happily denominated this fever of 
 monachisrn, the small-pox of the mind ; and 
 the abbe St. Pierre affirms that in his youth it 
 was the disease of almost all boys on leaving 
 college. Huet, in the preceding passage, saft. 
 
 ficiently
 
 74 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 ficiently testifies his own opinion of this ima- 
 ginary call, though he thinks it necessary to 
 use a little pious cant in the conclusion. We 
 shall hereafter have occasion to make some 
 further remarks on his devotional character. 
 
 NOTE (10), PAGE 29. 
 
 ERAD BILE, a Jesuit of Lorrain, professor of 
 cases of conscience, or casuistry, in the col- 
 Jege Du Mont at Caen, encountered some se- 
 rious attacks on account of certain propositions 
 which he held concerning simony, and the 
 jurisdiction of the pope, and which were 
 marked with the relaxed and offensive prin- 
 ciples for which his order have incurred so 
 much censure. Among other opponents . were 
 M. Cally, an eminent philosopher, and M. Du- 
 pre of the congregation of the Oratory ; the 
 Jatter of whom pronounced before the univer- 
 sity of Caen in l644, an admired Latin ha- 
 rangue in refutation of his doctrines on those 
 subjects. Pascal, in his Provincial Letters, 
 (Lett, xii.) alludes to the opinion advanced 
 by father Bile respecting simony, which, by 
 
 virtue
 
 NOTES TO BOOK I. 75 
 
 virtue of a distinction, affords such a subter- 
 fuge for the practice of it, that Simon Magus 
 himself might have sheltered himself under 
 the exemption. This father was more unex- 
 ceptionable in the character of a mathemati- 
 cian, in which he acquired a merited reputa- 
 tion. 
 
 NOTE (11), PAGE 29. 
 
 GEORGE son of Claude FOURNIER, professor of 
 law in the university of Caen, notwithstanding 
 the opposition of his father, entered among 
 the Jesuits in 1619. His genius seems to 
 have been turned exclusively to mathematics ; 
 on which account, his order, finding him un- 
 fit for the usual employments of its members, 
 sent him as a spiritual assistant on board the 
 French navy. In this situation he studied 
 navigation with such good effect, that he 
 wrote a work entitled " Hydrographie, con- 
 tenant la theorie et la pratique de toutes les 
 parties de la navigation," 1643, fol. He also 
 composed a description of the maritime coasts 
 of the world, under the title of "Geographica 
 orbis notitia per littora maris et ripas fiu- 
 vioruin ;" and a Description of Asia. 
 
 NOTE
 
 76 MEMOIRS OF IIUET. 
 
 NOTE (12), PAGE 29, 
 
 Of this Jesuit, Huet says, in another work, 
 that he was so formed to literary exercises and 
 college employments that he was fit for nothing 
 else. He wrote some works for students 
 which were useful in their time, but are now 
 forgotten. 
 
 NOTE (13), PAGE 3O. 
 
 RENE DESCARTES, a genius of the first class, 
 worthy to be placed in parallel with the sub- 
 limest philosophers, though led astray from 
 the sober and patient pursuit of truth by the 
 impulse of that very genius which raised him 
 to such distinction, was born in 1596' in Tou- 
 raine, of an ancient family in the order of no- 
 blesse. The history of his mental progress is 
 curious and instructive. Educated in the 
 Jesuits' college of La Fleche according to the 
 usual routine of studies then pursued, he found, 
 on ascending to scientific subjects, more 
 matter for doubt and reflection, than for ac- 
 quiescence. The elements of mathematics, 
 which he imbibed with avidity, gave him 
 
 ideas
 
 KOTES TO BOOK I. 77 
 
 ideas of reasoning very different from that 
 which he saw applied in the dialectics of the 
 schools, and he framed for his own use a logi- 
 cal system, in which he adopted the strict me- 
 thod of the geometricians. He reduced morals 
 to a similar system ; but after much deep spe- 
 culation, and an abode of eight years at La 
 Fleche, he returned to his father's house with 
 the conviction that he as yet had obtained 
 certainty in none of his inquiries. Disgusted 
 with a studious life, he resolved to mix with 
 the world, and view mankind as they are 
 in society. For this purpose he entered the 
 army, and served first at the siege of Rochelle, 
 and afterwards in the army of prince Maurice 
 in Holland. Whilst in quarters at Breda, he 
 answered the public challenge of a professor of 
 Dort, who had fixed up a difficult mathema- 
 tical problem; and brought the solution on 
 the next morning, to the surprise of those who 
 little expected such an effort from a young 
 officer. During his service he joined philosophy 
 with arms, and conversed with men of learning 
 at all the places which he visited in a military 
 capacity. At length he was wearied with 
 a profession so adverse in its general habits 
 
 and
 
 7S MfeMQIRS OF HUfcT. 
 
 and employments to that course of speculation", 
 which, notwithstanding occasional disappoint- 
 ments, was the decided bent of his mind ; and 
 quitting the army at the age of twenty-six, he 
 took up his residence for a time at Paris. He 
 there chiefly pursued mathematical and ethical 
 inquiries, and drew up his very acute and inge- 
 nious dissertation " On the Passions." A tour 
 in Italy for the purpose of improvement em- 
 ployed nearly two years more; after which, 
 his mind still remaining in a sceptical state, 
 he resolved to bury himself for a time in ab- 
 solute retirement, that he might brood in 
 silence and secresy over his great design of 
 framing an entirely new system of philosophy. 
 To choose a free and a Protestant country for 
 this purpose, was natural in one who had so 
 completely shaken off the fetters of authority, 
 and whose first principle in philosophizing was 
 " that a man ought, once in his life, in spe- 
 culation, to doubt of every thing." He went 
 therefore to Holland, acquainting only his in- 
 timate friend Mersenne with the place of his 
 retreat, which was finally Egmond, a pleasant 
 village near Franeker. He had accustomed 
 himself to such a philosophical simplicity of 
 
 living,
 
 NOTES T/0 BOOK 1. 79 
 
 living, that his few wants were supplied by the 
 very moderate funds which he possessed, and 
 during his whole life no man displayed a more 
 honourable disregard of wealth. 
 
 The fruit of his researches appeared in his 
 treatise entitled " Meditationes philosophies 
 de prima philosophia," the work, doubtless, 
 here alluded to by Huet, and which captivated 
 his inquiring mind with such a display of 
 splendid novelties. It would seem as if the 
 author, disappointed in the pursuit of that ma- 
 thematical demonstration in science which 
 was at first the object of his research, had sat 
 down in the spirit of universal scepticism to 
 the indulgence of his imagination in system- 
 building, thinking that where all was guess, 
 the most ingenious and plausible guesses de- 
 served the preference. Such, however, was the 
 pleasure felt by inquisitive and learned men 
 at the substitution of a new philosophy, em- 
 bracing so wide a field of inquiry, and illus- 
 trated by so much real science, to the Aristo- 
 telic doctrines, within the trammels of which 
 the human mind had been so long confined, that 
 Cartesianism soon became a sect in Europe, 
 which numbered among its votaries many distin- 
 guished
 
 80 MLMOIKS OF 
 
 guished names. Descartes was not insensible to 
 the vanity of being the founder of a new sect, 
 and occasionally displayed more ambition and 
 jealousy than was suitable to a philosopher. He 
 metwith numerous opponents, especiallyamong 
 the theologians, who were alarmed at the in- 
 troduction of a new mode of reasoning, and at 
 the principle of doubting of all that could not 
 be proved. Some of the more zealous among 
 them represented his system as a kind of 
 atheism, though the being of a God was one 
 of its fundamental truths, which he derived 
 from an innate idea implanted in the human 
 mind. This system first took root in Hol- 
 land, where it was taught in several public 
 schools. In France it met with many fol- 
 lowers, but encountered violent opposition, 
 especially from his old masters, the Jesuits ; 
 and though he paid some visits to his native 
 country, during his residence in Holland, he 
 found it was no longer a place of abode for 
 him. Cardinal Richelieu, indeed, would have 
 placed him in the circle of learned men who 
 formed part of his court as a patron of letters, 
 but Descartes was not made to be one of such 
 a company. A brevet of a pension was given 
 
 to
 
 &OlilS TO BOOK I; 81 
 
 to him, which proved only a dear piece of 
 parchment, as he never received a livre. At 
 length, Christina, who had read his work on 
 the Passions, and had heard much of his phi- 
 losophy, felt a great desire to see him, and re- 
 ceive his Oral instructions. To the first over- 
 tures, made through the French ambassador 
 Chanut, he replied : " A man born in tha 
 gardens of Touraine, and now retired to a 
 country less abundant, indeed, in honey, 
 but perhaps more so in milk, than the pro- 
 mised land of the Israelites, cannot easily 
 resolve to go and live in the country of bears, 
 amid rocks and ice." He was, however, in fine 
 prevailed upon to comply with the queen's invi- 
 tation, probably flattering himself with being 
 the legislator in philosophy of a whole king- 
 dom, and he repaired to Stockholm in 1649. 
 Christina received him with marks of distinc- 
 tion, but put him to the hard service of giving 
 her lectures in her library at five in the morn- 
 ing in the midst of winter. This violent 
 change in his habits, (for he was always fond 
 of his bed,) with the rigour of the climate, 
 brought on an inflammation of his lungs, 
 VOL, I. c which
 
 82 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 which carried him off four months after his 
 arrival in Sweden, in his fifty-fourth year. 
 
 The system of Descartes, like all those 
 founded upon hypothesis, has passed away ; 
 but the service he did to philosophy by shak- 
 ing to the ground old errors and prejudices has 
 been permanent. His solid reputation as a 
 first-rate geometrician also survives; and he 
 fills a space in the history of philosophy that 
 brings him in immediate contact with Newton. 
 
 NOTE (14), PAGE 31. 
 
 SAMUEL BOCHART, a French Calvinist mi- 
 nister, and one of the most learned men of his 
 time, was born of a good family at Rouen in 
 1599. He was particularly celebrated for Ori- 
 ental literature, which he studied at Leyden 
 under Erpenius and Ludolf. He first rose to 
 distinction among his party by a public dis- 
 putation held at Caen, where he was minister, 
 on the controverted points between the ca- 
 tholics and protestants, with one father Veron, 
 in which he is said to have kept the field. 
 That these polemical contests have no other 
 
 result
 
 NOTES TO BOOK I. 83 
 
 result than that of displaying the powers of the 
 seVeral antagonists, is well known ; but their 
 being permitted by the party possessed of 
 public authority is a proof of a degree of mo- 
 deration, which, however, nothing but the 
 political consequence of the dissidents can se- 
 cure. In France, the reign of Louis XIV 
 put an end to every vestige of equality between, 
 the two religions. 
 
 The " Sacred Geography" of Bochart was 
 divided into two parts, entitled " Phaleg" 
 and " Canaan," and contains a prodigious 
 mass of erudition, with no small mixture of 
 fanciful etymology and chimerical conjecture. 
 He afterwards published " Hierozoicon," or 
 An account of the animals mentioned in Scrip- 
 ture; which would have been a better work 
 had he been better acquainted with natural 
 history. Of his visit to Sweden, the present 
 work gives the best account. It may be added, 
 that Christina seemed to take a pleasure in 
 disconcerting his gravity ; and it is said in 
 the " Menagiana," that she used to make him 
 lay aside his clerical mantle, and play with 
 her at battledore and shuttlecock. Several 
 stories are told of the tricks played him by 
 G 2 Bourdelot,
 
 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 Bourdelot, the French physician ; among the 
 rest, that he assured the queen that Bochart 
 was an excellent performer on the flute, 
 though modesty led him to conceal it ; and that 
 Christina absolutely compelled him to make a 
 trial on that instrument, with which he was 
 utterly unacquainted. Bochart was a man of 
 candour and moderation, and for the most part 
 kept clear of the literary squabbles which dis- 
 graced so many of the learned in his time. 
 
 NOTE (15), PAGE 3 2. 
 
 This epistle, entitled " De Splendore ac Ve- 
 tustate Gentis Scaligeri," in which Joseph Sca- 
 liger supports the imposture advanced by his fa- 
 ther Julius Caesar, of a descent from the princes 
 of Verona, and gives anecdotes of his father's 
 life and his own, is a most curious monument of 
 literary pride and vanity. That, however, he 
 was chiefly indebted to his own assiduity for 
 his knowledge of the learned languages, and 
 the vast fund of erudition which he acquired, 
 is highly probable, though he may have ex- 
 aggerated in the particulars of his early studies. 
 They are given in the following passage: " In 
 
 the
 
 NOTES TO BOOK I. 85 
 
 the nineteenth year of my age, after the death of 
 my father, I went to Paris for the purpose of 
 acquiring a knowledge of Greek. After I had 
 attended for two months upon Adrian Turne- 
 bus, finding that for want of other aids I lost 
 my labour in his learned auditory, I shut 
 myself up in my closet, and became iny own 
 master for what I could not learn elsewhere. 
 Having therefore merely touched upon the 
 Greek conjugations, I went through all Ho- 
 mer with a translation within twenty-one days ; 
 and upon the grounds of the poetic dialect I 
 formed a grammar for myself; nor did I learn 
 any other than that which I deduced from the 
 analogy of the Homeric words. I devoured 
 all the other Greek poets within four months ; 
 nor did I look into any of the orators or his- 
 torians till I had made myself master of the 
 poets. I spent two whole years in Greek litera- 
 ture, when I became bent upon the acquisi- 
 tion of the Hebrew; and though I did not 
 know a single letter of that language, I was in- 
 debted to no other preceptor than myself in 
 learning it." 
 
 NOTB
 
 86 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 NOTE (16), PAGE 35. 
 
 JAMES SIRMOND, a very learned Jesuit, was 
 born at Rioni in 1559. He was many years 
 secretary at Rome to.Aquaviva, general of the 
 order, and employed his advantages in that 
 capital to acquire a profound knowledge of the 
 monuments of antiquity. He was in habits of 
 intimacy with several eminent cardinals, among 
 whom was Baronius, to whom he rendered 
 considerable services in the composition of his 
 Annals. On returning to France he was made 
 confessor to Louis XIII, which post he occu- 
 pied many years with the public esteem. He 
 was the author of many works, chiefly relative 
 to ecclesiastical antiquities, and of several con- 
 troversial pieces, in which he displayed the 
 usual warmth of a polemic, though mild and 
 gentle in society an opposition by no means un- 
 common. He is said, when writing upon a topic 
 of this kind, always to have kept something 
 in reserve for a reply, like the residuary force 
 by which skilful generals often win a battle. 
 His polemical works are not free from the 
 Jesuitical art, of representing as the doctrine 
 
 of
 
 KOTES TO BOOK I. 87 
 
 of the Gallican church what was never really 
 so, but was that of his own -order ; and are there- 
 fore to be perused with caution. This learned 
 veteran lived to his ninety-second or ninety- 
 third year. 
 
 NOTE (17), PAGE 35. 
 
 Huet might have enforced his argument 
 by the greater longevity of women than men, 
 upon the average, though originally of weaker 
 stamina, and more liable to constitutional de- 
 rangement. In advanced age, the necessity 
 of exercise, to persons regular and temperate 
 in their manner of living, is confined within 
 narrow limits, and the human machine, like 
 all others, goes longest with little friction. 
 There are, indeed, certain disorders peculiar 
 to a sedentary life, but for the most part such 
 as do not materially abridge its duration. Many 
 literary men have reached the period of ex- 
 treme old age though much afflicted with 
 that " crux literatorum," the stone and gravel. 
 Against this tormenting malady the best pro- 
 phylactics are moderate walking, copious di- 
 lution, and proper attention to urinary evacu- 
 ation. 
 
 NOTE
 
 88 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 NOTE (18), PAGE 36. 
 
 This is a curious picture of the jealousy of 
 a predominant religious party. Two men of 
 learning could not meet to confer on topics of 
 literature, without exciting suspicions that the 
 sectary was plotting to make a convert of the 
 member of the establishment, or that the lat- 
 ter had spontaneously meditated a change. 
 Huet, indeed, might be the object of particular 
 jealousy, as being descended from protestant 
 ancestors, and having distinguished himself 
 as a young man of large enquiry. Jt is not 
 in catholic countries alone that this disjunctive, 
 principle operates ; I have seen too many in- 
 stances of it, whether through caution or aver- 
 sion, among ourselves. The most truly candid 
 person I ever knew, used bitterly to lament 
 that in a small town the few men of letters 
 could not meet to converse about Homer or 
 Virgil, because they bore different religious 
 denominations. 
 
 NOTE (19), PAGE 40. 
 
 JAMES CAHAIGNES, son of a physician of 
 
 Caen,
 
 NOTES TO BOOK I. S$ 
 
 Caen, followed his father's profession, and set- 
 tled in his native city. He became rector of 
 the university of Caen, and sheriff of the city; 
 which employments he quitted in his advanced 
 years, and devoted himself to literary com- 
 position. His principal work was that men- 
 tioned above, the^ " Eulogies of the Illustrious 
 Persons of Caen," of which he published one 
 century, written in Latin, and consisting solely 
 of persons whom he had known. It displays 
 candour and patriotism, but is diffuse, and 
 frequently digresses into trite moralizing, 
 
 Of STEPHEN CAHAIGNES, a near relation of 
 the former, no more is recordect than what 
 Huet here mentions. 
 
 NOTE (20), PAGE 4O. 
 
 , 
 
 JAMES DALECHAMP, a learned physician, 
 bom at Caen in 1513, distinguished himself 
 as a botanist, and drew up a "General History 
 pf Plants," published after his death in two 
 volumes folio. He gave editions of the medical 
 classics Paulus ./Eginetaand Ccelius Aurelianus, 
 and also of Pliny the Elder, Athenaeus, and 
 $eneca the philosopher ; and appears to have 
 
 been
 
 gO MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 been a man of sound erudition and indefati- 
 gable industry. 
 
 NOTE (21), PAGE 40. 
 
 JAMES CUJAS, a native of Toulouse, was the 
 most celebrated jurist of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury. He taught law at various universities, 
 particularly that of Bourges, with great di- 
 stinction, and elucidated the Roman jurispru- 
 dence in learned writings, which collectively 
 filled five volumes folio. Living at a period 
 of religious contests carried on with great vio- 
 lence and bigotry, he studiously avoided giving 
 his opinion on theological topics ; which has 
 caused him to be charged with indifference 
 with respect to religion, though he seems only 
 to have practised a prudent and justifiable cau- 
 tion. His reply when pressed on these points, 
 "Nihil hoc ad edictum praetoris," (This is 
 nothing to the pretor's edict, ) might fairly be 
 adopted by way of defence against an insidi- 
 ous or impertinent querist, by one who should 
 be questioned concerning matters not con- 
 ne cted with his proper profession. Cujas was 
 open and familiar with his own students, and 
 
 liberally
 
 NOTES TO BOOK I. Ql 
 
 liberally assisted them in pecuniary difficulties. 
 He was a true patriot, and his life is thought 
 by de Thou to have been shortened by the 
 scenes of injustice and disorder which he 
 witnessed. He left a remarkable testamentary 
 direction about his library, ordering it to be 
 sold piecemeal by auction, that it might not 
 fall into the hands of a single purchaser, who, 
 from his marginal notes, might send forth 
 gome crude publication under his name, 
 
 NOTE (22), PAGE 43. 
 
 JAMES LE PAJJLMIER DE GRENTEMESNII,, a 
 gentleman who united in a singular degree the 
 talents of a man of the world, and the spirit 
 of a soldier, with the love of letters, was de- 
 scended from a noble family in Normandy of 
 the reformed religion. He was born in 1587, 
 and losing his father in jnfai)cy, was educated 
 under the direction of his mother and relations, 
 by whose care he was early instructed in clasr- 
 sical literature. He was for some time in the 
 Jiouse of Peter du Moulin at Paris, where, among 
 other masters, he attended upon the learned 
 Casaubon, who gave lectures upon Herodotus. 
 
 He
 
 92 MEMOIRS OF I1UET. 
 
 He afterwards studied the law at Orleans ; 
 and the whole of his youth passed in making ac- 
 quisitions of knowledge from books and travel- 
 ling. At the age of thirty-three he entered into 
 the service of the Dutch in their war against 
 Spain, under the princes Maurice and Henry of 
 Nassau. After the peace he wasliving tranquilly 
 at home; when, taking the part of a gentleman 
 who was oppressed by another, he was attacked 
 by the latter, and obliged to defend himself 
 by force of arms, which he did with so much 
 vigour, that the assailant was killed and his 
 partisans were put to flight. This affair brought 
 him into great trouble, from which he extri- 
 cated himself with honour. He afterwards 
 served his country in Lorrain, at the head of a 
 troop of cavalry, under the duke of Longue- 
 ville, where he signalized his courage in various 
 actions. His journeys to Paris had connected 
 him with many of the first literary characters ; 
 and he spent his leisure time in learned pur- 
 suits at his brother's seat at Vandeuvre. On 
 his brother's death he retired to Caen, where, 
 in advanced years, he married Margaret 
 Samborn, an Englishwoman of fortune, also 
 in the decline of life. He survived her, and 
 
 died
 
 NOTES TO BOOK I. 3 
 
 died at the age of eighty-three, highly esteemed 
 as well for his moral as his intellectual qualities. 
 In a work of M. de Brieux was given an emblem 
 " for M. de Grentemesnil, tormented with the 
 stone, twice cut for it, and suffering other acute 
 pains, in which he died :" it was Hercules 
 on mount Oeta, with the motto " Sic itur ad 
 astra." His " Exercitationes in optimos auc- 
 tores Grsecos," published by the advice of Huet, 
 was printed at Leyden in 1668, quarto. His 
 Description of Greece appeared after his death 
 at Leyden, 1678, edited by his relation, Stephen 
 Morin. 
 
 JAMES LE PAULMIER DE VANDEUVRE, 
 his nephew, a soldier, poet, and man of wit, 
 abjured the reformed religion in presence of 
 Huet, and wrote an ode to the Virgin Mary 
 on the occasion. 
 
 NOTE (23), PAGE 45. 
 
 Louis TOUROUDE, a native of Rouen, was 
 originally designed for the medical profession : 
 but after studying in it for some time, he 
 renounced physic and attached himself solely 
 
 to
 
 94 MEMOIRS QF HUET. 
 
 to literature. He resided much at Caen, near" 
 which he possessed an estate. The disputes 
 concerning grace, then at their height, engaged 
 his attention so much, that, besides reading 
 all the authors on the subject, he travelled into 
 Holland and Brabant that he might investi- 
 gate them at the source. His mind being 
 thus fanaticised by unintelligible speculations, 
 he entertained the idea of retiring from the 
 world, and, according to the received phrase, 
 giving himself entirely to God. After long 
 search for a retreat to his mind, he fixed upon 
 the chartreuse of Val-Dieu, not far from la 
 Trappe: but finding the austerities of that 
 house too much for his years, and probably 
 feeling a diminution of his religious fervour, 
 he returned to Caen, and resumed his literary 
 studies. He then took the exploratory voyage 
 mentioned by Huet, and on his return em- 
 ployed himself assiduously on his Geography 
 of Greece. By way of specimen he printed 
 a few sheets elucidatory of Caesar's campaign 
 against Pompey in Illyricum j but his death 
 at the age of seventy-five prevented the public 
 from reaping any other fruits of his enquiries. 
 
 NOTE
 
 NOTES TO BOOK 1. 
 
 NOTE (24), PAGE 48. 
 
 Nothing costs less to self-love than a con- 
 fession of this kind, in which the writer, under 
 the pretence of acknowledging some youthful 
 frailties, gives views of himself which he knows 
 to be likely to enhance his character in the eyes 
 of the majority of his -readers. The epistle to 
 Menage is here obviously referred to, by way 
 of further information on a topic which he 
 could not decorously dwell upon. 
 
 NOTE (25), PAGE 54. 
 
 x 
 
 This very learned Jesuit, known to scholars 
 by his Latinized name of Petavius, was one of 
 the great ornaments of his order, and in 
 most respects was a model of the true charac- 
 ter of a man of letters. He was born at Orleans 
 in 1580, entered into the society of Jesus at 
 the age of twenty-two, and was long professor 
 of rhetoric and theology in their college of Cler- 
 mont in Paris, where he died in his seventieth 
 year. From childhood to the close of life his 
 great passion was study, to which he sacrificed 
 
 all
 
 $6 AlEiMOIftS OF HOW. 
 
 all prospects of worldly ambition. He refused 
 an invitation from Philip IV of Spain, well 
 knowing that the ignorance and barbarism of 
 Madrid would not suit one accustomed to the 
 lettered politeness of Paris. He also declined 
 a much more tempting invitation to Rome, 
 from pope Urban VIII, who is said to have 
 intended raising him to the cardinalate. His 
 cell at the college of Clermont was the seat of 
 those labours which have conferred celebrity 
 on his name. He was an esteemed poet in 
 Greek and Latin, a critical editor and elegant 
 translator, a profound chronologist, and an ela- 
 borate theologian. His chronological system is 
 given in his great work " De Doctrina Tem- 
 porum," 2 volumes folio, 1627; of which his 
 " Rationarium Temporum" is an abridgment, 
 with a summary of general history. His "Dog- 
 mata Theologica,"in 3 volumes folio, the labour 
 of his advanced years, is a body of dogmatical 
 theology, in which different opinions are stated 
 with fairness. It was, indeed, thought so fa- 
 vourable to the Arians, that the Sorbonne 
 obliged him to correct the mischief in an 
 orthodox preface, which had only the effect 
 of making him appear inconsistent with him- 
 self.
 
 NOTES TO BOOK I. 97 
 
 self. His own society took offence at his re- 
 presentation of the opinions of St. Augustine, 
 and enjoined him to retract; with which he 
 complied, being, he said, "too old to change 
 his lodgings." His style in treating on these 
 abstruse subjects is remarkably pure and per- 
 spicuous. His sedentary habits made him so 
 great a sufferer from the stone, that when 
 his physician, Guy Patin, informed him that 
 his end was approaching, he caused a copy of 
 his Rationarium Temporum to he brought, and 
 presented it to him for his good news. 
 
 There is a good article in the "Huetiana" 
 relative to the style of Petau and his brother 
 Jesuits. "The Jesuits commonly write and 
 speak Latin well ; but their Latinity almost 
 always has the fault of being too oratorical. 
 This proceeds from their being employed at 
 an early age to act as regents in the colleges. By 
 these regencies they are obliged to speak conti- 
 nually in public ; whereby they accustom them- 
 selves insensibly to the use of an uniform and 
 artificial style, elevated above the middle kind. 
 This may clearly be remarked in the letters of 
 father Petau . He always curvets, and never walks ; 
 advances by numerous periods, by studied 
 
 voL k i. H figures;
 
 y8 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 figures ; and never with the admirable sim- 
 plicity of the Epistles of Cicero, who, great 
 as he was in oratory, knew how to lay it aside 
 
 on occasion The letters of Petau 
 
 are in a rounded, measured style: they are a 
 tissue of phrases, a series of periods ; they 
 are shreds of declamations. All his didactic 
 works, his Dogmata, his books on Chronology, 
 his Critical Dissertations, are in this manner. 
 Father Sirmond, though a Jesuit, was able to 
 avoid this fault ; perhaps because he had early 
 quitted the business of the schools, and had 
 passed a great part of his long life in the courts 
 of Rome and France, where he had fashioned 
 his language to the use of the world." 
 
 NOTE (26), PAGE 55. 
 
 PHILIP LABBE, a native of Bourges, was of 
 the order of Jesuits, in the colleges of which 
 he was a professor in various branches. His 
 literary character was that of indefatigable ap- 
 plication : this, with the help of a strong 
 memory, enabled him to publish a great num- 
 ber of books, chiefly compilations, which were 
 useful in their time, though not distinguished 
 
 for
 
 NOTES TO BOOK I. 99 
 
 for taste or accuracy. He is known to Latin 
 scholars of the present day by his work on 
 the quantities of words in that language, en- 
 titled "Eruditas Pronuntiationis Catholici 
 Indices," much used as a book of reference. 
 His other works embrace the subjects of his- 
 tory, antiquities, chronology, geography, gram- 
 mar, genealogy, and bibliography. His most 
 voluminous undertaking was " A General Col- 
 lection of Councils," of which he lived to 
 print 8 volumes folio ; and had prepared some 
 more, which were completed by his friend 
 Cossart. The whole appeared in 1 0*72, in 17 
 volumes folio, Labbe died in 1667, at the age 
 of sixty. 
 
 NOTE (27), PAGE 55. 
 
 GABRIEL COSSART, a Jesuit, born of a good 
 family at Pontoise, was much superior in 
 genius, though inferior in industry, to his 
 associate Labbe, and distinguished himself as 
 one of the best poets and rhetoricians of his 
 order. His " Orationes et Carmina" were 
 published by his brother Jesuit, de la Rue, 
 with a dedication, to the celebrated bishop of 
 H 2 Paderborn,
 
 100 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 Paderborn, the baron of Furstenburg, who 
 had been the patron of Cossart. The volumes 
 of Labbe's History of Councils from the llth 
 to the 17th were compiled by Cossart, who 
 died at Paris in 1674. 
 
 NOTE (28), PAGE 56. 
 
 FRANCIS VAVASSEUR, a native of Parai in 
 the county of Charolois, entered into the order 
 of Jesuits in 162 1. He was professor of the- 
 ology in their college at Paris for thirty-six 
 years, and died in that capital in 1681 at the 
 age of seventy- six. Huet's estimate of his po- 
 etical character is confirmed by other writers, 
 who represent him as more attentive to the 
 purity of words than tbthe force and elevation of 
 ideas. He wrote a treatise upon the Epigram, 
 and three books of compositions of that class, 
 many of which are insipid, as might be ex- 
 pected when the topic is eulogy and not satire. 
 It is certainly not easy to give praise that 
 point which seems almost naturally to form a 
 sting in the tail of a satirical piece. Vavasseur's 
 most esteemed critical work is a treatise "De 
 ludicra Dictione," in which he shews that the 
 
 burlesque
 
 NOTES TO BOOK I. 101 
 
 burlesque style is not authorised by the ex- 
 ample of any Greek or Latin writer. He 
 was the author of several theological works, 
 but of no great importance. One of these 
 is a " Dissertation on the Beauty of Christ." 
 That such a subject should betray him into 
 puerilities, is not to be wondered at. Like 
 many elegant writers in a dead language, he 
 wrote in his mother tongue in a mean and 
 disagreeable style. 
 
 NOTE (29), PAGE 56\ 
 
 RENE RAPIN, a native of Tours, who en- 
 tered among the Jesuits in 1639, and taught, 
 belles-lettres in their schools, acquired a high 
 reputation by his literary productions, and 
 especially by his Latin poetry. His didactic 
 poem on gardens, entitled "Hortorum lib. iv." 
 has been more read than modern Latin poems 
 usually are, and was re-edited by the learned 
 Brotier so lately as 1780. It is accounted 
 truly Virgilian in its diction, and contains 
 many pleasing passages ; but upon the whole 
 is more distinguished for elegance than po- 
 etical spirit, and scarcely raises the author 
 
 above
 
 102 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 above the rank of skilful versifiers. His " Sa- 
 cred Eclogues" are much praised by his bre-r 
 thren ; as well as his heroic, lyric and elegiac 
 poems. It is said that he himself set no high 
 value upon poetry (at least that of others); for, 
 being once appealed to by Santeul and du Pe- 
 rier concerning the comparative merit of some 
 Latin verses which they had written for a 
 wager, and the stakes being placed in his hand, 
 he read them a severe lecture on their vanity; 
 and then, returning to the church which he 
 had just left, he put the money into the poor's 
 box. As a criticj Rapin made himself known 
 by his "Reflexions sur 1'Eloquence, sur la 
 Poesie, sur 1'Histoire, et sur la Philosophic ;'' 
 and also by his " Comparisons " of Virgil and 
 Homer, and other great writers of antiquity. 
 In these works he is said to display taste and 
 good sense, but sometimes to get out of his 
 depth for want of solid erudition. A literary 
 dispute which he had with his brother Jesuit 
 Vavasseur is worth mentioning as a case of con- 
 troversial ethics. He had published without 
 his name some Reflections on the Poetics of 
 Aristotle. Vavasseur, who was dissatisfied with 
 \i\rn on a former account, published some very 
 
 severe.
 
 NOTES TO BOOK. I. 103 
 
 severe remarks upon these Reflections ; and 
 when Rapin complained of this treatment, he 
 replied, that the fault was his own for writing 
 anonymously ; and that if he had known the 
 work to have been his, he would not have at- 
 tacked it. Though this was probably a false 
 pretence, it could not easily be answered. Ra- 
 pin, however, by his interest with the presi- 
 dent Lamoignon, procured the suppression of 
 Vavasseur's Remarks. Certainly, a writer 
 who publishes without his name has no right 
 to expect those regards which his name might 
 inspire. On the other hand, nothing can be 
 more contrary to controversial propriety than, 
 in a reply to an anonymous writer, to address 
 him by his supposed real name, as we have 
 seen sometimes done for purposes of party 
 malignity. Any author has a right, if he 
 chooses, to wear a disguise, provided he does 
 not take the advantage of it to shoot persona- 
 lities with impunity. In such a case it is 
 perfectly fair to drag him to the light, and 
 place him at the bar of the public. 
 
 Father Rapin likewise wrote several works 
 of piety in the manner, and upon the princi- 
 ples, of his order. In private life he was greatly 
 
 esteemed
 
 104 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 esteemed for probity and benevolence, joined 
 to the politeness of one conversant with good 
 company. He died in 1687, at the age of 
 sixty-six. 
 
 NOTE (30), PAGE 56. 
 
 The Jesuit COMMIRE, a native of Amboise, 
 was another considerable name in this poetical 
 fraternity, and has received higher praises from 
 his contemporaries than that of being able to 
 pour out verses " stans pede in uno." He 
 has been said in his Odes to have caught the 
 true lyric strain of the age of Augustus ; 
 and in his Fables, to display the purity and 
 elegant simplicity of Phaedrus. It seems ad- 
 mitted, however, that his manner is generally 
 difiuse and paraphrastic, as might be expected 
 in one whose distinguishing character \vas 
 facility. To poetry he joined theology, of 
 which he was long a professor in the schools of 
 his order. He bore an estimable character 
 for openness and integrity, and mixed little 
 in the affairs of the world. He formed a de- 
 sign of writing a historical work on the wars 
 between France and England, in which he 
 
 made
 
 NOTES TO BOOK I. 105 
 
 aiade some progress ; and the " Memoires de 
 Trevoux" for June 17O4 contain a well- 
 drawn portrait from his hand of the duke of 
 Gloucester. Commire died in 1702, aged 
 seventy-seven. 
 
 NOTE (31), PAGE 5f. 
 
 STEPHEN AOARD DE CHAMPS, born at 
 Bourgesin l6l3 3 entered early into the society 
 of Jesus. He first applied to belles-lettres, 
 and wrote a Latin tragedy, which cardinal 
 Richelieu caused to be represented in his 
 palace. Becoming professor of theology at the 
 Jesuits' college in Paris, he had for a disciple 
 the prince of Conti, son to the prince of Conde, 
 who was destined to the church. He entered 
 deeply into the disputes concerning grace and 
 free-will, and wrote a work " De Haeresi Jan- 
 seniana," which he dedicated to pope In- 
 nocent X. After having been three times 
 provincial of his order, in which he obtained 
 a high consideration, he retired to la Fleche, 
 where he died at the advanced age of eighty- 
 
 eight. 
 
 NOTE
 
 106 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 
 
 NOTE (32), PAGE 58. 
 
 JOHN GARNIER, a learned Jesuit, was bom 
 at Paris in l6l2. He is said to have regarded 
 his entrance into the society as so providential, 
 that every year, to an advanced age, he went 
 on foot, fasting, on the anniversary, to a church 
 two leagues from Paris, to return thanks for 
 the blessing. He was well versed in ecclesi- 
 astical antiquity, and edited, besides the work 
 mentioned in the text, (f Liberati Diaconi 
 Breviarium ;" and " Liber diurnus Romano- 
 rum Pontificum." He also published a very 
 well arranged catalogue of the Jesuits' library 
 in Paris, to the augmenting and methodising 
 of which he had paid great attention. Gamier 
 died in 1681. 
 
 NOTE (33), PAGE 58. 
 
 * . JI'J *;:.- 1-fi A ''./. .'J'..Vi. 
 
 Few private families have deserved better of 
 their country, and of the republic of letters, 
 that than of Du PUY, known to scholars by 
 their Latinised name ofPuteanus. 
 
 The
 
 NOTES TO BOOK I. 10/ 
 
 The first of the name recorded in biography 
 was CLEMENT DU Puy, an advocate in the par- 
 liament of Paris, celebrated for his eloquence 
 and probity, and consulted in all the great law 
 causes of his time. He died in 1548, 
 
 CLAUDE DU PUY, his son, counsellor in the 
 parliament of Paris, was at the same time one 
 pf the most learned men and best critics, and 
 one of the most upright and illustrious ma- 
 gistrates, of his time. When the city of Paris 
 revolted against the king in the time of the 
 League, he quitted it, and joined that part of 
 the parliament which was assembled at Tours. 
 He died in 1594, not long after the reception 
 of the king in his capital, and his own return 
 to his house. Though he published nothing, 
 he was in habits of friendship and correspon- 
 dence with the most eminent authors of his 
 age, many of whom printed eulogies of hin> 
 in different languages. The illustrious de 
 Thou, who was nearly related to his wife, and 
 closely connected with him by congenial 
 studies and virtues, has consecrated his me- 
 mory in his History. 
 
 CHRISTOPHER DU PUY, eldest son of Claude, 
 ivent to Rome with the cardinal de Joyeuse as
 
 108 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 his prothonotary, where he was instrumental 
 in preventing the first part of de Thou's History 
 from being put in the list of prohibited books. 
 He entered among the Chartreux, and died 
 prior of the Chartreuse at Rome. He was pub- 
 lisher of the collection entitled " Perroniana." 
 PETER DU PUY, third son of Claude, and 
 the most eminent of the family, received an 
 excellent education under his father, and from 
 his earliest years displayed a great attachment 
 to literature. His particular studies were law 
 and history ; and his reputation caused him to 
 be employed in stating the rights of the crown 
 of France to the bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and 
 Verdun, possessed by the duke of Lorraine. 
 He was appointed counsellor to the king in 
 his council, and keeper of the royal library ; 
 and in these situations he highly distinguished 
 himself as a zealous patriot, and a friend to 
 men of letters. He became the author of a 
 number of valuable works, chiefly relating to 
 French history, in which he proved himself the 
 warm and able advocate of the rights of the 
 crown and of the Gallican church. He was 
 the particular intimate of his relation the pre- 
 sident de Thou, of whose history he wrote a 
 
 justification.
 
 NOTES TO BOOK I. 109 
 
 justification. He died in l651, at the age of 
 sixty-nine. 
 
 JAMES DU PUY, brother of the preceding, 
 joint-keeper with him of the royal library, and 
 prior of St. Sauveur, was his associate in the 
 composition of his works, and was publisher 
 of the greater part. He died in 1656. 
 
 NOTE (34), PAGE 59. 
 
 FRANCIS GUYET, prior of St. Andrade, was 
 a native of Angers. After having formed con- 
 nections with the literary circles in Paris, he 
 went to Rome, where he acquired the Italian 
 language so perfectly as to be capable of writ- 
 ing elegant verses in it. Returning to Paris, 
 he was domesticated with the duke of Epernon, 
 where he assisted in the education of the car- 
 dinal de la Valette. He undertook a work to 
 prove the derivation of the Latin language 
 from the Greek, but left it imperfect. He 
 wrote marginal notes in many of his classical 
 books, which afterwards came into the hands 
 of Menage. Their value, from the represen- 
 tation of his critical character by Huet, would 
 be dubious ; yet his notes on Terence, Phoe-
 
 HO MEMOIRS OF MUET. 
 
 (trus, and Lucan, have been printed in editions 
 of those authors. He died in 1655, at the 
 age of eighty. 
 
 NOTE (35), PAGE 60. 
 
 ISMAEL BOULLIAU was born in 16O5, at 
 Loudun, of protestant parents. He abjured 
 the reformed religion at the age of twenty- 
 seven, and became a priest; but he seems still 
 to have retained somewhat of the. free and en- 
 quiring spirit of a separatist. On the dispute 
 between the king of Portugal and the pope, 
 who refused to grant his bulls to those whom 
 the king had nominated to episcopal sees, 
 Boulliau wrote two Latin treatises in favour 
 of the Portuguese churches, which had the 
 honour of being condemned by the Inquisition. 
 IJe afterwards, by the direction of the minister 
 of state Lyonne, wrote an excellent treatise, 
 (C On the Reformation of the four Religious 
 Orders of Mendicants, and the Reduction of 
 their Convents to a determinate Number." 
 Boulliau was a man of almost universal litera- 
 ture, attended with singular modesty. He 
 studiously shunned praise, and contented him- 
 
 self
 
 NOTES TO BOOK I, Ill 
 
 self with the simple approbation of those who 
 were judges on the topics in which he exer- 
 cised himself. Towards the close of life he 
 retired to the abbey of St. Victor at Paris, 
 where he died in his eighty-ninth year. 
 
 NOTE (36), PAGE 61. 
 
 GAKRIEL NAUDE was one of the remark- 
 able characters of his time. He was born at 
 Paris in l6oo, and received a literary educa- 
 tion with the purpose of following the medical 
 profession. He studied physic both at Paris 
 and Padua, and took a doctor's degree at the 
 latter university ; but he does not appear ever 
 to have practised in the profession. His re- 
 putation as a man of letters caused him to be 
 engaged as librarian, first by the president de 
 Mesmes ; then by cardinal Bagni, with whom 
 he resided several years at Rome ; and finally 
 by cardinal Mazarin. The latter conferred 
 upon him two small benefices. Queen Chris- 
 tina at length gave him an invitation to her 
 court, which he could not refuse ; but, like 
 most of the French who accepted her offers, 
 he found the climate of Sweden so ill-suited 
 
 to
 
 112 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 to his habits and constitution, that he soon left 
 it, and died at Abbeville, on his return, in 1653. 
 Naude was a man who had set himself free 
 from various prejudices, and thought for him- 
 self. Guy.Patin, in one of his letters, gives a 
 striking picture of the philosophical liberty 
 in which he .loved to indulge. He tells his 
 correspondent, that M. Naude, cardinal Ma-* 
 zarin's librarian, had invited Gassendi and 
 himself to spend the night with him at Gen- 
 tilli, on the condition that there should be no 
 other company, and that they three should 
 have a debauch together. " But," says he, " God 
 knows what a debauch ! M. Naude never 
 drank wine in his life; Gassendi is in such de- 
 licate health that he has left it off; and I drink 
 very little. It will, however, be a debauch, 
 but a philosophical one ; since, being all three 
 cured of the fear of bugbears, and liberated 
 from the disease of scruples, that tyrant of con- 
 sciences, we may possibly approach very near 
 to the sanctuary." 
 
 One of the most distinguished of Naudc'a 
 numerous writings was meant to obviate a 
 prejudice at that time far from being extin- 
 guished : this was 'his " Apologie pour les 
 
 grands
 
 NOTES TO BOOK I. t!3 
 
 grands Personnages faussement soup9onnes de 
 Magie." In the records of biography there 
 are many instances of the charge of magical 
 practices brought against persons distinguished 
 for talents and knowledge superior to those of 
 the age in which they lived ; and this was a 
 liberal attempt to refute such an absurd impu- 
 tation. It is to be lamented that his bold way 
 of thinking, and disregard of common opinion, 
 Jed him, in a work entitled " Considerations 
 politiques sur les Coups d'Etat," to be the apo- 
 logist of the detestable massacre of St. Bar- 
 tholomew's. This, however, he justified upon, 
 the supposition that the hugonots were a state 
 faction, which, under the direction of Coligni 
 and other chiefs, was dangerous to the public 
 peace ; and not upon the grounds of religious 
 intolerance. 
 
 Naude, though temperate in his way of liv- 
 ing, and pure in his morals, was hot-headed 
 and opinionated. He was long involved in a 
 warm controversy with the Benedictines con- 
 cerning the real author of the famous book on 
 " The Imitation of Christ," which they were 
 desirous of fathering upon John Gerson, a 
 celebrated monk of their order. Cardinal 
 
 VOL. i. i Richelieu,
 
 114 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 Richelieu wrote to Naude, then at Rome, to 
 examine the manuscript copies on which Ger- 
 son's claim was founded, and he returned a re- 
 port unfavourable to it. The contest was 
 carried on till it became ridiculous in the eyes 
 of the public ; and in fine Thomas a Kempis 
 was by process of law restored to the honour 
 he had long possessed of appearing in the title- 
 page of the book as its author. The other 
 works of Naude seem to have fallen into ob- 
 livion ; his reputation, however, has given rise 
 to a " Naudaeana," which exists among the 
 works of that class. 
 
 NOTE (37), PAGE 62. 
 
 PETER LAMBECIUS, born at Hamburgh in 
 1628, acquired at an early age a high reputa- 
 tion for learning, and after passing a con- 
 siderable time in France, and at Rome, was 
 made professor of history at his native place, 
 and rector of the university. In this situation 
 he underwent much vexation from the attacks 
 of his enemies, who criticised with severity 
 his writings and mode of teaching, and charged 
 him with heterodoxy, and even with atheism. 
 
 To
 
 NOTES TO BOOK I. 115 
 
 To these charges he had probably exposed 
 himself from the difficulty of acting an incon- 
 sistent part ; for, whilst at the head of a pro- 
 testant university, he was secretly a Roman 
 catholic, having been converted many years 
 before, when in France, by the Jesuit Sirmond. 
 His life was not rendered more comfortable by 
 marriage with a rich, but old and avaricious 
 wife, whom he quitted within a fortnight ; and, 
 on the persuasion of queen Christina, repaired 
 to Rome, where he openly renounced Luther- 
 anism. He was received by the papal court 
 with the respect always shown to a convert 
 of distinction ; and soon after went to Vienna, 
 where the emperor made him his librarian, 
 He died in that post in 1680, having published 
 in eight volumes folio a most elaborate his- 
 tory and description of the imperial library, 
 upon a critical plan, which was regarded as a 
 great improvement upon all preceding works 
 of the kind. 
 
 NOTE (38), PAGE 63. 
 
 This is a curious and instructive account of 
 
 the operation of insufficient reasoning upon an 
 
 I 2 enquiring
 
 116* MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 enquiring mind. It is acommon practice, (and, 
 as I have heard, supported by high and recent 
 authority,) in attempting to prove a point, to 
 throw in arguments of all kinds, powerful and 
 weak, sound and unsound, from the idea that 
 a momentum is produced by the accumulated 
 mass, which may force conviction where a less 
 bulk, though of better materials, might fail ; 
 or, perhaps, from the expectation that frivo* 
 lous arguments will act upon some minds, the 
 texture of which would elude the force of solid 
 ones. And the method may be a good one 
 in addressing a mixed or popular assembly, a 
 small proportion only of which consists of 
 good logicians or well-informed persons. But 
 in works of learning, in which the appeal is 
 made to the understandings of men conversant 
 in similar studies, and practised in argumenta- 
 tion, it is always dangerous to advance reasons 
 of a kind that must bring into question either 
 the judgment or the sincerity of the writer. 
 The reader will be apt to regard him, in that 
 case, either as the hired advocate of a cause 
 to which he is really indifferent, or as a weak 
 reasoner, whose own convictions carry no 
 authority with them ; and, as in the instance 
 
 of
 
 NOTES TO BOOK I. 
 
 of Huet, he will be ready to doubt the truth of 
 propositions which are thought to require such 
 feeble support. That to many of the tenets 
 of the catholic theology no better support can 
 be applied from reasoning, will be admitted ; it 
 is therefore safer to rest them upon the autho- 
 rity of the church, and to wait for that divine 
 illumination to dispel the mists of doubt, which 
 our good bishop was so happy as to experience.
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 OF 
 
 PETER DANIEL HUET. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 AFTER I had returned to Caen enriched with 
 a great addition to my library, and was enjoying 
 it at leisure, and quietly pursuing my studies, 
 the name of Christina queen of Sweden became 
 famous in the world ; among whose virtues was 
 especially celebrated her love of learning, and 
 her great liberality towards men of letters, 
 whom she was reported to have invited from 
 all parts, by the most splendid offers, (l) 
 Among those at her court were Descartes, 
 Saumaise, and Isaac Vossius, the latter of 
 whom was her guide in the study of Greek, 
 and explained to her the ancient authors in 
 both languages ; ( 2) nor did she suffer a day to 
 pass without devoting some of her best hours 
 to reading with him, in which she engaged so 
 eagerly as to neglect the usual time for repose. 
 
 By
 
 120 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 By this course of life her constitution was 
 gradually impaired, and she fell into a state 
 of feverish languor, disregarding the remon- 
 strances of her physicians, whom she frequent- 
 ly derided. This queen, having heard from 
 Vossius great commendations of the learning of 
 Bochart, became so desirous of seeing and 
 conversing with him, that she sent him an in- 
 vitation in very honourable terms, and directed 
 Vossius to stimulate him by frequent and ur- 
 gent letters. In consequence of these allure- 
 ments, though fettered by the public ministry 
 of his religion, and the attractions of .a very 
 affectionate family, and habituated to the 
 pleasures of study and tranquil leisure, he post- 
 poned every other consideration to the will of 
 the queen, and was not deterred either by the 
 length of the journey, the loss of time, or the 
 inconvenience to his affairs. I had long en- 
 tertained a desire of seeing Italy, and was just 
 preparing to indulge it, when Bochart com- 
 municated to me his intention of going to 
 Sweden, and plainly intimated his wish for my 
 company. At first I made objections, con- 
 trasting the amenity and almost perpetual 
 spring of Italy, and its numerous relics of 
 
 venerable
 
 BOOK THE SECOND. 121 
 
 venerable antiquity, with the bare crags and 
 barbarism of Sweden. He, on the other hand, 
 represented to me the wonders of Holland, 
 celebrated in elegant verse by Scaliger ; the 
 illustrious literary characters in which at 
 that time it abounded ; its many splendid 
 cities ; and the vestiges of Gothic antiquity- 
 existing among the rocks of Denmark. In 
 fine, I at length gave way, overcome less by 
 argument than by friendship, and promised 
 Bochart that I would accompany him. But 
 while we were both preparing for the journey, 
 I was seized with a sudden illness which in- 
 terrupted my plans. The day of departure 
 arrived, and Bochart could no longer delay; 
 for a Dutch ship bound to Holland was 
 waiting for us in the port of Havre, at the 
 mouth of the Seine. He therefore set out, to 
 my great grief, which would have been greater, 
 had not I trusted that our separation would 
 not be long. He travelled by land to Havre, 
 and went on board ; but through the prevalence 
 of the north winds the vessel was so long kept 
 on the shore, that, beginning to find myself 
 better, 1 hoped I should be able to overtake 
 and join him. With my health not yet con- 
 firmed
 
 122 MEMOIRS OF HUEf. 
 
 firmed I left Caen on April 14th, l652, and 
 proceeded in a litter to Havre. Arriving 
 there about noon, I was extremely mortified 
 to find that Bochart had sailed on that day at 
 sun-rise. It was, however, some consolation 
 that two other Dutch ships were lying off the 
 shore, ready, as the captains said, to sail for 
 their own country on the first south wind ; 
 but in fact, waiting to protect some merchant 
 vessels which were falling down the river 
 from Rouen. Credulously believing their as- 
 sertion, I wasted eleven whole days there in 
 tedious idleness ; at length Heaven took pity 
 on me, and I embarked and got to sea. As 
 the war was impending between the Dutch 
 and English, which soon after broke out with 
 fury, we with difficulty escaped some English 
 ships stationed near Dover to lie in wait for 
 the Dutch vessels. Landing in Zealand, after 
 I had viewed its capital, Middleburg, I pro- 
 ceeded without delay on board a smaller ves- 
 sel for Holland, and did not stop till I reached 
 Leyden. Immediately on my arrival I waited 
 upon Saumaise ; and as I foresaw a delay of 
 some days in that city, I devoted them entirely 
 to him, omitting no demonstration of respect- 
 ful
 
 BOOK THE 8ECOtfI>. 123 
 
 ful regard, especially after I saw that he was 
 pleased with my attentions. Being there inform- 
 ed that Bochart had not yet left Amsterdam, 
 I directly wrote him word of my ar-rival ; with 
 which intelligence he was so much gratified, 
 that he sent a young man of Caen, who was 
 in his company, to congratulate me, and con- 
 duct me to him ; an instance of kindness and 
 affection that, from one whom I sincerely 
 loved, gave me great pleasure, I therefore 
 hastened to Bochart at Amsterdam, where 
 I was speedily visited by Vossius, who very 
 politely told me, that he hoped the long jour- 
 ney we were about to enter upon would not 
 only make us acquainted, but lay the founda- 
 tion of a lasting friendship ; that a commo- 
 dious carnage was prepared for himself and 
 Bochart, in which a place was left for me if 
 I would accept of it. I replied, that I would 
 thankfully make use of the kind offer. 
 
 On the fourth day we left Amsterdam, and 
 reached Utrecht. I was there visited hy a 
 return of that disorder which had detained 
 me at Caen^ and was obliged to stop for some 
 days, and call in the assistance of Henry Re- 
 gius, a celebrated physician and much more 
 
 celebrated
 
 124 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 celebrated philosopher. I knew that he had 
 been first attached to the Cartesian system, 
 and was an assiduous follower of Descartes 
 himself, but that he had afterwards rejected it 
 with some degree of disdain, not without of- 
 fence to Descartes. Hence, after having had 
 some discourse respecting my disease and the 
 manner of treating it, we had much discussion 
 on the Cartesian opinions, which he did not 
 altogether disallow ; and he acknowledged he 
 had profited much from that philosopher, of 
 whom he spoke in high terms. (3) 
 
 We then came to Hardenburg, a town of 
 Overyssel. The reader will probably be 
 amused with the manner of creating the burgo- 
 master of this place, as we learned it from 
 some of the townsmen ; and as I formerly 
 gave a narrative of my journey in a copy of 
 verses addressed to John Chapelain, which is 
 published among my poems, I shall copy the 
 lines in which this circumstance is described. 
 
 Hinc Hardenbergam sera sub nocte venimus * &c. 
 
 When 
 
 * The editor of Huet's work thinks it necessary to say 
 that such a practice never prevailed in this place, and that 
 the lines were written either from some idle tradition, 
 
 or
 
 BOOK THE SECOND. 125 
 
 When we had passed the famous city of 
 Bremen, we came to a town, of moderate size 
 which derives its name from its seven clois- 
 ters (Closterseven). We there saw a former- 
 ly splendid monastery of nuns, now converted 
 to other uses by the Lutherans, except some 
 dilapidated cells allotted for the habitation of 
 a few virgins who adhere to the rites of the 
 catholic church. Five of these only were 
 remaining out of a great number ; one of 
 whom we found lodged in the tottering ruins 
 of a vast edifice, in great poverty, but clean, 
 and supporting life by her wheel. It was 
 gratifying to me, in this desolation of the ca- 
 tholic religion, to discover the relics of a purer 
 worship. When I made known to her this 
 sentiment, she expressed great joy at seeing 
 one catholic in the midst of so many com- 
 panions alien to that faith ; and holding 
 out her hand for me to kiss, as is the custom 
 of the German women, she raised her eyes to 
 
 or in mere sport I have therefore omitted them. The 
 supposed mode, however, was, that all the candidates should 
 sit with their beards placed upon a round table, in the 
 midst of which a louse was to be turned out, and the 
 owner of the beard to which it should repair was the per- 
 son elected. 
 
 heaven,
 
 126 MEMOIRS OF I-IUET. 
 
 heaven, invoking the divine blessing upon 
 me, and devoutly marked my forehead with 
 the sign of the cross. In truth, it was no 
 small grief to me to behold so many splendid 
 monuments of ancient piety laid in the dust, 
 and the pure and holy worship of God abo- 
 lished by profane novelty ; and to see that 
 place made a sanctuary for error and impiety, 
 in which divine verity had been honoured and 
 patronized. 
 
 After a long journey we arrived at Copen- 
 hagen, the capital of Denmark, a city plea- 
 santly situated, and elegant in its appearance, 
 as far as a northern climate will permit. Hav- 
 ing fully surveyed it, I ascended a tower near 
 the royal college, built for an observatory by 
 Christiern IV king of Denmark, after, by his 
 harsh treatment, he had expelled from his 
 dominions Tycho Brahe, the father of astro- 
 nomy ; by this noble work supposing that he 
 should alleviate the regret felt by the nation 
 on the departure of that admirable person, 
 and the conveyance into Germany of the cu- 
 rious astronomical instruments which he had 
 invented. The construction of this tower was 
 committed by the king to Christian Longo- 
 
 montanus,
 
 BOOK THE SECOND. 127" 
 
 montanus, who had lived some years with 
 Tycho. (4) It is built in a round form, and 
 raised to a great height, the ascent to which 
 is not by stairs, but by an easy slope permit- 
 ting a carriage to drive to the top. It is con- 
 tiguous to a church, part of which having 
 fallen through age, was repairing while we 
 were there ; and amidst the ruins we observed 
 some great stones inscribed with Runic let- 
 ters, such as are occasionally met with in 
 Denmark and Sweden, and the neighbouring 
 countries and islands, and have frequently fallen 
 in our way. This is said to be the ancient 
 writing of the Goths ; and it is the common 
 opinion there, that their ancestors transmitted 
 to posterity in these solid monuments the me- 
 morial of their deeds and the glory of their 
 great men. Become however almost illegible 
 through the corrosion of time, they would en- 
 tirely have perished, had not Glaus Wormius, 
 by his perspicacity and unwearied labour, re- 
 scued these literary remains from the injury 
 of revolving years. He, also, with sagacious 
 diligence collected every thing rare and sjngu- 
 lar, both in nature and art, which chance pre- 
 sented to him in those regions ; and no lover 
 
 Of
 
 128 MEMOIRS OF IIUET. 
 
 of worth and -learning came to Copenhagen 
 without paying his respects to Wormius, and 
 desiring to see his literary treasures. This 
 office was not omitted by the company of 
 friends with which I was associated. Bochart 
 (De Animal. S. Script.), and before him la 
 Peyrere, (Relation de Groenl.) mention the 
 tooth of a Greenland whale in the museum of 
 Wormius, which was of the kind supposed by 
 the vulgar to be an unicorn's horn. (5) 
 
 We thence repaired to the college, in order 
 to survey the brass globe formerly made by 
 Tycho, exhibiting the heavens, and all the 
 signs and stars. An attentive view of this ma- 
 
 o 
 
 chine, which was long before known to me by 
 fame, struck me with astonishment at the 
 elegance of the workmanship and the accuracy 
 of the construction. But it would be lost la- 
 bour to describe the wonders of this and Ty- 
 cho's other instruments, since he has deline- 
 ated and exposed them all to view in his Me- 
 chanics. But that the reader may form some 
 ^fctimate.of the magnificence of art displayed 
 in this globe, he may be told that it was the 
 labour of twenty-five years, and that Tycho 
 expended upon it five thousand thalers, a sum 
 
 equal
 
 BOOK THE SECOND 129 
 
 qual to about eighteen thousand of our livres 
 tournois. Upon quitting Denmark, Tycho 
 went to Prague, and carried with him all his 
 astronomical apparatus ; and when, in the year 
 1619, at the sack of that city by the Palatines, 
 the other articles were pillaged, they abstained 
 from injuring this globe, and it was afterwards 
 carried safe and entire to the Jesuit's college 
 
 o 
 
 at Neiss in Silesia. Ulric the son of Christi- 
 ern IV. king of Denmark, having reduced 
 that place, in l6'32, seized upon this globe 
 as by paternal right, and caused it to be con- 
 veyed to Denmark. The view of it excited 
 in me a more ardent desire of visiting the isle 
 of Huen, which Tycho made the seat of his 
 astronomical studies for 21 years, and ennobled 
 by his celestial observations and excellent 
 writings. 
 
 He was born in Scania, of the noble family 
 of Brahe, which is rather Swedish than 
 Danish ; for when I was in Sweden, among 
 the five principal ministers of that kingdom, 
 the first place, and immediately next to the 
 queen, was possessed by Peter Brahe, a de- 
 scendant of the same family. But it is not 
 here necessary, nor is it my business, to write 
 
 VOL i. K the
 
 130 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 the life of Tycho, which has been done by 
 others with sufficient exactness. The pur- 
 pose of my work requires me only to mention, 
 that Frederic II. king of Denmark, by his 
 kindness and liberality detained this astrono- 
 mer in his kingdom, when he was preparing 
 to remove and fix his residence at Basil. 
 
 In the Danish strait called the Sound there 
 is a small island named Huen, gently rising 
 above the sea so as to afford a free prospect on 
 all sides. This spot appeared to the king ex- 
 tremely well accommodated to the studies and 
 observations of Tycho ; and sending for him, 
 he presented him for life with the usufruct 
 of the island (it is royal property), and gave 
 him it to inhabit. At the same time he set- 
 tled upon him ample revenues, and further 
 promised that he would never withhold his 
 assistance either in erecting buildings on the 
 island, or in providing astronomical instru- 
 ments. Tycho gratefully and gladly accepted 
 this gift, and laid the foundation of the castle 
 of Uraniburg on the 8th of August, 1576, 
 the first stone being at his desire placed by 
 Charles Danzce, the French king's ambassador 
 in Denmark. Having frequently, while a boy, 
 
 looked
 
 BOOK THE SECOND. 131 
 
 looked at the figure of this building in Tycho's 
 books at the house of my relation Gilles Mace, 
 whom I often heard relating anecdotes of the 
 founder, my mind was so much impressed by 
 the circumstance, that in preference to every 
 thing else, and to Copenhagen itself, I felt 
 a violent longing to indulge myself with the 
 real sight of the place. But although I was 
 very importunate with my companions to take 
 the voyage, I was unable to gain their com- 
 pliance, so little were they inspired with the 
 love of astronomy. One of them alone con- 
 sented to accompany me ; and hiring a vessel, 
 with a gentle south wind we reached Huen 
 on May 24th, 1652. This island is by some 
 called Venusia ; by others the Scarlet isle, of 
 which last appellation I suppose the origin to 
 have been the following incident related to me 
 upon good authority, as having taken place in 
 the reign of Frederic II. Some English at 
 Copenhagen had offered to the king that if 
 he would sell them this island they would pay 
 him, as its price, as much English scarlet cloth 
 as would go round its outmost margin, adding 
 moreover a piece of gold for every fold in the 
 cloth. The king inconsiderately accepted the 
 K 2 offer*
 
 132 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 offer, not reflecting that if the English were 
 to fortify the island, they might shut up the 
 Sound with their fleets, and deprive the crown 
 of its passage dues. Being therefore better 
 advised, he determined to keep it in his pos- 
 session, but at the same time he was very 
 anxious not to appear to forfeit his word. In 
 this emergence, his fool, whom he kept ac- 
 cording to court custom, came to his relief. 
 "Why (said he) is your majesty so much 
 disquieted ? say you will stand to the bargain, 
 and sell them Huen. provided the purchasers 
 immediately convey it away to the English 
 sea ; for that they must be mad if they suppose 
 you will suffer them to stick in your very 
 jaws." The wise counsel of the fool was fol- 
 lowed, and the hopes of the English were 
 frustrated ; and hence, as I conjecture, the island 
 retained the name of Scarlet. * 
 
 On landing, we walked to the little village 
 which is the only one on the island. We 
 were received by the Lutheran minister after 
 the customary manner in Denmark and Swe- 
 den, where the clergy are extremely hospitable, 
 
 * It is scarcely necessary to observe that this story ha* 
 ail the air of.a vulgar tale ! Transl. 
 
 and
 
 BOOK THE SECOND. 133 
 
 and open their doors to strangers, expecting 
 no gain, but merely the repayment of what 
 they expend ; a liberality that appears to me 
 highly suitable to Christian piety, and worthy 
 to be imitated by the other nations who profess 
 the name of Christ. Some refer this bene- 
 ficence to the kings, asserting that they permit 
 the country ministers to dwell in these man- 
 sions upon the condition of their admitting 
 strangers. It is certain that among all these 
 northern nations the duties of hospitality are 
 held in great honour and respect. Being 
 therefore kindly received, after we had rested 
 awhile, we began to make many enquiries of 
 our host, and the other surrounding inhabi- 
 tants of Huen, respecting Tycho, and the cas- 
 tle of Uraniburg, the object of our visit ; and 
 to my surprise, they all affirmed that these 
 names were entirely unknown to them. But 
 understanding that there was one very aged 
 inhabitant on the island, I caused him to be sent 
 for. When I asked him whether he had ever 
 heard of Tycho Brahe, and of a castle built 
 by him to which he gave the name of Ura- 
 niburg, and in which he dwelt for twenty-one 
 years, he replied that he not only knew them 
 
 both,
 
 134 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 both, but had been for some time in the ser- 
 vice of Tycho, and had assisted in building 
 his castle. He informed me that Tycho was 
 a violent and passionate man, often abusing 
 his servants and tenants, and given to wine 
 and women, that he had married a wife of 
 the lowest extraction in his native village of 
 
 o 
 
 Knudstrup, by whom he had many children, 
 the disgrace of which alliance had greatly 
 offended the illustrious family of Brahe. 
 The good man then added, that if I came to 
 see Uranjburg I should lose my labour, since 
 it had been levelled to the ground, and scarce- 
 ly the traces of the walls were left. When I 
 enquired of him, as I had before done of some 
 learned men in Copenhagen, the cause of this 
 destruction, I found much contrariety of opi- 
 nion. The latter in general affirmed that Ty- 
 cho himself, on quitting Denmark, had demo- 
 lished his own work ; whereas it is certain that 
 he left his affairs at Huen and Uraniburg 
 to the management of a farmer and some ser- 
 vants, as the produce of this estate had been 
 conferred upon him for life by king Frederic. 
 Some asserted that Swedish troops had landed 
 on the island in time of war and committed 
 
 these
 
 BOOK THE SECOND. 135 
 
 these ravages ; a circumstance which could not 
 but have been known to the old inhabitant, 
 who referred the cause to the raging seas and 
 stormy winds of the Sound, by which a slight- 
 ly timbered building was easily shaken ; es- 
 pecially as the courtiers, who obtained a grant 
 of the island from the king after Tycho, took 
 little care of preserving an edifice dedicated to 
 astronomical purposes. 
 
 But from this incident we may learn how 
 vain a thing is that glory which is sought with 
 so much contention. For what couldTycho have 
 in view as the reward of his long and earnest 
 studies, except glory, his passion for which 
 was not extinguished by the immediate pro- 
 spect of death ; for as he was breathing his last, 
 he consoled himself with the expected grate- 
 ful remembrance of posterity, and closed his 
 eyes in the frequent repetition of the words 
 "May I bethought not to have lived in vain!" 
 Can lie be considered as having reaped the 
 fruit of his labour, who experienced the enmity 
 of the king and nobles of the land ? who saw his 
 toils held in contempt, their products abortive, 
 and himself precluded even by a judicial decree 
 from making astronomical observations? and 
 8 who 3
 
 136 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 who, in fine, an exile from his family, his 
 pleasant habitation, and his country, in a 
 foreign soil, and under the control of others, 
 ended his life among a few friends, leaving the 
 astronomical apparatus which he had provided 
 with so much ingenious contrivance, and at so 
 great an expence, exposed to the rapacity of 
 ignorant foreigners to which rapacity it, in 
 fact, became a prey some years after, when it 
 was totally pillaged by the Palatine troops 
 whilst his own children were left in obscurity, 
 and almost in indigence ? Such is the termi- 
 nation of human hopes ! such the result of that 
 insane love of praise and unbounded thirst 
 of glory, stimulated by which, generous souls 
 abandon themselves to the pursuit of vulgar 
 fame, which, as it rests often on the false, and 
 always on the light and mutable opinions 
 of men, fades with the lapse of years, and 
 generally vanishes in the oblivion of poste- 
 rity! (6) 
 
 Of the cause which obliged Tycho to quit 
 his country, Gassendi (Vit. Tychonis) has 
 treated at large ; I have however learned at 
 Copenhagen, from persons who revered his 
 memory, some circumstances relative to it, 
 
 omitted
 
 EOOK THE SECOND. 
 
 omitted by that writer, and worthy of being 
 recorded. Although Tyeho sometimes spoke 
 of injuries sustained by him in Denmark, it 
 was witho.ut any complaint of king Christiern, 
 whom he rather openly excused ; yet, it is 
 certain that he lost the favour of the court, and 
 by his majesty's order was strjpt of the royal 
 bounty, which, however, he bore in silence, 
 knowing that kings have long hands. But 
 the following story was told me as the origin 
 x>f his disgrace. The English ambassador to 
 Denmark had brought with him a mastiff of 
 extraordinary size, which caught the eye of 
 Tycho, who requested it of him, to take to 
 Uraniburg as a faithful guard to his castle. 
 But the same gift was also asked by the mas- 
 ter of the court, Christopher Walchandorp; 
 and as the ambassador did not chuse to offend 
 .either, he refused them both ; promising that 
 as soon as he should return to England he 
 would send over a brace of mastiffs, one for 
 each. This he performed; but as one of them 
 appeared the superior in form and stature, 
 Walchandorp claimed it for himself, and the 
 king adjudged it to him, notwithstanding the 
 remonstrances of Tycho. Greatly indignant at 
 
 this
 
 183 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 this decision, he was led in his passion to use 
 some unguarded expressions relative to the 
 king, which were immediately carried to him 
 by the master of the court, and hence pro- 
 ceeded the royal displeasure. 
 
 It was a particular object of our curiosity to 
 see the king ; and the time now arrived when 
 he was to attend divine service in the church 
 with all his train ; we were therefore placed in 
 the gallery, whence we could have a full view 
 of the whole court. As I have the defect of 
 being near-sighted, on which account I have 
 been accustomed from a boy to use concave 
 spectacles for looking at distant objects, I then 
 put them on to survey the company, and espe- 
 cially his majesty, and the queen who sat be- 
 side him. This I did with so little caution 
 and consideration, that I was not aware, while 
 I was a spectator, of being myself an indeco- 
 rous spectacle to all the bystanders, and espe- 
 cially to the king himself, who, as I was in- 
 formed, publicly complained at dinner that he 
 had been treated with so little respect by the 
 foreigners who had been admitted into the 
 church, as to have had glasses pointed a.t \\irn 
 by them. In consequence, though we should 
 
 have
 
 BOOK THE SECOND. 139 
 
 have thought it our duty, notwithstanding our 
 great haste, not to leave Copenhagen without 
 paying our obeisance to his majesty, yet the 
 fear of encountering his displeasure induced 
 us immediately to depart ; I, with one com- 
 panion, to Huen ; and the rest to Elsinore, 
 a town situated at the very mouth of the 
 Sound. 
 
 To that place I also went, after having ex- 
 plored the relics of Tycho. Soon after, we 
 visited the Sound itself, for the purpose of 
 viewing the ships lying there in great numbers, 
 either to exact, or to pay, the transit-duties, 
 which are an ample source of revenue to the 
 Danish king. We were there told that a very 
 rich merchant, by name Lewis Geer, an in- 
 habitant of Holland, originally from the Pala- 
 tinate of the Rhine, having some years before 
 contracted for the Swedish copper mines, 
 carried on a very profitable trade, from which 
 a great income accrued to the Danish treasury ; 
 that the king's collectors were thereby tempt- 
 ed greatly to* advance the duties upon his mer- 
 chandize, and used force to compel payment 
 from those who resisted the demand ; and that 
 Geer resolved to oppose force to force, and 
 
 bringing
 
 14O MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 bringing twenty armed vessels to the mouth of 
 the Sound, defended himself from injury and 
 vexation. 
 
 While we were travelling though Denmark, 
 we often saw hanging from gibbets the bodies 
 of robbers and wolves, and in the lower beam 
 of the gibbet some handsome knives sticking. 
 On asking the inhabitants the reason of this 
 custom ; they told us that the knives were 
 stuck into the wood by persons labouring un- 
 der fever, or some other lingering disease; and 
 that it was the common notion that if any one 
 should take a knife out, the disease of its owner 
 would immediately be transferred to him. 
 This superstitious practice I have recorded in 
 the following verses of my journey. 
 
 Illic corporibus videas permista luporum 
 Robore ferali pendentia corpora furum &c. 
 
 On passing the Danish boundary, we ar- 
 rived at Helmstadt, then the first town in the 
 Swedish jurisdiction*. Thither, on the 28th 
 of May, a messenger came to us from the 
 queen, who in her name ordered Vossius im- 
 mediately to return to Holland, and not to see 
 
 * Scania at that time belonged to Denmark. Transl. 
 
 her
 
 BOOK THE SECOND. 141 
 
 her again till he had made satisfaction to 
 Saumaise for the injury of which he com- 
 plained, of being contumeliously summoned 
 by him on some trifling occasion to plead be- 
 fore the rector of the university of Leyden, as 
 if he had been one of the common professors. 
 Vossius thus torn from us went back to Hol- 
 land ; and the messenger, who had brought 
 the queen's mandate, was directed to act as 
 our guide. Proceeding to Ostrogothia, on the 
 banks of the lake Wetter, we had great plea- 
 sure in travelling over grassy meadows, lux- 
 uriant in the plant called lily of the valley, 
 whence a fragrance exhaled which we should 
 not have expected in a northern climate. We 
 also gathered strawberries in the woods, and 
 about Stockholm the woods were red with" 
 cherries. In the royal gardens, oranges in 
 boxes and melons under frames were reared in 
 the same manner as with us. 
 
 While we were coasting the Wetter lake, 
 and enjoying its pleasant prospects, the good 
 Swede, our guide, showed us at a distance an 
 island in the middle of it, in which he said 
 was a cavern of wonderful depth ; that in this 
 cavern, a magician named Gilbert had for many 
 '.-I ages
 
 142 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 ages been confined in strong fetters by another 
 magician, with whom he had dared to contend 
 for the superiority ; and that several persons 
 who had descended for the purpose of visiting 
 or liberating Gilbert had paid the penalty of 
 their temerity, being bound by some secret 
 power; whence the vulgar abstained from the 
 place. From the History of Olaus Magnus 
 we may learn that this fable has for many years 
 been disseminated in those regions, where it 
 has been implicitly received by a credulous 
 and superstitious race. This is a mental in- 
 firmity common to those who, being born in 
 a cold climate, and scantily partaking of the 
 benignant influence of the sun, are tardy in 
 their intellectual operations, and incompetent 
 to the discovery of truth and the correction of 
 error: such, authors inform us, are the Lap- 
 landers bordering on Sweden, the Icelanders, 
 and the Greenlanders. (?) The common peo- 
 ple at Stockholm speak of a vast serpent, named 
 Necker, which wanders about the circumjacent 
 lakes, and devours boys who bathe in them ; 
 on which account they seriously dissuaded me 
 from swimming when I wished for that re- 
 freshment in the hot weather. I was not, 
 
 however,
 
 BOOK THE SECOND. 143 
 
 however, to be deterred by this bugbear ; and 
 they were much surprised to see me return 
 safe from the attempt. I, however, gave them 
 the friendly advice of keeping their boys from 
 the lakes, till they were well skilled in swim- 
 ming ; since they might otherwise be carried 
 to the bottom, not by the serpent, but by those 
 very deep whirlpools which, opening among 
 the irregular rocks, are unobserved by the in- 
 cautious. 
 
 Let not the reader be surprised that in so 
 cold a climate there should be heats which 
 require refrigeration. These are produced by 
 the long continuance of the sun above the 
 horizon during the summer days, and the 
 reflections of its rays among the solid rocks ; 
 nor do I remember ever to have endured so 
 much from the heat as in Sweden. In con- 
 sequence of this long delay of the sun, near 
 the summer solstice I was able to write letters 
 without a candle at midnight. In the winter, 
 both there, and more especially in the more 
 northerly parts, an extraordinary instinct is 
 observed in the swallows, which, about the 
 autumnal equinox, and at the first approach 
 of cold weather, do not cross the sea, as is 
 
 usual
 
 144 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 usual to them and to other birds which migrate 
 from warmer climates ; but immerge them- 
 selves in lakes, where they lie covered with 
 ice, and as it were buried, during the whole 
 winter, until, the ice being thawed by the 
 warmth of spring, they rouse from their 
 long sleep, ascend to the surface of the water, 
 and take to wing. (8) What has been ob- 
 served in our country is not less worthy of 
 admiration that in the arched rocks which 
 are adjacent to the banks of the Orne between 
 Caen and the sea, swallows in vast numbers, 
 collected and conglobated like bunches of 
 grapes, hang from the roofs during the whole 
 winter. Of this habit of swallows neither 
 Aristotle was ignorant (De Animal. 1. 8. c. l6), 
 nor Pedo Albinovanus, when he says, in his 
 very elegant elegy on the death of Maecenas, 
 
 Congiaciantur aquae, scopulis se condit hirundo . 
 
 An6ther remarkable monument of Swedish 
 superstition is seen in the great church at 
 Stockholm, which is a picture representing 
 the appearance of the sky on the day when 
 Gustavus Adolphus left the city on his Ger- 
 man expedition. Three suns were visible in 
 6 the
 
 BOOK THE SECOND. 145 
 
 the heavens, surrounded with certain lucid 
 circles ; by which signs the people supposed 
 that the great actions afterwards performed by 
 that monarch were prefigured : not remember- 
 ing that their own countryman, Olaus Mag- 
 nus, remarks such parhelia to be frequent in 
 the northern regions ; of which I suppose the 
 cause to be, that the clouds composed of a 
 denser humidity act as mirrors, and readily 
 receive and retain the images of objects. 
 
 The fabrication of the Swedish houses ap- 
 peared to me worthy of notice. Trunks of 
 pine and fir of the same length and thickness, 
 accurately barked, and on the opposite sides 
 hewn and planed, and notched near the heads, 
 are laid in a square, and others of the same 
 form are placed upon them on the smooth sides, 
 and connected at the ends by the notches, till 
 as many rows of beams have been fitted in 
 this manner as are wanted for the height of 
 the building. These, as they are easily put 
 together, are also easily taken to pieces ; so 
 that it is common to see disjointed houses and 
 materials of houses brought to market, and 
 carried away by the purchasers to be reared 
 in some convenient spot. Windows are added 
 VOL. i. L to
 
 146 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 to the roof, which itself is framed of wood 
 and the incorruptible birch bark, and sods are 
 placed over all, as we learn from Virgil to have 
 been the custom in the rustic huts of Italy. 
 The sods are sown with oats or other seeds, in 
 order that the roots of plants may bind them 
 the more firmly to the humble roof, which 
 appears verdant and flowery, and serves, as 
 we saw, for a pasture for sheep and swine. 
 They assign as reasons for constructing the 
 roofs in this manner, tbat the houses, made 
 of resinous and inflammable matter, may not 
 be set on fire by lightning, and that in time 
 of war, if the town were besieged there might 
 be a supply of fodder for the cattle. The 
 Muscovites make use of the same contrivance 
 in their houses; as do also the Icelanders, ac- 
 cording to Arngrim Jonas. But the houses of 
 the rich, especially the royal palaces, and the 
 edifices for divine worship, are covered with 
 sheets of copper, as Ovid relates the temple 
 of Vesta at Rome to have been. These cover- 
 ings contribute both to beauty and to dura- 
 bility, on account of the strength and light- 
 ness of the material, with which Sweden 
 abounds; for its copper-mines are so produc- 
 tive,
 
 BOOK THE SECOND. 
 
 live, that money is coined of that metal, the 
 pieces of which are bigger than tiles, and are 
 kept by the opulent in great store-rooms 
 built for the purpose. 
 
 As the construction of our chimneys, so 
 different from those of the ancients, was the 
 invention of a later age, so the Swedes, 
 taught by necessity, the mother of arts, and 
 having severer cold to contend with, have 
 altered the common form of chimneys to a 
 more commodious one. They are not placed 
 in the middle of a wall of the room, as with 
 us, but at an angle, that no part may be void 
 of heat and light ; nor is the cavity or funnel 
 of the chimney square and extended in 
 breadth, but of a round form, that the heat 
 of the fire may be augmented by repercussion, 
 and the smoke expelled by the force of the 
 flame may not return. Further, the fire is 
 not supplied by billets laid horizontally, in 
 our manner, but set upright, as they rise out 
 of the ground and receive those juices which, 
 absorbed by the fibres, are dried by the sun's 
 heat, and, as they are commonly resinous, 
 readily inflame, and afford a proper fuel to the 
 fire, which spontaneously follows the course 
 
 L2 of
 
 148 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 of the fibres without interruption. After they 
 are burnt to a white ash, the funnel is stopt 
 by a brass plate inserted through an aperture, 
 by which means the heat is long confined 
 within the room. Such chimneys are said 
 also to be used by the Persians. We were 
 told that Arnold Spirinx, a Dutchman, em- 
 bassador from the queen of Sweden to Holland, 
 having become sensible of the advantages of 
 these chimneys, and in vain employed the 
 ablest workmen to make the like in his own 
 country, had a whole Swedish chimney, form- 
 med of thick plank, and firmly bound with 
 iron, conveyed entire into Holland. 
 
 After we had arrived at Stockholm it was 
 our first care to pay our respects to the queen. 
 Her favourite at that time was Bourdelot, a 
 French physician, born at Sens, and son of 
 the sister of that Bourdelot who acquired 
 some literary reputation by the publication 
 of learned commentaries upon some ancient 
 writers. The person in question, in order to 
 recommend himself, assumed his uncle's name, 
 though that of his father was Michon. The 
 queen was induced to commit to him the 
 care of her delicate health, by the recommenda- 
 tion
 
 BOOK THE SECOND. 149 
 
 tlon of Saumaise, who was of the same pro- 
 vince. Michon was not unskilled in the art of 
 medicine, but was much better versed in the 
 arts of a courtier, which he had long practised, 
 with those of physic, among ladies of quality. 
 He was, however, totally ignorant of those 
 parts of knowledge in which what is termed 
 erudition consists. As the queen had thrown 
 herself into a state of languor by her intense 
 application to those studies, and was occasion- 
 ally attacked by slight fevers, Bourdelot, in 
 the first place, craftily attending to his 
 own consequence and reputation, removed aH 
 books from her sight, and denounced certain 
 danger to her life should she persist in literary 
 pursuits. He then, in private conversations, 
 insinuated that a learned woman was regarded 
 in a ridiculous light by the elegant ladies of 
 the French court. And as he besides amused 
 her with his pleasantry and jocularity, he 
 gained so great an ascendancy over her youth- 
 ful mind, that she began to lose all relish for 
 serious learning. For the disposition of 
 Christina was so flexible and Wavering, that 
 she entirely depended upon the opinions of 
 
 others,
 
 15O MEMOIRS OF HLTET. 
 
 others, especially of those who had acquired 
 her esteem by any species of merit. Thus, 
 when during her passion for letters she had 
 resigned herself to the tutorage of Saumaise 
 or Vossius, she conformed so implicitly to 
 their judgments, that she immediately sent 
 invitations to all whom she heard them com- 
 mend, as was the case with Bochart, who had 
 long been intimately connected with Vossius. 
 And now, having by the advice of Bourdelot 
 laid aside her studies, and indulged in leisure 
 and relaxation, by which her health was some- 
 what amended, she declared herself not only 
 cured, but preserved from death by his means; 
 and from this period she gave so much credit 
 to this buffoon, that she almost repented of 
 having learned any thing. This circumstance 
 destroyed almost all the pleasure of our jour- 
 ney ; and was the cause that Bochart, invited 
 with so much earnestness as it were from an- 
 other world, was not received according to 
 his merits. Nor did we doubt that this was to 
 be imputed to Bourdelot, who considered it as 
 his interest to banish learned men from court, 
 lest his own conscious ignorance should be 
 
 rendered
 
 BOOK THE SECOND. 151 
 
 rendered apparent from the comparison. And 
 this was probably the true cause of the un- 
 polite dismission of Vossius. (9) 
 
 The queen was a great enemy to matrimony, 
 and earnestly dissuaded me from it ; and as 
 she was jocose and free of speech, she told me 
 that she had read in Pausanias (Roeotic.) that 
 a certain Argive, my namesake, had caught his 
 wife in adultery, and that the incident was 
 ominous, and ought to warn me against such 
 a misfortune. I replied that the example 
 might be taken in a contrary sense, for the 
 husband amply revenged himself by the death 
 of his wife and the adulterer; and besides, 
 that our names by no means agreed, for that 
 his was YyrTog, but mine was much nobler, 
 namely Tfr/oj, one of tlie appellations of Jove 
 himself, (Pluvius). 
 
 In this vacation of letters, however, the 
 royal library increased both in the number and 
 value of books, which flowed in upon it from 
 all parts. For to those which Gustavus Adol- 
 phus had brought into Sweden among his 
 German spoils, were added many purchased 
 at the sale of the Mazarinian library, as well 
 as the library of John Gerard Vossius, bought 
 
 for
 
 152 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 for a great sum from his son Isaac. Besides 
 these were the Petavian library, consisting en- 
 tirely of ancient manuscripts, Greek and Latin ; 
 and the Gaulminian, composed of Hebrew, 
 Arabic, and other exotic books of this class, 
 which, however, soon afterwards returned to 
 Gaulmin, who asked an immoderate price for 
 it. (10) Isaac Vossius had also added many 
 valuable manuscripts which he had collected 
 in different parts of Europe with great dili- 
 gence. Among these was a pretty large anci- 
 ent Greek volume, in which were contained 
 some tomes of Origen's Commentary on Mat- 
 thew, together with his treatise on Prayer. 
 When I had understood that this volume came 
 from Vossius, and enquired of him whence he 
 had it, and what became of it after my de- 
 parture from Sweden, he informed me that it 
 was part of the pillage of the library of Worms, 
 and came into his hands after having been 
 bought of the soldiers for a trifle. On the 
 recommendation of Bochart I set about copy- 
 ing it with the queen's permission ; and hence 
 proceeded the edition of Origen's Commentaries 
 published by me in some subsequent years. 
 A few days before, there had arrived at 
 
 Stockholm
 
 BOOK THE SECOND. 153 
 
 Stockholm Mark Meibom, who had presented 
 to the queen the Seven Writers on Ancient 
 Music, illustrated by his own interpretation 
 and notes, and inscribed to her Majesty. By 
 this work Meibom performed a meritorious 
 service to literature, in recalling from obscu- 
 rity, and almost from death, and restoring 
 to its pristine dignity, the ancient music, so 
 long neglected and uncultivated, and become 
 obsolete through length of time. His attempt, 
 however, failed of due applause from a fasti- 
 dious and indolent age, the contemner of sound 
 learning. Had not the prescribed course of 
 my studies called me to other pursuits, I 
 should gladly have accompanied him in the 
 perusal of those admirable inventors of a 
 noble art, and have learned his ideas of them 
 from his own mouth. (11) 
 
 When we were at Stockholm,- the post of 
 chancellor was filled by Axel Oxenstiern, a 
 man who has deserved highly of his country ; 
 formerly prime minister of the kingdom under 
 Gustavus Adolphus, distinguished by various 
 important embassies, a lover of letters and well 
 versed in them, and greatly celebrated for 
 prudence, sagacity, and magnanimity. While 
 
 I called
 
 J54 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 I called to mind his great qualities and splen- 
 did actions, I could not but admire that mo- 
 desty and simplicity of manners which seemed 
 to level him with the meanest, and the courtesy 
 with which he received strangers like our* 
 selves. (12) 
 
 In -Sweden the memory of Descartes was 
 still fresh, who, having two years before been 
 invited to Stockholm by the queen, ended his 
 days there. Beyond the northern suburb of 
 the city is a cemetery for the interment of 
 those who are not of the Lutheran religion. 
 When I was informed that Descartes was 
 buried there under a conspicuous tomb, I went 
 to the spot, and found a moderately large struc- 
 ture of fir planks, covered with pompous in- 
 scriptions to his praise. The whole was the 
 work of Peter Chanut, the French embassador 
 to Sweden, in whose house Descartes died. (13) 
 As this timber edifice was constructed and 
 painted to resemble stone, and the inscription 
 bore that the body of Descartes was deposited 
 sub hoc lapide, an unknown hand had ingenU 
 ously corrected the latter word by ligno. 
 
 It may not be impertinent or uninteresting 
 to the readers, here to relate a deed of singular 
 
 atrocity,
 
 BOOK THE SECOND. 155 
 
 atrocity, which would be almost incredible 
 were it not supported by the testimony of 
 many from whom I heard it, and had it not 
 been perpetrated in this very place not long 
 before my arrival. A Swede, of sound mind 
 and good niorals, well esteemed among his 
 neighbours, at noon-day seized a boy four 
 years old as he was playing in the street 
 amidst his companions before his father's 
 house, a'nd killed him by plunging a knife in 
 his throat. On being apprehended and 
 brought before the magistrate, he neither de- 
 nied nor excused the fact, nor deprecated the 
 punishment. " I know," said he " that I have 
 deserved death, and I employed this artifice to 
 obtain it from you, satisfied that there could 
 scarcely be a safer way of securing eternal 
 salvation, than to quit the world with the senses 
 entire, with a body undebilitated by disease, 
 the soul being lifted to God by the pious 
 prayers of religious men, and aided by their 
 counsels and exhortations. Apprised, there- 
 fore, that such a kind of death was not here to 
 be procured but through the commission of 
 some capital crime, I thought that I perpe- 
 4rated the lightest in killing a child not yet 
 
 infected
 
 156 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 infected with the contagion of this world, and 
 taken from indigent parents, burthened with a 
 numerous offspring." Having thus said, and 
 received the sentence of condemnation, with a 
 cheerful and smiling countenance, and chant- 
 ing hymns aloud, he underwent the punish- 
 ment. (14) 
 
 It was at this time divulged that Gabriel 
 Naude arid Raphael Trichet du Fresne had 
 
 
 
 been invited by the queen from France ; the 
 former to undertake the care of the library ; 
 the latter, of the cabinet of curiosities; and 
 that they had left Paris and would soon arrive. 
 While the French rejoiced at this news, the 
 Swedes expressed their discontent, complain, 
 ing that the treasury was exhausted by en- 
 ormous expenses, and that the wealth of the 
 kingdom was lavished upon strangers, espe- 
 cially the French ; whom, as coming from a 
 distant country for the purpose of pillaging 
 them, they beheld with great ill-will, resenting 
 the preference over the natives, in the appoint- 
 ment to offices, given by the queen to a hungry 
 race, greedy of foreign emoluments. (15) Re- 
 flecting upon these dissatisfactions, I began to 
 repent of my unpropitious journey, and 
 
 hastened
 
 BOOK THE SECOND, 157 
 
 hastened to quit a hostile people, especially as 
 autumn was at hand, and I was to take car* 
 that my return might not be precluded by the 
 violent storms of approaching winter. I was 
 likewise recalled to my country by my do- 
 mestic affairs, which I had not, indeed, deserted, 
 as I could not have done without a very serious 
 loss, but had only intermitted my attention to 
 them for a time. When I applied to the 
 queen for permission to depart, she was pleased 
 to suggest many motives to detain me, giving 
 ine expectations of honourable and advanta- 
 geous engagements ; and especially represent- 
 ing that I might complete the edition of Ori- 
 gen's Works, which I had even then announced, 
 at my leisure, with her, and aided by the stores 
 of her library. I, on the other hand, pleaded 
 the magnitude of the work, the length of time 
 and labour that it would require, and the ur- 
 gency of my private concerns, which would 
 not permit such a protracted delay. These 
 arguments having been'discussedon both sides 
 for some days, the matter was at last settled 
 on the following conditions ; that I should 
 be allowed to revisit my own country for the 
 ensuing winter, on prom^diig to return to 
 
 Sweden
 
 MEMOIRS OF HUEf. 
 
 Sweden in the spring. This, in fact, I would 
 have done, had not the rumours of Christina's 
 approaching ahdication become more and more 
 prevalent an event which I had before au- 
 gured, as well from the queen's disposition, as 
 from some sentiments which she had lightly and 
 carelessly dropt concerning the pleasant tran- 
 quillity of a private life, and the incommodities 
 of regal grandeur. Wherefore, although I had 
 pledged my faith to the queen for my return, 
 yet, on leaving Stockholm, I felt no scruple, 
 when I paid my vows to Mercury for a safe 
 journey back to France, to signify that I 
 meant never to revisit Sweden, in the following 
 lines written in the style of Catullus. 
 
 Eocharti comites, cohors inanis, 
 Aptis sarcinulis et expeditis, &c. * 
 
 In another copy of verses, composed in 
 French, I had with some keenness satirized 
 the manners of the Swedes. When I recited 
 
 these to Bochart, he wrote them out, and carried 
 
 r - ^ 
 
 * I shall only refer by the first lines to the Latin poems 
 when mentioned, without either transcribing the originals, 
 or attempting a version, which last would be fruitless la- 
 bour, since their merit chiefly consists in the happy adapta- 
 tion of classical phraseology. Transl. 
 
 them 
 
 i
 
 BOOK THE SECOND. 
 
 them to the queen, to whom he read them as 
 a piece of amusing pleasantry. She was en- 
 tertained by the verses, but observed that her 
 countrymen would by no means approve of an 
 attempt to ridicule them; and 7 therefore it 
 would be proper to keep them secret. ( 16) 
 
 As a compassion, on my return, I engaged 
 Peter Cahaignes de Fierville, of Caen, nephew 
 of Stephen Cahaignes, before mentioned. His 
 parents had associated him with Bochart on his 
 journey to Sweden, and directed him to be 
 entirely governed by his determination. But 
 being wearied with his long stay in a barba- 
 rous and unpleasant country, and dreading the 
 long nights and short days of impending 
 winter, notwithstanding the strong remon- 
 strances, and almost the commands, of Bo- 
 chart, he resolved to leave Sweden with me, 
 and offered himself as a trusty attendant and 
 companion. 
 
 Another reason induced me to think of re- 
 turning in good time to Caen. I had for many 
 years observed that my long and intimate con- 
 nection and community of studies with Bochart, 
 a man alien from the catholic party, and to 
 whose authority and reputation I paid much 
 
 deference,
 
 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 deference, was disapproved by the generality, 
 and regarded as scarcely consistent with my 
 soundness in the faith. And this suspicion 
 \vas greatly aggravated when it was known that 
 I had gone in this dangerous company to coun- 
 tries attached to the Lutheran sect ; and was 
 making a long residence in a court openly 
 adverse to the catholic doctrine, and with, a 
 queen, who was eager in all her inclinations, 
 and was supposed desirous of propagating her 
 religious opinions ; especially as she had in- 
 timated that my services would be useful to 
 her in some embassies in Germany. 1 was 
 conscious of the futility of these notions ; yet I 
 thought some attention should be paid to the 
 public opinion, however unfounded, and that 
 these idle rumours should be silenced by my 
 return. I moreover conceived that a regard, 
 as well to the glory of God, as to my own sal- 
 vation, enjoined me not only to preserve un- 
 tainted the purity of religion which I had 
 imbibed from my most holy mother the ca- 
 tholic church, but to take due care that no 
 occasion for judging otherwise of me should 
 be afforded-by my negligence. 
 
 NOTES
 
 161 
 NOTES 
 
 TO 
 
 THE SECOND BOOK. 
 
 NOTE (1), PAGE 119. 
 
 FEW characters have produced more discus- 
 sion in their time than that of CHRISTINA, qi^een 
 of Sweden, daughter of the great Gustavus 
 Adolphus. The circumstances of her being 
 one of the class of learned females, of her keep- 
 ing a court filled with men of letters invited 
 from various parts of Europe, of her abdicating 
 a crown for the sake of a life of literary free- 
 dom, and of her change of religion after seem~ 
 ing indifferent to all, rendered her an object of 
 great curiosity, and caused abundance of spe- 
 culation as to her principles and motives. At 
 this cool distance of time, however, opinions 
 probably do not much differ concerning this 
 once celebrated person. As a woman and as a 
 sovereign she can inspire little esteem, having 
 M equally
 
 162 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 equally disregarded the decencies of the for- 
 mer character and the duties of the latter. In 
 her literary pursuits she was capricious and 
 pedantic, aiming at what she could never attain, 
 and directed by no solid views or regular plan. 
 She took up studies because she found great 
 importance attached to them in the learned 
 world, and then deserted them through levity 
 or disgust. In her change of religion she was 
 manifestly actuated solely by considerations of 
 convenience or interest. Yet her love for 
 literature, ill-directed as it was, had elevated 
 her mind in some respects beyond the usual 
 level of sovereigns, and had given her some 
 just notions of the true estimate of human 
 beings, as detached from rank and fortune. 
 When vanity and other passions did not in- 
 terfere; she could think and act like a real 
 philosopher ; and it is to her credit that her 
 conversion to a persecuting religion did not 
 prevent her from inculcating the principles of 
 toleration. It is unnecessary here to enter 
 into any details of her history, further than to 
 mark some of its chronological periods. She 
 was born in 1626, and succeeded to the throne 
 on her father's death in lGo2. She wag 
 
 crowned
 
 NOTES TO BOOK II. l6*3 
 
 crowned in 1650, and resigned her crown after 
 wearing it four years, in 1 65 4, at which time she 
 declared her change of religion. She visited 
 France in l65G; and in 1658 fixed her resi- 
 dence at Rome, where she died in 1689, the 
 sixty-third year of her age. 
 
 NOTE (2), PAGE 119. 
 
 ISAAC Vossius, son of the very learned 
 Gerard- John Vossius, was born in 1618 at 
 Leyden, where his father was then a professor. 
 Endowed with great quickness of parts and 
 an excellent memory, he proved himself, in 
 point of learning, a worthy son of such a fa- 
 ther ; and at an early age made himself known 
 by several publications on subjects of profound 
 erudition. Ancient geography and chronology 
 were especially objects of his research, and he 
 distinguished himself as an advocate for the 
 chronology of the Septuagint in preference to 
 that of the Hebrew text. His literary charac- 
 ter was a remarkable compound of scepticism 
 and credulity. Under the stigma of very lax 
 faith with respect to the Christian revelation, 
 he was boundlessly credulous as to the mar- 
 M 2 vellous
 
 164 MEMOIRS OF HUITT. 
 
 vellous relations of travellers ancient and mo>- 
 
 dern ; so that king Charles II. said of him, 
 
 " he would believe any thing but the Bible." 
 
 In a work of " Various Observations," he 
 
 assigned to ancient Rome fourteen millions of 
 
 inhabitants, and to a town of modern China, 
 
 twenty millions. In every thing, what was 
 
 wonderful and extraordinary captivated his 
 
 imagination ; and novelty seemed to be much 
 
 more to his taste than truth. His reputation, 
 
 however, caused him not only to be engaged 
 
 by Christina in her literary service, but to be 
 
 selected as one of the learned foreigners to 
 
 whom Louis XIV. extended his bounty. He 
 
 came into England in 167, and was presented 
 
 with the degree of doctor of Jaws at Oxford. 
 
 This country became thenceforth his place of 
 
 residence, which was rendered comfortable to 
 
 him by a canonry of Windsor and apartments 
 
 in the castle there. When he lay on his death- 
 
 bed in 1688, being urged by the dean of 
 
 Windsor to receive the sacrament, either 
 
 disregard of that solemnity, or the expectation 
 
 of still surviving, induced him to decline the 
 
 proposal, with the observation, that what he 
 
 then wanted from the dean was to be put ia 
 
 the
 
 NOTES TO BOOK II. l65 
 
 the way how to make the farmers pay him 
 his dues ; and in this unedifying manner he 
 left the world. His valuable library was pur- 
 chased by the university of Leyden ; the love 
 of letters being then, it seems, not strong 
 enough in England to prevent a treasure of 
 that kind from leaving the country. 
 
 NOTE (3), PAGE 124. 
 
 HENRY REGIUS, or DU ROY, was a native of 
 Utrecht, and was educated for physic, which 
 he practised in several parts of the United 
 Provinces. In 16^38 he was made professor of 
 medicine and botany in the university of 
 Utrecht. He was an early convert to the 
 Cartesian philosophy, which he promoted with 
 so much zeal among his auditors, that the 
 other professors took the alarm ; and, at the in- 
 stigation of Gilbert Voet, the senatus acade- 
 micus lodged a complaint against him before 
 the magistrates, in consequence of which he 
 was prohibited from lecturing publicly or pri- 
 vately upon any other than medical subjects. 
 He had deviated so much from the doctrines 
 of his master, that when he showed him before 
 
 publication
 
 166 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 publication his "Fundamenta Physices," Des- 
 cartes advised him not to print it, at least not 
 without much alteration. Regius, however, 
 not only refused to comply, but in his second 
 edition omitted all the praises of Descartes 
 which he had inserted in the first, a conduct 
 which necessarily made a breach in their 
 friendship. He was the first who applied the 
 Cartesian principles to medicine. He died at 
 Utrecht in 1679. 
 
 NOTE (4), PAGE 127. 
 
 CHRISTIAN LOKGOMONTANUS, an eminent 
 Danish astronomer, was a remarkable example 
 of natural genius and industry struggling with 
 the disadvantages of fortune. He was the 
 son of a poor peasant in Jutland, who culti- 
 vated, according to his slender means, the 
 disposition for learning which he discovered 
 in the boy. But losing this parent at an early 
 age, Christian was able to obtain no other 
 indulgence for his desire of instruction, than 
 to be allowed to study during the winter, 
 upon the condition of working hard in the 
 fields all summer. At length he escaped from 
 
 bin
 
 NOTES TO BOOK II. l6/ 
 
 his family, and went to Wiborg, the college 
 of which place he attended several years, sup- 
 porting himself in the meantime by his ma- 
 nual labour. Here, by his conduct and pro- 
 ficiency in his studies, he ingratiated himself 
 so much with the professors, that he was re- 
 commended by them as an assistant to Tycho 
 Brache than residing in his island of Huen. 
 With him he continued eight years, rend- 
 ering himself highly useful to that astronomer 
 by his exactness in making observations; and he 
 afterwards followed Tycho to his residence 
 near Prague. Returning at length to his 
 native country, he was first appointed rector 
 of the college of Wiborg ; and finally, in l6o5_, 
 obtained the completion of his wishes in the 
 professorship of mathematics in the university 
 of Copenhagen. The principal work of Lon- 
 gomontanus is his "Astronomia Danica", 
 which contains all the discoveriesof Tycho, with 
 a proposed improvement upon his system. 
 He expended much fruitless pains upon the 
 problem of the quadrature of thecircle, concern- 
 ing which he had a controversy with Dr. Pell, 
 an English mathematician. He died in 1647, 
 about the age of eighty-five. 
 
 NOTE
 
 168 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 NOTE (5), PAGE 128. 
 
 OLAUS WORMIUS (Worm) eminent as a 
 physician, naturalist, and historian, was born 
 at Aarhusen in Jutland in 1588. He studied 
 in various schools of learning, and travelled 
 through several countries of Europe, intent 
 upon the acquisition of knowledge and the 
 collection of curiosities. On returning to his 
 own country he was appointed to the chair 
 of Greek, and afterwards to that of Natural 
 Philosophy, in the univeristy of Copenhagen ; 
 and in l6'24 he succeeded Gasp. Bartholine in 
 the professorship of medicine. He was nomi- 
 nated physician to the king, and at his death 
 in l654 was rector of the university of Copen- 
 hagen. The most valuable works of Wormius 
 are those on the history of his own country, in 
 which he displayed much accurate research, 
 and a profound knowledge of northern an- 
 tiquities. He left a detailed description of 
 his celebrated and copious museum, which 
 was published after his death in a folio vo- 
 lume with fine plates, under the title of "Mu- 
 saeum Wormianum.*' This learned man was 
 
 not
 
 NOTES TO BOOK II. 169 
 
 not without credulity. He wrote a history 
 of the Leming rat in Norway, which animal 
 he supposes at certain periods to fall from 
 the clouds. He was a great believer in the 
 medical virtues of the horn of the sea-unicorn ; 
 and he asserts, as a serious fact, that a woman 
 laid two eggs, furnished with white and yo*lk. 
 
 It appears extraordinary that the writer 
 could discover no other motive in the mind 
 of man to great exertions in the cause of 
 science, than the love of glory. Besides the 
 desire of benefiting mankind, which, perhaps, 
 is seldom more than a secondary consideration, 
 the pure love of knowledge, and the natural 
 propensity to advance in the pursuit of truth, 
 will sufficiently account for all the labours 
 sustained by an active and enquiring mind. 
 These inducements I believe (in this country 
 at least) to operate much more frequently 
 and steadily in scientific researches, than the 
 passion for fame, which they often afford little 
 scope for gratifying. Can it be thought that 
 amidst the sublime speculations which pro- 
 duced
 
 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 duced Newton's Principia, an idea of the 
 glory he should acquire by a work which 
 scarcely twenty persons in Europe were likely 
 to understand, intruded into the great mind 
 of that philosopher? Fame may be the lead- 
 ing object of the warrior, the poet, the artist, 
 but scarcely of the man of science, whose 
 investigations must be patiently pursued in 
 silence and solitude ; whilst their results, when 
 most satisfactory, are to be judged of only by 
 the few who are attached to similar studies. 
 If, as here asserted, Tycho Brahe consoled 
 himself on his death-bed with the hope of 
 being thought not to have lived in vain, that hope 
 was fulfilled, notwithstanding all the misfor- 
 tunes of his life ; for he has left a name held 
 in honour by the votaries of the sciences 
 which he so much promoted : and those mis- 
 fortunes were rather occasioned by his own 
 intemperate passions, than by neglect of his 
 real merits, which appear to have been fully 
 recognized by his contemporaries. 
 
 To the preceding anecdotes of this remark- 
 able person I shall only add, that after quit- 
 ting Denmark he was invited to Prague by 
 the emperor Rodolph, a lover and patron of 
 
 science,
 
 TO BOOK II. 
 
 science, who gave him a magnificent house 
 and a liberal pension; and that he died there 
 in consequence of an accidental disease in 
 l6oi, at the age of fifty-five: it is therefore 
 by no means true that his latter days were un- 
 honoured. 
 
 NOTE (7), PAGE 142. 
 
 To this attempt to associate superstition with 
 the influence of climate, it is an obvious objec- 
 tion, that superstition is the companion of ig- 
 norance throughout the globe, and fills with 
 fears and apprehensions not less the negro 
 under the burning sun of Guinea, than the 
 Greenlander in his subterraneous cavern. The 
 gloom of a northern sky may indeed appear 
 to favour it; but the terrific phaenomena of 
 nature under the tropics are not less adapted 
 to fill the minds of the inhabitants with the 
 dread of "powers unseen and mightier far 
 than they." In fact, superstition is so radical in 
 human beings, that nothing but that culture 
 .of the reasoning faculty which is termed phi- 
 losophy is capable of extirpating it. With- 
 out philosophy, there is no form of religion 
 
 that
 
 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 that does not turn to superstition ; and Huet 
 himself must upon reflection have confessed, 
 that the catholic vulgar of the south of Europe 
 are not Jess subject to this mental infirmity 
 than the prote^tants, or even the pagans, of 
 the north. 
 
 NOTE (8), PAGE 144. 
 
 The submersion of swallows during winter, 
 although credited not only by the vulgar, but 
 even by naturalists, in the north of Europe, 
 is a circumstance so contrary to the economy 
 of nature and the laws of circulation in warm- 
 blooded animals, that the most intelligent en- 
 quirers seem to agree in considering it as a 
 fiction. The point is discussed at length, and 
 with much information, in Buffon's History 
 of Birds. 
 
 NOTE (9), PAGE 151. 
 
 The ABBE BGURDELOT, as he was usually 
 called, for he had been presented to two eccle- 
 siastical benefices, was probably a protestant by 
 parentage, since he was born at Geneva, and 
 
 his
 
 NOTES TO BOOK II. 
 
 his mother was a relation of the celebrated 
 Beza. In manners he appears to have been 
 a perfect specimen of an intriguing court 
 physician. He had insinuated himself into 
 the favour of the Prince of Conde before he 
 went to Sweden ; and the caustic Guy Patin 
 speaks of him as " a monstrous liar and a gam- 
 bler." Though Huet represents him as un- 
 learned, he held a kind of academy at his 
 house in Paris, of which the memoirs, under 
 the title of "Conferences," were published by 
 the abbe Gallois. His death, in 1685, at 
 the age of seventy-six, was the consequence of 
 a dose of opium taken by mistake. It threw 
 him into a stupor, for the recovery from which 
 a warming pan was used, and a burn which 
 he received in the application turned into a 
 gangrene that proved fatal. 
 
 NOTE (10), PAGE 152. 
 
 GILBERT GAULMIN, a native of Moulins, 
 was a master of requests, a counsellor of state, 
 and intendant of Nivernois. He appears to 
 have been a man of more parade than solidity 
 of erudition ; though Costar affirmed of him 
 
 that
 
 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 that he knew all the languages that the con- 
 fusion of Babel introduced on the earth. He 
 was accustomed to harangue to an assembly of 
 men of letters at the Luxemburg, who regaled 
 him with abundance of incense. His writ- 
 ings were chiefly translations of some obscure 
 Greek authors, with annotations ; and pieces 
 of poetry. Among the latter were some sting- 
 ing epigrams against the parliament of Paris 
 in its quarrel with cardinal Mazarin. The 
 rector of Gaulrnin's parish having refused to 
 marry him to a woman whom he brought to the 
 altar, he declared in the rector's presence that 
 he took her for his wife, and cohabited with 
 her. The name of d la Gaulmine was after- 
 wards given to such marriages, which were 
 determined to be illegal. After his death, 
 his valuable library was annexed to the king's. 
 
 NOTE (11), PAGE 153. 
 
 MARK MEIBOM, a man of learning, but a 
 pedant, was a native of Tonningen in Schleswig. 
 After he had presented the work here men- 
 tioned to Christina, she had, or affected to' 
 have, a desire to hear some of that Grecian 
 
 music
 
 NOTES TO BOOK II. 
 
 music in the praise of which he was so elo- 
 quent, and a clay was appointed for an exhi- 
 bition, vocal and instrumental, before the whole 
 court. Meibom himself, who had neither 
 voice nor practical knowledge, was vain enough 
 to undertake the vocal part, and his perform- 
 ance, and that of his auxiliaries, was so ridi- 
 culous, that the whole audience broke out into 
 laughter. Provoked with his disgrace, he ran 
 up to Bourdelot, whom he imagined, perhaps 
 justly, to have contributed to it, and gave him 
 a blow in the royal presence, and then hastily 
 quitted Stockholm, and went to Denmark. 
 It is not improbable that this comic scene gave 
 the hint for the humorous display of ancient 
 music in Scriblerus. Meibom obtained a pro- 
 fessorship in the college of Sora, and was after- 
 wards made president of the board of customs 
 at Elsinore. The quarrels in which his irri- 
 table temper involved him having at length 
 obliged him to quit Denmark, he went to 
 Amsterdam, where the professorship of history 
 was conferred upon him. Losing this place 
 in consequence of a dispute with the burgo- 
 master, he visited France and England for 
 the purpose of selling a supposed discovery of 
 
 the
 
 IJ'S MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 the construction of the ancient galleys amatter 
 of as little utility as his revival of ancient music. 
 On this subject he wrote a learned dissertation. 
 He had a plan of correcting the Hebrew text of 
 the bible by means of a metrical system which 
 he imagined he had discovered in its compo- 
 sition ; and he published a specimen of this 
 scheme of emendation. He gave other proofs 
 of deep erudition, though little under the con- 
 troul of sound judgement; and died at Am- 
 sterdam at a very advanced age about 1711. 
 
 NOTE (12), PAGE 154. 
 
 COUNT AXEL OXENSTIERNA, one of the great 
 men of his age, descended from an ancient and 
 honourable Swedish family, was born in 1583. 
 His first introduction to public business was 
 under Charles IX., who employed him in va- 
 rious diplomatic affairs, which he conducted so 
 as to establish a high reputation for political 
 sagacity. Gustavus Adolphus on his accession 
 promoted him to the post of chancellor, and 
 during his whole reign reposed the utmost 
 confidence in his fidelity and talents. He 
 accompanied that hero into Germany, where he 
 
 was
 
 NOtES TO BOOK II. 
 
 Was employed both in a civil and a military 
 capacity; and at the time of the battle of 
 Lutzen he possessed the supreme command 
 of the Swedish and allied forces upon the 
 Rhine. After the death of Gustavus in that 
 battle, the Swedish government delegated to 
 Oxenstierna unlimited powers in negotiating 
 with foreign states and conducting the war 
 in Germany ; and it was chiefly by his wisdom 
 and magnanimity that the declining interest 
 of the Swedes was sustained, and their affairs 
 were retrieved after the severe blow at Nord- 
 lingen; On his return to Sweden after an ab- 
 sence of ten years, he resumed his seat as 
 chancellor, and acted as one of the guardians 
 of the kingdom in the minority of Christina, 
 whom he took great pains to instruct in the 
 art of government. He used all his influence to 
 oppose her intention of abdicating the throne ; 
 which unadvised act, together with the derange- 
 ment of the finances occasioned by her extrava- 
 gance, gave him great concern, and made him 
 wish to withdraw from public business. He con- 
 tinued, however, to discharge his official duties 
 till his death in l6'54. The character of this 
 great statesman was extremely high through- 
 VOL. i. N out
 
 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 out Europe, and his worth and integrity were 
 not less acknowledged than his abilities. He 
 had received a literary education, and was well 
 versed in the learned languages and the 
 Sciences, particularly that of theology. 
 
 NOTE (13), PAGE 154. 
 
 CHANUT, a native of Riom, after having 
 been long resident as the French king's ambas- 
 sador at the court of Sweden, was employed 
 in other diplomatic missions, and finally re- 
 called to assist in the royal council. He wag 
 much esteemed for fidelity and capacity in 
 his different employments, and died in 1662, 
 at the age of sixty-two. Some curious me- 
 moirs extracted from his dispatches were pub- 
 lished after his death by M. Linage de Vau- 
 ciennes. He deserves the gratitude of men of 
 science for his kind attentions to Descartes, 
 who was probably considered at the French 
 court as a deserter of his country. 
 
 NOTE (14), PAGE 156. 
 
 Of this horrid species of fanaticism there 
 
 have
 
 NOTES TO BOOK II. 179 
 
 have been several instances in the northern 
 countries of Europe, and it once prevailed to 
 such a degree that magistrates were seriously 
 occupied in finding means to prevent it. One 
 of the most obvious was, not to indulge the 
 criminal's desire of capital punishment, but 
 to commute it into imprisonment for life with 
 hard labour. The existence of such a crime 
 cannot but suggest reflections on the principle 
 from which it has originated ; and a few of 
 these which have occurred to me, I beg leave 
 to offer to the reader. 
 
 Tha,t,the doctrine of a future state is of the 
 highest moral importance to mankind, will 
 Jbe denied by none who speculate upon the 
 mqtives of human actions; but whether it will 
 eventually be useful or prejudicial to society, 
 must depend entirely upon the terms pro- 
 posed for obtaining happiness or avoiding mi- 
 sery in another life. The simple desire of 
 being happy hereafter is ,a barely selfish emo- 
 tion, in no respect different from the same 
 desire relatively to this world ; whence I am 
 much surprised that a late celebrated moralist 
 should have giyen it admission into his defi- 
 N 2 nition
 
 ISO MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 nition of virtue. Even the notion of eternity 
 annexed to it only adds to its intensity, and 
 does not alter its quality. It is a potent en- 
 gine, but as liable to misdirection as any other 
 powerful machine. Among the numerous re- 
 ligions which have popularly prevailed in the 
 world, it is to be lamented that scarcely any 
 one has uniformly and, without exceptions in- 
 culcated the doctrine that the future condition 
 of man will be exactly proportioned to the 
 good or evil he has done in this stage of his 
 existence : almost all have pointed out some 
 by-roads to heaven, unconnected with the 
 direct path of moral duty. In particular, a 
 great stress has usually been laid upon the 
 manner in which the last moments of life have 
 been spent, and the sentiments and ceremonials 
 with which the world has been quitted. 
 Thus the poor wretch in question founded 
 his confidence upon an elevation of his soul 
 to God, aided by the prayers and exhortations 
 of the pious; and he thought that dying in 
 such a happy frame of mind would expiate 
 every previous crime, and secure him eternal 
 felicity. This notion is too much encouraged 
 
 by
 
 NOTES TO B.OOK II. 181 
 
 by the public devotional practices permitted in 
 all Christian countries as preliminary to execu- 
 tion, and which, under the administration of en- 
 thusiasts and fanatics, are often accompanied 
 with such assurances of the divine forgive- 
 ness and favour, as almost sanctify the death 
 which is intended to deter others from similar 
 offences. In some Roman-catholic countries 
 there are fraternities of charitable persons 
 instituted for the express purpose of procuring 
 to criminals these dying consolations, which 
 are afforded in an abundanpe, and with a 
 parade of solemnity, much beyond the power 
 of an honest poor man to procure ; and must, 
 doubtless, with the prevalent ideas of their 
 efficacy, operate as a kind of premium for the 
 commission of crimes. Such charity could 
 not, however, be blamed, did its exertion really 
 make to a fellow-creature all the difference 
 between eternal happiness and eternal misery ; 
 nor do I know upon what ground the reason- 
 ing of the murderer above mentioned could 
 be refuted, by one who should admit that the 
 sentiments with which he immediately left this 
 world would determine his doom in another. 
 
 NOTE
 
 182 MEMOIRS Orf riUET. 
 
 NOTE (15), PAGE 156. 
 
 It must be acknowledged that these com- 
 plaints of the Swedes were not without foun- 
 dation ; nor was the character here attributed 
 to the French nation void of resemblance. 
 It has been remarked of the French, that al- 
 though they travel from motives of curiosity 
 or improvement less than the natives of most 
 civilized countries, yet that, in pursuit of 
 emolument, they are to be found all over the 
 globe ; and that they almost universally render 
 themselves obnoxious by their intriguing spirit, 
 and their avowed contempt for the manners 
 and customs of other people. If in the latter 
 respect the English are nearly as blameable, 
 they make some amends by the easiness with 
 which they submit to imposition, and the 
 generous independence of their conduct. 
 
 NOTE (16), PACE 159. 
 
 The queen appears in this instance to have 
 been more prudent than the two Frenchmen, 
 
 who
 
 NOTES TO BOOK II. 183 
 
 who presumed not a little on her preference of 
 foreigners when they expected to entertain 
 her by a satire on her own countrymen. 
 French petulance has seldom appeared in more 
 striking colours. With respect to Huet's 
 promise of returning to Sweden, when it is 
 evident that he had no such intention, it will 
 admit of some excuse from the apparent con- 
 trol exercised over him by a sovereign of whom 
 he was not the subject. 
 
 MEMOIRS

 
 v MEMOIRS 
 
 OF 
 
 PETER DANIEL HUET. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 J.N my journey to Sweden, on looking over 
 the shelves of the library at Gottorp, I ob- 
 served some ancient Greek books which I 
 thought might be of service to my literary pur- 
 suits. On my return, therefore, ] determined 
 not to quit the Danish province forming the 
 Cimbric Chersonesus till I had examined these 
 books at leisure, and, if 1 found any thing to 
 my purpose, had made either an abstract or a 
 transcript of it. In consequence, as soon as I 
 reached Gottorp again, I waited upon Adam 
 Olearius, the librarian, a person distinguished 
 for good sense and learning, of both which 
 qualities he had given an admirable proof in 
 Jiis " Description of a Journey to Muscovy 
 and Persia," which was undertaken by order 
 pf Frederjc duke of Holstein. At this time, 
 
 as
 
 186 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 as far as the severe attacks of a fever, under 
 which he laboured, permitted him, he was 
 compiling a dictionary with an explanation of 
 all the words in the Persian language, (l) I 
 requested him in the first place to give me an 
 introduction to the prince, to whom it was my 
 duty to pay my respects ; and then to allow 
 me access to the library, that I might read 
 and extract whatever should seem advantageous 
 to my studies. On the following day he in- 
 formed me that the prince would give me an 
 audience as soon as he had transacted with 
 some foreign ambassadors the business on ac- 
 count of which they had come ; and that in 
 the mean time the inmost recesses of the li- 
 brary should be open to me. Of this liberal 
 indulgence I was not negligent in availing my- 
 self, as soon as I had waited upon the prince. 
 Among the manuscripts which I employed 
 myself in transcribing Was especially that con- 
 taining the Anthology of Vettius Valens. He 
 Was an ancient astronomer of Ahtioch, who 
 delivered the precepts of the apotelesmatic art 
 (influences of the stars) about the reigns of 
 Adrian and Antoninus. He must not be con- 
 founded with another astrologer of the same 
 
 name,
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 
 
 name, known from the histories of George 
 Cedrenus, Michael Glycas, and John Zonaras, 
 who at the foundation of New Rome (Constan- 
 tinople) constituted a scheme of the heavens, 
 and predicted many falsities from the vanity 
 of his art. I have heard of only two copies 
 of this work besides that of Gottorp ; one at 
 Leyden, written by the hand of Joseph Sca- 
 liger ; the other at Oxford, formerly made by 
 the care of Christopher Longolius, at the 
 expense of twenty pieces of gold, and which 
 was afterwards in the possession of John Sel- 
 den. Gesner, however, in his Bibliotheca, 
 speaks of another MS. of this work, extant at 
 Rome, in the library of Lucas Gauric. Whe- 
 ther it was this; or that of Gottorp, which 
 Joachim Camerarius made use of when he in- 
 serted a fragment from it in his Astrologica, 
 and whence Scaliger made his copy, is un- 
 known to me. Whilst I was earnestly em- 
 ployed in this task, the prince himself entered 
 at a back door and stood unexpectedly at my 
 side. Presently, sitting down with great fa- 
 miliarity, he asked me many questions con- 
 cerning Sweden and France, and likewise rela- 
 tive to my Own studies and his library, which 
 
 he
 
 188 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 he wished me carefully to survey, and to give 
 my advice for its augmentation. As he was 
 unacquainted with French, and I with German 
 and Danish, we employed the Latin as the me- 
 dium of conversation, which language lie spoke 
 with so much facility, that<l was ashamed of 
 my hesitation. (2) 
 
 Leaving Gottorp, we came to Hamburgh, 
 where Lambecius favoured us with his company, 
 and with many instances of polite attention. 
 By his means I was introduced to the public 
 library bequeathed to the city of Hamburgh 
 by Frederic Lindenbrog, and since augmented 
 by large additions. 
 
 Returning hence to Holland, we wished to 
 avoid the disagreeable road by the steril and 
 sandy plains of Westphalia, of which we had 
 already experienced the tediousness. We 
 therefore turned to the right through Frise- 
 land, a province distinguished for the number 
 of its populous cities, and of its rivers, which 
 afford the convenience of water-carriage to tra- 
 vellers. We had arrived at the borders of the 
 Zuyder Zee, when, in the neighbourhood of 
 Harlingeri, a town was pointed out to us which, 
 they informed us, built and furnished to the 
 
 , state
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 189 
 
 state a ship every day, or 365 in the course of 
 the year. We next surveyed the university 
 of Franeker. At Worcum I personally ex- 
 perienced what I had often heard, but had re* 
 garded as a jocular fiction ; namely, that in 
 the Dutch inns a charge is made to the guest, 
 not only for expenses incurred in his enter- 
 tainment, but for the noise he makes. For, 
 when we were reckoning with our host, he put 
 down to our account the barking of our little 
 dog, and the horse-laughs of our saucy valet. 
 And upon* our laughing still louder at the 
 charge, and treating it as a joke, the sturdy 
 landlord flew into a passion, and called to his 
 assistance from the neighbourhood certain rus- 
 tics, like the ./Etnean brothers, armed with 
 axes : " Here (said he, introducing them) are 
 those who will make these rascally Frenchmen 
 pay their dues !" We chose rather to submit 
 than to fight. 
 
 On the coast of the Zuyder Zee lies Stave- 
 ren, an ancient city, formerly the capital of 
 West Friseland, and at that time rich and 
 powerful, distinguished for its safe and capa- 
 cious harbour, and the distant voyages of its 
 mariners, in which they were the first to open 
 
 the
 
 190 MEMOIKS OF HUET* 
 
 trade of the Baltic sea through the strait of the 
 Sound ; a memorial of which benefit is said to 
 exist to this day, in a rule to admit the ship* 
 of Staveren to the payment of the passage 
 duty in preference to all others. It was also not 
 of the lowest rank among the Hanse towns; but 
 it is now only a bad road for shipping, its 
 port being choked up with sand. The vulgar 
 account for the rnisfortune by the following 
 story : A merchant of Staveren returning from 
 Prussia with a large cargo of corn, so offended 
 his wife by bringing her no amber,, as she had 
 expected, that she ordered all the corn to be 
 emptied into the sea; as a punishment for 
 which crime of one passionate woman the 
 whole city was deprived of its harbour and 
 trade. 
 
 Embarking at that place for Amsterdam, 
 we arrived on the following day ; whence, soon 
 after, 1 was called by some urgent business to 
 Utrecht. I now resolved not to omit, what 
 on a former occasion I had not, indeed, for- 
 gotten, but deferred paying my respects to 
 the noble maiden Anna Maria Schurman, 
 who afterwards married Labadie, a minister of 
 the French calvinist church, with whom she 
 
 removed
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 
 
 removed to Friseland. It would be a waste of 
 words to celebrate the praises of this lady, 
 whose genius, learning, skill in various arts, 
 and singular modesty, have been diffusely com- 
 memorated by Saumaise. (3) The desire of 
 seeing again Saumaise himself made me im- 
 patient to return to Leyden. For the friend- 
 ship commenced between us at our first inter- 
 view had been cultivated by a frequent episto- 
 lary correspondence, during my residence in 
 Sweden ; and I hoped that it would be con- 
 firmed by daily intercourse in the long winter, 
 especially if I might be admitted into his 
 house, as I had reason to expect from the to- 
 kens of his kind regard. Scarcely had I be- 
 gun to enjoy his desired society before I was 
 seized with an acute fever which brought my 
 life into extreme danger. The skill and atten- 
 tiqn, however, of my excellent physician 
 Antony Vander Linden, (4) with the comforts 
 and cordials of every kind administered to me 
 by Saumaise, and by other most respectable 
 persons of the city and university who were 
 totally unknown to me, were so efficacious, 
 that in less than a month I was perfectly re- 
 covered from this very serious illness. Among 
 
 those
 
 192 MEMOIRS OP HUET. 
 
 those to whom I was highly obliged was James 
 Golius, the first name in Arabic literature, and 
 still more estimable for his candour and sweet- 
 ness of disposition ; (5) and Diodati, distin- 
 guished for the polished elegance of his mind. 
 During my confinement I had a fellow-lodger 
 in Alexander More, (6) with whom I con- 
 tracted a great intimacy ; for he sat day and 
 night by my bed-side whilst I was at the worst, 
 took his meals with me when I was convales- 
 cent, and recruited my spirits by his pleasantry. 
 We also frequently tried our powers in pouring 
 out verses, and sending them to one another 
 by way of challenge or reply ; in which exer- 
 cise we had the unexpected pleasure of finding 
 our facility sometimes proceed to extempora- 
 neous composition. Saumaise, however, sur- 
 passed all the rest in offices of kindness and 
 humanity ; for when he was confined almost 
 to his bed by the gout, and could not come to 
 see me, he dispelled my languor by frequent 
 little presents and letters ; and recollecting that 
 I had been accustomed from childhood to drink 
 cyder, after the Norman manner, for which 
 he knew I had a great longing whenever I was 
 indisposed, he sent me several bottles of this 
 
 pleasant
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 
 
 pleasant and salubrious liquor. As soon as I 
 was able to go abroad, he accommodated me, 
 among other things, with his chaise to drive 
 in the city. Of this I made use to pay visits 
 to other chiefs of the literary republic, who 
 shed lustre by their erudition on the univer- 
 sity of Leyden ; especially Daniel Heinsius, 
 in whom could scarcely be discerned the ves- 
 tiges of that former Heinsius who acquired 
 so much celebrity by the brilliancy of his 
 genius. He then appeared of a remiss and 
 sluggish intellect, and a languid and rather 
 melancholy tone of conversation, though I 
 should have delighted to hear him recount the 
 pleasant scenes of his youth happily passed 
 in the lap of the Muses under the Scaligerian 
 discipline. (7) Nor was there much attraction 
 in the stern and lurid visage of Mark Zuerius 
 Boxhorn, besprinkled with red pustules, like 
 that of Sylla the Dictator, and whose manner 
 of address also bore a stamp of surliness and 
 austerity. He had a violent enmity with 
 Saumaise, whom he severely attacked both 
 in speech and writing; as Heinsius had also 
 done, to whose party Boxhorn openly adhered. 
 Some German youths greatly attached to Sau- 
 VOL. i* o maise
 
 194 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 maise once meeting with Boxhorn in an alley, 
 addressed him with, "Is it you, paltry fellow, 
 that dare to write against the great Salmasius?" 
 and attempted to push him into the canal. (8) 
 For myself, the worth, benevolence and 
 kind offices of Saumaise entirely gained my 
 heart ; and as much as my still tender health, 
 and his almost constantly invalid state permit- 
 ted, I enjoyed his company, and he did not seem 
 to disdain mine. For whenever I came to 
 visit him, laying aside all other business, he 
 took me alone into his closet, and there opened 
 his mind to me so candidly, and with so much 
 frankness, that I occasionally wondered within 
 myself to see a man of tried and habitual pru- 
 dence communicating so freely and familiarly 
 his sentiments on serious and secret matters 
 to one of my immature age, not doubting of 
 my Fidelity and taciturnity. He was frequently 
 used to say that his gout was a great detri- 
 ment to me, as it prevented him from going 
 up to his library, whence he could have 
 brought many useful aids to my studies. If 
 the temper and manners of this eminent per- 
 son be estimated from his writings, he may 
 appear arrogant, haughty, and self-suffi- 
 cient ;
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 195 
 
 cient ; but in the intercourse of life nothing 
 could be more placid, gentle, courteous, polite, 
 and ready to oblige. His benignity and quiet 
 were, however, much disturbed by an imperi- 
 ous wife, Anna Mercier, the daughter of the 
 learned Josias Mercier; whose assistance being 
 necessary to him on account of his bodily in- 
 firmity and weak state of health, he was 
 obliged to submit to her humours, and accom- 
 modate himself to her inclinations, not only 
 patiently, but sometimes indecorously. Thus 
 when he undertook his journey to Sweden, and 
 both his age and character required a modest 
 and simple mode of dress, she rejected such 
 a garb as ignoble and plebeian, and determined 
 that he should appear at the Swedish court dis- 
 guised in a military habit, with a buff leather 
 waistcoat, sleeves and breeches of scarlet cloth, 
 and an ash-coloured hat on his head adorned 
 with a white feather : and he suffered himself 
 to be paraded in public with these decorations. 
 This passionate woman was also displeased if 
 she saw any one admitted to secret and fami- 
 liar conference with her husband, as I my- 
 self experienced ; for whenever she found that 
 we two were withdrawn for the purpose of 
 o 2 private
 
 19(5 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 private conversation, she perpetually broke in, 
 and invented some far-fetched excuse for her 
 untimely intrusion. (9) 
 
 In one of our agreeable interviews Saumaise 
 informed me, that during the whole year 
 which he passed at Stockholm in the court of 
 Christina, he was laid up with the gout ; and 
 that the queen once suddenly coming upon 
 him whilst he was amusing himself and en- 
 deavouring to forget his pain by reading a 
 facetious, but somewhat indelicate, book en- 
 titled " Le Moyen de parvenir," said to be 
 written by Francis Beroalde de Verville, (10) 
 he hid it under the bed clothes, lest the queen, 
 if she saw it, should take offence. He was 
 not able, however, to escape her quick and 
 curious eyes ; and having seized the book and 
 cursorily read a few verses, smiling at their 
 high-flavoured humour, she called her favour- 
 ite Sparre, a young lady of beauty and rank, 
 to whom she pointed out certain passages, 
 ordering her to read them ; which, notwith- 
 standing her confusion and blushes, she was 
 obliged to do, to the great diversion of the at- 
 tendants. That I might perfectly understand 
 tl^e whole affair, Saumaise ordered the work 
 
 to
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 197 
 
 to be procured from the Leyden booksellers, 
 and presented it to me elegantly bound. 
 
 About that time a grievous quarrel arose 
 between Saumaise and More, who was then 
 my fellow-lodger, which was attended with 
 much disturbance and public scandal. Sau- 
 maise had a handsome maid-servant, on whom 
 More, a great admirer of the fair-sex, was said, 
 when he lived in Saumaise's house, to have 
 cast an amorous eye. He singled her out, sat 
 by her at the table, and conversed with her ; 
 nor did the girl's mistress interpose, as she 
 hoped the love might end in a marriage, which 
 would prove an advantageous settlement for one 
 to whom she was attached. When therefore 
 More was seized with a slight fever, the 
 young woman closely attended upon him, and 
 gave him his broths and other restoratives 
 with great assiduity. These kind offices so 
 won upon him, that he made frequent asseve- 
 rations of his eternal gratitude ; which both the 
 unexperienced girl and her credulous mistress 
 interpreted into promises of marriage. When 
 More, upon his recovery, was apprised of this, 
 being hi reality entirely averse to such a con- 
 nexion, he gradually withdrew from the house 
 
 and
 
 198 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 and controul of Saumaise, and violent conten- 
 tions and reproaches were the consequence. 
 It gave me pain to see men from whom I had 
 received so much kindness falling into dis- 
 graceful disputes, which, I foresaw, were likely 
 to end in a lawsuit; and I thought it my duty, 
 if possible, to bring them to an agreement. 
 Golius, an excellent man and a lover of peace, 
 heartily concurred in the same purpose; and 
 the difference seemed to be settled on con- 
 ditions which I put down upon paper, and 
 were approved hy More; nor would Saumaise 
 have rejected them, had it not been for the 
 contumacy of his wife, to whom he was child- 
 ishly submissive, and who induced him finally 
 to refuse all terms of compromise. The case 
 was therefore brought before the provincial 
 court of Holland, and was decided in favour 
 of More. 
 
 Regard to truth will not permit me here to 
 pass over in silence a conversation which I had 
 at this time with More. Having both of us 
 remarked the infirm state to which Saumaise 
 was reduced by his fits of the gout, and pre- 
 saged his approaching death, which, in fact, 
 took place some months afterwards, I asked 
 
 him
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 
 
 him whom the States destined as successor to 
 the successor of the great Scaliger ; to which 
 he replied, "What if yourself?" I smiled, as 
 thinking him in jest; on which he rejoined, 
 "I am in earnest ; for such is my opinion of 
 you, and that of others." " But (said I) sup- 
 posing the insufficiency, of which I am con- 
 scious, to undertake such a charge, from my 
 youth and want of ability, were no obstacle, 
 yet certainly, so wide a difference in religious 
 opinions, from which I would not swerve were 
 my life at stake, could not be allowed in a 
 man placed as an example to youth." "You 
 are mistaken (he answered) if you think they 
 attach so much importance to religion. Pro- 
 vided you agree in other things, it will be 
 easy either to compromise or to suppress this 
 difference. You have only to follow your own 
 way in private, prudently to acquiesce in re- 
 ceived opinions, and to abstain from contro- 
 versy." These suggestions, however, seemed 
 rather the result of his good wishes, than of 
 his considerate judgment. (11) 
 
 Although the state of my affairs summoned 
 me to my own country, I thought I might 
 without detriment delay somewhat longer, and 
 
 pass
 
 200 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 pass the winter at Leyden, where I might 
 thoroughly familiarise myself with Saumaise, 
 and even become an inmate with him, should 
 I obtain Madame Saumaise's permission. But 
 these agreeable expectations were frustrated by 
 letters from Caen, which informed me that a 
 stay of even two months longer would be 
 highly injurious to my fortune. To this mo- 
 tive was added the perpetual importunity of 
 the companion of my journey, who had a 
 vehement longing to breathe the smoke of 
 his father's hearth. I was therefore obliged, 
 much against my will, to think of my depar- 
 ture; and in the first place it was necessary 
 to return to Amsterdam to receive the money 
 due to me from my banker, and prepare for 
 my journey. I had also a polite invitation 
 thither from Vossius, who was returned from 
 Sweden as above related ; and a still more 
 pressing one from Alexander More, then oc- 
 cupying a professorship at that capital, who not 
 only displayed his former kindness to me, but 
 laid me under new obligations. On this account 
 I was the more surprised that the same person, 
 on removing to Paris some years afterwards, was 
 sochangedfrom himself as, without any pretext, 
 
 to
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 201 
 
 to manifest a total alienation from me ; such 
 was the levity of his disposition ! By this ex- 
 ample I was taught the vanity of human hopes 
 and promises, and even of friendships cemented 
 with the greatest care. But more of this here- 
 after. 
 
 When I was making excursions in Holland, 
 I often walked upon those stupendous mounds 
 by which the force of the incumbent sea is 
 broken, and the subjacent lands are preserved 
 from its inroads ; and the extraordinary spec- 
 tacle inspired me with the following verses : 
 
 His super edocti, longas molimine magno 
 Jnfixere sudes pelago, turn immania saxo &c. 
 
 During my stay at Amsterdam I was induced 
 to visit Rabbi Manasseh ben Israel, a very learn- 
 ed Jew, known to me both by reputation and 
 by his writings, for the purpose of becoming 
 better accquainted with him 3 and making en- 
 quiries of him respecting several circumstances 
 connected with the Jewish rites and the Chris- 
 tian religion. His answers appeared to me 
 acute, yet candid ; and to show that he was not 
 far distant from the knowledge of the truth, 
 were he treated with reason and moderation, 
 
 and
 
 202 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 and not with the contumely and harshness 
 usually displayed towards that nation. When 
 I afterwards went over these topics of contro- 
 versy by myself, maturely weighing what re- 
 quired confutation or confirmation, the result 
 of long and attentive meditation was that work 
 which I at lengfh published under the title of 
 " Demonstratio Evangelica." Manasseh some- 
 times affirmed to me what he did not scruple 
 to write in his Conciliator, that he was related 
 to king David by affinity, and to his children 
 by blood, and that he had begotten [descend- 
 ants to David ; for he had married into the fa- 
 mily of Abrabanel, of great nobility among 
 the Jews, and which claimed descent from 
 that king. (12) 
 
 There was at that time also at Amsterdam 
 David Blondel, a person with whom I had 
 been familiarly acquainted when we were both 
 at Paris, and had held frequent conversations, 
 often in the presence of Claude Sarrau, a coun- 
 sellor of parliament, and a great friend to letters. 
 Blondel, afterwards invited to Holland, ob- 
 tained a professor's chair in the public school 
 of Amsterdam, where he had Alexander More 
 for a colleague. He had from his birth pro- 
 minent
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 203 
 
 minent eyes standing out from their orbits, 
 which I saw him using without difficulty for the 
 common purposes of life and diligent reading 
 when I first visited Amsterdam in my way to 
 Sweden ; but on my return I found him ab- 
 solutely blind ; yet, through the help of a 
 most tenacious memory, which served him in 
 the place of eyes, pursuing his commenced 
 work in which he had undertaken to display 
 the genealogy of the royal house of France 
 from its first origin, ! and to assert its splendour 
 and dignity against the carpings of John James 
 Chiflet of Besan9on. It astonished me to hear 
 him, without the aid of eye-sight, accurately 
 going through the lines of families by genera- 
 tions, names and surnames, affinities and al- 
 liances, even adding the dates of years, months, 
 weeks and days. All these he distinguished with 
 so much, exactness and diligence, qualities that 
 may be recognised in his other writings, that 
 Peter du Puy gave him the appellation of the 
 Great Datary. (13) At this period I also en- 
 joyed the company of Frederic Gronovius, than 
 whom no one, in my opinion, since the suc- 
 cessful culture of letters, has exercised the cri- 
 tical art with more acuteness and felicity, and 
 
 a
 
 204 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 at the same time with more caution and mo- 
 deration. (14) This is a merit rarely to be 
 found among modern scholars, who are gene- 
 rally accustomed to claim supreme authority 
 over the works of ancient authors, which they 
 often mould anew at their pleasure, and by 
 spurious emendations coifrupt from their native 
 purity. 
 
 In the mean time I was pressed by the ne- 
 cessity of returning to my own country ; but no 
 small difficulties presented themselves to me 
 and my Achates, whether we took our course 
 by sea or by land. On one hand, the war 
 raging between the English and the Dutch 
 covered the sea with hostile fleets; on the 
 other, the war between the French and Spa- 
 niards filled all the roads of Flanders, the 
 whole length of whidi we must travel, with 
 banditti. But although the wintry season (for 
 the year was drawing to a close) increased the 
 evils of a journey by land, yet it appeared to 
 us on the whole, the least incommodious and 
 dangerous, and we determined in its favour. 
 We therefore entered Brabant, and arrived at 
 Louvain ; where 1 visited the library of the 
 canons regular of St. Martin, in which I knew 
 
 that
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 205 
 
 that there were some ancient manuscripts, 
 that the studies in which 1 was engaged re- 
 quired me to consult, and even to peruse, and 
 from which Vossius had earnestly requested 
 me to make some extracts. Among the pro- 
 fessors of Louvain, Valerius Andreas had then 
 acquired a name, which became celebrated by 
 his work on the writers of Spain and Belgium. 
 I paid my respects to him, and desired to be 
 numbered among his friends. (15) 
 
 At Brussels chance directed us to an inn the 
 landlord of which was a native of Caen. He 
 seemed delighted to entertain his townsmen, 
 treated us handsomely, and liberally accom- 
 modated us with every thing in his power. 
 He was of great use in hiring for us post-horses 
 to accompany the public courier. Not far from 
 Brussels is the town of Halle, where great de- 
 votion is paid to an image of the holy Virgin, 
 placed in the church there in the year 1267 by 
 Adelaide, wife of John of Avesnes count of 
 Hainault, and famous for many miracles, which, 
 for the purpose of exciting piety in the com- 
 mon people, have been published by Justus 
 Lipsius, a learned and devout professor of 
 polite literature. (16) Recollecting this cir- 
 cumstance,
 
 2O6* MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 cumstance, when we rode post through Halle, 
 I should have rejoiced to pay due honour to 
 the revered parent of Christ and Christians, 
 and to implore the divine favour in prayers to 
 her, had this mode of travelling permitted 
 such a delay. On the next day in the even- 
 ing we came to Louvre, a town in the Parisian 
 district ; and as it was holiday time, we were 
 accosted by some masqued gamesters who in- 
 vited us to play. Our host, however, privately 
 warned us to beware of being cheated, for that 
 they used false dice. There were some in our 
 company not inexperienced in these arts, who 
 encountered fraud with fraud, and stripped the 
 men of their money by playing their own 
 game. Proceeding thence early in the morn- 
 ing, we performed the remainder of our jour- 
 ney in a few hours. Thus, at the most un- 
 favourable time of the year, in the shortest 
 days, through roads spoiled by rain and mire, 
 we rapidly rode, or rather flew, to Paris. We 
 staid there some days, during which I was first 
 introduced to Gilles Menage, and commenced 
 a friendship with him, which, with the most in- 
 timate union of souls, and every office of kind- 
 ness, was mutually and assiduously cultivated 
 
 by
 
 BOOK fHE THIRD. 207 
 
 by us till his decease. From this connexion I 
 profess to have derived both much pleasure 
 through his singular politeness and urbanity, 
 and much advantage through his various and 
 liberal learning. (17) 
 
 From Paris, after a short delay, we returned 
 to Caen. We then first learned that during 
 our absence there had been instituted in this 
 city a society of some ingenious and learned 
 persons, of whom, from an early age, Caen 
 may boast (if I may venture to say so) to have 
 produced a number beyond that of most Eu- 
 ropean cities. This assembly was decorated, 
 according to the received custom, with the 
 title of an academy. Its meetings were held 
 on stated days at the house of James Moisant 
 de Brieux, formerly a counsellor in the par- 
 liament of Metz, then a diligent votary of the 
 Muses, who possessed a splendid mansion con- 
 veniently situated in the middle of the town. 
 (18) The heads of the academy, besides Bri- 
 eux, were Nicholas Monstier de Mottee, then 
 mayor of Caen ; James Paulmier de Grente- 
 mesnil, distinguished by his multifarious learn- 
 ing, especially in the Greek language ; James 
 Graindorge de Fremont, whose virtues, suavity 
 
 of
 
 208 MEMOIRS Of HUET. 
 
 of manners, genius and acuteness, I have at- 
 tested in another work ; James Savary, who 
 employed his incredible facility of versifying 
 in a metrical exposition of the laws of the 
 chase; (19) Antony Halle, in whose praise I 
 have already spoken, and whom I can never 
 praise enough ; Philip Sudre de Petitville, of 
 the parliament of Rouen ; Antony Garabi de la 
 Luzerne. (2O) all the last four eminent as 
 Latin poets ; and Louis Touroude, a proficient 
 in Greek literature. One of the most distin- 
 guished of the number was John Regnault de 
 Segrais, who obtained great reputation by his 
 French poetry, especially his pleasing songs 
 and sprightly eclogues, in which kind of com- 
 position he greatly surpassed all his contempo- 
 raries. I remember having once asked him, 
 why, after his success in other species of poetry, 
 he neglected the eclogue, of which he had not 
 yet made trial ? did he take no pleasure in the 
 Bucolics of Virgil or the beauties of Theocri- 
 tus ! For my own part, I was so much de- 
 lighted with Theocritus, that I recurred to 
 him every year at the commencement of spring; 
 and under the shady boughs of trees, by the 
 song of the nightingale and the murmur of 
 
 the
 
 209 
 
 the passing stream, reperused his whole works. 
 This was at the approach of the vernal season; 
 and I added, that I wished to impart to him a 
 similar pleasure. The result so charmed and 
 captivated him, that he set himself to imitate 
 the Grecian poet, and with a success that gave 
 him the palm among all his countrymen in 
 this sweet and delicate species of poetry, (21) 
 A member of the same society, Gille- Andre 
 de la Roque, was at this time drawing up his 
 history of the house of Harcourt a person 
 than whom no one extracted more information, 
 of our domestic affairs and ancient families 
 from registers and records. This history of 
 the Harcourts may truly be called a treasury 
 of Norman antiquities ; which, as he could not 
 at his choice publish separately on account of 
 their immense bulk, or bring within the limits 
 of the treatises which from time to time he 
 sent to the press, he occasionally threw to- 
 gether in this genealogical work. (22) In the 
 same flourishing assembly the department of 
 polite literature was ably supported by James 
 de Callieres, governor of Cherbourg, a very 
 accomplished person, author of the Life of the 
 marshal de Matignon. (23) From regard to 
 VOL. i. p brevity,
 
 210 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 brevity, I omit to mention the other members 
 of the academy. A few days after my return 
 to Caen, Brieux called upon me, and after 
 some discourse respecting this new institution, 
 and the merits of those who had been associated 
 to it, signified to me that my name and that 
 of Bochart were inscribed in their list. J re- 
 ceived no small pleasure from this instance of 
 kindness ; finding myself joined in society with 
 some of the most learned men of the age, 
 through no canvassing of my own, but most 
 honourably by the suffrages of my country- 
 men. 
 
 Having now, after my long excursions, be- 
 come master of my time, I returned to the 
 recesses of my library. By the immoderate 
 employment of my eyes in continual reading, 
 I brought a fluxion upon them, which termi- 
 nated in the disorder called by the ancient 
 physicians Epiphora a malady to which I had 
 been subject from childhood. The present at- 
 tack was more troublesome and of longer du- 
 ration than usual ; and after it had begun to 
 remit, I was induced to describe it in a copy 
 of Lucretian verses, which I sent to More, 
 whom I knew to be an admirer and an imita- 
 tor
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 211 
 
 tor of this style of poetry. He received my 
 present with warm expressions of gratitude, 
 and repaid it by some verses of his own. A 
 frequent epistolary correspondence also took 
 place between us, which, however, the lapse 
 of time and remoteness of situation rendered 
 intermittent, though it was not dropped. But 
 when he was calle'd to Paris by the heads of 
 the Calvinist party, we renewed our former 
 intercourse, as well as the practice we began at 
 Amsterdam of making extempore verses. I 
 recollect that being once challenged by him in 
 a lively epigram, I replied in the following 
 verses, which I returned by the same servant : 
 
 Jampridem resides nostro sub pectore flammas, &c. 
 
 And I was in hopes, from our past familia- 
 rity, that the friendship formed between us 
 under such happy auspices, would be proof 
 against all change of time and accident, and 
 that we should live in the same union at Paris 
 that we had done at Amsterdam. But my 
 expectations were much deceived ; for, whether 
 through the hurry and distractions of the me- 
 tropolis, or the engagements of his pastoral 
 charge, he at length entirely escaped from me, 
 P 2 so
 
 212 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 so as to be wanting in the slightest and com- 
 monest offices of civil life, nor did he take the 
 least notice of the complaints which his con- 
 tempt of our ancient intimacy drew from me. 
 
 About this time I received a letter from Bo- 
 chart, requesting me, that if I had at hand any 
 copy of the Anthologia containing the poem 
 of Paul the Silentiary on the Pythian thermae, 
 I would send it to him, and inform him what 
 I thought of the verses, and especially what 
 was my opinion of the Tr^a-ne.^ 7rnT<xx.y there 
 mentioned ; for that instead of the word 7m> 
 rotnvi, which was unintelligible, he was inclined 
 to read TrotK-rrtK^. To me, at the first view, 
 there appeared a general confusion in these 
 lines, so that I despaired of making any sense 
 of them ; and such was the sentiment of Bo- 
 chart. But upon a more attentive examina- 
 tion, I acquainted him that I had discovered 
 them to have been copied from an ancient 
 manuscript, in which, to save room, they 
 were written so that each page consisted of 
 two columns ; but arranged in such a man- 
 ner, that in reading, the first line in one 
 column was to be followed by the first of 
 the next ; and the second by the second ; 
 
 and
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 213 
 
 and so on ; but that the careless copyist,, pay- 
 ing no regard to the sense, had transcribed 
 the whole first column, and then the whole se- 
 cond, and had made the same mistake in the 
 subsequent pages ; whence had arisen that con- 
 fusion of verses and senses, which might be 
 easily remedied if the original order were re- 
 stored. I added, that no alteration was re- 
 quired in the word TTITTOCKVI, for that it was the 
 name of the Psittacene region, which was 
 called Pittace, Sittace and Psittace. 
 
 At this time too a letter arrived from Paul- 
 mier desiring my opinion on the Isopsepha of 
 Leonidas the Alexandrine, which are preserved 
 in the Anthologia ; respecting which I could 
 not but wonder that neither he himself, though 
 learned and acute, nor John Brodeau, the very 
 learned translator of the Anthologia, nor Henry 
 Stephens, had well understood what these 
 Isopsepha were, which, if no where else, might 
 certainly have been learned from the Oneiro- 
 critica of Artemidorus. I therefore replied to 
 Paulmier, that the Greek grammarians, too 
 much addicted to trifling, had spent much use- 
 less labour in minute and idle observations ; on 
 which account, as we find from A. Gellius, 
 they were ridiculed by the succeeding age. 
 
 Among
 
 214 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 Among these trifles is placed the disquisition 
 those grammarians concerning Homer's Iso- 
 psepha, that is, those verses the letters of which 
 collectively stand for numbers of equal value : 
 the Leonidas above mentioned sought reputa- 
 tion from fabricating verses of this kind. He 
 wrote four epigrams, in verses, the two first of 
 which consisted of letters forming the same 
 numbers as the two last. These are inserted 
 in the Anthologia ; and the laborious and silly 
 artifice may be detected by any one who chooses 
 to throw away his tijne in making the calcula- 
 tion. Among these epigrams, hpwever, one 
 occurs consisting of two verses alone ; and this 
 occasioned more trouble to Paulmier than all 
 the rest ; though the sense is very clear that 
 in these two isopsephic liries the first is to be 
 opposed to the second, in order that their 
 lo-oil/Yjfau may be discovered; for that the writer 
 was tired of the prolixity of four verses, and 
 wished to exhibit his industry in two alone, 
 one opposed to the other. The art of the mo- 
 dern Jews called Gematria. is conversant in 
 such follies, which they seem to have borrowed 
 from the degenerate Greeks, together with the. 
 name Gematria, or Geometry. (24) 
 
 About the same period, when I was at Parisj, 
 
 as
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 215 
 
 as if it had been by agreement, Emeric Bigot 
 came to ask my opinion respecting an obscure 
 passage in the same Anthology, controverted 
 between him andGraevius. I had an acquaint- 
 ance of old standing with Bigot, with whom 
 I was connected as well by relationship as by 
 community of studies. (25) We went up into 
 my library for the purpose of taking down and 
 consulting the book ; and when he observed 
 many notes written in the margin, according 
 to my custom while reading, he wrote to Grae- 
 vius, who was then planning a new edition of 
 the Anthologia enriched with numerous addi- 
 tions, and especially with the elegant metrical 
 version of Grotius, informing him that I had 
 made many annotations by which it might be 
 improved. Graevius was desirous that these 
 should be immediately communicated to him ; 
 and by frequent and earnest letters intreated 
 that I would favour him with them. I did not 
 refuse the request of a worthy man and a friend, 
 and copied out the observations from the mar- 
 gin of my book, and sent them to him. But 
 the wars prevailing throughout Europe so 
 damped the enterprise of booksellers, that my 
 papers lay for ten whole years in the drawers 
 
 of
 
 2l6 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 of Graevius, till he was pleased to annex them 
 to the republication of my poems which he 
 kindly undertook at Utrecht. (26) 
 
 In the mean time the packages which I 
 brought from Sweden and could not convey 
 through Flanders, had been for nearly two 
 years lying on the coast of Holland. And as, 
 from the earliest period of my life, a secret 
 but earnest desire of entering the ecclesiastical 
 profession had been implanted in my mind, 
 to which my commenced design of interpreting 
 and illustrating Origen seemed not a little to 
 conduce, I laboured under an anxious desire of 
 recovering the materials which I had collected 
 for that work, and of applying my mind to 
 those pursuits which became one devoted to 
 sacred things, and habituating it to divine to- 
 pics. Peace was at length restored between 
 the English and Dutch, and with the libera- 
 tion of the sea, my boxes returned to me. 
 With pleasure I tasted at leisure my collected 
 fruits, and laid them up in my repository. 
 Among these it was my principal care to re- 
 peruse the commentaries of Origen which I 
 had transcribed, to translate them into Latin, 
 and subjoin my own observations, and stu- 
 diously
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 
 
 diously to procure the other writings of this 
 author, and as many more of the like kind 
 as I was able. Bochart then came to me, and 
 desired me to show him my transcript of the 
 commentaries of Origen, that he might at- 
 tentively read over that controverted passage 
 on the Eucharist, which had been the subject 
 of so many disputations. Whilst this occupies 
 nearly a whole page, the meaning of a single 
 verse alone appeared to me dubious and defec- 
 tive, as if a few words had been dropt. But 
 of this I was not certain, till from an ancient 
 manuscript in the royal library at Paris I found 
 that through my haste in transcribing, a few 
 words of little or no moment had been omitted 
 in my copy ; and that this had occurred from 
 a repetition of the same verse, as frequently 
 happens to copyists, which Jerom himself has 
 remarked. By the aid, therefore, of the royal 
 manuscript, I restored the integrity of the pas- 
 sage, and supplied the words omitted. But 
 Bochart, carried away by zeal for his party, 
 and unmindful of our ancient friendship, and 
 of the candour he had long recognised in me, 
 wrote letters to his associates in various parts 
 of Europe, in which he complained that I 
 
 had
 
 218 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 had copied Origen unfaithfully. When in- 
 formed of this, I was greatly concerned that 
 the honour of my name should be violated by 
 the calumny of a friend ; I therefore expostu- 
 lated with him in the mildest terms, but with- 
 out obtaining adequate satisfaction. On ac- 
 count of this unjust and unkind behaviour, the 
 friendship between us, cemented by the habits 
 and good offices of so many years, to my great 
 grief was dissolved. (27) 
 
 From this time I bestowed all my care and 
 labour upon Origen ; and if I was occasionally 
 diverted to another pursuit, it was only an 
 excursion, while Origen was my home. As, 
 however, my supplies were to be sought from 
 various quarters, and especially from the royal 
 library, in which 1 knew that many remains of 
 this author lay concealed, and I had frequent 
 journeys to take thither, a delay of more than 
 ten years ensued, which I have at large ex- 
 plained in the Prolegomena to Origen's Com- 
 mentaries. Another task also grew out of this, 
 which I thought necessary to precede the edi- 
 tion. For whilst 1 was closely employed in 
 translating the original into Latin, in which I 
 followed a concise and exact mode of version, 
 
 not
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 219 
 
 not thinking it allowable to depart a hair's 
 breadth from my author, a scruple entered my 
 mind whether that were the right and proper 
 method of translating, and likely to be approved 
 by the present age, which seems to prefer lax 
 and paraphrastical interpretations. Aware that 
 this controversy was not yet decided, or, indeed, 
 sufficiently weighed in the-discussions of learn- 
 ed men, I undertook to consider the matter 
 thoroughly in a separate treatise (published in 
 l66l), in which I attempted to restrain the 
 immoderate license of translators, and espe- 
 cially to keep within due and prescribed bounds 
 those who engage in the task of rendering the 
 holy scriptures into another language. If these 
 limits had been respected by those torturers of 
 the sacred books, who have thought all kinds 
 of liberties allowable in their versions, the pure 
 and primitive sense of passages would have 
 been preserved inviolate. By this first off- 
 spring of my studies I appealed to the judg- 
 ment of men of learning, and made trial of 
 the popular gale. It was welcomed in a 
 splendid copy of verses, and with a lofty pane- 
 gyric of my merits, by Antony Halle, former- 
 ly my preceptor ; in which it might be supposed 
 
 that
 
 220 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 that he was celebrating his own gifts, and that 
 whatever faculty I possessed of writing Latin 
 was due to himself. This friendly testimony 
 of an excellent master was at that time highly 
 agreeable to me ; and I still regard it as greatly 
 to my honour. After the publication of my 
 work " De Interpretatione," I was visited by 
 John Baptist Cotelier, a man of profound eru- 
 dition, thoroughly devoted to Greek and Latin 
 literature, and to the correction of the works 
 of thfe Fathers, (28) who in a friendly manner 
 apprised me that I had somewhere committed 
 a mistake, which might be rectified in the re- 
 maining copies of my work. I thanked him for 
 his kindness, and acknowledged my error, which, 
 however, I showed him had been already detect- 
 ed by me, and was amended in my own copy. In 
 the mean time I occasionally threw out light and 
 easy verses, incited and sometimes challenged 
 by my fellow academics, whose industry was 
 chiefly exhibited in poetical effusions. In this, 
 too, I seemed to comply with the manners of 
 my native place, and to fulfil my part in sup- 
 porting the ancient fame of Caen ; which, for 
 a long period, has borne away the palm of 
 *ong from the other cities of France ; so that 
 
 it
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 221 
 
 it is pleasantly said, that in other towns verses 
 are made in the chambers, but at Caen in the 
 open shops. This circumstance I have noticed 
 in my work on the Antiquities of Caen. 
 
 At the period in which I began to hold a 
 certain rank among the votaries of sound lite- 
 rature, the art of criticism was particularly 
 flourishing ; and all who aimed at the reputa- 
 tion of learning engaged in it with so much 
 ardour, that all their diligence was expended 
 upon the emendation of ancient authors, the 
 recovery of vanishing letters, the filling up of 
 chasms, the restoration of faulty and dislocated 
 sentences, and the discrimination of spurious 
 .and interjected clauses. In these operations 
 acute conjectures were applied, which flattered 
 the understanding with an appearance of truth, 
 and obtained credit, though often false and fal- 
 lacious. It was especially an object, at great ex- 
 pense and from remote parts, to collect ancient 
 copies, by the collation of which, the errors 
 of more modern ones, proceeding either from 
 the ignorance and negligence of transcribers, 
 or the wear and tear of time, might be amended. 
 It was certainly proper to seek a remedy for 
 
 these
 
 222 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 these evils, which was only to be found in the 
 critical art, of which the invention is attributed 
 to Aristotle. After him, many, both Greeks 
 and Romans, laboured in the same field, whose 
 names the gratitude of the friends of learning 
 has not suffered to perish. Nor have the 
 Hebrews been devoid of their criticism, exer- 
 cised by those whom they called Masoreth ; 
 for even the sacred volumes were affected with 
 the same disorders, and their various readings 
 have been collected and published. And, in- 
 deed, after that horrible darkness which for so 
 many years hung over Christianity and lite- 
 rature, at the revival of learning criticism lent 
 a favouring hand, by which the stains and 
 blotches of antiquity were nearly expunged. 
 But now, in this light of letters, after such long 
 and assiduous toil in the emendation of ancient 
 books, by which they have been restored to 
 their jpristine splendour, to spend a whole life 
 in the same exercise, as I saw done by Gruter, 
 Le Fevre, and many others,, who sought no 
 other result of their labours, appeared to me 
 an ignoble employment of the intellect, worthy 
 only of a little mind a task necessary, indeed, 
 
 but
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 223 
 
 but mean ; like that of the weeders whom 
 I employ in freeing my garden from noxious 
 plants, while I eat and store up the fruit. (29) 
 
 Not much more worthy of praise did I es- 
 teem that skill in languages which, likewise, 
 was at that time an object of high commenda- 
 tion among the learned, and was pursued to 
 the verge of insanity. I am aware that this 
 study has its use, and even necessity ; and that 
 a correct knowledge of antiquity, which is the 
 best part of polite literature, cannot be obtained 
 without the aid of those tongues which were 
 spoken by the nations who have transmitted 
 to us the arts and sciences which they invented 
 or cultivated : but let them be regarded as 
 handmaids, who are to be courted only as 
 leading the way to their mistresses, which are 
 those branches of knowledge themselves. 
 Thus, languages are the keys by which the 
 doors of learning are to be opened ; and those 
 who, content with the possession of them, stop 
 at the threshold, and do not penetrate to the 
 recesses, may be resembled to janitors, who, 
 bearing the keys of many apartments, them- 
 selves sleep out of doors. (30) 
 
 Whilst I was studying to furnish myself 
 
 with
 
 224 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 with an accurate knowledge of antiquity, and 
 to arrive at the very fountains of erudition, 
 whether 1 consulted the sacred scriptures or 
 profane writers, no nation appeared to me to 
 have done more towards the propagation of 
 learning than the Egyptian ; which yet had 
 not been examined and illustrated adequately 
 to its merits by the researches of learned men ; 
 although the sacred writers give their testimony 
 to the consummate wisdom of the Egyptians, 
 and ancient Greece acknowledges them as its 
 masters. This part of literature, however, I 
 saw either lightly touched "upon or neglected. 
 Athanasius Kircher had not yet undertaken to 
 explain it in his bulky volumes ; at least they 
 had not yet reached me : nor indeed, when they 
 came into my possession, did I find them so 
 replete with learning and sagacity to elucidate 
 and exhaust their subject, as with pomp and 
 ostentation. (31) A much greater apparatus 
 of erudition was brought to these disquisitions 
 by John Marsham, who exhibited powers 
 almost equal to the task ; but his work ap- 
 peared later, nor did it satisfy my wishes. (32) 
 I also long wrought in this mine, and had col- 
 lected a great mass of Egyptian observations 
 
 and
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 225 
 
 and commentaries, not void of public utility, 
 when, by the sudden fall of my house at Paris, 
 my treasures were so much injured and dis- 
 ordered, that scarcely a few inconsiderable and 
 lacerated fragments escaped from the wreck. 
 I shall now follow the order of time and inci- 
 dents. 
 
 During this period I was rusticating in the 
 district of Caen, in company withSavary, whom 
 ] have already mentioned. He frequently read 
 to me, under the shade of trees, the verses with 
 which he was used to cram his pockets. In these 
 he not only detailed the laws of the chase, but 
 treated on all kinds of topics ; and especially 
 satirized the manners of our fellow-citizens, 
 with such an abundant and flowing fertility, 
 that he appeared to me to surpass all the poets 
 I ever heard of, if not in elegance and amenity, 
 at least in copiousness. Hitherto, however, he 
 had not published a single line. I gently ex- 
 horted him not to withhold his poetical wealth 
 from the public, or defraud himself of due 
 praise ; and he took my remonstrance so kindly, 
 that shortly after, liberating his Muse from her 
 prison, so great a profusion of verse broke forth 
 that it inundated the booksellers' shops, and 
 
 VOL. i. Q was
 
 226 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 was sufficient to weary the pressmen in print- 
 ing, and me in reading. As from an early age 
 I was singularly delighted with vernal scenery 
 and country retirement, and then possessed no 
 place of my own to which I could retreat, some 
 of my friends, who had pleasant villas in the 
 neighbourhood, gave me kind invitations. 
 Among the rest I was peculiarly pleased with 
 one situated to the south of Caen, and elegantly 
 adorned with long avenues of green oaks planted 
 about it ; and still more with the master of the 
 seat, Francis Petit de Vacogne, a man of talents, 
 and much attached to literature. In amenity 
 even this was surpassed by another, situated on 
 the sea shore amidst rocks, which, opposed to 
 the waves, and excavated by them, were formed 
 into caverns on their sides. Immersed in these, 
 with no other companion than a book, I re- 
 mained whole days with great delight, enjoying 
 the prospect either of a tranquil sea, and ships 
 gliding by with a favourable breeze, or a raging 
 ocean, when I could behold their danger from 
 the land. In these pleasant recesses I was well 
 content, during the summer season, to be absent 
 from the city and my own house, and felt un- 
 willing to quit my solitude and commit myself 
 
 to
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 
 
 to city crowds and turbulence. Origen, how- 
 ever, the editing of whom I had publicly un- 
 dertaken, impatient of my absence, laid his 
 hands upon me and drew me back to my li- 
 brary. 
 
 For the purpose, therefore, of enlarging my 
 work on Origen, I returned at this time to 
 Paris, and more frequently afterwards; since 
 it was necessary for me to attend the royal li- 
 brary, either to copy out, with the help of 
 amanuenses, ancient manuscripts, or to consult 
 and compare them with my own. In these 
 journeys, also, I employed myself as well in vi- 
 siting my old friends as in acquiring new ones. 
 Among the latter I gave a distinguished place 
 to John Chapelain, whose high reputation as a 
 literary character had been acquired by excel- 
 lent works, especially of the poetical class, and 
 by his successful studies, in which he had 
 included philosophy and the mathematical 
 sciences. Of this the celebrated philosopher 
 Gassendi is a witness, who declared that the 
 friendship of Chapelain was an honour to him. 
 Nor do I pay any regard to the opinion of cer- 
 tain minute and envious poets, accustomed to 
 catch at praise by detraction and scurrilous ri- 
 ft 2 dicule,
 
 228 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 dicule, and the inveterate enemies of Chape- 
 lain, whose merits and glory they can never 
 equal by their abuse. How empty and idle 
 their judgments are, may be clearly inferred 
 from this circumstance that whilst their ma- 
 lignity was especially exercised in carping at , 
 his epic poem on the " Maid of Orleans," they 
 were passing sentence on a thing with which 
 they were unacquainted. For they had seen 
 only half the work, which alone the author had 
 published ; whence it is evident that they could 
 not understand the fable, the action, the form, 
 or ordonnance of the piece, on which points 
 the nature of epic poetry principally depends. 
 It must, indeed, be confessed, that Chapelain 
 had not sufficiently attended to the character 
 of our age and nation, effeminate, fastidious, 
 remiss, impatient of long attention, and there- 
 fore with difficulty elevating itself to the ma- 
 jesty and sublimity of the epic. You can 
 scarcely see one of these men of fashion per- 
 use an entire ode without yawning, at least 
 without marks of languor. Their taste is all 
 for songs, and pointed, sparkling, flashy epi- 
 grams. From the women, who are omnipo- 
 tent with us, first proceeded this frivolity, 
 
 which
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 229 
 
 which has unnerved pur men, and sapped the 
 vigour of the whole nation. For my own part, 
 having read Chapelain's whole work with at- 
 tention, I can safely affirm that it would not 
 have wanted its due honour and praise had it 
 appeared in a happier period, or among more 
 robust and equitable understandings. I cannot 
 therefore acquiesce in the judgment of Mon- 
 tausier and Conrart, whom the author consti- 
 tuted by his will the arbiters of his poem. For, 
 after he had experienced so adverse a gale, he 
 nevertheless finished the other part of his un- 
 dertaking, having fortified himself against the 
 unjust censures of the vulgar by a very weighty 
 preface ; and he left it to be published or sup- 
 pressed according to the determination of per- 
 sons who were his friends. By them it was 
 condemned to perpetual darkness and utter 
 oblivion. But from this condemnation, with 
 due deference to such men, I widely dissent ; 
 for if the work in its entire state, and complete 
 in all its parts, were to come under one aspect 
 before learned eyes not blinded by envy, it 
 would assert its own dignity, and would prove 
 that the opportunity of becoming fully ac- 
 quainted
 
 230 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 quaintecl with it ought not to have been with- 
 held from posterity. (33) Chapelain had ad- 
 mitted me to an intimate familiarity, and greatly 
 favoured my plans and attempts ; and lest our 
 intercourse should languish in absence, a fre- 
 quent epistolary correspondence was maintained 
 between us, in which we communicated to each 
 other our studies, writings, and sentiments. A 
 testimony of my regard for him was given in 
 the description of my Swedish journey ; for, 
 when he requested of me that it might be in- 
 scribed with his name, I interpreted his desire 
 fcs implying that he wished some public me- 
 morial might exist of our friendship. He had 
 nlso another reason for desiring this tribute of 
 my esteem. Some sparks had already broken 
 out of that disgraceful difference which put an 
 end to his long connection with Menage ; and 
 es I had already addressed Menage in an epi- 
 fctle, not ill-received by the public, which in- 
 dicated my attachment to him, and my opi- 
 nion of his worth, Chapelain, feeling a degree 
 of jealousy on the occasion, as if I had mani- 
 fested a preference of Menage to himself, did 
 not scruple in plain terms to extort from me 
 
 the
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 231 
 
 the same civility. I employed it. to express 
 publicly my judgment of his poetical powers, 
 thus addressing him in a copy of verses pre- 
 fixed to my work : 
 
 Dulcia nobilibus dum dividis otia curls, &c. 
 
 The recommendation of Chapelain procured 
 me various splendid connections, as it was his 
 wish that the friends of one of us should also 
 be those of the other. Among these was Henry 
 Louis Habert de Montmor, master of requests 
 to the king, distinguished for his love of let- 
 ters, as well of the sublime as the elegant class. 
 (34) At his house, on a certain day and hour 
 in every week, a numerous assembly of learned 
 men was held, who commynicated to each 
 other valuable disquisitions on subjects in na- 
 tural philosophy. These I frequently attend- 
 ed ; and I occasionally presented dissertations 
 of my own for their judgment ; as was the case 
 with one which I drew up about this time re- 
 lative to the glass drops lately brought to us 
 from Germany, which, on breaking off the ex- 
 tremity of the shank, fly with great force into 
 powder. This learned assembly unanimously 
 requested that my treatise might be read before 
 
 them,
 
 232 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 them, in which I had endeavoured by conjec- 
 ture to ascertain the materials, composition, 
 fabric, and formation of these drops, hitherto 
 unknown in France ; and that my conjectures 
 were fortunate, was proved when our glass- 
 manufacturers acquired the knowledge of the 
 secret. A great ornament to this society was 
 the Peter Gassendi whom I have mentioned, 
 and who may justly be placed among the 
 first philosophers of the age. (35) Although 
 he was domesticated with Montmor, who ap- 
 peared to be one of his followers, and an ap- 
 prover of the Epicurean doctrine, yet the lat- 
 ter secretly favoured Descartes, to whom Gas- 
 sendi was a declared opponent ; and it was 
 thought that the sole object of Montmor in in- 
 stituting this philosophical meeting was to ac- 
 custom men's minds to the Cartesian princi- 
 ples, and gradually bring them over to his 
 sect. I sometimes also visited Claude Hardi, a 
 counsellor of the Chatelet. He was then in 
 great fame for his mathematical knowledge, of 
 which specimens are published; yet he had 
 greater wealth in reserve than he externally 
 promised. (36) I then, too, became acquainted 
 with Honorat de Bueil de Racan, the success- 
 ful
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 233 
 
 ful disciple in poetry of my fellow- townsman 
 Francis Malherbe. (37) It was chance that in- 
 troduced me to the'friendship of Gabriel Ma- 
 delenet : for, as I was looking over the lists of 
 publications in a bookseller's shop, and, having 
 read the names of some modern poets, desired 
 that they might be procured for me, Made- 
 lenet came in, and began to examine the lists 
 with me. After I had purchased some of the 
 best and most select, " I see (said he) that 
 you are fond of poetry and have a just taste for 
 it : I have some that I can show you, which 
 perhaps you will not disdain," At the same 
 time he drew out some papers containing verses 
 of no common flavour. I read them, and " Ex 
 illo Corydon, Corydon est tempore nobis." J 
 contracted a friendship with Madelenet, whom 
 J regarded as a poet of no humble strain, but 
 comparable to the ancients. (38) Not much 
 below him would I rank Peyrarede, who fre- 
 quented the society of the learned, and often 
 discoursed with me upon poetical topics, which 
 he himself treated with success : one of his 
 most celebrated performances was the com- 
 pletion of the lines which Virgil left imper- 
 fect. (39) 
 
 1 was
 
 234 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 I was at that time an assiduous visitor of the 
 royal library, both on account of my other stu- 
 dies, and principally on account of Origen, the 
 illustrating and editing of whom was the great 
 object of my labours. I there frequently met 
 with Antony Varillas, of Gueret, who was di- 
 ligently consulting the royal manuscripts, and 
 extracting from these sources a more accurate 
 knowledge of French history. He persevered 
 in this study for many years ; nor do I believe 
 that any one ever brought to the illustration of 
 French affairs so rich a provision of valuable 
 observations, or so copious a store of domestic 
 narrative. It is likewise wonderful that an ob- 
 scure man, stained with scholastic rust, and 
 polished by no habits of cultivated life and no 
 experience of courtly elegance, should have 
 possessed a style in writing defective neither in 
 purity nor in grace ; and that being entirely 
 unpractised in business, especially in public 
 affairs, he should have discoursed upon them 
 neither hesitatingly nor weakly. His excellent 
 qualifications were, however, disparaged by his 
 immoderate assurance, which led him to con- 
 fide in his own conjectures and suspicions, 
 and to relate with as bold asseveration things 
 
 for
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 235 
 
 for which he had no authority, and which were 
 altogether fictitious, as if he had been an eye- 
 witness of them. (4O) 
 
 The ichnography of the city of Caen had 
 been accurately drawn by Gombuste, a very 
 skilful artist in works of this kind, who had 
 been employed for the purpose by the magis- 
 trates, and paid in advance ; and as, after his 
 death, the work lay for some years neglected, 
 I called upon his heirs, who had forgotten the 
 agreement, and obliged them to fulfil the con- 
 ditions. Hence proceeded that very elegant 
 plan of Caen which was engraved by Binion, 
 and published in 1672. 
 
 About that time there came to Caen Michael 
 Neure, an intimate associate of Gassendi, and 
 a partaker in the controversy which he and 
 Francis Bernier had with Jean-Baptiste Morin 
 a mathematician, and which is recorded in their 
 books. He came thither in the company of 
 the young princes of Longueville, to whom he 
 was preceptor, and he resided long in these 
 parts. And as he was especially attached to astro- 
 nomy, I often found him in the castle of Caen, 
 which has a very extensive prospect on all sides, 
 
 observing
 
 236 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 observing the positions and motions of the stars 
 through a telescope only three or four feet 
 long, with which, however, the falcated form 
 of Venus was readily visihle. It is a ridiculous 
 and scarcely credible circumstance that these 
 names of Michael and Neure were not his na- 
 tive ones, but assumed and fictitious ; for we 
 learn from the miscellanies of Chevreau (Che- 
 vraeana), who was his townsman and school- 
 fellow, that he was born at Loudun in Poitou, 
 that his true name was Laurent Mesme, 
 that he took the vows among the Carthusians, 
 in which order he passed thirty years at Bour- 
 deaux, and that being at length wearied of this 
 life and of his proper name, he put on a new 
 character, and appeared at Paris as Michael 
 Neure in a different habit. (41) 
 
 After he had ceased to superintend the educa- 
 tion of those princes, the tuition of them was in- 
 trusted to Peter Fortin Hoghetta. This person 
 had acquired a great reputation for wisdom and 
 sagacity by the work which, at an advanced age, 
 and after he had left the army, he drew up in 
 his domestic retreat to inform his children's 
 minds and excite them to virtue, and published 
 
 under
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 237 
 
 under the title of his "Testament." Those 
 children were the issue of his marriage with 
 the sister of Hardouin de Perefixe, who, after 
 having occupied the post of preceptor to our 
 king Louis XIV, was promoted to the arch- 
 bishopric of Paris. (42) The same good sense, 
 and knowledge of the world derived from long 
 experience, which Fortin had displayed in his 
 book, he employed to elevate the juvenile 
 minds of the princes, and form them to the 
 example of their father's virtues ; and whilst he 
 was fully occupied in the cares of their educa- 
 tion, I cultivated an intimacy with him, and 
 endeavoured to become better from such a 
 model of excellence. After he had happily 
 fulfilled his engagement, recollecting the ap- 
 plause which he had received from his former 
 publication, he promised himself still greater 
 from a work in which he undertook to deliver 
 the elements of political science ; especially as 
 he had acquired in his leisure a fuller know- 
 ledge of antiquity, and a better acquaintance 
 with good books, whence he could bring a 
 greater fund of erudition to his performance. 
 But the event did not answer his expectations; 
 for, having forsaken the guidance of the excel- 
 lent
 
 238 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 lent natural sense with which he was endowed* 
 and which alone he had followed in his first 
 attempt, and accommodated his own notions 
 to those of others, he seemed to fall far be- 
 neath his former self. 
 
 This year afforded me a rich harvest of 
 learned friends ; for, besides those whom 1 have 
 lately commemorated, I was kindly invited to 
 an intercourse of friendship by Peter Maridat, 
 counsellor to the king in his great council, as 
 well by the polite letters which he wrote to 
 me, as by his liberal presents. Although he 
 published no fruits of his studies, yet by his 
 connections with men eminent for their learn- 
 ing, and his splendid and copious library, of 
 which he freely permitted the use to the stu- 
 dious, he obtained a name in the annals of 
 literature. 
 
 Meanwhile I felt a great longing for the sight 
 of my friend Mambrun, who, having some years 
 before been called to preside over the theological 
 school at La Fleche, appeared likely to make a 
 still longer residence there in the same office. 
 Since, therefore, he could not desert his post 
 and come to me, 1 thought it due to our inti- 
 mate friendship to go to him. A still more 
 
 cogent
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 
 
 cogent motive urged me to the journey. It 
 was now some time since I had duly explored 
 the recesses of my conscience, and unfolded 
 them in the divine presence ; for it commonly 
 happens that the pursuit of vulgar objects abs- 
 tracts the mind from the worship of God and 
 the contemplation of the celestial life, and even 
 from a rigorous correction of the manners. For 
 these purposes, a retreat to La Fleche, and the 
 assistance of Mambrun, appeared well calcu- 
 lated. 1 therefore with great alacrity repaired 
 thither ; and after a delightful conversation be- 
 tween us on the state of our concerns, I re- 
 solved to set apart an entire week, according to 
 the institution of the blessed Loyola, for the 
 attentive recollection of all the errors of my 
 past life, and the more careful regulation of 
 my future days, pursuant to the injunctions of 
 the divine law. And O that I had in earnest 
 adhered to my engagements! but 1 too readily 
 suffered myself to be borne away by the fire of 
 youth, the allurements of the world, and the 
 pleasures of study, which by their variety so 
 filled my breast, and closed up all its inlets 
 with an infinite number of thoughts, that it 
 gave no admission to those intimate and charm- 
 ing
 
 24O MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 ing conferences with the Supreme Being. Un- 
 der this imbecility of soul with respect to di- 
 vine things I have laboured during the whole 
 course of my life ; and even now, the frequent 
 and almost perpetual wanderings of a volatile 
 mind blunt my aspirations to God, and inter- 
 cept all the benefit of my prayers. When 
 from time to time God has benignantly invited 
 me to pious exercises for the purpose of con- 
 firming in my soul the sense of religion, and 
 washing away the stains contracted from hu- 
 man contagion, I have retired to places suitable 
 to those intentions; either the Jesuits' college 
 at Caen, or the abbey of Ardennes of the Prae- 
 monstratensian order, one mile distant from 
 Caen, or to our own Aulnai after I was placed 
 at the head of it. But I frequently experienced 
 a contrary current in the breeze of divine 
 grace; as if the Deity by this indifference 
 meant to punish my immoderate attachment to 
 letters, and my sluggish movements towards 
 divine things. (43) Let me now, however, 
 return to my retreat at La Fleche. 
 
 Whilst my thoughts were chiefly bent upon 
 exploring the counsel and will of God relative 
 to the state of my concerns and of my whole 
 
 future
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 241 
 
 future life, nearly the same thing happened to 
 me that formerly did to the very pious Anne- 
 Francis de Beauvau, marquis of Novian, of 
 the noble family of Beauvau of Lorraine. 
 This person, when engaged in religious re- 
 tirement among the fathers $f the society of 
 Jesus, was so much affected by the examples 
 of sanctity placed before his eyes, that he im- 
 bibed a thorough contempt of the world and 
 human affairs ; and preferring the poverty and 
 humility of Christ, to the allurements and 
 advantages of fortune, was induced to relin- 
 quish a beloved wife and a numerous offspring, 
 and become a Jesuit. It appeared to me that 
 I was impelled to act a similar part by im- 
 portant motives, which I did not doubt that 
 Mambrun would highly approve ; but the fact 
 was far different. For having carefully con- 
 sidered the matter on both sides, as one well ac- 
 quainted both with my disposition and manners, 
 and with the discipline and rules of his order, 
 he frankly declared that my design by no 
 means pleased him ; for that a mode of life 
 absolutely dependent upon the will of another, 
 was totally alien from the freedom of my 
 spirit, (44) I submitted to the decision of so 
 VOL. i. a. wise
 
 tiEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 wise a man, and flew back to my nest at Caen : 
 nor would I listen to the admonitions, or 
 rather the intreaties, of my friends, who by 
 frequent letters summoned me to Paris, and 
 endeavoured to persuade me to disdain muni- 
 cipal tranquillity, and fix my abode in the seat 
 of urbanity and the Muses. In reality, my 
 own inclination persuaded me to this, more 
 than the arguments of my friends; but the 
 state of my fortune would not permit those 
 expenses, which, in a splendid capital, and in 
 the view and society of men of rank and po- 
 liteness, would be requisite for my own con- 
 venience, and for a decent appearance. 
 
 Whilst I was living familiarly in the college 
 of la Fleche with Mambrun,he was often visited 
 by Louis Meyrat of the same society, then very 
 old. I took pleasure in conversing with this 
 good man, who was possessed of remarkable 
 acuteness of understanding, and had been long 
 exercised in teaching theology, his skill in 
 which science he made known by a large and 
 luminous series of disputations on the whole 
 " Summa" of Thomas Aquinas. 
 
 After my return to Caen I first became ac- 
 quainted with Peter Patris, a native of that 
 
 town,
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 243 
 
 town, but for many years past attached to the 
 court, whom domestic affairs brought for a few 
 days to Caen. It gave me great satisfaction to 
 be introduced to a person so much distinguish- 
 ed for the amenity of his genius, usually num- 
 bered among the ornaments of our native place, 
 and a favourite at the court of Gaston duke of 
 Orleans, uncle to the king. Our friendship 
 was durable, and lasted till his death, which 
 took place at an advanced age. (45) About the 
 same time Marquard Gudius, a German, of 
 literary celebrity, came to Caen, and paid me 
 a respectful visit. (46) 
 
 The mayoralty of Caen was then occupied 
 by John Blois de Quesnay, less distinguished 
 by his dignity and wealth, than by his love to 
 letters; the connexion with whom, begun by 
 my parents, I was glad to continue and assidu- 
 ously improve. We studied very much in, 
 common, and our intimacy was favoured by 
 neighbourhood, which, according to the comic 
 poet, is an approach to friendship. Our SO- 
 ciety was joined by Nicholas Monstier le Mot- 
 teux, a person by nature admirably qualified 
 for literary eminence ; but his excellent part?, 
 and the bright promises he gave, were rendered 
 R 2 fruitless
 
 244 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 fruitless by his diligent attention to the duties 
 of magistracy (in which he succeeded Blois de 
 Quesnay), and his cares to provide for a large 
 family of children. So great, however, was his 
 attachment to me, which continued unabated 
 till his death, that he often expressed a wish 
 to abdicate his magistracy, and spend the rest 
 of his days in literary retirement with me. 
 
 Whilst at this period Caen stood high in re- 
 putation for liberal studies, and the illustrious 
 examples of learned men before my eyes was 
 strongly stimulating me to the same pursuits, I 
 received a further impulse from the return of 
 Stephen le Moine, Stephen Morin, and John 
 Ballachee from Holland, enriched with the spoils 
 of the east, and largely furnished with Attic trea- 
 sures. The excellent qualities of le Moine, my 
 long friendship with him cemented by mutual 
 good offices, and our community of studies 
 and birth-place, will not permit a mere cur- 
 sory mention of him. He possessed a great 
 fund of literature, and not only of the ordinary 
 kind, but drawn from the recondite stores of 
 Rome and Athens and the east. Doubtless a 
 , greater purity and elegance of Latin style might 
 have been desired in him; but the impurities 
 
 and
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 245 
 
 and involutions of his diction were compensated 
 by the exquisite abundance of rare and cu- 
 rious matter. Although he was a zealous pro- 
 moter of my studies, and omitted no occasion 
 of doing honour to my name, yet he did not 
 hesitate, in a long and learned dissertation, to 
 oppugn my opinion on the origin of those 
 marks, which we use at the present day to 
 express numbers, and which are vulgarly 
 termed cyphers. These, from no authority, 
 but from indubitable arguments, I referred to 
 the Greek letters in my " Demonstratio Evan- 
 gelica," (Pro/), iv. c. 1.); since if they are 
 compared with our common commercial cha- 
 racters, they will appear to be altogether the 
 same, though somewhat disguised by frequent 
 use. I had strengthened this opinion, by a 
 description of the Pythagorean Abacus, which 
 Graevius had sent to me, copied from the an- 
 cient manuscripts of JBoethius's Geometry ; 
 and from the characters of Seneca and Tiro, 
 whence the antiquity of the common cyphers 
 is discovered to have been much greater than 
 is usually supposed. For their invention is 
 attributed to the Arabians, who received them 
 from the Greeks ; and the Greeks themselves, 
 
 ignorant
 
 246 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 ignorant of their true origin, referred them to 
 the Indians. Le Moine, however, would not 
 suffer this honour to be snatched from the 
 Arabians, to whom he was very partial, and 
 confuted me with all his might, yet without 
 infringing the rights of our ancient friendship, 
 which remained entire till his death. (47) 
 
 Not inferior was the ardour of Stephen 
 Morin in this course of study. He seems even 
 to have taken more pains in exploring the 
 Hebrew deserts and the Rabbinical thickets, 
 though less, perhaps, in ranging over the open 
 and flowery meadows of Greece and Rome. 
 Neither with him did 1 agree in opinion re* 
 specting the commencements of the Hebrew 
 language, which he, in common with the ma- 
 jority of learned men, referred to Adam him- 
 self, and the cradle of mankind. On the con- 
 trary, I held this to have been the Canaanitish 
 language; which was used in Canaan and the 
 neighbouring regions, before Abraham migrated 
 thither. On this topic we skirmished in cer- 
 tain writings, in which we adduced our oppo- 
 sing arguments, but with civility and modera- 
 tion ; and left the decision to our readers. (48) 
 
 But John Ballachee having hastily run over 
 
 the
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 24? 
 
 the oriental fields, preferred expatiating in the 
 pleasant walks of Greece. He promised co- 
 pious commentaries on the Periegesis of Di- 
 onysius, which he frequently mentioned to 
 Saumaise, and proposed to dedicate to him. 
 But it was his fortune to be banished to a 
 rustic and ignoble retirement, for the purpose 
 of instructing the inhabitants in religion, 
 where he grew old without fulfilling any of 
 the expectations which he had excited. 
 
 The province of Normandy was then go- 
 verned under the king by the most illustrious 
 prince Henry of Orleans, duke of Longueville. 
 When he made his circuit through the prin- 
 cipal towns of the province, and arrived at 
 Caen, the capital of Lower Normandy, the 
 whole body of citizens waited on him to pay 
 their duty; and I, among the rest, gave him 
 every manifestation of respect. He received 
 me at the first with politeness, and at a second 
 visit even with kindness. I remember that once 
 in a great circle of .nobility who stood round 
 him in the court of the castle of Caen, he 
 took me very familiarly by the hand, and lead- 
 ing me aside, held a private conference with 
 me for a considerable time, as if for the pur- 
 pose
 
 248 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 pose of miking a trial of my capacity, and 
 judging from my discourse whether I were 
 worthy of his favour. On another day, when 
 I was attending his morning levee, he asked 
 me in a whisper whether I had any particular 
 engagement for the afternoon ; I replied that 
 I had not, but waited his commands. " Go 
 back then," said he, " to your house, and I 
 will come to you immediately after dinner, that 
 we may have a tete-a-tete 'in your closet till 
 night ;" which was accordingly done. He 
 sometimes challenged me at chess, and we 
 spent entire days in this game; and as he 
 could not well bear being beaten, I dissembled 
 my skill, and sometimes resigned a certain 
 victory, that my superiority might not impair 
 my favour. On these accounts he patronized 
 me with so much kindness, that I never failed 
 to obtain his protection and assistance in my 
 difficulties : as long, therefore, as life endures, 
 I shall cherish the remembrance of my ex- 
 cellent and liberal patron. (49) 
 
 While these incidents were passing at Caen, 
 my sister ./Egidia, a nun of the Dominican 
 order, died at Pont 1'Evesque. At this town 
 two pious maidens, my aunts, of the family 
 
 of
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 249 
 
 of Pilon Bertoville, who had taken the habit 
 in the Dominican convent at Rouen, preferring 
 a more austere mode of life, and more strictly 
 conformable to the rule of Dominic, founded 
 a religious house of the order, and endowed it 
 
 o 
 
 with certain rents, affixing to it the venerable 
 title of the Cross of Christ. This retreat was 
 peopled by a great conflux of pious virgins, 
 who afforded examples of every kind of virtue. 
 Here ./Egidia was educated from her early 
 years, with her other sisters ; and so formed 
 to piety, that she was desirous of adopting the 
 same rule, and was admitted into the society. 
 As she excelled others in acuteneSs of under- 
 standing, and in extraordinary powers of me- 
 mory,soshe greatly surpassed all her companions 
 in the fortitude with which she endured her bo- 
 dily afflictions ; and her frame at length giving 
 way to continued attacks of disease, she made 
 a blessed exit, having scarcely terminated her 
 25th year. I could relate more concerning 
 her sanctity of life, but that, and her other 
 virtues, together with the piety of both my 
 aunts, have been celebrated in the book en- 
 titled "Annus Dominicanus." Nor have I 
 failed to pay due honour to the memory of my 
 
 excellent
 
 25O MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 excellent sister in my work on the antiquities 
 of Caen. 
 
 About this time (1656) occurred the death 
 of James du Puy, who, with his brother Peter 
 who died some years before him, had been 
 keeper of the royal library. I had been in- 
 formed that the king's treasurers had fixed a 
 price upon this post, which was indeed high, and 
 weighty in proportion to my means, but light 
 in regard to my desires; so great an augmenta- 
 tion of my literary wealth did I expect from 
 the administration of these ample stores. The 
 affair was negotiated by my friends; and I 
 thought it nearly settled, when the authority 
 of Colbert interposed, whose interest with the 
 king caused the office to be conferred upon 
 his brother, afterwards bishop of Auxerre. 
 
 I was now enjoying my leisure in literary 
 occupations when an important and unfore- 
 seen circumstance greatly disturbed me. False 
 titles of nobility were at this time very 
 common, nor was it easy to distinguish the 
 spurious from the genuine. As it was expe- 
 dient to put a stop to this growing evil, the 
 farmers of the revenue purchased of the trea- 
 sury for a great sum the management of the 
 
 business
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 251 
 
 business upon certain conditions ; of which the 
 principal, and an extremely mischievous one 
 was, that they should have the fines, which, 
 of themselves likely to be very considerable, 
 could be increased at pleasure by their rapa- 
 city. In their eagerness to augment their 
 profits, they so insolently abused the powers 
 granted them, that they degraded from their 
 rank and reduced to commonalty, some fa- 
 milies of undoubted nobility, because they 
 would not pay them for a confirmation of 
 their titles; and on the other hand, raised 
 some mean and obscure families to nobility. 
 Nor was I free from this vexation: for as from 
 my infancy I had been under the power of 
 guardians, who had not yet rendered an ac- 
 count of their administration, or restored the 
 papers or old parchments by which it was to 
 be justified, not only these accounts, but the 
 patents and genealogy of my family, were 
 wanting to me when required for my defence. 
 Moreover, I neither well knew what was de- 
 manded of me, nor, if I had known, should I 
 have been able easily to satisfy the demand, 
 on account of the absence of these instruments, 
 and the fraudulent cavils of the revenue offi- 
 cers.
 
 252 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 cers. The habitation of the person who had 
 been my first guardian was two days journey 
 from Caen ; and his sons, who inherited his 
 property after his death, were at a distance 
 from home about business. Under these diffi- 
 culties, and urged by the officers, it was neces- 
 sary for me to have recourse, at great trouble and 
 no small expense, to registers and the public re- 
 cords of courts, and frequently to go to Rouen, 
 where disputes of this kind were finally deter- 
 mined in the supreme court of aids. The 
 judges having at length maturely weighed the 
 matter, and carefully examined the ancient re- 
 gisters which I produced, affirmed by a positive 
 decree the honour of our family, and repressed 
 the infinite avidity and audacity of the farmers 
 of the revenue. Some years afterwards, how- 
 ever, the great gains which accrued to the trea- 
 sury from these enquiries caused the same mo- 
 lestation a second and a third time to be given 
 to me and others ; but the power of truth before 
 equitable j udges finally liberated me from this 
 teazing persecution. (50) 
 
 The nunnery of the Holy Trinity at Caen, 
 was then presided over by Maria Eleonora de 
 Rohan, on whom, in addition to a splendid birth, 
 
 nature
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 253 
 
 nature had bestowed a strong understanding, 
 and singular facility in writing and speak- 
 ing. I occasionally paid my respects to her, 
 when we had much discourse concerning reli- 
 
 o 
 
 gious topics, and the dignity of the sacred books. 
 Among these she said she was particularly edi- 
 fied by the Psalms of David, and the Proverbs 
 of Solomon, which, for the ease of her convent 
 and the unlearned maidens who inhabited it, 
 she wished to have translated into clear and 
 vernacular language, with a paraphrase of the 
 sense. "Why," (said I,) "do you not. yourself 
 perform the desired task, since you possess a 
 knowledge of these things, in which you have 
 been conversant from childhood, together with 
 facility of expression and a copious style ?" 
 " I am sensible" (she replied) " that I am but 
 slenderly furnished for the work ; yet I. will 
 undertake it, provided I may have the aid of 
 your advice and correction." This I promised, 
 and she bent her mind to the performance, 
 the result of which was that pious and very 
 elegant work comprising the moral precepts of 
 Solomon. (5l) 
 
 In the same sisterhood was Jacoba Boette de 
 Blemur, a relation of mine, distinguished for 
 
 * * O 
 
 piety,
 
 254 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 piety, and so modest in her disposition, that 
 although she had written much concerning the 
 institutes of her house, and the history of the 
 Benedictine order, yet she buried it in pro- 
 found silence, as if she felt ashamed of her 
 boldness, and had undertaken a thing beyond 
 her power. But having been apprised of the 
 matter by her companions (as it is a loquacious 
 sex) I wished that whatever it were, it should 
 be communicated to me ; complaining much 
 of her taciturnity, which had led her to conceal 
 from me, a relation and friend, what she ought 
 in preference to have communicated to me. 
 She replied that this serious reproach gave her 
 hopes that I should not be displeased if she 
 were to submit to my judgment whatever she 
 had written, or might hereafter write. And 
 when I assured her I should with pleasure com- 
 ply with her wish, she sent me a bulky and ex- 
 cellent work, in which were contained the lives 
 of the saints of the Benedictine order, which 
 afterwards was given to the public under the 
 title of the " Benedictine Year," and received 
 with great applause, as I had predicted from 
 the perusal of the book, in consequence of 
 which I strongly advised its immediate publi- 
 cation.
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 255 
 
 cation. It was edited by her brother, Eustache 
 Boette deBlemur,a regular canon of the convent 
 of St. Victor at Paris, procurator of that cele- 
 brated house, and keeper of its library, which was 
 not a little enriched by his care and diligence. 
 
 I made frequent excursions to Rouen, the 
 capital of Normandy, at which the more im- 
 portant affairs of the province are chiefly trans- 
 acted. Whilst I was there on account of some 
 troublesome law proceedings, there came to the 
 waters of Forges, one day's journey eastward 
 from Rouen, the royal princess Anna-Maria 
 Louisa of Orleans, daughter of Gaston the 
 king's uncle, whom my friend Charles dii 
 Perier, a poet of sublime genius, (52) formerly 
 panegyrized in these lines ; 
 
 Haec est ilia atavis edita regibus 
 Formae mille opibus dives et ingeni, 
 Necnon et patrios baud muliebriter 
 Audax stringere acinaces. 
 
 As the other points of this eulogy, so espe- 
 cially that respecting her intellectual attain- 
 ments, were founded on truth. In the train of 
 her noble attendants was Segrais, whom I have 
 often commemorated, my countryman, and at 
 this time my intimate friend. As he frequently 
 
 invited
 
 256* MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 invited me by letter to visit his mistress and 
 himself, I at length repaired to Forges, where 
 I was not wanting in the due offices of respect 
 to her Serene Highness. She took delight in 
 the reading of history, and especially of the 
 fables termed Romances ; and while she was 
 under the hands of her women, she desired me 
 to perform the task of reader, during which 
 she put many questions to me, suggested by 
 the subject. I was hence able to discern her 
 singular acuteness, and a degree of .learning un- 
 common in her sex ; and still more from the 
 view of two romances which she had composed, 
 full of sprightliness and elegance, one of which 
 was entitled a " Description of the Invisible 
 Island," in which she wittily ridiculed a certain 
 honorary chevalier of the parliament of Dombes; 
 the other, the " History of the Queen of the 
 Paphlagonians," which is a continued keen 
 but concealed ridicule of a young lady of 
 high nobility, but disagreeable and ill-man- 
 nered. The princess ordered these pieces to 
 be printed, but had only a few copies struck 
 off, all of which she kept to herself, taking 
 great care that they should not get abroad. 
 One, however, she obligingly presented to me,
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 
 
 in the margin of which she caused the real 
 names to be written of the persons disguised in 
 the work by fictitious appellations. On these 
 books I set the highest value, when two la- 
 dies of rank, with whom I was familiarly ac- 
 quainted, and of whose fidelity in keeping their 
 promises I had no doubt, requested the loan 
 of them for a few days ; but I found myself 
 mistaken in rny opinion of their veracity, for 
 they took away my books and never returned 
 them. (53) 
 
 A few years after, a custom prevailed, both 
 at court and in the city, among the ingenious 
 of both sexes, of making descriptions of their 
 features, persons, manners and tastes, and as it 
 were painting them in a tablet ; whence these 
 draughts were commonly called portraits. (54) 
 This illustrious lady amused herself greatly 
 with these descriptions ; and after she had 
 drawn up several herself, and had selected those 
 by others, she employed me in getting them 
 privately printed. In other compositions^ both 
 serious, jocose, and pious, she displayed the 
 same happy talent.for writing; but her modesty 
 permitted only a , very few to witness her ex- 
 ertions. 
 
 VOL. i. s From
 
 258 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 From early youtli it had been a principal 
 object with me to become personally acquainted 
 with all whom I heard mentioned as eminent 
 for genius or learning; whence I spared no pains 
 to obtain an introduction to Faucon Cbarleval, 
 which chance at length offered me. For seeing 
 me once vigorously dancing like a young man 
 at a public ball, and having learnt my name from 
 the bye-standers, he asked if I was the son of 
 that Huet of whose learning he had heard some 
 commendation ; and when he understood that 
 I was that very person, he immediately engaged 
 in discourse with me, and openly requested my 
 friendship. I was highly delighted that for- 
 tune should thus throw in my way what I had 
 so earnestly wished to acquire ; and I left no- 
 thing undone to anticipate in respectful atten- 
 tions a man whom I knew to have attached the 
 whole court by the polish and amenity of his 
 genius, and the suavity of his manners. (55) 
 About the same time another similar circum- 
 stance happened to me. A person of noble 
 rank, advanced in years and of a cultivated 
 understanding, travelling in Lower Normandy, 
 arrived at Caen, and came to my house for the 
 purpose of paying me a visit. I received him 
 
 with
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 259 
 
 tvith civility, and waited to hear his business ; 
 when he said, "It was your father whom I 
 wished to see, and I shall be obliged to you to 
 introduce me to him." " My father (I re- 
 turned) died when I was an infant, and you will 
 find here no other Huet than myself." " I 
 should not have imagined (said he) that all I 
 have heard of you could be true of so young a 
 man." But, the good man was doubly mistaken; 
 for I was much less learned than he thought 
 me, and older than I seemed to be. 
 
 Shortly afterwards my library received a 
 great accession ;' for my relation and former 
 guardian, the son of Gilles Mace, the great 
 mathematician whom I have already mentioned* 
 liberally sent me for a present all the books re^ 
 lative to mathematical subjects which had be- 
 longed to his father. In turning over these, I 
 felt the long dormant sparks of my early ar~ 
 dour for those noble sciences revived and ready 
 to break out ; which I did not entirely suppress, 
 .but gently cherished, while from time to time 
 I revisited in short excursions this choice col- 
 lection of volumes. 
 
 Several English and Irish, expatriated in the 
 tumults of their country, often at that time 
 
 s 2 came
 
 260 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 came to the opposite coast of Normandy, and 
 took up their abode at Caen. Among these, 
 whilst I was a young man, was Stanihurst, a 
 subtle dialectician, who professed philosophy 
 in the university of Caen, attended by a nu- 
 merous auditory. I frequently skirmished with 
 his disciples keenly and in good earnest, which 
 gave great pleasure to this doctor, who strongly 
 urged rne to this kind of combat. He was also 
 skilled in chemical operations, which, how- 
 ever, he found prejudicial to himself, his throat 
 being burnt and contracted by the inconsiderate 
 draught of a noxious potion. (56) Another 
 Stanihurst, his relation, at the same time prac- 
 tised medicine with success in the same uni- 
 versity. A long time afterwards there came to 
 Caen from the same country Francis bishop 
 
 of *, a man amiable for the suavity of 
 
 his manners, and venerable for the sanctity of 
 his life; withal, in low circumstances, and ap- 
 parently distressed. On this account I made 
 a proposal to the illustrious abbess, Maria 
 Eleonora Rohan, to whose merit I have already 
 borne testimony, that she should receive this 
 pious bishop into her house, and supply him 
 * In the Latin " Episcopus Aladensis" 
 
 with
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 261 
 
 with the necessaries of life. She readily com- 
 plied, and desired me to give him an invitation 
 in her name. But as if he were attached to 
 his poverty, in which Christ was his teacher 
 and example, he chose to continue within the 
 secresy of his hut. Not long after, he went 
 to Rennes to his countrymen who had resorted 
 to Britany in great numbers. I fear lest I may 
 seem to some readers weakly credulous, if I relate 
 a circumstance which I have heard from some 
 religious, discreet, and by no means supersti- 
 tious persons, very similar to what we read in the 
 Acts of the Apostles that a boy who had fallen 
 from the roof of a house, and was apparently 
 killed by the accident, being taken by this holy 
 prelate into his arms, was restored to life by 
 his earnest prayers to God. Subsequently, there 
 arrived upon the Norman coast Patrick bishop 
 of Ardfert, of the noble Irish family of Plunket ; 
 whom we have since seen, with a great reputa- 
 tion for piety, performing the functions of the 
 bishop of Seez. 
 
 NOTES
 
 2G3 
 
 f : f : '- :f 'NOTES 
 
 TO 
 
 THE THIRD BOOK, 
 
 NOTE (1), PAGE 186. 
 
 ADAM OLEARIUS, whose proper name was 
 Oelsch/ager, was a native of Ascherleben in 
 Lower Saxony. Though of a mean origin, 
 he was brought up to letters, and distinguished 
 himself so much by his proficiency, that he 
 became one of the professors at the university 
 of Leipzig. He was an able mathematician, 
 and was versed in the oriental languages, on 
 which account, probably, he was taken into 
 the service of Frederic, duke of Holstein 
 Gottorp, who had formed extensive projects 
 for the advancement of commerce in his terri- 
 tories, particularly by obtaining a share in the 
 Levant trade. For this purpose, in the year 
 1633, he sent a splendid embassy to the czar 
 of Muscovy and the king of Persia, of which 
 
 Olearius
 
 MEMOIRS OF IIUET. 
 
 Olearius was appointed the secretary. After 
 their return in l6'39, Olearius published in the 
 German language a relation of the whole jour- 
 ney, in a folio volume, illustrated by figures 
 designed by himself: and the work maintains 
 a respectable rank among similar performances. 
 It has been translated into English and French. 
 He thenceforth took up his residence atGottorp, 
 where he occupied the posts of librarian, an- 
 tiquary, and mathematician to the duke, till his 
 death in 1671, at the age of sixty-eight. Olea- 
 rius published other works, among which was a 
 German translation of the Tales, Maxims, &c. 
 of the celebrated Persian poet Saadt. 
 
 
 
 . 
 NOTE (2), PAGE 188. 
 
 The free use of the Latin language in mo- 
 dern times as a medium of conversation, how- 
 ever. advantageous in the intercourse of the 
 learned of different countries, is scarcely com- 
 patible with a delicate sense of classical purity, 
 which cannot tail to be violated in unpremedi- 
 tated discourse, and upon topics unknown to 
 antiquity. It has therefore been found that 
 
 the nations and individuals most attached to 
 
 . 
 purity
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 26*5 
 
 purity of diction, have been most reserved in 
 the familiar application of the Latin tongue 
 both in speech and writing. The Ciceronian 
 Italians of the l6th century scarcely ever ven- 
 tured to trust themselves in conversation with 
 the scholars from Germany and the Low-coun- 
 tries ; and Erasmus, who had scarcely any other 
 mother tongue than the Latin, somewhere com- 
 plains of a dumb interview between himself and 
 some eminent Italian literary character. The 
 French likewise have seldom been fond of con- 
 versing in Latin ; and the English have almost 
 entirely disused it, except in academical dispu- 
 tations. Indeed, besides the nice classical taste 
 cultivated by our scholars, the great difference 
 of pronunciation almost incapacitates them from 
 holding a Latin conference with any foreigner. 
 That a prince of the North should be able to 
 speak Latin with fluency is not surprising, 
 since it seems to have been a regular part of 
 the education of sovereigns in that part of 
 Europe to render them familiar with that 
 tongue. Thus even Charles XII. of Sweden, 
 though very far from a literary character, could 
 converse in Latin, which language he was in- 
 duced to acquire, notwithstanding his aversion 
 
 to
 
 266 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 to study, by being told that the kings of Po- 
 land and Denmark were masters of it. 
 
 NOTE (3), PAGE 191. 
 
 ANNA MARIA SCHURMAN, one of the most 
 remarkable literary females upon record, was 
 born at Cologne of noble parentage in 1607. 
 She seems to have possessed that superiority of 
 talent which attains excellence in every pursuit 
 to which it is directed ; for she had scarcely 
 passed the age of infancy before she began to 
 be distinguished for dexterity and elegance in 
 a variety of ornamental arts, whilst at the same 
 time she was acquiring with surprising facility 
 a knowledge of the learned languages, and the 
 elements of science. The list of her mature-at- 
 tainments almost surpasses belief: in the article 
 of languages alone it comprehends, besides La- 
 tin, Greek and Hebrew, several of the oriental 
 dialects, and the principal modern tongues. 
 With all these titles to admiration, her modesty 
 was not less conspicuous than her excellencies, 
 and it was with difficulty that Vossius, Span- 
 heim, and some other learned men who became 
 acquainted with her attainments, were able to 
 
 draw
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 26? 
 
 draw her out into public view. She was of the 
 protestant persuasion, and had accompanied her 
 family first to Franeker and then to Utrecht. 
 Her reputation brought her a number of cor- 
 respondents among the learned and the great, 
 one of the latter of whom was the illustrious 
 Elizabeth princess Palatine. Some of her let- 
 ters on subjects of erudition were made public 
 in the works of learned men; and in 1641 a 
 Latin dissertation was printed which she wrote 
 upon the question " Whether literary studies 
 were becoming to a woman ?" a question 
 which few females have had a better right to 
 maintain in the affirmative. One of her fa- 
 vourite studies was theology ; and the habit of 
 inquiring for herself had detached her from 
 the ministers of the established religion, and 
 
 O ' 
 
 caused her to intermit her attendance on their 
 services. While she was in this temper of 
 mind, confined to the pious exercises of her 
 own closet, and nourishing in secret a spirit of 
 sentimental devotion, the celebrated mystic and 
 enthusiast Labadie obtained an introduction to 
 her, and by his insinuating eloquence gained 
 such an ascendancy over her, that he thence- 
 forth became her spiritual director. She ac- 
 companied
 
 268 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 companied him in his various migrations, and 
 k was in her arms that ht breathed his last at 
 Altona in 167 4 : it is. however, a mistaken as- 
 sertion of Huet's that they were married ; and 
 there is no reason to believe that their con- 
 nexion was any other than pure religious friend- 
 ship. Mademoiselle Schurman was afterwards 
 at the head of an association of persons in- 
 spired with similar devotional sentiments, which 
 she established, in 11 village near Leuwarden, 
 where she died in 1678. 
 
 NOTE (4), PAGE 191. 
 
 JOHN ANTONIDES VANDER LINDEN, a phy- 
 sician well known by his writings, was a native 
 of Enkhuysen in Noi:th Holland, where his 
 father was a practitioner in medicine. He gra- 
 duated at Franeker, rn the university of which 
 place he obtained a medical chair. He was 
 afterwards professor of medicine at Leyden, 
 where he died in 1664. Though at first a 
 staunch follower of Hippocrates, he became 
 addicted to the chemical sect, and Guy Patin, 
 its bitter enemy v asserts, as a sort of judgment 
 upon him, tha't he lost his life by taking anti- 
 mony
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 
 
 mony and refusing to be blooded, in a pleurisy. 
 He wrote a work upon medical authors entitled 
 " De Scriptis Medicis," which, though little 
 more than a bare catalogue, has been very ser- 
 viceable to those engaged in similar inquiries. 
 He prepared an edition of Hippocrates, which 
 was published after his death by his son. 
 
 NOTE (5), PAGE 192. 
 
 > 
 
 JAMES GOLIUS was one of the most eminent 
 orientalists of the Leyden school, so long ce- 
 lebrated for that species of literature. He was 
 born at the Hague in 15<)6, and studied at 
 Leyden, where he particularly attached him- 
 self to the Arabic professor, Erpenius. For the 
 purpose of improvement he accompanied an 
 ambassador from the United Provinces to the 
 emperor of Morocco, and excited much admi- 
 ration at that court by a petition written in 
 Arabic. On his return he succeeded Erpenios 
 in his professorship ; but was permitted by the 
 curators of the university to absent himself on 
 a tour to the Levant, which occupied three or 
 four years. During his absence the mathema- 
 tical chair was atso conferred upon him ; and he 
 
 spent
 
 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 spent near forty years in the labours of his 
 double professorship and the performance of 
 his other academical duties. His ardour for the 
 knowledge of languages led him late in life to 
 study the Chinese, in which he had made some 
 proficiency at his death in 1667. This learned 
 man published several Arabic works, and an 
 Arabic and a Persian dictionary. 
 
 NOTE (6), PAGE 192. 
 
 ALEXANDER MORE was the son of a Scotch 
 divine who migrated, into France, and was prin- 
 cipal of a protestant college at Castres in Lan- 
 guedoc. Alexander was born there in 1616. 
 To the advantage of a good education he joined 
 quick natural parts, ready elocution, and suffi- 
 cient confidence, so that at an early age he rose 
 to distinction in his party. He studied theo- 
 logy at Geneva, where he became a candidate 
 for the vacant Greek professorship against seve- 
 ral competitors much older than himself, and 
 on a public examination of their qualifications 
 obtained the prize. He also was elected a mi- 
 nister of the Genevan church, and acquired 
 great fame by his eloquence as a preacher. The 
 
 warmth
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 271 
 
 warmth of his temper, however, his arrogance 
 and propensity to take offence, and his impru- 
 dent attentions to the fair-sex, raised him ma- 
 ny enemies, and as he had also zealous sup- 
 porters, Geneva was divided into parties on his 
 account. Saumaise having procured him an 
 invitation to the professorship of divinity at 
 Middleburgh, he removed thither in 16*49, 
 provided with ample testimonies of orthodoxy, 
 on which point he had undergone some calum- 
 ny, as it was reported that he denied the im- 
 putation of Adam's transgression to his poste- 
 rity, and the divinity of the Holy Ghost. 
 Bayle has a valuable remark on a testimonial 
 afterwards given to More by the Genevan pro- 
 fessor of theology Diodati, who, acknowledging 
 that he was highly irritable and vindictive, 
 seems to think these failings no considerable 
 
 o 
 
 deductions from his merits as a minister of the 
 gospel. " I see every day (says Bayle, and 
 we may repeat the assertion) persons who are 
 thus blinded with respect to some favourite mi- 
 nister on account of his great gifts, and who 
 speak of his Ishmaelism almost with approba- 
 tion. Mr. Such-an-One (they say) is a dan- 
 gerous enemy, he has a beak and claws wou 
 
 to
 
 272 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 to those who make free with him as if they 
 were speaking of a colonel of dragoons, or a 
 knight of the thistle with his motto "Nemo 
 me impune lacessit." " Go through (he pro- 
 ceeds) the catalogue of all the detects to 
 which human nature is liable, and you will 
 find none more opposite to the spirit of Chris- 
 tianity than the violence displayed in the quar- 
 rels of some of these gentlemen." More af- 
 terwards removed to Amsterdam, where the pro- 
 fessorship of history in the sckola illustris was 
 conferred upon him. He discharged the duties 
 of this office with great applause ; and having 
 in consequence of a leave of absence visited 
 Italy, he was honoured with the notice of the 
 grand duke of Tuscany, and was presented 
 with a gold chain by the republic of Venice for 
 a Latin poem on the defeat of the Turkish fleet 
 by the Venetians. In 1609 he quitted Holland 
 to become a minister of the protestant church 
 at Paris ; an appointment which he did not ob- 
 tain without a violent opposition, for his tem- 
 per was always dreaded, and his morals were 
 suspected. He was there engaged in various 
 disputes, and narrowly escaped condemnation 
 from the synods. Great offers were made him 
 
 to
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 273 
 
 to become a convert to the catholic religion, 
 but without effect; and he died in an edifying 
 manner at the house of the duchess of Rohan 
 in. 1670. The king sent marshal Grammont 
 to visit him in his last illness, who on his re- 
 turn said to his Majesty, " Sire, I saw him 
 die ; he went out of the world like a good 
 hugonot, but what I most pity him for is that 
 he died in a religion which is as much out of 
 fashion as a cocked hat." Menage asserts that 
 More confessed before his death that no one 
 had so strongly tempted him to change his re- 
 ligion as he. The temptation was an offer on 
 the part of the duchess of Aiguillon of a pen- 
 sion of 4000 livres. 
 
 More is known to the English reader by his 
 quarrel with Milton. In l6a2 he published at 
 the Hague a book written by Peter Dumoulin, 
 entitled " Regii Sanguinis Clamor adversus Pa- 
 ricidas Anglicanos." In this work Milton's 
 " Defensio" was very severely treated. Highly 
 exasperated, Milton made a personal attack upon 
 More, whom he thought or affected to think 
 the author, in which he raked together all the 
 stories that had been told of him by his ene- 
 mies, charging him with heresy, gross immo- 
 
 VOL. I. T rality,
 
 27 4 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 ralily, and other crimes. He alto put into the 
 Londbh newspapers af quibbling Latin epigram 
 alluding to the affeh 4 witrh'Saumaise's maid-ser- 
 vant hereafter mentioned by Huet. Justly a* 
 we revere the memory or* our great poet, par- 
 tiality alone can excuse him for this and otfher 
 instances of controversial acrimony. 
 
 .I-.M! 
 NOTE (7), PAGE 193. 
 
 DANIEL HEINSTUS, whom Huet saw onfy 
 in his decay, for he died in l(?55, was born in 
 158O, at Ghent, of an eminent family in that 
 crty. life father was a fugitive for his religion, 
 and settled in Holland. Daniel was early ini- 
 tiated in letters, and began to write Latin 
 verses at ten years of age, when he produced 
 an elegy on the death of a female playfellows 
 He pursued his career with great reputation at 
 Fhffieker and Leyden, at the latter of which 
 Universities he enjoyed the advantage of a fa- 
 miliar intercourse with Joseph Scaliger. At 
 tHfe a^e of twenty he rertd public lectures on 
 the Greek and Latiri classics at Leaden, a*nd 
 was afterwards promoted to the professorship 
 of jiolitics and histbty, arid ttiade secretary and 
 
 librarian
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 2/5 
 
 librarian to that university. In 1619 he acted 
 as secretary to the states of Holland at the 
 synod of Dort. By his learned publications, 
 consisting chiefly of comments and annotations 
 upon various authors, and qf Latin and Greek 
 poems and orations, his reputation was spread 
 through Europe, and he received marks of 
 distinction from Gustavus Adolphus, pope Ur- 
 ban VJ 1 1, and the republic of Venice. He had 
 the infirmity of loving his bottle somewhat 
 too well, of which his pupils were not igno- 
 rant; for on.ce, having excused himself from 
 giving a lecture, there was placed over the door 
 of the lecture-room a paper with the following 
 notice : " Daniel Heinsius non leget hodie 
 propter hesternam crapulam." Returning once 
 at night from a convivial party, with his head 
 more steady than his legs, he made this distich : 
 
 Sta pes, sta bone pes, sta pes, ne labere mi pes, 
 Sta pes, aut lapides hi mihi lectus erunt. 
 
 Which may be rendered in English hexame- 
 ters, 
 
 Stand leg, pray stand, I beg, stand leg, and don't slide 
 
 about so 5 
 Good leg, pr'ythee trip not, stand fast, or these stones must 
 
 my bed be. 
 
 T 2 NOTE
 
 2/6 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 NOTE (8), PAGE 194. 
 
 BOXHORN, here mentioned with some dis- 
 paragement, was a philologist of considera- 
 ble distinction, and left monuments of his 
 learning and industry, extraordinary in one 
 who died in the prime of life. He was 
 the son of James Zuerius, a minister at Ber- 
 gen-op-Zoom, where he was born in l6l2. He 
 took his name from his maternal grandfather, 
 who was of a noble family in Brabant. At 
 the university of Leyden, where he was edu- 
 cated, he distinguished himself by his profi- 
 ciency, and began to publish works of erudi- 
 tion at twenty ; though, as might be supposed, 
 in his maturer years he found occasion to cor- 
 rect his opinions on various points. He ob- 
 tained the chair of eloquence at Leyden in 
 l632,and on the resignation of Daniel Heinsius 
 succeeded him in that of politics and history. 
 His writings were philological, historical and 
 political : among the latter were a defence of 
 the freedom of Dutch navigation ; an account 
 of the constitution of the United States, for the 
 use of his students ; and a piece in favour of 
 - - the
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 277 
 
 the rights of Charles II, then a fugitive The 
 last work appears to have given some umbrage 
 to the republicans in Holland. He was one 
 of those who maintained the claim of the in-r 
 vention of printing for Haerlem in opposition 
 to that of Mentz. Huet's unfavourable de- 
 scription of his countenance is confirmed by a 
 story of his being taken for a Spaniard,, in 
 consequence of his dark complexion, by a 
 Dutch soldier at the capitulation of Breda. 
 He was at this time in the camp of the prince 
 of Orange, and drew up in good Latin a nar- 
 rative of the siege of that place. He is said 
 to have injured his health by the excessive use 
 of tobacco, to which he was so much enslaved, 
 that he cut a hole in his hat to support his 
 pipe whilst he was studying and composing. 
 After a lingering illness he died at the age 
 pf forty-one. 
 
 NOTE (9), PAGE 196. 
 
 CLAUDE DE SAUMAISE, one of the most di- 
 stinguished names among the erudite of his 
 time, was born in 1583 at Semur-en-Auxois, of 
 a family eminent in the law. He studied at 
 
 Paris
 
 2/8 ftfEM&fRS &F HU<ET. 
 
 Paris atfid Heidelberg, and began at an early 
 ase to make himself known as an editor of the 
 
 O 
 
 works of antiquity. iThdugh educated with a 
 View to tlhe legal profession, and actually ad- 
 mitted an advocate, he seems : to have deter- 
 mined to devote himself to literary studies. 
 His mother, who was a 'Cakinist, 'had given 
 him an 'early impression in favour of that.per- 
 ^uasion ; and : his marriage with the daughter of 
 a 'man distinguished among the -French pro- 
 testarits fixed him in 'this Attachment; so that 
 when his father, who possessed an honourable 
 magistracy at Semur, wished to resign it ; tt> 
 him, his religion proved an 'insuperable bar- 
 rier to such a settlement. -Having declined 
 sorrie flattering offers from Italian 'universities, 
 he accepted in l63l an 'invitation from the 
 university of Leyden to occupy the honorary 
 professorship which had been filled by Joseph 
 Scaliger; probably regarding himself as the 
 successor in literary reputation to that cele- 
 brated man. Of his high opinion of himself, 
 the following anecdote, related by Vigneuil 
 Marville, will afford a specimen. Meeting 
 once with Gaulmin and Maussac at the royal 
 library in Paris, Gaulmin said, " : I 'think -vre 
 
 three
 
 KO7ES TQ BOOK IH. 
 
 three might make head against all the learned 
 in Europe." ".Join yourself (replied Saumaise) 
 and Maussac:to all the men of learning in the 
 world, and ,1 will singly stand against you all." 
 Corresponding to this arrogant estimate of his 
 merits was his treatment of all with whom he 
 had any controversy, freely bestowing upon 
 -them every vituperative epithet with which the 
 iLatin language furnished him, and showing 
 the greatest contempt for their opinions; so 
 that it. was said of him, that he placed himself 
 upon a heap of stones with which he pelted 
 all who game within his reach. By constant 
 study, with the , aid of a retentive memory, 
 ;he had laid, up. a greater mass of master rela- 
 tive to the topics of erudition than perhaps any 
 other man of the age, and .this he could pour 
 , forth at pleasure when any learned subject was 
 started ; but his knowledge was crude ,and in- 
 digested, and his decisions were often erroneous 
 and contradictory. He was looked up to with 
 great respect and reverence by most of his con- 
 temporaries, though his haughtiness and prone- 
 ness to abuse raised him many enemies who 
 dijd not, spare him. Among* these was Milton, 
 who was, employed by the parliament to .write 
 
 an
 
 28O MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 an answer to Saumaise's work in favour of 
 Charles I, entitled " Defensio Regia." The 
 work itself, for which he was paid by the ex- 
 iled Charles II, was a piece of turgid and 
 tasteless' declamation ; and Milton's spirited 
 and contemptuous reply was so much more 
 popular, that Saumaise was deeply mortified. 
 To divert his chagrin, in the following year, 
 1650, he accepted an invitation from queen 
 Christina, who, in forming her literary esta- 
 blishment, could not fail of being attracted by 
 the name of the great Salmasius. Like all the 
 other southern visitors of Sweden, however, he 
 found the climate too rude for him, and in the 
 next year returned to Holland. Falling into a 
 bad state of health, he went to Spa, where he 
 died in 1(>53. Of his works, his Exercita- 
 tions on Pliny and Solinus, and his treatises 
 on Usury among the ancients, are most esteem- 
 ed, as affording the widest scope to his multi- 
 farious learning. 
 
 NOTE (10), PAGE 196. 
 
 FRANCIS BEROALDE lord of Verville, son of 
 Matthew Beroalde, a protestant professor and 
 
 minister,
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 281 
 
 minister, conformed to the catholic religion, 
 and became a canon at Tours. He was a poet, 
 metaphysician, mathematician, and alchemist, 
 but superficial and romantic in all. His "Moy- 
 en de Parvenir" is a kind of ridicule of the 
 human race in general, and is characterised as 
 a compound of frivolities, puerilities, and in- 
 decencies, mixed with some pleasant stories, 
 and strokes of naivete. It was first published 
 in 1584, and was reprinted in 1698 with the 
 double title of " Salmagondis," Liege, and 
 " Le Coupe-cu de la Melancholic," Parme; 
 both the same impression. Becoming, like 
 many other idle productions, a rare book, it 
 was thought worth re-editing in 1/32 and 
 1754, with notes and elucidations. A parti- 
 cular dissertation on it is given in the Menagi- 
 ana. The author, an extravagant character, 
 died about l6l2. 
 
 NOTE (tl), PAGE 199. 
 
 This advice affords, at least, a clue to More's 
 own conduct, who seems always to have had 
 in view the appearing more orthodox than he 
 really was a policy in which he has had nu- 
 merous predecessors and successors ! 
 
 NOTE
 
 282 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 NOTE (12), PAGE 202. 
 
 M A-NASSEH BEN ISRAEL was born about 1604 
 in Spain, from which country his father, after 
 being tortured in the Inquisition and deprived 
 of his property, made his escape to Holland 
 with hisi family. Manasseh was educated with 
 care, and made o iinuch proficiency in the 
 study of the ; Hebrew scriptures and divinity, 
 ithat he was appointed, at the age of eighteen, 
 successor to his tutor as preacher and expounder 
 in 'the synagogue at Amsterdam. He publish- 
 ed in his twenty-eighth year a work in Spanish 
 i entitled^Conciliador" &c. soon afterwards trans- 
 lated into Latin under the title of " Conciliator, 
 sive de Convenientia Locorum S.Scripturaequae 
 pugnare inter sevidentur," by which he obtain- 
 ed great- reputation, as well .among Christians 
 as Jews, as a learned and judicious critic upon 
 the Old Testament. The excellent Grotius 
 engaged in a correspondence with him on the 
 occasion, and highly commended his work. 
 Finding himself unable to maintain his family 
 upon his salary, he was obliged to engage in 
 trade, and set up a printing press in his house, 
 
 from
 
 TO -BOOK 1*1. 283 
 
 from which issued several editions of the Bible 
 and the works of the rabbins. When the 
 Jews of Amsterdam determined to send a de- 
 putation to Cromwell, then Protector, Manas- 
 seh was chosen as their delegate. -0n 'his ar- 
 rival-he presented an address 'to Cromwell so* 
 liciting his protection, and the repeal df such 
 rigorous laws against their nation as might 
 'have been made under ; the former kingly go- 
 vernment. 'He also dispersed a printed de- 
 claration to the commonwealth, and a treatise 
 1 containing various arguments :for toleration, 
 and tending to remove the prejudices of the 
 multitude against 'the- Jews. 'Cromwell sum- 
 moned an assembly of laymen and divines to 
 consult on ; this = matter, from whose opinions 
 he found that so much intolerance and preju- 
 dice were prevalent, that it would * not 'be ad- 
 visable to introduce any public proposal relative 
 to placing the Jews on an equal footing- with 1 the 
 different sects of Christians ; -and he dismissed 
 Manasseh with a polite but -evasive answer. 
 The rabbi's pamphlet is preserved in a collec- 
 tion <rf tracts called "the Phoenix, and there is 
 annexed to it a 'long catalogue of his other 
 writings. 
 
 NOTE
 
 284 MEMOIRS OF HUET, 
 
 NOTE (13), PAGE 203. 
 
 DAVID BLONDEL, one of the most learned 
 and eminent of the French protestant mini- 
 sters, was born at Chalons in Champagne. He 
 settled in the pastoral office at Houdan near 
 Paris in lb'14, and soon distinguished himself 
 by some controversial writings, one of which 
 was an answer to the invectives against his sect 
 by Richelieu, then bishop of Lu9on, and after- 
 wards cardinal. By these works his reputation 
 was so well established with the party, that he 
 was much employed in public affairs by the 
 protestant synods, both provincial and national. 
 He had no talents for preaching, and was, in- 
 deed, but a perplexed writer, his style being 
 full of parentheses ; but his mind was abun- 
 dantly stored with a variety of knowledge, 
 which he poured out like a torrent in conver- 
 sation, his memory always suggesting to him 
 proper names, dates, and every thing that was 
 requisite for the discussion of any topic on 
 which he entered. It is said that Saumaise 
 when at Paris always avoided a meeting with 
 JJlondel, whose superior copiousness and faci- 
 lity
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 2S5j 
 
 lity reduced him to silence. The synod of 
 Charenton, by making hirn an honorary pro- 
 fessor with a pension, gave him an opportunity 
 of devoting his time to letters, chiefly with a 
 view, it is said, of engaging him to refute the 
 Annals of cardinal Baronius ; but though he 
 filled his copy of this work with marginal 
 notes, he published nothing expressly to that 
 purpose. One of his most noted publications 
 was a refutation of the popular tale of 'pope 
 Joan. As this story had been often repeated 
 as a subject of scandal to the Romish church, 
 some of Blondel's more illiberal brethren cen- 
 sured him for exposing its falsity; but he 
 gained much honour by the knowledge and 
 acuteness he displayed on the occasion, and he 
 is generally considered as having settled the 
 point. When Saumaise was first informed of 
 this work, he said, with his usual arrogance, 
 " Let them bring it to me, and I will blow it 
 away with a breath." Blondel, hearing of this 
 vaunt, sent him the Latin original (the book 
 was first published in French), and desired him 
 to print it entire with the refutation ; but 
 though Saumaise promised it should be done, 
 nothing further was heard of the intended an- 
 swer.
 
 MEMOIR* OF HUET. 
 
 sweu. Blondel also manifested his aversion to 
 imposture by a treatise proving the falsity of 
 the pretended Sibylline ouacles. His learned 
 work "On the Primacy in the Church" was a 
 refutation- of what cardinal <iu- J^erron had ad- 
 vanced on that subject. After the death of 
 Isaac Vossius, Bkvndel accepted an invitation 
 to succeed him in the professorship of history 
 at Amsterdam; but he was disappointed in 
 the hopes of finding Holland more favourable 
 to freedom of thinking than France. His in- 
 timacy with the Arminian and Remonstrant 
 Curcellaevis caused him to be suspected of si- 
 milar principles, and his latter days were dis- 
 quieted by the attacks of party malignity. 
 He died in 16*55 at the age of sixty-four. 
 
 CLAUDE SARRAU, mentioned with Blondel, 
 was an eminent counsellor, first in the parlia- 
 ment of Rouen, and then of Paris. He was 
 not only a great friend to learned men, but was 
 himself well versed in classical literature, and 
 wrote Latin with great purity. He published 
 " Grotii Epistolae ad Gallos ;" and after his 
 death in 1651, a collection of his Latin letters 
 to his learned contemporaries was published, 
 with a dedication to queen Christina, with 
 
 whom
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 287 
 
 whom he had been in the habits of corre- 
 spondence. His latinized name is Sarravius. 
 
 JOHN JAMES CHIFFLET, against whom Blon- 
 del wrote, was a physician and man of letters, 
 born at BesaH9on in 1588. He was well ac- 
 quainted with history and antiquities ; and 
 being a subject of Spain, to which crown 
 Franche Comte then belonged, he was employ- 
 ed to write " Vindiciac Hispanicae," a work in- 
 tended to prove that the house of Capet does 
 not descend in the male line from Charle- 
 magne, and that in the female line the house 
 of Austria precedes it. He also offended the 
 prejudices of Frenchmen by attacking the au- 
 thenticity of the famous ampoulle of Rheims, 
 containing the holy oil used in the coronation 
 of the French kings. On the other hand, he 
 maintained the pretensions of the holy sudary 
 of Besan9on. In his medical capacity, he 
 wrote against the use of the Peruvian bark. 
 His historical tracts were printed collectively 
 at Antwerp in folio, 1650. He was first phy- 
 sician to Isabella Clara Eugenia governess of 
 the Low-countries, and to her successor the 
 cardinal Ferdinand; and died in 1660. 
 
 NOTE
 
 -S3 MEMOIRS OF HUEti 
 
 NOTE (14), PAGE 204. 
 
 JOHN FREDERIC GRONOVIUS, born at Ham- 
 burgh in l6ll, was eminent both as a jurist 
 and a philologist. He settled in the United 
 Provinces first at Deventer, and was thence 
 called to Leyden to succeed Daniel Heinsius 
 in the professorship of Greek and classical li- 
 terature. He made himself known to the 
 learned world by esteemed editions of several 
 antient writers, and by various dissertations 
 displaying much sound erudition. One of 
 these was an excellent treatise on the Sesterce, 
 since reprinted under the title " De vetere Pe- 
 cunia." He died in 1672, leaving a still more 
 eminent son, James Gronovius, also a professor 
 at Leyden. 
 
 NOTE (15), PAGE 205. 
 
 VALERIUS ANDREAS, a native of Brabant^ 
 born in 1588, was professor of Roman law at 
 Louvain, and librarian to the university. He 
 was the author of various works, of which his 
 " Bibliotheca Belgica, de Belgis \ r ita Scriptis- 
 
 que
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 289 
 
 que claris," printed first in 1623, and enlarged 
 and corrected in 1643, is regarded as the best 
 account of the writers of the Seventeen Pro- 
 vinces of the Low-countries. 
 
 NOTE (16), PAGE 205. 
 
 The eminent philologist JUSTUS LIPSIUS be- 
 longs to the century preceding that with which 
 the present work is concerned. The reference 
 here made to him, however, may suggest some 
 reflections not uninteresting in the history of 
 the human mind. Educated among the Jesuits 
 at Cologne, and passing his earlier years at 
 Rome, though he subsequently occupied pro- 
 fessorships in the protestant universities of 
 Jena and Leyden, and made no scruple of con- 
 forming to the established religion in those 
 places, yet he never seems to have freed his 
 mind from the shackles originally imposed 
 upon it. In some of his writings he maintain- 
 ed such persecuting and intolerant principles 
 relative to religion, that a storm of controversy 
 fell upon him in Holland, which induced him 
 to withdraw to Louvain, where he resumed the 
 open profession of the Romish faith. And be- 
 
 VOL. i. u fore
 
 2.90 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 fore his mind could be supposed to become en- 
 feebled by age, for he died in his fifty-ninth year, 
 he fell a prey to that puerile superstition which 
 he made public in the work here alluded to, 
 on the Virgin of Halle, and in his " Diva 
 Sichemiensis;" antt also in the bequest of his 
 furred gown to an imageof the Virgin in a church 
 of Louvain. Such, not uncommonly, are the 
 weaknesses and extravagancies of the devotional 
 spirit, when not originally emanating from ra- 
 tional principles, but the mere effervescence 
 of early prejudices and childish associations. 
 
 NOTE (17), PAGE 207. 
 
 GILLES MENAGE, one of the most noted of 
 the French literati in his time, was born in 
 l6l3 at Angers, where his father held an office 
 in the law, which he resigned to him as soon 
 as he was of an age to take it. Gilles, however, 
 though he pleaded for a time at the bar, was 
 soon disgusted with the legal profession, and 
 abandoned his post of king's advocate. He 
 then entered into the ecclesiastical state so far 
 as to enable him to hold benefices without cure 
 of souls ; but at the same time lived as a man 
 
 of
 
 NOTES TO BOOK lit. 29! 
 
 ef the world whose great occupation was lite- 
 rature. With an extraordinary memory, and 
 a disposition for sarcasm and repartee, he ren- 
 dered himself agreeable in conversation, though 
 he also made many enemies, and was in a state 
 of hostility with several of the literary cha- 
 racters of the age. His reputation would have 
 opened the doors of the French academy to 
 him, had he not ridiculed the Dictionary of 
 that body in a piece of ingenious pleasantry 
 entitled " Requete cles Dictionnaires:" upon 
 which it was said, " that he rather ought to 
 be condemned to become a member of the 
 Academy, as one who has dishonoured a young 
 woman is compelled to marry her." Being in 
 easy circumstances, he passed his time in the 
 society he liked best, and opened his house 
 once a week to an assembly of men of letters. 
 This meeting, which he called his Mercuriale, 
 as being held on Wednesday (dies Mercurii), 
 was continued for forty years. He was also fond 
 of the company of the fair-sex, and attached 
 himself particularly to Mesdames la Fayette 
 and Sevigne, though his connexions of this 
 kind seem to have been only exercises in mo- 
 dish gallantry and reciprocations of compli- 
 u 2 ments.
 
 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 ments. The former of these ladies, when 
 Mademoiselle de la Vergne, he celebrated in 
 Latin verse under the name of Laverna ; and 
 as this unluckily is the name of the Roman 
 Goddess of Thieving, Menage subjected him- 
 self to a severe epigram, in which he was said 
 to have done well in making Laverna his pa- 
 troness, as he perpetually practised larceny in 
 his compositions. Indeed, his numerous verses 
 in Greek, Latin, Italian and French appear to 
 have been little more than centos, and assem- 
 blages of phrases from the ordinary sources of 
 poetical diction : and if the French pieces 
 were accounted the least valuable, it was be- 
 cause their want of originality was the most 
 easily discovered. His natural genius seems 
 to have pointed to the ingenious and satirical, 
 in which walk he amused the public with va- 
 rious happy efforts. 
 
 One of his Latin poems, in which he in- 
 dulged his sarcastic disposition, was near bring- 
 ing him into considerable trouble. It was an 
 elegy addressed to cardinal Mazarin, in which, 
 speaking of the base crowd that paid their court 
 to him on his return to power, he adds, 
 
 Et, puto, tarn viles despicis ipse Togas. 
 
 The
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 293 
 
 The parliament of Paris having sent a so- 
 lemn deputation to congratulate the minister, 
 it was thought that by the word togas he meant 
 to allude to that circumstance. He brought 
 proof, however, that he had composed this 
 piece before the deputation ; and displayed 
 much learning in showing the Roman use of 
 the word toga, which, indeed, he had probably 
 borrowed from Martial's line, 
 
 Eheu quam fatuae sunt tfbi, Roma, togas. 
 
 There could be no doubt, however, that he 
 pointed at the parliament in these lines : 
 
 Qui modo te, rerum Dominum, venerantur, adorant, 
 Hi sunt saepe tuum qui petiere caput : .^ 
 
 But that body well deserved a stroke for its 
 mean tergiversation. 
 
 He also wrote several works of erudition, to 
 which he brought more stores from his me- 
 mory than his judgement. His " Origines de la 
 Langue Fran9oise," with much curious and use- 
 ful research, proposes many etymologies that 
 are entirely erroneous and absurd. After his 
 death a " Menagiana" was compiled from re- 
 collections of his conversations and written 
 
 memo-
 
 294 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 memorandums, which is one of the most en- 
 tertaining works of the Ana tribe. The last 
 edition by Monnoye, in 1715, is in 4 vol. 
 12mo. It is a remarkable circumstance, that 
 after he had suffered a failure of memory in 
 his advanced years, he perfectly (according to 
 his own account) recovered it. Menage died in 
 1692, at the age of seventy-nine. He used to 
 say of himself, " I love those who love me ; J 
 esteem those who deserve it ; and I oblige all 
 whom I can." Huet's testimony seems IQ 
 confirm this view of his character. 
 
 There is a remarkable passage in the Me- 
 nagiana which might serve as a counter-part to 
 what Dr. Johnson has quoted from a letter of 
 Cowley's, as a proof how little capable retire- 
 ment is of itself to remove mental disquietude. 
 " Out of humour (says Menage) at having so 
 many friends who did nothing for me, and at 
 the attacks of many whom I had given no 
 cause to be my enemies, I retired to the coun- 
 try to live with less uneasiness. But I was 
 much deceived ; for at the end of the first 
 week, a pigeon of mine killed through care- 
 lessness, occasioned me more vexation than all 
 the injustice I had undergone. I returned to 
 
 Paris,
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 
 
 Paris, saying to myself, Since a man cannot 
 escape chagrin, he ought at least to put him- 
 self in the way of having some reasonable 
 cause for it." 
 
 NOTE (18), PAGE 207. 
 
 JAMES MOISANT DE BRIEUX, a Calvinist of 
 Caen, was an advocate in the parliament of 
 Rouen, resided three years in England, was 
 then a counsellor in the parliament of Metz, 
 and finally, retiring to his native place, devoted 
 his time to literature. He obtained some ce- 
 lebrity in Latin poetry, and published, under 
 the title of " Divertissements de M. de B." a 
 collection of French poems and letters. Seve- 
 ral of the latter relate to the origin and ex- 
 planation of various proverbial and trivial forms 
 of speech in the French language. He ad- 
 dressed a letter to Segrais on the preface an- 
 nexed by him to his translation of the Eneid, 
 which' contains many sensible remarks on the 
 poetical character of Virgil. He also commu- 
 nicated some Latin notes on the Georgics to 
 Halle ; and he translated into Latin verse a 
 
 part
 
 296 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 part of the Greek Anthology. He died in 
 1674, leaving a son who. was a minister. 
 
 NOTE (19), PAGE 208. 
 
 JAMES SAVARY, who is here praised for a 
 qualification of very equivocal value in a poet, 
 was a native of Caen. His Latin poems on 
 Hare-hunting and the Manege are said to dis- 
 play invention as well as facility : he found it 
 necessary, however, to put in the margin 
 French explanations of the latinized terms of 
 art which he had been obliged to employ in 
 treating on those modern exercises a decisive 
 proof of the futility of using a dead language 
 for the mere purpose of entertainment, in to- 
 pics where the ideas are all new. This is, in 
 fact, only the child's play of scholars, and the 
 amusement it affords to the writer and reader 
 is equally puerile. Savary afterwards publish- 
 ed Latin poems on the chase of the stag, the 
 roebuck, the boar and the wolf; and rising to 
 a higher theme, he sung the triumphs of 
 Louis XIV. He died in 1670 at the age of 
 sixty-three. 
 
 NOTE
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 
 
 NOTE (20), PAGE 208. 
 
 ANTONY DE GARABI, sieur de la Luzerne, in 
 a very uncomely body lodged a mind possessed 
 of many agreeable talents and accomplishments, 
 which rendered his society welcome to the most 
 distinguished persons of his time. He was 
 bora in 1617 at Luzerne near Coutances in 
 Normandy, and studied at Caen under Halle. 
 He was much attached to the literarv charac- 
 
 / 
 
 ters with which Caen then abounded, and was 
 ready to do them all the kind offices in his 
 power. Garabi was the author of a number of 
 French and Latin poems, and some works in 
 prose, which displayed an easy and flowing 
 style of composition, but without much depth 
 or study. He passed his latter years at a fine 
 estate which he inherited at Estienville in the 
 Cotentin, and died in 16/9. His Latin works 
 in verse and prose were printed at Caen l66'3. 
 
 NOTE (21), PAGE 209. 
 
 SEGRAIS, a man of letters of more tempo- 
 rary than lasting reputation, was born at Caen 
 
 in
 
 298 MEMOIRS OF -HUEf. 
 
 in 1624. Originally destined to the ecclesias- 
 tical profession, he was carried at the age of 
 twenty to Paris by a courtier whom he charm- 
 ed by his conversation, and was placed with 
 Mademoiselle de Montpensier, who made him 
 first, her almoner, and then, her gentleman in 
 ordinary. He became known to the literary 
 world at an early age by his lyric and pastoral 
 poetry, among the latter of which was a piece 
 entitled " Atis," describing the scenery upon 
 the river Orne near Caen, and making per- 
 sonages of the hamlets and rivulets in its vi- 
 cinity. He was accounted so happily to have 
 caught the tone of simplicity and tenderness 
 appropriate to this class of poetic invention, 
 that even the rigorous Boileau has associated 
 his name with pastoral, in his Art of Poetry. 
 He assumed a higher strain in his translation 
 of Virgil's Eneid into French verse ; an under- 
 taking by which he seems to have acquired 
 much reputation at the time, though its infe- 
 riority to the original in point of force and 
 elevation has now almost thrown it into obli- 
 vion. These and his other performances ob- 
 tained him admission among the forty of the 
 French Academy. After the marriage of Ma- 
 demoiselle
 
 1NOTES TO BOOK III. 1299 
 
 demoiselle to the duke of Lauzun, of which 
 he showed his disapprobation, he quitted that 
 princess, and was domesticated with Mad. de 
 la Fayette. He assisted her in the composi- 
 tion of the romance of " Zayde," which, hojv- 
 ever, is properly the work of that lady. At 
 length, satiated with the great world, he re- 
 tired to his native place, where he married his 
 cousin, a rich heiress. It was proposed to him 
 to engage in the education of the duke of 
 Maine, but he made an excuse of the deafness 
 with which he began to be incommoded. " Ex- 
 
 o 
 
 perience (said he) has taught me that at court 
 a man has occasion for good eyes and ears. 1 ' 
 On the dispersion of the academy of ,Caen 
 after the death of its protector Matignon, he 
 collected the remaining members, and gave 
 them an apartment to meet in. As his deaf- 
 ness did not prevent him from talking, he was 
 listened to with great pleasure while he related 
 the anecdotes with which his memory was fur- 
 nished, and which he animated with the viva- 
 city of his language and manner. His life 
 among courtiers and in the capital had not 
 freed him from his Norman accent, which was 
 Q marked, that Mademoiselle de Montpensier 
 
 once
 
 300 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 once said to a gentleman who was going to 
 travel with him into Normandy, " You will 
 have an excellent guide, for he is a perfect 
 master of the language of the country." Se- 
 grais died in 1701, at the age of seventy-six. 
 There appeared after his death his translation 
 of the Georgics ; and a " Segraisiana" which 
 does not stand very high among those gossip- 
 ing miscellanies. 
 
 NOTE (22), PAGE 209. 
 
 GILLE-ANDRE DE LA Roo.uE, a Norman gen- 
 tleman, born near Caen, distinguished himself 
 by a number of writings all relative to nobility. 
 He possessed that essential quality for a gene- 
 alogist, an extraordinary memory, as well as in- 
 defatigable industry. His " History of the 
 House of Harcourt," by means of the great 
 mass of collateral and digressional matter 
 thrown in, as here mentioned, was carried to 
 the extent of 4 vol. folio. He also composed a 
 Treatise on Heraldry, a Treatise on the Origin 
 of Names and Surnames, and various other 
 works on similar subjects. His inquiries sup- 
 plied him with the knowledge of all the de- 
 fects
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 301 
 
 fects of families, which he was very ready to 
 publish. He may be cited as one of the ex- 
 amples of longevity attendant upon tempe- 
 rance, for he never drank wine, and lived to 
 ninety. He entered when young into the ec- 
 clesiastical order, but obtained a dispensation 
 to marry. The union, however, was not hap- 
 py, and a separation ensued. In his old age 
 he resumed the clerical habit; and was interred, 
 at his death in 1687, in the cloister of the 
 Cordeliers at Paris. 
 
 NOTE (23), PAGE 209. 
 
 This JAMES DE CALLIERES, a dependent on 
 the houses of Longueville and Matignon, was 
 governor of the count de Matignon, who pro- 
 cured him the command of Cherbourg, which 
 he had held himself. Besides the Life of the 
 Marshal Matignon, he wrote " La Vie du 
 Courtisan Predestine, ou du Due de Joyeuse, 
 Capucin," and some other works. 
 
 NOTE (24), PAGE 214. 
 
 It is to be wished that men of learning 
 
 would
 
 302 MEMOIRS OF HUET 
 
 would exercise the same good sense with re- 
 spect to the remains of antiquity, that they 
 would do with respect to the productions of 
 modern times, and treat with just neglect 
 whatever is manifestly frivolous and puerile, 
 the idle effusion of a tasteless and degenerate 
 age. It is not the language in which nonsense 
 and folly are conveyed that can alter their na- 
 ture ; and it is as unworthy of a thinking man 
 to employ his time in the study of riddles and 
 conundrums in Greek, as it would be if they 
 were in French or English. 
 
 NOTE (25), PAGE 215. 
 
 EMERIC BIGOT, an excellent man and me- 
 ritorious promoter of literature, was born in 
 1626 at Rouen, of a family distinguished in 
 the law, the profession to which France owes 
 so many of her most illustrious characters. 
 The love of letters caused him to shun pub- 
 lic business, and devote himself entirely to 
 the 'augmentation of the library which he in- 
 herited from his father, and the maintenance 
 of an intimate connexion and correspondence 
 with the learned, both at home ancf abroad. 
 
 He
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 303 
 
 He travelled into England, Holland, Germany 
 and Italy, in all those countries introducing 
 himself to the most eminent men of letters, 
 and offering them his services ; and he was the 
 centre of a literary society in France, which 
 held weekly assemblies at his house. His mo- 
 desty, benignity, and aversion to the disputes 
 too frequent among the learned, gained him 
 universal esteem and regard. No one was 
 more sincere and faithful in friendship. His 
 particular intimate, Menage, after mentioning 
 his death with great sensibility, thus speaks of 
 him : " For thirty-five years past M. Bigot has 
 Judged at my house whenever he came from 
 Rouen to Paris, and during all that time we 
 have not had the smallest difference. He had 
 one singularity : as he spoke little, he never, 
 notwithstanding our familiarity, told me what 
 he was intending to do; insomuch that when 
 he travelled to Rome he said nothing to me on 
 the subject till a day or two before his depar- 
 ture. He only asked me, on taking leave, if 
 I had any commands for him. I am a 
 great loser by his death. He wrote to me not 
 long ago, that he was going for my sake to 
 read over all our old poets^ and would coin- 
 in up icate
 
 3O4 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 municate to me all that he should find to the 
 purpose of my ' Origines de la Langue Fran- 
 $oise.' The library he has left is worth at 
 least 40,OOO crowns. He had a great fund of 
 literary knowledge, and the learned in Holland 
 expected his letters as decisions upon the diffi- 
 culties on which they consulted him." Bigot 
 died at Rouen in 16*89. Notwithstanding 
 his testamentary care to keep his library en- 
 tire, it came to public sale in 1706, and its 
 catalogue is in request among collectors. 
 Though he gave assistance in many publica- 
 tions of his friends, he published but one work 
 in his own name, which was the Life of St. 
 Chrysostom by Palladium, found by him in the 
 Grand Duke's library in Florence, and to which 
 he added a Latin translation. Letters between 
 him and his learned correspondents have been 
 printed since his death. 
 
 NOTE (26), PAGE 21 6. 
 
 JOHN-GEORGE GR^VIUS, born in 1633 at 
 Naumburg in Saxony, was a critic and philo- 
 logist of great eminence ; honourably distin- 
 guished among his fraternity by freedom from 
 
 the
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 305 
 
 the pride and pedantry too often attending 
 that class of men of letters. After an educa- 
 tion in the schools of his own country, he 
 studied for two years at Deventer under the 
 celebrated John Frederic Gronovius, whom he 
 seems to have made his literary model. At 
 the age of twenty-four he was invited by the 
 elector of Brandenburg to a professorship at 
 Duisburg, which situation he afterwards quit- 
 ted to succeed Gronovius at Deventer. He 
 finally settled at Utrecht, where, during forty- 
 one years, he occupied the chairs of history, 
 politics and eloquence, bringing by his repu- 
 tation a great conflux of students to that 
 university, which he would not quit notwith- 
 standing several flattering invitations from 
 other quarters. He died in 1/03. Graevius is 
 known to the learned world by several va- 
 luable editions of classic authors, and by two 
 great compilations, the " Thesaurus Antiqui- 
 tatum Romanorum," and " Thesaurus Anti- 
 quitatum Italicorum," the latter continued by 
 Bur man. 
 
 VOL. i. x NOTE 
 
 f
 
 3O6 MEMOIRS bfr HUET. 
 
 NOTE (27), PAGE 218. 
 
 From the acknowledged worth and candour 
 of Bochart, it does not seem probable that 
 he would lightly prefer a calumnious charge 
 against an old friend ; and there is reason to 
 suppose that, aware of the pious frauds and 
 artifices so common among the catholics in 
 support of their doctrines, he really imagined 
 that Huet had taken an undue liberty with 
 Origen's text in this instance. It appears from 
 Huet's own narrative, that he supplied from the 
 Paris manuscript some words which he thought 
 he had omitted in his transcript of that of 
 Stockholm, but the existence of which in that 
 copy he does not seem to have ascertained by 
 actual collation. He has probably given a true 
 account of the matter, but Bochart's suspicion 
 will admit of an excuse. As the passage is 
 not quoted, its importance cannot be decided 
 upon. With respect to the interruption of 
 confidence and intimacy between these learned 
 men, it may be observed that Huet had before 
 expressed apprehensions that his close con- 
 
 jjexion
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 3/0 
 
 hexion with a protestant minister might be in- 
 terpreted to his disadvantage, and the danger 
 would be greater when he came to be a cour- 
 tier and a bishop; so that a slight cause might 
 be deemed sufficient for the dissolution of their 
 friendship. 
 
 NOTE (28), PAGE 220. 
 
 JOHN-BAPTIST COTELIER, bachelor in theo- 
 logy of the Sorbonne, and professor of Greek 
 at the royal college in Paris, was the son of a 
 convert protestant minister at Nismes, where 
 he was born in 1628. He profited so well under 
 his father's literary instructions, that at the 
 age of twelve he astonished the clergy of 
 France assembled at Mantes, before whom he 
 underwent an examination. After finishing 
 his course at the Sorbonne, he declined taking 
 orders, that he might be at liberty to pursue 
 his studies, which were principally turned td 
 ecclesiastical antiquities, and the Greek lan- 
 guage. Colbert joined him with the learned 
 du Cange in revising the catalogue and sum- 
 maries of the Greek manuscripts in the king's 
 library ; and in 1676 he was promoted to the 
 
 x 2 chair
 
 308 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 chair of Greek in the royal college. He had 
 previously made himself known by the publi- 
 cation of some works of St. Chrysostom, and 
 by, a work, the labour of many years, which 
 was? an edition of the Apostolic Fathers, with 
 emendations, versions and annotations, in 
 2 vol. folio. This was reprinted by le Clerc 
 with additional notes and dissertations, and is 
 regarded as a very valuable publication. Cote- 
 lier afterwards edited a collection of Monu- 
 ments of the Greek church, from manuscripts 
 in the libraries of the king and Colbert, Of 
 these he had printed three volumes 4to, when 
 his death, in l6s6, supposed to have been 
 brought on by the intensity of his labour, put 
 an end to its progress. In addition to the cha- 
 racter of an excellent scholar, he bore that of 
 a man of exemplary candour and integrity. 
 
 NOTE (29), PAGE 223. 
 
 If this was a just observation above a century 
 ago, what shall we say to the Valckenaars, 
 Ruhnkens, Persons, Griesbachs, &c., of our 
 own times, whose learned labours have been 
 chiefly of the kind above described, which 
 
 they
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 
 
 they have seemed to regard as the greatest 
 possible service they could render to litera- 
 ture ? It cannot be doubted that the art of 
 verbal criticism is greatly advanced since the 
 time of Huet ; but what is to be its termina- 
 tion ? and is there ground to expect that the 
 doubts and difficulties still remaining in the 
 
 -- t^jft- 
 
 text of ancient authors will ever be cleared up, 
 and that an uniformity of readings will ever 
 be established ? Further, are they not, in 
 general, points of little importance which are 
 to be settled by these efforts of deep erudition 
 such as do not affect the beauty of any 
 striking passage, the authenticity of any mo- 
 mentous fact, the intelligibility of any ma- 
 terial dogma, or the truth of any fundamental 
 proposition ! If the former of these questions 
 be answered negatively, and the latter affirma- 
 tively, surely we may now agree with Huet, 
 that this employment of the human powers is 
 but of a subordinate kind, and not compara- 
 ble to that exercise of the judgement which, 
 from a comprehensive view of the subject and 
 execution of a work, estimates the character 
 and merits of the author. 
 
 NOTE
 
 31O MEMOIRS OP HUET. 
 
 NOTE (30), PAGE 223. 
 
 The knowledge of a variety of languages 
 contains in itself the materials of some curious 
 philosophical speculation on the mind of man 
 and the origin and progress of ideas, but it may 
 be questioned if it be often employed for this 
 purpose. It is more frequently a matter of pa-r 
 rade, or at best, the occupation of an active 
 mind without any precise object in view but 
 the laudable ambition of acquiring what others 
 have acquired. The real value of languages, 
 to one who does not make a study of language 
 itself, is to give access to works of genius or 
 curiosity, which can be properly estimated and 
 fully tasted only in the originals. The num- 
 ber and importance of such works is therefore 
 the true guide to the languages which are worth 
 the pains of acquisition to a man of letters ; 
 and such a consideration would doubtless limit 
 that insatiable appetite for learning (perhaps 
 very superficially) new and obscure tongues, 
 which has possessed some eminent scholars. 
 
 NOTE
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 311 
 
 NOTE (31), PAGE 224. 
 
 ATHANASIUS KIRCHER, a man of profound 
 erudition and indefatigable industry, but vi- 
 sionary and credulous, was born at Fulda in 
 l6'oi. At an early age he entered into the so- 
 ciety of Jesuits, and distinguished himself by 
 his proficiency in the studies of antiquity and 
 the mathematical sciences. He was a professor 
 of mathematics and the oriental languages at 
 Wurtzburg at the time of the invasion of Ger- 
 many by Gustavus Adolphus, which event 
 caused him to withdraw into France. He re- 
 sided for some time at the Jesuits' college at 
 Avignon, whence he was called to Rome; and in 
 that capital he passed the remainder of his life, 
 which closed in his eightieth year. Few more 
 voluminous authors have existed ; for the list 
 of his writings comprises 22 vols. folio, 1 1 vols. 
 4to, and 3 vols. 8vo, almost all of them upon 
 subjects of deep and learned research. Some 
 of the most remarkable are his " Ars magna 
 Lucis et Umbrae," and " Primitiae Gnomonicae 
 Catoptricae," containing a system of optics ; 
 " Musurgia universalis," or principles of music, 
 
 ancient
 
 312 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 ancient and modern ; " Phonurgia nova,'* or 
 the doctrine of sounds ; " Mundus subterra- 
 neus," a description of the phenomena in the 
 bowels of the earth, the art of mining, &c. ; 
 " China illustrata," a compilation of every 
 thing that he had read or heard relative to that 
 extensive empire, and full of wonders and er- 
 rors ; and the work here referred to by Huet, 
 entitled " Oedipus ./Egyptiacus, h. e. Univer- 
 salis hieroglyphicae veterum doctrinae tempo- 
 rum injuria abolitae, instauratio," in which he 
 freely indulged the subtlety of his imagination 
 on the mysterious subject of hieroglyphicai 
 writing. Kircher was certainly a man of great 
 powers of mind, as well as of ex traorcimary appli- 
 cation : but one who embraced such a vast va- 
 riety of abstruse topics could not exercise a very 
 exact judgement upon any ; and he seems to 
 have been naturally inclined to the wonderful 
 and mysterious. Several stories are related of 
 impositions put upon him by counterfeit an- 
 tiquities, similar to those which have been 
 practised in our own times. 
 
 NOTE (32), PAGE 224. 
 
 SIR JOHN MARSHAM, one of the learned 
 
 English
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 313 
 
 English of the l/th century, was the son of 
 an alderman of London, in which city he was 
 born in lo'02. He received his education at 
 Westminster school and St. John's college in 
 Oxford, and after some time spent in a tour on 
 the continent, engaged in the study of the law. 
 He was made one of the six clerks in chancery, 
 which office he lost by his adherence to the 
 royal cause in the civil wars ; but regained after 
 the Restoration, and was raised to the honour 
 of baronetage. He died at his seat of Bushy- 
 hall, Hertfordshire, in 1685. The work of 
 Marsham here alluded to, which first appeared 
 in 16*72, is entitled " Canon Chronicus ^Egyp- 
 tiacus, Ebraicus, Graecus, et Disquisitiones." 
 This is regarded as a performance of much solid 
 erudition, and was the first in which the system 
 was proposed of four collateral Egyptian dynas- 
 ties, as the only method of solving the chrono- 
 logical difficulties in the history of that nation. 
 
 NOTE (33), PAGE 230. 
 
 JOHN CHAPELAIN, whose memory as a poet, 
 like that of Blackmore, has unfortunately con- 
 signed him to ridicule, was a Parisian, born in 
 Having received a literary education, 
 
 he
 
 314 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 he became tutor to the children of a nobleman 
 of distinction, and afterwards the manager of 
 his concerns. He made trial of his powers as 
 a critic by some remarks on the Adonis of Ma- 
 rino, and the Cid of Corneille ; the latter, 
 probably, to gratify cardinal Richelieu, to 
 whom he addressed a panegyrical ode. The 
 public opinion of his critical talents, and of 
 the extent of his literary attainments, (of which, 
 however, the proofs appear but slender,) raised 
 him to a high degree of reputation, and long 
 rendered him one of the most conspicuous 
 members of the French Academy. This ac- 
 quired celebrity tempted him to aim at the first 
 rank of poetical eminence by the composition 
 of an epic poem; and the public were long 
 prepared to expect something very extraordi- 
 nary in his " Pucelle," or Maid of Orleans, 
 which at length made its appearance, in 1606, 
 from the Louvre press, and under the highest 
 patronage. Such was the curiosity it excited, 
 that it went through six editions in eighteen 
 months, but its triumphs were then at an end. 
 Not the envy of contemporary poets, as Huet 
 suggests, but the mature decision of good taste, 
 pronounced upon it such an absolute condem- 
 nation,
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 315 
 
 nation, that it was never afterwards mentioned 
 but with a sarcasm. It is an idle argument 
 that Huet advances against the justice of this 
 sentence, that it was pronounced without a 
 knowledge of the entire plan of the piece, of 
 which the twelve books published was only one 
 half: the author offered this part to the judge- 
 ment of the world, and doubtless expected to 
 obtain admiration for it, he therefore exposed 
 it to an equal chance of censure. In fact, a 
 small specimen will serve to prove a writer to- 
 tally inadequate to the task he has undertaken, 
 especially in poetry, where if he fails to please, 
 he misses the whole of his object. The verses 
 of Chapelain appeared to such judges as Boi- 
 leau, Racine, and la Fontaine, destitute of 
 every quality that constitutes poetry, and the 
 example of all that is harsh in versification, and 
 affected in diction ; and their award was con- 
 firmed by the public voice. It was in vain 
 that the mechanists in the poetic art (among 
 whom our learned bishop may without injustice 
 be numbered) extolled the invention and or- 
 donnance of the fable : it was found to be a 
 dull and tiresome performance, and was no 
 longer read. It has passed so entirely into ob- 
 livion.
 
 316 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 livion, that copies of it are now a rarity. Mr. 
 Southey, however, has prefixed to his own 
 " Joan of Arc," an analysis of the twelve 
 books of Chapelain's " Pucelle," with some 
 extracts. From this summary the plan appears 
 to be loaded with a vast mass of circumstance 
 and machinery, sufficient to weary the atten- 
 tion and overwhelm the memory, and in many 
 parts rather absurd and extravagant than in- 
 teresting. The extracts display all that arti- 
 ficial cant of poetic language which mediocrity 
 regularly adopts, and genius disdains. It is 
 presumed that very few readers will concur 
 with Huet, in wishing that the two persons who 
 were left arbiters of the destiny of the remain- 
 ing twelve books had determined to add to the 
 public ennui by printing them ; for how well 
 soever the author had reasoned in his " weighty 
 preface," he could scarcely by his prose have 
 rendered his verse palatable. The attempt to 
 persuade the public to like what it has persisted 
 in not liking, has frequently been made, but 
 always without success. 
 
 Notwithstanding his disgrace as a poet, 
 Chapelain retained a considerable degree of 
 consequence among his literary brethren ; for 
 
 which
 
 KOTES TO BOOK III* 
 
 which he was indebted in part to the worth 
 and benevolence of his character, and still 
 more to the confidence placed in his judgement 
 by Colbert, who gave him the commission of 
 drawing up the list of men of letters who were 
 to be gratified with pensions from the king. 
 This list, indeed, did no great honour to his 
 taste or impartiality by some of the names in- 
 serted with their respective qualifications an- 
 nexed. It is to be hoped that another hand 
 wrote the name of " the sieur Chapelain, the 
 greatest French poet that ever existed, and of 
 the most solid judgement*." The principal 
 moral defect of Chapelain was avarice, which 
 seems to have grown upon him in proportion 
 as he became rich. He wore a cloak in the 
 midst of summer on pretence of indisposition, 
 but Conrart said " that his coat was more in- 
 disposed than he." His wig was made a topic 
 of pleasantry by Boileau and Racine, who me- 
 tamorphosed it into a comet; " but," said Fure- 
 tiere, " a comet has hair, whereas Chapelain's 
 wig has lost all that it once had." The imme- 
 diate cause of his death is attributed to his 
 
 * Probably Charles Perrault, who was joined with him 
 in the commission. 
 
 economy.
 
 318 MEMOIRS OF HUET* 
 
 economy. Going on a wet and cold day 
 to the academy, he could not prevail upon 
 himself to pay for passing over a plank which 
 was laid across a kennel, but stepped into the 
 middle, and afterwards sat during the meeting 
 with his feet wet. A catarrh ensued, which 
 carried him off in l6/4, at the age of seventy- 
 nine. He left behind him 50,OOO crowns, 
 which probably consoled him for his loss of 
 poetical reputation, 
 
 NOTE (34), PAGE 231. 
 
 HENRY Leuis HABERT, LORD OF MONTMOR, 
 king's counsellor and master of requests, was a 
 member of the French Academy, and a distin- 
 guished patron of letters. The philosopher 
 Gassendi lived many years in his house, and 
 died there; and Montmor was instrumental in 
 publishing the edition of all his works at 
 Lyons, to which he prefixed a Latin preface. 
 He wrote some French poems, printed in the 
 collections of the time ; and a Latin poem 
 " De Rerum Natura," in the manner of Lucre- 
 tius, never published, He died at an advanced 
 age in 1679. 
 
 NOTE
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 319 
 
 NOTE (35), PAGE 232. 
 
 GASSENDI, who well deserves the character 
 here given of him, was born in 1592 at Chan- 
 tersier near Digne in Provence. At a very 
 early age he distinguished himself by the 
 quickness of his parts, and particularly by a 
 turn for observation, of which the following in- 
 stance would highly have delighted Rousseau. 
 His little companions having maintained, one 
 moonshiny night, that the clouds stood still 
 and the moon moved, to convince them of the 
 contrary, he led them under a tree, where he 
 showed them the moon between two branches, 
 keeping its place whilst the clouds were ra- 
 pidly flying by. The contemplation of the 
 heavenly bodies was one of his first passions, 
 and he frequently left his bed to gaze at the 
 starry heavens. His parents, though in hum- 
 ble circumstances, procured him a liberal edu- 
 cation at Digne and Aix ; and such was his 
 progress, that he was employed to teach rheto- 
 ric at the former place when only sixteen. 
 Three years afterwards he was appointed to the 
 chair of philosophy in the university of Aix. 
 
 Here
 
 320 "MEMOIRS OF HUET* 
 
 Here he soon displayed the enlargement of his 
 mind by an attack on the Aristotelic philoso- 
 phy, then prevalent in the schools, the sub- 
 stance of which he published under the title 
 of " Exercitationes Paradoxicae adversus Ari- 
 stotelem." By this work he gave great offence 
 to the votaries of established systems, but at 
 the same time acquired the esteem of several 
 enlightened men, among whom was the cele- 
 brated Nicholas Peiresc. Through his influ- 
 ence he obtained clerical ordination, and a ca- 
 nonry in the cathedral of Digne, of which he 
 afterwards became provost. He therefore re- 
 moved to Digne, where he pursued with great 
 assiduity his astronomical and philosophical 
 studies. He attached himself particularly to 
 the Epicurean philosophy, of which he became 
 the ablest modern expositor and defender. 
 Adopting the fundamental principles of ele- 
 mentary atoms, and of a vacuum, he improved 
 the system by the addition of a divine su- 
 perintending mind, the original author of mo- 
 tion and of subsequent arrangement. With 
 respect to morals, he gave such an explanation 
 of the pleasure or indolence which was the 
 suinmum bonum of Epicurus, as was perfectly 
 
 consistent
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 321 
 
 Consistent with Christian virtue. He was him- 
 self one of the most temperate of men ; and 
 having formed an opinion from the human fa- 
 bric that man was designed to live on vegetable 
 food, he adhered in great measure to this no- 
 tion in his own diet. A visit to Paris on ac- 
 count of a lawsuit procured him an introduc- 
 tion to many persons of eminence for rank and 
 abilities, with whom he ingratiated himself by 
 the charms of his conversation and the gentle- 
 ness of his disposition. The cardinal de Lyon, 
 brother of cardinal Richelieu, became his par* 
 ticular protector, and through his influence 
 Gassendi was nominated in 1645 to the chair 
 of mathematics in the royal college at Paris. 
 The system of Descartes then began to make a 
 progress in the learned world. This was too 
 visionary and hypothetical to be approved by 
 the solid science of Gassendi, who set himself 
 in public opposition to it; and the philosophers 
 of the capital were for a time divided into the 
 two sects of Cartesians and Gassendists. The 
 leaders were betrayed into some acrimonious 
 expressions towards each other during their 
 warfare, but by the interposition of friends a 
 reconciliation was effected, and they parted 
 VOL. i. Y after
 
 322 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 after an interview with mutual declarations of 
 esteem. Gassendi, who was long a respected 
 inmate in the house of M. Habert de Mont- 
 mor, fell into a decline of health, and his de- 
 bility was augmented by his nocturnal studies 
 and his ascetic rigours during the season of 
 Lent. The merciless bleedings which, accord- 
 ing to the Parisian practice, he underwent for 
 his pulmonary complaints, completed his ex- 
 haustion, and he quietly sunk under it in 1655, 
 the sixty-third year of his age. He died like 
 a philosopher, and in the catholic profession ; 
 though his Epicurean notions had excited 
 many suspicions concerning his faith. He aU 
 ways, however, professed his submission to the 
 decisions of the church, and was very careful 
 to draw that line between reason and -faith 
 which is so necessary to be observed by the ad- 
 herents to such a religious system as that of 
 which he was a member. His works, which 
 are replete with erudition and science, were 
 published collectively after his death in 6 vols. 
 folio. 
 
 NOTE (36), PAGE 232. 
 
 CLAUDE HARDI, another of the learned law- 
 yers
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 323 
 
 yers of the time, was a native of Mans. Be- 
 sides the mathematical knowledge for which 
 he is here celebrated, he had a very extensive 
 acquaintance with languages, of which he is 
 said to have understood thirty-six ; many, of 
 course, superficially. He was a great friend 
 of Descartes, to whom he rendered some im- 
 portant services. He died in 1698. 
 
 NOTE (37), PAGE 233. 
 
 THE MAR&UIS OF RACAN was born in 1589, 
 at the family seat in Touraine. He was a page 
 of the bedchamber to Henry IV, under the 
 duke of Bellegarde, at the time that Malherbe 
 was domesticated with that nobleman, and to 
 this circumstance was owing his attachment 
 to poetry. He formed himself under that 
 master, and closely imitated his style, though 
 their cast of genius was different. According 
 to Boileau, Racan particularly excelled in 
 saying little things with grace ; and in his Art 
 of Poetry he thus characterizes them : 
 
 Malherbe d'un heros peut vanter les exploits ; 
 Racan chanter Phillis, les bergers et les bois. 
 
 He also pronounces that Racan had more ge- 
 Y 2 nius
 
 324 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 ' nius than Malherbe, but was more negligent, 
 and was too intent on copying his master. 
 He was totally unfurnished with erudition, for 
 his incapacity for Latin was so great that he 
 could never be taught his confiteor by heart. 
 His reputation and quality together, however, 
 gave him admission to the French Academy, 
 of which he was one of the earliest members ; 
 and his discourse on the occasion was, charac- 
 teristically, against the sciences. His company 
 was much sought after on account of the anec- 
 dotes and bons mots with which his memory 
 supplied him. To the strength of this faculty 
 Bayle with probability ascribes an extraor- 
 dinary circumstance, related by Menage, that 
 Racan once made four lines, word for word 
 the same with those of an older writer. This 
 
 was Mathieu, author of some moral quatrains, 
 
 . 
 
 whom Racan denied ever to have read ; but 
 Bayle supposes that they might have been 
 repeated to him when a child as a good lesson, 
 and have dwelt without his consciousness in 
 his memory. This is certainly the least im- 
 probability. Though a man of pleasure, he 
 employed his muse much on sacred subjects ; 
 add his works were first collected under the 
 
 title
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 325 
 
 title of "(Euvres et Poesies Chretiennes de 
 M. Honorat de Bueil, &c." He died at the 
 age of eighty-one. 
 
 NOTE (38), PAGE 233. 
 
 GABRIEL MADELENET or MAGDELENET, a 
 native of Burgundy, born in 1587, was brought 
 up to the law, and was admitted an advocate 
 of the parliament of Paris. He obtained the 
 patronage of the cardinals du Perron and Ri- 
 chelieu, the latter of whom made him his Latin 
 secretary. His first poetical attempt was in 
 French verse, and he composed a piece on the 
 taking of Rochelle, which probably procured 
 him the favour of Richelieu. His success, 
 however, in this walk was but indifferent, and 
 he was rather ridiculed than praised by the 
 wits of the time. At length he turned to 
 Latin poetry, and was so happy in his compo- 
 sitions, that the celebrated Nicholas Bourbon 
 exclaimed at the first sight of them, " Ubi 
 tamdiu latuisti ?" Where have you been so long 
 concealed ? He seems to have resolved to be 
 no longer concealed ; for Huet's account of his 
 
 manner
 
 326 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 manner of introducing himself to him, is. one 
 of the best examples to be met with of the 
 easy for ward ness 'of a Frenchman and a poet, 
 and would form a scene for Moliere or Sterne. 
 Madelenet wrote chiefly in the lyric strain, 
 and his subjects were the eulogies of Louis 
 XIII and XIV, their ministers and courtiers. 
 The judgement of critics, that they display 
 more art and study than genius, may readily 
 be admitted as just; for one who was ridicu- 
 lous in his own language could never be great 
 in another. He died at Auxerre in l66l. 
 
 NOTE (59), PAGE 233. 
 
 JOHN DE PEYRAREDE was a Gascon gentle- 
 man and a protestant, who obtained some re- 
 putation by his Latin poetry, and his remarks 
 on Terence and Florus. He is spoken of ad- 
 vantageously by Balzac and Grotius, and was 
 in correspondence with Vossius and other 
 learned men. He appears to have been re- 
 duced in his circumstances so as to be obliged 
 to explain the classics to persons of condition. 
 He died about 1660. If the completion of 
 
 the
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 
 
 the hemistichs of Virgil was the work to which 
 he principally owed his fame, it was built on 
 a very slender foundation. 
 
 NOTE (40), PAGE 235. 
 
 ANTONY VARILLAS, whose name is become 
 almost proverbial for the worst fault a historian 
 can have, that of want of veracity, was born 
 in 1624. After having been employed as a 
 domestic tutor in his native province of La 
 Marche, he came to Paris, where he obtained 
 the title of historiographer to Gaston duke of 
 Orleans, and a place in the royal library. His 
 labours in that office were rewarded by a pen- 
 sion, of which Colbert for some reason de- 
 prived him ; and though he received several 
 offers of compensation for this loss, he ac- 
 cepted of none except a pension granted him 
 by the clergy of France, on the motion of arch- 
 bishop de Harlai, for his service to the catholic 
 cause. He had, indeed, in his temper much 
 of the philosopher, living in a simple and pri- 
 vate manner, chiefly addicted to study; so 
 that it was his boast to have passed thirty-four 
 years without ever taking a meal from home. 
 
 The
 
 328 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 The surprise expressed by Huetthat he should 
 have attained a pure and elegant style, with- 
 out the advantage of keeping the best company, 
 is scarcely justified by the history of literature, 
 which teaches that the most cultivated writers 
 are those who have most studied good authors; 
 and that the mere conversation style of the 
 most select company, cannot serve as a model 
 for one who aims at excellence in the higher 
 species of composition. The works ofVarillas 
 all related to modern French and Spanish his- 
 tory, and to what he called the History of He- 
 resies, in which he comprised the revolutions 
 with respect to religion, that have taken place 
 in Europe from the 14th century. Having 
 no real love for truth, wishing to please readers 
 in general by the vivacity of his relations, and 
 to ingratiate himself with those of his country 
 and religion by favouring their prejudices, he 
 filled his works with so many misrepresenta- 
 tions and errors, that, though much read at the 
 time, and containing the results of consider- 
 able research, they are now regarded as totally 
 destitute of authority. He even proceeded so 
 far in some instances as to cite memoirs that 
 never existed, as confirming anecdotes to be 
 
 met
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 329 
 
 met with in no other author. Bayle in his 
 Dictionary gives numerous detections of his 
 mistakes and falsifications ; and bishop Burnet 
 published a critique of part of his History of 
 Heresies, which is said to have prevented a 
 proposed translation of that work by Dryden, 
 a task suggested to the poet, after his conversion, 
 by king James II. Menage meeting Varillas 
 after the publication of this performance, said 
 to him, " You have given a History of Heresy 
 full of Heresies." No heresy, indeed, can be 
 so great in a historian as a violation of truth ; 
 for, whilst the humblest chronicle must contain 
 matter of instruction if drawn up with veracity, 
 the most eloquent history is only a mischiev- 
 ous romance when the author has composed it 
 in the spirit of falsehood. It has been pleaded 
 in excuse of the inaccuracies, at least, of Va- 
 rillas, that by intense study he had so much 
 weakened his sight, that he could read only by 
 daylight, and therefore composed much in the 
 evening from memory ; but there is too much 
 manifest design in many of his misrepresenta- 
 tions to entitle them to the benefit of such an 
 apology. The just punishment of his fault has 
 
 been
 
 33O MEMOIRS OF HtJET. 
 
 been that his books are no longer read or 
 quoted. He died in 1696. 
 
 NOTE (41), PAGE 236. 
 
 Of MATHURIN DE NEURE (for that is the 
 name given him by other writers) it is said 
 in the " Chevraeana, v that he was the son of a 
 petty tavern-keeper in the suburbs of Loudun ; 
 and that, being unable to subsist himself, he 
 went to Bourdeaux, and entered among the 
 Carthusians there. Instead of thirty years 
 passed among them, his subsequent history 
 has led biographers to suppose that we should 
 read only three, or at least some smaller 
 number. His knowledge of mathematics made 
 him acceptable to Gassendi, who first recom- 
 mended him as preceptor in the family of 
 M. de Champagni at Aix ; and a letter which he 
 wrote to that philosopher in 1643, describing 
 the sufferings he underwent in that situation, 
 was printed in the first edition of Gassendi's 
 works, but afterwards expunged. Of the que- 
 rulous disposition which he shewed in this 
 instance, he gave another proof by a libel 
 
 which
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 331 
 
 which he printed against Mad. de Longue- 
 ville, when the necessity of her affairs caused 
 her to make a deduction from his pension. 
 His complaint, indeed, might be just; but his 
 writing was considered as libellous, and was 
 suppressed. He also addressed to Gassendi a 
 severe invective against some superstitious 
 and indecorous rites practised at Aix on 
 Corpus Christi day. Besides his controversy 
 with Morin, and other pieces in defence of 
 his great friend Gassendi, he composed Latin 
 poems with tolerable elegance. He died in 
 1677. 
 .HI{- '--H' v .j\v.' ->IIKM 'i 
 
 NOTE (42), PAGE 237. 
 
 HARDOUIN DE BEAUMONT DE PEKEFIXE, 
 son of the maitre-d'hotel of cardinal Richelieu, 
 was educated under the care of that minister, 
 and became a doctor of the Sorbonne. He 
 was chosen preceptor to Louis XIV, and no- 
 minated to the bishopric of Rhodez, which he 
 resigned, finding its duties incompatible with 
 those of his office at court. For his pupil's 
 use, he composed an abridgment of French 
 hi story j from which he detached the history 
 
 of
 
 332 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 of Henry IV, and published it separately. 
 Though written in a negligent style, it is ac- 
 counted a faithful picture of that monarch, and 
 a valuable performance. Its chief object was 
 to afford useful lessons in the -art of reigning. 
 lie had previously manifested his attention to 
 the important duties of his station, by a short 
 work entitled " Institutio Principis." The 
 French Academy admitted him among its 
 members; and in 1664 he was promoted to 
 the archbishopric of Paris. The influence ob- 
 tained over him by the Jesuits caused him to 
 interfere in the quarrels of Jansenism, in a 
 manner that has done some injury to his 
 memory ; particularly in the instance of his 
 requisition of a subscription of the formulary 
 of pope Alexander VII from the nuns of Port- 
 royal. Yet his private character was mild and 
 amiable. He died at an advanced age in 1676. 
 Of his brother-in-law, FORTIN HOGHETTA, I 
 find no other account than that in the text. 
 He is not the only instance of native good 
 sense overwhelmed by ill-digested learning. 
 
 NOTE (43), PAGE 240. 
 
 These misgivings and self-reproaches are 
 
 unavoidable
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 333 
 
 unavoidable to an ingenuous mind, which has 
 from system adopted an opinion of the ne- 
 cessity of certain feelings towards the Supreme 
 Being, that can exist only in warm and im- 
 pressible constitutions, and are not to be ex- 
 cited at pleasure. It is in vain, by the me- 
 chanical means of temporary retirement and 
 ritual exercises, to attempt to force the mind 
 into a temper to which it is naturally in- 
 disposed : an opus operalum may be performed, 
 but effusions of real sentiment cannot be 
 commanded. Piety may, indeed, be rendered 
 a habitual feeling ; but it must be of a sedate 
 and rational kind in cool and reasoning cha- 
 .racters, and rather a permanent affection than 
 an occasional passion. 
 
 NOTE (44), PAGE 241. 
 
 If Htiet ever really entertained the design 
 of becoming a Jesuit, nothing could be wiser 
 or more friendly than the advice of Mambrun, 
 who probably spoke from his own feelings 
 when adverting to the servitude imposed by the 
 laws of a religious order. This mental slavery 
 has, indeed, been a more grievous yoke to 
 
 some
 
 334 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 some of the liberal members of these institu- 
 tions, than any of their bodily austerities ; and 
 the obligation to support certain tenets and 
 principles has rendered such associations justly 
 odious and suspicious ; not only to the friends 
 of reason, but to civil governors. The Jesuits, 
 in particular, who joined to their other vows, 
 one of unlimited obedience to the papal see, 
 of which they became the most devoted satel- 
 lites, were frequently in opposition to their re- 
 spective sovereigns, and brought upon them- 
 selves a load of hatred and enmity, which at 
 length overwhelmed the order. 
 
 NOTE (45), PAGE 243. 
 
 PETER PATRIS or PATRIX, a poet and a man 
 of wit, was the son of a counsellor in the 
 bailiwick of Caen, and was brought up to the 
 profession of law, but applied little to the 
 practice of it. He lived to the age of forty 
 at Caen, writing poems, and rendering himself 
 acceptable to the best society by his pleasantry. 
 He then entered into the service of Gaston 
 duke of Orleans, who gave him the govern- 
 ment of Limours. He continued to maintain 
 
 his
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 335 
 
 his place in cultivated society ; and Scarron, 
 who met with him at the waters of Bourbon, 
 speaks of him among the company as 
 
 Patrix, 
 
 Quoique Normand, homme de prix. 
 
 He followed Gaston in all his fortunes, and after 
 that prince's death attached himself tohis widow, 
 Margaret of Lorrain. In advanced years Patris 
 became devout ; and, repenting the licentious- 
 ness of his youth, suppressed as much as possi- 
 ble his freer pieces, and employed himself in 
 the composition of religious poems. Of these 
 he published a collection with the title " La 
 Misericorde de Dieu sur la Conduite d'un Pe- 
 cheur penitent." Not long before his death 
 he wrote the well known and striking piece, 
 beginning 
 
 Je pensois cette nuit que de mal consume 
 C6te-a-cote d'un pauvre on m'avoit inhume. 
 
 He died at Paris in 1671, at the age of eighty, 
 eight. 
 
 NOTE (46), PAGE 243. 
 
 MARGLUARD GUDIUS was a native of Rends- 
 
 burg
 
 336 MEMOIRS or HUT. 
 
 burg in Holstein. He studied at Wittem- 
 berg and Frankfort on the Oder, and in 1659 
 was offered a professorship at Amsterdam, and 
 a considerable gratification, if he would under- 
 take to put in order the remarks on Baronius's 
 Annals left in manuscript by Blondel. He 
 however preferred accompanying a young 
 Hollander on his travels as his governor ; and 
 after their tour, the pupil was so much attach- 
 ed to him, that he went back with him to 
 Holstein, and, dying there, left him his fortune. 
 Gudius employed his bequest in collecting a 
 numerous library and a cabinet of antiquities. 
 He was made librarian at Gottorp, and ob- 
 tained the title of counsellor of state to the 
 king of Denmark. He died in 1689. Gudius 
 published little ; but he meditated a new edi- 
 tion of Gruter's inscriptions, augmented with 
 a large number that he had himself collected. 
 These after his death were sent to Graevius, 
 who published two volumes folio of them, and 
 gave the rest to Burman, by whom they were 
 printed. Burman likewise published the letters 
 between Gudius and his learned correspon- 
 dents. 
 
 NOTE
 
 KOTES TO BOOK III. 33/ 
 
 NOTE (47), PAGE 246. 
 
 STEPHEN LE MOINE, a very learned protest- 
 ant divine, was born at Caen in 1624. He 
 studied theology at Sedan under Dumoulin, 
 and the oriental languages at Ley den ; and 
 returning to his own province was called to 
 the ministry. He exercised his function 
 many years at Rouen, distinguishing himself 
 hy zeal for his sect, accompanied, however, 
 with candour and other moral qualities, which 
 have obtained the praise of the catholics. Ac- 
 cused of favouring the escape to England of 
 the daughter of a counsellor, who declined 
 following her father's example of conforming 
 to the church of Rome, he was for a time put 
 into prison, but was at length liberated. This 
 specimen of intolerance was probably a motive 
 with him to quit his country two years after- 
 wards, in Ib'/G, upon an invitation from the 
 states of Holland. He was presented with a- 
 doctor's degree at Oxford, and then occupied 
 the theological chair at the university of Ley- 
 den, where he died in 1689. The peculiar 
 studies of this learned man were in ecclesias- 
 VOL. i. z tical
 
 338 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 tical antiquities ; and he obtained great repu- 
 tation by a work entitled " Varia Sacra, seu 
 Sylloge variorum Opusculorum Graecorum ad 
 Rem ecclesiasticam spectantium," 3 vols. 4to. 
 He also published some separate dissertations, 
 and gave a Latin version of a fragment attri- 
 buted to Joseph us, which is inserted in the 
 Oxford edition of that author. 
 
 NOTE (48), PAGE 246. 
 
 . STEPHEN MORIN, also a protestant minister 
 and native of Caen, studied at Sedan and Ley- 
 den, and was afterwards appointed to the 
 pastoral office at two towns near Caen, and at 
 length at Caen itself. His erudition connected 
 him with all the learned in that place, and 
 he was made a member of its academy of 
 polite literature, notwithstanding an illiberal 
 law excluding those of the reformed religion. 
 He continued there till the revocation of the 
 edict of Nantes in 1685 obliged him to retire 
 to Holland, where he became a professor of 
 the oriental languages at Amsterdam, and a 
 minister of the French church. He died in 
 1700. Morin was the author of some treatises 
 
 and
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 339 
 
 and dissertations on subjects of sacred and 
 profane antiquity, and of a Life of James 
 le Paulmier de Grentemesnil, (whose niece he 
 married,) and one of Samuel Bochart. Some 
 letters of his on the Samaritan Pentateuch 
 are printed in Van Dale " De Origine et 
 Progressu Idololatriae." On quitting France 
 he was obliged to leave his children behind 
 him, where they received an education that laid 
 the foundation of their conformity to the esta- 
 blished church. This was the case with Henry 
 Morin his son, author of several learned dis- 
 sertations in the " Memoires de TAcad. des 
 Belles Lettres." It may here be remarked, 
 that whenever an establishment, either by com- 
 pulsive means, or the allurement of particular 
 advantages, has got into its hands the educa- 
 tion of separatists, it has made a most import- 
 ant step towards their conversion ; for, the 
 parental authority being the only power able 
 to contend with the example of the majority, 
 and worldly interest, in swaying the mind of 
 a young person, when that is balanced by the 
 authority of preceptors, the scale will naturally 
 incline to the side of the establishment. After 
 all the institutions for the education of protest- 
 z 2 ants
 
 340 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 ants in France were destroyed by the arbi- 
 trary measures of Louis XIV, the sect rapidly 
 declined in numbers and consequence. This 
 was, it is true, a cruel and unjustifiable per- 
 secution; but the policy of laying open na- 
 tional seminaries to sectaries by indulgences, 
 rather than excluding them by restrictions and 
 impositions, would be equally wise and liberal. 
 
 NOTE (49), PAGE 248. 
 
 HENRY OF ORLEANS, second of the name, 
 duke of Longueville and Estouteville, sove- 
 reign of Neufchatel, lineally descended from 
 the celebrated bastard of Orleans, count of 
 Dunois, was born in 1596. He was governor 
 first of Picardy, then of Normandy, and died 
 in l66'3. 
 
 i 
 
 NOTE (50), PAGE 252. 
 
 When nobility, as then in France and most 
 other countries of Europe, conveys exemptions 
 from taxation, it is a matter of consequence 
 to the revenue that the order should not be 
 too much multiplied, or assumed upon false 
 
 pretences.
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 341 
 
 pretences. The great minister Colbert, among 
 other abuses in the state which diminished 
 the public receipts, and aggravated the burdens 
 of the people, turned his eye upon that of 
 usurped nobility, and instituted rigorous en- 
 quiries into the titles by which it was claimed. 
 This, however, was made too much a measure 
 of present finance ; for all who could trace the 
 privilege of noblesse to the year l6'OO were al- 
 lowed to retain it on paying an impost. It 
 also produced, as Huet complains, a swarm of 
 petty inquisitors, who made their own ad- 
 vantage by the vexations they excited against 
 all whose proofs of nobility were not ready to 
 be produced ; and, whilst they cavilled against 
 well-founded claims, gave a sanction, for money, 
 to the most equivocal. The whole business ex- 
 hibited a striking exemplification of the mischief 
 arising from the existence of an order of subjects 
 having pecuniary privileges, which might be 
 made a matter of bargain and sale, at the ex- 
 pense of the rest of the community ; and it is 
 no wonder that such an order was one of the 
 first objects of reform at the French Revolu- 
 tion. 
 
 NOTE
 
 342 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 NOTE (51), PAGE 253. 
 
 MARIA ELEONORA DE ROHAN, celebrated in 
 the list of pious and literary ladies, was the 
 daughter of Hercules de Rohan Guemene, 
 duke of Montbazon, and a peer of France. 
 Educated in a convent, she imbibed the spirit 
 of religious retirement to such a degree, that 
 the opposition of her father was ineffectual to 
 prevent her from taking the veil. She made 
 her profession at Montargis, a convent of Be- 
 nedictines, in 1646 ; and at the age of twenty- 
 two she was nominated abbess of the nunnery 
 of the Trinity near Caen. She governed this 
 house with high reputation for several years ; 
 when the insalubrity of the air to her consti- 
 tution, and the vexation of frequent contests 
 with the bishop of Bayeux, caused her to 
 make an exchange for the convent of Malnoue 
 near Paris. The sanctity of her morals and her 
 other merits were so distinguished, that, upon 
 a report made of them to the pope, he said 
 there was matter enough for canonization. 
 She took under her protection a new establish- 
 ment;
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 343 
 
 ment of nuns of the same rule at Chassemidi, 
 for which she drew up a set of constitutions, 
 which were printed, and are considered as an 
 excellent commentary on the rule of St. Be- 
 nedict. Besides the work mentioned in the 
 text, she wrote exhortations to her nuns on 
 taking the veil, and some other pieces, which 
 have been printed. She died in l6Sl, in her 
 fifty-third year. 
 
 NOTE (52), PAGE 355. 
 
 CHARLES DU PERIER, a native of Aix in 
 Provence, raised himself a great name in Latin 
 poetry, and was reckoned among the seven who 
 composed the Parisian Pleiad. He excelled 
 in lyric poetry, in which he boasted to have 
 formed the celebrated Santeul. They were 
 friends, but occasionally had disputes through 
 poetic jealousy. One day their rivalry occa- 
 sioned a wager of ten pistoles who should write 
 the best ode, to be decided by Menage, who 
 held the stakes. He awarded the prize to Du 
 Perier, and composed a very agreeable piece 
 
 on
 
 344 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 on the circumstance. Du Perier at length 
 quitted Latin for French poetry, in which he 
 did not obtain great applause, though he pro- 
 posed Malherbe for his model. He was an 
 unmerciful reciter of his own verses to all he 
 met, and was very troublesome on that ac- 
 count. Accompanying Boileau once to church, 
 he talked to him during the whole mass about 
 an ode which he had presented to the French 
 Academy, complaining of their injustice in 
 not crowning it with the prize. Just at the 
 elevation of the host, he whispered in Boi- 
 leau's ear, " They say my verses are too Mal- 
 herbian." The satirist had him in view in 
 the following lines of his "Art Poetique:" 
 
 Gardez vous d'imiter ce Rimeur furieux, 
 Qui de ses vains ecrits lecteur harmonieux, 
 Aborde en recitant quiconque le salue, 
 Et poursuit de ses vers les passans dans la rue. 
 II n'est temple si saint, des anges respecte, 
 Qui soit contre sa Muse un lieu de surete. 
 
 Chant iv. 
 
 Some of Du Perier's Latin poems are print-r- 
 ed in the " Deliciae Poetarum Latinorum," 
 and in other miscellanies. He died in 1692. 
 
 NOTE
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 345 
 
 NOTE (53), PAGE 257. 
 
 ANNA-MARIA-LOUISA D'ORLEANS, usually 
 called Mademoiselle de Montpensier, was, if 
 not one of the greatest p.rnaments, at least one 
 of the principal objects of interest, in the 
 court of Louis XIV. First cousin to the king, 
 as being daughter of Gaston duke of Orleans, 
 brother to Louis XIII ; heiress to her father, 
 and to the house of Bourbon-Montpensier ; 
 she united more high titles and great estates 
 than any other female of her time. She in- 
 herited some of her father's turbulent and in- 
 triguing spirit ; and in the war of the Fronde, 
 taking the part of the prince of Conde, she 
 had the audacity to cause the cannon of the 
 Bastille to be fired upon the king's troops. 
 "Those cannon (said Mazarin) have killed 
 her husband ;" and it appeared thenceforth to 
 be the determination of ministers to thwart all 
 projects for settling her suitably and agreeably; 
 one reason for which, however, might be, that 
 it was not thought proper to let such a rich in- 
 heritance go out of the kingdom. Doomed to 
 
 pass
 
 346 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 I 
 
 pass her best days in celibacy, she kept her 
 own little court, in which there were always 
 some men of letters ; and she amused herself 
 with reading and composing, though both in 
 a slight and cursory way. Some abatement 
 must be made in the account here given by 
 Huet, flattered by the notice of a princess, of 
 her talents and attainments; and it will not 
 be unjust to attribute to the assistance of Se- 
 grais a considerable share of the polish and vi- 
 vacity discoverable in her literary attempts. 
 Her own Memoirs display little elevation of 
 mind; they rather, says Voltaire, indicate a 
 woman occupied with herself, than a witness 
 of the great events that passed before her view. 
 Her lot was, upon the whole, worthy of pity. 
 When beyond the age of forty, she became 
 strongly attached to the count of Lauzun, a 
 Gascon younger brother, who, rather by his 
 confidence than his merit, had pushed himself 
 into notice ; and by her importunity she ob- 
 tained the king's permission to marry him and 
 settle upon him all her vast property. A fatal 
 delay, owing, it is said, to his vanity in insist- 
 ing that the ceremony should be performed at 
 
 the
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 347 
 
 the king's chapel, gave time for an interposi- 
 tion, .by which Louis was persuaded to with- 
 draw his consent ; and the tears and remon- 
 strances of Mademoiselle could not procure a 
 renewal of it. They then, as it is supposed, 
 married privately, the discovery of which, and 
 Lauzun's violent reproaches of Mad. de Mon- 
 tespan for her ill offices on the occasion, 
 caused him to be tyrannically confined for 
 ten years in the castle of Pignerol. He was at 
 length liberated, in consequence of her agree- 
 ing to resign to the duke of Maine, the king's 
 natural son by Mad. de Montespan, her sove- 
 reignty of Dombes and county of Eu. The 
 ill-sorted pair then lived together, and she 
 soon experienced all the chagrin consequent 
 on an union with a man who regarded her 
 fondness with disgust, and had not gratitude 
 or generosity enough to consider her in the 
 light of a benefactor. He treated her with 
 neglect and insolence, and abused his power 
 over her so wantonly, that once, on returning 
 from the chase, he called out to her, " Louisa, 
 of Orleans, come and pull off my boots." At 
 Jength she exerted a proper spirit, and forbade 
 
 him
 
 348 MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 him to come into her presence. She passed 
 her latter days in devotion and obscurity, and 
 died, little regretted and almost forgotten, in 
 l6f)3, at the age of sixty-six. 
 
 NOTE (54), PAGE 257. 
 
 The French peculiarly value themselves on 
 their nice observations on the human mind, 
 and their skill in delineating characters. The 
 fashion of writing portraits became for a time 
 extremely prevalent : it flattered the vain with 
 the gratification of talking of themselves, and 
 the satirical with that of caricaturing their ac- 
 quaintance. In portraits made by the subjects 
 themselves there was commonly a great affec- 
 tation of sincerity, displayed in the avowal of 
 petty failings and defects, but compensated by 
 as free an assumption of excellencies. As the 
 practice was an exercise of the understanding, 
 it deserved more indulgence than some other 
 fashionable follies, though it would doubtless 
 produce a plentiful crop of impertinence. 
 
 NOTE
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 349 
 
 NOTE (55), PAGE 258. 
 
 CHARLES FAUCON DE RY, LORD or CHARLE- 
 VAL, was in his day in great vogue as a polite 
 writer in verse and prose, and a man of agree- 
 able manners and conversation. He was of a 
 delicate constitution of body, corresponding 
 to the character of his genius, "which was turn- 
 ed to elegance and refinement, rather than 
 force or elevation. Scarron said of him, that 
 " the muses fed him with nothing but blanc- 
 manger and chicken-water." His poems were 
 slight compositions, sprightly and pleasing, but 
 feeble in style and invention. The following 
 lines on Mad. Scarron (afterwards Mad. de 
 Maintenon) may serve as a specimen. 
 
 Bien souvent ramitie-s'enflamme, 
 Et je sens qu'il est mal-aise 
 due 1'ami d'une belle dame 
 Ne soit un amant deguise. 
 
 In the conduct of life he professes to have 
 acted according to the following estimate : 
 
 La vertu, puis la sante, 
 La gloire, pui la richesse. 
 
 He
 
 35O MEMOIRS OF HUET. 
 
 He had a right to place virtue first, for he 
 possessed solid goodness of heart. When M. 
 and Mad. Dacier were about to quit Paris in 
 order to live more cheaply in the country, he 
 went and offered them ten thousand livres in 
 gold, and warmly pressed them to accept the 
 sum. By care and temperance he reached his 
 eightieth year, and might probably have lived 
 longer if the Parisian faculty had suffered him. 
 They attacked a slight fever under which he 
 laboured, by their usual mode of repeated 
 bleedings, and with such success, that they said 
 to one another, " The fever is going." " No P 
 said Thevenot, who stood by, " the patient is 
 going ;" and in fact he expired within an hour 
 or two. He died in 1693. A small collection, 
 of his poems has been published : he was also 
 the author of the greatest part of the lively 
 " Conversation between the Marshal d'Hoc- 
 quincourt and Father Canaye," printed in St. 
 Evremond's Works. 
 
 NOTE (56), PAGE 260. 
 
 There was a RICHARD STANIHURST, a native 
 of Dublin, who, after practising for some years 
 
 as
 
 NOTES TO BOOK III. 351 
 
 as a counsellor in Ireland, left his country on 
 account of his religion, and settled in the Low- 
 countries, where he died in l6l8, having en- 
 tered into holy orders after the death of his 
 wife. He had a son, WILLIAM, born at Brus- 
 sels, who became a Jesuit, and occupied seve- 
 ral posts in the society. He wrote some moral 
 and theological works, and was perhaps 
 person here mentioned. He died in 1 663. 
 
 *#* I find from Sir James Ware's et Praesules Hibern." 
 that the Episcopus Alladensis is the Bishop of Killalla the 
 prefix Kill, in Irish signifying Church, being dropped in 
 latinizing. As to Huet's Episcopus Ardensis, it may be 
 either the Bishop of Ardfert or of Ardach. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 Printed ly Richard Taylor and Co., Sliue-Lane.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 ACADEMY, French, ii. 181, 260 
 iEgidia, sister of Huet, i. 249 
 Agard de Champs, i. 57, 105 
 Anatomical school of London, ii. 113 
 Andreas, Valerius, i. 205, 288 
 Angennes, family of, ii. 13, 92 
 Angouleme, Ch., duke of, ii. 387, 45S 
 Augustine, his sentiments, i, 1 
 Aulnai, town and abbey, ii. 199 
 Avranches, ii. 330 
 Auzout, Adrian, ii. 194, 298 
 
 Ballachee, John, i. 24-6 
 
 Bassompierre, Fr. de, ii. 387 451 
 
 Baudot, Anselm, ii. 227 
 
 Bautru, William, ii. 15, 87, 96 
 
 Beauvau, marquis of, ii. 387, 459 
 
 Beauvillier duks of St. Aignan, ii. 191, 293 
 
 Bellay du, William, Martin, and John, ii. 387> 431 
 
 Benoit, Elias, ii. 214, 313 
 
 Benserade, Isaac, ii. 184, 272 
 
 Bernard, Edw., ii. 188, 281 
 
 Bernier, John, ii. 1 1 
 
 , Jordana, ii. 12 
 TOL. i. 2 A Beroulde
 
 354 INDEX. 
 
 Beroalde de Verville, i. 196, 280 
 Bertaut, John, ii. 50, 142 
 Bethune duke of Sully, ii. 387, 442 
 Bigot, Emeric, i. 2^5, 302 
 Bile, Erad, i. 28, 74 
 Blemur, Jacoba de, i. 2.53 
 Blondel, David, i. 202, 284 
 
 . r, Fr., ii. 195, 300 
 
 Bochart, Sam., i. 31, 82, ii. 4O 
 Boileau Despreaux, ii. 221, 319 
 Bossuet, James Benign., ii. 63, 146, 353 
 Bouillon, Henry duke of, ii. 337, 446 
 Fred. Maurice duke of, ii. 387, 
 
 Boulluu, Ismael, i. 59, 110 
 Bourbon, baths of, ii. 345, 300 
 Bourchenu de Valbonnais, ii. 369, 403 
 Bourdaloue, Louis, ii. 368, 401 
 Bourdelot, i. 148, 172 ;.? t il .1] 
 Boxhorn, Mark, i. 193, 276 
 Brahe, Tycho, i. 128, 129, 134,;&seq. 17 
 Brebeuf, George de, i, JS, 68 
 Brieux, Moisant de, i. 207, 295 
 Brulart de Sillery, Fabio, ii, 228, 32$ 
 Brun le, Charles, ii. 39, 126 
 Buchanan, George, ii. 386, 424 
 Bussi-Rabutin, Roger, ii. 184, 270 
 
 Caen, academy of, i, 207 
 Cahaignes, Stephen, i. 38 
 i , . . .-, James, i, 38, 88 
 Callieres, James de, i. 209, 301
 
 INDEX. 35$ 
 
 Cally, Peter, ii. 27, 116, 351 
 
 Camus, John Peter, i. 18, 66 
 
 Cange, C. du Fresne du, ii. 47, 1S4< 
 
 Cardan, Jerom, ii. 385, 417 
 
 Castelnau, Mich, de, ii. 387, 439 
 
 Chaise, Fr. de la, ii. 232, 331 
 
 Chalvet, Hyacinth de, ii. 12, 91 
 
 Chanut, Peter, i. 154, 178 
 
 Chapelain, John, i. 227, 313 
 
 Charleval, Faucon de, i. 258, 349 
 
 Charpentier, Francis, ii. 37, 123 
 
 Chavagnac, Marq. de, ii. 307, 459 
 
 Chifflet, John James, i. 287 
 
 Choiseul, duke of, ii. 387, 457 
 
 Christina, queen of Sweden, i. 119, 161: her muta- 
 bility, 149: jocularity, 151 : indelicacy, 196; remark 
 on her, ii. 90 
 
 Clerc, John le, ii. 379, 414 
 
 Clerselier, Claude, ii. 353, 394 
 
 Closterseven, i. 125 
 
 Coculin, count, ii. 214 
 
 Cointe, Charles le, ii. 8, 89 
 
 Colbert, John Bapt., ii. 28, 117 
 
 Coligni, Gasp, de, ii. 387, 435 
 
 Combefis, Fr., ii. 218, 317 
 
 Commines, Philip de, ii. 387, 430 
 
 Commire, John, i. 56, 104 
 
 Comparisons between poets, i. 69 
 
 Conde, Louis, prince of, ii. 153, 237 
 
 Conrart, Valentine, ii, 2, 72 
 
 Copenhagen, i. 126 
 
 2 A 2 Cordemoi,
 
 356 INDEX. 
 
 Cerdemoi, Gerald de, ii. 174, 257 
 
 Cormis, President, ii. 29 
 
 Corneille, Peter, ii. 184, 186, 264 
 
 Cossart, Gabriel, i. 55, 99 
 
 Cotelier, John-Baptist, i. 220, 307 
 
 Critical editorship, remark on, ii. 244 
 
 Cromar deLasson, his speettlmn and spectacle glasses,?!. 2T 
 
 Cujas, James, i. 4O, 90 
 
 Cuper, GisbeK, ii. 370, 405 
 
 Cyphers, origin of, i. 245 
 
 Dacier, Andrew, ii. 171, 256 
 
 . . , Madame, ii. 171 253 
 
 Dalechamp, James, i, 40, 89 
 
 Dauphin, his education, ii. 60, 145 
 
 Delphin Classics, their plan and execution, ii. 165, 251 
 
 Descartes, Rene, i. 29, 7$ , 
 
 Diodati, i. 192 
 
 Dogmata Theologiea of Petau, i. 62 
 
 Doujat, John, ii. 58,.144 
 
 Duplessis Mornai, ii. 159, 24-5 
 
 Dupre, Mary, ii. 7, 86 
 
 Dutch inns, custom at, K 189 
 
 Edelinek, Gerard, ii. 362, 399 
 
 Erasmus, ii. 385, 420 
 
 Estrees, cardinal d j , ii. 379, 416 
 
 Eudes, John, ii. 215 
 
 Evremond, Chas. de 8t., ii. 230, 527 
 
 Fanaticism, horrid instance of, i. 155 : remarks on it, 178 
 Fare, marquis de la, ii. 372, 406 
 
 Fayette,
 
 INDEX. 357 
 
 Fayette, madame, ii. 6, 83 
 Fermat, Peter de, ii. 16, 101 
 Ferrand, Louis, ii. 162, 24-7 
 Fevre, Anne le, ii. 171, 253 
 
 , Tannegui le, ii. 46, 132 
 
 Flechier, Esprit, ii. 32, 119 
 Fontaine, J. de k, ii. 189, 286 
 Fournier, George, i. 29, 75 
 Francius, Peter, ii. 362, 400 
 Frassen, Claude, ii. 160, 246 
 
 Gale, Thomas, ii. 188, 83 
 
 Gallois, John, ii. 184, 278 
 
 Garabi, Antony de, i. 208, 297 
 
 Gamier, John, i. 57, 106 
 
 Gassendi, Peter, i- 232, 319 
 
 Gaulmin, -Gilbert, i. 152, 173 
 
 Gautruche, Peter, i. 29, 76 
 
 Gigault de Bellefonds, Laurentia, ii. 35 
 
 Glory, love of, how far a motive to science, i. 169 
 
 Golius, James, i. 192, 269 
 
 Gombuste, i. 235 
 
 Gonzague, duke of Nevers, ii. 387, 445 
 
 Gosselin, Antony, i. 22, 71 
 
 Gnevius, John George, i. 215, Sot, ii. 177 
 
 Graindorge, Andrew, ii. 175 
 
 , James, ii. 43 
 
 - , de Premont, i. 45, ii. 10 
 
 Gronovius, J. Frederic, i. 203, 288 
 Gudius, Marquard, i. 243, 33 
 Gu.ervUle, James, ii. 174
 
 358 INDEX. 
 
 Guise, Hen. duke of, ii. 387, 453 
 Guyet, Francis, i. 5D, 109 
 
 Halle", Antony, i. 20 
 
 , Peter, ii. 58, 145 
 
 Hamcl du, John Baptist, ii. 15, 98 
 
 Hardenburg, custom at, i. 124 
 
 Hardi, Claude, i. 232, 322 
 
 Harlai, Fr. de, ii. 156, 242 
 
 Hauton, ii. 23, 26 
 
 Heinsius, Dan., i. 193, 274 > 
 
 , Nicholas, ii. 201, 303 
 
 Herbelot, Barthol. d', ii. 193, 295 
 
 Hogers, Theoph., ii. 371 
 
 Hogerts, Goswin, ii. 36 
 
 Hoghetta, Fortin, i. 236 
 
 Holstein, duke of, i. 187 
 
 Huen, isle of, i. 130, & seq. 
 
 Pluet, Peter Daniel, his motives for writing this work, i. 2 : 
 birth, 3 ; father of, 4 : baptism, 7 : danger from th 
 plague, 8 : first instruction, 8 : orphanship, 9 : taught 
 at a monastery, 11 : a boarder, 12 : at the college of 
 Mont Royal, 13 : early love of letters, 14 : passion for 
 poetry, 16 : begins his philosophical course, 22 : his 
 attachment; to geometry, 23 : inclination to become a 
 Dominican, 24 : holds a public disputation, 23 : studies 
 Roman law, 31 : applies to the study of Greek ami 
 Hebrew, 32, 33 : hu> powers of studying, 34 : intro- 
 duced to Bochart, 36 : frequents polite society, 48 : 
 his skill in exercises, 49 : becomes major, 50 : visits Pa- 
 lis, 51 : agrees to accompany Bochart to Sweden, 121 : 
 
 sails
 
 INDEX. 35$ 
 
 sails to Holland, 122 : his journey thence to Copenha- 
 gen, 124 & seq. : stay at that capital, 126 Sc seq. : 
 visits the isle of Huen, 132: journey from the Sound to 
 Stockholm, 140: introduced to Christina, 148: his rea- 
 sons for quitting Sweden, 156, 159: writes satirical 
 verses on the Swedes, 159: visits the library at Gottrrp, 
 185 : returns to Holland, 188 : falls ill at Ley den, lid: 
 proceeds through Brabant to Paris, 204: elected into 
 the Academy of Caen, 210: his difference with Bochart, 
 217 : publishes his work on translation, 219 : his pious 
 retreat to la Fleche, 239 : has a design of becoming a 
 Jesuit, 241 : disquieted about his title to nobility, 
 250: declines an offer from Christina, ii. 9: joins 
 in forming a new academy at Caen, 20: studies 
 anatomy, 21 : makes observations on a comet, and 
 experiments in chemistry, 23 : refuses a counsellor's 
 place in the parliament of Rouen, 30: introduced to 
 Montausier, 33 : resides at Rouen for the printing of 
 his Origen, 33 : its publication and dedication, 42 : 
 writes his work on romances, 51 : appointed sub-pre 
 ceptor to the Dauphin, 64: declines completing the 
 edition of Origen, and engages in his Demonstratio 
 Evangelica, 156 : undertakes the, management of the 
 Delphin classics at the suggestion of Montausier, 165: 
 writes notes on Manilius, 169 i performance in minia- 
 ture writing, 176: gradually changes his dress, 178: 
 adopts the use of tea, 181 : enters the French Academy, 
 183: takes holy orders, 196 : his devotion to St. Gcne- 
 vieve, 197 : converts a Jew, 198 : made abbot of Aul- 
 nai, 200 : composes his Quasstiones Alnetanse, and 
 Gensura Philos. Cartesianae, 202, 203: other works* 
 
 205;
 
 360 fNDEX. 
 
 205 : antiquities of Caen, 206 : makes astronomical ob- 
 servations, and invents instruments, 209 : his study of 
 Hebrew, 217 : procures an addition to the Jesuits' gar- 
 den at Caen, 220 : his dispute with Boileau concerning 
 Longinus, 222, 324 : nominated to the see of Soissons, 
 224 : exchanges it for Avranches, 228 : draws up syno- 
 dal statutes, 229 : abdicates his bishopric and is made 
 abbot of Fontenai, 231 : hopes given him of the 'cardi- 
 nalate, 341 : goes to the baths of Bourbon, 345 : op- 
 poses the Cartesian philosophy, 351, 354: makes a do- 
 nation of his library to the Jesuits, 358: engaged in 
 enquiries concerning sorcery, 359 : his portrait engraved, 
 362 : death and character of his sisters, 365, 866 : writes 
 French verse, 373: has a severe illness, 377:. reason* 
 for writing his own memoirs, 380 : his death and cha- 
 racter, 460. 
 
 Hurault de Chiverni, ii. 387, 43T 
 
 Huygens, Christ., ii. 3, 77 
 
 Isopsepha, on, i. 213 
 
 Jesuits, their Latin style, i. 97 
 Julia's Garland, ii. 172 
 Justell, Henry, ii. 3, 78 
 
 Kircher, Athanasius, i. 224, 311 
 
 Labbfc, Philip, i. 55> 98 
 
 Lambecius, Peter, i. 61, 114 
 
 Lamoignon, William de, it 45, ISO 
 
 Languages, study of, remarks on,_i. 223, 310 
 
 Lantin, John-Baptist, ii. 155, 241 
 
 tad*
 
 
 INDEX. 36l 
 
 Latin, speaking and writing, i. 264 
 
 Latin language, its preference for inscriptions, H. 12S 
 
 i , advantage of writing in, ii. 316 
 Latin Poetry, modern, on, i. 65 
 Linden, A. Vander, !. 191, 268 
 Lipsius, Justus, i. 205, 289 
 Longevity of sedentary persons, i. 87 
 Longinus, hi opinion on a passage in Genesis, a. 222, 323 
 Longomontanus, Christ., L 126, 166 
 Longueville, Henry duke of, 5. 24-7, 340. 
 Louis XIV, observation on his patronage of mea of let- 
 ters, ii. 118 
 Ludolf, Job, ii. 194, 299 
 
 Mabillon, John, ii. 234, 383 
 Mace Gilles, i. 9, 65 
 Madelenet, Gabriel, t. 233, 325 
 Mambrun, Peter, i. 22, 30, 72 
 Manasseh Ben Israel, i. 201, 282 
 Marche, Olivier de la, ii. 386, 429 
 Mare, Philib. de la, ii. 155, 241 
 Marets de St. Sorlin, ii. 1, 65, 18S 
 Margaret de Valois, ii. 387, 438 
 Maridat, Peter, i. 238 
 Marolles, Michael de, ii. 459 
 Marsham, Sir John, i. 224, 31* 
 Mayer, John-Frederic, ii. 363, 401 
 Meibom, Mark, i. 153, 17* 
 Menage, Gilles, i. 206, 290, ii, S61 
 Meyrat, Louis, i. 242 
 Mezerai, Fr. Eude d, ii. 184, 262 
 
 Moine,
 
 362 INDEX. 
 
 Moine, Stephen le, ?. 244, 337 
 Monachism, ferer of, i. 73 
 Montagne, Mich, de, ii. 387, 4-40 
 Montausier, Charles duke of, ii. 14, 94 
 Montluc, Blatse de, ii. 387, 434 
 Montmor, Hubert de, i. 231, 318 
 More, Alexander, i. 192, 197, 200, 270 
 Morin, Stephen, i. 216, 338 
 Mornay du Plessis, ii. 159, 245 
 Motteux, Monatier le, i. 243 
 Motteville, Madame, ii. 50, 140 
 
 Naude, Gabr., i. 60, 111 
 
 Navailes, duke of, ii. 387, 458 
 
 Neure, Mathurin, i. 235, 330 
 
 Nobility, French, titles to, examined, i. 251 
 
 ' c,& * 
 
 Oldenburg, Henry, ii. 19, 112 
 
 Olearius,, Adam, i. 185 263 
 
 Orleans, Anna-Maria Louisa de, i. 255, 34S 
 
 Oxenstierna, Axel, i. 153, 176 
 
 Parties, religious, jealousy of, i. 88 
 
 Parvilliers, Adrian, ii. 38, 126 
 
 Patris, Peter, i. 242, 334 
 
 Paul the Silentiary, his poem on the Pythian Therm, i. 
 
 212 
 Paulmier, de Grentemesntl, i. 41, 91 
 
 -i , James, 5. 42, 93' 
 
 Pearson, John, bishop; ii. 218, 314 
 Pellisson-Fontanier, Paul, ii. 2, 68 
 Perrault, Charles, ii. 2, 67, 13 
 
 Perefi,
 
 INDEX. 363 
 
 Perefiie, Hardouin de, i. 237, 331 
 
 Perier, Charles du, i. 255, 343, -ii. 
 
 Perin, Picart, ii.^60 
 
 Petau, Dennis, i. 53, 95 
 
 Petit, Peter, ii. 4, 79 
 
 Peyarede, John de, i. 233, 326 
 
 Plessis-Praslin, duke of Choiseul, H. 387, 4-57 
 
 Pontis, Louis de, ii. 387 r 454 
 
 Portraits, custom of writing, i. 257 
 
 Poussines, Peter, ii. 211, 309 
 
 Public property, remark on encroachments upon, ii, $18 
 
 PuffendorfF, Sam., ii. 163, 250 
 
 Puy, du, Clement, i. 107 
 
 Claude,!. 107 
 
 Christopher, i. 107 
 
 Peter, i. 58, 108 
 
 James, i. 58, 109 
 
 Pyron, William, ii. 32, 122 
 
 Quesnay, Blois de, i. 243 
 Quinault, Philip, ii. 184, 275 
 
 Racan, Honorat de, i. 232, 323 
 
 Racine, Johnj ii. 184,' 266. i H 
 
 Rambouillet, House of, ii. 13, 92 
 
 Rapin Rene, i. 56, 101 
 
 Reasoning, insufficient, effects of, i. 115 
 
 Redi, Francesco, ii. 154,240 ,t-I V* < i .fffc) 
 
 Regale, disputes concerning, between the courts of France 
 
 and Rome, ii. 225i 325 
 Regis, Peter Sylvain, ii. 203, 305 
 . 'i- Regius,
 
 564 INDEX. 
 
 Regius, Hen.,'i. 123, 165 
 Regnier Desmarais, ii. 185, 279 
 Religions, popular, remarks on, ii. 305 
 Rhenferd, James, ii. 370, 406 
 Richelieu, cardinal, ii. 387, 450 
 Riviere, abbe de la, ii. 48, 138 
 Roberval, Gilles Personne de, ii. 44, 129 
 Rochechouart, Marie Eliz. de, ii. 346, 391 
 
 , Marie Magd. de, abbess of Fontevraud, ii. 
 348, 391 
 
 Rochefoucault, Fr. duke of, ii. 189, 290 
 Rohan, Hen. duke of, ii. 387, 448 
 
 , Mary Eleonora de, 5. 252, 342 
 
 Rohault, James, ii. 353, 393 
 Romances, effects of, ii. 142 
 Roque, Gille Andre de la,, i. 209, 300 
 Rue, Charles de la, ii. 214, 311 
 
 Sanchez d'Aguirre, cardinal, ii. 341, 389 
 
 Santeul, John-Bapt., ii. 5, 80, 398 
 
 Sarasin, John Fr., i. 19, 70 
 
 Sarrau, Claude, i. 286 
 
 Savary, James, i. 208, 225, 296 
 
 Saumaise, Claude, i. 191, 194, 277 
 
 , Jos., his epistle De Spleudore Gentis Scaligei i, 
 i. 84. 
 
 Scaligers, ii. 385, 422 
 Scarron, Paul, ii. 17, 104 
 Schotanus, John, ii. 351 
 Schurman, Anna-Maria, L 190, 266 
 Schweling, Eberhard, ii. 352 
 
 Scuderi,
 
 INDEX. 565 
 
 Scuderi, Mag. de, ii. 18, 107 
 
 , George de, ii. 19, 111 
 
 $egrais, J. R. de, i. 208, 297, ii. 55 
 Sickius, Henry, ii. 369 
 Simon, Richard, ii. 162, 24-8 
 Sirmond, James, i. 35, 53, 86 
 Spanheim, Ezechiel, ii. 235, 337 
 Stanihurst, i. 260 
 
 , Richard, i. 350 
 
 , William, i. 351 
 
 Staveren, story relative to, i. 1 90 
 
 Stockholm, royal library of, i. 151 
 
 Sully, duke of, ii. 387, 442 
 
 Superstition in Denmark, i. 140 
 
 , in Sweden, i. 140, 144, &c. remarks on, 171 
 
 Swallows, submersion of, i. 143, 172 
 
 Sweden, great summer heat of, i. 143: fabrication of 
 houses in, 145 : of chimneys, 147 
 
 Tallemant des Reaux, Fr., ii. 16, 102 
 
 , Paul, ii. 17, 103 
 
 Tavanes, Gaspard, William, and James, ii. 387, 4-55 
 Tavernier, John-Bapt., ii. 47, 137 
 Thevenot, N. Melchisedec, ii. 191, 294- 
 
 -, John, ii. 295 
 
 Thomassin, Louis, ii. 7 86 
 Thou, James Aug. de, ii. 386, 427 
 , , , J un . }|. 355, 394 
 
 Tillac, Judith,Barbara, ii. 234? 
 Tilladet, abbe de, ii. 375, 413 
 ToUnd, John, ii. 374,- 408 
 
 Touroude,
 
 366 INDEX. 
 
 Touronde, Louis, i. 43, 93 
 
 Transmutation of metals, story concerning, ii. 25, H* 
 
 Valois, Henry, il. 3, 74 
 
 , Adrian, ii. 3, 76 
 
 Varillas, Antony, i. 231-, 327 
 Vavasseur, Francis, i. .55, 100 
 Verbal criticism, remarks on, i. 221, 30& 
 Vettius Valens, manuscripts of, i. 186 
 Vigne, Anne de la, ii. 7, 84 
 Vignier, Jerome, 55. 8, 88 
 Villeroi, Neufville dc, ii. 387, 44* 
 Vion d'Herouval, ii. 193, 297 
 Vossfes, Isaac, 5. 119, 163 
 
 } ,_ : 
 
 Witchcraft, remarks on, ii. 89<J 
 XVormius, Glaus, i. 127, 168 
 
 Pruned iy thulium 'layior and C'o., 6'/ie Lane, Lvniion .
 
 I \ 
 
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