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NYPL  RESEARCH  LIBRARES 


GENERAL 


BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 


BY 


JOHN    GORTON, 

AUTHOR  OF  THE  "GENERAL  TOPOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY,"  >tr., 


A  NEW  EDITION. 


TO   WHICH   IS   ADDED    A   SUPPLEMENTARr    VOLUME    COMPLETING   THE    WORK    1O   I'.IR 

PRESENT  TIMK. 


IN  FOUR  VOLUMES. 

VOL.  III. 


LONDON: 
HENRY  G.  BOHN,  YORK  STREET,  COVENT  GARDEN. 

1851. 


GENERAL 


BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 


VOLUME  III. 


NAD 

NADIR  SCHAH,  or  THAMAS  KOULI 
KHAN,  king  of  Persia,  a  famous  con- 
queror and  usurper,  was  born  tit  Calot,  in  the 
province  of  Khorasau,  in  16S6.  His  father 
was  governor  of  a  fortress  on  the  borders  of 
Tartary,  to  which  office  he  succeeded  in  his 
minority,  under  the  guardianship  of  an  uncle, 
who  engrossed  all  the  authority.  He  was 
subsequently  kidnapped  by  the  Clsbeks,  but. 
escaped,  after  a  detention  of  four  years  ;  and, 
in  1714,  entered  into  the  service  of  the  begler- 
beg  of  Muschadi,  in  Khorasan,  where  he  so 
much  distinguished  himself  by  his  bravery, 
thst  he  was  entrusted  with  the  command  of  a 
thousand  cavalry,  and  was  soon  after  placed 
at  the  head  of  an  army,  with  which  he  gained 
a  great  victory  over  the  Usbek  Tartars.  This 
achievement  excited  so  much  jealousy  in  the 
beglerbeg,  that  he  gave  the  command  to  ano- 
ther person;  and  when  Nadir  remonstrated, 
ordered  him  to  be  bastinadoed.  Irritated  by 
this  disgrace,  he  joined  a  band  of  robbers,  and 
with  this  troop  ravaged  all  the  country,  and, 
surprising  Calot,  put  his  uncle  to  death,  al- 
though he  had  been  previously  negociating 
with  him,  to  enter  the  service  of  schah  Tha- 
mas,  king  of  Persia,  then  exceedingly  pressed 
by  the  Turks  and  Afghans.  Such  was  the 
bad  posture  of  his  affairs,  the  schah  felt  him- 


NAD 

self  impelled  to  overlook  this  villany,  and  take 
Nadir  into  his  service,  who  greatly  repulsed 
both  his  enemies,  and  was  honoured  with  the 
title  of  Thamas  Kouli  Khan.  The  schah, 
during  his  absence,  having  in  person  sustained 
a  defeat  from  the  Turks,  was  induced  to  make 
peace  with  that  power,  and  Nadir  was  di- 
rected to  disband  his  army  of  70,000  men. 
Instead  of  obeying,  he  immediately  led  them 
to  Ispahan,  where  he  seized  the  schah,  con- 
fined and  deposed  him,  and,  proclaiming  his 
son  Abbas,  then  an  infant,  in  his  stead,  him- 
self assumed  the  title  of  regent.  He  forth- 
with renewed  the  war  with  the  Turks,  and 
recovered  all  the  lost  provinces ;  and  the 
young  king  dying  in  1738,  he  was  raised  to 
the  sovereignty.  This  elevation  only  extend- 
ed his  views,  and,  after  making  an  honorable 
peace  with  the  Turks,  being  invited  by  some 
conspirators,  about  the  person  of  the  great 
mogul,  to  undertake  the  conquest  of  India,  he 
began  his  march  at  the  head  of  120,000  men, 
and  with  little  resistance  reached  Delhi, 
March  7, 1734.  The  riches  which  he  found  in 
this  capital  were  immense  ;  but  being  exaspe- 
rated by  some  tumults  on  the  part  of  the  inha- 
bitants, he  caused  a  general  massacre,  in  which 
upwards  of  100,000  persons  perished.  After 
this  barbarity,  thesanguinary  victor  concluded 


N  A  I 

a  p^are  with    the   inoj/ul.  whose   daughter   he 

• 

bauied,  receiving  with  her,  as  a  dowry,  some 
of  the  finest  provinces  of  the  empire  that  were 
contiguous  to  Persia.  In  this  expedition,  it  is 
supposed,  that  he  carried  ;r\ay  Bud  distributed 

an, 'HIV  hig  officers,  valuables  to  the  amount  of 
nearly  one  hundred  milli  HIS  sterling.  On  his 
return,  lie  levied  war  against  the  Usbecks,  and 
others  ;  but,  like  many  other  Eastern  tyrants, 
had  nearly  lost  his  life  by  an  assassin,  insti- 
gated by  his  own  son.  lu  17-15,  he  once  more 
defeated  the  Turks  at  Krivun  ;  but  bis  career 
was  now  drawing  to  a  close.  A  conspiracy 
having  been  formed  against  him  by  the  com- 
mander of  his  body-guard,  and  his  own  nepbew, 
he  was  assassinated  in  his  tent  on  the  8th  of 
June,  1747  ;  the  same  nephew,  All  Kouli,  who 
had  caused  his  death,  succeeding  to  the  throne. 
This  extraordinary  usurper  was  of  a  tall  sta- 
ture and  robust  form,  with  handsome  and  ex- 
pressive features.  His  conduct  sufficiently 
marks  his  cruelty,  ambition,  and  rapacity. 
Ilis  most  favourable  feature  appears  to  have 
been,  a  disposition  to  religious  toleration.  On 
his  accession  to  the  throne,  he  required  certain 
curses  pronounced  annually  on  the  caliphs  pre- 
ceding Ali,  and  other  incentives  to  religious 
strife,  to  be  dispensed  with ;  which  being  object- 
ed to  by  the  head  of  the  clergy,  he  had  him  bow- 
strung.  Nadir  was  cut  off  in  the  sixty-first 
year  'of  his  age,  and  eleventh  of  his  reign.— 
Life  by  Sir  W.  Jones. 

N/EVIUS  (CvtiL's)  an  ancient  Roman 
poet  and  historian,  was  born  in  Campania.  He 
served  in  the  first  Punic  war,  of  which  he 
wrote  a  history  in  Saturniau  verses.  Cicero 
says,  that  it  was  written  perspicuously,  and 
that  Ennius,  who  speaks  contemptuously  of  it, 
borrowed  from  it.  Naevius  was  the  second 
Roman  who  brought  dramatic  compositions  on 
the  stage  :  his  first  comedy  gave  offence  to  some 
of  the  great  men  of  Rome ;  and  Metellus,  who 
thought  the  satire  directed  particularly  to  him- 
self, procured  his  banishment  from  Rome.  lie 
died  at  Utica,  BC.2U.J.  A  few  fragments  of 
his  works  only  have  reached  posterity.— 
Aulius  Gellius.  Vossii  Hist,  et  Poet  Lat. 

NA1RON1  (ANTHONY  FAUSTUE)  a  learned 
Maronite,  was  bom  at  Mount  Libanus,  about 
1631,  and  was  the  disciple  of  Abraham  Ec- 
chellensis.  He  became  professor  of  the  Chal- 
dee  and  Syriac  languages  in  the  college  of  Sa- 
pienza  at  Rome,  where  he  died  in  1711.  He 
wrote  two  works,  entitled  "  Euoplia  Fidei  Ca- 
tholics Romans  historico-dogmatica  ex  ve- 
tustissimis  Syrorem  seu  Chald;porum  Monu- 
mentis  eruta  adversus  sevi  nostri  novatores," 
1694, "vo;  and  "Dissertatio  de  Origine,  nomine 
ac  Religione  Maronitarum,"  1679,  in  which 
lie  endeavours  to  prove  that  the  Maronites 
have  preserved  the  genuine  Christian  faith 
from  the  time  of  the  apostles,  and  that  they 
derived  their  name  from  St  Maron,  a  celebrated 
anchorite,  who  lived  in  the  fourteenth  century. 
His  arguments  are,  however,  overruled  by  Ca- 
tholic critics,  who  remark  that  the  dates  of 
his  authorities  are  not  sufficiently  ancient  to  be 
admitted  as  satisfactory  evidence  of  the  facts. 
,M<rrvri.  Konv.  Diet.  Hist. 


N  A  N 

NAI.DI  ,,  SHIASTI.AMJ)  a  celfbrav<!  I;a!i»n 
buffo  singer,  who  came  to  London  in  the  einy 
pnrt  of  the  present  century,  and  distinguished 
himself  above  all  who  had  gone  before  him  in 
that  particular  branch  of  singing,  which  was 
considered  his  forte,  especially  by  his  person- 
ation of  the  principal  character  in  the  "  Fana- 
tico  per  la  Musica."  Naldi  met  his  death  in 
Paris  in  1819,  by  the  explosion  of  an  appa 
ratus  which  had  been  invented  for  cooking  by 
steam. — Hiog.  Diet,  .if  Mus. 

NALSON.  There  were  two  English  di- 
vines of  this  name  ;  JOHN,  born  in  1638, 
having  gone  through  the  usual  course  of  a 
university  education  at  Cambridge,  took  the 
degree  of  LLD,  and  entering  the  church,  ob- 
tained a  stall  in  the  cathedral  at  Ely,  with  the 
living  of  Doddington,  in  the  same  diocese. 
He  translated  "  Maimbourg's  History  of  the 
Ciusades,"  into  English  ;  but  is  most  advan- 
tageously known  by  his  historical  memoirs  re- 
specting certain  transactions  which  took  place 
during  the  civil  wars.  His  principal  narrative 
appeared  in  two  folio  volumes,  and  is  entitled, 
"An  impartial  collection  of  the  Affahs  of 
State,  from  the  Scotch  Rebellion  to  the  Mur- 
der of  Charles  the  Fust."  He  also  wrote  an 
account  of  the  trial  of  that  monarch  ;  and  died 
in  1686. — VALENTINE  NALSON,  born  at  Mai- 
ton,  in  Yorkshire,  in  1641,  was  a  member  of 
St  John's  college,  Cambridge.  He  became  a 
prebendary  of  York  minster, and  incumbent  of  a 
benefice  adjoining  ;  and  he  is  known  as  the  au- 
thor of  a  volume  of  sermons  on  miscellaneous 
subjects.  His  death  took  place  in  1724. — 
Chalmers's  Kiag.  Diet. 

NANCRL  (NICHOLAS  de)  a  physician  and 
philologist,  was  Lorn  at  Nancel  in  1539.  He 
studied  at  the  college  of  Presles,  at  Paris, 
where  he  made  such  proficiency,  that  at  the 
age  of  eighteen  years,  Ramus  appointed  him 
teacher  of  Latin  and  Greek  in  the  college.  He 
then  tuined  his  attention  to  the  study  of  phy- 
sic ;  but  on  the  civil  wars  in  France,  he  retired 
to  Flanders,  and  in  1562  he  became  professor 
of  the  learned  languages  at  Douay.  He  re- 
1-rned  to  Paris,  and  in  1587  he  was  appointed 
physician  to  the  princess  Eleanor  of  Bourbon, 
abbess  of  Fontevrault,  where  he  died  in  16)0. 
He  wrote  "  Stichologia  Grxca  Latinaque  in- 
formanda  Reformandaque,"  an  attempt  to  re- 
duce French  verse  to  the  rules  of  Greek  and 
Latin  poetry,  which  incurred  the  usual  ridicule 
attending  all  such  attempts  ;  "  Discours  de  la 
Peste;"  "  De  Immortalitate  Animi  velitatio 
adversus  Galenum  ;"  "  Analogia  Microcosmi 

ad  Macrocosmum  ;"  "  Petri  Rami    Vita." 

Moreri. 

NANGIS  (Gun.LAUMEde)  a  French  histo- 
rian of  the  fourteenth  century,  is  supposed  to 
have  taken  his  name  from  the  place  of  his  na- 
tivity, in  the  Isle  of  Frai*ce,  and  was  a  Bene- 
dictine of  the  abbey  of  St  Denis.  He  wrote 
the  lives  of  St  Louis  and  of  Philip  le  Hardi, 
and  also  two  chronicles,  the  first  from  the 
creation  to  the  year  1300,  the  second  a  chro- 
nicle of  the  kings  of  France.  The  former, 
which  is  clearly  written  in  good  Latin,  has  had 
two  continuators,  who  have  brought  it  dc">rii  to 


NAN 

1368.    The  lives  were  first  printed  in  Pitliou's 

collection  in   1,596,  and  afterwards  in  that  o 

Du    Chesne.     The    chronicle  from    the   yea; 

1113  was  published  in  the  "  Spicilegium"  o 

Dom  Luc  d'Acheiv.  —  Moreri.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist 

NANI  (  GIOVANNI  BATTISTA)  the  name  o 

a  noble    Venetian,  distinguished  both  as  an 

historian  and  a  diplomatist.     He  was  born  in 

August  1616,  and  having  been  admitted  at  the 

age  of  five  and  twenty  into  the  senatorial  col- 

lege, rose  rapidly  by  his  abilities  to  some   o: 

the  first  offices  in   the  state.     During  the  war 

in  Candia,  he  was  sent  ambassador  from  the 

republic    to    the  French   court,  where   he    so 

ingratiated  himself  with  cardinal  Mazarine,  as 

to  obtain  considerable  supplies  both  of  men  and 

money.     His  success  in  regard  to  this  mission 

occasioned  him  to  be  accredited  afterwards  to  the 

court  of  Vienna  :  and  on  his  return  he  obtained, 

from  the  gratitude  of  his  countrymen,  the  ho- 

nouraole  dignities  of  procurator  of  St  Mark  and 

captain-general  of  the  marine.     He  published 

an  account  of  his  French  embassy,  and  wrote, 

at  the  request  of  the  senate,  a  "  History  of 

the  Venetian  Republic,"  the  publication  of  the 

first  part  of  which  he  superintended  in  person  ; 

the  second,  however,  did  not  appear  till  1679, 

the  year   succeeding  that   in  which   he  died. 

The  whole  is  contained  in  two  quarto  volumes. 

—  Tiraboschi. 

NANNI  (PETER)  or  NANMUS,  a  critic 
and  philologist,  was  born  at  Alkmaer  in  Hol- 
land, about  1500.  He  applied  himselffor  some 
time  to  painting,  but  not  finding  that  conge- 
nial to  his  taste,  he  taught  philosophy,  and 
was  chosen  professor  of  the  learned  languages 
at  Louvaine.  He  also  obtained  a  canonry  at 
Arras.  He  died  in  1557.  He  is  regarded  as  a 
good  critic,  an  estimable  poet,  but  an  indifferent 
orator.  His  works  consist  of  "  Translations 
of  the  Psalms  in  Latin,  verse  ;"  "  Miscellaneo- 
rum  Decas,"  containing  annotations  upon  se- 
veral ancient  authors  ;  "  Dialogismi  Heroi- 
narum  ;"  "  Annotationes  in  Institutiones  Juris 
Civilis  ;"  "  Scholia  in  Cantica  Canticorum," 
with  various  Greek  translations.  —  Baiilet. 
Moreri.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

NANTKUTL  (ROBERT)  an  eminent  engra- 
ver, was  born  at  Rheims  in  1630.  He  early 
manifested  his  talents  for  the  art,  and  coming 
to  Paris,  he  made  his  works  known,  and  soon 
gained  great  employment.  He  applied  him- 
self chiefly  to  painting  portraits  in  crayons, 
which  he  afterwards  engraved  ;  and  his  success 
in  taking  that  of  Louis  XIV,  procured  him  the 
place  of  the  king's  designer  and  cabinet  en- 
graver, with  a  pension.  Carlo  Uati,  in  his 
life  of  Zeuxis,  quotes  the  portraits  of  Nan- 
teuil  as  the  most  finished  examples  of  modern 
engraving.  Nanteuil  also  composed  pleasant 
verses,  and  recited  agreeably.  His  death  took 
place  at  Paris  in  1678.  —  Moreri.  Nouv.  Diet. 
Hist. 

NANTIGN1    (Louis  CHAZOT  de)  a  cele- 


N Alt 

which  he  published  in  a  work,  entitled  "  Ge- 
nealogies Hbtonques  des  Rois,  desEmpereurs, 
et  de  toutes  les  Maisons  Souverains,"  4  vols 
4to.  This  is  considered  a  valuable  work,  anil 
he  !eft  materials  for  its  continuation.  His  other 
works  were,  "  Tablettes  Historiques  Genea- 
logiquesetChr,onologiques,"and  "  Tablettes  da 
Themis."  Nantigni  became  totally  blind  before 
his  death,  which  happened  in  1755.  —  Rlureri. 

NAOGEORGL  or  KIRCHMAER  (THO- 
MAS) a  celebrated  Protestant  divine,  was  born 
in  1511  at  Straubriugue  in  Bavaria.  He  ac- 
quired considerable  celebrity  by  his  Latin 
satires  against  the  customs  of  the  Catholic 
church,  entitled  "  Regnum  papisticum."  Ilis 
other  works  are,  "  HieremiasTragedia,"  1551, 
8vo  ;  "  Mercator  Tragedia,'''  1560  ;  "  Incen- 
dia  sive  Pyrgopolinices  Tragedia,"  1538,  8vo  ; 
"  Agricultura  sacra,"  1551  ;  "  Pamachius 
Tragedia,''  1538.  There  are  two  editions  of 
the  French  translation  of  the  "  Converted 
Merchant,"  1558,  8vo,  and  1561,  12mo,  and 
a  third  1591,  12mo,  in  which  is  Beza's  "  Co- 
medie  du  Pape  malade."  These  works  are 
very  scarce,  and  are  much  prized  by  collectors. 
Moreri.  Diet.  Hist.  Saxii  Onom. 

NAPIER  or  NEPER  (JOHN)  baron  of  Mar- 
chiston,  a  Scottish  nobleman,  distinguished  as 
a  mathematician.  He  was  born  in  1550,  and 
was  educated  at  the  university  of  St  Andrews, 
after  which  he  travelled  abroad,  and  on  his 
return  to  Scotland,  devoted  himself  to  the  cul- 
tivation of  science  and  literature.  His  fame 
depends  on  the  discovery  of  logarithms.  Being 
much  attached  to  astronomy  and  spherical 
geometry,  he  wished  to  find  out  a  method  of 
calculating  such  triangles,  sines,  tangents,  &c. 
shorter  than  the  usual  one.  To  the  exertions 
arising  out  of  this  desire,  is  to  be  attributed 
lis  admirable  invention  of  logarithms,  and  the 
actual  construction  of  a  large  table  of  numbers 
n  arithmetical  progression,  in  correspondence 
vith  another  set  in  geometrical  progression  ; 
he  property  of  which  ia,  that  the  addition  of 
he  former  answer  to  the  multiplication  of  the 
alter.  The  result  of  these  important  labours 
le  published  in  1614,  under  the  title  of  "  Lo- 
garithmorum  Canonis  Descriptio."  He  also 
nade  several  improvements  in  spherical  trigo- 
ometry,  and  was  regarded  by  the  celebrated 
vepler  as  one  of  the  greatest  men  of  the  age. 
The  last  publication,  which  appeared  in  1616, 


brated  genealogist,  was  born  in  1692  atSaulx- 
le-duc  in  Burgundy.  He  studied  at  Pipe  j,uu 
Paris,  and  at  the  latter  place  he  became  tutor 
to  some  young  noblemen.  He  employed  his 
leisure  in  drawing  up  genealogical  tables, 
BIOG.  PICT.  —  VOL,  II. 


was  his  "  Rabdologius,  seu  Numerations  per 
Virgulas,"  which  work  contains  an  explana- 
tion of  the  use  of  his  celebrated  •'  Bones  or 
Rods,"  with  several  other  ingenious  modes  of 
calculation.  He  died  at  Manchester,  April  3, 
1617,  in  the  sixty-eighth  year  of  his  age.  Lord 
Napier  was  also  author  of  a  "  Plain  Discovery 
of  the  Revelation  of  St  John,"  1593  ;  and  of 


a  letter  to  Anthony  Bacon,  entitled, 
Math.    Diet. 


Secret 
Life  by 


Inventions.  —  Huttons 
Lord  Bitchan.  1 

NARDI  (JACOPO)  an  eminent  Italian  his- 
torian, was  born  of  an  ancient  and  noble  family 
at  Florence,  in  1476.  In  1527  he  was 


sent. 
and 


ambassador    to  the  republic  of   Venice 
upon  his  return  to  Florence,  he  distinguished 
himself    by  his  opposition   to  the  Medici,  in 
V  M 


N  AS 


consequence  of  which  he  w:w  impii 

-I,  and  he  m  d  !•<  re   he 

-,1  i,t'   his  lit'c  in  iin-  rultivat' 
literature!     \ardi   wrote    tin-   hi-i^ry   <>t   I  lo- 

1  10:11  1  I'.'l  to  l.'vil   ;  ilisa  parly  woik,  and 

u  a.  not  prin'i  il  until  1.582.    I  !••  wr  ite  a  "  Life 

of   \l:.l.  ,-|  mi,"    an.  I    acquired    great    r-j'ira- 

by  Ms  translate.  n  of    '.ivy,   which    is  con- 

M  I'-n  .1  our  of  the  In  st  versions  in  the  li 

Hi-  moreover  composed  "  Canti 
i  tasi  hiale^hi,"  ami  a  comedy  in  verse, 
entitled"  I.  \lmia/.ia."  He  is  thought  to  have 
.lic<l  alxnit  i.'i.V).  —  Tiraboschi, 

\  \KI,S,  Mus.  Doc.  (JAMES)  an  eminent 
i,>h  composer  of  the  last  century,  bro- 
tlnT  to  Mr  Justice  Nares,  of  the  Common 
1'lc.  is.  lie  succeeded  Travers  in  1758  as 
organist  and  composer  to  the  king.  Dying  in 
l?;:...  bis  remains  were  interred  in  the  church 
of  St  Margaret,  Westminster.  His  compositions 
of  sac  re,  I  music,  though  not  numerous,  are 
marked  by  great  genius,  and  a  thorough  know- 
le.he  if  the  science.  Two  of  his  best  an- 
il. MIS,  "  Hi-hold  how  Good,  &c."  and  "  O 
I  ,ori  I  m\  find,"  are  to  be  found  in  the  second 
volume  of  Stevens's  collection  ;  and  several 
others,  together  with  a  beautiful  service  in  the 
key  of  C,  are  in  frequent  use  among  all  the 
choirs  of  the  metropolis.  —  iliog.  Diet,  of  Mus. 

\  \S|[  or  NASHE  (THOMAS)  a  dramatist 
and  satirical  writer,  in  the  reign  of  queen  Eli- 
zabeth. He  was  born  at  Lowestoft  in  Suffolk, 
about  1564,  and  was  educated  at  St  John's 
college,  Cambridge,  but  left  the  university  after 
taking  his  fiist  degree.  He  then  settled  in  Lon- 
don, and  became  a  writer  for  the  stage,  and  en- 
gaged in  literary  controversies  with  his  con- 
temporaries, in  which  he  displayed  some  wit 
and  no  small  portion  of  scurrility  and  abuse. 
Some  of  his  publications  were  levelled  against 
the  puritan  Penry,  the  author  of  Martin  Mar- 
prelate  ;  but  the  chief  object  of  his  satire  was 
Gabriel  Harvey,  in  the  article  relating  to  whom 
one  of  his  tracts  has  been  noticed.  lie  was 
also  the  author  of  "  Pierce  Pennilesse  his  Sup- 
plication to  the  Divell,"  4to  ;  "  Plaine  Perce- 
vall,  the  Peace-Maker  of  England,"  4to  ;  and 
other  pieces  ;  besides  three  plays.  lie  died  in 
London  in  1601.  —  Biog.Dram.  Ci'nsur,  Literar. 

NASH  (TKEADWAY  RUSSEL)  an  English 
Antiquary  and  provincial  historian,  who  was  a 
clergj  man  of  the  established  church.  He  stu- 
died at  Worcester  college,  Oxford,  where  lie 
took  the  degree  of  DD.  in  1758  ;  and  he  ob- 
'1  the  rectory  of  St  Peters  at  Droitwich, 
in  Worcestershire.  Becoming  possessed  of  a 
considerable  estate  at  Bevere,  near  Worcester, 
be  i  mployed  his  time  and  fortune  in  the  inves- 
i  HI  of  the  antiquities  of  the  county  ;  and 
i-i  l/":;.'  he  published  "  Collections  for  the 
History  of  Worcestershire,"  -2  vols.  folio, 
comprising  materials  collected  by  the  Ilabing- 
tons  in  the  seventeenth  century,  aud  aug- 
mented by  1'r  Thomas  and  bishop  Lyttelton. 
Dr  ViOi  w.is  a  fellow  of  the  Society  of  Anti- 
quaries, ami  he  published,  in  the  Archaeologia, 
"  Observations  on  the  Time  of  the  Deatli  and 
Place  of  Burial  of  Queen  Katherine  Parr." 
He  also  edited  Butler's  Iludibras,  in  3  vols. 


.ill 

4to.     His  death  took  place  in  1811,  at  the  a^e 
of  ei.hu  -si  .  I  era/. 

\  \S\1I  I  II,  !)!).  (JAMES)  :i  learned  anti- 
quary, a  native  ol  \  ;wnh,  born  17-10.  He 

:il  (  duration  at  (.' 

when'  In-  became  fellow  of  Corpus  Chris'  i 
Bi-ne't)  collep-  ;  and  in  1773  ohtained  from 
the  society  of  which  he  was  a  member,  the 
:y  of  St  Mary  Abchurch,  in  the  city  of 
i'in,  aud  subsequently  that  of  Snailwell, 
Cambridgeshire  ;  on  which  occasion  he  re- 
signed his  former  benefice.  He  was  the  author 
of  a  small  tract  on  the  statutes  respecting  the 
assize  of  bread,  and  published  new  editions  of 
the  "  Notitia  Mouastica,"  by  Tanner,  and  of 
the  "  Itineraries  of  Simon  and  William  of 
Worcester."  He  also  compiled  a  catalogue  of 
books,  contained  in  the  library  of  the  college 
to  which  he  belonged,  which  has  since  been 
printed.  ])r  Nasmith  died  in  1808,  at  Leve- 
rington,  in  the  Isle  of  Ely,  a  living  of  wliich  he 
had  some  time  previously  become  the  incum- 
bent. His  publications  evince  much  industry, 
and  the  accompanying  notes  display  considera- 
ble research.  —  Gent.  Mag. 

NATHAN  (ISAAC,  or,  as  some  say,  MOR- 
DECAI)  the  name  of  a  learned  Jewish  rabbi, 
who,  about  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
published  the  first  Concordance  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament in  the  original  tongue.  This  work,  on 
which  he  is  said  to  have  bestowed  ten  years  of 
labour,  was  first  printed  in  1523  at  Venice. 
Michael  Calasio  reprinted  it  at  Rome  in  1621, 
in  4  folio  volumes,  with  such  additions  and  im- 
provements as  to  render  it  a  complete  diction- 
ary of  the  Hebrew  language.  Eleven  years 
after  another  edition  appeared  at  Basil,  revised 
and  corrected  by  Buxtorf.  The  rev.  W.  Ro- 
rnaine,  with  the  assistance  of  Mr  Edward  Kowe 
Mores  and  a  Portuguese  rabbi,  published  in 
1747  a  new  edition  from  that  of  Calasio,  at 
London,  in  the  same  number  of  volumes,  but 
several  liberties  having  been  taken  with  the 
text,  in  order  to  adapt  it  to  the  peculiar  opi- 
nions of  a  sect,  its  value  as  a  work  is  proper- 
tionably  diminished.  Of  the  personal  history 
of  the  original  author  little  or  nothing  is  known. 


'.  Diet.  Hist. 
NAUDE.  There  were  two  of  this  name, 
GABRIEL,  the  elder,  generally  known  by  his 
Latin  designation,  Naudams,  was  a  French 
physician,  equally  eminent  in  his  profession 
and  as  a  man  of  letters.  He  was  born  about 
the  commencement  of  the  seventeenth  century 
at  Paris,  studied  medicine  at  Padua,  where  he 
graduated,  and  afterwards  repairing  to  Rome, 
became  in  succession  librarian  to  the  cardinals 
Bagni  and  Barberini.  A  desire  of  returning  to 
his  native  country,  induced  him  to  quit  the 
service  of  the  latter  prelate  for  that  of  cardinal 
Richelieu  at  Paris,  with  whom  he  remained 
till  the  decease  of  his  patron  transferred  him 
to  his  successor,  Mazarin.  Through  the  in- 
terest of  the  new  minister,  Naude  was  ap- 
pointed physician  to  the  court,  and  received 
some  lucrative  appointments,  but  at  length 
the  disgrace  and  banishment  of  the  cardinal, 
his  master,  induced  him  again  to  quit  France, 
and  to  attach  himself  in  quality  of  librarian  to 


N  A  V 

Christina  of  Sweden.  His  stay  at  Stockholm, 
however,  proved  but  short ;  and  on  his  return 
a  fever,  occasioned  by  the  fatigue  lie  had  un- 
dergone in  travelling,  carried  him  off  at  Abbe- 
ville, July  29,  1633.  His  writings  consist  of 
"  An  Apology  for  the  great  Men  who  have 
been  accused  of  Magic  ;"  "  A  Supplement  to 
the  Life  of  Louis  XI  ;'"  "  The  Life  of  Car- 
danus  ;"  "  A  Treatise  against  Libels;"  "  On 
the  study  of  Military  Tactics  ;"  "  On  Liberal 
Studies  ;"  "  Advice  towards  forming  a  Li- 
brary ;"  "  Observations  on  the  attacks  made 
upon  Cardinal  Mazarin  ;"  "  Bibliographia 
Politica  ;"  and  some  miscellaneous  tracts. — 
PHILIP  NAUDE,  born  in  165-1  at  Metz,  was  a 
good  mathematical  scholar,  but  being  driven 
from  his  home  in  common  with  others  who 
professed  the  reformed  religion,  by  the  revoca- 
tion of  the  edict  of  Nantes,  he  found  an  asylum 
in  the  Prussian  capital.  Here  he  rose  to  con- 
siderable eminence  as  a  professor  of  his  favou- 
rite science,  and  was  appointed  mathematical 
tutor  to  the  court  of  Berlin,  and  a  member  of 
the  academy  there*  He  had  a  son  who  suc- 
ceeded lam  in  his  professorship  at  his  death, 
which  took  place  in  1729.  A  work  of  his  on 
geometry,  written  in  the  German  language,  in 
one  volume  quarto,  is  considered  a  clever  book. 
The  younger  Naude  died  in  1745,  being,  like 
his  father,  a  member  of  the  Berlin  Academy, 
and  also  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Lon- 
don.—  Morf.ri. 

NAUNTON  (sir  ROBERT)  an  English 
statesman,  and  court  historian,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  seventeenth  century.  He  was  de- 
scended from  an  ancient  family  in  Suffolk,  and 
was  educated  at  Trinity  college,  Cambridge, 
after  which  he  became  fellow  of  Trinity  hall. 
After  having  been  employed  in  embassies  to 
Scotland  and  France,  he  returned  to  the  uni- 
versity, where  he  filled  the  office  of  public 
orator,  in  which  capacity  he  attracted  the  no- 
tice of  king  James  I.  He  became  master  of 
requests,  and  surveyor  of  the  court  of  wards  ; 
and  in  1617  he  was  appointed  secretary  of 
state.  He  died  in  1630,  leaving  some  curi- 
ous memoirs  of  his  contemporaries,  which  ap- 
peared posthumously  under  the  title  of  "  Frag- 
menta  Regalia,"  of  which  there  is  a  modern 
republicatiou. — Fuller's  Worthies.  Lloyd's 
Mem.  of  Statesmen. 

NAVAGERO  (ANDREA)  an  Italian  poet 
and  orator,  was  born  of  a  patrician  family  at 
Venice,  in  1483.  He  was  a  great  assistant  of 
Aldus  Manutius,  in  his  editions  of  the  ancient 
writers  ;  and  his  reputation  for  eloquence  was 
such,  that  he  was  chosen  by  the  republic  to 
recite  the  funeral  orations  of  Alirano,  the  doge 
Loredano,  and  Catharine  Cornara,  queen  of 
Cyprus.  He  was  then  appointed  historiogra- 
pher to  the  state,  and  on  the  successes  of 
Charles  V,  he  was  sent  on  an  embassy  to  him. 
On  his  return,  he  was  sent  ambassador  into 
France,  and  on  his  way  home,  he  was  seized 
with  a  fever  at  Blois,  which  terminated  fatally, 
May  1529.  He  was  an  elegant  Latin  poet, 
and  such  an  admirer  of  simplicity  in  poetry, 
that  every  year  he  was  accustomed  to  burn  a 
topy  of  Martial's  epigrams,  which  he  regarded 


N  A  ¥ 

]  as  the  corrupters  of  that  species  of  composi- 
[  tion  as  it  existed  in  the  Grecian  models.  He 
composed  part  of  the  Venetian  history,  which 
he  also  committed  to  the  flames.  His  works 
were  published  by  the  brothers  Volpi,  in  1718, 
1  vol.  4to. — Tiraboscld.  Roscoe's  Leo  X. 

NAVARETE  (JUAN  FERNANDEZ)  a  Spa- 
nish painter,  surnamed  El  Mudo,  from  his  be- 
ing deaf  and  dumb,  was  born  at  Logranno,  in 
1562.  He  travelled  into  Italy  for  improve- 
ment,  and  on  his  return  to  Madrid,  in  1568, 
he  was  appointed  painter  to  the  king.  His 
most  distinguished  pieces  are  preserved  in  the 
Escurial  ;  and  a  Holy  Family,  which  is  consi- 
dered his  masterpiece,  is  no  less  noticed  for  its 
beauty,  than  for  the  strange  accessaries  it  con- 
tains in  the  figures  of  a  dog,  a  cat,  and  a 
partridge  ;  indeed,  so  addicted  was  Navarette 
to  the  representation  of  these  animals,  that  hi 
a  contract  made  with  Philip  11,  he  was 
obliged  to  bind  himself  not  to  introduce  them 
into  sacred  subjects.  His  mode  of  colouring 
was  so  fine,  as  to  acquire,  him  the  name  of  the 
Spanish  Titian.  He  died  in  1579. — Pitking- 
ton  by  Fuseli. 

NAVARETTA  (FERNANDES)  a  missionary 
of  the  order  of  St  Dominic,  was  born  at  Pen- 
nafiel,  in  Old  Castile.  He  quitted  Spain  in. 
1646,  on  a  mission  to  China,  where  he  did  riot 
arrive  until  1659  ;  and  lie  was  at  the  head  of 
the  mission  in  the  province  of  Chekiang,  when 
the  persecution  took  place,  and  he  was  ex- 
pelled with  the  rest  of  the  missionaries.  In 
1672  he  returned  to  Madrid,  and  soon  after 
went  to  Rome,  to  give  an  account  of  his  mis- 
sion. In  1678  he  was  consecrated  archbishop 
of  St  Domingo,  where  he  died  in  1689.  He 
wrote  a  work  entitled,  "  Tradados  Historicos 
Politicos  Ethicos  y  Religiosos  de  la  Monarchia 
de  China,"  which  is  esteemed  one  of  the 
most  faithful  and  curious  accounts  of  that 
country.  The  second  volume  was  suppressed 
by  the  inquisition,  but  as  it  has  been  frequent- 
ly quoted  by  the  Jesuits,  it  is  supposed  that 
they  obtained  a  copy  before  its  destruction. — 
Moreri. 

NAYLER  (JAMES)  an  English  Quaker  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  remarkable  for  his 
enthusiasm  and  sufferings,  was  tlieason  of  an 
industrious  small  farmer,  in  the  parish  of 
Ardsley,  near  Wakefield,  Yorkshire,  where  he 
was  born  in  1616.  He  had  a  good  natural 
capacity,  and  was  taught  to  read  and  write. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-two  he  married,  and  re- 
moved to  Wakefield,  where  he  remained  until 
the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war  in  1641.  He 
then  entered  the  parliamentary  army,  in  which 
he  served  eight  years,  when  he  returned 
home,  where  he  remained  until  1651,  when 
the  preaching  of  George  Fox  made  him  a 
convert  to  Quakerism.  In  the  beginning  of  the 
following  year,  he  imagined  that  he  heard  a 
voice  calling  upon  him  to  renounce  his  father's 
house,  and  become  an  itinerant  preacher.  He 
attended  to  this  fancied  inspiration,  and  soon 
distinguished  himself  among  those  of  kindred 
sentiments,  both  in  London  and  other  places, 
until  in  1656  he  was  committed  to  Exeter  jail 
for  propagating  his  opinions.  At  this  time 
2  M  2 


NBA 

his  own  enthusiasm,  and  the  extravagant  ad- 
mnali;;n  of  some  It  male  followers,  s<  cm  to 
liav  engendered  an  incipient  derangement, 
wlm  h  induced  Fox,  and  the  more  l^mul  body 
of  (Quakers,  to  disown  him.  On  his  release 
from  imprisonment,  he  repaired  to  llristol, 
where  his  equally  crazy  followers  formed  a 
procession,  and  led  him  into  that  city  in  a 
maniici  which  they  intended  to  resemble  the 
entrance  of  Christ  into  Jerusalem.  For  this 
absurdity,  Nayler,  and  several  of  his  partizans, 
wen-  commuted  to  prison,  and  afterwards  sent 
tu  I. mi, Inn,  whrir  a  parliamentary  committee 
was  appointed  to  examine  witnesses  on  a 
charge  of  blasphemy.  Nayler  asserted  that 
the  honours  paid  were  not  shown  to  himself, 
but  to  Christ,  an  explanation  which  did  not 
prevent  him  from  being  declared  guilty  of 
blasphemy,  and  sentenced  to  a  double  whip- 
ping at  different  times,  branding,  boring  of  the 
tongue  with  a  hot  iron,  and  imprisonment  and 
hard  labour  during  pleasure.  This  sentence, 
which  was  equally  repugnant  to  wisdom,  hu- 
manity, and  equity,  resembles  that  pronounced 
by  the  star-chamber  on  Dr  Leightou,  and  was 
equally  illegal,  the  house  of  Commons  being 
no  court  of  judicature,  nor  legally  possessed  of 
any  power  beyond  that  of  imprisoning  during 
the  KC'Ssiou.  It  was,  however,  fully  inflicted 
opon  this  unhappy  man,  who,  separated  from 
the  incitement  which  had  affected  bis  reason, 
ingenuously  acknowledged  the  extravagance 
of  his  conduct  ;  and  having  afforded  satisfac- 
tory evidence  of  his  unfeigned  contrition,  upon 
his  enlargement  he  was  again  received  into  the 
communion  of  the  Friends.  He  did  not  long 
survive  this  event,  which  took  place  on  the 
death  of  the  protector,  but  di  d  in  Hunting- 
donshire, on  his  way  to  bis  native  place,  in  the 
month  of  December,  1660,  in  the  forty-fourth 
year  of  his  age.  Nayler  uttered,  on  bis  death 
bed,  some  very  affecting  sentiments  of  calm 
resignation,  which  exhibit  an  intensity  of  feel- 
ing, and  a  beauty  of  expression,  which  show 
him  to  have  possessed  no  common  mind,  and 
add  to  the  curiosity  of  his  character  among  the 
victims  to  the  reveries  of  imagination.  His 
writings  were  collected  together,  and  publish- 
ed in  a  single  volume,  which,  although  scarce, 
may  sometimes  be  met  with. — Sea-ell's  Hist,  of 
the  Quakers*  Neat's  Hist,  cf  the  Pur  it. 

\  KAL  (DANIEL)  an  eminent  dissenting 
divine,  and  historian  of  the  puritans,  was  born 
in  London,  December  14,  1678.  Having  lost 
his  parents  when  young,  his  education  de- 
volved on  an  uncle,  who  bad  him  educated  at 
Merchant  Tailors'  school.  Declining  the  offer 
of  an  exhibition  to  St  John's  college,  Oxford, 
in  l(i(.'7  he  entered  as  a  student  in  a  seminary 
conducted  by  Mr  Roe,  a  learned  dissenting 
minisu  r,  after  which  he  proceeded  to  the  uni- 
versity  of  1'irecht,  where  he  studied  under 
liunnan  and  (Jrsevius.  On  his  return  to  Lon- 
don, in  1703,  he  began  to  officiate  as  a 
pp'rii  her,  and  in  1706  succeeded  Dr  Singleton 
as  minister  of  a  congregation  in  Aldersgate- 
slreet,  in  which  connexion  he  continued  for 
six-aiid-thirty  years.  Although  indefatigable 
an  j  assiduous  as  a  minister,  he  found  leisure 


N  E  A 

for  literary  labouis,  and  in  1720  published  bk 
"History  of  New  England,"  2  vols.  8vo, 
which  iiii-t  with  ;t  very  favourable  reception, 
iallv  in  Aincrii  ;t.  l:i  17'^.'  he  published, 
"  A  better  to  Dr  l-'iancis  Hare,  Dean  of  \\  </r- 
cester,"  occasioned  by  some  observations  on 
the  dissenters,  delivered  by  that  divine  in  a 
visitation  sermon.  He  subsequently  wrote 
"  A  Narrative  of  the  Method  and  Success  of 
Inoculating  for  the  Small-Pox  in  New  Eng- 
land," which  led  to  an  interview  with  the 
prince  and  princess  of  Wales,  afterwards 
George  II  and  queen  Caroline.  In  173'2  he 
sent  into  the  world  the  first  volume  of  bis"  His- 
tory of  the  Puritans,"  8vo,  the  second,  third, 
and  fourth  appearing  in  1733,  1736,  and  1738. 
This  work,  which  has  obtained  considerable 
authority,  is  very  honourable  to  the  talents  of 
the  author,  and  possibly  exhibits  as  much  im- 
partiality as  can  be  expected  from  a  writer  who 
inherited  the  religious  principles  of  the  body 
whose  history  he  composed.  It  called  forth 
a  "  Vindication  of  the  Doctrine,  Discipline, 
and  Worship  of  the  Church  of  England,  as 
established  in  the  Reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
from  the  injurious  Reflections  of  Mr  Neal's 
First  Volume,"  8vo,  from  Dr  Macldox,  bishop 
of  St  Asapb,  to  which  lie  published  a  reply, 
which  he  calls  "  A  Review  of  the  principal 
Facts  objected  to,  &c."  His  remaining  vo- 
lumes were  reviewed  in  a  similar  spirit  by 
Dr  Zachary  Grey,  to  which  Mr  Neal  himself 
never  replied,  but  an  answer  appears  in  a  new 
edition  of  Neal,  1797,  5  vols.  8vo,  by  Dr  Toul- 
min  ;  and  these  various  productions  are  valu- 
able, as  showing  the  most  forcible  arguments 
on  each  side  the  question.  In  1738  the  health 
of  Mr  Neal  began  to  give  way  under  the  se- 
vere literary  application  to  which  he  devoted 
himself,  and  after  repeated  paralytic  attacks  he 
died  at  Bath  in  April,  1743,  in  the  sixty-fifth 
year  of  his  age,  leaving  a  high  character  be- 
hind him  both  as  a  writer  and  a  divine.  He 
married  a  sister  of  the  celebrated  Dr  Lardner, 
by  whom  he  had  a  son  named  NATHANIEL, 
an  attorney  and  secretary  to  the  Million  bank, 
who  wrote  "  A  Free  and  Serious  Remon- 
strance to  Dissenting  Ministers,  on  Occasions 
of  the  Decay  of  Religion  ;"  and  some  Let- 
ters in  Dr  Doddridge's  collection. —  Wilson's 
Hist,  of  Dissenting  Churches,  Memoirs  by 
Toulmin. 

NEANDER  (MICHAEL)  a  German  writer 
on  ethics  and  philology  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, lie  was  a  native  of  Sorau,  in  Silesia, 
and  studied  under  Melancthon  at  Wittemberg. 
He  became  rector  of  the  school  of  Northausen, 
and  subsequntly  rector  and  administrator  of 
the  school  and  convent  of  Islefield,  where  he 
remained  till  his  death,  in  1595.  He  was  in- 
defatigable in  his  attention  to  his  duty  as  an 
instructor  of  youth,  for  whose  use  be  published 
several  works,  among  which  may  be  noticed 
his  "  Erotemata  Linguae  Gnrcw  ;"  "  Opus 
Aureum  et  Scholasticum  ;"  and  "  Gnomolo- 
gia  Grffico-Latina,"  in  which  he  has  collected 
moral  sentences  from  the  writings  of  the  an- 
cient poets,  philosophers,  historians,  &c. ;  aa 
alt«o  in  another  treatise,  entitled  "  Etbice  vctws 


NEC 

et    sapiens   veterum    Latinorum   sapientum," 
Isleb.  1581,  8vo. — Stollii  Introd,  in  Hist.  Lit. 

NKAHCHUS,  one  of  the  captains  of  Alex- 
ander the  Great,  who  was  employed  by  chat 
conqueror  in  conducting  his  fleet  from  India  by 
the  ocean  to  the  Persian  gulf.  This  expedi- 
tion proved  so  tedious  ami  fatiguing,  that  the 
leader,  on  his  return,  was  not  recognized  by 
his  friends,  until  he  had  made  himself  known. 
His  service  was  so  much  esteemed,  that  he 
was  crowned  with  a  garland  by  Alexander  at 
Susa.  The  relation  of  his  voyage  is  extant, 
and  is  a  curious  and  valuable  record.  It  may 
be  found  among  the  geographic  memoirs  by 
Hudson.  Nearchus  is  reckoned  among  the 
historians  of  Alexander,  and  is  referred  to  as 
such  by  Strabo,  Suidas,  and  Arrian. — Vossii 
Hist.  Grcec. 

NECKER  (JAMFS)  a  celebrated  financier, 
twice  minister  of  state  in  France.  He  was 
born  in  1732  at  Geneva,  where  his  father  was 
professor  of  civil  law  and  regent  of  the  college. 
At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  was  sent  to  Paris,  to 
be  placed  in  a  banking-house  for  instruction  ; 
after  which  he  carried  on  the  business  of  a 
banker,  in  partnership  with  Mr  Thelluson,  and, 
a/ter  his  death,  with  his  brother  and  others. 
He  first  distinguished  himself  by  his  "  Eloge 
Je  Colbert,"  which  was  crowned  by  the  French 
Academy  ;  and  by  a  treatise,  "  Sur  la  Legis- 
lation et  le  Commerce  des  Grains,"  which 
passed  through  more  than  twenty  editions. 
Having  acquired  great  reputation  as  a  financier 
by  these  productions,  and  some  memoirs  on 
the  resources  of  France,  which  he  transmitted 
to  the  count  de  Maurepas,  he  was  in  1776  ap- 
pointed director  of  the  finances,  and  soon  after 
invested  with  the  important  office  of  comp- 
troller-general. In  1781  he  published  an  ac- 
count of  his  administration,  under  the  title  of 
"  Compte  Rendu  au  Hoi,"  and  soon  after  he 
made  an  attempt  to  obtain  admission  into  the 
council,  and  being  refused  on  the  score  of  his 
religion,  as  he  was  a  Calvinist,  he  threatened 
to  resign  his  official  situation.  He  was  in  con- 
sequence removed,  and  exiled  to  his  country 
seat.  During  his  retirement  he  wrote  his 
work,  "  De  I'Administrution  des  Finances  de. 
la  France,"  1784,  3  vols.  8vo  ;  and  another, 
"  De  I'lmportance  des  Opinions  Religieuses," 
8vo.  In  1788  he  was  restored  to  his  place  of 
comptroller-general  ;  when  he  recommended 
the  important  measure  of  the  convocation  of 
the  states-  general.  The  momentous  events 
which  followed  are  matter  of  well-known  his- 
tory, and  cannot  come  within  the  scope  of 
this  notice.  In  July  1789  Necker,  who  was 
regarded  by  the  court  party  as  a  spy  on  their 
conduct,  was  suddenly  dismissed  from  the 
king's  service  ;  but  being  then  in  the  height 
of  his  popularity,  the  strong  voice  of  the  public 
procured  his  immediate  recal.  His  talents, 
however,  were  not  adapted  to  the  scenes  of; 
commotion  which  then  existed,  and  ere  long  i 
ne  became  the  object  of  the  hatred  of  that 
people  by  whom  he  had  been  almost  adored. 
He  took  his  departure  from  France,  and  was 
or.ly  protected  from  the  fury  of  the  mob  during 
his  ji/unr.ey,  by  the  sanction  of  a  decree  of  the 


NEE 

National  Assembly.  lie  retired  to  Copet  in 
Switzerland,  where  he  chiefly  devoted  himself 
to  literary  pursuits.  He  published  a  treatise, 
"  Du  Pouvoir  executif  des  grands  Etats," 
17()tf.  2  vols.  12mo  ;  "  Cours  de  Morale  reli- 
gieuse,"  Geneva,  1800,  3  vols.  8vo  ;  and 
"  Dernieres  Vues  de  Politique  et  de  Finances 
offertes  a  la  Nation  Fra^oise,"  3802,  8vo. 
His  death  took  place  at  Copet  in  1804,  and 
his  posthumous  works  were  published  by  his 
daughter,  madame  de  Stael,  under  the  title  of 
"  Manuscrits  de  M.  Necker." — Biog.  Mem.  by 
Mad.  de  Stael.  Biog.  Univ. — NECKF.R  (SU- 
SANNA CURCHOD)  wife  of  the  foregoing,  was 
the  daughter  of  a  Swiss  clergyman,  and  was 
born  in  the  Pays  de  Vaud.  She  distinguished 
herself  by  her  literary  talents,  having  published 
"  Reflexions  sur  la  Divorce,"  and  "  Des  In- 
humations precipites."  She  died  in  1796, 
after  which  appeared  "  Melanges  extraits  des 
Manuscrits  de  Mad.  Nerker,"  3  vols.  8vo  ; 
and  "  Nouveau  Melanges,"  2  vols.  8vo,  edited 
by  her  husband.  Mad.  Necker  was  in  her 
youth  the  object  of  the  early  attachment  of  the 
celebrated  historian  Gibbon. — Letters  of  Gib- 
bon. Biog.  Univ. 

NECKER  (NoEL  JOSEPH)  a  native  of  the 
Netherlands,  who  became  botanist  and  histo- 
riographer to  the  elector  palatine.  He  was 
the  author  of  "  Elementa  Botanica,  cum  63 
Tab.  acre  incisis,"  1791,  4  vols.  8vo,  published 
atNienwied  ;  "  Phytozoologie  Philosophique," 
1790,  8vo,  and  other  works  relating  to  botani- 
cal science.  He  died  at  Manheim  in  1793. — 
Biog.  Univ. 

NEEDHAM  (JOHN  TUBERVILLE)  a  philo- 
sopher and  antiquary  of  the  last  century,  born 
in  London  in  1713.  His  parents,  who  were  of 
the  Romish  church,  placed  him  at  the  Scotch 
college  in  Douai,  where  he  made  a  considera- 
ble proficiency  in  the  sciences,  as  well  as  in 
classical  literature.  Having  completed  his 
education,  he  returned  to  England,  and  kept  a 
school  in  Hampshire  for  some  time,  till  a 
vacancy  occurring  in  the  English  college  at 
Lisbon,  he  went  thither  as  professor  of  natural 
philosophy.  The  situation,  however,  not  an- 
swering his  expectations,  he  visited  great  part 
of  the  European  continent,  in  the  capacity  of 
tutor  to  some  young-  men  of  rank  belonging  to 
his  own  country  and  persuasion.  He  was 
elected  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Lon- 
don, of  the  Antiquarian  Society,  of  the  French 
Academy  of  Sciences,  and  assisted  M.  de 
Buftbn  in  the  composition  of  some  parts  of  his 
Natural  History.  His  other  writings  arc, 
"  Enquiries  on  Microscopical  Discoveries  and 
the  Generation  of  Organized  Bodies,"  3  vols.  ; 
"  New  Microscopical  Discoveries  ;"  "  Obser- 
vations on  Spallanzani's  Discoveries  ;"  "  En- 
quiries concerning  Nature  and  Religion  ;"  and 
an  "  Essay  on  the  Origin  of  the  Chinese  Em- 
pire," which  he  affirmed  to  have  been  colo- 
nized from  ancient  Egypt.  His  death  tuok 
place  in  1781  Jtt  Brussels,  where  he  had  lived 
for  some  time  as  rector  of  the  Imperial  Aca- 
demy of  Sciences.  Though  a  learned  man  he 
was  singularly  credulous  and  given  to  super- 
stition.— Life  by  Abbe  Mann 


NEE 

NEEDHAM  (MARCHMONT)  an  active  parti- 
Ean  aud  political  \vritcr  during  the  civil  wars, 
ii  native-  of  llurford  near  Oxford,  \vlicn-  lie  uas 
bora  in  1620.  Having  received  a  rlas-iral  edu- 
cation in  the  chapel  of  All  Soul's  college  aud 
at  St  Mary-hall,  Oxford,  lie  became  fora  short 
time  an  assistant  at  .Merchant  Tailors'  school, 
in  the  city  of  London,  till  the  commotions  of 
164^,  when  he  threw  up  his  situation,  and 
embracing  the  popular  side  of  the  question, 
edited  a  periodical  paper  against  the  royal 
cause,  under  the  title  of  "  Mercurius  Britanni- 
cus."  This  work,  together  with  some  employ- 
ment which  he  obtained  from  an  attorney  in 
Gray's-inn,  procured  him  a  subsistence  till 
after  the  battle  of  Naseby,  when  he  espoused 
the  cause  which  he  had  before  written  against, 
ami  retraced  his  steps  in  a  i^aper,  entitled 
'  .Men-urius  Pragmaticus,"  in  which  he  sati- 
rized the  presbyterians,  aud  became  a  warm 
advocate  for  the  king.  The  parliament  party 
becoming  again  predominant,  threw  Needham 
into  prison  lor  his  tergiversation  ;  but  the  same 
versatility  which  brought  him  into  danger, 
carried  him  out  of  it.  He  changed  sides  again, 
and  in  his  "  Mercurius  Politicus,"  from  1649 
to  April  1660,  when  it  was  prohibited  by  the 
council,  unsaid  all  that  he  had  said  before, 
now  arguing  strongly  in  favour  of  the  indepen- 
dents. During  this  period  he  was  much  in 
vogue  with  his  party  as  a  physician  as  well  as 
an  author,  and  had  obtained  considerable 
practice,  when  the  death  of  Cromwell,  and 
the  restoration  of  Charles  II  once  more  threw 
him  into  difficulties.  A  man,  whose  political 
opinions  are  of  so  pliable  a  nature,  however, 
is  rarely  at  a  loss ;  and  although  Dr  Needham, 
for  so  he  was  now  called,  thought  it  advisable 
at  first  to  leave  the  country,  he  soon  obtained 
his  pardon,  and  returned  to  London,  where  he 
died  in  1678.  Wood  speaks  of  him  gs  com- 
bining some  ability  with  considerable  humour 
and  convivial  qualities. — Biog.  Brit. 

NECKHAM,  NECKAM,  or  NEQUAM 
(ALEXANDER)  a  monk  of  the  order  St  Augus- 
tine, flourished  in  the  twelfth  century.  .Not- 
withstanding his  attachment  to  the  monastic 
life,  he  travelled  frequently  into  Italy.  He 
became  abbot  of  Cirencester,  where  he  died  in 
r.'ir.  He  left  numerous  treatises  on  divinity, 
philosophy,  and  morality.  He  also  wrote  a 
tract  on  the  ancient  mythology,  jEsopian  fa- 
bles, and  a  system  of  grammar  and  rhetoric. 
Of  his  poems,  that  "  De  Laude  Sapientite  Di- 
vinai"  is  the  most  esteemed. — Warton's  Hist,  of 
Poetry.  Tanner. 

\  KEF,  or  NEEFS  (PETER")  the  elder  an 
eminent  artist,  was  horn  at  Antwerp  in  1.570. 
He  painted  the  interiors  of  churches  and  tem- 
ples with  surprising  neatness  and  delicacy. 
To  avoid  the  monotony  attendant  upon  such  a 
style,  he  introduced  a  variety  of  objects,  and 
by  a  good  management  of  the  chiaro-scuro, 
he  gave  a  lively  and  animated  effect  to  what 
otherwise  would  have  been  tame  and  uninte- 
resting. As  he  was  but  an  indifferent  de- 
signer of  figures,  some  of  his  pictures  are  de- 
corated vith  those  of  Velvet  Breughel  the 
i,  Teiiiers,  \c.  lie  died  in  1651.  His 


N  E  L 

son,  Peter  the  younger,  painted  .-imilar  sub- 
jects, but  they   are  deficient   both  in  neatness 


<  -01  -j-ec  tni  'S3.  —  D'  Argenville.  Pilkington, 
.NI.LU  (ARNOLD  VANDER)  an  eminent 
;uti>t,  was  horn  at  Amsterdam  in  1619.  He 
excelled  in  painting  views  in  Holland,  cot- 
tages or  fishermen's  huts,  and  in  his  beautiful 
delineation  of  the  effect  of  moonlight.  llu 
was  a  perfect  master  of  the  chiar-oscuro.  Hiu 
sun-sets  are  excellent,  nor  was  he  less  success- 
ful in  painting  water  pieces,  iu  which  he  is 
only  surpassed  by  Cuyp.  He  died  in  1683. 
—His  son,  EGLON  HENDUICK  VANDEH  NEER, 
was  born  in  1643,  and  was  an  historical  and 
portrait  painter.  His  pictures  of  conversations 
and  gallant  subjects  are  most  admired  ;  they 
are  well  coloured,  aud  highly  finished.  He 
was  employed  for  some  time  by  the  elector  pa- 
latine at  Dusseldorf,  where  lie  died  in  1703. 
—D'Argenville,  Pilkington  by  Fuseti. 

NELSON  (Ho  RATIO)  a  celebrated  naval 
officer,  who  was  born  September  29,  1758,  at 
Burnham  Thorpe  in  Norfolk,  of  which  parish 
his  father  was  rector.  At  the  age  of  twelve, 
when  a  war  with  Spain  was  apprehended,  on 
account  of  the  dispute  about  the  Falkland 
islands,  he  entered  as  a  midshipman  on  board 
the  Ilaisonnable,  commanded  by  his  uncle, 
captain  Suckling.  He  afterwards  went  to  the 
West  Indies  in  a  merchant  vessel;  and  in  1773 
he  accompanied  commodore  Phipps  in  the  ex- 
pedition towards  the  north  pole.  In  1777  he 
was  made  a  lieutenant,  and  in  1779  raised  to 
the  rank  of  post-captain,  and  appointed  to  the 
command  of  the  Hinchinbroke,  when  our  West 
Indian  settlements  were  threatened  by  the 
Frencli  under  D'Estaiug.  He  distinguished 
himself  in  an  attack  on  fort  Juan,  in  the  gulf 
of  Mexico,  and  on  other  occasions,  and  he  re- 
mained on  the  American  station  till  the  con- 
clusion of  peace.  He  afterwards  commanded 
the  Boreas  frigate,  and  was  employed  to  pro- 
tect the  trade  of  the  Leeward  islands  ;  and 
while  on  that  service  he  married  Mrs  Nesbit, 
the  widow  of  a  physician.  On  the  commence- 
ment of  the  war  with  the  French  republic,  he 
was  made  commander  of  the  Agamemnon,  of 
sixty-four  guns,  with  which  he  joined  lord 
Hood  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  assisted  at 
the  taking  of  Toulon  and  at  the  siege  of  Bas- 
tia,  when  he  superintended  the  landing  of  the 
troops.  He  was  subsequently  attacked  by  five 
French  ships  of  war,  and  afterwards  was  at 
the  siege  of  Calvi,  in  which  service  he  lost  an 
eye.  He  next  removed  from  the  Agamemnon 
to  the  Captain,  and  not  long  after  having 
hoisted  a  commodore's  pendant,  he  was  em- 
ployed at  the  blockade  of  Leghorn  and  the 
taking  of  Porto  Ferrajo.  Sailing  to  Gibraltar 
on  board  the  Minerva  frigate,  he  fell  in  with 
two  Spanish  frigates,  one  of  which  he  cap- 
tured ;  and  then  proceeding  to  join  sir  John 
Jervis,  he  fell  in  with  the  Spanish  fleet,  by 
which  he  was  pursued,  and  escaping,  he  coii- 
vejed  to  the  admiral  that  intelligence  which 
led  to  the  victory  off  cape  St  Vincent,  February 
13,  1797.  On  that  occasion  he  commanded 
the  Captain,  on  board  which  he  attacked  the 
Santissima  Triuidadaof  136  guns  ;  and  passim' 


N  E  L 

to  the  San  Nicholas  of  80   guns,  and  the  San 
Joseph  of  112,  he  obliged  both  those  ships  to 
strike  their   flags.     For  his  gallantry  he  was 
made   a   knigiit  of  the   Bath,  rear-admiral  of 
the  blue,   and  appointed  to  the    command  of 
the  inner  squadron  at  the  blockade  of  Cadiz. 
His  next  service  was  an  attack  on  the  town  of 
Santa  Cruz,  in  the  island  of  Teueriffe,  in  which 
he     was    unsuccessful,     and    being    severely 
wounded,  his  life  was  saved  by  his  son-in-law, 
captain  Nesbit,  who  at  great  personal  hazard 
conveyed  him  to  a  boat.     He  was   obliged  to 
suffer  the  amputation  of  his  right  arm,  in  con- 
sequence of  which  he   obtained   a  pension  of 
one   thousand  pounds ;  and    in  the    memorial 
which  he  presented  to  his  Majesty  on  the  oc- 
casion, he  stated  that  he  had  been  present  in 
more    than    one  hundred   engagements.       In 
April   1798   he  hoisted  his  flag  on  board  the 
Vanguard,  and  rejoined  lord  St  Vincent,  (ad- 
miral Jervis,)  who  sent  him  to  the  Mediterra- 
nean to  watch  the  progress   of  the  armament 
at  Toulon.     Notwithstanding  his  vigilance,  the 
French  fleet  escaped  which  conveyed  Buona- 
parte to  Egypt.    Thither  Nelson  followed,  and 
after  various   disappointments    he   discovered 
the    enemy's   vessels   moored   in    the    bay  of 
Aboukir.     Notwithstanding  the  disadvantages 
which  their  situation  presented,  he  boldly  at- 
tacked  them,   and   by    a  well  executed  ma- 
nreuvre  obliged  them  to  come    to  action,  and 
obtained    a    most   complete    victory,    all    the 
French  ships  but  two  being  taken  or  destroyed. 
This  achievement  was  rewarded  with  the  title 
of  baron  Nelson  of  the  Nile,  and  a  pension  of 
two    thousand  pounds,    besides    the    honours 
conferred  on  him  by  the  Grand  Seignor.     His 
next  service  was  the  restoration   of  the  king 
of  Naples,  which  was  accompanied  with   cir- 
cumstances of  cruelty  by  no  means  creditable 
to  his  character,  and  which  may  be  attributed 
to  the  pernicious  influence   of  lady  Hamilton, 
the  wife  of  the  English  ambassador,  who  most 
improperly  entered  into  the  feelings  of  there- 
stored  family.     His  attachment  for  that  lady, 
with  whom  he  lived  publicly  after  the   death 
of  her   husband,    occasioned    his    separation 
from  lady  Nelson  on  his  return  to  England.  In 
1801   he  was   employed  on  an  expedition  to 
Copenhagen,  under  sir  Hyde  Parker,  in  which 
he  displayed   his  accustomed    gallantry,   and 
effected  the  destruction  of  the  Danish  ships  and 
batteries.     On  his  return  home  he  was  created 
a  viscount,  and  his  honours  were  made  heredi- 
tary in  his   family,  even  in  the   female  line. 
When  hostilities  recommenced  after  the  peace 
of  Amiens,  lord  Nelson  was  appointed  to  com- 
mand the  fleet  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  for 
nearly  two  years  he  was  engaged  in  the  block- 
ade of  Toulon.     In  spite  of  his  vigilance,  the 
French  fleet  got  out  of  port  March  30,  1805, 
and  being  joined  by  a  Spanish  squadron  from 
Cadiz,  sailed  to  the  West  Indies.     The   Eng- 
lish admiral  hastily  pursued   them,  and  they 
returned  to  Europe,   and  took   shelter  at  Ca- 
diz ;  while  lord  Nelson  came  home.     After  a 
few  weeks  he  again  set  sail  for  the  coasts  of 
Spain.     On  the  19th  of  October,  the  French 
commanded  by  Villeneuve,  and  the  Spaniards 


N  E  L 

by  Gravina,  ventured  again  from  Cadiz,  and 
on  the  21st  they  came  up  with  the  English 
>quadron  off  cape  Trafalgar.  An  engagement 
took  place,  in  which  a  most  glorious  victory 
was  obtained,  at  the  expense  of  the  life  of  the 
English  commander,  who  was  wounded  in  the 
back  by  a  musket  ball,  and  shortly  after  ex- 
pired. His  remains  were  brought  to  England, 
and  after  lying  in  state  at  Greenwich,  he  was 
magnificently  interred  in  St  Paul's  cathedral, 
where  a  monument  has  been  erected  to  his 
memory.  Having  left  no  issue  by  his  wife,  an 
earldom  was  bestowed  on  his  brother,  and  a 
sum  of  money  voted  by  parliament  for  the, 
purchase  of  an  estate,  which  is  to  descend 
with  the  title,  to  his  collateral  relatives.  The 
life  of  this  distinguished  naval  commander  has 
been  written  by  Mr  M'Arthur,  Dr  J.  Stanier 
Clarke,  and  Dr  Southey. — Naval  Chronicle. 

NELSON  (ROBERT)  an  English  gentleman 
of  good  private  fortune,  which  he  employed  in 
works  of  benevolence  and   charity  ;   and  from 
this  circumstance,  as  well  as  from  the  devo- 
tional works,  of  which   he  was  the  author,  is 
now  generally  distinguished  from  others  of  the 
same  name,  by  the  epithet  of  "  The  Pious." 
He  was  the  son  of  a  London  merchant,  en- 
gaged in  the  Levant  trade,  and   was  born  in 
the  English  metropolis,  June   22,  1656.     His 
friends  placed  him  for  education  on  the  foun- 
dation of  St  Paul's  school,  and  he  subsequently 
became  a  fellow  commoner  of  Trinity  college, 
Cambridge.     Having    gone  through  the   cus- 
tomary course  of  study,   he  tben  proceeded  to 
make  a  continental  tour,  in  company  with  his 
friend  Edmund  Halley.     While  in   Italy    he 
was    introduced    to    lady    Theophila    Lucy, 
daughter  to  the   earl  of  Berkley,  and  widow 
of  sir  Kingsmill  Lucy,  hart.     With   this  lady 
he  formed  a   friendship,  which   on  his  return 
to   England  in    1682   terminated  in  marriage. 
It  was  not  till  some  time  subsequent  to  the 
formation  of  this  connexion,  that  Mr  Nelson 
discovered  the  religious  principles  of  his  wife 
not  to  be  in  accordance  with  his  own,  she  hav- 
ing been  for  some  time  a  convert  to  the  Romish 
rhurcb.      Strongly   attached,  however,   as  he 
jimself  was  to  the  principles  of  the  reformed 
faith,  this  difference  of  opinion  did  not  form, 
as  is  too  frequently  the  case,   any  bar  to  their 
conjugal  happiness,  although  the  lady  actually 
wrote  against  the  doctrines  to  which  her  hus - 
band  was  so  sincerely  attached.     Protestant 
as  he  was,  the  notions  of  hereditary  right  had 
so  strong  an  influence  upon  his  mind,  that  on 
the   accession  of  William  he  remained  a  non- 
juror,  associating  and  communicating  princi- 
pally with  the  recusant  clergy.     These  opi- 
nions did  not,  however,  interrupt  his  intimacy 
with  archbishop  Tillotson,  whom  he  assisted 
in  every  work  which  had  the  good  of  mankind 
for  its  object,  till  the  death  of  the  worthy  pre- 
late, who   expired   in  his  arms  in  1694,  dis- 
solved their  friendship.     In  1709  the  argu- 
ments of  some  of  his  clerical  friends  had  pro- 
duced such  a  degree   of  conviction  upon   his 
mind,  that  he  became  a  member  of  the  Esta- 
blished church,   aud   continued  in   that  com- 
munion till  his  deatli,  which  took  place  at  Ken 


N  E  Jl 

sitiL'ton,  January  16th,  1715.  There  are  few 
writers  on  devotional  subjects  whose  works 
have  been  so  popular  as  Mr  Nelson's.  His 
treatise,  entitled  "  A  Companion  to  the  Festi- 
vals and  Fasts,"  especially,  has  gone  through 
a  great,  number  of  editions.  Among  his  other 
win  ks,  are  "  The  Whole  duty  of  a  Clnistian  ;" 
"  The  Duty  of  frequenting  the  Christian  Sacri- 
fice ;"  ;;vi>  ;  "An  Address  on  the  Means  of 
doing  Good;"  "A  Letter  on  the  Trinity;" 
"  The  Practice  of  True  Devotion,"  I'^mo  ; 
"  Transiibstantiation  contrary  to  Scripture," 
4to  ;  "  A  Letter  on  Church  Government  ;"  a 
life  of  his  old  tutor,  bishop  Bull,  &c. —  Jiiog. 
Brit. 

MEMESIUS,  a  learned  heathen  of  Phoeni- 
cia, converted  to  Christianity  about  the  close 
of  the  fourth  century.  He  became  afterwards 
bishop  of  Emessa,  in  his  native  country.  A 
work  of  his,  "On  the  Nature  of  Man,"  in 
which  he  advocates  the  opinion  of  the  exist- 
ence of  the  soul  in  a  slate  previous  to  its  junc- 
tion with  the  body,  is  yet  extant  in  an  edition 
printed  in  8vo,  in  1671,  at  the  Clarendon 
press. —  A'DKC.  Diet.  //isf. 

NENNIUS,  an  ancient  British  historian, 
abbot  of  1  iangor,  is  generally  said  to  have  nou- 
rished about  the  year  6VO,  and  to  have  taken 
refuge  at  Chester  at  the  lime  of  the  massacre 
of  the  monks  of  that  monastery.  Bishop  Ni- 
colson,  however,  contends,  that  from  his  own 
book,  it  is  evident  that  he  did  not  exist  before 
the  ninrb.  century.  He  composed  several 
works,  oi'  which  catalogues  are  given  by  Bale 
and  Pits,  but  the  only  one  remaining  is  IMS 
"  llistoria  Britonum,"  or  "  Eulogium  Pri- 
tannia-,"  which  is  published  in  Gale's  Hist. 
Brit.  Scrip.  Oxon,  1691. — IY/<Wsiw's  Hist. 
Lih. 

N  EPOS  (ConNELiws)  an  historian,  who 
flourished  under  the  two  first  Csvsars,  and  was 
especially  favoured  In1  Augustus.  He  is  said 
lo  have  been  born  at  or  near  Verona  in  Cisal- 
pine Gaul,  and  wrote  the  lives  of  several  of 
the  most  illustrious  heroes  of  Greece  and  Rome. 
This  work,  formerly  published  under  the  name 
of  /Kmilius  Probus,  is  a  standard  book,  and 
from  the  simplicity,  as  well  as  the  elegance 
and  purity  of  its  l.atinity,  is  commonly  used 
as  an  introductory  one  in  most  of  our  principal 
seminaries.  Nepos  is  said  to  have  enjoyed 
the  personal  friendship  of  Cicero  and  Pompo- 
nius  Atticus,  the  life  of  the  latler  of  whom  is 
among  his  writings.  The  time  of  his  death  is 
uncertain.  There  are  several  editions  of  his 
works,  the  best  of  which  is  that  printed  at  the 
Clarendon  press  in  1803. —  lit,ig.  Clu\s. 

NERI  (ANTHONY)  one  of  the  earliest  che- 
mists who  wrote  on  the  art  of  glass-making. 
He  was  born  at  Florence,  towards  the  middle 
of  the  sixteenth  century.  Though  he  adopted 
the  ecclesiastical  profession,  he  constantly  re- 
fused to  accept  of  any  benefice,  that  he  might 
be  at  leisure  to  study  what  have  been  termed 
the  occult  sciences.  He  visited  several  parts 
of  Europe,  and  resided  for  a  long  time  at  Ant- 
werp, but  the  period  of  his  death  is  not  exactly 
known.  His  treatise,  entitled  "  Arte  Vetraria 
distinta  in  libri  scite,"  which  has  been  oft^n 


N  ES 

printed  and  translated  into  various  languages, 
is  still  deserving  of  perusal,  notwithstanding 
the  great  improvements  in  tlie  art  which  have 
taken  place  in  modern  times. —  tiii<^.  Univ. 

NEKI  (Si  Piin.ii'  de)  founder  of  the  con- 
gregation of  the  priests  of  the  Oratory  in  Italy, 
was  born  July  '23,  1,">15,  of  a  noble  family  in 
Florence.  He  was  distinguished  very  early 
by  his  great  devotion,  and  was  ordained  priest 
at  the  age  of  twenty-six,  from  which  time,  un- 
til his  death,  not  a  day  passed  without  his  ce- 
lebrating mass  or  communicating.  In  1550 
he  founded  a  fraternity  for  the  relief  of  stran- 
gers, pilgrims,  and  destitute  sick  persons,  which 
led  the  way  to  the  celebrated  institution  of  the 
Oratory,  which  was  formally  organized  by  him 
in  1564,  and  approved  by  pope  Gregory  XI 11 
in  1574.  The  members  of  this  society,  which 
differs  from  the  congregation  of  the  Oratory, 
founded  by  cardinal  Berulle  in  France,  take  no 
vows ;  their  general  is  changed  every  three 
years,  and  their  officer  is  to  deliver  such  in- 
structions every  day  in  their  church  as  are  suited 
to  all  capacities.  Eacli  institution  has  pro- 
duced some  celebrated  men,  one  of  the  first  of 
whom  wa-i  cardinal  Baronius.  Neri  died  at 
Rome  in  1595,  and  was  canonized  by  pope 
Gregory  XV  in  1622. — Moreri.  Nwur.  Diet. 
Hist. 

NERI  (POMPEIO)  a  native,  of  Florence,  and 
professor  of  law  at  Pisa  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. He  was  the  author  of  "  Observations 
on  the  Tuscan  Nobility  ;"  a  treatise  on  coin- 
age ;  and  another  on  the  imposts  of  Milan.  He 
founded  a  botanical  institution  at  Florence, 
where  lie  died  in  177(3. — Mnreri. 

NERLI  (PniLip  de)  an  Italian  historian, 
born  in  1485,  was  a  senator  of  Florence.  He 
is  supposed  to  hare  been  the  same  who  was 
governor  of  Modena  for  the  church  in  15'<?6, 
and  who  was  excluded  from  Florence,  when 
attempting  to  return  thither  with  Guicciardini. 
He  died  in  1556.  He  was  the  author  of  a 
work,  entitled  "  I  Commentari  de'  Fatti  ci- 
vili  occorsi  nelle  cittii  di  Firenze  dal  1'215,  fino 
al  15.')7,"  which  was  published  at  Florence  in 
17'28.  Giannotti,  in  a  letter  to  Varchi,  com- 
plains of  A'erli's  misrepresentations  and  par- 
tiality, a  natural  consequence  of  the  part 
which,  as  a  person  in  authority,  lie  took  in 
the  transactions  of  bis  day. — Niwv.  Diet.  Hist. 
Tiraboschi. 

NESBIT  (ALEXANDER)  a  Scottish  lawyer 
and  antiquary,  son  of  the  lord  president  of  that 
name.  He  was  born  in  167'J  at  Edinburgh, 
but  though  educated  by  his  father  for  the  bar, 
practised  very  little  in  his  profession,  dedicat- 
ing his  time  almost  exclusively  to  the  study  of 
the  antiquities  of  his  native  country.  Of  these 
he  wrote  an  able  "  Vindication,"  still  pre- 
served in  the  advocate's  library  at  Edinburgh, 
though  never  printed.  His  other  works  are, 
"  An  Essay  on  the  I'se  of  Armories  ;"  a  valua- 
ble treatise  "  On  Heraldry,"  in  two  folio  vo- 
lumes; and  an  "lleraldical  Essay  on  addi- 
tion of  Figures  of  Cadency."  His  death  took 
place  in  1725  at  Dirlton,  the  family  ?t>at. — 
Aikin'i  (F.  H/i"'. 

NESTOR  or  LETOPIS  NBSTOROYA,  ;« 


N  ES 

Russian  historian,  was  bora  atBielzierin  10.56. 
lie  was  a  monk  of  Petchersti  at  Kiof,  and  is 
supposed  to  have  died  about  111.5.  He  is 
chiefly  known  by  a  chronicle,  in  which  he  gives 
a  geographical  description  of  Russia,  and  an 
account  of  the  Sclavonian  nations,  and  lastly, 
a  chronological  series  of  the  Russian  annals, 
from  858  to  1113.  This  work  continued  in 
obscurity  until  Peter  the  Great  ordered  a  tran- 
script to  be  made  of  a  copy  of  it,  found  in  the 
library  of  Konigsberg.  It  is  esteemed  as  the 
earliest  monument  of  Russian  history,  and  has 
been  continued  to  1203. — Cure's  Travels  in 
Russia.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

NESTORIUS,  a  celebrated  patriarch  of 
Constantinople,  from  whom  originated  the  sect 
of  Nestorians,  was  born  at  Germauica,  a  city 
of  Syria,  in  the  fifth  century.  He  was  educated 
at  Antiocb,  and  on  receiving  the  order  of 
priesthood,  he  acquired  so  much  celebrity  by 
his  sanctity  and  eloquence,  that  the  emperor 
Theodosius  appointed  him  to  the  see  of  Con- 
stantinople. He  immediately  began  to  distin- 
guish himself  by  his  zeal  for  the  extirpation  of 
heretics,  and  not  above  five  days  after  his  con- 
secration he  attempted  to  demolish  the  church 
of  the  Arians,  who  thereby  rendered  desperate, 
set  fire  to  it  themselves  ;  and  the  conflagration 
reaching  other  buildings  in  the  vicinity,  much 
confusion  was  created,  and  Nestorius  was  ever 
afterwards  stigmatised  as  an  incendiary.  He 
next  assailed  the  Novatians,  but  was  inter- 
rupted by  the  emperor,  on  which  he  proceeded 
to  persecute  the  various  congregations  within 
his  reach,  who  persisted  in  celebrating  the 
feast  of  Easter  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the 
moon  ;  and  for  this  unimportant  deviation,  seve- 
ral persons  were  murdered  by  his  agents  at 
Miletum  and  Sardis.  At  length  the  time  ar- 
rived when  he  was  to  suffer  from  an  intoler- 
ance equal  to  his  own,  for  holding  the  opinion 
"  that  the  Virgin  Mary  cannot  with  propriety 
be  denominated  the  mother  of  God."  The 
extraordinary  devotion  of  the  people  for  the 
virgin,  the  latent  causes  of  which  are  curiously 
set  forward  by  Bayle,  greatly  inflamed  them 
against  their  bishop,  which  dissatisfaction  was 
much  increased  by  the  haughty  and  turbulent 
Cyril,  who  was  jealous  of  the  influence  of  a 
prelate  of  a  disposition  so  resembling  his  own. 
Each  party  assembled  councils,  and  declared 
the  other  side  heretical,  until  at  length  the  third 
general  council  in  the  annals  of  the  church  as- 
sembled at  Ephesus,  in  431 ,  and,  under  the  in- 
fluence of  Cyril,  deprived  Nestorius  of  his  see, 
and  banished  him  to  Tarsus,  without  even  al- 
lowing him  to  explain  his  doctrines,  which  sim- 
ply intended  to  assert,  that  the  virgin  was  not 
the  mother  of  the  divine  nature  of  Christ.  In 
the  first  instance  the  deposed  prelate  was  al- 
lowed to  return  to  a  monastery,  but  the  invete- 
racy of  religious  hate  procured  his  farther  ba- 
nishment to  Oasis,  in  the  deserts  between  Egypt 
and  Lybia ;  and  he  was  subsequently  dragged 
and  driven  from  place  to  place  until  his  death, 
the  exact  time  of  which  event  is  unknown. 
Little  compassion  is  due  to  Nestorius,  who,  if 
victorious,  would  probably  have  treated  Cyril 
and  his  adherents  with  equal  rigour.  His  suet 


NET 

by  no  means  died  with  him  ;  in  the  tentli  cen- 
tury the  Nestorians  abounded  in  Chaldea,  and 
extended  their  opinions  beyond  mount  Imaus 
into  Tartary,  and  to  the  north  of  China.  On 
this  account,  the  court  of  Rome  exercised  all 
its  policy  to  court  them  over  to  her  dominion 
and  succeeded  so  far  as  to  produce  a  schism  ; 
but  the  main  body,  whose  pontiff  resides  at 
Mousul,  have  resisted  every  overture  of  the 
kind,  and  remain  separate  to  this  day. — Care. 
Mosheim. 

NETSCHER(GASPAR)an  eminent  painter, 
was  born  at  Prague  in  1639.  Being  left 
destitute  by  his  father,  who  was  a  sculptor, 
he  was  taken  under  the  protection  of  a  physi- 
cian at  Arnheim,  who  perceiving  his  native 
taste  for  the  arts,  placed  him  under  Gerard 
Terburg,  and  in  a  few  years  his  pieces  were 
deemed  nearly  equal  to  those  of  his  instructor. 
The  pictures  of  Netscher  usually  represent  do- 
mestic subjects  and  conversations,  which  he 
treated  with  a  lustre  and  delicacy  that  vie  with 
the  productions  of  Francis  Mieris.  He  also 
excelled  in  portraits  of  a  small  size,  in  the 
production  of  which  he  was  much  employed. 
It  Is  said,  in  Walpole's  Anecdotes,  that  he 
visited  England,  upon  the  invitation  of  sir 
William  Temple,  where  he  painted  the  por- 
traits of  several  persons  of  distinction.  He 
died  at  the  Hague  in  1684. — He  had  two  sons, 
THEODORE  and  CONSTANTIXE,  each  of  whom, 
excelled  in  portrait  painting. — Bryan's  Diet. 
»f  Paint,  and  Eng. 

NETTELBLADT  (CHRISTIAN,  baron  de) 
a  learned  lawyer,  born  at  Stockholm  in  1696. 
He  studied  in  the  German  universities,  and 
obtained  the  professorship  of  law  in  the  aca- 
demy of  Gripswald.  In  1743  he  was  nomi- 
nated assessor  in  the  imperial  court  of  Wetz- 
lar,  which  office  he  filled  with  great  reputation 
till  his  death  in  1776.  He  published  a  Swe- 
dish library,  1728 — 36,  five  parts,  4to,  de- 
signed to  make  known  to  foreigners  the  state 
of  science  and  literature  in  Sweden  ;  "  Memo- 
ria  Virorum  in  Suecia  eruditissimorum  redi- 
viva,"  1728-31,  4  parts,  8vo  ;  '•'  Themis  Ro- 
mano-Suecica,"  1729,  4to ;  besides  other 
works. — Biog.  Univ. 

NETTELBLADT  (DANIEL)  a  juridical 
writer,  born  at  Rostock  in  1719.  He  studied 
in  the  university  there,  and  afterwards  at  Mar- 
purg  and  Halle,  under  Christian  Wolff.  Hav- 
ing taken  his  degrees,  in  1746  he  was  made 
professor  of  the  law  of  nature  at  Halle,  whi- 
ther his  lectures  attracted  pupils  from  all  parts 
of  Germany.  He  was  nominated  a  member 
of  the  privy  council  in  1765,  and  ten  years 
after  director  of  the  university.  lie  died  Sep- 
tember 4,  1791,  leaving  the  character  of  hav- 
ing been  one  of  the  most  profound  jurists  which 
Germany  ever  produced.  Among  his  nume- 
rous and  valuable  works  may  be  specified, 
"  Systema  elementare  universe  Jurispruden- 
tia?  naturalis,"  8vo  ;  and  "  Initia  Historian  lit- 
terariffi  juridicae  universalis,"  8vo. — HENRY 
NETTELBLADT,  his  brother,  who  was  a  counsel- 
lor, published  some  historical  treatises  relating 
to  the  dutchy  of  Mecklenburg,  &c.  He  di>  d 
in  1761. —  Idem. 


N  E  V 

NETTLETON    (TIH>MAS)  a  physician  and 
miscellaneous  writer,  i  at    Pewsbury, 

in  Yorkshire,    in   liill.;.      I  la\  in^  t;:keii  h. 

gree  of  Ml),  at  I  'ir.-i  lit,  In-  .-  ttle.!  at  Halifax, 

in  his  native  county,  where   he   |.iaeti-'-d  for 

many  years  with  great  stu-ci-ss.      Dr  Nettl 

instructeil    tin',    celebrated    S;imidej  son   in   the 

principles  of  mathematics  ;  and  in  1729  pub- 

1  a  pamphlet,  entitled,  "  Some  Thoughts 

concernini;  \  irtuf  and  Happiness,  in  a  Letter 

to  a  Clergyman,"  8vo,  reprinted  in  1736  and 

17.M.     Tin-   d' sijn    of  this   production   is   to 

show,  that  happiness  is  the  end  of  all  our  ac- 

9,  and  virtue  the   only  means  of  attaining 

it.      lie    died    January   9,   1742.     His    other 

:.s  are,  "  Disputatiode  Inflarnatione  ;"  and 

"  .\n  Account  of  the  Method  of  Inoculating 

for  the  Small-Pox."—  Watson's  Hist,  of  Ilali- 

. 

NKTMANN  (CASPAR)  an  eminent  Ger- 
man chemist  of  tlie  eighteenth  century.  He 
was  at  first  an  apothecary  at  Berlin,  where  his 
skill  in  pharmacy  and  chemistry  attracted  tho 
notice  of  Frederick  III,  elector  of  Branden- 
burgh  and  king  of  Prussia,  who  supplied  him 
with  the  means  of  pursuing  his  studies  at  the 
university  of  Halle.  He  afterwards  travelled 
for  improvement  in  England,  France,  and 
Italy  ;  and  on  his  return  to  Berlin  lie  was 
nominated  professor  of  chemistry  at  the  Royal 
college,  lie  took  the  degree  of  MI),  at 
Halle  in  1727,  and  was  honoured  by  the  king 
with  the  title  of  aujic  counsellor.  He  died  in 
1737.  Neumann  contiibuted  to  the  progress 
of  science  by  his  writings,  which  comprise 
some  important  facts  and  observations,  and  are 
still  valuable,  though  more  recent  discoveries 
have  overturned  the  theories  which  prevailed 
in  his  time.  His  chemical  works  were  trans- 
lated into  English,  and  published  iu  i 
4to  ;  and  in  1773,  2  vols.  8vo. — Pu'cs's  Cue/,  /i. 
i\K\  K  (TIMOTHY)  an  English  divine,  was 
born  at  Stanton  Lacy,  in  Shropshire,  in  le'.1 1. 
and  was  educated  at  St  John's  college,  Cam- 
bridge. He  was  schoolmaster  of  Spalding, 
and  minor  canon  of  Peterborough,  and  he  af- 
terwards became  prebendary  of  Lincoln,  arch- 
deacon of  Huntingdon,  and  rector  of  Alwalton 
in  Huntingdonshire,  where  he  died  in  17o7. 
He  was  the  author  of  "  An  Essay  on  the  In- 
v-  ntion  of  Printing,"  which  he  communicated 
to  the  Gentleman's  society  at  Spalding,  of 
which  he  was  a  joint  founder. — His  son,  Ti- 
ny, was  born  at  Spalding,  in  17'J-l,  and 
studied  at  Corpus  Christi  college,  Oxford,  of 
which  he  was  elected  fellow.  He  took  his 
<  e  of  DD.  in  1751,  and  was  elected  Mar- 
garet professor  of  divinity,  and  was  installed 
prebendary  of  Worcester.  He  died  at  Ox- 
ford in  1798.  His  works  consist  chiefly  of 
sermons,  but  he  also  published  "  Animadver- 
sions on  Phillips's  Life  of  Cardinal  Pole."- 
Nichols's  Lit.  Anec. 

NEVILE  (ALEXANDER)  an  English  poeti- 
cal writer,  was  son  of  Richard  Nevile,  esq.  of 
the  county  of  Nottingham.  He  was  born  in 
Kent,  in  lo-Jl,  and  educated  at  Cambridge, 
re  1»  took  his  degree  of  AIA,  and  became 
secretary  to  the  archbishops  Parker  an>l  Grin- 


N  E  W 

<l:il.  He  wrote  a  narrative  in  Latin  of  Kelt's 
Ilion,  miller  tin-  tit!'-  (  f  "  Kcttus,  sive  de 
Furonl'i.s  Nnifolciensimn,  Kelto  Jure;"  to 
\\liieli  In-  added  ;tn  account  of  Norwich.  He 
also  publi.-hed  the  Cambridge  verses  on  the 
death  of  >ir  Philip  Sidney,  and  paraphrased 
tip'  "  (Kdipus"  of  Seneca,  in  the  collection 
translated  by  Stanley,  Nuce,  Heywood,  i\c. 
which  version  is  highly  spoken  of  by  Warton. 
He  died  in  1614. — His  brother,  THOMAS 
NEVII.E,  was  dean  of  Canterbury,  and  an  emi- 
nent benefactor  to  Trinity  college,  Cambridge. 
He  died  in  1615. —  Warton' $  Hist,  of  Eng. 
Poet. 

NEVILE  (HENRY)  a  republican  writer, 
the  second  son  of  sir  Henry  Nevile,  of  Biling- 
beare,  in  Berkshire,  was  born  in  1620,  and 
educated  at  Merton  college,  Oxford.  At  the 
commencement  of  the  civil  wars,  lie  tra- 
velled to  the  continent,  but  returned  in  1645, 
and  became  an  active  advocate  of  republican 
principles.  In  1631  he  was  elected  one  of  the 
council  of  state,  but  retired  when  lie  fully  un- 
derstood the  ambitious  views  of  Cromwell, 
and  associated  himself  with  Harrington,  and 
oilier  votaries  of  a  commonwealth.  On  the 
Restoration  he  was  taken  into  custody,  but 
soon  released  ;  and  from  this  time  he  lived 
privately  until  his  deatli  at  AVarfield,  in  Berk- 
shire, in  1691.  His  principal  publication 
was,  "  Plato  liedivivus,  or  a  Dialogue  con- 
cerning Government,"  1681,  which  was  re- 
printed by  .Air  Ilollis  in  1763.  His  other 
works  are,  "The  Parliament  of  Love;"  "The 
Isle  of  Pines  ;•"  and  poems,  to  be  found  in 
various  collections.  lie  also  edited  the  works 
of  Machiavel. — Nichols's  Poems.  Biog.  Brit. 
Athen.  Oiiin. 

M-:\Vr,l'PvGH  (WILLIAM  of)  or  Guliel- 
mus  Neubrigensis,  a  monk  of  the  abbey  of 
i\ e -.\ -borough,  was  born  at  Bridlington  in  York- 
shire, in  1136.  He  is  called  by  many  Parvus, 
or  Little,  but  whether  this  be  a  surname  or 
nickname,  is  doubtful.  He  wrote  a  chronicle, 
published  at  I'aris,  with  Picard's  notes,  1610, 
8vo,  then  by  Gale,  and  lastly  by  Hearne, 
3  vols.  8vo,  1719.  It  is  written  in  a  good 
style,  but  with  the  credulity  of  his  time  and 
profession.  He  attacks  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth 
with  great  asperity  ;  but  this  is  attributed  to 
his  disappointment  at  not  succeeding  him  in 
the  bishopric  of  St  Asaph. — Tanner.  Kicolson. 

NEWCOMB,  MA.  (THOMAS;  a  clergyman 
of  Herefordshire,  was  born  in  1675,  and  was 
educated  at  Corpus  Christi  college,  Oxford. 
He  was  chaplain  to  the  second  duke  of  Rich- 
mond, and  rector  of  Stopham  in  Sussex.  He 
died  about  1766.  He  published  several  poems, 
congratulatory  odes,  satires,  &c.  which  were 
published  in  one  vol.  4to,  17,56.  He  was  also 
the  author  of  poetical  versions  of  "  The 
Death  of  Abel  ;"  "  Hervey's  Meditations  ;" 
and  other  pieces ;  and  of  "  Novus  Epigram- 
matum  delectus,  or  State  Epigrams  and  Mimic 
Odes." — Nichols's  Poems. 

NEWCOME  (WILLIAM)  archbishop  of 
Armagh,  a  prelate  of  great  learning  and  exem- 
plary manners.  He  was  a  native  of  Barton- 
le-Cla\ ,  Uedfordbhire,  where  he  was  born  in 


N  E  W 

1729.  His  father  being  the  incumbent  of  the 
vicarage  of  Abingdon,  placed  his  son  at  the 
grammar-school  in  that  town,  and  afterwards 
procured  him  a  scholarship  at  Pembroke  col- 
lege, in  the  university  of  Oxford.  From  this 
society  lie  removed  on  a  fellowship  to  Hert- 
ford college,  of  which  he  became  tutor,  and 
reckoned  among  his  pupils  the  late  hon.  Charles 
James  Fox.  In  1765,  having  graduated  as 
doctor  of  divinity,  he  went  to  Ireland,  in  the 
capacity  of  chaplain  to  the  lord-lieuteuant,  the 
earl  of  Hertford  ;  and  under  the  patronage  of 
that  nobleman  became  successively  bishop  of 
Dromore,  Ossory,  and  Waterford,  ever  which 
latter  diocese  he  presided  upwards  of  sixteen 
years.  In  1795  earl  Fitzwilliam,  the  then 
viceroy,  translated  him  to  the  primacy.  Arch- 
bishop Newcome  was  the  author  of  a  great  va- 
riety of  theological  tracts,  the  principal  of  which 
are  "  A  Revision  of  the  English  Translation 
of  the  New  Testament,"  8vo,  2  vols. :  "  An 
Attempt  towards  an  improved  Version  of  the 
Book  of  Ezekiel ;"  a  similar  attempt  with  re- 
spect to  the  twelve  minor  prophets;  "  On  the 
Harmony  of  the  Gospels;"  "  An  Historical 
View  of  the  English  Translations  of  the  Bible," 
8vo  ;  "  On  our  Lord's  Conduct  as  a  divine 
Teacher;"  "A  Review  of  the  chief  Difficul- 
ties in  the  Gospel  Account  of  the  Resurrection 
of  our  Lord,"  and  "  On  the  Duration  of  our 
Lord's  Ministry,"  in  a  letter  to  Dr  Priestlty, 
printed  in  8ro.  His  death  took  place  in  the 
capital  of  that  country  in  1800. — Gent.  Mag. 

NEWCOMMEN  ( )  a  practical 

philosopher,  distinguished  for  his  successful 
efforts  towards  the  improvement  of  the  steam- 
engine.  He  was  a  locksmith  at  Dartmouth  in 
Devonshire,  towards  the  close  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  and  notwithstanding  his  hum- 
ble situation,  he  engaged  in  scientific  re- 
searches, and  carried  on  a  correspondence  with 
his  celebrated  countryman,  Dr  Robert  Hooke, 
to  whom  he  communicated  his  projects  and  in- 
ventions. Newcommen  having  had  his  atten- 
tion excited  by  the  schemes  and  observations 
of  the  marquis  of  Worcester,  the  French  phi- 
losopher Papiu,  and  by  captain  Savary's  pro- 
posal to  employ  the  power  of  steam  in  draining 
the  mines  of  Cornwall,  conceived  the  idea  of 
producing  a  vacuum  below  the  piston  of  a 
steam-engine,  after  it  had  been  raised  by  the 
expansive  force  of  the  elastic  vapour,  which  he 
effected  by  the  injection  of  cold  water  to  con- 
dense the  vapour.  Thus  an  important  step 
towards  the  construction  of  the  very  powerful 
instrument  in  question,  appears  to  have  been 
owing  to  the  ingenuity  of  JN'ewcommen,  who, 
in  conjunction  with  captain  Savary  and  Swit- 
zer,  took  out  a  patent  for  the  invention.  To 
Watt,  of  Glasgow,  and  afterwards  of  Birming- 
ham, the  world  is  indebted  for  the  extraordi- 
nary advances  towards  perfection,  subsequently 
made  in  the  construction  of  the  steam-engine. 
— Bwg.  Univ. 

NEWCOMEN  (MATTHEW)  a  nonconfor- 
mist divine  of  eminence  in  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  He  was  educated  at  St 
John's  college,  Cambridge,  where  he  took  the 
degree  of  MA.  On  the  triumph  of  the  pres- 


NEW 

byterians,  after  the  subversion  of  the  authority 
of  Charles  I,  Mr  Newcomen  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  assembly  of  divines  at  Westminster, 
and  assisted  in  drawing  up  the  catechisms  pub- 
lished by  that  association.  But  he  is  chiefly 
noted  as  having  been  one  of  the  authors  of  the 
attack  on  episcopacy,  entitled  "  Smectym- 
nuus,"  a  word  formed  in  the  taste  of  the  age 
from  the  initials  of  the  names  of  the  contribu- 
tors, who  were  Stephen  Marshal,  Edmund  Ca- 
lamy,  Thomas  Young,  M.  Newcomen,  and 
William  Spurstowe.  Our  author  held  for  some 
time  the  living  of  Dedham  in  Essex,  from 
which  he  was  ejected  in  1662,  when  he  retired 
to  Leyden  in  Holland,  where  he  died  in  1666. 
— Calami],  Lempriere's  Univ.  Bing. 

NEWCOURT  (RICHARD)  a  civilian  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  who  practised  in  the  court 
of  arches,  and  was  over  the  registry-office  of 
the  diocese  of  Canterbury.  He  is  principally 
known  as  the  author  of  an  ecclesiastical  survey, 
entitled  "  Repertorium  Ecclesiasticum  Paro- 
chiale  Londinense,"  in  two  folio  volumes, 
1708.  He  survived  till  1716,  when  he  died  in 
extreme  old  age. — Gough's  Topng, 

NEWDIGATE,  ban.  (sir  Roc  EH)  a  mu- 
nificent patron  of  'earning,  born  at  Arbury  in 
Warwickshire,  the  family  seat  in  1719.  His 
father,  sir  Richard  Newdigate,  placed  him  at 
Westminster-school,  whence  he  removed  to 
Oxford,  as  a  gentleman  commoner  of  Univer- 
sity college.  The  death  of  his  elder  brother 
in  1735,  vested  in  him  the  family  title  and  es- 
tates, which  induced  him,  seven  years  after- 
wards, to  offer  himself  as  a  candidate  to  repre- 
sent the  county  of  Middlesex  in  the  house  of 
Commons.  In  this  attempt  he  succeeded,  and 
sat  for  it  till  the  end  of  that  parliament.  In 
1751  the  university  of  Oxford  chose  him  as 
their  representative,  and  as  with  some  few  ex- 
ceptions has  been  usually  the  case,  continued  to 
return  him  as  one  of  theirmembers  during  every 
succeeding  parliament  till  1780,  in  which  year 
he  retired  from  public  life.  The  university 
owes  to  his  munificence  an  annual  prize  for  the 
best  copy  of  English  verses  on  subjects  con- 
nected with  the  fine  arts,  in  length  neither  ex- 
ceeding nor  falling  short  of  fifty  lines,  the  com- 
position of  an  under-graduate  ;  for  this  pur- 
pose he  bequeathed  the  sum  of  WOOL  There 
is  a  treatise  on  the  harmony  of  the  four  Gos- 
pels from  his  pen.  His  death  took  place  in 
1780.— Gent.  Mag. 

NEWTON  (sir  ISAAC)  a  celebrated  philo- 
sopher, admitted  by  the  general  consent  of  the 
learned  to  have  been  the  greatest  master  of  the 
exact  sciences  that  ever  existed.  He  was  de- 
scended of  an  ancient  and  honourable  family 
in  Lincolnshire,  and  was  born  at  therranor 
house  of  Woolstrope  or  Woolsthorpe,  in  the 
parish  of  Colsterworth,  in  that  country,  on 
Christmas- day,  O.  S.  1642.  His  father  died 
previously  to  his  birth,  and  his  mother  was  re- 
married to  a  clergyman  named  Smith,  by  whom 
she  had  a  second  family.  He  was  sent  for 
education  to  a  grammar-sc'.iool  at  Grantham,  at 
the  age  of  twelve,  when  the  natural  bent  of 
his  disposition  displayed  itself  in  the  construc- 
tion of  machinery,  and  in  a  taste  for  calcula- 


N  E  W 

tio;i,  and  the  art  of  drawing.  On  the  iic-:ith 
of  his  father-in-law  lie  returned  home,  for  the 
professed  purpose  of  assisting  his  motlier  in 
tin-  iii;in;iji-meiit  of  a  farm,  in  which  .she  had 
been  previously  engaged.  But  the  young  phi- 
losopher, who  ;ictu;illy  went  to  maiket  with 
(dm  and  other  products  of  husbandry,  left  the 
s.ilf  of  hi?  goods  to  his  servant,  while  he  shut 
himself  up  at.  an  inn  to  ruminate  over  the 
pio!il<-ms  of  Kuclid,  the  laws  of  Kepler  ;  or  to 
meditate  discoveries  of  his  own,  which  should 
eclipse  the  glory  of  his  predecessors.  His 
motlier  had  wisdom  enough  to  relieve  him 
from  the  superinteiulance  of  business,  for 
which  he  was  unqualified,  and  afford  him  faci- 
lities for  the  improvement  of  his  talents,  by 
sending  him  to  Trinity  college,  Cambridge, 
A'here  he  entered  as  a  student  in  1660.  Ma- 
thematics immediately  engaged  his  attention, 
and  he  studied  with  avidity,  not  only  the 
works  of  Euclid  aud  Kepler,  but  also  those  of 
Descartes,  Ougbtred,  Van  Scbooten,  and 
others.  But  he  soon  displayed  his  genius  by 
bis  original  discoveries,  one  of  the  earliest  of 
which  was  that  of  the  various  refrangibility  of 
the  rays  of  light,  which  led  to  his  new  theory 
of  light  and  colours,  and  to  vast  improvements 
of  the  construction  of  telescopes.  In  1664  he 
took  the  degree  of  BA.  and  the  following  year 
he  was  obliged  to  remove  for  a  time  from  Cam- 
bridge, on  account  of  the  plague.  This  tem- 
porary interruption  of  his  studies  is  singularly 
connected  with  one  of  bis  most  important  dis- 
coveries ;  for  in  his  country  retirement,  sitting 
one  day  alone  in  bis  garden,  the  accidental 
observation  of  some  apples  falling  from  a  tree, 
excited  in  his  mind  a  train  of  observations  on 
the  cause  of  so  simple  a  phenomenon,  which 
lie  pursued  till  be  had  finally  elaborated  his 
grand  theory  of  the  laws  of  gravitation.  Re- 
turning to  the  university  he  was  chosen  a  fel- 
low of  his  college  in  1667,  and  the  next  year 
he  was  admitted  to  the  degree  of  MA.  In 
1669  he  was  chosen  professor  of  mathematics, 
on  the  resignation  of  Dr  Barrow,  and  he  then 
also  began  to  read  a  course  of  lectures  on  op- 
tics. In  1672  he  became  a  fellow  of  the  Royal 
Society,  to  which  learned  body  he  communi- 
cated an  account  of  his  theory  of  light  and 
colours,  afterwards  published  in  the  Philoso- 
phical Transactions.  In  1676  he  explained 
bis  invention  of  infinite  series,  noticing  the 
improvements  be  had  made  in  it  by  bis  me- 
thod of  fluxions.  This  was  done  at  the  re- 
quest of  Leibnitz,  who  was  engaged  in  simihir 
speculations,  and  who  appears  to  have  inde- 
pendently arrived  at  the  same  conclusions 
with  the  English  philosopher,  to  whom  how- 
ever the  priority  of  discovery  may  fairly  be 
assigned.  He  was  engaged  in  1680  in  making 
astronomical  observations  on  the  comet  which 
then  appeared,  whence  be  proceeded  to  inqui- 
ries concerning  the  laws  of  motion  of  the  pri- 
mary planets  ;  and  in  1683  he  communicated 
to  the  Royal  Society  some  propositions  on  that 
subject,  which  afterwards  were  printed  under 
the  title  of  "  Philosophise  Naturalis  Principia 
Mathematica,"  containing  in  the  third  book 
vvlsU  has  DLVU  termed  his  cosmetic  astrouomy, 


NEW 

or  rather  his  system  of  the  world,  A  second 
and  improved  edition  of  this  woik  was  pub- 
lished at  ( 'amhrid'je,  under  the  superintendauce 
of  Cotrs,  the  professor  of  astronomy  and  ex- 
pi-riiuc-nt;il  philosophy.  Fontenelle  says,  that 
this  treatise,  in  which  the  author  had  built  a 
new  system  of  natural  philosophy  upon  the 
most  sublime  geometry,  was  written  with  such 
profound  judgment,  and  yet  so  concisely,  that 
it  required  some  time  and  skill  to  understand 
it  properly,  on  which  account  it  did  not  at  first 
meet  with  the  attention  it  deserved  ;  but  at 
length,  when  its  worth  came  to  be  sufficiently 
known,  nothing  was  heard  from  all  quarters 
but  a  general  shout  of  admiration.  In  1687, 
Newton  signalized  himself  as  the  defender  of 
the  privileges  of  the  university  of  Cambridge, 
when  they  were  attacked  by  James  II  ,  and 
in  1688  he  became  a  member  of  the  bouse  of 
commons  in  the  convention  parliament.  His 
extraordinary  merit  was  now  well  known  and 
generally  acknowledged,  and  when  under  the 
ministry  of  Montagu,  afterwards  lord  Halifax, 
the  recoinage  of  our  money  was  undertaken, 
Newton  was  appointed  warden  of  the  mint, 
in  which  office  be  performed  very  essential 
services  to  the  nation.  About  three  years 
after,  in  1699,  be  was  promoted  to  be  master 
of  the  mint,  a  post  which  he  held  to  the  time 
of  his  death.  Upon  this  promotion  he  con- 
stituted William  Winston  his  deputy  in  the 
mathematical  professorship  at  Cambridge,  and 
resigned  the  chair  to  him  in  1703,  on  becom- 
ing president  of  the  Royal  Society.  In  170-t 
he  published  a  treatise  on  the  reflections,  re- 
fractions, inflections,  and  colours  of  light, 
which  passed  through  many  editions,  and  was 
translated  into  a  variety  of  languages.  In  the 
following  year  queen  Anne  conferred  on  him 
the  honour  of  knighthood  ;  and  in  1707  ap- 
peared his  "  Arithmetica  Universalis."  Soon 
after  the  accession  of  George  I,  he  was  ap- 
plied to  by  parliament  to  decide  on  the  merit 
of  a  scheme  for  the  discovery  of  the  longitude 
at  sea,  proposed  by  l)itton  and  Winston,  with 
a  view  to  the  reward  oft'ered  by  government ; 
when  he  delivered  an  opinion  i  nfavourable  to 
the  projectors.  In  1713  Leibnitz,  who  seems 
to  have  been  jealous  of  the  fame  of  Newton, 
proposed  to  him  for  solution  the  famous  prob- 
lem of  the  Trajectories,  as  the  most  difficult 
task  which  he  could  devise  ;  but  such  was  the 
transcendent  genius  of  our  countryman,  that 
this  puzzling  question  served  as  the  mere 
amusement  of  his  leisure,  and  he  solved  it  the 
same  evening  he  received  it,  though  he  had 
been  fatigued  that  day  with  business  at  the 
mint.  Newton  became  a  great  favourite  with 
the  princess  of  Wales,  afterwards  queen  con- 
sort of  George  II,  at  whose  request  be  drew 
up  an  abstract  of  a  treatise  on  ancient  chrono- 
logy, a  copy  of  which  in  manuscript  being 
taken  to  France  by  the  abbe  Conti,  it  was 
there  translated,  and  published  with  animad- 
versions, in  opposition  to  the  wishes  of  the 
author,  who  at  length  however  laid  the  work 
before  the  public  in  a  legitimate  form.  His 
habitual  temperance,  and  the  constitutional 
equanimity  with  which  be  was  endowed,  con 


N  E  W 

tributes!  to  the  preservation  of  his  health,  and 
the  enjoyment  of  his  faculties  to    extreme  old 
age  ;  but  he  was  at  last  attacked  by  a  calcu- 
lous  disease,  from   which  he    suffered   great 
pain,      and     which     occasioned     his     death 
March  20,  1726,  in  the   eighty-fourth  year  of 
his  age.     His  corpse  lay  in  state  in  the  Jeru- 
salem chamber  at  Westminster,   and   on  the 
28th    of  March  its   interment   took  place   in 
Westminster  abbey,  when   the  pall  was  sup- 
ported by  the   lord   chancellor,    the  dukes  of 
Montrose    and  Roxburgh,    and    the  earls   of 
Pembroke,  Suffolk,  and  Macclesfield.     A  mo- 
nument, with  a  Latin  commemorative  inscrip- 
tion, was  erected  in  the  abbey  ;  and  his  statue, 
by  Roubiliac,  has  been  placed  in  the  college  of 
which  he  was  a  member  at  Cambridge.     Ik- 
left  an  estate  of  32.000/.,  which,   as  he  made 
no  will,  became  the  property  of  his  legal  heirs, 
the   descendants  of  his  sister,  Mrs.  Conduit, 
having  himself  led   a  life  of  celibacy.      The 
character  of  this   great    man  has  been    thus 
drawn  by  Hume: — "In   Newton   this  island 
may  boast  of  having  produced  the  greatest  and 
rarest  genius  that  ever  arose  for  the  ornament 
and  instruction  of  the  species  in  philosophical, 
astronomical,   and   mathematical  knowledge  ; 
cautious  in  admitting  no  principles  but  such  as 
were  founded  on   experiment  ;  but  resolute  to 
adopt  every  such   principle,  however  new  or 
unusual,  from  modesty,   ignorant  of  his  supe- 
riority above  the  rest  of  mankind,  and  thence 
less  careful  to  accommodate  his  reasonings  to 
common  apprehensions,  more  anxious  to  merit 
than  acquire  fame.     He  was  from  these  causes 
long  unknown   to   the  world  ;  but  his  reputa- 
tion at  last  broke  out    with   a  lustre  which 
scarce  any  writer  before  his  time  ever  attained. 
While  Newton   seemed  to  draw  off  the   veil 
from   the  mysteries  of  nature,   he  showed  at 
the  same  time  the  imperfections  of  the  mecha- 
nical philosophy,    and    thereby  restored    her 
ultimate  secrets  from  that  obscurity  in  which 
they  had  before  lain,   and  in  which,  without 
his  assistance,  they  would  probably  ever  have 
remained."     Sir  Isaac  Newton  left  a  vast  mass 
of  unpublished  manuscripts,  which,  after  his 
death,  were  examined   by  a  committee  of  the 
Royal  Society  ;  but  none  were  thought  word 
printing  except  his  "  Observations   upon   the 
Prophecies   of  Daniel  and  the  Apocalypse,' 
which  appeared  in  1733,  4to.    "  It  is  astonish- 
ing,"  says  Dr   Cb-.ries  Hutton,    "  what  care 
and  industry  Newton  employed  about  the  pa- 
pers relating   to  chronology,   church  history 
&c.,  as  on  examining  them   it   appears,  tlm 
many  are  copies  over  and  over  again,  often  witl 
little  or  no  variation  ;  the  whole  number  being 
upwards  of  four  thousand  sheets  in  folio,  o 
eight  reams  of    foolscap   paper,    besides  the 
bound  books,  of  which  the  number  of  sheet 
is  not  mentioned."     The  best  edition  of  New 
ton's  "  Principia,"  is  that  of  fathers  le  Seu 
and  Jacquier,  4  vols.  4to,  1739  ;  his  "  Opus 
cula  Mathematica,    Philosophica   et  Plnlolo 
gica,"    were    published    by   Castillion,  Laus 
1744,  3  vols.  4to  ;    and   his    "    Arithmetic 
Universalis,"  with  a  commentary  by  ihe  sam 
editor,  Amsterd.   1761,   2  vols.  4to.     All  hi 


IS'  E  W 

works  were  published  by  Dr  S.  Horaley,  Loud. 
779,  5  vols.  4to  ,  and  an  English  translation 
f  the  Principia,  is  extant,  by  Motte. — Mar- 
in's  Biog.  Philos.  Mutton's  Mat.  Diet. 

NEW'I'ON  (JOHN)  an  English  mathemati- 
ian,  of  the  seventeenth  century.     He  was  a 
ative   of  Oundle  in    Northamptonshire,   and. 
vas  educated  at  Oxford,  where  he  commenced, 
a  commoner  of  Edmund-hall  in   1637.      He 
ook  the  degree  of  BA.   in  1641,   and  that  of 
ilA.  the  following  year.     Having  adopted  the 
cclesiastical  profession,   he  was  created  DD. 
mmediately  after  the  Restoration,  when  he  was 
Iso  made  one  of  the  royal  chaplains,  and  pro- 
moted to  the  rectory  of  Ross  in  Herefordshire, 
-le  died  December  25th,  1678,  aged  fifty-six. 
Among  his  principal   works,  are    "  Astrono- 
mia  Britannica,"  4to  ;    "  Tables  of  Declina- 
ion,  Ascension,  &c.  for  Calculations  ;"  "Tri- 
jonometria  Britannica/'    folio  ;     "  Chiliades 
entum  Logarithmorum  ;"  "  Geometrical  Tri- 
gonometry ;"     "  Mathematical    Elements  ;" 
'  A  perpetual  Diary  ;"  "  A  Treatise  on  Gaug- 
ng  ;"   "  An  Introduction  to  Astronomy  ;"  and 
'  An  Introduction    to   Geography."       These 
>ublications  manifest  industrious  application  to 
study,  and  no  common  degree  of  skill   in  the 
science  of  mathematics. — Martin's  Biog.  Philos. 

NEWTON    (JOHN)    an  episcopal    clergy- 
man of  Calvinistic  principles,  born  in  London 
u  1725.     He  did   not  enjoy  the  advantages  of 
a  regular  education,  having,  in   the  early  part 
of  his  life,  been  taken  to  sea  by  his  father,  who 
was  master  of  a  merchant-ship.      Becoming 
commander  of  a  vessel  employed  in  the  slave- 
trade,  he  made  several  voyages  to  the  coast  of 
Africa,  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  that  dis- 
gusting traffic,  and  in  the  mean  time  contracted 
liabits  of  dissipation  and  vice,  which  the  bru- 
talizing scenes   he  witnessed  tended  to  origi- 
nate and  confirm.     At   length  he  grew  serious 
and  fond  of  study,  and  having  relinquished  the 
occupation  of  a  mariner,  he,  in  1755,  obtained 
the  office  of  tide-surveyor  of  the  port  of  Liver- 
pool.    There  he  remained   several  years,  and 
during  the  latter  part   of  that  period   he  be- 
came a  preacher,  and  made  some  abortive  at- 
tempts to  gain  a  settlement  as  pastor  to  a  dis- 
senting congregation.  In  1764  he  was  ordained 
a  clergyman  of  the  church  of  England,  by  the 
bishop    of   Lincoln,    and  immediately    after, 
through  the  intervention  of   lord   Dartmouth, 
he  was  appointed  curate  of  Olney  in  Bucking- 
hamshire.    During  a  residence  of  fifteen  years 
at  that  place,  he  formed  an  intimate  friendsbip 
with  the  poet  Cowper,  whence  originated  a  vo- 
lume of  hymns  for  public  worship,  their  joint 
composition.     In  1779  Mr  Newton  removed 
to  London,  on   being  promoted  to  the   rectory 
of  St  Mary  Woolnoth,   which   he  held  till  his 
death  in  December  1007.     He  was  the  author 
of  a  "  Review  of  Ecclesiastical  History,"  1770, 
8vo  ;  "  Messiah,  or  a  Series  of  Discourses  on 
the  Scriptural  Passages  which  form  the  Ora- 
torio of  Handel,"    1786,   2  vols.   8vo  ;    and 
other  works,  which   have   been  printed  toge- 
ther, in   6  vols.   8vo    and  12  vols.   12mo. — 

v.  Mag. 
NEWTON  (THOMAS)  an  eminent  English 


N  E  Y 

divine  and  theological  writer,  born  ;it  I.i'  !i  i  ]<1, 
December  21,  17().i.  !!<•  was  i'.l'i<-,iti-d  ;it 
•tminster  school  arid  Trinity  college,  Cam- 
bi'i'ige,  where  he  obtained  a  fell  iwship.  In 
174  i  lie  obtained  the  rectory  of  St  Mury-le- 
Bow,  London  ;  and  in  1745  he  took  the  di 
of  DD.  He  published  ;in  edition  of  the  Para- 
dise Lost  of  Milton,  with  notes,  and  a  in 
of  the  author,  in  17  i1.'  ;  and  he  afterwards 
edited,  in  a  similar  mmner,  the  Paradise  He- 
rd, lint  his  litc-rary  fame  depends  chiefly 
on  his  "  Dissertations  on  the  Prophecies 
which  have  been  remarkably  fulfilled,  and  are 
at  this  ti.'ii"  fulfilling  in  the  World,"  1759, 
3  vols.  8vo,  several  times  reprinted.  In  1757 
Dr  Newton  was  made  a  prebendary  of  West- 
minster, and  subsequently  precentor  of  York  ; 
and  in  I7dl  he  was  raised  to  the  episcopal 
bench  as  bishop  of  Bristol  ;  becoming  at  the 
same  time  a  canon  residentiary  of  St  Paul's,  he 
resigned,  his  former  preferments.  He  after- 
w.i'-ds  obtained  the  deanery  of  St  Paul's,  which 
lie  held  till  his  death,  which  happened  Fe- 
bruary 14th,  1782.  His  works  were  published 
with  an  autobiographical  memoir,  in  two  vo- 
lumes, quarto. — Aikin's  G.  Bi\^. 

NEY  (MICHAEL)  a  French  marshal  under 
the  government  of  Buonaparte.  He  was  born 
at  Sarre  Louis  in  1769,  and  having  entered  as 
a  private  into  a  regiment  of  hussars,  he  had 
attained  the  rank  of  a  subaltern  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Revolution.  lie  was  soon  after 
made  a  captain,  when  he  served  with  distinc- 
tion at  Nerwinde,  Valenciennes,  and  on  other 
occasions.  His  address  and  bravery  as  a  par- 
tizan  officer  attracted  the  notice  of  Kleber, 
under  whom  he  served  as  adjutant- general. 
He  was  next  made  general  of  a  division,  in 
which  quality  he  commanded  the  French  ca- 
valry in  1793,  during  the  inglorious  invasion 
of  Switzerland,  when,  however,  Ney  is  said 
to  have  behaved  with  humanity  to  the  unfor- 
tunate objects  of  republican  tyranny.  The 
following  year  he  distinguished  himself  under 
Massena  ;  and  in  1800  he  shared  in  the  vic- 
tories gained  by  Moreau  at  Moeskirch  and 
Hohenhnden.  In  1801  he  was  honoured  with 
the  baton  of  marshal  ;  and  the  following  year 
he  gained  the  victory  to  which  he  owed  the 
title  of  duke  of  Elchingen.  He  was  next  em- 
ployed against  the  Prussians  and  the  Russians, 
\\  hen  he  greatly  contributed  to  the  success  of 
the  French  at  Friedlaud.  His  talents  were 
then  put  into  requisition  in  Spain,  where  he 
showed  skill  and  courage  in  his  retreat  from 
Portugal  before  the  duke  of  Wellington.  In 
18  12  he  accompanied  Buonaparte,  to  Russia, 
and  his  services  at  the  terrible  battle  of  Mo- 
|aisk,  where  he  commanded  the  centre  of  the 
1  leiich  army,  procured  him  the  title  of  prince 
of  Moskwa.  His  conduct  on  this  and  other 
occasions  also  gained  him  the  epithet  of  "  the 
bravest  of  the  brave."  Having  afterwards  lost 
the  battle  of  Dennewitz,  in  the  campaign  in 
Germany,  the  dissatisfaction  of  Napoleon  in- 
duced him  to  retire  to  Paris,  in  a  kind  of  dis- 
grace. He  was,  however,  again  employed  in 
I'il4  ;  and  he  afterwards  contributed  to  in- 
duce the  emperor  to  resign  his  authority,  and 


IN  I  C 

I  he  was  one  of  the  first  of  the  imperial  gene- 
rals who  oliVreJ  submission  to  the  Bourbons. 
IL-pre.-,.  .-,  all  his  titles  and  pen- 

i,  and  UM,  .  reate  1  a  peer  of  France.  In 
February  1  ii  I  ~>,  when  Buonaparte  escaped  froru 
the  i>lc;  of  Klba,  Ney  was  at  his  estate  in  the 
country ;  and  he  received  orders  from  the 
minister  of  war  to  repair  to  his  government  of 
Besancon.  He  went  to  Paris,  where  he  made 
strong  protestations  of  liis  loyalty  to  the  king, 
and,  it  is  said,  promised  to  bring  him,  the 
disturber  of  Europe,  confined  in  an  iron  cage. 
He  then  proceeded  with  some  regiments  to- 
wards Lyons  ;  but  instead  of  attacking  the 
invader,  he  joined  his  standard,  and  became 
one  of  his  most  active  partisans.  He  seems 
to  have  served  his  old  master  with  fidelity, 
notwithstanding  his  conduct  has  been  censured 
relative  to  the  affairs  which  preceded  the 
overthrow  of  Buonaparte  at  Waterloo.  After 
that  event  Ney  went  to  Paris,  and  then  took 
refuge  in  Auvergne,  where  he  was  arrested  on 
the  24th  of  July,  being  denounced  as  one  of  the 
authors  of  the  revolution  of  the  preceding  20th 
of  March.  Being  conveyed  to  Paris,  he  was 
tried  and  convicted  of  treason,  before  a  council 
of  war,  by  whom  he  was  condemned  to  death 
December  6,  1815.  He  was  consequently 
shot  on  the  following  day,  near  the  Luxem- 
bourg palace,  displaying  in  his  last  moments 
the  same  firmness  he  had  ever  exhibited  in  the 
field  of  battle. — Biog.  Univ.  Biog.  Nuuv.  des 
Contemp. 

NICAISE  (CLAUDE)  a  French  abbe,  emi- 
nent as  one  of  the  most  learned  antiquaries  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  He  was  born  in 
1623  at  Dijon,  of  a  good  family,  and  taking 
holy  orders,  obtained  a  canonry  in  the  holy 
chapel  of  his  native  city.  The  duties  of  his 
office,  however,  interfering  with  the  study  of 
ancient  monuments,  to  which  he  was  more  es- 
pecially devoted,  he  resigned  it,  and  went  to 
Rome,  where  he  grew  into  favour  with  pope 
Clement  XI,  and  continued  to  maintain  a  com- 
munication with  most  of  the  literati  of  Europe 
for  several  years.  Among  his  printed  works 
are,  a  treatise.  "  De  Nummo  Pantheo  ;"  an- 
other "  On  the  Forms  of  the  Sirens  ;"  and  a 
third  "  On  the  Schools  of  Athens  and  Parnas- 

s,"  two  pictures  by  Raphael.  He  also  left 
behind  him,  in  manuscript,  a  small  dissertation 
"  De  veterum  Musica."  His  death  took  place 
in  1702  at  Villy,  in  France,  while  lie  was  en 
jaged  in  decyphering  an  ancient  inscription, 
'  Minerva;  Arpaliaj,"  then  Lately  discovered  in 
:he  vicinity  of  that  village. 

NICANDER,  an  ancient  Greek  physician, 
rammarian,  and  poet,  flourished  in  the  time  of 
Attains  Galatonices,  king  of  Pergamus,  and 
was  a  native  of  Colophon.  He  is  also  said  to 
iiave  been  a  priest  of  the  Clarian  Apollo. 
His  works  were  numerous,  but  only  two  have 
reached  our  time,  the  one  entitled  "  Theriaca," 
a  poetical  description  of  the  wounds  made  by 
venomous  animals,  with  their  cures  ;  the  other 
"  Alexipharmaca,"  a  treatise  of  poisons  and 
antidotes.  He  also  wrote  "  An  Account  of 
the  Affairs  of  the  JStoIians,  (whence  he  has 
been  called  the  /Etolian,)  the  Boeotians,  and 


N  1C 

the  Colophonians  Georgics  ;  Metamorphoses, 
and  seveial  treatises  in  medicine.  The  best 
editions  of  his  works  are  those  of  Aldus, 
1522  ;  Baudini,  1764;  and  Schnider,  1792. — 
Vossius  de  Poet.  Grcec. 

NICCOLS,  or  NICCOLLS  (RICHARD) 
an  English  poet  of  some  note  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  seventeenth  century.  He  was  the 
editor  of  the.  most  complete  edition  of  the 
"  Mirror  for  Magistrates,"  Lond.  1610,  4to, 
towards  which  he  contributed  "  A  Winter 
Night's  Vision,"  together  with  "  England's 
Eliza,"  &c.  He  seems  to  have  availed  him- 
self of  the  attraction  arising  from  the  adop- 
tion of  popular  topics  for  the  exercise  of  his 
poetical  talents,  as  he  published  in  1616  a 
poem,  entitled  "  Sir  Thomas  Overburie's  Vi- 
sion with  the  Ghoasts  of  Weston,  Mrs.  Tur- 
ner, the  late  Lieftenant  of  the  Tower,  and 
Franklin, "4to,  ornamented  with  curious  wood- 
cuts. This  very  rare  poem  is  omitted  by  Wood 
in  his  enumeration  of  the  works  of  Niccols, 
who  was  the  author  of  several  other  pieces. — 
Wood's  Athen.  Own. 

N1CEPHORUS  CALLISTUS  XANTHO- 
PULUS,  an  ecclesiastical  historian,  was  bora 
at  Constantinople  in  the  fourteenth  century. 
He  wrote  a  "  History  of  the  Church,"  which  he 
addressed  to  the  emperor  Andronicus  Palaso- 
logus  the  elder,  and  divided  into  twenty- three 
books  from  the  birth  of  Christ  to  the  death  of 
the  emperor  Leo  the  philosopher,  in  911. 
Nicephorus  has  been  called  the  "  Ecclesias- 
tical Thucydides"  and  the  "  Theological  Pli- 
ny," both  for  the  elegance  and  the  credulity  of 
his  work.  Besides  this  he  was  the  author  of 
"  A  Catalogue  of  the  Constantinopolitan  Em- 
perors," and  "  A  Catalogue  of  the  Constan- 
tinopolitan Patriarchs,"  and  an  "  Abridge- 
ment of  the  Scriptures,"  all  in  Greek  iambic 
verse. — Mosheim  Hist.  Eccles.  Fabricii  Eibl. 
Grtfc.  Cave's  Hist.  Lit.  Unpin. 

NICEPHORUS  GREGORIAS,  one  of  the 
Byzantine  histoiians,  flourished  in  the  four- 
teenth century,  and  was  a  favourite  of  Andro- 
nicus Pala:ologus  the  elder,  who  made  him 
librarian  of  the  Constantinopolitan  church, 
and  sent  him  on  an  embassy  to  the  prince  of 
Servia.  In  the  disputes  with  Barlaam  and 
Palamos  he  defended  the  part  of  the  former 
with  so  much  vigour,  that  he  was  cast  into 
prison,  whence  he  was  liberated  by  John  Pa- 
Iffiologus.  He  wrote  eleven  books  of  the  By- 
zantine history,  from  1204  to  1341,  but  in  a 
barbarous  style,  and  very  inaccurately.  Gre- 
gorias  also  wrote  the  life  of  his  uncle  John, 
metropolitan  of  Heraclea,  and  composed  scho- 
lia on  Synesius ;  "  De  Isoniniis ;"  besides 
other  pieces  still  in  manuscript. —  fossil  Hist. 
Griec.  Moreri. 

NICERON  (JOHN  FRANCIS)  a  French  ec- 
clesiastic of  the  order  of  Friars  Minims,  dis- 
tinguished for  his  writings  on  optics.  lie  was 
a  native  of  Paris,  and  an  intimate  acquain- 
tance of  the  celebrated  Descartes.  His  works 
are,  "  L'Interpretationdes  Chiffres,  ou  Regies 
pour  bien  entendre  et  expliquer  facilement 
toutes  sortes  des  Chifl'res  simples,  6ec.  ;" 
"  Tir.imnaturgus  Opticus,  sive  admirandu  op- 


N  I  C 

tices,  catoptrices,  et  dioptrices  ;"  and  "  La 
Perspective  Curieuse."  Nicerou  died  in  1646, 
aged  thirty-three. — Bivg.  Univ. 

NICERON  (JoiiN  PETER)  a  Barnabite 
friar,  eminent  as  a  literary  historian.  He  was 
born  at  Paris  in  1685,  and  having  entered 
into  the  clerical  order  of  the  Barnabites,  he 
became  a  teacher  of  rhetoric  and  classical 
literature  at  the  college  of  Loches  in  Tou- 
raine.  He  afterwards  removed  to  Montargis, 
and  at  length  became  professor  of  the  belles 
lettres  at  Paris,  where  he  died  in  1738.  Fa- 
ther Niceron  published  "  Memoires  pour  ser- 
vir  a  1'Histoire  des  Homines  illustres  dans  la 
Republique  des  Lettres,  avec  un  Catalogue 
Raisonne  de  leurs  Ouvrages,"  42  vols.  12mo, 
i.he  last  two  of  which  were  printed  after  his 
death.  Much  valuable  information  is  com- 
prised in  this  work,  which,  however,  is  defec- 
tive in  point  of  arrangement,  and  the  taste  and 
judgment  of  the  author  are  not  always  to  be 
commended  in  his  selection  of  subjects. — LI. 

N1CETAS,  or  NICETIUS  (St)  a  bishop  of 
Heraclea  in  the  eleventh  century,  canonized 
by  the  Romish  church  after  his  decease.  He 
wrote  the  life  of  Gregory  Nazianzen,  and  some 
annotations  on  the  Scriptures  ;  and  is  said  by 
Forkel  to  be  the  real  author  of  the  hymn  "  Te 
Deum  Laudamus,"  erroneously  attributed  to 
St  Ambrose. — There  were  also  two  historians 
of  this  name,  DAVID,  a  Paphlagonian  by 
birth,  who  wrote  the  life  of  St  Ignatius  in 
Greek,  translated  into  Latin  by  Ruderi  in 
1604.  He  flourished  in  the  ninth  century. 
— The  other,  who  lived  in  the  thirteenth,  was 
surnamed  ACHOMINATES,  and  was  a  native  of 
Colossaa,  a  town  in  Phrygia.  When  the 
Franks  in  1204  stormed  Constantinople,  where 
he  held  a  situation  in  the  service  of  the  Greek 
emperor,  he  fled  to  Nice  in  Bithynia.  His 
annals,  which  embrace  a  period  of  time  from 
the  early  part  of  the  twelfth  to  the  commence- 
ment of  the  thirteenth  century,  appeared  at 
Paris  1647.  His  death  took  place  in  1206. — 
Moreri. 

_  NICHOLS,  MD.FRS.  (FRANK)  body  phy- 
sician to  king  George  II.  He  was  a  native  of 
London,  born  in  1699,  and  educated  on  the 
foundation  of  Westminster  grammar-school, 
whence  he  went  off  in  due  course  to  Christ- 
church,  Oxford,  and  there  graduated  in  medi- 
cine in  1729,  having  previously  filled  the  situ- 
ation of  anatomical  reader  to  the  university. 
Returning  to  the  metropolis,  he  commenced 
there  the  practice  of  physic,  and  rose  to  con- 
siderable eminence  in  his  profession.  He  was 
elected  by  the  college  of  physicians  Gulsto- 
nian  reader,  and  appointed  to  deliver  the  sur- 
gical lectures  in  that  society  in  1734,  in  which 
discourses  he  was  accused  of  favouring  too 
much  the  doctrine  of  materialism.  Dr  Nichols 
married  the  daughter  of  Dr  Mead  in  1743, 
and  succeeded  sir  Hans  Sloane  ten  years  after- 
wards as  physician  to  the  king,  of  whose  last 
illness  and  death  he  published  an  account,  to 
be  found  in  the  '.ransactions  of  the  Royal 
Society.  His  works  are,  "  De  Aniina  Me- 
dica;"  "  De  Motu  Cordiset  Sanguinis,  &c.  ;" 
and  a  tract  against  man-midwifery.  His  death 


N  1C 

took  place  iu  1779,  at  Epsoin. — Lij'e  by  Dr 
Laurence. 

NICHOLS  (Jons)  fellow  of  the  antiqua- 
rian societies  of  Londou,  Edinburgh,  and 
Perth,  and  for  nearly  half  a  century  editor  of 
the  Gentleman's  Magazine.  He  was  born  at 
Islington,  February  2,  1744,  and  ha /ing  re- 
ceived a  liberal  education,  he  became  at  an 
early  age  an  apprentice  to  Bowyer,  the  learned 
printer.  He  was  subsequently  admitted  into 
partnership  with  his  master,  on  whose  death 
he  succeeded  to  the  management  of  one  of  the 
first  typographical  establishments  in  the  me- 
tropolis, and  long  conducted  it  with  high  re- 
putation. In  1778  he  became  coadjutor  with 
Mr  David  Henry,  in  the  publication  of  the 
Gentleman's  Magazine  ;  and  on  the  decease  of 
that  gentleman,  the  duties  of  editor  devolved 
on  Mr  Nichols,  who,  besides  his  regular  con- 
tribution as  conductor  of  that  useful  miscel- 
lany, inserted  in  almost  every  number  some  of 
the  productions  of  his  pen,  relating  chiefly  to 
British  topography  and  antiquities.  He  was 
admitted  into  the  common  council  of  the  city 
of  Londou  in  1784,  to  which  he  belonged  till 
1801  ;  and  in  1804  he  was  chosen  master  of 
the  Stationers' company.  In  1808  his  print- 
ing-office was  destroyed  by  fire,  when  a  great 
number  of  valuable  works  perished  in  the 
flames.  Among  his  numerous  literary  pub- 
lications may  be  mentioned,  "  Anecdotes, 
literary  and  biographical,  of  William  Bow- 
yer,"  1778,  8vo,  which  formed  the  basis  of 
bis  "  Literary  Anecdotes  of  the  Eighteenth 
Century,"  9  vols.  8vo  ;  "  Illustrations  of  the 
Literature  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,"  3  vols. 
8vo,  supplementary  to  the  preceding  work ; 
and  "  The  History  and  Antiquities  of  Leices- 
tershire," folio.  Mr  Nichols  died  Nov.  26. 
182(5. — Autobiog.  Mem.  in  Lit.  Anec. 

NICHOLS,  DD.  (WILLIAM)  born  at  Don- 
nington,  Bucks,  in  1644,  was  a  divine  of 
great  learning  and  piety,  and  distinguished  as 
an  able  polemic.  From  Magdalen  hall,  Ox- 
ford, of  which  he  had  become  a  member  after 
going  through  St  Paul's  school,  he  removed  to 
Wadham  college.  This  society  he  also  quitted 
on  obtaining  a  fellowship  at  Merton  college, 
in  1 684.  Nine  years  afterwards  he  graduated 
as  doctor  in  divinity,  and  was  presented  to  the 
living  of  Selsey,  Sussex,  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Chichester.  His  principal  works  consist 
of  a  "  Defence  of  the  Church  of  England," 
written  originally  in  Latin,  but  afterwards 
printed  in  English  also.  Of  this  tract  there 
are  two  editions,  one  in  12mo,  1707,  the 
other  published  subsequently  in  8vo.  "  On 
the  English  Liturgy,"  in  folio  and  8vo  ;  "  The 
lleligion  of  a  Prince  ;"  "  A  Conference  with 
a  TheisJ,"  8vo,  2  vols. ;  "  On  the  Thirty-nine 
Articled;"  "  A  Paraphrase  on  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  :"  and  an  essay,  "  On  the 
Contempt  of  the  World."  His  death  took 
place  in  1712. — Chalmers's  Ring.  Diet. 

NICHOLSON  (WILLIAM)  an  industrious 
and  ingenious  writer  on  mathematics,  natural 
philosophy,  and  chemistry.  He  was  born  in 
London  in  175ii,  and  went  to  India  when 
young  in  the  maritime  service.  In  1776  he 


N  1C, 

became  an  agent  on  the  continent  for  Mr 
Wedgewood,  the  manufacturer  of  Stafford- 
shire-ware ;  and  he  afterwards  settled  in  the 
metropolis  as  a  mathematical  teacher.  An 
academical  establishment  which  he  had  forme  J 
proved  unsuccessful,  and  he  became  a  bank- 
lupt.  He  took  out  patents  for  various  inven- 
tions, and  published  a  "  Journal  of  Natural 
Philosophy,  Chemistry,  and  the  Arts,"  which 
was  continued  for  several  years  ;  but  some  fa- 
tality seemed  to  attend  all  his  speculations, 
which  proved  of  little  emolument  to  the  pro- 
jector. He  was  at  one  time  employed  as  en- 
gineer to  the  Portsea  Water-works  company, 
which  situation  he  lost,  and  died  in  poverty  in 
1815.  His  works  are  principally  compilations, 
but  being  executed  with  judgment,  they  are 
many  of  them  extremely  useful.  The  most 
important  are,  "  An  Introduction  to  Natural 
Philosophy,"  1782,  2  vols.  8vo;  "The  First 
Principles  of  Chemistry,"  8vo ;  and  a  Dic- 
tionary of  Chemistry,  2  vols.  4to.  With  the 
Encyclopaedia  published  under  his  name,  he  is 
understood  to  have  had  but  little  concern. 
[See  JOYCE,  JEIIEMIAH.] — Gent.  Mag. 

NICOLAI  (CHRISTOPHER  FREDERICK)  a 
learned  and  ingenious  German  writer.  He  was 
boni  in  1733,  at  Berlin,  where  his  father  was 
an  eminent  bookseller  ;  and  after  having  been 
educated  in  the  schools  of  Berlin  and  Halle, 
he  was  sent  to  Frankfort  on  the  Oder,  to  ac  - 
quire  a  knowledge  of  the  details  of  business. 
In  1752  he  returned  home,  and  assisted  his 
father  in  his  trade  ;  but  at  the  same  time  he 
devoted  much  of  his  attention  to  literature. 
He  became  acquainted  with  Leasing  and  Men- 
delsohn,  with  whom  he  engaged  in  conduct- 
ing a  periodical  journal,  called  the  Library  of 
the  Belles  Lettres,  continued  from  1757  to 
1760,  and  forming  24  xols.  8vo.  With  Abb: 
and  others,  he  afterwards  published  Letters  on 
Modern  Literature,  24  vols.  8vo;  and  this 
was  succeeded  by  the  General  German  Li- 
brary, which  he  edited  from  1765  to  1792,  in 
107  vols.  After  an  interruption  of  some  years, 
this  undertaking  was  resumed,  under  the  title 
of  the  New  General  German  Library,  1800 — 
1805.  Nicolai  died  January  8,  1811.  Be- 
sides his  periodical  productions,  he  published 
"  The  Life  and  Opinions  of  Sebahlus  Nothan- 
ker,"  a  novel,  which  has  been  translated  into 
English;  "An  Account  of  a  Tour  in  Ger- 
many and  Switzerland  in  1781  ;"  "Characte- 
ristic Anecdotes  of  Frederick  II;"  and  seve- 
ral other  works. — Biog.  Univ.  Biog.  Nouv. 
des  Contemp, 

NICOLAUS  DAMASCENUS,  a  philoso- 
pher and  historian,  was  a  native  of  Damascus, 
and  flourished  in  the  time  of  Augustus.  Herod 
the  Great  chose  him  for  his  preceptor  in  phi- 
losophy, and  took  him  with  him  to  Rome, 
where  he  introduced  him  to  Augustus,  who 
also  honoured  him  with  his  friendship.  At 
the  request  of  Herod,  Nicolaus  wrote  a 
"  Universal  History,"  which  is  often  quoted 
by  Suidas,  Josephus  and  others,  but  of  which 
only  a  few  fragments  are  preserved.  He  also 
wrote  "  A  Dissertation  on  the  Manners  of  va- 
rious Nations; "  "  Memoirs  of  Augustus," 


NIC 

and  Ms  own  life,  of  which  some  fragments  are 
preserved  by  Valesius  ;  and  a  complete  edition- 
was  published  in  1804,  by  Orellius,  under  the 
title  of  "  Nicolai  Damasceiii  Historiarum  ex- 
cerpta  et  fragmenta  quse  supersunt." — ]rossii 
Hist.  Gr<rc.  Moreri. 

NICOLE  (FRANCIS)  a  celebrated  French 
mathematician,  was  born  at  Paris  in  1683.  He 
was  instructed  in  mathematics  by  Montmavt, 
and  early  secured  the  respect  of  the  scientific 
world,  by  detecting  the  fallacy  of  a  pretended 
quadrature  of  the  circle,  which  a  M.  Mathu- 
lon  so  confidently  believed  he  had  discovered, 
that  lie  deposited  three  thousand  livres  in  the 
hands  of  a  public  notary  at  Lyons,  to  be  paid 
over  to  any  person  who,  in  the  judgment  of  the 
Academy  of  Sciences,  should  demonstrate  his 
solution  to  be  erroneous.  This  deposit  was 
•paid  over  to  M.  Nicole,  who  gave  it  to  the 
hospital  at  Lyons.  In  1707  the  academy  no- 
minated him  assistant  mechanician,  and  in 
1724,  pensioner.  He  died  in  1758.  The  nu- 
merous able  papers  of  this  expert  mathemati- 
cian, are  inserted  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Aca- 
demy of  Sciences. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist.  Hut- 
ton's  Math.  Diet. 

NICOLE  (PETER)  a  celebrated  French  di- 
vine in  the  seventeenth  century,  was  born  at 
Ckartres  in  1625.  He  received  his  early  edu- 
cation from  his  father,  under  whom  he  attained 
a  high  proficiency  in  the  learned  languages  ; 
after  which  he  was  sent  to  the  university  of 
Paris,  and  having  graduated  MA.,  entered 
upon  a  course  of  divinity  at  the  Sorbonne.  He 
also  devoted  a  portion  of  his  time  to  the  in- 
struction of  youth  placed  under  the  care  of 
Messieurs,  of  the  Port  Royal,  which  led  to 
his  becoming  an  associate  of  the  celebrated 
Arnauld,  in  his  defence  of  Jansenius.  He  was 
solicited  to  take  orders,  but  remained  only  a 
tonsured  priest,  in  consequence  of  the  refusal 
of  the  bishop  of  Chartres,  who  disliked  his 
Jansenism,  to  ordain  him.  He  continued  un- 
disturbed at  Paris  until  1677,  when  a  letter 
which  he  wrote  to  pope  Innocent  IX,  in  favour 
of  the  bishops  of  St  Pons  and  Arras,  excited  a 
storm  which  obliged  him  to  quit  the  kingdom, 
and  seek  refuge  in  the  Netherlands.  He  was, 
however,  soon  allowed  to  return,  and  to  live 
privately  at  Chartres,  under  another  name. 
At  length,  in  1683,  lie  was  permitted  to  return 
to  Paris,  where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his 
life  in  the  composition  of  numerous  new  works. 
During  the  latter  years  of  his  life  he  entered 
into  two  celebrated  disputes,  concerning  mo  • 
nastic  studies  and  quietism,  in  which  he  much 
distinguished  himself.  He  died  in  1695,  aged 
seventy-five.  The  principal  works  of  this  able 
controversialist,  are  "  Moral  Essays,"  14  vols. 
12mo  ;  "  Lettres  Imaginaires  et  Visionnaires," 
2  vols.  12mo  ;  "The  Perpetuity  of  the  Faith 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  concerning  the 
Eucharist,"  3  vols.  4to  ;  "  Les  Prejuges  Le- 
gitimes  centre  les  Calvinistes  ;"  "  Traite  de 
i'L'nite  de  1'Eglise  ;"  "  Epigrammatum  De- 
lectus," 1559,  12mo;  and  a  Latin  translation 
of  "  The  Provincial  Letters,"  with  notes. — 
Nmv.  Diet.  Hist.  Moreri. 

NICOLSON    (WILLIAM)    archbishop    of 

Bioo.  DICT. — VOL.  II. 


NIE 

Cashel,  in  Ireland,  a  prelate  of  extensive 
knowledge  and  deep  erudition.  He  was  the 
son  of  the  rev.  Joseph  Nicolson,  rector  of 
Hemland,  in  Cumberland,  at  Orton,  in  which 
county,  the  subject  of  this  article  was  born  in 
1  655.  In  his  twenty-fourth  year  he  was  elect- 
ed to  a  fellowship  of  Queen's  college,  Oxford, 
when  he  had  taken  his  bachelor's  degree  in 
arts,  and  entering  the  church  became  domestic 
chaplain  to  Rainbow,  bishop  of  Carlisle,  who 
in  1681  gave  him  a  stall  in  his  cathedral,  and 
in  1682  made  him  his  archdeacon.  His  lite- 
rary reputation,  both  as  a  divine  and  an  anti- 
quary, from  this  period,  continued  to  increase 
till  1702,  when  he  was  farther  promoted  to  the 
bishopric  of  the  same  diocese,  over  which  he 
presided  sixteen  years,  and  was  then  trans- 
lated to  the  see  of  Londonderry.  In  January 
1727,  he  was  made  archbishop  of  Cashel,  a 
dignity  which  includes  that  of  primate  of 
Munster,  but  never  lived  to  take  possession, 
dying  on  the  13th  of  the  month  following. 
Besides  his  correspondence,  which  has  lately 
appeared,  he  was  the  author  of  an  "  English 
Historical  Library,"  1696 — 9.  A  similar 
work  connected  with  Scotland,  and  another  on 
Ireland.  These  tracts  were  collected  in  1776 
into  one  quarto  volume.  "  An  Essay  on  the 
Border  Laws,"  and  "  A  Description  of  the 
Kingdoms  of  Poland  and  Denmark."  He 
also  wrote  the  prefaces  to  Chamberlayne's 
Polyglott  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  to  Wil- 
kins's  "  Laws  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  ;"  and  in 
1717  especially  distinguished  himself  by  the 
zeal  and  ability  with  which  he  entered  into 
the  Bangorian  controversy.  Browne  Willis 
speaks  in  terms  of  the  greatest  respect  of  his 
research  and  character  as  aa  antiquary. — 
Chalmers's  Biog.  Diet. 

NICOT  (JOHN)  a  native  of  INismes  in 
France,  who  obtained  the  office  of  master  of 
requests  at  Paris.  In  1559,  being  sent  on  an 
embassy  to  Portugal,  he  brought  home  on  his 
return,  the  plant  tobacco,  which  thence  ob- 
tained the  appellation  of  Nicotiana,  adopted  as 
a  generic  name  by  Linnajus  and  other  bota- 
nists. Nicot  died  in  1600.  He  was  the  au- 
thor of  a  French  and  Latin  Dictionary  ; 
"  Traite  de  la  Marine  ;"  &c. — Diet.  Hint. 

NIELD  (JAMES)  celebrated  for  his  benevo- 
lence and  philanthropy,  was  born  at  Knuts- 
ford  in  Cheshire,  May  24,  1744.  He  was  in 
the  first  instance  designed  for  agriculture,  bat 
in  his  sixteenth  year  he  became  apprentice  to 
a  goldsmith  in  London,  and  when  out  of  his 
time  commenced  business  in  St  James's-street, 
where  he  realized  a  handsome  fortune.  Hav- 
ing been  much  impressed  by  a  visit  which  he 
paid,  early  in  life,  to  the  King's  Bench  prison, 
and  possibly  smitten  by  the  example  of  the 
benevolent  Howard,  he  explored  all  the  pri- 
sons of  the  country  with  a  view  to  the  ame- 
lioration of  human  wretchedness,  and  the  alle- 
viation of  the  misery  of  his  fellow -creatures 
under  confinement.  It  was  his  constant  prac- 
tice in  these  excursions  to  wait  upon  the  ma- 
gistrates in  the  cities  and  boroughs,  and  repre- 
sent to  them  what  he  saw  amiss  in  their  jails, 
or  what  his  experience  might  suggest  for 
2  N 


N  10 

their  improvement.  In  this  manner  he  occu- 
pied himself  for  thirty  years,  producing  many 
substantial  benefits,  and  by  his  example  and 
communications  to  the  Gentleman's  Magazine, 
exciting  kindred  beneficence  in  others.  This 
excellent  person  was  also  the  prime  founder 
of  the  society  for  the  relief  and  discharge  of 
prisoners  confined  for  small  debts,  formed  in 
1773,  and  to  which  he  was  unanimously  ap- 
pointed treasurer.  Mr  Nield  died  universally 
lamented,  February  16,  1814.  Besides  his 
communications  to  the  Gentleman's  Magazine, 
Le  was  author  of  the  interesting  reports  of  the 
society  to  which  his  benevolence  gave  exist- 
ence.— From  a  Memoir  by  Himself. 

NIEULAND  (PBTBH)  a  Dutch  author,  was 
the  son  of  a  carpenter,  and  was  born  at  Dim- 
niermeer,  near  Amsterdam,  in  1764.  At  the 
age  of  ten  years  he  wrote  tolerable  poetry, 
and  solved  several  mathematical  problems 
without  having  had  any  instructor.  The  Ba- 
tavian  government  appointed  him  one  of  the 
commissioners  of  longitude,  and  he  became 
successively  professor  of  mathematics  at  Utrecht 
and  Amsterdam.  He  died  in  1794.  His 
principal  works  are,  treatises  "  On  the  Means 
of  enlightening  a  People  ;"  "  Of  the  System 
of  Lavoisier  ;"  and  "On  Navigation  ;"  "  Poems 
in  the  Dutch  Language  ;"  with  other  trea- 
tises on  scientific  subjects. —  Rees's  Cyclop. 
Diet.  Hist. 

NIEUPOORT  (  WILLIAM  HENRY)  a  learned 
writer  on  classical  archaeology,  born  in  Holland 
about  1670.  He  applied  himself  especially  to 
the  study  of  ancient  history,  of  which  he  be- 
came professor  in  the  university  of  Utrecht. 
His  death  took  place  about  1730.  Nieupoort 
was  the  author  of  a  treatise,  entitled  "  Ri- 
tuuin  qui  olim  apud  Romanos  obtinuerunt  suc- 
cincta  explicatio,"  8vo,  which  has  been  often 
printed  ;  and  "  Historia  Reipublicse  et  Imperii 
Romanorum,  contexta  ex  monumentis  vete- 
rum,"  1723,  2  vols.  8vo. — Biog.  Univ. 

N1EUWENTYT  (BERNARD)  an  ingenious 
Dutch  philosopher  and  mathematician,  born 
in  1654.  He  was  intended  for  the  clerical 
profession,  which  was  that  of  his  father  ;  but 
having  a  stronger  taste  for  mathematics  than 
theology,  lie  applied  himself  chiefly  to  mathe- 
matical and  physical  studies,  to  which  he 
added  that  of  jurisprudence.  He  became 
counsellor  and  burgomaster  of  the  town  of 
PupMnerend  in  North  Holland,  and  a  member 
of  the  states  of  the  province.  He  died  in 
1718.  His  works  are,  Considerations  on  the 
Analysis  of  Infinites  ;  the  Analysis  of  Curve 
Lines  by  means  of  the  Doctrine  of  Infinites  ; 
Considerations  on  the  Principles  of  the  Diffe- 
rential Calculus  ;  a  Treatise  on  the  use  of 
Tables  of  Sines  and  Tangents  ;  and  Contem- 
plations on  the  Universe,  translated  into  En- 
glish by  John  Chainberlayne,  and  published 
under  the  title  of  "  The  Religious  Philoso- 
pher," 2  vols.  4to. — Martin's  Biog.  Philos. 
Biog.  Ihiiv 

NIGHTINGALE  (JOSEPH)  a  dissenting 
minister,  of  considerable  literary  talent,  born 
at  Chowbent  in  Lancashire,  in  1775.  Having 
officiated  for  some  short  time  to  a  congrega- 


N  IV 

tion  in  the  Wesley  an  connexion  it  Maccles- 
tieltl,  he  was  induced  to  settle  in  the  metropo- 
I  lis,  where  lie  supported  himself  principally  by 
the  exertion  of  his  talents  as  an  author.  In 
this  capacity  he  compiled  several  volumes  of 
the  "  Beautiesof  England  and  Wales  ;"  "  Ln- 
gh.-h  Topography,"  fol.  1816  ;  "  A  Portraiture 
of  Methodism,"  8vo.  This  last  work  he  pub- 
lished in  1U07,  having  previously  become  a 
convert  to  Unitarianism.  "  Sermons  preached 
at  Hanover-street  and  Worship-street  cha- 
pels," 8vo,  1807  ;  "  A  Portraiture  of  Catho- 
licism," 8vo,  1812;  and  "  Refutation  of  a 
recent  anonymous  Pamphlet,  entitled  '  A  Por- 
traiture of  "Hypocrisy,'  "  8vo,  1813.  His 
death  took  phxce  August  9,  1824. — Ann. 
Biog. 

NIGIDIUS  FIGULUS  (Puni.ius)  a  Ro- 
man author  and  senator,  and  friend  of  Cicero, 
whom  he  assisted  in  defeating  the  conspiracy 
of  Catiline.  Cicero  speaks  highly  of  the 
attainments  of  Nigidius,  and  ascribes  to 
him  the  revival  of  the  Pythagorean  philoso- 
phy. It  has  been  thought  that  he  was  exiled 
for  some  of  the  deceptions  which  he  practised 
under  the  veil  of  this  philosophy  ;  but  the  real 
cause  of  his  banishment  was  his  attachment 
to  Pompey.  He  died  13C.  45.  His  works 
were,  "  De  Augurio  privato  ;"  "  De  Auimali- 
bus  ;"  "  De  Extis  ;"  "  De  Vento  ;"  "  De 
Diis ;"  and  commentaries  on  grammar,  of 
which  fragments  only  remain,  which  were 
published  by  Janus  Rutgeraius. —  Vossius  de 
Scient.  Math.  Fabricii  Bibl.  Lot.  Brucker. 

N1PHUS  (AUGUSTINE)  a  learned  Italian, 
was  born  at  Sessa,  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples, 
in  1473,  and  was  appointed  professor  of  phi- 
losophy at  Padua.  He  composed  a  treatise 
"  De  Intellectu  et  Dremonibus,"  in  which  he 
maintained  that  there  is  but  one  soul  which 
animates  all  nature.  He  gained  so  much  re- 
putation by  his  works,  however  trifling  they 
may  now  appear,  that  he  was  offered  profes- 
sorships in  the  most  celebrated  universities  of 
Italy,  and  he  was  created  count  palatine  by 
Leo  X.  The  philosophy  of  Niphus,  however, 
was  only  in  theory,  bring,  even  in  his  old  age, 
remarkable  for  his  levity  and  intrigue.  He 
died  in  1337.  He  left  "  Commentaries  in 
Latin  on  Aristotle  and  Averroes,"  14  vols. 
folio  ;  "A  Treatise  on  the  Immortality  at 
the  Soul  ;"  "  De  Ainore,  de  pulchro  Vene- 
ris  et  Cupidiuis  venales,"  &c. — Tiraboschi. 
Diet.  Hist. 

NITHARD,  a  French  historian  of  the  ninth 
century,  was  the  son  of  Ant;ilbert,  abbot  of  St. 
Riquier,  and  of  Bertha,  daughter  of  Charle- 
magne, lie  was  born  about  the  year  790,  and 
appears  to  have  been  distinguished  both  as  a 
soldier  and  a  politician.  He  was  author  of  a 
chronicle  which  gives  an  account  of  the  divisions 
between  the  children  of  Louis  le  Debonnaire, 
which  was  published  in  1594.  by  M.  Pithou,  in 
his  Annalium  et  Historian  Francorum  Scrip- 
tores. — Moreri.  None.  Diet.  Hist. 

MVKRNA1S  (Louis  JULES  BARBON 
MANCINI,  due  de)  a  French  statesman  and 
man  of  letters,  born  of  an  Italian  family  at 
Paris  in  1716.  He  filled  the  office  of  arnbas- 


N  O  A 

nador  at  Rome,  Berlin,  and  London,  having 
been  sent  to  England  to  conclude  the  treaty 
of  Paris  in  1763.  He  was  subsequently  ad- 
mitted a  member  of  the  Royal  Academy  of 
Inscriptions  and  Belles  Lettres  at  Paris  ;  and 
he  distinguished  himself  as  the  author  of  fa- 
bles, songs,  dialogues  of  the  dead,  and  other 
light  and  elegunt  productions,  original  and 
translated,  which  have  been  collected  andpub- 
lislied  in  ten  volumes  octavo.  His  death  took 
place  in  1798. — Biog.  Univ. 

NIZAM  UL  MULK,  an  enlightened  Per- 
sian, who,  in  the  eleventh  century,  rose  from 
obscurity  to  be  vizier  to  the  sultan  Alp  Ars- 
lan,  and  to  his  son  Malek  Schah.  He  was  at 
once  an  able  statesman,  a  consummate  gene- 
ral, and  a  zealous  patron  of  learning.  His 
palace  was  not  only  always  open  to  men  of 
genius,  but  many  of  them  were  pensioned  by 
his  liberality.  He  also  founded  and  endowed 
numerous  seminaries  of  education,  and  parti- 
cularly the  once  flourishing  college  of  Bagdad. 
He  himself  wrote  a  valuable  history  of  his 
own  times,  which  work  abounds  in  much  in- 
teresting matter  of  fact  and  description.  Ni- 
zam, who  was  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
characters  of  his  age,  was  stabbed  at  the  age 
of  ninety,  while  reading  a  petition  presented 
to  him  by  an  assassin,  or  subject  of  the  old 
man  of  the  mountain. — D'Herbelot. 

NIZOLIUS  (MARIUS)  a  learned  Italian, 
was  born  at  Brescello,  in  the  dutchy  of  Mo- 
dena,  in  1498.  When  his  writings  had  made 
him  known,  he  was  invited  by  the  princess 
Farnese  to  Parma,  to  give  lectures  in  rheto- 
ric ;  and  he  was  afterwards  appointed  princi- 
pal of  the  new  university  of  Sabionetta.  The 
work  by  which  he  is  chiefly  distinguished 
was  a  dictionary  of  the  words  which  occur  in 
Cicero,  entitled,  "  Thesaurus  Ciceronianus," 
of  which  the  latest  edition  was  printed  at  Pa- 
dua in  1734,  folio.  Nizolius  carried  his  ad- 
miration of  Cicero  from  his  language  to  his 
philosophy  ;  in  favour  of  which  he  main- 
tained a  strenuous  contest  with  several  of  his 
learned  contemporaries.  In  the  course  of  this 
dispute  he  wrote  a  treatise  "  De  veris  Prin- 
cipiis  et  vera  Ratione  Philosophandi,"  which 
so  struck  Leibnitz  by  its  philosophy  and  ele- 
gance, that  in  order  to  expose  the  obstinacy  of 
the  remaining  adherents  of  Aristotle,  he  gave 
a  new  edition  of  it,  with  critical  notes  of  his 
own,  1670,  4to. — Tiraboschi. 

NOAILLES  (Louis  ANTOINE  de)  a  cele- 
brated French  prelate,  was  the  second  son  of 
Anne,  due  de  Noailles.  He  inherited  at  his 
birth,  which  took  place  in  1651,  the  dukedom 
of  St  Cloud,  with  the  signory  of  Aubrach, 
and  the  dignity  of  a  peer  of  France.  An  earlv 
inclination  for  literature,  and  a  devotional  turn 
ofmind.inducedhim,  however,  to  forego  these 
temporal  advantages,  and  to  enter  the  church 
at  so  early  an  age,  that  in  his  twenty-fifth 
year  he  had  already  become  a  doctor  of  the 
Sorbonne,  where  he  had  applied  himself  to  the 
study  o*  divinity.  As  his  connexions  were  of 
the  rirst  importance  in  the  state,  his  rise  was 
proportionably  high  and  rapid,  until  he  at 
length  became  archbishop  of  Paris,  and  pri- 


NOE 

mate  of  France.  In  this  exalte/  situation  he 
gained  much  credit,  not  only  by  the  excellent 
;  regulations  which  he  introduced  for  reforming 
;  the  lives  and  manners  of  the  French  eccle- 
siastics, but  for  the  strictness  and  impartiality 
with  which  he  caused  them  to  be  carried  into 
execution.  The  progress  of  the  Jansenists  and 
Quietists,  which  at  this  period  excited  so  much 
attention  in  the  councils  of  the  Vatican,  he 
exerted  himself  with  much  zeal  and  vigour  to 
arrest  and  terminate.  His  labours  in  the 
cause  of  the  Romish  church  on  this  occasion 
raised  him  high  in  court  favour,  both  at  Paris 
and  at  Rome,  and  were  at  length  rewarded  in 
1700  by  his  elevation  to  the  purple.  Fifteen 
years  afterwards,  however,  his  opinions  milita- 
ted so  strongly  against  those  then  expressed  by 
the  papal  court  in  the  famous  bull  Unigenitus, 
respecting  Pasquier  Quesnel's  work  on  the 
New  Testament,  that  not  only  did  his  popu- 
larity in  that  quarter  decline,  but  a  sentence 
of  banishment  was  issued  against  him,  through 
the  influence  of  Tellier  and  the  Jesuitical 
party,  who  loudly  accused  him  of  a  tendency 
to  heresy,  and  the  encouragement  of  schisma- 
tical  doctrines.  His  disgrace,  however,  proved 
to  be  but  of  short  duration,  and  he  so  far  re- 
canted as  to  reconcile  himself  to  the  sovereign 
pontiff,  by  which  he  was  enabled  to  turn  the 
tables  on  his  old  antagonist,  father  Tellier. 
His  death  took  place  at  Paris,  May  4,  1729. 
— Nouv,  Diet.  Hist. 

NOEHDEN,  LLD.  &c.  (GEORG  E  HENRY) 
a  learned  and  amiable  German  writer,  many 
years  domiciled  in  this  country.  He  was  born 
January  23,  1770,  at  Gottingen,  in  Hanover, 
and  received  the  rudiments  of  education  at 
the  grammar-school  there,  after  which  he  en- 
tered the  university,  and  applied  himself  more 
particularly  to  the  study  of  Greek  and  Roman 
antiquities,  having  for  his  instructor  the 
learned  Heyne,  whom  he  assisted  in  his  edi- 
tion of  Homer.  In  1791,  being  recommended 
by  his  master  to  an  English  gentleman  named 
Lawrence,  at  that  time  residing  in  Gottingen, 
as  tutor  to  his  children,  he  became  domesti- 
cated in  the  family,  and  through  that  con- 
nexion was  introduced,  in  the  winter  of  1793, 
to  the  late  sir  William  Milner,  whose  son,  the 
present  baronet,  he  attended  to  Eton,  in  the 
capacity  of  private  tutor.  Here  he  ob:ained 
the  friendship  of  Jacob  Bryant,  Herschel,  &c. 
till  the  education  of  his  pupil  being  completed, 
he  accompanied  a  younger  son  of  the  same 
family  to  Gottingen,  where  he  wrote  a  disser- 
tation "  De  Porphyrii  Scholiis  in  Homerum." 
After  visiting  the  courts  of  Brunswick  and 
Berlin,  they  returned  to  Eton,  and  in  1800 
Noehdeu  published  his  German  and  English 
grammar,  which  has  since  gone  through  five 
editions,  and  is  considered  the  best  extant. 
In  the  Milner  family  he  continued  to  reside 
till  the  death  of  sir  William  in  1811,  some  time 
after  which  a  vacancy  occurring  among  the 
librarians  of  the  British  Museum,  his  well- 
earned  reputation  carried  the  election  against 
thirty  opponents.  He  was  at  Weimar,  super- 
intending fue  education  of  the  hereditary 
grand  dukr's  children,  when  this  event  oc- 
2N2 


N  OL 

curred.and  lie  lost  no  time  in  returning  to  Eng- 
land in  18^0.  The  year  following  lie  tran>- 
lated  Goethe's  observations  on  the  "  Last 
Supper"  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  with  a  prefa- 
tory essay  and  notes  ;  and  soon  after  succeeded 
to  the  superintendance  of  the  numismatic  de- 
partment in  the  Museum,  for  which  his  essay 
on  the  "  Northwick  Coins"  evinces  him  to 
have  been  peculiarly  adapted.  This  work 
he  had  intended  to  comprise  in  twelve  num- 
bers, but  his  death,  which  took  place  in 
March  1826',  prevented  its  extension  beyond 
the  fourth  number.  Among  his  papers  after 
his  decease  were  found,  a  translation  of  part 
of  Winckelman's  "  History  of  Art ;"  another 
of  part  of  Lessing's  "  Laocoon  ;"  some  me- 
moranda of  his  travels  ;  and  "  An  Introduc- 
tion to  Numismatology."  A  cast  was  taken 
from  his  face  after  his  death,  for  the  Asiatic 
Society,  of  which  he  had  been  elected  presi- 
dent in  1823. — Ann.  Biog. 

NOG  A  KOLA  (Luoovico)  a  noble  Vero- 
nese, born  in  1509.  He  was  as  distinguished 
by  his  learning  and  abilities  as  by  his  rank, 
and  served  his  country  in  several  diplomatic 
missions,  especially  in  one  to  the  Venetian  se- 
nate, from  whom  he  received  the  honour  of 
knighthood.  He  was  afterwards  created  gene- 
ralissimo of  the  papal  forces  at  Rome,  but 
returning  at  length  to  his  native  city,  died 
there  in  1558.  Among  his  writings  are,  an 
oration  delivered  by  him  at  the  council  of 
Trent ;  "  On  the  Divorce  of  the  Queen  of 
England  ;"  "  On  the  Cause  of  the  overflow- 
ing of  the  River  Nile  ;"  "  On  the  treatise  De 
Universal  Natura  of  Ocellus  Lucanus  ;"  and  an 
"  Essay  on  illustrious  Authors,  Natives  of 
Italy,  who  have  written  in  tl  e  Greek  lan- 
guage."— None.  Did.  Hist. 

NOLDIUS  (CHRISTIAN)  a  learned  Danish 
divine,  was  born  at  Hoybia  in  Scania,  in 
162&.  He  was  educated  at  the  university  of 
Copenhagen,  and  in  1650  he  was  nominated 
rector  of  the  college  of  Landscroon.  He  after- 
wards travelled  in  Europe,  and  in  1660  he  he- 
came  tutor  to  the  sons  of  the  lord  of  Gers- 
torff.  In  1670  he  was  ordained  minister  and 
professor  of  divinity  in  the  university  of  Co- 
penhagen. He  died  in  1683.  He  is  said  to 
have  been  the  first  opposer  of  demonology, 
and  was  the  author  of  the  following  works, 
"  Concordantiai  particularum  Hebra?o-Chal- 
daicarum,"  &c.  a  much  esteemed  work  ;  "  Sa- 
craruin  Historiarum  et  Antiquitatum  Synop- 
sis ;"  "  Leges  distinguendi  seu  de  Virtute  et 
Vitio  Distinctionis  Opus  ;"  "  Historia  Idu- 
m-*a  seu  de  Vita  et  Gestis  Herodum  Dia- 
tribe ;"  "  Logica ;"  a  "New  Edition  of  Jo- 
sephus's  History." — Frelieri  Tlieatr.  Vir  Erud. 
Clar.  Jl/nwi.  KOILV.  Diet.  Hist. 

NOLLEK1NS  (JOSEPH)  a  celebrated  sculp- 
tor, was  born  in  London  in  1737.  He  was  the 
eon  of  Joseph  Francis  Nollekins,  a  painter  of 
more  ingenuity  than  original  talent,  who  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  his  close  imitation  of 
AYattrau.  The  subject  of  this  article  was 
placed  eiirly  under  Scheemakers,  and  in  1759 
and  1760  gained  premiums  from  the  Society 
of  Arts.  He  subsequently  repaired  to  Rome, 


N  O  N 

where  he  obtained  the  instructions  of  Cava  • 
(•<•]. pi,  a  sculptor  of  considerable  note,  uudei 
whom  he  studied  so  successfully,  that  he  soon 
had  the  honour  of  receiving  a  gold  medal  from 
tin-  1  Ionian  academy  of  painting  and  sculpture. 
At  the  same  time  he  materially  improved  his 
fortune  by  becoming  a  dealer  in  antiques,  a» 
well  as  in  the  productions  of  Italian  art  ge- 
nerally. He  remained  nine  years  at  Home, 
during  which  time  he  executed  the  busts  of 
many  Englishmen  of  distinction  ;  and  returning 
in  1770,  soon  after  married  the  youngest  daugh- 
ter of  Mr  Justice  Welch,  with  a  handsome 
fortune,  and  speedily  took  the  lead  in  his  pro- 
fession, and  acquired  great  riches.  The  chisel 
of  Nollekins  was  chiefly  distinguished  by  its 
careful  and  accurate  imitation  of  nature,  and 
by  the  absence  of  any  peculiarity  of  manner. 
His  "  Venus  with  the.  Sandal"  is  esteemed  his 
principal  production  in  the  ideal  line  of  art ;  but 
his  professional  reputation  rests  principally 
upon  his  busts.  This  artist,  who  was  a  great  fa- 
vourite with  George  III,  was  eccentric  in  many 
points  of  his  character,  and  in  particular  was 
distinguished  by  that  sort  of  avarice,  which, 
while  rigidly  penurious  in  small  matters,  is 
capable  of  occasional  expensive  acts  of  gene- 
rosity. Mr.  Nollekins,  who  became  a  roval 
academician  in  1772,  died  April  23,  1823,  in 
the  eighty-sixth  year  of  his  age,  and  in  the 
possession  of  a  fortune  amounting  to  nearly 
200.000/. — Ann.  B'wg. 

JS'OLLET  (JOHN  ANTHONY)  an  eminent 
natural  philosopher  of  the  last  century.  He 
was  a  native  of  Pimbre,  in  the  diocese  of 
Noyon  in  France,  and  died  at  Paris  in  1770, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-nine.  He  was  lecturer  on 
experimental  philosophy  to  the  duke  of  Saroy, 
and  afterwards  to  the  r-oyal  family  in  his  native 
country  ;  and  he  also  held  the  professorship 
of  physics  at  the  college  of  Navarre  at  Pans. 
He  was  the  author  of  "  Lejons  du  Physique 
Experimental, "  6  vols.  12mo  ;  "  L'Art  des 
Experiences,"  3  vols.  12mo;  "  Recueil  de 
Lettres  sur  l'Electricit6,"  3  vols.  12mo,  be- 
sides other  works. — Biog.  Univ.  Diet.  Hist. 

NON  (CLAUDE  RICHARD  de  St)  born  in  1728, 
and  advantageously  known  as  the  author  of  a 
splendid  work  published  at  Paris  by  subscrip- 
tion, under  the  title  of  "  Voyage  Pittoresque 
de  Naples  et  de  Sicile,"  which  was  afterwards 
abridged  by  Keerl,  secretary  to  the  court  of 
Anspach.  In  the  composition  of  this  book, 
which  is  valuable,  as  well  for  its  biographical 
notices  as  for  the  mode  in  which  it  treats  of 
every  thing  connected  with  the  arts  or  anti- 
quities of  the  kingdom  of  the  two  Sicilies, 
he  was  assisted  by  his  brother,  and  by  the 
painters  Fragonard  and  Robert,  in  some  mas- 
terly views  and  delineations  which  it  contains. 
He  was  in  the  earlier  part  of  his  life  a  coun- 
sellor of  the  parliament  of  Paris,  and  died  ia 
that  capital  in  1791. —  Biog.  Univ. 

NONIUS  or  NONN1US.  There  were  four 
of  this  name,  MAHCELLUS,  a  peripatetic  phi- 
losopher, critic,  and  grammarian,  was  a  native 
of  Tibur,  (now  Tivoli)  in  the  fourth  century, 
and  was  the  author  of  a  treatise,  "  De  pro- 
prietate  Sermonis,  sive  de  varia  significatione 


N  O  11 

verhorum,"  in  nine  books,  edited  by  .1.  Mer- 
cier,  with  a  commentary,  Paris,  8vo,  1614. — 
Another  of  this  name,  called  also  sometimes 
Nonnus Panopolita,  flourished  in  the  succeeding 
century  at  Panopolis  in  Egypt,  and  was  the 
author  of  a  metrical  paraphrase  of  St  John's 
Gospel,  printed  at  the  Aldine  press,  Venice, in 
150 1  ,and  of  an  heroic  poem.in  forty- eight  books, 
entitled  "  Dionysiacs,"  printed  at  Antwerp, 
with  a  Latin  translation  by  Eilhard  Lubin, 
in  1659. — LEWIS  NoNNius.horn  at  Antwerp, 
in  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
was  a  physician  of  considerable  eminence, 
celebrated  as  well  for  his  professional  ability 
as  for  his  intimate  acquaintance  with  classical 
and  general  literature.  A  treatise  of  his  "  De 
re  Cibaria,''  Antwerp,  1646,  is  valuable  for  the 
light  it  throws  upon  the  domestic  luxury  of 
the  ancients,  as  described  by  their  own  poets. 
His  other  works  are,  an  account  of  the  princi- 
pal rivers  in  Spain,  and  a  Numismatic  treatise 
on  the  Greek  medals,  and  those  struck  by  the 
fiist  three  Caesars.  This  last  appeared  in  1620, 
illustrated  bysome  admirable  engravings  of  Golt- 
zius. — PETER  NONIUS  or  NUNEZ,  an  eminent 
Portuguese  mathematician,  was  born  in  1497 
at  Alcazar,  anciently  called  Salacia,  whence 
lie  is  sometimes  styled  "  Salaciensis."  He  ob- 
tained the  mathematical  professorship  in  the 
university  of  Coimbra,  and  was  elected,  on  ac- 
count of  his  talents,  by  king  Emanuel,  to  su- 
perintend the  education  of  his  son,  Don  En- 
r-iquez,  with  the  title  of  cosmographer  royal. 
He  published  a  treatise  "  On  Navigation  ;" 
"  Mechanical  Problems  on  the  movement  of 
Vessels  by  Oars  ;"  "  Observations  on  the 
Planetary  Theory  of  Purbachius  ;"  "  De  Cre- 
pusculo ;"  some  notes  on  Aristotle's  works, 
and  a  valuable  treatise  on  algebra  and  geo- 
metry, published  in  Portuguese  and  Spanish. 
His  death  took  place  in  1577. — Nouv.  Diet. 
Hin. 

NOODT  (GF.RAHD)  a  learned  jurist,  was 
bom  at  Nimeguen  in  1647.  He  visited  the 
universities  of  Leyden,  Utrecht,  and  Frane- 
ker,  where  he  took  the  degree  of  doctor  of 
law  in  1669.  On  his  return  to  Nimeguen,  he 
was  chosen  professor  of  law,  and  in  1684  he 
was  appointed  professor  in  the  university  of 
Utrecht.  He  afterwards  removed  to  the  same 
station  at  Leyden,  where  he  died  in  1725. 
His  works  weie  collected  and  published  in 
1713  and  1724,  and  include  two  treatises, 
"  De  jure  Summi  Imperil  et  Lege  Regia," 
and  "  De  Religione  ab  Imperio  jure  Gentium 
libera."  The  style  is  pure,  but  they  are  so  con 
cise  as  sometimes  to  be  obscure. — Morcri. 
Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

NORBERG  (GEORGE)  chaplain  and  histo- 
rian of  Charles  XII  of  Sweden.  He  was 
born  at  Stockholm  in  1677,  and  having  finished 
his  studies  at  LIpsal,  he  entered  into  the 
church,  and  in  1703  became  almoner  to  the 
Swedish  army.  In  1707  he  was  made  almoner 
to  the  king,  with  whom  he  was  at  the  battle 
of  Pultowa,  where  he  was  taken  prisoner. 
Having  been  sent  to  Russia  with  count  Piper, 
he  was  not  liberated  till  1715,  when  he  joined 
sing  Charles  in  Pomerania.  Soon  after  he 


NOR 

obtained  the  office  of  pastor  to  n  church  fit 
Stockholm,  where  he  died  in  17-14.  Norberg 
was  distinguished  as  a  pulpit  orator,  and  he 
published  a  good  mauy  funeral  discourses,  but 
his  history  of  Charles  XII  is  the  only  work 
which  entitles  him  to  notice.  The  materials 
which  he  used  were  partly  furnished  by  the 
Swedish  government,  and  the  manuscript  was 
corrected  by  queen  Ulrica  Eleonora,  the  sister 
and  successor  of  Charles  XII.  The  history 
was  published  at  Stockholm,  1740,  2  vols. 
'olio  ;  and  a  French  translation  appeared  at 
the  Hague  in  1742,  3  vols.  4to. — Biog.  Univ. 

NOIIDEN  (FRKDERIC  LEWIS)  an  eminent 
geographer  and  traveller,  was  born  at  Gluck- 
stadt  in  Holstein,  in  1708.  He  entered  the 
marine  service,  and  became  so  excellent  a 
draughtsman,  that  the  king  of  Denmark  sent 
iim  to  travel  in  Europe,  in  order  to  study  the 
construction  of  ships.  By  command  of  the 
same  monarch  he  afterwards  went  to  Egypt, 
:o  examine  the  curiosities  of  that  country;  and 
lie  published  the  result  of  his  observations  in  a 
work  entitled,  "  Travels  in  Egypt  and  Nubia." 
In  1739,  when  the  war  broke  out  between  Eng- 
land and  Spain,  he  entered  the  English  navy, 
t>ut  his  health  being  very  delicate,  he  went  to 
France,  and  died  at  Paris  in  1742.  His 
"  Travels"  were  translated  into  French  by 
Des  Roches  de  Parthenais,  and  published  at 
Copenhagen  in  1755  ;  there  is  also  an  English 
translation  by  Dr  Peter  Templeman.  Ner- 
den  was  also  the  author  of  "  Drawings  of  some 
Ruins  and  Colossal  Staiues  at  Thebes  of 
Egypt ;  with  an  Account  of  the  same,  in  a 
Letter  to  the  Royal  Society,"  1741. — Diet. 
Hist. 

NORDEN  (JOHN)  a  topographer  and  en- 
graver, was  born  in  Wiltshire  in  1548,  and  was 
admitted  of  Hurt-hall,  Oxford,  where  he  took 
the  degree  of  MA.  in  1573.  He  was  patro- 
nized by  lord  Burleigh,  and  became  surveyor  to 
Henry,  prince  of  Wales.  He  surveyed  the 
counties  of  Essex,  Hertford,  Middlesex,  but 
the  last  of  his  county  maps  is  that  of  Surrey. 
He  died  in  1626.  His  works  are,  "England, 
an  intended  Guyde  for  English  Travailers,  &c." 
London,  1625,  4to  ;  "  Speculum  Britannia  ;  a 
Topographical  and  Historical  Description  of 
Cornwall  ;"  "  An  Historical  and  Chorogra- 
phical  Description  of  Middlesex  and  Hertford- 
shire ;"  "  A  Delineation  of  Northampton- 
shire," 8vo  ;  "  The  Surveyor's  Dialogue," 
4to. — Gough's  Topog.  Athcn.  Oxon. 

NORGATE  (EDWARD)  a  native  of  Cam- 
bridge, celebrated  as  an  excellent  illuminator 
of  manuscripts  in  the  seventeenth  century. 
A  beautiful  specimen  of  his  talents  is  yet  ex- 
tant, in  the  ornaments  to  the  original  patent 
of  the  government  of  Nova  Scotia,  granted  by 
Charles  I  to  lord  Stirling,  in  whose  family  it 
is  preserved.  He  died  in  1650,  being  at  the 
time  Windsor  herald,  and  one  of  the  clerks  to 
the  signet. — P,ing.  Brit. 

NORIS  (HKNRY)  a  learned  cardinal,  was 
born  at  Verona  in  \6i,+,  of  a  family  origii.ally 
Irish.  His  father,  Alexander  Noris,  was  the 
author  of  a  "  Iliftory  of  Germany."  At  the 
age  of  fifteen  he  was  admitted  a  oenskfflcr  at 


N  OR 

the  Jesuits'  college  at  Rimini,  and  deter- 
mining to  embrace  the  ecclesiastical  profes- 
sion, he  took  the  habit  in  the  convent  of  the 
hermits  of  St  Augustine.  When  his  noviciate 
expired,  the  general  of  the  order  sent  for  him 
to  Home,  and  he  was  afterwards  appointed  to 
teach  philosophy  and  theology  at  Pezaro  and 
Perugia,  where  he  took  his  degree  of  1)1). 
He  then  proceeded  to  I'adua,  where  he  finished 
his  "  History  of  Pelagianism,"  which  was 
printed  at  Florence  in  1673;  and  in  1674  the 
grand-duke  of  Tuscany  invited  him  to  Flo- 
rence, and  appointed  him  his  chaplain,  and 
professor  of  ecclesiastical  history  in  the  univer- 
sity of  Pisa.  In  1692  he  was  made  under 
librarian  of  the  Vatican,  and  in  1695  he  was 
created  a  cardinal.  In  1700  he  was  appointed 
librarian  of  the  Vatican,  and  two  years  after 
he  was  directed  to  undertake  the  reformation 
of  the  calendar,  but  while  employed  on  this 
he  was  attacked  by  a  dropsy,  of  which  he  died 
in  1714.  The  numerous  controversial  and 
learned  works  of  this  cardinal  were  all  pub- 
lished at  Verona  in  1729-1732,  in  five  volumes 
folio. — Landi  Hist,  de  la  Lit.  de  I'ltalie. 
Dupin.  Mureri.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

NORRIS  (JOHN).  There  were  two  of  this 
name  ;  the  first  a  learned  but  enthusiastic  and 
mystical  divine,  was  the  son  of  the  incumbent 
of  Collingbourne  Kingston, in  Wiltshire,  where 
he  was  born  in  1637.  From  Winchester 
grammar  school  he  proceeded  to  Exeter  col- 
lege, Oxford,  which  he  quitted  in  1680,  on 
obtaining  a  fellowship  at  All  Souls.  Here  he 
took  his  master's  degree  in  arts,  but  vacated 
t-his  preferment  in  1689,  by  his  marriage,  on 
succeeding  to  the  living  of  Newton  St  Lo,  So- 
merset ;  two  years  after  he  was  farther  pro- 
moted to  that  of  Bemerton  in  Wiltshire. 
He  was  a  great  controversialist,  but  visionary 
in  his  ideas,  espousing  Malebranche's  opinion 
of  seeing  all  things  in  the  Divinity,  and  is 
considered  one  of  the  principal  of  the  English 
Platonists.  Among  his  works,  which  are  nu- 
merous, are,  "  An  Idea  of  Happiness;"  "  A 
Picture  of  Love  unveiled ;"  "  Theory  and 
Regulation  of  Love  ;"  "  On  the  Beatitudes;" 
"  Poems  and  Discourses  ;"  "  On  the  Conduct 
of  Human  Life  ;"  "  On  the  Love  of  God;" 
"  On  Christian  Prudence  ;"  "  On  Humility  ;" 
"  An  Essay  towards  the  Theory  of  the  Ideal 
or  Intelligible  World,"  8vo;  "  On  the  natu- 
ral Immortality  of  the  Soul  ;"  "  Reason  and 
Religion  ;"  with  four  volumes  of  sermons, 
some  poems,  and  other  miscellaneous  pieces. 
His  death  took  place  in  1711. — The  second 
JOHN  NORRIS  was  a  native  of  the  county  of 
Norfolk,  born  in  1734,  and  educated  at  Eton, 
whence  he  proceeded  on  the  foundation  to 
King's  college,  Cambridge.  Mr  Norris  was  a 
gentleman  of  good  private  fortune,  and  at  his 
death  in  1777,  bequeathed  to  the  university, 
of  which  he  had  been  a  member,  property  to 
the  value  of  190/.  per  annum,  for  the  en- 
dowment of  a  divinity  professorship  and  a 
theological  prize  essay,  both  which  still  bear 
his  name.  He  was  the  intimate  associate  of 
Porson,  who  owed  much  to  his  friendship.— 
Uiog.  Brit.  Ge;.t.  Mag. 


NOR 

NORTH  (sir  EDWARD)  a  lawyer  of  emi- 
nence in  the  reign  of  Henry  Ylll  and  quei-n 
Mary,  by  the  hitter  of  whom  he  was  created 
baron  North,  of  Catlidge  in  Cambridgeshire. 
He  belonged  to  the  court  of  augmentation; 
and  he  was  a  benefactor  to  the  college  of  Pe- 
torhouse  at  Cambridge. — His  great  grandson, 
DUDLET,  lord  NORTH,  was  born  in  1581,  and 
succeeded  to  the  title  in  1600.  He  belonged 
to  the  court  of  Henry  prince  of  Wales  ;  and  in 
the  civil  war  under  Charles  I,  he  adopted  the 
cause  of  the  parliament.  He  was  the  auilior 
of  a  piece,  entitled  "  A  Forest  of  Varir ties, 
Exonerations,  and  Privadoes  or  Extravagant*." 
His  death  took  place  in  1666. — DUDI.I  v, 
lord  NORTH,  eldest  son  of  the  preceding,  re- 
ceived his  education  at  the  university  of  Cam- 
bridge, and  afterwards  entered  int.)  the  army. 
Waipole  has  given  him  a  place  in  his  "  Cata 
logue  of  Royal  and  Noble  Authors,"  in  con- 
sequence of  his  having  published  "  Observa- 
tions and  Advices  Economical  ;"  "  Passages 
relating  to  the  Long  Parliament  ;"  and  "  A 
History  of  the  Life  of  Edward,  Lord  North." 
He  died  in  1677,  leaving  four  sons,  who  at- 
tained political  or  literary  eminence. — 1. 
FRANCIS  NORTH,  baron  Guildford,  lord  keeper 
of  the  great  seal  under  Charles  II  and  James  II, 
was  the  second  son  of  the  last-mentioned.  He 
was  born  about  1640,  and  became  a  student  of 
St  John's  college,  Cambridge,  after  which  he 
entered  at  the  Middle  Temple,  and  was  regu- 
larly called  to  the  bar.  He  gradually  maile  his 
way  to  the  first  dignities  of  his  profession,  ra- 
ther by  his  prudence  and  dexterity  than  by 
the  influence  of  extraordinary  talents.  He  was 
promoted  to  the  office  of  solicitor-general  in 
1(571,  when  he  received  the  honour  of  knight- 
hood ;  in  1673  he  was  made  attorney-general  ; 
the  next  year  chief-justice  of  the  common- 
pleas  ;  and  in  1683  he  was  appointed  lord- 
keeper,  and  raised  to  the  peerage.  He  was 
much  esteemed  by  Charles  II,  who,  one  even- 
ing, when  a  courtier  invidiously  observed  that 
North  was  no  lawyer,  immediately  replied, 
"  Whoever  said  so  did  not  know  the  lord  chief- 
justice  North."  He  died  in  1685.  Besides 
some  papers  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions, 
lord  Guildford  was  the  author  of  "  A  Philoso- 
phical Essay  on  Music,"  which  has  been 
highly  praised  as  a  scientific  performance, 
which  contributed  greatly  to  the  improvement 
of  the  art  of  which  it  treats. — 2.  Sir  DUDI.I;  v 
NORTH,  brother  of  the  lord  keeper,  engaged 
in  commercial  pursuits,  and  became  an  emi- 
nent Turkey  merchant.  He  travelled  to  the 
Levant,  and  was  for  some  time  president  of 
the  English  factories  at  Smyrna  and  Constan- 
tinople. Returning  home,  he  was  appointed  a 
commissioner  of  the  customs,  and  afterwards 
one  of  the  lords  of  the  treasury  in  the  rei«n  of 

J 

Charles  II.  He  wrote  observations  on  the 
manners,  customs,  and  jurisprudence  of  the 
Turks,  published  in  his  brother's  family  biogra- 
phy. He  died  in  1691. — 3.  Dr  JOHN  NORTH, 
another  brother,  embraced  the  ecclesiastical 
profession.  lie  was  born  in  1645,  and  was 
educated  at  Jesus  college,  Cambridge,  where 
he  obtained  a  fellowship.  In  167S!  he  was 


N  O  R 

chosen  professor  of  Greek,  and  the  following 
year  he  was  created  DD.  He  subsequently 
obtained  the  mastership  of  Trinity  college, 
Cambridge  ;  and  was  nominated  clerk  of  the 
closet  to  Charles  II.  l)r  North  was  a  man  of 
considerable  erudition,  and  is  said  to  have  been 
a  particular  admirer  of  the  writings  of  Plato, 
a  selection  of  whose  dialogues,  including  "  Cri- 
to  ;"  "PliEedo;"  with  the  "  Apologia  So- 
cratis,"  he  published  in  Greek  and  Latin, 
1673,  8vo.  Mis  death  took  place  in  1683. — 
4.  ROC;ER  NORTH,  a  younger  brother  of  the 
same  family,  belonged  to  the  legal  profession, 
and  was  attorney-general  under  James  II,  and 
steward  of  the  courts  to  archbishop  Sheldon. 
It  is,  however,  as  the  historian  of  his  family 
that  he  principally  merits  notice.  His  life  of 
the  lord  keeper,  lord  Guildford,  1734,  4to, 
'was  reprinted  in  1808,  2  vols.  8vo  ;  and  his 
lives  of  sir  Dudley  and  Dr  John  North,  1744, 
4to,  recently  appeared  in  a  new  edition  with 
the  preceding,  3  vols.  8vo.  He  was  also  the 
author  of  an  "  Kxamen,  or  Inquiry  into  the 
Credit  and  Veracity  of  Kennel's  History  of 
England,"  1740,  4to,  which,  though  the  work 
of  a  partizan  of  the  Stuarts,  and  designed  as  a 
vindication  of  Charles  II,  abounds  with  curi- 
ous information  and  anecdote,  giving  it  a  de- 
gree of  positive  value  beyond  most  works  of 
the  kind.  He  likewise  wrote  other  pieces, 
amrxig  which  is  a  "  History  of  Esculent  Fish," 
1794,  4to.  He  died  in  1733.— Fuller  s  Wor- 
thies. Walpole.  Biog.  Brit.  Rees's  Cyclop. 
Bwg.  Univ. 

NORTH  (FREDERICK)  earl  of  Guildford,  an 
English  statesman  of  the  same  family  with  the 
foregoing.  He  was  the  eldest  son  of  Francis, 
the  second  earl  of  Guildford,  and  was  born  in 
1732.  He  received  his  education  at  Eton 
school,  and  Trinity  college,  Oxford,  after 
which  he  passed  some  time  at  Leipsic.  Re- 
turning to  England,  he  obtained  a  seat  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  in  1759  he  was  ap- 
pointed a  commissioner  of  the  treasury.  On  the 
resignation  of  lord  Bute  in  1763,  he  was  ad- 
vanced to  the  head  of  that  board,  which  post 
he  held  till  1765  ;  and  the  next  year  he  was 
made  joint  receiver  and  paymaster  of  the 
forces.  At  length,  in  1767,  he  became  chan- 
cellor of  the  exchequer,  and  in  1770  first  Jord 
of  tl-.e  treasury.  His  administration  lasted  till 
178'2,  during  a  period  of  peculiar  difficulty  and 
danger.  Having  accepted  of  office  at  a  time 
when  the  court  party  had  become  unpopular, 
on  account  of  the  secret  influence  supposed  to 
be  possessed  by  lord  Bute,  something  of  that 
unpopularity  attached  to  the  whole  course  of 
lord  North's  ministry.  But  this  was  greatly 
augmented  by  the  uu/ortunate  contest  which 
was  carried  on  with  our  North  American  co- 
lonies, and  which  ended  in  the  loss  of  that 
part  of  the  British  empire,  after  the  expendi- 
ture of  a  vast  deal  of  the  national  wealth,  and 
the  sacrifice  of  multitudes  of  lives.  For  this 
disastrous  measure  of  subjugating  America, 
the  premier  appears  to  have  been  a  sincere  ad- 
vocate ;  and  in  defending  his  proceedings 
against  the  attacks  of  Mr  Fox  and  his  party 
in  parliament,  he  evinced  a  degree  of  political 


NOR 

skill  and  resolution  which  would  have  done 
honour  to  a  better  cause.  It  is  a  circumstance 
by  no  means  creditable  to  his  opponents,  that 
after  his  dismission  from  office,  instead  of  in- 
stituting against  him  that  impeachment  with 
which  they  had  often  threatened  him,  a  league 
was  formed  between  his  lordship  and  the 
Whigs,  which  led  to  the  famous  coalition  mi- 
nistry ;  but  this  heterogeneous  administration 
lasted  only  a  few  months,  after  which  lord 
North  held  no  responsible  station  in  the  state. 
He  succeeded  to  the  earldom  of  Guildford  in 
1790,  on  the  death  of  his  father,  and  died  in 
1792.  Lord  North  was  much  esteemed  in  pri- 
vate life,  and  was  distinguished  for  urbanity  of 
manners,  and  a  turn  for  repartee.  He  was 
afflicted  with  blindness  several  years  before 
his  death,  anil  his  political  antagonist,  colonel 
Barre,  was  subject  to  the  same  misfortune. 
Replying  to  some  observations  of  the  colonel 
in  the  house  of  Commons,  lord  North  said, 
"Notwithstanding  the  hostility  which  the 
honourable  gentleman  opposite  has  shewn  to- 
wards me,  yet  I  am  certain  that  there  are  no 
two  persons  in  the  world  who  would  be  more 
happy  to  see  each  other." — Bridges's  Edit,  of 
Cot  tins' s  Peerage. 

NORTH  (GEORGE)  an  English  antiquary 
and  writer  on  numismatics.  He  was  born  in 
London  in  1710,  and  received  his  education  at 
St  Paul's  school,  and  Bene't  college,  Cam- 
bridge, where  he  proceeded  MA.  in  1744. 
He  was  rector  of  Codicote  in  Hertfordshire, 
and  died  in  1772.  Mr  North  was  the  author 
of  "  A  Table  of  English  Silver  Coins,  from 
the  Conquest  to  the  Commonwealth,  with  Re- 
marks j"  "  An  Epistolary  Dissertation  on 
some  supposed  Saxon  Gold  Coins  ;"  "  Re- 
marKs  on  some  Conjectures  relative  to  an  an- 
cient Piece  of  Money  found  at  Eltham  in 
Kent  ;"  and  "  An  Answer  to  a  Libel,  enti- 
tled the  Impertinence  of  Modern  Antiquaries 
displayed." — Nichuls's  Lit.  Anec. 

NORTON  (THOMAS)  a  dramatic  writer  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  a  native  of  Sharpenhoe, 
Bedfordshire,  principally  known  as  the  author 
of  the  first  three  acts  of  "  Ferrex  and  Porrex," 
to  which  Thomas  Sackville,  earl  of  Dorset, 
added  the  fourth  and  fifth,  and  published  the 
whole  under  the  title  of  "  Gorboduc."  He 
was  a  staunch  Calvinist  in  his  religious  opi- 
nions, and  put  into  metre  twenty-seven  of  the 
Psalms  in  Sternhold  and  Hopkins's  version  ; 
these  may  be  distinguished  by  his  initials 
affixed  in  the  first  edition.  His  other  writings 
are,  some  controversial  tracts  against  the  Ro- 
man Catholics,  and  translations  of  Nowell's 
"  Greater  Catechism  ;"  Calvin's  Institutes,  &c. 
He  made  the  law  his  profession,  and  acted  as 
counsel  to  the  Stationers'  company.  His  death 
took  place  about  1584. — There  was  also  a 
JOHN  NORTON,  a  whimsical  writer  of  the  time 
of  Charles  II,  who,  in  a  strange  work,  entitled 
"  The  Scholar's  Vade  Mecum,"  proposed  to 
alter  the  whole  structure  of  the  English  lan- 
guage.— Biog.  Brit. 

NORWOOD  (RICHARD)  an  English  geo- 
metrician, who  first  measured  a  degree  of  the 
meridian  in  this  couutrv.  This  undertaking 


NOT 

was  executed  in  1635,  the  operations  being 
carried  oil  between  London  and  York.  Nor- 
wood was  the  author  of  a  treatise  on  Trigono- 
metry, printed  at  London  in  1667,  though  the 
dedication  is  dated  1631.  The  work  was  re- 
published  in  1694,  with  two  others  relating  to 
navigation  and  fortification.  lie  also  pub- 
lished letters  and  papers  in  the  Philosophical 
Transactions,  on  the  flux  and  reflux  of  the 
tide  ;  on  the  mensuration  of  an  arc  of  the  me- 
ridian, and  on  other  subjects. — Biog.  Univ. 

NOSTll  A  D  A  MUS  (Mien  AEL)  a  celebrated 
empiric  of  the  sixteenth  century,  born  Decem- 
ber 14th,  1503,  at  St  Ilemy  in  Provence. 
After  studying  at  Avignon  and  Montpellier, 
and  graduating  in  physic  at  the  latter  city  in 
1529,  he  practised  medicine  at  Agen,  Mar- 
seilles, Lyaris,  and  Aix.  Here  he  acquired 
great  credit  by  a  chemical  composition  of  such 
prevailing  virtue,  real  or  supposed,  that  the 
plague  which  had  been  raging  with  great  vio- 
lence in  the  neighbourhood  was  arrested  by 
its  presumed  influence,  and  the  physician  re- 
ceived some  substantial  tokens  of  the  gratitude 
of  the  citizens.  The  reputation  of  e  skilful 
physician,  however,  was  not  sufficient  f  r  his 
ambition,  he  aimed  at  the  higher  character  of 
an  astrologer  and  adept  in  the  occult  sciences, 
by  virtue  of  which  he  pretended  to  foretell  fu- 
ture events,  and  published  a  volume  of  obscure 
metrical  rhapsodies  in  1555,  under  the  title  of 
"  Prophetical  Centuries."  Henry  II  and 
Catherine  de  Medicis  yielded  implicit  credence 
to  bis  pretensions,  and  loaded  him  with  favours; 
a  circumstance  which  naturally  induced  him  to 
prosecute  still  farther  a  trade  so  profitable, 
and  his  prognostications  were  consequently 
soon  increased  from  three  hundred  stanzas  to 
a  thousand.  The  king  at  length  dying  of  a 
wound  received  from  the  lance  of  the  count  de 
Montgomeri,  at  a  tournament,  it  was  soon  after 
discovered  that  an  enigmatical  expression  in 
one  of  the  prophecies  of  Nostradamus  could 
refer  to  no  other  event.  His  fame  now  reached 
its  zenith,  and  all  ranks,  from  the  palace  to 
the  cottage,  vied  in  chauuting  his  praises. 
Charles  IX  himself  came  in  person  to  Salon, 
where  he  now  resided,  for  the  purpose  of  visit- 
ing him,  and  appointed  him  his  first  physician. 
He  did  not,  however,  long  survive  this  honour, 
dying  on  the  2d  of  July,  1566.  There  is  an 
English  translation  of  his  book  in  one  folio 
volume. — Moreri.  Biog.  Univ. 

NOTT,  MD.  (JOHN)  a  polite  scholar,  an 
elegant  poet,  and  philological  writer,  born  at 
Worcester,  December  24th,  1751.  Having 
studied  surgery  under  Mr  Hector,  of  Birming- 
ham, and  sir  Cassar  Hawkins,  lie  visited  Paris, 
in  order  to  avail  himself  of  the  opportunities 
afforded  by  the  French  school  of  medicine,  and 
subsequently  went  out  to  China,  as  surgeon  to 
an  East  Indiaman.  While  in  the  East  he  ac- 
quired an  extensive  acquaintance  with  the  Per- 
sian language  ;  his  proficiency  in  which,  as 
well  as  his  poetical  taste,  he  evinced,  on  his 
return  to  Europe,  by  some  elegant  translations 
of  the  odes  of  Hafiz.  In  1788  he  graduated  in 
medicine,  and  soon  after  attended  the  duchess 
of  Devonshire  to  the  continent,  in  quality  of 


N  O  V 

family  physician.  In  1793  he  returned  to  Eng- 
land, and"  .settled  at  Bristol  Hot-wells,  when* 
he  continued  to  reside  till  his  death  in  1826, 
the  last  eight  years  of  his  life  being  those  Oi 
sulli  rim:,  arising  from  a  painful  state  of  pa- 
ralysis, amounting  tohemiplegia.  Among  his 
writings  are,  "  Alonzo,  a  poetic  Tale,"  4to, 
1772;  a  translation  of  the  "  Basia"  of  Jo- 
hannes Secundus,  8vo,  1775  ;  "  Leonora,  an 
Klegy,"  4to,  1775  ;  "  Poems  from  the  Italian 
of  Petrarch,"  8vo,  1777;  "Original  Pieces 
and  Translations,"  8vo,  1780  ;  "  Heroic  Epis- 
tle from  monsieur  Vestris  in  London  to  madame 
Heinel  in  France,"  4to,  1781  ;  the  "  Cyn- 
thia" of  Propertius,  8vo,  1782;  "Chemical 
Dissertation  on  the  Springs  of  Pisa  and  As- 
ciano,"  8vo,  1793;  "On"  the  Hot-wells  of 
Bristol,"  8vo,  1793  ;  an  edition  of  "  Catullus," 
with  the  Latin  text  rendered  into  English  verse, 
and  classical  notes,  2  vols.  8vo,  17  94 ;  a 
translation  of  the  "  Kisses  of  Bouefonius  of 
Auvergne,"  with  the  Latin  text  annexed,  fjvo, 
1797  ;  another  of  "The  first  Book  of  Lucre- 
tius," with  the  Latin  tevt,  8vo,  1799;  "  Th« 
Odes  of  Horace,"  with  the  Latin  text  revised, 
8vo,  2  vols.  1803;  "  Sappho,  after  a  Greek 
Romance,"  12mo,  1803;  "On  the  Influenza 
which  prevailed  at  Biistol  in  1803,"  8vo, 
1803 ;  a  farther  "  Selection  from  Petrarch, 
with  Notes,"  8vo,  1808  ;  select  poems  from 
the  "  Hesperides"  of  Herrick,  8vo,  1810; 
"  A  Nosological  Companion  to  the  London 
Pharmacopoeia,"  12mo,  1811  ;  and  an  edition 
of  Decker's  "  Gull's  Horn  Hook,"  witli  notes 
and  illustrations,  4to,  1812  ;  besides  several 
works  left  incomplete  in  manuscript,  especi;tlly 
a  translation  of  Silius  Italk'us. —  Ann.  Biog. 

NODE  (FRANCIS  de  la)  suniamed  Bras  de 
Fer,  an  eminent  warrior  and  statesman,  was 
born  in  1531,  of  an  ancient  family  in  Britanny. 
In  his  youth  he  served  in  Italy,  but  on  return- 
ing to  France  he  embraced  the  Calvinistic  re- 
ligion, of  which  he  became  a  zealous  supporter. 
In  1567  he  took  Orleans  from  the  Catholics, 
and  afterwards  he  distinguished  himself  a: 
the  battle  of  Jarnac.  His  left  arm  being 
broken  at  the  capture  of  Fonteuay,  he  had  it 
replaced  by  one  of  iron,  whence  he  derived 
his  surname.  In  1571  he  surprised  Valen- 
ciennes, and  on  his  return  the  king  gave  him 
the  command  of  the  troops  sent  against  Ro- 
chelle  ;  but  his  indignation  at  the  massacre  of 
St  Bartholomew  overcoming  his  fidelity,  he 
betrayed  his  trust,  and  used  the  forces  for  its 
defence.  He  rendered  signal  services  to  his 
party,  and  on  the  accession  of  Henry  IV,  he 
continued  to  serve  with  glory  under  him  until 
he  was  killed  by  a  musket  shot  at  the  siege  of 
Lnmballe,  in  1591.  He  was  the  author  of 
"  Discours  Politiques  et  Militaires,"  composed 
in  prison  ;  they  have  been  several  times  re-- 
printed, and  are  still  esteemed. — His  son, 
ODET  de  la  NOUE,  was  the  author  of "  Poesies 
Chretiennes,"  Geneva,  1504.  He  died  be- 
tween 1611  and  1620. — Moreri.  Nouv.  Diet. 
Hist. 

NOVATIANUS,  a  Greek  philosopher, 
converted  to  Christianity  in  the  earlier  part  of 
the  third  centurv.  He  became  a  member  of 


NOW 

tbe  priesthood,  although,  from  some  irregula- 
rity, the  bishop  refused  to  confirm  his  ordina- 
tion. Notwithstanding  this,  he  subsequently 
so  far  prevailed  upon  a  few  ignorant  prelates, 
that  they  ordained  him  a  bishop,  and,  although 
excommunicated  by  St  Cyprian,  he  became  a 
candidate  for  the  popedom  in  257.  Foiled  in 
his  attempt  by  the  election  of  Cornelius,  he 
separated  himself  from  the  communion  of  the 
Romish  church,  and  became  the  head  of  a 
sect  called,  from  their  pretensions  to  superior 
sanctity,  Catharites,  (puritans,)  or  Novatians, 
from  their  founder.  It  was  one  of  their  tenets 
to  refuse  the  Eucharist  to  reconverted  here- 
tics, as  also  to  those  who  contracted  second 
marriages  ;  and  they  caused  all  those  who  had 
been  baptised  into  the  church,  to  undergo  the 
rite  a  second  time.  This  sect,  after  the  coun- 
cil of  Nice,  fell  into  disrepute  in  the  Western 
empire,  but  continued  to  prevail  for  a  much 
longer  period  in  the  East.  There  is  an  edi- 
tion of  his  works  published  by  Jackson,  4to, 
London,  1728. — Cave.  Moreri.  Dupin. 

NOVERRE  (JOHN  GEORGE)  reformer  of 
the  art  of  dancing  in  Europe,  was  born  at 
Paris  in  1727.  His  father  was  an  adjutant  in 
the  army  of  Charles  XII,  and  he  was  destined 
for  the  military  profession  ;  but  his  taste  led 
him  to  prefer  dancing  to  fighting,  and  he  be- 
came the  pupil  of  the  famous  dancer  Dupre. 
After  attracting  the  notice  of  royalty  in  his 
own  country,  he  went  to  Berlin,  where  he  was 
equally  well  received.  He  returned  to  France 
in  1746,  and  composed  for  the  comic  opera  his 
noted  Chinese  ballet,  which  made  no  extraor- 
dinary sensation.  He  afterwards  produced 
other  pieces  of  the  same  kind,  and  acquired 
so  much  celebrity,  that  Garrick  invited  him  to 
England,  where  his  talents  attracted  great  ad- 
miration. Returning  to  France,  he  published, 
in  1767,  "  Lettres  sur  la  Danse,"  in  which  he 
started  some  new  ideas,  and  proposed  a  radi- 
cal reformation  of  his  art.  He  afterwards  be- 
came master  of  the  revels  to  the  duke  of 
Wurtemberg,  with  whom  he  continued  some 
years,  and  then  held  a  similar  office  at  Vienna. 
He  went  to  Milan,  on  the  marriage  of  the 
archduke  Ferdinand,  and  also  visited  the 
courts  of  Naples  and  Lisbon,  where  his  merit 
was  rewarded  with  the  cross  of  the  order  of 
Christ.  After  a  second  journey  to  London, 
Noverre  entered  into  the  service  of  Marie  An- 
toinette, queen  of  France,  who  appointed  him 
chief  ballet-master  of  the  royal  academy  of 
music.  He  suffered  greatly  at  the  revolution, 
and  passed  the  later  years  of  his  life  in  indif- 
ferent circumstances.  His  death  took  place 
November  19,  1810.  He  published,  in  1807, 
a  new  and  enlarged  edition  of  his  "  Lettres 
sur  les  Arts  inutateurs,  et  sur  la  Danse  en 
particulier,"  2  vols.  8vo  ;  and  at  the  time  of 
his  death  he  was  engaged  on  a  dictionary  of 
the  art  of  dancing,  intended  to  rectify  the 
errors  of  the  Encyclopedic  on  that  subject. — 
Eing.  Univ. 

NOWELL.  There  were  two  learned  dig- 
nitaries of  the  church  of  this  name  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  brothers,  and  natives  of  Read- 
hall,  in  Lancashire. — ALEXANDER,  the  elder, 


N  O  V 

born  in  1507,  removed  from  Middleton  school 
to  Brasennose  college,  Oxford,  where  he  ob- 
tained a  county  fellowship  in  1,540.  In  1543 
he  was  appointed  to  the  second  mastership  of 
Westminster  school,  to  which  was  added,  eight 
years  after,  a  stall  in  the  abbey.  On  the  ac- 
cession of  Mary,  his  religious  opinions  soon 
made  it  advisable  for  him  to  seek  a  temporary 
asylum  on  the  continent,  where  he  continued 
to  reside  during  the  whole  of  that  reign. 
The  re- establishment  of  Protestantism  under 
Elizabeth,  induced  him  to  return  ;  and 
in  1560  he  was  raised  by  that  sovereign 
to  the  deanery  of  the  metropolitan  church, 
with  the  rectory  of  Great  Hadham,  Herts. 
The  convocation  for  settling  the  Liturgy 
chose  him  their  prolocutor,  soon  after 
which  he  published  his  "  Greater"  and 
"  Lesser"  catechisms,  in  Latin,  the  latter  be- 
ing an  abridgment  of  the  former.  Besides  a 
free  grammar-school  at  Middletou,  he  founded 
and  endowed  thirteen  fellowships  in  the  col- 
lege of  which  he  was  a  member,  and  which, 
in  1595,  elected  him  its  principal.  His  death 
took  place  in  the  spring  of  1602. — LAWRENCE, 
the  younger  brother,  was  an  able  antiquary, 
and  compiled  a  dictionary  of  the  Saxon 
tongue,  the  manuscript  of  which  is  still  pre- 
served in  the  Bodleian  library  at  Oxford.  He 
died  dean  of  Lichfield  in  1576. — Life  by 
Churton. 

NOY  (WILLIAM)  an  eminent  lawyer  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  in  whose  counsels  the 
fatal  civil  wars,  which,  during  a  part  of  that 
period,  desolated  England,  may  be  said  to 
have  originated.  He  was  a  native  of  St  Bu- 
rian,  in  Cornwall,  and  after  going  through  a 
course  of  university  education  at  Exeter  col- 
lege, Oxford,  became  a  member  of  the  so- 
ciety of  Lincoln's  Inn,  and  was  called  to  the 
bar.  In  his  profession  he  rendered  himself  re- 
markable by  his  plodding  industry  and  inde- 
fatigable research  into  ancient  charters  and 
records,  which,  together  with  his  cynical 
temperament  and  unbending  sternness,  ren- 
dered him  afterwards  a  very  powerful  instru- 
ment in  the  hands  of  the  court.  The  outset 
of  his  parliamentary  career,  however,  gave 
little  token  of  the  line  of  politics  which  he 
eventually  thought  proper  to  follow.  Being 
returned  for  Helstone,  and  afterwards  for 
St  Ives,  in  the  time  of  the  first  James,  he  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  the  violence  of  his  op- 
position to  the  measures  of  the  court ;  and  in 
these  opinions  he  persevered  during  the  first 
part  of  the  succeeding  reign,  till,  in  1631, 
being  suddenly  appointed  (without  solicitation, 
it  is  said,)  attorney-general,  he  veered  about 
at  once,  and  became  one  of  the  most  strenu- 
ous supporters  of  that  prerogative  he  had  for- 
merly laboured  to  abridge.  The  fatal  project 
of  attempting  to  raise  supplies,  by  what  was 
called  ship-money,  is  said  to  have  originated 
with  him.  He  did  not,  however,  live  to  see 
the  whole  of  the  misery  which  he  was  prepar- 
ing for  his  country,  but  died  in  the  August  of 
1634,  at  Tunbridge  Wells,  whither  he  ha<J 
gone  for  the  benefit  of  his  health,  and  was 
buried  at  Brentford,  in  Middlesex.  He  v/as 


NUN 

considered  a  sound  lawyer,  where  politics  did 
not  interfere,  and  was  the  author  of  "  The 
Grounds  and  Maxims  of  English  Law  ;" 
"  The  perfect  Conveyancer  ;"  "  The  com- 
plete Lawyer;"  "  Arguments  of  Law,  and 
Speeches ;"  and  a  collection  of  Reports. — 
liing.  Brit. 

NUCK  (ANTHONY)  a  skilful  anatomist  and 
surgeon,  was  a  German  by  birth,  but  settled 
in  Holland.  He  was  professor  of  anatomy 
and  surgery  in  the  university  of  Leyden,  and 
president  of  the  college  of  Surgeons.  He 
died  in  1672.  He  acquired  great  celebrity  by 
his  skill  in  dissection,  and  he  was  the  disco- 
verer of  a  new  salival  duct,  of  the  communi- 
cation between  the  red  veins  and  the  lym- 
phatics, and  of  a  mode  of  making  prepara- 
tions of  the  lungs  by  inflation.  His  works 
are,  "  De  Ductu  Salivali  novo,  Saliva,  ductibus 
aquosis  et  hurnore  aqueo  oculorum,"  Leid. 
1686  ;  "  De  Vasis  aquosis  Oculi,"  ibid. 
168.5  ;  "  Adenographia  curiosa  et  Uteri  foe- 
minei  Anatome  nova  cum  Epistola  ad  Amicum 
de  Inventis  novis  ;"  "  Operationes  et  Experi- 
menta  Chirurgica  ;"  "  Sialographia  et  Duc- 
tuum  aquosorum  Anatome  nova."  The  three 
last  were  published  together  at  Lyons  in  1722, 
in  3  vols.  l'2mo.— Eloy  Diet.  }Ust.  de  la  Mede- 
cine.  Moreri. 

NUGENT  (ROBERT  CKAGGS,  earl)  a  minor 
poet  of  the  last  century.  He  was  a  native  of 
Ireland,  and  of  a  family  professing  the  Ca- 
tholic faith,  in  which  he  was  educated.  Be- 
coming a  Protestant,  he  obtained  a  seat  in  the 
English  house  of  Commons,  where  he  thrice 
sat  as  member  for  the  city  of  Bristol.  In 
1767  he  was  created  viscount  Clare,  and  raised 
to  the  earldom  of  Nugent  in  1776.  He  pub- 
lished a  volume  of  poetry  in  1739,  and  some 
of  his  works  will  he  found  in  Dodsley's  col- 
lection. One  of  his  performances  is  a  copy  of 
"  Verses  to  the  Queen,  with  a  New  Year's 
Gift  of  Irish  Manufacture,"  (a  piece  of  linen) 
printed  in  1775.  To  this  nobleman  Gold- 
smith addressed  his  poem,  entitled,  "  The 
Haunch  of  Venison."  Lord  Nugent  died  iu 
1788. — Park's  edit,  of  the  Ruyal  and  Noble 
Authors. 

NUGENT  (THOMAS)  an  ingenious  literary 
compiler  and  translator,  who  was  born  in  Ire- 
land, and  died  in  London  April  27,  1772.  He 
was  a  fellow  of  the  Antiquarian  Society,  and 
in  1765  he  obtained  from  the  university  of 
Aberdeen  the  diploma  of  LLU.  Among  his 
publications  are,  "  Travels  through  Germany," 
1768,  2  vols.  8vo  ;  "  Observations  on  Italy 
and  its  Inhabitants,"  1769,  2  vols.  8vo ;  and 
a  French  and  English  dictionary,  which  has 
been  often  reprinted.  He  translated  Henault's 
Chronological  Abridgment  of  the  History  of 
France  ;  the  Life  of  Benvenuto  Cellini ;  and 
several  other  works. — CHRISTOPHER  NUGENT, 
MD.  FRS.  was  a  native  of  Ireland,  and  was 
the  father-in-law  of  the  celebrated  Edmund 
Burke.  He  published  "  An  Essay  on  Hy- 
drophobia." He  practised  with  much  reputa- 
tion as  a  physician  in  the  metropolis,  and  died 
November  12,  1775. — Gent.  Mag. 

NUNEZ  (FERNAN  DE  GUZMAN)    a    knight 


NYS 

:  and  commander  of  the  order  of  Santiago,  was 
born  at  Yalladolid  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
His  inclination  leading  him  to  litenv.ure.  he 
went  to  Italy  to  study  the  dead  languages,  and 
when  cardinal  Ximenes  founded  the  university 
of  Alcala,  he,  and  Demetrius  the  Cretan,  were 
appointed  Greek  professors  ;  and  he  was  em- 
ployed by  the  same  cardinal  on  his  celebrated 
Polyglott.  He  distinguished  himself  in  the 
cause  of  liberty,  endeavouring  to  win  the 
people  of  Alcala  to  the  side  of  the  Commons 
of  Castile  ;  but  the  tide  rising  against  him,  he 
removed  to  Salamanca,  where  he  was  also  ap- 
pointed Greek  professor.  He  died  in  1553. 
His  principal  works  are,  "  Annotationes  in 
Senecaj  Philosophi  Opera;"  "  Observationcs 
in  Pomponium  Melam  ;"  "  Observationes  in 
loca  obscura  et  depravata  Hist.  Nat.C.Plmii," 
folio  ;  "  Refranes  o  Proverbios  en  Romance  ;" 
folio ;  "  Glosa  sobre  las  obras  de  Juan  de 
Mena." — Auton.  Bibl.  Wisp. 

NYE  (Pin i. IP)  an  eminent  nonconformist 
divine,  who  distinguished  himself  by  his  sup- 
port of  the  parliament  against  Charles  1  (lur- 
ing the  discussions  in  the  assembly  of  divines 
at  Westminster,  was  born  in  Sussex  about  1596. 
He  took  his  degrees  in  arts  in  Magdalen-hall, 
Oxford,  after  which  he  became  minister  of 
St  Michael's  church,  Cornhill.  Here  he  con- 
tinued, until  by  his  resistance  to  archbishop 
Laud  he  rendered  himself  obnoxious  to  the 
episcopal  court,  and  to  escape  persecution  fled 
into  Holland.  There  he  remained  until  1640, 
when  rinding  that  his  party  was  gaining  the 
ascendancy,  he  returned,  and  was  made  mi- 
nister of  Kimbolton,  in  Huntingdonshire.  He 
was  one  of  the  assembly  of  divines,  and  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  his  great  zeal,  for  winch  he 
was  rewarded  with  the  rectory  of  Acton,  near 
London.  In  1647  he  was  appointed  one  of 
the  chaplains  who  attended  the  commissioners 
empowered  to  treat  with  Charles  I,  in  the 
Isle  of  Wight.  He  continued  to  make  him- 
self conspicuous  bv  the  active  part  he  took  in 
politics,  until  the  Restoration,  when  he  was 
ejected  from  the  rectory  of  St  Bartholomew 
behind  the  Exchange,  and  an  act  was  passed, 
restraining  him  from  holding  any  office,  civil 
or  ecclesiastical.  He  died  in  1673;  "  and," 
says  Calamy,  "  left  behind  him  the  character 
of  a  man  of  uncommon  depth,  who  was  sel- 
dom, if  ever,  outreached."  He  published  se- 
veral treatises  and  exhortations  on  controver- 
sial subjects,  but  they  are  now  obsolete. — 
Wood's  Ath.  Ox.  Bwg.  Brit.  Calamy.  Neal's 
Hist.  Purit. 

NYSTEN  (PETER  HUBERT)  an  eminent 
physician  and  physiologist,  born  at  Liege  in 
1771.  He  was  intended  for  the  leyal  profes- 
sion, but  preferring  the  study  of  medicine,  he 
went  to  Paris  for  improvement  in  that  science, 
and  distinguished  himself  by  his  researches 
concerning  galvanism.  In  1802  he  was  ap- 
pointed member  of  a  medical  committee  des- 
patched to  Spain  to  make  observations  on  the 
yi-llow  fever.  Returning  to  Pans,  he  published 
several  works  ;  and  through  the  interest  of  M. 
Halle  he  was  made  physician  to  the  Foundling 
Hospital.  He  died,  owing  to  an  attack  of  apo- 


QBE 

plexy,  in  1818.  Among  his  writings  are, — 
"  N  ouvelles  experiences  faites  sur  les  Organes 
Musculaires  de  1'Homme,  &c."  1803,  8vo  ; 
"  Ilecherches  de  Physiologie  et  de  Chimie 


QBE 

pathologique,"  1811,  8vo  ;  besides  two  me- 
dical dictionaries,  produced  in  conjunction 
with  M.  Capuron. —  Biog.  Univ. 


QBE 

OATES  (Tirus).  This  infamous  character 
was  born  about  1619.  He  was  the  son  of  a 
baptist  preacher,  and  educated  at  Merchant 
Tailors'  school,  whence  he  removed  to  Cam- 
bridge, and  afterwards  took  orders.  In  1677 
he  turned  Roman  Catholic,  and  was  admitted 
into  the  society  of  Jesuits  ;  but  subsequently 
declared  himself  a  Protestant,  and  in  conjunc- 
tion with  one  l)r  Tongue,  gave  information  of 
a  pretended  popish  plot,  for  the  destruction  of 
the  Protestant  religion,  and  falsely  accused  the 
Catholic  lords  Petre,  Powis,  Bellasis,  Arun- 
del.of  \V ardour,  and  other  persons  of  quality, 
several  of  whom,  including  lord  Stafford,  were 
executed,  of  being  concerned  in  the  conspiracy. 
Such  was  the  heated  credulity  of  the  times, 
this  versatile  and  unworthy  character  was  re- 
warded with  a  pension  of  1.200/.  per  annum, 
and  lodged  for  safety  at  the  palace  of  White- 
hall. On  the  accession  of  James  II,  however, 
he  was  thrown  into  prison,  and  indicted  for 
perjury,  and  being  convicted,  was  sentenced  to 
stand  in  the  pillory  five  times  a  year  during  his 
life,  and  to  be  whipped  from  Aldgate  to  New- 
gate, and  thence  to  Tyburn,  the  last  part  of  which 
sentence  was  executed  with  extraordinary 
severity.  Though  the  whipping  was  so  harshly 
inflicted,  he  was  enabled,  by  the  care  of  his 
friends,  to  recover  ;  and  at  the  Revolution,  the 
current  of  popular  prejudice  again  setting  in 
his  favour,  he  was  rewarded  with  a  pension  of 
1000/.  per  annum.  In  1698  he  sought  to  be 
restored  to  the  congregation  of  baptists,  to 
which  he  had  primitively  belonged  ;  but  in  the 
course  of  a  few  months  was  excluded  as  a  hy- 
pocrite and  disorderly  person.  He  died  in 
1705.  Hume  says,  that  this  execrable  tool  of 
faction  had,  ir.  early  life,  been  chaplain  on 
board  the  fleet,  from  which  he  was  dismissed 
for  unnatural  practices,  and  it  was  then  that 
he  became  a  convert  to  the  Catholic  religion, 
as  he  boasted,  with  a  view  to  obtain  the  secrets 
of  its  adherents.  On  all  sides,  the  infamy  of 
his  character  is  allowed,  and  the  credit  given 
to  a  miscreant  so  utterly  unworthy  of  confi- 
dence, to  the  destruction  of  several  persons  of 
respectability,  and  even  consequence,  affords  a 
memorable  demonstration  of  the  opposing  bi- 
gotry which  predominated  in  that  most  dis- 
graceful period  of  English  history. —  Hume. 
Burnet. 

O'BEIRNE,  DD.  (THOMAS  LEWIS)  a 
learned  prelate,  anative  of  the  county  of  Long- 
ford in  Ireland,  born  in  1748,  of  a  Catholic 
family,  by  whom  he  was  sent  to  St  Omers  at 
an  early  age,  together  with  his  brother  John, 
with  a  view  to  the  priesthood.  In  the  latter 
instance,  the  wishes  of  their  relations  were 


O  BE 

complied  with,  John,  taking  orders  in  due 
course,  and  becoming  a  Catholic  priest  in  the 
diocese  of  which  his  brother  was  eventually 
the  Protestant  bishop. — THOMAS,  on  the  con- 
trary, saw  reason  to  renounce  the  creed  in  which 
he  had  been  educated,  in  favour  of  that  of  the 
Established  church.  At  the  commencement 
of  the  American  war,  having  taken  orders  in  the 
Protestant  communion,  he  accompanied  lord 
Howe,  as  chaplain  of  the  fleet.  On  his  return 
to  England  he  published  a  vindication  of  his 
patrons,  the  Howes,  whose  conduct  was  at 
that  time  a  subject  of  parliamentary  investiga- 
tion, which  he  followed  up  by  a  spirited  pamph- 
let on  the  opposition  side,  entitled  "  The 
Gleam  of  Comfort."  His  connexion  with  this 
noble  family  introduced  him  to  the  then  duke 
of  Portland,  whom  in  1782  he  accompanied  to 
Ireland,  as  private  secretary,  and  obtained, 
the  following  year,  from  his  grace,  two  valua- 
ble livings  in  Northumberland  and  Cumber- 
land. Becoming  afterwards  first  chaplain  to 
the  new  lord- lieutenant,  earl  Fitzwilliam,  he 
was  promoted  to  the  see  of  Ossory,  from  which, 
on  the  death  of  Dr  Maxwell,  he  was  translated 
to  that  of  Meath.  As  a  prelate  he  was  highly 
popular  among  the  clergy  of  his  diocese.  His 
writings,  some  of  which  were  published  anony- 
mously, are  "  The  Crucifixion,"  a  poem,  in 
4to,  1776  ;  "  The  Generous  Impostor,"  a  co- 
medy, 1780  ;  "  A  short  History  of  the  last 
Session  of  Parliament,"  8vo,  anonymous ; 
"  Considerations  on  the  late  Disturbances,  by 
a  consistent  Whig,"  8vo  ;  "  Considerations 
on  the  Principles  of  Naval  Discipline  and 
Courts-Martial,"  8vo,  1781  ;  and  several  ser- 
mons and  charges  on  various  occasions.  His 
lordshipdied  February  1.5th,  1823. — Gent.Nag. 
OBERKAMPF  (CHIUSTOPHER  PHILIP) 
the  founder  of  the  manufacture  of  printed  linens 
of  Jouy,  and  of  the  cotton  manufacture  of  Es- 
sonne  in  France.  He  was  born  in  1738,  in  the 
territory  of  Anspach  in  Germany,  and  was  the 
son  of  a  dyer,  who,  after  exercising  his  occu- 
pation in  several  parts  of  Germany,  had  taken 
up  his  residence  at  Arau  in  Switzerland. 
Young  Oberkampf  having  acquired  the  art  of 
making  printed  linens,  quitted  his  father  at  the 
age  of  nineteen  ;  and  two  years  after  he  com- 
menced, on  a  small  scale,  a  manufactory  in  the 
vallt-y  of  Jouy.  The  design  of  the  figures,  the 
printing,  and  the  dyeing  of  the  goods,  were  all 
performed  by  a  single  individual,  who,  in  spite 
of  various  difficulties  with  which  he  was  sur- 
rounded, acted  with  such  spirit  and  persever- 
ance, that  in  the  progress  of  time  he  collected 
a  population  of  1,500  persons  in  a  spot  which 
had  been  almost  a  desert ;  and  by  the  supply 


GBR 

of  printed  linens  at  home,  put  an  end  to  the 
importations  of  those  articles  into  France.  The 
benefits  he  had  beMowed  on  the  country  we  re 
properly  appreciated.  Louis  XVI  conferred 
on  Oberkampf  letters  of  nobility  ;  and  in  1790, 
the  council-general  of  the  department  decreed 
the  erection  of  a  statue  in  honour  of  him,  which 
mark  of  gratitude,  however,  he  declined.  In 
1  ?'.'.)  his  life  was  in  danger,  but  he  fortunately 
escaped  proscription.  Some  years  after  he  was 
offered  a  place  in  the  senate,  which  he  re- 
fused, but  he  accepted  the  cross  of  the  legion 
of  honour,  bestowed  on  him  by  Buonaparte. 
Oberkampf,  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  esta- 
blished a  cotton  manufactory  at  Essonne,  and 
thus  naturalized  that  important  branch  of  in- 
dustry in  France.  The  commotions  which  ac- 
companied the  overthrow  of  Buonaparte,  had 
a  disastrous  influence  on  the  manufactories  of 
Jouy,  and  deeply  afflicted  the  mind  of  the  pro- 
prietor, whose  death  took  place  October  4th, 
1815.  Biog.  Uuiv. 

OBERL1N  (JEREMIAH  JAMES)  a  learned 
and  industrious  antiquary  and  philologer, 
born  at  Strasburg  in  1735.  He  studied  in  the 
university  of  his  native  city,  and  in  1758  he 
obtained  the  degree  of  doctor  of  philosophy. 
He  afterwards  attended  lectures  on  theology, 
but  his  researches  were  devoted  chiefly  to  sa- 
cred criticism  and  antiquities.  At  the  age  of 
twenty  he  became  an  assistant  to  bis  father, 
who  was  a  tutor  at  the  gymnasium,  and  whom 
he  succeeded  in  1770,  at  which  period  he  was 
likewise  appointed  professor  of  Latin  eloquence 
at  the  academy.  He  also  gave  lectures  on  ar- 
chaeology, ancient  geography,  diplomatics,  &c. 
relative  to  which  subjects  he  published  ele- 
mentary treatises,  which  have  been  used  as 
text-books  in  many  of  the  German  semina- 
ries. In  1778  he  was  nominated  professor 
extraordinary  at  the  university  of  Strasburg, 
and  in  1782  he  obtained  the  chair  of  logic  and 
metaphysics  ;  to  which,  in  1787,  was  added,  the 
office  of  director  of  the  gymnasium.  The 
French  Revolution  interrupted  his  learned  la- 
bours ;  and  in  1793  he  was  imprisoned  at 
Metz,  and  treated  with  great  cruelty.  The 
termination  of  the  tyranny  of  Robespierre  re- 
stored him  to  liberty,  and  he  returned  to  Stras- 
burg to  resume  his  literary  occupations.  On 
the  establishment  of  the  central  schools,  he  was 
appointed  librarian  of  that  of  the  Lower  Rhine. 
He  died  October  10th,  li!06.  He  published 
valuable  editions  of  Tacitus  and  Caesar,  and 
various  other  works,  of  which  a  list  may  be 
found  in  the  annexed  authority. — Biog.  Univ. 

OBRECHT(ULiuc)  anative  of  Strasburgh, 
who  became  professor  ot  history  and  rhetoric, 
in  the  university  of  that  city.  Such  was  his 
reputation  for  variety  and  extent  of  learning, 
that  he  was  termed  the  epitome  of  human 
science.  Among  his  principal  writings  are, 
"  Exercitatio  do  Philosophia  Celtica  ;"  "  Ex- 
cerptorum  Historicorum  et  Juridicorum  de  na- 
tura  successionis  in  Monarchiam  Hi&panias ;" 
"Prodromus  Rerum  Alsaticarum."  He  pub- 
lished an  edition  of  the  Trojan  history,  ascribed 
to  Dictys  Cretensis  ;  and  also  wrote  com- 
mentaries on  the  treatise  of  Grotius  •'  De  Jure 


occ 

Belli  ac  Pacis."  He  was  originally  a  Pro. 
testant,  but  in  Iti8-l  he  became  a  Catholic, 
and  was  subsequently  employed  in  affairs  o. 
state.  His  death  took  place  iu  1701,  at  the 
age  of  fifty-four. — Niceron  Mem. 

OCAK1Z  or  OCARITZ  (don  JOSEPH,  che- 
valier d')  a  Spanish  diplomatist,  who  distin- 
guished himself  by  his  attempts  to  prevent  the 
execution  of  Louis  XVI.  He  was  born  about 
1750,  near  the  frontiers  of  Biscay,  and  having 
completed  his  studies  at  Madrid,  he  became 
secretary  of  the  embassy  at  Turin,  and  then 
at  Copenhagen.  In  1788  he  was  sent  to  Paris 
as  consul-general  ;  and  in  August  1792  he  held 
the  post  of  charge  d'affaires.  Shortly  after, 
he  wrote  to  the  French  minister,  Lebrun,  a 
letter  in  favour  of  Louis  XVI,  which  stems  to 
have  produced  a  strong  impression  in  the  Na- 
tional Convention  ;  and  on  the  17th  of  January, 
1793,  he  wrote  a  second  letter,  addresssd  to 
the  Convention,  in  which  he  offered  the  me- 
diation of  his  sovereign  to  engage  Prussia  and 
Austria  to  terminate  the  war  with  France,  on 
condition  of  the  suspension  of  judgment  against 
the  king.  When  war  was  declared  against 
Spain  in  the  following  month  of  March,  the 
chevalier  Ocariz  quitted  Paris,  whither,  how- 
ever, he  returned  some  time  after,  on  the  re- 
storation of  peace.  He  occupied  other  diplo- 
matic situations  ;  and  at  length,  having  been 
nominated  Spanish  ambassador  at  Constanti- 
nople, he  died  on  his  way  thither  at  Varna  in 
Hungary,  in  1805. — Biog.  Univ. 

OCCAM  or  OCKHAM  (WILLIAM)  an 
eminent  divine  and  philosopher  of  the  four- 
teenth century.  He  was  a  native  of  Ockham 
in  Surrey,  and  was  educated  at  Merton  college, 
Oxford,  where  he  studied  under  the  celebrated 
Duns  Scotus,  whose  opinions  he,  notwith- 
standing, controverted,  becoming  the  founder 
of  the  philosophical  sect  of  the  nominalists,  as 
Scotus  was  of  the  realists.  Occam  entered 
into  the  Franciscan  order  of  Friars  Minor,  or 
Cordeliers  ;  and  he  also  took  orders  in  th 
church,  and  became  archdeacon  of  Stowe,  in 
the  diocese  of  Lincoln,  which  preferment  he 
resigned  about  13L20.  He  wrote  against  pope 
John  XXII,  whom  he  treated  as  a  heretic,  and 
joined  the  anti-pope  Nicholas  V,  set  up  by  the 
emperor  Lewis  of  Bavaria.  Occam  having 
been  excommunicated,  betook  himself  to  the 
protection  of  the  emperor,  exclaiming,  "  De- 
fend me,  O  prince,  with  thy  sword  ;  and  I 
will  defend  thee  with  my  pen."  lie  died  at 
Munich  in  1347.  Trithemius  says,  he  was 
well  acquainted  with  the  Scriptures,  and  with 
the  philosophy  of  Aristotle  ;  and  that  he  pos- 
sessed a  subtle  genius,  and  a  great  deal  of  elo- 
quence. Among  his  works  are,  "  Commenta- 
rium  super  Sententias,"  lib.  iv.  ;  "  Quodli- 
beta  ;"  "  De  Ingressu  Scientiarum  ;"  and  a 
treatise  against  the  pope,  "  De  Paupertate 
Christi  et  Apostolorum."  The  philosophical 
tenets  of  Occam  seem  to  have  approached 
those  of  Malebranche  and  Berkeley.  He  ob- 
tained the  title,  among  the  schoolmen,  of  the 
Invincible  Doctor. — Trithem.  de  Script.  EC- 
cles.  Stalin  Introd.  in  Hist.  Lit.  ' 

Stewart's  t'ref.  Disc,  to  Encycl.  B~it 


O  C  II 

OCCO  (ADOLPHUS)  an  eminent  writer  on 
numismatics,  born  in  1524,  at  Augtsburg.  He 
received  a  medical  education,  and  took  the 
degree  of  MD.  at  the  academy  of  Ferrara  in 
Italy.  Having  returned  to  his  native  place, 
be  practised  his  art  with  success,  and  on  the 
establishment  of  the  college  of  medicine  at 
Augsburg  in  1582,  he  held  an  official  situa- 
tion in  it  for  some  time,  and  was  deprived  by 
the  senate  for  having  opposed  the  introduction 
of  the  Gregorian  calendar.  He  then  devoted 
himself  entirely  to  the  study  of  antiquities 
and  the  science  of  medals,  relative  to  which 
he  produced  a  work  of  importance,  entitled, 
"  Numismata  Imperatorum  Romanorum,  a 
Pompeio  Mag.  ad  Heraclium,"  printed  at 
Antwerp,  1579,  4to,  and  with  additions  at 
Augsburg  in  1601.  Occo  also  published  a 
Pharmacopoeia,  and  other  works.  He  died  in 
1605  or  1606. — Biog.  Univ. 

OCELLUS  LUCANUS,  so  called  from  be- 
ing a  native  of  Lucania,  was  a  Pythagorean 
philosopher,  'who  flourished  about  BC.  500. 
He  wrote  a  treatise  "  On  the  Universe,"  which 
is  still  extant,  and  from  which  Aristotle,  in 
his  treatise  on  generation  and  corruption, 
seems  to  have  borrowed  freely.  Some  critics 
have  been  of  opinion,  that  this  book  was 
compiled  from  the  writings  of  Aristotle  ;  but 
Brucker  thinks  with  little  reason,  as  this  book 
passed  out  of  the  hands  of  ^Eschylus  into  those 
of  Plato,  and  consequently  must  have  existed 
previously  to  the  time  of  Aristotle.  This 
remnant  of  philosophical  antiquity  was  first 
published  in  1539.  Of  succeeding  editions, 
the  best  is  that  by  Gale,  in  his  "  Opuscula," 
with  the  Latin  translation  of  Nogarola. — Fa- 
iricii  Bibt.  Gr.  Brucker. 

OCHINUS  (BERNARDIN)  a  celebrated  Ita- 
lian monk,  was  born  at  Sienna,  in  1487.     He 
was  at  first  a  Cordelier,  but  applying  himself  to 
the  study  of  physic,  he  threw  off  the  monastic 
habit,  which  in    1534  he  again  resumed,  em- 
bracing the  reformed  sect  of  the  Capuchins, 
of  which   he  became  vicar-general.     He  also 
became  father-confessor  and  chaplain  to  pope 
Paul  III.     In  1541,  whilst  at  Naples,  he  be- 
came acquainted  with    John  Valdes,   a  Spa- 
niard and  Lutheran,  who,   by  his  arguments 
succeeded   in    bringing  him  over  to  his  faith 
which   Ochinus    began    to  preach  with  grea' 
boldness.     To   avoid  the  persecutions  which 
must   necessarily   follow    his    conversion,  he 
went  to  Geneva,  thence  to  Lucca,   where  he 
married,  and    then   proceeded   to   Augsburg 
where  he  published  some  sermons.     In  1547 
on  the  invitation   of  archbishop  Cranmer,  h 
accompanied  Peter  Martyr  to  England,  for  th 
purpose   of  assisting  in  the  Reformation,  bu 
upon  the  death  of  Edward  VI,  being  forced  t< 
leave  this  country,  he  returned  to  the  conti 
nent  in  1555,  and  became  minister  of  an  Ita 
lian  church  at  Zurich,  where  he  remained  un 
til  1563,  when  he  was  banished  thence  on  ac 
count  of  some  dialogues,   in  which  he   main 
tained   the  doctrine  of  polygamy.     He  after 
wards  proceeded  to  Moravia,  where  he  fell  in 
with  the  Socinians,  and  then  proceeded  to  Po 
land,  on  quitting   which  country  on  his  wa 


ODE 

ack  to  Moravia,  he  fell  ill  of  the  plague,  and 
ied  at  Slawkaw  in  1564.  He  was  the  author 
f  a  great  number  of  sermons,  dialogues,  &c. 
•hich  have  been  translated  into  English. — 
Jen.  Diet.  Moreri,  Strype's  Life  of  Cranmer, 

OCHS  (PETER)  chevalier  and  grand  tri- 
une of  the  state  of  Basle,  one  of  the  most  ce- 
ebrated  statesmen  of  modern  Helvetia.  He 
vas  born  at  Basle  about  1749,  and  having 
nished  his  academical  studies,  he  received 
essous  on  politics  from  Isaac  Iselin.  He  had 
ng  been  distinguished  for  his  legal  know- 

dge,  when  in   1795  he  was  chosen  by  his 

ellow  citizens  to  negotiate  with  M.  Barthele- 

ny,  agent  of  the  French  directory.     He  sub- 

equently  assisted  in   other  diplomatic  trans- 

ctions,  and  at  length  became  member  of  the 

ielvetic  senate,  and  president  of  the  assembly 

onvened   to  organize   a   constitution   for  the 

tate  of  Basle,  under  the  influence  of  France. 

'olitical   intrigues  occasioned  him  to  be  dis- 

D 

)laced,  and  in  1800   he  went  to  Paris,  where 

e  remained  some  time.     Having  attended  at 

he  Consulta,  held  at  Paris  when  Buonaparte 

vas  First  Consul,  for  the  purpose  of  preparing 

I  federative  constitution  for  Switzerland,  Ochs 

was  appointed   a  member   of   the   council  of 

tate    at   Basle,  under  the  new  government, 

which  subsisted  till  the  return  of  the  Bourbons 

o  France  in  1814.  He  died  at  Basle,  June  19, 

i821.     Ochs  was  distinguished  as  an  author, 

laving  published  "  Histoire  de  la  Ville  et  du 

Pays  du   Bale,"    1785 — 1821,    5  vols.  8vo ; 

'  Projet    de    Constitution    Helvetique  ;"  and 

some  dramatic  pieces. — Biog.  N.  des  Contemp. 

OCKLEY  (SIMON)  an  eminent  Orientalist 
of  the  last  century.  He  was  born  at  Exeter  in 
1678,  and  received  his  education  at  Queen's 
college,  Cambridge,  where  he  took  the  degree 
of  MA.  He  entered  into  holy  orders,  and  ob- 
tained the  vicarage  of  Swaveseyin  Cambridge- 
shire. In  1708  he  published  "  The  Life  of 
[lai  Ebii  Yokdan,"  a  kind  of  moral  romance, 
translated  from  the  Arabic  of  Abu  Jaafar  Ebn 
Tophail  ;  and  the  same  year  appeared  his 
great  work,  "  The  History  of  the  Saracens, 
illustrating  the  Religion,  Rites,  Customs,  and 
Manner  of  Living  of  that  warlike  People," 
with  a  life  of  Mahomet,  2  vols.  8vo,  of  which 
a  new  edition  was  published  in  1757.'  This 
rery  learned  and  industrious  scholar  met  with 
little  encouragement  in  the  prosecution  of  his 
studies,  and  after  having  been  imprisoned  for 
debt,  he  died  in  poverty  in  1720.  Besides  the 
publications  mentioned,  he  was  the  author  of 
"  Introductio  ad  Liuguas  Orientales,"  1713, 
8vo  ;  and  other  works. —  Ring-  Brit. 

ODERIC  OF  PORTENAU,  one  of  the 
most  famous  travellers  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury. He  was  born  in  Friuli  about  1286,  and 
entered  young  into  a  convent  of  Franciscans 
at  Udina.  He  visited  as  a  missionary  many 
parts  of  Asia,  then  almost  unknown,  among 
which  were  the  islands  of  Ceylon,  Sumatra, 
Java,  and  Borneo,  the  southern  provinces  of 
China,ChineseTartary,  andTibet.  He  returned 
to  Europe,  a'ter  sixteen  years'  absence,  about 
1330,  and  hastening  to  the  pope  at  Avignon,  he 
endeavoured  to  obtain  assistance  towards  new 


OD  1 

efforts  for  the  conversiou  of  the  infidels.  The 
affairs  of  the  church  did  not  admit  of  this  be- 
ing afforded  him  ;  and  lie  returned  to  his  con- 
vent at  Udina,  where  he  died  in  the  beginning 
of  1331.  The  travels  of  Oderic  were  pub- 
lished in  the  collection  of  llainusio,  and  also 
by  Hakluyt. — Biog.  Univ. 

ODERICO  ((JASPAK  LEWIS)  a  learned  an- 
tiquary and  medallist,  who  was  a  native  of 
Genoa.  He  entered  into  the  society  of  the 
Jesuits,  and  going  to  Home,  became  professor 
of  theology  ;  but  ancient  coins,  medals,  in- 
scriptions, and  other  monuments  of  Greek  and 
Roman  antiquity,  were  the  principal  objects  of 
his  researches,  lie  was  admitted  a  member 
of  the  Etruscan  academy  of  Cortona,  under 
the  name  of  Theodemio  Ostracinio.  On  the 
suppression  of  the  order  to  which  he  be- 
longed, he  retired  to  Genoa,  where  he  was 
made  conservator  of  the  university  library  ; 
and  iu  1787  he  went  to  Turin  with  his  bro- 
ther, to  conduct  some  negotiations,  and  re- 
mained there  six  years.  The  revolution  at 
Genoa  deprived  him  of  his  office  ;  but  on  the 
reorganization  of  the  university  he  was  re- 
placed, and  at  the  same  period  he  was  chosen 
a  member  of  the  Institute.  He  died  of  apo- 
plexy, December  10,  1803,  aged  seventy- 
eight.  He  published  some  valuable  works  re- 
lative to  ancient  medals  and  inscriptions  ;  and 
he  left  in  MS.  "  Notizie  istoriche  sulla  Tau- 
rica  fino  all,  anno  1475,"  written  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  empress  Catherine  II. —  Biog. 
Univ. 

ODIEll  (LEWIS)  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  medico-surgical  society  of  Geneva,  a  cor- 
respondent of  the  French  Institute,  and  a 
member  of  many  scientific  associations,  was  a 
physician  at  Geneva,  where  he  was  born  in 
1748.  He  studied  at  Edinburgh,  where  he 
proceeded  MD.  and  afterwards  visited  Ley- 
den  and  Paris.  Returning  to  Geneva,  he 
commenced  a  course  of  lectures  on  chemistry, 
in  which  he  unfolded  the  great  discoveries 
which  had  been  made  in  that  science  by  the 
English  and  French  philosophers.  He  prac- 
tised medicine  with  great  reputation  in  his  na 
live  city,  where  he  exercised  several  public 
functions,  and  he  assisted  in  the  arrangement 
of  a  new  code  of  criminal  law.  His  death  took 
place  April  13,  1817.  He  was  the  author  of 
a  "  Manual  of  Practical  Medicine  ;"  and  many 
scientific  memoirs  in  periodical  works.  He 
also  distinguished  himself  by  his  successful  en- 
deavours to  introduce  vaccine  inoculation  on 
the  continent. —  Biog.  Univ.  Biog.  IV.  des 
Coittemp. 

OD1NGTON  (WALTER)  or  Walter  of 
Evesham,  a  monk  of  that  monastery  in  Wor- 
cestershire, who  flourished  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  111.  He  was  an  astronomer  and  mathe- 
matician, and  is  said  to  have  been  the  author 
of  "  l)e  Motibus  Planetarium  et  de  Mutatione 
Aiiris."  He  also  wrote  a  treatise,  entitled, 
"  Of  the  Speculation  of  Music,"  preserved  iu 
\he  library  of  Bene't  college,  Cambridge,  of 
•which  Di  LSurney  says,  that  if  all  other  musi- 
cal tracts,  from  the  time  of  Boethius  to  Franco 
and  John  Cotion  were  lost,  with  this  MS.  our 


OE  D 

knowledge  would  not  be  much  diminished. — 
Burney's  Hist,  of  Music. 

OIJO  (SAINT)  a  celebrated  abbot  of  Clugiiij 
was  boru  at  Tours  in  879.  At  the  age.  of 
nineteen  he  was  made  a  canon  of  St  Martin's, 
in  that  city,  and  he  afterwards  weirt  to  Paris, 
where  he  became  a  disciple  of  St  Rhemv  of 
Auxerre.  In  912  he  took  the  habit  iu  the  mo- 
nastery of  Beaume,  in  the  diocese  of  Besan- 
9011,  and  iu  927,  having  taken  orders,  he  be- 
came second  abbot  of  Clugui,  and  by  his 
efforts  the  order  or  discipline  of  that  monastery 
obtained  a  very  high  character.  So  high 
stood  Odo's  reputation  for  sanctity  and  wis- 
dom, iliac  the  popes,  bishops,  and  princes  paid 
the  greatest  deference  to  his  opinions,  and 
frequently  made  him  the  arbiter  of  their  dis- 
putes, lie  died  at  Rheims  in  942.  lie  was 
the  author  of"  The  Life  of  St  Gerard,  Count 
of  Aurillac,  in  four  Books ;"  "  Sermons," 
"  Hymns,"  which  Duchesue  has  edited  in  his 
"  Bibl.  Cluiuac.  ;"  and  "  Moralium  iu  Job. 
lib.  xxxvi,"  which  are  chiefly  taken  from 
the  "  Morals  of  St  Gregory."  All  these 
pieces  may  be  seen  in  the  "  Bibl.  Patr." — 
Mpreri.  Dupin.  Mosheim. 

CECOLAMPADIUS  (JOHN)  a  distin- 
guished reformer,  was  born  iu  Franconia,  in 
1482.  He  studied  at  Heidelberg,  after  which 
he  became  tutor  to  the  son  of  the  elector  pa- 
latine, and  was  presented  to  a  benefice.  In 
1520  he  entered  into  a  convent  near  Augs- 
burg, but  on  reading  the  books  of  Luther,  he 
quitted  his  cell  and  repaired  to  Basil,  where 
he  was  made  professor  of  divinity.  He  em- 
braced the  doctrine  of  Zuinglius  on  the  sacra- 
ment, but  conducted  himself,  controversially, 
wuh  great  moderation.  In  1528  he  married 
the  widow  of  Cellarius.  The  ratings  of 
(Ecolampadius,  which  evince  a  gr^^^itent  of 
learning,  are  too  numerous  to  be  particula- 
rized here,  but  a  list  of  them  will  be  found  in 
our  authorities.  He  appears  to  have  been 
held  in  high  estimation  even  by  his  opponents. 
He  died  of  the  plague  in  1531. — Melchior 
Adam.  Dupin.  Mosheim. 

OECUMENIUS,  an  ancient  Greek  com- 
mentator upon  the  Scriptures,  flourished  in 
the  tenth  century,  and  is  said  to  have  been  bi- 
shop of  Trica,  iu  Thessaly.  He  was  the  au- 
thor of  "  Commentaries"  upon  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  the  fourteen  epistles  of  St  Paul,  and 
the  seven  Catholic  epistles,  which,  besides 
his  own  remarks,  contain  those  of  many  of  the 
ancient  fathers.  He  is  thought  also  to  have 
written  a  commentary  upon  the  four  Gospels, 
but  this  is  not  extant.  His  works  were  pub- 
lished in  Greek  at  Verona,  in  1532  ;  and  in 
Greek  and  Latin  at  Paris,  in  1631,  in  2  vols. 
folio.  To  the  latter  is  added,  the  "  Com- 
mentary" of  Arethas,  upon  the  book  of  Re- 
velation.— Cave.  Lardner.  Fabricii.  Bibl. 
Grac.  Moreri. 

O  El)  Ell  (GEORGE  Louis)  an  eminent  phy- 
sician and  botanist,  born  at  Auspach,  in  1728. 
He  studied  under  Haller,  at  Gottiagen,  and 
after  having  practised  as  a  physician  at  Sles- 
wick,  he  was,  in  1752,  invited  to  take  the  bo- 
tanical chair  at  Copenhagen.  He  travelled 


OE  L 

through  many  of  the  provinces  of  Denmark 
and  Norway,  to  investigate  the  native  plants, 
and  the  result  of  his  labours  was  a  work  en- 
titleii,  "  Flora  Danica,"  the  first  part  of  which 
appeared  in  1763.  He  also  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  political  economy  and  finance,  and  in 
1769  he  published  a  memoir  on  the  civil  and 
political  state  of  the  peasantry.  Couut  Bern- 
storfT  often  consulted  him  on  affairs  of  admi- 
nistration ;  and  under  Struensee  he  was  ap- 
pointed counsellor  of  finance,  and  president  of 
the  council  of  revenues  of  Norway.  The  fall 
of  that  minister  occasioned  his  removal  from 
Copenhagen.  He  was  made  bailli  of  the  du- 
chy of  Oldenburgh,  where  he  employed  him- 
self in  the  establishment  of  a  fund  for  the  be- 
nefit of  widows,  and  other  financial-  undertak- 
ings. He  died  the  28th  of  October,  1791. 
Besides  the  works  already  referred  to,  Oeder 
published,  "  Elementa  Botanica,"  1762 — 64, 
2  vols.  8vo  ;  "  Nomenclator  Botanicus,"  1769, 
8vo;  "Figures  of  Plants  growing  spotane- 
ously  in  Denmark  and  Norway,"  1766,  folio  ; 
"  Observations  on  a  Bank  for  Widows,"  Co- 
penhagen, 1771,  8vo  ;  besides  many  memoirs 
inserted  in  periodical  journals.  Linnasus  gave 
the  name  of  (Edera  to  a  genus  of  plants,  na- 
tives of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  in  honour 
of  this  botanist. — Biog.  Univ. 

OELRICHS  (JOHN  CHARLES  CONRAD)  a 
German  historian  and  bibliographer,  born  at 
Berlin  in  1722.  He  was  educated  at  Frank- 
fort on  the  Oder,  where  he  proceeded  LLD. 
and  in  1752  he  was  appointed  professor  of 
history  and  civil  law  at  the  academy  of  Stettin. 
Notwithstanding  his  official  occupations,  he 
published  a  number  of  curious  dissertations, 
chiefly  relating  to  the  history  of  Germany  in 
the  midill&,8ges.  At  the  age  of  fifty  he  mar- 
ried a  widow,  who  brought  him  considerable 
property,  and  resigning  his  chair,  he  settled  at 
Berlin.  In  1784  he  obtained  the  post  of 
counsellor  of  legation,  and  resident  of  the 
duke  of  Deux-Ponts,  at  the  court  of  Berlin. 
His  death  took  place  December  30,  1798. 
Besides  the  Berlin  Library,  a  literary  journal, 
carried  on  in  conjunction  with  Moehsen,  from 
1747  to  1750,  he  published  many  valuable 
works  in  Latin  and  German,  the  most  impor- 
tant of  which  are  mentioned  in  the  Biogra- 
phie  Uuiverselle.  Prefixed  to  the  catalogue 
of  his  library,  which  was  sold  after  his  death, 
iu  1800,  is  his  life,  written  by  himself  in  La- 
tin.—  B>og.  Nouv.  des  Conternp. 

OELRICHS  (GERARD)  a  learned  lawyer, 
born  at  Bremen,  in  1727,  who  studied  at  Got- 
tingen  and  Utrecht.  After  having  been  for 
some  time  resident  of  the  emperor  at  Frank- 
fort, he  abandoned  diplomacy  to  become  syn- 
dic of  Bremen,  where  he  died  in  1789. 
Oelrichs  was  particularly  skilled  in  the  an- 
cient dialects  of  the  Teutonic  language.  He 
published,  "  Glossarium  ad  Statuta  Bremensia 
antiqua,"  1767,  8vo;  a  collection  of  the  an- 
cient and  modern  laws  of  Bremen  ;  the  laws 
of  the  city  of  Riga,  with  a  glossary ;  and 
other  works. — JOHN  OELRICHS,  professor  of 
theology,  and  rector  of  the  gymnasium  of 
Bremen,  who  died  in  1801,  aged  seventy- 


O  EX 

seven,  distinguished  himself  by  some  impor- 
tant publications  relative  to  German  and  Nor- 
thern literature,  among  which  is  an  "  Anglo- 
Saxon  Christomathy,"  with  a  German  version, 
1798,  4to.  —  JOHV  GKORGE  ARNOLD  OEL- 
RICHS, a  native  of  Hanover,  died  in  his 
twenty-fourth  year  in  1791,  at  Gottingen, 
where  he  had  studied  under  Hayne  and  Hee- 
ren,  and  excited  much  notice  by  his  early 
proficiency.  In  1787  he  published  a  dissei 
tation  on  the  philosophy  of  Plato  ;  and  in 
1788,  another  on  the  philosophy  of  the  Fa- 
thers of  the  Church  ;  but  his  greatest  work 
was  published  posthumously  by  professor 
Heeren,  under  the  title  of  "  Commentarii  de 
Scriptoribus  Ecclesiaj  Latinas  priorum  sex 
steculorum,"  Lips.  1791,  8vo.  —  Biog.  Univ. 
Biog.  Nouv.  des  Contempt 

OENOPIDAS.orOENOPIDES.ofChio, 
a  Pythagorean  philosopher,  who  lived  in  the 
fifth  century  BC.  Like  others  of  the  Grecian 
sages,  he  visited  Egypt,  in  search  of  know- 
ledge, and  there  he  made  himself  acquainted 
with  geometry  and  astronomy.  Some  of  the 
problems  of  Euclid  are  attributed  to  this  ma- 
thematician, who  chiefly  distinguished  himself 
by  the  invention  of  a  cycle  for  the  regulation 
of  the  year,  which  was  afterwards  improved 
by  Meton.  Oenopides  engraved  on  a  table 
of  brass  his  astronomical  calculations,  applied 
to  a  period  of  fifty -nine  years,  which  he  con- 
sidered as  marking  a  revolution  of  the  stars, 
and  called  it  the  great  year.  He  consecrated 
this  table  at  the  Olympic  games,  that  it  miijht 
be  preserved  for  the  use  of  the  public. — Bwg. 
Univ. 

GETTER  (SAMUEL  WILI  IAM)  a  German 
historian,  born  in  1720,  in  the  dominions  of 
the  margrave  of  Bareuth.  He  studied  at  Er- 
lang,  and  having  adopted  the  ecclesiastical 
profession,  became  pastor  at  Linden  in  1749, 
and  removed  in  1762  to  Makterlebach.  His 
historical  productions  having  made  him  ad- 
vantegeously  known,  he  was  appointed  histo- 
riographer of  Brandenburg,  Anspach,  and 
Bareuth,  and  member  of  the  consistorial  coun- 
cil of  his  district.  He  died  in  1792.  He 
possessed  an  extensive  acquaintance  with  his- 
tory, diplomatics,  and  antiquities,  especially 
those  of  Franconia  ;  and  he  illustrated  a  mul- 
titude of  obscure  transactions  ;  but  he  was  de- 
ficient in  taste,  and  was  too  fond  of  conjectural 
etymologies.  He  was  the  author  of  "An 
Essay  towards  a  History  of  the  Burgraves  and 
Margraves  of  Brandenbourg  and  Franconia," 
founded  on  coins,  seals,  and  documents,  1751 
— 58,  2  vols.  8vo  ;  and  many  other  works,  of 
which  an  account  may  be  found  in  Schlichte- 
groll's  Necrology. —  Biog.  Univ. 

OEXMEL1N  (ALEXANDER  OLIVER)  a 
traveller  and  historian,  who  was  probably  a 
Fleming.  In  July  1666,  he  was  at  Tortue, 
in  America,  in  the  service  of  the  West  India 
company,  where  he  was  sold  to  a  planter  for 
thirty  crowns.  After  three  years'  servitude, 
he  joined  some  freebooters,  and  remained  with 
them  till  1674,  engaging  in  all  their  enter- 
prises. He  then  embraced  an  opportunity  to 
return  to  Europe,  thanking  God,  as  he  says, 


OGE 

t]iat  he  had  been  enabled  to  relinquish  such  a 
riiiserable  kind  of  life.  He  afterwards  made 
three  other  voyages  to  America,  with  the 
Dutch  and  with  the  Spaniards  ;  and  he  was 
at  the  taking  of  Carthageua  in  1697.  lie 
wrote  an  account  of  his  adventures,  published 
in  French  at  Paris  in  1686,  2  vols.  12mo  ; 
and  afterwards  at  Trevoux,  1744  and  1775, 
4  vols.  liimo.  From  some  passages  in  his 
narrative,  it  seems  probable  that  he  exercised 
the  profession  of  a  surgeon. — Biog.  Univ. 

OGDEN  (SAMUEL)  an  eminent  divine  of 
the  establishment,  was  born  at  Manchester, 
in  1716,  and  educated  at  the  grammar-school 
-'here,  from  which  he  was  removed  to  King's 
college,  Cambridge,  and  next  to  St  John's, 
where  he  obtained  a  fellowship.  In  1744  he 
became  master  of  the  grammar-school  at  Ha- 
lifax ;  but  in  1753  returned  to  Cambridge, 
where  he  took  his  degree  of  DD.  and  was  pre- 
sented to  the  living  of  Damerham,  in  Wilt- 
shire. In  1766  he  was  appointed  Woodwar- 
dian  professor,  and  subsequently  received  the 
rectories  of  Lawford  in  Essex,  and  of  Stans- 
field  in  Suffolk.  He  died  in  1778.  Two  vo- 
lumes of  sermons  by  this  divine  were  pub- 
lished in  his  lifetime,  which  being  short,  ani- 
mated, and  striking,  obtained  considerable 
celebrity.  A  new  edition  of  these  were  pub- 
lished in  1780,  by  his  friend  bishop  Halifax, 
with  a  memoir  of  his  life,  in  which  some  ob- 
jections to  his  style  and  manner  are  freely 
canvassed. — Life  by  Halifax.  Wakefield's 
Memoirs. 

OG  E,  a  creole  of  St  Domingo,  belonging  to 
the  class  called  in  the  colonies  Quarteroons, 
who  was,  at  the  commencement  of  the  Revo- 
lution, engaged  in  commerce  at  Cape  Fran- 
cais.  Mercantile  affairs  having  drawn  him  to 
Paris,  he  was  there  admitted  into  the  society 
of  Friends  of  the  Negroes,  (Amis  des  Noirs,) 
and  aided  by  some  of  the  most  active  mem- 
bers, he  warmly  solicited  the  National  As- 
sembly in  favour  of  his  brethren.  But  he 
soon  perceived  that  solicitations  alone  would 
not  procure  the  rights  of  equality  for  men  of 
colour ;  and  returning  to  St  Domingo,  he 
resolved  to  adopt  some  inore  efficacious  means 
for  their  liberation.  Having  made  his  way  to 
the  quarter  of  Dondon,  where  he  was  born,  he 
began  by  spreading  a  proclamation,  inviting 
all  the  people  of  colour,  and  negro  slaves  to 
join  him.  The  insurrection  took  place  in  No- 
vember, 1790,  in  the  quarter  denominated 
Grande  Riviere.  The  insurgents  at  first  de- 
manded nothing  but  what  was  just,  freedom 
and  political  equality  ;  but  their  cause  was 
ere  long  disgraced  by  crimes  equally  useless 
and  atrocious.  These,  however,  were  not  at- 
tributable to  their  leader,  hut  to  his  lieutenant 
Chavannes,  a  sanguinary  wretch,  who  de- 
lighted in  deeds  of  violence.  Troops  of  the 
national  guard  and  of  the  line  were  sent 
against  the  blacks,  who  were  obliged  to  give 
way  to  superior  force.  Oge,  with  a  few  of  his 
intrepid  followers,  took  refuge  in  the  Spanish 
territories,  and  being  given  up  by  the  gover- 
nor to  the  French,  he  was  tried  before  the  su- 
perior council  at  Cape  Francais,  and  con- 


OG  I 

demned  to  be  broken  on  the  wheel,  as  also 
was  his  lieutenant.  Oge,  on  hearing  his 
doom,  took  a  quantity  of  black  seeds,  and 
placing'  them  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand,  co- 
vi'jvd  them  with  a  small  quantity  of  white 
grains :  he  then  shook  them  together,  and  the 
former  remaining'  uppermost,  lie  exclaimed  to 
his  judges,  "  Where  are  the  Whites  1"  This 
impressive  allegory  was  terribly  verified  in  the 
subsequent  revolution  of  St  Domingo. — Diet, 
des  H.  M.  Ju  IQme  S.  Biog.  A*,  des  Contemp. 

OUTER  (CHARLES)  a  man  of  learning-, 
was  born,  at  Paris  in  1595.  He  was  for  some 
time  an  advocate,  but  becoming  disgusted 
with  his  profession,  he  accepted  the  post  of 
secretary  to  Claude  de  Mesmes,  count  d'Avaux, 
whom  he  accompanied  in  his  embassy  to 
the  northern  courts  in  1634  and  1635.  He 
drew  up  an  account  of  his  travels,  which  was 
first  published  in  1656,  with  tins  title,  "  Ca- 
roli  Ogerii  Ephemerides  sive  iter  Danicum, 
Suecicum,  Polouicum,  cum  esset  in  comitatu  il- 
lustr.  Claudii  Memmii  comitis  Avauxii  ad 
septentriones  reges  extraordinarii  legati," 
12mo.  This  journal  contains  some  curious 
particulars  of  the  negotiations  of  the  count  of 
Avaux,  the  manners,  customs,  &c.  of  the  coun- 
tries which  he  visited.  Ogier  also  published  two 
Latin  poems  to  the  memories  of  D.  Petau  and 
Peter  <hi  Puy.  He  died  hi  1654. — FRANCIS 
OOIER,  his  brother,  was  an  ecclesiastic,  a-nd 
attended  the  count  d'Avaux  when  he  went  to 
sign  the  peace  of  1648.  He  defended  Balzac 
in  his  quarrel  with  Goulu,  and  wrote  several 
works,  of  which  the  most  esteemed  is  "  Juge- 
ment  et  Censure  de  la  Doctrine  curieuse  de 
Fr.  Garasse."  He  died  in  1670. — Mveri. 
Nuuv.  Diet.  Hist. 

OGILB  Y  (  JOHN,  an  industrious  writer,  was 
born  at  Edinburgh  in  1600.     His /ather  be- 
coming a  prisoner  for  debt  iu  the  King's  Bench, 
the  son  bound  himself  apprentice  to  a  danc- 
ing-master iu  London,  and  with  the  first  mo- 
ney he  procured,  he  released  his  father.     A 
strain,  which   he  received  in  cutting  a  caper, 
disabled   him  in  his  profession,   aud  he   was 
obliged   to  seek   other  means  of  subsistence. 
After  suffering  great  vicissitudes,  he  at  length 
overcame  his  want  of  a   literary  education  so 
far  as  to  translate  from  the  Latin  and  Greek, 
and  to  compose  verses  of  his  own,  which,  how- 
ever, were  but  very   indifferent.     He  made  a 
translation   of    Homer,    which,   though    very 
wretched,   was  esteemed   at  the   time   it  ap- 
peared, and  had  the  honour  of  kindling  a  poeti- 
cal flame  in  the  youthful  breast  of  Pope.     The 
cuts  to   his  translation  of  Virgil   were  gieatly 
valued,  and   served  for  a  splendid  Latin   edi- 
tion of  that  poet.     In  London,  after  the  great 
fire,  he  erected  a  printing-office,  and  was  ap- 
pointed  the  king's  cosmogiapher  and  geogra- 
phic printer,  and   he  printed  some  volumes  of 
a  great  Atlas.     He  also   published  an  account 
of  the  great  and  cross-roads  of  the  kingdom, 
from  his  own  actual  survey  and  mensuration. 
He  also  built  a  the?.tre  at  Dublin. — Biog.  I-rit. 

OG1LV1E  (JOHN)  a  divine  of  the  church  of 
Scotland,  was  born  in  1733.  lie  was  edu- 
cated at  the  university  of  Aberdeen,  by  which 


O  H  A 

fee  was  honoured  with  the  degree  of  DD.,  and 
he  became  minister  of  Midmar,  in  the  same 
county.  He  also  became  a  fellow  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  Edinburgh,  and  was  much  esteemed 
both  as  a  divine  and  man  of  literature.  His 
works  are,  "  Poems  on  several  Subjects," 
2  vols.  8vo  ;  "Sermons,"  8vo  ;  "Paradise,  a 
Poem,"  4to;  "  Rona,  a  Poem;"  "Philoso- 
phical and  Critical  Observations  on  Composi- 
tion," 2  vols.  8vo ;  "An  Inquiry  into  the 
Causes  of  Infidelity  and  Scepticism,"  8vo  ; 
"Theology  of  Plato,  compared  with  the  Prin- 
ciples of  Oriental  and  Grecian  Philosophers," 
8vo  ;  "  Examination  of  the  Evidence  of  Pro- 
phecy in  behalf  of  the  Christian  Religion," 
8vo  ;  "  Britannia,  aPoem,"4to. — Gent.  Mag. 

OGLETHORPE  (JAMES  EDWARD)  an 
"English  general  officer,  was  the  son  of  sir  The- 
.ophilus  Oglethorpe,  of  Godalmiug,  Surrey. 
lie  was  born  in  London  in  1698,  and  was  edu- 
cated at  Corpus  Chvisti  college,  Oxford,  on 
/caving  which  he  obtained  a  commission  in  the 
guards.  He  subsequently  went  abroad,  and 
served  under  prince  Eugene,  and  on  his  re- 
turn, obtained  a  seat  in  parliament.  In  1733 
Le  distinguished  himself  by  his  exertions  to 
found  the  colony  of  Georgia,  for  which  he  ob- 
tained the  royal  charter.  He  also  conducted  a 
tody  of  emigrants  to  the  province,  at  which 
time  he  was  accompanied  by  the  two  Wesleys. 
In  1734  he  returned  with  some  Indian  chiefs 
in  his  suite,  who  were  presented  to  the  king  ; 
and  in  1736  revisited  Georgia,  with  another 
band  of  emigrants,  and  proceeded  very  suc- 
cessfully in  the  settlement  of  the  colony.  On 
the  rupture  with  Spain,  he  was  made  general 
and  commander-in-chief  of  the  Englishforces  in 
Georgia  and  Carolina,  with  which  he  success- 
fully repelled  the  attempts  of  the  Spaniards  ;  but 
was  unsuccessful  in  an  expedition  against  St  Au- 
gustin.  In  1745  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank 
of  major-general,  and  was  employed  to  follow 
the  rebels  under  the  Pretender  ;  hut  not  being 
able  to  come  up  with  them,  he  was  tried  by  a 
court  martial  for  neglect  of  duty,  and  ac- 
quitted. The  private  character  of  general  Ogle- 
thorpe was  extremely  amiable,  and  he  has  been 
eulogized  both  by  Thomson,  Pope,  and  Dr 
Johnson.  He  chiefly  claims  distinction,  how- 
ever, for  his  benevolent  and  judicious  settle- 
ment of  Georgia. — Nichols's  Lit.  Anec.  Ens- 
well's  Life  of  Jahnson. 

O'HARA  (KANE)  an  Irish  dramatist,  who 
was  a  younger  brother  of  a  good  family.  He 
had  much  musical  taste,  and  a  happy  talent  of 
adapting  verses  to  old  airs.  In  the  latter  part 
of  his  life  he  was  afflicted  with  loss  of  sight, 
and  employed  an  amanuensis,  whom  he  kept 
constantly  near  him,  as  he  was  often  making 
alterations  in  his  theatrical  pieces,  which  are 
all  burlettas  or  ballad  operas.  His  first  pro- 
duction was  "  Midas,"  acted  at  Covent  Gar- 
den in  1764,  which  was  extremely  well  re- 
ceived, and  is  still  a  favourite  entertainment. 
His  other  works  are,  "  The  Golden  Pippin," 
1773;  "The  Two  Misers,"  1775;  "April 
Day,"  1777  ;  and  "  Tom  Thumb,"  1780. 
;Jis  death  took  place  June  17,  1782. — Thesp. 
Jict. 

bioc.  DJCT.—  Voi    \l. 


OLA 

OIZEL,  or  OUZEL  (JAMES)  a  learned 
civilian,  was  born  at  Uautzic  in  1631.  H^ 
received  his  education  at  Leyden,  where  he 
took  his  doctor's  degree,  and  published  an  ex- 
cellent edition  of  Minutius  Felix.  After  tra- 
velling in  Europe  in  1667,  he  was  appointed 
professor  of  law  at  Groningen.  He  died  in 
1686.  He  likewise  published  an  edition  of 
Aulus  Gellius,  Leyden,  1666,  8vo;  and  a 
treatise,  entitled,  "  Thesaurus  selectorum  Nu- 
mismatum  antiquorum  <ere  expressorum," 
Amst.  1677,  4to,  a  scarce  and  curious  work. 
He  was  the  friend  of  Puffendorf,  between 
whose  ideas  and  his  own  there  existed  a  great 
conformity. — Chaufepie.  Niceron.  Moreri. 

OISEL,  or  OUSEEL  (PHILIP)  a  learned 
German  reformed  professor  of  divinity,  and 
Oriental  scholar,  was  born  at  Dantzic  in  1671. 
He  became  minister  of  the  German  church  at 
Leyden,  and  was  afterwards  appointed  profes- 
sor of  divinity  at  Frankfort  on  the  Oder.  It 
is  related  of  him,  that  when  he  was  upon  his 
death-bed,  and  his  colleague  was  reciting  for 
his  consolation  passages  of  scripture  in  Latin 
or  German,  he  corrected  the  language  of  the 
version  made  use  of  by  him,  according  to  the 
original  Hebrew  or  Greek,  with  the  same  ac- 
curacy and  calmness  as  if  seated  in  his  acade- 
mical chair.  His  principal  works  are,  "  In- 
troductio  in  Accentuationem  Hebrseorum  Me- 
tricam ;"  "  Introductio  in  Accentuationem 
HebrajorumProsaicum,"  1715;  "  DeLepra;" 
and  several  treatises  on  the  ten  command- 
ments.— The  above-mentioned,  JAMES  OU- 
SEEL, who  wrote  notes  on  the  "  Octavius"  of 
Minutius  Felix,  was  his  relation — Naiiv.  Diet. 
Hist.  L'Advocat's  Diet.  Hist.et  Bibl.  Portatif. 

OKOLSKI  (SIMON)  a  Dominican,  was  born 
in  Russia,  and  became  provincial  of  his  order 
in  Poland  in  1649.  He  was  the  author  of  a 
work,  entitled  "  Orbis  Polonus,"  or  ahistoryof 
the  Polish  nation,  with  learned  researches 
concerning  the  origin  of  the  Sarmatians.  It  is 
very  scarce  and  valuable,  but  the  author  is 
somewhat  partial.  He  also  published  a  work, 
entitled  "  Preco  divini  verbi  Albertus  episco- 
pus  Ratisponensis." — Moreri. 

OLAHUS  (NICHOLAS)  a  learned  prelate, 
was  born  at  Hermanstadt  in  1493.  After  va- 
rious preferments,  he  was  nominated  by  Fer- 
dinand, king  of  Hungary,  bishop  of  Zagrab  and 
chancellor  of  that  kingdom.  He  afterwards 
became  bishop  of  Agria,  and  was  present  at 
the  siege  of  that  town  by  the  Turks  in  1552, 
at  which,  by  his  liberality  and  exhortations, 
he  greatly  supported  the  inhabitants  in  their 
defence. '  The.  next  year  he  was  appointed 
archbishop  of  Strigonia,  and  held  two  national 
councils  at  Tyrnau,  the  acts  of  which  were 
printed  at  Vienna  in  1560,  and  was  instru- 
mental in  founding  the  first  Jesuit's  college  in 
Hungary.  In  1562  he  was  created  palatine 
of  the  kingdom.  He  died  at  Tyrnau  in  1568. 
His  works  are,  "  A  Chronicle  of  his  own 
Times  ;"  "  A  History  of  Attila,"  Presb. 
1538  ;  and  "  A  Description  of  Hungary." — 
Moreri.  Nmiv.  Diet.  Hist. 

OLAVIDEis  (PAUL  ANTHONY  JOSEPH)  a 
Spanish  statesman,  one  of  the  modern  victims 
80 


OLA 

of  the   inquisition.     He  was  born  in  1725  at 
Lima  in  Peru,  and   was  of  wealthy  and  re- 
spectable parentage.     At  an  early  age  he  dis- 
played an  ardour  for  study,  and  having  given 
proofs  of  his  capacity,  he  was  appointed  au- 
ditor of  the  province  of  Lima.     1  laving,   by 
the  liberality  of  his  opinions,  given  offence  to 
the   monks   and  friars,  they   contrived    to  get 
him  recalled   to   Spain,  where  he  was  com- 
mitted   to  prison  by   the   inquisition  ;  but  his 
innocence   was  at  length   established,  and  he 
was  liberated.     He  took  up  his  residence  at 
Madrid,    and  being-    appointed  agent   for  bis 
Peruvian  countrymen,  he  employed  his  talents 
and  influence  for  their  benefit    as  well   as  for 
that  of  the   kingdom   in  general.     He  power- 
fully seconded  the  measures  of  the  Spanish 
minister,  the  count  d'Aranda,  for  the  expulsion 
of  the  Jesuits  ;  and  having  displayed  on  many 
occasions  enlightened  policy  and  genuine  pa- 
triotism,  the  government  appointed  him   in- 
tendant  of  the  province    of  Andalusia.     He 
there  founded  a  new  colony,  which  flourished 
under  his  auspices,  becoming  the  seat  of  agri- 
cultural and  commercial  industry.     From  this 
establishment   he  endeavoured  to  exclude  as 
much  as  possible  the  monastic  and  mendicant 
orders,     whose   enmity    being    excited,    they 
charged  Olavides  with  heresy,   on  account  of 
some  regulations  which  he  had  made  relative 
to  his  colonists,   many  of  whom  were  Swiss 
and  German  Protestants.    In  November  1776, 
he  was  arrested  and  thrown  into  a  dungeon  of 
the  inquisition,  and   after  two  years'  confine- 
ment he   was    brought   before  that  merciless 
tribunal  to  receive  his  sentence.     Among  the 
charges  against  him  was  that  of  having  in  his 
library  the  French  Encyclopedie,  Bayle's  Dic- 
tionary, Montesquieu's  Spirit  of  Laws,  and  the 
works   of   Voltaire  and    Rousseau.     The  re- 
maining imputations  were  equally  nugatory  and 
absurd,    including    those    of  having    taken  a 
journey  to   see   Voltaire,   and    having  in  his 
possession  a  letter  from  that    philosopher    to 
himself,    wherein    was   the    phrase — "    It   is 
much  to  be  wished  that   Spain  possessed  forty 
such   persons  as  yourself."     Olavides  denied 
the  charge  of  heresy,  notwithstanding  which 
he  was  condemned    to  eight  years'  seclusion 
in  a  monastery  to  practise  exercises  of  piety, 
and  to  be  afterwards  banished  twenty  leagues 
from  the  court  and  all  great  cities  ;  and  to  be 
incapable  of  public  employment,   and  subject 
to  certain  degrading  privations.     He  contrived 
to  escape  from  the  convent,  and  took  refuge  in 
France,  whither  monastic  hatred  pursued  him, 
and  he  was    forced    to    seek    an  asylum   at 
Geneva.     After  the  death  of  Charles  III,  he 
was  permitted   to  return  to  France.     He  re- 
sided there  at  the  Revolution  ;  and  under  the 
reign  of  terror  he  was  imprisoned  at  Orleans, 
but  was  released  after  the  fall  of  Robespierre. 
He  employed  the   period  of  his  confinement, 
and  his  subsequent  leisure,  in  writing  a  work, 
entitled  "  The  Triumph  of  the  Gospel,"  which 
attracted  much   notice    in   his   own   country, 
passed  through  many  editions,  and  was  trans- 
lated into  French.     Its  success   induced  the 
aealots  who  had  persecuted  the  author  to  as- 


OLD 

sume  the  merit  of  having  converted  an  inndtl 
philosopher,  and  they  obtained  his  recal  to 
Spain.  He  went  thither  in  1798,  and  after  a 
short  stay  at  Madrid,  retired  to  his  estate  in 
Andalusia,  where  he  died  in  the  bosom  of  his 
family  in  1803. — Biog.  Nouv.  des  Cuntemp. 

OLDCASTLE  (sir  JOHN)  lord  Cobham, 
the  first  martyr  among  our  nobility,  was  born 
in  the  fourteenth  century,  in  the  reign  of  Ed- 
ward 111.  He  obtained  his  peerage  by  mar- 
rying the  daughter  of  that  lord  Cobham,  who 
so  firmly  opposed  Richard  II.  He  excited  the 
resentment  of  the  clergy  by  his  zealous  adhe- 
rence to  the  doctrines  of  \Vickliffe,  whose 
works  he  collected  and  transcribed,  distri- 
buting them  among  the  people.  In  the  reign 
of  Henry  IV,  he  was  at  the  head  of  an  Eng- 
lish armv  in  France  during  the  Orleans  and 
Burgundian  factions,  and  he  obliged  the  duke 
of  Orleans  to  raise  the  siege  of  Paris.  Under 
Henry  V  he  was  accused  of  heresy,  but  the 
king,  with  whom  he  was  a  favourite,  delayed 
the  prosecutions  against  him,  and  tried  to  rea- 
son with  him,  and  to  convince  him  of  his  al- 
leged errors,  but  in  vain,  and  he  soon  after 
left  him  to  his  fate.  He  was  then  cited  before 
the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  not  being 
able  to  satisfy  his  accusers,  he  was  condemned 
as  a  heretic,  and  committed  to  the  Tower, 
whence  he  escaped  into  Wales.  A  report  waa 
then  zealously  circulated  by  the  clergy,  and  sent 
to  the  king,  that  20,000  Lollards  were  assem- 
bled at  St  Giles's  for  his  destruction,  with  lord 
Cobham  at  their  head.  This  accusation  seems 
to  have  been  fully  credited  by  Henry,  though 
there  does  not  appear  to  have  been  really  tlie 
slightest  foundation  for  it,  on  which  a  bill  of  at- 
tainder was  passed  against  lord  Cobham,  and 
he  was  burnt  alive  in  St  Giles's- fields  in  1417. 
He  was  a  man  of  high  spirit  and  warm  tem- 
per, which  his  misfortunes  could  not  subdue. 
His  acquirements  were  extensive,  and  his 
thirst  after  knowledge  first  made  him  ac- 
quainted with  the  doctrines  of  Wickliffe.  In 
conversation  he  was  remarkable  for  the  poig- 
nancy and  readiness  of  bis  wit.  He  wrote 
"  Twelve  Conclusions,  addressed  to  the  Par- 
liament of  England,"  published  in  Bale's 
"  Brefe  Chronycle  concernyng  the  Examy- 
nacyon  and  Death  of  the  blessed  Martyr  of 
Christ,  syr  Johan  Oldecastle  the  lorde  Cob- 
ham,"  which  was  reprinted  in  1729. — Gilpin't 
Lives.  Bale.  Fox's  Acts  and  Monuments. 

OLDENBURG  (HENRY)  a  mathematician 
and  natural  philosopher,  who  was  a  native  of 
the  dutchy  of  Bremen,  and  is  said  to  have 
been  descended  from  the  counts  of  Oldenburg 
in  Westphalia.  He  was  born  in  1626,  and 
about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century 
he  was  sent  to  London  as  consul  for  his  coun- 
trymen. Losing  that  office  he  went  to  Ox- 
ford, and  in  1656  entered  as  a  student  of  the 
university,  with  a  view  to  avail  himself  of  the 
advantages  of  consulting  the  books  and  MSS. 
of  the  Bodleian  library.  He  acted  as  a  pri- 
vate tutor,  and  formed  an  acquaintance  with 
many  of  his  scientific  contemporaries,  with 
whom  he  contributed  to  the  foundation  of  the 
Royal  Society,  and  on  its  incorporation  l«j 


OLD 

became  one  of  the  secretaries.     In  1663  be 
commenced  the    publication  of   the   Philoso- 
phical Transactions,   which    he  continued  till 
1677,  when  he  was  succeeded  in  his  office  by 
Dr  Nehemiah  Grew.  He  carried  on  an  exten-  ; 
eive  correspondence  both  at  home  and  abroad, 
and  translated  into  Latin  many  of  the  philo- 
sophical memoirs   of  Mr  Boyle  and   others,  j 
About  1674  he  became  involved  in  a  dispute  : 
with   Dr  Robert   Hooke,  who  complained  to  , 
the   Royal    Society   that   Oldenburg  had   not 
properly  noticed  in  their  Transactions  his  in- 
vention of  spiral  springs  for  watches  ;  but  on 
an  inquiry  taking  place,  the  doctor's  complaint 
was  declared  to  be  unfounded.     This  philoso-  | 
pher  interested  himself  much   in  theological 
controversy,  and  at  one  time  attempted  to  ef-  ] 
feet  a  union  between  the  followers  of  Luther  ; 
•and  Calvin  ;  but  he  afterwards  became  a  de-  | 
cided  Calviuist,  sat  in  the  Westminster  assem-  j 
bly  of  divines,  and  joined  in  the  measures  of 
the  independents  till    the    Restoration.     He 
died  at  his  residence  at  Charlton,  near  Green- 
wich in  Kent,  in  August  1678.     A  list  of  his 
works,  which  relate  to  politics,  divinity,  and 
philosophy,    may    be     found    in    Chalmers's 
Biographical  Dictionary. — Martin's  Bwg.  Phil, 

OLDFIELD  (ANN)  a  celebrated  English 
actress,  born  at  Westminster  in  1683.  Her 
father  held  a  commission  in  the  guards,  but 
dying  while  she  was  young,  he  left  his  family 
in  such  circumstances  that  the  daughter  was 
apprenticed  to  a  sempstress.  She  and  her 
mother  resided  for  some  time  with  a  relation, 
who  kept  a  tavern  inSt  James's  market,  where 
her  talents  attracted  the,  notice  of  Farqubar, 
the  author  of  the  "  Beaux'  Stratagem,"  who 
introduced  her  to  sir  John  Yanbrugh,  through 
whose  means  she  obtained  a  theatrical  en- 
gagement in  1699.  She  first  distinguished 
herself  in  the  character  of  Alinda,  in  the 
"  Pilgrim"  of  Beaumont  and  Fletcher  ;  but 
it  was  not  till  1703,  when  she  appeared  as 
Leonora,  in  "  Sir  Courtly  Nice,"  that  her 
merits  were  properly  appreciated  ;  and  having 
the  advantages  of  a  good  figure  and  a  fine 
voice,  she  soon  became  a  general  favourite. 
Her  great  excellence  lay  in  comedy,  and  the 
parts  of  lady  Betty  Modish,  in  the  "  Careless 
Husband,"  and  lady  Townly,  in  the  "  Pro- 
voked Husband"  of  Cibber,  were  those  in 
which  she  was  most  admired  ;  but  she  some- 
times also  appeared  in  tragedy,  and  in  such 
characters  as  Calista  and  Cleopatra,  her  ta- 
lents were  very  conspicuous.  Though  much 
esteemed  in  private  life,  her  character  was  not 
immaculate.  She  was  the  acknowledged  mis- 
tress of  Mr  Arthur  Mayn waring  for  some  years 
previously  to  his  death  in  1712  ;  and  she  after- 
wards became  connected  with  generalChurchill. 
Her  death  took  place  October  23d,  1730  ;  and 
her  corpse,  after  lying  in  state,  was  interred 
in  Westminster  abbey. — Biog.  Brit.  Thesp. 
Diet. 

OLDFIELD  (T.  P.)  a  youth,  whose  history 
exhibits  an  extraordinary  instance  of  preco- 
cious genius.  At  the  age  of  five  he  was 
seized  with  scarlet  fever,  which  produced  such 
constitutional  debility,  that  he  became  subject 


OLD 

to  paralysis  of  the  lower  extremities,  and  con- 
sequent permanent  lameness ;  and  after  ten 
years  of  suffering,  he  was  affected  with  dropsy 
and  haemoptysis,  which  occasioned  his  death 
at  Margate,  July  10th,  180-1,  in  the  sixteenth 
year  of  his  age.  He  possessed  great  quickness 
of  apprehension,  and  an  extraordinary  me- 
mory, so  that  almost  all  that  he  read  was 
easily  remembered.  He  made  himself  ac- 
quainted with  mathematics,  natural  philoso- 
phy, geography,  history,  and  painting.  He 
could  recite  the  principal  events  in  the  histo- 
ries of  Greece  and  Rome,  and  of  his  native 
country  ;  and  had  become  familiar  with  the 
discoveries  of  modern  astronomers.  The 
works  of  Newton  and  Locke  were  the  favou- 
rite objects  of  his  studies.  He  displayed  taste 
and  talent  as  an  artist,  and  is  said  to  have 
produced,  from  memory,  admirable  likenesses 
of  persons  whom  he  had  seen.  His  temper 
was  as  amiable  as  his  capacity  was  excellent. 
Though  a  constant  invalid,  he  bore  his  sickness 
without  repining  or  impatience  ;  and  he  seems 
to  have  exhibited  a  union  of  virtues  and  abi- 
lities seldom  to  be  found  in  one  individual.— 
Gent.  Mag. 

OLDHAM  (Jouv)  an  English  poetical  sa- 
tirist of  the.  seventeenth  century.  He  was 
born  in  I6o3,  at  Shipton  in  Gloucestershire, 
and  received  his  education  at  the  neighbour- 
ing town  of  Tetbury.  His  father,  who  was 
minister  of  the  parish  at  the  time  of  his  birth, 
but  was  afterwards  dismissed  for  nonconfor- 
mity, is  said  to  have  suffered  much  uneasiness 
in  consequence  of  his  youthful  irregulaiities. 
But  his  dissipation  did  not  prevent  his  appli- 
cation to  learning  ;  and  from  school  he  went 
to  Edmund  hall,  Oxford,  where  he  took  but 
one  degree,  after  which  he  obtained  the  situa- 
tion of  usher  to  the  free-school  of  Croydon. 
There  his  talents  as  a  poet  procured  him  the 
notice  of  some  persons  of  distinction,  and  he 
was  taken  into  a  gentleman's  family  as  a  do- 
mestic tutor.  He  subsequently  resided  with 
the  earl  of  Kingston,  in  whose  house  he  was 
seized  with  the  small-pox,  and  died  at  the  age 
of  thirty.  Oldham's  principal  work  is  bis 
"  Four  Satires  upon  the  Jesuits,"  written  in 
1679,  which,  with  his  other  poems,  have  since 
his  death  been  published  in  3  vols.  liimo.  He 
displays  force  and  spirit  in  his  conceptions, 
and  his  language  is  nervous  and  expressive, 
though  sometimes  deficient  in  elegance  and 
propriety  ;  but  these  faults  may  be  excused  on 
the  score  of  the  youth  and  premature  death 
of  the  author.  His  licentious  sentiments  admit 
of  no  apology  or  extenuation  but  the  miserable 
taste  of  the  age,  which  infected  most  of  the 
contemporary  bards. — Biog.  Brit.  Ed. 

OLD1SWORTH  (WILLIAM)  a  miscella- 
neous writer  in  the  reigns  of  queen  Anne  and 
George  I,  but  of  whom  little  more  is  known 
than  the  titles  of  his  books,  which  are,  "State 
and  Miscellany  Poems  ;"  "  A  Translation  of 
the  Odes,  Epodes,  and  Carmen  Seculare  of 
Horace;"  "  The  Life  of  Edmund  Smith;" 
j  "  Timothy  and  Philatheus,  against  Tindal's 
Rights  of  the  Church  ;"  "  State  Tracts." 
He  also  published  a  translation  of  "  The 
2  O2 


OLE 

Accomplished  Senator"  of  Gosliski,  bishop  of 
Posnia  ;  in  the  preface  to  which  he  defends 
his  own  character  as  a  writer  for  the  preroga- 
tive and  the  ministry,  and  admits  that  he  wrote 
under  the  earl  of  Oxford.  Oldisworth  was 
one  of  the  original  authors  of  the  "  Examiner," 
and  continued  to  write  in  it  as  long  as  it  ex- 
isted. He  died  in  173-1. — Nichols's  Lit.  Anec. 

OLDYS  (WILLIAM)  a  bibliographer,  was 
the  natural  son  of  Dr  Oldys,  a  civilian,  and 
was  born  in  1696.  Little  is  known  of  the 
early  part  of  his  life,  but  in  1726  he  succeeded 
Wranley  in  the  care  of  lord  Oxford's  library, 
of  which  he  partly  formed  the  catalogue  ;  he 
was  also  employed  in  the  selection,  entitled 
"  'l-he  Ilarleian  Miscellany."  His  circum- 
stances always  appear  to  have  been  moderate  ; 
at  one  time  he  was  confined  in  the  Fleet  prison, 
where  he  acquired  such  a  liking  for  the  com- 
pany he  found  there,  that  during  the  rest  of 
his  life  he  always  passed  his  evenings  at  a 
house  within  the  rules  with  people  of  that 
class.  In  return  for  the  pleasure  he  received 
from  his  life  of  sir  Walter  Raleigh,  his  prin- 
cipal work,  the  duke  of  Norfolk  gave  him  the 
post  of  Norroy  king-at-arms,  and  this  was  the 
only  situation  he  ever  held.  During  the  lat- 
ter part  of  his  life  he  abandoned  himself  to 
drinking,  which  contributed  to  shorten  his 
days,  and  he  died  in  1761.  He  was  the  au- 
thor of  a  great  many  works,  of  which  the  fol- 
lowing are  the  principal  :  "  Life  of  Sir  Wal- 
ter Raleigh  ;"  "  The  British  Librarian  ;" 
"  Tables  of  the  eminent  Persons  celebrated 
by  the  British  Poets  ;"  this  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  printed;  "  The  Scarborough  Mis- 
cellany ;"  "  The  Universal  Spectator."  He 
also  wrote  several  lives  in  the  "  Biographia 
Britannia,"  "  General  Dictionary,"  &c.  The 
following  ingenious  anagram  is  in  one  of 
his  MSS. 

In  word  and  WILL  I  AM  a  friend  to  you, 

And  one  friend  OLD  is  worth  a  hundred  new. 

Ring.  Brit. 

OLEARIUS  (ADAM  (ELSCHLAEGER,  or) 
a  German  traveller,  the  son  of  a  tailor,  at 
Aschersleben,  in  the  country  of  Anhalt,  where 
lie  was  born  about  1 600.  He  studied  at  Leip- 
sic, and  having  taken  his  degrees,  he  entered 
into  the  service  of  Frederick,  duke  of  Hoi- 
stein  Gottorp,  who  appointed  him  secretary  to 
an  embassy  which  he  sent  to  the  czar  of  Mus- 
covy and  the  king  of  Persia.  The  ambassadors 
left  Gottorp  in  October  1633,  and  after  travel- 
ling through  various  parts  of  Persia,  and  visit- 
ing the  borders  of  the  Caspian  sea,  they  re- 
turned home  in  1639.  Olearius,  who  had 
received  the  title  of  ducal  counsellor,  was  on 
liis  return  appointed  librarian  and  mathema- 
tician to  the  duke,  which  offices  lie  held  till 
his  death  in  1671.  lie  published  an  account 
of  his  travels,  Sleswick,  1647 ,  folio,  of  which 
there  are  several  other  editions,  and  French, 
English,  and  Dutch  translations  ;  theGulistan 
of  Saadi,  translated  from  the  Persian;  the 
Fables  of  Lokman,  from  the  Arabic;  and 
the  Chronicle  of  Holstein. — Bing.  Univ. — 
GODFREY  OLEARIUS,  doctor  of  theology,  and 
superintendant  of  Halle,  who  died  in  1687,  at 


OLE 

the  age  of  eighty-one,  was  me  author  of  a 
body  of  theology  for  the  use  of  the  Lutherans. 
— His  son,  JOHN  OLEAIUUS,  professor  of  rhe- 
toric, and  afterwards  of  theology,  at  Leipsic, 
was  one  of  the  first  authors  of  the  literary  jour- 
nal published  there  under  the  title  of  "  Acta 
Eruditorum."  He  also  wrote  an  "  Introduc- 
tion to  Theology,"  and  other  works.  He  died 
at  Leipsic,  in  1713,  aged  seventy-four. — Diet. 
Hist. 

OLEARIUS  (GODFREY)  a  learned  Ger- 
man writer  on  divinity  and  philology,  born  at 
Leipsic  in  1672.  He  studied  in  the  universi- 
ties of  Germany  and  Holland,  after  which  he 
visited  England,  and  staid  for  some  time  at 
Oxford,  lleturning  to  Leipsic,  he  obtained 
the  chair  of  Greek  literature,  which,  in  1703, 
he  exchanged  for  that  of  theology.  He 
translated  into  Latin  Stanley's  History  of 
Philosophy,  to  which  he  added  dissertations, 
"  De  Philosophia  Eclectica  ;"  "  De  Ufemo- 
nio  Socratis  ;"  and  "  Exercitatio  ad  dialogum 
L.  Allatii  de  Scriptis  Socratis."  He  also 
published  an  edition  of  the  Life  of  Apollo- 
nius  of  Tyana,  by  Philostratus ;  and  aug- 
mented Frankenstein's  Introduction  to  the 
Roman  and  German  History  ;  besides  which 
he  produced  "  Observations  on  St  Matthew's 
Gospel,"  and  other  theological  works.  He 
died  in  1715. — Stollii  Intrnd.  in  Hist.  Lit. 
Diet.  Hi<t. 

O'LEARY  (ARTHUR)  a  Roman  Catholic 
divine,  was  born  in  the  city  of  Cork,  but  in 
what  year  is  not  recorded.  He  studied  at  the 
college  of  St  Mark,  in  Britanny,  and  subse- 
quently entered  into  the  Franciscan  order  of 
capuchins.  He  acted  for  some  time  as  chap- 
lain to  the  English  prisoners  of  the  Catholic 
religion,  during  the  seven  years'  war,  for 
which  he  received  a  small  pension  from  the 
French  government,  until  the  Revolution.  He 
subsequently  returned  to  Ireland,  and  was 
enabled  to  build  a  small  chapel  at  Cork, where 
he  distinguished  himself  by  entering  into  a 
controversy  in  defence  of  the  divinity  of 
Christ.  When  the  parliament  of  Ireland 
shewed  a  disposition  to  relax  the  rigour  of  the 
penal  laws  against  the  Catholics,  and  framed 
the  Test  Act,  now  in  force,  he  published  his 
"  Loyalty  Asserted,  or  the  Test- Oath  Vindi- 
cated," by  which  address  he  induced  many 
Catholics  to  comply  with  the  provisions  of 
the  legislature.  These,  and  similar  services,  in 
which  he  ably  and  eloquently  endeavoured 
to  show  that  the  Catholics  might  legally  swear 
that  the  pope  possessed  no  temporal  power  in 
Ireland,  procured  him  the  friendship  of  many 
eminent  Irish  political  and  literary  characters. 
He  also  distinguished  himself  by  the  most  lau- 
dable attempts  to  produce  subordination,  and 
induce  the  lower  class  of  Catholics  to  be  less 
lawless  in  their  resistance  to  the  tythe  proctors 
of  the  Protestant,  clergy.  These  and  kindred 
services  induced  the  Irish  government,  on  his 
departure  for  London,  to  recommend  him  to 
persons  in  power  in  England,  and  accordingly 
he  was  much  countenanced,  and  officiated  for 
many  years  as  principal  minister  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  chapel  in  Soho-square.  He  died  at  an 


O  L 

advanced  age  in  January  1802.  Mr  O'Leary  ! 
was  eminently  gifted  with  wit  and  humour  ;  ' 
and  as  a  writer  his  style  is  fluent,  bold,  and 
figurative,  but  sometimes  deficient  iu  grace 
and  incorrect.  He  was  author  of  several  "  Ad- 
dresses to  the  Catholics  in  Ireland;"  "  Re- 
marks on  Mr  Wesley's  Defence  of  the  Protes- 
tant Association,"  which,  with  several  other 
tracts,  were  collected  in  one  vol.  octavo.  He 
also  wrote  a  very  spirited  "  Defence  of  the 
Conduct  and  Writings  of  the  rev.  Arthur 
O'Leary,"  in  answer  to  Dr  Woodward,  bishop 
of  Cloyne. — Month.  Mag.  Gent.  Mag. 

OLEASTER  (JEROME)  a  learned  Portu- 
guese Dominican  of  the  sixteenth  century,  was 
born  at  Azatnbuja.  In  1545  he  attended  the 
council  of  Trent,  as  theolgian,  from  John  III, 
king  of  Portugal,  and  upon  his  return  he  was 
•nominated  bishop  of  St  Thomas's  in  Africa, 
which  dignity  he  refused.  He  was  then  made 
inquisitor,  and  held  with  honour  the  principal 
offices  of  the  Dominican  order  in  his  province. 
He  died  in  1563.  He  has  left  "  Commenta- 
ries on  the  Pentateuch,"  Lisbon,  1556,  1558, 
five  parts,  in  one  vol.  folio,  much  sought  after 
by  collectors,  from  its  not  having  been  sub- 
jected to  the  examination  of  the  holy  office. 
His  "  Commentaries  on  Isaiah"  were  pub- 
lished at  Paris  in  1623  and  1658. — Antonii 
Bibl.  Script.  Hisp.  Moreri.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

OLIVA  (ALEXANDER)  a  celebrated  Ita- 
lian cardinal,  was  bom  of  humble  parents,  at 
Sassoferrato,  in  1409.  He  entered  among  the 
hermits  of  St  Augustine,  and  was  appointed 
professor  of  philosophy  at  Perusia,  and  after- 
wards attorney-general  of  his  order.  His  mo- 
desty prevented  his  displaying  his  talents  and 
erudition  at  the  public  disputations,  but  he 
preached  with  great  reputation  at  Venice,  Na- 
ples, Bologna,  Florence,  Mantua,  Ferrara, 
&c.  In  1459  he  was  made  general  of  his 
order,  and  the  following  year  he  was  promoted 
to  the  purple.  He  died  at  Tivoli  in  1463. 
He  was  the  author  of  various  works,  of  which 
the  principal  are  "  De  Ccena  cum  Aposiolis 
Facta  ;"  "  De  Cbristi  Ortu  Sermones  Cen- 
tum ;"  "  Orationes  Elegantes,  lib.  I  ;"  "  De 
Peccato  in  Spiritum,  Sanctum."  —  Moreri. 
Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

OLIVA  (GIOVANNI)  a  learned  antiquary, 
was  born  at  Rovigo,  in  the  Venetian  territory, 
in  1686.  He  was  ordained  priest  in  1711,  and 
was  immediately  after  nominated  professor  of 
belles  lettres  at  Azzolo.  In  1719  he  was  in- 
vited to  Rome  by  Clement  XI,  and  in  1722 
the  cardinal  de  Rohan  appointed  him  his  libra- 
rian, in  which  office  he  remained  during  his 
life,  dying  in  1757,  at  Paris.  The  abbe  Oliva 
was  the  author  of  two  dissertations  ;  one, 
"  De  Antiqua  in  Romanis  Scholis  Grammati- 
corum  Lisciplina  ;"  the  other,  on  the  discovery 
of  a  four-footed  marble  of  Isis.  He  also  pub- 
lished an  edition  of  some  hitherto  unpublished 
letters  of  Poggio.  His  works  were  printed 
after  his  death,  with  a  third  dissertation  on 
the  necessity  of  adding  the  study  of  medals 
to  that  of  history. — Moreri. 

OLIVAREZ  (GA.SPAR  GUSMAN,  count- 
duke  d')  a  famous  Spanish  minister  of  state.. 


O  L  I 

descended  from  the  ancient  Castilian  family  of 
Gusman.  He  was  born  at  Rome,  where  his 
father  was  sent  on  an  embassy  to  pope  Six- 
tus  V.  Having  finished  his  studies  at  Sala- 
manca, he  was  called  to  court,  and  soon  ob- 
tained the  confidence  of  the  prince  royal,  who, 
on  succeeding;  to  the  crown  as  Philip  IV,  in 
1621,  abandoned  the  management  of  public 
affairs  entirely  to  Olivarez,  though  the  title  of 
minister  was  bestowed  on  his  uncle  Bernard 
de  Zuniga,  who  had  been  the  king's  gover- 
nor. He  enjoyed,  during  a  period  of  twenty- 
two  years,  almost  unbounded  authority.  The 
commencement  of  his  administration  waa  dis- 
tinguished by  some  useful  regulations,  adapted 
to  increase  the  population  and  resources  of  the 
country.  The  system  he  pursued  with  regard 
to  foreign  affairs,  however,  was  unfortunate  ; 
and  being  constantly  thwarted  in  his  schemes 
by  the  bolder  genius  of  the  French  minister 
Richelieu,  he  had  the  mortification  to  witness 
the  revolt  of  the  Catalonians,  the  dismember- 
ment of  Portugal  from  the  crown  of  Spain, 
and  the  loss  of  Brazil  and  other  foreign  colo- 
nies, which  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Dutch. 
These  national  misfortunes  rendered  him  so 
unpopular,  that  the  king  was  forced  to  dismiss 
him  ia  1643,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  his 
nephew  Don  Louis  de  Haro.  A  justificatory 
memoir  which  he  published,  is  said  to  have 
irritated  his  enemies,  and  prevented  his  recal, 
and  he  died  at  Toro,  a  few  months  after  his 
removal  from  the  ministry. — Diet.  Hist. 
Biog.  Univ. 

OLIVET  (JOSEPH  THOULIER  d')  a  member 
of  the  order  of  the  Jesuits,  distinguished  as  a 
classical  editor.  He  was  born  at  Salins,  ia 
France,  in  1682,  and  died  at  Paris  in  1768. 
He  devoted  himself  to  the  cultivation  of  the 
belles  lettres  ;  and  becoming  a  member  of  the 
French  academy,  he  published  a  continuation 
of  the  history  of  that  literary  society.  In 
1723  appeared  his  translation  of  Cicero's  Dia- 
logues on  the  Nature  of  the  Gods  ;  and  be 
also  translated  the  speeches  against  Catiline, 
and  other  works  of  that  orator,  as  well  as  the 
Philippics  of  Demosthenes,  all  which  have 
been  repeatedly  printed.  But  the  most  im- 
portant literary  labour  of  the  abbe  d 'Olivet 
was  his  edition  of  the  entire  works  of  Cicero, 
published  at  Paris,  in  1740,  'Jvols.  4to,  and 
reprinted  at  Geneva  and  at  Oxford.  lie  was 
likewise  the  author  of  a  treatise  on  French 
prosody. — Aikin's  G,  Biog.  Biog.  Univ. 

OLIVER  OF  MALMESBURY,  a  Bene- 
dictine monk  of  the  eleventh  century,  famous 
for  his  skill  in  mechanics.  He  was  born  at 
Malmesbury  in  Wiltshire,  and  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  monastery  at  that  place.  The  his- 
torian, William  of  Malmesbury,  says,  that  he 
was  skilled  in  mathematics  and  astrology,  and 
farther  informs  us,  that  though  not  deficient 
in  learning  or  abilities,  he  undertook  one  en- 
terprise when  he  had  arrived  at  years  of  ma- 
turity, which  savoured  strongly  of  juvenile 
audacity.  Having  affixed  wings  to  his  hands 
and  feet,  he  ascended  a  lofty  tower,  whence 
he  took  his  flight,  and  was  borne  upon  the  air 
.for  the  space  of  a  furlong  ;  but  owing  to  the 


O  L  I 

violence  of  the  wind,  or  his  own  fears,  he 
then  fell  to  the  ground,  and  broke  both  his 
legs.  From  this  concise  narrative  it  is  im- 
possible to  determine  what  degree  of  merit  is 
due  to  this  monkish  aeronaut.  It  may,  how- 
ever, be  concluded  that  his  machinery  was  con- 
structed on  the  principles  of  the  parachute  ; 
and  he  appears  to  have  been  the  first  En- 
glishman who  attempted  to  travel  through  the 
aerial  regions.  Oliver,  who  died  a  little  be- 
fore the  Norman  conquest,  wrote  on  astrology 
and  mathematics,  but  none  of  his  works  are 
extant. — Moffatt's  History  of  Malmesbury. 
Inn*.  Univ. 

OLIVEYRA  (FRANCIS  XAVIER  d')  a  Por- 
tuguese gentleman,  a  knight  of  the  order  of 
Christ,  born  at  Lisbon  in  1702.  At  the  age 
of  fourteen  he  was  admitted  into  a  public 
office,  and  in  1732  he  went  to  Madrid,  where 
his  uncle,  who  held  a  diplomatic  situation, 
presented  him  to  the  king  of  Spain.  His  fa- 
ther dying,  he  succeeded  him  as  secretary  of 
embassy  at  Vienna,  and  having  had  a  dispute 
with  the  count  de  Taronca,  the  ambassador, 
he  resigned  his  employment,  and  went  to  Hol- 
land in  1740.  His  connexions  with  some  Lu- 
therans at  Vienna  had  excited  in  his  mind 
prepossessions  against  the  Catholic  faith,  to 
which  he  gave  vent  in  "  Memoirs  of  his  Tra- 
vels," and  "  Familiar  Letters,"  which  he  pub- 
lished in  1741  and  1742.  These  works  were 
censured  by  the  inquisition  ;  and  the  author, 
having  removed  to  England,  made  an  open 
profession  of  Protestantism  in  1746.  He  pub- 
lished a  "  Pathetic  Discourse  to  his  country- 
men, on  the  earthquake  at  Lisbon  in  1756," 
and  the  following  year  a  second  discourse.  In 
September  1762  he  was  declared  a  heretic  at 
an  Auto-da-Fe,  and  condemned  to  be  burnt  in 
effigy,  on  which  he  published  a  book,  entitled, 
"  The  Chevalier  d'Oliveyra  burnt  in  Effigy  as 
an  Heretic,  why  and  wherefore  1  Anecdotes 
and  Reflections  on  the  Subject  laid  before  the 
Public  by  himself."  He  died  at  Hackney, 
near  London,  in  1783.  He  published  some 
pieces,  besides  those  mentioned,  and  left  a 
great  number  of  MSS.  including  "  Oliveyriaua, 
or  Memoirs,  historical  and  literary,"  27  vols. 
4to. — Gent.  Mag.  for  1724.  Biog.  Univ. 

OLIVIER,  a  French  author,  member  of  the 
academy  of  Lyons,  who,  in  1750,  wrote  an 
essay  on  the  advantages  derivable  from  music 
in  the  cure  of  diseases.  His  theory  supposes 
that  there  exists  a  certain  sympathy  between 
the  human  body  and  the  surrounding  atmos- 
phere, and  that  the  former  is  consequently 
acted  upon  by  th«  vibrations  of  the  latter, 
which  produce  a  kind  of  electrical  effect.  He 
was  also  the  au'.hor  of  a  work  entitled  "  L'Es- 
prit  d'Orphee,  ou  de  1'Influence  de  la  Mu- 
sique,"  printed  at  Paris  in  1798. — Biog.  Diet, 
of  Mus. 

OLIVIER  (GUILLAUME  ANTOINE)  an  emi- 
nent French  naturalist  and  traveller,  member 
of  the  Institute  and  of  the  Agricultural  Society 
of  Paris.  He  was  born  near  Frejus  in  1756, 
and  studied  at  Montpellier,  where  he  received 
the  degree  of  MD.  at  the  age  of  seventeen. 
Natural  history,  and  especially  botany  and  en- 


O  L  Y 

tomology,  were  his  favourite  pursuits  ;  and  at 
the  age  of  twenty-three  he  went  to  Paris,  to 
assist  in  the  composition  of  a  work  relati'-e  to 
the  natural  history  of  the  district  in  which  that 
metropolis  is  situated.  He  was  afterwards  sent 
;  into  England  and  Holland,  to  collect  materials 
for  a  general  history  of  insects  ;  and  he  was 
also  employed  on  the  entomological  part  of 
the  "  Encyclopedic  Methodique."  The  Re- 
volution having  arrested  the  progress  of  both 
these  enterprises,  Olivier  travelled  to  Persia, 
together  with  I\I.  Bruguieres,  another  man  of 
science,  on  a  diplomatic  mission  planned  by  the 
minister  Roland,  whose  death  deprived  the 
envoy?  of  the  financial  resources  and  official 
protection  on  which  they  had  calculated.  Oli- 
vier returned  to  Paris  in  December  1798,  after 
an  absence  of  six  years,  during  which  he 
visited  Egypt,  Greece,  Turkey,  Arabia,  Per- 
sia, and  other  eastern  countries.  He  brought 
home  numerous  and  valuable  collections  of 
curious  objects  of  natural  history,  of  which  he 
published  an  account  in  his  "  Voyage  dans 
1'Empire  Ottoman,  1'Egypt,  et  la  Perse," 
3  vols.  4to.  with  an  atlas  and  plates.  This 
scientific  traveller  died  suddenly  at  Lyons,  in 
1814. — (See  BRUGUIEUES,  J.  \V.) — Biog. 
NOHV.  des  Contemp.  Bwg.  Univ. 

OLIVIERI  (ANNIBAL)  a  learned  Italian 
antiquary.  He  was  born  at  Pesaro,  in  the 
Mart-he  of  Ancona,  on  the  17th  June,  1708, 
of  an  ancient  family.  After  being  educated  at 
the  college  of  noblemen  at  Bologna,  he  studied 
civil  law  at  Pisa,  and  became  honorary  cham- 
berlain to  pope  Clement  XIII,  and  perpetual 
secretary  of  the  academy  of  Pesaro.  lie  had 
scarcely  attained  his  twenty-eighth  year,  when 
he  published  his  admired  work,  entitled  "  Mar- 
mora Pesauriensia  Notis  illustrata,"  2  vols. 
folio.  In  1744  appeared  his  "  Memoirs  of 
the  ancient  Port  of  Pesaro,"  4to,  and  in  1780 
i  his  "  History  of  the  Church  of  Pesaro  in  the 
i  Thirteenth  Century."  He  also  composed  the 
I  "  Memoirs  of  the  Chevalier  Passeri." — Nouv. 
Diet.  Hist. 

OLYMPIODORUS,  an  Alexandrian  phi- 
j  losopher,  who  flourished  about  the  year  430, 
I  and  is  celebrated  for  his  knowledge  of  the 
Aristotelian  doctrine.  He  is  to  be  distinguish- 
ed from  a  Platonist  of  the  same  name,  who 
wrote  a  "Life  of  Plato,"  which  has  been 
published  in  a  Latin  version  by  James  Winder. 
He  also  wrote  a  "  Commentary  upon  Plato," 
preserved  among  the  MSS.  in  the  royal  li- 
brary at  Paris. — There  was  also  a  peripatetic 
of  the  same  name,  •who  flourished  in  a  later 
age,  and  wrote  a  "  Commentary  upon  the  Me- 
teoiology  of  Aristotle. — Another  OLYMPIO- 
DORUS was  a  Greek  monk,  who  is  placed  under 
the  year  501.  His  works  are, "A  Commentary 
on  Ecclesiastes  ;"  "A  Commentary  upon  the 
Lamentations  of  Jeremiah  ;"  and  "A  Com- 
mentary upon  Job." — Suidas.  Eiifield's  Hut. 
Phil.  Cave.  Moreri, 

OLYMPUS.  There  were  two  celebrated 
musicians  of  antiquity  who  bore  this  namej 
the  one  a  scholar  of  Marsyns,  born  in  Mysia, 
flourished  before  the  Trojan  war,  and  is  men- 
tioned honourably  by  Plato,  Aristotle,  tad 


ONE 

Plutarch,  who  speak  of  his  productions  as 
Bi.il!  extant  in  their  time.  Suidas,  and  Julius 
Pollux,  also  notice  him  as  an  elegant  elegiac 
poet.  The  other,  who  diedabrmt  the  close  of 
the  seventh  century  before  the  Christian  sera, 
was  contemporary  with  Midas,  by  birth  a 
Phrygian,  and,  according  to  Suidas,  the  au- 
thor of  several  poetic  effusions,  sometimes  er- 
roneously attributed  to  his  predecessor  of  the 
same  name. — Barney's  Hist,  of  Mus. 

OLZOFFSKI  (ANDREW)  an  eminent  Po- 
lish divine,  was  born  in  1618.  He  was  much 
favoured  by  Ladislaus  IV,  who  made  him 
prebendary  to  the  crown,  and  promoted  him 
to  the  see  of  Culm.  On  the  death  of  that 
monarch,  he  was  for  some  time  in  disgrace, 
because  he  opposed  the  queen  in  her  design 
of  establishing  a  French  prince  upon  the  throne 
of  Poland  ;  nevertheless  he  was  made  vice- 
chancellor  of  the  crown,  and  on  the  ascension 
of  Michael  Koribut  he  became  grand-chan- 
cellor. On  the  death  of  Koribut  he  inte- 
rested himself  zealously  in  procuring  the  elec- 
tion of  John  Sobieski,  who  rewarded  him  with 
the  archiepiscopal  see  of  Gnesna,  and  would 
have  made  him  a  cardinal,  had  he  not  pro- 
tested against  it.  He  died  at  Dantzic,  in 
1678.  His  works  are,  "  Singularia  Juris  Pa- 
tronatus  R.  Poloniaj  ;"  "  Vindiciffi  Polonicse  ;" 
and  some  other  political  treatises. — Moreri. 

OMAR  I,  caliph  of  the  Saracens,  the   se- 
cond of  the  successors  of  Mahomet.     Under 
his   reign    the   empire    of  the   Moslems   was 
greatly   extended.     His  generals,   Kaled  and 
Abu  Obeidah,  drove  the  Greeks  out  of  Syria 
and   Phoenicia,   and  the  caliph   himself  took 
possession  of  Jerusalem  in   638,   which   city 
remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Infidels   till  it 
•was  reconquered  by   Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  at 
the    end    of    the    eleventh    century.     Under 
Omar,  also,  Amru   became   master  of  Egypt, 
and  after  taking  Alexandria  he  is  said  to  have 
destroyed  the  famous  library  there,  by  the  ex- 
press order  of  the  caliph,  who  declared   that 
the  books  of  which  it  consisted,  if  they  agreed 
with   the   Koran,  were   superfluous  ;    if  they 
contradicted   it,   erroneous,  and    therefore    in 
either  case  useless.     It  however  ought  to  be 
observed,  that  this  story  is  regarded  by  mo- 
dern historians  as  of   doubtful    authenticity. 
The  conquests  of  the  Mahometans  in  the  reign 
of  Omar  extended  to  Mesopotamia  and  Persia; 
and  having  fixed  his  residence  at  Jerusalem, 
he  was  there  assassinated  by  a  Persian  slave, 
in    the    tenth  year  of  his   government,    AD. 
613.     Omar  is  distinguished  for  having  col- 
lected and  arranged  the  chapters  of  the  Koran, 
which  assumed  its  present  form  under  his  di- 


O  PI 

of  Cyrus.  He  is  treated  by  Strabo,  and 
others  of  the  ancients,  as  a  fabulous  and  ro- 
mantic writer ;  but  it  is  probable  thai  the  ig- 
norance of  the  Groeks  and  Romans  relative  to 
India  contributed  not  a  little  to  render  the 
narrative  of  Onesicrites  incredible  to  his  coun- 
trymen. He  survived  Alexander,  but  the 
exact  time  of  his  death  is  not  known.  Hia 
History  is  no  longer  extant,  though  some  of 
his  details  relative  to  the  geography  and  na- 
tural history  of  the  regions  he  visited  have 
been  preserved  by  Strabo,  JElian,  and  Pliny. 
— Biog.  Univ. 

ONKELOS,  a  Jewish  rabbi,  supposed   to 
have  been  the  disciple  of  Hillel  the  elder,  and 
to  have   lived  in   the   beginning   of  the    first 
century.     He  was   the  author  of  the  earliest 
Targum,  or  Chaldee  interpretation  of  the  He- 
brew scriptures,  extending  however   only  to 
the    Pentateuch.     The    Targum    of    Onkelos 
consists  of  little  more  than  a  verbal   transla- 
tion, but  it  is  distinguished  for  accuracy  and 
purity  of  style,  and  is  therefore  much  esteemed 
both  by  Jews  and  Christians.     The  other  Tar- 
gums  are  that  of  Jonathan  Ben  TJzziel,  on  the 
historical  and  prophetic  books   of  the  Bible, 
from  Joshua  to   Ezekiel   inclusive,  composed 
nearly  at  the  same  period  with  the  preceding, 
and  approaching  to  it  in  the  style  and  manner 
of  its  execution  ;  the  Targum  on  the  law  of 
Mosefl,  ascribed  to  Jonathan,  but  disgraced  by 
the  introduction  of  legendary  tales  and  ridicu- 
lous digressions,  and   probably  not  of  earlier 
date  than  the  seventh  century  ;  the  Jerusalem 
Targum,  a  Chaldee  paraphrase  on  select  parts 
of  the  law,  apparently  a  compilation  from  va- 
rious authors  made  in  the  seventh  or  eighth 
century  ;    the  Targum  on  the  Hagiographa,  or 
Psalms,  Proverbs,  &c.  said  to  have  been  the 
j  work  of  rabbi  Joseph  the  Blind,  in  the  third 
I  century,  but  from  its  legendary  character,  and 
the  corruptions  of  style  which  it  exhibits,  it  is 
|  obviously  the  production   of  a  much  later  pe- 
riod ;  the  Targum  on  the  Megilloth,  or  books 
i  of  Canticles,  Ruth,  &c.  apparently  written  in 
the  sixth  century,  and,  like  the  last,  abound- 
ing in  fables  ;   three  Targums,  on  the  book  of 
Esther,  written  in  very  corrupt  Chaldee  ;   and 
the  Targum  on  the  books  of  Chronicles,  of  a 
late  date,  and  of  little  authority.     The  earliest 
j  and    most   important  of    these   Targums   are 
!  printed  in  Walton's  Polyglott  Bible. — Moreri. 
Prideaui.     Homes  Introd.  to  the  Holy  Script. 
ONOSANDER,  a  Greek  writer,  who  flou- 
rished about  the  middle  of  the  first  century. 
He  wrote  commentaries  on  Plato's  Treatise  on 
Politics,  which  are  no  longer  extant ;  and  he 
was  also  the  author  of  a  work  on  Strategetics, 


rection,  from  the  collation  of  various  copies  of   or  the  duties  and  virtues  of  the  general  of  an 
different    nortions   disneised   amnncr  the    dis-    army,  published   at   Nuremberg,   1762,   folio, 


different    portions  dispersed  among  the   dis 
ciples  of  Mahomet,  or  preserved  by  oral  tra- 
dition.— Oc/c/ei/'s  Hint,  nf  the  Saracens. 

ONESICRITES,  a  Greek  historian,  a  na- 
tive of  the  island  of  Egina,  and  a  disciple  of 
the  Cynic  philosopher  Diogenes.  He  was 
taken  into  the  service  of  Alexander  the  Great, 
whom  he  accompanied  in  his  expedition  to 
India,  and  wrote  an  account  of  that  under- 


wrote an  account  of  that 
taking  on  the  plan  of  Xenophon's  Expedition  1  strong  predilection  for  the  arts  of  design. 


and  of  which  there  are  various  translations).- 
Biog.  Univ. 

OPIE  (JOHN)  professor  of  painting-  at  the 
Royal  academy,  was  born  in  1761,  in  the 
parish  of  St  Agnes,  near  Truro,  in  Cornwall. 
His  father  was  a  carpenter,  and  he  was  intend- 
ed for  the  same  occupation  ;  but  when  very 
young  he  manifested  a  taste  for  study,  and  a 


HiS 


O  PI 

talents  attracted  the  notice  of  Dr  Walcot,  then 
a  physician  at  Truro,  who  gave  Opie  some  in- 
structions, and  enabled  him  to  visit  some  of 
the  neighbouring  towns  as  a  portrait-painter. 
He  returned  from  his  expedition  with  twenty 
guineas,  which  he  had  earned  by  his  pencil, 
and  he  thenceforward  resolved  to  devote  him- 
self to  the  profession  of  painting.  When 
about  nineteen  he  removed  to  London,  where  he 
improved  the  various  advantages  for  study  which 
the  situation  afforded  ;  but  it  was  not  till  1786 
that  any  of  his  pictures  were  admitted  into  the 
exhibition  at  Somerset  house.  He  was  short- 
ly after  nominated  an  associate  of  the  academy, 
and  then  an  academician.  The  first  specimen 
he  gave  of  his  literary  ability  was  in  a  life  of 
sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  in  Dr  Wolcot's  edition 
of  Pilkington's  Dictionary.  He  then  publish- 
ed "  An  inquiry  into  the  requisite  Cultivation 
of  the  Arts  of  Design  in  England  ;"  and  he 
delivered  lectures  at  the  Royal  Institution.  In 
1804  he  succeeded  Mr  Fuseli  as  professor  of 
painting,  when  he  read  four  lectures  on  paint- 
ing, which  have  been  published.  He  died 
April  9, 1807,  and  was  interred  in  St  Paul's 
cathedral.  Opie  holds  a  high  station  among 
modern  historical  painters ;  and  his  pencil 
was  employed  on  the  pictures  exhibited  in  the 
Boydell  and  Mack lin  galleries. — Bryan's  Diet, 
of  Paint,  and  Eng. 

OP1TZ,  or  OPFTIUS  (HENRY)  a  divine  of 
the  Lutheran  persuasion,  eminent  as  anOriental 
scholar.  He  was  born  at  Altenburg,  in  Ger- 
many, in  1642.  and  after  studying  the  Eastern 
languages  in  his  native  country,  he  came  to 
England,  and  pursued  his  researches  under 
professor  Pocock,  at  Oxford.  In  1675  he  ob- 
tained the  Greek  professorship  at  Kiel,  to 
•which  was  added  three  years  after,  that  of 
Oriental  literature.  He  became  professor  of 
divinity  in  1689,  and  subsequently  ecclesias- 
tical counsellor  to  the  duke  of  Holstein.  He 
died  in  1712,  leaving  many  useful  works  re- 
lating to  the  study  of  the  Hebrew  language 
and  Biblical  literature,  comprising  a  grammar 
and  lexicon,  and  a  tract,  entitled  "  Atrium 
Linguae  Sanctre,  quo  exhibetur  Consilium  de 
Studio  Ling.  Sanct."  4to. — Biog.  Univ. 

OPITZ  VON  BOBERFIELD  (MARTIN) 
known  also  by  his  Latinized  name  Opitius,  a 
celebrated  German  poet  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  He  was  born  at  Bunzlau  in  Silesia, 
in  1597,  and  commenced  author  by  the  publi- 
cation of  Latin  poems,  entitled,  "  Strenarum 
Libellus,"  in  1616.  The  following  year  he 
became  a  teacher  at  the  gymnasium  of  Ben- 
them  on  the  Oder,  and  besides  poetical  com- 
positions, he  published  his"  Aristarchus,  sive 
de  Contemptu  Lingiue  Teutonics,"  4to.  He 
then  studied  at  Frankfort  on  the  Oder,  and  hav- 
ing afterwards  visited  many  cities  in  Germany 
and  Holland,  he  went  in  1621  to  the  court  of 
the  duke  of  Lignitz  ;  whence,  in  about  a  year, 
he  removed,  to  become  professor  of  philosophy 
and  classical  literature  at  the  university  of 
Weissembourg,  then  newly  founded  by  Beth- 
lem  Gabor.  The  situation  proving  unpleasant, 
he  soon  returned  to  Bunzlau,  and  afterwards 
to  Lignitz.  Becoming  distinguished  for  his 


O  PP 

talents,  he  went  to  Vienna,  where  the  empe- 
ror Ferdinand  II  bestowed  on  him  the  poetical 
crown,  and  afterwards  gave  him  letters  of  no- 
bility,  when  he  assumed  the  title  of  von  Bo- 
berfeld.  lie  returned  to  Silesia,  and  became 
secretary  to  the  Burgrave  of  Dohna ;  but  on 
losing  his  patron  by  death,  he  entered  anew 
into  the  service  of  the  duke  of  Lignitz.  At 
length  he  was  appointed  secretary  and  histo- 
riographer to  the  king  of  Poland,  and  he 
passed  the  last  five  years  of  his  life  at  Dant- 
zic,  where  he  died  August  20,  1639.  Among 
his  works  are,  a  poem  on  mount  Vesuvius, 
Silvan,  Epigrams,  &c.  He  has  been  termed 
the  father  of  German  poetry,  and  the  M;tl- 
herbe  of  Germany,  having  greatly  contributed 
to  polish  the  poetical  style  and  language  of  his 
countrymen. — Moreri.  Bing.  Univ. 

OPORINUS  (JOHN)  a  learned  printer  and 
classical  scholar  of  the  sixteenth  century.  He 
was  the  son  of  John  Herbst,  a  painter,  and 
was  bom  at  Basil  in  1507.  After  finishing 
his  education  at  Strasburg,  and  experiencing 
great  difficulties  from  the  narrowness  of  his 
circumstances,  he  became  teacher  in  the 
school  at  the  abbey  of  St  Urban,  in  the  canton 
of  Lucerne.  He  afterwards  was  made  pro- 
fessor of  classical  literature  at  Basil,  but  he 
was  obliged  to  quit  that  situation,  because  he 
had  not  taken  the  degree  of  master  of  arts. 
He  then  studied  medicine,  which  pursuit  he 
relinquished  to  engage  in  business  as  a  printer, 
in  partnership  with  another  person  ;  and  he  then 
changed  his  family  name  for  the  Grecised  ap- 
pellation of  Oporinus.  This  typographical 
undertaking  was  unsuccessful,  and  the  part- 
nership being  dissolved,  Oporinus  carried  on 
business  afterwards  on  his  own  account.  He 
printed  fine  editions  of  a  great  number  of  an- 
cient authors,  many  of  which  were  accompa- 
nied with  translations  and  annotations  from  his 
pen,  highly  creditable  to  his  learning  and  in- 
dustry. He  wrote  notes  on  some  of  the  works 
of  Plutarch,  Solinus,  Cicero,  and  Demosthenes; 
and  he  translated  into  Latin  those  of  Xeno- 
phon,  Theocritus,  and  Hesiod.  He  died  in 
1568,  having  been  four  times  married  ;  and 
by  the  last  of  his  wives  he  left  one  son. — Teis- 
sier  Eloges  des  H.  S.  Biog.  Univ. 

OPPENHEIMER  (DAVID  BEN  ABRA- 
HAM) a  rabbin  of  the  eighteenth  century,  who 
was  a  native  of  Worms  in  Germany.  He  was 
educated  at  Nicolsburg,  in  Moravia,  and  pre- 
sided over  the  synagogue  there,  and  after- 
wards over  that  of  Prague,  where  he  died  in 
17j7,  at  the  age  of  seventy.  He  was  distin- 
guished for  his  learning,  and  formed  a  most 
valuable  library  of  Hebrew  books  and  MSS. 
which  was  of  great  use  to  Wolfius  in  the  com 
position  of  his  Bibliotheca  Hebraica.  A  cata- 
logue of  this  collection  was  published  at  Ham- 
burg iu  1782,  4to.  Oppenheimer  left  a  great 
number  of  works  in  manuscript,  and  he  pub- 
lished a  "  Preface  for  the  Pentateuch,"  in  the 
rabbinical  Bible  of  Berlin,  1705,  8vo,  and 
other  pieces. — De  Rossii  Dizion.  Stor.  devil 
Autori  Ebrei.  Biog.  Univ. 

OPPIAN,  a  Greek  poet,  who  lived  under 
the  emperor  Caracalla,  in  the  beginning,  of  the 


OPS 

third  century.  He  was  a  native  of  Cilicia, 
ai.d  apparently  of  Grecian  descent,  as  his  fa- 
ther's name  was  Agesilaus,  and  his  mother's 
Zenodota.  He  wrote  poems  distinguished  for 
elegance  and  sublimity  ;  but  two  only  of  his 
productions  ave  nowextant,  his  "  Halieuticon," 
or  five  books  on  fishing  ;  and  four  books  on 
hunting,  entitled  "  Cynaegeticon."  Caracalla, 
the  Roman  emperor,  to  whom  the  latter  work 
was  presented,  was  so  pleased  with  it,  that  he 
gave  the  author  a  piece  of  gold  for  every 
verse,  whence  the  poem  has  been  stiled  the 
golden  verses  of  Oppian.  He  died  in  his 
thirtieth  year,  AD.  213,  and  his  countrymen 
erected  statues  in  honour  of  him.  The  best 
edition  of  his  works  is  that  of  Schneider, 
Strasb.  1776,  8vo  ;  and  there  is  another  by 
the  same  editor,  1813,  8vo.  His  Halieutics 
have  been  translated  into  English,  by  Jones, 
Oxford,  1722,  8vo.— Elton's  Spec,  of  Classic 
Poets.  Biog.  Univ. 

OPSOPJ2US,  or  OBSOP^EUS  (JOHN)  a 
German  physician,  born  at  Brettin,  in  the 
Palatinate,  in  1556.  Having  received  a  clas- 
sical education  at  Neuhausen,  and  at  the 
college  of  Wisdom  at  Heidelberg,  he  went 
to  Frankfort  on  the  Mayne,  where  he  be- 
came corrector  of  the  press,  for  the  prin- 
ter Wechelius.  There  he  also  applied 
himself  to  the  study  of  medicine,  and 
after  remaining  six  years,  he  visited  Eng- 
laad  and  Holland,  when  returning  to  hie 


native  country,  he  obtained  the  medical  chair 
in  the  university  of  Heidelberg.  He  be- 
came physician  to  the  elector  Frederick  IV, 
whom  he  attended  on  a  visit  to  Hamburg,  and 
being  taken  ill  immediately  after  his  return 
home,  he  died  in  1596.  He  published  seve- 
ral of  the  treatises  of  Hippocrates,  with  Latin 
versions  and  notes  ;  the  Sibylline  Oracles,  with 
remarks  ;  "  Zoroastris  Magica,  cum  Scholiis 
Plethonis  et  Pselli  ;"  and  "  Oracula  Metrica 
Jovis;"  printed  altogether  at  Paris,  in  1607. 
— SIMON  OPSOPJEUS,  brother  of  the  preceding, 
was  also  professor  of  medicine  at  Heidelberg, 
where  he  died  in  1619,  aged  forty-four.  He 
enjoyed  high  reputation  as  a  physician,  and 
published  some  works  on  his  profession. — 
Moreri.  Hutcldnsnn.  Biog.  Univ. 

OPSOP^EUS  (VINCENT)  a  learned  philolo- 
gical writer,  born  in  Franconia,  towards  the 
end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  He  opened  a 
school  of  classical  literature  at  Anspach,  and 
eniployed  his  leisure  in  the  revision  of  such 
manuscripts  as  he  could  procure.  He  endea- 
voured to  stimulate  the  German  printers  of 
his  time  to  follow  the  example  of  Aldus  Ma- 
nutius,  in  publishing  editions  of  ancient  au- 
thors, instead  of  employing  their  presses  on 
the  futile  productions  of  their  contemporaries. 
The  details  of  his  life  are  little  known,  but 
he  died  about  1540.  He  translated  into  La- 
tin the  letters  of  Luther  ;  and  from  the  Greek, 
several  books  of  the  Iliad  ;  the  history  of  Po- 
ly bius,  that  of  Diodorous  Siculus,  and  the 
romance  of  Heliodorus.  He  was  likewise  the 
author  of  a  curious  poem  "  De  Arte  Biben- 
di ;"  a  treatise  on  rhetoric,  and  other  works. 
-Biog.  Univ. 


OKA 

OP T  ATUS,  a  saint  in  the  Roman  calendar, 
was  bishop  of  Melevia,  a  town  of  Numidia, 
and  flourished  in  the  fourth  century,  under  die 
empire  of  Valentinian  and  Valens.  He  ac- 
quired much  reputation  by  a  work  which  he 
wrote  in  favour  of  the  Catholics  against  the 
Donatists,  in  six  books,  to  which  a  seventh 
has  been  added  by  another  hand.  This  work 
has  been  published  several  times  ;  the  last  and 
best  edition  is  that  of  Dupin,  in  1700,  in 
which  he  has  inserted  the  notes  of  the  other 
editors,  with  a  collection  of  the  acts  of  coun- 
cils, edicts  of  emperors,  letters  of  bishops,  pro- 
consular acts,  and  acts  of  martyrs,  which  in 
any  way  regard  the  history  of  the  Donatists. 
It  also  contains  two  other  dissertations  of  Op- 
tatus,  one  containing  the  "  History  of  the 
Donatists  ;"  the  other  upon  "  The  Sacred 
Geography  of  Africa." — Cave.  Dupin. 

ORANGE     (PHILIBEUT     DE     CHALONS, 
prince  of)  a  famous  military  officer  of  the  six- 
teenth   century.     He   was   in  the  service    of 
Francis  I  of  France,  which  he  quitted  in  1520, 
through  pique  at  being  deprived  of  his  apart- 
ments at  Fontainebleau,  to  make  room  for  the 
Polish  ambassador.     He  went  over  to  the  em- 
peror Charles  V,  who  recompensed  him  for 
the  loss  of  his  principality,    and  the  govern- 
ment of  Britanny,   by  giving  him  the  princi- 
pality   of    Amalphi,  the   dutchy  of  Gravina, 
various  territories  in  Italy  and  Flanders,  and 
the  order  of  the  golden  fleece.  He  commanded 
the  Spanish  infantry  at  the  siege  of  Fontarabia 
in  1522  ;  but  his  greatest  exploit  was  the  cap- 
ture of  Rome  in  1527,  after  the  death  of  the 
constable   de   Bourbon,  to   the   command    of 
whose  army  he  succeeded.     He  was  killed  at 
the  battle   of  Pistoia  in  1530,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-eight.     Dying  unmarried,  he  left  his 
estates  to    Rene   de    Nassau,  the.  son  of  his 
sister,  and  thus  the  principality  of  Orange,  to 
which   Philibert   had   been   restored   by    the 
treaty  of  Madrid,  descended  to  the   house  of 
Nassau. — ORANGE    (WILLIAM    OF    NASSAU, 
prince  of)  succeeded   to  the  title  on  the  death 
of  his   cousin    Rene   in  1544.     He  was  ap- 
pointed by   the  States-general  of  the  Dutch 
United  Provinces,  chief  of  their  republic,  to 
the    establishment   and  security  of  which  he 
had  contributed,  on  their  throwing  off  the  yoke 
of  Spain.     He  was  a  great  captain  and  a  wise 
politician,  and  he  was  so  much  dreaded  by  the 
Spaniards,   that  not  being  able  to  overcome 


him  by  force  of  arms,  they  resorted  to  the  in 
famous  expedient  of  taking  him  off  by  assas- 
sination. In  1582  he  was  wounded  by  a  pis- 
tol-shot as  he  was  rising  from  table,  by  Jaure- 
gui,  the  servant  of  a  ruined  banker,  who  was 
suspected  of  having  poisoned  Don  John  of 
Austria.  The  prince  recovered  from  the  effects 
of  this  injury,  but  he  was  killed  by  Balthasar 
Gerard,  a  Burgundian,  employed  by  the  Spa- 
niards, June  10,  1584.  He  had  four  wives, 
and  left  twelve  children,  of  whom  two  of  his 
sons  became  successively  stadtholders  of  the 
United  Provinces. — ORANGE  (MAURICE  OF 
NASSAU,  prince  of)  the  second  son  of  Wil- 
liam, succeeded  his  elder  brother  Philip  Wil- 
liam in  1618,  in  the  hereditary  principality  , 


O  R  F 

but  the  states  of  Holland,  Zealand,  and 
Utrecht  had  previously  chosen  him  for  their 
governor  on  the  death  of  his  father.  He  made  ; 
himself  master  of  all  the  places  belonging  to 
the  Spaniards  in  Holland.  In  1590  he  sur-  ! 
prised  Breda,  and  took  it  by  stratagem  ;  and 
in  a  short  time  he  recovered  all  Friseland,  Gro- 
ningen,  Overyssel,  Nimeguen,  and  the  county 
of  Gueldres  ;  till  at  length  the  seven  pro- 
vinces were  united  under  his  government.  In 
1600  he  defeated  the  archduke  Albert,  at  the 
famous  battle  of  Nieuport,  in  which  6000 
Spaniards  were  left  on  the  field.  A  truce  for 
twelve  years,  concluded  in  1609,  hetween 
Spain  and  the  Dutch  states,  was  the  impor- 
tant result  of  his  enterprises.  Prince  Maurice,  j 
who  has  been  reckoned  the  greatest  general 
of  his  age,  was  only  calculated  to  shine  in  war.  • 
His  endeavours  to  obtain  the  sovereignty  of 
Holland,  and  his  barbarous  treatment  of  Barne- 
veldt,  and  other  patriots  who  opposed  him, 
tend  greatly  to  tarnish  the  glory  he  had  pre- 
viously acquired.  In  1621  war  was  renewed 
with  the  Spaniards,  under  the  marquis  Spi- 
nola,  who,  having  taken  Breda  from  the  Dutch 
in  1625,  contrary  to  the  expectations  of  prince 
Maurice,  he  was  so  chagrined  at  the  misfor- 
tune, that  he  died  shortly  after,  at  the  age  of 
fifty-five. — Moreri.  Biog.  Univ. 

ORDERICUS  VITALIS,  an  historian  of; 
the  twelfth  century.  He  was  of  a  French 
family,  but  was  horn  in  England,  and  at  the 
age  of  ten  he  was  sent  for  education  to  an  ab- 
bey in  Normandy,  in  which  his  father,  who 
had  become  a  widower,  had  taken  the  reli-  | 
gious  habit.  He  also  entered  into  the  order 
of  priesthood,  but  never  attained  to  any  of 
the  dignities  of  his  profession,  having  devoted 
his  life  to  literary  studies.  He  died  after  1143. 
He  wrote  an  "  Ecclesiastical  History,"  in 
thirteen  books,  published  in  Duchesne's  "  His- 
torian Normannorum  Scriptores,"  and  in  other 
collections.  This  work,  amidst  a  multitude  of 
frivolous  details  and  religious  fables,  contains 
many  interesting  facts  relating  to  Normandy 
and  England,  which  are  not  to  be  found  in  ] 
any  contemporary  author. — Diet.  Hist.  Biog. 
Univ. 

ORELLANA  (FRANCIS)  a  Spanish  officer, 
who  is  regarded  as  the  discoverer  of  the  great 
riverof  the  Amazonsin  South  America.  In  1539 
lie  embarked  near  Quito,  on  the  rirer  Coca, 
which,  lower  down  the  stream,  takes  the  name 
of  Napo.  From  this  river  he  passed  to  another, 
which  gradually  became  more  extensive,  and 
following  the  course  of  the  current,  he  at 
length  arrived  at  Cape  North,  on  the  coast  of 
Guyana,  after  a  navigation  of  nearly  1800 
leagues.  Orellana  perished  ten  years  after, 
with  three  vessels,  with  which  he  had  been 
intrusted  by  the  Spanish  government  to  ex- 
plore the  river  he  had  previously  discovered, 
but  the  opening  of  which  he  was  not  able  to 
find.  The  denomination  of  the  river,  as  well 
as  of  the  country  through  which  it  flows 
(Amazouia)  originated  from  an  encounter  of 
Orellana  with  some  armed  females  during 
Lis  first  expedition. — Robertson. 

ORFIREUS    or    ORFFYREUS    (Jonx 


OR  I 

ERNEST  ELI  AS)  a  German  mechanic,  whog* 
proper  name  was  Bessler.  He  was  born  in 
1680,  of  a  mean  family  in  Lusatia.  He  first 
studied  divinity  and  medicine,  but  at  length 
devoted  himself  entirely  to  the  cultivation  of 
the  mathematical  sciences,  and  especially  of 
mechanics.  After  travelling  through  various 
parts  of  Germany,  and  experiencing  a  multi- 
tude of  adventures,  he  entered  into  a  convent 
as  a  lay-brother  ;  but  getting  tired  of  the  con- 
finement, he  made  his  escape,  and  went  to 
Italy.  lie  then  turned  empyric,  and  subse- 
quently devoted  himself  to  researches  after  the 
perpetual  motion.  In  1712  he  exhibited  a 
machine,  in  the  construction  of  which  he  pro- 
fessed to  have  attained  his  object ;  but  this 
he  afterwards  destroyed.  In  1716  he  ob- 
tained the  patronage  of  the  elector  of  Hesse, 
who  invited  him  to  Cassel,  to  renew  his  ope- 
rations ;  and  he  was  so  far  successful,  that 
he  produced  a  piece  of  mechanism,  which  was 
examined  by  the  philosopher  S'Gravesande, 
who  was  convinced  that  it  was  set  in  motion 
by  no  external  power,  though  it  continued 
moving  for  an  indefinite  length  of  time.  Orf- 
fyreus,  displeased  at  the  investigations  of 
S'Gravesande,  to  whom  he  refused  to  exhibit 
the  interior  of  his  machine,  broke  it  in  pieces. 
He  afterwards  obtained  a  house  and  estate  at 
Carlshaven,  where  he  undertook  to  re-con- 
struct his  machine  on  a  large  scale,  and  lie 
settled  there  in  1722  ;  but  he  made  no  further 
attempt,  devoting  his  time  to  other  projects, 
equally  nugatory.  He  died  in  November  1745. 
He  published  a  tract,  entitled  "  The  Perpe- 
tual Motion  triumphant,"  Cassel,  1719,  4to, 
and  other  works. — Bivg.  Univ. 

ORLBASIUS,  a  celebrated  Greek  physi- 
cian of  the  fourth  century,  horn  at  Pergamus. 
He  was  the  pupil  of  Zeno  of  Cyprus,  and  be- 
came physician  to  the  emperor  Julian,  whom 
he  accompanied  in  his  expedition  to  Persia, 
and  witnessed  his  death.  Under  the  succeed- 
ing emperors,  Valens  and  Valentinian,  he  fell 
into  disgrace,  was  deprived  of  his  property, 
exiled,  and  obliged  to  take  refuge  among  the 
barbarians.  At  length  his  merit  was  acknow- 
ledged, and  he  was  recalled,  and  recompensed 
for  his  losses.  He  lived  till  towards  the  middle 
of  the  fifth  century.  Notwithstanding  his 
misfortunes  and  his  travels,  he  composed  many 
professional  works,  some  of  which  are  still 
extant.  The  most  important  is  his  treatise  on 
anatomy,  published  at  Paris,  1556,  8vo ;  and 
at  Leyden,  1735,  4to,  enriched  with  notes, 
by  Dr  W.  Dundas. — Biog.  Univ.  Hutchinson. 

ORIGEN,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  among 
the  Christian  fathers  of  the  third  century.  He 
was  called  also  Adamantius,  and  was  born 
about  AD.  185,  at  Alexandria  in  Egypt, being 
the  son  of  Leonides,  who  suffered  martyrdom 
in  the  reign  of  the  Roman  emperor  Severus. 
He  studied  under  the  philosopher  Ammonius, 
and  afterwards  under  Clement  of  Alexandria. 
He  was  but  seventeen  at  the  death  of  hi3 
father,  and  it  is  reported  that  his  zeal  would 
have  induced  him  to  share  the  fate  of  Leoni- 
des, had  not  his  mother  prevented  his  pur- 
pose. Origen  then  betook  himself  to  the  oiiica 


O  R  I 

of  a  grammatical  tutor,  in   order  to  support 
his  widowed  parent  and  several  younger  bro- 
thers,   who   were    reduced    to    poverty.      At 
length  he  was  made  professor  of  sacred  lite- 
rature at  Alexandria,  where  his  lectures  were 
much    frequented,    and    he    had    among   his 
hearers  several    persons  who   afterwards  at- 
tained great  eminence  in  the  church.  He  then 
devoted  himself  to  preaching,  and  practised 
extraordinary  mortifications,  never  sleeping  on 
a   bed,   and  abstaining  from  wine  and  flesh, 
with    a    variety    of  other    austerities    inter- 
mixed with  religious  exercises.     If,  however, 
his  enthusiasm  carried  him  to  all  the  lengths 
which  have  been  reported,  he  must  have  had 
less  confidence  in  the  strength  of  his  resolu- 
tion than  has  fallen  to  the  share  of  most  asce- 
tics, since  it  would  appear  that  lie  resorted  to 
physical  means  to  secure  himself  against  temp- 
tation.     At  this  period    he    commenced    his 
celebrated  "  Hexapla,"  which  first  suggested 
the  idea  of  Polyglott  Bibles.     This  work  con- 
tained the  Hebrew  text  of  the  Old  Testament, 
with  the  Greek  versions  of  the  Septuagint,  and 
those  of  Aquila,  Theodotion,  and  Symmachus, 
together  with  other  versions  of  some  portions 
of  the    Scriptures.     Fragments  alone    of  the 
Hexapla  have  been  preserved,  which  were  col- 
lected  and   published   by  father  Montfaucon. 
Origen  having  taken  the  order  of  priesthood  in 
Palestine,   Demetrius,   bishop  of  Aleyandria, 
was  displeased  at  his  conduct,  and  professing 
to  have  discovered  errors  in  his  writings,  he 
prevented  him   from    teaching,  and  procured 
his   banishment.     He  then  went  to  Caesaria, 
where  his  fame  is  said  to  have  attracted  the 
notice  of  Mammaea,  the  mother  of  the  empe- 
ror  Alexander  Severus,  who  sent  for  him  to 
Antioch,  and  was  highly  edified  by  his  apos- 
tolic zeal,  and  the  eloquence  of  his  discourses. 
When  the  Christians  were  persecuted  in  the 
reign    of    Maximin,    Origen    took    refuge    at 
Athens,  where  he  employed  himself  iu  writing 
Scholia,  or  commentaries  on  the  Scriptures. 
He  subsequently  converted  Beryllus,  bishop  of 
Bostra,   who  had  fallen  into  error  relative  to 
the  pre-existence  of  Christ;  and  he  also  as- 
sisted at  a  council  in  which  the  heresy  of  some 
Arabians  was  condemned,  who,  like   the  mo- 
dern Unitarians,  maintained  that  the  soul  dies 
with  the  body,  and  will  be  revived  at  the  re- 
surrection.     Origen    himself,    however,    was 
charged  with  holding  various  heterodox  opi- 
nions, among  which   the  most   formidable  is 
that  of  the  finite  duration  of  future  punishment, 
and  the  ultimate  salvation  of  devils,  which,  as 
may  be  supposed,  gave  great  scandal  to  the 
church.     His    attachment  to  the    philosophy 
of  Plato,  in  which  he  had  been  instructed  by 
his   master   Ammomus,   also   appears   in  his 
explanations  of  the  Scriptures,  which  abound 
in  allegory  and  mystical  allusion.     He,  how- 
ever, in  some  measure  atoned  for  his  errors  by 
his  noble  defence  of  the  Gospel  against  the 
Epicurean  philosopher   Celsus,   in  a  treatise 
which    is    still   extant.      Hence    Cassiodorus 
says  of  Origen,  "  Ubi  bene  nemo  melius  ;  ubi 
male  nemo  pejua."     In  the  Decian    persecu- 
tion he  was  imprisoned  and  tortured,  and,  ac- 


ORL 

cording  to  some  accounts,  he  suffered  mar- 
tyrdom, though  it  is  generally  supposed  that 
he  died  a  natural  death  at  Tyre,  AD.  254. 
His  works  were  published  by  Huet,  but  the 
best  edition  is  that  of  the  Benedictines,  Paris, 
1733,  4  vols.  folio.  Trithemius.  Huetii  Ori- 
geniana.  Cave's  Lives  of  the  Fathers. 

ORIGNY  (ANTHONY  JOHN  BAPTIST  ABRA- 
HAM d')  born  at  Rheims  in  1734,  held  the 
office  of  counsellor  of  the  mint,  and  dedicated 
his  leisure  to  the  cultivation  of  letters.  He 
was  a  member  of  many  provincial  academies, 
and  died  in  October  1798.  He  published 
"  Dictionnaire  des  Origines,  ou  Epoches  des 
Inventions,  Decouvertes,  &c."  Paris,  1776, 
1778,  6  vols.  8vo  ;  "  Abrege'  de  1'Histoire  du 
Theatre  Franfais,"  tome  quatrieme,  1733, 
in  continuation  of  a  work  by  Mouhy,  and 
"  Annales  du  Theatre  Italien,"  1788,  3  vols. 
8vo. — Kiog.  Univ. 

ORIGNY  (PETER  ADAM  d')  a  writer  on 
classical  antiquities,  who  was  a  native  of 
Rheims  in  France,  and  died  there  September 
9,  1774.  In  the  early  part  of  his  life  he  en- 
tered into  the  army,  and  became  a  captain  of 
grenadiers ;  but  having  been  disabled  by  a 
wound,  which  he  received  at  the  attack  of  the 
lines  of  Weissembourg  in  Germany,  he  retired 
from  the  service,  with  a  pension  and  the  cross 
of  St  Louis.  He  was  the  author  of  a  learned 
work  entitled  "  L'Egypte  Ancienne,  ou  Me- 
moires  historiques  et  critiques  sur  ies  Objets 
les  plus  importans  du  grand  Empire  des  Egyp- 
tiens,"  1762,  2  vols.  12mo;  and  another  on 
Egyptian  Chronology ;  and  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  he  was  occupied  in  more  extended  re- 
searches relating  to  the  same  subject. — Diet. 
Hist.  Biog.  Univ. 

ORLANDI  (PEREGRINE  ANTHONY)  a 
learned  bibliographer  and  writer  on  the  history 
of  the  arts,  who  died  about  1730.  He  pub- 
lished an  "  Account  of  the  Origin  and  Progress 
of  Printing,  from  1457  to  1500,"  Bologna. 
1722,  4to  ;  a  "  History  of  Bolognese  Writers, 
with  Remarks  on  their  Works,"  1714,  4to  ; 
and  a  Dictionary  of  Artists,  entitled  "  Abece- 
dario  Pittorico,"  1719,  4to,  which  wasrepub- 
lished  with  additions  after  the  death  of  the 
author.  All  the  works  of  Orlandi  are  es- 
teemed for  their  general  accuracy,  and  the 
abundance  of  information  which  they  afford. 
This  writer  was  a  Carmelite  friar,  and  was 


doctor  and  professor  of  theology  at  Bologna. — 
Diet.  Hist.     Edit. 

ORLEANS  (GASTON  JOHN  BAPTIST,  duke 
of)  the  third  son  of  Henry  IV  of  France,  by 
his  wife  Mary  de  Medicis.  He  was  born  at 
Fontainebleau  in  1608,  and  at  first  received  the 
title  of  duke  of  Anjou,  but  after  the  death  ot 
an  elder  brother  in  1611,  he  was  made  duke 
of  Orleans.  He  was  engaged  in  various  in- 
trigues and  insurrections  against  the  govern- 
ment in  the  reign  of  his  brother,  Louis  X11I, 
and  the  minority  of  Louis  XIV.  Prompted 
by  his  favourites,  he  made  a  multitude  of  un- 
successful attempts  to  ruin  cardinal  Richelie-u. 
It  was  by  his  persuasions  that  the  duke  of 
Montmorenci,  governor  of  Languedoc,  was 
induced  to  take  arms  against  the  minister ; 


O  RL 

ami  Gaston  traversed  France  to  join  him,  in  a 
style  more  resembling  that  of  a  fugitive,  fol- 
lowed by  a  few  deserters,  than  like  a  prince  in 
arms  against  a  king.  This  revolt  proved  very 
unfortunate,  for  Montmorenci  was  taken  pri- 
soner and  executed,  and  Orleans  was  forced 
to  make  most  humiliating  submissions.  Some 
time  after,  he  became  involved  in  the  conspiracy 
of  Bouillon  and  Cinq-Mars,  from  which  he  ex- 
tricated himself  by  accusing  his  accomplices, 
and  renewing  his  humiliation.  After  the  deatli 
of  Louis  XIII,  lie  was  appointed  lieutenant- 
general  of  the  kingdom,  when  he  acquired  mi- 
litary reputation  by  the  taking  of  Gravelines, 
Courtrai,  and  Mardyck  ;  but  his  cabals  against 
cardinal  Mazarin  at  length  occasioned  his  be- 
ing banished  to  Blois,  where  he  died  Febru- 
ary 2d,  16(50.  This  prince  possessed  much 
wit  and  humour,  and  many  of  his  repartees 
are  recorded.  He  left  "  Memoires  de  ce  qui 
s'est  passe  de  plus  considerable  en  France  de- 
puis  1'an  1608  jusqu'en  1635,"  printed  at  Am- 
sterdam in  1683,  and  at  Paris  in  1685,  12mo. 
— ORLEANS  (PHILIP,  duke  of)  the  younger 
son  of  Louis  XIII,  born  in  1640.  He  had  for 
his  tutor  La  Mothe  le  Vayer,  to  whom  cardi- 
nal Mazarin  said,  "  Why  should  you  make 
the  king's  brother  a  clever  man  ?  If  he  be- 
come more  learned  than  the  king,  he  will  not 
know  how  to  yield  him  implicit  obedience." 
Upon  such  principles  was  his  education  con- 
ducted, and  he  consequently  proved  dissipated, 
vain,  and  effeminate.  He  was  married  in 
1661,  to  Henrietta,  the  sister  of  Charles  II, 
who  died  in  1670,  under  circumstances  which 
rendered  it  highly  probable  that  she  was  poi- 
soned. In  the  following  year  the  duke  took 
for  his  second  wife,  Charlotte  Elizabeth,  daugh- 
ter of  the  elector  of  Bavaria.  He  died  of  apo- 
plexy at  St  Cloud,  June  1st,  1701.  A  French 
translation  of  the  Roman  history  of  Florus,  by 
the  duke  of  Orleans,  was  published  in  1670, 
12mo. — ORLEANS  (PHILIP,  duke  of)  son  of 
the  preceding  by  his  last  wife,  born  at  St 
Cloud,  August  4th,  1674.  He  possessed  great 
natural  abilities,  which  might  have  been  bet- 
ter cultivated,  if  he  had  not  fallen  under  the 
control  of  his  sub-preceptor,  Dubois,  after- 
wards cardinal.  He  nevertheless  made  a  ra- 
pid progress  in  various  sciences,  and  especially 
in  geometry,  chemistry,  and  poetry,  and  he 
was  also  skilled  in  the  arts  of  music  and  draw- 
ing. He  was  married  to  mademoiselle  de 
Blois,  one  of  the  daughters  of  Louis  XIV,  by 
madame  de  Montespan,  whom  he  treated  with 
attention,  but  at  the  same  time  he  gave  way 
to  his  inclinations,  which  led  him  to  practise 
the  grossest  sensuality  and  dissipation.  Yet 
in  the  midst  of  his  criminal  career,  he  was  not 
deaf  to  the  calls  of  ambition,  and  he  was  en- 
gaged in  military  service  in  Flanders,  Italy, 
and  Spain,  where  he  displayed  considerable 
abilities.  When  the  cause  of  his  cousin,  Phi- 
lip V,  appeared  almost  hopeless,  he  formed  a 
design  of  securing  the  Spanish  sceptre  for 
himself;  but  his  plan  was  discovered,  and  that 
and  some  other  intiigues  of  which  he  was 
suspected  deprived  him  of  the  favour  of  Louis 
XIV,  whose  death,  in  1715,  prevented  the 


ORL 

completion  of  arrangements  for  preventing  t!« 
duke  of  Orleans    from  obtaining  the  regenc) 
during  the  minority  of  the  next  king.     He  ac- 
cordingly succeeded  to  that  office,  and  during 
nearly  the  whole  of  his   government   he  was 
guided  by  the  counsels  of  his  able  but  profli- 
gate  minister,  cardinal    Dubois.     The    duke 
himself  is  said  to  have  manifested  a  spirit  oi 
clemency  and  generosity  towards  his  enemies 
and  a  disposition  to  alleviate   the  burdens  ot 
the.  people  ;  but  some  of  his  plans  proved  un- 
successful, and  others    were   overruled   by  his 
advisers.     Exhausted    by  business   and  plea- 
sure, he  died   December  25,  1723.      He  left 
some  good  specimens  of  his  ability  as  an  ar- 
tist, particularly  in  the  plates    to   a  splendid 
edition  of  Amyot's  translation  of  the  romance 
of  Daphnis  and  Chloe,  designed  and  engraved 
by  himself ;  and   he  also  composed  the  music 
of  two  operas. — ORLEANS   (Louis,  duke  of) 
son  of  the  regent,  was  born  at  Versailles,  Au- 
gust 4,  1703..     He  had  for  a  tutor   the.  abb6 
IMongault,  who   inspired   him    with   an   early 
taste  for  study  ;  but  the  first   part  of  his   life 
was  spent  in  dissipation.     In    1724   he   mar- 
ried the   princess   of  Baden,  and  having  had 
the  misfortune  to  lose  her  two  years  after,  he 
was    afflicted    with   a    profound   melancholy, 
which  at  length  induced   him  to  seclude  him- 
self from  the  world,  and  devote  himself  to  re- 
ligious   exercises    and    study.     He    took    an 
apartment  in   the   abbey  of  St  Genevieve  in 
1730,  and  resided  there  entirely  from  1742  till 
his  death,  which  happened  February  4,  1752. 
He  wrote  translations,  paraphrases,  and  anno- 
tations on  the   Scriptures,  and  various  other 
theological     works. — ORLEAN'S    (Louis    JO- 
SEPH PHILIP,  duke  of)  grandson  of  the  fore- 
going, was  born  at  St  Cloud,  April  13,  1747. 
He  was  called  when  young  the  duke  of  Char- 
tres,   and    in    1769   he   was   married    to   the 
daughter  of  the  duke  of  Penthievre.who  held 
the    office  of   grand-admiral    of  France.     Ha 
wished  to  have  succeeded  him,  and  not  being 
able  to  obtain  his  object,  he  went  as  a  volun- 
teer on  board  the  squadron  of  the  count  d'Or- 
villiers,  when  he  was  present  at  the  engage- 
ment with  the  English  off  Ushant,  and  he  is 
stated  to  have  behaved   on  that  occasion  with 
extreme  cowardice.     On  his  return  home,  in- 
stead of  receiving  promotion  in  the  navy,  the 
post   of  colonel-general    of   the    hussars  was 
created  and   bestov.-ed   on  him.     Some    time 
after,  he  succeeded  the  count  de  Clermont  as 
chief  of  the  French  Freemasons.     After  the 
death  of  his  father,  in  1787,  he  became  pos- 
sessed of  the  hereditary  title  and  estates  ;  and 
from  that  period  he  adopted  various  methods 
to  obtain  popularity,  with   a   view  to  political 
power.     In  the   disputes   between   the    court 
and  the  parliaments  he  constantly  opposed  the 
royal    authority,   and   gradually   drew   around 
him  almost  all  the  friends  of  revolution  or  re- 
form.    His  behaviour  towards  the  king  at  the 
royal    session  of  November  19,    1787,  occa- 
sioned   his  exile    to   Villers   Coteret,    durinf 
which  the  praises  of  the  journalists  heighten- 
ed his  influence  with  the  populace.   Previously 
to  the  convocation  of  the  States-general,  some 


ORL 


ORL 


attempts  are  said  to  have   been  made  to  gain  I  for  accuracy  and  justness  of  thinking.     The 


him  over  to  the  court,  but  they  were  ineffec- 
tual ;  and  becoming  a  member  of  that  body, 
he,  from  the  beginr.ing,  protested  against   all 
the  decrees  of  the  chamber  of  nobles,   and  at 
length  joined,  with  other  members,  the  tiers- 
6tat  to  form  the  National  Assembly.     At  this 
period  it  appears  *.o  ha-ve  been  his   object   to 
reduce  the  king  to  a  state  of  tutelage,  and  pro- 
cure for  himself  the  formidable  office  of  lieu- 
tenant-general of  the  kingdom.     But  he  was 
by  no  means  qualified  to  profit  by  the  commo- 
tions to  which  he  had  contributed,  and  he  be- 
came, in  a  great  measure,  the  passive  instru- 
ment of  the  jacobins,  and  ultimately  the  victim 
of  his  schemes  of  ambition.     He  was  chosen 
a  member  of  the  National  Convention  in  Sep- 
tember 1792,  at  which  time  the   commune  of 
Paris  authorised  him  to  adopt  for  himself   and 
his  descendants  the  appellation  of  Egalite,  in- 
stead of  the  name  and  titles  of  his  family.    In 
the  Convention  he  voted  for  the  death  of  the 
king,  and  on  the  7th  of  April  following  he  was 
himself  arrested  and  committed   to  prison  at 
Marseilles,  with  other  members  of  his  family. 
Being  brought  before  the  criminal   tribunal  of 
the  department,  he  was  declared  innocent  of 
the  charges  of  conspiracy  against  the  govern- 
ment which  were  preferred  against  him  ;  but 
the  committee  of  public  safety  forbade  his  li- 
beration, and    after   six  months'  detention  lie 
was  transferred  to  Paris  to  undergo  a  new  trial. 
At  his  examination   he  defended  his  conduct 
with  calmness  and  address,  but  ineffectually  ; 
and   being  condemned  to  suffer  by  the  guillo- 
tine, he  submitted  to  his  fate  with  courage  and 
firmness.     lie    was  executed    November    6, 
1793. — Diet.  Hist.     Bing.  Univ. 

ORLEANS  (ANNE  MARY  LOUISA  of)  see 

MON'TPENSIER. 

ORLEANS  (CHARLOTTE  ELIZABETH,  du- 
chess of)  was  the  daughter  of  Charles  Louis, 
elector  of  Bavaria.  She  was  born  in  1652,  and 
in  1671  became  the  second  wife  of  the  brother 
of  Louis  XIV,  by  whom  she  was  the  mother  of 
the  regent,  duke  of  Orleans.  Her  person  was 
extremely  plain,  but  her  disposition  was  lively, 
and  she  possessed  talents  and  wit,  which  made 
her  a  favourite  with  the  king.  She  died  in 
1722.  Her  letters,  written  between  1715  and 
1720,  and  addressed  to  duke  Ulric  of  Bavaria, 
and  the  princess  of  Wales,  tend  to  elucidate 
the  history  of  thereign  of  Louis  XIV,  and  the 
regency  of  her  son,  as  well  as  the  manners  and 
characters  of  her  contemporaries.  They  were 
published  at  Paris  in  1788,  and  reprinted  in 
1807  ;  but  the  best  edition  is  that  of  M. 
Schubart,  Paris,  1823,  Qvo.—Dict.  Hist. 

ORLEANS  (PETER  JOSEPH  d')  a  Jesuit 
and  writer  of  history,  was  born  at  Bourges  in 
1641,  being  the  member  of  an  ancient  family 
in  the  province  of  Berry.  He  entered  into 
the  college  of  Jesuits  in  1659,  and  for  several 
years  taught  rhetoric  in  its  seminaries.  He 
cultivated  talents  for  the  pulpit,  but  more  par- 
ticularly attended  to  historical  composition. 
He  was  a  man  of  lively  parts  and  ingenious 
conversation  ;  but  his  writings  are  more  dis- 
tinguished for  imagination  anil  eloquence,  than 


work  by  which  he  is  most  known  is  his  "  His- 
toire  de  la  Revolution  de  1' Angleterre,"  3  vols. 
4to,  a  work  which  was  much  admired  in 
France,  and  which  has  even  found  admirers 
among  the  partizans  of  arbitrary  power  in 
Great  Britain.  English  history,  however,  is 
no  theme  for  a  Jesuit ;  and  as  a  proof  of  it, 
father  d'Orleans  regards  Magna  Charta,  with- 
out stating  its  contents,  as  the  root  of  all  po- 
litical dissensions  in  England.  His  next  con- 
siderable work  is  the  "  Histoire  des  Revolu- 
tions d'Espagne,"  of  which  he  wrote  about  a 
volume  and  a  half,  the  remainder,  completing 
three  volumes  4to,  being  executed  by  fathers 
Rouille  and  Brumoy.  His  other  works  are, 
"  Histoire  des  deux  Conquerants  Tartares, 
Chimchi  et  Camhi,  qui  ont  subjugue  la 
Chine,"  1689,  8vo ;  "Histoire  de  M.Con- 
stance, Premier  Ministre  du  Roi  de  Siam, 
&c."  1692,  12mo ;  "Sermons  et  Instructions 
Chretiennes,"  1696,  2  vols.  12mo;  and  the 
lives  of  PP.  Cottin  and  Ricci,  Lewis  de  Gon- 
zaga,  Mary  of  Savoy,  the  infanta  Isabelle,  and 
Stanislaus  Kotska. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

ORLOFF  (GREGORY)  one  of  the  favourites 
of  Catherine  II  of  Russia.     He  served  in  the 
artillery  under  the  empress  Elizabeth,  and  at 
length  became  aide-de-camp  to  general   Schu- 
valoff,  whose  mistress,  the  princess  Kurakin, 
preferring  him   to   the  general,  their  intrigue 
was  discovered,  and  Orloff  was  dismissed  from 
his  post,  and  narrowly  escaped  banishment  to 
Siberia.       Catherine,    then     grand    duchess, 
heard  of  the  affair,  saved  him  from  banish- 
ment, and  took  him  under  her  protection.     He 
had  a  principal  share  in  the  revolution  which 
placed   his   mistress   on  the  throne  of  Russia, 
after  which  he  was  made  grand  master  of  the 
artillery,  and  raised  to  the  first  dignities  in  the 
state.     His  ambition  prompted  him   to  aim  at 
sharing  the  throne  of  the  empress,  who  would 
have  submitted  to  a  private  marriage.  This  he 
imprudently  refused  to  accept,  in  consequence 
of  which  his  influence  declined,  and   he  was 
supplanted  by  anew  favourite.     He  was  then 
ordered  to  travel,  but  was  gratified  with  mag- 
nificent   presents,    and   received   the    title  of 
prince   of  the  German  empire,  which  Cathe- 
rine procured  for  him.     After  an  absence  of 
five  months  lie  returned,  hoping  to  recover  his 
former  influence   at  court,  but   he  was  disap- 
pointed.    He  resided  several  years  at  Peters- 
burgh,    and  then   made  a    tour  in   Germany, 
Italy,  and  France,  indulging   himself  in  the 
most    extravagant  luxury.     He  went    to   Pe- 
tersburgh  again  in  1782,  when  he  became  de- 
ranged, and  being  removed  to    Moscow,   he 


died  there  in  the  following  year.  He  had  by 
the  empress  one  son,  named  Bobrinski,  who 
was  educated  under  the  direction  of  his  mo- 
ther, but  he  showed  himself  unworthy  of  the 
cares  bestowed  ou  him. — ORLOFF  (ALEXIS) 
brother  of  the  preceding,  was  remarkable  for 
his  gigantic  stature  and  Herculean  strength. 
He  powerfully  assisted  the  measures  of  Gre- 
gory for  the  elevation  of  his  mistress  to  the 
throne,  and  is  said  with  his  own  hand  to  have 
strangled  the  emperor  iu  his  prison.  He  con- 


CRN 

tinued  to  serve  the  empress  with  great  zeal 
arid  fidelity,  and  was  employed  by  her  in  the 
army  and  n;lvy.  On  the  accession  of  Paul  I 
lie  was  disgraced,  and  banished  from  Russia. 
He  then  went  to  Germany,  and  resided  several 
years  at  Leipsic  ;  hut  after  the  death  of  Paul, 
he  returned  to  Moscow,  and  died  in  that  city 
in  January  1808. — Bwg.  Univ. 

ORLOFF  (count  GREGORY  VLADIMIRO- 
MITZ)  a  Russian  nobleman,  more  distinguished 
by  his  attachment  to  literature,  and  the  pa- 
tronage which  he  extended  to  it,  than  by  his 
rank  and  fortune.  He  was  born  in  1778,  and 
passed  the  earlier  part  of  his  life  in  his  native 
country,  till  the  delicate  state  of  his  health 
obliged  him  to  exchange  it  for  a  milder  cli- 
mate. He  therefore  repaired  to  Italy,  where 
lie  composed  his"  Memoires  Historiques,  Po- 
litiques,  et  Litteraires,  sur  le  Royaume  de 
Naples."  This  work,  which  comprehends 
the  entire  history  of  lower  Italy,  appeared  in 
1820,  and  was  succeeded  in  1822  by  his 
"  Histoire  des  Arts  en  Italie."  The  year  fol- 
lowing he  published  an  account  of  his  travels 
through  part  of  France.  His  other  produc- 
tions are  a  translation  of  KirlofFs  fables  from 
the  original  Russian  into  the  French  and  Ita- 
lian languages,  in  bringing  which  forward,  his 
munificence  rather  than  his  own  personal 
labour  was  the  principal  assistant.  In  1 826  he 
commenced  translating  Karamsin's  "  History 
of  Russia"  into  French,  but  his  decease  in  the 
July  of  that  year  prevented  his  completing  a 
task  which,  if  accomplished,  would  have  com- 
municated to  the  rest  of  Europe  that  respect  • 
able  proof  of  rising  Russian  literature. — Aim. 
Biog. 

ORME  (ROBERT)  a  distinguished  histo- 
rian, was  born  at  Anjengo  in  the  East  Indies  in 
1728,  and  was  educated  at  Harrow.  He  then 
obtained  a  civil  appointment  at  Calcutta,  and 
was  created  a  member  of  the  council  at  Fort 
St  George.  After  being  elected  commissary 
and  accountant  general  in  175:i,  he  embarked 
for  England  for  the  recovery  of  his  health  ; 
but  the  ship  in  which  he  sailed  being  captured 
by  the  French,  he  did  not  reach  his  destina- 
tion until  the  spring  of  1760.  The  first  vo- 
lume of  his  celebrated  work,  "  History  of  the 
Military  Transactions  of  the  British  Nation  in 
Indostan,  from  the  year  1745,"  appeared  in 
1763,  and  the  second  in  1778.  The  elegance 
and  perspicuity  of  the  narrative,  with  its  great 
fidelity  and  impartiality,  cause  the  author  to 
rank  with  the  best  historical  writers  of  his 
time.  He  also  published  "  Historical  Frag- 
ments of  the  Mogul  Empire  of  the  Mahrattas, 
and  of  the  English  Concerns  in  Indostan." 
Mr  Orme  was  at  the  same  time  an  elegant 
versifier,  and  possessed  of  a  fine  taste  for 
music  and  drawing.  He  died  in  1801. — Life 
prefixed  to  Fragments. 

"ORNITHOPAR1US,  a  German  author  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  who  wrote  on  the 
science  of  music  with  considerable  ingenuity 
and  humour,  as  well  as  a  thorough  acquaint- 
ance with  his  subject.  His  principal  work, 
"  Musicse  activse  Micrologus,"  Leipsic,  1517, 
the  first  ever  printed  in  Germany  on  the 


O  R  O 

sci'ence.  There  is  an  English  translation  of  it 
by  Dowlaud,  London,  1609. — Biog.  Diet,  of 
Music. 

OROBIO  (ISAAC)  or  BALTHASAR  DE 
CASTRO,  a  learned  Jew,  who  was  a  native 
of  Spain.  His  parents  professed  the  Catholic 
faith,  in  which  lie  also  was  educated,  and 
having  studied  the  scholastic  philosophy,  he 
was  appointed  professor  of  mathematics  in 
the  university  of  Salamanca.  He  afterwards 
became  a  medical  practitioner  at  Seville  ;  and 
being  secretly  attached  to  the  religion  of  his 
ancestors,  he  at  length  had  the  misfortune  to 
be  accused  before  the  inquisition  of  infidelity 
and  Judaism.  He  was  treated  with  all  the 
rigour  to  which  the  victims  of  the  holy  office 
were  usually  subjected  ;  but  three  years'  con- 
finement in  a  dark  dungeon,  with  the  repeated 
administration  of  torture,  not  producing  a  con- 
fession of  his  imputed  crime,  and  there  being 
no  direct  evidence  against  him,  he  was  at 
length  discharged,  and,  as  may  be  supposed,  he 
seized  the  earliest  opportunity  for  quitting  the 
Spanish  territories.  He  first  settled  at  Tou- 
louse in  France,  where  he  obtained  the  pro- 
fessorship of  medicine  ;  and  there  he  con- 
formed to  the  religion  of  the  country.  But 
being  after  a  time  desirous  to  enjoy  liberty  of 
conscience,  he  removed  to  Amsterdam,  relin- 
quished his  Christian  name,  Balthasar,  and 
submitting  to  the  distinguishing  rite  of  Ju- 
daism, took  that  of  Isaac,  and  conforming 
openly  to  the  law  of  Moses,  he  practised  as  a 
physician  with  great  reputation.  He  em- 
ployed his  pen  in  confuting  the  principles  of 
Spinosa  ;  but  the  friendly  controversy  which  he 
carried  on  with  Limborch,  relative  to  the  re- 
spective merits  of  Judaism  and  Christianity, 
has  chiefly  tended  to  maintain  his  literary  re- 
putation. It  ended,  as  such  disputes  usually 
do,  in  each  party  retaining  his  own  sentiments; 
but  the  papers  on  both  sides  were  afterwards 
published  by  Limborch.  The  death  of  Orobio 
took  place  in  1687. — Hutchinson's  Biog.  Med, 
Biog.  Univ. 

OROSIUS  (PAULUS)  a  Spanish  priest 
and  historian  of  the  fifth  century.  He  was  a 
native  of  Tarragona,  and  a  disciple  of  St  Au- 
gustin  ;  and  he  lived  in  the  time  of  the  empe- 
rors Arcadius  and  Honorius.  The  city  of 
Rome  having  been  taken  by  Alaric,  king  of 
the  Goths,  the  Pagans  attributed  that,  and  the 
other  misfortunes  which  had  befallen  the  em- 
pire, to  the  alteration  of  the  national  religion 
from  heathenism  to  Christianity.  It  was  to 
justify  the  Christians  from  this  reproach 
that  Orosius,  at  the  request  of  St  Augus- 
tin,  undertook  his  principal  work,  entitled 
"  Hormesta,"  in  which  he  exhibits  a  view  of 
the  most  important  events  from  the  creation  of 
the  world  to  his  own  time,  in  order  to  show 
that  great  calamities  had  happened  in  every 
age,  and  that  the  Roman  empire  had  not  been 
more  exempt  from  them  at  any  other  period 
than  since  the  birth  of  Christ.  This  treatise 
forms  a  kind  of  general  chronicle,  or  universal 
history,  divided  into  seven  books.  The  author 
lias  fallen  into  some  important  mistakes,  es- 
pecially in  point  of  chronology,  notwithstand- 


OUT 

ing  which  his  work  became  exceedingly  popu- 
lar in  the  middle  ages,  and  it  was  translated 
into  Anglo-Saxon,  and  commented  on  by  king 
Alfred.  Orosius  wrote  also  against  the  heresy 
of  Pelagius,  and  on  other  theological  topics. 
The  best  edition  of  his  history  is  that  of  Haver- 
camp,  Lugd.  Bat.  1738,  4to. — Dupin  Bibl.  des 
Aut.  Eccles.  Biog.  Univ. 

ORPHEUS,  a  name  celebrated  in  Grecian 
mythology,  by  some  asserted  to  have  been  a 
poet,  musician,  and  philosopher  of  Thrace, 
while  Aristotle,  from  the  manifestly  fabulous 
accounts  connected  with  his  history,  has  gone 
so  far  as  to  deny  his  existence  altogether.  He 
is  said  to  have  been  the  son  of  ..Eager,  and  the 
chief  founder  of  allegorical  theology  among  the 
Greeks,  as  well  as,  according  to  Suidas,  of  the 
religious  ceremonies,  called,  from  the  country 
which  gave  him  birth,  "  Threskeia."  The  asra 
in  which  he  flourished  is  generally  placed 
before  that  of  the  Trojan  war  ;  and  although 
the  ancient  verses  which  go  under  his  name 
are  manifestly  the  productions  of  a  later 
age,  yet,  if  we  believe  Plato,  Isocrates,  and 
Diodorus  Siculus,  there  seems  to  be  no  cause 
for  doubting  his  existence.  The  addition  of 
three  strings  to  the  lyre,  and  the  invention  of 
hexameter  Terse,  have  been  attributed  to  him. 
He  was  also  skilled  in  medicine,  which  cir- 
cumstance is  thought  to  explain  the  fable  of 
his  recalling  his  wife  Eurydice  from  hell.  His 
death  is  variously  related,  but  it  is  usually 
said  to  have  proceeded  from  the  hands  of  his 
infuriated  countrywomen. — Brucker.  Rees's 
Encijclop. 

O'RSARTO  (SERTORIO)  Lat.  Ursatus,  an 
eminent  antiquary,  was  born  at  Padua  in  1617, 
and  became  professor  of  natural  philosophy  in 
the  university  of  that  city.  He  died  in  1678. 
His  works  are  numerous  and  esteemed  :  the 
principal  are,  "  A  History  of  Padua,"  in  Ita- 
lian, 1678,  fol  ;  "  Prrenomina,  Cognomina,  et 
Agnomina  antiquorum  Romanorum  ;"  "  Deo- 
rum,  Dearumque  Nomina  et  Attributa;"  "  Mo- 
numenta  Patavina  ;"  "  Commentariusde  notis 
Romanorum  ;"  "  Cronologia  di  Reggimenti 
di  Padova  ;"  "Poems  and  Orations  ;"  and 
"  Marmi  eruditi." — Tiraboschi.  Kouv.  Diet. 
Hist. 

ORSI  (FRANCIS  JOSEPH  AUGUSTINE)  an 
eminent  cardinal,  was  born  in  Tuscany  in  1692. 
He  entered  the  Dominican  order,  and  was  ap- 
pointed theological  professor.  He  was  after- 
wards made  master  of  the  sacred  palace,  and 
after  receiving  various  promotions,  in  1769  he 
was  raised  to  the  purple.  He  was  the  author 
of  "  Infallibilitas  act  Rom.  Pout."  1741  ;  and 
"  An  Ecclesiastical  History  of  the  first  six  Cen- 
turies." He  died  in  1761. — There  was  also 
another  ORSI  (JOHN  JOSEPH)  an  Italian  gram- 
marian and  poet,  who  was  born  at  Bologna  in 
1652,  and  died  in  1733.  He  left  several  sonnets, 
pastorals,  and  poetical  pieces ;  but  his  prin- 
cipal work  is  his  «'  Thoughts"  on  Bouhourr's 
"  Maniere  de  Penser,"  Modena,  1735,  2  vols. 
4to. — Fabroni. 

ORTELIUS  (ABRAHAM)  an  eminent  anti- 
quary and  geographer  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. He  was  a  native  of  Antwerp,  and  was 


OR  V 

acquainted  with  Camden,  whom  he  visited  in 
the  course  of  his  travels  in  England.  He  was 
|  particularly  skilled  in  mathematical  science, 
and  was  one  of  the  earliest  writers  among  the 
moderns  who  elucidated  the  geography  of  for- 
mer ages.  On  his  return  to  the  Netherlands, 
he  became  cosmographer  to  the  king  of  Spain. 
His  death  took  place  June  26,  1598,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-one.  He  was  the  author  of 
"  Synonyma  Geographica,"  Antwerp,  1578, 
4to  ;  "  Thesaurus,  sive  Lexicon  Geograph." 
1596,  4to  ;  "  Deorum,  Dearumq  capita,  ex 
Numismatibus,"  4to  ;  "  Itinerarium  per  non- 
nulas  Belgise  partes  ;"  and  "  Germanorum 
veterurn  vita,  mores,  et  religio,  cum  Iconibus," 
1596,  4to. — Moreri.  Biog.  Univ. 

ORTON  (Jos)  an  eminent  nonconformist 
divine,  was  born  at  Shrewsbury  in  ]717.  He 
was  educated  at  the  free-school  of  his  native 
place,  and  was  afterwards  placed  under  the 
care  of  Dr  Doddridge,  whose  assistant  he  be- 
came. He  preached  occasionally  in  several 
congregations  in  Northamptonshire  until  1741, 
when  he  became  minister  of  the  united  inde- 
pendent and  presbyterian  congregations  at 
Shrewsbury.  In  1765,  his  health  being  in  a  very 
delicate  state,  he  was  obliged  to  retire  from 
his  public  duties.  He  fixed  his  residence  at 
Kidderminster,  where  he  passed  his  time  in 
literary  occupations  until  his  death,  which  hap- 
pened in  1783.  Mr  Orton  received  the  degree 
of  doctor  in  divinity  several  years  previous  to 
his  death  ;  but  he  never  would  be  addressed 
by  that  title,  or  prefix  it  to  any  of  his  writings. 
His  works  are  very  numerous,  and  are  written 
in  a  fervent  energetic  style,  and  in  a  spirit  of 
strict  piety  and  morality.  The  principal  are 
these:  "  Memoirs  of  Dr  Doddridge  ;"  "  Chris- 
tian Zeal,  three  Discourses;"  "  Discourses  on 
Eternity;"  "  Religious  Exercises  ;"  "Chris- 
tian Worship,  three  Discourses  ;"  "  Sacra- 
mental Meditations;"  "  Summary  of  doctri- 
nal and  practical  Religion  ;"  "  Exposition  of 
the  Old  Testament ;"  "  Discourses  to  the 
Aged  ;"  "  Letters  to  a  young  Clergyman," 
&c. — Bing.  Brit. 

ORVILLE  (JAMES  PHILIP  d')  an  eminent 
writer  on  classical  literature,  of  French  extrac- 
tion, but  born  at  Amsterdam  in  1696.  He 
pursued  his  studies  at  the  university  of  Lev- 
den,  where  in  1721  he  took  the  degree  of 
LL.D.  Having,  however,  renounced  his  de- 
sign of  becoming  an  advocate,  and  determined 
to  devote  himself  to  the  belles  lettres,  he  tra- 
velled in  England,  Italy,  France,  and  Ger- 
many, visiting  every  where  the  public  libra- 
ries, cabinets  of  medals  and  antiquities,  and 
forming  an  acquaintance  with  the  most  cele- 
brated classical  scholars  of  the  age.  On  his 
return  to  Holland,  about  1730,  he  obtained 
the  chair  of  history,  rhetoric,  and  Greek  lite- 
rature at  Amsterdam,  which  he  occupied  till 
1742,  when  he  gave  in  his  resignation,  still 
however  preserving  the  titles  and  honours  of 
the  office.  He  died  September  14,  1751.  Plis 
works  are,  "  Miscellanes  Observations  Cri- 
ticae  nova?,"  carried  on  periodically  in  con- 
junction with  Buiman  ;  "  Critica  Vannus  in 
inanes  Jo.  Cora.  Pavonis  paleas,"  1737,  a 


OSI 

satirical  treatise  against  M.  de  Pauw,  of 
Utrecht;  an  edition  of  the  Greek  romance  of 
Charitou,  with  a  learned  commentary,  1750  ; 
4to  ;  and  Observations  on  Sicily,  published 
after  the  death  of  the  author  by  Burman,  under 
the  tile  of"  Sicula,"  1764,  folio. — Diet.  Hist. 
Biog.  I'nir. 

OSBERN  or  OSBEHT,  a  Benedictine 
monk  of  Canterbury,  who  flourished  about 
1070.  Trithemius  says  he  was  learned  in 
the  Scriptures,  deeply  skilled  in  music, 
and  eminent  for  his  knowledge  and  elo- 
quence. He  wrote  on  sacred  and  prophane 
literature,  and  among  the  various  subjects  of 
which  he  treated  was  music  ;  but  he  is  chiefly 
known  at  present  as  the  author  of  a  life  of  St 
Dunstan,  into  which  Osbern,  in  compliance 
•with  the  taste  of  his  age,  has  introduced  a 
number  of  legendary  tales,  doubtless  designed 
to  do  honour  to  his  hero,  but  which  have  bad 
the  effect  of  ruining  his  own  credit  as  a  bio- 
grapher. This  work  has  been  published  in 
Wharton's  Anglia  Sacra. — Trithem.  de  Script. 
Eccles.  Fuller's  Worthies. 

OSIANDER  (AN DREW)  an  eminent  divine, 
was  born  in  Bavaria  in  1498,  and  began  to 
preach  at  Nuremburg  in  1522.  He  was  one 
of  the  promoters  of  the  reformation  ;  but 
finally  by  his  peculiar  doctrines,  he  became 
the  cause  of  great  disturbances  in  the  Luthe- 
ran churches.  At  the  conference  of  Marpurg 
iu  1529,  between  Luther  and  the  Swiss  divines, 
he  maintained  his  opinion,  "  that  a  man  is 
justified  formally,  not  by  the  faith  and  appre- 
hension of  the  justice  of  Jesus  Christ,  or  the 
imputation  of  his  justice  according  to  the  opi- 
nion of  Luther  and  Calvin  ;  but  by  the  essen- 
tial justice  of  God."  He  then  drew  up  a 
coufession  of  faith,  which  was  printed  by  order 
of  the  margrave  of  Brandenburg,  but  highly 
disapproved  of  by  the  Lutherans.  He  was  a 
studious  and  acute  divine,  but  much  disliked 
for  his  arrogance  and  the  insolent  manner  in 
which  he  treated  the  aged  Melancthou.  His 
works  are,  "  Harmonia  Evangelica  ;"  "  Liber 
de  Imagine  Dei  quid  sit ;"  "  Epistola  ad 
Zuinglium  de  Eucharista  ;"  "  Dissertationes 
duae  de  Lege  et  Evangelio  et  Justificatione." 
He  died  suddenly  at  Konigsberg,  where  he 
was  minister  and  professor  in  1552. — His  son, 
LUKE,  was  a  Lutheran  divine,  and  wrote  an 
institution  of  the  Christian  religion,  &c.  He 
died  at  Tubingen  in  1604. — Another,  LUKE 
OSIANDEH,  was  chancellor  of  Tubingen,  and 
died  in  1638.  He  was  the  author  of  a  trea- 
tise "  On  the  Omnipresence  of  Christ  as 
Man." — ANDREW  OSIANDER,  grandson  of  the 
preceding  Andrew,  was  preacher  and  a  coun- 
sellor to  prince  Louis  of  VVirtemberg,  and  was 
the  editor  of  "  Bililica  Sacra  Latine  vulgata," 
and  other  works.  He  died  in  1617. — There 
was  also  a  JOHN  ADAM  OSIANDER,  another 
Lutheran  divine,  and  professor  and  provost  of 
the  university  of  Tuhingen,  where  he  died  in 
J697.  He  wrote  "  Commentarius  in  Peuta- 
teuchem,"  5  vols.  folio;  Commentaries  on 
Joshua,  Judges,  Ruth,  and  Samuel,  3  vols. 
folio  ;  and  "  Disputationes  Academicae  iu 
praecipus  et  maxima  coutroversa  Novi  Testa- 


GSM 

menta  Loca,"  &c. — Melchior  Adam.     Duptn> 
Moreri. 

OSIUS  or  OSIO  (FELIX)  a  celebrated 
writer,  was  born  at  Milan  in  1587.  He  be- 
came professor  of  rhetoric  at  Padua,  where  he 
died  in  1631.  His  works  are,  "  Tractatus  de 
Sepulchris  et  Epitaphiis  Ethnicorum  et  Chris- 
tianorum  ;"  "  Elogia  Scriptorum  illustrium  ;" 
"  Romano-Grsecia  ;"  "  Oratioues  ;"  "  Epis- 
tolarum  Libri  duo  ;"  "  Notes  and  Corrections 
to  the  History  of  the  age  of  Frederic  Bar- 
barossa,"  written  by  Morenas,  in  torn.  iii.  of 
the  Thesaurus  Italia;,  and  to  Albert  Mus- 
sato's  "  History  of  the  Emperor  Henry  VII," 
Venice,  1635,  folio  ;  "  A  Collection  of  Au- 
thors of  the  History  of  Padua." — His  brother, 
TIIEODOSIUS  Osius,  also  wrote  several  tracts. — 
Saxii  Onomast.  Hist.  Diet,  de  L'Adrocat. 

OSMAN  BEY  (NEMSEY)  a  noble  Hunga- 
rian, who  entered  into  the  army,  and  obtained 
the  rank  of  colonel  in  the  Austrian  service. 
Having  been  accused  of  robbing  the  regimen- 
tal chest,  he  endeavoured  to  justify  himself  at 
the  expense  of  the  paymaster,  who  had  disap- 
peared. His  defence  not  appearing  satisfac- 
tory to  the  emperor,  Joseph  II,  he  was  de- 
prived of  his  commission  and  imprisoned.  In 
about  a  year  after  he  was  liberated  ;  but  not 
being  able  to  obtain  the  restoration  of  his  rank, 
he  determined  to  go  to  Constantinople  and  turn 
Mahometan.  He  arrived  there  in  1779,  and 
his  intention  being  made  known  to  the  Aus- 
trian E.mbassador,  baron  Herbert  Rathkeal,  he 
endeavoured  to  persuade  the  intended  renegade 
from  fulfilling  his  purpose ;  but  in  vaic,  for 
he  made  profession  of  the  Moslem  faith,  and 
received  from  the  grand  seignor  a  pension  of 
five  or  six  thousand  francs,  with  an  estate  in 
Magnesia,  iu  Asia  Minor.  Osman  Bey  pos- 
sessed a  taste  for  the  fine  arts,  and  for  the  stu- 
dy of  archaeology  and  numismatics.  He  had 
brought  from  Germany  a  collection  of  ancient 
medals,  to  which  his  new  situation  enabled 
him  to  make  considerable  additions.  He  had 
continued  thus  to  employ  himself  for  some 
years,  when  he  was  murdered  by  two  of  his 
servants,  who  robbed  him  of  a  considerable  sum 
of  money  which  he  had  recently  received.  His 
property  was,  as  usual,  seized  by  the  Turkish 
government ;  and  his  medals,  being  sold,  were 
ultimately  lodged  in  the  cabinet  of  the  king  of 
Bavaria  at  Munich.  Osman  was  considered 
in  the  Levant  as  a  manufacturer  of  false  me- 
dals, of  which  description  were  many  of  those 
!  in  his  collection.  His  murder  happened  in 
1785. — Biog.  Univ. 

OSMOND  or  OSMUND  (Sx)  bishop  of 
Salisbury  in  the  eleventh  century.  He  was 
the  son  of  the  count  of  Sees,  and  in  1066  he 
accompanied  William  the  Norman  to  England. 
That  prince  made  him  earl  of  Dorset,  coun- 
sellor of  state,  and  chancellor  of  England- 
He  had  not  only  acquired  military  renown  in 
the  early  part  of  his  life,  but  had  also  distin- 
guished himself  by  his  learning,  to  which, 
and  to  the  duties  of  religion,  he  at  length  de- 
termined to  devote  himself.  Having  taken 
holy  orders,  he  was,  in  1078,  made  bishop  of 
Sarum,  where  he  remained  till  his  death  in 


OSS 

1099.  St  Osmond  erected  a  cathedral  at  Old  j 
Sarum,  in  which  he  was  interred,  but  his  ] 
ashes  were  afterwards  taken  up  and  enshrined. 
His  canonization  took  place  in  1458.  He, 
composed  religious  offices,  which  were  subse- 
quently interpolated  with  Apocryphal  le- 
gends; but  his  Missal,  or  service-book,  for 
the  use  of  his  cathedral,  is  the  production 
which  has  principally  contributed  to  preserve 
his  name  from  oblivion.  It  became  at  length 
the  most  popular  manual  of  public  devotion 
among  Hie  English  clergy,  and  prayer-books, 
"  Secundum  usum  Sarum,"  were  adopted  for 
the  service  of  churches  in  general. — Biog. 
I  niv. 

OSORIO  (JEROME)  a  Portuguese  divine 
and  historian,  who  was  a  native  of  Lisbon.  He 
studied  at  Paris  and  Bologna,  and  on  his  re- 
turn to  Portugal  he  became  professor  of  theo- 
logy at  the  university  of  Coimbra.  Having 
taken  holy  orders,  he  was  at  length  made  bishop 
of  Silva,  in  which  station  he  distinguished 
himself  by  his  virtue  and  patriotism,  as 
well  as  by  his  learning.  The  troubles  which 
took  place  in  Portugal,  after  the  death  of  king 
Sebastian,  who  is  supposed  to  have  perished 
in  fighting  against  the  Moors  in  Africa  in  1578, 
deeply  afflicted  Osorio,  who  died  at  Tavila, 
August  20,  1580,  aged  seventy-four.  Among 
his  works  are  treatises,  "  De  Nobilitate  Ci- 
vili;"  "  De  Nobilitate  Christiana;"  "  De 
Regis  Institutione  ;"  and  "  De  Rebus  Em- 
manuelis  Regis  Lusitania;  virtute  et  auspicio 
gestis  ;"  which,  together  with  several  others, 
were  published  at  Rome  in  four  volumes  folio, 
by  his  nephew,  Jerome  Osorio,  canon  of 
Evova. — Teissier  Eloses  das  H.  S.  Bio°-.  Univ. 

O  O 

OSSAT  (AKNAUD  d')  an  eminent  cardinal, 
was  born  of  humble  parents  at  Cassagnabere, 
a  village  near  Audi,  in  1536.  He  became  tu- 
tor to  some  young  noblemen,  whom  he  accom- 
panied to  Paris,  where  he  applied  himself  zea- 
lously to  his  own  improvement.  After  study- 
ing the  law,  he  practised  at  the  bar,  and  was 
much  admired  for  his  eloquence.  When  Paul 
de  Foix,  archbishop  of  Toulouse,  was  nomi- 
nated by  Henry  III  ambassador  to  the  court  of 
Rome,  he  carried  d'Ossat  with  him  as  his  se- 
cretary; who,  after  the  death  of  that  prelate 
in  1584,  took  holy  orders,  and  was  received 
into  the  house,  of  the  cardinal  d'Este.  He  was 
afterwards  made  charge-d'affaires  for  the 
French  court,  and  in  that  capacity  he  was 
greatly  instrumental  in  reconciling  Henry  IV 
with  the  see  of  Rome,  for  which  he  was  re- 
warded first  with  the  bishopric  of  Rennes,  and 
afterwards  with  a  cardinal's  hat  and  the  see  of 
Bayeux.  He  died  in  1604.  He  was  a  man 
of  great  penetration  and  prudence,  and  though 
a  profound  politician,  he  was  an  honest  man. 
He  wrote  a  work  in  defence  of  Ramus,  whose 
disciple  he  was,  entitled,  "  Expositio  Arnoldi 
Ossati  in  Disputationem  Jacobi  Carpentarii  de 
Methodo."  His  letters,  relative  to  the  nego- 
ciations  in  which  he  was  employed,  were  pub- 
lished by  Amelot  de  la  Houssaye,  Paris,1678, 
2  vols.  4to,  and  5  vols.  I2mo. — Mom-;.  Nouv. 
Diet.  Hist. 

OSSIAN,  a  Gaelic  bard,    supposed  to  have 
Bioc.  DICT. — VOL.  II, 


Obi  T 

lived  in  the  third  century,  and  to  have  been 
the  son  of  Fingal,  a  Caledonian  chief,  whom 
lie  accompanied  in  various  military  expedi- 
tions. Some  epic  poems,  and  other  pieces, 
ascribed  to  Ossian,  were  published  in  a  pro- 
fessed English  version  in  prose,  hy  James 
Macpherson,  in  1762,  and  subsequently  ;  and 
a  warm  and  protracted  controversy  took  place 
relative  to  their  authenticity.  In  1781,  Mr 
W.  Shaw,  author  of  a  Gaelic  grammar  and 
dictionary,  published  "  An  Enquiry  into  the 
Authenticity  of  the  Poems  ascribed  to  Ossian  ;" 
and  he  was  answered  by  Mr.  John  Clarke,  a 
member  of  the  society  of  Scottish  antiquaries, 
and  a  translator  of  Caledonian  poetry.  More 
recently,  Malcolm  Laing  attacked  the  credit 
of  the  Ossianic  poetry,  and  was  opposed  by 
Mr  Archibald  Macdonald  and  Dr  Patrick 
Graham.  Further  information  on  the  subject 
may  be  fou-nd  in  the  Report  of  the  Highland 
society,  published  by  Henry  Mackenzie,  esq., 
and  in  the  pieces  attached  to  the  Gaelic  poems, 
published  as  the  originals  of  Ossian,  with  a 
literal  Latin  version,  by  Robert  Macfarlan, 
A.M.  3  vols.  8vo. — Orig. 

OSTADE  (ADRIAN  van)  a  Dutch  painter, 
was  born    at  Lubeck  in  1610,    and   studied 
under  Francis  Hals.     His  pictures  are  charac- 
terized   by  an  exact   imitation  of  nature,  and 
his    admirable     representations    of   subjects, 
which   in   other    hands   would  only  have  dis- 
gusted us.     They  usually  consist  of  the  inte- 
riors of  alehouses  or  kitchens,  with  Dutch  pea- 
sants  smoking,   quarrelling,  or  drinking  ;  but 
he  throws  such  expression  into  the   heads  of 
his  characters,  that  their  vulgarity  is  lost  in 
our  admiration  of  their  truth  and  animation. 
His  colouring  is  rich  and  clear,  his  touch  spi- 
rited and  free,  and  all    his  works   are  highly 
finished.     On    the    approach    of   the    French 
troops  in  1662,  Ostade  sold  all  his  pictures  and 
effects  in  order  to  return  to  Lubeck  ;  but  at 
Amsterdam  his  fears  being  overcome,  he  was 
prevailed  upon  to  remain  there,  and  he  prac- 
tised his  profession  with  great  reputation  until 
his  death,  which  took  place  in  1685. — ISAAC 
van  OSTADE,  his  brother  and  scholar,  was  born 
at  Lubeck  about  1617.     His  earliest   pictures, 
which  he  painted  in  imitation  of  his  brother, 
were  greatly  inferior,  but  he  afterwards  adopt- 
ed a  style  of  his  own,  in  which   he  was  suc- 
cessful ;  and  he  was  often  solicited  by  contem- 
porary landscape  painters  to  add  his  figures  to 
their  pieces.     He  died  young. — D'Argenville. 
Pilkington.     Bryan's  Diet,  of  Paint,  and  E>ig. 
OSTERVALD  (JOHN  FREDERIC)  a  Swiss 
Protestant  divine,  was  born  at  Neufchatel  in 
1663,   and   became  pastor  of  the    church   in 
that  place  in  1699.     He  died  in   1747.     His 
works  are,  "  A  Treatise  concerning  tke  Causes 
of  the  present   Corruption  of  Christians,  and 
their  Remedies,"  8vo ;  "A  Discourse  against 
the  Sin  of  Uncleanness  ;"   "  An  Abridgment 
of  the  Sacred  History  ;"  "  Ethica  Christiana ;" 
"  Theologias  Compendium  ;"   "  A  Treatise  on 
the  Sacred  Ministry  ;"   "A  Catechism;"  &c. 
M.  Ostervald  also  published  an  edition  of  the 
Geneva  French  version  of  "  The  Holy  Bible," 
with    arguments    and    reflections. — His  SOBS 
2  P 


OS  Y 

JOHN  TloDOi.pn  OSTF.R  VALD,  was  pastor  of 
the  French  church  at  Basil,  and  wrote  a  much 
esteemed  treatise,  entitle. 1,  "  The  Duties  of 
Communicants." — Xouu.  Dirt.  ///'•'. 

OSTERWICK(MARTA  van)  a  celebrated 
paintress  of  flowers  and  fruit,  born  at  Noot- 
dorp,  a  small  town  near  Delt't,  in  16.50.  She 
was  the  pupil  of  John  David  de  Heem,  the 
most  celebrated  flower  painter  of  his  time. 
II' T  pictures  were  admitted  into  the  choicest 
collections  :  the  emperor  Leopold  commanded 
her  to  paint  one  for  his  gallery,  with  which  he 
was  so  much  pleased,  that  he  gave  her  the 
portraits  of  himself  and  his  empress,  set  with 
diamonds.  She  was  also  distinguished  by 
William  ill,  and  Louis  XIV.  Maria  van  Os- 
terwick  is  ranked  among  the  most  celebrated 
flower  painters  ;  her  colouring  is  clear  and 
transparent,  and  finishing  exquisite.  She 
di«d,  unmarried,  in  1693.  Her  pictures  are 
extremely  scarce  and  valuable. — Bryan's  Diet. 
<>/'  I'dint.  and  Eng. 

OSWALD  (Joiix)  a  native  of  Scotland, 
who  displayed  an  early  inclination  for  litera- 
ture, but  entering  into  the  army,  was  sent  to 
the  East  Indies  as  a  lieutenant  in  a  regiment 
of  foot.  He  returned  to  England  in  1783, 
and  having  attained  a  knowledge  of  Latin  and 
Greek  without  the  assistance  of  a  master,  he 
made  himself  acquainted  with  the  Arabic 
also,  during  his  residence  in  the  East.  He 
distinguished  himself  by  some  singularities  of 

O  *  . 

behaviour,  among  which  was  a  partiality  for 
the  opinions  of  the  Brahmins,  whom  he  imi- 
tated in  abstaiuing  from  animal  food.  In  1786 
he  published  a  burlesque  piece,  entitled, 
"  Ranae  Comica:  Evangelizantes  ;  or,  the  Co- 
mic Frogs  tuined  Methodists  ;"  and  this  was 
followed  by  "  The  alarming  Progress  of 
French  Politics,"  occasioned  by  the  treaty  of 
commerce  with  France  in  1787;  "  Eupiiro- 
syne,  an  Ode  to  Beauty,"  1788  ;  and  "  Poems, 
with  the  Humours  of  John  Bull,  an  operatical 
farce,"  under  the  pseudonym  of  Sylvester  Ot- 
way,  1789.  On  the  occurrence  of  the  revolu- 
tion in  France,  Oswald  went  thither,  and  ob- 
tained the  rank  of  colonel  under  the  repub- 
lican government.  He  was  at  length  killed  in 
battle. —  Redhead  Yorhe's  Letters  from  France. 
Biog.  Nnuv.  des  Contemp. 

OSYMANDYAS,  an  ancient  king  Of 
Egypt,  celebrated  for  his  conquests  and  for 
the  magnificent  monuments  attributed  to  him 
by  the  historian  Diodorus  Siculus.  lie  is  sup- 
posed to  be  the  same  monarch  who  is  styled, 
by  Strabo,  Ismandes,  who  was  also  called 
Memnon.  To  this  prince,  the  vocal  statue, 
(the  remains  of  which  still  exist  in  the  ruins 
of  ancient  Thebes, )  is  supposed  to  have  been 
dedicated.  The  palace  he  erected  at  Thebes 
is  said  to  have  contained  a  library,  which  is 
the  earliest  mentioned  in  history.  He  also 
built  a  sepulchral  monument,  surmounted  by  a 
golden  circle  marked  with  astronomical  divi- 
sions, reported,  by  Diodorus,  to  have  been 
taken  away  by  Cambysea,  king  of  Persia, 
when  he  conquered  Egypt.  Osymandyas  is 
conjectured  to  have  reigned  3,000  years  be- 
fore the  beginning  of  the  Christian  acva. 


O  T  T 

— Reimman.  Idea,  autiq.  lilerattir.  JEgv]>t. 
Marshami  Canon.  Citron.  .'Egypt.  Biog. 
Univ. 

OTFRID,  the  author  of  one  of  the  earliest 
specimens  of  composition  in  the  German  lan- 
guage, lie  was  a  native  of  S  \vabia,  and  lived 
i:i  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century.  After 
having  become  a  monk  of  the  abbey  of  Weis- 
:-''ir,urg,  in  Alsace,  he  studied  under  Rabanus 
Maurus,  abbot  of  Fulda  ;  he  then  returned  to 
his  monastery,  where  he  opened  a  school  of 
literature,  and  wrote  a  variety  of  works  in 
prose  and  verse.  The  most  important  of  these 
is  a  version,  or  paraphrase,  of  the  Gospels,  in 
Allemanish  rhyme,  still  extant,  in  which  some 
passages  of  lyrical  poetry  occur,  especially 
one,  where  the  cloistered  bard  expresses  a 
longing  for  his  native  home.  Scherz  has 
published  this  work,  with  a  Latin  translation, 
in  his  edition  of  Schiller's  Thesaurus  Anti- 
quitatum  Teutonicarum. — Trithem.  de  Script. 
Eccles.  Biog.  Univ.  Loud.  Ma&.  vol.  iii. 

OTHER,  OHTHERE,  or  OTTAR,  a  Nor- 
wegian traveller  of  the  ninth  century.  He 
resided  at  the  extremity  of  the  inhabited  part 
of  Norway,  and  was  engaged  in  the  seal  and 
whale  fisheries.  At  length,  probably  in  the 
prosecution  of  a  mercantile  adventure,  he 
made  a  voyage  to  England,  where  he  became 
known  to  king  Alfred  the  Great,  who  took 
him  into  his  service.  To  that  prince  he  com- 
municated an  account  of  two  voyages  in  which 
he  had  been  engaged  in  the  Arctic  seas,  af- 
fording the  earliest  information  extant  relative 
to  the  north  of  P^urope  ;  and  the  narrative  of 
Other,  together  with  that  of  Wulfstan,  ano- 
ther traveller,  were  inserted  by  Alfred  in  his 
Anglo-Saxon  version  of  Orosius.  An  account 
of  the  voyages  of  Other  was  published  by 
Hakluyt  and  Purchas,  and  moie  recently  in 
Daines  Barrington's  edition  of  the  Sa\on  Oro- 
sius. The  work  has  also  occupied  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Danish  literati. — Turner's  Hist,  of 
the  Antr/O'Saxons. — Biog.  Unit-. 

OTIIO,  or  OTTO,  of  Freisingen,  a  German 
ecclesiastic  and  historian  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury. He  was  the  son  of  Leopold,  marquis 
of  Austria,  and  is  said  to  have  been  equally 
illustrious  for  his  birth,  his  learning,  and  his 
piety.  After  studying  at  the  college  of  Neu- 
burg,  which  was  founded  by  his  father,  he 
went  and  completed  his  education  at  the  uni- 
versity of  Paris.  He  then  entered  into  the 
monastic  order  of  the  Cistercians,  in  the  con- 
vent of  Morimond  in  Burgundy,  of  which  he 
became  abbot.  Having  afterwards  been  elec- 
ted bishop  of  Freisingen,  in  Bavaria,  lie  re- 
turned to  Germany  ;  but  in  11  13  he  followed 
the  emperor  Conrad  in  an  expedition  to  the 
Holy  Land.  The  latter  part  of  his  life  was 
passed  in  seclusion  at  the  monastery  of  Alori- 
mond,  where  lie  died  in  lloS.  Otho  com- 
posed a  Chronicle,  or  general  history,  from 
the  creation  to  AD.  1146  ;  and  also  a  life  of 
the  t-mperor  Frederic  Barbarossa,  in  two 
books,  which  last  work  was  continued  by  Rad- 
wic.  .1  canon  of  Freisingen. — Diet.  Hist. 

OTT  (JoiiN  HENRY)  a  Swiss  divine,  was 
born  at  Zurich  in  1617.  He  received  a  liber ' 


O  T  T 

education  at  several  universities,  and  then  tra- 
velled into  England  and  France.  Upon  his 
return  to  Switzerland,  he  was  presented  to  the 
living  of  Dietlicken.  In  1651  he  was  ap- 
pointed professor  of  eloquence  at  Zurich  ;  in 
163.5,  of  Hebrew  ;  and  in  1668,  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal history.  He  died  in  1682,  leaving  be- 
hind him  numerous  works,  which  are  esteemed 
for  their  erudition.  The  principal  are,  "An- 
nals relating  to  the  History  of  the  Anabap- 
tists ;"  "On  the  Grandeur  of  the  Church  of 
Home  ;"  "  A  Latin  Discourse  in  favour  of  the 
Study  of  the  Hebrew  Language  ;"  "  A  Latin 
Treatise  on  Alphabets,  and  the  Manner  of 
Writing  in  all  Nations." — His  son,  JOHN  BAP- 
TIST OTT,  was  born  in  1661,  and  acquired  ce- 
lebrity by  his  knowledge  of  the  Oriental  lan- 
guages and  antiquities.  He  was  pastor  of  a 
church  at  Zollicken,  and  professor  of  Hebrew 
at  Zurich  ;  and  in  171.5  he  was  promoted  to 
the  archdeaconry  of  the  cathedral  in  that  city. 
He  was  the  author  of  "  A  Dissertation  on 
Vows ;"  "  A  Letter  on  Samaritan  Medals, 
addressed  to  Adrian  lleland  ;"  a  treatise  "On 
the  Manuscripts  and  Printed  Versions  of  the 
Bible  before  the  sera  of  the  Reformation  ;" 
"  A  Disquisition  on  certain  Antiquities  disco- 
vered at  Klothen  in  1724." — Moreri.  L'Ad- 
vocat's  Diet.  Hist,  et  Eil/t.  portatif. 

OTTO,  count  deMosloy,  (LouisWiLLiAw) 
an  eminent  French  diplomatist,  born  in  1754, 
in  the  duchy  of  Baden,  and  educated  at  the 
university  of  Strasburg.  In  1777  he  was  ap- 
pointed secretary  of  legation  to  the  French 
embassy  in  Bavaria;  and  the  ambassador,  M. 
de  la  Luzerne,  being  appointed  minister- pleni- 
potentiary to  the  United  States  of  America  in 
1779,  took  with  him  M.  Otto,  who  remained 
there  as  secretary  and  charge- d'affaires  till 
1792.  He  was  then  employed  by  the  com- 
mittee of  public  safety  in  the  foreign  depart- 
ment of  the  state  ;  but  oi\  the  fall  of  the  Gi- 
rondists, shortly  after,  he  was  sent  to  the  Lux- 
embourg prison,  where  he  remained  till  the 
revolution  of  the  9th  of  Thermidor.  He  then 
lived  in  retirement  near  Lagny  till  1798,  when 
he  went  to  Berlin  as  secretary  to  the  ambas- 
sador, the  abbe  Sieyes.  In  1800  he  was  sent  to 
England  to  treat  for  an  exchange  of  prisoners, 
and  he  subsequently  exercised  the  functions  of 
minister-plenipotentiary  till  the  peace  of 
Amiens,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  general 
Andreossy.  His  removal  from  a  situation 
which  he  had  rilled  with  great  ability,  has 
been  attributed  to  the  displeasure  of  J\apoleon 
at  his  refusal  to  assist  in  the  schemes  of  the 
French  ruler  for  speculating  in  the  funds. 
Otto  was  employed  subsequently  in  a  mission 
to  Bavaria;  and  after  the  campaign  of  1809, 
he  was  sent  ambassador  to  Vienna,  where  he 
negotiated  the  marriage  of  Buonaparte  with 
the  archduchess,  and  remained  there  till 
1813.  He  became  a  minister  of  state  on  his 
return  to  Paris  ;  and  during  the  hundred  days 
in  181.5,  he  was  undersecretary  of  state  for 
foreign  affairs.  He  died  at  Paris,  November 
9,  1817.  He  is  said  to  have  been  a  man  of 
highly  cultivated  talents  and  fascinating  man- 
ners, and  to  have  been  profoundly  skilled  in 


OT  W 

political  diplomacy. — Bin*.  Unix.     Bwg.  JViw. 
des  Contemp 

Ol'WAY  (THOMAS)  an  eminent  writer   of 
tragedy,  was  born    in    1651,    at  Trotting,   in 
Sussex,  his  father  being  the  rector  of  Wool- 
beding  in  that  county.     He   was  educated  at 
Winchester,  and  was  entered  a  commoner  of 
Christchurch,  Oxford,  which  he  left  without  a 
degree,   or    any    professional    determination, 
possibly  owing   to   the  narrowness  of  his  cir- 
cumstances, as  he  went  to  London,  and  made 
some  attempts  as  an  actor,  with  but  little  suc- 
cess.    As  he   possessed  talents  for  poetry,  he 
was  naturally  led  to  turn   his  attention  to  the 
drama,  and  in  1675  he  produced   his  first  tra- 
gedy  of  "  Alcibiades."     The   following  year 
appeared    his    "  Don  Carlos,"  which   proved 
extremely  successful,   and  it  appears  by  some 
brutal  and  illiberal  lines  by  lord  Rochester,  in 
his  "  Session  of  the  Poets,"   that  the   profits 
of  this  piece  rescued  him  from  great  indigence. 
His  theatrical  reputation  introduced  him  to  the 
patronage  of  the  earl  of  Plymouth,  a  natural 
son  of  Charles  II,  who   procured   him  a  cor- 
netcy  in   a   new  raised  regiment   of  cavalry, 
destined    for  Flanders,  in    which   country  he 
served   for  a  short  time,  and  then  returned,  it 
is  not  known  why,  pursued  by  his  habitual  po- 
verty.    He   continued  to  write  for  the  stage, 
but  either  owing  to  dissolute  habits,  or  inade- 
quate encouragement,    he    found   it    a    very 
scanty  means  of  subsistence.     He  produced  in 
1677,   Titus  and  Berenice,  from  Racine,  and 
the    Cheats  of  Scapin,  from    Moliere,  which 
were  acted  together  as  play  and  farce,  and 
succeeded.     The   following  year  he  produced 
his  "  Friendship  in  Fashion, "a  comedy,  which 
was.  followed  in  1680  by  his  tragedies  of '  Cains 
Marius,"  and   "  The  Orphan  ;"  and  in  1682 
by  "  Venice  Preserved  ;"  on  which   last   two 
pieces   his  dramatic  fame  is  chiefly  founded. 
An   intervening  comedy,  entitled  "  The  Sol- 
dier's Fortune,"  merits   little  notice,    nor  in- 
deed  any  of  his  comedies,  which  were  coarse 
and   licentious  even  for  that  day.     All  these 
pieces  were   produced  before  he  reached  his 
thirty-fourth  year,    for  he  died  in  1685,  pre- 
viously to   having   completed  it,   at   a   public 
house  on  Tower  Hill,  where  he  had  secreted 
himself  from  his  creditors,  in  a  state  of  great 
destitution.     It  is    a  traditionary   story,  that 
being    nearly    famished,    he    begged   a  shil- 
ling of  a  gentleman,   who    gave  him  a  gui- 
nea, and    that    he    was    choked  by    eagerly 
devouring    a  roll,    which  he   then  purchased 
to  allay    his    hunger.      Pope    was    however 
informed,     that    he     fell     a     sacrifice     to    a 
feve-     occasioned  by  his  anxious  pursuit  of  a 
person  who  had  shot  a  friend  of  the  name  of 
Blakeston.     All  accounts  agree,  that  he  closed 
his  life  in  great  penury.     The  unhappy  fate  of 
Otway  has  excited  great  sympathy,  associated 
as  his  memory  is  with  some  of  the  most  ten- 
der and    pathetic   scenes  in  F^nflish  tragedy  ; 

.  O  O          J     ' 

but  his  dissoluteness  of  life  and  manners,  and 
shameless  flattery  of  the  great,  much  tended 
to  abate  this  kindly  feeling.  As  a  tragic  wri- 
ter he  stands  high,  and  no  one  has  touched 
the  string  of  domestic  distress  with  more  force 
2P  2 


O  U  G 

and  feeling.  Though  often  highly  poetical, 
his  language  is  easy  and  natural,  and  the  sen- 
timents and  incidents  irresistibly  moving.  His 
"  YVuiiv  Prrsi/rvfd,"  \\ith  an  equivocal  plot, 
and  scarcely  a  virtuous  character,  except  the 
heroine,  never  fails  to  excite  the  most  heart- 
felt interest,  and  the  skill  of  the  poet  com- 
pletely triumphs  over  the  colder  conclusions  of 
reason.  The  miscellaneous  poetry  of  Otway  is 
very  indifferent.  The  latest  edition  of  his  works 
is  that  of  Mr  Thornton,  in  three  volumes,  8vo. 
1812. — Biag.  Brit.  Life  prefixed  to  his  Works. 

OUDIN  (CASIMIR)  a  French  monk,  was 
born  at  Mrzieres-on  the-Meuse  in  1638.  He 
entered  among  the  monks  of  the  Premontre 
order,  at  the  abbey  of  St  Paul  at  Verdun, 
where  he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  phi- 
losophy and  divinity,  but  more  particularly  to 
ecclesiastical  history.  In  1677  he  was  placed 
in  the  abbey  of  Bually  in  Champagne,  where, 
on  the  occasion  of  a  visit  from  Louis  XIV, 
he  made  such  a  display  of  his  talents  and  ge- 
nius, that  his  superiors  were  induced  to  em- 
ploy him  in  making  collections  for  a  history  of 
their  order.  In  1688  he  published  "  Supple- 
men  turn  de  Scriptoribus  vel  Scriptis  ecclesias- 
ticis  a  Bellarrnino  omissis  ad  annum  1460," 
8vo.  In  1690  a  change  taking  place  in  his 
religious  sentiments,  he  embraced  Protestant- 
ism at  Leyden,  and  was  soon  after  appointed 
sub- librarian  of  that  university.  He  died  in 
1717.  His  works  are,  "  Commentarius  de 
Scriptoribus  ecclesias  antiquis  scriptis,  &c." 
"  Yeterum  aliquot  Gallia:  et  Belgian  scripto- 
rum  opuscula  Sacra;"  "  Trias  dissertationum 
Criticarnm,"  &c. — Niceron.  Moreri. 

OUDIN  (FRANCIS)  a  learned  French  Je- 
suit, was  born  at  Yignorix  or  Yignory  in  Cham- 
pagne in  1673.  In  1691  he  entered  among 
the  Jesuits  at  Nancy,  and  in  1707  lie  took 
the  vows  and  orders.  He  was  professor  of 
rhetoric,  and  afterwards  of  positive  theology 
in  the  college  of  Dijon,  where  he  died  in  1752. 
He  was  the  author  of  numerous  "  Orations," 
"  Dissertations,"  "  Eulogies,"  "  Lives  of  diffe- 
rent Writers  inserted  in  Niceron's  Memoires  ;" 
"  Commentaries  on  the  Psalms,  the  Gospel  of 
St  Matthew,  and  almost  all  the  Epistles  of  St 
Paul,"  still  in  MS.  He  was  employed  by  his 
superiors  upon  a  continuation  of  the  "  Biblio- 
theca  Scriptorum  Societatis  Jesu,"  on  which 
he  spent  the  latter  years  of  his  life.  Father 
Oudin  had  also  a  taste  for  polite  literature, 
and  possessed  great  facility  in  composing 
Latin  verses,  most  of  which  were  inserted  in 
a  collection,  entitled  "  Poemata  didascalica," 
3  vols.  1  2mo. —  Moreri.  Kouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

OUGHTRED  (WILLIAM)  an  English 
divine,  eel-  brated  for  his  very  great  skill  in 
the  mathematics,  was  born  at  Eton  in  Bucking- 
hamshire, in  1573  or  1574.  His  father,  who 
was  a  scrivener,  placed  him  on  the  foundation 
of  that  school,  where  he  was  elected  in  1592 
to  King's  college,  Cambridge,  of  which,  after 
a  due  probation,  he  was  admitted  a  fellow. 
He  applied  himself  with  great  assiduity  to  the 
different  branches  of  academical  learning,  hut 
particularly  to  the  mathematics,  to  which  the 
Lent  of  bis  genius  more  particularly  directed 


O  U  T 

him  ;  and  while  yet  an  undergraduate,  he  in- 
•d  an  easy  method  of  geometrical  dialling. 
In  I.')'.1'.)  he  graduated  Al.\.  and  the  following 
year  ]><<•]  <t<  <1  a  "  Jlori/.unial  In*tnmi<  ill,"  for 
delineating  dials  on  any  kind  of  planes,  and 
for  working  most  questions  which  could  be  per- 
formed on  the  globe  ;  of  which  invention  he 
published  no  account  until  1636.  About  160(? 
he  was  ordained  priest,  and  presented  to  the 
rectory  of  Albury  in  Surrey,  where  he  distin- 
guished himself  by  the  conscientious  discharge 
of  his  pastoral  duties,  and  assiduous  cultivation 
of  the.  mathematical  sciences.  In  1614  lord 
Napier  having  published  an  account  of  his  in- 
vention of  logarithms,  MrOughtred  is  thought 
to  have  been  then  led  by  Mr  firiggs  to  compose 
his  treatise  "  On  Trigonometry,"  which  huw- 
erer  did  not  appear  until  many  years  after. 
In  1628  he  was  engaged  by  the  earl  of  Arun- 
del  to  become  mathematical  tutor  to  his  son, 
for  whose  use  he  drew  up  an  "  Arithmetics 
in  numeris  et  speciebus  Institutio,"  intended  to 
serve  as  a  general  key  to  the  mathematics, 
which  work  was  highly  esteemed,  and  trans- 
lated into  English  under  the  title  of  "  The 
Key  to  the  Mathematics,  new  forged  and 
filed."  Later  editions  of  the  Latin  original, 
with  great  additions,  gradually  became  a  stan- 
dard book  with  the  mathematical  teachers  of 
Cambridge.  Notwithstanding  his  mathema- 
tical attainments,  which  have  gained  him  a 
name  throughout  Europe,  he  was  in  danger  in 
1646  of  a  sequestration  by  the  committee  for 
plundered  ministers  ;  but  upon  the  day  of 
hearing,  the  astrologer,  William  Lilly,  applied 
to  sir  Bulstrode  Whitlocke  and  other  friends 
who  appeared  in  such  numbers  on  his  be- 
half, that  he  was  acquitted  by  a  majority. 
While  thus  persecuted  at  home,  he  received 
various  invitations  from  abroad,  all  which  he 
declined.  He  lived  to  see  the  Restoration  in 
1660,  in  which  year  he  died,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-six ;  it  is  said  in  consequence  of  joy  at 
hearing  the  news  of  the  vote  at  Westminster, 
which  produced  that  event.  His  books  and 
MSS.  came  into  the  possession  of  Mr  William 
Jones,  and  afterwards  into  those  of  Sir  Charles 
Scarborough,  who  selected  such  of  the  latter, 
as  were  fit  for  the  press,  and  had  them  printed 
at  Oxford  in  1676,  under  the  title  of  "  Opus- 
cula Mathematica  hactenus  inedita."  In  1660 
sir  Jon  as  Moore  annexed  to  his  "  Arithmetic" 
a  treatise,  entitled  "  Conical  Sections,  &c." 
translated  from  the  papers  of  the  learned 
William  Oughtred.  According  to  Dr  Hut- 
ton,  this  eminent  mathematician  was  more 
scientifically  profound  than  happy  in  his  me- 
thod of  treating  the  subjects  on  which  lie 
wrote  ;  his  manner  being  dry  and  obscure,  and 
rules  and  precepts  so  involved  in  symbols  and 
abbreviations,  that  his  mathematical  writings 
are  both  troublesome  to  read,  and  difficult  to 
understand. — Biog.  Brit.  Hutton's  Math.  Diet. 
OLJTRAM  or  OWTRAM  (WILLIAM)  a 
learned  English  divine,  was  born  in  Derby- 
shire in  1625,  and  was  educated  at  Cambridge, 
where  he  took  all  his  degrees.  After  various 
promotions,  he  was  collated  to  the  archdea- 
conry of  Leicester,  and  installed  prebendary 


O  VE 

of  St  Petf  r's  church  in  Westminster.  He  was 
also  for  some  time  rector  of  St  Margaret's,  in 
the  same  city.  He  died  in  1679.  He  was 
celebrated  for  his  skill  in  rabbinical  learning, 
and  his  acquaintance  with  the  ancient  fathers. 
He  was  an  accurate  and  precise  writer. 
His  works  are,  "  De  Sacrifices  Libri  duo  ; 
quorum  altero  explicantur  omnia  Judreorum, 
nonnulla  Gentium  profanarum  sacrificia,  altera 
Sacrificium  Christi,"  &c.  "  Twenty  ^Sermons 
preached  upon  different  Occasions." — Biog. 
Brit.  Preface  to  Sermons. 

OUVILLE  (ANTHONY  LE  METEL  d')  the 
brother  of  Boisrobert,  the  favourite  of  cardinal 
Richelieu.  lie  was  born  at  Caen,  but  in  what 
year  is  uncertain,  and  he  died  before  his  bro- 
ther in  1656  or  1657.  He  wrote  ten  plays, 
and  translated  some  romances  from  the  Spa- 
.nish  ;  but  he  is  only  known  at  present  on  ac- 
count of  his  tales,  which  hare  been  compared 
with  those  of  La  Fontaine,  whose  licentious 
indecency  he  has  rivalled,  though  he  falls  far 
beneath  that  writer  in  wit  and  humour. 
D'Ouviiie's  pieces,  which  are  in  prose,  were 
published  in  1669,  under  the  title  of  "  L'Klite 
des  Contes  du  Sieur  D'Ouville,"  2  vols.  12mo. 
— Bi<w.  Univ.  Diet.  Hist. 

OUVRARD  (RENE)  a  celebrated  canon  of 
Tours,  was  a  native  of  Chinon  in  Tonraine. 
He  was  a  poet,  mathematician,  divine,  and 
controversial  writer,  and  even  a  musician, 
having  for  ten  years  filled  the  post  of  master  of 
music  at  the  holy  chapel  at  Paris.  He  died 
at  Tours  in  1694,  and  on  his  tomb  are  these 
lines,  composed  by  himself— 

Dum  vixi,  divina  mini  Laus  unica  Cura  : 
Post   obitum   sit  Laus   divina   mihi   unica 

Merces  ! 

He  was  the  author  of  numerous  works,  of 
which  the  following  are  the  principal:  "  Mo- 
tifs de  reunion  a  I'egh'se  Catholique  presented 
a  i-eux  de  la  Religion  pretendue  reformee  de 
Fiance  ;"  "  Les  Motifs  de  la  Conversion  du 
comtedeLorges  Montgommery;"  "Defensede 
I'ancieiine  Tradition  des  Eglises  de  France  ;" 
"  Secret  pour  composer  en  Musique  par  un 
Art  nouveau  ;"  "  Studiosis  sanctarum  Scriptu- 
rarum  Biblia  Sacra  in  Lectiones  ad  singulos 
dies,  &c."  "  L'Art  de  la  Science  des  Nom- 
bres  ;"  "  Architecture  harmonique  ;"  "  Ca- 
l.-ndarium  novum  ;"  "  Breviarum  Turonese 
renovatum,  &c."  His  "  History  of  Music," 
and  dissertation  on  Vossius's  treatise,  "  De 
poematum  cantu  et  viribus  rythmi,"  remain  in 
MS. — Moreri.  Nouv.  Did.  Hist. 

OVERALL  (JOHN)  an  English  prelate, 
was  born  about  1599.  After  taking  his  de- 
grees, he  was  promoted  by  queen  Elizabeth  to 
the  deanery  of  St  Paul's.  He  was  appointed 
bishop  of  Lichfield  and  Coventry,  whence  he 
was  translated  to  Norwich,  where  he  died  in 
1619.  He  maintained  a  correspondence  with 
Gerard  Vossius  and  Grotius,  in  which  he  de- 
clares himself  in  favour  of  Arminianism,  for 
which  he  paved  the  way  in  England.  The 
work  by  which  bishop  Overall  is  chiefly 
known,  is  "  The  Convocation  Book,"  in  which 
ie  maintained  the  divine  origin  of  government, 
li  v\;iii  i  :;td  in  convocation,  and  Massed,  in  or- 


O  V  E 

der  to  be  pibKshed  ;  but  James  I  not  liking 
a  convocation  to  enter  into  such  a  theory  of 
politics,  commanded  that  it  should  proceed  no 
farther.  It  was  however  finally  published  by 
Dr  Sherlock,  as  a  justification  of  his  taking 
the  oaths  at  the  Revolution,  in  order  to  be- 
come dean  of  St  Paul's  —Encycl.  Brit.  Bur- 
net's  Own  Times. 

OVERBEECK  (BoN  A  VENTURE  van)  a 
Dutch  painter,  horn  at  Amsterdam  in  1660. 
After  having  studied  under  Lairesse,  he  went 
to  Rome,  where  lie  made  designs  from  incient 
statues  and  other  works  of  art.  Returning  to 
Holland,  he  again  connected  himself  wit's  L  li- 
resse,  with  whom  he  indulged  in  habits  of 
dissipation  extremely  unfavourable  to  his  pio- 
gress  in  the  prosecution  of  his  studies.  At 
length  he  precipitately  quitted  his  society,  and 
made  repeated  visits  to  Rome,  where  he 
stayed  some  years,  and  collected  the  materials 
for  a  great  work,  on  which  his  reputation  is 
founded.  He  was  preparing  to  publish  it, 
when  he  died  in  1706,  and  the  work  appeared 
in  1709,  under  die  following  title,  "  Reliquias 
antiquae  Urbis  Roma;,  quarum  sinpulas  per- 
scrutatus  est,  ad  Vivum  delineavi'.,  dimensus 
est,  descripsit,  atque  incidit  Boaaventura  de 
Overbeke,"  large  folio,  in  three  parts,  each 
containing  fifty  plates.  The  explanatory  text, 
which  had  been  written  in  Flemish,  was  trans  • 
lated  into  Latin  and  French,  and  aii  edition  of 
the  latter  was  reprinted  in  1763. — Biog.  Univ. 

OVERBUHY  (sir  THOMAS)  a  miscella- 
neous writer,  principally  known  by  the  tragic: 
circumstance  of  his  death,  was  descended 
from  an  ancient  family  in  Gloucestershire.  He 
was  born  in  1581  at  the  house  of  his  maternal 
grandfather,  in  Warwickshire,  and  in  159i» 
was  entered  a  fellow-commoner  of  Queen's 
college,  Oxford.  Thence,  after  taking  a  de- 
gree, he  removed  to  the  Middle  Temple  for 
the  study  of  the  law  ;  but  his  inclination  being 
more  turned  to  polite  literature,  he  preferred 
the  chance  of  pushing  his  fortune  at  court. 
In  1604  he  contracted  an  acquaintance  with 
Robert  Car,  the  worthless  favourite  brought 
from  Scotland  by  James  I.  The  ignorance 
and  mean  qualifications  of  this  million,  ren- 
dered the  services  of  a  man  of  parts  and  edu- 
cation, like  Overbury,  exceedingly  welcome, 
and  he  repaid  his  services  by  procuring  for 
him,  in  1608,  the  honour  of  knighthood,  and 
the  place  of  a  Welsh  judge  for  bis  father. 
The  intimacy  continued  to  be  mutually  ad- 
vantageous, until  the  favourite  engaged  in  his 
celebrated  amour  with  the  countess  of  Essex. 
With  too  much  of  the  license  of  fine  gentle- 
men in  every  age,  sir  Thomas  countenanced  this 
gallantry  in  the  first  instance  ;  but  when  that 
infamous  woman  had,  by  a  disgraceful  series 
of  proceedings,  unhappily  but  too  much  coun- 
tenanced by  the  king  himself,  procured  a  di- 
vorce from  her  husband,  he  opposed  the  pro- 
jected  marriage  between  he*  and  her  gallant 
by  the  stronges'  remonstrances.  This  counsel, 
Car,  then  become  viscount  Rochester,  com- 
municated to  the  lady,  who  immediately  ex« 
ercised  her  influence  for  the  removal  of  her 
adversary.  Ait  attempt  waa  mad. 


O  V  I 

him  at  ;i  distance,  by  appointing  him  to  a  fo- 
reign mission  ;  but  relying  upon  his  ascen- 
dancy with  the  favourite,  which  he  exercised 
with  considerable  arrogance,  he  refused  to  ac- 
cept it.  On  the  ground  of  disobedience  in  de- 
clining the  kind's  service,  he  \vas  immediately 
invested,  and  committed  a  close  prisoner  to 
tlie  Tower  ui  April  1613,  and  all  access  of 
his  friends  was  debarred.  At  length,  fear  of 
his  resentment  and  disclosures,  if  released, 
induced  Car  and  the  countess,  now  become  his 
wife,  to  cause  infected  viands  to  be  adminis- 
tered at  various  times  to  the  unhappy  pri- 
soner, who  finally  fell  a  sacrifice  to  a  poisoned 
clyster,  on  the  1.5th  September,  1613.  All 
these  facts  afterwards  appeared  in  evidence, 
when  the  accomplices  in  the  murder  were 
tried,  and  sir  Gervase  Elways,  the  lieutenant  of 
the  Tower,  a  creature  of  Car's,  with  several 
others,  were  condemned  and  executed.  Car 
and  his  lady,  then  become  earl  and  countess  of 
Somerset,  were  also  convicted  and  condemned, 
but  to  the  eternal  disgrace  of  James,  par- 
doned for  no  assignable  cause  that  will  not 
add  to  the  ignominy  of  the  proceeding.  Sir 
Thomas  Overhury  wrote  both  in  verse  and  in 
prose,  and  his  poem,  entitled  "The  Wife,  "has 
been  much  admired  ;  as  also  his  "  Characters," 
or  witty  descriptions  of  the  properties  of  sun- 
dry persons,  somewhat  in  the,  manner  of  the 
sketches  in  the  posthumous  works  of  Butler. 
A  tenth  edition  of  all  his  works  was  published 
in  1753,  8vo. — His  nephew,  sir  THOMAS 
OVERBURY,  published"  An  Account  of  the 
Trial  of  Joan  Perry  and  her  two  sons,  for  the 
Murder  of  William  Harrison  ;"  a  most  re- 
markable case,  the  parties  who  were  executed 
Laving  confessed  themselves  guilty  of  the 
murder,  although  innocent ;  "  Queries  on  Per- 
secution in  Religion  ;"  and  "  Rationum  Ver- 
naculum,"  a  further  work  on  the  same  sub- 
ject.—  Biixr.Brit.  State  Trials. 

OVID,  or  PUBL1US  OVIDIUS  NASO, 
a  celebrated  Latin  poet,  who  flourished  in  the 
reign  of  Augustus.  He  was  the  son  of  a  Ro- 
man knight,  and  was  born  at  Sulmo,  about 
ninety  miles  from  Rome,  43  BC.  He  was 
liberally  educated,  and  studied  rhetoric  under 
Portius  Latro,  being  destined  for  the  profes- 
sion of  an  advocate.  But  his  decided  predi- 
lection for  polite  literature,  and  especially  poe- 
try, led  him  to  neglect  severer  studies,  and 
the  early  death  of  an  elder  brother  put  him  in 
possession  of  the  family  estate,  and  left  him 
at  libeitv  to  follow  his  inclinations.  Previously 
to  this  event  he  had  made  himself  acquainted 
with  the  Greek  language,  and  spent  some  time 
at  Athens,  then  the  fashionable  resort  of  the 
Roman  youth.  Returning  to  Rome  he  became 
a  member  of  die  court  of  the  Triumviri,  and 
afterwards  held  other  judicial  offices  ;  but  his 
attachment  to  poetry  and  pleasure  induced 
him,  at  about  the  age  of  twenty  four,  to  re- 
nounce all  public  employment  for  the  life  of 
an  indolent  courtier  and  a  man  of  letters.  He 
now  published  his  poem  "  De  Aite  Amandi," 
in  five  books,  which,  however  exceptionable  in 
•>oint  of  morality,  affords  sufficient  evidence  of 
i:i,s  abilities ;  and  this  was  followed  by  his 


OWE 

"  Heroic  Epistles,"  and  other  works.  At 
length,  after  having  been  a  companion  of  the 
great  and  a  favourite  at  court  for  some  years, 
lie  was  suddenly  banished  from  Rome  for  some 
unknown  cause,  and  sent  to  live  among  the 
Get;«  or  Goths,  on  the  borders  of  the  Euxine. 
Learned  men  have  formed  a  multitude  of  con- 
jectures as  to  the  cause  of  Ovid's  disgrace, 
and  the  precise  situation  of  Tomos,  the  place 
of  his  exile,  and  many  of  them  have  supported 
their  various  opinions  with  a  great  deal  of  mis- 
applied erudition.  It  is  probable,  from  some 
concurrent  circumstances,  that  the  political 
intrigues  of  the  empress  Livia  and  her  son 
Tiberius,  contributed  to  the  removal  of  the 
poet  ;  while  the  licentiousness  of  his  writings 
and  the  irregularities  of  his  life  afforded  plau- 
sible pretexts  for  the  infliction  of  his  punish- 
ment. He  wrote  several  books  of  elegies  and 
epistles  while  among  the  Goths,  and  amused 
himself  in  studying  their  language,  and  com- 
posed in  it  a  work  which  procured  him  great 
reputation  among  them.  After  in  vain  soli- 
citing his  recal  during  the  reign  of  Augustus, 
he  lost  all  hopes  of  obtaining  it  under  his 
successor,  and  died  at  Tomos,  AD.  17.  Be- 
sides the  works  mentioned,  Ovid  wrote  the 
"  Fasti"  and  "  Metamorphoses,"  relating  to 
the  heathen  mythology,  &c.  Among  the  best 
editions  of  the  works  of  Ovid,  are  those  of 
Heinsius,  apud  Elzev.  L.  Bat.  1629,  3  vols. 
lOmo  ;  Amst.  1661,  6  vols.  18mo  :  Notis 
Varior.  L.  Bat.  1670,  3  vols.  8vo;  in  usum 
Delph.  Lugd.  1689,  4  vols.  4to ;  Burmau, 
Amst.  1727,  4  vols.  4to  ;  and  the  Metamor- 
phoses and  other  pieces  have  been  often 
edited  separately. — Masson's  Life  of  Quid. 
Martin's  Bing.  Phihs.  Biog.  Univ. 

OVIEDO  Y  VALDESCGoNZALvoHEK- 
NAXDEZ  de)  a  Spanish  military  officer,  who 
became  inspector-general  of  American  com- 
merce in  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Charles  V. 
He  was  the  author  of  "  Cronica  de  las  Indias," 
and  "  La  Historia  General  de  las  Indias,'' 
1546,  republished  with  additional  matter  at 
Salamanca,  in  1547,  folio.  This  is  one  of  the 
scarcest  books  relative  to  the  early  historv  of 
the  intercourse  of  the  Spaniards  with  Ame- 
rica ;  and  it  has  been  the  source  whence  suc- 
ceeding writers  have  drawn  much  of  their  in- 
formation concerning  the  New  World.  Ra- 
musio  published  it  in  Italian,  in  the  third  vo- 
lume of  his  collection  of  voyages.  Oviedo 
was  alive  after  1534,  but  the  exact  time  of  his 
death  is  uncertain. — Mureri.  Edit. 

OVIEDO  (JOHN  GONZALES)  a  native  of 
Madrid,  who  soon  after  the  discovery  of  Ame- 
rica visited  the  West  Indies,  to  examine  the 
natural  productions  of  that  part  of  the  world, 
lie  published  the  result  of  his  researches  in  a 
work  entitled  "  Ilistoria  general  y  natural  de 
las  Indias  Occidentals, "  1535,  folio,  which 
has  been  translated  into  French  and  Italian. 
Oviedo,  according  to  Fallopius,  was  the  first 
discoverer  of  the  virtues  of  Guaiacum  in  the 
cure  of  syphilitic  complaints.  He  died  in 
1.N40,  aged  seventy-two. — Antonio.  Biog. 
Univ. 

OWEN  (HENRY)  a  learned  divine,  was 'he 


O  W  E 

son  of  a  gentleman  of  good  estate,  in  the 
county  of  Merioneth,  where  he  was  born  in 
17 16.  lie  was  educated  at  the  grammar 
school  of  Ruthin  iu  Denbighshire,  whence  he 
was  removed  to  Jesus  college,  Oxford.  He 
turned  his  attention  in  the  first  instance  to 
physic,  but  subsequently  took  orders,  and 
after  various  preferment  became,  rector  of  St 
Olave,  Hart-street,  and  vicar  of  Edmonton  in 
Middlesex.  He  died  in  1795.  His  works 
are,  "  Ilarmonia  Trigoitometrica  ;"  "  The  In- 
tent and  Propriety  of  the  Scripture  Mira- 
tli-s  ;"  "  Observations  on  the  Four  Gospels  ;" 
"  Directions  to  Studou'.s  in  Divinity  ;"  "  En- 
quiry into  the  State  <>f  the  Septuagint  Version 
of  the  Old  Testament  ,"  "  Critica  Sacra,  or  a 
short  Introduction  to  Hebrew  Criticism  ;" 
"  Collatio  Codicis  Cottoniani  Geneseos,  cum 
Editione  Romano  a  viro  clarissimo  Johanne 
Ernesto  Grabe,"  deemed  the  most  ancient  ma- 
nuscript in  Europe  ;  "  Critical  Disquisitions;'' 
"  The  Modes  of  Quotation  used  by  the  Evan- 
gelical Writers."  He  was  also  the  editor  of 
Xenophon's  Memorabilia,  and  furnished  seve- 
ral papers  to  the  Archffiologia,  and  to  Bow- 
y<Vs  Collections  on  the  New  Testament. — ATi- 
chols's  Lit.  Anecd. 

OWEN  (JOHN)  a  distinguished  writer  of 
Latin  epigrams,  was  a  native  of  Carnarvon- 
shire. He  received  his  education  at  Win- 
chester school,  whence  he  was  removed  to 
New  college,  Oxford,  where  lie  graduated 
LLB.  and  obtained  a  fellowship.  He  after- 
wards became  master  of  a  free  school  near 
Monmouth,  and  in  1594  was  placed  over  that 
of  Warwick,  where  he  became  celebrated  for 
his  skill  in  Latin  poetry,  especially  epigrams. 
He  is  said  to  have  experienced  the  poet's 
frequent  lot  of  indigence,  being  struck  out  of 
the  will  of  a  rich  uncle,  who  was  offended 
witli  his  attacks  on  the  church  of  Rome,  one 
of  his  epigrams  on  which,  as  a  specimen  of 
his  manner,  is  here  supplied. 

An  Petri'.s  fuerit  Romas  sub  judice  lis  est  5 
Simonem  R.oma3  nemo  fuisse  negat. 
Owen  died  in  1622,  and  was  buried  at  the  ex- 
pense of  bishop  Williams,  (by  whom  lie  was 
chiefly  supported  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life,) 
in  St  Paul's  cathedral.  His  epigrams,  in 
twelve  books,  have  been  several  times  pub- 
lished. In  some  he  imitates  the  point  of  Mar- 
tial,  but  the  greater  number  have  little  to  re- 
corr.niend  them  but  purity  and  simplicity  of 
language.  An  edition  of  them  was  printed  by 
lu-uouard,  at  Paris,  in  1794. — Bing.  Brit. 

OWEN,  DD.(  JOHN)  the  most  eminent  of  the 
English  nonconformist  divines,  was  descended 
from  a  respectable  family  in  North  Wales,  and 
born  at  Stadham  in  Oxfordshire,  in  1616,  of 
v,  Inch  place  his  father  was  vicar.  He  studied 
at  Queen's  college,  Oxford,  where  he  gra- 
duated MA.  in  1635.  He  remained  at  col- 
ege,  where  he  was  supported  by  his  uncle,  a 
gentleman  of  good  fortune  in  Wales,  until  he 
had  attained  his  twenty-first  year.  During 
this  period  he  became  a  most  distinguishec 
scholar,  but  imbibing  a  dislike  to  the  discipline 
of  the  university,  then  under  the  chancellor- 
ship of  archbishop  Laud,  it  disposed  him,  on 


O  W  E 

the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war,  to  take  part 
with  the  parliament.      By  this  conduct  he  loat 
the  favour   of    his    uncle,    who   died   without 
leaving  him  any  thing.     He  then  successively 
became   a   tutor  in  the  family   of  iir   Robert 
Dormer,    and  chaplain    to   lord  Lovelace,  but 
subsequently  repaired   to  London,   where   he 
wrote  his    "  Display  of  Arminianism,"  which 
was  published  in  1642,  and  was  deemed  so 
important   by  the    ascendant  party,  that   the 
chairman  of  the   committee  then  formed  for 
purging  the   church  of  scandalous  ministers, 
presented   him  with   the   living  of  Fordham  iu 
Essex,  whence  he  removed  to  that  of  Goggle- 
shall  in  the  same  county,  to  which,  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  inhabitants,  he  was  presented  by 
the  earl  of  Warwick.    He  had  hitherto  been  a 
presbyterian  in  matters  of  church  government, 
but  now  adopted  the  congregational    or  inde- 
pendent mode,   as   more    conformable   to   the 
New  Testament ;  and  published  his  reasons  for 
thinking  so,  in  two  quarto  volumes,  which  pro- 
ceedings exceedingly  offended   the  presbyte- 
rian  party.      During  the  siege  of  Colchester 
he  became   acquainted  with   general  Fairfax, 
and  now  having   acquired   great  celebrity,  was 
appointed   to  preach    at  Whitehall,  the   day 
after  the  execution  of  Charles  I.     On  this  oc- 
casion,  however,   he   kept  his  sentiments   on 
that  subject  in   such  reserve,   that  while  his 
friends  had  little  opportunity  for  exception,  the 
opposing  party  could  stir  up  nothing  for  future 
accusation.     He  was  soon  after  introduced  to 
Cromwell,  whom  he  accompanied  in   his  ex- 
peditions both   to  Ireland  and  Scotland,  and 
in  1651  was  made   dean  of  Christchurch  col- 
lege,  Oxford,  on  which  appointment  be  re- 
ceived  his   doctor's  degree,  and  in  1652  was 
nominated   by   Cromwell,   then  chancellor  of 
he  university,   his   vice-chancellor.     In   this 
capacity  he  behaved  at  once  with  great  dim- 
ness and  moderation,  and  held  this  office  five 
rears  ;  but  on  the  death  of  the  protector,  lie 
ivas  deprived  both  of  that  and  his  deanery  by 
;he   influence  of  the  presbyterian   party.     At 
the  meeting  of  his  brethren   at   the  Savoy  in 
1658,  he  had  a  powerful  hand  in  drawing  up  the 
confession  of  faithof  the  congregational  churches. 
On  the  Restoration  he  retired  to  Stadham, where 
lie  preached  until  prevented  by  the  interruption 
of  the  military  and   others,  on  which  he  set- 
tled in  London,  and  eo  pleased  lord  Clarendon 
by  Lis  answer  to  a  work  by  a  Franciscan  friar, 
entitled  "  Fiat  Lux,"  that  he  offered  him  im- 
mediate preferment  if  he  would  conform,  which 
proposal  he  respectfully  declined.     While  the 
bill  to  revise  the  conventicle  act  was  pending, 
he  drew  up  reasons  against  it  with  great  abi- 
lity,  which   arguments    were   laid   before  the 
lords  by  several  persons  of  respectability  and 
consequence,  although  fruitlessly,   as  the  bill 
passed  into  a  law,  notwithstanding  Charles  II 
and  bis  brother  James   both  affected  to  disap- 
prove of  it,  and  the  former  gave  Dr  Owen  a 
thousand  guineas  to   distribute  among  the  suf- 
ferers under  it.       This    very  influential  and 
learned  divine   died  at  Ealing,  Middlesex,  on 
the  24th  August,  1683,  in  the  sixty-third  \ear 
of  his  age.     Dr  Owen's  works,  which  it, 


OW  E 

not  be  said  are  of  a  high  Calvinistic  character, 
arc  very  numerous,  amounting  to  seven  volumes 
in  folio,  twenty  in  4to,  and  thirty  in  8vo.  In 
this  number  are  "  An  Exposition  on  the  Epis- 
tle to  the  Hebrews,"  in  4  vols.  folio;  "A 
Discourse  on  the  Holy  Spirit;"  "  A  complete 
Collection  of  Sermons  and  several  Tracts," 
folio  ;  "  An  Inquiry  into  the  original  Nature, 
Institution,  &c.  of  Evangelical  Churches," 
4to  ;  "  An  Account  of  the  Nature  of  the  Pro- 
testant Religion  ;"  and  a  great  many  more 
tracts,  either  in  vindication  of  the  general 
doctrines  of  Christianity,  or  of  the.  independent 
churches. — Biog.  Brit.  Calamy's  Account  of 
Ejected  Ministers.  Granger. 

OWEN  (LEWIS)  a  controversial  writer 
against  the  Jesuits,  was  born  in  Merioneth- 
shire in  1572.  He  went  abroad  and  entered 
the  society  of  Jesuits  in  Spain,  but  finding  that 
they  paid  more  attention  to  worldly  intrigues 
than  to  the  affairs  of  religion,  he  withdrew 
from  them,  and  made  use  of  the  information 
he  had  gained  to  expose  them  in  his  works, 
which  are  "  The  Running  Register,  recording 
a  true  Relation  of  the  State  of  the  English 
Colleges,  Seminaries,  and  Cloysters,  of  all 
Foreign  Parts,  together  with  a  brief  and  com- 
pendious Discourse  of  the  Lives,  Practices, 
Couzenage,  Impostures,  and  Deceits  of  all  our 
English  Monks,  Friars,  Jesuits,  and  Seminarie 
Priests  in  general,"  Lond.  16'26  ;  "  The  Un- 
masking of  all  Popish  Monks,  Friars,  and  Je- 
suits ;"  and  "  Speculum  Jesuiticum,  or  the 
Jesuit's  Looking-Glass,  wherein  they  may 
behold  Ignatius  (their  patron),  his  Progress, 
their  own  pilgrimage,  &c."  The  time  of 
Owen's  death  is  unknown,  but  he  was  living 
in  1629. — Athen.  Oxon.  vol  i. 

OWEN  (THOMAS)  a  learned  judge,  was 
born  at  Condover  in  Shropshire,  and  died  in 
1.598.  After  passing  through  various  promo- 
tions, he  became  judge  of  the  Common  Pleas, 
which  office  he  discharged  with  great  inte- 
grity and  ability.  His  "  Reports  in  the  King's 
Bench  and  Common  Pleas,  in  the  Reign  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,"  were  printed  in  folio  in 
1656. — Athen.  Gum. 

OWEN,  IIA.  (WILLIAM)  an  eminent  Eng- 
lish artist,  a  native  of  Shropshire,  in  which 
county  he  was  born  in  1769.  He  was  placed 
by  his  friends  at  the  grammar-school  at  Lud- 
low,  where  the  early  indications  of  genius  and 
the  passionate  love  of  painting  which  he  ex- 
hibited, fortunately  attracted  the  notice  of  Mr 
Payne  Knight,  whose  mansion  was  in  the  vi- 
cinity of  that  place.  By  the  advice  and  as- 
sistance of  that  liberal  patron  of  the  arts, 
young  Owen  was  sent  to  London,  and  placed 
under  Charles  Catton,  the  royal  academician. 
Having  made  an  excellent  copy  of  one  of  sir 
Joshua  Reynokls's  best  portraits,  that  great 
painter  paid  him  much  attention,  and  benefited 
him  considerably  by  his  instructions.  From 
this  period  his  exertions  were  unremitting, 
and  although  the  defalcation  of  a  friend  at 
one  time  involved  him  in  serious  pecuniary 
embarrassments,  yet  it  may  be  questioned 
whether  the  increased  application  to  his  pro- 
f"s«ion  which  this  circumstance  rendered  ue- 


O  XE 

cessary,  did  not  eventually  tend  to  his  advan- 
tage. In  1800  he  settled  with  his  family  at 
Pimlico,  and  in  1813  was  appointed  principal 
portrait  painter  to  the  prince  regent,  on  which 
occasion  he  was  offered,  but  modestly  declined, 
the  honour  of  knighthood.  His  professional 
emoluments,  as  well  as  his  reputation,  con- 
tinuing to  increase,  he  in  1818  removed  to  a 
larger  establishment  in  Bruton-street,  but 
from  this  time  his  health  appears  to  have  aban- 
doned him  ;  and  although  he  survived  till  the 
February  of  1824,  yet  the  five,  last  years  of 
his  life  were  passed  in  being  wheeled  from  his 
bed-room  to  his  drawing-room,  on  the  same 
floor.  The  immediate  occasion  of  his  decease 
originated  in  the  carelessness  of  a  chemist's 
apprentice,  who,  mixing  up  for  his  use  a  ca- 
thartic, and  a  preparation  of  opium,  known  by 
the  name  of  "  Battley's  Drops,"  transposed 
the  labels  on  the  phials.  The  whole  contents 
of  the  one,  containing  the  latter,  were,  in  con- 
sequence, swallowed,  and  the  patient  fell  into 
a  lethargy  from  which  he  never  awoke.  Be- 
sides his  celebrated  pictures  of  Mr  Pitt,  lords 
Grenville  andEldon,  the  duchess  of  Buccleugh, 
and  other  distinguished  characters,  Mr  Owen 
occasionally  relieved  the  monotony  of  portrait 
painting,  by  employing  his  pencil  on  histori- 
cal pieces,  and  subjects  of  fancy.  Among 
the  latter,  his  :'  Blind  Beggar  of  Bethnal 
Green  ;"  "  The  Village  Schoolmistress  ;"  and 
"  Road  Side,"  have  been  engraved,  and  met 
with  deserved  popularity.  He  had  been  en- 
rolled among  the  members  of  the  Royal  Aca- 
demy as  early  as  the  spring  of  1806. — Ann. 
Bing. 

OXENSTIERN  (AXEL)  an  eminent  Swe- 
dish statesman,  son  of  baron  Gabriel  Oxen- 
stiern,  was  born  at  Fano,  in  Upland,  in  1583. 
He  was  sent  at  an  early  age  to  study  in  Ger- 
many, and  on  his  return  becoming  distin- 
guished for  his  abilities,  was  in  his  twenty- 
sixth  year  admitted  a  member  of  the  Swedish 
senate,  and  placed  by  Charles  IX  at  the  head 
of  the  regency,  rendered  necessary  by  his  in- 
creasing infirmities.  On  the  accession  of  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus,  he  was  made  chancellor,  and 
acted  a  distinguished  part  under  that  spirited 
and  able  sovereign.  On  the  death  of  Gusta- 
vus  at  Lutzen,  the  great  talents  of  Oxenstiern 
kept  alive  the  declining  spirit  of  the  allies, 
until  this  most  eventful  war  was  brought  to  a 
conclusion  by  the  celebrated  treaty  of  West- 
phalia. For  these  and  other  eminent  services, 
Oxenstiern  received  the  title  of  count  from 
queen  Christina,  and  at  the  same  time  was 
chosen  chancellor  of  the  university  of  Upsal.  He 
strongly  opposed  the  abdication  of  Christina, 
and  even  feigned  indisposition  that  he  might  be 
absent  from  the  deliberations  on  that  measure. 
This  able  and  patriotic  statesman  died  in  the 
month  of  August,  1 654,in  his  seventy-firstyear, 
leaving  behind  him  a  character  for  ability  and 
integrity,  which  may  vie  with  that  of  the  most 
illustrious  of  those  who  have  distinguished 
themselves  in  the  art  of  wisely  governing 
their  fellow  creatures.  His  knowledge  of  the 
human  heart  was  profound,  and  his  political 
sagacity,  exercised  as  it  was  with  integrity; 


OZ  A 

excited  no  less  respect  than  admiration.  The 
form  of  government  which  he  drew  up  at  the 
command  of  his  sovereign,  in  1634,  has  been 
deemed  a  master-piece  of  political  wisdom,  in 
comparison  to  the  general  theories  of  the  age. 
A  list  of  his  works,  as  well  as  of  the  manu- 
scripts which  he  left  behind  him,  may  be  seen 
in  the  Bibliotheca  Sino-Gothica. — JOHN  Ox- 
ENSTIERN,  son  of  the  chancellor,  was  the  Swe- 
dish ambassador  and  plenipotentiary  at  the 
treaty  of  Munster,  and  ably  supported  the 
credit  of  his  name. — ERIC  OXENSTIERN,  ano- 
ther son,  also  obtained  considerable  distinc- 
tion in  the  same  line. — There  was  also  a 
count  OXENSTIERN,  a  grand  nephew  of  the 
chancellor,  who  became  a  Catholic,  and  died 
in  1707.  He  was  author  of  "  Pensees  sur 
divers  Sujets,  avec  des  Reflexions  morales," 
2  vols.  l'2mo. — Gezelii  Biographiska  Lexicon. 

OZANAM  (JAMES)  an  eminent  French  ma- 
thematician, descended  from  a  family  of  Jew- 
ish extraction,  but  which  had  long  been  con- 
verts to  the  Romish  faith.  He  was  born  at 
Boligneux  in  Brescia,  in  1640,  and  being  a 
younger  son,  was  bred  to  the  church.  On  the 
death  of  his  father,  however,  he  gave  up  the 
study  of  divinity,  and  devoted  himself  entirely 
to  the  mathematics.  He  afterwards  repaired 
to  Lyons,  where  he  commenced  mathematical 
tutor  for  his  support,  and  acquired  many  pu- 
pils, and  considerable  reputation.  His  gene- 
rous confidence  in  advancing  money  to  two  of 
his  pupils,  who  were  disappointed  of  receiving 
bills  of  exchange,  was  the  means  of  his  being 
recommended  to  M.  D'Aguesseau,  father  of 
the  chancellor,  who  invited  him  to  Paris, 
where  he  met  with  great  encouragement  ;  but 

O  3  ' 

being  young,  handsome,  and  sprightly,  was 
seduced  into  some  imprudences  in  the  way  of 
gallantry  and  gaming,  which  induced  him  to 
marry  a  young  lady  without  fortune,  buc  with 
whom  he  enjoyed  much  happiness  for  several 
years.  After  long  enjoying  great  emolu- 
ment as  a  mathematical  teacher,  he  ex- 


OZE 

perienced  some  reverses,  in  consequence  of  be- 
ing deprived  of  his  foreign  pupils  by  the  war 
for  the  Spanish  succession  ;  and  about  the 
same  time  he  lost  his  wife,  and  was  thereby 
reduced  to  a  state  of  great  melancholy  depres- 
sion, which  was  somewhat  alleviated  by  his 
admission  into  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences. 
He  died  of  an  apoplexy  in  1717.  He  wrote  a 
great  number  of  useful  works,  the  principal  of 
which  are,  "  Dictionnaire  des  Mathematiques," 
4to  ;  "  Cours  des  Mathematiques,"  5  vols. 
8vo  ;  "  Recreations  Mathematiques  et  Phy- 
siques," 4  vols.  8vo  ;  "  Traite  de  la  Fortifica- 
tion," 4to  ;  "  Nouveau  Elemens  d' Algebra;" 
"  La  Perspective  Theorique  et  Pratique,"  &c. 
8vo.— Button's  Math.  Diet. 

OZELL  (JOHN)  a  miscellaneous  writer,  of 
French  extraction,  but  born  in  England.  He 
was  intended  for  the  church,  but  his  inclina- 
tion not  being  that  way,  he  obtained  the  si- 
tuation of  auditor- general  of  the  city  and 
bridge  accounts,  also  of  the  accounts  of  St 
Paul's  cathedral  and  St  Thomas's  hospital. 
Mr  Ozell  gave  translations  of  Don  Quixote. 
Rabelais,  and  Moliere,  but  possessing  neither 
humour  nor  imagination  himself,  it  was  impos- 
sible for  him  to  do  justice  to  those  excellent 
works.  He  also  published  "  Common  Prayer 
and  Common  Sense,  in  several  Places  of  the 
Portuguese,  Spanish,  Italian,  French,  Latin, 
and  Greek  Translations  of  the  English  Litur- 
gy," which  is  esteemed  ;  "  Fenelon  on  Learn- 
g  ;"  Vertot's  "  Revolutions  of  Rome  ;" 
"  The  Life  of  Veronica  of  Milan  ;"  "  Nicole's 
Logic  ;"  parts  of  Rapin,  Boileau,  &c.  Ozell 
was  endowed  with  a  considerable  share  of  va- 
nity, and  on  being  introduced  by  Pope  in  the 
Dunciad,  he  expressed  his  resentment  in  an 
extraordinary  advertisement,  signed  with  his 
name,  in  a  paper  called  "The  Weekly  Med- 
ley," and  drew  a  comparison  between  Pope 
and  himself,  in  which  he  professed  himself  su- 
perior both  in  respect  to  learning  and  poetical 
;enius.  He  died  in  1743. — Cibber's  Lives. 


P  Ad 

PAAW  (PETER)  a  physician  and  botanist, 
was  born  at  Amsterdam  in  1564.  His 
reputation  caused  him  to  be  called  to  Leyden, 
where  he  was  appointed  professor  of  medicine, 
and  died  in  1617.  His  works  are  chiefly  on 
anatomical  and  botanical  subjects,  and  though 
much  surpassed  by  the  subsequent  discoveries, 
they  are  still  esteemed.  The  principal  are, 
"  Notre  et  Commentarii  in  Epitomen  Anato- 
micam  Andreas  Vesalii,"  Leyden,  1616  ; 
"  Hortus  Lugduno-Batavus,"  1629,  8vo  ; 
"  De  Peste  Tractatus  cum  Henrici  Florentii 
additamentis,"  Leyden,  1636.  Paaw  was  the 
founder  of  the  botanical  garden  at  Leyden. — 
Eloy  Diet.  Hist,  de  Medicine. 

PACATUS   (LATIN-US  DREPANIUS)  a  La- 
tin poet  and  orator  of  the  fourth  century,  was 


P  AC 

a  native  of  Drepanum  in  Aquitania.  When 
Theodosius  the  Great  visited  Rome  in  388, 
after  the  defeat  of  Maximus,  Pacatus  was 
sent  from  Gaul  with  congratulations,  and  he 
pronounced  on  the  occasion  a  panegyrical  ora- 
tion, for  which  he  was  rewarded  by  the  pro- 
ccnsnlship  of  a  province  in  Africa,  and  in  393 
with  the  office  of  superintendant  of  the  impe- 
rial domain.  None  of  his  poems  are  extant, 
the  panegyric  on  Theodosius  only  remains  : 
the  best  edition  is  that  by  Arntzenius,  Amst. 
1753.  It  is  more  distinguished  by  its  imagi- 
nation and  expression  than  by  its  purity  ;  but 
for  the  age  in  which  it  was  composed,  it  is  a 
tolerable  piece  of  eloquence.—  Moreri.  Nmtv 
Diet.  7/isf. 
PACCIIIONI  (ANTHONY)  an  cminentana- 


P  AC 

lomist,  born  at  Reggio,  in  lta.lv,  iii  H>64. 
I  laving  taken  the  degree  of  JNID.  he  was  in- 
vited to  Home  by  Malpi^hi,  and  afterwards 
practised  as  a  physician  at  Tivoli.  Returning 
to  Rome,  he  became  assistant  to  the  celebrated 
anatomist  Lancisi,  and  devoting  himself  to 
dissection,  he  distinguished  himself  by  his 
researches  relative  to  the  structure  and  proper- 
ties of  the  brain  and  its  membranes.  He  was 
chosen  a  member  of  the  academies  of  Bo- 
)  i;jna  and  Sienna,  and  of  the  Academia  Cu- 
riosorum  Naturae.  He  died  at  Rome  in  1726. 
Among  his  principal  works  are,  "  Disserta- 
tiones  physico-anatomicee  de  DurS,  meninge 
humana,  novis  Expenmentis  et  Lucubrationi- 
bus  auctas  et  illustrate,"  1721,  which,  with 
his  other  treatises  on  the  same  subject,  ap- 
peared at  Rome,  1741,  4to,  under  the  title  of 
"  Opera  Omnia." — Biog.  Univ. 

PACE  (RICHARD)  sometimes  called  Pa- 
cceus,  a  learned  and  eloquent  divine,  high  in 
favour  with  Henry  the  Eighth  of  England,  who 
employed  him  on  various  occasions  of  state 
policy.  He  was  a  native  of  Hampshire,  born 
1482,  and  was  educated  at  Padua,  at  the  ex- 
pense of  Thomas  Langton,  bishop  of  Win- 
chester, who  made  him  his  secretary.  After 
his  studies  had  been  completed  at  Queen's 
college,  Oxford,  cardinal  Bambridge  then  car- 
ried him  with  him  to  Rome  in  his  suite  ;  on 
his  return  he  obtained  an  employment  about 
the  court,  till  having  attracted  the  notice  of 
the  monarch  by  his  accomplishments,  he  be- 
came a  secretary  of  state,  and  taking  orders, 
received  from  the  bounty  of  his  royal  patron, 
a  stall  in  the  cathedral  of  York,  the  archdea- 
conry of  Dorset,  and  the  deaneries  of  Exeter 
and  St  Paul's,  most  of  which  benefices  were 
conferred  upon  him  while  employed  as  an  am- 
bassador abroad.  In  this  capacity  he  visited 
Vienna  and  Rome,  to  which  latter  capital  he 
was  despatched  in  1524  by  Wolsey,  with  the 
view  of  forwarding  that  ambitious  prelate's  at- 
tempts on  the  popedom  vacant  by  the  death 
of  Leo  X.  Before  he  reached  the  point  of  his 
destination,  however,  the  object  of  his  mis- 
sion was  already  frustrated,  the  conclave  hav- 
ing previously  proceeded  to  election,  a  cir- 
cumstance which  lost  him  the  favour  of  the 
disappointed  cardinal,  who  took  the  opportu- 
nity, on  his  being  subsequently  accredited  to 
the  court  of  Vienna,  so  to  harrass  him  by  with- 
holding the  necessary  resources  and  direc- 
tions, that  a  strong  sense  of  the  neglect  he 
experienced  operating  upon  a  nervous  tempe- 
rament, produced  a  temporary  insanity.  His 
recal  was  the  consequence,  when  his  health 
became  partially  re-established,  notwithstand- 
ing the  yet  unsatisfied  rancour  of  his  former 
patron  not  only  deprived  him  of  the  king's 
countenance,  but  procured  him  an  incarcera- 
tion for  two  years  in  the  Tower  of  London. 
He  at  length  obtained  his  liberty,  but  with- 
drew at  once  from  public  life,  with  an  enfee- 
bled constitution,  resigning  all  his  preferments 
and  retiring  to  Stepney,  where  he  died  in 
1.532.  Dr  Pace  was  much  esteemed  by  Eras- 
inns,  sir  Thomas  More,  and  cardinal  Pole. 
His  principal  writings  were,  a  treatise  on  the 


P  AC 

marriage  of  the  king  with  Catharine  of  Arra- 
ii»n  ;  "  De  Fructu  Scientiarum,"  4to  ;  and  a 
musical  tract  "  De  Restitutione  MusiceB." — 
Athen.  (hnu. 

PACHYMERA  (GEORGE)  a  Greek  histo- 
rian of  the  fourteenth  century,  was  bora  at 
Nira-a.  He  entered  the  church,  iii  which,  as 
well  as  in  the  state,  he  bore  considerable 
offices  under  the  emperors  Michael  Palaeologus 
and  Andronicus  the  elder.  He  is  supposed  to 
have  died  about  1310.  He  wrote  "  The  His- 
tory »f  Michael  Paheologus  and  Andronicus," 
in  thirteen  books,  which  was  published  with  a 
Latin  version  by  father  Poussines,  at  Rome, 
in  1666,  and  was  translated  into  French  by  the 
president  Cousin.  The  style  is  harsh  and  ob- 
scure, but  it  is  written  in  an  impartial  and  en- 
lightened spirit.  To  Pachymera  is  also  attri- 
buted a  paraphrase  on  the  Epistles  of  Diony- 
sius  the  Areopagite,  and  a  treatise  on  the  pro- 
cession of  the  Holy  Ghost.  A  compendium  of 
Aristotelic  philosophy  was  published  from  his 
MS.  at  Oxford  in  1666. — Vossii  Hist.  Grtfc. 
Moreri.  Bntckei  Nciuv.  Diet.  Hi.sf. 

PACIATJDI  (PAUL  MARIA)  an  Italian 
cclesiastic,  antiquary,  and  historian,  was  born 
at  Turin  in  1710.  After  studying  at  the  uni- 
versity of  that  capital,  he  took  the  religious 
habit  in  the  order  of  Theatins,  at  Venice, 
and  after  studying  under  Beccaria  at  Florence, 
he  became  professor  of  philosophy  at  Genoa. 
In  1761  he  settled  at  Parma  as  librarian  to  the 
grand  duke,  who  also  appointed  him  his  anti- 
quary, and  invested  him  with  the  conduct  of 
several  public  works.  To  these  honours  and 
employments  he  likewise  added  that  of  histo- 
riographer of  the  order  of  Malta.  Father 
Paciaudi,  who  was  the  correspondent  of  Cay- 
lus,  Barthelemy,  and  Winkelman,  died  in 
1785.  His  principal  works  are,  "  A  Series  of 
Medals,  representing  the  most  remaikable 
Events  of  the  Government  of  Malta,"  folio  ; 
"  De  Sacris  Christianorum  Balneis ;"  "  De 
Athletarum  Cubistesi ;"  "  Monurnenta  Pelo- 
ponessia,"  2  vols.  4to  ;  "  Memoirs  of  the 
Grand  Masters  of  the  Order  of  St  John  of 
Jerusalem,"  3  vols.  4to. — Fabroni  Vita,  lla- 
lorum. 

PACIUS.  There  were  two  learned  men  of 
this  name,  brothers,  and  natives  of  Vicenza, 
who  nourished  in  Italy  during  the  latter  half 
of  the  sixteenth  century.  Oi  those,  FABIUS 
was  eminent  as  a  physician.  JULIUS,  the 
more  celebrated  of  the  two,  born  1530,  distin- 
guished himself  while  yet  a  youth  by  the  soli- 
dity as  well  as  the  precocity  of  his  talents. 
At  the  age  of  thirteen  he  composed  an  arith- 
metical treatise  of  considerable  merit,  and 
after  having  completed  his  education  at  Padua, 
where  he  made  great  proficiency  in  Oriental  as 
well  as  classical  learning,  and  took  his  doctor's 
degree,  travelled  over  great  part  of  the  north- 
ern states  of  Europe,  delivering  lectures  on  ju- 
risprudence. Though  born  of  Catholic  pa- 
rents, he  became  a  convert  to  Protestantism, 
and  visited  Geneva,  whence  he  removed  in 
1.585  to  Heidelberg,  on  obtaining  a  professor 
ship  in  that  university.  He  subsequently  vi- 
sited Sedan,  Montpellier,  Aix,  and  other  cities, 


PAG 

until  the  prospect  of  a  professorship  at  Padua 
at  length  induced  him  to  settle  in  the  Vene- 
tian territories,  where  he  was  held  in  such  high 
estimation  on  account  of  his  learning  and  abi- 
lities, that  the  senate  conferred  on  him  the 
honour  of  admission  into  the  equestrian  order 
of  St  Mark,  and  bestowed  a  professorship  upon 
his  son.  Beside  the  juvenile  production  al- 
ready alluded  to,  he  was  the  author  of  "  Cor- 
pus Juris  Civilis,"  1580,  folio  ;  an  edition  of 
the  "  Organon"  of  Aristotle,  Gr.  et  Lat.  8vo, 
1.598  ;  ""De  Contractibus,"  1606,  folio;  "  De 
Jure  iMaris  Adriatic!,"  8vo,  1609  ;  "  In  De- 
cretales,"  a  treatise  in  five  books,  8vo  ;  "  Con- 
suetudines  Feudorum,"  folio  ;  and  "  Doctrina 
Peripatelica,"  S  vols.  His  scholar,  Nicholas 
Peireso,  is  said  to  have  reconverted  him  to 
Catholicism  a  short  time  previously  to  his 
death,  which  took  place  in  1635,  at  Valence. 
—  Nicerorim 

PACK  (RICHARDSON)  an  ingenious  wri- 
ter, who  published  some  miscellaneous  works 
of  merit  in  the  early  part  of  the  last  century. 
He  was  born  in  the  county  of  Suffolk,  but  re- 
ceived the  rudiments  of  a  classical  education 
in  London,  at  Merchant  Tailors'  school.  Go- 
ing off  to  college  upon  that  foundation,  he  be- 
came a  fellow  of  St  John's,  Oxford,  and  on 
quitting  the  university,  entered  himself  of  the 
Middle  Temple,  but  subsequently  entered  the 
army,  and  rose  to  the  rank  of  major.  His 
works,  an  edition  of  which  appeared  the  year 
following  that  of  his  decease,  in  one  volume, 
octave,  consist  of  a  tale,  entitled,  "  Religion 
and  Philosophy  ;"  aud  a  "  Life  of  Pomponitis 
Atticud ;"  with  some  iniscellaneouspieces,  both 
in  proae  and  verse.  His  death  took  place  in 
1728,  at  Aberdeen. — Gibber's  Lives. 

PACUVIUS  (MARCUS)  a  Latin  tragic  poet, 
and  the  nephew  of  Ennius,  was  a  native  of 
Biundusium,  and  flourished  ahou*  BC.  154. 
He  obtained  great  reputation  by  his  tragedies, 
of  which  that  of  "  Orestes"  is  particularly 
mentioned  by  Cicero.  He  also  wrote  satires, 
and  possessed  a  talent  for  painting.  The  only 
remaining  fragments  of  his  works  were  pub- 
lished in  the  "  Corpus  Poetarum  Latinorum." 
He  died  at  Tarentum,  in  his  ninetieth  year. — 
Vossii  Poet.  Lat.  Bai/let. 

PAGAN  (BLAISE  FRANCOIS,  count  de)  an 
eminent  French  military  engineer,  was  born  in 
1604  at  Avignon.  He  entered  the  army  at 
an  early  age,  and  lost  an  eye  at  the  siege  of 
Montauban,  which  did  not  prevent  him  from 
following  up  his  profession  with  great  bravery 
and  success.  In  1642  he  was  sent  into  Por- 
tugal as  field-marshal,  and  then  lost  his  other 
eye  ;  and  thus  disabled  from  serving  his  coun- 
try in  the  field,  he  employed  the  whole  force 
of  his  mind  in  mathematical  studies,  in  which 
he  had  previously  been  much  conversant,  with 
a  view  to  the  science  of  fortification.  The  re- 
sult of  his  application  appeared  in  1645,  in  his 
"  Traile  de  Fortifications,"  the  best  work 
which  had  then  appeared  on  the  subject. 
This  was  followed  by  his  "  Theoremes  Geo- 
metriques,"  1651  ;  "  Theorie  des  Planetes," 
1657;  and  "Tables  Astronomiques,"  1658. 
He  wa:)  also  the  author  of  an  "Historical  and 


PAG 

Geographical  Account  of  the  River  of  Ama- 
zons." He  died,  highly  esteemed,  at  Paris 
in  166.5. —  Perrault  Hommes  Illust. 

PAGE,  DO.  (WILLIAM)  a  native  of  Har- 
row, Middlesex,  or  according  to  others,  of  the 
metropolis,  born  1590.  He  was  educated  at 
Oxford,  where  he  entered  originally  at  Baliol 
college,  but  quitted  it  in  1619,  on  being  chosen 
fellow  of  All  Souls.  Ten  years  after  he  ob- 
tained the  head-mastership  of  Reading  gram- 
mar-school, and  the  rectory  of  East  Locking, 
Berks  ;  but  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil 
wars,  ins  principles  rendering  him  obnoxious 
to  the  republican  party,  he  was  ejected  from 
his  school,  though  the  piofits  of  his  benefice 
were  not  sequestered.  He  is  principally 
known  as  the  author  of  a  devotional  treatise 
on  Genuflexion,  in  4to,  printed  at  Oxford  in 
16:31;  a  Reply  to  John  Hales's  Tract  on 
Schism  ;  and  a  translation  of  the  "  Be  Imita- 
tione,  &c."  of  Thomas  a  Kempis.  His  death 
took  place  in  166:5. — Athen.  Own. 

PAGES  (FRANCIS  XAVIER)  a  literary  com- 
piler and  indefatigable  romance-writer,  born 
at  Aurillac,  in  the  department  of  Cantal  in 
France,  in  1745.  He  settled  at  Paris  a  short 
time  before  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution, 
of  which  he  professed  himself  an  admirer  ; 
but  deprived  of  his  property  by  the  ensuing 
commotions  in  the  state,  he  devoted  himself 
to  literary  pursuits,  as  a  means  of  existence. 
He  died  at  Paris,  December  21,  1802.  Among 
his  numerous  works  may  be  mentioned,  "  Ilis- 
toire  secrete  de  la  Revolution  Fran9aise," 
1796-1801,  6  vols.  8vo,  which  was  translated 
into  English,  Italian,  and  German  ;  and 
"  Nouveau  Voyage  autour  du  Monde,  en 
Asie ,  en  Ameiique,  et  en  Afrique,  precede 
d'un  Voyage  en  Italic,"  1797,  3  vols.  8vo. 
This  last  is  a  kind  of  compilation  (in  the  man- 
ner of  the  "  Voyageur  Francais  "  of  the  abbe 
de  Laporte),  which  M.  Boucher  de  la  Richar- 
derie,  deceived  by  the  name  of  the  author,  has 
confounded  with  the  work  mentioned  in  the 
following  article. — Blag.  Univ.  Biog.  Nnuv. 
des  Contemp. 

PAGES  (  PIERRE  MARIE  FRAN90is,vicomte 
de)  a  French  navigator,  born  of  a  noble  family 
at  Toulouse  in  1748.  He  entered  into  the 
navy  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  aud  in  1767  he 
embarked  at  Cape  Franfois  in  St  Domingo,  on 
a  voyage  with  a  view  to  explore  the  Indian 
seas,  and  travel  through  China  and  Tartary  to 
the  Northern  Ocean.  He  arrived  at  the  Phi- 
lippine Islands  in  October  1768,  and  finding 
it  impossible  to  penetrate  China,  he  went  by 
sea  to  Bassora,  and  travelling  through  the  de- 
sert to  Syria,  he  reached  France  in  December 
1771.  In  1773  he  sailed  in  Kerguelm's  expe- 
dition towards  the  South  Pole  ;  and  on  his 
return,  lie  made  a  voyage  in  a  Dutch  vessel 
employed  in  the  whale  fishery  in  the  N  *  ~ 
Seas,  when  he  proceeded  as  fai  as  81t[1e  . 
and  a  half  of  north  latitude.  Page^f  i,ist!;tu 
as  the  reward  of  his  services,  the ,fe  incidental 
tain,  and  the  cross  of  St  Louis,jation  w]lici, 
chosen  a  correspondent  of  tVndently  onra- 
Sciences.  He  served  m  the  the 
and  after  the  peace  of  1783,  ]aj 


PA  Ci 

Domingo,  where  he  had  a  considerable  estate, 
lie  was  unfortunately  murdered  during  the 
revolt  of  the  negroes  in  I?'1.!,  lie  published 
"  Voyages  autour  du  Mnn-ir  et  vers  les 
poles,  par  Terre  et  par  M~r,  pendant  les  An- 
nees,  l767-7(i,"  Paris,  178.',  '2  vols.  8vo  ;  a 
work  praised  for  its  fidelity,  by  Humbolt,  with 
the  exception  of  inaccuracy  with  regard  to  the 
orthography  of  foreign  names. — Eadem. 

I 'Alii  (  ANTHONY)  a  famous  cordelier,  was 
born  at  Rogues,  a  small  town  in  Provence,  in 
! .  He  was  made  four  times  provincial  ol 
his  order,  and  died  at  Aix  in  1699.  He  was 
a  learned,  judicious,  and  candid  writer,  and  his 
sale  is  distinguished  by  its  simplicity.  Hi: 
principal  works  are,  "  Critica  Historico-Chro 
imlngica  in  Universes  Annales  Ecclesiasticos 
eminent,  et  Rev.  Caes.  Card.  Baronii,  &c." 
and  "  Dissertation  upon  the  Consulates. "- 
His  nephew,  FRANCIS  PACT,  also  a  cordelier, 
was  born  at  Lambese  in  1654.  He  assisted 
his  uncle  in  his  critique  upon  Baronius's  An 
nals,  of  which  he  became  the  editor.  He  also 
wrote  a  work,  entitled  "  Breviarium  Historico 
Chronologko-Criticum,  lllustriora  Pontificum 
Romauorum  Gesta  Conciliorum  generalium 
Acta,"  &c.  4  vols.  4to.  This  displays  some 
learned  and  curious  research,  and  the  style  is 
simple  and  plain  ;  and  he  is  a  zealous  advocate 
f  ;r  the  Ultramontane  theology,  and  uses  every 
argument  to  exalt  the  authority  of  the  papacy. 
He  died  in  1721. — Chaufcpie.  Niceron. 

PAGNINI  (LUCANTONIO)  an  Italian  poet, 
born  at  Pistoia  in  1737.  Distinguished  for 
his  talents  when  young,  he  attracted  the  no- 
tice of  the  vicar-general  of  the  Carmelites  at 
Mantua,  at  whose  invitation  he  entered  into 
that  order.  After  remaining  some  time  at 
Florence,  he  was  sent  to  Parma,  where  he 
became  professor  of  philosophy  in  the  schools 
of  his  order,  and  afterwards  of  rhetoric  and 
Greek  in  the  Royal  Academy.  In  1806  he 
was  aggregated  to  the  university  of  Pisa,  as 
professor  of  humanity,  and  then  of  belles  let- 
tres.  After  the  occupation  of  Tuscany  by  the 
French,  the  university  being  newly  modelled 
as  an  academy,  he  was  appointed  professor  of 
Latin  poetry,  and  dean  of  the  faculty  of  lite- 
rature. In  1813  the  Academia  della  Crusca 
of  Florence,  bestowed  on  Pagnini  the  prize  of 
poetry,  for  his  translation  of  Horace.  The 
same  year  the  bishop  of  Pistoia  appointed  him 
a  canon  of  his  cathedral  ;  but  he  held  the 
office  only  a  few  months,  dying  March  '_'!, 
HIM'.  Among1  his  works  are  translations  of 
Anacreon,  Theocritus,  Bion,  Most-bus,  (.'aili- 
machus,  Hesiod,  &c.  ;  "  Le  Quattro  Sta- 
gioni,"  from  the  English  of  Pope;  besides 
some  original  productions. — Biog.  U/iir. 

PAGNINUS  (SANTES)  a  Dominican  friar, 
•;:->«  born  at  Lucca  in  1466.     He  was  master 
Greek,   Latin,    Chaldee,  Arabic,   and 
languages,    the    latter  of    which   he 


turn 
He  at 


.   monastery  at  Lyons.     Conceiving 
bled  constu  ,_  t]je  vfoate  translation  of  the 


' or  was  gre;it.y cor- 

""'took  a  new  one  ;  andhis  inten- 
rnus,   sir        orr^  ihp  bation  of  Leo  X>  ,ie 

His  principal  *  isjj  hil^with  all  the  necessarv 


P  A  ] 

expenses.  He  was  employed  five  and  twenty 
years  upon  this  translation,  on  which  there 
has  been  great  ditreivnce  of  opinion.  The 
great  fault  of  Pagninus  was,  that  he  adhered 
too  strictly  to  the  original  text,  which  often 
made  his  work  obscure  and  full  of  solecisms, 
lie  afterwards  translated  the  New  Testament, 
and  was  the  author  of  a  "  Hebrew  Lexicon 
and  a  Hebrew  Grammar." — Le  Lung  Hihl. 
Sacra.  Moreri. 

PAINE  (THOMAS)  acelebrated  political  and 
deistical  writer.  He  was  born  in  1737,  at 
Thetford,  in  Norfolk,  where  his  father,  who 
was  a  quaker,  carried  on  the  business  of  a 
staymaker.  He  received  his  education  at  a 
grammar-school  in  his  native  place,  but  at- 
tained to  little  beyond  the  rudiments  of  the 
Latin  language,  which  slight  information  he 
never  afterwards  improved,  affecting  to  hold 
the  dead  languages  in  extreme  contempt.  He 
seems  however  to  have  paid  great  attention  to 
arithmetic,  and  to  have  obtained  some  know- 
ledge of  the  mathematics.  In  early  life  he 
followed  the  business  of  his  father,  which  he 
practised  in  London,  Dover,  and  Sandwich, 
where  he  married  ;  but  afterwards  became  a 
grocer  and  exciseman  at  Lewes  in  Sussex.  He 
lost  this  situation  for  some  misdemeanour  of 
no  flagrant  notice,  as  he  was  subsequently  re- 
stored on  petition,  until  finally  dismissed  for 
keeping  a  tobacconist's  shop,  which  was 
deemed  incompatible  with  his  duties.  The 
abilities  which  he  displayed  in  a  pamphlet 
composed  by  him,  in  order  to  show  the  pro- 
priety of  advancing  the  salaries  of  excisemen, 
having  struck  one  of  the  commissioners,  he 
gave  him  a  letter  of  introduction  to  Dr  Frank- 
lin, then  in  London,  who  recommended  him 
to  go  to  America.  He  took  this  advice,  and 
reaching  Philadelphia  towards  the  close  of 
1774,  in  the  following  January  became  editor 
of  the  Pennsylvania  magazine,  which  he  con- 
ducted with  considerable  ability.  A  few 
months  after  his  arrival,  hostilities  commenced 
between  the  mother  country  and  the  colonies, 
which  led  him,  as  it  is  said,  at  the  suggestion 
of  Dr  Hush,  to  compose  his  celebrated  pam- 
phlet, entitled  "  Common  Sense,"  which  he- 
ing  written  with  great  vigour,  and  addressed  to 
a  highly  excited  population,  was  doubtless  of 
great  benefit  to  the  colonial  cause.  The  direct 
object  of  this  tract  was  to  recommend  the 
separation  of  ths  colonies  from  Great  Britain, 
which  advice  was  virtually  carried  into  effect 
by  the  famous  declaration  of  independence 
issued  by  congress  a  few  months  afterwards. 
For  this  production  the  legislation  of  Penn- 
sylvania voted  him  500L  ;  he  also  received 
the  degree  of  MA.  from  the  university  of  the 
same  province,  and  was  chosen  a  member  of 
the  American  philosophical  society.  To  these 
rewards  was  soon  afterwards  added  the  office 
of  clerk  to  the  committee  for  foreign  affairs, 
which,  although  a  highly  confidential  situa- 
tion, scarcely  justified  him  in  assuming  the  title 
f  "  late  secretary  for  foreign  affairs,"  which 
lie  did  in  the  title  page  of  the  Rights  of  Ma;i. 
While  in  this  office,  he  published  a  series  01 
popular  political  appeals  on  the  nature  of  the 


P  A  I 

pending  struggle,  which  he  denominated  the 
"  Crisis."  lie  was  obliged  to  resign  his  secre- 
taryship in  1779,  owing  to  a  controversy  with 
Silas  Deane,  whom  he  defeated  iu  a  fraudu- 
lent attempt  to  profit  by  his  agency,  in  con- 
veying the  secret  supplies  of  warlike  stores 
by  France.  Led  by  the  warmth  of  his  tem- 
per, he  divulged  the  real  state  of  the  case, 
which,  as  he  had  acquired  it  officially,  was 
deemed  an  injurious  breach  of  trust,  and 
one  which  might  tend  to  alienate  the  French 
court.  The  next  year,  howfiver,  he  obtained 
the  subordinate  appointment  of  clerk  to  the 
assembly  of  Pennsylvania,  and  in  1785,  on 
the  rejection  of  a  motion  to  appoint  him  his- 
toriographer to  the  United  States,  with  a 
salary,  received  from  congress  a  donation  of 
3000  dollars.  He  also  received  500  acres  of 
highly  cultivated  land  from  the  state  of  New 
York.  In.  1787  he  embarked  for  France,  and 
after  visiting  Paris,  came  over  to  England, 
with  a  view  to  the  prosecution  of  a  project 
relative  to  the  erection  of  an  iron  bridge,  of 
his  own  invention,  at  Rotherham,  in  York- 
shire. This  scheme  involved  him  in  pecuniary 
difficulties,  and  in  the  course  of  the  following 
year  be  was  arrested  for  debt,  when  he  was 
bailed  by  some  American  merchants.  He  went 
to  Paris  in  1791,  and  published,  under  the 
borrowed  name  of  Achilles  Duchatellet,  a 
tract  recommending  the  abolition  of  royalty. 
He  soon  returned  to  this  country,  and  on  the 
appearance  of  Burke's  "  Reflections  on  the 
French  Revolution,"  he  wrote  the  first  part  of 
his  "  Rights  of  Man,"  in  answer  to  that  ce- 
lebrated work.  The  second  part  was  pub- 
lished early  in  1792  ;  and  on  the  21st  of  May 
that  year,  a  proclamation  was  issued  against 
wicked  and  seditious  publications,  alluding  to, 
but  not  naming,  the  "  Rights  of  Man."  On 
the  same  day  the  attorney-general  commenced 
a  prosecution  against  Pame  as  the  author  of 
that  work  ;  and  amidst  the  irritation  of  con- 
flicting opinions  between  the  partizans  and  the 
enemies  of  the  recent  Revolution  in  France, 
lie  became  the  object  of  extreme  execration 
with  the  ascendant  party.  While  the  trial 
was  pending,  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the 
National  Convention  for  the  department  of 
Calais  ;  and  making  his  escape  from  the  dan- 
gers that  awaited  him,  he  set  ofl*  for  France, 
and  arrived  there  in  September  1792.  He  was 
in  that  assembly  an  advocate  for  the  trial  of 
Louis  XVI  ;  but  he  voted  against  the  sentence 
of  death  passed  on  him,  proposing  his  impri- 
sonment during  the  war,  and  his  banishment 
afterwards.  This  conduct  so  offended  the 
Jacobins,  that  towards  the  close  of  1793  he 
was  excluded  from  the  Convention,  on  the 
ground  of  his  being  a  foreigner,  (though  be 
had  been  naturalized.)  and  immediately  after 
he  was  arrested,  and  committed  to  the  prison 
of  the  Luxembourg.  Just  before  his  confine- 
ment he  had  finished  the  first  part  of  his  work 
against  Christianity  and  revelation  generally, 
entitled  "  The  Age  of  Reason,  being  an  in- 
vestigation of  true  and  fabulous  Theology ;" 
and  having  confided  it  to  the  care  of  his  friend 
Joel  Barlow,  it  was  published,  bv  which  step 


P  AI 

he  undoubtedly  forfeited  the  countenance  of 
by  far  the  greater  part  of  his  American  con- 
nexions. In  his  prison  lie  was  taken  dan- 
gerously ill,  to  which  circumstance  he  ascribes 
his  escape  from  the  guillotine ;  and  on  the 
fall  of  Robespierre  he  was  released.  In  1795 
he  published,  at  Paris,  the  second  part  of  his 
"  Age  of  Reason,"  and  in  May  1796  ad- 
dressed to  the  Council  of  Five  Hundred,  a 
work  entitled,  "  The  Decline  and  Fall  of  the 
System  of  Finance  in  England  ;"  and  also  pub- 
lished his  pamphlet,  entitled,  "  Agrarian  Jus- 
tice." Fearful  of  being  captured  by  English 
cruisers,  he  remained  in  France  till  August 
1802,  when  he  embarked  for  America,  and 
readied  Baltimore  the  following  October.  He 

O 

had  lost  his  first  wife  the  year  following  his 
marriage,  and  after  a  cohabitation  of  three 
years  and  a  half,  had  separated  from  a  second 
by  mutual  consent  several  years  before.  Thus 
situated,  he  obtained  a  female  companion  in 
the  person  of  a  madame  de  Bonneville,  the 
wife  of  a  French  bookseller,  who,  with  her 
two  sons,  accompanied  him  to  America  ;  but 
whatever  the  nature  of  this  connexion  (at  the 
age  of  sixty-five,)  which  has  been  differently 
represented,  the  husband  and  children,  as  well 
as  the  wife,  became  his  chief  legatees.  His 
subsequent  life  was  by  no  means  happy,  for, 
although  occupied  in  various  mechanical  spe- 
culations and  other  engrossing  pursuits,  and 
possessed  of  decent  competence,  his  attacks 
upon  religion  had  exceedingly  narrowed  his 
circle  of  acquaintance  ;  and  probably  always 
a  little  inclined  to  the  bottle,  these  slights, 
which  he  felt  keenly,  encouraged  the  perni- 
cious practice,  until  it  became  habitual,  to  the 
extreme  injury  of  his  health,  «nd  the  ultimate 
production  of  a  complication  of  disorders,  to 
which  he  fell  a  victim  on  the  8th  of  June 
1809,  in  his  seventy-third  year.  Being  re- 
fused interment  in  the  ground  of  the  society  of 
friends,  which  favour  he  had  requested  before 
his  death,  he  was  buried  on  his  own  farm. 
The  strong  part  taken  by  this  extraordinary- 
man  in  religion  and  politics,  has  produced 
such  extremes  of  praise  and  execration,  that 
there  exist  few  or  no  sources  of  unbiassed  in- 
formation, either  as  to  his  abilities  or  character, 
except  his  writings.  That  he  possessed  much 
native  vigour  of  intellect  is  indisputable,  and 
concentrated  as  it  became  by  resolute  exclusion 
of  multifarious  acquirement,  and  of  even  a  mode- 
rate recourse  to  books,  it  assumed,  in  his  writ- 
ings, that  piquancy,  force,  and  simplicity , which, 
of  all  qualities,  secure  the  largest  share  of  gene- 
ral attention  in  popular  controversy.  Both  his 
"  Common  Sense"  and  "  Rights  of  Man" 
prove  the  truth  of  this  observation,  and  like 
the  kindred  lucubrations  of  a  noted  writer  of 
the  same  class  now  existing,  form  striking  spe- 
cimens of  a  faculty  of  appealing  to  reason  in 
the  abstract,  with  a  total  disregard  of  the  pre- 
judices of  education,  the  operations  of  institu- 
tion and  of  habit,  as  well  as  of  the  incidental 
and  involuntary  trains  of  association  which 
modify  human  character,  independently  on  ra- 
tiocination. To  sav  nothing  ot  the  totul  igno- 
rance of  mental  and  of  moial  philosophy 


PAL 

which  this  form  of  appeal  too  frequently  ex- 
hiliits,  it  is  unnecessary  to  aiid,  that  however 
occasionally  searching  and  serviceable,  it  as 
frequently  disguises  fallacy  as  any  other,  al- 
though possibly  the  error  if  more  difficult  of 
detection.  "  The  Age  of  Reason"  exempli- 
fies in  a  still  greater  degree  the  characteristics 
of  its  author  ;  but  the  whole  of  his  subsequent 
experience  was  of  a  nature  to  convince  him, 
that  attacks  upon  revelation  have  to  encounter 
principles  and  feelings  which  of  all  others  are 
tbe  luast  assailable  by  direct  onsets  of  this  na- 
ture. That  he  made  sacrifices  to,  and  was 
sincere  in  his  opinions,  must  however  be 
conceded  ;  for  the  vague  stories  related  of  his 
exclamations  on  his  death  bed,  appear  to  rest 
upon  no  solid  foundation,  and  would  prove  lit- 
tle or  nothing  were  it  otherwise.  For  the  rest, 
he  has  been  described  as  liberal  and  benevo- 
lent according  to  his  means,  hut  irascible  and 
peevish  in  temper,  and  exceedingly  vain  of  the 
distinction  which  he  liad  acquired.  Some  de- 
fects in  deportment  and  conduct  indeed,  seem 
always  to  have,  impeded  his  cordial  reception 
among  the  more  steady  and  influential  of  the 
American  leaders,  although  receiving  an  occa- 
sional countenance  from  nearly  all  of  them 
until  the  publication  of  "  The  Age  of  Reason." 
The  brief  political  tracts,  letters,  and  ad- 
dresses of  Paine  are  very  numerous,  and 
may  be  found  in  the  collective  editions  of  his 
works.  They  are  also  enumerated  at  the  end 
of  bis  life  by  Sherwin. — Lives  by  Cheelham  and 
Slier  win. 

PAINTER  (WILLIAM)  a  writer  in  the 
reign  of  queen  FJizabeth,  who  published  a  very 
popular  work,  entitled  "  The  Palace  of  Plea- 
sure, beautified,  adorned,  and  well  furnished 
with  pleasant  Histories  and  excellent  Novels, 
selected  out  of  divers  good  and  commendable 
Authors,"  London,  1566-7,  2  vols.  4to.  This 
work,  which  was  reprinted,  is  interesting  to 
the  critic  on  account  of  its  having  apparently 
been  the  source  whence  Shakspeare  and  other 
dramatists  derived  the  plots  of  some  of  their 
plays.  In  1813  Mr  Hazlewood  published  a 
new  edition  of  the  Palace  of  Pleasure,  some 
copies  of  which  were  printed  on  vellum,  form- 
ing 4  vols.  4to. — Orig. 

PAIS1ELLO  (GIOVANNI)  a  celebrated 
singer  and  musician,  the  son  of  a  veterinary 
surgeon  of  Tarento  in  Italy,  where  he  was 
born  in  1741.  From  the  ag^  of  five  to  that 
of  thirteen  he  was  placed  by  his  father  at  the 
Jesuit's  college  in  his  native  city,  where  his 
musical  talents  first  exhibited  themselves  in 
the  matin  services  performed  in  the  chapel, 
and  the  chevalier  Carducci,  who  superintended 
the  choir,  prevailed  upon  his  friends  to  send 
him  to  Naples,  for  farther  instruction  in  the 
science.  Accordingly,  in  1754,  he  was  put 
under  the  care  of  the  celebrated  Durante,  at 
the  conservatory  of  St  Ouofrio,  where  his  pro- 
gress was  very  rapid  ;  and  iti  176:>  his  first 
opera,  "  La  Papilla,"  was  performed  with 
great  applause  at  the  Marsigli  theatre  in  Bo- 
logna. From  this  period  commenced  a  long 
career  of  success,  which  attended  him  at  J\lo- 
dena,  Parma,  Venice,  Rome,  Milan,  Naples, 


PAL 

and  Florence,  till  in  1796  he  was  induced  to 
enter  the  service  of  Catherine  II  of  Rus>i;\, 
who  settled  on  him  a  pension  of  4000  rubles, 
with  a  country  house  and  other  advantages  in 
his  capacity  of  musical  tutor  to  the  grand 
duchess.  In  Russia  he  remained  nine  years, 
when  he  returned  to  Naples,  visiting  Vienna 
in  his  way,  and  continued  in  the  service  of 
Ferdinand  IV,  till  the  court  retired  into  Sicily. 
On  the  French  Revolution  extending  to  Na- 
ples, Paisiello,  who  remained  behind,  received 
from  the  republican  government,  now  esta- 
blished, the  appointment  of  composer  to  the 
nation.  On  the  restoration  of  the  Bourbon 
family  he  fell  into  disgrace  ;  but  at  the  expi- 
ration of  two  years  was  restored  to  his  situa- 
tion. .Napoleon  afterwards  sent  him  an  invi- 
tation, or  rather  a  command,  to  come  to  Paris, 
which  he  obeyed,  but  declined  the  director- 
ship of  the  imperial  academy,  which  was  of- 
fered to  his  acceptance,  contenting  himself  with 
that  of  the  chapel.  After  remaining  in  the 
French  capital  nearly  three  years,  his  own 
health  and  that  of  his  wife  compelled  him  to 
return  to  Italy,  when,  on  the  expulsion  of  the 
Bourbons,  he  was  made  chamber  musician  to 
Joseph  Buonaparte,  receiving  at  the  same 
time  from  Napoleon  the  cordon  of  the  legion 
of  honour  and  a  pension  of  1000  francs.  In 
this  situation  he  continued  under  Murat,  and 
became  a  member  of  many  learned  and  scien- 
tific, as  well  as  musical  societies,  especially  of 
the  Napoleon  academy  of  Lucca,  the  Italian 
academy  of  Leghorn,  and  the  French  insti- 
tute. There  are  few  composers  who  have  given 
greater  proofs  of  industry  than  Paisiello,  or 
whose  works  have  met  with  a  greater  portion 
of  success  all  over  Europe.  His  operas,  serious 
and  comic,  exceed  seventy,  besides  a  great  va- 
riety of  ballets,  cantatas,  and  some  sacred  mu- 
sic of  great  merit.  He  died  in  1816,  at  Na- 
ples, and  was  honoured  with  a  public  funeral. 
Simplicity,  elegance,  and  correctness,  are  the 
characteristics  of  his  style,  while  the  grace  and 
freshness  of  melody  in  which  he  has  far  sur- 
passed most  other  composers,  have  constituted 
a  model  to  numerous  imitators. — Bio*.  Diet. 

O 

nj  Mas. 

PAL/EPHATUS.  Three  ancient  writers 
of  this  name  are  recorded;  one  an  Athenian, 
anterior  to  Homer  ;  another  a  native  of  Paros 
or  Priene,  who  flourished  under  Artaxerxes 
Mnemon,  and  the  third  a  grammarian  and 
philosopher,  born  either  at  Athens  or  in  Egypt 
posterior  to  Aristotle.  There  is  a  work  ex- 
tant bearing  the  name  of  Paleephatus  ;  but  it 
is  not  known  to  which  of  the  three  to  attribute 
it.  It  is  in  Greek,  and  is  entitled  "  De  In- 
credibilibus  ;"  it  consists  of  an  explication  of 
ancient  fables.  The  best  edition  is  that  of 
J.  F.  Fischer,  Lips.  1761,  1789. —  Fossi'i  Hist. 
Lot.  Bibliogr.  Diet. 

PALAFOX  Y  MENUOZA  (U.  JUAN  DE) 
natural  son  of  the  marquess  de  Hariza,  and 
bishop  of  Angelopolis  in  New  Spain,  where 
he  became  viceroy  in  the  absence  of  the  duque 
de  Escaloua.  He  was  made  bishop  of  Osina 
or  Osma  in  Old  Castille,  in  1653,  where  he 
died  in  1659.  He  was  a  voluminous  writer. 


PAL 

but  his  principal  work  is  a  little  history  of  the 
conquest  of  China  by  the  Tartars,  published 
after  his  death  by  D.  Joseph  Palafox,  at  Paris, 
and  translated  into  several  languages. — Nic. 
Antonio. 

PA LAMEDES,  a  distinguished  Greek,  of 
the  semi-fabulous  times,  was  the  son  of  Nau- 
plius,  king  of  the  isle  of  Eubcea.  He  is  said 
to  have  discovered,  by  a  stratagem,  the  pre- 
tended insanity  of  Ulysses,  in  order  to  be  ex- 
cused from  accompanying  the  expedition 
against  Troy  ;  in  revenge  for  which  act,  the 
latter  contrived  to  involve  him  in  a  charge  of 
treason,  and  to  get  him  stoned  to  death.  This 
tale  is  possibly  only  an  invention  :  but  so  many 
different  authors  record  instances  of  his  know- 
ledge and  ingenuity,  he  was  probably  a  very 
extraordinary  person.  To  him  are  attributed 
the  first  use  of  weights  and  measures,  the  art 
of  drawing  up  a  battalion,  the  regulation  of 
the  year  and  months  by  the  sun  and  moon, 
and  the  invention  of  the  games  of  chess  and 
dice.  Pliny  and  Philostratus  also  ascribe  to 
him  the  adoption  of  four  of  the  letters  of  the 
Greek  alphabet.  Suidas  likewise  mentions 
him  as  a  poet. —  Plinii  Hist.  lYar.  Moreri. 

PALEAUIUS  (AoNius  or  ANTONIO)  a 
learned  Italian  writer  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
•was  born  at  Veroli  in  the  Campagna  di  Pioma. 
He  taught  rhetoric  and  the  belles  lettres  ;  first 
at  Sienna  and  afterwards  at  Lucca,  but  being 
suspected  of  favouring  the  sentiments  of  the 
reformers,  and  having  otherwise  given  offence 
to  the  monks,  they  never  rested  until  they  had 
convicted  him  of  heresy,  which,  on  the  acces- 
sion of  Paul  V,  a  Dominican  and  an  inquisitor, 
to  the  papal  chair,  they  were  enabled  to  effect. 
His  conviction  was  grounded  on  his  having 
called  the  inquisition  a  dagger  "  drawn  against 
literature  in  general."  For  this  honest  truth 
he  was  burnt  at  Rome  in  July  1570.  His 
principal  works  are,  "  De  immortalitate 
aninue  ;"  "  Epistolie  ;"  "  Orationes  ;"  "  Poe- 
mata  ;"  which  have  been  collected  into  one 
volume,  8vo,  Amsterdam,  1696. — Niceron. 

P  A  LEOTTI  (GABRIEL)  a  learned  prelate 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  first  archbishop 
of  Bologna,  ia  which  city  he  was  born  about 
the  year  1524.  His  reputation  as  a  scholar, 
especially  in  the  science  of  jurisprudence, 
gained  him  early  in  life  a  professorship  in  his 
native  university,  which  he  retained  till  a  fa- 
vourable opportunity  ottering  at  Rome,  he  ob- 
tained, in  bis  thirty-third  year,  the  post  of 
auditor  of  the  Rota,  in  that  capital.  After 
filling  several  official  situations  about  the  papal 
court,  he,  in  1565,  reached  his  highest  point 
of  elevation,  being  then  presented  with  a  car- 
dinal's hat.  Besides  a  history  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  council  of  Trent,  (at  which  he  as- 
sisted in  an  inferior  capacity,)  a  work  still 
preserved  at  Rome  in  manuscript,  he  was  the 
author  of  treatises,  "  De  Sacri  Consistorii 
Consultatiomhus  ;"  "  Archiepiscopale  Bono- 
niense  ;"  "  De  Imaginibus  Sacris  et  Pro- 
fanis,"  &c.  His  death  took  place  in  1597. — 
Moreri. 

PALESTRINA  (GIOVANNI  PIETRO  ALOI- 
»ic  da)  an  eminent  musical  composer  of  the 


PAL 

sixteenth  century,  the  particulars  of  whose  life 
and  condition  are  little  known  in  comparison 
with  the  fame  which  his  works  have  gained 
him.  He  appears  to  have  been  born  in  Pales- 
tiina,  the  ancient  Prajneste,  about  the  year 
1.529,  and  to  'have  studied  under  Goudimel. 
About  1555  he  became  a  member  of  the 
Papal  chapel  at  Rome,  and  was  afterwards 
chapel-master  at  the  church  of  Santa  Maria 
Maggiore,  and  at  St  Peter's.  His  death  took 
place  in  February  1594  ;  and  a  strong  proof  is 
exhibited  of  the  veneration  in  which  lie  was 
held  by  contemporary  professors,  in  their  nu- 
merous dedications  of  their  works  to  him,  as 
well  as  in  the  inscription  on  his  coffin  in  St 
Peter's,  "  Johannes  Petrus  Aloyisius  Przenes- 
tinus,  Musicse  Princeps." — Burney's  Hist,  of 
M«s. 

PALEY  (WILLIAM)  a  celebrated  divine 
and  philosopher,  was  the  son  of  a  clergyman, 
who  held  a  small  living  near  Peterborough, 
where  the  subject  of  this  article  was  born  in 
1743.  He  was  instructed  under  his  father, 
who  became  master  of  a  grammar-school  in 
Yorkshire,  whence  he  was  removed  as  a  sizar 
to  Christchurch  college,  Cambridge.  He  soon 
obtained  a  scholarship,  and  1763,  having  high- 
ly distinguished  himself  as  a  disputant  on  ques- 
tions of  natural  and  moral  philosophy,  he  took 
his  first  degree.  He  was  afterwards  employed 
for  three  years  as  an  assistant  to  an  academy 
at  Greenwich,  and  on  taking  deacon's  orders, 
officiated  as  curate  to  Dr  Hinchcliffe,  then 
vicar  of  Greenwich,  and  afterwards  bishop  of 
Peterborough.  In  1766  he  proceeded  MA, 
was  elected  a  fellow  of  ins  college,  and 
appointed  one  of  its  tutors.  lu  the  latter  ca- 
pacity he  signally  distinguished  himself  by  his 
assiduity  and  ability  ;  and  the  lectures  which 
he  then  delivered  on  the  Greek  Testament 
and  on  moral  philosophy,  contain  the  outlines  of 
the  works  by  which  he  subsequently  obtained 
so  much  celebrity.  In  1767  he  took  priest's 
orders,  and  maintained  an  intimate  ac- 
quaintance with  the  most  eminent  persons  in 
the  university,  particularly  Dr  Law,  bishop  of 
Carlisle,  Dr  John  Law  his  son,  and  doctors 
Waring  and  Jebb.  MosJ  of  these  being  pre- 
sumed to  fall  below  the  established  standard 
of  orthodoxy,  Mr  Paley  began  to  be  regarded 
with  some  coolness  by  its  most  zealous  de- 
fenders. His  friends  could  not,  however,  per- 
suade him  to  sign  the  petition  for  relief  in  the 
matter  of  subscription  to  the  articles,  on 
which  occasion  he  observed,  with  more  point 
than  decorum,  that  "  he  could  not  afford  to 
keep  a  conscience."  In  1776  he  quitted  the 
university,  after  a  residence  of  ten  years,  and 
entered  into  a  matrimonial  connexion.  He 
had  previously  obtained  a  small  benefice  in 
Westmoreland,  and  he  now  was  inducted  into 
the  vicarage  of  Dalston,  in  Cumberland,  to 
which  was  soon  after  added  the  living  of  Ap- 
pleby,  and  a  prebendal  stall  in  the  cathedral 
of  Carlisle.  In  178-2  he  was  appointed  arch- 
deacon of  the  diocese,  and  not  long  afterwards, 
succeeded  Dr  Burn  in  the  chancellorship,  for 
j  all  which  preferments  he  was  indebted  to  the 
|  bishop  of  Carlisle.  In  1785  he  published  hia 


PAL 

Elements  of  Moral   and    Political   Philoso- 
phy,"  with  a  highly  liberal  iV  lication   to   his 


PAL 

It  is  said,  tlint  Mr  Pitt  wished  to  make  him  a 
bishop,  but  that  objections  prevailed  in  a  high 


episcopal  patron.  Of  a  work  so  well  known,  quarter  in  the  church ;  but  whether  on  account 
it  is  unnecessary  to  say  more  than  that,  while  of  suspicions  of  his  orthodoxy,  or  any  other 
with  much  vigour  and  discrimination  it  stands  latent  reason,  is  not  known.  As  a  writer,  Dr 
unrivalled  for  its  simplicity  and  pertinence  of  Paley  was  less  solicitous  to  delight  the  "ear 
illustration,  many  of  the  definitions  and  prin- 
ciples laid  down,  both  in  his  politics  and 
morals,  are  justly  open  to  exception.  That  his 
casuistry  occasionally  degenerates  into  an  apo- 
losry  for  existing  practices,  or  exhibits  the  doc- 
trine of  mere  expediency,  has  been  discovered 
by  more  than  one  able  opponent ;  and  allusions 
•,  in  consequence,  been  made  to  the  maxims 
of  the  school  of  Loyola,  which  at  least  are  abun- 
dantly severe.  On  the.  death  of  the  bishop  of 
Carlisle,  in  1767,  archdeacon  Paley  drew  up 
a  short  memoir  of  that  liberal  prelate,  and 
soon  after  published  bis  "  Honv.  Paulinas,"  a 
work  which  ranks  him  very  high  among  the 
argumentative  advocates  of  Scripture  autho- 
rity. The  chief  object  of  this  work  is  to 
bring  together,  from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
and  from  the  different  epistles,  such  passages 
as  furnish  examples  of  undesigned  coinci- 
dence, and  thus  to  infer  the  authenticity  of  the 
Scriptural  writings,  independently  on  inspira- 


inform  the  understanding  ;  yet  few  au- 
thors have  written  so  pleasingly  on  similar . 
subjects,  and  there  is,  both  in  his  conceptions 
and  language,  a  peculiarity  of  manner  which 
marks  the  native  vigour  of  his  mind.  After 
his  death,  a  volume  of  his  sermons  was  pub- 
lished in  8vo  ;  and  he  was  also  author  of  two 
small  pieces,  entitled,  "  The  Clergyman's 
Companion  to  the  Sick;"  and  "The  Young 
( 'hristian  Instructed." — Life  by  Mearlley. 

PALFIN  (JOHN)  an  eminent  writer  on 
surgery  and  anatomy,  born  at  Ghent,  in  the 
Netherlands,  in  1649.  lie  practised  as  a  sur- 
geon in  his  native  city,  where  he  also  became 
anatomical  and  surgical  lecturer.  His  death 
took  place  in  1730.  He  published,  "  Osteo- 
logy, or  a  Description  of  the  Bones, "in  Fle- 
mish, translated  by  himself  into  French ; 
"  Surgical  Anatomy,  or  an  exact  Description 
of  the  Parts  of  the  Human  Body,"  also  in 
Flemish  and  French;  "An  Account  of  the 


lion.     In  1794  he~published  his  "  View  oHhe 
Evidence  of  Christianity,  ill   three   parts,"   in 
3  vols.  12mo,  afterwards  printed  in  2  vols.  8vo. 
This  work,  which  contains  an  able  popular  view 
it  the.  arguments  for  the  truth  of  the  Christian 
•eligion,   drawn    up    with     his   usual    perspi- 
cuity and  dialectic  skill,  is  now  generally  re- 
garded as  the  most  complete  summary  on  the 
subject  which  has  ever  appeared.     It  seems, 
indeed,  to  have  roused  the  episcopal  bench  into 
a  due.  sense  of  his  services  ;  and  he  was  made 
a  sub-dean  of  Lincoln,  by  bishop  Pretyman, 
and  received  the  valuable   living  of  Bishop's 
Wearmouth,  from  the  bishop  of  Durham,  and 
the  prebend  of  St  Pancras  from  the  bishop  of 
London.     In  1795  he  was  created  DD.  by  the 
university  of  Cambridge  ;  and  his  health  not 
allowing  him  to  officiate  in  the  pulpit,  he  un- 
dertook the  compilation  of  his  "  Natural  The- 
olo-y,  or  Evidences  of  the  Existence  and  At- 
tributes of  the  Deity,  collected  from  the  Ap- 
pearances of  Nature,"  8vo  ;   which,  however, 
was  not  published  until  1802.     The  object  of 
this  masterly  treatise  is  to  trace  and  show  the 
marks  of  design  in  the  various   parts  of  the 
creation  ;  but  the  author  has  dwelt  principally 
upon  those  which  may  be  discovered  in  the 
constitution  of  the  human  body.     Such  was 
its  favourable  reception,   it  reached   a    tenth 
enitioii   before  the,  expiration  of  three  years. 
This  was  his  last  publication,  his  death  taking 
place  on  the  25th  of  May  1805,  in  bis  sixty - 
s.vond    year.     He    left    four   sons    and   four 
daughters  by  his  first  wife,  and  a  second  wife 
who  survived  him.     In  private  life,  Dr  Paley 
.-,    ins  to   have    exhibited  very   little   of    the 
,ity   of    the    philosopher,     being    fond   of 
amusement  and  company,  whom  no  one  could 
better  entertain,  by  a  spontaneous  exhibition 


Dissection   of  Two  Monstrous  Infants   united 
together  ;"   "  A  Dissertation  on   the  Circula- 


tion of  the  P/lood  in  the 


Fretus,"  in   opposi- 


of  wit  and 


the  same,  time,   no 
by  his   friends,  or 
evinced  more  attachment  to  them  in  return. 


man    was    more 


humour.     At 
beloved 


tion  to  the  opinion  of  M.  Mery  ;  besides  other 
works. — Hutchinson's  Ki«g-  Ned. 

PALING KMUS  (MARCELLUS)  a  modern 
Latin  poet,  who  lived  at  the  beginning  of  the 
sixteenth  century.     His  real  name  is  believed 
to  have  been  Pier  Angelo  Marizollo,  of  which 
his  Latin  appellation  is  the  anagram  ;  and  he 
is  supposed  to  have  been  a  native  of  Stellata 
in  the  Ferrarese,  and  to  have  held  the  post  of 
physician  to   the  duke  of  Ferrara,   to  whom 
he  dedicated  the  work  for  which  he  is  chiefly 
celebrated,  entitled"  Zodiacus  Vita; ;"  this  is 
a  poem  divided   into   twelve  parts,  each  in- 
scribed with  one  of  the  signs  of  the  zodiac,  the 
professed  object  of  which  is  to   guide  men  tc 
present  and    future   happiness.     It    is    inter- 
spersed with  many  invectives  against  the  court 
and  church   of    Rome,    the    monks  and   the 
clergy,  whence  it  was  placed  in  the  Index  Ex- 
purgatorius.    He  published  this  book,  in  which 
he    unreservedly  inculcates    the    opinions   of 
Epicurus  in  1536,  and  seems  not  to  have  lived 
long  after   that  date.      His  body,    after   his 
death,  was  ordered   to  be  dug  up  and  burnt, 
but  the  duchess  of  Ferrara,  who  favoured  the 
Reformation,  interfered  to  prevent  its  execution. 
His  poem  of  the  Zodiac  has  passed  through 
many  editions  ;  the   best  of  which  is  that  of 
Pvotterdam,  1722. — Baijle.     Tiraboscln. 

PALISSOT  DE  BEAUVOIS  (AMBROISE 
MARIE  FnANfois  JOSEPH)  an  eminent  natu- 
ralist, born  at  Arras  in  the  French  Nether- 
lands, in  1752.  He  studied  at  the  college  of 
Harcourt  at  Paris,  and  in  1772  he  was  admit- 
ted a  counsellor  of  the  parliament  of  that  city. 
Some  time  after  he  succeeded  his  elder  brother 
as  receiver-general  of  territorial  imposts,  which 
oilice  was  suppressed  in  1777.  He  then  devoted 
his  attention  entirely  to  natural  history,  and 


PAL 

especially  botany;  and  in  1781   lie  became  a 


corresponding    member  of  the  Parisian  Aca- 
demy of  Sciences,   to  which  he  addressed  se- 
veral memoirs  on  botany  and  vegetable  phy- 
siology.    The  love  of  scienc-a  induced  him  to 
undertake   a  voyage    to  the  coast  of  Guinea, 
with  an  intention  to  travel  across  the  African 
continent  to   Egypt  ;  but   he   was   unable    to 
execute  that  design,  and  aftei  remaining  some 
time    at   Owara   and    Benin,  he  sailed  for  St 
Domingo,  and   arrived   at    Cape    Francais    in 
June  1788.     He  continued  there  some  years, 
occupying  official  situations  in  the  colony  ;  but 
his  opposition  to  the  revolutionary  attempts  of 
the  negroes  having  endangered  his  safety,  be 
with  difficulty  effected  his  escape  to  Philadel- 
phia, in  the  United  States.     Thence  he  pur- 
posed to  return  to  France,  when  he  learnt  that 
he  had  been  proscribed  as  an  emigrant.     He 
was  obliged  to  support  himself  as  a  teacher  of 
languages,  and    by  exercising  his  talents  as  a 
musician,  till  the  arrival  of  the  French  minis- 
ter  Adet,  who  was  himself  a  man  of  science, 
and  who  afforded  Palissot  the  means  of  prose- 
cuting inquiries  into    the    natural    history   of 
America.     At  length  he  received  the  news  of 
his  name  being  erased  from  the  list  of  emi- 
grants, and  he  returned  to  his  native  country, 
taking  with  him  the  rich  collection  of  natural 
curiosities  which  he  had  formed.     In  1806  he 
was  admitted  into  the  Institute  in  the  room  01 
Adaason  ;  and  he   became  a  member  of  oilier 
learned  societies.     He  died  January  21,  1820. 
Among    his    principal     woiks    are,     "    Flore 
d'Oware  et  de  Benin,"  Paris,  1S04-21,  2  vols. 
folio  ;  "  Insectes  recuillis  en   Afrique   et  en 
Amerique,"    1805-21,   folio;    "    Essai  d'une 
nouvelle  Agrostographie,  ou  Nouveaux  genres 
des  Graminees,"  1812,  4to  and  8vo  ;  all  which 
are  illustrated  by  engravings.  —  Bios;.  Uttiv. 

PALISSOT  DEMONTENOY  (CHARLES) 
a  French  dramatist,  born  at  Nanci  in  1730,  his 
father  being  counsellor  to  the   duke  of  Lor- 
raine.    He  made  an  early  progress  in  his  stu- 
dies, and  entered  into  the  learned  congregation 
of  the  oratory,  but  he  soon  quitted  it,  and  was 
married  at  the    age   of  eighteen.      He    then 
wrote  a  tragedy,  which  had  no  great  success  ; 
on  which  he  turned  his  attention  to  comedy, 
and  after  producing  two  pieces  of  some  merit, 
he    brought    forward    in  1755  his  comedy  of 
"  Le  Cercle,"  in  which  he  gave  offence  to  the 
philosophical  party  of  the  French  literati,   by 
ridiculing  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau.    Hencefor 
ward  he  was  engaged  in  a  series  of  literary  hos- 
tilities. In  1756  appeared  his  "  Petites  Lettres 
contre  des  grands  Plnlosophes  ;"  in  1760,  was 
represented  his  comedy  of  "  Les  Plnlosophes;" 
and  in  1764  he  published  his  "  Dunciade,"  in 
imitation  of  the  satire  of  Pope.     This  he  after- 
wards enlarged  ;  and   he  also  produced  seve- 
ral other  comedies,  and   "  Memoires   sur  la 
Litterature    Franfaise,"  besides  other  works. 
In  the  latter  part  of  his   life  he  was  adminis- 
trator of  the  Mazarine  library,  and  a  corre- 
spondent of  the  Institute.    He  died  in  1814.  — 
Idem. 

PALISSY  (BERNARD  de)  an  ingenious  ar- 
tist, was  born  at  Agen  about  1524.     Having 
Rioc.  DICT.—  VOL.  11. 


PAL 

got  possession  of  a  cup  of  enamelled  pottery, 
he  turned  his  whole  attention  upon  imitating 
it,  and  after  repeated  unsuccessful  attempts, 
in  which  he  wasted  his  whole  fortune,  he  suc- 
ceeded so  well  that  his  manufacture  surpassed 
the  finest  of  the  Italians.  He  was  the  first 
person  who  formed  a  collection  of  natural  his- 
tory at  Paris,  upon  which  lie  gave  lectures  at 
half-a-crown  each  person,  under  the  obligation 
of  returning  it  fourfold  should  any  thing  which 
he  taught  be  proved  false.  Palissy  was  a 
Calvinist,  and  firmly  attached  to  his  religion, 
and  during  the  fury  of  the  league  under  Henry 
III  in  1584,  he  was  committed  to  the  bastille. 
The  king,  who  was  his  well-wisher,  having 
told  him  that  if  he  did  not  comply  with  the 
prevailing  religion,  he  should  be  constrained 
to  leave  him  in  the  hands  of  his  enemies, 
Palissy  replied,  "  Your  majesty  has  often  said 
that  you  pity  me  ;  for  my  part  J  pity  you  for 
pronouncing  the  words,  '  I  shall  be  con- 
strained;' this  is  not  speaking  like  a  king; 
but  let  me  inform  you  in  royal  language,  that 
neither  the  Gu'sarts,  your  whole  people,  no*- 
yourself,  shall  constrain  a  potter  to  bend  his 
knee  before  images."  He  used  to  say  that  he 
had  no  other  property  than  heaven  and  earth. 
The  works  of  Palissy  are,  "  Moyen  de  deveniv 
rithe,  &c."  "  Discours  admirable  de  la  Na 
ture  des  Eaux  et  Fontaines,  de  Metaux  des 
Sols,  des  Salines,  des  Pierres,  desTerres,  &c." 
He  died  in  1590.  —  Moren.  Diet.  Hist. 

PALLADIJS'O  (JAMES)  known  also  by  the 
name  of  James  de  Teramo,  from  the  city  where 
he  was  born  in  1349,  was  successively  arch- 
bisho"  of  Tarento,  Florence,  and  Spoletto, 
had  tlit  administration  of  the  duchy  for  popes 
Alexander  V  and  John  XXIII,  and  was  sent 
legate  into  Poland,  where  he  died  in  1417 
He  wrote  some  very  curious  books,  which  were 
very  popular  in  their  day  ;  the  principal  is 
"  Jacobi  de  Teramo  compendium  perbreve 
consolatio  Peccatorum  nuncupatum  et  apud 
nonnullos  Belial  vocitatum  ,  id  est  Processus 
Luciferi  contra  Jesum."  It  has  been  trans- 
lated into  French,  by  Peter  Farget,  an  Augus- 
tine, Lyons,  1485,  4to,  and  has  been  fre- 
quently reprinted  in  the  same  form.  It  is  also 
printed  under  the  name  of  James  d'Ancha- 
rano.  —  Marchand.  L'Avocat  Diet.  Plitt. 

PALLADIO  (ANDREA)  one  of  the  greatest 
classical    architects    of  modern    Italy,   whose 
works  of  art  and  his  writings  alike  contributed 
to  improve   the  taste  of  the   age  in  which  he 
lived,  and  direct  the  genius  of  posterity.     He 
was  born  at  Vicenza,  in  the  Venetian  terri- 
tory, in  1518,  and  after  having  studied  under 
Trissino,  he  went  to  Rome,  where  he  acquired 
a  maturity  of  skill   and  science  from  an  exa- 
mination  of  the    productions   of   ancient  and 
modern  art  which  that  capital  afforded.     Re- 
turning to  his  native  country,   lie    established 
his  fame  by  his  designs  for  many  noble  edifices 
both  there  and  in  other  parts  of  Italy,  which 
have  afforded  models  for  some  beautiful  struc- 
tures in  England,  as  well  as  other  parts  of  Eu- 
rope.    The   villa   built  by  lord   Burlington  at 
Chiswick  (but  since  enlarged  by  James  Wyatt) 
was  from  a  design  of  Palladio  ;  as  was  also  a 


Q 


PAL 

bridge  at  Wilton,  the  seat  of  the  earl  of  Pem- 
broke, in  Wiltshire.  But  this  great  architect 
is  best  known  in  the  present  age  on  account  of 
his  published  works,  especially  his  treatise  of 
architecture,  in  four  books,  which  first  ap- 
peared in  a  folio  volume  at  Venice  in  1570, 
and  has  been  many  times  reprinted.  It  has 
also  been  translated  into  French  and  English. 
James  Leoni,  an  Italian  architect,  published 
Palladio's  architecture  in  English,  with  the 
notes  and  remarks  of  Inigo  Jones,  and  en- 
gravings by  Picart,  London,  1742,  2  vols. 
folio  ;  and  some  of  the  designs  of  this  archi- 
tect were  published  by  lord  Burlington  in 
1730.  Palladio  was  likewise  the  author  of  an 
Italian  work  on  the  antiquities  of  Rome,  Ve- 
nice, 1.594,  and  Home,  1.599,  8vo  ;  and  of 
Illustrations  of  the  Commentaries  of  Crcsar. 
He  died  at  Vicenza  in  1.580. — Temanza's  Lives 
of  Venetian  Architects  and  Sculptors.  Edit. 

PALLAD1US  (RuTii.ius  TAURUS  ^EMI- 
LTANUS)  also  called  Rutilius  Palladianus, 
the  author  of  a  curious  treatise  on  the  agricul- 
ture and  rural  economy  of  the  ancient  Ro- 
mans. His  work,  entitled,  "  De  Re  Rustica, 
lib.  xiv,"  was  published  at  Lyons  in  1535, 
and  at  Heidelberg,  1598,  8vo  ;  an  Italian  ver- 
sion was  printed  at  Venice  in  1528,  4to  ;  and 
there  is  a  German  translation,  published  toge- 
ther with  the  Agriculture  of  Columella,  at 
Magdeburg,  1612,  folio.  Palladius  treats 
systematically  of  the  labours  of  the  husband- 
man through  the  twelve  months  of  the  year, 
and  affords  some  interesting  details  relative  to 
the  rural  affairs  of  the  ancients.  Little  is 
known  of  this  author,  who  wrote  at  Naples, 
probably  towards  the  close  of  the  fifth  cen- 
tury, or  the  beginning  of  the  sixth,  as  lie  is 
mentioned  by  Cassiodorus. — Bwg.  Univ.  An- 
nales  des  Arts,  v.  zl. 

PALLADIUS,  bishop  of  Helenopolis,  in 
Bithynia,  and  afterwards  of  Asporia,  was  born 
in  Cappadocia,  in  368.  In  388  he  became  an 
anchoret,  in  the  mountain  of  Nebria,  and  was 
made  a  bishop  in  401.  He  was  the  firm  friend 
of  St  John  Chrysostom,  whom  he  never  for- 
sook. About  421  he  wrote  his  "  Lausiac 
History,"  so  called  from  Lausus,  a  nobleman 
of  the  court  of  Constantinople,  to  whom  it  is 
inscribed.  It  contains  the  lives  of  persons 
who  at  that  time  were  remarkable  for  their  ex- 
traordinary austerities  in  Egypt  and  Palestine, 
and  is  written  in  a  plain  and  uuornamented 
style.  He  died  in  the  fifth  century,  hut  in 
what  year  is  unknown.  His  "  History"  was 
published  in  Greek  by  Meursius,  Amst.  1619, 
and  in  Latin  in  the  "  Bibliotheca  Patrum  j" 
hut  he  seems  not  to  have  been  the  writer  of 
the  "  Life  of  St  John  Chrysostom,  in  Greek 
and  Latin,"  published  by  M.  Bigot,  in  1680. 
Diipin.  Moieri.  Lardner.  Cave. 

PALLAS  (PETER  SIMON)  a  celebrated 
German  traveller  and  naturalist,  born  at  Ber- 
lin, in  1741.  After  having  studied  medicine 
at  the  universities  of  Halle  and  Gottingen,  he 
removed  to  Ley  den,  where  he  graduated  as 
ML),  iu  1760.  He  then  went  to  London,  to 
improve  his  professional  knowledge,  by  at- 
tending on  the  hospital  practice  of  that  metro- 


P  A  L 

polis.  About  1762  he  returned  to  Berlin, 
but  at  length  settled  at  the  Hague,  where  he 
published  some  valuable  works  relating  to 
zoology.  In  1767  he  went  to  Russia,  and  was 
employed  by  the  government  of  that  country, 
in  conjunction  with  other  persons,  on  an  ex- 
pedition of  discovery  in  the  Asiatic  provinces 
of  that  vast  empire.  In  the  course  of  this 
undertaking,  which  occupied  six  years,  he  not 
only  collected  a  variety  of  miscellaneous  in- 
formation, but  likewise  procured  the  materials 
for  several  important  works  on  the  various 
branches  of  natural  history,  which  he  after- 
wards published.  In  1793  and  1794  he  tra- 
velled in  the  southern  provinces  of  Russia, and 
subsequently  settled  in  the  Crimea,  on  an  es- 
tate bestowed  on  him  by  the  empress  Cathe- 
rine II.  His  death  took  place  at  Berlin,  in 
1811.  Among  the  principal  works  of  M.  Pal- 
las are,  "  Elenchus  Zoophytorum,"  Hag.  Com. 
176,5  ;  "  Miscellanea  Zoologica,"  Hag.  Com. 
1766,  4to;  "  Spicilegia  quibus  nova;  Anima- 
lium  species  Iconibus  illustr."  Berolin.  1767 
— 80,  4to  ;  "  Novae  Species  Quadrupedum,  e 
Glirium  Ordine,"  Erlang.  1778,  4to  ;  "  Ico- 
nes  Insectorum  praesertim  Rossia-,  Sibiriajque 
peculiarium,"  Erlang.  1791,  4to ;  "Flora 
Rossica,  seu  stirpium  Imp.  Rossici  per  Euro- 
pam  et  Asiam  indigenarum  Descriptiones  et 
Icones,"  Petrop.  1784—1815,  2  vols.  folio  ; 
"  HlustrationesPlantarum  imperfecte  vel  non- 
dum  cognatirum,"  Petrop.  1804 — 6,  folio; 
"  Linguarum  totius  Orbjs  Vocabularia  compa- 
rativa,"  Petrop.  1786—89,  2  vols.  4to ; 
"  Reise  durch  verschiedene  Provinzen  des 
Russischfn  Reichs,"  Petersb.  1771,  &c. 
5  vols.  4to  ;  "  feammlungen  HistorischerNach- 
richteniiberdieMongolischenVblkerschaften," 
Leips.  1779,  8vo  ;  "  Bemerkungen  auf  einer 
Reise  in  die  Siidlichen  Staathalterschaften  der 
Russischen  Reichs  in  den  Jahren,  1793 — 4," 
Leips.  1799 — 1801,  2  vols.  4to.  The  travels 
of  M.  Pallas  have  been  translated  into  French, 
under  the  title  of  "  Voyages  dans  plusienrs 
Provinces  de  1'Empire  de  Russie,  et  dans 
1'Asie  Septentrionale,  trad,  par  Gautier  de  la 
Peyronie,"  Paris,  1788,  5  vols.  4to,  and  1794, 
8  vols.  8vo  ;  and,  "  Second  Voyage  en  Russie, 
pendant  les  annees  1793 — 4,"  Paris,  1811, 
4  vols.  8vo.  There  is  also  an  English  transla- 
tion of  the  latter  work,  1812,  2  vols.  4to. — 
Biog.  Univ. 

PALLAVICINO.  The  r.ame  of  a  noble 
Italian  family,  which  has  produced  many  re- 
markable characters.  Cardinal  ANTONIO  PAL- 
LAVICINO, born  at  Genoa  iu  1443,  distin- 
guished himself  as  a  statesman  and  a  scholar 
during  the  latter  half  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
He  was  employed  by  the  Vatican  in  conduct- 
ing several  important  negociations,  and  died 
bishop  of  Pampeluna  in  1507. — FERRANTE, 
the  most  notorious,  and  perhaps  the  most  ta- 
lented, of  his  race,  was  a  native  of  Piacenzs, 
born  in  that  city  in  1616.  In  early  youth  he 
exhibited  tokens  of  very  extraordinary  ability, 
and,  in  obedience  to  parental  authority,  assumed 
the  monastic  habit.  For  a  time  he  appears  to 
have  acquired  as  much  reputation  for  propriety 
of  conduct  as  for  his  learning,  and  obtained  a 


P  A  L 

canonry    at   St   Giovanni    di  Laterauo.     But 
yielding  at  length  to  the  seductions  of  pleasure, 
while  at  Venice,   the    irregularity  of  his  life 
became  a  source  of  poverty  to  himself,  and  of 
great  scandal  to  his  order.     Being  leduced  to 
eke  out  his  impaired  finances  by  the  assistance 
of  his  pen,  his  talent  for  satire  shewed  itself 
in  a  series    of  periodical    lampoons,    entitled, 
"  The    Courier  robbed   of   his    Mail."     The 
work   at  length  attracted    the   notice   of  the 
hoiy  office,  by  the  causticity  of  its  animadver- 
sions on  an  officer  of  the  republic,  and  the  au- 
thor found    it  convenient  to  retire   from    the 
coming    storm  into  Germany.     After  a  while 
he  was  induced  to  return,  and  might  probably 
have  done  so  with  impunity,  had  not  his  sar- 
castic vein  again  broken   out  in  diatribes  of 
much    bitterness    against   the    whole    of    the 
Barberiui  family,  and  more  particularly  against 
its  head,   pope    Urban   the  Eighth.     He  was 
arrested   by  the   familiars  of  the  inquisition, 
from  whom  lie  managed  to  effect  his  escape, 
but  being  betrayed  again  into  their  hands  by  a 
pretended    friend,    one    Morfu,    a   native    of 
Fiance,  who  offered  to  procure  him  an  asylum 
in  that  country,  under  the  protection  of  cardi- 
nal Richelieu,  he  was  treacherously  conducted 
to  Avignon,  instead  of  Paris,  and  redelivered 
into  the  power  of  his  enemies.      His  fate  was 
now  decided,  and  although  the  form  of  a  trial 
was  allowed  him,  at  which  he  defended  him- 
self with  great  ingenuity,  sentence  of  decapi- 
tation  was  pronounced   against  him,  and  was 
carried  into  effect  at  Avignon,  in  1643.     His 
works,  an   edition   of  which  appeared  at  Ve- 
nice, in  four  duodecimo  volumes,  in  1655,  con- 
tain   many     pieces  of    considerable    literary 
merit,  especially  a  tract,  entitled,  "  II  Divortio 
Celeste, "("  The  Heavenly  Divorce,  or  Separa- 
tion of  Christ  from  the   Church  of  Rome"). 
Of  this  there  is  an  English  translation.     The 
traitor  who  inveigled  him  to  his  fate,  though 
richly  rewarded  at  the  time,    fell    afterwards 
by  the  poniard  of  a  companion  of  his  victim. 
It  is  much  to  be   lamented    that  such  utter 
profligacy,     and     gross   sensuality,  degraded 
a   genius   of   so   superior    an    order    as    that 
possessed    by   this    unhappy    and    infatuated 
man,     who,     amidst     all     his      debauchery, 
seems     to     have      possessed     some     amiable 
qualities,  as  well  as  a  most  brilliant   wit. — 
SFORZA,   born  at  Rome  in   1607,  though  the 
eldest  son  of  Alexander,  marquis  Pallavicino, 
resigned  his  prospects  as  a  layman,  and  volun- 
tarily  taking    the    tonsure,    entered  into   the 
order  of  Jesuits  in   1638.      His   family    con- 
nexions soon  raised  him  to  high  dignities  in  the 
church,  which    his   learning   and    correct    life 
proved    him  not  unworthy  of.     Innocent  the 
Tenth  made  him  a  bishop,  and  Alexander  the 
Sixth  elevated  him  to  the  purple  in  1657,  out 
of  gratitude,  it  is  said,  for  kindnesses  shown  to 
that  pontiff  when   in  a  less  exalted  situation. 
He  wrote  a  history  of  the  council  of  Trent,  in 
opposition  to  that  composed   by  father  Paul  ; 
the  best  edition  of  this  work  in   the  original 
Italian  is  that  of  Rome,  folio,  2   vols.  1656  ; 
there  is  also  a  Latin  translation  of  it  in  three 
4to  volumes.     Upon  the  whole,  this  treatise  is 


PA  1, 

more  esteemed  for  the  elegance  of  its  style, 
than  the  accuracy  of  its  statements,  which 
are  some-times  distorted  by  the  prejudices  of 
the  author.  Cardinal  Pallavicino  died  in 
1667. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

PALLIOT  (PETER)  an  industrious  genea- 
logist, was  born  at  Paris  in  1608,  and  settled 
at  Dijon,  where  he  became  a  printer.  He 
devoted  himself  to  the  studies  of  genealogy 
and  heraldry,  and  published  the  following 
works :  "  Le  Parlement  de  Bourgogne," 
164*9,  folio,  to  which  another  volume  was 
added  by  Fr.  Petitot,  in  1733;  "  Science  des 
Armories  de  Gelliot,  augmentee  de  plus  de 
6,000  Ecussons,"  Paris,  1660.  His  other 
works  are  genealogical  histories  of  particular 
families  ;  and  he  left  in  manuscript  thirteen 
volumes,  folio,  of  memoirs  concerning  the  fa- 
milies of  Burgundy.  He  died  at  Dijon,  hi 
1698. —  Moreri.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

PALLUEL  (FRANCIS  CRETTE  de)  a  dis- 
tinguished French  agriculturist,  born  at  Dugni, 
near  Paris,  in  1741.  He  was  nominated  a 
member  of  the  electoral  assembly  of  the  Isle 
of  France  in  1789  and  was  also  admitted  into 
the  Royal  Society  of  Agriculture.  In  1791 
he  was  chosen  a  deputy  to  the  legislative  as- 
sembly, and  in  1796  a  member  of  the  com- 
mission of  agriculture.  Amidst  his  various 
occupations,  the  improvement  of  husbandry  in 
France  principally  engaged  his  attention  ;  and 
his  merit,  as  an  experimental  farmer,  is  warmly 
acknowledged  by  Arthur  Young,  in  his  Tra- 
vels in  France.  He  published  a  variety  of 
memoirs  and  observations  in  the  Transactions 
of  the  Agricultural  Society,  and  in  other  pe- 
riodical works.  His  death  took  place  at 
Dugni,  November  29,  1798. — Biog.  Univ. 

PALM  (JAMES  PHILIP)  a  German  book- 
seller, memorable  as  one  of  the  victims  of 
French  ambition.  He  was  a  native  of  Wur- 
temberg,  and  was  established  in  business  at 
Nuremberg  in  1 806,  when  that  fine  city  was 
suddenly  occupied  by  the  French  army.  Be- 
ing accused  of  having  distributed,  in  the  spring 
of  1806,  a  pamphlet  against  Buonaparte, 
ascribed  to  M.  Gentz,  and  entitled  "  Germany 
in  its  profound  abasement,"  Palm  was  arrested 
by  virtue  of  an  order  sent  from  Paris,  and  con- 
ducted to  Braunau.  Three  days  after  his  arri- 
val he  was  arraigned  before  a  military  com- 
mission, when  lie  alleged  that  he  received  by 
post  the  offensive  pamphlet,  and  that  he  knew 
nothing  of  the  author.  He  was,  however,  con- 
demned to  be  shot,  and  the  sentence  was 
speedily  executed,  notwithstanding  the  inter- 
cession of  the  inhabitants  of  Braunau.  Palm 
was  regarded  throughout  all  Germany  as  a 
martyr  ;  and  subscriptions  were  opened  for 
I  the  benefit  of  his  widow  and  children,  not  only 
in  his  native  country,  but  also  at  London  and 
at  Petersburg,  where  the  emperor  and  the  em- 
press dowager  became  contributors. — Biog, 
Univ. 

PALMER,  (JOHN)  a  dissenting  minister  of 
some  note  in  the  last  century,  was  born  in 
SouthwarK,  and  being  brought  up  to  the  mi- 
nistry, in  1759  became  minister  of  a  dissent- 
ing congregation  in  New  Broad-street.  Al- 
2  Q  '2 


PAL 

though  brought  up  a  Calviiiist,  he  finally  be-  ' 
( ame  a  I'miarian,  and  particularly  opposed 
himself  to  every  thing  in  the  form  of  a  reli- 
gious test.  He  retired  from  preaching  in  !?;;<), 
Mid  having  married  a  lady  of  considerable  pro- 
perty, lived  privately  until  his  death  in  1790. 
His  works  are,  "  Prayers  for  the  use  of  Fami- 
lies ;''  "  Free  Thoughts  on  the  Inconsistency 
of  conforming  to  any  religious  Test  as  a  Con- 
dition of  Toleration  ;"  "  Observations  in  De-  i 
fence  of  the  Liberty  of  Wan  as  a  moral 
Agent,"  in  answer  to  Dr  Priestley's  "  Illus- 
trations of  Philosophical  Necessity  ;"  "  An 
Appendix"  to  the  same  ;  and  "  A  Summary 
of  Christian  Baptism." — Life  liy  Toulmiii. 

PALMER  ^JOHN)  an  eminent  English  ac- 
tor, born  in  London  about  1742.  He  made 
his  first  appearance,  under  Foote's  manage- 
ment, at  the  Haymarket  theatre,  and  after 
having  performed  with  reputation  in  the  coun- 
try, he  was  engaged  by  Garrick  at  Drury-lane. 
For  some  time,  however,  he  was  confined  to 
inferior  characters,  and  attracted  but  little  no- 
tice, till  the  accidental  illness  of  another  per- 
former furnished  him  with  an  opportunity  for 
displaying  his  talents.  He  gradually  appeared 
in  a  great  variety  of  parts,  both  in  tragedy  and 
comedy,  in  which  he  was  greatly  admired,  and 
in  some  of  which  perhaps  he  was  never  excel- 
led. He  remained  at  Drury-lane,  sometimes 
visiting  Liverpool  in  the  summer,  till  lie  en- 
gaged in  the  scheme  for  erecting  a  new  thea- 
tre in  the  Eastern  suburb  of  London.  Having 
been  appointed  manager  of  the  concern,  he 
laid  the  first  stone  of  the  building,  Decem- 
ber 26.,  1785,  and  in  June  1787  it  was 
opened,  but  without  legal  authority.  Mr. 
Palmer  persevered  for  some  time  in  a  fruit- 
less attempt  to  obtain  a  patent ;  and  after 
having  involved  himself  in  a  quarrel  with  the 
proprietors  of  Drury  Lane,  by  his  secession 
from  that  house,  he  was  obliged  to  return 
thither.  His  unlucky  project  was  the  cause  of 
great  pecuniary  embarrassments,  and  he  was 
at  length  committed  to  the  King's  Bench, 
from  which  he  was  liberated  by  means  of  a 
compromise  with  his  creditors.  Ilis  difficul- 
ties still  continuing,  he  purposed  emigrating  to 
America ;  and  he  went  with  that  view  to 
Edinburgh,  in  his  way  to  Glasgow,  where  he 
intended  to  embark,  but  he  afterwards  relin- 
quished his  scheme,  and  returned  to  London- 
Towards  the  close  of  his  life  he  passed  the 
summer  season  in  the  country,  and  his  last 
engagement  was  at  Liverpool.  At  the 
theatre  there,  on  the  2d  of  August,  1798,  while 
performing  the  principal  character  in  Kotze- 
bue's  play  of  "  The  Stranger,"  he  fell  on  the 
stage  in  a  slate  of  exhaustion,  and  almost 

D 

immediately  expired  ;  while  the  scene  was 
rendered  doubly  impressive  by  his  having  jut-t 
before  exclaimed,  in  the  words  of  the  drama, 
"  There  is  another  and  a  better  world  '"  His 
distressed  circumstances,  the  recent  loss  of  a 
son  by  death,  and  other  family  misfortunes, 
had  preyed  greatly  on  his  spirits,  so  tuit  he 
may  be  said  to  have  died  of  a  broken  be  irt.— 
Thesp.  Diet. 

PALMER   (JOHN)    the    first  projector    of 


PAL 

mail  coaches,  was  a  native  of  Bath,  where  he 
was  brought  up  as  a  brewer,  but  subsequently 
solicited  and  obtained  a  patent  for  a  theatre:  in 
his  native  city,  lieing  led  by  his  profession 
to  travel  about  from  place  to  place  to  wit 
ness  and  engage  rising  peiformers,  he  was 
struck  with  the  insecurity  of  die  usual  man- 
ner of  conveying  the  mails,  and  matured  in 
his  mind  the  existing  plan  of  mail  coaches. 
He  succeeded  in  his  object,  but  not  without 
great  opposition  ;  and  the  utility  of  the  scheme 
soon  becoming  manifest,  he  was  made  comp- 
troller of  the  post-office,  with  a  salary  of 
1500L  per  annum.  Some  disputes,  however, 
occurring,  a  party  grew  up  against  hirn,  which 
he  was  not  powerful  enough  to  encounter,  and. 
he  was  suspended  in  1792.  On  subsequent 
petitions,  however,  he  was  reimbursed  by  par- 
liament, although  very  inadequately  to  his 
promised  reward.  He  died  in  1818. — Monthly 
Mag. 

PALMER.  (SAMUEL)  an  English  printer  of 
eminence,  who  died  in  1732.  He  published 
a  "  General  History  of  Printing,  from  the  firs' 
Invention  of  it  at  Mentz,  to  its  Propagation 
and  Progress  through  most  Kingdoms  in  Eu- 
rope, particularly  its  Introduction  and  Success 
in  England,"  1733,  4to  ;  and  he  was  also  the 
author  of  a  "  Printer's  Grammar,"  8vo. — 
Orig. 

PALMIERI  (MATTEO)  an  Italian  man  of 
letters,  was  born  at  Florence  in  1405.  He 
was  several  times  employed  in  offices  of  ma- 
gistracy, and  rose  to  the  supreme  dignity  of 
gonfalonitr  of  justice.  He  died  in  1 475.  His 
most  considerable  work  was  a  chronicle,  from 
the  creation  down  to  his  own  times,  which 
was  continued  to  1482,  by  a  native  df  Pisa, 
nearly  his  namesake,  Mattea  Palmieri.  He 
also  wrote  "  The  Life  of  Niccolo  Acciajuoli ;" 
"  De  Captivitate  Pisorum,"  published  by  Mu- 
ratori  ;  "  Delia  Vita  Civile."  In  imitation  of 
Dante,  he  composed  three  books  in  terza  rima, 
entitled  "  Citta  de  Vita,"  never  printed,  but 
extant  in  MS.  In  consequence  of  some  theo- 
logical notions  condemned  as  heretical,  it  was 
solemnly  burnt,  a  fate  which  some  writers 
have  erroneously  attributed  to  the  author. — 
Vossii  Hist.  Lat.  Tiraboscki, 

PALMQU1ST  (MAGNUS,  baron)  a  Swedish 
nobleman,  president  of  the  council  of  mines  in 
his  native  country.  He  was  long  engaged  in 
military  service,  and  was  distinguished  for  his 
skill  in  fortification,  and  his  acquaintance  with 
mathematical  science.  He  died  in  1729,  aged 
sixty-nine.  In  the  "  Journal  des  Savants" 
for  1690,  is  a  letter  from  Pal mquist,  to  M.  Re- 
gis, on  the  solution  of  an  arithmetical  prob- 
lem.— PALMQUIST  (FREDERIC)  another  Swe- 
dish mathematician,  was  a  member  of  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  at  Stockholm,  to  whose 
Transactions  he  was  a  contributor.  He  also 
published  several  works  in  the  Swedish  lan- 
guage, of  which  the  most  important  are,  "  An 
Introduction  to  Algebra,"  1741,  4to  ;  "  A 
Treatise  on  the  Force  and  Density  of  Bodies," 
1749;  and  "  The  Principles  of  Mechanics," 
1756,  8vo. — Biog.  Univ. 

ALOM1NO  UE  VELASCO  (A.  ANT 


P  AM 

NIO)  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  the  Spanish  ' 
painters,  born  near  Cordova  in  1653.  After 
having-  studied  his  art  under  Valdes,  he  went 
tc  Madrid  for  improvement  ill  1678.  He  was 
employed  by  the  king,  and  appointed  royal 
painter,  to  which  title  was  added  a  considera- 
ble pension  in  1690.  His  works  at  Valencia, 
Salamanca,  Grenada,  and  at  Cordova,  added 
greatly  to  his  reputation  ;  and  he  distinguished 
himself  by  the  works  of  his  pen,  as  well  as  his  ; 
pencil,  having  published  a  treatise,  entitled, 
"  El  Museo  pictorico,  y  Escala  optica,"  Ma- 
drid, 1715-24,  3  vols.  folio,  which  contains 
the  theory  and  practice  of  painting,  and  the 
lives  of  the  most  celebrated  Spanish  painters. 
The  latter  part  has  been  translated  into 
French ;  and  Palomino's  Lives  of  the  Spa- 
nish Painters,  and  his  Notices  of  tlie  Cities, 
Churches  and  Convents  where  their  works 
are  preserved,  were  published  in  London,  the 
former  in  1742,  and  the  latter  in  1746,  8vo. 
This  artist  died  at  Madrid  in  1726. —  Biog.  [ 
Univ* 

PALSGRAVE  (JOHN)  a  learned  English 
divine  and  grammarian  of  the  sixteenth  cen-  j 
tury,  a  native  of  London,  educated  at  the 
universities  of  Cambridge  and  Paris.  In  this 
latter  city  he  soon  acquired  a  very  extensile 
knowledge  of  French  literature,  and  so  inti- 
mate an  acquaintance  with  the  principles  of 
the.  language,  that  being  selected  by  the  court 
to  instruct  the  queen  Mary,  wife  of  Louis  XII,  | 
and  sister  of  Henry  VIII  of  England,  in  the  j 
tongue  of  her  adopted  country,  he  actually  J 
compiled  a  grammar  of  it  for  her  use,  the  first 
of  the  kind  ever  produced  ;  and  what  is  yet  j 
more  remarkable  in  a  foreigner,  accompanied 
it  with  many  judicious  regulations  for  more 
correct  pronunciation.  He  eventualy  returned 
to  England,  and  graduated  as  bachelor  ;n 
divinity  at  Oxford,  when  he  obtained  from  the 
king  the  situation  of  a  court  chaplain,  with  a 
stall  in  St  Paul's  cathedral,  and  the  living  of 
St  Dunstan's  in  the  East,  in  the  city  of  London. 
His  grammar  is  entitled  "  L'Eclaircissemen;' 
de  la  Langue  Franchise,"  folio,  15SO.  His 
only  other  production  was  a  translation  of 
Fullonius'  Latin  comedy,  "  Acolastus."  His 
death  took  place  in  1554. — Athen.  Oxou. 

PAMPHYLIUS,  an  ancient  painter,  nou- 
rished in  the  time  of  Philip,  king  of  Macedon. 
He  was  the  master  of  Apelles,  and  had  a 
school  at  Sicyon,  where  he  was  the  first  that 
taught  his  art  upon  mathematical  principles. 
— Sandraart  A  cad.  Pictur. 

PAM1GER  or  PAMINGER,  There  were 
two  eminent  German  composers  of  this  name 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  father  and  son. 
LEONARD,  the  elder,  was  a  good  scholar  as 
well  as  a  musician,  and  was  the  intimate  friend 
of  Martin  Luther.  He  composed  a  great  va- 
riety of  church  music,  printed  in  four  vols. 
which  appeared  at  different  periods,  after  his 
decease  in  1568,  under  the  superintendance  of 
his  son,  Sophonias.  The  latter,  born  in  1526, 
studied  under  Luther  and  Melancthon,  to 
whom  he  was  recommended  by  his  father,  at 
Wittemberg,  and  afterwards  suffered  much 
persecution  on  account  of  his  having  embraced 


PAN 

their  religious  opinions.  He  became  in  1568 
rector  of  the  choir  at  Octingen  ;  but  the  same 
cause  forcing  him  to  quit  that  place,  lie  re- 
tired to  Nuremberg,  where  he  supported  him- 
self principally  by  the  sale  of  his  father's 
works,  and  bv  teaching  at  the  Carthusian  con- 
vent in  that  city.  His  death  took  place  in 
1603. —  Biog  Dict.ofMus. 

PANARD  (CHAKLES  FRANCIS)  an  inge- 
nious French  poet,  was  born  about  1690  at 
Courville  near  Chartres  where  he  had  a 
trifling  employment,  and  lived  some  time  in 
obscurity,  until  the  comedian,  Le  Grand,  hav- 
ing seen  some  of  liis  pieces,  encouraged  him 
to  write  for  the  stage,  in  which  department  he 
became  very  successful.  Marmontel  calls  him 
the  La  Fontaine  of  the  Vaudeville,  both  from  the 
naivete  of  his  writing  and  the  simplicity  of  his 
character.  His  works  are  occasionally  incoi- 
rect  and  negligent;  but  they  are  always  stamped 
by  nature,  sentiment,  wit,  and  good  sense. 
He  knew  perfectly  well  how  to  sharpen  the 
point  of  an  epigram,  but  his  satire  was  always 
directed  to  the  vice,  not  to  the  person.  He 
died  in  1765.  His  works  were  printed  in 
4  vols.  12rao,  entitled  "  Theatre  et  OEuv/es 
diverses." — Necrologe  Franfais.  Hist.  Did. 

PANCIROLUS  (Guv)  a  learned  professor 
of  jurisprudence,  descended  of  a  noble  family, 
and  born  at  Reggio  in  1523  He  early  dis- 
played an  extraordinary  genius,  which  he 
cultivated  with  much  assiduity  at  Ferrara,  Pa- 
via,  and  other  of  the  principal  Italian  univer- 
sities. In  1547  he  obtained  the  second  pro- 
fessorship of  civil  law  at  Padua,  which  he  re- 
tained till  1564,  when  he  vacated  it,  on  being 
elected  to  that  of  the  Roman  law.  Philibert 
duke  of  Savoy,  giving  him  an  invitation  tr> 
Turin,  he  accepted  it  in  1571,  the  rather  this 
he  considered  himself  to  have  some  grounds 
for  complaint  as  to  his  treatment  at  Padua.  In 
this  capital  he  continued  to  till  the  professor's 
chair  in  jurisprudence  upwards  of  eleven  years, 
during  which  period  he  produced  an  ingenious 
work,  "  De  rebus  inventis  et  deperditis," 
written  in  the  Italian  language.  His  eyes  at 
length  failing  him,  and  the  sight  of  one  be- 
coming totally  lost,  Pancirolus  returned  to 
Padua,  where  he  passed  the  remainder  of  his 
life.  Besides  the  work  alluded  to,  which  Sal- 
muth  translated  into  Latin,  he  was  die  author 
of  a  treatise,  "  De  Numismatibus  antiquis  ;" 
"  De  quatuordecim  Regianibus  Romae  earum- 
que  /Edifichs ;"  "  Commentarii  in  Notitiam 
utriusque  Imperii  et  de  Magistratibus,"  folio  ; 
"  De  claris  Legum  Inteipretibus ;"  "  De 
Magistral.  Municipal,  et  Corporibus  Artifi- 
cum,"  &c.  His  death  took  place  about  the 
close  of  the  sixteenth  centurv. — Nweron. 

PANCKOUCKE  (ANDREW  JOSEPH)  a 
bookseller  at  Lisle,  in  Flanders,  where  he 
died  in  1753,  aged  fifty-two.  He  was  the 
author  of  several  popular  and  useful  c.impila- 
tions,  and  some  original  works,  including 
"  La  Bataille  de  Fontenoi,  Poeme  heroique, 
en  Vers  burlesques,  par  un  Lillois,  Natif  de 
Lille  en  Flandre,  avec  des  Notes  historiques, 
critiques,  et  morales,  pour  I'lntelhgence  de  ce 
Poeme,"  1745,  8vo,  intended  a>"  a  criticism 


PAN 

on  Voltaire's  poem  on  the  same  subject  ;  and 
"  Art  de  desopilcr  la  Rate,"  of  which  a  post- 
humous edition  appeared  in  1773,  2  vols. 
12mo. — PANCKOUCKE  (CHARLES  JOSEPH)  son 
of  the  preceding,  was  also  a  bookseller  and  a 
man  of  letters.  He  was  born  at  Lisle  in  17o6, 
and  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight  he  settled  at 
Paris,  previously  to  which  period  he  had  made 
himself  known  by  some  publications  from  the 
press,  and  mathematical  pieces,  which  he 
had  sent  to  the  Academy  of  Sciences.  His 
house  became  the  resort  of  the  most  distin- 
guished authors  ;  and  he  conducted  himself 
with  great  liberality  to  those  with  whom  he 
was  connected  in  his  literary  enterprises.  He 
engaged  in  the  publication  of  the  "  Mercure 
de  France,"  and  various  other  periodical  works, 
and  established  the  "  Moniteur,"  under  the 
direction  of  H.  B.  Maret,  since  duke  of  Bas- 
sano.  He  also  formed  the  plan  of  the  "  En- 
cyclopedic Methodique,"  consisting  of  a  num- 
ber of  distinct  dictionaries  of  the  various 
branches  of  art,  science,  and  literature  ;  of 
which  ninety  parts  had  been  published  in 
1822.  Panc'koucke  died  December  19,  1798. 
He  was  the  author  of  "  De  1'Hommeet  de  la 
reproduction  des  differents  Individus,"  1761, 
i'Jmo  ;  "  Traduction  Libre  de  Lucrece,"  1768, 
2  vols.  12mo;  and  other  works. —  Biog.  Univ. 
Bifig.  Nouv.  des  Contemp. 

PANTALEON  (HENRY)  a  learned  physi- 
cian and  historian,  was  born  at  Basil,  in  1522. 
He  studied  divinity,  but  changing  his  design, 
he  taught  dialectics  and  natural  philosophy  at 
Basil  for  forty  years.  At  an  advanced  age,  he 
devoted  himself  to  medicine,  and  took  the  de-  ' 
gree  of  MD.  practising  with  much  reputation  ; 
until  his  death,  which  took  place  in  1595.  He  j 
composed  various  works,  the  most  useful  of 
which  now  is  an  account  of  the  eminent  men 
of  Germany,  entitled,  "  Posopographia  Heroum 
et  Illustrium  viroruni  Germanic,"  dedicated 
to  the  emperor  Maximilian  II,  who  gave  him 
the  title  of  count  Palatin.  He  also  published, 
"  Historia  Militaris  ordinis  Johannitarum  Rho- 
diorum  au-t  Melitensioim  Equitum  ;"  "  Chro- 
nographia  Ecclesia?  Christi ;"  "  Diarium  His- 
toricum  ;"  and  "  Comcedia  de  Zatcheo  publi- 
cauorum  principe,"  1546,  8vo. — Metchior 
Adam. 

PAN  VINIUS(ONtTPHnitTs)  called,  by  Ma- 
nntius,  Helluo  Antiquitatis,  from  his  incessant 
labour  in  antiquarian  pursuits,  was  a  noble  Ve- 
ronese of  the  sixteenth  century,  born  in  1529. 
He  became  a  member  of  the  society  of  the 
hermits  of  St  Augustine,  and  rising  high  in  the 
favour  of  cardinal  Alexander  Farnese,  followed 
that  prelate  to  Sicily.  A  spurious  and  imper- 
fect edition  of  his  first  work,  "  A  Chronicle  of 
Popes  and  Cardinals,"  having  appeared  in  1557 
at  Venice,  he  was  induced  to  superintend  tlte 
publication  of  a  more  accurate  copy.  He  af- 
terwards wrote  a  continuation  of  Platina's 
"  Lives  of  the  Popes,"  with  annotations  on 
the  original  work.  His  other  productions 
were,  "  Topographia  Romse  ;"  "  De  Pnmatu 
Petri  ;"  "  De  Antiquo  Ritu  Baptizandi ;" 
"  De  Romanorum  Nominibus  ;"  "  De  Trium- 
phis  et  Ludis  Circensibus ;"  "  De  Repub- 


P  A  O 

lica;"  "  De  Ritu  Sepeliendi  mortuos  apud 
veteres  Christianos  ;"  and  four  treaties  on 
Roman  antiquities,  to  be  found  in  the  collec- 
tion of  Grrevius.  He  also  published  an  edition 
of  the  •'  Fasti  Consulares."  Panviuius  died 
in  Sicily  in  1568. — \ouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

PANZER  (  GEORGE  WOLFGANG  FRANCIS) 
an  eminent  bibliographer,  born  at  Sulzbach,  in 
the  upper  palatinate  of  the  Rhine,  in  17'.-".'. 
He  studied  at  the  university  of  Altdorf,  where 
he  took  the  degree  of  doctor  of  philosophy  in 
1749,  and  afterwards  that  of  doctor  of  divinity. 
Returning  to  his  native  country,  he  became  a 
minister  at  Eyelwang,  and  subsequently  pastor 
of  the  church  of  St  Sebald,  at  Nuremberg.  He 
exerted  all  his  efforts  to  suppress  such  religi- 
ous practices  as  appeared  to  be  relics  of  po- 
pery ;  and,  in  particular,  he  introduced  into 
his  parish  the  custom  of  public  confession.  His 
death  took  place  July  9,  1805.  His  principal 
work  is,  "  Annales  Typographic!  ab  Artis  in- 
ventaj  origine  ad  annum  1536,  post  Maittairii, 
Denisii,  aliorumque  doctiss.  viror.  curas,  in 
ordinem  redacti,  emendati  et  aucti,"  Norimb. 
1793 — 1803,  11  vols.  4to.  He  also  wrote  an 
account  of  early  printed  Bibles,  and  on  other 
subjects  connected  with  the  history  of  typo- 
graphy.—  Biog.  Univ. 

PAOLI  (PASCAL)  a  Corsican  officer,  distin- 
guished by  his  exertions  to  maintain  the  in- 
dependence of  his  native  country.  He  was 
born  in  Corsica  in  1726,  and  was  the  second 
son  of  Hyacinthus  Paoli,  a  man  of  considerable 
influence  in  the  island,  who  had  frequently 
taken  an  active  part  in  the  management  of  po- 
litical affairs.  The  circumstances  of  the  coun- 
try at  length  inducing  him  to  remove,  with  his 
family,  to  Naples,  Pascal  was  there  educated 
at  the  Jesuit's  college.  He  was  still  engaged 
in  the  prosecution  of  his  studies,  when  his 
countrymen,  who  had  long  been  struggling  for 
freedom  against  the  Genoese,  by  whom  they 
were  held  in  subjection,  sent  him  an  invitation 
to  become  their  chief.  He  accepted  the  pro- 
posal, and  going  to  Corsica,  he  was  appointed 
to  tire  supreme  government  of  the  island  in 
July,  1755.  Having  organized  a  regular  plan 
for  the  conduct  of  affairs,  both  civil  and  mili- 
tary, Paoli  opposed  the  Genoese  with  such 
spirit  and  success,  that  after  they  had  carried 
on  hostilities  against  him  for  neaily  ten  years, 
they  entered  into  a  treaty  with  France,  in  pur- 
suance of  which  a  body  of  French  troops  was 
sent  to  their  assistance  ;  and,  finding  themselves 
still  unable  to  conquer  the  island,  they  at 
length  made  a  formal  surrender  of  their  claims 
of  sovereignty  over  it  to  the  French  govern- 
ment. The  duke  de  Choiseul  endeavoured  to 
prevail  on  Paoli  to  submit  to  the  new  arrange- 
ment, and  accept  of  the  office  of  commander- 
in-chief  under  the  authority  of  France.  But 
he  patriotically  rejected  all  overtures  of  accom- 
modation, and  opposed  with  vigour  the  dan- 
gerous enemies  he  had  now  to  encounter.  At 
first  he  was  successful,  and  a  much  greater 
force  than  had  been  anticipated  was  found  re- 
quisite for  the  subjugation  of  Corsica.  Fresh 
bodies  of  troops  were  sent  thither,  and  over- 
powered by  numbers,  Paoli  found  it  necessary 


PAP 

to  consult  his  personal  safety  by  flight  from  his 
native  country.  He  ma.de  his  way  to  the  sea- 
coast,  and  embarking  on  board  an  English 
vessel,  on  the  16th  of  June,  1769,  he  sailed  to 
Leghorn,  whence  he  afterwards  proceeded  to 
England.  Here  much  attention  was  paid  him, 
and  lie  obtained  from  the  government  a  pen- 
sion of  1.200/.  a-year.  After  an  interval  of 
twenty  years,  the  Revolution  in  France  pre- 
sented to  the  Corsican  exile  new  and  flattering- 
prospects  for  himself  and  his  compatriots.  In 
1789  the  island  was  recognized  by  a  decree  of 
the  National  Assembly,  as  a  department  of 
France  ;  and  Paoli  being  invited  to  resume  his 
station  at  the  head  of  affairs,  resigned  his 
pension,  and  took  his  departure  from  England. 
Ou  the  23rd  of  April,  1790,  attended  by  depu- 
ties from  Corsica,  he  presented  himself  at  the 
bar  of  the  National  Assembly  at  Paris,  when 
he  was  received  with  enthusiasm,  and  he  took 
the  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  French  government. 
The  progress  of  the  Revolution  disappointed 
the  hopes  which  he  had  conceived  ;  but  he 
continued  the  connexion  with  France  till 
after  the  execution  of  Louis  XVI,  when  he 
abandoned  his  allegiance,  and  was  invested 
with  his  original  dignities  of  president  of  the 
Consulta,  or  national  council,  and  commander- 
in- chief  of  the  inland.  He  was  encouraged 
to  adopt  these  measures  by  the  promise  of  as- 
sistance from  Great  Britain  ;  and  in  February, 
1794,  an  English  army  landed  in  Corsica, 
under  sir  Gilbert  Eliot,  afterwards  lord  Minto. 
On  the  14th  of  June  following,  a  meeting  took 
place  of  deputies  from  the  different  parts  of  the 
island,  when,  through  the  influence  of  Paoli,  a 
decree  was  made,  declaring  the  separation  of 
Corsica  from  France,  and  its  union  to  the  Bri- 
tish empire.  Paoli  subsequently  relumed  to 
England,  in  consequence  of  some  difference 
with  the  viceroy,  sir  G.  Eliot.  Having  had 
the  misfortune  to  lose  the  bulk  of  his  property 
through  a  commercial  failure  at  Leghorn,  he 
was  reduced  to  difficulties  on  his  return  to  Lon- 
don ;  but  his  pension  being  restored,  he  was 
relieved  from  his  embarrassment,  and  he 
passed  the  remainder  of  his  days  in  tranquil- 
lity. He  died  at  bis  residence  in  the  Edare- 

^  o 

ware-road,  London,  February  5,  1807. — Ai- 
kin's  Athenifiim,  vol.  i.  Biog.  Univ. 

PAPEBROCK  (DANIEL)  a  Flemish  Jesuit, 
who  assisted  in  the  compilation  of  the  "  Acta 
Sanctorum,"  commenced  by  Rosweide  and 
Bollandus.  [See  BOI.LANDUS,  JOHN.]  Pape- 
brock,  in  conjunction  with  Henschemus,  ano- 
ther Jesuit,  published  the  Memoirs  of  Saints 
for  the  month  of  March,  in  3  vols.  folio,  in 
1668:  those  for  April,  in  3  vols.  in  1675; 
those  for  May,  in  7  vols.  1680— 85— 88,  of 
which  the  first  only  appeared  during  the  life 
of  Henschenius.  The  work  was  carried  on 
under  the  direction  of  Papebrock,  till  his 
death,  which  happened  June  29,  1714.  in  the 
eighty- sixth  year  of  his  age. — Diet.  Hist. 
Biog.  Univ. 

PAPILLON  (JouN)  the  son  of  an  indiffe- 
rent French  engraver,  was  born  at  St  Quintin 
in  1661,  and  was  very  successful  as  an  engra- 
ver on  wood.  He  i=-  also  said  to  have  been 


PAP 

!  the  inventor  of  printing  papers 'in  imitation  of 
tapestry  to  furnish  rooms.  He  died  alrmt 
1688. — His  son,  JOHN  BAPTIST  MICHAEL, 
was  born  at  Paris  in  1698,  and  exercised  the 
same  art  still  more  successfully.  His  engrav- 
ings possess  considerable  merit,  particularly 
those  which  represent  foliage  or  flowers.  He 
was  the  author  of  an  interesting  work,  enti- 
tled, "  Traite  historique  at  pratique  de  la 
Gravuire  en  Bois."  He  died  in  1776. — Strutt, 
Moreri.  Diet.  Hist. 

PAPILLON  (THOMAS)  a  French  lawyer, 
was  born  at  Dijon  in  1514.  He  was  the  au- 
thor of  the  following  works,  "  Commentarii  in 
quatuor  priores  titulos,  lib.  primi  Digestorum  ;" 
"  De  Directis  Hsredum  Substitutionibus  ;" 
"  Libellus  de  Jure  accrescendi."  He  died  in 
1596,  at  Paris. — There  was  also  a  PHILIBERT 
PAPILLON,  a  learned  canon  of  La  Chapelle-au- 
Riche  Dijon,  who  wrote  a  work,  entitled  "  La 
Bibliotheque  des  Auteurs  de  Bourgogne,"  Di- 
jon, 1742,  2  vols.  folio.  He  died  in  1738. — 
Moreri.  Diet.  Hist, 

PAPIN  (DENYS)  an  eminent  natural  phi- 
losopher and  physician,  who  was  a  native  of 
Blois  in  France.  After  he  had  finished  his 
studies,  and  taken  the  degree  of  MD.  he 
made  a  visit  to  England,  and  in  1680  he  was 
admitted  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  He 
assisted  Mr  Boyle  in  bis  philosophical  experi- 
ments, and  made  himself  known  as  an  inge- 

o 

nious  practical  philosopher.  Being  a  Protes- 
tant, the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantz  pre- 
vented him  from  returning  to  his  native  coun- 
try, and  on  leaving  P^ngland,  he  settled  at 
Marpurg,  in  Germany,  as  a  teacher  of  mathe- 
matics. Papin  chiefly  distinguished  himself 
by  his  researches  concerning  the  power  of 
steam,  and  the  influence  of  mechanical  pres- 
sure in  retarding  the  ebullition  of  liquids.  He 
suggested  the  principle  which  led  to  the  in- 
vention of  the  steam  engine,  (see  NEWCOM- 
MEN  ;)  but  he  is  best  known  for  an  invention 
of  his  own,  denominated  "  Papin's  Diges- 
ter," consisting  of  an  air-tight  iron  vessel,  in 
which  water,  &c.  may  be  heated  considerably 
beyond  the  boiling  point,  of  which  a  descrip- 
tion was  published  under  the  title  of  "  The 
New  Digester,  or  Engine  for  the  Softening  of 
Bunes."  He  was  also  the  author  of  "  Fasci- 
culus Dissertationum  de  quibusdam  Machinis 
Physicis ;"  and  "  Ars  nova  ad  Aquam  Ignis 
adminiculo  efricacissime  elevandam."  He  died 
in  1694. — Diet.  Hist.  Biog.  Univ. 

PAPIN  (ISAAC)  a  French  divine,  probably 
of  the  same  family  with  the  subject  of  the  last 
article,  as  he  was  born  at  Blois,  in  1657.  He 
studied  theology  at  Geneva,  but  was  refused 
the  usual  testimonies  of  proficiency,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  departure  from  the  standard 
belief  of  the  Calvinists.  He  then  visited 
England,  and  took  orders  in  the  established 
church  in  the  reign  of  James  IT  ;  and  after- 
wards became  professor  of  divinity  among  the 
French  refugees  at  Dantzic.  Disturbed  by  the 
hostility  of  Jurieu,  with  whom  he  had  a  lite- 
rary controversy,  and  driven  from  the  situation 
he  occupied,  lie  became  a  Roman  Catholic, 
and  wrote  in  defence  of  that  church.  He  died 


PAP 

at  Paris  in  17.19,  ml  his  writings  were  pub- 
lished collectively  in  1723,  3  vols.  Rvo. — 
Niceran,  Moreri. 

PAPON  (.loiiN    PF.TKU)    a   French   histo- 
rian, an    associate  of  the   Institute,  born  near 
Nice,   in  1734.      Having  finished   his  studies, 
he  was  admitted  into   the  congregation  of  the 
Oratory  ;  but  he  quitted   that   society,   to  be- 
come  keeper    of   the   library    at    Marseilles. 
While  in  that  situation  he  commenced  his  prin- 
cipal work,  "  Histoire  generale  de  Provence," 
1777-86,  4  vols.  4to,    for  which   a  pension  of 
2000  francs  was  bestowed  on  him  by  the  states 
of  Provence  ;  and  he  also  experienced  the  li 
berality    of   the  late  king,  then  the  count  d 
Provence,  to  whom  the  history  was  dedicated 
Tfce  abbe  then  settled  at  Paris,  whence  he  re 
moved  to  the  department  of  Pay    de  Dome 
'"uring  the    storms    of   the   Revolution  ;    an 
after  remaining  there  some  years,  he  returnee 
to  Paris,  where  he  died  of  apoplexy  in  1803 
He  was  the  author  of  "  Voyage   liiteraire  dc 
Provence,"  1787,2  vols.  12mo  ;  "  Histoire  d< 
la  Revolution  de   France,"  published  posthu 
mously,  1815,  6  vols.  8vo  ;  "  Epoques  memo 
rabies  de  la  Peste,  et  Moyens  de  se  preserve 
de    ce    Fleati,"   2    vols.  8vo ;     besides    othe 
works. —  7?io£.  Univ. 

PAPIN1AN,  a  celebrated  Roman   lawyer 
He  was  born  in  the  year  175,  and  became  pre- 
toriau  prefect  under  the  emperor  Severus,  who 
had  so  high  an  opinion   of  his  worth,   that  at 
his  death  he  recommended  his  sons,  Caracalla 
and  Geta  to  his  care.     The   first   having  bru- 
tally murdered  his  brother,  enjoined  Papiuian 
to  compose  a  discourse    in   accusation   of  the 
deceased,  in  order  to  excuse  his  barbarity,  to 
the  senate  and  the   people.      With  this  man- 
date  the    prefect  not  only  refused  to  comply, 
but  he   nobly  observed,  that  it  was  easier  to 
commit  a  parricide  than  to  excuse  it,  and  that 
Blander  of  innocence  was  a  second  parricide. 
Caracalla,  enraged  by  this  refusal,  secretly  in- 
duced the  pretorian  guards  to  mutiny,  and  de- 
mand their  leader's  head  ;   and,  apparently  to 
satisfy  them,  he  was  executed  in    ~\12,  in  his 
thirty-seventh    year,    anil     his    body    dragged 
through  the  streets  of  Rome.    The  reputation 
of  Papinian,  as  a  lawyer,  stood  very  high,  and 
lie  had  a  great  number  of  disciples.      He  com- 
posed several  works,  among  which  are  twenty- 
seven    books    of    "  Questions  on   the   Law ;" 
nineteen    of    "    Responses,     or     Opinions  ;" 
two  of  "  Definitions  ;"  two  upon  "Adultery;" 
and  one  upon  the  "  Laws  of  Ediles." — Moreri. 
Saxii  Onam. 

PAPPUS,  an  Alexandrian  philosopher  and 
mathematician,  who  flourished  in  the  fourth 
century,  under  Theodosius  the  Great.  He  was 
the  author  of  some  annotations  on  the  Alma- 
gest of  Ptr'emy  ;  a  mathematical  treatise, 
translated  by  Commandine  in  1588  ;  a  descrip- 
tion of  some  of  the  principal  rivers  in  Africa  ; 
a  work  on  military  engines,  &c. ;  together  with 
several  other  tracts,  most  of  which  have  not 
reached  posterity,  though  some  or  them  have 
been  abridged,  and  others  enumerated  by 
Marin  Rlersenne.  Charles  Manolepius  col- 
lected and  published  all  that  is  now  known  of 


PAR 

his  writings,  in  one   folio   volume,   Bologna, 
1660. —  1 1  niton's  Math.  Dirt. 

PARAI'.OSCJO    (Giitor.AMo)     an    Italian 
poet  and  miscellaneous  writer,  was  born  in  the 
beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  at  Placen- 
tia.      He  was  a    musician,   and   a  maestro  di 
capella.     His  comedies,  which  are  six  in  num- 
ber, possess  much   originality.     The  best  edi- 
tion was  published   at  Venice  in   1560.     He 
also  wrote,  novels  in  the  style  of  Boccaccio  and 
Bandello,  which  were  published  in  1568,  with 
the  title  of  "  I  Diporti  di  M.  Girolamo  Para- 
bosco."  His  letters,  tragedies,  and  other  works, 
consisting  of  "  Motti,"  or  bon  mots,   are  now 
almost  forgotten. — Tiraboschi.  Nouv. Diet. Hist. 
PARACELSUS,    or    PH1LIPPUS    AU- 
REOLUS     THEOPHRASTUS     A  H     HO- 
HENHEIM,  a  celebrated  empyric  and  alchy- 
mist,    born    at     Emsidlen,    near    Zurich,     in 
Switzerland,  in  1493.     His  father,  William  ab 
Hohenheim,  a  physician,  is  said  to  have  been 
the  natural  son  of  a  Teutonic   knight.     After 
some   education    at  home,  he  visited  France, 
Spain,  Italy,  and  Germany,  with  a  view  to  im- 
provement in   medicine,  and  the  arts  and  sci- 
ences connected  with  it,  especially  chemistry. 
In    the  course    of  his   travels  he   became  ac- 
quainted with  some  remedies  not  in   common 
use  among  the  faculty,  (probably  preparations 
of  mercury,)  by  means  of  which  he  performed 
extraordinary  cures,  and  obtained  great  repu- 
tation.    Returning  to  Switzerland,  he  taught 
medicine   and  surgery  at  Basil,  delivering  his 
lectures  partly   in  the  German    language,  for 
want  of  a  sufficient  knowledge  of  the   Latin. 
At  length,    having  cured  John  Lichtenfels,  a 
rich  ecclesiastic,  of  a  dangerous  disease,  and 
•>eing  precluded    by   a  decision  of  the  magis- 
tracy from  obtaining  the  stipulated  reward,  for 
which  lie  was  obliged    to   sue  his   patient,  he 
was  so  enraged  at  the  disappointment,  that  he 
grossly  abused  the  judges,  and  becoming   ap- 
prehensive of  their  resentment,  took  his  de- 
parture from  the  city.     He  then  led  a  wander- 
ng  life  in  Alsatia,  accompanied  by  his  pupil, 
Oporinus,  who,  disgusted    with    bis   violence 
and  intemperance,  at  length  left  him  to  pursue 
lis  wild  career  alone.     Paracelsus  professed 
in  utter  contempt  for  the  practice  of  his  me- 
lical  contemporaries,  and  boasted  of  an  inter- 
course with  spirits,  and  the  possession  of  the 
)hilosopher's  stone,  and  the  elixir  of  life  ;  but 
le   disgraced  his  pretensions   by  dying  iu  the 
orty-eighth  year  of  his  age,  after  a  few  days' 
llness,   at    the    hospital    of    St    Sebastian   at 
Salzburg,  in  1541.     Among  the   writings  at- 
ributed  to  Paracelsus  are   some   on   surgery, 
hemistry,   and  theology,  many  of  which  re- 
naiii  unpublished      A  collection  of  his  works, 
nil  vols.  4to,  was  printed  at  Basil  in  1589  ; 
nd  they  were  also  printed  at  Geneva  in  1658, 
vith  a  preface,  containing  an  account   of  the 
.uthor. —  Melch.  Adam.     Teissier  Eloges  ties  H. 
'.    Morhof.  Polyhi*t.    Hutchinson's  Bins;.  Med. 
PARADIN  (WILLIAM)  a  French  historian 
f  the  sixteenth  century,    the   time  of  whose 
irth  and  death  are  unknown.     He  wrote  se- 
eral  works,  of  which  these  are  the  principal  • 
1  Historia    sui    Temporis,"    translated    into 


PAR 

French  in  1558  ;  "  The  History  of  Aristreus,  ' 
respecting  the  version  of  the  Pentateuch," 
4to  ;  "  Annales  de  Bourgogne  ;"  "  De  Mo- 
ribus  Galliae  Historia  ;"  "  Memoires  de  1'His- 
toire  de  Lyon  ;"  "  De  rebus  in  Belgio,  anno 
1543  gestis ;"  "La  Chronique  de  Savoie  ;" 
.  "  Histories  Gallic  a  Francisci  I  coronatione  ad 
annum  1550;"  "Historia  Ecclesiaj  Galli- 
canre  ;"  "  JMemoralia  insignium  Franciaj  Fa- 
miliarum."  He  was  dean  of  Beaujeu. — 
Le  Long  Bibl.  Hist,  de  France.  Moreri. 

PARCIEUX  (ANTOINE  de)  an  ingenious 
French  mathematician,  member  of  the  acade- 
mies of  sciences  at  Paris,  Stockholm,  and 
Berlin,  and  censor-royal.  Ho  was  born  near 
Uzes,  in  1703,  and  was  of  low  parentage,  but 
was  enabled,  through  the  gratuitous  benevo- 
lence of  a  friendly  individual,  to  study  at  the 
college  of  Lyons,  where  he  cultivated  mathe- 
matical learning  with  great  success.  He  af- 
terwards settled  at  Paris,  where  he  attracted 
notice  by  his  skill  in  the  construction  of  sun- 
dials. He  published,  "  Traite  de  Tritr"no- 
m6trie  Rectiligne  et  Spherique,"  1741,  4to, 
dedicated  to  the  Royal  academy  ;  "  Essai  sur 
les  Probabilites  de  la  Duree  de  la  Vie  Hu- 
maine,"  1746,  4to  ;  "  Memoire  sur  la  Possi- 
bilite  d'amener  a  Paris  les  Eaux  de  la  Riviere 
de  1'Yvette,"  4to  ;  and  several  other  works. 
He  died  in  1768. — Biog.  Univ.  Diet. Hist. 

PARCIEUX  (  ANTOINE  de)  nephew  of  the 
preceding,  and  also  eminent  as  a  mathemati- 
cian. He  was  born  near  Nismes,  in  1753, 
and  he  applied  himself  with  such  ardour  to 
literature,  that,  when  quite  young,  he  composed 
a  tragedy,  called,  "  Ozorio,"  altered  from  one 
svritten  by  Thomas  Corneille.  At  length  he 
became  professor  of  mathematics  at  Paris,  and 
often  supplied  the  place  of  Brisson,  professor 
of  natural  philosophy  at  the  college  of  Na- 
varre, whose  lectures  he  had  assiduously  at- 
tended. In  1779  he  gave  a  course  of  lectures 
on  experimental  physics,  and  he  was  after- 
wards employed  to  form  a  cabinet  of  that 
scieace  at  the  military  school  of  Brienne.  On 
the  establishment  of  the  Lyceum  at  the  Pan- 
theon, he  was  nominated  professor.  Among 
his  works  are,  "  Notions  du  Calcul  Geome- 
trique  et  d'Astronomie ;"  "Traite  elemen- 
taire  de  Mathematique  ;"  "  Traite  des  Annui- 
ties, ou  Rentes  aTermes;"  &c.  He  was  pre- 
paring a  complete  course  of  natural  philosophy 
and  chemistry,  of  which  he  had  sent  only  the 
first  volume  to  the  press,  when  he  fell  a  sacri- 
fice to  fatigue,  occasioned  by  over  attention  to 
his  studies,  in  1799. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

PARUIES  (IGNATIUS  GASTON)  a  learned 
and  ingenious  Jesuit  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, a  native  of  Paris,  or  as  others  say,  of 
Pau,  in  Gascony,  born  1636.  In  the  earlier 
part  of  his  life  he  cultivated  the  belles  lettres 
with  great  success,  and  some  of  his  lighter 
compositions  were  much  admired,  on  account 
of  the  airy  elegance  and  delicacy  of  their 
style.  Subsequently  he  devoted  the  whole  of 
his  attention  to  severer  studies,  and  became 
celebrated  for  his  proficiency  in  mathematics 
and  general  philosophy,  his  reputation  for 
procured  him  a  professorship  in  the 


PAR 

college  of  Lewis  XIV.  Some  of  his  works 
were  well  known  in  England,  especially  a 
controversy  carried  on  by  him  in  1672  with  sir 
Isaac  .Newton,  whose  theory  of  optics  lie  im- 
pugned, the  substance  of  which  is  to  be  found 
in  the  Philosophical  Transactions.  His  "  Ele- 
ments of  Geometry,"  too,  became  familiar  to 
the  English  reader  in  Harris's  translation, 
which  has  gone  through  several  editions.  His 
other  works  are,  "  Lettre  d'un  Philosophic  a 
un  Cartesien  de  ses  amis  ;"  "  Discours  sur  la 
Connoissance  des  Betes ;"  "  Horologium 
Thaumaticum  duplex  ;"  "  De  Motu  et  Na- 
tuia  Cometarum  ;"  "La  Statique,  ou  la  Sci- 
ence des  Forces  Mouvantes  ;"  "  Remarques 
du  Mouvement  de  la  Lumiere  ;"  and  "  Dis- 
cours  da  Mouvement  Local."  In  1673,  hav- 
ing employed  himself  diligently  in  administer- 
ing the  comforts  of  religion  to  the  prisoners 
confined  in  (he  Bicetre  during  the  Holy  week, 
he  caught  a  jail  fever,  then  prevalent  among 
them,  which  occasioned  his  decease. — Notiv. 
Diet.  Hist. 

PARE  (AMBROSE)  an  eminent  surgeon,  was 
born  at  Laval,  in  the  district  of  the  Maine,  in 
1509.  He  was  appointed  surgeon  in  ordi- 
nary to  king  Henry  II  in  1532,  and  he  held 
the  same  office  under  Francis  II,  Charles 
IX,  arid  Henry  III.  He  was  on  one  occasion 
of  great  service  professionally  to  Charles  IX, 
who  proved  his  gratitude  by  sparing  him  in 
the  massacre  of  St  Bartholomew,  although  a 
Protestant.  He  died  in  1590.  Pare  was  a 
bold  and  successful  operator,  and  rendered 
real  services  to  his  art,  particularly  in  the 
practice  of  tying  divided  arteries,  and  in  the 
treatment  of  gun-shot  wounds.  His  works 
were  universally  read,  and  translated  into  most 
of  the  languages  of  Europe  ;  they  consist  of 
numerous  treatises,  and  were  translated  into 
Latin  by  his  pupil,  Guillemeau,  with  the  title 
of  "  Ambrosii  Parasi  Opera,  novis  iconibus 
elegantissimis  illustiata  et  Latinate  donata." — 
Eloy  Diet.  Hist,  de  la  Med.  Rees's  Cyclopedia. 
Haller.  Moreri. 

PARENT  (ANTHONY)  a  learned  French 
mathematician,  born  at  Paris  in  1666.  He 
received  his  early  education  at  Chartres,  and 
while  at  school  was  particularly  attracted  by 
the  study  of  gnomonics,  on  which  he  wrote  a 
treatise,  and  he  acquired  skill  in  forming  sun- 
dials. He  then  went  back  to  Paris  to  study 
the  law  ;  but  his  strong  attachment  to  the  ma- 
thematical sciences  superseded  every  other  pur- 
suit, and  shutting  himself  up  in  the  college  of 
Dormans,  he  gave  way  to  his  inclination, 
leaving  his  retreat  only  to  attend  the  lectures 
of  De  la  Hire  and  Sauveur,  at  the  royal  col- 
lege. Wishing  to  obtain  a  practical  acquaint- 
ance with  mathematics  as  applied  to  military 
tactics,  he  made  two  campaigns  with  the  mar- 
quis d'Aligre.  He  afterwards  devoted  his  time 
entirely  to  the  study  of  physical  and  mathe- 
matical science,  including  anatomy,  botany, 
and  chemistry.  He  was  admitted  into  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  as  an  adjunct  professor 
of  mechanics,  and  in  1716  he  was  appointed 
assistant  geometrician.  He  died  of  the  small- 
pox the  same  year.  The  Memoirs  of  the  Aca- 


P  AK 

demy  of  Sciences  contain  many  papers  by  M. 
Parent,  who  also  published  "  Elements  of 
Mechanics  and  Natural  Philosophy  ;"  "  Ma- 
thematical and  Philosophical  Researches  ;"  and 
a  treatise  on  arithmetic. — Martin's  Bing.  Phitos. 
PAREUS  or  PARE.  There  were  three  of 
this  name,  father,  son,  and  grandson,  all  emi- 
nent for  their  learning  and  abilities.  DAVID, 
the  elder,  was  born  of  Protestant  parents  at 
Frankenstein  in  Silesia.  His  father,  whose 
name  was  Wangler,  an  appellation  which  the 
son  afterwards  elevated  into  Pareus,  from  a 
Greek  word  of  the  same  signification,  becom- 
ing a  widower,  contracted  a  second  marriage, 
the  consequence  of  which  was  that  his  off- 
spring were  neglected,  and  put  to  different 
trades  ;  the  subject  of  this  article  being  first 
placed  with  an  apothecary,  and  afterwards 
with  a  shoemaker.  The  strong  bent  of  his 
genius  towards  literary  pursuits  triumplied, 
however,  eventually  over  his  difficulties,  and 
being  fortunate  enough  at  length  to  secure  the 
instructions  of  Schilling,  his  progress  was 
equally  sound  and  rapid.  He  obtained  the 
professorships  of  the  humanities  and  of  divinity 
at  Heidelberg,  where  he  entered  warmly  into 
the  controversies  carrying  on  between  the 
Lutherans  and  the  Calvinists,  having  aban- 
doned the  tenets  of  the  former  for  the  stricter 
discipline  of  the  latter  party.  While  resident 
at  this  university,  he  acquired  the  esteem  of 
the  elector  palatine  and  other  persons  of  high 
rank  and  consideration,  and  in  1589  printed, 
under  their  auspices,  an  edition  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, with  a  commentary.  In  1592  he  was 
elected  an  ecclesiastical  counsellor,  and  the 
year  following  took  his  doctor's  degree,  in 
1617  appeared  his  famous  "  Commentary  on 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,"  which  was 
speedily  dispersed  all  over  Europe  ;  but 
the  doctrines  it  contained  militating  very 
strongly  against  regal  prerogatives  and  the 
divine  right  of  kings,  James  I  of  England  was 
so  incensed  at  its  promulgation,  that  he  or- 
dered it  to  he  burnt  publicly  in  London  by  the 
hands  of  the  common  hangman.  David  Pa- 
reus dying  in  1632,  his  son,  JOHN  PHILIP, 
collected  his  exegetical  works,  and  published 
them  with  a  life  prefixed,  in  three  folio  vols. 
at  Frankfort  in  1647.  The  latter,  who  was  born 
at  Hembach,  in  the  spring  of  1576,  and  be- 
came rector  of  the  college  of  Neustadt,  was 
the  author  of  several  valuable  works,  the  prin- 
cipal of  which  are,  "  Calligraphia  Romana,'( 
8vo,  1620  ;  "Lexicon  Criticum,"  8vo  ;  "  Electa 
Symmachiana,"  8vo  ;  "  Analecta  Plautina;" 
"  Lexicon  Plautinum,"  and  other  treatises 
illustrative  of  his  favourite  author  Plautus,  of 
whose  works  he  published  an  excellent  edition, 
and  in  defence  of  whose  fame  he  entered  into 
a  controversy  with  the  learned  John  G ruler, 
as  remarkable  for  the  reading  it  evinced,  as  for 
the  acrimony  with  which  it  was  carried  on. 
He  died  at  Hanau  in  1648  ;  his  son,  DANIEL 
PAREUS,  having  preceded  him  to  the  grave 
thirteen  years  before.  This  young  man  was  a 
scholar  of  great  promise,  and  besides  an  origi- 
nal History  of  the  Palatinate  of  Bavaria,  and 
a  work  entitled  "  Medulla  Historian  Ecclesias- 


PAR 

ticae,"  had  published  editions  of  the  works  of 
Lucretius,  MUSOMIS,  and  Quintilian,  with  va- 
luable notes,  as  well  as  an  elegant  selection 
from  the  writings  of  the  best  Greek  authors, 
under  the  title  of  "  Melleficium  Atticum," 
when  his  career  was  cut  short  by  the  hand  of 
an  assassin,  who  murdered  him  for  the  sake  of 
plunder. — Nouv.  Diet,  Hist.  -Biog.  Univ. 

PARFAIT  (FRANCIS)  a  French  writer,  dis- 
tinguished as  a  dramatic  historian,  who  was 
born  at  Paris  in  1698,  and  died  in  1753. 
Among  his  works  are,  "  Histoire  g6n£rale 
du  Th6atie  Francois,  depuis  son  origine  jusqu'a 
present,"  15  vols.  12mo ;  "  M£moires  pour 
servir  a  1'Histoire  de  la  Foire,"  2  vols.  12mo ; 
"  Histoire  de  1'ancien  Theatre  Ttalien,"  12mo; 
and  "  Dictionnaire  des  Theatres,"  7  vols. 
12mo. — Diet.  Hist. 

PARINI  (.JOSEPH)  a  modern  Italian  poet, 
who  raised  himself  to  eminence  by  his  talents, 
which  he  employed  in  satirizing  the  vices  and 
follies  of  his  age  and  country.  He  was  the 
son  of  a  poor  peasant,  and  was  born  on  the 
shores  of  Lake  Pusiano,  about  seven  leagues 
from  Milan.  His  docile  disposition  attracted 
the  notice  of  some  monks,  who  bestowed  on 
him  a  gratuitous  education,  to  fit  him  for  some 
subordinate  ecclesiastical  office.  A  thirst  for 
learning  induced  him  to  acquire  farther  know- 
ledge by  his  own  exertions  ;  but  his  pros- 
pects of  clerical  promotion  were  blasted  by  an 
attack  of  paralysis  in  his  nineteenth  year, 
which  rendered  him  a  cripple  for  life.  He 
first  exerted  his  poetical  talents  to  procure  the 
means  of  support  for  himself  and  his  widowed 
mother  ;  but  he  was  obliged  to  struggle  through 
nearly  twenty  years  of  obscurity,  indigence, 
and  neglect,  ere  he  emerged  into  reputation 
and  competence.  This  change  in  the  literary 
fortunes  and  situation  of  Parini  was  produced 
by  the  appearance  of  his  fine  satirical  work, 
"  II  Giorno,"  or  "  The  Day,"  a  poem,  intended 
to  exhibit  a  sarcastic  and  humorous  delinea- 
tion of  the  character  and  manners  of  the  Mi- 
lanese nobility,  which  appear  to  have  been 
highly  deserving  of  his  animadversions.  Pa- 
rini was  also  the  author  of  several  lyric  com- 
positions, some  of  which  display  the  same 
strain  of  moral  satire  as  the  Giorno,  on  which 
his  celebrity  chiefly  depends.  Towards  the 
close  of  his  life  he  enjoyed  a  large  share  of 
popularity,  which  he  constantly  exerted  to  pro- 
mote peace  and  union  among  his  fellow-citi- 
zens. Once,  when  the  democratic  spirit  ran 
high  at  Milan,  and  the  people  were  tumultu- 
ouslv  assembling,  with  cries  of  "  Viva  la  Re- 
publica  !  Morti  ai  Tirauni,  ai  Patrizii  !"  Pa- 
rini issuing  forth  from  an  adjoining  hotel,  in- 
dignantly exclaimed,  "  Viva  la  Republica,  e 
morte  a  nessuno  ;  canaglia  stolta!"  "The 
republic  for  ever,  and  death  to  nobody,  you 
stupid  people."  The  crowd,  struck  with  sur- 
prise and  admiration,  after  cheering  the  cham- 
pion of  their  rights,  quietly  dispersed.  He 
lived  much  esteemed  and  respected  to  his 
seventieth  year,  and  died  very  generally  re- 
gretted.— Biog.  Univ. 

PARIS  (FRANCIS)  usually  called  the  abbe 
Paris,  was  the  son  of  a  counsellor  to  the  par- 


PAR 

liament,  and  was  born  at  Paris  in  1690.  He 
embraced  the  ecclesiastical  profession,  and 
took  deacon's  orders,  and  in  the  disputes  occa- 
sioned by  the  hull  Unigenitus,  he  attached 
himself  to  the  Jansenist  party.  Upon  the 
deaLli  of  his  father,  the  abbe  Paris  renounced 
all  claim  to  his  patrimonial  inheritance  in  fa- 
vour of  a  younger  brother,  and  devoted  him- 
self to  a  life  of  poverty,  living  iu  a  poor  little 
house  in  the  suburb  of  Marcel,  where  he 
passed  his  time  in  prayer  and  in  making  stock- 
ings for  the  poor.  He  died  in  17-27,  and  was 
buried  in  the  churchyard  of  St  Medard  ;  and 
on  his  death  the  Jansenists  made  great  use  of 
his  credit  to  revive  their  sinking  fame,  by 
making  his  tomb  the  seat  of  their  pretendeu 
miracles  ;  and  so  far  did  the  delusion  gain 
ground,  that  in  1732  the  court  found  it  neces- 
sary to  have  the  churchyard  walled  up.  The 
abb<j  Paris  wrote  a  "  Commentary  on  the  Gos- 
pel of  St  Matthew  ;"  an  "  Explication  of  the 
nine  first  Chapters  of  the  Epistle  of  St  Paul 
to  the  Romans ;"  on  the  Galatians ;  and  "  An 
Analysis  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews." — 
Diet.  Hist.  Douglas's  Criterion. 

PARIS  (MATTHEW)  an  English  historian, 
was  a  Benedictine  monk  of  the  congregation  of 
Clugny,  in  the  monastery  of  St  Albtn's,  niiu 
died  in  12.59.  He  is  said  to  have  been  univer- 
sally accomplished,  and  a  man  of  rare  inte- 
grity, freely  censuring  all  that  he  found  wrong 
in  all  orders  of  people,  without  regard  to  rank 
or  power.  His  principal  work  is  his  "  His- 
tona  Major,"  of  which  we  have  only  remain- 
ing the  annals  of  eight  kings,  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Conqueror's  reign  to  the  end  of 
that  of  Henry  III,  the  latter  years  being 
added.it  is  supposed,  by  William  Rishanger, 
a  monk  of  the  same  monastery.  It  is  a  valu- 
able history,  composed  with  great  candour  and 
impartiality.  He  also  wrote  "  Historia  Mi- 
nor," an  abridgment  of  the  former,  which  is 
extant  in  MS.  and  some  other  works,  which 
are  supposed  to  have  perished. —  Vossii  Hist. 
Lett.  Nichnlsnn's  Histor.  Lib. 

FAR1SOT  (PIERRE)  also  called  Norbert, 
birn  in  1697,  at  Bar-le-Duc.  He  entered 
into  holy  orders,  and  assumed  the  habit  of  a 
Capuchin  friar,  in  which  capacity  he  afterwards 
was  despatched  by  his  order  on  a  mission  to 
India.  Here  his  conduct  gave  great  offence 
to  the  Jesuits,  who  procured  his  recal  in  1744, 
after  he  had  been  about  four  years  in  the  coun- 
try, which  induced  him  on  his  return  to  France 
to  publish  a  work  highly  vituperative  of  the 
society,  entitled,  "  Historical  Memoirs  of  the 
Missions  in  the  Indies."  His  own  order  how- 
ever, so  far  from  supporting  him  on  this  occa- 
sion, found  much  to  displease  them  in  his 
book  on  their  own  account,  and  the  indigna- 
tion which  it  excited  among  them  operated  so 
strongly,  that  the  author  withdrew  into  Eng- 
land, and  there  supported  himself  by  intro- 
ducing a  manufactory  of  tapestry.  After  vi- 
siting part  of  Germany  and  the  Peninsula,  he 
at  length  returned  to  his  native  country,  be- 
came reconciled  to  his  order,  and  again,  with 
a  fickleness  which  seems  to  have  been  inhe- 
rent in  him,  abjured  it.  His  principal  work  is 


PAR 

a  "  History  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  from  its 
first  Foundation  by  Ignatius  Loyola,"  in  6  vols. 
His  death  took  place  in  177(1. —  Ring.  I'nh  . 

PARK  (MuNGo)  an  enterprising  traveller, 
who  fell  a  victim  to  his  repeated  attempts  to 
explore  the  interior  of  the  African  continent. 
His  father  was  a  farmer,  and  he  was  born  near 
Selkirk  iu  Scotland,  September  10,  1771.  He 
was  educated  for  the  medical  profession,  and 
after  having  studied  at  Edinburgh  for  three 
years,  he  was  apprenticed  to  Mr.  Anderson,  a 
surgeon  of  Selkirk,  whose  daughter  he  subse- 
quently married.  On  quitting  this  situation 
he  went  to  London,  and  then  made  a  voyage  to 
the  East  Indies,  as  assistant-surgeon  on  board 
one  of  the  Company's  vessels  ;  :u  the  course 
of  which  service  he  had  an  opportunity  of 
making  some,  botanical  collections  at  Bencoo- 
leu,  of  which  an  account  may  be  found  in  the 
Transactions  of  the  Lmnaean  Society.  Return- 
ing to  England,  he  engaged  in  an  expedition 
to  the  intertropical  regions  of  Africa,  to  trace 
the  course  of  the  river  Niger,  under  the  pa- 
tronage of  the  African  Society.  He  arrived 
on  the  coasts  of  Senegal  in  June  179.5,  and 
having  made  himself  acquainted  with  the 
Mandingo  language,  he  commenced  hisjour- 
r  ••y,  in  the  course  of  which  he  encountered 
great  dangers,  in  spite  of  which  he  prosecuted 
his  undertaking  till  he  had  reached  the  banks 
of  a  largre  river,  which  appeared  to  be  the  ob- 
ject of  his  researches.  The  state  of  destitu- 
tion to  which  he  had  beeu  reduced,  rendered 
it  almost  impossible  for  him  to  proceed,  and  he 
therefore  returned  towards  the  coast,  and  ar- 
rived in  England  at  the  end  of  the  year  1797. 
Of  his  interesting  discoveries  he  published  an 
account  in  his  "  Travels  in  the  Interior  of 
Africa,  in  1795,  96,  and  97,"  4to,  1799.  Hav- 
ing married  the  lady  already  alluded  to,  Mr 
Park  engaged  in  practice  as  a  surgeon,  at  Pee- 
bles, in  his  native  country,  in  1801  ;  and  con- 
tented with  the  fame  he  had  acquired,  he 
would  probably  have  sought  for  no  new  ad- 
ventures, nor  have  exposed  himself  to  fresh 
perils,  but  for  the  extraordinary  inducement 
held  out  to  him  in  a  proposal  from  government, 
to  engage  in  a  second  expedition  of  discovery 
in  the  Jract  he  had  before  visited,  but  with 
much  more  ample  resources  than  on  the  for- 
mer occasion.  Towards  the  close  of  1803  he 
entered  on  the  undertaking,  provided  with  an 
escort  of  thirty  soldiers,  and  accompanied  by- 
other  individuals,  furnished  with  commodities 
for  trading  with  the  natives  of  the  countries 

o 

through  which  they  might  pass.  Mr  Park 
transmitted  to  the  British  settlement  on  the 
coast,  an  account  of  his  progress,  till  he  em- 
barked with  some  of  his  followers  in  a  boat  ou 
the  stream  which  he  had  previously  disco- 
vered ;  but  beyond  that  point  no  certain  intel- 
ligence of  his  fate  has  ever  been  received. 
After  all  hope  of  his  return  was  at  an  end, 
governor  Maxwell,  of  Goree,  despatched  a  per- 
son to  the  inland  part  of  the  country,  to  learn, 
if  possible,  what  had  become  of  the  unfortu- 
nate traveller  and  his  companions  ;  and  the 
result  of  the  messenger's  enquiries  was  a  vague 
report,  that  Mr  Park  and  his  friend  Mr  Mar- 


PAR 

tyn  had  been  drowned,  in  attempting  to  avoid 
the  pursuit  of  a  barbarian  chief,  whom  they 
h;ul  unintentionally  offended  ;  and  that  all  the 
other  Europeans  of  the  party  had  previously 
died  from  fatigue  or  disease.  An  account  of 
Park's  second  journey,  so  far  as  his  own  narra- 
tive extended,  with  a  memoir  of  his  life,  by 
Mr  Wishaw,  was  published  in  1815. — Quar- 
terly Review. 

PARKER,  lord  Morley  (HENUY)  a  literary 
nobleman  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII,  was  the 
son  of  sir  William  Parker,  knight,  and  derived 
his  title  from  his  maternal  grandfather,  lord 
Morley.  He  was  educated  at  Oxford,  and  was 
summoned  to  parliament  in  the  twenty-first 
year  of  Henry  VIII.  He  was  one  of  the  ba- 
rons who  signed  the  memorable  declaration  to 
pope  Clement  VII,  threatening  him  with  the 
loss  of  his  supremacy,  unless  he  consented  to 
the  king's  divorce.  Of  his  works  only  one  has 
been  published,  entitled,  "A  Declaration  of 
the  94th  Psalm  ;"  the  rest  remain  in  manu- 
script, in  the  king's  library.  He  is  said  to 
have  written  several  tragedies  and  comedies, 
of  which  not  even  the  names  are  remaining. 
"  Certain  Rhimes,''  and  the  "  Lives  of  Sec- 
taries" are  also  mentioned  us  his,  but  nothing 
is  now  known  of  them  except  a  few  lines  quoted 
in  our  authories.  Lord  Morley  died  in  1556. 
— Ath.  Ox.  Park's  Royal  and  Noble  Authors. 
Wnrton's  Hist,  of  Poetry.  Phi/lips's  Theatrum, 
by  Sir  E.  Brydges. 

PARKER  (MATTHEW)  archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, a  prelate  of  great  learning  and  accom- 
plishments, as  well  as  of  uncompromising 
principles,  and  much  constancy  of  mind.  He 
was  a  native  of  Norwich,  born  1504,  and  was 
educated  at  Corpus  Christi  (Bene't)  college, 
Cambridge,  of  which  he  was  successively  fel- 
low and  master,  and  during  his  eventual  eleva- 
tion became  a  liberal  benefactor  to  the  society. 
In  1533  Anne  Boleyn  appointed  him  her 
chaplain,  when  she  obtained  from  the  king  a 
license  for  him  to  preach  the  reformed  doc- 
trines, and  subsequently  procured  him  a  king's 
chaplaincy,  which  he  held  through  that  and 
the  following  reign.  Edward  VI  raised  him 
to  the  deanery  of  Lincoln,  but  on  the  acces- 
sion of  queen  Mary,  his  well  known  and  in- 
flexible attachment  to  Protestantism,  caused 
him  to  fall  into  disgrace  at  court,  and  to  be  de- 
prived of  all  bis  preferment.  A  charge  brought 
against  him  of  having  contracted  a  marriage, 
was  the  ostensible  ground  of  his  degradation  ; 
and  while  in  retirement,  he  took  up  the  subject 
in  a  treatise,  which  he  composed,  and  entitled, 
"  A  Defence  of  the  Marriage  of  Priests." 
After  narrowly  escaping  the  stake  more  than 
once,  the  accession  of  Elizabeth  again  re- 
stored him  to  safety,  to  his  former  rank  in  the 
church,  and  ultimately  to  the  primacy.  He 
was  especially  careful  as  to  the  morals,  both 
of  the  higher  and  inferior  clergy  ;  but  his  seve- 
rity, in  respect  to  conformity,  led  him  to  mea- 
sures which  have  been  justly  deemed  demon- 
strative of  a  bigotted  and  peisecuting  spirit. 
He  exerted  himself  in  procuring  a  more  general 
distribution  of  the  Scriptures,  himself  taking  a 
very  prominent  part  in  the  rendering  that  trans- 


PAR 

Union  of  them  familiarly  knmvrc  by  the  name  of 
the  "  Bishop's  Bible,"  and  also  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  present  liturgy  of  the  church 
of  England.  He  was,  besides,  the  author  of 
a  funeral  sermon  on  the  death  of  Bucer,  and  in 
addition  to  the  theological  works  already  men- 
tioned, gave  strong  evidence  of  his  general 
learning,  industry,  and  research,  by  a  treatise 
"On  the  Antiquity  of  the  English  Church;" 
an  edition  of  the  works  of  Matthew  Paris  ; 
and  by  the  encouragement  he  gave  to  the  cul- 
tivation of  the  ancient  Saxon  language.  He 
was  also  a  sound  practical,  as  well  as  theoreti- 
cal musician,  and  not  onlv  composed  several 
melodies  for  parts  of  the  Liturgy,  but  makes 
some  very  ingenious  observations  on  church 
music  in  general,  in  a  translation  which  he 
completed  of  the  Psalter.  His  death  took 
place  in  May  1576,  and  although  during  the 
Cromwell  usurpation  his  tomb  in  Lambeth 
chapel  was  ransacked,  yet  his  remains  were 
afterwards  collected,  and  restored  to  their 
original  resting-place. — Strype's  Life  of  Par- 
ker. Ring-  Brit. 

PARKER  (RICHARD)  an  English  sailor, 
noted  as  the  leader  in  the  dangerous  mutiny 
which  took  place  on  board  the  squadron  of 
lord  Bridport,  in  the  spring  of  1797.  Parker 
was  born  at  Exeter  about  1760,  and  having  re- 
ceived a  decent  education,  he  entered  into  the 
navy,  and  served  during  the  American  war. 
On  peace  taking  place  he  retired  from  his  pro- 
fessional duties,  and  married  a  woman  with 
some  property,  which  he  dissipated,  and  hav- 
ing incurred  some  debts,  he  was  imprisoned  at 
Edinburgh.  He  was  at  length  released,  and 
sent  on  board  the  royal  fleet  at  the  Nore,  as  a 
common  sailor,  where  he  displayed  a  spirit  of 
insubordination  to  his  officers  ;  but  he  so  far 
acquired  the  confidence  of  the  men,  that  on 
the  mutiny  arising,  he  was  appointed  admiral 
cf  the  fleet.  The  revolt  having  at  length  been 
suppressed,  through  the  prudent  management 
and  firmness  of  lord  Howe,  Parker  was  put  in 
confinement,  and  after  undergoing  a  trial  at 
Sheerness,  he  was  hanged  on  board  the  Sand- 
wich, to  which  ship  he  had  belonged,  and  his 
body  was  exposed  on  the  coast  of  the  isle  of 
Sheppey.  He  suffered  June  30,  1797,  dis- 
playing in  his  last  moments  great  calmness  of 
mind,  and  penitence. — Monthly  Mag. 

PARKER  (SAMUEL)  bishop  of  Oxford,  in 
the  reign  of  the  second  James,  a  prelate  of 
considerable  talent  and  learning,  but  contemp- 
tible from  bis  versatility  and  time-serving  dispo- 
sition, qualities  which  he  appears  to  have  in- 
herited from  his  father,  a  lawyer,  who  after 
exhibiting  the  greatest  subserviency  to  the 
parliamentarian  party,  veered  round  at  once 
on  the  death  of  the  protector,  and  received  his 
reward  in  the  appointment  of  a  sergeaut-at- 
law,  and  a  seat  on  the  Exchequer  bench.  His 
son,  the  subject  of  this  article,  was  born  in  the 
autumn  of  1640,  at  Northampton  and  having 
been  brought  up  in  the  strictest  principles  of 
puritanism,  entered  himself,  at  the  age  of 
nineteen,  at  Wadham  college,  Oxford,  where, 
as  well  as  at  Trinity  college,  to  which  he  af- 
terwards removed,  he  distinguished  himself  as 


PAR 


PAR 


much  oy  his  ascetic  mode  of  life,  as  by  his  in-  !  on  which  subject  he  delivered  a  speech  in  the 


defatigable  application  to  books.  His  religi 
ous  opinions,  however,  soon  underwent  a 
change  more  compatible  with  his  temporary 
interests;  and  a  work  which  he  published,  en- 
titled, "  Tentamina  Physico-Theologica  de 
Deo,  &c."  attracting  the  notice  of  the  primate 
Sheldon,  that  prelate  gave  him  a  stall  in  Can- 
terbury cathedral,  with  the  archdeaconry  of 
the  diocese  annexed.  In  the  ensuing  reign, 
James,  to  whom  the  pliancy  of  his  disposition 
made  him  peculiarly  acceptable,  forced  him 
upon  the  fellows  of  Magdalen  college  as  their 
president,  and  still  farther  advanced  him  to 
the  see  of  Oxford,  favours  which  the  new  pre- 
late returned  by  writing  in  favour  of  the  Ro- 
mish doctrine  concerning  the  Eucharist,  and 
the  efficacy  of  the  intercession  of  saints  duly 
canonized  by  papal  authority.  His  next  work 
was  entitled,  "  Reasons  for  Abrogating  the 
Test  imposed  upon  all  Members  of  Parlia- 
ment, &c."  which  met  with  great  approbation 
at  court,  although  he  is  saiu,  ut  this  very  time, 
to  have  been  either  so  insincere  in  his  public 
professions,  or  so  alarmed  at  the  probable  con- 


house  of  Lords,  which  he  afterwards  published. 
He  died  in  1766. — Cotlins's  Peerage.     Edit. 

PARKES  (SAMUEL)  an  ingenious  and  sci- 
entific professor  of  chemistry,  was  born  at 
Stourbridge,  in  Worcestershire,  in  17.59,  and 
educated  at  Market  Harborough,  under  Dr 
Addington.  He  was  principally  eminent  as  an 
experimental  chemist,  and  in  1806  published 
a  most  interesting  and  valuable  treatise  on  the 
science,  entitled,  a  "  Chemical  Catechism," 
of  which  many  editions  have  since  appeared. 
This  work  he  followed  up,  in  1808,  by  an 
"  Essay  on  the  Utility  of  Chemistry  in  the 
Arts  and  Manufactures  ;"  and  in  1809,  by  his 
"  Rudiments  of  Chemistry,  illustrated  by  ex- 
amples," an  abridgment  of  his  first  treatise, 
which  he  was  induced  to  publish,  on  account 
of  an  unprincipled  attempt  to  pirate  the  work, 
only  suppressed  by  an  injunction  from  the 
court  of  Chancery.  His  last  production  was, 
"  Chemical  Essays,  principally  relating  to  the 
Arts  and  Manufactures  of  the  British  Domi- 
nions," printed  in  1815,  in  eight  octavo  vo- 
lumes. Mr  Parkes  was  a  fellow  of  the  Society 

1  !•  •  .  \  f   .  1  i      . 


sequences  to  which  the  attempt  to  render  his  !  of  Arts,  and  of  various  other  literary  and  phi- 


principles  general  might  lead,  that  he  ad- 
dressed a  private  expostulation  to  the  king, 
recommending  his  conversion  to  the  reformed 
church.  The  scarcely-concealed  disdain  with 
which  all  the  most  respectable  persons  of  both 
communions  at  length  treated  him,  is  said  to 
have  had  a  strong  effect  upon  his  health,  both 
mental  and  bodily,  and  materially  to  have  ac- 
celerated his  decease,  which  took  place  at 
Magdalen  college,  in  the  spring  of  1687.  Be- 
sides the  works  already  mentioned,  bishop 
Parker  was  the  author  of  a  "  Demonstration 
of  the  Divine  Authority  of  the  Law  of  Na- 
ture and  the  Christian  Relig.on,"  a  work  of 
merit;  "A  History  of  his  own  Times,"  in 
Latin  and  English,  published  by  his  son  of  the 
same  name  ;  "  The  Case  of  the  Church  of 
England  fairly  Stated  ;"  and  other  polemical 
tracts. — Biog.  Brit. 

PARKER  (THOMAS)  lord  Parker,  after- 
wards created  earl  of  Macclesfield,  was  raised 
to  the  office  of  lord  chancellor  in  May,  1718, 
having  succeeded  lord  Cowper.  After  hold- 
ing the  situation  for  several  years  with  credit 
and  respectability,  he  was  accused  of  corrupt 
practices  in  selling  the  post  of  master  in  chan- 
cery, and  the  fact  being  proved,  he  was  dis- 
placed, and  sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  30.000/. 
This  proceeding  is  said  to  have  originated  in 
the  displeasure  conceived  by  the  prince  of 
Wales,  afterwards  George  II,  at  an  opinion 
delivered  by  lord  Macclesfield  on  the  subject 
of  a  dispute  between  the  prince  and  his  father, 
as  to  the  custody  of  the  children  of  the  former. 
His  lordship  was  removed  from  office  in  172.5, 
and  his  death  took  place  in  1732,  when  he  was 
succeeded  in  his  title  by  his  son,  GEORGE  PAU- 
KEK,  second  earl  of  Macclesfield,  who  was 
president  of  the  Royal  society.  This  noble- 
man devoted  himself  to  scientific  inquiries, 
and  was  an  active  promoter  of  the  act  of  par- 
liament for  the  reformation  of  the  calendar,  or 
introduction  of  the  new  style  in  England  in!752, 


losophical  associations,  at  the  time  of  his  de- 
cease, which  took  place  at  his  house  in  Meck- 
lenberg-square,  London,  December  23,  1825. 
Ann.  Biog. 

PARKINSON  (JOHN)  one  of  the  earliest 
and  most  industrious  cultivators  of  the  science 
of  botany  in  England.  He  was  born  in  1567, 
and  adopting  the  profession  of  pharmacy,  he 
settled  in  London,  and  was  appointed  apothe- 
cary to  king  James  I.  In  the  following  reign 
he  obtained  the  farther  title  of  principal  bota- 
nist to  the  king.  He  had  a  large  gaideu  near 
the  metropolis,  where  he  appears  to  have  cul- 
tivated many  of  the  plants  which  he  has  de- 
scribed. He  probably  died  soon  after  the  pub- 
lication of  his  Herbal,  in  1640.  The  titles  of 
his  works  are,  "  Paradisi  in  Sole  Paradisus 
terrestris  ;  or  a  Garden  of  all  Sorts  of  pleasant 
Flowers,  which  our  English  Air  will  permit  to 
be  nursed  up,  &c.  ;"  and  "  Theatrum  Botani- 
cum  ;  a  Theatre  of  Plants  ;  or  an  Herbal  of  a 
large  Extent,  containing  therein  a  more  am- 
ple and  exact  History  and  Declaration  of  the 
physical  Herbs  and  Plants  than  are  in  other 
Authors,"  1640,  folio. — Pulteney.  Hutchin- 
son's  Biog.  Med. 

PARKHURST  (JOHN)  an  English  divine 
and  poet  of  the  sixteenth  century.  He  was 
born  in  1511,  at  Guildford  in  Surrey,  and  was 
educated  at  Magdalen  college,  Oxford,  and 
afterwards  became  a  fellow  of  Merton,  where 
he  also  acted  as  a  tutor,  and  had  among  his 
pupils,  Jewel,  the  celebrated  champion  of  the 
English  church.  He  was  presented  to  the 
rich  living  of  Cleve  in  Gloucestershire,  in  the 
reign  of  Edward  VI ;  but  on  the  death  of  that 
prince  he  was  obliged  to  leave  the  kingdom, 
on  account  of  his  religious  opinions.  He  found 
an  asylum  at  Zurich  in  Switzerland,  whence 
he  returned  when  P'.lizabeth  succeeded  to  the 
throne  ;  and  in  1560  he  was  raised  to  the  bi- 
shopric of  Norwich,  over  which  he  presided 
fourteen  years  dying  in  1574.  He  translated 


P  A  R 

part  of  the  Apocrypha,  in  the  "  Bishop's  Bi- 
ble ;"  and  he  published  a  volume  of  Latin 
poems,  entitli-d  "  Ludicra,  give  Epigrammata 
Juvenilia/'  highly  praised  by  Fuller. —  Wood's 
Atlien.  Oion.  Fuller's  ll'arthies. 

PARKHURST  (.(OIIN)  a  learned  critic  and 
divine,  who  was  a  native  of  Catesby  in  North- 
amptonshire. He  was  educated  at  Rugby 
school  in  Warwickshire,  whence  he  removed 
to  Clare-hall,  Cambridge,  where  he  obtained 
a  fellowship.  He  took  holy  orders,  but  held 
no  preferment  ;  for  being  possessed  of  an  in- 
dependent fortune,  he  devoted  himself  entirely 
to  literary  researches.  He  was  well  skilled  in 
the  Hebrew  language,  and  like  some  other 
Oriental  scholars,  he  was  an  advocate  for  the 
Hutchinsoniari  philosophy.  He  published  a 
valuable  Hebrew  and  English  Lexicon  ;  also  a 
Greek  and  English  Lexicon  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment ;  and  a  tract  in  defence  of  the  divinity 
of  Jesus  Christ.  He  died  at  Epsom  in  Surrey, 
in  1797,  aged  sixty-eight. — Gent.  Mag.  Suppl. 
to  Encycl.  Brit. 

PAKMENIDES,  a  philosopher  of  the  Elea 
tic  sect,  who  flourished  about  BC.  504.  He 
was  a  native  of  Klea,  where  he  was  a  man  of 
wealth  and  influence,  and  also  distinguished 
in  civil  affairs,  until  introduced  by  Diochetas, 
a  Pythagorean,  to  the  study  of  philosophy. 
He  wrote  the  doctrines  of  his  school  in  verses,  i 
of  which  a  few  fragments  remain  in  the  col- 
lection, "  De  Poesi  Philosophica,"  by  Henry 
Stephen,  Paris,  1573.  Parmenides  became 
the  disciple  and  successor  of  Xenophanes,  the 
founder  of  the  Eleatic  sect,  but  adhered  more 
closely  to  the  doctrine  of  Pythagoras  than  his 
master.  Telesius  revived  the  opinions  of  Par- 
menides in  the  sixteenth  century. — Brucker. 
Enfold. 

PARMENTIER  (JOHN)  a  scientific  French 
navigator,  born  at  Dieppe  in  1494,  was  ori- 
ginally a  merchant.  He  was  the  first  pilot 
who  conducted  ships  to  the  coast  of  Brazil, 
and  the  first  Frenchman  who  discovered  the 
Indies  &3  far  as  Sumatra,  where  he  died  in 
1530.  He  wrote  two  rare  and  curious  books, 
entitled  "  Description  nouvelle  des  Dignites 
du  Monde  et  de  la  Dignite  de  1'Homme,"  and 
"  Moralites  tres-excellens  en  1'honneur  de  la 
Benoiste  Vierge  Marie  mise  en  rime  Franf  aise 
et  en  Personnages,  par  Jehan  Parmentier," 
Pads,  1531,  4to,  black  letter.  He  also  drew 
several  maps  and  charts,  both  spherical  and 
plane,  of  great  use  to  navigators. — Noitv.  Dirt. 
Hint.  Brunei  Manuel  du  Libraire. 

PARMIG1ANO,  a  very  eminent  painter, 
whose  real  name  was  Francesco  Mazzuoli,  was 
born  at  Parma  in  1  503.  He  was  brought  up 
by  two  uncles,  painters,  and  at  the  age  of  six- 
teen he  had  already  created  himself  a  reputa- 
tion by  an  oil  painting  of  the  baptism  of  St 
John,  in  one  of  the  churches  at  Parma.  At 
the  age  of  twenty  he  went  to  Rome, to  study  the 
works  of  the  great  masters  particularly  of  Mi- 
chael Angelo  and  Raphael,  and  so  well  did 
he  profit  by  his  application,  that  it  was  said  at 
Rome,  "  that  the  soul  of  Raphael  had  passed 
into  the  person  of  Parmigiauo."  lie  was  pa- 
tronized by  Clement  VII,  for  whom  he  painted 


PA  11 

a  picture  of  the  Circumcision  at  the  Vatican, 
The  sacking  of  Home  in  1527  obliged  him  to 
take  refuge  at  Bologna,  where  he  painted 
several  altar  pieces  for  the  different  churches. 
On  his  return  to  Parma,  he  was  engaged  to 
paint  in  fresco  the  vault  of  La  Madonna  della 
Steccata,  where  was  his  famed  clwar-oscuro  of 
Moses  breaking  the  tables  of  the  law  ;  one  of 
the  grandest  compositions  of  the  Lombard 
school,  both  for  sublimity  of  conception  and 
beauty  of  execution.  Pannigiano  was  devoted 
to  the  strange  infatuation  of  pursuing  the 
search  of  the  philosopher's  stone  ;  and  after 
wasting  his  own  fortune  and  large  sums  that 
had  been  advanced  to  him  for  the  works  he 
was  engaged  in  at  the  Steccata,  he  was  prose- 
cuted by  the  confraternity.  He  fled  to  Casale 
Maggiore,  where  he  died  of  grief  and  disap- 
pointment at  the  age  of  thirty-seven.  His 
style  is  distinguished  by  its  seductive  grace 
and  elegance  ;  his  designs  are  rather  tasteful 
than  correct,  and  though  his  heads  are  full  of 
expression,  they  are  not  always  free  from  affec- 
tation. His  colouring  was  most  beautiful,  and 
he  was  a  complete  master  of  the  chiar-oscuro. 
He  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  first  artist  in 
Italy  who  employed  the  point  for  etching. 
Some  of  his  plates  are  very  spirited,  but  from 
the  early  stage  of  the  art  at  that  period,  they 
are  not  distinguished  by  much  clearness  or 
delicacy. — D'Argenville.  Pilkiiigton.  Bryan's 
Diet,  of  Paint,  and  Eng. 

PARNELL  (THOMAS)  an  English  poet, 
was  descended  of  a  Cheshire  family.  His 
father  having  followed  the  parliamentary  cause 
in  the  civil  wars  of  Charles  I,  upon  the  Res- 
toration went  to  Dublin,  where  Thomas  was 
born  in  1679.  He  was  educated  at  Trinity 
college,  and  taking  orders  in  1705,  he  was  pre- 
sented to  the  archdeaconry  of  Clogher.  He 
then  came  to  England  every  year,  and  became 
connected  with  Addison,  Congreve,  Steele,  and 
other  whigs  in  power ;  but  towards  the  latter 
part  of  queen  Anne's  reign,  when  the  tories 
became  triumphant,  he  deserted  his  former 
friends,  and  linked  himself  with  Swift,  Pope, 
Gay,  and  Arbuthnot.  He  afforded  Pope  some 
assistance  in  his  translation  of  Homer,  and 
wrote  the  life  prefixed  to  it ;  but  being  a  very 
bad  prose  writer,  Pope  had  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  in  correcting  it.  Being  intimate  with  all 
the  Scriblerus  tribe,  he  contributed  to  the  ' '  Ori- 
gin of  the  Sciences  ;'*  he  also  wrote  the  "  Life 
of  Zoilus,"  as  a  satire  on  Dennis  and  Theobald, 
with  whom  the  club  had  long  been  at  variance. 
He  wrote  several  excellent  papers  in  the  Spec- 
tator and  Guardian,  in  the  form  of  visions. 
By  means  of  Swift's  recommendation  to  arch- 
bishop King,  he  obtained  a  prebend  and  the 
valuable  living  of  Finglass.  On  the  death  of 
his  wife  in  1712,  to  whom  lie  was  tenderly  at- 
tached, he  fled  to  wine  for  consolation,  and 
contracted  habits  of  intemperance  which  ulti- 
mately shortened  his  life.  He  died  at  Chester 
on  bis  way  to  Ireland  in  1717,  and  was  buried 
in  Trinity  church,  without  any  monumental 
record.  A  collection  of  his  poems  was  pub- 
lished by  Pope  after  his  death.  They  are 
pleasing,  and  possess  much  fancy,  ease.spright- 


PAR 

liness,  and  melody  of  versification  ;  while  their 
sentiments  are  elegant,  and  morality  pure.  An- 
other posthumous  volume  was  published  at 
Dublin  in  1738  ;  but  these  are  by  no  means 
calculated  to  raise  his  reputation,  being  in  every 
way  inferior,  though  they  have  been  added 
with  the  Cornier  in  the  collections  of  English 
poets. — Johnson's  Life.  Life  by  Goldsmith. 
Nichols's  Poems. 

PA  RR  (  RICHARD)  a  divine,  was  the  son  of 
a  clergyman,  and  was  born  at  Fermoy  in  the 
county  of  Cork,  in  1617.  He  was  sent  to 
England  in  1635,  and  entered  as  a  servitor  of 
Exeter  college,  Oxford,  of  which  he  became 
chaplain  and  fellow.  In  1643  archbishop 
Usher  retired  to  this  college  from  the  tumult 
then  prevailing  in  the  nation.  He  observed  the 
talents  of  Mr  Parr,  and  made  him  his  chap- 
lain. He  was  instituted  to  the  living  of  Cam- 
berwell  in  Surrey,  where  he  was  much  ad- 
mired and  esteemed,  both  for  his  preaching 
and  the  benevolence  of  his  character.  At  the 
Restoration  he  was  created  DD.  and  had  the 
deanery  of  Armagh  and  an  Irish  bishopric  offer- 
ed to  him,  both  which  he  refused,  but  accepted 
a  canonry  of  Armagh.  He  died  at  Camber- 
well  in  1691.  He  was  the  author  of  a  Life  of 
Archbishop  Usher,  prefixed  to  that  prelate's 
letters,  folio,  1686,  which  is  the  most  ample 
account  we  have  of  Usher;  "  Christian  Re- 
formation," being  an  earnest  persuasion  to  the 
speedy  practice  of  it,  &c.  8vo,  1660  ;  Ser- 
mons, &rc.  &c. — Ath.  Ox.  Ly sons' s  Environs. 
Manning  and  Bray's  Surrey. 

PARR  (SAMUEL)  a  learned  divine  and 
eminent  critic,  was  the  son  of  an  apothecary  of 
Harrow  in  Middlesex,  where  he  was  born  Ja- 
nuary 15, 1747.  At  the  age  of  six  he  was  ad- 
mitted into  the  celebrated  school  of  his  native 
place,  which  he  headed  in  his  fourteenth 
year.  He  was  soon  after  called  upon,  much 
against  his  inclination,  to  assist  his  father, 
whom  he  subsequently  induced  to  seud  him  to 
Emmanuel  college,  Cambridge  ;  but  unable  to 
support  a  continuance  of  the  expense,  he  ac- 
cepted the  situation  of  an  usher  under  Dr  Sum- 
ner  at  Harrow.  In  1769  he  entered  into  dea- 
con's orders,  but  did  not  receive  those  of  priest 
until  1777.  In  1771  he  was  created  AM.  at 
Cambridge,  by  royal  mandate,  for  the  purpose 
of  qualifying  him  to  succeed  Dr  Sumner,  who 
died  the  same  year.  He  accordingly  offered 
himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  mastership  of 
Harrow  school,  but  not  succeeding,  he  gave 
up  the  situation  of  assistant,  and  opened  a 
school  at  Stanmore,  where  he  was  followed  by 
no  less  than  forty-five  of  the  scholars  from  Har- 
row. At  this  time  he  married  a  Miss  Maule- 
vrier,  a  Yorkshire  lady,  by  whom  he  had  three 
sons  and  three  daughters.  The  establishment 
at  Stanmore  ultimately  failing,  he  gave  it  up 
in  1776,  and  became  master  of  the  grammar- 
school  at  Colchester,  whence,  in  1778,  he  re- 
moved to  take  charge  of  that  of  Norwich.  In 
1780  he  was  presented  to  the  rectory  of  As- 
terly  in  Lincolnshire,  and  the  following  year 
received  the  degree  of  LL.D.  In  1783  he  ob- 
tained the  perpetual  curacy  of  Hatton  in  War- 
wickshire, where  he  put  up  his  future  residence, 


PAR 

and  was  about  the  same  time  presented  by 
bishop  Lowth  to  a  prebend  in  the  cathedral  of 
St  Paul.  In  1802  sir  Francis  Burdett,  in  ad- 
miration of  his  open  and  liberal  political  sen- 
timents, presented  him  to  the  valuable  living 
of  Graffham  in  the  county  of  Huntingdon, 
which  proved  the  extent  of  his  preferment  in 
the  church  ;  for  all  which,  notwithstanding  his 
claims  as  a  man  of  profound  learning  and  great 
intellect,  he  was  indebted  to  private  friendship 
alone.  Dr  Parr  commenced  his  career  as  an  au- 
thor in  1760,  by  the  publication  of  "  Two  Ser- 
mons on  Education;"  and  in  the  following  year, 
printed  "  A  Discourse  on  the  late  Fast," 
which,  in  consequence  of  its  advertence  to  the 
politics  of  the  inauspicious  contest  with  Ame- 
rica, excited  great  attention.  In  1787  he  as- 
sisted his  friend,  Henry  Homer,  in  u  new  edi- 
tion of  the  learned  Scotsman,  William  Belleu- 
den  (Bellendenus).  This  republication  he 
inscribed  to  Messrs.  Fox,  and  Burke,  and  lord 
North,  the  character  of  whose  oratory  he  drew 
with  uncommon  elegance,  force,  and  felicity. 
Making  use  of  the  same  opportunity  to  assail 
that  of  their  political  opponents,  who  were  in 
possession  of  power,  he  necessaiily  put  an  end 
to  all  hopes  of  preferment  from  the  side  of  go- 
vernment, on  which  account  a  subscription 
was  made  by  the  Whig  club,  which  secured 
him  an  annuity  of  300/.  per  annum.  In  1789 
he  republished  the  "  Tracts  by  VVarburton 
and  a  Warburtonian,"  to  which  he  prefixed 
some  severe  strictures  on  bishop  Hurd.  In 
1790  he  engaged  in  the  controversy  on  the 
real  authorship  of  White's  "  Bampton  Lec- 
tures," from  which  it  appeared  that  his  own 
share  in  them  was  by  no  means  inconsiderable. 
In  1791  his  residence  was  in  some  danger  of 
destruction  from  the  Birmingham  rioters,  in 
consequence  of  his  intimacy  with  Dr  Priest- 
ley, but  happily  their  gothic  and  discreditable 
barbarity  was  in  this  instance  turned  aside. 
On  this  occasion  he  published  a  forcible  and 
eloquent  tract,  entitled  "  A  Letter  from  Ire- 
nopolis  to  the  Inhabitants  of  Eleutheropolis." 
On  Easter-Tuesday,  1800,  he  preached  his 
celebrated  Spital  sermon,  in  which  he  smartly 
attacked  the  social  doctrine  of  Mr  Godwin,  in 
his  Political  Justice.  This  discourse  he  soon 
after  published,  with  a  great  number  of  notes, 
to  some  of  which  Mr  Godwin  replied,  with  no 
small  animation.  On  the  death  of  Mr  Fox  ap- 
peared his  "  Characters  of  the  late  Right 
Hon.  Charles  James  Fox,  selected  and  in  part 
written  by  Philopatris  Varvicensis  ;"  being  a 
collection  of  testimonies  in  praise  of  that  states- 
man, printed  and  illustrated  by  the  doctor  him- 
self. In  1819  he  reprinted  "  Speeches  by 
Roger  Long,  and  John  Taylor,  of  Cambridge, 
with  a  Critical  Essay  and  Memoirs  of  the  Au- 
thors ;"  and  towards  the  close  of  life  composed 
a  pamphlet,  which  did  not  appear  until  after 
his  death,  defending  bishop  Halifax  from  the 
charge  of  having  become  a  convert  to  the 
church  of  Rome,  in  his  last  sickness.  The 
death  of  this  eminent  scholar  took  place  at 
Hatton,  March  26,  1825,  in  his  seventy-ninth 
year.  Although  equalled  by  some  of  his  con 
temporaries  in  verbal  criticism,  in  curious  an 


PAR 

elegant  classical  knowledge  be  seems  to  be  en-  I 
title  to  tlie  lead  among  tbe  scholars  of  bis 
day.  It  is  possibly,  however,  to  be  regretted, 
that  he  did  not  exert  his  literary  powers  upon 
subjects  of  adequate  and  permanent  interest, 
on  which  account  his  sennous  and  tracts, 
although  written  with  great  vigour  and  ele- 
gance, will  fail  to  secure  lasting  attention.  His 
prodigious  memory  and  extent  of  research, 
rendered  him,  like  Dr  Johnson,  astonishingly 
powerful  in  conversation.  Although  possessed 
of  something  of  the  warmth  of  a  political  par- 
tizan,  Dr  Parr  was  highly  disinterested  and  in- 
dependent, and  evinced  singular  benevolence 
and  benignity  in  his  general  deportment  ;  and 
few  men  appear  to  have  been  more  venerated 
and  beloved.  Of  all  his  family,  two  daugh- 
ters alone  survived  him.  He  also  left  a  widow, 
a  lady  whom  he  married  in  a  very  advanced 
period  of  life. — Ann.  Biog, 

PARR  (THOMAS)  an  extraordinary  in- 
stance of  longevity,  was  born  in  Shropshire, 
in  1483.  He  was  a  labourer,  and  at  the  age 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty  be  married  a 
widow.  In  163.3  the  earl  of  Arundel  took  him 
to  the  court  of  Charles  1  ;  but  the  change  of 
diet  and  air  affected  his  health,  and  he  died  at 
the  age  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-two  years 
and  nine  months.  His  body  was  opened  by 
Dr  Harvey,  who  found  no  signs  of  internal 
decay.  Parr  had  a  grandson,  who  lived  to 
the  age  of  one  hundred  and  twenty. — Life  by 
Taylor  the  Water-Poet. 

PARRHASIUS,  an  ancient  celebrated 
painter,  was  a  native  of  Ephesus,  and  was 
contemporary  with  Zeuxis,  whom  he  is  said  to 
have  excelled.  According  to  Pliny,  he  was 
the  first  who  gave  symmetry  and  just  pro- 
portions in  his  art  ;  and,  as  an  instance  of 
his  power  in  expressing  the  complications  of 
character  ana  sentiment,  he  is  said  to  have 
painted  the  genius  of  the  Athenian  state, 
fickle  and  inconstant.,  mild  and  passionate,  cle- 
ment and  cruel,  just  and  unjust,  proud  and  j 
humble.  His  other  celebrated  pieces  were,  a 
portrait  of  Theseus  ;  a  groupe,  of  Meleager, 
Hercules,  Perseus  and  ^Eneas,  with  Cas- 
tor and  Pollux.  He  became  singularly  vain 
and  arrogant,  and  affected  a  ridiculous  splen- 
dour of  dress.  Xenophon  makes  Parrhasius 
an  interlocutor  with  Socrates,  in  a  dialogue  on 
the  pictorial  art ;  and  a  work  of  his  furnished 
the  subject  of  an  elegant  epigram  in  the  Greek 
Anthology. —  Plinii  Hist,  Nat.  lib.xxxv.  Carlo 
Dati  Vite  de  Pittori  Ant. 

PARRHASIUS  (AuLus  JANUS)  the  as- 
sumed name  of  Gianpaolo  Parisio,  an  eminent 
philologist,  born  in  1470,  at  Cosenza  in  Na- 
ples. He  taught  at  Milan  with  much  reputa- 
tion, and  was  much  admired  for  his  graceful 
delivery.  He  went  to  Rome  during  the  pon- 
tificate of  Alexander  VI,  but  was  obliged  to 
fly  to  Milan,  in  order  to  avoid  the  conse- 
quences of  his  friendship  with  cardinals  Ber- 
naniini  Cajetan  and  Silius  Savello,  who  fell 
under  the  displeasure  of  the  pope.  He  next 
repaired  to  Vicenza,  where  he  was  elected  to 
the  chair  of  eloquence;  but  the  states  of  the 
Venetians  being  laid  waste  by  the  troops  of 


PA  R 

the  league  of  Cambray,  he  withdrew  to  his 
native  country,  where  he  laid  the  foundation 
of  the  Cosentine  academy.  He  was  invited  by 
I.eo  X  to  be  professor  of  eloquence  at  Home, 
but  being  a  martyr  to  the  gout,  he  soon  re- 
turned to  Cosenza,  where  he  died  in  1533. 
His  works  were  published  by  Henry  Stephens 
in  1.567,  8vo,  and  consist  of  letters  and  trea- 
tises on  classical  subjects  ;  the  principal  is  en- 
titled, "  Liber  de  rebus  per  Epistolam  Qua;- 
sitis." — Gen.  Diet.  Mureri.  Saiii  Onom. 

PARRY  (CALEB  HILLIER)  MD.  HIS.  an 
ingenious  physician  and  natural  historian  of 
Bath,  father  of  captain  Parry,  the  commander 
of  the  Polar  expedition.  Besides  numerous 
professional  publications  on  the  rise  and  p'o- 
gress  of  various  disorders,  Dr  Parry  is  advan- 
tageously known  as  the  author  of  "  A  Treatise 
on  Wool,"  containing  the  result  of  a  series  of 
experiments  on  this  staple  commodity  of  Great 
Britain,  to  which  his  attention  was  originally 
directed  by  the  circumstance  of  king  George 
the  Third  presenting  two  Merino  rams,  of  the 
purest  breed,  to  the  Bath  and  West  of  Eng- 
land society,  then  in  its  infancy,  with  a  view 
to  ascertain  the  practicability  of  producing  in 
this  country  wool  of  equal  fineness  with  the 
best  of  that  of  Spain.  But  his  principal  work 
is,  the  "  Elements  of  Pathology,"  printed  in 
18l6,  an  original  and  valuable  treatise.  He 
died  March  9,  1822,  having  been  deprived  of 
the  use  of  his  faculties  by  a  sudden  attack  of 
palsy  in  1816. — Ann.  Biog. 

PARRY  (J.  H.)  an  ingenious  antiquary, 
who  combined  great  literary  attainments  with 
highly  polished  manners.  He  was  the  son  of 
a  Welsh  clergyman,  rector  of  Llanferris,  in 
Denbighshire,  and  was  born  at  Mold  in  1787. 
After  receiving  a  university  education,  he  be- 
came a  member  of  the  Temple  in  1807,  and 
having  served  the  usual  number  of  terms,  was 
called  to  the  bar  in  1810.  His  professional  la- 
bours had  already  procured  him  considerable 
forensic  reputation,  as  well  as  a  fair  share  of 
emolument,  when  his  life  was  cut  short  untime- 
ly, in  consequence  of  a  blow  which  he  received 
in  the  street.  As  a  writer,  he  is  known  by  his 
edition  of  the  "  Cambro- Briton  ;"  "The  Cam- 
brian Plutarch  ;"  "  The  Transactions  of  the 
Royal  Cambrian  Society  ;"  and  other  works  il- 
lustrative of  ancient  British  history,  and 
the  antiquities  of  the  Welsh  principality. 
His  death  took  place  in  1825. — Ann.  Biog. 

PARSONS  (JAMES)  an  eminent  physician 
and  antiquary,  born  at  Barnstaple  in  Devon- 
shire, in  1705.  He  received  his  early  educa- 
tion in  Ireland,  whither  his  father  had  "re- 
moved on  obtaining  the  appointment  of  bar- 
rack-master ;  but  his  medical  studies  were 
prosecuted  at  Paris,  under  Astruc,  Lecat.  and 
other  celebrated  professional  men.  He  after- 
wards took  his  degree  at  the  university  of 
Rheims,  and  returning  to  London  in  17,36,  he 
assisted  Dr  James  Douglas  in  his  anatomical 
works,  and  also  commenced  medical  practice. 
In  1740  he  was  chosen  a  fellow  of  the  Royal 
Society,  and  in  1751  admitted  a  licentiate  of 
the  college  of  Physicians.  He  had  previously 
obtained  the  situation  of  medical  attendant  to 


P  A  R 

tlie  public  infirmary  in  St  Giles's  parish  ;  but 
he  devoted  himself  chiefly  to  the  obstetrical 
branch  of  his  profession.  He  was  a  fellow  of 
the  Antiquarian  society,  and  was  acquainted 
with  Dr  Stukeley,  bishop  Lyttelton,  Henry 
Baker,  Dr  Oowin  Knight,  as  well  as  with  se- 
veral men  of  science  abroad,  with  whom  he 
kept  up  an  extensive  correspondence.  In 
1769  ill  health  induced  him  to  retire  from  bu- 
siness, and  he  went  to  Bristol  with  a  design  to 
seek  a  warmer  climate  ;  but  relinquishing  his 
purpose,  he  returned  to  the  metropolis,  where 
lie  died  April  4th,  1770.  Dr  Parsons  was 
the  author  of  a  tract  on  the  analogy  between 
the  propagation  of  animals  and  that  of  vege- 
tables ;  and  other  works  on  anatomy  and  phy- 
siology, as  well  as  several  papers  in  the  Phi- 
losophical Transactions  ;  but  his  most  remarka- 
ble production  is  his  "  Remains  of  Japhet, 
being  historical  Inquiries  into  the  Affinities 
and  Origin  of  the  European  Languages,"  4to, 
a  work  displaying  extensive  learning  and  much 
ingenuity. — Hutcliinson's  Biog.  Med.  Nichols's 
Lit.  Anec. 

PARSONS  (PHILIP)  an  English  clergyman 
and  miscellaneous  writer,  who  was  a  native  of 
Dedham  in  Essex,  and  was  educated  at  Cam- 
bridge, where  he  proceeded  MA.  in  1776.  He 
had  previously  obtained  the  living  of  Wye  in 
Kent,  with  the  mastership  of  a  free  grammar- 
school  ;  and  in  1767  he  was  presented  to  the 
rectory  of  Eastwell,  to  which  was  subsequently 
added  that  of  Suave,  both  in  the  same  county. 
He  published,  in  1774,  "  Astronomic  Doubts, 
or  an  Inquiry  into  the  Nature  of  that  Supply 
of  Light  and  Heat,  which  the  superior  Planets 
may  be  supposed  to  enjoy,"  8vo  ;  "  Dialogue;, 
of  the  Dead  with  the  Living,"  1778,  8vo  ; 
"  Six  Letters  on  the  Establishment  of  Sunday 
Schools,"  1786,  8vo ;  and  some  poetical 
pieces,  besides  a  work  containing  an  account 
of  monuments  and  painted  glass  in  the  differ- 
ent churches  in  the  county  of  Kent,  4to.  Mr 
Parsons  died  at  Wye,  in  1812,  aged  eighty. — 
Gent.  Mag. 

PARSONS  (WILLIAM)  an  English  comic 
actor  of  great  eminence.      He   was   born  Fe- 
bruary 29th,  1736,    and   was  a  native  of  Eng- 
land, but  he  made  his  first  appearance  on  the 
stage   at  Edinburgh   in    1758,   and  soon  esta- 
blished a  high  reputation  as  a  representative  of 
old  men.    In  1763  he  came  out  at  Drury-lane, 
in   the  character  of  Filch,   in  the  "  Beggar's 
Opera,"    and  was  much  admired  in  that   as 
well  as  oilier   characters  in  low  comedy.     His 
line  of  acting  not  at  all  interfering  with  that  of 
the  manager,  Garrick,   he  became  a  favourite 
with  him  as  well  as  with  the  public,  and  was 
much  benefited   by  his  instructions.     Having 
afterwards  joined   Colman's   company,   at  the 
Haymarket,  he  was  for  many  seasons  the  chief 
support  of  that  theatre.     His  death  took  place 
February   3d,  1795.     In  the  conception  and 
performance  of  such  parts    as    Foresight,  in 
"  Love  for  Love  ;"  Corbaccio,  in  "  Volpone  ;" 
and  sir  Fretful  Plagiary,  in  the  "  Critic,"  his 
excellence  was  almost  unrivalled  ;  and  his  ap- 
pearance never  failed  to   extort  the  genuine 
applause  of  universal  laughter.     To  his  thea- 
Bioo.  DrcT.— VOL.  II. 


PAR 

trical  talents,  he  added  considerable  skill  in 
the  art  of  painting,  particularly  fruit  pieces. — • 
Thesp.  Diet.  Jones's  /?.  Diet. 

PARSONS  or  PERSON  (ROBERT)  a 
famous  English  Jesuit,  born  in  1546,  at  Nether 
Stowey  in  Somersetshire,  where  his  father  is 
said  to  have  been  a  blacksmith.  He  however 
obtained  a  university  education,  having  been 
a  student  at  Baliol  college,  Oxford,  where  he 
took  his  degrees  in  arts,  and  obtained  a  fellow- 
ship. According  to  Fuller  he  was  expelled 
from  his  post  with  disgrace,  having  been 
charged  with  embezzlement  of  the  college- 
money.  He  then  went  to  Rome,  and  entered 
into  the  order  of  the  Jesuits,  and  in  1579  he 
returned  to  England  as  superior  of  the  Catho- 
lic missionaries.  Two  years  after  he  was 
obliged  to  leave  the  kingdom  hastily,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  political  intrigues,  when  he  again 
took  refuge  at  Rome,  where  he  was  placed  at 
the  head  of  the  English  college.  His  politi- 

O  o  I 

cal  sagacity  and  active  disposition  induced 
Philip  II  to  employ  him  in  some  preliminary 
measures,  at  the  time  of  bis  projected  invasion 
of  England  by  the  Spanisli  armada;  and,  after 
the  failure  of  that  scheme,  Parsons  rendered 
himself  formidable  to  the  government  of  queeii 
Elizabeth,  by  his  attempts  to  promote  insur- 
rection, and  procure  the  assassination  of  that 
princess.  He  seems,  however,  to  have  car- 
ried on  his  plots  with  a  degree  of  caution  that 
argued  a  prudent  regard  for  his  own  safety, 
and  while  Garnet  and  others  of  his  brethren, 
became  the  victims  of  their  zeal,  he  kept  him- 
self secure  from  danger,  and  died  in  1610,  at 
tome,  where  he  had  for  twenty-three  years 
^resided  over  the  English  college.  He  was 
he  author  of  a  "  Conference  about  the  Suc- 
cession to  the  Crown  of  England,"  which  he 
lublislied  under  the  name  of  Doleman,  with  a 
dedication  to  the  earl  of  Essex  ;  besides  other 
works. — Fuller's  Worthies.  Bing.  Brit. 

PARUTA  (Fn.ippo)  a  learned  antiquary, 
was  a  nobleman  of  Palermo,  and  secretary  to 
the  senate.  He  wrote  several  works,  but  the 
one  by  which  he  is  principally  known,  is 
"  Sicilia  descritta  con  Medaglie,"  published 
at  Palermo  in  1612.  It  was  enlarged  by  Leo- 
nardo Agostini,  and  printed  at  Rome  in  1649, 
and  at  Lyons  in  1697.  Havercamp  also  pub- 
lished a  Latin  edition  of  it,  3  vols.  folio,  1723, 
which  forms  part  of  the  Italian  Antiquities  of 
Gramus  and  Burmann.  Paruta  died  in  1629. 
— Landi  Hist.  Lit.  de  I'ltalie. 

PARUTA  (PAUL)  a  noble  Venetian,  was 
born  in  1540,  and  succeeded  Contarini,  as  his- 
toriographer of  the  republic,  in  1579.  He  be- 
came governor  of  Brescia,  and  finally  was 
chosen  a  procurator  of  St  Mark.  His  death 
took  place  in  1598.  His  works  are,  "  Delia 
Perfezione  della  Vita  Politica,"  1582,  4to  ; 
"  Discorsi  Politic!,"  both  of  which  are  much 
esteemed  for  their  depth  and  sagacity  ;  "  A 
History  of  Venice,  from  1513  to  1551,  with 
the  Addition  of  the  War  of  Cyprus  in  1570- 
72,"  4to,  1605.  It  is  written  in  a  grave,  dig- 
nified style  ;  and  for  its  exactness  and  impar- 
tiality, it  is  considered  one  of  the  best  works 
of  the  class  in  the  language.  A  new  edition 


PAS 

of  it  was  given  by  Apostolo  Zeno  in  1703. 
The  integrity  and  zeal  of  Paolo  Partita  were 
so  esteemed,  that  lie  was  called  the  Cato  of 
Venice. — Chaufejiie.  Nicernn.  Tiraboschi. 

PASCAL  (BLAISF.)  a  very  distinguished 
•  French  mathematician  and  philosopher,  was 
born  atClermont  in  Auvergne,  in  1623.  His 
father,  who  was  president  of  the  court  of 
Aids,  in  his  province,  and  a  man  of  consi- 
derable learning,  relinquished  his  office,  when 
Blaise,  his  only  son,  had  reached  his  eighth 
year,  in  order  to  settle  at  Paris,  and  superin- 
tend his  education.  From  his  infancy  he 
showed  marks  of  an  extraordinary  capacity, 
and  such  an  aptitude  for  the  mathematics,  that 
Ins  father,  who  feared  that  it  would  impede 
his  acquirement  of  the  learned  languages,  hav- 
ing precluded  the  study  of  geometry,  he 
reached  by  himself,  and  without  assistance 
from  books  of  any  kind,  to  a  proposition  tanta- 
mount to  the  thirty-second  of  the  first  book  of 
Euclid.  He  was  then  allowed  to  freely  indulge 
his  genius  in  mathematical  pursuits,  and  at 
the  age  of  sixteen,  composed  a  "  Treatise  on 
Conic  Sections,"  which  attracted  the  admira- 
tion even  of  Des  Cartes.  In  his  nineteenth 
year,  he  formed  an  admirable  machine,  fur- 
nishing an  easy  and  expeditious  method  of 
making  all  sorts  of  arithmetical  calculations, 
with  the  eye  and  hand  only.  In  his  twenty- 
foi'rth  year  he  distinguished  himself  by  various 
ingenious  experiments,  confirmatory  of  the 
theory  of  Torricelli,  in  respect  to  the  weight 
of  the  atmosphere,  by  which  the  reputation  of 
his  scientific  sagacity  was  extended  through- 
out Europe.  He  also  solved  the  problem 
proposed  by  father  Mersenne,  which  was  to 
determine  the  curve  described  in  the  air  by 
the  nail  of  a  coach  wheel  in  motion,  now 
commonly  known  by  the  name  of  the  cycloid. 
He  also  drew  up  a  table  of  numbers,  which  he 
called  an  "  Arithmetical  Triangle  ;"  the  no- 
tion of  which,  however,  is  shown  by  Dr  Hut- 
ton  to  have  been  previously  entertained  by 
Cardan,  Stifelius,  and  others.  Unhappily,  about 
this  time,  M.  Pascal,  induced  by  the  perusal 
of  the  books  of  some  of  the  ascetic  divines, 
who  make  virtue  consist  in  an  abstinence  from 
pleasure  of  every  kind,  and  eternal  self- mor- 
tification, gave  himself  up  to  the  most  super- 
stitious practices.  In  the  fulfilment  of  this 
abasing  theory,  he  not  only  adopted  a  rigid 
system  of  prayer  and  extreme  mortifica- 
tion, but  relinquished  science  itself,  as  a 
source  of  enjoyment.  He  wore  an  iron  gir- 
dle next  his  skin,  notwithstanding  the  ex- 
treme delicacy  of  his  constitution,  and  was  in 
the  habit  of  striking  it  with  his  elbow,  to  in- 
crease the  pain  when  he  deemed  a  vain  or  sin- 
ful thought  had  involuntarily  occurred  to  him. 
But  Nature  cannot  be  wholly  controlled  : 
however  abstracted  from  the  world,  he  could 
not  be  entirely  indifferent  to  all  that  was  pas- 
sing in  it,  and  especially  interested  himself  in 
the  contests  between  the  Jesuits  and  Janse- 
nists.  Taking  the  side  of  the  latter,  he  wrote 
his  celebrated  "  Provincial  Letters,''  published 
in  I6:i6,  under  the  name  of  Louis  Mont  alto, 
which  attack  upon  the  detestable  casuistry 


PAS 

of  some  of  the  most  distinguished  leaders  oi 
that  dangerous  body,  has,  in  the  estimation  of 
Voltaire,  rendered  him  the  first  of  French  sa- 
tirists. Of  all  the  books  published  against 
the  Jesuits,  none  did  them  more  injury,  or  in- 
flicted greater  mortification,  than  these  cele- 
brated letters,  which  were  translated  into  all 
the  European  languages,  and  which,  while 
they  interest  more  serious  readers  by  their  soli- 
dity, and  by  their  wit  and  pleasantry ,  prove  at- 
tractive to  those  of  every  description.  Pascal 
was  only  thirty  years  of  age  when  he  pro- 
duced this  celebrated  work  ;  yet  he  had  be- 
come exceedingly  infirm,  and  conceiving  his 
end  to  be  approaching,  he  redoubled  his  aus- 
terities and  mortifications,  until  he  became  af- 
flicted with  the  most  melancholy  hypochon- 
dria. He  imagined  that  he  saw  a  deep  abyss 
on  the  side  of  his  chair,  that  he  was  favoured 
with  a  kind  of  vision,  and  exlnbitrd  other 
marks  of  a  disordered  imagination.  After 
languishing  in  this  state  of  occasional  nervous 
imbecility  for  some  years,  he  died  at  Paris, 
August  19,  1662,  in  the  thirty-ninth  year  of 
his  age.  Towards  the  close  of  his  life,  lie  oc- 
cupied himself  wholly  in  pious  and  moral  re- 
flections, which  he  wrote  down  on  slips  of 
paper  as  they  occurred  to  him.  These  have 
been  published  in  thirty -two  chapters,  under 
the.  title  of  "  Pensees  de  M.  Pascal,  sur  la 
Religion,  et  sur  quelques  autres  Sti|e-ts  ' 
which  collection  bears  the  marks  at  once  of 
his  genius  and  his  infirmities.  The  works  of 
Pascal  were  collected  together  and  published 
at  Paris  in  1779,  under  the  superiutendance 
of  the  abbe  Bossut,  who  ranks  him  as  a  man 
who  inherited  from  Mature  all  the  powers  of 
genius,  and  who  was  at  the  same  time  a  geo- 
metrician of  the  first  rank,  a  profound  rea- 
soner,  and  a  sublime  and  elegant  writer,  an 
opinion  which  had  previously  been  pronoun- 
ced in  still  stronger  terms  by  Bayle. — La  Vie 
de  Pascal,  par  Madame  Perier.  Hutton's  Math. 
Diet.  Bayle. 

PASCHAL  (CHARLES)  an  eminent  writer 
on  ethics,  antiquities,  and  jurisprudence,  in 
the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century.  He 
was  a  native  of  France,  where  he  was  a  coun- 
sellor of  state,  and  was  the  intimate  friend  of 
Guy  du  Faur,  sieur  de  Pihrac,  whose  life  he 
wrote.  He  likewise  published  an  elaborate 
work,  in  ten  books,  "  De  Corona,"  Paris, 
1610,  4to,  and  Lugd.  Bat.  1671,  8vo  ;  "  Vir- 
tutum  et  Vitiorum  Characteres,"  Paris,  1615, 
8vo ;  and  a  treatise,  "  De  Legato,"  1623, 
12mo.  His  death  took  place  in  1625,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-nine. — StoUii  liitmd.  in  Hist. 
Lh. 

PASCHASIUS  RATBERTUS,  a  celebrated 
Benedictine  of  the  ninth  century,  was  born 
at  Soissons,  and  was  carefully  educated  by  the 
monks  of  Notre  Dame.  He  took  the  religi- 
ous habit  in  the  abbey  of  Corbey,  of  which 
he  became  abbot.  About  the  year  831  he 
wrote  a  treatise  "  On  the  Body  and  Blood  of 
Christ,"  in  which  he  maintained,  that  after 
the  conseciaiion  of  the  bread  and  wine  in  the 
Lord's  Supper,  nothing  remained  of  these 
symbols  but  the  outward  figure,  under  which 


P  AS 

the  identical  body  and  blood  of  Christ  were 
really  present.  This  doctrine  then  being  quite 
new,  caused  a  violent  controversy,  in  which 
most  of  the  learned  men  of  the  time  took 
part,  and  which  finally  induced  Paschasius  to 
resign  his  abbey,  and  he  died  soon  after  in 
865.  His  other  works  are,  "  Commentaries 
on  St  Matthew,  on  Psalm  XLIV,  and  on  the 
Lamentations  of  Jtreniiah  ;"  "  The  Life  of 


St    Adelard 


treatises     "  De    Partu    Vir- 


ginis  : 


De    Corpore   Christi,"    &c.     His 


works  were  collected  and  published  bv  father 
Sirmond,  in  1618. — Cave.  Dupin. 

PASOR  (GEORGE)  a  learned  divine  and 
critic  of  the  seventeenth  century.  He  was 
professor  of  divinity  and  Hebrew  literature  at 
the  university  of  Franeker,  whither  he  had  re- 
moved from  Herborn,  in  Germany.  He  was 
the  author  of  "  Lexicon  Graeco  Latinum  in 
Novum  Testamentum,"  which  has  gone 
through  many  editions,  and  other  philological 
works.  He  died  in  1637. — PASOR  (MAT- 
THIAS) son  of  the  preceding,  was  first  profes- 
sor of  mathematics  at  Heidelberg,  whence  he 
removed  to  England,  and  in  1626  settled  at 
Oxford,  and  gave  lectures  on  the  Eastern  lan- 
guages and  mathematics.  In  1629  he  went 

D  O 

to  Groningen,  where  he  obtained  the  profes- 
sorship of  ethics,  and  he  afterwards  occupied 
the  chair  of  theology  and  the  Hebrew  lan- 
guage. He  died  in  1658,  aged  fifty-nine, 
leaving  some  miscellaneous  tracts,  written  in 
Latin. — Bui/If.  Wuod.  Biog.  Univ. 

PASQUIER  (STEPHEN)  a  celebrated  law- 
yer and  man  of  letters,  was  born  at  Paris  in 
1528,  and  being  admitted  as  an  advocate,  be- 
came one  of  the  most  eloquent  pleaders  of  his 
time.  He  particularly  distinguished  himself 
against  the  Jesuits,  and  was  chiefly  instrumen- 
tal in  causing  their  exclusion  from  the  univer- 
sity. He  was  rewarded  by  Henry  II]  with 
the  post  of  advocate-general  of  the  chamber 
of  accompts.  He  died  in  1615.  He  wrote  a 
great  deal  both  in  verse  and  prose,  of  which 
his  Latin  poems  are  much  the  best.  His  most 
important  work  is  his  "  Recherches  sur 
France,"  of  which  Itf  published  seven  books, 
and  three  more  were  printed  after  his  death. 
It  contains  much  interesting  information,  and 
lively  observation,  but  not  a  great  deal  of  judg- 


He  also  wrote 
"  Letters  ;" 


"  Catechisme  des  Je- 
Exhortation      aux 


ment. 
suites 

Princes,  Sec.  pour  obvier  aux  Seditions  qui  sem- 
blant  nous  menacer  pour  le  Fact  de  la  Reli- 
gion."— His  son,  NICOLAS,  a  master  of  re- 
quests, left  a  volume  of  entertaining  "  Let- 
ters."—  Mnreri.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

PASQUINI  (BERNARDO)  a  native  o 
Rome,  born  in  1640,  considered  one  of  the 
most  eminent  dramatic  composers  of  his  time 
He  was  contemporary  withCorelli,  and  playec 
in  the  same  orchestra  with  him  and  Gaetani 
He  is  also  celebrated  as  beint;  the  musical  in 
structor  of  Gasparini  aud  Duratite.  Of  hi 
works,  the  only  two  now  much  known  are  his 
"  Dov'  e  Amore  e  Pieta,"an  opera  performed 
at  the  opening-  of  the  Cupranica  Theatre  in 
1679  ;  anJ  an  "  Allegorical  Drama,"  per- 
formed at  Rome  in  1686,  in  compliment  to 


PAS 

Christina  of  Sweden,  on  her  visiting  that  capi- 
tal.— Biog.  Diet,  of  Miis. 

PASS,  or  PASSE  (CRISPIN    de)   an   emi- 
nent engraver  anil  man  of  letters,  was  born  at 
Utrecht  about  1560,  and  is  said  to  have  been 
the  pupil   of  Theodore  Cuenhert.     How  long 
he  lived  is  unknown,  but  his  fame  was  highest 
from  1610  to  1643,  in  which  year  he  published 
at  Amsterdam    his    famous   drawing-book,  in 
Italian,    French,  High  and  Low   Dutch,  with 
forty-eight  plates.      His  next  work  was,  "  In- 
struction   du   Hoi    en  1'Exercise  de  monter  a 
Cheval,    par  Messire    Antoine  de  Pluvinel," 
.domed  with    some   excellent   cuts.     He  also 
was  at  the  entire  expense  of  "  Holland's  He- 
oloogia,"in  which  he  employed  the  best  Fle- 
mish engravers.     The  works  of  Crispin  Passe 
very    numerous,   among  which   were   his 
Virgil,  Ovid,  and  Homer,  and  his  "  Hortus 
rloridus,"  extremely  scarce  and  valuable.  He 
s  supposed   to  have  come   to  England,  but  at 
,-hat  period  is  unknown.     His  plates,  though 
occasionally    stiff  and   formal,  possess  much 
merit    and   originality.     His   two  sons,  CRIS- 
and  WILLIAM,  his  daughter,  MAGDALHN, 
and   his   grandson,    SIMON,   all  distinguished 
hemselves,  and  gained  considerable   fame  in 
he  art,  and  William  and  Simon  passed  some 
ime  in  England,  but  the   particulars  of  their 
ives  are  not  known. —  Walpole.     Strutt.    Bry- 
an's Diet,  of  Painters  and  Engravers. 

PASSERAT  (JOHN)  a  native  of  Troyes  in 
France,  who  studied  jurisprudence  under 
James  Cujas,  and  became  professor  of  rhetoric 
at  the  Royal  College  at  Paris.  He  wrote  com 
mentaries  on  the  poems  of  Catullus,  Tibullus, 
and  Propertius  ;  orations  ;  Latin  and  French 
poetry  ;  a  tract "  De  Litterarum  inter  se  cog- 
natione  ;"  and  other  works.  He  had  also  a 
share  in  the  famous  "  Satire  Menippee,"  di- 
rected against  the  League.  Passerat  died  in 
1602,  aged  sixty-seven. — Diet.  Hist. 

PASSER1  (JOHN  BAPTIST)  a  painter 
and  poet,  was  the  disciple  of  Domeni- 
chino,  but  did  not  distinguish  himself  in 
either  art.  He  wrote  an  interesting  work, 
entitled,  "  Lives  of  the  Painters,  Sculp- 
tors, and  Architects  who  flourished  at  Rome 
in  his  own  Time."  It  is  written  in  a  very 
impartial  spirit,  and  was  published  at  Rome  in 
1772.  Passeri  died  in  1679. — His  nephew, 
JOSEPH  PASSERI,  also  a  painter,  was  born  at 
Rome  in  1654,  and  was  a  scholar  of  Carlo 
Maratti,  under  whom  he  made  great  progress. 
One  of  his  most  esteemed  works  is  at  Pesaro, 
and  represents  St  Jerome  meditating  on  the 
last  judgment.  He  died  in  1714. — Pilkington, 
D'Argenville. 

PASSEKl  (JOHN  BAPTIST)  an  eminent  anti- 
quary, was  born  at  Gubio  in  169-t,  and  oa 
the  death  of  his  wife  in  1758  he  entered  into 
the  ecclesiastical  order,  and  obtained  the  ofhce 
of  vicar-general  of  Pesaro.  He  died  in  1780, 
in  consequence  of  a  fall  from  his  carriage. 


fictiles 
on   the 

History  of  the  Fossils   of  the   District  of  Pe- 
saro :"  "  Dissertations  on  ancient  Monuments 


His   principal    works  are,   "  Lucernae 
Musa'i   Passerii ;"    and    "  Discourse 


in  the  Museum   Clernentinum 


Pictuhe 


PAT 

Etruscorum  in  Vasrulis  iinmiini  c"ll< •< 't:i>  Dis- 
eertationibiis  illui-tr.'ia-  ,"  the  second  and  third 
volumes  of  the  "  Thesaurus  Gemmaruiu  As- 
triferarum  Antiquarum  ;"  and  the  fourth 
volume  of  the  "  Thesaurus  veterum  Diptycho- 
rum  consulahum  ;"  with  many  other  erudite 
treatises.  In  1780  was  printed  at  Rome,  the 
first  volume  of  an  extensive  work  entitled, 
"  Thesaurus  Gemmarum  Selectissimarum."- 
Koiiv.  Diet.  Hist.  6'uiii  Onoin. 

PASS1ONEI  (DOMINIC)   an  Italian  eccle- 
siastic and  man  of  letters,  born  at  Fossom- 
brone,  in  the  territory  of  Urbino,  in  1682.  lie 
pursued   his  studies   in   the  Clementine   col- 
lege at  Home,  after  which  he   went  to  Paris 
with  the  papal  nuncio,  cardinal  Gualterio.      Jn 
1708  he  was  employed  as  a  secret  agent  of  the 
court   of  Home   in  Holland,  and  subsequently 
in  Switzerland   and  other  countries.     He  was 
appointed  titular  archbishop  of  Kphesus,  by  In- 
nocent XIII ;  was  made  a  cardinal,  and  secre- 
tary of  the   briefs  by   Clement   XII  ;   and  at 
length    he    became    keeper    of    the    Vatican 
library.     He  died  in  1761.     He  published  an 
account  of  his  negotiations  in  Switzerland,  un- 
der the  title  of  "  Acta  Legationis  Helveticae," 
folio  ;  and  he  displayed  his  regard  for  litera- 
ture by  forming  a  library   at  the  Clementine 
college,  and  by  the  encouragement  he  gave  to 
the  collation  of  MSS.  of  the  Old  Testament  in 
the  Vatican  library,  for  the  use  of  Dr.  Kenni- 
cott,  in  the  publication  of  his  Hebrew  Bible. 
• — BENEDICT   PASSIONET,  nephew  of  the   car- 
dinal, published  a  collection  of  ancient  inscrip- 
tions,   with    annotations,   1763,   folio. — Biag. 
Univ.     Diet.  Hist. 

PATEHCULUS  (CAIUS  VELLEIUS)  an  an- 
cient Roman  historian,  was  born  in  the  year 
of  Rome  73r>,  of  a  family  in  Campania,  which 
had  borne  various  important  offices  in  the 
state.  He  served  under  Tiberius  in  Germany, 
as  commander  of  the  cavalry,  and  in  the  first 
year  of  that  emperor's  reign  was  nominated 
pretor.  Nothing  further  is  known  of  him  ;  but 
the  praises  he  bestowed  upon  Sejauus  have  led 
to  a  supposition  that  lie  w  as  a  partizan  of  that 
minister,  and  involved  in  his  ruin.  His  death 
is  placed  by  Dodwell  in  the  year  of  Rome 
784,  in  his  fiftieth  year.  Paterculus  composed 
an  abridgment  of  Roman  history,  in  ten  books, 
of  which  the  greater  part  has  perished,  and 
unfortunately  that  which  remains  is  incurably 
corrupted,  only  one  manuscript  having  been 
discovered.  His  style  is  pure  and  elegant,  and 
he  excelled  in  a  brief  and  forcible  manner  of 
drawing  characters  ;  but  his  connexions  with 
Tiberius  and  Sejanus  rendered  him  an  adulator 
of  those  detestable  persons,  and  warped  his 
representations  of  the  actions  and  characters  of 
the  republican  party.  The  most  esteemed  edi- 
tions of  this  classic,  are  those  of  Burrmann, 
Leycleu,  1719;  of  Ruhnkenius,  Leyden,  1779, 
and  of  Krausius,  Leipsic,  1800. —  Vassii  Hint. 
Lat.  Diltdin's  Edit,  of  Harwood's  Classics. 

PATERSON  (SAMUEL)  a  writer  on  bib- 
liography and  miscellaneous  literature.  He 
was  born  in  London  in  1728,  and  havinu  been 

'  O 

deprived  of  his  parents  when  young,  and  con- 
bi^ned  to  the  care  of  an  unfaithful   guardian, 


P  AT 

!><•  w;,s  s.  nf  In  France,  where  lie  had  an  oppor- 
tunity for  gaining  a  general  acquaintance  with 
the  value  of  books  ;  and  on  his  return  to  Eng- 
land he  engaged  in  trade  as  a  bookseller  in  the 
metropolis.  Not  being  successful  in  this  pur- 
suit, he  became  an  auctioneer  ;  when  he  turned 
his  previous  knowledge  to  good  account,  and 
obtained  great  credit  for  his  skill  ia  forming 
catalogues  of  books  and  manuscripts,  and  ar- 
ranging them  for  sale.  He  also  produced 
some  light  and  amusing  works  of  his  own 
composition,  including  "  A  Journey  through 
part  of  the  Netherlands  in  1766,  by  Coriat, 
Junior,"  1769,  3  vols.  12mo  ;  and  "  Joiner- 
iaria,  or  the  Book  of  Scraps'"  1772,  2  vols. 
8vo.  His  principal  work  as  a  bibliographer  is 
his  "  Bibliotheca  universalis  selecta  ;  a  Cata- 
logue of  Books,  ancient  and  modern,  in  various 
Languages  and  Faculties,  and  upon  almost 
every  Branch  of  Science  and  Polite  Litera- 
ture," 1786,  8vo.  Mr  Paterson  died  March 
29,  1802. —  Nichols's  Lit.  Artec.  Dibdin's  Bib. 
Dec. 

PAT1N  (Guy)  a  French  physician  and  let- 
ter-writer, born  at  Houdan,  near  Beauvais  in 
Picardy,  in  1602.  He  studied  at  the  college 
of  Beauvais,  and  afterwards  at  Paris,  and  was 
designed  for  the  church.  His  inclination  led 
him  to  prefer  the  medical  profession,  and  hav- 
ing applied  himself  closely  to  the  requisite  stu- 
dies, he  was  admitted  a  physician  at  Paris  ia 
1627.  He  became  very  eminent  as  a  prac- 
titioner ;  and  at  length  he  was  made  prof,  ssor 
of  medicine  at  the  Royal  College.  He  died  in 
1672.  He  was  the  author  of  several  nodical 
tracts  of  little  importance  ;  but  his  "  Let- 
tres,"  published  posthumously,  attracted  great 
notice.  They  contain  the  current  wit  of  his 
time,  interspersed  with  satirical  observations 
and  amusing  anecdotes,  carelessly  thrown 
together  in  a  manner  that  indicates  their  not 
having  been  designed  for  the  press  by  their 
author.  The  first  volume  was  published  at 
Geneva,  in  1685,  and  its  unexpected  success 
occasioned  the  speedy  appearance  of  two  more 
volumes,  and  the  three  were  reprinted  at  Paris. 
In  1718  an  addition  to  this  correspondence 
was  made  by  the  publication  of  "  Nouvelles 
Lettres,  de  feu  M.  Gui  Patin,  tirees  du  Ca- 
binet du  M.  Charles  Spon,"  Amsterdam, 
2  vols.  12mo.  All  the  letters  were  written 
between  1642  and  1672. — PATIN  (CiiARtts) 
second  son  of  the  foregoing,  a  physician  and 
medallist.  He  was  born  at  Paris  in  1633,  and 
he  made  such  an  astonishing  progress  in  Latin 
and  Greek  literature,  that  he  was  admitted  to 
the  degree  of  MA.  at  the  age  of  fourteen.  He 
then  studied  the  civil  law,  aud  was  made  a 
counsellor  of  the  Parliament  of  Paris  ;  but  he 
relinquished  that  profession  for  medicine,  in 
which  he  took  the  degree  of  doctor,  and  deli- 
vered lectures  on  the  practice  of  physic.  He 
also  acquired  considerable  reputation  as  a  phy- 
sician ;  but  in  1663  he  was  obliged  to  leave 
France,  to  avoid  the  resentment  of  some  per- 
sons in  power,  whom  he  had  offended.  He 
then  travelled  in  Germany,  Holland,  England, 
Switzerland,  and  Italy,  after  which  he  settled 
at  Basil  ;  but  the  war  between  France  and 


P  AT 

Germany  rendering  his  situation  disagree- 
able, he  removed  to  Padua  in  Italy,  where 
lie  was  made  professor  of  medicine  in 
1676.  Three  years  after,  the  state  of  Venice 
bestowed  on  him  the  order  of  St  Mark.  In 
1681  he  received  an  intimation  that  he  might 
return  to  France  ;  but  he  was  tempted  to  re- 
main at  Padua,  by  an  appointment  to  the  pro- 
fessorship of  surgery,  with  an  increased  salary. 
He  died  of  a  polypus  of  the  heart,  October  2, 
1693.  Among  his  works  are,  "  Introduction 
a  1'Histoire  par  la  Connoissance  des  Me- 
dailles,"  1665,  12mo  ;  "  Familire  Romanic, 
ex  antiquis  numismatibus,"  folio ;  "  Impera- 
torum  Numismata,"  folio  ;  "  Thesaurus  Nu- 
mismatuin,"  4to  ;  "  Relations  Historiques  et 
curieuses  de  diverses  Voyages  en  Allemagne, 
Angle'erre,  Hollande,  &c."  12mo;  "  Lycceum 
Patavinum,  sive  Icones  et  Vitas  Professorum 
'  Patav.  ann.  1682  pub.  docentium,"  4to.  The 
wife  and  daughters  of  Patin  were  learned  la- 
dies, and  members  of  the  academy  of  the  Rico- 
vrati  at  Padua,  of  which  he  was  president. — 
Hutchinsou's  Bing,  Med, 

PATKUL  (JOHN  REINHOLD,  count)  a  Li- 
vonian,  who  distinguished  himself  by  his  op- 
position to  the  dominion  of  the  Swedes  over 
his  native  country  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  The  schemes  of  the 
insurgents  being  frustrated,  Patkul  left  Livo- 
nia, and  was  employed  as  political  agent  in 
Saxony,  by  Peter,  the  czar  of  Russia.  Charles 
XII  of  Sweden  having  obliged  the  Saxon  go- 
vernment to  surrender  him  a  prisoner,  he  was 
condemned,  and  executed  on  the  charge  of 
treason  in  1706. — Bing.  Univ. 

PATRICK  (SIMON)  au  English  prelate, 
was  born  in  1626,  at  Gainsborough  in  Lin- 
colnshire, in  which  town  his  father  carried  on 
the  business  of  a  mercer.  After  being  well 
grounded  in  grammatical  learning,  he  was 
sent  in  1644  as  a  sizar  to  Queen's  college, 
Cambridge,  of  which  he  became  a  fellow  hi 
1647.  In  1651  he  obtained  the  degree  of 
MA.  and  took  orders  from  Ur  Hall,  the  ejected 
bishop  of  Norwich  ;  and  in  1658  he  graduated 
BU.  and  became  vicar  of  Battersea.  In  1661 
he  was  elected,  by  a  majority  of  the  fellows, 
master  of  Queen's  college,  in  opposition  to  a 
royal  mandate  ;  but  the  affair  being  brought 
before  the  king  in  council,  he  was  ejected. 
He  was  presented  to  the  living  of  Si  Paul's, 
Covent-garden,  in  1662;  and  endeared  him- 
self much  to  his  parishioners,  by  remaining 
with  them  during  the  plague.  In  1666,  hav- 
ing received  some  slight  at  Cambridge,  he 
took  his  degree  of  DD.  at  Oxford,  and  be- 
came chaplain  to  the  king.  About  the  same 
time  he  composed  a  treatise  intended  to  ex- 
pose the.  character  and  manner  of  preaching 
of  the  nonconformist  ministers,  entitled,  "A 
Friendly  Debate  between  a  Conformist  and 
Koncomformist,"  which  he  subsequently  with 
much  candour  allowed  to  be  too  indiscrimi- 
natingly  severe.  He  followed  this  publi- 
cation with  his  "  Christian  Sacrifice,  shewing 
the  successful  end  and  manner  of  receiving 
the  Holy  Communion  ;"  "  The  Devout  Chris- 
tian ;"  "  Advice  to  a  Friend  ;"  "  Jesus  and 


P  A  T 

the  Resurrection  Justified  ;"  "  The  Glorious 
Ephiphany  ;"  and  various  other  pious  tracts. 
In  1672  he  was  made  prebendary  of  Westmin- 
ster, and  in  1679  dean  of  Peterborough,  where 
he  completed  the  "  History  of  the  Church  of 
Peterborough,"  which  had  been  begun  by  Si- 
mon Gunton.  During  the  reign  of  James  II, 
he  was  one  of  the  ablest  defenders  of  the  Pro- 
testant religion  ;  and  in  1686  took  his  part  in  a 
conference  with  two  Romish  priests,  in  the 
presence  of  that  king  and  his  brother-in-law, 
the  earl  of  Rochester,  whom  he  wished  in  vain 
to  make  a  Catholic.  After  the  Revolution  he 
was  advanced  to  the  see  of  Chichester,  whence 
in  1691  he  was  translated  to  that  of  Ely,  where 
he  died  in  1707,  in  high  reputation  fur  learn- 
ing, talent,  and  piety.  Besides  the  works 
already  alluded  to,  bishop  Patrick  wrote 
"  Commentaries"  on  the  historical  parts  of  the 
Old  Testament,  and  "  Paraphrases"  on  the 
books  of  Job,  Psalms,  Proverbs,  &c.  which 
are  deemed  the  most  valuable  of  the  whole. 
After  having  been  frequently  reprinted,  they 
were  published  in  2  vols.  folio,  and  with  Lowth 
on  the  Prophets,  Arnald  on  the  Apocrypha, 
and  Whitby  on  the  New  Testament,  have 
been  recently  published  in  4to,  as  a  complete 
commentary  on  all  the  sacred  books. — Biog, 
Brit. 

PATRICK  (RICHARD)  an  English  divine 
and  philological  writer.  He  published  "  A 
Chart  of  the  Ten  Numerals,  in  Two  Hundred 
Tongues,  with  a  Descriptive  Essay,"  1812, 
8vo  ;  "  The  Death  of  Prince  Bagration,"  a 
poem,  1813,  8vo  ;  and  a  sermon  ov<  the  state 
of  manners  in  an  English  sea- port,  besides  a 
variety  of  articles  in  the  Classical  Journal. 
He  was  vicar  of  Sculcoates,  near  Hull,  in 
Yorkshire,  and  chaplain  to  the  dowager  mar- 
chioness Townshend.  His  death  took  place 
in  February,  1815,  at  the  age  of  forty- five. — 
Biog.  Univ. 

PATRICK  (Dr  SAMUEL)  a  learned  and 
industrious  critic,  who  belonged  to  Eton  col- 
lege in  the  former  part  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. He  published  a  great  number  of  useful 
works  relating  to  classical  literature,  including 
"  Plauti  Comedise  quatuor,  cum  Nods  Ope- 
rarii,"  Lond.  1724,  8vo  ;  "  Hederici  Lexicon 
manuale  Graecum,"  1727,  4to  ;  "  Clavis  Ho- 
merica,  seu  Lexicon  Vocabulorum  Omnium 
quae  Continentur  in  Iliade  et  potissima  parte 
Odyssere."  1727,  8vo,  often  republished  ; 
"  Cellarii  Geographia  Antiqua,  recognita 
castigata  et  aucta,"  1730,  8vo.  Dr  Patrick 
died  in  1748. — Biog.  Univ. 

PATRIN  (EUGENE  Louis  MEI.CHIOR)  a 
mineralogist,  distinguished  for  his  interesting 
discoveries  in  geology.  He  \\as  born  at 
Lyons,  in  France,  in  1742,  and  was  destined 
by  his  parents  for  the  b:ir,  but  he  preferred 
the  study  of  natural  history  and  physical  sci- 
ence, and  he  was  permitted  to  follow  his  in- 
clination. After  having  acquired  a  knowledge 
of  chemistry  and  natural  philosophy,  he  tra- 
velled in  the  north  of  Europe,  and  then  in 
Germany  and  Poland  ;  and  in  1786  he  under- 
took a  journey  to  Siberia,  to  investigate  the 
structure  of  the  Ural  mountain?.  He  returne* 


PAT 

the  following-  year  to  Petersburg!),  with  a 
quantity  of  mineral  specimens  which  he  had 
collected  ;  and  after  an  absence  of  ten  years, 
he  revisited  his  native  country,  and  settled  at 
Paris.  He  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Na- 
tional Convention  for  the  city  of  Lyons  ;  but 
he  took  little  interest  in  the  cabals  which  agi- 
tated that  assembly  in  which  he  voted  for  the 
banishment  of  Louis  XVI.  He  was  after- 
wards proscribed,  and  obliged  to  conceal  him- 
self during  the  reign  of  terror.  On  the  crea- 
tion of  the  school  of  Mines,  he  presented  his 
museum  of  minerals  to  that  institution,  of 
which  lie  was  made  librarian,  and  he  assisted 
in  the  Journal  published  by  the  professors.  He 
died  in  181.).  His  principal  work  is,  "  His- 
toire  Naturelle  des  Miueraux,"  5  vols.  form- 
ing a  sequel  to  the  works  of  Buffon.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  institute,  the  academy  of 
Petersburg)!,  &c.  ;  and  a  contributor  to  seve- 
ral periodical  works  of  science. — Bii>o-.  Univ. 

PATRIX  (PETER)  a  French  minor  poet, 
was  born  at  Caen  in  1585.  He  was  designed 
for  the  law,  but  addicted  himself  to  poetry, 
and  at  the  age  of  forty  attached  himself  to  the 
court  of  Gaston,  duke  of  Orleans.  He  lived 
to  the  great  age  of  eighty  eight,  and  becoming 
religious  as  he  advanced  in  life,  endeavoured 
to  suppress  the  licentious  productions  of  his 
youth.  Of  his  works  theie  are  extant,  a  col- 
lection of  verses,  entitled,  "  La  Misericorde 
de  Dieu,"  1660,  4to.  ;  "  Plaintes  des  Con- 
sonnes  ;"  and  "  Miscellaneous  Poems."  The 
piece  by  Patrix  which  is  most  known,  how- 
ever, was  written  a  few  days  before  his  death, 
and  is  called  "The  Dream."  Although  of  a 
oenous  cast,  it  has  singularly  enough  found  its 
way  into  most  of  the  English  jest-books,  in  a 
translation,  commencing,  "  1  dreamt,  tbat  bu- 
ried in  my  fellow  clay,"  owing  to  which  odd 
appropriation,  the  English  verses  are  probably 
much  better  known  than  the  French  original,  j 
— Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

PA1RIZ!,  or  PATRICK)  (FRANCISCO) 
an  Italian  philosopher  and  philological  writer 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  lie  was  a  native  of 
Istria,  and  studied  at  the  university  of  Padua. 
After  travelling  for  sometime,  he  became  pro- 
fessor oi  philosophy  at  Ferrara,  whence  here- 
moved  to  Rome,  and  died  in  that  city  in  1597, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-seven.  He  was  a  professed 
admirer  of  the  Platonic  philosophy,  and  pub- 
lished a  curious  work, entitled,  "  Oracula  Zo- 
roastris,  llermetis  Trismegisti,  et  aliorum,  ex 
Scriptis  Platonicorum  collecta,  Gr:  et  Lat. 
preen'xa  Dissertatione  Histonca,"  Ferrar,  1591. 
He  also  wrote  "A  parallel  between  the  An- 
cients and  Moderns  as  to  the  Military  Art  ;" 
besides  other  works  on  rhetoric,  poetry,  geo- 
metry, &c. — Teissier  Etnges  des  H.  S. 

PATRU  (OLIVER)  a  distinguished  French 
pleader  and  man  of  letters,  was  born  at  Pans 
in  I(i04.  After  visiting  Rome  he  returned  to 
Paris,  and  applied  himself  earnestly  to  the 
study  of  the  law.  He  was  admitted  a  mem- 
ber of  the  French  academy  in  1640,  and  on 
his  entrance  he  pronounced  an  oration  of 
thanks  which  gave  so  much  satisfaction  .that 
it  became  thenceforth  a  rule  for  every  new 


P  AU 

member  to  deliver  a  similar  harangue.  Upon 
every  point  relating  to  language,  Pa'.ru  waa 
completely  informed  ;  and  V  augelas  acknow- 
ledges his  assistance  in  Ids  remarks  on  the 
French  language.  JJoileau  and  Racine  sub- 
mitted their  works  to  his  judgment,  and  though 
he  was  geni  rally  severe  they  seem  to  have 
profited  by  it.  In  spite  of  his  talents,  Patru 
fell  into  a  state  of  indigence,  and  being 
obliged  to  sell  Ins  library,  Boileau  purchased  it, 
and  generou:-ly  insisted  upon  his  retaining  it 
during  his  life.  His  opinions  were  sceptical. 
;  and  being  visited  by  liossuet  during  his  last 
illness,  he  refused  10  talk  on  the  subject.  On 
his  death- bed  he  received  a  visit  from  Colbert, 
who  brought  him,  but  too  late,  a  donation  of 
five  hundred  crowns  from  the  king.  He  died 
in  1681.  He  is  principally  known  by  his 
"  Plaidoyers,"  which  are  free  from  the  bar- 
barisms which  formerly  pervaded  the  bar.  He 
also  wrote  orations,  letters,  and  lives  of  some 
of  his  friends.  The  best  edition  of  his  works 
is  that  of  1732,  2  vols.  4to. — Moreri.  Kouv. 
Diet.  Hist.  Niceron. 

PATTISON  (WILLIAM)  a  poet,  was  born 
at  Peasmarsh  in  Sussex,  in  1706,  and  was  the 
son  of  a  farmer,  but  his  father  not  being  able 
to  give  him  an  education  suitable  to  his  lite- 
rary propensities,  his  landlord,  the  earl  of 
Thanet  took  him  under  his  protection,  and 
placed  him  at  Appleby  school  in  Westmore- 
land. He  thence  proceeded  to  Sidney  college, 
Cambridge,  but  having  a  violent  quarrel  with 
his  tutor,  to  avoid  threatened  expulsion  he  took 
his  name  out  of  the  college- book,  and  came  to 
London.  He  plunged  into  all  the  pleasuresof 
the  metropolis,  and  was  in  a  short  time  re- 
duced to  the  deepest  distress,  until  Curl!,  the 
bookseller,  finding  some  of  his  compositions 
well  received,  took  him  into  his  house,  where 
he  died  of  the  small  pox  in  1727,  in  his 
twenty-first  year.  His  poems  were  published 
in  two  volumes,  octavo,  in  17^8. — Lij'e  pre- 
Jued  to  his  Poems. 

PAUNCTON  (ALEXIS  JOHN  PETER)  a 
French  mathematician,  born  in  1736.  1  rom 
the  poverty  of  his  parents,  his  education  was 
neglected  till  he  was  eighteen  years  old,  when 
he  received  some  instructions  fiom  a  charita- 
ble ecclet-iastic,  and  he  afterwards  studied  at 
iNantz,  where  the  exact  sciences  principally 
attracted  his  attention.  He  then  went  to 
Pans,  and  became  a  mathematical  teacher.  In 
1768  he  published,  "  Tiieone  de  la  Vis  d'Ar- 
chimede  ;"  and  in  1780  appeared  his  "  Me- 
trologie,  ou  Traite  des  Measures,  Poiils  et 
Monnaies  des  Aiiciens  Peuples  et  des  Mo- 
dernes,"  4to.  the  most  valuable  work  of  the 
kind  extant.  Paucton  obtained  the  chair  of 
mathemaucsat  Strasburgh,  which  he  wasoblig- 
ed  to  quit  in  consequence  of  the  Aust.iau 
invasion.  He  then  settled  at  Dole,  till  1796, 
when  he  removed  to  Paris  on  being  appointed 
calculator  to  the  "  Connaissance  des  Temps  ;" 
and  he  was  also  nominated  an  associate- corres- 
pondent of  the  Institute.  He  died  June  15, 
1798. —  Biog.  Univ. 

PAUL  OF  BURGOS,  a  learned  Jew,  born 
in   that  tity  in  1353.     He  embraced  Christia.- 


PA  U 

nity,  and  became  successively  archdeacon  of 
Trevigno,  bishop  of  Carthagena,  of  Burgos, 
and  finally  patriarch  of  Aquileia.  h<-  died  in 
1455.  He  has  left  additions  to  Nicolas  de 
Lyra's  "  Postills  ;"  a  treatise,  entitled  "  Scru- 
ti'nium  Scripturarum  ;"  with  other  learned 
works.  His  three  sons  were  also  Christians. 
Al[)honzo  was  bishop  of  Burgos,  and  wrote 
an  abridgment  of  the  Spanish  history.  Gon- 
salvo,  the  second,  was  bishop  of  Placentia  ; 
and  Alvarez,  the  third,  published  a  history  of 
John  II,  king  of  Castille. — Mireri. 

PAUL  THE  DEACON,  or  PAULUS 
DIACONUS,  also  called  WARN  EFRIDUS, 
and  PAULUS  MONACHUS,  was  born  at 
Friuli,  in  the  eighth  century,  and  was  educated 
in  the  court  of  the  Lombard  kings  at  Pavia. 
On  the  capture  of  Desiderius,  the  last  king  of 
the  Lombards  by  Charlemagne,  he  retired  to 
the  monastery  of  Monte  Casino,  where  he 
took  the  habit.  He  wrote  a  "  History  of  the 
Lombards  ;"  and  as  he  was  an  eye-witness  of 
many  of  the  events  he  mentions,  his  statements 
are  held  to  be  generally  correct.  It  was 
printed  at  Hamburgh  in  1611,  and  is  also  con- 
tained in  Muratori's  Rerum  Italic.  Scriptores. 
— Dupin.  Moreri. 

PAUL  OF  SAMOSATA,  so  named  from 
the  place  of  his  birth,  flourished  in  the  third 
century,  aim  was  one  of  the  first  who  en- 
tertained the  opinions  known  by  the  name  of 
Unitarian  or  Socinian.  He  was  chosen  bishop 
of  Antioch  in  260,  but  venturing  to  broach  his 
new  doctrine,  he  was  deposed  ID  $270.  He  re- 
fused to  submit  to  his  sentence,  and  was  sup- 
ported by  Zenobia,  queen  of  Paln.yra  ;  but  on 
the  capture  of  that  monarch  by  the  emperor 
AurJian,  Paul  was  expelled,  and  what  be- 
came of  him  afterwards  is  unknown.  His 
great  wealth  pioved  that  his  character  as  a 
pastor  was  not  unimpeachable,  since  it  was 
neither  derived  from  his  ancestors,  nor  ac- 
quired by  bis  own  industry.  His  followers 
were  called  Paulmists  for  a  long  time  after. — 
Lurdnet  Milne'-'s  Church  Hist.  Gibbon. 

PA'TL,  (St  VINCENT  de)  an  ecclesiastic 
of  the  church  of  Rome,  was  born  in  1576. 
In  a  voyage  which  he  made  from  Marseilles 
to  Narbonne,  the  ship  was  captured  ly  the 
Turks,  and  he  remained  a  considerable  time 
in  slavery  under  three  masters,  the  last  of 
whom  he  converted.  Returning  ti  France, 
Louis  XIII  made  him  abbot  of  St  Leonard  Je 
Chaulme,  and  he  had  also  the  living  of  Clichy. 
In  1609  he  became  tutor  to  the  family  of 
Emanuel  de  Gondy,  but  on  the  death  of  ma 
dame  de  Gondy,  he  retired  to  the  college  d 
Bons  Enfans,  whence  he  was  removed  f  the 
direction  of  the  house  of  St  Lazare  His  life 
was  a  continued  series  of  good  and  ciaritable 
works.  Of  the  benevolent  institutions  of 
France,  the  following  are  principally  indebted 
to  him  for  their  establishment :  the  hospitals 
de  Biceire,  de  la  Salpetriere,  de  la  Pitie,  those 
of  Marseilles  for  galley  slaves,  of  St  Reine  for 
pilgrims,  ofle  Saint  Nom  de  Jesus  for  old  men, 
of  the  Charitable  Virgins  for  the  sick  poor, 
an  hospital  for  foundlings,  &c.  During  ten 
years,  he,  Vincent,  presided  in  the  council  of 


P  A  U 

conscience  under  Anre  of  Austria,  and  he  suf- 
fered none  but  the  most  worthy  to  he  presented 
to  benefices.  He  died  in  IGbO,  ana  was 
canonized  by  Clement  XII  in  1737.  —  Diet. 
Hisi  Mvsheim. 

PAUL  OF  VENICE  (father)  a  celebrated 
ecclesiastic  and  historian  ot  the  six'eenth  cen- 
tury, whose  propel  name  wa&  Pietro  Sarpi. 
He  was  born  at,  Venice,  Ajgust  1-1,  1.352,  and 
was  the  son  ol  Fra.icisco  Sarpi,  a  merchant  ol 
that  city.  He  entered  young  into  the  religi- 
ous order  of  the  Senates,  ana1  nn  his  twentieth 
year  he  was  appointed  chaplain  to  the  grand 
duke  of  Mantua,  and  made  lecturer  on  the 
canon  law  by  the  bishop  of  that  city.  Af'ei 
two  years,  he  returned  to  Venice,  and  having 
received  the  degree  of  doctor  ot  theology,  he 
became  provincial  of  his  ordei,  for  the  regu- 
lation of  which  he  composed  a  new  body  of 
statutes.  He  was  afterwards  raised  to  fhe  of- 
fice of  procurator-general  of  the  Servites,  and 
being  under  the  necessity  of  residing,  for  a 
while,  at  Rome,  he  consigned  his  private  af- 
fairs at  Venice  to  the  care  of  a  friend,  who, 
having  abused  his  confidence,  endeavoured  to 
persuade  him  to  remain  at  Rome  for  the  sake 
of  obtaining  promotion  in  the  church.  Fa- 
ther Paul,  in  reply  to  this  advice,  observed, 
that  he  was  so  fai  from  coveting  'he  dignities 
of  the  court  of  Home,  that  he  held  them  in 
abomination.  His  treacherous  correspondent 
betrayed  his  sentiments,  and  brought  on  him 
the  imputation  of  being  a  heretic,  while  his 
liberal  inteicourse  with  eminent  protestants 
contributed  to  increase  the  prejudices  against 
him  in  the  breasts  of  the  zealots  of  popery.  In 
the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  a 
dispute  took  place  between  the  pope  and  the 
Venetian  government  on  the  subject  of  eccle- 
siastical immunities,  which  was  carried  to  such 
extremities,  that  Ins  holiness  at  length  laid  the 
state  under  an  interdict.  Father  Paul,  on  this 
occasion,  showed  himself  a  strenuous  advo- 
cate for  the  cause  of  liberty,  and  by  his  writ- 
ings against  the  encroachments  of  the  papal 
government,  he  gave  the  highest  offence  to  the 
court  of  Rome,  whither  he  was  summoned, 
on  pain  of  excommunication,  to  answer  for  his 
conduct.  The  Venetians  were  about  to  throw 
off  their  spiritual  allegiance,  when  the  affair 
was  compromised,  and  a  reconciliation  took 
place  Father  Paul  had,  however,  acted  too 
prominent  a  part  in  this  dangerous  rebellion 
against  ecclesiastical  despotism,  to  be  allowed 
to  escape  unpunished  ;  and  to  the  vengeance 
j  of  his  political  enemies  may  be  attributed  an 
Attempt  which  was  made  to  assassinate  him  in 
1 160".  He  received  many  dangerous  wounds 
|  from  a  band  of  ruffians,  and  probably  owed 
I  hib  recovery  to  the  skill  and  attention  of  the 
celebrated  surgeon  Fabriciusab  Aquapendente, 
who  was  rewarded  by  the  senate  of  Venice 
with  the  order  of  St  Mark.  F'ather  Paul  em- 
ployed the  latter  part  of  his  life  in  writing  the 
history  of  the  council  of  Trent,  in  winch  lie  has 
developed  the  intrigues  connected  with  the 
transactions  of  that  famous  assembly,  with  a 
degree  of  boldness  and  veracity,  which  renders 
the  work  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  iui- 


P  A  U 

portant  productions  of  tlie  class  to  which  it 
belongs.  The  literary  and  scientific  labours  of 
father  Paul  were  extended  to  various  branches 
of  knowledge  ;  he  was  not  only  deeply  skilled 
in  the  canon  law,  but  he  was  also  distinguish- 
ed for  his  acquaintance  with  anatomy.  Me  ap- 
pears to  have  discovered  the  valves  of  the  veins 
which  contribute  to  facilitate  the  circulation  01 
the  blood,  though  those  writers  are  mistaken 
who  represent  him  as  having  forestalled  our 
countryman,  Dr  I  larvey,  in  the  discovery  which 
has  immortalized  his  name.  The  death  of  this 
great  man  took  place  January  14,  1622  ;  and 
lie  is  said  to  have  expired  after  uttering  the 
words,  "  Esto  perpetua,"  which  have  been 
construed  as  a  prayer  for  the  prosperity  of  Ve- 
nice. The  history  of  the  council  of  Trent  wa 
first  published  in  London  in  1619,  having  been 
transmitted  to  this  country  through  the  medium 
of  the  English  resident  at  Venice,  sir  Henry 
AVotton,  a  personal  friend  of  the  author.  It 
lias  been  translated  into  English  by  sir  Adam 
Newton  and  sir  Nathaniel  Brent ;  and  a  more 
recent  translation  was  projected  by  Dr  Johnson 
in  the  early  part  of  his  literary  career,  but  never 
executed.  He  proposed  to  have  added  the 
notes  annexed  from  the  French  version  of  father 
Courayer,  published  in  17:36,  2  vols.  folio.  The 
works  of  father  Paul  were  printed  at  Verona, 
1761,  8vols.4to;  and  at  Naples,  1790, 24  vols. 
8vo. —  Bayle.  Moreri,  Biog.  Univ. 

PAULINdeStB A  RTHELEMI( JOHN  PHI- 
LIP WERDIN,  or)  a  barefooted  Carmelite,  and 
missionary   to   the  East  Indies,  born  in  Lower 
Austria,  in  1748.     His  parents  were  peasants, 
and  at  the  age  of  twenty  he  took  the  religious 
habit,  and  having  studied   theology  and  philo- 
sophy at  Prague,   he  entered  into   the    semi- 
nary of  the  missions  of  his  order  at  Rome,  and 
learnt  the  Oriental  tongues  at   the  college  of 
St  Pancratius.     In   1744  he  embarked  for  the 
coast  of  Malabar,   and  after  passing  fourteen 
years  in  India,  he  was  honoured  with  the  title 
of  vicar-general,  and   at  length  with   that  of 
apostolic  visitor.     He  was  then  recalled  to  Eu- 
rope to  give  an  account  of  the  missions  in  In- 
dostan,   and    to  correct  the   catechisms,   and 
other  elementary  works  printed  at  Rome,  for 
the   use  of    the  missionaries.        He  removed 
from   Rome  to   Vienna  in    1798,    when    the 
French  invaded  Italy  ;  and   he  was  secretary 
to  the  congregation  of  the  Propaganda,  at  the 
dispersion   of  that  society.      He   returned  to 
Rome  in  1800,  and  pope  Pius  VII.  appointed 
him  counsellor  of  the  congregation  of  the  In- 
dex, and  inspector  of  studies  at  the  Urban  col- 
lege of  the  Propaganda.      lie  died  January  7, 
1806.     He   wrote   an   account  of  bis  travels, 
translated  into  French,  and  published  at  Paris, 
under  the  title  of  "  Voyage  aux  Indes  Orien- 
tales,"   1808,   3  vols.   8vo  ;    and   he  was  also 
the  author  of  several  works  relative  to  the  lan- 
guages of  India,  and  the  state  of  Christianity 
in  that  country,  of  which  an  account  is  given 
in  the  annexed  authority. —  Biog.  Un'u\ 

PU'LINUS,  an  ecclesiastical  writer,  de- 
scended from  an  illustrious  Roman  family, was 
born  at  Bourdeauv  i;i  3r>3.  Afttr  filling  some 
considerable  posts  in  he  i.'inpin.',  he  married  a 


r  A  u 

Spanish  lady,  who  converted  him,  and  lie  was 
ordained  a  prie.st.  He  settled  at  Nola,  of 
which  he  became  bishop  in  409.  He  died  in 
431.  His  works  consist  of  poems  and  letters, 
written  with  much  elegance  and  strength  ; 
they  were  published  at  Paris  in  l.)16,  and  at 
Antwerp  in  1622.  Paulinus  appears  to  have 
corresponded  with  all  the  great  men  of  his 
time,  by  whom  he  was  much  esteemed  and 
caressed,  being  of  a  most  amiable  and  liberal 
disposition. — Dupin.  J\liLner,  Saxii  Unum. 

PAULINUS,  patriarch  of  Aquileia  in  the 
eighth  century,  was  horn  at  Friuli  in  726. 
He  is  honoured  by  the  Catholics  with  the  title 
of  saint,  on  account  of  his  zealous  defence  of 
the  orthodox  doctrines  of  the  trinity,  on  which 
he  published  several  treatises.  He  was  high 
in  favour  with  the  emperor  Charlemagne, 
who  gave  him  many  preferments,  and  finally 
made  him  patriarch  of  Aquileia.  He  died  in 
804,  and  a  complete  edition  of  his  works  x/as 
published  at  Venice  in  1737,  by  John  Francis 
Madrisi,  a  priest  of  the  congregation  of  the 
Oratory. —  Dupin.  Caie.  Militer. 

PAULLI  (SIMON)  a  Danish  physician  and 
naturalist,   born  in  1603.     He  was  the  son  of 
Henry  Paulli,  physician  to  the  queen  dowager 
of  Denmark  ;  and   after  having  studied  in  the 
universities  of  Germany,  he  went  to  Paris,  and 
returning  to  Wittemberg,  he  took  his  degrees 
in  1630.     Two  years  after   he  was  appointed 
to  the  medical  chair  at  Rostock,  and  in  1639 
he  was  invited  to  Copenhagen  to  become  pro- 
fessor of  anatomy  at  the  college  of  Fiuck.    He 
afterwards  became    first    physician    to    Fre- 
derick III.  of  Denmark  ;  and  he  died  at  Co- 
penhagen in  1680.     He  was  the  author  of  a 
treatise  on  the  properties  of  plants  used  in  me- 
Jicine,    Rostock,    1639,  4to,  of  which  an  im- 
proved edition  was  published   at  Frankfort  in 
1708  ;   "  Icones  Flora  Danicas,   cum  explica- 
tionibus,"  Copenhagen,    1647,   4to  ;    "  Com- 
mentarius  de  abusu  Tabaci  et   Herbre  There," 
1661,  4to,   several    times  reprinted;    besides 
other  works. — SIMON  PAULLI,  a  son  of  the  pre- 
ceding,   relinquished   the   medical  profession, 
and  settled   as  a  printer  at  Strasburgh,  where 
he  published  several  works  on  geography,  and 
improved  editions  of  some  of  the   writings  of 
his  father.     lie  also  produced  "  Historia  Lit- 
teraria  sive  dispositio  librorum  omnium  facul- 
tatum  ac  artium  secundum  materiam,"    1671, 
8vo,  which,  notwithstanding  its  imposing  title, 
is  only  a  catalogue  of  the  books  he  kept  for 
sale. — Niceron.  Bing.  Univ. — OLLIGER  PAUL- 
LI,    another  son  of  the   elder  Simon,    distin- 
guished himself  by  his  fanatical   publications. 
He  was   bred  to  commerce,   and  having  been 
appointed  secretary  to  the  Indian  company,  he 
became  one  of  the  richest  merchants  in   Den- 
mark.    In  the  midst  of  his  prosperous  specu- 
lations he  became  deranged,   and  after  setting 
up  for  a  prophet,  and  committing  many  extra- 
vagances, he  was   made  a  bankrupt,  and  quit- 
ting his  family,  he  went  to  Paris,  and  proposed 
a  plan  for  the  conquest  of  Judea,  and  the  re- 
suil  liiisr  of  Jerusalem.     He  was  at  length  im- 
prisoned at  Amsterdam  for  publishing  a  bouh, 
in    which   he   ridiculed    Christianity,  and  <m- 


P  A  U 

nounced  a  project  for  establishing  a  new  reli- 
gion on  its  ruins.  After  experiencing  various 
adventures,  he  died  in  obscurity,  at  Copenha- 
gen, in  1715.  He  published  "  The  Dove  of 
Noah,  or  Good  News  from  Canaan,"  Amster- 
dam, 1696  ;  "  The  Triumph  of  the  Stone  cut 
without  Hands,"  and  other  books  with  equally 
strange  titles. — Adelung's  History  of  Human 
Fotii/,  vol.  iv. 

PAULMIER  sieur  de  GRENTEMESNIL 
(JACQUES  le)  a  miscellaneous  writer,  born  at 
Caen  in  Normandy,  in  1587.  He  received  a 
classical  education  ;  but  on  leaving  college,  he 
relinquished  the  study  of  literature,  and  served 
for  several  years  in  the  army.  At  length  he 
retired  to  Caen,  and  at  the  age  of  forty-five 
resumed  his  studies,  and  as  Huet  informs  us, 


P  A  V 

expression  of  his  opinions,  offended  tt.e  stall- 
holder's government,  he  was  removed  from  his 
situation  in  1787,  when  he  retired  to  France. 
In  1795  he  presided  at  the  first  assembly  of 
the  provisional  representatives  of  Holland  ;  was 
a  member  of  the  naval  committee,  negociator 
of  the  treaty  of  peace  witli  France,  and  deputy 
from  the  province  of  Holland  at  the  delibera- 
tions which  related  to  the  convocation  of  a 
constituent  assembly.  He  died  March  17tli, 
1796.  Paulus  was  the  author  of  a  "  Com- 
mentary on  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,"  1775, 
3  vols.  8vo  ,  a  "  Memoir  on  the  Equality  of 
Mankind,"  which  passed  through  several  edi- 
tions ;  besides  other  works. — Biog.  Univ. 
Bii.g.  Noni.  des  Contemp. 

PAUSANIUS,   a  Greek  geographer  of  the 


wrote  a  number  of  works  in  prose  and  verse,  I  second   century,  supposed  to  have  been  a  so- 
iii    tlie  Frciw  li     Italian     ftnanijli     Turin    nnri  '  phist  or  rhetorician,  and  a  native   of  Caesaria 

.n  Cappadocia.  According  to  Philostratus,  he 
studied  under  Herodes  Atticus,  and  after- 
wards resided  at  Rome,  though  he  held  an 
office  at  Athens.  He  wrote  a  valuable  de- 
scription of  Greece,  still  extant,  besides  other 
works,  which  are  lost.  Among  the  best  edi- 
tions of  the  "  Descriptio  GrKciffi,"  are  those 
of  Kuhnius,  Leipsic,  1696,  folio  ;  and  of  Fa- 
cius,  Leip.  1794-97,  4  vols.  8vo.  There  is  a 
French  translation  by  Clavier,  and  one  in  Eng- 
lish by  Taylor,  1797,  3  vols.  8vo. —  Fossil  Hist. 
Gr<cc.  Biog.  Univ. 

PAUW  (CORNELIUS  de)  a  German  canon, 
was  born  at  Amsterdam  in  1739,  and  died  in 
1799,  at  Xantem,  near  Aix-la-Chapelle.  He 
was  uncle  to  Anacharsis  Clootz,  who  figured 
at  the  French  Revolution,  and  his  opinions 
were  in  some  respects  as  singular.  His  prin- 
cipal works  are,  "  Recherches  philosophiques 
sur  les  Americains,  les  Egyptiens,  et  les  Chi- 
nois,"  7  vols.  1768  ;  and  "  Recherches  philo- 
sophiques sur  les  Grecs,"  2  vols.  8vo,  1787. 
He  has  much  learning  and  ingenuity;  his  style 
is  agreeable,  but  full  of  paradoxes,  and  of 
those  free  opinions  once  so  much  in  vogue  in 
France,  and  which  greatly  recommended  him 
to  Frederick  the  Great  of  Prussia. — Nonv. 
Diet.  Hist. 

PEACHAM  (HENRY)  an  ingenious  writei 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  a  native  of  North 
Mims,  Herts.  Little  is  known  of  his  private 
history,  farther  than  that  he  was  a  graduate  of 
Trinity  college,  Cambridge,  and  that  a  portion 
of  his  life  was  passed  in  Italy,  in  the  study  of 
the  fine  arts,  of  which  he  was  a  passionate  ad- 
mirer. He  was  the  author  of  "  The  Valley  of 
Variety  ;"  "  The  Gentleman  s  Exercise, "  4to  ; 
"  The  Worth  of  a  Penny  ;'*  "  Minerva  Bri- 
tannica,"  4to  ;  "  Thalia's  Banquet ;"  and 
other  tracts  ;  but  the  work  by  which  lie  is 
principally  known  is»  his  "  Complete  Gentle- 
man," which  has  been  repeatedly  reprinted, 
and  though  now  obsolete,  enjoyed  at  one 
period  a  great  share  of  public  favour  The 
time  of  his  decease  is  supposed  to  be  about 
the  year  1610. —  Biog.  Brit. 

PEACOCK  (REGINALD)  whose  name  is 
also  written  Pecock,  bishop  of  Chichester,  n 
learned  prelate  of  the  fifteenth  century,  by 
birth  a  Welchman,  born  in  1390.  lie  re- 


the French,  Italian,  Spanish,  Latin,  and 
Greek  languages.  His  most  important  produc- 
tions are,  "  Observations  on  the  ancient 
Greek  and  Roman  Authors  ;"  and  a  "  De- 
scription of  ancient  Greece  ;"  both  written  in 
Latin.  He  died  in  1670. — JULIAN  LE  PAUL- 
MIER, the  father  of  the  former,  studied  medi- 
cine at  Paris,  and  having  taken  the  degree  of 
doctor,  he  became  one  of  the  most  eminent 
physicians  of  his  time.  He  published  several 
works  relating  to  his  profession  ;  and  died  at 
Caen  in  1588,  aged  sixty-eight. — Huet  Orig. 
de  Cue ii.  Bing.  Univ. 

PAULUS  ^EGINETA,  a  Greek  physi- 
cian, a  native  of  the  island  of  /Egina,  sup- 
posed by  Le  Clerc  to  have  lived  in  the  fourth 
century,  though  others,  with  greater  probabi- 
'itv,  place  him  nearly  two  centuries  later.  He 
travelled  through  several  countries  in  search 
of  knowledge,  and  particularly  visited  Alexan- 
dria, then  famous  for  its  library.  He  wrote 
on  surgery,  and  Fabricius  ab  Aquapendente  is 
said  to  have  copied  freely  from  that  part  of  his 
works,  the  materials  of  which  Paulus  had  pro- 
bably derived  from  the  writings  of  his  prede- 
cessors. There  have  been  many  editions  of 
his  productions,  which  were  translated  into 
Latin,  and  commented  on  by  John  Winther  of 
Andernach,  whose  annotations,  with  those  of 
Goupil  and  Camotius,  appear  in  the  edition 
printed  at  Venice,  1553,  8vo. — Hut  chin/son's 
Biog.  Med. 

PAULUS  (JuLius)  a  celebrated  Roman 
lawyer,  who  flourished  in  the  third  century  of 
ihe  Christian  sera.  He  exercised  for  many 
\ears  the  profession  of  an  advocate  at  Rome 
imd  being  made  an  imperial  counsellor,  under 
Severus  and  Caracella,  he  distinguished  him- 
self by  the  boldness  with  which  he  delivered 
his  opinions.  Under  Heliogabalus  he  was 
banished  ;  but  the  emperor  Alexander  Seve- 
rus recalled  him,  raised  him  to  the  consular 
dignity,  and  appointed  him  praetorian  prefect, 
after  the  death  of  Ulpian.  Some  of  his  nu- 
merous professional  works  are  still  extant. — 
Biog.  Univ. 

PAULUS  (PETER)  grand  pensionary  of 
Holland,  was  born  in  Dutch  Flanders  in  1754. 
He  was  employed  in  the  marine  department 
of  the  state,  in  which  he  displayed  great  acti- 
vity and  intelligence  ;  but  having,  by  the  open 


P  V  A 

ssKed  his  education  at  Oriel  college,  Oxford, 
and  afterwards  obtained  some  [jiefermfiit  in 
vne  city  of  London,  wli^re  he  acquired  the 
ecteem  and  patronage  of  the  protector,  Hum- 
phrey of  Gloucester  who  raised  him  to  the 
bishopric  of  St  Asaph  in  1444.  After  presid- 
ing over  this  see  five  years,  he  resigned  it  for 
tha>  of  Chichester  ;  but  falling  into  disgrace 
with  the  court  of  Rome,  on  account  of  a  work 
in  which  he  denied  the  real  presence,  he  was 
8ol«imtly  deprived,  and  committed  close  pri- 
soner to  Thorney  Abbey,  notwithstanding  his 
having  submitted  to  a  public  recantation  of  the 
opinions  he  had  advanced  in  his  writings, 
winch  were  burnt  Ht  Oxford  in  1457.  The 
principal  of  these  is  a  tract,  entitled  "  A  Trea 
tise  on  Faith,"  4to,  1688.  Bishop  Peacock 
survived  his  disgrace  only  three  years,  dying  in 
confinement. —  Life  by  Lewis. 

PEARCE  (N  ATHANIEL)  a  seafaring  adven- 
turer, was  born  of  respectable  parents  at  jilast 
Acton  in  Middlesex,  and  went  to  sea  a  .r 
early  age.  He  resided  for  some  years  in  Abys- 
sinia, where  he  was  a  favourite  of  the  kin«-, 
and  beloved  by  the  people.  He  went  to  Cairo, 
with  the  intention  of  revisiting  England,  hav- 
ing collected  a  great  number  of  curiosities  for 
the  British  Museum,  and  had  proceeded  to 
Alexandria,  where  he  was  seized  with  a  bili- 
ous fever,  which  put  an  end  to  his  life  on  the 
12th  of  August,  1820.  He  was  buried  in  a 
Greek  convent,  his  body,  according  to  his  de- 
sire, being  carried  by  six  English  sailors.  He 
left  his  JMSS.  to  Mr  Salt,  the  consul-general  in 
Egypt. — Gent.  Mag. 

PEARCE  (ZACHARY)  bishop  of  Rochester, 
a  prelate  of  distinguished   learning  and  piety, 
born  in  Holborn,  London,  where  his  father  was 
a  distiller,  in  1690.     From  Westminster  gram- 
mar-school he  went  oft' to  Trinity  college,  Cam- 
bridge, where  he  obtained  a  fellowship  through 
the   interest  of  the  lord  chief-justice  Parker, 
afterwards  earl  of  Macclesfield.     The  same  pa- 
tronage  also  procured   him  a  living  ia  Essex, 
and  the  vicarage  of  St  Martin's  in  the  Fields, 
London,  but  his  friend  going  out  of  power,  Dr 
Pearce,  who   had  now  obtained  the  degree  ': 
DD.  from   the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  re- 
mained stationary  for   a  time,  though  still  no- 
ticed  occasionally   by  the  ministry,   till  1739, 
when  he  was  promoted  to  the  vacant  deanery 
of  Winchester.     Nine  years  after,  the  bishopric 
of  Bangor  was  bestowed   upon  him,  not  only 
without  solicitation,  but  contrary  to  his  wishes, 
which   pointed  entirely  to  a  private  life.     He 
was  with  difficulty  prevailed  upon  to  accept  it, 
and  though  translated   to  Rochester,  with  the 
deanery  of  Westminster  annexed,  in  17,56,  his 
anxiety  to  retire  from  the  high  station  to  which 
he  was   thus  involuntarily  raised,   was  so  sin- 
cere, as  well  as  strong,  that  at  length,  in  1763, 
the  government  yielded  to  his  repeated  request, 
and  allowed   him  to  resign  the  more  valuable 
appointment,  his  deanery,    in   favour  of  Dr. 
Thomas,  retaining,  however,  the  bishopric,  to 
the  retiring  from  which  there  existed  some  ob- 
jections of  an  ecclesiastical  nature.     Bishop 
Pearce  was  as  distinguished  for  his  charity  and 
munificence,  as  for  his  learning.     He  enriched 


PEA 

the  Widow's  college,  in  the  immediate  n-igh. 
bourhood  of  his  palace,  at  Bromley,  by  a  do- 
nation of  5000/.,  while  his  tracts  on  theological 
subjects  are  numerous  and  valuable.  Of  these 
the  principal  are,  "  A  Commentary  on  the 
Gospels  and  the  Acts,"  4to,  2  vols. ,-  two  Let- 
ters to  Conyers  Middleton,  in  defence  of 
Bishop  Waterland  ;  a  reply  to  Woolston 
on  the  Miracles  ;  a  Review  of  the  Text  of 
Milton  ;  an  edition  of  "  Longinus  on  the 
Sublime,"  with  a  Latin  translation  annexed, 
and  another  of  Cicero's  Offices  ;  four  volumes 
of  Sermons,  &c.  His  death  took  place  in 
1?74. — Life  prefixed  to  Commentary. 

PEARSOiN,  DD.  (EDWARD)  a'learned  and 
amiable  divine,  was  born  on  the  Soth  of  Octo- 
ber,  1756.  in  the  city  of  Norwich.      He  was 
never  placed  at  any  public  school,  but  derived 
all   early  education  from   private  instruction, 
and  his  own  assiJuity.     In   1778  he  was  en- 
tered at   Sidney  Sussex  college,   Cambridge  ; 
and  proceeded  to  the  degree  of  BA.,  1785; 
and  MA.,   1785.      In   1786  he  obtained  the 
Norrisian  prize,  for  an  "  Essay  on  the  Good- 
ness of  God,  as  manifested  in    the  Mission 
of  Jesus  Christ,"  which  was  soon  afterwards 
published,    in  conformity  to  the  will  of    the 
founder.     In  1792  he  took  the  degree  of  BD., 
and  during  a  considerable  period  Mr  Pearson 
filled    the  situation    of   tutor  to  the  college. 
In  1797  he  was   presented  by  his  kind  and 
esteemed  friend,   Dr  Elliston,  the  master,  to 
the  rectory  of  Rempstone,    Nottinghamshire. 
In  the  same  year  lie  married  Susan,  the  daugh- 
ter  of  Richard  Johnson,   esq.  of  Henrietta- 
street,  Covent-garden.      In  1807  be  was  cho- 
sen, by  the  trustees,  to  preach  the  Warburto- 
nian  lectures  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  which  he  com- 
pleted early  in  1811.     In  1808,  on  the  death 
of  Dr  Elliston,  he  was  elected  master  of  Sid- 
ney Sussex  college,  on  which  occasion  he  re- 
ceived by  royal  mandate,  ths  degree  of  DD.  ; 
and  in  the  same  year  was  appointed  vice-chan- 
cellor.    In   1810  he  was  elected  by  the  uni- 
versity to  the  office  of  Christian  advocate.  The 
arduous  duties  connected  with  these  various 
and    important     appointments    had     visably 
affected  his  health,  and  whilst  taking  his  cus- 
tomary walk   in  the  garden  of  his  parsonage, 
at  Rempstone,  he  was  suddenly  attacked  with 
an  apoplectic  seizure,  from  which  he  never  re- 
covered sufficiently  to  articulate  ;  but  expired 
on  the  17th  of  August  1811.     The  works  of 
Dr  Pearson,  besides  that  already  mentioned, 
are  the  following,  "  Discourses  to  Academic 
Youth  ;"  "  A  Letter  to  a  Member  of  the  Se- 
nate of  the  University  of  Cambridge  ;"  and 
"  Remarks  on   the  Theory  of  Morals.''     The 
Warburtonian  Letters  were  also  published,  as 
well  as  several  family  prayers,  written  by  him. 
— Private  Communication, 

PEARSON  (JoiiN)  bishop  of  Chester,  a 
earned  and  pious  prelate  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  He  was  the  son  of  an  English  divine, 
rector  of  Snoring,  Norfolk,  where  he  was  born 
a  1612.  From  Eton  he  went  off,  on  the 
:oundation,  to  King's  college,  Cambridge,  and 
was  ordained  in  1639,  upon  the  Netherhaven 
stall,  in  Salisbury  cathedral.  The  following 


I'E  C 

year,  lord  keeper  Finch, whose  domestic  chap- 
lain   he  was,  presented    him  to  the    living    of 
Torrington,    Suffolk  ;    but   on  the  success  of 
the  Parliamentarian  party,  he  was  one  of  the 
many  ministers  ejected  on  account  of  their  mo- 
narchical principles.     In    1650,    however,  he 
was  appointed  to  St.  Clements,  Eastcheap,  in 
the  city  of  London,  and  became,  after  the  Re- 
storation, in  succession,  lady  Margaret  profes- 
sor of  divinity,  and  master  of  Jesus  college,  in 
the  university  of  Cambridge,  with  the  rectory 
of  St.  Christopher's,  London,  and  a  stall  at  Ely. 
In  1662  he  was  removed  to  the  mastership  of 
Trinity  college,  and  in  the  course  of  the  same 
year  assisted  in  the  revision  of  the  liturgy,  a 
task  for  which  his  previous  publications    had 
announced  him  to  be  peculiarly  qualified.  The 
death  of  bishop  Wilkms  in  1673,  made  room 
for  his  advancement  to  the  episcopal  bench, 
and  he  accordingly  was  raised  to  the  vacant 
see  of   Chester,  over  which   diocese  he  con- 
tinued to  preside  till  his  death  in  1686.     The 
work  by  which  he  was  principally  known,  is  his 
celebrated  "  Exposition  of  the  Creed,"  origi- 
nally delivered    by  him  in  a  succession  of  dis- 
courses from  the  pulpit,  at  St  Clement's.    This 
able  treatise  first  appeared  in  its  present  shape 
.n  1659,  4to,  and  has  since  gone  through  many 
editions.  Previously  to  this  he  had,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  Mr  Gunning,  carried  on  a  polemical 
controversy  on   the  subject  of  secession    from 
the  R.omish  church,   with  two  priests  of  that 
communion,   a  garbled  account  of  which  ap- 
peared in   1658,  at  Paris.     His  other  works 
are,   "  Annales  Cyprianici,"  and  a  vindication 
of  the  letters  of  St  Ignatius  against  the  attacks 
of  Daille. — Biog.  Brit. 

PEARSON  (MARGARET  ECLINCTON)  a 
lady  distinguished  for  her  skill  in  the  art  of 
enamelling,  or  painting  on  glass.  She  was 
the  daughter  of  Samuel  Paterson.  the  well- 
known  bibliographer,  and  miscellaneous  wri- 
ter, and  she  became  the  wife  of  an  artist 
named  Pearson,  in  conjunction  with  whom 
she  established  a  manufactory  of  stained 
glass  at  Hampstead.  Among  the  various 
productions  which  remain  as  monuments  of 
her  almost  unrivalled  excellence  in  her  pro- 
fession, may  be  mentioned  her  copies  of  th 
Cartoons  of  Raphael,  of  which  sh-  xecuted 
two  sets,  one  for  the  late  marquis  of  Lans- 
downe,  and  another  for  sir  G.  P.  Turner. 
Her  death  took  place  in  February,  1823. — 
Gent.  Mag. 

PECHANTRE  (NICOLAS  de)  a  French  wit 
and  poet,  was  born  at  Toulouse  in  1638.  He 
wrote  several  tragedies,  which  were  much 
esteemed,  viz.,  "Gela;"  "  Le  Sacrifice 
d' Abraham  ;"  "  Joseph  Vendu par  ses  Freres;" 
and  "  La  Mort  de  Nero,"  concerning  which 
a  droll  anecdote  is  related.  He  happened  to 
leave  the  plan  of  this  tragedy  in  a  public-house, 
in  which  he  had  written,  "  Ici  le  roi  sera  t«e." 
The  innkeeper,  conceiving  that  he  was  con- 
cerned in  some  conspiracy,  gave  information  to 
the  magistrate,  and  Pechantre  was  taken  up  ; 
but  on  perceiving  his  paper  in  the  hands  of  the 
man  who  seized  him,  he  eagerly  exclaimed, 
"  Ah !  there  it  is ;  the  very  scene  which  I  had 


PEC 

planned  for  the  death  of  Nero."  He  was  ac- 
cordingly discharged.  He  died  at  Paris  iu 
1709. — Moreri.  Diet.  Hist. 

PECK  (FRANCIS)  a  learned  antiquary,  was 
born  at  Stamford  in  1692.     He  was  educated 
at  Trinity  college,  Cambridge,  where   he   took 
the  degree  of  iM  A.  in  1727,  and  having  entered 
into  orders,  became  rector  of  Godeny  in  Lei- 
cestershire, which   was  his    sole    preferment. 
The    same   year   he    published   his  "  Acade- 
mia   tertia  Anglicana,"    or   Antiquarian   An- 
nals of  Stamford,  in   Lincoln,    Rutland,    and 
Northamptonshires.     In    1732    he    published 
the  first  volume   of   the  work  by  which   he  is 
most  known,    entitled    "  Desiderata  Curiosa, 
or  a   Collection  of  divers  scarce  and  curious 
Pieces,  relating  chiefly  to  Matters  of  English 
History,"  of  which  a  second  volume  appeared 
in  1739.     The  same  year  he  displayed  his  in- 
dustry in  "  A  complete  Catalogue   of  all  the 
Discourses  written  both  for  and  against  Popery 
in  the  Reign  of  King  James  11."     In  1739  he 
edited  "  Nineteen  Letters  of  the  truly  rev.  and 
learned   Henry  Hammond,   DD  "     His  next 
publication  was,  "  Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Ac- 
tions of  Oliver  Cromwell,  as  delivered  in  Three 
Panegyrics   of    him,   written   in   Latin,"    and 
"   New  Memoires  of    the    Life   and   Poetical 
Works  of  Mr  John  Milton,"  2  vols.  4to.  This 
was  the  last  of  his   labours,   his  death  takino- 
place   in    1743.     He   left  behind   him  a  great 
number  of  materials  for   nine  different  works, 
which  he  had  in  contemplation.      Of  his  MSS., 
the  greater  part  of  which  came  into  the  posses- 
sion of  sir  Thomas  Cave  ;  the  most  valuable  were 
five  volumes  in  4to,  fairly  written  out  for  the 
press,  under  the  title  of  "  Monasticon  Angli- 
canum,  supplementis  novis  Adauctum,"  which 
are    now  in  the    British  Museum. — Nichuts's 
Lit.  Anec. 

PECKHAM  (JOHN)  archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury in  the  reign  of  Edward  I,  and  was 
born  iu  Sussex  about  1240.  He  took  his  doc- 
tor's degree  at  Oxford,  and  proceeded  to 
France,  and  obtained  a  canonry  in  the  cathe- 
dral of  Lyons,  and  thence  to  Rome,  where 
the  pope  appointed  him  auditor,  or  chief- 
judge,  of  his  palace.  In  1278  the  pope  con- 
secrated him  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  upon 
his  agreeing  to  pay  his  holiness  the  sum  of 
4,000  marks,  which  he  was  so  slow  in  remit- 
ting, that  the  pontiff  threatened  to  excommu- 
nicate him.  In  1282  he  went  in  person  to 
the  prince  of  Wales,  to  endeavour  to  effect  a 
reconciliation  between  him  and  the  king  ;  but 
being  unsuccessful,  he  excommunicated  the 
prince  and  his  followers.  He  died  at  Mort- 
lake,  in  1292.  He  was  a  man  of  great  state 
and  pomp,  but  of  an  accessible  and  liberal 
disposition,  and  appears  to  have  been  a  severe 
disciplinarian.  His  theological  works  remain 
in  MS;  two  only  have  been  printed,  "  Collec- 
tanea Hibliorum  libri  quinine  ;"  and,  "  Per- 
spectiva  Communis."  He  founded  a  college 
at  Wingham,  in  Kent,  which  at  the  dissolution, 
had  an  annual  revenue  of  84L — Tanner.  Cave. 
Whartoni  Anglia  Sacra. 

PECQUET  (JOHN)  a  physician  and  anato- 
mist of  the  seventeenth  ceuturv,  distinguished 


PEG 


P  E  I 


for  Lis  discoveries  relative  to  the  organs  of  near   Can'                 'ind    resided    there   many 

nirriiion   in    animals.      He    was  a                   f  year?,    coijtribjtin^,    in   numerous  pa; 

Dieppe  in    Xormandv,   and  died   at  Paris  in  result   of   Lis    industrious    researches,   to   t!ie 

1674.     He  first  properly  described  the  r^st-r-  Gentleman's  Magazine,  where   his   comn. . 

voir  or   receptacle  of  the  chyle,  and  demon-  cations  will   b».-  .                                I  under    die 

strated  that  the  lucteaJ  vessels  conve.                 e  assumed  signature  of  Paul  Gemsege,  the  ana- 

from  the  intestines  to  tLlf  rece;  tacle,  which  gram  of  his  name.     The  "  Archaok>jia"  was, 

forms  the  inferior  portion  of  the  thoracic  duct,  about  the  same  period,  indebted    to    him   for 

by  means  of  which  the  chyle  passes  into  the  several  valuable  papers.    TLe  living  of  Brindle, 

hlood-ve.-sels.      In    1654    Pecquet    published  in     Lancashire,    with    that    of    Whittin^ 

"  New  Anatomical  Experiments,  relative  to  the  Staffordshire,  was   presented   to  him  in  1751, 

hitherto  unknown  Receptacle  of  the  Chyle,"  the    former  of  which  he  soon  after  exchanged, 

with  a  dissertation  on  the  circulation  of  the  from  motir   -              .1  convenience,  for  tha-     :' 

blood,   and  the  motion   of  the  chyle;  and  in  Heath.     Among  the  tracts   which  principally 

1661    appeared  his  treatise  on  the  lacteals. —  evince  bis  severe  ir.-                 :i  and  patient  re- 
Hutchinson's  Biog.  Med.      Elay  Diet.  H.  de  La\  search,  are,  a  "  History  of  Beauchief  . . 


Med. 


PEDRUZZI    or    PEDRUSI    (PACL)     a 


"  Anonymiana  ;"  an  "  Essay  on  Ancient  Bri- 
tish Coins  of  che  time  of  Conobelinus  or  Cvm- 


learned  Jesuit,  was  born  at  Mantua,  in  1646.  beline  ;"  another  "  On  Ancient  I, 
He  was  employed  by  Rainucio,  duke  of  Par-  i  ry  ;"  "On.  Anglo-Saxon  Remains," 
ma,  to  arrange  his  cabinet  of  medals,  and  h-  and  the  Lives  of  Grossetete,  bishop  of  Lin- 
wrote  seven  volumes  of  an  account  of  fHs  coin,  and  Roger  de  V\  eseham,  bishop  of 
collection,  entitled,  "  1  Cesari  in  oro  raccolti  Lichneld.  His  deatb  took  place  in  1796. — 
nel  Farnese  Museo  e  pubblicati  colle  soro  con-  i  His  son,  of  the  same  name,  and  his  grandson, 
gruo  interpretation!,"  Parma,  folio.  He  died  :  sir  CHRISTOPHER  PEGGE,  both  evinced  the 
before  this  work  was  finished,  but  an  eighth  possession  of  considerable  hereditary  talent ; 
volume  was  edited  by  Peter  Provene,  a  bro-  the  first,  born  in  1731,  held  a  situation  in  the 
ther Jesuit,  and  the  whole  forms  ten  tomes,  'royal  household,  and  died  in  1800:  he  is 
bearing  the  name  of  the  "  Museo  Farnese." —  i  known  as  the  author  of  certain  "  Memoirs" 
jlereri.  Tiraboschi.  Saiii  Onom.  !  connected  frith  the  establishment  to  which  Le 

PEELE  ("GEOKGE)  a  wit,  poet,  and  drama-  i  belonged.  The  latter  practised  many 
tist  of  the  Elizabethan  age.  He  is  supposed  ;  with  great  success  as  a  physician  at  Oxford, 
to  have  been  a  native  of  Devonshire,  and  he  where  he  held  the  regius  professorship  in  me- 
was  educated  at  Oxford,  having  studied  first  j  dicine  till  his  death  in  13^5. — Gent.  Mag. 
at  Broadgale  hall,  now  Pembroke  college,  and  PEIRCE  (JAMES)  an  eminent  dissenting 
then  at  Christchurch,  where  he  completed  his  minister,  was  born  in  London,  in  1673.  Losing 
degrees  in  arts  in  1-379.  At  the  university  he  <  his  parents  early,  he  was  placed  under  the 
acquired  fame  as  a  poet,  and  thence  going  to  !  care  of  a  learned  dissenting  divine,  and  snbse- 
London  he  became  acquaintedwith  Shakspeare, !  quently  sent  to  Utrecht  and  Leyden,  where  he 
Jonson,  and  other  dramatic  writers,  and  wrote  remained  five  years.  On  his  return,  he  be- 
also  for  the  stage.  According  to  Wood,  his  plays  came  minister  of  a  congregation  in  London, 
were  often  acted  with  great  applause,  not  how- ;  whence,  in  1713,  he  removed  to  another  at 
ever  apparently  much  to  the  emolument  of  the  Exeter,  where  he  continued  until  a  srLism 
author,  who  died  in  obscurity  about  1598.  His  ]  arose  in  consequence  of  his  refusal,  in  con- 
works  are,  "  The  famous  Chronicle  of  King  |  junction  with  his  colleague  Mr  Hallelt,  to  :  - 
Edward  I,  surnamed  Longshankes,  with  his  i  fess  their  belief  in  the  Trinity.  This  dispute 
returne  from  the  Holy  Land;  also  the  Life  of'  terminated  by  their  ejection,  and  building  a 
Lleuellen  Rebel  in  Wales  ;  lastly,  the  sinking  j  chapel  for  themselves  ;  an  affair  which  pro- 
of Queen  Elinor,  who  sunk  at  Charing  Cross,  i  duced  much  controversy,  in  which  Mr  Peirce 
and  rose  again  at  Potter's-hith,  now  named  ably  distinguished  himself.  He  died  in  1 7 .  . 
Queen-lmhi"  an  historical  play,  1.593,  4to  ;  The  works  of  this  zealous  and  active  mini 
"  David  and  Bathsheba,  their  Loves,  with  the  in  defence  of  the  validity  of  the  d;.- 
Tra^edy  of  Absalom,"  1599,  4to ;  pastoral  I  ministry  and  presbyterian  ordination,  b>  . 
poems  in  England's  Helicon ;  and  other  poeti-  '  very  numerous,  a  complete  list  of  them 
cal  pieces.  There  is  also  extant  a  scarce  book,  would  exceed  our  limits,  but  they  will  be  fc 


entitled  "  TLe  merrie  conceited  Jests  of  George 
Peele,  Gent,  sometime  a  Student  in  Oxford, 
wheiein  is  showed  the  Course  of  his  Life,  how 
he  lived  ;  a  Man  very  well  knowne  in  the  Citie 
of  London  and  elsewhere,"  1627,  4to. — Wood't 
Athen.  Oion.  Berkenhout's  Bwg.  Lit. 

PEGGE,  LED.  (SAMUEL)  an  English  di- 
vine of  the  last  century,  known  as  one  of  the 
most  erudite  and  indefatigable  antiquaries  of 
his  time.  He  was  a  native  of  Chesterfield, 
born  1704.  and  educated  at  St  John's  college, 
Cambridge,  where  he  obtained  a  fellowship. 
Having  taken  holy  orders,  he  obtained,  in 
17.31  '  the  small  vicarage  of  Gcdmersham,; 


in  our  authorities.     The  principal  are,  "  \  in- 
diris   Fratrem  Dissentientium    in    Anglia ;' 
"  Defence    of  the    Dissenting    Ministry 
Ordination  ;"    "  The    Case   of  the 
Ejected   at  Exon ;"   "  The  Western   In  . 
tion  ;"  "  A  Paraphrase  on  some  of  the  I 
ties  c.f  St  Paul ;"   "  Essay  in  favour 
the  Eucharist   to  Children  ;"    and    "  Fii 
Sermons." — Lift  bi  Prot.  Dissenters'  Mag. 

PEIRE5C    '.  NICHOLAS     CLAUDE     FAERI, 

sieur  de)  a  learned  Frenchman,  descended  of 

a   Pisaa    :"  .  in  Provence,  in   the 

of  St  Louis.      He  wa?  born  at  Beaugen- 

sier  in  J  580,  and  was  educated  partly  at  the 


P  E  I 

jesui.  3  college  at  Avignon,  \vliere  he  dis- 
played extraordinary  abilities,  and  particu- 
larly ppplied  himself  to  the  investigation  of 
ancient  medals,  inscriptions,  and  other  monu- 
ments of  antiquity.  He  then  removed  to 
Aix,  and  became  a  student  of  law  ;  after  which 
he  went  to  Italy,  and  remained  for  some  time 
at  Padua,  where  he  acquired  a  knowledge  of 
mathematics  and  the  oriental  languages.  In 
3605  he  visited  England,  examined  the  public 
libraries,  and  formed  an  acquaintance  with  the 
famous  Camden  and  other  English  literati. 
His  connections  with  the  learned  and  inge- 
nious contemporaries  were  very  extensive,  and 
he  numbered  among  his  friends  Baptista  Poita, 
the  Italian  philosopher,  and  the  celebrated 
painter  Rubens.  He  also  lived  on  terms  of 
the  greatest  intimacy  with  Duvair,  first  presi- 
dent of  the  parliament  of  Aix,  who  afterwards 
took  holy  orders,  and  became  bishop  of  Lisieux, 
and  who  was  a  man  of  tiistinguis'ued  learning 
and  abilities.  Peiresc  became  a  counsellor  of 
parliament  in  1607;  and  when  Duvair,  in 
161(5,  was  appointed  to  the  office  of  keeper  of 
the  seals,  he  accompanied  him  to  Paris,  where, 
with  an  unusual  degree  of  disinterestedness, 
he  made  use  of  his  influence  with  his  friend 
rather  for  the  benefit  of  others  than  for  his 
own  ;  and  the  only  preferment  he  would  ac- 
cept was  a  small  benefice  in  Guienne,  which 
be  obtained  iu  1618.  Atter  the  death  of  his 
friend  Duvair,  in  1621,  he  returned  to  Aix, 
where  he  continued  his  scientific  and  literary  I 
pursuits,  and  his  commerce  with  men  of  let- 
ters, till  his  own  death,  which  happened  in 
June  1637.  Many  of  the  letters  of  Peiresc 
have  appeared  in  different  collections,  and  he 
left  several  unpublished  works. — Perrault. 
Bing.  Univ. 

PEIROUSE  (PHILIP  PICOT,  baron  de  la; 
a  naturalist,  born  at  Toulouse  in  1744.  He 
turned  his  attention  to  the  office  of  magistracy, 
in  compliance  with  the  wishes  of  his  uncle, 
the  baron  de  la  Peirouse,  whose  title  and  for- 
tune he  inherited  in  1775.  He  had  obtained 
the  post  of  advocate-general  of  the  chamber  of 
waters  and  forests,  in  the  parliament  of  Tou- 
louse, which  being  abolished,  he  devoted  him- 
self entirely  to  the  study  of  natural  history; 
and  till  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution, 
lie  employed  the  greater  part  of  his  time  in 
travelling  and  making  obseivations.  His  first 
publication  related  to  fossils,  and  was  entitled 
"  Description  de  plusieurs  nouvelles  especes 
d'Orthoceratitesetd'Ostracites,"  Erlang,1781, 
folio.  He  had  however  previously  communi- 
cated to  the  academy  of  Toulouse  memoirs  re- 
lating to  the  plants  and  minerals  of  the  Pyre- 
Dean  mountains,  among  which  he  had  fixed 
his  residence.  In  fSti  he  published  an  ac- 
count of  the  iron  vtorks  in  the  county  of  Foix, 
which  was  translated  into  German  by  Kars- 
ten.  After  the  convocation  of  the  States  Ge- 
neral in  1789,  la  Peirouse  was  employed  to 
dra-.v  up  instructions  to  the  deputies  for  the 
province  of  Languedoc  ;  and  in  1790  he  was 
appointed  one  of  the  administrators  of  the  dis- 
trict of  Toulouse  ;  but  the  state  of  affairs  in- 
duced him  to  relinquish  all  public  functions  in 


PEL 

1792.  He  was,  notwithstanding,  imprisoned 
during  eighteen  months,  nnder  the  tyranny  of 
the  jacobins.  On  his  release,  after  the  exe- 
cution of  Robespierre,  he  resumed  his  scien- 
tific researches  ;  and  he  was  successively  no- 
minated inspector  of  mines,  and  professor  of 
natural  history  at  the  central  school  of  Tou- 
louse. In  1800  he  was  appointed  mayor  of 
Toulouse,  which  office  he  held  till  1806  ;  and 
during  his  administration  he  founded  a  botanic 
garden,  a  cabinet  of  chemistry  and  physics, 
public  libraries,  a  museum,  and  other  impor- 
tant establishments.  The  academy  of  sciences 
at  Toulouse,  which  had  been  suppressed  in 
1792,  being  restored  in  1807,  he  was  ap- 
pointed perpetual  secretary.  He  died  October 
18,  1818.  Besides  the  works  mentioned,  lie 
published  an  Account  of  a  Journey  to  Mont 
Perdu  a  peak  of  the  Pyrenees  ;  "  Tables  me- 
thodiques  des  Mammiferes  et  des  Oiseaux  ob- 
serves dans  le  Department  de  la  Haut  Ga- 
ronee,"  1799;  "  Histoire  abregee  des  Plantes 
des  Pyrenees,  et  Itineraire  des  Botanistea  dans 
ces  Montagues,"  1813;  besides  memoirs  in 
the  transactions  of  various  learned  societies, 
and  other  productions. — Biog.  Univ. 

PELAGIUS,  the  Greek  appellation  of  an 
ecclesiastic  of  the  fifth  crntury,  for  which  he 
-.^changed  that  of  Morgan,  bearing  the  same 
signification  in  the  language  of  his  native 
country,  Wales.  He  appears  to  have  been 
originally  a  man  of  unblemished  character, 
and  to  have  passed  the  earlier  period  of  his 
»-fe  in  the  monastery  of  Bangor,  of  which  he 
was  a  monk,  or  as  some  say,  abbot.  Soon 
after  the  commencement  of  the  century  in 
which  he  flourished,  he  went  to  Rome,  where 
he  wrote  a  treatise,  which  he  addressed  to 
pope  Innocent  the  First,  in  405,  entitled, 
"  Libellus  Fidei,"  which  denied  the  doctrine 
of  original  sin,  and  asserted  that  of  free-will, 
and  the  possibility  of  man's  being  saved  bv  his 
own  merits.  In  advancing  these  opinions, 
Pelagius  appears  to  have  been  carried  on  by  his 
zeal  against  lukewarmness  and  indifference  in 
religion,  beyond  what  he  had  at  first  contem- 
plated. This  work  drew  upon  him  the  attacks 
of  Augustine  and  Jerome,  the  censure  of  se- 
veral councils,  especially  that  of  Carthage, 
and  the  excommunication  of  the.  pope,  who 
denounced,  in  the  strongest  terms,  the  opinions 
or  heresy  which  is  still  known  by  his  name. 
Celestius,  his  disciple  and  countryman,  accom- 
panied him  into  Palestine,  where  he  was  well 
received  by  the  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  and  ex- 
hibited much  ingenuity  before  a  congress  of 
prelates  held  at  Diospolis.  On  the  accession 
of"  Zosimns  to  the  papal  chair,  Pelagius  was 
for  a  while  countenanced  by  that  pontiff,  but 
soon  fell  into  disgrace,  and  the  whole  influence 
of  the  new  pope  was  exerted  with  Honorius, 
the  emperor,  to  procure  his  banishment.  On 
this  he  retired  once  more  into  his  native  coun- 
try, after  which  St  Germaine,  of  Auxerre, 
wrote  a  refutation  of  his  opinions.  It  haq 
been  asserted  by  some,  that  Pelagius  received 
his  education  at  Cambridge ;  this,  however, 
is  denied  by  the  learned  Cave,  while  he  admits 
that  he  was  a  Briton  by  birth.  He  was  the 


P  K  L 

author  of  several  other  tracts,  "  De  Yirgini- 
taie  ,"  "  Kpistola  ad  Dfmetriadem,"  &ic.  and 
sundry  works  illustrative  of  his  opinions.  The 
time  and  place  of  his  decease  are  alike  uncer- 
tain.— Dupin.  Cave. 

PELL  (JoHN)  an  eminent  mathematician, 
born  in  1610,  at  Southwyke  in  Sussex,  of  which 
place  his  father  was  minister.  He  studied 
first  at  Cambridge,  where  in  1630  he  took  the 
degree  of  M  A.  and  the  following  year  he  re- 
moved to  the  university  of  Oxford.  He  is  said 
to  have  been  deeply  skilled,  iiot  only  in  ma- 
thematics, but  also  in  the  ancient  and  several 
of  the  modern  languages.  In  1643  he  was 
appointed  mathematical  professor  at  Amster- 
dam ;  and  in  1646  the  prince  of  Orange  made 
him  professor  of  philosophy  and  m;tthemaiics 
in  the  Schola  lllustris,  which  he  had  founded 
at  Breda.  In  1652  he  returned  to  England, 
and  two  years  after  Cromwell  employed  him 
on  a  mission  to  the  Swiss  Protestant  cantons, 
and  he  remained  as  resident  at  Zurich  till 
1658.  His  negociations  appear  to  have  done 
him  no  disservice  with  the  royalists  at  home,, 
notwithstanding  he  had  been  an  agent  of  the 
Protector,  whose  death  took  place  before  Pell 
arrived  in  England,  in  1661  he  was  ordained, 
and  soon  after  presented  to  the  rectory  of  Fob- 
bing in  Essex,  and  appointed  chaplain  to  the 
bishop  of  London.  He  afterwards  obtained 
another  living,  and  he  received  the  degree  of 
DD.  and  might  probably  have  reached  high 
promotion  in  the  church  ;  but  he  was  careless 
of  his  own  interest,  and  engrossed  by  his  ma- 
thematical studies.  His  negligence  of  his  pri- 
vate affairs  involved  him  in  difficulties,  and  he 
was  arrested  for  debt,  and  confined  in  the 
King's  Bench  prison,  whence  however  the 
benevolence  of  his  friends  soon  released  him. 
He  then  resided  at  the  college  of  physicians, 
but  in  about  a  year  he  removed  to  the 
house  of  a  relation  at  Westminster,  where  he 
died  December  12,  168.5.  Dr  Pell  made  some 
improvements  in  Algebra,  and  was  the  author 
of  "  Controversia  cum  Christ.  Longomontano 
de  vera  Circuli  mensura,"  Amsterdam,  1646, 
4to  ;  "  Idea  of  Mathematics,"  London,  1651, 
12mo  ,  and  "  A  Table  of  ten  thousand  square 
Numbers  &c.  with  an  Appendix,"  1672, 
folio,  besides  other  works. —  Martin's  Bing. 
Philos. 

PELLEGRINI.  There  were  two  of  this 
name  :  ANTONIO,  born  at  Padua,  in  1674, was 
an  artist  of  considerable  eminence,  many  spe- 
cimens of  whose,  painting  are  still  preserved 
in  this  country,  where  he  was  much  patronised 
by  the  then  duke  of  Manchester.  His  death 
took  place  in  England  in  1741. — CAMILLO 
PELLEGRINI,  an  Italian  ecclesiastic,  was  born 
at  Capua,  in  1598,  and  is  favourably  known  as 
the  author  of  a  history  of  the  kings  of  Lom- 
bardy,  written  in  the  Latin  tongue,  as  also  of 
a  treatise  on  the  antiquities  of  his  native  city. 
He  died  in  1660,  at  Naples. 

PELLEGRINO.  There  were  two  of  this 
name  ;  TIBALDI,  born  in  1522,  and  surnamed 
Ha  Bologna,  from  the  place  of  his  nativity, 
was  the  son  of  a  Milanese  architect,  who 
brought  his  son  up  to  his  own  profession,  in 


PEL 

which,  as  well  as  in  painting,  lie  soon  rivalled 
the  best  artists  of  his  day.  The  palace  de 
Sapienza,  at  Pavia,  built  for  cardinal  Borro- 
meo,  the  fortifications  of  Ravenna  and  An- 
cona,  the  exchange  in  the  latter  city,  and, 
above  all,  the  palace  of  the  Escurial  in  Spam, 
are  monuments  of  his  genius.  Philip  the  Se- 
cond, in  reward  of  his  services  on  this  last  oc- 
casion, gave  him  a  patent  of  nobility,  and  a 
present  of  100,000  crowns,  with  which  he  re- 
tired to  Milan,  and  died  there  in  great  esteem 
with  the  Italians,  in  1592. — PELLEGHINO,  of 
Mbdena,  a  painter,  who  flourished  in  the  early 
part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  was  a  scholar  of 
Raphael  d'Urbino,  whom  he  assisted  in  paint- 
ing the  Vatican,  besides  producing  some  ori- 
ginal pieces  of  great  merit.  On  the  death  of 
his  master,  he  returned  to  his  native  city, 
where  he  fell,  in  1538,  while  attempting  to 
save  the  life  of  his  son,  who  had  killed  an  an- 
tagonist in  a  rencontre. — Bryan's  Diet,  of 
Paint,  and  Eng. 

PELLET1ER  (BERT RAND)  an  ingenious 
French  apothecary,  born  in  1761,  at  Bay 
onne,  and  settled  at  Paris,  where  he  prac- 
tised with  much  repute,  and  became  a  mem 
her  of  the  Institute,  and  of  the  Academic 
des  Sciences,  to  both  of  which  societies  he 
contributed  several  useful  papers.  He  was 
also  the  editor  of  the  Journal  of  Natural  His- 
tory, and  wrote  a  treatise  on  the  properties  of 
arsenic.  He  fell,  at  length,  a  victim  to  sci- 
ence ;  his  death,  which  took  place  in  1797, 
being  considered  to  have  been  much  accele- 
rated by  the  effects  of  oxymuriatic  gas,  in- 
haled during  his  chemical  experiments.— 
Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

PELLETIER  (CLAUDE)  a  French  finan 
cier,  horn  in  1630,  at  Pans,  where  he  prac- 
ticed for  some  time  as  an  advocate.  On  the 
death  of  the  elder  Colbert,  in  1683,  Pelletier 
was  appointed  to  the  vacant  post  of  comptrol- 
ler-general, which  situation  he  continued  to 
fill  about  fourteen  years,  when  he  resigned  it, 
and  retired  into  private  life.  He  edited  the 
"  Adversaria  Subseciva,"  and  otlier  tracts  by 
Pierre  Pithou,  and  published  a  selection  from 
the  works  of  some  of  the  early  Christian 
writers.  His  death  took  place  in  1711. —  Ibid. 

PELLICAN  (CONRAD)  a  learned  German 
divine,  of  the  reformed  community,  who  flou- 
rished in  the  sixteenth  century.  He  was  the 
son  of  respectable,  but  not  opulent,  parents,  of 
Ruffach,  in  Alsace,  where  he  was  born  in 
1478.  He  was  partly  educated  at  the  univer- 
sity of  Heidelberg;  and  in  1493,  when  only  six- 
teen years  of  age,  was  induced  to  take  the  ha- 
bit of  a  Minorite,  unknown  to  his  parents.  In 
1501  he  was  advanced  a  priest,  and  obtained 
great  reputation  for  learning  and  knowledge  in 
the  Catholic  church,  until  led  to  peruse  the 
writings  of  Luther,  when  he  began  to  enter- 
tain doubts,  which  soon  appeared  in  his 
preaching,  and  gradually  led  to  the  necessity 
of  his  seeking  an  asylum,  with  Zuinglius,  at 
Zurich,  where  he  fully  embraced  the  principles 
of  the  Reformation,  and  married.  He  subs-e 
quently  employed  himself  in  a  public  exposition 
of  the  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  m 


PEL 

which  lie  showed  himself  intimately  acquaint- 
ed wi;h  Hebrew  learning,  and  which  extended 
to  five  volumes,  folio.  He  died,  much  re- 
spected for  learning  and  integrity,  in  1556. 
His  works  which  have  heen  collected,  amount 
in  the  whoie  to  seven  volumes,  folio. — Mel- 
chior  Adam.  Vit.  Germ.  Moreri. 

PELLICER  (JOHN  ANTHONY)   a  Spanish 
bibliographer,  who  was  librarian  to  Charles  HI,  ' 
and  a  member  of  the   Royal  Academy  of  Sci-  [ 
ences.     Jle  was  a  native  of  Valencia,  and  stu-  ' 
died  at  the  university  of  Salamanca,  where  he  ! 
distinguished  himself  by  his  attention  to  his-  : 
tory  and  antiquities.     He  died  at  Madrid   in 
1806.     Among  his  works  are,  an  "  Essay  to-  ! 
wards  a  Library  of  Spanish  Translators,"  1778,  : 
4to  ;  and  a  history  of  the  royal  library  at  Ma- 
drid, the  printing  of  which  was  interrupted  by 
the  invasion  of  Spain   by  the  French  in   1808. 
He  published  a  valuable  edition  of  Don  Quix- 
ote, with  notes. — Bio^.  Univ. 

PELLISSON  FONTANIER  (PAUL)  an 
eminent  French  writer,  born  at  Beziers  in 
1624.  He  was  of  a  Protestant  family,  and  his 
paternal  ancestors  had  occupied  judicial  situa- 
tions in  the  provincial  parliaments.  He  dis-  | 
played  when  young  an  extraordinary  aptitude 
for  study,  and  a  foixlness  for  polite  literature  ; 
and  being  destined  for  the  legal  profession,  he 
gave  a  proof  of  his  talents  and  industry,  by  j 
writing  a  commentary  on  the  Institutes  of  Jus- 
tinian at  the  age  of  twenty  one.  In  1652  he 
was  appointed  secretary  to  the  king  ;  and  his 
history  of  the  French  Academy,  which  lie  pro-  | 
duced  about  the  same  time,  procured  him  the 
extraordinary  honour  of  being  admitted  a  mem- 
ber of  that  learned  institution,  though  there 
was  no  vacancy.  He  was  afterwards  made 
deputy  to  Fouquet,  inteudant  of  the  finances, 
who  being  arrested  and  prosecuted,  Pellisson 
was  involved  in  his  disgrace,  and  wascommitted 
to  the  Bastile,  where  he  remained  about  lire 
years.  He  spent  a  part  of  this  period  in  the 
study  of  the  Bible,  and  books  of  religious  con- 
troversy, and  on  recovering  his  liberty  he  ab- 
jured Protestantism,  and  set  about  writing 
works  to  promote  the  conversion  of  his  breth- 
ren to  the  Catholic  faith.  He  got  again  into 
favour  at  court,  and  attended  Louis  XIV  as 
historiographer,  in  his  expedition  to  Holland. 
In  1674  he  was  appointed  master  of  requests  ; 
and  in  1675  he  obtained  the  stewardship  of 
the  abbeys  of  Clugni  and  St.  German  de  Piez, 
and  afterwards  other  benefices.  He  continued 
to  the  end  of  his  life  a  zealous  member  of  the 
church  which  he  had  joined,  and  employed 
his  pen  in  the  composition  of  various  religious 
treatises,  one  of  which,  concerning  the  Eucha- 
rist, he  was  prevented  from  finishing  by  his 
death,  which  took  place  February  7,  1693. — 
GEORGE  PELLISON,  elder  brother  of  Paul,  was 
also  educated  for  the  bar,  and  became  a  coun- 
sellor at  Bourg  en  Bresse  ;  but  being  a  Pro- 
testant, he  relinquished  his  profession,  and 
settled  at  Paris,  devoting  his  time  to  literature 
and  society.  He  died  in  1677,  aged  fifty-four. 
He  was  the  author  of  "  Miscellaneous  Ques- 
tions on  Natural  and  Moral  Philosophy." — 
Perraull  Moi-eri.  Biog.  Unit. 


P  KM 

PELLOUTIER  (SIMON)  pastor  of  U«» 
French  Protestant  church  at  Berlin,  librarian 
rf  the  academy  of  that  city,  and  ecclesias- 
tical counsellor,  was  born  at  Leipzic  in  1694. 
He  is  highly  tiistinguished  by  his  book,  enti- 
tled "  Histoire  des  Celtes  et  particulierement 
des  Gauloisetdes  Germaius,  depuis  les  Temps 
Fabuleux  jusqu'a  la  Prise  de  Rome,  par  les 
Gaulois."  This  work  is  full  of  learning  and 
curious  research  •  the  best  edition  is  that  of 
M.  de  la  Basiide,  Paris,  1770.  Pelioucier 
also  contributed  many  valuable  papers  to  the 
memoirs  of  the  Berlin  academy.  He  died  in 
1757. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

PELOPIDAS,  a  valiant  and  patriotic  The- 
ban,  the  friend  of  Epaminondas,  and  the  as- 
sociate of  his  victories.  While  at  Athens,  to 
which  city  he  had  retired  from  the  usurpation 
of  the  Lacedaemonians,  over  his  native  city,  he 
organized  a  conspiracy  among  his  banished  coun- 
trymen, which  had  for  its  object  the  restoration 
of  liberty  to  Tliebes.  This  he  accomplished  with 
their  assistance,  partly  by  valour  and  partly 
by  stratagem,  about  the  year  373  of  the  Ro- 
man sera,  and  afterwards  confirmed  the  newly- 
gained  independence  of  his  country,  by  defeat- 
ing her  enemies  in  a  pitched  battle  at  I'egyra. 
He  held  also  a  distinguished  command  at 
Leuctra,  and  during  al^  the  actions  fought  in 
the  Boeotian  war.  Alexander,  the  tyrant  of 
Pheraj,  in  violation  of  the  sacred  character  of 
an  ambassador,  threw  him  into  prison  ;  he  re- 
covered his  freedom,  however,  and  at  length 
fell  in  battle  against  his  old  enemy,  in  the 
year  of  Rome  390,  about  364  years  before  the 
birth  of  Christ. — Plutarch. 

PEMBERTON,  MD.  (HENRY)  a  learned 
physician,  mathematician,  and  mechanist,  was 
born  at  London  in  1694.  After  studying  gram- 
mar and  the  higher  classics,  he  repaired  to 
Leyden,  where  he  attended  the  lecture  of 
Boerhaave,  and  then  visited  Paris,  to  perfect 
himself  in  anatomy.  On  his  return  to  London, 
he  assiduously  attended  St  Thomas's  hospital, 
but  seldom  practised,  owing  to  his  delicate 
state  of  health.  In  1719  he  again  visited 
Leyden,  aud  graduated  MD.  and  soon  after 
became  intimately  acquainted  with  Dr  Mead, 
sir  Isaac  Newton,  and  other  eminent  men,  aud 
was  himself  much  distinguished  for  his  scien- 
tific acquirements.  Being  chosen  professor  of 
physic  at  Gresham  college,  he  undertook  a 
course  of  lectures  on  chemistry,  which  did  him 
great  credit  ;  and  at  the  request  of  the  college 
of  physicians,  lie  also  revised  and  improved 
their  Pharmacopoeia.  After  a  long  life,  spent 
in  the  improvement  of  science,  Dr  Pemberton 
died  in  1771,  in  his  seventy-seventh  year. 
1  lis  principal  works  are,  a  "  View  of  Sir  Isaac 
Newton's  Philosophy;"  "  Lectures  on  Che- 
mistry ;"  "  Observations  on  Poetry  ;"  "  On 
the  Alteration  of  the  Style  and  Calendar  ;" 
"  On  reducing  Weights  and  Measures  to  one 
Standard  ;"  "A  Dissertation  on  Eclipses," 
with  numerous  papers  addressed  to  the  Royal 
Society.— Chalmers's  Bwg.  Diet. 

PEMBLE  (WILLIAM)  a  controversial  di- 
vine of  the  seventeenth  century,  whose  talents 
and  erudition  gave  great  promis-e  of  future 


P  E  N 


PEN 


excellence,  which  was  cut  short  by  his  decf nse  i  whom  he  effected  a  reconciliation  previous  to 
in  the  flower  of  manho  >il.  He  was  bornin  l.V.M  his  decease,  winch  happened  shortly  after.  He 
atEgerton,  a  small  village  in  East  Kent,  and  then  married,  and  settled  at  Rickmanaworlh, 
received  hiseducationat  Magdalen  college,  Ox-  in  Hertfordshire.  Becoming  heir  to  very  con- 
ford,  of  which  society  he  became  fellow,  tutor,  siderahle  property,  he  determined  to  employ 
and  lecturer  in  divinity.  He  was  the  author  the  influence  he  derived/rom  it,  in  propagat- 
ing the  principles  he  had  adopted.  Great  part 
of  his  inheritance  consisted  in  crown  debts  due 
to  the  estate  of  Admiral  Penn,  for  advances  of 
money  he  had  made  for  the  sea-service,  hi 
lieu  of  these  claims  Mr.  Penu  obtained  from 


of  "  Enchiridion  Oratorium  ;  "  "  De  forma- 
rum  origine  ;"  "  De  sensibus  internis  ;"  &c. 
Twelve  years  after  his  death,  which  took  place 
in  1623,  his  works  were  collected  and  printed 
in  one  folio  volume. — Athen.  O.ion. 

PENN  (sir  WILLIAM)  an  English  admiral, 
•who  appear*  to  have  fjeen  a  native  of  Bristol, 


Charles  11.  a  grant  of  a  vast  tract  of  land  in 
North  America,  to  the  south  of  the  provincrs 


though  descended  of  a  family  holding  conside-    of  New  England  and  New  York,      lie  sailed 


rable  estates  in  North  Wiltshire.  He  was  em- 
ployed in  the  war  with  the  Dutch  after  the 
overthrow  of  regal  government  in  England, 
and  he  was  subsequently  sent  to  the  West 
Indies,  together  with  Admiral  Venables,  when, 
after  an  ineffectual  attempt  on  Hispaniola, 
they  took  the  island  of  Jamaica.  Penn  con- 


in  1681  tocolouize  his  newly  acquired  territo- 
tories,  with  a  band  of  persecuted  Quakers,  who 
followed  his  fortune  ;  and  having  entered  into 
a  treaty  with  the  Indian  natives,  he  founded 
the  city  of  Philadelphia,  and  the  settlement 
received  from  the  proprietor  the  appellation  of 
Pennsylvania.  He  abolished  negro  slavery  in 


curred  in  the  measures  for  the  restoration  of ;  his  dominions,  and  established  a  code  of  laws 


Charles  II,  who  bestowed  on  him  the  honour 
of  knighthood,  and  he  served  under  the  duke 
of  York,  against  the  Dutch,  and  was  present 
at  the  victory  gained  over  Opdam  in  1665. 
His  death  took  place  in  1670,  at  the  age  of 
forty-nine. — PENN  (WILLIAM)  a  celebrated 
theologic  sectary  and  legislator,  was  the  son 
of  Sir  W.  Penn,  and  was  born  in  London  in 
1644.  After  some  previous  tuition,  he  en- 
tered as  a  commoner  at  Christchurch,  Oxford, 
in  1660  ;  and  while  at  the  university  he  dis- 
played his  inclination  for  fanaticism,  by  fre- 
quenting the  meetings  of  the  nonconformists, 
a  circumstance  which  exposed  him  to  the  dis- 
pleasure of  his  father.  To  cure  him  of  his  he- 
terodoxy, he  was  sent  to  France,  and  after- 
wards he  entered  as  a  student  of  law  at  Lin- 
coln's Inn.  He  staid  there  however  but  a 
short  time,  for  in  1666  he  was  at  Cork  in  Ire- 
land, where  he  met  with  a  person  he  had 
known  at  Oxford,  who  had  become  a  prose- 
lyte to  Quakerism  ;  and  he  found  the  princi- 
ples of  his  friend  so  congenial  to  his  enthu- 


for  tbeir  internal  government,  which  contri- 
buted much  to  the  prosperity  of  the  colony. 
Penn  became  a  great  favourite  at  the  court  of 
James  II,  whose  measures  for  allowing  liberty 
of  conscience  he  advised  or  recommended  ;  in 
consequence  of  which  he  incurred  the  suspicion 
of  being  a  Jesuit  in  disguise,  from  winch  im- 
putation he  thought  it  necessary  to  justify  him- 
self by  an  appeal  to  the  press.  The  Revolu- 
tion placed  the  Quakers,  in  common  with  otber 
dissenters,  under  the  protection  of  the  laws  in 
the  exercise  of  their  religion,  and  Penn  having 
witnessed  this  favourable  change  in  their  si- 
tuation, returned  to  America,  where  he  was 
joyfully  received,  and  found  the  affairs  of  his 
settlement  in  a  prosperous  condition.  After 
residing  in  Pennsylvania  some  years,  he  left 
it  to  negotiate  some  matters  with  the  British 
government,  relative  to  the  commerce  of  the 
colony,  whither  he  did  not  again  reiurn,  dying 
at  his  seat  at  Ruscombe  in  Berkshire,  in  1718. 
Besides  the  tract  already  mentioned,  Penn  was 
the  author  of  "Primitive  Christianity  revived 


nia-stic  feelings,  that  he  immediately  adopted  |  in  the  Faith  and  Practice  of  the  People  called 
them.     This   step  produced   an   open  breach    Quakers;"    "  A  Brief  Account  of   the   Rise 


with  his  father,  on  his  return  to  England  ;  but 
lie  was  too  zealous  a  professor  to  be  reclaimed 
by  harsh  treatment,  and  in  1668  he  was  com- 
mitted to  the  Tower  for  preaching  against  the 
established  church.  While  in  confinement,  lie 
composed  a  tract  entitled,  "  No  Cross,  No 
Crown  ;  a  Discourse  showing  the  Nature  and 
Discipline  of  the  Holy  Cross  of  Christ," 
which  is  considered  as  the  best  of  his  writ- 
ings. He  was  no  sooner  released  than  he  re- 
commenced preaching,  and  he  was  in  conse- 
quence arrested,  together  with  his  companion, 
William  Mead,  and  indicted  at  the  Old  Bai- 
ley sessions  for  illegally  holding  forth  in 
Gracechurch-street,  in  tlie  city  of  London. 
Though  acquitted  by  the  verdict  of  the  jury, 
they  were  arbitrarily  imprisoned  in  Newgate, 
by  order  of  the  court.  On  obtaining  his 
liberty,  Penn  visited  Holland  and  Germany  as 
a  missionary  ;  but  he  hastily  returned  to  Eng- 
land, in  consequence  of  the  illness  of  his  father, 


whom  lie  found  on  his  death- bed,  and  with    translated  into  German  by  C.  Theouh.  MLIT. 


and  Progress  of  the  Quakers  ;"  &c.  which, 
with  his  journal,  life,  original  letters,  and  other 
papers,  were  published  in  two  volumes  folio, 
in  1726. — Biiig.  Brit.  Voltaire's  Lett,  on  the 
English  nation. 

PENNANT  (THOMAS)  an  eminent  English 
naturalist  and  antiquary  born  at  Downing  in 
Flintshire,  the  seat  of  his  family,  in  1726.  He 
studied  at  Queen's  college,  Oxford,  and  after- 
wards removed  to  Oritl  college,  in  the  same 
university,  which  he  left  without  taking  a  de- 
gree. His  first  production  was  an  account  of 
an  earthquake,  felt  in  Flintshire  Aprils,  1750, 
which  appeared  in  the  Philosophical  Transac- 
tions in  175t>  ;  and  the  following  year  he  was 
chosen  a  member  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Up- 
sal,  through  the  influence  of  the  Swedish  natu- 
ralist, Linnaeus,  with  whom  he  corresponded. 
He  commenced  in  1761  a  body  of  "  British 
Zoology,"  which  first  appeared  in  4  vols.  folio, 
and  was  republished  in  quarto  and  octavo,  and 


PEN 

This  work  was  followt  1  by  his   "  Indian  Zoo- 
logy,"   1769;    "   Synopsis    of   Quadrupeds," 
1771  ;  "  Genera  of  Birds,"  1773;   "  History 
of    Quadrupeds,"    1781  ;   "  Arctic   /oology," 
1786;  and  "  Index  to   Button's  Natural  His- 
tory of  Birds,"  1787  ;  which  are  his  principal 
works  relative  to   the   department   of  science 
which  he  chiefly  cultivated  ;   but   he  also  pub- 
lished a  number  of  detached  essays   and  pa- 
pers in  the  Philosophical  Transactions,  on  si- 
milar subjects.     In  1765  Mr  Pennant  took  a 
journey    to   the  continent,    when    lie    visited 
Burton,     Haller,     Pallas,    and   other  eminent 
foreigners.     He   was  admitted  into  the  Royal 
Society  in  1767  ;  and  in    1769  he  undertook 
a  tour  into  Scotland,  of  which  he  published  an 
account  in  1771,  and  a  second  volume  appeared 
in  1776,  relating  to  a  second  tour  in  the  same 
country,   and   a  voyage   to   the  Hebrides.      In 
1778  lie  published  a  tour  in  Wales  ;    to  which 
was  afterwards  added,   in  another  volume,  a 
journey  to  Snowdon.    He  produced,  in  1782,  a 
narrative  of  a  "  Journey  from  Chester  to  Lon- 
don ;"  and  in  1790  appeared  bis  very  amusing 
and  popular  work,  "  An  Account  of  London," 
4to.     In  1793  he  professedly  took  leave  of  the 
public  in  a  piece  of  autobiography,  which  he 
styled  "  The  literary  Life  of  the  late  '1  homas 
Pennant  ;"  but   this  did   not  prove  to  be   his 
latest   publication,   as    he    subsequently   com- 
mitted to  the  press,  a  "  History  of  the  Parishes 
of    Whiteford   and  Holywell,"    in   his  native 
county.     He  died  December  16,  1798,  at  his 
seat  in  Flintshire.     After  his  death,  appeared 
"  Outlines  of  the   Globe,  comprising  a  View 
of  Indostan,  of  India  beyond   the  Ganges,  of 
the  Malayan  Isles,  &c."4  vols.  4to,  forming  a 
portion  of  a  very  extensive  undertaking,  which 
was  never  completed.     This  posthumous  pub 
Kcation  was  succeeded  by   a  "  Journey  from 
London  to  the  Isle  of  Wight,"  1801  ;  a  "  Tour 
from  Downing  to  Alston  Moor,"  1801  ;  and 
H  "  Tour  from  Alston  Moor  to  Harrowgate  and 
Brimham   Grays,"    1804.      The  character  of 
Pennant  stands  higher  as  a  naturalist  than  as 
an  antiquary  ;  and  it  is  by  his  skill  in  the  se- 
lection   of  interesting  subjects  for  discussion, 
and  by  his  felicity  of  illustration,  that  he  has 
attracted   so  many  admirers,  rather  than    by 
the  extent  of  his  researches   or  the  profundity 
of  his  observations.      Though    he    made    no 
great  discoveries  in   science,  yet  he  improved 
on   the  labours  of  his  predecessors  ;  and   the 
popularity  of  his  productions  shows  that  he 
possessed  the  happy  art  of  communicating  an 
interest  to  the  subjects  of  which  he  treats. — 
Life   by    Himself.     Month.  R.ev.     Gent.  Mag. 
Kdit. 

PENNINGTON  (ISAAC)  a  writer  of  con- 
siderable estimation  among  the  society  o 
friends.  He  was  born  in  1617,  being  the  son 
of  an  alderman  of  London,  who  sat  as  one  o 
the  judges  of  Charles  I,  for  which  he  was  ar- 
;ested  at  the  Restoration,  and  imprisoned  in 
the  Tower,  where  he  died.  The  subject  of 
this  article  is  said  to  have  received  a  learned 
education,  and  to  have  attended  one  of  the 
universities.  He  is  represented  by  himself  and 
sect  as  having  been  early  impressed  with  no- 
1'roc.  DICT. — VOL.  IT. 


PEN 

tions  of  the  want  of  a  more  vital  and  spiritual 
religion.  Thus  disposed,  he  attended  the 
ireaching  of  George  Fox,  and  being  led  for- 
mally to  join  the  quakers,  he  soon  began  to 
experience  the  harsh  persecution  to  which 
that  rising  sect  was  then  subjected.  He 
resided  for  the  most  part  on  his  own  estate  in 
Buckinghamshire,  and  endured  no  fewer  than 
six  long  imprisonments  ;  some  of  which  could 
scarcely  be  deemed  legal,  even  under  the  con- 
venticle and  other  oppressive  acts  then  ex- 
"stent.  All  this  he  bore  with  a  meek  and  quiet 
spirit,  in  strict  conformity  with  his  principles, 
until  his  death  in  1679.  The  latest  edition  of 
he  numerous  writings  of  this  amiabU  and  in- 
offensive enthusiast,  is  in  4  vols.  8vo.  Some 
of  his  letters  were  also  published  in  1796,  in 
an  octavo  volume.  All  his  writings  breathe  a 
renuine  spirit  of  philanthropy,  deeply  tinged, 
lowevor,  with  mysticism,  which  of  course 
confines  them  to  the  perusal  of  persons  of 
lis  own  persuasion. —  Penn  and  Ellwiwd's 
Testimonies  prefixed  tohis  Works. 

PENROSE  (THOMAS)  the  son  of  a  Berk- 
shire clergyman,  born  at  Newbury  in  that 
county,  in  1743.  Having  received  a  classical 
education  at  Christ  church,  Oxford,  where  he 
had  developed  a  talent  for  poetical  composition 
of  no  mean  promise,  he  from  some  unexpected 
cause  suddenly  entered  the  royal  marines, 
and  served  as  a  lieutenant  on  board  a  king's 
ship,  in  the  early  part  of  the  American  war.  A 
severe  wound,  which  he  received  in  action,  in- 
luced  him  to  retire  from  the  service,  after 
which  he  renewed  his  academical  pursuits,  and 
taking  orders,  served  the  church  of  his  native 
town  for  some  time  in  the  capacity  of  curate, 
but  gave  up  that  situation  on  obtaining  the  liv- 
ings of  Beckington  and  Standerwick,  Somerset. 
There  is  an  edition  of  his  poems,  with  a  life 
prefixed,  now  become  comparatively  scarce. 
It  appeared  soon  after  his  decease,  which  oc- 
curred at  Bristol  Hot- wells, whither  he  had  gone 
for  the  benefit  of  his  health  in  1779. — Nichols's 
Lit.  Anec. 

PENRY  or  AP  HENRY  (JOHN)  com- 
monly known  by  his  assumed  name  of  Martin 
Mar-prelate,  was  born  in  Wales  in  1559.  He 
studied  first  at  Peterhouse,  Cambridge,  where 
lie  graduated  BA.  in  1584,  and  afterwards  pro- 
ceeded to  Oxford,  where  he  obtained  the  de- 
gree of  MA.  and  was  ordained  a  priest.  He 
preached  for  some  time  both  at  Oxford  and 
Cambridge  with  great  reputation,  but  soon 
rendered  himself  obnoxious,  by  embracing  the 
sentiments  of  that  body  of  the  clergy  who  were 
denominated  puritans.  In  1588  he  published 
a  brace  of  tracts  to  prove  the  necessity  of  more 
attention  to  religious  instruction  in  Wales, 
both  of  which  being  written  on  puritanical 
principles,  gave  great  offence.  The  contro- 
versy between  the  church  and  this  body  hav- 
ing now  become  exceedingly  virulent,  the  lat- 
trr,  to  whom  the  public  presses  were  shut, 
printed  many  productions  privately,  which 
were  deemed  the  labour  of  a  club  of  writers, 
of  whom  Penry  was  supposed  to  be  one  of  the 
most  active.  Of  these  tracts  that  which  gave 
the  greatest  offence  bore  the  name  of  "  Mat- 
2  S 


P  E  P 

tin  Mar-prelate,"  which  contained  a  bitter  sa- 
tire upon  the  hierarchy  and  all  its  supporters. 
A  warrant  being  granted  for  his  apprehension, 
he  retired  into  Scotland,  where  he  employed 
himself  in  drawing  up  the  heads  of  a  petition 
to  be  presented  to  the  queen.     With  this  he 
secretly  returned  to  England,  and  lived  in  con- 
cealment near  Stepney,  until  discovered  and 
apprehended  by  the  vicar  of  that  parish.     It 
was  intended  in  the  first  place  to  prosecute  him 
for  the  books  printed  in  his  name,  but  as  the 
time  was  past  when  that  could  be  legally  done, 
a  new  and  most  iniquitous   step  was  taken  to 
reach  his  life,  by  indicting  him  for  "  seditious 
words  and  rumours  against  the  Queen's  most 
excellent  Majesty,  tending  to  stir  up  rebellion 
among  her  subjects."     No  evidence  was  pro- 
duced   to   criminate  him,    except  expreosions 
taken  from  his  own  private  papers,  which  it 
was  held  implied  a  denial    of  the  queen's  au- 
thority ;  and   upon  this  sort  of  proof  he  was 
adjudged  guilty  of  felony,  and  condemned  to 
death.     He  pleaded  in  vain  the  utter  illegality 
of  this  sentence  ;  it  was  determined  that  he 
should  die,  and  archbishop  Whitgift  was  the 
first  man  who  signed  the  warrant  for  his  exe- 
cution, which  took  place  with  great  precipita- 
tion, and  in  a  manner  as  harsh  and   cruel  as 
the   sentence   itself    was   illegal    and   unjust. 
This  victim  of  sincere  and  inconsiderate  zeal 
on  his  own  part,  and  of  a  vindictive  spirit  of 
revenge  on  that  of  his  enemies,  had  connected 
himself  with  the  puritans  termed  Brownists, 
who,  in  respect  to  church   government,  had 
embraced  all  the  notions  of  the  future  indepen- 
dents.    Although  a  man  of  talents  and  learn- 
ing, he  was  doubtless  heated  and  indiscreet,  a 
fact  which  by  no  means  prevents  his  treatment 
from  being  a  disgrace  to  those  who  inflicted  it 
His  chief  publications  are,  "  Martin  Mar-pre- 
late ;"  "Theses  Martinianaa ;"   "  A  View  of 
publick  Wants  and  Disorders  in  the  Service  of 
God  ;"  "  Exhortation   to  the   Governors  and 
People  of  Wales  ;"  "  Reformation  no  Enemy 
to  her  Majesty  and  the  State  ;"   "  Sir  Simon 
Synod's  Hue  and  Cry,"  &c.     Most  of  these 
were  full  of  low  scurrility  and  personal  satire, 
with  which  however  the  numerous  replies  to 
them  equally  abounded. — Brock's  Lives  of  the 
Puritans.     Strype's  Life  of  Whitgift.     Athen. 
Oxon. 

PEPUSCH  (JOHN  CHRISTOPHER)  the  son 
of  a  Protestant  minister  resident  at  Berlin, 
where  he  was  born  about  the  year  1667.  He 
discovered  at  an  early  age  a  strong  genius  for 
music,  and  by  the  due  cultivation  of  his  talent, 
became  one  of  the  soundest  theoretical  musi- 
cians of  that  or  any  other  age.  When  only 
fourteen  years  old,  his  reputation  as  a  per- 
former procured  him  to  be  appointed  instruc- 
tor on  the  harpsichord  to  the  prince  royal,  at 
the  personal  suggestion  of  the  queen.  About 
the  commencement  of  the  following  century, 
Pepusch  quitted  Germany  for  England,  and 
was  soon  after  employed  in  adapting  operas 
for  the  stage  at  Drury  Lane  theatre.  In  1713 
he  took  his  doctor's  degree  in  music  at  Oxford, 
and  although  he  subsequently  obtained  a  for- 
tune of  ten  thousand  pounds  with  his  wife, 


P  E  P 

Signora  de  1'Epine,  yet  he  still  continued  to 
bllow  music  as  a  profession,  and  is  known  as 
laving  harmonized  the  airs  in  the  "  Beggar's 
Opera"  for  Gay  and  Rich,  composing  also  a 
new  overture  for  that  piece,  which  has  con- 
tinued to  be  printed  with  every  succeeding 
'dition  of  the  work.  In  1747  he  became  a 
ellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  having  previously 
drawn  up  that  account  of  the  ancient  genera 
which  appeared  among  the  Philosophical 
Transactions  of  the  preceding  winter.  He 
was  also  the  author  of  a  valuable  treatise  "  On 
Harmony."  His  death  took  place  in  17.52. — 
Barney's  Hist,  of  Mus.  Rees's  Cyclop. 

PEPYS  (SAMUEL)  secretary  to  the  admi- 
ralty in  the  reigns  of  Charles  II  and  James  1 1. 
He  was  born  at  Brampton  in  Huntingdonshire, 
of  a  branch  of  an  ancient  family  of  the  same 
name,  of  Cotteuham,  in  Cambridgeshire,  and 
was  educated  at  St  Paul's  school,  in  the  me- 
tropolis, whence  he  was  removed  to  Magdalen 
college,  Cambridge.  He  early  acquired  the 
patronage  of  Montagu,  afterwards  earl  of 
Sandwich,  who  employed  him  as  secretary  in 
the  expedition  for  bringing  Charles  II  from 
Holland.  On  his  return,  he  was  immediately 
appointed  oue  of  the  principal  officers  of  the 
navy,  which  post  he  maintained  during  those 
memorable  events,  the  plague,  the  fire  of  Lon- 
don, and  the  Dutch  war.  In  1673,  when  the 
king  took  the  admiralty  in  his  own  hands,  he 
appointed  Mr  Pepys  secietary  to  that  ffice  ; 
and  being  an  excellent  man  of  business,  it  is 
generally  allowed  that  he  first  introduced  re- 
gularity aud  order  into  that  important  depart- 
ment. In  1684  he  was  falsely  accused  of 
«ing  a  papist,  but  without  a  shadow  of  proof  ; 
and  soon  after,  the  admiralty  being  put  into 
commission,  he  for  some  time  lost  his  place  of 
secretary.  He  was  still  however  employed 
under  lord  Dartmouth,  in  the  expedition 
against  Tangier,  and  often  accompanied  the 
duke  of  York  in  his  naval  visits  to  Scotland, 
and  coasting  cruises.  When  Charles  II  re- 
sumed the  office  of  lord  high  admiral,  lie  was 
again  appointed  secietary,  and  held  the  office 
from  that  time  to  the  Revolution,  strictly  con- 
fining himself,  during  the  reign  of  James  II, 
to  the  duties  of  his  office.  On  the  accession  of 
William  and  Mary  he  resigned,  and  published 
his  "  Memoirs,"  relating  to  the  navy,  for  ten 
years  preceding,  a  well-written  and  valuable 
work.  He  led  a  very  retired  life  from  this 
time  ;  and  having  survived  his  lady,  by  whom 
he  had  no  offspring,  he  retired  for  two  years 
before  his  death  to  the  seat  of  a  naval  friend 
at  Clapham,  where  lie  died  May  26,  1703. 
With  his  great  skill  and  experience  in  naval 
affairs,  he  was  otherwise  widely  informed  ;  and 
besides  being  a  good  critic  in  painting,  sculp- 
ture, and  architecture,  was  versed  in  history 
and  philosophy  ;  such  indeed  was  his  reputa- 
tion, that  in  1684  he  was  elected  president  ot 
the  Royal  Society,  which  office  he  held  for  ten 
years.  He  left  a  large  collection  of  MSS.  to 
Magdalen  college,  Oxford,  consisting  of  nav;il 
memoirs,  prints,  and  five  large  folio  volumes 
of  ancient  English  poetry,  begun  by  Selden, 
and  carried  down  to  1700,  from  which  the 


PER 

et  Reliques  of  Ancient  English  Poetry,"  by 
Dr  Percy,  are  for  the  most  part  selected. 
Within  the  last  year  or  two,  Air  Pepys  has 
become  still  more  known  by  the  publication  oi 
his  very  amusing  and  interesting  diary,  by 
lord  Braybrooke,  which  journal,  besides  illus- 
trating his  own  prudent  and  wary  character 
with  extreme  fidelity  and  naivete,  affords  a 
most  curious  and  instructive  picture  of  the 
operation  of  the  Restorat'on,  and  the  dissolute 
court  of  Charles  II,  on  the  habits,  manners, 
and  conduct  of  the  people  at  large.  His  fre- 
quent involuntary  contrast  of  the  careless  mis- 
governnient,  and  consequent  decline  of  the 
country  in  foreign  estimation  under  Charles, 
with  the  preceding  vigorous  management  of 
Cromwell,  is  peculiarly  striking.  Nor  can  the 
journalist  always  hide  the  contagious  nature  of 
•  court  example,  even  in  his  own  conduct;  and 
as  it  is  evident  that  this  diary  was  never  in- 
tended for  general  perusal,  it  probably  amounts 
to  one  of  the  most  authentic  as  well  as  amus- 
ing records  of  the  description  that  ever  was 
published. — Pepys's Diary.  Granger,  Nichols's 
Lit.  Anec. 

PERCEVAL,  the  name  of  a  noble  English 
family,  the  head  of  which,  from  the  epoch  of 
the  Hanoverian  succession,  has  borne  the  title 
<df  earl  of  Egmont.  The  first  thus  ennobled 
was  JOHN  PERCEVAL,  born  in  1683,  at  Barton, 
Yorkshire,  who  distinguished  himself  in  the 
early  part  of  the  last  century  as  an  active 
member  of  the  house  of  commons.  Soon  after 
the  accession  of  George  I,  he  was  made  an 
Irish  peer  by  the  title  of  baron  Perceval,  and 
after  going  through  the  intermediate  grade  of 
viscount,  obtained  an  earldom,  in  1733.  He 
was  a  good  herald,  and  learned  genealogist ; 
and  besides  a  history  of  the  family  from  which 
he  sprang,  he  published  a  tract  on  the  prece- 
dency of  the  peers  of  Ireland.  lie  was  also 
the  author  of  a  treatise  on  the  test  act,  and  of 
another  on  the  colonization  of  Georgia,  a  mea- 
sure in  which  he  took  a  very  lively  interest. 
At  his  death  in  1748  he  was  succeeded  in  his 
titles  and  estates  by  his  son  of  the  same  name, 
born  in  1711,  in  the  metropolis.  In  176'J  he 
obtained  the  English  barony  of  Lovel  and 
Holland,  and  the  year  following  was  placed  at 
the  head  of  the  admiralty,  having  previously 
filled  a  situation  in  the  household  of  the  prince 
of  Wales,  and  that  of  joint  postmaster  gene- 
ral. He  wrote  several  political  pamphlets,  es- 
pecially one  entitled,  "  Faction  detected,"  and 
i-ed  in  1770,  having  been  out  of  office  nearly 
four  years  prior  to  his  decease. — The  hon. 
^FENCES  PERCLVAL,  second  son  of  the  pre- 
ceding, born  176V,  received  his  education  at 
Harrow,  and  Trinity  college,  Cambridge,  of 
which  he  became  a  member  about  the  year 
1775.  On  quitting  the  university  he  entered 
himself  of  Lincoln's  inn,  witli  the  view  of  fol- 
lowing- the  law  as  a  profession,  and  practising 
at  the  Chancery  bar.  In  this  pursuit  he  soon 
distinguished  himself  as  a  sound  constitutional 
lawyer,  and  obtained  a  silk  gown.  In  1796 
lie  represented  Northampton  in  parliament, 
and  five  years  after,  his  legal  abilities,  which 
Lad  attracted  die  notice  of  the  m^i^tpr,  aided 

2  S  -' 


PE  R 

by  family  influence,  raised  him  to  the  office  of 
solicitor-general.  In  180'2  he  became  attor- 
ney-general, and  filled  that  situation  till  1807, 
when,  on  the  formation  of  the  new  ministry 
after  the  death  of  Mr  Fox,  he  reached  the  ze- 
nith of  his  career,  being  appointed  chancellor 
of  the  exchequer  on  the  second  of  March  m 
that  year,  on  the  principle  of  Catholic  exclu- 
sion. In  this  high  and  responsible  post 
he  continued,  till  the  llth  of  May,  1812, 
when,  while  in  the  act  of  approaching  the 
door  of  the  house  of  Commons,  a  person 
named  Bellingham,  who  had  for  some  tirao 
previously  presented  a  variety  of  memorials  re- 
specting some  alleged  ill  treatment  received  in 
Russia,  discharged  a  pistol  at  him  in  the  lobby , 
the  bullet  of  which  entering  his  breast,  de- 
prived him  almost  instantaneously  of  life.  The 
assassin,  who  avowed  that  he  had  been  wait- 
ing with  the  view  of  destroying  lord  Levesou 
Gower,  late  ambassador  to  the  court  of  St  Pe- 
tersburg, made  no  attempt  to  escape,  and  was 
instantly  arrested.  He  was  brought  to  trial  on 
the  15th,  and  although  a  plea  of  insanity  was 
set  up  by  his  counsel,  was  found  guilty,  and 
executed  on  the  18th  of  the  same  month.  The 
barony  of  Arden  is  also  vested  in  a  junior 
branch  of  this  family.  —Walpole's  Catalogue. 
Gent.  Mag. 

PERC1VAL,  M.D.  (THOMAS,)  an  eminent 
physician  of  the  last  century,  a  native  of  War- 
rington,  Lancashire,  born  in  1740.  After  stu- 
dying medicine  at  the  universities  of  Edin- 
burgh and  Leyden,  he  returned  to  England  in 
1765,  and  settled  at  Manchester,  where  he 
practised  with  great  repute.  He  was  the  au- 
thor of  a  variety  of  very  able  tracts  on  scien- 
tific subjects,  especially  some  "  Observations  on 
the  deleterious  Qualities  of  Lead  ;"  and  "  Me- 
dical Ethics."  "  A  Father's  Instructions  to  his 
Children."  He  also  wrote  "  Moral  and  Lite- 
rary Dissertations,"  &c.  ;  and  papers  in  the 
"Transactions  of  the  Manchester  Philosophi- 
cal Society,"  of  which  institution  he  was  the 
founder  and  first  president.  He  attempted  to 
establish  public  lectures  on  mathematics,  the 
fine  arts,  and  commerce,  in  that  town,  but  met 
not  with  sufficient  encouragement.  A  tempe- 
rate but  sincere  dissenter  from  the  church  of 
England,  he  likewise  sought  to  obtain  support 
For  dissenting  academies  at  Warringtou  and 
Manchester,  but  Was  equally  unsuccessful. 
Dr  Percival  died,  highly  respected  both  for 
talents  and  conduct,  on  the  30th  of  August, 
1804.  His  works  were  published  in  1807,  in 
"our  volumes,  octavo,  by  one  of  his  sons. — 
Biog.  Memoir  prefixed  to  Works. 

PERCY  (THOMAS)  bishop  of  Dromore  in 
[reland,  a  prelate  of  considerable  learning  and 
ability,  distinguished  also  by  his  proficiency  in 
the  study  of  the  antiquities  of  this  country.  He 
was  descended  from  the  ancient  earls  of  Nor- 
:humberland,  and  was  a  native  of  Bridgenorth, 
n  the  county  of  Salop,  where  he  was  born  in 
1728.  Having  graduated  at  Christchurch, 
Oxford,  in  1753,  in  1756  he  obtained  the  liv- 
ngs  of  Wilbye  and  Easton  Manduit,  North- 
ants.  In  1769  he  was  appointed  chaplain  to 
the  king,  and  in  1778  raised  to  the  deanery  of 


PER 

Carlisle,  which  he  resigned  four  years  after  for 
the  Irish  bishopric  of  Dromore.  The  most 
popular  of  his  works  are,  his  "  llcliques  of 
Antient  English  Poetry,"  in  Svols.  8vo,  a  col- 
lection of  great  interest  ;  and  a  poem,  "  The 
Jlermit  of  Warkworth."  He  was  well  skilled 
in  the  Icelandic  and  several  of  the  Oriental 
languages,  especially  the  Chinese,  from  which 
lie  m;ide  some  translations,  and  in  particular 
one  entitled,  "  Hau  Kiou  Chouan."  His  other 
writings  are,  "  A  Key  to  the  New  Testament ;" 
a  new  version  of  "  Solomon's  Song;"  with 
translations  of  Mallet's  "  Northern  Antiqui- 
ties ;"  and  of  some  pieces  of  Icelandic  poetry  ; 
he  also  published  a  curious  domestic  record, 
long  extant  in  the  Percy  family,  and  known  as 
"  The  Northumherland  Household-hook,"  a 
document  valuable  for  the  light  it  throws  on 
the  manners,  habits,  &c.  of  our  ancestors.  His 
death  took  place  at  his  episcopal  palace  at 
Dromore,  September  30,  1811.— Gent.  Mag. 
Nichols's  Lit.  Anec. 

PEREF1XE  (HARDOUIN  DE  BEAUMONT, 
de)  archbishop  of  Paris  in  the  seventeenth 
centuiy,  was  a  prelate  of  much  learning,  and 
no  mean  talent  as  an  historian.  His  father 
filled  a  situation  in  the  household  of  cardinal 
Richelieu,  who  patronised  the  son,  and  con- 
tributed to  his  advancement.  He  became  a 
member  of  the  Sorbonne,  and  was  afterwards 
one  of  those  appointed  to  superintend  the 
education  of  Louis  XIV.  In  1647  he  pub- 
lished a  treatise,  entitled,  "  Institutio  Prin- 
cipis,"  which  gained  him  considerable  credit ; 
but  the  production  by  which  he  is  most  ad- 
vantageously known  is  his  life  of  Henry  IV, 
Amst.  1661,  12mo,  a  work  of  great  merit  for 
the  accuracy  and  impartiality  with  which  it  is 
compiled.  He  survived  his  elevation  to  the 
metropolitan  see  only  four  years,  dying  in  1670. 
—  IVi'iu'.  Diet.  Hist. 

PEREIRA  DE  FIGUEIREDO  (ANTO- 
NIO) a  Portuguese  divine  and  historian,  born 
in  1725.  He  was  educated  at  the  Jesuits' 
college  at  Villa  Viciosa,  and  in  1744  he  was 
admitted  into  the  congregation  of  the  Oratory 
at  Lisbon.  After  having  distinguished  him- 
self by  some  useful  works  on  education,  he 
employed  his  pen  in  defending  the  rights  of  his 
country  against  the  court  of  Rome.  Joseph  I, 
to  recompense  his  services,  appointed  him  de- 
puty in  ordinary  of  the  tribunal  of  censure, 
which  office  he  held  from  its  creation  in  1768, 
till  it  was  abolished.  In  1769,  by  the  king's 
command,  he  quitted  the  habit  of  his  order  to 
rill  at  court  the  double  employment  of  first  in- 
terpreter of  languages  in  the  foreign  and  war 
Offices,  which  he  held  till  his  death,  in  August 
1797.  His  works,  original  and  translated,  are 
very  numerous,  including  a  translation  of  the 
Bible  into  the  Portuguese  language,  witli  a 
preface  and  notes,  23  vols.8vo;  and  Histories 
of  the  Old  and  NewTestameuts. — Biog.  NOHV. 
des  Ctnitemp. 

PEREIRE  (JACOB  RODRIGUEZ)  a  native 
of  Spanish  Estremadura,  who  first  practised  in 
France  the  art  of  teaching  the  deaf  and  dumb. 
He  appears  to  have  opened  a  school  at  Cadiz, 
which  probably  did  not  succeed,  as  he  soon 


P  E  R 

removed  to  Bordeaux.  Having  taught  a  dumb 
person  at  Rochelle  to  pronounce  a  few  words, 
he  was  employed  to  communicate  instruction 
to  a  youth  of  fortune,  whose  proficiency  proved 
so  satisfactory  on  examination  before  Louis 
XV,  in  17.il,  that  lie  bestowed  on  Pereire  a 
pension  of  500  francs.  In  1765  he  was  far- 
ther rewarded  by  a  patent  for  the  office-  of 
royal  interpreter.  He  died  at  Paris,  Septem- 
ber 15,  1780,  aged  sixty-five.  His  method  of 
instruction  was  diPicrent  from  that  of  the  abbe 
L'Epee,  whose  plan  he  attacked  in  a  letter 
published  in  a  periodical  work  ;  and  he  was 
also  author  of  a  [Memoir,  and  Observations  on 
the  Deaf  and  Dumb,  read  to  the  academy  of 
Sciences  ;  and  of  a  Dissertation  on  the  articu- 
lation of  an  inhabitant  of  Otaheite,  published 
in  the  Voyage  of  Bougainville. — Bi'og.  Univ. 

PEREZ  (don  ANTONIO)  a  Spanish  states- 
man, who  was  the  natural  son  of  Gonzalo 
Perez,  secretary  of  state  under  Chailes  V,  and 
Philip  II.  Antonio,  after  having  finished  his 
studies  at  Alcala,  and  travelling  in  foreign 
countries,  returned  to  Spain  possessed  of  ta- 
lents and  intelligence  which  qualified  him  to 
fill  with  reputation  the  office  held  by  his  father. 
Having  engaged  in  an  intrigue  with  the  prin- 
cess d'Eboli,  the  mistress  of  Philip  II,  and 
procured  the  assassination  of  a  person  who 
had  discovered  his  treachery,  he  was  in  the 
first  instance  condemned  to  imprisonment  in 
the  castle  of  Toreno.  Farther  proceedings 
being  instituted  against  him,  he  was  tortured, 
notwithstanding  which  he  escaped  from  cus- 
tody, and  took  refuge  in  the  province  of  Ar- 
ragon.  There  he  was  a  second  time  arrested, 
and  conducted  to  Saragossa,  where  he  found 
means  to  interest  the  people  in  his  favour,  and 
j  thus  avoided  being  delivered  up  to  the  inqui- 
sition. At  length  he  sought  an  asylum  in 
France,  whence  he  went  to  London,  and  was 
well  received  by  queen  Elizabeth  and  her  fa- 
vourite Leicester.  Returning  to  Paris,  Henry 
IV  bestowed  on  him  a  pension,  and  he  em- 
ployed his  time  in  arranging  "  Memoirs"  of 
the"  transactions  in  which  he  had  been  en- 
gaged, a  work  displaying  just  observations  and 
views  worthy  of  an  enlightened  statesman, 
though  his  silence  respecting  his  connexion 
with  the  princess  d'Eboli,  and  his  obvious  en- 
mity to  his  sovereign,  detract  from  the  value 
of  his  narrative.  He  died  at  Paris  in  1611. 
His  letters,  as  well  as  his  memoirs,  have  been 
often  published. —  Ring.  Univ. 

PEREZ  (ANTONIO)  an  eminent  Spanish 
lawyer,  born  about  1585.  He  studied  at 
Brussels  and  Louvain,  and  having  travelled  in 
France  and  Italy,  he  returned  to  Louvain  in 
1614,  to  occupy  the  chair  of  jurisprudence. 
Six  years  after  he  accepted  the  lucrative 
employment  of  intendant  of  the  army,  but  he 
soon  resumed  his  academical  function,  and  re- 
tained it  till  his  death  in  1672,  having,  during 
the  last  fifteen  years,  been  afflicted  with  loss  of 
sight.  His  works  are,  "  Institutiones  Impe- 
riales  Erotimatibus  distinctae  ;"  "  Annota- 
tiones  in  Pamltctas  ;"  "  Annotationes  in  Co- 
dicem  ;"  of  all  which  there  are  several  edi- 
tions.— JJii)«r.  Univ. 


r  E  ii 

PEREZ  (DAVID)  a  Neapolitan  musician, 
descended  of  a  Spanish  family,  born  in  1711, 
and  educated  under  Gallo  and  Mancini.  On 
quitting  the  Conservatorio  he  went  into  Sicily, 
and  brought  out  his  first  opera  at  Palermo  in 
1741.  In  this  capital  he  remained  about 
seven  years,  during  which  period  he  acquired 
considerable  reputation,  which  was  yet  farther 
increased  on  his  subsequently  visiting  Naples 
and  Rome.  In  1752  he  accepted  an  invita- 
tion to  Lisbon,  given  him  by  the  king  of  Por- 
tugal, who  appointed  him  his  chapel-master, 
in  which  capacity  he  continued  to  serve  that 
monarch  twenty-seven  years,  when  he  died,  at 
the  age  of  sixty-seven.  He  was  the  author  of 
twelve  operas,  of  which  his  "  Alessandro  nell' 
Indie,"  written  at  Rome  in  1750,  and  recom 
posed  at  Lisbon  in  1755,  is  the  most  cele- 
biated,  and  may  fairly  rank  with  the  produc- 
tions of  the  best  masters.  Although  totally 
deprived  of  sight  for  some  years  previous  to 
his  decease,  he  continued  to  dictate  composi- 
tions in  parts,  and  wrote  a  dirge,  afterwards 
performed  at  his  own  funeral.  The  general 
style  of  his  compositions  bears  the  stamp  of 
science  and  energy,  but  is  considered  some- 
what deficient  in  grace. — Barney's  Hist,  of 
Mns. 

PERGOLESI  (GIOVANNI  BATTISTA)  a 
native  of  Casoria,  in  the  Neapolitan  territories, 
about  ten  miles  distant  from  the  capital.  He 
was  born  in  1704,  and  received  the  rudiments 
of  a  musical  education  at  the  conservatorio 
Dei  Poveri  in  Giesu  Cristo,  under  Gaetano 
Greco.  His  genius  outrunning  the  pedantry 
which  prevailed  at  that  seminary,  he  per- 
suaded his  friends  to  remove  him,  at  the  age 
of  fourteen,  and  being  left  to  the  dictates  of 
his  own  genius,  soon  surprised  every  one  by 
the  rapidity  with  which  he  mastered  the  diffi- 
culties of  composition,  and  the  graceful  sim- 
plicity of  the  interesting  melodies  which  he 
produced.  His  first  opera,  however,  "  Dei 
Fiorentini,"  performed  at  the  second  theatre 
in  Naples,  was  but  very  coolly  received  ;  nor 
did  his  version  of  the  "  Olimpiade"  of  Me- 
tastasio,  which  he  brought  out  at  Rome,  meet 
at  first  with  more  success.  It  was  not  till  his 
celebrated  mass,  written  for  the  duke  of  Ma- 
telon,  and  performed  in  the  church  of  San  Lo- 
renzo, a  production  which  has  been  so  much 
admired  and  so  often  copied,  that  his  fame 
rose  at  once  to  its  zenith,  and  he  was  placed 
in  the  first  rank  of  musical  composers.  A  lin- 
gering consumption,  during  which  he  wrote  his 
celebrated  cantata,  "  Orfeo  e  Euridice,"  his 
beautiful  "  Stabat  Mater,"  and  "  Salve  Re- 
gina,"  (the  last  of  his  compositions,)  carried 
him  off  in  1737,  in  bis  thirty-third  year. 
After  his  decease,  his  "  Olimpiade"  was  re- 
fived  at  Rome,  and  received  with  a  degree  of 
enthusiasm  which  fully  atoned  for  the  neglect 
it  had  before  experienced.  Dr  Burney  con- 
siders the  works  of  Pergolesi  as  forming  a 
great  «era  in  modern  music,  being  the  principal 
polisher  of  a  style  of  composition  both  for  the 
thurch  and  the  stage,  which  has  been  ever 
since  predominant. — Barney's  Hist,  of  Mns. 

PERICLES    one  ol    the  mnjt  illustrious 


PER 

statesmen  of  ancient  Greece,  was  a  native  of 
Athens,  and  son  of  Xanthippus,  who  gained 
the  battle  of  Mycale  against  the  Persians.  He 
received  the  usual  liberal  education  given  to 
Athenians  of  rank,  and  attended  the  lectures 
of  Anaxagoras  and  Zeno.  Although  connect- 
ed by  family  with  the  aristocracy,  the  party  of 
nobles  being  headed  by  the  celebrated  Cinion, 
lie  courted  the  favour  of  the  people,  and  soon 
acquired  considerable  influence  by  his  elo- 
quence, which  was  of  the  most  lofty  and  per- 
suasive kind.  He  obtained,  in  the  first  instance 
the  banishment,  and  subsequently  the  recal,  of 
Cirnon,  and  on  the  death  of  the  latter,  he  be- 
came the  undoubted  master  of  Athens.  He 
contrived  always  to  occupy  the  attention  of  the 
people,  either  by  planting  new  colonies,  form- 
ing expeditions,  or  undertaking  great  public 
works  to  increase  the  splendour  of  the  city, 
and  gratify  Athenian  pride  and  taste.  In 
order  to  supply  the  expense  cf  this  magnifi- 
cence, he  removed  the  public  treasures  of 
Greece  from  Delos  to  Athens,  on  a  plea  that 
the  latter  would  alone  protect  Greece 
from  the  barbarians,  the  object  for  which  the 
money  was  deposited,  lie  subsequently  made 
himself  master  of  the  important  island  of 
Euboea.  The  subjugation  of  Samos  took  place 
a  few  years  afterwards,  which,  it  is  said, 
he  undertook  at  the  instigation  of  the  celebra- 
ted courtezan  Aspasia,  whose  beauty  and  ac- 
complishments obtained  so  great  a  mastery 
over  him,  that  he  divorced  his  wife,  that  he 
might  marry  her.  It  was  after  a  second  ex- 
pedition to  suppress  a  revolt  of  the  Samians, 
that  he  pronounced  the  celebrated  funeral  ora- 
tion, which  was  so  grateful  to  the  Athenians, 
that  the  women  crowded  round  him  to  crown 
him  with  garlands.  At  length  a  party  among 
the  people  began  to  exhibit  some  jealousy  at 
his  great  power,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  that 
he  could,  by  his  tears  as  well  as  oratory,  free 
Aspasia  from  a  public  charge  of  irreligion  and 
immorality  ;  and  elude  an  attack  upon  his  old 
tutor,  Anaxagoras,  by  sending  him  out  of  At- 
tica. When  the  Spartans,  taiting  the  part  of 
the  small  states  of  Greece,  demanded  repara- 
tion of  the  injuries  done  by  Athens,  he  per- 
suaded the  people  to  refuse  all  concession,  and 
thus  brought  on  the  celebrated  Peloponnesian 
war,  which  was  followed  by  the  memorable 
plague  at  Athens,  in  which  it  required  all  hia 
abilities  and  fortitude  to  sustain  his  own  cou- 
rage and  the  spirits  of  the  Athenians.  In 
order  to  divert  their  attention,  he  fitted  out  an 
expedition  against  Epidaurus,  but  being  unsuc- 
cessful, he  was  fined  and  displaced  by  the 
Athenians,  who,  however,  soon  restored  him 
to  power.  Ilis  close  of  life  was  very  me- 
lancholy ;  the  plague  had  deprived  him  of  his 
two  legitimate  sons,  and  of  many  relations  • 
and  although,  to  comfort  him,  the  Athenians 
enrolled  his  son  by  Aspasia  a  free  citizen,  ho 
fell  into  a  state  of  lingering  decay,  and  dicj 
BC.  429,  after  having  ruled  the  restless  demo- 
cracy of  Athens  longer  than  any  other  citizen. 
Pericles,  although  by  no  means  a  pure  cha- 
racter, exhibited  many  marks  of  a  great  and 
enlightened  mind.  His  philosophical  educa- 


t»  E  II 

tion  had  exalted  him  above  the  superstitious 
pre|udices  of  his  age,  and  his  spirit  was  not 
only  magnificent,  but  his  love  of  grandeur  was 
informed  by  the  best  taste.  He  no  doubt  la- 
vished vast  sums  on  these  objects,  but  the 
erection  of  such  edifices  as  the  Parthenon,  the 
Odeum,  the  vestibule  of  the  citadel,  and  the 
formation  of  numerous  statues  by  Phidias  and 
others,  stamped  that  character  of  fine  art  upon 
the  productions  of  Athens,  which  rendered 
it  great  long  after  it  had  lost  all  political 
distinction.  He  was  less  excusable  in  foster- 
ing the  ambition  and  spirit  of  aggrandisement 
of  his  countrymen,  which  conduct  led  to  great 
disasters  ;  and  he  also  too  much  favoured  the 
corruption  of  manners,  in  which  he  partici- 
pated.— Plutarch.  Thucydides. 

PERIER  (JAMES  CONSTANTINE)  an  emi- 
nent mechanic,  member  of  the  academy  of 
Sciences,  born  at  Paris  in  1742.  After  hav- 
ing distinguished  himself,  in  conjunction  with 
his  brother,  Charles  Perier  des  Garennes,  by 
the  construction  of  a  centrifugal  pump  for  the 
duke  of  Orleans,  he  made  repeated  visits  to 
England  to  examine  the  steam  engines,  and 
other  important  machines  invented  or  im- 
proved in  this  country.  The  fruit  of  his  stu- 
dies and  labours  was  an  establishment  at 
Chaillot,  where  four  reverberatorv  furnaces 
were  erected,  and  steam-engines,  cylinders  for 
paper- making,  machines  for  cotton -spinning, 
&c.  were  constructed.  In  1788  the  brothers 
Perier  undertook  to  supply  various  parts  of 
Paris  with  the  water  of  the  Seine,  and  formed 
a  joint-stock  company  for  that  purpose.  The 
same  year  they  erected  steam-engines  on  the 
Isle  des  Cignes,  to  set  in  motion  mills  for 
grinding  corn,  instead  of  the  water-wheels, 
rendered  useless  by  the  freezing  of  the  river 
Seine.  During  the  revolutionary  war,  1,200 
pieces  of  cannon  were  cast  at  the  foundry  of 
Chaillot,  under  the  direction  of  Monge.  The 
Periers  suffered  greatly  by  the  depreciation  of 
assignats,  and  other  causes,  which  induced 
them  at  length  to  employ  their  establishment 
only  in  making  machinery  for  manufacturers. 
J.  C.  Perier  erected  a  foundry  of  cannon  for 
the  navy,  at  Liege.  He  was  admitted  into  the 
academy  of  Sciences,  in  the  section  of  me- 
chanics, in  1783;  and  he  died  August  17, 
1818.  He  was  the  author  of  an  essay  on 
steam-engines,  and  other  memoirs  in  the  col- 
lection of  the  academy. — Biog.  Univ.  Biog. 
Nnuv.  des  Contemp, 

PERIER  (SciPio)  of  a  different  family  to 
the  preceding,  was  born  at  Grenoble,  in  1776, 
and  studied  among  the  fathers  of  the  Oratory 
at  Lyons.  Becoming,  at  the  age  of  twenty, 
proprietor  of  an  estate  at  Laval,  he  endea- 
voured to  introduce  into  that  country  forges 
such  as  are  used  in  Catalonia.  His  father 
having  acquired  a  property  in  the  coal  mines 
of  Anzin,  in  1801,  he  became  one  of  the  ma- 
nagers, and  introduced  there  considerable  im- 
provements. Scipio  Perier  joined  his  bro- 
ther, Cassimir,  in  establishing  a  bank  at  Paris, 
the  available  capital  of  which  was  devoted  to 
the  promotion  of  various  undertakings,  in  the 
course  of  which  he  added  greatly  to  his  know- 


PER 

lcdi;f>  of  chemistry  and  mechanics.  After  the 
death  of  J.  C.  Perier,  be  purchased  the  estab- 
lishment at  Chaillot,  where  he  had  projected 
some  advantageous  alterations  in  the  founde- 
ries,  when  he  was  taken  off  by  death,  April  2, 
1821.  He  was  an  excellent  chemist,  and  pub- 
lished many  articles  in  the  "  Annales  de 
Chimie."  He  belonged  to  the  general  coun- 
cil of  manufactures  attached  to  the  home  de- 
partment, and  to  other  public  bodies  ;  and  he 
was  one  of  the  first  promoters  of  the  plan  for 
lighting  the  streets,  &c.  with  gas. — Biog. 
Univ. 

PERINGSKIOLD  (  JOHN)  a  learned  anti- 
quary, was  born  at  Strengnes,  in  Suder- 
mania,  in  165-1,  and  was  the  son  of  Laurence 
Frederic  Peringer,  professor  of  rhetoric  and 
poetry.  In  1689  he  was  appointed  antiqua- 
rian professor  at  Upsal,  in  1693  secretary  and 
antiquary  to  the  king  of  Sweden,  and  in  1719, 
counsellor  to  the  chancery  for  antiquities.  His 
works  are  much  valued  by  Swedish  historians 
and  antiquaries :  the  principal  are,  "  Hist. 
Hialmari  regis,"  from  a  Runic  MS. ;  "  Hist. 
Wilkinensium  Theodorici  Veronensis  ac  Ni- 
flungorum,"  &c.  copied  and  translated  from  an 
ancient  Scandinavian  MS. ;  "  Snorronis  Slur- 
Ion  ida»  Hist,  regum  Septentrionalium,"  with 
two  translations;  and,  "  Monumenta  Sueo- 
Gothica,"  2  vols.  folio,  1719. — Niceron. 
Bibl.  Germanique. 

PERINO  DEL  YAGA,  otherwise  PTE- 
RINO  BUONACCORSL  the  most  distin- 
guished of  Raphael's  pupils,  and  assistants  in 
the  Vatican,  was  born  in  Tuscany  in  1500.  He 
was  considered  the  first  designer  of  the  Flo- 
rentine school  after  Michael  Angelo  ;  the  im- 
molation of  Isaac,  in  the  Stanze  ;  the  taking 
of  Jericho  ;  Joseph  sold  by  his  brethren  ;  Ja- 
cob with  the  vision,  and  others  among  the 
frescoes  of  the  Loggia,  are  his.  Perino's 
principal  fame  lies  in  Genoa,  where  he  pre- 
sided over  the  embellishment  of  the  Dorian 
palace  ;  and  here  every  performance  breathes 
the  spirit  of  Raphael's  school.  He  debased 
much  of  his  fame  by  his  eagerness  to  acquire, 
and  by  his  interested  choice  of,  his  associates  , 
he  is,  however,  to  be  considered  as  the  foun- 
der of  the  school  of  Genoa.  He  died  iu 
1547. — Piihington  by  Fuseli. 

PERIOD  or  PERRION  (JOACHIM)  a 
learned  doctor  of  the  Sorbonne,  was  born  at 
Cormery,  iu  Touraine,  in  1500.  At  the  age 
of  seventeen  ho  entered  a  Benedictine  monas- 
tery, at  his  native  place,  where  he  died  about 
1559.  He  gave  elegant  translations  of  seve- 
ral of  the  ancient  fathers  and  philosophers, 
but  the  correctness  of  his  versions  has  been 
called  in  question.  By  a  particular  decree  of 
the  university  of  Paris,  he  was  appointed  to 
defend  Aristotle  and  Cicero  against  llamus  ; 
and  he  discharged  his  task  with  success.  His 
principal  works  are,  "  De  Dialectica  lib.  iii. ;" 
"  Historia  Abdiac  Babylonii  ;"  "  Topicorum 
Theologicorum,  lib.  ii. ;"  "  De  Origins  Lin- 
guas  Gallicae  et  ejus  cognatione  cum  Graeca  ;" 
"  Liber  de  Sanctorum  Yirorum  qui  Patri- 
archs ab  Ecclesia  appellautur  rebus  gestis  ac 
vitis ;"  "  Orations,"  in  Latin  ;  "  De  Vita  re- 


PER 

busque  Tesu  Chrisd  ;"  and  "  De  Vita  Vir- 
ginis  et  Apostolorum  ;"  with  versions  of  Plato, 
Aristotle,  Damascenus,  &c.  &c. — Niccrun. 
Teissier  Eloges  des  Homines  Savans. 

PER1ZON1US.  There  were  two  learned 
Dutch  writers  of  this  name  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  father  and  son. — ANTHONY,  the 
elder,  is  principally  known  as  the  author  of  an 
elaborate  treatise  on  the  study  of  divinity.  He 
died  in  1672. — Mis  son,  JAMES,  who  soon 
eclipsed  the  reputation  of  the  other,  was  born 
in  1651,  at  Dam,  in  Holland,  and  accompa- 
nied his  father  to  Deventer,  where  the  latter 
had  been  elected  to  the  Oriental  professorship. 
Here  he  obtained  the  instructions  of  Hoger- 
sius  and  Cuper,  till  1671,  when  he  went  to 
Utrecht,  and  studied  under  Grrevius.  He  af- 
terwards removed  to  Leyden,  and  applied  him- 
self with  great  success  to  history  and  the 
belles  lettres.  Soon  after,  he  accepted  the 
headship  of  the  grammar-school  at  Delft, 
which  he  superintended  with  great  credit  till 
1681,  aud  then  resigned  it  on  being  chosen 
professor  of  rhetoric  and  history  at  Franeker. 
After  filling  this  situation  about  twelve  years, 
he  obtained  a  similar  one,  with  the  Greek 
professorship  annexed,  at  Leyden.  Among 
the  principal  of  his  writings  are,  "  Curtius  in 
Inte^rum  Restitutus  ;"  "  Animadversiones 
Historic ;t-  j"  "  Origmes  /Egyptiacae  et  Babylo- 
ni  ;e,''  2  vols. ;  a  commentary  on  the  "  Mi- 
nerva" of  Sanctius  ;  an  "  Historical  Commen- 
tarv  on  the  Transactions  of  the  Sixteenth 
Century  ;"  an  edition  of  the  works  of  ^Elian, 
in  two  octaro  volumes,  with  some  orations 
and  valuable  tracts  on  subjects  of  antiquarian 
research.  He  died  at  Leyden  in  1717. — 
NHHV.  Diet.  Hist. 

PERKINS  (ELISHA)  a  physician,  who  ex- 
ercised   his  profession    at   Plamfield,    in    the 
United  States  of  America,  in  the   latter  part 
of  the  eighteenth  century.     He   was   the  in- 
ventor of  a  method  of  curing  diseases  by  the 
application  of  brass  and  iron  pins,  which  were 
termed  metallic  tractors  ;  and  the  doctrine  on 
which  he  professedly  grounded  his  invention 
was  called,  from  the  author,  Perkinism.     He 
applied  his  tractors  at  tirst  to  patients  labour- 
ing under  gout,  rheumatism,   and    analogous 
disorders;  and  (probably  through  the  force  of 
imagination)  he  effected  some  cures.       Fame 
magnified   his  success,  and  the  supposed  dis- 
covery attracted  some  notice  in  England,  and 
much  more  in   Denmark,  where   Abildgaart, 
Rafn,    Herholdt,    Bang,    and   other   medical 
men  of  eminence,  engaged  in  the  study  of  the 
mystery  of  Perkinism,  which  some   of  them 
endeavoured  to  connect  with  electricity.   The 
futility  of  this  ridiculous  quackery  was  demon- 
strated in  England  by  the  experiments  of  Dr. 
Haygarth  ;  aud  in  Denmark  its  credit  received 
a  death-blow  from  the  well  directed  satire  of 
an  anonymous  writer.     Perkins,  the  inventor 
of  the  tractors,  carried  his  pretensions  so  far, 
as  to  profess  to  cure  the  yellow  fever  by  the 
application  of  his  instruments  ;  but  he  died  of 
that  disease,  notwithstanding  the  use   of  his 
boasted  remedy^  about  the  end   of  the   last 
century. — BENJAMIN   DOUGLAS  PERKINS,  son 


P  E  R 

of  the  preceding,  visited  England  for  the  pur- 
pose of  selling  the  metallic  tractors,  and  wrote 
soine  pamphlets  in  order  to  recommend  them. 
— Biog.  Univ. 

PERKINS  (WILLIAM)  a  learned  divine, 
was  born  at  Marston,  in  Warwickshire,  ia 
1.558,  and  was  educated  at  Christ  college, 
Cambridge,  where  he.  at  first  led  an  extremely 
dissolute  life,  but  afterwards  became  reformed. 
Being  chosen  fellow  of  his  college,  he  took 
orders,  and  first  preached  to  the  prisoners  in 
Cambridge  jail.  He  subsequently  became 
preacher  at  St  Andrew's  church,  Cambridge, 
which  was  the  only  preferment  he  ever  ob- 
tained. He  died  in  1602.  He  was  a  rigid 
Calvinist,  and  the  treatises  which  he  pub- 
lished, in  defence  of  his  doctrines,  involved 
him  in  a  controversy  with  Arminius,  which 
lasted  until  his  death.  He  was  also  for  some 
time  suspended  by  archbishop  Whitgift,  for 
having  subscribed  or  declared  his  approbation 
of  the  book  of  discipline.  His  works  were 
collected  and  published  in  1606,  in  3  vols. 
folio,  and  are  written  in  a  much  better  style 
than  was  usual  in  his  time  ;  they  have  been 
translated  into  German,  Dutch,  French,  Spa- 
nish, Italian,  and  Latin. — Fuller's  Church  Hist. 
Brook's  Puritans, 

PERNETY.  There  were  two  ingenious 
writers  of  this  name,  contemporaries  and  re- 
lations, both  natives  of  Roanne  en  Forez.  Of 
these,  JAMES,  the  elder,  was  born  about  the 
close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  is  known 
as  the  author  of  a  work  "  On  the  Abuses  of 
Education,"  12mo  ;  a  "  History  of  the  Reign 
of  Cyrus,"  12mo,  3  vols. ;  "  Letters  on  Phy- 
siognomy," 3  vols.  ;  "  Counsels  of  Friend- 
ship ;"  "  Memoirs  of  Remarkable  Citizens 
of  Lyons,"  2  vols.  8vo ;  and,  "A  Picture  of 
Lyons,"  of  which  city  he  was  historiographer, 
and  a  member  of  the  academy,  whence,  in  his 
writings  he  calls  himself,  somewhat  affectedly, 
a  "  Soldier  of  the  Church  of  Lyons."  His 
death  took  place  in  1777. — ANTHONY  JOSEPH, 
the  second,  was  born  in  the  spring  of  1716. 
He  assumed  the  Benedictine  habit,  and  after 
sailing  to  the  Maldives  and  back,  settled  at 
Berlin,  where  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Royal  Academy,  and  was  made  librarian  to 
the  king.  His  works  consist  of  "  An  Account 
of  a  Voyage  to  the  Malouine  Islands,"  &c. ; 
"  A  Dictionary  of  Painting,  Sculpture,  and 
Engraving,"  12mo  ;  "  A  Dissertation  on  Ame.' 
rica  and  the  Americans,"  written  in  answer  to 
Pauw  ;  "  On  the  Fables  of  Egypt  and  Antient 
Greece,"  8vo,  2  vols.  ;  and  a  "  Mytho-Her- 
metic  Dictionary."  He  passed  the  latter  pe- 
riod of  his  life  in  his  native  country,  where  he 
died  at  a  very  advanced  age,  about  the  com- 
mencement of  the  present  century. — Nouv, 
Diet.  Hist. 

PEROiV  (FRANCIS)  a  French  naturalist 
and  voyager,  born  in  1775,  at  Cerilly,  in  the 
Bourbonnais.  After  having  received  a  good 
education,  he  entered  into  the  army  in  1792, 
and  was  sent  to  Germany.  He  was  made  a 
sub-officer,  for  his  good  conduct  at  the  siege  of 
Landau  ,  and  in  December  1793  he  was  made 
prisoner  by  the  Prussians,  at  the  battle  of  Kais- 


Pli  R 

crslautern.  In  about  a  year  he  was  exchang- 
ed, and  having  lost  the  sight  of  one  eye,  he 
was  discharged  from  the  service,  and  returned 
to  Cerilly,  in  August,  179.5.  He  then  ob- 
tained admission  into  the  school  of  medicine 
at  Pans,  where  he  applied  himself  closely  to 
his  studies,  and  also  attended  the  lectures  of 
the  museum  of  natural  history.  When  the 
expedition  to  the  South  seas,  under  captain 
Bandin,  had  been  projected,  Peron,  with  some 
difficulty,  obtained  the  situation  of  zoologist. 
The  vessels  appointed  for  this  service,  the  Ge- 
ographer and  the  Naturalist,  sailed  from  Ha- 
vre, October  19,  1800,  and  returned  to  France 
in  April  1804.  They  had  visited  New  Holland, 
and  many  of  the  Australasian  and  Polynesian 
islands  ;  and  during  the  whole  of  the.  voyage 
Peron  seized  every  opportunity  for  augmenting 
the  storrs  of  science,  by  making  collections  and 
observations.  After  his  return  he  was  em- 
ployed, in  conjunction  with  captain  Freycinet, 
to  draw  up  an  account  of  the  voyage  ;  and 
with  M.  Le  Sueur,  to  describe  the  new  objects 
of  natural  history  which  had  been  procured. 
Peron  died  December  14,  1810.  His  works 
are,  "  Observations  sur  1'AnthropoIogie ;" 
and,  "  Voyage  de  Decouvertes  aux  Terres 
Australes,"  1807 — 1816,  3  vols.  4to. — Biog. 
Univ. 

PEROT  (NICHOLAS)  archbishop  of  Si- 
ponto,  a  learned  prelate  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, author  of  an  excellent  translation  of  Po- 
/ybius,  and  of  a  commentary  on  the  writings  of 
Martial,  entitled,  "  Cornucopia,"  in  which  he 
displays  deep  erudition  and  great  research  into 
the  domestic  habits  and  manners  of  the  an- 
tient  Romans.  He  also  wrote  a  treatise  on 
grammar,  and  another  on  the  varieties  of 
metre.  Perot,  in  early  life,  filled  the  situation 
of  secretary  to  cardinal  Bessarion,  and  is  said 
to  have  been  the  involuntary  cause  of  that 
prelate's  failure  in  his  attempt  upon  the  pope- 
dom.  In  spite  of  the  intrigues  of  his  enemy, 
cardinal  Alain,  the  conclave  had,  it  seems, 
elected  Bessarion  to  the  vacant  triple- 
crown,  and  a  deputation  was  actually  des- 
patched to  salute  him  pope,  when  Perot  posi- 
tively refused  to  admit  them,  as  his  eminence 
was,  he  said,  busily  engaged  at  his  studies. 
The  prelates,  disgusted  at  the  disrespect  shown 
them,  retired  ;  and  Alain,  seizing  upon  the 
circumstance,  prevailed  on  the  body  to  proceed 
to  a  fresh  electiou.  Perot  died  in  1480. — 
Biog.  Univ. 

PEROUSE  (JOHN  FRANCIS  GALAUT,  de 
la)  a  French  navigator,  distinguished  for  his 
talents,  and  still  more  remarkable  for  the  mys- 
tery attending  his  fate,  lie  was  born  at  Albi, 
in  Languedoc,  in  1741,  and  entered  at  an  early 
age  into  the  naval  service  of  his  country. 
During  the  American  war,  he  had  the  com- 
mand of  an  expedition  sent  to  Hudson's  bay, 
when  he  destroyed  the  trading  establishments 
of  the  English.  After  the  restoration  of  peace, 
the  French  government  having  determined  on 
the  prosecution  of  a  voyage  of  discovery,  M. 
de  la  Perouse  was  fixed  on  to  conduct  the  un- 
dertaking. Two  vessels,  the  Boussole  and  the 
Astrolabe,  were  placed  under  his  command  ; 


PER 

and  leaving  France  in  1785,  be  proceeded  to 
the  South  sea,  and  having  visited  the  coast  o' 
California,  and  other  places,  he  crossed  the 
Pacific,  to  continue  his  researches  on  the  east- 
ern coasts  and  islands  of  Asia.  In  April, 
1787,  the  ships  sailed  from  Manilla  towards 
the  north  ;  and  after  passing  the  islands  of 
Formosa,  Quelpaert,  the  coasts  of  Corea  arid 
Japan,  they  sailed  between  Chinese  Tartary 
and  Sagaleen  island,  where  they  lauded  ;  and 
at  length,  on  the  6th  of  September,  they  ar- 
rived at  the  harbour  of  St  Peter  and  St  Paul, 
at  Kamtschatcha.  There  they  stayed  to  refit 
the  ships,  and  they  experienced  the  utmost 
hospitality  from  the  Russian  local  authorities. 
The  commander  had  also  the  satisfaction  to 
receive  letters  from  France,  informing  him 
that  he  had  been  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
chef-d'escadre,  or  commodore,  which  event 
M.  Kastoff,  the  governor  of  Kamtschatcha,  as 
soon  as  he  heard  of  it,  celebrated  by  a  dis- 
charge of  all  the  artillery  of  the  place.  From 
St  Peter  and  St  Paul  Perouse  sent  copies  of 
his  journals,  &c.  to  France,  by  M.  de  Lesseps, 
who  proceeded  overland  across  Siberia  to  Pe- 
tersburg ;  and  on  the  30th  of  September  the 
vessels  sailed  in  search  of  farther  discoveries. 
They  crossed  the  equinoctial  line,  without 
meeting  with  any  land  till  the  6th  of  Decem- 
ber, when  they  saw  the  Navigators'  islands, 
and  a  few  days  after  they  landed  at  Muouna, 
one  of  that  groupe.  Here  M.  de  Langle,  the 
captain  of  the  Astrolabe,  M.  Lamauon,  the 
naturalist  attached  to  the  expedition,  and  ten 
other  persons,  were  killed  in  what  appears  to 
have  been  an  unprovoked  attack  of  the  natives. 
After  this  misfortune,  Perouse  visited  Oyolava, 
an  island  near  Maouua,  and  then  steered  for 
the  English  colony  in  New  South  Wales.  On 
the  23rd  of  January,  1788,  they  made  the 
coast  of  New  Holland,  and  on  the  26th  an- 
chored in  Botany  bay,  at  the  very  time  gover- 
nor Philip,  with  the  whole  of  the  colonists 
embarked  under  his  direction,  was  sailing  out 
of  the  bay  to  the  then  newly-projected  settle- 
ment of  Port  Jackson.  The  French  left  Bo- 
tany-bay in  March,  and  in  a  letter  which  the 
commodore  wrote  in  the  preceding  month,  he 
stated  his  intention  to  continue  his  researches 
till  December,  when  he  expected  to  arrive  at 
the  Isle  of  France.  This  was  the  latest  direct 
intelligent  e  received  of  the  fate  of  the  <  xpe- 
dition  ;  andM.  d'Entrecasieaux,  who  was  des- 
patched by  the  French  government,  in  1791, 
in  search  of  Perouse,  was  unable  to  trace  the 
course  he  had  taken,  or  gain  any  clue  to  the 
catastrophe  which  had  befallen  liim  and  his 
companions.  Very  recently,  however,  the  at- 
tention of  the  public  has  been  excited  towards 
this  mysterious  affair,  by  a  notice  published 
by  the  French  minister  of  die  marine,  purport- 
ing, that  an  American  captain  had  declared, 
that  he  had  seen  in  the  hands  of  one  of  tho 
natives  of  an  island  in  the  tract  between 
Lonisiade  and  New  Caledonia,  a  cross  of  the 
oid'  r  of  St  Louis,  and  some  medals,  which 
appeared  to  have  been  procured  from  the 
shipwreck  of  La  Perouse.  In  consequence  oi 
this  information,  the  commander  of  a  vessej 


PER 

.vhich  sailed  from  Toulon,  in  April,  1826,  on 
a  voyage  of  discovery,  received  orders  to  make 
researches  in  the  quarter  specified,  in  order  to 
restore  to  their  country  any  of  the  shipwrecked 
crew  who  may  yet  remain  in  existence.  Other 
intelligence,  relative  to  the  wreck  of  two  large 
vessels,  on  two  different  islands  of  the 
New  Hebrides,  was  obtained  by  captain 
Dillon,  the  commander  of  an  English  vessel 
at  Tucopia,  in  his  passage  from  Valparaiso 
to  Pondicherry,  in  May,  1826,  in  conse- 
quence of  which  that  officer  has  been 
despatched  to  the  New  Hebrides  to  ascertain 
the  authenticity  of  the  report  he  had  received. 
The  voyage  of  La  Perouse  was  published  in 
French  at  Paris,  1797,  4  vols.  4to  ;  and  an 
English  translation,  in  3  vols.  8vo,  appeared  in 
1798,  from  which  the  preceding  account  is 
partly  derived. — Biog.  Univ.  Atlas  News- 
paper, vol.  ii. 

PERRAULT,  the  name  of  four  brothers, 
who  flourished  at  Paris,  of  which  city  they 
were  natives,  in  the  seventeenth  century. — 
CLAUDE,  the  elder,  born  in  1613,  was  origi- 
nally a  physician,  but  having  a  decided  taste 
for  the  study  of  architecture,  made  that  sci- 
ence his  profession,  and  rose  to  great  eminence 
in  it,  as  well,  as  in  painting  and  sculpture,  all 
which  attainments  he  is  said  to  have  acquired 
without  any  other  instructor  or  assistance  than 
his  own  genius  and  application.  Voltaire  calls 
his  celebrated  fafade  to  the  palace  of  the 
Louvre,  "  one  of  the  most  august  moaunie-nts 
of  architecture  in  the  known  world."  He 
published  a  translation  of  Vitrnvius,  with 
highly  finished  drawings  of  .his  own,  folio, 
1673,  at  the  request  of  Colbert ;  as  also,  "  Me- 
moires  pour  servir  a  1'Histoire  naturelle  des 
Animaux,"  folio,  2  vols.  1676,  with  plates; 
"  Essais  de  Physique,"  12mo,  4  vols.  1688, 
the  year  of  his  decease;  and  "  Recueil  de 
plusieurs  Machines  de  nouvelle  Invention." 
4to,  published  two  years  after  his  death. — 
CHATU.ES,  born  in  1626,  equalled  his  brother 
in  his  love  for  the  fine  arts,  and  rose  far  above 
him  ;is  a  man  of  letters.  He  was  educated  by 
his  father,  a  French  advocate,  for  his  own  pro- 
fession, at  the  college  of  Beauvais.  Being 
fortuuate  enough  however  to  attract  the  no- 
tice of  Colbert,  that  minister  appointed  him 
secretary  to  a  society,  which,  founded  under 
his  own  auspices,  eventually  ripened  into  that 
•>f  the  Academic  des  Inscriptions.  In  this 
situation  he  gave  such  satisfaction,  that  his 
patron  afterwards  gave  him  in  succession,  the 
posts  of  comptroller  of  the  buildings  and  comp- 
troller general  of  finance,  which  he  held  till 
(he  disgrace  of  Colbert  in  1683,  and  then  re- 
fired  with  a  well-earned  reputation  into  private 
life.  His  principal  work,  and  one  which  gave 
tse  to  an  animated,  not  to  say  an  acrimonious 
dispute,  between  Boileau  and  himself,  is  his 
"  Siecle  de  Louis  le  Grand,"  in  which  he 
Inaintains  the  superiority  of  modern  writers 
Over  those  of  antiquity.  His  other  productions 
ftre,  "  La  Peinture,"  1668,  a  poem  of  conside- 
rable merit,  very  popular  in  its  day  ;  "  Le  Ca- 
binet ties  Beaux  Arts,"  folio  ;  a  metrical 
translation  into  French  of  the  fables  of  Faer- 


PER 

nus  ;  "  A  Parallel  between  the  Antients  and 
Moderns  ;"  "  Reflexions  on  the  Writings  oi 
Longinus,"  &c.  His  deatli  took  place  in  170o. 
— PIERRE  PERRAULT  also  held  a  situation  in 
the  financial  department  under  Colbert,  and 
wrote,  "  De  I'Origine  des  Fontaines." — NI- 
CHOLAS was  the  author  of  a  work  entitled, 
"  La  Morale  des  Jesuites  ;"  and  died  a  doctoi 
of  the  Sorbonne,  in  1661.  —  Biog.  Univ. 
Moreri. 

PERKIER  (CHARLES)  or  DUPERRIER, 
a  French  poet,  was  born  at  Aix  in  Provence, 
and  first  devoted  himself  to  Latin  versification. 
Having  a  quarrel  with  the  celebrated  Santeuil, 
whom  he  boasted  of  having  formed,  they  re- 
ferred their  differences  to  Menage,  who  de- 
cided in  favour  of  Perrier,  and  called  him  "  The 
Prince  of  Lyric  Poets."  Perrier  afterwards 
applied  himself  to  French  poetry,  and  took 
Maiherbe  for  his  model ;  but  in  this  he  was 
not  very  successful,  though  he  twice  gained 
the  prize  of  the  academy.  He  died  in  1692. 
His  Latin  poems  may  be  found  in  various  col- 
lections, but  they  have  never  been  printed  se- 
parately.— Biog.  Univ.  art.  Duperrier. 

PERRIER  (FRANCIS)  a  French  painter 
and  engraver,  was  born  at  Macon  in  Bur- 
gundy, about  1590.  His  father  opposing  his 
design  of  becoming  a  painter,  he  ran  away 
from  home,  and  in  partnership  with  a  blind 
mau,  he  begged  his  way  to  Rome,  where  he 
became  intimate  with  Lanfranco,  who  admit- 
ted him  iuto  his  school.  On  his  return  to 
France  he  passed  some  time  at  Lyons,  where 
he  painted  the  Carthusians'  cloister.  He  then 
proceeded  to  Paris,  and  was  employed  by 
Simon  Vouet.  In  1635  he  returned  to  Rome, 
where  he  applied  himself  to  engraving  the 
principal  antique  statues  and  bas-reliefs.  He 
stayed  there  ten  years,  and  on  the  dea'th  of 
Simon  Vouet  he  went  again  to  Paris,  where 
he  became  professor  of  the  academy,  and  died 
in  1660. — Pilkington.  Strutt.  D'Argen- 
ville. 

PERRON  (JACUUES  DAVY  du)  cardinal  of 
St  Agnes,  a  prelate  highly  distinguished  by 
his  talents,  natural  and  acquired.  He  was 
born  of  a  noble  Huguenot  family,  Nov.  25, 
1556,  and  exhibited  so  singular  a  specimen  of 
precocity  in  literary  attainments,  that  at  the 
age  of  twenty  he  was  introduced  to  Henry  III 
of  France  as  a  "  perfect  scholar."  In  fact  he 
appears  at  this  period  to  have  been  familiarly 
versed  in  all  the  learned  languages,  especially 
in  Hebrew,  as  well  as  in  the  sciences  of  ethics 
and  mathematics,  for  the  acquisition  of  much 
of  which  he  was  indebted  solely  to  his  own 
unassisted  efforts  and  industry.  The  perusal 
of  the  works  of  Aquinas  is  assigned  as  the 
cause  which  conduced  principally  to  his  aban- 
doning the  mode  of  faith  in  which  he  had 
been  brought  up,  and  reconciling  himself  to 
the  church  of  Rome  ;  less  candid  scrutinizers 
have  however  found  reasons  equally  strong  for 
his  adoption  of  this  measure,  in  the  honours 
and  rewards  to  which  it  led.  Certain  it  is, 
that  his  zeal  for  making  converts  wan  soon 
only  equalled  by  his  subtlety  and  ingenuity  aa 
a  controversialist,  while  his  efforts  at  lengt!; 


P  E  Ii 

reached  their  highest  pinnacle  of  success  in 
making  a  nominal  proselyte  at  least,  of  Henry 
IV.  In  the  service  of  this  prince  he  dis- 
tinguished himself  as  an  active  and  able  diplo- 
matist, especially  in  his  negociations  with  the 
papal  see,  carried  on  for  the  purpose  of  pro- 
curing his  master's  formal  absolution,  and  in 
conducting  which  he  was  fortunate  enough  to 
secure  the  esteem  of  both  parties.  At  the 
special  request  of  Henry,  lie  now  composed 
his  "  Reply  to  King  James  the  First  of  Great 
Britain, "and  received  in  reward  of  his  nume- 
rous services,  the  bishopric  of  Evreux,  and  the 
archbishopric  of  Sens,  with  the  dignity  of 
grand  almoner  of  France,  in  succession.  Pope 
Clement  VIII  at  length  put  the  crowning  ter- 
mination to  his  career  of  greatness,  by  elevat- 
ing him  to  the  purple.  Beside  the  treatise 
already  mentioned,  Du  Perron  composed  ano- 
ther, in  answer  to  the  celebrated  Da  Plessis 
Mornay,  "  On  the  Sacrament  of  the  Eucha- 
rist ;"  an  account  of  his  conference  with  this 
his  great  rival  in  ability,  is  also  to  be  found 
among  his  works,  which  were  collected  and 
published  after  his  decease,  in  three  volumes, 
folio,  with  a  life  prefixed.  His  death  took 
place  at  Paris,  in  1618. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 
Moreri. 

PERRONET  (JoiiN  RODOLPHUS)  an  emi- 
nent French  engineer  of  the  last  century.  He 
was  born  in  1708,  and  studied  the  principles  of 
architecture  under  Beaufire.  The  bridges  of 
Orleans,  Neuilly,  and  Nantes,  and  the  canal 
of  Burgundy,  are  among  the  monuments  of  his 
skill,  as  well  as  some  of  the  finest  roads inFrance, 
which  lie  improved  in  his  capacity  of  director- 
general  of  roads  and  bridges.  The  manage- 
ment of  the  school  of  engineers  at  Paris  was 
confided  to  his  superintendence,  and  several 
literary  societies,  foreign  and  domestic,  admit- 
ted him  among  their  members.  The  Royal 
Societies  of  London  and  Stockholm  among  the 
former,  the  Academy  of  Sciences  among  the 
latter  ;  the  king  also  marking  the  sense  he  en- 
tertained jf  his  merits,  by  conferring  on  him 
the  cross  ~>i  the  order  of  St  Michael.  He 
published  a  work  "  On  the  Mode  of  construct- 
ing grand  Arches  of  Stone,  from  200  to  300 
Feet  in  Width  ;"  and  a  "  Description  of 
Bridges,"  embracing  those  of  his  own  con- 
struction. His  death  took  place  at  Pans  in 
1794. —  Biog.  Univ. 

PERROT,  sieur  d' Ablancourt  (  NICHOLAS) 
a  distinguished  member  of  the  Fiench  Aca- 
demy, born  at  Chalons  sur  Marne,  in  1606. 
Being  of  a  Protestant  family,  he  was  sent  for 
education  to  the  college  of  Sedan,  where  he 
studied  the  law,  and  he  was  admiited  to  prac- 
tise at  the  bar  ;  but  he  quitted  his  profession 
for  that  of  literature,  and  employed  his  pen 
with  great  industry,  especially  in  translations 
of  the  classics.  He  possessed  a  sound  judg- 
ment and  lively  fancy,  and  wrote  with  free- 
dom and  elegance,  considering  the  period  at 
which  he  lived  ;  but  his  works  are  in  general 
superseded  by  the  more  correct  productions  of 
succeeding  writers.  Among  the  authors  he 
translated  are,  Minutius  Felix,  Tacitus,  Lu- 
cian,  Arr'an,  Thucydides,  Xenophon,  Caesar, 


PER 

and  Frontinus.     After  having  resided  at  Paris 
for  some  time,  he  left  it  in  consequence  of  the 
civil  wars,  and  went  to  reside  on  his  estate  at 
Ablancourt,  where  he  died  in    1664.     Perrot 
displayed  an  unusual  degree  of  versatility  as  to 
religion  ;  for  after  relinquishing  the  profession 
of  Protestantism,  ir,  which  he  had  been  edu- 
cated, he  rtturned  to  it  again.     There  is  how- 
ever no  reason  to  question  his  sincerity,  as  in- 
terested motives  would  rather  have  leu  him  to 
continue  a  Catholic. — Diet.  Hist.     Biog.  Univ 
PERRY  (  JAMES)  a  native  of  Aberdeen,  in 
Scotland,  the  son  of  an  eminent  builder,  born 
October  30,  1756.    He  received  the  rudiments 
of  education  at  the  chapel  of  Garioch,  under 
the  rev.  W.   Farquhar,  (father  of  sir   Walter 
Farquhar,)   whence    he  was  removed  to  the 
high  school  in    his  native  city.     In  1771  he 
was  admitted  of  the  maiischal  college,  in  the 
university  there,   and  commenced  a  course  of 
study  for  the  Scottish  bar.     His  father  failing 
in    business  in    1774,    he   proceeded   first   to 
Edinburgh,  and   afterwards  to  England,  with 
the  view  of  at  once  completing  his  education, 
and  gaining  a  livelihood.     In  pursuance  of  the 
latter  object,  he  engaged  as  clerk  to  Mr  Din- 
widdie,  a  manufacturer  at   Manchester,  with 
whom  he  remained  two  years,  employing  his 
leisure  hours  in  the  perusal  of  the  best  authors, 
and  cultivating  the  friendship  of  several  of  the 
principal  inhabitants,  by  the  display  of  his  ta- 
lents in  a  society  established  there  for  the  pur- 
pose of  moral  and  philosophical  discussion,  as 
well  as  by  several  literary  essays.     In  the  be- 
ginning of  1777  he  quitted  Manchester  for  the 
metropolis,    and  soon  after  was   retained    by 
Messrs.  Richardson  and  Urquhart  as  a  writer 
in  the  "  General  Advertiser"  and  the  "  Lon- 
don Evening  Post,''   in  which  capacity  he  re- 
ported the  memorable  trials  of  admirals  Kep- 
pel  and  Palliser,  sending  up  from  Portsmouth 
daily,  and  unassisted,  eight  columns   of  pro- 
ceedings taken  by  him  in  court,  a  circumstance 
which  raised  the  sale  of  the  paper  many  thou- 
sands a  day.     In  1782  he  projected,  and   was 
the  first  editor  of  the  "  European  Magazine," 
which  situation  he   quitted  in  little  more  than 
a  year  for  that  of  editor  of  the  "  Gazetteer," 
with  an  express  stipulation  that  he  was  to  be 
left  to  the  free  exercise  of  his  own  judgment 
and  political  opinion  in  the  conducting   of  it. 
In  undertaking  this  task,  he  had  the  merit  of 
suggesting  an   improvement  in  the  manner  of 
reporting  the  debates  in   parliament,  substi- 
tuting the  employment  of  a  succession  of  re- 
porters for  that  of  a  single  one,  as  had  hitherto 
been  the  practice.     By  these  means  he  com- 
pletely superseded  Mr  Woodfall'a  accounts,  in 
the  "  Morning  Chronicle,''  a  paper  which  he 
afterwards  purchased  himself,  and  carried  on 
(after  the  death  of  his  friend  Mr.  Gray,  who 
joined  him  for  a  few  months  in  conducting  it,) 
as  sole  editor  and  proprietor.     Mr.  Perry  iiad 
more  than  once  an  opportunity  of  coming  into 
parliament,  being  solicited  to  that  end  both  by 
Mr.   Pitt  and  lord  Shelburn  ;  but  firm  to  the 
cause  he  had  adopted,  he  declined  both  offers 
He  was  twice  prosecuted  under  ex  ofticio  in- 
formations, the  first  time  for  printing  the  "  Re- 


P  E  R 

solutions  of  the  Derby  Meeting  ;"  and  secondly 
for  a  paragraph  respecting  his  present  Ma- 
jesty, then  prince  of  Wales,  copied  from  the 
Examiner.  On  the  former  occasion  he  was 
defended  by  lord  Erskine,  on  the  latter  he 
pleaded  his  cause  in  person  with  great  tact  and 
ability,  and  both  times  obtained  a  verdict  of 
acquittal.  For  a  considerable  time  previously  to 
his  decease,  his  declining  health  compelled 
him  to  relinquish  all  share  in  the  conduct  of 
his  journal,  and  for  the  four  last  months  of  his 
life  he  had  retired  altogether  from  London  to 
Brighton,  where  he  died  December  4,  1821,  in 
his  sixty- fifth  year.  For  a  great  many  years 
the  Morning  Chronicle,  under  the  management 
of  Mr  Perry,  might  be  deemed  a  sort  of  offi- 
cial organ  of  the  Whig  opposition,  a  feature 
which  it  has  gradually  lost  since  his  death, 
partly  in  consequence  of  the  merging  of  the 
Whigs  into  a  more  general  party  distinction,  but 
probably  iu  a  still  greater  degree  occasioned  by 
the  loss  of  an  individual,  who  had  for  so  many 
years  enjoyed  the  friendship  and  confidence  of 
their  principal  leaders.  Mr  Perry  died  in  pos- 
session of  a  very  handsome  fortune,  amassed 
in  a  long  course  of  useful  industry  and  active 
exertion. — Ann.  Biog. 

PERRY  (SAMPSON)  was  born  at  Aston 
near  Birmingham,  and  educated  for  the  medi- 
cal profession.  Being  convicted  in  1796  of  a 
libel  published  in  the  "  Argus,"  an  opposition 
paper,  of  which  he  was  then  editor,  he  with- 
crew  to  Paris,  where  he  became  the  friend, 
and  subsequently  the  fellow-prisoner  of  Tho- 
mas Paine,  in  conjunction  with  whom  he  nar- 
rowly escaped  the  guillotine  during  the  reign 
of  terror.  Their  execution  was  only  delayed 
by  the  circumstance  of  the  jailor  accidentally 
turning  on  its  swivel  their  dungeon  door,  by 
which  means  the  "  red  chalk,"  the  sign  of 
destruction,  was  left  in  the  inside  of  the  pri- 
son during  the  visit  of  the  officers.  The  mis- 
take was  soon  discovered,  but  fortunately  for 
the  captives  the  critical  moment  had  arrived, 
Robespierre  became  himself  a  victim,  and  they 
were  liberated.  On  his  return  to  England, 
Mr  Perry  was  imprisoned  on  his  outlawry,  but 
liberated  on  a  change  of  ministry.  He  after- 
wards purchased  the  Statesman  newspaper, 
which  he  edited  a  few  years,  and  then  resold. 
He  published  several  political  tracts,  and  died 
suddenly  of  the  rupture  of  an  artery  of  the 
heart,  on  the  day  in  which  he  was  liberated 
from  prison  under  the  insolvent  act,  early  in 
1823.  He  was  seventy-eight  years  of  age. — 
Ann.  Biog. 

PERSIUS  FLACCUS  (AULUS)  a  cele- 
brated Roman  satirist,  born  AD.  34,  at  Vol- 
terra  in  Etruria.  He  lost  his  father  when 
young,  and  being  sent  to  Rome,  he  studied 
grammar  and  rhetoric,  and  afterwards  became 
the  pupil  of  Cornutus,  the  Stoic  philosopher, 
with  whom  he  formed  an  intimate  friendship. 
He  was  also  acquainted  with  Csesius  Bassus, 
the  lyric  poet,  Lucan,  author  of  the  Pharsalia, 
and  the  philosopher  Seneca.  Persius  belonged 
to  the  equestrian  order,  but  he  appears  to  have 
held  no  public  office,  having  died  prematurely, 
AD.  65.  His  works  consist  of  six  satires, 


P  ES 

displaying  elevation  of  sentiment  and  elegance 
of  style,  occasionally  obscured  by  sententious 
brevity  of  expression,  and  by  allusions  to  the 
manners  and  occurrences  of  his  time.  They 
have  been  often  published  in  conjunction  with 
the  satires  of  Juvenal,  as  in  the  very  useful 
edition  of  Madan,  which  contains  a  prose 
translation  and  notes,  1789,  2  vols.  8vo,  re- 
printed in  1813.  Among  the  principal  poet- 
ical translations  of  Persius  may  be  specified 
those  of  Dryden,  Dr  Brewster,  Drummond, 
Howes,  and  Glfford. —  Vossius  de  Poet.  LaU 
Liihini  Pnilegnm,  in  Persium.  Edit. 

PERUGINO  (PiETRo)  an  eminent  Italian 
painter,  whose  family  name  was  Vanucci, 
was  born  at  Perugia  in  1446,  and  was  the 
disciple  of  Andrea  Verocchio  at  Florence.  He 
rose  to  considerable  eminence,  and  was  em- 
ployed by  Sixtus  IV  to  paint  several  pieces  for 
his  chapel  at  Rome.  On  his  return  to  Flo- 
rence, his  avaricious  disposition  involved  him. 
in  a  quarrel  with  Michael  Angelo,  and  he  was 
so  severely  satirized  by  the  Florentine  poets, 
that  he  was  obliged  to  retire  tu  Perugia.  The 
same  vice  proved  the  cause  of  his  death,  for 
being  in  the  habit  of  carrying  all  his  money 
about  him  for  safety,  he  was  once  robbed,  and 
though  he  recovered  the  greater  part  of  his 
property,  his  grief  had  been  too  severe  for  his 
strength,  and  he  died  in  1:324.  Ilis  touch 
was  light,  and  his  pictures  were  highly  finished; 
his  female  figures  were  particularly  giaceful, 
but  his  manner  was  stiff"  and  dry,  and  his  out- 
lines were  often  incorrect. — PUkington. 

PERUZZI  (BALDASSARE)  an  eminent  pain- 
ter and  architect,  was  born  in  1481  at  Acca- 
jano,  in  the  diocese  of  Volterra.  He  went  to 
Rome,  where  he  was  employed  by  Alexander 
VI,  in  decorating  his  palaces,  and  al>o  in  se- 
veral chapels  and  convents,  which  be  painted 
in  fresco  in  a  very  grand  style.  The  branch 
in  which  he  particularly  distinguished  bun- 
self,  was  in  perspective  and  architectural 
views,  which  he  represented  with  such  fidelity 
and  precision,  and  so  able  a  management  of 
the  cbiar-oscuro,  as  to  become  perfect  illusion  ; 
his  imitations  of  the  bassi-rehevi  were  also 
much  admired.  One  of  his  most  esteemed 
works  is  at  the  Farnesina  at  Rome,  in  which 
he  has  represented  the  history  of  Perseus, 
embellished  with  ornaments  in  imitation  of 
stucco,  so  admirably  executed,  that  Titian  is 
said  at  first  to  have  been  deceived  by  it.  The 
life  of  Peruzzi  was  a  series  of  disappointment 
and  misfortune.  Having  with  great  difficulty 
saved  a  little  property,  he  was  plundered  <  f  it 
at  the  sacking  of  Rome,  and  he  was  finally 
poisoned  by  the  jealousy  of  a  rival  in  1536,  in 
the  prime  of  his  life.  He  is  said  to  have  writ- 
ten a  treatise  on  the  antiquities  of  Rome,  and 
a  commentary  upon  Vitruvius. — Tiraboschi. 
Bryan's  Diet,  cf  Paint,  and  Eng. 

PESSELIER  (CHARLES  STEPHEN)  a  French 
poet,  was  born  at  Paris  in  1712.  He  was 
brought  up  to  the  bar,  and  notwithstanding  his 
disinclination  to  his  profession,  he  regularly  at- 
tended business,  and  became  the  assistant  to 
M.  Lallemand  of  Bety,  a  farmer -general.  He 
wrote  two  or  three  comedies  in  verse,  entitled 


P  ES 

"  Ecole  du  Temps,"  and  "  Esope  au  Par- 
nass;1,"  which  were  liij.hl,  successful,  and 
"  La  Mascarade  du  Paniasse,"  which  was 
never  performed  ;  besides  some  fables  which 
were  esteemed.  lie  was  also  the  author  of 
"  Letters  on  Education,"  and  a  "  Discourse  on 
the  Customary  Laws  of  the  Kingdom."  lie 
died  in  1763. — Diet.  Hist, 

PESTALOZZI  or  PESTALUZ  (HENRY)  a 
distinguished  practical  philosopher,  famous  as 
the  inventor  of  a  new  mode  of  instruction  for 
youth.  He  was  born  of  a  good  family  at  Zu- 
rich, January  12,  1745.  Left  an  orphan  in 
his  infancy,  and  without  fortune,  he  acquired 
early  habits  of  industry,  and  adopted  from  in- 
clination the  employment  of  a  teacher.  Guided 
by  experience,  he  formed  a  novel  plan  for 
ameliorating  the  lot  of  the  indigent,  by  fur- 
nishing them  with  the  means  of  mental  im- 
provement ;  and  he  developed  his  ideas  in  a 
fictitious  narrative,  entitled  "  Lienhard  and 
Gertrude,"  printed  at  Leipsic  in  1781-1787, 
•which  has  passed  through  many  editions,  and 
been  translated  into  most  European  languages, 
festalozzi  was  powerfully  seconded  in  his  phi- 
lanthropic projects  by  M.  Tscharner,  bailli  of 
Wildeustein,  a  rich  Swiss  proprietor,  whose 
character  he  has  traced  in  his  romance  under 
the  appellation  of  Arner.  He  composed  many 
other  works,  with  a  view  to  the  same  object  ; 
among  which  may  be  mentioned  a  weekly  pa- 
per for  the  country,  the  numbers  of  which  were 
repubhshed  in  2  vols.  8vo  ;  "  Letters  on  the 
Education  of  the  Children  of  Indigent  Pa- 
rents ;"  "  Reflections  on  the  Progress  of  Na- 
ture in  the  developement  [education]  of  the 
Human  Species  ;"  "  Images  for  my  Abece- 
dary, or  Elements  of  Logic  for  my  Use."  In 
1799  the  Helvetic  government  appointed  Pes- 
talozzi  director  of  an  orphan  house  at  Stantz, 
in  the  canton  of  Underwald  ;  and,  on  the  dis- 
solution of  that  establishment,  the  chateau  of 
Burgdorf,  four  leagues  from  Berne,  was  granted 
him,  where  he  carried  on  his  plans  of  tuition. 
The  number  of  pupils  which  flocked  to  him, 
induced  him  to  remove  his  seminary  to  the 
castle  of  Yverdun.  in  1803  the  canton  of 
Zurich  nominated  Pestalozzi  member  of  the 
Helvetic  Consulta,  summoned  by  Buonaparte 
to  Paris  ;  and  he  subsequently  received  from 
the  emperor  of  Russia  the,  order  of  St  Wla- 
dimir.  He  closed  a  long  life  of  labours  for  the 
benefit  of  society  on  the  17ih  of  February, 
1827,  at  Brugg  iu  Switzerland.  Messrs. 
Amaury  Duval,  Chavaunes,  Jullien,  Ray- 
mond, and  others,  have  published  accounts  of 
Pestalo/.zi's  mode  of  instruction  ;  and  the  Hel- 
vetic Diet  having  appointed  a  commission  to 
examine  his  establishment,  the  abbe  Girard 
of  Fribourg,  one  of  the  members,  drew  up  a  re- 
port on  the  subject,  published  in  1805. — 
JBiiiu-.  A'oHw.  des  Con  temp.  Edit. 

PESTEL  (FREDERICK  WILLIAM)  a  cele- 
brated German  jurist,  born  at  Rinte In  in  West- 
phalia in  1724.  He  became  professor  of  pub- 
lic law  at  Levden  in  1765,  when  he  published 
a  discourse,  "  De  damnis  ex  ncglectu  Juris 
publici  iu  civitates  redundantibus."  The  revo- 
lution of  1795  occasioned  the  removal  of  Pes- 


P  E 

tel  from  his  office,  and  he  retired  to  German? 
but  in  180.)  he  was  honourably  recalled,  aad 
resumed  his  functions.  He  died  in  1805.  His 
principal  works  are,  "  Fundamenta  Jurispru- 
dent^ naUiralis  de  lineata  in  usum  auditorum," 
1773,  of  which  a  fourth  edition,  much  en- 
larged, appeared  in  1788,  and  which  has  been 
translated  into  French,  Dutch,  and  German  ; 
and  "  Commentarii  de  Republics  Batavica," 

1  vol.  8vo,  in  the  new  edition  of  1798,  aug- 
mented to  3  vols.  8vo. — Bhg.  Nuuv.  des  Cont. 

PETAGNA  (VINCENT)  an  Italian  physi- 
cian and  botanist,  born  at  Naples  in  1734. 
He  was  educated  among  the  Jesuits,  after 
which  he  studied  medicine.  In  1770  he  be- 
came attached  In  the  service  of  prince  Kau- 
nitz,  the  Austrian  minister  at  Naples,  with 
whom  he  travelled  in  Italy  and  Germany  ;  and 
on  his  return  to  his  own  country,  he  employed 
himself  in  setting  in  order  the  collections  of  ob- 
jects relating  to  natural  history,  and  especially 
insects,  which  he  had  collected.  He  then 
made  a  visit  to  Sicily,  to  examine  the  produc- 
tions of  that  island.  Subsequently  he  became 
professor  of  botany  in  the  university  of  Na- 
ples ;  and  he  was  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  So- 
ciety of  London,  and  other  scientific  associa- 
tions. His  death  took  place  at  Naples,  Octo- 
ber 6,  1810.  He  published  "  Institutiones 
Botanies,"  Naples,  1785,  5  vols.  8vo  ;  "  Spe- 
cimen Insectorum  CalabriEe  ulterioris,"  1785, 
4to  ;  "  Institutiones  Entomologicae,"  1790, 

2  vols.    8vo  ;  "  Delle  Facolta  de.lle  Piante,' 
1797,  3  vols.  8vo. — Biog.  Nouv.  des  Contemp. 

PETAU  (DENYS)  or  Dionysius  Petavius,  a 
learned  Jesuit,  born  at  Orleans  in  France, 
August  21,  1583.  Such  was  his  early  profi- 
ciency in  literature,  that  he  became  professorof 
philosophy  at  Bourges  at  the  age  of  nineteen. 
In  1605  he  entered  into  the  order  of  the  Je- 
suits, making  his  profession  at  their  college  of 
Clermont  at  Paris,  and  he  was  afterwards 
sent  to  Rheims  in  Picardy  to  teach  rhetoric. 
Thence  he  was  removed  to  the  college  of  La 
Fleche,  in  the  province  of  Anjou,  and  finally 
to  the  college  of  Clermont  at  Paris,  where  his 
death  took  place  December  11,  1652.  Father 
Petau  displayed  a  universal  genius,  and  ac- 
quired a  critical  knowledge  of  the  most  im- 
portant living  arid  dead  languages,  and  more 
than  a  superficial  acquaintance  with  all  ths 
liberal  arts  and  sciences.  He  composed  tra- 
gedies, and  wrote  Latin,  Greek,  and  even 
Hebrew  poetry,  which  has  been  praised  by 
Grotius.  But  Petau  owes  his  fame  to  his 
writings  on  history,  chronology,  and  divi- 
nity. His  treatise,  entitled  "  Opus  de  Doc- 
trina  Temporum,"  1627,  1630,  3  vols.  folio  ; 
comprises  a  vast  mass  of  erudition  relative  tff. 
the  synchronisms  of  ancient  history,  of  which 
almost  all  subsequent  writers  on  the  subjec* 
have  availed  themselves ;  and  his  abridgment 
of  this  great  work,  called  "  Rationarium  Tem- 
porum," is  one  of  the  best  compendiums  of 
general  history  extant.  In  his  "  Opus  de 
Theologicis  Dogmatibus,"  3  vols.  folio,  he 
displays  an  equal  extent  of  learning  in  dis- 
cussing the  doctrines  of  Christianity.  Among 
the  other  publications  of  this  celebrated  writer 


PET 

are,  "  Uranologion,"  folio;  "  Tabula:  Chro- 
nologiciB  Regum,"  and  editions  of  the  works 
of  Synesius  and  Epiphanius. — Perrault.  Mo- 
reri.  Bing*  Unii\ 

PETER  OF  BLOIS,  or  PETRUS  BLE- 
SENSIS,  a  learned  ecclesiastic  of  the  twelfth 
century,  a  native  of  Blois  in  France,  who 
settling  in  England  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II, 
obtained  the  archdeaconry  of  Bath,  and  after- 
wards that  of  London.  He  was  the  intimate 
friend  of  John  of  Salisbury,  to  whom  he  wrote 
a  number  of  epistles  still  extant,  containing 
some  interesting  facts  and  observations  re- 
lating to  the  times  in  which  he  lived.  Besides 
his  epistles,  he  wrote  books  "  De  Studio  Sa- 
pientiiB ;"  "  De  Omcio  Episcopi  ;"  "  De 
Vita  Clericorum  curialium,"  &c.  He  died  in 
1200. — Trithemins.  Cave  de  Script.  Eccles. 

PETER,  surnamed  Chrysologus,  a  Roman 
Catholic  saint,  was  born  at  Imola  in  the  fifth 
century,  and  was  educated  by  Cornelius,  bishop 
of  that  city.  He  was  elected  bishop  of  Ra- 
venna in -133,  and  died  before  4.51.  He  ac- 
quired the  surname  of  Chrysologus  from  his 
great  eloquence,  the  interpretation  of  that  word 
being  golden  speaker.  He  wrote  a  great  num- 
ber of  homilies  in  a  quaint  style,  but  concise 
and  elegant ;  also  "  A  Letter  to  Eutyches,  the 
Archimandrite,"  in  which  he  declares  against 
the  sentiments  of  that  monk,  and  expresses 
Us  admiration  of  the  conduct  of  the  patriarch 
Flavianus.  The  best  edition  of  St  Peter  Chry- 
sologus is  that  printed  at  Augsburg,  1758, 
folio. — Cave.  Dnpin.  Son'/  Oiwmust. 

PETER  DE  CLUGNY  or  PETER  (he 
VENERABLE,  a  French  monk,  was  de- 
scended from  the  noble  family  of  the  counts 
de  Monhoissier,  and  was  born  in  Auvergne  in 
1093.  He  became  abbot  of  Clugny  in  11 -?3, 
and  at  the  same  time  was  chosen  general  of 
his  order,  in  which  he  instituted  a  rigid  dis- 
cipline, lie  met  with  a  great  deal  of  trouble 
from  his  predecessor,  Pontius,  who  had  re- 
signed his  abbacy,  on  a  visit  to  the  Holy  Land, 
but  who,  upon  his  return,  endeavoured  to  get 
possession  of  it  again  by  force,  for  which  he 
was  excommunicated,  and  Peter  remained 
firm  in  his  seat.  He  then  applied  himself  to 
the  refutation  of  the  doctrine  of  Peter  de 
Biuys,  and  became  one  of  his  rigorous  perse- 
cutors. In  1140  he  affordtd  shelter  to  the 
unfortunate  Abelard,  and  by  his  interposition 
at  Home  he  prevented  the  execution  of  the 
unjust  sentence  which  had  been  pronounced 
against  him.  He  died  at  Clugny  in  1  lr>6.  He 
acquired  the  surname  of  Venerable  from  the 
travity  of  his  deportment.  He  wrote  a  treatise, 
«n  four  books,  against  the  Mahometans,  and 
caused  the  Koran  to  be  translated  into  Latin. 
His  works  consist  chiefly  of  polemical  pieces 
against  Jews,  Petrobrusians,  &c.  and  Letters, 
some  of  which  are  curious  and  interesting. 
I'hey  were  published  at  Ingoldstadt  in  Io46, 
anil  at  Paris,  with  the  notes  of  Duchesne  and 
Marrier,  in  1614.  This  last  edition  was  in- 
lerted  in  the  2'2d  volume  of  the  "  Bibl.  Patr." 
• — Care.  Diijihi.  Moreri.  Mitner's  Ch.  Hist. 
Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

PETER,  the  HERMIT,  a  fanatical  monk  of 


PET 

Amiens,  who,  about  the  close  of  the  eleventj 
century,  roused  almost  the  whole  of  Europ« 
to  the  first  of  those  attempts  upon  the  Sara, 
ceni^  power  in  Palestine,  since  famous  by  i_i.; 
name  of  the  Crusades.  Peter,  who  had  hinj- 
self  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem,  instigateu 
by  the  difficulties  and  indignities  he  had  under- 
gone in  his  progress  towards  the  holy  se- 
pulchre, flew  at  his  return  to  Pope  Martin  the 
Second,  and  under  the  auspices  of  that  Pontit? 
preached  to  an  assembly  of  more  than  four 
thousand  of  the  clergy,  with  thirty  thousand 
laymen  that  met  at  Piacenza,  the  apparently 
wild  project  of  precipitating  the  whole  of 
Christendom  into  the  plains  of  Syria,  in  order 
to  drive  the  Mahometans  from  Jerusalem. 
The  success  of  his  enthusiastic  harranguea 
was  proportionate  to  the  boldness  of  his 
scheme  and  the  ignorance  of  his  auditors, 
nearly  the  whole  of  whom  instantly  took  the 
vow,  and  their  example  was  soon  followed, 
according  to  contemporary  authority,  by  more 
than  six  millions  of  persons  in  various  coun 
tries,  who  professed  themselves  the  soldiers 
of  the  Cross.  Peter,  whose  personal  exer- 
tions among  the  Continental  provinces  had 
been  unremitting,  himself  led  the  way  through 
Hungary,  at  the  head  of  a  rude  undisciplined 
multitude  of  more  than  three  hundred  thousand 
men,  whose  excesses  on  the ir  route,  rousing  the 
population  of  the  countries  which  they  traversed 
in  their  march  against  them,  this  circum- 
stance, combined  with  disease  and  the  want 
of  the  necessaries  of  life  spread  devastation 
among  their  ranks,  so  that  a  comparatively 
small  number  survived  to  bring  their  mad 
attempt  to  an  issue  which  was  temporarily 
successful.  Peter  distinguished  himself  by 
his  personal  courage  at  the  storming  of  the 
holy  city,  and  having  witnessed  the  accom- 
plishment of  his  undertaking,  finding  too, 
perhaps,  his  influence  over  his  followers  di- 
minishing, returned  to  his  native  country, 
where  he  founded  the  Abbey  of  Noirmoutier, 
and  died  its  first  superior. — Moaheim.  Biog. 
Univ*  Gibbon. 

PETER  ALEXIEWITSCH  czar  of  Russia, 
usually  termed  Peter  the  Great,  was  born 
May  30,  167'2.  He  succeeded  to  the  crown 
on  the  death  of  his  half-brother  Feeder,  in 
168'2;  but  his  sister  Sophia,  an  ambitious 
princess,  excited  the  Strelitzes,  or  guards,  to 
massacre  the  maternal  relations  of  Peter,  and 
causing  his  elder  brother  Iwan  to  be  asso- 
ciated with  him  in  the  nominal  sovereignty, 
obtained  for  herself  the  regency,  and  assumed 
the  title  of  autocratrix.  In  1689  Peter  effected 
a  revolution  in  the  government,  freed  himself 
from  the  influence  of  the  princess  Sophia, 
whom  he  confined  in  a  monastery,  and  ba- 
nished her  minister  Galitzin.  Iwan  was  per- 
mitted to  retain  the  title  of  czar,  but  without 
any  share  of  authority,  and  he  survived  till 
1696,  when  he  died,  leaving  three  daughters, 
one  of  whom,  Anna  Iwanowna,  afterwards 
became  empress,  and  another  gave  birth  to 
the  unfortunate  Iwan  VI.  The  czar  Pe-ter 
had  no  sooner  become  emancipated  from  the 
power  of  his  sister  and  her  partizans,  than  lie 


P  E  T 

began  to  display  indications  of  that  extraordi- 
nary character  and  powerful  genius,  which 
enabled  him  to  project  and  execute  schemes 
of  importance  for  the  benefit  of  his  subjects 
and  bis  own  aggrandisement.  It  was  hi> 
object  to  raise  the  Russians  from  that  state  of 
semi-barbarism  in  which  they  were  plunged, 
and  to  fit  them  to  assume  a  place  among  the 
civilized  nations  of  Europe.  His  principal 
counsellor  was  a  Genevese,  named  Lefort, 
and  through  his  advice  he  paid  particular  at- 
tention to  naval  and  military  affairs.  In  1696 
be  engaged  in  person  in  the  siege  of  Azoff, 
which  place  was  ceded  to  him  in  1698,  by 
the  treaty  of  Carlowitz.  But  bis  most  sin- 
gular proceeding  was  that  of  travelling  as  a 
private  person  in  the  suite  of  his  own  ambas- 
sador. In  1697  he  undertook  his  first  tour 
through  different  European  countries,  to  study 
the  customs  and  manners  of  civilized  nations. 
He  went  through  Germany  to  Holland,  and  at 
Sardam  lie  worked  as  a  journeyman  ship- 
wright in  the  dock-yard,  and  acquired  a  prac- 
tical knowledge  of  various  useful  arts.  He 
then  visited  England,  where  be  continued  his 
studies  of  naval  architecture  ;  and  in  both 
countries  he  engaged  the  best  workmen  be 
could  procure,  and  sent  them  to  Russia. 
Having  proceeded  to  Vienna,  he  there  re- 
ceived intelligence  of  the  rebellion  of  the 
Strelitzes,  on  which  he  immediately  returned 
borne,  crushed  the  insurrection,  ml  having 
disbanded  that  body  of  troops,  be  caused  two 
thousand  of  them  to  be  executed,  and  distri- 
buted the  remainder  in  different  regiments. 
His  turbulent  sister,  who  had  prompted  this 
revolt,  was  destined  to  permanent  seclusion. 
The  most  important  transaction  in  the  reign 
of  this  prince  was  bis  war  with  Sweden,  which 
he  commenced  in  1700  by  the  siege  of  Narva. 
His  troops  being  but  imperfectly  acquainted 
with  European  tactics,  were  at  first  defeated 
by  the  well-disciplined  forces  of  Cbarles  Xll  ; 
but  while  the  latter  was  occupied  in  Poland 
and  Saxony,  Peter  repaired  his  error,  and 
made  himself  master  of  Tngria  and  Carelia. 
In  1702  he  took  Notebourg,  and  in  1703 
Neuenacbantz  on  the  Neva,  where  he  laid  the 
foundations  of  Petersburg!!,  which  afterwards 
became  the  seat  of  the  imperial  government. 
In  the  ensuing  yeais  be  conquered  Livonia 
and  Estbonia  ;  and,  at  length,  in  1709, 
Charles  XII  having  attacked  him  at  the  fa- 
mous battle  of  Pultowa,  the  Swedes  were 
entirely  defeated,  and  their  fugitive  monarch 
sought  an  asylum  in  Turkey.  Hostilities 
taking  place  between  the  Grand  Signior  and 
the  Czar,  the  Russians  under  his  command 
marched  into  Moldavia,  and  encamping  on  the 
banks  of  the  Pruth, they  were  surrounded  by  the 
enemy.  From  this  perilous  situation  tbey  were 
released  by  the  address  of  the  czarina  Cathe- 
rine, who  succeeded  in  bribing  the  grand  visir  to 
agree  to  a  negociation,  to  the  utter  mortifica- 
tion of  Charles  XII,  who  had  calculated  on 
sharing  in  a  victory  which  would  wipe  away 
tlie  disgrace  lie  bad  incurred  at  Pultowa. 
The  Russian  prince,  however,  was  obliged  to 
surrender  Azoff,  as  the  price  of  the  treaty  t 


P  E  T 

with  the  Turks,  which  he  signed  at  Pruth  in 
1711.  Charles  XII  being  killed,  the  wat 
with  the  Swedes  was  terminated  in  1721,  by 
the  peace  of  Nystedt,  in  virtue  of  which 
Russia  obtained  full  possession  of  Livonia, 
Esthonia,  Ingria,  and  part  of  Carelia  ;  and  aa 
those  provinces  may  be  considered  as  the 
granary  of  the  north  of  Europe,  they  gave  a 
preponderant  influence  in  the  political  balance 
to  the  potentate  who  thus  acquired  them.  It 
was  after  the  conclusion  of  this  peace  that  the 
senate  of  Russia  pioclaimed  Peter  I  emperor, 
and  conferred  on  him  the  title  of  "  the  Great." 
In  1716  the  czar  had  made  a  second  foreign 
tour,  in  the  course  of  which  he  visited  Den- 
mark and  Holland,  and  afterwards  went  to 
Paris.  While  be  engaged  in  tbis  journey  his 
eldest  son  the  czarowitz  Alexis,  discontented 
with  the  schemes  of  bis  father,  secretly  quitted 
Russia,  and  went  to  Vienna,  and  thence  to 
Naples.  The  emperor  sent  after  him  some 
Russian  noblemen,  who  persuaded  the  young 
prince  to  return  home,  and  acknowledge  bis 
disobedience,  and  submit  himself  to  the  mercy 
of  his  offended  parent.  He  was  declared  to 
have  forfeited  bis  presumptive  right  to  the 
throne,  and  was  condemned  to  death  ;  and  in 
1718  be  either  died  or  was  executed  in  prison, 
leaving  a  son,  who  nine  years  after  became 
emperct  of  Russia.  Peter  now  declared  bis 
younger  son  whom  he  had  by  the  empress 
Catherine,  his  successor,  and  the  death  of 
that  child  taking  place  when  he  was  only  two 
years  old,  the  father  gave  himself  up  to  the 
most  intemperate  transports  of  grief,  and  passed 
three  days  in  total  seclusion  and  abstinence. 
The  senator  Dolgorokof  at  length  broke  in 
upon  his  retirement,  and  persuaded  him  to 
listen  to  reason  and  resume  the  management  of 
public  affairs.  He  then  published  a  decree 
vesting  in  the  reigning  emperor  the  right  of 
designating  a  successor ;  and  tbis  ordinance 
was  regarded  as  a  fundamental  law  in  Russia 
till  1797.  In  1723  Peter  I  engaged  in  an 
expedition  against  Persia,  and  taking  the  field 
in  person,  be  made  himself  master  of  Der- 
bend.  By  the  peace  which  followed  he  pro- 
cured the  cession  of  the  provinces  of  Gbilan, 
Mazenderan,  and  Asterabad.  He  died  in 
consequence  of  a  stranguary,  January  28th, 
1725,  leaving  two  daughters,  one  of  whom, 
Elizabeth  Petrowna,  subsequently  ascended 
the  throne,  but  he  was  immediately  succeeded 
by  his  widow.  [See  CATHERINE  1.]  The 
character  of  Peter  the  Great  was  strongly 
marked,  and  its  distinguishing  trait  seems  to 
have  been  good  sense,  or  sound  judgment. 
That  he  sometimes  suffered  himself  to  be 
swayed  by  passion  and  prejudice,  and  that  he 
exhibited  some  striking  instances  of  eccentricity 
must  be  admitted  ;  but  the  former  fault  may 
fairly  be  attributed  to  his  defective  education, 
both  moral  and  intellectual,  and  the  latter  to 
the  peculiarity  of  his  situation.  That  be  was 
fully  sensible  of  the  value  of  that  mental  cul- 
ture of  which  he  felt  the  deficiency,  may  be 
concluded  fiom  KII  anecdote  related  by  Staeh- 
lin,  on  the  authority  of  the  empress  (Elizabeth. 
She  stated  that  once  when  the  czar  found  her 


PET 

and  her  sister  reading  the  works  of  Madame  de 
Lambert,  in  French,  a  page  of  which  she  trans- 
lated for  him  into  Russian,  he  exclaimed, 
"  Ah!  how  happy  are  you,  my  children,  who 
are  taught  in  your  youth  to  read  useful  books, 
and  have  in  many  respects  such  an  education 
as  I  totally  wanted."  He  used  frequently  to 
say  that  he  would  willingly  have  lost  one  of 
his  fingers  to  have  had  learning  in  his  youth. 
Into  Russia  he  not  only  transplanted  the  arts 
of  war  and  peace,  manufactures,  commerce, 
and  naval  science  ;  but  he  also  made  provi- 
sion for  the  diffusion  of  literature  among  his 
subjects,  by  founding  schools,  colleges,  an 
observatory,  a  botanic  garden,  prin ting-offices, 
libraries,  and  museums.  —  Voltaire's  Life  of 
Peter  I.  Staehtin's  Anecdotes.  Zopf  Hint. 
Univ.  Biog.  Univ. 

PETERS  (CHARLES)  an  English  divine 
and  biblical  critic,  who  was  a  native  of  Corn- 
wall. He  received  his  education  at  Exeter 
college,  Oxford,  and  took  the  degree  of  M.A. 
in  1713.  Two  years  after  he  was  presented 
to  the  living  of  Boconnoc  ;  and  in  1727  he 
obtained  the  rectory  of  St.  Mabyn,  both  in 
the  county  of  Cornwall.  In  1751  he  pub- 
lished "  A  Critical  Dissertation  on  the  Book 
of  Job,"  4to,  in  which  he  exhibited  a  very 
respectable  degree  of  learning  and  acuteness  ; 
and  as  one  of  the  antagonists  of  Warburton 
he  obtained  the  commendation  of  Lowth.  He 
died  February  17,  1774,  at  a  very  advanced 
a^e  ;  and  a  volume  of  his  sermons  on  several 
occasions  was  subsequently  published. — Gent. 
Mag 

PETERS  (Hucii)    a  noted  fanatic  in  the 
reign  of  Charles  I,  was  the  sou  of  a  merchant 
of  Fowey,  in  Cornwall.      He  was  educated    at 
Trinity  college,  Cambridge,  where  he  received 
the  degree  of  M.  A.  in   1622  ;  but  it  is  said 
that  he  was  ultimately  expelled  for  irregularity 
of  conduct.     He  then  went  on  the  stage,   but 
was   afterwards  allowed  to   take   orders,   and 
was  for  a  time  lecturer   of  St.  Sepulchre's,  in 
London  ;   but  being  prosecuted  for  an  intrigue 
with  a  married  female,  he  absconded  to  Rot- 
terdam, where  he  became  a  joint  pastor  of  the 
English    church.      He    subsequently   went    to 
America,    where    he    remained    seven    years, 
and    then    returned    to     England,     and    took 
part    against    Charles   I.        He    became    one 
of  the  most  useful  tools  of  Cromwell,  owing  to 
his  extreme  popularity  with  the   soldiers   and 
lower  classes,    by    his  burlesque   humour  and 
farcical    gesticulation.     When    the   king    was 
brought  to  London  for  trial,  Peters,  according 
to  Sir  Philip  Warwick,  was  "  really  and  truly 
his  gaoler."     He  was  vehement  for  the  execu- 
tion of  Charles,  and  after  the  restoration,  suf- 
fered   as    a   regicide.       Some    of   his    "   Dis- 
courses," and  his  "  Last  Legacy  to  his  Daugh- 
ter" have  been  printed.    There  is  some  reason 
to  believe  that  the  strong  part  taken  by  Peters 
against  Charles  I  has  tended  to  exaggerate  the 
unfavourable  points  of  a  character  which  at  best 
was  very  indifferent. — Life  oy  Harris.  Granger. 
PETHION  DE  VILLENEUVE (JEROME) 
a   French  revolutionary   statesman,  who  was 
originally  an   advocate  at  Chartres,   and  was 


PET 

chosen  deputy  from  the  Tiers  Etat  of  the  bail- 
iiage  of  that  city  to  die    States  General.     The 
character,  the  conduct,    and  even  the  talents 
of  Pethion  have   been  variously  represented  ; 
and  while  some   pourtray  him  as   a  Catiline, 
and  others  as  an  Aristides,   both  parties  were, 
perhaps,    equally   mistaken.      The    important 
situations  which  he  successively  occupied,  and 
which  gave  him  a  great  influence  over  public 
affairs,  may  however,   be  considered  as  a  pre- 
sumptive proof  that  lie  was  not  so  destitute  of 
ability  as   lie   has  been   sometimes   described. 
In  the  early  part  of  his  career  he  frea'iently 
acted  with  Mirabeau,  but  he   did  not  join  in 
such  of  the  measures  of  that  wily  demagogue 
as  were  calculated  to  impede  the  extension  of 
liberty  and  equality  of  national  rights  and  pri- 
vileges.    In  October,  1789,  he  was  appointed 
a  member  of  the  first  Committee  of  General 
Safety  ;  and  on  the-  4th  of  December,  1790  lie 
was    elected    president    of  the   National    As- 
sembly.    In  June   following  lie  became  pre- 
sident of  the  Criminal  Tribunal  of  Paris  ;    and 
when  the  assembly  was  informed  of   the  flight 
and  detention   of   the   royal  family,    Pethion, 
together  with  Barnave  and  Latour   Maubourg 
were  appointed   commissioners  to  attend  the 
return  of  the  unfortunate  monarch.  On  this  oc- 
casion Pethion  is  said  to  have  behaved  with  less 
attention  to  his  captives  than   Barnave,  though 
he  treated   them  with   less  insolence  than  the 
other   commissioner.     He  was  elected  to  the 
important  office  of  mayor  of  Paris,  November 
14,  1791,  and  in  consequence  of  his  supposed 
implication  in  the  riotous  attack  of  the  Pari- 
sian mob  on  the  Tuileries  on  the  20th  of  June, 
1792,  he  was  suspended  from  his  functions  by 
the  king,  on  the  6th  of  July,  but  was  restored 
by  the  Assembly  on  the  13th.      His  behaviour 
on  the  memorable  10th  of  August  has  by  some 
been  interpreted  as  the  result  of  weakness  and 
irresolution,   and  by  others  as  the  effect  of  an 
hypocritical    design,    to    avoid    betraying    his 
real  character  as  an  abettor  of  the  disgrace- 
ful violence  of    that  period.      In    the    impri- 
sonment  of  the  royal   family  and  other  mea- 
sures of  the  ruling  party,  he  took  a  very  ac- 
tive part ;  and  being  nominated  a  deputy  from 
the    department    of   Eure    and    Loire    to    the 
Convention  which   met   in   September,  he  be- 
came the  first  president  of  that  assembly.   Soon 
after  the  death  of  the   king,   Pethion  was  ac- 
cused of  having  contributed  to  the  massacres 
of  the  prisoners  of  Paris  by  the  Septembrizers  ; 
but  against  this   charge   he    successfully    de- 
fended himself.      He  seems  now,  however,  to 
have  become  the  peculiar  object  of  jealousy  to 
Robespierre,  and  being  included  in  the  pros- 
cription of  the   Girondists,  which   took   place 
May  31,  1793,   he   was   confined  in  his   own 
house,  in   the   custody  of  a  gendarme,    from 
which  he  contrived   to  make  his  escape,  and 
with  some  other  deputies  of  the  same  party,  he 
took   refuge   in  the   department  of  Calvados, 
where  they  in  vain  endeavoured  to  avail  them- 
selves of  the  insurrections  against  the  terror- 
ists.    Some  time   after,   the  body  of  Pethion, 
with  that  of  Buzot,  one  of  his  confederates, 
was  found  in  a   field,   in    the  department  of 


P  hT 

the  Gironde,  half  devoured  by  wolves,  and  it 
vv;x3  supposed  that  he  had  perished  from 
hunger.  His  works  were  printed  in  1793,  in  4 
vols.  8vo. — Biog.  Nouv.  des  Cimtemp. 


PETION  (  ALEXANDER  SABES)  president  of 
tLe  republic  of  Haiti,  born  at  Port-au-Prince, 
April  2,  1770.      He  was  the  son  of  a  colonist 
named  Sabes,  who  possessed  considerable  pro- 
perty in  St  Domingo  ,  and   his  mother  was  a 
free  mulatto.     His  father  bestowed  on  him  a 
liberal  education,  and  he  showed  an  early  dis- 
position  for  study.      He  was  scarcely  twenty 
when  the  revolutionary  commotions  broke  out 
in  the  island,  and  he  was  one  of  the  first  who 
took  arms.     He  was  soon  made  an  officer  of 
artillery  ;  and  he   obtained  the  rank  of  adju- 
tant-general during  the  civil  wars,  and  the  En- 
glish invasion  previously  to  the  arrival  of  gene- 
ral Leclerc  at  St  Domingo.    After  the  English 
had  left  the  island,  Petion  joined  general  Ri- 
gaud,  a  man  of  colour  like  himself,  in  opposing 
the   projects   of  Toussaint   L'Ouverture.     Ri- 
gaud  being  unsuccessful,  embarked  for  France, 
with  many  of  his  best  officers,  among  whom 
•was   Petion.     They  both    returned  to  St  Do- 
mingo with  general  Leclerc,  under  whom  Pe- 
tion held  a  colonel's  commission.    The  violent 
measures  adopted  by  Leclerc   and  his  succes- 
sor, Rochambeau,   induced  Petion  to  quit  the 
French   service,    and     forming   a  union  with 
the  negro,  general  Dessalines,   they  declared 
war  against  the  French,  whom  they  at  length 
expelled.     Assisted  by  the  English,  they  suc- 
ceeded  in   establishing   the    independence   of 
Haiti  in   1804.     Petion  obtained  the  govern- 
ment of  the  western  district,  of  which  Port-au- 
Prince  was  the  capital.     Dessalines  becoming 
chief  of  the  republic,  assumed  the  title  of  em- 
peror;  and   his  conduct  having  given  offence, 
be  was  assassinated  in  1806.     Christophe,  his 
lieutenant,  was   elected  president  of  Haiti  by 
the  senate,  but  he  chose  rather  to  take  the 
title    of  king,    and  behaving   in   a  tyrannical 
manner,  he  was  obliged    to  submit   to  a  parti- 
tion of  his  dominions.     All  the  southern  and 
western  part  of  the  island   acknowledged  the  I 
authority  of  the   senate,    by  whom  Petion  was) 
elected  president,  January  27,  1807.      A  civ.il  , 
war  took  place  between  the  rivals,  but  Petion  , 
retained  his  office,  in  spite  of  all   opposition,  j 
till  his  death  in  1818,  when  he  was  succeeded 
by  his  lieutenant,  general  Boyer. — Bicg.  Univ. 
PETIS    DE    LA    CROlX    (FRANCIS)    a 
learned  French  Orientalist,  was  born  in  1654, 
and  was  the  son  of  the  king's  Oriental  inter- 
preter.    At  the  age  of  sixteen  lie  was  sent,  by 
Colbert,  to  reside  for  some  time  in  the   East. 
He  returned   to  Paris  in  1680,  and  two  years 
afterwards  he  was  sent  to  Morocco,  as  secre- 
tary to  the  embassy  under  M.  de  St  Amand, 
to  Muley  Ishmael.     He  next  accompanied  the 
French  armament  against  Algiers,  as  secrMary 
interpreter  of  the  marine,  and  in  that  capacity  he 
was  employed  in  some  important  negociations 
with  Tunis  and  Tripoly,  in  which  lie  acquitted 
himself  greatly  to  the  satisfaction  of  LouisXl  V, 
who,  in  1692,  appointed  him  Arabic  professor 
»f  the  Royal  college.     He  died  iu   1713,  at 


PET 

Paris.  His  works  are  all  translations,  of 
which  the  following  are  the  principal  :  "  The 
Oriental  Library  of  Hadji  Calfa  ;"  "  The  His- 
tory  of  all  the  Mahometan  Monarchies,"  from 
the  Turkish  ;  "  General  State  of  the  Ottoman 
Empire  ;"  "  History  of  GengisKhan  ;"  "  His- 
tory  of  Timur  Bee  ;"  and  "  Persian  Tales,' 
which  were  published  after  his  death,  of  which 
he  says,  that  they  were  Indian  plays  turned 
into  Persian  stories  by  the  dervise  Modes, 
who  gave  him  leave  to  transcribe  them.  —  Ilis 
son,  Louis  ALEXANDER  MARIE,  was  also 
Arabic  professor  in  the  Royal  college,  and 
translated  the  canon  of  Soliman  II,  for  the  in- 
struction of  Mourad.  He  died  in  1751.  —  Mo- 
nri.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

PKTIT  (ANTHONY)  a  physician,  and  medi- 
cal writer  of  eminence,  born  at  Orleans  in 
1718.  He  studied  at  Paris,  and  in  1746  he 
was  admitted  doctor-regent  of  the  faculty  of 
medicine,  some  delay  in  granting  the  diploma 
having  taken  place  in  consequence  of  his  indi- 
gent circumstances.  His  industry  and  merit 
procured  him  promotion.  In  1760  he  was 
chosen  a  member  of  the  academy  of  Sciences. 
and  in  1768  professor  of  anatomy  at  the  Jar- 
din  du  Roi.  He  died  October  21,  1794,  at 
Olivet,  a  village  near  Orleans,  where  he  had 
for  some  time  lived  in  retirement.  His  works 
are,  "  Traite  d'Osteologie  ;"  "  Rapport  en 
Faveur  de  I'lnnoculation,"  Paris,  1768,  8vo  ; 
"  Rectieil  de  Pieces  concernant  les  Nais- 
sances  tardives,"  1766,  2  vols.  8vo,  &c.  — 


PETIT  (FRANCIS  POURFOUR  du)  a  physi- 
cian and  oculist,  who  was  a  native  of  Paris. 
He  acquired  considerable  skill  in  the  treat- 
ment of  diseases  of  the  eyes,  and  wrote  on  the 
operation  for  the  cataract.  He  also  produced 
other  works,  and  contrived  an  instrument  for 
measuring  the  various  parts  of  the  eye,  which 
he  called  an  ophthalmometer.  His  death  took 
place  in  1741,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six.  — 
Eloi/  Diet.  II  .  de  La  Med.  Biog.  Univ. 

PETIT  (JoiiN  LEWIS)  an  eminent  surgeon 
and  anatomist,  born  at  Paris,  in  1674.  He 
studied  dissection  under  Littre,  when  very 
young  ;  and  in  1670  he  was  placed  with  M. 
Castel,  a  surgeon  of  ability,  with  whom  he 
stayed  two  years,  when  he  attended  the  prac- 
tice of  Mareschal,  at  the  hospital  of  La  Cha- 
rite.  In  1692  he  was  employed  in  the  mili- 
tary hospitals  in  Flanders  ;  and  afterwards 
remained  some  time  at  Tournay  as  assistant- 
surgeon-major.  In  1700  he  was  admitted  a 
master  of  surgeiy  at  Paris,  where  he  settled, 
and  gave  public  lectures.  He  became  a 
member  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  in  1715  : 
and  he  also  was  admitted  into  the  Royal  Society 
of  London,  and  the  other  learned  associations. 
In  1730  he  was  appointed  censor  of  the  col- 
lege of  surgeons,  and  repeatedly  held  the 
office  of  provost  of  that  body.  In  1734  he 
took  a  journey  to  Spain  to  attend  the  prince  Don 
Ferdinand,  when  he  resisted  the  very  tempt- 
ing proposals  made  to  induce  him  to  stay  in 
that  country.  He  died  April  17,  1750.  His 
principal  production  is  "  A  Treatise  on  the 
Diseases  of  the  Bones/'  but  he  also  published 


V  E  T 

"  A  System  of  Surgery,"  and  other  works. —  J 
Hutchin&m's  Biog.  Med. 

PETIT  (PiiTEit)  a  mathematician  and  na- 
tural philosopher,  born  at  Monthifon,  in 
France,  1594.  Having  studied  the  exact 
sciences  with  success,  he  accepted  a  civil 
office,  at  the  desire  of  his  father  •  but  soon 
relinquishing  it,  he  went  to  Paris  in  1633, 
and  cardinal  Richelieu,  to  whom  lie  had 
been  recommended,  gave  him  the  appoint- 
ment of  provincial  commissary  of  the  artillery, 
and  sent  him  to  visit  the  harbours  of  France 
and  Italy.  He  was  intimate  with  Pascal,  with 
whom  he  repeated  the  experiments  relating  to 
the  vacuum  in  physics,  and  improved  on  the 
discovery  of  Torricelli.  About  1649  he  was 
made  intendant- general  of  fortifications,  and 
soon  after  ennobled  for  his  services.  He  re- 
tired to  Lagni  sur  Marne,  where  he  died 
August  20,  1677.  He  was  the  author  of 
several  works  on  experimental  philosophy  and 
astronomy  ;  and  he  wrote  a  treatise  on  chro- 
nology, in  defence  of  Joseph  Scaliger. — Mar- 
tin's Biag.  Phitos.  Biog.  Univ. 

PETIT  (PETER)  a  French  physician,  emi- 
nent for  his  acquaintance  with  classical  lite- 
rature. He  was  born  at  Paris  in  1617,  and 
studied  medicine  at  Montpellier,  where  he 
took  the  degree  of  M.  D.  but  he  did  not  en- 
gage in  the  practice  of  his  profession.  Re- 
turning to  Paris,  he  resided  for  some  time 
with  the  president  Lamoignon,  as  tutor  to  his 
sons  ;  and  afterwards  as  a  literary  companion 
with  M.  Nicolai,  first  president  of  the  chamber 
of  accounts.  Having  taken  a  wife  in  his  old 
age,  he  died  shortly  after  in  1687.  Several  of 
the  works  of  this  writer  are  distinguished  for 
the  singularity  of  their  subjects,  as  well  as  for 
the  learning  and  ingenuity  displayed  in  them. 
Among  these  are  "  Liber  de  Motu  Animaliuru 
Spontaneo,"  1660,  8vo. ;  "  De  nova  curan- 
fiorum  morborum  ratione  per  Transfusion  em 
Sanguinis,"  1667,  4to.  in  which  he  objects  to 
the  then  fashionable  speculation  relative  to 
the  cure  of  diseases  by  the  transfusion  of 
blood  ;  "  De  A.mazonibus  Dissertatio,"  1685, 
12mo.  the  best  known  of  all  his  works  ;  and 
"  De  Natura  et  Moribus  Authropophagorum 
Dissertatio,"  1688,  8vo.  Petit  also  pub- 
lished at  Paris  in  1683,  "  Selectorum  Poema- 
tum,  lib.  ii.  cum  Dissertat.  de  Furore  Poetico," 
8vo.  ;  and  in  1726  appeared  his  Commentary  on 
the  first  three  books  of  Aritfeus,  with  the  Life  of 
Petit,  by  Maittaire,4to. — Htitchinson'sKog.Med. 

PETIT  (SAMUEL)  a  learned  divine  of  the 
reformed  church,  born  at  Nismes,  in  1594.  He 
was  admitted  to  the  ministry  at  his  native 
place  when  very  young,  and  soon  after  ap- 
pointed professor  of  theology,  and  the  Greek 
and  Hebrew  lan^ua^es,  in  the  college  of  that 

D          3  O 

city,  of  which  he  afterwards  became  principal. 
His  extraordinary  reputation  for  learning  pro- 
cured him  the  friendship  of  Peiresc,  Selden, 
Vossius,  Gassendi,  Bochart,  and  other  eminent 
men  among  his  contemporaries  ;  and  he  not 
only  received  a  flattering  invitation  to  accept 
the  office  of  honorary  professor  in  the  univer- 
sity of  Franeker,  but  also  tempting  offers  of 
i'.soo.  DICT. — VOL.,  IT. 


PET 

patronage  from  pope  Urban  VIII,  who  wished 
him  to  go  to  Rome  to  arrange  the  MSS.  in  thu, 
Vatican  library.  He  however  preferred  re- 
maining at  Nismes,  where  he  died,  December 
12,  1643.  Among  his  works  are,  "  Eclogaj 
Chronologicas  de  Anno  Attico,  et  de  Anno  et 
Periodo  veterum  Romanorum  ;"  "  Leges  At- 
tics ;"  and,  "  Miscellanea)  Ohservationes.'' — 
Biog.  Univ. 

PETITOT  (JOHN)  an  artist  of  Geneva,  the 
inventor  of  enamel  painting,  born  in  1607.  He 
was  originally  by  trade  a  jeweller,  but  having 
a  strong  passion  for  the  arts,  accompanied  his 
brother-in-law,  Bordier,  into  Italy,  where  he 
obtained  possession  of  some  chemical  secrets, 
useful  in  the  preparation  of  colours.  To  these 
were  afterwards  superadded  others,  which  he  is 
said  to  have  acquired  from  sir  Theodore  May- 
erne,  physician  to  the  court  of  Charles  the  First 
of  England,  whither  the  two  friends  had  pro- 
ceeded on  quitting  Italy.  That  unfortunate 
monarch  was  much  pleased  with  Petitot,  and, 
together  with  his  whole  family,  sat  to  him  ; 
but  on  his  execution,  the  artists  retired  with 
precipitation  into  France,  where  they  were 
.veil  received  by  Louis  the  Fourteenth,  and 
realized  considerable  property.  On  the  revo- 
cation of  the  edict  of  Nantes,  Petitot,  who 
was  of  the  reformed  church,  was  thrown  into 
prison  ;  but  at  length  obtaining  his  liberty,  re- 
turned to  his  native  city,  where  he  continued 
to  reside  for  some  time,  till  he  quitted  it  at 
length  for  Vevay,  in  the  canton  of  Berne,  and 
died  there  in  1691.  He  was  a  man  of  mild 
disposition  and  amiable  manners,  as  may  be 
inferred  from  the  fact  of  his  having  lived  with 
his  friend  Bordier  for  nearly  half  a  century 
without  a  single  misunderstanding.  Indeed, 
the  friendship  of  the  two  artists  seems  to  have 
been  cemented  as  much  by  congeniality  of  dis- 
position, as  by  their  habit  of  working  on  the 
same  piece  in  concert,  Petitot  executing  the 
heads  and  hands  of  the  portraits,  while  the 
other  operated  upon  the  hair,  draperies,  &c. — 
A  son,  of  the  same  name,  followed  his  father's 
profession,  but  with  far  inferior  success,  in  the 
English  metropolis. — D'Argenville  Vies  des 
Peint.  Walpole's  Anec. 

PETIVER  (JAMES)  an  eminent  English 
botanist,  who  practised  as  an  apothecary  in 
London,  arid  obtained  the  office  of  apothecary 
to  the  Charterhouse.  He  was  a  great  collec- 
tor of  natural  curiosities,  and  formed  a  mu- 
seum, of  which  he  published  an  account,  and 
which  extended  his  reputation  among  men  of 
science  both  at  home  and  abroad.  He  was  chosen 
a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  ;  and  becom- 
ing acquainted  with  Ray,  he  assisted  him  in 
arranging  for  the  press  the  second  volume  of 
his  History  of  Plants.  He  dipJ  April  20, 
1718  ;  and  his  collection  was  purchased  by  sir 
Hans  Sloane.  He  published,  "  Musei  Petive- 
riani  Centuria3  decem,"  8vo  ;  "  Gazophylacii 
Naturas  et  Artis  Decades  decem,"  1702,  folio, 
with  plates  ;  "  A  Catalogue  of  Mr  Ray's  En- 
glish Herbal,"  folio,  with  figures ;  besides 
smaller  tracts  and  papers  in  the  Philosophical 
Transactions.  Some  of  his  pieces  were  ccl- 


PET 

lected  and  republished  in  2  vols.  folio,  in  1767. 
• — Hutchinson's  Biog,  Med. 

PETRARCH  (FRANCIS)  one  of  tlie   most 
celebrated  names  in  the  literature  of  the  mid- 
dle ages,  was  born  in  1306  at  Arezzo  in  Tus- 
cany.     His  father  was    a  notary  of  Florence, 
who   having  taken   part  with    the   Ghibellinc 
faction,  shared  their  fate,  and  being  banished, 
took  up  his  residence  at  Avignon.     The  sub- 
ject of  this  article  was  designed  for  the  pro- 
ft-s.-ion  of  the  law,  and  with  that  view,  after 
bi'int;  instructed  in  grammar,dialectics,  and  rhe- 
toric, was  sent  to  study  civil  law  at  Montpellier 
and  Bologna.     He  very  early  discovered  such 
a  predilection    for  polite   literature,  that  his 
father,  in  anger,  threw  his  Virgil   and  Cicero 
into  the  fire  ;  and  it  was  not  until  his  death 
that    Petrarch    found    himself   at    liberty  to 
pursue  his  inclinations.    This  event  took  place 
when  lie  was  about  the  age  of  twenty-two,  on 
which  lie  enrolled  himself  in  the  clerical  order, 
but   only  received  the   tonsure.       About  the 
same  time  lie  obtained  the  patronage  of  the 
Colonna  family,    and   might  have   expected  a 
rapid  advancement  in  the  ecclesiastical  pro- 
fession, but  that  his  inclinations  and  habits  of 
life  were  by  no  means  adapted  to  the  clerical 
character.     It  was  in  his  twenty- seventh  year 
that    he   first   saw  at  Avignon   the  beautiful 
Laura,  whom  he  has  rendered  so  celebrated  in 
those  poems  which  have  chiefly  conduced  to 
his  permanent  reputation.     His  passion  for  this 
lady  appears  to  have  been  real,  but  her  iden- 
tity was  not  only  a  subject  of  controversy  during 
his  life-time,  but  has  been  almost  ever  since. 
In  1764  the  abb£  de  Sade,  in  his  "  Memoires 
pour  la  Vie  de  Petrarch,"  adduces  reasons  for 
believing  that  she  was  the  daughter  of  Audi- 
bert   de   Noyes,   syndic  of  Avignon,   and  the 
wife  of  Hugli  de  Sade,  one  of  the  abbe's  own 
ancestors  ;  an  hypothesis  which,  however,  has 
been   assailed  with  considerable  force  by  lord 
Woodhouselee,  who  implies,  from  the  \\iir  \'a  • 
of  Petrarch,  that  the  object  of  his  regar<"  ...  )iil.4 
not  have  been  a  married  woman.     Whether  ' 
real  or  a  mere  metaphysical  passion,  (the  latter 
of  which  suppositions  is  countenanced  by  Gib- 
bon,) when  stripped   of  the   colouring  of  ro- 
mance, it  amounts  to  little  more  than  an  en- 
grossing idea,  which  gave  much  of  its  colouring 
to  the  imagination  and  literary  composition  of 
Petrarch,  although  after  reading  his  poems,  his 
letters,  and  serious  writings,  it  is  difficult  to 
conceive   that    it  was    not    founded    on    real 
amatory   passion.     As  he   had  other  amours, 
however,  which  were  any  thing  but  platonic, 
it  may  be   presumed,    that   employed   as    he 
otherwise  was,  his  alleged  misery  was  not  alto- 
gether unbearable.     To  this  mysterious  attach- 
ment is  attributed  his  love  for  travelling,  which 
assisted  to  dissipate  his  uneasiness.     In  1336 
he  engaged  in  a  tour  through  Italy,  after  which 
he  resolved  upon  that  retreat  which  has  made 
the  name  of  Vaucluse,  a  solitude  about  fifteen 
miles  from  Avignon,  so  famous  in  the  annals 
of   love  and  gallantry.     Here    he    wrote  the 
most  celebrated  of  his  works,  particularly  his 
Italian  poetry,  many  of  his  Latin   epistles,  in 
prose  and  verse,   and   his  eclogues  ;  his  trea- 


PET 

tiscs  on  a  "  Solitary  Life"  and  on  "  Religious 
Tranquillity,"  and  part  of  his  poem  on  Africa, 
which  works  exalted  him  to  the  highest  pin- 
nacle of  reputation.     He  accordingly  received 
a  complimentary  letter  from  the  Maecenas  of  the 
age,  Robert,  king  of  Naples  ;  and  in  1340  was 
invited  by  the  Roman  senate   to  be   crowned 
poet  in  the  capital,  which  ceremony  was  per- 
formed with  much  magnificence,  and  he  re- 
ceived a  diploma,  wherein  the  title  and  prero- 
gatives of  poet-laureate  were  revived,  after  a 
lapse  of  1300  years.     He  soon  after  obtained 
an  archdeaconry  in  the  church  of  Parma,  and 
in  1342  Clement  VII  gave  him  a  priory  in  the 
diocese   of  Pisa.     In    the    following  vear   he 
composed  his  curious  dialogue  with  St  Augus- 
tine, in  which  he  confesses  that  his  passion  for 
Laura  still  held  dominion  over  his  soul.  In  1348, 
that  lady,  whoever  she  was,  appears  to  have 
fallen  a  sacrifice  to  the  pestilence,  then  raging 
throughout  Europe,   which   also  deprived  him 
of    his   great  patron,   cardinal    Colonna.      In 
1350  he  again  visited  Padua,  and  obtained  a 
canonry,    and  wrote  an  elegant  letter  to  the 
emperor  Charles  IV,  to  induce   him  to  come 
and  settle  the   distracted  state  of  Italy.     In 
1360  he  was  sent  to  Paris,  to  compliment  John, 
king  of  France,  on  bis  liberation  from  English 
captivity,   and   was  received  witli  great    dis- 
tinction.    His  last  journey  was  to  Venice,  in 
1373  ;  and  on  his  return  to  Avignon,  he  fell 
into  a  languor,  which  terminated  in  his  sudden 
death,  in  the  night  of  July  18,   1374,  being 
found  dead  the  next  morning  in  his  library, 
with  his  head  resting  on    a  book.     Petrarch 
was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  most  memorable 
characters  of  his  age  and  nation  ;  and  although 
his  countrymen  may  have  estimated  his  genius 
at  too  hi»h  a  rate,  he  merits  the  applause  and 
admiration  of  posterity.     Of  the  several  kinds 
of  writing,  in  which  he  distinguished  himself, 
his  Italian  poetry  is  that  on  which  bis  fame  is 
now  chiefly  founded.  Although  frequently  de- 
fi/...tc:d   by  artificial   conceits,  his   sonnets  and 
canzoni  abound  in  elevated  conceptions,  simple 
pathos,  and    elegant  description,  conveyed  in 
language   and  versification  which,  in  the  opi 
nion  of  the  best  Italian  critics,  have  never  since 
been  surpassed  in  that  language.  His  treatises 
on   moral  philosophy    and  on  politics,    toge- 
ther  with  one  or    two  historical  works,   are 
what    might   be    expected    from  an  age  just 
reviving    from    barbarism.       In    divinity    he 
was  strictly  orthodox,  and   wrote   a  treatise, 
'  De  sibi  ipsius  et  multorum  Ignorantia  ;''  in 
which  he  exhibits  great  distrust  of  human  rea- 
son, but  at    the  same  time  has  the  merit  of 
ridiculing  the   delusions  of  astrology  and   al- 
chemy.    The  most  valuable  of  his  prose  writ- 
ings are  his  letters,  which,  although  diffuse  and 
pedantic,  abound  with  curious  facts   and  frank 
and  lively  notices  of  himself.     But  it  is  not 
only  as  an  author  that  literature  is  indebted  to 
Pecrarch  ;  no  one  had  a  greater  share  in  bring- 
ing to  light  the  writings  of  the  great  authors  of 
antiquity.     The  works  of  Cicero  were  the  es- 
pecial objects   of  his  inquiry,  and   to  him  is 
owing  the  discovery  of  the  familiar  epistles  of 
that  great  man.     Although  his  own  reading 


P  E  T 

was  chiefly  confined  to  Latin  authors,  his  re- 
putation procured  him  the  present  of  a  Greek 
Homer  from  Constantinople,  which  he  pre- 
sented to  the  republic  of  Venice.  He  also 
appears  to  have  formed  the  earliest  collection  o: 
medals  in  Europe.  The  editions  of  the  works 
of  Petrarch,  which  have  been  loaded  with  end- 
Jess  commentary  by  his  countrymen,  are  almost 
innumerable  ;  but  the  best  is  that  of  Venice, 
1756,  2  vols.  4to.  He  has  also  had  no  fewei 
than  twenty- five  biographers,  among  whom 
the  abbe  de  Sade  is  deemed  the  most  instruc- 
tive and  curious.  Lord  Woodhouselee  also  pub- 
lished in  1810  an  "  Historical  and  Critical  Es- 
say on  the  Life  and  Character  of  Petrarch." — 
Tlrahnschi.  Abbe  de  Sade.  Woodhouselee. 

PETRI  (SIFFKID)  a  learned  writer,  was 
a  native  of  Leuwarden  in  Friesland,  and  flou- 
rished in  the  sixteenth  century.  He  became 
secretary  and  librarian  to  cardinal  Granville  at 
Erfurth  ;  he  afterwards  went  to  Louvain  and 
Cologne,  where  he  was  chosen  professor  of 
law.  He  was  likewise  historiographer  to 
the  states  of  Friesland.  He  translated  some 
of  Plutarch's  works  into  Latin,  and  wrote 
the  following: — "  Orationes  de  utilitate  mul- 
tiplici  Gracre  Linguae  ;"  "Chronicon  Ducum 
Brabantias  vitus  ;"  "  Continuatio  Chronici 
Episcoporum  Ultrajectensium  ;  Notas  in  Euse- 
bium,  Sozomenum,  &c."  "  De  Origine  Fri- 
siorum."  He  died  in  1597.  There  was  also 
a  PETER  PETRI,  bishop  of  Leuwarden,  who 
published  several  theological  works,  and  died 
in  1580. — Valer.  Andra:  Bibl.  Bdg. 

PETRONIUS  ARBITER  (CAIUS  or  TI- 
TUS) a  Roman  satirist,  was  a  favourite  with 
Nero,  and  generally  supposed  to  be  the  same 
whom  Tacitus  mentions  as  proconsul  of  Bi- 
thynia,  and  afterwards  consul.  He  is  said  by 
that  author  to  have  discovered  a  capacity  for 
the  highest  offices,  but  abandoning  himself  to 
voluptuousness,  he  became  one  of  the  com- 
panions of  Nero,  and  the  superintendant  of  his 
licentious  pleasures.  This  favour  proved  his 
ruin,  by  exciting  the  envy  of  Tigellinus,  a  still 
greater  minion  than  himself,  who  accused  him 
of  being  engaged  in  a  conspiracy  against  the 
emperor.  Being  arrested  on  this  charge,  he 
was  condemned  to  death,  on  which  he  caused 
his  veins  to  be  opened,  and  died  about  the  year 
66,  as  he  had  lived,  with  perfect  indifference. 
He  sent,  as  a  last  legacy  to  Nero,  a  sealed 
paper,  reproaching  that  monster  with  his  in- 
famous and  unnatural  debaucheries.  His 
"  Satyricon,"  which  is  written  in  very  elegant 
Latin,  is  a  farrago  of  verse  and  prose,  relating 
to  topics  and  stories,  serious  and  ludicrous, 
intermixed  with  the  most  disgusting  obscenity. 
A  uew  fragment  was  discovered  at  Trau  in 
Dalmatia,  in  1 664,  the  genuineness  of  which 
has  been  pretty  generally  admitted.  On  the 
other  hand,  some  additional  fragments,  pro- 
duced by  Nodot  in  1694,  are  deemed  spurious. 
The  difficulties  of  this  author  have  caused  him 
to  be  much  studied  by  the  curious  literati ;  and 
France,  Germany,  and  Holland,  have  produced 
editors  and  commentators,  but  no  English  critic 
has  condescended  to  illustrate  his  impurities. 
Thi>  Burman  edition  of  1743,  4to,  is  usually 


PET 

deemed  the  best ;  although  some  persons  pre 
fer  that  of  Autonius,  Leipsic,  1781,  8vo. — 
Vossii  Poet.  Lat*    Saxii  Onom. 

PETTY  (sir  WILLIAM)  a  celebrated  prac- 
tical philosopher,  who  was  the  son  of  a  clo- 
thier at  Rumsey  in  Hampshire,  where  he  was 
born  May  16,  1623.     He  appears  to  have  dis- 
played a  genius  for  mechanics,  even  in  child- 
hood ;  but  after  previous  education  at  a  gram- 
mar-school at  Rumsey,  he  went  to  the  univer- 
sity of  Caen,  in  Normandy,  at  the  age  of  fif- 
teen, and  stayed  there  about  two  years.     Re- 
turning to  England,   he  obtained  some    office 
connected  with  the  navy,  which,  however,  he 
only  retained  till    he  had   saved   the  sum  of 
sixty  pounds.     He  went  abroad  in  1643,  to 
study    medicine   and    anatomy,    and    having 
visited    Leyden,    Utrecht,    Amsterdam,    and 
Paris,   he  came  home  three  years  after.     In 
1647  he   obtained  from  the  parliamentary  go- 
vernment a  patent  for  a  copying  machine  ;  and 
though  the  invention  did  not  turn  out  profita- 
ble, its  ingenuity  attracted  notice,  and  intro- 
duced Mr  Petty  to  the  acquaintance  of  several 
men  of  science.     He   next  took  up  his  resi- 
dence at  Oxford,  where  he  was  appointed  as- 
sistant professor  of  anatomy,  and  practised  as 
a  physician.     Such  was  his  reputation,  that  at 
liis  house  were  held  those  philosophical  meet- 
ings which  gave  origin  to  the  Royal  Society. 
Soon  after  he  obtained  a  fellowship  at  Biazen- 
nose   college  ;  he  was  created  MD.  March  7, 
1649  ;  was  admitted  into  the  College  of  Phy- 
sicians in  June  1650  ;  in  the  beginning  of  the 
'ollowing  year  he  succeeded  to  the  professor- 
ship of  anatomy,  and  was  chosen  professor  of 
music  at  Gresham  college  shortly  afterwards, 
[n  1652   he  was  appointed  physician  to  the 
army  in  Ireland,  and  also  to  the  lord-lieutenant. 
After  the  suppression  of  the  Irish  insurgents, 
le  was  made  one  of  the  commissioners  for  the 
division  of  forfeited  lands  ;  and  when  Henry 
romwell  obtained   the   lieutenancy  in  1655, 
appointed  Dr  Petty  his  secretary,  and  clerk 
of  the  council.     He  was  chosen  MP.  for  the 
>orough  of  West  Loo,  in  the  parliament  con 
vened  in  January  1658  ;  and  on  the  25th  of 
March  following,   he  was  impeached  of  high 
:rimes  and  misdemeanours  in  the  execution  of 
lis  office  as  Irish  commissioner,  by  sir  Hierom 
Sankey,  the  member  for  Woodstock  ;  the  issue 
of  which  proceeding  was,  his  removal  from  his 
public  employments  in  1659.    He  then  retired 
to  Ireland,  till  the  restoration  of  Charles  II, 
when  he   was  made   a  commissioner  of  the 
court  of  claims.     He  became  one  of  the  first 
fellows  of  the  Royal  Society,  and  was  a  mem- 
ber of  its  council.     To  this  learned  association 
he  presented  a  model  of  a  double-bottomed 
ship,  designed  to  move  against  wind  and  tide  ; 
and  he  so  far  perfected  the   scheme,  that  a 
vessel  constructed  on  it,  made  a  voyage  from 
Dublin  to  Holyhead   in  July  16C3.     He  con- 
tinued for  two  years  after  to  make  improve- 
ments in  his  plan,  but  at  length  relinquished 
it  altogether.     In  1666  he  drew  up  a  treatise, 
entitled,   "  Verbum  Sapienti,"  containing  an 
account  of  the   national  wealth  and  expendi- 
ture, with  a  method  for   equalizing  taxation. 
-2  T  2 


PET 

He  suffered  a  great  los?  of  property,  through 
the  great  fire  in  London  the  same  year  ;  and 
in  1667  he  married  the  daughter  of  sir  liar- 
dress  Waller,  and  subsequently  he  engaged  in 
various  profitable  speculations,  having  set  up 
iron -works,  opened  lead-mines,  and  established 
a  pilchard  fishery  in.  Ireland.  He  continued  for 
s •••••  -ral  years  to  occupy  himself  iu  literary  and 
scientific-  pursuits,  particularly  in  the  forma- 
tion of  a  philosophical  society  in  Dublin,  of 
which  he  was  chosen  [)resident  j;r  I^ovomber 
1684.  At  Icr.^th  he  V/as  s&ize;!  with  a  morti- 
fication in  the  foot,  occasioned  by  the  gout,  in 
consequence  of  which  he  died  at  his  house  in 
Piccadilly,  London,  December  16,  1687,  aud 
he  was  interred  at  Rumsey,  his  birth-place, 
lie  was  the  author  of  a  treatise  on  "  Political 
Arithmetic,"  and  several  other  productions, 
of  which  a  list  may  be  found  in  the  first  of  the 
annexed  authorities. — Hutchinstn's  Biog.  Med, 
Martin's  Biiig.  Philos. — PETTY  (WILLIAM) 
marquis  of  Lansdown,  was  descended  from 
sir  \V.  Petty,  and  was  born  in  1737.  He 
succeeded  to  the  Irish  title  of  earl  of  Shel- 
burne,  on  the  death  of  his  father  in  1761  ;  and 
in  1763  he  obtained  the  office  of  president  of 
the  board  of  trade,  which  he  resigned  to  join 
the  train  of  opposition  led  by  Mr  Pitt  (lord 
Chatham)  with  whom  he  returned  to  office  in 
17(i(>.  When  a  change  of  ministry  took  place 
in  1768,  he  was  again  displaced,  and  be  con- 
tinued to  be  a  parliamentary  antagonist  of  mi- 
nisters till  1782,  when  he  was  nominated  se- 
cretary of  state  for  the  foreign  department. 
On  the  death  of  the  premier,  the  marquis  of 
Rockingharn,  he  was  succeeded  by  lord  Shel- 
burne  ;  but  he  was  soon  obliged  to  give  way 
to  the  coalition  between  lord  North  and  Mr 
Fox.  In  1784  he  became  an  English  peer,  by 
the  titles  of  marquis  of  Lansdown  and  earl  of 
Wycombe.  He  now  employed  himself  in  the 
cultivation  of  science  and  literature  at  Bow- 
wood,  his  seat  in  Wiltshire;  and  he  collected 
a  valuable  library,  the  MSS.  belonging  to 
which  were,  after  bis  death,  purchased  for  the 
British  museum.  His  death  took  place  in 
1805.  Lord  Lansdown  was  twice  married. 
By  his  first  wife,  the  daughter  of  earl  Gran- 
ville,  who  died  in  1771,  he  had  a  son,  who 
succeeded  him,  and  died  without  issue.  By 
his  second  wife,  lady  Louisa  Fitzpatrick,  he 
became  the  father  of  the  present  marquis. 
The  subject  of  this  article  was  one  among  the 
numerous  conjectured  authors  of  "  Junius's 
Letters." — British  Peerage. 

PETYT  (WILLIAM)  an  English  lawyer, 
who  was  a  native  of  Yorkshire,  aud  became 
treasurer  of  the  Inner  Temple,  and  keeper 
of  the  records  in  the  Tower.  He  died  in 
1707,  leaving  a  great  number  of  MSS.  col- 
lected from  records  and  other  authentic  mate- 
rials, chiefly  relating  to  the  laws  and  constitu- 
tion of  England,  which  are  preserved  in  the 
Inner  Temple  library.  He  was  also  the  au- 
thor of  "  The  Ancient  Rights  of  the  Com- 
mons of  England,  proving  that  they  were  ever 
an  essential  part  of  Parliament,"  1680,  8vo  ; 
two  tracts,  in  defence  of  that  work  ;  "  Mis- 
cellanea Parliamentaria,"  1680,  1681  ;  ami, 


PE  Y 

"  Jus  Parliamentarium,"  1739,  folio. — 
mun's  Leg.  Bib. 

PEUCEIl  (CASPAR)  a  physician  and  ma- 
thematician, born  at  Bautzen,  in  Lusatia,  in 
1.52.5.  He  studied  at  Wittemberg,  where  he 
took  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine,  and 
obtained  the  professorship  of  that  science. 
He  married  a  daughter  of  Melancilion,  the 
reformer,  whose  principles  lie  contributed  to 
diffuse,  and  whose  works  he  edited.  Being 
imprisoned,  on  account  of  his  opinions,  for  ten 
years,  he  wrote  his  observations  on  the  mar- 
gins of  books  which  he  was  allowed  to  read, 
making  a  kind  of  ink  with  burnt  crusts  of 
bread  infused  in  wine..  He  died  in  1602. 
His  works  are,  "  De  pnecipuis  Divinationum 
Generibus,"  1584,  4to ;  "  Vita?  illustrium 
Medicorum  ;"  and  other  tracts.  He  also  as- 
sisted Melaucthon  in  the  enlarged  edition  of 
Carion's  Chronicle. — Hutchinson's  Biog.  Med. 

PEUTINGER  (CONRAD)  a  celebrated 
scholar,  was  born  at  Augsburg,  in  1465.  He 
Wiis  appointed  secretary  to  the  senate  of  that 
city,  and  was  employed  in  the  diets  of  the 
empire,  and  in  various  courts  of  Europe.  He 
died  in  1574.  His  works  are,  "  De  Rebus 
Gothorum  :"  "  Romans  Vetustatis  Fragmen- 
ta  in  Augusta  Vindelicorum;"  "  Sermones 
Conviviales,"  in  the  collection  of  Schardius  ; 
"  De  Inclinatione  Romani  imperii  et  gentium 
commigrationibus,"  subjoined  to  the  former, 
and  to  Procopius.  Peutinger  is,  however, 
best  known  by  an  ancient  itinerary,  called  from 
him,  "  Tabula  Peutingeriana,"  formed  under 
the  reign  of  Theodosius  the  Great,  and  shew- 
ing the  roads  by  which  the  Roman  armies 
passed  at  that  time  to  the  different  parts  of  the 
empire.  It  appears  to  have  been  written  by  a 
Roman  soldier,  unacquainted  with  geography, 
and  knowing  nothing  but  what  respected  the 
roads  and  places  of  encampment.  A  very 
scarce  and  magnificent  edition  was  published 
by  F.  C.  Scheib,  at  Vienna,  in  1753,  folio. — 
Chaufepie.  Niceron. 

PEYER  (JOHN  CONRAD)  an  anatomist, 
who  was  a  native  of  Schaffhausen,  in  Swit- 
zerland. He  was  the  first  who  accurately  de- 
scribed the  intestinal  glands,  which,  in  a  state 
of  health,  separate  a  fluid  which  serves  to  lu- 
bricate the  intestines,  and  which  have  been 
termed,  glandula?  Peyerianas.  His  works  are, 
"  Exercitatio  Anatomico-Medica  de  Glandu- 
lis  Intestinorum,"  1677;  "  Paonis  et  Pytha- 
goras Exercitationes  Anatomies,"  1682  ; 

Metbodus  Historiarum  Anatomico-Medica- 
rum,"  1679 ;  "  Paierga  Anatomica  et  Me- 
dica ;"  and,  "  Experimenta  nova  circa  Pan- 
creas."— Hutchinsnn's  Bib.  Med, 

PEYRERA  (ISAAC  la)  a  native  of  Bour- 
deaux,  born  1592.  He  was  descended  of  Cal- 
vinist  parents,  and  professed  the  reformed 
doctrines,  but  entertained  many  singular  opi- 
nions ;  among  others,  the  existence  of  a  race  of 
pre-Adamites,  and  published  a  work  in  sup- 
port of  his  theory.  For  this  he  was  confined 
a  short  time  at  Brussels,  till  the  interference  01 
the  prince  of  Conde  procured  his  release. 
lV\rera  afterwards  became  a  convert  to  the 
church  of  Rome,  and  abjured  his  heretica 


P  E  Y 

opinions  in  presence  of  the  pope  himself.  Be- 
sides the  tract  already  mentioned,  he  was  the 
author  of  an  "  Account  of  Greenland  ;"  "  An 
Account  of  Iceland  ;"  "On  the  Restoration 
of  the  Jews,"  &c.  His  death  took  place  in 
1676. — More?-t. 

PEYRON  (JEAN  FRA^OIS  PIERRE)  a 
French  historical  painter,  was  born  at  Aix,  in 
the  department  of  the  Bouches-du-Rhone.  in 
1744.  He  went  early  to  Paris,  where  he  be- 
came the  pupil  of  Lagrenee  the  elder,  and  de- 
voted himself  to  the  study  of  the  works  of 
Poussin,  to  whose  inspiration  he  owed  the 
first  prize  of  painting,  which  he  obtained  in 
1773.  He  visited  Rome,  as  a  student  of  the 
French  school.  In  1785  he  was  chosen  a 
member  of  the  Royal  Academy  ;  and  in  1787, 
director  of  the  royal  manufacture  of  the  Go- 
berins,  of  which  situation  he  was  deprived  by 
the  Revolution.  His  principal  works  are, 
Cimon  devoting  himself  to  prison,  to  obtain  the 
burial  of  his  father,  now  in  the  Louvre  ;  So- 
crates forcing  Alcibiades  from  the  house  of  a 
courtezan  ;  young  Athenians  drawing  lots  to  be 
sacrificed  to  the  minotaur,  &c.  His  style  is 
grave,  energetic,  and  generally  correct ;  his 
colouring  transparent  and  soft ;  and  his  drape- 
ries ample  and  graceful.  He  died  in  1820. — 
His  brother,  JEAN  FRANCOIS  PEYRON,  born,  in 
1740,  and  died  in  1784,  at  Goudelourd, where 
he  was  commissioner  of  the  colonies.  He  is 
the  author  of  a  work,  entitled,  "  Essai  sur 
1'Espagne,  et  Voyage  fait  en  1777  et  1778," 
&c.  Geneva,  1780,  2  vols.  in  which  lie  dis- 
plays great  knowledge  in  antiquity  and  the 
fine  arts  with  such  fidelity,  as  to  render  it  still 
very  useful  to  travellers. — Biog.  Univ.  de$ 
Contemp. 

PEYSONNEL  (CHARLES).  There  were 
two  scientific  and  ingenious  French  writers  of 
this  name,  father  and  son.  The  elder,  born 
in  the  winter  of  1700,  at  Marseilles,  is  advan- 
tageously known  as  the  author  of  some  valu- 
able observations  on  the  topography  of 
Asia  Minor,  over  great  part  of  which  lie  tra- 
velled, collecting  rare  coins  and  medals  with 
great  success.  He  was  secretary  to  the  French 
embassy  at  Constantinople,  and  afterwards 
consul  at  Smyrna,  in  which  latter  situation  he 
was  succeeded  by  his  son.  His  other  produc- 
tions are,  some  commercial  tracts,  an  encomium 
on  marshal  Villars,  and  a  dissertation  on 
coral ;  besides  some  papers  to  be  found  in  the 
transactions  of  the  Academie  des  Inscriptions, 
of  which  he  was  a  member.  His  death  took 
place  in  1757. — The  son,  who  died  at  an  ad- 
vanced age  in  1790,  was  an  industrious,  as 
well  as  an  acute  author,  and  published  an 
"  Historical  Account  of  the  Antient  Inhabi- 
tants of  the  Banks  of  the  Danube,  and  the 
Borders  of  the  Black  Sea,"  4to  ;  "  Remarks 
on  the  Memoirs  of  De  Tott,"  8vo  ;  "  On  the 
Commerce  of  the  Euxine,"  2  vols.  8vo ; 
"  Les  Numeros,"  a  work  which  has  gone 
through  several  editions;  "On  Volney's 
Considerations  on  the  Turkish  War  ;"  '.'  On 
the  Alliance  between  France  and  Switzer- 
land, the  Orisons,  &c."  8vo  ;  and,  "  Political 
Situation  of  France,"  8vo,  2  vols. — Biog.Vniv 


P  FE 

PEZAY  (MASSON,  marquis  of)  was  boir 
at  Paris,  and  was  captain  of  dragoons,  ana 
had  the  honour  of  being  the  instructor  01 
Louis  XVI  in  the  art  of  tactics.  He  was  ap- 
pointed inspector- general  of  the  coasts,  but 
making  himself  enemies  by  the  haughtiness 
of  his  behaviour,  he  was  banished  to  his 

^estate,  and  he  died  soon  after  in  1778.  His 
poems  are  written  with  elegance,  but  some- 
times with  negligence  :  his  works  are,  "  Ze- 
lie  au  Bain,"  a  poem,  in  six  cantos  ;  "A  Let- 
ter from  Ovid  to  Julia  ;"  "  Les  Soirees  Hel- 
vetiennes  Alsaciennes  et  Franc-Comtoises  ;" 
"  La  Rosiere  de  Salency  ;"  "  Les  Campagnes 
de  Maillebois,"  3  vols.  4to,  now  of  great 
value  in  France ;  "  Several  Fugitive  Pieces 
published  in  the  Almanach  des  Muses  ;"  An 
indifferent  Translation  of  Catullus.  There 
is  also  said  to  be  a  MS.  entitled,  "  Les  Soirees 
Provencales,"  not  inferior  to  the  Soirees  Hel- 
vetiennes. — Diet.  Hist. 

PFANNER  (TOBIAS)  a  learned  German 
antiquary  of  the  seventeenth  century,  a  na- 
tive of  Augsburg,  where  he  was  born  in  1641. 
He  became  keeper  of  the  archives  to  the  duke 
of  Saxe  Gotha,  in  whose  capital  he  died  in 
1717.  From  his  intimate  acquaintance  with 
early  German  history,  he  had  obtained  the  ap- 
pellation of  the  Living  Chronicle  of  Saxony. 
His  works  are,  "  A  History  of  the  Assemblies 
of  1652  ;"  "  History  of  the  Peace  of  West- 
phalia," 8vo ;  "  On  the  Principles  of  His- 
toric Faith  ;"  and,  "  On  Pagan  Theology." — 
Nouv.  Diet.  Hisi. 

PFEFFEL  (CHRISTIAN  FREDERIC)  juris- 
consult and  diplomatist,  was  born  at  Colmar 
in  1726.  He  studied  first  under  the  celebrated 
Schoefflin,  whom  he  assisted  in  his  "  Alsatia 
Illustrata."  He  became  secretary  to  the  count 
de  ]>«,  ambassador  from  Saxony  to  France. 
He  then  became  the  friend  of  the  count  de 
Bruhl,  and  was  employed  in  several  negocia- 
tions.  In  1758  he  was  sent  to  Ratisbon, 
during  the  diet,  as  counsellor  of  state  and 
charge'-d'affaires.  Thence  he  proceeded  to 
the  court  of  Bavaria,  where  he  remained  until 
1768,  when  he  was  recalled  to  Versailles,  and 

!  became  juris-consult  to  the  king.  He  also 
obtained  the  charge  of  stett-mestre  of  Col- 
mar,  in  conjunction  with  his  son.  He  was  sent 
by  the  French  ministry  to  Deux  Ponts,  to  treat 
of  the  indemnities  of  the  duke,  and  other 
German  princes;  lie  was  still  there  when 
he  received  the  order  for  his  retirement  from 
his  public  functions  ;  his  property  was  confis- 
cated, and  he  was  placed  on  the  list  of  emi- 
grants. He  remained  in  the  service  of  the 
duke  of  Deux  Ponts  until  the  death  of  that 
prince,  when  he  retired  to  Nuremberg.  He 
died  in  1807.  His  principal  works  are, 
"  Abrege  Chronologique  de  i'Histoire,  et  du 
Droit  publique  d'Allemagne  ;"  '•'  Recherches 
Historiques  concernant  les  Droits  du  Pape  sur 
la  Ville  et  I'Etat  d'Avignon,  avec  des  Pieces 
justificatives  ;"  "  Etat  de  la  Pologue  ;" 
"  Dissertations  Historiques." — Biog.  Univ. 
Biog.  Nouv.  des  Contemp. 

PFEIFFER.  There  were  two  of  this 
name.  AUGUSTUS,  a  learned  German  writer. 


P  ii  JE 

was  born  in  16-10,  at  Laweubourg,  and  became 
celebrated  both  as  a  scholar  and  a  philosopher. 
1  lis  familiar  acquaintance  with  the  ancient  He- 
brew, and  other  Oriental  tongues,  joined  to  an 
acute  and  discriminating  judgment,  rendered 
his  biblical  criticisms  especially  valuable. 
They  are  contained  in  his  "  Critica  Sacra  ;" 
"  De  Masoru;"  "  Pansophia  Mosaica ;" 
"  Sciagraphia  Systematica  Antiquitatuni  He- 
brasorum  ;"  "  De  trihibresi  Judaeorum,"  and 
other  tracts.  He  was  also  the  author  of  some 
philosophical  treatises,  a  complete  edition  of 
which,  in  two  quarto  volumes,  was  published 
at  Utrecht.  He  was  held  in  great  esteem  for 
his  literary  attainments  at  Wittemberg  and 
Leipsic,  in  both  which  universities  he  read 
lectures  on  the  study  of  the  Oriental  lan- 
guages, and  was  afterwards  placed  at  the  head 
of  the  ecclesiastical  polity  of  Lubec,  where  he 
died,  in  January  1698. — LEWIS  PFEIFFEH, 
bom  1530,  at  Lucerne,  of  which  city  he  was 
afterwards  the  chief  magistrate,  distinguished 
himself  as  a  gallant  soldier  and  a  skilful  tac- 
tician in  the  civil  wars  of  Charles  the  INinth 
of  France,  especially  at  Meaux  and  Montcon- 
tour,  on  the  former  of  which  occasions  the 
preservation  of  that  monarch  was  mainly 
owing  to  his  prudence  and  ability.  The  ad- 
herence of  the  Swiss  cantons  to  the  Guise 
party  was  also  materially  promoted  by  his  in- 
strumentality. His  death  took  place  in  1594. 
— Moreri.  Bios:,  Univ. 

O 

PH/EDON,  founder  of  the  Elean  school  of 
philosophy,  so  called  from  Elis,  the  place  of 
his  birth.  He  flourished  towards  the  close  of 
the  fifth  century  before  the  Christian  aera,  and 
from  the  condition  of  a  slave,  rose  to  be  the 
disciple  of  Socrates,  and  the  friend  of  Plato. 
13y  the  latter  he  was  held  in  such  esteem, 
that  one  of  that  sage's  most  celebrated  trea- 
tises, on  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  is  called 
after  his  name.  When  Socrates  was  put  to 
death  by  his  countrymen,  EC.  400,  Pha;don 
retired  to  Elis,  where  he  passed  the  remainder 
of  his  days.  He  was  the  author  of  some  phi- 
losophical dialogues  ;  and  on  his  decease  was 
succeeded  in  his  academy  by  Plistheues  of 
Elis. — Biog.  Laert. 

PH^iDRUS,  an  elegant  Latin  writer,  a 
native  of  Thrace,  born  a  few  years  previously 
to  the  destruction  of  the  liberties  of  Rome  by 
the  first  Caesar.  He  was  afterwards  the  slave 
of  Augustus,  who  manumitted  him,  but  in  the 
following  reign  he  fell  into  disgrace  at  court, 
through  the  enmity  of  the  favourite  Sejanus. 
The  fables  of  this  author,  of  which  there  are 
five  books,  written  in  Iambic  metre,  are  re- 
markable for  their  wit  and  terseness,  as  well 
as  for  the  purity  of  their  style.  They  were 
first  published  by  Pierre  Pithou,  (Pithceus) 
about  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  since 
which  time  they  have  gone  through  many  edi- 
tions, and  are  generally  used  as  an  elementary 
book  in  schools.  Cicero  mentions  another  of 
this  name,  a  follower  of  Epicurus.  There  was 
also,  in  modern  times,  a  rhetorician  at  Rome, 
librarian  at  the  Vatican,  about  die  middle  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  who  assumed  this  name, 
from  having  appeared  at  the  theatre  as 


PII  A 

Phaedra,  in  a  tragedy  of  Seneca's.  He  was  a 
man  of  considerable  erudition,  and  left  be- 
hind him  some  tracts  in  manuscript,  which  his 
untimely  death,  from  an  accident,  prevented 
his  giving  to  the  world. — IWiti  Poet.  Lat. 

PHAER,  MD.  (THOMAS)  a  native  of  P- 
brokeshire,  who  in  1559  graduated  at  Oxford 
as  doctor  of  physic,  having  abandoned  tli.: 
profession  of  the  law,  for  which  he  was  origi- 
nally intended,  and  in  the  study  of  which  he 
had  made  some  progress  at  Liucolu's-inn.  Pie 
was  the  author  of  two  legal  tracts,  on  writs 
and  precedents ;  but  the  work  by  which  he  is 
principally  known  is  his  translation  of  the 
first  nine  books  of  the  ^Eueid,  in  Alexan- 
drines. The  rythm  of  this  poem,  which  was 
printed  in  black  letter  in  1562,  is  singularly 
harmonious,  little  adapted  as  the  metre  may 
be  thought  for  heroic  poetry.  I  lis  death  pre- 
vented the  completion  of  the  translation,  and 
appears  to  have  been  unexpected,  as  we  find 
from  the  last  page,  that  the  concluding  lines  of 
it  were  penned  in  a  very  short  time  before  his 
decease.  Dr  Twyne  afterwards  published  a 
continuation  of  the  work.  Dr  Phaer  was 
also  the  author  of  the  story  of  Owen  Glen- 
dower,  in  the  "  Mirror  for  Magistrates;"  and 
of  some  metrical  translations  from  the  French, 
of  no  great  merit.  His  death  took  place  in 
the  summer  of  1560. — Biog.  Brit.  Warton's 
Hist,  of  Eng.  Poet. 

PHALARIS,  of  Agrigentum,  a  Sicilian 
tyrant,  whose  cruelty,  and  the  horrid  instru- 
ment by  which  lie  wreaked  his  vengeance  on 
those  who  fell  under  his  displeasure,  have  ren- 
dered his  very  name  a  proverb  to  posterity. 
He  is  said  to  have  been  by  birth  a  Cretan, who 
having  arrived  at  supreme  power  in  the  coun- 
try of  his  adoption,  by  the  most  iniquitous 
practices,  thought  to  secure  it  by  the  influence 
of  terror.  A  statuary,  named  Perillus,  whose 
sycophancy  equalled  his  skill  as  an  artist, 
constructed  for  him  an  engine  of  torture,  in  the 
shape  of  a  hollow  bull  of  brass,  in  which  the 
unfortunate  victim  being  enclosed,  and  fire  put 
beneath,  the  cries  of  the  miserable  wretch 
within  produced  sounds  resembling  the  bel- 
lowing of  the  animal.  The  only  just  act  re- 
corded of  Phalaris  is,  that  he  made  the  con- 
structor of  this  diabolical  piece  of  machinery 
the  first  sacrifice  to  his  own  invention.  After 
a  sanguinary  reign  of  eight  years,  the  citizens 
at  length  were  driven  into  insurrection,  the 
tyrant  was  seized,  and  with  a  severe,  but  just, 
retaliation,  consumed  by  a  slow  fire  in  his  own 
bull,  AC.  563.  The  story  told  of  his  presid- 
ing at  a  disputation  held  between  Abaris  and 
Pythagoras,  is  manifestly  apocryphal,  from 
the  anachronism  it  involves,  and  the  letters 
supposed  to  have  passed  between  the  former 
of  those  philosophers  and  himself,  of  which 
there  are  two  editions,  Paris  1470,  and  Oxford 
1695,  are  no  less  so.  The  question  of  their 
authenticity,  however,  gave  rise  to  an  ani- 
mated discussion  between  Dr  Bentley  and 
the  hon  C.  Boyle. — Mercri. 

PHAVOR1NUS  (VAUINUS)  the  Latin  ap- 
pellation assumed  by  Guarini,  a  native  of  Fa- 
vera,  in  the  vicinity  of  Cameriuo,  who,  as- 


PHI 

burning  the  monastic  habit  at  an  early  age,  in  a 
runvent  of  Benedictines,  applied  himself  to 
the  cultivation  of  classical  literature  with 
great  perseverance  and  success.  Politian  and 
Lascaris  were  among  his  instructors,  and  John 
de  Medici,  afterwards  Leo  the  Tenth,  was  his 
scholar.  In  1512  he  was  appointed  to  super- 
intend the  Florentine  library,  and  two  years 
after  was  elevated  to  the  bishopric  of  Nocera. 
This  learned  prelate  translated  the  Apophthegms 
of  Stobasus,  aud  was  the  author  of  a  tract,  en- 
titled, "  Cornucopias  et  Horti  Adonidis  •"  but 
the  production  by  which  he  is  most  advantage- 
ously known  is  his  lexicon  of  the  Greek  lan- 
guage, compiled  with  great  care  from  Hesy- 
chius,  Suidas,  and  other  authorities.  This 
valuable  work  first  appeared  at  Rome  in  1523, 
and  was  reprinted  with  many  improvements, 
by  Bartoli,  at  Venice,  in  1712.  His  death  took 
place  in  1537. — Fabricii  Bibl.  Grcec. 

PHERECRATES,  a  Greek  comic  poet, 
flourished  about  420  BC.  He  was  the  in- 
ventor of  a  measure  called  from  him  the  Phe- 
recratian,  consisting  of  the  three  last  feet  of 
an  hexameter,  the  first  being  invariably  a 
spondee.  Some  few  fragments  of  his  come- 
dies have  been  preserved,  and  have  been  ele- 
gantly translated  into  Latin,  by  Grotius  ;  and 
a  piece  cited  by  Plutarch,  relative  to  ancient 
music,  has  been  particularly  noticed  by  M. 
Burette  in  the  memoirs  of  the  academy  of  In- 
scriptions. He  wrote  with  the  utmost  purity 
of  style  ;  and  notwithstanding  the  license  of 
the  ancient  comedy,  he  is  said  never  to  have 
injured  any  individual  by  the  slightest  allu- 
sion.—  Fossil  Poet.  Griec.  Moreri.  Cumber- 
land's Observer. 

PHE  REC  YD  ES,  a  philosopher  of  the  isle  of 
Sc.yros,  was  the  first  preceptor  of  Pythagoras, 
and  flourished  about  600  BC.  Josephus  is  of 
opinion  that  he  studied  philosophy  in  Egypt, 
and  this  is  not  improbable,  as  a  strong  resem- 
blance may  be  discovered  in  his  doctrines  to 
the  dogmas  of  the  Egyptian  school.  From 
the  circumstance  of  his  predicting  the  events 
of  a  storm  and  of  an  earthquake,  both  of 
which  took  place,  he  has  been  regarded  as 
possessing  supernatural  powers,  though  he 
only  availed  himself  of  his  superior  knowledge 
of  the  phenomena  of  nature  to  impose  upon 
the  multitude.  He  was  the  first  who  wrote  a 
theogony  of  the  ancient  gods  in  prose  ;  but 
from  his  symbolical  manner  of  delivering  his 
opinions,  it  is  difficult  to  form  any  idea  of  his 
doctrines.  According  to  Cicero,  he  was  the 
first  philosopher  who  wrote  on  the  immortality 
of  the  soul :  he  also  taught  the  doctrine  of  the 
transmigration  of  the  soul,  afterwards  adopted 
by  Pythagoras. — Another  PHERECYDES  wrote 
a  history  of  Athens,  and  flourished  about  456 
BC. — Stanley's  Hist.  Phil.  Cicero's  Tusc. 
Qu&st. 

PHIDIAS,  an  Athenian  sculptor,  who 
flourished  in  the  90th  Olympiad,  celebrated 
for  works  of  art  of  unrivalled  excellence,  some 
of  which  are  supposed  to  be  still  existing.  He 
carved  in  ivory  a  famous  statue  of  the  Olym- 
pian Jove  ;  and  also  another  of  Minerva,  sixty 
cubits  in  height,  on  the  shield  of  which  were 


PHI 

represented  the  wars  of  the  Amazons,  tna 
giants,  the  Lapithse,  and  the  centaurs  ;  and 
on  the  basis,  the  figures  of  thirty  deities. 
Being  employed  by  Pericles  to  cast  a  golden 
statue  of  Minerva,  he  was  accused  hy  some 
jealous  rivals  of  having  embezzled  part  of  the 
precious  metal  entrusted  to  him,  on  which  he 
left  Athens,  and  settled  at  Elis,  where  he  exe- 
cuted his  admirable  colossal  statue  of  Jupiter. 
He  died  BC.  432. — Plinii  Hist.  N.  Junii 
Cat.  Archit.  Statuarios,  <5fc. 

PHILELPHUS  (FRANCISCUS)  a  learned 
but  intemperate  rhetorician  and  diplomatist  of 
the  middle  ages.  He  was  born  at  Tolentino, 
in  the  march  of  Ancona,  in  1398,  and  studied 
at  Padua,  where  he  filled  the  professor's  chair 
in  rhetoric  till  his  removal  to  Venice.  The 
senate  soon  after  took  him  into  the  service  of 
the  republic,  and  sent  him  in  the  capacity  of 
their  ambassador  to  John  Palaeologus.  While 
in  the  East  he  married,  in  1419,  Theodora, 
daughter  to  the  learned  Chrysoloras,  and 
through  the  interest  of  the  latter,  rose  so  high 
in  the  confidence  of  the  emperor,  that  he  was 
deputed  by  him  to  solicit  succours  from  the 
German  courts  against  the  Ottoman  armies, 
while  his  father-in-law  sailed  for  England  on  a 
similar  errand  to  Richard  the  Second.  He 
afterwards  retuined  to  his  native  country,  and 
dedicating  himself  to  literary  pursuits,  read 
lectures  in  his  favourite  science  at  Venice, 
Bologna,  and  other  cities  of  Italy,  till  he 
finally  took  up  his  abode  at  Florence,  under 
the  auspices  of  the  celebrated  Cosmo  de  Me- 
dicis.  The  popularity  acquired  by  his  talents 
was,  however,  at  length  lost  by  his  arrogance, 
and  with  it  the  favour  of  his  patron.  A  charge 
has  been  brought  against  him,  arising  perhaps, 
merely  out  of  his  well  known  vanity,  as  the 
foundation  on  which  it  is  built  seems  very  in- 
sufficient, that  he  destroyed  a  unique  manu- 
script of  one  of  Cicero's  treatises,  in  order  to 
conceal  his  own  plagiarisms.  He  was  the  au- 
thor of  a  work  "  On  Moral  Discipline  ;"  "  Ou 
Exile;"  "  Convivial  Facetis,  Sac. ;"  with  seve- 
ral other  miscellaneous  pieces,  both  in  prose  and 
verse,  a  complete  edition  of  which  was  printed  at 
Basle,  in  one  folio  volume,  1739.  His  death 
took  place  in  1481. — Tiraboschi. 

PHILEMON,  of  Athens,  a  Greek  poet, 
contemporary  with  Menander,  to  whom  only 
he  was  considered  as  ranking  second  in  dra- 
matic composition.  Plautus  is  said  to  havu 
copied  from  his  comedies,  but  as  a  few  only  of 
his  fragments  have  come  down  to  posterity, 
there  is  little  opportunity  of  judging  how  far 
the  imitation  was  carried.  Of  these,  which 
were  originally  collected  by  Hugo  Grotius, 
Cumberland  has  printed  an  English  translation. 
The  time  of  this  author's  birth  has  been  as- 
signed to  the  three  hundred  and  seventy-third 
year  before  the  Christian  asra  ;  and  he  is  said 
to  have  survived  a  whole  century,  dying  at 
length  through  excessive  laughter,  at  seeing 
an  ass  eat  figs  from  a  countryman's  basket, 
AC.  274.—  Vossii  Poet.  Gr<ec. 

PHILIDOR  (  ANDRE)  a  musician  of  Dreux, 

of  some   reputation   in  his   profession,   but  far 

j  more  celebrated  as  the  best  chess-player  of  his 


I'H  I 

tnvn  or  any  other  age.  His  father,  Mil  li.i  ! 
Dnnican,  was  chamber  musician  to  Louis  XIII, 
and  changed  his  name  to  Philidor,  from  a 
compliment  paid  him  by  that  monarch,  who 
once  called  him  so  in  allusion  to  a  famous 
hautbois  player  of  that  name.  He  procured 
his  son,  who  was  born  in  1726,  the  situation 
of  a  page  in  the  royal  band,  where  he  made 
so  great  a  proficiency  under  Campra,  that  he 
composed  a  very  successful  mottet,  with  full 
choruses,  before  he  had  attained  his  twelfth 
year.  As  he  grew  up,  his  fondness  for  the 
game  of  chess  increased  into  a  passion,  in 
order  to  indulge  which  he  travelled  over  great 
part  of  Europe,  engaging  every  where  with  the 
best  players,  but  by  no  means  abandoning  his 
musical  studies  at  the  same  time.  In  the 
course  of  his  progress  he  came  to  London, 
about  the  year  1753,  when  he  set  to  music 
Dryden's  "  Alexander's  Feast,"  which,  al- 
though it  never  was  printed,  is  said  to  have 
elicited  the  approbation  of  Handel  himself. 
He  continued  in  England  some  time,  during 
which  he  printed  his  "  Analysis  of  Chess,"  a 
book  which  has  since  gone  through  numerous 
editions,  and  is  considered  a  standard  work. 
On  his  return  to  France,  being  disappointed  of 
the  situation  of  chapel-master  to  the  queen,  he 
devoted  his  attention  to  the  comic  opera,  of 
which,  in  conjunction  with  Monsigny  and 
Duni,  he  may  be  considered  the  reviver. 
There  are  twenty-one  operatic  pieces  of  his 
composition,  of  which  "  Le  Marechal,"  pro- 
duced in  1761,  ran  more  than  a  hundred  nights. 
Philidor  afterwards  returned  to  England,  and 
iu  1779  set  the  "  Carmen  Seculare,"  esteemed 
the  best  of  his  works.  His  death  took  place 
in  1795  in  London,  where  he  was  very  gene- 
rally esteemed  for  his  integrity  and  suavity  of 
manners.  A  short  time  previously  to  his  de- 
cease, he  played  two  games  of  chess  at  the 
same  time,  blindfold,  against  two  of  the  most 
distinguished  amateurs,  one  of  which  he  won  ; 
the  other  was  a  drawn  game. — Rees's  Cyclop. 
Biog.  Dict.nfMus. 

PHILIPPON  DE  LA  MADELEINE 
(Louis)  a  French  writer,  was  born  at  Lyons 
in  1734.  He  studied  the  law  at  Besancon, 
where  he  settled,  and  filled  some  public  of- 
fices. In  1795  he  was  created  librarian  of  the 
ministry  of  the  interior,  and  on  the  Restora- 
tion, in  1814,  he  received  a  pension  from 
Monsieur,  now  Charles  X,  with  the  title  of 
honorary  intendant  of  his  finances.  He  died 
in  1818.  He  published  a  great  number  of 
works,  of  which  the  following  are  the  prin- 
cipal :  "  Jeux  d'un  Enfant  du  Vaudeville  ;" 
"  Choix  de  Chansons  de  M.  Phiiippon  de  la 
Madeleine;"  "  L'Eleve  d'Epicure  ;"  "  Dis- 
cours  sur  la  Necessite  et  les  Moyens  de  suppri- 
mer  les  Peines  Capitales  ;"  "  Manuel  et  nou- 
veaux  Guide  du  promeneur  aux  Tuilleries ;" 
"  Grammaire  des  Gens  du  Monde  ;"  "  Dic- 
tionnaire  portatif  des  Poetes  Franfaises  morts 
depuis  1050,  jusqu'en  1804,"  preceded  by  an 
abridged  history  of  French  poetry  ;  "  Dic- 
tionnaire  portatif  des  Rimes;"  "  Voyages  de 
Cyrus,  par  Ramsay  ;"  "  Morceaux  choisis  des 
Caracteres  de  la  Bruyere-"  Tsuh  a  notice  on  the 


Pll  I 

author.      Phiiippon  also  wrote  several  come 
dies,  which   were  played   at   the  Theatre  df 
Vaudeville,  in  conjunction  with  MM.  Leger 
Therigny,    viscount   Segur,   and  the    prevost 
d'Iray. — Biog.  Notiv.  des  Contemp. 

PHILIPS  (AMBROSE)  a  poet  and  dramatic 
writer,  who  was  a  native  of  Leicestershire,  and 
studied  at  St  John's  college,  Cambridge, 
where  he  obtained  a  fellowship.  On  quitting 
the  university  he  went  to  London,  and  be- 
came one  of  the  literary  wits  who  frequented 
Button's  coffee-bouse,  and  a  friend  of  Steele 
and  Addison.  The  publication  of  his  "  Pas- 
torals," involved  him  in  a  war  with  Pope,  who 
ridiculed  them  in  papers  in  the  "  Guardian  ;" 
in  consequence  of  which  Philips  threatened  to 
inflict  personal  correction  on  the  satirist.  Soon 
after  the  accession  of  George  I,  he  was  put  into 
the  commission  of  the  peace  ;  and  in  1717  he 
was  appointed  a  commissioner  of  the  lottery. 
He  was  one  of  the  writers  of  a  periodical 
paper,  called  "  The  Freethinker ;"  and  Dr 
Boulton,  the  conductor,  obtaining  preferment 
in  Ireland,  Philips  went  thither  with  him,  and 
was  made  registrar  of  the  prerogative  court  at 
Dublin.  At  length  he  purchased  a  life  an- 
nuity of  400/.  and  returned  to  England  in 
1748.  He  survived  but  a  short  time,  dying  in 
consequence  of  a  paralytic  seizure  at  Vauxhall, 
Surrey,  June  18,  1749.  He  was  the  author  of 
"  The  Distrest  Mother,"  a  tragedy,  1712, 
taken  from  Racine  ;  "  The  Briton,'"'  1722  ; 
and  "  Humphrey,  Duke  of  Gloucester,"  1723, 
both  tragedies  also  ;  and  he  wrote  "  The  Life 
of  Archbishop  Williams." — Johnson's  Lives  of 
the  Poets.  Biog.  Dram. 

PHILIPS  (CATHERINE)  a  literary  lady, 
much  distinguished  in  her  own  time  for  her 
wit  and  accomplishments,  was  the  daughter  of 
Mr  Fowler,  a  merchant  of  London,  where  she 
was  born  in  1651.  She  was  educated  with 
great  care,  and  when  very  young,  became  the 
wife  of  James  Philips,  esq.  a  gentleman 
of  Cardiganshire  ;  and  afterwards  accompa- 
nied the  viscountess  Duncannon  to  Ireland. 
At  the  request  of  the  earl  of  Orrery,  she  trans- 
lated Corneille's  tragedy  of  Pompey,  which 
was  several  times  acted  in  Dublin.  She  was, 
however,  chiefly  celebrated  for  her  occasional 
poems,  which  were  not  formally  published 
until  after  her  death,  which  took  place  from 
the  small-pox  in  1664,  in  the  thirty-third 
year  of  her  age.  They  then  appeared  in  folio, 
under  the  title  of  "  Poems  by  the  most  de- 
servedly admired  Mrs  Catherine  Philips,  the 
Matchless  Oriuda.  To  which  are  added  M. 
Corneille's  Porcpey  and  Horace  Tragedies, 
with  several  other  Translations  from  the 
French."  Mrs  Philips,  who  had  assumed  the 
poetical  name  of  Orinda,  was  highly  esteemed 
by  the  most  eminent  of  her  contemporaries. 
Bishop  Taylor  addressed  to  her  his  "  Mea- 
sures and  Offices  of  Friendship  ;"  and  Cowley 
wrote  an  ode  on  her  death.  Posterity  has  by 
no  means  sanctioned  all  this  estimation,  and 
the  poetry  of  this  lady  is  at  present  scarcely 
known  or  regarded. — Ballard's  British  Ladies. 

PHILIPS  (FABIAN)  an  English  lawyer,  was 
born  at  Prestbury  in  Gloucestershire,  in  1601 


PH  I 

He  studied  at  the  Middle  Temple,  and  became 
learned  in  his  profession.  He  was  a  zealous 
partizan  of  Charles  I,  and  wrote  several  po- 
litical pamphlets  in  his  favour,  the  principal  of 
which  is  entitled  "  Veritas  inconcussa  ;  or, 
King  Charles  I  no  Man  of  Blood,  but  a  Mar- 
tyr to  his  People."  He  was  for  some  time 
filazer,  and  spent  much  time  and  money  in 
searching  records  and  writings  in  favour  of  the 
royal  prerogative,  for  which  he  was  rewarded 
by  the  place  of  one  of  the  commissioners  for 
regulating  the  law,  which  he  held  only  two 
years.  His  other  works  are,  "  Considerations 
against  the  dissolving  and  taking  away  the 
Courts  of  Justice,  by  Oliver  Cromwell,"  for 
which  he  received  the  thanks  of  the  speaker, 
Lenthall ;  "  Tenenda  non  tollenda ;  or  the 
necessity  of  preserving  Tenures  in  Capite  and 
by  the  Knight's  Service  ;"  "  The  Antiquity 
and  Necessity  of  pre-emption  and  purveyance 
for  the  King."  He  died  in  1690.— Ath.  Ox. 
Biog.  Brit. 

PHILIPS  (JOHN)  an  English  poet,  who 
was  the  son  of  the  Rev.  Stephen  Philips, 
archdeacon  of  Salop,  and  was  born  at  Bamp- 
ton,  in  Oxfordshire,  December  30,  1676.  He 
was  educated  at  Winchester  School  and 
Christchurch,  Oxford,  and  at  the  latter  place 
he  produced  his  poem,  entitled  "  The  Splendid 
Shilling,"  in  which  the  sonorous  cadence  of 
the  blank  verse  of  Milton  is  adapted  to  fa- 
miliar and  ludicrous  topics.  He  also  wrote 
"  Blenheim,"  a  poem,  in  celebration  of  the 
Duke  of  Marlborough's  victory  ;  but  his  prin- 
cipal work  is  his  "  Cyder,"  a  Georgical  poem, 
in  imitation  of  Virgil.  His  early  death,  which 
took  place  at  Hereford,  February  15,  1708, 
probably  deprived  the  world  of  some  greater 
efforts  towards  obtaining  a  niche  in  the  temple 
of  Fame.  A  monument  was  erected  for  him 
in  Westminster  Abbey,  at  the  expense  of  his 
patron,  Sir  Simon  Harcourt. — Johnson's  Lives 
of  the  Poets. 

PHILLIPS  (EDWARD)  one  of  the  nephews 
of  Milton,  was  the  son  of  Edward  Phillips, 
esq.  of  Shrewsbury,  who  married  the  poet's 
sister  Anne,  and  became  secondary  in  the 
crown  office.  He  was  born  in  London  in 
1630,  and  was  educated  under  his  celebrated 
uncle.  The  time  of  his  decease  is  not  certain. 
He  published  two  small  works  in  Latin,  one 
on  the  ancient  chorusses  in  tragedy  and 
comedy,  and  another  of  the  most  celebrated 
poets  of  the  age  of  Dante.  He  is,  however, 
better  known  by  his  compilations,  and  es- 
pecially by  his"  Theatrum  Poetarum,  or  a 
complete  Collection  of  the  Poets."  London, 
1675,  which  Warton  is  of  opinion  was  be- 
nefited by  the  revision  and  correction  of  his 
uncle  Milton,  who  is  especially  traceable  in 
the  preface.  In  1 800,  a  new  edition  of  the 
"  Theatrum,"  with  valuable  additions,  was 
published  by  Sir  Egerton  Brydges.  Wooc 
attributes  to  Edward  Phillips  a  General  Eng- 
lish Dictionary  ;  a  Supplement  to  Speed's 
"  Theatre  ;"  a  Continuation  of  "  Baker's  Chro 
nicle  ;"  a  compendious  Latin  Dictionary  ;  a 
poem  on  the  Coronation  of  James  II ;  an  edi 
tion  of  the  poems  of  Drummond  of  Hawthorn- 


PHI 

len,  and  several  translations  and  compilations 
which  exhibit  him  as  an  author  by  profession 
)ut  next  to  his  "  Theatricum,"  his  Life  of  his 
llustrious  uncle  is  most  esteemed.  —  JOHN 
HILLIPS,  brother  of  the  preceding,  was  also 
educated  by  his  uncle  Milton,  to  whose  opi- 
nions, in  the  first  instance,  he  professed  him- 
;elf  a  warm  adherent,  and  published  "  Mil- 
on's  Defensio,"  in  answer  to  the  "  Apologia 
>ro  Rege."  On  the  Restoration,  he  changed 
,'ith  the  times,  and  wrote  a  "  Satyr  against 
Hypocrites, "  in  the  spirit  of  the  prevailing 
opinions.  His  other  writings  are,  "Montelim, 
or  the  Prophetic  Almanack  for  1660;"  "  Ma- 
ronide.s,  or  Virgil  Travestie  ;"  Duellum  Mu- 
sicum;"  "  Mercurius  Verax  ;"  "  A  Conti- 
nuation of  Heath's  Chronicle  ;"  and  various 
temporary  pamphlets,  which  have  reached 
merited  obscurity.  The  death  of  this  writer, 
whose  character  and  conduct  seems  to  have 
jeen  very  exceptionable,  is  not  recorded.  — 
Athen.  Oxon.  Life  of  Edward  Phillips,  by  Sir 
E.  Bridges. 

PHILLIPS  (THOMAS)  a  Roman  Catholic 
divine,  was  born  at  Ickford,  in  Buckingham- 
shire, and  was  educated  at  St.  Omers.  He 
entered  the  society  of  the  Jesuits,  which  he 
afterwards  quitted,  and  after  travelling  on  the 
Continent,  he  obtained  a  prebend  in  the  colle- 
jiate  Church  of  Tongres.  In  the  decline  of  his 
life  he  retired  to  the  English  college  at  Liege, 
where  he  died  in  1774.  He  wrote  "  The 
Life  of  Cardinal  Pole,"  which,  although  a 
work  of  considerable  ability,  from  its  natural 
partiality,  occasioned  much  violent  contro- 
versy ;  "  The  Study  of  Sacred  Literature 
Stated  and  Considered  ;"  and  "  Philemon,"  a 
tract,  giving  an  account  of  his  own  life.  He 
is  also  said  to  have  been  the  author  of 
elegant  verse  translations  of  "  Lauda  Sion 
Salvatorem,"  and  "  Censura  Commentariorum 
Cornelii  a  Lapide."  His  sister  Elizabeth,  to 
whom  he  addressed  some  pleasing  poetry,  was 
abbess  of  the  Benedictine  nuns  at  Ghent. — 
Europ.  Mag.  1796.  Cole's  MS.  Ath. 

PHILLIPOT,  or  PHILPOT  (JOHN)  a  he- 
rald and  antiquary,  who  was  a  native  of  Folk- 
stone,  in  Kent.  He  was  rouge  dragon,  and 
afterwards  Somerset  herald.  He  made  a  vi- 
sitation of  his  native  county  in  the  years  1619, 
1620,  and  1621,  as  marshal  and  deputy  to  Cam- 
den,  then  Clarencieux  king-at-arms ;  and 
soon  after  he  began  to  make  an  historical 
survey  of  Kent,  which  he  seems  to  have  con- 
tinued till  about  the  year  16-tO,  soon  after 
which  the  civil  war  involved  him  in  misfor- 
tunes, and  he  lived  some  time  in  poverty  and 
obscurity  till  his  death,  which  happened  in 
1645. — THOJIAS  PHILLIPOT,  his  son,  was  edu- 
cated at  Clare-hall,  Cambridge,  and  died  in 
1682.  He  published,  in  1659,  his  father's 
collections,  under  the  title  of  "  Villare  Can- 
tianum,  or  Kent  Surveyed  and  Illustrated." 
folio,  a  second  edition  of  which  appeared  in 
1778.  T.  Phillipot  also  published  poems ; 
and  a  Discourse  on  Heraldry. — Hasted's  Hist. 
of  Kent,  Pref. 

PHILO,  an  architect  of  Byzantium,  flou- 
rished about  the  commencement  of  the  third 


PIl  1 

century  before  the  Christian  <ura,  and  distin- 
guished himself  as  a  military  engineer.    There 
are  two  treatises  ascribed  to  him  yet  extant, 
one  on  the   construction   and  management   of 
machines  of  war,    another  on   "    The  Seven 
Wonders  of  the  World." — PniLO-JuD*us,  a 
Jew  of  Alexandria,   born  of  wealthy  parents, 
and  equally  well  versed  in   the   doctrines   of 
the  Greek  philosophers,    as    in  the    peculiar 
tenets  of  his  own  people.  The  partiality  which 
lie  felt  for  the  Platonists  seems  indeed  to  have 
caused  much  confusion  in  his  mind,  through  his 
attempts  to  amalgamate  their  philosophy  with 
the    Mosaic   laws    and  institutions,  and   ren- 
ders it  difficult  to  decide  how  far  his  opinions 
preponderated  in   favour   of  either.      In   the 
year  42  of  the  Christian  epoch,  the  citizens  of 
Alexandria,  having  lodged  a  complaint  against 
the  Jews  residing  there,  charging  them,  by  the 
mouth  of  their  envoy,  Apion,  with  disaffection 
to  the  Roman  sovereignty,  Philo  was  selected 
on  the  part  of  the   accused,   to   defend   their 
cause   before  Caligula  ;     a   service   which    he 
found  attended  with  considerable  clanger,  and 
narrowly  escaped  with  his  life,  not  being  per- 
mitted even  to  speak  upon  the   subject  of  his 
mission.     This,  however,  did  not  prevent  his 
again   visiting  Rome  in  the  succeeding  reign. 
There  are  several  editions  of  his  works,  which 
first  appeared  at  Paris  in    1,552  ;  the  last  and 
best  is  that  of  Mangey,  London,  2  vols.   folio, 
1742.     The  precise  time  of  his  decease  is  un- 
certain, but  he  is  reported  to  have  embraced 
Christianity  before  his   death. — Cave.  Diipin. 
Moreri. 

PHILOLAUS  of  Crotona,  a  celebrated  Py- 
thagorean philosopher,  who  flourished  BC. 
375.  He  was  a  disciple  of  Archytas,  and 
flourished  in  the  time  of  Plato,  who  purchased 
from  him  the  written  records  of  the  Pythago- 
rean system,  contrary  to  an  express  oath 
taken  by  the  society  of  Pythagoras,  to  keep 
secret  the  mysteries  of  their  sect.  It  is  pro- 
bable that  among  these  books,  were  the  writ- 
ings of  Timseus,  upon  which  Plato  formed  the 
dialogue  which  bore  his  name.  Philolaus  fell 
a  sacrifice  to  political  jealousy,  being  suspected 
of  a  design  to  acquire  arbitrary  power  over  his 
countrymen.  The  Golden  Verses  of  Pythago- 
ras have  been  ascribed  to  this  philosopher, 
who  treated  the  doctrine  of  nature  with 
great  subtlety,  but  equal  obscuiity,  referring 
every  thing  that  exists  to  mathematical  prin- 
ciples. He  has  been  erroneously  deemed  the 
author  of  the  true  system  of  the  world  re- 
vived by  Copernicus,  against  unquestion- 
able evidence,  that  Pythagoras  acquired  it  in 
Egypt. — Diog.  Laert.  Brnck. 

PHILOPCEMEN.  The  last  great  com- 
mander among  the  ancient  Greeks.  He  was 
the  son  of  Granges,  and  was  born  at  Megalo- 
polis, in  Arcadia,  BC.  253.  Although  an 
orphan,  he  was  carefully  educated,  and  early 
distinguished  himself  by  his  skill  in  arms,  and 
in  defence  of  his  country  against  the  Spartans. 
.H«  finally  beraine.  praetor,  or  Commander-in- 
chief  of  the  Achaean  league,  and  after  a  long 
and  hazardous  course  of  warfare,  he  made  the 
Spartans  tributary  to  the  Achwaus,  and  abo- 


P  II  I 

lished  the  laws  of  Lycurgus,  which  had  lasted 
700  years.  This  severity  was  by  no  means 
pleasing  to  the  Romans,  who  had  now  for  some 
time  interested  themselves  in  the  affairs  of 
Greece,  and  owing  to  their  interference,  this  de- 
cree of  the  Achffians  against  Sparta  was  annull- 
ed, and  it  was  ordered  that  the  Lacedaemonians 
should  be  again  admitted  equal  members  of 
the  Achrean  league.  Philopcemen,  assisted  by 
Lycortas,  father  of  the  historian  Polybius,  re- 
sisted as  long  as  he  was  able,  but  was  obliged 
to  yield  to  the  necessity  of  the  times.  The 
end  of  this  great  man  was  very  tragical.  The 
Messenians  having  seceded  from  the  league, 
he  marched  against  them,  and  being  obliged  to 
retreat,  fell  from  his  horse,  and  was  taken 
prisoner,  on  which  event,  Dinocrates,  the 
Messenian  general,  threw  him  into  a  dungeon, 
and  the  ascendant  faction  ordered  him  to  die 
by  poison.  Just  as  he  was  about  to  take  off 
the  fatal  draught,  he  received  intelligence  that 
the  Achajans  had  returned,  and  gained  a  vic- 
tory, on  which  he  uttered  an  exclamation  of 
joy,  and  calmly  emptying  the  cup,  expired, 
BC.  183,  at  the  age  of  seventy.  His  unwor- 
thy fate  excited  great  grief  and  resentment, 
throughout  the  league,  and  the  Achceans  hav- 
ing taken  Messene,  the  perpetrators  of  his 
death  were  immolated  on  his  tomb,  and  a 
yearly  sacrifice  was  instituted  to  commemorate 
his  heroism.  Philopcemen  received  the  em- 
phatic appellation  of  the  Last  of  the  Greeks. 
Plutarch. 

PH1LOSTORGIUS,  an  ancient  ecclesias- 
tical historian,  was  born  in  Cappadocia,  in  388 
He  pursued  his  studies  at  Constantinople  ;  but 
Few  particulars  of  his  life,  and  no  account  of 
dis  death,  are  recorded.  He  wrote  an  ecclesi- 
astical history  in  twelve  books,  which  begins 
with  the  contests  between  Arius  and  Alex- 
ander, and  terminates  in  the  year  425.  As  he 
was  brought  up  an  Arian,  he  was  partial  to 
the  opinions  of  that  sect,  but  his  work  con- 
tains many  curious  things  in  relation  to  the 
antiquities  of  the  church.  An  abridgment  of 
it  is  extant  in  Photius,  which,  with  some  ex- 
tracts out  of  Suidas,  and  other  authors,  was 
published  by  Gothofridus,  Geneva,  1643,  4to. 
and  subsequently,  after  a  short  revision,  by 
Valesius,  Paris,  1673,  folio,  and  by  Reading, 
London,  1720,  3  vols.  folio.  Vossii  Hist, 
Gnrc.  Diipin.  Cave. 

PIIILOSTRATUS  (FLAVIUS)  an  A  the 
nian,  or  rather,  according  to  Suidas,  a  Lem- 
nian  writer  under  Severus,  who,  with  a  view 
to  discredit  Christianity,  wrote  the  Life,  and 
an  account  of  the  Miracles,  of  Apollonius  Tya- 
nffius.  From  the  absurdities  and  contradictions 
with  which  his  book  abounds,  it  is  doubtful 
how  far  the  author,  who  undertook  the  task 
at  the  special  command  of  the  empress,  fol- 
lowed tradition,  or  drew  on  the  stores  of  his 
own  invention.  Charles  Blount,  in  1680,  pub- 
lished an  English  translation  of  part  of  this  work, 
which  in  the  original  has  excited  the  attention 
of  many  learned  and  acute  critics.  The  best 
edition  of  it  is  that  by  Gothofridus  Olearius, 
Leipsic,  folio,  1700. — Fabricii  Ribi.  Grace. 
PHILOXENUS.  The  name  of  a  lyric  poe/ 


PHO 

and  musician  of  antiquity,  bom  in  the  island 
of  Cythera,  and  equally  celebrated  for  his  wit 
and  gluttony.  He  was  in  great  favour  with 
Dionysius  of  Syracuse,  and  is  said  to  have 
obtained  a  tine  turbot  from  that  prince  by  a 
bon  mot.  Seeing  the  fish  placed  before  the 
sovereign,  at  a  banquet,  he  feigned  to  enter 
into  conversation  with  a  gudgeon  on  his  own 
plate,  and  in  reply  to  the  monarch's  inquiry 
said,  he  was  endeavouring  to  obtain  some  in- 
formation respecting  the  Nereids,  but  that  his 
little  friend  had  excused  himself,  on  account  of 
his  youth,  and  referred  him  to  the  full-grown 
nsh  before  his  majesty.  A  wish  of  his,  that 
"  his  throat  were  as  long  as  that  of  a  crane, 
•and  all  palate,"  has  also  been  handed  down  to 
posterity  ;  while  his  compositions,  which  though 
^heir  genius  is  admitted,  were  stigmatized  by 
Plutarch  as  innovations,  are  entirely  lost. — 
Bioo-.  D/ct.  of  Mus. 

PHLEGON,  a  Greek  writer,  born  at 
Tralles,  a  city  of  Lydia.  He  was  one  of  the 
learned  freedmen  of  the  emperor  Adrian,  and 
survived  at  least  to  the  eighteenth  of  Antoni- 
nus Pius.  He  was  the  author  of  various 
works,  of  which  the  most  important  was  that 
entitled,  "  Olympiads,  or  Chronicles,"  in  six- 
teen books,  brought  down  to  the  129th  Olym- 
piad, AD.  137.  One  of  these  alone  is  extant 
in  Photius.  He  also  wrote  a  treatise,  "  De 
Mirabilibus,"  and  another,  "  De  Longasvis," 
parts  of  both  of  which  have  reached  modern 
times.  The  best  edition  of  these  fragments 
is  that  of  Meursius,  Gr.  Lat.  4to.  Leyden, 
1620.  The  titles  of  his  remaining  works  are 
preserved  by  Suidas,  but  the  history  of 
Adrian,  published  under  his  name,  was  written 
by  Adrian  himself.  An  eclipse,  mentioned  by 
Phlegon  has  been  made  the  subject  of  much 
controversy,  having  been  deemed  corroborative 
of  the  miraculous  darkness  at  the  crucifixion  ; 
but  Dr  Sykes,  in  a  "  Dissertation  on  the 
Eclipse  mentioned  by  Phlegou,"  in  answer  to 
Winston,  refers  it  to  a  natural  eclipse  of  the  j 
sun,  which  happened  November  24,  in  the 
first  year  of  the  202d  Olympiad,  and  not  in 
the  fourth  of  that  in  which  the  crucifixion  took 
place. — Moreri.  Lardner's  Life  of  Whiston, 

PHOCION,  an  Athenian  commander,  and 
one  of  the  most  virtuous  characters  of  anti- 
quity, was  of  humble  descent,  but  received  a 
liberal  education  under  Plato  and  other  philo- 
sophers. He  served  his  country  with  great 
distinction,  both  in  the  cabinet  and  the  field, 
and  especially  against  Philip  of  Macedoii. 
Although  an  able  general,  like  all  good  pa- 
triots, he  was  the  friend  of  peace ;  hence  he 
was  a  constant  opposer  of  all  the  orators,  and 
of  Demosthenes  among  the  rest,  who  never  | 
failed  to  discountenance  all  prospects  of  ac- 
commodation. This  unqualified  censure  and 
opposition,  caused  Demosthenes  once  to  ob-  ) 
serve  to  him,  "  The  Athenians  will  certainly 
some  time  or  another,  in  a  mad  fit,  put  thee  to  j 
death  ;"  '«  And  thee,  Demosthenes,"  he  re-  J 
plied,  "  in  a  sober  one."  His  acknowledged 
probity,  notwithstanding  his  uncomplying  dis- 
position, caused  him  to  be  chosen  general 
forty-five  times.  When  Philip  entered  Pho- 


PHO 

cis,  with  the  intention  of  invading  Alii:  »,. 
Phocion  was  desirous  of  an  accommodation,  but 
being  over-ruled  by  Demosthenes,  the  fatal 
battle  of  Cheronea  ensued.  On  the  death  of 
Philip  he  checked  the  joy  ofthe  Athenians,  and 
disapproved  of  the  contemptuous  allusions  to 
the  young  Alexander.  After  the  destruction  of 
Thebes,  he  was  employed  to  assuage  the  anger 
of  Alexander,  and  succeeded.  On  the  death 
of  the  latter,  Phociou  again  discouraged  the 
attempts  to  throw  off  the  Macedonian  yoke, 
which  he  perceived  could  not  succeed.  The 
result  proved  the  clearness  of  his  foresight ;  and 
when  in  consequence  the  Athenians  sued  for 
peace,  he  was  deputed  to  treat  with  Anti- 
pater,  and  succeeded,  but  upon  very  hard 
terms,  comprising  the  surrender  of  the  orators, 
Hesperides  and  Demosthenes  ;  the  disfrau- 
chisement  of  a  great  number  of  the  lower  ci- 
tizens ;  and  the  admission  of  a  garrison  into 
Munychia,  a  fort  commanding  the  Pmeus. 
Phocion  was  much  employed  in  the  conspiracy 
which  followed,  but  used  his  authority  only 
to  alleviate  the  evils  which  had  arisen  from 
the  neglect  of  his  councils.  In  the  contest 
between  Cassander,  the  son  of  Antipater,  and 
Polysperchon,  Phocion  sided  with  the  party 
which  opposed  the  latter,  who  affected  to  re- 
store the  democracy  of  Athens.  The  arrival 
of  Polysperchon  with  a  powerful  army,  giving 
the  democratical  party  the  ascendancy,  with 
the  proverbial  inconstancy  of  the  Athenians, 
Phocion,  and  a  great  number  of  his  friends, 
were  condemned  to  die,  and  drank  poison. 
BC.  318.  So  great  was  the  fury  of  his  enemies, 
that  his  body  was  denied  a  funeral  in  his  own 
country,  and  was  carried  by  a  slave,  and  burnt 
in  the  territory  of  Megara.  Such  was  the 
unmerited  end  of  one  of  the  most  consistent, 
disinterested,  and  virtuous  men  of  antiquity. 
After  his  death,  his  countrymen,  repenting 
their  injustice,  condemned  his  accusers,  and 
after  having  his  ashes  brought  home  at  the 
public  expense,  erected  a  brazen  statue  to 
his  memory. — Plutarch.  Corn,  Nepos. 

PHOTIUS,  a  patriarch  of  Constantinople, 
celebrated  about  the  middle  of  the  ninth  cen- 
tury for  the  brilliancy  of  his  talents  and  the 
depth  of  his  erudition.  He  was  a  native  of  the  ca- 
pital, the  ecclesiastical  polity  of  which  he  was 
afterwards  called  upon  to  superintend,  and  origi- 
nally distinguished  himself  by  his  learning  and 
ability  as  a  layman  ;  but  having  at  length  en- 
tered the  church,  Asbestus,  on  the  expulsion  of 
the  patriarch  Ignatius,  by  Bardas,  consecrated 
him  to  the  vacant  see,  858.  During  the  suc- 
ceeding ten  years,  a  controversy  was  carried 
on  with  much  acrimony  between  him  and  the 
bishop  of  Rome,  each  party  excommunicating 
and  anathematizing  the  other  ;  the  conse- 
quence of  which  was  the  complete  separation 
of  the  eastern  and  western  churches.  Bardas, 
his  patron,  being  at  length  taken  off  by  his 
nephew  and  associate  in  the  empire,  Michael 
the  third,  that  prince  was  in  his  turn  as- 
sassinated by  Basilius,  the  Macedonian,  who 
then  ascended  the  throne  in  866.  But  Pho- 
tius denouncing  him  for  the  murder,  was  in  the 
following  year  removed,  to  make  way  for  the 


P  I  A 

restoration  of  his  old  enemy  Ignatius,  and  was 
forced  to  retire  into  banishment.  On  the 
death  of  that  patriarch  in  878,  Photius,  by  a 
flattering  exposition  of  a  forged  document 
respecting  the  genealogy  of  the  emperor,  ac- 
quired his  favour,  and  being  restored,  main- 
tained himself  in  the  patriarchal  chair  during 
the  remainder  of  that  reign  ;  but  was  at  length 
accused,  on  insufficient  grounds,  of  conspiring 
against  the  new  sovereign,  Leo  the  Philoso- 
pher, when  that  prince  once  more  removed 
him,  and  sent  him,  in  886,  into  con- 
finement in  an  Armenian  monastery,  where 
he  died  in  891.  This  learned,  though  in- 
triguing prelate,  was  the  author  of  a  Biblio- 
theca,  containing  an  examen  of  280  writers  ; 
of  the  "  Nomocanon,"  a  digest  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical laws,  acts  of  councils,  &c.  under  four- 
teen heads  ;  a  "  Lexicon  of  the  Greek  Lan- 
guage ;"  and  numerous  epistles.  Of  the 
former  of  these  works  there  are  two  editions, 
that  of  Vienna,  1601,  and  that  of  Rouen,  fol. 
1653.  Of  the  Lexicon,  printed  at  Leipsic  in 
1808,  there  is  a  much  more  accurate  copy 
in  manuscript  at  Cambridge.  The  Letters 
appeared  in  one  folio  volume,  in  1651.  —  Cave. 
Fabricius, 

PHRyEAS,  or  FREAS  ( JOHN)  a  learned 
and  ingenious  English  author,  born  in  London 
about  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century,  and 
educated  at  Baliol  college,  Oxford,  in  which 
society  he  obtained  a  fellowship,  and  was 
subsequently  inducted  to  the  living  of  St. 
IMitry,  Bristol.  Soon  after  he  went  to  the 
Continent,  and  having  continued  his  studies 
with  great  perseverance  and  success  at  Fer- 
rara,  Florence,  Padua,  and  other  Italian  uni- 
versities, gave  lectures  in  medicine  and  the 
belles  lettres,  in  all  the  above-named  cities, 
to  the  equal  advantage  of  his  reputation  and 
fortune.  In  1465,  pope  Paul  II  offered  him 
the  bishopric  of  Bath,  which  he  accepted  ; 
but  a  rival  candidate  is  said  to  have  despatched 
him  by  poison,  previously  to  his  consecration. 
The  acquisition  of  this  piece  of  preferment, 
which  proved  so  fatal  to  him,  is  attributed 
to  his  having  dedicated  a  masterly  translation 
of  Diodorus  Siculus  to  the  pontiff'  alluded  to. 
His  other  works  are,  "  Translations  of  pare  of 
Xenophon,  and  of  Synesius  de  Laude  Cal- 
vitii,"  dedicated  to  John  earl  of  Worcester, 
with  some  miscellaneous  poems  and  epistles. 
Warton's  Hist,  of  Poetry. 

PIA  (P.  N.)  a  distinguished  chemist,  was 
born  at  Paris  in  1721.  In  1770  he  was  made 
echevin,  or  sheriff,  and  he  determined  to  sig- 
nalize his  administration  by  useful  establish- 
ments, one  of  which  was  for  the  recovery  of 
drowned  persons,  and  was  eminently  success- 
ful. He  also  perfected  the  instruments  for 
the  conveyance  of  air  to  the  lungs.  His  es- 
tablishment was  nearly  destroyed  during  the 
Revolution  ;  and  Pia,  losing  a  large  fortune, 
died  in  almost  a  state  of  indigence,  in  1799. 
He  wrote  "  Description  de  la  Boite  d'Entrepot 
pour  les  Secours  des  Noyes,"  1770  ;  "  Details 
des  Succes  de  1'Etablissement  que  la  Ville  de 
Paris  a  fait  en  Faveur  des  Personnes  noyees," 
1773. —  Bio*.  Unii'.dcs  Cimtemp. 


P  I  C 

PIAR,  a  man  of  colour,  general  of  the  i» 
dependents  of  the  state  of  Venezuela,  distin- 
guished himself  in  his  military  career  by  tho 
most  indefatigable  activity  and  brilliant  va- 
lour. 'When  Bolivar,  after  his  lauding  at 
Ocumare,  marched  on  Caraccas,  he  confided  to 
Piar  a  considerable  body  of  infantry,  and  when 
i  the  former  was  repulsed,  Piar  managed  the 
retreat  with  great  skill,  and  afterwards  beat 
the  enemy  in  several  rencounters.  He  was  the 
idol  of  the  soldiers,  and  his  ambition  increased 
with  his  success.  Tired  of  playing  only  a  se- 
condary part  in  the  state,  he  aspired  to  that 
of  supreme  rank.  To  arrive  at  this  it  was  ne- 
cessary to  sacrifice  the  whites,  and  to  com- 
mence by  Bolivar  himself.  His  scheme  was, 
however,  discovered,  and  being  arrested,  he  was 
tried  by  a  court  martial,  and  was  declared 
guilty  of  a  conspiracy,  tending  to  cause  a 
mutiny  among  the  ruulattoes  and  the  In- 
dians, exciting  them  to  massacre  the  whites, 
to  possess  himself  of  the  supreme  command, 
and  he  was  sentenced  to  be  shot.  Bolivar 
made  several  vain  efforts  to  save  him,  but  was 
at  length  obliged  to  sign  his  death  warrant. 
Arrived  outside  the  gates  of  Angustuia,  Piar 
placed  himself  in  front  of  the  soldiers,  a-nd 
opening  his  breast,  he  commanded  them  to 
shoot.  He  fell,  pierced  with  seven  balls. 
His  ambitious  projects  were  soon  forgotten, 
but  his  feats  of  arms  are  still  celebrated  by 
the  warriors  of  Colombia. — Biog.  Univ. 

PIAZETTA  (JoHU  BAPTIST)  an  artist, 
was  born  at  Venice,  in  1683.  He  was  a  great 
follower  of  the  style  of  Spagnoletti  and  Guer- 
cino,  exciting  surprise  and  horror  by  his  sud- 
den contrasts  of  light  and  shade  ;  but  his  me- 
thod of  colouring  produced  dissonance  and 
spots  on  the  canvas.  His  chief  excellence 
lay  in  caricatures,  in  which  he  was,  perhaps, 
unparalleled  ;  he  also  succeeded  greatly  in 
busts  and  heads  for  cabinets.  He  died  in 
1754. — Pilkington,  by  Fuseli. 

PICARD  (JOHN)  a  distiguished  French 
astronomer  and  mathematician,  who  was  a  na- 
tive of  La  Fleche.  He  embraced  the  ecclesi- 
astical profession,  and  became  prior  of  Rille, 
in  Anjou  ;  but  subsequently  settling  at  Paris, 
he  was  made  astronomer  to  the  Academy  of 
Sciences.  In  1671  he  was  sent  by  Louis  XIV 
to  Uraniburg,  in  Denmark,  to  make  astrono- 
mical observations ;  and  on  his  return  to 
France,  he  brought  with  him  the  MSS.  of 
Tycho  Brahe.  He  was  the  conductor  of  the 
"  Connoissance  des  Temps,"  for  which  he 
made  calculations  from  1679  to  1683.  Picard 
commenced  the  measurement  of  a  degree  of 
the  meridian,  in  France ;  and  he  first  ap- 
plied the  telescope  to  quadrants ;  and 
also  observed  the  phosphoretic  light  in  the 
vacuum  of  the  barometer.  He  wrote  on  di- 
optrics, mensuration,  &c. — Hutton's  Mathem. 
Diet. 

PICARETEL  (O.  N.)  prior  of  Neuilly,  a 
member  of  the  academy  of  Dijon,  died  in 
1794.  He  wrote  "  Les  Deux  Abdalonymes, 
Ilistoire  Phenicienne  ;"  "  L'Histoire  M£teoro- 
logique  Nozologique,  et  Economique,  pour 
1'Annee  1785."  He  commenced  a  great  \\oil., 


P  1C 

entitled  "  Grande  Apologetique,"  which  was 
to  have  contained  the  refutation  of  all  the  he- 
resies which  have  arisen  in  the  world  since  the 
establishment  of  Christianity  ;  but  the  decline 
of  his  health  obliged  him  to  relinquish  it.  His 
brother,  who  died  about  the  same  time,  was 
counsellor  of  the  marble  table  of  the  palace  of 
Dijon,  and  also  member  of  the  academy  of  that 
city.  He  was  the  author  of  a  "  Journal  des 
Observations  du  Barometre  de  Lavoisier,"  and 
of  some  estimable  poems.  Their  sister,  ma- 
dame  Guyton  Morveau,  is  known  by  several 
German  and  Swedish  translations.  —  Biog. 
Nuuv.  des  Contemp. 

PICART  (BERNARD)  a  French  engraver, 
born  in  1673.  He  first  studied  the  art  of  de- 
sign under  his  father,  and  then  applied  himself 
particularly  to  architectural  engraving,  in  the 
school  of  Sebastian  Le  Clerc.  Being  a  Pro- 
testant, he  was  induced  to  emigrate  from 
France,  in  consequence  of  the  religious  perse- 
cutions which  occurred  under  the  government 
of  Louis  XIV,  when  he  settled  at  Amsterdam. 
He  worked  chiefly  for  the  booksellers  ;  and 
the  principal  publications  ill  which  he  was  con- 
cerned were,  "  Histoire  g6nerale  des  Cere- 
monies, Mceurs,  et  Coutumes  Religieuses  de 
tous  lea  Peuples  representees,  en  243  figures 
dessinees  de  la  Main  de  B.  Picart,"  9  vols. 
folio;  "Superstitions  anciennes  et  modernes, 
prejuges  vulgaires  qui  ont  induit  les  Peuples  a 
des  Usages,  a  des  Pratiques  contraires  a  la 
Religion,"  1733,  2  vols.  folio  ;  another  of  his 
works  was  entitled,  "  Le  Temple  des  Muses." 
His  death  happened  in  1733.  A  posthumous 
collection  of  his  engravings  was  published  at 
Amsterdam. — Diet.  Hist. 

PICCINI  (NICOLAS)  one  of  the  most  in- 
dustrious and  oiiginal  composers  of  the  Nea- 
politan school  of  music.  He  was  born  at  Bari, 
near  Naples,  in  1728,  and  was  intended  for  the 
church,  a  destination  which  the  decided  talent 
evinced  by  him  for  music,  induced  his  father 
reluctantly  to  forego.  Having  studied  twelve 
years  at  the  conservatory  of  Sant  Onofrio, 
under  the  celebrated  Durante,  he  commenced 
his  professional  career  in  1754,  with  the  comic 
opera  "  Le  Donne  Di&pettose,"  which  was  very 
favourably  received  at  the  Florentini  theatre 
in  Naples.  He  then  went  to  Rome,  where  his 
"  La  Buona  Figluola"  placed  him  at  once  at 
the  head  of  his  profession,  and  met  with  a 
success  beyond  all  precedent,  being  performed 
in  a  short  time  on  the  boards  of  every  musical 
theatre  in  Europe.  For  fifteen  years  he  con- 
tinued the  rage  at  Rome,  when  the  rising  re- 
putation of  Aufossi,  a  far  inferior  composer, 
induced  him  to  quit  that  capital  for  France, 
having  already  set  to  music,  according  to  Sac- 
chini,  above  300  operas.  On  his  arrival  in 
Paris,  he  began  to  study  the  language,  under 
Marmontel,  and,  by  the  assistance  which  he 
afforded  him,  reset  six  operas  of  Quinault.  The 
opera  of  Roland,  however,  his  first  original 
o:ie  in  this  country,  was  scarcely  brought  out, 
before  a  contest  commenced,  one  of  the  most 
famous  in  musical  annals.  Gluck  at  this  time 
was  in  the  zenith  of  his  reputation,  and  the 
dispute  respecting  the  comparative  excellen- 


PIC 

cies  of  the  German  .and  Italian  schools,  soon 
divided  all  Paris  into  two  parties,  the  rival 
composers  being,  perhaps,  the  only  persons  in 
the  capital  who  did  not  carry  it  on  with  acri- 
mony. A  singing  school  being  soon  after  es- 
tablished, Piccici  was  placed  at  its  head,  till 
the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution,  when  he  re- 
tired to  his  native  country,  but  was  received 
there  with  great  coldness  by  the  govermeet, 
and  forbidden  to  appear  in  public,  litre  he 
remained  in  comparative  indigence  and  obscu- 
rity till  1799,  when  Buonaparte  invited  him 
again  to  Paris,  and  restored  his  emoluments, 
appointing  him  also  inspector  of  the  national 
conservatory.  In  this  situation  he  remained 
till  his  death,  in  1801. — Life,  b>/  Ginguene. 

PICCOLOMINI,  the  name  of  a  noble  Ita- 
lian family,  long  seated  at  Sienna,  which  has 
in  various  ages  produced  eminent  statesmen, 
warriors,  and  scholars.  Among  the  latter 
class  the  most  distinguished  are,  ALEXANDER, 
born  in  Sienna  in  1508.  He  was  an  ecclesi- 
astic of  great  ability  and  acuteness,  as  well  as 
of  deep  erudition,  and  is  said  to  have  been  the 
first  who  treated  of  philosophical  subjects  in 
the  modern  Italian.  His  application  to  se- 
verer studies  did  not,  however,  prevent  the  cul- 
tivation of  the  belles  lettres,  and  several  dra- 
matic pieces  of  his  composition  are  said  to 
have  been  deservedly  popular  in  their  day. 
He  was  also  the  author  of  a  treatise  "  On  the 
Theory  of  the  Planets  ;"  "  Moral  Institutes  ;" 
"  On  the  Sphere;"  and,  "The  Morality  of 
Nobles."  A  licentious  dialogue,  entitled, 
"  Delia  bella  Creanza  delle  Donne,"  has  been 
ascribed  to  him ;  but  the  internal  evidence 
contained  in  the  work  renders  the  testimony, 
to  say  the  least,  suspicious.  He  died  in  1578, 
archbishop  of  Patras,  and  coadjutor  of  Sienna. 
— FRANCESCO  PICCOLOMINI,  born  in  1520,  in 
the  same  city,  acquired  a  great  reputation  over 
all  Italy  for  his  learning,  during  the  latter  half 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  held  various 
professorships  in  different  universities.  His 
principal  works  are,  a  treatise  on  "  The  Ge- 
neral Philosophy  of  Morals,"  printed  in  folio  ; 
and  some  commentaries  on  the  writings  of 
Aristotle.  His  death  took  place  at  Sienna  in 
1604. — ^ENEAS  SYLVIUS  PTCCOLOMINI,  after- 
wards pope  Pius  II,  (see  Pius  II,)  was  of  this 
family,  in  compliment  to  whom  James  Am- 
mati,  a  Lucchese,  successively  bishop  of 
Massa  and  Frescati,  assumed  the  name  on 
being  raised  to  the  purple  in  1461.  He  wrote 
an  account  of  the  transactions  of  his  own 
times,  from  1464  to  1469,  and  at  his  death, 
which  took  place  a  few  years  after  the  last 
mentioned  date,  at  the  age  of  fifty-seven, 
Sixtus  the  Fourth  seized  upon  his  property, 
and  with  it  founded  and  endowed  the  hospital 
of  Spirito  Santo  at  Rome. — Tirabnschi.  Moreri. 

P1CHEGRU     (CHARLES)     a     celebrated 
French   general,  whose  talents  became   deve- 
loped during  the  progress  of  the  wars  which 
originated  from  the  Revolution.     He  was  born 
at  Arbois,  in  Franche  Comte,  in  1761,  and  his 
parents  belonged  to  the  lower  tanks  of  society. 
i  He  received  his  early  education  at  the  college 
'  of  Arbois,  and   studied  philosophy  among  t.tio 


PIC 

friars  minims  at  that  place.     Showing  a  de- 
cided partiality  for  the  exact  sciences,  those 
fathers  sent  young  Pichegru  to  learn  mathe- 
matics at  their  college  of  Brieune.     He  did 
not,  however,  as  was  reported,  enter  into  any 
religious  order  ;  but  quitting  Brienne,  he  en- 
listed  in    the  1st  regiment  of  artillery.     His 
Tiierit  soon  attracted  the  notice  of  his  officers, 
and  he  was  raised  from  the  ranks  to  be  a  ser- 
geant.    In  1789  he  had  been  made  an  adju- 
tant ;  and  on  the  Revolution  taking  place,  he 
was  still  farther  promoted.     He  was  then  ap- 
pointed to  the  command  of  a  battalion  of  the 
National  guards,  among  whom  he   introduced 
order  and  subordination.     In  1792  he  served 
on  the  staff  of  the  army  of  the   Rhine,  and 
rapidly  advanced  from  the  rank  of  general  of 
brigade,  to  that  of  general  of  division,  till,  in 
1793,  he   took   the    chief   command    of   that 
army,  just  after  it  had  been  almost  disorgan- 
ized by  the  disasters  which  had  occurred  at  the 
lines  of  Weissembourg,  and  in  the  retreat  to 
Zorn.     Notwithstanding   he   was   interrupted 
in    liis   plans  by  the  jealousy  of  Hoche,  who 
Joined  him  with  the  army  of  the  Moselle,  and 
assumed  a  superior  authority,  he  succeeded  in 
restoring  discipline  and  confidence  among  the 
troops,  the  fruit  of  which  was  the  victory  of 
Haguenau,   gained   December  23,  1793.     In 
February  1794,  Pichegru  took  the  command 
of  the  army  of  the  North,  where  he  was  em- 
barrassed by  many  difficulties,  arising  from  the 
flight  of  generals  Dumouriez   and  Lafayette, 
and  the   pernicious   influence  of  the  conven- 
tional commissioners,  St  Just  and  Lebas.   But 
Pichegru   surmounted  the  obstacles  thus  op- 
posed to  him,  recalled  his  soldiers  to  a  sense 
of  their  duty,  and  undertook  the  conquest  of 
Holland,  the  most  brilliant  of  all  his  exploits. 
On  the    19th  of  January,  1793,   he  entered 
Amsterdam  ;  and  in  the  beginning  of  February 
he    had  made   himself  master  of  the  whole 
country,  without  any  enemy  to  oppose  him. 
Soon  after  he  received  orders  to  direct  the  ope- 
rations of  the  army  of  the  Rhine  and  Moselle, 
and  as  he  still  retained  the  chief  command  of 
that  of  the  North  and  of  the  Sambre  and  JMeuse, 
he  had  the  control  of  a  larger  body   of  troops 
than  any  other  general  who  was  not  a   sove- 
reign prince.     Going    to  Paris,    the  National 
Convention    appointed    him    commandant   of 
that  city  in  April  1795,  that  he  might  resist 
the  designs  of  the  Terrorists,  which   he   hap- 
pily effected.     In  the  course  of  the  same  year 
he  obtained  some  advantages  over  the  enemy 
towards  the  Rhine,  and  took  Manheim  on  the 
20th    of  September ;  but  having  received  a 
check  in  November,  his  enemies  took    advan- 
tage of  the  circumstance,  and  obliged  him  to 
resign  his  command.     He   then  retired   to  a 
private  life,    and  some  time  after  he  was  of- 
fered  the    post   of    ambassador    to    Sweden, 
which  he  did  not  accept  ;  and  in  March  1797, 
he  was  chosen  deputy  from  the  department  of 
Jura  to  the  counsel  of  five  hundred.     He  only 
retained  his  office  till  the  4th  of  September, 
when  a   new   revolution   taking  place,  he  was 
one   of  the   sixty-five  deputies,  who,  together 
\vifhCarnot  and  Barthelemy,  two  of  thedirec- 


P  I  C 

tors,  were  declared  by  their  coadjutors  guilty 
of  a  royalist  conspiracy,  and  condemned  to  de- 
portation. Pichegru,  with  others,  was  sent  to 
Cayenne,  whence  he  made  his  escape  to  Eng- 
land. Engaging  in  the  schemes  of  the  emi- 
grants against  the  government  of  Buonaparte, 
he  went  to  Paris  in  the  early  part  of  the  year 
1804.  He  was  soon  arrested,  and  committed 
a  prisoner  to  the  Temple,  where  he  was  found 
dead,  (having  been  strangled,)  on  the  6th  of 
April.  Whether  Pichegru  died  by  Ids  own 
hand,  or  by  that  of  an  assassin,  employed  by 
the  party  into  whose  power  he  had  fallen,  is  a 
question  which  has  been  frequently  and 
warmly  agitated  between  the  admirers  and 
the  enemies  of  Buonaparte,  who,  in  this  coun- 
try at  least,  was  openly  accused  of  having  or- 
dered the  murder  of  his  captive. — Diet,  des  H. 
M.  du  IBme.  S.  Biog.  Univ.  Biog.  Nouv.  des 
Con  temp. 

PICHON  (THOMAS  JOHN)  doctor  of  divi- 
nity,, and  administrator  of  the  hospital  of 
Mans,  where  he  was  born  in  1731.  He  at- 
tached himself  to  M.  d'Arincourt,  bishop  of 
Figuera,  who  made  him  canon  of  the 
church  of  Mans.  He  was  also  historiographer 
to  Monsieur.  His  works  are  numerous  :  the 
principal  are,  "  La  Raison  Triomphante  des 
Nouveaut£s  ;"  "  Traite  Historique  et  Critique 
de  la  Nature  de  Dieu  ;"  "Cartel  aux  Phib- 
sophes  ;"  "  La  Physique  de  1'Histoire ;" 
"Memoire  sur  lesAbusduCelibat  dans  1'Ordre 
politique  ;"  "Memoire  sur  les  Abus  dans  les 
Marriages;"  "  Des  Etudes  Theologiques," 
which  contain  some  philosophical  ideas  which 
contrast  very  strongly  with  the  spirit  of  his 
other  works,  and  have  been  severely  repro- 
bated; "Sacre  et  Couroenement  de  Louis  XVI, 
precede  de  Recherches  sur  le  Sacre  des  Rois 
de  France,  et  suivi  d'un  Journal  Historique 
de  ce  qui  s'est  pass£  a  cette  Ceremonie,"  of 
which  the  journal  only  is  Pichon's  ;  "  Exa- 
men  de  1'IIomme  de  Helvetius  ;"  "  Les  Ar- 
guments de  la  Raison  en  faveur  de  la  Reli- 
gion et  du  Sacerdoce."  Pichon  died  in  1812. 
— Biog.  Knuv.  des  Contemp. 

PICTET  (BENEDICT)  an  ecclesiastic  of 
Geneva,  born  there  in  1655.  Having  com- 
pleted his  studies  in  the  college  of  his  native 
city,  he  travelled  over  a  great  part  of  the  Eu- 
ropean continent,  and  visited  England.  On 
his  return  through  the  Low  Countries  his  re- 
putation as  a  theologian  procured  him  an  offer 
of  the  divinity  professorship  at  Leyden.  This, 
however,  he  thought  proper  to  decline,  in  fa 
vour  of  a  similar  situation  at  Geneva,  which 
he  filled  with  great  credit  and  ability  till  his 
decease  in  the  summer  of  1724.  Among  his 
works  on  devotional  subjects  are,  "  Christian 
Morality,"  12mo,  8  vols. ;  "  Christian  Theo- 
logy," a  Latin  treatise,  in  3  vols.  -4 to  ;  "  On 
Indifference  in  Matters  of  Religion  ;"  toge- 
ther with  a  variety  of  sermons,  religious 
tracts,  pastoral  and  other  letters,  &c.  As  an 
historian,  he  is  advantageously  known  bv  his 
'  Annals  of  the  Twelfth  and  Thirteenth  Cen- 
turies,"  4to,  2  vols. — Nmtv.  Dict.llifl 

P1CUS  (JOHN)  or  Giovanni  Pico  di  Miran- 
dola,  one  of  the  celebrated   Italian  literati  cf 


P  I  E 

the  fifteenth  century,  who  contributed  to  the 
revival  and  diffusion  of  learning  in  Europe. 
He  was  born  in  1463,  and  was  the  son  of  the 
prince  of  Mirandola  and  Concordia.  Having 
been  deprived  of  his  father  when  young,  his 
mother  did  not  suffer  his  education  to  be  ne- 
glected ;  and  such  was  the  progress  lie  made 
in  his  studies,  that  at  the  age  of  fourteen  he 
was  sent  to  the  university  of  Bologna.  He  af- 
terwards visited  the  most  noted  seats  of  learn- 
ing in  Italy  and  France.  In  1482  he  erected, 
on  his  own  estate,  a  villa  which  he  called 
Fratta,  in  praise  of  which  he  wrote  a  Latin 
poem.  He  is  said  to  have  been  acquainted 
with  twenty-two  languages  when  he  was  but 
eighteen.  Trithemius,  his  contemporary,  says 
he  was  master  of  all  the  liberal  arts,  that  he 
cultivated  with  success  Latin,  Greek,  and  He- 
brew literature,  was  an  admirable  poet,  and 
the  most  learned  philosopher  and  skilful  dis- 
putant of  the  age.  Settling  at  Florence,  he 
addressed  a  panegyric  to  Lorenzo  de'  Medici, 
whose  patronage  he  obtained.  In  1486  he 
went  to  Rome,  where  he  published  theses  on 
various  sciences,  challenging  all  the  world  to 
debate  with  him  the  propositions  contained  in 
them.  But  instead  of  opponents  such  as  he 
expected,  he  encountered  an  accusation  of  he- 
resy, and  thirteen  of  his  propositions  being 
censured  by  pope  Innocent  VIII,  he  was  si- 
lenced, and  thought  proper  to  leave  Rome. 
He  then  returned  to  Florence,  where  he  com- 
posed an  apology  for  his  opinions  ;  and  in  1488 
he  took  up  his  residence  on  an  estate  near 
Florence,  given  him  by  Lorenzo  de'  Medici, 
devoting  his  time  to  various  literary  pursuits. 
After  the  death  of  his  friend  Lorenzo,  he  re- 
tired to  Ferrara,  having  previously  disposed  of 
the  estate  of  Mirandola  to  his  nephew.  The 
latter  part  of  his  life  was  dedicated  to  the  study 
of  theology;  and  he  wrote  a  work,  entitled 
"  Heptaplus,"  relating  to  the  beginning  of 
Genesis  ;  and  another  on  the  Psalms.  His 
death  took  place  at  Florence,  in  1496.  Picus 
is  one  of  the  learned  men  whom  Naude  has 
thought  it  necessary  to  vindicate,  from  the 
charge  of  being  a  magician.  He  was  cer- 
tainly regarded  by  his  contemporaries  as  a  very 
remarkable  personage  ;  and  the  elder  Scaliger 
styles  him,  "  Monstrum  sine  vitio ;"  while 
Politian  says  he  was  the  phrenix  among  the 
great  geniuses  of  his  time.  His  works  were 
published  collectively  in  1601,  folio. — Life  of 
Picus  b\i  Gressioell.  Biog.  Univ. — -JOHN 
FRANCIS  Picus,  nephew  of  the  former,  also 
cultivated  literature  with  great  success.  He 
wrote  a  life  of  Jerome  Savonarola ;  works  on 
theology  ;  and  Latin  poetry.  He  was  mur- 
dered in  his  own  castle  of  Mirandola,  toge- 
ther with  his  son,  by  his  nephew  Giileoti 
Picus,  in  1533. — Freheri  Theatr.  Viror.  Doct. 
Tirahoschi. 

PIERCE  (EDWARD)  an  English  painter  in 
the  reigns  of  Charles  I  and  II,  was  distin- 
guished both  in  history  and  landscape.  His 
works  consisted  chiefly  of  altarpieces  and 
ceilings  of  churches,  the  greater  part  of  which 
were  destroyed  in  the  fire  of  London  in  1666. 
1  le  worked  some  time  with  Vandyke,  and  se- 


PIG 

veral  of  his  pieces  are  seen  at  Belvoir  castle. 
He  had  three  sons,  one  of  whom  was  an  excel- 
lent sculptor,  and  executed  the  statues  of  sir 
Thomas  Gresham  and  Edward  III  at  the 
royal  exchange. —  Waipole's  Anecdotes. 

PIERRE  (CORNEILLE  de  la)  or  Cornelius 
a  Lapide,  a  Jesuit,  born  in  the  bishopric  of 
Liege,  who  became  professor  of  theology  at 
Louvaine,  and  afterwards  at  Rome.  He  was 
the  author  of  a  great  many  religious  works,  in- 
cluding commentaries  on  the  Scriptures,  which 
are  much  esteemed.  The  latter  have  been 
published  in  ten  volumes  folio.  He  died  at 
Rome  in  1657,  aged  seventy-one. — Diet.  Hist. 
Biog,  Univ. 

PIGALLE  (JOHN  BAPTIST)  a  celebrated 
French  sculptor,  tie  was  a  native  of  Paris, 
and  studied  his  art  in  Italy,  where  be  made 
himself  familiar  with  the  famous  monuments 
of  antiquity.  Returning  to  France,  he  be- 
came chancellor  of  the  academy  of  painting  at 
Paris,  and  was  made  a  knight  of  the  order  of 
St  Michael,  and  appointed  sculptor  to  the 
king.  He  died  in  1785.  Pigalle  executed 
statues  of  Mercury  and  Venus,  for  the  king  of 
Prussia  ;  a  figure  of  a  girl  taking  a  thorn  from 
her  foot  ;  the  monument  of  marshal  Saxe ; 
besides  many  other  works  of  less  importance. 
—  Biog.  Univ. 

PIG  HI  US.  There  were  two  learned  eccle- 
siastics of  this  name,  uncle  and  nephew,  wiio 
flourished  in  the  sixteenth  century.  They 
were  both  natives  of  Campen  in  the  Dutch 
province  of  Overyssel. — ALBERT,  the  elder, 
born  in  1490,  received  his  education  at  Lou- 
vaine and  Cologne,  and  exerted  himself  stre- 
nuously as  a  champion  of  the  Romish  church, 
against  the  progress  of  the  reformed  doctrines. 
His  principal  work,  in  which  he  enveighs  with 
much  acrimony  against  Luther  and  M'Slanc- 
thon,  is  entitled  "  Assertio  Hierarchies  Eccle- 
siastical," folio.  His  other  writings  are,  "  On 
the  proper  Method  of  celebrating  the  Easter 
Festival;"  "  A  Defence  of  Astrology  ;"  and 
a  tract  "  On  the  Solstices,  the  ^Equinox,  Sac." 
His  death  took  place  in  1542  at  Utrecht, 
where  he  was  provost  of  the  church  of  St 
John.— STEPHANUS  VINANDUS,  the  younger 
of  the  two,  was  born  in  1520,  and  went  early 
in  life  to  Rome,  where  he  passed  ten  years  in 
devoting  himself  to  the  study  of  classical  litera- 
ture, and  the  antiquities  in  which  that  capital 
abounds.  The  reputation  he  had  acquired  for 
learning,  induced  the  prince  of  Juliers  and 
Cleves  to  place  his  son  Charles,  a  young 
prince  of  great  promise,  under  his  tuition  ; 
but  his  pupil  dying  prematurely,  Pighius  cele- 
brated his  good  qualities  and  talents,  to  the 
full  development  of  which  time  only  was 
wanting,  in  a  eulogium,  entitled  "  Hercules 
Prodicus."  His  other  works  are,  "  Annales 
seu  Fasti  Romanorum  Magistratuum  et  Provin 
ciarum,''  and  the  first  good  edition  ever  pub- 
lished of  the  works  of  Valerius  Maximus  ;  the 
latter  is  in  8vo,  1585.  lie  eventually  obtained 
acanonry  at  Santen,  where  he  was  also  mas- 
ter of  the  grammar  school,  and  died  there  in 
1604. — Moreri. 

PIGNA  (GIOVANNI  BATTISTA)  a  rhetori- 


P  IG 

;ian  of  Ferrara,  born  1530.  He  received  his 
education  in  the  university  of  his  native 
place,  and,  became  professor  of  eloquence 
there.  Pigna  was  the  author  of  a  work  enti- 
tled "  The  Prince ;"  a  "  History  of  the  House 
of  Kite  ;"  a  "  Treatise  on  the  Life  and  Writ- 
ings of  Ariosto,"  and  some  miscellaneous 
poems.  His  death  took  place  in  1575. — Tira- 
boschi. 

PIGNEAUX  (N.)  bishop  of  Audran,  was 
born  in  the  department  of  the  Aisoe,  in  1740. 
In  1770  he  went  as  a  missionary  to  Cochin 
China,  with  the  authority  of  the  pope,  and  the 
title  of  apostolical  vicar  of  that  country.  He 
gained  the  esteem  of  the  king,  Caung-Schung, 
who  confided  to  him  the  education  of  his  only 
son.  M.  Pigueaux,  when  bishop  of  Audran, 
redoubled  his  zeal  for  the  prosperity  of  his 
flock  ;  but  the  troubles  which  disturbed  the 
empire  of  his  protector,  obliged  him  to  fly  to 
the  town  of  Sat-Gond,  whence  he  proposed  in- 
voking the  assistance  of  France.  The  king 
of  Cochin  China  was  surprised  by  three  am- 
bitious brothers,  who  overthrew  his  empire, 
and  forced  him  to  seek  an  asylum  in  the  isle 
of  Pulo-VVa.  The  bishop  departed  for  France 
in  1787,  taking  his  pupil  with  him.  He  formed 
an  offensive  and  defensive  league  between 
France  and  Cochin  China,  and  returned  with 
the  title  of  ambassador  extraordinary  to  the 
court  of  that  kingdom.  Before  his  arrival  at 
Cochin  China,  the  French  Revolution  broke 
out,  and  all  help  was  refused  him.  He  did 
not  lose  his  courage,  but  going  to  the  isle  of 
Pulo-Wa,  he  brought  from  thence  Caung- 
Schung,  who  profiting  by  the  discontent  of  his 
subjects,  who  were  tired  of  the  usurpers,  re- 
gained his  empire  in  1760.  He  created  M. 
Pigneaux  his  first  minister,  and  under  his  di- 
rection he  founded  several  important  manufac- 
tories. The  bishop  translated  for  him  a  Trea- 
tise on  Tactics  into  Chinese,  and  instituted 
schools,  to  which  fathers  of  families  were  ob- 
liged to  send  their  children  at  the  age  of  four 
years.  He  died  in  1800,  and  was  buried  by 
the  missionaries,  but  Caung-Schung,  dissatis- 
fied with  their  ceremony,  caused  him  to  be 
disinterred,  and  rendered  him  funeral  honours 
after  the  manner  of  the  Cochin-Chinese. — 
Bio<;'.  Nouv.  des  Contemp. 

PIGNORIUS  (LORENZO)  a  learned  eccle- 
siastic of  Padua,  born  there  in  1571.  He 
studied  at  the  university  of  that  city,  and 
having  formed  an  intimate  acquaintance 
with  the  celebrated  Galileo,  that  philosopher 
procured  him  the  offer  of  a  professorship  in 
the  belles  lettres  at  Pisa,  an  appointment, 
however,  which  his  love  of  retirement  and 
of  leisure  for  pursuing  bis  studies  in  his  own 
way,  induced  him  to  decline.  He  was  the  au- 
thor of  several  ingenious  works,  written  in  the 
Latin  language,  particularly  of  a  treatise  in- 
tended to  throw  a  light  on  the  ancient  Egyp- 
tian mysteries.  This  book,  which  evinces 
much  reading,  is  entitled  "  Mensa  Isiaca." 
He  also  wrote  "  On  the  treatment  and  offices 
of  the  Slaves  among  the  Ancients  ;"  "  On  the 
early  History  of  Padua  ;"  some  miscellaneous 
poetry,  &c.  Cardinal  Francis  Barberini,  who 


PI  L 

esteemed  him  much,  obtained  for  him  in  1630 
a  canonry  at  Treviso,  where  he   died  the  fol- 
lowing year,  of  the  plague. — Nouv.  Diet.  lli>t. 
PIGNOTTI  (LORENZO)   an   Italian    histo- 
rian and  poet,  was  born   at   Figliena  in  Tus- 
cany, in  1739.     Being  left  an  orphan,  he  was 
brought   up   by  an  uncle  at  Arezzo,  and  was 
placed  at   a  seminary  in  that  city,  where,  by 
his  brilliant  progress,  he  attracted  the  notice 
of  the  bishop,  who  encouraged  him  in  his  stu- 
dies, and  even  offered  him  a  chair  in   the  se- 
minary, which  he  declined,  not  being  willing 
to  enter  into  the   monastic   state.     In  conse- 
quence of  his  refusal,  his   uncle  withdrew  his 
protection,  and  through  the   kindness  of  his 
brother-in-law,  Pignotti  finished  his  studies  in 
the  university  of  Pisa.     After  taking  his  de- 
grees in  medicine,  he  went  to   Florence,  and 
was  created   professor   of  physic   in   the  new 
academy  of  the   archduke    Leopold.     In  the 
midst  of  his  more  abstruse  studies,   Pignotti 
amused  himself  with  composing  fables,  which 
have  not  the  conciseness  of  those  of  .^£sop  or 
Phredrus,  nor  the  naivete  of  La  Fontaine,  but 
are  piquant  and  elegant.     He  also  published  a 
poem,  entitled  "  La  Treccia  rapita,"  in  which, 
contrary  to  other  comic  poets,  who  make  the 
muses  speak  in  the  most  vulgar  language,  he 
has  blended  a  kind  of  dignity  with    the   ridi- 
culous.    His  great  work,  the  history  of  Tus- 
cany, is  divided  into  five  books,  in  which  be 
depicts,  in  a  striking  manner,  all  the  vicissi- 
tudes  of  that  country  ;  and   in  five  disserta- 
tions, added   to  his  history,  he  has  treated  of 
important  questions  which  throw  a  great  light 
on  the  epochs  of  which  he  writes.    His  health 
declined  under  this  great  labour,  and  in  1801 
his  government  dispensed  with  his  public  les- 
sons, and  he  was  afterwards  created  historio- 
grapher of  the  court,  member  of  the  council  of 
public  instruction,  and    finally  rector  of  the 
university  of  Pisa.     He  died  in  1812,  and  was 
buried  in  the  Cainpo  Santo  of  Pisa,  where  a 
monument  is  erected  to  his  memory. — Biog. 
Univ.  des  Contemp. 

PILES  (ROGER  de)  a  writer  on  painting, 
was  born  at  Clanieci  in  1635,  and  was  brought 
up  to  the  church  ;  but  having  a  great  taste  for 
painting,  he  became  tutor  to  the  son  of  M. 
Amelot,  whom  he  accompanied  in  a  tour  to 
Italy,  and  when  his  pupil  was  appointed  am- 
bassador to  Venice,  Lisbon,  and  Switzerland, 
De  Piles  accompanied  him  as  his  secretary. 
In  1692  he  was  sent  by  the  French  ministry 
into  Holland,  as  a  secret  negociator  ;  but  his 
errand  being  discovered,  he  was  imprisoned 
for  five  years,  during  which  peiiod  he  com- 
posed his"  Lives  of  the  Painters.''  His  other 
works  are,  "  An  Abridgment  of  Anatomy,  for 
the  Use  of  Painters  and  Sculptors  ;"  "  Con- 
versations on  Painting  ;"  "  Elements  of  Paint- 
ing ;"  and  "  Abregfe  de  la  Vie  des  Peintres, 
avec  des  Reflexions  sur  leurs  Ouvrages  et  un 
Traite  du  Peintre  parfait,"  which  has  been 
translated  into  English,  with  an  appendix  on 
the  English  school  of  painting.  Piles  died  in 
1709. —  Nonv.  Diet.  Hist. 

PILKINGTON  (JAMES)  bishop  of  Dur- 
ham in  t!ie  sixteenth  century.  This  learned 


PIN 

prelate  was  a  native  of  Rivington,  Lanca- 
shire, where  he  was  born  in  1520,  anil  studied 
at  St  John's  college,  Cambridge,  over  which 
society  he  was  aftenvards  selected  to  preside. 
On  the  restoration  to  power  of  the  Romish 
party  in  England,  under  Mary,  doctor  Pil- 
kington  was,  in  common  with  many  of  liis 
brethren,  forced  to  flee  to  the  continent,  wliere 
be  remained,  till  the  death  of  that  princess  and 
the  accession  of  Elizabeth  paved  the  way  for 
his  return.  Soon  after  this  event  he  was  ele- 
vated to  the  see  of  Durham,  which  valuable 
preferment  he  held  till  his  decease.  Among 
his  writings  is  a  valuable  Commentary  on  the 
Books  of"  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  His  i 
death  took  place  in  1575. — Biog.  Brit. 

PILKINGTON  (L*.TITIA)  a  sprightly  and 
entertaining  authoress,  the  friend  of  Swift, 
and  intimate  with  many  of  the  wits  of  the 
period.  Her  maiden  name  was  Van  Lewen, 
she  being  the  daughter  of  a  physician  of  that 
name,  of  Dutch  extraction,  but  practising  in 
Dublin,  where  she  was  born  in  1712.  \\hen 
very  young,  her  mental  as  well  as  personal 
charms  obtained  her  many  admirers,  to  one  of 
whom,  the  rev  Matthew  Pilkington,  himself 
a  man  of  wit  and  talent,  she  was  soon  united  ; 
but  the  marriage  proved  an  unhappy  one, 
through  the  jealousy  of  her  husband,  which 
appeared  not  to  have  been  excited  without 
sufficient  foundation.  A  temporary  separation 
was  followed  by  a  reconciliation,  and  the  par- 
ties came  together  to  London,  where,  similar 
disagreement  taking  place,  they  finally  parted. 
The  imputation  thrown  upon  her  character  by 
these  too  well-grounded  suspicions,  appears  to 
have  seriously  injured  her  in  the  opinion  of 
her  friends,  as  we  soon  after  find  her  confined 
for  debt  in  the  Murshalsea,  and  depending  en-  ' 
tirely  for  support  upon  her  pen.  On  her  libe- 
ration she  attempted  to  maintain  herself  by 
the  sale  of  books,  and  commenced  business  in 
St  James's  parish,  with  a  capital  amounting, 
it  is  said,  to  no  more  than  five  guineas.  Such 
a  speculation  failed,  as  might  have  been  anti- 
cipated, and  she  was  afterwards  indebted  for 
her  subsistence,  partly  to  her  writings  and 
partly  to  the  bounty  of  her  literary  acquaint- 
ance. Among  the  latter,  Colley  Gibber  was 
rery  kind  to  her,  and  assisted  her  materially 
in  the  disposal  of  her  works,  one  of  which, 
containing  memoirs  of  her  own  life,  was  writ- 
ten with  much  talent,  and  embracing  anecdotes 
of  many  of  her  contemporaries,  produced  her 
a  handsome  sum  of  money.  She  also  wrote  a 
variety  of  miscellaneous  pieces,  in  a  light  and 
elegant  style,  as  well  as  two  dramatic  compo- 
sitions, "  The  Roman  Father,"  a  tragedy, 
and  "  The  Turkish  Court,  or  London  Ap- 
prentice," a  comedy.  A  habit  of  intempe- 
rance in  the  use  of  spirituous  liquors,  con- 
tracted during  the  period  of  her  distresses,  at 
length  undermined  a  constitution  naturally 
good,  and  carried  her  off  in  her  thirty-eighth 
war,  at  Dublin,  during  the  summer  of  1750. — 
Memoirs.  Biog.  Dram. 

PILPAY,  or  BIDPAY,  an  ancient  orien- 
tal philosopher,  of  whom  nothing  is  known, 
except  that  he  was  the  counsellor  and  vizier  of 

Eioo.  DICT. — Voi,,  IT. 


PIN 

Dabshelim,  an  ancient  king  of  India.  lie  is 
celebrated  for  his  book  of  Apologues,  or  Fa- 
bles, a  work  replete  with  moral  and  political 
precepts.  It  is  called  in  the  Indian  language, 
Kelile  Wadimne,  a  name  signifying  "  The 
Fox,"  which  animal  is  made  the  principal  in- 
terlocutor. Jt  is  said  to  have  been  written  2000 
years  EC. ;  but  the  work  contains  many  proofs 
that  it  was  of  a  much  later  period.  It 
has  been  translated  into  most  modern  lan- 
guages, and  the  best  European  version  is  said 
to  be  that  of  M.  Galland,  in  French,  1714, 
2  vols.  Another  work  attributed  to  Pilpay 
was  also  translated  by  the  same  writer,  and 
was  entitled,  "  Le  Naufrage  des  Isles  Flot- 
tantes,  ou  la  Basiliade." — U'Herbclot.  llijde 
de  Ludis  Orient. 

PINDAR,  the  most  famous  lyric  poet  of 
ancient  Greece,  was  a  native  of  CynoscephalEe, 
near  Thebes,  in  Brcotia.  The  time  of  his  birth 
is  uncertain,  but  he  was  at  the  height  of  his 
reputation  at  the  rcra  of  the  expedition  of 
Xerxes,  BC.480.  Of  the  particulars  of  his  life 
but  little  is  known,  but  he  appears  to  have 
courted  the  gr^at  by  encomiastic  verses,  which 
were  at  the.  service  of  those  who  paid  for 
them.  Two  of  his  principal  patrons  were 
Theron  of  Agrigentum,  and  Hiero,  of  Syra- 
cuse ;  and  he  also  celebrated  the  city  of 
Athens,  in  a  manner  which  excited  the  dis- 
pleasure of  his  countrymen,  who  imposed  a 
fine  upon  him,  which  the  Athenians  doubly 
repaid,  and  erected  a  statue  to  his  honour.  He 
is  said  to  have  died  in  the  public  theatre,  at 
the  nge  of  fifty- five,  and  his  memory  was  held 
in  such  honour,  that  on  the  capture  of  Thebes, 
first  by  the  Lacedemonians,  and  afterwards  by 
Alexander,  the  house  in  which  he  had  lived 
was  spared.  Pindar  composed  a  great  number 
and  variety  of  pieces  ;  but  those  which  havo 
reached  posterity  are  odes,  celebrating  the 
victor*  in  the  four  great  games  of  Greece ; 
the  Olympian,  Pythean,  Nemean,  and  Isth- 
mian. These  possess  the  characteristics  of 
fire,  rapidity,  acd  variety,  for  which  he  is  so 
praised  by  the  ancients,  but  are  frequently  ob- 
scure to  the  modern  reader,  from  the  difficulty 
of  comprehending  the  point  and  beauty  of 
much  of  the  allusion,  which  must  have  been 
well  understood  by  his  contemporaries.  No 
poet  has  been  more  highly  praised  than  Pin- 
dar, who  is  loftily  extolled  by  Plato,  Horace, 
Quintilian,  and  Longinus.  Besides  his  bold 
dithyrambics,  Horace  notices  his  pathetic  and 
moral  commemorations  of  departed  excellence, 
all  which  are  unfortunately  lost.  No  writer 
has  been  more  miserably  imitated  by  modern 
poets  than  Pindar ;  the  failure  in  catching 
his  peculiar  spirit  being  so  notorious,  that  a 
Pindaric  ode  is  degenerated  into  a  sort  of 
burlesque  expression.  The  latest  and  best 
edition  of  this  admired  poet  is  that  of  lleyne, 
1798,  8vo.  which  contains  the  Greek  Scholia. 
There  is  an  English  version  of  Pindar,  by 
Gilbert  West,  which  is  much  esteemed. — • 
Vosii  Poet.  Grffc.  Moreri.  Preface  to  Odes, 
by  Gilhert  West. 

PINE  (JOHN)   an    eminent  engraver,  was 
born   in   1C90.     Of  his   biith  and  educatio ; 
2  U 


P  1  N 

little  IB  known,  except  that  he  gave  indica- 
tions of  having  been  classically  instructed. 
fie  irf  best  known  for  his  admirable  prints,  ten 
in  number,  representing  die  tapestry  hangings 
in  the  House  of  Lords,  which  were  so  highly 
approved,  that  the  parliament  passed  an  act 
to  secure  to  him  the  emolument  arising  from 
them.  lie  engraved  five  other  plates  to  ac- 
lompany  them  ;  a  view  of  the  creation  of 
llharles  Brandon,  duke  of  Suffolk  ;  the  House 
of  Peers,  with  Henry  VIII  on  the  throne  ; 
the  same,  with  the  reigning  king  on  the 
throne  and  the  Commons  at  the  bar ;  the 
House  of  Commons;  and  the  Trial  of  Lord 
Lovat  in  Westminster-hall.  He  also  engraved 
the  whole  text  of  Horace,  and  Virgil's  Bu- 
colics and  Georgics,  which  he  illustrated 
with  ancient  bas-reliefs  and  gems.  These, 
with  Magna  Charta,  are  his  principal  works. 
In  1743,  he  was  made  Blue-mantle  to  the 
Herald's  college,  and  afterwards  engraver  of 
signet  seals  and  stamps.  He  died  May  4, 
17.56. —  Walpale's  Anec. 

PINELLI  (JoiiN  VINCENT)  an  Italian  no- 
bleman, celebrated  as  a  book-collector.  He 
was  descended  of  a  Genoese  family,  but 
was  born  at  Naples  in  1533.  He  stu- 
died at  Padua,  and  settling  in  that  city,  he 
formed,  at  a  vast  expense,  a  most  valuable 
library  of  printed  books  and  manuscripts.  He 
died  in  1601.  The  library,  after  being  vastly 
augmented  by  his  successors,  was,  on  the 
death  of  his  descendant,  Maft'ei  Pinelli,  sold 
to  two  London  booksellers,  Robson  of  Bond, 
street,  and  Edwards  of  Pall-mall,  who  re- 
moved the  books  to  London  in  1790,  and  sold 
them  by  auction.  An  excellent  catalogue  of 
this  collection  was  compiled  by  the  abbe  Mo- 
relli,  and  published  in  5  vols.  8vo,  from  which 
was  made  an  abstract  as  a  sale  catalogue, 
17!  0,  8vo.—Tiraboschi. 

PINGERON  (JEAN-CLAUDE)  a  French 
writer,  secretary  of  the  museum  of  Paris,  and 
member  of  the  academy  of  Barcelona,  was 
born  at  Lyons  in  1730.  He  took  arms  in 
the  Polish  service,  in  which  he  became  captain 
of  artillery  and  engineers.  He  travelled  a 
great  deal  in  Europe,  and  in  1776  he  accom- 
panied the  abb6  Sestini  in  his  journey  from 
Catania  to  mount  Gibel.  In  1779  he  was 
concerned  in  the  "  Journal  d'Agriculture, 
du  Commerce,  des  Arts,  et  des  Finances,"  to 
which  he  contributed  more  particularly  ar- 
ticles on  public  utility.  He  died  at  Versailles, 
in  179.5.  Ilis  works  are  principally  transla- 
tions ;  they  are,  "  Trait6  des  Vertus  et  des 
Recompenses,"  from  the  Italian  of  the  mar- 
quis of  Hyne;  "  Conseils  d'une  Mere  a.  son 
Fils,"  of  Madame  Piccolomini  Gerardi ;  "  Es- 
sai  stir  la  Peinture,"  of  Count  Algarotti  ; 
"  'I  raite  des  Violences  publiques  et  parti- 
culieres,  avec  une  Dissertation  sur  les  Devoirs 
des  Magistrals;"  "  Les  Abeilles"  of  Ruc- 
celai  ;  "  Voyage  dans  la  Greee  Asiatique,  of 
the  Abbe  Sestini  ;"  Vies  des  Architectes  an- 
ciens  et  inodernes,"  from  Milizia  ;  vvit.li 
numerous  translations  from  the  English,  and 
Jther  languages,  scientific  and  descriptive. — 
}Ji:>g.  Ary«i'.  (Its  Contemp. 


PIXGRE  (ALEXANDER  Guy)  a  C'.le 
brated  modern  astronomer  and  mathematician, 
born  at  Paris  in  1711.  He  adopted  the  ec- 
clesiastical profession,  and  entered  among  fir 
canons  regular  of  St.  Augustine,  but  quitted 
that  order  to  devote  himself  to  the  study  of 
mathematics.  In  1749  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  at  Rouen; 
and  in  1753  a  correspondent  of  the  Academy 
of  Sciences  at  Paris,  to  the  memoirs  of  which 
learned  society  lie  furnished  many  important 
contributions.  At  length  he  was  made  keeper 
of  the  library  of  St.  Genevieve;  -and  in  17(>;J 
he  went  on  a  voyage  to  the  island  of  Dii'go 
Rodriguez,  in  the  Indian  Sea,  to  observe  the 
transit  of  Venus.  In  1767  he  published  a 
"  Memoire  sur  les  Lieux  ou  le  Passage  do 
Venus,  le  3  Juin,  1769,  pourra  etre  observe 
avec  le  plus  d'avantage,"  4to  ;  and  he  went 
himself  to  St.  Domingo  to  observe  that  phe- 
nomenon, of  which  voyage  an  account  was 
published  in  1773.  He  subsequently  under- 
took another  voyage  for  the  promotion  of 
science,  the  particulars  of  which  were  also 
laid  before  the  public.  M.  Piugre  was  for 
several  years  employed  in  making  calculations 
for  the  Nautical  Almanac  ;  and  on  the  esta- 
blishment of  the  National  Institute  he  became 
one  of  the  members.  His  death  took  pl.u  e 
in  1796.  Besides  the  works  above  noticed, 
he  published  "  Cometographie,"  2  vols.  4to. 
' ;  Memoire  sur  les  Decouvertes  faites  dans  le 
Mer  du  Sud,"  4to.  ;  and  "  Description  de 
Pekin."—  Biog.  Univ.  Diet.  Hist. 

PINKERfON,F.S.A.(JoHN)aningeEioua 
and  prolific,  but  eccentric  writer,  born  in  Edin- 
burgh, Feb.  13,  1758.  He  was  the  third  and 
youngest  son  of  James  Pinkerton,  a  dealer  in 
hair,  descended  of  a  respectable  family,  origi- 
nally settled  at  a  village  of  the  same  name,  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Dunbar.  After  acquiring 
the  rudiments  of  education  at  a  small  school 
in  the  suburbs  of  the  Scottish  metropolis,  he 
was  removed,  in  1764,  to  one  of  a  more  re- 
spectable character,  at  Lanark,  kept  by  a 
brother-in-law  of  the  poet  Thomson.  On 
arriving  at  a  proper  age,  his  father  articled 
him  to  a  writer  to  the  signet,  in  whose  office 
he  continued  five  years,  but  did  not  neglert 
the  cultivation  of  a  taste  for  poetry,  which  lia 
bad  eaily  imbibed,  and  of  which  the  fir; -t 
fruits  appeared  in  1776,  in  the  shape  of  an 
elegy,  called  "  Craigmiller  Castle."  On  the 
death  of  his  father,  in  1780,  he  came  to  Lon - 
don,  where  he  settled  the  following  year,  and 
published  an  octavo  volume  of  miscellane- 
ous poetry,  under  the  unassuming  title,  of 
"  Rhymes,"  with  dissertations  "  On  the  Oral 
Tradition  of  Poetry,"  and  "  On  the  Tragic 
Ballad,"  prefixed.  This  work  he  followed 
up  the  succeeding  year  by  two  others  ;  one 
in  quarto,  containing  "  Dithyrambic  Odes, 
Sec."  the  other  entitled  "Tales  in  Verse." 
\  passion  for  collecting  medals,  accidentally 
excited  in  his  boyish  days  by  coming  into 
possession  of  a  small  but  rare  one  of  the 
emperor  Constantine,  drew  his  attention  to 
the  imperfection  of  all  books  published  on 
i.hs  subject,  aud  led  him  to  draw  up  a  manual 


PIN 

for  his  own  use,  which  eventually  grew  into  a 
very  excellent  and  complete  "  Essay  on  Me- 
dals," printed  by  Dodsley,  in  1784,  in  2  vols. 
8vo  ;  a  compilation  in  which  he  was  much  in- 
debted to  the  assistance  of  Messrs  Douce  and 
Southgate.  This  book  has  since  gone  through 
two  other  editions,  the  last  by  Mr  Harwood. 
Mr  Pinkerton's  other  works  are,  "  Letters  on 
Literature,"  publi.-hed  in  1785,  under  the 
assumed  name  of  Heron,  in  which  he  depre- 
ciates the  value  of  the  ancient  authors,  and 
recommends  a  new  system  of  orthography, 
even  more  fantastical  than  that  advocated  by 
his  countryman  Elphinstone.  This  book, 
however,  obtained  him  the  acquaintance  of 
Horace  Walpole,  of  whose  witticisms,  &c.  he 
published  a  collection,  after  his  decease, 
under  the  title  of  "  Walpoliana,"  in  two  small 
volumes,  with  a  portrait.  "  Ancient  Scottish 
Poems,  from  the  (pretended)  Manuscript  Col- 
lection of  Sir  Richard  Maitland,  Knt.,  Lord 
Privy  Seal  of  Scotland,  &c.  comprising  Pieces 
written  from  about  1420  till  1586,  with  Notes 
and  a  Glossary."  It  is  unnecessary  to  add, 
that  this  "  Collection"  is  a  literary  forgery. 
"  The  Treasury  of  Wit,"  1787,  2  vols.  12mo. 
under  the  fictitious  name  of  Bennet  ;  "  Dis- 
sertation on  the  Origin  and  Progress  of  the 
Scythians,  or  Goths,  being  an  Introduc- 
tion to  the  Ancient  and  Modern  History  of 
Europe  ;"  "  A  Collection  of  Latin  Lives  of 
Scottish  Saints,"  8vo,  1789,  now  scarce  ;  an 
edition  of  Barbour's  old  Scottish  poern,  "  The 
Bruce,"  3  vols.  8vo.  in  the  same  year  ;  "  The 
Medallic  History  of  England,  4to  ;"  "  An  En- 
quiry into  the  History  of  Scotland,  preceding 
the  Reign  of  Malcolm  the  Third,"  2  vols.  8vo. 
1789,  reprinted,  with  additions,  1795  ; 
"Scottish  Poems,  reprinted  from  scarce  edi- 
tions, 5  vols.  8vo  ;  "  Iconographia  Scotica,  or 
Portraits  of  Illustrious  Personages  of  Scotland, 
with  Notes,  2  vols.  8vo,  1795-1797  ;  "  The 
Scottish  Gallery,"  8vo,  1799  ;  "  Modern 
Geography,  digested  on  a  New  Plan,"  2  vols. 
4to,  1802,  reprinted  3  vols.  1807  ;  "  General 
Collection  of  Voyages  and  Travels,"  19  vols. 
4to  ;  "  Recollections  of  Paris,"  2  vols.  8vo  ; 
"  New  Modern  Atlas,"  in  parts,  1809;  and 
"  Petralogy,  or  a  Treatise  on  Rocks,"  2  vols. 
8vo,  1811  ;  his  last  original  work.  Mr  Pin- 
kerton,  of  late  years,  resided  almost  entirely 
at  Paris,  whither  he  had  first  proceeded  in 
1806,  and  where  he  died,  March  10,  1826.— 
Ann.  Riog, 

P1NSSON  (FiiANfois)  an  eminent  French 
advocate.,  born  in  1612,  at  Bourges.  He  was 
the  author  of  a  number  of  works  on  subjects 
connected  with  politics  ami  jurisprudence. 
The  principal  of  these  are,  a  "Treatise  on  the 
Pragmatic  Sanction  of  Louis  the  Ninth,  and 
of  Charles  the  Seventh  ;"  another,  "  On  Be- 
nefices ;  two  volumes,  "  Des  Regales,"  and 
"Notes  sommaires  sir  les  Indults."  His 
Jeath  took  place  at  Paris,  in  1691.  —  Nouv. 
Diet.  Hist. 

PINTURICCIO  (BEKNAFDINO)  an  emi- 
nent painter,  the  disciple  of  Pietro  Peru^ino, 
was  born  at  Perugia,  in  1454.  He  painted  chieflv 
in  history  and  grotesque  ;  but  he  also  excelled 


1M  O 

in  portraits.  His  chief  work  was  the  History 
of  Pope  Pius  II,  in  ten  compartments,  in  the 
library  at  Sienna..  His  style  was  effective, 
but  be.  made  use  of  too  splendid  colours,  and 
introduced  abundance  of  gilding.  He  is  said 
to  have  died  of  chagrin  at  the  following  cir- 
cumstance. Being  engaged  to  paint  a  Na- 
tivity for  the  monastery  of  St.  Francis,  at  Si 
enna,  he  pertinaciously  insisted  that  every 
thing  should  be  removed  out  of  the  room  in 
which  he  worked,  and  obliged  the  monks  to 
remove  a  great  chest,  become  rotten  from 
age.  In  the  attempt  it  burst,  and  discovered 
a  hoard  of  500  pieces  of  gold,  to  the  great 
joy  of  the  fathers,  and  the  mortification  of 
Pinturiccio.  His  death  took  place  in  151,'j. 
Felibien  Entretiens.  Piikingtnn, 

PIOMBO  (SEBASTIAN  DEL)  also  called 
VENEZIANO,  an  eminent  painter,  was  bom 
at  Venice  in  1485.  He  was  the  disciple  of 
John  Bellini,  and  aftt-rwards  of  Giorgione, 
from  whom  he  took  his  fine  style  of  colour- 
ing. He  arrived  at  great  excellence  as  a 
portrait  painter.  Being  induced  to  go  to 
Rome,  to  adorn  the  hous'3  of  a  rich  mer- 
chant of  Sienna,  lie  became  acquainted  with 
Michael  Angelo,  who  encouraged  him  to 
enter  the  lists  with  Raphael.  His  greatest 
work  is  his  Resurrection  of  Lazarus,  now 
contained  in  our  National  Gallery.  This  was 
painted  at  the  instigation  of  Michael  Angelo, 
who  is  said  to  have  furnished  him  with  the 
design,  and  retouched  it,  when  finished.  He 
was  greatly  esteemed  by  Clement  VII,  who 
gave  him  the  office  of  keeper  of  the  signet, 
whence  he  was  called  del  Piombo,  in  allu- 
sion to  the  lead  of  the  seal.  This  post 
obliging  him  to  take  the  religious  habit,  he 
relinquished  the  profession  of  a  painter,  and 
lived  at  his  ease  the  remainder  of  his  life. 
Of  his  portraits,  the  most  distinguished  were, 
a  likeness  of  Julia  Gonzaga,  painted  for  car- 
dinal Ippolito  de  Medici;  those  of  pope  Paul 
III  ;  of  Aretino;  and  of  Clement  VII. — D'dr- 
genrille.  Piikingtnn. 

PIOZZI  (HESTER  LYNCH)  an  authoress, 
and  great  admirer  of  learned  men,  born  in 
1739,  the  daughter  of  John  Salisbury,  esq.  of 
Bodvel,  Carnarvonshire.  Early  in  life  she 
was  distinguished  in  the  fashionable  world  by 
her  beauty  and  accomplishments.  In  1763, 
she  accepted  the  hand  of  Henry  Thrale,  esq.  a 
brewer,  of  great  opulenre,  in  Southwark, which 
borough  he  then  represented  in  parliament. 
Soon  after  commenced  her  acquaintance  with 
Dr  Johnson,  of  whom  she,  at  a  subsequent 
period,  published  "  Anecdotes,"  in  one  8vo 
volume,  which  appeart  d  in  1786,  being  her 
maiden  effort  in  authorship.  Mr  Thrale  dying 
in  1781,  his  lady  retired  to  Bath,  and,  in 
1784,  accepted  the  addresses  of  signor  Pio;:£>,, 
a  Florentine,  who  taught  music  in  that  city. 
A  warm  expostulation  from  her  old  friend, 
upon  the  subject,  entirely  dissolved  tin  ir 
friendship  ;  and  goon  after  her  marriage  sho 
accompanied  her  husband  on  a  visit  to  his 
native  city,  during  her  residence  in  which 
she  joined  Messrs  Merry,  Greathed,  and  Pur- 
sons,  in  the  production  of  a  collection  of 
2U2 


1  IP 

pieces  in  verse  and  prose  ,  entitled  the  "  Flo- 
rence Miscellany."  Of  this  work  a  few  copies 
were  printed  in  1786,  b'tt  it  was  never  pub- 
lished. Her  other  writings  are,  the  "  Three 
Warnings,"  a  tale,  in  iiiiitation  of  La  Fon- 
taine, in  which  it  has  been  asserted,  but  on 
insufficient  authority,  that  she  was  assisted  hy 
Johnson  ;  "  A  Translation  of  Boileau's  Epistle 
to  his  Gardener,  first  printed  in  Mrs  Wil- 
liams's  Miscellany,  and  a  Prologue  to  the 
Royal  Suppliants  ;"  "  Observations  made  in  a 
Journey  through  France,  Italy,  and  Ger- 
many," 2  vols.  8vo,  1789;  "  British  Syno- 
nymy, or  an  Attempt  at  regulating  the  Choice 
of  Words  in  familiar  Conversation,"  2  vols. 
8vo,  1794;  and  "  Retrospection  of  a 
Review  of  the  mo^t  striking  Events,  &c. 
and  their  consequences,  which  the  last  1800 
Years  have  presented  to  the  View  of 
Mankind,"  2  vols.  4to,  1801.  Mrs  Piozzi, 
whose  abilities  were  more  lively  and  agreeable 
than  profound,  became  a  second  time  a  widow, 
and  died  at  Clifton,  May  "2,  1821,  in  her 
eighty-second  year. — Ann.  Bio<r,  Gent.  I\I/i^. 
PIPER  (CHAIILES,  COUNT)  a  Swedish  se- 
nator, who  was  the  principal  minister  of 
Charles  XII.  Born  in  obscurity,  he  raised 
himself  to  eminence  in  the  state,  hy  his  ta- 
lents, and  obtained  the  favour  and  confidence 
of  Charles  XI,  who  placed  him  about  his  son 
and  successor,  with  whom  he  became  a  favour- 
ite counsellor.  He  attended  that  prince  in 
all  his  campaigns,  and  is  supposed  to  have  re- 
commended the  expedition  to  Russia,  the  re- 
sult of  which  was  so  disastrous  to  the  Swedish 
monarch.  Count  Piper  was  present  at  the 
battle  of  Pultowa,  when  he  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Russians,  who  treated  him  with  much 
rigour  ;  and,  after  being  removed  from  one 
place  of  confinement  to  another,  he  died  in  the 
fortress  of  Schlusselburg,  in  1716. —  His  son, 

CHARLES  FuEDF.niC,     COUNT    PlPKR,     W3S  the 

favourite  of  king  Adolplms  Frederic,  and  ar- 
rived at  the  first  employments  in  the  state  ; 
but  his  son-in-law,  count  Brahr,  having  been 
beheaded  in  17otJ,  he  resigned  his  offices,  and 
retired  into  the  country,  where  he  died,  in 
1770. —  King.  Univ. 

PIPER  (FRANCIS  I.E)  an  English  comic 
painter.  lie  was  the  son  of  a  Kentish  gen- 
tleman of  good  estate,  and  succeeding  to  a 
plentiful  fortune,  indulged  his  passion  for  hu- 
mourous designing  and  caricature,  without 
seeking  to  derive  emolument  from  his  per- 
formances. He  had  a  talent  for  drawing  faces 
remarkable  for  singularity  of  expression,  or 
whimsical  combination  of  feature  ;  and  hy  a 
transient  view  of  any  remarkable  countenance 
which  he  met  in  the  street,  would  retain  the 
likeness  so  exactly  in  his  memory,  that  it 
might  be  supposed  that  the  person  had  sat 
several  times  for  it.  He  frequently  made  a 
journey  through  the  Continent  on  foot,  to  in- 
crease his  field  of  observation  ;  the  result  of 
which  was  the  production  of  many  striking 
pieces,  in  his  own  peculiar  vein,  which  are 
esteemed  exceedingly  curious.  The  greatest 
part  of  them  are  uncoloured  sketches,  as  lie 
never  applied  regularly  to  the  art.  They 


PI  R 

were,  for  the  most  part,  collected  by  a  sur- 
viving brother,  lie  died  in  1740,  by  the  mis- 
take of  a  surgeon,  who  pricked  an  artery  in 
bleeding  him. —  IVulpole's  Anec. 
PIPPI  ( JULIO.)  See  JULIO. 
PIRANES1  (JOHN  BAPTIST)  a  celebrated 
architect,  engraver,  and  antiquaiy,  was  born  at 
Venice,  probably  about  1711,  although  one 
account  says  in  1721.  He  passed  the  greater 
part  of  his  life  at  Rome,  of  which  capital, 
with  its  models  of  ancient  and  modern  art,  he 
was  an  enthusiastic  admirer.  Being  master 
of  a  singularly  bold  and  free  manner  of  etch- 
ing, lie  executed  a  great  number  of  plates,  by 
which  he  became  well  known  to  the  curious 
throughout  Europe.  The  earliest  of  his  works 
appeared  in  1743,  and  consist  of  designs  of 
his  own,  in  a  grand  style,  and  decorated  with 
views  of  Rome,  which  show  the  magnificence 
of  his  ideas.  His  other  works  are  composed 
in  the  following  list :  "  Antichita  Ilomani," 
or  Roman  Antiquities,  contained  in  218  plates, 
on  atlas  paper,  which,  witli  descriptions  in 
Italian,  form  four  volumes,  folio;  "  Fasti 
Consulares,  Triumphalesque  Romanorum  ;" 
"  Del  Castelle  dell'  Acqua  Giulia,"  21  folio 
plates;  "Antichita  d'  Albano  e  di  Castel 
Gandolfo,"55  plates;  "  Campus  Martius  An- 
tiqure  Urbis,"  with  descriptions  in  Latin  and 
Italian,  54  plates  ;  "  Archi  Trionfali  Antichi 
Tempii  ed  Amfiteatri,"  31  plates  ;  "  Trofei 
d' Ottaviano  Augusto,"  10  plates;  "Delia 
Magnificenza  ed  Architeltura  di  Romani,"  4-i 

1  plates,  with  above  200  pages  of  letter-presa 
in  Italian  and  Latin  ;  "  Architteture  diverse," 
27  plates;  "  Career!  d*  Inventione,"  16  plates, 
full  of  wild  and  picturesque  conceptions  ;  about 
130  Views  of  Rome,  in  its  present  state. 

j  With  respect  to  these  works,  it  is  allowed  that 
his  inventions  display  much  grandeur  and  fer- 
tility, but  that  his  real  objects,  although  ex- 
tremely picturesque,  are  not  always  faithful, 
on  account  of  the  scope  he  was  impelled  to 
give  his  imagination.  Piranesi  was  extremely 
iritated  against  lord  Charlemont  and  big 
agents,  for  some  real  or  imaginary  neglect , 
and  in  consequence  composed  letters  of  jus 
tification,  addressed  to  that  nobleman,  nc 
of  a  singularly  bold  and  free  manner  of  etch- 
ing, he  executed  a  great  number  of  plates,  by 
which  he  became  well  known  to  the  curious 
throughout  Europe.  The  earliest  of  his  works 
appeared  in  171.S,  and  consist  of  designs  of 
his  own,  in  a  grand  style,  and  decorated  with 
views  of  Rome,  which  show  the  magnificence 
of  his  ideas.  His  other  works  are  -jomposed 
in  the  following  list :  "  Antichiti  Romani," 
or  Roman  Antiquities,  contained  in  218  plates, 
on  atlas  paper,  which,  with  descriptions  in 
Italian,  forms  four  volumes,  folio;  "Fasti 
Consulares,  Triumphalesque  Romanorum  ;" 
"  Del  Castelle  dell' Acqua  Giulia,"  21  folio 
plates  ;  "  Antichita  d'  Albano  e  di  Caste 
Gandolfo,"  b;>  plates  ;  "  Campus  Manias  An- 
tiqua  Urbis,"  with  descriptions  in  Latin  and 
Italian,  54  plates ;  "  Archi  Trionfali  Autichi 
Tempii  ed  Amfiteatri,"  31  plates  ;  "  Trofei 
d'  Ottaviano  Augusto,"  10  plates;  "  Delia 
Magnificenza  ed  Archilettura  di  Romani,"  44 


PIR 

some  views  in  her  father's  manner ;  and  two 
sons,  Francis  ami  Peter,  settled  at  Paris,  con- 
tinued his  works,  now  amounting  to  23  vo- 
lumes, folio.— jYixu>.  Diet.  Hist.  Biog.  Univ. 

PIRCK.HKIMER  (BiLiBALu)  an  histo- 
rical and  philological  writer,  styled  by  the 
German  Protestants  the  Xenophon  of  Nurem- 
berg, where  he  was  born,  in  1470.  He  was 
the  son  of  a  counsellor  of  the  bishop  of  Eich- 
etadt,  among  whose  troops  he  entered  at  the 
age  of  eighteen  ;  but  his  father  wishing  him 
to  adopt  the  profession  of  the  law,  he  studied 
with  that  view,  at  Padua,  and  then  at  Pisa. 
He  also  applied  himself  to  mathematics,  theo- 
logy, medicine,  and  the  Greek  language  ;  and 
after  seven  years'  residence  in  Italy,  he  re- 
turned to  Nuremberg".  He  then  married,  and 
was  admitted  into  the  senate.  In  1499  he 
obtained  the  command  of  the  troops  sent  by 
his  fellow-citizens  to  the  succour  of  the  em- 
peror Maximilian  against  the  Swiss  ;  and  on 
the  conclusion  of  peace  he  received  the  title 
of  imperial  counsellor.  Being  dismissed  from 
the  senate,  through  the  influence  of  political 
intrigue,  he  applied  himself  to  literary  pur- 
suits ;  but,  on  the  death  of  his  wife,  he  re- 
sumed his  magisterial  situation.  He  died  at 
-•.uremberg,  December  22,  1530.  Besides 
Latin  translations  of  some  of  the  works  of  Plu- 
tarch, Lucian,  Plato,  Xenophon,  and  Ptolemy, 
hepu^oheda  tract  entitled  "  Apologia seuLaus 
Podagra?, "1522,  4to;  and  several  works  relating 
to  the  history  of  Germany,  &c. — Biog.  Univ. 

x  IROMALLI  (PAUL)  an  Italian  Domini- 
can nonk,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  whose  la- 
bours have  contributed  to  the  promotion  of 
Oriental  literature,  was  a  native  of  Calabria, 
lie  was  sent  as  a  missionary  into  the  East,  and 
was  stationed  a  considerable  time  in  Armenia, 
whence  he  passed  into  Georgia  and  Persia. 
Upon  his  return  to  Italy  by  sea,  he  was  cap- 
tured by  a  Barbary  corsair,  and  carried  into 
Tunis.  Being  ransomed,  he  went  to  Home, 
where  he  gave  an  account  of  his  mission,  and 
was  sent  in  the  character  of  papal  nuncio  into 
Poland,  by  pope  Urban  VIII.  The  same  pon- 
tiff employed  him  in  revising  the  Armenian 
version  of  the  Bible,  and  afterwards  sent  him  a 
second  time  to  the  East,  where  he  was,  in  1655, 
promoted  to  the  bishopric  of  Nacksivan  in 
Armenia.  Over  this  see  he  presided  nine 
years,  and  then  returned  to  Italy,  where  he 
was  nominated  bishop  of  Bisignano  in  Calabria. 
He  died  at  the  latter  place,  in  1667  ;  and  is 
highly  commended  for  his  religion,  benevo- 
lence, and  other  virtues,  as  well  as  for  his  ex* 
tensiv  erudition.  He  was  the  author  of  a 
"  Latin  and  Persian  Dictionary,"  an  "  Arme- 
nian and  Latin  Dictionary,"  a  "Kubrick"  for 
the  correction  of  Armenian  books  ;  all  which 
productions  have  been  esteemed  of  great  uti- 
lity. He  was  also  the  author  of  several  theo- 
'cgical  and  controversial  treatises,  which  have 
been  much  valued  by  those  of  his  own  persua- 
Mil.- -\iruv.  Diet.  Hist. 

PI  RON  (Ai-uxis)  a  celebrated  French 
wi~,  poet,  and  dramatist,  born  at  Dijon,  July  9, 
I68S.  His  father,  Aime  Piron,  who  was  an 
kpotbecary,  manifested  considerable  talents 


PIS 

for  humorous  composition,  Laving  written  bur- 
lesque poetry  in  the  Burgundian  dialect, 
which  procured  him  much  provincial  noto- 
riety. The  son  received  a  good  education, 
and  displayed  his  inclination  for  poetry  very 
early.  When  he  arrived  at  maturity,  however, 
he  perceived  the  necessity  of  applying  to  se- 
verer studies,  and  endeavoured  to  qualify  him- 
self for  the  profession  of  an  advocate.  He 
took  his  degrees  in  the  faculty  of  law  at  Be- 
sancon,  and  was  about  to  be  admitted  to  prac- 
tice at  Dijon,  when  his  parents  experienced  a 
reverse  of  fortune,  which  obliged  him  to  relin- 
quish his  design.  He  remained  however  for 
some  time  at  Dijon,  leading  a  life  of  dissipa- 
tion, in  the  midst  of  which  his  liteiary  efforts 
were  confined  to  the  production  of  a  few  sa- 
tirical epigrams.  At  length  he  became  clerk 
to  a  financier,  whom  he  quitted  to  go  to  Paris, 
where  he  found  himself  without  money  or 
credit,  and  from  the  weakness  of  his  eyes  al- 
most in  a  state  of  blindness.  He  was  em- 
ployed however  as  a  copyist  by  the  chevalier 
de  Bellisle,  with  a  salary  of  forty  sous  a  day, 
vhich  irksome  situation  he  soon  relinquished  ; 
and  it  was  with  difficulty  that  he  obtained  the 
payment  of  his  pitiful  salary.  He  was  next 
engaged  to  write  for  the  Theatre  of  the  Comic 
Opera,  and  his  first  piece  was  "  Arlequin 
Deucalion,"  composed  in  two  days.  His  suc- 
cess induced  him  to  persevere,  and  in  172c> 
appeared  his  comedy  of  "  Les  Fils  ingrats," 
the  title  of  which  he  afterwards  altered  to 
"  L'Ecole  des  Peres."  His  next  dramatic 
effort  was  a  tragedy,  "  Callisthene,"  1730  ; 
followed  by  "  Gustave  Vasa,"  1733;  and  ia 
1738  he  produced  his  chef-d'oeuvre,  "  Metro- 
mauie,"  a  comedy,  which  Laharpe  charac- 
terises as  excelling  in  plot,  style,  humour,  and 
vivacity  almost  every  other  composition  of  the 
kind.  Piron  afterwards  wrote  "  Fernand 
Cortes,"  a  tragic  drama,  and  some  other 
pieces,  acted  at  the  Theatre  de  la  Foire.  In 
the  latter  p.irt  of  his  life  he  made  repeated 
attempts  to  gain  admission  into  the  French 
Academy  ;  but  the  satirical  effusions  in  which 
he  had  indulged  himself  had  made  him  so 
many  enemies  among  the  academicians,  that 
he  was  finally  rejected.  To  recompense  him 
for  his  disappointment,  the  king,  at  the  solici- 
tation of  Montesquieu,  gave  Piron  a  pension  of 
1000  livres.  His  death  took  place  Jan.  21, 
1773.  His  bons  mots  were  collected  and 
published  in  one  volume  18mo  ;  and  his 
"  Poesies  Diverses"  were  priutedat  Neufchatel, 
1775  and  1793,  8vo.  His  works  entire  form 
seven  volumes,  octavo,  in  the  edition  of  Rigo- 
ley  de  Juvigny,  1776. — Biog.  Univ. 

PISAN  (CHRISTINA  de)  an  Italian  lady, 
the  daughter  of  Thomas  Pisan,  an  astrologer 
of  Bologna,  was  born  at  Venice  in  1363.  She 
went  to  France  at  the  age  of  five  years,  and 
was  married  to  one  Stephen  Castel  at  fifteen. 
Her  husband  died  about  ten  years  after,  and 
his  fortune  being  much  entangled  in  law, 
Christina  depended  upon  her  pen  for  subsist- 
ence. She  was  patronized  by  Charles  VI  of 
Franc?,  who  provided  for  her  children.  The 
year  of  her  death  is  uncertain.  SLe  wiota 


PIS 

"  The  Life  of  Charles  V,  King  of  France,"  at 
(he  desire  of  Philip  the  Good,  duke  of  Bur- 
gundy ;  and  it  is  considered  her  best  prose 
work.  It  was  published  by  the  abbe  Le  JJeuf, 
in  his  "  Dissertations  on  the  Ecclesiastical 
History  of  Paris."  She;  was  also  the  authoress 
of  "  An  Hundred  Stories  of  Troy,"  in  Rhyme  ; 
"  The  Treasure  of  the  City  of  Dames  ;" 
"  The  Long  Way  ;"  "  The  Moral  Proverbs  of 
Christian  of  Pyse,"  translated  by  Anthony 
\Vidville,  rarl  Rivers  ;  and  "  Epistre  d'Othea, 
Deesse  de  Prudence,  a  Hector,  &c.  mis  en  Vers 
Francois,  et  dedie  a  Charles  V  de  France." — 
Diet.  Hist.  Lord  Orjbrd's  Works. 

PISO  (  WILLIAM)  a  Dutch  naturalist,  who, 
in  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
practised  medicine  at  Leyden,  and  then  at 
Amsterdam.  He  accompanied  the  prince  of 
Nassau  in  his  vovage  to  Brazil,  taking  with 
him  two  young  German  students,  Marggrave 
and  Kranitz,  to  assist  him  in  his  researches 
into  natural  history.  After  the  death  of  his 
patron,  he  appears  to  have  entered  into  the 
service  of  the  elector  of  Brandenbourg,  Fre- 
deric William.  The  date  of  his  death  is  not 
known.  The  discoveries  of  Piso  and  Marg- 
<jr;ive.  were  published  bv  Laet,  under  the  ge- 
neral title  of  "  Ilistoria  Naturalis  Brasilire," 
1648,  folio  ;  and  a  more  complete  account  ap- 
peared in  16.38,  entitled,  "  De  Indiae  utriusque 
Re  Naturali  et  Medica,  lib.  xiv." — Riflg.  Unii\ 

PISTOCCHI  (FRANCESCO  ANTONIO)  a  mu- 
sician of  Bologna,  considered  by  his  country- 
men as  the  father  of  the  modern  Italian  school 
of  singing.  He  was  born  about  the  year  1660, 
and  originally  attempted  the  stage,  but  failing, 
in  consequence  of  some  personal  defects,  entered 
into  holy  orders,  and  became  chapel-master  at 
the  court  of  Anspach.  In  1700  he  returned 
to  Bologna,  where  he  established  his  academy 
of  singing,  and  reckoned  among  his  pupils  many 
of  the  most  distinguished  vocalists  of  his  time. 
On  a  sudden  his  voice  appears  to  have  left 
him,  owing,  it  is  said,  to  the  irregularity  of  his 
lif<-  ;  but  he  eventually  lived  to  recover  it,  and 
after  once  more  residing  in  his  former  capacity 
in  Germany,  retired  at  length  into  a  convent 
in  his  native  country,  where  he  died  in  1720. 
lie  composed  five  operas,  as  well  as  some  sa- 
cred music,  which  has  been  much  admired. — 
Burney's  Hist,  of  Mus. 

PISTORIUS  (JOHN)  a  polemic  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  born  in  1.346  at  Nidda.  His 
education  was  originally  directed  with  a  view 
to  his  becoming  a  physician  ;  but  he  speedily 
abandoned  the  study  of  medicine  for  that  of 
jurisprudence,  and  rose  to  be  one  of  the  coun- 
sellors of  state  in  the  court  of  Baden  Donr- 
lach.  His  religious  opinions  at  length  under- 
going a  change,  he  reconciled  himself  to  the 
church  of  Rome,  and  taking  holy  orders,  dis- 
tinguished himself  with  all  the  ardour  of  a 
proselyte,  by  writing-  against  the  tenets  he  had 
abjured,  in  a  variety  of  controversial  tracts, 
!cvd!ed  against  Lutheranism  and  its  profes- 
s  >rs.  He  was  also  the  author  of  some  bio- 
graphical and  miscellaneous  works.  Among 
the  former  are  his  accounts  of  the  historians  of 
Poland  and  of  Germany  (the  latter  a  valuable 


PIT 

work)  each  contained  in  three  folio  volumes 
Ilis  other  and  most  curious  production  is 
"  Artis  Cahalisticie  Scriptores,"  folio.  Pisto- 
rius  having  graduated  as  a  doctor  in  theology, 
obtained  some  valuable  ecclesiastical  prefer- 
ment, and  died  in  1608,  prelate  of  the  abbey 
of  Fulda  nn<l  provost  of  the  cathedral  of  Bres- 
la\v,  with  the  rank  of  imperial  counsellor. — 
Moreri.  Kauv.  Diet.  Hist. 

PITCAIRNE  (ARCHIBALD)  an  eminent 
physician,  descended  from  an  ancient  Scottish 
family  in  the  county  of  Fife,  but  born  at  Edin- 
burgh in  16.32.  He  was  educated  at  a  private 
school  at  Dalkeith,  whence  he  removed  to  the 
university  of  Edinburgh,  to  study  philosophy, 
divinitv,  and  the  civil  law.  He  afterwards 
went  to  Paris,  where  he  changed  his  pursuit, 
and  applied  himself  to  medicine.  He  returned 
to  Edinburgh,  and  after  a  second  visit  to  Paris, 
he  settled  in  his  native  country  a  short  time 
before  the  Revolution.  He  was  admitted  a 
member  of  the  College  of  Physicians  at  Edin- 
burgh ;  and  in  16«8  he  published  a  tract,  en- 
titled "  Solutio  Problematis  de  Inventoribus  ;" 
relating  to  Harvey's  discovery  of  the  circula- 
tion of  the  blood.  In  1692  he  accepted  an  in- 
vitation to  become  professor  of  medicine  at 
Leyden  ;  but  returning  to  Scotland  the  follow, 
ing  year,  to  fulfil  a  matrimonial  engagement, 
he  was  prevailed  on  to  remain  at  Edinburgh, 
where  he  continued  to  practise  as  a  physician 
till  his  death,  which  happened  October  13, 
1713.  His  works  are,  "  Disputationes  Me- 
dicae  ;"  "  Elementa  Medicinrc  Physico-mathe- 
matica  ;"  "  Dissertatio  de  Legibus  Naturae  ;" 
besides  the  tract  already  mentioned,  and  his 
Latin  poems.  A  collective  edition  of  his 
writings  appeared  at  Leyden,  1737,  4to. — 
Hutch  in  ion's  Bi,>g.  Med.  Biog.  Brit. 

PITHOU  (PETER)  an  eminent  French 
writer  on  jurisprudence  and  philology,  born  at 
Troves  in  1539.  He  studied  classical  litera- 
ture at  Paris,  under  Turnebus,  and  the  law 
under  Cujas  at  Bourges  and  at  Valence.  At 
the  age  of  twenty-one  he  was  admitted  an  ad- 
vocate ;  but  adopting  the  principles  of  Calvin- 
ism, he  returned  to  Troyes,  whence  he  was 
invited  to  Sedan  by  the  duke  of  Bouillon.  He 
then  went  to  Basil,  where  he  published  the 
life  of  the  emperor  Frederic  Barbarossa,  by 
Otho  of  Freisingen,  and  the  history  of  Paulus 
Diar-onus.  In  1570  he  returned  to  France, 
and  he  was  at  Paris  during  the  massacre  of 
St  Bartholomew's  day,  of  which  he  narrowly 
escaped  becoming  one  of  the  victims.  He  af- 
terwards returned  to  the  Catholic  church,  and 
became  bailiff  of  Tonnerre  and  deputy  attorney- 
general  to  the  chamber  of  justice  at  Guienue. 
He  was  employed  in  many  public  affairs  ;  and 
he  used  all  his  influence  to  promote  the  sub- 
mission of  the  city  of  Paris  to  the  authority  of 
Henry  IV.  His  death  took  place,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  plague,  at  Nogent-sur-Seine, 
Xmrniber  1,  1596.  Besides  many  other 
works,  he  published  the  first  edition  of  the 
fables  of  Pluedrus,  the  MS.  of  which  had  been 
discovered  by  his  brother,  and  also  the  "  Per- 
vigilium  Veneris,"  of  Catullus. — PITWOO 
v  FRANCIS)  the  brother  of  Peter,  was  a  COK«J- 


P  1  T 

fellor  of  the  parliament  of  Paris,  and  one  of 
the  most  learned  men  of  his  time.  He  was 
born  at  Troves  in  1511.  Becoming  a  Calvin- 
ist,  he  travelled  in  Germany,  Italy,  and  Eng- 
land; but.  returning  to  Frimce,  he  was  recon- 
verted to  the  Catholic  faith.  He  was  attor- 
ney, general  of  the  chamber  of  justice,  esta- 
blished under  Henry  IV;  he  assisted  at  the 
conference  of  Fontainehleau  between  Du  Per- 
ron and  Morriai  ;  and  lie  was  appointed  one 
of  the  commissioners  to  determine  the  bounda- 
ries of  France  and  the  Netherlands.  lie  died 
i:i  1621.  F.  Pithou  shared  in  the  literary  la- 
bours of  his  brother,  and  was  the  author  of 
"  Pithoeana." — Moreri.  Eiog.  Univ. 

P1TISCUS  (BARTHOLOMEW)  a  German 
mathematician,  who  was  a  native  of  Silesia, 
and  became  tutor  and  afterwards  chaplain  to 
the  elector  palatine  Frederic  IV.  He  died  at 
•  Heidelberg,  in  1613,  aged  fifty-two.  Besides 
some  works  on  theology,  he  published  "  Tri- 
gonometriae,  lib.  v. ;"  "  Georg.  Joach.  Rhetici 
Magnus  Canon  Doctrinae  Triangulorum,  emen- 
datus  a  B.  Pitisco  ;"  and,  "  Thesaurus  Ma- 
thematicus  Rhetici,  nunc  primum  in  lucem 
editus  a  B.  Pitisco,"  1613,  which  last  work 
Moutucla  strangely  ascribes  to  Pitiscus  as  the 
author. — PITISCUS  (SAMUEL)  a  learned  phi- 
lologist, nephew  of  the  preceding,  was  born 
at  Zutphen,  in  Dutch  Guelderland,  in  1637. 
He  studied  at  Deventer,  under  J.  F.  Grono- 
vius,  and  afterwards  went  through  a  course  of 
divinity  at  Groningen,  and  was  admitted  to 
t.'ie  ministry.  Returning  to  Zutphen,  he  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  Latin  school  there  ; 
and  in  168.5  he  was  nominated  rector  of  the 
college  of  St  Jerome,  at  Utrecht,  where  he 
presided  thirty-two  years.  He  died  February 
1,  1717.  Besides  publishing  editions  of 
Quiotus  Curtius,  Suetonius,  and  other  ancient 
authors,  lie  produced  "  Lexicon  Latino-Bel- 
gicum,"  170-1,  4to  ;  and  "  Lexicon  Antiqui- 
tatum  Romanorum,"  1713,  2  vols.  folio,  which 
last  is  his  principal  work. —  Biog.  Univ. 

P1TOT  (HENRY)  a  French  mathematician, 
horn  in  1693.  Till  the  age  of  twenty,  he 
paid  no  attention  to  learning  ;  and  when  he 
was  fifty,  he  obtained  from  the  tutor  of  his 
son  instruction  in  Latin,  that  he  might  be  able 
to  read  mathematical  works  in  that  language. 
Accident  having  thrown  in  his  way  a  book  on 
geometry,  he  was  seized  with  a  sudden  incli- 
nation for  the  study  of  that  science,  and  he 
pursued  it  with  avidity.  He  was  sent  to 
Paris,  where  Reaumur  assisted  him  with  ad- 
vice, gave,  him  the  use  of  his  library,  and 
sometimes  associated  him  in  his  labours.  In 
17'22  he  began  to  make  himself  known  to  the 
public  by  inserting  in  the  Wercure  Franf  ais  his 
calculation  of  the  eclipse  o;  the  sun  of  the 
2'Jml  of  May,  1724  ;  and  the  exact  precision 
of  his  deductions  was  verified  by  subsequent 
observations  when  the  phenomenon  took  place. 
He  also  solved  the  famous  problem  of  Kepler, 
relative  to  the  first  equation  of  the  planets  ; 
and  he  invented  an  analytic  method  of  tracing 
lines  corresponding  to  the  minutes  of  the 
gmnd  meridians  in  1731.  Being  admitted 


PIT 

into  the  Academy  of  Sciences  in  1726,  he,fur- 
nished  many  contributions  to  the  memoirs  of 
that  society.  In  1731  appeared  his  "  Theorie 
de  la  Manoeuvre  des  Vaisseaux,"  4to,  whicii 
was  translated  into  English,  and  which  pro- 
cured him  admission  into  the  Royal  Society  of 
London.  He  was  afterwards  employed  in 
many  public  works  as  an  engineer.  His  death 
occurred  December  27,  1771. — Bwg.  Univ. 

PITS  (JOHN)  in  Latin,  Pitsous,  an  English 
biographer,  born  at  Alton,  in  Hampshire, 
about  1.560.  He  studied  at  Winchester 
school,  and  New  cjllege,  Oxford,  after  which 
he  went  to  Douay  and  Rheims,  and  then  to 
the  English  college  at  Rome,  where  he  re- 
mained seven  years.  Having  taken  hoiy 
orders,  he  returned  to  Rheims  to  teach  the 
Greek  language  and  rhetoric.  The  civil  wars 
in  France  obliged  him  to  remove  to  Pont-a- 
Mousson,  Treves,  and  Ingolstadt,  where  he 
took  the  degree  of  DD.  The  cardinal  of 
Lorraine  gave  him  a  canonry  at  Verdun,  and 
the  duchess  of  Cleves  afterwards  made  him 
her  confessor.  He  was  subsequently  appoint- 
ed dean  of  Liverdun,  in  Lorraine,  where  he 
died,  October  17,  1616.  His  works  are,  "  De 
Legibus  TractatusTheologicus,"  Treves,  1592, 
8vo ;  "De  Beatitudine,"  Ingolstadt,  159.5, 
8vo  ;  "De  Perigrinatione,  lib.  viii,"  Dusseldorf, 
1604,  8vo ;  "  Relationum  Historic-arum  de 
Rebus  Anglicis,  seu  de  Academiis  et  ilhistri- 
bus  Angliae  Scriptoribus  tomus  primus,"  Paris, 
1619,  4to.  This  volume  was  to  have  been  fol- 
lowed by  two  more,  containing  accounts  of  the 
English  kings,  bishops,  &c. — Wood's  Athen. 
Oion. 

PITT  (CHRISTOPHER)  an  English  clergy- 
man and  poet  of  the  last  century,  the  friend  of 
Young.  He  was  born  in  1699,  at  Blandford, 
in  the  county  of  Dorset,  and  received  his 
education  at  Winchester,  whence  he  was 
elected  off  upon  the  foundation  to  New  col- 
lege, Oxford.  In  1722,  a  relation  of  the 
same  name,  residing  at  Strathfieldsay,  pre- 
sented him  to  the  family  living  of  Pimperne, 
where  he  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life  in 
the  performance  of  his  clerical  duties,  and  the 
pursuit  of  elegant  literature,  equally  respected 
for  his  talents,  and  beloved  for  the  suavity  of 
bis  manners,  and  the  benevolence  of  his  dis- 
position. The  composition  by  which  he  is 
principally  distinguished  is  his  translation  of 
the  yEneid,  which,  if  inferior  to  that  of  Dry- 
den  in  strength  and  spirit,  may  fairly  vie  with 
it  in  taste,  and  the  harmony  of  its  versifica- 
tion. Vida's  "Art  of  Poetry"  was  also  ren- 
dered by  him  into  English,  in  which  he  has 
been  very  successful  in  preserving  the  spirit  of 
the  original.  Mr  Pitt  died  in  1748,  and  was 
buried  at  Blandford,  where  there  is  a  monu- 
ment erected  to  his  memory, Johnson's  Lives, 

Preface  to  Whartons  Virgil. 

PITT  (THOMAS)  the  founder  of  the  noblo 
family  of  that  name,  was  born  at  St  Mary. 
Blanaford,  Dorsetshire,  in  1653.  Towards 
the  close  of  the  same  century  he  became  go- 
vernor of  Madras,  where  he  resided  many 
years,  and  realised  a  large  fortune,  great  par? 


P  1  T 

of  which  was  produced  by  the  purchase  of  a 
l;ir;e  diamond,  for  20.400/.,  which  he  sold  to 
the  king  of  Fiance  for  more  than  five  times 
that  sum.  A  rumour  prevailed  in  England 
that  governor  Pitt  hnd  acquired  this  jewel, 
tailed  after  him  the  Pitt  diamond,  unfairly  ; 
which  report  gained  additional  currency,  by  a 
sort  of  poetical  adoption  of  it,  by  Pope,  in 
a  passage  commencing  with  the  following 
couplet : 

Asleep  and  naked  as  an  Indian  lay, 
An  honest  factor  stole  a  gem  away. 
Such  credit  was  ultimately  given  to  the  slan- 
der that  Mr  Pitt  was  induced  to  compose  a 
narrative  of  the.  manner  in  which  he  really  he- 
came  possessed  of  the  diamond.  In  1716  he 
was  made  governor  of  Jamaica,  but  did  not 
hold  that  situation  for  more  than  a  year.  lie 
sat  in  four  parliaments,  for  Old  Sarum  and 
Thirsk,  and  died  in  17'J6.  Governor  Pitt  was 
the  grandfather  of  the  celebrated  earl  of 
Chatham  ;  the  latter  being  the  offspring  of 
Robert  Pitt,  esq.  of  Boconnoc,  Cornwall,  his 
eldest  son.  —  Brit.  Peerage. 

PITT  (WILLIAM)  earl  of  Chatham,  a  cele- 
brated modern  English  statesman,  was  the  son 
of  Robert  Pitt,  esq.  of  Boconnoc,  Cornwall,  as 
related  in  the  preceding  article.  He  was  born 
November  1.5,  1708,  and  educated  at  Eton, 
whence,  in  January  17^6,  he  went  as  a  gen- 
tleman commoner  to  Trinity  college,  Oxford. 
On  quilting  the  university  he  entered  the 
army  as  cornet  in  the  Blues  ;  and  in  1735  be- 
came representative  in  parliament  of  the  family 
borough  of  Old  Sarum.  His  abilities  soon  dis- 
played themselves  in  a  sphere  so  congenial 
with  their  tendency  ;  and  joining  the  opposi- 
tion party,  then  headed  by  Frederic,  prince  of 
Wales,  he  soon  distinguished  himself  as  a 
powerful  opponent  of  sir  Robert  Wai  pole,  who 
revenged  himself  by  taking  away  his  commis- 
sion. His  senatorial  eloquence  was  first  dis- 
played on  the  Spanish  convention  in  1738,  and 
he  rapidly  attained  the  first  rank  as  a  parlia- 
mentary orator,  securing  at  the  same  time  the 
esteem  of  the  nation  as  an  able  and  vigilant 
opposer  of  impolitic  and  unconstitutional  mea- 
sures in  general,  'lo  popular  applause  was 
added  the  solid  bequest  of  lO.OOO/.  by  a  codi- 
cil added  in  174-1  to  the  will  of  the  celebrated 
Sarah,  duchess  of  Marlborough.  It  was  in 
1745  that  the  duke  of  Newcastle  first  proposed 
him  to  George  II,  for  the  post  of  secretary  at 
war  ;  but  his  opposition  to  Hanoverian  predi- 
lections had  rendered  him  so  distasteful  to  that 
monarch,  that  he  was  decidedly  rejected,  ami 
the  resignation  of  the  Pelham  party  followed. 
Necessity,  however,  soon  produced  their  re- 
instatement, and  in  174(3  Mr  Pitt  was  made 
vice-treasurer  of  Ireland,  and  afterwards  pay- 
master-general of  the  forces;  in  which  office 
he  distinguished  himself  by  his  utter  disdain 
of  equivocal  official  perquisites  and  private 
emolument.  In  1754  commenced  the  con- 
nexion of  the  Pitt  and  Grenville  families,  by 
the  marriage  of  Mr  Pitt  with  Hester,  daughter 
of  Richard  Grenville,  esq.  of  Wotton,  Bucks. 
In  175J  he  joined  Mr  Legge  in  opposing  the 


PIT 

ratification  of  the  subsidiary  treaties,  with 
Hesse  Cassel  and  Russia,  in  defence  «f  Ha- 
nover ;  on  account  of  which  step  they  andthv 
Grenvilles  were  immediately  dismissed.  Surh, 
however,  was  his  popularity,  that  in  17.56  he 
was  recalled,  and  made  secretary  of  state  ;  and 
the  vigour  infused  into  the  public  councils  by 
his  accession,  soon  displayed  itself  both  at 
home  and  abroad.  He  was  still  hostile  to  the 
war  in  Germany,  at  least  under  the  conduct  of 
the  duke  of  Cumberland,  and  thereby  incurred 
so  large  a  portion  of  royal  displeasure,  that  in 
April  1757  he  was  again  dismissed  from  office, 
with  his  friends  lord  Temple  and  Mr  Legge. 
The  public  discontent  was  manifested  so 
loudly  on  this  occasion,  that  in  the  June 
following,  it  was  found  necessary,  not 
only  to  re-instate  him  and  his  friends,  but 
to  leave  the  formation  of  the  new  ministry 
to  their  arrangement.  Of  this  administra- 
tion he  was  the  soul,  and  he  diffused  his 
own  spirit  through  every  department  of  the 
state.  The  celebrated  war  administration 
of  this  eminent  statesman  is  a  subject  for 
history  rather  than  for  biography,  on  which 
account  it  is  only  necessary  here  to  observe, 
that  under  his  vigorous  auspices  the  years 
1758,  17;59,  1760,  and  1761,  were  marked  by 
a  series  of  the  most  signal  successes  ;  France, 
with  her  navy  annihilated,  scarcely  possessing 
a  colony  in  any  part  of  the  world.  In  the 
midst  of  these  triumphs  George  II  died,  and 
Mr  Pitt,  finding  himself  thwarted  under  ths 
new  monarch  by  the  influence  of  the  earl 
of  Bute,  resigned  in  October  1761.  On 
his  retirement  his  lady  was  created  baroness 
Chatham,  and  a  pension  of  3.000/.  per  an- 
num was  granted  for  the  life  of  himself,  lady, 
and  eldest  son.  In  1764  he  highly  distin- 
guished himself  by  the  decided  part  which  he 
took  against  the  unconstitutional  employment 
of  general  warrants,  the  illegality  of  which 
he  maintained  with  his  usual  energy  and  elo- 
quence. On  this  and  other  popular  grounds 
sir  William  Pynsent,  of  Somersetshire,  be- 
queathed him  his  estate.  In  1766,  owing  to 
the  distraction  of  the  public  counsels,  he  was 
again  called  to  assist  in  the  formation  of  a  ca- 
binet, under  which  arrangement  he  took  to 
himself  the  office  of  lord  privy  seal,  and  was 
raised  to  the  peerage  by  the  title  of  earl  of 
Chatham.  Unsupported  by  lord  Temple,  and 
inadequately  seconded  otherwise,  he  resigned 
in  1768,  and  subsequently  took  a  leading  part 
in  many  popular  questions,  and  more  especial- 
ly attacked  the  proceedings  of  the  house  of 
Commons  in  reference  to  the  Middlesex  elec- 
tion, and  the  doctrine  of  lord  Mansfield  in  re- 
spect to  libel.  He  opposed  with  all  the  force 
of  his  eloquence  the  ignorant  and  infatuated 
proceedings  which  led  to  the  inglorious  Ame- 
rican contest,  and  made  motion  after  motion 
for  closing  the  breach  after  it  had  been  effect- 
ed, prophesying  the  result  with  melancholy 
accuracy.  His  anxiety  on  this  subject  may 
even  be  deemed  the  immediate  cause  of  bis 
dissolution,  for  in  April  1778,  when  the  duke 
of  Richmond  moved  an  address  to  the  throne 


PIT 

to  acknowledge  the  independence  of  America, 
lord  Chatham  was  led  to  oppose  it  with  so 
much  energy,  that  in  rising;  a  second  time  to 

OJ  *  O 

advert  to  the  reply  made  by  the  duke  to  his 
arguments,  he  fainted  and  fell  back  in  his 
seat.  He  was  caught  in  the  arms  of  some 
ords  who  stood  next  to  him,  and  conveyed 
lome,  and  the  house  immediately  adjourned. 
From  this  state  of  exhaustion  he  never  reco- 
ered,  hut  died  on  May  11,  1778,  in  his  se- 
ventieth year.  His  death,  rendered  peculiarly 
impressive  by  the  foregoing  circumstance,  ex- 
cited general  sympathy  ;  his  remains  were 
honoured  with  a  public  funeral,  and  a  monu- 
ment in  Westminster  abbey  ;  his  debts  were 
paid  by  the  nation  ;  and  an  annuity  of  4.000L 
per  annum,  out  of  the  civil  list,  was  annexed 
to  the  earldom  of  Chatham.  Promptitude, 
sagacity,  and  energy  formed  the  leading  out- 
lines of  this  able  statesman's  character,  which, 
aided  by  an  eloquence  singularly  bold,  ardent, 
and  animated,  rendered  hiia  peculiarly  effec- 
tive as  a  British  minister.  All  his  sentiments 
were  liberal  and  elevated,  but  he  was  haughty 
and  impatient  of  contradiction,  and  possibly 
exhibited  a  too  great  consciousness  of  his  own 
superiority.  His  private  was  as  estimable  as 
Im  public  character  ;  to  use  the  language  of 
lord  Chesterfield,  "it  was  stained  by  no  vice, 
nor  sullied  by  any  meanness."  Upon  the 
whole,  connected  as  he  is  with  a  brilliant  na- 
tional acra,  which  took  its  chief  features  from 
his  counsels,  he  will  ever  remain  a  highly 
popular  character  in  English  estimation.  No- 
thing beyond  a  short  poem  or  two  by  lord  Chat- 
ham had  appeared,  until  the  publication,  by 
'ord  Grenville,  in  1804,  of  his  "  Letters"  to 
his  nephew,  afterwards  the  first  lord  Camel- 
ford,  which  contain  much  excellent  advice  to  a 
young  man,  clothed  in  easy,  and  familiar  dic- 
tion, and  reflecting  equal  honour  on  the  au- 
thor's head  and  heart. — Cnllins's  Peerage  by 
sir  E.  Brydges.  Ann.  Reg. 

PITT  (WILLIAM)  second  son  of  the  pre- 
ceding, was  born  May  28,  1759.    He  received 
a  private  education  in  the  first  instance,  and  at 
the  age  of  fourteen  was  entered  of  Pembroke- 
hall,    Cambridge,    under  Dr  Pretyman,  now 
bishop  of  Winchester.     On   quitting  the  uni- 
versity,    he    visited     France,    and      studied 
at    Rlieims,    and   on   his   return    became    a 
student     of    Lincoln's-inn  ;    and     in     1780, 
being-   then   of  age,    was   called   to   the    bar. 
He    only  attended  the  western   circuit  once 
or    twice,     when    he     was    introduced    into 
parliament  by  sir  James  Lowther,  as  represen- 
tative for  his  borough  of  Appleby.   His  maiden 
speech  was  delivered  in  support  of  Mr  Burke's 
financial  reform  bill,  and  he   also   spoke  with 
considerable  energy  in  favour  of  a  reform  in 
parliament ;  he  was  even  chosen,  and  acted  as 
a  delegate  in   one  of  the  assemblies  held  in 
Westminster  for  the  promotion  of  that  mea- 
sure.    On  the  breaking   up   of  lord  North's 
administration,  he  took  no  share  in  that  of  the 
marquis  of  Rockingham,  but  upon  its  dissolu 
lion   became  chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  a 
ths   flge  of  twenty-three,  under  the  premier 
ship  of  the  earl  of  Shelburnc.    A  general  peao 


PIT 

soon  followed,  which  being  made  the  ground 
of  censure  by  a  strong  opposition,  the  cabinet 
was  dissolved,  and  the  memorable  Fox  and 
North  coalition  took  its  place.     On  his  retire- 
ment from  office,  Mr  Pitt  resumed  his  efforts 
for  a  reform  in  parliament,  and  submitted  three 
specific  motions  on  the  subject,  which,  although 
supported  by  Mr  Fox,  then  secretary  of  state, 
were  rejected.  On  the  failure  of  the  celebrated 
India   bill  of  the  latter,  which  produced  the. 
dismissal  of  the  ill-assorted  coalition,  Mr  Pitt, 
although  at  that  time  only  in  his  twenty-fourth 
year,   at  once  assumed  the  station  of  prime - 
minister,  by  accepting  the  united  posts  of  first 
lord  of  the  treasury  and  chancellor  of  the  exche- 
quer.   Although  strongly  supported  by  the  so- 
vereign, he  stood  opposed  to  a  large  majority  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  and  a  dissolution  took 
place  in  March  1786.     At  the  general  elec- 
tion which  followed,  the  voice  of  the  nation 
ppeared  decidedly  in  his   favour,   and    some 
f  the  strongest  aristocratical  interests  in  the 
ountry  were  thereby  defeated  ;   Mr.  Pitt  him- 
elf  being  returned  by  the  university  of  Cam- 
ridge.     His  first  measure  was   the  passing  of 
lis  India  bill  establishing  the  board  of  con- 
rol,   which  was   followed  by  much  of  that  im- 
)ortant  fiscal    and  financial  regulation,  which 
ave   so  much    eclat  to   the    early  period   of 
lis  administration.     The  establishment  of  the 
ngenious,  but,  as  to  direct  consequences,  de- 
usive    scheme  of   a  sinking  fund  followed  in 
.786,  which  machinery,  supported  and   aJvo- 
ated  as  it  has  been  by  some  of  the  strongest 
ninds    of    the    country,   supplies  one    of  the 
most  striking  instances  on  record  of  the  man- 
ner   in   which    the    human   intellect  may   be 
caught  in  the  chasm  which  separates  the  ab- 
itract  from  the  practical.    Whatever  the  utility 
»f  the  sinking  fund  in  the  regulation  of  funded 
'ale  and   purchase,  as  a  miraculous  mode  of 
iquidating  the  public  debt  its  pretensions  are 
now  set  at  rest  for  ever.     A  commercial  treaty 
ivith  France  followed  in  1787,  and   soon  after 
the  minister  began  to  exhibit  that  jealousy  of 
Russian  aggrandisement,  which,  but  for  the  ma- 
lifest  unpopularity  of  hostilities,  which  shook 
lis    resolution,     might    have     involved    the 
two    countries  in  war.     A   similar  spirit  was 
displayed  towards  Spain,    respecting  tbe   free 
trade   at    Nootka  Sound  ;  and  in    defence  of 
the  stadtholder  against    the    machinations  of 
France,  which  last  interference  met  with  ge- 
neral approbation.     In  1783  Mr  Pitt  displayed 
his  firmness  by  resisting   the    doctrine    of  the 
opposition,  that  the  regency,  during  the  king's 
indisposition,   devolved   upon     the    prince  of 
Wales    by  right.      The  minister  maintained, 
and  certainly  more  constitutionally,  that  it  lay 
in  the  two  remaining  branches  cf   the  legisla- 
ture to  fill  up  the  office  :.s  they  should    think 
proper  ;    admitting,  at  the  same  time,  that  tbe 
prince  could  not  be  passed  over  in  nominating 
to  this  post.     By  the  adoption  of  this  principle 
he  was  enabled  to  pass  a  bill  greatly  restrict- 
ing the  regent's  power,  which  the  king's  reco- 
very rendered  unnecessary.     One  of  the  most 
momentous  periods  in  modern  history  had  now 
arrived.     The  French  Revolution  broke    out, 


PI  T 

and  produced  a  vibration  on  every  neighbour- 
ing state  ;  and  a  sensation  \vas  created  in 
Great  Britain,  which,  previously  excited  as 
sin-  hail  been  on  subjects  of  parliamentary  and 
general  national  reform,  in  a  great  measure 
broke  up  the  previous  bearing  of  party.  A 
war  against  French  principles  was  declared  on 
the  one  side,  under  which  designation  all 
amelioration  was  opposed,  without  distinc- 
tion ;  while,  on  the  other,  the  friends  of  ra- 
tional rectification  found  themselves  una- 
voidably confounded  with  a  great  mass  of 
ignorant  and  heated  characters,  who  espoused 
some  of  the  wildest  and  most  visionary  notions 
of  the  innovators  of  France.  Under  this  state 
of  things  a  vigilant  eye  and  a  steady  hand  were 
obviously  necessary  to  steer  the  vessel  of  state, 
amid  a  conflict  of  opinions  so  violent  and 
alarming,  and  the  manner  in  which  Mr  Pitt 
exercised  the  almost  unlimited  power  which 
lie  possessed,  will  necessarily  be  judged  of  dif- 
ferently by  different  parties.  To  make  alarm 
as  effective  as  possible  ;  to  encourage  the  dis- 
semination of  high  principles  of  government, 
and  involve  in  common  obloquy  all  measures 
of  opposition,  and  all  projects  of  reform;  to 
augment,  according  to  the  apparent  urgency 
of  circumstances,  restrictions  upon  personal 
liberty,  and  make  temporary  sacrifices  of  the 
spirit  of  the  constitution  to  what  he  deemed 
the  public  safety  :  such,  according  to  one  body 
of  judges,  were  the  principles  of  Mr  Pitt's 
government  at  this  important  crisis  ;  while 
others,  and  certainly  the  most  influential,  as 
being  the  most  rich  and  fearful,  would  have 
had  him  gone  much  farther,  and,  purely  on  a 
conservative  principle,  would,  in  a  liberal  or 
constitutional  sense,  have  left  him  nothing  to 
preserve.  The  measures  which  led  to  the  war 
with  France  are  judged  of  in  a  similar  man- 
ner ;  but  whatever  the  opinion  entertained, 
the  minister  certainly  had  the  nation  with 
him  in  the  commencement  of  hostilities.  The 
details  of  the  momentous  contest  which  fol- 
lowed form  no  subject  for  the  biographer. 
Great  Britain  on  the  whole  was  triumphant 
in  her  own  element ;  but  during  the  life  of  Mr 
Pitt  the  conflict  on  the  continent  was  fearfully 
in  favour  of  France.  The  suspension  of  cash 
payments  in  1797,  the  necessity  of  attending 
to  home  defence,  the  alarming  mutiny  in  the 
fleet,  and  the  accumulation  of  the  public  bur- 
dens, which  still  press  so  heavily  on  the  na- 
tion, were  some  of  the  most  bitter  fruits  of 
this  extraordinary  struggle  ;  which  were,  how- 

J  DD 

ever,  on  the  other  hand,  alleviated  by  a  com- 
mercial monopoly,  that,  assisted  by  the  tem- 
porary operation  of  an  unlimited  paper  issue, 
materially  modified  consequences  both  in  form 
and  in  fact.  In  1800  the  grand  project  of  the 
Irish  union  was  accomplished,  the  tiue  policy 
of  which  measure,  presuming  the  implied  ex- 
tension of  wise  and  good  government  to  Ire- 
land, can  scarcely  be  questioned.  Soon  after 
the  accomplishment  of  this  important  event, the 
hopeless  aspect  of  the  war  with  France,  in  re- 
gpect  to  the  object  with  which  it  had  com- 
menced, began  to  turn  the  national  attention 
tnivitrda  peace ;  and  Mr  Pitt,  sensible  that  it 


P  I  T 

never  could  he  accomplished  conespondetiJ 
with  the  previous  high  terms  of  his  councils, 
determined  to  retire.  The  alleged  reason  foi 
his  retreat,  not  indeed  publicly  avowed,  but 
communicated  to  his  friends,  was  the  opposi- 
tion he  found  in  the  highest  quarter  to  all 
farther  concession  to  the  Irish  Catholics,  in 
conformity  to  the  expectations  Ir-lil  out  by  the 
union.  He  aivonlin.;]'.  resigned  his  post  in 
1801  ;  and  the  crisis  of  revolutionary  fervour 
having  for  some  time  abated,  he  carried  with 
him  into  retirement  the  esteem  of  a  stron^  and 

D 

powerful  party,  who  hailed   him  as  "the  pilot 
who  had  weathered   the  storm."     The  peace 
of  Amiens   succeeded ;    and    the    Addington 
administration,    which   concluded  it,  Mr  Pitt 
supported  for  a  time,  and  then  joined  the  op- 
position,and  spoke  on  the  same  side  with  his  old 
antagonist,  Mr  Fox.     The  new  minister,  who 
had  renewed   the  war,  unable  to  maintain  his 
ground,  resigned  ;  and  in   180-1  Mr  Pitt  once 
more  resumed  his  post  at  the  treasury.     Re- 
turning to  power  as  a  war  minister,  he  exerted 
all  the  energy  of  his   character  to  render  the 
arduous  contest  successful,  and  found  means 
to  engage  the   two   great  military  powers  of 
Russia  and   Austria   in   a  new    confederacy, 
which  was  dissolved  by  the  fatal  battle  of  Aus- 
terlitz.   Mr  Pitt,  whose  state  of  health  was  pre- 
viously declining,  was  sensibly  affected  by  this 
event;  and  his  constitution,  weakened  by  an  he- 
reditary gout,  and  injured  by  a  too  liberal  use  of 
wine,  by  way  of  stimulant,  rapidly  yielded  to 
the  joint  attack  of  disease  and  mental  anxiety. 
The  parliamentary  attack  upon  his  old  assr>- 
siate,    lord    Melville,    not  to   be   wholly  par- 
ried   either  by  ministerial    influence,    or  the 
defensive  merits  of  the  case,  is  thought  to  have 
deeply  wounded  his    feelings,    and  completed 
his    mental    depression.     A  state   of  extreme 
debility  ensued,   which   terminated  in  death, 
encountered  with  threat  calmness  and  resigna- 
tion, on  the  23d   January,    1806.     As   a  mi- 
nister  it   would   obviously    be    impossible    to 
sum  up  the  character  of  Mr  Pitt  in  terms  that 
would  not  encounter  a  host  of  predilections  or 
prejudices    on   every   side.        It    is,    however, 
pretty  generally  conceded,  that  his  genius  was 
better    adapted   to  the  regulative    process  of 
peaceable  and  domestic  government,  than  for 
the  arrangement  and  conduct  of  that  warlike 
exertion,  which  his   policy  entailed  upon   the 
country.  At  the  same  time  it  must  be  confessed, 
that  he  had  to  encounter  the  career  of  over- 
whelming and  powerful  energies  ;  the  result  of 
a  social  crisis  of  extraordinary  character   and 
excitement.        If,   therefore,    he    can    be    ac- 
quitted of  a  political  want  of  foresight   in  vo- 
lunteering   such    a    conflict,    the     disastrous 
result  of  the  warfare,   in  establishing  French 
ascendancy    on   the    continent,    may     be    re- 
garded as   the  effect  of  causes,  which  no  abi- 
lities could  have  altogether  controlled.     What 
might  have  been  the  character  of  his  adminis- 
tration had  not  the  French   revolution   inter- 
vened, it  is    somewhat  difficult  to  ascertain. 
According  to  the  theories  with  which    he    set 
out  in  life,  and  as  the  son  of  lord  Chatham, 
jftuch  constitutional  and  politics!  improvement 


P  I  T 

WRS  to  be  expected  from  him  ,  and  much  pru- 
dent and  useful  regulation  he  certainly  ef- 
fected. In  higher  points  lie  was  possibly 
more  the  man  of  expediency  than  of  principle. 
It  ha=  been  seen  how  he  advocated  and  drop- 
ped-the  subject  of  parliamentary  reform.  In  a 
similar  spirit,  he  spoke  and  voted  in  favour 
of  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade  ;  but  al- 
though supported  by  the  voice  of  a  decided 
national  majority,  he  would  not  make  a  minis- 
terial measure  of  it,  as  was  done  without  dif- 
ficulty by  his  immediate  successor  ;  nor  have 
we  to  trace  any  decided  social  amelioration  to 
his  influence,  setting  aside  the  contingent  advan- 
tages arising  from  the  extension  of  trade  and 
manufacture.  Asa  financier  he  was  expert  in 
practice  rather  than  scientifically  grounded  ; 
while  the  waste  and  profusion  of  his  warlike 
.  expenditure  were  extreme,  and  will  long  be  felt 
in  their  consequences.  In  respect  to  moral  con- 
stitution, although  love  of  power  was  certainly 
his  ruling  passion,  he  was  altogether  above  the 
meanness  of  avarice,  and  his  personal  disinte- 
restedness was  extreme.  So  far  from  making 
use  of  his  opportunities  to  acquire  wealth,  he 
died  involved  in  debt,  which  negligence  and 
the  demands  of  his  public  station,  rather  than 
extravagance,  had  led  him  to  contract;  his 
tastes  being  simple,  and  disliking  splendour 
;md  parade.  Mr  Pitt  possessed  no  advantages 
of  person  and  physiognomy  ;  a  loftiness  ap- 
proaching to  arrogance  was  the  habitual  ex- 
pression of  the  latter  in  public,  although  in 
private  circles  he  has  been  described  by  an  in- 
timate friend  as  peculiarly  complacent  and  ur- 
bp.ne.  His  eloquence,  if  not  more  elevated 
cr  profound,  was  upon  the  whole  more  perfect 
than  that  of  any  other  orator  of  his  time  ;  be- 
ing remarkably  correct,  copious,  and  well-ar- 
ranged. Although  neither  illuminated  by  the 
flushes  of  genius  which  characterised  his  fa- 
ther's oratory,  or  by  the  imagination  which  dis- 
tinguished the  eloquence  of  Burke,  it  was  more 
uniformly  just  and  impressive  than  that  of 
either  ;  while  the  indignant  severity  and  keen- 
ness of  his  sarcasm  were  unequalled.  On  the 
whole,  Mr  Pitt  was  a  minister  of  commanding 
powers,  and  still  loftier  pretensions  ;  and,  how- 
ever numerous  and  respectable  the  dissentients, 
he  died  in  possession  of  the  esteem  and  at- 
tachment of  a  large  majority  of  the  more  in- 
fluential portion  of  his  countrymen.  A  nublic 
funeral  was  decreed  to  his  honour  by  par- 
liament, as  also  a  grant  of  40,000/.  to  pay  his 
debts  ;  and  monuments  have  been  erected  to 
him  in  Westminster  abbey,  Guildhall,  and  in 
various  parts  of  the  kingdom.  Possibly  the 
exact  rank  that  will  be  assigned  to  this  cele- 
brated statesman  by  impartial  posterity  cannot 
yet  be  anticipated. — Gifford's  Lij'eofPitt.  Ann. 
Register.  Aikin's  Biog.  Diet. 

PITT  AC  US,  a  warrior  and  philosopher, 
one  of  the  seven  sages  of  Greece,  was  born 
at  Mitylene,  in  Lesbos,  about  6.30  BC.  In  a 
war  with  the  Athenians,  he  challenged  and 
vanquished  in  single  combat  their  general 
Phrymon,  and  when  offered  as  a  reward  as 
much  of  the  enemy  s  land  as  he  chose,  he 
«vouW  accept  no  more  than  lie  could  measure 


PI  D 

by  a  single  cast  of  the  javelin,  and  he  conse- 
crated half  of  that  to  Apollo.  Having  ex- 
pelled the  tyrant  Melanchrus  from  Mitylene, 
he  was  placed  at  the  head  of  its  government, 
and  distinguished  himself  by  his  wise  admi- 
nistration and  useful  laws.  After  ten  years' 
government  he  resigned  his  authority,  and 
going  into  retirement,  he  died  in  570  BC. 
His  maxims  were  many  of  them  inscribed  on 
the  walls  of  the  temple  at  Delphi. —  Univers. 
flist.  Bruclcer's  Hist,  of  Philns. 

PIUS  II  ( JEXEAS  SYLVIUS)  was  a  member 
of  the  noble  family  of  Piccolomini.  He  was 
born  at  Corsignano,  in  the  Scennese,  in  the 
year  140.5,  and  his  abilities  at  a  very  early 
age  introduced  him  to  the  notice  of  cardinal 
Dominico  Caprauica,  as  whose  secretary  he 
officiated  at  the  council  of  Basil,  in  1431.  His 
diplomatic  talents  were  afterwards  employed 
in  mediating  a  peace  between  the  courts  of 
England  and  Scotland.  On  his  return  to  the 
Continent,  he  was  appointed  secretary  to  the 
council  of  Basil,  and  obtained  the  benefice  of 
St  Lawrence  at  Milan,  in  reward  for  his  de- 
fence of  that  assembly  against  the  usurpations 
of  the  see  of  Rome.  He  was  subsequently 
employed  in  various  embassies  by  the  empe- 
ror Frederic  III,  with  whom  lie  became  a 
great  favourite,  as  well  from  his  literary  attain- 
ments, as  from  his  abilities  as  a  statesman  ; 
and  he  received  from  his  hands  the  public  in- 
vestiture of  the  laurel  crown  of  poesy.  Pop? 
Calixtus  III  raised  him  to  the  purple  in  14.1(5, 
in  reward  for  his  services,  especially  for  his 
exertions  in  the  diets  called  at  Ratisbon  and 
Frankfort,  to  organize  a  league  against  the 
Turks  ;  and  this  potentate  dying,  he  succeeded 
him  in  the  pontifical  chair  in  1458,  on  which 
occasion  he  assumed  the  name  of  Pius  II. 
One  of  the  first  acts  of  his  pontificate  was 
the  appearance  of  a  bull  condemning  all  he 
had  previously  written  in  defence  cf  the  coun- 
cil of  Basil,  while  in  the  meditated  crusade 
he  proceeded  with  much  determination  and 
vigour,  summoning  all  Christian  princes  to 
assist  him,  and  was  actually  proceeding  to 
place  himself  at  the  head  of  a  considerable 
body  of  his  own  troops,  when  death  put  a 
stop  to  his  enterprise,  at  Ancona,  on  the  14th 
of  August,  1464,  in  the  seventh  vear  of  his 
reign,  and  fifty-ninth  of  his  age.  He  appears 
to  have  been  a  man  of  a  strong  mind  and 
lively  and  intriguing  talents,  principally  bent 
on  confirming  and  extending  the  temporal 
power  of  the  papacy,  in  which  design  he  was 
very  successful.  Two  editions  of  his  works 
have  been  published,  one  at  Basil,  in  folio, 
AD.  15M  ;  another  in  1700,  at  Helmstadt. 
They  consist  principally  of  minutes  of  the 
proceedii  gs  at  the  council  of  Basil,  a  poem  on 
the  crucifixion,  a  history  of  Bohemia,  a  ro- 
mance entitled  "  Euryalus  and  Lucretia," 
two  books  on  cosmography,  with  memoirs  of 
his  own  life,  letters,  &c.  Gobelin,  his  secre- 
tary, published  a  biographical  memoir  of  him 
after  his  death,  at  Home,  which  was  reprinted 
at  Frankfort  in  1614.  His  personal  courage 
as  well  as  prudence  were  great ;  of  the  latter 
quality  several  of  his  apophthegms  which  he 


PI  U 

left  behind  liim  give  sufficient  proof,  and  lie 
lias  been  generally  considered  one  of  the  best 
scholars  that  ever  wore  the  triple  crown. — 
Moreri. 

PIUS  VI  (pope)  whose  secular  name  was 
John  Angelo  Braschi,  was  horn  at  Cesena  in 
1717.  On  the  death  of  Clement  XIV,  in 
177;),  he  succeeded  lo  the  papal  throne  ;  and 
he  shortly  after  made  a  reformation  in  the 
financial  department,  and  also  improved  the 
museum  of  the  Vatican.  But  the  greatest  of 
his  undertakings  was  the  draining  of  the 
Pontine  marshes,  a  district  between  the  Ap- 
penine  mountains  and  the  sea,  overflowed  with 
water,  exhaling  pestilential  effluvia,  which 
gave  rise  to  numerous  diseases,  and  depopu- 
lated the  surrounding  country.  AVhile,  how- 
ever, this  pontiff'  was  successful  in  his  domes- 
tic administration,  he  had  the  mortification  to 
witness  the  absolute  decay  of  the  temporal 
power  of  the  holy  see.  In  1782  he  made  a 
visit  to  the  emperor  Joseph  II  at  Vienna,  to 
endeavour  to  dissuade  him  from  the  prosecu- 
tion of  some  ecclesiastical  reforms  which  he 
meditated  ;  but  the  journey  was  wholly  use- 
less, though  the  death  of  the  emperor  put  a 
stop  to  his  schemes.  Pius  encountered  many 
oilier  misfortunes.  In  France  he  witnessed 
the  confiscation  of  the  property  of  the  church, 
and  the  suppression  of  the  religious  orders,  in 
virtue  of  the  decrees  of  the  National  Assem- 
bly ;  in  Germany,  the  congress  of  Ems,  for 
the  abolition  of  the  nunciature,  in  1785  ;  in 
Naples,  the  contempt  of  his  authority,  by 
withholding  the  customary  tribute  of  a  horse  ; 
and,  in  1791,  he  lost  Avignon  and  the  county 
of  Venaissin,  which  were  reunited  to  France. 
But  all  this  was  only  the  prelude  to  greater 
adversity.  In  the  first  coalition  against  France, 
the  pope  ranged  himself  among  the  enemies  of 
the  republic.  In  January  1793,  Basseville, 
the  French  secretary  of  legation, was  massacred 
during  a  popular  commotion  at  Rome.  After 
the  victories  of  Buonaparte  in  Italy,  in  1796, 
general  Augereau  marched  into  the  territories 
of  the  pope,  who,  unable  to  resist,  was  glad  to 
accept  of  an  armistice,  which  was  signed  at 
Bologna,  June  13.  The  pope  having  renewed 
hostilities,  Buonaparte  attacked  and  beac  his 
troops  at  Senio,  the  2nd  of  February,  1797, 
and  proceeded  towards  Rome.  He  stopped, 
however,  to  treat  with  ministers  sent  by  his 
holiness  ;  and  on  the  19th  of  February  was 
signed  the  treaty  of  Tolentino,  by  which  the 
pope  lost  Romagna,  Bologna,  and  Ferrara. 
December  28,  1797,  in  consequence  of  ano- 
ther commotion,  in  which  general  Duphot  was 
killed,  Joseph  Buonaparte,  the  French  am- 
bassador, quitted  Rome.  An  army,  com- 
manded by  general  Berliner,  entered  that  ca- 
pital February  10,  1798,  and  on  the  15th  pro- 
claimed the  establishment  of  the  Roman  re- 
public, governed  by  consuls,  a  senate,  and  a 
tribunate.  The  pope,  after  this  deprivation  of 
his  authority,  was  conveyed  to  France  a.-i  a  pri- 
soner, and  he  died  at  Valence,  August  29, 
i799.  In  1802  his  body  was  removed  to 
Rome,  and  solemnly  interred. — Life  of  Pius 
VI,  fry  D>ipi>a. 


PIZ 

PIUS  VII  Cpope)  or  BA11NABUS  CIH- 
ARAMONTE,  the  successor  of  Pius  VI, 
was  bom  at  Cevena,  August  14,  17-J-O.  lie 
was  raised  to  the  cardinalate  in  1785,  and  he 
held  ihe  bishopric  of  Inrola,  where  lie  was 
visited  by  Buonaparte,  in  1796  ;  and  having 
conciliated  the  favour  of  that  leader,  he  was, 
through  his  influence,  promoted  to  the  papacy, 
in  March,  1800,  and  on  the  15th  of  July, 
1801,  he  signed  ihe  concordat,  which  termi- 
nated the  schism  of  the  Gallican  church.  He 
went  to  Paris  in  180i,  to  assist  at  the  corona- 
tion of  the  French  emperor  ;  and  he  after- 
wards refused  to  confer  a  similar  favour  on 
Louis  XVIII.  By  a  decree  of  the  17th  of 
May,  1809,  the  emperor  Napoleon  put  an  end 
to  the  temporal  power  of  the  pope,  uniting  his 
territories  to  the  French  empire  ;  and  PiusVII 
himself  was  detained  as  a  prisoner  at  Fou- 
taintbleau,  where  he  remained  till  the  over- 
throw of  Buonaparte,  when  he  returned  to 
Rome  to  resume  his  authority.  He  died  there 
August  20,  1823  ;  and  was  succeeded  in  the 
pontificate  by  cardinal  Sella  Genga,  who  as- 
sumed the  appellation  of  Leo  XII. — Gent.Mag. 

PIZARRO  (FiiArcisco)  the.  name  of  a 
celebrated  Spanish  adventurer,  one  of  the 
conquerors  of  the  New  World.  His  origin 
and  early  habits  were  sufficiently  humble,  he 
being  the  fruit  of  an  illicit  connexion  between 
a  peasant  girl  and  an  hidalgo  of  Truxiilo,  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  which  place  he  first  saw 
the  light,  about  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury. Receiving  neither  support  nor  coun- 
tenance from  his  father,  he  was  thrown  en- 
tirely upon  his  mother's  resources,  who  so  far 
from  being  in  circumstances  to  give  him  even 
an  ordinary  education,  employed  him  as  a 
swineherd,  and  left  him  totally  illiterate.  The 
spirit  of  adventure  which  at  that  period  per- 
vaded Spain,  induced  him  at  length  to  quit  his 
inglorious  occupation,  and,  in  company  with 
some  other  soldiers  of  fortune,  to  seek  an  im- 
provement of  his  condition  by  a  voyage  of  dis- 
covery towards  the  newly-found  continent  of 
\rnerica.  In  1525,  the  adventurers,  over 
whom  the  enterprising  disposition  and  daring 
temper  of  Pizarro  had  gained  him  considera- 
ble influence,  sailed  from  Panama.  Diego 
Almagro,  a  person  of  as  obscure  an  origin  as 
himself,  and  Hernandez  Lucque,  an  ecclesias- 
tic, being  joined  with  him  in  the  command, 
i  he  Spaniards  arrived,  after  experiencing  se- 
veral difficulties,  in  Peru,  where  taking  advan- 
tage of  a  civil  war  then  raging  in  that  coun- 
try, they  became  the  allies,  and  eventually  the 
enslavers,  of  Atahualpa,  or  Atabalipa,  as  he  is 
variously  called,  the  reigning  inca.  Treacher- 
ously seizing  upon  the  person  of  the  monarch, 
at  a  friendly  banquet  to  which  they  had  in- 
vited him  and  his  whole  court,  they  first  com- 
pelled him  to  purchase,  at  an  enormous  price, 
a  temporary  reprieve  from  a  death  which  they 
liad  determined  he  should  eventually  undergo  ; 
and  having  succeeded  in  extorting  from  him, 
it  is  said,  a  house  full  of  the  precious  metids 
by  way  of  ransom,  after  a  mock  trial  for  a 
pretended  conspiracy,  condemned  liim  to  bs 
burnt,  allowing  him  >o  be  first  strangled,  as  a 


PL  A 

reward  for  becoming  a  Christian.  The  news 
of  their  success  brought  a  considerable  acces- 
sion of  strength  from  Europe  to  the  invaders, 
and  Pizarro,  in,  order  to  consolidate  his  em- 
pire, founded,  in  1535,  the  city  of  Lima, 
which  he  intended  as  the  capital  of  his  pos- 
sessions ;  but  the  discord  between  the  chiefs 
of  the  expedition,  which  even  a  sense  of  their 
common  danger  had  from  the  beginning  failed 
wholly  to  suppress,  when  this  their  sole  bond 
of  union  was  withdrawn,  broke  out  into  open 
•violence,  and  in  the  struggle  which  ensued 
Almagro,  now  ia  his  seventy-fifth  year,  was 
defeated,  taken  prisoner,  and  strangled  by 
Ferdinand  Pizarro,  brother  to  tiie  general. 
This  catastrophe,  which  took  place  in  1537, 
was  avenged  four  years  afterwards  by  the  son 
of  the  victim,  and  bearing  the  same  name,  who 
having  organized  a  conspiracy  against  the  de- 
stroyers of  his  father,  broke  into  the  palace  at 
Lima,  and  after  an  obstinate  resistance,  suc- 
ceeded in  dispatching  Francisco  Pizarro.  It 
is  impossible  to  refuse  to  this  adventurer  the 
credit  of  considerable  military,  as  well  as  po- 
litical talent,  though  the  one  was  sullied  by 
his  extreme  barbarity,  the  other  by  his  perfidy 
and  heartless  dissimulation.  His  assassina- 
tion took  place  June  26,  1541-. — Robertson's 
Hist,  of  America. 

PLACCIUS  (VINCENT)  a  learned  jurist, 
was  born  at  Hamburg  in  1642.  He  studied  at 
Ilrlmstadt,  and  after  travelling  in  France  and 
Italy,  he  returned  to  bis  native  city,  where  he 
practised  at  the  bar,  and  was  appointed  pro- 
fessor of  morals  and  eloquence,  which  post  he 
held  until  his  death  in  1699.  His  principal 
work  is  a  curious  bibliographical  piece  re- 
specting anonymous  and  pseudonymouswriters, 
entitled  "  De  Scriptis  et  Scriptoiibus  anony- 
mis  atque  pseudonymis  Syntagma, "  together 
with  the  "  Catalogus  Auctorum  suppositio- 
rum,"  of  Rhodius.  lie  also  wrote  "  De  Ju- 
risconsulto  pento,"  8vo  ;  "  De  Arte  excer- 
pendi,"  8vo  ;  "  Carndna  Juvenilia." — Moreri. 
Bihling.  Dirt. 

PLACE  (FRANCIS)  an  engraver,  was  a  na- 
tive of  Dinsdale  in  Durham.  lie  was  origi- 
nally intended  for  the  law,  and  came  to  Lon- 
don to  study  ;  but  he-  was  obliged  to  leave  the 
metropolis  in  1665,  on  account  of  the  plague, 
lie  then  went  to  York,  and  was  at  gieat  ex- 
pense in  attempting  to  make  porcelaine,  in 
which  he  failed.  He  painted  and  engraved 
only  for  his  own  amusement,  and  he  refused 
a  pension  of  500/.  to  draw  the  royal  navy.  He 
died  in  1728.  His  productions,  which  are 
very  rare,  prove  him  to  have  possessed  great 
abilities  ;  above  all,  his  etchings  from  Griflier 
are  excellent  ;  his  portraits  in  rnezzotinto  are 
also  good.  He  executed  the  plates  for  Goedar- 
tius's  Book  of  Insects  ;  with  views  in  York- 
shire, See. — Strutt.  Lord  Or/brd'.s  Catalogue 
of  Engravers. 

PLACE  (JosnuA  de  la)  a  French  protes- 
tant  divine,  was  born  about  1596.  Losing  his 
parents  at  an  early  age,  he  was  brought  up  by 
lour  uncles,  all  ministers.  He  studii  d  in  the 
protestant  seminary  at  Satimnr,  where  he  be- 
came professor  of  philosophy,  and  afterwards 


PL  A 

)f  divinity.     The  opinion  of  De  la  Place  upon 

original   sin  was  condemned  as   erroneous  in 

1642  by  the  synod  of  Charenton,  and  several 

earned  theologians   undertook   to   refute    it ; 

)ut  De  la  Place  continued  silent.     lie  died  in 

166.5,  and  his  works  are,   "  An  Exposition   of 

he  Song  of  Songs  ;"  "  A  Treatise  on  Types  ;" 

'  On    the    Order   of  the   Divine    Decrees  ;" 

'  On  Free   Will  ;"  "  A   Treatise   concerning 

he  Imputation    of  Adam's  First  Sin  ;"   "  A 

Compendium   of   Divinity  ;"   "  Dialogues  be- 

ween  a  Father  and  Son  relative  to  a  Change 

)f  Religion,"  &c.  &c.     The  whole  were  puh- 

ished  at  Franeker  in  1699  and  1703,  in  2  vols. 

4to. — Mosheim  Hist.  Eccles.     Moreri,     Nouv. 

Diet.  Hist. 

PLACE  (PETF.U  de  la)  Latin,  Plateanus  or 
•-"latia,  a  French  magistrate  and  writer,  was 
jorn  at  Angouleme  in  1526.  He  was  appointed 
)y  Francis  I  advocate  of  his  court  of  aids  at 
Paris,  and  Henry  II  afterwards  made  him  first 
resident  of  the  same.  On  the  death  of  Fran- 
cis II  he  openly  professed  the  protestant  re- 
igion  ;  and  when  the  first  civil  war  broke 
out,  he  retired  into  Picardy,  but  upon  the 
peace,  in  1562,  he  appeared  before  the  king, 
and  vindicated  himself  from  many  charges 
which  had  been  preferred  against  him.  He 
was  then  appointed  by  the  prince  of  Conde 
superintendent  of  his  household  ;  but  upon 
the  rupture  of  the  prince  and  the  court  in 
1566,  he  retired  to  the  castle  of  Ve  in  the 
Valois,  where  he  remained  until  Charles  IX 
granted  the  Protestants  a  treacherous  peace  in 
1569  ;  he  then  returned  to  Paris,  and  resumed 
:iis  office,  which  he  retained  until  he  fell  a 
victim  in  the  horrible  massacre  of  St  Bartho- 
omfcw.  He  was  a  man  of  sound  judgment  and 
clear  disciimination,  of  which  he  gave  a  proof 
in  his  "  Commentaries  on  the  State  of  Reli- 
gion and  of  the  Commonwealth  from  1556  to 
1561."  He  also  wrote  "  A  Treatise  on  the 
Excellence  of  the  Christian  Man  ;"a  "  Trea- 
tise on  the  Right  Use  of  Moral  Philosophy  in 
Connection  with  the  Christian  Doctrine,  &c." 

•Moreri.     Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

PLACE  (PIERRE  ANTOINE  de  la)  a  French 
writer,  born  at  Calais  in  1707.  He  was  for 
many  years  director  of  the  "  Merrure  de 
France  ;"  but  he  principally  distinguished  him- 
self by  his  translations  of  English  productions, 
He  died  in  1793.  His  literary  labours  com- 
prise, "  Theatre  Anglais,"  1746,  8  vols.  12mo. 
on  the  model  of  the  Theatre  des  Grecs  of  F. 
Brumoy  ;  "  Ilistoire  de  Tom  Jones,"  1767, 
4  vols.  12mo,  a  free  translation,  often  reprinted; 
"  L'Orpheliue  Anglaise  ;"  and  several  trage- 
dies, including  "  Venise  Sauvee,"  imitated 
from  Otwavv — Biog.  Nouv.  des  Contemp. 

PLACENTIUS  or  PLAISANT  (JOHN)  an 
ecclesiastic  of  the  order  of  St  Dominic,  passed 
the  greatest  part  of  his  life  at  Mae'striclit, 
where  he  is  supposed  to  have  died  about  1548. 
He  wrote  an  abridged  history  of  the  bishops  of 
Tongres  and  Liege,  entitled  "  Catalogus  an- 
stkitum  Leodiensium,"  in  which  he  displays 
his  credulity,  by  admitting  all  the  fables  ot  the 
ancient  chronicles.  He  also  published  a  poem 
called  "  Pugna  Porcorum,"  of  which  nil  the 


PL  A 

words  commenced  with  P.  One  Ubaldus,  a 
Benedictine  under  Charles  le  Chauve,  made  a 
similar  poem,  with  all  the  words  beginning 
by  C.  They  were  printed  together  at  Louvain 
in  1546. — Noitv.  Diet.  Hist. 

PLACETTE  (JOHN  de  la)  a  French  Pro- 
testant divine,  was  born  at  Pontac  in  Bearne,  '• 
in  1639.  On  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of' 
Nantes,  he  accepted  an  offer  made  him  bj  the 
queen  of  Denmark,  to  become  pastor  of  a 
French  church  she  had  founded  at  Copenha- 
gen. On  the  death  of  that  princess  he  re- 
moved into  Holland,  and  died  at  Utrecht  in 
1718.  He  wrote  "  Essais  de  Morale,"  6  vols. 
l'2mo  ;  "  Traite  de  la  Conscience  ;"  "  Traite 
de  1'Orgueil ;"  "  Traite  de  la  Foi  Divine  ;" 
"  Traite  de  la  Restitution  ;"  "  La  Mort  des 
Justes  ;"  &c.  &c.  Some  of  these  have  been 
translated  into  English,  lie  was  also  one  of 
the  antagonists  of  Bayle,  against  whom  he 
published  some  tracts. — Moreri.  Nouv.  Diet. 
Hist. 

PLANQUE  (FRANCIS)  a  physician,  born 
at  Amiens  in  France,  in  1696.  He  studied 
medicine  at  Paris,  after  which  he  passed  many 
years  in  retirement,  occupying  himself  with 
scientific  researches.  He  was  more  than  lifty 
years  of  age  when  he  took  the  degree  of  MD. 
at  Rheims.  Returning  to  Paris  he  continued 
to  devote  himself  chiefly  to  «tiidy,  employing 
his  talents  as  a  practitioner  wily  tor  the  benefit 
of  his  friends.  He  died  September  19,  176.5. 
He  was  the  author  of  several  medical  works, 
among  which  the  most  important  is  "  La  Bib- 
liotheque  choisie  de  Medicine,  tiree  des  Ou- 
vrages  periodiques,  tant  Fran9ais  qu'Etran- 
gers,"  Paris,  1748-70,  10  vols.  4to,  or  31 
vols.  12mo.  The  subjects  of  this  work  are 
arranged  in  alphabetical  oider  ;  and  the  col- 
lection was  completed  by  Goulin,  who  placed 
before  the  last  volume  a  lit'e  of  the  author. 
Planque  had  projected  a  Medical  Bibliogra- 
phy, of  which  he  printed  a  specimen  only. — 
Biog.  Univ. 

PLANTIN  (CHRISTOPHER)  an  eminent 
printer,  was  born  at  Mont- Louis  near  Tours,  in 
1514.  He  settled  at  Antwerp,  where  he 
formed  a  large  establishment,  and  printed  a 
great  number  of  important  works,  to  some  of 
which  learned  prefaces  are  added  in  his  name  ; 
but  his  claim  to  these  is  doubtful.  His  prin- 
cipal performance  is  a  Polyglot  Bible,  printed 
after  that  of  Alcala  ;  but  the  rigour  with  which 
Philip  11  recalled  the  money  advanced  for 
this  undertaking,  nearly  occasioned  its  failure. 
lie  died  at  Antwerp  in  1589,  with  the  title  of 
arch- printer  to  the  king  of  Spain.  He  pos- 
sessed a  fine  library,  which  he  bequeathed  to 
his  grandson,  Balthasar  Moret. — Moreri.  JYout1. 
Dirt.  JIi*t. 

PL  AN  DDES  (MAXIMUS)  a  monk  of  Con- 
stantinople, flourished  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury. It  is  said  by  some  that  he  was  sent 
ambassador  to  Venice,  by  the  emperor  Andro- 
aicus  the  elder  ;  but  Posserin  affirms  that  he 
was  livins  in  the  time  of  the  council  of  Basil. 
He  was  persecuted  and  imprisoned  by  the 
Greek  empeior,  on  account  of  his  attachment 
to  the  Romish  church  :  and  as  the  price  of 


PI,  A 

his  liberty,  he  was  obliged  to  write  three  trea- 
tises against  it.  lie  compiled  a  Greek  "  An- 
thologia,"  a  collection  of  epigrams  from  those 
of  Meleager,  Philippus,  and  Agathias:  it  was 
printed  at  Florence  in  1494,  and  at  Frank- 
fort in  1600.  He  also  wj  jte  a  romantic  his- 
tory of  ./Esop,  and  made  a  collection  of  his 
Fables,  and  translated  several  Latin  works 
into  Greek. —  Fussii  Poet.  Grtec.  Baillet. 

PLATER  (FELIX)  a  celebrated  physician, 
was  born  at  Basil  in  1536.  He  obtained  the 
medical  chair  in  his  native  place,  and  raised 
the  university  of  Basil  to  high  reputation,  as  a 
medical  school,  by  his  learned  lectures,  for 
fifty  years.  lie  was  a  skilful  anatomist,  and 
well  versed  in  botany  and  natural  Listen  v. 
He  is  said  by  Haller  to  have,  been  the  fir.  t 
who  taught  that  the  crystalline  humour  of  the 
eye  has  the  power  of  a  convex  lens,  in  bring- 
ing the  rays  to  a  focus  on  the  retina.  His 
works  are,  "  De  Partium  Corporis  Humaui 
Struct  lira  et  Usu,"  lib.  iii;  "  DC  Mulierum 
Partibus  Generation!  Dicatis  ;"  "  De  Fe- 
bribus  ;"  "  Praxeos  Medicas,"  torn,  iii  ;  "  Ob- 
servationum  in  Hominis  Affectibus  plerisque,' 
lib.  iii ;  "  Questionum  Medicarum  paradoxa- 
rum  et  endoxarum  Centuria  posthuma,"  pub- 
lished by  his  brother  Thomas,  in  1625.  lie 
had  two  nephews,  likewise  physicians  and  pro- 
fessors, one  of  whom  wrote  "  Observationnm 
selectiorum  Mantissa,"  annexed  to  his  uncle':; 
Observations  in  1680.  —  Halleri  Bibl.  Med.  <:t 
Anatom.  Eioy  Diet. 

PLATINA  (BARTOLOMEO)  an  historian, 
whose  family  name  was  De  Sacchi,  but  who 
chose  to  be  called  Platina,  the  name  of  the 
place  of  his  nativity  in  1421.  He  studied  a 
Mantua,  but  going  to  Rome,  Pius  II  ap- 
pointed him  one  of  the  apostolical  abbrevia- 
tors.  When  Paul  11  dissolved  this  college,  he 
was  dismissed  with  seventy  other  learned 
men  ;  but  venturing  to  complain,  and  even  to 
remonstrate  too  boldly  with  the  pontiff,  on  tliis 
proceeding,  he  was  seized  and  imprisoned. 
He  was  afterwards  tortured  and  imprisoned 
by  the  same  pope  on  suspicion  of  being  im- 
plicated in  conspiracy  against  him  with 
the  other  Roman  academicians  of  Pomponius 
Laetus ;  but  nothing  being  discovered,  they 
were  accused  of  disputing  the  immortal  a.- 
of  the  soul,  and  wf  re  all  remanded  to  prison, 
and  again  put  to  the  rack.  His  sufferings 
were  recompensed  by  Sixtus  IV,  who,  in 
1475,  made  him  keeper  of  the  Vatican  li- 
brary. Platina's  principal  work  was  his 
"  Lives  of  the  Roman  Pontiffs,"  composed  in 
elegant  Latin,  with  a  degree  of  force  then 
uncommon:  his  greatest  fault  is  his  parti;;! 
acrimony  in  speaking  of  some  contempor;;  v 
popes,  among  whom  he  does  not  spare  Paul  j  i. 
He  also  wrote  a  Latin  "  History  of  Mant'in, 
from  its  origin  to  the  year  1464  ;"  and  a  "  Life 
of  Nerio  Capponi,"  with  treatises  on  miscella- 
neous topics.  He  died  in  1481. — Tiraboschi, 
Moreri. 

PLATNER  (JOHN  ZACHARY)  a  German 
physician  and  oculist,  born  at  Chemnitz,  in 
1694.  He  studied  at  Leipsic  and  Halle,  ami 
took  his  doctor's  degree  in  1716.  He  after- 


FLA 

waids  travelled  for  improvement,  in  Switzer- 
land, Savoy,  France,  and  Holland  ;  and,  in 
1720,  settled  at  Leipsic,  where  the  following 
yeiir  he  was  appointed  professor  of  anatomy 
and  surgery.  In  1724,  he  obtained  the  chair 
of  physiology ;  in  1737,  that  of  pathology  ; 
and  in  1747,  that  of  therapeutics.  About  the 
same  time  he  was  nominated  perpetual  dean 
of  the  faculty,  and  consulting  physician  to  the 
court  of  Saxony.  His  death  took  place  in 
1747.  Besides  a  number  of  theses  and  me- 
moirs, he  was  the  author  of  "  Institutions 
Chirurgice  turn  medicse  turn  manuales,  ad- 
jects Icones  nonnullorum  ferranvntorum, 
&c."  1745,  8vo,  often  republished,  and  trans- 
lated into  Dutch  and  German. — PLATNEU 
(ERNEST)  a  physician  and  moralist,  son  of  the 
preceding,  was  born  at  Leipsic,  January  15, 
1741.  He  took  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medi- 
cine, and  became  professor  in  that  faculty,  and 
perpetual  dean  ;  and  to  those  academical  titles 
he  added,  in  1789,  that  of  decemvir  of  the 
university  of  Leipsir,  and  aulic  counsellor  to 
the  elector  of  Saxony.  He  was  the  oldest 
among  the  professors  ;  and  his  numerous  pu- 
pils, who  regarded  him  with  filial  affection, 
styled  him  the  Nestor  of  the  university  of 
Leipsic.  In  1816  the  king  of  Saxony  ap- 
pointed him  amemberof  a  commission  charged 
with  the  preparation  of  the  outline  of  a  new 
law  relating  to  the  liberty  of  the  press.  His 
death  took  place  May  12,  1818.  He  published 
a  great  number  of  important  works  on  medi- 
cine and  philosophy.  Among  the  former  are, 
"  Anthropology  for  the  Physicians  and  Philo- 
sophers," 2  vols.  8vo ;  and  "  Qurestionum 
Physiologicarum  libri  duo,"  1794,  8vo  ;  and 
among  the  latter,  "  Philosophical  Aphorisms," 
'2  vols.  8vo  ;  "  A  Dialogue  on  Atheism;" 
and  "  Elements  of  Logic  and  Metaphysics," 
8vo. —  Biog.  Univ. 

PLATO,  one  of  the  most  illustrious  of  the 
Grecian  philosophers,  and  the  founder  of  the 
academic  sect,  was  an  Athenian  by  descent, 
but  born  in  the  island  of  ^Egina.  He  was 
of  illustrious  origin,  his  father  Aristo  being 
a  descendant  from  Codrus,  and  his  mother 
Pericthione  from  Solon.  The  time  of  his 
birth  is  fixed  in  the  first  year  of  the  eighty- 
eighth  Olympiad;  but  Brucker  thinks  that  it 
may  be  more  accurately  assigned  to  the  third 
year  of  the  eighty-seventh  Olympiad,  or  BC. 
430.  His  parents  first  called  him  Aristocles, 
but  his  name  was  subsequently  changed  to 
Plato,  on  account  of  the  breadth  of  his  shoul- 
ders. As  he  gave  early  indications  of  original 
genius,  he  was  educated,  with  great  care,  and 
in  the  first  instance  applied  himself  to  the  arts 
of  poetry  and  painting,  which,  after  composing 
an  epic  poem  and  a  drama,  he  resigned  for  the 
study  of  philosophy,  under  Socrates.  lie  re- 
mained a  regular  pupil  under  that  philosopher 
for  eight  years,  and,  like  his  other  disciples, 
committed  the  substance  of  his  master's  doc- 
trines to  writing;  but  so  intermingled  them 
with  notions  of  his  o\vn,  that  Socrates  would 
scarcely  acknowledge  tlum.  On  the  persecu- 
tion of  the  latter,  the  conduct  of  Plato  was 
disinterested  and  noble  in  a  high  degree  : 


PL  A 

and  to  his  attendance  on  him  during  his 
imprisonment  the  world  owes  the  beautiful 
dialogue,  entitled  "  Phaedi,"  which,  with 
some  of  the  writer's  own  opinions,  conveys 
the  substance  of  the  sentiments  of  Socrates 
on  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  On  the  death 
of  his  master,  Plato  repaired  in  the  first  in- 
stance to  Megara,  and  afterwards  visitud 
Magna  Gr;ccia,  where  he  attended  the  cele- 
brated school  of  Pythagoras,  whose  doctrines 
he  subsequently  blended  with  the  more  simple 
system  of  Socrates.  He  next  studied  mathe- 
matics under  Theodorus  of  Cyrene,  and 
thence  repaired  to  Egypt,  to  acquire  astronon.y 
and  an  insight  into  the  Egyptian  mysteries, 
where,  it  is  by  some  believed,  that  he  derived 
his  doctrines  of  transmigration  and  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul.  Others  suppose  that  he  at 
the  same  time  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures  ;  but  all  these  suppositions 
rest  upon  mere  conjecture.  On  his  return  to 
Athens  he  opened  a  school,  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  youth  in  philosophy  ,u  a  small  garden, 
which  was  his  patrimony,  siniate  in  the  public 
grove  for  gymnastic  exercises,  termed  the 
Academy.  Here  he  was  attended  by  a  crowd 
of  hearers  of  every  description,  including  per- 
sons of  the  first  distinction,  and  among  other 
illustrious  names  to  be  ranked  among  his  dis- 
ciples are  those  of  Dion,  Aristotle,  Hype- 
rides,  Lycurgus,  the  orator  Demosthenes, 
and  Tsocrates.  Jealousy  is  necessarily  atten- 
dant on  public  admiration,  and  it  is  to  be 
regretted  that  the  name  of  Xenophon  is  to 
be  joined  to  that  of  Diogenes  the  cynic,  in  the 
list  of  his  personal  opponents  and  detractors. 
A  visit  which  he  paid  to  the  elder  Dionysius 
of  Syracuse,  at  the  age  of  forty,  proved  a  con- 
spicuous event  in  the  life  of  Plato,  whose  in- 
structions produced  an  excellent  effect  on  the 
king's  brother-in-law,  Dion  ;  but,  as  might  he 
expected,  were  lost  upon  the  tyrant  himself, 
who  contrived  that  in  his  passage  home  he 
should  be  seized  and  sold  as  a  slave  to  the  in- 
habitants of  his  native  island  of  ^Egina,  th;  a 
at  war  with  the  Athenians.  From  this  state 
of  servitude  he  was  quickly  re:aoved  by  the 
voluntary  generosity  of  Aiiiceris,  a  Cyrenean 
philosopher  ;  and  Dionysius,  ashamed  of  the 
odium  produced  by  his  low-minded  proceed- 
ing, wrote  letters  of  apology,  and  besought 
him  to  return  to  Syracuse,  Plato  nobly 
replied,  that  philosophy  would  not  allow 
him  leisure  to  think  of  Dionysius.  At 
the  request  of  Dion,  however,  he  subse- 
quently repaired  to  the  court  of  Dionysius  the 
younger  :  moved,  it  is  said,  by  the  hope  that 
he  might  induce  that  ruler  to  establish  his 
visionary  republic.  He  was  well  received  for 
a  time,  but  jealousy  and  distrust  gradually 
ensued,  and  a  war  following,  he  returned 
home.  When  peace  was  restored,  with  a  view 
to  ensure  the  return  of  his  friend  Dion  from 
i  exile,  he  was  again  induced  to  visit  Sicily,  at 
;  the  earnest  request  of  Dionysius,  in  whom 
jealousy  of  his  friendship  to  his  brother-in  law 
again  produced  distrust  ;  and,  after  much  ca- 
pricious and  some  rigorous  treatment,  the  phi- 
losopher was  allowed  to  finally  depart,  with 


PL  A 

magnificent  presents.    On  his  return  to  Athens 
Plato  resumed  his  school,  and  no  persuasion 
could  afterwards  induce  hirn  to  quit  his  peace- 
ful  retirement,  where  lie  resided  enjoying  the 
benefits  of  his  robust  constitution    and    great 
temperance,   until   his  death,   in  his  seventy- 
ninth  year,  BC.  348.      On  the  decease  of  this 
celebrated  philosopher,  who  passed  his  whole 
life  in  celibacy,  statues  and  altars  were  erected 
to   his    memory  ;    the   day    of   his  birth   was 
adopted  as  a  festival  by  his  followers  ;  and  it 
was  the  fashion  to  engrave  his  head  on  gems, 
some  of  which  have   reached  modern  times. 
Fhe   personal    character   of   Plato    has    been 
differently   represented  ;    but  in   the  midst  of 
the  excessive  veneration   of  his  admirers,  and 
the  slander  of  his  enemies,  there   is  sufficient 
evidence   that  he   was  highly  and  deservedly 
esteemed  for  his  moral  worth  and  virtue,    and 
for  his  gentle,  urbane,  and  courteous  manners. 
His   writings   consist  of  thirty-five   dialogues 
and  twelve  epistles,  the  style  of  which  retains 
a   strong   tincture  of  the  poetical  spirit  which 
pervaded  his  earliest  productions.   Some  of  his 
dialogues  are   peculiarly  elevated   by  sublime 
and    glowing  conceptions,   and   enriched  by  a 
copious,    splendid,    and    harmonious    flow    of 
diction.     The  better  part  of  these,  even  when 
ne  is  treating  of  abstract  subjects,   are  beauti- 
fully clear  and  simple  ;   but  others  arc  unfor- 
tunately turgid  and   tinctured  with  the  obscu- 
rity of  the  Pythagorean  school.     For    an    ac- 
count of  the  philosophy  of  Plato  we  refer  our 
readers  to  the  first  two  of  our  authorities,    as 
no  adequate  account  of  it  will  suit  the  limits  of 
a  work  of  this  nature.     Involved  in  a  maze  of 
words,  his  doctrines  mock  the  understanding, 
after  the  most  elaborate  analysis  ;  and  their  par- 
tial adoption  by  the  Christian  world  has  led  to 
endless  speculation,    often  indeed    ingenious 
and  beautiful  ;  but  at  the  same  time  in  quite 
as  great  a  degree  perplexing  and  illusive.     In 
the  seventeenth  century,  Gale,  Cudworth,  and 
Henry  More  perplexed  themselves  with  the 
theories  of  Plato,  which  are  now  more  so- 
berly   appreciated  ;    a   n  atural   result  of   the 
inductive    and    experimental     spirit    of     later 
times.     So  long,  however,  as  genius  and  lofty 
conception  will  delight,  the  reveries  of  a  mind 
like   Plato's  will   retain  no   mean  portion    of 
admiration.       His    doctrine  concerning    Cod, 
Mind,    Matter,    the   Immortality  of  the  Soul, 
Archetypal  Forms,  &c.  exhibits  that  order  of 
temperament  which   m?.y    be   philosophically 
termed   the    devotional,    and   in   consequence 
there  exists  in  a  large  body  of  mankind  a  strong 
constitutional  sympathy  with  its  spirit  and  ten- 
dency.   The  writings  of  Plato  were  originally  ! 
collected    by  Hermodorus,  and  published   by 
Aldus,  in  1513,  fol.     An  elegant  and   correct 
edition    after  the    Greek  text  of  Henry  Ste- 
phens, and  the  Latin  version  of  Ficinus,   was 
published  at  D?ux  Ponts,  1788,   12  vols.  8vo. 
English  versions    of   Plato's   Dialogues  have 
been  published,  at  various  periods ;  but    the 
best    is   that   of  Floyer   Sydenham,     1767-8, 
4  vols.  4to,  the  whole  of  which  have  been  re- 
published,  with  the  additional  works  of  Plato,  i 
by   Thomas  Taylor,     with   copious    notes,   5  [ 


PL  A 

vols.  4to.  1804. — Knickers  Hist.  PhiU.  En- 
cyc'uip.  Brit.  Fabricii  Bibl.  Grccc. 
^  PLATOFF,  or  PLATO W,  hetman  of  the 
Cossacks,  was  born  in  the  southern  part  of 
Russia,  about  1763.  He  entered  young  on 
i  military  service,  and  in  1806  and  1007  he  had 
the  rank  of  lieutenant-general  in  the  Russian 
army  sent  to  the  assistance  of  Prussia.  He 
:  was  afterwards  employed  against  the  Turks  in 
Moldavia,  and  was  made  a  general  of  cavalry. 
When  the  French  invaded  Russia,  in  181  i!, 
Platolf  was  again  called  into  actual  ser- 
vice, and  though  he  was  defeated  at  Grod- 
no, and  obliged  to  retire  into  the  interior, 
he  returned  during  the  retreat  of  the  enemy 
from  Moscow,  and  with  twenty  regiments 
I  of  Cossacks,  he  harassed  them  in  their  flight, 
and  contributed  greatly  to  the  advantages 
gained  over  them.  In  1813,  after  the 
battle  of  Leipsic,  he  entered  France,  and 
was  at  Paris  with  the  emperor  Alexander, 
whom  he  accompanied  to  England.  At  Eon- 
don  he  was  the  object  of  popular  admiration, 
and  a  magnificent  sabre  was  presented  to 
him.  In  1815  he  commanded  the  Cossacks 
destined  for  the  second  invasion  of  France, 
and  he  again  made  his  appearance  at  Paris. 
After  the  restoration  of  peace,  he  retired  to 
Tcherkash,  where  he  died  in  February  1818. 
— Biofr.  Univ. 

O 

PLAYFAIR  (JOHN)  a  distinguished  natu- 
ral philosopher  and  mathematician,  born  at 
Bervie  near  Dundee  in  Scotland,  in  1749. 
His  father  was  a  parochial  clergyman  of  the 
Scottish  church;  and  having  finished  his  edu- 
cation at  the  university  of  St  Andrews,  he  re- 
ceived ordination,  and  succeeded  to  his  father's 
benefice  in  1772.  After  holding  it  some 
years  he  resigned  it,  and  going  to  Edinburgh, 
he  obtained  the  mathematical  chair  in  that 
university.  In  1778  he  published  in  the  Phi- 
losophical Transactions  a  paper  "  On  the 
Arithmetic  of  Impossible  Quantities;"  and  on 
the  establishment  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
Edinburgh,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  se- 
cretaries. To  the  first  volume  of  its  Transac- 
tions he  contributed  an  "  Account  of  the  Life 
and  Writings  of  Matt.  Stewart,  Prof,  of  Ma- 
thematics at  Edinburgh,"  and  an  essay  "  On 
the  Causes  which  affect  the  Accuracy  of  Ba- 
rometrical Measurements  ;"  and  several  other 
communications  from  him  appeared  in  the 
subsequent  volumes.  Professor  Playfair  de- 
voted much  time  to  the  study  of  geology  ;  and 
in  1G16  he  visited  the  Alps,  for  the  purpose  of 
making  geological  observations  on  the  struc- 
ture of  those  mountains.  He  adopted  the 
opinions  of  Dr  James  Hutton,  which  he  de- 
fended in  his  "  Illustrations  of  the  Huttonian 
Theory  of  the  Earth,"  4to.  His  death  took 
place  at  Edinburgh,  July  20,  1819.  Besides 
the  productions  already  noticed,  he  was  the 
author  of  "  Elements  of  Geometry,"  8vo,  and 
"  Outlines  of  Natural  Philosophy,"  2  vols. 
8vo.  —Gent.  M<;«-.  Ami.  Bing. 

PL  AY  FA  111  (  WILLIAM)  an  ingenious  me- 
chanic, draughtsman,  and  author,  born  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Dundee,  1759,  and  brother 
to  the  professor  of  that  name.  Discovering  on 


PL  A 

early  taste  for  mechanics,  he  was  bound  to  a 
millwright  of  the  name  of  Mickle,  the  cele- 
brated engineer,  John  Rennie,  being  his  fel- 
low-apprentice. At  the  expiration  of  his  in- 
dentures he  went  to  Birmingham,  and  was 
engaged  there  for  some  time  by  Mr  James 
VVatt,  as  a  draughtsman,  in  the  works  at  Soho. 
Going  to  the  continent  he  encountered  acci- 
dentally, at  Frankfort-on-the-Maine,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  parliament  of  Bourdeaux  ;  and, 
from  his  description  of  a  telegraph  then  lately 
erected  on  the  mountain  of  Belville,  con- 
structed two  working  models  of  the  instru- 
ment, which  he  sent  to  the  duke  of  York,  and 
hence  the  plan  and  alphabet  of  the  machine 
came  to  England.  Although  about  this  time 
an  eager  desire  to  distinguish  himself  as  a  po- 
litical writer  became  his  ruling  passion,  he 
did  not  yet  abandon  his  taste  for  the  arts,  but 
successively  obtained  several  patents  for  use- 
ful inventions.  After  rzsiding  some  time  in 
London  he  repaired  to  Paris,  where  he  erected 
a  rolling  mill  on  a  new  plan,  for  which  he  ob- 
tained an  exclusive  privilege  from  the  king  ; 
but,  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution, 
becoming  obnoxious  to  Barrere ,  by  the  expres- 
sion of  anti-republican  principles,  he  narrowly 
escaped  an  arrest,  and  returned  to  England. 
As  scarcely  a  subject  of  public  interest  in  po- 
litics or  political  economy  has  occurred  lat- 
terly without  eliciting  a  pamphlet  from  his 
prolific  pen,  it  becomes  impossible  to  enume- 
rate his  productions.  Those  by  which  he  is 
more  generally  known  are,  "  The  Statistical 
Breviary  ;"  "  The  Commercial  and  Political 
Atlas,"  1786;  "  The  History  of  Jacobini>m," 
179.5  ;  "  Statistical  Tables,  exhibiting  a  View 
of  all  the  States  of  Europe,"  4to,  1800  ;  and 
an  "  Inquiry  into  the  Causes  of  the  Decline 
and  Fall  of  wealthy  and  powerful  Nations," 
4to,  180.5,  reprinted  in  1807;  a  new  edition 
of  Adam  Smith's  "  Wealth  of  Nations,"  with 
supplementary  chapters,  dec.  3  vols.  8vo,  1 806  ; 
"  A  Statistical  Account  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  translated  from  the  French,"  8vo, 
1807  ;  "  British  Family  Antiquity,"  9  vols. 
4to  ;  "  A  Vindication  of  the  Reign  of  George 
III  ;"  "  Political  Portraits  in  this  new  /Era," 
2  vols.  1814  ;  and  "  France  as  it  is."  In  his 
opinions  Mr  Playfair  was  strongly  attached  to 
the  Pitt  school  of  politics  ;  his  "  Breviary" 
and  "  Atlas"  display  considerable  ingenuity, 
in  simplifying  statistical  details,  by  means  of 
geometrical  lines  and  figures.  He  died  Fe- 
bruary 11,  1823. — Ann.  Biog. 

PLAYFORD  (Jons)  an  ingenious  writer 
on  musical  subjects,  born  in  1613  at  London. 
He  followed  the  business  of  a  music-seller, 
and  in  the  course  of  his  occupation  became  in- 
timate with  most  of  the  eminent  composers  of 
his  time,  whose  works  he  was  in  the  habit  of 
publishing.  Being  himself  also  an  excellent 
judge  of  music,  and  very  industrious,  he  con- 
tributed much  to  the  improvement  of  the  art 
of  printing  music,  by  an  invention  which  he 
called  the  "  new  tied  note,"  the  metal  types 
previously  in  use.  being  all  separate  and  dis- 
tinct. 1  lie  hint  of  this  improvement  he  is  sup- 
posed to  have  taken  from  Matthew  Lock, 

BIOG.  DICT.--VOT,.  II. 


PL  I 

who,  as  early  as  1673,  joined  the  notes  together 
in  his  "  Me  otheria."  Flayford  lived  to  the 
age  of  eighty  ;  and  though  a  practical,  rather 
than  a  scientific  musician,  was  sufficiently 
versed  in  the  rules  of  composition  to  write 
good  harmony.  Besides  a  variety  of  songs  in 
parts,  printed  in  the  "  Musical  Companion," 
he  compiled  a  work,  in  1665,  entitled  "  An  In- 
troduction to  the  Skill  of  Music,"  which  ran 
through  ten  editions.  His  death  took  place  in 
1693. — Biog.  Diet,  of  Music. 

PLEMP1US  (Vopiscus  FORTUNATUS)  a 
Dutch  physician,  was  born  in  1601  at  Amster- 
dam, and  graduated  at  Bologna,  in  which  uni- 
versity he  had  applied  himself  with  great  suc- 
cess to  the  study  of  medicine.  He  became 
afterwards  professor  of  physic  at  Louvaine, 
and  with  all  that  prejudice  which  induces 
many  persons  even  of  acknowledged  ability  to 
set  themselves  against  any  thing  which  is  not 
sanctioned  by  long  custom,  exerted  himself 
vigorously  against  the  use  of  the  Peruvian  bark, 
then  recently  introduced  into  the  Materia  Me- 
lica  by  the  Jesuit  Honore  Fabri,  under  the  as- 
sumed name  of  Coningius.  The  treatise  in  which 
he  commenced  his  attack  upon  this  invaluable 
medicine  is  entitled  "  Antymus  Coningius, 
Peruviani  Pulveris  Defensor,  repulsus  a  Me- 
lippo  Protymo."  His  other  works  are,  "  Oph- 
thalmographia,  sive  de  Oculi  Fabrica,  Actione, 
&c."  4to  ;  "  Fundamenta,  seu  Institutionea 
Medicinfe  ;"  "  On  the  Diseases  of  the  Hair 
and  Nails;"  "  On  the  Plague  ;"  "  On  the 
Muscles,"  &c. ;  and  a  Latin  translation  of  the 
two  first  books  of  Avicenna.  He  died  in  1671. 
— Moreri.  Nnuv.  Diet.  Hist. 

PLINY  THE  ELDER,  or  CAIUS  PLI- 
NIUS  SECUNDUS,  a  celebrated  Roman  na- 
turalist, born  AD.  22,  at  Verona,  or,  according 
to  some,  at  Como.  Going  to  Rome,  he  stu- 
died under  the  philosopher  Appion  ;  and  he 
is  supposed  in  his  youth  to  have  belonged  to 
the  court  of  Caligula.  When  about  twenty- 
one,  he  resided  some  time  on  the  coast  of 
Africa,  and  he  afterwards  served  in  the  army 
in  Germany.  Returning  to  Rome  at  the  age 
of  thirty,  lie  became  an  advocate,  and  pleaded 
several  causes  with  reputation.  He  passed 
part  of  his  time  at  Como,  in  superintending 
the  education  of  his  nephew ;  and  during 
great  part  of  the  reign  of  Nero  he  seems  to 
have  remained  without  public  employment. 
At  length  he  was  appointed  procurator  in 
Spain,  where  he  staid  till  after  the  accession  of 
Vespasian,  who  is  supposed  to  have  raised 
him  to  the  dignity  of  a  senator.  The  latter 
part  of  his  life  was  dedicated  to  literature.  He 
wrote  the  "  History  of  hisownTime/'inthiriy- 
one  books,  which  is  lost,  and  Lis  "  Natural 
History,"  in  thirty-seven  books,  one  of  the 
most  precious  monuments  of  antiquity  extant. 
Piiny  became  the  victim  of  his  attachment  to 
science  ;  for  being  at  Misenum  during  an 
eruption  of  Vesuvius,  his  anxiety  ti  make  ob- 
servations on  that  phenomenon  prevented  him 
from  taking  proper  precautions  for  his  own 
safety,  and  he  was  suffocated  by  the  sulphur- 
eous vapour.  The  eruption  which  cause  his 
death  appears  to  have  been  that  in  which  the 


PLO 

tides  of  Herculaneum  and  Pompei  were  de- 
stroyed, in  the  first  year  of  die  emperor  Titus. 
Tin.-  IK-SI  editions  of  Pliny's  Natural  History 
arc-  those  of  Hardouin,  1685,  5  vols.  4to,  and 
1?5J.'>,  5  vols.  folio  ;  and  that  of  Franzius, 
Lfipsic,  1778-91,  10  vols.  8vo. — Morerl.  Ai- 
khi  s  den.  H/i"/-. 

PUNY  THE  YOUNGER,  or  CAIUS 
C.ECILIUS  PLINIUS  SECUNDUS,  ne- 
phew of  the  preceding.  He  was  born  at 
Como,  where  his  father  Ctecilius  held  an  ho- 
nourable station.  His  education  was  carefully 
attended  to,  and  such  was  his  proficiency,  that 
at  the  age  of  fourteen  he  composed  a  Greek 
tragedy.  He  studied  rhetoric  under  the  first 
masters  ;  and  having  obtained  a  military  com- 
mand in  Syria,  he  embraced  the  opportunity  of 
applying  to  philosophical  researches,  in  con- 
junction with  his  professional  duties.  Having 
been  adopted  by  his  uncle,  at  the  age  of 
eighteen  he  became  an  advocate,  and  soon 
acquired  great  eminence  in  the  forum.  Under 
the  tyrannical  reign  of  Domitian  he  distin- 
guished himself  by  his  patriotism  and  public 
spirit  ;  and  when  that  emperor  proscribed  the 
professors  of  philosophy,  Pliny  assisted  them 
by  his  friendship  and  liberality.  He  became 
tribune  of  the  people,  and  exercised  the  office 
of  the  priesthood  ;  and,  after  the  death  of 
Domitian,  he  was  prefect  of  the  treasury,  con- 
sul, governor  of  Bithynia  and  Pontus,  commis- 
sary of  the  .^Emilian  way,  and  at  length  augur. 
He  held  his  government  under  Trajan,  with 
whom  he  was  a  great  favourite.  Returning  to 
Home,  he  divided  his  time  between  public 
affairs  and  the  pleasures  of  society  and  litera- 
ture, till  his  death,  which  happened  about 
AD.  103.  He  wrote  much  which  has  perished, 
nothing  remaining  extant  except  his  deservedly 
admired,  but  somewhat  artificial  "  Letters"  and 
his  "  Panegyric  on  Trajan."  Among  the  best 
editions  of  his  works  are  the  Elzevir,  1640, 
12mo  ;  Variorum,  1669,  8vo  ;  OxforJ,  1703  ; 
and  Nuremberg,  1746,  4to.  The  Letters  of 
Pliny  have  been  translated  into  English  by  lord 
Orrery  and  by  Melmoth. — Vossiiis.  Biog.  Univ. 

PLOT(RoBERT)  an  English  naturalist, bora 
in  1640.  He  was  educated  at  Oxford,  where 
he  was  appointed  professor  of  chemistry,  in 
1683,  having  been  previously  keeper  of  the 
Ashmolean  museum,  which  he  greatly  aug- 
mented. He  conceived  the  plan  of  a  complete 
natural  history  of  England,  the  only  parts  of 
which  that  were  properly  executed  were  his 
"  Natural  History  of  Oxfordshire,"  1677,  folio, 
and  "  Natural  History  of  Staffordshire."  He 
also  collected  materials  for  the  counties  of 
Kent  and  Middlesex  ;  but  these  remain  in 
manuscript,  except  a  "  Notice  of  some  Anti- 
quities in  Kent,"  1714,  8vo.  Having  resigned 
his  professorship,  Plot  was  made  royal  historio- 
grapher by  James  II  in  1686.  In  1694  he  was 
appointed  Mowbray  herald,  and  archivist  of 
the  herald's  office.  He  died  of  the  stone  in 
1696.  Dr  Plot  was  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  So- 
ciety, and  secretary  to  that  body,  in  whose 
Transactions  are  several  of  his  communica- 
tions.—  Biog.  Brit. 

PLOT1NUS,  a  learned  but  visionary  philo- 


P  LO 

soplier  of  the  third  century,  born  at  Lycopolis 
in  Egypt,  about  the  year  5205.  He  had  at- 
tained the  age  of  twenty-eight  before  he  be- 
gan to  devote  himself  to  the  study  of  ethics  ; 
when  finding  the  best  scholars  at  Alexandria 
unable  completely  to  settle  his  opinions,  he  at 
length  became  the  disciple  of  Ammonius,  and 
the  most  distinguished  Platonist  and  leader  of 
the  Eclectic  school.  With  this  master  he  spent 
eleven  years,  when  he  embraced  the  opportunity 
afforded  him  by  the  expedition  of  the  emperor 
Gordian  against  the  Parthians,  to  travel  into 
Persia  and  India,  and  to  make  himself  ac- 
quainted with  the  Oriental  philosophy.  On  the 
death  of  his  patron  he  remained  a  while  in 
Syria,  after  which  he  returned  to  Rome,  about 
the  year  24i,  and  then  read  lectures  in  philo- 
sophy, Porphyry  being  one  of  his  pupils.  The 
treatises  of  Plotinus,  fifty-four  in  number, 
were  distributed  by  Porphyry  in  six  classes, 
called  "  Euneads,"  the  Greek  text  of  which, 
with  a  Latin  version  by  Ficinus,  was  pub- 
lished at  Basil,  1580,  folio.  His  death  took 
place  in  270. — Brucker. 

PLOWDEN  (EDMUND)  an  eminent  Eng- 
lish lawyer  and  reporter  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. He  was  a  native  of  Shropshire,  and 
studied  both  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  where 
he  is  said  to  have  applied  himself  to  medicine, 
which  he  relinquished  for  the  law,  and  be- 
came reader  at  the  Middle  Temple.  In  the 
reign  of  queen  Mary  he  attained  the  rank  of 
sergeant  at  law  ;  but  being  a  Catholic,  he  re- 
ceived no  farther  promotion  under  Elizabeth. 
His  death  took  place  in  1585,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-seven.  His  works  consist  of  "  Com- 
mentaries or  Reports,"  containing  law-cases 
argued  and  determined  in  the  reigns  of  Ed- 
ward VI,  Mary,  and  Elizabeth.  Daines  Bar- 
rington  styles  Plowden  the  most  accurate  of  all 
reporters. —  Wood.  Bridgman. 

PLOWDEN  (FRANCIS)  an  English  eccle- 
siastic, of  a  Catholic  family,  who  followed 
James  II  to  France.  His  mother  was  maid  of 
honour  to  the  wife  of  that  prince,  and  the  son 
was  educated  at  St  Germain-en-Laye,  and  af- 
terwards placed  at  the  English  seminary  at 
Paris.  Having  taken  orders  among  the  Ca- 
tholics, he  became  connected  with  the  abbe 
Boursier,  who  persuaded  him  to  omit  taking 
the  degree  of  doctor,  rather  than  sign  the  new 
formulary  at  that  time  required  from  divines 
of  the  Gallican  church.  His  party  connexions 
are  said  to  have  prevented  him  from  obtaining 
a  cardinal's  hat  ;  and  the  same  cause  hindered 
him  from  being  employed  as  a  missionary  in 
England,  where  he  resided  three  years.  Re- 
turning to  France,  he  took  up  his  residence 
among  the  doctors  of  the  house  of  St  Charles, 
at  Paris,  and  continued  there  the  greater  part 
of  his  life.  There  are  several  works  extant  of 
the  abbe  Plowden,  one  of  which,  entitled, 
"Traite  du  Sacrifice  de  J.  C."  1778,  3  vols. 
12mo,  excited  among  his  brethren  a  long  con- 
troversy, in  which,  however,  the  author  himself 
took  no  part.  He  died  about  1787. — PLOWDEN 
(CHARLES)  a  Jesuit,  of  the  same  family  with 
the  foregoing,  born  in  England  in  1743.  he 
was  sent  to  Rome  for  education,  and  entered 


PLU 

into  the  society  in  1759.  He  returned  to  his 
own  country  after  the  suppression  of  his  order 
in  1773,  and  applied  himseif  to  ecclesiastical 
duties  and  literary  composition.  He  wrote 
against  Berington  and  Butler,  when  the  Je- 
suits endeavoured  to  reunite  their  society  in 
Enoland,  and  he  was  one  of  the  most  zealous 
advocates  for  that  measure.  He  afterwards 
became  president  of  the  Catholic  college  of 
Stonyhurst,  iu  Lancashire  ;  and  in  1820  he 
took  a  journey  to  Rome,  to  transact  some  af- 
fairs relative  to  his  order.  His  death  took 
place,  on  his  return  to  England,  at  Jougne,  in 
France,  June  13,  1821.  A  list  of  his  writings 
may  be  fouud  in  the  subjoined  authority. — 
Bf'oo-.  Univ. 

PLUCHE  (NOEL  ANTOINE)  a  learned 
French  writer,  born  iu  the  diocese  of  Rheims 
in  1688.  In  consequence  of  the  death  of  his 
father,  he  was  left  when  young  to  the  care  of 
his  mother,  who  procured  for  him  the  advan- 
tage of  a  good  education.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-two  he  became  professor  of  humanity 
in  the  college  of  his  native  city,  and  he  af- 
terwards filled  the  chair  of  rhetoric.  He  was 
about  to  enter  into  holy  orders,  when  the  bi- 
shop of  Laon  offered  him  the  presidency  of  his 
college,  which  lie  accepted ;  but  being  de- 
nounced as  an  opposer  of  the  bull  Unigenitus, 
he  chose  rather  to  resign  his  situation,  than  to 
sign  the  formula  of  retractation  which  was 
presented  to  him.  He  then  retired  into  Nor- 
mandy, and  acted  as  a  private  tutor ;  and  af 
terwards  going  to  Paris,  he  supported  himself 
by  giving  lessons  to  young  persons  on  history 
and  geography.  He  relinquished  this  em- 
ployment to  devote  himself  to  the  composition 
of  his  famous  work,  entitled,  "  Spectacle  de 
la  Nature,  ou  Entretiens  sur  1'Histoire  Na- 
turelle  et  les  Sciences,"  which  was  published 
at  Paris  in  1732,  9  vols.  12mo.  In  conse- 
quence of  being  afflicted  with  deafness  he 
quitted  Paris  in  1749,  and  retiring  to  Varenne 
St  iMaur,  he  passed  the  rest  of  his  days  in  re- 
ligious exercises  and  theological  studies.  He 
died  of  apoplexy,  November  19,  1761.  Be- 
sides the  "  Spectacle  de  la  Nature,"  which 
has  been  translated  into  English,  the  abbe 
Pluche  was  the  author  of  "  Histoire  du  Ciel, 
considered  selon  les  Idees  des  Poetes,  des 
Plnlosophes,  et  de  Moi'se,"  1739,  2  vols.  12mo  ; 
"  La  Mecanique  des  Langues,  et  1'Art  de  les 
Enseigner,"  1751,  12mo  ;  and  other  works. — 
Biog.  Univ. 

PLUKENET  (LEONARD)  a  medical  profes- 
sor and  botanist  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
born  in  1642.  Little  is  known  of  his  origin 
or  education,  except  that  the  latter  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  completed  at  Cambridge, 
where  he  is  said  to  have  graduated.  After- 
wards he  practised  as  an  apothecary  in  the 
city  of  Westminster,  and  raised  a  botanic  gar- 
den there,  which  gained  him  some  notoriety, 
and,  after  a  life  passed  in  struggles  against  ad- 
rersity,  led  at  last  to  his  being  appointed,  to- 
wards its  close,  royal  professor  of  botany  at 
Hampton-court,  and  superintendent  of  the 
garden  there.  Plukenet  differed  much  with 
Petivier  and  Sloane,  whom  he  speaks  very 


PL  U 

slightingly  of,  but  was  of  considerable  service 
to  Ray,  of  whom  he  thought  highly.  His 
principal  work,  on  which  he  bestowed  much 
labour  and  expense,  is  his  "  Phytographia," 
which  first  appeared  in  four  separate  parts, 
4to,  between  the  years  1691  and  1696,  and 
contains  upwards  of  300  plates.  His  other 
pioductions  are,  "  Almagestum  Botanicum," 
4to,  1696,  a  valuable  work,  enumerating  sis 
thousand  species  ;  "  Almagesti  Botanici 
Mantissa,"  4to,  1700  ;  "  Amaltheum  Botani- 
cum," 4to,  1705  ;  all  of  which  were  collected 
and  reprinted  at  Hamburgh,  with  a  Linnasau 
index,  in  4  vols.  4to,  1769.  He  died  in  1706, 
leaving  an  herbarium  of  8,000  plants,  now  in 
the  British  Museum. — Pulteney's  Sketches. 

PLUMIER  (CHARLES)  a  French  ecclesi- 
astic of  the  seventeenth  century,  born  in  1646, 
at  Marseilles,  and  educated  at  Thoulouse.  He 
entered  into  the  order  of  friars  minim,  but  de- 
voted his  time  and  attention  rather  to  the 
study  of  botany  than  of  theology  ;  and  was  so 
absorbed  in  this  his  favourite  science,  that 
after  perambulating  a  great  part  of  the  south 
of  France,  in  the  pursuit  of  indigenous  plants, 
he  accepted  an  invitation  made  him  by  the 
government  of  Louis  XIV,  to  proceed  to  St 
Domingo,  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  home  a 
catalogue  and  specimens  of  the  natural  pro- 
ductions of  the  island.  He  executed  this 
commission  so  much  to  the  satisfaction  of  his 
employers,  that  he  was  subsequently  des- 
patched on  two  several  voyages  to  the  West 
Indies,  having  similar  discoveries  for  their  ob- 
ject, and  explored  on  these  occasions  not  only 
the  French  islands  there,  but  part  of  the  con- 
tinent. He  was  preparing  for  a  fourth  expedi- 
tion, when  his  progress  was  arrested  by  death 
at  Cadiz.  Plumier,  who  had  acquired  a  con- 
siderable knowledge  of  mathematics  and  me- 
chanics, as  well  as  of  botany,  under  Maignan, 
at  the  time  of  his  decease  held  the  appoint- 
ment of  botanist-royal,  with  a  pension.  His 
works  are,  "  Nova  Plantarum  Americanarum 
Genera,"  4to,  1703;  "  On  American  Ferns," 
folio  ;  a  treatise  "  On  Cochineal ;"  and  ano- 
ther "  On  the  Art  of  Turnery,"  4to.  Science 
lost  something  by  the  abrupt  termination  of  his 
last  undertaking,  the  main  object  of  which  was 
to  study  the  nature  of  the  Peruvian  bark  in 
its  recent  state.  His  death  took  place  in 
1706. — Rees's  Cyclup. 

PLUNKET  (OLIVER)  a  Roman  Catholic 
divine,  titular  archbishop  of  Armagh,  went  to 
Rome  at  an  early  age,  and  there  took  the  de- 
gree of  doctor  in  divinity.  He  received  the 
title  of  primate  of  Ireland  from  pope  Inno- 
cent XL  In  September,  1679,  he  was  ar- 
rested on  a  charge  of  treason,  and  being  sent 
to  London,  he  was  executed  at  Tyburn  in  1681. 
It  is  melancholy  to  add,  that  the  life  of  thig 
unfortunate  and  respectable  man,  whose  inno- 
cence was  subsequently  established,  fell  a  sa- 
crifice to  a  base  conspiracy  in  those  plot- 
making  times,  between  some  priests  of  a 
scandalous  life,  whose  disorders  he  had  cen- 
sured, and  certain  persons  under  sentence  of 
death,  who  finally  suffered  for  their  perfidy. — • 
Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

2X2 


P  L  U 

PLUQUET  (FnANfois  ANDIIK)  a  French 
philosopher,  a  native   of   Bayeux,   where   he 
was  born,  in  1716,  and  where  afterwar.la,  on 
entering  into   lioly  orders,  he   obtained  a  ca- 
nonry.     This  piece  of  preferment  he  vacated 
on  obtaining  the  historical  professorship  in  the 
university  of  Paris,  for  which  appointment  his 
previous  studies  had  admirably  qualified  him,  ] 
as  is    evinced   in    his   edition   of    "   Chinese 
Classics,  "printed  in  seven  duodecimo  volumes. 
His  ethical  works  consist  of   "  A  Treatise  on 
Sociability,    2  vols.  in   which  he   controverts 
the   doctrines  of  Hobbes,  with  regard  to  the 
natural    disposition  of  the  human  race.     An- 
other,    "On   Luxury,"  12mo,  2  vols. ;"   "A 
Dictionary  of  Heresies,"  2  vols.;    and   "  Fa- 
talism Examined,"  12mo,   3  vols.  ;    His  style  | 
is  at    once  nervous  and    elegant  ;   and  he  re-  j 
tained  his  faculties  till  the  advanced  age   of 
seventy-four,  when  an  apoplectic  fit  put  a  pe- 
riod to  his  existence  in  1790. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 
PLUTARCH,  a  celebrated  Greek  philoso- 
pher and  historian  of  the  second  century,  who 
was  a  native  of  Choeronea,  a  town  of  Boeotia. 
He  studied  at  Athens,  under  Ammonius,  and 
afterwards  travelled  in  various  parts  of  Greece, 
and  then  went  to  Alexandria,  in  Egypt.     At 
every  place  he  visited,  he  assiduously  cultivat- 
ed the  acquaintance   of  the  priests  and  other 
learned  men  ;  and  from  the  result  of  his  own 
observations    and   their   communications,     he 
collected   those  stores  of  intelligence  which 
are  displayed  in  the  various  works  which  he 
composed.     At  length  he   took  up  his  resi- 
dence at  Rome,  where   he  remained   nearly 
forty  years.      His  lectures  on  philosophy  ob- 
tained for  him  much  reputation  ;  and  among 
his  hearers  was  Trajan,  who  afterwards  be- 
came emperor.     That  prince,  as  a  mark  of  his 
favour,  invested   Plutarch  with    the  consular 
dignity,  and  made  him  proconsul  of  Illyricum. 
In  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  retired  to  his 
native  place,  where  he  was  elected  archon,  or 
chief  magistrate  ;  and  he  also  became  a  priest 
of  the  Delphic  Apollo.     His  death  took  place 
in  119,  at  the  age  of  sixty-nine.     As  an  his- 
torian,  Plutarch  has  been  the  object  of  gene- 
ral admiration,  on  account   of  his  "  Lives  of 
Illustrious  Greeks  and  Romans,"  with  regard 
to  which   Vossius     tells    us,    that  Theodore 
Gaza  said,   "  If  he  was  obliged  to  throw  into 
the  sea  all  the  books  in  the  world,  this  should 
he  reserved  as   the  last."     The  other  works 
of  this  writer,  which  are  extremely  numer- 
ous, relate   to  moral    and   natural   philosophy 
and  theology.     Many  of  his  compositions  are 
no  longer  extant.     Among  the  most  valuable 
editions  of  the  works  of  J  lutarch,   are  those 
of  H.  Stephen,  Paris,  1.572,  13  vols.  8vo  ;  and 
of  Reiske,  Leipsic,  1774 — 1782, 12  vols.  8vo. 
The  Lives  have   been   published   separately, 
by  Bryan,  London,  1729,  5  vols.  4to  ;  and  by 
Coray,  Paris,   1808,   7  vols.    8vo  ;    and   the 
Morals,  or  Miscellaneous  Treatises, were  edited 
collectively    by  Wyttenbach,    Oxford,    179.5, 
6  vols.    4to,  reprinted  in  13  vols.  8vo.     The 
best  English  translation  of  the  Lives  is  that  of 
t!ie   Langhornes. — Vossius.     Stollii  lirirod.  in 
Mitt.  Lit. 


POC 

PLUVINET,  (ANTOINE)  a  courtier  of  the 
age  of  Henri  Quatre,  to  whom  he  officiated  as 
grand  equerry.  lie  was  born  of  a  noble  fa- 
mily in  Dauphine,  and  was  entrusted  by  his 
master  with  several  diplomatic  missions,  es- 
pecially one  to  the  Low  Countries.  But  it  is 
in  his  former  capacity  that  he  is  principally 
known  to  posterity,  from  his  having  been  the 
first  who  reduced  the  art  of  riding  to  a  system 
in  France,  and  published  a  work  on  the  sub- 
ject, entitled  "  L'Art  de  monter  a  Cheval," 
folio.  His  death  took  place  in  1620. — Biog. 
Univ.  Mnreri. 

POCOCK  (EDWARD)  a  learned  English 
divine  and  Oriental  critic,  who  was  a  native 
of  Oxford.  lie  was  born  November  8,  1604, 
and  was  educated  at  Thame  school,  whence, 
at  the  age  of  fourteen,  he  removed  to  Mag- 
dalen-hall, Oxford,  and  two  years  after  to  a 
scholarship  at  Corpus  Christi.  In  1622  lie 
took  the  degree  of  BA.  and  in  1626  he  pro- 
ceeded MA.  Such  was  his  proficiency  in 
the  knowledge  of  the  Eastern  languages,  that 
he  undertook  to  prepare  for  the  press  such 
parts  as  had  not  previously  been  edited  of  the 
Syriac  New  Testament,  from  a  MS.  in  the 
Bodleian  library,  and  the  work  was  printed  at 
Leyden,  1630,  4to.  In  1629  Pocock  had  been 
ordained  to  the  priesthood,  by  the  bishop  of 
Oxford  ;  and  soon  after  he  was  appointed 
chaplain  to  the  English  factory  at  Aleppo. 
He  arrived  there  in  October  1630,  and  imme- 
diately applied  himself  to  the  cultivation  of 
Oriental  literature.  He  was  employed  by 
archbishop  Laud  to  make  collections  of  va- 
luable and  curious  MSS.  and  coins  for  the 
university  of  Oxford  ;  and  in  1636  that  pre- 
late invited  him  to  return  to  England  to  fill 
his  newly-founded  Arabic  professorship.  After 
giving  a  course  of  lectures  at  Oxford,  part  of 
which  he  subsequently  published,  he  undertook 
a  secoiid  voyage  to  the  East,  and  remained 
some  time  at  Constantinople  collecting  ancient 
MSS.  He  came  home  in  1640,  and  had  the 
mortification  to  find  his  generous  patron  a  pri- 
soner of  state  in  the  Tower  ;  and  the  death  of 
that  prelate,  and  the  political  changes  which 
occurred, might  have  consigned  him  to  obscurity 
if  not  to  want,  but  for  the  protection  of  the 
learned  Selden,  whom  he  assisted  in  the  pub- 
lication of  part  of  the  annals  of  Futychins, 
under  the  title  of  "  Origines  Alexandrine," 
1641.  He  was  presented  by  his  college  to 
the  rectory  of  Childruy,  in  Berkshire,  whither 
he  retired  on  being  deprived  of  his  professor- 
ship, after  the  execution  of  archbishop  Laud. 
In  1647,  however,  Selden  procured  for  him 
the  restoration  of  his  salary  :  and  the  following 
year  he  was  appointed  Hebrew  professor  at 
Oxford,  to  which  the  king,  then  a  prisoner  in 
the  Isle  of  Wight,  added  the  rich  canonry  of 
Chris tchurh,  and  the  grant  was  confirmed  by 
the  parliament.  In  1649  he  published  "  Spe- 
cimen Historise  Arabum,"  4to,  one  of  the 
best  of  his  works,  reprinted  at  Oxford  in 
180.5.  In  1650  he  was  deprived  of  his  ca- 
nonry, for  refusing  to  subscribe  the  engage- 
ment required  by  the  parliament ;  and  it  wiw 
with  great  solicitation  on  the  part  of  the  n 


FOE 

ners  of  the  university  that  he  was  allowed 
to  retain  his  professorships.  In  165.3  lie 
published  some  of  the  writings  of  Maimo- 
nides,  under  the  title  of"  Porta  Mosis  ;"  and 
he  assisted  in  Walton's  Polyglott  Bible.  In 
1658  appeared  his  edition  of  the  Annals  of 
Eutychius,  in  Arabic,  with  a  Latin  version, 
2  vols.  4to.  The  Restoration,  in  1660,  enabled 
him  to  recover  his  church  preferment ;  and 
the  same  year  he  printed  an  Arabic  translation 
of  Grotius's  work  on  the  Truth  of  Christianity. 
Notwithstanding  he  experienced  but  little 
patronage  or  encouragement,  he  continued 
his  labours,  and  in  1663  produced  an  Arabic 
and  Latin  edition  of  the  "  Historia  Dynasti- 
arurn"  of  Abulfaragius,  2  vols.  4to.  He 
died  at  Oxford,  September  12,  1691,  leaving 
Commentaries  on  the  Minor  Prophets,  and 
other  works  besides  those  above  noticed. — 
EDWARD  POCOCK,  his  eldest  son,  rector  of 
Minal,  in  Wiltshire,  published,  with  the  as- 
sistance of  his  father,  an  Arabic  woik  called 
"  Philosophus  autodidactus,  sive  Epistola 
Abu  Jaafar  Ebn  Tophail,  de  Hai  Ebn  Yok- 
dhan,"  1671,  4to. — THOMAS  POCOCK.  another 
son,  translated  into  English  a  work  of  Ma- 
nasseh  Ben  Israel. — Bios;.  Brit. 

POCOCKE  (RICHARD)  a  divine  and  Ori- 
ental traveller,  distantly  related  to  the  sub- 
ject of  the  foregoing  article.  He  was  born  in 
1704,  at  Southampton,  where  his  father  was 
master  of  a  free-school  ;  and  he  received  his 
education  at  Corpus  Christi  college,  Oxford, 
and  took  the  degree  of  LL.D.  in  1733.  He 
engaged  in  a  voyage  to  the  Levant  in  173*, 
and  after  visiting  Egypt,  Arabia,  Palestine, 
and  other  countries,  he  returned  home  through 
Italy  and  Germany  in  1742.  He  published, 
in  1743-45,  "  A  Description  of  the  East,"  2 
vols.  folio,  comprising  an  account  of  those 
parts  of  the  world  in  which  he  had  travelled, 
and  containing  much  curious  information. 
He  obtained  preferment  in  Ireland,  being 
made  precentor  of  Waterford,  in  1744  ;  and  ac- 
companying lord  Chesterfield,  as  chaplain,  to 
Dublin,  when  that  nobleman  was  lord  lieute- 
nant, he  was  made  archdeacon  of  St  Patrick's. 
Under  another  viceroy,  the  duke  of  Devon- 
shire, he  was  promoted  to  the  see  of  Ossory, 
in  1756  ;  whence,  in  1765,  he  was  translated 
to  Elpbin  and  Meath.  He  died  of  apoplexy, 
in  September,  the  same  year.  Dr  Pococke 
was  the  author  of  some  papers  in  the  Philo- 
sophical Transactions,  and  the  Archasologia  ; 
and  he  was  the  donor  of  some  manuscripts 
to  the  British  Museum. —  Nichols's  Lit.  Anec. 
.  ikin's  Gen.  Eiog. 

POELLNITZ,  orPOLLNITZ  (&IAUI.ES 
Louis,  BARON  DE)  a  German  adventarer, 
who  published  amusing  Memoirs  of  his  own 
Life.  He  was  the  son  of  a  military  man,  and 
the  grandson  of  a  minister  of  state,  and  was 
borriin  1692,  atlssouin,  near  Cologne.  He  re- 
ceived his  education  ac  a  school  founded  by 
tie  king  of  Prussia  for  noble  orphans;  and 
ori  leaving  that  institution  he  made  a  cam- 
paign >n  Flanders  as  a  volunteer,  in  1708. 
Returning  to  Pru-sia,  he  was  made  a  gentle- 
mau  of  th'?  king's  chamber,  and  bei*"*  dis- 


P  O  G 

graced  for  his  ill  conduct,  he  left  Berlin,  and 
commenced  adventurer.  The  scenes  through 
which  he  passed  are  too  numerous  to  admit  of 
any  thing  more  than  a  general  notice.  He 
visited  various  courts  of  Germany  ;  those  of 
France,  Spain,  and  the  pope  ;  England  and 
Holland;  every  where  adapting  his  religion  to 
the  country  in  which  he  found  himself;  and 
alternately  turning  court  dependant,  gambler, 
and  even  swindler,  as  best  suited  his  pur- 
pose. At  length,  on  the  accession  of  Fre- 
deric II  to  the  throne  of  Prussia,  Poellnitz 
obtained  permission  to  return  home  ;  and  he 
was  entertained  at  the  court  of  that  prince,  as 
a  sort  of  licensed  buffoon,  holding,  however, 
the  offices  of  chamberlain  and  master  of  the 
ceremonies.  He  died  in  retirement  in  1775. 
His  "Memoirs"  were  published  in  French, 
at  Liege,  1734,  3  vols.  8vo  ;  two  additional 
volumes  appeared  some  time  after ;  and, 
two  more  at  Berlin,  in  1791.  He  is  also  said 
to  have  been  the  author  of  "  La  Suxe  ga- 
lante,"  1737,  8vo,  containing  an  account  of 
die  amours  of  Augustus  king  of  Poland  ;  and 
other  anonymous  works. — Biog.  Univ. 

POELNER  (CHARLES  WILLIAM)  a  Ger- 
man chemist,  born  at  Leipsic  in  1732.  He 
took  the  degree  of  MD.  at  the  university  of 
his  native  place,  and  obtained  the  offices  of 
counsellor  of  the  mines  in  Saxony,  and  che- 
mical manager  of  the  porcelaine  manufactory  of 
Meissen.  Besides  some  other  woiks  relating  to 
medicine  and  chemistry,  he  published  "  Che- 
mical Essays  on  the  Art  of  Dyeing,"  Leipsic, 
1772-73,  3  vols.  8vo ;  and  "  The  Guide  for 
Dyers,  especially  in  dyeing  Woollen  Cloth  and 
Stuffs,"  1785,  8vo,  which  was  translated  into 
French.  He  also  wrote  the  articles  on  mine- 
ralogy for  the  "  New  Survey  of  Nature,"  Leip- 
sic, 1775,  1781.  His  death  took  place  April 
13,  1796. — Blag.  Univ. 

POGG1O  BRACCIOLINI,  one  of  the  ear- 
ly promoters  of  literature  in  Italy,  was  born  at 
Terranuova  in  the  Florentine  territory,  in  1odO. 
His  father  was  a  notary  in  depressed  circum- 
stances, but  he  was  educated  at  the  public 
school  of  Florence,  where  he  learned  Latin 
under  John  of  Ravenna,  and  Gr-eek  under 
Manuel  Chrysoloras.  On  completing  his 
education  he  went  to  Rome,  where  he  ob- 
tained the  office  of  writer  of  apostolical  letters; 
and  in  1414  attended  John  XXII  to  the  council 
of  Constance,  where  he  witnessed  the  barba- 
rous trial  and  execution  of  Jerome  of  Prague, 
of  whose  suffering  and  defence  he  gave  an  ac- 
count, which  proves  that  he  regarded  those 
proceedings  with  a  correct  and  philoso. 
pliical  spirit.  In  1416  he  undertook  the  sa- 
lutary task  of  searching  the  monasteries  for 
ancient  manuscripts;  .and  in  that  of  St 
Gall  discovered  a  complete  copy  of  Quin- 
tilian,  with  a  part  of  the  Argonautics  of  Vale- 
rius Flaccus,  and  Pedianus's  Commentary  on 
Cicero's  Orations.  In  other  religious  houses 
be  discovered  several  of  the  Roman  orator's 
harangues,  which  had  been  given  up  as  lost ; 
and  by  himself  or  his  friends  obtained  copies 
of  the  works  of  Silius  Italicus,  Lactantius,  Ve- 
getius,  Nonius  Marcellus,  Ammianus  Marcs!- 


PO  1 

linus,  Columella,  and  Tertullian.     In  1418,  on 
the  invitation  of  cardinal  Beaufort,   he  visited 
England  ;  but  the  comparative  barbarism  of  the 
country  at  thai  distracted  period  soon  led  him 
to  return,  after  being  rewarded  with  the  reve- 
nues of  a  small  benefice.     Resuming  his  post 
of  secretary,    he   continued  his  studies,  until 
obliged  to  fly  from  Rome  with  pope  Eugenius, 
when  he.  was  taken  prisoner  ;  and  after  paying 
a  heavy  ransom,   retired  to  Florence,   and  at- 
tached himself  to  Cosmo  de'  Medici,  whose  pa- 
tronage he  obtained.     In  1455  he  put  away  a 
concubine,  by  whom  he  had  fourteen  children, 
a  solace  at  that  time  common  to  the  officers  of 
the  Roman  court,  and  married  a  beautiful  girl  of 
eighteen,  on  the  principle  of  reform,     in  1440 
he    published  his  "  Dialogues  on  Nobility," 
one  of  the  most  finished  of  his  works  ;  and  new 
productions  from  time  to  time  followed,  which, 
however,    led  to  no  farther   promotion,   until 
Nicholas  V,  a  former  friend,  succeeded  to  the 
papa!  chair,  who  rewarded  him  liberally,  and 
also  warmly  encouraged  his  attention  to  litera- 
ture.    In   1453  he  was  chosen   chancellor  to 
the  Florentine  republic  ;  which  office  did  not 
impede   his  literary  industry,  which  was  sig- 
nally manifested    by  his  latest   production,  a 
"  History  of  Florence,"  which  had  not  received 
its  last  polish  at  his  death  in  1459,  at  the  ma- 
ture age  of  seventy-seven.     Little  can  be  said 
for  the  moral   character  of  Poggio,   who  was 
personally  licentious,  and  quanelsome,  and  in- 
temperate in  controversy  to  a  disgusting  degree. 
No  imputation,    however,  seems  to  lie  against 
his  integrity,  and  liis  sentiments  are  in  general 
liberal  and   manly.     As  a  writer,  he  may  be 
deemed  the   most  elegant  composer  in  Latin, 
(the  language  of  all  his  works,)  of  that  period  ; 
and  he  was  also  a  considerable  proficient  in 
Greek.     His  writings  are  numerous,  and  upon 
various  topics.     Many  are  discussions  on  mo- 
ral arguments,  and  in   some  of  them  he  by  no 
means  spares  the  vices  of  the  clergy.     A  few 
are   philosophical,  and   several  controversial  : 
the   remainder   are    chiefly   translations,   ora- 
tions, and  letters,  the  chief  fault  of  which  is 
diffuseness.   His  "  Historia  Floventina,"  which 
comprises  the  period  from  1350  to  1435,  aims 
at  the  style  of  composition  of  the  ancient  his- 
torians,  but  is  regarded  as  too  partial  to  his 
countrymen.     It  is  to  be  found  in  the  collec- 
tions of  Grrevius  and  Muratori.    The  whole  of 
the  works  of  Poggio  were  published  together 
at  Basil,  1538,  which  edition   is  the  most  es- 
teemed.— Life  6y  Shepherd.     Tiraboschi. 

POINSINET  (ANTHONY  ALEXANDER 
HENRY)  a  French -dramatist,  who  was  the  son 
of  a  notary,  and  was  born  at  Fontainebleau  in 
1735.  His  first  production,  a  bad  parody  on 
the  opera  of  "  Tithon  et  1'Aurore,"  appeared 
as  early  as  1753  ;  and  in  1757  his  comedy, 
"  L'Impatient,"  was  represented.  Though 
the  reception  of  these  pieces  was  by  no  means 
flattering,  he  persevered  in  his  career,  and 
wrote  at  different  times  for  all  the  Parisian 
theatres.  lie  likewise  published  poetical  com- 
positions, including  an  heroic  epistle,  entitled 
"  Gabrielle  d'Estree  a  Henri  IV."  In  1760 
he  went  to  Italy  ;  and  on  his  return  he  visited 


PO  I 

Ferney,  where  lie  was  well  received  by  Vol- 
taire. He  subsequently  engaged  a  company 
of  actors,  and  made  a  journey  into  Spain,  for 
the  professed  purpose  of  introducing  into  that 
country  a  taste  for  Italian  music.  But  death 
put  an  end  to  Ins  projects,  for  he  was  drowned  a 
short  time  after  his  arrival  in  Spain,  as  he  was 
bathing  in  the  Guadalquivir  at  Cordova,  June 
7,  1769.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Arcadian 
society  at  Rome  and  the  academy  of  Dijon. 
His  principal  dramatic  work  is  "  Le  Cercle, 
ou  la  Soiree  a  la  mode,"  a  comedy  in  one  act, 
displaying  the  fashionable  manners  of  his 
time  ;  but  with  regard  to  this  piece,  Palissot 
lias  accused  him  of  plagiarism. —  Bing.  Univ. 

POINSINET  DE  S1VRY  (Louis)  cousin 
of  the  foregoing,  was  born  at  Versailles,  Fe- 
bruary 20,  1733.  After  completing  his  stu- 
dies with  credit  at  the  college  de  la  Marche, 
he  published  a  collection  of  poems,  the  success 
of  which  encouraged  him  to  adopt  the  profes- 
sion of  an  author.  His  next  literary  produc- 
tion was  a  translation  in  verse  of  the  works  of 
Anacreon,  Bion,  and  Moschus,  which  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  successful  tragedy,  entitled  "  Bri- 
seis,"  the  subject  of  which  was  taken  from  the 
Iliad.  His  "  Ajax,"  a  tragedy,  was  not  so 
well  received,  and  he  'berefore  quitted  the 
drama  to  write  for  the  booksellers  ;  though 
long  after,  in  1789,  he  published  "  Cato  of 
Utica,"  a  tragedy,  inferior  to  both  his  former 
plays.  The  Revolution,  of  which  he  was  an 
ardent  admirer,  deprived  him  of  a  pension, 
which  lie  had  enjoyed  from  the  liberality  of  the 
duke  of  Orleans,  in  whose  family  his  father 
had  held  a  situation ;  but  he  subsequently 
obtained  relief  from  the  national  convention, 
being  comprised  among  the  men  of  letters  to 
whom  their  bounty  was  extended.  He  died 
at  Paris,  March  11,  1804.  His  works,  origi- 
nal and  translated,  are  numerous,  including  a 
French  version  of  Pliny's  Natural  History, 
with  critical  notes,  Paris,  1771-82,  12  vols. 
4to  ;  the  Comedies  of  Aristophanes,  wi'h  the 
Fragments  of  IVIenander  and  Philemon,  in 
French,  1784,  4  vols.  8vo  ;  and  "  Nonvelles 
llecherches  sur  la  Science  des  Medailles,  In- 
scriptions, et  Hieroglyphes  antiques,"  Maes- 
tricht,  1778,  4to. —  ld?m. 

PO1RET  (PETER)  a  French  enthusiast,  was 
born  at  Metz  in  1646.  After  studying  at  Hei- 
delberg and  Basil,  he  became  pastor  of  Am- 
veil,  in  the  duchy  of  Deux  Fonts,  where  he 
wrote  his  "  Cogitationes  rationales  de  Deo, 
Anima,  et  Malo,"  in  which  he  principally  fol- 
lowed the  maxims  of  Des  Cartes.  This  work 
created  a  great  sensation  in  the  philosophical 
world,  and  was  censured  by  Bajle,  and  de- 
fended by  the  author.  In  1676,  during  the 
troubles  in  which  his  country  was  involved  by 
the  war,  he  withdrew  into  Holland,  and  meet- 
ing with  the  celebrated  Antoinette  Bourignon, 

O  O  * 

he  became  her  zealous  disciple  ;  and  from 
that  moment  he  became  the  most  bitter  enemy 
to  every  kind  of  philosophy  which  was  not 
the  effect  of  divine  illumination,  and  inveigh- 
ing most  bitterly  against  the  svstem  of  Dea 
Cartes.  In  1688  M.  Poiret  removed  to  Rheius- 
burg,  not  far  from  Leyden,  where  he  passed  iua 


POI 


POL 


tune  in  writing  mystical  books,  and  in  editing  that  he  possessed  extraordinary  talents  for  tlia 
the  reveries  of  madarne  Bourignon,  madame  stage.  Tie  died  in  1753. —  Biog.  Uitiv. 
Guyon,  and  others.  He  died  in  1719.  His'  POISONN1ER  (PETER  ISAAC)  an  eminent 
other  works  are,  "  De  CEconomia  Divina,"  physician,  was  born  at  Dijon  in  1720,  and  in 
7  vols.  8vo  ;  "  De  Eruditione  triplici,  solida  1746  he  succeeded  M.  Dubois  as  professor  of 
superticiaria,  et  falsa  ;"" '1  he  Peace  of  Good  physic  in  the  college  de  France.  In  1738, 
Men  in  all  Parts  of  Christendom  ;  "  "  The  being  first  physician  to  the  French  army,  he 
Substantial  Principles  of  the  Christian  Reli-  |  went  to  Russia,  to  attend  the  empress  Eliza- 
gion,  Sue.  ;"  "  De  Natura  Idearum  exOrigine  heth  in  her  illness  ;  and  while  in  that  country 
eua  repetita,  &c."  &c.  &c. — Enfleld's  Hist.  j  lie  assisted  at  the  famous  experiment  relative 
Phil.  Mosheim.  Moreri.  i  to  the  congelation  of  quicksilver,  of  which  he 

POIS  (NICHOLAS  LF.)  Latin,  Piso,  an  emi-  ;  afterwards  gave  an  account  to  the  Academy  of 
nent  physician,  was  born  at  Nancy  in  1527,  I  Sciences.  On  his  return  to  France,  he  was 
and  became  first  physician  to  Charles  duke  of  made  counsellor  of  state  and  inspector  general 
Lorraine.  He  wrote  a  work  entitled  "  De  j  of  physic,  and  his  discovery  of  distilling  fresh 
C'ognocendis  et  Curandis  praenpue  Internis  j  from  sea-water  procured  him  a  pension  of 
Corporis  Human!  Adfectibus,  lib.  iii,  ex  Cla-  j  12,000  livres.  During  the  ascendancy  of  Ro- 
rissimorum  Medicorum  tarn  Veterum  quam  j  bespierre  he  was  imprisoned  with  his  family  ; 
Recentiorum  Mouumentis  collecti,"  of  which  but  on  his  death  he  was  released,  and  died  in 


Boerhaave  had  so  high  an  opinion,  that  he  re- 
published  it  at  Leyden,  1736,  with  a  preface 
of  his  own. — His  son,  CHARLES  LS  POIS,  was 


1797  or  1798.  He  wrote  several  treatises  on 
the  maladies  incident  to  seamen,  the  fever  of 
St  Domingo,  &c. — Diet.  Hist.  Gent.  Mag. 


born  at  Nancy  in  1563,  and  became  consulting  |       POLE  (REGINALD,  cardinal)   an   eminent 
physician  to  duke  Charles  III   and   to  duke  |  statesman  and  ecclesiastic,  born  in  1500,  was 


Henry  II,  whom  he  induced  to  establish  a 
school  of  medicine  at  Pont-a-Mousson,  of 
which  he  beeame  dean  and  first  professor.  He 
died  in  1633,  a  victim  to  his  zealous  efforts  to 
check  the  ravages  of  a  pestilence  at  Nancy. 
He  wrote  "Selectionum  Observationumet  Con- 
siliorum  de  prasteritis  hactenus  Morbis,"  re- 
edited  by  Boerhaave  in  1733,  which  contains 
many  valuable  observations  derived  from  long 
experience  ;  "  Discours  de  la  Nature,  Causes, 
et  Remedes  des  Maladies  populaires,  accom- 
pagnees  de  Dyssenterie  et  autres  Fluxes  de 
Ventre,"  in  which  he  particularly  considers 
the  febrile  nature  of  dyssentery  ;  "  Physicum 
Comets  Speculum,"  &c. — Halleri  Bibl.  Med. 
Etoy  Diet. 

POISSON  (RAIMOND)  a  French  actor  and 
dramatic  writer  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
He  was  the  son  of  a  mathematician, and  losing 
his  father  when  young,  he  was  patronized  by 
the  duke  of  Crequi,  governor  of  Paris  ;  but  his 
inclination  induced  him  to  relinquish  his  pros- 
pects of  rising  at  court,  and  go  on  the  stage. 
He  obtained  great  celebrity  in  low  comedy,  and 
was  noticed  by  Louis  XIV.  He  died  at  Paris 
in  1690,  leaving  a  number  of  theatrical  compo- 
sitions,published  collectively  in  1687  and  1743, 
2  vols.  ISJmo. — His  sou,  PAUL  POISSON,  also 
eminent  as  a  comic  actor  died  at  St  Germain- 
en- Laye,  in  1735,  having  retired  from  the 
stage  about  ten  years  before. — PHILIP  POIS- 
SON, son  of  the  preceding,  was  famous  as  a 
dramatic  performer,  both  in  tragedy  and  co- 
medy. He  was  born  at  Paris  in  1682,  and 
died  at  St  Germain  in  1743.  He  wrote  ten 
comedies,  of  which  "  Le  Procureur  arbitre," 
and  "  L'Impromptu  de  Campaijne,"  are  acted 
occasionally. — His  brother,  F.  AUNOULT  POIS- 
SON DE  ROINVILF.E,  supported  the  reputation 
of  his  family  as  a  comic  performer.  His  father 
had  procured  him  a  commission  in  the  army, 
which  he  quitted ;  and  went  to  the  East  Indies; 
and  on  his  return  to  France  he  became  an 
nctor,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  his  father, 
which  however  was  withdrawn  on  perceiving 


the  son  of  sir  Richard  Pole,  lord  Montacute, 
cousin  to  Henry  VII,  by  Margaret,  daughter 
of  the  duke  of  Clarence,  brother  to  Edward  IV. 
He  received  his  early  education  under  the  Car- 
thusians of  Steene,  whence  he  was  removed  to 
Magdalen  college,  Oxford.     He  entered   into 
deacon's  orders  at  an  early  age,  and  had  se- 
veral   benefices  conferred   on   him  by   Henry 
VIII,  with  whom  he  was  in  the  first  instance 
a  great  favourite.     In  1519  he  visited  Italy, 
and,  taking  up  his  abode   at  Padua,  became 
highly  distinguished  for  his  attachment  to  po- 
lite literature.     He  returned   to  England    in 
1525,  but,  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  affair  of 
the  divorce  from  Catherine  of  Arragon.  pru- 
dently withdrew  to  Paris.    Nothing  could  ex- 
ceed the  solicitude  of  Henry  to  obtain  the  con- 
currence of  his  kinsman  in  that  measure  ;  but 
he  was  so  far  from  succeeding,  that  Pole,  mote 
thoroughly  embued  with   the  maxims  of  the 
church  cf  Rome,   drew  up  a  treatise,   "  De 
Mentale  Ecclesiastica,"  in  which  he  compaied 
the  king  to  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  excited  the 
emperor  Charles  V  to  revenge  the  injury  of 
his  aunt.     The  consequence  of  this  conduct 
was  the  loss  of  all  his  preferment  in  England, 
in  return  for  which,  he  endeavoured  to  form  a 
party   against    Henry  in   England  ;    a  design 
which  terminated  in   the  destruction   of   his 
brother,  lord  Montacute,  and  of  his  aged  mo- 
ther, then  become  countess  of  Salisbury,  who 
fell  victims  to  the  vindictive  spirit  of  Henry  on 
the  public  scaffold.     The  countenance  of  the 
court  of  Rome  was  extended  to  Pole  precisely 
in  proportion  as  the  anger  of  that  of  England 
was  excited  ;  and  besides  being  raised  to  the 
dignity  of  cardinal,  he  was  employed  in  va- 
rious negotiations,  and,  among  others,  in  ne- 
gociating  a  peace  between  the  emperor  and 
France.     He  was  also  appointed  one  of  the 
three  papal   legates  to  the  council  of  Trent ; 
and,  at  the  death  of  pope  Paul  III,  was  se- 
riously thought  of  for  his  successor.     On  the 
accession  of  Mary  I  his  attainder  was  reversed, 
and  he  was  invited  to  England,  where  he  ho- 


POL 

nourably  distinguished  himself  by  endeavours  ' 
to  moderate  the  rigour  of  Gardiner  ;iiul  others 
against  the  reformers,  and  was  an  advocate  for 
lenient  measures,  and  such  a  correction  of  cle- 
rical abuses  as  would  conciliate  them.  On  the 
death  of  Cranmer,  Pole,  then  for  the  first  time 
ordained  priest,  became  archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, and  was  at  the  same  time  elected 
chancellor  of  both  the.  universities  ;  and  while 
he  acted  with  much  severity  in  what  he 
deemed  the  extirpation  of  heresy,  he  made 
several  salutary  regulations  for  the  advance- 
ment of  learning.  He  particularly  opposed, 
although  in  vain,  the  war  with  France,  to  aid 
the  views  of  Philip  II,  and  seems  to  have 
acted  conscientiously  even  when  most  mis- 
taken. He  was  lying  ill  of  an  intermittent 
fever  when  Mary  expired  ;  and  it  was  thought 
his  death,  which  soon  followed,  in  November 
15.58,  was  hastened  by  his  anticipation  of  the 
ruin  of  the  Catholic  causeo  Cardinal  Pole, 
seems  not  to  have  been  a  man  of  com- 
manding talents,  either  in  a  political  or  lite- 
rary sense  ;  but  he  merited  great  esteem  for  his 
mildness,  generosity,  and  comparative  modera- 
tion, in  an  age  when  persecution  was  deemed 
lawful  on  all  sides. — Biog.  Brit.  Hume. 

POLEMBURG  (CORNELIUS)  a  painter, 
•was  born  at  Utrecht  in  1.586,  at  seventy-four 
years  of  age  made  a  journey  into  Italy,  to  per- 
fect himself.  He  worked  on  a  very  small  scale, 
and  his  larger  pictures  are  not  much  esteemed. 
Charles  I  sent  for  him  to  England,  llubens 
esteemed  him  much,  and  ha  1  several  of  his 
paintings.  He  distinguished  himself  chiefly 
by  his  landscapes,  in  which  he  treated  nature 
with  much  truth.  His  touch  is  light,  and 
his  skies  are  particularly  remarked  for  the 
transparency  of  their  colouring.  He  died  in 
1660. — Nnav.  Diet.  Hint. 

PO LEMON,  an  eminent  Platonic  philoso- 
pher, was  born  at  CEta.  In  his  youth  he  led 
an  exceedingly  dissolute  life  ;  but  in  one  of 
his  fits  of  intoxication,  happening  to  enter  the 
school  of  Xenocrates,  who  turned  his  discourse 
to  the  miseries  of  intemperance,  from  that  mo- 
ment he  changed  his  life,  and  devoted  himself 
to  the  study  of  philosophy,  and  ever  after 
practised  the  severest  austerity.  Such  was  his 
progress,  that  on  the  death  of  Xenocrates  he 
succeeded  him  in  die  chair  of  the  academy. 
He  died  BC.  170. — There  was  also  a  rheto 
rician  of  the  same  name,  who  flourished  in  the 
reign  of  Trajan,  of  whom  some  orations  are  ex- 
tant, which  were  printed  at  Toulouse,  in  Greek 
and  Latin,  in  1637. — Moreri.  Suidas.  Dwgen. 
Laert. 

POLENI(JoiiN,  marquis)  a  learned  ma- 
thematician and  antiquary,  was  born  at  Padua 
in  1683,  and  was  appointed  professor  of  astro- 
nomy and  mathematics  in  that  city.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences 
at  Paris,  the  academies  of  Berlin,  of  the  Ilicov- 
rati  at  Padua,  the  Royal  Society  of  London, 
<uid  of  the  Institute  at  liologna.  Ho  was  also 
named  by  the  Venetian  republic  superinten- 
dent of  the  rivers  and  waters  throughout  the 
republic,  and  pope  Benedict  XIV  made  him 
surveyor  of  St  Peter's,  He  possessed  a  lively 


POL 

and  penetrating  genius,  and  profound  scien- 
tific knowledge,  and  was  in  correspondence 
with  the  greatest  men  of  his  day.  He  wrote 
"  Supplement  to  the  Antiquities  of  Grwvius 
and  Gronovius,"  5  vols.  folio  ;  "  Dissertazione 
sopra  il  Tempio  di  Diana  di  Efeso  ;"  "  Exerci- 
tationes  Vitruvianaj." — Fabroni,  Kouv.  Diet. 
Hist. 

POLHEM  (CHRISTOPHER)  a  Swedish  en- 
gineer, born  at  Wisby,  in  Gothland,  in  1661. 
His  talents  having  attracted  attention,  Charles 
XI  sent  him  to  travel  for  improvement,  when 
ic  remained  some  time  at  Paris.  George  I 
afterwards  invited  him  to  Hanover,  to  super- 
ntend  the  working  of  the  mines  of  the  II am ; 
and  advantageous  proposals  were  made  to  in- 
duce him  to  remain  in  Germany,  but  be  pre- 
ferred returning  to  serve  his  native  country, 
To  him  Sweden  owes  a  great  number  of  inge- 
nious and  useful  inventions,  serviceable  in 
mining,  draining,  and  making  docks  and  ca- 
nals ;  and  he  particularly  displayed  his  genius, 
and  the  extent  of  his  conceptions,  in  the  plan 
which  he  gave  for  the  construction  of  the  ca- 
nal of  Trollhaetta,  and  the  basin  of  Carls- 
crona.  Polhem  was  rewarded  for  his  service? 
with  a  patent  of  nobility,  the  title  of  coun- 
sellor of  commerce,  and  was  created  a  com- 
mander of  the  order  of  the  polar  star.  He 
was  also  a  member  of  the  academy  of  Sciences 
at  Stockholm,  to  whose  Transactions  he  fur- 
nished many  interesting  contributions.  His 
death  took  place  August  31,  1751. — Bingo 
Univ. 

POLI  (G.  SA  VERIO)  an  eminent  naturalist, 
was  born  at  Molfetta,  in  Italy,  in  1746,  and 
studied  in  the  university  of  Pisa.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Royal  Society  of  London,  and 
became  director  of  the  military  academy  of 
Naples,  where  he  died  in  1825.  He  wrote  a 
"  System  of  Natural  Philosophy,"  which  has 
gone  through  ten  editions ;  and  a  work  on 
Testaceous  animals,  which  is  much  esteemed. 
— Gent.  Mag. 

POLI  (MARTIN)  a  distinguished  chemist, 
was  born  at  Lucca  in  1662.  He  went  to 
Rome,  and  there  invented  several  new  opera- 
tions, and  had  a  public  laboratory.  Poli  hav- 
ing discovered  a  secret  in  the  art  of  war, 
communicated  it  to  Louis  XIV,  who  rewarded 
him  with  a  pension,  and  the  title  of  his  engi- 
neer, but  he  declined  availing  himself  of  it, 
preferring  the  interest  of  mankind  to  his  own. 
On  his  return  to  Italy,  Poll  was  employed  by 
Clement  XI,  but  he  came  back  into  France  in 
1713,  and  had  sent  for  his  family,  when  he 
was  attacked  bv  a  violent  fever,  which  carried 
him  off  in  1714.  He  wrote  a  work  entitled, 
"  11  Trionfo  degli  Acidi,"  to  prove,  that  in- 
stead of  being  the  causes  of  a  great  number 
of  diseases,  acids  are,  on  the  contrary,  sove- 
reign remedies.  It  contains  a  variety  of  re- 
markable experiments  and  reasonings,  which 
render  it  worthy  of  attention. — Xouv.  Diet. 
Hist. 

POLTGNAC  (MEI.CHIOR  de)  a  statesman 
and  cardinal,  was  born  of  an  illustrious  family 
at  Puy-en-Velay,  in  Languedoc,  in  1661.  Ha 
studied  philosophy  in  the  college  of  Har- 


POL 

court,  but  secretly  attached  himself  to  the 
Cartesian  philosophy,  which  was  then  rigor- 
ously prohibited  in  th°  schools.  In  1692  he 
was  appointed  ambassador  to  Poland,  and  on 
the  death  of  John  Sobiesky,  he  employed  all 
his  address  to  procure  the  election  of  the 
prince  of  Conti ;  but  his  efforts  proved  unsuc- 
cessful, and  it  was  with  great  difficulty  that 
he  got  back  to  France.  His  failure  incurred 
the  displeasure  of  Louis,  and  he  retired  for 
some  time  to  his  abbey  of  Bon  Port,  where 
he  composed  his  "  Anti- Lucretius."  In  1706 
he  went  to  Rome,  and  was  employed  in  va- 
rious diplomatic  concerns  of  importance,  for 
which  he  was  created  cardinal  in  1713,  and 
master  of  the  chapel-royal.  On  the  death  of 
Louis  XIV  he  connected  himself  with  the 
enemies  of  the  regent,  and  was  banished  in 
1718  to  his  abbey  of  Anchin,  and  was  not  re- 
called till  1720.  In  1724  he  went  to  Rome, 
and  was  appointed  agent  for  French  affairs 
there.  He  was  nominated  to  the  archbi- 
shopric of  Audi,  and  made  a  commander  of 
the  order  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  He  died  at 
Paris  in  1741.  His  Latin  poem  of  "Anti- 
Lucretius"  has  been  frequently  reprinted,  atid 
translated  into  various  languages.  It  is  distin- 
guished by  the  purity  and  elegance  of  its  dic- 
tion, and  the  happy  turn  of  its  expressions. 
lie  confutes  the  absurdities  of  the  Epicurean 
system,  and  puts  in  their  place  the  reveries  of 
i)es  Cartes.  The  cardinal  possessed  a  large 
collection  of  antiquities,  dug  up  from  the  ruins 
of  Rome  ;  and  formed  a  project  of  diverting 
the  course  of  the  Tiber,  in  order  to  search  for 
the  relics  in  its  bed,  but  his  finances  did  not 
enable  him  to  put  it  into  execution. — Moreri. 
NOHV.  Diet.  Hist. 

POLITI  (ALEXANDER)  a  learned  Italian, 
was  born  at  Florence  in  1679.  He  completed 
his  philosophical  studies  in  the  college  of  the 
Scuole  Pie,  where,  in  1700,  he  xvas  appointed 
professor  of  rhetoric  ;  and  in  1708,  for  the  use 
of  his  class,  he  published  a  "  Compendium  of 
Peripatetic  Philosophy."  In  1716  he  was 
sent  by  his  order  to  teach  theology  at  Genoa, 
and  he  afterwards  became  professor  of  elo- 
quence at  Pisa.  He  died  at  Florence  in  1752. 
He  wrote  a  book  on  jurisprudence,  entitled, 
"  De  Patria  in  Testamentis  condendis  Potes- 
tate  ;"  but  his  ruling  passion  was  Greek  lite- 
rature, and  he  devoted  many  years  of  his  life 
to  a  translation  and  illustration  of  Homer,  with 
the  commentary  of  Eustathius.  His  other 
works  are,  "  Martyr ologium  Romanorum  cas- 
tigatum,  folio  ;  "  Orationes  ad  Acad.  Pisa- 
nam." — Fabrcni  Vit.  Italor. 

POLITIANO  (ANCELO)  a  learned  and 
elegant  scholar  of  the  fifteenth  century,  born 
in  1454,  at  Monte  Pulciano,  in  the  Florentine 
territories,  whence  he  derived  the  appellation 
by  which  he  is  more  usually  known  than  by 
that  of  Cinis.  his  family  name.  The  first  pro- 
duction which  brought  him  into  notice  was  a  La- 
tin poem  on  the  tournamentof  Guliano  de  Me- 
dici. He  assumed  the  ecclesiastical  habit,  and 
acquired  by  his  accomplishments  the  fa^  our  of 
Lorenzo  the  Magnificent,  who  made  him  tutor 
tr  his  children,,  and  presented  him  with  a  ca- 


POL 

nonry  in  the  cathedral  of  Florence,  which  lie 
lu-ld  with  the  professorship  of  the  Greek  and 
Latin  languages.  Among  the  most  esteemed 
of  his  writings  are,  an  "  Account  of  the  Con- 
spiracy of  the  Pazzi ;"  "  A  Latin  Translation 
of  Herodian  ;"  and,  "  A  Collection  of  Greek. 
Epigrams;"  besides  some  miscellaneous  works 
in  prose  and  verse,  and  a  drama  on  the  story 
of  Orpheus,  printed  in  1475.  This  latter  piece 
was  set  to  music,  of  which  science  he  was  so 
passionately  fond,  that  uis  death  is  said  to  have 
been  accelerated  by  his  propensity.  An  un- 
fortunate attachment  to  a  lady  of  distinguished 
rank  had  brought  on  a  severe  illness,  which 
he  much  increased  by  starting  out  of  bed  in 
a  fit  of  enthusiasm  to  celebrate  her  beauties  on 
his  lute.  His  death  was  the  consequence  in 
14°  i. — Tiraboschi.  Biog.  Univ. 

3-~T.T,EXFEN  (sir  HENRY)  an  English 
lawyer  and  judge  of  considerable  practice 
under  Charles  II,  was  born  in  Devonshire.  In 
1688  he  sat  as  one  of  the  members  for  the 
city  of  Exeter,  and  he  was  retained  as  one  of 
the  counsel  for  the  bishops.  After  the  Revo- 
lution he  was  knighted,  and  was  appointed 
chief-justice  of  the  common  pleas  ;  but  he 
held  this  office  a  very  short  time,  dving  in 
1692.  His  "  Arguments  and  Reports"  were 
published  in  1702,  in  folio.  Burnet  calls  him 
"  an  honest  and  learned,  but  perplexed,  law- 
yer."— Brii!gman's  Legal  Bibl.  Prince's 
Worthies. 

POLLIO  (CAIUS  ASINIUS)  an  eminent  sol- 
dier and  scholar  of  the  Augustan  age,  the 
friend  and  patron  of  Virgil,  Horace,  and  of 
other  literary  men,  and  the  intimate  associate 
of  Meceenas.  He  filled  the  office  of  consul 
A.U.C.  714,  and  signalized  his  military  talents 
in  Dalmatia.  His  literary  productions  are 
staff  d  to  have  been  far  above  mediocrity  ;  but 
unfortunately  all  these,  dramatic,  forensic,  and 
historical,  have  perished  in  the  lapse  of  ages. 
His  birth  is  supposed  to  have  taken  place 
about  seventy-six  years  before  the  Christian 
sera,  which  epoch  lie  survived  Tour  years,  and 
died  at  Tusculum,  the  modern  Frescati. — Life 
by  Massmi. 

POLO  (MARCO)  a  celebrated  traveller  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  was  the  son  of  Nicolas 
Polo,  a  Venetian  merchant,  who,  accompanied 
by  his  brother  Matthew,  had  penetrated  to 
the  court  of  Kublai,  the  great  khan  of  the 
Tartars.  This  prince  being  highly  entertained 
with  their  account  of  Europe,  made  them  his 
ambassadors  to  the  pope,  on  which  they  tra- 
velled back  '.o  Rome,  and  having  obmined  a 
couple  of  missionaries,  once  more  visited  Tar- 
tary,  accompanied  by  the  young  Marco,  who 
became  a  great  favourite  with  the  khan.  Ilav- 
lag  acquired  the  different  dialects  of  Tartary, 
he  was  employed  on  various  embassies  ;  and 
after  a  residence  of  seventeen  years,  all  the 
three  Venetians  returned  to  their  own  coun- 
try, in  1295,  with  immense  wealth.  Marco 
afterwards  served  his  country  at  sea  against 
the  Genoese,  and  being  taken  prisoner,  re- 
mained many  years  in  confinement,  the  in- 
dium of  which,  he  beguiled  by  composing 
the  history  of  the  travels  of  his  lather  and 


POL 

himself,  under  the  title  of  "  Delle  Marvi»lif> 
del  Moiulo  da  iui  viitute,  &c."  the  first  edition 
of  which  appeared  at  Venice  in  149(3,  8vo. 
Tt  has  been  translated  into  various  languages, 
the  best  versions  of  which  are  one  in  Latin,  Co- 
logne, 1671,  and  another  in  French,  published 
at  the  Hague  in  1675,  in  2  vols.  Polo  re- 
lates many  incredible  things,  but  the  greater 
part  of  his  narrative  has  been  verified  by  suc- 
ceeding travellers  ;  and  it  is  thought,  that 
what  he  wrote  from  his  own  knowledge  is 
both  curious  and  true.  He  not  only  gave  a 
better  account  of  China  than  any  previously 
afforded,  but  likewise  furnished  an  account  of 
Japan,  of  several  islands  in  the  East  Indies, 
of  Madagascar,  and  of  the  coast  of  Africa. 
He  ultimately  regained  his  liberty,  but  of  his 
subsequent  history  nothing  is  known. — Tiru- 
bcisrhi.  liees's  Ci/clop. 

POLLUX  (JuLius).  There  were  two  an- 
cient writers  of  this  name.  The  first  and  most 
celebrated  was  an  Egyptian  by  birth,  born  at 
Naucratis  in  that  country,  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  second  century.  He  devoted  himself 
early  to  letters,  and  settled  at  Athens,  where 
he  read  lectures  on  ethics  and  eloquence,  till 
his  reputation  as  a  scholar  procured  him  the 
appointment  of  preceptor  to  the  emperor 
Comrnodus.  For  the  use  of  his  illustrious 
scholar  he  drew  up  the  catalogue  of  Greek  sy- 
nonymes,  in  ten  books,  which,  under  the  name 
of  "  Onomasticon,"  is  the  only  one  of  his 
works  that  has  come  down  to  posterity,  al- 
though he  was  the  author  of  several  more. 
His  death  took  place  AD.  238,  when  he  had 
nearly  attained  his  sixtieth  year.  Of  his 
"  Onomasticon"  there  are  two  editions,  the 
Aldine,  printed  at  Venice  in  1502,  and  that  of 
Amsterdam,  1706,  folio. — The  second,  who 
lived  two  centuries  later,  is  known  only  as  the 
author  of  a  medical  treatise,  entitled,  "  Histo- 
ria  Physica,"  of  which  there  is  an  edition  print- 
ed in  1779  at  Bologna. — Fabricii  EibL  Grac. 

POLY/ENUS.  There  were  more  than 
one  writer  of  antiquity  who  bore  this  name, 
the  most  celebrated  of  whom  flourished  under 
Antoninus  and  Verus,  in  the  second  century. 
He  appears  to  have  been  by  birth  a  Macedo- 
nian, and  is  principally  known  as  the  author  of 
a  work  on  military  tactics,  entitled,  "  Strata- 
gemata,  &c."  Isaac  Casaubon  published  an 
edition  of  it,  which  was  reprinted  at  Leyden 
in  1690,  on  an  improved  scale,  bearing  on  the 
title  page,  "  Polyaeni  Stratagematum,  libri  octo, 
Justo  Vulteio  interprete,  Pancratius  Maasvi- 
cius  recensuit,  Isaaci  Casauboni  necnon  suas 
Notas  adjecit."  This  is  by  far  the  best  edition. 
There  is  also  an  Engl  sli  translation  of  it  in 
4to,  1793.  Fragments  of  other  works  of  the 
same  writer  have  descended  to  posterity  in 
quotations,  but  none  of  any  length  or  interest. 
—Ibid. 

POLYBIUS,  an  eminent  Greek  historian^ 
was  born-  at  Megalopolis,  in  Arcadia,  about. 
BC.  203.  His  father  Lycortas  was  pnetor  of 
the  Achasan  republic,  and  the  friend  of  Philo- 
poemen.  He  was  brought  up  to  arms  and  pub- 
lic affairs,  and  was  employed  on  several  em- 
bassies, and  among  others  to  the  Romans, 


POL 

whose  views  upon  Greece  he  opposed.  On 
this  account,  when,  after  the  defeat  of  Pcrsi  'i  , 
it  became  unnecessary  to  preserve  appear- 
ances, he  was  one  of  the  thousand  suspicious 
persons  demanded  of  the  Acheeans  as  hostages 
to  be  detained  under  custody  in  Italy.  His 
reputation,  however,  preceded  him  to  Rome  ; 
and  by  his  learning,  talents,  and  integrity,  he 
ingiatiated  himself  with  the  two  sons  of 
Paulus  /Emilius,  adopted  by  the  Scipio  family, 
through  whose  interest  he  obtained  the  release 
of  his  countrymen,  after  a  detention  of  seven- 
teen years.  He  himself,  however,  chose  to 
remain  at  Rome,  and  afterwards  to  accompany 
Scipio  in  his  expedition  into  Africa.  When 
the  Achaeans  were  again  involved  in  a  war 
with  the  Romans,  he  hastened  to  the  army  of 
the  consul  Mumniius,  in  order  to  mediate  in 
their  favour ;  and  by  his  probity  and  disinte- 
restedness, secured  so  much  credit  from  both 
sides,  that  he  was  entrusted  with  the  care  of 
settling  a  new  form  of  government  for  the 
cities  of  Greece.  He  afterwards  accompa- 
nied Scipio  to  Numantia,  and  upon  the  death 
of  his  great  friend  and  benefactor,  returned  to 
his  native  country,  where  he  died,  in  couse- 
quence  of  a  fall  from  his  horse,  in  his  eighty- 
second  year,  BC.  181.  Polybius  was  the  au- 
thor of  a  "  Universal  History,"  beginning  at 
the  second  Punic  war,  to  the  subversion  of  the 
Macedonian  kingdom,  a  period  of  135  years. 
Of  this  great  work  five  complete  books  only 
are  extant,  with  considerable  fragments  of 
twelve  more.  Their  loss  is  much  regretted, 
no  author  of  antiquity  being  more  valuable  for 
accuracy,  fidelity,  and  military  and  political 
information,  conveyed  with  little  attention  to 
the  graces  of  composition.  The  best  editions 
of  Polybius  are  that  of  Casaubon,  1609,  folio  ; 
of  Gronovius,  3  vols.  8vo,  1670  ;  and  of  Leip- 
sic,  1789,  9  vols.  8vo.  Polybius  has  been 
translated  into  English  by  Hampton. — Biog. 
Clas.  Vfissii  Hist.  Grose. 

POLYCARP  (St)  a  Christian  father  and 
martyr,  probably  born  at  Smyrna  during  the 
reign  of  Nero,  was  a  disciple  of  the  apostle 
John,  and  was  by  him  appointed  bishop  of 
that  city  ;  and  he  is  thought  to  be  the  angel  of 
the  church  of  Smyrna,  to  whom  the  epistle  iu 
the  second  chapter  of  Revelations  is  addressed. 
Ignatius  also  much  esteemed  Polycarp,  who, 
when  he  was  condemned  to  die,  comforted 
and  encouraged  him  in  his  sufferings.  On  the 
event  of  a  controversy  between  the  Eastern 
and  Western  churches,  respecting  the  proper 
time  for  celebrating  Easter,  Polycarp  under- 
took a  journey  to  Home  to  confer  with  Atii- 
cetus  ;  but  though  nothing  satisfactory  took 
place  on  that  affair,  whilst  at  Rome  he  vio- 
lently opposed  the  heresies  of  Marciou  and 
Valentinus,  and  converted  many  of  their  fol- 
lowers. During  the  persecution  of  the  Chris- 
tians under  Marcus  Aurelius,  Polycarp  suffered 
martyrdom  with  the  most  heroic  fortitude, 
AD.  169.  His  "  Epistle  to  the  Philippians," 
the  only  one  of  his  pieces  which  has  been 
preserved,  is  contained  in  archbishop  Wake's 
"  Genuine  Epistles." — Cave.  Larduer.  Mo* 
heim.  Dt.pin. 


POM 

POLYCLETUS,  a  famous  sculptor  of  anti- 
quity, WHS  born  at  Sicyon,  and  flourished  BC. 
43v>.  He  is  considered  to  have  attained  per- 
fecdon  in  single  figures  ;  and  a  statue  of  a  life- 
guard of  the  king  of  Persia  was  in  such  nice 

o  o 

proportion,  that  artists  came  from  all  parts  to 
study  it  as  a  model.  A  statue  of  a  boy,  exe- 
cuted by  him,  was  valued  at  a  hundred  talents. 
— Plinii  Hist.  Nat. 

POLYGNOTUS,  a  painter  of  Thasos,  flou- 
rished about  420  BO.  He  painted  the  temple 
of  Delphi,  and  part  of  the  Poecile  at  Athens 
gratuitously,  for  which  it  was  decreed  that  he 
should  be  supported  at  the  public  expense. 
He  was  the  first  who,  departing  from  the  an- 
tique hardness,  painted  women'  in  thin  and 
lucid  garments,  and  separated  their  lips  so  as 
to  disclose  their  teeth. — Plinii  Nat.  Hist. 
•  POLYMNESTES,  a  musician  of  ancient 
Greece,  born  at  Colophon,  in  Ionia,  equally 
celebrated  for  his  performances  on  the  lute 
and  lyre.  Plutarch  speaks  of  him  as  the 
inventor  of  the  Hyper- Lydian  measure,  the 
lowest  of  the  five  original  modes,  being  half  a 
note  below  the  Dorian.  This  alteration  he 
accomplished  by  relaxing  the  tension  of  the 
strings  mnre  than  had  been  previously  prac- 
tised.— Burner's  Hist,  nf  Mils. 

POMBAL  (SEBASTIAN  JOSEPH  CAKVALHO 
MELL">,  count  d'Oeyras,  marquis  de)  a  famous 
Portuguese  statesman,  born  at  Soura,  in  the 
territory  of  Coimbra,  in  1699.  He  was  the 
son  of  Emanuel  Carvalho,  a  gentleman  of  the 
second  class,  and  he  studied  the  law  at  the 
university  of  Coimbra  ;  but  preferring  a 
military  life  to  the  magistracy,  for  which 
he  was  intended,  he  procured  a  commission  in 
the  royal  guards.  The  natural  violence  of  his 
temper  involved  him  iu  errors,  which  excited 
the  animadversions  of  Ins  superiors,  in  conse- 
quence of  which  he  thought  proper  to  retire 
from  the  service.  He  took  up  his  residence 
at  his  native  place,  and  soon  after  married,  in 
opposition  to  the  wishes  of  her  friends,  a  lady 
of  a  noble  and  ancient  family.  Tired  of  inac- 
tisT;  he  obtained  a  new  introduction  to  court, 
nd  through  the  patronage  of  the  queen  he 
was  appointed  ambassador  to  the  court  of  Lon- 
don in  1739.  His  residence  in  England  ap- 
pears to  have  had  a  decisive  influence  on  his 
future  administration  ;  and  it  was  here  that  he 
became  acquainted  with  the  reciprocal  inte- 
-ests  of  England  and  Portugal,  and  gained 
correct  ideas  of  the  power  and  prosperity  to 
which  a  nation  may  attain  by  industry.  Here 
Likewise  he  acquired  a  just  notion  of  the  mer- 
antile  system,  and  of  the  measures  best  cal- 
:ulated  to  support  it ;  and  these  he  afterwards 
endeavoured,  with  indefatigable  zeal,  and  with 
the  most  despotic  authority,  to  put  in  practice 
in  his  own  country.  He  was  recalled  iu  1745, 
and  through  the  influence  of  his  former  pa- 
troness was  sent  to  Vienna  to  adjust  a  dispute 
between  pope  Benedict  XIV  and  the  empress 
Maria  Theresa,  relative  to  the  patriarchate  of 
Aquileia.  His  wife  dying,  he  now  married  the 
young  countess  Von  Dauii,  niece  of  the  cele- 
brated marshal  of  that  name  ;  and  this  union 
established  his  ascendancy  over  the  queen  of 


F  O  M 

Portugal,  who  was  an  Austrian  princess.  On 
the  death  of  the  king,  in  1750,  she  persuaded 
her  son,  Joseph  I,  to  appoint  Carvalho  secretary 
of  state  for  foreign  affairs  The  first  care  of 
the  new  minister  was  to  improve  the  commer- 
cial resources  of  the  kingdom,  and  encourage 
a  spirit  of  industry  among  the  people  ;  but  he 
also  seems  to  have  systematically  endeavoured 
to  depress  the  nobility,  and  he  displayed  a 
marked  enmity  to  the  influential  order  of  the 
Jesuits  ;  whence  arose  a  spirit  of  opposition  to 
his  measures,  which  led  to  many  public  disas- 
ters. He  was,  howei-er,  enabled  to  carry  soiae 
of  his  plans  into  execution,  and  was  proceed- 
ing to  prosecute  them  effectually,  when  some 
interruption  occurred  from  the  dreadful  earth- 
quake at  Lisbon  in  1755.  On  this  occasion 
he  displayed  the  most  active  benevolence  to- 
wards the  distressed  citizens,  and  did  every 
thing  in  his  power  to  relieve  their  sufferings 
and  necessities.  His  services  procured  him, 
deserved  respect,  and  the  king  rewarded  him 
with  the  title  of  count  d'Oeyras.  In  the  fol- 
lowing year  he  was  made  prime  minister  of 
the  country,  and  he  now  assumed  a  most  unli- 
mited power  in  every  department  of  the  state. 
Many  of  his  measures  were  arbitrary  and  se- 
vere, but  the  licentiousness  of  the  age,  and  the 
character  of  the  people,  served  to  excuse,  if 
not  to  justify,  his  proceedings.  The  attempt 
to  assassinate  the  king,  for  which  the  duke  of 
Aveiro  and  others  of  the  nobility  suffered  in 
1758,  was  ascribed  by  the  minister  to  the  in- 
stigations of  the  Jesuits,  and  it  afforded  him  a 
pretext  for  the  banishment  of  those  fathers 
from  Portug-!.  He  persevered  in  the  system 
of  policy  which  he  adopted,  notwithstanding 
he  was  continually  adding  to  the  number  of  his 
enemies  ;  till  at  length,  on  the  death  of  the 
king,  in  1777,  he  was  disgraced,  and  ordered  to 
retire  to  his  estates  ;  and  he  died  at  Pombal, 
the  place  of  his  exile,  May  8,  1782. — Biog. 
Univ.  Rees's  Cyclop. 

POMET  (PETER)  a  celebrated  French 
druggist,  was  born  in  1658,  and  exercised  his 
profession  at  Paris.  He  collected  drugs  from 
all  parts  of  th«  world  at  a  great  expense,  and 
made  a  cat;  iogue  of  all  the  drugs  in  his  maga- 
zine, and  of  all  the  varieties  in  his  cabinet. 
He  died  in  1699,  on  the  very  day  on  which  a 
pension  was  granted  to  him  by  Louis  XIV. 
He  wrote  an  excellent  work,  entitled,  "  His- 
toire  Generale  des  Drogues  ;"  the  most  com- 
plete work  that  had  ever  been  written  on  the 
subject. — Nouv.  Viet.  Hist. 

POMEY  (FRANCIS)  a  Jesuit,  and  long 
time  prefect  of  the  lower  classes  at  Lyons, 
died  in  1673,  at  an  advanced  age.  He  was 
well  acquainted  with  the  Latin  writers,  but 
his  works  are  deficient  in  correctness  and  me- 
thod. They  are,  "  A  French-Latin  Diction- 
ary ;'•'  "  Flos  Latinitatis,"  a  good  abridgment 
of  the  dictionary  of  Robert  Etienne  ;  "  Iiidi- 
culis  Universalis  ;"  "  Colloques  Scolastiques 
et  Moraux;"  "  Libitinre,  on  Traite  des  Fune- 
railles  des  Anciens,"  a  curious  book  iu  La- 
tin ;  "  Traite  des  Particules  ;"  "  Panthwuia 
Mythicum  ;"  "  Novus  Rhetorics  Cnndida- 
tus."— Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 


POM 

POMMERAYE  (dom.  JOHN  FRANCIS)  a 
Benedictine  of  the  congregation  of  St  Maur, 
was  born  at  Rouen  in  1617,  and  renounced  all 
the  charges  of  his  order  to  devote  himself  en- 
tirely to  study.  His  works  abound  with  labo- 
rious research  ;  the  principal  are,  "  L'Histoire 
ties  Archeveques  de  Rouen;"  "  L'Histoire 
de  la  Cathedrale  de  Rouen;"  "  Histoire  de 
1'Abbaye  de  St  Ouen  de  Rouen,  et  celles  de 
St  Amand,  et  de  Sainte  Catharine  de  la  meme 
ville  ;"  "  Un  Recueil  desConciles  et  Synodes 
de  Rouen."  He  died  of  apoplexy  in  1687. — 
Nouv.  Diet.  His 

POMFRET  (JonN)  a  poet,  was  born  in 
Bedfordshire  in  1667,  and  studied  at  Queen's 
college,  Cambridge,  where  he  took  his  degrees 
in  arts  ;  and  taking  orders,  he  was  presented  to 
the  living  of  Maiden  in  Bedfordshire.  In  1703 
he  came  to  London  for  institution  to  a  large 
and  considerable  living  ;  but  lie  was  stopped  by 
Compton,  bishop  of  London,  who,  on  account 
of  an  equivocal  expression  in  his  poem  of  the 
"  Choice,"  thought  him  uiih't  for  the  clerical 
habit.  He  was,  however,  convinced  of  his 
mistake,  but  too  late  ;  for  Pomfret,  being  conse- 
quently detained  in  London,  caught  the  small- 
pox, and  died  of  it  in  1703.  His  "  Choice" 
has  been  highly  popular,  from  its  suitableness 
to  all  tastes  and  ideas  of  comfort,  and  its 
smooth  metre.  His  poems  weie  published  in 
1699,  and  some  additional  pieces  appeared 
after  his  death. — Johnson's  Poets. 

POMPADOUR  (JEANNE  ANTOINETTE 
POISSON,  marquise  de)  mistress  of  Louis  XV, 
was  born  in  1722.  According  to  Voltaire, 
she  was  the  daughter  of  a  farmer  at  Ferte  sous 
Jouare,  whose  wife  became  the  mistress  of 
M.  Lenormand  de  Tournehem,  a  farmer-gene- 
ral. The  mother,  an  unprincipled  and  in- 
triguing woman,  promoted  the  marriage  of  her 
young  and  beautiful  daughter  with  M.  Lenor- 
mand d'Etisle,  the  nephew  of  Tournehem,  and 
afterwards  procured  her  introduction  to  the 
king,  which  led  to  her  guilty  elevation.  She 
succeeded  in  the  king's  favour  the  duchess  de 
Chateauroux,  who  died  in  1744  ;  and  in  1745 
she  was  created  marchioness  of  Pompadour. 
She  used  her  influence  with  her  lover  in  pro- 
moting the  progress  of  the  fine  arts,  which  she 
herself  cultivated  with  considerable  success, 
and  part  of  the  wealth  lavished  on  her  was  de- 
voted to  the  collection  of  books,  paintings, 
and  curiosities.  But  her  cupidity  and  extrava- 
gance were  unbounded.  She  obtained  a  pen- 
sion of  240,000  francs,  and  in  1756  the  place 
of  lady  of  the  palace  to  the  queen,  who  appears 
to  have  made  no  opposition  to  the  appoint- 
ment. She  interfered  frequently  in  the  affairs 
of  government,  botli  as  to  domestic  and  foreign 
policy  ;  and  the  seven  years'  war  with  Prussia, 
so  disastrous  to  France,  was  one  of  the  mea- 
sures she  promoted.  Her  death  took  place 
April  14,  1764. — Diet.  Hist.  Biog.  Univ. 

POMPEI  (Ginoi.AMo)  an  Italian  writer, 
was  born  at  Verona  in  1731.  His  first  work 
was  "  Canzoni  Pastorali,"  2  vols.  8vo,  which 
were  much  admired  for  their  sweetness,  sen- 
sibility, and  elegance.  He  next  gave  a  very 
delightful  translation,  in  verse,  of  the  Idylls 


POM 

of  Theocritus.  His  tragedies  of  "  Hyper- 
rnnestru"  and  "  Callirhoe,"  were  represented 
several  times  with  success.  In  1774  he  com- 
pleted a  translation  of  Plutarch's  Lives,  which 
established  his  character  as  ascholarand  prose 
writer.  He  afterwards  gave  poetical  versions 
of  the  Hero  and  Leander  of  Musseus  ;  two  of 
the  Hymns  of  Callimachus,  and  the  Epistles 
,  of  Ovid,  and  two  volumes  of  "  Nuove  Can- 
zoni  Pastorali."  Poinpei  was  secretary  to  the 
tribunal  of  public  safety  and  the  academy  of 
painting,  and  member  of  the  Academies  of  the 
Aletofili  and  the  Filarmonici ;  and  he  received 
invitations  from  the  duke  of  Farina  and  the 
emperor  Joseph  II,  but  he  declined  all  offers, 
and  died  at  Verona  in  1790.  An  edition  of 
all  his  works  was  published  after  his  death,  ia 
6  vols.  8vo. — Athenaiim. 

POAIPEY  THE  GREAT,  or  CNEIUS 
POMPEIUS  MAGNUS,  a  celebrated  Roman 
statesman  and  warrior,  the  contemporary  and 
rival  of  Julius  Citsar.  He  was  the  son  of  Pom- 
peius  Strabo,  of  an  illustrious  family,  and  was 
born  105  BC.  After  having  studied  the  art  of 
war  under  his  father,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
three  he  raised  three  legions  of  troops,  with 
which  he  marched  to  the  assistance  of  Sylla, 
then  carrying  on  war  with  Marius  and  his  par- 
tizans  ;  and  three  years  after,  having  recovered 
Sicily  and  Africa,  he  was  honoured  with  a 
triumph.  After  the  death  of  Sylla  he  carried 
on  war  against  Sertorius,  in  Spain  ;  and  having 
conquered  that  leader,  he  a^ain  triumphed,  in 
the  year  of  Rome  681.  He  was  then  made 
consul,  and  re-established  the  tribunate  ;  and 
carrying  the  Roman  arms  into  Asia,  he  van- 
quished the  kings  of  Armenia  and  Pontus,  and 
pursued  his  victorious  course  through  Media, 
Albania,  Colchis,  Judea,  and  other  countries. 
His  services  were  rewarded  with  another 
triumph,  which  was  celebrated  during  two 
days  with  the  utmost  magniticence.  Pompey 
then,  uniting  with  Caesar  and  Crassus,  formed 
the  first  triumvirate.  This  union  was  broken 
by  the  death  of  Crassus  and  the  mutual  jea- 
lousy of  the  surviving  parties,  which,  after  a 
while,  occasioned  a  civil  war  between  them. 
Pompey,  on  the  approach  of  Ceesar  to  Rome, 
with  a  hostile  army  of  veteran  troops,  crossed 
the  Adriatic  to  Epirus,  and  a  battle  between 
the  rival  chiefs  taking  place  on  the  plains  of 
Pliarsalia,  the  former  was  utterly  defeated. 
He  then  fled  to  Egypt,  where  he  was  imme- 
diately assassinated,  by  order  of  the  ministers 
of  Ptolemy,  the  king  of  that  country,  BC.  48. 
Cicero  says  of  this  commander,  that  lie  was 
born  for  greatness,  and  that  he  was  capable  of 
attaining  the  highest  eminence  by  his  elo- 
quence, but  he  rhose  rather  to  seek  for  militarv 
glory. —  Plutarch.  Moreri, 

POMPIGNAN  (JEAN  JACWUES  LE  FRAXC, 
marquis  de)  a  French  man  of  letters,  was  born 
of  a  iioble  family  at  Montauban  in  1709.  He 
was  brought  up  to  the  law,  and  became  first 
president  of  the  court  of  Aides,  at  bis  native 
place,  where  he  indulged  his  taste  for  poetry, 
and  produced  his  tragedy  of  "  Didon."  Being 
well  versed  in  the  learned  languages,  and  some 
of  the  modern  ones,  he  employed  himself 


PON 

largely  in  translations,  as  well  as  original  com- 
position, and  became  distinguished  in  the  lite- 
rary circles  of  Paris.  In  1760  he  was  ad- 
mitted into  the  French  Academy  ;  and  in  an 
inaugural  discourse  on  reception,  made  an  open 
attack  upon  the  prevalent  scepticism  of  the 
da}',  which  drew  upon  him  the  formidable 
ridicule  of  Voltaire  and  his  associates,  who 
finally  drove  him  into  retirement,  where  he 
died  in  1784.  The  principal  woiks  of  this 
writer,  whose  talents  were  respectable,  consist 
of  dramatic  pieces,  Sacred  O\les,  Imitations 
of  the  Georgics,  Translations  from  /Eschylus 
and  Lucian,  and  Dissertations. —  His  brother, 
JOHN  GEOUGE,  born  in  1715,  became  arch- 
bishop of  Viennes  and  almoner  to  Louis  XVI. 
He  was  a  prelate  of  considerable  merit  as  an 
ecclesiastic,  and  the  author  of  a  great  number 
•  of  theological  tracts,  besides  a  "  Critical  Essay 
on  the  present  state  of  the  Republic  of  Let- 
ters," 1743  ;  and  "  The  Proper  Use  of  Secular 
Authority  in  Matters  of  Religion,"  1753. — 
Kmiv.  Diet.  Hi>t. 

POMPONAT1US  (PETER)  a  metaphysi- 
cian, was  born  at  Mantua  in  1462,  and  deli- 
vered lectures  on  the  philosophy  of  Aristotle 
and  Averroes  at  Padua  and  Bologna.  He 
composed  a  celebrated  little  treatise,  "  De 
Immortalitate  Animse  ;"  in  which  he  was  sup- 
posed to  doubt  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  on 
the  ground  that  all  natural  reason  was  against 
it  ;  and  Leo  X  was  induced  to  suppress  the 
work  by  a  bull,  and  caused  Augustine  Niphus 
to  compose  a  treatise  with  the  same  title,  in 
refutation  of  it.  This  discussion  was  referred 
to  the  arbitration  of  Bembus,  who  supported 
Pomponatius,  and  obtained  leave  for  him  to 
publish  a  second  edition.  He  also  wrote  a 
book,  "  De  Incantationibus,"  and  a  treatise  on 
"  Fate  and  Free  Will."  He  died  in  1525. — 
Gen.  Diet,  ttrucker.  Niceron. 

POMPONIUS  L^ETUS  (Jutius)  some- 
times styled  Peter  of  Calabria,  a  learned  anti- 
quary of  ihe  fifteenth  century,  said  to  have 
been  the  natural  son  of  a  Neapolitan  noble- 
man. He  prosecuted  his  studies  at  Rome, 
under  Laurentius  Valla,  whom  he  succeeded 
as  professor  of  rhetoric.  He  also  founded  an 
academy,  which  was  suppressed  by  pope  Paul 
II,  and  many  of  the  members  were  imprisoned, 
and  some  of  them  tortured  ;  but  Sixtus  IV  re- 
leased them,  and  restored  Pomponius  to  his 
office.  He  wrote  several  works  in  Latin,  re- 
lative to  Roman  history  and  antiquities  ;  and 
he  adited  the  writings  of  Sallust,  Pliny  the  : 
Younger,  and  Cicero  ;  and  commented  on 
those  of  Quintilian  and  other  classic  authors. 
His  death  took  place  at  the  age  of  seventy,  in 
1495. — Tirubuschi.  Diet.  Hist, 

PONTANUS  (JOHN  JOVIANUS)  was  born 
at  Cerreto,  in  1420,  and  became  tutor  to  Al- 
phoriso,  the  young   king  of  Arragon,  whose 
secretary  and  counsellor  of  state  he  afterwards 
was.     This  prince  rebelled  against  his  father,  ! 
and  Pontanus  reconciled  them  ;  but  not  being  j 
recompensed  as  he  conceived  he  deserved,  he  ' 
wrote    a   work     against    Ferdinand,    entitled 
"  Dialogue   sur  1'Ingratitude,"  in  which  he  | 
praised  excessively  Charles  VIII  of  France,  j 


PON 

But  Ferdinand,  insensible  to  this  affront, 
tinued  liim  in  his  situation.  He  died  in  1503 
or  1505.  His  style,  though  elegant,  is  often 
obscure  ;  and  he  made  himself  a  great  many 
enemies  by  the  freedom  of  his  judgment  and 
the  bitterness  of  his  censures.  He  wrote 
'"The  History  of  the  Wars  of  Ferdinand  I 
and  John  of  Anjou,"  and  a  great  number  of 
works  in  verse  and  prose,  collected  at  Beile,  in 
|  1556,  4  vols.  8vo.  His  prose  works  were  af- 
terwards published  separately,  but  both  these 
collections  are  scarce. — Noiiv.  Diet.  Hist. 

PONTANUS    (J'ofix    ISAAC)    historiogra- 
pher of  the  king  of  Denmark,  and  of  the  pro- 
j  vince    of   Guelders,    died    at  Narderwick    in 
I  1640.     His  works   of  research  are   most  es- 
teemed ;  he  possessed  very  little  imagination, 
!  and  his   poetry  is  little  more   than  measured 
1  prose.     His  works  are  "  llerum  Dernicarum, 
Historia    una     cum    cliorographica    ejusdem 
Regui  Urbiumque  Descriptione;"  "  Discepta- 
tiones  Chorographicae  de  Ilheni  divertiis  atque 
o>tiis  et  accolis  Populis   adversus  Ph.  Cluve- 
rum  ;"  "  Observationes  in'l'ractatumde  Globis 
Caslesti  et  Terrestri  auctore  Roberto  Huesio  ;" 
j  "  Discussiones  Histories  ;"  "  Orisjines  Fran- 
cicffl  ;"    "Historia   Ulrica;"    "Life   of   Fre- 
derick II  king  of  Denmark  and  Norway." — 
Nmiv.  Diet.  Hist. 

PONTAT  (JOHN)  a  French  ecclesiastic, 
was  born  at  St  Helaise  du  Harcoeur,  in  the 
diocese  of  Avranches,  in  1638.  He  became 
vicar  of  the  parish  of  St  Geiievieve  des  Ar- 
deus  and  penitentiary  of  the  church  of  Paris. 
He  died  in  1728.  He  wrote  a  great  "  Dic- 
tionnaire  des  Cas  de  Conscience;"  "  Scrip- 
tura  Sacra  ubique  sibi  constant ;"  "  Entre- 
tiens  Spirituels,  pour  instruire,  exhorter,  et 
consoler  les  Malades  ;"  with  several  other  re- 
ligions tracts. — Kouv.  Diet.  Hht. 

PONTAULT  (SEBASTIAN  BEAULIEU  DE) 
an  eminent  French  engineer,  in  the  reign  of 
Louis  XIV,  He  entered  the  armv  at  the  age 
of  fifteen,  and  so  distinguished  himself  by  his 
bravery  at  the  seige  of  Rochelle,  that  the  king 
gave  him  the  post  of  commissary  of  artillery. 
He  wrote  an  important  work,  entitled  "  Les 
glorieuses  Conquetes  de  Louis  le  Grand," 
comprehending  all  the  operations  of  war,  from 
the  ba-ttle  of  Rocroi,  in  1643,  to  the  taking  of 
Namur,  in  1694.  There  were  several  edi- 
tions of  this  ;  the  principal  is  called  the  Grand 
Beaulieu.  Poutault  died  in  1674,  and  the 
work  was  cariied  down  to  1694  by  other 
hands. —  Perrault.  Les  Homines  lltustres. 

PONTE  (JACOB  DA)  called  also  IL  BAS- 
SANO,  and  IL  BASS  AN  VECCHIO,  was 
born  at  Bassano  in  1510,  and  was  the  pupil 
of  his  father,  Francis  da  Ponte,  a  respectable 
painter.  He  afterwaids  went  to  Venice,  and 
became  the  disciple  of  Bonifacio.  On  the 
death  of  his  father  he  settled  at  Bassano, 
where  he  died  in  1592.  His  style  so  much 
resembles  that  of  Titian  that  he  has  even  been 
called  his  pupil.  He  commenced  by  aiming 
at  grandeur  of  style,  bu-t  he  soon  descended  to 
subjects  of  less  energy  ;  and  even  in  his  altar- 
pieces,  his  figures  are  generally  below  the  na- 
tural size.  His  colouring  and  composition  ara 


POO 

jtraculiar  to  himself,  tlie  first  at  a  distance 
presenting  a  beautiful  effect,  and  in  fact  being 
but  a  confused  mass  of  paint,  and  the  latter  a 
blendnig  circular  with  triangular  forms,  and 
the  most  contrasted  postures  with  parallel 
lines.  His  profane  pieces  consist  of  markets, 
kitchens,  larders,  &c.  He  left  four  sons, 
Francis,  Leander,  John  Baptist,  and  Jerome, 
..II  of  whom  distinguished  themselves  in  the 
art.  —  Pilkington,  6i/  Fuseli.  D'Argenville. 
Sir  J.  Re ij unlit*' s  Works, 

PONTEDERA  (JULIAN)  anative  of  Pisa, 
and  professor  of  botany  at  Padua,  in  the  com- 
mencement of  the  eighteenth  century,  wrote, 
"  Compendium  Tabularum  Botanicarum  in 
quo  Planta;  272  in  Italia  iiuper  detects  recen- 
sentur,"  1718,  4to ;  2."  De  Florum  Natura," 
1720;  3.  "  Antiquitatum  Latinarum  Gra^ca- 
rumque  enarrationes  et  Emendationes,"  Padua, 
1740.— Nimv.  Diet.  Hist. 

PONTOPPIDAN  (Enic  ERICSON;  a  Da- 
nish divine,  born  in  1616,  in  the  isle  of  Funen. 
He  obtained  vaiious  preferments  in  the  church, 
and  at  length  the  bishopric  of  Drontheim  in 
Norway,  where  he  died  in  1678.  He  was  the 
author  of  a  Danish  grammar,  Latin  poems,  and 
otherworks. — PONTOPPIDAN  (Louis)  nephew 
of  the  foregoing,  died  in  1706,  aged  fifty-eight. 
He  published  "  Theatrum  Nobilitatis  Da- 
nicae,"  2  vols.  folio  ;  besides  some  religious 
pieces  in  his  native  language. — PONTOPPIDAN 
(ERIC)  his  son,  was  born  in  1698,  at  Aarhus, 
in  Jutland,  where  the  father  held  a  clerical 
office.  He  was  educated  partly  at  Copenha- 
gen, and  in  that  university  he  took  his  degrees 
in  theology  in  1718.  After  having  been  em- 
ployed as  a  private  tutor  to  the  son  of  a  Da- 
nish officer,  he  was,  in  1721,  appointed  governor 
to  the  young  duke  of  Holstein  Ploen.  He 
subsequently  obtained  ecclesiastical  prefer- 
ment. In  1735  he  was  chosen  one  of  the 
royal  chaplains;  in  1738  professor  extraordi- 
nary of  theology  at  Copenhagen  ;  and  in  1747 
he  was  elevated  to  the  bishopric  of  Bergen. 
He  died  in  that  city,  December  20,  1764. 
Pontoppidan  wrote  a  great  number  of  works, 
the  most  important  of  which  are  noticed  in  the 
BiographieUniverselle.  Amongthem  are,  "An- 
nales  Ecclesiae  Danicai,"  1741 — 1752,  4  vols. 
4to  ;  and"  An  Essay  on  the  Natural  History 
of  Norway,"  of  which  an  English  translation 
was  published  in  London,  1755,  folio. — Allan's 
Gen.  Biog. 

POOL  (MATTHEW)  an  eminent  nonconfor- 
mist divine,  was  born  at  York  in  1624,  and 
educated  at  i  ••  lanuel  college,  Cambridge, 
where  he  took  the  degree  of  MA.  Hav- 
ing taken  orders  in  1648  lie  became  minis- 
ter of  St  Michael  Le  Querne,  London.  In 
1654  he  engaged  in  a  controversy  against 
the  Socinian  opinions  of  John  Biddle  ;  and 
in  1658,  formed  an  institution  for  the  main- 
tenance of  poor  students  at  the  university. 
His  sentiments  being  Piesbyterian,  lie  was,  in 
1662,  ejected  from  his  living  by  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  on  which  he 
published  a  Latin  treatise,  entitled  "  Vox  Cla- 
mantis  in  Deserto."  Possessed  of  a  small 
independency,  Le  occupied  himself  in  his  retire- 


POP 

ment  in  the  composition  of  his  elaborate  work, 
the  "  Synopsis  Criticorum,"  which  vast  body 
of  hibilical  criticism  was  first  printed  in  rive 
volumes  folio.  Wlulo  thus  employed,  he  how- 
ever found  time  to  write  some  tracts  against 
popery,  which  excited  much  enmity  on  the 
part  of  the  Catholics  ;  and  his  name  was  put 
down  by  the  infamous  Titus  Oates  in  the  list 
of  persons  whom  it  was  pretended  they  pur- 
posed to  assassinate.  Alarmed  by  this  circum- 
stance, and  the  apparent  intention  of  some 
persons  to  waylay  him,  he  retired  to  Amster- 
dam, where  lie  died  in  October  1679.  Besides 
the  "  Synopsis,"  which  exhibits  extensive 
learning  and  great  critical  skill,  Mr  Pool  was 
author  of  "  A  Letter  to  the  Lord  Charles 
Fleetwood  :"  of  a  brief  Latin  poem  of  much 
elegance,  and  of  several  sermons  and  epitaphs. 
He  also  commenced  "  Annotations  on  the 
Bible,"  which  were  finished  by  other  hands, 
and  published  in  1685,  in  2  vols.  folio,  and  fre- 
quently reprinted. — At/ien.  Oxon.  Bing.  Brit. 
POPE  (ALEXANDER)  a  celebrated  English 
poet,  was  born  May  22,  1688,  in  Lombard- 
street,  London,  where  his  father,  a  linen  dra- 
per, acquired  a  considerable  fortune.  Both  his 
parents  were  Roman  Catholics,  and,  as  he 
himself  asserts,  of  gentle  blood.  Soon  after 
the  birth  of  his  son,  who  was  of  very  delicate 
constitution,  small  and  much  deformed,  the 
father  of  Pope  retired  from  business,  to  a 
small  house  at  Biufield  near  Windsor  Forest, 
and,  owing  to  his  attachment  to  the  exiled  king, 
not  choosing  to  vest  his  property  in  the  public 
securities,  he  lived  frugally  on  thu  capital. 
The  subject  of  this  article  was  taught  to  read 
and  write  at  home,  and  at  the  age  of  eight  was 
placed  under  the  care  of  a  Catholic  priest, 
named  Taverner,  from  whom  he  learned  the 
rudiments  of  Latin  and  Greek.  Being  fond  of 
reading,  he  became  acquainted  at  this  early 
period  with  Ogilby's  version  of  Homer,  and 
Sandys's  translation  of  Ovid's  Metamorphoses, 
which  books  first  turned  his  attention  to  poetry  ^ 
He  was  successively  placed  at  two  otherschools; 
the  first  at  Twyford,  and  the  second  at  Hyde- 
park-corner,  where  he  formed  a  play,  taken, 
from  Ogilby's  Homer,  intermixed  with  verses 
of  his  own,  and  procured  it  to  be  acted  by  his 
school-fellows.  About  his  twelfth  year  he  was 
taken  home,  and  privately  instructed  by  an- 
other priest ;  and  to  this  period  is  assigned  his 
earliest  printed  poem,  the  "  Ode  on  Solitude.'1 
He  subsequently  appears  to  have  been  the  di- 
rector of  his  own  studies,  in  which  the  cultiva- 
tion of  poetry  occupied  his  chief  attention. 
He  particularly  exercised  himself  in  imitation 
and  translation  ;  of  which  his  versions  of  the 
first  book  of  the  "  Thebnis,"  and  of  the  "Sap- 
pho t x  Phaon,"  made  at  the  age  of  fourteen, 
afford  a  remarkable  testimony,  lie  was  sixteen 
when  he  wrote  liis  "  Pastorals,"  which  pro- 
cured him  the  friendship  or  notice  of  several 
eminent  persons,  including  sir  William  Trum- 
ball,  Wycherly,  Walsh,  Dryden,  and  others 
His  "  Ode  for  St  Cecilia's  Day,"  and  "  Essay 
on  Criticism,"  were  his  next  performances  of 
note  ;  the  latter  of  which  was  written  in  1709, 
and  published  iu  171),  iu  which  year  ais 


POP 

appeared  his  "  Elegy  on  an  Unfortunate  Lady." 
He  had  now  acquired  that  height  of  reputation 
which  seidomfails  to  ensure  to  successful  author- 
ship the  alloy  of  disputes  and  jealousies,  nor 
was  Pope  of  a  disposition  to  avoid  them.  He 
became  embroiled  with  Ambrose  Philips  in 
consequence  of  an  ironical  comparison  of  that 
writer's  pastorals  with  his  own,  in  the  "  Guar- 
dian ;"  and  with  the  irascible  critic  John  Uen- 
iiis,  owing  to  a  humorous  allusion  to  him  under 
the  name  of  Apnius,  in  the  "  Essay  on  Criti- 
cism." The  "  Elegy  on  an  Unfortunate  Lady  " 
was  rapidly  followed  by  the  justly  celebrated 
"  Rape  of  the  Lock,"  grounded  on  a  trifling 
incident  in  fashionable  life.  In  this  production 
the  poet  displays  admirable  vivacity,  and  the 
most  polished  wit  ;  but  its  imaginative  power 
is  chiefly  conspicuous  in  the  exquisite  machinery 
•of  the  Sylphs,  wrought  into  it  as  an  afterthought, 
for  the  poem  first  appeared  without  it.  This 
happy  addition  was  dissuaded  by  A  idison  ; 
a  piece  of  advice  which  Pope  subsequently, 
upon  no  very  direct  evidence,  attributed  to 
literary  jealousy.  He  next  published  the 
"  Temple  of  Fame,"  altered  and  modernised 
from  Ghancer,  which  was  followed,  in  1713,  by 
his  "  Windsor  Forest,"  commenced  at  sixteen. 
In  the  same  year  he  published  proposals  for  a 
translation  of  the  Iliad,  by  subscription, which 
were  received  with  rapid  and  spontaneous  en- 
couragement ;  and  the  first  volume,  containing 
four  books,  appeared  in  1715,  in  4to.  An 
open  breach  with  Addison  preceded  this  pub- 
lication, owing  to  an  alleged  jealousy  on  the 
part  of  the  latter,  to  whom  a  rival  translation 
cf  Homer,  published  under  the  name  of 
Tickell,  was  attributed  by  Pope,  who  vented 
Lis  resentment  in  the  keen  and  polished  lines, 
commencing,  "  Curst  be  the  verse,"  &c. 
Whether  by  Addison  or  Tickell,  the  rival  ver- 
sion soon  sank  before  that  of  Pope,  who  was 
enabled,  by  the  great  success  of  his  subscrip- 
ti"»n,  to  take  a  handsome  house  at  Twicken- 
ham, to  which  he  removed  with  his  father  and 
mother.  About  this  time  he  wrote  his  cele- 
brated and  impassioned  "  Epistle  from  Eloisa 
to  Abelard,"  one  of  the  most  vivid  and  im- 
pressive of  all  amatory  poems.  In  1717  he 
republished  his  poetry  in  a  4to  volume,  to 
which  he  prefixed  an  elegant  preface  ;  and  in 
1720  completed  the  Iliad,  which  he  dedicated 
to  Gongreve.  In  1721,  actuated,  it  is  feared, 
by  the  love  of  acquisition  alone,  he  undertook 
the  editorship  of  Shakspeare's  works,  a  task  for 
which  he  was  wholly  unfit  ;  and  a  severe  cas- 
tigation  from  Theobald,  laid  the  foundation  of 
a  lasting  enmity  between  them.  With  the  as- 
sistance of  Brome  and  Feuton.  he  also  ac- 
complished a  translation  of  the  Odyssey,  the 
subscription  to  which  brought  him  a  con- 
siderable sum.  In  the  mean  time  he  had 
.ormed  many  friendships,  and  among  others 
one,  which  had  the  reputation  of  being  tender, 
with  Martha  Blount,  the  daughter  of  a  Ca- 
tholic gentleman  near  Reading,  who  became 
his  intimate  confident  and  companion  through 
life.  A  sort  of  literary  flirtation  also  com- 
menced with  the  celebrated  lady  Mary  Wort- 
ley  Montagu,  which,  after  much  intercourse 


POP 

and  correspondence,  terminated  (see  article, 
MONTAGU,  lady  I\l A RY  WORTI.KV)  in  tlie  bit- 
terest enmity.  In  1727  lie  joined  Swift  in  a 
publication  of  Miscellanies,  in  which  lie  in- 
serted a  treatise  "  Of  the  Bathos,  or  Art  of 
Sinking,"  illustrated  by  examples  from  the  in- 
ferior poets  of  the  day.  As  a  decisive  stroke 
in  literary  warfare,  in  1728  he  sent  out  the 
first  three  books  of  his  "  Dunciad,"  a  mock- 
heroic  poem,  the  object  of  which  was  to  over- 
whelm  all  his  antagonists  with  indelible  ridi- 
cule. It  is  a  finished  example  of  diction  and 
versification,  but  displays  so  much  irritability, 
illiberality  and  occasional  injustice,  that  on  the 
whole,  he  scarcely  gains  by  it  as  a  poet  what 
he  loses  as  a  man  Personal  satire,  to  which 
he  was  first  encouraged  by  bishop  Atterbury, 
appears  in  most  of  his  subesquent  productions. 
One  of  these,  an  "  Epistle  on  Taste,"  which 
contained  an  attack  on  the  duke  of  Chandos, 
under  the  name  of  Timon,  was  deemed  parti- 
cularly ungracious  and  unprovoked,  and  he  ia 
vain  sought  to  clear  himself  from  the  charge 
of  voluntary  insult.  Being  particularly  con- 
nected with  the  tory  party,  he  had  necessarily 
become  intimate  with  lord  Bolingbroke,  to 
whose  suggestion  the  world  is  indebted  for  the 
"Essay  on  Man, "first  published  anonymously 
in  1733,  and  the  next  year  completed  and 
avowed  by  the  author.  This  work  will  pos- 
sibly always  stand  in  the  first  class  of  ethical 
poems,  as  demonstrative  of  an  extraordinary 
power  to  manage  argumentation  in  verse  ;  al- 
though not  without  prosaic  lines,  and  betray- 
ing indications  that  the  author  did  not  fully 
comprehend  the  system  which  he  was  advanc- 
ing. The  "  Essay  on  Man"  was  followed  by 
"  Imitations  of  Horace  ;"  accompanied  by  a 
"  Prologue  and  Epilogue  to  the  Satires,"  and 
by  "  Moral  Epistles  or  Essays,"  which  exhibit 
him  as  a  satirist  of  the  school  of  Boileau,  with 
more  spirit  and  poetry,  but  at  the  same  time 
with  greater  negligence  and  equal  causticity. 
The  persons  whom,  in  these  works,  he  treats 
with  most  severity,  are  lady  M.  W.  Montagu, 
and  lord  Hervey.  Curll,  the  bookseller,  hav- 
ing published  some  letters  written  by  Pope, 
which  had  been  secretly  conveyed  to  him,  the 
latter  affected  great  anger  ;  yet  there  is  some 
evidence  to  countenance  the  notion  that  he 
contrived  the  plot  himself  in  order  to  form  an 
excuse  for  the  publication  of  a  4to  volume  of 
letters  in  his  own  name,  for  which  he  took 
subscriptions.  In  point  of  composition  they 
are  elegant  and  sprightly,  although  studied  and 
artificial  ;  but  as  many  characteristic  epistles 
are  given  from  those  of  his  correspondents, 
the  collection  is  on  the  whole  interesting  and 
valuable.  In  1742,  at  the  suggestion  of  War- 
burton,  he  added  a  fourth  book  to  his  "  Duu- 
ciad,"  intended  to  ridicule  useless  and  frivol- 
ous studies,  in  which  he  thought  fit  to  attack 
Colley  Gibber,  then  poet-laureat.  Gibber  reta- 
liated by  a  pamphlet,  which  told  some  ludicrous 
stories  of  his  antagonist,  and  so  irritated  the 
latter,  that  in  a  new  edition  of  the  "  Dunciad" 
he  deposed  Theobald,  its  original  hero,  and 
promoted  Gibber  in  his  place,  who,  although  a 
great  coxcomb,  could  scarcely  be  deemed  a 


POP 

dunce.     An   oppressive  asthma  began  now  to 
indicate  a  commencing  decline  ;     and   in   tlii; 
state  of  debility  he  was  consoled  by  the  aHV-c 
tionate  attention  of  liis  numerous  friends,  ant 
particularly  of  lord  Bolingbroke,  while  he  ex 
perienced    the   most    shameful    neglect   from 
Martha   Blount.     When  the  last   scene  was 
manifestly  approaching1,  he  allowed  one  of  las 
intimates,  the  historian  Hooke,  himself  a  Ca 
tholic,  to  send  for  a  priest,  not  as  essential,  bu 
becoming  ;  and  soon  after  quietly  expired,  on 
May  30,  1744,  at  the  age  of  fifty-six.     He  was 
interred  at  Twickenham,  where   a  monumen 
was  erected  to  him  by  bishop  Warhurton,  his 
latest  literary  champion   and  legatee.     Both 
the  moral  and  poetical  character  of  Pope  has 
within  these  last  few  years,  been  assailed  ant 
defended  with  peculiar  animation.     Vain  and 
irascible,  he  seems  to  have  been  equally  open 
to  flattery,  and  prone  to  resentment ;  but  one 
of  his  greatest  weaknesses  was  a  disposition  to 
artifice,  in  order  to  acquire  reputation  an-1  ap- 
plause, which  is  justly  deemed  indicative   oj 
littleness  of  mind.     He  was  not,  however,  in- 
capable of  generous  and  elevated  sentiments, 
and    was    as    firm    in    his    attachments    as 
implacable    in    his    dislikes.      He    had    al- 
ways   a     dignified    regard     to    his    indepen- 
dence, which,  in  one  to   whom  money,  high 
connexions  and  the  superfluities  of  life,  more 
especially  the  luxuries  of  the  table,  were   by 
no  means  indifferent,   is  the  more  remarkable. 
He    has  been  accused  of  meanness    towards 
his  literary  coadjutors  ;    but    certain    stories 
of  a    nature    to    impeach    his   integrity,    are 
now  no  longer  believed  ;  especially  as  some- 
thing like  an  indisposition    to  do  him  justice, 
either  as  a  poet  or  a  man,  has  been  manifest  in 
those  who  related  them.     As  a  poet,    while 
his  claim  to  invention  is  bounded,    the  endea- 
vour to  set  him  aside  altogether,  in  compliment 
to  certain  metaphysical  distinctions,  in  regard  to 
the  primary  sources  of  poetical  feeling,  is  fac- 
titious and  futile.     No  English  writer  has  car- 
ried farther  correctness  of  versification,  splen- 
dour of  diction, and  the  truly  poetical  art  of  vivi- 
fying and  adorning  every  subject  that  lie  touch- 
ed. His  "Rape  of  the  Lock, '' and  "  Epistle  from 
Eloisa  to  Abelard,"  are  alone  sufficient  to  im- 
peach the  exclusive  theory  which  would  deny 
him  the  rank  and  powers  of  a  poet,  leaving  his 
wit,  his  brilliancy,  and  his  satire  to  be  ranked 
as  they  may  be.     Of  the  various  editions  of 
Pope's  works,  it   is  only  necessary  to  mention 
that   of  Warburton  (excluding  the   Homer)  9 
vols.    8vo  ;  and   those  of   Johnson,   Warton, 
and   Bowles,    the   last  in  10  vols.  8vo,   1806. 
Bit>g.  Brit.   Johnson,  IVarton,  and  Bowles's  Lives. 
POPE    (sir  THOMAS)    a    statesman,    was 
born  at  Declington,  in  Oxfordshire,  about  1508, 
fvas  educated    at   Eton,  whence    he    went  to 
Gray's-inn,  and  was  called   to   the  bar,   and 
in    1533,  he    became  clerk  to  the   crown   in 
chancery.      He  held   several   situations,    and 
received  the    honour  of  knighthood.     On  the 
accession  of  Edward  VI,   being  a  Roman  Ca- 
tholic,   Pope   did    not   receive    any   grant  or 
favour,  but  in  the  reign  of  Mary  he  was  made 
privy  counsellor  and  cofferer  to  the  household, 


PO  P 

and  was  entrusted  with  the  care  of  the  prin- 
cess, afterwards  queen  Elizabeth,  towards 

whom  he  behaved  with  the  greatest  respect  ; 
but  on  her  accession  he  was  again  dismissed 
from  political  affairs,  and  died  in  1559.  Sir 
Thomas  Pope  was  the  founder  of  Trinity  col- 

lege,  Oxford. — Life  by  Warton.  Chalmers's 
Hist,  of  Oxford. 

POPE  (\VAT.TER)  a  physician,  half-bro- 
ther to  Dr  John  Wilkins,  bishop  of  Chester, 
was  born  at  Fawsley,  in  Northamptonshire,  but 
in  what  year  is  unknown.  He  was  educated 
first  at  Trinity  college,  Cambridge,  and  after- 
wards at  Wadham  college,  Oxford.  He  was 
Gresham  professor  of  astronomy  in  1660,  and 
three  years  after  he  was  made  one  of  the  first 
fellows  of  the  Royal  Society.  He  then  tra- 
velled for  two  years,  and  on  his  return  he  wag 
made  registrar  of  the.  diocese  of  Chester.  He 
received  a  penson  of  100/.  a-year  from  bishop 
Ward,  whose  life  he  wrote.  His  other  works 
are,  "  The  Old  Man's  Wish,"  an  imitation  of 
Horace,  with  curious  notes;  "  The  Memoirs 
of  Monsieur  Du  Vail,  a  notorious  highway- 
man ;"  "Select  Novels  from  the  Spanish  and 
Italian  ;"  "Moral  and  Political  Fables  ;"  "  The 
Catholic  Ballad, "&c.  He  died  in  1714. — 
Ward's  Gresham  Professors,  Ath.  Oxuit.  Ai- 
chols's  Poems. 

POPHAM  (sir  HOME  Rices)  a  naval 
officer,  and  knight  commander  of  the  Bath, 
was  born  in  Ireland  in  1762,  and  rose  to  the 
rank  of  lieutenant  during  the  American  war. 
On  the  peace  he  employed  himself  in  com- 
mercial pursuits  in  the  East  Indies,  and  com- 
manded a  country  ship,  in  which  he  disco- 
vered a  passage  for  navigation  at  Pulo  Pe- 
iiang.  In  1794  he  returned  to  the  service, 
and,  being  considerably  useful  to  the  duke  of 
York  in  Holland,  was  appointed  master  and 
commander,  and  soon  after  post-captain.  He 
was  next  employed  in  the  Baltic,  and,  in  1800, 
appointed  to  a  command  in  the  East  Indies.  la 
1803  he  entered  the  Red  sea,  and  settled  ad- 
vantageous terms  of  commerce  for  the  English 
merchants.  On  his  return  home,  however, 
)is  conduct  was  rigorously  attacked  in  the 
[louse  of  Commons  on  the  score  of  interested 
views  ;  but  in  the  sequel  his  proceedings  were 
adequately  defended,  and  nothing  farther  took 
jlace.  He  was  afterwards  engaged  in  an  ex- 
pedition against  Buenos  Ayres,  as  stated/ 
without  adequate  authority  ;  and  being  biought 
'or  it  to  a  court  martial,  he  was  sentenced  to 
>e  reprimanded.  lie  finally  obtained  the  si- 
uation  of  commander-in-chief  on  the  Ja- 
maica station  ;  and  had  but  just  returned  to 

ngland,    when    his    decease    took   place   at 

heltenham,  September  13,  1820.  He  pub- 
ished  "  A  Statement  of  his  Treatment  sines 
lis  Return  from  the  Red  Sea  ;"  and  "  A  De- 
:ription  of  the  Prince  of  Wales's  Island." — 
Gent.  Mag. 

POPHAM  (sir  JOHN)  an  English  lawyer, 
was  born  at  Huntworth,  in    Somersetshire,  in 
531.     In  1576  he  was  made  sergeant  at  law, 
iolicitor  general  in   1579,   attorney  general  in 
1581,    and  in  1592  he  was  promoted    to  the 
ank  of  chief  justice  of  the  Court  of  King's 


FOR 

Pench,  and  was  knighted.  He  was  one  of 
the  lawyers  detained  by  the  ear!  of  Essex, 
when  he  determined  to  defend  himself  in  his 
own  house  ;  and,  on  the  trial  of  chat  noble- 
man, he  gave  evidence  against  him.  His 
general  character  was  not  much  esteemed. 
His  works  are,  "  Reports  and  Cases  adjudged 
in  the  Time  of  Queen  Elizabeth  ;"  "  Reso- 
lutions and  Judgments  upon  Cases  and  Mat- 
ters agitated  in  all  the  Courts  of  Westminster 
in  the  latter  end  of  Queen  Elizabeth." — Ath. 
Ox.  Lloyd's  State  Worthies.  Fuller's  Worthies. 

PORDENONE  (JOHN  ANTONY  LICINIUS) 
an  Italian  painter,  was  born  near  Udino,  in 
1484.  The  beauty  of  his  colouring  and  noble 
and  easy  style  caused  him  to  be  preferred  by 
many  to  Titian  :  and  so  great  was  the  jealousy 
of  the  latter,  that  Pordenone  was  obliged  al- 
wavs  to  carry  arms  for  his  defence.  He  was 
loaded  with  favours  by  Charles  V,  who  gave 
him  the  title  of  chevalier.  He  painted  chiefly 
in  fresc..,  and  his  works  enrich  several  of  the 
cities  of  Italy  ;  but  he  is  particularly  distin- 
guished by  his  picture  of  St  Augustine,  and 
two  chapels  painted  in  fresco,  at  Vicenza. — 
His  nephew,  JULIUS  LICINIUS  PORDENONE, 
born  at  Venice,  and  died  at  Augsburg,  in  1561, 
was  the  pupil  of  his  uncle,  and  painted  in 
fresco.  The  magistrates  of  Augsburg  were 
so  pleased  by  the  works  which  he  executed 
there,  that  they  honoured  his  memory  by  a 
particular  inscription. — D'Argenville. 

PORLIER  (JUAN  DIAZ)  a  Spanish  officer, 
•who  distinguished  himself  in  the  wars  which 
succeeded  the  occupation  of  Spain  by  Buona- 
parte. He  was  descended  from  an  ancient 
family,  of  which  a  branch  had  been  long  set- 
tled in  the  Canaries  ,  but  he  was  born  at 
Carthagena  in  South  America,  where  his  fa- 
ther held  a  high  public  station.  After  having 
been  educated  under  the  care  of  his  uncle, 
Antonio  Porlier,  marquis  de  Baxemar,  who 
was  minister  of  justice  under  Charles  IV,  he 
entered  into  the  navy,  and  served  as  a  mid- 
shipman at  the  battle  of  Trafalgar.  When 
the  cry  of  independence  spread  through  the 
Peninsula  in  1808,  Porlier  was  among  the 
first  to  obey  the  call  of  his  country  ;  and  hav- 
ing joined  a  regiment  stationed  at  Valencia, 
his  gallantry  and  enterprising  spirit  were  dis- 
played in  an  affair,  in  the  vicinity  of  that  city, 
when  he  defeated  a  body  of  the  enemy's 
troops  with  a  very  inferior  force,  and  took 
many  prisoners,  for  which  exploit  the  Junta  of 
Asturias  made  him  a  colonel.  Soon  after  this 
event  he  raised  a  Guerilla  corps,  of  which  he 
became  the  leader,  and  distinguished  himself 
in  a  series  of  brilliant  actions.  It  was  during 
the  warfare  he  carried  on  in  Asturias  that  he 
gained  from  his  soldiers  the  appellation  of  El 
Marquesito,  or  the  Little  Marquis,  by  which 
he  was  afterwards  known.  His  retreat  from 
Santander,  closely  pursued  by  a  corps  four 
times  more  numerous  than  his  own,  excited 
great  admiration,  and  raised  so  high  an  opi- 
nion of  his  talents,  that  the  regency  appointed 
him  captain-general  of  Asturias,  in  which 
station  he  remained  till  the  restoration  of  Fer- 
dinand VII.  After  that  event  Porlier  openly 

PilOG.  DlCT. VOL.  II. 


PO  R 

declared  in  favour  of  the  constitution  of  the 
Cortes,  which  he  had  so  ably  defended.  An 
attempt,  which  he  made  in  September  1815, 
for  proclaiming  the  constitution  at  Corunna, 
was  unsuccessful  ;  and  being  betrayed  by  his 
unworthy  associates,  he  was  delivered  to  the 
military  authorities,  condemned  to  death,  and 
executed  October  3,  1815,  suffering  with  the 
most  heroic  firmness  for  what  he  continued  to 
the  last  to  consider  as  a  just  cause. — Bla- 
quiere's  Hist.  Rev.  of  the  Spanish  Revolution. 
Biog  Noui>.  des  Contemp. 

PORPHYRIUS,  a  philosopher  of  the  Plo- 
tinian  school  of  philosophy,  distinguished  for 
his  enmity  to  the  Christian  faith,  was  born  of 
an  honourable  family  at  Tyre,  AD.  233.  He 
was  introduced  at  an  early  age  to  the  study  of 
literature  and  philosophy,  under  the  Christian 
Origen,  while  the  latter  was  teaching  at  Cae- 
sarea,  in  Palestine.  He  then  went  to  Athens, 
where  he  cultivated  rhetoric,  under  the  fa- 
mous Longinus,  who  changed  his  Syrian 
name,  which  was  Malchus  (king),  into  that 
of  Porphyrius,  as  something  synonymous  and 
more  pleasing  to  Grecian  ears.  It  is  chiefly 
owing  to  this  able  teacher  that  the  writings 
of  Porphyrius  exhibit  so  many  proofs  of  eru- 
dition, and  so  much  elegance  of  style.  He 
subsequently  proceeded  to  Rome,  where,  at 
thirty  years  of  age,  he  heard  Plotinus,  under 
whom  he  studied  the  eclectic  system  for  six 
years  ;  and  being  of  a  melancholy  tempera- 
ment, was  with  difficulty  persuaded  by  his 
master  from  putting  an  end  to  his  existence,  in 
order,  in  the  spirit  of  the  Platonic  doctrine,  to 
release  his  soul  from  its  wretched  prison,  the 
body.  In  order  to  divert  his  melancholy  he 
visited  Sicily,  and  took  up  his  abode  at  Liiy- 
bteum  ;  where,  according  to  Eusebius  and  Je- 
rome, he  composed  those  famous  books  against 
the  Christians,  which,  by  reason  of  his  name 
and  authority,  and  the  acuteness  and  learning 
with  which  they  were  written,  were  sup- 
pressed by  particular  edicts,  under  Constan- 
tine  and  Theodosius.  The  circumstances  of 
the  life  of  Porphyrius  are  little  known  after 
his  arrival  in  Sicily  ;  except  that  he  died  at 
Rome  at  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Diocletian, 
about  the  year  304.  He  wrote  a  great 
number  of  books,  the  greater  part  of  which, 
in  consequence  of  the  mistaken  zeal  above 
described,  have  perished.  From  the  frag- 
ments which  remain,  he  appears  to  have 
been  a  writer  of  great  erudition  and  eloquence, 
neither  of  which  can  altogether  atone  for 
his  mysticism,  his  credulity,  and  the  very 
doubtful  honesty  of  much  of  his  fanaticism. 
Of  the  pieces  of  Porpliyrius  which  have  es- 
caped the  depredations  of  time  and  religious 
enmity,  the  four  following,  "  De  Abstinentia 
Usu  Animalium,"  "  De  Vita  Pythagorae," 
"  Senteutim  ad  intelligibilia  ducentes,"  "  De 
Antro  Nympharum,"  with  a  fragment,  "  Dt 
Styge,"  were  printed  at  Cambridge  in  165.5/ 
'•  An  Epistle  to  Anebo,  an  Egyptian  priest  ' 
was  published  in  Greek  and  Latin,  at  Oxford, 
by  Thomas  Gale,  together  with  lambliclms 
1678,  folio.  He  also  wrote  "  The  Life  ot 
Plotinus,"  prefixed  to  his  "  Enneads," 


FOR 


FOR 


contains  many  particulars  concerning  Porpby-    fortunately    lie    continued    bis    labours    on!) 
rius  himself.  —  Suidus.     Fabricii  Bibl.   Gmc.   through  four  of  these  dramas—"    Hecuba, 
CW.      Lardner.     Brucher.  <<  Orestes,"    ''  Phreniss*,"    and  '<  Medea  " 

rORPOllA  (Nicoto)  surnamed  the  "Pa-  Ha  also  assisted  in  editing  the  Greuville 
triarch  of  Harmony,"  a  celebrated  musician,  Homer,  published  at  Oxford,  1800,  4  vols. 
born  in  1689,  at  Naples.  He  was  placed  at  4 to  ;  and  lie  corrected  the  text  of  the  f. 
an  early  age  under  the  famous  Alessandro  gedies  of  yEschylus,  for  a  splendid  edition, 
Scarlatti,  by  whose  instructions  be  made  a  which  appeared  from  the  Glasgow  press,  m 
rapid  progress  towards  excellence  in  the  sci-  folio,  also  printed  in  two  volumes  octavo.  He 
ence.  On  quitting  the  Conservatory  be  tra-  deservedly  enjoyed  the  reputation  of  being  one 
veiled  into  Germany  ;  and  in  1717  produced  !  of  the  best  Greek  scholars  and  critics  of  the 
his  first  opera,  "  Ariane  e  Tesio,"  at  Vienna,  :  age  ;  notwithstanding  which  be  experienced 


which  met  with  such  success  in  that  capital, 
that  it  speedily  found  its  way  to  the  theatres 
of  Venice  and  London.  The  popularity  it  en- 
joyed at  Vienna  was  the  more  remarkable, 
from  the  difficulties  the  composer  bad  to  en- 
counter in  the  peculiar  taste  of  the  emperor 
Charles  VI.  who  at  first  thought  his  style  too 


little  patronage  or  support,  a  circumstance 
partly  attributable  to  bis  personal  habits, 
which  were  convivial,  and  not  quite  consistent 
with  the  rules  of  sobriety.  Towards  the 
latter  part  of  his  life,  be  was  appointed  li- 
brarian to  the  London  Institution,  with  a  sa- 
lary of  200/.  a  year  ;  and  his  death  took 


ornate,  but  at  length  became  one  of  his  j  place  September  25,  1808,  at  his  apart- 
warmest  admirers.  From  Germany  he  went  ments,  in  the  bouse  then  belonging  to  that 
to  Venice,  where,  in  1726,  he  brought  out  his  '  establishment  in  the  Old  Jewry.  His  de- 
"  Siface,"  against  the  "  Giro"  of  Leonardo  cease  was  occasioned  by  apoplexy  ;  and  his 
Vinci,  to  which  it  was  considerably  inferior,  body  having  been  subjected  to  anatomical  ei 
but  in  his  succeeding  efforts  be  far  surpassed  ;  amination,  it  was  discovered  that  his  skull  was 


thr-vt  composer.  At  Dresden,  the  Naples  of 
Germany,  as  far  as  regards  music,  his  ca- 
reer was  still  more  prosperous  ;  and  in  this 
city  he  first  introduced  to  the  public  his  pupil 
Mingotti,  whose  personal  charms  and  musical 
abilities  rendered  her  eventually  celebrated 
throughout  Europe.  In  1773  Porpora  came 
to  England  for  the  purpose  of  superintend- 
ing the  Italian  opera,  then  established  by  cer- 
tain of  the  nobility,  in  opposition  to  Handel  ; 
but  although  his  efforts  were  worthy  of  bis 
reputation,  and  supported  by  the  talents  of  his 
great  scholar  Farinelli,  their  success  was  not 
proportionate  to  their  merit,  and  the  composer 
left  this  country  in  disgust.  He  became  af- 


one  of  the  thickest  that  had  ever  been  ob- 
served. He  was  the  author  of  "  Letters  to 
Mr  Archdeacon  Travis,  in  Answer  to  bis  De- 
fence of  the  Three  Heavenly  Witnesses,'" 
1790,  8vo ;  in  which  be  is  thought  to  have 
completely  invalidated  the  much  contested 
text,  1  John  v.  7  ;  and  after  bis  death  Pro  • 
fessor  Monk  and  Mr  Blomtielc)  published  his 
"  Adversaria,  or  Notes  and  Emendations  of 
the  Greek  Poets  ;"  and  his  "  Tracts  and  Mis- 
cellanies1' were  edited  by  Mr  Kidd.  Many  of 
these  are  sallies  of  irony  and  humour  of  the 
most  racy  and  peculiar  kind,  which,  with  other 
articles  abounding  with  learning  and  critical 
acumen,  appeared  in  various  of  the  literary 


terwards  master  of  the  Incurabili  Conserva-|  journals.  Acuteness  of  discernment,  solidity 
torio  at  Venice,  whence  be  retired  to  Naples,;  of  judgment  united  to  intense  application  and 
and  died  there,  in  1767,  in  great  indigence.!  a  stupendous  memory,  rendered  professor  Por- 
As  a  composer  be  was  considered  a  model  of|son  a  complete  critic  in  the  most  honourable 


style  in  recitative,  and  is  said  to  have  been 
tlie  author  of  fifty  operas,  and  a  man  of  wit. — 
Biog.  Diet,  of  Music. 

PORSON  (RICHARD)  a  celebrated  critic 
and  classical  scholar,  professor  of  Greek  in  the 
university  of  Cambridge.  He  was  born  De- 
cember 25,  1759,  at  East  Ruston,  in  Nor- 


sense  of  that  appellation.  This  eminent  scho- 
lar married  Mrs  Leman,  sister  to  Mr  Perry, 
the  proprietor  of  the  Morning  Chronicle,  which 
journal  had  to  boast  of  many  of  bis  fugitive 
pieces.  It  is  pleasant  to  add,  that  the  friend- 
ship of  his  brother-in-law  contributed  much 


_ „ , .  to     the    alleviation     of    discomforts,    which 

folk,  where  bis  father  was  clerk  of  the  parish,  bounded   circumstances,    and   an  independent 
and  to  him  be  was  indebted  for  the   first  ru-  Spjrit>  jf  not  ^ded  by  a  due  share  of  prudence, 
diments  of  his  education.     He  received  some 
farther  instruction  at  the  village   school,  and 
also  from  the  vicar  of  Ruston  :  after  which  he 
was  sent  to    Eton,   through  the  patronage  of 


some  gentlemen,  who  witnessed  and  admired 
bis  early  proficiency  and  inclination  for  the 
study  of  classical  literature.  In  1777  be  be- 
;  a  student  of  Trinity  college,  Cambridge, 


came 


..here  be  gained  a  prize  medal  ;  and  in  1781 
he  was  chosen  to  a  fellowship.  He  pro- 
ceeded MA.  in  1785  ;  and  not  choosing  to 
take  holy  orders,  he  was  obliged  to  relinquish 
his  fellowship.  la  1793  he  was  unanimously 
elected  Greek  professor,  and  two  years  after 
he  began  the  publication  of  "  The  Tragedies 
of  Euripides,"  with  valuable  annotations.  Un 


Mag.   xxvi. 


never    fail    to    ensure. —  Month. 
Brit.  Crit.  xxii. 

PORTA.  There  were  several  of  this  name 
eminent  in  the  sister  arts  of  painting  and 
music,  as  well  as  for  their  .'iterary  attainments. 
BACCIO  DELLA  PORTA,  a  Florentine  monk  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  called  from  his  profes- 
sion, II  Frate,  and  sometimes  Fra  Bartolomeo, 
was  born  about  the  year  1469,  and  was  a 
pupil  of  Roselii.  He  became  intimate  with 
the  celebrated  Raffaelle  d'Urbino  ;  and  these 
two  great  artists  are  said  to  have  mutually 
benefited  by  reciprocal  instruction.  Subli- 
mity and  grandeur  of  design  and  expressio  i 
are  the  principal  characteristics  of  his  pic- 
tures; which  are  all  taken  from  scr  ptural  his 


FOR 

to?y.  His  death  took  place  in  1517. — GIOVANNI 
BATTISTA  DELLA  PORTA,  a  learned  Neapolitan, 
born  in  1445,  distinguished  himself  as  a  phy- 
sician, mathematician,  and  natural  historian, 
and  is  said  to  have  been  the  original  in- 
ventor of  the  camera  obscura.  This  circum- 
stance, together  with  his  having  entertained 
a  select  society  of  ingenious  men,  who  met  at 
his  house,  with  some  experiments  in  chemis- 
try, brought  him  under  the  suspicion  of  the 
ecclesiastical  courts,  as  a  practiser  in  the 
black  arts,  and  his  assemblies  were  ordered  to 
be  discontinued.  He  was  the  author  of  se- 
veral curious  works,  among  the  principal  of 
which  are  a  treatise  "  On  Natural  Magic," 
8vo  ;  "  Physionomica,"  folio  ;  "  De  Disdlla- 
tionibus,"  4to  ;  "  De  Occultis  Literarum 
Notis ;"  "  On  Physiognomy,  as  connected 
with  Astrology,"  &c.  He  had  also  projected 
an  Encyclopaedia,  as  well  as  two  literary  so- 
cieties, and  died  in  1515. — JOSEPH  PORTA, 
surnamed  Salviati,  from  his  instructor,  was 
born  at  Castel  Nuovo,  in  1535  ;  he  excelled 
as  well  in  fresco  as  in  oil  painting,  and  died 
at  Venice,  in  1585, — There  was  also  an  emi- 
nent scholar,  SIMON  PORTA,  a  native  of 
Naples,  who  studied  under  Pomponatius.  He 
was  born  in  1497,  and  became  professor  of 
philosophy  at  Pisa.  His  works  are  treatises 
on  "  The  Colour  of  the  Eyes  ;"  "On  Pleasure 
and  Pain  ;"  "  On  the  Human  Mind,"  &c. 
His  death  took  place  at  Naples,  in  1554. — 
Murcri.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

PORTALIS  (JEAN  ETIF.NNE  MARIE) 
counsellor  of  state,  and  minister  for  religious 
affairs  in  France,  under  the  reign  of  Napoleon. 
He  was  born  at  Beausset,  in  Provence,  April 
1,  1746  ;  and  he  was  at  the  commencement 
of  the  Revolution  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
advocates  of  the  parliament  of  Aix.  He  was 
no  less  eminent  for  his  knowledge  and  taients 
than  for  the  liberality  of  his  principles,  which 
he  particularly  manifested  in  a  memoir  which 
he  published  in  1770,  entitled  "  Consultation 
sur  la  Validite  des  Marriages  des  Protestants 
en  France."  He  pleaded  with  success  against 
the  count  de  Mirabeau,  in  defence  of  the 
countess,  who  wished  to  procure  a  separation 
from  her  husband  ;  and  he  had  signalized 
himself  repeatedly  both  as  a  lawyer  and  a 
statesman,  previously  to  1790,  when  he  re- 
fused the  offer  of  his  fellow-citizens  to  place 
him  at  the  head  of  the  departmental  adminis- 
tration. Being  disturbed  in  his  retirement, 
he  took  refuge  at  Lyons,  and  afterwards  at 
Paris,  where  he  was  arrested  as  a  suspected 
person,  and  imprisoned  till  the  overthrow  of 
the /tyranny  of  Robespierre.  Under  there- 
publican  constitution  of  the  year  3,  he  be- 
came a  member  of  the  Council  of  the  Ancients  ; 
and  in  November,  1795,  he  was  chosen  secre- 
tary to  that  body,  of  which  he  was  at  length 
made  president.  In  this  station  he  was  the 
advocate  of  moderation,  and  he  recommended 
the  abrogation  of  many  of  the  flagitious  Jaws 
which  had  been  promulgated  during  are  re- 
volutionary frenzy.  Opposing  the  violent 
measures  of  the  Directors,  in  1797,  he  was 
placed  on  the  list  of  proscription  ;  but  he 


FOR 

escaped  to  Holstein,  and  took  refuge  in  the 
castle  of  Emkendorf,  where  he  was  protected 
by  count  Reventlau,  a  rich  Danish  nobleman. 
Buonaparte  becoming  first  consul,  recalled  Por- 
talis,  who  arrived  at  Paris  in  February,  1800, 
and  was  immediately  employed.  Towards  the 
end  of  the  year  he  was  made  a  counsellor  of 
state;  and  he  was  also  a  member  of  the  commis- 
sion for  the  arrangement  of  the  civil  code.  He 
was  afterwards  charged  with  the  direction  of 
all  affairs  relating  to  public  worship  ;  and  he 
was  principally  concerned  in  the  formation  of 
the  Concordat  with  the  pope.  In  1802  he 
was  elected  a  candidate  for  the  Conservative 
Senate;  and  in  July,  1804,  Napoleon  nomi- 
nated him  minister  for  religious  affairs,  and 
grand  cordon  of  the  Legion  of  Honour.  His 
death  took  place  August  25,  1807.  Portalis 
was  a  member  of  the  second  class  of  the  Jn- 
stitute  ;  and  in  1806  he  read  to  that  assen.bly 
a  eulogy  on  the  attorney- general  Seguier.  He 
left  a  posthumous  work,  "  Sur  1' Usage  et  1'A- 
bus  de  1'Esprit  Philosophique  pendant  le  dix- 
huitiemeSiecle/'published  at  Paris,  1820,'-  vols. 
8vo. — Bing.  Univ.  Biog.  Nouv.  de%  Contemp. 

PORTE  DUTHEIL(FRANCoisJEAMGA- 
BIUEL  de  la)  an  ingenious  French  writer,  born 
at  Paris  in  1742.  He  received  a  good  educa- 
tion, and  entered  young  into  the  army.  Afrer 
serving  with  reputation  as  an  officer  in  several 
campaigns,  and  having  obtained  the  cross  of 
St  Louis,  he  retired,  on  peace  taking  place,  and 
devoted  himself  to  classical  studies.  In  1770 
he  published  a  French  translation  of  one  of 
the  tragedies  of  /Eschylus;  and  in  1775  the 
odes  of  Callimachus.  The  following  year  he 
was  appointed  a  member  of  a  committee  or- 
dered by  government  to  collect  charters  and 
other  historical  monuments  ;  in  consequence 
of  which  he  went  to  Italy,  and  after  remaining 
there  several  years,  he  returned,  bringing  a 
multitude  of  valuable  papers,  part  of  which  he 
published  in  conjunction  with  M.  de  Bre- 
quigny,  in  1791,  3  vols.  folio.  He  also  engaged 
with  Rocbfort  in  a  new  edition  of  the  Theatre 
des  Grecs  of  father  Brumoy,  for  which  he  fur- 
nished a  version  of  all  the  tragedies  of  yEschy- 
lus  extant.  In  1794  he  published  a  new 
translation  of  ^Eschylus,  with  the  original  text. 
He  also,  in  concert  with  MINI.  Gossellin  ana 
Coray,  translated  the  Geography  of  Strabo ; 
and  produced  several  other  works  relating 
to  ancient  literature.  La  Porte  du  Theil,  who 
was  a  member  of  the  Legion  of  Honour,  died, 
after  a  long  and  painful  illness,  May  28,  1815. 
— Bios;.  Univ. 

PORTEUS  (BEILBY)  a  learned  prelate, 
bishop  of  London.  He  was  a  native  of  York, 
being  born  in  that  city  in  1731  ;  and,  having 
received  the  rudiments  of  a  classical  education 
at  the  grammar-school  of  Ripon  in  the  West 
Riding  of  the  county,  was  admitted,  in  the 
humble  capacity  of  a  sizar,  at  Christ's  college, 
Cambridge.  At  the  university  he  distin- 
guished himself  by  his  talents  and  application, 
and  at  length  became  fellow  of  his  college. 
Seeker,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  made  him 
one  of  his  domestic  chaplains  in  1762;  soon 
after  which  he  resigned  his  fellowship  ruid 
2  Y2 


POS 

married  on  obtaining  some  preferment,  wnich 
he  exchanged  afterwards  for  the  living  of 
Ilur.ton,  Kent.  The  steady  patronage  of  the 
archbishop  gave  him  in  succession  a  stall  in 
Peterborough  cathedral  and  the  valuable,  rec- 
tory of  Lambeth,  both  which  he  held,  with 
some  other  benefices  of  minor  importance,  till 
in  1776,  he  was  raised  to  the  see  of  Chester, 
at  the  express  instance,  it  is  said,  of  Charlotte, 
queen  to  George  III.  Eleven  years  after  he 
u as  translated  to  the  bishopric  of  London, 
over  which  diocese,  lie  continued  to  preside 
till  his  decease  in  1808.  Bishop  Porteus  was 
a  man  of  deep  erudition  and  considerable 
ability  ;  while,  in  his  earlier  years  at  least,  he 
appears  to  have  possessed  a  poetical  talent 
much  above  mediocrity,  as  is  evinced  by  his 
poem  "  On  Death,"  which  gained  the  Seato- 
man  prize  in  17. 59.  He  is  also  said  to  have 
assisted  Mrs  Hannah  More  in  the  composition 
of  a  religions  novel,  entitled  "  Coelebs  in 
Search  of  a  Wife;"  a  report  to  which  greater 
credence  has  been  given  from  the  close  inti- 
macy and  presumed  coincidence  of  religious 
bias  between  the  parties.  His  graver  writings 
are  a  life  of  his  early  patron,  archbishop  Seeker, 
with  a  variety  of  sermons,  charges,  and  other 
devotional  tracts,  which  have  been  collected 
and  published  subsequent  to  his  decease. — 
Life  nf  Ucidsnn.  Ann.  Keg. 

PORTUS.  There  were  two  eminent  scho- 
lars of  this  name  in  the  sixteenth  century,  fa- 
ther and  son. — FRANC.ISCUS,  the  elder,  a  na- 
tive of  Candia,  the  ancient  Crete,  was  born  in 
1611,  and  educated  in  the  tenets  of  the  Ro- 
nush  church,  at  the  court  of  Hercules,  duke  of 
f  errara.  The  death  of  his  patron  and  sove- 
reign, and  a  change  which  had  begun  to  take 
place  in  his  religious  opinions,  induced  him,  in 
156!,  to  retire  to  Geneva,  where  he  afterwards 
openl\  embraced  the  doctrines  of  the  reformed 
faith,  and  became  Greek  professor.  He  was 
the  author  of  some  very  able  and  learned 
annotations  on  the  works  of  Xenophon,  Thu- 
cydides,  Pindar,  &c.  and  of  a  useful  supple 
ineut  to  Constantine's  lexicon.  His  death 
took  place  in  1581. — ^EMII.IUS,  the  younger, 
did  not  disgrace  the  reputation  which  his 
father  had  acquired,  and  is  advantageously 
known  as  the  compiler  of  a  lexicon  in  Greek 
and  Latin,  of  the  Doric  and  Ionic  dialects,  in 
two  octavo  volumes.  He  also  translated 
Suidas,  and  superintended  the  publication  of 
the  works  of  some  other  ancient  classics.  He 
held  successively  the  Greek  professorship  at 
Lausanne  and  Heidelberg,  and  died  in  1610. — 
Moreri, 

POSIDONIUS,  or  POSSIDONIUS,  a 
Stoic  philosopher,  who  was  a  native  of  Apa- 
mea  in  Syria.  His  works  are  all  lost ;  and  but 
little  more  is  known  of  him,  except  that  he  was 
the  contemporary  of  Pompey  and  Cicero,  the 
latter  of  whom,  in  the  first  book  of  his  trea- 
tise on  the  nature  of  the  Gods,  terms  Posi- 
donius  bis  instructor  and  fiiend.  This  philoso 
plier  had  his  school  at  Rhodes,  and  Pompey, 
on  his  return  from  Syria,  visited  the  sage, 
wishing  to  hear  him  discourse.  Finding,  how- 
ever, that  he  was  suffering  under  a  severe  fid. 


POS 

of  the  gout,  the  visitor  began  to  lament  the 
probable  disappointment  of  his  wishes  ;  but 
Po.sidonius  immediately  began  to  deliver  a  lec- 
ture on  the  principles  of  the  Stoic  philosophy, 
in  the  course  of  which,  as  his  disorder  became 
peculiarly  distressing;  he  occasionally  ex- 
claimed, "  O  pain,  pain,  be  as  troublesome  as 
thou  wilt,  thou  shall  never  induce  me  to 
acknowledge  thee  to  be  an  evil." — POSIDO- 
NIUS, of  Alexandria,  a  celebrated  mathema- 
tician who  calculated  the  circumference  of 
the  earth  from  astronomical  observations  is 
supposed  to  have  been  the  same  with  the 
Rhodian  philosopher,  though  some  consider 
them  as  distinct  individuals.  Some  fragments 
of  his  writings  remain,  published  in  1810, 
under  the  following  title,  "  Possidonii  Rhodii 
Keliquae  Doctrina;  collegit  atque  illustravit 
Jacob.  Bake  ;  accedit  Wittembachii  Adno- 
tatio." — King.  Univ. 

POSSELT  (ERNEST  Louis)  an  eminent 
German  historian,  born  about  1763,  at  Baden, 
where  his  father  held  the  office  of  an  aulic 
counsellor.  He  was  educated  at  Gottingen 
and  Stiasburg,  and  having  taken  the  degree 
of  LLD.  he  was  called  to  the  bar.  1  his  pro- 
fession not  suiting  his  taste,  he  obtained  the 
professoiship  of  law  and  rhetoric  at  the  gym- 
nasium of  Carlsruhe,  and  became  private  se- 
cretary to  the  margrave  of  Baden.  He  then 
devoted  himself  to  the  cultivation  of  German 
historiography  ;  and  his  reputation  procured 
him  the  offer  of  employments  in  Prussia,  and 
in  1791  he  was  made  bailli  of  Gernsbach,  near 
Rastadt,  He  became  a  warm  admirer  of  the 
French  Revolution,  and  wrote  in  Latin  an 
account  of  the  early  wars  between  France  and 
the  coalesced  powers ;  and  he  published  a 
History  of  the  Trial  of  Louis  XVI,  and  various 
other  works,  relating  to  contemporary  history. 
At  length  he  became  attached  to  general 
Moreau,  and  undertook  to  write  the  history 
of  his  celebrated  retreat  from  Bavaria.  When 
that  officer  was  prosecuted  in  1804,  Posselt 
became  alarmed  for  his  own  safety,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  connexion  with  him.  He 
quitted  the  territory  of  Baden,  and  wandered 
from  one  place  to  another  in  a  state  of  mental 
distraction,  which  ultimately  induced  him  to 
throw  himself  out  of  a  widow  at  Heidelberg, 
when  he  fractured  his  skull,  and  died  in  a  few 
hours.  This  melancholy  accident  happened 
June  11,  180-1.  A  list  of  his  works  may  be 
found  in  the  annexed  authorities. — Biag.  Univ. 
Bing.  Nouv.  des  Cantemp. 

POSSEVIN  (ANTHONY)  a  learned  Jesuit, 
born  at  Mantua,  in  Italy,  in  1533.  After 
finishing  his  studies,  he  went  to  Rome,  where 
he  was  employed  as  tutor  to  the  nephew  of 
cardinal  Hercules  Gonzaga.  In  1559  he  was 
admitted  into  the  order  of  St.  Ignatius,  and  he 
was  employed  by  his  superiors  as  their  agent 
with  Emanuel  Phillibert,  duke  of  Savoy,  whom 
he  persuaded  to  admit  the  Jesuits  to  settle 
in  his  states,  and  to  adopt  severe  measures 
against  the  Waldenses.  Pope  Gregory  XIII. 
sent  him  to  settle  the  disputes  which  had 
arisen  between  the  king  of  Poland  and  the 
czar  of  Muscovy,  in  which  he  succeeded  ; 


POS 

and  he  was  engaged  in  other  diplomatic  af- 
fairs in  Sweden  and  Germany.  He  returned 
to  Italy  in  1.587,  and  remained  for  some  time 
at  Padua,  devoting  his  time  to  religious  du- 
ties and  literary  undertakings.  He  afterwards 
went  to  Rome,  where  he  interested  himself  so 
warmly  in  the  reconciliation  of  Henry  IV  of 
Fiance  with  the  holy  see,  as  to  give  offence  to 
the  pope,  who  forbade  him  to  interfere  any 
farther  in  the  business.  He  died  at  Ferrara, 
in  1611.  His  works  are  "  Moscovia,  sen  de 
Rebus  Moscoviticis,"  1586,  8vo;  "  Biblio- 
theca  selecta  de  Rations  Studiorum,"  1593, 
folio,  2  vols.  ;  and  "  ApparatusSacer,"  1603-6, 
3  vols.  folio. — ANTHONY  POSSEVTN,  nephew 
of  the  preceding,  practised  with  reputation  as 
a  physician  at  Mantua,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  17th  century.  He  was  the  author  of 
"  Gonzagarum  Mantuic  et  Montisfprrati  Du- 
cum  Historia,"  1617,  folio,  and  other  works. 
—  Nnnv.  Dirt.  Hist.  Biog.  Univ. 

POSTEL  (GUILLAUME)  a  Norman  Jesuit, 
born  at  Dolerie,  in  1510,  of  obscure  pa- 
rents, who  left  him  an  orphan  at  a  very  early 
age.  His  docility,  and  the  appearance  of  a 
precocious  talent,  however,  raised  him  friends, 
through  whose  assistance  he  reached  the  me- 
tropolis, and  there  became  a  servitor  in  the 
college  of  St  Barbe.  His  reputation  for  ge- 
neral learning  and  antiquarian  research,  pointed 
him  out  to  Francis  I  as  a  proper  person  to 
be  employed  in  a  design  he  had  formed  of 
introducing  into  France  a  more  extensive  ac- 

O 

quaintance  with  Oriental  literature,  and  Postel 
was  in  consequence  despatched  to  the  Levant, 
for  the  purpose  of  procuring  rare  manuscripts, 
&c.  in  the  selection  of  which  he  displayed 
much  judgment,  and  acquired  in  consequence 
the  favour  of  tbe  chancellor  Poyet,  who,  at  his 
return,  enriched  him  with  a  handsome  ap- 
pointment, and  the  title  of  Professor  Royal  of 
Languages  and  Mathematics.  The  disgrace 
of  his  patron,  however,  as  is  not  unfrequently 
the  case,  involving  that  of  his  dependants, 
Postel  was  banished,  and  led  for  some  time  a 
wandering  life,  during  which  period  his  re- 
verses appear  to  have  affected  his  intellects  ; 
and  his  ideas  in  their  derangement  turning  to 
religious  enthusiasm,  he  became  possessed 
with  many  wild  and  extravagant  notions,  the 
publication  of  which  brought  him  under  the 
censure  of  the  inquisition  at  Venice,  and  he 
was  thrown  into  a  dungeon,  but  was  at  length 
restored  both  to  his  senses  and  to  liberty. 
His  cure,  however,  was  far  from  complete, 
inasmuch  as  though  he  held  for  a  short  time  a 
professorship  at  X^ienna,  and  even  made  his 
peace  with  the  French  court,  which  permitted 
him  to  resume  his  functions  at  Paris,  a  return 
of  fanaticism  induced  him  to  flee  from  society 
and  shut  himself  up  in  a  monastery,  where  he 
died,  in  the  autumn  of  1581.  The  notorious 
work  "  De  Tribira  Impostoribus,"  has  been 
attributed  to  him,  but  on  insufficient  evidence. 
Of  those  to  which  his  claim  is  better  ascer- 
tained, are  "  Claris  Abseonditorum,"  12mo. 
1547  ;  a  curious  treatise  "  On  the  Origin  of 
Nations  ;"  "  On  the  Learning  of  the  Phoeni- 
cians ;"  "  The  Concord  between  the  Gospel 


POT 

and  the  Koran  ;"  "  On  the  Day  of  Judg- 
ment ;"  "  On  the  Hebrew  Language  ;"  "  A 
History  of  the  Gauls  ;"  and  "  A  Description 
of  Mesopotamia;"  most  of  which  are  no\v 
become  scarce. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

POSTLETHWAYTE  (MALACHI)  a  Lon- 
don merchant  of  the  last  century,  supposed  to 
have  been  born  in  1707.  Little  is  known  of 
his  birth  or  education,  but  much  acuteness, 
and  some  reading  is  displayed  in  his  writings, 
the  principal  of  which  is  his  "  Dictionary  of 
Trade  and  Commerce,"  folio,  2  vols.  a  work 
of  considerable  utility.  His  other  productions 
are,  treatises  "  On  the  African  Expedition ;" 
"  On  the  Commercial  Interests  of  Great  Bri- 
tain," 8vo.  2  vols.  ;  "  Great  Britain's  True 
System;"  "  The  Merchant's  Public  Counting 
House, "and  other  Commercial  Tracts.  Mr. 
Poatlethwayte  was  a  fellow  of  the  Antiquarian 
Society,  and  died  1767. — Censura  Literaria, 
vol.  i. 

POTENGER  (JOHM)  a  poet  and  miscel- 
laneous writer,  born  1617.  He  was  a  native 
of  Winchester,  where  his  father  was  head- 
master of  the  grammar  school,  in  which  he  was 
educated.  After  graduating  AB.  at  Corpus 
Christi  college,  Oxford,  he  entered  at  the 
Temple,  and  was  in  due  course  called  to  the 
bar.  Besides  a  variety  of  minor  pieces,  he 
composed  "  A  Pastoral  Reflection  on  Death," 
and  translated  Tacitus's  "  Life  of  Agricola." 
He  appears  to  have  practised  very  little  in 
his  profession  ;  but  having  married  into  the 
family  of  Ernie,  chancellor  of  the  exchequer, 
became  comptroller  of  the  pipe-office.  His 
death  took  place  at  High  worth,  in  Wiltshire, 
in  1733. —  Lloyd's  Memoirs. 

POTHIER  (ROBERT  JOSEPH)  an  eminent 
French  lawyer,  was  born  at  Orleans,  in  1699. 
He  became  professor  of  law  in  the  university 
of  his  native  city,  and  early  distinguished  him- 
self by  an  edition  of  Justinian's  pandects, 
very  accurately  arranged,  which  he  published 
in  1748,  3  vols.  folio.  He  died  unmarried,  in 
1772.  Although  constantly  engaged  in  his 
profession,  he  found  means  to  complete  two  very 
elaborate  works,  entitled,  "  Coutumes  d'Or- 
leans,"  1773-4,  and  "Coutumes  du  Duche,  &c. 
d'Orleans,"  1772,  4to  ;  the  introduction  to 
which  last  work  is  deemed  masterly.  He 
was  also  author  of  various  professional  trea- 
tises, all  of  which,  with  the  productions 
ust  mentioned,  were  reprinted  1774,  in 
4  vols.  4to.  "  A  Treatise  on  Fiefs"  has  also 
been  since  printed  from  his  MSS.,  Orleans, 
1776,  2  vols.  folio. — Nonv.  Diet.  Hist. 

POTOCKI  (COUNT  IGNATIUS)  a  Polish 
nobleman,  who  was  grand-marshal  of  Lithuania, 
and  member  of  the  committee  of  public  in- 
struction, till  the  destruction  of  the  Polish 
monarchy.  He  died  in  1809,  at  the  age  of  fifty- 
eight.  Count  Potocki  translated  the  Logic 
of  Condillac  into  the  Polish  language  ;  and  was 
the  author  of  several  other  works,  which  were 
collected  and  published  by  one  of  his  friends. 
He  interested  himself  greatly  in  the  attempts 
to  free  Poland  from  the  yoke  of  her  more 
powerful  neighbours  ;  and  after  the  overthrow 
of  Kosciusko,  with  whom  he  co-operated,  he 


POT 

was  arrested  and  sent  a  prisoner  to  Russia. 
— Did.  des  H.  M.  du  18me  S.  Biog.  Kouv.  des 
Come.mp. 

POTT  (JonN  HEVRY)  an  eminent  Ger- 
man chemist,  born  at  Halberstadt,  in  1692. 
He  studied  theology,  which  lie  abandoned  to 
devote  himself  to  medicine  and  chemistry  ; 
and  he  was  admitted  ML),  in  1720.  Having 
publicly  supported  a  thesis,  he  subsequently 
printed  it  with  others,  under  the  title  of 
"  Exercitationes  Chimicae  de  Sulphuribus 
Metallorum,"  1738,  4to.  He  settled  at  Ber- 
lin, where  he  was  admitted  into  the  Academy 
of  Sciences  ;  and  on  the  foundation  of  the 
col'ege  of  medicine  and  surgery,  he  was 
called  to  the  chair  of  chemistry,  to  which 
was  added  the  direction  of  the  royal  labora- 
tory. He  made  some  important  chemical  dis- 
coveries, and  published  "  Chemical  Resear- 
ches on  Lithogeognosy,"  and  other  works.  He 
dic:J  March  20,  1777.— Biog.  Univ. 

POTT  (PERCIVAL)  an  eminent  practitioner 
in  surgery  of  the  last  century,  to  whom  the 
science  is  materially  indebted  for  many  va- 
luable improvements  both  in  its  practice  and 
in  the  construction  of  instruments.  He  was 
born  in  1713,  in  Threadneedle-street,  London  ; 
and  was  intended  by  his  friends  for  the  church, 
but  feeling  a  strong  bias  towards  the  profes- 
sion, in  which  he  eventually  so  highly  dis- 
tinguished himself,  they  were  prevailed  upon 
to  place  him  under  Mr  Nourse,  of  St  Bar- 
tholomew's hospital,  in  which  institution  he 
rose  gradually  to  be  first  assistant,  and  after- 
wards principal  surgeon.  This  latter  appoint- 
ment he  attained  in  1749.  In  176.5,  having 
been  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  in 
the  course  of  the  preceding  year,  he  delivered 
a  course  of  lectures  on  anatomy  and  surgery, 
which  excited  considerable  attention.  Be- 
sides a  great  variety  of  valuable  disquisitions, 
"  On  Hernia."  "  On  Fistula  Lachrymalis," 
"  On  Hydrocele,"  "  On  Cataract,"  "  On 
Wounds  of  tne  Head,'1  &c.  he  invented 
many  '.-w  instruments,  and  improved  others 
with  great  ability  and  success,  and  was  es- 
pecially celebrated  for  the  mildness  and  hu- 
manity of  his  :reatment.  This  scientific  ope- 
rator and  jxcellent  man  died  at  his  house  in 
Hanover-square  in  the  winter  of  17H8,  having 
resigned  his  situation  at  St  Bartholomew's 
the  year  precedm0.  Sir  J.  Earle,  his  son-in- 
law,  has  published  a  complete  edition  of  his 
writings. —  Lift  prefixed  to  Works. 

POTTER,  a  name  of  considerable  note  in 
the  annals  of  the  English  church,  from  the 
number  of  learned  and  able  divines  who  have 
borne  it.  Of  these  BARNABAS  POTTER,  born 
in  the  county  of  Westmoreland,  in  1578,  died 
1642,  was  first  fellow,  and  eventually  provost, 
of  Queen's  college,  Oxford.  He  held  also 
some  preferment  in  Devonshire,  but  in  1628, 
being  raised  to  the  see  of  Carlisle,  resigned 
Lis  headship  in  favour  of  his  nephew,  CHRIS- 
TOPHER POTTER,  a  native  of  the  same  county 
with  himself,  and  born  about  the  year  1591. 
The  latter  was  brought  up  at  the  university 
under  his  uncle,  whose  consecration  sermon  he 
preached,  and  afterwards  printed  ;  and  having 


POT 

obtained  the  appointment  of  king's  chaplain, 
wrote,  at  the  special  request  of  Charles  i, 
with  whom  he  was  a  great  favourite,  an  "  An- 
swer to  a  late  popish  Plot,  entitled  '  Charity 
Mistaken.'  "  This  tract  appeared  in  1633,  tw<j 
years  after  which  he  was  raised  to  the  dewjerj 
of  Worcester.  In  1640,  being  at  that  time 
vice-chancellor  of  Oxford,  his  devotion  to  the 
royal  cause  embroiled  him  with  the  parlia 
ment ;  and  on  the  breaking  out  of  hostilities, 
he  sacrificed  all  his  plate  for  the  king's  ser- 
vice. In  1645  he  was  advanced  to  the  rich 
deanery  of  Durham,  but  his  unexpected  death 
within  two  months  of  his  presentation  pre- 
vented his  being  ever  installed.  Besides  the 
pamphlet  already  mentioned,  he  was  the  au- 
thor of  a  controversial  treatise  on  pred<.'sun;t- 
tion,  and  a  translation  of  father  Paul's  history 
of  the  disputes  between  the  see  of  Rome 
and  the  Venetian  republic.  —  JOHN  POTTER, 
primate  and  metropolitan,  the  mosf  celebrated 
of  the  name,  born  in  1671,  was  a  prelate  of 
great  learning  and  exemplary  manners,  al- 
though the  general  amiability  of  his  private 
character  was  somewhat  sullied  by  a  pride 
which  led  him  eventually  to  disinherit  his 
eldest  son,  for  an  unequal  alliance.  This 
circumstance  is  perhaps  the  less  excusable, 
as  hereditary  prejudices  could  have  no  share 
in  producing  it,  his  own  father  having  been  u 
linen-draper,  in  no  great  way  of  business,  at 
Wakefield,  in  Yorkshire,  in  the  grammar 
school  belonging  to  which  town  he  received 
the  rudiments  of  a  classical  education.  At 
the  usual  age  he  became  a  member  of  l.'m- 
versity  college,  Oxford,  where,  in  his  twentieth 
year,  he  published  a  work  in  one  octavo  vo- 
lume, entitled  "  Variantes  Lectiones  ot  Notas 
ad  Plutarchi  librum  de  audenuis  Poetis ;  el 
r.d  Basilii  magni  Orationem  ad  juvenes,  quo- 
modo  cum  Fructu  legere  possint  Grascorum 
libros.''  The  next  year  he  became  fehow  of 
Lincoln  college,  where  he  distinguished  him- 
self a^  aL  able  and  popular  tutor,  and  in  1697, 
printed  a  new  edition  of  Lycophron,  in  folio, 
vhich  is  yet  considered  the  best  of  thai  diffi- 
cult author.  Soon  after  his  literary  reputa- 
tion was  established,  by  the  appearance  of  his 
"  Archseologia  Grasca,  or  me  Antiquities  of 
Greece,"  in  2  vols.  8vo  ;  a  standard  work, 
which  has  gone  through  a  variety  of  editions, 
and  is  considered  an  almost  indispensable  vade 
mecum  to  the  classical  student.  In  1704  he 
became  chaplain  to  Tenison,  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  and  two  years  afterwards  to  queen 
Anne,  on  which  occasion  he  graduated  as 
doctor  in  divinity.  In  1715,  being  then  regius 
professor  of  divinity,  he  was  raised  to  the  see 
of  Oxford,  and  on  the  death  of  archbishop 
Wake,  in  1737,  was  advanced  to  the  primacy. 
Archbishop  Potter  sustained  his  high  situa- 
tion with  much  dignity  and  reputation,  till 
his  death,  in  1747.  His  works,  in  addition  to 
those  already  enumerated,  are,  "  A  Discourse 
on  Church  Government,"  1707  ;  an  edition 
of  "  Clemens  Alexandrinus,"  1714;  and  e 
variety  of  Charges,  Sermons,  and  other  theo- 
logical works,  printed  together,  in  3  vols.  8vo, 
at  Oxford,  in  1753. — FRANCIS  POTTER,  son  of 


P  O  U 

a  clergyman  of  that  name,  rector  of  Kilming- 
ton,  in  the  county  of  Somerset,  was  born  at 
Meyre,  Wilts,  of  which  parish  also  his  father 
was  the  incumbent.  He  received  his  educa- 
tion at  Worcester  and  Trinity  colleges,  Ox- 
ford, and  in  1637  succeeded  his  father  in  his 
Somersetshire  living.  The  presentation  of  a 
newly  invented  hydraulic  machine  to  the 
Royal  Society  procured  him  to  be  elected  a 
fellow  of  that  body,  which  his  talents  as  a 
mathematician,  and  even  as  a  painter,  seem 
amply  to  warrant  ;  although  an  absurd  treatise 
which  he  wrote  on  the  Number  of  the  Beast 
in  the  Revelations  impeaches  not  only  his 
character  as  a  sound  divine,  but  also,  to  a  cer- 
tain extent,  as  a  man  of  understanding.  Some 
time  previously  to  his  decease  he  had  totally  lost 
his  sight,  and  died  at  length  at  Kilmington,  in 
1678. — ROBERT  POTTER,  AM.  was  a  native 
of  the  county  of  Norfolk,  born  in  1721,  gra- 
duated at  Emmanuel  college,  Cambridge,  AB. 
1741  ;  AM.  1768.  He  was  an  admirable 
classical  scholar,  and  highly  distinguished 
himself  by  his  excellent  translations  of  the 
works  of  ^Eschylus,  Euripides,  Sophocles,  all 
equally  remarkable  for  the  spirit  and  fidelity 
with  which  they  are  rendered.  The  first  of 
these  appeared  in  4to,  1777,  reprinted  in  two 
8vo,  vols.  in  1779;  the  second  in  1781-2; 
the  last  in  1788.  His  other  writings  consist 
of  some  miscellaneous  pieces  in  verse,  which 
exhibit  the  possession  of  a  pleasing  vein  of 
poetry,  a  translation  of  the  Oracle  concerning 
Babylon,  and  a  "  Reply  to  Dr.  Johnson's  At- 
tack on  Gray,  in  his  '  Lives  of  the  Poets.'  ' 
Mr  Potter  held  a  stall  in  Norwich  cathedral, 
with  the  livings  of  Kepingland  and  Lowstoffe, 
in  Suffolk,  at  the  latter  of  which  he  died  in  1 804. 
— Fuller's  Worthies,  Athen.  Oxun.  Biog.  Brit. 

POTTER  or  POTER  (PAUL)  a  Dutch 
painter,  born  in  1625  at  Enckuysen,  in  the 
province  of  Holland.  His  works,  which  are 
become  equally  rare  and  valuable,  are  pe- 
culiarly distinguished  by  the  effect  of  his 
sun  rays  upon  his  landscapes  and  cattle,  in 
producing  which  he  has  distanced  all  compe- 
titors. He  died  young  at  Amsterdam,  in 
1654.  The  paintings  of  this  artist  are  deemed 
very  valuable.  For  one  small  picture  in  the 
collection  of  earl  Grosvenor,  that  nobleman 
gave  9000  guineas.— Pilkington,  D'ArgencMe 
Vies  des  Peint. 

POUPART  (FRAN90is)  a  French  physi- 
cian, celebrated  as  an  entomologist  and  a  good 
anatomist.  He  was  born  at  Mans,  ibou*-  the 
year  1660,  and  graduated  in  medicine  at 
Rheims.  A  ligament  described  by  him  still 
bears  his  name  ;  and  several  of  his  tracts,  es- 
pecially those  connected  with  tne  history  ol 
insects,  are  accurate  and  ingenious.  Among 
these  latter  are  a  ''  History  of  the  Formica 
Leo  and  the  Formica  Pulex  ;"  "  On  the  Na- 
tural History  of  the  Leech;"  "  On  Herma- 
phrodite Insects,"  &c.  He  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Academie  des  Sciences,  and  died 
in  indifferent  circumstances  at  Paris,  in  the 
autumn  of  1709. —  Eloy  Diet.  Hist,  de  la  Meet. 

POURCHOT  (£DMUND)  a  learned  Ori- 
entalist and  philosopher,  born  at  1  luilly,  in 


P  O  U 

the  neighbourhood  of  Auxerre,  in  1651  He 
held  the  professorships  of  philosophy,  it,  the 
colleges  of  the  Grassins  and  of  Mazaria,  and 
lectured  on  the  Hebrew  tongue  in  that  of  St 
Barbe.  Pourchot  was  the  intimate  associate 
of  Racine,  Montfau9on,  and  many  other  sa- 
vans  of  his  time,  who  held  him  in  high  es- 
teem for  his  learning.  His  "  Institutiones 
Philosophies"  have  gone  through  four  edi- 
tions. He  was  also  the  author  of  some  other 
tracts  on  philosophical  subjects.  His  death 
took  place  in  1734. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

POUSSIN  (NICHOLAS)  a  painter  of  great 
celebrity,  was  born  in  1594,  at  Andely,  in 
Normandy,  of  an  ancient  but  reduced  family. 
Having  chosen  painting  for  his  profession,  he 
repaired  to  Paris,  where  he  studied  under  dif- 
ferent masters,  and  practised  his  art  for  a 
while  in  the  provinces  with  little  celebrity. 
At  length,  having  attracted  the  notice  of  the 
Italian  poet,  Marini,  then  at  Paris,  he  was 
encouraged  to  go  and  join  him  at  Rome, 
where  he  was  introduced  to  cardinal  Barbe- 
rini.  The  death  of  Marini,  and  the  absence 
of  the  cardinal,  reduced  him  to  great  straits, 
and  he  was  forced  to  give  away  his  works  for 
sums  that  would  scarcely  pay  for  the  colours. 
He  was  not,  however,  to  be  discouraged  ;  and 
studied  the  works  of  Raphael  and  Domeni- 
chino,  and  more  especially  those  of  Titian, 
with  great  attention  ;  but  his  taste  for  the  an- 
tique at  length  prevailed,  and  he  gave  himself 
up  to  that  learned  style,  by  which  he  is  so 
much  distinguished.  On  the  return  of  car- 
dinal Barberini  to  Rome,  he  painted  for  him 
one  of  his  finest  performances,  the  Death  of 
Germanicus,  which,  with  other  works,  so 
fully  established  his  reputation,  that  cardinal 
Richelieu  induced  Louis  X11I  to  recal  him  to 
France  in  1640,  in  order  to  paint  the  gallery 
of  the  Louvre.  He  was  received  with  dis- 
tinction, and  honoured  with  the  title  of  first 
painter  to  the  king,  but  was  so  much  annoyed 
by  the  envy  and  intrigue  of  competitors,  that 
he  formed  an  excuse  to  return  to  Rome  in 
1642,  and  resided  there  for  the  remainder  of 
his  life.  He  continued,  however,  to  receive 
his  pension  under  Louis  XIV;  and  the  chief 
part  of  his  productions  were  purchased  by  his 
countrymen  with  great  avidity.  He  became 
paralytic  before  his  death,  which  took  place 
at  Rome  in  1665,  at  the  age  of  seventy-one. 
As  an  artist,  Poussin  is  chieHy  celebrated  for  a 
style  founded  upon  an  assiduous  study  of  the 
antique.  Hence  a  portion  of  the  coldness 
which  an  attention  to  nature  at  second  hand 
invariably  produces ;  which  was,  however, 
often  atoned  for  in  his  historical  pieces  by 
pathos  and  sublimity  of  expression,  and  by  a 
most  casteful  and  accurate  attention  to  cos- 
tume. He  had  so  studied  the  beauties  of  the 
antique,  and  its  elegance,  grand  gusto,  cor- 
rectness, and  fine  proportions  in  the  remains 
of  ancient  art,  that  nothing  can  exceed  his 
accuracy  in  all  these  particulars.  At  the 
same  time,  few  painters  of  history  have  told 
their  stories  with  more  force  and  perspicuity  ; 
and  his  works  are  deemed  so  full  of  toought, 
that  he  has  been  called  "  Le  Peintre  Uea 


P  O  U 

t>si*  d' Esprit."  His  great  attention  to  <le- 
Mi;n  led  him  to  neglect  colouring,  in  which  lie 
is  more  deficient  than  any  painter  of  equal  ce- 
lebrity. This  great  artist  was  of  a  retired 
and  philosophic  character ;  and  charged  so 
moderately  for  his  pictures,  that  he  never  be- 
came rich.  The  following  anecdote  much  il- 
lustrates his  character.  Having  no  servant, 
Poussin  took  a  candle  in  his  hand  and  lighted 
a  prelate  who  had  stayed  with  him  until  dark 
down  stairs  :  "  I  much  pity  you,  M.  Poussin," 
said  the  bishop  (afterwards  cardinal  Man- 
cini),  "  that  you  have  not  one  servant." 
"  And  I  you,  my  lord,"  replied  the  philoso- 
phic artist,  "  that  you  have  so  many." 
Poussin  married  the  sister  of  Caspar  I)u- 
ghet,  but  never  had  any  offspring.  The  Ger- 
manicus,  and  several  other  of  his  best  pictures, 
have  been  finely  engraved. — D'Argenville  I'ies 
des  Peint.  Pilkington. 

POUSSIN  (GASPAR)  a  very  eminent  land- 
scape painter,  was  born,  according  to  some 
authors,  in  France  in  1600  ;  and  to  others  at 
Rome  in  1613.  His  real  name  was  Dughet, 
being  the  person  whose  sister  was  united  to 
Nicholas  Poussin.  The  disposition  which  he 
early  showed  for  painting,  caused  him  to  he 
placed  under  his  brother-in-law,  whose  sur- 
name he  assumed  ;  and  being  a  lover  of  the 
country  and  its  sports,  he  devoted  himself  to 
rural  sketches,  and  became  one  of  the  greatest 
masters  of  landscape  upon  record.  He  prac- 
tised his  art  with  Teat  distinction  in  various 

O 

parts  of  Italy,  but  chiefly  at  Rome,  where 
he  lived  a  life  of  celibacy,  and  freely  expended 
his  gains  in  hospitable  attentions  to  his  friends. 
He  worked  with  extreme  celerity,  although 
nothing  can  exceed  the  beauty  of  his  scenery, 
and  the  precision  of  his  perspective.  He  par- 
ticularly excelled  in  the  representation  of 
land-storms,  in  which  every  tree  seems  agi- 
tated, and  every  leaf  in  motion.  In  his 
figures  he  was  less  happy,  and  they  were  fre- 
quently supplied  by  Nicholas.  This  skilful 
artist,  whose  performances  are  deemed  very 
valuable,  died,  according  to  U'Argenville,  in 
1675,  and  to  others  in  1663,  but  the  former 
date  is  preferred.  He  engraved  eight  of  his 
own  landscapes. — D'Argenvil.le.  Pilkington. 
POUTEAU  (CLAUDE)  a  celebrated  sur- 
geon, born  at  Lyons  in  1725,  who  was  the 
son  of  a  member  of  the  same  profession.  He 
studied  at  the  college  of  the  Jesuits  in  his 
native  city,  and  afterwards  went  to  Paris, 
where  he  became  the  pupil  of  Morand,  Ledran, 
and  J.  L.  Petit.  Returning  to  Lyons,  he  was 
employed  at  the  Hotel  Dieu,  where  he  be- 
came surgeon-major  in  1747.  In  this  situa- 
tion he  greatly  distinguished  himself  by  his 
practical  skill,  especially  in  the  operation  of 
lithotomy,  in  which  he  made  some  improve- 
ments. On  resigning  his  office  at  the  Hritel 
Dieu,  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  aca- 
demy of  Lyons,  and  he  engaged  in  practice  as 
a  physician.  lie  died  in  1775.  Besides  his 
"  Dissertation  sur  1'Operation  de  la  Pierre," 
and  "  Melanges  de  Chirurgie,"  and  otner 
works  which  appeared  during  his  life,  he  left 
some  valuable  pieces,  published  in  1783,  bv 


P  O  W 

Di  Columbier,  under  the  title  of  "  CEuvres 
Posthumes  de  M.  Poute.au,"  3  vols.  8vo. — 
liui<;.  Univ. 

POWEL  (DAVID)  a  learned  divine  and 
historian  of  the  sixteenth  century,  who  was  a 
native  of  Denbighshire,  in  North  Wales  In 
1568  he  was  sent  for  education  to  Oxford  ;  and 
on  the  foundation  of  Jesus  college,  in  1571, 
he  removed  thither,  and  the  following  year 
took  the  degree  of  HA.  ami  that  of  i\!/\,  iix 

O 

1576.  Having  entered  into  holy  orders,  he 
obtained  the  livings  of  Ruabon  and  Llan- 
fyllin,  in  his  native  county  ;  ar.d  he  also  held 
some  office  in  the  cathedral  of  St  Asaph.  hi 
1582  he  commenced  Bl).  and  the  next  year 
DI). ;  soon  after  which  he  was  made  chaplain 
to  sir  Henry  Sidney,  then  president  of  Wales. 
He  died  in  1598.  Dr  Powel  published  "  Ca- 
radoc's  History  of  Cambria,  with  Annota- 
tions," 1584,  4to  ;  "Annotations  on  the  Itine- 
rary and  Description  of  Wales,  by  Giraldus 
Cambrensis  ;"  "  Pontici  Virunii  Historia  Bii- 
tannica,"  1585,  8vo  ;  and  "  De  Britannica 
Historia  recte  intelligenda,  Epist.  ad  Gul. 
Fleetwood,  Civ.  Lond.  Recordatorem."  An- 
thony a  Wood  says,  that  Dr  Powel  also  under- 
took the  compilation  of  a  Welsh  dictionary, 
but  died  before  it  was  completed. — Berken- 
hout's  Bing.  Lit. 

POWELL  (JOHN  JOSEPH)  an  English 
barrister,  who  distinguished  himself  by  his 
professional  writings.  In  1785  he  published 
his  "  Law  of  Mortgages,"  8vo,  greatly  en- 
larged in  the  edition  of  1799,  2-  vols.  His 
other  works  are,  an  "  Essay  on  the  Learning 
respecting  the  Creation  and  Execution  of 
Powers,  and  also  respecting  the  Nature  and 
Effect  of  Leasing  Powers,"  1787,  8vo  ;  "  Es- 
say on  the  Learning  of  Devises  from  their  In- 
ception by  Writing  to  the  Consummation  by 
the  Death  of  the  Devisor,"  1783,  8vo  ;  "  Es- 
say on  the  Law  of  Contracts  and  Agree- 
ments," 1790,  2  vols.  8vo.  These  woiks 
have  been  reprinted,  and  are  considered  as 
highly  valuable.  Mr  Powel  died  June  21, 
1801. — Bridg7nan's  Leg.  Bibi, 

POWELL  ( WILLIAM  SAMUEL)  a  learned 
divine  of  the  last  century,  who  received  his 
education  at  St  John's  college,  Cambridge, 
where  he  obtained  a  fellowship.  Having  been 
ordained,  he  was  presented  to  the  living  of 
Colkirk,  in  Norfolk,  in  1741  ;  and  after  hold- 
ing other  preferment,  he  was  chosen  master 
of  St  John's  college,  in  1765  ;  and  he  subse- 
quently became  vice-chancellor  of  the  univer- 
sity. He  was  also  archdeacon  of  Colchester, 
and  rector  of  Freshwater  in  the  Isle  of  Wight. 
Dr  Powell  attracted  some  notice  by  the  publi- 
cation of  a  sermon  on  subscription  to  articles 
of  faith,  though  he  no  further  interested 
himself  in  the  controversy  which  arose  in  the 
church  on  that  subject.  He  likewise  pub- 
lished, "  Observations  on  the  Miscellanea 
Analytica"  of  Dr  Waring.  His  death  took 
place  in  1775;  and  a  posthumous  volume  of 
his  "  Sermons  on  various  Subjects,"  8vo, 
shortly  after  appeared,  with  a  biographical 
memoir  of  the  author,  by  his  friend  Dr  Tho- 
mas Balguy. — Gent.  Mag. 


P  O  Y 

POWELL  (WILLIAM)  an  eminent  English 
actor,  the  pupil  and  protege  of  Garrick,  who 
made  his  first  appearance  on  the  stage  at 
Drury-lane,  October  1763,  in  the  character  of 
Philaster.  He  was  received  with  great  ap- 
plause, and  he  continued  to  be  the  chief  sup- 
port of  the  theatre  during  the  period  of  Gar- 
rick's  temporary  retreat,  in  the  course  of  his 
tour  on  the  continent.  In  1767  he  became 
one  of  the  managers  of  Covent-garden  theatre  ; 
and  he  afterwards  engaged  in  the  management 
of  a  new  theatre  at  Bristol,  where,  going  to 
perform  with  his  company  in  the  summer  of 
1769,  he  was  attacked  with  inflammation  of 
the  bowels,  and  died  July  3,  that  year,  at  the 
age  of  thirty-three.  He  was  interred  in 
Bristol  cathedral,  and  his  widow  erected  a 
monument  to  his  memory,  with  a  poetical  in- 
scription, from  the  pen  of  the  elder  Colman. — 
Davies's  IAfe  of  Garrick.  Evans's  Hist,  of 
3nsto/,  vol.  ii. — GEORGE  POWELL,  an  actor 
of  considerable  talent,  who  was  the  contem- 
porary of  Betterton  and  Colley  Gibber,  is 
mentioned  with  commendation  by  Steele,  in 
the  Spectator.  He  was  also  a  dramatic  writer, 
and  died  in  1714. —  Biog.  Dram. 

POWNALL  (THOMAS)  a  learned  anti- 
quary and  politician,  born  at  Lincoln  in  1722. 
He  obtained  the  office  of  secretary  to  the  com- 
missioners for  trade  and  plantations  in  1745  ; 
and  he  had  a  situation  in  the  commissariat  of 
the  army  in  Germany.  In  1753  he  went  to 
America,  where  he  successfully  exerted  him- 
self to  suppress  the  rising  spirit  of  discontent 
among  the  colonists  against  the  British  go- 
vernment. In  1757  he  was  appointed  go- 
vernor of  Massachusetts  bay,  and  subse- 
quently of  South  Carolina.  He  remained 
there  till  1761,  when,  returning  to  England, 
he  was  nominated  director- general  of  the 
office  of  control,  with  the  military  rank  of 
colonel.  The  latter  part  of  his  life  was  spent 
in  literary  retirement ;  and  he  died  at  Bath, 
April  25,  1805.  Governor  Pownall,  as  he 
was  termed,  was  a  fellow  of  the  Society  of  An- 
tiquaries, and  a  considerable  contributor  to  the 
Archffiologia.  He  was  also  the  author  of 
"  Notices  and  Descriptions  of  Antiquities  of 
the  Provincia  Romana  of  Gaul,"  1788,  4to  ; 
"  Descriptions  of  Roman  Antiquities  dug  up 
at  Bath,"  4to  ;  "  Hydraulic  and  Nautical  Ob- 
servations on  the  Currents  in  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,"  1787,  4to  ;  and,  "  Intellectual  Phy- 
sics," 4to  ;  besides  many  political  tracts. — 
JOHN  POWNALL,  brother  of  the  preceding, 
who  died  in  1795,  was  also  an  antiquary,  and 
was  the  author  of  a  paper  in  the  Archneologia 
"  On  a  Roman  Tile  found  at  Reculver,  in 
Kent." — Nichols's  Lit.  Anec.  Reuss.  Bwg. 
Univ. 

POYNET  (JOHN)  an  English  prelate,  was 
born  in  Kent  in  1516,  and  became  successively 
bishop  of  Rochester  and  of  Winchester.  He 
presented  to  Henry  VIII  a  clock  which 
pointed  the  hour  of  the  day,  the  signs  of  the 
zodiac,  the  lunar  variations,  and  the  tides.  It 
was  by  Edward  VI  that  he  was  advanced  to 
the  episcopacy  ;  and  it  was  Poynet  who  drew 
u  the  catechism  called  king  Edward's, 


P  R  A 

printed  in  Latin  and  English  in  1553.  On 
the  accession  of  Mary  he  is  said,  by  Dod,  to 
have  favoured  the  rebellion  of  Wyat,  in  conse- 
quence of  which  he  withdrew  to  Strasburgh  , 
but  it  is  obvious,  that  whether  this  was  the 
case  or  not,  as  a  prelate  zealous  for  the  Reform- 
ation, he  could  not  have  safely  remained  in 
England.  He  died  in  exile  in  1566.  Besides 
his  catechism,  he  was  the  author  of  a  Latin 
treatise  on  the  Eucharist,  and  of  some  theolo- 
gical tracts  and  sermons,  besides  a  work  en- 
titled "  A  Treatise  of  Politique  Power,' 
1556,  8vo  ;  and  another,  cajled  "  A  Defence 
of  the  Marriage  of  Priests,"  1549,  8vo. — 
Godwin  de  Pr&sul.  Bale. 

PR^iTORIUS  (MICHAEL)  a  German  ec- 
clesiastic, born  in  1571,  at  Creutzberg,  in  Tim- 
ringia.  He  became  prior  of  the  Benedictine 
monastery  of  Ringhelm,  in  the  bishopric  of 
Hildesheim,  and  was  at  one  period  of  his  life 
chapel-master  to  the  elector  of  Saxony.  Pras- 
torius  was  an  excellent  musician,  and  the  au- 
thor of  three  quarto  volumes,  entitled  "  Syn- 
tagma Musicum,"  containing  a  history  of  the 
origin  and  progress  of  ecclesiastical  music  to 
his  own  time.  His  death  took  place  at  \Volf- 
enbuttel,  in  1621. — There  was  also  another  of 
this  name,  professor  of  philosophy  at  Wittem- 
berg.  He  was  born  in  1524,  and  became 
rector  of  the  school  at  Magdeburg.  This 
Praetorius  ^whose  other  name  is  variously 
called  Godescalcus  and  Abdias)  is  said  to 
have  understood  fourteen  languages.  A  trea- 
tise on  singing  was  composed  by  him,  in  con- 
junction with  Martin  Agricola,  for  the  use  of 
his  school.  He  died  in  1 573. — Biog.  Dict.ofMus. 

PRAM  (CHRISTIAN)  a  Danish  poet,  born 
in  Norway  in  1756.  He  obtained,  when 
young,  the  prize  of  poetry  from  the  Royal 
Society  of  Belles  Lettres  of  Copenhagen  ;  and 
in  1785  he  published  an  epic  poem  in  foui 
cantos,  called  Stsrkadder,  from  the  name  of 
the  principal  personage,  one  of  the  heroes  of 
northern  antiquity.  He  was  also  the  author  of 
three  tragedies,  Damon  and  Pythias,  1789 ; 
Froda  and  Fingal,  1790;  and  Olinda  and  So- 
phronius ;  besides  other  works.  In  his  old 
age  Pram  obtained  a  lucrative  employment  in 
the  island  of  St  Thomas  in  the  West  Indies, 
where  he  died  in  1821. — Biog.  Univ. 

PRATT  (CHARLES)  earl  Camden,  a  dis- 
tinguished British  lawyer  and  statesman  of 
the  last  century.  He  was  the  son  of  sir  John 
Pratt,  chief  justice  of  the  King's  Bench  ;  and 
he  was  born  in  1713.  After  studying  at  Eton 
and  King's  college,  Cambridge,  where  he  took 
the  degree  of  MA.  in  1739,  and  obtained  a 
fellowship,  he  entered  as  a  student  at  Lin- 
coln's-inn,  and  in  due  time  was  called  to  the 
bar.  'In  1754  he  was  chosen  MP.  for  the 
borough  of  Downton.  After  acquiring  great 
reputation  as  an  advocate,  he  was,  in  1759,  ap- 
pointed attorney-general,  having  the  same  year 
been  elected  recorder  of  the  city  of  Bath.  In 
January  1762  he  was  called  to  the  dignity  of 
a  sergeant-at-law,  and  elevated  to  the  office  of 
chief  justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  when  he 
received  the  honour  of  knighthood.  It  was 
while  he  presided  in  this  court  that  Wilkes 


P  R  A 

was  arrested  on  a  general  warrant,  as  the  au- 
thor of  the  North  Briton,  a  periodical  paper, 
which  gave  offence  to  government,  lie  was 
committed  to  the  Tower,  as  a  state  prisoner, 
and  being  brought,  in  obedience  to  a  writ  of  lia- 
beascorpus,  before  the  court  of  Common  Pleas, 
the  lord-chief-justice  Pratt  discharged  him 
from  his  confinement,  on  May  6, 176.3.  The  firm, 
temperate,  and  constitutional  behaviour  of  the 
judge  on  this  occasion,  and  in  the  consequent 
judicial  proceedings  between  the  printers  of  the 
North  Briton  and  the  messengers  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  and  other  agents  of  the  ministry, 
was  so  acceptable  to  the  friends  of  liberty  in 
the  metropolis,  that  the  city  of  London  pre- 
sented him  with  the  freedom  of  the  corpora- 
tion in  a  gold  box,  and  requested  to  have  his 
picture,  which  was  put  up  in  Guildhall,  with 
the  following  inscription  : — 

Hanc  Icon  em 

Caroli  Pratt,  Eq. 

S,ummi  Judicis  C.P. 

In  Honorem  tanti  Viri, 

Anglic;e    Libertatis,   Lege, 

Assertoris  fidi 

P.  Q.  L. 
In  Curia  Municipal! 

Poni  jusseruut 

Nono  Kal.  Mart.  AD.  MDCCLXIV. 
Gulielmo  Bridgen,  Arm.  Prass.  Urb. 
Similar  honours  were  also  paid  to  the  chief- 
justice  by  the  corporations  of  Dublin,  Bath, 
Exeter,  and  Norwich.  lu  July  1765  he  was 
raised  to  the  peerage,  by  the  title  of  baron 
Camden  ;  and  about  a  year  after  he  was  made 
lord  chancellor.  In  tins  capacity  he  presided 
nt  the  decision  of  a  suit  against  the  messen- 
gers who  arrested  Mr  Wilkes  ;  when  he  made 
a  speech,  in  which  he  stated,  that  "  it  was 
the  unanimous  opinion  of  the  court  that  ge- 
neral warrants,  except  in  cases  of  high  trea- 
son, were  illegal,  oppressive,  and  unwarrant- 
able." He  conducted  himself  in  his  high  sta- 
tion so  as  to  give  very  general  satisfaction  ; 
but  on  his  opposing  the  taxation  of  our  Ame- 
rican colonies,  he  was  deprived  of  the  seals  in 
1770.  He  came  into  office  again,  as  president 
of  the  council,  under  the  administration  of  the 
marquis  of  Rockingham,  in  March  1782  ;  on 
whose  death  he  resigned  the  following  year. 
He  soon  after,  however,  resumed  his  place 
under  Mr  Pitt;  and  in  1786  he  was  raised  to 
the  title  of  earl  Camden.  He  died  April  18, 
1794.  This  respectable  nobleman  and  up- 
right lawyer  is  said  to  have  been  the  author  of 
a  pamphlet,  entitled  "  An  Inquiry  into  the 
Nature  and  Effect  of  the  Writ  of  Habeas  Cor- 
pus," 8vo. — Biog.  Peerage.  Biog.  Univ. 

PRATT  (SAMUEL  JACKSON)  a  novelist,  poet, 
and  dramatic  writer  of  the  last  century.  He 
was  born  at  St  Ives,  in  Huntingdonshire,  in 
1749.  Early  in  life  he  went  on  the  stage  ;  but 
not  finding  his  talents  adapted  to  that  pursuit, 
he  relinquished  it,  and  became  successively  an 
itinerant  lecturer,  and  a  bookseller  and  writer 
for  the  press.  He  settled  at  Bath,  where,  un- 
der the  fictitious  appellation  of  Courtney  Mel- 
moth,  he  published  several  novels,  which  dis- 
played some  originality  of  manner,  but  were 


P  R  E 

more  distinguished  by  a  kind  of  mawkish  nf- 
fectation  of  sensibility,  which,  perhaps,  con- 
tributed not  a  little  to  their  popularity  with  a 
certain  class  of  readers.  As  a  poet  lie  belonged 
to  the  Delia  Cruscan  school,  which  was  crushed 
by  the  powerful  satire  of  the  author  of  the  Ba- 
viad  and  M;eviad.  Mr  Pratt  died  at  Bir- 
mingham, in  1814.  Among  his  most  success- 
ful productions  are,  "  Landscapes  in  Verse  ;" 
"  Emma  Corbet,  or  the  Miseries  of  Civil  War, 
a  Novel;"  "  Family  Secrets,  a  Novel;" 
"  Gleanings,  or  Travels  Abroad  and  in  Eng- 
land ;"  and  "  Harvest  Home,"  including  some 
dramatic  pieces.  He  also  wrote,  "  The  Fair 
Circassian,  a  Tragedy  ;"  besides  a  Comedy 
and  a  Farce. — Gent.  Mag.  Biog.  Dram. 

PRAXITELES,  a  Grecian  sculptor,  who 
was  one  of  the  most  celebrated  artists  of  anti- 
quity. Neither  his  age  nor  his  country  is 
distinctly  recorded  ;  but  he  is  supposed  to 
have  been  a  native  of  Athens,  where  he  re- 
sided ;  and  he  appears  to  haye  been  born 
about  36 1  BC.  He  worked  chiefly  in  marble, 
and  executed  many  admirable  statues,  espe- 
cially two  of  the  goddess  Venus,  one  of  which, 
belonging  to  the  inhabitants  of  Cnidus,  king 
Nicomedes  in  vain  offered  to  purchase,  by  pay- 
ing all  the  public  debts  of  the  city.  Praxiteles 
was  a  favourite  admirer  of  the  famous  courte- 
zan Phryne,  who  afforded  a  model  for  the  sta- 
tues of  Venus,  and  other  beautiful  female 
figures.  Many  others  of  his  works  are  speci- 
fied by  Pliny  ;  but  none  of  them  are  certainly 
known  to  be  at  present  in  existence. — There 
was  another  sculptor  named  PRAXITELES,  who 
was  contemporary  with  Pompey,  and  who  cast 
statues  in  metal,  particularly  silver. — Oriandi 
Abeced.  Pitt.  Biog.  Univ. 

PREMONTVAL  (ANDRE  PIERRE  LE 
GUAY  de)  a  French  writer,  born  at  Cliarenton 
in  1716.  After  receiving  a  good  education,  he 
rejected  the  opportunity  of  becoming  an  ec- 
clesiastic or  an  advocate,  the  choice  of  which 
professions  had  been  offered  him  by  his  father, 
and  quitting  his  family  he  went  to  Paris,  taking 
the  name  of  Premontval,  which  he  subse- 
quently used.  His  taste  for  the  mathematics 
induced  him  to  open  a  school  for  that  science 
at  Paris  in  1740.  But  pecuniary  difficulties 
induced  him,  ere  long,  to  leave  Paris  for  Ge- 
neva, whither  he  went  on  foot,  accompanied  by 
the  daughter  of  a  mechanic  named  Pigeon, 
who  had  been  one  of  his  scholars,  and  whom 
he  afterwards  married.  After  wandering  in 
Switzerland,  Germany,  and  Holland,  he  settled 
at  Berlin,  where  his  wife  obtained  the  office 
of  reader  to  the  princess  Wilhelmina  of  Prus- 
sia. Premontval  himself  was  admitted  into  the 
Academy  of  Sciences,  and  he  employed  him- 
self in  literary  composition ;  but  his  impatient 
temper  engaged  him  in  quarrels  with  his  con- 
temporaries, and  he  died  in  a  state  of  mental 
delirium,  September  3,  1764.  Besides  me- 
moirs and  dissertations  on  metaphysical  ques- 
tions, in  the  Transactions  of  the  Academy  of 
Berlin,  he  published  "  Preservatif  contre  la 
Corruption  de  la  Langue  Francaise  en  Alle- 
magne,"  and  various  other  works,  specified  in 
the  annexed  authority. — Biog.  Univ. 


PR  E 


was 


PRESTON  (JOHN)  an  English  divi 
born  at  Keyford  in  Northamptonshire,  in  1587, 
and  became  fellow  of  Queen's  college,  where 
he  was  celebrated  as  a  subtle  disputant,  after 
the  manner  of  the  old  schoolmen.  He  parti- 
cularly distinguished  himself  in  an  academic 
discussion,  held  by  James  I  when  he  visited 
Cambridge,  iu  which  he  undertook  to  prove 
that  dogs  could  make  syllogisms,  and  was  as- 
sisted by  James  himself,  who  contended  for 
the  affirmative.  For  his  ingenuity  on  this 
occasion  Dr  Preston  was  rewarded  by  a  pen- 
sion of  501.  per  annum  from  lord  Brook.  His 
puritanism,  however,  subsequently  involved 
him  with  the  court,  notwithstanding  which  he 
was  made  chaplain  to  prince  Charles  and  mas- 
ter of  Emmanuel  college,  Cambridge,  with  a 
view  to  detach  him  from  his  party,  but  without 
success.  He  died  in  1628.  He  was  the  au- 
thor of  several  sermons  and  theological  tracts, 
the  principal  of  which  is  a  "  Treatise  on  the 
Covenant." — Neaie's  Puritans.  Fuller's  Wor- 
thies. 

PRESTON  (THOMAS)  an  English  dramatic 
writer,  who  flourished  in  the  earlier  part  of 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  He  was  educated  at 
Eton,  whence  he  proceeded  to  King's  college, 
Cambridge,  where  he  graduated  MA.  and  suc- 
ceeded to  a  fellowship.  He  afterwards  was 
created  a  doctor  of  civil  law,  and  appointed 
master  of  Trinity-hall,  over  which  lie  pre- 
sided fourteen  years.  Queen  Elizabeth,  on 
her  visit  to  the  university  in  1564,  was  so 
pleased  with  his  performance  in  the  Latin 
tragedy  of  Dido,  that  she  settled  on  him  a 
pension  of  L2Ql.  per  annum.  He  wrote  one 
dramatic  piece,  in  old  metre,  entitled  "  A 
Lamentable  Tragedy,  full  of  pleasant  Mirth, 
conteyning  the  Life  of  Cambises,  King  of 
Percia,  from  the  Beginning  of  his  Kingdom 
unto  his  Death,  &c."  A  sad  tissue  of  fustian, 
which  escaped  not  the  satire  of  Shakespeare, 
who,  in  Henry  IV,  makes  Falstaff  talk  of 
speaking  in  king  Cambyses'  vein.  Preston 
died  in  1598. —  Biog.  Dram.  Peck's  Desiderata. 
PREVILLE  (PIERRE  Louis  Duuusde)  a 
distinguished  French  actor,  born  at  Paris,  No- 
vember 17,  1721.  His  inclination  prompted 
him  to  relinquish  the  profession  of  a  notary, 
for  the  stage,  on  which  he  made  his  first  ap- 
pearance at  Lyons,  in  1753,  when  he  changed 
Ins  family  name  of  Dnbus  for  that  of  Preville, 
by  which  he  was  ever  afterwards  known.  He 
soon  gained  great  reputation  as  a  comic  per- 
former, and  was  called  to  Paris,  where  his 
talents  attracted  ihe  favour  of  Louis  XV.  The 
minister  of  the  king's  household  having  founded 
a  royal  school  of  declamation  in  1774,  Preville 
was  appointed  the  director.  After  a  theatrical 
career  of  thirty-five  years,  he  obtained  permis- 
sion to  retire,  only  retaining  the  title  of  pro- 
fessor of  the  art  which  he  had  exei  :ised  with 
so  much  distinction.  Twice  after  he  appeared 
on  the  stage,  from  motives  of  benevolence  to- 
wards his  brethren,  who  had  suffered  from  the 
storing  of  the  Revolution.  He  retired  at  length 
to  Beauvais, where  he  died  in  a  state  of  blind- 
ness in  1800. — Diet.  Hist.  Biog.  Univ. 
PREVOST  (ISAAC  BSKF.DICT)  a  celebrated 


P  II  E 

naturalist  and  philosopher,  born  at  Geneva, 
of  poor  parents,  in  1755.  After  receiving  an 
irregular  education,  and  making  some  abortive 
attempts  to  procure  literary  employment,  he 
obtained  the  situation  of  tutor  to  the  son  of 
M.  Delmas  of  Montauban,  in  1777.  At  that 
time  he  was  little  acquainted  with  the  exact 
sciences,  but  having  a  great  taste  for  them,  he 
in  a  few  years  made  a  great  progress  in  mathe- 
matics. Physics  and  natural  history  were  the 
principal  objects  of  his  researches,  and  he  be- 
came connected  with  many  eminent  cultivators 
of  those  sciences  among  his  contemporaries, 
including  Le  Sage,  Senebier,  Jurine,  Huber, 
and  Maunoir,  with  some  of  whom  he  was 
connected  in  the  foundation  of  the  academy  of 
Montauban,  where,  he  resided.  He  was  also 
a  member  of  the  Society  of  Physics  and  Natural 
History  at  Geneva,  and  of  some  other  learned 
associations.  In  1810  he  became  professor  of 
philosophy  in  the  Protestant  university  of 
Montauban,  and  he  attended  with  unremitting 
zeal  to  the  duties  of  his  station  till  his  death, 
which  took  place  June  18,  1819.  Prevost 
was  the  author  of  only  one  distinct  work, 
which  relates  to  the  vegetable  disease  called 
the  smut  in  wheat,  published  at  Paris  in  1807. 
He  wrote  a  number  of  memoirs,  which  appe; 
in  various  scientific  collections,  including  ac- 
counts of  some  ingenious  and  important  expe- 
riments relative  to  the  cause  of  dew,  and 
others  concerning  the  phenomena  of  light. — 
Biog.  Univ. 

PREVOST  (PETER)  a  French  painter,  said 
to  have  been  the  inventor  of  panoramas.  He 
was  born  at  Montigni,  near  Chateaudun,  in 
1764  ;  and  he  studied  under  an  artist  at  Va- 
lenciennes ;  but  he  owed  his  merit  chiefly  to 
the  imitation  of  nature,  and  of  the  works  of 
Claude  Lorrain  and  Poussin.  His  first  pano- 
rama was  a  view  of  Paris,  and  he  afterwards 
painted  seventeen  others,  including  Rome, 
Naples,  Amsterdam,  Boulogne,  Tilsit,  Wa- 
gram,  Antwerp,  London,  Jerusalem,  and 
Athens.  The  last  two  were  the  fruits  of  a 
visit  to  Greece  and  Asia,  made  in  1817.  He 
was  engaged  in  painting  a  view  of  Constanti- 
nople, when  he  died,  of  a  pulraonic  disease, 
January  9,  1823.  MM.  Bouton  and  Daguerre, 
the  painters  of  the  views  exhibited  at  the  Dio- 
rama; were  assistants  of  Prevost. — Bing.  Univ. 

PREVOT  D'EXILES  (ANTONY  FRANCIS; 
a  very  fertile  French  writer,  was  bom  at  Hes- 
din,  a  small  town  of  Artois,  in  1697.  He  stu- 
died with  the  Jesuits,  and  took  the  habit  of 
the  society,  which  he  quitted  to  bear  arms  ; 
and  as  an  officer,  freely  indulged  his  natural 
turn  for  gallantry.  The  unfortunate  issue  of 
an  amour,  at  length  induced  him  to  seek  a  re- 
treat among  the  Benedictines  of  St  Maur, 
which,  however,  he  quitted  in  1729,  and  TC- 
tired  into  Holland,  and  having  no  other  re- 
source, applied  himself  to  literature  for  a  live- 
lihood. His  first  production  was  *'  Ivlemoires 
d'un  Homme  de  Qualite,  qui  s'est  retire  du 
Monde,"  a  romance,  which  procured  him  both 
money  and  reputation.  In  1733  he  withdrew 
to  London,  where,  meeting  with  but  little  eu- 
couragement,  he  returned  to  France,  aud  aa- 


P  RI 

miming  the  costume  of  an  abbe,  lived  undei 
the  protection  of  the  prince  de  Conde,  as  his 
chaplain  and  secretary.  His  industry  was  dis- 
played in  a  number  of  works,  amounting,  with 
translations,  to  1.56  volumes;  including  a  Ge- 
neral History  of  Voyages,  in  64  vois.  12mo, 
composed  at  the  instance,  and  under  the  pa- 
tronage of  chancellor  d'Aguesseau.  His  death 
was  attended  with  shocking  circumstances. 
On  the  23d  of  November  1763  he  was  dis- 
covered by  some  peasants  in  an  apoplectic  fit, 
in  the  forest  of  Chantilly.  An  ignorant  ma- 
gistrate being  called  in,  ordered  a  surgeon,  as 
proripitat  •  as  himself,  immediately  to  open  the 
abbe,  who  was  apparently  dead,  when  a  loud 
shriek  from  the  victim  convinced  the  specta- 
tors of  their  error.  The  instrument  was  in- 
stantly withdrawn,  hut  having  penetrated  a 
vital  part,  the  unfortunate  abbe  only  opened  his 
eyes  to  expire.  As  an  original  writer,  the  abbe 
Prevot  is  most  distinguished  for  his  novels  and 
works,  in  which  history  is  blended  with  fiction. 
The  principal  of  these,  besides  that  already 
mentioned,  are  "  Histoire  de  M.  Cleveland, 
Fils  nature!  d'Oliver  Cromwell,"  1732,  6  vols. 
12mo;  "  Histoire  de  Chevalier  Grieux  et  de 
Manon  1'Escaut,"  1733,  12mo  ;  "  Le  Doyen 
Je  Killerine,"  173f>,  6  vols. ;  "  Histoire  de 
Marguerite  d'Anjou,"  1740,  2  vols.  ;  "  His- 
toire d'une  Grecque  Moderne,"  1741,  2  vols.  ; 
"  Campagnes  Philosophiques,  ou  les  Memoires 
de  M.  Montcalm,"  1741,  2  vols. ;  all  which  ex- 
hibit character,  sentiment,  and  striking  situa- 
tions, but  are  prolix  and  ill-planned.  Their 
general  air  is  also  heavy  ;  and  in  endeavouring 
to  be  sprightly,  the  author  usually  fails.  He 
likewise  conducted  a  periodical  literary  and 
critical  work,  entitled"  Pour  et  Centre."  His 
translations  consist  of  the  first  volume  of  De 
Thou's  History,  Cicero's  Familiar  Epistles,  and 
several  English  works,  including  the  Clarissa 
and  Sir  Charles  Grandison  of  Richardson, 
whose  manner  may  be  traced  in  his  own  pro- 
ductions. To  these  various  labours  is  also  to 
be  added  "  A  Portable  French  Dictionary  of 
\V  ords  not  in  common  Use  ;  with  an  Abridg- 
ment of  French  Grammar." — 'Necrologie  Fr. 
Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

PRICE  (JOHN)  a  learned  critic,  who  was 
of  Welsh  extraction,  but  born  in  London  in 
1600.  He  studied  at  Westminster  school, 
whenceheremovedto  Christchurch,  Oxford; 
but  having  embraced  the  Catholic  religion  he 
went  to  Florence,  and  was  there  admitted  a 
doctor  of  civil  law.  Returning  home,  he 
visited  Ireland  in  the  train  of  the  earl  of  Straf- 
ford,  the  lord  deputy;  and  on  the  disgrace  of 
his  patron,  he  went  again  to  Florence,  and 
became  keeper  of  the  ducal  cabinet  of  medals 
unii  antiquities,  and  afterwards  professor  of 
Greek  at  Pisa.  He  passed  the  latter  part  of 
his  life  in  a  convent  at  Rome,  where  he  died 
in  1676.  His  works  consist  of  commentaries 
tm  the  New  Testament  ;  notes  on  Apuleius, 
&c. —  Wood's  A  then.  Oion. 

PRICE  (RiciiAnn)  a  dissenting  minister, 
distinguished  as  a  mathematician  and  statis- 
tical writer.  He  was  born  at  Llangunnor,  in 
Glamorganshire,  in  1723,  and  was  educated  at 


P  RI 

Talgarth,  in  his  native  county,  whence  (is 
removed  to  a  Presbyterian  academy  in  Lon- 
don. After  having  for  some  time  resided  in 
the  family  of  a  gentleman  at  Stoke  Newington, 
he  became  pastor  of  a  Nonconformist  congre- 
gation of  Arian,  or  semi-Arian  principles,  at 
Hackney,  where  he  continued  as  long  as  he 
lived.  He  commenced  his  literary  career  in 
17.n8,  by  publishing  a  "  Review  of  the  prin- 
cipal Questions  and  Difficulties  in  Morals," 
8vo  ;  which  was  followed  by  "  Four  Disserta- 
tions, on  Providence,  OK  Prayer,  on  the  Rea- 
sons for  expecting  that  virtuous  Men  shall 
meet  after  Death,  in  a  State  of  Happiness, 
and  on  the  Importance  of  Christianity,  the 
Nature  of  Historical  Evidence  and  Miracles," 
1767,  8vo.  In  1769  he  was  complimented 
with  the  diploma  of  DD.from  the  university 
of  Glasgow  ;  and  in  1771  appeared  his  "  Ob- 
servations on  Reversionary  Payments  and 
Annuities,"  8vo,  which  established  his  cha- 
racter as  a  mathematical  calculator.  He  next 
published  an  "  Appeal  to  the  Public  on  the 
Subject  of  the  National  Debt  ;"  and  during 
the  progress  of  the  contest  with  our  North 
American  colonies,  Dr  Price  advocated  their 
cause  in  "  Observations  on  the  Nature  of 
Civil  Liberty,  the  Principles  of  Government, 
and  the  Justice  and  Policy  of  the  War  with 
America,"  1776,  8vo  ;  "  Additional  Observa- 
tions ;"  and  a  "  Supplement."  These  tracts 
provoked  the  animadversions  of  a  number  of 
writers  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  question, 
and  exposed  him  to  some  obloquy  ;  but  they 
also  procured  him  a  vote  of  thanks  from  the 
corporation  of  London,  presented  in  a  gold 
box.  He  engaged  in  an  epistolary  correspon- 
dence with  his  friend  Dr  Joseph  Priestley,  on 
the  subjects  of  materialism  and  necessity,  the 
substance  of  which  was  laid  before  the  pub- 
lic, in  an  octavo  volume,  in  1778.  After  the 
conclusion  of  the  war,  when  Mr  Pitt  became 
prime  minister,  he  availed  himself  of  the  abi- 
lities of  Dr  Price,  in  his  schemes  for  the. 
reduction  of  the  national  debt ;  and  the 
establishment  of  the  sinking  fund  was  the 
result  of  his  recommendation.  At  the  com- 
mencement of  the  French  Revolution,  he,  iu 
common  with  most  advocates  for  freedom, 
viewed  that  event  as  the  source  of  unmixed 
benefit  to  society,  and  in  a  sermon  which  he 
published  in  1789,  "  On  the  Love  of  our 
Country,"  he  warmly  expressed  bis  deli«ht  at 
the  emancipation  of  the  French  people.  This 
discourse  excited  Mr  Burke  to  the  publication 
of  his  famous  "  Reflections,"  in  which,  with 
little  justice,  he  treated  Dr  Price  as  a  political 
incendiary.  He  died  April  19,  1791.  Besides 
many  papers  in  the  Transactions  of  the 
Royal  Society,  of  which  he  was  a  fellow,  he 
published  "  Sermons  on  the  Christian  Doc- 
trine, as  received  by  the  different  Denomina- 
tions of  Christians,"  8vo  :  and  several  single 
sermons,  and  political  pamphlets.  Dr  Price 
was  an  amiable  and  able  man,  of  an  enthu- 
siastic temperament,  a  fact  as  deducible  from 
much  of  his  reasoning  in  regard  to  a  sinking 
fund,  and  the  miraculous  eilects  of  compouna 
interest,  as  in  reference  to  pomts  which  were 


P  RI 

better  calculated  to  excite  it.  —  Aikin's 


PRICE  (JAMES)  a  physician  at  Guildford, 
in  Surrey,  who  professed  himself  to  be  in  pos- 
session of  the  philosopher's  stone,  or  at  least 
of  the  secret  of  making  gold.  He  presented 
some  of  this  manufactured  metal  to  the  king, 
and  to  the  Royal  Society,  of  which  he  was  a 
fellow;  and  he  also  published  "An  Account 
of  Experiments  on  Mercury,  Silver,  and  Gold, 
made  at  Guildford  in  May  1782,  in  the  Labo- 
ratory of  James  Price,  MD.  FRS.  ;  to  which 
is  prefixed,  an  Abridgment  of  Boyle's  Account 
of  a  Degradation  of  Gold,"  Oxford,  1782, 
4to.  These  pretended  productions  of  precious 
metals  were  stated  to  be  effected  by  means  of 
a  red  and  white  powder,  the  composition  of 
which  the  author  kept  a  secret.  Being  com- 
pelled by  the  Royal  Society,  on  pain  of  exclu- 
sion, to  repeat  his  experiments  before  Kirwan 
and  Woulfe,  two  skilful  chemists,  his  art  for- 
sook him,  and  after  the  failure  of  several  ope- 
rations, lie  begged  for  delay  previously  to  an-  j 
other  exhibition.  Dreading  the  exposure  which  i 
he  knew  awaited  him,  he  soon  after  put  an  end 
to  his  life,  August  5,  1783,  as  it  is  stated,  by 
drinking  laurel-water.  He  was  possessed  of  a 
handsome  fortune,  bequeathed  to  him  by  a  re- 
lation, in  conformity  with  whose  will  he  had 
exchanged  his  original  name  of  Higginbotham 
for  that  of  Price,  in  1781.  He  appears  to 
have  been  a  man  of  considerable  talents,  but 
cf  greater  ambition,  who  sacrificed  his  life  to 
an  absurd  rage  for  personal  distinction.  — 
Lond.  Med.  Journ.  Gurney's  Lect.  on  Che- 
mistry. 

PRIDDEN,  AM.  FSA.  (JOHN)  the  son  of 

&  respectable  bookseller  in  Fleet-street,   Lou- 

don,  where  he  was  born  in  January  1758,  and 

continued   to  reside    till  his   decease,  in  the 

April  of  1825.  He  was  first  placed  at  St  Paul's 

school,  whence  he  removed  in  1777  to  Queen's 

college,  Oxford,  and  graduated  there  in  1781. 

The  following  year,  having  taken  holy  orders, 

he  was  elected  a  minor  canon   of  St   Paul's 

cathedral,  and    employed    the    opportunities, 

which  a  residence  in  the  metropolis  afforded 

him,  of  consulting  rare  books  and  records  in 

the  cultivation  of  a  taste  for  antiquarian  re- 

search, which  afterwards  formed  his  principal 

pursuit.     From  the    dean  and  chapter  of  St 

Paul's  he  obtained  the  livings  of  Caddington, 

Berkshire,  and    St  George,   Botolph-Iane,  in 

the  city  of  London,   both  which  he  retained 

till  his  death.     He  was  also  a  minor  canon  of 

Westminster  and  a  priest  of  the  chapel  royal. 

Mr  Pridden  had  produced  a  plan  for  the  unit- 

ing Holborn-hill  with  Snow-hill,  by  means  of 

a  street  raised  on  arches,  which  was  much  ap- 

proved, but  abandoned  on  account  of  the  ex- 

pense.    He    was  also    the    author  of  several 

tracts    connected   with  antiquarian    subjects  ; 

but  the  principal  monument  of  his  labours  is  a 

curious  Index  to  the  Rolls  of   Parliament,  in 

iix  volumes,   which  occupied    the   last  thirty 

years  of  his  life.  —  Ann.  Biog. 

PR1DEAUX    (JOHN)  a  learned   English 
prelate,    born  at  Harford   in.    Devonshire,  iu 
His  parents  were   persons  in  low    cir- 


P  R  I 

cumstances,  but  he  was  taught  to  read  and 
write  when  young,  and  with  these  attainments 
he  became  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  parish 
clerk  at  Ugborough,  in  his  native  county. 
Being  disappointed,  he  travelled  on  foot  to 
Oxford,  and  from  the  mean  station  of  assistant 
in  the  kitchen  of  Exeter  college,  he  rose  to  be 
one  of  the  fellows  of  that  society,  and  in  161  2 
he  was  chosen  rector.  In  1615  he  became 
regius  professor  of  divinity,  and  canon  of 
Christchurch  ;  and  he  subsequently  filled  the 
station  of  vice-chancellor.  In  1641  he  ob- 
tained the  bishopric  of  Worcester,  through 
the  influence  of  the  marquis  of  Hamilton,  who 
had  been  his  pupil  ;  but  in  the  course  of  the 
civil  war  he  was  deprived  as  a  loyalist,  and 
died  in  distressed  circumstances  in  1650.  He 
was  the  author  of  "  Fasciculus  Controver- 
siarum  ;"  "  Theologiae  Scholastics  Syntagma 
Mnemonicum  ;"  and  other  works.  He  is  also 
supposed  to  have  written  "  An  easy  and  com- 
pendious Introduction  to  reading  all  Sorts  of 
Histories,"  which  has  been  ascribed  to  his 
son,  Matthias  Prideaux,  who  died  in  1646. — 
Fuller's  Worthies.  Bing.  Brit. 

PRIDEAUX  (HUMPHREY)  a  learned  di- 
vine and  historian,  born  at  Padstow,  in  Corn- 
wall, in  1648.  He  was  educated  at  West- 
minster school,  and  Christchurch,  Oxford  ; 
and  while  at  the  university  he  published  the 
ancient  inscriptions  from  the  A  run  del  mar- 
bles, under  the  title  of  "  Marmora  Oxonien- 
sia."  This  work  recommended  him  to  the 
patronage  of  the  Lord  Chancellor  Finch,  after- 
wards earl  of  Nottingham,  who  gave  him  a 
living  near  Oxford,  and  afterwards  a  prebend 
in  Norwich  cathedral.  The  lord  keeper  North 
bestowed  on  him  the  rectory  of  Bladen,  with 
the  chapelry  of  Woodstock  ;  the  former  of 
which,  on  taking  the  degree  of  DO.  he  ex- 
changed for  the  benefice  of  Soham  in  Norfolk. 
He  was  subsequently  promoted  to  the  archdea- 
conry of  Suffolk  ;  and  in  1702  made  dean  <;f 
Norwich.  This  was  his  highest  preferment, 
for  having  the  misfortune  to  be  afflicted  with 
stone  in  the  bladder,  he  submitted  to  an  ope- 
ration for  its  removal,  which  being  unskilfully 
performed,  or  not  followed  up  by  proper 
treatment,  produced  such  incurable  weakness 
as  incapacitated  him  for  the  public  offices  of 
the  ministry,  in  consequence  of  which  lie  con- 
scientiously resigned  his  livings,  and  dedicated 
his  time  to  the  study  of  sacred  literature.  He 
was  highly  respected,  and  often  consulted  on 
the  affairs  of  the  church  ;  and  but  for  the  in- 
firmity under  which  he  laboured,  he  would 
have  been  raised  to  a  bishopric,.  His  death 
took  place  November  1,  1724;  and  his  re- 
mains were  interred  in  the  cathedral  of  Nor- 
wich. Besides  his  great  work,  entitled  "  The 
Old  and  New  Testament  connected  in  the 
History  of  the  Jews  and  neighbouring  Na- 
tions," of  which  there  are  many  editions,  he 
was  the  author  of  "  The  Life  of  Malibmet, 
with  a  Letter  to  the  Deists,"  8vo  ;  "  Direc- 
tions to  Churchwardens,"  12mo;  "Tt.e  Ori- 
ginal and  Right  of  Tythes,"  8vo  ;  "  Ecclesias- 
tical Tracts,"  8vo,  &cc. — Biog.  Brit. 

PRIESTLEY,  LLD.  FRS.   (.TOSE»H)  an 


PR  I 

eminent  philosopher  and  dissenting  divine, 
was  born  in  March  1733,  at  Fieldhead,  near 
Leeds.  His  father  was  a  clothier,  of  the  Cal- 
vinistic  persuasion,  in  which  he  was  also  him- 
self brought  up,  under  the  protection  of  an 
aunt,  who,  after  he  had  attained  a  respectable 
degree  of  classical  acquirement  in  several 
schools  of  the  neighbourhood,  finally  placed 
him  at  the  dissenting  academy  at  Daventry, 
with  a  view  to  the  ministry.  He  spent  three 
years  at  this  school,  when  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  writings  of  Dr  Hartley, 
which  made  a  great  impression  upon  his  mind, 
and  he  was  gradually  led  into  a  partiality  for 
the  Arian  hypothesis.  On  quitting  the  aca- 
demy, he  accepted  an  invitation  to  become 
minister  of  Needham  Market  in  Suffolk,  when 
being  suspected  of  heretical  opinions,  he  re- 
ceived little  encouragement,  and  after  a  resi- 
dence of  three  years,  he  undertook  the  charge 
of  a  congregation  at  Namptwich,  in  Cheshire, 
to  which  he  joined  a  school.  Here  his  repu- 
tation increased,  and  in  1761  he  was  invited 
by  the  trustees  of  the  dissenting  academy  at 
Warrington,  to  occupy  the  post  of  tutor  in  the 
languages,  soon  after  the  acceptance  of  which 
post  he  married  the  daughter  of  Mr  Wilkin- 
son, an  iron-master  near  Wrexham.  At  Har- 
rington his  political  opinions  found  vent  in  an 
"  Essay  ou  Government;"  he  also  published 
an  "  Essay  on  a  Course  of  liberal  Education ;" 
and  his  useful  "  Chart  of  Biography."  A 
visit  to  London  having  introduced  him  to  Drs 
Franklin,  Watson,  and  Price,  he  was  encou- 
raged to  compose  a  "  History  of  Electricity," 
winch  first  appeared  in  1767,  and  procured 
him  an  admission  into  the  Royal  Society,  hav- 
ing previously  obtained  the  title  of  doctor  of 
laws  from  the  university  of  Edinburgh.  In 
the  same  year  he  accepted  an  invitation  to 
preside  over  a  large  and  respectable  congrega- 
tion at  Leeds,  where  his  religious  opinions 
became  decidedly  Socinian,  and  lie  gradually 
became  one  of  the  most  strenuous  oppugners 
of  the  authority  of  the  establishment.  It  was 
at  Leeds  that  his  attention  was  first  drawn  to 
the  properties  of  fixed  air ;  and  here  lie  also 
composed  his  "History  and  present  State  of 
Discoveries  relating  to  Vision,  Light,  and  Co- 
lours." After  a  residence  of  six  years  at 
Leeds,  he  accepted  an  invitation  from  the 
earl  of  Shelburne,  afterwards  marquis  of  Lans- 
down,  to  reside  with  him  as  a  companion,  in 
the  nominal  capacity  of  librarian.  While 
forming  a  part  of  the  establishment  of  this  no- 
bleman, he  occupied  himself  in  scientific  pur- 
suits, and  in  1773  gave  to  the  Philosophical 
Transactions  a  paper  on  the  different  kinds  of 
air,  which  obtained  the  prize  of  Copley's  gold 
medal.  This  was  followed  by  three  volumes, 
the  publication  of  which  forms  an  aera  in  the 
history  of  aeriform  fluids,  and  has  made  him 
known  to  the  scientific  of  every  country  of 
Europe.  -In  1775,  while  still  resident  with 
Lord  Shelburne,  he  published  his  examination 
of  the  common-sense  theory  maintained  by 
the  Scottish  doctors,  Reid,  Beattie,  and  Os- 
wald ;  and  soon  after  published  that  of  Dr 
Hartley.  He  had  already  declared  himself  a 


PR  I 

I  believer  in  the  doctrine  of  philosophical  neceg. 
sity,  and  in  a  dissertation  annexed  to  his  edi- 
tion of  Hartley,  expressed  some  doubts  of  the 
immateriality  of  the  sentient  principle  in  man. 
This  doctrine  he  still  more  forcibly  sup- 
ported in  his  "  Disquisitions  on  Matter  and 
Spirit,"  1777  ;  and  the  obloquy  which  these 
works  brought  on  him,  producing  a  coolness 
in  his  noble  patron,  the  connexion  was  dis- 
solved, the  doctor  retaining  an  annuity  of  1.50/. 
per  annum  by  original  agreement.  He  next 
removed  to  Birmingham,  where  he  became 
once  more  minister  of  a  dissenting  congrega- 
tion, and  occupied  himself  in  his  "  History  of 
the  Corruptions  of  Christianity,"  and  "  His- 
tory of  the  early  Opinions  concerning  Jesus 
Christ;"  both  which  productions  proved  fer- 
tile sources  of  controversy  ;  as  did  also  his 
"  Familiar  Letter  to  the  Inhabitants  of  Bir- 
mingham," chiefly  written  in  support  of  the 
claims  of  the  dissenters  for  a  repeal  of  the  test 
acts.  The  sra  of  the  French  Revolution  had 
now  arrived,  which  adding  to  the  usual  animo- 
sity of  theological  dispute,  the  consequence 
proved  very  fatal  to  the  repose  of  Dr  Priest- 
ley. The  anniversary  of  the  capture  of  the 
Bastile  being  celebrated  at  Birmingham  by  a 
party  who  looked  favourably  upon  that  event, 
an  opposing  mob  assembled,  and  although  Dr 
Priestley  was  not  present,  they  proceeded  to 
his  house,  which,  with  his  library,  MSS.  and 
apparatus,  was  riotously  made  a  prey  to  the 
flames.  It  is  too  certain  that  the  outrage  waa 
at  least  not  discountenanced  by  too  many  ex- 
ercising both  lay  and  clerical  influence  ;  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  Dr  Priestley  had  necessa- 
rily excited  exceeding  animosity  by  the  undis. 
guised  nature  of  his  attacks,  without  regard 
either  to  caution  or  policy.  The  legal  com- 
pensation which  he  obtained  for  this  injury 
fell  considerably  short  of  his  real  losses  ;  and 
quitting  Birmingham,  he  was  chosen  to  suc- 
ceed his  friend  Dr  Price  at  Hackney,  where 
he  remained  some  time  in  the  cultivation  of 
his  scientific  pursuits,  until  finally  goaded  by 
party  enmity  to  seek  an  asylum  in  the.  United 
States,  which  he  reached  in  1794,  and  took 
up  his  residence  at  Northumberland,  in  Penn- 
sylvania. Even  in  America  he  endured  some 
uneasiness  on  account  of  his  opinions,  until 
Mr  Jefferson  became  president,  when  he 
had  the  good  fortune  to  outlive  all  disquiet  on 
this  head.  In  America  he  dedicated  his  whole 
time  to  his  accustomed  pursuits,  until  a  severe 
illness  laid  the  foundation  of  a  debility  in  hid 
digestive  organs,  and  a  gradual  decay  fol- 
lowed, which  terminated  his  existence  Feb.  6, 
1804,  in  bis  seventy-first  year.  Dr  Priestley 
it  will  be  seen,  was  a  forward  and  ardent  con- 
troversialist, chiefly  in  consequence  of  extreme 
simplicity  and  openness  of  diameter,  but  no 
man  felt  less  animosity  towards  his  opponents 
than  he  did  ;  and  many  who  entertained  the 
strongest  antipathy  to  his  opinions,  were  con- 
verted into  friends  by  his  gentleness  and  urba- 
nity in  personal  intercourse.  As  a  man  of 
science  he  stands  high  in  the  walk  of  inven- 
tion and  discovery,  and  possibly  to  no  one  has 
pneumatic  chemistry  been  so  much  indebted- 


PR1 

As  a  metaphysician  Dr.  Priestley  will  be  dif- 
ferently estimated  by  opposing  theorists,  but 
his  labours  in  elucidation  of  Hartley's  theory 
of  association,  upon  philosophical  necessity, 
and  upon  materialism,  will  always  ensure  the 
attention  of  those  to  whom  these  subjects  may 
prove  attractive.  As  a  theologist  Dr.  Priestley, 
who  always  fearlessly  followed  his  convictions 
wherever  they  led  him,  passed  through  all  the 
changes  from  Calvinism  to  a  Unitarian  system 
in  some  measure  his  own,  but  to  the  last  re- 
mained a  zealous  opposer  of  infidelity.  Of 
his  verv  numerous  theological  controversial 
works,  those  most  generally  esteemed  are  his 
"  Institutes  of  Natural  and  Revealed  Reli- 
gion ;"  arsd  "  Letters  to  a  Philosophical  Un- 
believer ;"  and  he  also  published  many  works 
on  practical  divinity.  The  principal  works  of 
this  able  and  active-minded  writer  have  been 
enumerated  in  the  preceding  sketch,  but  the 
wlx>le  amount  to  about  seventy  volumes  or 
tracts  in  octavo,  analyses  of  which  will  be 
found  in  our  authorities. — Life  by  Himself  and 
Son.  Ttees  s  CijcU>]>. 

PRINCE  (JOHN)  an  English  divine  and 
biographer,  was  born  in  1643  at  Axminster, 
in  Devonshire,  and  was  educated  at  Brazen- 
nose-college,  Oxford, where  he  took  his  bache- 
lor's degree  in  1664.  On  entering-  orders  he 
became  curate  of  Biddeford,  and  was  after- 
wards chosen  minister  of  St.  Martin's  church 
at  Exeter,  on  which  lie  graduated  M  A.  at 
Caius-college,  Cambridge.  From  Exeter  he 
removed  to  the  vicarage  of  Totness,  and  next 
to  that  of  Berry-Pomeroy,  where  lie  died  in 
1723.  He  is  chiefly  known  by  a  work  of  much 
accuracy  and  research,  entitled  "  Danmonii 
Orientales  Illustres,  or  the  Worthies  of  De- 
von," printed  in  1710,  folio,  and  again  in 
1810,  4to.—  Wood. 

PRINGLE  (sir  JOHN)  an  eminent  physi- 
cian and  natural  philosopher,  was  the  young- 
est son  of  sir  John  Pringle,  of  Stichel,  in  the 
county  of  Roxburgh,  North  Britain,  where  he 
was  born  April  10,  1707.  After  studying  at 
home  under  a  private  tutor,  he  was  sent  to 
the  university  of  St  Andrews,  whence  he  re- 
moved, in  October  1727,  to  Edinburgh,  for  the 
purpose  of  cultivating  medical  science.  He 
staid  there  only  a  year,  being  desirous  of  pur- 
suing his  studies  under  Boerhaave  at  Leyden, 
where  he  became  acquainted  with  Van  Swie- 
ten  ;  and  in  July  1730  he  was  admitted  to  the 
degree  of  M  D.  Returning  home,  he  settled 
as  a  physician  at  Edinburgh,  where  he  was 
appointed  adjunct  professor  of  pneumatology 
and  ethics,  on  which  subjects  he  gave  lec- 
tures, using  as  a  text-book  the  treatise  of 
Puflendorff,  "  De  Omcio  Hommis  et  Civis." 
In  1742  he  was  nominated  physician  to  the 
earl  of  Stair,  who  then  commanded  the  British 
army  on  the  continent :  and  soon  after  phy- 
sician to  the  military  hospital  in  Flanders.  In 
A  arch  1745  he  received  from  the  duke  of 
Cumberland  the  appointment  of  physician- 
general  to  the  British  forces  in  the  Nether- 
lands, and  also  the  roya)  hospitals  abroad.  In 
consequence  of  these  promotions  he  resigned 
his  professorship,  the  duties  of  which  he  had  ( 


PRI 

hitherto  been  allowed  to  discharge  by  deputj 
In  1745  he  returned  home  with  the  army,  in 
consequence  of  ttie  invasion  of  Scotland  by 
the  Pretender.  He  was,  in  October,  the  same 
year,  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society. 
After  the  battle  of  Culloden  he  returned  to 
the  continent,  and  continued  there  till  the 
treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  after  which  he  took 
up  his  residence  in  London,  and  engaged  in 
medical  practice.  In  April  1749,  Dr.  Pringle 
was  appointed  physician  to  the  duke  of  Cum- 
berland, and  soon  became  known  on  account 
of  his  professional  talents,  as  well  as  his  scien- 
tific acquirements.  In  17.50  he  published,  in 
a  letter  to  Dr.  Mead,  "  Observations  on  the 
Gaol  or  Hospital  Fever;"  and  he  also  com- 
municated to  the  Royal  Society  "  Experi- 
ments on  Septic  and  Antiseptic  Substances, 
with  Remarks  relative  to  their  Use  in  the 
Theory  of  Medicine."  In  1752  first  appeared 
Dr.  Pringle's  principle  work,  "  Observations 
on  the  Diseases  of  the  Army  ;"  and  in  1753, 
he  published  in  the  Philosophical  Transac- 
tions an  important  paper  on  the  Gaol  Fever. 
In  1758  he  entirely  quitted  the  army  ;  and  in 
July,  the  same  year,  he  was  admitted  a  li- 
centiate of  the  college  of  physicians.  He  was 
made  physician  to  the  queen's  household  in 
1761,  which  honour  was  succeeded  by  that  of 
physician  extraordinary  to  her  majesty  ;  and 
in  1764  he  became  physician  in  ordinary  to 
the  queen.  In  1766  he  was  created  a  ba- 
ronet ;  and  in  November  1772,  on  the  death 
of  Mr.  West,  he  was  chosen  president  of  the 
Royal  Society.  Ill  health  induced  him  to 
resign  this  office  in  1778;  and  in  April  1781 
he  removed  from  London  to  settle  at  Edin- 
burgh. But  he  staid  there  only  a  few 
months,  and  returning  to  London,  died  there 
January  18,  1782.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Society  of  Antiquaries,  and  of  many  other 
learned  associations  at  home  and  abroad.  His 
"  Six  Discourses"  before  the  Royal  Society, 
on  delivering  the  Copleian  medal,  were  pub- 
lished, with  a  Biographical  Memoir,  by  Dr 
Kippis,  in  1781. — Hutchinson's  Biog.  Med. 

PRINTZ  (WOLFGANG  CASPAR)  a  native 
of  Weildthurn,  in  the  upper  Palatinate,  born 
in  1664.  His  father,  a  magistrate  of  the  town, 
being  forced  to  quit  it  on  account  of  his  reli- 
gious opinions,  retired  to  Vohenstraus,  in  the 
territory  of  Furstenburg,  where  his  son,  who 
had  early  discovered  a  strong  taste  for  music, 
received  his  first  instructions  in  the  principles 
of  that  science.  Having  studied  for  three 
years  at  Altdorff,  he  became  director  of  the 
music  to  count  Promnitz  at  Dresden,  and  ac- 
companied that  nobleman  in  his  travels  through 
great  parr  of  Germany.  On  the  death  of  his 
patron,  after  spending  a  year  at  Triebel,  he 
marred,  and  accepted  the  situation  of  director 
of  the  choir  at  Sarau  in  Upper  Saxony,  where 
ne  remained  till  his  death  in  1717.  Among 
his  works,  which  are  numerous,  the  principal 
is  a  '  History  of  Vocal  and  Instrumental  Mu- 
sic,'1 printed  in  1690  at  Dresden  ;  in  which  he 
commences  with  the  invention  of  the  harp  by 
Juba!,  and  treats  at  considerable  length  of  the 
ancient  Greek  and  Hebrew  music.  Theinven- 


PR  1 

tion  of  music  in  consonance  he  ascribes  to  St 
Dunstan,  in  940  ;  asserting,  however,  that  he 
proceeded  no  farther  than  simple  counter- 
point. He  also  wrote  a  hook  "  De  Instru- 
mentis." — Biog.  Diet,  of  A/us. 

PllIOLO,  or  PRIOLI  (BENJAMIN)  a 
French  historian,  was  born  at  St  Jean  d'Au- 
geli  in  1602,  and  was  descended  from  a  Vene- 
tian family.  He  studied  at  Leyden  and  at 
Padua.  lie  became  the  confidant  of  the  duke 
de  llohan,  then  in  the  service  of  Venice,  who 
twice  sent  him  to  Spain  as  his  negotiator.  He 
was  afterwards  in  the  service  of  the  duke  of 
Longueville,  from  whom  finally  receiving  a 
pension,  he  determined  to  settle  at  Paris.  He 
was  educated  in  the  Protestant  religion,  but 
meeting  with  cardinal  Barberini,  he  was  by 
him  converted  to  the  Catholic  faith.  In  the 
ensuing  troubles  of  France,  taking  part  with 
the  prince  of  Conde,  his  property  was  confis- 
cated, and  his  family  exiled.  On  his  return 
to  Paris,  he  began  his  history,  which  much 
displeased  the  ministers,  who  threatened  to 
oppose  its  publication  ;  but  Prioli  remon- 
strating with  the  king,  was  suffered  to  print 
his  work  in  1665.  It  is  entitled  "  Benjamini 
Prioli  ab  Excessu  Lndovici  XIII  de  Rebus 
Gallicis  Historiarum,  lib.  xii  ;"  the  best  edi- 
tion is  that  of  Leipsic,  1686.  It  presents  a 
clear  and  impartial  relation  of  the  war  of  the 
Fronde  and  the  administration  of  cardinal 
iMazarin  ;  its  style  imitates  that  of  Tacitus, 
and  it  is  replete  with  characters  and  portraits. 
In  1667  he  was  charged  with  a  secret  commis- 
sion to  the  republic  of  Venice,  but  he  died  on 
the  way,  at  Lyons,  of  apoplexy. — Xiceron. 
Baijle.  Mareri. 

PRIOR  (MATTHEW)  a  distinguished  Eng- 
lish poet,  was  born  in  1664,  according  to  one 
account  in  London,  where  his  father  was  a 
citizen  and  joiner*  and  to  another  at  Winborne 
in  Dorsetshire.  His  father  dying  when  he  was 
young,  he  was  brought  up  by  an  uncle,  who 
kept  the  Rummer  tavern  at  Charing-cross, 
who  acted  with  great  paternal  kindness,  ami 
at  a  proper  age.  sent  him  to  Westminster 
school.  He  early  imbibed  a  strong  taste  for 
classical  literature,  and  when  taken  from 
school,  with  a  view  of  being  brought  up  in 
the  business  of  his  uncle,  he  attracted  the 
notice  of  the  earl  of  Dorset,  who  enabled  him 
to  enter  himself  in  1682  at  St  John's  college, 
Cambridge,  where  he  proceeded  BA.  in  1686, 
and  was  shortly  after  chosen  fellow.  At  col- 
lege he  contracted  an  intimacy  with  Charles 
Montagu,  afterwards  earl  of  Halifax,  in  con- 
cert with  whom,  in  1688,  he  composed  the 
"  Country  Mouse  and  City  Mouse,"  a  parody 
on  Dryden's  "  Hind  and  Panther."  He  had 
previously  written  an  "  Ode  to  the  Deity"  as 
a  college  exercise.  In  1690  he  repaired  to 
London,  and  was  introduced  at  court  by  the 
earl  of  Dorset,  at  whose  recommendation  he 
was  appointed  secretary  to  the  English  pleni- 
potentiaries at  the  Hague.  With  this  post  he 
al.-o  lieid  the  title  of  gentleman  of  the  king's 
bed-cliiimber  ;  and  being  thus  enlisted  in  the 
service  of  the  court,  he  presented  an  ode  to 
king  William  in  169.3,  on  the  death  of  queen 


P  K   I 

Maiy  ;  and  soon  after  displayed  his  humorous 
vein  in  a  burlesque  parody  of  Boileau's  ode 
on  the  taking  of  JSiamur,  when  it  was  recap- 
tured by  William.  In  1697  he  was  nominated 
secretary  to  the  commissioners  for  the  treaty 
of  Ilyswick  ;  and  on  his  return  from  that  em- 
ployment, was  made  secretary  to  the  lord  lieu- 
tenant of  Ireland.  He  was  afterwards  ap- 
pointed secretary  to  the  earls  of  Portland 
and  Jersey,  successively  ambassadors  to 
France.  At  length  he  was  made  under- 
secretary of  state  ;  and  while  holding  that 
office,  was  sent  to  France  to  assist  in  the  form- 
ation of  the  partition  treaty.  In  1701  he  suc- 
ceeded Locke  as  a  commissioner  at  the  board 
of  trade,  but  soon  after  deserted  the  Whigs, 
who  had  introduced  him  into  life,  and  joined 
the  Tories,  for  which  no  very  satisfactory  rea- 
sons have  been  assigned.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  reign  of  Anne,  besides  commemorating 
the  battles  of  Blenheim  and  Ramillies,  he  pub- 
lished a  volume  of  poems,  and  took  some  share 
in  the  Examiner.  When  the  Tories  again 
obtained  the  ascendancy,  his  diplomatic  ta- 
lents were  once  more  called  into  action,  and 
he  was  employed  in  secretly  negociating  at 
Paris  the  terms  of  the  celebrated  treaty  of 
Utrecht.  He  remained  in  France  with  the 
authority  and  appointment  of  ambassador,  and 
after  the  departure  of  the  duke  of  Shrews- 
bury, in  17 13,  publicly  assumed  that  charac- 
ter. On  the  accession  of  George  I  he  was  re- 
called home,  and  encountered  on  his  return  a 
warrant  from  the  house  of  Commons,  which 
placed  him  in  the  custody  of  a  messenger. 
He  was  examined  before  the  privy  council  in 
respect  to  his  share  in  negociating  the  treaty 
of  Utrecht,  and  treated  with  great  rigour  for 
some  time,  although  ultimately  discharged 
without  trial.  Being  reduced  to  a  private  sta- 
tion, without  any  provision  for  his  declining 
years,  except  his  fellowship,  he  again  applied 
himself  assiduously  to  poetry;  and  having 
finished  his  "  Solomon,"  he  published  the 
whole  of  his  poems  by  subscription,  in  a  quarto 
volume,  at  two  guineas.  This  publication  being 
liberally  encouraged  by  party  zeal,  produced 
a  considerable  sum,  which  was  handsomely 
doubled  by  the  earl  of  Oxford,  at  whose  seat 
the  author  died,  after  a  lingering  illness,  in 
1721,  in  the  fifty-eighth  year  of  his  age.  He 
was  interred  in  Westminster  abbey,  under  a 
monument,  for  which  "  last  piece  of  human 
vanity"  (as  he  styles  it  in  his  will)  he  left 
the  sum  of  5()0/.  Prior  seems  to  have  made 
his  way  by  wit,  aptitude,  and  companionable 
qualities,  rather  than  by  moral  or  political  en- 
dowments of  a  superior  order.  Notwithstand- 
ing his  admission  into  the  best  company,  he  is 
said  to  have  always  retained  a  taste  for  coarse 
intercourse,  and  gross  enjoyments.  As  a 
poet,  his  reputation  has  declined  of  late  years, 
owing  probably  to  the  talent  in  which  he  prin- 
cipally excels  being  overloaded  with  attempts 
of  a  more  serious  class,  which  although,  as  in 
the  instances  of  his  "  Solomon,"  and  "  Henry 
and  Emma,"  splendid  and  correct  in  dic- 
tion, harmonious  in  versification,  and  copi- 
ous in  poetical  imagery,  fail  in  moving  either 


PR1 

the  feelings  or  the  fancy.  The  great  art  of 
Prior  consists  in  telling  a  story  with  a  degree 
of  poetical  ease  and  vivacity,  which  perhaps, 
setting  aside  La  Fontaine,  has  never  been  ex- 
celled. His  "  Alma,"  a  piece  of  philosophi- 
cal pleasantry  of  a  kindred  nature,  exhibits  also 
a  very  felicitous  vein  of  humour,  and  for  these 
lighter  pieces  he  now  chiefly  is,  and  most  likely 
always  will  be,  read.  A  "  History  of  his  Own 
Times "  was  compiled  from  his  MSS.  ;  but 
it  contains  little  from  his  pen,  and  is  of 
small  value.  His  poems  were  published  in 
1753,  in  3  vols.  8vo,  and  are  also  in  all  the 
collections. — Biog.  Brit.  Johnson's  Lives. 

PIUSCILLIAN,  a  heretic  of  the  fourth 
century,  who  was  a  native  of  Spain.  He  is 
said  to  have  united  in  his  system  the  errors  of 
the  Gnostics,  the  Manicheans,  the  Arians, 
and  the  Sabellians ;  to  which  he  added  dog- 
mas of  his  own,  viz.  that  the  children  of  pro- 
mise were  born  of  their  mothers  by  the  ope- 
ration of  the  Holy  Ghost,  whence  he  inferred 
that  marriage  was  an  abomination  ;  that  souls 
were  of  the  substance  of  God  ;  that  they  were 
sent  to  inhabit  bodies  on  earth,  as  a  punish- 
ment for  sins  committed  in  heaven  ;  and  that 
men  could  not  resist  the  influence  of  their 
stars.  The  Priscillianists  are  charged  with  in- 
famous practices,  resulting  from  these  opinions; 
and  it  is  stated  that  no  tortures  availed  to  pro- 
duce a  confession  of  their  errors.  Hence  it  ap- 
pears that  the  accusations  against  them  must 
rest  principally  on  the  testimony  of  their  ene- 
mies ;  and,  for  the  honour  of  human  nature,  we 
may  conclude  that  they  are  exaggerated.  At 
the  council  of  Saragossa  in  Spain,  in  S80, 
Priscillian  was  condemned  as  a  heretic  ;  his 
party,  however,  was  sufficiently  powerful  to 
make  him  bishop  of  Avila  ;  but  he  was,  with 
some  of  his  followers,  put  to  death  in  387. — 
Mosheim's  Eccles.  Hist, 

PR1SC1AN,  a  celebrated  grammarian  of 
Cresarea,  who  flourished  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  fourth  century.  He  was  a  disci- 
ple of  Theoctistes,  a  famous  rhetorician  ;  and, 
as  appears  from  many  passages  of  his  writings, 
he  had  embraced  Christianity.  Little  more  is 
known  of  him  than  that  he  presided  over  a 
school  at  Constantinople  in  525.  He  was  the 
author  of  "  JJe  Octo  Partibus  Orationis,  hbri 
xvi.  deque  Constructione  earumdem  libri  ii. ;" 
and  several  other  works  on  grammar,  published 
by  Putsch,  in  the  "  Grammatics  Latins  Aucto- 
res  Antiqui,"  Hanau,  1605,  4to  ;  and  of  a  trea- 
tise on  ancient  money  and  weights.  All  his 
writings  are  comprised  in  Krehl's  edition  o: 
the  works  of  Priscian,  Leipsic,  1819-23,  2  vols 
8vo. — Bioa.  Univ. 

PR1TCHARD  (HANNAH)  a  celebrate* 
English  actress,  born  in  1711,  whose  famil) 
name  was  Vaughan.  She  was,  when  verj 
young,  recommended  to  the  notice  of  Booth 
as  a  candidate  for  the  stage,  and  he  encou- 
raged her  in  that  pursuit ;  but  she  made  her 
first  appearance  before  the  public  at  the  litth 
theatre  in  the  Haymarket,  in  one  of  Field 
ing's  dramas.  She  afterwards  acted  at  Good 
man's  fields,  and  even  at  Bartholomew  fair 
where  she  obtained  great  applause  for  her  na 
BIOG  DICT.--YOI.  11. 


PRO 

ural  and  unaffected  manner  and  lively  drollery. 

At    length    she  obtained   an   engagement   at 

Jrury-lane,  where  she  appeared  as  Rosalind, 

n   As   You  like  It,  and  at    once    confirmed 

he  favourable  opinion  of  her  admirers.     But 

ier  chief  excellence  was  in  the  personification 

f   tragic   characters  ;    and  in  lady  Macbeth, 

and  other  heroines  of  a  similar  cast,  she  was 

almost  witliout  a  rival  among  her  contempora- 

ies.     After  lemaining  on  the  stage  thirty-six 

ears,  she  retired  to  Bath  in  1768,  where  she 

lied,  in  August  that  year,  in  consequence  of  a 

mortification  in  the  foot. — Thesp.  Diet. 

PR1TZ  (JoiiN  GEORGE)  a  German  Luthe- 
an  divine,  was  born  at  Leipsic,  in  1662,  in 
vhich  university  he  was  educated.  In  1698 
was  created  doctor  of  divinity,  and  became 
professor  of  divinity  and  metaphysics,  as  well 
as  minister  at  Zerbst,  in  Saxony  ;  he  held  the 
ame  situations  at  Griefswalde,  in  Pomerania, 
and  in  1711  he  finally  removed  to  Frankfort 
on  the  Main,  where  he  was  principal  minister 
until  his  death,  which  took  place  in  1732. 
He  published  "  Introductio  in  Lectionem 
Novi  Testament!,"  much  esteemed ;  an  edition 
of  the  Greek  Testament ;  "  De  Immortali- 
;ate  Animae  ;"  an  edition  of  the  Works  of 
St.  Macarius  ;  an  edition  of  Milton's  Latin 
Letters. — Moreri.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

PROCACCINI  (CAMILLO)  an  eminent 
painter,  was  born  at  Bologna  in  1546.  He 
received  his  first  instructions  from  his  father 
Ercole,  and  frequented  the  school  of  the  Ca- 
racci.  He  went  to  Milan,  where  he  contri- 
buted to  the  founding  of  an  academy  of  paint- 
ing. He  also  went  to  Rome,  where  the  works 
of  Parmegiano  and  of  Michael  Angelo  formed 
!iis  chief  study.  He  obtained  a  high  reputa- 
tion for  the  beauty  of  his  colouring,  the  fire  of 
his  invention,  and  lightness  of  his  touch.  He 
was  appointed  by  the  duke  of  Parma  to  paint 
in  the  cathedral  of  Placentia,  in  conjunction 
with  Ludovico  Caracci.  He  died  at  Milan, 
in  1626. — His  brother,  GIULIO  CESARK,  also 
a  distinguished  painter,  was  born  at  Bologna, 
in  1548,  and  was  brought  up  as  a  sculptor, 
which  profession  he  quitted  for  that  of  a  pain- 
ter. He  attached  himself  to  the  style  of 
Correggio,  and  surpassed  all  his  other  imita- 
tors. He  ranks  among  the  greatest  artists  of 
his  time  for  vigour  of  conception  and  variety  and 
grandeur  of  colouring.  1  le  became  head  of  the 
academy  of  Milan,  and  died  there  in  1626. 
— Another  brother,  CARLO  ANTONIO,  was  a 
good  landscape,  fruit,  and  flower-painter;  and 
his  son  EKCOLE  was  eminent  in  the  s.imn 
branches. —  D'Argein  illc.  I'ilkingtMi. 

PROCLUS,  a  Platonic  philosopher  and 
mathematician  of  the  fifth  century.  He  is  said 
to  have  been  denominated  Lycius,  from  his 
birth-place,  Lycea  ;  but  some  state  him  to 
have  been  born  at  Constantinople,  AU.  410. 
He  studied  at  Alexandria,  and  afterwards  at 
Athens,  under  Syrianus,  a  Platonist,  to  the 
superintendence  of  whose  school  he  suc- 
ceeded. He  wrote  against  Christianity,  and 
was  answered  by  Johannes  Grammaticus  ;  ha 
iv as  also  the  author  of  a  treatise  on  the  Doc- 
trines of  the  Sphere  ;  another  on  the  COQ» 
2  L 


P  R  O 

struction  of  the  Astrolabe  ;  Commentaries  on 
the  Works  of  Plato,  Homer,  and  Hesiod  ;  and 
Hymns  to  the  Sun,  Venus,  and  the  Muses. 
He  died  in  485.  The  character  of  Produs, 
like  that  of  all  the  later  Platonists,  was  enthu- 
siastic, and  disposed  to  mysticism  ;  nor  did  he 
adhere  so  religiously  as  Porphyry  and  Julian 
to  the  doctrines  and  principles  of  his  master  ; 
so  that,  in  the  opinion  of  Cud  worth,  he  was 
aconfounder  of  the  Platonic  theology,  the  su- 
premacy of  which  he  maintained.  —  Bayle. 
Fabricii  Bibl.  Greec. 

PROCOPE  COUTEAU,  or  MICHEL 
COLTELLI,  a  physician,  born  at  Paris,  in 
1684,  who  was  the  son  of  Francis  Procope,  a 
Palermitan  of  a  noble  family,  the  first  who 
established  a  coffee-house  in  France,  which 
became  famous  as  the  resort  of  men  of  letters. 
Young  Procope  was  destined  for  the.  church, 
but  he  preferred  the  medical  profession,  and 
having  finished  his  studies,  he  received  the 
decree  of  doctor,  in  1708.  He  was  deformed, 
notwithstanding  which,  his  wit  and  <~  :  >«-y  ren- 
dered him  a  great  favourite  with  tlu  women  ; 
a  circumstance  which  contributed  much  to  his 
reputation  at  Paris.  His  professional  writings 
consist  of  satirical  and  humorous  tracts,  in- 
cluding "  Analyse  du  Systeme  de  la  Tritura- 
tion,"  designed  to  explode  Hecquet's  opi- 
nions relative  to  digestion  ;  and  "  L'Art  de 
faire  des  Gallons,"  a  lively  piece  of  badinage, 
•which  another  writer,  J.  A.  Millot,  in  a  work 
on  the  same  subject,  was  dull  enough  to  treat 
as  a  serious  production.  But  Procope  was 
chiefly  distinguished  as  a  dramatist  ;  and  he 
was  the  author  of  "  Arlequin  Balourd,"  a 
comedy,  in  five  acts,  performed  in  London, 
in  1719  ;"  "  Pygmalion,"  a  comedy,  1741  ; 
and  other  comic  dramas.  His  death  took 
place  at  Chaillot,  December  21,  1753.  Gi- 
raud  published  in  the  following  year  a  bur- 
lesque poem,  entitled, "  La  Procopiade,  ou  1'  A- 
potlieose  du  Docteur  Procope,"  1754,  12mo. 
— Bic£.  Univ. 

PROCOPIUS  of  Czesarea,  a  Greek  his- 
torian, who  was  a  native  of  Cagsarea,  in  Pales- 
tine. He  went  to  Constantinople,  where  lie 
practised  as  an  advocate  in  the  reign  of  the 
emperor  Anastasius,  to  whom  he  became  one 
of  ihe  imperial  counsellors,  as  he  was  after- 
wards under  Justin  and  Justinian.  Heat  length 
held  the  office  of  secretary  to  the  famous  ge- 
neral Belisarius,  whom  he  attended  in  his 
various  expeditions,  of  which  he  wrote  the 
history.  Procopius  was  subsequently  ad- 
mitted into  the  senate,  and  appointed  prefect 
of  Constantinople,  where  he  is  supposed  to 
have  died,  about  560.  His  works  consist  of  a 
"  History  of  his  Own  Times,"  in  eight  books, 
t'ae  first  two  relating  to  the  Persian  war,  the 
two  following  to  the  war  with  the  Vandals,  and 
the  remaining  four  to  the  Gothic  war  ;  and  a 
"History  of  the  Edifices  built  or  repaired  by 
Justinian."  But  besides  these,  there  is  extant  a 
kind  of  scandalous  chronicle,  of  the  court  of  Jus- 
tinian,including  amost  degrading  account  of  the 
personal  history  of  the  emperor,  the  empress 
Theodora,  and  many  other  individuals.  This 
work,  which  is  entitled  "  Anecdota,"  has 


PRO 

occasioned  warm  disputes  among  the  learned, 
some  of  whom  deny  that  it  was  written  by 
Procopius,  while  others,  who  admit  its  authen- 
ticity, account  for  its  disagreement  with  the 
historian's  other  works,  in  which  Justinian 
and  Theodora  are  highly  panegyrized,  by 
supposing  that  the  Anecdotes  were  compiled 
subsequently  to  the  history,  at  a  period  when 
the  writer  was  offended  by  the  disappointment 
of  his  expectations  of  court  favour,  and  being 
afterwards  gratified,  he  endeavoured  to  make 
amends  by  composing  his  Treatise  on  Edi- 
fices. The  works  of  Procopius  were  pub- 
lished at  Paris,  1662,  folio. — Fabricius.  Bios;. 
Univ. 

PROCOPIUS  of  Gaza,  a  Greek  rhetorician 
of  the  6th  century,  who  was  a  native  of  Pa- 
lestine. He  was  the  author  of  a  number  of 
orations  or  declamations,  founded  on  passages 
from  the  works  of  Homer,  two  of  which  only  are 
extant,  viz.  a  "  Eulogy  on  the  emperor  Ana- 
stasius,"  and  a  "  Monody  on  the  li-iin  of  the 
Church  of  St  Sophia,  at  Constantinople,  over- 
thrown by  an  Earthquake."  lie  also  wrote 
Commentaries  on  some  of  the  books  of  the 
Old  Testament. — Biog.  Univ. 

PROCOPIUS  (DEMETRIUS)  a  native  of 
Moscopolis,  in  Macedonia,  who  flourished  at 
the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
He  was  a  zealous  cultivator  of  literature,  and 
in  1720  lie  published  an  excellent  work,  en- 
titled 'ETTirf-fJirjuii-r]  tTrapiOprjTtg,  &c.  "An 
Abridged  Account  of  the  Greek  Literati  of 
the  past  Century,  and  of  some  of  those  of  the 
present  Century."  This  treatise  is  inserted 
by  Fabricius,  with  a  Latin  translation,  in  his 
Bibliotheca  Groeca  ;  and  a  Greek  merchant  of 
Pesth,  named  Zavira,  a  well-informed  indivi- 
dual, who  died  a  few  years  since,  composed  a 
supplement  to  the  work  of  Procopius,  which 
has  never  been  printed,  though  copies  are 
common  in  Greece. — Biog.  Univ.  * 

PROCOPOW1TZ  (THEOPHANES)  a  learn- 
ed Russian  prelate,  born  at  Kiow  in  1681.  Ho 
studied  in  the  academy  of  that  city,  of  which 
j  Lis  uncle  was  rector ;  and  he  afterwards 
visited  Rome,  to  apply  himself  to  theology, 
philosophy,  and  the  languages.  Returning 
home,  he  was  appointed  to  the  chair  of  poetry 
at  Kiow,  and  in  1705  he  took  the  monastic 
vows,  adopting  at  the  same  time  the  name  of 
Theophanes.  He  subsequently  became  pro- 
|  fessor  of  rhetoric,  philosophy,  and  other 
;  sciences  ;  and  at  length  he  taught  theology, 
introducing  much  more  liberal  views  of  the 
subject  than  had  previously  existed  among  the 
Russian  clergy.  Becoming  a  favourite  with 
Petfr  the  Great,  he  was  made  abbot  of  the 
monastery  of  Bratakow,  and  rector  of  the 
academy  of  Kiow.  In  1718  he  was  raised  to 
the  episcopal  see  of  Plaskow  and  Narva ;  ana 
two  years  after  to  the  archbishopric  of  Novo- 
gorod.  He  died  September  8,  1736.  Many 
of  his  theological  productions  were  printed  in 
Germany  after  his  death.  Among  these  are, 
"  Christiana  orthodoxa  Doctrina  de  Gratuita 
Peccatoris  per  Christum  Justificatione,"  Bres- 
lau,  1768-69  ;  "  Christina;  orthodoxae  Theo- 
logifc,"  torn.  i. — v.  Konigsberg,  1773,  &c.  He 


PRO 

also  wrote  politicri!  memoirs,  Latin  verses,  and 
satires.  To  this  enlightened  prelate  the  Rus- 
sians are  indebted  for  the  foundation  of  one  of 
the  largest  libraries  in  the  empire,  now  be- 
longing to  the  university  of  Novogorod. — 
Biag.  Univ. 

PRONOMUS,  an  ancient  musician  of 
Thebes,  celebrated  as  the  inventor  of  a  pecu- 
liar kind  of  flute,  on  which  the  performer 
could  play  in  three  different  keys,  every  instru- 
ment of  this  sort  previous  to  his  time  being 
adapted  only  for  one.  He  was  held  in  great 
esteem  by  his  countrymen,  who  erected  a  tomb 
to  his  memory  near  that  of  Epaminondas. 
Fansanias  speaks  of  a  hymn  composed  by  him 
for  the  citizens  of  Chalcis,  as  extant,  both 
words  and  music,  in  his  time. — Biog.  Diet,  of 
Mus. 

•  PROPERTIUS  (SEXTUS  AURELIUS)  an 
ancient  Roman  poet,  was  born  at  Mevania  in 
Umhria,  about  the  year  of  Rome  700.  It  is 
said  that  his  father  was  a  Roman  knight,  who 
joined  the  party  of  Anthony,  and  being  made 
prisoner  at  the  capture  of  Perusia,  was  put  to 
death  by  Augustus,  his  estate  of  course  being 
forfeited.  This  catastrophe,  which  happened 
when  the  poet  was  young,  did  not  prevent  his 
acquiring  the  patronage  of  Maecenas  and  Gal- 
lus  ;  and  among  the  poets  of  his  day,  he  was 
very  intimate  with  Ovid  and  Tibullus.  The 
time  of  his  death  is  not  recorded,  but  it 
is  usually  placed  BC.  10.  Of  this  poet 
there  are  a  few  books  of  elegies  remaining,  in 
which  branch  of  composition  he  was  an  imi- 
tator of  the  Grecian  Callimachus,  and  he  has 
always  been  ranked  among  the  most  eminent 
of  the  Latin  elegists.  Inferior  to  Tibullus  in 
tenderness,  and  to  Ovid  in  variety,  he  is  more 
learned,  various,  and  ornamented  than  the 
former,  and  certainly  gave  the  first  specimen 
of  the  poetical  epistle,  which  Ovid  afterwards 
claimed  as  his  own  invention.  The  works  of 
this  poet  have  been  printed  with  almost  all  the 
editions  of  Tibullus  and  Catullus,  and  also 
separately  by  Broukhusius,  4to,  Amsterdam, 
1702  ;  by  Vulpius,  1755  ;  by  Barthius,  1777  ; 
by  Burmann  and  Santelius,  1780 ;  and  by 
Kuinoelius,  Leipsic,  1805,  8vo. — Crusius, Lives 
of  the  Roman  Poets.  Fabricii  EM.  Lat. 

PROTAGORAS,  a  Greek  philosopher, 
who  was  a  disciple  of  Democritus.  He  was  a 
native  of  Abdera,  and  is  said  to  have  been  a 
porter  before  he  studied  philosophy,  in  which 
lie  however  became  so  eminent,  that  he  opened 
a  school  at  Athens.  He  is  principally  noted 
on  account  of  his  having  incurred  the  charge 
of  atheism,  from  the  extreme  licentiousness 
of  his  public  discourses  ;  and  being  banished 
from  Athens,  he  went  to  Epirus,  and  after- 
wards took  a  voyage  to  Sicily,  in  the  course  of 
which  he  died,  but  in  what  year  is  not  known. 
He  belonged  to  the  Eleac  sect  of  philosophers, 
and  he  flourished  BC.  423. — Stanley's  Hist,  of 
Philos.  •  Enjield. 

PROTOGENES,  afamous  ancient  painter, 
was  a  native  of  Cannus  in  Caria,  a  city  subject 
to  Rhodes,  and  he  flourished  about  three  cen- 
tunes  before  Christ.  -The  early  part  of  his  life 
was  passed  in  obscurity,  but  his  merit  coming 


PR  U 

to  the  knowledge  of  Apelles,  that  artist, 
superior  to  jealousy,  encouraged  him  in  every 
way.  Pliny  tells  a  curious  story  of  the  way  in 
which  these  two  artists  became  acquainted. 
Apelles  having  landed  at  Rhodes,  went  to  the 
house  of  Protogenes,  who  was  from  home. 
Being  asked  by  the  servant  what  name  he 
would  leave,  he  took  a  pencil,  and  drew  a 
coloured  line  of  extreme  tenuity  upon  a  board, 
and  bid  her  show  that  to  her  master.  Pro- 
togenes, on  his  return,  drew  within  it  another 
coloured  line,  and  again  went  out.  Apelles 
renewed  his  visit,  and  with  a  third  colour  di- 
vided this  line  by  so  fine  a  stroke,  that  it  was 
impossible  to  subdivide  it.  Protogenes  was 
then  convinced  that  it  was  Apelles,  and  has- 
tened to  meet  him.  On  the  siege  of  Rhodes 
by  Demetrius  Poliorcetes,  Protogenes  is  said 
to  have  continued  tranquilly  working  at  his 
house  in  the  suburbs;  and  being  asked  by  De- 
metrius why  he  ventured  to  remain  without 
the  walls  of  the  city,  he  answered,  that  he 
well  knew  that  the  king  was  at  war  with  the 
Rhodians,  but  not  with  the  arts  ;  with  which 
answer  Demetrius  was  so  pleased,  that  he 
gave  him  a  guard  for  his  protection.  Proto- 
genes was  also  a  sculptor,  and  his  bronze 
figures  were  much  esteemed.  He  wrote  two 
books  on  design  and  painting. — Plinii  Hist 
Nut.  Dati  Pittori  Antichi. 

PROYART  (LIEVAIN  BONAVENTURE)  a 
French  historical  writer,  born  in  1743,  in  the 
province  of  Artois.  After  having  finished  his 
studies  in  the  seminary  of  St  Louis  at  Paris, 
he  adopted  the  ecclesiastical  profession,  and 
devoted  his  time  to  public  instruction.  For  a 
long  while  he  discharged  the  functions  of  sub- 
principal  of  the  college  of  Louis  le  Grand  : 
and  he  was  afterwards  employed  to  organize 
the  college  of  Puy,  which,  under  his  direction, 
became  one  of  the  most  flourishing  schools  in 
the  kingdom.  At  the  commencement  of  the 
Revolution,  the  abbe  Proyart,  who  had  ob- 
tained a  canonry  in  the  cathedral  of  Arras, 
was  deprived  of  his  preferment,  and  obliged 
to  emigrate  to  the  Netherlands.  He  returned 
to  France  on  the  conclusion  of  the  concordat ; 
and  on  the  publication  of  his  work,  entitled 
"  Louis  XVI  et  ses  Vertus  aux  Prises  avec  la 
Perversite  de  son  Siecle,"  Paris,  1808,  5  vols. 
8vo,  he  was  arrested  and  confined  in  the  Bi- 
cetre.  Being  attacked  with  dropsy  on  the 
chest,  his  friends  procured  leave  for  him  to  be 
transferred  to  the  seminary  of  Arras,  where 
he  died,  March  22,  1808.  His  works  are 
numerous,  amounting  to  17  vols.  8vo,  and  in- 
cluding "  Histoire  de  Loango,  Kakongo,  et 
autres  Royaumes  d'Afrique,"  1776  ;  "  La  Vie 
du  Dauphin,  Pere  de  Louis  XV,"  1783; 
"  Histoire  de  Stanislaus,  Roi  de  Pologne, 
Due  de  Lorraine  et  de  Bar,"  1784  ;  and  "  La 
Vie  de  Marie  Leczioska,  Reine  de  France." — 
Biog.  Kouv.  des  Contcmp.  Biog.  Univ. 

PRUDENTIUS,  or  CLEMENS  PRU- 
DENTIUS AURELIUS,  a  Spanish  poet, 
soldier,  and  judge  of  the  fourth  century.  He 
was  born  at  Saragossa  about  the  year  348,  and 
being  a  Christian,  began  in  his  fifty-seventh 
year  to  write  devotional  poems,  which,  how- 
2  Z  2 


PR  V 


PHZ 


ever,  exhibit  more  zeal  than  harmonj.    There    pillory,  and  to  be  branded  in  each  cheek  with 


are  several  editions  of  his  writings,  especially 
id,-  Aldine,  l.Miii  ;  that  of  l-.lzevir,  with 
lleinsius's  DO  -  ;  ami  "lie  printed  at 

Rom  >.     The  emperor  llonorius 

patiom,,rd  him,  and  n-t.iin,'d  him  about  his 
pi-r.-on,  but  the  time  of  his  decease  is  uncer- 
tain.— tfori ' '.  Cnve. 

1'RVCK  (WILLIAM)  a  Cornish  antiquary 
and  naturalist,  who  practised  as  a  physician  at 
It-'druth  in  Cornwall,  and  died  about  the  end 
of  the  last  century.  He  was  the  author  of  a 
work  ni'itl.'d  "  iMineralogia  Cornubiensis," 
177!>,  folio,  relating  to  the  subterranean  riches 
of  the  county  which  he  inhabited  ;  and  of  "  Ar- 
chaiologia  Cornu-Britannica,  or  an  Essay  to  pre- 
serve the  Ancient  Cornish  Language,"  1790, 
4to.  Among  tbe  materials  which  he  had  col- 
lected for  the  improvement  of  the  hitler  trea- 
tise, was  a  curious  relic  of  British  antiquity, 
consisting  of  five  plays  or  interludes,  in  the  old 
Cornish  dialect,  founded  on  the  scripture  his- 
tory of  Jesus  Christ.  An  account  of  these 
productions  was  published  in  the  Archa?ologia, 
by  Daines  Barrington,  and  they  are  now  pre- 
served in  the  British  Museum. —  Medicul  Re- 
r  for  1779.  Biog.  Univ. 

PRYNNE(  WILLIAM)  a  learned  lawyer  and 
antiquary,  was  born  of  a  good  family  at  Swans- 
wick  in  Somersetshire,  in  1600.  After  an  ele- 
mentary education  at  the  grammar-school  at 
Bath,  he  was  placed  at  Oriel  college,  Oxford, 
where  lie  remained  until  he  graduated  BA.  in 
1620.  lie  then  removed  to  Lincoln's-inn  to 
study  the  law,  and  became  barrister,  bencher, 
and  reader  of  that  society.  His  attendance  upon 
the  lectures  of  Dr  Preston,  a  distinguished  pu- 
ritan, strongly  attached  him  to  that  sect,  and  he 


the  letters  S  L  (seditious  libeller).  Tlis 
sentence  was  also  executed,  and  he  was  re- 
moved for  imprisonment  to  Caernarvon  castle, 
and  afterwards  to  the  island  of  Jersey.  His 
spirit  was  not,  however,  to  be  subdued,  and 
he  continued  to  write  until  the  meeting  of 
parliament  in  1640,  when,  being  chosen  repre- 
sentative for  Newport  in  Cornwall,  the  house 
of  Commons  issued  an  order  for  bis  release. 
He  entered  London,  with  other  sufferers,  in 
triumphant  procession,  and  petitioned  the 
Commons  for  damages  against  his  prosecutors. 
On  the  impeachment  of  Laud,  he  was  em- 
ployed as  chief  manager  of  the  prosecution, 
and  when  the  parliament  became  victorious, 
was  appointed  one  of  the  visitors  to  the  uni- 
versity of  Oxford,  where  he  laboured  strenu- 
ously to  advance  the  cause  of  presbyterianism. 
He  warmly  opposed  the  independents  when 
they  acquired  ascendancy,  and  used  all  his  in- 
fluence to  produce  an  accommodation  with  the. 
king,  being  one  of  the  members  who  were  ex- 
cluded and  imprisoned  on  that  account.  He 
afterwards  became  a  bitter  enemy  to  Crom- 
well, who  confined  him  more  than  once.  With 
the  other  excluded  members,  be  resumed  his 
seat  in  1659,  and  displayed  so  much  zeal  fot 
the  Restoration,  that  general  Monk  was  ob- 
liged to  check  his  impetuosity.  He  sat  in  the 
healing  parliament  as  member  for  Bath,  and 
on  the  Restoration  was  appointed  to  the  office 
of  chief  keeper  of  the  records  in  the  Tower. 
He  was  likewise  made  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners for  appeals,  and  for  regulating  the  ex- 
cise. He  laudably  occupied  bis  later  years  in 
writings  connected  with  his  office  in  the  I'owet 
and  finished  his  laborious  life  at  his  chambers 


began  to  write  books  in  the  spirit  of  his  party  |  in  Lincoln's-inn  in  1669.  He  was  a  man  of 
so  early  as  1627,  successively  attacking  the  extensive  learning  and  indefatigable  industry, 
drinking  of  healths,  love  locks,  popery,  and 


Arminianism,  all  which  he  deemed  the  enor- 
mities of  the  age.  About  the  close  of  1632 
he  published,  in  a  kindred  spirit,  his  elaborate 
work  against  theatrical  exhibitions,  entitled 
"  llistrio-Mastix  ;"  which  book,  although  li- 
censed by  archbishop  Abbot's  chaplain,  in 
consequence  of  some  reflections  upon  female 
actors,  that  were  construed  to  be  levelled  at 
the  queen  (who  had  acted  in  a  pastoral  after 
the  publication  of  the  work),  brought  a  per- 
secution upon  the  author  in  the  star-chamber. 
The  sentence  pronounced  upon  him  affords  a 
memorable  instance  of  the  oppressive  spirit  of 
that  arbitrary  tribunal,  which  condemned  him 
to  a  fine  of  5,000/.,  to  be  expelled  the  univer- 
sity of  Oxford  and  Lincoln's-inn,  to  be  de- 
graded and  disenabled  from  his  profession  of 
the  law,  to  stand  twice  in  the  pillory,  losing 
an  ear  each  time,  and  to  remain  a  prisoner  for 
life.  All  this  was  inflicted  with  rigour,  chiefly 
e  instigation  of  Laud,  who  revenged  in  it 


but  wanted  genius  and  judgment.  His  works, 
of  which  Wood  has  given  a  catalogue,  amount 
to  40  vols.  folio  and  4to,  the  most  valuable  of 
which  is  his  "  Collection  of  Records,"  3  vols. 
folio.  As  a  man,  he  possessed  the  ungovern- 
able zeal,  party  spirit,  and  personal  disinte- 
restedness which  were  not  uncommon  during 
that  eventful  period ;  and  although  of  an  un- 
amiable  temper,  he  must  be  respected  as  an  un- 
daunted assertor  of  liberty,  and  a  conspicuous 
sufferer  in  its  cause. — Biog.  Brit.  Hume. 
Granger. 

PKZIPCO  VIUS  (SAMUEL)  aPoIish  knight 
and  distinguished  writer  among  the  Unitarians 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  was  descended 
from  a  noble  family,  and  born  about  the  year 
1592.  He  studied  at  Altdorff,  until  his  adhe- 
rence to  Unitarian  doctrines  obliged  him  to  re- 
move to  Leyden.  On  his  return  to  Poland,  he 
was  advanced  to  several  posts  of  honour,  and 
made  use  of  his  influence  to  encourage  the 
propagation  of  his  own  opinions,  and  the  es- 


at  the  instigat 

the  attacks  on  Arminianism  and  episcopacy.  :  tabl'ishment  of  Unitarian  churches  throughout 
Prynne  bore  his  sufferings  with  extraordinary  Poland.  Their  flourishing  state,  induced  him 
fortitude,  and  continued  writing  against  pre-  :  to  compose  a  "  History 


lacy  in  prison  ;  until,  for  a  virulent  piece,  en- 
titled "  Ne.\  s  from  Ipswich,"  he  was  again 
sentenced  by  the  star-chamber  to  a  fine  of 
5,00<)/.,  to  lose  the  remainder  of  his  ears  in  the 


of    the    Unitarian 

Churches    in    Poland  ;"     but    his   work    was 
lost  during  the  persecutions  which  they  after- 
wards endured.     On  these  reverses,  he  him 
self  procured  an  asylum  with  the  elector  of 


PSA 

lirandenburgh,  who  gave  him  the  appointment 
of  privy  counsellor  ;  and  in  1663  a  synod  of 
Unitarians  in  Silesia  employed  him  to  conduct 
tbe  correspondence  with  their  brethren  in 
other  nations,  the  object  of  which  was  to  ad- 
vance their  mutual  purposes.  He  died  in  1670, 
at  the  age  of  seventy-eight,  just  as  the  elector 
of  Brandenburgh ,  at  the  instance  of  the  senate 
of  Prussia,  but  against  his  own  inclinations, 
was  about  to  banish  him  from  his  dominions. 
The  works  of  Przipcovius,  which  are  very  nu- 
merous, were  collected  in  one  volume,  folio,  in 
1692,  and  may  be  considered  as  the  seventh 
volume  of  the  collection,  entitled  "  Bibliotheca 
Fratrum  Polonorum." — Life  prefixed  to  Works. 
Taidmin's  Life  of  Socinus. 

PSALMANAZAR  (GEOHGE)  the  assumed 
name  of  a  man  of  letters,  who  is  chiefly  known 
literary  impostor.     He  was  born  of  Ca- 
pareuts,   in   the  south    of    France,   in 
His  mother,  being  abandoned  by  her 


as   a 

tholic 
1679. 

husband,  sent  her  son  to  a  school  kept  by  some 
Franciscan  friars,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
place  where  she  lived ;  and  he  was  afterwards 
placed  in  a  college  of  the  Jesuits.     Pie  then 
studied   among   the  Dominicans,   and  having 
finished  his  education,  he  acted   as  a  private 
tutor.     Leaving  his  situation,  he  engaged  in 
several  adventures ;    and    at   length,    having 
stolen  from  a  church,  where  it  had  been  dedi- 
cated, tbe  habit  of  a  pilgrim,  he  roved  about 
in  that  character,  subsisting  on  charity.   After- 
wards he  descended  to  the  condition  of  a  com- 
mon vagrant,  and  then  became  servant  to  the 
keeper  of  a  tavern,  whose  house  he  left  clan- 
destinely, and   renewing  his  wandering  mode 
of  life,  he  conceived  the  project  of  professing 
himself  to   be  a  Japanese  convert  to  Christi- 
anity who  had  found  his  way  to  Europe.     As 
he  did  not  find  this  scheme  very  profitable,  he 
adopted    the    more  romantic   character  of    a 
heathen  native  of  the  island  of  Formosa,  and 
in  order  to  support  his  pretensions  he  contrived 
a  new  language,  which  he  called  the  Formo- 
san.     At  this  time  he  became  acquainted  with 
a  clergyman  named  Innes,  who  was  chaplain 
to  a  Scotch  officer  in  Flanders.     Psalmanazar, 
for  that   was  the   name   he  now  adopted,  was 
not   able  to  impose   on  this  person  ;  but  Mr 
Innes,  conceiving  he  could  turn  the  imposture 
to    good   account,    persuaded   the    pretended 
Formosan  to  suffer  himself  to  be  converted  to 
the  church  of  England,  which  being  agreed  to, 
the  clergyman  and  his  new  disciple  went  to 
London,  where  the  latter  was  presented  to  bi- 
shop Compton,  Dr  Gibson,   and   others,   and 
the  former  was  rewarded  for    his   zeal   with 
church    preferment.     Psalmanazar    had    the 
daring  effrontery  to  translate  the  Church  Ca- 
techism   into    his   newly-invented    Formosan 
language  ;  and  ha  published  a  history  of  For- 
mosa, which,  favoured  by  the  gullibility  of  the 
public,  passed  through  two  editions.     In  the 
meantime  he  was  sent  to  study  at  Oxford  ;  and 
a  controversy  was  carried  on  between  his  pa- 
trons and  Dr  Halley,    Dr    Mead,    and  some 
other  less  credulous  persons,  who   had   from 
the  beginning  refused  to  admit  his  pretensions, 


PT  O 

nifest;  and  the  culprit,  deserted  by  tho»a 
whom  he  had  deceived,  was  obliged  to  rely  on 
the  fair  exercise  of  his  literary  abilities  for  his 
support.  He  settled  in  London,  where  he  re- 
sided many  years,  and  was  much  employed  by 
tbe  booksellers,  particularly  in  the  former  part 
of  the  "  Universal  History,"  published  in 
1747.  Towards  the  close  of  his  life,  he  drew 
up  an  autobiographical  memoir,  in  which  he 
expresses  much  contrition  for  the  deceptions 
which  he  had  allowed  himself  to  practise.  His 
death  took  place  in  1763. — Aildn's  Gen.  Bing. 
Biog,  Univ. 

PSELLUS  (MICHAEL)  a  Greek  writer  of 
the  eleventh  century,  was  tutor  to  Michael, 
the  son  of  the  emperor  Constamine  Ducas. 
He  wrote  in  a  variety  of  branches,  theological, 
legal,  mathematical,  medical,  and  political,  and 
liis  works  are  highly  eulogized.  On  the  de- 
thronement of  his  pupil,  in  1078,  by  Nicepho- 
rus  Botoniates,  he  was  sent  to  a  monastery, 


where  he  died  the  same  year.  He  wrote  "  De 
Victus  Ratione  ;"  "  Dialogus  de  Energia  et 
Operatione  Dsemonum  ;"  "  De  Sanctissima 
Trinitate,  cum  Cyrillo  contra  Nestorianos  ;" 
"  Paraphrasis  in  Cantica  Canticorum  ;"  "  Sy- 
nopsis Legum  Versibus  Grscis ;"  "  Compen- 
dium quatuor  Artium,  s.  de  quatuor  Mathema- 
ticis  Scientiis." — Vossii  Hist.  Grcec.  Bibiiog. 
Diet. 

PTOLEMY  (CLAUDIUS)  a  celebrated  as- 
tronomer, musician,   and   philosopher  of  anti- 
quity,  born  at  Pelusium,  in   Egypt,  about  the 
year  70  of  the  Christian  rera.     Although  sub- 
sequent discoveries  have  overturned  his  solar 
system,  the  basis  of  which  was  the  revolution 
of  the  sun  round  the  earth  as  its  centre,  yet 
it  is   impossible  to  deny  him   the   praise   of 
being  a  bold  and  original  thinker,  far  superior 
both  in  intellect  and  acute  reasoning  to  most 
of  his   predecessors.      As   a   geographer  his 
merits  are   undisputed,  and  many  of  his  ob- 
servations appear  to  have  been  the  result  of 
a  personal  knowledge  of  the  countries  he  de- 
scribes.    With    music    as  a  science,  his  ac- 
quaintance   was  familiar   and  extensive,    al- 
though   his  writings  on  this   subject   are    in 
parts  unintelligible  to  modern  comprehension. 
For  this  science,  indeed,  he  betrays  a  degree 
of  passionate  fondness,  amounting  to  absolute 
enthusiasm,  and   disposes  with  very  little  ce- 
remony of  the  opinions  of  all  former  writers 
who  treat  of  it.     Of  eight  different  forms  of 
the  diatonic  scale,  however,  which  he  gives 
us   (three  of  which  he  himself  lays  claim  to), 
but  one   is    at    all    compatible   with    modern 
ideas.       His    Treatise    on     Harmonics    was 
printed  at   Oxford,   in   1682,    by    Ur  Wallis, 
who    executed    his    task   with  great  learning 
and  assiduity.    An  edition  of  his  geographical 
works  appeared  at  Basil,  in  4to,  in  1553,   and 
at    Amsterdam,    in    folio,   1618  ;    while    his 
"  Magna  Constructio,"    a   compilation   from 
anterior    writers    on      astronomical    subjects 
was  long  held  in  especial  esteem  by  the  jndi. 
cial  astrologers  and  adepts  of  the  middle  ages, 
under  its  name  of  "  Almagestum,"  so  called 
from  its  Arabic   version.     There   is   a  Latin 


The  imposture  at  length  became  .clearly  ma-  \  translation  of  this  work.      In    his  "    Plani- 


P  U  F 

"  he  corrects  and  enlarges  the  astro- 
,i  ;U  catalogue  of  Hipparchus;  and  indeed 
liis  wbul''  Lvp'illirM.-.   of  tin-   universe,  though 
:-,    is,     to    say  the  least,    ingenious. 
e.|  to  have  ilicd  at  Ale.van- 
driii,    where   In-   bud    ;TI    <>l>->Tvatory  in    the 
•i    (if   Antoninus    l'lnlo-;ophus. —  Hutton's 
I.  l)trl.      i  Hist.  i>f  Mus. 

I'l  li  I.I  IS  >\KUS,  so  named  from  die 
C  luntrj  i  if  whith  he  was  a  native.  He  was 
originally  a  i-hive  at  Rome  in  the  last  days  of 
the  republic,  but  having  exhibited  a  taste  for 
literature,  joined  to  considerable  poetic  talent, 
\v;is  manumitted  by  his  master,  and  rose  to 
some  eminence  as  a  dramatist.  Of  his  writ- 
t'or  the  stage,  which  were  of  that  de- 
scription of  comic  pieces  then  known  by  the 
name  of  "  Mimes,"  none  have  survived  the 
lapse  of  time.  A  collection  of  his  "  Moral 
Sentences"  has  been  more  fortunate,  and  was 
printed  towards  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury under  the  superintendence  of  the  learned 
John  Gruter.  He  is  said  to  have  been  an 
especial  favourite  with  the  first  Caesar,  and  to 
have  reached  the  zenith  of  his  reputation 
something  less  than  half  a  century  before  the 
birth  of  Christ. —  Vossii  Poet.  Lat. 

PUFFENDORFF  (SAMUEL)  a  celebrated 
German  professor  and  writer  on  history  and 
jurisprudence.  He  was  born  in  1631,  at  a 
village  near  Chemnitz,  in  Misnia,  where  his 
father  was  minister.  He  received  his  educa- 
tion at  the  universities  of  Leipsic  and  Jena; 
after  which  he  engaged  in  the  office  of  private 
tuior  in  the  family  of  the  Swedish  resident 
at  the  court  of  Copenhagen.  War  took  place 
een  Sweden  and  Denmark,  and  on  the 
sudden  expedition  of  Charles  X.  against  Co- 
penhagen, in  1637,  the  Swedish  envoy,  with 
all  his  suite  were  committed  to  close  custody. 
While  in  prison,  Purt'eiulorff  employed  him- 
self in  writing  his  "  Elementa  Jurisprudentia: 
Universae,"  which  he  published  at  the  Hague, 
in  166D,  with  a  dedication  to  Charles  Louis, 
the  elector  palatine.  That  prince  soon  after 
appointed  him  professor  of  the  law  of  nature 
and  of  nations,  in  the  university  of  Heidelberg, 
where  he  remained  till  1668,  when  he  re- 
moved to  a  similar  station  in  the  then  newly- 
founded  university  of  Lund,  in  Sweden. 
There,  in  1672,  he  published  his  capital 
I.,  "  De  JureNaturaj  et  Gentium,"  4to,  in 
which  he  improved  on  the  speculations  of 
Grotius ;  and  as  he  opposed  the  prevailing 
ethic  .1  doctrines  of  the  schoolmen,  he  met 
with  many  antagonists  ;  but  the  value  of  this 
treatise  has  been  long  since  acknowledged, 
and  it  has  even  been  eulogized  by  pope  Inno- 
cent XI.  The  king  of  Sweden,  Charles  XI, 
nominated  Puffendorff  a  royal  counsellor, 
and  made  him  his  historiographer,  when 
he  produced  his  commentaries,  "  De  Re- 
bus Suecicis  sub  Gustavo  Adolpho  usque 
ad  Abdicationem  Christiuse,  et  de  Rebus  a 
Carolo  Gustavo  gestis,"  "2  vols.  folio.  Owing 
to  the  credit  he  obtained  by  this  work,  he 
was  invited  to  Berlin,  whither  he  went  in 
1688  to  write  the  life  of  the  great  elector  of 
Bran  .,  :iburgh,  Frederic  William,  in  conse- 


PUL 

quence  of  which  he  was  honoured  with  the 
title  of  an  electoral  privy  counsellor.  In 
i'it  he  was  raised  to  the  dignity  of  a  baron 
of  Sweden ;  and  he  was  solicited  by  the  em- 
peror Leopold  I  to  visit  Vienna,  and  become 
the  imperial  historiographer,  but  he  declined 
accepting  the  proposal  ;  and  his  death  took 
place  October  26,  in  the  year  above  men- 
tioned. PuflFendorff  was  the  author  of  several 
works  besides  those  already  noticed,  among 
which  the  most  important  are,  "  Compendium 
Officii  Hominis  et  Civis ;"  and  his  Intioduc- 
tion  to  the  History  of  Europe."  The  latter 
has  been  translated  into  English,  and  published 
in  one  volume,  and  afterwards  with  additions, 
in  two  volumes,  octavo  ;  and  it  has  also  been 
extended  in  French  into  a  body  of  universal  his- 
tory, of  which  the  most  complete  edition  is  that 
of  Paris,  1753,  8  vols.  4to,  entitled  "  Introduc- 
tion a  I'Histoire  de  1'Univers,  par  Puffendorff, 
augmentee  et  continuee  par  De  Grace."  The 
"  Treatise  on  the  Law  of  Nature  and  Nations," 
was  translated  into  English  by  Basil  Kennett, 
1703,  8vo.  and  several  times  reprinted ;  and 
it  subsequently  appeared,  with  the  notes  and 
prefatory  discourse  of  Barbeyrac,  translated 
by  Carew,  1749,  folio. — Moreri.  Stollii  Introd. 
in  Hist.  Lit.  Biog.Univ. 

PUJOULX  (JOHN  BAPTIST)  an  ingenious 
French  writer,  born  in  1762,  at  Saint  Macaire 
in  Guienne.  lie  went  to  Paris  when  young, 
and  acquired  the  reputation  of  taste  and  intel- 
ligence by  the  articles  which  he  furnished  to 
periodical  works.  He  became  a  contributor 
to  the  "  Journal  de  Litterature  Fran9aise  et 
Etrangere,"  published  at  Deux  Fonts  ;  and  he 
composed  for  different  theatres  a  great  num- 
ber of  dramatic  pieces,  which  were  well  re- 
ceived. Taking  no  part  in  politics,  he  escaped 
molestation  during  the  reign  of  terror  ;  and 
in  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  was  much  oc- 
cupied with  the  study  of  natural  history  'ind 
philosophy.  He  was  engaged  in  several"  lite- 
rary undertakings,  among  which  were  the 
"  Journal  de  1'Empire  ;"  and  the  "  Biographie 
Universelle."  He  died  at  Paris,  April  17. 
1821.  A  list  of  his  numerous  dramatic  and 
other  works  may  be  found  in  the  annexed  au- 
thorities.— Bing.  Nouv.  des  Gontemp,  Biog. 
Univ. 

PULCI  (Luici)  an  Italiaii  poet,  born  at 
Florence  in  1431,  of  whose  life  little  is  known, 
except  that  he  was  upon  intimate  terms  with 
Lorenzo  de.'  Medici  and  Angelo  Poliziano. 
His  principal  work  is  a  poem,  entitled  "  Mor- 
gan te  Maggiore,"  written  at  the  instigation 
of  Lucrezia,  the  mother  of  Lorenzo,  printed 
at  Venice  in  1488.  It  has  been  doubted 
whether  this  or  the  Orlando  Innamorato  of 
Boyardo  was  first  written  ;  but  it  is  certain 
that  the  latter  was  not  published  until  1496, 
and  it  may  therefore  be  justly  considered  as  the 
prototype  of  Ariosto's  Orlando  Furioso.  The 
admirers  of  the  "  Morgante  "  have  been  ex- 
travagant in  their  praise,  as  its  opponents  have 
been  violent  in  their  censures.  It  displays 
much  poetical  fire  and  invention,  and  purity  of 
style,  but  at  the  same  time  is  so  unconnected 
and  irregular,  as  to  be  tedious  to  a  modern 


P  U  L 

reader,  though  it  is  still  read  with  delight  by 
the  lovers  of  the  Florentine  diulect.  A  spi- 
rited translation  of  it,  by  lord  Byron,  was 
given  in  "  The  Liberal,"  from  which  its  cha- 
racter may  be  well  understood.  The  best  edi- 
tion is  that  of  Paris,  with  the  date  London, 
1768.  Amongst  some,  other  printed  poems  of 
Luigi  Pulci  are  three  burlesque  sonnets,  writ- 
ten in  conjunction  with  Matteo  Franco.  Their 
sonnets  were  published  together,  under  the 
title  of  "  Sonetti  di  Mesere  Matteo  Franco  e 
di  Luigi  Pulci  jocosi  e  faceti,  cioe  da  ridere." 
He  had  two  brothers,  also  poets.  BERNARDO 
was  the  author  of  a  translation  of  the  Eclogues 
of  Virgil,  of  a  poem  on  Christ's  passion,  and  of 
two  elegies  upon  Cosmo  de'  Medici  and  the 
beautiful  Simanetta. — LUCA  wrote  a  pastoral 
romance,  entitled  "  Driadee  d'Amore  ;"an  epic 
romance,  the  first  of  the  kind  that  appeared  in 
Italy,  entitled  "  II  Ciriffo  Calvaneo  ;"  stanzas 
on  the  tournament  of  Lorenzo  de'  Medici, 
epistles,  &c. — Roscoa's  Lorenzo  de'  Medici. 
Tiruboschi. 

PULLENorPULLUS(RoBErtT)  an  English 
cardinal  of  the  twelfth  century,  is  supposed  to 
have  been  a  native  of  Oxfordshire.  He  studied 
at  Paris,  and  in  1130  lie  returned  to  England, 
where  he  contributed  to  the  restoration  of  the 
university  of  Oxford, neglected  since,  ravaged  by 
the  Danes.  He  spared  no  pains  for  the  diffu- 
sion of  learning  among  the  British  youth,  and 
for  five  years  he  publicly  read  the  Scriptures, 
which  had  been  neglected  in  England,  and  in 
reward  he  was  presented  to  the  archdeaconry 
of  Rochester.  After  this  he  returned  to  Paris, 
and  became  professor  of  divinity  ;  but  lie  was 
recalled  by  his  metropolitan,  and  the  revenues 
of  his  benefice  sequestered,  until  he  obeyed 
the  summons  ;  but  on  appealing  to  the  see  of 
Rome,  he  gained  a  decision  in  his  favour.  He 
was  invited  to  Rome,  and  was  created  cardinal 
by  Celestine  II,  and  afterwards  chancellor  of 
the  Roman  church  by  pope  Lucius  II.  He 
died  about  1 150.  His  only  work  now  extant  is 
his  "  Sententiarum  Liber,"  Paris,  1653,  which, 
though  somewhat  obscure,  possesses  much 
judgment,  and,  contrary  to  the  custom  of  the 
time,  he  prefers  the  authority  of  reason  and 
the  Scriptures  to  the  testimony  of  the  fathers, 
or  the  subtlety  of  metaphysics. — Dupiii.  Cave. 
Leland.  Fuller's  Worthies. 

PULTENEY  (RICHARD)  an  ingenious  phy- 
sician and  botanist,  born  at  Loughborough  in 
Leicestershire,  in  1730.  He  was  educated  for 
the  medical  profession,  and  settled  as  a  sur- 
geon at  Leicester,  devoting  his  leisure  to 
scientific  inquiries.  In  1759  he  published  in 
the  Philosophical  Transactions  "  An  Account 


of  some  rare  Plants  found  in  Leicestershire  , 
and  the  following  year,  "  Observations  upon 
the  Sleep  of  Plants,  with  an  Account  of  that 
Faculty  which  Linnreus  calls  Vigilim  Florum, 
and  an  Enumeration  of  several  Plants,  which 
are  subject  to  that  Law."  In  1762  he  was 
chosen  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  ;  and  he 
then  communicated  "  A  Case  of  a  Man  whose 
Heart  was  enlarged  to  a  very  uncommon 
Sii.e."  He  took  the  degree  of  MD.  at  the 
university  of  Edinburgh  in  17(54,  when  he  de- 


P  U  R 

livered  a  thesis,  "  De  Cinchona  officmali, 
sive  Cortice  Peruviano  ;''  and  soon  after  lie 
settled  at  Blandford  in  Dorsetshire,  where  he 
practised  as  physician  during  the  remainder  of 
ins  life.  In  1781  he  published  "  A  General 
View  of  the  Writings  of  Linnasus,"  8vo  ;  and 
in  1790  appeared  his  principal  work,  "  Histo- 
rical and  Biographical  Sketches  of  the  Pro- 
gress of  Botany  in  England,  from  its  Origin  to 
the  Introduction  of  the  Linnaean  System," 
2  vols.  8vo.  He  also  was  the  author  of  some 
papers  in  the  London  Medical  Journal,  and  the 
Memoirs  of  the  Medical  Society.  His  death 
took  place  October  13,  1801.— Rees's  Cyclup. 
Bi<>^.  Univ. 

PULTENEY  (WILLIAM)  earl  of  Bath,  an 
English  statesman,  who  distinguished  himself 
as  the  political  antagonist  of  sir  Robert  Wal- 
pole.      He  was    descended  from  an   ancient 
family,  and  was  born  in  1682.  After  receiving 
part  of  his  education  at  Westminster  school, 
he  became  a  student  of  Christchurch,  Oxford  ; 
and  when   queen  Anne  made  a  visit  to  the 
university,  he  addressed  to  her  majesty  a  con- 
gratulatory   speech   on   the    occasion.     After 
having  travelled  abroad,   he  returned  to  his 
native  country,  to  devote  himself  to  politics  ; 
and  being  chosen  a  member  of  the  house  of 
Commons,  he  joined  the  party  of  the  whigs, 
in  the  later  years  of  the  reign  of  Anne.  Under 
George  I  he  obtained  a  seat  at  the  council- 
board,  and  was  made  secretary    at  war.     A 
dispute  with  sir  Robert  Walpole  caused  his 
removal  to  the  ranks  of  the  opposition  ;   when 
he  joined  lord  Bolingbroke  in  conducting  an 
anti-ministerial  journal,  called   "  The  Crafts- 
man."    In   1731  he  fought  a  bloodless  duel 
with  lord   Hervey,  which  gave  offence  to  the 
king,  who  removed  Mr  Pulteney  from  the  of- 
fice of  privy  counsellor,  which  he  had  hitherto 
held  ;  and  also  from  the   commission  of  the 
peace.     These   and  other  marks  of  the  dis- 
pleasure of  his  majesty  or  his  advisers,  only 
served  to  increase  the   popularity  of  this  lea- 
der of  the  opposition,  who  at  length  succeeded 
in  procuring  the  resignation  of  his  rival,  Wal- 
pole, in  1741.     The  party  with  which  he  had 
acted  then  came  into  power,  and  he  was  him- 
self raised  to  the  peerage,  by  the  title  of  earl  of 
Bath.     From  that  period  his  favour  with  the 
people   entirely  ceased,   and  he   became  more 
completely  the  object  of  public  contempt  than 
perhaps  any  other  political  leader  of  his  time. 
His  death  took  place  June    8,  1764. — Biog, 
Peerage. 

PURBACH  or  PURBACHIUS  (GEORGE) 
a  learned  German  of  the  fifteenth  century,  so 
named  from  the  place  of  his  nativity.  He  was 


born  in  1423,  and  received  his  education  at 
Vienna,  where  he  distinguished  himself  both 
as  a  good  mathematician  and  a  sound  clas- 
sical scholar.  He  rose  to  be  mathematical 
professor  in  the  university  belonging  to  that 
capital ;  and  the  science  is  indebted  to  him  for 
several  improvements,  theoretical  as  well  as 
practical,  especially  as  far  as  regards  some  of 
its  instruments,  and  the  construction  of  some 
useful  tables  in  trigonometry,  &c.  He  was  one 
of  the  best  astronomers  of  his  day,  and  ha  ' 


P  U  K 

ill-oil',  a  translation  of  Ptolemy's  "  Almages-  ] 
turn."  from  the  Arabic  version,  but  was  pre- 
vented by  death  from  completing  it.  He  was 
aN'i  tlic  author  of  a  treatise,  entitled  "  A 
Theory  of  tin-  Planets."  Mis  death  took  place 
in  1 -It'll. —  //nMd/i's  .Wii (/i.  Diet. 

Pt'KCI.I.L  (  MiM'.v)  an  KngJisli  musical 
composer  of  first-rail-  skill  and  eminence, 
lit-  was  the  son  of  an  able  musician  aud  gen- 
tlrtnan  of  tlie  chapel  royal,  of  the  same  name, 
who  dying,  in  1661,  left  him  an  orphan  in  his 
sixth  year,  lie  was  admitted  at  an  early  age 
a  chorister  in  the  king's  chapel,  where  he  stu- 
died music  under  captain  Cook  and  his  suc- 
cessor, I'elham  Humphrey;  atid  afterwards 
completed  his  education  under  doctor  Blow, 
who  was  so  proud  of  his  scholar,  that  at 
his  death  his  friends  thought  it  worthy  of 
bein;4  inscribed  on  the  monument  of  the  de- 
ceased, that  he  was  "  Waster  to  the  famous 
Mr  Henry  Purcell."  In  1676,  when  only  eigh- 
teen years  old,  he  obtained  the  situation  of  or- 
ganist to  Westminster  abbey,  and  six  years 
afterwards  succeeded  Ur  Edward  Law  in  a 
similar  capacity  at  the  chapel  royal,  St  James's. 
From  this  period  his  fame  seems  to  have  in- 
creased with  a  rapidity  proportioned  to  bis 
merit,  his  anthems  and  church  music  in  gene- 
ral being  especially  popular  in  all  the  cathe- 
drals of  the  kingdom.  Nor  were  his  compo- 
sitions for  the  stage  and  music-room  less  suc- 
cessful ;  no  other  vocal  music  being  listened 
to  with  pleasure  in  this  country,  comparatively 
speaking,  till  the  rise  of  Handel,  nearly  thirty 
years  after  his  decease.  The  unlimited  powers 
of  his  genius  embraced  every  species  of  com- 
position with  equal  facility  ;  aud  with  respect 
to  chamber  music,  all  prior  productions  seem 
to  have  been  at  once  and  totally  superseded. 
Of  his  numerous  compositions  his  celebrated 
"  Te  Deum  "  and  "  Jubilate"  have  been  er- 
roneously supposed,  by  Tudway  and  others,  to 
have  been  written  for  the  opening  of  new  St 
Paul's,  although  the  author  did  not  live  to  see 
the  building  finished  ;  the  fact,  however,  ap- 
pears, from  a  copy  preserved  in  the  library 
of  Christchurch,  Oxford,  to  have  been,  that 
they  were  composed  for  the  celebration  of  St 
Cecilia's  day,  1694.  Among  his  other  works 
of  a  sacred  nature  are  three  full  and  six  verse, 
anthems,  to  be  found  in  DrBoyce's  collection; 
a  whole  service  in  the  key  of  B  flat ;  with  eight 
anthems  preserved  in  the  British  museum  ;  and 
Hymns,  Psalms,  Motets,  &:c.  of  a  singularly 
sublime  cast,  in  a  manuscript  bequeathed  by 
dean  Aldrich  to  Christchurch  library.  Of 
these,  the  "  Te  Deum  "  was  constantly  per- 
formed at  St  Paul's,  on  the  feast  of  the  sons  of 
the  clergy,  till  it  was  superseded  by  that  of 
Handel,  written  on  the  occasion  of  the  peace  of 
I'trecht,  which  in  its  turn  yielded  to  that  for 
the  victory  at  Dettingen,  by  the  same  com- 
poser, which  still  maintains  its  ground,  and 
constaiiiK  iorms  a  part  of  the  solemnity  on  the 
occasion.  Of  his  instrumental  music  a  collec- 
tion was  published  two  years  after  hisdecease, 
'  v  I-'raiKcs  Purcell,  his  executrix,  containing 
;  irsin  four  p-irts  for  two  »iolins,  tenor,  and  bass*! 
1  cw  of  his  songs  appeal  to  have  been  printed 


P  U  K 

during  his  life,  but  many  of  them  were  pub- 
lished afterwards  by  his  widow,  under  the 
title  of  "  Orpheus  Britannicus."  "  Ye  twice 
ten  hundred  Deities,"  contained  in  this  col- 
lection, is  considered  the  finest  piece  of  recita- 
tive in  the  language  ;  while  his  music  in  "  King 
Arthur  "  has  maintained  its  popularity  undi- 
minished  above  a  century.  In  169.5,  the  year 
of  his  death,  he  set  to  music  "  Bonduca,"  and 
"The  Prophetess,"  an  opera  altered  by  Dryden 
from  Beaumont  and  Fletcher ;  and,  besides 
the  works  already  enumerated,  lie  was  the 
author  of  a  vast  variety  of  Catches,  Rounds, 
Glees,  &c.  not  less  remarkable  for  their  me- 
lody than  for  their  spirit,  humour,  and  origi- 
nality. The  works  of  no  musical  composer 
were,  perhaps,  ever  more  congenial  with  the 
na'.ional  taste  of  this  country,  which  displayed 
its  gratitude  by  a  monument  erected  to  his 
honour,  in  Westminster  abbey.  His  death 
took  place  November  21,  1695. — DANIEL 
PUHCELL,  his  younger  brother,  was  also  a  mu- 
sician, but  of  far  inferior  reputation.  He  was 
organist  of  Magdalen  college,  Oxford  ;  and 
composed  an  opera,  entitled  "  Brutus  of 
Alba,"  as  well  as  another,  called  "  The  Grove, 
or  Love's  Paradise."  His  fame,  however, 
,  rests  principally  on  his  character  as  the  most 
'<  facetious  punster  of  his  day  ;  and  many  spe- 
cimens of  this  kind  of  wit  are  attributed  to  him 
in  the  jest  books  of  the  period. — Burner's 
Hist,  of  Mw. 

PURCHAS  (SAMUEL)  an  English  divine, 
1  was  born  in  1577,  at  Thaxtead  in  Essex.  He 
was  educated  at  Cambridge,  where  he  took 
the  degree  of  BD.  His  principal  work  was 
entitled  "  Purchas  his  Pilgrimages,  or  Rela- 
tions of  the  World,"  r>  vols.  folio,  which  was 
well  received ;  and  with  Hakluyt's  Voyages, 
led  the  way  to  all  other  collections  of  the  same 
kind,  and  have  been  much  valued  and  esteem- 
ed. He  also  wrote  '  Microcosmos,  or  the 
History  of  Man,"  8vo  ;  "  The  King's  Tower 
and  Triumphal  Arch  of  London."  Mr  Pur- 
chas was  rector  of  St  Martin's  in  Ludgate,  and 
|  chaplain  to  Abbot,  archbishop  of  Canterbury. 
He  died  in  London  in  1628. — His  son,  SA- 
MUEL, wrote  "  A  Theatre  of  Political  Flying 
Insects,"  1657.  A  copy  of  the  Pilgrim 
of  Purchas  is  now  deemed  very  valuable. — 
\  Biog.  Brit. 

PURVER  (ANTHONY)  a  native  of  Hamp- 
shire, who  distinguished  himself  by  a  transla- 
tion of  the  Bible.     He  was  born  in  low  life, 
j  and  was  apprenticed   to  a  shoemaker  :  being 
afterwards  employed  as  a  shepherd,  he  found 
leisure  for  study,  to  which  he  was  excited  by 
the  perusal  of  a  tract,  in  which  some  inaccura- 
,  cies  in  the  authorized  version  of  the  Bible  were 
:  pointed  out.     He  then  endeavoured  to  acquire 
i  a  knowledge  of  the  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin 
languages,  which  he  did  with  very  little   as- 
sistance ;  and  having  settled  at  Anclover  as  a 
schoolmaster,  he  completed  a  translation  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  into  English,  which 
work  was  published  at  the  expense  of  Dr  Fo- 
thorgill  in  1765,  2  vols.  folio.     As  the  produc- 
tion of  a  self-educated  scholar,  it  deserves  con- 
siderable approbation,  the  author  having  ge- 


PUT 

nerally  succeeded  in  giving  a  more  literal 
translation  of  the  Scriptures  than  those  who 
preceded  him.  He  belonged  to  the  sect  of  the 
Quakers,  among  whom  he  was  an  occasional 
preacher.  His  death  took  place  in  August 
1777.— Chalmers's  Biog.  Diet. 

PUTEANUS  (ERYCIUS)  or  Vander  Put- 
ten,  a  learned  writer,  was  born  at  Vanloo  in 
1574.  He  went  to  Italy,  and  became  professor 
of  rhetoric  at  Milan,  and  historiographer  to  the 
king  of  Spain,  and  was  made  a  citizen  of  Rome. 
He  returned  to  Louvaine,  and  succeeded  Lip- 
Bius  as  professor  of  belles  lettres.  He  was 
also  counsellor  to  the  archduke  Albert,  and 
governor  of  the  citadel  of  Louvaine,  where  he 
died  in  1646.  His  works  are,  "  Statera  Belli 
et  Pads ;"  "  Historia  Irisubrica ;"  "  Or- 
chestra Burgundka ;"  "Theatrum  Historicum 
Imperatorum  ;"  "  Comus,  seu  de  Luxu  Som- 
mum  ;"  "  De  Usu  Bibliothecre  Ambrosianas," 
&c. — Eayle.  Moreri.  .Saiii  Onomast. 

PUTT  EN  H  AM  (GEORGE)  an  English  poet, 
•was  born  about  1530,  and  educated  at  Oxford. 
He  distinguished  himself  in  the  court  of  Ed- 
ward VI  by  an  eclogue,  entitled  "  Elpine." 
He  then  made  one  or  two  tours  on  the  conti- 
nent, and  on  his  return  he  became  one  of  the 
gentlemen  pensioners  of  queen  Elizabeth.  The 
only  pieces  of  his  extant  are,  "  The  Art  of 
Poe'sie,"  and  "  The  Partheniades  ;"  the  latter 
of  which  was  presented  to  queen  Elizabeth, 
as  a  new-year's  gift,  in  1579.  The  Art  of 
Poesie  proves  the  soundness  of  his  judgment, 
and  his  candour  as  a  ciitic,  and  is  a  curious 
and  entertaining  work.  It  was  reprinted  by 
Haslewood  in  1811.— Centura  Lit.  Warton's 
Hist,  of  Poetry.  Gent.  Mag. 

PUTNAM  (ISRAEL)  a  major-genera!  in 
the  service  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
born  at  Salem,  in  the  province  of  Massachu- 
setts, about  1718.  He  was  principally  noted 
for  his  daring  courage,  which  he  displayed  in 
a  singular  combat  with  a  wolf  in  1739.  He 
was  at  that  time  a  farmer,  residing  at  Pomfret  in 
Connecticut ;  and  his  flocks,  as  well  as  those  of 
liis  neighbours,  being  terribly  thinned  by  the 
ravages  of  a  monstrous  she-wolf,  Putnam,  with 
a  few  associates,  traced  the  ferocious  animal  to 
her  den,  which  was  a  deep  cavern  in  a  rock. 
Into  that  place  he  crept  alone,  with  a  torch  in 
one  hand  and  a  musket  in  the  other,  and,  at  the 
utmost  personal  risk,  destroyed  the  creature, 
according  to  some  accounts,  by  strangling  her 
in  bis  arms,  after  he  had  wounded  her.  In  the 
war  with  France,  in  1755,  he  obtained  the  com- 
mand of  a  company  ;  and  he  served  in  the  ex- 
pedition against  Ticonderago  in  the  following 
year.  He  was  afterwards  taken  prisoner,  and 
conveyed  to  Montreal ;  but  was  released  on 
peace  taking  place,  when  he  retired  to  his 
farm.  On  the  commencement  of  hostilities 
between  this  country  and  the  colonies,  he 
raised  a  regiment,  and  soon  was  appointed  a 
jnaj or- general,  in  which  capacity  he  com- 
manded at  the  battle  of  Bunktr's-hill.  He 
was  afterwards  employed  at  New  York,  Phi- 
ladelphia, and  various  other  places,  where  he 
maintained  his  reputation  as  a  bold  and  skilful 
officer.  Illness  obliged  him  to  retire  from  the 
VOL.  II. 


PU  Y 

service,  and  he  died  in  1790,  much  regretted 
by  his  fellow-citizens. — Biog.  Nouv.  des  Con. 

PUTTER  (JOHN  STEPHEN)  aa  eminent 
German  writer  on  history  and  national  policy, 
who  was  a  native  of  Iserlohn  in  Westphalia. 
His  father  was  a  merchant,  and  he  studied  at 
Marpurg,  Halle,  and  Jena,  whence  he  removed 
again  to  Marpurg  in  1742.  In  1744  he  com- 
menced his  academical  career,  by  a  course  of 
lectures  on  the  history  of  the  empire  ;  and  in 
1746  he  became  professor  at  Gottingen.  In. 
1762  he  went  to  Gotha,  to  deliver  lectures  to 
the  hereditary  prince,  inconsequence  of  which 
he  was  introduced  to  the  great  Frederic  of 
Prussia;  and  in  1764,  en  the  election  of  Jo- 
seph II  as  king  of  the  Romans,  this  learned 
professor  was  appointed  counsellor  to  the  Ha- 
noverian legation  at  Frankfort.  He  was  of- 
fered the  title  of  aulic  counsellor  at  Vienna  in 
1766,  but  nothing  could  induce  him  to  leave 
Gottingen,  where  he  obtained  the  office  of  dean 
of  the  faculty  of  jurisprudence  in  1797,  on 
the  death  of  Boehmer.  He  died  August  12, 
1807,  at  the  age  of  eighty-two.  His  principal 
works  are,  "  Institutiones  Juris  Public!  Ger- 
"  A  Sketch  of  the  History  of  Ger- 


mamci 


many;"  "  An  Historical  Developement  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  Germanic  Empire,"  which 
was  translated  into  English  by  Dr  Dornford, 
and  published  in  3  vols.  8vo,  1790  ;  "  An  Es- 
say toward  an  Academical  History  of  the 
learned  Men  belonging  to  the  University  of 
Gottingen  ;"  "  The  Literature  of  German 
Public  Law;"  and  his  "Autobiography." — 
Biog.  Univ. 

PUY(du).  There  were  several  learned  and 
ingenious  French  writers  of  this  name,  whose 
family  was  connected  by  the  ties  of  consan- 
guinity with  that  of  the  celebrated  Thuanus. 
Of  these,  CLAUDE  ou  PUY,  an  advocate  of 
some  eminence,  had  chree  sons :  PIERRE,  born 
in  1512,  at  Agen,  followed  the  profession  of  his 
father,  became  keeper  of  the  royal  library  and 
a  counsellor  to  the  king,  in  which  capacity  he 
contended  for  the  civil  privileges  of  the  sove- 
reign in  the  bishoprics  of  Metz,  Verdun,  &c. 
and  published  a  treatise  on  the  French  laws, 
respecting  succession  to  the  crown.  He  was 
also  a  sound  antiquarian,  and  besides  an  edi- 
tion of  Thuanus,  which  he  superintended,  was 
the  author  of  a  variety  of  valuable  works,  on 
subjects  connected  with  politics  and  history. 
The  principal  of  these  are,  "  A  Treatise  on 
the  Rights  and  Liberties  of  the  Gallican 
Church, "folio,  3 vols. ;  "  Historical  Remarks 
ou  certain  Events  in  French  History,  the 
Condemnation  of  the  Knights  Templars,  the 
Schism  of  Avignon,  &c."  4to  ;  "  A  History  of 
the  principal  Favourites,  &c."  "  On  the  Ma- 
jority of  the  Kings  of  France,  Regencies,  &c." 
He  died  in  1651,  and  is  highly  complimented 
for  his  talents  by  Voltaire. — CHRISTOPHER, 
the  second  brother,  took  holy  orders,  and  is 
known  as  the  publisher  of  "  Perroniana."  He 
survived  his  brother  Pierre  about  three  years. 
— JACQUES,  the  third  brother,  was  also  an  ec- 
clesiastic, and  obtained  the  priory  of  St  Sa- 
viour's. He  was  the  author  of  a  Glossary  to 
the  names  in  the  history  of  his  kiusman  De 
3  A 


P  Y  R 

Thou,  and  died  in  1657. — Louts  DU  Par,  de- 
•cended  of  the  same  family,  was  born  in  1709 
at  Mugey,  and  becoming  librarian  to  the  prince 
de  Soubise,  published  under  the  auspices  of 
that  nobleman  a  translation  of  the  tragedies  of 
Sophocles.  He  was  also  for  many  years  editor 
of  the  Journal  des  Savans,  and  the  author  of 
a  treatise  on  geometry,  besides  sundry  philo- 
sophical papers  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Aca- 
>!•  inie  des  Inscriptions,  of  which  he  was  a 
memli  -r.  —  /;/,-;••.  Unir. 

PUY-SEGUR  (JACQUES  DE  CHASTENET, 
lord  of)  the  name  of  two  celebrated  French 
commanders,  father  and  son.  The  elder  de- 
scended of  a  noble  family  of  Armagnac,  was 
born  at  the  commencement  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  entering  the  army  at  an  early 
age,  served  forty-three  campaigns,  in  the 
course  of  which  he  was  present  in  thirty  bat- 
tles, and  assisted  at  a  hundred  and  twenty 
sieges ;  yet  such  was  his  good  fortune,  that 
though  he  always  exposed  his  person  with  be- 
coming bravery,  he  never  once  received  a 
wound.  On  retiring  from  the  service,  he 
amused  his  leisure  hours  by  compiling  his  own 
memoirs,  which  appeared  at  Paris,  about  eight 
years  after  his»  decease,  and  are  remarkable  for 
their  accuracy  as  well  as  interest.  They  em- 
fcrace  a  period  of  more  than  forty  years,  ex- 
tending from  1617  to  1658.  He  enjoyed  the 
rank  of  lieutenant-general,  and  died  in  1682, 
at  his  estate  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Guise. — 
His  son,  born  in  1655,  was  also  an  excellent 
officer,  and  rose  to  <Jie  dignity  of  a  mar- 
shal of  France.  He  was  the  author  of  a 
treatise  on  tactics,  whkli  went  through  two 
editions,  the  first  of  which  was  in  folio  ;  the 
latter,  printed  in  two  quarto  volumes,  appeared 
five  years  after  his  death,  which  took  place  in 
1743.— -Y.xii'.  Diet.  Hist. 

PUZOS    (NICHOLAS)   a  celebrated   accou- 
cheur, born  at  Paris  in  1686.    He  was  the  son 
of  an   army  surgeon,  and   after  having  gone 
through  a  course  of  philosophy  at  the  university 
of  Paris,  he  served  in  the  military  hospitals, 
made  several  campaigns,  and  arrived  at  the  rank 
of  assistant  surgeon -major.    He  afterwards  set- 
tled  at  Paris,  and  devoted  himself  to  the  ob- 
stetrical  branch  of  his  profession.     Becoming 
one  of  the  first  members  of  the  Academy  of 
Surgery,  he  was,  in  1741,  made  a  vice-director, 
and  soon  after  director.     The  office  of  censor- 
royal   for  books  on  surgery  was  conferred  on 
him  on  the  death  of  Petit;  and  in  1751   the 
king  yave  linn  letters  of  nobility.     He  died 
June  7,  1753.     Puzos  was  chiefly  eminent  as 
a  practitioner  ;  but  he  was  also  the   author  of 
a  valuable  memoir  on   Haemorrhages,  in  the 
Transactions  of  the  Academy  of  Surgery,  and 
of    "  Traite  des  Accouchments,  contenaut  des 
Observations  importantes  pour  la  Pratique  de 
cetArt,"  published  posthumously,  Paris,  1759. 
4to.  —  liiog.  ('/iic. 

PYE  (HiMiY  JAMES)  an  ingenious  English 
writer,  born  in  London  1745,  and  educated  at 
Magdalen  college,  Oxford,  where  he  gra- 
Buated  LLD.  in  1772.  On  quitting  the  uni- 
versity he  obtained  a  commission  in  the  Berk- 
•hirt  militia,  his  family  being  connected  with 


P  Y  M 

tbat  county,  which  at  a  subsequent  period  be 
became  <i  candidate  to  represent  in  parliament, 
but  lost  his  election  after  an  expensive  contest. 
.Mr  Pye  was  the  author  of  a  great  variety  of 
poetical  pieces,  the  principal  of  which  are  an 
heroic  poem,  entitled  "  Alfred  ;"  "  Farring- 
don  Hill  ;"  "  The  Progress  of  Refinement  ;" 
"The  Aristocrat;"  "The  Democrat;"  and 
four  volumes  of  miscellaneous  poetry,  besides 
translations  from  Homer,  Pindar,  Aristotle, 
Burger,  &c.  together  with  several  Birth-day 
Odes,  written  in  his  capacity  of  poet-laureat. 
To  this  situation  he  was  appointed  in  1790, 
arid  two  years  afterwards  obtained  that  of  a 
stipendiary  magistrate  of  police,  both  which 
he  tilled,  till  his  death  in  1813. — Ann.  li'u<^. 

PYLE  (THOMAS)  a  learned  and  able  po- 
lemic of  the  last  century,  a  native  of  Stodey  in 
the  county  of  Norfolk,  born  167-1.  From 
Caius  college,  Cambridge,  he  removed,  on  the 
completion  of  his  university  education,  to 
King's  Lynn  ;  and  having  taken  holy  orders, 
became  minister  of  a  chapel  there,  distinguish- 
ing himself  both  by  his  eloquence  in  the  pulpit 
and  the  exemplary  tenor  of  his  life.  Bishop 
Hoadly  presented  him  at  length  with  a  stall 
in  Salisbury  cathedral,  in  consequence  of  the 
talent  and  zeal  which  he  displayed  in  the  ce- 
lebrated Bangorian  controversy  ;  and  in  1732 
his  revenues  were  farther  increased  by  the  ad- 
dition of  the  vicarage  of  St  Margaret's  at  Lynn. 
He  was  the  author  of  valuable  Paraphrases  of 
the  Old  Testament,  and  of  the  Epistles  con- 
tained in  the  New,  as  well  as  of  the  Acts  and 
Revelations,  which  have  gone  through  several 
editions.  Two  years  after  his  decease,  which 
took  place  in  1755,  his  son,  Philip  Pyle,  pre- 
bendary of  Winchester,  published  a  collection 
of  upwards  of  sixty  of  his  father's  sermons,  in 
three  8vo  volumes. — Biog.  Brit. 

PYM  (JOHN)  a  noted  parliamentarian  in 
the  reign  of  Charles  I,  was  descended  of  a 
good  family  in  Somersetshire,  where  he  was 
born  in  1584.  He  was  educated  at  Pembroke 
college,  Oxford,  whence  he  removed  to  one  of 
the  inns  of  court,  and  was  called  to  the  bar, 
and  placed  a*  a  clerk  in  the  office  of  the  ex- 
chequer. He  was  early  elected  member  of 
parliament  for  Tavistock  in  the  reign  of  James 
I,  and  in  1626  was  one  of  the  managers  of  the 
articles  of  impeachment  against  the  duke  of 
Buckingham.  He  was  also  a  great  opposer  of 
Arminianism,  being  himself  strongly  attached 
to  Calviuistic  principles.  In  1639  he,  with 
several  other  commoners  and  lords,  held  a 
close  correspondence  with  the  commissioners 
sent  to  London  by  the  Scottish  covenanters  ; 
and  in  the  parliament  of  1640  he  was  one  of 
the  most  active  and  leading  members.  On  the 
meeting  of  the  next,  or  long  parliament,  he 
made  an  able  and  elaborate  speech  on  griev- 
ances, and  impeached  the  earl  of  Strafford,  at 
whose  trial  he  was  one  of  the  managers  of  the 
house  of  Commons.  It  was  the  zeal  and  ear- 
nestness of  Pym  which  chiefly  led  Charles 
into  the  imprudent  measure  of  coming  to  the 
parliament  in  person,  to  seize  him  and  four 
other  members.  Nothing  intimidated,  he  con- 
tinued firm  in  the  interest*  of  parliament,  but 


F  Y  R 

thought  it  necessary,  some  time  before  his 
death,  to  draw  up  a  defence  of  his  conduct, 
which  leaves  it  doubtful  what  part  he  would 
have  taken  had  he  lived  until  hostilities  com- 
menced. In  November,  1643,  he  was  ap- 
pointed lieutenant  of  the  ordnance,  and  would 
probably  have  risen  to  greater  distinction,  h;id 
he  not  died  of  an  impostlmme  in  bis  bowels, 
December  8,  164o.  The  abilities  of  thi*  t>ar- 
liamentary  leader  are  acknowledged  on  all 
sides  ;  nor  does  there  appear  any  solid  reason 
to  impeach  his  integrity  in  what  he  deemed  a 
conscientious  discharge  of  hi*  duty,  beyond 
the  imputations  and  surmises  of  the  opposing 
party,  which,  as  may  t<«  seen  in  Clarendon, 
amount  to  little  beyoi.u  rumours,  and  the  infe- 
rences drawn  from  the  fact  of  his  dying  rich. — 
Clarendon's  Hist,  of  Rebell.  Marshall's  Fun. 
Sermon.  Birch's  Lives. 

PYNAKEll  (ADAM)  an  eminent  Dutch 
painter,  was  born  at  Pynaker  in  Holland,  in 
1621.  He  went  to  Rome  for  improvement, 
and  became  a  distinguished  landscape  painter. 
His  management  of  light  and  shade,  liveliness 
of  colouring,  and  architectural  embellishments 
are  much  admired.  He  died  in  1673.  His 
small  pictures  are  most  valued. — Pilkington's 
Diet. 

PYNSON  (RICHARD)  a  printer,  was  born 
in  Normandy,  but  was  naturalized  in  England 
by  the  patent  of  Henry  VII,  whose  printer  he 
became.  He  was  the  first  who  introduced  the 
Roman  letter  into  this  country,  and  he  was 
eminently  successful  in  his  publications,  which 
consist  chiefly  of  law  books.  He  is  supposed 
to  have  died  about  15'29. — Dibdin's  Typogra- 
phical Antiquities. 

PYRRHO,  an  eminent  Greek  philosopher, 
and  founder  of  the  sect  of  Pyrrhonists,  or 
sceptics,  was  the  son  of  Plistarchus,  of  the  , 
city  of  Elea,  in  the  Peloponnesus.  He  flou-  ' 
rished  about  the  1 10th  Olympiad,  or  BC.  340,  j 
and  applied  himself  first  to  painting,  but  as-  ' 
piring  to  philosophy,  became  the  disciple  of 
Anaxarclms,  whom  he  accompanied  to  India 
in  the  train  of  Alexander  the  Great.  Here 
he  made  himself  acquainted  with  the  opinions 
of  the  Brahmins,  Gymnosophists,  and  Magi, 
from  whom  he  imbibed  whatever  seemed  fa-  ; 
vourable  to  his  own  natural  disposition  for 
doubting.  As  he  advanced  in  this  career  he 
gradually  arrived  at  the  conclusion,  that  all 
is  to  be  doubted,  and  nothing  ailirmed  ;  and 
formed  a  new  school  to  establish  the  principle 
that  every  thing  is  involved  in  uncertainty. 
According  to  Diogenes  Laertius,  he  carried 
his  principles  to  a  ridiculous  extreme  even  in 
common  life ;  but  the  respect  paid  to  him 
by  ancient  writers,  makes  it  probable  that 
these  stories  were  mere  calumnies  of  the  Stoics, 
his  opponents,  especially  as  he  was  highly  es- 
teemed by  his  countrymen  ;  and  after  bis  death 
the  Athenians  honoured  his  memory  with  a 
statue.  He  died  about  BC.  288,  in  the  nine- 
tieth year  of  his  age.  The  scepticism  of 
Pyrrho  is  in  a  great  measure  ascribed  to  his 
early  acquaintance  with  the  system  of  Demo- 
critus,  and  strong  distaste  for  the  endless 
cavils  of  the  dogmatists.  He  left  no  writings 


l»  VT 

behind  him,  but  the  tenets  of  his  school  may 
be  collected  from  the  "  Pyrrhonae  Hypoty- 
poses"  of  Sextus  Empiricus. — Ding.  Laert. 
Broker's  Hist.  Philos.  Bayle. 

PYRRHUS,   king  of  Epirus,  one   of   the 
most    celebrated    warriors   of    antiquity,   sup- 
posed  to  be  descended  from  Achiiles,  was  the 
son  of  ^Caciiles,  driven  from  Ins  kingdom  liy  a 
revolt.      By  the  assistance  of  Glauna^.  king 
of  lllyria,  he  recovered  his  father's    Kingdom 
at  the  age  of  twelve,  h"f  was  expelled  by  his 
great-uncle   Neoptolemus  after  he   had  occu- 
pied it  five  years.    lie  returned  to  his  brother- 
in-law,  Demetrius  Poliorcetes,  and  greatly  dis- 
tinguished himself  as  a  warrior  at  the  battle  of 
Ipsus,  BC.  301.     At  length,  by  the  assistance 
of  Ptolemy,  king  of  Egypt,  he  recovered  his 
throne,  and  immediately  commenced  the  ca- 
reer of  restless  ambition,  in  which   his  whole 
future  life  was  occupied.     Of  his  various  con- 
tests, that  with  the  Roman  republic  occupies 
the  most  distinguished  place  in  history.     On 
this  occasion,  he  acted  at  the  head  of  a  gene- 
ral Greek  confederacy,   which  determined  to 
assist   the    Taren tines    against    the   Romans. 
Leaving  his  son   regent  of  Epirus,  he  landed 
in  Italy,  BC. 280,  with  an  army  of  y.i.OUO  men, 
including  7,000  of  the  veteran  troops  of  Alex- 
ander, with  a  number  of  war  elephants.     The 
course  of  this  eventful  war  belongs  to  history, 
of  which,  as  illustrative  of  the   great  military 
abilities  of  the   contending   parties,    and   the 
rising   loftiness    of  the    Romans,   it    forms    a 
splendid     portion.     When    obliged  to   reiurn 
from  Italy,  Pyrrhns  gladly  seized  a  pretext  to 
retire  to  Sicily,  where  he  entered  into  a  simi- 
lar contest   with  the  Carthaginians,  and   with 
a  like  final   result.     A    second   expedition  to 
Italy  and  Sicily,  after  much   arduous  and  spi- 
rited  warfare, ended  very  much  like  the  former. 
Attacks  upon  Sparta  and  Argos  followed,  in 
the  latter  of  which   this  restless,  but   accom- 
plished warrior,  was  struck  from    his  horse  by 
a  tile  thrown  at  him  from  the  top  of  a    house 
by  an  Argive  woman,  and  killed   while  he  lay 
stunned   senseless   from    the    blow.      Pyirhun, 
wiio  was  regarded  as  the  greatest  captain  of  his 
day,  was  unhappily  one  of  those   leaders  who 
love  war  for  its  own  sake.     The  Romans  en- 
tertained  the   highest  opinion  of  his  military 
skill,  and  Hannibal  is  said  to  have  placed  him 
next  to  Alexander.     He  has  been   accounted 
the  first  who   perfectly   understood  the  art  of 
encamping,  and  of  drawing  up  an  army  ;  and 
several  volumes  which  he  wrote  upon  the  sub- 
ject are  mentioned  by  the  ancients.     He  was 
fond  of  glory,   and    personally   brave   even    to 
rashness  ;   but  his  faults,  both  of  ambition  and 
love  of  war,  were  counterbalanced  by  a  gener- 
ous  nature,  which    disposed   him   to  acts    of 
kindness,  and  the  performance  of  many  cour- 
teous   and    benevolent    actions.  —  Plutarch. 
Univ.  Hist. 

PYTHAGORAS,  the  first  of  the  ancient 
sages  who  assumed  the  original  modest  title  of 
philosopher,  and  the  founder  of  the  Italic 
school.  The  date  of  his  birth  is  contested, 
but  the  most  probable  aera  assigned  is  BC.  ,r>36 
His  father,  Mnemarchus,  was  an  engraver  ,>, 


r  VT 

s,  who  travelled  with  his  wife  into  Phf»- 
i.  where,  in  (lie  town  of  Sidon,  Pythagoras 
born.     He  was  subsequently  brought  to 
S.imos,  wliere  his  first  master  was  Creoplulas  ; 
and  he  afterwards  received  instructions  from 
Pherecydefl,   in  the  inland  of  Scyros,  whence, 
it  is   assorted,   that  he    went  to   Miletus,   and 
conversed  with  Thales,  who  recommended  him 
to  visit    K_,r\  ;>t.      Hi-  was    received    in  the   lat- 
ter country  with  great  kindness  by  Amasis,  its 
king  ;  and  he  remained  there  twenty-five  years, 
during  which  time  he  became  deeply  versed  in 
the   science    and     mysteries  of    the  Egyptian 
priesthood.     From   Egypt  he  is  said  by  many 
writer-.,   both    Pagan    and  Christian,  to  have 
visited  the  East  :   but  this   is  contradicted  by 
the   express    authority   of    Antiphon,    quoted 
by   Porphyry,    which  states  that  he  returned 
directly   from   Egypt  to  Ionia,  and  opened  a 
school    at     Samos,  which,  after  a    while,  he 
quitted,  disgusted,  as  it  is  said,  with  the  ty- 
ranny of  Polycrates.     Be  the  motive  what  it 
may,  he  passed  over  into  that  part  of  Italy  de- 
nominated Magua  Graecia,  and  settled  at  Cro- 
tona,  a  city  in  the  bay  of  Tarentum,  where  he 
peued  a  school  with   great  success.     He  also 
taught  his  doctrine    in    many  other  cities  of 
Magna  Graecia,  as  well  as  in  other  parts  of  Italy, 
and    obtained   numerous   disciples,   who   held 
him  in  a  degree  of  respect  little  short  of  adora- 
tion.   At  the  same  time,  as  he  was  a  strenuous 
political   reformist,  and  urged  the  inhabitants, 
not  only  of  Crotona.  but  of  several  other  places, 
to  assert  their  rights  and  resist  the  encroach- 
ments of  their  rulers,  he  raised  a  powerful  op- 
position against  himself,  which   ultimately  led 
to  his  destruction.     Among  the  most  vicious 
and  powerful    of    his    enemies  was  Cylon,  a 
wealthy  leader  of  Crotona,  whom  he  refused 
to  enrol  among  his  disciples  ;  in  revenge  for 
which  repulse,  the  latter  surrounded  the  house 
in  which  the    Pythagoreans  were  assembled, 
with   a  body  of  adherents,  and  brutally  set  It 
on  fire.     By  this  wicked  outrage,  about  forty 
persons  lost  their  lives ;  but  Pythagoras,  not 
being  present,  escaped.     After  the  commission 
of   an    act  of    this  kind    with    impunity,  he 
deemed  it  expedient  to  withdraw,  and  endea- 
voured to  obtain  an  asylum  among  the  Lo- 
crians,  who  would   not  allow  him  to  reside  in 
their  country,  and  he  returned  to  Metapontum. 
Here   also    finding    himself  surrounded    with 
enemies,  he  took  refuge  in  the  temple  of  the 
Muses,  where  not  being  able  to  procure  the 
necessary  supply  of  food,  he  is  said  to  have 
perished  with  hunger  at  the  age  of  eighty.  The 
particulars  concerning  Pythagoras  are  mixed 
with  incredible  fictions  and  extravagant  tales  of 
the  wildest  description,  the  propagation  of  which, 
there  is  strong  reason  to  suspect,  that  he  him- 
self promoted.     His  supernatural   pretensions 
were  numerous  and   extraordinary,  and  could 
only  originate  in  the  arts  of  imposture.     Such 
were  his  pretended  adventures  in  the  cave  of 
Crete,    his     assumption    of    the    chavacler   of 
Apollo,  and  assertion  that  his  soul  had   lived 
in  the   bodies  of  several  persons  of  preceding 
ages,  whom  he   specified  by  name.     We  must 
reier  to  our  authorities  for  an  adequate  account 


.   PYT 

of  the  doctrines  of  Pythagoras,  who.  in  imi- 
tation of  the  Egyptian    priests,  subjected   his 
pupils  to  a  strict    course  of  discipline.     They 
were  in  the  first  instance  enjoined  a  silence  of 
five  years,  in  which  they  were  only  to  listen, 
and  even  afterwards   they  were  to  talk  with 
great  moderation.     They  were  also  obliged  to 
give  up  thi-ir  fortunes  to  the   common  stock, 
and  to  abstain   from   certain  articles  of  food, 
and  especially  beans,  With  the   greatest  scru- 
pulosity.    In  the  way  of  communication,  he 
adopted  the  symbolical  plan  of  the  Egyptians, 
in  which  veiled  manner    he    treated    of  God 
and    the   human    soul,   and    delivered  a    vast 
number  of  precepts  relating  to  the  conduct  of 
life,  political  as  well  as  civd.     He  also  made 
considerable  advances  in  the  arts  and  sciences. 
In  arithmetic,  the  common  multiplication-table 
is  to  this  day  called  Pythagorean  ;   and  in  geo- 
metry he  discovered  many  theorems,  and  parti- 
cularly  the  famous  one  that  in   every   right- 
angled  triangle  the  square  of  the  largest  side  is 
equal  to  the  sum  of  the  squares  of  the  two  shorter 
ones,  for  which  discovery  he  made  a  solemn 
sacrifice.     In   astronomy,  also,  he  made  con- 
siderable progress,  and  even  maintained  some- 
thing respecting  the  true  system  of  the  world, 
which  places  the  sun  in  the  centre,  a  science 
established  by  Copernicus  and  Newton.     The 
musical  chords  are  also  said  to  have  been  dis- 
covered by  Pythagoras,  to  whom  is  attributed 
the  invention  of  the  musical  canon,  or  mono- 
chord.     To  show  his  veneration  for  the  mar- 
riage state,   this  philosopher  took  a  wife  at 
Crotona,  by  whom  he  had  two   sons,  who  as- 
sumed the  direction  of  his  school  on  his  death. 
Whether  Pythagoras  left  any  writings  behind 
him  has  been  doubted  by  the  ancients ;    but 
the  soundest  opinions  are  against  the  authenti 
city  of  several  which  have  b«en  attributed  U 
him.  The  "  Golden  Verses,"  which  pass  under 
his  name,  are  supposed   to  have  been  written 
either  ty  Epicharmus  or   Empedocles.     Not- 
withstanding the  high  encomiums   bestowed 
upon  this  philosopher,  Brucker  is  of  opinion 
that  he  owed  much  of  his  celebrity  to  impos- 
ture ;  but  merited  as  this  stricture  probably  is, 
his  genius  was  undisputably    of  the  highest 
order.     The  sect  of  Pythagoras  subsisted  until 
the  end  of  the  reign  of  Alexander  the  Great, 
when  it  yielded  to  the  influence  of  the  Aca- 
demy and  Lyceum,  or  at  least  ceased  as  a  so- 
ciety.    The  "  Golden  Verses,''  which  may  be 
considered  as  a  brief  summary  of  his  popular 
doctrines,   were  translated   by   the  dramatist 
Rowe,  in  1 707,  8vo.— Diog.  Laertius.  Stanley. 
Brucker 

PYTHEAS,  a  celebrated  ancient  traveller, 
was  a  native  of  Massilia  (now  Marseilles)  a 
colony  of  the  Phoceans,  and  flourished  in  the 
time  of  Aristotle  and  of  Alexander  the  Great. 
He  was  sent  by  his  lellow-citizens  to  make  new 
discoveries  in  the  North,  and  explored  all  the 
sea-coasts  from  Cadiz  to  Thule,  or  Iceland. 
His  principal  work,  u  The  Tour  of  the  Earth," 
is  not  extant,  and  has  been  created  by  Polybius 
and  Strabo  as  fabulous,  while  other  geographers 
hav;-  confirmed  his  observations. —  k'ossii  Hist, 
Grcec.  (iattendi  Oper,  Bayle.  Nouv.Dict.Hia, 


QUA 


Q  TT  E 


QUADRATUS,  an  early  Christian  writer, 
flourished  under  the  reigns  of  Trajan 
and  Adrian,  and  according  to  Eusebius 
and  Jerome  he  was  a  disciple  of  the  apostles, 
and  bishop  of  Athens.  He  succeeded  Pub- 
lius,  who  was  martyred  in  the  persecution  under 
Adrian  ;  and  on  the  visit  of  that  emperor  to 
Athens,  Quadratus  presented  to  him,  in  the 
year  126,  "  An  Apology  for  the  Christian  Re- 
ligion," of  which  we  have  only  a  small  frag- 
ment preserved  in  Kusebius's  history,  but 
which,  he  says,  was  written  with  much  ability, 
and  produced  the  desired  effect,  occasioning  a 
temporary  cessation  of  the  persecution.  The 
existing  fragment  is  curious  for  the  testimony 
it  gives  to  the  reality  of  the  miracles  of  Christ 
and  his  apostles,  asserting,  that  in  his  time 
several  of  the  persons  were  living  in  whose 
favour  these  prodigies  were  wrought.  There 
»s  no  certain  information  of  the  death  of  Qua- 
dratus, but  he  is  supposed  to  have  been  ba- 
nished from  Athens,  and  to  have  been  greatly 
tormented. — Eusebii  Hist.  Eccl.  Cave.  Lard- 
ner.  Saxii  .Onomast.  Fubricii  Bibl.  Grcec. 

QUADRIO  (FRANCIS  XAVIER)  an  Italian 
critic  and  historian,  who  was  born  in  the  Val- 
teline  in  16S5,  and  died  in  1756.  He  entered 
into  the  society  of  the  Jesuits,  and  distinguish- 
ed himself  by  the  cultivation  of  literature.  He 
was  the  author  of  '•  Dissertations  on  the  Val- 
teline,"  3  vols. ;  a  "  History  of  Poetry,"  7 
vols.  4to. ;  and  a  "  Treatise  on  Italian  Poetry," 
published  tinder  the  name  of  Joseph  Maria 
Andrucci. — Diet.  Hist. 

QUAG  LI  ATI  (PAOU>)  a  celebrated  Ro- 
man contrapuntist,  who  flourished  about  the 
commencement  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
and,  according  to  his  pupil  Delia  Valle,  the  first 
who  produced  dramatic  action  or  representa- 
tion in  music  ever  witnessed  in  Rome.  This 
he  did  in  a  cart,  or  ambulatory  stage,  during 
the  carnival  of  1606.  This  circumstance  co- 
incides curiously  with  the  first  [production  of 
tragedy  among  the  Greeks,  the  theatre  of 
which  is  said  to  have  been  a  cart. — Biog.  Din. 
of  Mtis. 

QUARl.ES  (FRANCIS)  an  English  poet  of 
some  fame  in  his  own  day,  was  bora  in  1592, 
near  Rumford,  in  Essex,  being  the  son  of 
James  Quarles,  clerk  of  the  green  cloth  under 
queen  Elizabeth.  He  was  educated  at  Cam- 
bridge, and  entered  at  Lincoln's-inn.  Ha  ob- 
tained the  place  of  cup-bearer  to  the  queen  of 
Bohemia,  daughter  of  James  I.,  which  was 
probably  a  mere  sinecure.  He  was  afterwards 
under  secretary  to  archbishop  Usher,  in  Ire- 
land, from  which  country  he  was  driven,  with 
the  loss  of  his  nronerty  by  '.he  rebellion  of 

VOL.  III. 


1641,  and  was  appointed  chronologer  to  the 
city  of  London.  At  the  commencement  of  the 
civil  wars,  he  wrote  a  work  entitled  the 
"  Loyal  Convert,7'  which  gave  great  offence 
to  the  Parliament,  so  that  when  he  afterwards 
joined  the  king  at  Oxford,  occasion  was  taken 
to  sequestrate  his  property,  and  plunder  him 
of  his  books  and  MSS.  He  was  so  much  af- 
fected by  his  losses,  that  his  grief  is  supposed 
to  have  hastened  his  death,  which^  took  place 
in  1644,  at  the  age  of  fifty-two.  Of  the  nu- 
merous works  of  Quarles,  in  prose  and  verse, 
the  most  celebrated  is  his  ''  Emblems,11  a  set 
of  designs  exhibited  in  prints,  and  illustrated 
by  a  copy  'of  verses  to  each.  Few  works  have 
been  more  popular  in  their  own  time,  or  more 
neglected  in  the  sequel.  A  great  part  of  them 
are  borrowed  from  "  The  Emblems  of  Her- 
mannus  Hugo  ;''  but  the  verses  are  his  own, 
and  certainly,  as  well  shown  by  Mr.  Jackson 
of  Exeter,  they  merit  not  the  contempt  which 
they  have  experienced  ;  in  the  midst  of  much 
false  taste  and  conceit  frequent  bursts  of  fancy 
and  strokes  of  pathos  being  afforded.  His 
other  works,  consisting  of  various  miscellane- 
ous productions  in  poetry  and  prose,  many  of 
which  are  on  scriptural  subjects,  with  one  or 
two  romances,  and  a  comedy,  are  now  seldom 
mentioned,  but  are  well  described  in  the  Bib- 
liotheca  Anglo-Poetica. — Biog.  Brit.  Head- 
ley's  Beauties.  Resfituta, 

QUATROMANNI  (SKRTORIO)  an  Italian 
writer,  was  Lorn  at  Cosenza  in  1551,  and  died 
in  1G06,  He  rendered  himself  odious  to  the 
literati  of  his  time  by  his  vindictive  and  sa- 
tirical disposition.  His  life  was  passed  in 
the  cultivation  of  poetry  and  literature.  His 
works,  consisting  of  Italian  and  Latin  poems, 
and  letters,  were  published  at  Naples  in  1714  : 
some  of  them  are  worthy  of  attention.  Sannaza 
rius  was  his  model,  but  the  copyist  was  very 
inferior — Tiraboscki.  Nouv.Dict.  Hist. 

QUELLINUS  (ERASMUS)  an  eminent 
painter,  was  born  at  Antwerp  in  1607.  He 
was  the  disciple  of  Rubens,  and  became  dis- 
tinguished both  in  history  and  landscape.  His 
ideas  are  learned  and  elevated,  his  colouring 
rich,  and  his  execution  bold  and  vigorous.  His 
principal  painting  is  in  the  grand  dining-hal! 
at  Antwerp,  and  represents  Mary  Magdalene 
washing  the  feet  of  Christ.  He  died  in  1678. 
— His  son,  JOHN  ERASMUS,  the  yourignr,  \v;is 
born  at  Antwerp  in  1630.  He  visit;".!  Italy 
for  improvement,  and  left  several  of  his  pro- 
ductions in  the  capitals  of  truit  countiy.  He 
was  employed  in  oainting  historical  pieces  lor 
churches  and  convents,  and  \v;:s  considered 
oue  jf  the  best  Flomisn  painters.  Hi^  '.noil 
*  A 


QU  E 

eelebrated  piece  is  Christ  healing  the  sick,  in 
the  abbey  church  of  St  Michael  at  Antwerp. 
He  died  in  1715. — D'Argenvitte.  Pilkin»t»ii. 

QUENSTKDT  (Jons  ANDREW)  a  German 
Lutheran  divine,  was  born  at  Quedlinburgh  in 
1617.  He  was  professor  of  divinity  in  the 
university  of  Wittemberg  for  many  years  with 
great  reputation.  He  died  in  1688.  He 
wrote  a  "  System  of  Divinity,"  in  4  vols. ; 
•«  Ue  Sacra;  Scripturac  Divinitate  ;"  "  Exer- 
citatio  de  Puritate  Fontium  Hebnei  Veteris  et 
Grseci  Novi  Testamenti ;"  "  De  Sacra  Scrip- 
tura  ejusque  Attributis  et  Scopo  pracipuo;" 
"  Exercitationes  Theologies  ;"  "  Dialogus  de 
Patriis  illustrium  Doctrina  et  Scriptia  Vi- 
rorum  ab  Initio  Mundi  ad  An.  1600  ;"  "  Se- 
juiltina  Veterum  ;"  aud  several  other  works 
f xbibiting  proofs  of  learning,  but  deficient  in 
taste  and  correctness. — Le  Long's  Bibl.  Sacra. 
Moreri. 

QUERENGHI  (ANTONIO)  an  Italian  writer 
was  horn  at  Padua  in  1546.  He  acquired  a 
vast  knowledge  of  the  languages,  civil  laws, 
and  philosophy ;  and  at  an  early  age  distin- 
guished himself  in  the  belles  lettres.  He 
went  to  Rome,  and  entered  into  the  service  of 
several  cardinals,  and  was  made  secretary  of 
the  sacred  college.  Clement  VIII  made  him 
a  canon  of  Padua,  but  Paul  V  recalled  him  to 
Rome,  and  made  him  his  private  chamberlain 
and  referendary  of  both  signatures.  *  He  re- 
ceived several  invitations  from  different  princes, 
but  declined  them  all ;  and  remaining  at  Rome, 
<lied  there  in  1633.  His  Latin  poems  were 
printed  at  Rome  in  1629,  and  his  Italian  poe- 
try in  1616. — Baillet.  Tiraboschi.  Mareri. 

QUERLON  (ANNE  GABRIEL  MEUSNIER 
de)  a  celebrated  journalist,  was  born  alls' antes 
in  1702.  He  was  for  two-and-twenty  years 
conductor  of  a  periodical  paper  in  Britanny, 
called  Les  Petites  Affiches,  and  was  also 
employed  in  the  Gazette  de  France,  and  the 
Journal  Etrangere  ;  and  he  was  one  of  the 
co-operators  of  the  Journal  Encyclopedique. 
He  distinguished  himself  by  his  sound  judg- 
ment, and  his  style  was  nervous  and  precise, 
but  sometimes  cold  and  obscure.  His  works 
;ire,  "Les  Impostures  Innocentesj"  "  Le 
Testament  de  1'Abbe  des  Fontaines  ;"  "  Le 
Code  Lyrique,  ou  Reglement  pour  I'Opera  de 
Paris  ;"  "  Collection  Historique  ;"  "  A  Con- 
tinuation of  the  Abb6  Prevot's  History  of 
Voyages  ;"  "  An  elegant  Translation  of  the 
Abbe  Marsy's  Latin  Poem  on  Painting."  He 
also  published  editions  of  Lucretius,  Phffidrus, 
and  Anacreon,  with  notes.  —Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

Ql'ERNO  (CAMII.LO)  an  Italian  poet,  was 
born  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  at  the  latter 
end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  He  acquired 
^reat  fame  bv  his  facility  in  extempore  versifi- 
t  ;ition  ;  and  in  1514  visited  Rome,  where  be 
was  crowned  arch-poet  by  some  friendly  bon- 
vivans  in  a  frolic,  and  was  ever  afterwards  BO 
denominated.  He  pleased  Leo  X  by  his  buf- 
foonery, and  was  obliged  to  make  a  distich  off 
Land  upon  any  subject  which  might  be  given 
him.  Once,  when  the  fit  was  on  him,  he  made 
this  verse :  "  Archipoeta  facit  versus  pro 
mille  poetu;"  and  as  he  hesitated  to  proceed, 


QU  E 

the   pope  wittily  added,  "  Et  pro  milla  aliis 
j  archipoeta  bibit."     Querno  hastening  to  re- 
i  pah    his  fault,  cried,  "  Porrige  quod  facit  ab 
I  mihi  carmina,  docta  Falernum  ;"  to  which  the 
pope  instantly  replied,  "  Hoc  vinum  enervat, 
debilitatque  pedes;"  alluding  either  to  the  gout, 
to  which  Querno  was  subject,  or  to  the  feet  of 
his  verses.     After  the  taking  of  Rome,  be  re- 
turned to  Naples,    where  he  died  in  a  hospi- 
tal.    Querno  was  the  Italian  Mac  Flecknoe  of 
his  day,  and   as  such  is  often   alluded  to  by 
Pope    and    other    satirists. — Rescue's  Life  oj 
Leo  X.     Saiii  Onom. 

QUESNAY  (FRANCIS)  a  French  physician 
of  some  eminence,  but  chiefly  noted  as  a  wri- 
ter on  political  economy.  He  was  born  in 
1694,  near  Montfort  1'Amaury,  in  the  isle  of 
France,  and  died  at  Paris  in  1774.  His  father 
was  a  farmer,  and  he  acquired  the  rudiments 
of  hie  profession  under  a  country  surgeon  ; 
after  which,  going  to  the  metropolis,  he  be- 
came secretary  to  a  society  established  for  the 
improvement  of  surgery.  At  length  he  took 
the  degree  of  MD.  and  obtained  the  situation 
of  physician  to  madame  de  Pompadour,  the 
mistress  of  Louis  XV,  and  through  her  interest 
he  became  physician  to  the  king  also.  Amid 
the  intrigues  of  a  licentious  court,  he  observed 
a  simplicity  of  manners  and  apparent  dis- 
interestedness which  formed  a  strong  contrast 
with  the  characters  of  those  around  him.  To- 
wards the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  became  a 
leader  of  the  political  sect  of  the  economists, 
to  the  influence  of  whose  principles  some  have 
unjustly  attributed  the  occurrence  of  the  French 
Revolution.  Quesnay,  however,  by  no  means 
anticipated  such  a  result  of  his  doctrines  ;  and 
he  was  much  attached  to  the  royal  family,  and 
especially  to  the  king,  with  whom  he  was  a 
favourite,  and  who,  in  allusion  to  his  turn  for 
speculation,  called  him  his  thinker,  "  pen- 
seur."  He  was  the  author  of  "  A  Philoso- 
phical Essay  on  the  Animal  Economy,"  3 
vols.  12mo  ;  and  various  surgical  and  medical 
works,  besides  several  articles  in  the  Encyclo- 
p£die,  and  tracts  on  politics,  including  a  trea- 
tise on  "  Physiocrasv,  or  the  Government 
most  advantageous  to  the  Human  Race," 
;  1768,  8vo. — Hutchinsons  Biog.  Med.  Biog. 
Univ. 

QUESNE  (ABRAHAM  du)  a  distinguished 
French  officer,  was  born  of  a  noble  family  in 
Normandy  in  1610,  and  was  brought  up  to  the 
marine  service  by  his  father,  who  gave  him  the 
command  of  a  vessel  at  the  age  of  seventeen. 
In  1614  he  went  into  Sweden,  and  was  there 
made  vice-admiral  of  the  fleet,  and  he  distin 
guished  himself  in  the  battle  in  which  the 
Danes  were  defeated.  In  1647  having  been 
recalled  to  France,  he  commanded  a  squadron 
sent  on  the  Neapolitan  expedition  ;  and  the 
French  navy  being  very  low,  he  fitted  out  some 
ships  at  bis  own  expense,  with  which  he  as- 
sisted in  the  reduction  of  Bourdeaux.  He  de- 
feated the  Dutch  in  three  engagements,  in  the 
last  of  which  the  celebrated  De  Ruyter  WM 
killed ;  and  he  struck  such  terror  into  th* 
statPs  of  Tunis  and  Tripoli,  that  lie  compelled 
them  to  seek  a  pea^e  with  France  by 


QU  E 

non.  His  being  a  Protestant  prevented  lain 
from  obtaining  the  recompence  due  to  his  im- 
portant services.  He  however  received  a 
royal  gift  of  a  fine  estate,  which  was  erected 
into  a  marquisate  ;  and  on  the  repeal  of  the 
edict  of  Nantes,  he  was  the  only  person  ex- 
empted from  its  penalties.  He  died  in  1688. 
— His  son,  HENRV,  was  the  author  of  "  Re- 
flections on  the  Eucharist,"  a  work  much  es- 
teemed by  the  French  Protestants.  He  died 
in  1723. — Perrault  les  Homines  Illustres,  Mo- 
•eri.  Mod.  Univ.  Hist. 

QUESNEL  (PASQUIF.R)  a  French  Catholic 
divine,  who  belonged  to  the  congregation  of 
the  Oratory,  distinguished  on  account  of  the 
dissensions  in  the  church,  to  which  his  writings 
t;ave  rise.  He  was  born  at  Paris  in  1634. 
Having  entered  among  trie  fathers  of  the  Ora- 
tory, he  devoted  himself  to  literary  studies 
and  the  duties  of  his  profession.  He  gave 
offence  to  the  court  of  Rome  by  an  edition  of 
the  works  of  pope  Leo  the  Great,  which  he 
published  in  1675  ;  but  the  production  which 
excited  the  greatest  animosity  against  him  was 
his  New  Testament,  with  moral  reflections,  in 
eight  volumes,  8vo  ;  from  which  one  hundred 
and  one  propositions  were  extracted,  which 
were  condemned  by  the  bull  Unigenitus,  as 
favouring  the  erroneous  doctrines  of  the  Jan- 
senists.  Father  Quesnel  retired  to  Brussels, 
and  afterwards  to  Amsterdam,  where  he  died 
in  1719.  His  "  New  Testament,  with  Moral 
Reflections  upon  every  Verse,"  was  translated 
into  English  by  Mr  Russell,  and  published  in 
1729,  4  vols.  8vo.  Dr  Adam  Clarke  recom- 
mends this  work  on  account  of  the  profoundly 
pious  spirit  which  it  exhibits,  though  he  ob- 
jects to  the  rigid  predestinarianism  by  which 
the  author  was  influenced. — Moreri.  Diet. 
Hist. 

QUESNOY  (FRANCIS  du)  also  called  Fla- 
mand,  or  the  Fleming,  was  born  at  Brussels  in 
1594.  He  distinguished  himself  as  a  sculptor 
at  a  very  early  age,  and  was  patronized  by  the 
archduke  Albert  and  the  constable  Colonna. 
He  particularly  excelled  in  making  models  and 
bas-reliefs  of  Cupid-a  and  children  ;  but  being 
reproached  by  the  Italians  for  the  unimport- 
ance of  his  works,  he  undertook  St  Susanna  in 
marble,  for  the  chapel  of  Loretto,  which,  with 
a  St  Andrew  in  St  Peters,  established  his  re- 
putation. He  was,  however,  in  a  state  of  great 
indigence,  owing  to  the  slowness  of  his  exe- 
cution, when  Louis  XIII  appointed  him  as  his 
sculptor,  and  as  the  head  of  an  intended  school 
for  that  art,  at  a  liberal  salary ;  and  he  was 
preparing  for  his  journey  to  France  when  he 
sank  into  a  melancholy  derangement,  from 
which  he  never  recovered,  but  died  at  Leg- 
horn in  1646.  His  works  are  highly  valued, 
oarticularly  his  infantile  groups,  which  are 
finished  with  peculiar  grace  and  delicacy. — 
j)' Argenville  Vies  des  Sculpteurs. 

QUEVEDO  VILLEGAS  (FRANCISCO  de) 

Spanish  satirist,  born  at  Madrid  in  1.570. 
fle  was  a  knight  of  the  order  of  St  Jago ;  and 
aaving  attacked  in  his  writings  count  Olivarer, 
the  favourite  minute  of  Philip  IV,  he  was 
thrown  into  prison;  but  on  the  disgrace  of 


QU  I 

that  statesman,  in  1643,  he  was  released.  Hii 
death  took  place  in  1647.  Quevedo  published 
a  Spanish  translation  of  Epictetus,  together 
with  an  apology  for  that  writer  ;  "  The  Spa- 
nish Parnassus  ;"  "  Visions  of  Hell ;"  which 
last  work,  by  the  peculiarity  of  its  humour,  has 
made  the  author  best  known  in  foreign  coun- 
tries ;  and  various  other  works,  satirical  and 
religious,  both  in  verse  and  prose.  Several  of 
his  productions  have  been  translated  into  Eng- 
lish, of  which  the  Visions,  by  sir  Rager  L'Es- 
trange,  have  been  repeatedly  printed. — Moreri. 
Biog.  Univ. 

QUICK  (JOHN)  an  eminent  nonconformist 
divine,  was  born  at  Plymouth  in  1636,  and 
was  educated  at  Exeter  college,  Oxford. 
After  officiating  at  various  places,  he  was  made 
minister  of  Brixton,  whence  he  was  ejected  in 
1662  ;  but  he  had  some  valuable  preferments 
offered  him,  if  he  would  conform,  which 
he  refused  to  do.  He  continued  to  preach 
for  some  time  after  his  ejection,  but  being  fre- 
quently prosecuted,  he  accepted  an  invitation 
to  be  pastor  of  the  English  church  at  Zealand, 
where,  however,  meeting  with  some  dissen- 
sions, he  returned  to  England  in  1681,  and 
preached  privatelj  during  the  remainder  of  the 
reign  of  Charles  II.  On  the  toleration  of 
king  James,  he  formed  a  congregation  in  Bar- 
tholomew Close.  He  died  in  1706.  His 
principal  work  is  his  "  Synodicon  in  Gallia 
Reformata,  or  the  Acts,  Decisions,  Decrees, 
and  Laws,  of  the  famous  National  Councils  of 
the  Reformed  Churches  in  France."  It  is 
composed  of  interesting  and  authentic  mate- 
rials, and  is  well  worth  attention.  He  also 
left  three  folio  volumes  of  MS.  lives  of  emi- 
nent Protestant  divines,  sermons,  tracts,  &c. 
— Ccdamy.  Wilson's  History  of  Dissenting 
Churches.  Williams' s  and  Freke's  Funeral  Ser- 
mons. 

QUIEN  (MICHAEL  le)  a  learned  French 
Dominican,  was  born  at  Boulogne  in  1661.  He 
was  the  zealous  adversary  of  father  Pezron, 
and  published  a  book  against  his  Antiquitl 
des  Terns  retablie,  entitled  "  Antiquite  dea 
Terns  detruite."  He  also  wrote  against  Cou- 
rayer,  upon  the  validi'.j  of  the  ordinations  of 
English  bishops.  His  principal  work,  and  one 
which  did  him  honour,  was  an  edition  of  the 
works  of  Joannes  Damascenus,  in  Greek  and 
Latin,  which  prove  him  to  have  been  one  of 
the  most  learned  men  of  his  time.  He  pub- 
lished a  work  called  "  Panoplia  contra  Schisma 
Grrccorum,"  in  which  he  refutes  the  accusa- 
tions that  have  been  brought  against  the  Ro- 
mish church.  He  was  prevented  by  his  death, 
which  took  place  in  1733,  from  the  completion 
of  a  very  large  work,  of  which  he  had  already 
published  one  volume,  entitled  "  Oriens  Chris- 
tianus  in  Africa,"  or  an  account  of  all  the  pre- 
lates of  Africa  and  the  East. — Moreri.  Kouv. 
Diet.  Hist. 

QUIEN  DE  LA  NEUFVILLE  (JAMES 
le)  an  historian,  was  born  at  Paris  in  1647. 
He  entered  the  army,  which  he1  soon  quitted, 
and  repaired  to  the  bar  ;  but  disappointment 
also  meeting  him  here,  he  turned  to  literature, 
and  applied  himself  to  history.  In  1700  ho 


published  a  History  of  Portuga.,  down  to  the 
death  of  Emanuel  1,  in  which  M.  de  la  Clede, 
who  continued  it,  says,  that  he  omitted  seve- 
ral important  facts,  and  related  others  par- 
tially. In  1713  he  accompanied  the  abbe  de 
Mornay,  when  he  was  appointed  ambassador 
to  Portugal ;  and  the  king  of  Portugal  settled 
upon  him  a  pension  of  1500  livres,  and  created 
him  a  knight  of  the  order  of  Christ.  The  suc- 
cess of  his  Portuguese  history  induced  him  to 
attempt  its  conclusion  ;  but  his  too  close  study 
brought  on  a  disorder,  of  which  he  died  in 
1728.  Le  Quien  also  wrote  a  treatise  on 
"  L' Usages  des  Posies  chez  les  Anciens  et 
es  Modernes,"  Paris,  1734,  l'2mo. —  Niceron. 
Morei'i.  &/.«»'  Oitoiinmt.  Diet.  Jiist. 

QUILLET  (CLAUDE)  a  modern  Latin  poet, 
was  bora  at  Chinon  in  Touraine,  in  1602  ;  and 
was  brought  up  to  the  medical  profession. 
When  M.  de  Laubardemont,  counsellor  of  state 
and  a  creature  of  cardinal  Richelieu's,  was  sent 
to  take  cognizance  of  the  famous  pretended 
possession  of  the  ruins  of  Loudun,  with  in- 
structions to  find  them  real,  Quillet  exerted 
himself  so  strenuously  in  detecting  the  impos- 
tures, that  a  warrant  was  issued  against  him, 
and  he  retired  into  Italy.  He  became  secre- 
tary to  the  marshal  d'Etrees,  the  French  am- 
bassador at  Rome,  with  whom  he  returned  to 
France,  after  the  death  of  cardinal  Richelieu. 
In  1655  he  published  the  first  edition  of  his 
poem,  entitled  "  Callipredia  sive  de  Pulchrs 
Prolis  habendaj  Ratione,"  in  which  were  some 
satirical  lines  against  Mazariu.  The  cardinal 
eent  for  Quillet,  and  remonstrating  with  him 
for  treating  his  friends  with  seventy,  promised 
him  the  next  vacant  abbey.  (Juillet  oblite- 
rated the  offensive  lines,  and  dedicated  the  next 
edition  to  the  cardinal.  The  sprighUiness  of 
its  style,  and  variety  of  its  episodes,  procured 
this  poem  some  popularity  ;  but  the  diction  is 
frequently  impure  and  incorrect.  Pie  com- 
posed a  version  of  Juvenal,  in  French  verse, 
and  a  Latin  poem  called  "  Heuriades,"  or  the 
actions  of  Henry  IV.  He  died  in  1661. — 
Buijle.  liuitlet.  Moreri. 

QUIN  (JAMES)  an  eminent  actor,  was  born 
in  London  in  1693.  Being  the  son  of  an 
Irish  barrister,  he  was  educated  in  Dublin. 
1  lis  father  had  unfortunately  married  a  sup- 
puM'd  widow,  whose  husband,  after  a  long  ab- 
sence, returned  and  claimed  her  ;  on  which 
account  Quin,  who  was  the  offspring  of  the 
connexion,  was  deemed  illegitimate,  and  upon 
his  father's  death,  in  1710,  was  left  without  a 
fortune.  The  interruption  of  his  prospects 
prevented  him  from  being  adequately  educated 
for  a  profession,  and  he  had  recourse  to  the 
Dublin  s-ta-e  in  1715,  and  in  a  year  after  se- 
cured an  engagement  at  Drury-lane  theatre  in 
the  metropolis.  Here  he  remained  some  time 
without  much  distinction,  and  in  1717  quitted 
Drury-lane  for  the  theatre  in  Lincoln's-iun- 
fields,  where  he  remained  seventeen  years, 
ami  gradually  acquired  considerable  celebrity 
i^  grave,  dignified,  and  sententious  tragedy, 
such  as  in  Cato,  /an;^a.  and  Coriolanus,  ami  in 
characters  of  strong  sarcastic  romic  humour, 
•s  Falstnli,  Volpoiip,  <in.l  MI  John  Brute.  In 


Q  U  1 

1732  he  removed  with  the  same  company  to 
Covent-garden  ;  but  in  1735  was  induced  to 
join  that  of  Fleetwood  at  Urury-lane,  on  such 
terms,  according  to  Gibber,  as  no  actor  had 
previously  received  ;  and  he  retained  the  pre- 
eminence until  the  appearance  of  Garrick  in 
1741.  The  success  of  the  new  performer 
much  annoyed  him,  and  in  his  usual  pithy 
way  he  observed,  that  "  Garrick,  like  Whit- 
field,  was  a  new  religion,  but  all  would  come 
to  church  again  ;"  a  remark  which  extorted  a 
well-known  epigram  from  his  rival.  In  1747 
he  was  engaged  at  Covent-garden  with  Gar- 
rick ;  but  the  new  actor  obtained  so  dispro- 
portionate a  share  of  attention,  that  it  may  be 
said  to  have  gradually  induced  him  to  retire. 
After  the  death  of  the  poet  Thomson,  to  whom 
he  had  acted  with  great  generosity,  he  appear- 
ed in  his  play  of  Coriolanus,  and  spoke  a  pro- 
logue v/ritten  on  the  occasion  by  lord  Lyttel- 
ton,  with  a  sensibility  that  did  him  honour. 
His  last  performance  was  Falstaff,  in  1733,  for 
the  benefit  of  his  friend  Ryan,  in  which  cha- 
racter he  is  supposed  never  to  have  been  ex- 
ceeded. He  survived  his  retreat  several 
years,  which  lie  spent  chiefly  at  Bath,  where 
his  fund  of  anecdote,  and  pointed  sense,  made 
him  much  sought  after.  Cjuin,  who  was  con- 
vivial, and  too  fond  of  the  bottle,  was  often 
coarse  and  quarrelsome  on  these  occasions, 
which  led  to  two  or  three  hostile  encounters, 
one  of  which  proved  fatal  to  his  antagonist. 
He  was  otherwise  manly,  sensible,  and  gener- 
ous ;  and  his  deliverance  of  Thomson  from  an 
arrest,  by  a  spontaneous  present  of  100/.,  al- 
though then  unknown  to  him,  has  often  been 
told  to  his  honour.  He  died  at  Bath  in  17t>6, 
aged  seventy-three.  Garrick,  once  his  rival, and 
afterwards  his  friend,  wrote  the  epitaph  for  hia 
monument  in  Bath  cathedral. — Bitig.  Dram. 

Q UINAULT  (PHILIP)  a  French  dramatist, 
of  eminence  as  a  writer  of  comic  operas.  He 
was  born  at  Paris  in  1636,  and  was  educated 
for  the  bar  ;  but  such  was  his  peculiar  incli- 
nation for  poetry,  that  he  is  said  to  have  writ- 
ten comedies  at  the  age  of  fifteen.  He  be- 
came auditor  of  accounts,  and  obtained  a  seat 
in  the  French  Academy  ;  and  his  great  merit 
as  a  lyric  dramatist,  rendered  him  an  extraor- 
dinary favourite  with  the  public,  and  excited 
the  envy  and  satirical  abuse  of  Boileau.  He 
was  the  author  of  a  variety  of  light  and  lively 
poems  ;  and  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he 
repented  of  having  written  them,  and  endea^ 
voured  to  make  atonement  for  his  error,  by  a 
serious  poem,  "On  the  Destruction  of  He- 
resy." He  died  in  1688.  Collections  of  his 
operas,  entitled  "  Le  Theatre  de  Quinault," 
have  been  repeatedly  published  ;  and  "  Les 
(Euvres.  choisies  de  Quinuult,"  were  printed 
by  Didot,  2  vols.  12mo. — Perrault  Homm 
lllust.  Biiig.  Univ. 

QUINCY  (JOHN)  an  English  physician  ana 
medical  writer  of  the  last  century.  He  prac- 
tised his  profession,  and  delivered  lectures  on 
the  materia  medica  and  pharmacy  in  London, 
and  died  there  in  17'.'3.  Among  his  works 
are,  "  Medicina  Statica,  or  the  Aphorisms  o 
Kanclorius,"  8vo ;  "  The  Dispensatory  of  the 


Q  U  I 

Royal  College  of  Physicians,  translated  with 
Notes  and  Remarks;"  "Lectures  on  Phar- 
macy ;"  4to  ;  and  "  Lexicon  Physico-Medi- 
cum,  or  a  New  Physical  Dictionary,"  8vo. 
These  have  all  become  obsolete,  except  the 
last,  which  has  served  as  the  foundation  of 
Dr  Hooper's  Medical  Dictionary,  1794,  8vo. — 


Biog.  Brit. 

QU1NQUARBOREUS, 


or   in     French, 


CINQ-ARBRES  (JOHN)  a  learned  Hebrew 
scholar,  was  born  at  Aurillacin  Auvergne,  and 
became  professor  of  Hebrew  and  Syriac  in  the 
college  of  France   in  1554,  and  dean  of  the 
royal  professors.     He  died  in  1587.     His  He- 
brew Grammar  has  been  often  reprinted,  with 
the  title  "  Lingua  Hebraicee  Institutioues  ab- 
solutissirme."     He  also  translated  into  Latin, 
•with  notes,  the  '•'  Targum  of  Jonathan,  Son  of 
'Uzziel  on  Jeremiah,"  and  several  of  the  works 
of  Avicenna  into  Latin;  and  in  1551  he  pub- 
lished the  Gospel  of  St  Matthew  in  Hebrew, 
with  the  version  and  notes  of  Sebastian  Mun- 
ster. — Moreri.     Bio£.  Univ. 


tiie  current  literature  of  the  age.  Fie  aiso 
wrote  a  treatise  on  the  causes  of  corruption 
in  eloquence,  which  is  lost  ;  and  his  name  is 
fixed  to  certain  "  Declamations,"  nineteen 
in  number,  which  are  however  deemed  un- 
worthy of  bun.  The  first  entire  copy  of  the 
"  Institutiones  Oratorife,"  was  discovered  by 
Poggio  in  the  monastery  of  St  Gall.  The 
most  useful  editions  of  his  works  are  those  of 
Burmann,  1720,  2  vols.  4to  ;  of  Capperone- 
rius,  folio,  1725  ;  of  Gesner,  1758,  4to,  beau- 
tifully reprinted  at  Oxford  in  1805,  2  vols. 


8vo. — Life  by  Burn 


Lecti 


Saxii  Onom.     Blair's 


ires. 


QU1NTTNIE  (JoiiN  de  la)  a  celebrated 
French  horticulturist.  He  was  born  near  Poic- 
tiers  in  1626,  and  studied  at  a  seminary  of  the 
Jesuits  in  that  city.  Having  finished  a  course 
of  philosophy  and  jurisprudence,  he  went  to 
Paris,  and  was  admitted  an  advocate.  Pos- 
sessing natural  eloquence  and  considerable 
inowledge,  he  had  already  attained  some  re- 
futation, when  he  accepted  the  office  of  tutor 


Cl» irJLUlClt.         uui".    \J  Itiu.  1   (-"•'  jity     TTI.I*-U  «V^V.*_|^LV-^    wijic    uiul_G    Ul    lUlur 

QU1NTILIAN   (MARCUS    FABIUS    QUIN-    to  the  son   of  M.   Tambonneau,  president  of 
TILIANUS)  a  celebrated  critic  and  teacher  of   tlie  chamber  of   accounts,  with  whom  he  tra- 


consular  ornaments, 
to  have    been  rich  ; 


eloquence,  was  born  in  the  year  42.  He  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  of  Spanish  origin,  but  he 
was  educated  from  bis  childhood  at  Rome, 
where  he  studied  rhetoric  under  Domitius 
Afer.  He  is  thought  to  have  accompanied 
Galba  into  Spain,  and  to  have  opened  a  school 
at  Calagurra.  On  the  return  of  that  leader 
to  Rome,  on  the  death  of  Nero,  he  went' back 
with  him,  and  taught  rhetoric  at  the  expense 
of  the  state,  being  allowed  a  salary  out  of  the 
public  treasury.  He  pursued  this  occupation 
for  twenty  years,  joining  with  it  the  occasional 
pleading  of  causes  in  the  forum.  In  the  reign 
of  Domitian,  the  education  of  two  of  the  em- 
peior's  grand-nephews  was  entrusted  to  him, 
and  he  is  said  to  have  been  honoured  with  the 
Juvenal  represents  him 
but  Pliny  the  Younger 
speaks  of  him  as  a  man  of  very  moderate  for- 
tune, lie  endured  great  affliction  from  the 
premature  loss  of  his  wife  and  two  sons, 
whom  he  laments  in  terms  which  show  some 
want  of  fortitude.  He  was,  however,  a  man 
of  excellent  morals,  and  all  his  writings  are 
favourable  to  virtue.  The  only  stain  in  his 
literary  character  arises  from  his  gross  adula- 
tion of  the  emperor  Domitian,  a  disgrace 
which  he  shared  with  several  other  men  of 
eminence  of  his  time.  It  is  pretty  clearly 
ascertained  that  he  reached  the  age  of  four- 
score, but  the  exact  time  of  his  decease  is 
uncertain.  The  work  of  Quintilian  which 
has  reached  modern  times,  is  deemed  one  of 
the  most  valuable  remains  of  antiquity.  It 
was  composed  for  the  use  of  one  of  his  sons, 
whom  he  lost,  a  youth  described  by  him  as  a 
prodigy  of  early  excellence.  Few  works  more 
abound  in  good  sense,  or  discover  a  greater 
degree  of  just  and  accurate  taste  ;  and  almost 
all  the  principles  of  good  criticism  are  to  be  ) 
found  in  it.  There  is  perhaps  no  great  depth 
of  thought  in  his  principles  of  rhetoric,  but 
his  observations  are  marked  with  sound  sense, 


veiled  into  Italy.  Having  made  himself  ac- 
quainted with  the  georgical  works  of  Colu- 
mella,  Varro,  and  Virgil,  be  employed  him- 
self in  making  observations  on  planting  in  the 
native  country  of  those  authors  ;  and  on  Lis 
return  to  France,  he  instituted  experiments 
for  the  farther  improvement  of  that  branch  of 
rural  economy.  He  acquired  great  eminence 
for  his  horticultural  skill,  in  consequence  of 
which  he  obtained  the  management  of  the 
royal  garden  at  Versailles,  with  the  office  of 
director- general  of  fruit  and  kitchen  gardens 
to  his  most  Christian  majesty.  His  fame  ex- 
tended to  England,  whither  he  made  two  voy- 
ages, and  refused  advantageous  proposals, 
which  were  presented  to  induce  him  to  remain 
in  this  country.  He  wrote  a  treatise  on  gar- 
dening, of  which  there  is  an  English  transla- 
tion.— Perrault.  Bio°;.  Univ. 

QUINTUS  CALABER,  or  rather  QUIN- 
TUS  SMYRNEUS,  was  a  Greek  poet,  who 
wrote  a  Supplement  to  Homer's  Iliad,  i 
fourteen  books,  in  which  a  relation  is  given  of 
the  Trojan  war,  from  the  death  of  Hector  to 
the  destruction  of  Troy.  He  is  supposed  to 
have  lived  in  the  fifth  century,  and  to  have 
been  a  native  of  Smvrna  ;  but  his  poem  being 
discovered  by  Cardinal  Bessarion,  in  the 
church  of  St.  Nicholas  near  Otranto  in  Ca- 
labria, he  was  thence  called  Calaber.  It  was 
published  at  Venice,  by  Aldus,  supposed  in 
1521  ;  and  the  other  editions  are  those  of 
Freigius  1569  ;  of  Rhodomannus,  1604 ;  of 
De  Pau\v,  1734  ;  and  of  Bandurius,  1765. — 
Vassii  Poet.  Grefc. 

QUIRINI  (ANOELO  MARIA)  a  Venetian 
cardinal,  was  born  in  1680.  He  went  early 
into  a  convent  of  Benedictines,  where  he  laid 
in  a  vast  store  of  knowledge.  He  set  out  on 
his  travels  in  1700,  and  visited  Germany, 
Holland,  Flanders,  England,  and  France, 
forming  acquaintance  with  every  distinguished 
literary  character.  Being  created  a  cardiuai, 


and    he   affords-    much  useful  information  on  |  he  waited  on  Benedict  XIII,  to  thank  him  foi 
BIOG.  DICT.— VOL.  III.  A 


Q  U  I 

that  distinction.  "  It  is  not  for  you,"  said  the 
pope,  "  to  thank  me  for  raising  you  to  this 
elevation  ;  it  is  rather  my  part  to  thank  you 
for  having,  by  your  merit,  ivdu<-<>d  me  to  the 
necessity  of  making  you  a  cardinal."  lie  was 
also  appointed  librarian  to  the  Vatican,  and 
prefect  of  the  congregation  of  the  Index.  lie 
died  in  1755,  regretted  by  all  ranks  and  sects  ; 
for  though  a  zealous  champion  of  the  papacy, 
he  wrote  with  a  candour  and  moderation, 
which  gained  the  applause  of  the  Protestants 
themselves.  His  principal  works  are,  "  An 
Account  of  his  Travels ;"  "  A  Collection  of 
his  Letters;"  "  Cardinal  Pole's  Letters;" 
•'  A  Work  on  the  Lives  of  certain  Bishops  of 
Bresse,  eminent  for  Sanctity  ;"  "  Specimen 
variae  Literature  quaa  in  Urbe  Brixia  ejusque 
ditione  paulo  post  Incunabula  Typographic 
florebat,  &c. ;"  "  Primordia  Corcyne  ;"  "  An 
edition  of  the  Works  of  St  Ephrem,  in  Greek, 
Syriac,  and  Latin,"  &c. — Nout,.  Diet.  Hist. 
Moreri. 


QUI 

QUISTORP  (JOHN)  a  German  Luthtr.-.n 
ami  professor,  was  b.irn  at  Rostuck  in 
L584.  in  Kil  1  In-  was  mad«  profi-sxir  of  di- 
vinity in  bis  native  place,  and  in  1645  was  ap- 
pointed pastor  of  St  Mary's,  and  superintend- 
ent of  all  the  churches  in  the  district  of  that 
city.  He  attended  the  celebrated  Grotius  in 
his  last  illness,  and  from  him  we  have  the  par- 
ticulars of  his  latest  moments,  in  which  be 
rendered  every  tender  service  to  that  great 
man.  Quistorp  died  in  1648.  He  wrote"  Au- 
notationes  in  omnes  Libros  Biblicos  ;"  "  Com- 
mentarius  in  Epistolas  Sancti  Pauli:"  "  .Ma- 
nuductio  ad  Studium  Theologicum  ;"  "  Arti- 
culi  Formulre  Concordisc  illustrati ;"  "  Ser- 
mons ;"  "  Dissertations,"  &c. — He  haa  asou 
of  the  same  name,  who  was  rector  of  the  uni- 
versity of  llostock,  and  died  in  1669.  He 
wrote  several  controversial  papers  against  the 
papists. — Moreri.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 


R  A  B 

RABANUS  MAURUS  MAG1SIENTIUS, 
a  learned  German  prelate,  was  born  in  the 
year  785,  at  Fulda,  in  which  abbey  he  received 
his  first  instructions,  and  he  afterwards  be- 
came the  disciple  of  the  famous  Alcuin,  at 
Tours.  In  822  he  was  made  abbot  of  Fulda, 
and  eight  years  afterwards  he  was  instrumen- 
tal in  bringing  about  a  reconciliation  between 
Louis  le  Debonnaire  and  his  children.  In 
839  the  monks  of  his  abbey  expelled  him,  al- 
leging as  a  reason,  that  in  consequence  of  his 
devoting  so  much  time  to  his  studies  the  af- 
fairs of  the  monastery  were  neglected.  They 
afterwards  wished  him  to  resume  the  govern- 
ment, but  he  declined,  and  remained  in  retire- 
ment until  847,  when  he  was  made  arch- 
bishop of  JMentz.  One  of  his  first  acts  was  to 
summon  a  council,  in  which  he  procured  the 
condemnation  of  Godeschalc,  for  maintaining 
the  doctrine  of  St.  Augustine  respecting  pre- 
destination and  grace.  Rabanus  died  in  856. 
He  was  a  man  of  great  learning,  which  he  dis- 
played in  several  Treatises  and  Commenta- 
ries, which  were  all  published  in  1627,  at  Co- 
logne, in  3  vols.  folio. — Cave.  Dupin.  Mos- 
heitn.  Moreri. 

RABAUT  UK  ST.  ETIENNE  (JOHN 
PAUL)  a  French  Protestant  clergyman  and 
advocate  who  was  a  native  of  Nismes,  for 
which  city  he  was  chosen  a  deputy  to  the 
Constituent  Assembly,  at  the  commencement 
of  the  Revolution.  He  had  previously  ob- 
tained some  reputation  by  his  writings  ;  and 
possessing  eloquence  and  address,  he  appeared 
with  advantage  as  a  public  speaker.  He  dis- 
tinguished himself  at  first  as  one  of  the  warm- 
eat  advocates  for  innovation  ;  but  on  being 
elected  a  member  of  the  National  Convention, 
his  ardour  in  some  degree  subsided.  He 
had  the  courage  to  declaim  against  the  right 


RAB 

of  the  convention  to  sit  in  judgment  on  Louis 
XVl ;  and  on  the  debate  in  that  subject,  he 
said,  "  I  am  weary  of  my  share  of  the  present 
tyranny,  and  I  sigh  for  the  period  when  a  na- 
tional tribunal  will  oblige  us  to  lay  aside  the 
forms  and  manners  of  despots."  These  sen- 
timents, and  his  connexions  with  the  Giron- 
dists, proved  his  destruction.  Being  im- 
peached, he  was  arrested  June  2,  1793  ;  but 
lie  made  his  escape,  and  took  refuge  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Versailles.  He  was  de- 
clared an  outlaw  on  the  28th  of  July ;  when 
he  returned  to  Paris,  and  found  an  asylum  iu 
the  house  of  his  brother.  Being  discovered 
by  accident,  he  was  seized  and  guillotined 
December  5,  1793.  He  published  several 
historical  and  political  works,  among  which 
are  "  Lettres  a  Bailly  sur  1'Histoire  primitive 
de  la  Grece,"  Paris,  1787,  8vo  ;  and  "  Pre- 
cis de  1'llistoire  de  la  Revolution  de  France," 
1791,  8vo. — JAMES  ANTHONY  RABAUT  Po- 
MIER,  younger  brother  of  the  preceding,  was 
also  a  Protestant  minister,  and  a  member  of 
the  National  Convention.  He  was  impri- 
soned in  December,  1793,  but  recovering  his 
liberty  after  the  overthrow  of  the  Terrorists, 
he  regained  his  seat  in  the  Convention,  and 
afterwards  became  a  member  of  the  Council 
of  Ancients,  and  also  held  other  offices,  lie 
relinquished  politics  in  1803,  and  was  ap- 
pointed pastor  of  a  Protestant  church  at  Paris. 
His  death  took  place  in  1820.  He  published 
in  1810,  "  Napoleon  Liberateur  Discours  Re- 
ligieux,"  8vo  ;  and  in  1814,  "Sermon  d'Ac- 
tiori  de  Graces  sur  le  Retour  de  Louis 
XVIII."  He  is  said  to  have  made  observa- 
tions on  the  cow- pock,  and  its  preservative 
eft'ect  against  the  small-pox,  in  1786.-- An- 
other brother  of  the  same  family,  RABAUT 
S,  was  a  merchant  at  Nisuies,  who  tak- 


R  A  B 

ing  an  active  part  in  public  affairs,  was  pro- 
scribed under  the  tyranny  of  Robespierre  He 
concealed  himself  till  the  storm  was  over,  and 
afterwards  held  several  employments.  He  died 
in  1808.  Rabaut  Dupuis  published  "  His- 
torical Details  and  Collections  relating  to  the 
various  Projects  set  on  foot  since  the  Refor- 
mation for  Re-union  among  the  Christian 
Communities,"  1806,  8vo. — Diet,  des  H.  M. 
du  1 Qme  S.  Biog.  Univ. 

RABELAIS  (Fa  A  NCIS)  a  celebrated  French 
wit,  was  the  son  of  an  apothecary  at  Chinon, 
iii   the    province   of  Touraine,  where  he   was 
born  about  1483.     He  was  bred  up  in  a  con- 
vent of  Franciscan  friars,  in  Poictou,  and  re- 
ceived into  their  order.     His  strong  inclination 
and  taste  for  literature  rendered  him  not  only 
very  learned  in  the  languages,  but  skilful  in  all 
•the  science   of  the  time.     His  conduct,  how- 
ever, was  not  so  creditable  as  his  abilities,  and 
an  adventure  of  his,  which  caused  scandal  in 
the  monastery,  was  punished  by  imprisonment 
in  the  cloister.     At  length  he  obtained  his  li- 
beration   by  the   interest  of  some  persons  of 
rank,  with   permission   to  quit  his  order,  and 
,oin  that  of  St  Benedict.     Not  able  to  recon- 
cile  himself  to  any  restraint,  he  threw  aside 
his  religious    habit  altogether  in    1530,    and 
went  to  study  medicine  at  Montpellier.    After 
spending  some  time  in  that  school,  he  removed 
to  Lyons,  where  he  printed  a  collection  of  Latin 
translations  of  Hippocrates  and  Galen,  as  well 
as  some  of  the  books  of  his  famous  history  of 
Pantagruel.     In  1535  he  was  taken  under  the 
protection  of  cardinal  John  du  Bellay,  who  re- 
ceived him  into  his  house  as  physician,  libra- 
rian, and  steward.     The  cardinal  being  nomi- 
nated ambassador  to  Rome  the  next  year,  was 
accompanied  by  Rabelais,  who  so  much  amu- 
sed the  papal  court  with  his  wit  and  buffoonery, 
that  he  obtained  a  plenary  absolution  for  the 
crime  of  apostacy.     In  1537  he   took  the  de- 
gree of  doctor  of  physic,  at  Montpellier  ;  and 
in  1538  was  presented  by  cardinal  Du  Bellay 
with   a   prebendary.     He  afterwards  became 
cure,  or  parochial   priest,  of  Meudou,   which 
office  he  held  from  1545  until  his  death.     His 
Pantagruel,  which  was  finished  about  the  time 
he  became   pastor  of  Meudon,  excited  much 
enmity  against  him  on  the  part  of  the  monks, 
who  caused  the  condemnation  of  his  work  by 
the   Sorbonne   and    the    parliament  ;    but   in 
other  respects  it  rendered  him  popular  as  the 
greatest  wit  of  his  time,  a  reputation  which  he 
fully  maintained  by  his  companionable  quali- 
ties, and  the  inexhaustible  store  of  ludicrous 
ideas  which  he  displayed  in  conversation.    He 
died   in    1553,    at   the  age   of  seventy.     The 
"  History  of  Gargantua  and  Pantagruel,"  of 
Rabelais,  is  an  extravagant  and  whimsical  sa- 
tire in   the   form  of  a  romance,  attacking  all 
sorts  of  monkish,  and  other   follies,  which  it 
would  not  have  been  safe  to  seriously  expose. 
Wit  and  learning  are  scattered  in  great  profu- 
sion, but  in  a  very  wild  and  irregular  manner, 
and  with  a  strong  mixture  of  coarseness  and 
obscenity.  His  satire,  when  intelligible,  is  often 
just  and  ingenious  ;    but  the  obscurity  of  his 
language,  and  the  eccentricity  of  his  concep- 


R  A  C 


tions,  have  always  baffled  commentators  in 
their  attempts  at  explanation  ;  and  lie  is  now 
read  more  for  the  pure  whimsicality  of  hia 
joke  and  allusion,  than  with  a  view  to  the  ob- 
jects of  his  satire.  Many  editions  have  been, 
given  of  Rabelais,  the  most  complete  of  which 
is  that  printed  at  Holland,  with  cuts,  and  notes 
by  Duchat,  in  5  vols.  12mo,  1716  ;  and  that  of 
De  la  Monnoye,  1741,  3  vols.  4to,  with  plates 
by  Picart.  Motteux  published  an  English 
translation  in  London,  1708,  with  a  preface 
and  notes,  in  which  he  endeavoured  to  show 
tli at  Rabelais  intended  a  sort  of  burlesque 
history  of  his  own  times.  This  was  followed 
by  another  by  Ozeli,  in  4  vols.  The  letters  of 
Rabelais  have  been  published  in  8vo,  with 
notes  by  St  Marthe.  Every  careful  reader  of 
the  one  and  the  other,  must  perceive  that  the 
Tristram  Shandy  of  Sterne  originated  in  a 
zealous  perusal  of  the  principal  work  of  Ra- 
belais.— Moreri.  Chaufepie.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 
RABENER  (GOTTLIEB  WILLIAM)  a  Ger- 
man writer,  born  at  Wacliau,  near  Leipsic,  in 
1714.  He  was  educated  for  the  legal  profes- 
sion, and  obtained  the  office  of  comptroller  of 
the  taxes  in  the  district  of  Leipsic.  He  made 
himself  known  as  a  satirist  and  a  letter- writer; 
and  he  is  reckoned  among  the  classic  authors  of 
Germany,  but  his  reputation  is  rather  on  the 
decline.  He  died  at  Dresden,  in  1771.  His 
satires  have  been  often  printed,  and  have  been, 
translated  into  French  ;  and  his  Letters  have 
appeared  in  an  English  dress.  There  is  a 
collective  edition  of  the  works  of  Rabener, 
published  at  Leipsic,  1777,  6  vols.  8vo. — Diet. 
Hist. 

RABUTIN  (ROGER)  Count  de  Bussy, 
a  French  wit  and  satirist,  born  of  an  ancient 
family,  in  the  province  of  Burgundy,  in  1618. 
He  entered  into  the  army  at  the  age  of  twelve, 
and  served  under  his  father ;  and  he  might 
have  probably  attained  high  military  rank,  if 
he  had  not  offended  persons  in  power  by  the 
carelessness  of  his  conduct,  and  by  the  com- 
position of  scandalous  lampoons.  His  "  His- 
toire  Amoureuse  des  Gaules,"  a  work  of  this 
description,  occasioned  his  being  imprisoned 
in  the  Bastile  in  1665  ;  and  on  his  release  he 
was  banished  from  the  court,  whither  he  was 
not  permitted  to  return  till  1681.  His  death 
took  place  in  1693.  Among  his  principal 
works  are  "  Lettres,  avec  les  Reponses,"  re- 
published  at  Amsterdam,  1782,  6  vols.  12mo; 
and  "  Memoires,"  2  vols.  12mo. —  FRANCIS 
RABUTIN,  count  de  Bussy,  of  the  same  family 
with  the  preceding,  was  the  author  of  "  Mi- 
litary Memoirs,"  which  are  much  esteemed. 
He  lived  hi  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury.— Niceron.  Diet.  Hist.  Biog.  Univ. 

RACAN  (HONORAT  DE  BUEIL,  marquis 
of)  a  French  poet,  was  born  in  Tourraiue,  in 
1589.  He  was  one  of  the  first  members  of 
the  French  Academy,  and  wrote  pastorals  and 
odes,  which  were  esteemed.  He  also  pub- 
lished a  "  Life  of  Malherbe,"  his  friend  and 
poetical  instructor.  Boileau  says,  that  he 
excels  in  saying  little  things  in  the  manner 
of  the  ancients.  In  his  youth  he  was  one  of 
the  pages  of  Henry  IV  ;  he  then  entered  the 
A  2 


U  A  C 

army,  but  finally  he  mar  iccl,  and  devoted 
himself  to  literature.  He  died  in  1670,  and 
a  new  edition  of  his  works  was  published  at 
Paris  in  172-1,  2  vol.s.  I'Jiuo. — Moreri.  AV/n. 
Diet.  Hist. 

RACINE  (BONAVENTURE)  a  French  Ca- 
tholic divine,  who  became  principal  of  the 
college  of  Harcourt,  which  he  was  obliged  to 
leave  on  account  of  his  disputes  with  the 
Jesuits.  lie  afterwards  obtained  a  canonry 
in  the  cathedral  of  Auxerre,  where  he  died 
in  1755.  He  is  known  as  author  of"  Abr6ge 
de  1'Histoire  Ecclesiastique,"  Cologne,  175-1, 
13  vols.  12mo  ;  republisbed  in  1762,  13  vols. 
4to. —  Diet,  Hist.  Biog.  Univ. 

RACINE  (JOHN)  a  very  eminent  French 
dramatic  poet,  was  born  at  La  Ferte  Milon  in 
16:59.  His  father,  who  had  a  small  place 
under  the,  government,  dying  when  he  was 
very  young,  Racine,  who  had  likewise  lost  his 
mother,  was  brought  up  by  a  grandfather  at 
the  convent  of  Port  Royal,  whence  he  re- 
move 1  to  the  college  of  Harcourt,  where  he 
passed  through  a  course  of  philosophy.  He 
first  made  himself  known  to  the  public  by  an 
ode  on  the  marriage  of  Louis  XIV,  for  which, 
through  the  patronage  of  Colbert,  he  was  re- 
warded with  a  small  pension.  This  success 
determined  him  to  follow  poetry,  and  rejecting 
an  invitation  to  take  orders,  he  fixed  his  resi- 
dence in  Paris.  In  1664  he  brought  upon  the 
stage  his  first  tragedy,  entitled  "  La  The- 
baide,"  which,  in  1666  and  1668  was  followed 
b\  his  "  Alexandra,"  and  his  "Andromaque," 
the  latter  of  which  established  his  character 
as  a  tragic  dramatist.  His  comedy  of  "  Les 
Plaideurs"  succeeded,  which,  although  ob- 
jected to  in  the  first  instance,  obtained  the  li- 
beral praise  of  Moliere.  From  1670  to  1677, 
appeared  in  succession  his  tragedies  of  "  Bri- 
tannicus,"  "  Berenice,"  "  Bajazet,"  "  Mith- 
ridate,"  "  Iphigene,"  and  "  Phedre  ;"  the 
last  of  which  produced  a  similar  attempt  on  the 
part  of  Pradon,  that  gave  extreme  uneasiness 
to  Racine,  and  inspired  him  with  the  notion  of 
turning  Carthusian.  His  director,  however, 
gave  him  the  better  advice  of  marrying,  which 
he  followed,  and  at  the  same  time  reconciled 
himself  to  his  old  friends  of  the  Port  Royal,  by 
ceasing  to  write  for  the  stage.  Always  an  as- 
siduous courtier,  he  paid  particular  attention  to 
the  king,  to  whom  he  was  gentleman  in  ordi- 
nary, and  in  whose  apartments  he  slept  during 
the  monarch's  indispositions,  in  order  to  en- 
tertain him  with  reading  and  recitations,  in 
which  he  excelled.  He  was  nominated  joint 
historiographer-royal  with  Boileau,  but  no  re- 
sult of  this  appointment  ever  appeared.  Al- 
though he  had  renounced  the  profane  drama, 
he  was  prevailed  upon  by  madame  Maintenon 
to  write  "  Esther,"  and  "  Athalie,"  to  be 
acted  by  the  ladies  of  St  Cyr.  The  same 
lady  also  induced  him  to  draw  up  a  memoir 
upon  the  miseries  of  the  people  in  the  latter 
years  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV  ;  and  he  ex- 
ecuted the  task  with  so  free  a  pen  in  regard  to 
the  faults  of  administration,  that  the  oft'euded 
monarch  forbade  him  his  presence.  Racine 
Jiad  not  sufficient  philosophy  to  endure  this 


R  A  n 

disgrace  with  fortitude,  and  sinking  into  a 
state  of  melancholy,  a  fever  ensued,  which  tei- 
minated  his  existence  in  1699,  in  his  fifty  - 
ninth  year.  The  dramatic  characteristics  of 
Kurine  are  tenderness,  elegance,  good  taste, 
refined  sentiment,  and  perfection  in  the  arf 
of  versification.  In  reference  to  the  higher 
essentials  of  the  drama,  he  wants  verisimi- 
litude, and  rather  describes  feeli'lg  than 
expresses  it.  The  introduction  of  love  into 
all  his  dramas  necessarily  adds  to  these  de- 
fects, which  do  not  appear  in  "  Athalie,"  and 
in  the  more  elevated  portion  of  his  best  pieces. 
Besides  his  dramatic  works,  Racine  was  the 
author  of  "  Cantiques,  for  the  use  of  St  Cyr  ;" 
"  L'Histoire  de  Port  Royal ;"  "  Idylle  sur  la 
Paix  ;"  some  "  Epigrams,"  of  merit ;  "  let- 
ters ;"  and  a  few  "  Opuscules,"  published  in 
his  son's  memoirs  of  his  life.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  French  Academy  from  1673.  This 
celebrated  poet  was  of  an  agreeable  figure, 
with  an  open  countenance,  and  was  polite  and 
soft  in  manners,  while  in  reality  splenetic 
and  fastidious.  He  was  also  witty  and  eloquent, 
although  grave  and  devotional  in  his  later 
years.  The  editions  of  Racine  are  too  nu- 
merous to  particularize  ;  the  most  distinguish- 
ed are  the  later  ones  from  the  press  of  Didot. 
— Moreri.  D'Alembert.  Hist.  Acad.  Nouv. 
Diet.  Hist. 

RACINE  (Louis)  son  of  the  preceding, 
and  also  a  poet,  was  born  at  Paris  in  1692.  Of 
a  pious  tendency,  he  was  led  to  adopt  the  ec- 
clesiastical habit,  and  he  was  in  a  state  of  re- 
tirement with  the  fathers  of  the  Oratory  when 
he  published  his  poem  "  On  Grace,"  in  1720. 
lie  \vas,however,induced  to  quit  the  clerical  pro- 
fession and  marry ;  and  he  lived  happily  with  his 
family  until  the  death  of  an  only  son  revived  the 
sombre  melancholy  which  was  inherent  in  his 
disposition.  He  died  in  1763,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-one.  His  principal  poems  are  these  : 
"  On  Religion  and  Grace,"  which  convey  the 
thoughts  of  Pascal  and  Bossuet  with  fine 
lines  and  striking  passages.  He  is  also  au- 
thor of  "  Epistles;"  and  a  translation  of  Pa- 
radise Lost.  His  prose  works  are,  "  Me- 
moires  sur  la  Vie  de  Jean  Racine  ;"  "  Re- 
marques  sur  les  Tragedies  de  J.  Racine ;" 
and  several  dissertations  in  the  Memoirs  of  the 
Academy  of  Inscriptions.  His  "  (Euvres  l)i- 
verses"  are  oublished  in  6  vols.  12mo. —  \ouv. 
Diet.  Hist. 

RADCLIFFE  (ANN)  an  eminent  female 
novelist,  was  born  in  London,  July  9,  176-1. 
Her  maiden  name  was  Ward,  and  at  the  age 
of  twenty-three  she  was  married  to  William 
Radcliffe,  esq.  a  graduate  of  Oxford,  and  a 
student-at-law  in  one  of  the  inns  of  court ; 
which  profession,  however,  he  never  followed, 
but  became  ./roprietor  and  editor  of  a  news- 
paper, called  the  "  English  Chronicle."  Soon 
after  her  marriage  Mrs.  Radcliffe  began  to 
essay  her  powers  in  works  of  imagination. 
Her  first  performance  was  a  romance,  entitled 
"  The  Castles  of  Athlen  and  Dumblaine/  '  and 
the  next  "  The  Sicilian  Romance  ;"  but  the 
first  of  her  works  which  attiacted  much  atten- 
I  tion  was  "  The  Romance  of  the  Forest,"  which 


RAD 

was  followed  by  "  The  Mysteries  of  Udol- 
pho,''  a  tale  at  once  powerfully  conceived  and 
tastefully  executed,  which  placed  ber  at  the 
head  of  a  department  of  fiction  which  was 
then  rising  into  considerable  esteem.  Her 
last  work  of  this  kind,  "  The  Italian,"  pro- 
duced the  sum  of  1500/.  ;  and  although  of  less 
varied  interest  than  that  displayed  by  its  pre- 
decessors exhibited  great  power,  especially  in 
the  delineation  of  the  principal  character. 
Besides  these  publications  she  published  a 
quarto  volume  of  "  Travels  through  Holland 
and  along  the  Rhine,"  in  1793.  As  a  writer 
of  romance  Mrs  Radcliffe  possessed,  in  a 
high  degree,  the  art  of  dallying  with  the  ex- 
pectation, and  exciting  a  high  degree  of  inte- 
rest in  her  narrative.  Her  descriptive  powers 
were  of  a  superior  order,  especially  in  the  d«v 
•  lineation  of  scenes  of  terror,  and  in  those  as- 
pects of  nature  which  excite  sentiment,  and 
suggest  a  variety  of  tender  or  melancholy  as- 
sociations. She  suffered  much  in  the  latter 
part  of  her  life  from  a  spasmodic  asthma,  of 
which  she  died  in  London,  January  9,  1823. — 
Ann.  Biog. 

RADCLIFFE  (JOHN) >  a  celebrate-,  radical 
practitioner,  born  in  1650,  at  Wakeneld  in 
\  orkshire,  where  his  father  possessed  a  mo- 
derate estate.  After  a  classical  education  at 
his  native  place,  he  was,  at  the  age  of  fifteen, 
sent  to  University  college,  Oxford.  In  1669 
he  took  his  first  degree  in  arts  ;  and  after- 
wards removing  to  Lincoln  college,  was  elected 
to  a  fellowship.  He  proceeded  MA.  in  1672, 
and  having  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  me- 
dicine, he  obtained  the  degree  of  MB.  in 
1675,  and  immediately  began  to  practise  as  a 
physician.  Two  years  after  he  resigned  his 
fellowship,  not  being  permitted  to  retain  it 
without  taking  holy  orders  ;  and  having  be- 
come MD.  in  1682,  he  removed  to  London  in 
1684,  and  settled  in  Bow-street,  Covent-gar- 
den.  He  soon  acquired  great  reputation,  to 
which  his  conversational  powers  contributed, 
perhaps,  more  than  his  professional  skill ;  for 
having  a  ready  wit  and  a  strong  tincture  of 
pleasantry,  he  was  a  very  diverting  companion. 
In  1686  he  was  appointed  physician  to  the 
princess  Anne  of  Denmark  ;  and  after  the  Re- 
volution be  was  often  consulted  by  king  Wil- 
liam III,  whose  favour  he  lost  in  consequence 
of  the  freedom  of  speech  in  which  he  indulged 
himself.  In  1699  the  king,  on  his  return  from 
Holland,  finding  himself  very  unwell,  sent  for 
Dr  Radcliffe,  and  showing  him  his  ancles, 
swollen  and  ocdematous,  while  his  body  was 
much  emaciated,  said,  "  What  do  you  think 
of  these  V  "  Why,  truly,"  replied  the  phy- 
sician, "  I  would  not  have  your  majesty's  two 
legs  for  your  three  kingdoms."  He  was  no 
more  consulted  by  that  prince  ;  and  when  Anne 
succeeded  to  the  crown,  lord  Godolphin  in 
vain  endeavoured  to  get  him  reinstated  in  bis 
post  of  chief  physician,  as  he  had  given  her 
offence  by  telling  her  that  her  ailments  were 
nothing  but  the  vapours.  But  though  de- 
prived of  office,  he  was  consulted  in  all  cases  of 
emergency,  and  received  a  large  sum  of  secret 
service  money  for  his  prescriptions.  In  1713 


RAF 

he  was  chosen  MP.  for  the  borough  of  Buck- 
ingham ;  and  he  acted  with  the  tory  party, 
but  without  taking  any  very  decided  part  in 
contemporary  political  intrigues.  In  the  last 
illness  of  queen  Anne,  Dr  Radcliffe  was  sent 
for  ;  but  either  through  indolence  or  extreme 
caution,  he  excused  himself,  on  the  alleged 
score  of  his  own  indisposition.  Her  majesty 
died  on  the  following  day,  and  a  motion  for 
censuring  the  doctor  was  made  in  the  house  of 
Commons.  This  circumstance,  added  to  threat- 
ening letters  which  lie  received,  deeply  af- 
fected his  mind,  and,  perhaps,  hastened  his 
death,  which  took  place  three  months  after  that 
of  the  queen,  November  1,  1714.  Dr  Rad- 
cliffe never  published  any  thing,  and  be  ap- 
pears to  have  been  personally  but  little  con- 
versant with  literature  ;  yet  he  testified  his  re- 
gard for  it  by  the  noble  bequest  of  40.000/.  to 
the  university  of  Oxford,  for  the  foundation  o 
a  public  library  of  medical  and  philosophical 
science,  which  was  consequently  erected,  and 
was  opened  with  much  ceremony  April  13, 
1749.  Dr  Garth,  in  allusion  to  the  literary  or 
rather  non-literary  character  of  the,  doctor,  sa- 
tirically remarked,  that  "  for  Radcliffe  to  found 
a  library  was  as  if  an  eunuch  should  establish  a 
seraglio." — Hutchinsmt's,  Bieg,  Med.  Pointer's 
Antiq.  of  Oxford . 

RAEBURN  (sir  HENRY)  an  artist  of  emi- 
nence, first  portrait- painter  to  the  king  in 
Scotland,  an  appointment  which  he  only  re- 
ceived a  few  days  before  his  death.  He  wa; 
president  of  the  academy  at  Edinburgh,  ant 
member  of  that  in  .London.  As  a  portrait 
painter  he  was  considered  second  only  to  sir 
Thomas  Lawrence ;  and  was  not  only  an 
artist  himself,  but  a  liberal  patron  of  art  in 
others.  He  received  the  honour  of  knighthood 
from  his  present  majesty,  during  his  visit  to 
Edinburgh,  and  died  July  6,  1823,  at  Ber- 
nard's Stockbridge,  in  the  vicinity  of  thaf 
capital. — Ann.  Biog. 

RAFFLES  (sir  THOMAS  STAMFORD)  an  able 
and  philanthropic  public  officer  of  our  own 
time.  He  was  the  son  of  Benjamin  Raffles, 
a  captain  in  the  West  India  trade,  and  was 
born  at  sea  in  the  ship  Anne,  of  London,  off 
Port  Morant  in  Jamaica,  July  6,  1781.  On 
his  arrival  in  England,  his  father  placed  him 
for  education  with  Dr  Anderson,  of  Hammer- 
smith, under  whose  tuition  he  remained  till  h« 
was  appointed  to  a  clerkship  in  the  India 
house.  In  1305  the  interest  of  Mr  Ramsav, 
secretary  to  the  board,  procured  him  the  situa- 
tion of  assistant-secretary  to  the  newly-formed 
government  of  I'ulo  Penarig,  in  the  straits  of 
Malacca,  now  Prince  of  Wales's  Island,  whi- 
ther he  accompanied  governor  Dundas  in  the 
course  of  the  same  year.  He  applied  himself 
to  the  study  of  the  Malay  language  with  such 
success,  that  he  was  soon  after  appointed  Ma- 
lay tran slatoi  to  the  government.  In  1807  he 
was  made  secretary  to  (he  council  and  regis- 
trar of  the  r  Ci.rder's  court ;  but  the  following 
year  was  compelled,  by  serious  indisposition,  to 
retire  to  Mala;  ca.  In  1810  his  reputation,  for 
talents  and .  haracter  procured  him  the  appoint- 
ment of  at,ert  of  the  governor- general  with 


RAF 

the  Malay  States  ;  and  the  following  year,  on 
the  reduction  of  Bataviaand  Java,  he  was  no- 
minated    lieutenant-governor    of    the    latter 
island.     In  this  capacity  lie  continued  till  the 
spring  of  1816,   bavins;-,   in  the  interval,  not 
only  brought  the  hostilities  commenced  against 
the  native  chiefs  to  a  successful  termination, 
nut  completed  a  statistical  survey  and  map  of 
Java,  and    introduced   material    reforms  into 
its  code  of  laws,  and  the  method  of  adminis- 
tering justice.     In  1816,  having  lost  bis  wife, 
he  returned  to  England,  bringing  with  him  a 
Javanese  prince  and  a  most  extensive  collec- 
tion of  specimens  of  the  productions,  costume, 
&c.  of  the  Eastern  archipelago.    The  year  fol- 
lowing  appeared  bis   "  History  of  Java,"  in 
two  thick  quartos,  with  plates.     While  in  this 
country   Mr    Raffles   entered  a  second   time 
into  a    matrimonial   engagement,  and   sailed 
from   Falmouth   in  the  winter  of  1817,  hav- 
ing been  nominated  to  the  residency  of  !'•'  n 
coolen     in    Sumatra,    with    the     honour     of 
knighthood      and     the      lieutenant-governor 
ship  of  Fort  Marlborough.     On   reaching  the 
seat    of   bis   government  in  March  1818,  he 
set  himself  forthwith    to    remedy  many  dis- 
graceful abuses,  and  did  much  towards  car- 
rying  into    effect    the    abolition    of    slavery 
throughout  the  settlement.     He   also   distin- 
guished himself  by  his  political  arrangements 
•with  the  Dutch  commissioners  in  the  interest 
of  the  sultan  of  Palembang,  and  by  the  occu- 
pation of  the  island  of  Singapore,  with  a  view 
to  the   taking  it  under  British  protection,  an 
event  equally  advantageous  for  the  inhabitants 
and  for  the  commercial  objects  of  this  country. 
On  his  last  visit  to  tbe  island  in  1823,  be  laid 
the  foundation  of  a  literary  institution,  consist- 
ing  of   a    college  for  the  encouragement   of 
Anglo-Chinese  literature,  with  a  library,  mu- 
seum, branch  schools,  &c.  and  a  grant  of  five 
hundred  acres  of  uncleared  ground  for  its  sup- 
port ;  but  in  the  following  year  the  impaired 
state  of  bis  constitution  induced  him  to  return 
to  Europe.     With  this  view  he  embarked  bis 
family  on  board  the  Fame,  on  the  2d  February 
1824  ;  but  a  fire  breaking  out  in  tbe  ship  on 
tbe  evening  of  the  same  day,  both  tbe  vessel 
and  cargo,   including  property  of  bis  own  to 
tbe  amount  of  nearly  30,000/.  with  many  va- 
luable  papers,    were    destroyed   at   sea;    the 
crew  and.  passengers  saving   their  lives  with 
difficulty  in  the  boats,  and  relanditig  in  a  state 
of  utter  destitution,   about  fifteen  miles  from 
Bencoolen,  after  passing  a  whole  night  on  the 
ocean,  in  a  state  of  the  utmost  privation  and 
anxiety,   as  well  as   comparative   nakedness, 
Of  this  calamity  an  interesting  document  re- 
mains, in  a  letter  written  by  sir  Thomas  to  a 
friend  in  England,  dated  the  day  after  tbe  ac- 
cident, and  since  printed.     In  April  the  fa 
mily  embarked  again   on  board  the  Manner 
which  landed   them  in  London,  in  the  Augus 
of  the  same  year.     Sir  Thomas,  however,  sur 
vived    bis  return  to    England  not  quite  tw< 
years,  dying  of  an  apoplectic  attack  in  Jul; 
1826.     In   addition  to  tbe   woik  already  al 
luded  to,  be  left  behind  him  a  memoir  of  Sin 
t    ;>ore,  in  manuscript;  besides  editing  "  Fin 


R  A  I 

layson's  Mission  to  Siam,  with  Memoirs  of 
the  Author,"  8vo,  1822 ;  and  Dr  Leyden's 
"  Malay  Annals,"  with  an  introduction. — Ann. 
Bing. 

RAGOTSKI  (FRANCIS)  second  of  the 
name,  prince  of  Transylvania,  was  born  at  the 
castle  of  Borshi  in  Hungary,  in  167(>.  On  the 
death  of  bis  father,  he  was  carefully  watcln-d 
by  the  house  of  Austria,  and  forced  to  break 
off  all  correspondence  with  his  mother ;  but 
zealous  for  the  independence  of  his  country, 
he  secretly  entered  into  a  negociation  with 
Louis  XIV,  which  being  betrayed,  he  was 
arrested,  and  found  guilty  of  high  treason  ;  how- 
ever, by  tbe  affection  of  his  wife,  the  princess 
of  Hesse  Rhinfelds,  who  gained  over  his 
keeper,  he  made  his  escape  from  prison  ;  and 
having  received  assurances  of  succour  from 

O 

France,  he  entered  Hungary,  and  published  a 
manifesto,    urging    the   people  to  free  them- 
selves from  the  tyranny  of  the  Austrians.    He 
was  joined   by  a  great  number,   and    stormed 
some  fortresses,  taking  a  severe  revenge  upon 
tbe  imperialists,  who  had  given  no  quarter  to 
be  Hungarian  insurgents.     Tbe  crown  of  Po- 
and  being  then  vacant,  it  was  offered  to  Ra- 
otski,  who  declined  it;  and  pursuing  his  snc- 
esses,  reduced  Tokay  and  took  Agria,  in  con- 
equeiice    of  which,    in    1704,   he   was  pro- 
laimed  prince  of  Transylvania  and  protector 
if  Hungary  ;  he  also  received  a  public  em- 
lassy  from   Louis  XIV.     He  soon,  however, 
elt   the  difficulty  of  opposing  tbe  arms   and 
lolicy  of  a   powerful  sovereign,  especially  as 
^ouis  could  not  render  him  much  assistance, 
le  also  found  a  rival   in  his  friend  and  asso- 
ciate, count  Bercheni  :  and,  in  consequence  of 
a  severe  check  received   by  bis  troops,   they 
jegan  to  desert.     Tbe  crown  of  Poland  was 
again  offered  to  him  by  the  czar,  Peter,  and 
was  again  refused.    In  171 1  a  treaty  was  con- 
cluded  between  tbe  Hungarian  states  and  the 
emperor,  to  which  he  refused  to  accede,  though 
he  first  article  secured   his  life  and  property, 
with    the    title   of    prince    of     Transylvania. 
Deeply  wounded  at  this  defeat  of  his  patriotic 
xertions,  he  renounced  his  estates,  and  with- 
drew into  Turkey,  where  he  died,  at  his  castle 
of   Rodosto,  on  tbe  shore   of  tbe  sea  of  Mar- 
mora, in  ITo.i.      He  wrote   "  Memoirs  of  bis 
Life,"    published   in    the    "   Revolutions    de 
Hongrie,"  Hague,  1739.  There  is  also  a  work, 
but  of  doubtful  authenticity,  entitled  "  Testa- 
ment politiqne  et  moral  du  Prince  Ragotski." 
Moreri.     Sucy,  Hist,  de  Hongrie. 

RAIKES  (ROBERT)  a  printer  and  philan- 
thropist, was  born  at  Gloucester  in  1735.  His 
father  was  proprietor  of  the  "  Gloucester 
Journal,"  and  the  sou  succeeded  him  in  the 
printing  business,  and  having  realized  a  good 
property,  he  employed  it  with  his  pen  and  his 
influence  in  relieving  such  objects  as  stood  in 
need  of  his  benevolent  assistance.  He  is, 
however,  best  known  for  his  institution  of 
Sunday  schools,  which  he  planned  conjointly 
with  the  rev  Mr  Stock  in  1781.  Mr  Raikes 
died  at  Gloucester  in  1811. — Gent.  J\Li^. 
Nichols's  Boicyer. 

RA1MONDI   (RLiRc   ANTONIO)  a  cole- 


RAL 

brated  old  engraver,  was  born  at  Bologna  in 
1487  or  1488.  He  studied  under  Francesco 
Francia.  He  went  to  Venice  for  improvement, 
and  while  there  copied  a  set  of  wood-cuts  by 
Albert  Durer  with  so  much  exactness  that 
they  were  sold  for  the  originals  ;  and  Albert 
Durer  complaining  of  the  injury,  it  was  or- 
dered that  Raimondi  should  never  again  add 
the  cypher  of  Durer  to  any  of  his  copies.  From 
"Venice  he  went  to  Rome,  and  was  employed 
by  Raphael  to  engrave  several  of  his  designs. 
Raimondi  soon  formed  a  school  at  Rome, 
which  eclipsed  those  of  Germany,  and  the 
Italian  style  of  engraving  became  the  standard 
of  excellence.  On  the  death  of  Raphael  he 
was  employed  by  Julio  Romano,  and  he  dis- 
graced himself  by  engraving  his  abominable 
designs  in  illustration  of  Aretine's  verses.  For 
this  conduct  Clement  VII  sent  him  to  piison, 
from  which  he  was  released  with  great  diffi- 
culty ;  he,  however,  procured  favour  by  his 
exquisite  Martyrdom  of  St  Lawrence,  and  the 
pope  became  his  protector.  In  1527,  when 
Rome  was  taken  by  the  Spaniards,  he  lost  all 
his  wealth,  and  retired  to  Bologna,  where  he 
died  in  1540.  He  is  distinguished  for  the 
purity  and  correctness  of  his  outlines  ;  the 
character  and  execution  of  the  heads  also 
prove  his  judgment  ml  proficiency. — Strutt. 
Itoscne's  Leo  X. 

RAIN  OLDS  (JOHN)  a  learned  divine,  was 
born  at  Pinho,  in  Devonshire,  in  1549,  and 
became  a  scholar  and  fellow  of  Corpus  Christi 
college,  Oxford,  where  he  read  lectures  en 
Aristotle.  In  1585  he  took  the  degree  of 
DD,  and  the  year  following  was  appointed 
reader  of  the  theological  lecture  founded  by 
sir  Francis  Walsingham.  In  1593  he  was 
made  dean  of  Lincoln,  which  preferment  he 
resigned  on  being  chosen  president  of  his  col- 
lege. He  was  deemed  the  leader  of  the  puri- 
tan party,  and  distinguished  himself  greatly  at 
the  Hampton-court  conference  in  1603,  where 
lie  suggested  the  necessity  of  that  new  trans- 
lation of  the  Bible  which  is  now  the  standard 
one,  and  in  which  he  himself  actively  en- 
gaged. He  died  in  1607.  Several  of  his 
orations,  and  other  works,  have  been  printed. 
—His  brother,  WILLIAM,  was  educated  at 
Winchester,  and  became  a  fellow  of  New  col- 
lege, Oxford,  but  afterwards  turned  Romanist, 
and  proceeding  to  Rheims,  obtained  a  profes- 
sorship. He  wrote  some  books  against  the 
Protestants,  and  died  at  Antwerp  in  1594. — 
Athen.  O.ioii. 

RALEGH  or  RALEIGH  (sir  WALTER)  a 
distinguished  warrior,  statesman,  and  writer, 
in  the  reigns  of  Elizabeth  and  James  I,  was 
the  second  son  of  a  gentleman  of  ancient  fa- 
mily in  Devonshire.  He  was  born  in  1552, 
at  the  parish  of  Budley  in  that  county,  and 
was  sent  to  Oriel  college,  Oxford,  where  his 
proficiency  in  his  academical  studies  inspired  a 
high  opinion  of  his  capacity.  His  active  dis- 
position and  martial  ardour  led  him,  at  the 
age  of  seventeen,  to  form  one  in  a  body  of  a 
hundred  gentlemen  volunteers,  which  was 
raised  to  assist  the  French  Protestants.  He 
subsequently  accompanied  the  forces  sent 


RAL 

under  general  Norris  to  assist  the  Dutch,  and 
afterwards  accompanied  his  half-brother,  sir 
Humphrey  Gilbert,  in  a  voyage  to  Newfound- 
land. On  his  return  he  distinguished  himself 
against  the  Irish  rebellion,  headed  by  Des- 
mond, and  supported  by  Spain,  and  was  joined 
in  a  commission  for  the  government  of  Mun- 
ster,  and  rewarded  for  his  active  and  able  ser- 
vices by  a  considerable  estate  in  Ireland.  His 
favour  at  the  court  of  Elizabeth  was  much  ad- 
vanced by  an  act  of  gallantry,  of  a  nature  par- 
ticularly adapted  to  flatter  and  excite  the  at- 
tention of  that  sovereign.  Once  attending  the 
queen  in  a  walk  among  a  crowd  of  courtiers, 
she  came  to  a  spot  in  which  the  path  was  ob- 
structed by  mire,  which  being  observed  by 
Ralegh, he  immediately  took  off  his  rich  plush 
cloak,  and  spread  it  on  the  ground  for  a  foot- 
cloth.  He  was  subsequently  much  distin- 
guished and  employed,  until,  in  1584,  his  ac- 
tive and  enterprising  disposition  was  manifest- 
ed in  a  scheme  for  the  discovery  and  settlement 
of  all  those  parts  of  North  America  that  were 
not  already  appropriated  to  Christian  states. 
By  his  interest  he  obtained  a  very  extensive 
patent  for  this  purpose,  and  by  the  help  of  a  so- 
ciety of  friends  two  ships  were  fitted  out.  These 
vessels  having  brought  home  cargoes  that  sold 
well,  a  second  expedition  of  seven  vessels  fol- 
lowed, under  the  command  of  sir  Richard. 
Greenville,  Ralegh's  kinsman.  The  latter  en- 
terprise terminated  in  the  settlement  of  Vir- 
ginia, so  called  in  honour  of  queen  Elizabeth  ; 
and  is  said  to  have  first  introduced  tobacco  and 
potatoes  to  Europe.  In  the  mean  time  his 
personal  consequence  increased  at  home,  being- 
chosen  knight  of  the  shire  for  the  county  of 
Devon,  honoured  with  knighthood,  and  made 
ward'.n  of  the  Stannaries.  He  was  also  re- 
warded by  several  lucrative  grants,  including 
a  large  share  of  the  forfeited  Irish  estates,  and 
he  secured  so  high  a  degree  of  favour,  that  the 
earl  of  Leicester  became  jealous,  and  brought 
forward  the  earl  of  Essex  as  a  competitor.  1 1  e 
was  one  of  the  council  to  whom  the  considera- 
tion of  the  best  means  of  opposing  the  Spanish 
armada  wa*  Pn  trusted  ;  and  was  among  the 
number  of  gallant  volunteers  who  joined  the 
English  fleet  with  ships  of  their  own,  and  as- 
sisted in  its  defeat.  In  1589  he  accompanied 
the  expelled  king  of  Portugal  in  his  attempt  to 
reinstate  himself,  for  which  service  he  received 
several  additional  marks  of  favour  and  emolu- 
ment, for  although  fond  of  glory,  he  was  al- 
most equally  so  of  gain.  He  rendered  himself 
obnoxious  by  taking  bribes  for  the  exertion  of 
his  influence  ;  and  his  never-ending  solicitations 
at  length  extorted  a  reproof  from  Elizabeth 
herself,  which  he  parried  with  his  usual  ad- 
dress. On  his  return  from  Portugal  he  visited 
Ireland,  and  contracted  an  intimate  friendship 
with  the  poet  Spenser,  then  residing  upon  a 
property  conferred  upon  him  in  that  country. 
Spenser  celebrated  sir  Walter  under  the  title 
of  •'  The  Shepherd  of  the  Ocean  ;"  and  to  his 
great  work,  the  "  Faery  Queen,"  prefixed  a 
letter  to  him,  explanatory  of  its  plan  and  de- 
sign, and  the  latter  in  return  inti'oduced  tho 
poet  to  Elizabeth.  In  1592  he  commanded 


UAL 

an  expedition  with  a  view  of  attacking  Pa- 
nama, but  was  recalled  by  the  queen,  and  soon 
after  incurred  her  deep  displeasure  by  an  illi- 
cit amour  with  one  of  her  maids  of  honour,  the 
daughter   of  sir  Nicholas  Throckmorton  ;  and 
although  he  made  the  best  reparation  in   his 
power,  by  marrying  that  lady,   he  was  impri- 
soned   for    some    months,  and    banished    the 
queen's  presence.     In  order  to  recover  favour, 
he  then  planned  an  expedition   to  Guiana,  in 
which    he    embarked   in  person   in   February 
159.i,  and  reached  the  great  river  Orinoco,  but 
was  obliged  by  sickness  and  contrary  winds  to 
return,    after    having    done  little    more    than 
taken  a  formal   possession   of  the  country  in 
the  name  of  Elizabeth.     In  1596  he  had  so 
far  regained  favour,  that  he  had  a  naval  com- 
mand under  the  earl  of  Essex  in  the  attack  on 
Cadiz,  with  which  asoiring  nobleman  a  differ- 
ence ensued,  that  laid  the  foundation  of  a  last- 
ing  enmity  between   them.     Sir  Walter  was 
subsequently  fully  restored  to  the  good  graces 
of  Elizabeth,  who  nominated  him  to  the   go- 
vernment of  Jersey.     lie  witnessed  the  ruin 
of  his  antagonist,  the  earl  of  Essex,  whose  ex- 
ecution he   indecently  urged,  and   personally 
viewed  from  a  window  in  the  armoury.     The 
rapid  decease  of  the  queen,  which  this  very 
catastrophe  hastened,  put  a  period  to  his  pro- 
sperity.    James  I,  whom,  in  conjunction  with 
some  other  courtiers,  he  sought  to  limit  in  his 
power  of  introducing  the  Scots  into  England, 
naturally  resented  that  attempt,  and  otherwise 
disliked  him  as  the  enemy  of  his  friend  the 
earl    of  Essex.     Although    he    received    him 
with  external    civility    at   court,  he    was    de- 
prived of  his  post  of  captain   of  the   guards, 
and    evidently   discountenanced.     This  treat- 
ment naturally  preyed  upon  a  man  of  his  high 
spirit,  and  a  mysterious  conspiracy  having  been 
formed  for  the  purpose  .of  placing  upon  the 
throne    the    lady  Arabella  Stuart,  sir  ^Walter 
•was   accused  of  participating  in    it,   by  lord 
Cobhani,   a  man  of   unsteady   character,    to 
whose  idle  proposals  he  had  given  ear  with- 
out approving  them.     For  this  offence,  by  the 
base  subservience  of  the  jury  to  the  wishes  of 
the  court,  he  was  brought  in  guilty  of  high- 
treason,  even  to  the  surprise  of  the  attorney- 
general  Coke  himself,  who  declared  that  he 
had  only  charged  him  with  misprision  of  trea- 
son.    Three  were  executed  for  this  plot,  and 
Ralegh  reprieved  and  committed  to  theTower, 
where  his  wife,  at  her  earnest  solicitation,  was 
allowed   to   reside   with  him,  and    where  his 
youngest  son  was   born.     Tbough  his  estates 
in  general  were  preserved  to  him,  the  rapacity 
of  the  king's  minion,  the  infamous  Car,  seized 
on  his  fine  manor  of  Sherborne,  upon  a  flaw 
found  in  his  prior  conveyance  of  it  to  his  son. 
It  was  not  until   after    twelve  years'  confine- 
ment  that  he  obtained  his  liberation,  during 
which  interval  he  composed  the  greater  parl 
of  his  works,  and  especially  his  "  History  of 
the  World."     He  was  only  released  at  last  by 
the  advance  of  a  large  sum  of  money  to  the 
D'iW  favourite,  Villiers  ;    and   to    retrieve  his 
Ivoken  fortunes,  he  planned  another  expedition 
to  America.     He  obtained  a  patent  under  the 


R  A  L 

great  seal  for  making  a  settlement  in  Guiana  ; 
but  in  order  to  retain  a  power  over  him,  the 
king  did  not  grant  him  a  pardon  for  the  sen- 
tence passed  upon  him  for  his  alleged  treason. 
How    far    Ralegh    knowingly   deceived    the 
court  by  his  representations  of  rich  discove- 
ries and  gold  mines,  it  is  impossible  now   to 
ascertain  ;  but  although  certain  that  he  was 
not  authorised  to  commit    hostilities  against 
Spanish     settlements,    the    asserted    title    of 
England  to  Guiana  left  him  a  wide  latitude  of 
nterpretation.     Be   this   as    it  may,    having 
•cached  the  Orinoco,  he  despatched  a  portion 
if  his  force  to  attack  the  new  Spanish  settlement 
>f  St  Thomas,  which  was  captured  with  the  loss 
of    his   eldest   son.     The    expected    plunder, 
lowever,  proved  of  little  value,  and  sirWalter, 
fter  having  in  vain  attempted  to  induce  his 
captains  to  attack  other  Spanish  settlements, 
returned  home  with  a  heavy  heart,  and  arrived 
at    Plymouth    in    July    1618.     In  the  mean 
ime,  the  complaints  and  influence  of  the  Spau- 
sh  ambassador  had  produced   such  an  effect 
upon  James,  who  was  seeking  the  hand  of  the 
nfanta  for  his  son  Charles,  that  Ralegh  was 
arrested  on  his  journey  to  London,  and  carried 
back  to  Plymouth.     He  there  laid  a  plan  of 
scaping  to   France,  which    failing,    he   was 
wrought  to  the  metropolis,  and  committed  to 
the  Tower.     James  had  reason  to  be  offended 
with  the  conduct  of  Ralegh  against  a  power 
in  amity  with  himself,  and  might  have   tried 
urn  for  this  new  offence  ;  but  with   his  usual 
mean   and  inconsistent  pusillanimity,  he  de- 
termined to  execute  him  on  his  former  sen- 
tence.    Being  brought   before    the   court    of 
King's  Bench,  his  plea  of  an  implied  pardon  by 
bis  subsequent  command,  was  overruled  ;  and 
the  doom  of  death  being  pronounced  against 
him,  it  was  carried  into  execution  the  follow- 
ing day,  October  29,  1618,  in  Old  Palace-yard. 
His  behaviour  at  the  scaffold  was  calm,  intre- 
pid, and  worthy  his  vigorous  character ;  and 
after  addressing  the  people  at  some  length  in 
his  own  justification,  he  received  the  stroke  of 
death  with  the  most  perfect  composure.  Thus 
fell  sir  Walter  Ralegh,  in  the  sixty -sixth  year 
of  his  age,  by  a   sentence   which  has  justly 
been  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  odious  acts 
of  the  weak  and  inglorious  reign  of  James  I. 
As  a  politician  and  public  character,  this  emi- 
nent person  is  open  to  much  severe  animad- 
version ;  and  it  would  be  an  abuse  of  terms  to 
denominate  him  a  pure  patriot :  but,  in  extent 
of  capacity,  and  vigour  of  mind,  he   had  few 
equals,  even  in  an  age  of  great  men.     His  long 
imprisonment  has  placed  him  high  among  the 
writers,  as  well  as  among  the  great  captains 
and  leaders  of  his  country.     His  writings  are 
on  a  variety  of  topics,  poetical,  military,  mari- 
time,  geographical,    political,   and   historical. 
His  poetry  is  now  nearly  obsolete,  and   most 
of  his  miscellaneous  pieces  have  ceased  to  in- 
terest ;  but    his   "  History  of  the  World  "  is 
still  read,  and  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  best 
specimens  of  the  English  of  his  day,  being  at 
once  the  style  of  the  statesman  and  the  scho- 
lar.    The  compass  of  the  work  did  not  admit 
that  fulness  of  narrative    which    amounts-  tw 


HAL 

history  in  its   most  perfect  form  ;  but    he    is 
often  an  acute  and  eloquent  reasoner  on  histo- 
rical  events.     The    best   edition    is    that    of 
Oldys,  1736,  2  vols.  folio.     Of  his  numerous 
miscellaneous  works,  an  edition  by  Dr  Bird 
was  published  in  1748,  in  2   vols.  8vo. — CA 
HEW  HALEGH,  the  younger  son  of  sir  Walter 
born  in   the  Tower  in  1604,  was  restored  in 
blood,  but  with  extreme  meanness  :  the  resig- 
nation of  all   claim  to  his  estate  of  Sherborne 
was  made  the  price  of  this  royal  favour.     It 
1659  he  was  made  governor  of  Jersey  ;  ant 
dying  in  1666,  he   was    buried   in    the    same 
grave  with  his  father.     Charles  II  would  have 
knighted  him,  but  he  declined  the  honour.  He 
was   the    author  of  some   sonnets,  and  other 
minor   compositions. — Life  by  Cayley.     Bios- 
Brit.     Hume. 

RALEIGH,  DD.  (WALTER)  an  English 
divine,  was  born  at  Downton,  in  Wiltshire,  in 
1586,  and  was  the  nephew  of  sir  \V alter,  being 
the  son  of  his  elder  brother.  He  was  educated 
at  Winchester,  and  thence  removed  to  Ox- 
ford. On  receiving  orders  he  obtained  the  living 
of  Chedzoy  in  Somersetshire,  and  in  1630  be- 
came chaplain  to  the  king.  In  1641  he  was 
made  dean  of  Wells,  but  lost  all  his  prefer- 
ments and  property  during  the  subsequent  civil 
contests,  his  own  deanery  being  converted  into 
a  prison.  He  lost  his  life  by  the  brutality  of 
his  gaoler,  who  stabbed  him  while  endeavour- 
ing to  conceal  a  letter  which  he  had  been 
writing  to  his  wife.  Of  this  wound  he  died, 
October  10, 1646.  He  left  behind  him  in  MS. 
discourses  and  sermons  on  several  subjects, 
published  in  1679  by  Dr  Patrick,  bishop  of 
Ely,  under  the  title  of"  Reliquiffi  Raleghanaj  ;" 
4to. — Athen.  O.wn.  Preface  tf>  Reliquiae, 

RALPH  (JAMES)  a  multifarious  writer  of 
the  last  century.  He  was  a  native  of  Phila- 
delphia, in  North  America,  and  came  to  Eng- 
land as  a  literary  adventurer  in  1725,  in  com- 
pany with  the  afterwards  celebrated  Benjamin 
Franklin.  In  1728  Ralph  published  a  poem, 
entitled  "  Night,"  to  which  Pope  thus  alludes 
in  the  Dunciad  : — 

— "  Ralph  to  Cynthia  howls, 
Making  night  hideous — answer  him,  ye  owls'" 
He  afterwards  attempted  the  drama,  but  with- 
out success  ;  and  having  produced  a  tragedy, 
a  comedy,  an  opera,  and  a  farce,  he  took  up 
Jhe  employment  of  a  party  writer.  In  1742 
ie  published  an  Answer  to  the  Memoirs  of 
Sarah,  Duchess  of  Marlborough  ;  and  in  1744 
a-ppeared  his  "  History  of  England,  during  the 
Reigns  of  Charles  II,  James  II,  William  III, 
&c."  2  vols.  folio,  which,  as  a  work  of  research, 
Js  by  no  means  destitute  of  merit.  He  was  at 
length  connected  with  the  politicians  and  lite- 
rary men  who  were  attached  to  the  service  of 
Frederic,  prince  of  Wales  ;  in  consequence  of 
which  Ralph  is  said  to  have  become  possessed 
of  a  manuscript  written  by  the  prince,  or  under 
his  direction,  to  which  so  much  importance 
was  attributed,  that  a  gratuity  or  a  pension 
was  bestowed  on  the  holder,  as  a  compensa- 
Jion  for  surrendering  it.  He  certainly  obtained 
pension  after  the  accession  of  his  late  ma- 
jesty ;  but  he  did  not  long  enjoy  it,  as  his 


11  AM 

death  took  place  in  1762.  Besides  the  works 
mentioned,  he  published  a  treatise  on  the 
"  Use  and  Abuse  of  Parliaments,"  2  vols. 
8vo  ;  "  The  Case  of  Authors  by  Profession  ;" 
8vo  ;  and  a  number  of  political  pamphlets.  — 
Daries's  Life  t>f  Garrick.  Chalmers's  Biog.  Diet. 

RAMAZZINI  (BF.RNARDIN)  an  Italian 
physician,  born  of  a  good  family,  at  Carpi  near 
Modena,  in  1633.  He  studied  at  Parma,  where 
he  took  the  degree  of  MD.  in  1659  ;  after 
which  he  went  to  Rome  for  farther  improve- 
ment, and  then  settled  as  a  physician  in  the 
duchy  of  Castro.  He  subsequently  removed 
to  his  native  place,  and  thence  to  Modena, 
where,  in  1682,  he  was  made  professor  of  me- 
dicine in  the  university  then  recently  founded 
by  duke  Francis  II.  In  1700  he  accepted  of 
a  professorship  at  Padua,  and  notwithstanding 
he  was  afflicted  with  blindness,  he  afterwards 
became  rector  of  the  university.  He  died 
November  5,  1714.  He  wrote  on  many  me- 
dical and  philosophical  subjects  ;  and  his  trea- 
tise on  the  Diseases  of  Mechanics  has  been 
translated  into  English.  —  Hutchinson's  Biog. 
Med. 

RAMEAU  (JEAN  PHILIPPE)  sometimes 
styled  by  his  countrymen  "  The  Newton  of 
Harmony,"  an  able  French  theorist,  univer- 
sally admitted  to  rank  far  above  all  his  pre- 
decessors or  contemporaries  in  the  philosophi- 


cal view  he  took  of  the  science  of  music. 

a  native  of  Dijon,  born   September  25, 
1683;  and  having,  at  a  very  early  age,   ac- 
quired some  skill  and  great  taste  in  music, 
oined    a  strolling    company    of   performers, 
whom  he  accompanied  into  Germany  and  else- 
where, and  by  whose  assistance  a  musical  en- 
ertainment  of  his  composition  was  represented 
at   Avignon,   in  the    eighteenth   year   of  its 
author.     Anxious  at   length   to   obtain  some 
more  settled  situation,  Rameau  became  a  can- 
didate for  that  of  organist  to  a  church  in  Paris, 
Jut  failing,  was   on  the  point  of  relinquishing 
:he  profession,  when  he  fortunately  obtained  a 
similar    appointment  in  Clermont   cathedral. 
flere  he  applied  himself  with  great  perseve- 
rance and  success  to  the   study  of  the  princi- 
ples of  his  profession,  and  in  1722  printed  the 
irst  fruits  of  his  investigation  in  an  able  trea- 
ise,  entitled  "  Traite  de  1'Harmonie."     Four 
rears  after  appeared  his  second  work,  "  Nou- 
/eau  Systeme  de  Musique  Theorique,"  which 
was  afterwards  followed  by  his  "  Generation 
-larmonique,"  and  a  tract  upon  the  art  of  ac- 
companiment;   but  it  was  not  till   the   year 
1750  that  he  published  his  celebrated  "  Dis- 
iertatiou  sur  le  Principe  de  1'Harmonie,"  which 
not  only  acquired  for  him  the  respect  of  all  suc- 
:eeding  harmonists,  and  of  Handel  especially, 
)ut  stamped  his  character  with  the  world  as  a 
nan  of  science  and  general  talent.  In  this  work 
ie  reduces  harmony  to  one  single  principle,  the 
"undamental  bass,  on  which  he   proves  all  the 
•est  to  depend.     The   reputation   which   this 
work  procured  him  was  the  means  of  his  re- 
eiving  an   invitation  from  the  court  to  super- 
ntend  the   opera   at  Paris,  which  he  brought 
o  a  state   of  comparative  perfection,  by  the 
pains  which  lie  bestowed  on   the  selection  of 


RAM 

Vfirformrrs  and  the  production  of  original  mu- 
sic, lie  possessed  a  great  facility  in  adapting 
words  to  music,  and  piqued  himself  so  much 
upon  this  talent,  that  he  is  said  to  have  declared 
he  would  set  a  Dutch  gazette,  if  it  was  re- 
quired of  him.  His  remaining  theoretical 
works  are,  "  Remarks  on  the  Demonstration 
of  the  Principles  of  Harmony  ;"  "  Reply  to  a 
Letter  of  I\I.  Euler,"  both  printed  in  1752  ; 
"  On  the  Instinctive  Love  of  Music  in  Man," 
17.V1 ;  "  On  the  Mistakes  of  the  Encyclopaedia 
with  respect  to  Music,"  17.^.5;  and  a  "  Prac- 
tical Code  of  Music,"  1760.  lie  was  also  the 
author  of  six  operas,  "  Ilippolyte  et  Aricie," 
"  ( :,istor  et  Pollux,"  "  Dardanus,"  "  Samson," 
"  Pygmalion,"  and  "  Zoroaster,"  besides  a 
great  variety  of  ballets  and  other  minor  pieces. 
Louis  XV  acknowledged  his  merits  by  the 
grant  of  a  patent  of  nobility  and  the  order  of 
St  Michael.  Rameau  did  not,  however,  long 
enjov  his  new  honours,  dying  at  Paris  in  the 
autumn  of  176-t. — Barney's  Iliit.  of'  Music. 
Bw«.  Diet,  i'/  i\]us. 

RAMLER  (CHARLES  WII.T.IAM)  a  Ger- 
man poet,  born  at  Colberg  in  Pomerania,  in 
I7'2.i.  lie  was  educated  at  an  orphan  school 
at  Stettin,  and  afterwards  at  the  university  of 
JIalle,  where  he  became  intimate  with  Gleim 
and  L'z,  two  contemporary  poets.  The  former, 
in  17-16,  procured  him  the  situation  of  a  pri- 
vate tutor  at  Berlin.  He  soon  made  himself 
known  by  his  writings,  and  was  appointed  pro- 
fessor of  logic  and  belles  lettres  to  the  royal 
corps  of  cadets  in  that  city.  In  1787  he  was 
admitted  into  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  and, 
in  conjunction  with  Kngel,  he  had  the  dinc- 
tion  of  the  national  theatre.  He  resigned  his 
professorship  in  1790,  and  his  theatrical  office 
in  1796,  soon  after  which  he  was  attacked 
with  a  pulmonary  disease,  which  caused  his 
death  April  11,  1798.  His  works  consist  of 
Songs,  Odes,  Fables,  and  Tales,  original  and 
translated  ;  besides  which  he  published  an 
Abridgment  of  Mythology,  anil  a  translation 
of  the  abbe  Batteux's  Course  of  Polite  Litera- 
ture.—  /iiiijj;  Unit: 

RA.MSAY  (ALLAN)  called  the  Scottish 
Theocritus,  was  born  in  16ii5,  in  a  little  vil- 
lage on  the  high  mountains  that  divide  Clydes- 
dale and  Annandale,  in  the  south  of  Scotland. 
lie  was  the  son  of  a  peasant,  and  probably  re- 
ceived such  instruction  as  his  parish  school 
afforded,  and  the  poverty  of  his  parents  ad- 
mitted, lie  made  Ins  appearance  at  Edin- 
burgh at  the  beginning  of  the  last  century,  in 
the  humble  character  of  an  apprentice  to  a 
barber  or  peruke-maker.  By  degrees  he  ob- 
tained notice  for  his  social  disposition  and  his 
talent  for  the  composition  of  ver.-es  in  the  Scot- 

'  idiom  ;  and  changing  his  occupation  for 
that  of  a  bookseller,  he  became  intimate  with 
many  of  the  literary,  as  well  as  many  of  the 
gay  and  fashionable  characters  of  his  time. 
Having  published,  in  1721,  a  volume  of  his 
r,\vn  peetii  al  compositions,  which  was  favoura- 
bly received,  he  undertook  to  make  a  collec- 
tion  of  ancient  Scottish  poems,  which  appeared 
i:nder  the  title  of  "  The  Evergreen."  And 
he  was  afterwards  encouraged  to  present  to 


RAM 

the  world  a  collection  of  Scottish  Songs.  From 
what  source  he  procured  the  latter  is  uncer- 
tain ;  but  as  in  the  Evergreen  he  made  rash 
attempts  to  improve  on  the  originals  of  his  an- 
cient poems,  he  probably  used  still  greater 
freedom  with  the  songs  and  ballads.  To  se- 
veral tunes,  which  either  wanted  words,  or 
had  words  which  were  improper  or  imperfect, 
words  were  adapted  highly  worthy  of  Uie  de- 
light ful  melodies  they  accompanied.  In  the 
execution  of  this  part  of  his  undertaking,  Ram- 
say associated  with  himself  several  men  of  wit 
and  talent  among  his  contemporaries,  who  at- 
tempted to  write  poetry  in  his  manner  ;  but 
these  individuals  in  general  do  not  seem  to 
have  been  ambitious  of  poetical  fame,  and  the 
respective  shares  of  the  editor  of  the  Scottish 
Songs  and  his  coadjutors,  in  the  original  com- 
positions which  they  include,  cannot  now  be 
distinctly  ascertained.  Ramsay's  principal 
productions  are,  "  The  Gentle  Shepherd," 
and  two  additional  cantos  of  "  Christis  Kirk 
of  the  Grene,"  a  tale,  the  first  part  of  which 
is  attributed  to  James  I  of  Scotland.  The 
latter,  though  objectionable  in  point  of  deli- 
cacy, has  been  regarded  as  the  happiest  of  the 
author's  effusions.  His  chief  excellence,  in- 
deed, lay  in  the  description  of  rural  charac- 
ters, incidents,  and  scenery  ;  for  lie  did  not 
possess  any  very  high  powers,  either  of  imagi- 
nation or  of  understanding.  He  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  peasantry  of  Scotland,  thfir 
lives  and  opinions.  The  subject  was  in  a  great 
measure  new ;  his  talent?  were  equal  to  die 
subject ;  and  he  has  shown  that  it  may  be  hap- 
pily adapted  to  pastoral  poetry.  In  his  Gen- 
tle Shepherd,  a  rural  drama,  the  characters 
are  delineations  from  nature  ;  the  descriptive 
parts  are  in  the  genuine  style  of  beautiful  sim- 
plicity ;  the  passions  and  affections  of  rural 
life  are  finely  delineated,  and  the  heart  is 
agreeably  interested  in  the  happiness  that  is 
represented  as  the  reward  of  innocence  and 
virtue.  Throughout  the  whole  there  is  an 
air  of  reality  which  cannot  but  strike  the  most 
careless  reader  ;  and,  in  fact,  no  poem  per- 
haps ever  acquired  so  high  a  reputation,  in 
which  truth  received  so  little  embellishment 
from  the  imagination.  In  his  pastoral  *cngs, 
and  in  his  rural -tales,  Ramsay  appears  to  less 
advantage,  but  still  with  considerable  attrac- 
tion. His  tales  exhibit  both  the  faults  and  the 
beauties  of  those  of  Prior  and  La  Fontaine. 
When  he  attempts  descriptions  of  high  life, 
and  aims  at  pure  English  composition,  he 
fails  entirely,  becoming  feeble  and  uninterest- 
ing ;  neither  are  his  familiar  epistles  and  ele- 
gies in  the  Scottish  dialect  entitled  to  much 

o 

approbation.  This  poet  died  January  r>,  I7r>8, 
—  i)r  Citrrie'  s  Life  of' Burns,  .-likin's  Gen.  Bwg. 
— RAMSAY  (ALLAN)  son  of  the  foregoing, 
born  at  Edinburgh  in  1709,  was  instructed  in 
portrait-painting,  in  which  art  he  attained 
considerable  eminence.  lie  prosecuted  his 
studies  at  Rome,  and  on  his  return  to  Scot- 
land, he  settled  at  his  native  place,  where  he 
became  the  founder  of  a  literary  society.  lie 
subsequently  removed  to  London,  and  was  ap- 
pointed 10  the  office  of  portrait-painter  to  the 


RAM 

king.  He  published  a  tract  on  "  The  Present 
State  of  the  Arts  in  England  ;"  and  also  a 
volume  of  Essays.  His  death  took  place  in 
1784,  just  after  his  return  from  a  visit  to 
Italy. — Filkingtoiis  Diet,  by  Fuseli. 

RAMSAY  (ANDREW  MICHAEL)  an  inge- 
nious writer,  born  of  an  ancient  family,  at  Ayr, 
in  Scotland,  in  1686.  He  studied  at  Edin- 
burgh, and  afterwards  going  to  St  Andrew's, 
he  became  tutor  to  the  son  of  lord  Wemys. 
Having  doubts  of  the  truth  of  the  Protestant 
doctrines,  he  consulted  several  eminent  di- 
vines of  the  Scottish  and  English  churches, 
without  receiving  any  satisfaction,  in  conse- 
quence of  which  he  at  length  became  an  abso- 
lute sceptic.  He  then  went  to  Holland,  where 
he  met  with  the  famous  mystic  Poiret,  whose 
conversation  excited  afresh  his  attention  to 
religious  inquiries,  and  afterwards  visiting  the 
amiable  Fenelon,  archbishop  of  Cambray,  he 
was  by  that  prelate  converted  to  the  Catholic 
faith  in  1709.  Through  his  recommendation 
Ramsay  was  appointed  governor  to  the  duke 
de  Chateau  Thierri,  and  to  the  prince  de  Tu- 
renne,  and  was  made  a  knight  of  the  order  of 
St  Lazarus,  whence  he  is  frequently  termed 
the  chevalier  Pvamsay.  He  was  subsequently 
employed  in  the  education  of  the  children 
of  the  pretender,  called  James  III,  who  had 
taken  refuge  at  Rome.  This  office  he  lost, 
through  the  intrigues  of  other  persons  belong- 
ing to  the  little  court  of  the  exiled  prince  ; 
and  in  1730  he  went  to  England,  where  he 
was  admitted  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  society, 
and  had  the  degree  of  doctor  conferred  on  him 
by  the  university  of  Oxford.  Returning  to 
France,  he  became  infendant  to  the  prince  de 
Turenne,  afterwards  duke  de  Bouillon  ;  and 
he  died  at  St  Germain-en-Laie,  May  6,  1743. 
His  principal  works  are  a  "  Philosophical  Es- 
say on  Civil  Government;"  "The  Life  of 
Fenelon  ;"  "  The  History  of  Marshal  Tu- 
renne ;"  "  The  Travels  of  Cyrus,"  an  imita- 
tion of  Fenelon's  Telemachus,  which  is  the 
best  known  and  most  admired  of  all  his  pro- 
ductions ;  and  "  Philosophical  Principles  of 
Natural  and  Revealed  Religion,"  published 
posthumously. — Aikins  G.  Biog.  Biog.  Univ. 

RAMSAY  (DAVID)  an  American  physi- 
cian and  historical  writer,  who  was  a  native  of 
Charlestown,  in  South  Carolina.  He  engaged 
in  the  practice  of  medicine  at  the  place  of  his 
birth  ;  and  he  was  a  member  of  the  congress 
of  the  United  States  from  1782  till  1785. 
Having  gone  to  visit  the  patients  in  a  lunatic 
asylum,  in  1815,  he  was  unfortunately  killed 
by  one  of  the  insane  objects  of  his  professional 
attentions.  Dr  Ramsay  was  the  author  of  "A 
History  of  the  American  Revolution,  so  far 
as  respects  the  State  of  S.  Carolina,"  1791, 
2  vols.  8vo ;  "  The  Life  of  George  Washing- 
ton," 1 807,  8vo  ;  both  which  works  were  trans- 
lated into  French  :  "  A  Discourse  delivered 
on  the  Anniversary  of  American  Indepen- 
dence," 1800;  ana  "A  View  of  the  Im- 
provements made  in  Medicine  during  the 
Eighteenth  Century,"  1802,  8vo. — Biog. 
Univ. 

RAMSAY  (T  .I:ES)  the  name  of  a  Scottish 


RAM 

divine,  a  native  of  Abeirdeenshire,  born  1?33, 
and  bred  a  surgeon,  in  which  capacity  he 
served  some  years  on  board  a  king's  ship,  but 
becoming  disabled  through  an  accident,  entered 
the  church,  and  obtained  a  benefice  in  the  island 
of  St  Kitts.  This  he  afterwards  resigned,  and 
returning  to  this  country,  was  preferred  to  the 
rectory  of  Teston,  near  Maidstone,  which  he 
held  with  the  living  of  Nettlestead.  Besides 
a  volume  of  sermons,  adapted  for  the  use  of 
the  navy,  he  was  the  author  of  a  treatise  "  On 
Signals ;"  "  On  the  Duties  of  a  Naval  Of- 
ficer ;"  "  On  the  Treatment,  Civil  and  Reli- 
gious, of  the  Negro  Slaves,"  &c.  His  death 
took  place  in  1789. — Naval  Chronicle. 

RAMSDEN  (JESSE)  an  eminent  mechanist 
and  optician,  was  born  at  Halifax  in  York- 
shire, in  5758.  He  came  to  London,  and  ap- 
plied himself  to  engraving,  and  in  the  course 
of  his  employment  having  to  engrave  several 
mathematical  instruments,  he  finally  con- 
structed them  himself.  He  married  a  daughter 
of  Mr  Dolland,  the  celebrated  optician,  and 
opened  a  shop  in  the  Haymarket,  whence  he 
removed  to  Piccadilly,  where  he  remained 
until  his  death,  which  took  place  in  1800. 
He  early  obtained  a  premium  from  the 
board  of  longitude,  for  the  invention  of  a  cu- 
rious machine  for  the  division  of  mathematical 
instruments  ;  he  also  improved  the  construc- 
tion of  the.  theodolite,  the  pyrometer  for  mea- 
suring the  dilatation  of  bodies  by  heat,  the 
barometer  for  measuring  the  height  of  moun- 
tains, &c. ;  also  the  refiactmg  micrometer  and 
transit  instrument  and  quadrant.  He  made 
great  improvements  in  Hadley's  quadrant -and 
sextant,  and  he  procured  a  patent  for  an 
amended  equatorial.  Mr  Ramsden,  who  was 
chosen  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  in  1786, 
was  distinguished  during  the  whole  of  his  life 
by  an  enthusiastic  attention  to  his  own  profes- 
sion, which  formed  his  amusement  as  well  as 
his  occupation  ;  and  such  was  his  reputation, 
that  his  instruments  were  bespoken  from  every 
part  of  Europe  ;  and  ultimately,  although  he 
employed  sixty  men,  to  obtain  the  fulfilment  of 
an  order  was  deemed  a  high  favour.  His 
death,  in  fact,  originated  in  his  too  sedulous 
application  upon  a  slender  frame  of  body  and 
delicate  constitution. — Hutton's  Math.  Diet. 

RAMUS  (PETER)  a  philosopher  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  who  was  a  native  of  the 
county  of  Vermandois,  in  France.  He  went 
to  Paris  about  1523,  when  he  was  but  eight 
years  old,  and  became  a  laquey  in  the  college 
of  Navarre.  Such  was  his  strong  inclination 
for  learning,  that  he  not  only  devoted  to  study 
all  the  time  he  could  spare  in  the  day,  but  also 
employed  a  part  of  the  night  in  the  same  man- 
ner. After  attending  a  course  of  philosophy 
in  the  schools  for  three  years  and  a  half,  he 
was  admitted  to  the  degree  of  MA,  on  which 
occasion  he  maintained  a  thesis,  in  which  he 
contested  the  infallibility  of  Aristotle.  His 
opinions  excited  violent  opposition,  which  had 
the  usual  effect  of  rendering  him  more  zealous 
in  supporting  and  publishing  them.  The  par- 
tizans  of  the  Aristotelian  philosophy  displayed 
the  weakness  of  their  cause,  by  having  r  > 


RAN 

course  to  the  civil  power,  in  order  to  silence 
their  adversary.  Charges  against  Kamus 
were  prosecuted  before  the  parliament  of 
Paris,  and  afterwards  before  the  king's  coun- 
cil ;  the  result  of  which  was  that  his  publica- 
tions were,  censured,  prohibited,  and  ordered 
to  be  burnt  before  the  royal  college  of  Cam- 
bray,  and  he  was  commanded  to  abstain  from 
teaching  his  doctrines,  in  1543.  He  became 
the  subject  of  much  public  obloquy,  and  was 
even  ridiculed  on  the  stage.  Having  obtained 
the  patronage  of  the  cardinal  de  Lorraine,  the 
prohibition  of  lecturing  was  withdrawn  in 
1547;  and  in  1551  he  was  appointed  royal 
professor  of  rhetoric  and  philosophy  at  Paris. 
In  this  situation  he  might  perhaps  have  en- 
joyed tranquillity,  if  he  had  not  entered  into  a 
violent  controversy  with  the  doctors  of  the 
Sorbonne,  relative  to  the  pronunciation  of  the 
letter  Q  in  Latin  words,  which  was  at  last  set- 
tled by  a  decree  of  parliament  in  favour  of 
Ramus.  His  spirit  of  free  inquiry  ultimately 
led  him  to  relinquish  the  faith  in  which  he 
had  been  educated,  and  become  a  Protestant. 
This  change  exposed  him  to  persecution,  and 
he  was  obliged  to  flee  from  Paris  ;  but  in 
1563,  peace  being  concluded  between  Charles 
IX  and  the  Huguenots,  he  was  restored  to  his 
professorial  chair,  and  he  employed  himself  in 
the  cultivation  of  mathematical  science,  till 
1567,  when  he  again  consulted  his  safety  by 
flight,  and  putting  himself  under  the  protec- 
tion of  the  army  of  the  prince  of  Conde,  he 
was  present  at  the  battle  of  St  Denis ;  and 
soon  after  he  was  re-established  in  his  situa- 
tion. The  approaching  renewal  of  hostilities 
induced  him  to  demand  the  king's  permission 
to  visit  the  German  universities  ;  and  having 


RAN 

his  tutor,  he  published  a  new  edition  of  "  The 
Poems  of  Anacreon,  iu  Greek,  with  learned 
Annotations."  In  16.51  he  was  ordained 
JUK  .--t,  and  three  years  after  he  received  the 
degree  of  DD.  He  was  a  great  favourite  at 
court,  and  became  almoner  to  the  duke  of  Or- 
leans, and  one  of  the  deputies  of  the  second 
order  in  the  assembly  of  the  clergy  in  16Vj. 
The  causes  to  which  is  attributed  his  rf  m-»-- 
meut  from  the  world  are  various  ;  one  writer 
says,  that  it  was  the  consequence  of  a  visit 
paid  to  a  favourite  lady,  whom  he  found  dead 
of  the  small-pox,  and  frightfully  disfigured. 
He  retired  to  his  abbey  of  La  Trappe,  where 
he  instituted  the  severe  discipline  for  which 
that  monastery  is  so  celebrated.  In  this  re 
treat  he  lived,  observing  all  its  austere  regula- 
tions, until  his  death,  which  took  place  in!700 
His  works  are  "  Reflexions  Morales  sur  les 
Quatre  Evangiles,"  4  vols.  12mo  ;  "  Confer- 
ences sur  les  Evangiles,"  4  vols.lSmo  ;  "Con- 
duite  Chretienne  ;"  "  Accounts  of  the  Lives 
and  Deaths  of  some  Monks  of  La  Trappe ;" 
"  The  Constitutions  and  Rules  of  the  Abbey 
of  La  Trappe  ;"  "  Spiritual  Letters  ;"  "  De 
la  Saintete  des  Devoirs  de  1'Iotat  Monastique  ;" 
"  Eclaircissements  sur  ce  Livre  ;''  "  Explica- 
tion sur  la  Regie  de  S.  Benoft,"  12mo. — 
Moreri.  Diet.  Hist.  Scivard's  Anecdotes. 
Gent.  Mng. 

RANDOLPH  (THOMAS)  an  English  di- 
vine, was  born  in  1523.  He  was  a  native  of 
the  county  of  Kent,  and  received  his  educa- 
tion at  Christchurch,  Oxford,  in  which  uni- 
versity he  rose  to  be  head  of  Broadgate-hall, 
1548.  From  this  situation  he  was  deposed  by 
queen  Mary,  on  account  of  his  adherence  to 
the  reformed  church,  and  found  it  advisable  to 


obtained  it,  he  went  to  Germany  in  1568,  and  i  imitate  the  example  set  him  by  many  of  his 


was  everywhere  received  with  the  respect  due 
to  his  talents.  He  returned  to  Paris  after  the 
third  pacification  between  Charles  IX  and  his 


brethren,  and  retire  to  the  continent.  In  the 
succeeding  reign  he  returned  to  England,  and 
was  employed  by  the  court  in  several  diplo- 


Protestant  subjects  ;  and  iu  the  infamous  mas-  matic  missions  to  Paris,  Edinburgh,  Moscow, 
sacre  which  took  place  on  St  Bartholomew's  &.c.  in  which  latter  capital  he  fought  a  duel 
day,  1571,  Ramus  was  one  of  the  victims.  His  with  the  French  envoy,  to  revenge  a  slight  of- 
works,  relating  to  grammar,  logic,  mathema-  fered  his  royal  mistress  Elizabeth  in  converea- 
tics,  &c.  are  numerous,  as  appears  by  the  list  !  tion.  His  services  on  these  occasions  were 


in  the  first  of  the  following  authorities. — Teis- 


sier  Elnges  des  H.  S. 
AikhCs  Gen.  Bio". 


Martins  Bi<  g.  Philos. 


RAMUSIO  (GIOVANNI   BATTISM-A)  aVe- 


eventually  rewarded  by  the  honour  of  knight- 
hood, and  the  post  of  chamberlain  to  the  ex- 
chequer. Besides  his  correspondence,  which 
has  been  printed,  he  was  the  author  of  a  cu- 


netian  diplomatist  of  the  sixteenth  century,  born  !  rious  account  of  his  Russian  embassy,  to  be 
about  the  year  1486.  He  was  appointed  to  !  found  in  Hakluyt.  His  death  took  place  in 
the  post  of  secretary  to  the  council  of  Ten,  I  1590. —  Riog.  Brit. 

and  served  the  republic  in  various  embassies  to  RANDOLPH  (THOMAS)  a  poet  and  dra- 
the  courts  of  Rome,  Paris,  the  Swiss  Can-  matist,  was  a  native  cf  Newnham,  Northants, 
tons,  &c.  As  a  writer,  he  is  advantageously  and  born  in  160.5.  His  father,  who  acted  in 
known  by  a  valuable  collection  of  voyages,  in  the  capacity  of  steward  to  a  nobleman,  placed 
three  folio  volumes.  lie  also  published  a  trea-  !  him  on  the  foundation  at  Westminster.whence 
tise  on  the  overflowing  of  the  Nile.  His  he  removed  to  Trinity  college,  Cambridge,  and 
death  took  place  in  1557,  at  Padun  — Moreri.  ;  was  eventually  elected  a  fellow  of  that  society. 
jY'ixc.  Diet.  Hist.  j  The  possession  of  a  lively  genius  and  poetic 

RANGE  (AnMAND  JOHN  LE  Bo.  THILLJF.R  talents,  much  above  mediocrity,  introduced 
de)  the  reformer  of  La  Trappe,  wap  born  of  a  him  into  the  society  of  most  of  the  wits  of  the 
noble  family  at  Paris,  in  1626.  At  the  age  of  age,  by  many  of  whom,  especially  by  the  cele- 
ten  he  was  nominated  a  canon  of  Notre  Dame  brated  Ben  Jonson,  he  was  much  caressed, 
r.t  Paris,  and  soon  after  the  king  ga  ;e  him  the  Unfortunately  a  strong  natural  disposition  to- 
fiinecure  priory  of  Boulogne,  near  Chambor.  wards  the  pleasures  of  a  town  life,  by  this  means 
At  tu-elve  or  thirteen,  with  the  as-sistance  of  received  encouragement  rather  than  that 


RAN 

wholesome  check  which  the  delicacy  of  his 
constitution  required,  and  he  sunk  under  the 
flFfcts  of  dissipation  before  he  had  attained 
IDS  thirtieth  year.  He  was  the  author  of 
"  The  Muses'  Looking-glass,"  and  of  five 
other  comedies,  all  possessed  of  considerable 
merit,  which  were  collected  and  published 
after  his  decease  by  his  brother  Robert,  rector 
of  Donnington,  together  with  his  miscellane- 
ous poems.  They  have  since  gone  through 
several  editions. — Biog.  Brit.  Biog.  Dram. 
Ellis's  Specimens. 

RANDOLPH  (THOMAS)    an    eminent   di- 
vine, was  the  son  of  a  barrister  of  some  emi- 
nence,   recorder    of    the  city    of  Canterbury, 
where   he  was  born  about  the  commencement 
of  the  last  century  ;  and  having  received  the 
rudiments    of    a    classical  education    at    the 
kino's  school,  went  off  upon  the  foundation  to 
Corpus  Christi  college,  Oxford,  of  which  society 
he  eventually  became  president  in  1748.     Be- 
sides the  valuable  benefices  of  Petham,  Walt- 
ham,    and    Saltwood,    all   in  the    immediate 
neighbourhood   of  his  native  city,  his  distin- 
guished talents  as  a  theologian  raised  him  to 
the    lady    Margaret    divinity    chair,   and   the 
archdeaconry  of  Oxford,  to  which  latter  dig- 
liity  he  was  elevated  in  1768.     As  a  contro- 
versialist he  acquired  considerable  reputation 
by  his  "  Vindication   of  the  Doctrine    of  the 
Trinity,"  &c.     His  other  works  consist  of  "  A 
View  of   the  Ministry  of  our  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ/'     8vo,    "2    vols.  ;  "  The    Christian's 
Faith  a  rational    Assent;"  "Citations  from 
the  Old  Testament  contained  in  the  New ;" 
and    a    volume   of   sermons    preached  at  St 
Mary's,  Oxford.     He    died  in  1783,   leaving 
behind  him  two  sons  ;  of  these,  JOHN  RAN- 
DOLPH   was    afterwards  bishop   of   London. 
This   learned    prelate  was  born  in  the  year 
1749,  and  obtained,  at  the  usual  age,  a  stu- 
dentship at   Christchurch,  Oxford,  where   he 
graduated,  and  having  become  highly  distin- 
guished in  the  university  by  his  industry  and 
talents,  was  elected  to  the  regius  professorship 
of  divinity  in  1783.     In   1799  he   was  raised 
to  the  episcopal  bench  as  bishop  of  Oxford, 
over  which  see  he  presided  about  seven  years, 
and  was  then  translated  to  the  more  lucrative 
diocese  of  Bangor.     Two  years  afterwards  he 
was  farther  promoted  to  the  bishopric  of  Lon- 
don, but  enjoyed  this  accession  of  dignity  not 
quite   four  years,  being  carried  off  by  a   fit  of 
apoplexy  in   the    summer   of  1813.     Several 
monuments  of  his  classical,  as  well  as  theolo- 
gical attainments,  exist  in  his  "  Pradectio  de 
Linguaj    Graecre  Studio,"    &c  ;    his  "  Sylloge 
Concio  ad  Clerum,"  &.c. 
rough  in  his  man- 
equally   distin- 


was 


Confessionum  ;" 
Though  austere,  and  even 
ners,   bishop    Randolph 

guished  by  the  soundness  of  his  abilities,  the 
real  benevolence  of  his  disposition,  and  the 
uncompromising  firmness  which  he  displayed 
in  the  regulation  of  his  diocese,  and  the  exe- 
cution of  his  clerical  duties. — Life  of  Himself 
by  Dr  T.  Randolph.  Gent.  Mag. 

RANNEQUIN  or  RENNEQUIN,  the 
usual  appellation  of  an  engineer,  who  render- 
ed himself  famous  by  the  construction  of  the 


RAP 

iraclu  ue  of  Marli  for  the  supply  of  Versailles 
with  '  he  water  of  the  river  Seine.  His  proper 
name  was  Swahn  Renkin,  and  lie  was  the  son. 
of  a<  aipenter  of  Liege,  where  he  was  bora  in 
1644.  He  was  brought  up  to  his  father's  oc- 
cupation,  and,  like  our  countryman  Brind'ey, 
he  appears  to  have  acquired  his  mechanicdl 
skill  by  means  of  native  genius  and  self-in- 
struction. The  machine  which  he  constructed 
consisted  of  a  vast  series  of  pumps  and  canals, 
by  means  of  which  the  water  was  raised  476 
feet  above  the  mean  height  of  the  river.  It 
was  commenced  in  1675,  under  the  ministry 
of  C  olbert,  and  completed  under  that  of  Lou- 
vois  in  1682.  Some  improvements  were  made 
in  tl'  e  works  in  the  latter  part  of  the  last  cen- 
tury ;  and  the  machine  has  been  since  en- 
tirel  f  destroyed.  Rannequin  died  July  29, 
170!!. — Biog.  Univ. 

R  APHAEL  (RAFFAELLO  SANZIO  da  Ur- 
binc )  the  most  eminent  of  modern   painters, 
was  born  at  Urbino  in  1483,  being  the  son  of  a 
pair  ter  of  no  great   estimation.     He  was  the 
pup  1  of  Pietro  Perugino  for  three  years,  at  the 
end   of  which   time,  in  1499,   he  went  with 
Pin  .uriccio  to  Sienna,  to  assist  him  in   paint- 
ing the  history  of  Pius  II,  for  the  library  of  the 
catl  iedral.    He  next  went  to  Florence,  to  pur- 
sue his  studies  in  that  great  school ;  and  in 
15('8  he  was  invited  to  Rome  bv  pope  Julius 
II,  who  employed  him  in  painting  in  fresco  the 
chambers  of  the  Vatican  ;  and  it  was  here  that 
he  painted  his  famous  picture  of  the  School  of 
Athens.     On  the  accession  of  Leo  X,  he  pro- 
sec  uted  his  labours  with  increased  spirit,  and 
executed  his  Attila,  and  the   Deliverance   of 
St  Peter.     He  was  also  employed  by  the  rich 
banker,  Agostino  Chigi,  for  whose  family  cha- 
pel  he    painted  some  of  his   most   beautiful 
pieces  ;  but  a  passion  which  he  conceived  for 
a   beautiful  young  woman,  the  daughter  of  a 
ba^er,  who  thence  took  the  name  of  La  Bella 
Fornarina,  causing  him  to  withdraw    to  her 
house, Chigi  invited  her  to  his  palace,  that  the 
painter  might  undergo  no  interruption.     Ra- 
phael was  also  distinguished  as  an  architect ; 
and  on  the  death  of  Bramante,  Leo  confided  to 
him  the  completion  of  the  galleries  or  loggie 
of  the  Vatican,   in  which  he   displayed   great 
and  elegant  invention.     He  was  also  superin- 
tendant  of  the  building  of  St  Peter's,  in  con- 
junction with  Fra  Giocondo,  and  was  employ- 
ed by  the  pontiff  to   make   designs  for   some 
tapestry  to    be  executed  in  Flanders,  whence 
those  famous  cartoons,  obtained  by  Charles  I, 
still   in   royal    possession.     The   result  of    a 
rivalry  wiih  Sebastian  del  Piombo  was  the  ce- 
lebrated Transfiguration,  in  which  he  fully  de- 
monstrated his  superiority.     He  also  commen- 
ced  an   apartment  in  the  Vatican,  called  the 
hall  of  Constantine,   but  was  prevented   from 
finishing  it  by  his  untimely  death,  which   took 
place  on  his  thirty-seventh  birth-day,  15'JO. 
Leo  testified  great  emotion  at  the  news  of  his 
decease,  and  caused  his  body  to  lie  in  state,  in 
a  hall  in   which  was  placed  his  picture  of  the 
Transfiguration.     He  was  buried  in  the  church 
of  the  Rotondo  at  Rome,  and  cardinal  Berubo 
wrote  his  epitaph,     Raphael  was  handsome, 


II  A  P 

and  of  a  mild  and  amiable  character  ;  but  Ins 
immoderate  ;:Uachnient  to  the  fair  sexiiiJ'i,-.  d 
him  to  decline  matrimony,  though  cardinal 
Bihliena  offered  him  one  of  his  meres.  The 
superiority  which  he  possessed  above,  any 
other  painter,  consists  of  his  mastery  in 
every  branch  of  the  art,  united  with  his  own 
peculiar  excellencies.  According  to  Fuseli, 
the  drama,  or  in  other  words  the  representation 
of  characters  in  conflict  with  passions,  was  his 
sphere,  in  respect  to  which  his  invention  in 
the  choice  of  the  moment,  his  composition  in 
the  arrangement  of  the  actors,  and  his  expres- 
sion in  the  delineation  of  their  emotions,  lie 
lias  always  been  deemed  unrivalled.  To  all 
this  he  added  a  style  of  design  dictated  by  the 
subject  itself,  a  colouring  suited  to  it,  and  as 
much  chiaro-scuro  as  was  compatible  with  his 
ruling  regard  to  perspicuity  and  force.  His 
greatest  works  remaining  are  the  frescoes  in 
the  Vatican.  His  oil  pictures  are  every  where 
most  highly  prized,  and  more  than  740  pieces 
have  been  engraved  from  the  designs  of  Ra- 
phael.— D' 'Argenville.  Roscoe's  Leo  X.  Pil- 
kington  bij  Fuseli. 

RAPHELENGIUS  (FRANCIS)  a  Flemish 
professor  of  the  sixteenth  century,  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  Orientalists  of  his  day.  He 
was  a  native  of  Lanoy,  born  1539,  and  received 
Lis  education  in  the  university  of  Paris.  Ra- 
phelengius  afterwards  came  to  this  country, 
and  supported  himself  for  some  time  by  giving 
lectures  on  the  Greek  language  at  Cambridge. 
Returning  to  Flanders,  he  settled  at  Antwerp, 
where  he  married,  and  superintended  the  press 
of  his  father-in-law,  the  well-known  Christo- 
pher Plantin.  While  in  this  situation,  he  as- 
sisted in  the  production  of  the  Antwerp  Bible, 
1571  ;  and  published  two  lexicons  of  the  Ara- 
bic and  Chaldee  languages,  a  Hebrew  gram- 
mar, and  some  learned  "  Remarks  on  the 
Chaldee  Paraphrase."  His  death  took  place 
in  1.597,  at  Leyden,  where,  for  the  last  twelve 
years  of  his  life,  he  had  filled  the  chair  as  pro- 
fessor of  Eastern  languages.  He  left  behind 
him  a  son  of  the  same  name,  who  was  also  a 
good  classical  scholar,  and  is  known  as  the 
author  of  an  elegiac  poem  to  the  memory  of  il- 
lustrious scholars,  and  some  able  notes  on  Se- 
neca.— Moreri.  Tiraboschi. 

RAP1N  (RENE)  a  French  Jesuit  and  man 
of  letters,  born  at  Tours  in  1621.  He  entered 
into  the  order  of  Jesus  in  1639,  taught  during 
nine  years  the  belles  lettres,  and  published  be- 
tween 1657  and  1687  a  great  number  of  works 
in  prose  and  verse,  both  in  the  Latin  and 
French  languages.  His  contemporaries  have 
praised  him  for  the  urbanity  of  his  manners 
and  his  agreeable  disposition,  which  did  not, 
however,  prevent  him  from  engaging  in  warm 
controversies  with  Maimbourg  and  father  Ya- 
vasseur,  nor  from  the  display  of  an  immoderate 
decree  of  zeal  against  the  Jansenists.  Among 
his  principal  works  are  his  Latin  poem  on  gar- 
dens ;  "  Hortorum,  libri  iv,"  translated  into 
En  -lisli  bv  Evelyn,  and  by  Gardiner ;  "Odes;" 
"  Reflections  on  Eloquence  ;"  "  Reflections 
on  the  Poetics  of  Aristotle  ;"  and  "  Compa- 
risjns  between  the  great  Writers  of  Antiquity." 


RAP 

He  died  at  Paris,  October  27,  1687.  An 
/'.n.-hsli  tiHslation  of  the  critical  works  of 
li;;,.;.i  u  as  published  by  Basil  Rennet,  2  vols. 
8vo. —  Diet.  Hist.  Bing.  Unit: 

KAI'lX    DE    THOYRAS    (PAUL)    a   re- 
:-i>ectable   historian,   born    at  Castres  in   Lan- 
guedoc,  in  1661.     He  was  the  younger  son  of 
James  Rapin,    sieur    de    Thoyras,  descended 
from  a  noble  family  of  Savoy,  which  came  into 
France  in  the  reign  of  Francis  I,  for  the  sake 
of  professing  the  reformed   religion.     lie  re- 
ceived his  education  at  Piiylaurens  and   Sau- 
mur,  and  then  studied    the  law  under  his  fa- 
ther, who  was  an  advocate,  until  the   revoca- 
tion of  the  edict  of  Nantz  drove  him  to  Eng- 
land, and  subsequently  to  Holland,  where  he 
entered   into   a  company  of  French   cadets  at 
Utrecht,  commanded  by  his  cousin.     In  1689 
he  followed  the  prince  of  Orange  into  England, 
and  obtained  an  ensigncy  in   Lord  Kingston's 
regiment,  which  he  accompanied  to   Ireland, 
and    so    much     distinguished    himself   at  the 
battle   of  the   Boyne,   that   he  was  rewarded 
with   a  company.     He  left  Ireland  in  1693, 
upon  being  appointed   tutor  to  the  son  of  the 
earl  of  Portland,  and  resigning  his  commission, 
received  a  pension  from  the  crown  of  100/.  per 
annum.     He  accompanied  his  pupil   to  France 
and  Holland,  and  then  returned  to  the  Hague, 
where  he  married.     Having  lost  his  pension 
by  the  death  of  king  William,  in  1707  he  set- 
tled at  Wesel,  in  the  duchy  of  Cleves,  and  de- 
voted  himself  to  the  composition  of  his  well- 
no  wn    "  History  of  England."      He  died  at 
V.  i  >  1  in  1725.    His  great  work,  "  L'Histoire 
d'Angleterre,"  was    printed  at  the  Hague  in 
10  vols.  4to,  1725-1726.    He  lived  himself  to 
publish   the   eighth  volume,  which   ends  with 
the  death  of  Charles  1.     His  two  remaining 
volumes,  left  in  MS.  did  not  appear  until  1726. 
This  laborious  work  has  been  twice  translated 
into    English  ;     and    Tindal,    who    corrected 
some  o.f  its  errors  and  added  valuable  notes, 
continued  it   up   to  1760.     It  is  written  in  a 
prolix   and  unanimated  manner,  but  deserves 
the  praise  of  much  solid  information,  and  of  a 
far  higher  degree  of  impartiality  than  had  been. 
exhibited   by  any  of  the.    historians  who  pre- 
ceded him.     He  uniformly  shows  himself  the 
steady  friend  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  ;  and 
upon  the  whole   his   History  may  be  regarded 
as  meriting  the  popularity  which  it   acquired 
before  the  publication  of  Hume's,  and  which 
it  still  partly  retains.     Besides  this  long  work, 
he  published,  in  1717,  a  "  Dissertation  sur  les 
Whigs  et  Torys,"  and  undertook  an   abridg 
ment  of  Rymer's  "  Focdera,"  which  was  pub- 
lished in  Le  Clerc's  "  Bibliotheque  Choisie." 
—  Biog.  Brit.     Life  prefixed  to  History. 

RAPIN  (NICHOLAS)  a  French  poet,  was 
born  at  Fontenai-le-Comte  in  Poictou,  in 
1535.  He  was  vice-seneschal  of  his  native 
province,  and  went  afterwards  to  Paris,  and 
obtained  a  post  under  government.  He  died 
in  1679.  His  Latin  epigrams  are  much  ad- 
mired, as  also  the  principal  of  his  French 
poems,  entitled  "  Les  I'laisirs  du  Gentil- 
homme  Champetre."  lie  made  a  vain  attempt 
to  compose  French  blank  verse,  and  was  one  of 


R  AS 

Use  writers  concerned  in  the  celebrated  "  Sa- 
tire Menippee."  All  his  works  were  printed 
at  Paris  in  1610,  4to. —  Xiceron.  Mitreri. 

RAPP  (JoiiN)  a  French  general  officer, 
who  was  born  of  an  obscure  family  at  Colmar, 
in  Alsace,  in  1772.  He  engaged  in  military 
service  in  1788,  and  attracted  notice  during 
the  first  revolutionary  wars,  by  his  bravery  and 
intelligence.  Having  become  a  lieutenant  in 
the  tenth  regiment  of  chasseurs,  he  was  made 
aid-de-camp  to  general  Desaix,  with  whom  he 
served  in  the  campaigns  of  1796  and  1797, 
and  afterwards  in  Egypt.  After  the  battle  of 
Marengo  he  was  appointed  aid-de-camp  to  the 
lirst  consul  Buonaparte.  In  1802  he  was  em- 
ployed in  the  subjugation  of  Switzerland  ;  and 
returning  to  Paris  the  following  year,  he  ac- 
companied Buonaparte  in  his  journey  to  Bel- 
gium. At  the  battle  of  Austerlitz  he  defeated 
the  Russian  imperial  guard,  and  took  prisoner 
prince  Repuin,  for  which  service  he  was  made 
general  of  a  division  in  December  1805.  He 
was  appointed  governor  of  Dantzic  in  1807  ; 
and  after  the  campaign  of  1812  he  also  com- 
manded the  garrison  of  that  city,  which  he 
defended  with  consummate  skill  and  valour, 
but  he  was  at  length  obliged  to  capitulate.  He 
submitted  to  the  royal  authority  in  1814,  but 
joined  Napoleon  on  his  return  from  Elba.  Hav- 
ing afterwards  been  received  into  favour  by 
Louis  XVIII,  he  was  made  a  member  of  the 
chamber  of  Peers.  His  death  took  place  in 
1821.  Posthumous  "  Memoires  du  General 
Rapp,"  appeared  at  Paris  in  1823,  8vo.— 
Biog.  Univ. 

RASCHE(JoiiN  CHRISTOPIIF.R;  an  emi- 
nent writer  on  numismatics,  born  in  Saxony  in 
1733.  Few  particulars  of  his  life  have  been 
recorded,  except  that  he  was  created  a  master 
in  philosophy,  and  nominated  adjunct  to  the 
ecclesiastical  tribunal  of  the  bailliage  of  Maas- 
field,  and  pastor  of  Lower  Maasfield,  near 
Meiniugen.  He  was  also  member  of  the  lite- 
rary societies  of  Allorf,  Halle,  Jena,  Cassel, 
&c.  After  having  exercised  his  ministerial 
office  more  than  forty  years  he  died,  April  21, 
1805.  His  works  are  extremely  numerous,  in- 
cluding "  Lexicon  Abruptionum  qua;  in  Nu- 
mismatibus  Romanorum  occurunt,"  Nurem- 
berg, 1777,  8vo  ;  "  JMumismata  rarissima  Ro- 
manorum a  Julio  Caesare  adHeradium  usque  ;" 
1777,  8vo;  "The  Science  of  Ancient  Medals, 
according  to  the  Principles  of  Joubert  and  La 
Bastie,"  1778,  1779,  3  vols.  8vo  ;  and  "  Lexi- 
con Universes Rei  NummariffiVeterum,  et  prte- 
cique  Graecorum  ac  Romanurum,  cum  Obser- 
vationibus,"  Leipsic,  1785 — 17 94-,  12  vols. 
8vo ;  a  supplement  to  which  valuable  work 
appeared  in  1802 — 1805,  2  vols. — Bing.  Univ. 

PvASPE  (RoooLPH  ERIC)  a  German  anti- 
quary, born  at  Hanover  in  1737.  He  studied 
at  Gottingen  and  Leipsic  ;  and  was  succes- 
sively employed  in  the  libraries  of  Gottingen 
and  Hanover.  In  1767  the  landgrave  of  Hesse 
appointed  him  professor  of  archaeology  at  Cas- 
eel,  and  afterwards  inspector  of  his  cabinet  of 
antiques  and  medals,  and  a  counsellor.  At 
length  he  left  the.  service  of  the  landgrave, 
uaclei  circumstances  of  disgrace,  being  accused 


RAT 

of  having  purloined  part  of  the  valuable  cu- 
riosities under  his  care.  He  fled,  and  took  re- 
fuge in  England,  where  he  supported  himself 
by  his  literary  exertions.  He  published  an 
"  Account  of  German  Volcanoes,"  1776,  and 
a  translation  of  baron  Born's  Treatise,  on  the 
process  of  Amalgamation.  This  ingenious,  but 
unprincipled  man,  after  experiencing  many 
vicissitudes,  died  in  Ireland,  in  1794. — Biog. 
Univ. 

RASTAL  or  R  A  STALL.  There  were 
three  of  this  name,  father  and  sons.  JOHN 
RASTAL,  the  elder,  is  known  as  an  eminent 
printer  and  historian,  who  flourished  in  London, 
of  which  city  he  was  a  native,  during  the  earL 
part  of  the  sixteenth  century.  He  appears  to 
have  received  a  classical  education  at  Oxford, 
and  although  bred  a  member  of  the  Romish 
church,  to  have  eventually  abjured  its  tenets 
in  favour  of  the  Lutheran  communion.  His 
conversion  is  said  to  have  been  the  result  of  a 
polemical  controversy  carried  on  between  him 
and  the  celebrated  John  Fryt.h,  whom  lord 
chancellor  More  sent  to  the  stake  as  a  recu- 
sant, and  is  the  more  remarkable,  inasmuch  as 
Rastal  had  previously  married  the  chancellor's 
sister.  His  share  of  the  disputations  is  vet 
extant,  in  two  treatises,  entitled  "  An  Apology 
against  John  Fryth,"  and  "  Dialogues  con- 
cerning Purgatory."  He  was  also  the  com- 
piler of  some  law  books,  which  go  under  the 
name  of  "  Rastal's  Entries,"  and  have  been 
erroneously  ascribed  to  one  of  his  sons.  It  is, 
however,  as  an  historian  that  he  is  principally 
distinguished,  his  "  Anglorum  Regum  Chro- 
nicuii  "  having  gone  through  two  editions. 
His  other  works  consist  of  a  curious  "  Dra- 
matic Description  of  the  World  ;"  "  Rules  for 
a  good  Life  ;"  "  Canones  Astrologici,"  &c. 
His  death  took  place  in  1536. — -WILLIAM,  the 
elder  son,  went  to  the  bar,  and  rose  to  be  a 
judge  of  the  Common  Pleas  ;  but  declining  to 
follow  his  father's  example,  in  embracing  Pro- 
testantism, the  ultimate  ascendancy  of  that 
church  under  Elizabeth,  induced  him  to  retire 
to  the  continent,  where  he  passed  the  latter 
period  of  his  life.  He  was  the  author  of  a  life 
of  his  uncle,  sir  Thomas  More,  and  compiled 
a  Chronological  Table  of  Events  from  the  Con- 
quest downwards;  a  Chariuary ;  "  English 
Law  Terms,"  &c.  The  time  of  his  decease, 
which  took  place  at  Louvaine,  was  about  the 
year  1565. — Of  JOHN  RASTAL,  his  younger 
brother,  little  is  known,  but  that  he  was  for 
many  years  an  active  magistrate  in  the  com- 
mission of  the  peace. — Eing.  Brit. 

RATTE  (ExiENNE  HYACINTHE  de)  an  as- 
tronomer, born  in  1722,  of  a  noble  family,  at 
Montpellier.  He  displayed,  when  young,  a 
decided  taste  for  mathematics,  which  he  stu- 
died with  such  success  as  to  astonish  his 
learned  contemporaries.  At  the  age  of  nine- 
teen he  was  admitted  into  the  academy  of 
Montpellier.  of  which  the  next  year  he  became 
perpetual  secretary  ;  and  he  zealously  attended 
to  the  duties  of  his  office  till  the  suppression 
of  academies,  at  the  commencement  of  the 
Revolution.  On  the  re-establishment  of  that 
of  Montpellier,  in  1796,  he  resumed  his  place 


R  A  U 

of  secretary,  and  was  subsequently  president. 
Ife  was  also  chosen  a  corresponding  member 
of  the  Institute,  and  nominated  a  member  of 
the  legiou  of  honour.  His  death  took  place 
April  15,  1805.  De  Ratte  made  important 
observations  on  the  transit  of  Venus  in  1761, 
which  served  as  the  basis  of  his  laborious  cal- 
culations on  the  parallax  of  the  sun.  He  fur- 
nished many  articles  on  natural  philosophy  to 
the  Dictionnaire  Encyclopedique,  and  various 
contributions  to  the  memoirs  of  the  academy 
to  which  he  belonged.  His  astronomical  ob- 
servations were  posthumously  published  by  his 
nephew,  M.  de  Flauguergues. — Biog.  Univ. 

RAU  (JoHN  JAMES)  a  distinguished  Ger- 
man physician  arid  anatomist,  born  in  1668, 
at  Baden  in  Suabia.  He  was  at  the  age  of 
fourteen  apprenticed  to  a  surgeon  at  Strasburg, 
and  afterwards  entered  into  the  Dutch  naval 
service  in  a  professional  character.  He  then 
engaged  in  a  course  of  academical  studies  at 
Leyden  ;  and  having  passed  some  time  at 
Paris  in  anatomical  and  surgical  investigations, 
he  returned  to  Leyden,  and  took  the  degree  of 
MD.  in  1694.  He  fixed  his  residence  at  Am- 
sterdam, where  he  gave  anatomical  lectures 
and  demonstrations,  for  which  he  was  allowed 
the  use  of  the  public  amphitheatre  in  1696. 
He  succeeded  Bidloo  at  Leyden,  in  1713,  in 
the  professorship  of  anatomy  ;  and  in  1718  he 
was  made  rector  of  the  university.  His  death 
took  place  September  18,  1719.  Rau  pub- 
lished "  Epistolre  duas  de  Septo  Scroti  ad 
Ruyschium,"  1689,  4to  ;  and  "  Oratio  de  Me- 
thodo  discendi  Anatomen,"  1713,  4to ;  but 
though  he  wrote  so  little  for  the  press,  he 
obtained  high  reputation  as  a  practical  anato- 
mist.— Biog.  Univ. 

RAU  (SEBALD  FULCO  JOHN)  a  Dutch  theo- 
logian and  Orientalist,  born  at  Utrecht  in  1765. 
He  was  educated  at  the  university  of  his  na- 
tive place  ;  and  such  was  his  proficiency,  that 
at  eighteen  years  of  age  he  published  "  Spe- 
cimen Arabicum,  continens  Descriptionem  et 
Excerpta  libri  Ahmedis  Teufachii  de  Gemmis 
et  Lapidibus."  Having  completed  his  studies, 
he  became  a  French  preacher  ;  and  in  1787  he 
was  appointed  minister  of  the  Walloon  church 
of  Harderwyck,  and  the  following  year  of  that 
of  Leyden.  To  his  pastoral  office  was  added  j 
the  chair  of  theology  at  Leyden  ;  and  in  1790 
lie  succeeded  Everaid  Scheidius  as  professor  I 
of  the  Oriental  languages  and  antiquities.  He 
was  deprived  of  his  office  in  1795,  in  conse- 
quence of  changes  in  the  constitution  of  the 
university;  but  he  was  restored  in  1799.  His 
death  took  place  December  1,  1807.  His 
works  consist  of  six  academical  discourses, 
distinguished  for  learned  research  and  inge- 
uiity  ;  and  three  volumes  of  Sermons,  which 
ppeared  posthumously. — Bi^g-  Univ.  Bicg. 
JVo.'ir.  da  Contemp, 

BAUCOURT  (SOPHIA)  a  French  actress 
sf  eminence,  whose  proper  name  was  Sauce-  ' 
ote.  She  was  born  at  Nanci  in  1756,  and 
was  the  daughter  of  a  theatrical  performer. 
She  first  appeared  on  the  stage  at  Paris,  in 
1772,  in  the  character  of  Dido.  She  soon 
acquired  great  professional  reputation,  which 


R  A  V 

she  enjoyed  till  1776,  when  she  suddenly  fba 
from  France  to  avoid  her  creditors.  She  re- 
turned to  the  Parisian  stage  in  1779,  and 
continued  to  be  one  of  its  principal  ornaments, 
till  her  imprisonment  during  the  reign  of  terror 
in  1793.  She  was  discharged  after  six  months' 
confinement  ;  but  she  experienced  other  per- 
secutions till  she  obtained  the  protection  of 
Buonaparte.  Her  death  happened  January  15, 
1815.  A  disgraceful  scene  occurred  at  her 
funeral.  The  clergy  of  the  parish  of  St  Roch 
having  refused  to  admit  the  corpse  into  the 
church,  the  populace  assembled  in  great  force, 
and  after  exhibiting  some  violence,  escorted 
the  body  to  the  cemetery  of  Pere  la  Chaise, 
where  the  interment  took  place. — Biog.  Univ. 
RAU  WOLF  (LEONARD)  a  distinguished 
Oriental  traveller  and  botanist,  who  was  a  na- 
tive of  Augsburg  in  Germany.  After  having 
studied  under  the  celebrated  physician  and 
naturalist  Roudelet,  at  Montpellier,  he  set  off 
in  1573  on  a  jouiney  through  Diarbeck,  Syria, 
Palestine,  Egypt,  6tc.  ;  and  after  his  return  he 
became  a  physician  in  the  Austrian  army.  He 
died  in  1606.  The  observations  made  by  Rau- 
wolf  in  his  tour  through  the  East  were  pub- 
lished in  Ray's  "  Collection  of  curious  Travels 
and  Voyages  into  Eastern  Countries,"  London, 
1693,  2  vols.  8vo ;  and  the  Herbarium  of 
Rauwolf  was  used  by  Gronovius,  in  drawing 
up  his  "  Flora  Onentalis." — Biog.  Univ. 

RAVENET  (SIMON  FRANCIS)  a  French 
engraver,  came  to  England  in  1750,  and  set- 
tled in  London.  He  lived  in  the  latter  part  of 
his  life  in  Kentish  Town,  where  he  died  in 
1774.  His  principal  prints  are,  "  The  Pro- 
digal Son,"  from  Sal.  Rosa  ;  "  Lucretia  de- 
ploring her  Misfortune  ;"  and  "  The  Mani- 
festation of  the  Innocence  of  the  Princess 
Gunhilda,"  from  A.  Casali  ;  "  The  Death  of 
Seneca,"  from  Luca  Giordano,  &c. — Strutt'i 
Diet. 

RAVENSCROFT  (THOMAS)  an  English 
musician,  died  in  1640.  In  1614  he  publisheu 
"  A  Briefe  Discourse  of  the  true  but  ne- 
glected Use  of  characterizing  the  Degrees  bv 
their  Perfection,  Imperfection,  and  Diminu- 
tion, in  measureable  Musicke,  against  the 
Common  Practice  and  Custom  of  the  Times," 
4to  ;  which  exploded  doctrines  he  continued 
to  practise  ineffectually.  He  also  edited  a 
collection  of  Psalm  Tunes,  among  which  were 
several  of  his  own,  many  of  which  are  still  in 
use.  Finally,  he  was  the  author  of  a  collection 
of  songs,  entitled  "  Melcimata  Musical  Plian- 
cies, fitting  the  Court,  City,  and  Country  Hu- 
mours, in  three,  four,  and  five  Voices,"  1611. 
— Hun-kins'  and  Barney's  Hist,  of  Music. 

RA  V1US.  The  Latin  designation  of  Chris- 
tian Rau,  a  learned  German  professor,  born 
in  1613  at  Berlin.  He  received  his  education 
in  the  university  of  Rostock,  where  he  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  his  early  proficiency  in 
Oriental  as  well  as  classical  literature.  Com- 
ing to  England,  he  was  recommended  to  the 
notice  of  Usher,  archbishop  of  Armagh,  and 
under  the  auspices  of  that  munificent  encou- 
rager  of  learning,  took  a  voyage  in  the  Levant, 
for  the  purpose  of  procuring  manuscripts. 


RAW 

Whle  in  die  East  he  much  increased  his  fa- 
miliarity with  the  vernacular  languages,  es- 
pecially the  Persian  ami  Turkish.  On  his 
return  to  Europe,  he  took  up  his  temporary 
abode  at  Utrecht,  where  he  read  lectures  in 
Arabic,  and  employed  himself  in  the  compo- 
sition of  several  useful  treatises  connected 
with  his  favourite  course  of  study,  especially  in 
constructing  Grammars  of  the  Hebrew,  Sama- 
ritan, and  Chaldaic  dialects,  the  Syriac,  Arabic, 
&c.  His  other  works  are,  "  Disputatio  Chro- 
nologica  de  Plenitudine  Temporis  Christi  ;" 
"  Chronologia  infallibilis  de  Annis  Christi  ;" 
"  Chronologia  Biblica  ;"  "  De  Dudaiin  Ilu- 
benis  Dissertatio  philologica  ;"  "  Orbis  Hie- 
raticus  Levitarum  ;"  "  Obtestatio  ad  Europam 
pro  discendis  Rebus  et  Linguis  Orientalibus  ;" 
a  Plan  for  acquiring  the  Orthography  and  Ety- 
mology of  the  Hebrew  Tongue  ;  and  a  Trans- 
lation of  the  Writings  of  Apollonius  of  Perga, 
from  the  Arabic  into  Latin.  Ravius  main- 
tained an  extensive  correspondence  with  the 
learned  and  their  patrons,  especially  with 
Christina  of  Sweden,  who  held  his  talents  in 
great  respect.  After  reading  his  lectures  at 
Upsal,  Kiel,  &c.  he  at  length  died  at  the  latter 
place,  or,  as  others  say,  at  Frankfort-sur- 
Maine,  in  1677. — JOHANNES  RAVIUS,  his  son, 
published  an  edition  of  Cornelius  Nepos  with 
notes,  and  filled  the  situation  of  librarian  to 
the  elector  of  Brandenburg. — Athen.  Oxon. 
Moreri. 

RAWLEY  (WILLIAM)  an  English  divine, 
known  as  the  editor  of  some  of  the  works  of 
Bacon,  lord  Verulam.  He  studied  at  Bennet 
college,  Cambridge,  where  he  obtained  a  fel- 
lowship, and  took  the  degree  of  DD.  Becom- 
ing chaplain  and  secretary  to  Bacon,  the  inte- 
rest of  his  patron  procured  him  the  living  of 
Landbeath  in  Cambridgeshire.  He  collected 
irom  the  papers  of  the  great  philosopher  to 
whose  service  he  had  been  attached,  several 
tracts,  which  he  published  under  the  title  of 
"  Resuscitatio  ;"  and  to  his  care  we  are  also 
indebted  for  "  Bacon's  Remains,"  published 
by  archbishop  Tenison.  Dr  Rawley  died  in 
1667. —  Chalmers's  Biog.  Diet. 

RAWLINSON  (CHRISTOPHER)  a  critic  and 
Saxon  scholar,  born  in  Lancashire  in  1677. 
He  received  his  education  at  Queen's  college, 
Oxford,  where  he  applied  himself  particularly 
to  the  study  of  the  Saxon  language.  He  died 
in  1733,  leaving  a  monument  of  his  erudition 
in  his  publication  of  king  Alfred's  Saxon  ver- 
sion of  Boethius's  Treatise  on  the  Consolations 
of  Philosophy. — Chalmers's  Biog.  Diet. 

RAWLINSON  (THOMAS)  a  distinguished 
bibliomaniac,  or  book-collector,  in  the  early 
part  of  the  last  century.  He  was  the  son  of 
sir  T.  Rawlinson,  knight,  who  was  lord-mayor 
of  London,  and  he  was  educated  for  the  legal 
profession  ;  but  his  claims  to  notice  depend 
solely  on  his  passion  for  the  accumulation  of 
books,  which  he  indulged  to  a  greater  extent 
than  almost  any  other  private  individual 
While  he  resided  in  chambers  at  Gray's-inn, 
his  library  occupied  four  rooms,  and  he  slept 
in  a  closet  or  passage.  He  subsequently  re- 
moved his  collection  to  a  large  house  in  Al- 
UIOG.  DICT. — VOL.  III. 


R  A  V 

dersgate-streel,  where  he  made  great  addition 
to  it  ;  but  it  was  at  length  dispersed  by  sale 
by  auction  in  I?;.'-'.  The  Catalogues  of  llaw- 
linsou's  library,  consisting  of  a  number  of 
parts,  separately  published,  are  rarely  to  be 
met  with  complete.  Mr  Rawlinson's  death 
took  place  in  17 25,  at  the  age  of  forty- four. 
He  is  satirized,  in  the  Tatler,  under  the  appel- 
lation of  Tom  Folio  ;  and  he  appears  to  have 
exhibited  many  singularities  of  character  be- 
sides his  inordinate  fondness  for  books. — RAW- 
LINSON (RICHARD)  younger  brother  of  the 
preceding,  an  eminent  antiquary  and  topo- 
grapher. He  was  educated  at  St  John's  col- 
lege, Oxford,  where  he  graduated  as  LL.D.  in 
1719.  He  founded  in  the  university  an  An- 
glo-Saxon lectureship  ;  and  he  formed  a  large 
collection  of  books,  printed  and  manuscript, 
engravings,  drawings,  &c.  which  were  sold 
after  his  death.  Dr  llawlitison  published  an 
improved  translation  of  Lenglet  du  Fresnoy's 
"  Method  of  studying  History,"  2  vols.  8vo, 
and  "  The  English  Topographer,  or  an  His- 
torical Account  of  all  the  Pieces  that  have  been 
written  relative  to  the  Natural  History  or 
Topographical  Description  of  England,"  8vo  ; 
and  he  edited  Aubrey's  "  Perambulation  of 
Surrey."  He  died  in  1753. — Dibdin's  Bibliom. 
Nichols's  Lit.  Anec. 

RAY  (JOHN)  a  celebrated  English  natu- 
ralist and  philosopher,  born  at  Black  Notley, 
in  Essex,  November  29,  1628.  His  father 
exercised  the  humble  occupation  of  a  black- 
smith, notwithstanding  which,  the  son  received 
a  regular  education,  having  studied  at  a  gram- 
mar school  at  Braintree,  and  afterwards  at 
Catherine  hall,  Cambridge.  Thence  he  removed 
to  Trinity  college,  where  he  obtained  a  fellow- 
ship during  the  period  that  the  university  was 
subject  to  the  influence  of  the  puritans,  after  the 
death  of  Charles  I.  This  did  not  prevent 
Mr  Ray  from  procuring  episcopal  ordination, 
when  the  restoration  of  Charles  II  had  made 
way  for  the  re-establishment  of  the  church  of 
England.  But  though  he  thus  far  became  a 
conformist,  he  conscientiously  objected  to 
signing  the  declaration  against  the  solemn 
league  and  covenant,  and  chose  rather  to 
resign  his  fellowship.  He  thenceforth  devoted 
himself  to  the  cultivation  of  science  and  lite- 
rature, and  published  many  works,  chiefly 
relating  to  theology  and  natural  history.  In 
1663  he  accompanied  Francis  Willughby,  a 
gentleman  of  congenial  taste,  in  a  journey 
through  France,  Germany,  Italy,  and  Spain  ; 
and  after  his  return  home  in  1667,  he  was 
chosen  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  to  whose 
Transactions  he  was  a  frequent  contributor. 
In  1670  he  published  a  "  Catalogue  of  Eng- 
lish Plants,"  which  was  followed  by  a  "  Col- 
lection of  English  Proverbs  ;"  and  in  1673  he 
produced  an  account  of  his  continental  tour 
On  the  death  of  Mr  Willughby,  in  1672,  Mr 
Ray  became  tutor  to  his  sons  ;  and  he  soon 
after  married  and  settled  at  his  native  place. 
He  now  continued  his  labours  in  the  cause  o« 
science  with  unremitting  ardour,  and  particu 
larly  distinguished  himself  by  his  improve 
ments  in  the  classical  arrangement  of  plant 
B 


RAY 

at.,1  animals,  in  his  "  Methodus  Plantaruin 
Nova,"  8vo  ;  "  Mistoria  I'lantarum,"  3  vo!s. 
folio  ;"  "  Synopsis  Methodica  Stirpium," 
"  Synopsis  Methodica  Animalium  Quadrupe- 
duin  ;"  and  a  "  Sylloge  Sdrpium  Europearum 
extra  Britanniam  crescentium  ;"  besides  which 
lie  published  his  friend  Mr  Willughby's  Orni- 
thology, and  History  of  Fishes.  He  was  also 
the  author  of  a  very  popular  work  on  physico- 
theology,  entitled  "  The  Wisdom  of  God  ma- 
nifested in  the  Works  of  Creation,"  8vo  ;  and 
of  "  Miscellaneous  Discourses  concerning  the 
Dissolution  and  Changes  of  the  World,"  8vo. 
His  death  took  place  January  17,  1705. 
"  The  Philosophical  Letters  of  Hay,  and 
those  of  his  Correspondents,  to  which  are 
added  those  of  Willughby,"  were  published 
in  1718,  by  Dr  W.  Derham. — Brit.  Biog. 
Aikin's  Got.  Biog,  Pulteney's  Sketches  of  the 
Prof,  of  Botany  in  England. 

RAYMOND  (ROBERT,  baron)  an  eminent 
English  lawyer,  who  flourished  in  great  repu- 
tation about  the  time  of  the  Hanover  succes- 
sion. His  father,  sir  Thomas  Raymond,  him- 
self a  judge  in  the  King's  Bench,  educated 
him  for  his  own  profession,  in  which,  he  rose 
rapidly  to  the  highest  honours.  Being  ap- 
pointed solicitor-general  about  the  close  of 
queen  Anne's  reign,  he  became  first  attorney- 
general,  and  eventually  lord-chief-justice,  and 
a  commissioner  of  the  great  seal,  witli  an 
English  peerage,  under  her  two  succes- 
sors. In  the  discharge  of  his  high  calling  he 
distinguished  himself  as  a  sound  constitu- 
tional lawyer  and  an  upright  judge,  following 
the  example  of  his  father  in  compiling  "  Re- 
ports," which  have  gone  through  two  editions, 
the  first  in  two  volumes  folio,  and  subsequently 
in  octavo.  He  was  also  the  author  of  a  folio 
volume  of  "  Rubrics."  Lord  Raymond  sur- 
vived his  elevation  to  the  upper  house  little 
more  than  a  year,  dying  in  1732. — Bridgman's 
Legal  Bibliog. 

RAYNAL  (WILLIAM  FRANCIS)  a  French 
writer  of  celebrity,  was  born  at  St  Genies,  in 
the  Rovergue,  in  1718.  He  entered  at  an 
early  age  among  the  Jesuits,  whom  however 
he  quitted  in  1748,  and  h'xed  his  abode  in 
Paris,  where  he  became  an  historical,  poli- 
tical, and  a  miscellaneous  writer,  and  distin- 
guished himself  by  a  bold  and  decisive  turn  of 
sentiment,  and  an  animated  style.  For  a  time 
he  forsook  literary  for  convivial  pursuits,  which 
might  possibly  lead  him  to  the  composition  of 
the  work  for  which  he  is  indebted  for  his 
principal  share  of  fame,  entitled  "  Histoire 
Philosophiqne  et  Politique  des  Etablissemens 
et  du  Commerce  des  Europeens  dans  les  deux 
Indes,"  first  printed  in  1770.  This  work  was 
for  a  while  extremely  popular  for  its  freedom 
of  opinion  and  brilliancy  of  style,  but  upon  a 
closer  examination  it  was  found  replete  with 
dubious  and  incorrect  statements,  and  disfi- 
gured with  much  empty  declamation  and  un- 
sound opinion.  Sensible  of  these  faults,  the 
abbe  travelled  through  England  and  Holland, 
to  obtain  correct  mercantile  information,  and 
on  his  return  published  an  improved  edition 
ftt  Geneva,  in  ten  volumes  octavo.  It  still 


RE 

however  retained  so  much  freedom  of  opinion, 
and  such  bold  remarks  on  authority  of  every 
description,  that  the  parliament  of  Paris  or< 
it  to  be  burnt,  and  the  author  to  be  arrested. 
He  retired  to  Spain,  and  made  the  tour  of 
Germany,  but  subsequently  ventured  to  return 
to  France,  and  lived  unmolested  in  the  south- 
ern provinces.  In  1788  the  national  assem- 
bly cancelled  the  decree  passed  against  him, 
and  in  1791  he  addressed  a  letter  to  the  con- 
stituent assembly  in  defence  of  the  rights  of 
property,  and  to  strengthen  the  bands  of  civil 
authority,  which  he  now  fully  perceived  the 
necessity  of  supporting.  He  however  per- 
sonally escaped  the  tyranny  of  Robespierre, 
possibly  on  account  of  his  great  age,  but  was 
stripped  of  his  property,  and  died  in  indigence 
at  Passy,  in  1794,  aged  eighty-five.  He  also 
wrote,  "  Histoire  du  Stadhouderat,"  1748  ; 
and  "  Histoire  du  Parlement  d'Angleterre," 
a  weak  and  prejudiced  performance  ;  with 
other  treatises,  historical  and  political.  He  is 
likewise  said  to  have  left  in  MS.  a  history  of 
the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes.  Few 
authors  who  were  so  celebrated,  have  sooner 
sunk  into  neglect. — Nouv.Dict.  Hist.  Monthly 
Rev. 

RAYNAUD  (THEOPHILUS)  a  celebrated 
Jesuit,  was  born  at  Sospello,  in  the  county  of 
Nice,  in  1583.  His  singular  opinions  and  bad 
temper  involved  him  in  several  quarrels  with 
his  society,  with  which  nevertheless  he  conti- 
nued to  reside  until  his  death,  which  took  placo 
at  Lyons  in  1663.  His  works  amount  to  twenty 
volumes  folio,  and  display  great  learning  ;  but 
all  his  subjects  are  treated  in  a  singular  man 
ner,  which  rendered  them  unpopular.  The 
two  best  are,  "  Erotema  de  bonis  et  nialis 
Libris  ;"  and  "  Symbola  Antoniana,"  Rome, 
1648,  8vo,  relating  to  Sc  Anthony's  fire. — 
Dupin.  Kicertin.  Gen.  Diet. 

RE  (PHILIP)  a  distinguished  Italian  agri 
culturist,  born  of  a  noble  family,  at  Reggio,  in 
1763.  He  studied  in  the  college  of  his  native 
city,  and  acquired  a  taste  for  agriculture  from 
the  perusal  of  Virgil's  Georgics,  In  1793  an 
agricultural  professorship  was  founded  in  his 
favour  at  Reggio  ;  and  he  was  subsequently 
appointed  rector  of  the  university  there  ;  ant1 
at  length  a  member  of  the  regency  of  Mcdena 
on  the  suppression  of  which  he  returned  to 
private  life,  accompanied  by  the  respect  am,' 
esteem  of  his  fellow-citizens.  In  1803  he 
was  called  to  the  chair  of  agriculture  at  Bo- 
logna, and  on  the  reorganization  of  the  univer- 
sity of  Modena  in  1814,  he  became  professor 
of  agriculture  and  botany,  to  which  was  added 
the  superintendence  of  the  royal  gardens.  His 
death  took  place  March  26,  1817.  Among 
the  numerous  valuable  works  which  he  pub- 
lished, are,  "  Elementa  di  Agricoltura,"  the 
first  Italian  treatise  in  which  the  principles  of 
chemistry  are  applied  to  the  improvement  of 
agricultural  science ;  "  Dizionario  ragionato 
de'  libri  d' Agricoltura,  Veterinaria,  e  di  rdtri 
rami  d'Economia  campestre,"  4  vols.  16mo  ; 
and  "  Annali  d'Agricoltura,"  1807 — 1814,  a 
periodical  journal. — Biog.  Univ.  Biog.  Nouv. 
des  Contemp. 


KEC 

REAUMUR  (RENE  A.NTOINE  FERCDAULT 
(>e)  one  of  tlie  most  ingenious  philosophic  na- 
turalists which  France  ever  produced.  lie 
was  born  in  1683  at  Rochelle,  and  was  the 
son  of  a  counsellor  of  the  presidial  court  of 
that  city.  He  studied  under  the  Jesuits  at 
Poitiers,  and  afterwards  went  through  a  course 
of  law  at  Bourges  ;  but  a  predominant  taste 
led  him  to  the  observation  of  nature,  and  as 
he  possessed  an  ample  fortune,  he  gave  way 
to  his  inclination.  Having  made  himself  ac- 
quainted with  the  mathematical  sciences,  he 
went  to  Paris  in  1703,  and  by  means  of  his 
relative,  the  president  Henault,  lie  was  speed- 
ily introduced  to  the  literati  of  the  metropolis, 
and  in  1708  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the 
Academy  of  Sciences,  to  which  he  had  pre- 
sented some  memoirs  on  geometry.  For 
nearly  fifty  years  he  continued  to  be  one  of 
the  most  active  and  useful  members  of  this 
celebrated  association  ;  his  labours  alternately 
embracing  the  arts  of  industry,  natural  philo- 
sophy, and  natural  history  ;  and  from  his  first 
entrance  into  die  academy,  scarcely  a  year 
elapsed  in  which  he  did  not  publish  memoirs 
or  separate  works,  both  interesting  and  im- 
portant. He  was  appointed  to  assist  in  the 
descriptive  accounts  of  arts  and  trades  pub- 
lished by  the  academy  ;  and  in  executing  his 
part  of  the  undertaking,  he  did  not  confine 
himself  to  the  mere  history  of  the  different 
processes,  but  pointed  out  the  way  to  various 
improvements,  by  the  application  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  physics  and  natural  history.  He 
made  important  observations  on  the  formation 
of  pearls  ;  and  he  discovered  in  Languedoc, 
mines  of  the  Turquoise,  which  substance  he 
demonstrated  to  be  the  fossilized  teeth  of  an 
animal,  since  called  the  mastodon  ;  but  among 
his  most  useful  researches  must  be  reckoned 
those  of  which  he  gave  an  account  in  his 
"  Traite  sur  1'Artde  converter  le  Fer  en  Acier, 
et  d'adoucir  le  Fer  fondu,"  1722.  As  a  na- 
tural philosopher  the  name  of  Reaumur  is 
principally  celebrated  for  the  invention  of  au 
improved  thermometer,  which  he  made  known 
in  1731.  The  fabrication  of  porcelain  also 
occupied  much  of  his  attention,  and  led  him 
to  the  discovery  of  a  kind  of  enamel,  called 
the  porcelain  of  Reaumur,  in  1739.  But  his 
experiments  and  investigations  concerning  arti- 
ficial incubation  as  practised  in  Egypt,  at- 
tracted more  popular  notice  than  most  of  his 
undertakings.  Of  all  his  literary  productions 
the  most  considerable  is  that  entitled  "  Me- 
moires  pour  servir  a  1'Histoire  des  Insectes," 
1734 — 42,  6  vols.  4to,  which  placed  him  in 
the  first  rank  of  modern  naturalists.  He  had 
no  public  employment  except  that  of  intendant 
of  the  order  of  St  Louis,  which  he  held  only 
for  the  benefit  of  a  relation,  who  was  unable 
to  retain  it  ;  and  his  time  was  entirely  devoted 
to  his  favourite  scientific  pursuits.  He  died 
October  18,  1757,  in  consequence  of  injury 
arising  from  an  accidental  fall.  He  left  to  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  his  manuscripts  and  his 
cabinet  of  natural  history. — Biog.  Univ. 

BECORDE  (ROBERT)  alearned  physician 
and  mathematician  of  the  sixteenth  century, 


R  E  C 

was  elected  fellow  of  All  Souls  college,  Ox- 
ford, in  1531.  He  devoted  himself  to  the 
study  of  physic,  and  going  to  Cambridge,  was 
admitted  doctor  of  that  faculty  in  154,5.  Re- 
turning to  Oxford,  he  publicly  taught  mathe- 
matics with  much  reputation.  He  next  re 
moved  to  London,  where  ne  is  said  to  have 
been  physician  to  Edward  VI  and  Mary,  but 
becoming  embarrassed  in  his  circumstances, 
he  was  confined  for  debt  in  the  King's  Bench 
prison,  where  he  died  in  1558.  He  wrote 
several  mathematical  works,  the  principal  of 
which  are,  "  The  Pathway  to  Knowledge, 
containing  the  first  Principles  of  Geometric, 
&c."  "  The  Ground  of  Arts,  corrected  and 
augmented  by  Dr  John  Dee,  and  afterwards 
by  John  Millis,  1590,  1618,  Robert  Norton, 
Robert  Hartwell,  and  finally  by  R,  C. ;"  "  The 
Castle  of  Knowledge,  containing  the  Expli- 
cation of  the  Sphere,  both  Celestiall  and 
Materiall,  &c  ;"  "  The  Whetstone  of  Witte, 
which  is  the  second  Part  of  Arithmetic,  con- 
taining the  Extraction  of  Rootes,  the  Cossike 
Practice,  with  the  Rules  of  Equation,  and 
the  Works  of  Surde  Nombers,"  1557  :  an 
analysis  of  this  work  is  given  in  Dr  Hutton's 
Dictionary — art.  Algebra  ;  "  The  Urinal  of 
Physic,  &c."  According  to  Sherburne  he  also 
published,  "  Cosmographia?  Isagoge  ;"  "  De 
Arte  faciendi  Horologium  ;"  "  De  Usu  Glo- 
borum  ;"  and  "  De  Statu  Temporum." — Tan- 
ner. Bale..  Pits.  Athen.  Oxon,  Hutton's 
Dirt.  Fuller's  Worthies. 

RECUPERO  (ALEXANDER)  a  learned  an- 
tiquary and  medalist,  born  about  1740,  at  Ca- 
tanea  in  Sicily.  He  was  of  a  noble  family, 
and  being  obliged  to  quit  his  native  country, 
he  took  the  name  of  Alexis  Motta,  under 
which  appellation  he  travelled  through  the 
principal  cities  of  Italy,  and  employed  himself 
in  forming  a  rich  collection  of  the  consular 
medals  of  the  ancient  Romans.  The  exami- 
nation and  classification  of  these  relics  of  an- 
tiquity occupied  him  during  more  than  thirty 
years,  in  the  course  of  which  he  obtained  an 
almost  unrivalled  acquaintance  with  the  family 
history  of  the  illustrious  Romans,  as  appears 
fipm  the  following  works.  "  Itistitutio  Stem- 
matica,  sive  de  Vera  Stemmatum  prseserlim 
Romanorum  Natura  atque  Differentia  ;"  "An- 
nales  familiarum  Romanorum  ;"  and  "Annales 
Gentium  Historico-Numismaticas,  sive  de  Ori- 
gine  Gentium  seu  Familiarum  Rcmanorum 
Dissertatio."  He  also  wrote  on  the  Roman 
weights,  and  manner  of  numbering.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  antiquarian  academies  ot 
Veletri  and  Cortona.  His  death  took  place 
at  Rome,  in  October  1803. — RECUPERO  (dom 
JOSEPH)  brother  of  the  preceding,  a  learned 
mineralogist,  embraced  the  ecclesiastical  pro- 
fession, and  obtained  a  canonry  in  the  cathe- 
dral of  Catanea.  He  particularly  distin- 
guished himself  by  his  researches  concerning 
the  volcanic  mountain  of  Etna  ;  and  some 
'  details  which  he  communicated  to  the  English 
traveller  Brydone,  relative  to  the  probable  age 
of  the  mountain,  as  deduced  from  the  appear- 
;  ances  of  the  different  layers  of  lava  ejected 
!  from  it,  gave  rise,  to  much  misrepresentation, 
B  2 


REE 

and  occasioned  the  Canonico  Recupero,  as  he 
was  called,  to  be  considered  as  a  freethinker. 
He  published  an  oryctogiaphical  chart  of 
Monte  GLibello,  or  Etna  ;  and  left  a  work  on 
the  same  subject  in  manuscript.  His  death 
took  place  in  1787. —  Ring.  Univ. 

RED  I  (FRANCIS)  an  Italian  physician  and 
naturalist  of  great  eminence  in  the  seventeenth 
century.  He  was  born  at  Arezzo  in  Tuscany, 
in  1626,  and  he  studied  first  at  Florence,  and 
then  at  Pisa,  where  lie  was  admitted  doctor  of 
medicine  and  philosophy.  He  obtained  the 
office  of  first  physician  to  Ferdinand  II,  duke 
of  Tuscany  ;  and  he  employed  his  leisure  in 
cultivating  not  only  the  sciences,  but  also  the 
belles  lettres,  having  been  a  considerable  con- 
tributor to  the  Italian  dictionary  of  the  aca- 
demy of  La  Crusca  ;  and  assisted  Menage  in 
his  "  Origines  de  la  Langue  Italienne."  He 
likewise  enjoyed  much  reputation  as  a  poet  ; 
and  as  a  man  of  science  he  is  chiefly  known 
on  account  of  his  experiments  on  the  poison 
of  the  viper,  and  on  the  generation  of  insects. 
Redi  belonged  to  the  academies  of  La  Crusca 
at  Florence,  of  the  CJelati  at  Bologna,  oi  the 
Arcadi  at  Rome,  as  well  as  other  learned  so- 
cieties. He  died  in  1698.  His  works  were 
published  collectively  at  Milan,  1809,  9  vols. 
8vo. — Hutchinsm's  Biog.  Med. 

REDING  (ALOYS,  baron  von)  landa- 
mann  and  general  of  the  Swiss,  was  born  in 
1755.  He  entered  into  the  Spanish  army,  and 
obtained  the  rank  of  colonel ;  but  he  relin- 
quished that  service  in  1783,  and  retired  into 
the  canton  of  Schwitz,  where  he  was  nomi- 
nated to  the  office  of  lands-hauptmann.  On 
the  invasion  of  Switzerland  by  the  French  in 
1798,  Reding  commanded  the  troops  raised 
for  the  defence  of  the  country,  and  obtained 
some  advantages  over  the  enemy,  especially 
on  the  memorable  field  of  Morgarten  ;  but  his 
forces  were  unequal  to  the  contest,  and  the 
Swiss  were  compelled  to  submission.  He  af- 
terwards had  a  considerable  share  in  the  poli- 
tical commotions  which  took  place  ;  and  at 
length,  in  November  1801,  he  was  chosen  the 
first  landamann  of  Switzerland.  By  various 
operations  he  endeavoured  to  secure  some  de- 
gree of  independence  for  his  country,  which 
gave  so  much  offence  to  Buonaparte,  that  he 
had  Reding  arrested  and  confined  in  the  for- 
tress of  Arbourg  ;  but  he  was  set  at  liberty  in 
a  few  months.  In  1803  he  was  elected  landa- 
mann of  the  canton  of  Schwitz,  in  which  qua- 
lity he  assisted  June  5,  1809,  at  the  diet  of 
Fribourg.  After  the  disasters  which  befel 
France  in  1812  and  1813,  he  was  at  no  pains 
to  conceal  his  antipathy  to  Buonaparte  ,  and 
he  is  supposed  to  have  favoured  the  passage  of 
the  allied  troops  through  the  Swiss  territories, 
over  the  Rhine.  His  death  took  place  in 
February  1818. — Biog.  Univ.  Biog.  Nouv.  des 
Contemp. 

REED  (JOSEPH)  the  name  of  one  of  the 
minor  dramatic  poets  of  the  last  century,  none 
of  whose  writings,  though  attended  with  some 
temporary  success,  have  kept  possession  of  the 
stage.  He  was  born  in  1723,  atStockton-upon- 
Teet  The  most  prominent  of  his  works  are 


REE 

j  "  Dido,"  a  tragedy  ;  "  Toin  Jones,"  an  opera ; 
"  The  Register  Office,"  and  "  The  Impos- 
tors," farces  ;  with  a  burlesque  piece,  entitled 
"  Madrigal  and  Trulletta."  Mr  Reed  died 
in  1787,  at  Stepney,  where  he  had  been  en- 
gaged in  trade  as  a  ropemaker  for  many  years 
—  liii'g.  Dram. 

REED  (ISAAC)  an  acute  and  ingenious 
critic,  distinguished  by  his  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  early  English  literature,  a  native  of 
London,  born  1742.  He  was  educated  for  the 
legal  profession,  and  in  the  earlier  part  of  his 
life  practised  as  a  conveyancer  in  one  of  the  in- 
ferior inns  of  court,  but  eventually  gave  himself 
up  entirely  to  the  cultivation  of  the  belles  lettres 
and  general  literature.  He  was  the  author  of 
a  history  of  the  English  stage,  prefixed  to  his 
edition  of  the  "  Biographia  Dramatica  ;" 
"  The  Repository,"  a  collection  of  humorous 
and  miscellaneous  pieces,  4  vols.  1783  ;  be- 
sides superintending  the  publication  of  lady 
Mary  Wortley  Montagu's  poetical  effusions, 
and  au  improved  edition  of  Dodsley's  collec- 
tion of  old  plays.  The  works,  however,  by 
which  he  is  most  advantageously  known  are 
his  splendid  editions  of  Shakespeare,  in  10, 
and  subsequently  in  21  vols.  8vo,  of  which  the 
latter  is  justly  considered  the  most  perfect  ex- 
tant, embodying  in  its  pages  all  the  most  valu- 
able notes  and  elucidations  of  preceding  com- 
mentators, with  much  original  information. 
Asa  book  collector,  also,  he  displayed  consi- 
derable judgment  and  perseverance,  and  had 
amassed  a  library  of  classical  and  miscella- 
neous literature  inferior  to  few  private  col- 
lections. This  became  dispersed  at  his  de- 
cease, and  occupied  thirty-nine  days  in  the 
disposal  of  it  by  public  auction.  In  addition 
to  the  literary  labours  already  enumerated,  the 
periodical  miscellany  known  by  the  name  of 
the  "  European  Magazine,"  of  which  he  was 
partly  the  owner,  was  for  many  years  carried 
on  under  his  own  conduct.  His  death  took 
place  in  the  commencement  of  the  year  1807 
— Gent,  and  Europ.  Magazines. 

REES,  DD.  (ABRAHAM)  a  dissenting 
clergyman,  who  held  a  distinguished  rank  in 
the  literary  and  scientific  world.  He  was  the 
son  of  a  Welch  nonconformist  minister,  and 
was  born  at,  or  in  the  immediate  neighbour- 
hood of,  Montgomery,  in  1743.  Being  in- 
tended by  his  father  for  the  ministry,  he  was 
placed  first  under  Dr  Jenkins  of  Carmarthen, 
and  afterwards  at  the  Hoxton  academy  founded 
by  Mr  Coward,  where  his  progress  in  his 
studies  was  so  rapid,  that  in  his  nineteenth 
year  he  was  appointed  mathematical  tutor  to 
the  institution,  and  soon  after  resident  tutor,  in 
which  capacity  he  continued  upwards  of 
twenty-two  years.  In  1768  he  succeeded  Mr 
Read  as  pastor  to  the  presbyterian  congrega- 
tion of  St  Thomas's,  Southwark  (since  re- 
moved to  Stamford- street),  and  continued  in 
that  situation  till  1783,  when,  on  the  death  of 
Mr  White,  he  accepted  an  invitation  to  be- 
come minister  of  a  congregation  in  the  Old 
Jewry,  whose  spiritual  concerns  he  superin- 
tended till  his  death.  On  the  establishment 
of  the  dissenting  seminary  at  Hackney,  in 


eneral      In  1.76 


KEG 

1786,  Dr  Rees,  who  had,  together  with  Urs 
Savage  and  Kippis'  seceded,  hom,  that,  at  H°X- 
ton  two  years  before'  was  f  ected  to  the  situa- 
tion of  resident-  t^or  f  tbf  natura  ^ces, 
which  l.e  held  till  thf  Dissolution  of  the  aca- 
demy, which  took  P^ce  on  the  death  of  Dr 
Kippis.  But  altlP'g'1  ?r.  Rees'  throuSh°ut 
his  long  life,  distinSu'shed  hlms,elf  as.  au  a^le' 
an  indefatigable,  and  practical  rather  than 

controversial  divine!  l\.ia  m  11S  llterf  y  cal'a- 
city  that  he  is  onnclPa%  and  most  advantage- 
ously  known  to  8°«ty  in 
he  was  applied  to  b  ., 
Chambers  Cyclc1?3^  as  the  Pfrso"  be9J 
quailed  to  8Uperii11tenld1  a  new  .fnd  enlarged 
edition  of  that  v:»luable  compilation  winch, 
after  nine  years  ""essant  la|'oiur'  he  com; 
pleted  in  four  folic1  volumes.  I  he  success  of 
this  work  8timutfted  the  P™P^tors  to  still 
farther  exertions  ;  a  new  undertaking,  similar 
in  its  nature,  hut  rnurl'  mof  comprehensive  in 
its  plan,  was  projfcted  a"d  carried  on  by  him, 
and  he  had  at  i^gth  the  satisfaction  to  see 
the  new  "  Cyclop:3311',51'  ™w  generally  known 
by  his  name,  Pro>d  from.the  Publication  of 
its  first  volume  in 


to  its   completion   m 

forty-five  volumes'-  w^h  ""diminished  reputa- 
*:„_       u^  „.!.„-  jrorks  are,  "  Economy  lllus- 
mended,"  1800;   "Antidote 
Practical 


tion.     His  other 
trated  and  Recom 


Sermons,"  2  >ui- 
Principles  of  Protestant  Dissenters  stated  and 
vindicated;"  besides  a  variety  of  occasional 
discourses.  Dr  Ref 8  °bta"led  h,ls  degree  from 
the  university  of  Edinburgh  at  the  express  re- 
commendation of  Robertson  the  historian.  II 

r  n        of  the  Royal  and  Linnrean 
was  also  a  fellow    ,    ,     ,      ,J     T      _„  „,,,.«, 

societies. 
— Ann.  I 

REEVE(CLA.^ 
born  at  Ipswich 
1808.     She  possr 


His  deat''  took  P'ace  June  9 

RA)  an  ingenious  lady,  was 
in  1738,  and  died  there  in 
ssed  great  learning  and  re- 


search,  which  she  displayed  ,n  a  translation  of 

Barclay's  Latin  n>manc«  °|  A£fms'  Publ'J- 
ed  under  the  title  ,of  "  lie   Phoenix    or  the 

History   of  Polyarfuf  and  Ar&enis'    4  ™ 
12mo,   1772;    arld        The    Progress   of  Ro- 
mance."    Her    c>£er   ™rk*   «?.*?   wdl 
known    tale  of  "lhe  Old   Ln|hsh  £avo" 
"  Tl    Tw    M  ntcrs'  a  mot'ern  ^tory  >         i  he 
ExileV    the    "  Sch?,01    *°T  ™d°™  >"     "A 
Plan   of  Educatio"  5,    and  ,     Memoirs  of  Sir 
Roger  deClarend?"'     *  vols.-G«it.  Mag. 
REGIS    ^PTTI»RE    SYLVAIN)    an    eminent 


(PiER 


REG 

royal  ordonnance.  The  press,  however,  was 
still  open  to  him,  and  through  this  channel  he 
continued,  with  great  energy,  to  promulgate 
and  defend  his  doctrines  against  the  attacks  of 
Du  Hamel  and  the  bishop  of  Soissons,  the  latter 
of  whom  especially  had  in  his  treatise,  Censura 
Philosophise  Cartesianae,  ably  exposed  the 
rrors  of  a  system  to  which  in  his  youth  he 
liad  been  himself  a  convert.  Besides  a  re- 
ply to  bishop  Huet,  Regis  published  a  more 
detailed  account  of  his  tenets  in  his  "  System 
of  Philosophy,"  contained  in  three  quarto  vo- 
lumes ;  and  in  a  work  entitled  "  The  Use  of 
Reason  and  Faith,"  writings  which,  though 
popular  in  their  day,  are  now  become  as  obso- 
lete as  the  hypothesis  they  were  written  to 
advocate.  His  death  took  place  in  1707. — 
Nouv.  Diet.  Hint. 

REGIUS.  The  Latin  designation  of  Urban 
le  Roy,  a  learned  German  professor,  poet, 
and  controversialist  of  the  sixteenth  century . 
He  was  a  native  of  Langenargen,  and  having 
previously  studied  at  Fribourg,  Basle,  and 
other  universities,  completed  his  education 
under  the  celebrated  Johannes  Eckius,  at  In- 
golstadt.  The  doctrines  of  the  reformed 
church  having,  however,  operated  strongly 
upon  his  conviction,  he  sided  with  Luther 
against  his  old  tutor  in  the  polemical  contests 
carried  on  in  1519  and  1521  at  Leipsic  and 
Worms  between  those  zealous  disputants.  In 
pursuance  of  this  change  in  his  religious  sen- 
timents, he  afterwards  retired  to  Augsburg, 
where  he  became  pastor  to  a  Lutheran  con- 
gregation, but  in  1530  exchanged  his  cure  for 
one  of  a  similar  description  at  Lunenburg 
whither  he  had  been  invited  by  the  duke.  As 
a  scholar,  Regius  held  a  distinguished  rank 
among  his  contemporaries,  while  his  talents 
as  a  rhetorician  and  a  poet  procured  him  on 
one  occasion  the  honour  of  a  laurel  crown  from 
the  hands  of  the  emperor  Maximilian.  There 
is  a  complete  edition  of  his  writings  extant,  in 
three  folio  volumes.  His  death  took  place 
suddenly  at  Zell,  in  the  year  1541. — Moreri. 
Nuuv.  Diet.  Hist. 

REGNARD  (JOHN  FRANCIS)  a  comic 
poet,  born  at  Paris,  February  8,  1655.  Hav- 
ing received  a  good  education,  and  being  set 
free  from  restraint  by  the  death  of  his  father, 
he  went  to  Italy  in  1676,  or  1677.  He  was 
fond  of  play,  and  being  very  fortunate,  lie  was 
returning  home  with  a  considerable  addi- 
tion of  property,  when  he  was  captured  by 


\  •,       pher   of  Agenois  in  France,    an  Algerine  corsair,  and  being  sold  for  a  slave, 

i   the  iesuits' college  at  Ca-    he  was  carried  to   Constantinople.     His  skill 
Dora  Iboi?.     iron     .       J  ,  ,       p.      ,    ,     i  ;      .  f ,  , ,   '. ,      ___. 


hors,  at  which  seramary  he  had  received  the 
earlier  part  of  his.  education,  he  removed  to 
Thoulouse  in  166?'  and  five,  years  afterwards 
to  Paris,  where  l,.e  attracted  considerable  no- 
tice by  the  zeal  <vltll1  wbicb  b,e  espoused  the 
system  then  late1^  Broached  by  Des  ,artes, 
the  principles  of  wh11fh,  he  had  originally  stu- 
died under  JacquP?  Wohault.  I  he  popularity 
which  he  »pn,,Wd.  and  the  numerous  audi- 


in  the  art  of  cookery  rendered  him  a  favourite 
with  his  master  ;  but  at  length  he  was  ran- 
somed, and  returned  home.  He  did  not,  how- 
ever, remain  there  long,  for  in  April  1681,  he 
set  off  in  company  with  others,  on  a  journey 
to  Lapland,  and  after  going  as  far  north  as 
Torneo,  he  returned  through  Sweden,  Po- 
land, and  Germany.  Regnard  then  retired  to 


acnuirf'  ' —       an  estate  near  Dourdan,  eleven  leagues  from 

ded  him,  excited  the  jealousy  ,  Paris,  where  he  died,  in  September  1709.   He 
ences  which  atten  .    *  I  f  ,  .     ^     .,  m 

,  who  prevailed  on  the  king,    wrote   an  account  of  his  .Northern    lour;  a 

•ference  of  the  archbishop  of  ,  immbc-r  of  dramatic  ideces,  poems,  and  otl>er 
through  the  mtei  .          ,  •  ,   ,         i  .-1  ,  ,.  , 

tf>p  to  Ins   proceedings  by  a  !  works,  which  ha^e  been  often  published,   in 


1  f 


'O 


RE  I 

6  vols.  8vo,  and  4  vols.  12mo- — Dirt.  Hist 
Biog.  Univ. 

REGNAULT  (NOEL)  a  French  philoso- 
pher and  mathematician  of  the  last  century, 
born  at  Arras,  in  1683.  lie  belonged  to  the 
order  of  Jesuits,  and  is  advantageously  known 
as  the  author  of  several  scientific  and  meta- 
physical works,  the  principal  of  which  are  his 
"  Philosophical  Conversations,"  12mo,  3  vols. 
of  which  there  is  an  English  translation ; 
"  Mathematical  Conversations,"  3  vols.  ;  "A 
System  of  Logic,"  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue, 
12mo;  and  "  Ancient  Origin  of  the  New 
Philosophy,"  3  vols.  He  was  a  man  of  ex- 
emplary moral  character,  as  well  as  deep  eru- 
dition, and  died  in  1762,  in  the  French  me- 
tropolis.— Moreri.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

REGNIER  DBS  MA  RETS  (F.  S.)  See 
DES  MARETS. 

REGN1ER  (MATHUIUN)  a  French  poet, 
was  born  at  Chartres,  in  J573.  His  satires 
form  an  epoch  in  French  poetry,  and  procured 
him  the  patronage  of  cardinal  Francis  de 
Joyeuse,  and  Philip  de  Bethcne,  both  of 
whom  he  accompanied  to  Rome ;  and  they 
obtained  for  him  several  benefices,  which, 
however,  lie  did  not  suffer  to  be  any 
check  upon  his  licentious  life.  He  died  in 
1613.  Boileau  greatly  admired  the  Satires 
of  Ilegnier.  His  poems  have  been  frequently- 
printed  ;  the  best  editions  are  those  of  Rouen, 
8vo,  1729,  and  of  London,  4to,  1734. — Moreri. 
Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

REID  (THOMAS)  a  Scottish  divine,  and 
eminent  metaphysician,  was  born  April  26, 
1710,  at  Strachen,  in  Kincardineshire,  of 
which  parish  his  father  was  minister  for  fifty 
years.  His  education  commenced  at  the  pa- 
rish school  of  Kincardine,  and  was  com- 
pleted at  M arise hal  college,  Aberdeen.  His 
residence  at  the  university  was  prolonged 
beyond  the  usual  time,  in  consequence  of 
being  appointed  librarian,  but,  in  1736,  he 
resigned  that  office,  and  visited  England.  In 
1737  he  was  presented  by  King's  college, 
Aberdeen,  with  the  living  of  New  Machar,  in 
the  same  county,  where  the  greater  part  of 
his  life  was  spent  in  the  most  intense  study. 
In  1752  he  was  elected  professor  of  moral 
philosophy,  at  King's  college,  Aberdeen,  and 
in  1763  accepted  the  same  office  at  Glasgow. 
In  1764  he  published  his  celebrated  "  In- 
quiry into  the  Human  Mind  on  the  Princi- 
ple of  Common  Sense,"  which  was  succeeded 
after  a  long  interval,  in  1786,  by  his  "Essays  on 
the  intellectual  Powers  of  Man,"  and  that  again 
in  1788,  by  his  "  Essay  on  the  Active  Powers." 
These,  with  a  masterly  "  Analysis  of  Aristotle's 
Logic,"  and  an  "  Essay  on  Quantity,"  which 
appeared  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions  in 
1748,  comprehend  the  whole  of  hispublications; 
the  interval  between  the  first  and  the  last  of 
which  amounted  to  forty  years.  After  an 
active  and  useful  life,  Dr.  Reid,  who  survived 
his  wife,  and  a  numerous  family  of  children, 
with  the  exception  of  one  daughter,  died  of 
••tpcate'l  attacks  of  the  palsy,  on  the  7th  of 
October,  1796,  in  his  eighty-sixth  year,  with  a 
high  character  for  benevolence  and  integrity, 


R  E  I 

as  well  as  for  talents.  The  principal  object 
of  the  "  Inquiry"  of  Dr.  Reid  was  to  refute 
the  philosophy  of  Locke  and  Hartley,  by  de- 
ns ing  the  connexion  which  they  supposed  to 
exist  between  die  several  phenomena,  powers, 
and  operations  of  the  human  mind,  and  by 
seeking  to  account  for  the  foundation  of  all 
human  knowledge,  on  a  system  of  instinctive 
principles.  Although  strongly  supported,  it 
lias  also  been  objected  to  on  various  grounds, 
the  principal  of  which  are,  that  he  assumes  no 
small  part  of  the  theory  which  it  is  his  bu- 
siness to  prove  ;  that  by  multiplying  instinc- 
tive principles,  he  has  brought  the  science  of 
mind  into  greater  confusion  than  before  ;  and 
that  his  views  tend  to  damp  the  ardour  of 
philosophical  inquiry,  by  stating  as  ultimate 
facts,  phenomena  which  may  be  resolved  into 
principles  more  simple  and  general.  .These 
objections  are  ably  stated  and  answered  by 
professor  Dugald  Stewart,  who  regards  the 
writings  of  Dr  Reid,  as  forming  the  finest 
school  for  the  acquirement  of  reflecting  on  the 
operation  of  our  own  minds,  that  has  hitherto 
appeared. — Life,  by  Professor  Stewart.  Forbes's 
Life  nf  Beattie. 

REIGNY  (Louis  ABEL  BEFFROI)  com- 
monly called  Cousin  Jaques,  a  French  writer, 
was  born  at  Laon,  in  1757.  He  taught  rhe- 
toric and  the  belles  lettres  in  several  colleges, 
and  in  1770  he  came  to  Paris,  where  he  was 
made  a  member  of  the  Musee,  and  of  the 
Lyceum  of  Arts.  He  died  at  Charenton,  in 
1810.  He  was  a  very  eccentric  and  fer- 
tile writer,  and  composed  several  plays,  which 
were  very  successful  ;  these  were,  "  Les 
Ailes  de  1'Amour ;"  "  Le  Club  des  Eons 
Gens;"  "  Histoire  Universelle ;  "  Nico- 
deme  dans  la  Lune  ;"  La  Petite  Nanette," 
&c.  His  other  works  were,  "  Petites  Mai- 
sons  du  Parnasse  ;"  Marlborough  Tarlututa 
Hurlaberla ;"  "  Les  Lunes ;"  "  Le  Courier 
des  Planetes ;"  "  Les  Nouvelles  Lunes ;" 
"  La  Constitution  de  la  Lune  ;"  "  Precis  His- 
torique  de  la  Prise  de  la  Bastille,"  &c.  &c  He 
also  commenced  a  periodical  work,  entitled 
"  Dictionnaire  des  Hommes  et  des  Choses," 
which  was  suppressed,  on  account  of  its  poli- 
tical opinions. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

RE1L  (JOHN  CHRISTIAN)  professor  of 
medicine,  counsellor,  knight  of  the  red  eagle 
of  Prussia,  &c.  was  born  in  East  Friezland,  in 
1769.  His  father  was  a  clergyman,  and  he 
was  intended  for  the  same  profession  ;  but  he 
was  permitted  lo  follow  his  inclination,  and 
became  a  physician.  He  studied  at  the  col- 
lege of  Naerden,  and  afterwards  at  the  univer- 
sities of  Gottingen  and  Halle,  and  proceeded 
MD.  in  1782.  He  became  chemical  profes- 
sor at  Halle  in  1787,  and  also  medical  super- 
intendant  of  the  poor  of  that  city  ;  the  func- 
tions belonging  to  which  offices  he  discharged 
in  a  manner  highly  creditable  to  his  zeal  and 
i  :n-ity  till  1810,  when  the  king  invited  him 
•  >  1'erlin  ;  and  in  1813  he  was  nominated  di- 
rector of  the  military  hospitals,  established  in 
consequence  of  the  battle  of  Leipsic.  He 
died  of  typhus  fever,  November  12th,  the 
same  year.  Among  the  principal  worke  of 


11  E  I 

professor  Reil,  are,  "  Memorabilium  Clini- 
corum  Medico-practicorum  ;"  "  Archives  of 
Physiology,"  a  periodical  journal  in  German, 
179,1,  &c.  continued  after  his  death;  "Exercita- 
tionum  Analoniicar  urn  fasciculus  primus,  de 
Structura  Nervorum,"  1796,  folio  ;  and  a 
number  of  Memoirs  published  collectively 
at  Vienna,  1811,  2  vols.  and  at  Halle,  1817, 
1  vol. — Bing.  Uui>>. 

RE1MARUS  (HERMAX  SAMUEL)  a  learned 
philosopher  and  classical  scholar,  born  at 
Hamburg,  in  1694.  He  studied  at  Wittem- 
berg, and  afterwards  travelled  in  Germany, 
and  remained  some  time  at  Weimar,  where 
lie  published  some  tracts  under  the  title  of 
"  Primitia  Wismariensia,"  1723,  4to.  Re- 
turning to  Hamburg,  he  obtained  the  chair  of 
philosophy  in  that  city,  of  which  he  was  one 
of  the  principal  literary  ornaments  during 
more  than  forty  years.  He  married  one  of 
the  daughters  of  John  Albeit  Fabricius,  and 
he  assisted  in  the  philological  labours  of  that 
erudite  scholar.  Reimarus,  who  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  imperial  academy  at  Petersburg, 
and  of  many  learned  societies  in  Germany, 
died  March  1,  1768.  He  published  an  ad- 
mirable edition  of  Dion  Cassius,  2  vols.  folio  ; 
an  Account  of  the  Life  and  Writings  of  his 
father-in-law,  Fabricius  ;  "  A  Treatise  on  the 
Principal  Truths  of  Natural  Religion  ;"  and 
"  Observations  Moral  and  Philosophical,  on 
the  Instinct  of  Animals,  their  Industry,  and 
their  Manners,"  of  which  there  is  a  French 
translation,  with  Notes,  Amsterdam,  1770, 
2  vols.  12mo. —  Bing.  Univ. 

REIMMANN  (JAMES  FREDERICK)  an  in- 
dustrious bibliographer,  born  at  Groeningen, 
in  the  principality  of  Ilalberstadt,  in  1668. 
He  was  educated  at  Jena,  and  was  admitted 
a  Protestant  minister ;  but  his  inclination 
led  him  at  first  to  prefer  the  office  of  a 
tutor.  In  1692  he  was  appointed  rector  of 
the  gymnasium  of  Osterwkk,  and  after  hold- 
ing other  situations,  he  relinquished  them, 
and  in  1704  was  chosen  first  pastor  of  the 
province  of  Ermsleben.  A  great  part  of  a 
library  which  he  had  collected  was  destroyed 
by  a  fire,  in  1710,  on  which  he  commenced  a 
new  and  more  extensive  collection  of  valuable 
books.  In  1714  he  became  librarian  to  the 
chapter  of  Magdeburg;  and  in  1717  pastor  of 
Hiklesheim,  and  soon  after  superintendant  of 
the  churches,  and  inspector  of  the  Lutheran 
schools  of  that  district.  His  death  happened 
February  1,  1743.  Among  his  principal 
works  are",  "  Historia  Literaria  de  Fatis  Studii 
Genealogici  apud  Hebrasos,  Grascos,  Romanes, 
et  Germanos,"  1702,  8vo,  of  which  a  second 
edition,  with  a  second  part,  or  continuation, 
was  published  in  1710,  at  Leipsic;  "  Idea 
Systematis  Antiquitatis  Literariae  generalis 
ft  specialioris,  desiderati  adhuc  in  Republica 
Eruditorum  literaria,"  Hildesheim,  1718, 
8vo  ;  "  Historia  universalis  Atheismi  et  Athe- 
orum  falso  et  merito  suspectorum  apud  Ju- 
daRos,  Ethnicos,  Christianos,  &c."  1725,  8vo ; 
"  Historia  Literaria  Babyloniorum  et  Sinen- 
sium,"  Brunswick,  1741,  8vo  ;  besides  valua- 
ble catalogues  of  his  own  library. — Idem. 


RE  I 

REINECCIUS  (REINER)  a  learned  histo- 
rian  and  genealogist,  was  a  native  of  Stein- 
heim,  in  the  diocese  of  Faderborn,  and  was  a 
disciple  of  Melanctbon.  He  tauglit  the  belles 
lettres  in  the  universities  of  Helmstadt  and 
Frankfort,  and  died  in  1595.  He  wrote  "  His- 
toiia  Orientalis  ;"  "  Historia  Julia,"  3  vols. 
folio  ;  "  Methodus  legendi  Historian!  ;  " 
"  Chronicon  Hierosolymitarium  Familias  Re- 
gum  Judoeorum ;"  "  Syntagma  de  Familiis 
Monarchiarum  trium  priorum." — Thuani  Hist. 
Sarii  Onom,  Moreri, 

REINESIUS  (THOMAS)  a  German  physi- 
cian and  classical  scholar  of  eminence  in  the 
17th  century.  He  was  born  at  Gotha,  in 
Saxony,  in  1587;  and  after  having  completed 
his  education,  he  practised  as  a  physician  in 
different  parts  of  Germany.  According  to  his 
own  testimony  in  his  letters,  he  suffered  many 
domestic  and  other  misfortunes,  and  refused 
to  accept  of  academical  professorships  from  an 
apprehension  of  meeting  with  disagreeable 
associates.  He  was  settled  at  length  at  Al- 
tenbourg,  where  he  became  a  burgomaster ; 
and  afterwards  removing  to  Leipsic,  he  was 
appointed  counsellor  to  the  elector  of  Saxony. 
He  died  in  1667.  He  wrote  some  profes- 
sional tracts  ;  but  his  principal  works  are, 
'  Variarum  Lectionum,  libri  iii  ;"  and  his 
Letters. — llaute.  HutcMnson's  Biog.  Med. 

REINHARD  (FRANCIS  WOLRMAU)  a  ce- 
lebrated Protestant  preacher,  who  was  a  na- 
tive of  the  duchy  of  Suiibach,  in  Germany. 
He  was  instructed  by  his  father  (who  was 
a  clergyman)  till  he  was  sixteen,  when 
he  was  admitted  into  the  gymnasium  of  Ra- 
tisbon,  where  he  remained  five  years,  and  in 
3773  he  was  removed  to  the  university  of 
Wittemberg.  The  study  of  sacred  eloquence 
especially  attracted  his  attention  ;  and  his 
reputation  procured  him,  in  1782,  the  chair  of 
theology,  to  which,  in  1784  was  added  the 
offices  of  preacher  at  the  university  church, 
and  assessor  of  the  consistory.  In  1792  he 
was  invited  to  Dresden  to  become  first  preacher 
to  the  court  of  Saxony,  ecclesiastical  counsel- 
lor, and  member  of  the  supreme  consistory. 
After  rilling  these  stations  with  high  renown 
for  about  twenty  years,  he  died  September  6, 
1812.  His  principal  works  are,  "  A  System 
of  Christian  Morality  ;"  "  An  Essay  on  the 
Plan  formed  by  the  Founder  of  Christianity 
for  the  Happiness  of  the  Human  Race  ;"  "  Ser- 
mons ;"  "  Letters  of  F.  W.  Reinhard  on  his 
Studies,  and  on  his  Career  as  a  Preacher  ;" 
"  Lectures  on  Dogmatic  Theology."  -  Bitig. 
Nouv.  des  Contemp.  Biog.  Univ. 

REINHOLD  (ERASMUS)  a  German  ma- 
thematician and  astronomer  of  the  sixteenth 
;entury.  He  was  educated  at  the  university 
of  Wittemberg,  where  he  at  length  became 
professor  of  mathematics,  and  acquired  great 
reputation  by  his  lectures  and  his  writings. 
He  died  in  1553,  in  the  forty-second  year  of 
bis  age.  His  works  comprise  "  Theorias 
Novrc  I'lanetarum  G.  Purbachii,  cum  Scho- 
liis,"  1542,  8vo  ;  the  First  Book  of  Ptolemy's 
Almagest,  with  a  Latin  version  and  scholia. 
Ij4'.>,  8vo;  "  Prutenicae  Tabulae  Caleetiusn 


R  E  L 

Motuum,"  1551,  4co  ;  besides  which  he  pre- 
pared editions  of  several  astronomical  and 
mathematical  treatises.  —  Teissier.  Moreri. 
A/kin's  den.  liiog, 

RKISKK    (JoiiN    JAMES)   a   most  learned 
and    laborious  philologist,   horn  at   Zorbig,  in 
Saxony,  December  25,   1716.     At  the  age  of 
twelve  he  was  sent  to  the  orphan   school  at 
Halle,  and  in  1733  he  went  to  the  university 
of  Leipsic,  being  intended  for  the  clerical  pro- 
fession, and  he  spent   five  years  in  desultory 
studies,  in  the  course  of  which  he  became  ex- 
tremely partial  to  Oriental  literature.  The  first 
specimen  lie  gave  of  his  abilities  was  the  pub- 
lication of  one.  of  the  Narratives  of  Hariri,  with 
Arabic  scholia,  and  a  Latin  version,  1737,  4to. 
He  then  went  to  Holland,  that  he  might  have 
an  opportunity  of  examining  the  stores  of  East- 
ern literature   preserved  in  the   library  of  the 
university  of  Leyden.    In  spite  of  his  poverty, 
which  obliged  him  to  become  a  corrector  of  the 
press,  lie  in  some  measure  effected  his  object  ; 
and  having  also   made  use  of  the  advantages 
which  Leyden  afforded  for  the  study  of  medi- 
cine, he  obtained  the  degree   of  MD.  on   his 
return  to  Leipsic.     His   habits  and  manners 
however,  by  no  means   qualified  him  for  suc- 
cess as   a  physician  ;  and  he    was    therefore 
obliged  to  rely  on  his  literary  occupations  for 
the  means  of  supporting  himself  and  his  family. 
He  was  continually  employed  in  writing,  trans- 
lating, and  performing  other  tasks  for  the  hook- 
sellers  ;  and   besides  a   multitude  of   less  im- 
portant   undertakings,   he   produced    valuable 
editions  of  the  Moslem  Annals  of  Abulfeda  ;  of 
the  Greek  Anthology;  of  the  Greek  Orators  ; 
of  the  Works  of  Plutarch  ;  and  of  the  treatise 
of  Constantine   Porphyrogenitus  on  the  Cere- 
monies of  the  Byzantine  Court.     His  hard  fate 
soured  his  temper,  and  by  his  incautious  criti- 
cisms  he    made   himself   many  enemies.     In 
1758  he  was   appointed  rector  of  the  College 
of  St  Nicholas,  at  Leipsic,  which  office  he  held 
till  his  death  in  August  1774.  —  His  wife,  ER- 
VESTINE  CHRISTINA  MULLER,  instructed   by 
her  husband  in  the  learned  languages,  assisted 
him   in    his  researches,    and    after  his  death 
completed  some  of  his  undertakings.    She  also 
published  his  autobiography,  with  a  list  of  his 
very  numerous  works.    This  lady,  who  printed 
some  productions  of  her  own  composition,  died 
at    Kemberg,    in    July    1798.  —  Aikin's    Gen. 
Biog.      Bifi<r.  Univ. 

KEIZ  or  RE1TZ  (FREDERIC  WOLFGANG) 
a  German  philologist,  born  in  Franconia,  in 
1733.  After  having  completed  his  studies  at 
Leipsic,  he  became  a  private  tutor,  and  then  a 
corrector  of  the  press  in  the  printin-office 


of 


Breitkopf.  lie  successively  held  the  profes- 
sorships of  philosophy,  Latin  and  Greek,  and 
poetry,  and  was  director  of  the  library  belong- 
ing to  the  university  of  Leipsic.  He  died  Fe- 
bruary 2,  1790.  Reiz  is  principally  known  as 
the  editor  of  Herodotus  :  but  he  also  published 
editions  of  other  classics,  and  two  Disserta- 
tions on  Prosody.  —  Bing.  Univ. 

RELAND  (ADRIAN)  a  very  learned  Ori- 
entalist, was  tin1  son  of  a  Dutch  minister,  and 
was  bcrnn^ar  Alkmaer,  in  North  Holland,  in 


It  EM 

1676.     He  was  educated  first  at  Amsterdam, 
and  then  at  the  university  of  Utreclit,  where, 
at  tfie  early  age  of  seven  teen,  he  was  admitted 
to  the  degree  of  doctor  in  philosophy.     After 
staying  there  six  years,  lie  removed  to  Leyden. 
and  soon  after  he  was  chosen  tutor  to  the  son 
of  Bentinck,  earl  of  Portland,  the  favourite  of 
William  III.     That  nobleman  was  desirous  of 
taking  Reland  to  England,  but  the   declining 
health  of  his  father  induced  him  rather  to  give 
up  his  engagement.     In  1699  he  became  pro- 
fessor of  philosophy  at  Harderwyk,  which  place 
he    soon  after  quitted   for    the   chair  of  the 
Oriental  languages  and  ecclesiastical  antiqui- 
ties at  Utrecht.    He  remained  there  seventeen 
years,  and  died  of  the.  small-pox,  February  5, 
1718.     Among  his  more  important  works  are, 
"  Dissertationes  quinque  de  Numis  Veterum 
Hebrrcorum,   qui   ab   Inscriptarum    literarum 
Forma  Samaritan!   appellantur,"   1709,  8vo  ; 
"  De  Religione  Muhamedica  libri  duo,"  1705, 
8vo ;  "  Antiqnitates  sacrse  Veterum  Hebrso- 
rutn,"  1712,  8vo  ;  and  "  Palrestina  ex  Monu- 
mentis  veteribus  illustrata,"  1714,  2  vols.  4to. 
He  also  published  Latin  poems,  orations,  &c. — 
PETER  RELAND,  brother  of   the  preceding,  an 
advocate  at  Haerlem,  who  died  in  1715,  com- 
piled a  useful   work,  entitled  "  Fasti   Consu- 
lares,"    printed    after    his   death    at  Utrecht, 
1715,  8vo. — Moreri.  Saiii  Onom.  Biog.  Univ. 
RELHAN  (RICHARD)  a  divine  and  natu- 
ralist, was   educated  at   Cambridge,    and  be- 
came a  fellow  of  King's  college.     In  1791  he 
attained   the  rectory  of  Hunningsby,   in   Lin- 
colnshire.    His  works   are,    "    Flora  Canta- 
brigeusis,"  in  which  he  describes  his  discovery 
of  a  new   species  of  lichen  and  of  the  atha- 
manta  libanotis  ;  and   "  Tacitus    de  Moribus 
Germanorum  et  de  Vita  Agricola;,"  8vo.     Mr 
Relhan  was  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  and  Linna>an 
Societies.     He  died  in  1823. — Gent.  Mag. 

REMBRANDT  VAN  RHYN  (PAUL)  a 
very  celebrated  painter,  was  born  in  1606,  at 
a  mill  on  the  Rhine,  near  Leyden.  His  father, 
observing  in  him  an  extraordinary  talent  for 
the  arts  of  design,  placed  him  for  six  months 
under  Lastman,  and  as  many  with  Pinas,  from 
whom  he  is  said  to  have  imbibed  that  taste  for 
strong  contrasts  of  light  and  shade,  for  which 
his  pictures  are  so  much  distinguished.  Na- 
ture was,  however,  his  principal  study  ;  and 
one  of  his  designs  attracting  the  notice  of  a 
connoisseur,  his  reputation  soon  increased  ;  and 
in  1630  he  settled  at  Amsterdam,  and  at  once 
came  into  full  employment,  both  as  a  portrait 
and  as  a  general  painter.  He  also  opened  a 
school,  and  had  a  number  of  pupils,  who 
paid  him  very  liberally  ;  and,  being  greedy  of 
gain,  it  was  often  his  practice  to  touch  up  their 
designs  and  sell  them  for  his  own.  He  like- 
wise made  numerous  etchings,  consisting  of 
what  appeared  a  few  random  sketches,  but  so 
managed  as  to  produce  a  surprising  effect.  His 
first  style  of  painting  had  much  of  the  delicate 
finishing  of  Mieiis,  but  this  he  changed  for  a 
bold  and  forcible  manner,  witli  a  vast  body  of 
colour,  and  masses  of  deep  shade  relieved  oy 
bright  lights,  the  effect  of  which  was,  coarse- 
ness and  confusion  when  viewed  near,  but  at  a 


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distance  nothing  could  appear  more  mellow 
and  harmonious.  He  was  a  perfect  master  of 
colouring  and  in  the  magic  of  chair'  oscuro, 
but  he  possessed  few  ideas  of  grace  and  beauty 
and  was  very  incorrect  in  the  naked  human 
form.  He  married  the  handsome  daughter  of 
a  peasant,  who  used  to  sit  to  him  as  a  model, 
as  did  likewise  his  servant  maid.  His  man- 
ners were  rude  and  coarse,  and  unfortunately 
he  could  relish  no  company  but  what  resembled  } 
himself.  Notwithstanding  his  great  gain,  want 
of  economy  made  him  a  bankrupt,  and  he  se- 
cretly quitted  Amsterdam  to  repair  to  the  king 
of  Sweden,  who  employed  him  a  considerable 
time.  He  finally,  however,  returned  to  Am- 
sterdam, where,  according  to  one  account,  he 
died  in  1674,  and  to  another,  in  1688.  Rem- 
brandt is  deemed  a  genius  of  the  first  class  in 
whatever  is  not  immediately  related  to  form 
and  taste.  He  painted  history,  portraits,  and 
landscape  ;  and  his  works  in  all  branches  are 
highly  valued.  Many  of  his  portraits  are  ad- 
mirable, combining  minute  exactness  with  ex- 
traordinary force  and  animation.  His  etchings 
amount  to  two  hundred  and  eighty,  and  are 
extremely  prized  by  all  collectors.  Many  of 
his  works  have  been  engraved  by  other  artists. 
— D' Argenville  Vies  des  Peint.  Pilkington's 
Diet. 

REMIGIUS  or  REMI  (ST.)  a  celebrated 
French  prelate, was  archbishop  of  Rheitns,  and 
was  the  converter  and  baptiser  of  king  Clovis. 
He  died  in  533.  He  wrote  some  "Letters,"  and 
a  "  Testament,"  in  the  Library  of  the  Fathers. 
— Cave.  Fabricius. 

REMIGIUS,  of  Auxerre,  a  learned  Bene- 
dictine of  the  ninth  century,  was  educated  in 
the  abbey  of  St.  Germain  at  that  place.  He 
taught  at  Rheims,  and  attained  great  celebrity  ; 
and  at  length  he  went  to  Paris,  and  opened  the 
first  public  school  in  that^ity  after  the  ra- 
vages of  the  Normans.  He  wrote  "  Commen- 
tarius  in  omnes  Davidis  Psalmos,"  Cologne, 
1536;  "  Enarrationes  in  posteriores  XI.  Mi- 
nores  Prophetas,"  Antwerp,  1545;  with  the 
"  Commentaries  of  (Ecumenius  upon  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles  and  their  Epistles,  and  those 
of  Arethas  upon  the  Book  of  Revelation  ;" 
and  "  Expositio  Missse,"  &c. — Cave.  Dupin. 

REMIGIUS,  a  Roman  saint  and  Gallic 
prelate  in  the  ninth  century,  was  a  native  of 
Gaul,  and  was  grand  Almoner  to  the  emperor 
Lotharius,  who,  about  853,  promoted  him  to 
the  archiepiscopal  see  of  Lyons.  He  was  a 
zealous  defender  of  the  opinionsof  Godeschalc, 
or  of  St.  Augustine,  on  the  subjects  of  grace  and 
predestination ;  and  condemned  the  canons 
decreed  against  that  monk,  as  he  also  did  the 
propositions  of  John  Scotus  Erigena,  relating 
to  the  same  subject.  He  died  in  875.  He 
wrote  some  pieces,  which  may  be  found  in  the 
Bibl.  Pair,  in  "  Maguin's  Collect.  Script,  de 
Prasdestinat.  et  Gratia." — Cave.  Dupin.  Mo- 
reri. 

RENAU  D'ELISAGARY  (BERNARD) 
an  able  French  naval  architect,  was  born  at 
Beam  in  1652,  of  an  ancient  family  of  Navarre. 
•»t  an  early  age  he  attained  the  patronage  of 
M.  du  Terron,  intemlant  of  Rocbefort,  who 


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educated  him  with  a  view  to  the  naval  service. 
He  was  soon  after  made  known  to  the  minister 
of  the  marine,  and  he  much  distinguished 
himself  by  his  plans  for  the  better  construction 
of  vessels.  In  1680  he  conceived  the  idea  of 
bomb-vessels,  which  were  first  employed  by 
Du  Quesne  in  the  siege  of  Algiers  ;  and  he 
subsequently  acted  as  engineer  with  Vauban, 
in  fortifying  the  frontiers  of  Flanders  and  Ger- 
many, and  also  served  in  Spain.  In  the  midst 
of  these  occupations,  he  found  time  to  write  his 
"  Theorie  de  la  Manoeuvre  des  Vaisseaux," 
1689,  8vo,  which  in  respect  to  one  of  its  main 
propositions,  was  refuted  by  Huygens.  As  a 
reward  for  his  able  and  active  services,  Louis 
XIV  made  him  captain  of  a  ship,  with  the 
authority  of  an  inspector  of  the  navy  at  plea- 
sure, with  a  pension  of  12,000  livres.  The 
grand-master  of  Malta  requested  his  assistance 
to  defend  the  island  against  the  Turks,  but  the 
expected  siege  not  taking  place,  he  returned 
to  France,  and  was  honoured  with  the  cross 
of  St  Louis.  He  died  September  30,  1699. 
M.  Renau,  who  in  stature  was  almost  a  dwarf, 
is  deemed  the  best  engineer  produced  by 
France  after  M.  de  Vauban. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 
RENADOT  (EUSEBIUS)  a  French  di- 
vine, celebrated  for  the  cultivation  of  Oriental 
literature,  who  was  the  son  of  Dr.  E.  Renau- 
dot,  mentioned  in  the  next  article.  He  was 
born  at  Paris,  July  20,  1646,  and  educated 
among  the  Jesuits,  and  at  the  college  of  Har- 
court.  He  entered  into  the  ecclesiastical  state, 
that  he  might  have  leisure  for  study  ;  and  his 
attention  was  particularly  directed  to  the  East- 
ern languages,  and  especially  the  Arabic  and 
others  which  would  serve  to  illustrate  the  his- 
tory and  antiquities  of  the  Christian  church. 
His  merit  and  connexions  procured  him  the  pa- 
tronage of  the  prince  of  Comle,  the  duke  de 
Montausier,  Colbert,  Bossuet,  and  other  per- 
sons of  rank  and  talents.  He  was  admitted 
into  the  French  Academy  in  1689  ;  and  two 
years  after  he  succeeded  Quinault,  as  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions.  In  1700 
he  accompanied  cardinal  Noailies  to  Rome, 
at  the  election  of  Clement  XI,  when  the 
abbe  Renaudot,  as  he  was  commonly  styled, 
received  an  appointment  from  the  new  pope  to 
a  priory  in  Bretagne,  which  was  the  only  pre- 
ferment he  could  be  prevailed  on  to  accept. 
On  his  return  home  through  Florence  he  was 
well  received  by  the  grand  duke  ;  and  he  was 
chosen  an  associate  of  the  Academia  della 
Crusca.  He  died  at  Paris,  September  1,  1720, 
leaving  to  the  abbey  of  St.  Germain  des  Pres, 
a  valuable  collection  of  Oriental  MSS.,  now  in 
the  royal  library.  He  assisted,  by  his  trans- 
lations of  Eastern  documents,  in  the  great 
work  of  Arnauld  and  Nicole,  "  Perpetuite  de 
la  Foi,"  of  which  he  also  published  a  "  De-- 
fence," and  a  continuation  in  three  supple 
mental  volumes.  Among  his  other  literary 
labours  are  "  Historia  Patriarcharum  Alexan- 
drinorum  Jacobitarum,"  1713,  4to  ;  "  An-- 
ciennes  Relations  deslndes  et  de  la  Chine  de 
deux  Voy ageurs  M ahometans,  dans le  9 siecle," 
1711,  8vo  :  "  Liturgiarum  Orientalium  Col- 
lectio,"  1716,  2  vols.  4to  ;  besides  several  dis- 


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ftertations  in  t'ne  Memoirs  of  the  Academy  o 
Inscriptions,  and  contributions  to  the  works  o; 
otiirrs. —  >vuu  Onom,  Aikin's  Gen.  Biog.  Biog. 
Univ. 

RENAUDOT  (THEOPIIUASTUS)  a  French 
physician  and  political  writer,  born  at  Loudun, 
in  1684.  lie  went  to  Paris  when  quite  young", 
and  studied  surgery  ;  and  in  1606  he  removed 
to  Montpellier,  and  took  the  degree  of  MD. 
After  having  improved  his  stock  of  knowledge 
by  travelling  for  several  years,  he  settled  at 
Loudun,  and  practised  ns  a  physician  with 
great  success.  In  1612  he  established  himself 
at  Paris,  where  he  obtained  the  appointment 
of  physician  to  the  king,  with  a  pension  of 
eight  hundred  livres.  He  became  known  to 
cardinal  Richelieu,  whose  interest  procured 
him  the  post  of  commissary-general  of  the 
healthy  and  sick  poor  of  the  whole  kingdom, 
for  whose  benefit  he  erected  a  kind  of  dispen- 
sary and  register  office  ;  and  also  the  more 
profitable  privilege  of  establishing  a  "  Ga- 
zette," being  the  earliest  publication  of  the 
kind  known  in  France,  and  which  first  ap- 
peared in  1631.  His  medical  projects  excited 
great  opposition  from  the  faculty  of  Paris  and 
the  whole  profession,  in  consequence  of  which 
Renaudot  was  prosecuted  in  the  court  of  Cha- 
telet  for  the  alleged  irregularity  of  his  practice, 
and  sentence  being  given  against  him  in  De- 
cember, 1643,  he  was  prohibited  from  holding 
consultations  or  continuing  his  establishments. 
His  appeal  to  the  parliament  against  this  de- 
cree was  unavailing  ;  for  the  decree  was  con- 
firmed, with  circumstances  of  additional  seve- 
rity. He  continued,  however,  to  practise  pri- 
vately, and  he  lived  long  enough  to  see  the 
utility  of  antimonial  medicines  (the  employ- 
ment of  which  had  been  condemned  by  his  an- 
tagonists) generally  admitted.  He  likewise 
proceeded  with  the  publication  of  his  Gazette, 
which  was  his  best  resource,  till  his  death,  in 
1653.  He  was  the  author  of  a  Life  of  Henry 
II,  prince  of  Conde,  and  other  biographical 
works  ;  and  he  continued  the  "  Mercure 
Franfais,"  from  1635  to  1643  ;  but  he  wrote 
nothing  on  his  own  profession. — His  two  sons, 
ISAAC  and  EUSEBIUS,  who  were  both  physi- 
cians, continued  the  "  Gazette  de  France," 
after  the  death  of  their  father.  The  latter,  who 
became  first  physician  to  the  dauphiness,  was 
the  author  of  some  nwdical  tracts.  He  died  in 
1679. — Moreri.  Eloy  Diet.  Hist,  de  la  Med. 
Biog.  Univ. 

RENEAULME  (PAUL),  a  French  physi- 
cian and  botanist,  born  at  Blois,  about  1560. 
He  was  the  author  of  a  curious  work,  entitled 
"  P.  Reneaulmi,  MD.  Specimen  Historia: 
Plantarum,"  Paris,  1611,  8vo,  with  plates,  in 
which  he  exhibits  the  outline  of  a  botanical 
arrangement,  founded,  like  that  of  Linnaeus, 
on  those  organs  which  serve  for  the  propaga- 
tion of  plants.  He  also  published  "  De  Cu- 
rationibua  Observationum  liber,"  1606,  8vo; 
from  which  it  appears  that  lie  introduced  into 
practice  the  use  of  hemlock  and  other  active 
medicines,  which  involved  him  in  disputes  with 
the  Parisian  faculty.  He  was  known  and  es- 
'eeined  by  cardinal  Puperron,  the  president 


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De  Thou,  and  others  of  his  eminent  contem- 
poraries ;  and  Plumier  gave  the  name  of  Re- 
nealmia  to  a  genus  of  plants,  in  commemora- 
tion of  him.      His  death  took  place  about  16  J  1 
— Biog.  Univ. 

RENNELL,  BD.  FRS.  (THOMAS)  son  of 
the  rev  Dr  Rennell,  dean  of  Winchester,  mas- 
ter of  the  Temple,  &c.  and  grandson  by  the  mo- 
ther's side  to  the  celebrated  sir  William  Black  - 
stone,  was  born  at  Winchester  in  1787.     At 
an  early  age  he  was  placed  upon  the  "ounda- 
tion  at  Eton,  where  he   distinguished  himself 
by  his  rapid  progress  in  classical  litertaure,  and 
carried  off  Dr   Buchanan's  prize  for  the  best 
Greek  Sapphic  ode  "  On  the  Propagation  of 
the  Gospel  in  India."  About  the  same  period 
he  joined  with  three  of  his  contemporaries  in 
the  publication  of  a  series  of  essays,  under  the 
name  of  the  "  Miniature,"  a  work  on  the  plan 
of  the  "  Microcosm,"  which  went  through  two 
editions,  and  which,  considered  as  the  exclu- 
sive production  of  boys,  exhibits  striking  evi- 
dence of  early  genius.     In  1806  he  removed 
in   due   course  to  King's  college,   Cambridge, 
where  he  completed  his  education,  and  gave 
additional  proof  of  his  increasing  literary  at- 
tainments,  by   gaining,   in  1808,  sir  William 
Browne's  annual  Greek  medal  for   a  Greek 
ode  entitled  "  VerisComites,"  as  well  as  by  his 
contributions   to  the   "  Museum  Criticum,"  a 
work  occasionally  published  by  some  eminent 
scholars  of  the  university.     Having  taken  or- 
ders at   the  usual   age,  he  became  assistant 
preacher  to  his  father  at  the  Temple  church, 
and  in  1811   published  his  "  Animadversions 
on   the  Unitarian  Translation,    or  Improved 
Version   of  the  New  Testament,"  under  the 
modest  designation  of  "  A  Student  in   Divi- 
nity," and  about  the  same  time  undertook  the 
editorship  of  the"  British  Critic."  In  181 6  the 
sishop  of  London  conferred  on  him  the  vicarage 
of  Kensington,   and  in   the  same   year  he  was 
elected  Christian  advocate  in  the  university  of 
Cambridge.     In   this  latter  capacity  he  pro- 
duced   his    ''  Remarks  on  Scepticism,    espe- 
cially as  it  is  connected  with  the  subjects  of 
Organization  and  Life."     This   treatise  was 
.vritten  in  reply  to  opinions  of  sir  T.  C.  Mor- 
gan, Mr  Lawrence,  &c.  on  those  points;  and 
Mr  Rennell  was,  perhaps,  the  rather  induced 
:o  enter  into  the  inquiry,  inasmuch  as  he  had 
limself  made  no  slight  progress  in  the  study 
of  anatomy  and  medicine.    It  was  first  printed 
in  1819,   and  went  rapidly   through  six  edi- 
tions.    His   other   work,    undertaken  in   the 
same  character,  was  occasioned  by  the  publi- 
cation of  the  "Apocryphal  New  Testament," 
and  is  entitled  "  Proofs  of  Inspiration,  or  the 
Grounds  of  Distinction  between  the  NewTes- 
:ament    and  the   Apocryphal  Volume."     In 
1823  he  obtained  from  the  bishop  of  Salisbury 
the  mastership  of  St  Nicholas'  hospital,  with  a 
stall  in  Salisbury  cathedral :  and  in  the  same 
year  a  pamphlet  appeared  from  his  pen,  ad- 
dressed to  H.  Brougham,  esq.  MP.  on  the  sub- 
ect  of  a  speech  made  by  that  gentleman  at 
Durham,  taken  in  connexion  with  some  arti- 
cles in  the  Edinburgh  Review  on  ecclesiastical 
subjects.     In  the  autumn  of  1823  Mr  Reraiell 


REN 

married  a  Miss  Delafield  of  Kensington  ;  but 
not  many  weeks  after  a  violent  attack  of  fever 
terminated  in  a  gradual  decline,  which  carried 
him  off  in  the  June  of  the  following  year,  just 
as    he   had   completed    his  last  work,  a  new 
translation    of   "    Munter's    Narrative   of   the 
Conversion  of  Count  Struensee."     In   private 
life,  he  was  highly  esteemed,  especially  by  his 
parishioners,  at  whose   expeuse  a  monument 
lias  been  erected  to  his  memory  in  their  parish 
church. — Ann.  Biog.    Christian  Remembrancer. 
RENNEV1LLK  (RENE  AUGUSTUS  CON- 
ST A NTINE  de)   a  French  writer,   more  distin- 
guished on  account  of  the  accidents  of  his  life 
than  on  the  score  of  his  talents,  or  his  literary 
undertakings.     He  was  born  at  Caen  in   Nor- 
mandy, about  1650  ;  and  after  serving  for  some 
time  in  the  army,  he  obtained  a  civil  office  at 
Careutan,    through  the    influence    of   M.    de 
Chamillart.     Having  become   a  Calvinist,   he 
left  his  native  country,  aud  settled  m  Holland 
in  1699.     His  patron,  de  Chamillart,  invited 
him  to  return  to  France,  with  the   promise  of 
employment  ;  and  on   his   acceptance  of  the 
offer,  in  1702,   he  was  well  received  by  that 
minister,  who    gave   him  a  pension,  aud  en- 
gaged to  procure  him  a  lucrative  situation.  He 
was    soon  after  denounced  to  M.  de  Torcy,  in 
letters  from   Holland,  as  a  spy  ;  and  WHS  also 
accused  of  having  written  verses  injurious  to 
France.       He   was,   therefore,    arrested,     his 
papers  were  seized,  and  he  was  committed  to 
the  Bastile  in  May  1702.     At  first  he  was 
well  treated,  but  being  suspected  of  having 
favoured  the  escape  of  count  Bucquoi,  he  was 
thrown  into  a  dungeon,  and  afterwards  more 
rigourously  confined.     He  contrived,  however, 
to  procure  books,  and  also  employed  himself  in 
writing  ;  according  to  his  own  account,  making 
his  ink  with  soot  mixed  with  wine,  and  using 
pointed  bones  instead  of  pens.     In  June  1713 
he  was  released,  and  ordered  to  quit  France  ; 
on  which  he  went  to  England,  where  he  wrote 
a  work,  entitled  "  L'Inquisition  Franeaise,  ou 
Histoire  de  la  Bastille,"   Amsterdam,  1715, 
12mo,  which  he  republished  with  additions  in 
1724,  5  vols.  12mo.     He  likewise  compiled  a 
collection  of  voyages,  and  published  some  re- 
ligious works.     The  time  of  his  death  is  not 
known. — Biog.  Univ. 

RENNIE   (JOHN)    a  celebrated  engineer, 
was  born  near  Linton  in  East  Lothian,  in  1760. 
His  father  was  a  respectable  farmer,  who  gave 
him  a  good  education,  and  placed  him  with  ai 
eminent  mill wright.    After  serving  outhis  arti- 
cles, he   commenced  business  on  his  own  ac- 
count, but  in  1783  was  induced  to  remove  to 
London,  where  he  first  distinguished  himsel 
by  the  construction  of  the   Albion  mill.     His 
next  work  of  magnitude  was  the  formation  am 
erection    of    the   machinery    of  Whitbread't 
brewery.     His  reputation  from  this  time  ra 
pidly  increased,  until  he  was  finally  regardet 
as  standing  at  the  head  of  the  civil  engineer 
of  this  country.    Among  his  public  works  maj 
be  mentioned  Ramsgate  harbour,  Waterloo  an< 
Soutiiwark  bridges,  at  least  as  to  construction 
the   Breakwater   at    Plymouth,  and  the  Be 
Hock  Lighthouse,  erected  on  the  same  prin 


REN 

ciples  as    that  of  the  Eddystone,  which  laat 
proof  of  his  great  skill  has  excited  general  ad- 
niration.    Mi  Rennie  was  admirably  adapted, 
v  steady  resolution    and    inflexible   perseve- 
ance,  to  contend  with  the  great  physical  ope- 
itions  of  nature  which  he   was   called   on  to 
ontrol  or  guard  against ;   and  accordingly,  no 
ne  has  effected  greater  performances  in  that 
ranch    of  his  profession.      He    was,    at    the 
ame  time,  in  the  highest  degree  punctual  and 
teady  in  all  his  engagements  ;  and  although 
n  some  respects  a  self-taught  man,   he  ac- 
uired  the  respect  of  the   most  distinguished 
nen  of  science  and  learning  in  his  day,  and 
as  elected  a  member  of  the  Royal  Society. 
lis  death  took  place  at  his  house  in  Stamford- 
treet,    Blackfriars,   October   4,   1821,  in  his 
ixty-first  year,  and   he   was  buried  with  the 
espect  due  to  his  eminent  talents  in  St  Paul's 
athedral. — Ann.  Biog. 
RENNIGER  or  RHANGER  (MICHAEL) 
learned  divine  and  Latin  poet,  was  born  in 
iampshire  in  1529,  and  took  his  degrees  at 
Magdalen  college,  Oxford.     On  the  accession 
f  Slary,  being  of  the  reformed   religion,  be 
eft    England,    but    afterwards  returned,  and 
ecame  one  of  the  chaplains  of  queen  Eliza- 
)eth.     He  obtained  the  archdeaconry  of  Win- 
hester  and  a  prebend  in  St  Paul's.     He  died 
n  1609.     His  works  are,   "  Carmina  in  Mor- 
sm  duorum  Fratrum  Suffoldensium  Henrici  et 
Jaroli  Brandon,"  London,  1552  ;   "  De  Pii  V 
t  Gregorii   XIII    Furoribus  contra   Elizabe- 
ham   Reginam    Anglia; ;    "  An  Exhortation 
o   true  Love,  Loyalty,    and    Fidelity   to  her 
Majesty  ;"  "  Syntagma  Hortationum  ad  Ja- 
obum  Regem  Anglia;,   &c."  and  some  MSS. 
n    Bennet   college    library. — Tanner.      Bate. 
Ath.  Ox.     Stiype's  Life  of  Parker. 
RENTI  (GASTON  JOHN  BAPTIST,  baron  de) 
French  nobleman,  remarkable  for  his  ascetic 
piety.     He  was  born  of  an  ancient  family,  at 
he  castle  of  Beni,  in  the  diocese  of  Baieux,  in 
:611.     After  studying  at  the  college  of  Na- 
arre,  and  under  the  Jesuits  at  Caen,  lie  re- 
urned   to  Paris,  to  complete  his  education  at 
the  school  of  the  young  nobility,  where  he  ac- 
quired skill  in  all  fashionable  and  manly  exer- 
cises.   He  also  learnt  mathematics,  and  wrote 
on  that  science.     His  natural  disposition  for 
a  secluded   life   made  him  desirous   to  enter 
nto  the   religious  order  of  the  Carthusians  j 
jut   being  an  only  son,   he  was  prevented  by 
bis  parents  from  indulging   his   wishes,  and 
induced  to  marry,  and  accept  a  commission  in 
the  army.     He  served  with  distinction  in  the 
wars  of  Lorraine,  and   obtained  the  approba- 
tion  of  his   sovereign.     At   length  he  deter- 

O  O 

mined  to  retire  from  the  world,  and  at  the  age 
of  twenty-seven  he  gave  up  all  his  employ- 
ments, and  devoted  the  remainder  of  his  lite 
to  works  of  charity,  religious  exercises,  and 
mortification.  He  carried  his  austerities  so  far 
as  to  injure  his  health,  and  he  died  at  Paris  in 
1649.  He  is  said  to  have  been  the  author  of 
"  Introducteuren  laCosmographie,"  published 
at  Paris  1645,  2  vols.  8vo.  His  life,  written 
by  father  de  St  Jure,  a  Jesuit,  has  been  often 
printed,  and  translated  into  Italian  aud  En;;- 


REQ 

!ish.     An  abridgment  of  it  was  published  by 
the  faiii-ms  .lolin  \\esley. — Bing.  Unir. 

REPi\li\  (NICHOLAS  \V  ASII.IKWITSCII, 
pnntc)  a  Russian  licld-murslial,  tlie  son  of  a 
prince  of  the  same  name,  who  served  in  the 
aiiny  of  Peter  I.  He  was  born  in  17;>1,  and 
having  adopted  the  profession  of  arms,  lie  dis- 
tinguished himself  in  the  seven  years'  war,  as 
a  volunteer  in  the  French  army,  when  he  passed 
his  winters  at  Paris.  He  was  afterwards  ap- 
pointed by  Catherine  II  assistant  to  the  Rus- 
sian ambassador  at  the  elevation  of  Stanislaus 
Poniatowski  to  the  throne  of  Poland  in  1764 ; 
and  on  the  death  of  his  principal  immediately 
after,  he  became  Russian  minister  at  Warsaw. 
He  remained  there  some  years,  governing  the 
Poles  in  effect,  and  suppressing  their  various 
efforts  for  freedom.  In  1774  he  was  sent  am- 
bassador to  Constantinople  ;  and  in  1778  to 
Breslau,  in  the  double  capacity  of  general  and 
negociator,  when  he  displayed  his  talents  by 
contributing  to  the  treaty  of  Teschen.  In 
1789  he  succeeded  count  Romanzoff  in  the 
command  of  the  army  of  the  Ukraine,  when  he 
formed  the  blockade  of  Isinael,  afterwards 
taken  by  Suwarrow  ;  and  in  July  1791  he  de- 
feated the  grand  visir  Yusuf.  Having  offended 
prince  Potemkin,  he  was  disgraced  and  ba- 
nished to  Moscow,  whence,  however,  he 
was  recalled  to  be  made  governor  of  Livo- 
nia. After  the  last  partition  of  Poland,  he 
received  the  government  of  Lithuania  ;  and  he 
subsequently  submitted  to  serve  under  Suwar- 
row. Paul  I,  in  1796,  promoted  prince  Rep- 
nin  to  the  rank  of  a  field-marshal,  and  1798 
sent  him  on  a  secret  mission  to  Berlin.  Not 
having  succeeded  in  his  endeavours  to  prevail 
on  the  Prussians  to  join  in  the  meditated  coa- 
lition against  France,  on  his  return  to  Peters- 
burg, Repnin  was  ordered  to  retire  to  Moscow, 
where  he  died  in  May  1801. — Biog.  Univ. 
King.  Nouv.  des  Contemp. 

REPTON  (HUMPHREY)  a  private  gentle- 
man, distinguished  by  his  skill  in  the  art  of 
ornamental  gardening.  He  was  a  native  of 
Bury  St  Edmund's  in  Suffolk,  where  he  was 
born  in  1752.  Having  acquired  the  friendship 
of  the  late  Mr  Windham,  he  accompanied 
that  gentleman  to  Ireland  in  1783,  and  ob- 
tained a  lucrative  situation  in  the  castle  of 
Dublin,  which,  however,  he  gave  up  when 
his  friend  quitted  Ireland.  On  his  return  to 
London,  he  professionally  applied  himself  to 
the  improvement  of  gardens  aud  pleasure 
grounds,  in  which  pursuit  he  was  extensively 
employed.  He  published  several  works  on 
miscellaneous  subjects,  but  his  principal  pro- 
ductions are  on  landscape  gardening ;  and 
these  have,  secured  a  very  wide  attention.  He 
died  in  1818,  leaving  several  sons,  one  of 
whom  is  married  to  a  daughter  of  the  earl  of 
Kldon. — Ann.  Biog. 

REQUENO  (  VIXCEXTE)  a  learned  Spanish 
Jesuit,  was  born  in  Grenada  about  1730.  Hav- 
ing a  great  taste  for  the  fine  arts,  on  the  expul- 
sion of  his  order  he  went  to  Italy,  and  in  1782 
he  sent  to  the  society  opened  in  Madrid  for 
Mie  fine  arts,  a  memoir,  which  obtained  the 
first  prize.  He  acquired  great  fame,  bv  an 


11  ET 

elaborate  work,  printed  at  Seville  in  1766,  on 
the  "  Roman  Antiquities  in  Spain."  But  lie 
is  best  known  by  his  "  Saggi  sul  Risiabili  • 
mcnto  dell'  Antica  Arte  de'  Greci  e  de'  llomani 
Pittori  ;"  the  object  of  which  was  to  restore 
the  ancient  art  of  Greek  and  Roman  painting, 
and  describing  the  manner  of  encaustic  paint- 
ing  used  by  them,  and  the  materials  employed 
therein.  His  opinions  were  supported  by 
many  professors  of  eminence,  but  artists  were 
very  backward  in  adopting  them.  Requeno 
died  at  Venice  in  1792. — Diet.  Hist.  Supple- 
ment. 

RESENIUS  (PETER)  a  learned  and  indus- 
trious writer,  born  at  Copenhagen  in  1625. 
His  father,  John  Reseuius,  was  professor  of 
ethics  at  Copenhagen,  and  afterwards  bishop 
of  Zealand.  The  son,  having  studied  philosophy 
and  theology,  became  rector  of  a  gymnasium, 
which  office  he  quitted  in  1647,  and  went  to 
Leyden,  where  he  remained  four  years,  attend- 
ing the  lectures  of  Heinsius,  Boxhorn,  Yin- 
nius,  aud  other  celebrated  professors  of  that 
university.  He  then  travelled  in  France, 
Spain,  and  Italy,  and  remained  some  time  at 
Padua,  where,  in  1653,  he  received  the  di- 
ploma of  LL.D.  Returning  to  Copenhagen, 
he  engaged  in  the  study  of  Danish  antiquities, 
and  collected  a  great  number  of  ancient  re- 
lics, books,  and  MSS.  relating  to  the  north 
of  Europe.  In  1657  he  was  appointed  pro- 
fessor of  ethics,  and  in  1662  he  obtained  the 
second  chair  of  jurisprudence  in  the  univer- 
sity. He  was  besides  invested  with  several 
honourable  offices  ;  and  he  died  June  1,  1688. 
Having  no  family,  he  left  his  rich  library  to 
the  university  of  Copenhagen  ;  and  of  his  col- 
lection he  published  a  Catalogue  in  1685,  4to, 
preceded  by  an  interesting  sketch  of  his  life. 
His  principal  publications  are,  editions  of  the 
Islandic  Edda  ;  "  Inscriptiones  Havnienses  ;'' 
"  Lexicon  Islandicum  Gudmundi  Andres ;" 
"  Jus  Aulicum  vettis  Regum  Norvigorum  ;" 
"  Leges  Cimbricee  Valdemari  secundi  Regis 
Danici ;"  and  "Leges  civiles  et  ecclesiastic! 
Christiani secundi." — King.  Un. — JOHN  PAUL 
RESENIUS,  a  Danish  divine,  who  became  bishop 
of  Roschild,  translated  the  Bible  into  his 
native  language.  He  died  in  1638. — Morci-i. 

RESTAUT  (PETER)  a  grammarian,  was 
born  at  Beauvais  in  1694.  He  was  an  advo- 
cate in  the  parliament  of  Paris,  and  became  a 
protege  of  the  chancellor  d'Aguesseau.  He 
wrote  an  excellent  work,  entitled  "  Principes 
generaux  et  raisonnes  de  la  Grammaire  Fran 
9aise  ;"  and  "  Trait6  de.  I'Orthographie,  en 
forme  de  Dictionnaire,''  8vo.  He  died  in 
1764.— Diet.  Hist. 

RETZ  (JOHN  FRANCIS  PAUL  DE  GONDI. 
cardinal  de)  a  celebrated  political  character 
was  born  at  Montmirel  in  1614.  He  was  the 
son  of  Philip  Emanuel  de  Gondi,  general  of 
the  gallies,  descended  from  a  Florentine  fa- 
mily. His  father  obliged  him,  against  his  will, 
to  embrace  the  ecclesiastical  profession,  and 
he  was  placed  under  the  tuition  of  the  famous 
Vincent  de  Paul.  Several  abbacies  were  con- 
ferred upon  him  at  an  early  age,  and  in  162? 
he  was  presented  to  a  canoury  of  Notre  Dame. 


RE  Ll 

He  passed  through  his  course  of  study  with 
distinction,    and  in   1643  was   appointed  co- 
adjutor to  the  archbishop  of  Paris,   his  uncle. 
His  deportment  was  by  no  means  adapted  to 
his  profession  ;  he   fought  duels,  entered  into 
every  species  of  dissipation,  and  so  early  de- 
voted  himself  to  political  intrigue,    that,   ac- 
cording to  Voltaire,  he  was  the  soul  of  a  con- 
spiracy against  the  life  of  cardinal  Richelieu 
at  the  age  of  twenty-three.     The  ministry  of 
Mazarin  was,  however,  the  period  of  his  great 
partv  consequence,  and  he  was  the  source  of  all 
the  factious  cabals  which  led  to  the  petty  civil 
war  of  the  Fronde.     It  was  he  who  induced 
the  Parisians   to  take  up  arms  on  the  day  of 
the  Barricades,  and  for  some  time  he  was  the 
Catiline  of    this    sedition.       At    length    the 
court  was  induced  to  buy  him  oft'  by   a  cardi- 
nalate,   to  which  he    was   nominated  by  the 
king  in  1651.     Like  other  deserters  he  imme- 
diately lost  his  popularity,  and  for  the  future 
acted  only  a  secondary   part.     He  could  not, 
however,  cease  from  caballing,  and  at  last  Ma- 
zarin, who  both  hated  and  feared  him,  impri- 
soned him  in  the  castle  of  Vincennes,  whence 
he  was  removed   to   Nantes,  from  which  he 
contrived  to  escape  into  Spain,  and  thence  pro- 
<eeded  to  Rome.     He  subsequently  travelled 
through  Holland,  Flanders,  and  England,  and 
on  the    death  of  Mazariu,  in  1661,  made  his 
peace  with  the  court,  by  the  renunciation   of 
the  archbishopric  of  Paris,   to  which   he  had 
succeeded  by  the  death  of  his  uncle.     He  had 
hitherto  lived  with  great  magnificence,  which 
had  plunged  him  deeply  in  debt,  but  he  ho- 
nourably   determined    to  live   upon    a    small 
income  until  he  paid  his  debts,  which,  although 
enormously  large,    he   effected.     In  1675  he 
wished  to  give  up  his  cardinal's  hat,  and  retire 
from  the  world,  but  the  pope  would  not  receive 
it.     The  later  years  of  his  life  procured  him 
respect,   a:id   he  died  regretted  at   Paris,  in 
1679,  at  the  age  of  sixty-six.     The  character 
of  cardinal  de  Retz  has  been  drawn  by  several 
eminent   writers,    all    of   whom  agree    in  its 
principal  features.     Daring,  turbulent,  and  in- 
triguing, with  designs    rather  romantic  than 
elevated,  and  conducted  with  more  adroitness 
than  ability,   he  seemed  exactly   fitted  to  act 
the  part  which  he  sustained  in  what  JMarmon- 
tel  calls  the  tragi-comedy  of  the  Fronde.    His 
"  Memoirs  "  are  well  worthy  perusal;  they 
were  written   by  himself  in  his  retreat,  with 
considerable  impartiality;  for  he  neither  spares 
himself  nor  others,  and  his  portraits  of  those 
who  acted  parts  in  the  intrigues  of  the  Fronde 
are  very  curious.  He  was  the  author  of  severa 
other   writings  relative   to  the  affairs  of  the 
time    and  the  party,  which  are  now  but  little 
read. — Siecle  de  Louis  XIV.     Moreri. 

REUCHLIN  (JOHN)  a  celebrated  German 
philologist,  born  at  Pfortzheim,  in  1455.  His 
early  proficiency  in  learning  recommended  him 
to  the  margrave  of  Baden,  who  sent  him  with 
Lis  own  son  to  study  at  Paris.  He  returned 
to  Germany  with  his  patron,  but  a  wish  to 
apply  himself  to  Greek  literature  induced  him 
to  go  again  to  the  French  metropolis  alone, 
where  Le  supported  himself  by  copying  Greek 


R      U 

manuscripts.     In  1474   he  went  to  Basil,  and 
ook  the  degree   of  doctor  in  philosophy,  and 
fterwards  studied  the  law  at  Orleans,  and  in 
481  he  obtained  the   diploma  of  licentiate  iu 
hat  faculty  at  Poitiers.     Having  accompanied 
iverard,   count  of  Wurtemberg,  to   Rome  aa 
lis  private  secretary,  in  1482,  he  was  received 
vith  the  distinction  due  to  his  talents,  and  he 
particularly  noticed  by  Lorenzo  de'  Me- 
lici,    at    Florence.       Returning  to   Germany 
pvith  his  patron,  who  became  duke  of  Suabia, 
le  established  himself  at  Stuttgard.    In  1484 
le    was  nominated   assessor   of  the   supreme 
:ourt ;  and  the  next  year  he  proceeded  doctor 
if  law  at  Tubingen.     In  1486  he  was  sent  to 
he  diet  of  Frankfort ;  and  in  1487  he  was  at 
he   coronation  of  the    emperor  Frederic  III. 
fie  was  afterwards   employed  in  some  diplo- 
matic affairs,    and    his  services  were  recom- 
lensed  with  the  title  of  count  Palatine.     He 
made  use   of  the  opportunity  afibrded  by  his 
residence  at  the  imperial  court,  to  study   He- 
>rew  under  Loans,  a  Jew,  who  was  physician 
to  the  emperor.     After  the  death   of   duke 
Everard,  he  retired   to  Worms,  where  lie  re- 
mained under  the  protection  of  the  bishop, 
till  he  was  employed  by  the  elector  palatine 
n  negociations  at  Rome.     After  the  renewal 
of  the   league  of   Suabia,  in  1500,    Reuchlin 
was  appointed  judge  of  a  tribunal  at  Tubin- 
gen, in  1502,  and  he  held  the  office  eleven 
years.     The  latter  part  of  his  life  was  embit- 
tered  by  a  dispute  with  the  theologians   of 
Cologne,  who  had  obtained  from  the  emperor 
a  decree  authorizing  the  destruction  of  all  the 
books  of  the  Jews,   except  the   Bible,  at  the 
instance  of  Pfeffercorn,  a  convert  from  Judaism 
Reuchlin  wished  to  restrict  this  order  to  such 
books  only  as  had  been  written  against  Chris- 
tianity ;  and  wrote  an  answer  to  a  publication 
of  Pfeffercorn  on  the  subject,  which  subjected 
him  to  much  illiberal  ab'ise   and  persecution. 
His  death  took  place  at   Stuttgard,   in    1522. 
He  composed  the  first  Hebrew  grammar  and 
lexicon  for  the  use  of  Christians  ;  and  he  was 
the  author  of  a  treatise  "  De  Verbo  mirifico  ;" 
another,  in  three  books,  "  De  Arte  Cabbalis- 
tica ;"    a    Latin    comedy,   &c.     This    learned 
man,  in  compliance  with  the  taste  of  his  age, 
called   himself  Capnio,  a  Greek  translation  of 
his    German    family    name,     which    signifies 
smoke. — Stdlii    Introd.  in  Hist.    Litt.     Biog. 
Univ. 

REUSNER  (NICHOLAS)  a  learned  jurist, 
poet,  and  miscellaneous  writer  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  He  was  a  native  of  Silesia,  and  stu- 
died at  Wittemberg  and  Leipsic.  Going  to 
Augsburg  in  1565  to  see  the  ceremonies  of 
the  diet,  he  produced  some  pieces  of  Latin 
poetry,  which  procured  him  the  notice  of  the 
duke  of  Bavaria,  who  nominated  him  profes- 
sor in  the  college  of  Liningen,  of  which  he 
afterwards  became  rector.  In  1583  Le  took 
the  degree  of  doctor  of  laws  at  Basil ;  and  he 
was  invested  with  the  dignity  of  ass-ssor  of 
the  imperial  chamber  of  Spires,  and  appointed 
professor  in  the  academy  of  Strastmrg.  His 
reputation  caused  him  to  be  invited  to  Jeua 
in  1589,  and  h«  was  twice  rector  of  that  uni- 


RE  V 

rers'ity.  The  emperor  llodolph  IT  bestowed 
on  him  publicly  the  laureate  crown,  andci 
Lim  count  palatine  ;  ami  in  l.V.V>  he  was  dc>- 
puty  from  tlie  electorate  of  Saxony  to  the  diet 
of  Poland,  He  died  at  Jena,  in  1602,  aged 
fifty-seven.  A  list  of  the  works  of  Reusaer 
may  be  found  in  Niceron's  Memoir?.  Among 
the  most  important  are,  "  Hodocporicorum, 
sive  lunerum  totius  fere  Orbis,  lib.  vii."  1580, 
8vo,  a  curious  compilation  ;  "  Icones  seu 
Imagines  Yirorum  Literis  illustrium,  additis 
eorundem  Elogiis  diversorum  Auctorum," 
1587,  8vo  ;  a  second  part,  1539,  8vo  ;" 
"  ^Enigmatologia,  seu  Sylloge  yEuigmatum  et 
Gryphorum  convivialium,"  1589,  8vo ;  and 
"  Opera  Poetica,"  1593,  8vo.— REUSNER 
(Ei.iAs)  an  anti(iuary  and  historian,  brother  of 
the  preceding,  was  professor  of  philosophy  at 
Jena,  where  he  died  in  1612.  He  was  the 
author  of"  Genealogicon  Romanum  de  Fami- 
liis  pr;ecipuis  Regum,  Principum,  Caesarum, 
&c."  1590,  folio  ;  and  other  works  relative  to 
history  and  genealogy. — Biog.  Univ. 

REUVENS  (JOHN  EVEHAKD)  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  lawyers  Holland  ever  pro- 
duced, was  bom  at  Haevlem  in  1763,  and 
studied  at  the  university  of  Leyden.  Having 
taken  his  degrees,  he  established  himself  at 
the  Hague  as  an  advocate  ;  and  after  acquir- 
ing great  reputation,  he  was  appointed, in  17i>5, 
counsellor  to  the  court  of  justice  of  the  pro- 
vince of  Holland.  When  the  Revolution  had 
changed  the  form  of  the  government,  he  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  judicial  department 
of  the  state,  with  the  title  of  agent  of  justice  ; 
and  on  the  occurrence  of  new  political  altera- 
tions in  1801,  he  was  made  president  of  the 
high  court  of  justice.  Under  the  regal  go- 
vernment, in  1806,  M.  Reuvens  was  nomi- 
nated counsellor  of  state  extraordinary,  then 
president  of  the  first  section,  and  at  length 
vice-president  of  the  council.  On  the  union 
of  Holland,  to  France  in  1810,  he  became  pre- 
sident of  the  court  of  appeal  at  the  Hague  ; 
but  was  soon  after  invited  to  Paris,  and  made 
counsellor  of  the  court  of  cassation.  When 
his  native  country  recovered  its  independence 
in  1814,  he  returned  home,  and  was  nominated 
president  of  the  court  of  appeal  at  the  Hague, 
and  commander  of  the  order  of  the  Union. 
The  criminal  code  of  the  kingdom  of  the 
Netherlands  is  almost  entirely  his  work,  and 
it  has  obtained  the  approbation  of  the  most 
eminent  lawyers.  Being  a  member  of  the 
commission  appointed  to  present  projects  for 
the  other  codes  of  law,  he  went  to  Brussels  in 
July  1816,  where  he  perished,  the  victim  of  a 
dark  conspiracy,  the  authors  of  which  have 
never  been  discovered.  He  was  the  author  of 
an  inaugural  dissertation  "  De  Cautione  Mu- 
ciana." — Biog.  Nouv,  des  Contemp. 

REVAI  (NICHOLAS)  a  learned  Hungarian, 
born  in  1751.  He  was  educated  in  the  Pious 
Schools,  and  became  an  ecclesiastic.  Having 
cultivated  literature  with  success,  he  made 
himself  known  as  a  poet,  a  philologist,  and  a 
grammarian.  Among  his  prose  works  are, 
"  Hungarian  Antiquities  ;"  and  "  Elaboratior 
Grammatica  Hungarica,  ad  genuinam  patrii 


REW 

Sermonis  indolem  fideliter  exacta,  affinium- 
que  linguHruin  adminiculis  locupletius  illus- 
trata,"  IV.-th,  1  !',(>.>,  1  vols.  4to.  He  was 
professor  of  the  Hungarian  language  and  lite- 
rature at  Pesth  ;  and  he  contributed  mucli  to 
excite  a  spirit  of  critical  research  among  his 
countrymen.  His  death  took  place  April  1, 
1807. — Biog.  Univ.  Biog.  Nouv.  des  Cunti-inp. 

REVELEY  (WILLEY)  an  ingenious  Eng- 
lish architect  and  antiquary,  who  studied 
under  sir  William  Chambers.  He  travelled  in 
Greece  and  the  Levant  to  observe  the  remains 
of  ancient  art,  and  brought  home  a  valuable 
collection  of  drawings,  the  fruits  of  his  talents 
and  industry.  As  an  artist,  he  distinguished 
himself  by  the  erection  of  the  church  of  All 
Saints  at  Southampton,  and  various  other 
structures.  He  prepared  for  the  press  the 
last  volume  of  Stuart's  "  Antiquities  of 
Athens;"  and  he  died  in  the  prime  of  life, 
July  6,  1799. — Eurap.  Mag. 

REWBELL  (JOHN  BAPTIST)  one  of  the 
directors  of  the  French  republic,  born  at  Col- 
mar  in  Alsace,  in  1746.  He  was  an  advocate 
in  the  sovereign  council  of  his  native  province 
in  1789,  and  being  devoted  to  the  popular  in- 
terest, he  was  chosen  a  deputy  from  the  tiers- 
etat  to  the  states-general.  On  his  arrival  at 
Paris  he  displayed  a  violent  spirit  of  innova- 
tion, and  a  decided  enmity  to  the  existing  go- 
vernment. After  the  dissolution  of  the  first 
assembly,  Rewbell  became  attorney-general 
syndic  of  the  department  of  the  Upper  Rhine, 
and  he  exercised  that  function  during  the 
whole  continuance  of  the  legislative  assembly. 
Being  nominated  by  his  department  a  deputy 
to  the  Convention,  in  September  1792,  he 
voted  for  the  establishment  of  a  republic,  and 
warmly  pressed  the  trial  of  Louis  XVI,  though 
lie  did  not  vote  on  that  occasion,  being  absent 
on  a  mission  to  Mayence.  He  was  afterwards 
employed  as  a  commissary  of  the  Convention 
in  La  Vendee  ;  and  he  remained  in  similar  si- 
tuations during  the  reign  of  terror.  In  Octo- 
ber, 1794,  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the 
committee  of  public  safety  ;  and  in  December 
following  he  was  elected  president  of  the  Con- 
vention. Under  the  new  constitution  of  tht 
year  3  (1795),  he  became  a  member  of  the 
council  of  five  hundred,  aud  soon  after  he  was 
raised  by  his  colleagues  to  the  highest  magis- 
tracy of  the  state,  being  first  nominated  one 
of  the  five  directors  of  the  republic,  of  which 
he  thus  obtained  the  presidency.  During  the 
four  years  he  was  director,  he  is  said  to  have 
given  great  offence  by  his  pride  and  obstinacy  ; 
and,  together  with  Barras  and  La  Reveilliere 
Lepeaux,  he  formed  a  majority  which  over- 
ruled the  opinions  of  his  two  remaining  col- 
leagues. In  March  1799,  he  was  replaced  by 
the  abbe  Sieyes,  when  he  was  nominated  by 
his  department  a  member  of  the  council  of 
ancients,  in  which  he  was  the  object  of  violent 
denunciations,  from  which,  however,  he  de- 
fended himself.  After  Buonaparte  overturned 
the  government,  Rewbell  held  no  office.  He 
died  in  obscurity  in  1801. — Biog.  Univ. 

REWICZKY  (CHAKLES  EMERANCK  DE 
REVISSINGF.,  count)  a  celebrated  bibliogra- 


KEY 

pher,  born  in  Hungary  in  1737.  After  having 
finished  his  studies  at  Vienna,  lie  visited  the 
principal  courts  of  Europe,  and  the  classic  re- 
gions of  Asia.  He  acquired  a  knowledge  of 
languages  with  singular  facility  ;  and  he  spoke 
and  wrote  French,  German,  Italian,  English, 
Spanish,  and  most  of  the  Northern  and  Ori- 
ental dialects.  The  empress  Maria  Theresa 
appointed  him  ambassador-extraordinary  to 
Warsaw  ;  and  Joseph  II  afterwards  sent  him 
to  Berlin.  He  was  subsequently  employed  on 
a  mission  to  the  court  of  London,  1790  ;  and 
also  resided  in  England  in  a  private  capacity  : 
but  his  death  took  place  at  Vienna  in 
1793.  Count  Rewiczky  published  an  edi- 
tion of  the  works  of  Petronius,  and  of  the 
odes  of  the  Persian  poet  Hafiz ;  but  his 
principal  production  was  a  catalogue  of  his 
own  library,  which  he  published  under  the 
name  of  "  Periergus  Deltophilus." — Biog. 
Univ. 

REY  (JOHN)  a  philosopher  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  who  was  one  of  the  precursors 
of  the  science  of  pneumatic  chemistry,  which 
Las  made  such  advances  towards  perfection  in 
our  times.  He  was  a  native  of  Bugue,  in  the 
province  of  Perigord,  and  after  having  received 
the  degree  of  MD,  he  went  to  reside  with  his 
brother  at  Rochebeaurant,  devoting  his  leisure 
to  the  study  of  chemistry  and  physical  science. 
In  1630  he  published  the  result  of  his  re- 
searches, under  the  title  of  "  Essais  sur  la 
Recherche  de  la  Cause  pour  laquelle  1'Etaiu 
et  le  Plomb  augmentent  de  Poids  quand  on  les 
calcine,"  8vo.  This  interesting  work  shows 
that  Rey  had  in  some  degree  forestalled  the 
grand  discoveries  of  the  moderns  relative  to 
the  influence  of  oxygen  gas  in  the  calcination 
of  metals,  on  which  the  antiphlogistic  theory 
of  chemistry  is,  in  a  great  measure,  founded. 
Rey,  who  corresponded  with  father  Mersenne, 
and  others  of  his  scientific  contemporaries, 
died  in  1645.  His  treatise,  just  mentioned, 
was  republished  by  Gobet  at  Paris,  1777, 
8vo. — Tilloch's  Philos.  Mag.  Biog.  Univ. 

REY  (JEAN  BAPTISTE)  an  eminent  French 
musician,  born  in  1734,  at  Lauzerte,  in  the 
department  of  the  Tarn  and  Garonne.  He  re- 
ceived the  rudiments  of  a  musical  education 
in  a  monastic  establishment  at  Thoulouse, 
whence,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  he  removed 
as  a  chorister,  to  the  cathedral  at  Auch.  In 
his  fortieth  year,  his  reputation  as  a  composer 
having  reached  the  ears  of  the  court,  a  lettre- 
de-cac.het  brought  him  from  Nantes,  where  he 
was  at  that  time  settled,  to  Paris,  and  the  ap- 
pointment of  chamber-musician  to  the  king 
was  conferred  upon  him,  with  a  salary  of  2000 
francs.  His  promised  advancement  in  the  royal 
household  was  prevented  by  the  Revolution  ; 
he  still,  however,  continued  to  direct  the 
opera  orchestra  for  more  than  thirty-five 
years,  and  under  Napoleon  was  appointed  to 
superintend  that  of  the  chapel-royal.  Besides 
a  variety  of  operas  of  his  own  composition, 
some  of  which  are  still  popular,  he  completed 
the  "  Arvire  et  Eveline  "  of  his  friend  Sac- 
chini,  at  the  express  request  of  that  composer. 
He  died  in  1810,  of  grief,  it  is  said,  occasioned 


REY 

by  the  loss  of  a  favourite   daughter. — Biug. 
Diet,  of  MHS. 

REYHER  (SAMVIL)  a  German  writer  ou 
mathematics  and  general  literature,  born  at 
Schlussingen  in  1635.  He  studied  at  the 
university  of  Leydeu,  after  which  he  became 
tutor  to  the  prince  of  Saxe  Gotha.  He  next 
obtained  the  mathematical  chair,  and  at  length 
that  of  jurisprudence,  in  the  university  of 
Kiel.  In  1674  he  published  a  dissertation, 
"  De  Mundo,"  relating  to  the  different  sys- 
tems of  astronomy  ;  and  afterwards  a  uni- 
versal history  of  jurisprudence ;  a  German 
translation  of  Euclid's  Geometry  ;  "  Mathesis 
Biblica  ;"  and  other  works.  He  died  at  Kiel, 
in  1714. — Moreri.  Biog.  Univ. 

REYNEAU  (CHARLES  RENE)  known  by 
the  appellation  of  father  Reyneau,  an  eminent 
French  mathematician,  who  was  the  son  of  a 
surgeon  at  Brissac,  in  the  province  of  Anjou. 
He  was  born  in  1656,  and  having  finished  his 
studies,  at  the  age  of  twenty  he  entered  into 
the  congregation  of  the  Oratory.  He  studied 
the  then  prevailing  system  of  Cartesian  philo- 
sophy, in  conjunction  with  which  he  acquired 
an  intimate  acquaintance  with  geometry  ;  and 
he  was  sent  by  his  superiors  to  teach  mathe- 
matics and  physics  first  at  Pezenas,  and  after- 
wards at  Toulon  and  Angers.  In  1708  he 
published,  for  the  use  of  his  pupils,  a  treatise 
entitled  "  Analyse  Demontr£e."  2  vols.  4to  ; 
which  was  followed  by  "  Science  du  Calcul 
des  Grandeurs  ;"  and  in  1716  he  was  chosen 
an  associate  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  at 
Paris.  He  suffered  a  great  deal  from  sickness 
in  the  decline  of  life,  and,  on  account  of  his 
learning  and  his  virtues,  died  much  regretted, 
in  1728. — Martin's  Biog.  Philos.  Biog.  Univ. 

REYNIER  (JOHN  Louis  EBENEEER)  a 
French  general  and  man  of  science,  born  at 
Lausanne,  in  1771.  He  had  received  a  good 
education,  and  was  preparing  to  enter  into  the 
corps  of  engineers,  when  the  French  Revolu- 
tion facilitated  his  views.  In  1792  he  made  a 
campaign  in  Belgium,  attached  to  the  staff  of 
the  army  ;  and  being  raised  to  the  rank  of  ad- 
jutant-general, he  contributed  to  the  success 
of  the  French,  under  Pichegru.  Appointed 
general  of  a  brigade  during  the  conquest  of 
Holland  in  1794,  he  distinguished  himself  at 
the  passage  of  the  Wahal.  He  then  served 
under  Moreau,  as  chief  of  the  staff,  in  the 
army  of  the  Rhine  ;  and  in  the  memorable  re  - 
treat  in  1796,  as  well  as  on  several  other  oc- 
casions, he  signalized  his  talents.  In  1798  he 
went  with  Buonaparte  to  Egypt,  where  he  was 
present  at  the  battle  of  the  Pyramids  ;  and  he 
joined  in  the  Syrian  expedition,  laid  siege  to 
El  Arisen,  and  commanded  for  a  time  at  that 
of  Acie.  He  overthrew  the  janizaries,  and 
thus  contributed  greatly  to  the  victory  of  He- 
liopolis  ;  but  having  subsequently  quarrelled 
with  general  Menou,  he  was  not  well  received 
by  Buonaparte  on  his  return  to  France.  In 
1802  he  published  a  work,  entitled  "  De 
T  Kgypte  apres  la  Bataille  d'Heliopolis,  et  Con- 
siderations generates  sur  1'Organisation  phy- 
sique et  politique  de  ce  Pays,"  Paris,  1802, 
8vo  ;  which  involved  him  in  a  dispute  with  ge- 


KEY 

naral  D'Estaign,  with  whom  he  fought  a  duel, ' 
when,  having  killed  his  antagonist,  he  was  ex- 
iled from  Paris.  In  180.")  he  was  recalled,  and 
employed  in  Italy.   Soon  after,  lie  entered  into 
the  service  of  Joseph  Buonaparte,  then  king 
of  Naples,  and  in   July  1806  he  was  defeated 
by  the  English,  under  general  Stewart,  at  the 
battle  of  Maida.     In  1809  he  served  in  Ger- 
many, and  commanded  the  Saxons  at  the  battle  ' 
of  Wagram  :  and  in  1812  he  was  engaged   in  , 
the  Russian  campaign,  and  appointed  to  cover  | 
the  right  of  the  grand  army  in  Poland.  lu  1813 
he  was  made  prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Leipsic  ;  < 
and,  on  being  exchanged,   he  went  to  Paris,  • 
where   he   died  of  gout,  February  27,  1814. 
Besides   the  work  already  mentioned,  he  was 
the  author  of  "  Conjectures  sur  les  auciens  ha- 
bitants de  1'Egypte,"  1804,  8vo  ;  and   "  Sur 
les  Sphynx  qui  accompagnent  les   Pyramides 
d'Egypte,"   1805. — Blog.  Univ.     Biog.  Nouv. 
des  Contemp. 

REYNOLDS  (EDWARD)  bishop  of  Nor- 
wich in  the  seventeenth  century,  a  prelate  of 
considerable  talent  and  polemical  ability.  Pie 
was  a  native  of  Southampton,  born  about  the 
year  1569,  and  having  received  the  rudiments 
of  a  classical  education  in  the  grammar-school 
there,  removed  to  Merton  college,  Oxford,  of 
which  society  he  became  fellow,  and  eventually 
warden.  A  strong  Calvinist  in  his  religious 
opinions,  he  entered  the  ministry,  and  obtained 
the  living  of  Braynton,  Northants,  with  the 
preachership  of  Lincoln's-inn  ;  and,  on  the 
breaking  out  of  the  civil  commotions,  distin- 
guished himself  by  the  zeal  of  his  animadver- 
sions against  the  court  party.  This  procured 
him  to  be  elected  one  of  the  assembly  of  di- 
vines who  met  at  Westminster  ;  and  he  also 
assisted  at  the  conference  held  in  the  Savoy, 
which  was  followed  by  his  advancement 
to  the  deanery  of  Christchurch.  From  this 
preferment  he  was,  however,  ejected  for  de- 
clining the  test  in  1651,  and  returned  to  the 
metropolis,  where  he  resided  for  nearly  eight 
years,  till  he  was  replaced  in  his  former  situa- 
tion. In  1660,  much  to  the  scandal  of  the  low 
church  party  with  which  he  had  hitherto  act- 
ed, he  accepted  a  seat  upon  the  episcopal 
bench,  and  continued  to  preside  over  the  dio- 
cese of  Norwich  till  his  death  in  1676.  There 
is  a  folio  volume  of  his  devotional  and  contro- 
versial writings  extant,  which  breathe  through- 
out the  spirit  of  the  reformer  of  Geneva.— Biog. 
Brit.  H'onrf. 

REYNOLDS  (sir  JOSHUA)  an  eminent 
English  painter,  was  born  at  Plympton,  in 
Devonshire,  in  1723,  being  the  tenth  child  of 
the  reverend  Samuel  Reynolds,  master  of  the 
grammar-school  of  that  town.  He  early  dis- 
covered a  predilection  for  the  art  of  drawing, 
which  induced  his  father  to  place  him,  at  the 
age  of  seventeen,  with  Hudson,  then  the  most 
famous  portrait  painter  in  London,  with  whom 
he.  remained  three  years,  and  then,  upon  some 
trifling  disagreement,  returned  into  Devon- 
shire. He  passed  some  time  without  any  de- 
terminate plan,  and  from  1746  to  1749  pur- 
sued his  profession  in  Devonshire  and  London, 
and  acquired  numerous  friends  and  patrons. 


KEY 

Among  the  latter  was  captain,  afterwards  loril, 
Keppel,  whom  he  accompanied  on  a  cruise  in 
the  Mediterranean,  and  proceeded  to  Rome 
in  which  •  apital  and  other  parts  of  Italy,  he 
spent  three  years.  On  his  return  to  London 
he  painted  a  fall  length  portrait  of  captain 
Keppel,  which  was  very  much  admired,  and 
at  once  placed  him  at  the  head  of  the  English 
portrait  painters.  Rejecting  the  stiff,  unva- 
ried, and  unmeaning  attitudes  of  former  artists, 
he  gave  to  his  figures  air  and  action  adapted 
to  their  characters,  and  thereby  displayed 
something  of  the  dignity  and  invention  of  his- 
tory. Although,  from  want  of  early  practice, 
he  never  attained  to  perfect  correctness  in  the 
naked  figure,  he  has  seldom  been  excelled  in 
the  ease  and  elegance  of  his  faces,  and  the 
beauty  and  adaptation  of  his  fancy  draperies. 
His  colouring  may  be  said  to  be  at  once  his 
excellence  and  his  defect.  Combining,  in.  a 
high  degree,  the  qualities  of  richness,  brilliancy, 
and  freshness,  he  was  often  led,  by  a  restless 
love  of  experiment,  to  try  modes  which,  pro- 
bably from  want  of  a  due  knowledge  in  che- 
mistry and  the  mechanism  of  colours,  fre- 
quently failed,  and  left  his  pictures  after 
a  while  in  a  faded  state.  He  rapidly  acquired 
opulence,  and  being  universally  regarded  as 
at  the  head  of  his  profession,  he  kept  a 
splendid  table,  which  was  frequented  by 
the  best  company  in  the  kingdom,  in  re- 
spect to  talents,  learning,  and  distinction. 
On  the  institution  of  the  Royal  Academy, 
in  1769,  he  was  unanimously  elected  pre- 
sident, on  which  occasion  the  king  con« 
ferred  upon  him  the  honour  of  knighthood. 
Although  it  was  no  prescribed  part  of  his 
duty  to  read  lectures,  yet  his  zeal  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  tine  arts  induced  him  to 
deliver  annual  or  biennial  discourses  before 
the  academy  on  the  principles  and  practice  of 
painting.  Of  these  he  pronounced  fifteen, 
from  1769  to  1790,  which  were  published  in 
two  sets,  and  form  a  standard  work.  In 
1781  and  1783  he  made  tours  into  Holland 
and  Flanders,  and  wrote  an  account  of  his 
"  Journey/'  which  consists  only  of  short  notes 
of  the  pictures  which  he  saw,  with  an  elabo- 
rate character  of  Rubens.  He  was  a  distin- 
guished member  of  the  celebrated  club  which 
contained  the  names  of  Johnson,  Garrick, 
Burke,  and  others  of  the  first  rank  of  literary 
eminence,  and  seems  to  have  been  universally 
beloved  and  respected  by  his  associates.  He  is 
the  favourite  character  in  Goldsmith's  poem  of 
"  Retaliation,"  and  Johnson  characterised  him 
as  one  whom  he  should  find  the  most  difficulty 
how  to  abuse.  In  178 the  succeeded  Ramsay 
as  portrait-painter  to  the  king,  and  continued 
to  follow  his  profession,  of  which  he  was  en- 
thusiastically fond,  until  he  lost  the  sight  of 
one  of  his  eyes.  He  however  retained  his 
equable  spirits  until  threatened,  in  1791,  wilh 
the  loss  of  his  other  eye  ;  which  apprehension, 
added  to  his  habitual  deafness,  exceedingly 
depressed  him.  He  was  not,  however,  a  prey 
to  lingering  illness,  being  carried  off  by  a 
disease  in  the  liver  in  1792,  in  his  sixtieth 
year.  He  died  unmarried,  and  was  interred  in 


R  E  Z 

St  Paul's  cathedra],  with  au  attendance  of 
nobility  and  oilier  persons  of  eminence  which 
Uas  seldom  been  equalled  at  the  obsequies  of 
a  private  person.  He  left  a  large  property, 
the  bulk  of  which  went  to  a  niece  married  to 
the  earl  of  Inchiquin.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds, 
although  there  was  scarcely  a  year  in  which 
bis  pencil  did  not  produce  some  work  of  the 
historical  kind,  ranks  chiefly  in  the  class  of 
portrait  painters.  His  "  Ugolino,"  and  his 
"  Death  of  Cardinal  Beaufort,"  are,  however, 
deemed,  in  grandeur  of  composition,  and  force 
of  expression,  among  the  first  performances  of 
the  English  school.  But  on  the  whole  his 
powers  of  invention  were  inadequate  to  the 
higher  flights  of  historic  painting,  although  in- 
exhaustible in  portrait,  to  which  he  gave  the 
most  delightful  variety.  His  character  as  a 
colourist  has  been  already  mentioned,  and  if 
not  a  thorough  master  iii  drawing,  he  gave 
much  grace  to  the  turn  of  his  figures,  and  dig- 
nity to  the  airs  of  his  heads.  To  conclude, 
although  he  did  not  reach  that  grand  style 
•which  in  his  writings  he  almost  exclusively 
holds  up  to  admiration,  his  works  are  highly 
pleasing ;  and  the  engravings  from  his  por- 
traits and  other  works  have  contributed  much 
to  the  perfection  of  that  branch  of  art  in  Eng- 
land. As  a  writer  he  obtained  great  credit  by 
his  "  Discourses,"  which  are  elegant  and 
agreeable  compositions,  although  sometimes 
vague  and  inconsistent.  He  also  added  notes 
to  "  Dufresnoy's  Art  of  Painting,"  and  gave 
three  papers  on  painting  to  the  "  Idler."  The 
whole  of  "  The  Literary  Works  of  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds  "  were  edited  by  Mr  Malone  in  two 
volumes,  quarto,  1797,  with  a  life  of  the 
author. —  JJfe  by  Malone.  Pitkingtnn. 

REYRAC  (FRANCIS  PHILIP  LAURENS  DE) 
a  French  ecclesiastic,  was  born  at  Layville,  in 
the  Limousin,  in  1734.  He  became  prior  of 
St  Maclou,  at  Orleans,  and  an  associate  of  the 
Academy  of  Inscriptions.  He  is  principally 
known  by  his  "  Hymns  to  the  Sun,"  8vo.  iiv 
the  flowery  prose  of  Fenelon.  His  other 
works  are,  "  Idylls  in  Prose,"  8vo  ;  "  Sacred 
Poems;"  and  "  Manuale  Clericorum,"  12mo. 
The  abbe  Reyrac,  who  was  much  admired 
for  the  purity  of  his  morals  and  the  gentle- 
ness of  his  disposition,  died  in  1782. — Nouv. 
Diet.  Hist. 

REYS  (ANTONIO  DOS)  a  Portuguese  di- 
vine, who  distinguished  himself  by  his  atten- 
tion to  literature.  He  was  born  at  Pernes, 
near  Santarem,  in  1690  ;  and  died  at  Lisbon, 
in  1738.  He  entered  into  the  congregation  of 
the  fathers  of  the  Oratory,  and  was  historio- 
grapher to  the  order,  and  qualificator  to  the 
inquisition.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Aca- 
demy of  History  at  Lisbon,  and  chronologist 
of  the  kingdom.  He  published  a  great  num- 
ber of  his  works,  among  which  are  Latin 
Poems  ;  the  Life  of  Don  Ferdinand  de  Me- 
nazes  ;  a  collection  of  Portuguese  poetry  ;  and 
a  collection  of  Latin  poetry,  by  Portuguese 
authors. — B'°n'  Univ, 

REZZONICO  (ANTHONY  JOSEPH,  count) 
marshal  of  the  camp,  chamberlain  to  the  infant 
el-ike  of  Parma,  and  governor  of  that  citidel 

liioo.  DICT. — VOL.  111. 


II  H  E 

was  born  at  Como,  in  1709,  and  died  in 
lie  devoted  much  of  his  time  to  literary 
pursuits,  and  produced  the  following  works, 
"  Disquisitiones  Pliniame,  sive  de  utriusque 
Plinii  atria,  scriptis,  codicibus,  editionibus, 
atque  interpretibus,"  2  vols.  fol.  which  13 
much  esteemed  ;  "  De  Suppositis  Militaribus 
stipendiis  Benedict!  Odeschalci  qui  Ponufex 
Maximus,  anno  1676  Innocentii  praenomine. 
fuit  renunciatus  ;"  "  Musarum  Epinicia,"  &c. 
His  son,  the  count  Gastone  della  Torre  llezzo- 
nico,  was  born  in  Parma,  in  1740,  and  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  his  literary  attainments. 
At  a  very  early  age  he  was  chosen  a  member 
of  the  Academia  degli  Arcadi,  and  was  ap- 
pointed president  of  an  academy  of  fine  arts  at 
Parma  ;  but  falling  into  disgrace  at  court, 
he  journeyed  for  some  time  through  Europe, 
and  on  his  return  to  Italy  he  settled  at  Rome. 
His  poetical  works  were  printed  in  2  vols.  at 
Parma,  and  are  much  admired  for  their  no- 
bleness of  expression,  lively  imagery,  and 
propriety  of  diction.  He  died  in  1795. — 
Diet.  Hist.  Sax.  Onitm. 

RHAZES  or  RAZI,  an  Arabian  physician 
of  the  ninth  century,  who  was  a  native  of 
Korasan,  and  became  superintendant  of  a 
public  hospital  at  Bagdat,  where  he  long  re- 
sided with  the  highest  reputation  as  a  medi- 
cal practitioner.  He  wrote  a  "  Discourse  of 
the  Pestilence,"  by  which  term  he  designated 
the  small-pox  ;  and  he  is  the  earliest  author 
extant  who  has  treated  of  that  disease,  which 
made  its  first  appearance  in  Egypt  in  the  reign 
of  the  caliph  Omar,  the  successor  of  Maho- 
met. Rhazes  died  in  932,  at  the  age  of 
eighty. — Friend's  Hist,  of  Phys.  Moren. 

RHEINEK  (CHRISTOPHER)  a  German 
composer  and  musician  of  some  note,  born  in 
1748,  at  Memmingen.  He  perfected  his  mu- 
sical education  at  Lyons,  in  which  city  he 
produced  his  first  opera,  "  Le  Nouveau  Pyg- 
malion," which  met  with  great  success,  and 
procured  him  the  notice  of  Turgot,  who  in- 
vited him  to  the  metropolis,  with  the  promise 
of  a  suitable  provision.  The  disgrace  of  that 
minister,  however,  which  took  place  before 
the  arrival  of  his  protege  in  Paris,  prevented 
the  realization  of  the  hopes  held  out,  and  the 
latter  retired  at  length  to  his  native  place, 
where  he  commenced  business  as  an  innkeeper. 
Two  other  operas  of  his  composition,  "  Le 
Fils  Reconnaissant,"  and  "  Rinaldo,"  with 
Stadele's  poetry,  are  much  admired,  as  well 
as  his  oratorio,  "  Der  Todgesang  Jesu."  He 
also  published  a  collection  of  songs,  in  4  vols. 
He  died  in  1796. — Biog.  Dict.ofMus. 

RHESE  (JOHN  DAVID)  or  John  Rhese 
Davis,  a  physician,  was  born  in  1534,  in  the 
isle  of  Anglesea,  and  died  in  1609.  He  studied 
at  Christchurch,  Oxford,  whence  he  went  tc 
Sienna,  where  he  took  his  doctor's  degree. 
His  works  are,  "  De  Italics  Linguse  Pronun- 
ciatione,"  P;idua;  "  Rules  for  Obtaining  the 
Latin  Tongue,"  printed  in  Italian  at  Venice  ; 
"  Cambro-Britannicaj,  Cymerascxve  Lingua? 
Institutions  etRudimenta,  &c." folio.—  Wo»d. 

RHETICUS    or    JOACHIM    (Gi^noB) 
who  derived  the  former  appellation  from    tl!3 
C 


R  H  O 

ancient  name  of  his  native  country,  (Rhretia,) 
was  an  eminent  mathematician  of  the  six- 
teenth century.  He  was  born  at  Feldkirchen, 
in  the  Valteline,  in  1514;  and  he  studied  at 
the  university  of  Witteraberg,  where  he  ob- 
tained the  chair  of  mathematics  and  astrono- 
my. Having  heard  of  the  discoveries  of  Co- 
pernicus, br  quitted  his  situation,  and  went  to 
Thome  to  visit  that  celebrated  astronomer,  and 
having  adopted  his  doctrines,  he  published  an 
account  of  them.  He  died  of  a  catarrh,  at 
Cassau  in  Hungary,  in  1576.  His  works  are, 
"  Ephemerides  ;"  "  Orationes  de  Astrono- 
mia,  Geometria,  et  Physica  ;"  "Canon  Doc- 
trinaj  Triangulorum  ;"  "  Narratio  de  Libris 
Revolutionum,  &c.  Nicolai  Copernici."  Be- 
sides which  he  left  a  great  number  of  valuable 
manuscripts. — Teissier  Eloges  des  H.S. 

RH1GAS  or  RIGAS  (-  )  a  modern 

Greek  patriot,  born  about  1755,  at  Velestini, 
a  small  town  of  Thessaly.  He  studied  in  the 
colleges  of  his  native  country,  and  was  early 
distinguished  for  his  ready  apprehension  and 
extensive  acquirements.  While  yet  young  lie 
repaired  to  Bucharest,  and  resided  there  till 
1790,  dividing  his  time  between  commercial 
pursuits  and  his  studies.  He  became  inti- 
mately acquainted  with  the  ancient  literature 
of  Greece,  and  made  himself  familiar  with 
the  Latin,  French,  German,  and  Italian  lan- 
guages. He  conceived  the  project  of  a  grand 
secret  society,  in  opposition  to  the  domination 
of  the  Turks,  and  among  the  discontented 
chiefs  who  became  associated  with  him  was 
the  pacha  Passwan  Oglou.  He  proceeded  to 
Vienna,  where  he  met  with  a  number  of  rich 
Greek  merchants,  and  some  learned  emigrants 
of  the  same  nation.  From  that  metropolis  he 
extended  his  correspondence  to  various  parts 
of  Europe.  He  commenced  a  Greek  journal 
for  the  instruction  of  his  countrymen,  and 
translated  the  Travels  of  Anacharsis  the 
Younger,  and  other  French  works  ;  and  com- 
posed a  treatise  on  military  tactics,  and  an 
elementary  treatise  on  natural  philosophy; 
and  he  likewise  drew  up  a  grand  chart  cf  all 
Greece,  in  twelve  divisions,  wherein  he  noted 
not  only  the  present,  but  also  the  ancient 
names  of  all  places  celebrated  in  Grecian  his- 
tory. At  length  he  fell  a  sacrifice  to  trea- 
chery, being,  together  with  eight  of  his  friends, 
denounced  by  one  of  his  associates  to  the 
Austrian  government  as  a  conspirator  against 
the  state.  He  was  arrested  at  Trieste,  and 
ordered  to  be  delivered  up  to  the  Ottoman 
Porte ;  but  he  was,  with  his  companions, 
drowned  in  the  Danube,  his  conductors  fear- 
ing to  be  intercepted  by  Passwan  Oglou.  This 
catastrophe  took  place  in  May  1798,  when 
llhigaa  was  about  five-and- forty  years  of  age. 
—Month,  Mag.  vol.  Ivii.  B'wg.  Univ. 

RHOD1G1NUS  (Ccei-ius)  a  learned  Ita- 
lian, whose  real  name  was  Lndovico  Celio  Ri- 
chieri,  was  born  at  Rovigo  in  1480,  and  stu- 
died at  Ferrara  and  Padua.  He  was  public 
professor  at  Rovigo  for  some  years,  and  in  1503 
he  opened  a  school  at  Vicenza,  where  he  re- 
mained until  1508,  when  lie  was  invited  ro 
Ferrara  by  duke  Alfonso  I.  In  1515  he  was 


RH  U 

named  to  the  chair  of  Greek  and  Latin  elo- 
quence, by  Francis  I :  six  years  ftfter  he  re- 
turned to  1'iidua,  whence  lie  was  deputed  to 
Venice  to  congratulate  the  new  doge.  He 
died  in  1525  of  grief,  on  account  of  the  de- 
feat and  capture  of  Francis  I  at  the  battle  of 
Pavia.  He  wrote  a  work,  entitled  "  Antique 
Lectiones,"  in  30  books,  which  displays  great 
research  and  erudition,  and  excites  wonder 
that  it  should  be  so  little  known.  Julius  Cae- 
sar Scaliger  called  Rhodiginus  "the  Varro  of 
the  age." — Vossii  Hist.  Lot.  Tirabnschi. 

RHODIUS  (JOHN)  a  learned  physician  and 
antiquary,  was  born  in  1587,  at  Copenhagen. 
In  1614  he  went  to  Padua,  where  he  fixed  his 
residence,  but  refused  all  appointments  which 
were  offered  to  him  in  order  to  devote  himself 
entirely  to  study.  His  works  are,  "  Notae  et 
Lexicon  inScriboniumLargumdeCompositione 
Medicamentorum,"  a  very  erudite  work,  and 
useful  for  the  elucidation  of  the  works  of  the 
early  medical  writers  ;  "  Analecta  et  Notre  in 
Lud.  Septalii  Animadversiones  et  Cautiones 
Medicas,  1652  ;"  "  Oratio  de  Ponderibus  et 
Mensuris,  et  Vita  Celsi ;"  "  De  Acia  Disser- 
tatio  ad  Cornelii  Celsi  mentem,"  Patav. 
1639;  "  Observationum  Medicinalium  Cen- 
turias  tres ;"  "  Mantissa  Anatomica  ad  T. 
Bartholinum  ;"  and  "  Observationes  Poste- 
riores." — Hallerii  EibL  Med.  et  Anatom.  Elov 
Diet. 

RHODOMAN  (LAURENCE)  a  learned  Ger- 
man, was  born  at  Sassowerf,  in  Upper  Saxo- 
ny, in  1546,  and  studied  at  the  college  of  II- 
feld,  under  Michael  Neander.  He  waa  pro- 
fessor of  Greek  at  Jena  for  some  years,  and  of 
history  at  Wittemberg,  where  he  died  in 
1606.  He  was  deeply  learned  in  the  Gieek 
language,  in  which  he  wrote  some  very  good 
poetry,  particularly  a  history  of  Martin  Lu- 
ther in  Greek  verse.  His  other  works  are, 
"  Troica  seu  Historic  Trojanse  Epitome," 
Gr.  et  Lat.  verse  ;  "  Historian  Ecclesia;  ejus- 
que  Politias,"  Greek  verse,  with  a  Latin  trans- 
lation ;  "  Historic  Sacrse,  Gr.  Lat.  lib.  ix." 
&c. — Baule.  Bail  let.  Mcrreri. 

RHUNKEN,  RUHNKEN,  or  RHUN- 
KENIUS  (DAVID)  a  celebrated  critical  scho- 
lar and  philological  writer,  born  at  Stolpen  in 
Pomerania,  in  1723.  He  was  intended  for 
the  ecclesiastical  profession,  but  he  consulted 
his  inclination  in  devoting  himself  to  the  study 
of  classical  literature.  Having  passed  some 
time  at  the  university  of  Kb'nigsberg,  he  re- 
moved to  Wittemberg,  where  he  took  the  de- 
gree of  LLD,  and  afterwards  going  to  Leyden 
he  attended  the  lectures  of  Hemsterhuis,  who 
procured  him  the  situation  of  a  tutor,  and 
through  whose  advice  he  published  an  edition 
of  the  Greek  lexicon  of  Timaeus.  He  subse- 
quently went  to  Paris,  where  he  availed  him- 
self of  the  stores  of  learning  contained  in  the 
royal  library.  In  1757  he  became  assistant  to 
Hemsterhuis  at  Leyden  ;  and  in  1761  he  suc- 
ceeded Oudendorp  as  professor  of  the  Latin 
language  and  history.  After  having  I  een  long 
the  great  ornament  of  the  university,  to  the 
reputation  of  which  he  contributed  bv  his 
witings  and  lectures,  he  died  much  regretted 


RIC 

in  1798.  He  published  a  etilogium  on  his 
friend  Ilemsterhnis  ;  an  edition  of  Rutilius 
Lupus  on  Rhetoric  ;  rind  an  admirable  edition 
of  the  history  of  Velk-ius  Paterculus. — Bing. 
Univ. 

RIBADENEIRA  (PETER)  a  celebrated 
Spanish  Jesuit,  was  born  at  Toledo  in  1527, 
and  was  one  of  the  favourite  disciples  of  St 
Ignatius.  He  studied  at  Paris,  whence  he 
went  to  Padua,  and  afterwards  to  Palermo, 
where  he  became  a  teacher  of  rhetoric.  He 
died  at  Madrid  in  1611.  He  is  chiefly  distin- 
guished for  his  lives  of  various  saints  and  Je- 
suits, particularly  that  of  St  Ignatius  de  Lo- 
yola, written  with  candour  and  good  sense. 
This  work,  and  his  "  Lives  of  the  Saints," 
were  both  translated  into  English,  the  latter 
in  2  vols.  8vo.  In  1.558  Ribadeneira  visited 
England  with  the  duke  of  Feria,  and  the  re- 
sult of  his  inquiries  was  a  treatise  "  On  the 
English  Schism,"  containing  many  curious  per- 
sonal anecdotes  of  queen  Mary. — Alegambe. 
Douglas's  Criterion.  Freheri  Theatrum.  Diet. 
Hist. 

RIBER  A  (JOSEPH)  called  Lo  Spagnoletto, 
an  eminent  painter,  was  born  at  Xativa  in  Va- 
Jencia,  about  1.589,  and  was  a  pupil  of  Cara- 
vaggio.  He  went  to  Rome,  and  studied  the 
•R-orks  of  Raphael,  the  Caracci,  and  others. 
He  lived  in  a  state  of  extreme  poverty  there, 
but  one  day,  as  he  was  painting  some 
ornaments  outside  of  a  house,  a  cardinal 
passing  by  and  observing  his  distressed  ap- 
pearance, gave  him  a  home  in  his  palace  ;  but 
rinding  that  he  became  indolent  and  voluptuous 
in  his  new  situation,  he  had  the  strength  of 
mind  to  withdraw  himself  from  the  house  of 
his  protector,  and  return  to  labour  and  indi- 
gence. He  then  visited  Parma  and  Modcna, 
and  thence  went  to  Naples,  where  the  viceroy 
named  him  his  own  painter,  and  his  fame  ex- 
tending to  Rome,  the  pope  created  him  a 
knight  of  the  order  of  Christ,  and  the  acade- 
my of  St  Luke  elected  him  one  of  its  mem- 
bers. In  16-18,  when  don  John  of  Austria 
visited  Naples,  Ribera  imprudently  boasted  to 
him  of  the  beauty  of  his  daughters,  which 
led  to  an  intrigue  with  one  of  them,  and  the 
prince  finally  carried  her  off.  The  disgrace 
and  the  reproaches  of  his  wife  so  affected 
Ribera,  that  one  day,  in  1649,  he  left  his 
house,  near  Posilippo,  to  go  to  Naples,  and 
was  never  more  heard  of.  Other  accounts, 
however,  say  that  he  died  at  Naples  in  1656. 
He  wrote  a  MS.  tract  upon  the  principles  of 
painting,  which  was  much  esteemed.  Spag- 
noletto revelled  in  scenes  of  horror  and  seve- 
rity. His  historical  pictures  are  chiefly  repre- 
sentations of  martyrdoms,  executions,  and 
tortures,  which  he  represented  with  a  painful 
force.  His  anchorites  ar-^  fathers  of  the 
church  were  all  distinguisned  for  their  severity 
and  dignity. — D'Argenville.  Pitkington.  Cum- 
berland's Painters  in  Spain. 

RICA11DO  (DAVID)  a  celebrated  writer 
on  finance  and  statistics.  He  was  of  a  Jewish 
family,  and  was  born  in  London,  April  13, 
1772.  His  father  was  a  Dutch  merchant  and 
Stockbroker  ;  and  the  son  being  intended  for 


R  I  C 

the  same  profession,  was  sent  to  Holland  for 
education.  At  an  early  age  he  offended  his 
friends,  by  uniting'  himself  in  marriage  with 
.Miss  Wilkinson,  a  quakeress,  whose  relations 
were  equally  displeased  at  the  temerity  of  the 
young  couple,  who  were  thus,  with  few  Tf- 
sources  but  their  own  industry,  left  unsup- 
ported on  all  sides.  Mr  Ricardo,  however, 
young  as  he  was,  had  established  among  his 
father's  connexions  a  character  for  probity, 
industry,  and  talent,  which  procured  him  im- 
mediate offers  of  assistance  and  support,  of 
which  he  availed  himself ;  and  becoming  a 
member  of  the  Stock  Exchange,  he  gradually 
accumulated  immense  property.  In  1810  he 
first  appeared  before  the  public  as  a  writer  in 
the  Morning  Chronicle,  on  the  subject  of  the 
depreciation  of  our  national  currency  ;  and  he 
afterwards  embodied  his  ideas  iii '  a  distinct 
work,  and  defended  his  opinions  against  the 
animadversions  to  which  they  were  subjected  ; 
and  lie  had  the  satisfaction  to  see  his  reason- 
ings adopted  and  confirmed  in  the  Report  of 
the  Bullion  Committee  of  the  house  of  Com- 
mons. He  published  "  An  Essay  on  Rent," 
in  which  he  advocated  the  principles  of  Mr 
Malthas  concerning  population  ;  and  he  also 
entered  on  an  examination  of  the  affairs  of  the 
Bank  of  England,  the  result  of  which  was  his 
proposal  for  an  economical  currency  ;  and  he 
addressed  a  letter  on  the  subject  to  Mr  Porcival, 
but  his  plan  was  not  adopted.  His  most  im- 
portant production  is  his  treatise  on  "  Political 
Economy  and  Taxation,"  which  affords  a  ln- 
minouy  exposition  of  the  origin  and  fluctuations 
of  national  wealth  and  expenditure,  and  which 
deserves  to  be  ranked  with  the  celebrated 
work  of  Dr  Adam  Smith.  In  1819  Mr  Ri- 
cardo obtained  a  seat  in  Parliament  for  the 
Irish  borough  of  Portarlington,  and  displayed 
as  a  senator  the  same  liberality,  good  sense, 
and  clear  argumentation  which  are  to  be  found 
in  his  published  works,  so  that  he  attracted  the 
respect  and  esteem  of  all  parties.  He  died  of 
inflammation  of  the  brain,  arising  from  an  ab- 
scess in  the  ear,  at  his  seat  of  Gatcomb  Park, 
near  Minchin  Hampton  in  Gloucestershire, 
September  11,  1823,  and  he  was  interred  at 
Harnish,  near  Chippenham,  in  Wiltshire.  Mr 
Ricardo,  in  relinquishing  the  religious  senti- 
ments of  his  ancestors,  is  said  to  have  adopted 
the  principles  of  Unitarianism,  but  he  usually 
attended  the  service  of  the  established  church. 
— Ann*  Biog.  Edinb.Ann.  Nfg- 

R1CAUT  (sir  PAUL).     See  RYCAUT. 

I1ICCI  (MICHAEL  ANGEI.O)  an  Italian  car- 
dinal, was  born  at  Rome  in  1619.  He  con- 
ceived a  great  inclination  for  the  study  of  ma- 
thematics, which  was  cultivated  bv  Torricelli, 
and  had  not  his  studies  been  interrupted,  he 
promised  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  geometri- 
cians in  Europe.  In  1666  he  published  a 
little  work,  entitled  "  Exercitatio  Geometrica, 
&c."  in  which  he  determined,  in  a  purely  geo- 
metrical manner,  the  tangents  and  the  maxima 
and  minima  of  curves,  chiefly  compared  with 
conic  sections  of  the  first  order.  This  treatise 
was  eminently  successful,  and  was  reprinted 
by  the  Royal  Society  of  London.  In  1681  he 
C  2 


111  C 

was  created  a  cardinal  by  pope  Innocent  XI, 
a  dignity  which  he  enjoyed  but  a  short  lime, 
dying  in  1682.  lie  wrote  several  Disscitafinns 
and  Letters. — Landi  Hist,  da  Lit.  de  I'lUiiie. 
Hnifle.  MorerL 

IlICCI  (SEBASTIAN)  an  eminent  painter, 
was  born  in  1659  at  Be.lluiio,  in  the  Venetian 
territory.  lie  was  for  some  time  patronised  by 
Rannuccio  II,  duke  of  Parma,  who  maintained 
him  liberally  at  Rome,  where  he  completed 
his  studies.  He  was  invited  to  the  court  of 
Vienna,  to  decorate  the  palace  of  Schccnbrun, 
whence  he  went,  at  the  invitation  of  the  duke 
of  Tuscany,  to  Florence,  and  afterwards  he 
visited  England,  where  he  remained  ten  years. 
Me  died  at  Venice  in  1734.  He  was  grand  in 
his  ideas,  and  an  agreeable  colourist,  but  he 
is  deficient  in  correctness,  the  number  of  his 
works  obliging  him  rather  to  consult  his  ima- 
gination than  nature.  His  principal  perform- 
ances are  in  the  churches  of  Venice. —  D'Ar- 
genvULe.  Pilkington. 

RICCIOLI( GIOVANNI  BATTiSTA)alearned 
Ferrarese  philosopher  and  mathematician,  born 
in  1598.  He  became  a  member  of  the  college 

o 

of  Jesuits,  and  read  lectures  in  philosophy  and 
rhetoric  in  the  universities  of  Bologna  and 
Parma.  It  is,  however,  upon  his  proficiency 
in  the  science  of  astronomy  that  his  reputation 
principally  rests,  on  which  subject  he  pub- 
lished some  valuable  works.  These  consist  of 
his  "  Astronomia  Reformata,"  folio  ;  "  Chro- 
nologia  llefovmata,"  folio  ;  and  the  "  New 
Almagest,"  folio,  2  vols. ;  besides  twelve  books 
on  Geography,  printed  in  1672.  His  death 
took  place  in  1671. — TiraboschL 

RICCOBONI  (Louis)  an  Italian  actor  and 
writer  on  the  history  of  the  stage.  He  was  a 
native  of  Modena,  but  resided  at  Paris,  where 
he  was  long  considered  as  one  of  the  best  per- 
formers at  the  Italian  opera.  At  length,  from 
religious  motives,  he  relinquished  his  profes- 
sion, and  he  died  in  1753,  aged  seventy-eight. 
Riccoboni  published  several  works,  the  most 
important  of  which  is  "  Histoire  du  Theatre 
Italien,  depuis  la  Decadence  de  la  Comedie 
Latine,  avec  une  Catalogue,  des  Tragedies  et 
Comedies  Italienues  depuis  1500  jusqu'a 
1660,"  2  vols.  8vo. — ANTHOVY  FRANCIS 
RICCOBONI,  son  of  Louis,  also  a  dramatic  writer, 
died  in  1772. — His  wife,  madame  RICCOBONI, 
was  the  writer  of  several  popular  novels  or 
romances,  the  principal  of  which  are,  "  Let- 
tres  de  Miladi  Catesby ;"  "  Lettres  de  la 
Comptesse  de  Sancerre  ;"  "  Lettres  de  Sophie 
de  Valiere  ;"  "  Ernestine  ;"  "  Lettres  de  Mi- 
lord Rivers  ;"  she  also  translated  Fielding's 
novel  of  "  Amelia."  Her  works  were  printed 
collectively  in  10  vols.  12mo,  Neufchatel,  and 
9  vols.  12mo,  Paris.  They  display  much  know- 
ledge of  the  heart,  with  vivacity  and  elegance, 
and  several  of  them  were  translated  into  Eng- 
lish. Madame  Riccoboni  was  in  habits  of  cor- 
respondence with  Garrick.  She  died  in  1792, 
in  a  state  approaching  to  want. — Nouv.  Diet, 
Hist. 

RICH  (CLAUDIUS  JAMES)  an  Orientalist, 
was  born  at  or  near  Bristol  in  1786.  His  pro- 
ficiency iu  the  F.astern  languages  waa  so 


11  1C 

i;te;it,  tliat  he  was  made  a  writer  to  the  Knst 
India  roni])any  at  tlie  age  of  seventeen,  and 
he  liiuJly  liecame  their  resident  at  Bagdad. 
He  displayed  his  literary  talents  in  two  me- 
moirs on  the  Ruins  of  Babylon  ;  and  his  va- 
luable collection  of  Oriental  MSS.  was  pur- 
chased by  parliament  for  public  use,  Mr  llich 
died  in  1821. — Asiatic  Register. 

HIGH  (JoiiN)  a  celebrated  pantomimic 
actor  of  the  last  century,  was  the  son  of  Chris- 
topher llich,  the  patentee  of  a  theatre  in  Lin- 
coln's-inn-fields,  to  the  management  of  which 
he  succeeded  in  1714.  When  young  he  at- 
tracted general  admiration  by  his  performance 
of  Harlequin  ;  and  under  the  sobriquet  of  Luti 
he  received  the  frequent  tribute  of  applause 
from  contemporary  critics  and  prologue-wri- 
ters. In  expressing  the  feelings  of  the  mind 
by  dumb  show,  his  power  was  almost  inimita- 
ble ;  and  the  speaking  attitudes  which  lie  gave 
to  the  motley  hero  of  the  stage,  superseded  the 
necessity  of  vocal  language  to  give  interest  to 
the  scene.  He  rendered  pantomime  a  most 
fascinating  amusement,  and  through  his  abili- 
ties, was  frequently  enabled,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  an  indifferent  company,  to  secure  a 
large  share  of  the  public  attention,  though  op- 
posed by  the  dramatic  genius  of  Garrick  at  the 
rival  theatie.  In  1733  he  removed  his  com- 
pany to  Covent  Garden,  where  he  was  mana- 
ger till  his  death.,  which  happened  in  Decem- 
ber 1761,  during  the  run  of  a  grand  spectacle, 
which  he  exhibited  in  honour  of  the  corona- 
tion of  his  late  majesty.  His  education  had 
been  so  grossly  neglected,  that  he  could  nei 
ther  write  nor  speak  with  grammatical  pro- 
priety,  which  circumstance  gave  occasion  for 
a  coarse  repartee  of  Foote.  Among  various 
peculiarities  of  expression,  Rich  liad  a  habit 
of  addressing  persons  to  whom  he  was  speak- 
ing, by  the  appellation  of  "  Mister,"  and,  on 
his  applying  it  to  Foote,  the  latter  angrily 
asked  him,  why  he  could  not  call  him  by  his 
proper  name.  "  Don't  be  offended,"  said 
Rich,  "for  I  sometimes  forget  my  own  name." 
"  Indeed  !"  replied  Foote,  "  I  knew  you  could 
not  write  your  own  name  ;  but  I  could  not 
have  supposed  it  possible  you  should  forget 
it." — Davies's  Life  of  Garrick.  Thesp.  Diet. 

RICHARD  I,  king  of  England,  surnamed 
CcEur  de  Lion,  second  son  of  Henry  II  by 
Eleanor  of  Guienne,  was  born  in  11.37.  In 
1173  he  was  induced  by  his  mother  to  unite 
with  his  brothers,  Henry  and  Geoffry,  and 
other  confederates,  in  a  rebellion  against  his 
father,  which,  however,  that  active  prince  soon 
quelled.  This  conduct  he  repealed  on  more 
than  one  occasion,  until,  in  1189,  he  openly 
joined  the  king  of  France,  and,  in  the  war 
which  ensued,  pursued  the  unhappy  Henry 
from  place  to  place,  who,  being  at  the  same 
time  deserted  by  his  youngest  son,  died  worn 
out  with  chagrin  and  affliction  at  Chinon,  curs- 
ing his  undutiful  and  ungrateful  children  with 
his  latest  breath. — (See  HENUV  II.)  —On  this 
event,  Richard  succeeded  to  the  throne  of 
England,  and  visiting  his  father's  corpse  the 
day  after  his  decease,  expressed  great  remorse 
at  his  own  conduct.  Having  settled  his  affairs 


RIC 

in  France,  he  sailed  to  England,  and  was 
crowned  at  Westminster.  He  prudently  gave 
his  confidence  to  his  father's  ministers,  and' 
discountenanced  all  who  had  abetted  his  own 
rebellion.  He  immediately  released  his  mo- 
ther, queen  Eleanor,  who  had  been  long  under 
confinement,  and  made  the  most  ample  grants 
to  his  brother  John.  He  had  taken  the  cross 
previously  to  his  accession,  and  now  bent  all  his 
views  to  the  gratification  of  his  martial  ardour 
in  the  fields  of  the  East.  He  raised  money  by 
the  sale  of  the  crown  property  and  offices,  and 
by  every  other  means  he  could  devise,  includ- 
ing the  remission  of  a  large  sum  of  the  vassal- 
age imposed  by  his  father  upon  Scotland.  He 
then  sought  an  interview  with  Philip  of  France, 
who  had  also  taken  the  cross,  in  which  mutual 
conditions  respecting  their  joint  operations  were 
agreed  upon.  A  great  number  of  English 
barons  and  others  took  the  cross  on  this  occa- 
sion, to  which  pious  enterprise  a  horrible 
massacre  of  the  Jews  in  several  of  the  princi- 
pal towns  of  the  kingdom  had  formed  a 
singular  prelude.  At  midsummer  1190, 
Richard  and  Philip  united  100,000  of  their 
bravest  subjects  on  the  plains  of  Vezelai. 
Hie-hard  then  proceeded  to  embark  at  Mar- 
seilles, and  the  two  kings  met  at  Messina,  where 
they  spent  the  winter.  Here  Richard  was  joined 
by  Berensjaria,  daughter  of  Sanchez,  king  of 
Navarre,  his  intended  wife,  but  without  stay- 
ing to  celebrate  his  nuptials,  he  once  more  put 
to  sea  with  his  fleet,  which  was  soon  after  dis- 
persed by  a  storm.  The  king  got  into  Crete, 
but  those  of  his  ships  witli  his  bride  and  his 
sister,  the  queen  of  Sicily  on  board,  were 
driven  into  Cyprus,  where  Isaac,  the  king  of 
that  inland,  basely  imprisoned  the  crew,  and 
refused  to  deliver  up  the  princesses.  In  re- 
venge for  this  insult,  Richard  landed  his  army, 
and  soon  obliged  the  miserable  Isaac,  to  sur- 
render himself,  his  only  daughter,  and  his  so- 
vereignty. In  .Cyprus  he  consummated  his 
nuptials,  and  then  embarked  with  his  queen 
and  the  Cypriot  princess  for  Palestine.  At 
this  period  the  siege  of  Acre  was  carrying  on 
by  the  remnant  of  the  army  of  the  emperor  Fre- 
derick and  other  Christian  adventurers  ;  and 
defended  by  a  Saracen  garrison,  supported  by 
the  celebrated  Saladin,  at  the  head  of  a  nume- 
rous army  in  the  field.  The  arrival  of  the  two 
kings  infused  aew  vigour  into  the  besiegers, 
and  the  place  was  brought  to  a  surrender  in 
July  1191.  This  advantage  was,  however, 
rapidly  succeeded  by  mutual  jealousies,  more 
especially  excited  by  a  contest  for  the  crown 
of  Jerusalem,  between  Lusignan,  widower  of 
the  late  queen  Sybilla,  and  Conrad  of  Mont- 
ferrat,  the  husband  of  her  younger  sister  ;  the 
former  being  supported  by  Richard,  and  the 
latter  by  the  king  of  France.  At  length,  dis- 
gusted with  a  warfare  in  which  he  only  acted 
a  secondary  character,  the  latter  returned  to 
Europe,  leaving  10,000  men  with  Richard. 
Some  active  warfare  ensued,  until  at  length  a 
general  engagement  took  place,  in  which 
Richard,  by  the  most  heroic  exertion  of  bra- 
very and  consummate  military  skill,  gained  a 
complete  victory,  which  was  followed  by  the 


KIC 

possession    of   Joppa,   Ascalon,    and  various- 
other  places.      Richard  advanced  withiu  sight 
of  Jerusalem,  but  th«  greater  part  of  the  aux- 
iliaries refusing  to  concur  in  the  siege  of  the 
capital,  he  retired  to  Ascalon,  and  perceiving 
his  difficulties  increase,  concluded  a  truce  with 
Saladia,  wi  condition  that  Acre,  Joppa,  and 
the  other  sea- ports  of  Palestine  should  remain 
in  the  hands  of  the  Christians,  who  were  also 
to  enjoy  full  liberty  of  performing  pilgrimages 
to  Jerusalem.     Richard  was  the  more  readily 
induced  to  quit  a  field  where  he  had  at  least 
acquired  an  extraordinary  share    of  personal 
glory,  by  the  knowledge  he  now  acquired  of 
the  intrigues  against  him  of  Philip  of  France, 
and  his  new  ally,  his  brother  John.     He  ac- 
cordingly prepared  to  return  to  England,  but 
previously  concurred  in  the  election  of  Conrad, 
(almost  immediately  after  assassinated),  to  the- 
nominal  sway  of  Jerusalem,,  and  bestowed  his 
conquered  kingdom  of  Cyprus  upon  Lusignau. 
He  embarked  at  Acre  in  October  ll'ja,  and 
sailed  for  the  Adriatic  ;  but  his  voyage  was  te- 
dious and  un prosperous,  and  he  was  finally 
wrecked  near  Aquileia.  Thence  baking  the  dis- 
guise of  a  pilgrim,  he  pursued  his  way  through' 
Germany,  until  being  discovered  by  the  profu- 
sion of  his  expenses  near  Vienna,  he  WHS  arrest- 
ed by  the  order  of  Leopold  duke  of  Austria, 
who  having  received  an  affront  from  him  in 
Palestine,  seized  this  opportunity  to  gratify  his- 
avarice  and  revenge.-  The  emperor,  Henry  VI, 
who  had  also  a  quarrel  with  Richard,  for  his  al- 
liance with  Tancred.  the  usurper  of  tne  crown 
of  Sicily,  hearing  of  his  captivity,  demanded 
him  from  Leopold,  who  gave  him  up,  on  the 
stipulation  of  a  portion  of  his  ransom.     Whila 
Richard  was  thus  unworthily  imprisoned,  hia 
brother  John,  with  his  usual  baseness,    had 
taken  up  arms  in  England,  in  concert  with  the 
king  of  France,  who  made  himself  master  of 
a  great  portion  of  Normandy.     The  progress, 
of  the  former  was,  however,  quickly  terminated 
by  the  vigour  of  the  justiciary,  while  Philip, 
who  was  forced  to  raise  the  siege  of  Rouen  by 
the  earl   of    Leicester,   and   was,    moreover, 
threatened  by  the  pope  with  an  interdict,  con- 
sented to  a  truce.    Richard,  in  the  meantime, 
bore   his  misfortunes  and  indignities  with  un- 
daunted   courage,   and  when  the  emperor,  in 
order  to  justify  his  unworthy  treatment,  charged 
him  before  the  diet  at  Worms,  with  various 
imaginary  offences,   he  refuted  these  accusa- 
tions with  so  much  spirit  and  eloquence,  that 
the  assembly  loudly  exclaimed  against  his  de- 
tention.    At  length  a  treaty  was  concluded 
for  his  liberation,  on  the  payment  of  a  ransom 
of  150,000  marks,  which  being  raised  in  Eng- 
land  by  great  exertions,  Richard  obtained  his 
liberty.      Happily  the    negociation  was    con- 
cluded, and   the  money  paid  before   the  em- 
peror   received    great    pecuniary  offers    from 
Philip  and  John,  to  protract  his  confinement, 
which  that  sordid  prince  would  have  accepted, 
and  actually  sought  to  arrest  Richard  again, 
but  he  had  fortunately  embarked  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Scheldt,  and  safely  reached  England  in 
March  1194,  to  the  great  joy  of  his  subjects. 
When  king  Philip  was  acquainted  with  the 


R1C 

e.ease  of  Ricnard,  he  wrote  to  John — "  Take 
care  of  yourself,  the  great  devil  has  broken 
loose  ;"  and,  as  was  reasonable,  the  fresh  storm 
of  the  king's  anger  fell  upon  that  deplorable 
prince,  all  of  whose  property  was  declared  for- 
feited, unless  he  appeared  in  forty  days.  After 
being  re-crowned  in  England,  lie  landed  in 
France,  in  May  1194,  where  he  was  met  by 
his  brother  John,  who  threw  himself  at  his 
feet,  with  tears,  and  under  the  mediation  of 
his  mother,  intreated  forgiveness.  "  I  forgive 
him,"  said  Richard,  with  the  caustic  levity 
which  was  natural  to  him,  "  and  I  hope  I 
shall  as  easily  forget  his  injuries  as  lie  will  my 
pardon."  In  the  ensuing  war  with  Philip, 
Richard  gained  some  advantages,  hut  a  truce 
soon  suspended  their  hostilities.  About  this 
time,  Leopold  of  Austria  having  received  an 
accidental  hurt  which  proved  mortal,  expressc-d 
great  remorse  for  his  base  treatment  of  Richard, 
and  gave  up  all  claim  to  the  remainder  of  his 
ransom.  The  emperor  also  offered  to  remit 
the  remainder  of  his  debt,  provided  he  would 
join  him  in  an  offensive  alliance  against  France, 
which  was  readily  agreed  to.  Nothing,  how- 
ever, of  any  consequence  followed,  but  the  in- 
fliction of  much  mutual  injury,  until  terminated 
by  another  truce.  England,  during  this  period 
of  useless  foreign  contention,  partly  by  distur- 
bances, created  by  the  needy  rapacity  of  go- 
vernment, and  partly  through  unpropitious 
seasons,  productive  of  famine  and  pestilence, 
was  in  a  state  of  great  depression.  A  lasting 
accommodation  with  France  was  in  agitation, 
preparatory  to  another  crusade,  when  the  life 
and  reign  of  Richard  were  suddenly  brought  to 
a  close.  A  considerable  treasure  having  been 
found  in  the  land  of  the  viscount  of  Limoges, 
he  sent  part  of  it  to  Richard  as  his  feudal  so- 
vereign. The  latter,  however,  demanded  the 
whole,  which  being  refused,  he  invested  the. 
castle  of  Chalus,  where  the  treasure  was  con- 
cealed, and  having  savagely  refused  terms  of  sur- 
render to  the  garrison,  in  the  openly  expressed 
determination  of  hanging  the  whole  of  them, 
was  wounded  by  a  shot  from  the  cross-bow  of 
one  Bertrand  de  Gourdon,  while  in  the  act  of 
reconnoitring.  The  assault  was,  however,  suc- 
cessfully made,  and  all  the  garrison  hanged, 
as  the  king  had  threatened,  with  the  exception 
of  Gourdon,  who  was  reserved  for  a  more  cruel 
death.  Richard,  apprised  that  his  wound  was 
mortal,  commanded  Gourdon  to  be  brought 
into  his  presence,  and  asked  him  what  had 
induced  him  to  attempt  his  life.  The  man 
boldly  replied,  "  You  killed  my  father  and  my 
brother  with  your  own  hand,  and  designed  to 
put  me  to  an  ignominious  death."  The  pros- 
pect of  death  had  inspired  Richard  with  senti- 
ments of  moderation  and  justice,  and  he  or- 
dered Gourdon  to  be  set  at  liberty,  and  allowed 
a  sum  of  money  ;  but  the  savage  Marcadee,  who 
commanded  the  Brabancons,  which  the  king  had 
hired  for  the  expedition,  caused  the  unhappy 
man  to  be  flayed  alive.  Richard  died  of  his 
wound  on  the  6th  of  April,  1199,  in  the  forty- 
second  year  of  his  age  and  tenth  of  his  reign, 
leaving  no  issue.  The  character  of  this  king 
was  strongly  marked.  He  was  certainly  the 


R1C 

bravest  among  the  brave,  and  reached  the 
summit  of  that  renown  which  is  obtained  by 
martial  exploits  and  great  personal  daring. 
Nor  was  he  destitute  of  some  of  the  laudable 
qualities  which  usually  attend  the  warrior  ;  he 
was  often  frank  and  liberal,  and  when  his 
feelings  were  properly  addressed,  not  devoid 
of  generosity.  At  the  same  time  he  was 
haughty,  violent,  unjust,  rapacious,  and  san- 
guinary ;  iind,  to  use  the  strong  expression  of 
Gibbon,  united  the  ferocity  of  a  gladiator  to 
the  cruelly  of  a  tyrant.  His  talents  were  con- 
siderable, both  in  the  cabinet  and  the  field, 
and  he  was  shrewd  in  observation,  eloquent, 
and  very  happy  at  sarcasm,  of  which  some, 
pithy  examples  are  afforded.  He  was  also 
addicted  to  poetry,  and  some  of  his  reputed 
compositions  are  preserved  among  those  of  the 
Troubadours.  On  the  whole,  a  sort  of  romantic 
interest  is  attached  to  the  character  and  ex- 
ploits of  this  prince,  which,  in  the  cool  eye  of 
reason,  they  little  merit,  as  the  career  of 
Richard  produced  calamities  to  his  country 
which  were  but  poorly  atoned  for,  by  the  mere 
military  reputation  which  alone  attended  it. — 
Hume.  Henry. 

RICHARD  II,  king  of  England,  son  of 
Edward  the  Black  Prince,  and  grandson  of 
Edward  111,  was  born  in  1366.  He  succeeded 
the  latter  in  1377,  in  his  eleventh  year,  at 
which  time  the  chief  authority  of  the  state  was 
in  the  hands  of  his  three  uncles,  John  of 
Gaunt,  duke  of  Lancaster,  Edmund,  earl  of 
Cambridge,  afterwards  duke  of  York,  and 
Thomas  of  Woodstock,  subsequently  duke  of 
Gloucester.  The  earlier  years  of  the  king's 
minority  passed  in  wars  with  France  and  Scot- 
land, the  expense  of  which  led  to  exactions 
that  produced  the  formidable  insurrection 
headed  by  Wat  Tyler.  The  details  of  this 
popular  revolt  belong  to  history,  but  its  ter- 
mination in  the  death  of  its  chief  leader  in 
Smithfield,  by  the  hand  of  Walworth,  lord 
mayor  of  London,  in  the  presence  of  the  young 
king,  afforded  the  latter  an  opportunity  to  ex- 
hibit a  degree  of  address  and  presence  of 
mind  which,  in  a  youth  of  fifteen,  was  very 
remarkable.  Whilst  the  rioters  stood  asto- 
nished with  the  fall  of  their  leader,  the  young 
king  calmly  rode  up  to  them,  and  declaring 
that  he  would  be  their  leader,  drew  them  off, 
almost  involuntarily,  into  the  neighbouring 
fields.  In  the  mean  time  an  armed  force  was 
collected  by  the  lord  mayor  and  others,  at  the 
sight  of  which  the  rioters  fell  on  their  knees, 
and  demanded  pardon,  which  was  granted 
them,  on  the  condition  of  their  immediate  dis- 
persion. Similar  insurrections  took  place  in 
various  parts  of  the  kingdom,  all  of  which 
were,  however,  put  down,  and  Richard,  now 
master  of  an  army  of  40,000  men,  collected  by 
a  general  summons  to  all  the  retainers  of  the 
crown,  found  himself  strong  enough  to  punish 
the  ringleaders  with  great  severity,  and  to  re- 
voke all  the  charters  and  manumissions  which 
he  had  granted,  as  extorted  and  illegal.  The 
promise  of  conduct  and  capacity  which  he  dis- 
played on  this  emergency,  was  unhappily  but 
ill  answered  in  the  sequel,  and  he  verj 


II  1C 

early  showed  a  predilection  for  weak  and 
dissolute  company ,  and  the  vicious  indulgences 
so  common  to  youthful  royalty.  In  his  six- 
teenth year  he  married  Anue,  daughter  to  the 
emperor  Charles  IV,  and  soon  after  was  so 
injudicious  as  to  take  the  great  seal  from 
Scroop,  for  refusing  to  sanction  certain  extra- 
vagant grants  of  lands  to  his  courtiers.  Wars 
with  France  and  Scotland,  and  the  ambitious 
intrigues  of  the  duke  of  Lancaster,  disquieted 
some  succeeding  years.  In  1385  he  inarched 
with  a  great  army  iuto  Scotland,  where  he 
committed  destructive  ravages,  and  hurnt 
Edinburgh  and  Perth.  In  the  mean  time, 
a  Scottish  army  made  a  similar  inroad 
into  England,  mutual  devastation  being  the 
only  result  of  these  useless  expeditions. 
The  principal  favourites  of  Richard  were, 
Michael  de  la  Pole,  earl  of  Suffolk  and 
chancellor,  and  Robert  de  Vere,  earl  of  Ox- 
ford, the  latter  of  whom  he  created  duke  of 
Ireland,  with  entire  sovereignty  in  that  island 
for  life.  The  duke  of  Lancaster  being  then 
absent,  prosecuting  his  claim  to  the  crown  of 
Castile,  the  king's  younger  uncle,  the  duke  of 
Gloucester,  a  prince  of  popular  manners,  and 
unprincipled  ambition,  became  the  leader  of 
a  formidable  opposition,  which  procured  an 
impeachment  of  the  chancellor,  and  influenced 
the  parliament  so  far  that  it  proceeded  to  strip 
the  king  of  all  authority,  and  obliged  him  to 
sign  a  commission  appointing  a  council  of 
regency  for  a  year.  Being  now  in  his  twenty- 
first  year,  this  measure  was  naturally  very 
galling  to  Richard,  who,  in  concert  with  the 
duke  of  Ireland,  found  means  to  assemble  a 
council  of  his  friends  at  Nottingham,  where 
the  judges  unanimously  declared  against  the 
legality  of  the  extorted  commission.  Glouces- 
ter, at  these  proceedings,  mustered  an  army 
in  the  vicinity  of  London,  which  being  inef- 
fectually opposed  by  a  body  of  forces  under 
the  duke  of  Ireland,  several  of  the  king's 
friends  were  executed,  and  the  judges  who 
had  given  their  opinion  in  his  favour,  were  all 
found  guilty  of  high  treason,  and  sentenced  to 
imprisonment  for  life  in  Ireland.  As  usual  on 
such  occasions,  a  reaction  was  soon  produced 
by  the  tyranny  of  the  ascendant  party,  so  that 
in  1389  Richard  was  encouraged  to  enter  the 
council,  and  in  a  retolute  tone  to  declare  that 
he  was  of  full  age  to  take  the  government  into 
his  own  hands,  and  i  o  opposition  being  ven- 
tured upon,  he  proceeded  to  turn  out  the  duke 
of  Gloucester  and  all  his  adherents.  This  act 
he  rendered  palatable  to  the  nation  by  pub- 
lishing a  general  amnesty,  and  remitting  the 
grants  of  money  maue  by  the  late  parliament. 
Several  years  of  internal  tranquillity  en- 
sued, which  was  promoted  by  the  return  of 
the  duke  of  Lancaster,  who  formed  a  counter- 
balance to  the  influence  of  the  duke  of  Glou- 
cester, and  Richard  prudently  kept  on  the  best 
terms  with  him.  In  1394  the  king  visited 
Ireland,  and  held  a  ]  arliament  in  Dublin,  and 
on  his  return,  having  become  a  widower,  made 
proposals  of  marriage  to  Isabella,  daughter  of 
Charles  VI,  king  i.f  France,  who  was  only 
between  seven  and  tight  years  of  age.  These 


RIC 

overtures  were  accepted,  and  a  truce  of 
twenty-five  years  agreed  upon  between  the  two 
nations.  In  the  mean  time,  although  guilty 
of  no  acts  of  very  notorious  misgovernment 
for  a  considerable  interval,  by  his  fondness  for 
low  company,  by  spending  all  his  time  in  con- 
viviality and  amusement  with  jesters,  and  per- 
sons of  mean  station  and  light  behaviour,  the 
king  forfeited  all  respect  from  his  subjects, 
while  his  weak  attachment  to  his  favourites 
placed  all  things  at  their  disposal,  and  made  a 
mere  cypher  of  himself.  Encouraged  by  these 
follies,  the  duks  of  Gloucester  once  more  be- 
gan to  exercise  his  sinister  influence,  and  the 
most  criminal  designs  being  imputed  to  him, 
Richard  caused  him  and  his  two  chief  sup- 
porters, the  earls  of  Arundel  and  Warwick,  to 
be  arrested.  The  earl  of  Arundel  was  soon 
after  tried  and  executed,  and  the  earl  of  War- 
wick and  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  bro- 
ther to  Arundel,  were  condemned  to  perpe- 
tual banishment.  The  duke  of  Gloucester 
had  been  sent  over  to  Calais  for  safe  custody, 
and  when  the  warrant  was  issued  to  bring  him 
over  for  trial,  an  answer  was  returned  by  the 
governor  that  he  had  died  of  an  apoplexy. 
Suspicion  of  his  murder  immediately  arose, 
and  it  afterwards  appeared  that  he  had  been 
suffocated.  As  is  often  the  case  with  weak 
administrations,  it  was  thought  safer  to  take 
off  a  potent  adversary  by  a  crime  than  by  open 
course  of  law.  A  quarrel  which  soon  after 
arose  between  the  duke  of  Hereford,  son  of 
John  of  Gaunt,  and  the  duke  of  Norfolk,  in 
consequence  of  the  former  accusing  the  latter 
of  slanderous  expressions  concerning  the  king, 
may  be  deemed  the  incidental  cause  of  the 
revolution  which  terminated  this  unsettled 
reign.  Mutual  defiance  being  exchanged,  a 
single  combat  was  appointed,  but  when  the 
lists  were  prepared  before  the  royal  court  at 
Coventry,  the  king  interposed,  and  by  a  sen- 
tence, the  justice  of  which  it  is  not  easy  to 
discover,  banished  both  the  dukes,  Norfolk  for 
life,  and  Hereford  for  ten,  afterwards  reduced 
to  six  years.  It  was  however  expressly  de- 
clared, that  e;;ch  of  them  should  be  duly  en- 
titled to  any  inheritance  which  might  fall  to 
them  during  their  absence.  Instead  however 
of  fulfilling  this  stipulation,  on  the  death  of 
John  of  Gaunt  in  1399,  when  the  duke  of 
Hereford  became  heir  to  his  vast  estates,  the 
unprincipled  and  impolitic  Richard,  with  the 
assistance  of  a  parliamentary  committee, 
seized  all  his  property  as  forfeited  to  the 
crown.  Whilst  the  kingdom  was  full  of  dis- 
content at  this  tyranny,  the  king  was  so  im- 
prudent as  to  emb;irk  for  Ireland,  to  revenge 
the  death  of  his  cousin,  the  earl  of  March, 
who  had  been  killed  in  a  skirmish  with  the 
natives.  Invited  by  his  numerous  partisans, 
Henry  of  Bolingbrcke,  as  the  duke  of  Here- 
ford was  now  invaiiably  called,  made  use  of 
this  opportunity  to  land  at  Ravenshaw  in 
Yorkshire,  with  a  Mnall  body  of  forces,  and 
being  joined  by  the  earls  of  Northumberland 
and  vVestmoreland,  and  other  influential  lea- 
ders, he  proceeded  southward  at  the  head  of 
60,000  men,  nominally  to  recover  his  duchy  of 


RIC 

Lancaster-     The  duke  of  York,  who  had  boon 
left   regent,    unable   to    oppose    Bolingbroke, 
joined  him,  and  when  Richard,  upon   this  in- 
telligence, landed  at  Milford  haven,  he   found 
himself  so  much   deserted,  that  he  withdrew 
to  North  Wales  with  a  design   to   escape   to 
France.     He  was  however  decoyed   to  agree 
to  a  conference  with  Henry,   and  on  the  road 
was   seized  by  an   armed  force,  and  conveyed 
to  Flint  castle,  and  thence  led  by  his  success- 
ful   rival    to  London.     As   they    entered    the 
capital  together  on  horseback,   their  different 
reception  strongly  marked  the  different  feel- 
ings of  the  people  towards  them,  Heiiry  being 
hailed  with  the  loudest   acclamations,  and  the 
unfortunate  Richard  treated  with  neglect  and 
even  contumely.     His  deposition  was  now  re- 
solved upon,  to  be  preceded  by  a  forced  resig- 
nation  of  thd   crown.     Thirty-five  articles  of 
accusation  were  accordingly  drawn  up  against 
him,  of  which  several  were  exaggerated,  false, 
and  frivolous,  but  others  contained  real  in- 
stances of  tyranny  and  misgovernment.     The 
proceedings  that  followed,  a  modern  historian 
is    of  opinion,   have   never   been    sufficiently 
studied  in  the  various  discussions  which  have 
taken  place  in  respect  to  the  limits  and  respon- 
sibility of  the  kingly  office  in  England.     They 
were  opposed  only  by  the  bishop   of  Carlisle, 
who  made    a    dignified  and  eloquent  speech 
against  them,  which  had  no  other  effect  than 
to  produce   his  own  arrest,  and  king  Richard 
was  solemnly  deposed  September  30,  1399. 
Henry  then    stood  forward   and   claimed  the 
/rown,   which  was    immediately  awarded  to 
him,  and  he   declared  his  intention   to  spare 
the   life   of  the  unfortunate  prince    whom  he 
supplanted.     Richard  was  then  committed  for 
safe  custody  to  the  castle  of  Pomfret,  where 
the   usual  fate  of  dethroned  princes  awaited 
him.     Of  the  manner  of  his  death  no  certain 
Account  has  been  given,  but  a  popular  notion 
prevailed,    that  his  keeper  and  guards  killed 
Him  with  halberds.     It  is  more  probable  that 
Starvation  or  poison  waa   had  recourse  to,  for 
fiis  body,  when  exposed,  exhibited  no  marks 
of  violence.      He   died   in    the   thirty-fourth 
year  of  his  age,  and  twenty-third  of  his  reign. 
The  character  of  Richard  II  is  sufficiently  ex- 
hibited by  the  tenor  of  his  unhappy  reign  ;  but 
in  the  midst  of  his  weakness,  folly,  caprice, 
and  political  incapacity,  there  is  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  he  indulged  a  share  of  taste  for  let- 
ters and  the  arts  ;  and  his  ordering  some  trees 
to  be  cut  down  at  Shene,  because  they  too  for- 
cibly reminded  him  of  his  deceased  wife  Anne, 
in    whose   company    he    used  to  walk    under 
them,    affords    a  favourable   testimony  of  his 
susceptibility  of  the  social  affections. — Hume. 
Henry.     Rapin. 

RICHARD  III,  king  of  England,  born  in 
1450,  was  the  youngest  son  of  Richard  duke 
of  York.  On  the  accession  of  his  brother, 
Edward  IV,  he  was  created  duke  of  Glouces- 
ter, and  during  the  vicissitudes  in  the  early 
part  of  Edward's  reign,  he  served  him  with 
great  courage  and  fidelity.  He  partook  of  the 
ferocity  which  has  ever  been  a  dark  feature  in 
the  family  character  of  the  Plantagenets  ;  and 


RIC 

is  said  to  have  personally  aided  in  the 
ter  of    Edward    prince    of    Wales,   after    tt.^ 
battle  of  Tewkesbury,   and   to  have  been  tha 
author,  if  not  the  perpetrator  of  the   raurdsr 
of  Henry  VI  in  the  Tower.     This  bloody  dis- 
position was  however  united  in  him  with  deep 
policy  and  dissimulation,  which  only  rendered 
him  still  more  dangerous.  He  married  iu  1473, 
Anne, who  had  been  betrothed  to  the  murdered 
prince  of  Wales,  joint  heiress  of  the  gieat  earl  of 
Warwick,  whose  other  daughter  was  united  to 
the  duke  of  Clarence.  Quarrels  arose  between 
the  brothers  on  the  division  of  the  inheritance 
of  their  wives,   and  Richard,  who  otherwise 
found   his   elder  brother  an    obstacle    to    his 
views  of  aggrandisement,  combined  in  the  ac- 
cusations against    that    weak    and    versatile 
prince,  which  brought  him  to  destruction.  On 
the  death    of   Edward  in  1483,   the  duke   01 
Gloucester  was  appointed    protector    of    the 
kingdom,     and   he    immediately    caused    his 
nephew,  the  young  Edward  V,  to  be  declared 
king,  and  took  an  oath  of  fealty  to  him.    The 
two    ascendant   factions,   that  of  the  queen's 
relatives,  headed  by  her  brother,  earl  Rivers, 
and    that  of  the   more   ancient  nobility,  who 
were  led  by  the  duke  of  Buckingham  and  lord 
Hastings,  courted  the  favour  of  the  protector, 
who  dissembled  with  each  apart,  while  he  was 
secretly  pursuing  the  schemes  of  his  own  dark 
ambition.     His  first  object  was  to  get  rid  of 
;hose   who  were   connected    with  the  young 
"•iing  by  blood,  and  after  spending  a  convivial 
evening  with   Riveis,  Grey,  and   sir  Thomas 
Vaughan,    lie    had   them    arrested   the    next 
norning,  and  conveyed  to  Pornfret,  where  they 
were     soon    after     executed     without    trial. 
Alarmed  at  the  arrest  of  her  relatives,  the 
queen  dowager  took  refuge  in  the  sanctuary  at 
Westminster,  with  her  younger  son,  the  duke 
of  York,  and  her  daughter.     As  it  was  neces- 
sary for  the  protector's  purposes  to  get   both 
his  nephews  into  his  hands,  he  persuaded  two 
prelates  to  urge  the  queen  to  deliver. the  duke 
of  York  into  his  hands,  upon  the  most  solemn 
assurances  of  safety.    Lord  Hastings,  although 
opposed  to   the  queen's  relatives,  being  the 
steady   friend  of  her  children,  was   next  ar 
rested  while   sitting  in  council,   and    led    to 
immediate    execution.      After   this   bold   and 
bloody  commencement,  he    proceeded    in    an 
attempt  to   establish   the  illegitimacy  of  Ed- 
ward's children,  on  the  pretence  of  a  previous 
marriage  with  the  lady  Eleanor  Talbot,  daugh- 
ter of  the  earl  of  Shrewsbury  ;  and  as  if  even 
this  imputation,   if  proved,  could   not   super- 
sede the  claims  of  the  children  of  the  duke  of 
Clarence,  he  scrupled  not  to  countenance  an 
attack  on  the  character  of  his  own  mother, 
who  was  affirmed  to  have   given  other  fathers 
to  Edward   and  Clarence,   and   to  have   been 
true  to  her  husband  only   in  the  birth  of  Ri- 
chard.    All  these  pleas  were  dwelt  upon  in  a 
sermon  preached    at  St   Paul's  cross,   by   Dr 
Shaw,  brother  to  the  lord  mayor  of  London. 
The    duke  of  Buckingham   afterwards,   in    a 
speech  before   the  corporation  and  citizens  of 
London,  enlarged  upon  the  title  and  virtues  of 
the  protector,  and  then  ventured  to  ask  them 


HI  C 

whether  they  chose   the   duke   of  Gloucester 
for  king.     On  their  silence,   he  repeated  the 
question,  and  a  few  prepared  voices  exclaim- 
ing, "  God  save  king  Richard,"  this  was  ac- 
cepted as  the  public  voice,  and   Buckingham, 
with  the  lord  mayor,  repaired  to  the  protector 
with  a  tender  of  the  crown.     He  first  affected 
alarm  and  suspicion,  aud  then  pretended  loy- 
alty to  his  nephew,  and  unwillingness  to  take 
such  a  burthen  upon  himself  ;  but  finally  ac- 
csded,  and   he  was   proclaimed   king  on    the 
27 tli  of  June,    1483,  the  mock  election  being 
secured  by  bodies  of  armed  men,  brought  to 
the  metropolis  by  himself  aud  Buckingham. 
The  deposed  young  king  and  his  brother  were 
never  more  heard  of,  and  according  to  general 
belief,  they  were   smothered  in   the  Tower  of 
London,   by  order   of  their  uncle.     Whether 
this  was  precisely  the  manner  of  their  death, 
has  been  disputed  ;   but  the   discovery  of  the 
bodies  of  two  children  of  correspondent  ages, 
buried  beneath  a  staircase  in  the  Tower,  in  the 
reign  of  Charles  II.  countenances  the  tradition 
resting  on  the  authority  of  sir  Thomas  More, 
especially  as  they  were  removed  to  Westmin- 
ster abbey  on   that  presumption.     The    new 
reign  commenced  with  rewards  to  those  who 
had  been  instrumental  to  the  change,  and  with 
endeavours  to    obtain   popularity.      Richard, 
with  a   splendid   retinue,    made    a    progress 
through   several    provincial    towns,    and   was 
crowned  a  second  time,  at  York,    on  which 
occasion  he    created    his  only   son   prince  of 
Wales.     Happily,  however,  for  the  welfare  of 
society,  the  moral  feelings  of  an  entire  popula- 
tion are  not  wholly  to  be  conquered.     The  su- 
percession  of  a  youth  of  unknown  character,  by 
a  usurper  of  abilities,  mightbe  oflittle  moment 
itself  to   the  people  of  England,   but  a  total 
insensibility  to  such  a  course  of  brutality,   in- 
justice,   and    tyrrany,   was  uncongenial  even 
with  the   barbarous  civilization  of  those  days, 
and  hatred  and  abhorrence  of  Richard  became 
the  general  sentiment  of  the  nation.     In  look- 
ing out  for  a  successor  to  the  crown,  after  the 
deuh  of  the  two  princes  in  the  Tower,  over- 
looking the   daughter  of  Edward  I\7.  and  the 

. 

children  of  the  duke  of  Clarence,  then  too 
young  and  powerless,  all  men's  eyes  were 
turned  towards  Henry,  earl  of  Richmond,  ma- 
ternally descended  from  the  legitimated,  or 
Somerset  branch  of  the  house  of  Lancaster. 
Richard's  first  danger,  however,  arose  from 
the  discontent  of  his  execrable  accomplice 
Buckingham,  who,  not  thinking  himself  ade- 
quately rewarded,  entered  into  a  conspiracy 
against  him,  with  several  other  malcontents 
m  the  south  and  west  of  England.  The  stan- 
dard of  revolt  was, in  consequence,  hoisted  in 
several  places  on  the  same  day,  in  October, 
1483;  but  a  very  unusual  flood  having  pre- 
vented Buckingham,  who  was  in  Wales,  from 
crossing  the  Severn,  he  was  suddenly  deserted 
by  his  followers,  and  betrayed  by  an  old  re- 
tainer, with  whom  he  had  sought  refuge,  into 
the  hands  of  authority.  Whatever  the  base- 
ness exhibited  towards  this  very  contemptible 
nobleman,  in  could  not  exceed  his  own  ;  and 
it  is  rather  satisfactory  than  otherwise  to  learn 


R  1C 

that  he  was  conducted  to  Salisbury,  and  exe- 
cuted  without  trial,   like   Rivers,   Grey,  and 
Vaughan,  whose  execution   in  the  same  law- 
less manner,  he  had  so  strenously  promoted. 
Richard's  affairs,    at  this  time  looked  promi- 
sing, for  about  the  same  time  the  earl  of  Rich- 
mond, who  had  embarked  in  a  fleet  from  St. 
Malo,   encountered  a  violent  storm,   and  was 
obliged  to  return  to  Britanny.     Richard,  with 
great  policy,  took  advantage  of  this  favourable 
interval  to  call  a  parliament,  and  pass  several 
popular    laws,  and  to  bastardize   the  issue  of 
Edward  IV.     He  also  negotiated  at  the  court 
of  Britanny  for  the  delirery  into  his   hands  of 
the  earl  of  Richmond  ;  but  the  latter  escaped 
the  danger,  by  taking  refuge  in  the  immediate 
territories  of  the  French  monarch.     The  death 
of  his  son,  the  prince  of  Wales,  was  a  severe 
stroke  to  Richard  in   the  midst  of  his  prospe- 
rity ;  and  such  was  the  odium  attached  to  his 
character,   that  the  death  of   his  wife,  which 
followed  soon  after,  was,  without  the  least  evi- 
dence, attributed  to  poison.     His  character, 
however,  justified  any  suspicion  :  and  his  al- 
most immediate  determination    to    marry   his 
niece  Elizabeth,  the  daughter  of   his  brother 
Edward,  and  legitimate  heiress  of  the  crown, 
to  prevent  her   union   with  Richmond,   gave 
countenance  to  the  presumption.     It  supplies 
a  melancholy  picture  of  human  nature  to  learn 
that  the  consent  of  the  queen  dowager  to  this 
marriage  of  her  daughter  to   the  murderer  of 
her  sons,  was  either  obtained  or  extorted.     As 
this  union,  which  could  only  take  place  by  dis- 
pensation, would  have   been  extremely  detri- 
mental to  the  earl's  interest,  the  latter  has- 
tened his  preparations,  and  in  August  148.5, 
landed  with  a  small   army  at    Milford-haven. 
Richard,  not  knowing  in  what  quarter  to  ex- 
pect him,  was  thrown  into  much  perplexity, 
which  was  aggravated  by  his  suspicion  of  the 
fidelity  of  his  nobles,  and  especially  the  Stan- 
leys, the  chief  of   whom  had  become  the  se- 
cond husband  of  Margaret  the  earl  of   Rich- 
mond's mother.     When  informed  of  the  ad- 
vance of  his  rival,  he,  however,  took  the  field 
with  great  expedition,  and  met  him   with  an 
army  of  15,000  men    at  Bosworth  in  Leices- 
tershire.    Richmond  had  only  6,000  men,  but 
relied    on  the  secret  assurances   of  aid   from 
Stanley,  who  commanded   a  separate  force  of 
7,000.     The  battle  was  fought  on  the  23d  of 
August,  1485  ;  and  in  the  midst  of  it,  Stan- 
ley, by  falling  on  the  flank  of  the  royal  army, 
secured  the  victory  to   Richmond.      Richard, 
finding  his  situation  desperate,  rushed  against 
his  competitor,  slew  his  standard-bearer,  and 
was  on  the  point  of  encountering  Richmond 
himself,  when  he   sunk  under  the  number  of 
his  assailants.     His  troops  were  also  totally 
defeated,  with   the  loss  of  all  their  principal 
leaders.     The  body  of  Richard  was  found  in 
the  field  stripped  naked,  in  which  condition  it 
was  carried  across  a  horse  to  Leicester,  and  in- 
terred in   the  grey  friars'  churchyard.     Thus 
fell  this  odious  prince,  in  his  thirty-fifth  year, 
after  possessing  the  crown,  which  he  had  ac- 
quired by  so  many  crimes,  for  two  years  and 
two  months.     It  is  allowed  on  all  hands,  that 


RIC 

^e  possessed  courage,  capacity,  eloquence,  and 
most  of  the  talents  which  would  have  adorn- 
ed a  lawful  throne.  It  may  be  also  admitted, 
that  in  conformity  with  the  tendency  of  man- 
kind to  aggravate  the  vices  of  known  delin- 
quents, that  many  of  his  baleful  qualities  have 
probably  been  exaggerated.  But  it  is  not  proper, 
iu  compliment  to  the  curiosity  and  scepticism 
of  individuals,  to  be  reasoned  out  of  the 
conviction  which  so  many  undeniable  facts 
tend  to  establish,  of  his  cruelty,  dissimula- 
tion, treachery,  and  relentless  ambition.  It 
is,  doubtless,  worthy  the  philosophy  of  history 
to  correct  unjust  imputation,  even  in  regard  to 
bad  men  ;  but  it  must  steer  clear  of  the  para- 
dox of  resting  their  defence  upon  suppositions 
and  presumptions,  far  more  paradoxical  tkan 
those  they  are  employed  to  supersede  ;  and  in  a 
few  calm  pages  Gibbon  has  for  ever  set  at  rest, 
the  "  Historic  Doubts"  of  Horace  Walpole. 
On  the  character  of  Richard  III,  too,  the 
genius  of  Shakspeare  has  stamped  an  eternal 
impression,  which  no  merely  curious  or  conjec- 
tural erudition  can  assail.  John,  and  Richard 
III,  in  fact,  are  the  royal  villains  of  English 
history,  the  one  from  weakness  and  innate 
baseness  of  mind,  the  other  from  unprin- 
cipled ambition,  and  the  fearful  misapplication 
of  great  talents.  Richard  III  has  been  re- 
presented as  of  small  stature,  deformed,  and 
of  a  forbidding  aspect  ;  but  there  is  some  di- 
rect testimony  to  prove,  that  his  personal,  like 
his  mental  defects,  have  been  magnified  by 
the  general  detestation  of  his  character. — 
Hume.  Kapin.  Henry. 

RICHARD,  abbot  of  St  Victor,  in  the 
twelfth  century.  He  was  a  native  of  Scot- 
land, who  went  to  pursue  his  studies  in  the 
university  of  Paris,  after  which  he  entered 
into  the  abbey  of  St  Victor,  of  which  he  be- 
came the  superior  in  1164.  He  died  in  1173. 
His  works,  which  consist  of  critical  remarks 
on  some  of  the  historical  parts  of  the  Old 
Testament,  with  commentaries  on  the  Psalms, 
the  Song  of  Solomon,  the  Apocalypse,  and  the 
Epistles  of  St  Paul,  have  been  frequently 
printed  ;  but  the  best  edition  is  that  of  Rouen, 
16.i>0,  2  vols.  folio. — Cave.  Dupin. 

RICHARD,  commonly  called  Armachanus, 
but  sometimts  Fitz-Ralph,  his  family  name, 
is  said  by  some  to  have  been  a  native  of  De- 
vonshire, and  by  others  of  Ireland.  He  stu- 
died at  Oxford,  and  in  1333  became  commis- 
sary-general of  that  university.  He  subse- 
quently became  dean  of  Lichfield,  and  in 
1347  was  advanced  to  the  Irish  see  of  Armagh. 
While  at  Oxford,  he  honourably  distinguished 
himself  by  his  opposition  to  the  mendicant 
orders ;  whose  affectation  of  poverty,  and 
other  superstitious  practices  and  irregu- 
larities, he  exposed  in  his  lectures.  After 
being  raised  to  the  see  of  Armagh,  he  also 
strenuously  argued  against  the  encroachments 
of  the  friars  on  the  duties  of  the  parish 
priests,  and  endeavoured  to  show,  that  al- 
though Jesus  Christ  was  poor,  he  never  af- 
fected mendicancy,  or  taught  men  to  make 
choice  of  beggary  as  a  thing  agreeable  to 
God.  Doctrines  so  opposed  to  the  principles 


K  1  C 

of  the  mendicant  orders,  were  of  course  forci- 
bly resisted  by  them,  and  he  was  obliged  to 
repair  to  Avignon,  to  defend  himself  before 
pope  Innocent  VI,  who  decided  in  favour  of 
the  friars.  This  able  and  sensible  prelate  died 
iit  Avignon  in  1360.  His  printed  woiks  are, 
"  S,  rmonesquatuorad  Crucem  Londinensem,' 
Paris,  1612  ;  and  "  Defensio  Curatorum  ad- 
versus  Fratres  Mendicantes,"  Paris,  1496, 
being  the  substance  of  the  defence  of  his  prin- 
ciples at  Avignon.  He  also  translated  the 
Bible,  or  at  least  the  New  Testament,  into 
Irish,  which  translation  was  found  in  the  wall 
of  his  cathedral  iu  1530. — Collier's  Diet. 
Baijle. 

RICHARD  of  CIRENCESTER.so  named 
from  his  birth-place,  was  an  English  historian 
of  the  fourteenth  century.  No  traces  remain 
of  his  family  history,  and  little  more  is  known 
of  him  than  that  he  became  a  Benedictine 
monk  of  the  abbey  of  St  Peter  at  Westminster 
in  1350,  and  that  his  name  occurs  in  various 
documents  of  that  monastery  in  the  years 
1387,  1397,  and  1399.  Towards  the  close  of 
his  life  he  visited  Rome  ;  but  he  returned  to 
Westminster,  and  died  there  in  1401.  He 
devoted  his  leisure  to  the  study  of  our  na- 
tional history  and  antiquities  ;  and  he  wrote 
"  Historia  ab  Hengista  ad  an.  1348,"  in  two 
parts,  still  remaining  in  manuscript  ;  but  his 
principal  work  is  "  The  Description  of  Bri- 
tain," first  published  in  Latin  at  Copenhagen, 
in  1767,  and  more  recently  in  Latin  and  Eng- 
lish, with  a  commentary  and  maps  by  Mr  Hat- 
cher, 1809,  8vo.  Richard  of  Cirencester  also 
was  the  author  of  some  theological  tracts. — 
Life  pref.  to  Desc.  of  Rrit. 

'RICHARD  or  REICHARD  (BARTHOLO- 
MEW CHRISTIAN)  a  learned  writer  on  philo- 
logy and  bibliography,  in  the  early  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  He  was  a  native  of  Cor- 
bey  in  Westphalia,  and  became  professor  of 
history  and  philology  in  the  university  of  \Vit- 
temberg,  and  afterwards  in  that  of  Jena.  He 
died  iu  1721,  at  the  age  of  forty-one.  He 
was  the  author  of  "  Dissertatio  de  Toga  Qui- 
ritium,"  J70'2,  4to  ;  "  De  Ceusu  Ai:gusti 
Universe  indicto,"  1704  ;  "  De  Roma  ante 
Romulum  condita,"  Jenae,  1706,  4to  ;  "  Com- 
mentatio  de  Vita  et  Scriptis  Professorum  hodie 
iu  Academia  Jenensi  publice  docentium," 
1710,  8vo  ;  and  "  Historia  Bibliothecaj  Cse- 
sarea;  Vindobonensis  ad  nostra  tempora  de- 
ducta,"  1712,  8vo  ;  besides  which  he  publish- 
ed an  edition  of  the  epistles  of  Libanius. — 
Sarii  Onom.  Stotlii  Introd.  in  Hist.  Lit. 

RICHARD  (CHAHLES  Louis)  a  theolo- 
gical writer,  born  at  Blainville-sur-1'Eau  in 
Lorraine,  in  1711.  He  was  descended  from  a 
noble  but  reduced  family,  and  at  the  age  of 
sixteen  he  took  the  habit  of  St  Dominic,  and 
having  finished  las  studies  at  Paris,  he  was 
admitted  a  doctor  of  the  Sorbonne.  He  con- 
secrated his  talents  at  first  to  preaching,  but 
not  meeting  with  the  success  he  anticipated, 
he  had  recourse  to  his  pen,  and  produced  a 
number  of  works,  some  of  which  attracted 
considerable  attention.  When  the  llevolutiou 
took  place,  he.  opposed  its  progress,  and  was 


R  I  C 

obliged  to  seek  an  asylum  in  the  Netherlands ; 
and  when  that  country  was  entered  by  the 
French  troops  in  1794,  he  was  arrested  at 
Mons.  He  was  tried  before  a  military  com- 
mission, and  condemned  to  death  for  having 
published  a  tract,  entitled  "  Parallele  des  Juifs 
qui  ont  crucifie  Jesus  Christ,  avec  les  Fran- 
cais  qui  one  tue  leur  Roi ;"  and  pursuant  to 
his  sentence  he  was  shot  the  16th  of  August, 
1794.  Ho  was  the  author  of  "  Dictioimaire 
Uuiverselle  des  Sciences  Ecclesiastiques," 
1760,  &c.  6  vols.  folio,  in  which  lie  was  as- 
sisted by  father  Giraud;  and  "Analyse  des 
Conciles  generaux  et  particuliers,"  1772-77, 
5  vols.  4to. — Biog.  Univ.  Biog.  Nouv,  des 
Contemp. 

RICHARD  (Louis  CLAUDE  MARIE)  one 
of  the  most  eminent  botanists  of  the  present 
age,  born  at  Versailles  September  4,  1754. 
He  was  the  son  of  the  keeper  of  the  royal 
gardens  at  Auteuil,  and  he  studied  at  the  col- 
lege of  Vernon,  and  afterwards  went  through 
a  course  of  rhetoric  and  philosophy  at  the  Ma- 
zarin  college  at  Paris.  Whilst  there,  he  partly 
supported  himself  by  making  drawings  for  ar- 
chitects, and  at  the  same  time  assiduously  ap- 
plied himself  to  the  study  of  botany,  compara- 
tive anatomy,  zoology,  and  mineralogy.  While 
yet  very  young,  he  presented  to  the  Academy 
of  Sciences  several  memoirs,  which  attracted 
the  notice  of  the  celebrated  Bernard  de  Jus- 
sieu,  who  gave  him  the  use  of  his  library  and 
cabinet.  In  1781  he  sailed  from  France  with 
the  title  of  naturalist  to  the  king,  on  a  voyage 
of  research  to  French  Guyana  and  the  An- 
tilles. He  returned  home  in  1789,  bringing 
\vit!i  him  a  herbal  of  one  thousand  plants,  most 
of  which  were  newly  discovered,  and  a  great 
number  of  cases  filled  with  shells,  insects, 
birds,  and  quadrupeds,  besides  a  valuable  col- 
lection of  minerals  and  geological  specimens. 
The  political  disturbances  of  that  period 
caused  his  labours  to  be  neglected  ;  but  on  the 
restoration  of  order,  when  the  school  of  medi- 
cine was  established,  he  was  appointed  pro- 
fessor of  botany  ;  and  on  the  formation  of  the 
Institute,  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  first 
class  in  the  section  of  zoology  and  comparative 
anatomy.  He  was  also  a  corresponding  mem- 
ber of  the  Royal  Society  of  London  ;  and  was 
made  a  member  of  the  legion  of  honour.  He 
died  June  7,  1321.  The  researches  of  this 
botanist  7/ere  chiefly  directed  to  the  anatomy 
of  plants,  and  the  discovery  of  their  natural 
characters,  on  which  subjects  he  published  a 
multitude  of  valuable  memoirs  in  periodical 
works,  besides  which  he  was  the  author  of 
"  Demonstrations  Botamques,  ou  Analyse  du 
Fruit  considere  en  general,"  1808,  8vo. — 
Buig.  Univ. 

RICHARDSON  (JONATHAN)  a  painter 
and  author,  was  born  about  Id65.  -He  was 
apprenticed  to  a  scrivener  in  London,  but 
when  released  by  the  death  of  his  master,  he 
pursued  his  natural  inclination  for  the  arts  of 
design,  and  entered  as  a  pupil  with  Riley  the 
portrait  painter,  whose  niece  he  subsequently 
married.  He  never  attained  much  excellence 
in  his  profession,  but  in  the  then  state  of  the 


RI  C 

art  was  deemed  at  its  head,  after  the  death,  of 
Kueller  and  Dahl.  As  a  writer  he  is  entitled 
to  more  consideration,  and  two  discourses 
which  he  published  in  1719,  entitled  "  An 
Essay  on  the  whole  Art  of  Criticism  in  rela- 
tion to  Painting,"  and  "  An  Argument  in  be- 
half of  the  Science  of  a  Connoisseur,"  dis- 
play considerable  judgment  and  feeling.  He 
had  a  son,  who,  with  greater  advantages  in  the 
way  of  education  than  himself,  travelled  into 
Italy,  the  result  of  which  journev  was  a  joint 
production,  published  in  1722,  under  the  title 
of  "  An  Account  of  some  of  the  Statues, 
Bas-Reliefs,  Drawings,  and  Pictures  in  Italy, 
with  Remarks,  by  Messrs  Richardson  senior 
and  junior."  The  father  and  son  also  pub- 
lished, in  1734,  "  Explanatory  Notes  and  Re- 
marks on  Milton's  Paradise  Lost,"  8vo,  an 
unequal,  but  not  unmeritorious  performance. 
In  1776  Mr  Richardson  sen.  published  a  vo- 
lume of  poems,  which  possess  a  very  slight 
degree  of  poetical  merit,  altijough  indicative 
of  the  pious  and  amiable  character  of  the 
writer.  He  died  of  a  paralytic  stroke  in 
1745,  aged  eighty.  His  son,  who  practised 
painting  occasionally,  and  who  was  also  an  ex- 
tremely worthy  man,  died  in  1771. —  Wai- 
pole's  Anec.  Newton's  Milton. 

RICHARDSON  (JOSEPH)  a  man  of  let- 
ters, was  born  at  Hexham  in  Northumberland, 
and  was  entered  of  St  John's  college,  Cam- 
bridge, in  1774.  He  became  a  student  of  the 
Middle  Temple  in  1779,  and  was  called  to  the 
bar  in  1784.  His  literary  pursuits,  however, 
prevented  him  from  the  exercise  of  his  profes- 
sion. He  took  a  conspicuous  part  iu  the  cele- 
brated political  satires,  "  The  Rolliad  "  and 
the  "  Probationary  Odes."  He  also  wrote  the 
popular  comedy  of  "  The  Fugitive."  He  was 
brought  into  parliament  by  the  duke  of  Nor- 
thumberland, by  whose  means  he  was  also 
enabled  to  become  proprietor  of  a  fourth  part 
of  Drury-lane  theatre.  He  died  in  1803. — 
Gent.  Mag, 

RICHARDSON  (SAMUEL)  a  very  distin- 
guished English  novelist,  was  born  in  1689,  in 
Derbyshire,  to  which  county  his  father  retired 
from  the  business  of  a  joiner,  in  London.  He  was 
destined  for  the  church,  but  owing  to  losses  in 
trade,  the  expense  of  a  learned  education 
could  not  be  supported,  and  the  learning  of  a 
common  school  was  all  that  lie  ever  attained. 
He  early  discovered  a  talent  for  story-telling 
and  letter-writing  ;  and  those  who  take  plea- 
sure in  tracing  the  dawning  indications  of  ta- 
lent and  propensities,  which  are  the  ground- 
work of  future  celebrity,  will  learn  with  plea- 
sure that  at  the  age  of  thirteen  he  was  the 
confident  of  three  young  women  in  their  love 
secrets,  and  was  employed  by  them,  unknown 
to  each  other,  in  the  construction  of  their 
amatory  correspondence.  At  the  proper  age 
he  wa>  bound  apprentice  to  Mr  John  Wilde, 
of  Stationers'  hall,  London,  a  printer  of  some 
eminence  in  his  day  ;  and  after  the  expiratiou 
of  a  laborious  apprenticeship,  passed  five  or 
six  years  as  foreman  in  a  printing-office,  until 
at  length  he  found  means  to  set  up  for  himself 
in  a  court  in  Fleet-street.  The  habits  of  dili- 


RIC 

gence,  accuracy,  and  honourable  dealing,  soon 
Hi.-quired  him  an  extensive  business,  and  be- 
ginning to  thrive  in  the  world  he  married  the 
daughter  of  his  former  master.  Among  other 
things,  he  printed  a  publication  called  the 
True  Briton,  for  the  profligate  duke  of  Whar- 
ton  ;  the  Daily  Gazetteer;  and,  through  the 
interest  of  the  speaker  Onslow,  the  first  edi- 
tion of  the  Journals  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. His  "  Pamela,"  the  first  work  which 
gave  him  distinction  as  a  writer,  was  publish- 
ed in  1741,  and  arose  out  of  a  proposal  to  him 
by  the  booksellers  to  compose  a  volume  of 
"  Familiar  Letters,"  which  suggested  the  idea. 
Such  was  the  readiness  of  his  invention  and 
his  pen,  the  first  two  volumes  were  completed 
in  two  months,  and  so  great  was  its  popularity, 
that  it  ran  through  five  editions  in  one  year, 
and  was  even  recommended  from  the  pulpit. 
The  novelty  of  his  plan,  with  many  passages 
of  great  beauty  and  interesting  traits  of  cha- 
racter, may  account  for  much  of  this  recep- 
tion ;  but  even  at  that  time  critics  existed, who 
entertained  those  opinions  of  its  imperfections, 
and  doubts  of  its  salutary  tendency,  which 
have  since  become  almost  general.  He  was 
led  by  a  spurious  continuation  by  another  wri- 
ter to  add  two  volumes  to  his  "  Pamela,'' 
which  were  deemed  very  inferior  to  the  for- 
mer ;  but  in  1748,  the  appearance  of  the  first 
two  volumes  of  his  "  Clarissa,"  fully  esta- 
blished his  literary  reputation.  This  is  un- 
questionably the  production  upon  which  his 
fame  is  chiefly  founded  ;  and  although  it  has 
lost  much  of  its  original  popularity,  owing  to 
a  change  in  the  taste  of  novel  readers,  its  pa- 
thos, its  variety  of  character,  and  minute  de- 
velopment of  the  movements  of  the  human 
heart,  will  cause  it  ever  to  be  regarded  as  a 
noble  monument  of  its  author's  genius.  The 
interest  created  by  its  progressive  appearance 
was  immense  ;  and  when  made  known  to  the 
continent  by  translation,  it  raised  the  reputa- 
tion of  Richardson  to  a  level  with  the  most 
applauded  writers  of  the  age.  "  The  History 
of  sir  Charles  Grandison,"  his  concluding 
performance,  appeared  in  1753.  The  interest 
taken  in  this  work  was  not  equal  to  that  pro- 
duced by  the  former,  although  possibly  exhi- 
biting more  compass,  invention,  and  enter- 
tainment ;  but  the  character  of  the  hero,  like 
all  assumed  perfection,  is  in  some  degree  re- 
pulsive, and  the  lengthy  mode  of  the  author 
began  to  engender  satiety.  The  character  of 
Clementina  is  allowed  to  be  a  masterly  ex-am- 
ple of  delicate  delineation.  This  work  was 
also  translated  into  foreign  languages,  and  re- 
ceived with  great  applause.  With  respect  to 
all  the  productions  of  Richardson,  it  is  agreed 
that  the  matter  receives  little  assistance  from 
the  style,  which  is  inelegant,  gossiping  and 
verbose,  and  that  he  seldom  knows  when  to 
leave  off.  Writing  as  he  did  so  much  and  so 
rapidly,  this  was  to  be  expected,  not  to  men- 
tion his  paucity  of  original  education,  the 
chief  source  of  refinement  of  style.  While 
tdyancing  in  the  career  of  literary  fame,  he 
was  by  no  means  inattentive  to  the  improve- 
ment of  his  fortune.  In  1754  he  rose  to  be 


R1C 

master  of  die  Stationers'  company  ;  and  in 
1760  purchased  a  moiety  of  die  patent  of  law 
printer  to  the  king.  As  he  grew  rich,  lie  in- 
dulged himself  with  a  country  residence  at 
Parson's-green,  Middlesex,  where  he  lived 
surrounded  with  a  circle  of  affectionate  ad- 
mirers, particularly  females,  to  whom  it  was 
his  delight  to  read  his  work  in  the  progress  of 
composition.  In  mixed  company  he  was  ra- 
ther silent  and  reserved,  and  never  got  over 
the  bashfulness  incident  to  a  man  of  feeling 
of  early  origin,  which  reserve  was  rather 
strengthened  than  otherwise  by  a  great  love  of 
independence.  Nothing,  however,  could  ex- 
ceed his  piety,  moral  worth,  and  general  be- 
nevolence. This  estimable  person  was  carried 
off  by  an  apoplexy,  in  1761,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-two,  and  was  buried  in  the  church  of 
St  Bride  in  Fleet- street.  He  was  twice  mar- 
ried, and  out  of  a  large  family  reared  four 
daughters,  who  survived  him.  The  writings 
of  Richardson,  exclusive  of  his  three  novels, 
are  "  Familiar  Letters,"  an  "  Edition  of  .^sop's 
Fables,  with  Reflections  ;"  his  "  Case,"  on 
the  piracy  of  his  Grandison  by  the  Dublin 
booksellers  ;  "  The  Duties  of  Wives  to  Hus- 
bands," printed  on  a  large  single  sheet ;  and 
several  fugitive  pieces  in  various  periodical 
publications,  one  of  which  is  No.  XCV1I  of 
the  Rambler,  describing  the  progress  of  a  vir- 
tuous courtship.  His  correspondence,  selected 
from  his  original  MSS.  was  published  in  1804, 
in  6  vols.  8vo,  with  an  excellent  life  and  cri- 
ticism by  Mrs  Barbauld.  It  will  not  add  to 
his  reputation,  unhappily  exhibiting  an  uncom- 
mon share  of  the  vanity  that  was  his  principal 
foible,  and  which  appears  to  have  been  the 
only  unfavourable  result  of  that  exclusive,  pre- 
dilection for  female  society  and  approbation, 
which  had  been  one  of  his  earliest  and  un- 
ceasing characteristics. — Life  by  Mrs  Bar- 
bauld. Nichols's  Lit.  Anec. 

RICHARDSON,  FAS.  (WiLLIA50  a 
learned  divine  and  ecclesiastical  antiquary, 
born  at  Wilshamstead  in  Bedfordshire,  in 
1698.  He  received  his  education  at  West- 
minster school  and  Emmanuel  college,  Cam- 
bridge ;  an^l  having  been  episcopally  ordained, 
he  became  curate  and  lecturer  of  the  parish  of 
St  Olave,  Southwark.  Having  returned  to  the 
university,  and  taken  the  degree  of  LL.D,  he 
obtained  the  mastership  of  the  college  in 
which  he  had  been  educated.  On  the  death 
of  archbishop  Potter,  in  1747,  he  had  a  dis- 
pute with  Dr  Chapman,  relative  to  the  pre- 
centorship  of  Lincoln,  of  which  the  latter  had 
taken  to  himself  the  presentation,  as  executor 
to  the  primate,  to  whom  the  right  of  nomina- 
tion had  appertained,  but  his  claim  was  de- 
feated. Dr  Richardson's  principal  literary 
undertaking  was  a  new  and  much  improved 
edition  of  bishop  Godwin's  treatise,  "  De 
Pra-'sulibus  Anglorum,"  folio,  1743.  He  also 
published  some  Sermons.  His  death  took 
place  in  1775. — Nichols's  Lit.  Anec. 

RICHARDSON,  DD.  (WILLIAM)  an  Irish 
clergyman,  distinguished  as  an  agriculturist. 
He  was  born  in  1740,  and  entering  into  the 
established  church,  he  became  rector  of  Clon- 


11  I  C 

fickle,  in  the  countv  of  Antrim.  All  his  lei- 
sure was  devoted  to  the  culture  of  the  Agrostis 
atolonifera,  or  florin  grass,  on  which  he  made 
a  great  number  of  experiments,  tending  to 
show  its  superiority  over  most  other  kinds  of 
herbage  for  feeding  cattle.  lift  published  "  A 
Letter  to  the  Right  Hon.  Isaac  Corry,  on  the 
Properties  of  Fiorin  Grass,"  1809,  12mo  ; 
"  An  Essay  on  Fiorin  Grass,"  1810,  8vo  ; 
"  A  new  Essay  on  Fiorin  Grass,"  1813  ;  be- 
sides a  Memoir  on  the  Giant's  Causeway,  and 
other  papers  in  the  Philosophical  Transac- 
tions.— Dr  Richardson  died  in  1820. — London 
Mug.  Biog.  "Nouv.  des  Contemp. 

RICHARDSON  (WILLIAM)  an  ingenious 
Scottish  writer,  who  was  educated  at  the  uni- 
versity of  Glasgow,  where  he  took  the  degree 
of  MA.  Having  finished  his  studies,  he  ob- 
tained the  office  of  tutor  to  a  young  nobleman, 
with  whom  he  went  to  Russia.  Returning  to 
Scotland,  he  was  chosen  professor  of  humanity 
or  classical  literature  (litterae  humaniores),  at 
Glasgow,  and  he  held  that  station  for  more 
than  forty  years.  He  published  "  An  Analysis 
and  Illustration  of  some  of  Shakespeare's  most 
remarkable  Characters,"  1774,  8vo  ;  "  Poems, 
chiefly  rural  ;"  1774,  8vo  ;  "  Essays  on  Shake- 
speare's Dramatic  Characters  of  Richard  III, 
Lear,  and  Timon  of  Athens,"  1783,  8vo  ; 
"  Anecdotes  of  the  Russian  Empire,  in  a 
series  of  Letters,"  1784,  8vo ;  "  The  Ca- 
cique of  Ontario,  an  Indian  Tale,"  1786, 
4to  ;  "  Essays  on  Shakespeare's  dramatic 
Character  of  Sir  John  Falstaff,  and  on  his 
Imitation  of  Female  Characters,  with  some 
general  Observations  on  the  Study  of  Shake- 
speare," 1788,  8vo  ;  and  "  The  Maid  of 
Lochlin,  a  Tale,"  12mo.  He  also  published 
papers  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  So- 
ciety of  Edinburgh,  to  which  he  belonged. 
He  died  at  an  advanced  age,  in  1814. — Reuss. 
Gent.  Mag. 

RICHE  (CLAUDE  ANTOINE  CASPAR)  a 
distinguished  French  physician  and  naturalist, 
born  in  1762.  After  studying  at  a  college  of 
the  Benedictines,  he  went  to  Montpellier, 
where  he  took  the  degree  of  MD,  in  1787. 
He  then  visited  the  mountains  of  Languedoc, 
to  improve  his  acquaintance  with  botany  and 
geology  ;  and  in  1788  he  went  to  Paris,  and 
became  the  first  secretary  to  the  newly-founded 
Philomathic  Society.  On  the  fitting  out  an 
expedition  under  M.  d'Entrecasteaux,  for  the 
double  purpose  of  inquiry  into  the  fate  of  La 
Perouse,  and  the  prosecution  of  researches 
relative  to  geography  and  natural  history, 
Riche  obtained  an  appointment,  and  sailed 
on  board  the  Esperance,  one  of  the  two  fri- 
gates destined  for  the  voyage,  in  September 
1791.  After  visiting  New  Holland,  and  many 
of  the  islands  of  the  South  Sea,  and  making 
dimerous  collections  of  specimens  and  obser- 
vations, M.  Riche  and  his  colleagues,  Vente- 
lat,  La  Billardiere,  Deschamps,  &c.  arrived 
'nth  the  vessels  at  Java,  in  October  1793. 
the  French  republican  government  being  then 
itwar  with  the  Dutch,  the,  journals,  charts,  &c. 
of  the  squadron  were  seized  ;  and  after  fruit- 
less attempts  to  recover  them,  and  a  voyage  to 


RIC 

the  Isle  of  France,  M.  Riche  returned  to  Eu- 
rope. He  landed  at  Bourdeaux,  in  an  ill  state 
of  health,  and  died  soon  after,  September  5, 
1797.  The  papers  of  this  naturalist  were  sub- 
sequently given  up  by  the  Dutch  government, 
and  they  were  used  in  preparing  an  account 
of  the  Voyage  of  D'Entrecasteaux.  He  was 
the  author  of  an  ingenious  treatise,  "  Sur  la 
Chimie  des  Vegetaux,"  and  he  read  before  the 
Philomathic  Society,  a  number  of  memoirs, 
some  of  which  have  been  published. —  Biog. 
NOHV.  des  Contemp.  Bido-.  Univ. 

RICHELET  (CESAR  PIERRE)  a  French 
lexicographer  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the 
value  of  whose  writings  is  much  deteriorated 
by  the  acrimony  and  ribaldry  with  which  they 
are  intermingled,  a  circumstance  the  more  to 
be  regretted,  inasmuch  as  the  less  exception- 
able parts  evince  much  talent,  and  are  replete 
with  useful  information.  He  was  a  native  of 
Cheminon,  born  there  in  1631,  and  in  1680 
printed  at  Geneva  the  first  edition  of  the  Dic- 
tionary that  bears  his  name,  in  one  quarto 
volume.  A  second  edition,  in  two  vols.  folio, 
appeared  at  Lyons  in  1721,  and  a  third,  with 
many  additions  and  improvements,  in  the  same 
city  in  1755.  He  was  also  the  author  of  a 
Rhyming  Dictionary,  and  a  translation  of 
Vega's  "  History  of  the  Conquest  of  Florida." 
He  died  in  1698. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

RICHELIEU  (ARMAND  JOHN  DU  PLESSIS, 
cardinal,  duke  de)  a  celebrated  French  states- 
man, born  of  a  noble  family,  September  5, 
1585,  in  the  city  of  Paris.  He  was  the  son 
of  Francis  du  Plessis  Richelieu,  grand  provost 
of  France,  and  captain  of  the  guards  to  Henry 
I V,  who  died  when  the  subject  of  this  article 
was  but  five  years  old.  He  was  originally  in- 
tended for  the  military  profession ;  but  his 
elder  brother  having  resigned  the  bishopric 
of  Luc  on  to  become  a  Carthusian,  Armand  en- 
gaged in  a  course  of  study  to  fit  himself  for 
the  benefice  ;  and  having  finished  his  educa- 
tion at  the  college  of  the  Sorbonne,  he  went  to 
Rome,  and  was  consecrated  bishop  of  Lucon 
in  1607.  He  at  first  occupied  himself  with 
his  pastoral  duties,  and  edified  his  flock  and 
the  court  by  his  preaching,  devoting  himself 
entirely  to  religious  affairs  till  the  assembly  of 
the  States  General  in  1614,  in  which  he  was  a 
deputy  from  the  clergy  of  Poitou.  He  therein 
supported  the  interest  of  the  queen  mother,, 
Mary  de'  Medici,  who  appointed  him  her 
grand  almoner,  and  through  whose  interest  he 
became  secretary  of  state.  On  the  destruction 
cf  the  queen's  favourite,  the  marshal  d'Ancre, 
Richelieu  accompanied  her  majesty  in  her 
exile  to  Blois,  whence,  by  his  intrigues  with 
the  duke  de  Luynes,  he  procured  her  return 
and  reconciliation  with  her  son.  Luynes,  in  re- 
ward of  his  services,  procured  him  a  cardinal's 
hat,  and  after  the  death  of  that  minister  in  1622, 
he  arrived  at  unbounded  power,  through  his  in- 
fluence over  his  weak  master,  Louis  XIII.  In 
1624  he  was  placed  in  the  arduous  office  of 
prime  minister,  and  his  government  assumed 
a  tone  of  vigour  and  decision  which  the  exi- 
gencies of  that  period  required.  France  was 
agitated  by  contending  factions,  both  religious 


RIC 

ind  political ;  and  it  was  the  policy  of  the  car- 
dinal to   suppress   them,    by  preventing   their 
permanent  union,   and  giving  a  preponderant 
influence  to    the  rnyal  authority,   which    had 
been  so  often   set  at  defiance  by  the  religious 
fanatics  of  various  classes,  and  by  the  powerful 
andturbulentnohility-  Itis  true, that  in  effecting 
these  objects,  he  pursued  a  course  of  despotic 
severity  which  has  entailed  on  his  administra- 
tion the  stigma  of  tyranny  ;  yet  his  vigour  was 
in   many  instances  justified  by  the  criminality 
of   its  subjects  ;  and  it  must  be  acknowledged 
that  the    French  monarchy  dates  from  his  as- 
cendancy its  strength  and  independence.     He 
turned  his  arms  against   the  Calvinist  insur- 
gents, and  having  secured  the  alliance  of  Eng- 
land and  Holland,  he  expelled  them  from  the 
Isle  of  Rhe.     His  schemes  were  often   tra- 
versed  by  the  restless   ambition   of  the  weak 
and  unprincipled  duke  of  Orleans,   the  king's 
brother,  who  entered  into  a  conspiracy  to  as- 
sassinate Richelieu,  and  to  effect  great  political 
alterations.     But    the    discovery  of   the    plot 
served  only  to   strengthen  the  power  of  the 
minister,   and  increase  his  influence  over  the 
royal  councils.     He  proceeded  to  attack  the 
Culvinists   in  their  strong  hold   of  Rochelle, 
which   city,   after  a  year's  siege,  opened  her 
gates  to  the  conqueror,  October  28,  1628;  and 
proud  of  his  success,  he  advanced  to  the  sub- 
jugation of  the  Protestants  in  other  parts  of 
the    kingdom.     In    1629   lie   was    nominated 
lieutenant-general   of  the  army   employed  in 
Italy,  and  minister  with  powers  so  extensive, 
as  to  place  every  department  of  the  state  un- 
der his  control.     Mary  de'  Medici  having  be- 
come   his   enemy,    and    indisposed    the    king 
against  him,  he  contrived  to  recover  his  ascen- 
dancy, and  after  taking  severe  vengeance  on 
her  partizans,   he   procured   the   exile  of  the 
queen  mother  to  Cologne,  where  she  continued 
till  her  death.     Gaston,  duke  of  Orleans,  hav- 
ing renewed  his  intrigues  against  the  cardinal, 
and  engaged  the  duke  of  Montmorenci  in  an 
insurrection,   its  failure  was  followed   by  the 
execution   of  the  latter,   and  the   disgraceful 
humiliation  of  Orleans.     In  163.5  war  was  de- 
clared against   Spain,   when    the  invasion  of 
Picardy,  and   the  sudden  alarm  which    took 
place  in  the  metropolis,  induced   the  minister 
to  think  of  resigning  his  post.     In  this  emer- 
gency   he   owed   his   safety  to  his   confidant, 
father  Joseph,  who  advised  him  to  make  his 
appearance  in  the  streets  of  Paris  unguarded, 
and  with  an  air  of  tranquillity  and  confidence  ; 
which  had  the  desired  effect  of  changing  the 
inward  curses  of  the   populace  into   benedic- 
tions,   and    the   storm    was   dissipated.     The 
war  was  carried  on  more  prosperously,  and  the  , 
great  power    of    Richelieu  was    experienced 
both  at  home    and    abroad.      The   perpetual 
plots  of  the  duke  of  Orleans,  though  they  often 
endangered  the  life  of  the   cardinal,  had  no 
other  ultimate  effect  than  to  confirm  his  power, 
cover   the  prince  with   disgrace,  and  occasion 
the  destruction  of  his  associates.     The  Jesuit 
Caussin,  who  was  the  king's  confessor,  having 
imprudently  attempted  to  render  the  minister's 
policy  odious  to  his  master,  was  exiled  from 


11  I  C 

court  ;  and  the   confessor  of  the  duchess  of 
Savoy,   the  king's  sister,  underwent  a  similar 
disgrace.    The  cardinal  even  braved  the  papal 
court ;  and  the  French  clergy  were  forced  to 
yield  to  his  will   the  same   submission  which 
was  displayed  by  the  other  orders  of  the  state. 
One  of  the  last  events  of  his  life  was  the  dis- 
covery and  punishment  of  the  conspiracy  of 
Cinque-Mars,  in  which,  as  usual,   the  duke  of 
Orleans  was  a  party  ;  and  which  proved  fatal 
to  the   son   of   the  celebrated  president    De 
Thou,  who  was  executed  for  concealing  his 
knowledge  of  the  plot.     Cardinal   Richelieu 
died  December  4,  1642,  exhibiting  in  his  last 
moments  a  degree  of  calmness  and  resignation 
which  would  have  been  characteristic  of  a  well 
spent  life.     On  receiving  the   sacrament,  he 
declared  that  in  all  his  actions  he  had  solely 
had  in  view  nothing  but  the  welfare  of  relf- 
gion  and  the  state  ;  justifying  te  himself  pro- 
bably the  severities  he  had  exercised  on  the 
plea  of  political  necessity,  for  on  being  asked 
if  he  forgave  his  enemies,  he  replied,  "  I  have 
no  enemies  but  those  of  the  state."     Besides 
some  theological  works,  he  was  the  author  of 
"  Memoires  sur  les  Evenements  du  Regne  de 
Louis XIII, "published  by  Mezeray  ;  "  Testa- 
ment politique  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu,"  the 
authenticity  of  which  was  attacked  by  Voltaire, 
and  defended  by  M.  Foncemagne,  who  publish- 
ed an  edition  of  this  piece  in  1764;  and"  Jour- 
nal de  M.  le  Cardinal  de   Richelieu,  qu'il  a 
fait  durant  le  grand  Orage  de  la  Cour,  en  1630 
et  1631,"  1649,  8vo.     He  aspired  to  fame  as 
a  poet,   but  his  dramatic  attempts  and  his  cri- 
tical enmity  to  Corneille,  are  alike  discredita- 
ble to  his  literary  reputation.    As  a  benefactor 
of  science  and  literature  he  deserves  to  be  no- 
ticed, for  having  rebuilt  the  Sorbonne  college, 
founded  the  royal  printing-house  at  Paris,  and 
the  botanic  garden  ;  and  especially  for  the  es- 
tablishment of  the   French  Academy,  which 
last  repaid  him  with   copious  offerings  of  in- 
cense during  his  life  and  long  after  his  decease. 
— His  elder    brother,    ALPHONSE    Louis    DU 
PLESSIS  DE  RICHEMEU,  noticed  in  the  begin- 
ning of  this   article,  was  commonly  known  by 
the  title  of  the  cardinal  of  Lyons.     He  became 
archbishop  of  Aix,   and  afterwards  of  Lyons, 
and  grand  almoner  to  the  king.     He  seems  to 
have  possessed  none    of  the  ambition  of  his 
brother,  and  is  said  to  have  often  regretted  the 
loss    of  the    tranquillity   of  the  cloister.     He 
died  in  1633.     Some  of  his  letters  have  been 
published.— Pere  Griffet  Hist,  de  Louis  XIII. 
Voltaire   Hist.   Gen.       Morcri.      Aikin's   Gen. 
Biog.     Biog.  Univ. 

RICHELIEU  (Lours  FRANCIS  ARMAND 
DUPLESSIS  de)  marshal  of  France,  a  member 
of  the  French  Academy  and  of  the  Academy 
of  Sciences,  was  descended  from  the  same 
family  with  the  subject  of  the  preceding  article, 
and  was  born  at  Paris  in  1696.  He  was  in- 
troduced at  court  in  1710,  and  though  so 
oung  he  attracted  great  notice.  Becoming  a 
avourite  with  the  duchess  of  Burgundy,  his 
father  thought  proper  to  procure  an  order  for 
confining  him  in  the  Bastile  ;  and,  on  his 
liberation,  he  made  a  campaign  in  Flanders, 


II  I  C 

»9  aide-de-camp  to  marshal  ViLars.  After  the 
death  of  Louis  XIV,  Richelieu  was  admitted 
into  the  court  of  the  recent,  duke  of  Orleans, 
and  he  largely  participated  in  its  profligate 
luxury.  He  was  sent  to  the  Bastile  in  1716, 
for  fighting  a  duel  with  the  count  de  Gace, 
and  again  in  1719,  as  an  accomplice  with  the 
Spanish  ambassador,  the  prince  of  Cellamare, 
in  a  conspiracy  against  the  regent.  He  subse- 
quently again  engaged  in  military  service,  and 
gained  much  reputation  at  the  battles  of  Det- 
tingen,  Fontenoi,  Raucoux,  and  Lafeldt.  In 
1756,  war  having  taken  place  between  the 
French  and  English,  marshal  Richelieu  was 
employed  in  an  expedition  against  Minorca  ; 
and  after  conquering  that  island,  he  was  sent 
to  Germany,  where  he  forced  the  duke  of 
Cumberland  to  submit  to  the  capitulation  of 
Closterseven.  In  1781  he  obtained  the  rank 
of  dean  of  the  French  marshals  ;  and  he  con- 
cluded his  long  career,  as  a  man  of  wit  and 
gallantry  in  every  sense  of  the  word,  at  the 
advanced  age  of  ninety-two,  in  August  1788. 
The  "  Memoires  du  Marechal  de  Richelieu," 
appeared  in  4  vols.  8vo,  in  1720,  and  "  Vie 
privee  du  M.  Richelieu,"  in  1790-92,  3  vols. 
8vo  ;  but  neither  of  these  works  is  considered 


as    perfectly   authentic. — Diet.    Hist.      Biog, 
Univ. 

RICHELIEU    (AHMAND    EMANUEL    DU 
PLF.SSIS,    due    de)   minister   of    state   under 
Louis  XVI1T,  was  the  grandson  of  the  pre- 
ceding.    He  was  born  at  Paris  in  1767,  and 
after   studying   in  the   college  of   Plessy,  lie 
travelled  in  Italy,  whence  he  returned  at  the 
commencement  of  the  Revolution  in  1789.  He 
soon  after  obtained  permission  from  the  king 
to  go  to  Vienna,  where  he  was  well  received 
by  the  emperor  Joseph  II  ;  but  he  scon  quitted 
that  capital  with  the  young  prince  de  Ligne, 
and  entered  into  the  service  of  Catherine  II, 
then  at  war  with  the  Turks.    He  distinguished 
himself  at   the  taking  of  Ismail  by  Suwarrow, 
and  was  rewarded  with   the  rank   of  major- 
general.     In  1794  he  was  with  Louis  XVIII 
in   England,  whence   he  returned  to  Russia  ; 
but  not  being   well   treated  by  the  emperor 
Paul,   he  quitted  that  country,  and  after  the 
peace  of  1801  he  revisited  France,  where  Buo- 
naparte in  vain  attempted  to  attach  him  to  his 
service.     He  went  again  to  St  Petersburg,  and 
at  the  commencement  of  1803  he  was   nomi- 
nated civil  and  military  governor  of  Odessa,  a 
Russian  colony  on  the  Black  Sea,  which  flou 
rished  greatly  under  his  superintendance.    On 
the  restoration  of  Louis  XVIII,  the  duke  de 
Richelieu  took  his  seat  in  the   chamber  of 
peers,  and  resumed  his  functions  as  first  gen- 
tleman of  the  bedchamber.     In  March  181.5 
he  accompanied  the  king  to  Ghent,  and   re- 
turning with  him  to  Paiis,  after  the  battle  o) 
Waterloo,  he  was  appointed  president  of  the 
council  of  ministeis,  and  placed  at  the  head  o: 
the  foreign  department.     He  presided  at  the 
installation   of   the   four  academies  in    Apri 
1818,    and  in    September   following  he    was 
made  president  ot  the    French  Academy.     In 
the   same  month  he  appeared  at  the  congress 
of  Aix-la-Chapelie.  He  subsequently  resignei 


KIC 

his  office  as  minister  of  state  ;  but  in  1820  he 
again  became  president  of  the  council.  He 
fruitlessly  opposed  the  establishment  of  the 
censorship  of  the  press,  and  finding  he  had 
lost  his  influence,  he  again  retired  from  office, 
and  died  soon  after,  in  May  1822. — Hiog. 
Now),  des  Contemp.  Biag.  Univ. 

RICHER  (CLAUDE)  a  learned  French  ec- 
clesiastic and  mathematician  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  He  was  a  native  of  Auxerre,  and  was 
educated  at  Paris,  where,  in  1701,  he  published 
"  Universal  Gnomonics,  or  the  Science  of 
Dialling."  Having  taken  the  order  of  priest- 
hood, he  for  a  long  series  of  years  devoted  his 
time  to  the  religious  duties  of  his  profession, 
and  the  education  of  youth.  In  1730  he  re- 
sumed his  mathematical  studies,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  acquaintance  with  M.  Fantet  de 
Lagny,  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences;  and  in 
1733  he  published  his  "  General  Analysis, 
containing  new  Methods  of  resolving  all  kinds 
of  Problems,"  4to.  Pie  intended  to  have  con- 
tinued this  work,  but  his  attention  was  diverted 
from  it  hy  a  new  pursuit,  which  occupied  the 
remainder  of  his  life.  This  was  the  investi- 
gation of  the  relics  of  Egyptian  History,  on 
which  ohscure  subject  he  produced  two  im- 
mense folio  volumes,  but  a  specimen  only  of 
his  researches  was  printed.  He  died  about 
17.5.5. — Aikins  Gen.  Bing, 

RICHER  (EDMUND)  a  learned  Frencli  di- 
vine, was  born  at  Chaource,  in  the  diocese  of 
Langres,  in  1560,  and  became  grand  master 
of  the  college  of  Le  Moine,  and  afterwards 
syndic  of  the  faculty  of  divinity  at  Paris,  in 
which  situation  lie  strenuously  opposed  the 


>ope's  infallibility  in  a  tract   "  On  the   Civil 
and  Ecclesiastical  Power,"  8vo.     This  work 
caused  a  great  commotion,  and  was  censured 
>y  a  council  of  bishops,  from  which   Richer 
ntered  an  appeal  to  the   parliament,  but  he 
was  finally  proscribed  and  condemned  at  Rome, 
tie  was  deposed  from  his  office,  and  retired 
nto  solitude,  whence  he  was  dragged  and  sent 
to  the  prisons  of  St  Victor.     In  1620  he  pub- 
ished  a  declaration,  protesting  that    he    was 
ready  to  explain  his  work  in  an  orthodox  sense, 
and  to  submit  it  to  the  judgment  of  the  holy 
see,  and   of  the  Catholic   church.     He    then 
published  a  second  ;  and  in  1629  he  printed  a 
new  edition  of  his  book,   with   the    proofs  of 
the  propositions  advanced  in  it,  and  the  two 
declarations,  to  which,  at  the  command  of  car- 
dinal Richelieu,  he  added  a  third.     He  died 
in  1631.     Richer  also  wrote  a  "  History  of 
General  Councils,"  4  vols.  4to;  and  a  "  His- 
tory of  his  Syndicate,"  &c. — Dupin.    Niceron. 
Mosheim. 

RICHER  (FrtANcis)  a  French  lawyer  and 
man  of  letters,  who  was  a  native  of  Avran- 
ches.  After  having  completed  his  studies,  he 
was  admitted  an  advocate  about  1740;  and 
having  established  himself  at  Paris,  he  re- 
sided there  till  his  death  in  1790,  at  the  age 
of  seventy-two.  Besides  improved  editions 
of  the  works  of  Montesquieu  and  other  wri- 
ters, hu  published  "  Traite  de  la  Mort  Ci- 
vile," 17.55,  4to;  "  De  1'Autorite  du  Clerge, 
et  du  Pouvoir  du  Magistral  Politique  sur  1'  Ki« 


U  I  C 

ercist:  ik's  runcuuns  du  Ministere  Ecclesias- 
lique,"  1767,  2  vols.  I2mo  ;  and  "  Causes 
Celebrcs  et  lnteressaiUes,"  1772 — 88,  22  vols. 
1  2mo,  a  work  which  has  superseded  that  of 
Gayot  de  Pitaval,  under  the  same  title. —  Ri- 
ciii  H  (ADRIAN)  brother  of  the  preceding,  was 
the  author  of  many  useful  compilations.  He 
died  at  Paris,  in  1798.  Among  his  works  are 
"  Vies  des  Homrr.es  Illustres,"  1756",  2  vols. 
12mo  ;  "  Essai  sur  les  Grands  Evenements 
par  les  Petites  Causes,  tire  de  1'IIistoire," 
1758,  12mo  ;  "  Nouvelle  Essai  sur  les  Grands 
Evenements,  &c."  1759,  12mo  ;  and  ••  Vies 
des  plus  Celebres  Marins,"  1784 — 89,  ISvcls. 
12mo. — Biog.  Nouv.  de.s  Contemp. 

RICHER  (JOHN)  a  French  astronomer  and 
mathematician  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
who  was  admitted  a  member  of  the  academy 
of  Sciences  at  Paris  in  1666.  In  1672  he 
was  sent  to  Cayenne,  in  South  America,  by 
Louis  XIV,  for  the  purpose  of  making  obser- 
vations which  might  contribute  to  the  improve- 
ment of  astronomy.  He  was  the  first  who 
observed  the  contraction  of  the  pendulum  in 
the  equatorial  regions,  whence  Newton  and 
Huygens  derived  evidence  of  the  oblate  sphe- 
roidal figure  of  the  earth.  After  three  years 
Richer  returned  to  France,  and  gave  the  re- 
sult of  his  labours  in  "  Astronomical  and  Phy- 
sical Observations  made  at  the  Island  of  Cay- 
enne," which  are  inserted  in  the  seventh  vo- 
lume of  the  Memoirs  of  the  academy  of  Sci- 
ences. He  died  in  1696. — Diet.  Hist.  Aikin's 
Gen.  Biog. 

RICHER  DE  BELLEVAL  (PIERRE)  an 
eminent  French  physician  and  botanist,  born 
at  Chalons  in  Champagne,  iu  1558.  He  may 
be  regarded  as  the  first  professor  of  botany  in 
France,  who  taught  that  science  as  distinct 
from  medicine.  He  studied  at  JVlontpellier, 
and  took  his  degrees  at  Avignon,  and  having 
rendered  great  services  to  the  public  during 
the  prevalence  of  a  contagious  disease  at  Pe- 
zenag,  he  was  patronized  by  the  duke  de 
Montmorenci,  through  whose  recommendation 
Henry  IV  appointed  him  to  a  professorship  of 
botany  and  anatomy,  which  he  founded  in  the 
university  of  Montpellier  towards  the  end  of 
the  sixteenth  century.  He  published  "  Ono- 
matoloi;ia,  seu  Nomenclature  Stirpium  qua;  in 
!  lorto  Ilegio  Monspellii  recens  constructo  co- 
luntur,"  1598,  12mo  ;  and  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  in  1623,  he  was  preparing  for  the  press 
an  extensive  botanical  work,  the  MSS.  and 
engraved  plates  for  which  were  dispersed  and 
destroyed  through  the  careless  folly  of  his  de- 
»cendants.  Villars,  in  his  Flore  du  Dauplane, 
Las  consecrated  to  the  memory  of  this  bota- 
flist  a  genus  of  plants  called  llicheria ;  and 
similar  honours  have  been  paid  to  him  by  Sco- 
poli  and  Bruguiere. — Aikin's  Gen.  Bing.  liiog. 

~  RICHER  SERISY  (-  -)  a  French 
iournalist,  born  at  Caen,  about  1764.  He  went 
to  Paris  when  young,  and  was  employed  in  the 
office  of  an  attorney  of  the  parliament.  1  le 
had  acquired  considerable  popularity  as  a  pub- 
lic writer  when  the  Revolution  took  place, 
and  he  exerted  his  influence  in  opposing inco- 


RIC 

vation,  notwithstanding  he  was  on  terra*  of 
friendship  with  Camille  Desmoulins  and  othet 
popular  demagogues.  He  published  "  Actes 
des  Apotres,"  a  periodical  work;  and  after 
the  fall  of  Robespierre,  by  whom  he  had  been 
imprisoned,  he  set  up  a  journal,  entitle;! 
"  L'Accusateur  Public,"  which  gave  him  a 
distinguished  place  among  the  political  writers 
of  the  day.  Under  the  Directory  he  was  sen- 
tenced to  deportation  to  Cayenne,  but  he  es- 
caped ;  and  at  length  taking  refuge  in  England, 
he  died  in  London  in  1803. —  'Biog.  Unir. 

RICHEY  (MicnAKT.)  a  native  of  Ham- 
burgh, who  studied  at  the  gymnasium  of  that 
city,  and  afterwards  at  the  university  of  Wit- 
temberg.  He  then  travelled  in  various  parts 
of  Germany,  and  in  1704  he  became  rector  of 
the  gymnasium  of  Stade.  whence  he  removed 
to  Hamburgh  ;  and  in  1717  lie  was  appointed 
professor  of  Mstory  and  the  Greek  language. 
He  retained  Ins  c'fice  till  his  death,  in  1761 
He  wrote  poems,  published  by  Weichmann,  in 
his  collection  of  the  poetry  of  Lower  Saxony  ; 
and  a  piece  which  he  composed  on  the  return 
of  Charles  XII  of  Sweden  from  Turkey,  was 
rewarded  by  the  countess  Lewenhaupt  with  a 
laurel  crown,  a  silver  pen,  an  embossed  cup, 
and  a  present  of  wine.  Richey  also  was  the 
author  of  "  Gallorum  quorundam  de  Germa- 
norum  ingeoiis  judicia  iniquitatis  convicta ;" 
and  other  works  :  and  he  engaged,  in  concert 
with  Weichmann  and  others,  in  publishing  a 
periodical  paper,  entitled  "  The  Patriot,"  in 
imitation  of  the  English  Spectator. — His  son, 
JOHN  RICHEY,  wrote  some  law  tracts,  and  died 
at  Vienna,  where  he  held  the  office  of  syndic 
of  the  city  of  Hamburgh,  at  the  court  of  Aus- 
tria. He  wrote  an  apology  for  the  city  of 
Hamburgh,  against  Voltaire's  History  of 
Charles  XII.— Biog.  Univ. 

RICHMAN  (GEORGE  WILLIAM)  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Imperial  Academy  of  Sciences  at 
Petersburg!*,  was  born  at  Pernau  in  1711, 
and  is  chiefly  remarkable  for  the  manner  of  his 
death.  He  was  devoted  to  the  study  of  elec- 
tricity, especially  that  of  thunder-clouds,  and 
he  composed  a  treatise  on  the  discoveries  he 
had  made  in  this  science.  On  the  26th  of 
July,  1753,  the  day  of  his  death,  observing 
that  it  thundered  at  a  great  distance,  whilst  the 
sky  was  clear  and  the  day  bright,  in  hope  of 
being  able  to  continue  his  observations  he  hur- 
ried home,  with  Sokolefan,  engraver,  to  his 
electrical  apparatus  ;  but,  whilst  anxiously  ex- 
amining it,  with  his  head  inclined  towards  it, 
he  received  so  violent  a  shock  as  to  deprive, 
him  instantly  of  life.  The  electric  fluid  en- 
tered at  the  head,  and  made  its  way  out  at  the 
foot. —  Phi/os.  Transactions. 

HICHTER  (OTTO  FREDERIC  von)an East- 
ern traveller,  was  born  at  Doipat  in  Livonia, 
in  1792.  After  acquiring  a  knowledge  of 
classical  learning  and  archeology,  he  went  to 
Moscow  at  the  age  of  sixteen  to  study  the  mo- 
dern Greek  language,  and  afterwards  to  Hei 
delberg,  where  he  applied  himself  to  the  Ara- 
bic and  Persian  under  professor  VVilken.  He 
then  travelled  in  Switzerland  and  Italy,  ami 
continued  his  studies  under  the  celebrated 


RID 

Orientalist  Hammer,  at  Vienna.  Having  thus 
laid  iu  a  stock  of  information,  he  went,  with 
Lindemann,  the  secretary  to  the  Swedish  em- 
bassy, to  Egypt,  where  they  were  well  re- 
ceived by  Mohamed  Ali  ;  and  having  travelled 
up  the  Nile  as  far  as  Ibrim  in  Nubia,  they  re- 
turned to  Alexandria  with  a  rich  collection  of 
drawings,  descriptions,  &c.  Being  at  Cairo  in 
August  1815,  they  narrowly  escaped  destruc- 
tion during  a  mutiny  of  the  troops.  They  then 
proceeded  to  Jaffa  by  sea,  aud  thence  they  tra- 
velled to  Acre,  where  the  friends  separated, 
and  Richter  alone  travelled  through  Palestine, 
Syria,  Asia  Minor  and  the  Isles,  and  then 
went  to  Constantinople  to  deposit  his  collec- 
tions in  safety.  Having  done  so,  he  re-em- 
barked for  Asia,  and  arriving  at  Smyrna  he 
was  there  seized  with  a  fever,  which  proved 
fatal,  August  13,  1816.  His  papers  being  sent 
home,  M.  Ewers,  who  had  been  his  tutor, 
published  from  them  "  O.  F.  Von  Richter's 
Wal!f;»hrten  im  Morgenlande,"  Berlin,  1822, 
8vo,  with  a  folio  atlas. — Biog.  Univ. 

RIDDELL  (ROBERT)  of  Glenriddell,  a 
Scottish  gentleman  of  an  ancient  family,  who 
distinguished  himself  by  his  researches  con- 
cerning the  antiquities  of  his  native  country. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Philosophical  Society 
of  Manchester,  and  a  fellow  of  the  Antiqua- 
rian Societies  of  Edinburgh  and  London.  He 
published  in  the  Archasologia  a  "  Dissertation 
on  the  Ancient  Modes  of  Fortification  in  Scot- 
land ;"  another  "  On  the  Vitrified  Fortifica- 
tions in  Scotland;"  besides  other  papers.  Mr 
Riddell,  who  was  an  early  and  active  patron 
of  the  poet  Burns,  died  April  21.  1794. — 
Gent.  Matr. 

RIDER  (JOHN)  bishop  of  Killaloe  in  Ire- 
land, a  native  of  Carriugtcm,  in  the  county  pa- 
latine of  Chester,  He  was  born  about  the 
year  1562,  and  received  his  education  at  Jesus 
college,  Oxford,  where  he  graduated.  On  tak- 
ing holy  orders  he  became  successively  rector 
of  Win  wick,  Lancashire,  and  dean  of  St  Pa- 
trick's in  the  sister  island,  which  latter  prefer- 
ment he  vacated  in  1612,  on  being  raised  to 
the  episcopal  bench.  Besides  a  useful  Latin 
dictionary  which  still  goes  under  his  name, 
and  is  well  known  in  most  of  our  principal  semi- 
naries, he  was  the  author  of  a  tract  vindi- 
cating the  claims  of  the  reformed  religion,  on 
the  ground  of  its  genuineness  and  antiquity  ; 
and  also  of  a  political  pamphlet  on  "  The 
News  out  of  Ireland,  the  Spanish  Invasion, 
&c."  4to.  His  death  took  place  in  1632. — 
WILLIAM  RIDEU,  an  English  clergyman  of 
the  last  century,  distinguished  himself  both 
as  a  biblical  critic  and  a  general  scholar.  He 
was  for  some  years  a  junior  master  in  St  Paul's 
school;  .on  dean  Colet's  foundation,  and  held 
the  lectureship  of  the  adjoining  parish,  St  Ve- 
dast,  Foster-lane.  He  published  some  valuable 
notes  on  the  Old  Testament ;  and  a  "  History  of 
England  ;"  and  died  in  1785. — Biog.  Brit. 

RIDLEY  (NICHOLAS)  bishop  of  London 
in  the  reigns  of  Edward  VI  and  his  successor 
Mary.  He  was  a  native  of  Wilmonswick,  in 
/he  county  of  Northumberland,  born  about  the 
commencement  of  the  sixteenth  ceuturv  ;  and 

BIOG   DICT.— -Vou  III. 


R  1  L> 

having  received  the  rudiments  of  a  classical 
education  at  the  foundation-school  of  New- 
castle-upon-Tyne,  removed  tbence  to  Pem- 
broke-hall, Cambridge,  of  which  society  hp, 
became  a  fellow  in  1524,  and  eventually  pre- 
sident. Declining  an  advantageous  offer  made 
him  on  account  of  his  reputation  as  a  classical 
and  theological  scholar  by  the  members  of 
University  college,  Oxford,  he  travelled  over 
a  considerable  part  of  the  European  continent, 
during  a  three-years'  absence  from  his  native 
country,  in  the  course  of  which  period  he  be- 
came personally  acquainted  with  several  of  the 
early  reformers,  whose  doctrines  he  afterwards 
so  warmly  and  perseveriiigly  espoused.  Re- 
turning to  Cambridge,  he  filled  the  responsible 
office  of  proctor  to  the  university,  and  as  such 
protested  against  the  claims  of  the  papal  see 
to  the  supreme  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  in 
these  realms.  He  was  also  chosen  public 
orator,  and  through  the  patronage  of  his  friend 
archbishop  Cranmer,  became  one  of  the  king's 
chaplains,  with  the  vicarage  of  Hearne,  in 
East  Kent.  This  preferment  was  followed  by 
a  stall  at  Westminster,  till,  in  the  second  year 
of  Edward  VI,  he  was  elevated  to  the  see  of 
Rochester.  Three  years  after,  on  the  disgrace 
and  deprivation  of  Bonner,  Ridley  was  made 
bishop  of  London,  and  distinguished  himself 
in  this  office  as  much  by  his  moderation, 
learning,  and  munificence,  as  by  his  tempered 
zeal  in  favour  of  the  Protestant  church,  and 
especially  by  his  liberality  and  kindness  to- 
wards the  family  of  his  predecessor.  During 
the  whole  of  this  short  reign,  bishop  Ridley 
exerted  the  credit  he  possessed  at  court  in  a 
way  which  has  been  productive  of  the  hap- 
piest effects  to  posterity,  both  in  a  religious 
and  a  moral  point  of  view.  To  his  sugges- 
tions and  active  superintendance  may  be 
mainly  attributed  the  foundation  of  those  noble 
monuments  of  national  munificence,  the  hos- 
pital of  Christ,  of  St  Bartholomew,  and  of  St 
Thomas,  in  Southwark  ;  the  former  as  eminent 
for  its  utility  in  promoting  the  study  of  classi- 
cal and  general  literature,  as  the  two  latter  are 
in  constituting  a  school  of  medicine,  and  in 
the  benevolent  application  of  their  supernu- 
merary funds.  On  the  death  of  his  royal  pa- 
tron, a  dread  of  the  consequences  to  be  appre- 
hended from  the  succession  of  a  Roman  Catho- 
lic sovereign,  induced  him  to  listen  with  too 
great  facility  to  those  who,  actuated  by  more 
questionable  motives,  made  a  daring  but  ill- 
concerted  attempt  to  secure  the  Protestant 
ascendancy,  by  placing  the  lady  Jane  Grey 
upon  the  throne.  The.  defeat  of  this  ill-ad- 
vised scheme,  his  known  connexion  with  it, 
and  above  all,  the  active  part  he  had  taken  in 
the  establishment  of  the  new  discipline,  and 
the  construction  of  the  Liturgy,  together  with 
his  intimate  connexion  with  Cranmer,  marked 
Ridley  out  as  one  of  the  most  prominent  vic- 
tims to  the  temporary  restoration  of  papal 
authority.  The  form  of  a  trial  was  indeed 
granted  him,  and  a  deputation  of  popish  bi- 
shops was  appointed  to  hold  a  formal  disputa- 
tion on  the  controverted  points  with  him  at 
Oxford.  In  order  to  be  present  at  this  can- 
D 


RID 

ference,  he  was  released  from  an  eiglit  months' 
imprisonment  in  the  Tower  ;  but  the  result, 
as  might  have  been  anticipated  from  the  com- 
parative strength  and  credit  of  the  contending 
parties,  was  unfavourable  to  him,  and  he  was 
condemned  as  a  recusant  and  obstinate  heretic 
to  the  stake.  This  sentence  he  underwent 
with  the  greatest  fortitude,  in  company  with 
his  friend  and  fellow-sufferer  Hugh  Latiiner, 
bishop  of  Worcester,  on  the  15th  of  October, 
1555,  in  the  centre  of  what  is  now  called 
Broad-street,  Oxford,  nearly  fronting  the  gate 
of  Baliol  college.  A  few  of  his  discourses, 
and  a  treatise  against  the  Romish  doctrine  of 
transubstautiation,  are  yet  extant,  as  well  as 
his  life,  written  by  the  rev.  Dr  Gloster  Ridley, 
prebendary  of  Salisbury,  and  a  descendant  of 
the  same  family. — Biog.  Brit.  Fox's  Acts  and 
Mon. 

RIDLEY,  LLD.  (GLOSTER)  an  English 
divine,  who  derived  his  Christian  name  from 
the  circumstance  of  his  having  been  born  at 
sea,  in  1702,  on  board  the  Gloster  Indiaman. 
He  was  educated  at  Winchester  school  and 
New  college,  Oxford,  where  he  obtained  a  fel- 
lowship, and  in  1729  took  the  degree  of  BCL. 
In  his  younger  years  he  had  a  great  partiality 
for  the  stage,  and,  in  conjunction  with  some 
friends,  he  wrote  a  tragedy  in  four  acts,  which 
was  never  published.  He  also  distinguished 
himself  as  a  poet,  and  two  of  his  productions, 
"  Jovi  Eleutherio,  or  an  Offering  to  Liberty  ;" 
and  "  Psyche,"  were  printed  in  Dodsley's 
Collection.  A  sequel  to  the  latter,  entitled 
"  Melampus,"  was  afterwards  published  by 
subscription.  He  for  many  years  held  the 
college  benefice  of  Weston  Longueville,  in 
Norfolk,  and  the  donative  of  Poplar  in  Mid- 
dlesex ;  and  afterwards  the  donative  of  Rom- 
ford  in  Essex.  In  1740  and  1742  he  preached 
a  course  of  sermons  at  lady  Moyer's  lecture, 
afterwards  published.  In  1743  appeared  his 
"  Review  of  Phillips's  Life  of  Cardinal  Pole ;" 
and  in  1768  he  was  presented  to  a  golden  pre- 
bend at  Salisbury  by  archbishop  Seeker,  in  re- 
ward of  his  labours  in  the  controversy  occa- 
sioned by  archdeacon  Blackburne's  "  Confes- 
sional." He  died  in  1744.  Besides  the  \voiks 
referred  to,  he  wrote  "  The  Life  of  Bishop 
Nicholas  Ridley,"  of  whose  family  he  was  a 
descendant. — Aikin's  Gen.  Biog. 

RIDLEY  (JAMES)  son  of  the  preceding. 
The  date  of  his  birth  is  unknown,  but  he  was 
educated  at  Winchester  and  New  college, 
Oxford,  and  after  taking  orders  succeeded  his 
father  in  the  living  of  Rumford  in  Essex.  In 
1761,  while  attending  to  his  duty,  as  chaplain 
to  a  marching  regiment,  at  the  siege  of  Bel- 
lisle,  he  laid  the  foundation  of  a  disease  from 
which  he  never  recovered,  and  which  some 
years  after,  when  happily  married  and  preferred 
in  the  church,  carried  him  off  in  the  prime  of 
life,  to  the  great  grief  of  his  family.  This 
event  took  place  in  1765.  Mr  Ridley  was 
author  of  "  The  Schemer,"  a  very  hu- 
morous periodical  paper  ;  and  of  "  The  His- 
tory of  James  Lovegrove,  Esq."  But  his  li- 
terary fame  principally  rests  on  his  "  Tales  of 
the  O'enii,"  iu  which  the  wildness  of  the  East- 


II  IE 

ern  tale  is  happily  tempered  by  some  very 
noble  moral  lessons,  and  which  in  many  parts 
exhibit  imaginative  genius  of  so  high  an  order, 
that  the  premature  death  of  the  author  may 
be  deemed  a  great  loss  to  polite  literature.-— 
Nichols's  Lit.  Anec. 

RIDLEY  (sir  THOMAS)  an  eminent  civi- 
lian in  the  reign  of  James  I.  He  was  a  native 
of  the  isle  of  Ely,  and  became  provost  of  Eton 
college.  He  also  obtained  the  offices  of  mas- 
ter iu  chancery,  chancellor  to  the  bishop  of 
Winchester,  and  vicar-general  to  the  archbi- 
shop of  Canterbury.  Hid  death  occurred  in 
1629.  He  was  the  author  of  an  esteemed 
work,  entitled  "  A  View  of  the  Civil  and  Ec- 
clesiastical Law  ;"  for  writing  which  James  I 
bestowed  on  him  the  honour  of  knighthood. — 
Wood's  AtJien.  Oion. 

RIDLEY  (HUMPHREY)  a  physician  and 
anatomist,  who  lived  in  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  was  a  fellow  of  the  college 
of  physicians,  and  a  practitioner  in  the  metro- 
polis. In  1695  he  published  "  The  Anatomy 
of  the  Brain,  containing  its  Mechanism  and 
Physiology,"  8vo  ;  and  in  1703  "  Observa- 
tiones  qua;dam  Medico-practic®  et  Physiolo- 
gies." The  former  work  exhibits  a  more  ac- 
curate description  than  had  previously  appeared 
of  the  circular  sinus  of  the  dura  mater,  or  ex- 
ternal coat  of  the  brain.  The  time  of  his 
death  is  uncertain. — Allan's  G.  Biog. 

RIDOLFI  (CARLO)  an  Italian  painter, 
poet,  and  historian  of  the  arts.  He  was  born 
at  Vicenza  in  1602,  and  studied  rhetoric,  phi- 
losophy, architecture,  and  the  art  of  design,  as 
well  as  painting,  in  which  he  was  instructed 
by  Antonio  Basilico,  a  Greek.  He  executed 
some  pictures  at  Rome,  for  which  pope  Inno- 
cent X  bestowed  on  him  the  order  of  knight- 
hood of  the  Golden  Cross;  and  he  published  a 
work,  entitled  "  Le  Maraviglie  dell'  Arte, 
overo  delle  Yite  dei  Pittori  \  eneti  e  dello 
Stato,  ove  sono  raccolte  1'  Opere  insigni,  i  Cos-' 
tumi,  i  Ritratti  loro,"  1648,  4to,  for  which  the 
republic  of  Venice  gave  him  a  chain  of  gold 
and  a  medal  of  St  Mark.  He  also  wrote  the 
life  of  the  painter,  Jacopo  Robusti,  called  Tin- 
toretto. He  died  in  1670. — Orlundi.  Biog. 
Univ. 

RIEDESEL  (FREDERICA  CHARLOTTE 
LOUISA,  baroness)  the  daughter  of  the  Prus- 
sian minister  Masson,  was  born  at  Branden- 
burg in  1746.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  she  wa3 
married  to  lieutenant-colonel  Riedesel,  who 
commanded  the  troops  of  Brunswick  employed 
in  the  English  service  in  America  in  1777. 
Madame  Riedesel,  who  accompanied  her  hus- 
band, wrote  an  interesting  account  of  her  ad- 
ventures, published  by  her  son-in-law,  the 
count  de  Reuss,  under  the  title  of  "  Voyage 
de  Mission  en  Amerique,  oil  Lettres  de  Ma- 
dame de  Riedesel,"  Berlin,  1799,  reprinted  in 
1801.  She  returned  to  Europe  in  1783;  and 
having  lost  her  husband  (who  had  been  made 
a  general)  in  1800,  she  fixed  her  residence  at 
Berlin,  where  she  died  Mardi  29,  1808. — 
Bitig.  AVin'.  des  Contemp.  Biog  Univ. 

RIEDESEL  (JOSEPH  HERMAN)  a  German 
nobleman,  who  was  the  son  of  a  Prussian 


Ill  E 

general,  and  was  born  in  1740.  lie  became 
chamberlain  to  Frederic  II,  who  sent  Lira  am- 
bassador plenipotentiary  to  Vienna,  and  in 
that  quality  he  appeared  at  the  congress  of 
Teschen.  But  baron  Iliedesel  is  belter  known 
as  an  author  than  as  a  diplomatist.  A  taste  for 
the  fine  arts  induced  him  to  go  to  Italy,  where 
he  became  acquainted  with  Winkelmann  ;  and 
he  afterwards  travelled  in  Sicily,  Greece,  and 
the  Levant.  The  fruit  of  his  observations 
appeared  in  his  "  Journey  in  Sicily  and  Magna 
Graecia,"  1771,  8vo  ;  and  "  The  Remarks  of 
a  modern  Traveller  in  the  Levant,"  1773,  8vo, 
republished  together  at  Paris  ill  1802.  Rie- 
de^el  died  near  Vienna  in  1785. — Biag.  Univ. 

RIKDINGER  (JOHN  ELIAS)  a  painter  of 
animals,  born  at  Ulm  in  Suabia,  in  1695.  He 
received  the  first  lessons  in  his  art  from  his 
father,  and  was  afterwards  the  pupil  of  Chr. 
liesth.  He  settled  at  Augsburg,  where  he 
employed  himself  in  making  designs  and  en- 
gravings for  the  booksellers.  He  excelled  in 
his  figures  of  all  kinds  of  animals,  both  wild 
and  tame  ;  and  whether  his  works  exhibit 
single  figures  or  groups,  his  accuiate  attention 
to  anatomy  and  just  expression  of  character, 
give  him  a  manifest  superiority  over  all  other 
masters.  Many  of  his  paintings  are  historical, 
displaying  the  different  kinds  of  animals  con- 
nected with  the  chace.  He  died  at  Augs- 
burg in  1767,  leaving  two  sons,  MARTIN 
ELIAS  and  JOHN  JAMES,  both  eminent  en- 
gravers.—  Bin£.  Univ. 

RIKGO  (RAPHAEL  del)  a  modern  Spanish 
patriot  officer,  born  of  a  noble  family,  in  the 
province  of  Asturias.     After  having  been  libe- 
rally educated,  he  entered  into  the  army,  and 
served  during  the  invasion  of  Spain   by  Buo- 
naparte.    He  was  taken  prisoner,  and  on  his 
liberation,  the   constitutional   general   Abisbal 
gave  him  a  staff  appointment ;  and  when  that 
chief    betrayed   the   cause    of    independance, 
Riego  retired  from  the  service  in  disgust,  and 
for  a  time  led  a  private  life.    In  the.  beginning 
of  1820,  at  the   head  of  a  battalion,  he  pro- 
claimed the  Spanish  constitution,  and  travers- 
ing a  large  extent  of  country,  he  shut  himself 
up    in   a  fortress  with  the    small  number  of 
troops  who  had  the  patriotism  and  courage  to 
follow   his   example.      Several    days   elapsed 
without   Riego's  call  being  answered  by  his 
countrymen ;  and  at  the   same    time   he  was 
threatened  by  a  powerful  army.    Aware  of  the 
danger  of  delay,  he  sallied  forth   from  the  isle 
of  Leon  with  a  few  hundred  brave  men,  made 
his  way  through   the  forces  that  opposed  his 
passage,  visited  several   large   towns,  intimi- 
dated the  authorities,  fought  obstinately,  lost 
the  greater  part   of  his  troops,  and  retired  to 
the  mountains  with  the   determination  to  de- 
fend himself  to  the  last  extremity  rather  than 
eul'mit  to  the  mercy  of  his  enemies.     But  the 
spirit  of  freedom  which  he  had  excited  was 
not  extinguished  :  the  provinces  ranged  them- 
selves under  the  banners  of  independance,  anc 
Riego  received  the  homage   of  national  gratl 
tude  which  his  services  deserved.     His  popu 
larity  excited  the  jealousy  of  those  in  power 
and  he   was  calumniated    as    a    promoter  o 


R  IE 

anarchy  and  disorder,  his  army  was  dissolved, 
and  he    was   proscribed.       But  he  preserved 
the  confidence  of  the  people,  and  he  was  ap- 
pointed a  deputy  to   the  Cortes  of  1822,  of 
which  assembly  he  became  the  president ;  and 
in  this   arduous  station  he  displayed  prudence 
nd   firmness    with  a   conciliatory  disposition 
hat  did  him  honour.     When  king  Ferdinand 
efused  to  maintain  the  constitution  which  he 
ad  sworn  to  observe,  Riego  again  appeared 
n  arms  to  assert  the  liberty  of  his  country,  but 
t  was  destined  to  fall  before  foreign  foes.    He 
vas  taken  prisoner  after  the  surrender  of  Ca- 
iz  to  the  French,  under  the   duke   d'Angou- 
eme,  and  being  conveyed    to    Madrid,    was 
xecuted  as  a  traitor,  October  7,   1823.     His 
vidow,  who  sought  refuge  in  England,  died  at 
~helsea,  June  19,   1824. — Lit.   Mus.     Gent. 
Mag.     Biog.  Nouv.  des  Contemp. 

RIEM  (JOHN)  a  German  agriculturist,  horn 
at  Frankenthal  on  the  Rhine  in  1739.  He 
tudied  pharmacy,  of  which  he  continued  to 
>e  a  practitioner  till  1774.  Having  obtained 
i  prize  from  the  Academy  of  Sciences  of  Man- 
leim,  in  1768,  for  a  dissertation  on  the  ma- 
lagement  of  bees,  lie  employed  himself  iu 
establishing  a  society  of  apiology  at  Kaiser- 
slautern,  the  plan  of  which  being  subsequently 
enlarged  so  as  to  form  a  physico-economical 
society,  it  was  transferred  to  Heidelberg,  and 
ectures  were  regularly  delivered  by  professors . 
ippointed  for  the  purpose,  and  a  collection  of 
memoirs  was  published.  Riem  was  director 
of  this  institution  ;  but  he  at  length  relin- 
quished his  connexion  with  it,  and  went  to 
Prussia,  where  he  was  nominated  commissary 
of  economy,  and  sent  in  1776  into  Silesia,  as 
an  inspector  of  the  bee-hives  in  that  country, 
tn  1783  he  received  a  prize  from  the  econo- 
mical society  of  St  Petersburg!!,  for  a  treatise 
on  feeding  cattle  ;  and  in  1785  he  was  ap- 
pointed secretary  to  the  economical  seciety  of 
Dresden.  ie  was  afterwards  made  a  coun- 
sellor of  mission,  and  he  died  at  Dresden  in 
1807.  The  management  of  bees  was  the 
principal  object  of  his  researches,  but  he  pub- 
lished several  useful  works  on  other  branches 
of  rural  economy. — Biog.  Univ. 

RlEiMZI  (NICHOLAS  GABUINI  de)  a  native 
of  Rome,  who  in  the  fourteenth  century  be- 
came celebrated  by  his  attempts  to  restore  the 
Roman  republic.  Although  the  son  only  of 
one  of  the  lowest  order  of  tavern  keepers,  he 
received  a  literary  education,  and  early  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  the  quickness  of  his 
parts,  and  the  elevation  of  his  sentiments.  The 
glory  of  ancient  Rome,  compared  with  exist- 
ing abject  states,  appears  to  have  excited  a 
real  enthusiasm  in  his  breast,  and  he  was  gra- 
dually regarded  by  the  common  people  as  an 
extraordinary  person,  who  might  be  destined 
to  rescue  them  from  the  oppressive  tyranny  of 
the  aristocracy,  who,  on  the  removal  of  papacy 
to  Avignon,  were  in  the  highest  degree  inso- 
lent and  oppressive.  He  obtained  the  post  of 
public  scribe  or  notary,  and  in  1346  was  joined 
in  a  deputation  to  pope  Clement  VI  at  Avig- 
non, to  exhort  him  to  bring  back  the  papal 
court  to  its  original  seat.  He.  acted  on  this 
D  2 


RIE 

occasion  with  so  much  energy  and  eloquence, 
that    the    pope,  struck    with     his    abilities, 
created  him  an  apostolic  notary,  which  office, 
on  his  return,  he  executed    with    a    probity 
which    gained     him     additional     reputation. 
While  thus  engaged,  however,  he  let  no  op- 
}K>rtunity  escape   to  excite   the  discontent    of 
the  people,  by  haranguing  against  the  nobility 
and  the  defects  of  the  public  administration. 
Having  by  this  means  prepared  men's  minds 
for  a  change,  and  engaged  persons  of  all  orders 
in  his  designs,  in  the  month  of  April  1347,  in 
the  absence  of  the  governor  of  Rome,  Stephen 
Colomia,  he  summoned  a  secret  assembly  upon 
mount  Aventine,   before   which   he    made   an 
energetic  speech,  and  induced  them  all  to  sub- 
scribe to  an  oath  for  the  establishment  of  a  plan 
of  government,  which  he  entitled  the  Good  Es- 
tate,    lie  had  even  the  address  to  gain  over 
the  pope's  vicar  ;  and  in  a  second  assembly  in 
the   capitol,   produced   fifteen   articles  as  the 
bases  of  the  Good  Estate,  which  were  unani- 
mously approved,  and  the  people  conferred  upon 
him  the  title  of  Tribune,  with  the   power  of 
life  and  death,  and  all  the  other  attributes  of 
sovereignty.     The  governor,  Colonna,  upon  his 
return,  threatened   him  with  punishment,  but 
he  was  himself  constrained  to  quit  the  city, 
and  with  him  Rienzi  banished  several   of  the 
noble  families  of  Rome,  after  capitally  punish- 
ing such  as  were  convicted  of  oppression  and 
injustice.     In  the  first  exercise  of  his  autho- 
rity he  conducted  himself  with  a  strict  regard 
to  justice,  and  the  public  good;  and  even  the 
pope  was  induced  to  sanction  his  power, which, 
although  termed  a  usurpation,  seems  to  have 
been  as  lawfully  conferred  as  the   consent  of 
the  governed  could  make  it.     The  reputation 
of    the    new    tribune    extended    throughout 
Italy,  and  his  friendship  was  even  solicited  by 
the  king  of  Hungary  and  the  emperor  Louis. 
Among   others,  the  celebrated   Petrarch  was 
highly  interested  in  his  proceedings,  and  there 
are  extant  several  eloquent  and  pathetic  let- 
ters, in  which  that  poet  exhorts  him  to  perse- 
vere   in    his   glorious  undertakings.     In    the 
mean  time,  the  intoxication  which   generally 
seizes  upon  those  who  rise  suddenly  from  ob- 
scurity into  supreme  power,  began   to  betray 
him  into  extravagancies.     He  caused  himsel! 
to  be  created  a  knight,  with  a  singular  mixture 
of  religious  and  military  ceremonies  ;  and  he 
cited   the   two  rival   emperors,    Charles   and 
Louis,  to  appear  before   him  to  justify   their 
pretensions.     He    also  dismissed    the    pope's 
legate,  and  reducing  the  nobles  into  complete 
humiliation,  commenced  a  reign  of  terror.  He 
was  for  some  time  successful  in  this  career 
but  at  length,  finding  that  he  had  lost  the  af- 
fection and  confidence  of  the  people,  he  secretly 
withdrew,  in  1348,  from  Rome,  and   sough 
refuge  in  Naples,  until  1350,  when   he  took 
advantage  of  the  jubilee  to  return  secretly  to 
Rome;  but   soon  being  discovered,  he  with- 
drew to  the  king  of  the  Romans  at  Prague 
Thence,   either   voluntarily  or    through   con- 
straint, he  came  into  the  bands  of  pope  Cle 
ment  at    Avignon,    who    confined   him  three 
years,  and  appointed  a  commission  to  try  him 


Rin 

ut  dying,  his  successor,  Innocent  VIII,  re- 
eased  Rienzi,and  sent  him  to  Rome  to  oppose 
nother  popular  demagogue,  named  Boron- 
elli.  The  Romans  received  him  with  great 
.emonstrations  of  joy,  and  he  recovered  his 
ormer  authority  ;  but  after  a  turbulent  admi- 
nistration of  a  few  months,  the  nobles  found 
neans  to  excite  another  sedition  against  him, 
n  which  he  was  massacred  in  October  1354. 
lis  last  brief  career  had  been  marked  with 
,reat  cruelty,  which  induced  the  populace  to 
reat  his  remains  with  extreme  indignity. 
lienzi,  who  seems  to  have  possessed  that 
union  of  fanaticism  and  artifice,  which  usually 
attends  enthusiasts  of  his  character,  was  more 
jnergetic  in  speech  and  council,  than  in  ac- 
iou,  and  always  failed  in  courage  and  pre- 
ience  of  mind  in  great  emergencies.  His  ori- 
;inal  intentions  seem  to  have  been  good,  and 
lis  views  enlarged  ;  but  neither  his  temper, 
nor  his  understanding,  was  adequate  to  the 
magnitude  of  his  enterprises.  —  Tiraboschi 


RIGAUD  (HYACINTH)  an  eminent  por- 
rait  painter,  was  born  at  Perpignan  in  1663. 
-lis  father  and  grandfather  were  both  painters, 
and  Hyacinth  received  instructions  from  Ranc, 
a  painter  after  the  manner  of  Vandyck.  He 
visited  Paris  in  1681,  and  obtained  the  first 
)rize  from  the  Academy  of  Painting.  He  was 
nnobled  by  Louis  XV,  and  in  1727  he 
was  created  a  knight  of  the  order  of  St  Mi- 
chael, with  a  pension.  He  was  successively 
irofessor,  rector,  and  director  of  the  academy. 
He  died  in  1743,  highly  esteemed,  as  well  for 
lis  private  as  his  professional  character.  His 
ikenesses  are  very  striking  and  characteristic  ; 
nature  was  his  chief  study,  and  so  far  did  he 
carry  his  accuracy  of  imitation,  that  he  even 
represented  the  materials  of  his  draperies, 
which  are  blamed  for  an  artificial  disposition. 
lie  met  with  distinguished  patronage,  and  is 
said  to  have  painted  five  monarchs,  and  all  the 
princes  of  the  blood-royal  of  France.  —  D'Ar- 
genville.  Pilkington. 

RIGBY,  MD.  (EUWAHD)  a  physician  of 
Norwich,  fellow  of  the  Linnaean,  Horticultu- 
tural,  and  Philadelphiau-  Agricultural  Societies. 
In  1815,  his  lady,  having  produced  him  three 
sons  and  a  daughter  at  a  birth,  the  city  of 
Norwich,  of  which  he  was  an  alderman,  voted 
him  a  piece  of  plate,  with  an  inscription,  com- 
memorative of  the  circumstance.  Besides 
several  professional  tracts,  he  published  an  ac- 
count of  Mr  Coke's  agricultural  system,  under 
the  title  of  "  Ilolkham  and  its  Agriculture," 
which  went  through  three  editions,  and  has 
been  translated  into  French.  He  also  printed 
a  translation  of  Mr  Chateauvieux's  Travels, 
and  died  in  1821,  aged  seventy-four.  —  Ann. 

BtOgm 

RIGHTWISE  or  RITURYSE  (JOHN,  in 

Latin  JUSTUS)  an  eminent  grammarian,  was 
born  at  Sawl  in  Norfolk,  and  was  admitted  of 
King's  college,  Cambridge,  in  1508.  He  suc- 
ceeded William  Lily  as  head  master  of  St 
Paul's  school,  and  died  in  1532.  He  made 
many  improvements  in  the  edition  of  Lily's 
Latin  Grammar,  published  at  Antwerp  in 


KIN 

i  533.  He  also  composed  a  tragedy  of  "  Dido," 
from  Virgil,  performed  by  himself  and  his 
pupils  before  cardinal  Wolsey. —  Knight's 
lAfe  of  Colet.  iVartun's  Hist,  of  Pnetrij. 

RJGOLEY  DE  JUVIGNY  (JOHN  AN- 
THONY) a  French  writer,  who  was  educated  in 
the  university  of  Paris,  and  became  an  hono- 
rary counsellor  of  the  parliament  of  Metz. 
He  was  one  of  the  literary  antagonists  of  Vol- 
taire, whose  merit  as  a  dramatist  he  rated  be- 
low that  of  Crebillou,  or  of  Piron ;  and  he 
published  a  collection  of  the  works  of  the 
latter,  whom  he  styled  tfye  greatest  poet  of  the 
age.  Rigoley  is  more  advantageously  known 
as  the  editor  of  the  "  Bibliotheqnes  Fran- 
faises,"  of  La  Croix  du  Maine  and  Du  Ver- 
dier,  1772,  6  vols.  4to,  to  which  he  prefixed 
"  Discours  sur  les  Progres  des  Lettres  en 
France,"  afterwards  printed  separately  in  8vo. 
He  died  at  Paris,  February  21,  1788,  at  an 
advanced  age. — R'<'g.  Univ. 

RILEY  (JOHN)  an  English  artist  of  consi- 
derable merit,  was  born  in  London  in  1646. 
He  was  instructed  in  the  art  of  painting  by 
Fuller  and  Zoust,  and  after  the  death  of  sir 
Peter  Lely  he  advanced  in  the  esteem  of  the 
public,  and  was  appointed  painter  to  the  king. 
Lord  Orford  deems  Riley  one  of  the  best  na- 
tive painters  of  England,  and  asserts  that  there 
are  draperies  and  bends  painted  by  him  which 
would  have  done  honour  to  Lely  or  Kneller. 
He  was  of  an  humble,  modest,  and  amiable 
character,  and  so  distrustful  of  his  own  merit, 
that  the  same  noble  writer  regards  his  modesty 
as  the  chief  impediment  to  his  reputation.  He 
died  of  the  gout  in  1691,  at  the  age  of  forty- 
five. —  Walpnles  Anec. 

RINALDI  (OUEP.IC)  a  learned  Italian  ec- 
clesiastical historian  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
was  a  native  of  Treviso,  and  brought  up  in 
the  congregation  of  the  Oratory  at  Rome. 
After  the  death  of  Baronius,  he  continued 
"  The  Ecclesiastical  Annals,"  from  the  year 
1198  to  1564,  with  no  inferiority  to  the  former 
volumes.  This  addition  consists  of  ten  vo- 
lumes folio,  published  at  Rome  from  1646  to 
1677.  Rinaldi  was  also  the  author  of  a  copi- 
ous and  able  abridgment  in  Italian  of  the  la- 
bours both  of  Baronius  and  himself. — Landi 
Hist.  Litt.  d'ltalie. 

RINMANN  (SWEN)  a  Swedish  mineralo- 
gist, born  at  Upsal  in  1720.  Having  obtained 
an  office  in  the  college  of  the  mines  of  Sweden, 
he  visited  the  principal  mining  establishments 
in  Europe.  In  1749  he  was  nominated  in- 
spector of  the  metal  works  in  the  province  of 
Roslagen  ;  and  he  afterwards  was  director  of 
the  silver  mines  of  Hallefors.  He  was  also 
admitted  into  the  college  of  Mines,  and  deco- 
rated with  the  order  of  Gustavus  Vasa. .  He 
made  many  improvements  in  the  processes 
which  he  superintended,  as  well  as  some  che- 
mical discoveries.  Besides  a  great  number  of 
dissertations  in  the  memoirs  of  the  Swedish 
academy,  he  published  a  treatise  on  the  manu- 
facture of  steel  and  iron  ;  an  "  Essay  of  the 
History  of  Iron  ;"  and  a  dictionary  of  the  art 
of  mining.  He  died  December  20,  1792.—  | 
Bwg.  Univ. 


R  IO 

RINUCCINI  (OTTAVIO)  an  Italian  poet 
of  Florence,  who  visited  Paris  in  the  suite  of 
Mary  de'  Medici,  queen  to  Henry  IV.  He 
claims  a  place  in  this  collection  as  the  reputed 
inventor  of  the  musical  drama,  or  opera,  lie 
was  the  author  of  three  lyric  pieces,  "  Daph- 
ne," "  Eurydice,"  and  "  Ariadne  ;"  the  first 
of  which  was  written  in  honour  of  the  nuptials 
of  Mary  de' Medici,  and  performed  with  great 
splendor  at  Florence.  He  died  in  1621,  and 
a  collection,  or  rather  selection  of  his  works 
was  published  at  Florence  in  1622,  by  his  son, 
and  another,  entitled  "  Drammi  Musicale,"in 
1802,  at  Leghorn. — Barney's  Hist,  of  Mas. 
Life  of  Tassimi. 

RIOLAN  (JOHN)  an  eminent  physician, 
born  at  Amiens  in  1539.  After  studying  the 
ancient  languages  and  philosophy,  he  became 
a  tutor  in  various  colleges.  In  1574,  while 
teaching  at  the  college  of  Boncourt,  he  ap- 
plied himself  to  the  study  of  medicine,  and 
having  taken  his  doctor's  degree,  he  was  ap- 
pointed professor  of  anatomy  and  medicine  iu 
the  university  of  Paris.  His  death  took  place 
in  1605.  Among  his  works  are  commentaries 
on  the  writings  of  Fernel ;  "  Particular^  Me- 
thodi  Medeudi,  lib.  ii. ;"  "  Expositio  iu  Hip- 
pocratis  Apborismos  ;"  "Artis  Medicinalis 
Theorica;  et  Practices  Systema  ;"  and  "  Dis- 
cours sur  les  Hermaphrodites."- —  RIOLAN 
(JOHN)  son  of  the  preceding,  was  born  at 
Paris  in  1580.  He  became,  while  very  young, 
professor  of  anatomy  and  pharmacy  to  the  fa- 
culty of  medicine  at  Paris;  and  in  1601  he 
published  some  interesting  researches  on  sur- 
gery. Having  been  appointed  first  physician 
to  Mary  de'  Medici,  mother  of  Louis  XIII,  he 
took  advantage  of  his  influence  at  court  to  so- 
licit the  king  to  establish  a  botanic  garden  at 
Paris;  and  the  garden  of  medicinal  plants, 
now  existing,  was  the  result  of  this  application. 
He  accompanied  the  queen-mother  in  her  ba- 
nishment, and  was  with  her  when  she  died  at 
ologne  in  1642.  He  returned  to  Paris,  and 
resumed  his  professional  practice,  which  he 
continued  with  great  reputation  till  near  the 
time  of  his  death  in  1657.  His  principal 
works  are,  "  Schola  Anatomica  novis  et  raris 
Obserrationibus  illustrata  ;"  "  Osteologia  ;" 
"  Anthropographia  ;"  and  "  Enchiridion  Ana- 
tomicum  et  Pathologicum  ;"  besides  which  he 
wrote  against  the  discoveries  of  Bartholine  and 
Pecquet,  relative  to  the  absorbents ;  and 
against  Harvey,  on  the  circulation  of  the 
blood.  He  was  also  engaged  in  other  contro- 
versies, one  of  which  was  011  the  existence  of 
races  of  giants,  which  he  endeavoured  to  dis- 
prove.— Eloy  Diet.  Hist,  de  la  Med.  Bwg. 
Univ. 

RIOUFFE  (HONORE)  a  French  writer, 
born  in  1764.  After  finishing  his  studies  at 
Paris,  he  was  designed  for  the  bar,  but  he  de- 
voted himself  entirely  to  the  cultivation  of 
literature.  At  the  Revolution  he  became  con- 
nected with  the  Girondists,  and  on  their  pro- 
scription by  the  Jacobins,  he  attempted  to 
escape  to  Bourdeaux ;  but  he  was  taken  pri- 
soner, and  confined  in  the  Conciergerie  a' 
Paris,  where  he  remained  about  fourteen 


RIP 

months,   till    the  overthrow  of  his   enemies 
when   he   was  set  at  liberty.     He  then  pub 
lished  "  Memoires  d'un  Detenu  pour  servir 
1'Histoire  de  la  Tyrannic  de  Robespierre,"  a 
interesting  work,  which  became  very  popular 
In  1800  Riouffe  was  made  a  member  of  tli 
tribunate  ;  in    1804  he  was  nominated  prefec 
of  the  department  of  the  C6te  d'Or  ;  and  he 
obtained  from  Buonaparte  the  title  of  baron 
on  the  creation  of  the  new  nobility.     Having 
been  removed  to  the  prefecture  of  La  Meurthi 
in  1808,  he  was  there  when  the  military  hos 
pitals  of  Nanci  were  filled  with  the  victims  o 
JNapoleon's  Russian  expedition  ;  and  typhii 
fever  prevailing  among  the  soldiers,   Riouffc 
thought  it  his  duty  to  inspect  and  assist  them 
when  he  caught   the  disease,  and  died  in  No 
vember  1813.   Besides  his  memoirs,  he  wrote  a 
poem  on  the  death  of  the  prince  of  Brunswick 
who  was  drowned  in  178.5,   in  attempting  to 
rescue  some  peasants  during  an  inundation  o 
the  Oder  ;  and  other  pieces  in  prose. — Biog 
Nouv.  des  Contemp.      Biog.  Univ. 

RIPLEY   (GEORGE)   a  poetical  writer  on 
alchemy  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury.    He  was  canon  of  Bridlington  in  York- 
shire, travelled  much,  and  pursued  his  mysti- 
cal studies  in  France  and  Italy.     His  "  Com- 
pound of  Alchemie,"  dedicated  to  Edward  IV 
possesses  little  merit  in  point  of  versification 
but  as  an  exposition   of  the  science  of  whicl 
it  treats,  it  is  sufficiently  intelligible,  though  un- 
fortunately the  information  it  affords  is  worth- 
less, notwithstanding  the  assertion  of  its  com- 
mentator   Ashmole,    who  states   that   Ripley 
gave  from  the  treasures  procured  by   his  art, 
100,0001.    to    assist    the    knights  of    Rhode 
against  the  Turks.     He  became  a  Carmelite, 
and  died  in  1490.     His  poem  may  be  found  in 
"  Ashmole's  Theatrum  Chemicum    Britanni- 
cum." — Warton's  Hist,  of  Poetry.     Journal  of 
R.  Institnt.  vol.  ix. 

RIPPERDA  (Joiix  WILLIAM,  baron  of) 
was  born  in  1680,  of  a  noble  family  in  Gro- 
ningen,  and  was  educated  under  the  Jesuits  of 
Cologne,  but  on  marrying  a  Protestant  lady, 
he  conformed  to  her  religion.  He  rose  to  the 
rank  of  colonel  in  the  Dutch  service,  and  in 
1715  he  was  sent  on  a  mission  to  Philip  V  of 
Spain,  when  he  returned  to  the  Catholic  reli- 
gion, and  settled  at  Madrid,  and  the  king 
finally  made,  him  duke  of  Ripperda,  and  his 
prime  minister,  but  from  his  inefficiency  incur- 
ring the  displeasure  of  the  king,  he  was  dis- 
missed, and  confined  in  the  castle  of  Segovia, 
whence  he  escaped,  and  came  into  England, 
where  he  remained  until  1730,  when  he  went 
to  the  Hague,  and  resumed  the  Protestant 
religion.  But  his 'restless  and  ambitious  clis- 

O 

position  would  not  allow  him  to  remain  tran- 
quil, and  in  1731  he  went  to  Morocco,  where 
he  was  favourably  received  by  Muley  Abdalla, 
and  declaring  himself  a  convert  to  the  Maho- 
metan religion,  and  taking  the  name  of  Osman, 
l\°  obtained  the  chief  command  of  the  Moor- 
ish army  at  the  siege  of  Ceuta.  On  the  de- 
feat of  the  Moors  he  fell  under  the  displea- 
sure of  the  emperor,  and  for  a  time  he  lived  in 
retirement.  He  then  formed  a  new  project 


HIS 

for  the  consolidation  of  different  religions, 
particularly  the  Jewish  ami  Mahometan,  and 
it  is  said  that  he  even  made  some  converts. 
He  finally  retired  to  Tetuan,  but  his  project- 
ing spirit  animated  him  to  the  last,  and  lie  ad- 
vanced considerable  sums  to  Theodore,  baron 
Newhoff,  to  assist  his  attempts  on  tin1  ctowu 
of  Corsica.  His  death  took  place  in  1737. — • 
Moore's  Life  of  liipperdn.  Unicers.  Hist. 
Moreri. 

1UQUET  (PETER  PAUL  de)  a  Frencli  en- 
gineer, born  at  Be/iers  in  1604.  He  was 
remotely  descended  from  the  same  Florentine 
family  with  the  marquis  de  Mirabeau  ;  and 
the  branch  to  which  he  belonged  was  esta- 
blished in  Languedoc,  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
He  conceived  the  idea  of  forming  the  canal  of 
Languedoc,  which  opens  a  communication 
between  the  Mediterranean  and  the  bay  of 
Biscay  ;  and  having  communicated  his  plan  to 
Colbert,  an  edict  for  the  construction  of  the 
canal  was  issued  in  October  1666.  The  work 
was  soon  commenced,  and  carried  on  during 
the  remainder  of  the  life  of  Kiquet,  who  died 
October  1,  1680. — He  had  associated  in  his 
labours  his  sou  JOHN  MATHIAS  DE  RIQUET 
DE  BONREPOS,  master  of  requests,  and  presi- 
dent of  the  parliament  of  Thoulouse,  who, 
with  the  assistance  of  his  brother,  PETER 
PAUL  DE  KIQUET  DE  CARAMAN,  and  others, 
completed  the  work.  The  navigation  of  the 
canal  was  established  in  1681,  but  it  was  not 
till  1724  that  it  proved  profitable  to  the  family 
of  the  projector.  Besides  his  great  work,  he 
conducted  improvements  in  the  port  of  Cette, 
where  he  built  two  jetties,  and  was  carrying 
en  his  operations  at  the  time  of  his  decease. — 
Biog.  Univ. 

RISBECK,  or  RIESBECK  (CASPAR)  a 
German  traveller,  born  at  Hoechst,  near 
Frankfort,  in  1750.  He  studied  the  law,  but 
the  works  of  Klopstock  and  of  Goethe  suited 
Iris  taste  better  than  those  of  professional 
authors,  and  having  dissipated  the  fortune  he 
bad  derived  from  his  father,  who  was  a  mer- 
chant, he  established  himself  at  Saltzburg, 
and  commenced  writer  for  the  press.  There 
Lie  published  a  continuation  of  the  "  Letters 
on  the  Monks,"  attributed  to  M.  de  la  Roche, 
.vhich  attracted  a  good  deal  of  temporary  no- 
ice.  He  then  went  to  Zurich  in  Switzerland, 
and  became  co-operator  in  the  political  jour- 
nal printed  there  ;  and  he  also  published 
Joxe's  Swiss  Travels  ;  and  "  Letters  of  a 
French  traveller  in  Germany  to  his  brother  at 
.'aris,  translated  by  K.  11."  Zurich,  1783, 
2  vols.  8vo.  This  German  work,  which  was 
very  successful,  was  a  complete  mystification, 
jeing  an  original  production  of  Risbeck.  He 
•etired  to  the  little  town  of  Arau,  where  he 
lied  in  1786  ;  and  a  "  History  of  Germany," 
vhich  was  the  last  work  he  composed,  ap- 
peared posthumously  in  1787,  and  in  1788-89 
was  published  a  continuation  of  the  history, 
rom  the  pen  of  professor  Milbiller,  of  Passau. 
— Biog.  liniv. 

RISDOM  (TRISTRAM)  an  English  topo- 
rapher  and  provincial  historian,  born  at 
Vinscot,  near  Great  Torrington,  in  Devon- 


II  I  T 

shire,  in  1580.  lie  received  his  education  at 
Broadgate  hall,  now  Pembroke  college,  Ox- 
ford ;  and  on  leaving  the  university  he  took 
up  his  residence  on  his  estate  in  his  native 
county,  and  devoted  much  of  his  time  to  the 
illustration  of  Devonian  antiquities  and  topo- 
graphy. He  died  in  1640,  leaving  in  manu- 
script, a  "  Description  or  Survey  of  the 
County  of  Devon,"  first  published  in  1723, 
8vo,  and  reprinted  in  1811,  8vo. — Cough's 
Brit.  Topng. 

RISHTON  (EDWARD)  a  learned  Catholic 
divine  and  historian,  who  was  a  native  of  Lan- 
cashire. He  studied  for  a  short  time  at  Brazen- 
nose  college,  Oxford,  and  then  removed  to 
Douay,  where  he  proceeded  MA.  Thence 
he  went  to  Rome,  and  after  passing  four  years 
in  the  study  of  divinity  at  the  English  college, 
lie  was  ordained  a  missionary  priest  in  1580. 
Returning  to  England  to  exercise  his  function, 
be  was  arrested  as  a  recusant,  and  detained  in 
prison  three  years.  The  legal  sentence  of 
death  which  lie  had  incurred  being  commuted 
for  banishment,  he  went  to  France,  where  he 
was  seized  with  the  plague,  and  died  at  St 
Menehoud  in  1585  or  1586.  He  published 
Sanders's  "  History  of  the  English  Schism," 
with  a  continuation  ;  and  he  also  wrote  "  Sy- 
nopsis Rerun  Ecclesiasticarum  ad  Annum 
1577. — Fuller's  Worthies.  Dodd's  Church 
Hist. 

RITCHIE  (JOSKPH)  an  English  traveller, 
born  at  Otley  in  Yorkshire.  He  obtained  a 
situation  in  the  office  of  the  English  consul  at 
Paris  ;  and  having  become  acquainted  with 
the  plans  of  the  African  association  in  Lon- 
don, lie  offered  his  services  to  explore  the  in- 
terior of  Africa.  In  conjunction  with  captain 
G.F.  Lyon,  R.N.  he  went  to  Tripoli,  and  in 
March  1819  the  party  set  out  for  Mourzouk, 
the  capital  of  Fezzan,  under  the  escort  of  iMuk- 
ni,  the  bey  of  that  country,  who  was  returning 
home.  They  resided  at  Mourzouk  for  some 
months  in  circumstances  of  distress,  arising 
from  the  want  of  funds,  and  heightened  by 
the  treacherous  conduct  of  the  bey,  who  seems 
to  have  speculated  on  the  chance  of  becoming 
possessed  of  the  property  of  the  travellers  on 
their  dying  in  his  dominions.  Mr  Ritchie  i 
actually  fell  a  sacrifice  to  hardship  and  vexation 
of  mind,  dying  in  November,  1819.  Captain 
Lyon  then  returned  to  England,  and  in  1821 
published  "  A  Narrative  of  Travels  in  North- 
ern Africa,  in  1818,  19,  and  20,  accompanied 
by  Geographical  Notices  of  Soudan,  and  of 
the  Course  of  the  Niger,"  4to. — Lit.  Cms. 
Nos.  218,  219.  Biog.  Unit. 

R1TSON  (ISAAC)  a  poet  and  miscellaneous 
writer,  born  near  Penrith  in  Cumberland,  in 
1761.  "He  became  a  teacher  in  a  school  at 
the  age  of  sixteen  ;  but  he  afterwards  went  to 
Edinburgh,  and  received  a  medical  education, 
supporting  himself  by  writing  inaugural  theses 
for  indolent  or  illiterate  students.  Removing 
to  London,  he  became  an  author  by  profession, 
and  for  a  time  he  was  a  contributor  of  criti- 
cisms on  medical  works  to  the  Monthly  Re- 
view. He  died  at  Islington  in  1789.  The  only 
piece  published  with  his  name  is  a  translation 


KIT 

of  Homer's  Hymn  to  Venus,  1788,  4to ;  but 
he  is  said  to  ha>e  written  the  prefatory  intro- 
duction to  Clarke's  "  Survey  of  the  Lakes." 
— Hutchinson's  Hist,  of  Cumberland.  D' Israeli's 
Calam.  of  Auth. 

R1TSON  (JOSEPH)  an  English  lawyer  and 
antiquary,  who  was  a  native  of  Stockton,  in 
the  county  of  Durham.  He  settled  in  London 
as  a  conveyancer,  and  held  the  purchased 
office  of  deputy  high-bailiff  of  the  duchy  of 
Lancaster.  As  an  antiquary  he  exhibited 
much  industry  and  intelligence,  especially  with 
regard  to  our  early  national  poetry  ;  but  his 
acrimony  and  ill-will  in  his  critical  remarks 
on  Thomas  Warton,  Dr  Percy,  and  other  men 
of  learning  ;  and  his  morbid  singularities  of 
temper,  and  avowed  contempt  of  religion,  ad- 
mit of  no  excuse  but  a  degree  of  insanity 
under  which  he  seems  to  have  long  laboured, 
and  which  issued  in  violent  derangement.  He 
died  in  a  mad-house  at  Hoxton,  in  September, 
1803.  His  principal  publications  are,  "  A 
Collection  of  English  Songs,"  3  vols.  :  "  The 
English  Anthology,"  3  vols.  ;  "  Metrical  Ro- 
mances," 3  vols.  ;  "  Bibliographia  Poetica,  a 
Catalogue  of  English  Poets  ;"  and  "  Robin 
Hood,  a  Collection  of  Ballads."  He  also 
wrote  a  tract  on  abstinence  from  animal  food, 
for  which  he  was  an  advocate. — Gent.  Mag. 
Ann.  Reg. 

RITTANGELIUS,  the  Latin  designation 
of  John  Stephen  Rithangel,  a  native  of  Bain- 
berg  in  Germany,  who  filled  the  chair  of  pro- 
fessor of  the  Eastern  languages  in  the,  univer- 
sity of  Ko'nigsberg-,  about  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  Of  his  personal  history, 
and  even  of  the  religion  in  which  he  was  ori- 
ginally brought  up.  but  little  is  known,  although 
his  treatise  "  De  Veritate  Religionis  Christi- 
anas," evinces  him  to  have  at  length  become  a 
convert  to  the  doctrines  of  the  reformed 
church.  That  he  once  professed  Judaism  is 
also  certain,  hut  whether,  as  some  assert,  he 
in  the  first  instance,  apostatized  from  the  Ca- 
tholic faith  remains  doubtful.  Besides  the 
book  already  mentioned,  he  was  the  author  ot 
another,  entitled  "  Libra  Veritatis,"  and  ot 
some  learned  remarks  on  the  Apocryphal  work 
"  Jetzirah."  His  deatli  took  place  in  1652. — 
Bayle,  Aloreri. 

RITTEN HOUSE  (DAVID)  a  celebrated 
American  philosopher,  of  a  Dutch  family,  but 
born  at  Germantown,  in  Pennsylvania,  in, 
1732.  He  was  destined  for  the  occupations 
of  agriculture,  and  received  but  an  indifferent 
education,  notwithstanding  which  lie  showed 
so  strong  a  disposition  for  mechanical  pur- 
suits, that  his  parents  apprenticed  him  to  a 
watchmaker,  and  by  his  own  exertions  he  ac- 
quired a  knowledge  of  mathematics  and  astro- 
nomy. His  intelligence  introduced  him  to  the 
notice  of  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Phila- 
delphia ;  and  in  1769  he  was  sent  to  Norriton, 
in  the  county  of  Montgomery,  to  observe  the 
transit  of  Venus.  He  was  afterwards  chosen 
a  member  of  that  society,  for  which  he  con- 
structed an  observatory.  In  1770  lie  esta- 
blished himself  at  Philadelphia  as  a  watch- 
maker and  mathematical  instrument-maker 


RIT 

and  lie  soon  rose  to  great  eminence  as  an 
artist  and  a  natural  philosopher.  He  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  office  of  treasurer  of  the  state  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  director  of  the  mint,  after 
the  American  revolution.  The  university  of 
Philadelphia  conferred  on  him  the  degree  of 
LL.I). ;  and  he  succeeded  Dr  Franklin  as  pre- 
sident of  the  American  Philosophical  Society, 
to  whose  Transactions  he  was  a  considerable 
contributor.  He  died  July  10,  1796.  Rit- 
tenhouse  was  employed  in  making  geometri- 
cal surveys,  in  order  to  determine  the  relative 
limits  of  some  of  the  American  states ;  and 
his  exertions  in  the  cause  of  science  appear 
to  have  greatly  promoted  the  diffusion  of  a 
taste  for  mathematical  and  physical  knowledge 
among  his  countrymen,  who,  with  excusable 
patriotism,  regard  him  as  the  Newton  of  the 
new  world. —  Hntton's  Math.  Diet.  Aikin'sG. 
B'wg.  Biog.  Univ. 

HITTER  (ALBERT)  a  German  naturalist  of 
the  last  century,  who  deserves  to  be  noticed 
for  his  researches  concerning  oryctology.  He 
published  "  Lucubratiuncula  de  Alabastris 
Hohnsteinensibus,  nonnullisque  aliis  ejusdem 
Loci  Rebus  naturalibus,"  Helmstad.  1731, 
4to ;  "  Lucubratiuncula  II  de  Alabastris 
Schwartzburgicis,"  1732,  4to  ;  "  Epistolica 
historico-physica  Oryctographia  Goslariensis," 
1733,  4to  ;  "  Commentatio  Epistolaris  I.  de 
Fossilibus  et  Nature  mirabilibus  Osterodanis," 
Sondershus-cB,  1734,  4to  ;  "  Commentatio 
Epist.  II.  de  Zou.'itho,"  1736,  4to  ;  "  Relatio 
historica  curiosa  de  iterato  Itinere  in  Hercy- 
nire  Montem  famosissimum  Bructerum,"  1740, 
4to ;  besides  other  curious  works  relating  to 
the  fossils  and  minerals  of  his  native  country. 
— Gronnvii  BibL  Regn,  Anim.  et  Lapid. 

RITTER  (JoiiN  DANIEL)  a  learned  wri- 
ter, born  at  Breslau,  in  1709.  He  became 
professor  of  history  and  philosophy  at  Leipsic, 
and  afterwards  at  Wittemberg  ;  and  he  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  the  publication  of  a 
number  of  works  relating  to  civil  law,  hi=tory, 
and  archeology.  Among  these  are,  "  Disser- 
tatio  de  Cognitoribus,"  Lips.  1735,  4to  ;  "  Ob- 
sen-ationes  Histories, "  Witeb.  1742,  4to 
"  Historia  Prefecture  Prajtoriag  ab  Origine 
Dignitatis  ad  Const.  M.  recensens,''  1745, 
4to  ;  "  De  falsis  Barbaricae  Philosophise  Fon- 
tibus,"  1745,  4to  ;  besides  a  new  edition  o! 
the  Theodosian  code,  and  a  translation  from 
the  English  of  Outline's  History  of  the  World. 
He  died  in  1775. — Saxii  Onom.  Lit. 

RITTER  (JEREMIAH  BENJAMIN)  an  emi- 
nent chemist  and  physician,  who  was  a  native 
of  Silesia.     He   studied  at   KSnigsberg,  anc 
when  he  graduated  sustained  a  thesis,  "  D 
Usu  Matheseos  in  Chymia."     In  1795  he  was 
placed  as  secretary  and  verificator  in  the  ad 
ministration  of  the  mines  of  Silesia  ;  and  some 
years  after  he   was  called  to  Berlin,  where  h 
was  arcanist  to  the  porcelain  manufactory,  anc 
director  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society.     Hi 
died  April  4,  1807,  aged  forty- five.    His  prin 
cipal  works  are  a  treatise  "  On  the  new  Object 
of  Chemistry,"  1791-1802,  2  parts,  8vo;  "  Ele 
aients  of  StTchiometry,  or  the  An  of  measur 
ins   Chemical    Elements,"    1792-94,    3  vols 


III  V 

8vo  •,  and   he  also  assisted  in  some  scientift, 
journals. —  Biog.  Univ. 

RITTER   (JoHN   WILLIAM)    one    of  the 
most  celebrated  philosophers  of  modern  Ger- 
many, born  at  Samitz  in  Silesia,  December  16, 
1776.     He  studied  medicine  at  Jena,  and  em- 
ployed himself  in  physical  expeiiments,  parti- 
cularly  relative    to    galvanism.       Being    dis- 
tressed by  the  narrowness  of  his  circumstances, 
he  fortunately  obtained  the  patronage  of  the 
duke  of  Saxe  Gotha,  who  assisted  him  with  the 
means  for  procuring  the  expensive  apparatus 
ecessary  for  his   researches.      In   1798    he 
tarted   the  idea  that  the  phenomena  of  ani- 
mal  life  are  connected  with   galvanic  action, 
nd  he  inserted  several  memoirs  on  the  subject 
n  the   Physical  Journal  of  Gelilen.     He  was 
f  an  ardent  disposition,  not  always  under  the 
irection  of  sound  judgment,  as  appeared  from 
ns  advocating  the  reveries  of  animal  magne- 
ism,   and   other  quackeries  of  his  time.     In 
805  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  academy 
i  Munich,  which  was  the  only  scientific  dis- 
inction  he  enjoyed.     He  died  at  Munich,  Ja- 
nuary 23,  1810.     Besides  numerous  papers  in 
ournals   of  science,    he   was    the    author   of 
Contributions    towards    a    more    particular 
knowledge  of  Galvanism,"  Jena,  1801,  2  vols. 
8vo  ;  "  Physico-Medical   Memoirs,"  Leipsic, 
1806,  3  vols. ;  and  "  Fragments  taken  from  the 
nheritance  of  a  Young   Physician,"  Heidel- 
berg, 1810,  2  vols.  8vo. — Biog.  Nouv.  des  Con- 
,emp.      Biog.  Univ. 

RITTERSHUYS    (CONRAD)    a    learned 
writer  on  jurisprudence   and   philology,   born 
at    Brunswick  in   1560.      After  having    stu- 
died at  Helmstadt,  Altorff,   and    Ingoldstadt, 
and    taking  the  degree  of  doctor  of  law    at 
Basil,  in    1591,   he    was    nominated    to   the 
professorship    of    law    at    Altorff,    where    he 
remained  till  his   death,  in  1613.     He  wrote 
notes  and  comments  on  the  works  of  Petro- 
niis,    Phajdrus,   Oppian,  and   Salvian  ;    pub- 
lished the  History  of  the  Emperor  Frederic  I, 
by  Guntherus,  in  Latin  ;  and  was  the  author 
of  several  dissertations,  and  of  a  work  entitled 
Jus  Justinianeum   sive   Novellarum  Expo- 
sitio  Methodica,"  published  posthumously  by 
his  son,    NICHOLAS    RITTERSHUYS,  who  was 
professor  of  feudal  law  at  Altorff,  and  died  in 
1670.     The  latter  was  the  author  of  a  Dis- 
sertation on  the  Periplus   of  Hanno  ;  and  of 
a  large  work  on  the  Genealogy  of  Illustrious 
Families. — Saxii  Onnm.  Lit.     Aikiii's  G.  Bing. 
RIVAROL  (ANTOiNF.de)  a  native  of  Bag- 
nols,  in  the  province  of  Languedoc,  born  April 
17,  1757.     He   possessed   a   lively  wit,   well 
cultivated  by  a  good  education,  and  held  a  very 
respectable  rank    among   the    savans   of   the 
French  metropolis,   in  which  he  became  a  re- 
sident.    Voltaire,    D'Alembert,    Buffon,    &c. 
were  among  his  confidential   associates  ;  but 
his  principles  becoming  suspecied  in  the  early 
stage  of  the  Revolution,  he  found  it  necessary 
to  emigrate,  and  seek  an  asylum  in  Germany. 
Hamburg  was  his   first  retreat,   which   he  at 
length  quitted  for  the  capital  of  the  Prussian 
dominions,  where  he  was  much  patronized  by 
some  branches  of  the  royal  famiiy,  especially 


Rl  V 

by  the  prince  royal.  His  works  consist  of  a 
"  Treatise  on  the  Universality  of  the  French 
Language  ;"  "  Letters  on  Religion  and  Mo- 
rality ;"  "  An  Account  of  the  Political  Life  of 
M.  de  la  Fayette ;"  "  Prospectus  of  a  new 
French  Dictionary  ;"  "  On  the  Faculties  of 
Man,  Mora!  and  intellectual  ;"  "  Letters  to 
the  French  Nobility  ;"  a  satirical  work,  enti- 
tled "  A  little  Almanac  of  Great  Men  ;"  some 
original  poems  on  miscellaneous  subjects,  and 
a  translation  of  the  "  Inferno"  of  Dante.  Of 
these  the  first-mentioned  treatise  was  written 
as  a  prize  essay  for  the  academy  at  Berlin  in 
1784,  and  was  die  successful  composition.  A 
Biographical  Sketch  of  this  ingenious  writer 
appeared  in  two  12mo  vols.  in  1802,  the  year 
succeeding  that  of  his  decease. — Biog.  Univ. 

RIVAULT  (DAVID)  a  French  mathemati- 
cian of  the  age  of  Louis  XIII,  to  which  mo- 
narch he  was  military  tutor,  and  afterwards  a 
counsellor  of  state.  He  is  known  as  the  au- 
thor of  a  treatise,  entitled  "  Les  Etats,"  and 
of  another  "  On  the  Principles  of  Gunnery," 
and  lie  died  at  Tours  in  the  forty-fifth  year  of 
his  age.  An  edition  of  the  Remains  of  Ar- 
chimedes, with  a  Latin  version  annexed,  was 
printed  at  Paris  in  folio,  under  his  superintend- 
ance. —  Nnnv,  Diet,  Hist. 

RIVAZ  (PETER  JOSEPH  de)  a  skilful  me- 
chanician and  chronologer,  born  in  the  Lower 
Valais,  in  1711.     He  made  an  extraordinary 
progress  in  mathematical  learning  when  young, 
and  he   also  studied  history   and  antiquities. 
In  1740  he  submitted  to  the  examination  of 
Danie   Bernoulli  a  watch,  which  had  the  sin- 
gular property    of  winding  up  spontaneously. 
Eight  years   after  he  went  to  Paris,  and  pre- 
sented to  the  Academy  of  Sciences  watches 
constructed  according  to  his  principle,  with  an 
escapement  of  his  own  invention.      He  also 
contrived  an  improved  pendulum,  for  which  he 
obtained  an  exclusive  privilege,  a  circumstance 
which  involved  him  in  disputes  with  his  Pa- 
risian rivals,  in  the  art  of  horology.     In  1752 
he  drained  the  mines  of  Pontpeau  in  Britanny  ; 
and  in  1760  he  went  to  Switzerland,  and  made 
improvements  in  the  yalt- works  of  Bex.     He 
passed  the  latter  part  of  his  life  at  Montiers, 
and  died  in  1772.    His  mechanical  discoveries 
are  recorded  in  the  collections  of  the  Academy 
of  Sciences,  and  in  the  journals  of  his  time. 
He  left  many  historical  works  in  manuscript, 
but   it  does  not  appear  that  any  of  them  have 
been  published. — Bing.  Univ. 

R[VE  (JOHN  JOSEPH)  a  celebrated  French 
bibliographer,  bom  at  Aptiu  Provence,  in  1730. 
His  father,  who  was  a  goldsmith,  gave  him  an 
education  suited  to  the  ecclesiastical  profes- 
sion, of  which  he  became  a  member.  After 
having  been  professor  of  philosophy  in  the 
seminary  of  St  Charles  at  Avignon,  he  was 


appointed  cure  of  Molleges,  in  the  diocese  of 
Aries.  He  quitted  this  situation,  and  in  1767 
he  went  to  Paris,  where  he  obtained  the  office 
of  librarian  to  the  duke  de  la  Valliere.  On 
the  death  of  that  nobleman,  in  1780,  Rive 
wished  to  have  been  employed  to  draw  up 
a  catalogue  of  his  library ;  but  the  task 
was  confided  to  MM.  G.  Debure  and  Vai>- 


III  V 

praet,  who,  in  consequeuc-p,  incurred  the 
violent  displeasure  and  abuse  of  the  disap- 
pointed bibliographer.  Returning  to  his 
native  province  at  the  commencement  of 
the  Revolution,  he  made  himself  conspi- 
cuous as  a  partizan  of  the  new  political  doc- 
trines then  in  vogue,  though  his  zeal  appears 
to  have  depended  a  good  deal  on  feelings  of 
personal  resentment  against  individuals  be- 
longing to  the  privileged  orders.  He  died  of 
apoplexy  in  1792.  The  list  of  his  works, 
printed  and  manuscript,  given  by  some  writers, 
is  almost  interminable,  including  apparently 
among  the  latter,  the  titles  of  many  which  Rive 
probably  had  only  projected.  Of  his  published 
productions  the  most  important  is  "  La  Chasse 
aux  Bibliographes  et  Antiquaires  mal  ad- 
vises," a  Londres  (Aix)  chez  Aphobe  (Sans 
Peur),  1788  and  1789,  2  vols.  8vo.  It  con- 
sists principally  of  criticisms  on  Lelong,  Mer- 
cier  de  St  Leger,  Debure,  Vanpraet,  and  other 
bibliographers,  —  Biog.  Nouv.  des  Cuntemp. 
Biog.  Univ. 

RIVERIUS,  or  RIVIERE  (LAZARUS)  an 
eminent  physician,  born  at  Montpellier  in 
1589.  He  studied  medicine  in  the  university 
of  his  native  place,  and  in  1611  he  was  admit- 
ted MD.  He  obtained  the  medical  chair  at 
Montpellier  in  1622,  and  occupied  it  during 
thirty-three  years,  refusing  flattering  invita- 
tions which  he  had  received  from  Bologna  and 
Toulouse.  He  died  in  1655.  Riverius  first 
established  the  use  of  chemical  remedies  in 
the  Montpellier  school  ;  and  he  published  se- 
veral works,  princijtelly  relating  to  the  prac- 
tice of  medicine,  which  have  been  repeatedly 
printed,  together  and  separately. — Huileri 
Bibl.  Med.  Eloy  Diet.  H.  de  la  Med.  Biog. 
Univ. 

RIVET  (ANDREW)  a  learned  ecclesiastic, 
who  filled  the  divinity  chair  at  Leyden  with 
great  reputation,  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  seven- 
teenth century.  He  was  a  Poicteviu  by  birth, 
having  first  seen  the  light  at  St  Maxent  in 
1572,  and  having  taken  holy  orders,  was  pre- 
ferred to  a  benefice  at  Thouars,  which  he  held 
till  1620.  In  this  year  he  quitted  France,  and 
after  visiting  this  country,  settled  finally  on 
the  professorship  to  which  he  had  been  elected 
in  the  Dutch  university  alluded  to.  Three 
volumes  of  his  devotional  and  controversial 
writings  have  been  published  ;  and  the  English 
university  of  Oxford  ranks  his  name  among 
those  of  her  public  benefactor?,  having  re- 
ceived from  him  a  variety  of  valuable  books, 
in  return  for  which  she  complimented  him  with 
the  honorary  degree  of  DD.  His  death  took 
place  in  1647. — Biog.  Univ. 

RIVET  DE  LA  GRANGE  (ANTOINE)  a 
learned  and  ingenious  French  author,  who 
flourished  during  the  earlier  part  of  the  last 


century.  He  was  born  in  1683  al  Consolens 
in  Poitou,  and  became  early  in  life  a  monk  of 
the  order  of  St  Benedict.  The  work  by  which 
he  is  principally  kncwn.and  in  the  compilation 
of  which  he  spent  upwards  of  thirty  years,  is 
a  valuable  history  of  the  Progress  of  Litera- 
ture in  France,  first  published  in  nine  quarto 
volumes,  but  since  continued  by  Clemances, 


R  1  V 

v-hose  additions  swell  it  to  thirteen.  lie  was 
a  so  the  author  of  biographical  sketches  of 
some  of  the  members  of  the  society  of  Port 
Royal.  His  death  took  place  in  1749. —  Hi<'g. 
Univ. 

RIVIERE  ( MEHCIER  de  la)  a  ce- 

Ichrated  political  economist,  who  was  born  in 
France  about  1720.  He  obtained  the  post  of 
counsellor  of  the  parliament  of  Paris  in  1747, 
and  was  soon  after  made  intendant  ofMartinique. 
On  his  return  from  that  colony,  he  became  one 
of  the  disciples  of  yuesnay,  and  he  made  him- 
self known  by  the  publication  of  a  work,  enti- 
tled "  L'Ordre  naturel  et  essentiel  des  So- 
cictes  polidques,"  which  his  party-admirers 
represented  as  superior  to  Montesquieu's  Spirit 
of  Laws.  Prince  Galitzin,  the  Russian  mi- 
nister at  Paris,  recommended  Riviere  to  the 
empress  Catherine  as  a  political  philosopher, 
who  might  with  advantage  assist  in  [>reparing 
the  new  legal  code  she  wished  to  bestow  on 
her  subjects.  He  went  to  Russia,  but  not  ar- 
riving so  soon  as  he  was  expected,  he  was 
treated  with  neglect,  and  he  soon  returned 
home  without  exercising  his  talents  as  a  le- 

O 

gislator.  The  singularity  of  his  schemes  and 
his  high  pretensions  exposed  him  to  the  ridi- 
cule of  Voltaire,  Grimm,  and  the  abbe  Ga- 
liani,  who  amused  themselves  at  the  expense 
of  the  would-be  Solon.  He  witnessed  the 
misfortunes  of  the  Revolution,  which  he  had 
predicted  in  pointing  out  the  most  proper 
methods  of  preventing  them.  He  escaped 
unnoticed  during  the  reign  of  terror,  and  died 
in  obscurity  in  1794.  His  principal  works, 
besides  that  already  mentioned,  are,  "  De 
1'Instruction  publique,  ou  Considerations  mo- 
rales et  politiques  sur  la  Necessite,  la  Nature, 
et  la  Source  de  cette  Instruction,"  177.5,  8vo  ; 
"  Lettre  sur  les  Economistes,"  8vo,  also  in- 
serted in  the  Encyclopedia  Methodique. — 
Bios-  Nnuv.de*  Cnn'emp.  Bug.  Univ. 

RTVTNTJS  (ANDREAS)  or  ANDREW  BACH- 
MAN  (of  which  German  appellation  the  former 
name  is  a  Latin  translation),  was  a  learned 
Saxon  physician  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
lie  studied  medicine  ind  philosophy  at  Jena, 
and  then  travelled  foj  improvement  in  England, 
France,  and  the  Netherlands.  Returning  to 
Saxony,  he  becam ;  rector  of  the  college  of 
Nordhausen  ;  and  he  afterwards  took  the  de- 
gree of  doctor  of  physic  at  Leipsic,  and  was  ap- 
pointed professor  of  poetry  in  that  university. 
In  1655  he  changed  his  professorship  for  that  of 
medicine,  and  he  died  April  4,  in  the  following 
year.  He  edited  the  poetical  works  of  Gre- 
gory Nazianzen,  Tertullian,  Lactantius,  and 
other  ancient  Christian  writers ;  and  he  pub- 
lished a  number  of  medical  and  philosophical 
theses,  and  philological  dissertations  ;  and 
executed  many  other  literary  undertakings. — 
Nicervn.  Siuii  Onom.  Lit.  Biog.  Univ. 

RIV1NUS  (AUGUSTUS  QUIKINUS)  an  emi- 
nent botanist  and  physician,  who  was  the  third 
son  of  the  preceding,  and  was  born  at  Leipsic 
in  165S.  Having  lost  his  father  when  young, 
he  owed  his  education  to  the  munificence  of 
the  elector  of  Saxony.  He  studied  at  llflm- 
stadt,  and  took  the  degree  of  doctor  in  1676. 


ft  I  Z 

In  1691  he  was  nominated  professor  of  phy 
siology  and  botany  at  Leipsic,  he  became  dean 
of  the  faculty  in  1709,  and  he  died  of  pleurisy 
December  30,  17i.','"5.  Rivinus  is  chiefly  dis- 
tinguished as  a  botanist.  He  proposed  a  in-'.v 
method  of  arrangement  of  plants  in  his  "  In- 
troductio  generalis  in  Rem  Herbariam,"  first 
published  in  1690.  His  scheme  is  founded  on 
the  structure  of  flowers,  and  he  distributes  all 
plants  into  eighteen  classes,  distinguished  by 
the  number  and  form  of  their  petals.  He  also 
published  splendid  botanical  plates  to  illustrate 
his  system,  which  was  adopted  by  Gouan  in 
France,  and  by  sir  John  Hill  in  England  ;  and 
after  being  variously  modified  by  other  bota- 
nists, was  at  length  superseded  by  that  of  Lin- 
nasus.  The  medical  writings  of  Rivinus  are 
not  destitute  of  merit,  and  he  made  some  ana- 
tomical discoveries. — Halleri  Bib.  Med.  et  Bot. 
Blag.  Univ. 

RIZZIO,  RIZZI,  or,  as  his  naiac  is  some- 
times  written,  RICCI  (DAVID)  the  son  of  a 
professor  of  the  same  name,  who  tavight  inusic 
and  dancing  at  Turin,  in  which  capital  the 
subject  of  this  article  was  born,  i,.  the  earlier 
part  of  the  sixteenth  century.  His  abilities  as 
a  musician  procured  him  some  notice  at  the 
court  of  Savoy,  while  his  talents  as  a  linguist 
eventually  raised  him  to  the  fatal  honour  of 
being  selected  by  the  ambassador  from  the 
grand  duke  to  Mary,  queen  of  Scots,  as  a  com- 
ponent part  of  his  suite.  In  1564  he  first 
made  his  appearance  at  Holy  Rood  House, 
where  he  soon  became  so  great  a  favourite 
with  the  queen,  that  he  was  taken  from  the 
service  of  his  own  sovereign  and  appointed  her 
secretary  for  foreign  languages.  The  distinc- 
tion with  which  he  was  treated  by  his  unhappy 
mistress,  soon  excited  both  the  envy  of  the 
nobles,  and  the  jealousy  of  Darnley  himself; 
the  hatred  of  the  former  being,  perhaps,  in 
creased  as  much  by  the  religion,  as  by  the  ar- 
rogant deportment  of  the  new  favourite,  while 
the  suspicions  of  the  latter  were  excited  by 
his  address  and  accomplishments.  A  con- 
spiracy, with  the  king  at  its  head,  was  soon 
formed,  for  the  destruction  of  the  presuming 
foreigner,  and  before  he  had  enjoyed  two  vears 
of  court  favour,  the  lord  Ruthven,  and  other? 
of  his  party,  were  introduced  by  Darnley  him- 
self into  the  queen's  apartment,  where  they 
despatched  the  unfortunate  object  of  their  re- 
venge by  no  less  than  fifty-six  stabs,  in  the 
very  presence,  and  clinging  to  the  robes  of  his 
scarcely  less  defenceless  mistress,  AD.  1566. 
Popular  tradition  assigns  to  Rizzio  the  ame- 
lioration, not  to  say  the  invention,  of  the  Scot- 
tish style  of  music  ;  and  it  appears  unquestion- 
able that  his  skill  in  the  performance  of  tho 
national  melodies  on  his  favourite  instrument, 
the  lute,  tended  not  a  liule  to  their  general 
improvement  and  popularity  with  the  higher 
classes  ;  still  it  is  evident  that  the  style  of 
Scottish  music  \ras  determined  long  before  the 

O 

time  of  Mary,  and  many  of  the  airs  which  have 
been   ascribed   to  Rizzio,   such  as  "   Cowden 
Knowes ;"    "Gala    Water;"    and    others    of 
the  same  class,  are  easily  traced  to  more  dis 
tant  periods. — Barney.     Robertson. 


ROB 

ROBERT  I,  king  of  Scotland,  of  the  fa- 
mily of  Bruce,  memorable  as  the  restorer  of 
the  independanoe  of  his  country,  was  grand- 
son of  that  Robert  Bruce  who  was  the  unsuc- 
cessful competitor  with  John  Baliol  for  the 
crown  of  Scotland.  He  was  born  in  1275, 
and  appears  to  have  served  in  his  youth  in  the 
army  of  Edward  I.  The  death  of  his  father, 
who"  left  him  heir  to  his  estate  and  pretensions, 
together  with  that  of  John  I5aliol,  inspired 
him  with  high  designs  for  himself  and  his 
country,  then  in  complete  subjection  to  the 
English.  In  1305  he  quitted  the  English 
court,  to  which,  it.  is  said,  his  purposes  had 
been  betrayed  by  Comyn  or  Gumming,  earl  of 
Badenoch,  whom,  in  an  interview  at  Dum- 
fries, in  February  1306,  he  stabbed  with  his 
own  hand.  lie  immediately  followed  ap  this 
daring  action  by  seizing  the  castle  of  Dumfries, 
confining  the  English  judges  assembled  theie, 
and  openly  asserting  his  claim  to  the  crown. 
He  was  soon  at  the  head  of  a  body  of  troops, 
•with  which  he  penetrated  as  far  as  Perth,  the 
English  flying  every  where  before  him  ;  and 
in  the  following  March  he  was  solemnly 
crowned  at  Scone.  The  king  of  England, 
highly  enraged,  ordered  all  his  Northern 
forces  to  join  the  followers  of  Comyn,  in  order 
to  take  vengeance  ;  in  consequence  of  which 
the  earl  of  Pembroke  marched  to  Perth, 
where  he  surprised  and  beat  the  troops  of 
Bruce,  who  escaped  with  difficulty,  being 
obliged  to  seek  refuge  in  an  unfrequented  isle 
of  the  Hebrides.  His  family  and  friends  par- 
took of  his  adverse  fortune  ;  three  of  his  bro- 
thers were  executed  as  traitors,  and  his  queen, 
his  daughter,  and  two  sisters,  made  captives, 
and  committed  to  prison.  Neither  friends  nor 
foes  were  acquainted  witli  the  fate  of  Bruce, 
when  he  suddenly  made  his  appearance  with 
a  small  band  of  followers,  but  on  the  approach 
of  an  English  force  he  'retired.  In  a  second 
incursion,  with  augmented  force,  he  defeated 
the  earl  of  Pembroke  in  his  turn,  and  was  soon 
after  delivered  by  the  death  of  that  warrior  from 
his  most  formidable  foe,  Edward  I.  The  weak 
son  of  the  latter,  Edward  II,  although  he 
obeyed  the  dying  injunction  of  his  father,  to 
march  into  Scotland,  pursued  the  war  with  so 
little  vigour,  that  Robert  gradually  reduced  the 
whole  of  Scotland,  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
fortresses,  to  an  acknowledgment  of  his  autho- 
rity. Several  weak  attempts  were  subsequently 
made  by  the  English  king,  which  ended  in  a 
truce  ;  and  Robert  actively  employed  this  in- 
terval of  hostilities  in  consolidating  his  power, 
and  regulating  his  civil  government.  In  the 
mean  time,  Edward,  after  the  death  of  his  fa- 
vourite, Gaveston,  having  reconciled  himself 
to  his  rebellious  barons,  entered  Scotland  at 
the  head  of  the  largest  army  that  had  ever 
been  employed  against  it,  and  inarched 
to  Stirling,  to  relieve  the  castle,  then  be- 
sieged by  Robert.  The  Scotch  army,  which 
was  much  inferior  in  number  to  the  En- 
glish, but  composed  of  veteran  troops, 
awaited  the  approach  of  the  enemy  on  the 
banks  of  the  Bannock,  which  rivulet  gave 
name  to  the  famous  battle  of  Bannockburn. 


ROB 

Through  the  able  -disposition  and  conduct  of 
Robert,  the  Scots  on  this  occasion  obtained 
over  the  English  the  most  decisive  victory  of 
which  their  annals  can  boast.  Edward  him- 
self narrowly  escaped,  and  the  number  of  no- 
ble prisoners  was  so  great  as  to  enable  Robert 
to  recover  in  exchange,  his  wife,  daughter, 
sisters,  and  several  other  prisoners  of  high 
rank.  He  then  thought  himself  strong  enough 
.0  assail  the  English  government  in  return? 
and  sent  over  his  brother  with  a  body  of  troops 
o  the  north  of  Ireland.  In  1316  he  himself 
bllowed,  but  was  obliged  by  famine  to  return  ; 
and  soon  after  his  brother  was  defeated,  and 
'ell  in  battle.  The  papal  influence  was  resorted 
to  in  order  to  effect  a  peace  between  the  hos- 
tile nations,  but  as  the  legates  employed 
would  not  give  Robert  his  regal  title,  he  re- 
ected  their  proposals  with  scorn.  At  length 
a  second  truce  for  two  years  was  agreed  upon, 
on  the  expiration  of  which,  Edward  undertook 
a  new  expedition  into  Scotland,  and  in  1~22 
advanced  as  far  as  Edinburgh,  but  was  soon 
obliged  to  retreat,  with  Robert  in  his  rear,  who 
surprised  part  of  the  army,  and  even  took  the 
king's  baggage.  Both  parties  becoming  de- 
sirous of  repose,  a  third  truce  for  thirteen 
years  was  agreed  upon,  which  left  Robert  in 
full  possession  of  Scotland,  although  without 
acknowledging  him  as  lawful  king.  On  the 
deposition  and  death  of  Edward  II  in  1327, 
the  king  of  Scotland,  who  seems  not  to  have 
considered  himself  bound  to  the  new  govern- 
ment of  England,  renewed  hostilities,  by 
marching  an  army  into  Northumberland,  which 
was  however  soon  obliged  to  retire,  on  the 
approach  of  an  English  force  under  the  youth- 
ful Edward  III.  The  same  year  a  peace  was 
concluded,  in  which  the  king  of  England  re- 
nounced all  claim  to  superiority  over  the  kings 
or  kingdom  of  Scotland,  and  David,  the  son 
of  Robert,  was  affianced  to  Joan,  the  sister  of 
Edward.  Thus,  the  great  object  of  Robert's 
patriotic  exertions,  the  independance  of  his 
country,  was  finally  established.  Worn  out 
with  the  cares  and  fatigues  of  his  active  life, 
this  able  and  warlike  prince  expired  in  1329, 
at  his  castle  of  Cardross,  in  the  fifty-fourth 
year  of  his  age,  leaving  a  name  eternally  me- 
morable in  the  annals  of  Scotland,  which  he 
rescued  by  his  courage  and  wisdom  from  a 
foreign  yoke,  and  restored  to  its  rank  among 
nations. — Hume.  Henri/.  Robertson, 

ROBERT  (HUBERT)  a  French  painter, 
was  born  at  Paris  in  1732.  He  resided  in 
Italy  for  several  years,  and  duirng  that  time 
he  painted  the  gardens  and  cascades  at  Rome 
in  a  most  masterly  manner,  managing  his  aerial 
perspective  with  a  skill  nearly  approaching  to 
illusion.  On  his  return  to  Fiance  he  was  ad- 
mitted into  the  academy.  During  the  horrors 
of  the  Revolution  he  was  seized  and  thrown 
into  prison,  where  he  amused  himself  by  his 
profession.  On  his  release  he  regained  his 
patronage  and  reputation,  which  he  preserved 
until  his  death,  April  14,  1808. — Galerie  det 
Pei ntres  Ctlebres. 

ROBERT  (FRANCIS)  a  modern  geogra- 
pher, who  was  a  native  of  Chalons  in  France , 


ROB 

He  liocame  professor  of  philosophy  and  mathe- 
matics at  the  college  of  Chalons,  and  in  1780 
he  olitained  the  title  of  royal  geographer.  In 
1789  he  joined  the  advocates  for  revolution, 
and  condemned  tithes  and  other  rights  of  the 
privileged  classes.  He  was  nominated  mayor  of 
the  commune  of  Hesnote  in  1793,  and  after  the 
Revolution  of  the  Slst  of  May,  that  year  he  was 
appointed  administrator  of  the  department  of 
C6te  d'Or.  In  1797  he  waschosen  a  member  of 
the  Council  of  Five  Hundred,  in  which  he  dis- 
played a  decided  alteration  in  his  political  opi- 
nions. Having  escaped  the  proscription,  which 
overtook  many  of  his  coadjutors,  he  retired 
into  the  country.  In  his  old  age  he  became  a 
traveller,  and  died  at  Heiligenstadt  in  Saxony, 
in  1819,  aged  eighty-six.  He  was  the  author 
of  Travels  in  Switzerland  ;  a  Description  of 
France  ;  some  useful  elementary  works  on 
geography ;  and  a  Memoir  on  a  method  of 
Guiding  Air-balloons. — Bhg.  Univ. 

ROBERTS  (PETER)  a  Welsh  divine,  and 
•writer  on  British  history  and  controversial 
theology.  He  was  a  native  of  North  Wales, 
and  received  his  education  at  Trinity  college, 
Dublin,  where  he  proceeded  to  the  degree  of 
MA.  H.iving  taken  orders  in  the  church  of 
England,  he  obtained  the  living  of  Halkin,  in 
the  county  of  Flint.  He  published,  "  Let- 
ters to  M.  Volney,  in  Answer  to  his  Book  on 
the  Revolution  of  Empires,"  8vo  ;  "  A  Har- 
mony of  the  Epistles,"  4to  ;  "  A  Sketch  of 
the  Early  History  of  the  Ancient  Britons," 
8vo  ;  and  "  A  Review  of  the  Policy  and  pe- 
culiar Doctrines  of  the  Modern  Church  of 
Rome,"  1809,  8vo,  in  winch  he  displays 
abundant  zeal  against  the  Catholics.  But  his 
most  considerable  work  is  "  The  Chronicle  of 
the  Kings  of  Britain,"  1810,  4to,  a  translation 
from  the  ancient  Welsh  Chronicles,  with  co- 
pious notes  and  illustrations.  His  death 
took  place  in  1819. — Gent.  Mag. 

ROBERTSON  (JOSKPH)  an  English  di- 
vine, was  born  at  Knipe  in  Westmoreland,  in 
1726,  and  was  educated  at  the  grammar  school 
of  Appleby,  whence  he  was  removed  to 
Queen's  college,  Oxford.  In  1738  he  obtained 
the  living  of  Herriard  in  Hampshire  ;  in  1770 
that  of  Sutton  in  Essex  ;  and  in  1779  the 
vicarage  of  Horncastle  in  Lincolnshire,  where 
he  died  in  1802.  Mr  Robertson,  who  was  for 
many  years  a  writer  in  the  Critical  Review,  is 
best  known  by  his  tract,  entitled  "  The  Parian 
Chronicle,  or  the  Chronicle  of  the  Arundelian 
Marbles  ;  with  a  Dissertation  concerning  its 
Authenticity,"  in  which  he  strives  to  render 
its  authority  questionable.  He  also  wrote 
Essays  on  Punctuation,  ou  Female  Educa- 
tion, and  on  the  nature  of  English  Verse,  with 
some  small  productions  of  a  kindred  nature, 
including  an  "  Introduction  to  the  Study  of 
Polite  Literature." — Nichols's  Lit.  Anec. 

ROBERTSON,  DD.  (WILLIAM)  an  emi- 
nent divine,  was  born  at  Dublin  in  1705.  His 
father,  who  was  a  linen  manufacturer,  being  a 
native  of  Scotland,  sent  him  to  the  university 
of  Glasgow,  from  which  he  was  expelled  for 
the  strong  part  he  took  in  asserting  the 
right  of  the  students  to  choose  their  rector. 


ROB 

By  the  inteiest  of  the  duke  of  Argyle  and  'n's 
brother,  the  earl  of  Hay,  a  commission  wa=  oa 
this  occasion  appointed  to  visit  the  university 
of  Glasgow,  the  result  of  which  was  the  'nil 
establishment  of  the  right  claimed  by  Mr  Ro- 
bertson, whose  expulsion  was  removed,  and 
the  election  to  which  he  objected  declared  roid. 
On  taking  orders  he  enjoyed  the  patronage 
of  Dr  John  Iloadly,  bishop  of  Ferns  and 
Leighlin,  and  obtained  the  rectories  of  Ravilly 
in  the  county  of  Carlow,  and  of  Kelravell  in 
the  county  of  Wicklow.  He  was  subsequently 
presented  to  other  preferments,  but  altogether 
of  a  very  small  amount.  lie  distinguished  him- 
self by  a  successful  suit  for  the  tithes  of  herbage 
for  black  cattle  ;  but  Irish  parliamentary  in- 
terference soon  put  an  end  to  that  demand. 
The  ill-will  produced  by  these  proceedings  in- 
duced him  to  write  a  tract,  entitled  "  A  Scheme 
for  utterly  abolishing  the  present  heavy  and 
vexatious  Tax  of  Tithe,"  which  publication 
advocated  the  substitution  of  an  equivalent 
land-tax,  and  excited  much  attention  at  the 
time.  In  17o4  he  was  presented  to  another 
benefice  by  the  bishop  of  Ferns,  but  previously 
to  accepting  it,  he  had  imbibed  doubts  on  the 
subject  of  the  Athanasian  creed,  and  declined 
induction,  on  the  score  that  he  could  not  con- 
scientiously qualify  for  the  preferment.  In 
1764  he  deemed  it  more  honest  to  resign  all 
his  livings  in  submission  to  the  same  scruples 
of  conscience,  and  by  way  of  explanation,  in 
1766,  published  a  small  volume,  entitled  "  An 
Attempt  to  explain  the  Words,  Reason,  Sub- 
stance, Person,  Creeds,  Orthodoxy,  Catholic 
Church,  Subscription,  &c."  This  book  he 
presented  to  the  university  of  Glasgow,  which 
in  return  complimented  him  with  the  degree 
of  DD.  In  1768  he  was  made  master  of 
the  free  grammar  school  of  Wolverhampton, 
and  in  1772  was  a  distinguished  member  of 
the  Committee  of  Clergymen,  employed  to 
form  and  present  the  famous  petition  to  Par- 
liament, to  be  relieved  from  the  obligation  of 
subscribing  to  the  thirty-nine  articles.  He  died 
at  Wolverhampton,  much  respected,  in  1783, 
in  the  seventy-ninth  year  of  his  age. — Life  in 
Gent.  Ma*,  for  1783. 

ROBERTSON,  DD.  (WrLHAM)  a  cele- 
brated modern  historian,  was  born  at  Borth- 
wick,  where  his  father  was  minister,  in  1721. 
He  received  his  early  education  at  the  school 
of  Dalkeith  ;  but  in  1733  accompanied  his 
father,  on  his  removal  to  Edinburgh,  as  mi- 
nister of  the  Grey  Friars  in  that  city,  and  soon 
after  entered  on  his  academical  studies.  After 
the  completion  of  his  course  in  the  theological 
class  of  Edinburgh,  he  obtained  a  license  to 
preach  in  1741,  and  in  1743  was  presented 
by  the  earl  of  Hopetonto  the  living  of  Glads- 
muir  in  East  Lothian.  In  1731  he  married  a 
lady  of  the  name  of  Nisbet,  hiscousin-german, 
and  began  to  be  distinguished  by  his  eloquence 
and  good  taste  as  a  preacher.  About  the  same 
time  he  became  known  as  a  powerful  speaker 
in  the  General  Assembly  of  the  church  of 
Scotland,  in  which  he  obtained  an  ascendancy 
by  his  eloquence  and  great  talents  for  public 
business,  which,  exerted  as  they  were  ou  the 


ROB 

side  of  authority,  gave  him  for  a  long  time  the 
lead  in  the  ecclesiastical  politics  of  Scotland. 
In   1754  he  became   a  member  of  the   cele- 
brated  "  Select  Society  "  of  Edinburgh,  and 
signalized   himself  by  supporting   Mr   Home, 
the  clerical  author  of  the  tragedy  of  Douglas, 
against  the  censures  of  the  Scottish  rigorists.  In 
the  mean  time,  he  had  occupied  himself  in  his 
"  History  of  Scotland,   during  the    Reigns  of 
Queen    Mary  and   King  James    VI,"   which 
work  appeared  early  in  1759,  in  two  vols.  4to, 
and  was  received  witli  immediate  and  general 
applause.     In  this  praise  no  one  more  heartily 
concurred  than  the  celebrated  David  Hume, 
between  whom  and  Dr  Robertson,  notwith- 
standing religious  and  political  differences,  a 
faithful  and  intimate  friendship  was  maintained 
throughout  life.     The  distinction  and  patron- 
age acquired  by  this  work,  which  reached  a 
fourteenth   edition  before  his  death,  soon  ap- 
peared in  the  author's  nomination  to  the  cliap- 
lainship  of  Stirling  Castle  in  1759,  in  being  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  king'schaplains  in  1761,  and 
becoming  principal  of  the  university  of  Edin- 
burgh in  1762.     Two  years  after  lie  was  made 
historiographer  royal  of  Scotland,  with  a  salary 
of  20(M.  per  annum,  and  was  altogether  the 
best  beneficed  clergyman  of  the  Scottish  church. 
His  emoluments,   however,  fell  far    short  of 
what  mere  private  patronage,  or  political  and 
family    interest,    will   frequently    bestow    on 
the  most  undistinguished  clergy  of  the  south. 
But  his    influence   was  not   to    be   measured 
by  his  income,  and  it  was  equally  to  his  ho- 
nour that  it  derived  little  support  from   those 
who  managed  the  political  affairs  of  Scotland, 
but  was  in  a  great  degree  personal  and  indepen- 
dent.    As  head  of  a  flourishing  seat  of  educa- 
tion, he  was  minutely  attentive  to  all  its  du- 
ties ;  and  undebased  by  a  prejudiced  and  nar- 
row-minded opposition  to  amendment  under  the 
name  of  innovation,   he  co-operated  with  the 
greatest   liberality   in    all    the    improvements 
which   have  raised  Edinburgh  to  its  present 
celebrity.      In  the  midst  of  those  numerous 
pursuits  and  official  avocations,  he  found  time 
to  employ  himself  in  his  celebrated   "  History 
of  the   Reign   of   the    Emperor  Charles  V," 
which  work  appeared  in  1769,  in  3  vols.  4to. 
Though  high  expectations  were  formed,  it  was 
received  with  even  more  than  correspondent  ap- 
plause.   The  introductory  volume,  containing  a 
view  of  the  progress  of  society  in  Europe,  from 
the  subversion  of  the  Roman  empire  to  the  be- 
ginning of  the   sixteenth    century,   met  with 
particular  approbation.   This  work  being  more 
calculated  for  foreign  perusal  than  the  History 
of  Scotland,  rendered  the  historian  as  popular 
abroad  as  at  home,  and  among  other  testimo- 
nies of  respect,  he  received  a  valuable  diamond 
snuff-box  from  the  empress  of  Russia.     Thus 
encouraged,  he  proceeded  to  the  composition 
of  his  "  History  of  America,"  which  appeared 
in  1777,  in  2  vols.  4to.     On  the  whole,  this 
third  attempt  was  worthy  his  high  reputation, 
although  later  writers  are  of  opinion,  that  he 
ought  to  have  consulted  some  authorities  which 
he  neglected  ;  and  it  lias   been   thought,   that, 
either  led  by  natural  candour,  or  impelled  by 


ROB 

gratitude  for  the  liberality  of  the  Spanish  court, 
in  the  way  of  communication,  he  has  too  stu- 
diously extenuated  the  cruelty  of  the  early 
conquerors  of  the  new  world.  The  latest  work 
of  this  able  writer  appeared  in  1791,  under  the 
title  of  "  An  Historical  Disquisition  concern- 
ing the  Knowledge  which  the  Ancients  had 
of  India,  and  the  Progress  of  Trade  with  that 
Country  prior  to  the  Discovery  of  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,"  4to.  It  exhibits  his  characte- 
ristic industry  and  skill  in  composition  ;  but 
owing  to  the  critical  nature  of  the  subject, 
and  the  superior  lights  in  Indian  history 
and  antiquities,  since  attained  by  writers 
with  greater  local  advantages,  it  has  never 
attained  the  popularity  of  his  other  perform- 
ances. The  health  of  Dr  Robertson  began 
visibly  to  decline  in  1791,  and  he  retired  to  a 
country-house  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Edin- 
burgh, where  he  expired  in  the  bosom  of  an 
affectionate  family  in  June  1793,  in  his  seventy- 
second  year.  As  a  historian,  Dr  Robertson 
is  admired  for  skilful  and  luminous  arrange- 
ment, distinct  mode  of  narrative,  and  highly 
graphical  description.  His  style  is  pure,  dig- 
nified, and  singularly  perspicuous  ;  and  al- 
though there  may  be  less  glow  in  his  expres- 
sion of  moral  and  political  feelings,  than  some 
eminent  writers  in  a  free  country  have  mani- 
fested, it  is  atoned  for  by  the  calm  sagacity 
attendant  upon  a  cool  temper,  when  enlight- 
ened by  knowledge  and  directed  by  principle. 
Dr  Robertson,  besides  being  a  member  of 
the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh  from  its 
foundation,  belonged  to  those  of  Madrid, 
Padua,  and  Petersburg!!. — Account  nf  Life  and 
Writings  by  Professor  Dugald  Stewart. 

ROBERVAL   (  GILES  PERSONNE  de)    an 
eminent  French  mathematician,  was  born  in 
1602  at  Roberval,    a  parish   in  the  diocese  of 
Beauvais,   and  he  was  first  professor  at  the 
college  of  Maitre  Gervais,  and  afterwards  at 
the  college-royal.     In  1666  he  was  chosen  a 
member   of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences, 
to  which  he  communicated  some  curious  ex- 
periments on  the  Torricellian  vacuum.  He  also 
invented  two   new  kinds  of  balances,  one  of 
which  was  for  the  weighing  of  air.     The  Ro- 
bervallian  lines  also  were  Ins,  for  the  transfor- 
mation of  figures.     He  was  inrolved  in  a  dis- 
pute with  Des   Cartes,   which,   from  his  at- 
tempts to  depreciate  him,  and  disputing  with 
him  the  credit  of  his  analytical  inventions,  did 
not  terminate  to  his  credit.     Roberval  died  in 
1675.     His  works  are  treatises,   "  On  Mathe- 
matics,"  "  On  the   Mundane   System,"   and 
one  in    Latin,  which  he  attributes  to  Aristar- 
chus  of  Samos  ;  and  the  following  pieces  in  the 
Memoirs  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  "  Trea- 
tise  on  Indivisibles  ;"  "  On  the  Trochoid  or 
Cycloid  ;"   "  A  Letter  to  Father  Mersenne  ;'' 
"  Observations  on  the  Composition  of  Motion 
and  on  the  Tangents  of  Curve  Lines  ;"  "  The 
Recognition  of  Equations  ;"    "  Experiments 
concerning   the    Pressure  of  the    Air  ;"  and 
"  The  Geometrical    Resolution  of  Plane  and 
Cubic     Equations."  —  Hutton's    Math.   Diet. 
Moreri.      Now.  Diet.  Hist. 

ROBESPIERRE  (MAXIMILIAN  Ismop.u) 


HOB 

was  born  at  Arras,  iu  French  Flanders  in  17.59 
and  was  the  eldest  son  of  an  advocate  of  the 
superior   council  of  Artois.      His  father  dying 
when  he  was  young,   he  was  indebted  for  his 
education   to  the   bishop  of  Arras,  who  gave 
him  an  exhibition  at  the  college  of  Louis  le 
Grand,  at  Paris.     He  completed   his  youthfu 
studies  in   a  manner  creditable  to  his  talent; 
and  application  ;  and  at  this  period  he  is  said 
to  have  derived  an  attachment  to  republican 
ism,  and  which  may  have  influenced  his  future 
conduct,  from  the  lessons  of  one  of  his  tutors, 
M.   Ilerivaux,    who   was  an   enthusiastic  ad- 
mirer of  the   heroes    of  ancient  Greece  and 
Home.     In  1775,  when  Louis  XVI,  after  his 
accession   to  the  crown,   made  his  entry  into 
Paris,  Robespierre  was  deputed  by  his  fellow- 
students  to  present  their  homage  to  the.  new 
sovereign.     Having  adopted  the  law  as  a  pro- 
fession, lie  became  an  advocate  of  the  council 
of  Artois ;  and    the  first    cause    in   which  he 
distinguished  himself  was  as  the  defender  ol 
M.  Vissery,  who  was  prosecuted  for  erecting  a 
conductor  to  preserve  his  house  from  lightning. 
Previously  to  the  Revolution  he  was  advan- 
tageously known,  both  on  account  of  his  pro 
fessional  abilities,  and  the  liberal  and  enlight- 
ened spirit  which  he  exhibited  in  his  conduct 
aud  writings.     In  1789  he  was  elected  a  de- 
puty, from  the  Tiers  Etat  of  the  province  of 
Artois  to  the  States  General.   Iu  that  assembly 
he  advocated  the  liberty  of   the   press,    and 
other  popular  topics  of   discussion  ;    but   his 
eloquence  did  not  attract  much  attention,  and 
Le  attached   himself  iu   the  first  instance  so 
closely   to    Mirabeau,    that    he    acquired   the 
epithet  of  "  Le  Singe  de  Mirabeau."     At  this 
time,  however,  he  frequented   the  Jacobin  as- 
semblies and  clubs  of  the  lower  orders,  over 
whom  he  gained  an  ascendancy,  of  which  he 
afterwards  availed  himself  to  make  his  way  to 
despotic   power.     In  January  1791   he  spoke 
repeatedly  on  criminal  legislation  ;  and  he  sub- 
sequently  displayed   so   much   moderation  in 
discussions  relative  to  the  emigrants  and  the 
priests,  as   led  to  suspicions  that  he  was  ac- 
tuated by  some  secret  motives.     In  a  speech 
on  the  30th  of  May,  he  recommended  the  abo- 
lition of  capital   punishments.     He  is  said  to 
have  been  much  alarmed  at.  the  flight  of  the 
king  from   Paris,   and  equally  rejoiced  at  his 
forced  return  from  Varennes;  and  from   that 
period  he  seems  to  have  used  all  his  influence 
in    overturning   the   monarchy.     His  projects 
now  gradually  became   developed,  and   at  the 
tumultuary  meeting  in  the  Champ  de  Mars,  on 
the  17th   of  July,  an    altar,  with  the  inscrip- 
tion "  A  celui  qui  a  bien  merite  de  laPatrie," 
and  below  it  the  name  of  "  Robespierre,"  tes- 
tified his  high  favour  with   the  people.     The 
closing  of  the   Constituent  Assembly,  on  the 
30th     of   September,    afforded    him    another 
triumph,  when  the  mob  presented  him  with  a 
garland  of  oak-leaves,  aud   taking  the  horses 
from    his   carriage,   drew    him     through    the 
streets,  exclaiming,  "  Behold  the  friend  of  the 
people,  the   great  defender  of  liberty  !"      It 
does  not  appear  that  he  actively  interferes  in 
the  riot  of  the  10th  of  August  1792,  or  in  the 


ROB 

massacres  which  took  place  in  the  prisons  of 
Paris,  in  the  beginning  of  September  ;   but  he 
was   connected    with    Marat  and   Dan  ton,  of 
whose  crimes,  and  those  of  their  associates,  he 
had  sufficient  address   to  reap   the  fruits,  and, 
like  other  tyrants,  he  at  length  made   his  in- 
struments   his  victims.     After  the   trial    and 
execution  of  the  king,  in  promoting  which,  the 
Brissotins,    or    Girondists,    co-operated    with 
Robespierre  and  the  Jacobins,  the  former  were 
speedily    sacrificed  to   the  ascendancy  of  the 
latter.     The   Hebertists,    who   had  joined  in. 
this    work    of    destruction,    were    the    next 
victims  to  the  jealousy  of  the  dictator,  who 
had  no  sooner  sent  them  to  the  scaffold,  with 
the  assistance  of  Danton  and  his  friends,  than 
he  adopted  measures  for  the  ruiu  of  that  po- 
pular   demagogue,  whom  he  dreaded   as    his 
most  dangerous  rival.     His  next  measure  was 
to  throw  the  imputation  of  atheism  and  irreli- 
gion  on  those  whom  he  had  destroyed,  and  to 
establish  a  species  of  religions  worship.     Bar- 
rere,  by   his  direction,  promulgated    his  new 
system  of  worship;  and  on  the  8th  of  June, 
1794,  Robespierre,  in  person,  celebrated  what 
he  termed  "  the  Feast  of  the  Supreme  Be- 
ing."    His   power  seemed  now   to  be  com- 
pletely established,   aud  the  reign    of  terror 
was  at  its  height ;  but  his  cruel  tyranny  and 
mysterious  denunciations  had   alarmed  many 
of  those  who  had  been  most  intimately  con- 
nected with  him,  and  a  conspiracy  was  formed 
for  his  destruction.     At  this  critical  juncture, 
far  from  acting  with  the  decision  which  pre- 
viously  marked   his   conduct,  he    waited  for 
the   attack  of  his   enemies,   and  most  unac- 
countably secluded  himself  from  the  public  for 
more  than  a  month,  during  which  period  he  is 
said  to  have   been   employed  in  preparing  an 
elaborate  defence  of  his  conduct,  to   be  deli- 
vered in  the   National  Convention,  where  he 
made  his  appearance  for  that  purpose  on  the 
26th  of  July  (the  8th  of  Thermidor,  iu  the  re- 
volutionary  calendar)    1794.     He  was    indi- 
rectly attacked  by  Bourdon   de  1'Oise  ;  after 
which  Vadier,  Cambon,  Billaud  Varenues,  and 
several  other  members  spoke  against  him.  He 
now  perceived  the  extent  of  his  danger,  and 
the  ensuing  night  was   passed  in  consultation 
with  St  Just  and  others  of  his  most  intimate 
partizans  ;  but  their  deliberations  led  to  no  de- 
cisive results.     The  next  day,  when  they  ap- 
peared iu  the  Convention,  Tallien  and  Billaud 
openly  accused  Robespierre  of  despotism  ;    a 
tumult  ensued,  and  amidst  cries  of  "  a  has  le 
tyran,"  he  in  vain  endeavoured  to  obtain    a 
hearing.     At  length   a  decree  of  arrest  was 
carried  against  him  ;  and  his  brother,  and  his 
friends  St  Just,  Couthon,  and  Le  Bas,  were 
included  in  it.     Robespierre  was  sent  to  the 
Luxembourg  prison,  but  in  the  night   he  was 
set  free  by  the  keeper,  and  was  conducted  to 
the  hall  of  the  commune  of  Paris,  where  Hen- 
riot,  commander  of  the  national  guard,  Fleu- 
iot,  the  mayor  of  Paris,  and  others  of   his 
Teatures,   had   assembled  forces  for  his  de- 
fence.    This    was   the   critical  moment ;  but 
it-ither  Henriot,  nor  Robespierre  himself,  had 
spirit  sufficient  to  head  the  mob  aud  lead  it 


RO  B 

against  the  Convention.     While  they  delibe- 
rated,   their  opponents   proceeded  to    action. 
Barras  and  others  having  been  appointed  com- 
missioners  to   direct   the    armed    force  of  the 
metropolis,  they,   without  difficulty,    secured 
the  persons  of  the  fallen  tyrant  and  his  asso- 
ciates, who  were  all  guillotined  the  next  day, 
July  28,  1794.     Robespierre  endeavoured  in 
vain  to  escape  a  public  execution,  by  shooting 
himself  with   a   pistol  at   the   moment  <lf  his 
seizure  ;  but  he  only  fractured  his  lower  jaw, 
and  thus  subjected    himself  to   protracted  suf- 
fering, which  excited   neither   sympathy   nor 
compassion.     Of   all   the.  wretches  deliled  by 
the   crimes  which    accompanied  the  Revolu- 
tion, Robespierre  has  excited  the  highest  ab- 
horrence, and  entailed  on  his  name  the  great- 
est degree  of  infamy.     He  was  not,  however, 
the  author  of  all  the  enormities  with  which  he 
has  I  een  '  harged.     Among  his  colleagues  of 
the  committees,  and  especially  those  who  were 
sent   into  the    departments,    many  exercised 
cruelties  which  far  exceeded  their  instructions. 
Those  who  contributed  most  to  his  overthrow, 
and  were  loudest  in  their  accusations  against 
kim,  had  profited  by  his  crimes,  in  which  they 
were   deeply  involved  ;  and,   like    the  scape- 
goat of  the  Jews,  he  was  charged  with  the  sins 
of  the  whole  nation,  or  rather  of  the  jacobin 
government.      In  the  Memorial  from   St   He- 
lena, Buonaparte  is  stated  to  have  said,  that 
Robespierre  displayed  in  his  conduct  more  ex- 
tensive and  enlightened  views  than  have  been 
generally    ascribed    to    him  ;    and    that    he 
intended   to  re-establish    order  after   he  had 
overturned   the   contending   factions  :  but  not 
being  powerful  enough  to  arrest  the  progress 
of  the  Revolution,   he  suffered  himself  to  be 
carried   away  by   the  torrent,  as  was  the  case 
with    all   before  Napoleon  himself,  who  en- 
gaged in  a  similar  attempt.    As  a  proof  of  this, 
the  ex-emperor  asserted,  that  when  with  the 
army  al  Nice,  he  had  seen  in  the  hands  of  the 
brother  of  Maximilian  Robespierre,  letters,  in 
which  that  demagogue  expressed  an  intention 
to  put  an  end  to  the  reign  of  terror.     On  the 
whole,  it  may  be   reasonable  to  conclude  that 
something  like  principle  and  genuine  enthu- 
siasm guided  this  hateful  and   unhappy  man 
in  the  first  instance,  but,  wholly  unable  to  go- 
vern the  elements  of  wild  disorder  afloat  around 
him,  the  characteristic  cruelty   of  perplexed 
cowardice  at  length   became  his  only  instru- 
ment, either  of  action  or  self-defence.     How- 
ever stimulated,  his  career  exhibits  one  of  the 
most  signal  instances  of  theoretical  and  prac- 
tical cruelty  upon  record.     Among  the  pub- 
lished works  of   Robespierre  are,  "  Piaidoyer 
pour  le  Sieur  Vissery,"  in  favour  of  the  right 
of  setting    up    electrical    conductors    against 
lightning,    1783,    8vo ;    "  Discours   couronne 
par  la  Soc.  Roy.  de  Metz,  sur  les  Peines  infa- 
mantes,"  1785,  8vo  ;   "  Eloge   de  Cresset," 
in  which  the  author  displays    an   attachment 
to  monarchical  government  and  religious  in- 
stitutions ;  "  Eloge  de   Pres.  Dupaty  ;"  and 
a   political  journal,     called    "  Le    Defenseur 
de    la    Constitution." — Diet,  de  II.    M.    du 
\8tne    S.      Bwg'  Nouv.  des   Contemp.     Biog. 


ROB 

Univ.     Sir    Walter   Scott's  Life  of  Napoleon 
Bitciiaparte. 

ROBILANT  (Espnix  EENOIT  NICOLIS 
de)  lieutenant-general  of  infantry,  and  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  royal  corps  of  military 
engineers  of  the  king  of  Sardinia,  was  born 
at  Turin  in  1724.  His  father,  the  count  de 
Robilant,  was  acquainted  with  military  affairs 
and  civil  architecture,  and  was  the  author  of  a 
treatise  on  the  art  of  war.  The  son  studied 
under  Bertola,  the  Vauban  of  Piedmont,  and 
entering  into  the  corps  of  artillery,  he  served 
as  a  lieutenant  in  the  war  carried  on  by  Charles 
Emanuel  ill,  against  the  Spaniards,  between 
1742  and  1748.  Peace  taking  place, the  king  sent 
him  to  Germany  to  survey  the  mines  of  Saxo- 
ny, Hanover,  Bohemia,  &c. ;  and  he  returned 
home  in  1752  with  a  valuable  collection  of 
plans  and  memoirs.  lie  was  then  appointed 
inspector-general  of  mines  in  all  the  Sardinian 
states,  and  he  established  at  Turin  a  school  of 
mineralogy,  subterranean  geometry,  and'doci- 
mastics  ;  and  he  founded  a  chemical  laboratory 
,in  the  arsenal.  In  1769  be  travelled  in  the 
Alps  and  Appennines ;  and  he  was  subse- 
quently employed  in  mineralogical  researches 
by  pope  Clement  XI Y.  He  succeeded  count 
Pinto,  in  1787,  as  first  engineer;  and  he  was 
promoted  by  his  Sardinian  majesty  to  several 
other  offices.  He  died  May  1, 1801.  He  was 
the  author  of  "  Experiments  on  Platina,"and 
other  important  essays  in  the  memoirs  of  the 
academy  of  Turin  ;  besides  which  he  wrote, 
"  On  the  different  Processes  employed  at  the 
Mint  for  the  Improvement  of  Metallurgic 
Operations;"  and  "On  the  Utility  and  Im- 
portance of  Travels  in  One's  own  Country." — 
Bw^.  Univ. 

ROBIN  (JEAN)  a  French  botanist,  born  in 
15.50.     He  had  a  garden  at  Paris,  in  which 
many  curious  plants  were  cultivated,  of  which 
lie  published  a  list.     On  the  institution  of  the 
Jardin  des  Plantes,  it  was  confided  to  his  care 
j  by  a  decree  of  the  Parisian  faculty  of  medi- 
cine in  1597. — VESPASIAN  ROBIN,  who  was 
either  the  son  or  the  nephew  of  the  preced- 
ing, was  associated  with    him  i"  the  direction 
of  this  garden  in  1621,  as  apj  .-ars  by  a  cata- 
logue, entitled    "  Enchiridion  Isagogicum    ad 
1  facilem  Notitiam  Stirpium,   tarn    Indigenarum 
quam    Exoticarum,  qua?    coluntur    in    Horto 
DD.  Joan,  et  Vesp.  Robin,  Botanicorum  Re- 
giorum,"  Paris,  12mo.     V.  Robin  appears  to 
have  been  alive  in  1640,  as  Dr  Morison,  who 
visited  France  at  that  period,  was  one  of  his 
'  pupils.     The  beautiful  tree  called  Robinia,  or 
!  pseudo-acacia,   derives  its  name   from  these 
botanists. — Biog.  Univ. 

ROBINS  (BENJAMIN)  an  eminent  mathe- 
matician, who  was  the  son  of  a  tailor  at  Bath, 
where  he  was  born  in  1707.  He  received  but 
a  limited  education,  which  lie  improved  by  his 
own  industry,  and  qualified  himself  to  become 
a  teacher  of  mathematics,  which  employment 
he  exercised  first  at  Bath,  and  then  in  Lon- 
don. In  1742  he  published  a  small  treatise, 
entitled  "  New  Principles  of  Gunnery,"  con- 
taining the  result  of  experiments  which  he  had 
made  relative  to  the  force  of  jnnpowder  and 


ROB 

the  resistance  of  the  atmosphere.  On  the  re- 
turn of  commodore  Anson  from  his  famous 
voyage  round  the  world,  Mr  Robins  was  em- 
ployed to  prepare  the  narrative  of  the  enter- 
prise, which  he  drew  up  in  the  name  of  the 
rev.  Richard  Walter,  chaplain  of  the  Centu- 
rion, aod  produced  one  of  the  most  popular 
works  of  the  kind  in  our  language.  In  1750 
be  obtained  the  office  of  engineer-general  to 
the  East  India  company,  and  he  went  out  in 
that  capacity :  but  he  did  not  long  enjoy  the 
appointment,  dying  at  Fort  St  David's,  July 
29,  17.51.  His  mathematical  tracts,  with  an 
account  of  his  life,  were  published  in  2  vols. 
8vo,  1761. — Martin's  Biog.  Phitos. 

ROBINSON  (MARY)  a  female  whose  great 
personal  attractions,  combined  with  some  lite- 
rary as  well  as  histrionic  talent,  procured  her 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century  a  degree 
of  public  attention,  much  increased  by  the  no- 
toriety of  a  temporary  connexion  established 
between  her  and  the  then  heir-apparent  to  the 
throne.  Her  father,  an  American  by  birth, 
of  the  name  of  Darby,  commanded  a  trading 
vessel  belonging  to  the  port  of  Bristol,  in 
which  city  the  subject  of  this  article  was  born 
in  1758.  At  an  early  age  she  was  placed 
under  the  care  of  the  Misses  More,  one  of 
whom,  Hannah,  has  since  acquired  so  much 
celebrity,  and  with  them  she  continued  till,  in 
her  fifteenth  year,  she  became  the  wife  of  an 
extravagant  and  profligate  attorney,  named 
Robinson,  whose  vices  having  at  length  im- 
mured him  within  the  walls  of  a  prison,  his 
young  wife  was  compelled  to  adopt  some  me- 
thod of  procuring  for  herself  that  support 
which  her  husband  ought  to  have  afforded 
her.  The  stage  appeared  the  only  probable 
means  of  success,  and  to  this  she  had  re- 
course. Garrick  saw  and  fostered  her  rising 
talent.  Her  personal  beauty  was  a  powerful 
co-operative,  and  after  appearing  with  great 
success  in  Imogen,  Juliet,  Ophelia,  and  other 
of  Shakspeare's  heroines,  her  greatest  tri- 
umph was  exhibited  in  her  representation  of 
Perdita  in  the  Winter's  Tale,  in  which  cha- 
racter she  is  supposed  to  have  achieved  the 
conquest  already  alluded  to,  and  whence  she 
derived  the  appellation  by  which  she  was  af- 
terwards generally  distinguished  in  the  world 
of  fashion.  This  illicit  amour,  the  conducting 
of  which  will  ever  reflect  disgrace  on  the 
courtly  panders,  who  ought  to  have  checked, 
yet  unblushingly  encouraged  it,  was  even 
more  brief  than  usual.  A  general  officer, 
whose  services  in  the  American  war  have 
been  favourably  mentioned,  and  who  was  at 
least  as  remarkable  for  the  elegance  of  his 
person  and  manners  as  for  his  military  abili- 
ties, was  her  next  protector,  or  rather  favourite, 
for  she  lavished  on  him  all  her  disposable  pro- 
perty, and  caught  a  violent  rheumatism  by 
suddenly  following  him  to  the  sea-side  to  re- 
lease him  from  a  temporary  embarrassment. 
She  subsequently  retired  to  the  continent,  and 
on  her  return  in  1788  commenced  her  literary 
career,  in  which  she  had  considerable  success. 
"  Vancenza,"  "  Hubert  de  Sevrac,"  "  The 
Widow,"  "Angelina,"  "  Walsingham,"  "The 


ROB 

Natural  Daughter,"  "  Modern  Manners,"  to- 
gether with  some  other  novels  ;  a  tragedy,  en- 
titled the  "  Sicilian  Lovers;"  "  Nobody,"  a 
farce  ;  and  two  volumes  of  miscellaneous  poe- 
try ;  some  "  Lyrical  Tales  ;"  and  an  autobio- 
graphical sketch  of  her  own  life,  remain  to  at- 
test her  possession  of  at  least  considerable 
feeling  and  talent,  and  so  far  to  add  to  her 
misfortunes.  In  1800  her  health  began  to 
decline  rapidly,  principally  owing  to  her  in- 
sbility  to  take  exercise,  having  never  recovered 
the  use  of  her  limbs ;  and  she  died  at  her 
house  at  Englefield  green,  December  28  in  the 
same  year,  in  the  forty-second  year  of  her  age. 
— Memoirs  by  Herself.  Gent.  Mag. 

ROBINSON  (RICHARD;  first  baron  Roke- 
by,  and  archbishop  of  Armagh  in  Ireland.  He 
was  the  lineal  descendant  of  the  elder  branch 
of  an  ancient  family  of  that  name  in  York- 
shire, in  which  county  he  was  born  in  1709. 
From  Westminster  school  he  removed  on  the 
foundation  to  Christchurch,  Oxford;  and  hav- 
ing taken  holy  orders,  became  domestic  chap- 
lain to  archbishop  Blackburne,  through  whose 
patronage  he  obtained  the  vicarage  of  Aldbo- 
rough,  with  a  stall  in  York  Minster.  In  1751 
he  accompanied  the  duke  of  Dorset,  the  new 
lord-lieutenant  of  Ireland,  to  Dublin,  in  the 
capacity  of  chaplain,  and  before  the  expira- 
tion of  the  year  was  preferred  by  him  to  the 
see  of  Killala.  Over  this  diocese  he  presided 
eight  years,  when  he  was  translated  to  that  of 
Ferns.  In  1761  he  was  again  removed  toKil- 
dare,  which  he  resigned  in  176.5,  on  being  ad- 
vanced to  the  Irish  primacy.  In  this  elevated 
situation  he  distinguished  himself  by  his  mu- 
nificence, especially  in  erecting  an  archiepis- 
copal  palace,  with  a  public  library,  observatory, 
&c.  annexed,  which  he  not  only  founded  but 
endowed,  and  in  building  four  new  churches  in 
his  diocese.  His  elder  brother  dying  in  1785, 
he  succeeded  to  the  family  baronetcy,  which 
then  merged  in  the  Irish  barony,  to  which  he 
had  been  previously  elevated  in  1777,  by  the 
title  of  baron  Rokeby,  with  remainder  to  his 
nephew,  the  eccentric  Matthew  Robinson,  of 
iUonkshorton  in  Kent,  who,  on  the  death  of 
the  primate  at  Clifton,  in  1794,  succeeded  to 
the  title.  Matthew,  the  second  baron,  was 
brother  to  the  celebrated  Mrs  Montagu,  and 
retained  till  his  death  his  predilection  in  fa- 
vour of  a  venerable  beard  of  snowy  whiteness, 
which  descended  to  his  chest,  and  rendered 
him  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  characters  of 
the  county  in  which  he  lived.  At  his  decease 
he  was  succeeded  in  his  titles  by  the  present 
baron,  a  nephew. — Ency.  Brit. 

ROBINSON  (ROBERT)  an  eminent  dis- 
senting divine.  He  was  the  son  of  a  native 
of  Scotland,  and  was  born  at  Swaft  ham  in 
Norfolk,  in  October  1735.  He  was  educated 
at  a  respectable  grammar-school  at  Seaming, 
in  his  native  county  ;  but  owing  to  the  loss  of 
his  father,  and  the  humble  circumstances  of 
his  mother,  at  the  age  of  fourteen  he  was 
apprenticed  to  a  hair-dresser  in  London, 
who  gave  up  his  indentures  when  he  was 
about  twenty.  Having  zealously  attached 
himself  to  George  WLitefield,  he  became  i\ 


ROB 

preacher   among  the    Calvinistic  methodists, 
and  occupied  that  office  at  Mildenhall  in  Suf- 
folk, and  afterwards  at  the  Tabernncle  at  Nor- 
wich, and  other  places.     He  subsequently  re- 
linquished his  connexion,  with  the  methodists, 
and,  although  with  the  forfeiture  of  the  coun- 
tenance of  a  rich  relation,  established  an  inde- 
pendent congregation  at  Norwich,  over  which 
he  presided.  In  1759  he  married,  and  was  soon 
after  chosen  pastor  to  a  small  anabaptist  con- 
gregation   at    Cambridge,    which     increased 
very  much  under  his  care,  and   he   retained 
this   situation    during    the    remainder  of  his 
life.     In    1773  he   removed    his  residence  to 
the   village   of  Chesterton,  near  Cambridge, 
where  he  engaged  in  trade  as  a  farmer,  coin- 
dealer,  and  coal-merchant.     His  learning  and 
abilities,  displayed  in  his  sermons  and  his  pub- 
lished works,  procured  him  much  respect  from 
the  members  of  the  university  and  other  per- 
sons belonging  to  the  established  church  ;  and 
he  is  said  to  have  received  offers  of  promotion 
if  he  would  become  a  conformist,  which  he 
declined.     He  was  first  known  as  an  author 
in  1774,  by   a  publication  under  the  title  of 
"  The  Arcana,  or  the  Principles  of  the   late 
Petitioners  to  Parliament,  for  Relief  in  Mat- 
ters  of   Subscription,    in  eight  Letters   to   a 
Friend,"  8vo.     These  letters  discovering  con- 
siderable controversial  ability,  much  advanced 
his   character  among  the  dissenters.     In  the 
same  year  he  published  a  spirited  translation 
of    the    sermons   of    the    celebrated    French 
preacher  Saurin,  to  which  he  prefixed  an  in- 
troduction, containing  very  interesting  memoirs 
of  the  reformation  in   France,  the  life  of  M. 
Saurin,  together   with   some    observations  on 
Christian  liberty,   and  the  moral  influence  of 
the  Gospel,  which  acquired  him  much  attrac- 
tion, even  from  the  dignitaries  of  the    esta- 
blishment.    In   1776   he  entered  into  contro- 
versy respecting  the  divinity  of  Christ,  and 
published  "  A  Plea  for  the  Divinity  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  &c."  which  was  received 
with  great  approbation,   and   again  obtained 
him  the  countenance  of  several  members  of 
the  episcopacy.     He  would  not  however   be 
led  into  farther  discussion  on  this  subject,  and 
declined  every  solicitation  to  answer  Mr.  Lind- 
say's published   "  Examination"  of  his  argu- 
ment.    In  1777  he  produced  a  small  tract  on 
t'.ie   observance  of   Good    Friday  ;  in  which, 
with    considerable    learning,     and    still   more 
point  and  humour,  he  attacked  the  observance 
of  similar  commemorations.     This  tract,  from 
its  piquancy,  has  been  repeatedly  republished. 
Li  1778  he  published   "  A   Plan   of  Lectures 
oa  the  Principles  of  Nonconformity,"  8vo  ;  a 
work   which  contains  outlines    of   the   whole 
controversy  between  the   church   of  England 
and  the  dissenters.     Towards  the  close  of  the 
same    year,    he    translated     the     celebrated 
Claude's   "  Essay  on  the    Composition   of  a 
Sermon,"  2  vols.  8vo,  which   he  was  subse- 
quently induced  to  illustrate  on  a  larger  scale, 
for    the    benefit   of   dissenting    students.     In 
j?80  he   paid   r»  visit  to  Edinburgh,  and  de- 
clined the  proffered  diploma  of  doctor  of  divi- 
nity.    On  his  return  to  Cambridge   IK'   pub- 
iiioo.  PICT.- -VOL.  III. 


ROB 

lished    a  well-written   tract,   entitled    "  ThG 
general    Doctrine  of  Toleration  ;"    and   soon 
after  preached  and  published  an  able  sermon, 
ntitled   "  Slavery    inconsistent   with    Chris- 
tianity ;"  and  was  the  author  of  an  excellent 
petition    from  the    gentry,    freeholders,    and 
others   of  the  county  of  Cambridge,   against 
the  slave-trade.     In  1781   he  began  to  collect 
materials  for  his  "  History  of  Baptism  ;"  and 
in  1782  appeared  his  "  Political  Catechism," 
in  8vo,  intended  to  convey  just  ideas  of  civil 
government  and  of  the    British    constitution. 
In  1784  he  published   "  Sixteen  Discourses," 
which  had  been  delivered  extempore  to  plain 
and  illiterate  audiences  in  the  vicinity  of  Cam- 
bridge.    These  being  very  liberal  on  doctrinal 
points,  excited  much  apprehension  among  his 
orthodox  friends  ;  and  his  tendency  to  Unita- 
rian principles  soon  became  known,  although 
lit    s'.ill   continued   his  ministerial  labours  at 
Cambridge.       During  the    latter  years  of  his 
lif-    the  intense   application   he  bestowed   on 
his  history  of  baptism  undermined  his  health, 
and  it  was  hoped  by  his  family  that  a  journey 
to    Birmingham,    and   an  interview  with  Dr 
Priestley,  might  benefit  him.     He  accordingly 
arrived  in  that  town,  and  ventured  to  preach 
twice   on    the    same   Sunday.     The  following 
Tuesday    he    spent    a   cheerful  evening  with 
some  friends,  but  died,   as  is  supposed,   soon 
after  he   retired  to  rest,  on  the  8th   of  June, 
1790,  in  the  fifty-fifth  year  of  his  age.     This 
able  reasoner  and  eminent  controversialist  died 
before  he  completed  the  work   to  which   his 
labour    had   for  several  years  been   confined. 
One  part  of  it  however  was  published  in  1790, 
under  the  title  of  "  The  History  of  Baptism," 
4to.     This  was  to  be  followed  by  a  "  History 
of  the  Baptists ;"  and  what  he  had  prepared 
with  that  view,  with  the   exception  of  some 
trifling    omissions,   was    published    in    1792, 
under  the  title  of  "  Ecclesiastical  Researches." 
The  ability  displayed  in  both   these  works  is 
generally  admitted,  but  of  course  with  excep- 
tions and  qualification,  according  to  the  various 
creeds  of  those  who  pronounce  judgment.     A 
detail  of  the  subjects  of  some  of  his  most  ad- 
mired sermons,  with  the  titles  of  several  minor 
works,  will  be  found  in  the  first  of  our  authori- 
ties.— Dyer's  Life  of  Robinson.     Reel's  Cyclop, 
ROBINSON  (THOMAS)  an  eminent  divine, 
was  born  at  Wakefield,  in  Yorkshire,  in  1749. 
After  receiving  the  rudiments  of  a  classical 
education  at  the  foundation   school  there,  he 
removed  to  Trinity  college,  Cambridge,   and 
obtained  a  fellowship   of  that  society  in  1772. 
He  was  the  author  of  several  devotional  works, 
the  principal    of  which    are  his    "  Christian 
System  unfolded,"  8vo,  3  vols. ;  and  "  Scrip- 
ture Characters,"  8vo,  4  vols.     He  also  pub- 
lished some  sermons,  &c.  and  died  in  1813  at 
Leicester,  in  which  town  he  held  the  living  of 
St    Mary's  for  thirty-five  years. — Chalmers's 
Bio-;.  Diet. 

ROB  [SON  (JOHN)  an  eminent  Scottish 
mathematician  and  natural  philosopher,  born 
at  Boghall,  in  Stirlingshire,  in  1739.  He  stu- 
died at  Glasgow,  where  he  applied  himself 
particularly  to  algebra  and  geometry.  After 


ROC 

being  disappointed  of  the  office  of  assistant  to  ! 
Dr  Dick,  the  professor  of  natural  philosophy, 
he  went  to  sea  as  tutor  to  the  eldest  son  of 
admiral  Knowles,  who  was  a  lieutenant  in  the 
navy,  and  Mr  Kobison  was  at  his  own  request 
rated  as  a  midshipman.  He  afterwards  sailed 
to  Quebec  ;  and  while  in  the  river  St  Law- 
rence, he  observed  the  connexion  between 
the  aurora  borealis  and  the  direction  of  the 
magnetic  needle.  In  1762  he  went  to  Jamaica, 
to  ascertain  the  accuracy  of  Harrison's  time- 
keeper. On  his  return  he  resumed  his  stu- 
dies at  Glasgow,  and  his  pupil  having  died,  he 
undertook  to  direct  the  studies  of  admiral 
Knowles's  younger  son.  In  1767  he  succeeded 
Dr  Black  as  professor  of  chemistry,  and  in 
1770  he  went  with  his  patron,  sir  C.  Knowles, 
to  St  Petersburg!!,  where  he  was  appointed 
inspector-general  of  the  corps  of  marine  ca- 
deta.  He  held  that  post  four  years,  and  then 
accepted  an  invitation  to  become  professor 
of  natural  philosophy  at  Edinburgh.  On  the 
institution  of  the  Royal  Society  in  that  city  in 
1783,  he  was  chosen  secretary,  and  he  fur- 
nished many  contributions  to  the  Transactions 
of  that  association.  He  also  wrote  many  ar- 
ticles on  natural  philosophy  for  the  Encyclo- 
paedia Britannica.  In  1798  he  published  a 
work,  entitled  "  Proofs  of  a  Conspiracy 
against  the  Religion  and  Governments  of  Eu- 
rope," 8vo,  in  which  he  denounced  the  conti- 
nental freemasons  as  revolutionary  conspira- 
tors. The  book  attracted  much  temporary 
notice,  but  is  now  fallen  into  deserved  obli- 
vion. He  published  the  "  Chemical  Lec- 
tures "  of  Dr  Black,  with  valuable  notes,  in 
two  volumes,  quarto;  and  "  Elements  of  Me- 
chanical Philosophy,"  8vo.  His  death  took 
place  in  1805. — Pliilos.  Mag.  Biog.  Univ. 

ROBORTELLO  (FRANCESCO)  a  philolo- 
gical writer,  born  at  Udina,  in  Italy,  in  1516. 
He  studied  at  Bologna,  and  about  1538  he 
became  professor  of  the  belles  lettres  at  Lucca, 
whence  he  removed  to  Pisa  in  1543.  The 
senate  of  Venice,  in  1549,  invited  him  to  suc- 
ceed the  celebrated  Baptist  Egnatius,  whose 
great  age  prevented  him  from  continuing  his 
lectures.  In  1552  he  became  professor  of 
Greek  and  Latin  literature  at  Padua,  whence 
he  went  to  Bologna  in  1557,  but  returning 
to  Padua  in  1560,  he  died  there  March  18, 
1567.  Robortello  seems  to  have  been  of  a 
very  contentions  temper,  as  in  most  of  the 
situations  he  held  he  was  involved  in  disputes 
with  his  learned  contemporaries,  and  his 
writings  are  replete  with  invective  against 
them.  He  edited  the  poetics  of  Aristotle, 
the  tragedies  of  ^Eschylus,  the  treatise  of 
Longinus  on  the  Sublime,  and  other  works  of 
ancient  writers  ;  and  composed  many  original 
essays  and  treatises,  of  which  a  catalogue  is 
given  by  Teissier. — Tiraboschi.  Ring.  Univ. 
Teisaier,  Eloges  dcs  Homines  Savans. 

ROCABERTI  (JOHN  THOMAS  de)  a  Spa- 
nish prelate,  was  born  of  a  noble  family  at 
Peselada,  on  the  frontiers  of  Catalonia,  in 
1624.  In  1666  he  was  made  provincial  of 
Arragon  ;  in  1670,  general  of  the  order  of  St 
Dominic,  archbishop  of  Valencia,  and  finally, 


ROC 

in  1695,  inquisitor- general  of  Spain.  He  was 
twice  appointed  by  the  king  viceroy  of  Valen- 
cia. He  was  very  zealous  in  his  devotion  to 
the  church  of  Rome,  in  defence  of  the  claims 
of  which,  he  wrote  a  treatise  "  De  Romani 
Pontificis  Auctoritate,"  3  vols.  folio,  1693.  He 
also  procured  all  the  treatises  written  in  de- 
fence of  the  pope's  authority,  and  caused  them 
to  be  printed  in  a  uniform  collection,  entitled 
"  Bibliotheca  maxima  Pontificia,"  &c.  21  vols. 
folio.  He  also  wrote  some  devotional  pieces. 
His  death  took  place  in  1699. — Moreri.  Nouv. 
Diet.  Hist. 

ROCCA  (ANGELUS)  a  learned  Italian,  was 
sorn  at  Rocca  Contrata,  in  the  marche  of  An- 
cona,  iu  1545.  He  took  the  habit  among  the 
bermits  of  St  Augustine,  at  Camerino,  and 
studied  at  Rome,  Venice,  Perugia,  and  Padua, 
where  he  took  the  degree  of  DD.  In  1579 
lie  was  invited  to  Rome  by  Firizani,  the  vicar- 
general  of  the  Augustiues,  to  be  his  secretary ; 
and  Sixtus  V  placed  him  in  the  Vatican,  and 
made  him  superintendent  of  the  editions  of 
the  Bible,  the  Councils,  and  the  Fathers,  which 
appeared  during  his  pontificate  :  in  1595 
Clement  VIII  made  him  apostolical  sacristan 
and  titular  bishop  of  Tagast6,  in  Numidia. 
He  died  in  1620.  He  collected  an  excellent 
library,  called  after  him  the  Angelical  library, 
which  he  left  to  the  Augustinian  monastery  at 
Rome,  on  condition  that  it  should  be  open  to 
the  public.  Rocca  displayed  his  learning  and 
industry  in  several  works  on  divinity,  morals, 
and  history,  the  principal  of  which  are  "  Bib- 
liotheca Theologica  et  Scripturalis  ;"  "  Nota? 
in  Novum  Testamentum  ;"  "  De  Patientia  ;" 
"  De  Cometis  ;"  "  Observationes  in  VI  Libros 
Elegantiarum  Laur.  Valise  ;"  "  Observationes 
de  Lingua  Latina,"  collected  in  two  volumes 
folio,  1719.  A  curious  collection  was  made 
from  his  MSS.  entitled  "  Thesaurus  Pontifi- 
ciarum  Antiquitatum,  necnon  Rituum  ac  Cae- 
remoniarum,"  2  vols.  folio. — Landi.  Moreri. 
Now.  Diet.  Hist. 

ROCHAMBEAU  (JEAN  BAPTISTE  DONA- 
TIEN  DE  VIMEUR,  comte  de)  marshal  of 
France,  was  born  at  Vendome,  July  1,  1725. 
He  entered  into  the  army  at  the  age  of  six- 
teen, and  served  in  Germany  under  marshal 
Broglio.  In  1746  he  became  aide-de-camp  to 
Louis  Philip,  duke  of  Orleans ;  and  after- 
wards obtaining  the  command  of  the  regiment 
of  La  Marche,  he  distinguished  himself  at 
the  battle  of  Lafeldt,  where  he  was  wounded. 
He  obtained  fresh  laurels  at  Creveldt,  Minden, 
Corbach,  and  Clostercamp.  Having  been 
made  lieutenant-general,  he  was  in  1780  sent 
with  an  army  to  the  assistance  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  and  they  rewarded  his  ser- 
vices by  a  present  of  two  cannons  taken  from 
lord  Cornwallis.  After  the  revolution,  Ro- 
chambeau  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  a  marshal 
by  Louis  XVI,  and  he  was  appointed  to  the 
command  of  the  army  of  the  North.  He  was 
soon  superseded  by  more  active  officers,  and 
being  calumniated  by  the  popular  journalists, 
he  addressed  to  the  legislative  assembly  a  vin- 
dication of  his  conduct.  A  decree  of  appro- 
bation was  consequently  passed  in  May,  179"2, 


ROC 

and  lu  retired  to  his  estate  near  Vendome, 
with  a  determination  to  interfere  no  more  with 
public  affairs.  He  was  subsequently  arrested, 
and  narrowly  escaped  suffering  death  under 
the  tyranny  of  Robespierre.  In  1 803  he  was 
presented  to  Buonaparte,  who,  in  the  year  fol- 
lowing, gave  him  a  pension,  and  the  cross  of 
grand  officer  of  the  legion  of  honour.  His 
death  took  place  in  1807.  He  wrote,  in  the 
latter  part  of  his  life,  "  Memoirs,"  published 

iu   1809,  8VO. RoCHAMBEAXI  (DONATIEN  Jo- 

SEPH  MARIE  DE  VIMEUR,  viscount  de)  son  of 
the  former,  entered  into  the  army,  and  served 
against  the  English  in  the  West  Indies  in  1793 
and  1794.  He  was  afterwards  employed  in 
Italy,  and  in  1802  he  went  to  St  Domingo 
with  general  Leclerc,  whom  he  succeeded. 
He  disgraced  himself  by  his  cruelties  to  the 
Negroes  ;  and  being  taken  prisoner  by  the 
English,  he  did  not  return  to  France  till  1811. 
He  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Leipsicin  1813. 
—  Bio*.  Nnnv.  des  Contemp.  Biog.  Univ. 

ROCHE  (SOPHIA  de  la)  a  German  romance 
writer,  was  the  daughter  of  Dr  Guttermann, 
who  was  related  to  the  celebrated  Wieland, 
and  was  born  in  Suabia,  in  1730.  She  dis- 
played an  early  disposition  for  literature  ;  and 
her  father  being  resident  at  Augsburg,  as 
dean  of  the  faculty  of  medicine,  Bianconi, 
physician  to  the  prince-bishop  of  Augsburg, 
was  so  struck  with  the  mental  charms  of  the 
young  lady,  that  he  demanded  her  in  marriage. 
The  union,  however,  did  not  take  place,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  lover  requiring  that  the  chil- 
dren which  might  arise  from  it  should  be  edu- 
cated in  the  Catholic  religion.  She  was 
therefore  forced  to  break  off  the  connexion,  in 
obedience  to  the  commands  of  her  father  ;  and 
while  suffering  from  the  disappointment,  she 
became  an  inmate  with  her  relative  Wieland, 
then  minister  of  Biberach.  He  also  offered 
her  his  hand,  but  considerations  of  interest 
prevented  their  marriage,  and  she  at  length 
became  the  wife  of  a  counsellor  of  Mayence, 
whose  name  was  Frank,  better  known  by  the 
Gallicized  name  of  La  Roche,  given  him  by 
the  minister,  count  Stadion,  under  whom  he 
held  an  office.  He  made  himself  known  as  a 
man  of  letters,  by  a  satirical  work,  entitled 
"  Letters  on  Monachism,  written  by  a  Catho- 
lic Parish  Priest  to  a  Friend,"  1771.  He 
afterwards  retired  with  his  wife  to  Offenbach, 
where  he  died  in  1789.  Madame  La  Roche 
long  survived  her  husband,  dying  at  the  same 
place,  February  18,  1807.  She  wrote  several 
works  of  imagination,  in  the  style  of  Richard- 
son, the  first  and  best  of  which,  "  The  History 
of  Lady  Sophia  Sternheim,"  was  translated 
into  English,  by  J.  Collyer,  and  published  in 
two  volumes,  octavo,  1776. — Biog.  Univ. 

ROCHEFORT  (WILLIAM  de)  a  French 
writer,  was  born  in  1730  at  Lyons,  and  had  a 
small  employment  in  the  finances  at  Cette  in 
Languedoc.  His  inclinations  leading  him  to 
literature,  he  went  to  Paris,  and  composed 
three  tragedies  upon  the  Greek  model,  which 
did  not  please  the  public  taste,  though  a  comedy 
which  he  wrote  had  more  success.  His  other 
works  are,  "  A  Refutation  of  the  Systeme  de 


ROC 

la  Nature  ;"  "  A  Critical  History  of  the  Opi- 
nions of  the  Ancients  concerning  Happiness  ;" 
"A  complete  Translation  of  the  Plays  of  So- 
phocles," much  esteemed  for  its  elegance  and 
fidelity,  and  for  the  excellent  notes  attached 
to  it.  He  also  translated  Homer's  Iliad  and 
Odyssey,  the  notes  to  which  were  most  ad- 
mired. He  was  a  member  of  the  Academy  of 
Inscriptions  and  Belles  Lettres,  to  which  he 
presented  several  learned  memoirs.  He  died 
in  1788,  much  esteemed  for  his  amiable  pri- 
vate character. — Notiv.Dict.  Hist. 

ROCHEFOUCAULT  (FRANCIS,  duke  of) 
prince  of  Marsillac,  a  distinguished  wit  and 
nobleman  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV,  was 
born  in  1613.  He  distinguished  himself  as 
the  most  brilliant  nobleman  about  the  court, 
and  by  his  share  in  the  good  graces  of  the  ce- 
lebrated duchess  of  Longueville,  was  involved 
in  the  civil  war  of  the  Fronde.  He  signalized 
his  courage  at  the  battle  of  St  Antoine  in  Pa- 
ris, and  received  a  shot  which  for  some  time 
deprived  him  of  sight.  At  a  more  advanced 
period  his  house  was  the  resort  of  the  best 
company  at  Paris,  including  Boileau,  Racine, 
and  the  mesdames  Sevigne  and  La  Fayette. 
By  the  former  of  these  ladies  he  is  spoken  of 
as  holding  the  first  rank  in  "courage,  merit, 
tenderness,  and  good  sense."  The  letters  of 
madame  de  Maintenon  also  speak  of  him 
with  high  but  inconsistent  praise.  Huet  de- 
scribes him  as  possessing  a  nervous  tempera- 
ment, which  would  not  allow  him  to  accept  a 
seat  in  the  French  academy,  owing  to  his  want 
of  courage  to  make  a  public  speech.  The 
duke  de  Rochefoucault  died  with  philosophic 
tranquillity  at  Paris  in  1680,  in  his  sixty- 
eighth  year.  This  nobleman  wrote  "  Me- 
moires  de  la  Regne  d'Anne  d'Autriche,"  2 
vols.  12mo,  1713,  an  energetic  and  faithful 
representation  of  that  fretful  period;  but  he 
is  chiefly  famous  for  a  work,  entitled  "  Re- 
flexions et  Maximes,"  which  have  been  abun- 
dantly both  praised  and  criticised.  Founded 
on  the  principle  that  self-love  is  the  founda- 
tion of  all  our  actions,  it  is  deemed  by  some 
writers  to  be  rather  a  satire  upon,  than  an  ex- 
position of,  human  nature,  and  unfavourable 
to  virtue,  by  giving  it  a  principle  in  common 
with  vice.  Possibly  a  somewhat  deeper  in- 
sight into  the  sources  of  human  conduct, would 
show  not  only  that  self-love  is  the  mainspring 
of  all  action,  hut  that  all  which  is  admirable 
in  performance  is  best  promoted  and  explained 
by  it.  As  regards  the  "  Maxims"  of  Roche- 
foucault, they  receive  a  portion  of  their  pecu- 
liar point  from  the  very  courtly  scene  of  con- 
templation, and  from  the  delicacy  and  finesse 
with  which  the  veil  is  penetrated  that  is 
spread  over  the  surface  of  refined  society.  It 
is  well  known  that  Swift  was  a  decided  ad- 
mirer of  Rochefoucault,  and  his  celebrated 
poem  on  his  own  death  commences  with  an 
avowal  of  the  fact.  The  misanthropy  of  that 
great  man  renders  his  suffrage  any  thing  but 
popular  ;  but  possibly,  as  in  the  doctrine  of 
the  invariable  predominance  of  the  strongel 
motive,  that  of  self-love  simply  bespeaks  a 
more  strict  attention  to  early  cultivation  and 
E  2 


ROC 

discipline,  to  render  it  not  only  compatible  with 
virtue,  but  strictly  and  philosophically  con- 
nected with  the  highest,  the  noblest,  and,  in 
common  language,  the  most  disinterested  ful- 
filment of  all  our  duties. — Nuuv.  Diet.  Iliit. 
Voltaire,  Sitcie  de  T.ouis  XIV. 

ROCHEJAQUELEIN  (HENRY  de  la)  a 
French  royalist  officer,  who  distinguished 
himself  in  the  war  of  La  Vendee.  He  was 
bom  in  1773,  and  was  the  son  of  the  marquis 
de  la  Rochejaquelein,  a  nobleman  of  Poitou, 
who  was  colonel  of  a  regiment  of  cavalry. 
Having  been  educated  at  the  military  school  of 
Soreze,  he  entered  into  the  constitutional 
guard  of  Louis  XVI.  His  father  having  be- 
come an  emigrant,  he  quitted  Paris  after  the 
insurrection  of  the  10th  of  August,  1792,  and 
retired  to  Poitou.  He  resided  with  his  rela- 
tive, the  marquis  de  Lescure,  near  Parthenay, 
in  March  1793,  when  the  inhabitants  of  the 
surrounding  country  took  arms  in  favour  of  the 
royal  cause,  and  La  Rochejaquelein  putting 
himself  at  their  head,  joined  Bonchamps  and 
d'EIbee.  They  attacked  and  defeated  the  re- 
publicans under  general  Quetineau,  at  Au- 
biers.  The  marquis  de  Lescure  then  took  the 
field  with  the  royalists,  who  were  at  first  very 
successful;  but  on  the  18th  of  October  they 
were  defeated  at  Chollet,  and  their  generals, 
Lescure,  Bonchamps,  and  d'EIbee,  were  mor- 
tally wounded.  La  Rochejaquelein  was 
chosen  commander-in-chief  of  the  Vendean 
troops,  and  he  was  obliged,  against  his  own 
judgment,  to  retreat  beyond  the  Loire.  He 
continued,  under  great  disadvantages,  for 
some  time  to  oppose  the  republicans  with  va- 
rious success  ;  but  he  was  at  length  killed  in 
defending  the  village  of  Nouaille,  near  Choi- 
let,  March  4,  1794.  In  the  "  Memoires  "  of 
the  marchioness  de  la  Rochejaquelein,  the 
widow  of  his  younger  brother,  published  at 
Paris  in  1815,  tliig  young  soldier  is  represented 
as  resembling  a  knight  of  chivalry,  or  a  hero 
of  romance  ;  and  after  making  all  the  requi- 
site allowances  for  the  partial  friendship  of 
his  historian,  he  really  appears  to  have  pos- 
sessed extraordinary  military  talents. —  Biog. 
Nouv.  den  Contemp.  Biog.  Univ. 

ROCHON  (ALEXIS  MAIUE  de)  a  French 
astronomer  and  distinguished  navigator,  born 
in  the  castle  of  Brest,  where  his  father  held  a 
military  office,  in  1741.  lie  was  destined  for 
the  clerical  profession,  and  was  promoted  to 
the  priory  of  St  Maitin,  near  Mantes  ;  but  an 
irresistible  passion  for  the  sciences  prevented 
him  from  entering  into  holy  orders.  In  1765 
he  was  appointed  librarian  of  the  royal  ma- 
rine academy  of  Brest,  and  admitted  a  corres- 
ponding member  of  the  Parisian  Academy  of 
Sciences,  to  which  he  had  addressed  several 
memoirs  on  optics.  In  1767  he  obtained  the 
title  of  astronomer  of  the  marine,  and  in  that 
quality  he  embarked  on  board  a  vessel  which 
conveyed  to  Morocco  the  French  ambassador, 
general  Breugnon.  He  made  some  curious 
astronomical  observations  at  Cadiz  and  Mo- 
rocco, and  determined  the  longitudes  of  va- 
rious places.  In  1768  he  was  sent  by  the  go- 
vernment on  a  scientific  voyage  to  the  East 


ROD 

Indies,  and  elsewhere,  of  which  an  account 
appeared  in  his  "  Voyages  a  Madagascar,  et 
aux  lades  Orientales,"  Paris,  1791,  8vo.  In 
1787  he  was  nominated  astronomical  optician 
of  the  marine  in  the  room  of  father  Bosco- 
vich  ;  and  he  was  sent  to  London,  in  1790,  by 
the  minister  for  foreign  affairs,  to  make  inqui- 
ries previously  to  the  introduction  of  a  new  sys- 
tem of  weights  and  measures  in  France.  On 
the  foundation  of  the  Institute,  in  1795,  llo- 
chon  was  one  of  the  first  members,  and  he 
was  employed  in  a  great  variety  of  researches 
connected  with  the  improvement  of  the  arts 
and  sciences  till  his  death,  which  happened 
April  5,  1817.  His  scientific  works,  which 
are  very  numerous,  are  specified  in  the  an- 
nexed authorities.  The  most  important  of  his 
discoveries  is  his  micrometer  of  rock  crystal, 
which  he  invented  in  1777  ;  and  an  account 
of  it  may  be  found  in  a  memoir  which  he  read 
before  the  Institute,  April  1,  1811. — Biog. 
Nouv.  des  Contemp,  Biog.  Univ. 

RODNEY  (GEORGE  BRYDGES,  baron)  a 
gallant  and  successful  naval  commander,  de- 
scended of  a  good  family  in  Somersetshire, 
bora  1717.  Ilis  father,  Henry  Rodney,  was 
a  captain  in  the  royal  navy,  and  educated  his 
son  for  the  same  profession.  He  first  obtained 
a  ship  in  1742,  and  seven  years  after  was  sent 
out  to  Newfoundland  as  governor,  which  si- 
tuation he  filled  upwards  of  three  years.  In 
1759,  having  been  promoted  to  the  rank  of  ad- 
miral, he  took  the  command  of  the  expedition 
destined  for  the  bombardment  of  Havre  de 
Grace,  a  service  which  he  executed  with 
much  success,  destroying  a  great  quantity  of 
warlike  stores  collected  there  by  the  French 
government.  Two  years  after  lie  sailed  with 
a  fleet  under  his  command  to  the  West  Indies, 
where  he  distinguished  himself  in  the  reduc- 
tion of  Martinique,  and  on  his  return  was  re 
warded  with  the  red  ribbon  and  a  baronetcy. 
A  contested  election  for  the  borough  of  ATor- 
thampton,  in  1768,  having  very  much  im- 
paired his  finances,  he  found  it  necessary  to 
retire  to  the  continent,  in  order  to  escape  the 
importunities  of  his  creditors.  While  in  this 
state  of  self-banishment,  the  French  govern- 
ment, aware  of  his  necessities,  and  fullv  ap- 
preciating his  talents  as  a  naval  tactician,  made 
some  overtures  to  him,  which,  had  he  accepu  d 
them,  would  have  recruited  his  fortune  at  the 
expense  of  his  reputation.  These  the  honest 
sailor  rejected,  not  only  without  hesitation, 
but  in  such  terms  as  marked  his  sense  of  the 
insult  offered  him  by  the  proposal  ;  and  the 
fact  having  transpired  through  the  French  am- 
bassador in  London,  the  earl  of  Sandwich, 
then  at  the  head  of  the  Admiralty,  sent  him 
an  invitation  to  take  the  command  of  a  squa- 
dron destined  for  the  Mediterranean.  In 
1780,  having  previously  intercepted  a  valua- 
ble Spanish  convoy,  he  fell  in  with  admiral 
Langara's  fleet  off  cape  St  Vincent,  and  after 
an  obstinate  engagement,  completely  defeated 
it,  bringing  borne  five  ships  of  the  line  as  the 
fruits  of  his  victory.  In  1781  he  again  sailed 
for  the  West  Indies,  and  reduced  the  Dutch 
island  of  St  Eustathius  :  but  his  greatest  tri- 


ROD 

umph  wa3  achieved  on  the  12th  of  April  the 
following  year,  when  he  obtained  a  decisive 
victory  over  the  French  fleet  under  De  Grasse, 
capturing  five,  and  sinking  one  of  his  largest 
vessels.  A  harony,  and  a  pension  of  two 
thousand  pounds,  were  the  rewards  bestowed 
upon  him  by  his  country  for  services  of  such 
importance  ;  and  on  his  decease,  in  the  spring 
of  1792,  a  monument  was  voted  to  his  me- 
mory at  the  national  expense,  which  has  since 
been  erected  in  the  north  transept  of  St  Paul's 
cathedral.  Lord  Rodney  is  described  by  some 
writers  on  naval  affairs  as  the  first  who  put  in 
practice  the  system  of  tactics  afterwards 
adopted  with  such  success  by  Nelson  and 
other  commanders,  the  principal  feature  of 
which  consists  in  breaking  through  the  centre 
of  the  enemy's  line. — British  Peerage.  Naval 
Chronicle. 

RODOLPH  I,  emperor  of  Germany,  foun- 
der of  the  imperial  house  of  Austria,  was  born 
in   1218,  being  the  eldest  son  of  Albert  IV, 
count  of  Hapsburgh,  and  landgrave  of  Alsace. 
He  was  brought  up  in  the  court  and  camp  of 
the  emperor  Frederick  II;  and  on  the  death  of 
his  father  he  succeeded  to  territories  of  a  very 
moderate  extent,  which,  in  the  spirit  of  the 
times,  he  sought  to  augment  by  military  en- 
terprises.    In  12-15  he  married  a  daughter  of 
the  count  of  Hohenburgh,   by  which  he  ac- 
quired  an  accession   of  territory  ;    and   some 
years  after  served  under  Ottocar,  king  of  Bo- 
hemia, against  the  Pagan  Prussians.     Several 
years  of  active  warfare  ensued,  in  which  he 
much  distinguished  himself  by  his  prudence, 
valour,  and  the  spirit  of  justice  with  which  he 
protected  the   inhabitants  of  the   towns  from 
their  baronial  oppressors.     In  1273,  as  he  was 
encamped    before   the  walls  of  Basil,  he   re- 
ceived the  unexpected  intelligence  that  he  was 
elected  king  of  the  Romans,  and  emperor,  in 
preference  to  Alphonso  king  of  Castile,  and  i 
Ottocar  king  of  Bohemia.     Pvodolph,  then  in  I 
his  fifty- fifth  year,  willingly  accepted  the  prof-  j 
fered  elevation  ;   and  being  crowned  at  Aix-  i 
la-Chapelle,  immediately  strengthened  himself  ] 
by  marrying  two  of  his  daughters  to  the  count  I 
palatine  of  Bavaria,  and  the  duke  of  Saxony,  j 
He  also  took  measures  to  ingratiate  himself  j 
with  pope  Gregory  X,  who  induced  the  king  | 
of  Castile  to  withdraw  his  pretensions.     The  i 
king  of  Bohemia,  however,  at  that  time  one  of  | 
the  most  powerful  princes  in  Europe,  persisted  | 
in  his  opposition,  and  a  war  ensued,  in  which 
he    was  defeated,  and   compelled   to  sue  for  i 
peace,  and  agree  to  pay  homage.   Stung  by  this  | 
disgrace,  the  Bohemian  king  broke  the  treaty  I 
in  1277,  and  the  following  year  Ottocar  was  | 
again  defeated  and  slain.     By  the  treatv  with  j 
his  successor  which  followed,  Rodolph  was  to 
hold   Moravia  for  five  years,  and    retain  the 
Austrian  provinces  which  had  been  previously 
yielded    by    Ottocar,    and    the    securing    of 
which   to  his  family    was   henceforward    his 
primary    object.      Af'.er    some    abortive    at- 
tempts  to   restore   the  influence    of  the   em- 
pire  in  Tuscany,  he  contented  himself  with 
drawing  large    sums   from   Lucca  and   other 
cities,  for  the  confirmation  and  extension  of 


ROE 

their  privileges.  No  foreign  foe  remaining,  lie 
assiduously  employed  himself  to  restore  peaco 
and  order  to  Germany,  and  wisely  put  down 
the  private  fortresses,  which  st-rved  as  a 
retreat  to  banditti,  and  to  ferocious  nobles, 
who  were  little  better  than  their  leaders.  For 
these  and  other  eminent  services  in  the  same 
spirit,  he  obtained  the  title  of  "  a  living  law," 
and  was  regarded  as  a  second  founder  of  the 
German  empire.  lie  subsequently  engaged 
in  war  with  the  counts  of  Savoy  and  of  Bur- 
gundy, and  delivered  the  young  king  of  Bo- 
hemia from  the  captivity  to  which  lie  had 
been  subjected  by  the  regent  Otho,  and  mar- 
ried him  to  one  of  his  daughters.  The  final 
object  of  the  emperor  was  to  secure  the  im- 
perial succession  to  his  son  Albert  ;  but  the 
electors,  jealous  of  the  rapid  rise  of  the  family, 
could  not  be  made  to  concur,  and  Rodolph 
felt  the  disappointment  severely.  He  had 
however  laid  a  permanent  foundation  for  the 
lasting  prosperity  of  his  race,  and  after  a 
reign  of  nineteen  years,  expired  in  July  1291, 
in  the  seventy-third  year  of  his  age.  There 
is  scarcely  an  excellency  either  of  body  or 
mind  which  the  biographers  of  the  house  of 
Austria  have  not  attributed  to  its  founder  ;  and 
he  appears  to  have  merited  no  small  por- 
tion of  their  panegyric.  Few  princes  have 
surpassed  him  in  energy  of  character  and  in 
civil  and  military  talents.  He  was  personally 
brave,  almost  to  rashness,  indefatigable,  sirn- 
ple  and  unaffected  in  his  manners,  affable,  and 
magnanimous.  In  the  beginning  of  his  career 
he  seems  to  have  shared  in  the  usual  licence 
of  the  period  in  pursuit  of  aggrandisement  ; 
but  as  an  emperor  he  has  been  regarded  for 
the  most  part  as  equitable  and  just  as  he  wa3 
brave  and  intelligent. — Mod.  Univ.  Hist. 

RODON  (DAviDde)or  DAVID  DERO- 
DON,  a  French  divine  and  philosopher  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  He  was  a  native  of 
Dauphiny,  and  appears  to  have  been  brought 
up  in  the  Catholic  faith,  which  he  afterwards 
renounced,  and  became  a  zealous  Protestant. 
He  filled  the  philosophical  chair  successively 
at  Die,  at  Orange,  and  at  Nismes,  where  he 
published  a  tract,  entitled  "  The  Tomb  of  the 
Mass,"  in  1632;  which  so  exasperated  the  Ca- 
tholics, that  they  procured  his  banishment 
from  France,  and  lie  died  about  two  years 
after  at  Geneva.  He  was  the  author  of  a 
course  of  philosophy,  of  which  he  published 
a  popular  abridgment,  entitled  "  Philosophia 
Contracta,"  and  other  works,  besides  that 
above  noticed. — Aikin's  G.  King.  Bio<r.  Unir. 
'  ROE  (sir  THOMAS)  a  distinguished  travel- 
ler and  negotiator,  was  born  at  Low  Layton, 
in  Essex,  about  the  year  1580.  He  was  ad- 
mitted into  Magdalen  college,  Oxford,  in 
1593,  but  quitted  it  without  taking  a  degree, 
and  after  spending  some  time  at  one  of  the 
inns  of  court,  was  made  an  esquire  of  the 
body  to  queen  Elizabeth.  In  1604  he  was 
knighted  by  king  James,  and  soon  after  ap- 
pointed to  command  an  expedition  sent  by 
prince  Henry  to  make  discoveries  in  America. 
On  his  return,  by  the  desire  of  the  East  India 
Company  he  was  sent  an  ambassador  to  the 


ROE 

Great  Mogul  in  1614  ;  at  whose  court  he  ra- 
sided  until  1618,  and  made  many  curious  ob- 
servations upon  the  court  and  people,  speci- 
mens of  which  may  be  found  in  Purchas's 
Pilgrim,  and  in  Churchill's  Collection  of  Voy- 
ages. On  quitting  India  he  visited  the  court 
of  Shah  Abbas,  in  Persia,  with  whom  he 
negotiated  a  treaty  for  a  free  trade  with  that 
country.  On  his  return  home,  in  1620,  he  was 
elected  a  burgess  for  Cirencester,  and  the  fol- 
lowing year  was  nominated  ambassador  to  the 
Ottoman  Porte,  which  post  he  held  under  fi ve 
successive  sultans,  and  rendered  numerous  am 
important  services  to  the  commercial  interests 
of  his  country.  During  his  embassy,  sir  Tho- 
mas drew  up  "  A  true  and  faithful  Relation  of 
what  lately  happened  in  Constantinople,  con- 
ceniing  the  Death  of  Sultan  Osman,  and  the 
setting  up  of  his  uncle  Mustapha,"  162'2, 
London,  4to.  He  also  kept  minutes  of  his 
negociations,  which  remained  in  manuscript 
until  1740,  and  then  were  published,  under 
the  title  of"  The  Negociations  of  Sir  Thomas 
Roe,  in  his  Embassy  to  the  Ottoman  Porte." 
Daring  his  residence  in  the  East  he  also  made 
a  valuable  collection  of  Greek  and  Oriental 
MSS.  -which  he  presented  to  the  Bodleian 
library,  and  was  constituted  the  bearer  of  the 
fine  Alexandrian  MS.  of  the  Greek  Bible 
sent  by  Cyril,  patriarch  of  Alexandria,  as 
a  present  to  Charles  I.  In  1629  he  was  sent 
ambassador  to  mediate  a  peace  between  the 
kings  of  Poland  and  Sweden  ;  and  gained  so 
much  credit  with  Gustavus  Adolphus,  that  he 
was  mainly  instrumental  to  the  design  formed 
by  that  spirited  prince  in  1630,  to  head  an 
expedition  into  Germany,  to  restore  the  free- 
dom of  the  empire.  He  was  subsequently 
employed  in  other  missions  to  the  German 
princes,  and  was  present  at  the  congress  of 
Hamburg,  and  on  its  removals  to  Ratisbon 
and  Vienna.  In  1640  he  was  elected  repre- 
sentative for  the  university  of  Oxford  ;  and  in 
1641  was  sent  to  the  diet  at  Ratisbon  to  ne- 
gociate  for  the  restoration  of  the  ex-king  of 
Bohemia.  On  his  return  the  king  created  him 
a  privy  counsellor  and  chancellor  of  the  order 
of  the  garter.  He  died  in  1 644,  his  close  of 
life  being  much  embittered  by  the  national  dis- 
turbances of  the  period  ;  and  he  left  behind  him 
the  character  of  an  able  and  upright  minister, 
a  true  patriot,  and  an  accomplished  gentleman. 
Besides  the  writings  before  mentioned,  he  left 
in  MS.  "  A  compendious  Relation  of  the  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Diet  held  at  Hatisbou  in  1640 
and  1641  ;"  and  a  "  Journal  of  several  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Knights  of  the  Garter." — Biog. 
Brit.  Athen.  Oxon. 

ROEBUCK  (JOHN)  an  eminent  physician 
and  natural  philosopher,  born  at  Sheffield  in 
Yorkshire,  in  1718.  He  studied  at  Edinburgh 
and  Levden,  where  he  was  admitted  MD.  in 

J 

1743.  He  then  engaged  in  practice  at  Bir- 
mingham, and  devoted  much  of  his  time  to 
chemical  researches,  which  led  to  some  im- 
provements in  various  operations.  In  1749  he 
established  a  manufactory  of  sulphuric  acid, 
at  Preston  Pans,  in  Scotland,  in  which  under- 
taking he  was  joined  by  Mr  Garbet  The 


ROE 

scheme  proved  very  advantageous,  and  Dr 
Roebuck,  relinquishing  his  medical  business, 
devoted  himself  to  the  cultivation  of  the  useful 
arts.  In  conjunction  with  his  partner,  the 
iron-foundry  of  Carron  was  established,  and 
carried  on  with  great  success.  But  the  pro- 
fits of  these  speculations  were  sunk  in  an  at- 
tempt to  work  mines  of  coal  and  salt  at  Bor- 
rowstonness,  on  the  estate  of  the  duke  of 
Hamilton.  This  disastrous  project  swallowed 
up  all  the  property  which  Dr  Roebuck  had 
acquired  by  his  other  establishments  ;  and  the 
last  twenty  years  of  his  life  were  passed  in  a 
state  of  indigence,  only  relieved  by  a  small 
annuity,  granted  him  by  his  creditors.  lie 
died  July  17,  1794.  He  was  a  fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society,  to  which  he  communicated 
some  philosophical  papers ;  and  he  was  also 
the  author  of  two  political  pamphlets. — Biog. 
Nouv.  des  Coiitemp.  Biog,  Univ. 

ROEUERER  (JOHN  GEOKCE)  an  eminent 
physician,  born  at  Strasburg,  in  1726.  He 
passed  through  a  course  of  medical  studies  in 
the  university  of  his  native  city,  and  took  the 
degree  of  doctor  in  1750.  He  afterwards  tra- 
velled for  improvement  in  France,  England, 
and  Holland  ;  and  on  his  return  home,  he  de- 
voted his  attention  especially  to  the  obstetri- 
cal branch  of  his  profession.  In  17.54  he  be- 
came professor  of  midwifery  at  Gottingen,  and 
he  soon  acquired  great  reputation  as  a  public 
lecturer.  Ill  health  obliged  him  to  resign  his 
situation,  and  returning  to  Strasburg,  he  died 
in  1763.  Besides  his  "  Elementa  Artis  Ob- 
stetricffl,  in  Usum  Prrelectionum  Academica- 
rum,"  8vo,  and  other  works  on  the  same  sub- 
ject, he  was  the  author  of  a  number  of  disser- 
tations, which  were  collected  and  published 
under  the  title  of  "  Opuscula  Medica,  spar- 
sim  prius  edita,  nunc  demum  collecta,  aucta 
et  recusa,"  Gotting.  1764,  4to. —  Biog.  Univ. 

ROEMER  (OLAUS)  a  Danish  astronomer 
and  mathematician,  born  in  1644.  He  became 
a  student  of  the  university  of  Copenhagen  in 
1662,  and  making  a  rapid  progress  in  mathe- 
matical knowledge,  under  Bartholiu,  he  was 
employed  by  that  professor  to  arrange  the  ma- 
nuscripts of  Tycho  Brahe.  When  Picard, 
from  the  French  Academy  of  Sciences,  visited 
Sweden,  he  persuaded  Roemer  to  accompany 
him  back  to  France  in  1672.  He  was  ex- 
tremely well  received,  and  was  engaged  to 
teach  mathematics  to  the  dauphin,  and  ad- 
mitted into  the  Academy  of  Sciences.  He 
remained  at  Paris  ten  years,  and  acquired 
high  reputation  by  his  scientific  discoveries, 
the  most  important  of  which  was  that  of  the 
velocity  of  light,  from  the  observation  of  the 
eclipses  of  Jupiter's  satellites.  In  1681  Roe- 
mer was  recalled  to  Denmark,  having  ceeu 
nominated  professor  of  mathematics  in  the 
university  of  Copenhagen,  and  he  was  also 
made  royal  astronomer.  He  was  likewise  em- 
ployed in  the  improvement  of  the  coinage, 
the  regulation  of  weights  and  measures,  and 
other  public  undertakings.  In  1687  the  king 
sent  him  to  travel  in  Germany,  England, 
France,  and  Holland,  to  collect  information 
relative  to  arts  and  manufactures.  On  his 


ROG 

return  he  was  made  a  counsellor  of  the  chan- 
cellery, and  in  1693  assessor  of  the  supreme 
court  of  justice.  He  was  appointed  by  Fre- 
derick IV  counsellor  of  state,  and  first  magis- 
trate of  Copenhagen.  He  nevertheless  con- 
tinued his  astronomical  pursuits,  and  particu- 
larly made  observations  to  determine  the 
parallax  of  the  fixed  stars.  He  was  about  to 
publish  the  result  of  his  researches,  when  he 
died  of  the  stone,  September  19,  1710.  The 
greater  part  of  his  MSS.  was  destroyed  when 
the  observatory  of  Copenhagen  was  burnt, 
October  20,  1728.  Some  of  his  communica- 
tions were  published  in  the  Memoirs  of  the 
Parisian  Academy  of  Sciences;  and  Horrebow, 
liis  disciple  and  successor,  gave  an  account  of 
his  discoveries  in  a  work  entitled  "  Basis  As- 
tronomis,"  1735,  4to. — Hutton's  Math.  Diet. 
Ring.  Univ. 

ROESEL  (AuousTiN  JOHN)  a  German 
painter  and  naturalist,  who  was  ennobled  un- 
der the  appellation  of  Von  Rosenhof.  He 
was  born  in  1705,  and  was  instructed  in  his 
art  by  a  relation,  who  was  a  painter  of  ani- 
mals and  frescos.  Having  also  learnt  the  art 
of  engraving,  he  settled  at  Nuremberg  in  1725. 
He  continued  there  as  long  as  he  lived,  with 
the  exception  of  two  years  passed  at  Copen- 
hagen, where  he  went  to  execute  some  paint- 
ings for  the  court.  He  particularly  applied 
himself  to  the  delineation  of  insects,  and  other 
animals  of  the  lower  orders,  and  published 
two  curious  works,  one  on  the  natural  history 
of  insects,  4  vols.  4to.  1746 — 61  ;  and  the 
other  relating  to  frogs,  in  folio.  His  death 
took  place  March  27,  1759. — Biog.  Univ. 

ROGER,  or  rather  RICHARD  OF  HEX- 
HAM,  a  monkish  historian,  was  brought  up 
in  the  priory  of  Hexham,  where  he  embraced 
the  monastic  life,  and  was  elected  prior  some 
time  before  1138,  as  he  saw  the  Scottish  army 
march  into  Yorkshire  under  David,  previously 
to  the  battle  of  the  Standard,  which  was 
fought  in  that  year.  He  wrote  the  history  of 
the  campaign,  in  which,  in  a  very  declamatory 
style,  he  describes  the  ravages  committed  by 
the  Scottish  army. — Tanner.  Wharton's  An- 
glia  Sacra. 

ROGEROFHOVEDEN.    See  HOVEDEN. 

ROGERS,  Mus.  Doc.  (BENJAMIN)  an 
eminent  English  composer  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  educated  under  Dr  Giles  as 
a  chorister  in  St  George's  chapel,  Windsor, 
where  he  afterwards  held  the  situation  of  a 
lay-clerk.  Rogers  was  for  some  time  organist 
of  Christchurth,  Dublin,  but  lost  his  situation 
on  account  of  his  politics,  on  the  breaking  out 
of  the  rebellion  in  1641.  From  this  period 
he  supported  himself  by  teaching  music  at 
AVindsor,  till  the  interest  of  Dr  Ingels,  chap- 
lain to  commissioner  Whitelock,  procured  him 
a  recommendation  to  the  university  of  Cam- 
bridge, where  he  took  his  degree  as  bachelor 
in  music  in  1658.  Four  years  after  he  was 
re-appointed  to  his  former  situation,  in  the 
chapel  royal  of  St  George  at  Windsor,  with  an 
increase  of  salary,  and  was  also  chosen  organist 
to  the  neighbouring  college  of  Eton  ;  but  he  gave 
up  both  these  appointments  in  1669,  on  ob- 


ROG 

taining  one  of  the  same  description  at  Mag- 
dalen college,  Oxford,  or  which  occasion  he 
took  his  doctor's  degree.  From  this  last  sta- 
tion he  was  expelled  by  James  II  in  1685,  and 
owed  his  support  subsequently  to  a  small  pen- 
sion allowed  him  by  the  college.  His  compo- 
sitions, consisting  principally  of  church  music, 
though  few  in  number,  are  remarkable  for  the 
sweetness  of  their  melody  and  the  correctness 
of  their  harmony.  Most  of  them,  especially 
a  fine  service  in  the  key  of  D,  are  to  be  found 
in  the  majority  of  our  cathedrals  and  collegiate 
choirs.  The  precise  time  of  his  decease  is 
uncertain,  but  he  is  known  to  have  reached  a 
great  age  in  indigence  and  obscurity. — Biog. 
Diet,  of  Music. 

ROGERS  (DANIEL)  aii  English  diploma- 
tist of  the  sixteenth  century,  a  native  of  Ash- 
ton,  Warwickshire,  born  1540.  In  early  life 
he  went  into  Germany,  and  was  there  brought 
up  in  the  principles  of  the  reformed  religion. 
On  the  re-establishment  of  Protestantism  in 
his  native  country  under  Elizabeth  he  re- 
turned to  England,  and  was  employed  by  that 
princess  in  several  negociations  with  foreign 
powers.  His  writings  consist  of  an  "  Epistle 
to  George  Buchanan  ;"  an  "  Elegy  addressed 
to  William  Cecil  Lord  Burleigh  ;"  a  collection 
of  "  Odes,  Epigrams,  and  Panegyrics  in  praise 
of  Bishop  Sewell ;"  and  some  other  poems,  all 
composed  in  the  Latin  language.  He  was  a 
graduate  of  the  university  of  Oxford,  and  died 
in  1590. — E'wg.  Brit. 

ROGERS  (JOHN)  an  eminent  English  di- 
vine, who  flourished  about  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  was  a  graduate  of  the 
university  of  Cambridge.  Going  to  Antwerp 
in  the  capacity  of  chaplain  to  the  English  fac- 
tory established  in  that  city,  he  there  asso- 
ciated himself  with  Tindal  and  others,  at  that 
time  engaged  in  translating  the  Scriptures  into 
English.  He  returned  to  England  in  the  early 
part  of  Edward  VI's  reign,  and  obtained  a 
stall  in  St  Paul's  cathedral,  in  which  situation 
he  eminently  distinguished  himself  by  his  elo- 
quence and  ability.  This  circumstance  ren- 
dered him  highly  obnoxious  to  the  Romish 
party,  who  in  the  following  nign  marked  him 
out  as  one  of  the  first  objects  of  their  resent- 
ment. He  was  seized  and  tried  for  heresy, 
and  refusing  to  recant  his  opinions,  was  con- 
demned to  the  stake,  a  punishment  which  he 
underwent  with  great  fortitude  on  the  4th  of 
February  1555,  being  the  protomartyr  of  the 
Lutheran  church,  in  the  persecutions  under 
Mary. — Fox's  Acts  and  Man.  Strijpe. 

ROGERS  (JoHN)  also  a  celebrated  divine, 
was  born  in  1679  at  Ensham  in  Oxfordshire, 
a  parish  of  which  his  father  was  the  incum- 
bent ;  and  after  receiving  the  rudiments  of  a 
classical  education  at  home,  was  entered  of 
New  college,  Oxford,  but  on  taking  his  bache 
lor's  degree  in  arts,  quitted  that  society  for 
Corpus  Christi,  where  he  obtained  a  fellow- 
ship. Having  taken  holy  orders,  he  was  pre- 
ferred to  the  living  of  Buckland,  Berks,  but 
did  not  reside  upon  it,  settling  in  the  metro- 
polis in  1712,  and  being  elected  lecturer  to  the 
parishes  of  Christchurch,  Newgate-gtreet,  and 


II  OH 

St  Clement  Danes.  lie  was  afterwards  insti- 
tuted successively  to  the  rectory  of  Wrington, 
Somersetshire,  with  a  stall  in  Wells  cathe- 
dral, and  the  vicarage  of  St  Giles,  Cripplegate  ; 
to  which  last  benefice  he  was  inducted  in 

1728,  having  previously  been   presented  with 
the   honorary  degree  of  doctor  in  divinity  by 
the  university  of  Oxford,  in  compliment  to  his 
exertions  in  the  memorable  Bangorian  contro- 
versy.    Dr  Rogers  survived  this   last  promo- 
tion but  a  few  months,  dying  in  the  spring  of 

1729.  His  works  consist  of  "  A  Discourse 
on    the    Visible    and    Invisible     Church    of 
Christ,"  1719  ;  "Sermons  on   the  Necessity 
of  a  Divine   Revelation  ;"  "  The  Civil  Esta- 
blishment of  Religion  Vindicated,"  in  answer 
to  Collins,  all  printed  in  his  life-time  ;  after 
his   decease  appeared  four  more  volumes   of 
Sermons,  and  '    A  Persuasive  to  Conformity." 
He  was  nearly  connected  by  marriage  with  the 
Coleraine  family,  and  for  a  short  time  previously 
to  his  death  held  the  appointment  of  domestic 
chaplain  to  the  prince  of  Wales. — Bwg.  Brit. 

ROGERS  (WOODS)  an  English  naval  offi- 
cer and  circumnavigator.  He  belonged  to  the 
roya!  navy  in  1708,  when  he  was  invited  by 
the  merchants  of  Bristol  to  take  the  command 
of  an  expedition  to  the  South  Sea.  He  set 
sail  with  two  vessels,  the  Duke  and  the 
Duchess,  taking  out  the  celebrated  Dampier  as 
a  pilot.  Passing  to  the  south  of  the  Island  of 
Terra  del  Fuego  in  January  1709,  they  entered 
on  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  on  the  1st  of  Fe- 
bruary arrived  at  the  Isle  of  Juan  Fernandez, 
where  they  found  Alexander  Selkirk,  the 
supposed  prototype  of  Robinson  Crusoe.  They 
afterwards  captured  some  Spanish  vessels,  and 
having  visited  the  coast  of  California,  they 
crossed  the  Pacific,  and  returned  to  England 
in  October  1711.  Captain  Rogers  was  ap- 
pointed governor  of  the  Isle  of  Providence, 
one  of  the  Bahamas,  in  1717  ;  and  was  em- 
ployed with  a  squadron  to  extirpate  the  pirates 
who  infested  the  West  Indies.  He  died  in 
1732.  Though  he  made  no  new  discoveries, 
yet  his  "  Voyage  round  the  World,"  pub- 
lished in  1712,  contains  some  interesting  in- 
form a tion . — Biog.  Univ. 

ROHAN  (HENRY,  duke  of)  was  born  at 
the  castle  of  Blein  in  Britanny,  in  1579.  At 
the  age  of  sixteen  lie  distinguished  himself  at 
the  siege  of  Amiens,  under  the.  eyes  of  Henry 
IV,  who  had  a  great  affection  for  him.  After 
the  death  of  Henry  he  was  at  the  head  of  the 
Calvinistic  party  in  France,  and  remained  so 
until  the  reduction  of  Rochelle  by  cardinal  de 
Richelieu,  soon  after  which  he  was  obliged  to 
make  terms  and  quit  the  kingdom.  In  the 
first  instance  he  retired  to  Venice,  which  re- 
public nominated  him  its  general-iu-chief 
against  the  Imperialists  ;  but  he  was  recalled 
home,  and  sent  ambassador  to  the  Swiss  and 
Orisons,  and  at  the  head  of  the  troops  of  the 
latter,  in  1633,  he  drove  the  Spaniards  and 
Germans  out  of  the  Valteline.  He  afterwards 
defeated  the  Spaniards  on  the  banks  of  the 
lake  Como  ;  but  the  Grisons  becoming  suspi- 
cious of  the  intentions  of  the  French  troops  to 
remain  in  their  country,  took  up  aims,  and 


ROL 

obliged  the  duke  to  make  a  separate  treaty 
with  them  in  1637.  Fearful  of  the  resent- 
ment of  Richelieu,  on  this  account  he  retired 
to  Geneva,  and  thence  went  to  join  his  friend, 
the  duke  of  Saxe  Weimar,  with  whom  he 
fought  against  the  Imperialists,  and  received 
hurts  of  which  he  died  some  weeks  after  in 
Switzerland,  at  the  age  of  fifty-nine.  The 
duke  of  Rohan  was  esteemed  one  of  tho 
greatest  captains  of  his  times,  and  possessed 
all  tho  magnanimity  and  amenity  requisite  to 
render  the  head  of  a  party  popular.  He  was 
the  author  of  several  works,  military  and  po- 
litical. These  are,  "  Les  Interetsdes  Princes;" 
"  Le  parfait  Capitaine,"  an  abridgment  of 
the  Commentaries  of  Caesar  ;  "  Un  Trait6  de 
la  Corruption  de  la  Milice  Ancienne  ;"  "  Un 
Trailed u  Gouvernementdes  Treize  Cantons;" 
'  Recueil  de  quelques  Discours  politiques 
sur  les  Affaires  de  1'Etat ;"  "  Memoires  et 
Lettres  de  Henri  due  de  Rohan,  sur  la  Guerre 
de  la  Valteline." — His  wife,  MARGARET  DE 
BETHUNE,  the  worthy  daughter  of  the  duke 
of  Sully,  warmly  espoused  the  interests  of  her 
husband  ;  and  his  brother,  BENJAMIN  DE  RO- 
HAN, lord  of  Soubise,  also  took  a  distinguished 
part  in  the  Huguenot  contest,  and  finally 
sought  refuge  in  England,  where  he  died  ia 
1640. — Moreri.  Now.  Diet.  Hist. 

ROHAULT  (JAMES)  a  French  mathema- 
tician and  natural  philosopher  of  some  emi- 
nence in  the  seventeenth  century.  He  was 
the  son  of  a  merchant  of  Amiens,  where  he 
was  born  in  1620.  Having  gone  through  his 
preliminary  studies  at  home,  he  went  to  Paris, 
where  he  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  Carte- 
sian philosophy,  and  formed  an  intimacy  with 
Clersellier,  editor  of  the  works  of  Descartes, 
who  gave  him  his  daughter  in  marriage,  Ro- 
hault  composed  a  treatise  on  "  Physics  or 
Natural  Philosophy,"  on  Cartesian  princi- 
ples, which  was  long  a  popular  text  book 
among  the  French  professors.  An  English 
translation  of  this  work,  by  Dr  John  Clarke, 
was  published  with  notes,  correcting  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  author  according  to  the  Newto- 
nian system.  Ilohault  also  published  "  Ele- 
ments of  the  Mathematics,"  and  "  Dialogues 
concerning  Philosophy."  He  died  in  1675, 
and  a  posthumous  publication  from  his  MSS. 
appeared  in  1690,  relating  to  geometry,  tri- 
gonometry, mechanics,  &c. —  Moreri.  Allan's 
Gen.  Bing.  Biog.  Univ. 

ROLAND  DE  LA  PLATIERE  (JEAN 
MAIUE)  a  French  revolutionary  statesman, 
born  at  Villefranche,  near  Lyons,  in  173'2. 
He  obtained  a  situation  under  a  relation,  who 
was  inspector  of  manufactories  at  Rouen,  and 
having  distinguished  himself  by  his  industry 
and  ability,  he  at  length  became  inspector 
general  at  Amiens,  where,  in  1770,  lie  mar- 
ried Jeanne  Phlipon,  to  whose  splendid  talents 
he  was  indebted  for  liis»  future  distinction. 
They  travelled  together  in.  Italy  and  Switzer- 
land, and  iii  178-i  visited  England.  Having 
been  removed  from  Amiens  to  a  similar  situa- 
tion at  Lyons,  he  was  there  when  the  Revo- 
lution commenced,  and  it  was  hailed  with  en- 
thusiasm hy  him  and  Madame  Roland  as  the 


RO  L 

beginning  of  a  golden  age.  Going  to  Paris  on 
official  business  in  1791,  he  became  connected 
with  Brissot  and  other  popular  leaders  ;  and 
in  March  179'-J,  through  their  influence,  he 
was  appointed  minister  of  the  interior.  He 
was  in  the  course  of  a  few  months  dismissed 
with  all  his  colleagues,  except  Dumouriez,  for 
urging  the  king  to  sanction  decrees  which  he 
disapproved.  On  the  abolition  of  the  mo- 
narchy he  was  restored  to  his  place,  which  he 
held  till  he  was  involved  in  the  proscription  of 
the  Girondists,  when  he  made  his  escape  from 
Paris,  and  took  refuge  at  Rouen.  On  hearing 
of  the  condemnation  and  death  of  his  wife,  he 
left  his  retreat  November  15,  1793  ;  and  tak- 
ing the  road  to  Paris,  he  sat  down  on  a  bank 
some  miles  from  Rouen,  and  deliberately  put 
an  end  to  his  life  with  a  sword,  which  he  car- 
ried in  a  walking  cane.  Roland  is  generally 
admitted  to  have,  been  a  man  of  strict  inte- 
grity and  considerable  abilities,  but  he  was 
materially  assisted  by  his  wife  in  the  compo- 
sition of  his  Letter  to  the  King  on  his  dismis- 
sion, and  other  political  writings.  Among  his 
own  works  are  the  Dictionary  of  Arts  and 
Manufactures,  making  part  of  the  Encyclo- 
pedic Methodique  ;  and  "  Lettres  ecrites  de 
Suisse,  dTtalie,  de  Sicile,  et  de  Malte,  en 
1776-78,"  ri  vols.  12mo. — Diet.  d?s  H.  M,  du 
18me  S.  Biog.  Univ. 

ROLAND  (MANON  JEANNE  PHLIPON) 
wife  of  the  preceding,  was  born  at  Paris  in 
1754,  and  was  the  daughter  of  an  engraver  and 
jeweller.  From  her  earliest  years  she  was 
inspired  by  a  passion  for  study,  and  the  Lives 
of  Plutarch  especially  attracted  her  attention. 
She  had  already  become  learned  and  accom- 
plished, when  at  the  age  of  sixteen  she  lost  her 
mother,  by  whom  she  had  been  tenderly 
treated.  To  add  to  her  misfortune,  her  father 
contracted  habits  of  dissipation,  and  in  a 
few  years  squandered  great  part  of  his  own 
and  his  daughter's  property.  With  what 
she  was  able  to  save  she  retired  into  a  con- 
vent, where  she  resided  till  her  marriage  with 
M.  Roland,  who  was  twenty  years  her  senior. 
With  him  she  travelled  in  England,  &c.  and 
afterwaids  settled  at  Lyons.  In  1787  she 
went  to  Italy,  and  passing  through  Geneva, 
she  was  not  a  little  scandalized  to  observe 
that  the  citizens  had  not  erected  a  statue  of 
their  celebrated  countryman,  J.  J.  Rousseau, 
of  whom  she  was  a  warm  admirer.  She  ac- 
companied her  husband  to  Paris,  where  she 
not  only  shared  largely  in  his  political  labours, 
but  also  contributed  much  to  his  elevation  to 
the  ministry.  Under  these  circumstances, 
she  necessarily  shared  in  the  perils  attending 
such  distinction  as  he  enjoyed.  On  the  7th 
of  December,  1792,  she  appeared  at  the  bar 
of  the  Convention,  to  defend  her  conduct 
against  the  denunciations  of  her  enemies ; 
wheu  her  exculpation  was  satisfactorily  re- 
ceived, and  she  was  admitted  to  the  honours 
of  the  session.  She  a  second  time  presented 
herself  before  the  National  Convention,  when 
her  husband  was  accused,  but  she  could  not 
then  obtain  a  hearing,  and  was  herself  ar- 
rested and  shut  up  iu  the  prison  of  the  abbey. 


ROL 

She  was,  however,  liberated  from  this  confine- 
ment, but  soon  after  again  arrested,  and  pro- 
secuted before  the  revolutionary  tribunal  ;  and 
being  condemned  to  death  as  a  conspirator 
against  the  unity  and  indivisibility  of  the  re- 
public, she  was  guillotined  November  1,  1793. 
Her  writings  consist  of  Essays,  Travels  in 
England  and  Switzerland,  and  an  historical 
apology  for  her  conduct,  which  she  composed 
in  prison,  and  which  was  published  under  the 
title  of  "  Appel  a  1'Impartiale  Posterite,"  8vo. 
This  work,  composed  under  such  appalling 
circumstances,  exhibits  much  energy  and  viva- 
city ;  and  with  an  occasional  exhibition  of 
personal  vanity  and  carelessness  of  style,  pre- 
sents many  well-drawn  portraits  of  the  lead- 
ing characters  of  the  period.  Her  works  have 
been  collected  in  3  vols.  8vo. — Aikin's  G,  Jliog. 

ROLANDINO,  an  early  Italian  historian, 
was  born  in  1200,  at  Padua,  and  studied  at 
Bologna.  His  father,  who  was  a  notary,  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  keeping  a  chronicle  of  me- 
morable events  as  they  occurred,  'which  he  put 
into  his  son's  hands,  charging  him  to  continue 
it,  which  he  did  to  twelve  books,  in  Latin, 
which  in  1262  were  read  before  the  university 
of  Padua  and  solemnly  approved.  Though 
not  free  from  the  barbarisms  of  the  time,  his 
narrative  is  clear  and  well  arranged,  and  this 
history  is  considered  the  most  faithful  record 
of  that  time.  Vossius  speaks  highly  of  ]{o- 
landino  as  possessing  much  perspicuity,  order, 
and  judgment.  His  history  was  reprinted  by 
Muratori,  in  the  seventh  volume  of  his  Italian 
historians. — Vossii  Hist.  Lut.  Tiraboschi,  Mo- 
reri. 

ROLEWINCK  (WERNER)  a  chronicler  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  who  was  bom  at  Laer 
in  the  bishopric  of  Munster  in  Westphalia, 
whence  he  is  sometimes  called  Werner  de 
Laer.  In  1447  he  entered  into  a  Carthusian 
monastery  at  Cologne,  and  after  having  ac- 
quired great  reputation  by  his  writings,  he  died 
in  1502,  aged  seventy-seven.  He  wrote  a 
great  number  of  theological  works,  besides  a 
treatise  on  universal  history,  entitled  "  Fasci- 
culus Temporum,"  Colon.  1474,  folio,  fre- 
quently reprinted. — Trithemhts.  Bivg.  Univ. 

ROLFINCK  (GUERNER)  a  physician, who 
was  a  native  of  Hamburgh,  and  became 
professor  at  Jena,  where  he  died  in  1675. 
He  travelled  in  various  parts  of  Europe,  and 
was  well  acquainted  with  the  Oriental  lan- 
guages. Being  invited  to  Jena,  he  occupied 
the  first  chemical  professorship  founded  in 
Germany  ;  and  he  procured  the  establishment 
of  an  anatomical  theatre  and  a  botanic  garden, 
and  delivered  lectures  on  botany,  in  1631.  He 
was  the  author  of  "  De  Vegetabilibus  Plantis, 
Suffructibus  et  Arboribus  in  genere,  lib.  ii." 
1670,  4to  ;  and  he  also  wrote  on  chemistry 
and  anatomy,  and  in  the  latter  science  he  is 
said  to  have  made  some  discoveries. —  Bio«. 
Univ. 

ROLLE  CHENRYJ  an  eminent  lawyer  and 
judge,  was  the  second  son  of  Robert  Rolle, 
esq.  of  Heanton,  Devonshire,  where  he  was 
born  in  1589.  He  received  his  academical 
education  at  Exeter  college,  Oxford,  and  was 


ROL 

subsequently  admitted  a  student  of  the  Inner 
Temple.  When  called  to  the  bar,  he  became 
a  lawyer  of  leading  reputation  in  the  court  of 
king's  bench,  and  was  chosen  a  member  for 
Callington  in  Cornwall.  On  the  accession  of 
Charles  I,  in  1640,  he  was  made  sergeant-at- 
law  ;  and  on  the  breaking  out  of  hostilities,  he 
took  the  covenant.  In  1645  he  was  made  one 
of  the  judges,  and  in  1648  was  promoted  to 
be  lord  chief-justice  of  the  king's  bench,  in 
which  office  his  integrity  was  acknowledged 
even  by  the  opposing  party.  He  resigned  this 
office  some  time  before  his  death,  which  took 
place  in  1656.  He  wrote  "  Reports  of  sir 
Henry  Rolle,"  and  other  learned  works,  in  2 
vols.  folio,  French  ;  and  "  An  Abridgment  of 
Cases  and  Resolutions  of  the  Law,"  also  in 
French,  which  was  published  by  sir  Matthew 
Hale,  and  is  highly  esteemed. — Bridgman's 
Legal  Bibliog. 

ROLLE  (MICHF.L)  an  eminent  French  ma- 
thematician, was  born  in  1652,  at  Ambert  in 
Auvergne.  He  came  to  Paris,  where  he  pur- 
sued the  occupation  of  a  writing-master,  but 
being  noticed  by  the  minister  Colbert,  was  en- 
abled to  give  himself  up  entirely  to  the  study 
of  algebra  and  the  mathematics.  His  con- 
duct in  life  gained  him  much  esteem  ;  in  1685 
lie  was  chosen  member  of  the  ancient  Aca- 
demy of  Sciences,  and  in  1699  second  geo- 
metrical pensionary,  which  office  he  enjoyed 
until  his  death  in  1719.  The  principal  works 
of  Rolle  consist  of  "  A  Treatise  on  Algebra," 
4to,  1690  ;  "  A  Demonstration  of  a  Method 
for  the  Resolution  of  Equations  of  all  De- 
grees ;"  and  "  A  Method  of  Resolving  Inde- 
terminate Quantities  in  Algebra,"  all  of  which 
are  much  esteemed.  He  was  also  author  of  a 
great  many  curious  pieces,  inserted  in  the  me- 
moirs of  the  Academy  of  Sciences. — Ration's 
Math.  Diet. 

ROLLI  (PAUL  ANTONIO)  a  learned  Italian, 
was  born  at  Rome  in  1687,  and  was  a  pupil  of 
the  celebrated  Gravina.  He  came  to  England, 
and  was  introduced  by  lord  Bolingbroke  to  the 
female  branches  of  the  royal  family  as  their 
master  in  the  Tuscan  language.  In  1729  he 
was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society. 
He  returned  to  Italy  in  1747,  where  he  died 
in  1767.  Rolli  was  considered  one  of  the 
best  Italian  poets  of  his  day,  his  principal 
works,  consisting  of  odes,  elegies,  songs,  &c. 
were  published  in  London  in  1735,  8vo.  A 
collection  of  his  epigrams  was  printed  at  Flo- 
rence. He  translated  into  Italian  Milton's  Pa- 
radise Lost,  and  Anacreon.  He  also  edited 
the  Satires  of  Ariosto,  the  burlesque  works  of 
Berni,  Varchi,  &c.  2  vols.  8vo  ;  the  Decame- 
ron, and  the  Lucretius  of  Marchetti. — Enci/c. 
Brit.  Diet.  Hist.  Burney's  Hist,  of  Mus.  • 

ROLLIN  (CHARLES)  an  eloquent  writer 
and  professor,  was  born  at  Paris  in  1661.  His 
father  was  a  cutter,  and  intended  him  for  the 
same  business;  but  having  obtained  the  notice 
of  a  learned  Benedictine,  who  procured  him 
an  exhibition  in  the  college  of  Du  Plessis,  he 
was  suffered  to  pursue  the  natural  bent  of  his 
inclination  for  learning.  He  went  through  a 
course  of  academical  study  with  great  ap- 


ROL 

plause,  and  Laving  also  taken  a  course  of  theo 
logy  at  the  Sorbonne,  received  the  tonsure.  He 
became  assistant  professor  to  his  master,  pro- 
fessor Hersant,  in  1683  ;  and  in  1687  suc- 
ceeded him.  In  1  68?  he  obtained  the  chair  of 
eloquence  in  the  Royal  College,  of  which  he 
became  rector  in  1694,  and  held  that  post  for 
two  years,  during  which  time  he  reformed  the 
academical  course  in  many  striking  particulars, 
and  revived  the  study  of  the  Greek  language. 
In  1698  he  was  chosen  coadjutor  of  the  col- 
lege of  Beauvais,  which  was  also  much  bene- 
fitted  by  his  attention.  In  1720  he  was  again 
chosen  rector  of  the  university  of  Paris  ;  but 
in  consequence  of  his  connexion  with  the  Jan- 
senists,  was  displaced  by  a  lettre  de  cachet,  on 
which  he  proceeded  to  occupy  himself  in  the 
composition  of  the  various  works  which  have 
rendered  his  name  so  celebrated.  The  first  of 
his  productions,  "  De  la  Maniere  d'Etudier  et 
d'Enseigner  les  Belles  Lettres,"  appeared  in 
1726  ;  and,  encouraged  by  its  great  success,  he 
composed  his  popular  '•  Histoire  Ancieune," 
which  he  published  in  13  vols.  8vo,  between 
1730  and  1738.  While  the  last  volumes  of 
this  work  were  printing,  he  commenced  his 
"  Roman  History,"  which  he  lived  long 
enough  to  carry  down  to  the  war  against  the 
Cimbri.  The  remainder,  to  the  battle  of  Ac- 
tium,  the  extent  of  the  original  plan,  was 
completed  by  Crevier,  the  whole  amounting  to 
1 6  vols.  12mo.  This  respectable  and  eloquent 
writer  died  September  14,  1741,  at  the  age  of 
eighty.  All  the  works  of  Rollin  are  com- 
mendable for  eloquence  and  purity  of  senti- 
ment, although  often  too  diffuse  and  prolix  in 
the  way  of  reflection.  As  a  writer  of  history, 
he  is  also  eloquent  and  ingenious,  but  gives  too 
much  credit  to  the  exaggerations  and  puerili- 
ties of  the  ancient  historians,  and  exhibits  a 
great  want  of  philosophy  and  critical  sagacity. 
His  own  piety,  indeed,  was  tinged  by  super- 
stition and  credulity,  being  a  firm  believer  in 
the  miracles  of  the  Jansenist,  abbe  Paris,  at 
whose  tomb  he  was  accustomed  to  pray. 
Until  lately,  the  "  Ancient  History"  of  Rol- 
lin has  been  used  in  the  education  of  a  great 
part  of  the  youth  of  Europe. — Biog.  Univ, 

ROLLOCH  (ROBERT)  a  learned  Scotch  di- 
vine, was  born  near  Stirling  in  1355.  He  was 
educated  at  St  Andrew's,  where  he  became 
reader  in  philosophy,  and  in  1582  he  was  ap- 
pointed the  first  principal  of  the  new  univer- 
sity of  Edinburgh,  and  professor  of  divinity 
In  1596  he  was  nominated  one  of  the  com- 
missioners for  the  visitation  of  colleges  :  and 
in  1597  moderator  of  the  general  assembly. 
He  died  in  1598,  in  his  forty-third  year.  He 
was  the  author  of  several  theological  works, 
which  are  much  esteemed  by  the  church  tc 
which  he  belonged,  consisting  of  "  Sermons 
on  the  Epistles  ;"  "  Commentaries  on  the 
Scriptures;"  "  Tractatus  de  Providentia ;" 
"  Tractatus  de  Excommunicatione,"  &c. — 
Mackenzie's  Scot.  Writers. 

ROLT  (RICHARD)  the  compiler  of  several 
useful  publications  for  the  booksellers,  by 
which  he  is  principally  known.  He  was  a 
native  of  Shrewsbury,  born  1724  and  held  an 


ROM 

inferior  office  in  the  customs,  of  which  he  was 
afterwards  deprived  on  joining  the  rebel  army 
under  tlie  young  Pretender.  It  was  to  his  pen 
that  he  subsequently  owed  his  support,  until 
his  death,  which  took  place  in  1770.  Among 
his  writings  are,  "  A  Dictionary  of  Trade  and 
Commerce,"  folio  ;  "  A  History  of  England," 
4  vols. ;  "  Northall's  Travels  in  Italy  ;"  "  A 
History  of  the  War  which  terminated  in 
1748,'*  4  vols.;  "Lives  of  the  Reformers," 
folio;  and  "  Biographical  Memoirs  of  John 
Earl  of  Craufurd,"  8vo.— Eiuvp.  Mag.  1803. 

ROMAINE  (WILLIAM)  a  popular  Calvi- 
nistic  divine  of  the  last  century,  descended  of 
a  French  family  settled  at  Hartlepool,  in  the 
palatinate  of  Durham,  where  he  was  born  in 
1714.  He  became  successively  a  member  of 
Hertford  college  and  Christchurch,  Oxford, 
where  he  graduated  and  took  holy  orders.  His 
strong  attachment  to  the  peculiar  opinions  of 
the  reformer  of  Geneva,  made  his  discourses 
as  unpopular  at  the  university  as  they  were  af- 
terwards the  contrary  in  the  metropolis,  to 
which  lie  removed  in  1749,  on  obtaining  the 
lectureships  of  St  Dunstan's  in  the  West  and 
St  Botolph's,  Bishopsgate.  The  year  follow- 
ing he  became  one  of  the  morning  preachers 
at  St  George's,  Hanover-square,  and  obtained 
from  the  mercers'  company  the  appointment 
of  professor  of  astronomy  on  sir  Thomas  Gre- 
sham's  foundation.  This  latter  situation, 
however,  he  soon  resigned,  and  in  1764  was 
elected  by  the  parishioners,  in  whom  the  pa- 
tronage of  St  Anne's  Blackfriars  is  vested,  to 
the  rectory  of  that  parish  ;  which  he  enjoyed 
till  his  decease,  attracting  numerous  congre- 
gations by  his  eloquent  and  enthusiastic  man- 
ner of  preaching,  and  occasionally  engaging 
in  itinerant  labours  of  the  same  description, 
which  placed  him  in  the  foremost  rank  of  Cal- 
vinistic  methodists.  His  zeal,  indeed,  was 
sometimes  indulged  at  the  expense  of  his  can- 
dour ;  and  in  some  particulars  he  has  been  ac- 
cused of  very  unwarrantable  alterations  intro- 
duced into  his  edition  of  Calasio's  Concord- 
ance (published  1749,  iu  four  folio  volumes), 
for  the  purpose  of  serving  the  Hutchinsonian 
interpretation  of  particular  passages  in  the 
Bible.  His  other  works  consist  of  eight  vo- 
lumes of  sermons,  and  other  religious  tracts, 
one  of  which,  on  the  Divine  Legation  of  the 
Jewish  Lawgiver,  drew  a  very  warm  reply  from 
bishop  Warburton,  whose  opinions  lie  had 
very  unceremoniously  attacked  in  it.  He  ob-  '• 
tallied  such  popularity  by  his  opposition  to  the  i 
bill  for  the  naturalization  of  the  Jews,  that  his 
publications  on  that  subject  were  printed  by 
the  corporation  of  London.  Mr  Romaine 
died  at  the  rectory-house  of  St  Anne's  Black- 
friars,  July  26,  1795. —  Life  by  Cadogan. 

ROMANO  (JuLio).    See  JULIO  ROMANO. 

ROMANZOFF  (PETER  ALEXANDROWITZ, 
count)  a  Russian  general  and  field-marshal, 
born  about  1730.  He  was  descended  fronj  an 
illustrious  family,  and  having  entered  into  the 
army  when  very  young,  his  courage  and  abi- 
lities soon  procured  him  promotion.  He  com- 
manded at  the  taking  of  Colberg  in  1761  ;  and 
iu  the  following  year  the  death  of  Peter  111 


ROM 

prevented  the  invasion  of  Holstein,  which  he 
was  about  to  undertake  at  the  head  of  40,00(1 
men.  Catherine  II  made  peace  with  the 
Danes;  and  in  1769  she  employed  UomanzolF 
against  the  Turks.  He  succeeded  prince  A. 
Cialatzin,  as  commander-in-chief,  in  1770,  and 
obtained  many  advantages  over  the  enemy  in 
that  and  the  following  years  previously  to  the 
treaty  into  which  lie  forced  the  grand  vizir  to 
enter  in  his  camp  at  Kainardgi,  iu  July  1774, 
The  empress  magnificently  rewarded  her  suc- 
cessful general,  who  soon  after  set  out  for  iiif 
government  of  the  Ukraine.  He  was  recalled 
to  attend  the  grand  duke  Paul  to  Berlin,  of 
his  marriage  with  the  princess  of  Wurtem 
berg,  when  he  was  treated  with  great  distinc- 
tion by  the  king  of  Prussia,  Frederick  ]  I. 
Romanzoff  served  against  the  Turks  in  the 
war  which  commenced  in  1787  ;  but  being 
disgusted  with  the  conduct  of  prince  Potem- 
kin,  who  had  the  chief  command,  he  retired 
to  his  estate  in  the  Ukraine  in  the  beginning  of 
the  year  1789,  and  there  he  passed  the  latter 
part  of  his  life.  He  died  in  December  1796. 
Posthumous  honours  were  paid  to  him  by  Paul 
I,  and  his  successor  Alexander,  who  erected  a 
statue  of  the  marshal,  with  the  inscription 
"To  theVictories  of  Romauzoff." — Bing.Unir. 

ROME  DE  LISLE  (JOHN  BAPTIST 
Louis)  a  distinguished  writer  on  mineralogy, 
born  at  Grai,  in  the  department  of  Upper 
Saone,  in  1736.  After  having  studied  at 
Paris,  he  went  to  the  East  Indies,  as  secretary 
to  a  company  of  artillery  and  engineers  ;  and 
being  taken  prisoner  by  the  English  at  Pondi- 
cherry,  he  visited  China,  and  returned  to 
France  in  1764.  Assisted  by  the  counsels  of 
M.  Sage,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  cultivation 
of  natural  history,  and  especially  of  minera- 
logy ;  and  lie  became  domesticated  with  M. 
Ennery,  a  rich  amateur  at  Paris,  who  pos- 
sessed a  valuable  cabinet  of  medals.  After 
the  death  of  that  gentleman  he  subsisted  on  a 
small  pension  from  the  king,  which  he  ob- 
tained in  1785,  and  which  was  augmented  by 
Lous  XVI  a  short  time  before  the  decease  of 
Rome  de  Lisle,  which  occurred  March  7, 
1790.  His  principal  works  are,  "  Cristallo- 
graphie,  ou  Description  des  Formes  propres  a 
tous  les  Corps  de  Regne  Minerale  dans  1'Etat 
de  Combinaisou  Saline,  Pierreuse,  ou  Metal- 
lique,"  1783,  4  vols.  8vo  ;  "  Des  Caracteres 
exterieurs  des  Mineraux,"  1785,  a  supplement 
to  the  foregoing  treatise  ;  and  "  Metrologie, 
ou  Tables  pour  servir  a  1'Intelligence  des  Poids 
et  Mesures  des  Aucieus,  et  principalement  a 
determiner  la  Valeur  des  Monnaies  Grecques 
etRomaines,"  1789,  4to. —  Bic>«>  Univ. 

ROMILLY  (JOHN)  an  eminent  horologist, 
born  at  Geneva  in  1714.  To  a  practical 
knowledge  of  his  art,  he  joined  an  intimate 
acquaintance  with  its  theory,  which  he  deve- 
loped in  a  number  of  articles  iu  the  French 
Encyclopedie.  In  1755  he  presented  to  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  at  Paris  a  watch,  which 
required  winding  up  but  once  in  eight  days, 
and  he  afterwards  constructed  one  which  kept 
going  a  year.  In  conjunction  with  his  son- 
in-law,  Corancez,  he  set  up,  in  1777,  the 


R  O  M 

"Journal  de  Paris, "in  which  he  published  me- 
teorological observations  and  scientific  essays. 
He  died  suddenly,  February  16,  17'.'6. —  Ro- 
Mrt.LY  (JOHN  EDWARD)  only  son  of  the  pre- 
ceding, was  born  in.  1739,  and  adopting  the 
ecclesiastical  profession,  lie  was  ordained  in 
1763,  and  three  years  after  was  chosen  pastor 
of  a  French  church  in  London.  A  delicate 
state  of  health  induced  him  to  return  to  Ge- 
neva, where  he  was  appointed  minister  of  the 
small  parish  of  Sacconai,  and  he  died  there, 
after  ten  years'  illness,  in  October  1799.  lie 
wrote  the  articles  Vertu  and  Tolerance  in  the 
"  Dictionnaire  Encyclopedique  ;"  and  fur- 
nished contributions  to  the  "  Memoires  de 
la  Litterature  "  of  Palissot.  He  acquired  dis- 
tinction as  a  preacher,  and  two  volumes  of  his 
"  Sermons  "  appeared  after  his  death. —  Bwg. 
Univ. 

PtOMlLLY  (sir  SAMUEL)  an  eminent  law- 
yer, was  the  son  of  a  jeweller,  of  French  ex- 
traction, who  carried  on  business  in  Frith- 
street,  Soho,  where  he  was  born  March  1, 
1757.  He  received  a  private  education,  and 
in  the  first  instance  was  placed  in  the  office  of 
a  solicitor,  which  he  qu'Hed  to  study  for  the 
bar,  to  which  he  was  called  in  1783.  For 
some  years  his  practice  was  chiefly  confined 
to  draughts  in  equity,  but  he  gradually  rose  to 
distinction  in  the  court  of  chancery,  in  which 
he  ultimately  took  the  lead,  being  equally  dis- 
tinguished by  his  profound  legal  information, 
and  logical  and  forcible  flow  of  eloquence  as  a 
pleader.  His  general  politics  agreeing  with 
those  of  the  whigs,  during  the  short  adminis- 
tration of  Mr  Fox  and  lord  Gienville,  lie  was 
appointed  solicitor-general,  and  knighted. 
When  his  party  went  out  of  office  he  also  re- 
tired, but  remained  in  parliament,  where  he 
became  highly  distinguished  by  his  talent  in 
debate,  and  by  the  argumentative  skill  and  elo- 
quence with  which  he  pleaded  the  necessity 
of  a  revision  of  the  criminal  code,  with  a  view 
to  the  limitation  of  capital  punishment,  and  a 
more  appropriate  regulation  of  the  scale  of  pe- 
nalties. On  this  subject  he  also  composed  a  very 
able  pamphlet,  and  to  his  exertion  in  this  direc- 
tion may  be  traced  the  final  determination  of 
the  executive  to  the  reforms  and  condensation 
of  the  various  acts  in  regard  to  crime,  which 
have  since  taken  place  under  the  superinten- 
dence of  Mr  Peel.  Sir  Samuel  Romilly  also 
published  an  energetic  remonstrance  against 
the  creation  of  the  office  of  vice-chancellor  ; 
and  was  in  the  height  of  popularity  and  repu- 
tation, when  a  nervous  disorder,  produced  by 
grief  at  the  death  of  his  lady,  to  whom  he  was 
devotedly  attached,  deprived  him  of  reason, 
and  in  a  fit  of  temporary  frenzy  he  terminated 
his  useful  and  philanthropic  existence,  No- 
vember 2,  1818,  to  the  great  regret  of  the  in- 
telligent and  humane  of  every  party. — Ann. 
Biog. 

ROMNEY  (GEORGE)  a  painter,  was  born 
at  Dalton  in  Lancashire,  in  1734.  After  some 
attempts  by  his  father  to  settle  him  in  trade, 
he  consented  to  let  him  become  a  painter,  and 
placed  him  with  an  artist  named  Steele.  In 
1762  he  came  to  London,  where  he  met  with 


RON 

_;rv;u  encouragement ;  aud  in  1765  he  gained 
a  prize  from  the  Society  for  the  Encourage- 
ment of  Arts  and  Sciences,  for  an  histo:i;;tl 
picture  of  the  "  Death  of  King  Edmund."  In 
1773  he  went  to  Italy,  where  he  staid  two 
years  ;  and  on  his  return  to  England  he  en- 
joyed the  most  uninterrupted  success  in  his 
profession,  in  one  year  painting  portraits  to 
the  value  of  3,635/.  lie  also  gave  some  fine 
specimens  of  his  talents  in  history,  in  the  illus- 
trations of  Boydell's  Shakspeare.  Ilomney 
died  in  1802.  In  the  composition  of  his 
figures  and  the  arrangement  of  the  drapery, 
Ilomney  displayed  his  study  of  the  antique. 
His  stvle  of  colouring  is  broad  and  simple, 
and  in  his  flesh  he  was  very  successful  ;  but 
he  is  not  always  happy  in  blending  his  shades, 
particularly  in  his  back-grounds. — Life  by 
Ha\i\eii.  Pilkington  by  Fiueli. 

"RONUELET  (WILLIAM)  an  eminent 
French  physician  and  naturalist,  born  atMont- 
pellier  in  1507.  He  studied  at  his  native 
place,  and  then  at  Paris,  after  which  he  be- 
came a  schoolmaster  at  Pertuis,  in  Provence. 
At  length  he  obtained  the  chair  of  medicine, 
and  ultimately  the  chancellorship  of  the  uni- 
versity of  Montpellier.  He  contributed,  by 
his  influence,  to  the  establishment  of  an  ana- 
tomical theatre  in  the  seminary  over  which 
he  presided  ;  and  he  otherwise  endeavoured 
to  promote  the  improvement  of  anatomy  ;  but 
he  is  principally  known  as  a  writer  on  ich- 
thyology. In  the  prosecution  of  his  researches 
into  the  natural  history  of  fishes,  he  travelled 
in  France  and  Flanders  ;  and  he  died  in  1366, 
on  his  return  from  a  journey  to  Toulouse.  He 
was  the  author  of  "  Libri  de  Piscibus  marinis, 
in  quibus  verx  Piscium  Effigies  expiimuntur," 
Luydun.  1554,  folio  ;  and  "  Universoe  Aqua- 
tilium  Historic,  cum  veris  ipsorum  Imagini- 
bus,"  15.54-55,  2  vols.  folio.  Both  these 
works  have  wood-cuts  ;  and  the  latter  was  re- 
published  in  French,  in  1558.  Rondelet  also 
wrote  on  medicine. — Kiceron.  Teissier,  Eloges 
des  H.  S.  Biog.  Univ. 

RONSARD  (PIERRE)  an  early  French 
poet,  who  contributed  considerably  to  the  im- 
provement of  the  language  and  literature  of 
his  native  country.  He  was  born  of  a  noble 
family  of  Vendome,  in  1524.  In  his  youth 
he  was  page  to  the  duke  of  Orleans,  and  hav- 
ing finished  his  education,  he  went  to  Scot- 
land, and  resided  some  time  at  the  court  of 
James  V.  On  his  return  from  his  travels,  he 
was  employed  in  a  diplomatic  capacity  in  Ger- 
many. He  afterwards  applied  himself  for 
several  years  to  the  cultivation  of  his  talents 
for  poetry,  under  the  direction  of  the  celebrated 
Dorat.  Becoming  a  candidate  for  the  poetical 
prize  at  the  Floral  games,  at  Toulouse,  he  tri- 
umphed over  his  competitors  ;  when,  instead  of 
a  silver  eglantine,  which  was  the  usual  object 
of  contest,  the  parliament  bestowed  on  Ron- 
sard  a*silver  statue  of  Minerva,  which  he  pre- 
sented to  Henry  II.  He  was  greatly  esteemed 
bv  that  prince,  and  also  by  his  successors, 
Francis  II  and  Charles  IX,  the  latter  of  whom 
he  attended  to  Bayonne,  when  he  went  there 
to  receive  his  sister,  the  queen  of  Spaiu.  He 


RO  O 

distinguished  himself  in  the  wars  against  the 
Huguenot  insurgents  ;  and  as  the  reward  of 
his  courage  or  his  talents,  he  obtained  the 
abbey  of  Bellozane.  He  was  also  prior  of 
the  monastery  of  St  Cosme,  near  Tours,  where 
he  died  December  27,  1.585.  His  writings 
consist  of  sonnets,  madrigals,  eclogues,  lyric 
pieces,  elegies,  and  satires ;  besides  an  epic 
poem,  entitled  "  La  Franciade,"  which  is  said 
to  be  the  worst  of  his  productions,  a~d  Lis 
hymns  and  odes  are  reckoned  the  best. — 
Teissier,  ElogcsdesH.  S.  Bu.6.  Univ. 

ROOKE  (sir  GE    RGE)  a  gallant  and  suc- 
cessful   English    admiral,     descended    of    an 
ancient  family  of  the  same  name,  in  the  county 
of  Kent,  where  he  was  born  in  1650.  Although 
originally  intended  by  his  friends   for  one  of 
the  liberal  professions,  his  strong  predilection 
for  a  seafaring  life  induced  them  to  yield  to  his 
entreaties,  and  to  permit  him  to  enter  the  royal 
navy  at  an  early  age,  in  which  he  rose  by  rapid 
but  regular  gradation  to  the  highest  situations. 
His  conduct  in  a  variety  of  naval  expeditions 
under  king  William  and   queen    Anne  placed 
his  name  in  the  foremost  rank  of  the  defen- 
ders of  his  country ;  especially  the  gallantry 
which  he  displayed  in  the  destruction  of  the 
French  and  Spanish  fleets  in  Vigo  bay,  1702, 
and  the  capture  of  that  highly  important  for- 
tress, Gibraltar,  in  1704,  a  place  then  deemed 
impregnable,   and    which    has    since,   in   the 
hands  of  the  English,  defied  all  efforts  made 
to  reduce  it.      In  the   intervals  afforded  him 
from  active  service  abroad,  sir  George  occupied 
a  seat  during  several  successive  parliaments 
for  the  borough  of    Portsmouth,   as  well  as 
another  at  the  council-board  of  the  lord  high 
admiral,    prince   George    of    Denmark.     The 
independent  spirit,    however,    of   the    honest 
sailor,  rendered  him  less  successful  in  his  civil 
than  in  his  martial  career;   and  his  votes  on 
several  occasions,  particularly  one  in  favour  ol 
the  appointment  of  Mr  Harley  to  the  speaker- 
ship  of  the  house   of  Commons  in  1701,  ob- 
scured all  his  merits  in  the  eyes  of  the  court 
party,  and  he  was  repeatedly  attacked   will 
much  acrimony,  the  value  of  his  services  de- 
preciated, and   his   good  fortune   ascribed  to 
accident.     Party  spirit  prevailed,  and  the  gal- 
lant, officer  at  length  retired  in  disgust  from 
the  service  to   his  family  seat  in  Kent,  where 
he  died  January  24,  1709  ;  declaring,  in  allu- 
sion to  the  contracted  fortune  which   he  left 
behind  him,  that  "  though  small,   it  was  ho- 
nestly acquired,  and  had  never  cost  a  sailor  a 


tear  nor  the  nation  a  far  thin  £ 


A  handsome 


monument  is  erected  to  his  memory  in  Can- 
terbury cathedral,  the  place  of  his  interment. 
—  Campbell's  Lives  of  the  Admirals. 

ROOKE  (LAURENCE)  an  eminent  geome- 
trician and  astronomer  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, born  at  Deptford  in  Kent,  1623.  From 
Eton  college  he  removed  on  a  foundation  fel- 
lowship to  King's  college,  Cambridge,  where 
he  graduated,  and  was  afterwards  admitted  ad 
eundem  at  Wadham  college,  in  the  sister  uni- 
versity, in  1650.  Two  years  after  he  was 
elected  to  the  astronomical  professorship  in 
Gresham  college,  which  Le  exchanged  in  1655 


RO  Q 

or  that  of  geometry  on  the  same  foundation. 

Mr  Ilooke  was  one   of  the  original  members 

of  the   Royal  Society,  and  published  several 

jhilosophical  treatises   "  On   the   Eclipses  of 

he  JYIoon,  and  of  the  Satellites  of  Jupiter  ;" 

'  Directions  ibr  Sailors  going  to  India  ;"  "  On 

Comets,"  &c.  among  the  Transactions  of  the 

Society.     His  death   took   place   in    1662. — 

Ward's  Gresham  Professors. 

HOOKER  (MICHAEL)  an  ingenious  engra- 
ver, son  to  an  artist  in  the  same  line,  and  born 
n  1743.  He  studied  under  his  father  and  the 
celebrated  Paul  Sandby,  who  highly  esteemed 
us  talents,  and  from  his  success  in  the  execu- 
tion of  architectural  subjects  more  especially, 
used  to  designate  him  the  Michael  Angelo  of 
engraving.  Some  fine  specimens  of  his  art 
are  to  be  seen  in  the  plates  to  some  of  the  ear- 
lier Oxford  almanacs,  delineating  many  of  the 
principal  buildings  in  that  university.  Mr 
Rooker  died  in  1801. — Strutt. 

ROQUE  (ANTHONY  de  la)  chevalier  de  St 
Louis,  a  native  of  Marseilles,  known  as  a  man 
of  letters  in  the  early  part  of  the  last  century. 
He  entered  into  the  army,  and  served  in  the 
gendarmerie  ;  but  having  lost  a  leg  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Malplaquet,  he  curned  his  attention  to 
literature,  and  becoming  conductor  of  the 
Mercure  de  France,"  he  carried  it  on  in 
conjunction  with  his  brother,  the  subject  of  tlie 
following  article.  Anthony  de  la  Roque  also 
wrote  "  Histoire  des  Spectacles  ancieus  et 
modernes  ;"  and  "  Memoires  pour  servir  a 
1'Histoire  des  Personnes  qui  se  sont  distin- 
guees  dans  les  Arts  et  dans  les  Metiers."  He 
died  at  Paris  in  1744. — Camusat,  Hist,  dts 
Journaux.  Biog.  Univ. 

ROQUE  (JOHN  de  la)  brother  and  coad- 
jutor of  the  preceding,  was  born  at  Marseilles, 
and  died  at  Paris  in  174.5,  aged  eighty-four. 
He  was  acquainted  with  the  Oriental  lan- 
guages, and  made  several  voyages  to  the  Le- 
vant, of  which  he  gave  an  account  in  his 
"  Voyage  de  1'Arabie  Heureuse,"  12mo  ; 
"  Voyage  de  la  Palestine,"  12mo  ;  and"  Voy- 
age deSyrie  et  duMont  Liban,"  12mo  ;  which 
works  afford  much  interesting  information. — 
"Eadem. 

ROQUE  (GILES  ANDREW  de  la)  a  French 
writer  on  heraldry,  born  of  a  noble  family  in 
Normandy,  in  1597.  He  at  first  adopted  the; 
ecclesiastical  profession,  and  took  orders  as  a 
sub-deacon  ;  but  repenting  of  his  engagement, 
he  obtained  from  ROUT?  a  dispensation  to  enter 
into  wedlock.  Having  taken  a  wife,  he  be- 
came again  discontented  with  his  situation, 
and  procured  a  separation  by  allowing  her  a 
pension.  He  then  devoted  himself  to  studv, 
paying  particular  attention  to  genealogy  ;  and 
his  acquaintance  with  the  family  history  of 
the  Norman  nobility  and  gentry  was  most  mi- 
nute and  extensive.  On  losing  his  wife,  he 
resumed  his  clerical  station  ;  but,  somewhat 
inconsistently,  he  continued  to  take  the  title 
o.r  chevalier,  sieur  de  la  Lontiere.  He  died 
at  Paris,  in  1686.  Among  his  principal  works 
are  "  Histoire  genealogique  de  la  Maison 
d'Harcourt,  avec  les  Preuves,"  Paris,  1662, 
4  vols.  folio  j  "  Traite  singulier  du  Blasuu," 


ROS 

12mo;  "  Trait6  du  Ban  et  Arriereban,  de 
son  Origine  et  de  ses  Convocations,"  1676, 
12mo  ;  and  "  Trait6  de  la  Noblesse,  et  de 
ses  differentos  Especes,"  1678,  4to. — Huet, 
Orig.  de  Caen.  Biog.  Univ. 

KOSA  (SALVATOR)  a  celebrated  painter, 
distinguished  likewise  as  a  musician  and  a 
poet.  He  was  the  son  of  an  architect  and  sur- 
veyor, and  was  born  at  the  village  of  Renella, 
in  the  kingdom,  of  Naples,  in  1615.  He  was 
intended  for  the  church  ;  but  leaving  of  his 
own  accord  the  seminary  in  which  he  had 
been  placed  for  education,  at  the  age  of  six- 
teen, he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  music, 
and  with  such  success  that  he  became  a  skilful 
composer.  His  eldest  sister  having  married 
Francisco  Francanzaui,  a  painter  of  conside- 
rable talent,  Salvator,  from  frequenting  his 
work-room,  acquired  a  predilection  for  the 
art,  in  which  he  afterwards  excelled.  He  at 
first  amused  himself  with  copying  whatever 
pleased  his  fancy  in  the  paintings  of  his  bro- 
ther-in-law ;  and  his  latent  genius  being  thus 
awakened,  his  sketches  were  so  much  ad- 
mired that  he  was  easily  persuaded  to  adopt 
painting  as  a  profession.  But  his  taste  was 
formed  more  from  the  study  of  nature  among 
the  wilds  of  the  Appenines  than  from  the  les- 
sons of  other  artists  ;  and  he  delighted  iu  de- 
lineating scenes  of  gloomy  grandeur  and  ter- 
rible magnificence,  to  which  the  boldness  of 
his  conceptions,  and  the  fidelity  of  his  repre- 
sentations, communicate  a  peculiar  degree  of 
interest.  He  worked  for  some  time  at  Naples 
in  obscurity,  till  one  of  his  pictures  being  ob- 
served by  the  famous  painter  Lanfranco,  he 
generously  recommended  Salvator  to  notice, 
and  was  the  means  of  his  procuring  effectual 
patronage  and  support.  He  removed  to  Rome, 
where  he  established  his  reputation,  and 
raised  himself  to  celebrity  and  independance. 
He  afterwards  went  to  Florence,  where  he 
was  patronized  and  employed  by  the  grand 
duke  and  other  members  of  the  family  of 
Medici.  At  length  returning  to  Rome,  he 
painted  many  pictures  for  the  churches  in  that 
city,  where  he  died  in  1673.  His  satires  and 
other  poetical  productions  have  been  often 
printed  under  the  title  of  "  Rime  di  Salvatore 
Rosa,  Pittore  e  Poeta  Napolitana."—  OrLandi. 
Ladif  Morgan's  Life  and  Times  of  Rosa. 

ROSALBA.    'See  CAHIUERA. 

ROSCELLINUS,  founder  of  the  scholastic 
sect  of  the  nominalists,  was  a  native  of  Bri- 
tanny,  where  he  flourished  towards  the  end  of 
the  eleventh  and  the  commencement  of  the 
twelfth  century.  He  distinguished  himself  by 
his  proficiency  in  logic  and  metaphysics,  and 
being  presented  with  a  canonry  in  the  diocese 
of  Soissons,  he  delivered  lectures  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  chapter,  in  which,  contrary  to  the 
principles  of  Aristotle,  he  taught  that  univer- 
sals  subsist,  not  prior  to  individual  bodies,  nor 
after  them,  but  within  them,  and  that  they 
are  mere  names  or  words  by  which  kinds  of 
individuals  are  expressed.  Hence  he  and  his 
followers  obtained  the  name  of  nominalists, 
and  their  opponents  that  of  realists.  By  ap- 
plying this  doctrine  to  the  trinity  he  brought 


ROS 

on  himself  a  suspicion  of  heresy  and  of  tri- 
theisrn,  and  was  obliged  to  retract.  Fatigued 
at  length  with  controversy  and  persecution, 
he  retired  into  Aquitaine,  where  he  distin- 
guished himself  by  his  piety  and  charity.  The 
time  of  his  death  is  unknown. — Erucker 
Mosheim. 

ROSCIUS  (QUINTUS")  a  famous  Roman 
actor,  was  a  native  of  Narbonnensian  Gaul, 
and  was  contemporary  at  Rome  with  the  tra- 
gedian /Esopus.  Cicero  states  that  he  carried 
his  art  to  perfection,  and  that  he  was  no  less 
esteemed  for  his  moral  conduct  and  liberality 
than  for  his  professional  talents.  His  person 
is  said  to  have  been  agreeable,  but  he  had  a 
slight  obliquity  of  vision,  which  however  did 
not  prevent  him  from  playing  without  a  mask. 
He  was  raised  to  the  senatorial  rank,  and  died 
at  Rome,  BC.  61.  He  wrote  a  "  Parallel  be- 
tween the  theatrical  and  oratorical  Action," 
which  is  lost.  —  Ciceronis  Opera.  Pliny. 
Moreri. 

ROSE  (GEORGE)  a  well-known  statesman 
and  political  writer,  was  born  at  Brechin  in 
Angusshire,  in  1744.  He  entered  the  navy, 
and  became  a  purser,  but  through  the  interest 
of  the  earl  of  Marchmont  he  was  afterwards 
made  keeper  of  the  records  in  the  exchequer. 
He  next  superintended  the  publication  of  the 
Domesday  Book,  and  completed  the  Journals 
of  the  Lords.  On  the  return  of  Mr  Pitt  to 
power,  Mr  Rose  was  made  president  of  the 
board  of  trade,  and  treasurer  of  the  navy, 
which  situations  he  lost  on  the  death  of  that 
minister,  but  afterwards  he  regained  them, 
and  held  them  until  his  death,  which  took 
place  at  Cuffhells,  his  seat  in  Hampshire,  in 
1818.  He  published  "  Observations  on  the 
Poor  Laws  ;"  "  A  Pamphlet  on  Friendly  So- 
cieties ;"  "  Considerations  on  the  Debt  Due 
by  the  Civil  List ;"  "  Observations  on  the 
Historical  Work  of  the  late  Rijht  Hon. 
Charles  James  Fox,  &c. ;"  "  A  Letter  to 
Lord  Melville  relative  to  the  Creation  of  a 
Naval  Arsenal  at  Northfleet ;"  "  A  Report 
on  the  Records ;"  "  A  Brief  Examination 
into  the  Increase  of  the  Revenues,  Commerce, 
and  Navigation  of  Great  Britain  ;"  "  Obser- 
vations respecting  the  Public  Expenditure, 
and  the  Influence  of  the  Crown  ;"  speeches 
on  various  occasions,  &c. — Ann.  Biog. 

ROSEN  DE  ROSENSTEIN  (NICHOLAS) 
a  Swedish  physician,  born  in  West  Gothland 
in  1706.  He  studied  at  Lund,  and  afterwards 
at  Upsal,  and  then  travelled  with  the  young 
count  Posse.  In  Germany  he  attended  the 
lectures  of  HofF"'2an,  and  in  Holland  those  of 
Muschenbroek  and  Boerhaave ;  and  at  the 
university  of  Harderwyk  he  took  the  degree  of 
MD.  and  published  an  academical  thesis. 
Returning  in  17. Si  to  Upsal,  where  he  had 
been  appointed  adjunct-professor  of  medicine, 
he  entered  on  the  duties  of  his  station,  in 
which  he  attained  great  eminence.  He  was 
at  length  made  physician  to  the  king,  assessor 
of  the  college  of  medicine,  professor  and  ar- 
chiater  ;  and  he  was  ennobled  and  honoured 
with  the  knighthood  of  the  polar  star.  He  con- 
tributed greatly  to  the  introduction  of  innocu- 


KOS 

httion  for  the  small-pox  into  Sweden,  for  which 
he  received  from  the  government  a  gratuity 
of  100,000  rix-dollars.  Rosen  died  at  Upsal 
in  1773.  He  published  several  professional 
works,  the  best-known  of  which  is  his  "  Trea- 
tise on  the  Diseases  of  Children,"  which  has 
been  translated  into  several  languages. — Biog. 
Univ. 

ROSENMULLER  (JOHN  GEORGE)  a 
learned  German  divine  and  theological  writer, 
born  at  Ummerstadt,  in  the  county  of  Hild- 
burghausen,  i-n  1736.  Having  finished  his 
studies,  he  entered  on  the  pastoral  office,  and 
in  1773  he  became  professor  of  divinity  in  the 
university  of  Erlangen.  After  remaining  in 
that  situation  ten  years,  he  removed  to  Gies- 
sen  ;  and  in  1785  he  obtained  the  theological 
chair  at  Leipsic.  His  death  took  place  in  1815. 
The  principal  works  of  professor  Rosenmuller 
are,  "  Emendationes  et  Supplementa  ad  Nov. 
Test."  Nuremb.  1789—91,  2  vols.  8vo  ;  "  His- 
toria  Interpretationes  sacr.  Libror.  in  Eccles 
Christ."  Lips.  1795 — 1814,  5  vols.  8vo ; 
"  Scholia  in  Novum  Testamentum,"  Nuremb. 
1801 — 8,  5  vols.  8vo,  and  Sermons  or  Homi- 
lies, 1814,  8vo. — Month.  Mag. 

ROSS  (ALEXANDER)  a  professed  author 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  whose  numerous 
works  display  more  industry  than  talent.  He 
seems,  however,  to  have  enjoyed  considerable 
popular  reputation  as  a  sort  of  encyclopedical 
writer,  for  to  him  Butler  alludes  in  the  often- 
quoted  couplet,  in  his  Hudibras  : — 

"  There  was  an  ancient  sage  philosopher, 

And  lie  had  read  Alexander  Ross  over." 
Ross  was  a  native  of  Scotland,  and  having 
been  episcopally  ordained,  he  became  master 
of  a  free-school  at  Southampton,  where  he  died 
in  1654,  aged  sixty-three.  Among  his  pro- 
ductions are,  "  Virgilius  Evangelizans,"  a 
cento  from  the  /Eneis,  on  the  Gospel  history  ; 
"  The  Muse's  Interpreter,  a  Key  to  Mytho- 
logy ;"  a  continuation  of  sir  W.  Raleigh's 
"  History  of  the  World  ;"  and  "  A  View  of 
all  Religions,"  which  went  through  many 
editions. — Chalmers's  Sing,  Diet. 

ROSS  (DAVID)  a  theatrical  performer,  who 
was  contemporary  with  Garrick.  He  was  born 
in  1768,  and  was  educated  at  Westminster 
school.  Going  on  the  stage  when  young,  in 
opposition  to  the  will  of  his  father,  he  was  dis- 
inherited ;  notwithstanding  which  the  general 
respectability  of  his  character  secured  him  the 
countenance  of  other  friends.  He  made  his 
first  appearance  at  Drury-lane,  in  1751,  and 
was  well  received.  His  talents  were  not  of 
the  highest  order,  but  having  the  advantages 
of  a  good  figure  and  a  classical  education,  he 
succeeded  in  acquiring  reputation  both  as  a 
tragic  and  a  comic  actor.  His  personification 
of  George  Barn  well,  at  Christmas  in  1752, 
is  said  to  have  made  such  an  extraordinary 
impression  on  one  of  the  spectators,  a  mer- 
chant's clerk,  who  had  been  guilty  of  pecula- 
tion to  supply  the  demands  of  a  mistress,  as 
not  only  to  produce  a  reformation  in  the  youth, 
but  also  an  annual  present  from  him  of  ten 
guineas,  to  his  theatrical  monitor.  Mr  Ross 
left  Drury-lane  in  1778  ;  and  he  subsisted  in 


ROS 

the  latter  part  of  his  life  on  an  ill-paid  annuity 
arising  from  a  mortgage  on  the  Edinburgh 
theatre,  of  which  he  had  been  manager.  He 
died  in  London,  September,  14,  1790. — 
Thes]i.  Diet. 

ROSS  (JOHN)  a  learned  prelate,  was  born 
in  Herefordshire,  and  became  fellow  of  St 
John's  college,  Cambridge,  where  he  took  his 
doctor's  degree  in  1756.  He  was  vicar  of 
Frome  in  Somersetshire,  and  in  1778  he  was 
made  bishop  of  Exeter.  He  wrote  a  defence 
of  the  epistles  said  to  have  been  written  by 
Cicero  to  Brutus,  and  published  an  edition  of 
the  "  Epistolae  Familiares,"  2  vols.  8vo  ;  also 
some  sermons  on  different  occasions.  Dr  Ross 
died  at  Exeter  m  1792. — Gent.  Mag. 

ROSSI  CGIAN  VITTORIO)  Latin,  JANUS 
NICIUS  1EYTHRJEUS)  a  learned  Italian, 
was  born  at  Rome  in  1577,  and  was  educated 
under  the  Jesuits  of  the  Roman  college.  He 
afterwards  entered  the  academy  degli  Umo- 
risti,  of  which  he  was  a  zealous  promoter. 
He  became  secretary  to  cardinal  Andrea  Pe- 
retti,  on  whose  death  he  retired  to  a  villa  on 
mount  Sant'  Onofrio,  where  he  died  in  1647. 
He  was  much  esteemed  by  the  learned  men 
of  his  time,  but  is  now  best  known  by  his 
classical  name  of  Erythrsus.  He  wrote  four 
volumes  of  epistles  to  various  persons  ;  "  Pin- 
acotheca  Imaginum  illustrium  Virorum,"  or 
biographical  accounts  of  several  of  his  learned 
contemporaries  ;  a  satire  on  the  corrupt  man- 
ners of  the  Romans,  entitled  "  Eudemia, 
lib.  x.  ;"8vo;  dialogues,  &c.  &c. — Tiraboschi. 

ROSTGAARD  (FREDERICK)  a  learned 
Dane,  born  in  Zealand,  in  1671.  From  his 
arly  years  he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of 
old  manuscripts  ;  and  after  residing  some  time 
at  the  university  of  Copenhagen,  he  visited 
Giessen,  Leyden,  and  Oxford  ;  and  from  1695 
to  1698  he  took  up  his  abode  at  Paris,  where 
he  copied  many  MSS.  in  the  Royal  Library. 
After  a  journey  to  Italy,  lie  returned  home  in 
1699,  and  was  raised  to  various  employments, 
such  as  archivist,  counsellor  of  justice,  &c. 
In  1735  he  obtained  the  title  of  counsellor  of 
conference,  having  previously  had  a  pension 
from  the  king.  He  died  in  1745.  He  col- 
lected a  multitude  of  valuable  books  and  ma- 
nuscripts, and  in  1726  he  published,  under 
the  title  of  "  Bibliotheca  Rostgardiana,"  a 
catalogue  of  his  library,  which  he  afterwards 
sold.  He  resumed  the  task  of  collection,  and 
at  his  deatb  left  his  books  and  MSS.  to  the 
university  of  Copenhagen.  His  original  pub- 
lications are  few  and  unimportant  ;  but  he 
drew  from  obscurity  and  committed  to  the 
press  many  valuable  works,  among  which  may 
be  mentioned,  "  Lex  Regia,"  Copenh.  1709, 
folio.  He  left  in  manuscript  a  Danish  Latin 
Dictionary ;  and  a  "  Thesaurus  geuealogicus 
Familiarum  nobilium  Regni  Danias." — Bio*. 

a  O 

Univ. 

ROSWEIDE  (HERIBERT)  a  learned  Jesuit, 
was  born  at  Utrecht  in  1569.  He  was  pro- 
fessor of  philosophy  and  divinity,  first  at 
Douay,  and  afterwards  at  Antwerp.  lie  died 
in  1629.  He  wrote  various  philosophical  and 
ecclesiastical  works,  the  principal  of  which  are 


RO  U 

the  following,  "  An  Account  of  the  Hermits 
of  Egypt  and  Palestine  ;"  "  The  History  of  the 
Belgic  Church  ;"  "  An  Ecclesiastical  History 
from  the  time  of  Christ  to  Pope  Urban  VIII," 
2  vols,  folio;  "  Fasti  Sanctorum  quorum  Vita? 
in  Belgicis  Bibliothecis  Manuscripts:  asser- 
vantur,"  which  lie  intended  as  a  specimen  of 
a  larger  work,  and  which  was  the  prelude  to 
the  immense  collection  of  "  Acta  Sanctorum," 
by  Bollandus  and  others. — Barman  Tr/ijcct. 
Erudit.  Alegambe.  Foppens  Bibl.  Belg. 

ROTGANS  (LUKE)  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished of  the  Dutch  poets,  was  born  at  Am- 
sterdam in  1645.  Having  been  initiated  in 
classical  literature,  he  entered  into  the  army 
as  an  ensign  in  1672  ;  but  after  two  years' 
service,  not  meeting  with  promotion,  he  re- 
tired to  his  country  house,  between  Amster- 
dam and  Utrecht,  where  he  renewed  his  stu- 
dies. Subsequent  to  the  peace  of  Nimeguen, 
he  took  a  journey  to  Paris;  and  on  his  return 
home  he  married  Anns  Adriana  Sallengre, 
who  died  in  1689,  leaving  two  daughters. 
Rotgnns  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  retirement 
in  the  country,  employing  himself  in  poetical 
composition.  He  died  in  1710.  Ilotgans 
was  the  author  of  an  epic  poem,  in  eight 
books,  the  hero  of  which  was  William  111  ; 
besides  several  pieces  of  minor  importance. — 
Biog.  Univ. 

IIOTHSCHOLZ  (FREDERICK)  a  learned 
German  bookseller,  born  in  Lower  Silesia,  in 
1687.  He  was  from  his  youth  destined  for 
commerce,  though  his  taste  prompted  him  to 
prefer  literature.  After  attending  some  courses 
of  lectures  at  Leipsic  and  Halle,  he  engaged  in 
business,  and  at  length  settled  at  Nuremberg. 
He  carried  on  an  extensive  correspondence 
with  men  of  learning,  and  published  a  vast 
number  of  works,  of  which  he  was  the  author 
or  editor.  Among  the  most  important  are, 
"  Icones  Eruditorum  Academic  Altdorfina?," 
17521,  folio;  "  Icones  Virorum  omnium  ordi- 
iium  Eruditione  meritorum,"  1725, 1731,  folio; 
"  Memoirs  for  a  History  of  Learned  Men," 
1725 — 26,  3  vols.  8vo  ;  and  "BibliothecaChe- 
inica  Rothscholziana,"  1727 — 1733,  in  five 
parts.  lie  died  in  1736. — Biog.  Univ. 

ROTIIOU  (.TOHN  de)  a  French  dramatic 
writer,  was  born  at  Dreux,  in  1609.  He  made 
great  improvements  in  the  composition  of 
dramatic  pieces,  both  tragic  and  comic,  whence 
he  is  called  by  Voltaire  "  the  founder  of  the 
theatre  ;"  and  Peter  Corneille  used  to  call  him 
Ins  father.  He  died  in  1650,  at  Dreux,  where 
he  held  the  office  of  lieutenant-particular.  His 
chefs-d'oeuvre  are  "  Chosroes,"  "Antigone," 
and  "Wenceslaus." — Moreri.  Nonv.Dict.  Hist. 

ROUBAUD  (PETER  JOSEPH  ANDREW)  a 
miscellaneous  writer,  born  at  Avignon,  in 
1730.  He  was  from  his  youth  destined  for 
the  church,  into  which  he  entered  more  for 
convenience  than  from  inclination.  Going  to 
Paris,  his  talents  and  agreeable  dispoj-ition 
procured  him  friends,  but  unwilling  to  be  de- 
pendent on  others  for  his  support,  he  had 
recourse  to  his  pen.  He  became  connected 
with  the  sect  of  the  Economists,  of  whose 
plans  he  was  an  ardent  admirer  and  panegy- 


ROU 

rtst.  His  first  work  was  an  essay  on  syno- 
nyms, which  was  well  received.  He  then  en- 
gaged with  Camus,"  in  the  "  Journal  du  Com- 
merce," from  1759  to  1762,  Brussels,  24  vols. 
12mo  ;  next  with  Dupont  de  Nemours,  Ques- 
nay,  Mirabeau,  and  others,  in  "  Journal  de 
1'Agricultnre,  du  Commerce,  et  des  Financfs," 
1764 — 1774  ;  and  afterwards  with  Ameilhon, 
in  another  journal.  He  was  also  the  author 
of  "  Histoire  de  1'Asie,  de  1'Afrique,  et  de 
I'Amerique,"  Paris,  1770 — 75, 15  vols.  12mo  ; 
and  "  Nouveaux  Synonymes  Francais," 
1785,  4  vols.  8vo,  of  which  a  new  and  en- 
larged edition  appeared  in  1796.  He  died  at 
Paris  in  November  1792.  His  last  work  was 
a  defence  of  the  right  of  the  pope  to  the  ter- 
ritory of  Avignon,  for  which  he  receivi  d  a 
present  from  the  papal  nuncio. —  Biog.  Unto. 

ROUB1LLIAC  (Louis  FRANCIS)  an  emi- 
nent sculptor,  who  was  a  native  of  Lyons  in 
France.  He  settled  in  England  in  the  reign 
of  George  I ;  and  in  the  absolute  ('earth  of  na- 
tive talent  which  prevailed  at  that  period,  lie 
long  stood  at  the  head  of  his  profession.  He 
executed  a  statue  of  Handel  for  Vauxhall- 
gardens,  and  another  of  sir  Isaac  Newton 
erected  at  Trinity  college,  Cambridge  ;  but  he 
was  chiefly  employed  on  sepulchral  monu- 
ments, among  which  may  be  particularized 
that  for  John  duke  of  Argyle  in  Westminster 
abbey.  His  statues  of  George  I,  and  of  the 
duke  of  Somerset,  in  the  senate-house  at  Cam- 
bridge ;  and  his  monuments  for  the  duke  and 
duchess  of  Montagu,  at  Boughton  in  Nor- 
thamptonshire, also  deserve  to  be  noticed  with 
approbation.  Lord  Chesterfield  said  of  him, 
"  Roubilliac  was  our  only  statuary,  and  that 
other  artists  were  mere  stone-cutters."  He 
had  some  talent  for  poetry,  and  wrote  satires 
in  his  native  language.  His  death  took  place 
January  11,  1762,  at  his  residence  in  St  Mar- 
tin's-lane,  London. —  Walpute's  Anec. 

ROUGHER  (JOHN  ANTHONY)  a  French 
poet  and  man  of  letters,  born  at  Montpellier 
in  1745.  He  studied  among  the  Jesuits,  who 
endeavoured  to  attach  him  to  their  society, 
but  in  vain.  At  the  age  of  twenty  he  went  to 
Paris  to  continue  his  studies  at  the  Sorbonne, 
with  a  view  to  the  church  ;  but  he  renounced 
his  hopes  of  ecclesiastical  promotion,  to  de- 
vote himself  entirely  to  literature.  He  pub- 
lished many  poetical  compositions  in  the  "Al- 
manach  des  Muses,"  from  1772  to  1787  ;  and 
a  poem,  entitled  "  La  France  et  1'Autriche  au 
Temple  de  1'IIymen,"  on  occasion  of  tlie  mar- 
riage of  Louis  XVI  and  Marie  Antoinette, 
procured  him  the  patronage  of  Turgot,  and 
the  office  of  receiver  of  gabelles,  at  Montfort 
1'Amauri.  When  the  Revolution  took  place, 
lie  opposed  the  excesses  of  the  more  violent 
politicians ;  and  during  the  reign  of  terror  he 
was  obliged  to  conceal  himself.  He  was  dis- 
covered and  arrested  ;  being  set  free,  he  wan 
arrested  again  in  October  1793,  and  after 
more  than  seven  months'  confinement  he  suf- 
fered under  the  guillotine.  His  principal  pro- 
duction is  a  poem,  entitled  "  Les  Mois," 
|  1779,  2  vols.  4to  ;  and  he  translated  Adam 
1  Smith's  Wealth  of  Nations. — JjiW.  UHIV. 


ROU 

ROUELLF,  (VVn.r.iAM  FRANCIS)  a  cele- 
brated French  chemist,  born  near  Caen  in 
1703.  He  studied  in  the  university  of  that 
city,  but  lie  owed  the  principal  part  of  his  sci- 
entific acquirements  to  bis  own  exertions.  He 
went  to  Paris  when  young,  and  entered  into 
the  service  of  a  German  apothecary,  named 
Spitzley,  who  had  succeeded  Lemery.  He  re- 
mained in  this  situation  seven  years,  during 
which  lie  devoted  his  time  to  researches  in 
chemistry,  pharmacy,  botany,  and  natural  his- 
tory. At  length  lie  engaged  in  the  profession 
of  pharmacy  on  his  own  account,  and  at  the 
same  time  gave  lectures  on  chemistry.  His 
reputation  soon  became  extended,  and  in  1742 
he  obtained  the  professorship  of  chemistry  at 
the  royal  garden  of  plants  ;  and  two  years 
after  he  was  admitted  an  adjunct  member  of 
the  Academy  of  Sciences.  He  presented  to 
that  learned  body  a  memoir  on  Neutral  Salts, 
followed  in  1745  by  another  on  the  Crystalliz- 
ation of  Marine  Salt.  He  also  wrote  on  acid 
salts,  on  the  inflammation  of  nitric  acid  and 
oil  of  turpentine,  &c.  He  held  the  office  of 
inspector-general  of  pharmacy  at  the  Hotel 
!Dieu  ;  and  having  resigned  his  place  of  de- 
monstrating professor  at  the  Jardin  du  Roi.in 
1768,  on  account  of  bad  health,  he  died  Au- 
gust 3,  1770. —  Br>o-.  Univ. 

ROUELLE  (HILARY  MARINUS)  usually 
designated  Rouelle  the  Younger,  to  distin- 
guish him  from  his  brother,  the  subject  of  the 
last  article,  was  born  in  1718.  He  applied 
himself  to  the  study  of  chemistry,  and  became 
one  of  the  most  industrious  and  accurate  ex- 
perimental philosophers  of  his  time.  He  as- 
sisted his  brother  in  his  lectures,  and  suc- 
ceeded him  as  professor  at  the  royal  garden. 
He  distinguished  himself  by  his  researches 
concerning  tartaric  acid,  phosphoric  acid,  Li- 
bavius's  spirit,  and  by  his  analysis  of  animal 
and  vegetable  substances,  published  in  various 
periodical  works,  by  means  of  which  he  con- 
tributed materially  to  the  advancement  of  sci- 
ence. His  death  took  place  at  Paris,  April  7, 
1779.—.  Id. 

ROUILLE  (PETER  JULIAN)  a  learned  Je- 
suit, who  was  a  native  of  Tours  in  France. 
He  studied  in  a  college  of  that  city,  and  enter- 
ing into  the  order  of  St  Ignatius,  he  was  era- 
ployed  in  teaching,  in  various  seminaries, 
classical  literature,  philosophy,  and  mathema- 
tics. He  afterwards  assisted  father  Catrou  in 
his  voluminous  Roman  History,  and  Brumoy 
in  the  History  of  the  Revolutions  of  Spain  ; 
and  at  length  he  was  appointed  principal  con- 
ductor of  the.  "Journal  de  Trevoux,"  which 
he  carried  on  from  December  1733  to  Febru- 
ary 1737.  His  death  took  place  in  1740,  at 
the  age  of  fifty -nine.  He  was  the  author  of 
"  Discours  sur  1'Excellence  et  1'Utilite  des 
Mathematiques,"  1716. —  hi. 

HOUSSEAU  (JoiiN  BAPTIST)  an  eminent 
French  lyric  poet,  born  at  Piiris,  April  6, 
1670.  Though  he  was  the  son  of  a  shoe- 
maker he  received  a  good  education,  and  at 
an  early  period  he  displayed  a  strong  taste  for 
poetry.  In  1688  iie  obtained  a  situation  in 
the  service  of  the  French  ambassador  at  Co- 

Bioo.  UICT.—VOL.  III. 


11OU 

pcnhagen  ;  and  he  subsequently  accompanied 
marshal  Tallard  to  England  as  his  secrt-taiy. 
He  wrote  several  pieces  for  the  theatre,  on  the 
success  of  one  of  which,  having,  according  to 
the  Parisian  custom,  appeared  on  the  stage  to 
receive  the.  congratulations  of  the  audience,  he 
had  the  abominable  meanness  and  ingratitude 
to  disown  his  father,  when  the  old  man,  re- 
joicing at  his  son's  triumph,  came  forward  to 
speak  to  him  before  the  friends  who  sur- 
rounded him.  In  1701  he  obtained  admission 
into  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions  and  Belles 
Lettres  ;  and  his  lyric  compositions  procured 
him  high  reputation  among  the  French  literati ; 
but  his  turn  for  satire,  and  qrarreisome  tem- 
per, at  length  involved  him  in  disgrace.  Some 
abusive  and  indecent  verses  having  been  cir- 
culated at  Paris,  which  Rousseau  was  accused 
of  having  written,  but  which  he  disclaimed, 
he  after  a  time  professed  to  have  discovered 
the  author  in  the  person  of  his  enemy  Sauiin. 
To  relieve  himself  from  the  load  of  obloquy 
under  which  he  laboured,  he  commenced  a 
prosecution  of  that  academician,  for  compos- 
ing the  defamatory  couplets  in  question, 
and  having  failed  in  substantiating  the  allega- 
tion, he  was  exiled  from  France  in  171  2.  He 
went  to  Switzerland,  and  afterwards  resi- 
ded at  Vienna,  under  the  patronage  of 
prince  Eugene.  The  latter  part  of  his  life 
was  spent  in  the  Netherlands,  where  he 
obtained  a  pension  from  the  duke  of  Arerc- 
berg,  which  he  resigned  on  having  for- 
feited the  favour  of  that  nobleman.  His 
death  took  place  at  Brussels,  in  1741.  The 
odes  of  Rousseau-  are  reckoned  superior  to 
those  of  any  other  French  poet  ;  but  he  is 
chiefly  distinguished  in  literary  history  under 
the  discreditable  character  of  a  personal  sa 
tiiist.  An  edition  of  his  works  was  published 
under  his  own  inspection,  byTonson,  London, 
1723,  2  vols.  4to  ;  and  since  his  death  they 
have  been  often  printed,  in  various  forms. — 
Diet.  Eht.  Bwg.  Univ. 

ROUSSEAU  (JEAN  JAQUES)  the  most  elo- 
quent writer  and  singular  character  of  his  age, 
was  born  at  Geneva  in  1712.  His  father  was 
a  watchmaker,  and  like  most  of  the  citizens 
of  Geneva,  tinctured  with  a  taste  for  litera- 
ture. This  taste  he  communicated  to  his  son, 
with  whom  he  read  romances  until  he  was 
eight  years  of  age,  and  then  introduced  him 
to  Plutarch  with  such  observations  as  might 
be  expected  from  a  zealous  republican.  A 
taste  for  romantic  adventure,  and  a  high  ad- 
miration of  free  and  patriotic  principles,  were 
therefore  amalgamated  in  his  mind  from  his 
earliest  infancy;  and  in  his  celebrated  "  Con- 
fessions," he  has  mentioned  many  other 
incidents,  which,  in  his  opinion,  exerted  a 
lasting  influence  on  his  character.  His  school 
education  was  very  imperfect,  and  never  en- 
abled him  to  read  Latin  with  facility  ;  and  his 
picture  of  himself  in  childhood,  represents  him 
as  of  a  warm  and  sensual  temperament,  and 
replete  with  mental  and  corporeal  susceptibi- 
lity. He  was  first  placed  with  an  attorney, 
who  soon  discharged  him  for  negligence  ;  and 
he  was  then  sent  to  an  engraver,  from  whom 
F 


RO  U 


RU  U 


he  eloped  in  his   sixteenth  year,  and  strolled 
away  to  the  territory  of  Savoy.     Here  he  was 
hospitably  entertained  by  a   Savoyard  priest, 
who,  with  the  idea  of  converting  him  from  the 
creed  of    Geneva,  sent  him  to   Annecy,   to  a 
Madame  de  W  arena,  anew  convert  to  the  Ca- 
tholic church,    who  had  left  her  husband  at 
Lausanne,  and  employed  herself  in  the  pious 
work  of    proselytism.     A  beautiful  woman  of 
twenty-eight  was  well   calculated   to  operate, 
convictions  upon  a  boy  of  sixteen  of  the  sus- 
ceptible   temperament   of    Rousseau,    whose 
conversion    was    completed    at    Turin,    and 
twenty  florins  given  him  in  exchange  with  his 
new  religion.     When   this  money  was  spent, 
he  entered  into  the  service  of  a  countess  de 
Vercelli,  on  whose  death  he  was  received  into 
that  of  a  nobleman,  whose  son,  a  man  of  let- 
ters,  took   great  pains   to    instruct  him.     He 
soon  forfeited   this  protection  by   misconduct, 
and  after  passing  some   time  in   a  wandering 
manner,  returned  to  madame  tie  Warens,  who 
contrived   to   unite   devotional    feelings  with 
amorous  propensities,  of  which  her  proteg6  in 
his  turn  became  the  object.     Through  the  in- 
terest of  this  coarse  and  sensual  woman,    he 
obtained  a  place  as  secretary  to  a  commission, 
appointed  by  the  king  of  Sardinia  for  survey- 
ing lands.     Music,   however,  which    he  had 
already  taught,  became  his  passion  ;  and  giving 
up  his  post,   lie  took  up  the  profession  of  a 
music-master  at  Chamberry,  where  he  passed 
eight  years  more,  very  intimately  connected 
with  madame  de   Warens,  delicacy    or    con- 
stancy being  attended  to  on  neither  side.     At 
length  a  coldness  taking  place,  he  was  recom- 
mended by   her  to  be  a  tutor  in  a  family  at 
Lyons,  which  situation  he  soon  forfeited,   and 
went  to  Paris,  where  he  resided  in  great  ob- 
scurity until  1743,  when  he  was  appointed  se- 
cretary to  the   French   ambassador  at  Venice. 
As  usual  he  soon  quarrelled  with  his  superior, 
and   returned  to   Paris,    where   he  supported 
himself  by  copying   music,  and   also   became 
clerk  to  a   farmer  general.     In  1749  he  was 
engaged  to  compose  the  musical  articles  in  the 
Encyclopedic,  and  the  following  year  distin- 
guished himself  for   the  first   time,  under  his 
own  name,  in  the  world  of  letters.      The  aca- 
demy of  Dijon  had  proposed  for  a  prize-ques- 
tion, "Whether   the  re-establishment  of  the 
arts   and  sciences  bas   contributed   to  purify 
morals'!"   Rousseau,  who   at  first  intended  to 
espouse  the  affirmative,  was,  as  it  is  said,  in- 
duced by  the  persuasion  of  Diderot,  to   adoj 
the  negative,   as  more  likely  ~.o  attract  notice 
Whether  this  assertion  be  true  or  not,  he  dis 
played  so  much  ingenuity  and  eloquence  in  hi 
discourse  on  the  occasion,  that  it  was  crownet 
by  the  academy;  and  read  with  all  theinteres 
inspired  by  a  splendid  paradox,  and  it  seem 
at  least  to  have  made  a  convert  of  the  philoso 
pher  himself.     In   1752  he  wrote  a  comedy 
entitled  "  Narcisse,"  and  also  composed   hi 
musical  entertainment  of  "  Le  Devin  du  Vil 
lage,"  botli  words  and  music,  which  was  muc 
admired  for   its  attractive  simplicity.     In  th 


sur  la  Musique  Francoise,"  to  pro?e  that,  from 
the    defects   of  their    language,    the    French 
could  have  no  such  tiling  as  vocal  music.    This 
letter  was  written  with  great  taste  and  know- 
ledge of   the  subject  ;  but   the   severity   with 
which  he  treated  the  national  idol,  the  French 
opera,  drew  upon  him  a  torrent  of  resentment, 
and  in  1754  he  returned  to  Geneva,  and  giving. 
up  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  was  restored 
to  his  citizenship.     This  favour   he  returned 
by  an  eloquent  dedication   to  the  republic,  of 
his    "  Discouts   sur   le  Cause   de   l'In£galite 
parmi  les  Hommes,"  a  rhetorical  rather  than  an 
argumentative  prize-dissertation,  upon  another 
question,  proposed  by  the  academy  of  Dijon 
In  1758  he  published  his  letter  to  M.  D'Alem- 
bert,    on  the  design  of   establishing  a  theatre 
at  Geneva,  which  piece  contained  much  for- 
cible and  just  observation,  so  far  as  applied  to 
Geneva.     It  produced  a  great  sensation,    and 
was  replied  to   by  Marmontel  and   D'Alem- 
bert.     The  dislike    of  \roltaire  for  Rousseau 
is  said  to  have  originated  in  this   production. 
In  1762  he  published  his  famous  novel,  enti- 
ed  "  Lettres  des  deux   Amants,"  but  more 
ommonly  known   by  the  title  of  "  Julie,  ou 
Nouvelle  Heloise."     In  warmth  of  painting 
nd  eloquence  of  sentiment,  it  has  probably  no 
uperior  ;  but  with  occasional  deep  knowledge 
f  the  human  heart,  it  abounds  with  much  in- 
onsistency  and  improbability.     The  affecta- 
ion    and  bad   faith  of  the    preface  are   very 
isgusting.     He  therein  observes  that  a  young 
ill  cannot  read  a  single  page  of  ic   without 
eing  undone,  and  grieves  that  he  did  not  live 
n  an  age  when  it  ought  to  be  thrown  into  the 
ire  ;  but  "  romances  are  necessary  for  a  cor- 
upt   people."      Ilis  next  performance    was, 
'  Du  Contrat  Social,"  a  closely  reasoned  dis- 
iertation  on  the  fundamental  principles  of  civil 
>olity,  in  which  he  excludes  from  the  rank  of 
ree  governments  all  but   pure    democracies. 
The  impression  made  by  this  work  has  brought 
upon  Rousseau  the  imputation  of  2iaving  has- 
tened the  French  revolution.       It   was   prohi- 
bited in  France,  and  even  in  the  republics  of 
Switzerland  ;  and  from  its  appearance  may  be 
iated  that  warfare    between  the   author  and 
the  supporters  of  existing  authority,   civil  and 
religious,  which  exposed  nearly  all  the  rest  of 
bis  life  to  persecution  and    annoyance.     The 
Emile,  ou  de  I'Education,"  of  this  extraor- 
dinary genius  was  published  in   1761',    and  in 
a  certain  sense  it  may  be  regarded  as  his  prin- 
cipal work.     His  fundamental  idea  on  educa- 
tion is,  to  suffer  the  young  mind  to   develope 
itself,    attending   rather  to   the  prevention  of 
evil,  than  to  direct  inculcation,  until  a  founda- 
tion ia  laid   for  the  operation  of  reason,    un- 
biassed  by  habit  or  prejudice.     That  many  of 
his  observations  may  be    applied  to  great  ad- 
vantage in  the  business  of  education,  will  be 
admitted  by  every  candid   and   well-informed 
reader  ;  but  they  are  alloyed  by  so  much  that  is 
absurd,  sophisticated,  and  impracticable,  that 
as  a  system  his  views  are  altogether  visionary. 
The  freedom  with  which  all  received  opinions 


midst  of  the   applause  tnus  excited  the  para-  i  are  treated  in  this  remarkable  production,  pro- 
doxicnl  author  took   occasion  in  his  "  Lettre  |  cured  him  a  host  of  enemies,  and  the  cele- 


K  O  U 

brated  profession  of  faith,  which  he  puts  into 
the  mouth  of  a  Savoyard  vicar,  was  attended 
with  the  singular  result  of  exciting  the  ire  of 
both  devotees  and  philosophers.  It  was  ana- 
thematized by  the  archbishop  of  Paris,  and 
ordered  to  be  burnt  both  by  the  parliament  of 
Paris  and  the  authorities  of  Geneva.  Obliged 
to  flee  from  France  and  Switzerland,  the  author 
took  shelter  in  the  principality  of  Neufchatel, 
where  he  enjoyed  the  protection  of  marshal 
Keith.  He  there  published  his  "  Letter  to 
the  Archbishop  of  Paris,"  in  answer  to  his 
"  Mandement ;''  and  "  Lettres  de  la  Mon- 
tagne,"  a  remonstrance  against  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  republic  ot  Geneva,  the  citizen- 
ship of  which  he  renounced.  The  excitement 
produced  by  these  works  obliged  their  author 
to  seek  another  asylum  at  Strasburgh,  where 
he  was  kindly  received  by  marshal  de  Con- 
tades.  Thence  he  ventured  to  proceed  to 
Pan's,  where  he  appeared  in  an  American 
habit,  and  was  introduced  to  Mr  Hume,  under 
whose  advice  and  counsel  he  sought  an  asylum 
in  England  in  1766.  At  this  period  the  per 
secutions  which  he  had  undergone,  had  so  agi- 
tated his  susceptible  mind  with  notions  of  his 
own  importance,  and  the  consequence  attached 
to  his  proceedings,  that  a  sort  of  perversion  of 
temper  and  intellect  was  produced,  which  bor- 
dered upon  insanity.  Such  an  excuse  can 
alone  account  for  his  baseness  and  ingratitude 
to  Mr  Hume,  who  not  only  procured  a  hos- 
pitable asylum  for  him  and  his  gouvernante, 
but,  on  condition  of  secrecy,  a  pension  from 
the  crown.  It  happened  that  in  the  preceding 
winter  Mr  Horace  Wai  pole  had  written  a  let- 
ter in  the  person  of  the  king  of  Prussia,  in 
ridicule  of  Rousseau.  This  letter,  which  had 
been  widely  circulated,  at  length  appeared  from 
the  English  press,  and  the  morbid  mind  of 
the  Genevese  philosopher,  without  reason  or 
common  sense,  attributed  its  appearance  to 
Mr  Hume,  whose  friendship  he  solemnly  re- 
nounced, and  behaved  with  so  much  extrava- 
gance, that  his  departure  from  England  very 
quickly  followed,  and  in  1767  he  returned  to 
France,  and  abode  chiefly  in  the  provinces.  In 
this  year  he  published  his  "  Dictionnaire  de 
Musique,"  a  performance  of  taste  and  science. 
In  1769  he  married  his  gouvernante,  or  mis- 
tress, a  coarse,  illiterate  woman,  who  had  pro- 
duced him  five  children,  all  of  whom,  with 
most  unfeeling  dereliction  of  nature  and  duty, 
he  consigned  to  the  orphan  hospital.  During 
the  summer  of  1770  he  again  appeared  pub- 
licly in  Paris  ;  for  while  always  praising  soli- 
tude, he  could  never  bear  to  be  long  out  of  the 
general  gaze.  In  1775  his  "  Pygmalion"  was 
acted  with  success  at  the  Comedie  Fran9aise, 
and  he  appears  to  have  passed  some  of  the 
following  years  with  comparative  tranquillity, 
having  consented  to  renounce  all  farther  dis- 
cussion on  the  topics  which  had  involved  him 
in  so  many  hostilities.  Still,  however,  suspi- 
cious of  the  machinations  of  a  supposed  con- 
federacy, he  accepted,  in  March  1777,  the 
invitation  of  the  marquis  de  Girardin,  to  re- 
side with  his  wife  in  a  small  house  near  the 
latte.r's  beautifal  seat  of  Ennenonville.  In 


no  u 

this  retreat  he  died  the  following  July,  of  an 
apoplectic  attack,  at  the  age  of  sixty-six,  and 
was  buried  by  the  marquis  in  the  isle  of  Pop- 
lars, in  his  pleasure,  grounds,  where  a  monu- 
ment was  erected  to  his  memory,  with  the 
inscription  "  Ici  repose  I'Homme  de  la  Nature 
et  de  la  Verite  ;"  the  correctness  of  which, 
like  that  of  much  other  monumental  praise,  is 
by  no  means  conspicuous.  After  the  death  of 
Rousseau,  appeared  his  celebrated  "  Confes- 
sions," in  six  books,  in  which  he  has  given  a 
minute  account  of  his  life  until  his  thirtieth 
year.  This  singular  piece  of  autobiography 
forms  in  itself  a  very  striking  exemplifica- 
tion of  the  character  of  the  author.  With  the 
exception,  possibly,  of  Cardan,  no  writer  ever 
related  circumstances  so  humiliating  and  de- 
grading of  himself;  but  while  ostensibly  exe- 
cuted as  a  self-imposed  task  of  contrition,  it 
was  evidently  a  tribute  to  vanity  and  self-im- 
lortance.  Although  abounding  with  excellent 
malyses  of  sentiment  and  action,  it  is  dange- 
rous, for  the  manner  in  which  the  virtues  and 
vices  are  constantly  confounded,  not  to  men- 
tion the  disgusting  nature  of  a  soecies  of  men- 
tal exposure,  as  nauseous  as  a  similar  display 
of  bodily  infirmities  would  be,  if  made  with 
equal  minuteness,  and  as  little  necessity.  A 
sense  of  shame  has  many  beautiful  uses,  and 
a  cynical  contempt  for  it  has  a  very  equivocal 
;>retension  to  the  name  of  philosophy.  An- 
other posthumous  work,  entitled  "  Les  R§ve- 
ries  du  Promeneur  solitaire,"  which  gives  a 
view  of  his  thoughts  and  sentiments  at  a  later 
period,  is  also  a  very  characteristic  produc- 
tion, and  with  several  other  smaller  pieces  in 
indication  of  himself,  may  be  studied  with  a 
view  to  a  due  understanding  of  this  moral  and 
iterary  phenomenon,  who  after  all  was  possi- 
Ay  moved  by  two  or  three  very  simple  springs 
of  action,  from  first  to  last,  the  principal  of 
which  was  utter  and  entire  self-engrossment. 
To  the  list  of  his  writings  already  enumerated, 
many  more  might  be  added,  which  equally 
mark  his  peculiar  warmth  and  energy  of  style, 
and  vigour  of  thinking.  Rousseau  exercised 
great  influence  over  the  theoretical  opinions  of 
the  age,  at  the  period  of  the  French  Revo- 
lution, when  his  "Social  Contract"  was  a 
favourite  political  authority.  His  reputation 
has  since  greatly  declined ;  but  while  the 
French  language  exists,  he  must  always  be 
regarded  as  one  of  the  greatest  authors  to  be 
found  in  it.  His  works  have  been  published 
in  seventeen  volumes  quarto,  and  in  numerous 
editions  of  a  small  size,  the  last  and  finest  of 
which  is  that  of  Didot,  1796 — 1801,  in  25 
vols.  royal  18mo. — Rmisseuu,  Confess.  Nnuv, 
Diet.  Hist,  Senebier,  Hist.  Lit.  de  Geneve. 

ROUSSEAU  (SAMUET,)  a  humble  and  me- 
ritorious, but  unfortunate  retainer  of  litera- 
ture, who  was  a  native  of  London.  He  be- 
came an  apprentice  to  Mr  John  Nichols,  the 
printer,  in  whose  office  he  continued  after  the 
expiration  of  his  indentures.  While  tlnis  si- 
tuated, he  applied  himself  to  the  acquisition 
of  Latin,  Greek,  and  the  Oriental  languages  ; 
and  his  skill  in  the  latter  appears  in  his  publi- 
cation of  "  Flowers  of  Persian  Literature^ 


RO  U 

containing  Extracts  from  the  most  celebrated 
Authors  in  Prose  and  Verse,  with  English 
Translations,"  1801,  4to.  He  also  produced 
a  Dictionary  of  Words  used  in  the  East  Indies ; 
a  Persian  and  English  Vocabulary  ;  and  a  Per- 
nian  Grammar.  At  length  he  engaged  in 
business  on  his  own  account  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Clerkenwell,  where  he  printed  in 
1813  an  ingenious  tract,  entitled  "  Punctua- 
tion, or  an  Attempt  to  facilitate  the  Art  of 
Pointing,  on  the  Principles  of  Grammar  and 
Reason,"  12mo.  He  was  unsuccessful  as  a 
tradesman,  and  died  in  distress,  in  the  year 
1820. — Gent.  Mag.  Edit. 

ROUSSEL  (PKTER)  an  ingenious  French 
physician,  who  was  a  native  of  Ax,  in  the 
diocese  of  Panniers,  and  received  his  education 
in  the  university  of  Montpellier.  Having 
taken  the  degree  of  MD.  he  settled  as  a  phy- 
sician at  Paris,  whence  he  lemoved  to  Cha- 
teaudun,  where  he  died  in  1802.  He  was  the 
author  of  an  ingenious  work,  entitled  "  Sys- 
teme  physique  et  moral  de  l'Homme  et  de  la 
Femme,"  which  passed  through  several  edi- 
tions ;  and  he  likewise  published  "  Eloge  de 
M.  Bordeu,"  and  other  pieces. — Diet,  Hist. 
Biog.  Univ. 

ROUSSEL  (WILLIAM)  a  learned  Benedic- 
tine of  the  congregation  of  St  Maur,  born  at 
Conches,  in  the  diocese  of  Evreux,  in  Nor- 
mandy, in  1658.  He  entered  into  the  order 
of  St  Benedict,  at  the  abbey  of  Notre  Dame, 
at  Lire,  in  1680  ;  and  he  soon  distinguished 
himself  among  his  brethren,  by  his  learning 
and  ability.  Though  qualified  to  shine  as  an 
orator,  he  preferred  the  cultivation  of  litera- 
ture ;  and  retiring  into  a  monastery  at  Rheims, 
he  occupied  himself  in  making  a  French 
translation  of  the  "  Moral  and  Devotional 
Letters  "  of  St  Jerome,  which  he  published  in 
1703.  This  work  was  followed  by  the  "  Cri- 
tical Letters  on  the  Sacred  Scriptures,"  of  the 
same  father,  1707.  Roussel  afterwards  en- 
gaged in  the  arduous  task  of  preparing  a  his- 
tory of  French  literature,  on  the  plan  of  the 
Bibliotheque  Ecclesiastique  of  Du  Pin  ;  but 
he  did  not  live  to  complete  it,  and  the  work 
was  afterwards  executed  by  Rivet  de  la  Grange. 
The  death  of  Roussel  took  place  at  the  mo- 
nastery of  Argenteuil,  October  5,  1717. — Le 
Cerf  Biblicith.  Bios:.  Univ. 

ROUSSET  DE  MISSY  (JEAN)  a  native  of 
Laon,  in  the  province  of  Picardy,  born  1686. 
Of  his  early  life  little  is  known  till  he  appears 
at  Amsterdam  in  the  capacity  of  historiogra- 
pher to  the  prince  of  Orange,  who  also  admit- 
ted him  to  his  confidence.  This,  however,  he 
at  length  forfeited,  and  found  it  advisable  to 
retire  to  Brussels.  He  is  known  as  the  author 
of  a  "  History  of  the  Campaigns  of  Prince 
Eugene,  the  Duke  of  Marlborough,  and  the 
Prince  of  Orange,"  in  three  folio  volumes; 
an  "  Historical  Account  of  the  Grand  Revolu- 
tion in  the  United  Provinces,"  4to  ;  "  On  the 
Interest  of  the  Powers  of  Europe,"  4to,  2  vols  ; 
"  An  Historical  Collection  of  Public  Acts  and 
Treaties,"  in  twenty-one  volumes  ;  "  A  De- 
scription of  Sardinia  ;"  and  a  supplement  to 
the  "  Corps  Diplomatique"  of  Dumont,  in  five 


ROW 

volumes  folio.     His  death  took  place  in  1762. 
—  Nouo.  Diet.  Hii,t. 

ROUX  (AUGUSTIN)  a  French  physician, 
who  was  a  native  of  Bordeaux,  and  died  at 
Paris  in  1776.  He  published  several  useful 
works,  among  which  are  "  Recherches  sur  le 
A I  oyen  de  refroidir  lea  Liqueurs,"  I2mo  ; 
"  Memoires  de  Chimie,  extraits  de  ceuxd'Up- 
sal,"  2  vols.  12mo  ;  "  Traite  de  la  Culture  et 
de  la  Plantation  des  Arbres  a  ouvrer,"  12mo  ; 
and  "  Encyclopedic  Portative,"  2  vols.  12mo. 
— Biog.  iJniv. 

ROWE  (ELIZABETH)  a  lady  distinguished 
for  her  piety  and  literary  and  poetical  talents, 
was  the  daughter  of  Mr  Walter  Singer,  a  dis- 
senting minister  of  Ilchester,  where  she  was 
born  September  11,  1674.  Her  father,  who 
possessed  a  competent  estate,  encouraged  her 
early  display  of  talent  by  adequate  instruc- 
tion, and  she  became  accomplished  in  music 
and  painting  at  a  very  tender  age,  and  even 
attempted  versification  in  her  twelfth  year. 
Being  very  devoutly  educated,  she  accustomed 
herself  to  the  composition  of  pious  exercises  ; 
and  by  the  advice  of  bishop  Ken,  who  knew 
and  admired  her,  composed  a  paraphrase  on 
the  38th  chapter  of  Job.  In  1696,  being  then 
in  her  twenty-second  year,  she  published  a 
volume  of  "  Poems  on  several  Occasions,  by 
Philomela."  The  charms  of  her  person  and 
conversation  procured  her  many  admirers, 
among  whom,  it  is  said,  was  the  poet  Prior. 
She  did  not,  however,  marry  until  the  age 
of  twenty-six,  when  she  chose  Mr  Thomas 
Howe,  the  son  of  a  dissenting  minister,  a  gen- 
tleman of  considerable  literary  attainments, 
who  was  some  years  her  junior,  and  whom, 
to  her  great  grief,  she  lost  a  few  years  after 
marriage,  by  a  consumption,  at  the  early  age 
of  twenty- eight.  On  this  event  she  retired  to 
Frome,  where  she  resided  for  the  remainder 
of  her  life,  with  the  exception  of  occasional 
visits  to  the  countess  of  Hertford,  and  a  few 
other  friends  of  rank  and  talent,  to  whom  her 
merit,  elegance  of  manners,  and  literary  ac- 
complishments, rendered  her  society  valuable. 
It  was  at  Frome  that  Mrs  Rowe  produced 
the  greatest  part  of  her  works,  the  most  popu- 
lar of  which  was  her  "  Friendship  in  Death, 
or  Twenty  Letters  from  the  Dead  to  the  Liv- 
ing," a  work  of  a  lively  and  florid  imagina- 
tion, strongly  imbued  with  devotional  feeling 
and  tenderness  of  heart.  This  production, 
which  was  published  in  1728,  was  followed  in 
1729  and  1731,  by  "  Letters,  moral  and  en- 
tertaining, in  Prose  and  Verse."  In  1736  she 
published  "  A  History  of  Joseph,"  a  poem, 
which  she  had  composed  in  early  life.  In  both 
poetry  and  prose  she  wrote  without  labour, 
and  with  no  great  attention  to  correctness  ; 
but  she  isoftfn  striking  and  luxuriant,  although 
not  (infrequently  too  florid  for  a  just  taste  to 
approve.  In  1737  Dr  Isaac  Watts  revised 
and  published  her  "  Devout  Exercises  of  the 
Heart;''  and  in  1739  her  "  Miscellaneous 
Works,  in  Prose  and  Verse,"  appeared  in  2 
vols.  8vo,  with  an  account  of  her  life  and 
writings  prefixed.  This  collection,  which  has 
t  been  repeatedly  reprinted,  contained  several 


RO  W 

poems  and  original  translations  by  her  deceased 
husband.  Airs  Howe  died  of  an  apoplectic 
attack  in  her  sixty-third  year,  highly  esteemed 
for  the  amiable  and  impressive  character, 
which  she  had  borne  through  life. — Bit>g.  Brit. 
Life  prefixed  to  Works. 

HOWE  (NICHOLAS)   an  eminent  English 
dramatist  and  poet,  was  born  in  1673,  at  the 
house  of  his  maternal  grandfather  a-t  Little 
Berkford,  Bedfordshire.     He  was  the  son  of 
John  Rowe,  esq.  serjeant-at-law,  a  gentleman 
of  an  ancient  family  in  Devonshire.     After  a 
preliminary  education  at  a   private  school,  he 
was    sent   to   that  of   Westminster  as   king's 
scholar,  where  he  pursued  his  classical  studies 
under  the  celebrated  Dr  Busby.     At  the  age 
of  sixteen  he  was  entered  a   student  at  the 
Middle  Temple,  and  proceeded  so  far  as  to  be 
called  to  the  bar ;  but  on  the  death  of  his  fa- 
ther he  partially  gave  up  the  law,  and  gradually 
turned  his  chief  attention  to  poetry  and  polite 
literatnre.     At  the  age  of  twenty-four  he  pro- 
duced  his   first  tragedy  of  "  The  Ambitious 
Stepmother,"  the    success  of  which  induced 
him    to    altogether    abandon    the    bar.      His 
"  Tamerlane  "  followed,  which  was  intended 
as  a  compliment  to  king   William,  who  was 
figured    under  the  conquering  Tartar  ;  while  | 
Louis  XIV,  with   almost  equal  want  of  veri- 
similitude, ranked  as  the  Turkish  Bajazet.     It 
was,  however,  a  successful  piece  ;  and  indeed, 
with  little  nature,  contains  many  elevated  and 
manly   sentiments.     His  next    dramatic  per- 
formance was  the  "  1'air  Penitent,"  remodelled 
from   the    Fatal    Dowry   of   Massinger,  with 
some  abatement  of  moral  effect  and  correct- 
ness of  character,  but  rendered  otherwise  in- 
teresting by  poetry,  situation,  and   sentiment. 
In    1706   he   wrote  "  The  Biter,"  a  comedy  ; 
which  being  altogether  a  failure,  he  was  pru- 
dent enough  to  keep  to  his  own  line,  and  from 
that  time  to    171.T  his  "  Ulysses,"  "Royal 
Convert,"  "  Jane   Shore,"  and  "  Lady  Jane 
Grey,"    appeared    in    succession,   of    which 
"  Jane  Shore  "  still,  and  probably   long  will, 
keep    the    stage.      Being    a   decided    whig, 
when  the  duke  of  Queensbury  was  made   se- 
cretary of  state,  he  appointed  Mr  Rowe  his 
under-secretary.     This    post    he   lost   by   the 
death  of  his  patron ;  and  on  the  accession   of 
George  T   he  was  made  poet-laureat  in  place 
of  Tate,  and  also  obtained  the  several  posts  of 
one  of  the  land-surveyors  of  the  port  of  Lon- 
don, clerk  of  the  closet  to  the  prince  of  Wales, 
and  secretary  of  presentations  under  the  lord 
chancellor  Parker.     The  emoluments  of  these 
offices,  aided  by  his  paternal  fortune,  enabled 
him  to  live  respectably.     He  was  twice  mar- 
ried to  women  of  good  family,  and  had  a  son 
by  his  first  wife  and  a  daughter  by  his  second. 
He  died  (of  what  disorder  is  not  recorded),  in 
December  17 18,  in  his  forty-fifth  year,  and  was 
buried  among  the  poets  in  Westminster  abbey, 
where  his  widow  has  erected  a  superb  monument 
to  his  memory.     The    personal   character  of 
Rowe   seems  to  have   been  very  respectable, 
and,    according    to   Pope,   he    possessed    tlie. 
most  agreeable  talents  for  society.     As  a  tra- 
gic poet  he  may  possibly  be  deemed  the  most 


ROW 

successful  writer  on  the  French  modei,  in 
which  eloquence  and  sentiment  supply  the 
place  of  nice  discrimination  of  character,  and 
a  skilful  development  of  the  passions.  His 
dramatic  fables  are,  however,  generally  inte- 
resting, and  the  situations  striking ;  which, 
being  aided  by  a  singularly  sweet  and  poetical 
diction  in  the  dialogue,  his  pieces  forcibly  ar- 
rest attention,  although  they  but  slightly  affect 
the  heart.  As  an  original  poet,  Rowe  appears 
to  most  advantage  in  a  few  tender  and  pathetic 
ballads;  but  as  a  translator  he  assumes  a  higher 
character.  His  version  of  "  Lucan's  Pharsa- 
lia,"  not  published  until  after  his  death,  al- 
though somewhat  too  diffuse,  Dr  Johnson  es- 
teems a  masterpiece.  He  also  gave  transla- 
tions of  the  first  book  of  Quillet's  Callipsedia, 
and  of  the  Golden  Verses  of  Pythagoras.  The 
poetical  works  of  Rowe  were  published  col- 
lectively, in  3  vols.  12mo,  1719. — Bicg.  Brit. 
Johnson's  Lives  of  the  Poets. 

ROWLANDS  (HENRY)  a  Cambrian  anti- 
quary, distinguished  for  his  researches  con- 
cerning the  existing  memorials  of  the  ancient 
Cimbric  population  of  Britain.  He  was  a  na- 
tive of  the  Isle  of  Anglesey,  and  having  re- 
ceived a  classical  education,  he  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  clerical  order,  and  obtained  the 
iving  of  Llanfadden  in  Anglesey.  Much  of 
lis  time  was  devoted  to  the  investigation  of 
the  remains  of  stone  circles,  cromlechs,  and 
other  structures  of  former  ages,  which  abound 
n  the  principality  of  Wales,  and  especially  in 
:he  island  in  which  Mr  Rowlands  resided. 
The  result  of  his  inquiries  was  a  treatise,  en- 
titled "  iYlona  Antiqua  Restaurata,  an  Ar- 
chaeological Discourse  on  the  Antiquities  of 
:he  Isle  of  Anglesey,"  which  was  first,  pub- 
'ished  at  Dublin  in  1723,  the  year  after  the 
leath  of  the  author,  and  reprinted  in  London 
1766,  4to.  Together  with  much  learned  spe- 
culation and  fanciful  theory,  this  volume  con- 
tains important  information  relative  to  the  lan- 
guage, arts,  and  manners  of  the  Cambro- 
Bntish  inhabitants  of  this  island. — Orig. 

ROWLEY  (WILLIAM)  a  dramatic  writer 
in  the  reign  of  James  I,  who  was  one  of  the 
company  of  players  under  the  protection  of 
the  prince  of  Wales.  He  is  said  to  have  ex- 
celled chiefly  as  a  comic  actor  ;  but  of  his  per- 
sonal history  little  or  nothing  is  known.  His 
productions,  including  those  in  which  he  as- 
sisted other  dramatists,  are  numerous.  Among 
his  own  works  are,  "  A  New  Wonder,  a  Wo- 
man never  Vext,"  com.  1632,  4to;  "All's 
Lost  by  Lust,"  trag.  1633,  4to ;  "  Match  at 
Midnight,"  com.  1633,  4to ;  "  A  Shoe- 
maker 's  a  Gentleman,"  com.  1638,  4to ; 
"  The  Witch  of  Edmonton,"  tragi-com.  1668, 
4to;  "The  Birth  of  Merlin,"  tragi-com. 
1662,  4to  ;  besides  which  he  wrote  five  plays, 
which  were  never  printed ;  and  he  was  en- 
gaged in  the  composition  of  nine  more  dra- 
matic pieces  with  Massinger,  Middleton, Web- 
ster, Thomas  Heywood,  and  others. — King. 
Dram. 

ROWLEY  (WILLIAM)  an  eminent  physi- 
cian, of  Irish  descent,  but  born  iu  London,  in 
1743.  After  completing  his  studies,  he  served 


ROY 

as  a  surgeon  in  the  army,  and  was  at  the  si 
of  Bellisle  and  at  the  taking  of  Havannah, 
where  his  conduct  was  so  highly  approved 
that  he  was  employed,  through  the  patronage 
of  admiral  Keppel,  to  make  professional  visits 
to  Cuba,  and  all  the  leeward  islands,  for  which 
he  was  handsomely  rewarded.  Returning 
home  he  settled  in  London,  and  acquired  ex- 
tensive practice  as  a  physician.  Though  he 
had  received  the  diploma  of  MI),  from  St 
Andrew's,  and  had  been  admitted  a  bachelor 
of  medicine  at  Alban-hall,  Oxford,  some  ob- 
jections occurred  which  prevented  his  taking 
the  next  degree  in  the  latter  university.  lie 
obtained  considerable  reputation  as  a  practi- 
tioner, and  was  respected  for  his  benevolence 
and  humanity ;  but  he  unfavourably  distin- 
guished himself  by  opposing  vaccine  innocula- 
tion  on  its  first  introduction.  His  death  took 
place  March  17,  1806.  He  published  several 
tracts  on  diseases  of  the  eyes,  ulcers  of  the 
legs,  and  other  subjects  ;  besides  a  treatise  on 
the  practice  of  physic,  and  "  Schola  Medi- 
cinas  universalis  nova,  containing  the  History 
of  Medicine,  Anatomy,  Physiology,  and  Spe- 
cial Pathology,"  1797,  2  vols.  4to. — Lem- 
priere.  Reitss. 

ROXBURGH  (WILLIAM)  an  eminent 
English  physician  and  naturalist,  who  was  ori- 
ginally a  surgeon  in  the  service  of  the  East- 
India  company.  He  exercised  his  profession 
for  several  years  at  Madras,  and  having  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  his  investigation  of  the 
vegetable  productions  of  India,  he  was  at 
length  removed  to  Calcutta,  as  superintendant 
of  the.  noble  botanic  garden  founded  by  the 
company.  He  contributed  mucli  to  the  im- 
provement of  that  establishment ;  and  lie  was, 
in  consequence  of  his  spirited  exertions  for  the 
promotion  of  science,  nominated  principal  bo- 
tanist to  the  company  in  the  East  Indies.  Re- 
turning to  Europe,  he  died  at  Edinburgh,  in  the 
beginning  of  the  year  1815.  He  was  intimately 
connected  with  sir  William  Jones,  Warren  Has- 
tings, and  lord  Teignmouth  ;  and  he  enriched 
various  periodical  works  with  valuable  com- 
munications. He  was  the  author  of  an  ac- 
count of  the  "  Plants  of  the  Coast  of  Coro- 
mandel,"  with  plates  and  descriptions,  Lon- 
don, 1795 — 98,  3  vols.  folio;  a  "Botanical 
Description  of  a  New  Species  of  Swietenia, 
or  Mahogany,"  1797,  4to  ;  and  an  "  Essay  on 
the  Natural  Order  of  the  Scitaminere,"  Cal- 
cutta, 4to  ;  besides  various  papers  in  Dalrym- 
ple's  Oriental  Repository,  the  Asiatic  Re- 
searches, and  the  Philosophical  Transactions. 
— Gent.  Mug.  Biog.  Univ. 

ROY  (JULIAN  DAVID  le)  an  architect  and 
antiquary,  who  was  the  son  of  a  celebrated 
horologer,  of  the  same  name,  and  was  born  at 
Paris  in  1728.  He  studied  architecture  as  a 
profession,  and  having  travelled  into  Greece 
for  improvement,  he  published  the  result  of 
his  observations  in  his  "  Ruines  des  plus 
beaux  Monumens  de  la  Grece,"  1758,  folio, 
of  which  a  second  edition  appeared  in  1769. 
This  work  procured  him  admission  into  the 
Academy  of  luscriptirns,  and  he  subsequently 
became  a  member  of  the  Institute.  He  died 


ROY 

at  Paris,  in  January,  1803.  Among  his  other 
works  are  "  Ilistoire  de  la  Disposition  et  des 
Formes  differentea  des  Temples  des  Chre- 
tiens," 1761,  8vo  ;  and  "  Observations  sur 
les  Edifices  des  anciens  Peuples,"  1767,  8vo  ; 
besides  some  pieces  on  naval  architecture. — 
JULIAN  LE  Roy,  his  father,  who  was  a  native 
of  Tours,  settled  at  Paris  as  a  watchmaker, 
and  arrived  at  the  highest  eminence  in  his 
profession.  He  died  in  1759. — PETER  I.E  Roy, 
son  of  the  preceding,  who  died  in  1785,  was 
skilful  in  the  same  art.  His  marine  time- 
keepers were  remarkable  for  the  simplicity  of 
their  construction,  as  well  as  for  their  accu- 
racy. He  published  "  Memoires  pour  les 
llorlogers  de  Paris,"  1750,  4to  ;  "  Etrennes 
Chronometriques,"  1758  ;  "  Precis  des  Re- 
cherches  pour  la  Determination  des  Longi- 
tudes par  la  Mesure  artificielle  du  Temps," 
1773,  4to,  kc.—Dict.  Hist.  Bwg.  Unir. 

ROY  (PETER  CHARLES)  a  satiiical  and 
dramatic  poet  of  eminence,  born  at  Paris  in 
1683.  He  was  the  son  of  an  attorney  of  the 
Chatelet,  and  he  purchased  the  office  of  coun- 
sellor in  the  same  court  ;  but  he  devoted  him- 
self entirely  to  literature,  neglecting  his  pro- 
fession. Having  gained  poetical  prizes  at  the 
French  Academy,  and  at  the  Floral  Games, 
he  turned  his  attention  to  lyric  composition 
for  the  theatre.  In  1712  he  produced  the 
opera  of  "  Callirhoe,"  which  was  followed  by 
that  of  "  Semiramis ;"  the  ballets  of  the 
"  Elements  ;"  the  "  Senses  ;"  and  the  comedy 
of  the  "  Captives,"  imitated  from  Plautus ; 
besides  many  more  pieces  of  less  importance. 
His  satires  against  the  members  of  the  French 
Academy,  whom  he  abused  individually  as 
well  as  collectively,  prevented  his  obtaining  a 
seat  in  that  assembly,  though  he  made  re- 
peated attempts  to  gain  admission.  He  died 
October  23,  1764.  A  collection  of  his  poeti- 
cal and  miscellaneous  works  was  published  in 
1727,  2  vols.  8vo.— Diet.  Hist.  Bio*.  Univ. 

ROYE  (Guv  le)  a  French  prelate  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  principally  known  as  the 
author  of  a  work,  entitled  "  Doctrinale  Sapi- 
entia?,"  of  which  there  is  a  translation  by  Wil- 
liam Caxton,  printed  by  him  as  early  as  1489. 
The  scarceness  of  this  treatise  is  now  its  prin- 
cipal merit.  The  author  was  elevated  to  the 
archbishopric  of  Rheims,  and  at  length  fell  in 
a  popular  commotion  in  Italy  AD.  1409. — 
Noitv.  Diet.  Hist. 

ROYEN  (ADRIAN  van)  a  physician  and 
botanist,  born,  probably  in  Holland,  in  1705. 
He  succeeded  Boerhaave  in  the  botanical 
chair  of  the  university  of  Leyden,  and  in  the 
direction  of  its  academical  garden,  which  was 
highly  enriched  under  his  care.  In  1728  he 
printed  an  inaugural  dissertation,  "  De  Ana- 
tomia  et  (Economia  Plantarum,"  and  farther 
contributed  to  recommend  botanical  science  by 
his  "  Carmen  de  Amoribus  et  Connubiis  Plan- 
tarum," 1732.  When  Linnreus  was  in  Hol- 
land, Van  Royen  prevailed  upon  him  to  pass  a 
few  months  with  him,  for  the  purpose  of  as- 
sisting in  the  compilation  of  "  Floras  Leide- 
nensis  Prodromus,"  which  appeared  in  1740, 
being  one  of  the  first  woiks  which  adopted 


ROZ 

the  nomenclature,  although  not  the  classifica- 
tion, of  Linnaeus.  The  attempt  was  well  re- 
ceived, and  the  catalogue  deemed  among  the 
richest  of  the  kind.  Van  Royen  died  in  1779. 
— Halleri  Bibl.  Bot. 

ROYOU  (THOMAS  MARIE)  a  French  jour- 
nalist, who  distinguished  himself  as  one  of 
the  most  courageous  defenders  of  received 
doctrines  in  politics  and  literature  among  the 
writers  of  the  eighteenth  century.  He  was 
born  at  Quimper  about  1741,  and  becoming 
an  ecclesiastic,  he  went  to  Paris,  where,  for 
twenty  years,  he  was  professor  of  philosophy 
at  the  college  of  Louis  le  Grand.  After  the 

o 

death  of  his  brother-in-law,  Freron,  he  was 
one  of  the  conductors  of  the  "  Annee  Litte- 
raire  ;"  and  in  1778  he  engaged  with  Geof- 
froy  in  editing  a  periodical  work,  called  the 
"  Journal  de  Monsieur."  Royou  opposed 
the  principles  of  the  Revolution,  which  he 
combated  in  a  journal  commenced  June  1, 
1790,  entitled  "  Ami  du  Roi."  The  boldness 
with  which  he  attacked  the  anarchists,  ex- 
posed him  to  their  displeasure,  and  after  hav- 
ing been  repeatedly  denounced,  his  journal 
was  suppressed  in  May  1792.  He  was  at  that 
time  labouring  under  illness,  and  having  ob- 
tained an  asylum  in  the  house  of  a  friend,  he 
died  about  two  months  afterwards.  Besides 
his  periodical  productions,  he  published  "  Le 
Monde  de  Verre  reduit  en  Poudre,  ou  Ana- 
lyse et  Refutation  des  Epoques  de  la  Nature, 
par  Buffon,"  1780,  12mo  ;  and  other  tracts.— 
Biog,  Univ. 

ROZIER  (JOHN)    an    eminent   writer   on 
agriculture,  rural  economy,  and  natural  history. 
He  was  born  at  Lyons   in  France,  in  1734 ; 
and  he  received  a  clerical   education   among 
the   Jesuits  at  Villefranche    and    Lyons.     In 
1757,  on   the    death   of  his   father,  who  had 
been  engaged  in  commerce,  he  obtained  the 
management  of  a  considerable  estate  in  Dau- 
phiny,  which  became  the  property  of  his  elder 
brother,  and  he  immediately  applied  himself 
to  experimental   farming,  putting  in    practice 
the    precepts    he    found    in    the    works    of 
various   agriculturists,    ancient   and   modern, 
which  he  had  attentively  studied.     A   veteri- 
nary school  having  been  established  at  Lyons, 
in  1761,  Rozier  soon   after  was  appointed  to 
the    direction  of  that  institution  ;    when,  in 
conjunction   witli  his  countryman  and   friend 
Latourette,  he  composed  "  Les  Demonstrations 
Elementaires   de  Botanique,"    1766,   2   vols. 
8vo,  one  of  the   best  works  of  the  kind  then 
extant.     A  dispute  with  Bourgelat,  through 
whose  influence  he  had  obtained  his  situation, 
was  the  cause  of  his  removal.     He  then  went 
to  Paris,  and  was  employed  in   editing   the 
"  Journal    de  Physique  et  d'Histoire  Natu- 
relle,"  of  which  he  at  length  became  the  pro- 
prietor, when  he  continued  it  in  a  new  form, 
under  the  title  of  "  Observations  sur  la  Phy- 
sique, sur  1'Histoire  Naturelle,  et  sur  les  Arts." 
He  was  invited  by  Stanislaus  Augustus,  king 
of  Poland,  to  assist  in  the  establishment  of  an 
institution  for  the  improvement  of  botany  a 
Grndno ;  and  as  he  declined  removing  from 
his  native  country,  the  king  testified  his  es- 


RUB 

eem  by  procuring  for  Rozier,  through  bis  in- 
erest  at  the  court  of  France,  the  rich  priory 
f   Nanteuil-le-Haudouin.  -  Thus    placed    in 
easy  circumstances,  he  consigned  the  manage- 
ment of  his  Journal  to  his  nephew,  the  abbe 
VIongez,  and  devoted    himself  to  the  compo- 
ition  of  a  work,  entitled  "  Cours  d'Agricul- 
ure,"  in  the  form  of  a  dictionary,  extending 

0  ten  volumes  quarto,  which  occupied  the  re- 
iiainder  of  his  life.     He  purchased  an  estate 
icar  Beziers,  where  he  made  experiments  in 

ural  economics  ;  but  after  remaining  there 
.bout  six  years,  he  sold  the  property  and  re- 
ired  to  Lyons  in  1788,  and  he  was  admitted 

1  member  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  in  that 
ity.     His  death   took    place    September  29, 
793,  when  he  was  killed  by  a  bomb,  which 
lestroyed  his  house  during  the   siege  of  the 
ity  of  Lyons.     Besides  his  principal  works, 

already  noticed,  he  published  tracts  on  making 
wine,    on   oil-presses,   &c. — Biog.    Nouv.  des 
'ontemp.     Biog.  Univ. 

RUBENS  (PETER  PAUL)   the   most  emi- 
nent painter  of  the  Flemish  school,   was  the 
on  of  a  doctor  of  laws,  and  a  sheriff  of  Ant- 
werp, who  during   the    troubles   of  the   Low 
Countries  retired  to  Cologne,  where  his  cele- 
>rated  son  was  born  in  1577.     The  family 
ubsequently  returned  to  Antwerp,  where   the 
ubject  of  this  article  received  a  literary  edu- 
cation, and  early  displayed  a  talent  for  design, 
vhich   induced  his  mother,  then  a  widow,  to 
>lace  him  with  the  painter  Van   Oort,  whom 
ie  left  for  the  school  of  Otto  Veuius.     His 
ising  talent  having  made   him  known  to  the 
archduke    Albert,    governor    of  the   Nether- 
ands,  that  prince  employed   him    on  several 
jictures,  and  recommended  him  to  tire  duke  of 
Mantua,  at  whose  court  he  remained  six  years, 
studying    the    works  of   Julio  Romano,   and 
other  great  artists,  and  paying  a  particular  at- 
ention    to   the    colouring    of    the   Venetian 
school.     In  the  interval   he  also  visited  Ma- 
Irid,  on  a  commission  for  the  duke,  where  he 
saw   some  of  the   finest  works  of  Titian   and 
other  masters.     On  leaving  Mantua  he  visited 
Rome  and  other  cities  of  Italy,  copying  some 
of  the  best  pictures,  and  perfecting  himself  in 
very  branch  of  his  profession.     After  a  resi- 
dence of  seven  years  in  Italy  he  returned  to 
Antwerp,  being  recalled  by  the  illness  of  his 
mother,   who   died  before    his   arrival.     This 
vent  induced  him  to  retire  to  the  abbey  of  St 
Michael,  where  he  gave  himself  up  for  a  time 
to  solitary  study.     His  reputation  now  stood  so 
high,  that  he  was  called  to  the  court  of  the 
archduke,  and  pensioned  ;  soon  after  which, 
he  married  his  first  wife,  and  lived  in  a  style 
of  great  magnificence,  which    excited  much 
envy   among  inferior   artists,  who  sought  to 
lower   his  reputation  by  attributing  the   best 
parts  of  his  pictures  to  his  numerous  pupils. 
These  calumnies  he  treated  with  great  disre- 
gard, and  aware  of  the  source  of  much  of  the 
Hl-will,  relieved  the  necessities  of   some    of 
his  principal  decriers.     He  continued  to  exe- 
cute many  great  works  with  surprising  facility, 
until,  in  16^0,  he  was  employed  by  Mary  de' 
Medici  to  adorn  the  gallery  of  the  Luxem- 


RUB 

bourg,  for  which  lie  painted  a  well-known 
aeries  of  magnificent  pictures,  allegorically  ex- 
hibiting the  principal  events  in  the  life  of  that 
princess.  Such  was  the  opinion  of  his  gem  ral 
talents,  that  he  was  chosen,  at  the  recommen- 
dation of  the  archduchess  Isabella,  to  be  the 
private  negociator  of  a  peace  between  Spain 
and  England,  for  which  purpose,  he  visited 
Madrid  in  1628,  where  he  was  treated  with 
great  distinction.  He  painted  for  Philip  IV, 
and  his  minister  Olivarez,  twelve  or  fourteen 
of  his  most  celebrated  pictures,  in  the  short 
space  of  nine  months  ;  and  in  1619  he  return- 
ed to  Flanders  with  a  secret  commission,  and 
proceeded  to  England.  Although  not  received 
openly  as  a  minister,  Charles  I,  who  was  both 
a  patron  and  judge  of  the  fine  arts,  was  much 
gratified  by  his  visit ;  and  during  his  stay  in 
England,  where  he  succeeded  in  his  negotia- 
tion, he  was  engaged  to  paint  the  ceiling  of 
the  banqueting-house  at  Whitehall.  He  also 
executed  several  other  pictures  for  the  Eng- 
lish nobility,  some  of  which  are  to  be  found 
at  Blenheim,  Wilton,  Easton,  &c.  He  re- 
mained in  England  about  a  year,  during  which 
time  he  received  the  honour  of  knighthood, 
and  then  returned  to  Flanders,  where  he  mar- 
ried the  beautiful  Helen  Forinan,  his  second 
wife,  and  was  nominated  secretary  to  the 
council  for  the  Low  Countries.  He  maintain- 
ed a  highly  dignified  station  through  the  rest 
of  his  life,  which  was  one  of  continued  pros- 
perity, until  his  death  at  Antwerp  in  1640,  in 
the  sixty-third  year  of  his  age.  Rubens,  be- 
yond all  comparison,  was  the  most  rapid  of  the 
great  masters  ;  and  so  many  pictures  bear  his 
name,  it  is  impossible  not  to  credit  a  part  of 
the  assertion  in  his  own  days,  that  the  greater 
portion  of  many  of  them  was  performed  by  his 
pupils.  His  merits  as  an  artist  have  been  so 
copiously  dwelt  upon  by  various  writers,  and  in 
our  own  country  have  produced  so  much  obser- 
vation from  sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  lord  Orford, 
and  Mr  Fuseli,  that  the  limits  of  this  work  will 
allow  of  little  beyond  a  reference  to  them  and 
our  other  authorities.  According  to  all  these 
judges,  his  great  characteristics  are  freedom, 
animation,  and  striking  brilliancy  and  disposi- 
tion of  colouring,  the  favourite  tone  of  which 
is  that  of  a  gay  magnificence,  from  which, 
whatever  the  subject,  he  never  deviated.  Be- 
sides the  excellency  of  his  general  powers,  he 
saw  all  the  objects  of  nature  with  a  painter's 
eye,  and  instantly  caught  the  predominating 
feature  by  which  the  object  is  known  and  dis- 
tinguished, and  as  soon  as  seen,  he  executed  it 
with  a  facility  that  was  astonishing.  Accord- 
ing to  sir  -Toshua  Reynolds,  he  was  the  great- 
est master  of  the  mechanical  part  of  his  art 
that  ever  existed.  His  chief  defects  consist 
in  inelegance  and  incorrectness  of  form,  a  want 
of  grace  in  his  female  figures,  and  in  the  re- 
presentation of  youth  in  general,  and  an  al- 
most total  absence  of  sublime  or  poetical  con- 
ception of  character.  The  works  of  Rubens 
are  found  in  churches,  palaces,  and  galleries 
throughout  Europe  ;  for  his  universal  aptitude 
rendering  no  branch  of  the  art  uncultivated 
by  him,  the  amateurs  of  history,  landscape, 


RUC 

portrait,  and  even  common  life,  have  all  a  mo- 
tive for  possessing  some  of  his  works.  The 
spoils  of  tbe  French  victories  placed  many  of 
them  in  the  gallery  of  the  Louvre  ;  but  on  the 
visit  of  the  allies  to  Paris,  several  were  re- 
claimed, and  occupy  their  former  situations. 
His  celebrated  Rape  of  the  Sabines  is  placed 
in  the  newly-formed  national  gallery  of  Great 
Britain.  The  number  of  engravings  from  the 
designs  of  Rubens  exceed  three  hundred. 
This  great  painter,  who  was  no  mean  scholar, 
wrote  some  treatises  on  his  art  in  very  good 
Latin. — RUBENS  (ALBERT)  a  man  of  letters, 
son  of  the  preceding,  was  born  at  Antwerp  in 
1614,  and  succeeded  his  father  as  secretary  to 
the  council.  He  devoted  his  time  to  literary 
pursuits,  and  was  the  author  of  several  learned 
works,  the  principal  of  which  are  entitled 
"  Regum  et  Imperatorum  Romanorum  Nu- 
mismata,"  16.51,  folio  ;  "  De  Re  Vestiaria  Ve- 
terum  ;"  "  Dissertatio  de  Gemma  Tibcriana 
et  Augustea  ;  de  Urbibus  Neocoris  ;  de  Natali 
Die  Cassaris  Augusti ;"  which  last  two  works 
were  published  by  Grrevius  in  the  Thesaurus 
Antiq.  Roman.  The  same  critic  also  edited 
his  "  Dissertatio  de  Vita  Mallii  Theodori," 
1694,  12mo. — Pilkingtrm.  D'Argenville.  Sir 
Joshua.  Key nolds' s  Works.  Walpole's  Anec. 
Fuseli's  Lectures.  Nouv,  Diet.  }list. 

HUBtNl  (PETEU)  a  physician,  born  at 
Parma  in  1760.  Having  completed  his  stu- 
dies at  the  university  of  his  native  city,  and 
taken  his  doctor's  degree,  he  became  pension- 
ary physician  at  the  small  village  of  Coin- 
piano.  He  was  afterwards  enabled  to  travel 
for  improvement,  at  the  expense  of  the  go- 
vernment;  and  having  visited  Pavia,  Mont- 
pellier,  Paris,  Edinburgh,  &c.  he  was,  on  his 
return,  made  professor  of  clinical  medicine  at 
Parma.  In  1804  he  contributed  greatly  to  the 
foundation  of  a  medical  and  surgical  society, 
on  the  plan  of  that  of  Edinburgh,  of  which 
he  was  a  member;  and  in  1816  the  arch- 
duchess Maria  Louisa  appointed  him  her  con- 
sulting physician  and  archiater.  He  died  May 
15,  1U19.  Rubini  claims  notice  principally  as 
the  promulgator  of  a  new  system  of  medicine, 
which  appears  to  have  been  a  modification  of 
that  of  Dr  John  Brown,  and  which  he  deve- 
loped in  his  lectures,  and  in  his  treatises  on 
periodical  (intermittent)  fevers,  and  on  the 
yellow  fever,  published  in  1805.  He  produced 
many  other  professional  works,  noticed  in  the 
annexed  authorities. — Bi^g.  A  our.  desContemp. 
Biog.  Univ. 

RUCELLAI  (BERNARD)  an  Italian  states- 
man and  historian,  born  at  Florence  in  1449. 
At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  married  the  sister 
of  Lorenzo  de'  Medici ;  and  this  connexion 
made  way  for  his  promotion  to  the  office  of 
gonfalonier  of  justice  in  1480  ;  and  four  years 
after  he  was  sent  ambassador  to  Genoa.  He 
subsequently  went  in  the  same  capacity  to 
Naples  and  to  France,  and  several  employ- 
ments were  confided  to  him  during  the  revolu- 
tionary commotions  which  disturbed  Florence 
towards  tin-  cluse  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
After  the  death  of  Lorenzo  de'  Medici,  he 
protected  the  members  of  the  new  Platonic 


RU  D 

Academy,  for  whose  use  he  erected  a  palace 
with  gardens,  embellished  with  noble  monu- 
ments of  ancient  and  modern  art.  He  died  at 
Florence  in  1514.  His  principal  work  is  his 
bciok  "  De  Urbe  Roma,"  reprinted  in  "  Rerum 
Italicarum  Scriptores  Florentini."  He  also 
wrote  a  history  of  the  Pisan  war  and  the  in- 
vasion of  Italy  by  Charles  VIII  of  France, 
entitled  "  De  Bello  Italico,"  London,  1724, 
4to  ;  and  other  works. — RUCELLAI  (JOHN) 
the  fourth  son  of  Bernardo,  was  born  at  Flo- 
rence in  1475.  He  became  a  distinguished 
scholar,  having  studied  under  Marsilio  Ficino, 
Politian,  and  other  celebrated  literati  of  the 
Platonic  Academy.  He  was  sent  ambassador 
to  Venice  in  1505  ;  and  in  1512  he  took  an 
active  part  in  the  measures  which  issued  in 
the  restoration  of  the  Medici  family.  On  the 
elevation  of  Leo  X  to  the  papal  throne,  Ru- 
cellai  repaired  to  Rome,  and  took  orders  in  the 
church.  He  accompanied  the  pope  when 
he  went  to  Bologna  to  conclude  the  con- 
cordat with  Francis  I,  and  he  was  afterwards 
sent  as  nuncio  to  the  French  court.  Clement 
VII  made  him  apostolic  prothonotary,  and 
governor  of  the  castle  of  St  Angelo  ;  but  the 
great  object  of  his  ambition  was  a  cardinal's 
hat,  which  he  never  obtained.  His  death  oc- 
curred in  1525.  As  an  author,  he  is  known 
by  his  poem  "  Le  Api,"  the  Bees,  a  didactic 
piece,  in  blank  verse,  which  is  much  esteemed. 
He  also  wrote  "  Rosmonda,"  and  "  Orestes," 
tragedies,  which  are  imitations  of  the  "  He- 
cuba" and  "  Iphigenia  in  Tauris  "  of  Euri- 
pides.— Roscoe's  Lives  of  Lorenzo  de1  Medici 
and  Leo  X.  Biog.  Univ. 

RUCHAT  (ABRAHAM)  a  Protestant  Swiss 
clergyman  and  historical  writer,  born  in  the 
canton  of  Berne,  about  1680.  Having  stu- 
died classical  literature,  theology,  and  the 
Oriental  languages,  he  endeavoured  to  obtain 
the  professorship  of  Greek  and  Hebrew  at  the 
academy  of  Lausanne  ;  but  lie  was  disap- 
pointed. After  having  for  some  years  held 
the  small  benefice  of  Aubonne,  devoting  his 
leisure  to  the  cultivation  of  letters,  he  became 
professor  of  belles  lettres  at  Lausanne  in  1721. 
About  twelve  years  after  he  quitted  that  post 
for  the  chair  of  theology,  which  he  occupied 
till  his  death  in  1750.  Besides  a  great  num- 
ber of  dissertations  in  the  "  Bibliotheque  Ita- 
lique,"  and  the  "  Journal  Helvetique,"  Ru- 
chat  published  "  Les  Delices  de  la  Suisse," 
Leyden,  1714,  4  vols.  12mo,  reprinted  at  Am- 
sterdam, and  elsewhere  ;  "  Histoire  de  la 
Reformation  de  la  Suisse,"  Geneva,  1727,  6 
vols.  12mo  ;  and  other  works.  Among  his 
MSS.  preserved  in  the  public  library  at  Berne, 
is  a  "  General  History  of  Switzerland,  from 
the  Origin  of  the  Helvetic  Nation  to  the  Year 
1516,"  5  vols.  4to. — Biog.  Univ. 

RUDBECK  (OLAUS).  There  were  two 
eminent  physicians  and  natural  philosophers 
of  this  name,  father  and  son,  descended  of  a 
noble  Swedish  family,  and  more  immediately 
from  Rudberk,  bishop  of  Vesteras.  The  elder, 
born  1 630,  became  a  member  of  the  university 
of  U[isal,  in  which  he  afterwards  filled  the 
chair  of  professor  of  medicine  many  years 


RUD 

with  great  reputation  and  ability.  His  prin- 
cipal work  is  entitled  "  Exercitatio  Anato- 
mica,"  4to,  in  which  he  defends  his  claim  to 
the  discovery  of  the  lymphatic  vessels  in  the 
iver,  &c.  against  the  rival  pretensions  of  Tho- 
mas Bartholine.  He  was  also  the  author  of  a 
catalogue  of  plants  in  the  botanical  garden  at 
LJpsal,  and  of  two  other  treatises  on  similar 
subjects,  "  Campi  Elysii,"  and  "  Deliciae 
Vallis  Jacobsea; ;"  but  his  most  curious  pro- 
luction  is  a  whimsical  yet  learned  work  on  the 
locality  of  Paradise,  which  he  places  in  Swe- 
den, and  assigns  that  country  as  the  common  pa- 
rent of  the  German,  English,  Danish,  and  even 
Greek  and  Latin  nations.  Notwithstanding 
the  numerous  and  absurd  paradoxes  which  he 
Broaches  in  this  treatise,  it  is  written  with 
much  ability,  and  exhibits  the  deep  erudition 
of  the  author,  though  certainly  at  the  expense 
of  his  judgment;  it  is  entitled"  Atlantica, 
sive  Manheim  vera  JaphetiPosteriorumSedes 
ac  Patria,"  and  occupies  four  folio  volumes. 
f-Iis  death  took  place  in  1702. — His  son,  born 
in  \  660,  emulated  the  reputation  of  his  father, 
whom  he  succeeded  in  his  anatomical  and  bo- 
tanical professorships,  having  graduated  in 
medicine  at  Utrecht.  He  was  one  of  the  ori- 
ginal members  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  at 
Stockholm,  in  the  formation  of  which  he  as- 
sisted the  learned  Benzelius.  A  variety  of 
papers,  on  philosophical  subjects,  from  his 
pen,  are  to  be  found  in  the  transactions  of  the 
society  ;  and  lie  is  also  known  as  the  author  of 
a  work  on  the  natural  history  of  the  Bible.  He 
died  at  Upsal  in  1740. — Rees's  Cyclop. 

RUDBORNE  (THOMAS)  bishop  of  St  Da- 
vid's in  the  fifteenth  century,  a  native  cf 
Hertfordshire,  or  as  some  say,  of  the  county 
of  Wilts.  He  was  a  member,  and  afterwards 
warden  of  Merton  college,  Oxford,  the  great 
gateway  and  tower  of  which  edifice  were  buil! 
under  his  auspices,  and  it  is  said  after  his  own 
design.  In  the  earlier  part  of  his  life  he  had 
been  one  of  the  clerical  advisers  who  insti- 
gated Henry  the  Fifth  in  enforcing  his  pre- 
tensions to  the  French  crown,  and  had  even 
accompanied  that  monarch  in  quality  of  chap- 
lain on  the  celebrated  expedition  which  termi- 
nated in  the  victory  of  Agincourt.  In  the  fol- 
lowing reign  he  was  elevated  to  the  mitre, 
which  he  wore  something  less  than  ten  years 
dying  about  the  year  1442.  He  must  not  be 
confounded  with  a  monkish  author  of  the  same 
name,  who  wrote  a  "  History  of  Winchester." 
Bavle.  Pits.  Tanner. 

RUDDIMAN  (THOMAS)  a  distinguished 
grammarian  and  critic,  born  in  the  parish  of 
Boyndie,  in  Bamffshire,  in  Scotland,  in  1674. 
He  was  sent  in  1690  to  King's  college,  Aber- 
deen, where  he  obtained  a  bursary.  He  took 
the  degree  of  MA.  in  1694,  and  the  next  year 
he  was  chosen  master  of  the  school  of  Law- 
rencekirk.  He  removed  to  Edinburgh  in  1700, 
and  in  1702  he  was  appointed  librarian  to  the 
faculty  of  advocates.  In  1715  he  set  up  a 
printing-office,  in  conjunction  with  his  brother; 
and  from  their  press  issued  many  accurate  and 
valuable  editions  of  the  works  of  ancient  wri- 
ters, among  which  were  a  Greek  Testament, 


II  UF 

and  the  Roman  History  of  Livy.  He  became 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  earliest  literary 
society  in  Scotland  in  1718.  Towards  the 
close  of  his  life  his  eye-sight  became  impaired, 
and  in  1752  he  resigned  his  post  of  librarian 
to  the  celebrated  David  Hume.  He  died 
January  19,  1757.  Of  his  original  produc- 
tions the  most  distinguished  if  his  "  Rudi- 
ments of  the  Latin  Tongue,"  long  used  as  an 
elementary  book  in  schools.  He  also  wrote 
"  GrammaticiB  Latinaj  Institutiones  ;"  and 
"  Grammatical  Exercises  ;"  and  he  edited  the 
works  of  George  Buchanan,  in  Latin,  1725, 
2  vols.  folio  ;  the  "  Diplomata  et  Numis- 
mata  Scotiaj,"  of  James  Anderson,  to  which 
he  prefixed  a  learned  preface  ;  besides  other 
works.  He  also  established  a  newspaper, 
"  The  Caledonian  Mercury." — Rees's  Cyclop. 
Bwg.  Univ. 

RUE  (Cn  A  FILES  de  la).  There  were  two 
learned  ecclesiastics  of  this  name  in  the  seven- 
teenth century.  The  elder,  born  in  1643,  was 
a  native  of  the  French  metropolis,  and  distin- 
guished himself  early  in  life  by  his  ability  both 
as  a  preacher  and  a  poet.  In  the  latter  capa- 
city especially,  he  acquired  the  approbation  of 
the  celebrated  Corneille,  no  mean  critic,  who 
was  so  pleased  with  a  Latin  poem  of  de  la 
Rue's  composition,  having  for  its  subject  the 
victories  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth,  that  he 
translated  it  into  the  French  heroic  metre,  and 
presented  it  in  person  to  the  king.  The  scho- 
larship and  elegant  Latinity  displayed  in  the 
original,  still  farther  recommended  him  to  the 
monarch,  and  he  was  appointed  one  of  the 
number  of  learned  men,  to  whom  the  publica- 
tion of  the  edition  of  the  classics  for  the  use 
of  the  dauphin  was  committed.  The  works  of 
Virgil  fell  to  his  share,  his  commentary  on 
which,  and  the  life  of  the  poet  prefixed,  are 
justly  admired*  He  was  also  the  author  of 
several  tragedies  both  in  the  Latin  and  French 
languages,  popular  in  their  day,  as  well  as  of 
some  encomia  and  other  panegyrical  writings. 
His  death  took  place  in  the  college  of  Jesuits, 
of  which  order  he  was  a  member,  in  1725. 
—The  second,  born  in  1685,  was  a  Benedic- 
tine monk,  celebrated  for  his  piety  and  theo- 
logical learning.  He  commenced  an  edition 
of  the  works  of  Origen,  of  which  two  volumes, 
folio,  were  published  in  his  lifetime,  and  gained 
him  great  and  deserved  reputation.  His  death 
took  place  in  1739,  before  the  completion  ol 
the  third  ;  it  was,  however,  afterwards  conti- 
nued, and  a  fourth  added  by  his  nephew,  Vin- 
cent.—  Moreri. 

RUFFHEAD  (OWEN)  the  son  of  a  baker  in 
Piccadilly,  whose  father  having  purchased  a 
lottery -ticket  in  his  son's  name  during  his  in- 
fancy, employed  the  500/.  which  it  produced  in 
educating  him  for  the  law.  He  was  born  abou 
the  year  1723,  and  became  a  member  of  the  so- 
ciety of  the  Middle  Temple,  by  which  he  wasii: 
due  time  called  to  the  bar.  I  lis  practice.however 
seems  to  have  been  principally  confined  to  his 
chambers,  and  the  only  result  of  his  profes- 
sional labours  now  extant  is  an  edition  of  the 
"  Statutes  at  Large,"  in.  4to,  which  he  super- 
intended with  diligence  and  accuracy.  It  is 


RUF 

as  a  political  writer  and  partizan  that  he  is 
rincipally  known,  especially  by  "The  Con- 
test," a  periodical  work  which  excited  consi- 
Jerable  attention  in  its  day,  and  his  defence 
of  the  ministry  against  the  celebrated  John 
Wilkes,  which  he  published  under  the  title  of 
'  The  Case  of  the  late  Election  for  the  County 
of  Middlesex  considered."  For  this  pam- 
jhlet  he  was  promised  a  place  in  the  Trea- 
ury,  but  died  before  he  obtained  it,  in  the 
year  1769.  A  "  Life  of  Alexander  Pope," 
which  he  undertook  at  the  suggestion  of  bishop 
Warburtou,  was  considered,  even  in  his  life- 
time, as  a  failure  ;  'but  whether,  owing  to  the 
deficiency  in  the  requisites  of  a  critic  and  bio- 
grapher, or,  as  he  himself  averred,  to  the 
scantiness  of  his  materials,  is  a  question  which 
still  remains  undecided.— Northouclcs  Biog.Dict. 

RUFFI  (ANTHONY  de)  the  historian  of 
Marseilles,  was  born  there  in  1607,  and  bred 
to  the  law.  Being  appointed  counsellor  to  the 
seneschalscby  of  his  native  place,  he  practised 
there  with  great  integrity,  but  employed  much 
of  his  time  in  collecting  materials  for  his 
"  History  of  Marseilles,"  which  he  published 
in  1642.  He  was  also  author  of  a  "  Life  of 
the  Chevalier  de  la  Coste  ;"  and  of  the 

Counts  of  Provence  from  934  to  1480." 
He  died  in  1689. — His  son,  Louis  ANTHONY, 
who  followed  similar  pursuits,  added  a  second 
volume  to  his  father's  "  History  of  Mar- 
seilles;"  and  was  also  author  of  "  Disserta- 
tions Historiques  et  Critiques  sur  1'Origine 
des  Comtes  de  Provence,  &c."  and  of  a  simi- 
lar work  on  the  bishops  of  Marseilles.  He 
died  in  1724. — Moreri. 

RUFFINUS  or  RUFINUS,  a  celebrated 
priest  of  Aquileia,  called  by  some  Toranius, 
was  born  about  the  middle  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, at  Concordia,  a  small  city  in  Italy.  He 
retired  to  a  monastery  in  Aquileia,  which  was 
visited  by  St  Jerome,  to  whom  he  became  so 
much  attached,  that  when  the  latter  retired  into 
the  East,  he  soon  after  determined  to  follow 
him.  He  accordingly  embarked  for  Egypt, 
where  he  visited  the  hermits  who  inhabited 
the  deserts,  and  became  the  friend  and  confi- 
dant of  St  Melania  the  Elder.  Being  perse- 
cuted by  the  Arians  under  Valens,  he  was 
banished  into  one  of  the  most  desolate  parts 
of  Palestine,  but  was  ransomed  by  Melania. 
He  built  a  monastery  on  moun1  Olivet,  and 
made  many  converts  ;  but  at  length,  in  trans- 
lating what  he  deemed  the  most  interesting 
parts  of  Origen,  a  rupture  took  place  between 
him  and  his  former  friend  St  Jerome.  He 
subsequently  visited  Rome,  and  soon  after 
published  a  Latin  version  of  his  "  Apology  for 
Origen,"  which  wholly  alienated  his  former 
friend,  and  a  most  rancorous  controversy  on 
the  part  of  the  latter  ensued.  Rufinus  was 
cited  to  Rome  by  pope  Anastasius,  and  being 
accused  of  heresy,  published  some  very  or- 
thodox apologies  for  his  translations  from  Ori- 
gen, whose  opinions  he  alleged  that  he  did 
not  wish  to  support  in  any  thing  that  was  re- 
prehensible. Not  satisfied  with  this  declara- 
tion, the  pope  condemned  him  as  a  heretic,  a 
;ensure  that  seems  to  have  produced  little 


RUG 

Affect  on  Rulinus,  as  he  continued  'his  contro- 
versy with  St  Jerome,  and  being  driven  from 
Aquileia  by  an  irruption  of  the  Visigoths,  he 
retired  into  Sicily,  where  he  died  about  the 
year  410.  He  translated  "  Josephus,"  from 
Greek  into  Latin  ;  as  likewise  the  "  Ecclesi- 
astical History  of  Eusebius,"  to  which  he 
added  two  books.  He  also  supplied  ver- 
sions of  the  writings  of  Origen,  Gregory  Na- 
zianzen,  and  St  Basil ;  and  left  a  tract  in  de- 
fence of  Origen,  two  apologies  against  St  Je- 
rome, and  various  other  pieces,  which  were 
printed  collectively  at  Paris  in  1580,  folio. 
Jortin  thinks  that  he  might  have  been  quite  as 
good  a  saint,  although  not  so  good  a  scholar, 
as  Jerome. — Cave.  Dupin. 

RIJFUS  THE  EPHESIAN,  a  physician  and 
naturalist  in  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Trajan,  or 
as  others  say,  of  Nero,  who  was  esteemed  by 
Galen  to  have  been  one  of  the  ablest  of  the 
physicians  who  had  preceded  him.  He  ap- 
pears to  have  cultivated  anatomy  by  dissecting 
brutes,  with  great  success.  He  traced  the 
origin  of  the  nerves  in  the  brain,  and  even  ob- 
served the  capsule  of  the  crystalline  lens  in 
the  eye.  He  wrote  treatises  on  the  diseases 
of  the  urinary  organs,  on  purgative  medicines, 
and  according  to  Galen,  a  materia  medica  in 
verse.  What  remains  of  his  works  are  to  be 
found  in  the  "  Artis  Medica?  Principis "  of 
Stephens,  and  printed  separately  at  London 
Gr.  and  Lat.  4to,  by  William  Clinch,  1726. — 
Rees's  Cyclop. 

RUGENDAS  (GEORGE  PH-LIP)  a  famous 
battle-painter,  who  was  the  son  of  a  clock- 
maker  at  Augsburg,  and  was  bom  in  1666, 
He  studied  under  Isaac  Fischer,  and  after- 
wards copied  the  works  of  Bourguignon  ana 
Lembke,  and  the  engravings  of  Tempesta. 
Having  injured  his  right  hand,  he  learned  to 
paint  with  his  left  with  great  facility,  though 
he  afterwards  recovered  the  use  of  his  right 
hand.  He  visited  for  improvement  Vienna, 
Venice,  and.  Rome,  and  then  settled  at  Augs- 
burg. He  practised  engraving  as  well  as 
painting,  and  arrived  at  great  excellence  in  the 
representation  of  military  engagements.  Such 
was  his  zeal  for  the  advancement  of  his  art, 
that  during  the  siege  of  Augsburg  he  freely 
exposed  himself  amidst  the  fire  and  carnage, 
that  he  might  obtain  opportunities  for  sketch- 
ing the  scenes  around  him,  and  transfer  them 
to  his  canvas.  He  died  May  10,  1742,  leav- 
ing a  great  number  of  the  productions  of  his 
pencil,  as  well  as  of  his  burin,  many  of  which 
are  highly  esteemed. — Biog.  Univ. 

RUGGLE  (GEORGE) author  of  acelebrated 
dramatic  satire,  was  born  at  Lavenham  in  Suf- 
folk, where  his  father  was  a  clothier,  in  No- 
vember 1575.  He  was  educated  at  the  free 
grammar-school  of  his  native  place,  whence 
he  was  removed  to  St  John's  college,  Cam- 
bridge, in  1589,  and  thence  to  Trinity  college, 
where  he  obtained  a  scholarship  in  1593,  and 
the  degree  of  AM.  in  1597.  From  Trinity 
college  he  removed  to  Clare-hall,  and  was 
elected  a  fellow  of  that  society,  to  which  he 
afterwards  became  a  benefactor.  In  conse- 
quence of  a  legal  dispute  carried  on  between 


RUL 

the  university  and  the  mayor  and  corporation 
of  Caaibridge,  Ruggle,  who  was  one  of  the 
taxers  of  the  university,  completed  Lis  comedy 
called  "  Ignoramus,"  which  is  a  satire  on  tha 
lawyers,  and  not  destitute  of  humour.  In 
1614  it  was  performed  before  James  I,  who 
was  highly  delighted  with  it ;  and  the  law- 
yers, who  felt  the  force  of  the  ridicule,  were 
proportionately  angry.  Mr  Ruggle  resigned 
his  fellowship  in  1626,  and  died  the  following 
year.  A  very  correct  edition  of  "Ignoramus" 
was  published  in  1787,  8vo.  Two  other  plays 
are  ascribed  to  the  same  author ;  "  Club 
Law, ''aim  "  Reveries  on  Verity,"  which  have 
never  been  printe  —  Preface  to  Ignoramus, 

RUHNEKEN.     See  RHUNKEN. 

RUHS  (FREDERICK)  a  German  historian, 
born  in  Swedish  Pomerania  in  1780.  He  stu- 
died at  Gottingen,  where  Schlegel  persuaded 
him  to  devote  himself  to  the  investigation  of 
the  history  of  Scandinavia,  for  which  he  was 
peculiarly  qualified  by  his  acquaintance  with 
the  Swedish  language.  In  1801  he  published 
an  "  Essay  towards  the  History  of  the  Reli- 
gion, the  Constitution,  and  the  Civilization  of 
Ancient  Scandinavia."  Being  made  professor 
at  Griefswald,  i;i  his  native  province,  he  be- 
gan the  "  History  of  Sweden,"  Halle,  1801 — 
1810,  4  vols.  8vo,  which  is  the  most  important 
of  his  'works,  and  is  highly  esteemed.  Beino- 
deprived  of  his  office,  through  the  political  re- 
volutions which  took  place  in  Pomerania,  Ruhs 
obtained  the  professorship  of  history  at  Ber- 
lin. Having  taken  a  voyage  to  Italy,  on  ac- 
count of  his  health,  he  died  of  a  consumptive 
complaint  at  Leghorn,  February  1,  1820. — 
Biog,  Kouv.  des  Coniemp,  Bins-.  Univ. 

RUINART  (THIERRY)  a  French  theolo- 
gian, was  born  at  Rheims  June  10,  1657,  and 
became  a  Benedictine  monk  in  1674.  He 
studied  the  Scriptures,  the  fathers,  and  ecclesi- 
astical writers  with  so  much  zeal,  that  Mabillon 
chose  him  for  a  companion  in  his  literary  la- 
bours. In  1689  appeared  his  "  Acta  Prinio- 
rum  Martyrum,"  4to,  being  an  account  of  the 
martyrs  of  the  first  four  centuries,  a  new  edi- 
tion of  which  work,  with  alterations  and  addi- 
tions, was  published  in  171. 3.  He  was  also 
the  author  of  several  other  learned  works,  the 
principal  of  which  are, "  Hist.  Persecutionis 
Vandalicfe  ;"  "  Iter  Literarium  in  Alsatiam  et 
Lotharingiam,"  &c.  He  also  gave  an  excel- 
lent edition  of  the  works  of  Gregory  of  Tours  ; 
and  when  Mabillon  died,  in  1707,  was  ap- 
pointed, to  continue  the  work  in  which  thfy 
had  been  jointly  engaged.  This  learned  and 
industrious  Benedictine  died  in  1707. — Nice- 
ran,  vol.  ii. 

RULHIERE  (CLAUDE  CAIILOKAV  de)  a 
French  poet  and  historian,  born  in  1735,  at 
Bondi,  near  Paris.  Having  studied  at  the 
college  of  Louis  le  Grand,  he  entered  into  the 
corps  of  gendarmes,  and  in  1758  and  1759 
he  was  at  Bordeaux,  in  quality  of  aide-de- 
camp to  marshal  Richelieu,  then  governor  of 
Guienne.  He  afterwards  went  with  the  mi- 
nister plenipotentiary,  baron  Breteuil,  to  St 
Petersburg,  where  he  witnessed  the  dethrone- 
ment of  Peter  III,  and  the  elevation  of  Ca- 


RUN 

therine  II  to  the  throne  of  Russia  in  1762. 
Returning  to  France  in  1765,  he  drew  up  an 
account  of  the  interesting  events  which  he 
had  witnessed,  published  in  1797,  under  the 
title  of  "  Histoire,  ou  Anecdotes  sur  la  Revo- 
lution de  Russie,  en  1762,"  8vo.  In  1768  he 
was  employed  to  write  the  history  of  the 
troubles  in  Poland,  for  the  use  of  the  dauphin, 
for  which  he  was  allowed  a  pension  of  6000 
francs.  His  "  Histoire  de  1' Anarchic  de  Po- 
logne,  et  du  Demembrement  de  cette  Repub- 
lique,"  which  he  did  not  Jive  to  publish,  ap- 
peared in  1807,  4  vols.  8vo.  Rulhiere  xvas 
admitted  a  member  of  the  French  Academy 
in  1787,  and  he  died  in  January,  1791.  His 
poems,  consisting  of  epistles  in  verse,  and 
other  light  pieces,  were  published  collectively 
in  1801  and  1808.  He  wrote  historical  re- 
marks on  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes, 
and  other  works,  besides  those  already  men- 
tioned.— Biog.  Kouv.  des  Contemp.  Biog.  Uiiiv. 

RUMFORD.     See  THOMPSON. 

HUMPH  (GEOIIGE  EVEUARD)  a  doctor  of 
physic  in  the  university  of  Hai;au,  in  which 
city  he  was  born  in  1637.  He  went  to  Am- 
boyna  as  consul  and  senior  merchant,  which 
occupation  did  not  prevent  him  from  making 
a  collection  of  the  plants  of  the  country,  which 
he  composed  in  twelve  books,  and  dedicated 
to  the  East  India  company.  These  were  pub- 
lished after  his  death  by  Burman,  under  the 
title  of  "  Herbarium  Amboinense."  He  also 
left  behind  him  "  Imagines  Piscium  Testace- 
orum,"  Leyden,  1711  ;  and  a  "  Political  His- 
tory of  Amlioyna,"  which  has  never  been  pub- 
lished. This  ingenious  man  became  blind  in 
his  forty-third  year,  but  could  distinguish 
herbs  by  the  taste  and  touch.  The  date  of 
his  death  is  not  recorded. — Itees's  Cyclop. 

RUNCIMAN  (ALEXANDER)  a  Scottish 
painter,  was  born  at  Edinburgh  in  1736.  His 
father,  who  was  an  architect,  taught  him  some 
of  the  principles  of  his  art,  and  he  was  after- 
wards placed  with  a  portrait-painter  of  the 
name  of  JVorries,  under  whom  he  made  a 
rapid  improvement.  About  1766  he  accom- 
panied his  younger  brother,  John,  to  Rome, 
where  the  latter,  who  had  excited  far  higher 
expectations  as  an  artist,  died  of  a  consump- 
tion. On  his  return  tr  Scotland  in  1771, 
Alexander,  who  was  warmly  patronized  by 
sir  James  Clerk,  of  Pennecuik,  was  employed 
by  that  gentleman  to  paint  a  series  of  subjects 
from  Ossian,  for  his  hall  at  Pennecuik.  In  the 
course  of  a  few  years  he  was  made  master  of 
a  public  institution  for  promoting  designs.  He 
died  in  October,  1785.  His  best  pictures  are, 
an  altar-piece  in  the  episcopal  chapel,  Edin- 
burgh ;  his  "  Lear  ;"  his  "  Andromeda  ;"  and 
his  "  Agrippina  landing  with  the  Ashesjif.Ger- 
manicus." — Stork's  Biog.  Scot. 

RUNDLE  (THOMAS)  an  English  divine, 
was  born  at  Milburn  Abbot,  in  Devonshire,  in 
Kilio,  and  educated  at  Exeter  college,  Oxford, 
where  he  took  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  laws 
in  17 10.  According  to  Whiston,  he  soon  after 
became  a  convert  to  Arianism,  which  seems 
not  to  l.ave  been  the  case,  as  he  was  ordained 
ny  bishop  Talbot,  and  under  the  patronage  of 


RUP 

the  same  family  would  have  reached  the  Eng- 
lish bench  of  bishops,  but  for  the  opposition 
of  Gibson,  bishop  of  London,  in  consequence 
of  the  suspicions  entertained  of  his  orthodoxy 
The  controversy  produced  by  this  resistance, 
by  making  his  name  conspicuous,  alone  ren 
ders  this  notice  necessary.  Dr  Rundle 
finally  became  bishop  of  Derry  in  Ireland. 
He  died  in  1743.  He  printed  a  few  sermons ; 
and  his  letters,  with  memoirs  prefixed,  were 
published  in  1790. — Memoirs  as  above. 

RUN1US  (JOHN)  one  of  the  most  cele- 
brated of  the  Swedish  poets,  was  born  in  West 
Gothland  in  1679.  He  received  the  rudiments 
of  his  education  at  Skara,  where  he  gave  early 
proofs  of  his  genius,  and  particularly  distin- 
guished himself  by  his  proficiency  in  the 
Greek  language.  In  1700  he  went  to  Upsal, 
and  after  completing  his  studies,  was  taken 
by  count  Stromberg  to  be  his  secretary.  He 
died  after  a  life  of  indigence  and  perplexity, 
of  a  consumption,  in  17  IS,  at  the,  age  of 
thirty-four.  Runius  is  accounted  by  the 
Swedes  one  of  the  best  of  their  poets.  His 
poems  were  published  after  his  death,  under 
the  title  of  "  Dudaim,"  Stockholm,  1714,  m 
two  parts  ;  the  first  containing  sacred  poems, 
and  the  second  epithalamia,  epitaphs,  odes,  &c. 
on  (different  subjects,  interspersed  with  several 
ingenious  pieces  in  Greek,  Latin,  French,  and 
German. — Gezelii  Biographiska  Lexicon. 

RUNNING  TON  (CHARLES)  serjeant-at- 
law,  was  born  in  Hertfordshire  in  1751.  His 
education  was  private,  and  in  1768  he  was 
placed  with  a  special  pleader,  who  employed 
him  in  a  digest  of  the  law  of  England.  He 
was  railed  to  the  bar  in  1778,  and  in  1787  to 
the  degree  of  seijeant-at-law.  In  1815  he 
was  appointed  commissioner  for  the  relief  of 
insolvent  debtors,  which  office  he  resigned  in 
1819.  He  died  at  Brighton,  January  18,  1821. 
Serjeant  Rumungton  published  "  Hale's  His- 
tory of  the  Common  Law,"  2  vols. ;  "  Gil- 
bert's Law  of  Ejectments,"  8vo;  "  Kuft'head's 
Statutes  at  Large,"  4  vols.  4to  ;  "  History  of 
the  legal  Remedy  by  Ejectment,  and  the  re- 
sulting Action  for  Mesne  Process,"  8vo. — 
Gent.  Ring 

RUPERT,  or  ROBERT  OF  BAVARIA 
(prince)  the  third  son  of  Frederick  V,  elector 
palatine  and  titular  king  of  Bohemia,  by  the 
princess  Elizabeth  of  England,  daughter  of 
James  I.  He  was  born  in  1619,  and  like  most 
German  princes,  he  received  a  military  educa- 
tion. Becoming  an  exile  in  his  early  years, 
through  the  misfortunes  of  his  father,  he  came 
to  England  at  the  commencement  of  the  civil 
war,  and  offered  his  services  to  his  uncle 
Charles  I.  He  was  accepted,  and  had  the 
command  of  a  corps  of  cavalry,  at  the  head 
of  which  lie  distinguished  himself  at  the 
battle  of  Edgehill,  in  October  1642  ;  and  at 
Chalgrave  Field  in  July  1643.  Soon  after  ha 
took  Bristol,  and  obliged  the  enemy  to  raise 
the  sieges  of  Newark  and  of  York.  He  dis- 
played his  courage  at  Marston  Moor  and  at 
Naseby,  but  his  impetuosity  and  imprudence 
contributed  to  the  disastrous  result  of  those 
engagements.  He  afterwards  shut  himself  up 


RUS 

in  the  city  of  Bristol,  and  having  surrendered 
that  place,  after  a  short  siege,  to  general 
Fairfax,  his  conduct  so  much  displeased  the 
king,  that  he  dismissed  the  prince  from  his  ser- 
vice. He  then  went  abroad,  but  returning 
after  the  death  of  Charles  I,  he  was  made 
commander  of  that  part  of  the  fleet  which  ad- 
hered to  Charles  II  in  1648.  Prince  Rupert 
for  some  time  carried  on  a  predatory  warfare 
against  the  English  ;  and  after  narrowly  es- 
caping from  the  pursuit  of  admiral  Blake  on 
the  coast  of  Portugal,  he  at  length  sailed  to 
France  with  his  prizes  and  ships,  and  having 
gold  them,  joined  Charles  II  at  the  court  of 
Versailles.  His  time  was  chiefly  devoted  to 
scientific  studies^  till  the  Restoration,  when 
he  returned  to  England.  In  April  1662  he 
was  admitted  a  member  of  the  privy  council, 
and  in  December  following,  a  fellow  of  the 
newly  founded  Royal  Society.  In  1666  he  was 
appointed,  in  conjunction  with  Monk,  duke  of 
Albemarle,  to  the  command  of  a  fleet  fitted 
out  against  the  Dutch  ;  and  in  the  next  war 
with  Holland  in  1673,  he  was  made  admiral 
of  the  fleet.  In  1679  he  was  nominated  a 
member  of  the  new  privy-council  ;  but  from 
.that  period  he  interfered  but  little  in  pulslic 
affairs.  He  led  a  retired  life,  and  spent  much 
of  his  time  at  Windsor  castle,  of  which  he 
was  governor.  Many  useful  inventions  re- 
sulted from  his  studies,  among  which  are.  the 
invention  of  the  compound  called  "  Prince's 
Metal  ;"  and  also  the  discovery  of  the  method 
of  engraving  in  mezzo-tinto.  He  was  an 
active  member  of  the  Board  of  Trade ;  and  to 
his  influence  is  ascribed  the  establishment  of 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  of  which  he  was 
the  first  governor.  This  public-spirited  and 
patriotic  prince  died  at  his  house  in  Spring 
Gardens,  London,  November  '29,  1682.  He 
was  never  married,  but  he  left  one  natural  son, 
Dudley  Rupert,  or  Dudley  Bard,  whose  mo- 
ther was  the  daughter  of  Henry  Bard,  viscount 
Bellemont.  He  was  educated  at  Eton,  and 
was  killed  at  the  siege  of  Buda,  in  Hungary, 
in  1686. — Rees's  Cyclop.  Biog.  Brit. 

RUPPIUS  (HENRY  BERNARD)  a  medical 
student,  a  native  of  Giessen,  who  was  enthu- 
siastically attached  to  botanical  investigations. 
Haller  characterizes  him  as  "  of  a  short  ro- 
bust stature,  with  the  eyes  of  a  lynx,  unwea- 
ried limbs,  a  penetrating  genius,  and  a  most 
tenacious  memory."  He  travelled  through 
various  parts  of  Germany,  subjecting  himself 
to  many  privations  for  the  sake  of  indulging 
in  his  favourite  pursuits.  He  seems  to  have 
died  at  an  early  age.  The  "  Flora  Jenensis," 
compiled  from  his  papers,  was  published  in 
1718,  by  J.  H.  Schutte,  and  reprinted  with 
additions  in  1726  and  1745. — Rees's  Cyclop. 

RUSH  (BENJAMIN)  an  eminent  American 
physician  and  medical  writer,  was  born  near 
Bristol,  in  the  state  of  Pennsylvania,  Jan.  5, 
1745.  His  parents,  who  were  quakers,  were 
descended  from  a  family  who  had  accompanied 
the  celebrated  William  Penn.  He  studied  at 
the  college  of  Princeton,  and  was  placed 
under  the  care  of  Dr  Redman,  of  Philadel- 
phia, in  order  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  the 


11 1;  s 

medical  profession.     After  spending  some  time 
with  that  experieuced  physician,  he  repaired 
to  Edinburgh,  where  he  took  his  doctor's  de- 
gree in  1768.     On  his  return  to  Philadelphia, 
an   attempt  being  made  to   form   a  medical 
school,    he   became    professor    of    chemistry 
therein. .    On  the  breaking  out  of  hostilities 
between  Great  Britain   and  the  colonies,  Dr 
Rush  sided  with  the  great  majority  of  his  coun- 
trymen, and  in  1776  was  chosen  a  member  of 
the    congress   for  the  state  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  was  appointed  physician- general  to  the 
military  hospital,  which  office,  in  consequence 
of  some   misunderstanding,  he  soon  resigned. 
When  the  medical  colleges  of  Philadelphia 
became  united  under  the  name  of  the  univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania,  he  was  appointed  pro- 
fessor of  the  institutes  of  medicine  and  clini- 
cal practice,   and  about  this  time  gave  to  the 
public  his  "  Lectures  upon  the  Cause  of  Ani- 
mal Life."     In  1793,  a  year  memorable  in  the 
medical   annals  of  the  United  States,  on  ac- 
count of  the  devastation  produced  by  the  yel- 
low fever,   Dr   Rush  extremely  distinguished 
himself;    and  the  history  of   that   epidemic, 
which  he  published  the  following  year,  cannot 
be  too  highly  valued,  both  for  an  accurate  de- 
scription of  the  disease,  and  for  the  many  impor- 
tant facts  which  the  author  has  recorded  in  rela- 
tion to  it.    This  eminent  and  indefatigable  man, 
died  of  a  typhus  fever,  in  the  month  of  April, 
1813.     The  tracts  of  Dr  Rush  are  exceedingly 
numerous,  and  highly  and  deservedly  esteemed 
by   his  countrymen.     The  principal  of  these 
are  contained  in   an  octavo  volume,  entitled 
"  Essays,   Literary,  Moral,   and    Philosophi- 
cal ;"  while  his  medical  papers  are  collected 
in  four  volumes,  octavo,   under  the    title  of 
"  Medical  Enquiries,"  a  third  edition  of  which 
he  published  in  1807.    The  reputation  of  Dr 
Rush  will  permanently  depend  on  his  history 
of  the  several  epidemics  of  the  United  States, 
which  is  a  book  of  authority  in  every  quarter, 
and   principally  contributed   to  make   him    a 
member  of   many  of  the  most  distinguished 
literary    associations   of    Europe. —  American 
Ann.  and  Philos.  Register. 
RUSHTON.     See  RISKTO*. 
RUSHWORTH    (JOHN)    an    industrious 
and  useful  collector  of  historical  matter,  was 
born  in  1607  in  the  county  of  Northumberland. 
His  parents  were  natives  of  Yorkshire,  and 
related  to  the  Fairfaxes.  He  was  for  some  time 
a  student  at  Oxford,  which  he  quitted  for  Lin- 
col  n's-inn,  where  he  remained  until  lie  was 
called   to  the  bar.      He  was    however  more 
attached  to  politics  than  to   law,  and  made  it 
his  business  to  attend  parliament,   the   star- 
chamber,  and  other  courts,  when  important 
business   was    transacting,    in  order  to  take 
notes    of   what  he   saw   and   heard.     Being 
attached  to  the  parliamentary  and  presbyteriau 
parties,  in  1640  he  was  admitted  assistant  to 
Mr  Elsynge,  clerk  of  the  house  of  Commons  ; 
and  for  his  activity  in  conveying  addresses  and 
messages  to  the  king,  at  York,  recommended 
to  a  place  in  the  Excise.    In  1643  he  took  the 
covenant,  and   when  his  relation,  sir  Thomas 
Fairfax  became  general  of  the  parliamentary 


RUS 

forces,  he  was  appointed  his  secretary.    When 
Fairfax  resigned   his  commission,  Mr   Rush- 
worth  took  up  his  residence  at  Lincoln's-inn, 
and  was  one  of  the  commissioners  appointed 
in    1652   to  reform  abuses   at  common    law. 
About  the  same  time  he  was  much  engaged  in 
his  "  Historical  Collections,"  the  first  part  of 
which  was  submitted  to  Oliver  Cromwell,  and 
published  in  1659.     He  was  chosen  member 
for  Berwick-upon-Twee.d    in  1658,   and  was 
appointed  one  of  the  clerks  of  the  new  coun- 
cil of  state.     In  1660  he  was  re-elected  for 
Berwick  in  the  healing  parliament ;  and  at  the 
Restoration  he  endeavoured  to  ingratiate  him- 
self with   Charles  II,   by  presenting   to   him 
several  hooks  of  the  privy  council  of  the  for- 
mer reign ;  but  he  only  received  the   king's 
thanks,  without  any  farther  notice.     In  1667 
he  was  made  secretary  to  sir  Orlando  Bridges, 
keeper  of  the  great  seal,  but  after  the  decease 
of  that   lawyer,  having  taken  no  care  of  his 
private  affairs,  he  fell  into  great  distress.    He 
still,  however,   assiduously   employed  himself 
in  his  collections,  until  arrested  for  debt,  and 
committed  to  the  King's  Bench  prison,  where 
he  remained  for  six  years,  and  died  with  im- 
paired memory  and  understanding  in  1690,  at 
the   age   of    eighty-three.      His    "  Historical 
Collection     of    private    Passages    in    State, 
weighty  Matters  in  Law,  and  remarkable  Pro- 
ceedings in  Parliament,"  was  published  at  dif- 
ferent times,    in  folio,  until   it  amounted  to 
eight  volumes,  including  the  trial  of  the   earl 
of  Strafford,  published  in  1680  ;  the  first  seven 
volumes  of  these  were  reprinted  uniformly  in 
1721.     Of  this   laborious   and   highly  useful 
compilation     different     opinions    have     been 
formed  by  the  partizans  friendly  to,  or  opposed 
to  the  cause  of  Charles  I.     Rushworth  pro- 
fesses great    impartiality,   but   Dr  Nalson,  a 
writer  employed  by  Charles   II   to   publish  a 
collection  of  public  transactions,  made  a  for- 
mal attack  upon  his  credit,   and  a  long  list  of 
his  mistakes  have  been  recorded  by  the  au- 
thors of  the  Parliamentary  History,  which  are 
attributed  rather  to  transcribers  than  to  him- 
self.    It  is  reasonable,  however,   to   believe, 
that  like  most  of  the  writers  of  the   day,  he 
was  occasionally   biassed  by    his  opinions, -a 
fact  which  will  still  leave  his  work  the  credit 
of  much  industry  and  utility. — Bing.  Brit. 

RUSSEL  (ALEXANDER)  an  eminent  phy- 
sician and  naturalist,  who  was  a  native  ol 
Edinburgh.  lie  received  his  education  at  the 
university  in  that  city,  and  having  taken  the 
degree  of  MD.he  removed  to  London,  whence 
he  soon  after  embarked  for  the  Levant,  and 
settled  at  Aleppo,  as  physician  to  the  English 
factory.  In  this  situation  he  assiduously  ap- 
plied himself  to  the  study  of  the  language  an 
manners  of  the  people,  and  of  the  natural  pro- 
ductions of  the  country.  The  result  of  his 
inquiries  was  the  publication  of  his  "  Natura 
History  of  Aleppo,  and  the  Parts  adjacent,' 
1756,  4to,  which,  together  with  other  impor- 
tant information,  contained  some  interesting 
observations  on  the  plague.  Dr  Russel  re- 
turned to  England  in  17.V.),  and  taking  up  his 
residence  in  the  metropolis,  he  was  chos 


RUS 

one  of  the  physicians  to  St  Thomas's  hospital, 
vhich  office  he  held  till  his  death  in  1770. 
[c  \v;is  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  and 
he  contributor  of  some  valuable  papers  to 
IIP  Philosophical  Transactions. — Hutchinion's 
r>i,<:^.  Med. — RUSSELL  (PATRICK)  younger 
mother  of  the  preceding,  was  likewise  a  phy- 
sician, and  a  cultivator  of  the  science  of 
natural  history.  He  exercised  his  profession 
or  a  time  at  Aleppo,  and  afterwards  held  a 
nedical  situation  in  the  East  Indies,  whence 
le  returned  to  his  native  country,  and  died  in 
London,  July  2,  1805,  at  the  age  of  seventy. 
:le  published  an  "  Account  of  theTabasheer," 
a  siliceous  concretion  found  in  the  joints  of 
canes,  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions  for 
1790;  a  "Treatise  on  the.  Plague,"  1791, 
4to  ;  an  enlarged  edition  of  Dr  A.  Russel's 
history  of  Aleppo  ;  and  "  Descriptions  and 
Figures  of  Two  Hundred  Fishes  collected  on 
the  Coast  of  Coromandel,"  1803,  2  vols.  folio. 
— Gent.  Mag. 

RUSSEL  (WILLIAM)  fifth  earl,  and   first 
duke,  of  Bedford,  was  the  eldest  son  of  Fran- 
is,  the  fourth  earl.     He   was  born  in  1614, 
and  received  his  education  at  Magdalen   col- 
lege, Oxford.     He  was  a  member  of  the  long 
parliament  which  met  at  Westminster  in  1640, 
t>ut  soon  after  succeeded  his  father  in  his  title 
and  honours.   In  1642,  having  declared  against 
the  measures  of  the  court,  he  commanded  the 
reserve  of  horse  at  the   battle  of  Edge-hill ; 
but  in  1643  he  joined  the  royal  standard,  and 
fought  with  great  bravery  at  the  battle  of  New- 
bury,  together  with  the  earls  of  Holland  and 
Clare.     AltL'ough  treated  with  civility  by  the 
king,  the  retainers  of  the  court  acted  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  in-duce  the  three  earls  to  retire 
to  the  earl  of  Essex  at  St  Albans  ;   soon  after 
which  the  earl  of  Bedford  was  taken  into  cus- 
tody by  order  of  parliament,  and  his  estate  se- 
questrated, which  sequestration  was,  however, 
on  his  submission  in  1644,  removed,   and    he 
led  a  private  life  until  the  Restoration,  when 
he  assisted  at  the  coronation,  and  was  elected 
a  knight  of  the  garter.     The  head  of  a  family 
which  favoured  the  Revolution,  he  also  attend- 
ed the  coronation  of  William  and  Mary,  who 
made  him  lord-lieutenant  of  the   counties   of 
Bedford,  Cambridge,  and  Middlesex ;  and  in 
1694  exalted  him  to  the  rank  of  marquis  of  Ta- 
vistock  and  duke  of  Bedford.     In  the  enume- 
ration of  hi?  merits  in   the  patent,  it  was  ex- 
pressed, that  not  the  least  of  them  consisted 
in  being  the  father  of  the  executed  lord  Rus- 
sel,   the   ornament  of  his  age,  whose   loss  it 
was  intended  to  solace  by  the  accession  of  dig- 
nity.    This  influential  nobleman  died  in  1700, 
in  hia  eighty-seventh  year. — Cotlins's  Peerage. 
RUSSEL  (lord  WILLIAM)  third  son  of  the 
preceding,  and   a  distinguished   and  admired 
supporter   of  liberty,   was    born    about   1641. 
He  was  brought  up  in  the  principles  of  consti- 
tutional freedom  espoused  by  his  father,  and 
he  appears   to  have  yielded  to  the  vortex  of 
dissipation    introduced     by   the    Restoration, 
until  his  marriage  with  Rachel,  second  daugh- 
ter and  co-heiress  of  the   earl  of  Southamp- 
ton, (then    widow  of  lord  Vaughan),  which 


RUS 

union  wholly  reclaimed  him.     He  represented    looked 
the  county  of  Bedford  in  four  parliaments,  and    York, 
being  highly  esteemed  for  patriotism  and  inde- 
pendence was  regarded  as  one  of  the  heads  of 
the  whig  party.     When  Charles  II  was  exas- 
perated at  the  court  of  France  for  withdrawing 
the  pension  which  his  meanness  and  profligacy 
induced  him  to  accept,  he  appeared  really  de- 
sirous of  joining-  the  continental  confederacy 
against  Louis  XIV,  and  a  French  war  being  ge- 
nerally popular   in   England,   the   parliament 
voted  a  large  supply  of  men  and  money.    The 
whigs,  aware  of  the  king's  character,  dreaded 
giving  him  an  army  which  might  as  probably 
be  employed  againsc  liberty  at  home  as  against 
France,  raised   an  opposition  to  the  measure. 
This  party  movement  being  acceptable  to  the 
French  king,  an  intrigue  commenced  between 
the  leading  whigs  and  Barillon,  the  French  am- 
bassador, the  consequence  of  which  was  the 
receipt  on  the  part  of  some  of  them  of  pecu- 
niary assistance,  in  order  to  thwart  the  intend- 
ed war.     From  that  minister's  private  despat- 
ches, sir  John  Dalrymple,  in  his  Memoirs  of 
Great    Britain,   has    published  a    list   of    the 
members  whom  he  had  really  bribed  ;    but  as 
the  lords  Russel  and  Holland  are  specified  as 
directly  refusing  to  receive  money  on  this  ac- 
count, the  circumstances  will  hereafter  claim 
notice  more  regularly  in  the  article  ALGERNON 
SIDNEY.     That  he  was  aware  of  this  intrigue 
can  scarcely  be  doubted,  and  however  pure  the 
object,    such    proceedings  can  never  be  po- 
litically justifiable.     In  1679,  when   Charles 
II  found  it  necessary  to  ingratiate  himself  with 
the  whigs,  lord  Russel  was  appointed  one  of 
the    members    of    the     privy    council.      He 
soon,     however,    found   that    his    party   was 
not  in  the  king's  confidence,  and  the  recal  of 
the  duke  of  York,  without  their  concurrence, 
induced  him  to  resign.     Although  his  temper 
was  in  other  respects  mild  and  moderate,  his 
fear  for  the  Protestant  religion,  and  of  a  Ca- 
tholic succession,  induced   him  to  take  very 
decisive  steps  in  the  promotion  of  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  duke  of  York.     In  June  1680  he 
went   publicly   to    Westminster-hall,    and    at 
the  court  of  King's  Bench,  presented  the  duke 
as  a  recusant ;  and  on  the  November  follow- 
ing, carried  up  the  exclusion  bill  to  the  house 
of  Lords,  at  the  head  of  two   hundred  mem- 
bers of  parliament.     The   lead  which  he  took 
in  this  matter  of  course  highly  displeased  the 
court,  and  was  equally  operative  in  a  contrary 
sense  upon  the   public.     The   king  therefore 
dissolved  the  parliament,  and  resolved  hence- 
forward to  govern   without  one  ;  and  in  the 
spirit  of  this  determination,    arbitrary  princi- 
ples were  openly  avowed  by    the  partizans  oi 
the  court.     Alarmed   at  the  state  of  things, 
many  of  the  whig  leaders  indulged  in  propor- 
tionately strong  expedients,  in  the  way  of  coun- 
teraction,   and    a    plan   of    insurrection    was 
formed  for  a  simultaneous  rising  both  in  Eng- 
land and  Scotland.     Among  these  leaders,  in- 
cluding the   dukes  of  Monmouth  and  Argyll 
the  lords  Russel,  Essex,   and  Howard,  Alger 
nei    Sidney   and    Hampden,   different  views 
prevailed  ;  but  it  is  admitted  that  lord  Piusse 


RUS 

only  to   the  exclusion 
While  these   plans 


of  the  duke  of 


were  ripening,  a 

subaltern  plot  was   laid    by  some  inferior  con- 
spirators, for  assassinating  the  king  on  his  re- 
turn  from  Newmarket,  at  a  lone  farm  called 
the  Ryehouse,  which  gave  a  name  to  the  con- 
spiracy.    Although  this  plan  stood  quite  apart 
from  the  great  scheme  of  the  insurrection,  the 
detection  of  the  one  led  to  that  of  the  other, 
and  lord  Russel  was  in  consequence  committed 
to  the  Tower.     After  some  of  the  Ryehouse 
conspirators  had  been  executed,  advantage  was 
taken  of  the  national  feeling,  to  bring  him  to 
trial,  in  July,  1683  :  and  pains  being  taken  to 
pack  a  jury  of  partizans,  he  was,   after  very 
little   deliberation,   brought    in  guilty  of  high 
treason.     "  It  was  proved,"  says  Hume,  after 
describing  the  evidence  produced  on  the  trial, 
"  that  the  insurrection  had  been  deliberated 
on  by  the  prisoner  ;  the  surprisal  of  the  guards 
deliberated,  but  not  fully  resolved  upon;  and 
that  an  assassination  of  the  king  had  not  been 
once  mentioned  or  imagined  by   him."     The 
same  author  goes  on  to  say,  that  the  English 
law  of  treason  requiring   direct  testimony  of 
an  overt  act,  there  arose  some  difficulty,  hut  the 
crown  lawyers,    "  partly  desirous   of  paying 
court  to  the  sovereign,  and  partly  convinced 
of  the   ill   consequence    which    might  attend 
such  narrow  limitations,  introduced  a  greater 
latitude,  both  in  the  proof  and  the  definition  of 
he  crime."     Stripped  of  the  apologetical  tone 
Inch  this  historian  always  employs  to  palliate 
llegality  under  the  Stuarts,    the  law  was,  on 
his  occasion,  stretched  to  the   prisoner's   de- 
traction.    It  is  certain  at  least,  that  his  con- 
demnation was  deemed  illegal  by  judge  Atkins 
and  many  other   authorities,  not  to  dwell  on 
he  act  which  on  this  ground  reversed  his  at- 
ainder.     Once  condemned,  such  a  victim,  was 
too  agreeable  to   the   court,   and  to  the  cold, 
vindictive    feelings   of  the   duke  of  York,   to 
meet  with  mercy  ;  and  the  offer  of  a  large  sum 
of  money   from  his  father,  whose  only  son  he 
bad  now  become,  to  the   duchess    of  Ports- 
mouth, arid  the  pathetic  solicitations  of  his  ex- 
cellent wife,   all   proved   in  vain,  and  he  ob- 
tained remission  only  of  the  more  ignominious 
parts  of  his  sentence.     He  was  too  firm  to  be 
induced  by   the   divines   who  attended  him  to 
subscribe  to  the  doctrine    of  non-resistance, 
then  the  favourite  court  tenet  of  the  day  ;  and 
it  is  to  be  regretted  that  he  was  induced  to 
write  a  petitionary  letter  to  the  duke  of  York, 
promising  to  forbear  all  future  opposition,  and 
to  live  abroad,  should  his  life  be  spared.    It  is 
presumed  that  this  letter  was  written  in  com- 
pliance with  the  solicitations  of  his  friends,  for 
he   nobly  refused  the   generous   offer  of  lord 
Cavendish  to  favour  his  escape  by  exchanging 
clothes  ;  and  with  equal   generosity   declined 
the  proposal  of  the  diike  of  Momnouth  (then 
in  concealment)  to  deliver   himself  up  if  he 
thought  the  step  would  be  serviceable  to  him. 
Conjugal  affection  was  the  feeling  that  clung 
closest  to  his  heart  ;  and  when   he   had  taken 
the  last  farewell   of  his   wife,  he    exclaimed, 
that  the    bitterness    of  death  was  past.     He 
was  beheaded  in  Li  icoln's-inn  Fields,  on  the 


RUS 

21st  of  July,  168:3,  in  the  forty-second  yea 
of  liis  age.     To  the  character  of  this  regrettei 
nobleman  for  probity,   sincerity,   and  privat 
worth,   even  the  enemies   to  his  public  prin 
ciples  have   borne   ample  testimony.     Of  hi 
talents    Burnet  observes,    that   he  was   of 
slow  hut  sound  understanding  ;    and  few  im 
partial  persons  will  agree  with  Hume,  that  he 
was  a  man  blinded  by  party  zeal,  as  the  cours 
of  proceeding  which  characterized   the  year 
which  immediately  followed   his  death,  com 
pletely  justified  the  apprehensions  which  hat 
actuated  him.    With  respect  to  the  more  pro 
blematical    points  of  his  public  conduct,  hi 
best   apology    is  formed    by   the  difficulty  it 
which  every  honest  lover  of  liberty  is  neces 
sarily  placed,  when  the  extreme  case  of  sub 
mission  to  arbitrary  machination  is  opposec 
by  the  difficulty  of  a  perfectly  unobjectionable 
resistance  to   them.      Possibly  the  honestes 
man  in  such  cases  is  in  the   greatest  danger 
and  posterity  upon  the  whole  has  not  failed  to 
do  justice  to  this  estimable,  patriotic,  and  ill- 
fated  nobleman. — RUSSEL  (lady  RACHEL)  the 
excellent  wife  of  the  preceding.     Her  parent- 
age has  been  already  mentioned  ;  and  the  affec- 
tionate zeal  with  which  she  assisted  her  hus- 
band,  and   the   magnanimity  with  which  she 
bore  his  loss,  obtained  the  respect  and  admira- 
tion of    all    the  world.      Upon    his  trial  she 
accompanied  him  into  court ;  and  when  he  was 
refused  counsel,  and  allowed  only  an  amanu- 
ensis,   she   stood  forth   as  that  assistant,  and 
excited   the  respect  and  sympathy  of  all  who 
behefd   her.     After   his  death  she    wrote 
touching  letter  to  the  king,  in  which  she  as- 
serted that  the  paper  delivered  by  him  to  the 
sheriff,  declaratory  of  his  innocence,  was  his  own 
composition,  ami  not,  as  charged  by  the  court 
(which  was  much  offended  at  it),  dictated  by 
any  other  person.     She  spent  the  remainder  of 
herlifein  the  exercise  of  pious  and  social  duties. 
A  collection  of  letters  between  her  and  her 
correspondents  was  published  in  1773,   4to, 
which  gave  farther  evidence  of  her  calm  mag- 
nanimity.    There  appears  no  triumph  in  the 
expression  with  which  she  records  the  flight  of 
James  II  ;  and  she  passes  over  in  silence  the 
merited  fate  of  the  infamous  Jeffries,  who  had 
behaved  with  his  usual  coarseness  as  a  crown 
lawyer  on   her  husband's  trial.     This  exem- 
plary woman  died  in  1723,  aged  eighty-seven. 
— Biog.  Brit.     Hume.     Lady  11.  Russel's  Cor- 
respondence. 

RUSSEL  (FRANCIS)  the  fifth  duke  of  Bed- 
ford, was  the  eldest  son  of  Francis,  marquis  of 
Tavistock,  who  died  March  22,  1767,  in  con- 
sequence of  a  fall  from  his  horse  while  hunt- 
ing. He  was  born  July  22,  1765,  and  was 
educated  at  Westminster  school  and  the  uni- 
versity of  Oxford.  On  entering  into  public 
life  he  became  intimately  connected  with  C.  J. 
Fox  and  the  whig  party  ;  and  in  1791  he  dis- 
played his  talents  in  the  house  of  Lords,  in 
opposing  hostilities  against  France  and  the  de- 
signs of  the  ministry  to  form  a  corps  of  emi- 
grants iu  the  pay  of  this  country.  In  1796  he 
retired  from  parliament,  with  the  rest  of  the 
whigs  ;  and  he  seldom  made  his  appearance 


RUS 

again  in  the  house  of  Lords,  till  after  the 
change  of  ministry  ia  1801.  He  was  a  sin- 
cere advocate  for  the  conclusion  of  peace  with 
the  French  ;  but  he  did  not  live  to  witness  its 
final  settlement,  dying  of  strangulated  hernia, 
February  26,  1802.  The  duke  of  Bedford 
was  distinguished  rather  for  solid  than  bril- 
liant qualities  ;  and  his  integrity,  patriotism, 
and  regard  for  civil  liberty,  constitute  his  most 
decisive  claims  to  the  favourable  recollection 
of  posterity.  Of  the  large  fortune  which  he 
possessed,  a  considerable  portion  was  directed 
to  the  improvement  of  agriculture  and  rural 
economy.  By  the  institution  of  a  public  fes- 
tival, and  the  distribution  of  prizes  at  the  sea- 
son of  sheep-shearing,  at  his  seat  at  Woburn 
Abbey,  and  by  his  influence  and  example  he 
contributed  greatly  to  the  establishment  of  a 
taste  for  georgical  pursuits  among  the  nobility 
and  gentry  of  this  country,  and  their  depend- 
ants.— Bing.  Univ. 

RUSSEL  (EDWARD)  earl  of  Orford,  was 
the  grandson  of  Francis    Russel,   the    fourth 
earl  of  Bedford,  and  was  born  in  1651.     He 
became    gentleman   of    the    bed-chamber    to 
James,  duke  of  York  ;  but  on  the  execution 
of  his  cousin,  lord  W'illiam  Russel,  he  retired 
from  court ;  and  when  James  II  succeeded  to 
the  crown,  he  opposed  the  measures  of  his  go- 
vernment, and  used  all  his  influence  in  pro- 
moting the  Revolution.     Under  William  111 
he  was   a   privy-counsellor;  and  in  1690   he 
was  appointed  admiral  of  the  blue,  advanced 
to   the   command  of  the  navy,  and  made  first 
lord  of  the  Admiralty.     On  the  19tb  of  May, 
1692,  he  obtained  a  signal    victory  over  the 
French   fleet    under   Tourville,    off   cape  La 
Hogue  ;  and  in  1695  he  prevented  the  inva- 
sion of  Britain  by  the  French,  under  the  ex- 
celled monarch  .lames  II.     His  services  were 
•ewarded  with  promotion  to  the  peerage,  by 
:he  titles  of  baron  of  Shingey,  viscount  Bar- 
leur,  and  earl  of  Orford.     In   1701   he   was 
mpeached    by   the    house  of  Commons,  and 
was  tried   on    the   charges  of  corruption  and 
malversation  with  regard  to  the  supply  of  the 
leet,  but  he  was  acquitted.     He  died  without 
ssue,  November  26,  1727. — Collins's  Peerage. 
RUSSEL  (RICHAUD)  a  physician,  who  was 
he  son   of  a  London  bookseller,  and  received 
us    education    in    the    university   of    Padua, 
vhere  he  graduated  as  MD.     He  settled  as  a 
nedical  practitioner  at  Reading,  in  Berkshire, 
vhere  he  attracted  some  notice   by  a  dispute 
with  Dr  Addington,  the  father  of  lord  Sid- 
nouth,  who  had  refused  to  meet  him  in  con- 
ul ration,  on  the  alleged  ground  of  his  having 
ibtained  his  diploma  at  a  foreign  university. 
I  he  quarrel,  however,  seems   to   have  rather 
riginated  in  difference  of  politics,  Dr  Adding- 
on  being  a  zealous  whig,   and   Dr  Russel  a 
ory  or  a  Jacobite.     He  removed   to  London, 
nd  at  length  to  Brighton,  and  died  in  1768. 
le  was  the  author  of  a  treatise  "  On  the  Use 
f  Sea  Water  in  Diseases  of  the  Glands,"  8vo. 
— His   brother,  JOHN  RUSSEL,    who   was   an 
rtist,  published  "  Letters  from  a  young  Pain- 
r  abroad   [in  Italy  J  to  his  Friends  in  Eng- 
md,"  1750,  2  vols.  Svo  ;  and  "  Elements  of 


RUT 

Painting  witli  Crayons.."  1772,  4to.— Biog. 
Univ.  Eeuss. 

RUSSEL  (WILLIAM)  an  historical  writer 
of  some  erninetice  in.  the  last  century.  He 
was  born  in  the  county  of  Mid  Lothian  in 
Scotland,  in  1746  ;  and  after  having  been  edu- 
cated at  a  school  at  Inverkei thing,  he  became 
an  apprentice  to  a  bookseller  and  printer.  On 
the  termination  of  his  indentures,  he  published 
a  "  Collection  of  modern  Poems;"  and  re- 
moving to  London,  he  engaged  in  business  as 
a  printer,  but  afterwards  employed  his  time  in 
writing  for  the  press.  He  was  the  author  of 
the  "  History  of  America,  from  its  Discovery 
by  Columbus  to  the  Conclusion  of  the  late 
War,"  1778,  2  vols.  4to  ;  and  the  "  History 
of  Modern  Europe,  with  an  Account  of  the  De- 
cline and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  in  a 
Series  of  Letters,"  1779,  4  vols.  8vo,  a  very 
popular  work,  since  augmented  and  republished 
by  Dr  Charles  Coote.  Mr  Russel  obtained 
the  diploma  of  LLD.  from  a  Scottish  univer- 
sity, and  engaged  in  other  literary  undertak- 
ings, particularly  the  "  History  of  Ancient 
Europe,"  as  an  introduction  to  his  former 
work,  the  completion  of  which  being  inter- 
rupted by  his  death  in  1793,  owing  to  a  para- 
lytic stroke,  the  work  was  finished  by  Dr 
Coote,  and  was  printed  in,  three  volumes, 
octavo. — Chalmers's  Biog.  Diet.  Reuss. 

RUTHERFORD  (DANIEL)  a  physician 
and  natural  philosopher  of  eminence,  born  at 
Edinburgh,  November  3,  1749.  He  studied 
at  the  university  there,  and  on  taking  the  de- 
gree of  MD.  in  1772,  he  read  a  thesis  "  De 
Aere  Fixo,"  iu  which  he  first  indicated  the  ex- 
istence of  a  new  gaseous  body,  since  called 
azote  or  nitrogen.  He  was  admitted  a  fellow 
of  the  College  of  Physicians  at  Edinburgh, 
May  6,  1777.  In  a  paper  on  nitric  acid,  read 
before  the  Philosophical  Society  in  1778,  he 
described,  under  the  name  of  vital  air,  what 
is  now  termed  oxygen  gas,  which  he  repre- 
sented as  the  necessary  constituent  of  all 
acids.  In  1786  he  succeeded  Dr  John  Hope 
as  professor  of  botany  and  keeper  of  the  bo- 
tanic garden  ;  and  he  retained  those  offices  till 
his  death,  which  happened  November  15, 
1819.  Though  not  distinguished  as  an  author, 
Dr  Rutherford  has  acquired  a  permanent  title 
to  fame  on  account  of  his  discovery  of  nitro- 
gen, which  forms  a  component  part  of  atmo- 
spheric air,  animal  substances,  &c. — Edinburgh 
Philos.  Jaurn.  vol.  iii. 

RUTHERFORTH  (THOMAS)  an  English 
divine,  was  born  at  Papworth  Everard  in  the 
county  of  Cambridge,  of  which  parish  his 
father  was  rector,  in  1712.  He  was  entered 
of  St  John's  college,  Cambridge,  where  he  ob- 
tained a  fellowship  in  1740.  Two  years  after, 
he  was  chosen  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society ; 
and  in  1745,  on  being  appointed  professor  of 
divinity,  he  took  his  doctor's  degree,  and  was 
appointed  chaplain  to  the  prince  of  Wales. 
His  church  preferments  were  successively  the 
rectories  of  Barrow  in  Suffolk,  of  Staufield  in 
Essex,  and  of  Barley  in  Hertfordshire,  with 
the  archdeaconry  of  Essex.  Dr  Rutherforth, 
who  died  in  1771,  was  the  av.tb.or  of  "  A 

BIOG.  DICT.— VOL.  1JT 


RUT 

System  of  Natural  Philosophy,"  2  trol*.  4to  , 
"  An  Essay  on  the  Nature  and  Obligations  of 
Virtue,"  8vo  ;  "  A  Letter  in  Defence  of 
Bishop  Sherlock  on  Prophecy,"  8vo ;  "  A 
Discourse  on  Miracles  ;"  "  Institutes  of  Na- 
tural Law,"  2  vols.  8vo  ;  "  Two  Letters  to 
Dr  Kennicott ;"  "  A  Vindication  of  the  Right 
of  Protestant  Churches  to  require  Subscription 
from  the  Clergy,"  8vo  ;  "  A  Letter  to  Arch- 
deaconBlackburne  ;"  "  Sermons  and  Charges." 
— Nichols's  Lit.  Aiiec. 

RUTGERS  (JOHN)  an  able  critic  andnego- 
ciator,  was  born  of  an  ancient  family,  at  Dort 
iu  Holland,  in  1589.  He  was  educated  for  a 
time  under  Gerard  Vossius,  and  completed 
his  education  at  the  university  of  Leyden, 
whence  he  proceeded  to  France,  and  took  the 
degree  of  licentiate  of  law  at  Orleans.  He 
returned  to  Dort,  and  soon  after  accepted  the. 
invitation  of  the  Swedish  ambassador  to  ac- 
company him  to  Sweden,  where  he  was  made 
a  counsellor  of  state  by  Gustavus  Adolphus. 
He  was  subsequently  employed  by  that  mon- 
arch on  various  embassies,  and  ennobled.  Pie 
finally  resided  at  the  Hague,  as  minister  from 
that  sovereign  to  the  republic,  where  he  died 
in  1625  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-six.  His 
works  are,  "  Nota?  in  Horatium,"  added  to 
an  edition  of  that  poet  by  Robert  Stephens  ; 
"  Variae  Lectiones,"  published  at  Leyden  in 
1618,  and  justly  esteemed  a  very  learned 
work;  notes  on  Martial,  Apuleius,  and  Quintus 
Curtius,  &c.  with  several  Latin  poems,  pub- 
lished by  Nicholas  Heinsius  in  1666,  in  con  • 
junction  with  his  own. — Mureri. 

RUTIL1US  NUMATIANUS,  a  Latin 
poet  of  the  fifth  century,  who,  about  the  year 
414,  was  prefect  of  Rome.  In  order  to  succour 
his  country,  then  overrun  by  the  Visigoths, 
he  took  a  journey  into  Gaul,  of  which  he  wrote 
a  description  in  elegiac  verse.  It  consisted  of 
two  books,  of  which  the  latter  is  lost,  and 
what  remains  gives  a  favourable  opinion  of 
the  writer,  who  was  a  pagan,  although  he  has 
undergone  censure  from  Christian  writers,  for 
his  reflections  on  the  works  of  Capraria,  and 
as  the  commemorator  of  the  Jewish  Sabbath. 
The  "  Itinerarium"  of  Rutilius,  which  was  dis- 
covered in  1694,  in  a  monastery  atBobbio,  has 
been  several  times  printed,  and  is,  besides, 
contained  in  Burman's  "  Poetas  Minores,"  and 
Mattaire's  "Corpus  Poetarum." — Vossii.  Hist. 
Lat.  Moreri. 

RUTTY  (JOHN)  a  physician,  was  born  in 
Ireland,  of  quaker  parents,  in  1698.  He  was 
educated  first  in  Dublin  and  next  in  London, 
whence  he  proceeded  to  Holland,  when  hav- 
ing taken  his  doctor's  degree,  he  returned 
to  Dublin,  where  he  practised  with  great 
credit  to  his  death  in  1775.  He  was  the  au- 
thor of  several  works,  which  display  consider- 
able ability,  and  much  eccentricity  of  cha- 
racter. The  principal  of  these  are,  "  His- 
tory of  the  Quakers  ;"  "An  Essay  on  Women's 
preaching  ;"  "  A  Synopsis  of  Mineral  Wa- 
ters;"  "  A  Chronological  History  of  the  Wea- 
ther and  Seasons,  and  of  the  Diseases  of  Duo- 
lin  ;"  "  An  Essay  towards  a  Natural  History 
of  the  Vicinity  of  Dublin,"  2  vols;  "  Obser- 
G 


RUY 

rations  on  the  London  and  Edinburgh  Dispen- 
satories ;"  "  Materia  Medica  Antiqua  ot 
Nova  ;"  "  Spiritual  Diary  and  Soliloquies," 
2  vols.  8vo,  which  last  production  forms  a 
curious  picture  of  mental  singularity. — Chal- 
mers's Bios;.  Diet. 

RUYSCH.      There   were    two   celebrated 
Dutch  physicians  of  this  name,  father  and  son. 
FREDERICK,  the  elder  and  more  eminent,  born 
in  1638  at  the  Hague,  was  the  son  of  a  com- 
missary in  the  service  of  the  States  General, 
and  rose  by  his  abilities  and  perseverance  to 
be  one  of  the  most  distinguished  anatomist?  of 
modern  times.     Having  studied  medicine  and 
surgery   at  Leyden  and  Fraueker,   in   which 
latter  university  he  graduated,  he  returned  to 
his  native  city,  and  there  practised  with  great 
success,  till  the  publication  of  his  treatise  on 
the  lymphatic  vessels,  iu  1665,  procured  him 
an  invitation   to  fill  the   anatomical   chair  at 
Amsterdam.    Here  he  continued  to  pursue  his 
course  of  dissection,  minutely  scrutinizing  every 
part  of  the  human  frame,  and  occasionally  pub- 
lishing the  result  of  his  discoveries,  some  of 
which,  however,  appear  to   have   been  even 
then  already  known,   a  fact  with   which   his 
studies,    rather    of  a   practical  than  a  theore- 
tical nature,  do  not  seem  to  have  made  him 
sufficiently    acquainted.     While    engaged    in 
this   pursuit,   he    gradually  amassed    an   im- 
mense collection  of  anatomical  specimens  and 
preparations,   the  whole  of  which  were  pur- 
chased from  him  at  the  price  of  30,000  florins, 
by  the  eccentric  czar,  Peter  of  Russia,  then  on 
his  travels,  who  often   amused   himself  by  at- 
tending the  professor's  demonstrations,  and  at 
length  bought  his  museum,  for  the  purpose  of 
encouraging  the   study  of  surgery  in  his  new 
capital.       Iluysch  was   afterwards   appointed 
professor  of  physic  in  the  same  university,  and 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
London,  and  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  at 
Paris.     He  continued  to  enjoy  his   faculties, 
with  the  exception  of  sight,  to  a  very  advanced 
age,  when  he  died  in  the  spring  of  1731,  hav- 
ing survived  by  four  years  his  son  Henry,  who 
was  himself  an  excellent  anatomist,  and  author 
of  the   "  Theatrum   Universale  Animalium," 
folio,  2  vols.  1718,  a  standard  work  of  great 
value.     The  works  of  Frederick   Ruysch  were 
collected  into  five  quarto  volumes,  and  printed 
at  Amsterdam    four  years  after  his  decease. 
They  are  entitled  "  Opera  Omnia  Anatomico- 
Medico-Chirurgica  F.  Ruysch. — Halleri  Bibl. 
Anat.     Elnges  de  FontenMe. 

RUY'SDAAL.  The  name  of  two  Flemish 
artists,  brothers,  and  natives  of  Haerlem,  both, 
though  in  different  branches  of  the  art,  dis 
tinguished  in  tie  annals  of  painting.  SOLO- 
MOV,  the  elder,  was  born  in  1616,  and  is  prin- 
cipally famou?  for  the  beauty  and  accuracy  oi 
his  representation  of  marbles,  &c.  ;  his  land- 
scapes, though  good,  are  far  inferior  to  those 
of  his  brother  J  acob.  The  latter  was  born  in 
1636,  and  rjnks  among  the  best  painters  o: 
the  Dutch  school,  especially  in  the  delim-atiot 
of  wood  an'1  water,  which  he  gives  with  great 
spirit  and  correctness.  He  died  in  his  native 
iity  in  1681,  having  survived  his  brother 


R  Y  C 

about   eleven   years. —  D' Argenvillc.     i'ie*  it 
Peint. 

RUYTF.R  (MiniAFi.  Friz  ADRIAN)  a  ce- 
ebrnted  Dutch  admiral,  born  at  Flushing  in 
160?.  He  entered  young  into  the  naval  ser 
vice  of  his  country,  and  rose  from  the  situation 
of  cabin-hoy  to  that  of  captain  in  163.5.  He  was 
sent  in  Kill  to  the  assistance  of  the  Portu- 
guese, who  had  thrown  off  the  yoke  of  Spain  ; 
on  which  occasion  he  was  appointed  rear- 
admiral  ,  and  two  years  after  lie.  was  em- 
ployed against  the  Barbary  corsairs.  In  the 
war  between  the  Dutch  and  English,  which 
commenced  in  1652,  Ruyter  repeatedly  dis- 
tinguished himself,  especially  in  the  terrible 
sattle  fought  in  February  16.53,  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Channel,  when  Blake  commanded  the 
English,  and  Tromp  and  Ruyter  the  Dutch. 
He  afterwards  served  against  the  Portuguese, 
;he  Swedes,  and  the  Algerines,  previously  to 
he  naval  warfare  between  England  and  Ilol- 
and,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  He  com- 
manded in  the  great  battle  fought  in  the 
Downs,  in  June  1666,  against  prince  Rupert 
and  the  duke  of  Albemarle  ;  and,  in  the  fol- 
lowing year,  he  insulted  the  English  by  hia 
memorable  expedition  up  the  Thames,  when 
lie  destroyed  Upnor  castle,  and  burnt  some 
ships  at  Chatham.  He  was  admiral  of  the 
Dutch  fleet  at  the  battle  of  Solebay  in  1672  ; 
and  he  signalized  his  skill  and  courage  on 
several  other  occasions.  He  died  in  the  port 
of  Syracuse,  April  29,  1676,  in  consequence 
of  a  wound  received  in  an  engagement  with 
the  French,  a  few  days  before,  off  Messina. — • 
Morr.ri.  liees's  Cyclop.  Biog.  Univ. 

RYAN  (LACY)  an  actor  and  dramatic  au- 
thor of  the  last  century.  He  was  born  in 
Westminster,  about  1694,  and  was  the  son  of 
a  tailor,  who  intending  him  for  the  profession 
of  the  law,  sent  him  to  St  Paul's  school,  and 
afterwards  placed  him  in  an  attorney's  office. 
This  situation  he  left  to  go  on  the  stage  at  the 
age  of  sixteen  ;  and  two  years  after  he  ac- 
quired some  reputation  in  the  character  of 
Marcus,  in  Addison's  Cato.  An  accidental 
wound  in  his  mouth  impeded  his  utterance, 
and  rendered  his  voice  disagreeable ;  but  pre- 
viously to  that  misfortune,  he  displayed  so 
much  ability,  that  Garrick  is  said  to  have 
derived  his  excellence  in  the  part  of  Richard 
the  Third  from  his  observation  of  R  van's 
manner  of  playing  it.  He  was  the  author  of 
a  little  piece,  in  one  act,  called  "  The  Cob- 
ler's  Opera."  His  death  took  place  August 
15,  1760. — Bios;.  Dram.  Thesp.  Diet. 

RYCAUT  or  RICA  UT  (sir  PAUL)  an  Eng- 
lish traveller  and  historical  writer  of  eminence, 
who  was  the  youngest  son  of  sir  Peter  Rycaut, 
knight,  a  merchant  of  London.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  Trinity  college,  Cambridge  ;  and  in 
1661  he  went  to  Constantinople,  as  secretary 
to  the  earl  of  Winchelsea,  ambassador  extra- 
ordinary from  Charles  II  to  the  grand  seignor. 
H'e  visited  various  parts  of  Asia  and  Africa 
while  he  held  this  situation,  and  travelled 
twice  between  London  and  Constantinople, 
going  the  second  time  over  land  through  Hun- 
gary, when  he  remained  for  a  while  in  '.he 


RYE 

Turkish  camp  of  the  vizier  Kupriogli.  He 
afterwards  made  English  consul  at  Smyrna ; 
and  having  exercised  that  office  about  eleven 
years,  he  was  recalled  at  his  own  request. 
He  then  appears  to  have  led  a  private  life  at 
home,  till  the  reign  of  James  II,  under  whom 
he  became  secretary  for  the  provinces  of  Lein- 
ster  and  Connaught  to  the  earl  of  Clarendon, 
lord-lieutenant  of  Ireland  ;  and  was  also  one 
of  the  Irish  privy  council,  and  a  judge  of  the 
hi»h  court  of  admiralty,  all  which  offices  he 
held  till  the  Revolution.  He,  notwithstanding, 
was  appointed  English  resident  at  the  Hanse 
Towns,  Hamburgh,  Lubeck,  and  Bremen, 
where  he  continued  ten  years,  and  returning 
to  England,  died  soon  after,  November  16, 
1700.  Sir  Paul  Rycaut  was  the  author  of  a 
paper  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions,  rela- 
tive to  the  appearance  of  swarms  of  Norway 
rats,  or  sable  mice,  in  Poland  ;  and  he  pub- 
lished several  historical  and  political  tracts  ; 
but  his  principal  productions  are,  "  The  Pre- 
sent State  of  the  Ottoman  Empire,"  1670, 
folio,  and  a  continuation  of  Knolles's  "  His- 
tory of  the  Turks,"  from  1623  to  1700,  form- 
ing, together  with  that  work,  3  vols.  folio. 
He  translated  from  the  Latin,  Platina's  "  Lives 
of  the  Popes  ;"  and  from  the  Spanish,  Garci- 
la^so  de  la  Vega's  "  History  of  Peru." — Le 
Neve's  Nonumenta  Anglicana.  Biog.  Brit. 

RYCKIUS  or  DE  RYCKE  (THEODORE) 
a  Dutch  advocate  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
born  about  the  year  1640.  He  became  pro- 
fessor of  history  in  the  university  of  Leyden  ; 
and  besides  superintending  the  publication  of 
excellent  editions  of  Tacitus,  iu  2  vols.  12mo, 
and  of  Stephen  of  Byzantium,  folio,  was  the 
author  of  two  original  treatises,  on  the  first 
colonization  of  Italy,  and  on  the  giants  of 
antiquity.  His  death  took  place  at  Leydeuin 
1690. — Satii  Onmn. 

RYDER  (sir  DUDLEY)  an  eminent  English 
lawyer,  born  in  1691.  He  was  descended 
from  an  ancient  Yorkshire  family,  and  having 
received  a  liberal  education,  he  entered  on  the 
study  of  his  profession.  In  1733  he  was  ap- 
pointed solicitor-general  ;  and  in  1736  ad- 
vanced to  the  office  of  attorney -general. 
After  holding  that  post  eighteen  years,  he  was 
made  lord-chief -justice  of  the  King's  Bench  ; 
and  he  was  about  to  be  elevated  to  the  peerage, 
by  the  title  of  lord  Ryder,  baron  of  Harrowby, 
in  Leicestershire,  when  he  died,  while  the 
patent  was  preparing,  May  25,  1756. — His 
son,  NATHANIEL  RYDER,  was  created  baron 
Harrowby  in  1776,  and  died  in  1803.  He 
was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  since  created 
earl  of  Harrowby  and  viscount  Sandon. — Biog. 
Peer.  J-tees's  Cyclop. 

RYER.  The  name  of  two  ingenious  French 
writers,  who  both  flourished  about  the  middle 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  PIERRE  DU 
HYER,  born  at  Paris  in  1605,  held,  in  the 
early  part  of  his  life,  a  small  post  at  the 
court  of  Louis  XIII,  which  the  poverty  of  his 
circumstances  compelled  him  to  dispose  of. 
He  eventually  became  secretary  to  the  duke 
of  Vendome,  and  historiographer  to  the  king, 
being  at  the  same  time  a  member  of  the  Aca- 


RYM 

demy.  He  was  the  author  of  nineteen  ori- 
ginal compositions  for  the  stage,  and  the  trans- 
lator and  adapter  of  several  others,  most  of 
which  were  eminently  successful  in  their  day. 
His  death  took  place  in  16.58. — ANDREW  Dtf 
RYER,  sieur  de  Malesais,  born  at  Marcigny, 
held  a  place  about  the  king's  person,  having 
been  for  some  time  previously  resident  in  a 
mercantile  situation  in  Turkey.  Of  the  lan- 
guage of  this  country  he  afterwards  published 
a  compendious  Grammar,  together  with  a 
French  version  of  the  Koran.  He  also  trans- 
lated the  "  Gulistan "  of  the  Persian  poet 
Sadi.  His  death  took  place  in  1640. — Bayle. 
Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

RYLAND  (  WILLIAM  WYNNE)  an  eminent 
engraver,  was  born  in  London,  in  the  year 
1732.  His  genius  for  the  fine  arts  manifested 
itself  early  in  life,  and  he  was  placed  under 
Ilavenet.  At  the  expiration  of  his  engage- 
ment, he  was  patronized  by  sir  Watkin  Wil- 
liams Wynne,  his  godfather,  and  went  to  Paris, 
where  he  studied  for  five  years  under  Boucher, 
from  whose  design  he  engraved  his  best  work 
of  Jupiter  and  Leda.  He  gave  other  proofs  of 
ability,  which  gained  him  the  gold  medal, 
and,  in  consequence,  liberty  to  pursue  his 
studies  in  the  academy  at  Rome,  which  he 
did  very  successfully.  From  Boucher  he  how- 
ever acquired  a  false  and  meretricious  taste, 
from  which  he  never  fully  recovered  ;  and 
this  error  was  heightened  by  the  fashion  of 
stippling,  which  he  introduced  with  modifica- 
tions of  his  own  into  England,  where  his  en- 
gravings in  this  way,  for  the  most  part  printed 
in  red,  for  a  time  entirely  caught  the  taste  of 
the  public.  His  principal  pieces  were  after 
Angelica  Kauffman.  The  end  of  this  able 
artist  was  very  melancholy,  being  executed 
for  a  forgery  011  the  East  India  Company,  to 
which  rash  act  he  was  induced  by  temporary 
embarrassment.  This  event  took  place  in 
August  1783. — Strut t.  Life  of  Upland. 

RYMER  (THOMAS)  a  critic  and  antiquary, 
was  probably  a  native  of  Yorkshire,  as  he  re- 
ceived his  early  education  at  Northallerton 
grammar-school.  He  afterwards  studied  at 
Cambridge,  and  on  quitting  the  university  en- 
tered at  Gray's-inn.  In  1678  he  published 
"  Edgar,  a  Tragedy,"  and  wrote  a  work  en- 
titled "A  View  of  the  Tragedies  of  the  last 
Age,"  in  which  he  severely  criticised  our 
earliest  dramatists,  not  excepting  Shakspeare. 
It  is,  however,  as  an  historical  antiquary  that 
he  is  chiefly  celebrated.  Succeeding  Shad- 
well,  in  1692,  as  royal  historiographer,  he 
meritoriously  employed  the  opportunities  af- 
forded him  by  his  office,  to  make  a  colleccioo. 
of  public  treaties  and  compacts,  which  he 
began  to  publish  in  1704,  under  the  title  of 
"  Fcedera,  Conventiones,  et  cujuscuuque  ge- 
neris Acta  Publica,  inter  Reges  Angliae  et 
alios  Principes,  ab  an.  1101,'"  of  which  he 
completed  15  vols.  folio,  fire  more  being  added 
by  Robert  Sanderson.  Although  confused  and 
ill -digested,  it  is  a  publication  of  great  value 
and  fundamental  to  an  accurate  knowledge  of 
English  history.  Rymer  died  in  1713.  Some 
specimens  of  his  poetry  may  be  found  in  the 
G  9 


S  A 

first  volume  of  Nichols's  Select  Collection  of 
Miscellaneous  Poems.  Besides  the  "  Fccdera," 
if  left  an  unpublished  collection  relating  to 
fcnglish  history,  in  58  volumes,  TIOW  in  the 
British  Museum. — Aikin's  /J/n»-.  Diet,  Saiii 
Vnnm.  See  SANDERSON  (II.)  No.  2. 

RYSBRACH  (Jon\  MICHAEL)  a  statuary 
of  great  eminence,  the  son  of  a  painter  of 
Antwerp,  in  which  city  he  was  born  in  1694. 
He  came  to  England  early  in  life,  and  derived 
considerable  reputation  and  profit  from  the 
exercise  of  his  art,  of  which  Westminster 
abbey,  and  other  of  our  cathedral  churches, 
contain  many  admirable  specimens,  among 
which  may  be  mentioned  the  monuments  of 
sir  Isaac  Newton  and  the  duke  of  Marlborough  ; 
while  others,  and  especially  busts,  enrich  our 
best  private  collections,  the  heads  of  English 
worthies  at  Stowe,  and  in  the  Hermitage  at 
Richmond,  being  of  the  number.  His  death 
took  place  in  1770.  Some  other  members  of 
his  family  distinguished  themselves  in  the 
sister  art  of  painting. —  Walpoles  Ai/ec. 

RYVES.  There  were  two  learned  and  dis- 
tinguished characters  of  this  name  in  the  reign 
of  the  first  Charles,  natives  of  Dorsetshire, 
and  descended  of  the  same  family.  Of  these 
Dr  BRUNO  RYVES  received  his  education  at  the 
university  of  Oxford,  being  first  a  fellow  of  New 
college,  and  afterwards  chaplain  of  Magdalen. 
His  attachment  to  the  royal  cause  drew  on  him 
the  persecution  which  so  many  of  his  brethren 
shared  with  him  in  common  ;  and  during  the 
commotions,  he  was  exposed  to  considerable 
inconvenience  and  deprivation,  especially  with 
regard  to  the  profits  of  his  ecclesiastical  pre- 
ferment, the  livings  of  Stanwell,  and  St  Mar- 
tin by  the  Yin  try,  London.  For  much  of  this 
lie  was  indebted  to  his  publication  of  a  pe- 
riodical work,  entitled  "  Mercurius  Rusticus," 
commenced  by  him  in  the  autumn  of  164'J, 
and  levelled  strongly  against  the  parliament. 
He  was  also  the  author  of  an  "  Account  of  the 
Lords  and  Persons  of  Quality  Slain  or  Executed 
during  the  Civil  Wars  ;"  a  pamphlet  entitled 
"  Querela  Cantabrigiensis  ;"  and  a  few  ser- 
mons ;  and  assisted  in  the  compilation  of 
Walton's  Polyglott  Bible.  On  the  return  of 
Charles  the  Second,  his  exertions  were  re- 
warded with  the  living  of  Acton  in  Middlesex, 
and  the  deanery  of  Windsor.  His  death  took 
place  in  1677. — Sir  THOMAS  RYVES,  his  con- 
temporary, was  a  civilian  of  considerable  ta- 
lent and  learning,  to  which  he  appears  to  have 
joined  all  the  loyalty  of  his  relative.  He  re- 
ceived the  rudiments  of  a  classical  education 
on  the  foundation  at  Westminster,  which  he 


S  A 

completed  at  New  College,  Oxford,  where  he 
graduated  in  civil  law,  and  afterwards  did 
good  service  to  the  king,  both  with  his  pen  and 
sword,  for  which  he  received  the  honour  of 
knighthood.  In  1618  he  was  made  a  master 
in  chancery,  and  subsequently  went  to  Dub- 
lin as  judge  of  the  prerogative  court.  He  was 
a  man  of  considerable  classical  and  anticua- 
rian  research,  as  is  evinced  by  his  "  Historia 
Navalis  Antiqua ;"  "  Historia  Navalis  Me- 
dia ;"  "  A  Defence  of  the  English  Sway  in 
Ireland  ;"  "  A  Defence  of  the  Emperor  Jus- 
tinian ;"  "  The  Vicar's  Plea ;"  and  other 
learned  works.  He  died  in  1651,  and  lies  bu- 
ried in  the  church  of  St  Clement  Danes,  Lon- 
don.— Atfien.  O.TOJI.  Fuller's  Worthies. 

RZEWUSKY  (WENCESLAUS)  a  Polish  no- 
bleman of  an  ancient  family,  born  in  1705. 
He  was  educated  at  the  college  of  Beltz,  and 
afterwards  travelled  through  the  principal 
countries  of  Europe.  Returning  to  Poland, 
he  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  chancellery  ; 
and  his  leisure  was  devoted  to  the  study  of 
public  law  and  history.  After  the  death  of 
king  Augustus  II,  in  1733,  he  declared  in  fa- 
vour of  Stanislaus  Leczinski,  and  on  the 
failure  of  his  attempts  to  secure  the  crown, 
Rzewusky  went  into  voluntary  exile.  He 
subsequently  accepted  of  the  office  of  grand- 
marshal  of  the  diet,  under  Augustus  III,  who 
recompensed  his  services  by  the  palatinate  of 
Podolia,  and  soon  after  appointed  him  marshal 
of  the  tribunal  of  Lublin.  He  distinguished 
himself  against  the  Tartars,  on  their  invasion 
of  Poland  in  1739,  when  he  was  created  ge- 
neral of  the  crown.  His  endeavours  to  pre- 
serve the  independence  of  his  country,  on  the 
election  of  Stanislaus  Poniatowski,  under  the 
influence  of  Russia,  gave  offence  to  the  em- 
press, and  he  was  arrested  and  conveyed  to 
Smolensk,  and  afterwards  to  Kaluga.  In  his 
confinement  he  employed  himself  in  translat- 
ing into  Polish  verse,  the  Psalms  of  David,  and 
the  Odes  of  Horace.  Six  years  elapsed  be- 
fore be  was  permitted  to  return  home,  when 
he  retired  to  a  small  estate  at  Siedliska,  and, 
rejecting  all  offers  of  court  favour,  he  remained 
there  till  his  death  in  November  1779.  Count 
Rzewusky  possessed  an  extensive  acquaint- 
ance with  natural  philosophy,  botany,  and  me- 
dicine ;  and  he  cultivated  with  equal  success 
literature,  music,  and  architecture.  Besides 
discourses,  letters,  and  dissertations  in  Latin, 
he  composed,  iu  his  native  language,  "  A  New 
Art  of  Poetry  ;"  two  tragedies,  two  come- 
dies, &c. — bwg.  Univ. 


S  A 

SA  or  DE'  SAA  (EMANUEL)  alearned  Por- 
tuguese Jesuit,  was  born  at  Conde,  in  the 
province  of  Douro,  in  1530,  and  he  entered 
the  society  in  154.5;  and  after  the  usual 
course  of  studies  at  Coimbra,  he  proceeded  to 
Rome,  where  he  vas  employed  t  y  Pius  V  on 


S  A 

anew  edition  of  the  Bible.  He  died  in  1596. 
His  chief  works  are,  "  Scholia  in  Qtiatuor 
Evangelia,"  1596,  4to  ;  "  Notationes  in  to- 
tam  Sacram  Scripturam,"  1598.  4to,  both 
which  works  are  mnch  praised  by  Dupin.  He 
WOP  also  author  of  another  small  work,  en- 


S  A  A 

rifled  "  Aphorismi  Confessariorum,"  Venice, 
l.SQ'',  a  set  of  rules  for  confessor?  in  cases  of 
conscience,  which,  like  many  other  works  of  the 
same  kind,  has  been  thought  occasionally 
loose  and  dangerous  both  as  to  morals  and 
policy.  It  underwent  many  corrections  before 
the  pope  would  allow  it  to  be  licensed,  in  the 
year  preceding  the  death  of  the  author. — 
Dupin.  Moreri. 

SAAD  EDDIN  MOHAMMED  BEN 
HASSAN",  the  most  celebrated  among  the 
Turkish  historians,  also  known  by  the  appel- 
lation of  Khodja  Effendi.  He  became  pre- 
ceptor to  the  sultan  Amurat  III  ;  and  was 
subsequently  appointed  mufti,  which  office  he 
held  till  bis  death,  about  the  year  1600.  He 
was  the  author  of  a  work  entitled  "  The  Crown 
of  Histories,"  containing  an  account  of  all 
the  Turkish  emperors  to  his  own  times.  This 
Chronicle  was  translated  into  Italian  by  Vin- 
cent Brattud,  and  into  Latin  by  Kollar.  A.  L. 
Scbloezer,  in  bis  Critico- Historical  Amuse- 
ments, Gottingen,  1797,  8vo,  has  given  full 
details  of  the  Chronicle  of  Saad  Eddin,  which 
has  been  continued  from  1510,  where  the  au- 
thor concluded  it,  to  1751,  by  five  other  his- 
toriographers appointed  for  that  purpose  by  the 
sultans. — Biog.  Univ. 
SAADI.  SeeSADi. 

SAADIAS-GAON,  a  learned  rabbi,  and 
the  chief  of  the  academy  of  the  Jews,  was 
born  at  Pothim  in  Egypt',  in  892.  In  927  he 
was  invited  by  David-ben-Chair,  prince  of 
the  captivity,  to  preside  over  the  academy  of 
Sora  near  Babylon,  which  office,  with  some 
interruption,  be  held  until  bis  death  in  the 
year  942.  His  principal  works  are,  "  Sepher 
Haemimah,"  a  treatise  concerning  the  Jewish 
articles  of  faith ;  "  A  Commentary  on  the 
book  Jezirah;"  "An  Arabic  version  of  the 
entire  Old  Testament,"  of  which  the  Penta- 
teuch is  inserted  in  Jay's  and  Walton's  Poly- 
glotts,  accompanied  by  the  Latin  version  of 
Sionita  ;  "  Commentaries  "  on  the  Song  of 
Songs,  and  on  Daniel,  in  Hebrew  ;  and  on  the 
book  of  Job,  in  Arabic. — Moreri.  Simon  Hist. 
Grit. 

SAAS  (JOHN)  a  learned  French  writer  on 
bibliography,  born  in  1703.  He  studied  at 
Rouen  in  Normandy,  and  having  adopted  the 
ecclesiastical  profession,  he  became  secretary 
to  the  archbishop  of  Rouen,  and  afterwards 
librarian  to  the  metropolitan  chapter,  a  situa- 
tion which  afforded  him  an  opportunity  for 
indulging  bis  taste  for  literary  research.  In 
1751  he  obtained  a  canonry,  as  a  recompense 
for  his  zeal  in  defence  of  the  privileges  of  his 
church,  which  bad  been  invaded  by  the  Bene- 
dictine monks  of  the  abbey  of  St  Ouen  a 
Rouen.  He  intended  to  publish  a  supplemen 
to  Moreri's  Historical  Dictionary,  but  il 
health  obliged  him  to  lay  aside  the  undertak- 
ing ;  and  after  having  languished  some  years 
he  died  of  apoplexy,  April  20,  1774.  H< 
was  the  author  of  "  Notice  des  MSS.  de  If 
Bibliotbeque  de  1'Eglise  Metropolitaine  de 
Rouen,"  1746,  12mo  •,  "  Abrege  de  Cosmo 
grapbie  ;"  "  Remarks  on  the  Dictionaries  0 
Chaufepie,  Ladvocat,  and  Moreii ;"  "  Let 


SAB 

rs  on  tlie  Encyclopedic ;"  and  various  other 
vorks. — Biog.  Univ. 

SAAVEURA  FAXARDO  (DIEGO  de) 
Spanish  author,  descended  of  a  noble  familv, 
ettled  at  Algezares,  in  the  kingdom  of  Mar- 
ia, where  lie  was  born  in  1584.  His  talents 
s  a  diplomatist,  which  first  displayed  them- 
elves  during  his  secretaryship  to  the  embassy 
t  Rome,  occasioned  his  being  afterwards  en- 
rusted  with  the  entire  management  of  the 
panish  interests  in  that  capital.  He  was  af- 
erwards  employed  in  several  other  missions, 
specially  in  conducting  a  negotiation  with 
be  Swiss  cantons,  and  received  as  a  reward 
or  his  services  the  collar  of  St  Jago,  a  lay 
anonrv  belonging  to  the  order,  and  a  seat  at 

J  o        o 

lie    supreme    council-board    for    the   Indies 
Among  his  writings  are,  "  The  Idea  of  a  Po 
itic  Christian   Prince,"  since   translated  into 
^atin  ;  "  The  Literary  Republic,"  which  has 
Iso  been  translated  both  into  the  French  and 
inglish  languages  ;  and  "  The  Gothic  Crown, 
Xc."     His  death  took  place  in  1648. — Anton. 
Bibl.  Hisp. 

SAAVEDRA.     See  CERVANTES. 

SABATAI  SEVI,    a  Jewish  impostor   of 
he  seventeenth  century,  who  aspired   to   the 
haracter  of  the  Messiah.     He  entered  on  his 
iretended   mission  in  Turkey,   and    deluded 
jreat  multitudes  of  his  countrymen,  who  eagerly 
locked  to  him  as  their  expected  leader  to  the 
lomised    land.     The    government    becoming 
alarmed   at  bis  progress,  he  was  seized   and 
ent    prisoner     to      Constantinople.       Being 
>rought  before  the  grand  seignor,  he  was  in- 
errogated  as  to  bis  claims  to  the  Messiabship 
f  the  Jews,  when  he   persisted   in   asserting 
lis  right  to  the  character,  and  declared  that 
was  endowed  with  the   power  of  working 
miracles.     The   sultan    told    him   be    should 
lave  an   immediate  opportunity  of  displaying 
lis  supernatural  powers,  if  he  possessed  any ; 
and  ordered  him  to  be  fastened  to  a  post,  op- 
josite  to  which  a  dozen  janizaries  were  drawn 
ip  ready  to  fire  at  him.     Sabatai,  finding  mat- 
ters so  serious,  wa^  glad  to  save  his  life  at  th/ 
xpeuse  of   bis  religion,  and  turned  MahdS 
metan.     This    pretender,  who   made   bis   ap- 
pearance about  the  year  1666,  was  the  last  of 
a  long  train  of  false  Messiahs,  who,  from  the 
time  of  Judas  of  Galilee  and  Barcocbab,  had 
deluded   the   credulous  posterity  of  Jacob. — 
Bp.  Kidder's  Demonstration  of  the  Messiah. 

SABATIER  (  ANTOINE)  called  Sabatier  de 
Castres,  from  the  place  of  his  birth,  which 
occurred  in  1742.  Having  finished  bis  stu- 
dies be  assumed  the  clerical  tonsure,  and  the 
title  of  abbe  ;  but  he  devoted  himself  to  the 
profession  of  literature.  At  first  be  was  pro- 
tected by  Helvetius,  and  connected  with  the 
philosophical  party  of  the  French  literati, 
whose  society  he  left,  and  manifested  his  en- 
mity to  them  as  a  public  opponent.  His  work, 
entitled  "  Les  Trois  Siecles  de  la  Litteiature 
Franfais,  ou  Tableau  de  1'Esprit  de  nos  Ecri- 
vains,  depuis  Francois  I,  jusqu'en  1772,"  pro- 
cured him  a  great  many  enemies,  and  brought 
him  into  notice.  In  1775  the  count  deVergeunes 
invited  him  to  Versailles,  procured  him  a  COE- 


SAB 

•ulcrable  income,  and  gave  him  an  apartment 
in  the  palace.  He  assumed  the  character  of 
»n  ardent  defender  of  religion  and  morality, 
while  his  own  conduct  was  very  discreditable, 
and  becoming;  generally  despised,  he  emi- 
grated at  the  Revolution.  After  a  few  years, 
having  exhausted  his  means  of  subsistence, 
and  had  recourse  to  some  very  unfair  methods 
of  raising  money  from  the  booksellers,  he  en- 
deavoured to  get  permission  from  the  imperial 
government  to  return  to  France.  In  vain  he 
lavished  on  Buonaparte  the  titles  of  Saviour 
of  France,  hero,  and  demi-god  ;  his  flatteries 
had  no  effect,  and  it  was  not  till  after  the  re- 
storation of  the  king  that  he  again  appeared  in 
his  native  country.  Instead  of  recovering,  as 
he  had  expected,  his  pensions  and  arrears,  he 
could  obtain  only  3,500  francs  a-year  ;  and  he 
therefore  resumed  his  trade  as  a  libeller,  freely 
censuring  the  court  and  the  clergy.  Age  aug- 
mented his  necessities,  and  being  seized  with 
sickness,  he  was  taken  to  the  house  of  the 
Charitable  Sisters  at  Paris,  where  he  died 
June  15,  1817.  His  works  are  very  numer- 
ous, including  "  Les  Siecles  PaVens,  ou  Dic- 
tionnaire  Mythologique,  Ileroi'que,  Politique, 
Litteiaire,  et  Geograpbique  de  1'Antiquite 
Pai'enne,"  1784,  9  vols.  12mo;  ami  "Les 
Caprices  de  la  Fortune,  par  M.  1'Abbe  Saba- 
tier  de  Castres,  precedes  d'une  Notice  sur  la 
Vie  de  ce  Critique  celebre,"  1805,  3  vols. 
12mo. —  Bio"-.  Univ. 

SABATIER  (FRANCIS)  born  in  1755  at 
Condom,  was  a  tutor  in  the  college  of  Cha- 
lons, and  is  known  as  the  author  of  several 
tracts  on  historical  and  miscellaneous  sub- 
jects, the  principal  of  which  are  his  disser- 
tations "  On  the  Manners,  Habits,  and  Cus- 
toms of  the  Ancients,"  3  vols. ;  "  The  Chil- 
dren's Manual  ;"  "  On  the  Rise  and  Progress 
of  the  Temporal  Power  of  the  Popes  ;"  a  trea- 
tise "  On  various  Subjects  connected  with  the 
History  of  France  ;"  and  a  compendious  clas- 
sical dictionary,  in  36  octavo  volumes.  An 
unfortunate  speculation  in  a  paper  manufac- 
tory reduced  him  to  indigence  a  short  time 
before  his  death,  which  took  place  in  1807. — 

*  ; 

"SABATIER,  or  SABATHIER  (PIERRE) 

a  French  writer  of  the  last  century,  was  a  na- 
tive of  Poictiers,  and  entering  the  church,  as- 
sumed the  habit  of  the  order  of  St  Benedict 
at  St  Maur.  His  "  Bibliorum  Sacrorum  Latinaa 
Versiones  Antique,"  which  appeared  in  1743, 
in  three  folio  volumes,  is  a  work  of  great  la- 
bour, which  occupied  twenty  years  in  the 
compilation,  and  contains  a  complete  collection 
of  all  the  old  Latin  versions  of  the  Scriptures. 
Sabatier  did  not  live  to  witness  its  publication, 
dying  at  Rheims  in  the  spring  of  1742,  after 
which  De  la  Rue  continued  and  produced  it. 
— Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

SABATIER  (RAPHAEL  BIENVENU)  an 
eminent  French  surgeon,  was  born  in  the  me- 
tropolis in  17 32,  and  became  an  associate  both 
of  the  Institute  and  the  Academy  of  Sciences. 
He  was  the  author  of  a  variety  of  able  trea- 
tises connected  with  his  profession,  especially 
of  a  valuable  work  on  the  anatomy  of  the  hu- 


SAB 

man  frame,  in  three  volumes,  octavo.  Among 
his  writings  are,  "  On  the  various  Methods  of 
Extracting  the  Cataract,"  4to  ;  "  Theses  Ana- 
toniico-Chirurgicse,"  4to  ;  "  De  la  Medecine 
Optiatoire  :"  and  "  De  la  Medecine  Expec- 
tative  ;"  each  in  3  vols.  8vo.  His  death  took 
place  at  Paris  in  1811. —  Id. 

SABBATIM  (ANDRUW)  known  by  the 
name  of  Andrea  del  Salerno,  was  born  about 
1480,  and  is  deemed  the  first  artist  claiming 
notice  in  the  Neapolitan  school.  He  studied 
under  Raphael,  whose  manner  he  imitated  w  ith 
success.  Of  his  numerous  works  at  Naples, 
the  altar-pieces  at  St  Marie  delle  Grazie  are 
deemed  the  most  valuable.  He  painted  like- 
wise at  Salerno,  Ga;ta,  and  other  places,  for 
churches  and  private  collections,  where  his 
madonnas  often  rival  those  of  Raphael. — LO- 
RENZO SABBATINI,  also  Lorenzo  di  Bologna, 
another  admired  painter,  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, executed  many  good  pictures,  which  ave 
often  mistaken  for  those  of  Andrew. — Pit- 
kington  hi/  Fitseli. 

SABBATINI  (P.  LUD.  ANT.)  commonly 
known  by  the  designation  of  Sabbatini  of  Pa- 
dua, an  able  writer  on  die  science  of  music, 
of  which  he  was  a  distinguished  professor, 
having  studied  counter-point  under  Padre 
Martini  and  Vallotti.  His  principal  work 
is  entitled  "  L-I  vera  Idea  delle  Muskali  Nu- 
mereche  Signature,"  printed  at  Venice  in 
1799.  Among  his  other  writings  on  this  sub- 
ject are  "  Elementi  teoretici  e  pratici  di  Mu- 
sica,"  Rome,  1790  ;  a  "  Treatise  on  Fugue," 
2  vols.  Venice,  1801  ;  and  a  great  variety  of 
church  music  ;  especially  a  grand  mass  com- 
posed for  the  funeral  of  Jomelli.  His  death 
took  place  in  1809,  in  his  native  city,  where 
he  held  the  situation  of  chapel  master  to  the 
church  of  St  Anthony. —  Biog.  Diet,  of  Mus. 

SABELLICUS  (MARCUS  ANTONIUS  Coc- 
ci-us)  an  Italian  historian  and  critic,  was  born 
in  1436,  in  Roma  Campagna.  In  1475  he 
became  professor  of  eloquence  at  Udino,  and 
afterwards  at  Venice,  where  he  obtained  a 
pension  for  writing  the  history  of  the  republic, 
entitled  "  Rerum  Venetiarum  ab  Urbe  con- 
dita,"  folio,  which  was  published  in  1487,  and 
forms  a  very  heautiful  specimen  of  early 
printing.  He  also  published  a  "  Description, 
of  Venice  ;"  "  A  Dialogue  on  the  Venetian 

i 

Magistrates  ;"  and  "  Rhapsodise  Historiarum 
Enneades,"  comprising  a  general  history  from 
the  creation  of  the  world.  His  other  works, 
consisting  of  discourses,  moral,  philosophical, 
and  historical,  with  several  Latin  poems,  are 
printed  in  4  vols.  folio,  Basil,  1560.  He  died 
in  1506. — Tiraboschi. 

SABELL1US,  an  heresiarch  of  the  third 
century,  a  native  of  Ptolemais,  in  Libya,  and 
the  disciple  of  Noetus  of  Smyrna.  He  be- 
came the  founder  of  a  sect  which  acquired 
many  proselytes  both  in  Palestine  and  in 
Rome.  Its  peculiar  doctrines  were,  the  ab- 
solute identity  of  the  persons  of  the  Trinity, 
consequently  that  the  Father  and  the  Holy 
Ghost  suffered  death  upon  the  cross,  as  well 
as  the  Son,  the  two  latter  being  in  fact  mere 
qualities.  These  opinions  were  first  promul- 


SAC 

gated  about  the  year  260,  and  continued  to 
make  considerable  progress  till  St  Denys 
wrote  ably  against  them,  and  they  were  at 
length  formally  condemned  at  a  general  coun- 
cil held  at  Constantinople  in  381. — Mosheim. 
Dupm. 

S  A  BINDS  (GEORGE)  whose  German  name 
was  Schalten,  a  modern  Latin  poet,  was  born 
in  the  electorate  of  Brandenburg  in  1508.  At 
th*  age  of  fifteen  he  was  sent  to  Wittemberg, 
where  he  was  privately  instructed  by  Melanc- 
thon.  In  his  twenty-second  year  he  pub- 
lished a  poem,  entitled  "  Res  Gestre  Csesarum 
Germanorum,"  which  procured  him  great 
reputation.  He  afterwards  travelled  into  Italy, 
and  on  his  return  married  the  daughter  of 
Melancthou.  He  subsequently  became  pro- 
fessor of  belles  lettres  at  Frankfort  on  the 
Oder,  and  rector  of  the  new  university  at 
Kbnigsburg,  which  was  opened  in  1514. 
His  learning  and  reputation  having  made  him 
known  to  Charles  V,  he  was  ennobled  by  that 
sovereign,  who  also  employed  him  in  several 
embassies.  He  died  in  1560.  His  poems 
were  published  at  Leipsic,  in  1558  and  1597. 
He  also  published  other  works,  which  are 
enumerated  by  Niceron. —  Nicer™,  vol.  xxvi. 

SACCHKTTI  (FRANCIS)  an  Italian  novel- 
ist, born  at  Florence,  of  an  ancient  family, 
about  1335.  Raised  by  his  merit  and  con- 
nexions to  the  first  civil  offices  in  his  native 
city,  he  acquired  by  his  conduct  the  reputation 
of  being  an  honest  and  enlightened  magis- 
trate. In  1385  he  was  nominated  podestat  of 
Bibbieua,  and  there  he  is  supposed  to  have 
written  his  tales,  which  are  esteemed  next  to 
those  of  Boccaccio,  though  far  from  equalling 
the  Decameron,  which  however  they  rival  in 
licentiousness.  Sacchetti  travelled,  and  be- 
came acquainted  with  Boccaccio,  whose  death 
he  lamented  in  an  elegy.  His  own  death  is 
supposed  to  have  happened  about  1410. — 
Biiig.  Univ. 

SACCHI  (ANDREA)  an  eminent  painter, 
born  at  Rome  in  1594.  He  was  a  pupil  of 
Francis  Albano,  whose  beauty  of  design  and 
colouring,  and  whose  facility  of  execution  he 
successfully  imitated.  He  was  employed  in 
ornamenting  the  Vatican  ;  and  twelve  of  the 
principal  Roman  churches  e.\hibited  specimens 
of  his  works.  Pope  Urban  Vlll.  patronized 
Sacchi,  who  derived  celebrity,  not  only  from 
his  own  productions,  but  also  from  those  of 
his  numerous  disciples.  He  closed  his  long 
career  of  professional  excellence  at  the  age  of 
seventy.  Many  of  his  paintings  are  described 
by  the  abbe  Titi,  in  his  account  of  the  works 
of  art  in  the  churches  and  palaces  of  Rome. 
—  Orlandi  Abeced.  Pitt  or. 

SACCHINI  (ANTONIO  MARIA  GASPAHO) 
a  celebrated  Italian  composer,  was  born  in 
1735,  at  Naples,  and  studied  under  Durante, 
at  the  conservatory  of  St  Onofrio,  in  that  ca- 
pital, where  he  acquired  great  skill  in  the 
practical  as  well  as  theoretical  part  of  his  pro- 
fession, particularly  in  the  management  of  the 
violin.  On  leaving  this  excellent  seminary  he 
soon  raised  himself  into  notice,  and  in  1762 
obtained  an  engagement  as  composer  to  the 


S  AC 

principal  theatre  in  Rome.  This  situation  lie 
tilled  about  seven  years,  when  he  proceeded 
to  Venice,  anil  there  succeeded  Galuppi  in  the 
superinten dance  of  the  conservatory  of  L'Ospe- 
daletto.  In  this  school,  which  is  dedicated 
entirely  to  the  instruction  of  females,  lie  had 
among  his  pupils  the  afterwards  highly  cele- 
brated Gabrielli,  Pasquali,  and  Canti.  In  1772 
he  came  to  England,  where  he  remained  nine 
years  ;  but  a  cabal  being  formed  against  him, 
at  the  head  of  which  was  his  quondam  friend 
Rauzzini,  he  suffered,  though  very  undeser- 
vedly, both  in  reputation  and  fortune,  the  for- 
mer being  especially  affected  for  a  time  by  a 
report  encouraged,  if  not  circulated,  by  his 
enemies,  that  Rauzzini  was  the  real  author  of 
many  of  the  pieces  to  which  Sacchiui  had  set 
his  name.  In  1784  he  quitted  this  country 
finally  for  Paris,  where  he  soon  rose  to  the 
height  of  his  fame,  and  received  a  pension 
from  the  queen,  but  did  not  long  enjoy  this 
return  of  prosperity,  dying  in  1786.  Of  his 
dramatic  pieces,  which  are  upwards  of  eighty, 
the  principal  are  his  operas,  "  Tamerlane  ;" 
"  The  Cid  ;"  and  "  Evelina."—  Buruey's  Hist, 
of  Mtis.  Bing.  Diet,  of  Mus. 

SACHEVERELL.DD.  (HENRY)  a  divine 
of  the  establishment,  exalted  into  temporary 
importance  by  the  conflicting  spirit  of  party, 
was  the  son  of  a  clergyman  at  Marlborough. 
The  date  of  his  birth  is  not  recorded,  but  he 
was  chamber-fellow  at  Magdalen-college,  Ox- 
Ford,  with  Addison,  who  addressed  to  him  his 
"  Account   of   English  Poets."       He    distin- 
guished himself  while   at  the  university,  by 
some  able  Latin  poetry,  and  became  fellow  of 
bis  college,  and  ultimately  obtained  the  degree 
of  DD.in  1708.     In  1705  he  was  appointed 
preacher  of    St   Saviour's,    Southwark,    and 
while  in  this  station,  preached  his  two  famous 
sermons,  one  at  Derby,  on  August  14,  1709, 
and  the  other  at  St  Paul's,  on  the  9th  of  No- 
vember  following.      The    object  of  these,   in 
reality  weak  and  incendiary  compositions,  was 
to  rouse  apprehensions  for  the   safety  of  the 
church,   and   to   excite    a  rancorous   hostility 
against  the   dissenters.     Being  foolishly  im- 
peached in  the  house   of  Commons,  he  was 
brought    to   trial  on    the    27th    of    February, 
1709-10,  and  after  a  hearing  of  six  days,  sen- 
tenced to  be  suspended   from    preaching  for 
three  years.  This  prosecution  however  excited 
such  a  spirit  in   the  high  church   party,  that 
it  ultimately  overthrew  the   ministry,   and  to 
complete  the  satire,  established  the  fortune  of 
Dr  Sacheverell,  who,   during  his  suspension, 
made  a  sort  of  triumphal    progress    through 
the  kingdom,  and  was  collated  to  a  living  near 
Shrewsbury.     The  same  month  that  his  sus- 
pension terminated,  he  was  appointed  to  the 
valuable   rectory  of  St  Andrew,  Holborn,  by 
queen  Anne;  and  such   was  his  reputation, 
that  the  copy-right  of  the  first  sermon  which 
he  afterwards  was   allowed  to  preach,  sold  for 
1001.     He  had  also  sufficient  interest  with  the 
new    ministry   to   provide   handsomely    for    a 
brother  ;  and,  to  crown  his  good  fortune,  had  a 
considerable    estate    left   him    by  a   relation. 
Little  was  l.r>ard  of  him  after  this  party  ehul- 


S  A  C 

lition  sibsided,  except  by  his  numerous 
squabbles  with  his  parishioners.  The  abilities 
of  this  turbulent  divine,  even  according  to 
writers  on  his  own  side,  were  contemptible, 
and,  if  we  may  credit  Dr  Swift,  he  was  de- 
spised and  hated  by  the  very  ministry  whom 
his  accidental  notoriety  so  much  contributed  to 
support.  Iledied  inl7!M. — Chalmers's Biog. Die. 

SACHS  (JOHN)  one  of  the  most  celebrated 
of  the  early  German  poets,  termed  Master- 
singers.  (See  Foi.cz,  J.)  John,  in  German 
Hans  Sachs,  was  the  son  of  a  tailor  of  Nurem- 
berg, where  he  was  born  November  5,  1494. 
He  was  sent  to  a  Latin  school  at  the  age  of 
seven,  and  in  his  fifteenth  year  apprenticed  to 
a  shoemaker.  Two  years  after,  he  became 
the  pupil  of  Nunnenbeck,  a  weaver,  who  be- 
longed to  the  corporation  of  the  Mastersingers; 
and  having  been  instructed  in  the  art  of  poe- 
try, he  set  off  on  bis  travels  in  search  of 
opportunities  for  improvement  in  the  gentle 
crafts  of  making  verses  and  making  shoes. 
Such  was  bis  industry  and  success,  that  on 
bis  return  to  Nuremberg  in  1516,  he  was  ad- 
mitted a  master-shoemaker ;  and  he  obtained 
high  reputation  as  a  poet.  He  studied  inde- 
fatigably  the  works  of  the  ancient  German 
bards,  and  those  of  the  great  Italian  writers, 
especially  Petrarch  and  Boccaccio  ;  but,  above 
all,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  the 
Bible,  and  the  works  of  Luther,  whose  doc- 
trines be  embraced,  and  whose  cause  he  ma- 
terially assisted  by  his  compositions.  His 
death  occurred  January  19,  1578.  A  collec- 
tive edition  of  his  works  appeared  at  Nurem- 
berg, 1576 — 79,  5  vols.  folio  ;  and  they  were 
republished  at  Kempten,  1616,  5  vols.  4to. 
Selections  from  the  poems  of  Hans  Sachs  have 
been  published  by  J.  G.  Busching,  at  Nurem- 
berg, 1816  ;  and  by  F.  Furchau,  at  Leipsic, 
1818.  Goethe,  in  one  of  bis  legendary  tales, 
has  professedly  imitated  this  prince  of  the 
Mastersingers.  Many  of  his  pieces  are  dra- 
matic, and  he  is  regarded  as  the  inventor  of 
both  tragedy  and  comedy  among  the  Germans. 
— Retrospect.  Rev.  Biog.  Univ. 

SACKVILLE  (THOMAS)  lord  Buckhurst 
and  earl  of  Dorset,  an  accomplished  states- 
man and  poet,  was  the  son  of  sir  Richard 
Sackville,  of  Buckhurst,  in  the  parish  of 
Witham,  in  Sussex,  where  he  was  born  in 
15'27.  He  was  first  of  the  university  of  Ox- 
ford, and  as  it  is  supposed  of  Hart-hall,  now 
Magdalen-hall  ;  but  taking  no  degree  there, 
be  removed  to  Cambridge,  at  which  university 
lie  graduated  MA.  and  afterwards  became  a 
student  of  the  Inner  Temple.  At  both  uni- 
versities he  was  distinguished  for  his  per- 
formances in  Latin  and  English  poetry,  and 
he  carried  the  same  taste  and  talents  to  the 
Temple,  where  he  wrote  his  tragedy  of  "  Gor- 
bodu:."  He  was  a  representative  in  parlia- 
ment for  Westmoreland,  in  the  fourth  and  fifth 
years  of  queen  Mary,  and  about  the  same 
time  laid  the  plan  of  a  poem  intended  to  com- 
prehend a  view  of  all  the  illustrious  but  un- 
fortunate characters  in  English  history,  which 
he  entitled  the  "  Mirrour  of  Magistrates." 
O»"  this  work  be  finished  a  poetical  preface, 


SAC 

and  one  legend  on  the  life  of  Henry  Stafford, 
duke  of  Buckingham.  In  1561  his  tragedy 
of  Gorboduc  was  performed  in  the  Inner 
Temple,  and  subsequently  before  queen  Eliza- 
beth at  Whitehall.  He  was  member  in  the 
two  first  parliaments  of  the  latter  sovereign, 
for  Sussex,  and  for  Bucks,  after  which  he  tra- 
velled, and  was,  for  some  cause  or  other,  in 
prison  at  Rome,  in  1566,  where  be  received 
an  account  of  the  death  of  his  father,  and 
his  succession  to  a  large  inheritance.  He  soon 
obtained  his  liberation,  and  in  the  following 
year  was  knighted,  and  raised  to  the  peerage 
by  the  title  of  baron  Buckhurst.  He  was  em- 
ployed by  Elizabeth  as  the  head  of  an  em- 
bassy to  compliment  Charles  IX  on  his  acces- 
sion to  the  throne  of  France,  but  fell  into  dis- 
grace, and  was  imprisoned,  owing  to  the  in- 
fluence of  the  favourite,  Leicester,  in  con- 
sequence of  his  honest  report  in  his  disfavour, 
when  sent  on  an  embassy  of  inquiry  into  his 
conduct  in  Holland.  On  the  death  of  Leices- 
ter, he  was  released,  made  a  knight  of  the 
garter,  and  by  royal  influence  chosen  chan- 
cellor of  the  university  of  Oxford.  In  1598 
he  was  joined  with  Burleigh  in  negociations 
for  peace  with  Spain,  and  signed  the  treaty 
which  followed  with  the  States  General.  On 
the  death  of  that  sagacious  minister,  he  also 
succeeded  him  as  lord  high  treasurer.  In  this 
situation  he  was  instrumental  in  discovering 
the  dangerous  projects  of  the  earl  of  Essex, 
at  whose  trial  he  presided  as  high  steward,  in 
which  office  he  conducted  himself  with  great 
prudence  and  humanity.  On  the  accession  of 
James  I,  his  post  of  treasurer  was  confirmed 
to  him,  and  in  1604  he  was  created  earl  of 
Dorset.  He  died  suddenly,  at  the  council- 
table,  in  April,  16(>8,  at  the  age  of  eighty. 
This  nobleman  ranks  among  the  most  prudent 
and  able,  if  not  among  the  most  eminent  of 
the  ministers  of  Elizabeth,  and  was  a  good 
speaker,  and  a  still  better  writer.  As  a  poet,  he 
may  be  deemed  the  first  who  approached  to 
perfection  in  the  English  heroic  stanza,  and 
for  having  given  the  first  example  of  regular 
tragedy  in  blank  verse.  His  tragedy  of  "  Gor- 
boduc," or,  as  entitled  when  printed  in  1671, 
"  The  Tragedie  of  Ferrex  and  Porrex,"  is  a 
sanguinary  story  from  early  British  history, 
composed  with  little  pathos  or  attention  to 
dramatic  rules  ;  but  with  considerable  force  of 
poetical  conception,  and  moral  sentiment. 
The  language  is  also  pure  and  perspicuous, 
and  free  from  the  turgidity  which  soon  after 
prevailed.  This  tragedy  has  been  several 
times  printed,  but  as  a  drama  has  never  been, 
very  popular.  Several  of  the  letters  of  the 
earl  of  Dorset  are  in  the  Cabala,  and  there 
is  also  a  Latin  letter  by  him  to  Dr  Bartholo- 
mew Clarke,  prefixed  to  that  writer's  transla- 
tion from  the  Italian  of  the  "  Courtier''  of 
Castiglione,  printed  in  1571.— -Collins's  Peer* 
age.  IVurtoii's  Hist,  of  Eng.  Poetry. 

SACKVILLE  (CHARLES)  sixth  earl  of 
Dorset  and  Middlesex,  descended  in  a  direct 
line  from  the  preceding,  was  born  January  SJ4, 
1637.  He  received  his  education  under  a 
private  tutor,  and  after  making  the  tour  of 


SAC 

Italy,  was  chosen  member  for  East  Grinsted 
in  the  first  parliament  which  assembled  after 
the  Restoration.  He  made  a  great  figure  as  a 
speaker,  but  declined  all  public  employment,  ! 
being  wholly  engrossed  with  gallantry  and 
pleasure,  lie  however  served  as  a  volunteer 
in  the  first  Dutch  war  in  1665,  and  the  night 
before  the  engagement  composed  his  cele- 
brated song  of  "  To  all  you  ladies  now  at 
land,"  which  is  esteemed  one  of  the  happiest 
of  his  productions.  He  succeeded  to  the  es- 
tate of  his  uncle,  James  Cranfield,  earl  of  Mid- 
dlesex, in  1674,  and  in  167.5  to  his  title  by 
creation.  In  1677,  on  the  death  of  his  fa- 
ther, he  also  succeeded  him  in  his  estate  and 
the  title  of  Dorset.  He  utterly  disliked  and 
discountenanced  the  violent  measures  of 
James  II,  and  early  engaged  for  the  prince  of 
Orange,  who  made  him  lord  chamberlain  of 
the  household.  In  1698,  on  the  decline  of  his 
health,  he  retired  from  public  affairs ,  and  died 
January  19,  1705-6,  leaving  a  son  and  daugh- 
ter, the  first  of  whom  was  created  duke  of 
Dorset  in  1720.  Lord  Dorset  wrote  several 
small  poems,  which  are  included  in  Chalmers's 
collection,  but  they  are  not  numerous  enough 
to  make  a  volume  of  themselves.  He  was 
still  more  celebrated  as  a  patron  of  poets,  and 
of  men  of  wit,  who  in  their  turn  have  been 
very  copious  in  their  panegyric  ;  and  Prior, 
Dryden,  Congreve,  and  Addison,  all  bear  tes- 
timony to  his  merit;  He  was  a  very  able  cri- 
tic ;  and  Butler  owed  it  to  him  that  the  court 
relished  his  Hudibras.  His  own  brief  produc- 
tions are  those  of  a  man  of  wit,  gay,  vigor- 
ous, and  airy. — Biog.  Brit.  Collins's  Peerage. 
SACKVILLE  (GEORGE)  viscount  Sack- 
ville,  an  English  military  officer  and  states- 
man, who  was  the  third  son  of  the.  first  duke 
of  Dorset,  and  was  born  in  1716.  He  was 
educated  at  Westminster  school  and  Trinity 
college,  Dublin,  whither  he  removed  while  his 
father  was  lord  lieutenant  of  Ireland.  Enter- 
ing into  the  army,  he  served  with  reputation 
at  the  battles  of  Fontenoy  and  Dettingen  ; 
and  in  1758  he  had  attained  the  rank  of  lieu- 
tenant-general. The  following  year  he  com- 
manded the  British  cavalry  at  the  battle  of 
Minden,  under  prince  Ferdinand  of  Bruns- 
wick, whose  orders  to  advance  with  his  troops 
during  the  engagement  he  disobeyed,  either 
from  cowardice  or  misapprehension.  His  be- 
haviour was  generally  attributed  at  home  to 
the  former  cause,  and  a  violent  outcry  was 
raised  against  him,  in  the  midst  of  which  he 
was  tried  by  a  court-martial,  convicted  of  de- 
reliction of  duty,  and  sentenced  to  be  dis- 
missed from  the  service,  with  peculiar  marks 
of  the  royal  displeasure.  Under  the  adminis 
tration  of  lord  Bute,  he  was  restored  to  favour. 
In  1775  he  was  appointed  colonial  secretary  of 
Btate,  and  he  held  that  office  during  the  pro- 
gress of  the  disastrous  war  with  America.  On 
relinquishing  his  post  in  178'2,  he  was  created 
a  viscount ;  and  he  survived  his  elevation  to 
the  peerage  about  three  years,  dying  in  1785 
To  this  nobleman  has  been  ascribed  the  com- 
position of  the  "  Letters  of  Junius."  He  was 
suspected  of  being  their  author  by  sir  William 


SAD 

Draper ;  his  talents  appear  to  have  been 
equal  to  the  production  of  such  a  work,  and 
his  political  principles  led  him  to  the  same 
side  of  the  question  as  was  espoused  by  Ju- 
nius. It  is  said,  indeed,  that  on  one  occasion 
his  lordship  privately  observed  to  a  friend  of 
his,  "  I  should  be  proud  to  be  capable  of 
writing  as  Junius  has  done  ;  but  there  are 
many  passages  in  his  letters  I  should  be  very 
sorry  to  have  written."  1  his  declaration, 
however,  is  not  quite  inconsistent  witli  the 
circumstance  of  his  having  been  the  author  j 
but  the  fact  that  lord  G.  Sackville  is  roundly 
accused  of  want  of  courage  by  Junius  is  cer- 
tainly adverse  to  the  imputation  of  authorship. 
For  a  considerable  part  of  his  life  this  noble- 
man was  called  lord  G.  Germaiue,  having  taken 
that  name  on  succeeding  to  an  estate  left  him 
by  lady  Elizabeth  Germaine,  the  friend  and 
correspondent  of  Swift  and  Pope,  who  died  in 
1769. —  WoodJ all's  Edit,  of  the  Letters  of  Ju- 
nius, Pref.  Europ.  Mag. 

SADE  (JAMES  FRANCIS  PAUL  ALPIIONSO 
de)  the  third  son  of  the  marquis  de  Sade,  was 
born  in  1705.  Having  adopted  the  clerical 
profession,  he  became  vicar- general  of  the 
archbishop  of  Toulouse,  and  afterwards  of  the 
archbishop  of  jVarbonne.  The  states  of  Lan- 
uedoc  having  employed  him  on  a  mission  to 
the  court,  he  resided  several  years  at  Paris  ; 
and  in  1744  he  was  nominated  abbot  of 
Ebreuil,  in  Auvergne.  About  1752  he  re- 
tired to  Saumane,  a  league  from  Vaucluse, 
where  he  devoted  himself  entirely  to  study, 
and  wrote  his  "  Memoires  sur  la  Vie  de  Pe- 
traique,"  1764,  3  vols.  4to,  on  which  his  lite- 
rary reputation  depends.  He  died  December 
31,  1778.  Besides  the  preceding,  he  was 
the  author  of  "  Remarques  sur  les  premiers 
Poetes  Francais  et  les  Troubadours." — Bwg. 
Univ. 

SADE  (DONATIAN  ALPHONSO  FRANCIS, 
count  de)  nephew  of  the  preceding,  was  born 
at  Paris  in  1740.  He  was  educated  in  the 
college  of  Louis  le  Grand,  and  afterwards  en- 
tering into  the  army,  he  served  during  the 
seven  years'  war  in  Germany.  He  returned, 
in  1766,  to  Paris,  and  married  the  daughter 
of  a  president  of  the  court  of  Aids.  His  con- 
duct became  most  disgracefully  dissipated,  and 
after  having  escaped  by  flight  from  justice, 
and  wandered  for  some  time  in  Italy,  he  re- 
turned to  France,  and  was  taken  and  con- 
fined in  the  castle  of  Vincennes.  He  was 
afterwaids  transferred  to  the  Bastile,  win-re 
he  remained  at  the  Revolution.  Being  then 
set  free,  he  continued  his  infamous  career,  till 
at  length  his  friends  procured  his  confinement 
in  the  madhouse  at  Charenton,  where  he  died 
December  2,  1814.  This  abandoned  noble- 
man wrote  a  number  of  licentious  novels,  &c, 
which  display  a  sad  perversion  of  extraordi- 
nary talents. —  Id. 

SADEEL  (ANTOINE)  a  learned  French 
Huguenot  of  the  sixteenth  century,  chaplain 
to  Henri  Quatre,  whom  he  accompanied  dur- 
ing his  wars  with  the  League.  He  was  de- 
scended of  a  noble  family,  born  about  the  year 
1534.  Having  early  in  life  dedicated 


SAD 

to  vl.f  ministry,  he  was  thrown  into  prison  on 
account  of  his  tenets,  and  was  only  liberated 
at  length  through  the  personal  interference  of 
the  royal  patron,  to  whose  service  he  after- 
wards attached  himself.  On  the  reconciliation 
of  Henri  to  the  church  of  Rome,  Sadeel  re- 
tired from  Paris  to  Geneva,  where  he  obtained 
the  Hebrew  professorship,  and  continued  to 
officiate  as  a  Protestant  pastor  till  his  death  in 
1591.  His  theological  writings  were  collected 
at  his  decease,  and  appeared  in  the  course  of 
the  following  year. — Freheri  Theatrum. 

SADELER  (JOHN)  the  first  of  a  family  of 
distinguished  engravers,  was  born  at  Brussels 
in  1556.  He  applied  early  in  life  to  drawing 
and  engraving,  and  having  executed  some 
masterly  works,  found  a  liberal  patron  in  the 
elector  of  Bavaria.  He  went  afterwards  to 
Rome  and  Venice,  at  which  latter  capital  he 
died  in  1600,  leaving  a  son  named  John,  by 
whom  there  are  also  some  good  prints. — RA- 
PHAEL SADELER,  brother  and  pupil  to  John,  was 
born  in  1555.  He  accompanied  his  brother  to 
Rome  and  Venice,  and  they  worked  in  con- 
junction several  collections  of  religious  sub- 
jects, amounting  to  more  than  five  hundred 
prints,  in  two  volumes,  folio. — GILES  SADE- 
LER, the  nephew  and  pupil  of  the  two  last, 
excelled  them  in  correctness  and  taste,  and 
engraved  "  Vestigi  dell'  Antichita  di  Roma,'' 
which  appeared  in  1660,  folio. — Strutt. 

SADI,  or  SAAD1,  a  celebrated  Persian 
poet,  who  was  a  native  of  Shiraz.  He  studied 
at  Bagdad;  at  a  college  founded  by  Nizam  al 
JMoluk,  and  adopting  a  religious  life  under  the 
direction  of  the  famous  sophi  Abd  al  Kadir 
Ghilani,  he  accompanied  him  in  a  pilgrimage  ' 
to  Mecca.  He  is  said  to  have  repeated  that 
act  of  religion  forty  times,  and  to  have  always 
taken  the  journey  on  foot.  The  author  of  the 
History  of  the  Persian  Poets  states  that  Sadi 
passed  thirty  years  of  his  life  in  study,  thirty 
years  in  travelling,  and  thirty  years  more  in 
retirement  and  devotion.  He  fulfilled  the  com-  ^ 
mon  duty  of  the  Moslems  in  combating  the  i 
infidels,  and  carried  arms  in  India  and  in  Asia 
Minor.  He  was  at  length  made  a  prisoner  by 
the  crusaders  in  Syria,  and  employed  in  dig- 
ging the  trenches  at  the  siege  of  Tripoli.  A 
rich  merchant  of  Aleppo  ransomed  him,  and 
gave  him  his  daughter  for  a  wife  ;  but,  accord- 
ing to  the  testimony  of  the  poet,  her  behaviour 
was  such  as  to  make  him  regret  the  slavery 
from  which  he  had  been  rescued.  Towards 
the  close  of  his  life,  which  is  said  to  have  ex- 
tended beyond  a  century,  he  built  a  hermitage 
near  the  walls  of  Shiraz,  where  he  passed  his 
time  in  exercises  of  piety.  He  died  in  1296, 
and  his  tomb,  on  the  spot  where  he  had  lived, 
was  long  visited  with  devotion  by  the  admirers 
of  his  piety  and  his  genius.  His  works  con- 
sist of  "  Gulistan,"  or  the  Garden  of  Roses, 
of  which  there  is  a  French  translation  by  An- 
drew Duryer ;  and  English  translations  by 
FrancisGladwin,  London,  1808,2  vols.  8vo,  and 
by  James  Dumoulin,  Calcutta,  1807,  4to,  both 
printed  with  the  original  text  ;  "  Bostan,"  or 
the  Garden  of  Fruits  ;  "  Pend-uameh,"  pub- 
h-t'fd,  with  an  English  version,  in  Mr  F. 


SAD 

Glarfwin's  Persian  Moonshee,"  1801 ,  4to,  Sue. 
—  King.  Uniu, 

SADLER  (JOHN)  an  English  law-writer 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  who  was  a  native 
of  Shropshire.  He  was  educated  at  Emaunel 
college,  Cambridge,  where  he  obtained  a  fel- 
lowship, and  distinguished  himself  by  his 
knowledge  of  Oriental  literature.  He  then 
entered  as  a  student  at  Lincoln's-inn,  and  in 
1641  he  became  a  master  in  chancery,  as  also 
one  of  the  two  masters  of  requests.  In  1649 
he  was  chosen  town-clerk  of  the  city  of  Lon- 
don ;  and  the  same  year  he  published  his 
"  Rights  of  the  Kingdom,  or  Customs  of  our 
Ancestors."  He  was  in  great  favour  with 
Oliver  Cromwell,  who  offered  him  the  chief- 
justiceship  of  Munster,  in  Ireland,  which  he 
declined.  In  1658  he  was  chosen  MP.  for 
Yarmouth  ;  but  soon  after  the  Restoration  he 
lost  all  his  employments,  and  having  suffered 
from  the  destruction  of  property  in  the  fire  in 
London,  in  1666,  he  retired  to  his  estate  at 
Warmwell  in  Dorsetshire,  where  he  died  in 
April,  1674,  aged  fifty-nine.  Besides  the 
work  already  noticed,  he  wrote  a  political  ro- 
mance, entitled  "  Olbia,  or  the  new  Island 
lately  discovered, "4to. — Chalmers's  Biog.  Diet. 
£«fi/e.  Brit. 

SADLER  (WILLIAM  WINDHAM)  an  inge- 
nious natural  philosopher,  who  fell  a  victim  to 
the  practice  of  aerostation.  On  the  30th  of 
September,  18'24,  he  ascended  in  a  balloon 
from  the  neighbourhood  of  Blackburn  in  Lan- 
cashire ;  and  in  the  descent  the  car  was  driven 
against  a  chimney,  and  Mr  Sadler  was  thrown 
out,  at  the  height  of  about  forty  yards  from  the 
ground,  when  his  skull  was  fractured,  and  he 
was  otherwise  injured  so  as  to  occasion  his 
death.  He  thus  perished  in  the  twenty- 
eighth  year  of  his  age,  after  having  made  thirty 
aerial  voyages,  in  one  of  which  he  crossed  the 
Irish  channel,  ascending  at  Dublin  and  alight- 
ing on  the  Welsh  coast.  He  possessed  con- 
siderable talents  as  a  chemist  and  an  engi- 
neer, in  which  capacities  he  was  employed 
by  the  first  gas  company  established  at  Liver- 
pool. He  resided  at  that  sea-port,  where  lie 
had  fitted  up  accommodations  for  the  use  of 
warm,  medicated,  and  vapour  baths  ;  and  be- 
fore he  had  time  to  reap  the  profits  of  this 
useful  institution,  his  life  was  terminated  by 
the  terrible  accident  already  noticed. — Biog. 
Nouv.  des  Cnntemp.  Ann.  Rfg. 

SADLER  or  SADLIER  (sir  RALPH)  an 
English  diplomatist,  born  at  Hackney  in  Mid- 
dlesex, in  1307.  Early  in  life  he  obtained  the 
patronage  of  Cromwell,  earl  of  Essex  ;  and 
Henry  VIII  employed  him  in  various  political 
affairs,  gave  him  a  seat  at  the  council-board, 
and  made  him  secretary  of  state.  He  was 
present  at  the  ba'tle  of  Musselburgh  in  Scot- 
land, in  1547,  when  he  was  dubbed  a  knight 
banneret,  in  reward  of  his  services  ;  having 
been  previously  engaged  in  the  negotiations 
which  were  carried  on  between  the  English 
and  Scottish  governments.  In  the  reign  of 
queen  Elizabeth  he  was  again  sent  ambassador 
to  Scotland  ;  and  he  resided  for  some  time  at 
the  court  of  queen  Mary,  who,  when  she  took 


SAD 


S  A  G 


refuse  in  England,  was  committed  to  the  cus-  consist  of  poems,  discourses,  letters,  and  mis 
tody3  of  sir  "Ralph  Sadler.  His  death  took  cellaneous  tracts,  all  in  Latin,  and  distin. 
plate  in  1587.  A  collection  of  the  "  Letters  !  guished  for  purity  and  classical  elegance  * 


and  Negotiations  of  Sir  R.  Sadler,"  was  pub- 
lished at  Edinburgh,  in  1710,  8vo  ;  and  in 
1809  Mr  Arthur  Clifford  published  a  more 
complete  collection  of  his  diplomatic  papers, 
&c.  in  2  vols.  4to. — Fuller's  Worthies.  Me- 
moir '.>v  Sir  Walter  Scott,  prefixed  to  the  Letters. 
SADOC,  a  famous  Jewish  doctor  in  the 
third  century  BC.  He  was  the  disciple  of 
Antigonus  Sochasus,  president  of  the  Sanhe- 
drim, who,  disgusted  with  the  great  stress  laid 
on  the  mere  ceremonial  law,  and  the  doctrine 
of  works  of  supererogation,  strenuously  main- 
tained that  men  ought  to  serve  God  on  a  pure 
principle  of  piety,  without  hope  of  reward  or 
fear  of  punishment.  Sadoc,  with  Bauhosus, 
another  of  the  disciples  of  Sochseus,  refining 
upon  this  doctrine,  were  led  to  deny  the  re- 
surrection, and  hence  the  rise  of  the  Jewish 
sect  of  Sadducees,  so  named  after  Sadoc.  Be- 
sides the  denial  of  a  resurrection,  his  followers 
disclaimed  the  existence  of  angels  or  spirits, 
as  well  as  the  doctrine  of  an  irresistible  fa- 
tality. Their  denial  of  a  future  state  of  re- 
wards and  punishments  seems  to  have  flowed 
as  a  consequence  from  their  belief  in  the  ho- 
mogeneous nature  of  man,  which  implies  the 
absence  of  any  distinct  principle  like  the  soul. 
— Jasephus.  Enjield's  Hist,  of  Phil. 


SADOLET  (JAMES)  a  learned  Italian  car- 
dinal, born  at  Modena  in  1477.     He  was  the 
son  of  an  eminent   lawyer,  professor  of  juris- 
prudence  at    Ferrara,   under    whom   he    was 
partly   educated.     Having  acquired  a  know- 
ledge of  classical  literature,  rhetoric,  and  phi- 
losophy, he  went  to  Rome,  and  became  secre- 
taty  to  cardinal  Oliver  Caraffa,  who   procured 
him  a  canonry  in  the  church  of  St  Lawrence. 
His  talents   and   learning  raised  him  to  emi- 
mence,  and  Leo  X,  on   ascending  the  papa 
throne,  nominated  Sadolet  one  of  his  secreta- 
ries.    In  1517  he  was  made  bishop   of  Car- 
pentras.  which    dignity   he   very  unwillingly 
accepted.     Pope   Adrian    VI,    who   had   but 
little  taste  for  the  belles  lettres,  neglected  this 
accomplished  scholar,  who  retired  to  his  dio- 
cese, whence  he.  was  recalled,  and  restored  to 
his  office   by  the  succeeding  pontiff,  Clement 
VII.     His  advice  to  the   pope,  not  to   enter 
into  the  league  against  the  emperor  Charles  V, 
being  neglected,  he  obtained  leave  to  retire  to 
his  see  ;  and  having  quitted  Rome  only  twenty 
days  before  the  sack  of  that  city  by  the  troops 
of  the  constable  de   Bourbon,   his  palace  was 
plundered,  and  his  valuable  library,  which  had 
been  put  on  board  a  vessel  to  be  conveyed  to 
France,  was  lost.     At  Carpentras  he  employed 
himself  in  ecclesiastical  duties,  and  in  various 
exertions   for  the  benefit   of  those  under  his 
pastoral  care.    Paul  III  recalled  him  te  Rome 
iu  15o6,  created  him  a  member  of  the  congre- 
gation of  reform,  and  gave  him  a   cardinal's 
hat.     In  1542  he  was  sent   legate   to   France 
for  the  purpose   of  negotiating  a  pacification 
Vtween  Francis  I  and  Charles  V.     Returning 
'0  Rome,   he  died   October  18,  1547.     The 
works  of  Sadolet,  besides  theological  treatises, 


style.  His  works  were  printed  at  Verona, 
4  vols.  4to.  —  Tirabeschi.  Aihiiis  Gen.  Biog 
Bins;.  Univ. 

SAEMUND  SIGFUSSON,  a  celebrate* 
Icelandic  priest,  legislator,  historian,  and  poet, 
who  flourished  in  the  eleventh  and  twelfth 
centuries.  He  appears  to  have  been  born 
about  the  year  1045,  and  to  have  established 
a  seminary  at  Odda,  which  enjoyed  consider- 
able reputation.  The  collection  of  Scandina- 
vian poetry,  known  under  the  name  of  "  The 
Edda,"  of  which  an  edition  appeared  at  Co- 
penhagen in  1787,  was  compiled  by  him  ;  as 
was  also  a  code  of  laws  for  the  govemment 
of  the  Icelandic  church,  and  a  "  History  of 
Norway."  His  death  took  place  in  1135.  — 
Artali/tical  Rev.  vol.  ii. 

SAGE  (BALTHAZAR  GEORGE^)  an  eminent 
natural  philosopher,  the  founder  of  the  science 
of  mineralogy  in  France.  He  was  born  at 
Paris  in  1740,  and  after  a  domestic  education, 
lie  completed  his  studies  at  the  Mazarin  col- 
lege. Chemistry  and  mineralogy  became  the 
favourite  objects  of  his  researches  ;  and  at  the 
age  of  twenty  he  opened  a  gratuitous  course  of 
lectures  on  those  topics.  Louis  XVI  bestowed 
on  him  a  small  pension  ;  and  he  succeeded 
Rouelle  as  a  member  of  the  Academy  of 


Sciences.     To  his  influence  and  recommenda- 
tion was  owing  the  establishment  of  the  Royal 
School  of  Mines  in  1783  ;  and  it  was  placed 
under  the  direction  of  M.  Sage,  who  justified 
the  confidence  of  his  sovereign  by  his  laborious 
and  successful  exertions  for  the   promotion  of 
scientific  improvements.     The  Revolution  in- 
terrupted his  useful  labours  ;  but  under  Napo- 
leon he  was  enabled  to  resume   and  extend 
them,     M.  Sage,  who  was    a  knight  of  the 
order  of  St  Michael,  administrator  of  the  mint, 
and  a  member  of  the  Institute,  died  at  Paris, 
September   9,  1824.     He  made  some  impor- 
tant discoveries,  and  published  a  Catalogue  of 
a  Cabinet  of  Minerals,  as  well  as  many  Dis- 
sertations in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy  of 
Sciences.     His  disciple,  Dr  Demeste,  also  de- 
veloped some  ingenious   speculations,   which 
he  had  advanced   relative   to  the    theory   of 
chemistry,    in    a   work   entitled  "   Lettres  a 
Docteur  Bernard  sur  la  Chimie  et  la  Physique 
en  general,"  Paris,  1779,  2  vols.  I2mo.  Among 
the  later  works  of  M.  Sage  are,  "  Theorie  de 
1'Origine  des  Montagnes,"  1809,  8vo  ;  "  Ob- 
servations sur  1'Emploidu  Zinc,"  8vo  ;  "  Ex 
periences  sur  les  Mottiers,"  8vo  ;  "  Institu- 
tions de  Physique,"  1811,  3  vols.  8vo  ;  "  Sup- 
plement," 1812,   8vo  ;  "  Opuscules  de  Phy- 
sique,"  1813,  8vo  ;  and  "  Tableau  compart 
de   la  Conduite  qu'ont  teuue  envers  moi  lea 
Ministres  de  1'ancien  Regime  avec  celle  des 
Ministres  du  nouveau  Regime,"  1814,  8vo. — 
Biog.  Nmiv.des  Contemp.     Edit. 

SAGE  (JoiiNT)  bishop  of  Edinburgh,  an 
able  and  enlightened  Scottish  prelate,  distin- 
guished as  an  eloquent  defender  of  episcopacy 
in  that  kingdom.  He  was  a  native  of  Fife- 
shire,  bora  1652,  and  received  a  liberal  edutn- 


S  A  I 

tion  in  the  university  of  St  Andrew's.  From 
Glasgow,  where  he  had  for  several  years  offi- 
ciated, he  removed,  on  the  establishment  of 
presbyterianism,  to  Edinburgh,  of  which  ca- 
pital he  was  made  the  diocesan  in  170.5,  but 
survived  his  elevation  little  more  than  five 
\ears.  His  principal  theological  writings  are, 
tract  entitled  "  The  Principles  of  the  Cypri- 
4nic  Age,"  in  which  he  warmly  advocates  the 
episcopal  form  of  church  government,  as  well 
as  in  a  vindication  which  lie  subsequently 
published  of  the  original  treatise  ;  and  "  The 
Charter  of  Presbytery."  He  was  also  the 
author  of  an  Introduction  to  Drummond's 
History  of  Scotland  during  the  Reigns  of  the 
first  five  Jameses,  and  a  biographical  memoir 
of  Douglas,  bishop  of  Dunkeld. — Enci/c.  Brit. 

SAGITTARIUS  (GASPARD)  a  "learned 
German  historian  and  divine,  who  flourished 
during  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. He  was  a  native  of  Luuenberg,  born 
1643,  and  became  historiographer  to  the  duke 
of  Saxony,  with  the  historical  professorship  in 
the  university  of  Halle.  As  a  theologian  he 
distinguished  himself  by  several  able  treatises 
in  favour  of  the  reformed  church,  and  by  his 
"  Dissertation  on  Oracles  ;"  while  as  an  anti- 
quary and  historian  he  is  advantageously 
known  by  his  "  Antiquities  of  Thuringia  ;" 
"  The  Ancient  History  of  Norway  ;"  "  The 
History  of  Lubec  ;"  "  The  History  of  Harde- 
wyck;"  "The  Genealogy  of  the  Dukes  of 
Brunswick  ;"  "  The  Succession  of  the  Princes 
of  Orange  ;"  a  "  Life  of  St  Norbert  ;"  and  a 
treatise  "  On  the  most  Beneficial  Method  of 
Reading  History."  His  death  took  place  at 
Halle  in  1694. — Niceron.  Moreri. 

ST    ANDRE   (NATHANIEL)   a   native  of 
Switzerland,  who  came  to  England  in  a  menial 
situation  early  in  life,  and  through  the  kind- 
ness of  friends  was  educated  for  the  profession 
of  surgery.     Having    entered   on  business  in 
the  metropolis,  he  made  his  way  to  eminence 
rather  by  industry  and  assurance,  than  by  his 
professional  abilities.     He  became  a  favourite 
with  king  George  I,  and  was  appointed  surgeon 
to  the  royal  household  ;  and  he  held  that  of- 
fice in  17^6,when  the  ridiculous  case  occurred 
of  the  rabbit-woman  of  Godalming,  of  whom 
St  Andre   was  either  the  accomplice   or  the 
dupe,  most  probably  the  latter.     The  impostor 
in   question,  Mary  Tofts,  pretended   to   have 
given  birth  to  a  number  of  rabbits.     She  was 
attended  by  John  Howard,  a  surgeon  of  Guil- 
ford,  who  introduced  his  patient  to  the  notice 
of  St  Andre  ;  and  under  the  sanction  of  these 
two  professional  men,  the  case  was  laid  before 
Ihe  public,  and  was  productive  of  general  con- 
sternation.    A  number  of  pamphlets,  ballads, 
and  caricatures  were  published  on  the  subject ; 
and  the   affair  ended  in  the  exposure  of  this 
gross  delusion,  and  the  disgrace  of  those  who 
had  contributed  to  support  it,  especially  of  St 
Andr6.     Through  this  transaction  he  lost  the 
ting's  favour,  and  was  no  longer  received  at 
iourt,  though  his  practice  still  continued  to  he 
try  extensive.      In  1730  he  added  largely  to 
his  income   by  his  marriage  with  lady  Betty 
Molyneux,  a  richly-jointured  widow,  whom, 


S  A  I 

However,  lie  long  survived  ;  and  at  his  di:a'.h, 
m  March  1776,  he  left  but  a  small  tx/itiun  of 
wealth  behind  him.  Besides  tracts  on  the 
case  of  M.  Tofts,  he  wrote  a  pamphlet  against 
Dr  Mead. —  Nichols's  Anecd.  of  Hvgarth 
Hutchinson's  Ring.  Med. 

ST  ANDRK  (JEAN  BON).  See  JEAN 
BON  ST  ANDRE. 

ST  ANGE  (ANGE  FRANCOIS  FARIAU  de) 
a  French  poet,  born  at  Blois,  October  13, 
1747.  He  studied  among  the  Jesuits,  and 
afterwards  at  the  college  of  St  Barbe  at  Paris. 
When  the  king  of  Denmark  was  in  that  me- 
tropolis in  1768,  St  Ange  attracted  some 
notice  by  a  congratulatory  ode,  which  he  pre- 
sented to  that  prince.  Turgot,  the  financier, 
jecame  his  patron,  and  procured  him  a  pen- 
sion ;  and  the  poet  manifested  his  gratitude, 
)y  dedicating  to  the  manes  of  his  benefactor  a 
:ranslation  of  Ovid's  Metamorphoses.  The 
Revolution  deprived  him  of  his  income,  and 
reduced  him  to  want ;  but  after  the  9th  of 
Thermidor  1794,  he  obtained  a  civil  employ- 
ment, •which  he  exchanged  at  length  for  the 
professorship  of  grammar,  and  afterwards  of 
aelles  lettres,  in  one  of  the  central  schools.  His 
iiealth  was  injured  by  his  attention  to  the  du- 
ties of  his  station,  which  he  resigned,  and  was 
allowed  to  retain  his  salary.  In  September 
1810  he  was  admitted  a  member  of  the  Insti- 
tute ;  but  he  enjoyed  that  honour  but  a  short 
time,  dying  December  8th,  the  same  year. 
Besides  his  principal  work,  the  translation  of 
the  "  Metamorphoses,"  he  also  produced  ver- 
sions of  the  "  Fasti ;"  "  The  Art  of  Love  ;" 
"  The  Remedy  of  Love  ;"  and  of  some  of  the 
Elegies  and  the  Heroic  Epistles  of  Ovid  ;  and 
he  published  "  The  School  for  Fathers,"  a 
comedy  ;  a  volume  of  "  Fugitive  Poetry,"  and 
other  works. —  Riog.  Univ. 

ST  BEUVE  (JACQUES  de)  a  celebrated 
theological  casuist,  born  at  Paris  in  1613. 
Having  studied  at  the  Sorbonne,  he  was  ad- 
mitted doctor  in  1638  ;  and  in  1643  he  be- 
came royal  professor  of  theology  in  that  col- 
lege, having  previously  attained  great  emi- 
nence as  a  preacher.  He  entered  into  the  dis- 
putes relative  to  the  doctrines  of  grace  and 
predestination,  which  agitated  the  French 
church  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury ;  and  on  his  refusal  to  subscribe  to  the 
censure  of  Dr  Arnauld,  he  was  dismissed  from 
his  professorship  in  1658.  He  afterwards 
signed  the  required  formulary,  and  was  ap- 
pointed theologian  to  the  clergy  of  France, 
with  a  pension.  He  then  opened  a  sort 
of  cabinet  of  consultations  at  Paris  ;  and  as  a 
casuist  he  obtained  great  eminence,  and  was 
applied  to  from  all  quarters  of  the  kingdom, 
on  the  part  of  bishops,  chapters,  religious 
communities,  magistrates,  persons  of  rank, 
and  even  princes.  He  died  of  apoplexy,  De- 
cember 1.5,  1677.  Of  his  numerous  consul- 
tations nothing  appeared  during  his  life  ;  but 
his  brother  published  a  collection  of  his  deci- 
sions at  Paris,  1689-1704,  3  vols.  4to  ;  and 
there  are  many  subsequent  editions.  He  was 
the  author  of  two  tracts  "  De  Confirmatione 
et  de  Extrema  Unctione,"  Geneva,  1669,  4to 


S  A  1 

Many  of  his  works  remain  in  manuscript,  in 
the  library  of  the  Sorbonne,  which  display  pro- 
found critical  judgment  and  extensive  learning. 
• — Biug.  Univ.  Aloreri.  Aikhi. 

ST  CROIX  (GuiLLAUME  EMANUEL  JO- 
SEPH GUILHEM  DE  CLERMONT  LODF.VK,  baron 
de)  was  born  at  Mormoiron,  near  Carpentras, 
in  the  south  of  France,  in  1746.  He  studied 
at  a  college  of  the  Jesuits  at  Grenoble  ;  and 
afterwards  entering  into  the  army,  he  went 
with  his  uncle,  the  chevalier  de  St  Croix,  to 
the  West  Indies,  where  the  latter  had  been 
appointed  commander  of  the  French  troops  in 
the  Windward  islands.  He  returned  home 
in  1762,  with  the  rank  of  captain  of  grena- 
diers, and  for  several  years  he  devoted  the 
leisure  of  a  military  life  to  literary  studies. 
The  first  fruit  of  his  researches  was  "  Examen 
critique  des  Historiens  d' Alexandre,"  for 
which  he  obtained  a  prize  from  the  Academy 
of  Inscriptions,  in  1772;  and  in  177.5  and 
1777  two  more  of  his  essays  were  similarly  re- 
warded. He  was  elected  an  associate  of  the 
Academy  ;  and  at  a  subsequent  period  he  be- 
came a  member  of  the  Institute,  in  the  class 
of  history  and  ancient  literature.  During  the 
Revolution  he  suffered  greatly  in  his  pro- 
perty ;  and  in  1792  he  was  imprisoned,  but 
he  made  his  escape,  and  survived  the  restora- 
tion of  order,  dying  March  11,  1809.  Besides 
a  great  number  of  academical  memoirs,  he 
published  "  L'Ezour-Vedam,  ou  ancien  Corn- 
mentaire  du  Vedam,"  with  Notes,  Observa- 
tions, &c.  Yverdun,  1778,  2  vols.  12mo ; 
"  Histoire  des  Progres  de  la  Puissance  Navale 
d'Angleterre,"  1782,  2  vols.  12mo ;  and 
"  Memoires  pour  servir  a  1'Histoire  de  la  Re- 
ligion secrete,  des  anciens  Peuples,  ou  Re- 
cherches  Historiques  sur  les  Mysteres  du  Pa- 
ganisme,"  1784,  8vo,  of  which  an  enlarged 
edition  appeared  in  1817,  2  vols.  8vo.  The 
baron  de  St  Croix  is  chiefly  known  as  the 
author  of  the  "  Critical  Examination  of  the 
Historians  of  Alexander  the  Great,"  of  which 
he  published  an  enlarged  edition  in  1804,  4to 
There  is  an  English  translation  of  this  work 
by  sir  R.  Clayton. —  Ring.  Univ. 

ST  EVREMOND  (CHARLES  DE  MAR«UE- 
TEL  DE  ST  DENIS,  seigneur  de)  a  French  mail 
of  letters,  of  great  temporary  celebrity,  was 
born  of  a  noble  family  of  Constance  in  Nor- 
mandy, in  1613.  He  studied  the  law  at 
Paris,  but  quitted  it  in  order  to  enter  the 
army,  and  served  under  the  prince  of  Conde 
at  Friburg  and  Nordlingen  ;  but  lost  his  com- 
mission in  consequence  of  having  exercised  his 
talent  for  satire,  at  the  expense  of  the  prince. 
He  was  favoured  by  the  friendship  of  the  mi- 
nister, Foucquet ;  but  his  propensity  to  sar- 
casm involved  him  with  cardinal  Mazarin,  and 
cost  him  three  months'  imprisonment  in  the 
Bastille.  In  the  war  of  the  Fronde  he  em- 
braced the  side  of  the  court,  and  obtained  pro- 
motion and  a  pension  ;  but  in  consequence 
of  a  letter  addressed  to  M.  Crequi,  censuring 
the  peace  of  the  Pyrenees,  he  became  once 
more  embroiled  with  the  ministry,  and  to  es- 
cape the  Bastille,  repaired  to  England.  He  was 
well  received  at  the  gay  court  of  Charles  II, 


S  A  I 

and  all  solicitations  for  his  recal  proving  fruifc 
less,  lie  passed  the  rest  of  his  life  in  this 
country,  in  an  easy  Epicurean  style  of  exist- 
ence, which  was  much  promoted  by  the  na- 
tural vivacity  of  his  temperament  and  fond- 
ness for  the  company  of  young  people.  He 
was  humane  and  generous,  and  although  by  no 
means  a  rigid  moralist,  he  was  regarded  as  a 
man  of  honour.  lie  died  in  1703,  at  the  age 
of  eighty,  and  was  interred  in  Westminster 
abbey,  where  a  monument  is  erected  to  bis 
memory.  His  works,  which  consist  of  essays, 
letters,  poems,  and  dramatic  pieces,  have  been 
printed  in  4  vols.  and  7  vols.  12mo.  170.5. 
They  were  much  read,  when  first  published, 
in  consequence  of  having  been  handed  about  in 
MS.  among  persons  of  fashion,  during  the  life 
of  the  author.  St  Evremond  is  a  lively  but 
insipid  writer,  although  not  destitute  of  sense 
and  penetration.  There  is  an  English  trans- 
lation of  his  works  by  Des  Maizeaux. — Mo- 
reri.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

ST  FARGEAU  (Louis  MICHEL  LEPEL- 
LETIER  de)  a  French  statesman,  descended 
from  ancestors  distinguished  in  the  magis- 
tracy, who  was  born  at  Paris  in  1760.  He 
became  successively  advocate-general  and  pre- 
sident a  mortier  of  the  parliament  of  Paris  ; 
and  being  a  deputy  to  the  states- general,  he 
voted  with  the  majority  of  his  order ;  and 
when  Louis  XVI  enjoined  the  nobility  to  unite 
with  the  Tiers  Etat,  St  Fargeau  refused  to 
obey  him,  he.  and  the  count  de  Mirepoix  alone 
remaining  in  the  chamber  of  the  nobility.  Af- 
terwards, becoming  connected  with  the  duke 
of  Orleans,  he  changed  his  principles,  and 
employed  his  influence  in  forwaiding  the  Re- 
volution ;  yet  in  his  behaviour  aud  language 
he  displayed  more  moderation  than  most  of  his 
associates.  Being  appointed  to  present  to  the 
Assembly  a  report  on  the  penal  code  from  the 
Committee  of  Criminal  Jurisprudence,  he  pro- 
posed that  capital  punishment  should  be  com- 
muted for  twenty-four  years'  confinement  in 
irons.  He  sat  in  the  Convention  as  a  deputy 
from  the  department  of  the  Yonne,  and  voted 
for  the  death  of  Louis  XVI,  which  proceeding 
occasioned  his  own  destruction.  On  the  20th 
of  January,  1793,  tiie  day  before  the  king  was 
executed,  Lepelletier  de  St  Fargeau  was  assas- 
sinated at  a  tavern  in  the  Palais  Royal,  by  a 
man  named  Paris,  who  had  belonged  to  the 
royal  guard  ;  and  whose  avowed  motive  was  the 
determination  to  avenge  the  fate  of  his  sove- 
reign, by  the  sacrifice  of  some  member  of  the 
Convention  who  had  voted  for  his  death.  The 
corpse  was  pompously  interred  in  the  Pan- 
theon, now  the  church  of  St  Genevieve  ;  and 
the  nation  adopted  the  daughter  of  their  mur- 
dered representative.  Robespierre  read  from 
the  tribune  of  the  Convention  a  discourse 
which  lie  had  left  on  national  education. — 
Diet,  des  H.  M.  du  18 we.  8.  Diet.  Hist. 

ST  FOIX  (GERMAIN  FRANCOIS  POULLAIN 
de)  a  French  dramatist  and  miscellaneous 
writer,  who  was  descended  of  a  noble  family  at 
Rennes  in  Britanny.  He  was  born  in  1698, 
and  having  studied  among  the  Jesuits,  he 
adopted  the  profession  of  arms,  find  entered 


S  A  I 

into  the  corps  of  mousquetaires,  whence  he  was 
discharged  on  obtaining  a  lieutenant's  com- 
mission in  a  regiment  of  cavalry.  lie  culti- 
vated literature  at  his  leisure  ;  and  while  a 
youth  he  produced  two  or  three  light  dramatic 
pieces.  lie  went  to  Italy  with  marshal  Bro- 
glio,  and  distinguished  himself  by  his  courage 
at  the  battle  of  Guastalla  (1734)  ;  but  not 
being  able  to  obtain  promotion,  he  left  the 
army,  and  purchased  the  office  of  master  of 
waters  and  forests.  In  1740  he  settled  at 
Paris,  where  he  acquired  notoriety  by  the 
numerous  duels  which  he  fought,  and  the  mul- 
titude of  plays  which  he  wrote.  Among  the 
best  of  these  are,  "  Le  Sylphe,"  1743  ;  "  Les 
Graces,"  1744 ;  and  "  L'Oracle,"  which  last  is 
the  only  one  that  has  kept  possession  of  the 
stage.  St  Foix  also  was  the  author  of  "  Let- 
tres  Turques  ;"  "  Histoire  de  1'Ordre  du  Saint 
Esprit  ;"  and  "  Lettre  au  Sujet  de  1'Homme 
au  Masque  de  Fer  ;"  but  his  principal  work, 
is  entitled  "  Essais  Historiques  sur  Paris," 
first  published  in  five  parts,  duodecimo,  Paris, 
1754,  of  which  there  is  an  English  transla- 
tion. He  died  at  Paris,  August  25,  1776. — 
His  nephew,  AUGUSTUS  DE  ST  Foix,  pub- 
lished "  Nouveaux  Essais  sur  Paris,"  1805, 
2  vols.  8vo  ;  and  there  is  an  earlier  work  ex- 
tant with  the  same  title. — Diet.  Hist.  Biog. 
Univ. 

ST  GERMAIN  (CLAUDE  Louis,  count  de) 
minister  at  war  under  Louis  XVI,  was  born  of 
a  noble  but  indigent  family,  in  1707,  near 
Lons-le-Saulnier  in  Franche  Compt6.  He 
entered  young  among  the  Jesuits,  but  left  their 
society  for  the  army,  and  served  with  distinc- 
tion iu  Hungary,  in  the  war  of  1737,  against 
the  Turks.  When  hostilities  took  place  be- 
tween the  French  and  Austrians,  he  left  the 
imperial  service  for  that  of  the  elector  of  Ba- 
varia. He  afterwards  returned  to  France,  and 
served  in  Flanders  in  1746,  1747,  and  1748, 
in  which  last  year  he  was  made  a  lieutenant- 
general,  lie  displayed  his  talents  to  advan- 
tage in  the  war  with  the  king  of  Prussia,  at 

CT  O 

the  battle  of  Rosback  in  1757,  when  he  saved 
the  remains  of  the  French  army,  and  pro- 
tected the  retreat.  He  also  distinguished  him- 
self on  other  occasions  ;  but  having  quarrelled 
with  the  duke  de  Broglio,  he  left  the  French 
service,  and  went  to  Denmark,  where  he  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  army,  made  a  field- 
marshal  and  knight  of  the  order  of  the  ele- 
phant. Tiie  death  of  count  Struensee,  and  the 
changes  in  the  Danish  government,  which 
took  place  in  1772,  induced  St  Germain  to  re- 
tire to  an  estate  near  Lauterbach,  in  Alsace, 
where  he  devoted  his  time  to  the  cultivation 
of  his  garden  and  the  study  of  botany.  The 
failure  of  a  banker  at  Hamburgh,  to  whom  he 
had  entrusted  his  property,  would  have  reduced 
him  to  poverty,  but  for  the  kindness  of  his 
friends.  At  length,  on  the  death  of  marshal 
du  Muy,  he  was  invited  to  become  war-minis- 
ter to  Louis  XVI  ;  and  in  October  1775  he 
made  his  appearance  at  court.  After  executing 
several  advantageous  plans  of  reform  in  the 
department  over  whicii  he  presided,  he  found 
so  much  obstruction  to  his  proceedings  after 


S  A  I 

tht  retreat  of  his  colleagues,  Turgot  and  Ma- 
le^berbes,  that  he  thought  proper  to  resign  his 
office  in  September  1777.  His  death  took 
place  January  15,  1778.  There  is  extant  a 
volume  of  memoirs  under  his  name,  printed  at 
Amsterdam,  1779,  8vo. —  Hit™.  Univ. 

STGER.MA1N  (count  de)  an  adventurer, 
whose  real  name  and  family  have  never  been 
satisfactorily  ascertained.  Marshal  Belle- 
Isle,  becoming  acquainted  with  him  in  Ger- 
many, took  him  to  France,  where  he  succeeded 
in  obtaining  the  confidence  of  madame  de 
Pompadour,  who  presented  him  to  the  king, 
Louis  XV.  He  professed  to  be  acquainted 
with  the  secret  of  immortality  ;  and  was  ac- 
customed to  talk  familiarly  of  his  intercourse 
with  the  emperor  Charles  V,  Francis  I,  and 
their  contemporaries.  He  appeared  also  to 
possess  immense  wealth,  often  making  an  os- 
tentatious display  of  valuable  jewels.  After 
having  long  interested  and  amused  the  Pari- 
sians, he  retired  to  Hamburgh,  and  subse- 
quently resided  with  the  prince  of  Hesse 
Cassel.  He  died  in  obscurity  at  Sleswick,  in 
1784.  He  is  said  to  have  been  the  son  of  a 
Portuguese  Jew  ;  and  it  is  most  probable  that 
he  was  employed  as  a  spy  by  different  minis- 
ters, which  occupation  was  the  source  of  that 
wealth  whence  he  derived  much  of  his  import- 
ance in  the  public  estimation. — (Euvres  ineditet 
de  Grnsley,  torn.  iii.  Bwg.  Univ. 

SAINT  GERMAN  or  SEINTGERMAN 
(CHRISTOPHER)  au  English  barrister  and 
writer  on  jurisprudence,  who  was  the  son  of 
sir  Henry  St  German,  and  was  a  native  of 
Sbilton,  in  Warwickshire.  He  was  educated 
at  Oxfo-d,  whence  he  removed  to  the  Inner 
Temple  ;  and  being  called  to  the  bar,  he  be- 
came eminent  for  his  knowledge  of  the  laws  of 
his  country.  He  died  in  London  in  1540.  St 
German  was  the  author  of  a  very  valuable 
work,  entitled  "  The  Doctor  and  Student,  or 
Dialogues  between  a  Doctor  of  Divinity  and  a 
Student  in  the  Laws  of  England,  concerning 
the  Grounds  of  those  Laws,''  first  published  in 
Latin  in  15'J3,  amLjuibsequently  in  an  English 
translation,  of  which  there  have  been  many  edi- 
tions. One  of  the  latest  is  that  of  1787,  Hvo, 
with  questions  and  cases  concerning  the  equity 
of  the  law,  corrected  and  improved  by  Wil- 
liam Machall.  Several  other  tracts  are  as- 
cribed to  this  writer,  who  engaged  in  a  con- 
troversy with  sir  Thomas  More,  relative  to 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction. —  Bcrkenhout's  King. 
Lit.  Bridgman's  Leg.  Bibl. 

ST  HUBERTI  (ANTOINETTE  CECILE  CLA- 
VEL,  commonly  called  madame)  a  celebrated 
French  opera-singer  and  actress,  born  at  I'oul, 
about  1756.  After  having  travelled  in  Ger- 
many, Poland,  and  Prussia,  she.  returned  to 
France,  with  the  chevalier  de  Croisy,  to  whom 
she  is  said  to  have  been  married.  After  acting 

O 

three  years  at  Strasburgh,  she  made  her  debut 
at  the  opera  at  Paris  in  1777.  At  first  she 
attracted  little  notice.  ;  but  on  the  retreat  of 
Sophia  A  mould  andde  la  Beaumesnil,  she  be- 
came distinguished  as  the  first  operatic  actress 
on  the  French  stage.  After  having  long  en- 
joyed high  reputation  for  her  talents,  she 


S  A  I 

quitted  France  in  April  1790,  to  join  the  count 
D'Entraigues,  at  Lausanne,  where  they  v.'t-re 
married  in  December  that  year,  though  tbe 
union  was  not  acknowledged  till  some  years 
after.  She  was  assassinated,  together  with 
her  husband,  in  1812. — (See  art.  DELAUNEY.) 
— The  motive  of  this  outrage,  which  was  per- 
petrated by  the  count's  footman,  is  said  to  have 
been  the  apprehension  the  man  was  under  of 
the  discovery  of  his  having  been  corrupted  by 
agents  of  Buonaparte,  to  whom  he  had  be- 
trayed his  master's  correspondence  with  the 
English  ministry. — Biog.  Univ. 

ST  JOHN  (HENRY)  viscount  Bolingbroke, 
a  nobleman  of  great  celebrity,  both  in  the  po- 
litical and  literary  world,  was  the  son  of  sir 
Henry  St  John,  of  the  ancient  family  of  that 
name.  He  was  born  at  Battersea,  in  Surrey, 
in  1672,  and  his  early  education  seems  to  have 
been  principally  directed  by  his  grandfather 
and  grandmother.  The  latter  being  a  rigid 
presbyterian,  he  seems  to  have  imbibed  a  dis- 
gust at  the  comparative  austerity  of  this  sect, 
which  never  afterwards  forsook  him.  At  a 
proper  age  he  was  sent  to  Eton,  and  thence 
transferred  to  Christchurch  college,  Oxford, 
and  at.  both  places  gave  indications  of  extra- 
ordinary talent.  He  appeared  iu  the  world 
with  all  the  advantages  of  a  fine  person  and 
fascinating  address,  and  for  some  years  ran  a 
career  of  pleasure  and  gaiety,  not  however 
unmixed  with  study,  and  an  attention  to  let- 
ters. With  a  view  to  reclaim  him  from  a 
course  of  extravagance  and  licentiousness,  his 
parents  united  him,  in  his  twenty-second  year, 
to  the  daughter  and  co-heiress  of  sir  Henry 
Winchcombe,  and  he  soon  afterward  entered 
parliament  for  Wotton  Basset,  a  borough  be- 
longing to  his  family.  He  joined  the  Tories, 
and  in  particular  attached  himself  to  Harley 
(afterwards  earl  of  Oxford).  His  abilities 
appeared  so  conspicuous,  that  in  1704  he  was 
made  secretary  at  war,  which  office  he  re- 
tained until  1707,  when  Harley  resigned  the 
seals.  Upon  the  restoration  of  the  latter 
minister  to  power  in  1710,  Mr  St  John  was 
appointed  secretary  of  state,  and  had  the 
principal  share  in  negotiating  and  defending 
the  treaty  of  Utrecht.  His  services  were  re- 
warded in  1712  with  the  title  of  baron  St  John 
and  viscount  Bolingbroke.,  with  which  honour, 
expecting  a  higher  rank,  he  expressed  himself 
strongly  dissatisfied.  Conscious  of  possessing 
superior  abilities,  he  became  weary  of  acting 
under  Harley,  and  the  greatest  animosity  grew 
up  between  them.  On  the  accession  of 
George  I,  the  seals  were  taken  from  him,  and 
his  papers  secured  ;  on  which,  conceiving 
these  measures  were  preparatory  to  an  im- 
peachment, lie  withdrew  to  France,  and  after 
a  while  accepted  the  seals  of  secretary  of 
state  from  the  pretender.  As  he  had  no  here- 
ditary prejudices  in  favour  of  the,  Stuarts,  and 
had  even  promoted  the  accession  of  the  house 
of  Hanover,  he  seems  to  have  been  solely 
guided  in  his  conduct  by  resentment.  A  bill 
of  attainder  against  him  soon  followed  ;  and 
he  otherwise  found  occasion  to  repent  his  new 
engagement,  as  nothing  could  be  worse  planned 


S  A  I 

than  the  attempt  of  1715  in  favour  of  the  ex-. 
iled  family,  and  his  good  sense  and  education 
'ed  him  to  be  equally  ashamed  of  the  personal 
qualities  of  both  his  nominal  sovereign  and 
his  new  associates.  The  return  of  the  pre- 
tender from  Scotland  was  followed  by  the  dis- 
charge of  Bolingbroke  from  his  post  of  secre- 
tary, and  that  by  articles  of  impeachment, 
so  that  he  had  the  singular  fortune  to 
hold  the  same  office  on  both  sides,  and  to  lose 
it  with  marks  of  displeasure  from  each.  While 
in  France  he  wrote  his  "  Reflexions  on 
Exile  ;"  and  also  vindicated  himself  from  the 
charges  brought  against  him  by  the  pre- 
tender's adherents.  He  likewise  drew  up  a 
"  Letter  to  Sir  William  Wyndham,"  in  which 
he  defended  his  whole  conduct  with  respect tp 
the  Tory  party,  and  gave  so  striking  a  picture 
of  the  bigotry  of  the  pretender,  and  the  ab- 
surdity of  those  around  him,  as  must  have 
done  much  to  estrange  the  more  reflective 
Tories  from  his  cause.  Having  become  a 
widower,  lie  took  for  his  second  wife  the  mar- 
chioness de  Villette,  niece  to  madame  Main- 
tenon,  a  lady  of  great  sense  and  merit.  lu 
1723  he  obtained  a  full  pardon,  and  returned 
to  England,  and  two  years  afterwards  an  act 
of  parliament  restored  to  him  his  family  in- 
heritance. He  then  purchased  an  estate  at 
Dawley,  near  Uxbridge,  and  lived  in  retire- 
ment ;  but  being  offended  with  the  minister 
Walpole,  to  whom  he  attributed  his  inability 
to  procure  a  restoration  to  his  seat  in  the  house 
of  Lords,  he  commenced  an  active  opposition 
as  a  writer.  In  various  papers  in  the  Crafts- 
man, as  well  as  in  separate  pamphlets,  he 
attacked  the  ministry  with  great  boldness  and 
vigour  for  a  period  of  ten  years,  until  disagree- 
ing with  Pulteney  and  others  i:i  1735,  he  again 
withdrew  to  France,  and  gave  himself  up  to 
literature.  His  "  Letters  on  the  Study  of 
History,"  and  "Letter  on  the  true  Use  of  Re- 
tirement," with  other  productions  of  a  philo- 
sophic and  speculative  kind,  were  the  fruits  of 
this  resolution.  His  father,  who  had  been 
created  viscount  St  John  during  the  exile  of 

O 

his  son,  dying  in  1742,  the  latter  once  more 
returned  to  England,  and  passed  the  remain- 
der of  his  life  in  dignified  retirement,  at  the 
family  mansion  at  Battersea.  Tl  e  last  work 
published  during  his  life  was,  "  Letters  on  the 
Spirit  of  Patriotism,  and  Idea  of  a  Patriot 
King,"  1749,  the  preface  to  which  expresses 
great  indignation  at  the  conduct  of  Pope,  then 
deceased,  who  had  privately  caused  it  to  be 
printed  unknown  to  the  author.  He  died  at 
15attersea,  in  1751,  at  the  age  of  seventy-nine. 
By  his  will  he  left  all  his  MSS.  to  David  Mal- 
let, who,  in  1753  and  1754,  published  "  The 
Works  of  the  late  Right  Hon.  Henry  St  John, 
Viscount  Bolingbroke,"  5  vols.  4to.  Of  these, 
besides  the  pieces  already  mentioned,  a  con- 
siderable part  was  occupied  by  letters,  or 
"  Essays  written  to  A.  Pope,  Esq.  on  Religion 
and  Philosophy, "in  which  the  writer  declares 
bimself  the  avowed  opponent  of  revelation. 
These  essays  and  letters  produced  a  conside- 
rable sensation  at  the  moment  of  publication, 
but  in  the  sequel  secured  less  attention  tha" 


S  A  1 

expected  either  by  the  opposers  or  parti- 
tana  of  similar  opinions.  Of  the  character  of 
lord  Bolingbroke  as  a  politician,  sufficient  is 
elucidated  by  the  events  of  his  life.  He  was 
vidently  an  ambitious  man,  who  could  ill 
8  ook  a  superior,  and  was  little  scrupulous, 
either  in  the  pursuit  of  power,  or  the  gratifi- 
cation of  resentment.  As  a  conspicuous  figure 
in  the  literary  annals  of  his  time  he  demands 
more  consideration,  it  being  agreed  that  for 
elegance,  perspicuity,  and  strength,  few  of 
our  prose  writers  have  equalled  him.  In  the 
correspondence  of  Pope,  and  Swift  he  is  hap- 
inly  distinguished  among  a  constellation  of 
wiis,  by  his  polished  freedom  and  tone  of  good 
company,  and  in  the  estimation  of  lord  Chester- 
field his  eloquence  was  of  the  highest  order. 
Jus  political  writings  being  on  temporary  inat- 
t<  ns,  have  lost  their  interest  ;  but  his  letters 
on  Patriotism  and  History,  which  are  of  more 
general  import,  are  deemed  more  superficial 
and  declamatory  than  solid  or  profound.  As 
a  philosophical  moralist  his  sentiments  are  dis- 
played with  great  brilliancy  by  Pope,  in  his 
"  Essay  on  Man,"  the  plan  of  which  celebrated 
poem  was  avowedly  supplied  by  him.  On 
the  whole  this  eminent  nobleman  may  be  re- 
garded as  a  man  of  high  attainments  and  lot'ty 
powers,  not  always  directed  with  corres- 
pondent utility,  and  otherwise  rendered  sub- 
servient to  party  and  personal  feelings,  in  a 
manner  which  demands  and  has  ensured  but 
little  respect  from  posterity. —  Biog.  Brit. 
SuiJ't's  Works.  Letund's  Deist.  Writers. 

ST  JOHN  (JOHN)  a  writer  on  statistics, 
who  was  the  youngest  son  of  John,  lord  St 
John,  of  Battersea,  and  nephew  of  the  cele- 
brated lord  Bolingbroke.  He  had  a  seat  in 
the  house  of  Commons  during  three  succes- 
sive parliaments  ;  and  for  several  years  he  held 
the  office  of  surveyor-general  of  the  crown 
!ands.  His  death  took  place  November  8, 
1793,  in  the  forty-eighth  year  of  his  age.  lie 
was  the  author  of  a  valuable  work,  entitled 
"  Observations  on  the  Land  Revenue  of  the 
Crown,  containing  the  Origin  and  Sources  of 
the  Land  Revenue  of  England,"  1787,  4to, 
republished  in  octavo  in  1790  and  1792. — 
HENUY  ST  JOHN,  brother  of  the  preceding, 
became  a  lieutenant-general  in  the  army.  He 
wrote  a  tragedy,  entitled  "  Mary,  Queen  of 
Scots,"  acted  at  Drury-lane  theatre  in  1788. 
and  afterwards  published  ;  and  "  The  Isle  of 
St  Marguerite,"  a  musical  drama. —  THi/i's 
Bib.  Brit.  Biog.  Dram. 

ST  JUST  (ANTHONY)  a  political  agent  and 
writer  of  considerable  talents,  who  was  asso- 
ciated in  the  crimes  and  punishment  of  Robes- 
pierre. He  was  born  in  1768,  and  was  edu- 
cated for  the  legal  profession.  At  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Revolution,  he  eagerly 
entered  into  the  measures  of  the  enemies  of 
monarchical  government ;  and  being  chosen  a 
deputy  to  the  Convention  from  the  depart- 
ment of  the  Aisne,  he  voted  for  the  death  of 
Louis  XVI.  He  assisted  materially  in  the 
destruction  of  the  Girondists,  and  he  was  sub- 
sequently sent,  as  a  commissioner  of  the  Na- 
tional Convention,  to  the  army  in  Alsace, 


S  A  1 

1  opposed  to  the  Austrians,  when,  in  conjunction 
with  Leba*.  he  carried  to  a  great  extent  the 
system  of  -on-or  both  among  the  troops  and 
the  inhabitants  of  the  country;  and  his  seve- 
rity, execrable  as  it  was,  seems  to  have  infused 
an  energy  into  the  army,  which  contributed 
much  to  its  future  victories.  St  Just,  on  his 
return  to  Paris,  towards  the  close  of  17  93, 
obtained  great  influence  with  the  ruling  party, 
and  he  formed  an  intimate  connexion  with 
Robespierre,  who  was  principally  guided  by 
his  counsels.  After  assisting  in  the  overthrow 
of  Danton  and  his  friends,  he  became  involved 
in  the  ruin  of  Robespierre,  who  rejected  his 
advice  in  the  last  struggle  for  power.  He  was 
guillotined  July  28,  1794.  St  Just  was  the 
author  of  "  Orgam,"  a  poem  in  twenty 
cantos,  1789,  2  vols.  8vo,  said  to  be  a  feeble 
imitation  of  the  Pucelle  of  Voltaire;  "  Mes 
Passe- temps,  ou  le  Nouvel  Organt  de  1792," 
another  licentious  poem  ;  and  "  Fragmeiis 
sur  les  Institutions  Ilepublicaines,"  a  post- 
humous work,  1800,  12mo  ;  besides  reports  to 
the  National  Convention,  from  the  Commit- 
tees of  General  Surety  and  of  Public  Safety. 
—This  demagogue  has  been  sometimes  con- 
founded with  Louis  LEON  ST  JUST,  who 
called  himself  the  marquis  de  Fomvielle,  and 
was  the  author  of  a  work,  entitled  "  Esprit 
de  la  Revolution,  et  de  la  Constitution  de 
France." — Diet.  d?s  H.  M.  du  18me  S.  Biog. 
A niir.  des,  Conteinp.  Biog.  Univ. 

ST  LAMBERT  (CHARLES  FRANCES  de)  an 
eminent  man  of  letters,  was  born  at  Nancy, 
December  16,1717.  He  was  educated  by  the 
Jesuits  at  Pont-a-Mousson,  but  subsequently 
entered  the  army,  which  he  quitted  at  the 
treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  joined  the  gay 
circle  assembled  by  Stanislaus,  the  ex-king  of 
Poland,  at  Luneville.  He  soon  after  became 
a  devoted  adherent  of  Voltaire's,  and  a  fa- 
voured admirer  of  madame  de  Chatelet.  Ht 
did  not  commence  his  literary  career  until  he 
had  exceeded  the  age  of  forty,  when  lie  pro- 
duced a  theatrical  piece,  entitled  "  Les  Fetes 
de  1' Amour  et  de  ('Hymen, "  1760.  His  poem, 
entitled  "  Les  Quatres  Parties  du  Jour,"  ap- 
peared in  1764,  and  the  same  year  he  pub- 
lished his  "  Essai  sur  le  Luxe,"  8ro.  His 
celebrated  poem  of  "Les  Saisons  "  followed 
in  1769.  His  other  works  are,  "  Fables 
Orientales  ;"  "  Consolations  de  la  Vieillesse  ;" 
and  a  philosophical  work  in  prose,  which  ap- 
peared in  1798,  in  3  vols.  8vo,  under  the  title 
of  "  Catechisme  Universelle."  it  was  in- 
tended to  exhibit  a  system  of  morals  grounded 
on  human  nature,  the  principal  object  of  the 
author  being  to  confute  the  doctrine  of  a  moral 
sense  as  advocated  by  Sbaftesbury,  Hutche- 
son,  and  their  sucesssors.  He  also  wrote  some 
articles  in  the  Encyclopedic,  and  many  fugi- 
tive pieces  in  the  literary  journals.  This  able 
writer  was  one  of  the  few  men  of  eminence 
who  escaped  the  annoyance  and  dangerj  of 
the  Revolution  ;  his  death  taking  place  Feb. 
9.  180.i,  in  his  eighty-eighth  year. —  A'out. 
Diet.  Hist. 

ST  MARC   (CiiAni.i  s  HiT.t'F.s  Lri  inviti 
de)  a  learned  and  industrious  v-'riier,  born  at 


S  A  I 

Vans  in  1698.  He  studied  at  the  college  du 
Plessis,  and  afterwards  became  a  sub-lieute- 
nant in  the  regiment  of  Aunis,  which  he 
quitted  to  take  orders  in  the  church.  Disap- 
pointed in  his  expectations  of  preferment,  he 
engaged  in  the  education  of  youth  ;  and  be- 
coming connected  with  the  abbe  Goujet,  he 
was  encouraged  to  devote  himself  to  literary 
pursuits.  In  1735  he  composed  a  lyric  drama, 
entitled  "  Le  Pouvoir  de  1' Amour,"  which 
was  represented  with  some  success.  But  he 
relinquished  the  drama  for  more  serious  stu- 
dies, and  his  next  production  was  a  supple- 
ment to  the  necrology  of  the  Port  Royal  So- 
ciety. He  afterwards  published  editions  of  the 
works  of  Boileau,  Pavilion,  Chaulieu,  Mal- 
herbe,  &c. ;  but  he  is  principally  known  as  the 
author  of  "  Abrege  Chronologique  de  1'His- 
toire  d'ltalie,  depuis  la  Chute  de  1'Empire 
d'Occident,"  Paris,  1761 — 70,  6  vols.  8vo,  a 
work  on  the  plan  of  president  Henault's  His- 
tory of  France.  St  Marc  died  November  20, 
1769,  and  the  sixth  volume  of  his  History  of 
Italy  was  published  by  Lefevre  de  Beauvray, 
with  a  biographical  memoir  of  the  author. — 
Biog.  Univ. 

ST  MARC  (JEAN  PAUL  ANDRE  DES  RAI- 
SINS, marquis  de)  a  French  lyric  poet,  born 
of  a  noble  family  in  the  province  of  Guienne, 
in  1728.  He  was  admitted  into  the  French 
guards  in  1744,  but  being  obliged  through  an 
accident  to  quit  the  service  in  1762,  he  em- 
ployed himself  in  the  cultivation  of  the  lighter 
kinds  of  literature.  In  1770  was  represented 
his  pastoral  drama,  "  La  Fete  de  Flore," 
which  was  followed  by  "  Adele  de  Ponthieu," 
founded  on  a  story  of  chivalry.  St  Marc 
wrote  the  verses  which  were  recited  at  the 
Theatre  Francais,  when  the  bust  of  Voltaire 
was  crowned  on  the  stage  in  1778.  He  died 
at  Bordeaux,  October  11,  1818.  His  works 
have  been  often  printed  collectively,  in  2  vols. 
8vo. — Id. 

ST  MARTHE,  the   name    of  a  family   in 
France,  which  produced  several  men  of  letters, 
among  whom  is  to    be  ranked   CHARLES  ST 
MARTHE,  who  became  physician  to  Francis  I. 
He  was  remarkable  for  his  eloquence,  and  com- 
posed the  eulogium  of  his  master  in  elegant 
Latin.     He  was  also  author  of  several  poems. 
He  died   in  1556. — SC/EVOLA,  nephew  of  the 
preceding,  was  born  in  1536,  and  wa3  distin- 
guished as  a  poet,  orator,  and  histr-rian.     In 
1579    he    was    made    governor    of    Poictou, 
which  province  he    reduced  to  subjection  to 
Henry  IV.     He   died  universally  regretted  in 
1623.  He  was  author  of"  LaLouangedelaVille 
de  Poictiers,"  1573  ;  "  Opera  Poetica,"  1575; 
"  Gallomm  Doctrina  illustrium  Elogia ;"  and 
*  Pa-dotrophia,  seu  de  Puerorum  Educatione," 
J584,   a  Latin  poem,   of  considerable  merit, 
which  has  passed  through  many  editions.     I 
was  neatly  printed  in  London,  in  12mo,  1708, 
together  with  the  "  Callipsedia  "  of  Quillet. — 
His  son  ABEL  became  librarian   to    the  king, 
lind   wrote   "   Opuscula   Varia,"    1645. — His 
tecond  and  third  sons,   SCAVOLA  and  Louis, 
were  also  men  of  literature,  and  composed  in 
c<  njunction    "  Gallia  Christiana     seu    Series 
Bioc   DICT.— VOL.  III. 


S  A  1 

omnium  Episc.  &c.  Franciae,"  of  which  therg 
is  an  edition  in  thirteen  volumes,  folio,  171a 
to  1786. — Mtrreri.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

ST  MARTIN  (Louis  CLAUDE  de)  a  vision- 
ary of  the  last  century,  who  sty  led  himself"  Le 
Philosophe  inconnu."  He  was  born  of  a  noble 
family,  at  Amboise,  in  1743.  Having  received 
a  collegiate  education  to  qualify  him  for  the 
magistracy,  he  preferred  entering  into  the 
army,  for  the  sake  of  applying  himself  to 
study  in  the  intervals  of  military  duty.  While 
a  subaltern  in  garrison  at  Bordeaux,  he  be 
came  a  follower  of  Martinez  Pasqualis,  foundei 
of  the  sect  of  Martinists,  whose  school,  aftei 
the  death  of  their  leader  in  1779,  was  trans- 
ferred to  Lyons,  where  St  Martin  published 
his  work  "  Des  Erreurs  et  de  la  Verite,  ou 
les  Hommes  rappeles  au  Principe  universel  de 
la  Science,"  8vo.  This  was  followed  by  a 
number  of  other  publications,  including  trans- 
lations of  many  of  the  productions  of  Jacob 
Boehmen,  of  whom  he  was  a  great  admirer. 
He  quitted  the  aimy,  that  he  might  be  at 
liberty  to  prosecute  his  favourite  studies,  and 
travelled,  like  Pythagoras,  in  search  of  know- 
ledge. In  1787  he  visited  England,  and  the 
following  year  he  went  to  Italy,  with  the 
Russian  prince  Alexis  Galitzin,  whom  he  made 
a  convert  to  his  opinions.  On  his  return  to 
France  he  received  the  cross  of  St  Louis,  in 
reward  of  his  military  services  ;  but  the  Revo- 
lution shortly  after  deprived  him  of  this  as 
well  as  his  other  aristocratic  privileges.  In 
other  respects  he  was  but  little  affected  by  the 
political  changes  which  he  witnessed,  continu- 
ing his  philosophical  speculations  till  the  close 
of  his  life.  He  died  of  apoplexy,  October  13, 
1803. — Biog.  Nouv.  des  Contemp.  Biog.  Univ. 

ST  PALAYE  (JEAN  BAPTISTE  DE  LA 
CURNE  de)  a  French  writer,  was  born  at 
Auxerre  in  1697.  His  father  was  gentleman 
to  the  duke  of  Orleans.  The  delicacy  of  hia 
health  in  his  childhood  interrupted  his  educa- 
tion, and  he  was  fifteen  years  old  before  he 
began  to  learn  Latin  and  Greek  ;  but  he  made 
a  rapid  progress  in  his  studies,  and  soon  ex- 
celled his  masters.  In  1724  he  was  admitted 
into  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions,  and  the  fol- 
lowing year  he  was  employed  by  his  court  to 
conduct  the  correspondence  with  Stanislaus, 
king  of  Poland,  then  at  Weissembourg.  That 
prince  wished  to  have  attached  him  to  his  ser- 
vice as  a  diplomatist ;  but  the  love  of  litera- 
ture induced  him  to  forego  the  brilliant  pro- 
spect which  this  overture  presented.  He 
resolved  to  devote  his  talents  to  the  study  of 
the  history  of  France  ;  and  after  perusing  the 
chronicles  of  the  third  race  of  French  kings, 
he  communicated  his  observations  to  the  aca- 
demy in  a  number  of  interesting  memoirs.  He 
afterwards  attached  himself  more  particularly  to 
the  illustration  of  the  institutions  of  chivalry. 
Having  visited  many  of  the  public  libraries  in 
France,  in  search  of  information,  he  took  two 
journeys  to  Italy,  whence  he  returned  with  a 
reat  number  of  MSS.  He  had  intended  publish- 
ing a  "  History  of  the  Troubadours  ;"  hut  lift 
put  the  materials  he  had  collected  into  the  hands 
of  the  abbe  Millot,  who  prepared  them  for  the 
H 


S  A  I 

press.     In  1758  he  was  chosen  a  member  of 
the  French   Academy  ;    and  he   belonged  to 
that  of  La  Crusca,  and  other  learned  societies 
in  France  and  Italy.    He  died  March  1,  1781. 
Among  the  works    which    he    had    projected 
were,  a  "  Dictionary  of  French  Antiquities," 
and  a  "  Glossary  of  the  ancient  French  Lan- 
guage," neither  of  which  was  completed  ;  bu 
he  published  "  Memoires  sur  1'ancienne  Che- 
valerie    considered    comme  un   Etablissemen 
politique  et  militaire,"  Paris,  1759-81,  3  vols 
12mo  ;  and  he  left  a  voluminous  collection  o 
MSS.— Biog.  Univ. 

ST  PAVIN  (DENYS  DE  SANGUIN  de)  a 
French  poet,  born  at  Paris  in  1610.  Froir 
his  father,  who  was  provost  of  the  merchants  o 
the  metropolis,  he  inherited  a  moderate  for- 
tune, which  enabled  him  to  devote  his  time 
to  the  cultivation  of  literature.  He  obtained 
some  distinction  as  a  satirist  and  epigram  wri- 
ter, and  directed  his  wit  against  Boileau,  whose 
severe  retaliation  contributed  not  a  little  to 
lower  the  fame  of  his  adversary,  and  reduce 
him  to  comparative  obscurity.  His  death  took 
place  in  1670.  A  collection  of  his  poems  was 
published  in  1759,  12mo. — Diet.  Hist.  Bio. 
Univ. 

ST  PIERRE  (CHARLES  IRENEE 
a  French  moral  and  political  writer,  was  born 
at  St  Pierre  in  Normandy,  in  1658.  He  was 
brought  up  to  the  church,  and  studied  at  the 
college  of  Caen,  but  he  is  best  known  as  a  po- 
litician. In  1695,  having  written  some  ob- 
servations on  philosophical  grammar,  he  was 
admitted  a  member  of  the  Academy.  He  ac- 
companied cardinal  de  Polignac  to  the  congress 
of  Utrecht, where  he  proposed  the  establishment 
of  a  kind  of  European  diet,  in  order  to  secure 
a  perpetual  peace.  This,  as  was  the  case  with 
most  of  his  schemes,  was  good  in  theory,  but 
attended  by  great  practical  difficulties,  which 
prevented  its  being  carried  into  effect,  though 
it  was  received  with  good  humour.  St  Pierre 
censured  the  government  of  Louis  XIV  ;  and 
on  the  death  of  that  monarch  he  published  his 
sentiments  in  a  pamphlet,  entitled  "  La  Po- 
lysynodie,"  which  caused  his  expulsion  from 
the  Academy,  Fontenelle  alone  giving  a  vote 
in  his  favour.  Another  of  his  works  was  "  A 
Memorial  on  the  Establishment  of  a  propor- 
tional Taille,"  which  is  said  to  have  amelio- 
rated the  state  of  taxation  in  France.  St 
Pierre  died  in  1743,  and  an  edition  of  his 
works  was  published  in  Holland,  1744,  18  vols. 
12mo. — Elnge  6i/  D'Alembert.  Diet.  Hist. 

ST  PIERRE  (JACQUES  HENRI  BERNAR- 
DS de)  a  French  writer  of  some  genius  and 
notoriety,  was  born  at  Havre  de  Grace,  19th 
January,  1737.  His  father,  who  claimed  de- 
scent from  a  noble  family,  ranked  among  his 
ancestors  the  celebrated  mayor  of  Calais, 
Eustache  de  St  Pierre,  who  exhibited  so  much 
patriotism  when  that  town  was  captured  by 
Edward  III.  The  subject  of  this  article  re- 
ceived a  liberal  education,  which  he  finished 
at  the  college  of  Rouen,  where  he  obtained 
the  first  mathematical  prize  in  1757.  Of  an 
enthusiastic  and  adventurous  disposition,  a 
great  part  of  his  early  life  was  spent  in  ram- 


S  A  I 

bling   from  one  country  to  another,  until  at 
length   he  entered   into  the  corps  of  milin.rv 
engineers,  which  he  was  soon  obliged  to  quit ; 
and  he  then  proceeded  with  very  little  either  of 
money  or  recommendation  to  Russia,  where  he 
obtained  a  commission  as  lieutenant.     At  the 
expiration  of  eighteen  months,  he  was  led  by 
his  restless  enthusiasm   to  quit   the  Russians 
for  the  Poles,  in  whose  service  he  was  taken 
prisoner  ;  but  being  soon  released,  after  pass- 
ing some   time    in  Germany  he    returned    to 
Paris.     His  next  removal  was  to  the   Isle  of 
France,  in  quality  of  engineer,  where  he  re- 
mained upwards  of  two  years,  much  dissatis- 
fied with  his  situation  ;  and  in  1774  returned 
to  his  native  country,  and  published  a  relation 
of  his  voyage.     In  1784  he  gave  to  the  world 
his  eloquent,  but  not  very  philosophical  work, 
entitled  "  Studies  of  Nature,"  which  obtained 
him  considerable   reputation,    and   ultimately 
acquired    him  the  office   of  intendant  of  the 
botanical  garden  at  Paris,  with  a  liberal  salary. 
In  1789  came  out  his  beautiful  tale  of  "  Paul 
and  Virginia  ;"  which  was  soon   followed,  in 
1791,  by   his   "  Indian   Cottage,"   on    which 
productions  his  lasting  reputation  will  proba- 
bly chiefly  depend.     He  lost  his  post  of  in- 
tendant in  the  Revolution,  and  having  previ- 
ously married,  was  reduced  to  considerable  dis- 
tress.    He   however    retained    a  small   patri- 
mony, and  survived  the  storms  of  that  period. 
His  death  took  place  in   1814,  when  he  left 
behind   him  a  work  entitled  "  Harmonies  de 
la    Nature,"  which,  with  all    the    rest   of  his 
works,  have  been  translated  into  English.      A. 
memoir  of  the  life  of  this  amiable  and  eccen- 
:ric  writer  has  been  published  by  way  of  intro- 
duction to  his  correspondence  ;  but  it  is  com- 
posed in  so  bad  a  taste,  and  admits  personal 
adventure  so  very  kindred  to  romance,   that 
lowever  it  may  merit  confidence,  it  but  very 
joorly  inspires  it. — Kouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

ST  PRESTorST  PRET  (JEAN  YVES  de) 
ounsellor  of  the  grand  council,  and  director 
of  the  depot  of  archives  of  foreign  affairs  in 
Prance,  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  He  was  the  author  of  a  work  pub- 
ished  anonymously  at  Amsterdam  about  1726, 
under  the  title  of  "  Histoire  des  Traites  faits 
entre  les  Diverses  Puissances  de  1' Europe,  de- 
)uis  le  Regne  d'flenri  IV,  jusqu'a  la  Paix  de 
Vimegue  en  1679,"  2  vols.  folio  ;  and  he 
.vrote  several  other  political  treatises,  which 
were  never  printed.  His  literary  labours  were 
ntended  for  the  benefit  of  the  students  of  a 
>olitical  academy  founded  by  the  French  mi- 
nister De  Torcy,  in  1710,  over  which  St  Prest 
^resided  from  that  period  till  his  death,  in  the 
>eginning  of  1720. — Bins;.  Univ. 

ST  PRIEST  (FRANCIS  EMANUKL  GU- 
RNARD, count  de)  a  French  statesman,  born  at 
Grenoble,  March  12,  1735.  After  receiving 
an  excellent  education,  he  entered  into  the 
army,  and  he  was  also  admitted  among  the 
uiijits  of  Malta.  He  served  with  reputation 
n  Germany,  and  attained  the  rank  of  mare- 
chal-de-camp  ;  and  after  being  employed  on  a 
liplomatic  mission  to  Portugal,  he  was,  in  1768, 
sent  ambassador  to  Constantinople.  He  was 


S  A  I 

subsequently  French  minister  at  the  Hague, 
where  he  remained  at  the  commencement  of 
the  Revolution.  In  July  1789  he  succeeded 
baron  de  Breteuil  as  minister  of  the  royal 
household,  including  the  management  of  do- 
mestic affairs  of  state  ;  and  after  encountering 
repeated  denunciations,  he  was  obliged  to  re- 
sign this  office  in  December  1790,  soon  after 
which  he  quitted  France.  In  1795  he  was 
one  of  the  four  ministers  whom  Louis  XVIII 
had  assembled  at  Verona,  and  he  accompa- 
nied that  prince  to  Blankenbourg  and  to  Mit- 
tau;  but  he  afterwards  left  him,  and  resided 
some  years  in  Sweden.  His  sons  having  en- 
tered into  the  service  of  Russia,  he  sought  an 
asylum  in  that  country,  and  afterwards  at  Ge- 
neva. Returning  to  France  at  the  restoration 
of  the  Bourbons,  he  was  raised  to  the  peerage 
in  August  1815.  He  retired  to  an  estate  near 
Lyons,  where  he  died  February  26,  1821.  He 
was  the  author  of  "  Examen  des  Assemblies 
Provinciates, "  forming  part  of  the  observa- 
tions presented  to  the  assembly  of  the  Not- 
ables, Paris,  1787,  8vo  ;  and  he  left  in  manu- 
script "  Memoires,"  containing  an  account  of 
the  whole  of  his  military  and  political  career. 
— Biiig.  Univ. 

ST  REAL  (CJESAR  VICHARD  de)  an  able 
writer  of  the  seventeenth  century,  was  the  son 
of  a  counsellor  to  the  senate  of  Chamberri  in 
Savoy,  where  he  was  born,  but  in  what  year 
is  not  ascertained.  He  came  young  to  France, 
and  was  some  time  a  disciple  of  M.  Varillas, 
and  in  1675  accompanied  the  duchess  of  Ma- 
zarin  to  England.  He  died  at  Chamberri  in 
1692.  The  abbe  de  St  Real  was  much  attached 
to  the  study  of  history,  and  wrote  a  piece  to 
advance  a  philosophical  consideration  of  it, 
which  he  entitled,  "  De  1'Usage  del'Histoire," 
Paris,  1672,  12mo.  He  also  published,  in 
1674,  "  Conjurations  des  Espagnoles  centre 
la  Republique  de  Venice  en  1618,"  12mo  ; 
and  a  similar  work  on  the  imputed  conspiracy 
of  Don  Carlos,  prince  of  Spain.  Voltaire  com- 
pares the  style  of  the  first  of  these  productions 
to  that  of  Sallust ;  but  it  is  to  be  regretted  that 
in  both  of  them  the  author  infuses  a  portion  of 
romance,  for  which  there  was  little  foundation. 
They,  however,  on  this  very  account  afforded 
scope  for  the  tragic  muse  of  Otway,  whose 
dramas  of  "  Don  Carlos  "  and  "  Venice  Pre- 
served,"are  founded  principally  on  the  narra- 
tives of  the  abbe  St  Real.  He  wrote  several  other 
pieces  upon  the  Roman  history  and  subjects 
of  philosophy,  politics,  and  morals  ;  all  of 
which  are  comprised  in  the  Paris  edition  of 
his  works  of  1745,  in  3  vols.  4to,  and  6  vols. 
12mo. — A 'iceron,  vol.  ii.  and  x. 

ST  SIMON  (Louis  DE  ROUVROI,  duke  of) 
a  French  writer  of  memoirs,  was  the  son  of  a 
nobleman  of  the  same  title,  and  bora  in  1675. 
He  was  introduced  to  the  court  of  Louis  XIV 
in  his  fifteenth  year,  and  maintained  fair  mo- 
ral reputation  both  as  a  courtier  and  a  soldier. 
In  i7'21  he  was  appointed  ambassador-extra- 
ordinary to  the  court  of  Spain,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  soliciting  the  infanta  in  marriage  for 
Louis  XV.  He  was  much  in  the  confidence  of 
the  regent  duke  of  Orleans,  and  after  acting 


SAL 

a  respectable  part  in  life,  he  retired  to  his 
estate,  where  he  maintained  the  character  of 
a  strict  devotee,  and  died  at  an  advanced  aoe 
about  the  year  1767.  This  nobleman  was  the 
author  of  "  Memoirs  of  the  Court  of  Louis 
XIV,  and  of  the  Regency,"  which  he  com- 
posed in  his  retreat,  and  which  has  been  pub- 
lished since  his  death.  They  consist  of  a 
great  variety  of  anecdotes  relative  to  persons 
and  incidents,  interspersed  with  portraits 
drawn  with  a  strong  but  dark  pencil.  They 
exhibit  many  of  the  author's  natural  preju- 
dices in  favour  of  nobility,  and  are  often  ob- 
scure, incorrect,  and  involved  :  but,  neverthe- 
less, make  a  valuable  addition  to  the  secret 
history  and  biography  of  the  times.  This 
work  was  published  in  a  mutilated  state  in  the 
first  instance  in  1788  ;  but  a  complete  edition 
was  printed  at  Strasburgh  in  13  vols.  8vo, 
1791. — Xouv.  Diet.  Hist.  Anquetil  Hist,  de 
Louis  XIV. 

SALA  (NICOLO)  a  Neapolitan  musician, 
born  about  the  commencement  of  the  last  cen- 
tury. He  was  master  of  the  conservatory  of 
La  Pieta  at  Naples,  and  is  advantageously 
known  as  the  author  of  an  immense  and  labo- 
rious work,  to  the  compilation  of  which  he 
dedicated  the  whole  of  a  life  prolonged  far  be- 
yond the  period  usually  allotted  to  man.  This 
book  was  printed  at  length  at  the  expense  of 
the  king,  under  the  title  of  "  Regole  del  Con- 
trapunto  prattico,"  when  the  author  died,  in- 
consolable at  seeing  the  whole  impression  sa- 
crificed by  the  fury  of  the  populace,  who  set 
fire  to  the  royal  printing-house  in  the  Revolu- 
tion of  1799.  Eight  years  after,  however,  the 
treatise,  which  is  a  truly  valuable  one,  was  re- 
produced by  M.  Choron,  in  his  "  Principes 
de  Composition  des  Ecoles  d'ltalie." — Bio<r. 
Diet,  of  Mus. 

SALAHEDDIN  YUSEPH  BEN  AYUB, 
usually  called  Saladin,  a  celebrated  sultan  of 
Egypt  and  Syria,  was  born  in  the  year  1137, 
in  the  castle  of  Tecnib,  of  which  his  father,  a 
native  of  Curdistau,  was  governor.  In  1168 
he  was  chosen  to  succeed  his  uncle  Siracouh 
in  the  command  of  the  armies  of  the  Fatimite 
caliph  Adhed,  or  rather  of  the  sultan  Nou- 
reddin,  his  immediate  superior.  He  termi- 
nated the  dynasty  of  the  Fatemite  caliphs  of 
Egypt,  at  the  command  of  the  latter,  and  sub- 
sequently endeavoured  to  supersede  the  minor 
son  of  Noureddin  himself,  but  did  not  succeed 
until  after  his  death,  when  he  was  recognized 
sultan  of  Syria  and  Egypt  by  the  caliph  of 
Bagdat.  The  great  object  both  of  his  religion 
and  his  politics  was  now  to  expel  the  Chris- 
tians from  Palestine,  and  to  recover  the  city  of 
Jerusalem.  An  atrocious  massacre  of  Maho- 
metan pilgrims  by  the  French  lord,  Du  Cha- 
tillon,  added  still  more  to  his  ardour ;  and  his 
vow  of  revenge  against  the  perpetrator  he 
was  enabled  to  make  good  by  his  famous  vic- 
tory on  the  plain  of  Tiberias  in  1 187,  where  he 
captured  Guy  de  Lusignan,  with  the  chieftain 
Chatillon  (whom  he  cut  down  after  the  bat- 
tle with  his  own  scimitar),  and  many  more. 
The  fruits  of  this  victory  were  the  towns  of 
Acre,  Seid,  and  Barout ;  afcer  which  he  laid 
II  1 


SAL 

siege  to  Jerusalem,  which  yielded  in  a  capitu- 
lation to  the  articles  of  which  Saladin  faith- 
fully adhered.  He  then  proceeded  against  j 
Tyre,  but  failed,  in  consequence  of  the  de-  I 
struction  of  his  fleet  by  the  Franks.  The  in- 
telligence of  the  loss  of  Jerusalem  reaching 
Europe,  produced  the  crusade  under  the  em- 
peror Frederick  Barbarossa,  whose  death  in- 
spired the  Mussulman  with  hopes  which  were 
soon  damped  by  the  arrival,  with  a  mighty 
host,  of  Richard  Coeur-de-Lion  of  England, 
and  of  Philip  Augustus  of  France.  A  reco- 
very of  Acre,  by  the  two  kings,  took  place  in 
1191,  upon  which  event  Philip  returned  to 
France,  and  Richard,  after  twice  defeating  the 
sultan,  took  Cssarea  aud  Jaffa,  and  spread 
alarm  as  far  as  Jerusalem.  At  length  a  truce 
was  concluded  between  Richard  and  Saladin,  • 
by  the  terms  of  which  the  coast  from  Jaffa  to 
Tyre  was  ceded  to  the  Christians,  while  the 
rest  of  Palestine  remained  to  the  sultan.  The 
departure  of  Richard  freed  Saladin  from  his 
most  formidable  foe  ;  but  his  own  death, 
which  took  place  at  Damascus  in  1193,  in  the 
fifty-sixth  year  of  las  age,  suddenly  terminated 
the  career  of  this  active  and  able  prince,  and 
plunged  his  subjects  of  Syria  and  Egypt  into 
deep  mourning.  Though  chargeable  iu  the 
outset  of  life  with  unjustifiable  means  of  ac- 
quiring power,  Saladin  employed  it,  when  ob- 
tained, very  usefully  for  his  subjects,  whose 
burthens  he  lightened,  whilst  he  benefited  t 
them  by  a  great  number  of  useful  works  and 
establishments.  Whilst  magnificent  in  his 
erections,  and  in  public  undertakings,  he  was 
altogether  frugal  in  his  personal  expenses.  In  ! 
religion  he  was  zealous  for  his  creed,  almost 
to  fanaticism,  but  was  faithful  to  liis  engage- 
ments, and  administered  justice  with  diligence 
and  impartiality.  A  lasting  proof  of  the  ter- 
ror which  his  name  inspired,  was  given  by  the 
Saladin  tenth,  imposed  by  the  authority  of 
pope  Innocent  X  on  both  clergy  and  laity,  for  ' 
the  support  of  the  holy  war.  Saladin  left  a  ' 
family  of  seventeen  sons  and  one  daughter,  ?.nd 
was  the  founder  of  the  dynasty  of  the  Ayou- 
bites. — Mod.  Univ.  Hint.  Gibbon, 

SALDEN  (WILLIAM)  an  ingetlous  philo- 
logical writer,  who  was  a  native  of  Utrecht, 
where  he  died  in  1694.     He  was  the  author  of 
"  Otia  Theologica,"  4to  ;  "  Concionator  Sa-  \ 
cer,"  12mo;     "  Chr.   Liberii    (Gul.    Salden)  ' 
Bibliophilia,  sive  de  Scribendis,  Legendis,  et 
ffistimandis    Libris,    Exercitatio     parsnetica ; 
interjecta  sunt  quagdam  de  Plagio  Litterario, 
Thrasonismo  Theologorum,  &c."  Ultraj.  1C81,  , 
12 mo;    and  a  treatise   "  De  Libris,  varioque  j 
eorum  Usu  et  Abusu,"  Amst.  1688,  12mo. — 
ll'iitt.     Stollii  Introd.  in  Hist.  Lit. 

SALE  (GEORGE)  a  learned  English  Oriental 
scholar,  and  various  writer,  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  Unfortunately  nothing  of  his  parti- 
cular history  is  known ,  notwithstanding  his  ser- 
vices to  literature  ;  but  it  is  ascertained  that  he 
was  a  married  man,  and  had  a  son  educated  at 
JVew  college,  Oxford,  of  which  he  became  a 
fellow.  Our  author  was  one  of  the  founders, 
and  of  the  first  committee,  of  a  Society  for  the 
Encouragement  of  Learning,  founded  in  1736.  ' 


SAL 

His  services  were,  however,  but  of  short  du- 
ration, as  he  died  the  same  year.  I\Jr  Sale 
was  one  of  the  compilers  of  the  great  "  Ge- 
neral Dictionary;"  as  also  a  principal  writer 
in  the  "  Universal  History,"  of  which  he  sup- 
plied the  cosmogony,  aud  a  small  part  of  the 
history  which  follows  it.  The  most  important 
01  his  performances,  however,  is  a  translation 
of  the  Koran  into  English  from  the  original 
Arabic,  with  explanatory  notes  from  the  most 
approved  commentators.  To  this  version  is 
prefixed  a  preliminary  discourse  on  the  state 
of  the  Arabs,  Jews,  and  Christians  at  the 
time  of  Mahommed's  appearance  ;  on  the  doc- 
trine and  positive  precepts  of  the  Koran ;  and 
on  various  other  points  connected  with  1s- 
lamism,  of  a  nature  to  merit  a  separate  publi- 
cation.— Gent.  Mag.  fur  1736  and  1781.  Bos- 
well's  Life  of  Johnson. 

SALICETI  (CHRISTOPHER)  was  born  at 
Bastia  in  Corsica,  in  1757,  and  was  educated 
at  a  college  of  the  Barnabites  at  his  native 
place,  whence  he  removed  to  study  the  law  at 
Pisa.  Returning  home,  he  became  an  advo- 
cate of  the  superior  council  of  Corsica  ;  and 
in  1789  he  was  ueputy  from  the  tiers  etat  of 
his  native  country  to  the  states-general  of 
France  ;  and  in  1792  a  member  of  the  Na- 
tional Convention,  in  which  he  voted  for  the 
death  of  Louis  XVI.  Having  opposed  the 
projects  of  Paoli.he  left  Corsica  precipitately; 
and  subsequently  he  was  employed  as  commis- 
sary to  the  French  army  in  Italy.  In  1797  he 
had  a  seat  in  the  Council  of  Five  Hundred  ;  and 
on  the  assumption  of  power  by  Buonaparte  he 
was  proscribed.  His  talents  restored  him  to 
favour  ;  and  under  the  consulate  lie  was  sent 
ambassador  to  Genoa,  when  he  aided  in  the 
union  of  that  republic  to  France.  When  Jo- 
seph Buonaparte  was  raised  to  the  throne  of 
Naples,  Saliceti  was  appointed  his  minister  of 
police,  to  which  was  united  the  office  of  minis- 
ter at  war.  Under  king  Joachim  (Murat) 
he  was  dismissed,  but  was  afterwards  recalled 
on  the  invasion  of  Italy  by  the  English.  He 
died  suddenly,  not  without  suspicion  of  poi- 
son, in  December  1809. — Diet,  des  H.  M.  du. 
18me  S.  Biog.  Univ. 

SALINAS  (FRANCISCUS)  professor  of  mu- 
sic in  the  university  of  Salamanca.  This  ex- 
traordinary man  was  the  son  of  the  treasurer  of 
Burgos,  in  which  city  he  was  born  in  1513. 
Though  blind  from  his  birth,  he  acquired  no 
inconsiderable  share  of  knowledge  of  the 
Greek  and  Latin  languages,  as  well  as  of  phi- 
losophy and  the  arts,  especially  of  music.  Sar- 
mentus,  archbishop  of  Compostella,  struck 
with  the  genius  he  displayed,  rescued  him 
from  the  poverty  in  which  he  found  him,  and 
on  being  elected  a  cardinal  took  him  with  him 
to  Rome,  where  he  continued  to  prosecute  his 
studies  with  great  success.  He  was  eventu- 
ally invited  to  Salamanca,  where  he  filled  the 
situation  already  alluded  to  with  great  credit, 
and  obtained  from  pope  Paul  the  Fourth  the 
abbey  of  St  Pancratio  della  Rocca  Salegna  in 
the  Neapolitan  dominions.  His  principal 
work  is  a  treatise,  "  De  Musica,"  in  seven 
books,  in  which  he  exposes  very  happily  some 


S  A  L 

of  the  errors  of  the  ancient*  with  respect  to 
harmony,  and  enters  into  a  copious  examina- 
tion of  the  metres  used  by  the  Greek,  Ro- 
man, and  Spanish  poets.  His  death  took  place 
in  1590. —  Riug.  Diet,  of  Mus. 

SALISBURY  (JOHN  of)  an  Augustine 
canon  of  the  twelfth  cencury,  supposed  to 
have  been  born  at  Old  Sarum  about  the  year 
1116.  After  having  studied  in  the  universities 
of  Paris  and  Oxford,  he  assumed  the  cowl  in 
the  monastery  of  St  Augustine  at  Canterbury, 
where  he  acquired  the  friendship  of  the  pri- 
mate Thomas  a  Becket.  On  the  murder  of 
this  prelate,  in  1171,  by  Fitzurse  and  his  asso- 
ciates, of  which  deed  he  is  said  to  have  been  a 
witness,  he  retired  to  France,  and  there  ob- 
tained the  bishopric  of  Chartres  from  the 
.  pope.  As  an  author  he  is  known  by  his  "  Po- 
lycraticon,  seu  de  Nugis  Curialiumet  Vesti^iis 
Philosophorum  ;"  as  well  as  by  some  other 
tracts,  both  curious  and  valuable,  on  subjects 
connected  with  antiquity  and  critical  research, 
being  well  versed  in  all  the  learning  of  the 
age,  and  the  order  to  which  lie  belonged.  His 
death  took  place  in  1182. — Leland.  Tanner. 

SALISBURY  (WILLIAM)  a  Welsh  lawyer 
of  the  age  of  Elizabeth,  a  native  of  the  county 
of  Denbigh,  and  a  graduate  of  Oxford.  He 
is  principally  known  as  the  first  translator  of 
the  Liturgy  of  the  church  of  England  into  the 
Welsh  language,  of  which  tongue  he  also  pub- 
lished a  Dictionary,  in  1  vol.  4to,  1547  ;  and 
a  complete  version  of  the  Scriptures.  His 
death  took  place  in  1570. — Athen.  O.mn. 

SALKELD  (WILLIAM)  an  eminent  writer 
on  the  statute  law,  who  practised  as  an  advo- 
cate in  the  beginning  of  the  last  century,  and 
attained  to  the  rank  of  king's  serjeant.  His 
"  Reports  of  Cases  Adjudged  in  all  the  Courts 
from  1  Will,  and  Mary  to  10  Anne,"  are 
highly  esteemed  by  professional  men  ;  and 
since  their  first  publication,  in  1717,  they  have 
passed  through  several  editions,  the  sixth  of 
which,  with  large  additions  and  references 
to  modern  determinations,  by  William  David 
Evans,  esq.  appeared  in  1795,  3  vols.  royal 
Bvo. —  Bridgman's  Leg.  Bibl. 

SALLENGRE  (ALBERT  HENRY  de)  an 
ingenious  and  laborious  Dutch  author,  de- 
>rended  of  a  good  family  in  Holland,  and  son 
to  the  receiver-general  of  Walloon  Flanders. 
He  was  born  in  1694  at  the  Hague,  and  after 
receiving  an  excellent  education  at  Leyden 
was  admitted  an  advocate  at  the  Dutch  bar. 
Here  his  abilities,  aided  by  family  connexion, 
made  his  rise  a  rapid  one,  and  in  1716  he  re- 
ceived the  appointment  of  counsellor  to  the 
princess  of  Nassau,  which  was  soon  followed 
by  that  of  commissary  of  finance,  and  auditor 
of  the  hank  of  Holland.  The  hours  of  relax- 
ation from  public  business  he  diligently  em- 
ployed in  the  cultivation  of  literary  pursuits, 
and  besides  a  periodical  work  which  he  edited, 
under  the  name  of  the  "  Literary  Journal," 
Jvas  the  author  of  a  "  Commentary  on  Ovid's 
Epistles,"  "The  History  of  Peter  Mont- 
maur,"  8vo,  "I  TO!S.  ;  "  A  Treasury  of  Roman 
Antiquities,"  folio,  3  vols.  ;  and  "  L'Eloge 
flfc  1  i  vresse."  He  was  carried  oft"  by  the 


SAL 

small- pox  in  the  thirtieth  year  of  his  age, 
while  busily  employed  in  compiling  a  "  His- 
tory of  the  United  Provinces,  from  the  Year 
1609  to  the  Peace  of  Munster."  Of  this 
work  one  volume  only,  in  4to,  appeared  five 
years  after  his  decease,  printed  at  the  Hague. 
— Niceron.  Moreri. 

SALLO  (DENIS  de)  a  man  of  letters,  dis- 
tinguished as  the  original  conductor  of  the 
oldest  critical  journal  established  in  Europe. 
He  was  descended  from  an  ancient  family  of  the 
province  of  Poitou,  and  was  the  son  of  a  coun- 
sellor of  the  parliament  of  Paris,  in  which 
metropolis  he  was  born  in  1626.  He  went 
through  his  youthful  studies  with  great  credit, 
and  having  afterwards  applied  himself  to  juris- 
prudence, he  was  admitted  a  counsellor  of  the 
parliament  in  1652.  He  soon  attained  emi- 
nence in  his  profession,  and  he  gave  a  proof 
of  his  talents  in  a  work  entitled  "  Traite  de 
I'Origine  des  Cardinatix  du  S.  Siege,  et  parti- 
culierement  des  Franfois,  avec  deux  Traites 
curieux  des  Legats  a  Latere,  &c."  166.5, 
12mo.  He  was  frequently  consulted  by  the 
minister  Colbert,  for  whose  use  he  drew  up  a 
number  of  important  memoirs  relative  to  naval 
affairs,  and  other  subjects.  In  1665  he  com- 
menced the  publication  of  the  "  Journal  des 
Savans,"  which  appeared  in  weekly  numbers, 
the  editor  concealing  himself  under  the  title 
of  the  sieur  d'Hedouville.  lie  is  said  to  have 
been  assisted  by  several  men  of  learning, 
among  whom  were  Chapelain,  and  the  abbe 
Gallois.  Thirteen  numbers  only  had  been 
published  when  the  work  was  suppressed, 
through  the  interest  of  persons  who  had  taken 
offence  at  the  severity  of  critical  animadver- 
sion displayed  by  these  self-constituted  arbiters 
of  literary  reputation.  After  a  short  interval, 
the  abbe  Gallois  obtained  permission  to  re- 
sume the  journal,  which  has  been  continued, 
though  not  without  interruption,  to  the  pre- 
sent time.  M.  de  Sallo  died  in  1669. — Camu- 
sat  Hist,  des  Journaux,  Biog.  Univ. 

SALLUST  (CAIUS  CRISPUS  SALLUSTIUS) 
an  eminent  Roman  historian,  was  born  at 
Amiteruum,  in  the  country  of  the  Sabines, 
BC.  85.  He  was  educated  at  Rome,  where 
he  became  almost  equally  distinguished  for 
abilities  and  licentiousness  of  manners.  His 
extravagance  and  debauchery  even  caused  him 
to  be  expunged  by  the  censors  from  the  list  of 
senators,  but  be  was  restored  by  Julius  Caesar, 
who  promoted  him  to  the  dignities  of  questor 
and  pra;tor,  and  nominated  him  to  the  govern- 
ment of  Numidia.  In  this  office  lie  so  en- 
riched himself  by  pillage  and  rapine,  which 
it  is  supposed  he  shared  with  Cresar,  that  on 
his  return  to  Rome  he  was  enabled  not  only 
to  purchase  a  large  estate,  but  a  magnificent 
mansion  on  the  Quirinal  hill,  with  the  exten- 
sive gardens  which  still  bear  his  name.  He  is 
supposed  to  have  died  BC.  35,  at  the  age  of 
fifty.  The  vices  of  Sallust  were  curiously  con- 
trasted by  the  rigid  morality  which  pervades 
his  writings,  and  in  other  respects  the  author 
is  as  valuable  as  the  man  was  the  contrary. 
His  principal  work  was  a  history  of  the  Roman 
republic,  from  the  death  of  Sylla  to  Catiline's 


SAL 

conspiracy,  of  which  some  fragments  alone 
exist  ;  hut  happily  two  entire  historical 
pieces  of  his  composition  remain,  "  On  the 
Jugurthine  War,"  and  "  On  the  Catilinarian 
Conspiracy,"  in  which  it  is  agreed  that  the 
concise  energy  of  the  Latin  language  is  dis- 
played with  considerable  skill  and  mastery. 
The  matter  also  exhibits  great  vigour  of  sen- 
timent and  force  of  narrative  ;  and  his  high 
literary  reputatior.  at  Rome  is  established  by 
the  testimony  of  Martial,  Tacitus,  and  Quin- 
tillian,  although  his  neglect  of  Cicero,  and 
partiality  to  Caesar,  justly  detract  from  his 
historical  fidelity.  The  most  valuable  modern 
editions  of  Sallust  are  those  of  Gronovius, 
Leyden,  1690  ;  of  Wasse,  Cambridge,  1710  ; 
and  of  Homer,  Leyden,  1769.  There  are  four 
English  translations,  one  by  Gordon,  another 
by  Dr  Rose,  a  third  by  Dr  Murphy,  and  a 
fourth  by  Dr  Steuart,  in  two  volumes,  quarto, 
to  which  are  prefixed,  essays  on  his  life  and 
writings. —  Life  by  Stenart.  Vosiii  Hist.  Lot. 
SALMASIUS  (CLAUDIUS).  See  SAU- 
MAISE  (CLAUDE). 

SALMON.  There  were  several  ingenious 
English  authors  of  this  name.  THOMAS  SAL- 
MON, who  held  the  living  of  Mepsall,  Bedford- 
shire, in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  is  advantageously  known  in  the  mu- 
sical world  as  the  author  of  some  clever  trea- 
tises on  the  science.  The  principal  of  these 
is  entitled  "  An  Essay  to  the  Advancement  of 
Music  by  casting  away  the  Perplexity  of  dif- 
ferent Clefs,"  printed  in  London  in  1672. — 
His  eldest  son,  THOMAS,  entered  the  navy,  in 
which  he  spent  aome  years,  but  afterwards 
quitted  the  service,  and  opened  a  house  of 
public  entertainment  at  Cambridge.  Proving 
unsuccessful  in  business,  he  came  to  London, 
and  there  commenced  author  by  profession,  in 
which  capacity  he  compiled  several  works  for 
the  booksellers.  Of  these  the  principal  are, 
"  An  Examination  of  Burnet's  History  of  his 
own  Times  ;''  "  The  Chronological  Historian," 
8vo,  2  vols ,  "  A  Geographical  Grammar," 
afterwards  improved  by  Guthrie  ;  a  •'  His- 
tory of  England,"  12  vols.  ;  "  Modern  His- 
tory," folio,  3  vols.  reprinted  in  thirty- two 
volumes,  octavo  ;  "  Essay  on  Marriage,"  8vo  ; 
"  General  Description  of  England,"  2  vols  ; 
"  Foreigner's  Companion  through  Oxford  and 
Cambridge  ;"  "  Universal  Gazetteer."  His 
death  took  place  in  April,  1743. — His  brother 
NATHANIEL,  the  most  celebrated  of  the  three, 
was  born  at  his  father's  parsonage,  and  re- 
ceived liis  education  at  Bene't  college,  Cam- 
bridge, where  he  graduated,  and  entering  the 
church,  obtained  some  preferment  in  Suffolk. 
On  the  accession  of  queen  Anne  to  the  throne, 
he  refused  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  al- 
though he  had  made  no  scruple  of  doing  so  to 
her  predecessor  ;  this  caused  his  ejectment 
from  his  benefice,  and  all  hopes  of  advance- 
ment in  his  profession  being  now  closed 
against  him,  he  assumed  the  habit  of  a  lay- 
man, and  practised  physic  first  at  St  Ives  and 
afterwards  at  Bishop's  Stortford,  where  lie  died 
in  1742.  As  an  antiquarian  he  is  esteemed  for 
che  accuracy  of  his  deductions,  the  patience 


S  A  L 

and  perseverance  of  his  inquiry,  and  his  active 
and  industrious  research.  His  writings  con- 
sist of  "  A  History  of  Hertfordshire,"  in 
folio  ;  "  Antiquities  of  Surrey,"  8vo  ;  "  Anti- 
quities of  Essex,"  folio  ;  "  Roman  Antiqui- 
ties in  the  Midland  Counties,"  8vo  ;  "  Roman 
Stations  in  Great  Britain  ;"  "  Lives  of  the 
English  Bishops,  from  the  Time  of  the  Resto- 
ration to  the  Revolution  in  1688." — Cmigh's 
Topog.  Gent.  Mag.  vol.  Ixvi. 

SALMON  (WILLIAM)  an  empirical  physi- 
cian and  medical  writer  of  considerable  note  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century.  He 
was  engaged  for  a  long  course  of  years  in  the 
practice  of  physic  in  London,  but  probably 
with  no  great  success,  as  the  multitude  of  works 
which  he  published  must  have  required  indus- 
trious application,  and  left  but  little  time  for 
other  employment.  Among  his  productions 
are,  "  The  complete  Physician,  or  Druggist's 
Shop  opened,"  an  octavo  volume,  containing 
more  than  twelve  hundred  pages;  a"  Uni- 
versal Herbal,"  folio ;  and  various  other  pro- 
fessional works,  besides  a  treatise  on  drawing, 
engraving,  &c.  entitled  "  Polygraphice,"  of 
which  the  tenth  edition  appeared  in  1701. 
His  death  took  place  about  the  end  of  the  se- 
venteenth century. — Hutchinson's  Biog.  Med. 

SALOMON  (JOHANN  PETER)  a  native  of 
Bonn,  in  the  electorate  of  Cologne,  born  1745. 
He  was  educated  by  his  parents  with  a  view 
to  make  the  law  his  profession,  but  an  invin- 
cible passion  which  he  displayed  for  the 
science  of  music,  at  length  induced  them  to 
relinquish  the  idea,  and  to  suffer  him  to  fol- 
low the  bent  of  bis  genius.  After  acquiring 
considerable  reputation  as  a  musician  both  in 
Germany  and  France,  he  came  to  England  in 
1781,  and  besides  proving  himself  incontesta- 
bly  the  greatest  violinist  of  the  age,  had  the 
merit  of  first  introducing  into  this  country,  at 
a  great  pecuniary  risk,  the  celebrated  Haydn, 
whose  symphonies,  written  for  Salomon's 
concerts,  are  considered  the  standard  of  per- 
fection for  this  species  of  composition.  Among 
his  pupils,  Pinto  proved  the  extent  of  his 
master's  skill,  and  his  ability  in  communi- 
cating it  ;  but  unfortunately  this  extraordinary 
young  man,  whose  musical  progress  reflected 
so  much  honour  on  his  master,  possessed  qua- 
lities which  are  not  unusually  the  concomi- 
tants of  genius,  and  perished  just  as  he  was 
ripening  into  unrivalled  excellence.  Salomon, 
whose  respectable  literary  attainments,  and  po- 
lished manners,  had  always  secured  him  an  en- 
trance into  the  very  first  circles,  died  in  London, 
in  1815,  after  a  long  illness,  occasioned  by  a 
severe  fall  from  his  horse,  and  lies  buried  in 
Westminster  abbey. — B'wg.  Dict.ofMus.  Bur- 
nsy's  Hist,  of  Mus. 

SALVIAN,  a  native  of  Cologne,  one  of  the 
early  fathers  of  the  Christian  church.  He  led 
a  religious  life  at  Marseilles  during  the  greater 
part  of  the  fifth  century,  and  died  in  that  city 
about  the  year  484.  Salvian  was  the  author 
of  several  works  on  devotional  subjects,  of 
which  there  are  yet  extant  a  treatise  on  ''  The 
Providence  of  God,"  in  eight  books  ;  another 
in  four  books,  written  "  Against  Avarice,  es- 


SAM 

pecially  in  Priests  aud  clerical  Persons  ;"  and 
nine  pastoral  letters.  His  remains  were  col- 
lected and  printed  together  in  two  volumes 
octavo,  by  Baluzius,  at  Paris,  in  1663. — Cave. 
Dnpin. 

SALVIATI,  the  name  by  which  two  Italian 
painters,  of  considerable  merit,  are  usually 
known.  FRANCESCO  Rossi,  the  elder  of  these, 
was  a  native  of  Florence,  born  in  1510.  He 
studied  under  Del  Sarto  and  Baccio  Bandi- 
nelli,  and  was  much  patronized  by  cardinal 
Salviati,  whose  family  name  he  in  consequence 
assumed.  He  was  an  excellent  artist,  both  in 
fresco  and  oils,  and  in  his  style  of  designing 
came  very  near  Raphael  himself,  though  he 
fell  short  in  sublimity  and  grandeur  of  com- 
position. His  naked  figures  and  draperies  are 
also  much  admired.  Unfortunately  an  irri- 
table and  peevish  disposition  not  only  made 
him  unjust  to  the  claims  of  rival  talent,  but 
at  length  alienated  the  regard  of  many  of  his 
most  attached  friends.  In  1554  he  visited 
Paris,  but  made  no  long  stay  in  that  capital, 
and  at  length  died  in  Italy  in  1563.  Most  of 
his  best  pieces  are  to  be  found  in  Florence, 
Rome,  and  Venice. — The  second,  whose  family 
name  was  JOSEPH  PORTA,  was  a  Venetian  by 
birth,  and  became  a  pupil  of  the  former, 
whose  name  he  took.  His  colouring  and  de- 
signs were  highly  esteemed  by  the  citizens  of 
Venice,  where  he  died  in  1585. — Pilkington. 
Rees's  Cyclop. 

SAMBUCUS(JoHN)  a  learned  physician, 
born  atTirnau  in  Hungary,  in  1531.  He  held 
the  offices  of  counsellor  and  historiographer  to 
the  emperors  Maximilian  II  and  Rodolph  II, 
and  he  wrote  a  continuation  of  the  Hungarian 
history  of  Bonfinius,  dialogues,  orations,  and 
other  works  ;  but  he  distinguished  himself 
principally  as  an  editor  and  commentator  on 
the  writings  of  the  ancients.  De  Thou  praises 
him  for  his  liberality  ;  and  says  that  he  ex- 
pended immense  sums  in  procuring  and  pub- 
lishing the  works  of  ancient  authors,  among 
which  were  the  Dionysiacs  of  Nonnus,  the 
Epistles  of  Aristenretus,  Eunapius,  Hesychius, 
&c.  He  died  at  Vienna  in  1584. — Teissier 
Eloges  des  H.  S. 

SAMMES  (AYLETT)  an  antiquary  and  law- 
yer, who  studied  at  Christ's  college,  Cam- 
bridge, where  he  proceeded  MA,  and  he  was 
afterwards  admitted  to  the  same  degree  at  Ox- 
ford in  1677.  He  died  in  1679.  His  literary 
reputation  depends  on  a  work  entitled  "  Bri- 
tannia Antiqua  Illustrata,  or  the  Antiquities 
of  Ancient  Britain  derived  from  the  Phoeni- 
cians," 1676,  folio,  the  real  author  of  which, 
according  to  Wood,  was  Robert  Aylett,  LLD. 
a  master  in  chancery,  who  wrote  a  poem  en- 
titled "  Susanna,  or  the  Arraignment  of  the 
Two  Elders,"  and  other  poetical  pieces. 
Sammes,  who  was  the  nephew  of  Dr  Aylett, 
is  supposed  to  have  obtained  the  materials  for 
his  Britannia  from  the  papers  of  his  deceased 
relative. —  Wood's  Athen,  Oxon. 

SANADON  (NOEL  STEPHEN)  a  learned 
French  Jesuit,  born  at  Rouen  in  Normandy, 
1676.  He  dedicated  himself  to  the  study  of 
oratory,  on  which  he  gave  lectures  at  Caen,  in 


SAN 

his  native  province,  and  afterwards  held  the 
professorship  of  the  same  science  in  the  uni- 
versity of  Paris.  To  this  situation  was  even- 
tually added  those  of  keeper  of  the  royal 
library  and  preceptor  to  the  young  prince  of 
Conti.  Besides  some  elegant  poems  and  ora- 
tions, written  in  the  Latin  language,  lie  pub- 
lished a  new  translation  of  Horace,  with  valu- 
able notes.  This  work  first  appeared  at  Paris, 
in  two  quarto  volumes,  and  was  afterwards 
reprinted  at  Amsterdam,  in  1735,  in  eight 
volumes,  12mo,  with  considerable  additions, 
including  the  commentary  of  Dacier.  Sanadon 
died  at  Paris,  September  21,  1732. — Nouv. 
Diet.  Hist. 

SANCHES  (ANTONIO  NUNES  RIBEIRO)  an 
eminent  Portuguese  physician,  born  at  Penna 
Macor,  in  1697.  He  was  the  son  of  an  opu- 
lent merchant,  in  opposition  to  whose  wishes 
he  adopted  the  profession  of  medicine  ;  and 
he  was  indebted  to  the  liberality  of  his  ma- 
ternal uncle,  Dr  Nunes  Ribeiro,  of  Lisbon, 
for  the  means  of  prosecuting  his  studies  at 
Coimbra  and  at  Salamanca.  At  the  latter 
university  he  took  the  degree  of  MD.  in  1724, 
and  the  following  year  became  stipendiary 
physician  at  Benavente.  He  soon  after  re- 
moved to  London,  but  the  climate  of  Jiis 
country  affecting  his  health  he  went  to  Ley- 
den,  where  he  remained  till  1731,  when, 
through  the  recommendation  of  Boerhaave,  he 
obtained  an  advantageous  appointment  in  Rus- 
sia. He  served  as  physician  to  the  army  at 
the  siege  of  Azoph  ;  and  in  1740  he  was  no- 
minated one  of  the  imperial  physicians.  He 
attended  the  empress  Anne  in  her  last  illness  ; 
and  he  was  favoured  by  the  regent  in  the  reign 
of  Iwaii  III,  but  on  the  deposition  of  that 
prince,  and  the  advancement  of  Elizabeth  the 
daughter  of  Peter  the  Great,  he  lost  his  ap- 
pointments. Being  apprehensive  for  his  per- 
sonal safety,  he  obtained  leave  to  retire  from 
Russia,  and  in  1747  he  took  up  his  residence 
at  Paris,  where  he  passed  the  remainder  of  his 
life.  While  at  St  Petersburg  he  carried  on  a 
correspondence  with  the  Jesuits  settled  in 
China,  through  whom  he  procured  the  seeds 
of  the  officinal  rhubarb,  and  introduced  the 
culture  of  that  plant  into  Europe.  He  contri- 
buted in  various  ways  to  the  advancement  of 
science,  and  left  several  works  on  medical  sub- 
jects. His  death  took  place  October  14, 1783. 
— Land.  Med.Journ.  Hutchinson's  Biog.  Med. 

SANCHEZ.  There  are  several  learned 
Spanish  writers  of  this  name,  of  which  it  will 
be  necessary  only  to  mention  four.  FRANCIS 
SANCHEZ,  or  Sanctius  Brocensis,  was  born  in 
1523,  at  Estremadura,  and  became  professor 
of  rhetoric  at  Salamanca,  where  he  died  ia 
1600.  He  published  editions  of  several  of  he 
classic  authors,  and  some  dissertations  on  clas- 
sical subjects;  but  his  principal  work  is  a 
I  grammatical  treatise,  entitled  "  Minerva,  seu  de 
Causis  Linguae  Latince,"  printed  first  at  Sala- 
manca in  1587,  8vo,  and  many  times  since, 
with  improvements. — PETER  ANTHONY  SAN- 
CHEZ, an  eminent  Spanish  divine,  was  born  at 
Vigo  in  1740,  and  became  canon  of  the  cathe- 
dral of  St  James,  and  professor  of  rhetoric  in 


SAN 

his  natire  place,  where  he  was  much  admired 
both  for  his  talents  and  benevolence.  His 
works  are,  "  Sarnma  Theologise  Sacra-,"  -1 
vols.  ;  "  Annales  Sacri,"  •_'  vols  :  "  A  Treatise 
on  Toleration,''  3  vols.  ;  '•  History  of  the 
Church  of  Africa  ;"  "  Essay  on  the  Eloquence 
of  the  Pulpit;"  "  Sermons,''  5  vols.;  and 
"  On  the  Means  of  encouraging  Industry." — 
RODERIOO  SANCHEZ,  a  Spanish  prelate,  was 
born  in  the  diocese  of  Segovia  in  1404.  He 
studied  law  at  Salamanca,  obtained  succes- 
sively the  bishoprics  of  Zamora,  Calahorra, 
and  Valencia,  and  was  much  employed  in 
embassies.  He  died  at  Rome  in  1470.  His 
works  are,  "  Historia  Hispania?  ;"  "  Speculum 
Vita?  Humans,"  folio  ;  "  Epistola  de  Expug- 
natione  Nigropontis." — THOMAS  ANTHONY 
SANCHEZ,  a  learned  Spaniard,  and  librarian 
to  the  king,  was  born  in  1730,  and  distin- 
E^iished  himself  by  his  researches  into  the 
literary  history  of  his  country,  and  published 
a  new  and  improved  edition  of  the  "  Bibl. 
Hispan.  of  Antonio."  His  most  celebrated 
work,  however,  is  his  collection  of  Castilian 
poetry  anterior  to  the  fifteenth  century,  to 
which  is  prefixed  a  letter  on  the  origin  of 
Spanish  poetry,  Madrid,  1779 — 1782.  5  vols. 
8vo.  He  was  also  the  author  of  an  "  Apology 
for  Cervantes."  He  died  in  1798. — Antonio 
Bibl.  Hisixin.  Noui:  Diet.  Hist. 

SANCHO  (IcNATirs)  the  name  given  to  a 
singular    negro,   whose   abilities   presented  a 
strong  contrast  to  the  presumed  incapacity  of 
those  of  his  nation  and  colour.     He  was  born 
in  17-29,  at  sea,  on  board  a   slave-ship,  in  its 
passage  to  the  Spanish  Main,  and  on  his  arri- 
val at  Carthagena,   received   from  the  owner 
the  name  of  Ignatius  at  the  font.     Accompa- 
ming  his  master  to  this  country,  he  was  given 
by  the  latter  to  three  maiden  sisters  residing 
at  Greenwich,  who  employed   him  in  menial 
offices,  and  bestowed  on  him  his  second  name 
of  Sancho,  in  allusion,   it  is  said,  to  the  cele- 
brated squire  of  Cervantes.     AVhile  residing 
in  this  family,  he  appears  to  have  b<»en  treated 
with   great  and  unnecessary   harshness  ;  but 
being  at  length  fortunate  enough,  to  attract  the 
notice  of  the  duke  of  Montagu,  that  benevo- 
lent nobleman  not  only  rescued  him  from  his 
unpleasant  situation,   but  took  him   into  his 
own  service,  and  continued  his  steady  friend. 
On  the  deaths   of  the  duke  and  duchess,  by 
the  latter  of  whom  he  was  bequeathed  a  pen- 
sion of  thirty  pounds  for  his  life,  Sancho  was 
again  thrown   upon  the  world,  the  little  pro- 
perty left  him  proving,  as  is  too  often  the  case 
in  similar  circumstances,   an  unfortunate  pre- 
sent, and  leading  him  into  irregular  habits,  by 
the   indulgence   of  whkh  it  was  soon  dissi- 
pated.    As  a  resource   he  determined  to  ti] 
the   stage,  and  actually  appeared  in   Othello 
and  Oronooko.     The  experiment  did  not  sue 
ceed,  as  he  appears  to  have  had  few  requisite 
for  the  characters,  except  his  colour.     A  mar 
riage,  however,  which  he  soon  after  contractet 
with  a  young  Creole,  possessed  of  a  small  pro 
perty,  and  the   continued  kindness  of  the  la 
milv  of  his   late  patron,   once  more   restorec 
him  to  comfort  and  respectability.     He  com 


S  A  X 

menced  business  as  a  grocer,  and  succeeded 
in  making  some  provision  for  a  large  family, 
before  his  decease,  wlu'ch  took  place  about 
the  Christmas  of  1780.  This  extraordinary 
man  was  the  author  of  some  well-written  let- 
ters published  after  his  death,  and  was  much 
noticed  by  many  of  the  literary  characters  of  the 
day,  especially  by  Garrick  and  Sterne.  A  few 
pieces  of  miscellaneous  poetry,  and  a  tract  on 
music,  are  also  ascribed  to  him. — Life  bu  Jekvl. 
SANCHONIATHON,  an  ancient  Phoeni- 
cian writer,  who  is  generally  supposed  to  have 
been  a  native  of  Berytus,  though  Athenirus 
and  Suidas  affirm  that  he  was  a  Tynan.  The 
age  in  which  he  lived  is  uncertain,  but  i:  is 
probable  that  he  flourished  about  the  time  of 
the  Trojan  war.  He  composed,  in  the  Pho-ni- 
cian  language,  a  history  of  his  native  country, 
which  was  translated  into  Greek  by  Plnlo 
Byblius,  in  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Adrian, 
and  of  this  version  some  fragments  have  been 
preserved  by  Porphyry  and  Eusebius.  Sr.i 
mentions  other  works  of  Sanchoniathon. which 
are  entirely  lost. — Bios.  Unit. 

BANCROFT  (WIUJAM)    a   learned   and 
distinguished   English   prelate    of  the  seven- 
teenth century.     He  was  born  at  Fresingfield 
in  Suffolk,  in  16l6,  and   after  studying  at  a 
grammar-school  at  St  Edmundsbury,  he  was 
admitted  into  Emanuel  college,  Cambridge,  in 
1633.     In    1642    he    obtained   a   fellows 
om  which  he  was  ejected  in  1649  for  refusing 
o  take  the  covenant.     He  then  visited  France 
nd  Italy  ;  and  returning  home  on  the  Resto- 
ration, he  was  chosen  one  of  the  university 
reachers,  and  in  1661  he  assisted  in  revising 
tie  Liturgy.     In  1664  he  was  made  dean  of 
York,  and  towards  the  close  of  that  year  he 
•as   removed    to  the  deanery  of  St  Paul's, 
.ondon.     In    this    station   he    distinguished 
imself  by   his    munificent   contributions   to- 
wards the  repair,  and  afterwards  of  the   re- 
>uilding  of  the  cathedral.     In  1665*   he  was 
presented  by  the  king  to  the  archdeaconry  ot 
Canterbury,    which   preferment    he    resigned 
fter   he    had    held    it   two   years.     He    was 
chosen  prolocutor  of  the  lower  house  of  con- 
vocation, which  station  he  held  in  1677,  when 
was  unexpectedly  raised  to  the  metropolitan 
see  of  Canterbury.     His  conduct   as  primate 
displays  a  conscientious  regard  for  the  laws  of 
iis  country,  and  the  rights  of  the  church  over 
hich  he  presided.     In  1687  he  was,  with  six 
other  prelates,   committed   to    the  Tower  for 
presenting  to  king  James  II  a  remonstrance 
against  the  declaration  of  indulgence  ordered 
to  be  read  in  churches  ;  and  being  tried  in  the 
court  of  King's  Bench,  the  archbishop  and  Ins 
colleagues  were  acquitted.     On  the  secession 
of  the  king,  he  concurred  with  the  lords,  spi- 
ritual and  temporal,  assc-mbled  at  Guildhall, 
December  11,  1688,  in  signing  an  address  to 
the  prince  of  Orange,  demanding  a  free  par- 
liament, the  security  of  laws,  liberty,  and  pro- 
perty, and  recommending  indulgence  to  Pro 
-      .t   dissenters.     He  subseqv.  :stj 

to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  \Yilliarr.  1  '.I 
and  his  consort,  in  consequence  of  which  L«J 
was  removed  from  his  big 


SAN 

church,  in  February  1639  ;  and  a  few  months 
after  he  retired  to  Fresingfield,  where  he  died 
in  November  1693.  Sancroft  was  a  man  of 
great  industry  and  learning,  of  which  he  left 
evidence  in  a  large  collection  of  manuscripts. 
His  printed  works  consist  of  a  Latin  dialogue, 
entitled  "  Fur  Praedestinatus,  sive  Dialogis- 
mus  inter  quendam  Ordinis  Prajdicantium  Cal- 
vinistam  et  Furem  ad  Laqueum  damnatum  ha- 
bitus," 1651,  12mo,  reprinted  a  few  years 
since  ;  "  Modern  Politics,  taken  from  Machi- 
avel,  Borgia,  and  other  Modern  Authors,  by 
an  Eye- Witness,"  1652,  12mo;  "  Sermons," 
"  Letters,"  &c.  An  interesting  account  of 
the  life  of  archbishop  Sancroft  was  published 
by  the  rev.  G.  D'Oyley,  1818,  2  vols.  8vo. — 
Bin*.  Brit. 

SANCTORIUS  or  SANTORIO,  an  emi- 
nent physician,  was  born  in  1561,  at  Capo 
d'Istria.  He  studied  and  graduated  at  Padua, 
and  after  practising  for  some  years  at  Venice, 
was  invited  in  1611  to  the  first  theoretical 
chair  in  the  university  of  the  former  city, 
where  he  commenced  a  series  of  observations 
on  insensible  perspiration,  which  made  his 
name  famous  throughout  Europe.  He  conti- 
nued to  lecture  in  this  capacity  for  thirteen 
years  to  numerous  audiences,  when  he  was  in- 
duced by  fatigue  to  resign,  and  to  fix  his  resi- 
dence in  Venice.  The  senate,  however,  con- 
tinued his  salary  undiminished  until  his  death 
in  1636,  at  the  age  of  seventy -five.  The 
name  of  Sanctorius  is  rendered  memorable  by 
his  work,  entitled  "  Ars  de  Statica  Medicina," 
first  printed  at  Venice  in  1614,  and  many 
times  reprinted  and  translated  into  the  modern 
.ancruages.  It  consists  of  seven  sections  of 

o 

aphorisms  relative  to  insensible  perspiration, 
which  excretion  this  author  was  the  first  to 
reduce  to  certain  laws,  and  place  in  a  striking 
light  by  experiment.  In  this  work  he  esta- 
blished many  important  facts,  but  like  most 
writers  on  a  particular  topic,  has  overcharged 
their  practical  importance.  He  was  the  author 
of  several  useful  inventions :  besides  his  sta- 
tical chair  for  the  measure  of  perspiration,  he 
invented  another  for  ascertaining  the  force  of 
the  pulse,  and  several  useful  instruments  of 
surgery.  He  was  also  the  first  physician  who 
endeavoured  to  measure  the  heat  of  the  skin 
by  a  thermometer.  His  writings  were  pub- 
lished collectively  at  Venice,  in  4  vols.  4to, 
1660. — Halleri  Bibl.  Anut,  et  Med.  Tira- 
boschi. 

SANDBY  (PAUL)  an  ingenious  artist,  was 
born  at  Nottingham  in  1732.  At  the  age  of 
fourteen  he  became  a  student  in  the  drawing- 
room  at  the  Tower,  and  in  1748  was  sent  into 
the  Highlands  of  Scotland  to  take  views  for  the 
duke  of  Cumberland.  Of  these  he  made 
small  etchings,  which  were  afterwards  pub- 
lished ;  after  which  he  was  much  employed  in 
Wales,  under  the  patronage  of  sir  Watkin 
Williams  Wynne,  in  taking  sceneQ  which  he 
transferred  to  copper-plates,  and  executed 
prints  in  imitation  of  drawings  in  Indian  ink, 
which  art  of  aquatinta  he  carried  to  great 
perfection.  On  the  institution  of  the  Hoyal 
Academy  he  was  elected  an  academician,  and 


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in  1768  the  marquis  of  Granby  appointed  him 
chief  drawing-master  at  Woolwich.  lie  died 
at  his  house  at  Paddington,  November  7, 
1809. — Euro]).  Mag. 

SANDEMAN  (ROBERT)  in  whom  the  sect 
called  Sandemaniitns  originated,  was  born  at 
Perth  in  Scotland  in  172:3.  He  studied  at 
Edinburgh,  and  afterwards  engaged  in  the 
linen  trade.  Ou  marrying  the  daughter  of  the 
rev.  John  Glass,  he  became  an  elder  in  his 
congregation,  and  soon  after  published  a  series 
of  letters  addressed  to  Mr  Hervey,  on  fas 
Theron  and  Aspasio,  in  which  he  endeavours 
to  show,  in  opposition  to  that  divine,  that  a 
justifying  faith  meant  nothing  more  than  a 
simple  assent  to  the  divine  mission  of  Christ. 
This  position  caused  much  controversy,  and 
those  who  adopted  it  were  called  Sande- 
manians,  and  formed  themselves  into  church 
order,  in  strict  fellowship  with  the  church  of 
Scotland,  but  holding  communion  with  no 
other.  The  chief  opinions  and  practices  in 
which  this  sect  differs  from  others,  are  their 
weekly  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
washing  each  other's  feet,  &c.  In  1764  Mr 
Sandeman  accepted  an  invitation  to  New  Ene- 
land,  where  he  died  in  1771.  His  sect  still 
subsists  in  Great  Britain.  He  was  author  of 
some  other  theological  tracts,  besides  his 
"  Letters  on  Theron  and  Aspasio." — Encvc. 
Brit. 

SANDERS  (NICHOLAS)  an  ecclesiastical 
historian,  bora  about  1527,  at  Charlewood  in 
Surrey.  He  was  professor  of  canon  law  at 
Oxford  in  the  reign  of  queen  Mary,  who  ap- 
pointed him  her  secretary  for  Latin  correspon- 
dence. On  the  accession  of  Elizabeth  he  re- 
tired to  Rome,  was  ordained  a  priest,  and 
created  DO.  Cardinal  Hosius  took  him  to 
the  council  of  Trent  as  his  secretary  ;  and  he 
was  afterwards  employed  by  that  prelate  ia 
various  affairs  in  Poland,  Prussia,  and  Lithu- 
ania. He  subsequently  became  professor  of 
divinity  at  Louvain,  where  he  published,  in 
1751,  his  work  "  De  Visibili  Monarchia  Ec- 
clesiaj,"  in  defence  of  the  supremacy  of  the 
holy  see.  In  1579  he  was  sent  as  papal  nun- 
cio to  Ireland,  and  he  died  there  in  the  following 
year.  Camden  states,  that  Sanders  having 
promoted  the  rebellion  of  the  earl  of  Desmond 
against  the  English  government,  was  forced  to 
wander  as  a  fugitive  among  the  mountains  after 
the  defeat  of  the  insurgents,  and  that  he  pe- 
rished with  hunger  ;  but  Wood  attributes  his 
death  to  dysentery,  and  says  that  he  expired 
in  the  arms  of  the  bishop  of  Killaloe.  Be- 
sides the  work  already  mentioned,  he  was  the 
author  of  a  history  "  Of  the  Origin  and  Pro 
gress  of  the  English  Schism,"  as  he  styles  the 
Reformation,  which  lias  been  severely  ani- 
madverted on  by  Bayle  and  bishop  Burnet. 
He  also  wrote  against  Jewel  and  Nowel,  in 
defence  of  transubstantiation,  and  on  various 
other  subjects. — ftloreri.  Aikin's  Gen.  Biog. 

SANDERS  (ROBERT)  a  native  of  Scotland, 
born  in  1727,  who  was  apprenticed  to  a  pain- 
ter, which  employment   he   relinquished  for 
that  of  a  writer  for  the  press.     Having  tra 
veiled  over  a  great  part  of  the  country,  he 


SAN 

produced  a  work,  entitled  "  The  Complete 
English  Traveller,"  which  passed  through  se- 
veral editions.  At  one  time  lie  was  employed 
as  an  amanuensis  by  lord  Lyttelton,  whom  he 
assisted  in  preparing  for  the  press  his  "  His- 
tory of  Henry  II."  He  was  the  compiler  o 
Notes  on  the  Bible,  published  under  the  name 
of  Dr  Henry  Southwell ;  and  he  was  engagec 
on  a  treatise  on  general  chronology,  when  he 
died  of  an  asthma  in  March  1783.  Among 
the  productions  of  his  pen  are,  "  The  New- 
gate Calendar;"  "  The  Adventures  of  Gaffer 
Greybeard,"  a  satirical  novel  ;  and  a  "  His- 
tory of  Rome,  in  a  series  of  Letters." — Gen. 
Biog.  Diet. 

SANDERSON  (ROBERT)  a  learned  Eng 
lish  divine  and   theological  casuist,    born    at 
Ilotherham  in  Yorkshire,  in  1587.  He  studied 
at  Lincoln  college,  Oxford,  where  he  obtained 
a  fellowship  in  1606,  and   the  following  year 
he  proceeded  MA.    In  1618  he  was  presented 
to  the  rectory  of  Wibberton,   near  Boston,  in 
Lincolnshire,  which  he  resigned  the  ensuing 
year  for  that  of  Boothby  Pagnel,  in  the  same 
county.     He  was  afterwards  made  a  prebend 
of  the  collegiate  church  of  Southwell  ;  and  in 
1631,   through  the  recommendation  of  Laud, 
then   bishop  of  London,   he  was  appointed  a 
chaplain  to  the  king.     In  1636  he  was  created 
DD. ;  and  in  1642  chosen  regius  professor  of 
divinity  at  Oxford,  and  made  canon  of  Christ- 
church.     His  attachment  to  the   royal  cause, 
during  the  civil   war,  occasioned  the   loss  of 
part  of  his   preferment,  and   exposed  him  to 
much  persecution.     He  was,  however,  allowed 
to  retain  his  living,  and  he  resided  among  his 
parishioners  till   the   Restoration,   soon  after 
which  he  was  elevated  to  the  bishopric  of  Lin- 
coln.   He.  was  one  of  the  commissioners  at  the 
Savoy  conference  in  1661,  and  he  contributed 
much    to   the    alterations   then   made  in    the 
liturgy.     He  died  January  29,   1662-3,   and 
was  privately  buried  at   Buckden.     His  prin- 
cipal works  are,  "  Nine  Cases  of  Conscience 
resolved,"  1678,  8vo ;  "  Logics  Artis  Com- 
pendium ;"   "  De  Juramenti   Promissorii  Ob- 
ligatione  Prslectioues  Septem;"  "  De  Obliga- 
tione  Couscientias   PrEl.   Sept. ;"    "  A   Dis- 
course concerning  the  Church  in  these  Parti- 
culars ;  1.  concerning  the  Visibility  of  the  True 
Church  ;  2.  concerning  the  Church  of  Rome," 
4to  ;  and  "  Sermons,"  folio. — Biog.  Brit.    Wal- 
ton's Lives,  f.dited  by  Zouch. 

SANDERSON,  FAS.  (ROBERT)  usher  of 
the  Court  of  Chancery  and  clerk  of  the  Rolls 
chapel,  an  intelligent  and  laborious  antiquary 
and  historian.  He  assisted  Rymer  in  the 
compilation  of  that  great  national  work,  the 
"  Foedera  ;"  and  his  name  is  included  in  a 
royal  warrant  issued  May  3,  1707,  empower- 
ing Rymer  and  Sanderson  to  search  public 
offices,  and  transcribe  materials  for  the  work 
in  which  they  were  engaged.  After  the  death 
of  Rymer,  the  seventeenth  and  three  following 
volumes  of  the  "  FoeJera,"  were  published  by 
his  coadjutor,  who  also  assisted  in  a  second 
edition  of  the  work,  1727-35.  He  died  De- 
cember 25,  1741.  An  improved  and  aug- 
mented edition  of  the  Fred  era  is  now  in  pro-  j 


SAN 

gress  of  publication,  edited  by  Dr  Adam 
Clarke  and  Mr  Frederick  Holbrooke. — Lem- 
priere's  U.  B.  Edit, 

SANDERUS  (ANTHONY)  a  Dutch  ecclesi- 
astic, born  1586.  He  was  a  native  of  Ant- 
werp, and  having  graduated  at  the  college  of 
Douai,  entered  the  ministry,  and  obtained  a 
canonry  at  Ypres.  Sanderus  was  the  author 
of  several  valuable  works  connected  with  the 
topography  of  his  native  country.  Of  these 
the  principal  are,  his  "  Flandria  Iliustrata," 
folio,  2  vols. ;  and  "  Chronographia  Sacra 
Brabantia;,"  folio,  2  vols.  with  numerous  en- 
gravings. His  other  writings  are,  "  Hagiolo- 
gium  fc'landriaj  ;"  and  two  quarto  volumes,  the 
one  containing  an  account  of  the  principal 
Flemish  authors,  the  other  biographical  no- 
tices of  citizens  of  Ghent  distinguished  for 
their  progress  in  literature.  His  death  took 
place  in  1664. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

SANDFORD  (FRANCIS)  a  celebrated  ge- 
nealogist and  herald  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, an  Irishman  by  birth,  who  filled  the  of- 
fice of  a  pursuivaut-at-arms  in  the  Heralds' 
college  during  the  reigns  of  Charles  the  Se- 
cond and  James  the  Second.  He  published 
an  account  of  the  ceremonies  observed  at  the 
coronation  of  the  latter  monarch,  in  one  vo- 
lume folio,  as  well  as  several  other  tracts  con- 
nected with  his  profession.  Of  these  the  prin- 
cipal are,  a  "  Genealogical  History  of  the 
Kings  of  England  and  Monarchs  of  Great 
Britain,"  folio,  to  which  a  supplement  has 
since  been  added  by  Stebbing  ;  "  A  Genealo- 
gical History  of  the  Royal  House  of  Portu- 
gal," folio  ;  and  an  account  of  the  "  Order  of 
:he  Ceremonies  observed  at  the  Funeral  of 
George  Monk,  Duke  of  Albemarle."  In  1688 
Mr  Sandford  resigned  his  situation,  but  sur- 
vived it  little  more  than  four  years,  when  he 
died  in  his  sixty-fourth  year. — Biog.  Brit. 

SANDINI  (ANTONIO)  a  native  of  the  Ve- 
netian states,  born  in  the  year  1692.     He  ob- 
tained the  professorship  of  ecclesiastical  his- 
ory  in  the  university  of  Padua,  and  is  known 
as  the  author  of  "  The  Lives  of  the  Popes  ;" 
'  A  Dissertation  on  the  Lives  of  the  Popes, 
extracted    from   the  History  of  the  Church  ;" 
'  The    History    of  the    Holy   Family  ;"    and 
'  The  Lives  of  the   Apostles."     His   death 
.ook  place  at  Padua  about  the  middle  of  the 
ast  century. — Nonv.  Diet.  Hist. 

SANDIUS  (CHRISTOPHER)  a  German  po- 
emic  of  the  seventeenth  century,  born  in  1644 
at  Konigsberg.  He  wrote  against  the  Tri- 
nity, and  was  a  warm  defender  of  the  opinions 
of  Socinus.  His  principal  works  consist  of  a 
'  Treatise  on  the  Nature  aud  Origin  of  the 
Soul  ;"  "  Bibliotheca  Anti-Trinitariorum," 
12mo;  "Nucleus  Historic  Ecclesiasticae," 
2  vols.  8vo  ;  some  remarks  on  the  writings  of 
jerard  Vossius,  and  a  volume  of  epigrams. 
Sandius  retired  into  Holland,  and  settled  at 
Amsterdam,  where  he  died  in  1680. — Smii 
Onom. 

SANDRART  (JOACHIM)  a  German  artist 
and  author  of  celebrity,  who  flourished  in  the 
seventeenth  century.  He  was  a  native  of 
Frankfort-sur-Maine,  where  he  was  born  in 


SAN 

1606,  and  became  especially  eminent  as  a 
portrait  and  historical  painter.  Having  stu- 
died the  principles  of  his  art  under  De  Bry, 
Merian,  and  Giles  Sadeler,  all  engravers  of 
considerable  merit,  he  accompanied  Gerard 
Honthorst  to  London,  where  he  was  much  no- 
ticed by  Villiers  duke  of  Buckingham.  The 
assassination  of  his  patron  in  1627  induced 
him  to  return  to  the  continent,  where,  after 
visiting  the  principal  cities  of  Spain  and  Italy, 
he  settled  at  his  native  place.  Marrying  some 
time  after,  he  took  up  his  abode  at  Nurem- 
berg, where  he  founded  a  school  of  painting, 
and  acquired  both  reputation  and  wealth.  As 
an  author,  Sandrart  is  advantageously  known 
by  his  "  Lives  of  the  Painters,"  a  work  which 
he  compiled  with  great  care  principally  from 
the  writings  of  Ridolfi,  Vasari,  and  Van 
Mander.  His  other  works,  all  on  professional 
subjects,  consist  of  "  Romanorum  Fouti- 
nalia;"  "  Academia  Tedesca  della  Architet- 
tura,  Scultura,  e  Pittura,"  folio,  2  vols. ;  "Ad- 
miranda  Sculpture  Veteris,"  folio  ;  "  Icono- 
logia  Deorum,"  folio  ;  and  "  Romfe  Antique 
et°  Novae  Theatrum,"  folio.  His  death  took 
place  at  Nuremberg  in  1683  ;  or,  as  others 
say,  in  1688. — Saxii  Onom. 

SANDYS  (EDWIN)  an  eminent  English 
prelate,  was  born  of  an  ancient  family  of  the 
same  name  near  Hawkshead,  Lancashire  in 
1519.  He  received  his  education  at  St  John's 
college,  Cambridge,  where  he  embraced  the 
doctrines  of  the  Reformation.  In  1547  he 
was  elected  master  of  Catherine-hall,  and 
in  1553  served  the  office  of  vice-chancellor. 
Having  been  induced  by  the  duke  of  Northum- 
berland to  preach  a  sermon  in  favour  of  lady 
Jane  Grey,  on  the  defeat  of  that  ill-judged 
attempt,  he  was  committed  to  the  Tower, 
whence  he  was  removed  to  the  Marshalsea  ; 
but  finally  released  at  the  intercession  of  sir 
Thomas  Holcroft,  knight  marshal.  He  was, 
however,  no  sooner  at  liberty,  than  Gardiner, 
bishop  of  Winchester,  being  informed  of  his 
zeal  for  the  reformed  doctrines,  sought  to  ar- 
rest him  again,  but  he  safely  reached  the  con- 
tinent, where  he  remained  until  the  accession 
of  Elizabeth,  when  he  returned,  and  in  Dec. 
1559  was  consecrated  bishop  of  Worcester. 
In  1570  he  succeeded  bishop  Grindal,  in  the 
see  of  London,  and  in  1576  followed  the  same 
prelate  in  that  of  York.  In  1582  a  plot  was 
laid  by  sir  Robert  Stapleton,  to  ruin  him  by  a 
charge  of  adultery  ;  but  the  conspiracy  was 
discovered,  and  the  parties  concerned  in  it  pu- 
nished. The  abilities  of  this  prelate  were  of 
a  high  order,  but  his  disposition  to  amass 
wealth  for  his  numerous  family,  and  continual 
conflicts  and  altercations  with  both  Protestants 
and  Papists,  his  own  clergy  and  neighbours 
included,  injured  his  general  character.  A 
volume  of  his  sermons  was  printed  after  his 
death,  and  reprinted  in  1812,  with  a  biogra- 
phical memoir  by  Dr  Whitaker.  Archbishop 
Sandys,  who  died  in  1588,  in  his  sixty-ninth 
year,  was  ons  of  the  translators  of  the  Bible  of 
1565— Life  by  Whitaker.  Biog.  Brit. 

SANDYS  (sir  EDWIN)  second  son  of  the 
preceding,  was  born  in  Worcestershire  about 


SAN 

1561,  and  educated  at  Corpus  Christi  college. 
Oxford.  In  1579  he  obtained  a  fellowship, 
and  in  1581  was  collated  to  a  prebend  in  the 
church  of  York,  though  not  in  orders.  On 
graduating-  MA.  lie  went  abroad,  and  while  in 
Paris,  wrote  a  work,  entitled  "  Europaj  Spe- 
culum," which  being  printed  surreptitiously, 
he  published  an  amended  edition  in  1629, 
with  large  additions,  under  the  title  of  "  Eu- 
ropee  Speculum  ;  or  a  View  and  Survey  of 
Religion  in  the  Western  Parts  of  the  World." 
In  1602  he  resigned  his  prebend,  and  the  fol- 
lowing year  was  knighted  by  James  1,  and 
was  employed  by  him  in  much  important  public 
business,  although  subsequently  imprisoned  for 
opposition  to  the  court.  He  was  afterwards 
treasurer  of  the  Western  plantations.  He  died 
in  1629.  He  founded  a  metaphysical  lecture 
at  Oxford. — Fuller's  Worthies. 

SANDYS  (GEORGE)  second  son  of  the 
archbishop  of  that  name,  born  in  the  archi- 
episcopal  palace  at  Bishop's  Thorpe,  in  1577. 
In  1589  he  was  placed  at  St  Mary-hall,  Ox- 
ford, but  does  not  appear  to  have  taken  any 
degree.  In  1610  he  commenced  his  travels 
through  the  Levant  and  other  parts  of  the 
Turkish  empire,  returning  home  through  Italy, 
and  staying  some  time  at  Rome,  where  he  ap- 
plied himself  diligently  to  the  study  of  the 
classical  remains  yet  visible  in  that  capital. 
This  journey  occupied  him  upwards  of  two 
years.  On  his  return  to  England  he  amused 
himself  by  digesting  his  notes,  and  publishing, 
in  1615,  an  account  of  the  countries  through 
which  he  had  passed,  This  work  was  followed 
by  several  poetical  productions,  the  first  of 
which,  a  translation  of  Ovid's  Metamorphoses, 
originally  printed  in  London  in  1627,  with  the 
first  book  of  the  ^-Eneid  annexed,  is  highly 
spoken  of  by  Dryden,  who  styles  the  author 
"  the  best  versifier  of  the  last  age  ;"  and  with 
regard  to  his  version  of  Virgil,  declares,  that 
had  Mr  Sandys  gone  before  him  in  the  whole 
translation,  he  himself  would  never  have  at- 
tempted it.  His  other  works  are  a  "  Para- 
phrase on  the  Psalms  and  upon  the  Hymns 
dispersed  through  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments," London,  1656,  reprinted  in  folio, 
1638.  This  book  was  a  great  favourite  with 
Charles  I,  who  kept  it  constantly  with  him 
while  confined  at  Carisbrooke  castle  ;  "  A  Pa- 
raphraseontheDivinePoems,"  with  a  thorou«h 
bass  for  an  organ  by  the  two  Lawes,  4  vols. 
4to,  1637  ;  and  translation  of  the  "  Chris- 
tus  Patiens  "  of  Hugo  Grotius,  1640.  His 
death  took  place  in  1643,  at  the  house  of  his 
nephew,  Mr  Wiat,  of  Boxley  abbey,  near 
Maidstone,  in  Kent,  in  the  church  of  which 
parish  he  lies  buried  without  any  monument  ; 
but  the  following  complimentary  entry  is  in- 
serted in  the  register :  "  Georgius  Sandys, 
Poetarum  Anglorum  sui  Saeculi  Princeps,  se- 
pultus  fuit  Martii  7,  Stiio  Anglico,  Anno  Dom. 
1643.— Life  bit  Gibber. 

SANGALLO  (ANTONIO)  an  eminent  archi- 
tect of  the  sixteenth  century.  He  was  born 
in  the  environs  of  Florence,  and  was  intended 
for  the  business  of  a  carpenter  ;  but  happily 
visiting  Rome,  where  he  had  two  uncles  who 


SAN 

were  architects,  he  was  instructed  by  them  in 
their  art,  his  knowledge  of  which  he  per- 
fected under  Bramante,  whom  he  succeedec 
as  architect  of  the  church  of  St  Peter.  lie 
was  much  employed  under  the  popes  Leo  X, 
Clement  VII,  and  Paul  III,  both  in  fortifying 
places,  and  in  the  construction  of  public  build- 
ings, the  grandeur  and  solidity  of  which  have 
been  much  admired.  He  died  in  1546. — Nouv. 
Diet.  Hist.  See  GIAMBERTI. 

SANMICHELI  (MICHAEL) a  distinguished 
Italian  architect,  born  at  Verona,  in  1484. 
He  adopted  the  profession  of  his  father,  and 
at  the  age  of  sixteen  went  to  Rome  for  im- 
provement. He  was  intimate  with  Michael 
Angelo,  Bramante,  Sansovino,  and  Sangallo, 
in  whose  fame  lie  participated.  His  first  erec- 
tions were  the  cathedrals  of  Orvieto  and 
Montefiascone.  Being  called  to  Rome  before 
lie  had  finished  these  works,  he  entered  into 
the  service  of  pope  Clement  VII,  and  was 
employed  at  Parma  and  Placentia  as  an  engi- 
neer. The  Venetians  subsequently  engaged 
his  services  in  the  fortification  of  the  city  of 
Verona,  where  he  also  built  a  bridge  over  the 
Adige,  and  the  palaces  of  Bevilacqua,  Torre, 
Pompei,  and  Canossa.  He  died  at  VeroTia, 
in  1559. — Maffei  Verona  Illnstmta.  Milizia 
Memorie  degli  Architetti  antichi  e  moderni. 
Biog.  Univ. 

SANNAZARIUS  (Acxius  SINCERUS)  or 
Giacopo  Sanazario,  a  celebrated  Italian  poet, 
born  at  Naples,  July  28,  1458.  He  was  pa- 
tronized by  Frederick  king  of  Naples,  and 
when  that  prince  was  dethroned,  he  attended 
him  in  his  retreat  to  France,  and  remained 
there  till  his  majesty  died.  Sanuazarius  then 
returning  to  Italy  dedicated  his  time  to  the 
cultivation  of  elegant  literature.  His  wit  and 
gaiety  rendered  him  the  object  of  general  ad- 
miration, and  he  passed  several  years  in  the 
society  of  his  friends.  At  length  his  country 
seat  at  Mergoglino  being  destroyed  by  the 
imperial  army,  under  the  prince  of  Orange,  he 
was  so  affected  with  the  disaster,  that  it  oc- 
casioned his  deathin  April  1530.  The  works 
of  Sannazarius  are  "  Arcadia,"  a  pastoral  ro- 
mance ;  "  Sonnetti  e  Canzoni  ;  both  in  Ita- 
lian ;  and  poems  "  De  Partu  Virginia,  lib.  iii." 
"  Eclogse  v.  ;"  "  Salices  ;"  and  "  Lamentatio 
de  Morte  Christi." — Tiraboschi.  Aikin's  G, 
Biog.  Biog.  Univ. 

SANSON  (NICHOLAS)  a  celebrated  French 
geographer,  mathematician,  and  engineer,  born 
at  Abbeville,  in  Picardy,  on  December  12, 
1599.  Though  destined  by  his  friends  for  a 
commercial  life,  in  which  he  actually  engaged, 
yet,  even  while  a  youth,  the  peculiar  bent  of 
his  genius  displayed  itself  in  the  construction 
of  a  map  of  ancient  Gaul,  remarkable  for 
its  excellence  and  accuracy.  The  reputation 
which  this  work  procured  him,  and  some  se- 
vere losses  in  trade,  induced  him  to  forsake 
commerce  altogether,  and  to  devote  himself  to 
the  study  of  geography,  in  which  he  soon  rose 
to  the  greatest  eminence.  Settling  in  the  me- 
tropolis, he  obtained  the  patronage  both  oi 
Richelieu  and  Mazarin,  and  was  made  geo- 
giapher  and  engineer  to  thi:  king.  His  maps 


SAN 

ancient  and  modern,  all  of  which  are  on  n 
large  scale,  exceed  three  hundred  in  number, 
and  are  highly  valuable.  They  were  collected 
and  published  by  his  two  sons,  themselves 
good  geographers,  in  an  Atlas,  which  appeared 
at  Paris,  in  two  volumes,  folio,  1693,  twenty- 
six  years  after  the  decease  of  their  father.  The 
elder  Sanson  is  also  known  as  the  author  of  a 
"  History  of  Abbeville ;"  descriptions  of 
France,  Spain,  Italy,  the  Roman  empire,  &c. 
and  other  tracts,  accompanying,  and  illustra- 
tive of  his  maps. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

SANSOV1NO,  or  TATTl  (GiAcoPo)  a 
celebrated  sculptor  and  architect,  born  at  Flo- 
rence about  1479.  He  studied  under  the  Flo- 
rentine sculptor  Contucci,  of  Mont-Sanso- 
vino,  from  whom  he  derived  the  name  by 
which  he  is  commonly  known  ;  and  he  was 
afterwards  taken  to  Rome  by  the  architect 
Julio  di  Sangallo,  where  he  was  employed  in 
lesigning  and  in  modelling  antiques.  Ill 
health  induced  him  to  return  to  Florence,  and 
being  recovered,  he  executed  several  works, 
among  which  was  a  triumphal  arch,  erected 
for  the  entrance  of  pope  Leo  X  into  Florence 
in  1515.  He  again  visited  Rome,  where  he 
built  the  church  of  St  John  the  Baptist,  and 
engaged  in  various  other  undertakings.  On 
the  death  of  the  pope  he  went  to  Venice  ;  but 
returning  when  Clement  VII  was  raised  to  the 
pontifical  throne,  he  renewed  his  labours, 
which  were  interrupted  by  the  sacking  of  Rome 
in  1527.  Having  received  an  invitation  to 
visit  France,  he  proceeded  to  Venice  in  his 
way  thither,  and  the  favourable  reception 
be  experienced  induced  him  to  remain  in  that 
city.  He  was  appointed  first  architect  of  the 
church  of  St  Mark,  and  he  exercised  his  ta- 
ents  in  the  erection  of  churches,  palaces,  the 
mint,  and  the  public  library.  Many  works  of 
sculpture  were  also  executed  by  Sansovino  at 
Venice,  where  he  resided  till  las  death  in  No- 
vember, 1570.  Both  as  au  architect  and  a 
sculptor  this  artist  ranks  with  the  most  cele- 
brated of  his  contemporaries. — Vasari.  Milizia 
Memorie  degli  Architetti  antichi  e  moderni. 
Biog.  Univ. 

SANSOVINO  (FRANCESCO)  son  of  the  pre- 
ceding, was  born  at  Rome  in  1521.  He  was 
sent  to  study  the  law  at  Padua  ;  but  he  pre- 
'erred  polite  literature,  and  procured  admis- 
sion into  the  newly  founded  academy  of  the 
[nh'ammati.  This  conduct  offended  his  father, 
who  persuaded  him  to  resume  his  legal  stu- 
dies at  Bologna,  where  he  was  admitted  doc- 
tor of  laws.  He  did  not,  however,  engage  in. 
jrofessional  practice,  and  ultimately  attached 
limself  to  the  study  of  poetry  and  history. 
On  the  accession  of  pope  Julius  III,  who  was 
iis  godfather,  he  hastened  to  Rome  in  the 
lope  of  obtaining  his  patronage  ;  but  being 
disappointed,  he  returned  to  Venice,  and  de- 
dicated his  time  to  literary  occupations.  He 
lied  in  1586.  His  principal  works  are,  "  Del 
Governo  de'  Regni  e  delle  Repubbliche  an- 
tiche  emoderne,"  1561,  4to  ;  "  Ritratto  delle 
sin  nobile  e  famose  Citta  d "Italia,"  1575,  4to  ; 
'  Dell'  Origine  e  F.itti  delle  Farniglie.  illustri 
d  Italia,"  1582,  4to.  —Niwon,  xxii.  Bio*.  Uni. 


SAP 

SANTEUL  or  S.ANTOL1US  CJoiix  de) 
erroneously  styled  John  Baptist  Santeuil,  the 
most  celebrated  modern  Latin  poet  France  has 
produced,  was  born  at  Paris,  May  1.2,  1630. 
He  studied  under  the  Jesuits,  and  at  a  proper 
age  entered  among  the  canons  regular  of  ihe 
abbey  of  St  Victor,  and  devoted  himself  to 
the  cultivation  of  literature,  never  having  pro- 
ceeded beyond  the  rank  of  a  sub-deacon  in 
the  church.  He  soon  acquired  fame  by  the 
productions  of  his  pen;  and  among  his  works 
were  inscriptions  for  public  edifices  at  Paris, 
for  which  he  received  a  pension  from  the  city. 
His  personal  character  was  singular  in  the  ex- 
treme, exhibiting  all  the  violence,  impatience, 
and  caprice  of  an  eccentric  wit  and  humourist. 
His  moral  conduct  was  liable  to  great  repre- 
hension ;  yet  he  had  occasional  fits  of  devo- 
tion, in  which  he  endeavoured  to  atone  for  his 
irregularities  by  writing  Latin  odes  and  canti- 
cles for  the  church.  Those  which  he  composed 
for  that  of  Paris,  were  so  much  applauded, 
that  many  other  churches  wished  to  employ 
him  in  a  similar  task.  He  spent  much  of  his 
time  in  society,  and  was  patronised  by  the  two 
princes  of  Conde,  the  duke  of  Bourbon,  and 
other  persons  of  distinction.  He  was  also  no- 
ticed by  Louis  XIV.  who  granted  him  a  pen- 
sion, on  condition  of  devoting  his  talents  en- 
tirely to  sacred  poetry.  His  death  took  place 
at  Dijon,  whither  he  had  accompanied  the 
duke  of  Bourbon,  in  August,  1697.  A  com- 
plete edition  of  his  works  was  published  in 
1729,  3  vols.  12mo. — His  elder  brother, 
CLAUDE  SANTEUL,  who  belonged  to  the  semi- 
nary of  St  Magloire,  at  Paris,  was  also  a  wri- 
ter of  Latin  poetry.  He  died  in  1684. — Biog. 
Univ. 

SAPPHO,  a  celebrated  Lesbian  poetess, 
who  flourished  about  the  forty-fourth  Olym- 
piad, in  the  fifth  century  before  the  Christian 
aera.  She  was  the  wife  of  Cercolaus,  by  whom 
she  had  a  daughter,  but  appears  to  have  been 
more  remarkable  for  her  wit  and  talents  than 
for  her  personal  charms.  It  appears  to  have 
been  after  she  became  a  widow  that  she  ren- 
dered herself  so  distinguished  by  her  poetry 
and  amorous  propensities.  Her  verses  were 
chiefly  of  the  lyric  kind,  and  love  was  their 
general  subject,  which  she  treated  with  so 
much  warmth  of  nature,  and  beauty  of  poeti- 
cal expression,  as  to  acquire  the  title  of  the 
tenth  muse.  Her  morals,  however,  have  been 
as  much  depreciated  as  her  genius  has  been 
exalted  ;  and  besides  her  desperate  attach- 
inent  to  Phaon,  which  Ovid  has  immortalized, 
she  has  been  accused  of  improper  attachments 
to  several  of  her  own  sex.  There  are  various 
accounts  of  her  death,  but  that  most  generally 
received  states,  that  unable  to  bear  the  neg- 
lect of  Phaon,  she  repaired  to  the  famous  pre- 
cipice of  Leucate,  popularly  called  the  Lover's 
Leap,  and  threw  herself  into  the  sea,  which  ter- 
minated at  once  both  her  life  and  her  love. 
Of  the  works  of  Sappho  there  remain  only  a 
'"'  Hymn  to  Venus,"  two  epigrams,  an  ode, 
and  some  trifling  fragments.  Of  the  ode  an 
elegant  version  is  given  by  Catullus  ;  and  both 
that  and  the  hymn  are  known  to  the  English 


S  A  R 

reader  by  the  versions  of  Ambrose  Philips. 
Sappho  is  regarded  as  the  inventor  of  the 
stanza  called  after  her  name,  as  also  of  the 
measure  denominated  myxo-Lydian. — Vosuli 
Poet,.  Gra:c.  Baijle. 

SARAZIN  (JAMES)  an  eminent  French 
sculptor,  born  at  Noyon  in  1590.  After  stu- 
dying at  Paris,  he  went  to  Rome,  where  lie 
contracted  a  friendship  with  Domenichino,  the 
painter,  who  assisted  him  wkh  his  advice.  He 
resided  at  Rome  eighteen  years,  and  then  re- 
turned home  through  Florence  and  Lyons,  at 
both  which  places  he  left  some  of  his  produc- 
tions. He  was  employed  by  cardinal  Riche- 
lieu, and  he  made  a  group  in  silver  and  gold, 
representing  the  presentation  of  the  dauphin 
to  the  Virgin  Mary,  intended  as  an  offering 
from  the  queen,  Anne  of  Austria,  to  the  cha- 
pel of  Loretto.  He  also  executed  several 
works  which  afforded  greater  scope  for  his  ta- 
lents, and  particularly  a  much-admired  group 
of  two  children  and  a  goat,  at  Marli.  His  best 
production  was  the  mausoleum  of  Henry  de 
Bourbon,  prince  of  Conde,  who  died  in  1646. 
His  works  display  grace  and  elegance,  but  his 
figures  are  said  to  want  dignity  and  correct- 
ness, and  his  draperies  are  heavy.  He  died  at 
Paris  in  1660. — Biog.  Univ. 

SARBIEWSK1  (MATTHIAS  CASIMIII) 
commonly  known  by  the  name  of  Casimir,  was 
born  in  1595,  of  a  noble  family  in  Poland.  He. 
entered  into  the  society  of  Jesus  in  1612,  and 
being  sent  to  Rome,  devoted  himself  to  the 
study  of  classical  antiquities  and  poetry.  On 
his  return  to  Poland  he  was  successively  pro- 
fessor of  classic  philosophy  and  theology  at 
VVilna,  and  when  he  took  his  doctor's  degree, 
Ladislaus  IV  assisted  at  the  ceremony,  and 
placed  his  own  ring  on  his  finger.  The  same 
king  afterwards  nominated  him  his  preacher, 
and  made  him  the  companion  of  his  journies. 
He  was  cut  off  in  the  prime  of  life,  dyiug 
at  Warsaw,  in  1640,  at  the  age  of  forty-five, 
at  which  time  he  had  begun  an  epic  poem  on 
the  history  of  Poland,  entitled  "  The  Les- 
cliiad."  His  finished  Latin  poems,  which  con- 
sist of  odes,  epodes,  dithyrambics,  epigrams, 
and  miscellaneous  pieces,  have  acquired  him 
a  high  reputation,  and  the  emphatic  praise  of 
Grotius,  Heinsius,  and  Borrichius.  Several 
of  his  odes  relate  to  national  events,  and  are 
touched  with  great  fire  and  spirit.  He  has 
been  criticised  for  impurity  of  diction  and  oc- 
casional extravagance  ;  but,  upon  the  whole, 
few  modern  Latin  poets  have  exhibited  equal 
force  and  fertility.  His  works  have  been  se- 
veral times  printed,  and  an  elegant  edition 
was  given  by  Barbou  in  1759,  12mo. — Baillet. 
Classical  Journal,  No.  xxv.  Bowring's  Pulis/i 
Poets 

SARNELLI  (POMPEIO)  a  learned  Italian 
prelate,  born  at  Polignano  in  1649,  and  studied 
principally  at  Naples.  In  1675,  after  he  had 
been  admitted  to  priest's  orders,  pope  Cle- 
ment X  made  him  honorary  prothonotary  ;  and 
in  1679  he  was  appointed  grand  vicar  to  car- 
dinal Orsino,  and  obtained  other  preferment, 
being  ultimately  nominated  bishop  of  Biseglia. 
He  died  in  1724.  He  was  author  of  more  than 


S  AU 

thirty  works,  enumerated  by  Niceron  and 
Moreri,  of  which  the  principal  are  "  Letters 
Ecclesiastiche,"  9  vols.  4to  ;  "  II  Clero  seco- 
lare  nel  suo  Splendore,  overo  della  Vita  com- 
mune clericale,"  1688,  4to  ;  "  Bestiarum 
Schola  ad  Homines  Krudiendos  ab  ipsa  Rerum 
Natura  provide  instituta,"  &.c.  ;  "  Memorie 
Chronologiche  de_'  Vescovi  et  Arcivescovi  di 
Benevento  ;"  the  lives  of  Baptista  Porta,  Bol- 
doni.  and  others. — Niceron.  Moreri. 

SARRASIN,  (JOHN  FRANCIS)  an  eminent 
French  poet,  born  in  Normandy  about  1604. 
He  studied  at  the  university  of  Caen,  and 
afterwards  going  to  Paris,  obtained  an  intro- 
duction to  the  first  society,  and  married  a  ricli 
wife,  whose  age  and  ill-temper  so  disgusted 
him,  that  he  procured  a  separation.  He  then 
entered  into  the  service  of  the  prince  of  Conti, 
as  las  secretary,  but  falling  into  disgrace  with 
that  nobleman,  whom  he  had  persuaded  to 
marry  the  niece  of  cardinal  Mazarin,  he  was 
dismissed,  and  died  soon  after  in  16.55.  His 
poetical  works  were  published  at  Paris,  in 
1663,  12mo  ;  and  two  more  volumes  appeared 
in  1675. — Huet,  Orig.  de  Caen.  Biog.  Univ. 

SARTI  (JOSEPH)  an  able  and  graceful  com- 
poser, was  born  at  Faenza,  in  1730.  In  1756 
lie  went  to  Copenhagen,  and  held  the  situa- 
tion of  Maestro  di  Capella  to  the  young  king 
of  Denmark,  for  whose  theatre  he  published 
an  opera,  which  was  but  moderately  success- 
ful. He  then  went  to  Venice,  where  he  was 
appointed  master  of  the  conservatorio  of  I, a 
Pieta,  and  composed  his  opera  of  "  Guilio 
Sabino,"  which  obtained  so  much  reputation 
that  he  was  invited  to  St  Petersburg!!,  where 
the  empress  Catharine  appointed  him  director 
of  the  conservatory  of  music  at  Catharineslafl", 
with  a  munificent  salary,  to  which  she  after- 
wards added  a  title  of  nobility  and  an  estate. 
He  resided  in  Russia  eighteen  years,  and  re- 
tired in  1801,  with  a  pension,  with  a  view  of 
seeking  a  warmer  climate,  but  died  the  follow- 
ing year  at  Berlin.  Sard  composed  nearly  a 
score  of  operas,  with  some  pieces  of  church 
music,  which  are  very  highly  esteemed,  espe- 
cially a  "  Miserere,"  from  which  there  is  an 
exquisitely  beautiful  trio,  to  be  found  in  the 
second  volume  of  the  sacred  music  of  Latrobe. 
— Biog.  Diet,  of  Mus. 

SAUMAISE  (CLAUDE)  one  of  the  most 
learned  and  indefatigable  classical  scholars  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  He  was  born  at  Se- 
mur  in  France,  April  15,  1588.  He  com- 
menced his  studies  under  his  father,  and  af- 
terwards pursued  them  at  Paris  and  Heidel- 
herg.  In  1610  he  entered  as  an  advocate  of 
the  parliament  of  Dijon,  but  he  never  appeared 
at  tUe  bar,  being  wholly  engrossed  by  the 
study  of  ancient  literature.  He  succeeded 
Joseph  Scaliger  as  professor  of  history  at  Ley- 
den,  where  he  remained,  in  spite  of  the  tempt- 
ing offers  made  by  cardinals  Richelieu  and  JNJa- 
zarin  to  induce  him  to  return  to  France.  He 
however  received  marks  of  favour  from  the 
king,  who  appointed  him  a  counsellor  of  state. 
Jn  1649  he  wrote  a  defence  of  Charles  I  of 
England,  at  the  request  of  his  son  ;  and  this 
work  involved  him  in  a  literary  contest  with 


S  A  U 

the  celebrated  Milton,  from  whom  it  produced 
his  forcible  but  virulent  "  Defensio  pro  Populo 
Anglicano,"  which  was  so  much  more  popular 
than  the  work  of  Saumaise,  that  the  latter  was 
greatly  mortified  ;  nor  could  he  justly  com- 
plain on  the  score  of  rancour  and  scurrilitv, 
the  indecorum  in  this  respect  being  mutual. 
He  twice  visited  the  court  of  Christina,  queen 
of  Sweden  ;  and  the  second  time  he  was  re- 
called by  the  curators  of  the  university  of  Ley- 
den,  who,  in  their  address  to  Christina,  in- 
formed her  that  "  as  the  world  could  not  SUD- 
sist  without  the  presence  of  the  sun,  neither 
could  their  university  without  that  of  Sau- 
maise." On  his  journey  homeward  he  was 
admitted  to  the  table  of  the  king  of  Denmark, 
and  conducted,  loaded  with  presents,  to  the 
frontiers  of  the  kingdom.  But  the  fatigue  he 
had  encountered  debilitated  his  constitution, 
and  occasioned  his  death,  which  took  place  at 
Spa,  September  6,  1653.  The  Swedish  queen 
composed  a  funeral  oration  for  him,  and  un- 
dertook the  education  of  his  third  son.  Among 
his  works  are  treatises,  "  De  Usuris  ;"  "  De 
Modo  Usurarum ;"  "  De  Foenore  Trapezi- 
tico  ;"  "  Diatriba  de  Mutuo  non  esse  Aliena- 
tionem  ;"  "  De  Re  Militari  Romanorum  ;" 
and  "  De  Hellenistica."  But  he  is  chiefly 
celebrated  for  his  commentaries  on  the  Scrip- 
tores  Historiae  Augustse  ;  Solinus  ;  Florus  ; 
Epictetus,  &c.  Though  violent  as  a  contro- 
versial writer,  Saumaise  was  mild  and  unas- 
suming in  private  life.  His  mind  was  a  vast 
magazine  of  various  knowledge,  the  result  of  a 
retentive  memory  and  great  industry,  but  little 
improved  by  taste  or  judgment. — Biog.  Univ. 
Aikin's  Gen.  Biog. 

SAUNDERS  (sir  EDMUND)  an  English 
judge  and  legal  reporter  of  eminence  in  the 
reign  of  Charles  II.  He  was  originally  an 
errand-boy  at  the  inns  of  court,  who  being 
employed  to  copy  precedents,  gradually  ac- 
quired so  much  knowledge  as  to  qualify  him 
for  an  attorney.  He  was  subsequently  called 
to  the  bar,  and  in  1682  he  was  made  chief- 
justice  of  the  court  of  King's  Bench.  His  death 
took  place  suddenly  in  the  course  of  the  same 
year.  His  "  Reports  of  several  Pleadings  and 
Cases  in  B.  R.  temp.  Car.  II."  were  first  pub- 
lishediu  French,  1686, i>.  vols.  folio  ;  and  the  third 
edition,  with  notes  and  references  by  Serjeant 
Williams,  appeared  in  1799,  2  vols.  large  8vo. 
These  Reports  are  considered  as  peculiarly 
valuable,  on  account  of  the  correct  state  of 
the  pleadings  in  the  several  cases. — North's 
Life  of  lord  Guilford.  Bridgman's  Leg.  Bib. 

SAUNDERSUN  (NICHOLAS)  a  celebrated 
blind  mathematician,  born  at  Thurlston  in 
Yorkshire,  in  1682.  When  a  year  old  he  en- 
tirely lost  his  eye-sight  through  the  small- 
pox. Notwithstanding  this  privation,  he  ac- 
quired at  a  grammar-school  a  knowledge  of 
Latin  and  Greek,  which  he  afterwards  so  much 
improved  as  to  be  able  to  understand  the 
works  of  Euclid,  Archimedes,  and  other  an- 
cient geometers  when  read  to  him  in  the  ori- 
ginal languages.  Having  pursued  his  studies 
for  some  time  with  the  assistance  of  friends 
who  admired  his  talents,  he  was,  in  1707, 


S  AU 

sent  to  Cambridge.  He  took  up  his  residence 
at  Christ's  college,  without  being  admitted 
a  member  of  that  society,  notwithstanding 
which  he  was  allowed  a  room  and  the  use  of 
the  library  ;  and  he  soon  commenced  giving 
lectures.  Numbers  Socked  to  hear  him,  partly 
from  curiosity,  to  observe  how  a  blind  man 
would  exphuu  the  phenomena  of  light  and  co- 
lours, as  the  subject  on  which  he  lectured  was 
optics.  He  became  acquainted  with  sir  Isaac 
Newton,  with  whom  he  carried  on  an  inte- 
resting correspondence  ;  and  on  the  ejection  of 
Mr  Whiston  from  the  mathematical  professor- 
ship, Saunderson  was  chosen  to  the  vacant 
chair.  He  applied  himself  closely  to  the  du- 
ties of  his  station,  and  continued  to  reside  at 
Christ's  college  till  1723,  when  be  took  a 
house,  and  married  the  daughter  of  a  clergy- 
man, by  whom  he  had  a  son  and  a  daughter. 
In  1728,  when  George  IT  visited  the  univer- 
sity, he  was  created  doctor  of  laws,  by  the 
royal  mandate.  Though  naturally  of  a  strong 
constitution,  he  suffered  at  length  from  too 
close  application  to  study ;  and  after  some 
years'  illness,  he  died  from  mortification  of  the 
foot,  April  19,  1739.  As  an  author  he  is 
principally  known  on  account  of  an  elaborate 
treatise  on  algebra,  published  after  his  death 
at  Cambridge,  1740,  2  vols.  4to.  He  left 
other  works  in  an  imperfect  state,  among 
which  were  comments  on  Newton's  Principia, 
which  were  published  at  the  end  of  his  post- 
humous treatise  on  Fluxions,  1756,  8vo. — 
Life  prefixed  to  his  Algebra.  Rees's  Cyclop. 
Martin's  Biog.  Philos. 

SAURIN  (ELIAS)  an  eminent  Piedmontese 
Protestant  minister,  born  in  the  year  1639,  at 
Visseaux,  on  the  borders  of  Dauphiny.  He 
was  educated  by  his  father,  the  minister  of  his 
native  place,  and  successively  attended  the 
Protestant  seminaries  of  Die,  Nismes,  and 
Geneva.  He  was  admitted  to  the  ministry  in 
1661,  and  would  have  been  made  professor  of 
divinity  at  Die,  had  he  not  been  driven  from 
his  country  by  persecution.  He  took  refuge 
in  Holland,  and  became  pastor  of  the  Wal- 
loon church  at  Delft,  and  retained  that  situa- 
tion in  1671,  when  he  accepted  the  same  of- 
fice at  Utrecht.  He  was  one  of  the  learned 
and  moderate  ministers  who  were  accused  of 
heresy  by  the  furious  Jurieu,  whose  bigotry 
arid  fanaticism  he  very  ably  exposed.  He  had 
also  a  contest  with  Bayle,  on  the  subject  of  his 
"  Philosophical  Commentary."  He  died  in 
1703.  He  was  author  of  an  "  Examination 
of  the  Divinity  of  M.  Jurieu,"  2  vols.  8vo  ; 
"  Reflections  on  the  Rights  of  Conscience  ;" 
"A  Treatise  on  the  Love  of  God;"  "A 
Treatise  on  the  Love  of  our  Neighbour,"  &c. 
— Moreri. 

SAURIN  (JAMES)  a  learned  French  Pro- 
testant divine  and  very  celebrated  preacher, 
was  the  son  of  an  eminent  Protestant  lawyer 
at  Nismes.  where  he  was  born  in  1677.  Upon 
the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantz  in  1685, 
his  father  retired  with  his  family  to  Geneva, 
where  the  subject  of  this  article  made  a  consi- 
derable progress  in  learning,  but  quitted  his 
studies  and  went  into  the  army.  He  made  a 


S  A  U 

campaign  as  a  cadet  in  the  regimeiit  of  lord 
Galloway  in  169-1 ;  but  when  the  duke  of  Sa- 
voy, under  whom  he  served,  made  a  peace  in 
1696,  he  renounced  the  military  profession, 
and  returned  to  Geneva  with  a  view  to  engage 
in  the  ministry.  When  he  had  finished  hia 
studies,  in  the  year  1700  lie  visited  Holland 
and  England,  in  the  latter  of  which  countries 
he  continued  nearly  five  years,  and  preached 
with  great  acceptance  among  his  fellow-refu- 
gees in  London.  In  1703  he  married  a  lady 
by  whom  he  had  a  son,  who  survived  him ; 
and  two  years  afterwards  he  returned  to  Hol- 
land, and  in  the  first  instance  obtained  a  chap- 
laincy to  some  of  the  nobility  at  the  Hague. 
He  subsequently  became  one  of  the  pastors  to 
a  congregation  of  French  refugees,  who  were 
permitted  to  assemble  in  a  chapel  belonging  to 
tUe  palace  of  the  prince  of  Orange,  in  the 
same  place.  Here  he  officiated  for  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life,  and  was  constantly  at- 
tended by  a  crowded  and  brilliant  audience, 
attracted  by  his  powerful  and  persuasive  ta- 
lents as  a  preacher.  When  the  princess  of 
Wales,  afterwards  queen,  Caroline,  passed 
through  the  Hague,  she  received  him  with  the 
greatest  condescension  ;  and  aftei  wards,  with 
a  view  to  the  benefit  of  Frederick,  prince  of 
Wales,  commissioned  him  to  write  a  "Treatise 
on  the  Education  of  Princes."  For  this  work, 
which  has  never  been  printed,  he  received  a 
handsome  present  ;  and  afterwards,  by  the 
same  influence,  a  pension  was  conferred  upon 
him  by  George  II,  to  whom  he  dedicated  a 
volume  of  his  sermons.  His  celebrity  excited 
the  envy  of  some  of  his  brethren,  and  his  mo- 
deration the  bigotry  of  others  ;  and  their  ill- 
will  involved  him  in  disputes  which  much  em- 
bittered the  latter  end  of  his  life.  He  died  in 
1730,  at  the  age  of  fifty-three.  This  eminent 
preacher  and  exemplary  man  possessed  great 
talents,  and  a  fine  address ;  his  voice  was 
strong,  clear,  and  harmonious,  and  his  style 
pious,  unaffected,  and  eloquent.  He  had  the 
happy  art  of  adapting  his  arguments  with 
great  skill  to  the  understanding  of  the  audi- 
ences before  whom  he  spoke,  and  was  persua- 
sive and  pathetic,  or  plain,  clear,  and  argu- 
mentative, as  best  suited  his  subjects  or  his 
hearers.  His  principles  were  those  of  mode- 
rate Calvinism.  He  was  the  author  of  twelve 
volumes  of  Sermons,  8vo,  selections  from 
which  were  translated  into  English,  and  pub- 
lished between  1775  and  1784,  in  5  vols.  by 
Mr  Robert  Robinson,  a  sixth  being  added,  in 
1796,  by  Dr  Henry  Hunter.  His  other  works 
are,  "  The  State  of  Christianity  in  France," 
8vo,  which  work  treats  of  many  points  of  con- 
troversy between  the  French  Catholics  and 
Protestants;  "A  Compendium  of  Christian 
Divinity  and  Morality,  in  the  Catechistical 
Form,"  8vo;  "  Discourses,  Historical,  Criti- 
cal, and  Moral,  ou  the  most  Remarkable 
Events  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments."  Of 
this,  his  most  considerable  work,  he  had  nearly 
completed  3  vols.  folio,  when  he  died  ;  to 
which  Roques  added  a  fourth  on  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, and  M.  Beausobre  two  more  on  the 
New  Testament,  making  the  whole  amount  to 


S  A  U 

6  ?o!s.  folio.  It  was  a  dissertation  in  the  se- 
cond volume,  "  On  the  Expediency  of  some- 
times Disguising  the  Truth,"  that  gave  a  pre- 
tence for  the  controversy,  which  eventually 
so  much  annoyed  him.  He  conceived  that 
in  the  character  of  historian  he  was  entitled 
to  state  the  arguments  of  those  who  main- 
tained the  affirmative  of  the  position,  as  well 
as  of  those  who  denied  it ;  and,  without  for- 
mally deciding  the  point,  he  was  thought  to 
favour  the  sentiments  of  the  former.  On  this 
account  he  was  assailed  with  furious  clamours, 
but  met  with  zealous  defenders,  as  well  as  ran- 
corous opponents ;  and  after  giving  a  satisfac- 
tory explanation  of  his  sentiments,  the  synods 
decided  the  dispute  in  his  favour.  In  other 
respects,  this  elaborate  work  is  replete  with 
learning ;  and  throughout  the  author  shows 
himself  a  complete  friend  to  toleration. — 
Robinson's  Memoirs  prefixed  to  Sermons.  Chaiife- 
pie.  Mnreri. 

SAURIN  (JOSEPH)  a  French  mathemati- 
cian, was  born  in  1659,  at  Courtuson,  in  the 
principality  of  Orange.  He  was  educated  by 
his  father,  a  Protestant  minister  at  Grenoble, 
and  at  a  very  early  age  was  admitted  to  the 
ministry,  at  Eure  in  Dauphiny.  Here  he 
gave  offence  to  the  Catholics  by  the  freedom 
of  his  language  ;  and  in  1683  he  was  obliged 
to  retire  to  Geneva,  whence  he  removed  to 
Berne,  and  was  appointed  pastor  of  the  church 
of  Berchen,  in  the  bailiwick  of  Yverdun. 
Being  peaceably  settled  in  his  living,  he  mar- 
ried a  lady  of  noble  birth  ;  but  was  soon  after 
obliged  to  withdraw  to  Holland,  in  conse- 
quence of  having  preached  against  some  of 
the  doctrines  of  the  formulary,  subscription  to 
which  was  then  required  in  Switzerland  from 
all  French  refugee  ministers.  He  now  deter- 
mined to  quit  the  Protestant  communion,  and 
having  made  his  intention  known  to  the  cele- 
brated Bossuet,  bishop  of  Meaux,  he  made 
his  abjuration  hefore  that  prelate  in  1690.  How 
far  conviction,  resentment,  or  the  desire  of  ad- 
vancement, operated  towards  his  conversion 
has  been  much  disputed,  but  he  immediately 
received  a  pension  from  Louis  XIV  ;  and  de- 
voting himself  to  mathematical  studies  with 
great  ardour  and  success,  was,  in  1707,  ad- 
mitted a  member  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences. 
Some  years  afterwards  he  was  involved  in  a  dis- 
pute with  the  poet  Rousseau,  on  the  subject  of  [ 
some  virulent  satirical  songs,  which  dispute  ; 
caused  him  much  trouble,  and  a  short  impri- 
sonment ;  but  in  1712  an  arret  of  parliament 
decided  in  his  favour,  and  banished  his  anta- 
gonist from  the  kingdom.  He  died  of  a  lethar- 
gic fever  in  1737.  He  was  a  lively,  impetuous, 
and  independent  character  ;  and  thereby  created 
to  himself  many  enemies,  who  assailed  him 
while  living,  and  blackened  his  reputation  after 
death.  His  mathematical  and  philosophical 
papers,  which  are  esteemed  very  able,  will  be 
found  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy  of 
Sciences,  from  1709  to  1727. — Moreri.  Hut- 
ton's  Math.  Diet. 

SAURIN  ( BERNARD  JOSEPH)  a  dramatic 
writer,  the  son  of  the  subject  of  the  preceding 
article,  was  brought  up  to  the  law,  which  he 


S  A  U 

forsook  for  the  drama.  His  tragedy  of  "  Spar 
tacus,"  acted  at  Paris  in  1760,  raised  'iim  to 
reputation,  which  was  farther  advanced  by  his 
"  Mumrs  du  Temps,"  a  lively  comedy  in  prose. 
Various  other  dramas  followed,  as  well  as  se- 
veral pieces  of  poetry  and  a  number  of  "  Cou- 
plets Bacchiques,"  which  are  gay  and  inge- 
nious. He  was  intimate  with  Montesquieu, 
Voltaire,  and  Helvetius  ;  the  latter  of  whom 
gave  him  a  pension  of  a  thousand  crowns,  and 
presented  him  a  sum  equivalent  to  the  capital 
of  that  annuity  on  his  marriage.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  French  Academy,  and  died  in 
1781.  The  "  Theatre  de  Sauriu  "  was  printed 
in  1783,  in  2  vols.  8vo. — Ntwv.  Diet.  Hist. 

SAUSSUR.E  (HORACE  BENEDICT  de)  a  dis- 
tinguished natural  pbilosopher,  born  at  Ge- 
neva, February  17,  1740.  From  his  father, 
who  was  a  member  of  the  Council  of  Two 
Hundred  and  the  author  of  works  on  agricul- 
ture, he  imbibed  a  taste  for  the  studv  jf  nature. 
Such  were  his  early  attainments,  that  he  be- 
came professor  of  philosophy  at  Geneva  at  the 
age  of  twenty-two.  He  travelled  in  search  of 
knowledge  in  France,  England,  and  other 
parts  of  Europe.  In  1760  he  began  exploring 
the  Glaciers  of  the  Alps,  among  which  he  long 
continued  to  make  annual  excursions.  In  1779 
he  had  crossed  the  Alps  fourteen  times,  in 
eight  different  tracks  ;  and  that  year  he  pub- 
lished the  first  volume  of  his  "  Voyages  dans 
les  Alpes,"  which  was  followed  by  three  more 
in  1786 — 1796.  In  July  1788  he  succeeded  in 
reaching  the  summit  of  Mont  Blanc,  the  most 
elevated  peak  of  the  Alpine  chain  ;  and  in  the 
following  year  he  explored  Mont  Rose,  in  the 
Pennine  Alps.  When  Geneva_was  united  to 
the  French  Republic,  he  was  chosen  a  deputy 
to  the  National  Assembly  ;  but  the  consequent 
troubles  which  ensued,  both  public  and  domes- 
tic, contributed  to  disturb  the  tranquillity  of 
his  life,  and  hastened  his  decease,  which  hap- 
pened January  22,  1799.  Saussure  was  the 
author  of  many  essays  and  papers,  relating  to 
natural  philosophy  and  natural  history  ;  and 
he  displayed  his  ingenuity  by  the  construction 
of  a  thermometer  for  measuring  the  tempera- 
ture of  water  at  various  depths,  of  a  hygro- 
meter, to  determine  the  quantity  of  aqueous 
vapour  in  the  air,  of  a  eudiometer,  to  ascertain 
the  purity  of  the  atmosphere,  of  an  electro- 
meter, an  anemometer,  and  other  philosophical 
instruments.  He  carried  on  an  extensive  cor- 
respondence with  men  of  science  in  various 
countries,  and  contributed  greatly  to  the  dif- 
fusion of  natural  knowledge. — Rees's  Cyclop. 
Biog.  Univ. 

SAUVEUR  (JOSEPH)  a  native  of  La 
Fleche,  born  1653.  He  was  dumb  from  his 
birth,  till  he  had  passed  his  seventh  year, 
when  he  at  length  attained  the  faculty  of 
speech,  and  became  eventually  one  of  the 
ablest  mathematicians  of  his  day.  He  was 
professor  of  the  science  in  the  college  of  Paris, 
as  well  as  a  member  of  the  Academy  of 
Sciences,  among  whose  transactions  are  to  be 
found  several  valuable  treatises  by  him,  espe- 
cially on  the  subject  of  music.  He  was  also 
the  inventor  of  a  musical  chronometer.  Among 


SA  V 


other  eccentricities,  he  refused  to  see  the ' 
woman  he  had  selected  for  his  wife,  till  after 
the  contract  was  mutually  signed.  By  this 
lady  he  had  a  son,  who  laboured  under  a  simi- 
lar impediment  with  regard  to  speech  as  his 
father,  and  for  a  similar  period.  His  death 
took  place  in  1716. — Nouv.Dict.  Hist. 

SAUVAGES  (FRANCIS  BOISSIER  de)  the 
inventor  of  modern  nosology.     He  was   born 
at  Alais,  in  Lower  Languedoc,  in  1706,   and 
was  the  son  of  Boissier,  lord  of  Sauvages,  a 
captain  in  the  army.     After  a  preliminary  edu- 
cation   at   Ala-is,   he  entered    at  Montpellier 
upon  a  course  of  medical  study,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  degree   of  doctor  in   1726.     In 
173O  he  visited   Paris,  where   he   formed   the 
plan  of  an  arrangement  of  diseases  according 
to  the  botanical  method  of  classes,  genus,  and 
species.     He  published  a  sketch  of  his  design 
in  1732,  under  the  title  of  "  Noirvelles  Classes 
des  Maladies,  dans  tin  Ordre  semblable  acelui 
des  Botanistes."     On  his  return   to  Montpel- 
lier he  obtained  the  survivorship  of  the  medi- 
cal chair,  which  he  soon  after  occupied.     His 
reputation  was  rapidly  extended   by  his  writ- 
ings and  lectures,  and  in   1740  he  was  nomi- 
nated  demonstrator  of  botany   in   the    royal 
gardens  at  Montpellier,  and  in  1751  he  pub- 
lished  his   "Methodus    Foliorum,"   8vo.     A 
number  of  dissertations,  and  other  works,  at- 
tested his  diligence,  among  which  the  princi- 
pal was  "  Nosologia  Methodica,"  5  vols.  8vo, 
1763,  and  since  his  death  in  2  vols.  4to,  1768, 
being   the   completion    of    his    system.     The 
classification   of  diseases,   according   to  their 
obvious  symptoms,  is  regarded  as  a  great  im- 
provement in  nosology,   although  it   offers 
temptation  to  multiply  diseases  by  forming  new 
species    from    trifling    circumstances.     It  is 
however,    a   valuable    performance,    and,    as 
might  be  imagined,  was  much  admired  by  Lin 
nreus-,  who  formed  a  nosology  of  his  own  on 
the  same  plan.     After  a  life  spent  in  an  assi- 
duous attention  to  his   duties  as  a  physician 
and   professor,  he  died  in  1767,  in  the  sixty- 
first  year  of  his  age.     He  was  much  belovee 
by    his  numerous  pupils,  and   his-  reputation 
procured   him  an  accumulation  of  literary  ho- 
nours both  at  home  and  abroad.     He  was  mar- 
ried, and  left  two  sons  and  four  daughters. — 
E/oy  Diet.  Hi*t.  deMed. 

SAVAGE,  DD.  (JOHN)  an  English  clergy 
man  of  the  last  century,  educated  at  West 
minster  school,  whence  he  removed  to  Ema 
nuel  college,  Cambridge,  and  there  gra 
duated  in  divinity.  He  was  a  man  of  conside 
ruble  talent,  but  of  rather  eccentric  manners 
which  more  especially  displayed  themselves  in 
the  exhibition  of  a  singular  attachment  to  the 

D 

seminary  in  which  he  had  been  brought  up. 
Lord  Salisbury,  to-  whom  he  had  acted  in  the 
capacity  of  travelling  tutor,  gave  him  the  liv- 
ing of  Clothall  in  Hertfordshire,  which,  toge- 
ther with  the  lectureship  of  St  George's,  Ha- 
nover-square, he  enjoyed  till  his  death,  March 
24,  1747.  He  is  known  as  the  author  of  "  The 
Turkish  History,"  8vo,  2  vol&.  ;  "  Letters  of 
the  Antients,"  8vo,  and  two  occasional  ser- 
mons. 
Bioc 


S  A  V 

iVestmmster  foundation,  whom   his   frequent 
visits  had  much  attached,  raised  a  tablet  to  his 
the   eastern    part   of   the   abbey 


memory,   in 
•loisters. — Gent.  Mag. 

SAVAGE  (RICHARD)  an  English  poet  of 
he  last  century,  celebrated  for  his  genius,  ir- 
•egu'larities,   and   misfortunes.     He  was   born 
January  10,  1698,    being  the  natural   son   of 
countess  of  Macclesfield,  who,  anxious 
procure  a  divorce  from  her  husband,  with 
whom  she  had  long    lived  on    the  worst  of 
:erms,  publicly  and   shamelessly  declared  that 
;he  child  with  which  she  was   then  pregnant 
was  the  offspring  of  an  adulterous  intercourse 
carried  on  between   herself  and  earl    Rivers. 
Mo  sooner  did  the  boy,  whose  misfortunes  may 
thus  be  considered  to  have  commenced  even 
Before   his  birth,  see  the  light,  than  a  violent 
and  most  unnatural  hatred  seems  to  have  taken 
complete   possession  of  his  mother.     He  was 
not  only  at  once  disowned,   but  placed  by  her 
with  an  old  woman  in  the  lowest  state  of  in. 
digence,.  with    directions  that   he   should  be 
brought  up  in  utter  ignorance  of  his  birth,  and 
in  the  meanest  condition.     The  interference  of 
his  maternal  grandmother,  the  lady  Mason,  a 
little  alleviated  his  lot  ;  and  through  her  kind- 
ness the  boy  was  placed  at  a  grammar-school 
in  the   neighbourhood   of  St  Alban's,   during 
which  period  earl  Rivers,  who  seems  unques- 
tionably to  have    considered   him   as  his  son, 
died,  revoking  a   bequest  he  had  made  him  of 
6000/.    on    being    positively  assured    by   the 
countess  herself  that  the  child  had  been  some 
time  dead.     The  same  cruelty  soon  after  in- 
fluenced this  wretched  woman  to  endeavour  to 
have  him  kidnapped,  and  sent  as  a  slave  to  the 
plantations,   a  fate  he  very  narrowly  escaped. 
Young  Savage  was  now  apprenticed  to  a  shoe- 
maker, when  the  woman,  whom  he  had  been 
taught  to  consider  his  mother,  dying  suddenly 
some  of  laxly  Mason's  letters,  which  he  found 
among  her  papers,  discovered  to  him  the  secret 
of  his  birth.  From  this  moment  his  attempts  to 
see,  and,  if  possible,  obtain  the  notice  of  his  leaf 
parent   were   incessant;  and  he  is   known  to 
have  perambulated  for  hours  at  a  time  before 
her  residence,   merely  with  the  hope  of  ob- 
taining a  glimpse  of  her  person ;  bat  all  his 
assiduity   and    applications  were    unavailing, 
while  necessity  compelled  him  to  become  an 
author  for   the  means   of  bodily  subsistence. 
His  first  work  was  a  pamphlet  on   the  Ban- 
gorian  controversy,   which  then  engaged    the 
public  attention ;  a  crude  effort,  of  which  he 
was  afterwards  ashamed.     This  be  followed 
up  with  two  comedies,  "  Woman's  a  Riddle," 
and  "  Love  in  a  Veil,"  which,  however,  pro- 
cured him  little  advantage    beyond   the    ac- 
quaintance   of    sir    Richard    Steele    and    Mr 
Wilkes  ;  the  former  of  whom  used  to  declare, 
that  "  the  inhumanity  of  his  mother  had  given 
him   a  right  to  find  a  father   in   every  good 
man;"   while   the  interposition  of  the  latter 
was  so  far  effectual,  as  to  procure  him  on  one 
occasion  fifty  pounds   from  his  mother,  with 
the  promise  of  a  farther  sum,  which  was  never 
performed.     In  1723  his  tragedy,  on  the  sub- 
After  his  decease,  the  scholars  on  the    jectof  sir  Thomas  Overbury,  was  brought  out. 
.  DICT.— VOL.  III.  I    ' 


S  A  V 

under  the  auspices  of  Aaron  Hill.  This  gentle- 
man wrote  the  prologue  anil  epilogue,  in  which 
he  alludes  very  happily  to  the  circumstances 
of  the  author,  who  himself  performed  the 
principal  character,  but  with  little  success ; 
the  profits  of  the  piece,  however,  appear  to 
have  amounted  to  about  200/.  Nor  did  Mr 
Hill's  kindness  stop  here,  as  he  not  only  con- 
tributed to  a  volume  of"  Miscellanies,"  which 
Savage  edited  soon  after,  but  by  his  exertions 
procured  him  a  subscription  of  seventy  gui- 
neas, towards  the  publication.  The  poet  was 
now  rising  fast  in  reputation,  when,  in  1727, 
in  a  broil  in  a  house  of  ill-fame,  he  killed  a 
Mr  Sinclair  ;  and  being  tried  for  murder,  a 
verdict  of  guilty  was  pronounced  against  him 
and  Gregory,  one  of  his  companions  ;  while 
Marchant,  another  of  them,  was  found  guilty 
of  manslaughter  only,  as  having  had  no  sword 
on  at  the  time.  Savage  had  now  no  hope  of 
life  but  from  the  royal  mercy,  which  his  mo- 
ther exerted  herself  personally  and  strenuously 
with  the  queen  to  intercept ;  the  joint  in- 
fluence, however,  of  lady  Hertford,  lord  Tyr- 
connel,  and  Mrs.  Oldfield,  counteracted  her 
unnatural  attempts,  and  the  king's  pardon  was 
pleaded  by  her  unfortunate  son,  on  the  9th  of 
March,  1728.  A  pleasing  instance  of  the 
forgiving  temper  of  poor  Savage,  is  found  in 
his  afterwards  changing  his  last  guinea  to 
relieve  a  common  woman,  whose  evidence 
had  weighed  heaviest  against  him  ;  the  only 
ebullition  of  his  resentment  on  the  occasion 
beinsr  a  severe  satire  upon  the  judge  (Page) 
who  tried  him.  The  threat  of  a  lampoon  upon 
his  mother,  whose  late  conduct  had  quenched 
the  last  spark  of  filial  affection  in  his  bosom, 
now  procured  him  some  attention  from  her  re- 
lation, lord  Tyrconnel,  who,  on  his  agreeing  to 
abandon  his  design,  received  him  into  his 
house,  and  allowed  him  two  hundred  a  year. 
This  was  the  golden  age  of  Savage's  life,  and 
during  its  continuance,  in  1729,  he  published 
his  "Vanderer,  a  Moral  Poem,"  always  con- 
sidered by  himself  as  his  chef-d'oeuvre,  though 
its  sale  produced  him  only  ten  guineas,  the 
copyright  being  disposed  of  by  him  in  all  pro- 
bability during  some  irregular  freak,  to  dis- 
charge a  tavern  reckoning.  The  sunshine 
of  his  prosperity  was  soon  overcast  by  a  quarrel 
with  his  patron  ;  and  once  more  turned  adrift 
upon  the  world,  he  revenged  himself  by  the 
publication  of  "  The  Bastard,"  a  poem  of  such 
severity  and  incontestible  merit,  as  to  have 
the  effect  of  shutting  his  mother  out  of  all  re- 
spectable society.  A  Birth-day  ode,  addres- 
sed to  the  queen,  soon  after  procured  him  a 
pension  of  50/.  from  her  majesty,  to  which  he 
was  eventually  mainly  indebted  for  his  sup- 
port. A  satire  against  the  clergy,  entitled  the 
"  Progress  of  a  Divine,"  next  caused  a  prose- 
cution to  be  instituted  against  him  ;  but  the 
information  was  dismissed  by  sir  Philip  Yorke, 
ou  the  ground  of  the  general  morality  of  the 
work.  From  this  period  he  appears  to  have 
gradually  and  irretrievably  sunk  into  the 
lowest  misery.  The  death  of  the  queeu,  and 
the  consequent  loss  of  his  pension,  completed 
his  ruin  ;  and  although  a  few  friends  raised  a 


S  A  V 

subscription  with  the  view  of  enabling  him  to 
rr.-ide  in  Wales,  the  same  incurable  propen- 
sity to  dissipation  induced  him,  not  only  to 
squander  the  money  advanced  to  him,  but  to 
incur  a  debt  of  eight  pounds  at  Bristol,  for 
which  he  was  arrested,  thrown  into  the  county 
jail,  and  eventally  removed  to  Newgate,  where 
he  died  miserably  on  the  1st  of  August,  174.S, 
exhibiting,  in  the  memorable  words  of  his 
great  biographer,  Johnson,  a  lamentable  proof 
that  "  nothing  can  supply  the  want  of  pru- 
dence ;  and  that  negligence  and  irregularity, 
long  continued,  will  make  knowledge  useless, 
wit  ridiculous,  and  genius  contemptible. — Life 
by  Johnson. 

SAVARY.  There  were  several  ingenious 
French  writers  of  this  name.  Of  these  JAMES, 
the  elder,  was  a  native  of  Done,  in  the  pro- 
vince of  Anjou,  born  1622.  Till  the  age  of 
thirty-six,  he  was  actively  engaged  in  com- 
mercial pursuits,  when  he  began  to  turn  his 
attention  from  the  practice  to  the  theory  of 
trade,  in  which  latter  study  he  appears  to  have 
been  little  more  successful  at  first  than  in  per- 
sonally carrying  his  ideas  into  execution,  in- 
asmuch as  the  poverty  of  his  circumstances 
induced  him,  in  1667,  to  solicit  and  obtain  one 
of  the  pensions  granted  by  the  court  to  sucli 
subjects  of  France  as  had  twelve  living  chil- 
dren. The  qualifications  of  Savary  for  this 
mark  of  the  royal  bounty  were  unquestionable, 
he  having  no  fewer  than  seventeen  by  one  wife, 
eleven  of  whom  survived  him.  In  1670  he 
was  appointed  one  of  the  commissioners  for 
the  reformation  and  encouragement  of  trade  ; 
in  which  capacity  he  was  mainly  instrumental 
in  drawing  up  the  orders  and  instructions 
issued  in  that  year.  Five  years  afterwards  he 
was  induced  to  give  the  result  of  his  observa- 
tion and  experience  to  the  public,  in  a  quarto 
volume,  entitled  "  Le  Parfait  Negociant,"  a 
valuable  treatise,  which  was  translated  into 
most  of  the  European  languages,  and  went 
through  eight  editions  in  the  original.  He 
subsequently  published  a  second  work  on 
similar  subjects,  "  Aviset  Conseils  sur  les  plus 
importantes  Malieres  du  Commerce,"  also  in 
one  vol.  4to.  His  death  took  place  in  1 690. — Of 
the  children  already  alluded  to,  JAMES  obtained 
the  post  of  inspector-general  of  manufactures 
at  Paris,  and  appears  to  have  inherited  much 
of  his  father's  peculiar  talents  and  turn  of 
mind.  He  commenced  a  very  laborious  but 
useful  work,  entitled  "  A  Universal  Dictionary 
of  Commerce,"  in  the  compilation  of  which  he 
was  much  assisted  by  his  brother,  PHILEMON 
LEWIS,  a  canon  of  St  Maur.  The  latter 
finished  this  work,  which  the  death  of  James, 
in  1716,  had  threatened  to  put  a  stop  to;  and 
the  first  edition  appeared  at  Paris  in  1723,  in 
2  vols.  folio.  Philemon  afterwards  added  a 
supplement,  which  was  printed  in  1748,  nine- 
teen years  after  the  author's  decease,  in  a  new 
edition  of  the  original  book,  occupying  altoge- 
ther three  folio  volumes.  This  last  and  most 
complete  impression  appeared  at  Copenhagen. 
—  A'tnu •.  Diet.  Hist. 

.   SAVARY  (NICHOLAS)   an    observant  and 
acute  traveller  of  the  last  century,  was  a  na- 


S  A  V 

tive  of  Vitre  in  Britanny,  and  educated  at 
Hennes.  From  tlie  year  1776  to  1780,  he 
employed  his  time  in  "-visiting  Egypt  and  the 
Levant.  Of  these  travels  he  published  an  in- 
teresting account,  in  an  epistolary  form,  on  his 
return  to  France  in  1780.  The  antiquities, 
manners,  customs,  and  languages  of  the  coun- 
tries he  visited  on  this  occasion,  were  espe- 
cially the  objects  of  his  observation  ;  and  of 
his  proficiency  in  the  latter  respect  a  very 
fair  specimen  is  exhibited  in  his  version  of  the 
Koran,  and  abridgment  of  the  same  work,  enti- 
tled "  La  Morale  de.  Mahomet."  His  letters 
have  been  translated  into  most  modern  lan- 
guages. He  died  in  1788. — Biog.  Univ. 

SAVILE.  The  name  of  an  ancient  English 
family,  long  settled  in  Yorkshire,  which  has 
produced  several  eminent  men,  variously  dis- 
tinguished. Of  these,  HENRY  SAVILE,  after- 
wards knighted  by  James  the  First  in  1604, 
was  one  of  the  most  profound  and  elegant 
scholars  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived.  He 
was  born  at  Bradley,  near  Halifax,  November 
30,  1.549,  and  after  graduating  at  Brasennose 
college,  Oxford,  removed  on  a  fellowship  to 
Merton  college,  in  the  same  university.  In  his 
twenty-ninth  year  he  made  a  tour  on  the  con- 
tinent, for  the  purpose  of  perfecting  himself  in 
elegant  literature,  and  on  his  return  was  ap- 
pointed tutor  in  Greek  and  mathematics  to 
queen  Elizabeth,  who  held  his  abilities  in 
great  estimation.  Seven  years  after,  the  war- 
denship  of  his  college  becoming  vacant,  he  was 
elected  to  fill  that  situation,  which  he  held  for 
about  six -and -thirty  years,  the  provostship  of 
Eton  being  added  to  it  in  1596.  On  the  ac- 
cession of  James  to  the  tiirone  of  the  united 
kingdoms,  several  dignified  offices  were  offered 
to  his  acceptance  by  the  new  king,  who  af- 
fected to  patronize  all  men  of  eminent  classical 
attainments.  The  modeiation  of  Mr  Savile 
was,  however,  as  conspicuous  on  this  occasion 
as  his  erudition  ;  and  although  he  accepted 
the  order  of  knighthood,  lie  steadily  declined 
all  other  proposals,  either  of  honour  or  emolu- 
ment. In  fact,  the  loss  of  an  only  son  soon 


S  A  V 

of  the  writings  of  St  Chrysostom,  in  eight 
folio  volumes,  which,  including  the  sums  paid 
by  him  for  the  collation  of  different  manuscripts 
both  in  England  and  on  the  continent,  was  not 
produced  at  a  less  expense  than  8.000/.  Sir 
Henry  Savile  was  the  intimate  friend  and  cor- 
respondent of  J.  Scaliger,  Meibomius,  Isaac 
Causabon,  and  most  of  the  learned  men  of  his 
day.  His  death  took  place  at  Eton  college, 
February  19,  1622,  and  his  remains  lie  buried 
in  the  chapel  belonging  to  that  establishment. 
— He  had  two  brothers,  JOHN  SAVILE,  after- 
wards knighted,  who  died  in  1606,  one  of  the 
barons  of  the  exchequer,  and  a  lawyer  of  con- 
siderable talent,  whose  reports  in  the  courts  of 
the  exchequer  and  common  pleas  are  yet  re- 
ferred to  as  booksof  authority  :  andTnoMAS,  an 
erudite  and  elegant  scholar,  who  held  a  fellow- 
ship at  Merton  college,  and  afterwards  at  Eton. 
Thomas  was  a  great  friend  of  Camden  the  an- 
tiquary, and  died  in  1593,  at  London. — Biog. 
Brit. 

SAVILE  (GEORGE)  marquis  of  Halifax, 
descended  of  the  same  family  as  the  preced- 
ing, an  illustrious  statesman  and  elegant  wri- 
ter, was  born  in  1630.  On  the  death  of 
Cromwell  he  distinguished  himself  by  his  ex- 
ertions in  favour  of  the  absent  king,  which,  on 
the  restoration  of  that  monarch  to  the  throne, 
were  rewarded  by  a  coronet.  In  1672  he  was 
joined  in  commission  with  the  duke  of  Buck- 
ingham and  lord  Arlington  to  conduct  the  ne- 
gociation  with  France  for  a  general  peace. 
With  this  view  he  accompanied  his  colleagues 
to  Holland,  but  the  object  of  their  mission 
failing,  returned  to  this  country,  and  resumed 
his  seat  at  the  council-board.  From  this  situ- 
ation, however,  he  was  removed  in  1675, 
through  the  influence  of  the  duke  of  York,  af- 
terwards James  the  Second,  in  consequence  of 
his  violent  opposition  to  that  prince's  measures 
in  favour  of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion.  But 
although  he  appears  to  have  been  a  deter- 
mined enemy  to  that  church,  his  loyalty  to  tha 
Stuart  family  operated  no  less  forcibly  on  him 
when  the  bill  for  excluding  the  duke  from  the 


made  him  utterly  indifferent  to  promotion  of ,  succession  was  in  agitation,  his  strongly  ma- 
any  kind,  and  from  that  moment  he  appears  to  !  nifested  repugnance  to  which  measure  brought 
have  dedicated  both  his  time  and  fortune  him  greatly  into  disgrace  with  the  party  with 
solely  to  the  advancement  and  encouragement  which  he  had  hitherto  acted  ;  so  much  so,  that 
of  literature.  In  1619  he  founded  two  profes-  they  carried  a  vote  through  the  Commons  that 
sorships  in  geometry  and  astronomy  in  the  a  petition  should  be  presented  to  the  king, 
university  of  which  he  was  a  member,  besides  praying  him  again  to  dismiss  the  obnoxious 
conferring  several  other  valuable  benefactions  peer  from  the  post  to  which  he  had  been  but 
both  in  property  and  books,  many  of  the  latter  recently  restored.  The  dissolution  of  the  par- 
liament, so  hostile  to  him,  soon  followed,  and 


forming  still  a  part  of  the  Bodleian  library. 
He  was  the  author  of  several  learned  works, 
of  which  the  principal  are  his"  Commentaries 
on  Roman  Warfare;''  "  Rerum  Anglicarum 
post  Bedam  Scriptores,"  folio,  to  which  is 
added  a  chronological  account  of  events  from 
Caesar  to  the  Conquest;  "  Frrelectiones  tre- 
decem  in  Elementa  Euclidis  OxoiiiaD  habitaa;" 
"  Oratio  coram  Elizabetha  Regina  habita  ;"  a 

D  ' 

translation  of  four  books  of  Tacitus,  and  that 
writer's  life  of  Agricola,  with  a  commentary, 
in  one  folio  volume.  He  also  edited  Bradwar- 
din  "  De  Caus&  Dei ;"  but  the  work  by  which 
he  is  principally  known  is  his  celebrated  edition 


he  was  raised  a  step  higher  in  the  peerage.  In 
1682  he  experienced  a  still  farther  elevation, 
being  created  marquis  of  Halifax,  keeper  of  the 
privy  seal,  and  president  of  the  council,  which 
dignities  he  retained  in  the  early  part  of  the 
succeeding  reign,  till  his  opposition  to  the 
proposed  repeal  of  the  test  acts  excited  the  new- 
king's  displeasure,  and  caused  his  abrupt  dis- 
missal. From  this  moment  lord  Halifax  conti- 
nued in  opposition,  till  the  rlightof  James,  when 
he  was  chosen  speaker  of  the  house  of  Lords, 
in  what  is  known  as  the  convention  parliament, 
and  in  that  capacity  contributed  mainly  to  the 
I  % 


S  A  V 

elevation  of  William  to  the  throne.  His 
predilection  for  the  new  government,  however, 
dil  not  long  continue  ;  and  die  year  following, 
that  of  the  Revolution,  he  resigned  in  disgust 
the  privv  seal,  which  had  once  more  been  com- 
mitted to  his  keeping,  and  during  the  whole 
remainder  of  his  life  spoke  and  voted  against 
the  court.  A  mortification  in  the  bowels  car- 
ried him  oft'  in  1(19").  Lord  Halifax  was  a  man 
of  great  and  unquestioned  talents  ;  as  an  orator, 
though  powerful  and  convincing,  his  eloquence 
wanted  that  refinement  which  is  found  in  his 
writings,  his  style  being  occasionally  low,  and 
\iis  humour  coarse.  Bishop  Burnet  denies  the 
then  generally  received  opinion  of  his  having 
jeen  a  freethinker,  and  affirms  that  he  died  a 
sincere  Christian  from  conviction.  He  was 
the  author  of  a  treatise,  entitled  "Advice  to  a 
Daughter,"  as  well  as  of  a  variety  of  political 
tracts,  the  principal  of  which  are,  "  Maxims 
of  State  ;"  "  The  Character  of  a  Trimmer  ;" 
"  Character  of  King  Charles  II  ;"  "  Anatomy 
of  an  Equivalent.;"  "Letter  to  a  Dissenter," 
&c.  Many  of  these  were  collected  after  his 
decease,  and  printed  together  in  one  octavo  vo- 
lume ;  an  enlarged  edition  appeared  some  years 
after.  He  was  succeeded  in  his  titles  and  es- 
tates by  his  only  son,  WILLIAM,  who  survived 
his  father  little  more  than  four  years,  and  by 
whose  death,  without  issue,  the  marquisate 
became  extinct. —  Biog.Brit.  Calling's  Peerage. 
SAVONAROLA  (JEROME)  a  famous  Ita- 
lian monk  and  religious  enthusiast,  born  at 
Ferrara  in  1452.  He  took  the  habit  of  St 
Dominic  at  Bologna,  at  the  age  of  fourteen. 
In  1488  he  went  to  Florence,  and  was  ap- 
pointed prior  of  the  convent  of  St  Mark.  Sa- 
vonarola, inspired  by  an  enthusiastic  lo.v.e  of 
liberty,  and  possessing  great  talents  as  an 
orator,  declaimed  warmly  against  the  domi- 
nion of  the  Medici  family  over  the  state.  Lo- 
renzo de'  Medici  respected  the  virtues  of  the 
monk,  who  had  assumed  the  character  of  a 
prophet,  and  was  regarded  by  some  as  an  en- 
thusiast, and  by  others  as  an  impostor,  not- 
withstanding which  he  was  protected  during 
the  life  of  Lorenzo,  whom  he  attended  in  his 
last  illness.  After  his  death  the  credit  of  Sa- 
vonarola increased  with  the  populace  ;  and  he 
took  a  lending  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  repub- 
lic subsequent  to  the  expulsion  of  1'ietro  de' 
Medici.  He  promoted  the  schemes  of  those 
citizens  who  aimed  at  changing  the  govern- 
ment to  a  democracy,  professing  to  be  favoured 
with  a  divine  revelation,  purporting  that  Christ 
would  be  king  of  the  Florentines,  and  that  the 
legislative  power  should  be  extended  to  all  the 
citizens.  He  continued  to  maintain  his  repu- 
tation till  the  violence  of  his  denunciations 
against  the  court  of  Rome  called  down  on  him 
the  sentence  of  excommunication.  Being  af- 
terwards imprisoned,  and  tried  for  sedition  and 
blasphemy,  he  defended  himself  with  spirit  ; 
but  being  tortured  into  confession  of  his  guilt, 
lie  was,  pursuant  to  his  sentence,  strangled 
and  burnt,  Mav  23,  1498.  He  wrote  a  work 
entitled  "  Triumphus  Crucis,"  Florence,  1492, 
folio  ;  and  his  writings  have  been  printed  col- 
lectively at  Leyden,  in  6  vols.  8vo. — Bi>g. 

I  '11111 


SAX 

SAXE  (MAURICE,  count  de)  a  celebrated 
military  officer,  was  the  natural  son  of  Augus- 
tus, king  of  Poland,  by  the  countess  of  l\<>- 
nigsmark.  He  was  born  at  Dresden  in  1696, 
and  even  in  childhood  he  displayed  some  pre- 
sages of  his  warlike  genius.  At  the  age  of 
twelve  he  joined  the  allied  army  under  the 
duke  of  Maryborough  and  the  prince  Kugene  ; 
and  he  was  present  at  die  sieges  of  Lisle  and 
Tournay,  and  at  the  battle  of  Malplaquet.  His 
father  then  gave  liim  a  regiment  of  cavalry, 
with  which  he  served  in  Sweden,  and  was  at 
the  taking  of  Stralsund.  His  mother  procured 
his  marriage  with  a  German  lady  of  rank,  when 
be  was  but  fifteen  ;  but  the  inconstancy  of  his 
temper  occasioned  a  divorce  after  a  few  years. 
He  was  with  prince  Eugence  in  Hungary,  in 
the  war  with  the  Turks  ;  but  after  the  treatirs 
of  Utreclit  and  Passarowitz,  lie  withdrew  to 
France,  and  he  was  permanently  attarhnl  to 
the  service  of  that  country  by  a  brevet  of 
mareschal-de-camp,  given  him  in  1720,  by  the 
regent  duke  of  Orleans.  He  applied  himself 
to  study  at  Paiis.and  made  himself  intimately 
acquainted  with  professional  tactics.  In  1?'J(> 
he  was  a  candidate  for  the  duchy  of  Courland  ; 
and  he  formed  various  other  schemes  of  am- 
bition at  different  periods.  On  the  death  of  his 
father  he  declined  the  command  of  the  Saxon 
army,  offered  him  by  his  brother.,  Augustus  III, 
and  joined  the  French  on  the  Rhine,  under 
the  duke  of  Berwick.  He  distinguished  him- 
self at  Dettingen  and  Philipsburg ;  and  in 
1744  he  was  rewarded  with  the  staff  of  a 
marshal  of  France.  He  was  employed  in  the 
war  that  followed  the  death  of  the  emperor 
Charles  VI ;  and  in  174o  he  gained  the  fa- 
mous battle  of  Fontenoy,  which  was  followed 
by  the  capture  of  Brussels  and  many  other 
places  in  Flanders.  In  1747  he  was  victorious 
at  Lafeldl,  and  in  the  following  year  he  took 
Maastricht,  soon  after  which  the  peace  of  Aix- 
la-Chapelle  was  concluded.  Marshal  Saxe 
survived  that  event  a  little  more  than  two 
years,  dying  November  30,  1750.  He  wrote 
a  treatise,  entitled  "  Mes  Reveries,"  on  the 
art  of  war,  2  vols.  4to.  General  Grimoard,  in 
1794,  published  "Lett  es  et  Memoires  choisis 
parmi  les  Papiers  origin uux  du  M.  de  Saxe, 
depuis  1733  jusqu'en  1750,"  .5  vols.  8vo. — 

T>  •  TT     • 

aiog,  Univ. 

SAXIUS  or  SACHSIUS,  the  Latin  name 
of  Christopher  Gottlob  Sachs,  a  learned  Ger- 
man, born  in  1714,  at  Eppendorf  in  Saxony. 
He  graduated  in  the  university  of  Leipi-ir, 
which  he  quitted  in  17.)2,  on  being  appointed 
to  the  professor's  chair  in  antiquities,  history, 
and  rhetoric  at  Utrecht.  He  is  known  as  the 
author  of  an  elaborate  reply  to  father  Har- 
douin's  objections  against  the  authenticity  of 
the  /Eneid,  which  he  published  in  1737,  under 
the  title  of  "  Yindicue  secunclum  libertatem 
pro  Maronis  /Eneide,  cui  manum  Johannes 
Hariiuinus  nuper  assertor  injecerat,"  and  of 
a  catalogue  of  authors,  entitled  "  Onornasti- 
con  Litterarium,"  8  vols.  besides  some  papers 
in  the  "  Acta  Eruditorum."  He  reached  the 
advanced  age  of  eighty- eight,  dying  at  Utrecht 
in  1806. — Biag.  Univ. 


SC  A 

SAXO  GRAM.MATICUS  a  learned  antiqua- 
rian and  historian,  who  nourished  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  twelfth,  and  the  commence- 
ment of  the  thirteenth  century.  Of  his  origin 
nothing  authentic  is  known,  but  he  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  a  native  of  Denmark,  of 
which  kingdom  a-.id  its  dependencies  he  com- 
piled an  elaborate  history,  under  the  auspices 
of  Absalom,  bishop  of  Roschild.  This  work, 
which  is  said  to  have  occupied  him  twenty 
years  in  its  composition,  has  gone  through  se- 
veral editions,  especially  those  of  Paris,  1514, 
Basle,  1534,  and  Sora  in  Denmark,  1644, 
folio  ;  of  these  the  latter  is  by  far  the  most 
perfect.  Saxo  was  a  priest  in  the  cathedral  of 
Roschild,  and  is  said  to  have  been  deputed 
on  a  mission  to  Paris  in  1161,  for  the  purpose 
of  inducing  some  of  the  monks  of  that  capital 
.to  visit  his  native  country,  and  assist  in  re- 
forming the  discipline  of  the  religious  orders 
there.  He  lies  buried  in  the  church  of  which 
lie  was  a  member,  where  a  monument  was 
erected  to  his  memory  about  three  hundred 
years  after  his  death,  which  took  place  in 
1208. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

SCALA  (BARTHOLOMEW)  a  learned  Flo- 
rentine of  the  fifteenth  century,  eminent  as  a 
lawyer,  historian,  and  diplomatist.  He  was  of 
humble  origin,  being  the  son  of  a  miller,  and 
was  born  about  the  year  1424.  The  steady 
patronage  of  Cosmo  de'  Medici,  who  duly  ap- 
preciated, and  made  use  of  his  talents,  raised 
him  to  some  of  the  most  important  offices  in 
the  state,  in  the  execution  of  which  he  was 
repeatedly  employed  in  conducting  negocra- 
tions  with  various  foreign  courts.  He  was 
equally  fortunate  in  acquiring  and  retaining  the 
favour  of  Pietro  de'  Medici,  who  succeeded 
Cosmo,  and  who  continued  him  in  his  digni- 
ties of  chancellor  and  grand  standard  bearer  to 
the  Florentine  republic.  Pope  Innocent  XII 
also,  who  held  him  in  high  esteem,  for  ser- 
vices rendered  to  the  holy  see,  conferred  on 
him  a  collar  of  knighthood  and  the  dignity  of 
a  senator  of  Rome.  He  was  the  author  of  a 
valuable  history  of  Florence,  in  twenty  books, 
four  only  of  which  have  been  printed  ;  "  A 
Life  of  Vitaliani  Borromeo,"  4to,  Rome,  1677; 
with  some  miscellaneous  letters,  poems,  and 
orations.  His  death  took  place  in  1497. — 
Tiraboschi. 

SCALIGER.  The  name  of  two  most  pro- 
found scholars  and  celebrated  critics,  father 
and  son,  who  nourished  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. JULIUS  CSSAH,  commonly  called  the 
Elder  Scaliger,  was  descended  of  the  princely 
house  Delia  Scala,  lords  of  Verona,  and  was 
born  April  23,  1484,  at  Ripa,  a  town  in  the 
Veronese.  His  immediate  ancestor,  Benedict 
Scaliger,  was  a  general  officer  in  the  army  of 
Matthias  Corvinus,  king  of  Hungary,  whose 
interests  at  the  German  courts  placed  this,  his 
favourite  son,  about  the  person  of  the  emperor 
Maximilian,  in  quality  of  page  of  the  bed- 
chamber, when  only  twelve  years  of  age.  In 
the  household  of  this  monarch  be  remained 
till  his  twenty-ninth  year,  when  having  in  the 
interim  attended  his  imperial  master  on  several 
of  his  expeditions,  the  loss  of  his  father  and 


SC  A 

brother  at  one  stroke  in  the  sanguinary  battle 
f  Ravenna,  fought  in  1512,  disgusted  him 
with  the  service,  and  induced  him  to  enter- 
tain serious  intentions  of  shutting  himself  up 
in  a  cloister.  From  the  adoption  of  the  habit 
of  St  Francis  he  was,  however,  at  length  ef- 
fectually dissuaded  by  his  friends,  and  his 
next  ten  years  were  passed  as  before,  amidst 
the  bustle  and  dangers  of  a  military  lift-.  At 
the  age  of  forty  he  quitted  it  again,  and  for 
ever,  devoting  his  time  to  the  study  of  medi- 
cine as  a  profession,  and  of  the  learned  lan- 
guages as  a  matter  of  taste.  In  1526  he 
commenced  practice  as  a  physician  at  Agen, 
in  Guienne,  where  within  three  years  he  mar- 
ried a  young  lady  of  noble  birth,  whose  age 
bore  to  his  own  the  proportion  of  sixteen  to 
forty-five.  In  the  course  of  a  cohabitation  of 
nearly  thirty  years,  his  wife  bore  him  fifteen 
children,  of  whom  seven  survived  him  ;  and 
one  eclipsed,  as  a  scholar  and  a  critic,  even 
the  fame  of  his  father,  whose  biography  he 
gave  to  the  world  after  his  decease.  This 
event  took  place  in  1558,  of  a  suppression  of 
urine.  The  private  character  of  the  elder 
Scaliger  appears  to  have  been  composed  of 
jarring  materials ;  as  a  scholar  it  is  impossible 
that"  his  claims  to  consideration  should  be  rated 
below  the  highest  rank.  Of  this  his  commen- 
taries "  On  Theophrastus,"  "  On  Aristotle," 
"  On  Hippocrates,"  and  even  the  contests 
which  he  carried  on  against  Cardanns  and 
Scioppius,  though  disfigured  by  the  coarseness 
of  his  expressions,  and  the  virulence  of  his  at- 
tacks, afford  abundant  proofs  ;  as  well  as  his 
still  more  valuable  treatise,  "  De  Caussis  Lin- 
guae Latinos,"  his  seven  books  on  poetr.y,  and 
his  own  poems  and  miscellaneous  epistles. 
But  the  vanity  and  asperity  of  his  disposition, 
notwithstanding'  all  his  son  says  of  his  amia- 
bility of  temper  and  general  benevolence,  is 
also  but  too  evidently  manifested  in  the  strain 
of  invective  used  by  him  towards  Erasmus  and 
others  on  the  subject  of  Cicero's  Latinity. — 
Life  fii/  his  Son.  Moreri. 

SCALIGER  (JOSEPH  JUSTUS)  son  of  the 
subject  of  the  preceding  article,  was  born  at 
Agen  in  1540.  He  commenced  his  education 
in  the  college  of  Bourdeaux,  which  he  conti- 
nued under  his  father,  and  after  his  decease 
completed  at  Paris,  under  the  celebrated  Tur- 
nebus.  He  possessed  an  uncommon  facility  of 
acquiring  even  the  most  difficult  languages, 
and  is  said  to  have  made  himself  master  of  no 
less  than  thirteen,  Greek  and  Hebrew  among 
the  number,  in  which  two  he  had  no  other  in- 
structor or  assistant  than  his  own  genius  and 
assiduity.  The  fame  of  his  great  learning, 
and  scientific  as  well  as  classical  attainments, 
procured  him,  in  1593,  an  invitation  to  fill  the 
professor's  chair  in  the  belles  lettres  at  Ley- 
den,  which  he  accepted,  and  retained  till  hi* 
death  in  1609.  He  was,  with  great  justice, 
considered  by  far  the  most  learned  man  of  the 
age,  but  seems  to  have  inherited  much  of  his 
father's  haughtiness.,  self-sufficiency,  and  illi- 
berality  towards  his  opponents,  with  his  ac- 
1  knowledged  talents  and  ability.  Of  his  writ- 
[  ings,  which  are  replete  with  the  most  extensive 


SC  A 

erudition,  and  perfect  familiaiity  with  all  the 
works  of  the  best  Greek  and  Roman  authors, 
the  most  conspicuous  are,  his  treatise  "  De 
Emeudatione  Tempnrum,"  conveying,  by  his 
invention  of  the  Julian  period,  the  principles 
of  a  regular  and  systematic  chronology,  of 
which  he  has,  not  undeservedly,  been  styled 
the  father.  Ilis  other  works  are,  "  Thesaurus 
Temporum,"  folio,  2  vols. ;  a  Latin  translation 
of  the  Arabian  proverbs  in  Erpenius'  collec- 
tion, "  De  Tribus  Sectis  Judaaorum,"  4to, 
2  vols.  ;  "  Canones  Isagogici  ;"  a  great  variety 
of  epistles,  poems,  &c.  ;  besides  valu.'ible 
commentaries  on  the  works  of  Seneca,  Varro, 
Pomneius  Festus,  Ausonius,  and  other  clas- 
sical authors  ;  the  Chronicon  of  Eusebius,  &c. 
In  their  religious  opinions,  the  elder  Scaliger 
was  a  Roman  Catholic,  the  younger  a  Hugue- 
not.— Nouv.  Diet.  Hist.  Moreri. 

SCAMOZZ1  (VINCENTIO)  a  celebrated  Ita- 
lian architect  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  con- 
temporary and  rival  of  Palladio,  who  was,  liLe 
himself,  a  native  of  Vicenza  in  Lombardy. 
ScamoEzi  was  born  in  1.550,  and  after  learning 
the  rudiments  of  the  art  under  his  father,  who 
was  of  the  same  profession,  travelled  for  im- 
provement through  France  and  over  a  large 
proportion  of  the  north  of  Europe.  On  his 
return  to  Italy,  he  followed  the  example  of  his 
great  compatriot  in  taking  up  his  abode  at  Ve- 
nice, then  the  principal  seat  of  the  arts,  where 
there  are  yet  in  existence  several  noble  monu- 
ments of  his  genius.  The  citadel  of  Parma  is 
also  one  of  his  greatest  works.  As  an  author 
Scamozzi  is  known  by  several  tracts  on  profes- 
sional subjects,  of  which  the  principal  are 
"  A  Treatise  on  the  Antiquities  of  Rome," 
folio  ;  and  "  L'Idea  dell'  Architettura  Uni- 
versale,"  in  ten  books,  left  incomplete  by  his 
death.  Of  this  valuable  work  only  six  books 
appeared,  in  two  folio  volumes.  His  death 
took  place  in  1616. — Tiraboschi. 

SCANDEKBEG,  prince  of  Albania,  whose 
proper  name  was  George  Castnot,  sou  of  John, 
prince  of  that  country,  was  born  in  1404.  Be- 
ing given  by  his  father  as  a  hostage  to  sultan 
Amurath  II,  he  was  educated  in  the  Mahometan 
religion,  and  at  the  age  of  eighteen  was  placed 
at  the  head  of  a  body  of  troops,  with  the  title 
of  Sanjiac.  After  the  death  of  his  father,  in 
1432,  he  formed  the  design  of  possessing 
himself  of  his  principality  ;  and  having  accom- 
panied the  Turkish  army  to  Hungary,  he  en- 
tered into  a  secret  agreement  with  the  famous 
Hunniades  to  desert  to  the  Christians,  during 
the  first  baitle  which  should  occur.  This  de- 
sign he  put  into  execution  ;  and  having  de- 
feated the  Turks,  and  taken  AmuratL's  secre- 
tary prisoner,  he  compelled  him  to  sign  an 
order  for  the  governor  of  Croia,  the  capital  of 
Albania,  to  deliver  that  place  and  the  citadel 
to  its  bearer.  This  stratagem  succeeding,  he 
ascended  the  throne  of  his  fathers,  and  re- 
nounced the  Mahometan  religion.  A  long 
warfare  followed  ;  but  although  frequently 
obliged  to  retire  to  the  fastnesses  of  mountains, 
he  always  renewed  his  assaults  upon  the  first 
favourable  occasion,  and  destroyed  a  vast  num- 
ber of  his  enemies.  A  similar  course  of  war- 


SC  A 

fare  was  continued  for  eleven  years, under  Ma 
hornet  II,  until  that  powerful  sultan  proposed 
terms  of  peace  to  him,  which  were  accepted. 
At  the  request  of  the  pope,  Scanderbeg  then  re- 
paired to  Italy,  to  the  succour  of  Ferdinand  II, 
king  of  Xaples,  besieged  at  Bari  ;  and  having 
caused  the  siege  to  be  raised,  he  contributed 
greatly  to  Ferdinand's  subsequent  victory  over 
the  count  of  Anjou.  The  Venetians  having 
entered  into  a  war  with  Mahomet  II,  induced 
Scanderbeg  to  renounce  his  treaty  with  that 
sultan,  and  to  make  an  inroad  into  his  domi- 
nions. He  again  obtained  repeated  victories 
over  the  Turkish  generals,  and  saved  his  own  ca- 
pital, although  invested  by  an  army  commanded 
by  Mahomet  himself.  He  was  at  length  cur- 
ried off"  by  sickness  at  Lissa,  in  the  Venetian 
territories,  in  1467,  in  his  sixty-third  year. 
His  death  was  considered  by  the  sultan  as  re- 
lieving him  from  the  most  formidable  of  his 
enemies  ;  and  it  was  soon  followed  by  the  sub- 
mission of  all  Albania  to  the  Turkish  domi- 
nion. Scanderbeg  was  one  of  the  greatest  war- 
riors of  his  time,  and  his  personal  strength  and 
address  were  such,  as  to  make  his  prowess  in 
the  field  resemble  that  of  a  knight  of  romance  ; 
whilst  his  enterprise  and  military  skill  consti- 
tuted him  one  of  the  most  able  and  successful 
of  generals.  His  Jesuit  historian,  Poncet,  has 
painted  him  as  a  genuine  Christian  hero  ;  but 
there  was  little  but  his  cause  to  sanction  this 
character,  as  he  often  exhibited  both  cruelty 
and  perfidy.  His  private  life  was,  however, 
praiseworthy,  and  he  preached  continence  and 
sobriety  to  his  soldiery.  When  the  Turks 
took  Lissa,  they  dug  up  his  bones,  of  which 
they  formed  amulets,  to  transfer  his  courage  to 
themselves  ;  an  absurd,  but  sincere  testimony 
of  involuntary  admiration. — Mod.  Univ.  Hist. 

SCAPULA  (JoHANhf)  the  author  of  a  va- 
luable lexicon  of  the  Greek  language,  pub- 
lished originally  in  quarto,  in  1583,  which  has 
since  gone  through  a  variety  of  editions,  par- 
ticularly an  excellent  one  from  the  Elzevir 
press.  This  work,  useful  as  it  is,  is  scarcely 
more  a  monument  of  the  compiler's  learning 
and  diligence  than  of  his  treachery,  Henry 
Stephens,  while  completing  his  laborious  and 
voluminous  "  Thesaurus,"  having  employed 
Scapula  to  correct  the  press,  the  latter  took 
advantage  of  the  opportunities  afforded  by  his 
occupation,  secretly  to  abridge  the  work,  and 
printed  the  essence  of  its  contents  in  the  dic- 
tionary which  now  bears  his  name.  The 
cheapness  and  comparative  portability  of  his 
book,  ruined  the  sale  of  that  of  his  employer, 
who  failed  in  consequence,  and  has  left  a 
proof  of  the  indignant  feelings  which  this 
breach  of  confidence  occasioned,  in  his  "  La- 
tinity  of  Lipsius."  Of  the  birth  or  decease 
of  Scapula  little  is  known. — Mffrhoff* 

SCARBOROUGH  (sir  CHARLES)  a  skil- 
ful physician  and  good  mathematical  scholar, 
born  in  1616,  and  educated  at  Caius  college, 
Cambridge,  in  which  society  he  obtained  a  fel- 
lowship, and  while  there  is  said  to  have  been 
blessed  with  so  retentive  a  memory,  that  he 
had  all  the  problems  of  Euclid  and  Archi- 
medes by  heart.  During  the  civil  wars,  his 


SC  A 

attachment  to  die  royal  party  caused  the  de- 
privation of  his  fellowship,  on  which,  after  a 
temporary  retreat  to  the  sister  university,  he 
finally  took  up  his  abode  in  the  metropolis, 
where  he  soon  obtained  great  practice  in  his 
profession.  After  the  Restoration  he  became 
physician  to  the  court,  and  continued  so  during 
that  and  the  two  following  reigns,  having  re- 
ceived the  honour  of  knighthood  from  the 
hand  of  Charles  II.  He  assisted  Harvey  in 
the  compilation  of  his  work  "  De  Generatione 
Animalium,"  and  succeeded  him  as  anatomical 
and  surgical  lecturer  at  Surgeon's-hall.  Be- 
sides a  translation  of  Euclid,  he  published  an 
original  treatise  on  trigonometry,  an  elegy  on 
the  death  of  the  poet  Cowley,  an  abridgment 
of  Lily's  grammar,  "  Syllabus  Musculorum," 
&c.  His  death  took  place  in  1696. — Biog. 
Brit. 

SCARLATTI.  There  were  three  cele- 
brated Italian  composers  of  this  name,  the 
first,  and  by  far  the  most  famous  of  whom  was 
ALESSANDRO,  justly  considered  as  the  great 
regenerator  of  the  Neapolitan  school  of  music. 
He  was  born  at  Naples  in  1650,  and  although 
the  name  of  his  master  is  unknown,  made,  at 
an  early  age,  a  very  surprising  progress  in  his 
favourite  science.  The  reputation  of  Caris- 
simi,  the  head  of  the  Roman  school,  having 
reached  Naples,  Scarlatti,  at  that  time  confes- 
sedly the  greatest  harpist  of  his  day,  went  to 
Rome,  and  by  means  of  his  instrument,  intro- 
duced himself  to  the  acquaintance  of  that  ac- 
complished master,  which  ripened  into  a  sin- 
cere friendship,  and  tended  much  to  their 
mutual  improvement.  From  the  metropolis  of 
the  arts  he  visited  Bologna,  Florence,  Venice, 
and  eventually  Vienna,  where  he  made  the 
first  essay  of  his  talents  for  composition  both 
in  sacred  and  theatrical  music,  and  in  both 
kinds  was  equally  successful.  On  his  return 
to  Naples,  he  directed  the  whole  of  his  atten- 
tion to  the  improvement  of  the  national  taste 
in  music  ;  and  to  his  exertions  is  owing  the 
reformation  produced  in  the  overture,  which, 
from  a  mere  obligate  symphony,  became  in 
his  hands  a  species  of  musical  prologue  or 
programme  of  the  action  of  the  opera.  He 
was  also  the  most  original,  as  well  as  the  most 
voluminous  composer  of  cantatas  ;  and  there 
are  few  of  the  musicians  of  the  early  part  of 
the  last  century,  who  have  not  benefited  more 
largely  by  his  talents  than  they  have  had  the 
candour  to  avow.  Alessandro  Scarlatti  was 
the  instructor  of  the  celebrated  Durante,  and  is 
said  to  have  produced  nearly  a  hundred  operas 
(of  which  his  "  Principessa  Fidele  "  is  quoted 
as  the  best),  besides  oratorios,  and  near  two 
hundred  masses,  composing  faster  than  any 
ordinary  copyist  could  write.  He  died  in 
172H,  and  is  still  spoken  of  by  his  countrymen 
as  the  "  glory  of  the  art." — His  son,  DOME- 
MCO  SCARLATTI,  born  in  1683,  was  the  suc- 
cessor rather  than  the  disciple  of  his  father. 
He  was  educated  under  Francisco  Gaspari, 
and  after  visiting  the  various  schools  of  Italy, 
especially  that  of  Venice,  then  in  the  zenith 
of  its  reputation,  acquired  in  this  last  men- 
xioned  city  the  friendship  of  Handel,  whom  he 


SCH 

accompanied  to  Rome,  and  continued  to  enjoy 
his  society  and  instructions  till  the  offer  of  the 
mastership  of  the  chapel  to  the  king  of  Por- 
tugal induced  him  to  repair  to  Lisbon.  In  this 
capital  he  remained  till  1726,  producing  iis 
the  interim  several  operas,  as  well  as  some 
sacred  music,  after  which  he  visited  Rome  and 
Naples,  but  settled  finally  at  Madrid  on  th~ 
appointment  of  chapel  master  to  the  queen  of 
Spain,  whom  he  also  instructed  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  harp.  Here  he  produced  his 
"  Merope,"  the  most  celebrated  of  all  his 
dramatic  compositions,  and  passed  the  remain- 
der of  his  life.  At  what  time  it  terminated 
is  uncertain. — GIUSEPPE  SCARLATTI,  a  grand- 
son of  Alessandro,  was  also  born  at  Naples  in 
1718,  but  passed  the  greater  portion  of  his 
time  at  Vienna,  in  which  city  and  at  Venice 
he  produced  thirteen  operas.  He  died  at 
Vienna  in  1776. — Burney's  Hist,  of  Mus, 
Biog.  Diet,  of  Mus. 

SCARRON  (PAUL)  nicknamed  Cul  de 
Jatte,  from  his  singular  deformity,  a  comic  wri- 
ter of  great  wit  and  humour,  born  at  Paris  in- 
1610.  His  father,  a  French  advocate,  de- 
signed him  for  the  church,  and  a  canonry  at 
Mans  was  actually  procured  for  him  ;  but  he 
was  compelled  to  relinquish  all  idea  of  taking 
holy  orders,  by  a  severe  attack  of  palsy, 
brought  on  by  dissipation,  which,  in  his 
twenty-seventh  year,  deprived  him  of  the  use 
of  his  limbs.  His  mental  faculties  were,  how- 
ever, still  unimpaired,  and  he  not  only  induced 
cardinal  Richelieu  to  become  reconciled  to  his 
father,  who  had  offended  that  haughty  minis- 
ter, but  procured  himself  a  pension  of  five 
hundred  crowns  from  the  court  ;  and  what  is 
still  more  extraordinary,  the  hand  of  the  beau- 
tiful and  witty  mademoiselle  d'Aubigne,  after 
his  death  known  as  the  widow  Scarron,  and 
eventually  rendered  still  more  famous  as  ma- 
dame  de  Maintenon.  His  principal  writings 
are  his  "  Comic  Romance,"  and  his  "  Virgile 
Travesti,"  works  of  unquestionable  talent, 
but  abounding  in  that  licentious  style  of  thought 
and  expression,  which  is  said  to  have  been 
but  too  faithful  a  transcript  of  his  early  life. 
After  his  marriage,  his  own  wit  and  that  of  his 
wife  drew  around  him  all  the  choicest  society 
of  France,  till  his  death,  which  took  place  in 
1660. — Moreri.  Biog.  Univ. 

SCHAAF  (CHARLES)  an  eminent  Orien- 
talist, who  was  horn  in  the  territory  of  Co- 
logne in  Germany,  in  1646,  and  died  at  Ley- 
den  in  1729.  He  studied  at  Augsburgh,  was 
professor  of  the  Eastern  languages  at  Duis- 
bourg,  and  afterwards  at  Leyuen  ;  and  he  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  the  publication  of  the 
New  Testament,  in  Syriac,  with  a  Latin  ver- 
sion, and  a  Syriac  Lexicon  and  Concordance, 
printed  in  1717,  2  vols.  4to.  He  was  also  the 
author  of  "  Opus  Aramreum  complectens 
Grammaticam  Chaldaico-Syriacum,  et  Lexi- 
con," L.  Bat.  1686,  8vo  ;  and  "  Epitome 
Grammatics  Hebraese,"  8vo. — Kiceron,  xxxix. 
Biog.  Univ. 

SCHADOW  (ZoNO  RIDOLFO)  a  sculptor, 
bom  at  Rome,  in  1786.  His  father  in  1783 
removed  to  Berlin,  where  he  was  appointed 


SC  H 

sculptor  to  tlie  king,  and  afterwards  director 
of  the  Academy  of  the  Fine  Arts,  llidolfo 
and  his  younger  brother,  who  is  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  painters  in  Germany,  re- 
ceived from  their  father  their  first  instruction 
in  the  art  of  design  ;  and  the  former  continued 
to  study  at  home  till  the  age  of  eighteen, 
when  lie  was  sent  with  a  pension  from  the 
king  to  continue  his  studies  at  Rome.  There 
he  was  noticed  by  Canova  and  Thorwaldsen, 
under  whom  he  made  great  improvement. 
His  first  important  work  was  a  statue  of  Paris 
deliberating  on  the  judgment  he  was  to  pro- 
nounce between  the  rival  goddesses.  He  af- 
terwards e-xecuted  many  admired  sculptures 
and  bas-reliefs  ;  and  among  the  latter,  a  mo- 
nument for  the  marquis  of  Lansdown.  'He 
was  engaged  on  a  colossal  group  of  Achilles 
defending  tlte  body  of  Penthesilea,  in  marble, 
when  he  was  cut  off  by  death,  January  31, 
1822. —  Bins;.  L'mv. 

SCHAEEFER  (JACOB  CHRISTIAN)  born 
at  Querfurt  in  Germany,  in  1718,  was  one  of 
the  most  distinguished  philosophers  of  his 
time.  He  was  the  son  of  a  clergyman,  but 
losing  his  father  when  he  was  young,  it  was 
with  difficulty  that  he  supported  himself  while 
studying  at  the  university  of  Halle,  where  he 
completed  his  education.  Professor  Baum- 
garten  then  procured  for  him  the  office  of  tutor 
to  the  son  of  a  merchant  at  Batisbon,  where 
lie  was  chosen  minister  of  one  of  the  churches 
in  1741.  He  published  several  theological 
dissertations  and  other  religious  works,  in 
consequence  of  which  he  obtained  the  diploma 
of  DD.  from  the  university  of  Wittemberg. 
He  died  at  Ratisbon,  January  5,  1790.  Among 
his  numerous  publications,  chiefly  relating  to 
natural  history,  are  "  Fungorum  qua  in  Bava- 
ria nascuutur  Icones,"  1762 — 70,  4  vols.  4to  ; 
•"  Icones  Jnsectorum  circa  Ratisbonam  indi- 
genorum,"  1766,  5  vols.  4to  ;  "  Elementa 
Entomologica,"  1766.,  4to  ;  "  Botanica  expe- 
ditior,"  1762,  8vo.  Persooa  published  a  vo- 
lume of  commentaries  on  the  work  of  Schaeffer 
relating  to  the  Bavarian  Fungi,  in  1800;  and 
in  1804  Panzer  published  "  Iconum  Insectorum 
Schaefferi  circa  Ratisbonam  indig-enarum  Enu- 
merauo  systematica,"  4to. — Biog.  Univ* 

SCHAFEI  (Afiu  ABDALLA  MOHAMMED 
BEN  Eonis  AL)E  celebrated  Mahometan  doc- 
tor, born  at  Gaza  in  Palestine,  AD.  767.  He 
visited  Bagdad  and  Mecca,  and  afterwards 
going  to  Eijypt,  to  visit  a  famous  iman,  lis 
died  there  in  819.  He  was  the  first  of  the 
moslem  theologians  who  wrote  on  jurispru- 
dence ;  and  he  was  the  author  of  a  treatise  en- 
titled "  Ossoul,"  or  the  fundamentals  of  Isla- 
inism,  comprising  the  entire  code  of  the  Ma- 
hometans, civil  and  sacred.  He  composed  like- 
wise two  other  works  on  legal  topics  ;  and  his 
doctrine  is  generally  received  among  the  or 
tliodox  moslems.  Sultan  Saladin  founded  at 
Cairo  a  college  for  the  exclusive  inculcation  of 
the  principles  of  Al  Schafei. — Rees's  Cyclnp. 

SCHALKEN  (GO-DFREY)  a  painter  of  emi- 
nent talents  and  eccentric-  manners,  was  born 
at  Dort  in  1643,  and  studied  under  Gerard 
Dow.  from  whom  lie  caught  a  great  delicacy 


sen 

in  fmisliing.  Tie  chiefly  excelled  in  painting 
candle-lights,  on  which  occasion  he  used  to 
place  the  object  and  candle  in  a  chirk  room. 
He  also  drew  portraits,  and  with  that  view 
came  to  England,  where  he  painted  William 
III.  As  the  piece  was  to  be  by  candle-light, 
he  gave  the  king  the  candle  to  hold,  -until  tlr- 
tallow  ran  down  upon  his  fingers.  Many 
similar  anecdotes  are  related  of  his  rudeness 
and  inattention  to  the  forms  of  polished  so- 
ciety. He  died  at  the  Hague  in  1706. —  Wal- 
pole's  A  nee. 

SCHEELE  (CHARLES  WILXIAM)  a  cele- 
brated chemist,  who  contributed  greatly  to  the 
improvement  of  the  science  which  he  culti- 
vated. He  was  born  at  Stralsund  in  Sweden, 
December  19,  1742,  and  he  was  apprenticed  to 
an  apothecary  at  Gothenburgh.  He  became 
his  own  instructor  in  chemistry,  and  read  the 
works  of  Lemery,  Neumann,  Kunckel,  and 
Stahi ;  at  the  same  time  making  experiments 
which  added  greaily  to  the  knowledge  he  had 
acquired.  After  occupying  different  situations 
as  an  assistant  in  pharmacy,  he  went  to  Upsal 
in  1773,  where  his  abilities  introduced  him  to 
the  notice  of  professor  Bergmann  ;  and  being 
employed  to  perform  some  chemical  experi- 
ments before  prince  Henry  of  Prussia  and  the 
duke  of  Sudermania,  when  they  visited  the 
laboratory  of  the  academy  of  Upsal,  his  merit 
became  known,  and  he  was  admitted  an  asso- 
ciate of  the  Academy.  He  subsequently  be- 
came director  of  a  pharmaceutical  establish- 
ment at  Kioping  ;  where,  notwithstanding 
some  advantageous  .proposals  which  he  re- 
ceived to  induce  him  to  settle  in  England,  he 
continued  to  the  close  of  his  life.  The  ser- 
vices which  he  rendered  to  the  cause  of 
science  were  numerous  and  important.  He 
discovered  the  fluoric  acid  and  the  acids  of 
tungsten  and  molybden  ;  and  his  experiments 
on  barytes,  chlorine,  various  animal  and  vege- 
table acids,  on  the  composition  of  water,  and 
several  other  subjects,  are  in  the  highest 
degree  curious  and  important.  He  carried  on 
a  correspondence  with  men  of  science  4  and  he 
was  a  member  of  the  electoral  scientific  so- 
ciety at  Eifurt,  and  of  the  physical  society  of 
Berlin..  He  died  May  24,  1786.  A  volume 
of  Chemical  Essays,  by  Scheele,  translated 
into  English,  was  published  in  1786,  8vo  ;  and 
"  Collection  of  the  Researches  of  C.  W. 
Schc.eJe  on  Physics  and  Chemistry,"  edited  by 
S.  F.  Hermbstaedt,  appeared  at  Berlin,  1793, 
2  vols.  8vo. — A.ikin's  Gen.  Biog.  Biog.  Univ. 

SCHEFFEU  { JOHN)  a  learned  antiquary, 
born  at  Strasburgh,  in  1621,  and  according  to 
some  .authors  descended  in  a  right  line  from 
Peter  Schoeffcr  ot  Gernsheim,  one  of  the  in- 
ventors of  typography.  John  Schefier,  after 
having  acquired  the  reputation  of  great  erudi- 
tion by  a  work  on  the  ships  of  the  ancients, 
removed  to  Sweden,  and  in  1618  he  obtained 
he  .chair  of  rhetoric  and  public  law  at  Upsal. 
fie  was  afterwards  nominated  honorary  profes- 
sor, assessor  of  the  roval  college  of  antiqui- 
ies,  and  librarian  to  the  university.  He  died 
March  26,  1679.  Besides  many  tracts  on 
classical  archaeology,  published  in  the  collec- 


SC  H 

lions  of  Grrevius  and  Gronovius,  he  was  the 
author  of  a  work  entitled  "  Lapponia,  seu 
Gentis  Regionisque  Lapponicse  Descriptio 
accurata,"  of  winch  there  are  English,  French, 
and  German  translations  ;  and  he  produced 
several  treatises  on  Swedish  history  and  anti- 
qnities  ;  and  edited  the  works  of  yElian,  Ar- 
rian,  Pha\>drus,  and  Pacatus. — Moreri.  Biog. 

Univ.  SCHEFFER       (HENRY       THEOPHILUs) 

grandson  of  the  preceding,  was  an  eminent 
chemist.  He  was  born  at  Stockholm  in  1710, 
and  having  lost  his  parents  when  young,  his 
uncle,  baron  Scheffer,  provided  for  his  educa- 
tion, lie  studied  mathematics  and  natural 
philosophy  at  Upsal,  under  professor  Andrew 
Celsius  ;  and  he  afterwards  received  lessons 
on  chemistry  from  George  Brandt,  at  Stock- 
holm. He  then  visited  the  Swedish  mines, 
and  having  established  a  laboratory  at  Stock- 
holm, he  made  some  useful  experiments  on 
the  art  of  dyeing,  and  on  the  analysis  of  mine- 
rals. He  was  admitted  into  the  Academy  of 
Sciences  in  the  Swedish  metropolis,  and  he 
contributed  largely  to  the  memoirs  of  that 
learned  society.  In  1740  he  was  appointed 
assay-master  in  the  royal  college  of  mines  ; 
and  having  been  ennobled  in  1756,  he  died 
three  years  afterwards.  Scheffer's  lectures  on 
chemistry  were  thought  deserving  of  publica- 
tion by  Bergmann 
Allan's  G.  Biog. 


in     1776. — Biog.    Univ. 


SCHELHAMMER  (GUNTHER  CHRISTO- 
PHER) a  physician  and  anatomist,  born  at 
Jena,  where  his  father  was  professor  of  medi- 
cine, in  1649.  He  studied  at  Leipsic,  and 
afterwards  at  Leyden  ;  and  having  visited 
England,  France,  and  Italy,  he  returned  home 
in  1677,  and  took  the  degree  of  MD.  He 
subsequently  became  professor  of  botany,  at 
Helmstadt,  whence  he  removed  to  Jena,  and 
at  length  obtained  the  medical  chair  at  Kiel, 
where  he  died  in  17  16.  He  was  the  author 
of  several  works  on  natural  history,  anatomy, 
and  medicine,  among  which  are  "  The  Ana- 
lomy  of  the  Sword-fish,"  Hamhuig,  1707, 
4to  ;  "  The  Anatomy  of  the  Seal,"  1707,  4to  ; 
and  a  treatise  entitled  "  Ars  Medendi  uni- 
versa, 
mid. 


3  vols.  4to. — Gronov.  Bibl.  Reg.  Ani- 
ioir.  Univ. 


SCHELHORN  (JOHN  GEORGE)  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  bibliographers  of  Germany, 
born  at  Memmingen,  December  8,  1694.  He 
studied  at  Jena,  and  then  at  Nuremberg  ;  and 
returning  to  his  native  place,  he  took  holy 
orders,  and  was  attached  as  a  preacher  to  one 
of  the  principal  churches.  Becoming  known 
for  his  erudition,  lie  was  in  1724  appointed 
librarian  of  the  academy  of  Memmingen,  of 
which  he  soon  after  became  co-rector.  At  the 
age  of  sixty  lie  received  the  degree  of  doctor 
of  theology,  which  was  necessary  in  order  to 
his  obtaining  the  office  of  ecclesiastical  super- 
intendant,  which  he  held  till  his  death,  May 
31,  1773.  He  was  a  member  of  the  imperial 
academy  of  Roveredo,  and  of  the  ducal  so- 
ciety of  Jena.  Among  his  publications  may 

be  noticed  "  Amoenitatea  Litterariffi,"  1724 — ]  "  Bibliotheca  Scriptorum  Historic  Naturalis, 
1731,  14  vols.  8vo  ;   "  Amocnitates   Historic    1716,   8vo ;    "Museum  Diluvianum,"   1716, 
Et-.desiasticas   et   Litterahffi,"    1737,  4  vein,    8vo;  "  Physica  Sacra,"    17^"5,   4  vols.  folir, 


S  C  II 

Rvo  ;  "  De  Religionis  Evangelical  in  Provin- 
cia  Salisburgensi  Ortu,  Progressu,  et  Fads,'1 
1732,  4to  ;  "  De  antiquissima  Latinorum  Bib- 
liorum  Editione,  ceu  primo  Artis  Typographi- 
cal Foetu  et  rariorum  Librorum  Phosnice," 
1760,  4to  ;  and  "  Commercii  Epistolaris  Uf- 
fenbachiani  selecta,  variis  Observationibus 
illustrata,"  Ulm,  1753 — 56,  5  vols.  8vo. — 
Biog.  Univ. 

SCHELLER  (EMANUEL  JOHN  GERARD) 
a  philological  writer,  who  was  a  native  of  Sax- 
ony. He  studied  at  Leipsic,  where  he  sup- 
ported himself  by  acting  as  a  private  tutor 
and  assisting  in  literary  journals.  In  1760 
he  published  a  dissertation  "  De  Historian  an- 
tique militate  ;"andiu  1761  he  was  appointed 
rector  of  a  school  in  Lower  Lusatia,  which 
place  he  exchanged  in  1771  for  that  of  rector 
of  the  gymnasium  of  Brieg  in  Silesia.  In 
1778  he  published  a  valuable  work,  entitled 
"  Prascepta  Styli  bene  Latini,  in  primis  Cice- 
roniani,  seu  Eloquential  Romans,"  2  vols. 
8vo  ;  and  he  was  also  the  author  of  a  Latin  and 
German  dictionary,  7  vols.  8vo ;  and  a  Latin 
grammar.  He  died  July  5,  1803. — Biug.  Univ. 
SCHERZ  (JOHN  GEORGE)  one  of  the  wri- 
ters who  principally  contributed  to  explain 
the  ancient  monuments  of  the  German  lan- 
guage. He  was  born  at  Strasburgh  in  1678, 
and  he  studied  at  his  native  place,  and  in  the 
university  of  Halle.  In  1702  he  obtained  the 
philosophical  chair,  and  in  1711  that  of  juris- 
prudence at  Strasburg,  where  he  died  April  1, 
1754.  His  principal  work  appeared  posthu- 
mously, under  the  title  of  "  Glossarium  Ger- 
manicum  medii  A\\1.,  potissimum  Dialect! 
Suevicse,"  publisned  witli  the  notes  and  sup- 
plements of  Oberlin,  in  two  volumes,  folio, 
1781 — 84.  Scherz  was  a  contributor  to  Schil- 
ler's "  Thesaurus,"  and  he  edited  the  third 
volume  of  that  work. —  Biog.  Univ. 

SCHEUCHZER   (JOHN   JAMES)   a  physi- 
cian  and  naturalist,  the  son   of  a  physician  of 
the   same  name   at  Zurich,    in     Switzerland, 
where  he  was  born  in  1672.  He  was  educated 
3artly  at  Altorf,   and   then  went   to  LTtrecht, 
and  took  the  degree  of  MD.  in  1694.      He  set- 
tled at  Zurich,  where    he  became  one  of  the 
public  stipendiary  physicians,  and  professor  of 
mathematics  and  natural  philosophy.     Botany 
was  his  favourite  study,  in  the  pursuit  of  which 
he  made  excursions  in  different   parts  of  the 
Alps  in  1702,  1703,  1704,  and  1711,  and  pub- 
lished an   account   of  his  researches,  entitled 
"  Itinera    per    Helvetia:    Alpinos    Regiones 
facta,   Annis    1702 — 11,"    4to.     In   1712  he 
received  an  invitation  from  Peter  the  Great  to 
settle  in  Russia  ;   but  Le  was  prevented  from 
accepting  it  by  offers  of  additional  emolument 
from  the  council  of  Zurich.     He  died  in  1733, 
leaving  a  valuable  library,  a  cabinet  of  medals, 
and    a  rich  museum  of    natural   history,    the 
result   of   his   own    researches.      Besides  his 
Alpine  itineraries,  he  was  the  author  of  "  Spe- 
cimen Lithologia:   Helvetica?  curiosa>,"   1702, 
8vo  ;   "  Herbarium  Diluvianum,"  1709,  folio; 


SO  H 

published  the  same  year  at  Amsterdam,  with 
descriptions  in  Dutch,  fifteen  volumes. — Gro- 
nov.  Bibl.  Keg.  Animal.  ]}ii>%.  Univ. 

SCHEUCHZER  (JOHN)  brother  of  the 
subject  of  the  last  article,  was  distinguished 
as  a  botanist.  He  was  born  in  168-1,  and  after 
completing  his  studies  at  Zurich,  lie  engaged 
in  military  service  in  Holland,  and  was  secre- 
tary to  count  Marsigli,  whom  he  accompanied 
to  Italy.  Returning  home  he  applied  himself 
to  mechanics  and  fortification;  and  in  1712 
lie  was  appointed  engineer  of  the  canton  of 
Zurich.  In  1718  he  became  professor  of  bo- 
tany at  Padua,  which  office  he  lost  ou  account 
of  his  being  a  Protestant.  He  then  travelled 
in  Holland,  France,  Italy,  and  Germany  ;  and 
in  1732  he  was  made  secretary  of  the  states 
of  the  county  of  Baden.  On  the  death  of  his 
brother  he  succeeded  Iiim  as  professor  of  na- 
tural history  and  physician  at  Zurich,  where 
he  died  March  8,  1738.  He  published  a  work, 
entitled  "  Historia  Graminum,"  1719,  4to  ; 
"  Dissertatio  philosophica  de  Tesseris  Baden- 
sibus,"  1735,  4to;  "  Agrostographia,"  and 
other  works. — JOHN  CASPAR  SCHEUCHZER,  the 
son  of  J.  J.  Scheuchzer,  became  a  physician, 
and  resided  many  years  in  England,  where  he 
died  in  1792,  at  the  age  of  ninety.  He  was 
the  author  of  an  academical  thesis  "  De  Di- 
luvio,"  Tiguri,  1722,  4to  ;  and  he  translated 
into  English  Koempfer's  "  History  of  Japan." 
— Mnreri.  Biog.  Univ. 

SCHIAVONETT1  (Louis)  a  very  ingeni- 
ous artist,  was  born  at  Bassano,  in  the  Vene- 
tian territory,  April  1,  1765.  His  father,  who 
was  a  stationer,  could  give  him  but  a  limited 
education,  but  having  shown  an  early  taste  for 
drawing,  he  was  placed  under  an  able  painter  j 
named  Golini,  who,  after  affording  him  three 
vears  of  useful  instruction,  died  in  his  arms. 
He  subsequently  obtained  employment  from 
count  Renaudini,  whose  extensive  typogra- 
phical and  chalcographical  concerns  had  pre- 
viously given  occupation  to  Bartolozzi  and 
Volpato.  He  was  ultimately  induced  to 
come  to  England,  where  he  became  acquaint- 
ed with  Bartolozzi,  and  lived  in  his  house 
until  enabled  to  work  upon  his  own  account. 
He  cultivated  his  genius  with  a  success  com- 
mensurate with  the  expectation  formed  of  him, 
and  acted  with  a  degree  of  uprightness  and 
integrity  that  made  him  universally  esteemed. 
He  died  at  Brompton,  June  7,  1810,  in  the 
forty-fourth  year  of  his  age.  Some  of  his  '• 
principal  performances  are  the  Madre  Dolo-  : 
ro.sa,  after  Vandyck  ;  Michael  Angelo's  cele- 
brated cartoon  of  the  Surprise  of  the  Soldiers 
on  the  Banks  of  the  Arno ;  the  Landing  of 
the  British  Troops  in  Egypt,  from  Louther- 
bourg  ;  and  the  etching  of  Stothard's  Canter- 
bury Pilgrimage,  from  Chaucer,  which  he  left 
unfinished.  Schiavonetti,  in  die  estimation 
of  his  biographer,  ranks  with  Andrews,  Ede- 
Knck,  Strange,  and  Woollet. — Life  by  Cromek, 
in  Gent.  Mag.  vol.  xxx. 

SCHIAVONI  (ANDRKA)  an  eminent  ar- 
tist, was  born  at  ?ebenico  in  Dalmatia,  in 
1522.  His  parents,  who  were  in  humble  cir- 
cumstances, placed  him  with  a  house-painter 


sen 

at  Venice,  where  at  his  leisure  hours  he  s;a- 
iiii'd  the  works  of  Parmegiano,  Gioryione, 
and  Titian.  The  latter  great  painter,  informed 
of  his  talents,  generously  took  him  under  his 
care,  and  soon  after  employed  him  in  the  li- 
brary of  St  Mark,  where  he  is  said  to  have 
painted  three  entire  ceilings.  He  was  ac- 
counted one  of  the  finest  colourists  of  the  Ve- 
netian school.  Two  of  his  compositions  are 
in  the  church  of  the  Padre  Teatini  at  Rimini, 
representing  the  Nativity,  and  the  Assumption 
of  the  Virgin.  His  Perseus  and  Andromeda, 
and  the  Apostles  at  the  Sepulchre,  are  in  the 
royal  collection  at  Windsor.  He  died  at  Ve- 
nice in  1582. — D'Argenville  Vies  fie  Peint. 

SCHILL  (FERDINAND  von)  a  Prussian  of- 
ficer, distinguished  for  his  military  talents  and 
daring  courage.  He  was  born  in  1773,  at 
Sotthoft'in  Silesia,  of  a  noble  family,  originally 
from  Hungary.  He  studied  at  the  college  of 
Breslau,  and  in  1789  he  entered  into  a  regi- 
ment of  hussars  as  a  cadet.  He  afterwards 
removed  into  the  regiment  of  the  queen  of 
Prussia's  dragoons,  in  which  he  served  at  the 
battle  of  Jena,  where  he  was  badly  wounded. 
On  Mas  recovery,  he  formed  a  free  corps,  at 
the  head  of  which  he  displayed  great  ability 
as  a  partizan  officer.  The  peace  of  Tilsit  put 
an  end  to  his  operations  ;  and  being  appointed 
major,  and  afterwards  colonel,  he  went  with 
his  regiment  to  Berlin,  where  he  was  much 
noticed  by  the  court.  Nourishing  in  his  breast 
a  profound  hatred  against  the  French,  he  was 
extremely  dissatisfied  at  the  subjection  of  his 
country  to  the  influence  of  Buonaparte.  He 
therefore  boldly  resolved  to  erect  the  standard 
of  revolt,  and  make  an  effort  for  the  libera- 
tion of  Germany.  He  set  off  from  Berlin  at 
the  head  of  his  regiment  on  the  29th  of  April, 
1809.  He  visited  Wittemberg,  Dessau,  and 
other  places,  seizing  the  public  money,  and 
everywhere  replacing  the  arms  of  Westphalia 
by  those  of  Prussia.  Near  Magdebourg  he 
gained  some  advantage  over  a  body  of  French 
troops  ;  and  after  various  manoeuvres  he  ar- 
rived at  Stralsund,  which  place  he  entered  the 
25th  of  May.  He  had  not  time  to  repair  the 
fortifications,  which  had  been  destroyed,  when 
he  was  attacked  by  a  numerous  detachment  of 
Dutch  and  Danish  forces,  under  generals  Gra- 
tian  and  Ewald.  His  little  army,  in  spite  of 
the  obstinate  valour  of  their  leader,  was  over- 
whelmed and  almost  extiipated.  Schill  himself 
was  found  under  a  heap  of  dead,  after  he  had, 
with  his  own  hand,  killed  the  Dutch  general, 
Carteret.  He  thus  perished,  May  31,  1809. 
— Land.  Mag.  vol.  iv.  Biog.  Univ. 

SCHILLER  (FREDERICK)  one  of  the  most 
illustrious  of  the  German  poets,  was  the  son 
of  a  major  in  the  Bavarian  service,  and  was 
born  at  the  little  town  of  Marbach,  in  the  Wur- 
temburgh  territories,  November  10,  1759.  He 
was  distinguished  in  his  childhood  for  g-eat 
ardour  of  imagination,  and  one  of  his  favourite 
books  was  that  of  Ezekiel,  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. His  father,  whose  circumstances  were 
far  from  nourishing,  being  extremely  anxiuos 
that  the  boy  should  he  brought  up  to  the  mi- 
nistry, placed  him  at  an  early  age  ur  der  the 


see 

superinteudance  of  the  pastor  of  Lorcli,  frr.rr, 
whose  tuition  lie  removed  him  at  the  expira- 
tion of  three  years  to    the  public    school    at 
Ludwigsburg,    the    routine   of  which    neither 
suited  his   temper   nor   genius.     In   classical 
acquirements  he  is  said  to  have  exhibited  no 
premature   or   extraordinary  progress,  and  in 
the  opinion  of  his  instructors,  ranked  by  no 
means  superior  to  the  rest  of  his  schoolfellows. 
A  fondness  for  solitary  contemplation,  and  for 
witnessing  the  grander  operations  of  Nature, 
as   exhibited   in   storms   and   tempests,  seems 
even  at  this  period  of  his  life  to  have   disco- 
vered the  future  and  peculiar  bent  of  his  ge- 
nius.      Notwithstanding    his    repugnance    to 
scholastic  discipline,  he  remained  at  school  for 
upwards  of  six  years,  when  the  invincible  dis- 
like which  he  manifested  towards  his  destined 
profession,  wrung  from  his  father  a  reluctant 
consent  that  his  studies  should   he   hencefor- 
ward   directed     to    that   of    medicine.     The 
works  of  Shakspeare,  Goethe,  Klopstock,  and 
Lessing,  continued  however  to  occupy  all  his 
attention  to  the  exclusion  of  the  materia  me 
dica  ;   and  even  at  the  early  age  of  fourteen, 
like  our  own  Pope,  he  became   the  author  of 
an  epic  poem,  which  was  subsequently  most 
judiciously   consigned    to    the    flames.     Five 
years    after   appeared   his  tragedy    of  "  The 
Robbers,"  which  at  once   raised  him   to  the 
foremost  rank  among   the  dramatists   of    his 
country  ;  it  is  so  powerfully  conceived,  that  it 
is   said   to  have   induced  several  students  at 
Leipsic    to    desert    their  college,  in   order    to 
form  a  troop  of  banditti  in  the  woods  of  Bohe- 
mia.    This  play,  wild  and  extravagant  as  it 
is,  displays,  according   to   madame   de   Stael, 
much  of  "  the  intoxication  of  genius,"  and  is, 
perhaps,  only  to  be  considered  inferior  to   the 
"  Wallenstein"    of  his  maturer  years.     The 
reputation  he  acquired  by  this,  and  two  dramas 
which  succeeded  it,  "Fiesco,"  and  "  Cabal  and 
Love, "induced  the  Manheim  theatre,  then  the 
most  flourishing  in  Germany,  to  offer  him  the 
post  of  dramatic  composer,  for  which  he  gladly 
resigned  his  situation  as  surgeon  to  a  regiment. 
Here  he  completed  his  translation  of  "  Mac- 
beth," and  commenced  his  tragedy  of  "  Don 
Carlos,"  which,  however,  was  not  published 
until  ten  years  afterwards.     His  "  Philosophi 
cal  Letters"  were  commenced  about  the  same 
peiiod  ;  and  on  the  termination  of  his  Man- 
heini  engagement  he  retired  to  Leipsic,  where 
he    commenced    his   labours    as    a    historian. 
His  first  production   in   that  capacity  was  a 
"  History  of  the  Remarkable  Conspiracies  and 
Revolutions  in  the  Middle  and  Later  Ages." 
A   volume  of  poems  having  gained  him  the 
patronage   of  the  duke   of  Saxe- Weimar,  he 
removed  to  Weimar  in  1787,  and  became   ac- 
quainted with  Wieland,  Herder,  and  Goethe. 
His  new   patron  also  conferred  upon  him  the 
title  of  aulic  counsellor,  and  nominated  him  to 
the  professorship  of  history  and  philosophy  at 
Jena.     He  accordingly  took  up  his  residence  in 
that  university,  and  soon  after  mairied  a  wo- 
man of  family  and  fortune,  who  is  said  to  have 
fallen  in  love  with  him  through  his  writings, 
and  to  have  sent  him  a  matrimonial  challenge, 


sen 

which  he  immediately  accepted.  At  Weimr.r 
:ommenced  his  "  History  of  the  Thirty  Years' 
War,"  which  work  appeared  in  1791,  and  is 
considered  his  chef-d'ceuvre  as  a  historian. 
In  the  course  of  the  same  ycai  lie  underwent 
a  severe  pulmonary  attack,  from  which  lie 
never  entirely  recovered  ;  for  although  he  ex- 
perienced a  partial  and  temporary  restoration, 
during  which  he  composed  "  Wallenstein," 
the  most  elaborate  and  splendid  of  his  dramas, 
as  well  as  some  other  of  the  most  finished  of 
iis  productions,  he  was  carried  off  by  a  re- 
lapse on  the  9th  of  May,  1805,  and  was  in- 
terred with  great  solemnity.  In  his  private  cha- 
racter Schiller  was  friendly,  candid,  andsincere; 
hut  in  youth  he  affected  eccentricity  in  his  man- 
ners and  appearance,  and  a  degree  of  singularity 
seems  always  to  have  appertained  to  him.  As 
a  dramatist  he  has  some  pretensions  to  head 
the  school  which  looks  inward  for  character 
and  sentiment ;  and  is  more  or  less  disposed 
to  give  the  metaphysical  hue  of  the  author  to 
the  creation  of  his  fancy,  than  to  enter  into 
the  real  varieties  of  human  existence,  and  to 
lose  self  in  a  borrowed  train  of  associations. 
In  his  earlier  dramatic  productions,  the  bril- 
liancy of  his  genius  concealed  its  extravagance, 
and  to  the  last  he  went  to  the  extreme  of 
the  taste  of  his  country  for  high  wrought 
representations  of  passion,  to  the  violation  of 
nature  and  probability,  to  support  which  viola- 
tion, an  ingenious  theory  has  in  the  mean  time 
been  expressly  adopted.  Both  in  this  and 
every  other  department  in  which  he  engaged, 
however,  his  claims  to  exalted  genius  are  unde- 
niable. Besides  the  works  already  men- 
tioned, Schiller  wrote  a  singular  romance,  en- 
titled "  The  Ghost  Seer,"  which  displayed  his 
peculiar  turn  of  mind  as  much  as  his  other 
productions.  Schiller  was  made  a  citizen  of 
France  without  his  solicitation,  as  abo  a  Ger- 
man noble  ;  but  so  little  was  he  flattered  by 
this  sort  of  distinction,  that  he  never  adopted 
the  title  of  baron,  thereby  conferred  on  him. 
It  will  be  seen  that  this  distinguished  man  of 
genius  died  in  the  prime  of  mental  life,  hav- 
ing fallen  short  of  completing  his  forty-sixth 
year. — Ann.  Biog.  Mnnth.  Mag. 

SCHILTER  (JOHN)  a  German  antiquarian 
and  juridical  writer,  born  at  Pegau  in  Misnia, 
in  1 632.  He  studied  at  Leipsic  and  Nauni- 
bourg,  and  afterwards  at  Jena.  In  1662  he 
entered  into  the  service  of  the  duke  of  Saxe 
Zeitz,  who  nominated  him  hailli  of  Suhl  iii 
1668.  Some  years  after,  lie  became  privy 
counsellor  to  the  duke  of  Saxe  Weimar,  and 
on  the  death  of  that  price,  in  1678,  he  went 
to  Jena  ;  but  being  disappointed  of  a  profes- 
sorship there,  he  removed  to  Frankfort-on- 
the-Mayne,  and  afterwards  to  Strasburgh, 
where  he  was  nominated  counsellor  of  the 
city  and  honorary  professor.  He  died  there 
in  1705.  Besides  some  works  of  less  import- 
ance, he  produced  "  Codex  Juris  Allemannici 
Feudalis,"  S  vols.  4to  ;  and  "  Thesaurus  Anti- 
quitatum  Teutonicarum,"  3  vols.  folio. — See 
ScuEnz  (J.  G.) — Sing.  Univ. 

SCHLOEZERorSCHLOTZER^ucnsT.'s 
Louis  von)  knight  of  the  order  of  St  \Vladi- 


sen 

mtr.  and  professor  of  history  at  Gottin  ei 
where  he  died  September  10,  1 »()'.'.  Jit-  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  a  number  of  valuable 
works  on  the  history  of  the  north  of  Europe, 
among  which  may  be  mentioned  his  "  I'ui- 
versal  History  of  the  North,"  4to  ;  "  History 
of  Lithuania,"  4to  ;  "  'J'he  Monetary  and  Me- 
tallurgic  History  of  Russia,  from  1700  to 
1789,"  8vo,  in  which  he  was  assisted  by  his 
learned  daughter,  the  wife  of  the  senator  Ilodde 
of  Lubeck  ;  and  a  critical  edition  of  the  An- 
nals of  the  Russian  Chronicler  Nestor.  He 
has  related  by  what  means  he  was  enabled  to 
cultivate  with  so  much  success  the  study  of 
Russian  history  and  antiquities  in  his  Oeffent- 
lichen  und  Privatleben,"  (Public  and  Private 
Life)  during  his  residence  in  Russia,  from  1761 
to  1765.  This  autobiographical  work  is  highly 
interesting  to  philologists  and  historians,  con- 
taining much  information  relative  to  Russia, 
and  anecdotes  of  Catherine  II.  Schloezev 
published,  under  the  title  of  "  Correspon- 
dence," a  political,  historical,  and  statistical 
journal,  from  1776  to  1782,  10  vols.  8vo, 
which  was  continued  to  1794,  under  the  title 
of  "  Staatsanziegen,"  18  vols.  8vo.  He  was 
also  one  of  the  conductors  of  the  "  Literary 
Gazette  of  Gottingen,"  reckoned  the  most 
learned  of  the  German  journals. — Zopf  Hist. 
Univ.  Biog.  Univ. 

SCHNEBI3ELIE  (JACOB)  an  architectural 
draughtsman,  born  in  1760  in  Westminster, 
where  his  father  carried  on  business  as  a  con- 
fectioner. He  was  brought  up  to  the  same  em- 
ployment, but  having  a  taste  for  drawing,  he 
relinquished  his  business,  and  applied  himself 
particularly  to  the  delineation  of  buildings  and 
antiquities.  He  was  appointed  draughtsman 
to  the  Society  of  Antiquaries,  and  his  pencil 
was  employed  in  decorating  their  publications, 
and  those  of  Mr  Gough.  He  also  conducted 
the  "  Antiquaries'  Museum,"  and  assisted  in  a 
collection  of  "  Antique  English  Dresses." 
His  death  took  place  in  1792. — Gent  Mag. 

SCHNEIDER  (EULOGUE)  a  German  priest, 
who  was  vicar  to  the  constitutional  bishop  of 
Strasburi:,  and  afterwards  civil  commissary  to 
the  French  republican  army  at  Alsace,  and 
public  accuser  before  the  criminal  tribunal  of 
the  Lower  Rhine.  This  wretch  was  one  of 
the  most  pernicious  agents  of  Robespierre 
and  his  confederates,  whose  tyranny  was  ren- 
dered more  intolerable  by  his  vindictive  ma- 
lice and  wanton  cruelty.  Armed  with  the  au- 
thority of  St  Just  and  Lebas,  commissioners 
from  the  Convention  at  Strasburg,  Schneider 
proceeded  through  the  department  with  a  body 
of  troops,  and  followed  by  the  guillotine,  on 
which  he  immolated  citizens  of  every  rank, 
sex,  and  age,  where  interest  or  revenge  fur- 
nished the  slightest  motive  for  their  execution. 
In  one  of  his  progresses  he  arrived  at  the  vil- 
lage of  Epsig,  where  he  found  the  local  magis- 
trate, M.  Kuhn,  about  to  sit  down  to  dinner 
with  some  friends.  Schneider  was  invited  to 
join  them  ;  and  he  appeared  for  a  time  to  be 
much  pleased  with  his  host  and  his  entertain- 
ment. At  length,  suddenly  starting  up  from  the 
table,  he  asked  the  master  of  the  house  if  he 


sen 

had  any  more  wine  such  as  they  were  drink- 
ing. Kuhn  replied,  that  he  had  a  few  bottles, 
which  were  much  at  his  service.  "  Well, 
then,"  said  the  monster,  "  make  haste,  and 
fetch  us  one  more,  for  in  three  quarters  of  an 
hour  your  drinking  will  be  entirely  at  an  end.' 
He  then  ordered  the.  guillotine  to  bo  drawn 
into  the  court-yard  of  his  host,  and  on  the  pic- 
text  that  he  had  been  receiver-general  to  the 
cardinal  de  Rohan,  formerly  archbishop  of 
Strasburg,  he  had  him  beheaded,  in  the  pre- 
sence of  his  family,  friends,  and  domestics, 
who  in  vain  begged  for  his  life.  Schneider 
was  about  to  set  on  foot  novades  at  Strasburg, 
similar  to  those  of  Mantes,  when  he  was  cut 
short  in  his  career  through  the  jealous  policy 
of  the  conventional  commissioners,  whose  pride 
he  had  insulted  by  making  a  pompous  entry 
into  Strasburg,  in  a  carriage  drawn  by  six 
horses,  preceded  by  couriers,  and  surrounded 
by  guards  with  drawn  swords.  St  Just  and 
Lebas  displeased,  not  by  his  crimes,  but  by 
his  arrogance,  had  him  arrested  on  the  20th 
of  December,  1793,  and  shortly  after  con- 
veyed to  Paris,  where  lie  was  condemned  by 
the  revolutionary  tribunal  and  guillotined,  at 
the  age  of  thirty- seven.  His  sentence  pur- 
ported that  he  had  been  convicted  of  having-, 
by  cruel  and  immoral  violence,  and  vexatious 
proceedings,  and  by  the  most  revolting  and 
most  sanguinary  abuse  of  the  name  and  autho- 
rity of  a  revolutionary  commissary,  oppressed, 
robbed,  assassinated,  and  ravished  the  honour, 
the  fortune,  and  the  tranquillity  of  peaceable 
families.  Such  were  the  miscreants  to  whom 
the  French  republicans  delegated  their  power, 
and  thus  made  themselves  answerable  for  the 
enormities  of  their  instruments. — Diet,  cles  H. 
M.  dii.  1  Sine  S. 

SCHOEPFLIN  (JOHN  DANIEL)  a  learned 
German  historian,  who  was  born  at  Sultz- 
bourg,  in  the  territory  of  Baden  Dourlach,  in 
1694.  He  became  professor  of  rhetoric  and 
history  at  Strasburg  ;  and  his  vast  erudition 
procured  him  the  title  of  historiographer  to 
Louis  XV.  He  published  a  number  of  works 
of  research,  among  which  may  be  noticed  his 
"  Alsatia  illustrata,"  2  vols.  folio;  "  Alsu.ua 
diplomatics, "  4  vols.  folio  ;  "  Vindicije  Ty- 
pographies," 1760,  4to  ;  and  "  Historia  Za- 
ringo-Badensis,"  7  vols.  4to.  This  last  work, 
which  has  been  praised  for  the  elegance  of  its 
style,  was  prepared  for  the  press  by  M.  Koch, 
a  pupil  of  Schoepflin.  This  learned  and  in- 
dustrious author,  after  having  for  more  than 
half  a  century  been  the  great  ornament  of  the 
university  of  Strasburg,  died  in  that  city  in 
1771.  He  left  to  the  public  his  valuable  li- 
brary and  museum. — Diet.  Hist.  Biog.  Univ. 

SCHMIDT.  There  are  three  German  wri- 
ters of  this  name,  of  whom  some  brief  mention 
may  be  desirable.  CHRISTOPHER  SCHMIDT,  a 
learned  German,  was  born  at  Nordheim  in. 
1740,  and  studied  law  at  Gottingen.  In  1762 
he  visited  Russia,  in  the  train  of  count  Mu- 
nich ;  and  contracted  so  great  a  fondness  for 
that  country,  and  its  language,  that  lie  em- 
ployed much  of  his  future  time  on  its  history. 
He  produced  various  works,  published  in 


S  C  II 

German  ;  "  Letters  on  Russia;"  "  Materials 
for  a  Knowlege  of  the  Government  and  Con- 
stitution of  Russia;"  "  Introduction  to  the 
History  of  Russia,"  &c.  He  was  also  author 
of  "  Historical  Miscellanies,"  and  a  "  History 
of  Germany,"  which  is  well  spoken  of.  On 
his  return  from  Russia,  he  lectured  on  history, 
public  law,  and  statistics,  in  the  Caroline 
college  at  Brunswick  ;  and  in  17/9  was 
made  keeper  of  the  archives  at  Wolfenbuttel. 
He  died  in  1801. — ERASMUS  SCHMIDT,  an 
excellent  Greek  scholar,  was  born  at  Delitzch, 
in  Misnia,  in  1560.  He  btcame  eminent 
for  his  skill  in  the  Greek  tongue,  and  lectured 
in  that  language,  and  on  mathematics,  in  the 
university  of  Gottingen.  He  died  in  J637. 
He  published  an  edition  of  Pindar,  in  1616, 
4to,  with  a  Latin  version  and  learned  notes, 
which,  with  some  exceptions,  is  well  spoken 
of  by  Heyne.  He  also  wrote  notes  upon  Ly- 
cophron,  Dionysius  Periegetes,  and  Hesiod  ; 
and  was  author  of  an  able  "  Concordance  to 
the  Greek  Testament,"  the  best  edition  of 
which  is  that  of  1717. — JOHN  ANDREW 
SCHMIDT,  a.  learned  Lutheran  divine,  was 
born  at  Worms  in  1(552.  He  wrote  various 
•works  upon  subjects  connected  with  ecclesias- 
tical history,  and  is  highly  spoken  of  by  Mo- 
sheiin. — Mttreri.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

SCHM1TTS  (NICHOLAS)  a  learned  Jesuit 
of  the  last  century,  was  a  native  of  Olden- 
burgh,  in  Hungary,  and  taught  the  belles  lettres 
and  theology  in  the  schools  of  his  order  with 
great  reputation.  lie  died  1767,  leaving  se- 
veral works,  ihe  principal  of  which  is,  "  Impe- 
ratores  Ottomanici,  a  Capta  Constantinopoli 
cum  Epitome  Principum  Turcarum,  ad  Annum 
1718,"  2  vols.  folio,  1760.  All  his  works  are 
purely  and  elegantly  written,  but  the  forego- 
ing Turkish  history  is  particularly  esteemed. 
—  Xouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

SCHOMBERG  (ALEXANDER  CROWCHER) 
an  eminent  writer  on  jurisprudence,  who  stu- 
died at  Magdalen  college,  Oxford,  where  he 
proceeded  MA.  in  1781,  and  also  obtained  a 
fellowship.  He  took  clerical  orders,  but  never 
held  any  preferment  in  the  church.  In  1785 
he  published  an  ingenious  tract,  entitled  "  An 
Historical  and  Chronological  View  of  the  Ro- 
man Law,"  8vo  ;  which  was  followed  by  "  A 
Treatise  on  the  Maritime  Laws  of  Rhodes," 
8vo  ;  "Remarks  on  the  Commercial  Treaty 
with  France  ;"  and  a  "  Sea  Manual,  recom- 
mended to  the  young  Officers  of  the  British 
Navy,"  1789,  8vo.  He  died  in  1792,  at  the 
age  of  thirty-five. — Gent.  Mag. 

SCHOMBERG  (FREDERIC  duke  of)  a  dis- 
tinguished military  officer,  who  was  a  native 
of  Germany.  He  was  born  about  1619,  and 
was  the  son  of  count  Schomberg,  a  German 
nobleman,  by  the  daughter  of  Edmund,  baron 
Dudley.  He  commenced  his  military  career 
under  Frederick  Henry,  prince  of  Orange ; 
and  he  afterwards  went  to  France,  where  he 
became  acquainted  with  the  prince  of  Conde 
and  marshal  Turenne.  He  was  then  employed 
in  Portugal,  and  he  established  the  indepen- 
dence of  that  kingdom,  obliging-  the  Spaniards 
io  recognize  the  claims  of  the  house  of  Bra- 


3CH 

ganza.  He  commanded  the  French  army  in 
Catalonia  in  1672;  and  was  afterwards  em- 
ployed in  the  Netherlands,  where  he  obliged 
the  prince  of  Orange  to  raise  the  siege  of 
Maestricht.  For  these  services  he  was  re- 
warded with  the  staff  of  a  marshal  of  France 
in  1675  ;  but  on  the  revocation  of  the  edict 
of  Nantes,  marshal  Schomberg.  who  was  a 
Protestant,  quitted  the  French  service,  and 
went  to  Portugal.  Being  also  driven  from  that 
country  on  account  of  his  religion,  he  retired 
to  Holland,  and  subsequently  engaged  in  the 
service  of  the  elector  of  Brandenburg.  He 
came  to  England  in  1688  with  William  III ; 
and  after  the  Revolution  he  was  created  a  duke, 
and  obtained  a  grant  of  one  hundred  thou- 
sand pounds.  He  was  sent  to  IreLmd  in  the 
following  year  to  oppose  the  partizans  of 
James  II.  Being  joined  by  king  William,  he 
was  present  at  the  battle  of  the  Boyne,  in 
which  he  lost  his  life,  July  1,  1690,  owing,  it. 
is  said,  to  an  accidental  shot  from  his  own 
troops,  as  he  was  passing  the  river  to  attack 
the  enemy. — Aikin's  Gen.  Biog. 

SCHOMBERG  (!SAAC)  a  Jewish  physi- 
cian, who  was  a  native  of  Cologne,  but  settled 
as  a  practitioner  of  medicine  in  London,  where 
he  died  in  1761.  He  was  the  author  of 
"  Aphorismi  Practici,"  1752,  8vo  ;  and  other 
professional  publications.  He  had  two  sons 
who  were  physicians. — ISAAC  SCHOMBERG, 
junior,  studied  at  Leyden,  where  he  obtained 
the  degree  of  MD.  He  aftewards  procured 
a  diploma  from  Cambridge,  and  endeavoured 
to  get  admission  into  the  Royal  College  of 
Physicians.  Dr  Battie,  then  one  of  the  cen- 
sors, distinguished  himself  by  his  opposition 
to  Schomberg,  who  instituted  a  lawsuit  against 
his  opponent,  and  being  unsuccessful,  he  took 
his  revenge  on  Dr  Battie  by  publishing  a  mock 
heroic  poem,  entitled  the  "  Battiad,"  which 
he  appears  to  have  written  in  conjunction  with 
Moses  Mendez  and  Paul  Whitehead.  He 
died  in  1780. — RALPH  SCHOMBERG,  brother 
of  the  preceding,  practised  medicine  at  Bath, 
and  afterwards  ;;t  Reading,  where  he  died  in 
1792.  He  was  the  author  of  a  life  of  Mecae- 
nas. — Niclwlis  Lit,  Anec. 

SCHOMBERG  (ISAAC)  a  naval  officer  and 
historian,  who  died  at  Chelsea,  January  20, 
1813.  He  served  as  a  lieutenant  in  the  Ame- 
rican war,  and  distinguished  himself  in  the 
victory  gained  by  admiral  Rodney  over  count 
de  Grasse.  During  the  subsequent  peace  he 
commanded  a  frigate  in  the  East  Indies,  where 
his  health  became  impaired,  and  he  contracted 
a  disease  of  the  liver,  from  which  he  never 
entirely  recovered.  He  was  captain  of  the 
Culloden,  which  belonged  to  the  fleet  of  lord 
Howe,  in  his  engagement  with  the  French, 
June  1,  1794 ;  and  when  hostilities  com- 
menced after  the  peace  of  Amiens,  he  com- 
manded the  sea-fencibles  at  Hastings.  He 
subsequently  retired  from  the  maritime  ser- 
vice, and  obtained  a  seat  as  a  commissioner  at 
the  navy-board.  His  leisure  in  the  latter  part 
of  his  life  was  devoted  to  the  composition  of 
a  work  entitled  "  Naval  Chronology  "  1802, 
5  vols.  8vo,  containing  an  Account  of  maritime 


SCH 

d'T;iirs  t'rom  the  origin  of  the  British  navy  to 
tiie  peace  of  1783. — Gent.  M<i". 

SCIIONNING,  or  SCHOENING  (GE- 
RARD) a  learned  Norwegian,  was  bom  in 
Nordland  in  1722.  Me  was  educated  at  Co- 
penhagen, and  became  a  member  of  the  Aca- 
demy of  Sciences  in  that  capital,  in  17.58.  In 
1764  he  was  appointed  professor  of  history  at 
Sora,  and  received  literary  honours  from  various 
societies.  He  died  in  1780.  His  works  are 
numerous,  but  many  of  them  are  academical 
dissertations.  Among  those  of  a  more  per- 
manent form,  are  "  An  Essay  towards  the 
ancient  Geography  of  the  Northern  Countries ;" 
"  Observations  on  the  old  Northern  Mar- 
riages ;"  "  De  Anno  Rationale  apud  Veteres 
Septentrionales  ;"  "  A  History  of  Norway," 
1771 — 1781,  4  vols.  4to;  "  Travels  through 
Norway,"  &c. — Nonv.  Diet.  Hist. 

SCHOUWALOF  (PETER  IWANOF,  count) 
a  field-marshal  in  the  Russian  service,  who  j 
was  one  of  the  first  favourites  of  the  empress 
Elizabeth.  His  services  in  promoting  her  ac- 
cession to  the  throne  were  rewarded  with  the 
rank  of  major-general  in  174L  ;  and  in  1746  he 
received  the  title  of  nobility,  to  which  was 
added  an  ample  fortune.  Being  an  officer  of 
the  artillery,  he  contributed  much  to  the  im- 
provement of  that  branch  of  the  Russian 
airny.  He  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  his  im- 
perial patroness  till  his  death,  and  he  survived 
her  only  two  days,  dying  January  9,  1762. — 
His  son,  count  ANDREW  SCHOUWALOF,  suc- 
ceeded to  his  titles  and  fortune.  He  was 
chamberlain  to  the  empress  Elizabeth,  and 
was  in  great  favour  with  her  and  with  Cathe- 
rine II.  He  travelled  in  various  European 
countries,  and  resided  a  long  time  at  Paris, 
where  he  acquired  an  intimate  knowledge  of 
French  literature,  and  he  wrote  the  language 
with  facility.  Many  of  his  poetical  composi- 
tions are  extant,  the  most  remarkable  of  which 
are  "  Epitre  a  Voltaire,"  and  "  Epitre  a  Ni- 
non," the  latter  of  which  attracted  much  no- 
tice. Count  Schouwalof  corresponded  with 
Voltaire,  whom  he  visited  at  Ferney,  and  who 
gave  him  the  title  of  the  Russian  Mectenas. 
His  death  took  place  in  1789. — Count  PAUL 
SCHOUWALOF,  son  of  the  last  mentioned,  lieu- 
tenant-general and  aide-de-camp  to  the  empe- 
ror Alexander,  attended  him  in  his  last  war 
against  the  French.  He  was  one  of  the  com- 
missaries who  conducted  Buonaparte  to  the 
Isle  of  Elba;  and  in  1817  he  was  present  at 
the  congress  of  Aix-la-Chapelle.  He  died 
December  12,  1823. — Biog.  Univ.  Biog. 
Noiiv.  des  Coiitemp. 

SCHOTT  (  ANDIIEW  )  a  learned  Jesuit,  born 
at  Antwerp  in  1552.  He  studied  at  the  uni- 
versity of  Louvaine,  and  afterwards  at  Paris, 
where  he  became  acquainted  with  Dupuy, 
Scaliger,  Passerat,  and  Pithou.  He  then  went 
to  Spain,  and  obtained  the  professorship  of  the 
Greek  language  at  Toledo,  whence  in  1584  he 
removed  to  Sarngossa.  At  length  lie  entered 
into  the  order  of  the  Jesuits,  and  was  sent  to 
Rome,  where,  for  three  years,  he  taught  rhe- 
toric in  the  college  of  his  order.  He  died  at 
Antwerp,  according  to  Niceron  in  1629, 


SC  H 

though  other  authors  place  his  death  in  le^tr. 
Scbottus  published  a  collection  of  Greek  pro- 
verbs, with  annotations;  awork  entitled  "  His- 
pania  illustrata,"  4  vols.  folio;  and  editions  of 
several  of  the  classics,  with  notes. — Niceron, 
xxvi.  Frefieri  Thealr.  Aloreri. 

SCHOTT  (CASPAR)  an  ingenious  philoso- 
pher, born  in  the  diocese  of  Wurtsburg,  in 
Germany,  in  1608.  He  was  the  disciple  of 
the  celebrated  Kircher,  taught  philosophy  and 
mathematics  at  Palermo  and  at  Rome,  and 
died  in  1666.  He  belonged  to  the  order  of 
St  Ignatius.  His  works  are  "  Physica  curiosa, 
seu  Mirabilia  Naturas  et  Artis,  lib.  xii,"  Her- 
bipol.  1662,  4to;  "  Magia  universalis  Naturre 
et  Artis,"  1658-59,  4  vols.  4to  ;  "  Organum 
Mathematicum  ;"  "Anatomia  Physico-hydro- 
statica  Fontium  et  Fluminum ;"  and  "  Tech- 
nica  curiosa."  In  these  works  he  has  collected 
with  great  industry  the  wonders  of  natural 
philosophy  and  natural  history  ;  but  amidst 
the  multiplicity  of  his  details  are  inserted 
many  questionable  narratives,  and  not  a  few 
which  are  obviously  erroneous,  so  that  his 
authority  can  seldom  be  implicitly  relied  on. 
—  Eeimman.  Hut.  Lit.  vol.  iv.  Diet.  Hist, 
Binff.  Univ. 

SCHRADER  (JOHN)  a  modern  Latin  poet 
and  philological  writer,  born  in  Fiiseland,  in 
1721.  He  studied  at  Leeuwarden,  whence 
he  removed  in  1738  to  Franeker,  and  subse- 
quently to  the  university  of  Leyden.  He  be- 
came professor  of  rhetoric  and  history  at 
Franeker,  and  in  1754  he  was  promoted  to 
the  chair  of  national  history.  He  died  No- 
vember 26,  1782.  His  works  are  "  Obser- 
vationum  Liber,"  1761,  4to  ;  "  Liber  Emen- 
dationum,"  1776,  4to ;  "  Carmina,"  pub- 
lished collectively  after  his  death  at  Leeu- 
warden, 1786,  8vo  ;  and  "  Epistola  Critica," 
addressed  to  Peter  Burman  :  and  he  also  edi- 
ted "  MusseiHero  et  Leander,"  1742,  8vo.— 
Biog.  Univ. 

SCHREBER  (JOHN  CHRISTIAN  DANIEL, 
von)  a  German  naturalist,  born  in  1739.  He 
studied  medicine  at  Halle  ;  but  being  inspired 
with  an  extraordinary  passion  for  natural  his- 
tory, he  went  to  Upsal  in  1758,  that  he  might 
attend  the  lectures  of  Linnaeus.  Having  taken 
his  doctor's  degree,  and  greatly  extended  his 
acquaintance  with  the  science  of  nature,  he 
returned  to  Germany,  and  was  appointed  phy- 
sician to  the  school  of  Butzow.  In  1764  he 
removed  to  Leipsic,  where  he  became  secre- 
tary to  the  Economical  Society  ;  and  in  1769 
he  was  called  to  the  university  of  Erlangen, 
as  ordinary  professor  of  medicine,  natural  his- 
tory, and  botany,  with  the  title  of  aulic  coun- 
sellor. Twenty-two  years  after,  he  was  nomi- 
nated president  of  the  imperial  academy  ot 
naturalists,  imperial  counsellor,  6cc. ;  and  he 
received  from  the  emperor  of  Germany  letters 
of  nobility.  He  died  December  10,  1810. 
Schreber,  who  was  a  member  of  forty  learned 
societies,  was  the  author  of  "  Icones  Planta- 
rum  minus  cognitarum  Decas,"  1766,  folio  ; 
a  treatise  on  grasses,  in  German  ;  "  Spicile- 
gium  Flora  Lipsicse,"  1771,  8vo  ;  "  Planta- 
rum  Verticillatarum  Unilabiatamm  Genera  et 


SC  H 

Species,"  1774,  4to  ;  a  treatise  on  mammi- 
ferous  animals,  in  German,  &c.  ;  and  he  pub- 
lished the  eighth  edition  of  the  "  Genera 
Plantarum  Linniei,"  Frankfort,  1789,  8vo,  in 
which  lie  made  considerable  alterations.  His 
principal  work  is  that  on  grasses,  ("  Beschrei- 
bung  der  Crasser,")  which  is  illustrated  by  co- 
loured plates.  A  great  number  of  disserta- 
tions by  Schreber  are  printed  in  the  Acta  Soc. 
Nature  Curiosorum. — Bwg.  Univ. 

SCHREVELIUS  (CORNELIUS)  a  learned 
critic,  was  the  son  of  Theodore  Schrevelius, 
rector  of  the  school  at  Haerlem,  where  he  was 
probably  born  in  1622.  His  father  afterwards 
became  rector  of  the  school  of  Leyden,  in 
which  office  he  was  succeeded  by  Cornelius  in 
1642.  The  latter  had  taken  his  degree  in 
medicine  ;  but  on  his  promotion  to  the  school 
he  turned  his  attention  exclusively  to  classical 
pursuits,  in  the  course  of  which  he  published 
several  variorum  editions  of  the  classics,  which 
display  more  industry  than  taste  or  judgment. 
His  name  is  now  principally  known  by  a 
manual  Greek  and  Latin  Dictionary,  which 
has  been  reprinted  in  most  countries  of  Eu- 
rope, and  in  England  lias  been  improved  by 
Hill,  Bowyer,  and  others.  He  died  in  1667. 
— Foppens  Bibl.  Belg.  Moreri. 

SCHROEDER  (JOHN  JOACHIM)  a  learned 
Orientalist,  distinguished  for  his  knowledge  of 
the  Armenian  language.  He  was  born  in  the 
territory  of  Hesse  Cassel.in  1680,  and  he  stu- 
died at  Marpurg.  His  strong  predilection  for 
Eastern  literature  induced  him  to  undertake  a 
journey  to  Armenia  ;  but  various  accidents  im- 
peded his  progress,  and  he  reached  no  farther 
than  Moscow.  He  returned  to  Holland,  where 
lie  had  been  previously  studying  under  Schul- 
tens  and  Surenhusius.  He  prosecuted  his  re- 
searches concerning  the  Armenian  language 
with  the  assistance  of  an  Armenian  settled  at 
Amsterdam,  where  he  published  his  "  The- 
saurus Lingure  Armenicae."  4to  ;  he  also  com- 

o 

posed  a  dictionary  of  the  language,  the  MS.  of 
which  is  preserved  in  the  public  library  of  Cas- 
sel.  In  1713  he  was  nominated  professor  of 
the  Oriental  tongues,  and  of  ecelesiastical 
history,  at  Marpurg  ;  and  in  1737  he  obtained 
the  chair  of  theology.  He  died  in  1756, 
leaving  four  sons,  who  all  cultivated  with  suc- 
cess Eastern  literature. — NICOLAS  WILLIAM 
SCHROEDER,  born  at  Marpurg  in  1721,  was 
professor  of  the  Oriental  languages  at  his  na- 
tive place,  and  in  1748  became  professor  of 
Greek  and  the  Oriental  languages  at  Gronin- 
gen.  He  died  in  1798.  He  published  various 
academical  opuscula  ;  and  Ins  "  Institutiones 
ad  Fundamenta  Linguaj  Hebrrea;,"  1768,  8vo,  is 
one  of  the  most  complete  and  philosophical 
works  extant  on  Hebrew  philology. — Biog. 
Univ. 

SCHROEDER  (PHILIP  GEORGE)  a  Ger- 
man physician,  brother  of  N.  W.  Schroeder, 
was  born  ar  Marpurg  in  1729.  He  studied 
there,  and  at  Jena  and  Halle  ;  and  in  17.54  he 
was  chosen  professor  of  anatomy  and  surgery 
at  Rintelu.  In  1763  he  obtained  the  title  of 
first  professor  at  Marpurg,  and  the  following 
ear  he  removed  to  (ill  the  same  office  at  Got- 


SCH 

tingen,  where  he  died  March  14,  1772.  His 
academical  writings,  rich  in  scientific  observa- 
tions, were  published  collectively,  under  the 
title  of  "  P.  G.  Schroederi  Opuscula  Medica," 
Nuremberg,  11  rols.  8vo. — Id. 

SCHIIOETER  (JoiiN  SAMUEL)  a  Luthe- 
ran minister,  born  in  1735,  at  Rastenburg  in, 
Thuringia,  where  his  father  was  rector  of  the 
public  school.  He  was  educated  at  Jena,  and 
became  rector  of  the  school  of  Dornburg  in 
1756,  and  in  1763  pastor  at  Thangelstaedt. 
He  subsequently  removed  to  Weimar,  where 
he  became  inspector  of  the  cabinet  of  natural 
history,  and  at  length  superintendant  and  first 
pastor  at  Bukstaedt.  His  death  took  place 
March  24,  1808.  Schroeter  cultivated  na- 
tural history,  and  distinguished  himself  espe- 
cially as  a  conchologist  and  mineralogist. 
Among  his  works,  nlll  in  German,  are  a  "  Li- 
thological  Dictionary,"  Herlin,  1772 — 88, 
8  vols.  8vo  ;  "  An  Introduction  to  Concho- 
logy,"  Halle',  1783 — 86,  3  vols.  8vo ;  and 
"  Remarks  and  Observations  on  Natural  His- 
tory, particularly  relating  to  Shells  and  Fos- 
sils," Leipsic,  178J — 87,  4  vols.  8vo. — Bat- 
dinger's  Bwg.  of  Living  Naturalists.  Biog. 
Univ. 

SCHULTENS  (ALBERT)  a  learned  divine, 
was  born  at  Groningen  about  1680.  He  stu- 
died at  Leyden  and  Utrecht,  and  entering  the 
ministry  was  chosen  pastor  of  \Vassemaer,  and 
afterwards  professor  of  the  Oriental  languages 
at  Franeker,  and  next  at  Leyden,  where  he 
died  iu  1750.  Of  the  numerous  learned  works 
of  Schultens  the  most  considerable  are  "  A 
Commentary  on  the  Book  of  Job,"  2  vols.  4to  ; 
"Vetuset  Regia  Via  Hebrazandi ;"  "  Origines 
Ilebraica; ;"  and  a  Latin  version  of  the  "  Life 
of  Saladin,"  from  the  Arabic  of  Hariri. — He 
was  succeeded  by  his  son,  JOHN  JACOB 
SCHULTENS,  who  died  in  1778. — Nouv.  Diet. 
Hist. 

SCHULTENS  (HENRY  ALBERT)  son  of 
John  Jacob  Schultens,  and  grandson  of  the 
above,  was  born  at  Herborn  in  1749.  He  was 
educated  at  Leyden,  where  he  studied  Arabic 
and  Hebrew.  He  also  made  himself  master 
of  the  English  language,  and  in  1772  pub- 
lished his  "  Anthologia  Sententiarum  Arabi- 
carum."  He  soon  after  visited  England,  and 
became  a  commoner  in  Wadham  college,  Ox- 

D        ' 

ford,  where  he  received  the  degree  of  master 
of  aits.  He  also  acquired  the  friendship  of 
sir  William  Jones,  who  recommended  him  to 
study  the  Persian.  On  his  return  to  Holland 
he  was  chosen  professor  of  the  Oriental  lan- 
guages at  Amsterdam,  where  he  resided  until 
the  death  of  his  father,  whom  he  succeeded  at 
Leyden,  and  where  he  died  in  1793.  Besides 
the  work  already  mentioned,  he  published  an 
edition  of  Pil pay's  Fables,  and  a  supplement 
to  the  "  Bibliotheque  Oriental"  of  D'Her- 
belot.  After  his  death  appeared  his  transla- 
tion of  the  Book  of  Job,  and  an  edition  of 
Me  danius. —  Monthly  Rev.  vol.  xv.  N.  S. 

SCHULZE  (BENJAMIN)  a  Danish  mission- 
ary of  the  Lutheran  church,  who,  having 
finished  his  studies  at  Halle,  was  sent  to  ths 
East  Indies.  He  arrived  at  Tranquebar,  Se;> 


S  C  H 

tcmber  16,  1719,  shortly  after  the  death  of 
Ziegenbalg,  the  chief  of  the  mission.  He 
studied  the  Malabar  language,  and  received 
ordination  in  17 'JO.  lie  continued  a  transla- 
tion of  the  Bible  incothe  Tamul  dialect,  which 
had  been  commenced  by  Ziegenbalg,  and  the 
work  was  finished  in  1725.  He  removed  in 
17 '26  to  Madras,  and  engaged  in  the  service 
of  the  English  Society  for  the  Propagation  of 
the  Gospel,  under  whose  auspices  he  founded 
a  new  church.  He  then  studied  the  Tehuga 
and  the  Sanscrit ;  and  into  the  former  language 
he  translated  the  Bible,  and  Arndt's  True 
Christianity,"  and  "  Garden  of  Paradise." 
Ill  health  induced  him  to  return  to  Europe  in 
1743.  The  following  year  he  settled  at  Halle, 
where  he  employed  himself  till  his  death  in 
1760,  in  the  printing  of  his  translations  and 
other  learned  labours,  among  which  are  "Con- 
spectus Litteraturaa  Telingica;,  vulgo  Waru- 
gica;,"  1747,  4to  ;  and  "  The  Master  for  the 
Oriental  and  Occidental  Languages,  containing 
One  Hundred  Alphabets,  Polyglott  Tables, 
&c."  Leipsic,  1738,  8vo. —  Bing.  Univ. 

SCHULZE  (JonK  HENHY)  professor  of 
medicine  in  the  university  of  Halle,  was  born 
at  Colbitz,  in  the  duchy  of  Magdebourg-,  in 
1687.  His  father,  who  was  a  tailor,  was  unable- 
to  afford  him  the  means  of  education  ;  but  he 
was  fortunate  enough  to  meet  with  friends  who 
procured  him  admission  into  the  orphan  house 
at  Halle,  where  he  afterwards  assisted  as  a 
tutor.  In  1704  lie  was  received  into  the  uni- 
versity, where  he  studied  medicine.  He  be- 
came, in  1708,  teacher  at  the  Peedagogium  at 
Halle,  in  which  situation  he  remained  seven 
years.  He  then  resumed  the  medical  profes- 
sion, and  in  1720  obtained  the  anatomical 
chair  at  Altorf.  In  1732  he  was  appointed 
professor  of  rhetoric  and  antiquities  at  Halle, 
where  he  died  October  10,  1744.  He  was 
the  author  of  "  Historia  Medicina;  a  Re- 
rum  Initio  ad  An.  Urbis  Roma?  535  deducta," 
1728,  4to ;  and  other  works  which  display 
great  erudition. — Diet.  Hist.  Biog.  Univ. 

SCHURMA1MN  (ANNA  MARIA  de)  a  lady 
who  gained  a  high  literary  reputation  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century.  She 
was  descended  from  a  noble  family  of  the  Pro- 
testant religion,  and  was  born  at  Cologne, 
November  5,  1607.  From  her  earliest  years 
she  displayed  a  taste  for  study,  and  to  a  know- 
ledge of  classical  literature  she  added  a  great 
degree  of  skill  in  music,  painting,  sculpture, 
and  engraving,  which  union  of  talents  pro- 
cured her  the  appellation  of  the  modern 
Sappho.  She  knew  enough  of  Greek  and 
Hebrew  to  read  the  Bible  in  the  original  text; 
and  she  studied  Ethiopia  sufficiently  to  com- 
pose a  grammar  of  that  tongue.  After  the 
death  of  her  father,  in  16'23,  she  settled  with 
her  mother  at  Utrecht,  where  she  devoted  her 
time  to  the  cultivation  of  learning  and  the 
:irts.  She  corresponded  with  men  of  letters 
at  home  and  abroad,  and  she  was  visited  by 
Christina,  queen  of  Sweden,  and  other  distin- 
guished personages.  This  erudite  female  at 
length  became  the  victim  of  fanatical  delusion. 
In  1653  she  retired  to  a  country  scat  at  Lex- 


SC  II 

mund,  near  Vianen,  where  she  gave  an  asylum 
to  the  enthusiast  Labadie,  to  whom  she  is 
said  to  have  been  secretly  married.  After  his 
death  she  assembled  his  followers,  and  con- 
ducted them  to  Wivert  in  Friseland,  where 
she  died  in  1678.  Mademoiselle  Schunnann 
wrote  "  Opuscula  Hebra;a,  Graeca,  Latina, 
Gallica,  prosaica  et  metrica,"  edited  by  Fred. 
Spanheim,  Leyden,  1648,  8vo  ;  a  dissertation 
"  De  Ingenii  Muliebris  ad  Doctrinam  et  me- 
liores  Litteras  Aptitudine,"  1641,  8vo,  which 
was  translated  into  French  by  Colletet ;  and 
"  EvK\i]i>ia,  seu  melioris  Partis  Electio  brevem 
Religionis  ac  Vita;  ejus  Delineationem  exhi- 
bens,"  Altona,  1673,  8vo,  a  defence  of  the 
opinions  of  the  Labadists. — Niceron,  vol.xxxiii. 
Chauf'epie.  Aikin.  Biog.  Univ. 

SCHURTZFLEISCH  (CONRAD  SAMUEL) 
one  of  the  most  industrious  philological  writers 
Germany  has  ever  produced.  He  was  born 
in  1641,  at  Corbach,  iu  the  county  of  Wai- 
deck  ;  and  he  studied  at  his  native  place,  at 
Giessen  and  at  Wittemberg,  where,  at  the  age 
of  twenty-three,  he  took  the  degree  of  doctor 
of  philosophy.  Returning  to  Corbach,  he 
assisted  his  father,  who  was  rector  of  a  school, 
and  afterwards  he  visited  several  German  uni- 
versities. In  1667  he  engaged  in  the  study  of 
jurisprudence,  and  in  private  tuition,  at  Leip- 
sic  ;  where,  in  1669,  he  gave  offence  by  the 
freedom  with  which  he  expressed  his  opinion 
relative  to  the  most  celebrated  German  jurists, 
in  a  pamphlet,  which  he  published  under  the 
Latinized  appellation  of  Eubulus  Theosdatus 
Sarcmasius.  This  affair  obliged  him  to  remove 
to  Wittemberg,  where  he  became  in  1671  ex- 
traordinary professor  of  history  ;  four  years 
after,  he  succeeded  Carpzow  in  the  chair  of 
poetry  ;  and  in  1678  he  obtained  the  ordinary 
professorship  of  history,  to  which  was  added 
that  of  Greek.  He  travelled  afterwards  in  the 
Low  Countries,  England,  and  Italy  ;  and  re- 
turning to  Wittemberg,  he  in  1700  exchanged 
the  Greek  chair  for  that  of  rhetoric.  He  was 
also  counsellor  of  the  duke  of  Saxe  Weimar, 
who  made  him  his  librarian.  He  died  July  7, 
1708,  leaving  to  his  brother  a  valuable  collec- 
tion of  books,  a  cabinet  of  medals,  and  his 
MSS.  Among  his  numerous  works  may  be 
specified  "  Disputationes  Histories;  Civiles," 

1699,  4to;  "  Dissertationes  Academics, "4to; 
Disputationes     Philologico-philosophic«," 

1700,  4to  ;    "  Epistolae     selections,"    171  '2, 
8vo;    "  Epistolre    Arcana?    varii,"    1711-12, 
-2  vols.  8vo  ;   and  he  continued  Sleidan's  trea- 
tise "  De  Quatuor  Imperiis." — HENRY  LEO- 
NARD   SCHURTZFLEISCH,    younger    brother  of 
the  preceding,   followed   his   example   in   his 
application  to  the  study  of  classical   and   his- 
torical literature.     In  1700  he  succeeded  him 
in  the  chair  of  history  at  Wittemberg,  and  he 
also,  on   his  death,  became   librarian  at  Wei- 
mar.    He  died   in  17'23.     He  was  the  author 
of  "  Historia  Ensiferorum    Ordinis  Teutonic! 
Livonorum,"    1701,    8vo ;    "  Notitia   Biblio- 
thecrc  principals  Vimariensis,"  171 L',  4to,  re- 

ublisbed  with  additions  at  Jena,  in  1714  ;  and 
other  learned  works. — Bing.  Univ.  Saiii  Oiwm. 
SCHWARTZ    (BERTHOLD)    or    Bartolur, 


SC  H 

Niger,  ft  Franciscan  friar  of  Friburg,  or,  ac- 
cording to  some,  a  monk  of  Cologne,  who  has 
been  regarded  as  the  inventor  of  gunpowder 
and  fire-arms.  He  is  said  to  have  been  mix- 
ing together  the  ingredients  of  gunpowder, 
viz.  nitre,  sulphur,  and  charcoal,  in  an  iron 
mortar,  in  the  prosecution  of  some  alchymical 
researches,  when  the  composition  exploded 
from  an  accidental  spark  occasioned  by  the 
collision  of  the  pestle  and  mortar.  The  for- 
mer being  driven  forcibly  to  a  distance,  Ber- 
thold  thence  conceived  the  idea  of  forming 
pieces  of  artillery.  Such  is  the  story  com- 
monly told  of  the  invention  of  gunpowder,  said 
to  have  occurred  in  the  early  part  of  the  four- 
teenth century.  There  is  however  much  dis- 
crepancy in  the  accounts  of  this  discovery  ; 
and  it  is  certain  that  Roger  Bacon,  who  died 
in  1292,  was  acquainted  with  an  inflammable 
composition  similar  to  gunpowder,  the  know- 
ledge of  which  Europeans  appear  to  have  de- 
rived from  the  Orientals. — Orig. 

SCHWARTZ  (CHRISTIAN  FREDERIC)  a 
G'erman  missionary  to  the  East  Indies,  born  at 
Sonnenburg,  in  the  Nevvmarck,  October  26, 
1726.  He  went  to  Halle  in  1746,  and  entered 
at  the  university,  by  the  advice  of  the  ex- 
missionary  Schulze  ;  and  he  was  selected  with 
another  student  to  learn  the  Tamul  language, 
that  they  might  assist  in  the  intended  publi- 
cation of  Ziegenbalg  and  Schulze's  Tamulian 
translation  of  the  Bible. — (See  SCHULZE,  BEN- 
JAMIN.)— The  printing  of  this  work  was  re- 
linquished ;  and  Schwartz,  who  had  continued 
his  Oriental  studies  for  a-year  and  a  half,  was 
persuaded  to  go  as  a  missionary  to  the  East 
Indies.  He  proceeded  to  England  with  two 
other  gentlemen  destined  for  the  same  ser- 
vice ;  and  in  July  1750  they  arrived  at 
Tranquebar.  In  1767  Mr  Schwartz  was  em- 
ployed by  the  English  Society  for  the  Pro- 
motion of  Christian  Knowledge,  when  he 
removed  to  Trichinopoly  ;  and  there  and  at 
Tanjore  lie  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life, 
labouring  with  great  assiduity  in  preaching 
the  gospel  to  the  infidels  of  Hindostan.  At 
both  places  lie  received  from  the  govern- 
ment of  Madras  100/.  a  year,  as  garrison 
preacher,  which  sum  he  is  said  to  have  ex- 
pended in  building  a  church  at  Trichinopoly 
and  otherwise  promoting  the  purposes  of  the 
mission.  He  was  held  in  high  esteem  for  his 
character  by  the  Hindoos  ;  and  the  rajah  of 
Tanjore  made  him  tutor  to  his  son.  He  died 
February  13,  1798,  at  Tanjore,  where  his  body 
was  interred  in  the  church  which  he  had 
erected. — Memoir  in  Evang.  Mag.  vol.  xv. 

SCHWARZ  (CHRISTOPHER  THEOPHILUS) 
a  learned  and  laborious  writer  in  philology, 
born  at  Leisnig,  in  Saxonv,  in  1675.  He  stu- 
died at  Leipsii-  and  Wittemberg  ;  and  having 
taken  his  doctor's  degree,  he  returned  toLeip- 
sic,  and  subsequently  became  professor  of  mo- 
rals and  then  of  history  at  Altorf.  His  repu- 
tation attracted  numerous  pupils  from  all  parts 
of  Germany  ;  and  he  had  very  advantageous 
offers  made  to  induce  him  to  remove  elsewhere, 
but  he  refused  them,  and  died  at  Altorf,  Fe- 
bruary 24,  1751.  Among  his  works  are,  "  Dis- 

BIOG.  DICT  —You  I1L 


SC  1 

sertationes  de  Ornamentis  Lilirorum  apud  Ve- 
teres  usitatis,"  1705 — 6,  4to  ;  "  De  Libris  pli- 
catilibus  Veterum,"  1717  ;  "  De  varia  Supel- 
lectile  Rei  Libraries  Veterum,"  1725,  4to;  and 
"  Primaria  qusedarn  Documenta  de  Origine 
Typographies,"  1740,  4to. — Harles  Vita  Phi- 
lologor.  Biog.  Univ. 

SCIOPPIUS  (CASPAR  SCHOPP,  known 
under  the  Latinized  name  of)  a  very  learned 
grammarian  and  philologist,  distinguished  as 
one  of  the  most  satirical  writers  of  his  age. 
He  was  born  at  Newmarck  in  the  Palatinate, 
in  1576.  His  family  was  obscure,  and  ha 
owed  his  initiation  in  learning  to  his  own  in- 
dustry ;  such  being  his  proficiency,  that  at  the 
age  of  seventeen  he  published  Latin  poetry. 
Being  at  Ferrara  in  1598,  when  pope  Clement 
VIII  went  to  take  possession  of  that  city,  he 
wrote  a  panegyric  on  the  pope  and  the  king  of 
Spain  ;  and  following  to  Rome  the  pontiff, 
whose  patronage  he  had  thus  obtained ,  he  there 
abjured  the  Protestant  faith.  He  was  created 
a  knight  of  St  Peter,  and  received  the  aposto- 
lic title  of  count  Claravalle.  He  published  an 
edition  of  Varro,  notes  on  Apuleius,  and  a 
commentary  on  the  Priapeia,  which  last  he 
had  the  decency  to  disavow.  He  became, 
from  an  admirer,  the  most  virulent  adversary 
of  Joseph  Scaliger  ;  and  the  history  of  litera- 
ture scarcely  affords  an  instance  of  a  polemical 
writer  so  widely  engaged  in  hostilities  with 
his  contemporaries  as  Scioppius,  or  of  one  who 
conducted  controversy  with  such  disgraceful 
violence  and  rancour.  In  1611  he  published 
his  "  Ecclesiasticus,"  directed  principally 
against  our  king  James  I  ;  and  his  abuse  of 
the  memory  of  Henry  IV,  occasioned  the  burn- 
ing of  his  writings  at  Paris,  by  the  hand  of  the 
common  hangman,  November  24,  1612.  He 
went  to  Spain  in  1613 ;  and  at  Madrid  he  re- 
ceived from  the  servants  of  the  English  am- 
bassador a  cudgelling  for  his  invective  against 
James  I.  In  1618  he  published  at  Milan 
"  Classicum  Belli  sacri,"  against  the  Protes- 
tants ;  and  he  afterwards  wrote  a  number  of 
satirical  works  against  the  Jesuits.  In  his 
latter  years  he  turned  commentator  on  the 
Apocalypse;  and  he  endeavoured,  but  in  vain, 
to  interest  in  his  speculations  cardinal  Maza- 
rin,  whose  protection  he  wished  to  secure. 
He  died  at  Padua,  November  19,  1649.  Be- 
sides his  controversial  productions,  he  wrote 
notes  on  the  "  Minerva"  of  Sanctius,  and  other 
philological  pieces,  which  may  still  be  con- 
sulted with  advantage. — Bayle.  Saiii  Onom. 
Niceron,  vol.  xxxv.  Bing.  Univ. 

SCIPIO  AFRICANUS  (PUBLIUS  COR- 
NELIUS) an  illustrious  Roman  general,  de- 
scended from  the  patrician  family  of  the  Cor- 
nelii.  He  served  under  his  father  against 
Hannibal  in  Italy,  and  was  present  at  the 
battle  of  Tesino,  when  he  carried  his  father, 
who  was  wounded,  off  the  field.  He  sup- 
ported the  sinking  spirits  of  the  Romans  after 
their  defeat  at  Cannae,  and  proposed  tke  bold 
measure  of  invading  the  territories  of  the  Car- 
thaginians, that  they  might  be  obliged  to  recal 
Hannibal.  He  was  accordingly  sent  with  an 
army  into  Spain,  where  he  took  New  Car- 
K 


S  C  I 

•hage,  and  was  generally  successful.  It  was 
in  tliis  campaign  that  he  displa\  ed  an  example 
of  generosity,  in  restoring  the  bride  or  be- 
trothed mistress  of  Alhuius,  a  Spanish  prince, 
who  had  been  taken  captive.  The  continence 
and  justice  of  Scipio,  in  not  appropriating  to 
himself  his  beautiful  female  prisoner,  has  b'-en 
the  subject  of  abundant  panegyric,  in  poetry, 
declamation,  and  sculpture  ;  a  circumstance 
which  indicates  the  low  state  of  moral  senti- 
ment among  the  Romans,  while  it  augments 
the  glory  of  Scipio,  that  he  was  iincoiitami- 
nated  by  the  vicious  practice  of  his  contempo- 
ries.  Returning  from  Spain,  he  was  elected 
to  the  consulship  ;  after  which  he  headed  an 
expedition  to  Africa,  and  in  two  engagements 
he  vanquished  the  Carthaginians  under  As- 
drubal  and  Syphax,  king  of  Numidia.  The 
next  year  he  beat  Hannibal  at  the  battle  of 
Zama,  and  obliged  the  Carthaginians  to  submit 
to  humiliating  terms  of  peace.  Scipio  return- 
ing home  triumphantly,  was  regarded  as  the 
saviour  of  Rome,  and  honoured  with  the  sur- 
name of  Afncanus.  Notwithstanding  his  great 
services,  he  became  subsequently  the  object 
of  public  jealousy,  being  charged  with  carry- 
ing on  a  correspondence  with  Antiochus,  king 
of  Syria,  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  the  re- 
public. Though  he  justified  himself  from  this 
imputation,  he  was  so  disgusted  at  the  ingra- 
titude of  his  countrymen,  in  listening  to  his 
accusers,  that  he  retired  from  the  manage- 
ment of  public  affairs,  and  passed  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life  in  literary  seclusion  at  Li- 
ternuin.  His  death  took  place  189  BC. — 
Lucius  CORNELIUS  SCIPIO,  brother  of  the 
preceding,  was  also  a  celebrated  military  com- 
mander. He  was  employed  against  king  An- 
tiochus, whom  he  defeated  near  Magnesia ; 
and  he  was  rewarded  with  a  triumph,  and  the 
title  of  Asiaticus.  He,  like  his  brother,  expe- 
rienced the  uncertainty  of  popular  favoui,  and 
was  the  object  of  political  persecution. — PUB- 
LIUS  SCIPIO  J^MILIANUS,  called  African  us 
Minor,  was  the  son  of  Paulus  ^Lmilius,  and 
was,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  Romans, 
adopted  by  the  son  of  the  elder  Afrieanus.  In 
Lis  youth  he  served  in  the  army  in  Spain, 
when  he  obtained  a  mural  crown  for  scaling 
the  walls  of  a  besieged  city,  and  conquered  in 
single  combat  a  Spaniard  of  gigantic  stature. 
He  afterwards  carried  on  the  third  punic  war, 
which  terminated  in  the  destruction  of  Car- 
thage, and  the  subjugation  of  the  Carthagi- 
nians. He  also  took  and  destroyed  the  city 
of  Numantia  in  Spain.  He  was  both  a  culti- 
vator and  a  patron  of  literature  ;  and  Polybius 
the  historian,  and  the  philosopher  Pan&tius, 
were  among  his  intimate  associates.  The  ce- 
lebrated dialogue  of  Cicero,  "  de  Amicitia," 
lias  immortalized  the  intercourse  between 
Scipio  and  Liclius,  who  paitook  in  the  mili- 
tary expeditions,  and  the  learned  recreations 
of  his  illustrious  friend  ;  and  to  their  correc- 
tions and  improvements  the  dramatist  Terence 
is  believed  to  have  been  indebted  for  the  po- 
lished elegance  of  language  which  adorns  his 
comic  scenes,  Scipio  ..3:'.milianus  was  found 
dead  in  his  bed,  129  BC  ;  and  he  was  sup- 


SC  0 

'  posed  to  have  fallen  the  victim  of  party  r«-- 
VHII^CJ  hein^  in  the  iifty  sixth  \earof  his  age 
at  the  time  of  his  decease. — SCIPIO  NASHUA, 
the  son  of  Cornelius  Scipio,  and  the  cousin  of 
the  last-mentioned  Afrieanus,  was  a  Roman 
serator,  di-tinguished  for  his  eloquence,  wis- 
dom, and  courage  ;  and  such  was  his  retina 
tion  for  those  virtues  that  he  was  constituted 
the  guardian  of  the  sacred  image  of  the  mother 
of  the  gods,  which  was  always  committed  to 
the  custody  of  a  citizen  of  singular  probity. 
He  opposed  the  destruction  of  Carthage  in  tn« 
senate,  though  without  success.  His  death 
took  place  about  100  years  BC. — Plutarch. 
Iilttreri. 

SCOPAS,  a  celebrated  Grecian  sculptor 
and  architect,  who  flourished  in  the  fifth  cen- 
tury befoie  the  Christian  a?ra.  He  was  a  native 
ot  the  island  of  Faros,  and  the  beautiful  marble 
which  it  produced  was  the  material  of  some  of 
his  most  admired  productions,  particulaih  of 
a  statue  of  Venus  whirh  having  been  removed 
from  Greece  to  Rome,  was,  according  to  Plmv 
reckoned  superior  to  one  executed  by  I'raxi- 
teles.  Scopas  erected  the  famous  sepulchral 
monument  consecrated  by  Artemisia,  queen 
of  Caria,  to  the  memory  of  her  husband  Mau- 
solus,  and  thence  termed  the  "  Mausoleum  ;" 
and  he  likewise  constructed  one  of  the  marble 
columns  for  the  temple  of  Diana,  at  Kphesus. 
—  Plinii  Hist.  Kat.  Orlandi  Abeced.  Pittar. 

SCOPOLI  (  JOHN  ANTHONY)  an  Italian  na- 
turalist and  philosopher,  born  at  Oavalese  near 
Trent,  in  172.5.  He  was  educated  at  1ns- 
pruck,  where  he  graduated  as  Ml).:  and  he 
practised  as  a  physician  at  bis  native  place. 
He  aftei wards  went  to  Venice,  where  he  ex- 
tended his  acquaintance  with  science  ;  and  an 
excursion  among  the  mountains  of  tbe  Tyrol, 
suggested  his  Flora  and  his  Entomology  of 
Carniola.  In  1754  be  attached  himself  to  the 
prince  bishop  the  count  de  Firmian,  whom  he 
accompanied  to  Gratz  and  Vienna  ;  and  he 
subsequently  was  appointed  first  physician  to 
the  mines  of  Tyrol.  In  1766  he  was  nomi- 
nated counsellor  in  the  department  of  the 
mines,  and  professor  of  mineralogy  at  Schem- 
nitz,  where  he  published  his  "  Anni  tres 
Historico-naturales."  At  length  he  obtained 
the  chair  of  chemistry  and  botany  at  Pavia  ; 
and  he  died  in  that  city,  May  8,  1788.  He 
published  a  Journal  of  Natural  History  ;  Ele- 
ments of  Chemistry  ;  and  "  Delicise  Florae  et 
Fauna;  Insubricffi." — Biog,  Univ. 

SCOTT  (DANIEL)  a  dissenting  minister, 
was  the  son  of  a  merchant  of  London  ;  the 
time  of  his  birth  is  not  recorded.  He  was 
educated  wi'h  Butler  and  Seeker,  afterwards 
eminent  prelates,  under  the  learned  Mr.  Jones 
of  Tewkesbury,  whence  he  was  removed  to 
the  university  of  Utrecht,  where  he  took  the 
degree  of  doctor  of  laws.  On  his  return  to 
England,  he  divided  his  residence  between 
London  and  Colchester,  having  previously  be- 
come a  baptist.  In  1725  he  published  an 
"  Essay  towards  a  demonstration  of  the  Scrip- 
ture Trini  y."  He  is  also  author  of  "  A  New 
Version  of  St.  Matthew's  Gospel,  with  Notes," 
'  and  of  an  "Appendix  to  H.  Stepheus's  Greei 


SCO 

Lexicon,"  in  2  vols.  folio,  1745,  a  work  exhi- 
biting great  diligence  ami  erudition,     lie  died 

O    5  o 

March  V9,  1759. — He  had  an  elder  brother 
THOMAS  SCOTT,  who  published  several  occa- 
sional sermons,  and  "  A  Poetical  Version  ol 
the  Book  of  Job,"  a  second  edition  of  which 
•was  printed  in  1774 — Another  brother,  Dr 
JOSF.PH  NiroL  SCOTT,  was  first  a  minister  and 
afterwards  a  physician.  He  published  two 
volumes  of  sermons,  preached  in  defence  oi 
all  religions,  whether  natural  or  revealed.  He 
died  in  1774. — Chalmers's  Biog.  Diet. 

SCOTT  (GEOROE  LEWIS)  a  mathemati 
cian,  was  bom  at  Hanover,  where  his  fa- 
ther resided  in  a  public  character,  in  the 
reign  of  the  elector,  afterwards  George  I, 
from  whom  the  subject  of  this  article  re- 
ceived his  Christian  names.  He  received 
a  liberal  education,  and  was  appointed  sub- 
preceptor  for  the  Latin  language  to  his  late 
Majesty.  He  distinguished  himself  highly  as 
a  mathematician;  and  became  a  fellow  of  the 
Ro\al  Society,  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Lon- 
giiiide,  and  ultimately  a  commissioner  of  ex- 
cise. He  assisted  in  the  "  Supplement  to 
CliHmbers's  Dictionary,"  in  two  folio  volumes. 
He  died  in  1780.  His  widow,  who  died  in 
1 79.5,  was  sister  to  the  celebrated  Mrs  Mon- 
tagu. She  wrote  several  novels,  and  the  lives 
of  Gustavus  Ericson,  king  of  Sweden,  and  of 
Theodore  Agrippad'Aubigne. — HuttonsMaih. 
Diet.  Gent.  Mug.  vol.  Ixviii.  and  Ixxv. 

SCOTT  (JOHN)  a  learned  English  divine, 
was  the  son  of  Mr  Thomas  Scott,  a  substantial 
grazier,  and  was  born  at  Chippenham  in  \Vih- 
shiie,  in  1638.  He  was  apprenticed  in  Lon- 
don much  against  his  will  ;  but  after  a  servi- 
tude of  three  years,  he  was  allowed  to  enter 
himself  a  commoner  of  New-inn,  Oxford. 
Having  taken  orders,  in  1 677  he  was  presented 
to  the  rectory  of  St  Peter-le-Poor,  and  in  1684 
col  Bted  to  a  prebend  of  St  Paul's  cathedral. 
In  1691  he  obtained  the  valuable  rectory  of  St 
Giles  in  the  Fields,  and  was  made  a  canon  of 
Windsor.  He  died  in  1694.  Besides  various 
sermons  and  controversial  pieces,  chiefly  in 
opposition  both  to  the  church  of  Rome  and  the 
dissenters,  he  wrote  a  work  held  in  much  es- 
teem, entitled  "  The  Christian  Life."  All  his 
vorks  have  been  printed  in  two  volumes  folio. 
— Biog.  Brit. 

SCOTT  (Joirv)  a  pleasing  poet,  was  the 
youngest  son  of  a  respectable  quaker  trades- 
man resident  in  Grange-walk,  Bermondsey, 
where  he  was  born  9th  January,  1739.  In  his 
tenth  year  his  fathei  retired  with  his  family 
to  Amwell,  in  Hertfordshire,  where  he  carried 
on  the  malting  trade.  He  was  educated  at  a 
private  day  school,  and  received  little  or  no 
classical  instruction.  At  the  age  of  seventeen 
he  discovered  an  inclination  to  cultivate  poetry, 
and  transmitted  some  of  his  earliest  attempts 
to  the  Gentleman's  Magazine.  In  1760  he 
published  "  Four  Elrgies  Descriptive  and  Mo- 
ral," which  were  favourably  received,  and 
acquired  him  the  ralualile  praise  of  Dr  Young, 
MissTalbot,  and  Mrs  Carter.  In  1766  he  be- 
came known  to  Dr  Johnson,  and  the  following 
year  married  a  lady  who  died  in  childbed,  a 


sc  o 

misfortune  which  produced  an  elegy  from  her 
husband,  tliat  obtained  considerable  admira- 
tion. In  1776  he  published  his  "  Amwell,"  a 
descriptive  poem,  the  most  finished  of  hid 
poetical  productions.  He  did  not  routine  his 
attention  to  poetry,  but  is  said  to  have  written 
answers  to  Dr  Johnson's  "  Patriot,"  "  False 
Alarm,"  and  "  Taxation  no  Tyranny."  In 
1778  he  also  published  a  work  of  great  utility, 
entitled  "  A  Digest  of  the  Highway  and  Ge- 
neral Turnpike  Laws  ;"  and  in  1782  sent  out 
a  volume  of  poetry,  including  "  Amwell,"  de- 
corated with  beautiful  engravings.  He  died 
in  London,  of  a  putrid  fever,  on  the  1'Jth  of 
December,  1783.  A  volume  of  "  Critical 
Essays,"  written,  it  is  said,  in  consequence  of 
his  dissatisfaction  with  some  of  the  lives  of 
Dr  Johnson,  was  published  in  1785  by  Mr 
Hoole,  who  composed  a  life  of  the  author,  from 
which  these  particulars  are  taken.  Asa  poet 
he  may  be  regarded  as  possessing  no  mean 
descriptive  powers,  and  a  pleasing  vein  of 
pathos  and  moral  sensibility  ;  while  in  the 
active  duties  of  life  he  was  regarded  as  a 
useful,  conscientious,  and  benevolent  man. — 
Life  by  Hnole. 

'SCOTT  (MICHAEL)  a  celebra'ed  Scottish 
philosopher  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  a  re- 
puted magician,  was  born  atBalwirie,  his  pater- 
nal estate  in  Fife,  about  the  beginning  of  the 
reign  of  Alexander  II.  He  made  an  ear!\  pro- 

ressin  thelanguagesand  the  mathematics, and 
after  residing  in  France  some  years,  repaired 
to  the  court  of  the  emperor  Frederick  II,  and 
applied  closely  to  the  stud^  of  medicine  and 
chemistry.  On  quitting  Germany  he  pro- 
ceeded to  England,  and  was  received  with 
jreat  favour  by  Edward  II.  When  he  returned 
to  his  native  country,  he  received  the  honour 
of  knighthood  from  Alexander  III,  by  whom 
he  was  also  confidentially  employed  He  died 
at  an  advanced  age  in  li.'9l.  Michael  Scott 
was  a  man  of  considerable  learing  for  his 
ime  and  being  much  addicted  to  the  study  of 
the  occult  sciences,  passed  among  his  contem- 
poraries for  a  magician,  and  as  such  is  men- 
:ioned  by  Pictus  of  Mirandula,  Boccaccio, 
Folenga,  and  Dante.  Respecting  the  place 
of  his  burial  there  is  some  difference  of  opi- 
nion, but  the  major  part  declare  for  Mel  rose 
abbey,  and  all  agree  that  his  books  were  either 
nterred  in  his  grave  or  preserved  in  the  abbey 
A'here  he  died,  of  which  tiadition  sir  Walter 
Scott  has  availed  himself  in  his  Lay  of  the 
"  ast  Minstrel.  A  Latin  translation  of  the 
works  of  Aristotle  is  ascribed  to  Scott  by  Mac- 
kenzie, and  other  writers  ;  but  he  is  thought 
to  have  been  only  one  of  the  manv  hands  who 
rendered  them  partly  from  the  Greek  and 
partly  from  the  Arabic,  by  command  of  Fre- 
derick II.  He  is  also  author  of  "  De  Secretis 
Natura;;"  "  Questio  Curiosa  de  Natura  Soils 
et  Lunre,"  a  work  on  the  transmutation  of 
metals ;  "  Mensa  Philosophica,"  a  treatise 
replete  with  the  visionary  science  of  chiro- 
mancy and  astrology.  A  rambling  treatise  on 
the  Sphere  of  Sacrabosco  is  also  attributed  to 
Michael  Scott. — Mackenzie's  Lines.  Encyc. 
Brit. 

K  2 


SCO 

SCOTT  (REYNOLD  or  REGINALD)  a  sen- 
fible  and  learned  English  gentleman  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  was  the  younger  son  of  sir 
John  Scott,  of  Scott's-hall,  near  Smeeth  in 
Kent,  where  he  was,  probably,  born.  At  the 
age  of  seventeen  he  was  sent  to  Hart-hall, 
Oxford,  which  lie  left  without  taking  a  degree  ; 
and  returned  to  las  native  place,  where  he 
married,  and  gave  himself  up  to  study,  which 
he  diversified  with  the  pursuits  of  gardening 
and  husbandry.  His  first  work  was  entitled 
11  A  Perfect  Platform  of  a  Hop-Garden, " 
4to.  In  1584  lie  gave  to  the  world  his  cele- 
brated "  Discoveries  of  Witchcraft,"  which 
was  reprinted  in  1651,  4to,  under  the  elabo- 
rate title  of  "  Scott's  Discovery  of  Witch- 
craft ;  proving  the  common  Opinion  of  Witches 
Contracting  with  Devils,  Spirits,  Familiars, 
&c.  to  be  but  imaginary,  erroneous  conceptions 
and  novelties;  with  a  Treatise  on  the  Nature 
of  Spirits,  Devils,  &c."  In  a  preface,  very 
honourable  to  his  understanding  and  benevo- 
lence, he  declares  that  his  views  are  to  prevent 
the  abasement  of  God's  glory,  the  rescue  of 
the  Gospel  from  an  alliance  with  "  such  pee- 
vish trumpery,"  and  to  advocate  "  favour  and 
Christian  compassion "  towards  the  "poor 
souls "  accused  of  witchcraft,  rather  than 
"  rigour  and  extremity."  A  doctrine  of  this 
nature,  in  an  age  when  the  reality  of  witches 
was  almost  universally  admitted,  exposed  the 
author  to  every  species  of  obloquy,  and,  ac- 
cording to  some  accounts,  his  book  was  actu- 
ally burnt.  It  was  against  the  "  damnable 
opinions  of  Wierus  and  Scott,"  that,  accord- 
ing to  his  own  preface,  James  1  favoured  the 
world  with  his  "  Demonologie,"  printed  first 
at  Edinburgh  in  1.597  ;  and  Dr  John  Ray- 
nolds,  Meiic  Casaubon,  and  one  of  the  great- 
est and  latest  defenders  of  witchcraft,  Joseph 
Glanvil,  all  express  either  their  horror  or 
contempt  of  so  daring  a  revival  of  the  old 
error  of  the  Sadducees.  Scott  did  not  live  to 
witness  the  full  efl'ect  of  his  useful  endeavours, 
dying  so  early  as  1599;  but  the  call  for  two 
editions  of  his  work  in  the  next  century 
showed  the  effect  of  his  labours,  and  the  pro- 
gress of  good  sense,  in  spite  of  the  prejudices 
of  the  learned,  the  superstitions  of  the  vulgar, 
and  what,  it  is  lamentable  to  add,  was  the  last 
to  yield,  the  statute  law  of  the  land. — A  then. 
OJOM.  vol.  i. 

SCOTT  (SAMUEL)  an  eminent  painter  of 
Bcenery,  &c.  born  at  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  He  took  for  his  model 
Vandervelde,  whom  he  equalled  in  the  beauty 
of  his  sea-pieces,  and  surpassed  in  the  ductility 
and  variety  of  his  talents.  His  views  of  Lon- 
don-bridge, and  of  the  Custom-house  Quay, 
and  other  aquatic  scenes,  have  been  much  ad- 
mired. The  figures  with  which  his  pictures 
are  ornamented,  are  admirably  appropriate  and 
well  chosen  ;  and  they  are  finished  with  great 
tsste  and  judgment.  Ilia  sketches  are  by  no 
means  inferior,  as  such,  to  his  most  laboured 
productions.  Many  of  his  paintings  were  exe- 
cuted for  Sir  Kdward  Walpole.  He  died  of 
the  gout  in  1772. —  Bio«.  Unn: 

SCOUGAL  (Him-.y)   an    eminent    Scotch  [ 


SC  K 

divine,  the  second  son  of  Patrick  Scougal,  bi- 
shop of  Aberdeen,  was  bom  in  1650,  at  Sal- 
toua  iii  East  Lothian.  He  was  educated  in 
the  university  of  St  Andrews,  where  he  became 
professor  of  Oriental  philosophy  at  the  age-  of 
twenty.  In  1673  ho  was  presented  by  his 
college  to  a  living,  but  recalled  the  following 
year,  and  made  professor  of  theology.  His 
great  exertions,  both  in  this  capacity  and  as  a 
preacher,  threw  him  into  a  consumption,  and 
he  died  greatly  lamented  in  1678,  at  the  early- 
age  of  twenty-eight.  He  was  the  author  of 
an  eloquent  and  able  work,  entitled  "  The 
Life  of  God  in  the  Soul  of  Man,"  which  has 
run  through  many  editions  ;  and  also  of  "  Nine 
Sermons,"  by  which  he  obtained  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  one  of  the  most  elegant  writers 
and  able  divines  of  his  country  and  age. — 
Eiicyc.  BrU. 

SCRJBONIUS  LARGUS,  a  Roman  phy- 
sician, who  lived  in  the  reign  of  the  emperor 
Claudius.  He  studied  under  A puleius  Celsus, 
a  physician  of  tbe  Asclepiadic  sect,  and  ap- 
pears to  have  been  a  freedman.  He  was  au- 
thor of  a  work  entitled  "  De  Compositione 
Medicamentorum  Liber,"  the  best  edition  of 
which  is  that  of  Padua,  165.5,  4to,  with  the 
notes  of  Rhodius.  It  is  also  printed  in  the 
Medicre  Artis  Principes  of  Henry  Stephens. 
It  appears  to  be  little  more  than  a  collection  of 
nostrums  and  prescriptions,  although  of  some 
value,  as  showing  the  state  of  medicine  at 
that  period. — Hatleri  Bibl.  Med. 

SCRIVKR1US  (Pi-Ti:u)  a  Dutch  poet  and 
historian,  professor  of  jurisprudence  at  Ley- 
den,  born  in  1576  at  Haerlt-m.  His  principal 
works  are  "  Bataviae  Comitumque  Omnium 
Historia  ;"  "  Ratavia  llluslrata"  4to  ;  '' Mis- 
cellanea Philologica  ;"  "  Hollandias  Chronicon 
Populare  ;"  "Collectanea  Veterum  Tragico- 
rum  ;"  and  some  miscellaneous  poetry  in  the 
Dutch  and  Latin  languages.  He  also  pub- 
lished an  edition  of  Vegetius  "  De  Re  INhli- 
tari."  Scriverius  had  retired  from  public  life 
for  some  time  previously  to  his  decease,  which 
took  place  in  1653. — Moreri. 

SCRIM/LOR  or  SCR1MGER  (HEXKY) 
a  native  of  Dundee  in  Scotland,  who  was  edu- 
cated at  St  Andrews  and  Paris,  after  which  he 
went  to  Bourges,  and  studied  jurisprudence 
under  professors  Baron  and  Duaren.  He  sub- 
sequently went  to  Italy  with  the  bishop  of 
Rennes,  who  was  employed  on  a  diplomatic 
mission  ;  and  he  was  at  Padua  at  tbe  time  of 
tbe  death  of  Francis  Spira,  whose  history  he 
wrote,  and  it  was  published  under  the  name 
of  Henry  of  Scotland.  Scrimzeor  afterwards 
went  to  Germany,  where  he  was  employed  by 
Huldric  Fugger  to  forma  library,  containing  a 
number  of  valuable  Greek  and  Latin  MSS.  He 
superintended  the  printing  of  these  works  at  the 
press  of  Henry  Stephen,  at  Geneva,  where  he 
was  professor  of  philosophy,  and  afterwards 
of  civil  law.  He  died  in  1571,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-five.  Among  the  works  which  he  pub- 
lished was  an  edition  of  the  Novells  of  Justi- 
nian ;  and  he.  wrote  notes  on  Athensus,  which 
are  praised  by  Casaubon. — Teiaier  Ebges  de 
H.  S.  Mackenzie. 


S  C  Y 

SCUDERI,  the  name  of  two  French  wri-  | 
ters,  brother  and  sister,  who  enjoyed  consider- 
able popularity  in  their  day,   tut  of  whom  the 
latter  only  lias  descended  with  any  reputation 
to  posterity.     They  were  descended  of  an  an- 
cient family,  settled  at  Apt,  in  Provence,  and 
were  born  at   Havre    de  Grace  ;    GEORGE  in 
1603,  his  sister  MAGDALENE  in  1607.  George 
de  Scuderi    devoted    himself    entirely   to  the 
cultivation  of  the  belles   lettres,  and  was  the 
author  of  a  great  variety  of  compositions  both 
in    prose    and    verse,    especially    in   dramatic 
poetry,  of  which  he  was  also  a  professed  critic  ; 
and  in  that  capacity  published  a  severe  attack 
on  the  "  Cid  "  of  Corneille.     His  acrimony  on 
this   occasion  is  supposed   to   have    been  in- 
creased  by  the.   wish  of  paying  his   court   to 
cardinal   Richelieu,   with   whom   his   success 
was  greater  than  with  the  public.     The  rapi- 
dity with  which  he  wrote,  producing  generally, 
according   to   Boileau,   a  volume  a  month,  is 
doubtless  one  great  reason  why  his  works  are 
now  so  little  known.     He  became  a  member 
of  the  French  Academy,  and  died  at  Paris  in 
1667. — MAGDALENE   was   a  woman    of  very 
superior    intellectual   endowments,  and    of  a 
lively  wit,    of  which   latter   quality    the    best 
proofs  that  have  survived  her  are  to  be  found 
in  her  poetical  pieces,  which   have  received 
the  marked  approbation  of  Voltaire.  The  taste 
of  the  age  however  in  which  she  lived,  tend- 
ing principally  towards  romances,    she,  with 
the  view    of  turning    her  talents  as   much  as 
possible  to  pecuniary  account,  fell  in  with  the 
reigning   fashion,  and  produced    many  heavy 
tomes  in  this  kind  of  composition,  once  much 
read,   but   now  deservedly    forgotten.      They 
however  contained   some   elegant  writing  and 
some  real  elevation  and  dignity  of  sentiment  ; 
although  the  long  and  affected  compliments  of 
the    personages    excited    ridicule,    especially 
when  copied  in  real  life   by  the   precieuses  of 
die  time.     Of    these,    "  Artamenes,    or    the 
Grand  Cyrus,"  10    vols.   8vo  ;  "  Clelia,"    10 
vols.  8vo  ;  "  Ibrahim,  or  the  Illustrious  Bassa," 
4  vols.  (translated  into  English  in  one  quarto 
volume)  ;   "  Almahide,   or  the  Royal  Slave," 
8  vols  ;  "  Celina  ;"   "  Celanira  ;"   "  Matilda 
d'Aguilar,"  &c.   are  the  principal.     She  was 
also  the  authoress  of  a  treatise  "  On  Glory  ;" 
and  "  Conversations  and  Discourses,"   in  ten 
volumes.     Mademoiselle    de    Scuderi,    whose 
hou^e  was  the  resort  of  all  the  wits  of  the  age, 
died  in  1701. — Biog.  Univ. 

SCYLAX,  an  ancient  mathematician  and 
geographer,  was  a  native  of  Caryanda  in  Caria; 
and  is  noticed  by  Herodotus,  and  by  Suidas, 
the  latter  of  whom  has  evidently  confounded 
different  persons  of  the  same  name.  There  is 
a  periplus  existing  bearing  the  name  of  Scylax, 
which  is  a  brief  survey  of  the  Mediterranean 
and  Euxine  seas,  with  a  portion  of  the  west- 
ern coast  of  Africa.  It  lias  reached  modern 
times  in  a  corrupted  state,  and  was  first  pub- 
lished from  a  palatine  MS.  by  Hoeschelius  and 
others  in  1600,  and  afterwards  by  Isaac  Vos 
sius  in  1639,  by  Hudson  in  1698,  and  by 
Gronovijs  in  1700.  —Athenteum,  vol.  iv. 
SCYL1TZA  or  SCYLITZES( JOHN)  called 


SEB 

also  Curopalates,  from  an  office  which  he  held 
in  the  imperial  household,  a  Greek  historian, 
is  known  only  for  his  abridgment  of  history, 
from  the  deatli  of  Nicephorus  Logothetes  in 
811,  to  the  deposition  of  Nicephorus  Botan- 
iates  in  1081.  This  history  from  1067  is  the 
same  with  that  of  Cedrenus,  which  has  raised 
a  doubt  as  to  which  is  the  original  author.  A 
Latin  translation  of  this  history  was  published 
at  Venice  in  1570;  and  the  part,  concerning 
which  there  is  no  dispute,  was  printed  in 
Greek  and  Latin  at  Paris  in  1647. —  Vossii 
Hist.  Grtcc. 

SEABURY  (SAMUEL)  the  first  bishop  of 
the  episcopal  church  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  born  in  1728.  He  was  the  son  of  a 
congregational  minister  at  Groton  in  Connec- 
ticut, and  was  educated  at  Yale  college,  after 
which  he  went  to  Scotland  to  study  medicine. 
Preferring,  however,  the  ecclesiastical  profes- 
sion, he  directed  his  studies  to  the  requisite 
branches  of  learning  ;  and  in  1753  he  was  or- 
dained in  London.  He  returned  to  America, 
and  became  pastor  at  different  places  before 
he  fixed  finally  at  New  London  in  Connecticut. 
In  1784  he  made  a  voyage  to  England,  to  ob- 
tain consecration  as  bishop  of  Connecticut. 
Meeting  with  obstacles  to  his  wishes  from  the 
English  prelates,  he  went  to  Scotland,  where 
he  was  consecrated  by  three  bishops  of  the 
Scottish  episcopal  church.  He  returned  thus 
qualified  to  his  native  country,  and  fulfilled 
the  duties  of  his  pastoral  office  in  a  very  ex- 
emplary manner  till  his  deatli,  which  happened 
in  1796.  Bishop  Seabury  published  two  vo- 
lumes of  sermons,  to  which  a  supplement  was 
added  in  1798  ;  and  he  was  the  author  of  two 
religious  tracts.  King.  NOKV.  des  Cantemp. 

SEBASTIAN,  king  of  Portugal,   was  the 
posthumous  son  of  the  infant  John,  by  Joanna, 
daughter  of  the  emperor  Charles  V.     He  suc- 
ceeded to  the  crown   at  three  years  of  age  in 
1577,   on  the   death  of  his  grandfather,  John 
[II.     Possessed  of  a  romantic  disposition,  and 
an  extravagant  admiration  of  valorous  exploits, 
at  the  age  of  twenty  he  undertook  an  expedi- 
:ion  against   the    Moors  in  Africa,   in  which, 
however,  he  performed  nothing  of  consequence. 
Still  impressed  with  this  object,   on  the  appli- 
cation of  Muley  Hamet,  king  of  Fez  and  Mo- 
rocco, to  assist  him  against  his  uncle,  Muley 
Moloch,  who    had    dispossessed  him  of   the 
throne,   he    determined   to  renew  his  attempt 
against  the  advice  of  his  best  friends  and  wisest 
counsellors.      He    accordingly  embarked  with 
all  his  military,  and  the  flower  of  his  nobility, 
in  the   summer  of  1578,  and  proceeded  to  Ar- 
zilla.     Here  he  was  met  by  a  much  more  nu- 
merous army,  headed    by    Muley   Moloch  in 
person,  although  so  debilitated  by  sickness  as 
to  be  carried  on   a  litter.     In   the  battle  that 
ensued,  the  onset  of  the  Portuguese  army  broke 
the  first  line  of  the  Moors  ;  and  Muley,  in  ral- 
lying his  men,  was  so  exhausted,  that  he  died 
in  the  arms  of  his  guards  ;  his  last  and  mu:h 
admired  action  being  to   lay  his  fingers  to  his 
lips,   as   an   injunction  to    keep    his  death    a 
secret,    in  order  not    to  depress  the  spirits  of 
the  combatants.  Sebastian,  on  the  other  hand. 


SEC 

fjnght  with  extreme  bravery,  and  had  two 
horses  killed  under  him,  while  most  of  his 
attendants  were  slain  by  his  side  He  at 
length  disappeared,  nor  was  it  ever  known 
what  became  of  him,  although  a  body,  sup- 
posed to  be  his,  was  restored  by  the  Moors, 
and  buried  at  Belem.  So  complete  was  the 
slaughter,  not  more  than  fifty  Portuguese  are 
said  to  have  survived  this  wild  expedition ; 
yet  such  was  the  attachment  of  the  people  to 
a  prince,  who  reminded  them  of  their  heroic 
times,  that  a  disposition  to  believe  that  he 
would  appear  again,  for  many  years  prevailed, 
of  which  nation  several  impostors  sought  to 
avail  themselves.  An  immediate  consequence  of 
this  catastrophe  was  the  annexation  of  Por- 
tugal to  Spain,  by  Philip  II. — Mod.  Univ.  Hist. 

SEBUMJUS  (RAYMOND)  a  Spanish  physi- 
cian and  natural  philosopher,  who  lived  in  the 
former  part  of  the  fifteenth  century.  He  was 
professor  in  the  university  of  Thouiouse  ;  and 
wrote  many  treatises  which  remained  unpub- 
lished, besides  his  Physico- 1  heology,  or 
"  Liber  Creaturarum  sive  de  Homme,"  printed 
at  Strasbtirg,  1496,  folio.  Montaigne  trans- 
lated this  work  into  French,  and  it  was  printed 
at  Paris  in  1581,  8vo. — Trithemius  de  Script. 
Eccles.  Mureri. 

SECKENDORF  (Virus  LUDOVICUS  de)  a 
German  divine  and  historian  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  He  was  born  in  1626,  at  Aurach  in 
Franconia,  and  received  Ins  education  with  the 
children  of  Ernest  the  Pious,  duke  of  Saxe 
Gotha,  to  whom  he  became  librarian,  privy- 
counsellor,  minister,  and  consistonal  director. 
In  166i  he  entered  into  the  service  of  the 
duke  of  Saxe  Zeitz  ;  and  at  length  into  that 
of  the  elector  of  Brandenburg,  who  made  him 
counsellor  of  suite  in  1681,  and  also  chancellor 
of  the  university  of  Halle.  His  death  took 
place  in  1692.  He  was  the  author  of  an  ela- 
borate defence  of  Luther,  in  answer  to  father 
Maimbourg's  History  of  Lutheranism,  which 
appeared  in  1688  and  1692,  under  the  title  of 
"  Commentarius  Historicus  et  Apologeticus 
de  Lutheranisino,  sive  de  Reformations  Reli- 
gionis,  ductu  M.  Lutheri,"  2  vols.  folio  ;  and 
he  published  a  political  work,  entitled  "  Deut- 
schen  Kiirsten  Staat,"  Hanover,  1656,  4to, 
several  times  reprinted. — Bayte.  Niceron,  vol. 
xxix.  B/itg.  Univ. 

SECKER  (THOMAS)  archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, a  prelate  distinguished  for  his  piety 
and  learning.  He  was  born  of  dissenting  pa- 
rents, at  Siiithorpe,  Notts,  in  1693,  and  after 
receiving  the  rudiments  of  a  classical  educa- 
tion in  various  seminaries  in  the  counties  of 
Derby  and  York,  was  finally  placed  at  an  aca 
demy  at  Tewkesbury  in  Gloucestershire,  where 
he  had  for  his  fellow  student  and  intimate  ac- 
quaintance, Butler,  afterwards  bishop  of  Dur- 
ham. Being  originally  designed  by  his  friends 
for  the  ministry  in  their  connexion,  he  early 
directed  his  attention  to  theological  pursuits  ; 
but  from  scruples  of  conscience  heat  length  de- 
clined the  appointment  of  a  pastor,  and  went 
to  Paris  in  1719,  with  the  view  of  practising 
D  medicine,  to  the  stody  of  which  faculty  he 
had  devoted  the  principal  part  of  the  three 


s  EC: 

preceding  years.  While  in  this  metropolis,  an 
in'rnduclion  from  his  friend  Butler,  then 
preai  her  at  the  Rolls  chapel,  first  laid  the 
foundation  of  an  intimacy  with  their  mutual 
friend  Talbot,  son  of  the  bishop  of  Durham, 
which  eventually  lipened  into  the  sincerest 
friendship.  By  the  persuasion  of  the  latter, 
who  promised  him  his  father's  interest  in  pro- 
moting his  advancement,  Seeker  openly  de- 
clared the  scruples  which  had  prevented  his 
assenting  to  the  tenets  held  by  his  family,  and 
[  became  avowedly  a  member  of  the  church  of 
England.  Some  difficulties  existing  as  to  his 
taking  a  primary  degree  in  an  English  univer- 
sity, he  went  to  Leyden  for  three  months, 
where  having  graduated  as  a  doctor  of  pin  sir, 
all  impediments  were  removed  to  his  taking 
the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts  at  Exeter  col- 
lege, Oxford,  of  which  society  he  had  entered 
himself  a  gentleman  commoner.  In  17W  he 
was  ordained  by  bishop  Talbot,  and  two  years 
afterwards  was  collated  by  that  prelate  to  the 
valuable  rectory  of  Houghton  le  Spring,  in  the 
Palatinate.  This  piece  of  preferment  be  held 
till  17i!7,  when  he  vacated  it  on  being  pro- 
moted to  a  stall  in  Durham  cathedral,  with 
the  rectory  of  Ryton,  near  Newcastle.  This 
last-mentioned  living  he  exchanged  in  173j 
for  that  of  St  James's,  Westminster,  having, 
in  the  course  of  the  preceding  year,  been  ap- 
pointed a  king's  chaplain,  on  which  occasion 
he  graduated  as  LLD.  Two  years  after,  he 
was  elevated  to  the  see  of  Bristol,  whence  he 
was  translated  in  1737  to  that  of  Oxford,  with 
which  he  held  the  valuable  deanery  of  St 
Paul's.  On  the  death  of  archbishop  Hutton 
in  1768,  the  duke  of  Newcastle,  then  at  the 
head  of  the  cabinet,  placed  bishop  Seeker  in 
the  vacant  primacy,  without  any  solicitation 
on  his  part,  or  previous  consciousness  of  the 
dignity  about  to  be  conferred  on  him.  In  this 
exalted  situation  he  conducted  himself  with 
great  dignity,  munificence,  and  proper  seve- 
rity against  any  laxity  in  the  morals  and  man- 
ners of  the  clergy  under  his  more  especial 
superintendence.  At  the  coronation  of  king 
George  III,  archbishop  Seeker  officiated  as 
primate,  and  placed  the  crown  upon  the  head 
of  the  sovereign  :  he  afterwards,  in  the  same 
capacity,  baptized  the  present  king.  As  a 
scholar  he  was  elegant  rather  than  profound, 
although  in  some  of  his  writings,  especially 
in  his  "  Lectures  on  the  Catechism  of  the 
Church  of  England,"  he  displays  much  depth 
of  argument  as  well  as  perspicuity  of  style. 
His  works,  consisting  of  the  productions 
already  mentioned,  charges,  and  sermons, 
have  been  collected  and  printed  in  twelve 
octavo  volumes,  1795,  with  a  life  by  Dr  (after- 
wards bishop)  Porteus,  his  chaplain.  There 
was  also  published  by  him  in  his  life-time,  a 
reply  to  "  Mayhew  on  the  Charter  and  Con- 
duct of  the  Society  for  propagating  the  Gos- 
pel," without  the  author's  name.  This  contro- 
versy relates  to  a  proposed  establishment  of 
bishops  in  the  American  colonies.  Archbishop 
Seeker  died  at  Lambeth  palace,  August  3, 
1768,  of  a  complication  of  chronic  disorders, 
aggravated  by  the  fracture  of  a  thigh  bone, 


SJSC 

which  baring  become  perfectly  carious,  was 
broken  by  an  effort  that  he  made  to  turn  him- 
self in  his  bed.  The  great  increase  of  me- 
thodism  took  place  under  the  primacy  of  arch- 
bishop Seeker,  who,  perceiving  a  large  body 
of  zealous  religionists  wavering  between  an 
adherence  to  and  a  separation  from  the  church, 
thought  it  best  to  treat  them  as  future  friends 
rather  than  enemies.  Moderation  and  discre- 
tion, without  negligence  or  laxity,  formed  the 
basis  of  his  ecclesiastical  policy,  and  although 
some  difference  of  opinion  has  been  entertained 
in  respect  to  his  general  merit,  perhaps  few 
have  filled  the  same  station  more  usefully  to 
the  public  and  reputably  to  themselves. — Life 
prefixed  to  Sermons. 

SKCOUSSE  (DENIS  FRANCOIS)  a  learned 
and  ingenious  French  writer,  born  at  Paris, 
'January  8,  1691.  He  studied  under  Rollin, 
and  commenced  life  as  an  advocate,  but  sub- 
sequently abandoned  the  dry  study  of  the  law 
for  the  belles  lettres.  Besides  a  great  variety 
of  papers  to  be  found  iimong  the  transactions 
of  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions,  of  which  he 
was  a  member,  he  wrote  a  "  History  of  Charles 
the  Bad,"  in  two  quarto  volumes  ;  and  "  Me- 
moirs of  Conde,"  4to,  6  vols. ;  but  the  work 
by  which  he  is  chiefly  distinguished,  is  bis 
continuation  of  the  great  collection  of  statutes 
under  royal  patronage,  commenced  by  M.  Lau- 
rier,  of  which  he  composed  five  volumes,  con- 
cluding at  the  ninth.  He  died  at  Paris, 
March  15,  1754,  in  his  sixty-third  year. — 
A'oju1.  Diet.  Hint. 

SKCUNDUS  NICHOLAIUS  (JOANNES) 
or  JOHN  VAN  TWEEDE,  a  modern  Latin 
poet,  descended  from  an  ancient  and  illus- 
trious family  of  the  Netherlands,  was  born  at 
the  Hague  in  1511.  He  studied  the  civil  law 
at  Bourges,  under  the  famous  Alciat,  and  took 
his  doctor's  degree  in  1532.  He  then  passed 
some  time  in  Italy  ;  after  which  lie  went  to 
Spain,  and  became  Latin  secretary  to  cardinal 
Travera,  archbishop  of  Toledo.  While  in 
this  situation  he  employed  his  leisure  in  the 
composition  of  a  number  of  elegant  Latin 
poems,  of  the  lyric  kind,  in  the  style  of  Ca- 
tullus, which  he  called  "  Basia," — "  Kisses." 
These  exquisite  little  pieces  have  been  alike 
admired  for  the  purity  and  elegance  of  the 
language,  and  the  singular  delicacy  of  senti- 
ment which  they  exhibit.  Secundus  accom- 
panied Charles  V  in  his  unfortunate  expedition 
against  Tunis  ;  and  be  was  afterwards  obliged, 
through  ill  health,  to  return  to  his  native 
country,  where  he  died  in  1536.  The  "  Ba- 
sia "  were  translated  into  English  in  the  seven- 
teenth century  by  Stanley,  author  of  the  His- 
tory of  Philosophy  ;  another  version  of  them 
was  published  in  1731  ;  and  a  third,  with  the 
original  text,  and  an  essay  on  the  life  and 
writings  of  Secundus,  in  1774,  8^0. —  Biog. 
Univ.  Niceron,  xvi.  and  xx. 

SECURIS  (JOANNES)  a  physician  and  me- 
dical writer  of  some  eminence  in  the  sixteenth 
century.  He  studied  at  New  college,  Oxford, 
in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI,  and  afterwards 
went  to  Paris,  where  he  applied  liinis  if  to 
medicine  and  as'ronomy.  Returning  home 


S  ED 

he  settled  at  Salisbury,  where  be  probably 
continued  till  l.is  death,  towards  the  close  of 
the  reign  of  queen  Elizabeth.  He  annually 
published  his  "  Prognostications,"  which  ap- 
pear to  have  been  a  kind  of  almanacs,  in 
which  astrological  predictions  were  combined 
with  medical  counsels.  Anthony  a  Wood 
mentions  two,  for  the  years  1579  and  1580,  to 
the  latter  of  which  was  appended  "  A  Com- 
pendium of  Instructions  how  to  keep  a  mode- 
rate Diet."  He  was  also  the  author  of  "  A, 
Detection  and  Querimony  of  the  Daily  Enor- 
mities and  Abuses  committed  in  Physic," 
London,  1566,  reprinted  in  1662;  and  of  a 
tract  with  the  strange  title  of  "  A  great  Galley 
lately  come  into  England  out  of  Term  Nova, 
laden  with  Physicians,  Surgeons,  and  Potlie- 
caries,"  1554. — Aikin's  Biog.  Mem.  of  Midic. 
SEDAINE  (MICHAEL  JOHN)  a  French  dra- 
matic writer,  was  born  at  Paris  June  4,  171(J. 
Abandoned  by  his  friends  at  the  age  of  thir- 
teen, be  was  obliged  to  quit  his  studies,  and 
learn  the  business  of  a  mason,  from  which 
he  ascended  to  the  profession  of  architecture. 
He  was  also  led  by  inclination  to  cultivate 
polite  literature,  and  the  drama,  and  wrote 
various  small  pieces  and  comic  operas,  which 
rather  exhibit  a  knowledge  of  stage  effect  than 
higher  qualifications.  The  principal  of  these, 
"  The  Deserter,"  and  "  Richard  Cceur  de 
Lion,"  have  been  very  popular,  both  in  France 
and  England.  He  died  in  May  1797,  aged 
seventy-eight. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

SEDLEY  (sir  CHARLES)  a  celebrated  wit, 
courtier,  and  poet  of  the  age  of  Charles  II. 
He  was  the  son  of  sir  John  Sedley,  of  Ayles- 
ford,  near  Maids  tone  in  Kent,  where  he  was 
born  in  1639.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he 
was  entered  a  gentleman  commoner  of  Wad- 
ham  college,  Oxford,  but  quitted  the  univer- 
sity without  a  degree  ;  and  retired  to  his  es- 
tates till  after  Jie  Restoration,  when  he  be- 
came at  once  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
gallants  about  the  court.  His  credit  with  the 
king  was  not  a  little  heightened  by  the  cir- 
cumstaiice  of  his  never  asking  him  a  fitrour, 
although  the  debauchery  into  which  he  plunged 
soon  made  serious  inroads  on  his  pecuniary 
resources.  These  were  not  mended  by  a  fine 
of50i)L  in  which  he  was  amerced  by  chief- 
justice  Hyde,  for  an  indecent  riot  commuted 
by  him  at  a  public-house,  in  Bow-street,  Co- 
vent-garden,  where  he  was  accused  of  ha- 
ranguing the  mob  naked  from  the  balcony,  in 
company  with  lord  Buckhurst  and  sir  Thomas 
Ogle.  The  termination  of  this  outrageous 
frolic  seems  to  have  sobered  him  a  little,  aa 
from  this  period  he  turned  his  attention  less  to 
pleasure  and  more  to  politics  ;  and  being  re- 
turned member  of  parliament  for  the  borough 
of  New  Romney  in  Kent,  in  1661,  sat  for  that 
place  in  four  successive  parliaments.  Though 
himself  a  profligate,  he  yet  had  sufficient 
virtue  left  to  be  much  annoyed  by  an  intrigue 
which  James  II  carried  on  with  his  daughter, 
afterwards  created  by  that  monarch  counters 
of  Dorchester.  Sir  Charles  was  so  little 
pleased  by  this  elevation,  that  it  is  said  ta 
have  been  the  priudua.  cause  of  his  subse- 


SEE 

quently  taking  so  strenuous  a  part  in  bringing 
about  the  Revolution  ;  and  an  anecdote  has 
been  repeated  of  his  replying  to  a  gentleman 
who  taxed  him  with  a  want  of  loyalty  on  the 
occasion,  that  "  as  the  king  had  made  his 
(laughter  a  countess,  the  least  he  could  do  in 
common  gratitude  was  to  assist  in  making  his 
majesty's  daughter  a  queen."  Sir  Charles 
died  about  the  commencement  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, preserving  his  spirits  and  the  fascination 
of  manners  for  which  he  was  remarkable,  to 
the  last.  In  his  poetical  character  he  is  known 
as  the  author  of  six  dramatic  pieces,  printed 
togmher  with  his  miscellaneous  poems  by 
Bnscoe,  in  1719,  in  two  octavo  volumes,  with 
a  dedication  to  the  duke  of  Chandos.  These 
latter  consist  of  Pastorals,  original  and  trans- 
lated. Prologues,  Songs,  Epilogues,  and  occa- 
sional pieces,  which,  if  they  are  not  altogether 
free  from  the  licentiousness  of  the  age  in  which 
he  lived,  are  at  least  clear  of  much  of  its 
grossness. — Gibber's  Lives. 

SEED  (JEREMIAH)  an  English  clergyman 
of  the  last  century,  whose  merits  as  an  able 
scholar  and  ingenious  writer  were  universally 
acknowledged  at  the  time  in  which  he  lived. 
He  was  a  native  of  Clifton,  near  Penrith  in 
Cumberland,  and  after  receiving  the  rudiments 
of  a  classical  education  at  the  grammar-school 
of  Lowther  in  that  county,  became  a  member 
of  Queen's  college,  Oxford,  where  lie  gradu- 
ated in  1725,  and  seven  years  after  became  a 
fellow.  Having  taken  holy  orders,  he  was 
appointed  curate  to  the  celebrated  doctor 
Watei land,  at  Twickenham,  till,  in  1741,  the 
college  living  of  Enhain,  Hants,  becoming  va- 
cant, fell  to  him  as  an  option.  This  piece  of 
preferment  he  held  nearly  six  years,  till  his 
death,  which  took  place  at  his  rectory  in  1747. 
As  a  divine  he  was  eloquent  and  impressive, 
as  well  as  exemplary  in  his  moral  character. 
Two  octavo  volumes  of  his  sermons  were 
printed  by  him  during  his  lifetime,  and  after 
his  decease  two  additional  volumes  were  pub- 
lished by  his  friend  and  fellow-collegian  Mr 
Hall,  in  1750. — Biog.  Brit. 

SfcELEN  (JOHN  HENRY  van)  a  philologi- 
cal writer,  born  in  the  duchy  of  Bremen  in 
Germany,  in  1687.  After  finishing  his  acade- 
mical studies  at  the  gymnasium  of  Stade,  he 
became  a  Lutheran  minister,  but  devoted  his 
time  to  literary  occupations.  He  taught  Latin 
and  Greek  in  the  seminary  where  he  was  edu- 
cated, and  in  1713  he  was  appointed  rector  of 
a  similar  institution  at  Flensbourg,  and  five 
years  after  of  another  at  Lubeck,  where  he 
died  in  1672.  Besides  a  great  number  of  dis- 
sertations, and  biographical  eulogies  and  no- 
tices, he  was  the  author  of  "  Stada  Littera- 
ria,"  1711,  4to ;  and  several  other  works, 
principally  relating  to  the  history  of  literature; 
and  he  assisted  in  a  periodical  journal,  called 
"  Ribliotheca  Lubecensis,"  1725— 31,  12vols. 
8vo. —  Blag.  Univ.  Sa.rii  Onnm.  Lit. 

SEEMILLER  (SEBASTIAN)  an  Orientalist, 
born  in  175'.',  at  Yeldm  in  Bavaria.  He  stu- 
died among  the  Jesuits  at  Laudshut  and  Mu- 
nich, and  in  1770  be  entered  into  the  order  of 
the  Augustine  canons  at  Polling.  He  after- 


S  EG 

wards  applied  himself  to  theology,  history, 
and  the  Oriental  languages,  at  the  university 
of  Ingolstadt  ;  and  having  taken  the  decree  of 
doctor  of  theology  and  philosophy  in  1776,  lie 
returned  to  his  convent.  In  1781  he  became 
professor  of  the  Eastern  languages  at  Ingol- 
stadt, librarian  to  the  university,  and  electoral 
counsellor.  He  was  appointed  minister  of 
Fontenned  at  Munich  in  1797,  and  he  died 
the  following  year.  His  works,  which  are  all 
in  Latin,  relate  to  bibliography  and  biblical 
criticism.  Among  the  former  may  be  men- 
tioned "  Bibliothecaj  Acad.  Ingolstadiensis 
Incunabula  Typographica,"  1787 — 92,  Jto; 
and  the  latter  include  a  translation  of  the  Ca- 
tholic Epistles  of  St  James  ar-4  St  Jude,  with 
notes. —  B/nof.  Unio. 

SEETZEN  (  ULIUC  JASPER)  a  German  tra- 
veller, who  was  a  native  of  East  Friseland, 
and  was  educated  at  Gottingen,  where  he  par- 
ticularly studied  the  sciences  of  philosophy 
and  natural  history,  under  professor  Blumen- 
bach.  Having  published  some  tracts  on  natu- 
ral history,  statistics,  and  political  economy, 
he  was  appointed  aulic  counsellor  to  the  czar 
in  the  principality  of  Jever.  He  was  desirous 
of  visiting  Africa  and  the  East,  and  being  en- 
couraged by  the  dukes  Ernest  and  Augustus  of 
Saxe-Gotha,  he  set  off  in  August  1802  for 
Constantinople.  He  proceeded  to  Syria,  and 
remained  a  considerable  time  at  Aleppo,  mak- 
ing excursions  into  the  neighbouring  territories. 
In  1806  he  explored  the  course  of  the  river 
Jordan  and  the  Dead  Sea,  travelled  through 
Palestine,  and  went  to  Hebron  and  mount  Si- 
nai. His  enthusiastic  desire  of  knowledge 
prompted  him  to  profess  Mahometism,  that  he 
might  undertake  a  pilgrimage  to  Mecca  and 
Medina,  which  he  visited  in  1809  and  1810. 
In  the  month  of  November  1810  he  was  at 
Mocha,  whence  he  wrote  the  last  letters  which 
arrived  from  him  in  Europe.  Having  had  his 
property  seized  by  the  Arabs,  under  the  pre- 
text of  his  being  a  magician,  he  proceeded  to- 
wards Saana,  in  December  1811,  to  complain 
to  the  imam  of  that  place  ;  and  a  few  days 
after  his  departure  he  died  suddenly  at  Ta'es, 
probably  from  the  effects  of  poison  given  him 
by  order  of  the  imam.  No  complete  account 
of  the  researches  of  this  unfortunate  traveller 
ever  appeared  ;  but  his  letters,  which  he  ad- 
dressed to  baron  von  Zach,  were  inserted  in  his 
"  Geographical  and  Astronomical  Correspon- 
dence," a  periodical  work  published  atGotha; 
and  a  translation  was  printed  in  the  Fiench 
"  Annales  des  Voyages,"  1809 — 14.  Ex- 
tracts from  his  letters  to  Blumenbach  and 
others  also  were  published  in  the  "  Magasiu 
Encyclopedique. —  B'wg.  Nouv.  des  Con  temp. 
Bing.  Unio. 

SEGAR  (sir  WILLIAM)  an  English  herald 
in  the  reigns  of  Elizabeth  and  James  I.  He 
was  imprisoned  in  consequence  of  a  shameful 
imposition,  by  which  he  was  induced  to  make 
out  a  grant  of  a  coat  of  arms  for  the  common 
executioner,  whose  name  was  Brandon  ;  (not 
knowing  his  office  or  character,  but  viewing 
him  merely  as  a  descendant  of  the  noble  fa- 
mily of  Brandon,)  he  made  a  grunt  of  the 


S  EG 

roval  arms  of  Arragon,  with  a  canton  of  Bra 
bant.  It  being  made  manifest  that  he  had 
been  the  dupe  of  a  conspiracy,  he  was  released 
from  his  confinement.  He  held  the  office  of 
Norroy  herald  in  1602,  when  he  published  a 
work  entitled  "  Honor,  Military  and  Civill, 
contained  in  four  bookes,"  folio;  and  he  was 
afterwards  garter- king-at-arms.  His  death 
took  place  in  1633.  Edmondson's  Baronage 
is  said  to  have  been  principally  compiled  from 
sir  VV.  Segar's  MSS. — Rees's  Cyclop. 

SEGNER  (JOHN  ANDREW  von)  a  learned 
professor  of  mathematics  and  physics,  born  at 
Presburg  in  Hungary,  in  1704.  After  some 
preliminary  application  to  study  in  his  native 
country,  he  went  to  Jena  in  17^5,  to  apply 
himself  to  medicine  and  mathematics  ;  and  in 
1730  he  took  the  degree  of  MD.  Returning 
to  Presburg  he  engaged  in  the  practice  of  me- 
dicine, and  in  1731  became  town-physician  at 
Debreczin.  Thence  he  removed  to  Jena  to 
give  lectures  on  mathematics  on  the  invitation 
of  professor  Teichmeyer,  whose  daughter  he 
married.  In  1733  he  was  nominated  extraor- 
dinary professor  of  philosophy  in  that  univer- 
sity, whence,  in  1733,  he  went  to  Gottingen, 
where  he  obtained  the  chair  of  mathematics 
and  natural  science.  He  exchanged  this  situ- 
ation for  one  in  the  university  of  Halle,  with 
the  title  of  privy  counsellor  ;  and  the  Prussian 
government  conferred  on  him  letters  of  nobi- 
lity. He  died  October  5,  1777.  Professor 
Segner  enriched  both  mathematics  and  natural 


philosophy  with  new  discoveries,  and  acquired 
the  credit  of  being  one  of  the  greatest  mathe- 
maticians of  his  time.  He  belonged  to  many 
scientific  societies,  and  was  the  author  of  va- 
rious academical  dissertations  and  essays,  be- 
sides an  "  Introduction  to  Physics,"  Gottin- 
gen, 1746,  8vo  ;  "  Astronomical  Lectures," 
Halle,  1775—6,  2  vols.  8vo,  both  in  the  Ger- 
man language  ;  and  several  mathematical 
treatises,  written  in  Latin. — Meusel  Gehl. 
Teutsclil.  Biog.  Univ. 

SEGRAIS  (JKAN  RENAUD  de)  a  Frencl 
poet,  was  born  at  Caen  in   1624,  and  studiei 
in  the  college  of  Jesuits  in  that  town.     As  IK 
grew  up  he  applied  himself  to  French  poetry 
and  by  his  literary  industry  supported  a  largi 
family  of  brothers  and   sisters,  whom  the   ex 
trava^ance   of  their  father   had    left  in  very 
narrow  circumstances.     In  his  twentieth  year 
lie    was    recommended    to    mademoiselle    de 
Montpensier,  who  appointed  him  her  gentle- 
man iu  ordinary,  which  situation   he  lost  by 
opposing  her  marriage   with   M.  de  Lauzuu. 
He  found  a  new  patroness  in  madame  de  la 
Fayette,  whom  he  assisted  in  her  celebrated 
romances  of  Zaide.and  the  Princess  of  Cleves. 
In  1679  he  retired  into  the  country,  and  mar- 
ried his  cousin,   a  rich  heiress.     He  was  ad- 
mitted a  member  of  the  French  Academy  in 
1662,  and   was   the  means  of  re-establishing 
that  of  Caen.     He  died  of  a  dropsy  in  1701. 
Segrais  obtained    his  chief  distinction   by  his 
lyric  and  pastoial  poetry,  and  by  a  collection 
of  stories,  entitled  "  Kouvelles    Francoises," 
the  style  of  which  is  entitled   to  much    com- 
mendation.    He    also   translated    the   /Eneid 


S  E  L 

nto  French  verse,  a  work  which,  ulthougli 
eeble,  was  much  esteemed  at  the  time.    After 
lis  death  appeared  his  version  of  the  "  Geor- 
ics"  of  Virgil,  which   is  praised   by  Boileau 
and    d'Alernhert ;    and    a    "  Segraisiana,"    or 
liscellany  of  anecdotes  and  literary  opinions. 
— Moreri.     Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

SEGUR    (JOSEPH    ALEXANDER,  viscount 
le)  the  second  son  of  the   marshal  de  Segur, 
vho  died  in  1801.     He  engaged  when   young 
n  military  service,  and  was  successively  colo- 
el    of    the   regiments  of    Noailles,    of  royal 
,orraine,   and    of    the    dragoons    of  his    own 
name.     Having  attained  the  post  of  mareschal 
de  camp  in  1790, he  gave  up  his  time  entirely 
o  the  cultivation  of  literature.     His  first  pro- 
duction was  a  romance,  entitled  "  Correspon- 
dence Secrete   entre   Ninon    de   1'EncIos,   le 
\Iarq.  de  Villarceaux,   et  Mad.    de   Mainte- 
non."    He  published  in  1791  another  romance, 

La  Femme  Jalouse  ;"  ami   between    1789 
and   1804  he  wrote    a   number  of  dramatic 
pieces.     His  last  work,  which  has  been  trans- 
ated  into  English,  is  entitled   "  Les  Fenimes, 
ear  Condition,  et  leur  Influence  dans  1'Ordre 
Social,"  180:2,  3  vols.  8vo.     He  died  at  Bag- 
nieres,  July  9.7,  1805. — Biog.  Univ. 

SE1D  MOUSTAPHA,  a  Turkish  engineer, 
employed  by  the  grand  seignor  Selim  III,  in 
whose  misfortunes  he  became  involved,  and 

erished  in  the  insurrection  at  Constantinople 
in  1808.  He  published  in  1803  a  French 
work,  entitled  "  Diatribe  sur  1'Etat  actuel  de 


'Art  Militaire,  du  Genie  et  des  Sciences  a 
Constantinople,"  8vo.  This  little  tract  issued 
from  the  printing-press  established  by  sultan. 
Selim  at  Scutari,  which  was  destroyed  by  the 
insurgent  janizaries  in  1808.  M.  Langles  re- 
printed it  in  the  Magasin  Encyclopedique, 
1809,  vol.  v. — Biog.  Univ. 

SEJANUS  (^Ei-ius)  the  son  of  a  Roman 
officer  of  the   equestrian   order,   who  became 
the  favourite  and  prime-minister  of  the  empe- 
ror Tiberius.     Having  attained  the  utmost  as- 
cendancy over  his  imperial  patron,  his  ambi- 
tion prompted  him  to  aim  at  securing  the  so- 
vereignty to  himself  ;  and  with  that  view   he 
caused    several  individuals,  among  whom  was 
Drusus,  the  emperor's  son,  to  be  assassinated. 
He  had  carried  on  an  intrigue  with  the  wife  of 
that  prince,  after  whose  death   he  wished  to 
:iave  married  her  ;  but  Tiberius,   offended  at 
!iis   presumption,   and    alarmed   for  his   own 
safety,  gave  orders  to  have  him  arrested  on  the 
charge  of  treason,  and  he  was  executed  on  the 
same  day,  AD.  31.     Being  the   object  of  ge- 
neral   hatred,   the   people  of  Rome  displayed 
the  utmost  joy   at   his   destruction,   throwing 
down  the    statues  erected  in  honour  of  him, 
and  treating  his  corpse  with  the  utmost  indig- 
nity.— Sueto7iius.     Crevier. 

SELCHOW  (JOHN  HENRY  CHRISTIAN 
von)  a  German  jurist,  born  at  Werningerode 
in  1732.  He  studied  at  Gottingen,  where  he 
was  appointed  professor  of  jurisprudence  in 
17.57,  and  he  passed  witli  the  same  title  to 
Marpurg  in  1782.  His  lectures  on  jurispru- 
dence for  a  long  time  attracted  students  from 
all  parts  of  Germany  ;  and  his  reputatiov  w;i» 


S  E  L 

increased  by  the  publication  of  his  "  Elementa 
Juris  Geniuinici    privati    hodierui,"  of  "hi:  h 
ei<;ht    editions    appeared    between   17. ')7   and 
179.1,  and  which  WHS  adopted  as  a  text-book 
in  most  of  the  universities  of  Germany,      ile 
died  April    2.},    179.i.      lie  was  the  author  of 
"  F.lementa  Juris   privati  Germanici,"  1769; 
and  he  was  concerned  in  several  critical  jour- 
nals.— Schlichtegroll's  Necrology.     Biog.  Univ. 
SELDEN  (JOHN)   a  distinguished   scholar 
and  eminent  political  character,  was  bor.n  De- 
cember 16,  l/>84.   of  a   respectable    family  at 
Sabington,  near    Tering  in  Sussex.     He    re- 
ceived  his   early  education   at  the  grammar- 
school  of  Chichester,  and  at  the  age  of  four- 
teen,  or,   as  Wood    says,  of  sixteen,  was  re- 
moved   to   Hart- hall,  Oxford.     After    a.  resi- 
dence of  three  or  four  years   he  repaired    to 
Chlrbrd's-iMn,  London,  to  study  the  law,  and 
about  two  years    after  removed  to  the    Inner 
Temple,  and  ou    being  called  to  the  bar  acted 
principally  as   a   chamber  counsel.     The  first 
object  of  his  studies  was  the  history  and  anti- 
quities  uf  his   own   county  ;  and    so  early  as 
1607  he  drew  up  a  work  entitled  "  Analectum 
Anglo- Britannicutn,"   a   treatise   on    the  civil 
government   of   Britain   before  the  coming  of 
the  Normans.     Jt  was  succeeded  in   1610  by 
"  England's  Epinomes,"  and  "  Jaui  Anglorum 
Facies  altera,"  a  Latin  and  an  English  treatise 
on   the  progress  of  English  law.     These   per- 
foimances  acquired  him  the  esteem  of  several 
eminent  literary  characters,  among  whom  were 
Camden,   Spelman,   sir    Robert   Cotton,    Ben 
Jonson,    Browne,  and  Dray  ton,   whose   Poly- 
olbion  lie  copiously  illustrated.     In  1614  ap- 
peared liis  largest  English  work,  a  treatise   on 
"  Titles  of  Honour,"  which  is  regarded   as    a 
standard   authority  in  regard  to  all  which  con- 
cerns the  degrees  of  nobility  and  gentry  in  this 
kingdom.     This  able  production  was  followed 
in  1617  by  his  celebrated  work  "  De  Diis  Sy- 
riis,"  the    primary  purpose  of  which   was    to 
treat  on  the  heathen  deities  alluded  to  in  the 
Old    Testament  ;    but    he  extended   it   to  an 
inquiry  into  the  Syrian  idolatry  in  general.   He 
had  hitherto  passed  his  life  as  a  man  of  letters; 
but  in  1618  he  entered  the  field  of  politics  by 
his  "  History  of  Tythes,"  the  object  of  which 
was  to  deny  their  divine  right,  although  allow- 
ed to  be  due  to  the  clergy  by  the  laws  of  the 
land.     This  publication  highly  offended  James 
I,  and    brought    the   author  before   the  high- 
commission  court^on  which,  without  retracting 
any  portion   of  his  opinions,   he  declared   his 
sorrow  for  publishing   the  work   in  question. 
Several  replies  to  him  were  written  by  divines 
and  others,  to   which    he   was  not   permitted 
openly  *.o  rejoin.      In   1621,  James    I,   in    his 
speech    to    parliament,    having   asserted    that 
their  privileges  were  grants  from   the   crown, 
Selden  was  resorted  to  as  the  ablest  legal  anti- 
quary ;   on  which  occasion  he   spoke  so  freely 
before  them  in  opposition  to  this  doctrine,  and 
was  so  instrumental  in  drawing    up   their  spi- 
rited protestation,  that  on  their  dissolution  he 
was  committed  to  custody.     His  confinement 
was  not,   however,  rigorous  ;  and  he  was  dis- 
at  the  expiration  of  six  weeks  on  pu- 


S  E  L 

tition.     Tn  the  following  year  lie  was  elected 
member  of  parliament  for  Lancaster,  ami  was 
again  it  member  in  the   two  first   parliaments 
of  (Jinnies  1,  in  the  second  of  which  he   was 
appointed   to  support  the  impeachment  of  thfi 
duke  of  Buckingham,  and  otherwise  became  a 
leading  opposer  of  the   arbitrary  measures  of 
,  the  court.     In  1629  lie  drew    up   his   learned 
treatise,  entitled  "  Marmora  Arundelliana,"  on 
the   occasion   of  the   importation  of  the  cele- 
brate;! Greek  marbles  by  tbe  earl  of  Arundel. 
On   the   dissolution  of  the  parliament,  Selden 
I  was  one  of  the  eight  members  of  the  Commons 
who  were  imprisoned  in  the  Tower  on  a  charge 
1  of  sedition,  and  who  refused  to   give  security 
for   their   good   behaviour.     This  confinement 
;  lasted  two  or  three  years,  with  more  or  less  se- 
!  verity  ;    but  at  length  he  was  admitted  to  bail, 
and  finally  released  in  the  beginning  of  163-1. 
During  this  suspension  of  political  action,  he 
wrote  some  of  his  learned  treatises  on  Jewish 
antiquities  ;  and  in  1635  he  sent  out  his  im- 
portant treatise,  entitled  "Mare  Clausum,"  in 
answer  to  the  "  Mare  Liberum"  of  Grotius  ;  in 
opposition  to  the  reasoning   of  which   he   en- 
deavours  to    historically  establish  the  British 
right  of  dominion  over  the  circumjacent  seas. 
Some  of  the  following  years  of  his  life   were 
occupied    in    Hebrew    studies,    the    result    of 
which  appeared  in  a  work  entitled  "  De  Jure 
Naturali  et  Gentium  juxta  Disciplinam  Ebrae- 
orum,"  a  valuable,  but  not  very  well  digested 
repertory    of    all    the    matter    afforded    by 
history  or  tradition   in  relation  to  the  subject. 
In  1640,  memorable  for  the   meeting  of   the 
long  parliament,  Selden  was  unanimously  elec- 
ted member  for  the  university  of  Oxford.  His 
name  appears  on  several  committees  appointed 
to  inquire   into  abuses  ;     but  he  neither  con- 
curred in  the  prosecution  of  lord  Strafford,  nor 
seemed    desirous   to    abrogate    the    episcopal 
form  of  church  government,  although  anxious 
to  check  the   encroachments  of  ecclesiastical 
power.     So  well  affected  was  he  on  the  whole 
to  the  existing  constitution  of  church  and  state, 
that  when  the  king  withdrew  to  York,  he  had 
some   notion   of    appointing    him   chancellor. 
When  the  differences   between  king  and  par- 
liament were  manifestly  tending  to  open  hosti- 
lities, he  opposed  the  attempts  of  both  parties 
to  gain  possession  of  the  sword,  and  when  he 
failed,  withdrew  as  much  as  he  was  able  from 
public  business.     He  remained,  however,  with 
the   parliament,    and    was    one   of  the   synod 
which  met  at  Westminster  for  the   establish- 
ment of  church  government.     In  1643  he  was 
appointed  by  the  house  of  Commons  keeper  of 
the  records  in  the  Tower,  and  the  year  follow- 
ing he  was  induced  to   subscribe    the    solemn 
league  and  covenant.     The  year  following  he 
was  elected  one  of  the   twelve  commissioners 
of  the  Admiralty  ;  and  in  1646  the  parliament 
voted  him  o.OOO/.  as  a  reward  for  services.  He 
continued  to  sit  in  parliament  after  the  execu- 
tion of  the  king,  but  employed  all  his  inriueuce 
for    the   protection  of  learning,   and   rendered 
considerable  services  to  the  king's  frienus  in 
the    university  of  Oxford,    and   othar  ^.ates. 
lie  also  refused  to  gratify  Cromwell  by  writing 


S  E  L 

an  answer  to  ttie  Eikon  Basilike.  In  the  be- 
ginning of  1654  liis  health  began  to  decline, 
but  he  lingered  until  the  30th  of  November  in 
that  year,  when  he  expired  in  the  seventieth 
year  of  his  age.  The  public  character  of  this 
eminent  scholar  and  politician  will  be  suffi- 
ciently obvious  from  the  tenor  of  the  preceding 
abstract.  Like  most  of  the  ablest  characters 
of  the  period  on  both  sides,  he  seems  to  have 
been  often  led  by  the  current  of  circumstances 
to  act  against  his  own  personal  convictions ; 
but  he  certainly  enjoys  the  merit  of  having 
done  his  utmost  both  to  prevent  the  ultimate 
appeal  to  the  sword,  and  uniformly  exercised 
his  influence  to  moderate  the  injurious  conse- 
quences which  flowed  from  it.  In  private 
life  he  appears  to  have  been  universally  es- 
teemed for  his  goodness  of  heart  and  urbanity 
.  of  manners,  while  ns  a  liberal  benefactor  and 
protector  of  literature  he  has  extorted  praise 
from  all  parties.  As  a  scholar,  lie  must  be 
deemed  one  of  the  most  learned  men  of  his 
day  ;  but  possibly  a  portion  of  this  learning 
may  not  have  been  expended  on  the  most 
useful  subjects,  added  to  which,  his  style  is 
often  hiboured  and  uncouth,  although  his 
speeches  and  conversation  were  peculiarly  lu- 
minous and  clear.  Some  opinion  of  the  latter 
may  be  collected  from  his  very  popular  "  Table 
Talk,"  published  after  his  death  by  his  amanu- 
ensis. He  died  rich,  and  left  his  valuable  li- 
brary and  museum  to  his  executors,  who  ho- 
nourably gave  it  up  to  the  Bodleian  library, 
for  which  he  had  intended  it,  until  offended  by 
a  refusal  to  lend  him  a  book  without  security. 
Having  adverted  to  the  principal  of  his  works, 
it  is  unnecessary  to  add  the  titles  of  his  nu- 
merous productions  of  minor  notoriety,  espe- 
cially as  the  whole  were  collected  in  three  folio 
volumes  (usually  bound  in  six),  by  Dr  Da- 
vid Wilkins,  1726.  Of  these  volumes  the  two 
first  contain  his  Latin,  and  the  third  his  En- 
glish works  ;  and  the  editor  has  also  added  a 
long  Latin  life  of  the  author. —  ]Vilkinsii  Vit. 
Selileni.  Aikii/'s  Lives  of  Seldeii  and  Usher. 

SKLK1RK  (ALEXANDER)  a  Scottish  sailor, 
who  passed  some  years  alone  on  the  island  of 
Juan  Fernandez,  and  whose  adventure  has 
been  supposed  to  have  been  the  foundation  of 
the  story  of  Robinson  Crusoe.  He  was  a  na- 
tive of  Largo  in  Fifeshire,  and  went  to  sea 
when  young.  In  1703  he  sailed  as  master  hi 
the  Cit  que  Ports  privateer,  under  captain 
Stradling.  In  consequence  of  some  difference 
with  his  commander,  he  was,  with  his  own 
consent,  put  ashore  at  Juan  Fernandez.  Be 
fore  the  vessel  quitted  the  island  Le  changed 
his  mind,  but  the  captain  would  not  receive 
him  ;  and  he  remained  in  his  solitude  till  he 
was  taken  away  by  captain  Woods  Rogers  in 
January  1709.  Returning  to  England  he  i* 
said  to  have  employed  Daniel  Defoe  in  draw- 
ing up  a  narrative  of  his  adventures  for  the 
press. —  Barrow's  Collection  of  Voua°es  and 
Discoveries,  vol.  ii. 

SELLE  (CHRISTIAN  THEOPHILUS)  a  phy- 
sician, who  was  born  at  Stettin  in  Pomerama, 
in  1748.  He  was  educated  at  Jena,  Gottin- 
gen,  and  Halle,  at  which  last  university  he 


SEN 

'  graduated  as  MD.  in  1770.  His  treatise  on 
fevers,  "  Rudimenta  Pyretologiae  MethodiciE," 
published  at  Beriiu  iu  1773,  procured  him 

;  much  reputation  ;  and  soon  after  he  went  to 
Heilsberg,  to  reside  in  a  medical  capacity  with 
the  bishop  of  Warmia.  Returning  to  Berlin, 
lie  became  physician  at  the  hospital  of  Cha- 
rity. In  1777  he  published  in  German  an 
"  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Nature  and  of 
Medicine,"  8vo,  which  was  translated  into 
French  by  Dr  Coray  ;  and  other  works,  which 
were  extremely  well  received.  Selle  was  fa- 
voured with  the  confidence  of  Frederick  the 
Great,  who  made  him  his  physician  ;  and 

'  after  the  death  of  that  prince  he  drew  up  a 
particular  detail  of  his  last  illness.  He  was 
admitted  into  the  Berlin  Academy  of  Sciences  ; 
and  in  1790  he  went  to  Paris,  where  he  vi- 
sited, incognito,  the  hospitals  and  other  public 
establishments,  and  on  his  return  he  published 
two  memoirs  on  animal  magnetism,  and  others 
against  the  critical  philosophy  of  Kant,  in- 
serted in  the  Transactions  of  the  Academy. 
He  attained  the  highest  honours  in  his  profes- 
sion, being  appointed  privy  counsellor  and  di- 
rector of  the  college  of  medicine  and  surgery, 
&c.  His  death  took  place  at  Berlin,  Novem- 
ber 9,  1800,  in  consequence  of  phthisis  pul- 
monalis. — Biog.  Unir. 

SEMLER  (JOHN  SOLOMON)  a  celebrated 
Lutheran  divine,  born  in  1725,  at  Saalfeld  in 

j  Saxony,  where  his  father  was  a  minister.  He 
was  educated  under  professor  Baumgarten  at 
Halle  ;  and  after  quitting  the  university  he 
resided  some  time  at  Saalfeld,  whence  in 
17.50  he  removed  to  Coburg,  to  become  editor 
of  the  Gazette.  In  1751  he  obtained  the 
chair  of  rhetoric  and  poetry  at  Altorf;  and 
two  years  after,  that  of  theology  at  Halle, 
where  he  remained  till  his  death,  which  hap- 
pened March  14,  1791.  Semler  was  one  of 
those  German  divines  who  reduced  the  prin- 
ciples of  Christianity  to  a  near  accordance  with 
deism,  explaining  away  every  thing  miraculous 
in  the  Gospel  history,  and  criticising  the  Bible 
with  a  temerity  beyond  all  bounds,  rather 
like  an  advocate  of  infidelity  than  of  Revela- 
tion. Alichaelis,  who  had  witnessed  the  com- 
mencement of  the  great  revolution  which  took 
place  in  the  opinions  of  the  German  Protestant 
clergy  in  the  last  century,  said,  "  Heretofore 
I  was  reckoned  heterodox,  but  now  I  am  only 
too  orthodox."  The  principal  works  of  Sem- 
ler are  "  Historic^  Ecclesiastics  selecta  Ca- 
pita," 1767 — 69,  3  vols.  8vo  ;  "  An  Introduc- 
tion to  Exegetic  Theology,"  8vo  ;  "Appara- 
tus ad  liberalem  N.  Test.  Interpretationem," 
8vo;  "  Apparatus  ad  lib.  V.  T.  Interpretatio- 
nem," 8vo  ;  and  he  also  wrote  the  history  of 
his  own  life,  published  at  Halle,  1781,  2  vols. 
8vo. —  Bioy.  Univ. 

SEN  AC  (JOHN  BAPTIST)  first  physician 
to  Louis  XV,  was  born  in  Gascony  m  1693. 
In  his  youth  he  was  a  Protestant,  and  a  candi- 
date for  the  ministry  ;  but  he  afterwards  he- 
came  a  Catholic  ai.d  a  Jesuit,  previously  to  his 
adopting  the  profession  of  medicine.  Before 
he  appeared  at  court  he  was  attached  to  mar- 
shal Saxe,  whom  he  cured  of  a  dangerous  dis- 


SEN 

ease  during  the  war  in  1745.  lu  1762  he  was 
appointed  first  physician  to  Louis  XV,  who 
bestowed  on  him  the  utmost  confidence,  and 
he  retained  his  situation  and  credit  till  his 
death,  which  took  place  December  20,  1770. 
lie  had  a  patent  of  counsellor  in  ordinary  to 
the  king,  and  he  was  superintendant  of  the  ( 
mineral  waters  of  the  kingdom,  and  was  also 
a  member  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences.  Se-  j 
nac  is  principally  known  as  the  author  of 
"  Traite  de  la  Structure  dn  Cccur,"  1748,  2 
vols.  4to,  ropublished  in  1777  and  1783  with 
additions  and  corrections  by  M.  Portal.  He 
also  wrote  some  other  works,  besides  memoirs 
published  by  the  Academy  of  Sciences. — GA- 
r.itiKi  SENAC  DE  MEILHAN,  son  of  the  pre- 
ceding, was  born  at  Paris  in  1736.  He  be- 
came a  master  of  requests,  and  afterwards 
successively  intendantof  the  provinces  of  Au- 
nis,  Provence,  and  Hainault ;  and  in  1775  he  was 
nominated  intendant  at  war,  under  the  minis- 
try of  the  count  de  St  Germain.  At  the  Re- 
volution he  went  to  Germany,  and  afterwards 
to  Russia,  which  country  he  left  on  the  acces- 
sion of  Paul  I.  His  death  took  place  at  Vi- 
enna in  August  1803.  He  was  the  a.uhor  of 
'•  Des  Principes  et  des  Causes  de  la  Revolu- 
tion Francaise,"  1790,  8vo  ;  "  l)u  Gouverne- 
rnent,  des  Moeurs,  et  des  Conditions  en  France 
avant  la  Revolution,"  1795,  8vo ;  besides  no- 
vels, a  translation  from  Tacitus,  and  other 
works. —  Biog.  Univ. 

SENDIVOGIUS  (MICHAIL)  a  Polish  al- 
chymist,  born  about  1566.  He  was  destined 
for  the  church,  but  before  he  had  finished  his 
studies  he  acquired  a  taste  for  books  on  alchy- 
mv  ;  and  having  made  an  acquaintance  with 
Nicholas  Wolsky,  grand-marshal  of  Poland, 
who  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  mysteries  of  that 
delusive  science,  he  was  sent  by  his  patron 
into  Germany,  to  learn  the  secret  of  the  phi- 
losopher's stone.  He  returned,  of  course,  un- 
successful ;  but  for  a  considerable  time  he  kept 
up  the  expectations  of  Wolsky,  who  supplied 
him  with  money  which  he  wasted  in  the  pro- 
secution of  his  researches.  At  length  he  went 
to  Germany,  where  he  is  said  to  have  imposed 
on  the  emperor  Ferdinand  II,  and  to  have  ob- 
tained from  that  prince  the  gift  of  an  estate  in 
Silesia,  and  a  house  at  Olmutz,  where  he  died 
in  1646  ;  but  according  to  some,  authors  he  died 
in  poverty  at  Cracow  in  Poland.  His  writings, 
amidst  abundance  of  jargon,  contain  some 
chemical  information  of  importance.  An  En- 
glish translation  of  his  "  New  Light  of  Al- 
<  hymy,  with  a  Treatise  of  Sulphur,"  and  other 
tracts,  was  printed  in  London,  1650,  4to. — 
Bii'g.  Univ. 

SENEBIER  (JOHN)  a  natural  philosopher 
and  historian  of  eminence,  born  at  Geneva  in 
1742.  He  adopted  the  ecclesiastical  profes- 
sion,  and  having  finished  his  course  of  theology 
he  was  admitted  a  minister  in  1765.  Philo- 
sophy and  natural  history  occupied  more  of 
his  attention  than  divinity  ;  and  he  made  a 
fisit  to  Paris  to  study  declamation  under  the 
actor  Brizard,  and  to  consult  the  royal  library. 
Returning  to  Geneva,  he  published  "  Moral 
Vales,"  in  imitation  of  those  of  Marmontel, 


SEN 

which  were  translated  into  German.  By  tha 
advice  of  Bonnet  lie  wrote  a  memoir  on  the 
question  proposed  by  the  literary  society  of 
Haerlem,"  En  quoi  consiste  1'Art  d'observer?" 
and  he  obtained  the  prize  winch  had  been  of- 
fered. In  1769  he  was  chosen  minister  of 
Chancy  ;  and  in  1773  he  obtained  the  office 
of  public  librarian  at  Geneva.  He  became 
one  of  the  conductors  of  the  Journal  of  Ge- 
neva in  1787,  and  he  enriched  it  witli  a  great 
number  of  important  articles.  The  '•evolu- 
tionary commotions  at  Geneva  iu  the  latter 
part  of  the  last  century  obliged  him  to  remove 
into  the  Pays  de  Yaud  ;  but  he  afterwards  re- 
turned home,  and  died  in  1809.  His  principal 
works  are  "  Essai  sur  1'Art  d'observer,  et  de 
faire  des  Experiences,"  1802,  3  vols.  8vo,  aa 
amplification  of  his  prize  essay  ;  "  Memoires 
Physico-Chimiques  sur  1'Influence  de  la  Lu- 
miere  Solaire  sur  les  Trois  Regnes  de  la  Na- 
ture," 1782,  3  vols.  8vo  ;  "  Rapports  de  1'Air 
avec  les  Etres  organis6s,"  1807,  3  vuls.  8vo  ; 
and  "  Histoire  Litteraire  de  Geneve,"  1786, 
3  vols.  8vo  ;  and  he  also  published  "  Cata- 
logue des  MSS.  dans  la  Bibliotheque  de  la 
Ville  de  Geneve,"  1779,  8vo.—  Bing.  Univ. 

SENECA  (MARCUS  ANNJEUS)  a  Roman 
orator,  who  was  a  native  of  Corduba  in  Spain, 
and  settling  at  Rome  he  obtained  great  emi- 
nence in  his  profession.  His  declamations,  or 
forensic  discourses,  are  still  extant,  and  have 
been  repeatedly  published  together  with  the 
works  of  his  son.  He  flourished  AD.  59. — 
SENECA  (Lucius  ANNJEUS)  the  eldest  son  of 
the  preceding,  was  a  most  celebrated  Roman 
philosopher,  moralist,  and  statesman,  born  &t 
Corduba  near  the  commencement  of  the 
Christian  sera.  He  received  a  liberal  educa- 
tion at  Rome,  being  instructed  in  rhetoric  by 
his  father,  and  in  philosophy  by  Attalus  the 
stoic,  Demetrius  the  cynic,  and  other  profes- 
sors of  different  sects.  He  adopted  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  stoics,  which  he  illustrated  by  his 
writings.  His  prudence  prevented  him  from 
appearing  in  the  forum  in  the  reign  of  Caligula, 
but  he  afterwards  pleaded  some  causes,  and 
filled  the  offices  of  qusstor  and  pranor.  Hav- 
ing offended  Messalina,  the  profligate  wife  of 
the  emperor  Claudius,  she  procured  his  ba- 
nishment to  the  island  of  Corsica,  on  the 
charge  of  adultery  ;  and  he  resided  there  eight 
}  ears,  devoting  his  time  to  study.  He  wrote 
two  treatises,  "  De  Consolatione,"  one  ad- 
dressed to  his  mother  Helvia,  and  the  other  to 
Polybius,  one  of  the  imperial  attendants.  In 
the  latter  he  lias  not  been  sparing  of  adulation 
towards  the  emperor,  which  is  so  much  the 
more  reprehensible,  as  he  satirized  the  object 
of  it  unmercifully  after  his  death.  Agripprna, 
the  second  wife  of  Claudius,  obtained  his  recal 
from  exile,  and  appointed  him  tutor  to  her  son 
Nero.  On  the  accession  of  his  pupil  to  the 
empire,  he  was  for  a  while  the  confidential 
adviser  of  Nero  ;  but  hi?  credit  diminished 
when  the  latter  became  attached  to  Tigellinus 
and  Popptea  ;  and  it  is  related  that  the  emperor 
endeavoured  to  rid  himself  of  a  troublesome 
monitor  by  getting  Seneca  poisoned,  which 
scheme  was  rendered  abortive  by  the  cautioua 


SEN 

policy  of  the  philosopher,  who  subsisted  en- 
tirely on  fruits.  At  length  he  was  accused  of 
being  an  accomplice  in  the  conspiracy  of  Piso 
against  the  imperial  monster  whom  he  had 
educated,  and  his  death  being  decreed,  he  was 
permitted  to  choose  the  method  of  execution. 
He  consequently,  with  the  characteristic  os- 
tentation of  a  stoic,  finished  his  life  in  the  midst 
of  his  friends,  conversing  on  philosophical 
topics  while  the  blood  was  flowing  from  his 
veins,  which  he  had  caused  to  be  opened  for 
that  purpose.  His  death  happened  AD.  65, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-three.  A  warm  bath  hav- 
ing been  used  to  hasten  the  mortal  luemorr- 
hage,  Tacitus  says  that  as  Seneca  entered  the 
bath,  he  took  some  of  the  water  and  sprinkled 
it  on  the  friends  who  stood  near  him,  saying, 
that  he  ottered  it  as  a  libation  to  Jupiter  the 
Deliverer.  This  statement  sufficiently  confutes 
the  idle  tale  of  Seneca's  having  been  a  convert 
to  Christianity  ;  in  support  of  which  notion 
have  been  produced  some  of  his  alleged  letters 
to  the  apostle  Paul,  which  are  manifestly  spu- 
rious. The  character  of  Seneca  presents  the 
not  unfreqiient  anomaly  of  a  moral  philosopher, 
deeply  skilled  in  the  theory  of  virtue,  but  un- 
able to  practise  his  own  precepts.  His  mar- 
riage, late  in  life,  with  the  young,  rich,  and 
beautiful  Paulina,  has  been  considered  as  an 
action  not  consistent  with  the  rigid  principles 
of  stoicism.  But  this  is  quite  a  venial  trans 
gression  compared  with  his  intrigues  as  a 
statesman  and  a  courtier  ;  his  concern  in  the 
murder  of  Agrippina,  which  he  advocated  ;  and 
his  accumulation  of  vast  wealth  by  very  unjus- 
tifiable means,  particularly  by  lending  money 
on  usury.  Dion  Cassius  ascribes  the  revolt  of 
the  Britons  under  Boadicea  to  the  distress  to 
which  they  were  driven  through  the  rapacity  of 
Seneca,  or  rather  of  his  agents.  His  works 
have  been  often  published,  and  among  the  best 
editions  are  those  of  Leyden,  1649,  4  vols. 
12mo;  and  the  Bipontine,  1782 — 1810,  5  vols. 
8vo.  There  are  translations  of  the  works  of 
Seneca  extant  by  Lodge  and  L' Estrange  ;  and 
Dr  Morell  published  his  "Epistles"  in  Eng- 
lish, with  notes,  1786,  2  vols.  4to.  The  only 
existing  specimens  of  Roman  tragedy  are  as- 
<  ribed  to  L.  Annreus  Seneca  ;  but  whether  they 
were  written  by  the  philosopher  is  uncertain. 
A  valuable  edition  of  "Seneca?  Tragoediae " 
was  published  by  Schroder,  Delphis,  1728, 4to. 
• — Moreri.  Bing.  Univ. 

SENMERTUS  (DANIEL)  an  eminent  phy- 
sician and  philosopher,  born  in  1572,  at  Bres- 
lau,  in  Silesia.  His  father  was  a  shoemaker, 
but  he  received  an  academical  education,  stu- 
dy no  first  at  Wittemberg,  and  afterwards  at 
Leipsic,  Jena,  and  Frankfort  on-the-Oder  ;  and 
in  1601  he  visited  Berlin.  He  returned  to 
Wittemberg  the  same  year,  took  the  degree  of 
MD..  and  was  appointed  to  a  medical  profes- 
sorship in  that  university.  He  gained  high 
reputation  by  his  writings  and  his  practice, 
;  nd  received  applications  for  advice  from  va- 
rious parts  of  Europe.  He  attended  the  elector 
of  Saxony,  whom  he  cured  of  a  dangerous 
disease  in  1626,  and  he  was  physician  in  or- 
dinary to  that  prince,  though  he  continued  to 


SE  il 

;  reside  at  Wittemberg.  Notwithstanding  the 
plague  repeatedly  prevailed  there,  he  re- 
mained at  his  post;  and  after  having  escaped 
for  a  time,  he  at  length  fell  a  victim  to  profes- 
sional duty,  dying  of  that  malignant  disease  in 
July  1637.  He  had  the  merit  of  first  intro- 
ducing the  study  of  chemistry  into  the  univer- 
sity of  which  he  was  a  professor  ;  and  he  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  the  boldness  of  his  spe- 
culations, and  his  independence  of  the  tram- 
mels of  authority.  Having  advanced  some 
peculiar  opinions  concerning  the  origin  and 
nature  of  souls,  he  was  accused  of  impiety  and 
blasphemy,  and  represented  as  teaching  that 
the  souls  of  brutes  were  immortal.  But  he  de- 
nied this  inference,  which  his  accusers  de- 
duced from  his  principles,  and  thus  avoided 
the  danger  of  persecution.  Among  his  writ- 
ings are,  "  Epitome  Naturalis  Scientue," 
1618,  8vo,  repeatedly  printed  ;  "  Liber  de 
Chymicorum  consensu  et  dissensu  cum  Aiis- 
totelicis  et  Galenicis,"  1629,  4to;  and"  lly- 
pomnemata  Physica,"  1650.  His  works,  which 
were  much  in  request  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, were  published  collectively  at  Lyons, 
1676,  6  vols.  folio. — Bayle.  A'icerow,  vol.  xiv. 
Hutchinson's  Bing.  MeiL — SENNERTUS  (AN- 
DREW) eldest  son  of  the  preceding,  received  a 
learned  education  at  Wittemberg  ;  and  after 
visiting  Leipsic,  Jena,  and  Strasburg,  and  the 
Dutch  universities,  he  returned  to  Wittem- 
berg, where  he  became  professor  of  the  Orien- 
tal languages.  He  died  in  1679,  aged  sixty- 
three.  Besides  a  number  of  philological  dis- 
sertations, he  was  the  author  of  "  Hypotyposis 
Harmonica  Linguarum  Orientalium,  Chaldeae, 
Syra?,  Arabicae,  cum  RJatre  IIebra:a,"  1666, 
4to ;  "  Sciagraphia  Doctriuae  inextricabilis 
adhuc  de  Accentibus  Hebra?orum("  1664,  4to; 
"  Dissertatio  de  Linguarum  Orientalium  Ori- 
ginibus,  Antiquitate,  Progressione,  Jncrenien- 
tis,"  1669  ;  besides  other  works. — Goezii  ^Icg. 
Philolog.  qiiorund.  Hebrcecr 

SEP UL VEDA  (JoiiN  GENES  de)  a  Spanish 
divine  and  historian,  was  born  at  Cordova  in 
1491,  and  became  historiographei  to  tl'e  em- 
peror Charles  V,  He  is  ignobly  conspicuous 
as  the  author  of  a1'  Vindication  of  the  Cru- 
elties of  the  Spaniards  against  the  Indians,'' 
in  opposition  to  the  benevolent  representations 
of  Bartholomew  Las  Casas.  Sepulveda  af- 
firmed that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Indians  to 
submit  to  be  governed  by  the  Spaniards  in  con- 
sequence of  their  own  inferiority  :  but,  to  their 
credit,  tbe  Spanish  universities,  as  well  as 
Charles  V,  prohibited  the  circulation  of  the 
book,  which  was,  however,  printed  at  Rome. 
This  defender  of  some  of  the  greatest  barbari- 
ties that  ever  disgraced  human  nature,  died  at 
Salamanca,  of  which  he  was  a  canon,  in  1572. 
He  was  author  of  several  Latin  translations,  as 
also  of  a  life  of  Charles  V,  in  4  vols.  4to, 
which  was  reprinted  at  Madrid  in  1780. — 
Anton,  Bibl.  Hisp. 

SERAPION  (JOHN)  an  Arabian  physician, 
who  flourished,  according  to  Priestley,  AD. 
190.  He  is  cited  by  Rhazes  and  by  Hali  Kbu 
A  abas,  the  latter  of  whom  censures  him  for 
iitt  treating  more  fully  of  the  small-pox.  His 


SEU 

works  were  first  printed  at  Venice,  1497,  folio, 
and  reprinted  in  1550. — SITUATION  OF  ALEX- 
ANDRIA, has  been  sometimes  confounded  with 
the  preceding.  He  was  a  Greek  physician, 
who  lived  in  the  first  century. — Another  SE- 
HAPION,  of  the  eleventh  century,  is  supposed 
to  have  been  the  writer  of  a  tract,  "  De  Medi- 
camentia  tarn  simplicibus  quam  compositi-s." 
—  Freiud.  Hutchinson. 

SERASSI  (Pi  Eft  ANTONIO)  an  Italian  bio- 
grapher, was  born  at  Bergamo  in  1721.  At  the 
age  of  twenty,  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  Academy  of  Transformati ;  and  on  his 
return  to  Bergamo  was  appointed  professor 
of  belles  lettres.  His  first  work  was  a  disqui- 
sition on  the  birtb-place  of  lasso  ;  after  which 
lie  published  several  biographies,  which  are 
much  esteemed,  including  the  lives  of  Maffei, 
;\Iolza,  Politian,  Capella,  Dante,  Petrarch, 
and  lasso  :  the  last  and  most  distinguished  of 
u-liich  productions  has  proved  serviceable  to 
Mr  Black,  in  his  life  of  the  same  eminent  poet. 
Serassi  was  employed  in  several  offices  of  the 
papal  government,  and  in  the  college  of  Pro- 
paganda. He  died  February  19,  1791,  at 
Home,  in  the  seventieth  year  of  his  age. — 
Black's  Preface  ti>  Life  <>/'  7'dsso. 

SEREN'US  SAMMOMCUS  (QUINTUS)  a 
Roman  physician  of  the  third  century,  who  is 
said  to  have  written  various  tracts  on  natural 
history,  which  are  no  longer  extant.  He  was 
also  the  author  of  a  poem,  "  Ue  He  Rledica," 
published  in  the  "  Corpus  Poetarum  "  of  Mat- 
taire.  Serenus  was  put  to  death  by  the  em- 
peror Caracalla,  about  AD.  217  ;  and  he  left 
behind  him  a  library,  containing  six  thousand 
two  hundred  volumes.  —  Hntcliins»n'*  Biog.Med. 

SERGEL(JoiiM  TOHIAS)  a  celebrated  Swe- 
dish sculptor.  He  was  born  at  Stockholm  Sep- 
tember 8,  1740,  and  began  his  career  as  a 
stone-mason  ;  but  afterwards  became  a  pupil 
of  L'Archeveque,  whom  he  accompanied  to 
France.  He  subsequently  went  to  Italy,  at 
the  expense  of  the  king  of  Sweden,  where  he 
acquired  great  celebrity.  In  1778  he  returned 
to  Sweden,  visiting  Pans  in  his  way,  where  he 
was  nominated  a  member  of  the  Academy  of 
Fine  Arts.  He  then  visited  London,  and 
reached  Stockholm  in  1779,  where,  on  the  de- 
cease of  his  old  preceptor,  he  succeeded  to  his 
place.  In  178 i  he  accompanied  Gustavus  111 
on  his  travels  to  Italy,  and  in  1795  was  a 
knight  of  the  polar  star  ;  and  1810  received 
letters  of  nobility,  and  was  appointed  supcrin- 
t  end  ant  of  the  police.  His  numerous  able 
works  are  chiefly  confined  to  Sweden  ;  but  an 
admired  "  Diomede  stealing  the  Palladium  of 
Iroy,"  is  in  England.  He  died  February  26, 
1814. —  Bing.  Univ. 

SERHKS  (JOHN  de)  in  Latin  Serranus,  a 
learned  Frenchman,  was  born  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  was  of  the  reformed  religion, 
lie  studied  at  Lausanne,  where  he  was 
taught  Latin  and  Greek  ;  and  on  his  return 
t:o  France,  applied  himself  to  divinity,  in 
order  to  become  a  minister.  He  distinguished  ' 
himself  by  his  writings,  and  became  a  mi- 
niste;  of  Nismes  in  1582,  but  was  never 
looked  upon  as  a  very  zealous  Protestant.  He 


S  E  R 

is  supposed  to  be  one  of  the  four  ministers  who 
declared  to  Henry  IV  that  lie  might  be  saved 
in  the  Romish  as  well  as  the  Protestant  reli- 
gion, a  concession  which  mu.-h  offended  his 
brethren.  He  published  in  1597  a  tract  to 
reconcile  the  two  religious,  which  as  usual 
pleased  neither  side.  He  died  suddenly  in 
1598.  Serranus  published  several  works  in 
Latin  and  French,  relating  to  the  history  of 
France  ;  and  among  the  rest,  "  Memoires  de 
la  triosieme  Guerre  civile  etderniers  Troubles 
de  France  sous  Charles  IX  ;"  "  Inventaire 
general  de  1'Histoire  de  France  ;"  "  Rectieil 
des  Choses  memorables  sous  Henri  II,  Fran- 
£ois  11,  Charles  IX,  et  Henri  111."  Besides 
his  theological  and  historical  works,  he  gave 
a  Latin  version  of  Plato,  which  is  printed  with 
Henry  Stephens's  edition  of  that  author. 
Stephens  also  published,  in  1575,  a  Greek 
version,  by  Serranus,  of  twenty-four  of  the 
Psalms,  with  two  "  Idyllia,"  from  Daniel  and 
Isaiah,  of  which  scarce  work  a  new  edition 
was  published  in  London,  1772,  12mo, — 
i\  icerniim  Moren. 

SERRES  (Joiiv  THOMAS)  an  artist  of  con- 
siderable merit  and  reputation  in  the  delinea- 
tion of  sea  pieces,  which  procured  him  the  ap- 
pointment of  marine  painter  to  the  King.  He 
was  descended  of  a  noble  family,  long  resident 
in  their  seat  of  Beauperre,  near  Oche  in 
France,  whence  his  father,  count  Domenic  de 
Serres,  nephew  of  the  then  archbishop  of 
lUieims,  eloped,  in  order  to  avoid  an  eccle- 
siastical life,  to  which  he  was  destined  by  his 
family.  Entering  the  Spanish  service  he  was 
taken  prisoner  by  the  English,  received  his 
liberty  on  parole,  and  though  afterwards  all 
restrictions  were  removed, he  continued  to  reside 
in  this  country,  and  to  exercise  his  talents  as  a 
marine  draughtsman,  which  at  length  pro- 
cured him  the  honour  of  a  seat  among  the  fel- 
lows of  the  Royal  Academy. — His  eldest  son, 
the  subject  of  this  article,  inherited  his  father's 
genius,  and  besides  the  many  proofs  of  his 
talents  as  a  painter  yet  extant,  was  the  author 
of  a  work,  entitled  "The  Little  Sea  Torch,  a 
Guide  for  Coasting  Pilots,"  folio,  1801.  Mr 
Serres,  who  was  husband  to  the  soi-disant 
princess  Olive  of  Cumberland,  so  notorious 
since  his  decease,  died  December  28,  1825. — 
Ann.  Bing. 

SERRES  (OLIVER)  an  able  French  agricul- 
turalist, was  born  in  1539,  at  Villeneuve  de 
Bery,  near  Viviers.  He  showed  himself  so 
able  a  manager  of  his  own  estate,  that  Henry 
IV  called  him  to  Paris,  and  entrusted  him 
with  the  management  of  the  royal  domains. 
Serres  had  the  merit  of  introducing  the  white 
mulberry  tree  into  France,  and  was  the  author 
of  so  many  valuable  agricultural  improvements, 
as  to  be  regarded  as  an  eminent  benefactor  to 
his  country.  He  died  in  1619.  The  works 
of  this  respectable  and  philanthropic  indivi- 
dual are,  "  A  Treatise  on  the  Culture  of 
Silk,"  1599  ;  "  Feconde  Richest  du  iUurier 
lilanc,"  l60j;  "  Theatre  d' Agriculture  et 
Menage  des  Champs  ;"  which  last  work  has 
been  repeatedly  printed,  and  is  much  esteemed. 
— IVoui;.  Diet.  Hist. 


SE  II 

SERVANDONl  (JKAN  NICOLAS)  an  enii- 
tK-nt  arcliitect,  particularly  celebrated  for  his 
talents  in  theatrical  decorations,  was  born  at 
Florence  in  1685.  He  was  employed  by  most 
of  the  sovereigns  of  Europe  on  the  occasion 
of  magnificent  public  spectacles,  and  at  Paris 
was  under-architect,  painter,  and  decorator  to 
the  king  of  France.  He  gave  a  number  of 
designs  for  the  theatres  of  London  and  Dres- 
den, and  was  similarly  employed  at  Vienna 
and  Lisbon.  As  an  architect  he  has  left  an 
admired  specimen  of  his  taste  in  the  portico 
and  front  of  the  church  of  St  Sulpice.  He 
died  in  1766. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

SEKVETUS    (MICHAEL)  a  learned   Spa- 
niard, memorable  as  a  victim  of  religious  into- 
lerance, was  born  in  1509,  at  Villa  Nueva  in 
Arragon.     He  was  the  son  of  a  notary,  who 
sent  him  to  Toulouse  for  the  study  of  the  civil 
'law.     Excited   by  the  discussions   of  the  re- 
formers  in    that  city,    he  began   to  read   the 
Scriptures,  and  conducted  his  researches  with 
so  free  a  spirit,  that  he  printed  a  tract  in  dis- 
paragement of  the  orthodox  doctrine   of  the 
Trinity,    entitled   "  De    Trinitatis  Erroribus," 
printed  at  Haguenau  in  1531  ;  which  produc- 
tion was  followed  the  next  year  by  his  "  Dia- 
logorum  de  Trinitate  Libri  duo."     His   cir- 
cumstances being  depressed,  he  engaged  for 
some   time   with  the  Frellons,  booksellers  of 
Lyons,   as   corrector  of  the   press.     He  then 
went  to  Paris,  where  he  studied  physic,  and 
carried  into  that  science  the  same   inquisitive 
and   pertinacious    spirit    which    distinguished 
him  in  theology.     He  graduated  at  Paris,  but 
quarrelled  with  the  faculty,  and  repaired  to 
Charlieu,  near    Lyons,    where    he     practised 
three    years,   whence,  at  the  instance  of  the 
archbishop  of  Vienne,  he  removed  to  the  lat- 
ter city.     During  this  time  he  was  in  constant 
correspondence    with  Calvin,  with   whom  he 
discussed    points   of   controversy,    consulting 
him,  it  is  said  against  his  will,   in  respect   to 
his  writings  and  Arian  notions.     Of  this  con- 
fidence Calvin  subsequently  made  a  most  base 
and  indefensible  use,  by  producing  his  letters 
and    MSS.   as  matters   of  accusation   against 
him.     In    1553   Servetus   published    his  ma- 
tured  theological   system,  without  his   name, 
under  the  title  of  "  Christianismi  Restitutio ;" 
but  Calvin  took  care  that  the   magistrates  of 
Vienne    should   be   duly  informed   of  it,  and 
Servetus  was  committed  to  prison,  whence  he 
contrived  to  escape,  and  thereby  avoided  that 
fate  from  Catholic  hands  which  he   was  soon 
after   to  suffer   from   those  of  the  reformers. 
Purposing  to   proceed  to  Naples,   he   impru- 
dently took   his  way  through  Geneva,  where 
Calvin,  who  by  this  time  indulged  against  him 
the  full  bitterness  of  theological  hate,  induced 
th"  magistrates  to  arrest  him  on  a  charge  of 
blasphemy  and  heresy,  advanced  against  him 
by  a  person   who   had  been  a  servant  in  Cal- 
•rin's  family.  In  order  to  ensure  his  condemna- 
tion his  various  writings  were  sifted  for  accusa- 
tions, and  as  a  proof  of  the  malignity  and  in- 
justice which  heencountt  red,  one  of  the  charges 
wis  extracted  from  his  edition  of  Ptolemy's 
in  which  he  asserted  that  Judea 


S  Ell 

iad  been  falsely  extolled  for  its  beauty  and 
'ertihty,  modern  travellers  having  found  it  both 
sterile  and  unsightly.  The  magistrates  of  Ge- 
neva were,  however,  aware  that  many  eyes 
were  on  them,  in  respect  to  this  extraordinary 
treatment  of  a  person  w!io  was  neither  a  sub- 
ect  nor  a  resident,  but,  properly  speaking,  a 
traveller  kidnapped  in  his  passage.  They 
thought  proper,  therefore,  to  consult  the  ma- 
gistrates of  all  the  Protestant  Swiss  cantons, 
who  referring  the  matter  to  their  divines,  the 
atter  unanimously  declared  for  his  punishment. 
As  he  refused  to  retract  his  opinions,  there - 
:ore,  he  was  condemned  to  the  flames,  which 
sentence  was  carried  into  execution  the  2?th 
of  October,  1553,  in  the  forty-fourth  year  of  his 
age.  This  act,  says  the  authors  of  the  J\ou 
veau  Dictionnaire  Historique,  has  furnished 
atholic  writers  with  an  irresistible  argumeu- 
tum  ad  hominem  against  the  Protestants  when 
they  complain  of  the  similar  treatment  of  the 
"ialvinists  of  France.  That  it  was,  however, 
disapproved  by  many  is  rendered  probable  by 
Calvin's  earnest  attempt  at  apology  ;  but  it 
is  melancholy  to  observe  that  the  deed  was 
warmly  sanctioned  by  Melancthon.  The  main 
defence  of  Calvin  res's  ou  the  fact  that  every 
Christian  church  sanctioned  persecution  :  but 
the  use  that  he  made  of  documents  addressed 
to  himself,  and  the  spirit  in  which  the  charges 
were  brought  forward,  cannot  be  sanctioned 
even  by  this  general  plea,  and  accordingly  the 
Fate  of  Servetus  will  remain  an  eternal  blot  upon 
the  memory  of  the  stern  reformer  of  Geneva. 
The  Arian  doctrines  of  Servetus  are  described 
by  Mosheim,  who  dwells,  and  probably  with 
justice,  on  his  proud  and  contentious  spirit  and 
"  invincible  obstinacy,"  which  he  himself  no 
doubt  regarded  as  steadiness  of  principle,  as  he 
chose  to  die  for  its  maintenance.  This  remark- 
able person  is  numbered  among  the  anatomists 
who  made  the  nearest  approach  to  the  doctrine 
of  the  circulation  of  the  blood.  The  passage 
is  in  his  latest  work,  "  De  Restitutione  Chris- 
tianismi,"  and  it  clearly  states  the  circulation 
of  the  blood  through  the  lungs,  and  the  produc- 
tion of  a  vital  principle  from  the  mixture  of  air 
and  blood  in  that  organ,  but  proceeds  no  fur- 
ther. The  life  of  Servetus  has  been  written  in 
Latin  by  Mosheim. —  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist.  Hatien 
Bibl.  Anat.  Life  by  Mosheim. 

SERVIN  (Loins)  a  patriotic  French  law- 
yer, was  born  of  a  good  family  in  the  Ven- 
domois.  He  cultivated  polite  literature  with 
assiduity,  and  in  1589  was  chosen  advocate- 
general  to  the  parliament  of  Paris.  In  159C 
he  published  a  work  in  favour  of  Henry  IV  of 
France,  entitled  "  Vindicise  secundum  Liber- 
tatem  Ecclesire  Gallicanae  ;"  and  in  1598  was 
joined  in  a  commission  for  the  reformation  of 
the  university  of  Paris.  In  die  reign  of  Louis 
XIII  he  made  some  strong  remonstrances  iu 
favour  of  the  right  of  parliament  to  register  the 
royal  edicts  ;  and  was  firmly,  but  respectfully, 
making  a  remonstrance  to  the  king  on  the  sub- 
ject, when  he  fell  down  and  expired.  This 
event  occurred  in  1626. — A'otu'.  Diet.  Hist. 

SERVIUS  (MAURUS  HONORATUS)  a  gram- 
marian and  critic,  who  flourished  in  the  reign 


SET 

of  Arca'Uus  and  Ilonorius.  lie  is  principally 
known  by  his  commentaries  on  Virgil,  which 
contain  some  valuable  notices  of  the  geo- 
graphy and  the  arts  of  antiquity.  The  com- 
mentaries of  Servius  are  given  most  correctly 
in  the  Virgil  of  Barman,  1756.  A  tract  on  the 
prosody  of  verse,  by  the  same  author,  entitled 
"  Centimetrum,"  is  printed  in  the  collections 
of  the  ancient  grammarians. — Tiraboschi. 

SESOSTRIS,  a  famous  king  of  Egypt,  who 
by  some  has  been  deemed  the  Sesac  of  Scrip- 
ture. He  is  generally  placed  by  chronologers 
in  the  fifteenth  centu>y  BC..  Among  the 
many  fabulous  stories  concerning  him,  it  may 
be  collected  that  he  was  a  great  politician  and 
conqueror,  who  overran  Asia,  and  probably 
crossed  the  Ganges.  He  is  also  thought  to 
have  left  an  Egyptian  colony  at  Colchis,  and 
it  is  agreed  that  Thrace  was  his  farthest  west- 
em  progress.  He  is  said  to  have  erected,  by 
the  hands  of  his  captives,  magnificent  temples 
in  all  the  cities  of  his  empire,  to  have  bnilt  a 
great  wall  on  the  eastern  boundary  of  Egypt, 
and  to  have  dug  a  number  of  canals  from  the 
Nile,  for  the  purposes  of  commerce  and  irriga- 
tion. He  is  reported  to  have  died  a  voluntary 
death  on  becoming  blind.  Sir  Isaac  Newton 
thinks  that  he  is  the  Osiris  of  the  Egyptians, 
and  the  Bacchus  of  the  Greeks. —  Hist.  Univ. 

SETTLE  (ELKANAH)  an  English  poet  of 
the  17th  century,  was  the  son  of  Joseph  Settle, 
a  resident  of  Dunstable  in  Bedfordshire,  where 
he  was  born  in  1618.  At  the  age  of  eighteen 
he  entered  as  a  commoner  at  Trinity  college, 
Oxford,  but  quitted  the  university  without  tak- 
ing a  degree  ;  and  coming  to  London,  com- 
menced author  by  profession.  His  first  essay 
in  literature  was  as  a  political  writer,  attached 
to  the  whig  party,  in  which  capacity  he  pro- 
duced a  piece,  entitled  "  Tbe  Character  of  a 
Popish  Successor,"  in  favour  of  the  Exclu- 
sion Bill,  then  the  principal  subject  of  conver- 
sation. This  was  answered  by  a  pamphlet 
called  "The  Character  of  Rebellion,"  printed 
in  1682,  in  which  the  author  inveighs  bitterly 
against  Settle  ;  and  another  reply  soon  after 
appeared,  from  the  pen  of  sir  Roger  L'Es- 
trange,  under  the  title  of  "  The  Character  of 
a  Papist  in  Masquerade."  To  this  latter  per- 
formance Settle  rejoined  in  a  pamphlet,  "  The 
Character  of  a  Popish  Successor  compleat," 
which  was  considered  the  smartest  and  best 
written  piece  which  appeared  on  either  side. 
On  the  coronation  of  James  II,  these  two  ob- 
noxious pamphlets  were,  together  with  the 
Exclusion  Bill  itself,  publicly  burnt  by  the 
fellows  of  Merton  college,  Oxford,  in  the 
middle  of  their  quadrangle.  During  the  party 
squabbles  of  this  period,  Dryden  had  published 
a  poem,  entitled  "  The  Medal,''  occasioned 
by  the  whig  party  striking  a  medal  to  com- 
memorate the  throwing  out  of  the  bill  against 
the  earl  of  Shaftesbury  ;  in  reply  to  this,  Set- 
tle wrote  a  piece  called  "  The  Medal  Re- 
versed ;"  and  soon  after  a  poem,  entitled 
"  Azaria  and  Hushai,"  designed  as  an  answer 
to  the  "  Absalom  and  Achitophel  "  of  the 
same  poet.  Eventually  however,  if  Anthony 
a  Wood  is  to  be  depended  on,  Settle  changed 


S  E  V 

sides;  and  it  is  certain  that  in  1683  he  wrote 
a  "  Narrative,"  in  eight  folio  sheets,  against 
Titus  Oates.  He  is  also  said  to  have  he«"i  the 
author  of  some  "  Animadversions  on  the  last 
Speech  and  Confession  of  Lord  William  Rus- 
sel,"  as  well  as  of  some  "  Remarks  on  the 
Paper  delivered  by  Algernon  Sidney  to  the 
Sheriffs  at  his  Execution,"  London,  1683.  In 
168o  he  published  a  poem  on  the  coronation 
of  James  II,  and  commenced  a  weekly  paper 
in  favour  of  the  court ;  he  also  about  the  same 
time  obtained  a  pension  from  the  city,  for 
writing  an  annual  inauguration  panegyric  on 
lord  mayor's  day.  Settle  was  besides  an  inde- 
fatigable writer  for  the  stage,  and  produced 
fifteen  dramatic  pieces,  none  of  which  are  now 
known  on  the  boards.  In  the  decline  of  life 
he  received  an  annual  salary  from  the  proprie- 
tor of  a  booth  at  Bartholemewfair,  as  a  writer 
of  "  Drolls,"  which  were  generally  very  suc- 
cessful ;  and  he  is  said  to  have  been  at  that 
time  the  best  contriver  of  theatrical  machinery 
in  the  kingdom.  He  died  at  the  Charter- 
house in  1721. — Cibber's  Lives. 

SEVERUS  (CORNELIUS)  a  Roman  poet, 
who  lived  in  the  reign  of  Augustus,  was  the 
author  of  a  poem,  entitled  "  yEtna,"  which 
has  been  attributed  to  Virgil.  An  elegant 
edition  of  the  remains  of  this  writer,  with  notes, 
was  published  at  Amsterdam,  by  Le  Clerc, 
12mo,  1703  ;  and  they  are  also  printed  in 
Mattaire's  "  Corpus  Poetarum." — Vossii  Poet. 
Lat. 

SEVIGNE  (MARIE  DE  RABUTIN  mar- 
quise de)  a  French  woman  of  quality,  greatly 
distinguished  for  her  epistolary  talents,  was 
born  in  1626.  Her  father,  the  baron  of Chan- 
ta!,  who  was  the  head  of  the  house  of  Bussy 
Rabutin,  left  her,  during  infancy,  his  sole 
heiress.  The  graces  of  her  person  and  conver- 
sation procured  her  many  admirers ;  and  in 
1644  she  married  the  marquis  de  Sevigne, 
who  was  killed  in  a  duel  in  16.51,  leaving  her 
the  mother  of  a  son  and  daughter.  She 
formed  uo  second  union  ;  but  devoted  herself 
to  the  education  of  her  children,  and  to  the 
cultivation  of  her  mind,  by  reading  and  literary 
society.  She  was  extremely  attached  to  her 
daughter,  who  in  1669  married  the  count  de 
Grignan,  and  accompanied  him  to  his  govern- 
ment of  Provence,  an  absence  from  the  me- 
tropolis, which  gave  rise  to  the  greater  part  of 
the  letters  which  have  gained  her  so  much  re- 
putation. The  subject  of  many  of  these  epis- 
tles are  so  entirely  domestic  as  to  produre 
little  interest ;  but  others  abound  with  court 
anecdotes,  remarks  on  men  and  books,  and  the 
topics  of  the  day,  which  are  conveyed  with 
great  ease  and  felicity.  In  point  of  style, 
they  are  deemed  models  of  the  epistolary, 
which  have  seldom  been  surpassed,  owing  to 
a  perfectly  natural  mode  of  expression,  ani- 
mated with  lively  touches  of  sentiment  and 
description,  and  a  gay  playfulness,  which 
gives  grace  and  interest  to  trifles.  In  her  let- 
ters to  her  daughter,  the  reader  is  sometimes 
wearied  with  an  excess  of  flattery  of  her  beauty 
and  talents,  the  preservation  of  the  former  of 
which  seems  to  have  formed  the  principal  ob- 


SEW 

of  her  maternal  anxiety.  In  fact,  although 
endowed  with  abilities  and  penetration,  she 
<iid  not  rise  much  above  the  level  of  her  age 
in  taste  and  principles.  She  was  highly  at- 
tached to  rank  and  splendour,  loved  admira- 
tion, and  felt  the  usual  predilection  of  high 
life  for  manners  and  accomplishments  in  pre- 
ference to  solid  worth.  She  had  a  strong  feel- 
ing of  religion,  but  was  often  inconsistent  in 
her  sense  of  it,  and  in  reference  to  the  pro- 
ceedings against  the  French  Protestants,  ex- 
presses herself  with  bigotry  and  want  of  feel- 
ing. The  best  editions  of  her  "  Letters  "  are 
that  of  Pen-in,  1775,  8  vols.  12mo;  and  of 
1801,  10  vols.  12mo.  An  English  translation 
was  published  in  London  about  1758.  She 
died  in  1696,  at  the  age  of  seventy. —  Nouv. 
Diet.  Hist. 

SliVIN  (FRANCOIS)  a  French  man  of  let- 
ters, was  born  in  the  diocese  of  Sens,  in  1699, 
and  educated  in  the  seminary  of  the  Trente 
Trois  of  Paris.  In  1724  he  became  au  asso- 
ciate in  the  Academy  of  Belles  Lettres,  and 
in  1728  was  sent  by  the  order  of  Louis  XIV, 
with  the  abbe  Founnart  the  younger,  to  Con- 
stantinople, in  search  of  MSS.  of  which  he 
brought  back  a  large  number,  and  was  re- 
warded in  1737  with  the  office  of  keeper  of 
the  MSS.  in  the  king's  library.  His  letters  rela- 
tive to  this  journey  were  published  in  1801, 8vo, 
and  are  deemed  very  curious  and  interesting. 
Various  papers  by  Seviu  are  published  in  the 
Memoirs  of  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions  and 
Belles  Lettres. —  Moreri.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

SEWARD  (THOMAS)  an  English  divine 
and  poet,  who  was  rector  of  Eyam  in  Derby- 
shire, and  canon  residentiary  of  Lichfield, 
where  he  died  at  a  very  advanced  age,  March 
4,  1790.  He  was  the  author  of  a  treatise  en- 
titled "  The  Conformity  between  Popery  and 
Paganism  illustrated  in  several  Instances,  and 
supported  by  a  variety  of  Quotations  from  the 
Latin  and  Greek  Classics  ;"  and  he  likewise 
published  an  edition  of  the  dramatic  works  of 
Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  1750,  10  vols.  8vo  ; 
and  was  a  contributor  to  Dodsley's  Collection 
of  Fugitive  Poetry. — SEWAUD  (ANNA)  daugh- 
ter of  the  preceding,  obtained  considerable 
celebrity  in  the  literary  world.  She  was  born 
at  Eyam  in  1747  ;  and  even  in  childhood  she 
exhibited  a  taste  for  poetical  composition, 
which  was  rather  checked  than  encouraged  by 
her  father.  At  length  she  became  acquainted 
with  Mrs.  Miller,  of  Bath  Easton,  and  was  a 
contributor  to  that  lady's  literary  vase  and  vo- 
lumes of  "  Poetical  Amusements."  Miss  Se- 
ward's  first  separate  publication  was  an  "  Elegy 
on  the  Death  of  Captain  Cook,  with  an  Ode 
to  the  Sun,"  1780,  4to ;  and  this  was  followed 
by  a  "  Monody  on  Major  Andre,  with  Letters 
to  her  from  Major  Andre,  written  in  1769," 
1781,  4to  ;  a  "  Poem  to  the  Memory  of  Lady 
Miller,  of  Bath  Easton  Villa,"  1782,  4to ; 
"  Louisa,  a  Poetical  Novel,  in  four  Epistles," 
1784,  4to.  lu  l."99  she  published  a  collection 
of  sonnets  ;  and  in  1804  appeared  her  "  Life 
of  Dr  Darwin,"  in  which  she  preferred  a  claim 
to  the  authorship  of  the  first  rifty  lines  of  Dar- 
Tvin's  "  Botanic  Garden."  She  died  at  the 

ilioo.  DICT. — VOL.  III. 


SEX 

episcopal  palace  at  Lichfield,  March  25, 1809, 
and  by  will  she  left  her  MS.  correspondence 
to  Mr  Constable  of  Edinburgh,  and  it  was  pub- 
lished with  a  biographical  memoir,  6  vols. 
8vo. — Gent.  Mag. 

SEWARD  (\VILLIAM)  a  writer  of  bio- 
graphy and  personal  anecdote,  who  was  born 
in  London  in  1747.  His  father  was  a  partner 
in  Calvert's  brewery,  and  from  him  he  derived 
au  independent  fortune,  which  enabled  him  to 
lead  a  life  of  literary  leisure.  He  studied  at 
the  Charter-house  school  and  Oxford  univer- 
sity ;  and  he  became  a  fellow  of  the  Royal 
and  Antiquarian  Societies,  and  cultivated  the 
acquaintance  of  Dr  Johnson,  and  other  eminent 
wnteis.  In  1789  he  began  publishing,  in  the 
European  Magazine,  a  series  of  literary  anec- 
dotes ;  and  in  1794  appeared  the  iirst  two  vo- 
lumes of  his  "  Anecdotes  of  some  distin- 
guished Persons,  chiefly  of  the  present  and 
two  preceding  Centuries,"  to  which  he  added 
three  more  volumes.  He  subsequently  pub- 
lished a  sequel  to  this  work,  under  the  title  of 
"  Biographiana,"  1799,  2  vols.  8vo.  He  died 
of  dropsy,  April  24,  1799. — Eump.  Mag. 

SEVVEL  (GEORGE)  an  ingenious  poet  and 
miscellaneous  writer  of  the  last  century,  by 
profession  a  physician,  born  at  Windsor,  where 
his  father  held  the  situation  of  treasurer  and 
chapter  clerk.  From  Eton  he  removed  to 
Peter-house,  Cambridge,  where  lie  graduated 
as  a  bachelor  in  medicine,  and  then  passed 
over  to  Holland  for  the  purpose  of  completing 
his  physical  education  under  the  celebrated 
Boerhaave.  On  his  return  to  England,  he 
commenced  practice  at  Hampstead,  his  vici- 
nity to  the  metropolis  enabling  him  at  the 
same  time  to  cultivate  the  acquaintance  of 
many  of  the  wits  of  the  age,  and  to  bring  for- 
ward his  own  literary  productions.  These  con- 
sist of  "  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,"  a  tragedy,  1719; 
"  Epistles  to  Mr  Addison,  on  the  Death  of 
Lord  Halifax  ;"  "  Cupid's  Proclamation,"  &c. 
His  prose  writings  are,  "  A  Life  of  John  Phi- 
lips, Author  of  the  Poem  on  Cyder  ;"  "  A 
Vindication  of  the  English  Stage,"  and  some 
political  pamphlets  levelled  principally  against 
the  bishop  of  Salisbury.  He  also  published 
translations  of  Addison's  Latin  poems,  and  of 
part  of  the  works  of  Lucan,  Ovid,  and  Tibul- 
ius.  His  death  took  place  at  Hampstead,  Fe- 
bruary 8,  1726. — SEWEI.  (WILLIAM)  the  son 
of  an  English  refugee,  was  born  at  Amsterdam 
in  1650,  where  his  father  followed  the  pro- 
fession of  a  surgeon.  He  was  apprenticed  to 
a  weaver,  but  is  principally  known  as  the  au- 
thor of  a  History  of  Quakerism,  to  which  class 
of  dissenters  he  belonged.  This  work,  origi- 
nally written  in  Dutch,  he  afterwards  trans- 
lated into  English,  folio,  1722.  There  is  also 
a  Dictionary  of  the  English  and  Dutch  Lan- 
guages, which  goes  under  his  name.  His 
death  took  place  in  1725. — Gibber's  Lives 
Clialtners's  Bing.  Diet, 

SEXTUS  EMPIRICUS,  a  Greek  philo 
sopher  and  physician,  is  supposed  to  have, 
flourished  in  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Com- 
modus.  He  is  not  the  same  with  Sextus  the 
Stoic,  the  preceptor  of  Marcus  Aurelius  ;  and 


S  E  Y 

his  surname  of  Empiricus  indicates  that  lie 
belonged  to  the  sect  of  physicians  so  called. 
lie  was  the  author  of  many  works,  two  ol 
which  have  been  preserved,  "  Pyrrhoniarum 
Hypotyposium  Lib.  Ill,"  or  "  Institutes  of 
Pyrrhonism,"  deemed  the  most  elegant  sum- 
mary of  the  principles  of  the  Pyrrhonian  or 
Sceptic  sect  ;  and  "  Adversus  Mathematicos, 
Lib.  X,"  a  work  against  dogmatists  in  philo- 
sophy. The  former  of  these  dissertations  was 
translated  into  Latin  by  Henry  Stephens,  and 
the  latter  by  Ilervetus ;  and  both  versions, 
with  the  original  Greek,  were  printed  at  Geneva, 
in  1621.  A  later  and  superior  edition,  by  Fa- 
bricius,  was  published  at  Leipsic  in  1718, 
folio. — Viissii  Hist.  Lat. 

SEYBOLD  (DAVID  CHRISTOPHER)  a  Ger- 
man philologist  and  miscellaneous  writer,  born 
in  1747,  at  Brakenlieim  in  the  territory  of 
Wurtemberg.  Having  taken  the  degree  of 
MA.,  he  became  professor  of  the  belles  let- 
tres  at  Jena,  in  1771,  when  he  pronounced 
an  inaugural  oration  "  On  the  Eloquence  of 
Homer."  lie  was  afterwards  rector  of  the 
gymnasium  of  Spire,  and  then  successively  of 
those  of  Grunstadt,  in  the  county  of  Linange  ; 
and  of  Buchsweiler,  in  Alsace.  The  French 
Revolution  having  occasioned  the  destruction 
of  the  latter  seminary,  he  removed  to  Tubin- 
gen, and  obtained  in  that  university  the  chair 
of  ancient  literature.  He  died  in  1804. 
Among  a  multitude  of  works  which  he  pub- 
lished, may  be  mentioned  with  approbation 
his  "  Chiistomathia  Poetica  Gi'sco-Latina  ;" 
and  his  "  Mythology,"  written  in  German. — 
Biog.  Univ. 

SEYMOUR  (EDWARD)  duke  of  Somerset 
in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI,  to  whom  he  was 
maternal  uncle,  being  the  son  of  sir  John  Sey- 
mour, of  Wolf-hall  in  Wiltshire,  and  brother 
of  lady  Jane  Seymour,  the  third  wife  of  Henry 
VIII.  He  was  educated  at  Oxford,  and  early 
devoted  himself  to  the  military  profession.  In 
1533  he  attended  the  duke  oif  Suffolk  in  his 
expedition  to  France,  when  he  received  the 
honour  of  knighthood.  On  the  marriage  of 
his  sister  with  the  king,  in  1536,  he  was  raised 
to  the  peerage,  by  the  title  of  viscount  Beau- 
champ,  and  the  following  year  created  earl  of 
Hertford.  In  1540  he  was  made  a  knight  of 
the  garter  ;  and  in  1542  appointed  lord  cham- 
berlain of  England  for  life.  He  commanded 
iu  a  maritime  expedition  against  the  Scots  in 
1544,  when  he  landed  a  body  of  troops  at 
Leith,  and  took  and  set  fire  to  the  city  of  Edin- 
burgh. The  same  year  he  was  with  the  king 
at  the  expedition  to  Boulogne,  and  partici- 
pated in  the  victory  gained  over  the  French 
before  that  place.  On  the  death  of  Henry 
\  III,  he  rose  to  unbounded  power,  both  in 
the  church  and  state.  By  the  will  of  Henry 
he  had  been  nominated  one  of  the  sixteen  exe- 
cutors forming  the  council  of  regency,  during 
the  minority  of  Kdward  VI  ;  but  not  content 
with  his  share  of  power,  he  set  aside  the  tes- 
tamentary disposition  of  his  brother  in-law,  J 
and  procured  himself  to  be  appointed  governor  ! 
of  the  king  and  protector  of  the  kingdom  ;  and 
Se  obliged  the  bishops  to  take  out  new  com-  j 


SFO 

missions  for  their  ecclesiastical  offices.  In  1548 
he  obtained  the  post  of  lord    treasurer,    w?g 
created  u'uke  of  Somerset,  and  made  earl  mar- 
shal. The  same  year  he  headed  an  army,  with 
which  he  invaded  Scotland  ;   anil   after  having 
gained  the  victory  of  Musselbuigh,  he  returned 
in  triumph  to  England.      His  success  excited 
the  jealousy  of  the  earl  of  Warwick  and  others, 
who  procured  his  confinement  in  the  Tower, 
in   October  1549,    on  the  charge  of  arbitrary 
conduct  and  injustice  ;  and  he  was  deprived  of 
his  offices,   and   heavily  fined.     But  he  soon 
after  obtained  a  full  pardon  from  the  king,  was 
admitted  at  court,  and  ostensibly  reconciled  to 
his  adversary,  lord  Warwick,  whose   son,  lord 
Lisle,  espoused  one  of  the  daughters  of  Somer- 
set.    The  reconciliation    was  probably  insin- 
cere, as  Warwick,  who  had  succeeded  to  his 
influence  over  the    young   king,    caused   So- 
merset to  be  again  arrested  in   October  1551, 
on  the  charge  of  treasonable  designs   against 
the  lives  of  some  of  the  privy  counsellors.    He 
was   tried,   and    being  found  guilty,  was  he- 
headed    on     Tower-hill,    January    22,    1552. 
\\  bile  in  confinement  the  first  time,  he  wrote 
a  religious  tract,  entitled    "  A  spiritual  and 
most  precious  Pearl,  teaching  all  Men  to  love 
and  embrace  the  Cross  as  a   most  sweet  and 
necessary  tiling,"  printed  in  1550,  18mo  ;  and 
some    other    pieces    are    ascribed    to  him. — 
Birch's  Lives  oflllnst.  Pers.    Berkenhout's  Bi«g. 
Lit.      }l'alpole's  Cat.  of  Roijal  and  Noble  Anth. 
SEYSSEL  (CLAUDE  de)   an  historical  and 
political  writer,  was  born,  according  to  some, 
in   Savoy,  and  to   others  in  Bugei.     He  pro- 
fessed the  law  with  great  credit  at  Turin,  and 
obtained  the  place  of  master   of  requests  and 
counsellor  to  Louis  XII   of  France.     He  was 
promoted  to  the   bishopric  of    Marseilles    in 
1510,   and  to  the  archbishopric  of  Turin  in 
1517.     He    died  in    1520.      He   published  a 
number   of  works,  theological,   political,    and 
historical ;  as  also  French  translations  of  Eu- 
sebius.Thucydides,  Appian,  Diodorus,  Xeno- 
phon,  Justin,  and  Seneca.   His  "  Giande  Mo- 
narchie  de  France,"  published  in    1519,  and 
translated  bv  Sleidan  into  Latin,  maintains  the 
lold  proposition  that  the  French  constitution 
was  a  mixed  monarchy.     In  his  "  Ilistoire  de 
Louis  XII,  Pere  du  Peuple,"    1508,  he  is  a 
reat  panegyrist   of  that  prince,  but  be  freely 
exposes  the  vices  of  Louis  XI.     He  is  praised 
as   the   first  who  wrote   French    with   an  ap- 
proach to  purity. — Nnuv.  Diet.  hist. 

SFORZA  (JAMES"*  a  partisan  officer,  in  the 
wars  in  Italy,  in  the  beginning  of  the  15th  cen- 
tury, whose  proper  name  was  Jacomuzzo  Alten- 
dulo.  He  was  the  son  of  a  shoemaker  at  Co- 
tignoln,  in  the  Roman  territory,  and  was  bred  to 
husbandry.  As  he  followed  the  plough,  he  was 
attracted  by  the  glittering  arms  and  martial 
music  of  a  band  of  soldiers,  and  he  quitted  his 
peaceful  occupation  to  become  a  common  sol- 
dier. His  courage  procured  him  promotion, 
and  at  length  be  found  himself  at  the  head  of 
seven  thousand  men,  entirely  at  bis  devotion. 
lie  afforded  the  assistance  of  his  mercenaries 
to  various  of  the  contending  states  of  Italy, 
and  thus  became  so  powerful,  that  pope  John 


S  H  A 

X\HI  appointed  him  gonfalonier  of  the 
church,  and  made  him  a  count.  He  was  also 
constable  of  Naples  ;  and  after  having  driven 
Alphonso,  king  of  Arragon,  from  the  walls  of 
that  city,  he  was  suddenly  cut  off  in  the  midst 
of  his  successful  career,  being  drowned  in  cross- 
ing the  river  near  Pescara,  in  pursuing  the 
flying  enemy.  This  catastrophe  took  place  in 
142-1. — FRANCIS  SFOHZA,  the  natural  son  of 
Jacomuz7.o,  following  the  example  of  his  fa- 
ther, and  possessing  equal  courage  and  ambi- 
tion, raised  himself  to  sovereign  power.  He 
married  the  daughter  of  the  duke  of  Milan,  on 
whose  death  he  made  himself  master  of  the 
duchy  ;  and  he  afterwards  gained  possession 
of  Genoa.  He  died  in  1466,  and  his  de- 
scendants long  held  the  dukedom  of  Milan. — 
CnmiiieS'  JMoreri. 

SHADWELL  (THOMAS)  an  English  dra- 
matic poet,  was  descended  from  a  good  family 
in  the  county  of  Stafford,  but  was  born  at 
Stanton-hall,  Norfolk,  a  seat  of  his  father's, 
about  16-10.  He  was  educated  at  Caius  col- 
lege, Cambridge,  and  afterwards  placed  at  the 
Middle  Temple,  where  he  studied  the  law  for 
some  time,  and  then  visited  the  continent.  On 
his  return  from  his  travels,  he  applied  himself 
to  the  drama,  and  wrote  seventeen  plays 
with  so  much  success,  at  least,  as  introduced 
him  to  se"eral  critics  of  wit  and  quality,  by 
whom  he  was  much  esteemed.  His  model 
was  Ben  Jonson,  whom  he  imitated  in  draw- 
ing numerous  characters,  chiefly  in  caricature, 
of  eccentricities  in  the  manners  of  the  day. 
Although  coarse,  and  of  very  temporary  re- 
putation, the  comedies  of  Shadwell  are  not 
destitute  of  genuine  humour  ;  but  it  appears 
that  his  writing  was  far  excelled  by  his  con- 
versation. At  the  Revolution  he  was  created 
poet  laureat,  on  the  recommendation  of  the 
earl  of  Dorset ;  and  as  he  obtained  it  by  the 
dispossession  of  Dryden,  the  latter  exhibited 
the  bitterest  enmity  towards  his  successor, 
against  whom  he  composed  his  severe  and  able 
satire  of  "  Mac  Flecknoe."  He  died  Decem- 
ber 6,  1692,  in  consequence,  it  is  supposed, 
of  taking  too  large  a  dose  of  opium,  to  which 
dangerous  custom  he  was  perniciously  at- 
tached. Besides  his  dramatic  writings,  he 
was  author  of  several  pieces  of  poetry  of  no 
great  merit.  The  best  edition  of  his  works 
was  printed  in  1720,  4  vols.  12mo. — He  left  a 
son,  Dr  JOHN  SHADWELI,,  who  was  physician 
to  Anne,  George  I,  and  George  II,  by  the 
former  of  whom  he  was  knighted. — He  had 
also  a  nephew,  or  younger  son,  named 
CHARLES  SHADWELL,  who  wrote  seven  dra- 
matic pieces,  all  of  which  were  confined  to 
the  Irish  stage,  except  "  The  Fair  Quaker  of 
Deal,"  and  "  Humours  of  the  Army."  His 
comedies  were  printed  in  1720.  in  one  volume, 
12mo.  He  died  in  Dublin,  where  he  enjoyed 
a  post  in  the  revenue,  iu  1726. — B'"g-  Dram, 
C>M)?r's  TAves. 

SH  A  KSPEARE(  WILLIAM)  the  most  illus- 
trious name  in  the  history  of  English  dramatic 
poetry,  and  with  some  pretensions  to  the  same 
rank  as  regards  the  drama  in  general,  was  born 
at  Stratford-ijacn-Avcn,  on  the  23d  of  April, 


S  H  A 

1564.  His  father,  who  sprang  from  a  good 
family,  was  a  considerable  dealer  in  wool,  and 
had  been  an  officer  and  bailiff  of  Stratford, 
where  he  for  some  time  acted  as  justice  of  the 
peace.  His  mother  was  of  the  ancient  family  of 
Arden  in  the  same  county,  one  of  undoubted 
gentility.  The  subject  of  this  article,  who  was 
the  eldest  of  ten  children,  received  the  com- 
mon education  of  a  country  free-school,  con- 
sisting of  "  a  little  Latin,  and  no  Greek." 
At  an  early  age  he  was  taken  by  his  father  to 
assist  in  his  own  business  ;  although  Mr  Ma- 
lone  is  of  opinion  that  he  was  placed  in  the 
office  of  some  country  attorney.  Be  this  as  it 
may,  in  his  seventeenth  or  eighteenth  year  he 
married  Ann  Hathaway,  the  daughter  of  a  sub- 
stantial yeoman,  who  was  eight  years  older 
than  himself.  Of  his  domestic  establishment, 
or  professional  occupation,  at  this  time,  no- 
thing determinate  is  recorded  ;  but  it  appears 
that  he  was  wild  and  irregular,  from  the  fact 
of  his  connexion  with  a  party  who  made  a 
practice  of  stealing  the  deer  of  sir  Thomas 
Lucy.  This  imprudence  brought  upon  him  a 
prosecution,  which  he  rendered  more  severe 
by  a  lampoon  upon  that  gentleman,  in  the 
form  of  a  ballad,  which  he  had  affixed  to  his 
park  gates.  He  also  drolls  in  a  kindred  spirit 
upon  the  same  magistrate,  in  the  character  of 
Justice  Shallow,  in  the  opening  scene  of  "  The 
Merry  Wives  of  Windsor ;"  which  con- 
tinued hostility,  as  he  was  indisputably  a 
kind-hearted  man,  may  presume  an  excess 
of  rigour  and  of  pertinacity  on  the  part  of  sir 
Thomas  Lucy.  The  consequence  of  this 
youthful  imprudence  drove  him  to  London  for 
shelter ;  and  it  is  some  proof  that  he  had 
already  imbibed  a  taste  for  the  drama,  that 
his  first  application  was  to  the  players,  among 
whom,  in  one  Thomas  Green,  a  popular  come- 
dian of  the  day,  he  met  a  townsman  and 
acquaintance.  This  removal  is  thought  to 
have  taken  place  in  1586,  when  he  was  in  his 
twenty-second  year.  If  tradition  may  be  de- 
pended upon,  he  was  necessitated,  in  the  first 
instance,  to  become  the  prompter's  call-boy 
or  attendant,  while  another  less  probable  story 
describes  him  as  holding  the  horses  of  those 
who  attended  the  play  without  servants,  a  cus- 
tom of  the  period.  As  an  actor,  the  top  of 
his  performance  is  said  to  have  been  the  ghost 
in  his  own  Hamlet.  How  soon  he  began  to 
try  his  powers  as  a  dramatist  is  uncertain,  but 
it  appears  that  Romeo  and  Juliet,  and 
Richard  II  and  III,  were  printed  in  1597, 
when  he  was  thirty-three  years  of  age.  There 
is  however  reason  to  believe  that  he  made 
his  first  attempt  in  1592,  and  Malone  even 
places  the  first  part  of  Henry  VI  in  1589. 
He  appears  to  have  been  not  only  popular,  but 
approved  by  persons  of  the  highest  order,  as 
we  are  informed  on  the  authority  of  sir  Wil- 
liam D' Avenant,  that  the  earl  of  Southampton, 
to  whom  he  dedicated  his  Venus  and  Adonis, 
and  Rape  of  Lucrece,  presented  him  with  the 
then  magnificent  sum  of  1000L  to  complete  a 
purchase.  It  is  also  asserted  that  he  received 
a  command  from  queen  Elizabeth,  who  was 
much  ,), -lighted  with  his  Fiilstaff  in  Henry  IV, 
L  2 


SII  A 

to  write  another  ])lay,  in  which  die  facetious  j 
knight  mi^ht  appear  in  love  ;  a  task  which 
he  accomplished  in  "  The  Merry  Wives  of 
Windsor."  He  was  also  favoured  with  an 
amicable  letter  from  James  I,  in  return, 
as  Dr  Fanner  supposes,  for  the  compliment 
in  Macbeth.  How  long  he  acted  has  not  j 
been  discovered,  but  he  finally  became  a 
proprietor  and  manager  by  license,  of  the 
Globe  Theatre  in  Southwark  ;  and  it  was  in 
this  situation  that  he  afforded  Ben  Jonson  the 
opportunity  of  appearing  as  a  dramatic  writer. 
His  connexion  with  the  latter  has  been  va- 
riously related  ;  hut  the  imputed  malignity  of 
Jonsou  has  been  much  impugned,  by  the  able 
research  of  Mr  Octavius  Gilchrist,  in  confirma- 
tion of  the  previous  reasoning  of  Dr  Farmer 
to  the  same  effect.  Nor  does  it  follow  that  an 
occasional  remark  in  Jonson's  "  Discoveries," 
upon  the  deficiency  of  Shakspeare's  learning, 
and  his  careless  manner  of  writing,  the  only  ap- 
parent ground  of  the  imputation,  merits  to  be  so 
regarded.  Having  a  sobriety  and  moderation  in 
his  views  of  life,  not  very  common  in  the  pro- 
fession which  he  adopted,  our  great  dramatist 
retired  early  with  a  respectable  fortune  of 
from  200/.  to  300/.  per  annum,  adequate  pos- 
sibly to  1000/.  in  our  own  day,  and  spent 
the  remainder  of  his  life  in  ease,  retire- 
ment, and  the  conversation  of  his  friends. 
For  some  years  before  his  death  he  resided 
at  Stratford,  in  a  house  which  he  bought 
from  the  Clopton  family,  and  which  conti- 
nued in  the  possession  of  his  descendants 
until  the  Restoration,  when  it  was  repur- 
chased by  a  member  of  the  same  family,  the 
representative  of  which,  sir  Hugh  Clopton,  a 
baronet  knighted  hy  George  1,  entertained 
Garrick,  Macklin,  and  others,  in  1742,  under 
the  mulberry-tree,  planted  hy  Shakspeare. 
It  may  be  interesting  to  know,  that  his  exe- 
cutor sold  the  house  to  a  clergyman  of  the  name  ] 
of  Gastrel,  who  being  rated  for  the  poor  higher 
than  it  pleased  him  to  pay,  peevishly  declared 
that  the  house  should  never  pay  again  ;  and  in 
spite  to  the  inhabitants  of  Stratford,  who  were 
benefited  by  the  company  it  brought  to  the 
town,  he  pulled  it  down,  and  sold  the  materials. 
He  had  previously  cut  down  the  mulberry-  ' 
tree  for  fuel,  but  an  honest  silversmith  pur-  , 
chased  the  whole  of  it,  which  he  profitably 
manufactured  into  memorials  of  the  poet. 
Having  thus  wreaked  his  vengeance,  this  sen- 
timental divine  finally  quitted  Stratford.  Such 
was  die  fate  of  a  residence  in  which  Shak- 
speare exhibited  so  little  solicitude  for  fame, 
or  consciousness  of  his  own  merits,  that  a 
similar  example  of  modesty  is  scarcely  to  be 
found  in  literary  biography.  He  died  on  his 
birth-day,  April  23,  1616,  having  exactly 
completed  his  fifty-second  year.  He  was  in- 
terred on  the  north  side  of  the  chancel  of  the 
great  church  of  Stratford,  where  a  monument 
is  placed  on  the  wall,  in  which  he  is  repre- 
sented under  an  arch  in  a  sitting  posture,  a 
cushion  spread  before  him,  with  a  pen  in  his 
right  hand,  and  his  left  resting  on  a  scroll  of 
paper.  The  following  Latin  distich  is  engraved 
under  die  cushion : — • 


SII  A 

"  Judicio  Pylium,  genio  Socratem,  arte 
Maronem, 

Terra  tegit,   populus  mo:ret,   Olympus 

habet." 

An  error  in  quantity  in  the  first  syllable  of 
Socrates,  induces  Mr  Steevens  to  think  that 
Sophocles  was  intended.  To  this  Latin  in- 
scription may  be  added  the  lines  to  be  found 
underneath  it : — 

"  Stay,  passenger,  why  dost  thou  go  so  fast  \ 

Read,  if  thou  canst,  what  envious  death 
hath  plac'd 

Within  this  monument ;  Shakspeare,  with 
whom 

Quick   nature  dy'd  ;   whoso  name    doth 
deck  the  tomb 

Far  more  than    cost  ;  since   all   that  lie 
hath  writ 

Leaves  living  art  but  page  unto  his  wit." 
This  monument  was  erected  within  seven  years 
of  his  death  ;  but  on  his  grave-stone  beneath 
are  written  the  following  lines,  which  seem  to 
have  been  engraven  in  a  strange  mixture  of 
large  and  small  letters,  at  the  time  of  his  in- 
terment : — 

"  Good  Frend  for  Jesus  sake  forbear 

To  digg  the  dust  endoased  here 

Blese  be  the  man  that  spares  these  stones 

And  curst  be  he  that  moves  my  bones." 
His  monument  in  Westminster  abbey,  which 
was  erected  in  1741,  under  the  direction  of 
the  earl  of  Burlington,  Mr  Pope,  and  Dr 
Mead,  and  paid  for  by  the  produce  of  benefits 
for  the  purpose  at  the  two  patent  theatres,  is 
too  well  known  to  need  description.  Shak- 
speare left  two  daughters,  the  eldest  of  whom, 
Susannah,  married  Dr  Hall,  a  physician,  and 
left  a  daughter,  married  first  to  T.  Nashe, 
esq.  and  afterwards  to  sir  John  Barnard,  of 
Abington,  Northamptonshire,  but  died  with- 
out issue.  Judith,  the  poet's  second  daughter, 
married  a  Mr  Thomas  Quiney,  by  whom  she 
had  three  sons,  who  all  died  unmarried.  The 
only  notice  recorded  of  the  person  of  Shak- 
speare is  to  be  found  in  Aubrey,  who  says, 
that  "  he  was  a  handsome  well-shaped  man  ;" 
and  adds,  what  is  otherwise  amply  corrobo- 
rated, that  he  was  "  verie  good  company,  and 
of  a  verie  ready,  pleasant,  and  smooth  witt." 
The  first  edition  of  Shakspeare's  plays,  in 
number  thirty-six,  did  not  appear  until  seven 
years  after  his  death  ;  of  these  only  seven  had 
been  printed  during  his  life-time,  owing,  it  is 
thought,  to  his  interest  as  proprietor  and  ma- 
nager interfering  with  their  publicity.  This 
first  edition  was  printed  from  copies  in  the 
hands  of  his  fellow-managers,  lleminge  and 
Condell,  who  gave  a  second  in  1632  ;  but  both 
these  and  some  subsequent  ones  were  full  of 
errors,  until  in  some  degree  corrected  by  the 
poet  Rowe's  edition  of  1714.  It  is  unnecessary 
to  enumerate  the  various  editions  which  have 
since  appeared,  or  to  describe  the  critical  la- 
bours of  Rowe,  Pope,  Theobald,  Hanmer, 
Warburton,  Steevens,  Malone,  and  Johnson, 
by  which  much  has  been  elucidated,  and,  in 
the  confusion  of  opposing  opinions,  something 
perhaps  obscured.  The  dramatic  reputation 
of  Shakspeare,  although  great  in  his  own  days 


Sli  A 

became  partially  obsolete  during  the  period 
when  French  taste  prevailed,  and  French 
models  were  studied  under  the  second  Charles; 
and  rising  again  as  it  did  on  its  own  intrinsic 
pretension,  until  his  productions  established 
a  national  taste,  the  fact  is  still  more  honour- 
able to  his  genius.  That  much  of  the  admi- 
ration entertained  for  him  is  national  and  con- 
ventional, may  he  freely  allowed  ;  but  giving 
all  due  weight  to  the  cold  hints  of  this  nature, 
which  pervade  criticism  of  a  certain  tone,  a 
fair  appeal  may  be  made  on  the  ground  of 
positive  qualification,  and  a  knowledge  of 
the  human  heart,  which,  in  its  diversity  at 
least,  has  never  been  surpassed.  To  this 
faculty  must  be  added  that  of  an  iniaai- 
nation  powerful,  poetical,  and  so  felicitously 
creative,  that  presuming  the  existence  of  the 
vivid  offspring  of  his  fancy,  the  adopted  feel- 
ings and  manners  seem  to  belong  to  them 
alone.  When  he  describes,  to  use  the  lan- 
guage of  Dryden,  "  You  more  than  see,  you 
also  feel  it ;  and  the  force  and  copiousness  of 
his  moral  sentiment  are  most  extraordinary." 
That  he  frequently  quibbles  in  his  comedy, 
and  swells  to  bombast  in  his  tragedy,  is  in- 
deed undeniable  ;  but  the  fault  in  the  first  in- 
stance is  redeemed  by  so  much  easy,  natural, 
and  spontaneous  humour  ;  and  in  the  latter  by 
such  profound  exhibitions  of  genuine  passion, 
deep  feeling,  and  elevated  conception,  that  the 
Haw  in  the  diamond  is  lost  in  the  intensity  of 
the  blaze  ;  and  the  faults  of  Shakspeare,  when 
summed  up  in  English  hearing,  are  listened 
to  with  a  degree  of  impatience  that  savours 
more  of  idolatry  than  criticism.  Very  lately  a 
theory,  favoured  it  may  be  feared  by  lord 
Uyron — (see  article  SCHILLER) — has  been 
encouraged,  in  disparagement  of  the  order  of 
intuitive  genius,  of  which  that  of  Shakspeare 
affords  so  brilliant  an  example.  The  spirit 
which  can  lose  itself  in  its  conceptions,  is 
deemed  inferior  to  that  which  eternally  exhi- 
bits the  author  in  his  exertions  ;  and  the  very 
ease  and  spontaneity  which  form  the  grand 
distinction  of  the  genus  are  made  the  ground 
of  its  inferiority.  That  law  of  nature  which 
clogs  the  most  rich  and  luxuriant  vegetation 
with  a  correspondent  proportion  of  weeds,  is 
forgotten  on  this  occasion  ;  and  the  preva- 
lence of  the  one  is  more  than  fairly  opposed  to 
the  fertility  of  the  other.  Voltaire  observes, 
that  Shakspeare  has  been  the  favourite  of  the 
English  nation  for  more  thanacentury;  and  that 
that  which  has  engrossed  national  admiration 
for  a  hundred  years,  will  by  prescription,  en- 
sure it  for  ever.  There  is  some  truth  in  this  re- 
mark, but,  as  in  the  case  of  Homer,  great  native  ! 
strength  of  genius  can  alone  establish  the  pre- 
possession. Of  late  years,  too,  the  genius  of 
Shakspeare  has  engaged  foreign  attention  in  no 
mean  degree  ;  and  that  too  with  correspondent 
admiration.  It  has  been  conjectured  that  much 
in  his  least  disputed  plays  may  not  have  been 
his  own,  as  it  is  known  that  he  accommodated 
the  pieces  of  other  writers  for  representation  ; 
but  in  whatever  degree  this  may  have  been 
the  case,  there  is  a  predominant  vein  in  all 
the  superior  passages,  w'';»'h  is  evidently  the 


Si-I  A 

flowing  of  one  particularly  constituted  mil  \\ 
which  mind,  being  common  to  all  of  them, 
must  necessarily  have  been  that  of  Shakspeare. 
Another  peculiarity  attends  the  dramatic  cha- 
racters of  this  great  master  ;  whoever  treats 
upon  them  is  insensibly  led  to  discuss  them 
like  realities,  and  not,  as  in  most  other  in- 
stances, as  mere  fictions  of  the  brain.  This 
article  may  be  concluded  with  a  remark,  that 
Shakspeare  has  heen  the  innocent  cause  of 
much  imposition,  one  of  the  latest  and  most 
impudent  being  the  fabrication,  in  1796,  of  an 
entire  play  called  "  Vortigern,"  with  a  mass 
of  prose,  verse,  letters,  &c.  pretendedly  in  the 
hand-writing  of  Shakspeare.  As  in  the  similar 
attempt  of  Chatterton,  the  forgery  deluded  some 
very  zealous  antiquarians,  and  had  produced 
much  elaborate  controversy,  when  the  confes- 
sion of  the  audacious  contriver  soon  set  it  at 
rest  for  ever.  Portraits  have  been  forged 
with  similar  and  safer  impudence.  Besides 
his  immortal  plays,  Shaksprare  was  the  au- 
thor of  two  poems,  entitled  "  Venus  and 
Adonis,"  and  "  Lucrece  ;"  and  a  collection 
of  sonnets,  which,  although  lost  in  the  blaze  of 
his  dramatic  genius,  exhibit  many  scattered 
beauties.  At  all  events  they  have  been  treated 
much  too  cavalierly  by  Steevens  ;  although  it 
is  probable  that,  they  would  not  have  availed 
of  themselves  to  have  made  their  author  much 
known  to  posterity. —  Life  prefixed  to  Variorum 
Edition  of  1806.  Howe.  Malone.  Farmer. 

SHARP  (ABRAHAM)  an  eminent  mathe- 
matician, mechanist,  and  astronomer,  was 
born  at  Little  Horton  in  Yorkshire,  about  1651. 
He  was  apprenticed  to  a  merchant  at  Man- 
chester ;  but  his  inclination  and  genius  for 
mathematics  induced  him  to  choose  the  more 
congenial  occupation  of  a  schoolmaster  at  Li- 
verpool. Having  acquired  an  introduction  to 
Flamsteed,  the  latter  obtained  for  him  a  pro- 
fitable employment  in  the  dock-yard  of  Chat- 
ham ;  and  aware  of  his  mechanical  accuracy, 
called  him  to  his  assistance  in  completing  the 
astronomical  apparatus  at  Greenwich,  and 
forming  the  catalogue  of  fixed  stars.  This  able 
and  ingenious  man  seems  entitled  to  the  credit 
of  being  the  first  who  exhibited  any  thing  like 
modern  accuracy  in  the  department  of  hand 
division  ;  his  scales  and  instruments,  both  in 
wood  andiron,  far  exceeding  in  precision  and 
firmness  every  thing  which  had  preceeded 
them.  He  ultimately  retired  to  a  small  estate 
at  his  native  place,  where  he  erected  an  ob- 
servatory, furnished  with  instruments  made 
by  himself.  He  published  a  work,  entitled 
"  Geometry  Improved,"  4to,  1717.  He  died 
in  1741. — Ihtt  ton's  Math.  Diet. 

SH  ARP(. I  A. MFS)  archbishop  of  St  Andrews 
in  Scotland,  an  active  and  distinguished  prelate 
of  the  17th  century.  He  was  a  native  of  Banff- 
shire,  born  1618  ;  and  from  a  strong  develope- 
ment  of  precocious  talent,  was  early  destined 
by  his  family  for  the  ministry.  With  this  view 
he  was  placed  at  the  Marischal  college  in 
Aberdeen,  but  objecting  to  take  the  "  solemn 
league  and  covenant,"  quitted  the  university, 
ami  went  to  London.  During  the  civil  wars 
of  the  period  lie  returned  to  his  native  country, 


SH  A 

and  there,  through  the  patronage  of  the  lords 
Leslie  and  Crauford,  obtained  a  professorship 
in  the  university  of  St  Andrews,  with  the  ap- 
pointment of  pastor  to  a  congregation  at  Crail. 
While  iu  this  situation  his  eloquence  and  re- 
putation for  general  as  well  as  theological  at- 
tainments, c;iused  him  to  be  selected  by  the 
moderate  presbyteriau  party  in  Scotland  to 
advocate  their  cause  with  the  Protector,  Crom- 
well, against  the  demands  of  the  more  rigid 
Calvinists  ;  and  he  was  subsequently  sent  to 
Breda  by  Monk,  then  general  of  the  troops  in 
that  part  of  the  kingdom,  for  the  purpose  of 
procuring  the  sanction  of  Charles  11  to  the 
proposed  settlement  of  the  ecclesiastical  affairs 
of  Scotland.  He  returned  to  Scotland,  and 
delivered  to  some  of  the  ministers  of  Edin- 
burgh a  letter  from  the  king,  in  winch  the 
iatter  promised  to  protect  and  preserve  the 
government  of  the  church  of  Scotland,  "  as 
it  is  settled  by  law."  The  clergy,  undeistand- 
ing  this  declaration  in  its  obvious  sense,  were 
satisfied  ;  but  it  subsequently  appeared,  that 
Sharp  acted  thus  with  a  view  to  subvert  the 
church  government  which  he  aff'ecte-d  to 
maintain,  pleading  to  the  friends  of  episcopacy 
that  this  letter  would  keep  the  presbyterians 
quiet,  and  pledge  the  king  to  nothing,  as  the 
parliament  had  only  to  enact  episcopacy,  to 
transfer  the  pledge  of  the  monarch  to  its  sup- 
port. The  presbytery  being  accordingly  over- 
turned by  parliament,  Sharp  was  rewarded 
with  the  primacy,  and  appointed  archbishop  of 
St  Andrews  ;  a  preferment  which  at  once  set 
opinion  at  rest  upon  the  perfidy  of  his  conduct 
and  the  profligacy  of  his  character.  The  ab- 
surd and  wanton  cruelties  which  followed,  con- 
firmed the  horror  entertained  against  him  as  a 
traitor  and  a  renegado,  and  raised  the  fury  of 
some  of  his  more  bigoted  opponents  to  at- 
tempts against  his  life.  In  1678  he  narrowly 
escaped  assassination  from  the  hand  of  James 
Mitchell,  an  enthusiast,  who  was  some  time 
after  taken  and  executed.  A  similar  attempt 
the  following  year  was  more  successful.  His 
carriage,  in  which  he  was  travelling  in  Magus 
Muir,  about  three  miles  from  St  Andrews,  on 
the  3rd  May,  1679,  was  met  by  some  fanatics, 
headed  by  John  Balfour  of  Burley,  who  were 
waiting  there  to  intercept  a  servant  of  the 
archbishop's,  named  Carmichael.  who  had  ren- 
dered himself  odious  by  his  cruelty.  To  tem- 
pers thus  heated  and  blinded  by  fanaticism,  the 
appearance  of  the  archbishop  himself  was 
deemed  a  sign  of  the  intention  of  providence 
to  substitute  a  more  important  victim  ;  and 
regardless  of  the  tears  and  entreaties  of  his 
daughter,  they  dragged  him  from  his  carriage, 
and  despatched  him  with  their  swords,  with 
which  they  inflicted  no  less  than  twenty-two 
wounds. — Lahig's  Hist,  of  Scotland.  Encyc. 
Brit. 

SHARP  (JOHN)  archbishop  of  Y^ork,  de- 
scended of  an  ancient  but  decayed  family  of 
the  same  name,  long  settled  at  Little  Norton 
in  Bradford  Dale,  in  that  county.  His  father 
was  a  tradesman  of  some  note  at  Bradford, 
where  he  was  born  in  1644  ;  and  after  study- 
ing at  Christ  colle  :e,  Cambridge,  he  completed 


SB  A 

hia  degrees,  and  became  domestic  chaplain  to 
sir  Heneage  Finch,  the  then  attorney-general, 
in  1667.  Five  years  afterwards  lie  was  pro- 
moted, through  the  interest  of  his  patron,  to 
the  archdeaconry  of  Berkshire,  which  piece  of 
preferment  was  succeeded  by  a  stall  in  NTor- 
wich  cathedral,  and  the  rectory  of  St  Bartho- 
lomew in  the  city  of  London.  This  latter 
living  lie  exchanged  soon  after,  for  the  more 
valuable  one  of  St  Giles-in-the-Fields  ;  and  the 
elevation  of  sir  Heneage  to  the  woolsack, 
paved  his  way  for  still  further  preferment.  In 
1681  lie  was  accordingly  made  dean  of  Nor- 
wich ;  but  before  he  had  filled  that  situation 
five  years,  a  sermon  which  he  preached  against 
the.  Romish  church,  gave  such  oft'ence  to 
James  II,  that  an  order  was  issued  by  that 
monarch  to  the  bishop  of  London  for  his  sus- 
pension. The  prelate,  refusing  to  carry  this  com- 
mand in  to  execution,  incurred  a  similar  sentence 
from  the  court.  Dr  Sliarp  appears,  however, 
to  have  regained  the  king's  favour,  as  lie  was 
eventually  made  one  of  his  chaplains.  In 
1689  king  William  presented  him  to  the 
deanery  of  Canterbury,  and  a  bishopric  was 
even  offered  to  his  acceptance,  of  those  va- 
cated by  the  prelates  deprived  for  refusing  to 
take  the  oaths.  Tbis  he  declined,  but  on  the 
death  of  archbishop  Lamplugh  in  1691,  suc- 
ceeded him  in  the  see  of  York.  He  was  af- 
terwards sworn  of  the  privy  council  to  queen 
Anne,  made  grand  almoner,  and  preached  the 
coronation  sermon  of  that  sovereign  in  1702. 
This  learned  and  eloquent  prelate  was  the 
author  of  a  great  variety  of  sermons,  which 
still  maintain  their  popularity.  After  his  de- 
cease, which  took  place  at  Bath  in  February 
1714,  they  were  collected  and  printed  in  seven 
octavo  volumes.  There  is  an  elegant  inscrip- 
tion to  his  memory  in  York  Minster,  where  he 
lies  buried. —  liing.  Brit. 

SHARP  (THOMAS)  a  younger  son  of  the 
preceding,  was  born  about  1693.  He  was 
admitted  at  Trinity  college,  Cambridge,  in 
1708,  and  became  a  fellow  of  his  college  and 
DD.  in  1729.  He  received  various  prefer- 
ments in  the  church  of  England,  including  the 
rectory  of  Rothbury  in  Northumberland,  and 
a  prebend  in  York  cathedral  ;  and  was  finally 
collated  to  the  archdeaconry  of  Northumber- 
land, and  made  prebendary  of  Durham,  where 
he  died  in  1758.  IK-  published  "The  Rubric 
in  the  Common  Prayer,  and  Canons  of  the 
Church  considered  ;"  "  Discourses  on  the 
Hebrew  Tongue  ;"  "  Two  Dissertations  con- 
cerning the  Meaning  of  the  Hebrew  Words 
Klohim  and  Bareiih,"  in  relation  to  the  Hut- 
cbinsonian  controversy. — Hutchinsmi'sHist.  of 
Durham. 

SHARP  (GRAMVILI.K)  an  English  gentle- 
man, eminent  for  his  philanthropy,  purity  of 
principles,  and  learning,  and  one  of  the.  sons 
of  the  preceding,  was  born  in  1734.  He  was 
educated  for  the  bar,  but  did  not  practise  at 
it ;  he  obtained  a  piace  in  the  Ordnance  office, 
which  he  resigned  at  the  commencement 
of  the  American  war,  the  principles  of  which 
he  did  not  approve.  He  then  took  chambers 
in  the  Temple,  and  Jed  a  life  of  private 


SI1A 

manifestations  of  a  taste  for  drawing   in  ins 
son,  apprenticed    him    to    Mr  Long-mate,    an 
artist  who  practised  what  is  technically  termed 
bright  engraving,  because  it  attracts  attention 
to  itself,  and  not   to  impressions  from  it.     At 
the  expiration  of   his  indentures  Sharp,  then 
very   young,    married   a    Frenchwoman,    and 
commenced  business    on  his  own  account  in 
Bartholomew- lane,  when  soon  rinding  himself 
capable  of  greater  things  than   the  engraving 
of  dog-collars  and  door-plates,   he  resolutely 
applied    himself    to   the   study   of   the   higher 
branches  of  his  art.     One  of  his  first  essays  is 
said  to  have    been  a  plate  of  Hector,  an  old 
lion  then  in  the    Tower  of  London,  from  an 
original   drawing  by  himself.     In  1782  he  re- 
moved to  the  neighbourhood  of  Vauxhall  ;  but 
increasing  fast  both  in  business  and  reputation, 
soon  after  took  a  larger  and  more  respectable 
residence    in   Charles-street,   Middlesex  hos- 
pital.    About  this  period  he  became  a  convert 
to    the    mysterious    reveries   of   Mesmer  and 
Emanuel  Swendenborg,  in  common  with    De 
Loutherbourg,    and  some  others  of  the  same 
profession  as  himself,  none  of  whom,  however, 
appear  to  have  suffered  their  enthusiasm  to 
carry  them  so  far  as  the  subject  of  this  memoir. 
To  these  visionaries  succeeded   the  notorious 
Richard  Brothers,  of  whom  Sharp  immediately 
became  a  strenuous  disciple,  and  actually  en- 
graved  two  separate  plates  of  the  soi-disant 
prophet,  lest  one  should  be  insufficient  to  pro- 
duce   the    requisite    number    of    impressions 
which  would  be  called  for  on  the  arrival  of  the 
predicted  Millennium.     When  Brothers  was 
incarcerated  in   a  mad  house,    Sharp,   whose 
faith  was  not  yet  shaken  in  him,  notwithstand- 
ing the  failure  of  his  prophecies  in   point  of 
time,  attached  himself  to  the  then  rising  school 
of  Joanna  Southcote,  of  whose  pretensions  he 
continued  a  staunch  supporter   to  the  day  of 
his   own   death,   although  he  survived  consi- 
derably the  object  of  his  credulity,   whom,   in 
spite  of  the  evidence  of  his  own   senses,   he 
persisted  in   affirming'   to   be  only  in  a  trance. 
In  1814,  being  then  in  the  zenith  of  his  repu- 
tation as  an  artist,   lie  was  elected  member  of 
the  Imperial  Academy  of  \  ienna  and  of  the 
Electoral  Academy  of  Bavaria;   and  received 
through  the  president,  sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  an 
offer  of  a  recommendation  as  an  associate  of 
the    Royal    Academy    in    London,  which,   in 
conformity  with  W'oollett,  Hall,  and  other  en- 
gravers,   who  thought    their    art  slighted    by 
their  not  being  allowed   to  become  royal  aca- 
demicians,  he   declined.     From   London,  .Mr 
Sharp  removed  to  Acton,  and  thence  to  Chis- 
wick,  where  he  died  of  a  dropsy  in  the  client, 
July    25,    18^4.      Although   professing   Tory 
principles  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  he  was 
at  one  time  a  member  of  the  Society  for  Con- 
stitutional Information,  and  narrowly  escaped 
being  put  upon  his  trial  for  high  treason,  with 
his   friends   Messrs.   Home  Tooke,    Ilolcrof1:, 
and  Thehvall.     He  was   arrested  by  order  of 
government  on  this   occasion,  and   was  even 
examined  before  the  privy  council,  when,  it  is 

yard  in  the  Minories,  where  lie  was  born  Ja-    said,  the  naivete  of  his  answers  aud  behaviour 
nuury  29,  1740.     His  father,  observing  early  |  fully  convinced  ministers  that  a  person  of  his 


SH  A 

study.  He  first  became  known  to  the  public 
by  his  spirited  defence  of  a  poor  and  friend- 
less negro  named  Somerset.  This  man,  hav- 
ing been  brought  to  England  by  Ins  master, 
during  a  fit  of  sickness  was  turned  out  into 
the  streets  to  die.  With  unparalleled  base- 
ness, when  by  the  charity  of  Mr  Sharp  and 
others  he  had  been  restored  to  health,  he  was 
churned  again  as  property,  the  result  of  which 
was  a  series  of  law  proceedings,  which  not 
only  cleared  Somerset  from  the  contemptible 
being  who  asserted  a  right  to  his  person,  but 
determined  that  slavery  could  not  exist  in 
Great  Britain.  Such  an  incident  could  not 
fail  to  deeply  impress  a  benevolent  mind,  and 
slavery  in  every  country  became  the  object  of 
his  unceasing  hostility.  Having  succeeded  in 
the  case  of  an  individual  negro,  he  interested 
himself  in  the  condition  of  others,  whom  he 
found  wandering  in  the  streets  of  London,  and 
at  his  own  expense  sent  a  number  of  them  to 
Sierra  Leone  ;  he  also  soon  after  became  the  in- 
stitutor  of  the  celebrated  Society  for  the  Aboli- 
tion of  the  Slave  Trade,  and  with  similar  hu- 
manity sought  to  modify  the  harsh  practice  of 
impressment.  He  was  likewise  led  by  his 
political  principles  to  be  the  warm  advocate  of 
parliamentary  reform,  in  support  of  which  he 
published  "  A  Declaration  of  the  People's 
N&tuial  Right  to  a  Share  in  the.  Legislature," 
in  which  work  he  contends  for  a  revival  of  the 
system  and  political  institutions  of  Alfred. 
This  worthy  individual,  who  attained  the  age 
of  seventy -nine,  died  July  6,  1813,  unceasing 
in  study,  and  active  in  benevolence  to  the 
last.  He  was  an  able  linguist,  and  versed  in 
theology  ;  in  respect  to  which  he  exhibited  an 
ardent  zeal  for  the  principles  of  the  church  of 
England  ;  and  his  private  conduct  was  as  pious 
and  regular  as  his  exertions  in  the  cause  of  hu- 
manity were  spirited  and  enthusiastic.  His  li- 
brary was  very  extensive,  and  he  possessed  a 
curious  collection  of  Bibles,  some  of  which  he. 
presented  to  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  So- 
ciety, of  which  he  was  also  a  zealous  promoter. 
The  principal  works  of  this  indefatigable  scho- 
lar and  philanthropist  are,  "  Remarks  on  the 
Uses  of  the  Definitive  Article  in  the  Greek 
Testament,  &c.  to  which  is  added  a  plain 
matter-of  fact  Argument  for  the  Divinity  of 


Christ,"  1798,   8vo  ; 
the  English  Tongue  ; 


"  A  Short   Treatise  on 
Remarks  on  the  Pro- 


phecies ;    Treatises  on   the    Slave  Trade,  on 
Duelling,  on  the 
ciples   of    Action 


"  Law  of  Nature  and  Prin- 
Man  :"   Tracts    on  the 


in 


Hebrew  Language  ;  Illustrations  of  the  68th 
Psalm,  &c.  In  regard  to  most  of  these  pro- 
ductions, the  impression  is  likely  to  be  very 
temporary  ;  but  as  connected  with  a  standing 
controversy,  the  Remarks  on  the  Definitive 
Article  may  probably  foim  a  lasting  manual 
in  defence  of  the  doctrine  of  the  divinity  of 
Christ,  against  the  arguments  of  the  Unita- 
rians.— Nichols's  Lit.  Anec.  Life  by  Hoare. 

SHARP  (WILLIAM)  a  modern  engraver  of 
great  eminence  and  skill  in  his  art,  the  son  cf 
a  reputable  gun -maker  residing  in  Iiaydon- 


SH  A 

description  was  little  likely  to  engage  in  any 
serious  conspiracy,  and  he  was  liberated  after 
exciting  a  hearty  laugh  among  the  members 
who  composed  the  board.  Among  the  best 
productions  of  his  graver  are  reckoned  his 
"  St  Cecilia,"  after  Domenichino ;  "  Dio- 
genes," from  a  painting  by  Salvator  Rosa  ;  an 
"  Ecce  Homo,"  from  Guido;  a  "  Madonna 
and  Child,"  from  Carlo  Dolce  ;  and  a  "  Zeno- 
bia,"  from  a  picture  by  Michael  Angelo  in 
the  collection  of  sir  J.  Reynolds.  He  also 
engraved  several  valuable  portraits,  and  a 
large  historical  picture,  by  Turnbull,  of  the 
"  Sortie  from  Gibraltar  on  the  Morning  of 
November  27,  1781." — Ann.  Biog. 

SHARPE  (GREGORY)  an  eminent  Oriental 
scholar  and  able  divine,  a  native  of  Yorkshire, 
born  1713.  He  was  first  placed  by  his  friends 
at  the  grammar-school  of  Hull  in  the  same 
county,  whence  he  removed  to  Westminster 
under  Dr  Freind,  and  thence  again  to  the 
Scottish  university  of  Aberdeen,  where  he  be- 
came a  pupil  of  professor  Blackwell.  Having 
taken  holy  orders  in  the  communion  of  the 
established  church,  he  obtained  the  appoint- 
ment of  preacher  at  a  chapel  in  Westminster, 
but  distinguishing  himself  by  his  learning  and 
polemical  disquisitions,  was  made  a  king's 
chaplain,  and  master  of  the  Temple.  He  was 
the  author  of  a  variety  of  able  works  on  theo- 
logical subjects,  the  principal  of  which  consist 
of  "'Three  Discourses  in  Defence  of  the  Chris- 
tian Religion  ;"  "  Review  of  the  Controversy 
concerning  the  Demoniacs  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment," 8vo  ;  "  Defence  of  Dr  Clarke  against 
the  Attacks  of  Leibnitz,"  8vo  ;  "  Letter  to 
Bishop  Lowth  ;"  "  Rise  and  Fall  of  Jerusa- 
lem ;"  "  On  the  Origin  of  Languages  and  the 
Powers  of  Letters,  with  a  Hebrew  Lexicon  ;" 
"  On  the  Greek  Language  ;"  "  On  the  Latin 
Tongue  ;"  "  Syntagma  Dissertationum  quartan 
olim  Auctor  doctissimus  Thomas  Hyde  ;"  a 
volume  of  sermons  ;  and  a  translation  of  Hoi- 
berg's  "  Introduction  to  Universal  History," 
8vo.  This  excellent  scholar  and  amiable  man 
died  in  London,  1771. — Kicholis  Lit.  Anec. 

SHAW  (CUTHBERT)  a  minor  poet  and  mis- 
cellaneous writer,  was  born  at  Richmond, 
Y'orkshire,  about  the  year  1738  or  1739. 
Being  the  son  of  a  shoemaker  in  humble  cir- 
cumstances, he  received  a  very  common  edu- 
cation, which  however  enabled  him  to  become 
usher  at  the  grammar-school  of  Darlington. 
Here,  in  1756,  he  wrote  a  poem  entitled 
"  Liberty,"  and  soon  after  came  to  London, 
and  obtained  employment  from  the  news- 
papers, and  subsequently  became  a  player 
both  in  London  and  Dublin.  In  1762  he 
quitted  the  stage,  and  again  took  up  the  pen, 
and  wrote  a  satire  against  Lloyd,  Churchill, 
Coleman,  and  Shirley,  which  he  entitled 
"  The  Four  Farthing  Candles."  In  1766  he 
published  "The  Race,"  a  poetical  satire  on 
the  poets  of  the  day.  He  soon  after  married, 
but  lost  his  wife  on  the  birth  of  her  first 
child,  which  produced  a  pathetic  "  Monody," 
esteemed  his  best  performance.  The  re- 
mainder of  his  life  was  miserable  in  the  ex- 
treme, being  equally  the  victim  if  disease  and 


S  H  A 

poverty.  He  still,  however,  continued  to 
write,  and  produced  "  Corruption,"  a  satire  , 
and  an  "  Elegy  on  the  Death  of  the  Hon. 
Charles  Yorke,"  just  appointed  chancellor, 
which  was  bought  up,  as  intending  to  have 
all  the  effects  of  satire.  This  reckless  and 
improvident  man  died  in  great  distress,  in 
1771. — Europ.  Mag. 

SHAW  (GEORGE)  a  distinguished  writer  on 
zoology  and  other  branches  of  natural  history, 
horn  in  1751,  at  Bierton,  in  Buckinghamshire, 
of  which  parish  his  father  was  minister.  I  le 
studied  at  Magdalen-hall,  Oxford,  where  he 
took  the  degree  of  MA.  in  1772  ;  and  entering 
into  clerical  orders,  he  became  curate  to  his 
father.  In  adopting  the  profession  of  an  eccle- 
siastic, he  had  not  however  consulted  his  owa 
inclinations,  and  he  therefore  quitted  it,  in 
order  to  study  medicine,  as  a  pursuit  with 
which  he  could  connect  those  scientific  re- 
searches for  which  he  had  a  peculiar  predilec- 
tion. He  accordingly  went  to  Edinburgh,  as 
the  best  school  of  medical  science  ;  and  afur 
attending  the  lectures  of  the  celebrated  pro- 
fessors who  adorned  that  university  in  the  lat- 
ter part  of  the  last  century,  he  returned  to 
Oxford,  where  he  regularly  graduated  as  ML). 
doubtless  with  a  view  to  the  exclusive  ad- 
vantages enjoyed  by  physicians  who  have  been 
admitted  to  their  degrees  at  the  English  uni- 
versities. But  he  had  also  a  more  immediate 
motive  for  securing  his  academical  honours, 
as  he  became  a  candidate  for  the  professorship 
of  botany  at  Oxford,  though  in  this  he  did  not 
succeed,  owing,  it  is  said,  to  his  having  taken 
orders  in  the  church.  He  then  settled  as  a 
physician  in  London,  and  by  his  lectures  and 
publications  soon  made  himself  known  as  a 
man  of  talent  and  information.  On  the  foun- 
dation of  the  Linnaean  Society,  he  was  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  vice-presidents  ;  and  he 
delivered  a  course  of  lectures  on  zoology  at 
the  Leverian  Museum,  and  published  a  de- 
scriptive account  of  the  natural  curiosities 
comprised  in  that  collection.  In  1789  he  was 
elected  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  ;  and  in 
1791  lie  became  one  of  the  librarians  and 
assistant  keeper  of  the  cabinet  of  natural  his- 
tory at  the  British  Museum.  In  1807  he  ob- 
tained the  office  of  principal  keeper  in  the 
same  department,  which  he  retained  till  his 
death.  That  event  took  place  July  2'2,  1813. 
Dr  Shaw  published  "  General  Zoology,"  1800 
—19,  continued  after  his  death  to  eleven 
volumes  octavo;  "  Zoological  Lectures,"  de- 
livered at  the  Leverian  Museum  and  at  the 
Royal  Institution,  2  vols.  4to  ;  second  edition, 
1809,  2  vols.  8vo  ;  "  The  Zoology  of  New- 
Holland  ;"  "  Cimelia  Physica ;"  and  he  con- 
ducted the  "  Naturalist's  Miscellany,"  and 
other  periodical  works  on  natural  history.  He 
was  also  a  contributor  to  the  Transactions  of 
the  Linnaean  Society  ;  and  he  co-operated  with 
Dr  Charles  Hutton  and  Dr  R.  Pearson  in  the 
abridgment  of  the  Philosophical  Transactions. 
1809,  &c.  18  vols.  4to. — Gent.  Mag. 

SHAW  (PETER)  a  physician  and  natural 
philosopher  of  the  last  century,  who  was  the 
author  of  some  useful  scientific  publications. 


S  II  A 

Nothing  appears  to  be  known  of  bis  early  his- 
tory.    In  172.5  he  published  "  The  Philoso- 
phical  Works   of    the    Hon.    Robert    Boyle, 
abridged,  methodized,  and  disposed  under  the 
general  Heads  of  Physics,  Statics,  Pneumatics, 
Natural    History,  Chymistry,   and  Medicine  ; 
with    Notes,     containing    the    Improvements 
made  in  the  several  Parts  of  Natural  and  Ex- 
perimental Knowledge  since  his Time,"  3^vois. 
4to.     This  was  followed  by  a  treatise,  entitled 
"  The  New  Practice  of  Physic/'  1726,  2  vols. 
8vo  ;  an   abridgment  of  the    works   of   Lord 
Bacon,  3  vols.  4to.  &c.    He  probably  delivered 
lectures  on  chemistry  in  the  metropolis,  which 
were  published  in  an  octavo  volume,  and  they 
are  still  valuable  on  account  of  the  technical 
and  economical   information  they  afford.     Dr 
Shaw  was  chosen  FHS.  in  1765  ;  and  he  ob- 
'  tained   the   appointment  of  physician   to  the 
king  (George  1 1),  but  he  resigned  it  in  favour 
of  his  son-in-law,  Dr  Richard  Warren.     Ills 
death  took  place  in  1763. — Nichols's  Lit.  Anec. 
Edit. 

SHAW  (STEBBING)  a  divine  and  able  to- 
pographer, was  the  son  of  a  clergyman,  and 
born  in  1762,  at  Stone,  in  Staffordshire.  He 
was  educated  at  Queen's  college,  Oxford, 
where  he  obtained  a  fellowship,  and  entered  j 
into  orders.  He  subsequently  became  tutor 
to  Sir  Francis  Burdett,  with  whom  he  made 
the  tour  of  the  Highlands,  an  account  of  which 
he  published.  In  1788  he  travelled  through 
the  western  counties  of  England,  a  narrative  of  j 
which  journey  he  also  published.  In  1789  he  ! 
commenced  a  periodical  publication,  entitled 
"  The  Topographer,"  m  monthly  parts,  after 
which  he  commenced  his  "  History  of  Staf- 
fordshire," the  first  volume  of  which  appeared 
in  1798,  and  met  with  great  approbation  ;  a 
part  of  the  second  followed  in  1801,  pre- 
viously to  which  the  author  had  succeeded  his 
father  as  rector  of  Hartshorn  in  Derbyshire. 
He  died  in  the  prime  of  life,  the  28th  October, 
1802.— Gent.  Mug. 

SHAW  (THOMAS)  a  learned  divine  and 
Oriental  traveller,  born  at  Kendal,  in  West- 
moreland, about  1692.  He  entered  at  Queen's 
college,  Oxford,  in  1711,  and  he  took  the 
degree  of  AM.  in  1719.  He  then  entered  into 
holy  orders,  and  was  appointed  chaplain  to  the 
English  factory  at  Algiers  ;  in  which  situation 
he  continued  several  years,  and  during  that 
time  he  visited  Egypt,  Palestine,  &c.  In 
1727.  while  absent  from  England,  he  was 
chosen  a  fellow  of  his  college  ;  and  returning 
home  in  1733,  he  received  the  degree  of  DD. 
in  the  following  year,  when  he  was  also  elected 
a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  In  1738  Dr 
Shaw  published  at  Oxford  his  "  Travels  in 
Barbary  and  the  Levant,"  folio.  On  the  death 
of  Dr  Felton,  in  1740,  he  was  nominated  prin- 
cipal of  Edmund-hall  ;  and  he  was  also  pre- 
sented to  the  vicarage  of  Biamley  in  Hamp- 
shire. He  died  in  1751.  His  tiavels  are 
highly  valuable,  not  only  on  account  of  their 
erudition  and  accuracy,  but  also  for  the  in- 
formation they  afford  relative  to  natural  his- 
tory, illustrative  of  the  ancient  classics,  and  of 
the  sacred  writings.  A  French  translation  of 


SUE 

Dr  Shaw's  Travels  was  published  in  1743, 
4to  ;  and  a  second  edition  of  the  original  work, 
with  additions,  appeared  in  1757,  4to,  re- 
printed at  Edinburgh,  1R08,  2  vols.Svo. — Mem. 
l>rcf.  to  Trav.  1808,  vol.  i.  Aikin's  Gen.  King. 
SHEBBEARE  (JOHN)  a  physician  and 
political  writer  in  the  reign  of  George  II.  He 
was  a  native  of  Bideford  in  Devonshire, 
where  his  father  was  a  solicitor,  and  he  was 
educated  at  a  grammar-school  kept  by  the  rev. 
Z.  Mudge  at  Exeter.  At  the  age  of  sixteen 
he  became  apprentice  to  an  apothecary  at  his 
native  place,  after  which  he  settled  in  business 
at  Bristol.  Removing  to  London  he  com- 
menced his  career  as  a  public  writer,  having 
previously  made  a  visit  to  Paris,  where  he 
obtained  the  degree  of  MD.  and  was  admitted 
into  the  Academy  of  Sciences.  On  his  return 
to  England,  he  published,  in  1754,  "The 
Marriage  Act,"  a  satirical  romance  ;  and 
"  Lydia,  or  Filial  Piety,"  another  satire.  In 
1755  appeared  his  "  Letters  on  the  English 
Nation,"  2  vols.  8vo,  a  pretended  translation 
from  the  Italian  of  Batista  Angeloni,  a  Jesuit. 
This  was  followed  by  a  series  of  "  Letters  to 
the  People  of  England,"  the  most  successful 
of  his  works,  though  it  subjected  him  to  a  pro- 
secution. On  the  publication  of  his  "  Third 
Letter,"  1756,  orders  were  issued  for  his  ar- 
rest ;  but  it  was  not  till  January  1758,  after 
the  "  Sixth  Letter  addressed  to  the  People  of 
England  "  had  made  its  appearance,  that  he 
was  taken  into  custody,  when  a  "  Seventh  Let- 
ter," then  at  the  press,  was  likewise  seized. 
He  was  tried  for  the  alleged  libel,  and  being 
convicted,  he  was  sentenced  to  prty  a  fine  of 
five  pounds,  be  imprisoned  three  years,  and  to 
stand  in  the  pillory.  The  latter  part  of  his 
punishment  was  rendered  nugatory  by  the  in- 
dulgence of  the  under-sberiff  of  London,  who 
permitted  him  to  stand  unconfined  on  the 
platform  of  the  pillory,  with  a  servant  at  his 
back,  holding  an  umbrella.  The  populace 
were  also  favourably  disposed  towards  him,  so 
that  his  exposure  was  a  scene  rather  of 
triumph  than  disgrace.  On  his  release  from 
confinement,  under  the  reign  of  a  new  sove- 
reign, and  the  administration  of  lord  Bute,  he 
obtained  a  pension,  for  which  he  defended  the 
conduct  of  government  in  the  American  war. 
His  apostacy  from  the  popular  cause  consigned 
him  to  contempt,  and  he  died  almost  forgotten 
in  1788,  aged  seventy-nine. — Lempriere.  Bio*. 

JT     •  ^ 

Univ. 

SHEFFIELD  (JoiiN)  duke  of  Buckingham, 
a  nobleman  of  some  note  as  a  wit  and  a  states- 
man, was  born  in  1649,  being  the  son  of  Ed- 
mund earl  of  Mulgrave,  to  whose  title  he 
succeeded  in  1658.  He  was  privately  educated, 
but  early  dismissed  his  tutor,  and  at  the  age 
of  seventeen  engaged  as  a  volunteer  in  the 
first  Dutch  war.  On  his  return,  by  the  union 
of  wit  and  spirit  so  agreeable  to  Charles  II,  he 
became  a  great  favourite  at  court,  and  when 
only  in  his  twentieth  year,  by  his  inteicst  con- 
tributed to  promote  Dryden  to  the  office  of 
poet  laureat.  He  again  served  in  the  second 
Dutch  war,  and  was  subsequently  appointed 
colonel  of  a  regiment  of  foot.  As  no  military 


SI1  E 

transaction  intervened,  it  must  have  been 
through  special  favour  that,  in  1674,  he  re- 
ceived the  order  of  the  garter,  and  in  1679 
the  posts  of  governor  of  Hull  and  lord  lieu- 
tenant of  Yorkshire.  On  the  accession  of 
James  II  he  was  made  lord  chamberlain  ;  and 
his  zealous  attachment  to  that  weak  sovereign 
induced  him  to  take  a  seat  in  the  ecclesias- 
tical commission,  and  practise  other  compli- 
ances, though,  being  himself  free  from  bigotry, 
lie  opposed  many  of  the  counsels  which  brought 
speedy  ruin  on  his  unfortunate  master.  At  the 
Revolution  he  took  the  part  of  an  anti  cour- 
tier, hut  in  1694  became  member  of  the  cabi- 
net, with  a  pension,  and  the  additional  title  of 
marquis  of  Normanby.  The  accession  of  Anne, 
to  whom  he  is  said  once  to  have  been  a  suitor, 
advanced  him  to  the  dukedom  of  Buckingham, 
with  other  honours  ;  but  jealousy  of  the  duke 
of  Marlborough  drove  him  from  office  until 
the  change  of  1710,  when  he  was  made  first 
steward  of  the  household,  and  then  president 
of  the  council  under  the  administration  of 
Harley.  After  the  death  of  Anne,  he  was  again 
in  opposition,  but  employed  his  time  chiefly  in 
literary  pursuits,  until  his  death  in  1720.  He 
was  thrice  married,  and  each  time  to  a  widow; 
his  last  wife,  by  whom  he  left  a  son,  was  na- 
tural daughter  of  James  II  by  Catherine  Sed- 
ley.  The  literary  fame  of  this  prosperous 
nobleman  was  mainly  assisted  by  bis  rank  and 
influence  in  his  own  day.  Dr  Johnson  re- 
presents him  as  a  poet  who  sometimes  glim- 
mers, but  rarely  shines  ;  feebly  laborious,  and 
at  best  but  pretty.  In  his  "  Essay  on  Sa- 
tire "  he  was  supposed  to  have  been  assisted 
by  Dryden  ;  and  few  of  his  other  pieces  merit 
attention.  His  duchess  and  widow  published 
a  splendid  edition  of  his  works  in  1723,  in  two 
volumes  quarto  ;  the  first  of  which  contained 
his  poems  upon  various  subjects,  and  the  latter 
his  historical  memoirs,  character,  speeches, 
critical  observations,  and  essays,  some  of 
which  were  suppressed  in  subsequent  editions, 
in  consequence  of  matter  offensive  to  the  go- 
vernment. Johnson  speaks  with  encomium  of 
his  style  in  history.  He  was  buried  in  West- 
minster abbey,  where  a  magnificent  monument 
is  erected  to  his  memory,  with  something  of  a 
sceptical  epitaph,  written  by  himself,  which 
in  its  day  produced  considerable  animadver- 
sion.— Bioo-.  Brit.  Johnson's  Poets. 

SHETULUS,  or  SCHE1D  (EVKRARD)  a 
philological  writer,  distinguished  for  his  ac- 
quaintance with  Oriental  learning.  He  was 
born  at  Arnheim  in  Holland,  in  17412,  and  he 
became  professor  in  the  university  of  Harder- 
wyck.  Thence  he  removed  to  Ley  den,  where 
lie  succeeded  professor  J.  Albert  Schultens  in 
the  chair  of  Oriental  literature  ;  but  he  did 
not  long  enjoy  that  honourable  office,  dying  in 
1795.  He  published  several  works  on  biblical 
criticism,  besides  his  "  Glossarium  Arabico- 
Latinum  JManuale,"  1769,  4to  ;  "  Primae  Li- 
neae  Institutionum,  sive  Specimen  Arabics 
Grammatics,"  1779,  4to  ,  "  Opuscula  de 
Katione  Studii,"  1786 — 92,  8vo  ;  and  "  Ebn 
Doreidi  Katsyda,  sive  liivllium  Arabicum,  cum 
Scholiis,"  1786,  4to.  Seheid  had  projected  a 


SHE 

new  Dutch  translation  of  the  Bible,  and  other 
works,  which  death  prevented  him  from  exe- 
cuting.— -I'liocr.  Nouv.  des Contemp.  Bitxr.  L'nir. 
Scnii  Onnm.  Litt. 

SHELLEY   (PERCY   BYSSIIE.)     See   Ap- 
pendix. 

SHENSTONE  (WILLIAM)  a  popular  and 
agreeable  poet,   was  born  at  Hales  Owen,  in 
Shropshire,  in  1714.     His  father  was  a  gen- 
tleman   farmer,    who   cultivated    a    moderate 
estate  of  his  own,  called  the  Leasowes,  which 
has  since  been  rendered  very  celebrated  by  the 
reputation   and  taste  of  his   son.     The  latter 
was  educated  at  the  grammar  school  of   Hales 
Owen,  whence  he  was  removed   to  that  of  a 
schoolmaster  at  Solihull ;  and  in  1732  to  Pem- 
broke  college,    Oxford.      Here    he  began    to 
exercise  his   poetical   talents  upon  some  light 
topics,  and  he  entertained  thoughts  of  taking 
his  academical  degrees,  and  proceeding  to  the 
study  of  some  profession,  but  was  seduced,  by 
obtaining  full  possession   of  his  paternal   pro- 
perty, to  take  up  bis  abode  in  his  own  house, 
and  to  decline  all  farther  views  of  an   active 
life.     Here  he  occupied  himself  in  rural  em- 
bellishments,  and   the  cultivation    of   poetry 
In  1737  he  printed  a  volume  of  juvenile  poems, 
which  obtained  little  notice  ;  and  in  1740  he 
visited  London,  when  Dodsley  published  his 
"  Judgment   of    Hercules,"  addressed   to  his 
neighbour,  lord   Lyttelton.     In  the  following 
year  appeared  his  pleasing  poem  in  the  stanza 
of  Spenser,   entitled   "  The  Schoolmistress," 
possibly    the    best  of   all   his    poems.     After 
amusing  himself  with  a  few  rambles  to  places 
of  public    resort,  he  sat  down  for  life  at  the 
Leasowes,   which    it  was    his  great  object  to 
render  famous  for  picturesque  beauty  and  ele- 
gance.    He  succeeded  but  too  well,  as  it  drew 
visitors  from    all  parts,    and  led   to  expenses 
which  he  could  but  ill  support,  and  he  was  by 
no   means  a  happy   inhabitant  of  the    Eden 
which  he  had  created.   He  seems  to  have  been 
led  into  more  than  one  amatory  predilection 
but  his  passion  generally  vented  itself  in  elegy 
and  pastoral,  without  leading  to  further  con- 
sequences.    As-  lie  was  much  respected,  an 
application  was  made  to  the  earl  of  Bute,  to 
place  him  in  easier  circumstances  by  a  pension  ; 
but  he  was  carried  off  by  a  fever   before  the 
result  of  the  application   could  be  known,  in 
February,  1763,  in  his  fiftieth  year.  His  works 
were  collected  by  Dodsley,  in   three  volumes, 
octavo,  and  they  still  retain  a  respectable  share 
of  popularity.     The  first  consists  of  elegies, 
odes,  songs  and  ballads,  levities,  or  pieces  of 
humour,    and  moral   pieces  ;  the  second  con- 
tains his  prose  works  ;  and  the  third  is  made 
up  of  his  "  Letters  to  his  Friends."     Of  his 
merits  as  a  poet  the   general   opinion   seems 
tolerably  uniform.     He  is  regarded  as  elegant, 
melodious,   tender    and   correct  in  sentiment, 
and  often  pleasing  and  natural  in  description, 
but  verging  towards  the  languid  and  the  feeble. 
The  prose  works  display   good  sense  and  cul- 
tivated taste,   and,  with   occasional   paradox, 
contain  just  and  sometimes   new   and   acute 
observations  on    mankind. — Life    by   Johnum 
and  by  Graves. 


fell  E 

SHERARD  (WILLIAM)  a  learned  botanist,  ' 
whose  proper  name  was  Sherwood,  instead  of' 
which  he  assumed  that  by  which  he  is  com- 
monly known.    He  was  born  in  Leicestershire 
ill  1659,  and  was  educated  at  Merchant  Tai- 
lors' School,   London,   and  St  John's  college, 
Oxford,  where  he  entered  in  1677.     He  after- 
wards obtained   a  fellowship,  and  proceeded 
bachelor  of  law  in  1683.     He  then  travelled  in 
France  and  Italy,  as  tutor  to  two  young  noble- 
men ;  and   he   formed  an    acquaintance   with 
Boerhaave,    Hermann,    Tournefort,    Vaillant, 
Micheli,  and  other  men  of  science  abroad.    In 
1689  was  published   at  Amsterdam  an  anony- 
mous work,  entitled    "  Schola  Botanica,"   a 
systematic  catalogue  of  the  plants  in  the  royal 
garden  at  Paris,  reprinted  in  1691  and  1699, 
of  which   Sherard  appears  to  have  been  the 
'author.     In  1702  he  was  appointed  British 
consul  at  Smyrna,  a  post  which  furnished  him 
with  an  opportunity  of  forming  a  valuable  col- 
lection of  the  plants  of  Greece  and  Asia  Minor. 
He  letuined    home   in  1718  ;  and  in  1721  he 
made  a  new  visit  to  the  continent,  and  brought 
back  with  him  from  Germany  the  celebrated 
Dillenius,  who  became  professor  of  Botany  at 
Oxford.     Will)  Dillenius  and  his  brother,  Dr 
.lames  Sherard,  lie  devoted  his  time  especially 
to   the   study    of   the    Cryptogamic    order   of 
plants  ;  and  to  their   researches  that  obscure 
department  of  botany  is  indebted  for  consider- 
able   improvements.     His    death    took    place 
August  12,  1728.     Besides  the  work  already 
noticed,    he    assisted     in    editing    Hermann's 
"  Paradisus  Batavus,"  and  Yaillant's  "  Bota- 
uicon  Parisiense  ;"  nnd   he    aided  with  infor- 
mation, a»  well  as  with  money,  Catesby  in  his 
"  Natural  History  of  Carolina,"  and  Dillenius 
in  his  "  Hortus    Elthamensis,"  though  both 
these    works    appeared   some    time   after    his 
death.     He     left    3000/.    for   the    foundation 
and   support   oi   a   botanical   professorship   at 
Oxford  ;  and    to    that    establishment   he    be- 
queathed his  library,  heibariurn,  and  the  ma- 
nuscript of  his    "  Pinax    Botamcus,"   which 
was   never    published. — His    brother,   JAMKS 
SHtR^iiD,   acquired  a  considerable  fortune  by 
medical  practice  in   London,  first  as  an  apo- 
thecary and  then  as  a  physician.     He  retired 
to   Ehham   in    Kent,  where    he    cultivated  a 
number  of  exotic  plants,    and  applied  himself 
to  the  study  of  botauy.    He  died  February  12, 
J737,    aged   seventy-two,  and  was  buried  at 
Evmgton  near  Leicester. —  Lleeis  Cycliip.  Pnl- 
teneij's  Sketches  of  fincuny. 

SHEHBlJRiNE  (sirEowAun)  wasdescend- 
ed  from  an  ancient  family  of  the  same  name  at 
Stonyhurst  in  Lancashire.  His  father  was 
knighted  by  Charles  J,  and  made  clerk  of  the 
ordnance,  which  office  he  held  when  his  son 
was  born  in  London,  in  September  18,  1618. 
The  latter  received  a  private  education,  after 
which  he  travelled  on  the  continent,  but  was 
obliged  to  return  in  consequence  of  the  illness 
of  his  father,  to  whose  office  he  succeeded  by 
reversion.  The  civil  war  soon  deprived  him 
of  it;  and  being  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  firmly 
attached  to  (he  king,  he  endured  a  long  and 
expensive  confinement  hi  the  custody  of  the 


SHE 

usher  of  the  black  rod.  On  his  release  IK 
followed  the  fortunes  of  the  king,  who  made 
him  commissary  general  of  the  artillery,  in 
which  capacity  he  witnessed  the  battle  of 
Edge  Hill,  and  afterwards  attended  Charles 
to  Oxford,  where  he  received  the  degree  of 
AM.  On  the  surrender  of  Oxford,  he  re- 
paired to  London,  and  endured  considerable 
distress,  but  appears  not  to  have  been  mo- 
lested, as  he  published  his  translation  of  Se- 
neca's Medea,  and  other  works,  openly.  In 
1651  sir  George  Savile,  afterwards  marquis 
of  Halifax,  made  him  superintendent  of  his 
estates  ;  and  on  the  Restoration  he  regained 
his  office  in  the  ordnance,  to  which,  in  1682, 
was  added  the  honour  of  knighthood.  At  the 
Revolution,  being  unable  to  take  the  oaths, 
he  again  lost  his  post,  and  died  at  the  ad- 
vanced age  of  eighty-four,  on  the  4th  Novem- 
ber 1702.  His  works  consist  of  "  Poems  and 
Translations,"  1651  ;  a  "  Translation  of  Se- 
neca's Tragedies,"  and  another  of  "  The 
Sphere  of  Manilius."  The  poetry  is  not  des- 
titute of  genius,  although  overloaded  with 
the  strained  metaphors  and  allusions  so  com- 
mon to  his  time.  As  a  translator  he  appears 
to  more  advantage,  and  frequently  conveys 
the  sense  of  his  author  with  considerable  spi- 
rit. His  sacred  poems  often  display  superior 
warmth  and  elegance. — Biog.  Brit.  Dcidd's 
C/i.  Hist. 

SHEREBATOFF  (prince)  a  Russian  noble- 
man, who  published  several  works  in  his  na- 
tive language,  including  "  The  History  of 
Russia  from  the  earliest  Times,"  4  vols.  4to. 
He  also  edited  "  A  Journal  of  Peter  the 
Great,"  2  vols.  4to,  published  by  order  of  the 
empress  ;  "  The  Russian  History  hy  an  an- 
cient Annalist,  from  11 14  to  1 472  ;"  and  "  The 
Life  of  Peter  the  Great,"  first  published  at 
Venice,  which  the  prince  reprinted  with  addi- 
tions in  1774.  Mr  Coxe  describes  the  History 
of  Prince  Sherebatoff  as  a  most  valuable  work, 
founded  on  authentic  materials  drawn  from 
the  imperial  archives,  and  supported  by  accu- 
rate references  to  the  best  authorities. — Reeis 
Cyclop. 

SHERIDAN  (THOMAS)  an  Irish  divine, 
who  was  the  son  of  a  Protestant  country  gen- 
tleman possessed  of  an  estate  at  Uaghteraghy 
in  the  county  of  Cavan.  He  was  born  in  1694, 
and  was  educated  at  Trinity  college,  Dublin, 
through  the  kindness  of  his  relative,  Dr  Wil- 
liam Sheridan,  the  deprived  bishop  of  Kilmore, 
the  prodigality  of  his  father  having  put  it  out 
of  his  power  to  assist  him.  Having  taken  his 
degrees,  and  entered  into  holy  orders,  lie  ob- 
tained a  fellowship,  which  he  soon  forfeited 
by  marrying  a  woman  named  Elizabeth  Mac- 
fadden,  whose  mind,  person,  or  manners,  do 
not  appear  to  have  furnished  any  apology  for 
such  a  piece  of  imprudence.  As  he  was  a 
good  classical  scholar,  lie  set  up  an  academy 
for  youth  at  Dublin  ;  and  in  this  undertaking 
he  was  patronized  by  dean  Swift,  with  whom 
j  he  was  a  great  favourite,  partly  on  account  of 
his  facetiousness  and  good-humour,  and  partly 
on  account  of  his  high  church  principles.  His 
success  at  first  was  great,  but  an  attachment 


S  II  E 

to  company  and  the  pleasures  of  the  table  soon 
occasioned  a  reverse  of  fortune.  His  school 
which  at  one  time  is  said  to  have  producei 
nearly  a  thousand  a  year,  having  declined  S' 
as  to  become  unprofitable,  he  capriciously  re 
fused  the  offer  of  the  endowed  grammar-schoo 
of  Armagh,  worth  about  four  hundred  pound 
per  annum,  and  exchanged  a  living  procurei 
for  him  by  Swift  for  one  of  half  the  value.  Hi 
then  mortgaged  his  landed  property,  perse 
vered  in  all  his  former  expenses,  exchange! 
his  new  living  for  the  free-school  of  Cavan 
value  only  eighty  pounds  a  year  ;  and,  at  tht 
end  of  two  years,  sold  this  for  the  sum  of  fou 
hundred  pounds.  lie  at  length  settled  in  Dub 
Jin,  where  he  died  of  a  polypus  of  the  heart 
September  JO,  17o8,  clo.sing  his  singular  anc 
imprudent  career  in  great  poverty.  Dr  She- 
ridan was  the  author  of  some  sermons,  and  o 
a  prose  translation  of  the  satires  of  Persius. — 
Month.  Mag.  Chalmers's  Bicg,  Diet. 

SHERIDAN  (THOMAS)  the    third  son   of 
the  preceding,  was  born  at  Quilca  near  Dub- 
lin, in  1721.     At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  was 
sent  to  Westminster,  where   he  was   admitted 
on   the  foundation.      Being  recalled  in   conse- 
quence of  his  father's  embarrassments,  he,  after 
some  delay,   entered  as  a  student  of  Trinity 
college,  Dublin.     After  having  proceeded  to 
the   degree  of  MA.  he   suddenly  quitted  the 
university  for  the  stage,   and   made   his   first 
appearance  in   the  character  of  Richard  III, 
January  9,  1742-3,  at  the   theatre  in  Smock- 
alley,  Dublin.     He  obtained  much  celebrity  in 
his  new  profession,  both  in  his  native  country 
and  in  England.     After  a  visit  to  London  in 
1744,  he  returned  to  the  Irish  metropolis,  and 
became  a  theatrical  manager.  In  this  situation 
he    experienced    various    misfortunes,    partly 
arising  from  his  attempts  to  reform  the  irregu- 
larities which  prevailed  among  the  frequenters 
of  the    Dublin  theatre.     At  length  the  esta- 
blishment   of  a  rival   theatre   completed   the 
ruin  of  his  affairs  ;  and  he   then  for  a  while 
relinquished  the   stage,    and   commenced  lec- 
tures on  elocution,  to  which  subject  he  endea- 
voured to  draw  the  attention  of  the  public  by 
means  of  the  press.     He  delivered  his  lectures 
in  different  parts  of  the  kingdom,  and  was  at 
first  very  successful,  owing  more  to  the  novelty 
of  the  scheme  than  to  its  intrinsic  merit.     He 
was,  however,  fortunate    enough  to  obtain  a 
pension  of  200/.  a- year  during  the  ministry  of 
lord  Bute,  to  whom  he  had  dedicated  one  of 
his    publications.     He    subsequently  repaired 
to  Blois  in  France,   to  avoid  the   persecution 
of  his  creditors  ;  and  while  there  he  had  the 
misfortune  to  lose  his  wife. — (See  the  next 
Article.) — Returning  to  England  after  the  re- 
tirement of  Garrick  from  the  stage,  he  became 
manager  of  Drury-lane   theatre,  of  which  his 
son  was  one  of  the  proprietors  ;  but  some  dis- 
putt  s  taking  place,  he  retired  from  the  office 
in  disgust,   and  resumed  his  attention  to  ora- 
tory.    The  latest  and  most  important  of  his 
literary  labours  was   an    "  Orthoepical    Dic- 
tionary of  the  English  Language,"  which  ap- 
peared in  a  quarto  volume  its  1788.     'The  de- 
clining state  of  his  health  induced  him  to  set  out 


SHE 

for  Lisbon,  in  the  hope  of  deriving  benefit  from 
its  mild  climate  ;  but  he  had  scarcely  embarked 
when  he  died,  off  Margate,  August  11,  1788, 
and  his  corpse  was  interred  at  that  place.  He 
published  •'  British  Education,"  Dublin,  17.56, 
12mo  ;  and  other  pieces  relative  to  elocution, 
besides  his  Dictionary,  and  a  "  Life  of  De.Ti 
Swift."— Month.  Mag.  Thesp.  Diet. 

SHERIDAN  (FRANCES)  the  wife  of  Tho- 
mas Sheridan  the  actor,  was  the  grand-daugh- 
ter of  sir  Oliver  Chamberlayne.  Before  she 
was  married,  she  advocated  the  cause  of  her 
husband  in  a  well-written  pamphlet,  against  a 
party  in  opposition  to  him  on  account  of  some 
theatrical  disputes.  She  subsequently  em- 
ployed her  pen  in  writing  a  novel,  entitled 
"  Sidney  Biddulph,"  o  vols.  a  very  interesting 
but  sombre  tale  :  "  Nourjahad,"  an  eastern 
romance,  since  dramatized  ;  and  two  comedies, 
"  The  Discovery"  and  "  The  Dupe."  She 
was  born  in  Ireland  in  1724,  and  died  at 
Blois  in  France,  in  1767.  An  account  of  the 
life  of  this  amiable  and  accomplished  woman 
was  recently  published  by  her  grand-daughter, 
Alicia  Lefanu. — Month.  Mag. 

SHERIDAN   (RICHARD    BRINSLEY)    the 
third  and  youngest  son  of  the  last-mentioned 
Thomas    Sheridan,   was    distinguished    as    a 
statesman,  wit,  and  dramatist.     He  was  born 
in  Dorset-street,  Dublin,  October  30,   17.51. 
For  the  early  developement  of  his  talents  he 
was  indebted  to  the  instructions  of  his  accom- 
plished mother,  and  he  was  afterwards  placed 
it   a  grammar-school  at  Dublin,  whence,  in 
17,59,  he  was  removed  in  consequence   of  hi.s 
parents    leaving    Ireland.      They    settled     at 
Windsor,  and  he  remained  at  home  till  1762, 
when   he  was   sent   to   Harrow- school,  which 
seminary  he  left  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  owing 
to  his  father's  embarrassments.     With  a  view 
;o  the    legal  profession,    he   entered    subse- 
quently as  a  student  of  the  Middle  Temple  ; 
jut  the  close  application   and  industry   requi- 
site for  success  as  a  lawyer,  were  incompatible 
with   his  volatile  disposition,    and    he   relin- 
quished all  thoughts   of  being   called    to  the 
>ar,   for  politics  and  the    drama.     His  early 
narriage  also  doubtless  induced   him  to  look 
out  for  some  more  immediate  means  of  sup- 
>ort  than  the    practice   of  a  junior  barrister 
vould  have  been  likely  to  afford  him.    Having 
fery  soon  after  his    marriage    dissipated  the 
moderate  property  with  which   he  set   out  in 
he  world,  he  turned  his  attention  to  dramatic 
imposition  as  the  means  of  adding  to  his  re- 
ources.     His  first  production  was  the  comedy 
>f  "  The  Rivals,"  acted  at  Covent  Garden  in 
!anuary   1775,  with    moderate  success;    but 
The    Duenna,"   a    musical    entertainment, 
which   followed,   was  received    with    general 
idmiration  ;  and  his   "School   for   Scandal" 
gained  him  the  highest  reputation  as  a  comic 
vriter.     On    the  retirement  of  Garrick  from 
be     management    of     Drury-lane    Theatre, 
Sheridan,  in  conjunction   with   Dr   Fonle  and 
Mr  Linley,  purchased  Garrick's  share   of  the 
atent.    This  property  qualified  him  for  a  seat 
n    parliament  ;  and  in    1780   he   was  chosen 
nember  for  the   borcugh  of  Stafford.     Lord 


SHE 

North  was  then  minister,  and  Sheridan,  join- 
ing- the  opposition,  displayed  so  much  ability, 
that  on  the  retreat  of  the  premier,  and  the  con- 
clusion of  the  American  war,  he  was  made 
under  secretary  of  state  for  the  war  depart- 
ment. He  resigned  with  his  principal,  in  con- 
sequence of  a  dispute  with  Lord  Shelburne, 
afterwards  marquis  of  Lansdowne,  who  was 
at  the  head  of  the  ministry.  His  intimate  con- 
nexion with  Fox  brought  him  again  into  office 
on  the  coalition  of  that  statesman  with  lord 
North,  when  Sheridan  held  the  post  of  joint 
secretary  of  the  treasury  under  the  late  duke 
of  Portland.  The  dissolution  of  that  ministry 
threw  him  again  into  the  ranks  of  opposition, 
where  he  remained  during  the  whole  period  of 
the  political  ascendancy  of  Mr  Pitt.  He  now 
attained  distinguished  celebrity  as  a  parlia- 
mentary orator,  and  his  talents  were  particu- 
larly exhibited  in  his  opposition  to  the  exten- 
sion of  the  revenue  laws,  and  on  the  subject  of 
the  Westminster  election  ;  but  the  grandest 
display  of  his  eloquence  occurred  during  the 
progress  of  the  impeachment  of  Warren  Hast- 
ings. His  triumph  on  this  occasion  has  'been 
thus  celebrated  by  lord  Byron  : — 
"  When  the  loud  cry  of  trampled  Hindostan 
Arose  to  Heav'n  in  her  appeal  to  man, 
His  was  the  thunder,  his  the  avenging  rod, 
The  wrath — the  delegated  voice  of  God  ! 
Which  shook  the  nations  through  his  lips, 

and  blazed, 
Till  vanquished  senates  trembled  as  they 

praised." 

In  1792  Mr  Sheridan  lost  his  wife,  who  l?ft 
one  son  ;  and  three  years  afterwards  he  married 
Miss  Ogle,  daughter  of  the  dean  of  Winches- 
ter. With  this  lady  he  had  a  considerable 
fortune,  which  enabled  him  to  purchase  the 
estate  of  Polesdon,  in  Surrey  ;  and  as  he  held 
the  office  of  receiver-general  of  the  duchy  of 
Cornwall,  worth  1200/.  a  year,  and  retained 
his  interest  in  Drury-lane  Theatre,  he  seemed 
to  be  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  pecuniary 
distress.  The  political  changes  consequent  to 
the  death  of  Mr  Pitt  in  1806,  occasioned  the 
exaltation  of  the  party  with  which  Sheridan 
was  connected,  and  he  obtained  the  lucrative 
post  of  treasurer  of  the  navy,  and  the  rank  of 
a  privy  counsellor.  This  administration  being 
weakened  by  the  loss  of  Mr  Fox,  who  sur- 
vived his  celebrated  rival  only  a  few  months, 
new  alterations  took  place,  and  Sheridan  was 
deprived  of  office,  to  which  he  never  returned. 
At  the  general  election  in  1806  he  obtained  a 
seat  for  Westminster,  the  great  object  of  his 
ambition  ;  but  he  was  afterwerds  nominated 
for  the  borough  of  llchester,  which  he  conti- 
nued to  represent  during  the  remainder  of  hie 
parliamentary  career.  The  latter  part  of  the 
life  of  this  highly-talented  individual  was  em- 
bittered by  misfortunes,  principally  arising 
from  his  own  indolence  and  mismanagement, 
though  the  destruction  of  Drury-litne  Theatre 
by  fire  contributed  to  increase  his  difficulties. 
When  the  affairs  of  that  establishment  were 
arranged  in  1811,  Mr  Sheridan  and  his  son 
were  to  have  on  various  accounts  40.000/.  for 
tLeir  share  of  the  property  ;  but  the  portion 


b  H  E 

of  the  former  was  not  sufficient  to  liquul.Hrt 
the  debts  and  reserved  claims  to  which  it  was 
liable.     The  dissolution  of  parliament,  and  his 
failure  in  an  attempt  to  obtain  a  seat  for  Staf- 
ford, the  borough  he  had  formerly  represented, 
completed  his  ruin.    In  the  latter  part  of  1813 
lie  had  relinquished  all  thoughts  of  returning 
to  the  house  of  Commons  ;  and  the  remainder 
of  his  existence  was  spent  in  attempts  to  ward 
off  the  dangers  to  which  his  improvidence  had 
exposed  him.    At  length  every  resource  failed, 
and  the  disappearance    of  his    property    was 
followed  by  the  arrest  of  his  person.     After  a 
few  days' detention,  lie  was  released,  hut  only 
to  experience  fresh  apprehension  and   alarm, 
from  which  he   sought  a  temporary  relief  in 
that  unrestrained  indulgence   and  dissipation 
which  had  occasioned  his  misfortunes.  Intem- 
perance had  undermined  his  constitution,   and 
mental  anxiety  completed   the  destruction  of 
his  health.     Even   on  the  bed  of  sickness  lie 
was  not  exempted  from   the   terrors   of  being 
arrested  for  debt  ;  and  his  death,  which  took 
place  July  7,   1816,  amidst  a  complication  of 
miseries,   affords   a    striking  example  of    the 
disastrous   consequences    of   personal    impru- 
dence.    Besides  the  plays  already  mentioned, 
Mr  Sheridan  was  the.  author  of  "  St  Patrick's 
Day,  or  the   Scheming  Lieutenant,"   a  farce  ; 
"  A  Trip  to  Scarborough,"  a  comedy,  altered 
from   Vanbrugh  ;    "    The    Camp  "        farce  ; 
"  The    Critic,   or    the   Tragedy    rehearsed  ;" 
"  Robinson  Crusoe,  or  Harlequin  Friday,''   a 
pantomime  ;  and  "  Fizarro,"  a  play,  from  the 
German  of  Kotzebue.   He  also  wrote  "  Verses 
to  the  Memory  of  David  Garrick,"  1779,  4to  ; 
and   "  A  Comparative  Statement  of  the   two 
Bills  for  the  better  Government  of  the  British 
Possessions  in  India,"  1788,  -ito.     As  a  pub- 
lic man,   on   party  principles,    Mr  Sheridan  is 
entitled  on  the  whole  to  the  praise  of  consis- 
tency and  disinterestedness,    as  he  certainly 
might  have  obtained  office  and  encouragement, 
had  he  chosen  to  desert   the  political  body  to 
which   he  adhered  in  all  fortunes.     This,  as 
the  embarrassment   of  his   circumstances  in- 
creased, was  the  more  honourable  to  him,  and 
even  the  imprudence  of  the  man  added  to  the 
self-denial  of  the  politician.     As  a  speaker  he 
ranks  among  the  most   finished  and  varied   of 
the  rhetorical  school  ;   and  his  speech  already 
alluded  to  against  Warren  Hastings  has  been 
deemed  one  of  the  most  striking  specimens  of 
English  eloquence  upon  record.     As  a  drama- 
tist he  may  be  deemed  the  head  of  the  depart- 
ment of  that  line   of  comedy   which  exhibi's 
the   polite    malice,    the  civil    detraction,    the 
equivoque,  intrigue,    persiflage,    and    lurking 
irony  which  characterize  social  intercourse  in 
the    more    cultivated     grades   of    life.      Wit 
usually  takes  the  lead  of  humour  in  this  spe- 
cies of  composition  ;  and,  like  Congreve,  She- 
ridan has  incurred  the  imputation  of  giving  a 
portion  of  it  to  all  his  characters  to  a  corres- 
pondent destruction  of  nature   and  verisimili- 
tude.    Something  of  this  may  be  true,  and  still 
leave  "  The  School  for  Scandal  "  the  head  oi 
the  comic  modern  drama  in  its  own  pecuiitr 
walk,  and   a  very    elicitous  exemplification  ol 


S  II  E 

character,  and  of  some  of  the  most  conspicuous 
of  the  well-bred  vices  and  follies  of  fashion- 
able life.  The  works  of  Sheridan  appeared 
in  1821,  in  two  volumes  octavo,  edited  by 
Mr  Thomas  Aloorc,  who  lias  published  an  in- 
teresting life  of  the  subject  of  this  article.  — 
Gent.  Mag.  Month.  Mag.  Moore's  Life  of 
Sheridan. 

SHERIDAN  (ELIZABETH)  daughter  of 
Thomas  Linley,  the  musician,  and  first  wife  of 
the  celebrated  R.  B.  Sheridan.  She  was  alike 
distinguished  for  her  beauty,  her  fascinating 
manners,  and  her  musical  talents.  There  was 
a  brilliancy  and  mellifluous  sweetness  in  the 
tone  of  her  voice,  which  penetrated  the  hearts 
of  her  hearers  as  much  as  her  angelic  looks 


delighted  their  eyes.  In  Handel's  pathetic 
sonsrs,  in  Purcell's  Mad  Bess,  in  the  upper 
part  of  serious  glees,  or  in  any  vocal  music 
expressive  of  passion,  she  was  sure  to  delight 
every  hearer  of  sensibility.  Sacchini,  on  hear- 
ing Miss  Linley  sing  for  the  last  time  in  pub- 
lic at  Oxford,  observed,  that  if  she  had  been 
born  in  Italy,  she  would  have  been  as  much 
superior  to  all  Italian  singers  as  she  was  then 
to  all  of  her  own  country.  She  relinquished  her 
profession  as  a  public  singer  on  her  marriage 
with  Sheridan  in  1773  ;  and  her  death  took 
place  in  1792.  —  Rees's  Cyclop. 

SHERLEY   or    SHIRLEY  (ANTHONY)  a 
famous  English  traveller,  who  was  born  of  a 
good  family   at  Wiston    in    Sussex,  in    156.5. 
He    studied    at    All    Souls    college,    Oxford 
where   he   took   the   degree  of  B  A.  in   1.581  ; 
after  which  he  joined  the   English  troops  in 
the  Netherlands.     In  1.596  he  engaged  in  an 
expedition  to   the  West  Indies,    against  the 
Spaniards  ;    and   on    his  return  home  lie  was 
knighted.      He  was  then  sent  by  queen  Eliza- 
beth into  Italy,  to  assist  the  people  of  Ferrara 
in  their  contest  with  the  pope  ;  but  that  being 
accommodated  previously  to  his    arrival,   he 
proceeded  to  Venice,  and,  accompanied  by  his 
brother  Robert,    travelled    thence  to  Persia, 
where  he  rose  to  great  favour  with   the  sove- 
reign of  that  country,  Shah  Abbas,  who  de- 
spatched him  in  1.599  on  an  embassy  to  invite 
the  Christian  princes  of  Europe  to  join  him  in 
a  war  against  the  Turks.     Hussein-  A  li  Bey, 
a   Persian  of   distinction,  was  joined  in   this 
mission  ;  and  the  two  plenipotentiaries  reached 
Moscow,  whence  Sherley  despatched  Hussein 
into  Spain,  and  directed  his  course  to  Venice. 
The  Persian  was  well  received,  while  his  co- 
adjutor,   having  committed  some   crime,  was 
thrown  into   prison,  and  would  probably  have 
been  put  to  death,  but  for  the  interference  of 
the    Spanish   ambassador,    who   procured  his 
liberty.     He  then  went  to  Spain,  where  he  so 
advantageously  distinguished  himself,  that  the 
king  made  him  admiral  of  the   Levant  Seas, 
and  appointed  him  a  member  of  the  council  of 
Naples.     These  honours  excited  the  jealousy 
nt"  his   sovereign,   James   I,   who  commanded 
him  to  return   home,  but  he  refused  to  obey 
the  order.     He  is  supposed  to  have  died  about 
K'ol      His  Voyage  to   the  West   Indies  was 
fwHislied     by    IlaUuyt,   and    his   Travels    in 
iu  Purchas's   Pilgrimages.  —  SUJEIU.KY 


S  H  E 

(ROBERT)  younger  brother  of  the  preceding, 
born  about  1.570,  after  having  served  different 
European  princes,  went  to  Persia  with  An- 
thony, and  was  left  there  in  a  military  employ- 
ment in  1.599.  As  he  wished  to  return  home, 
Shah  Abbas  sent  him,  in  1604,  to  propose  a 
treaty  of  commerce  with  England.  Sherley 
stnid  some  time  in  Italy  and  at  Prague,  and 
did  not  reach  England  till  1612.  On  his  re- 
turn to  Persia,  the  emperor  gave  him  in  marriage 
a  Circassian  who  was  related  to  one  of  his 
wives.  He  left  Persia  a  second  time,  about 
1616,  on  a  mission  to  the  European  powers, 
to  propose  a  league  against  the  Turks.  He 
reached  England  in  1623,  and  on  his  return  to 
Persia  he  died,  it  is  said,  of  a  broken  heart, 
July  23,  1627,  chagrined  at  having  been 
treated  as  an  impostor  by  another  ambassador 
from  Persia,  whom  he  encountered  at  the  Eng- 
lish court. — SHERLEY  (THOMAS)  elder  bro- 
ther of  the  t\vo  former,  studied  at  Oxford,  and 
afterwards  resided  for  some  years  at  Wiston 
with  his  father.  The  fame  of  his  brothers' 
achievements  at  length  roused  his  ambition, 
and  he  also  became  a  traveller,  and  wrote  an 
account  of  his  adventures.  The  Sherleys  had 
rendered  themselves  so  famous  by  their  tra- 
vels and  exploits,  that  in  1607  they  were 
made  the  subject  of  a  drama,  entitled  "  The 
Travels  of  the  Three  English  Brothers," 
written  by  John  Day. —  Wood.  Grander.  E'ov. 
Univ. 

SHERLEY  (THOMAS)  of  the  same  family 
with  the  foregoing,  was  a  native  of  Westmin'- 
ster,  and  was  educated  at  Magdalen  college, 
Oxford.  He  afterwards  went  to  France,  where 
he  took  his  degrees  in  medicine,  and  returning 
home,  he  became  physician  to  Charles  II.  He 
died  in  1678.  Dr  Sherley  was  the  author 
of  a  "  Philosophical  Essay  on  the  Probable 
Causes  whence  Stones  are  produced  in  the 
Greater  World,  &c."  8vo,  said  to  be  a  curious 
performance  ;  a  paper  in  the  Transactions  of 
the  Royal  Society;  besides  other  works. — 
Lempriere's  Univ.  Biog. 

SHERLOCK  (WILLIAM)  an  episcopal  cler- 
gyman, born  in  Southwark  about  1641.  He 
studied  at  Eton,  and  afterwards  at  Peterhouse, 
Cambridge,  where  he  proceeded  DD.  in  1680. 
He  was  then  presented  to  the  rectory  of  St 
George,  Botolph-lane,  London  ;  after  which 
he  obtained  a  prebend  in  St  Paul's  cathedral, 
and  became  master  of  the  Temple,  and  rector 
of  Therfield,  Hertfordshire.  After  the  Revo- 
lution he  refused  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance 
to  William  III,  in  consequence  of  which  he 
was  suspended  from  the  pastoral  office  ;  but 
on  his  subsequent  compliance,  he  was  restored, 
and  in  1691  promoted  to  the  deanery  of  St 
Paul's.  His  death  took  place  in  1707.  Dr 
Sherlock  distinguished  himself  as  a  polemical 
divine  against  the  dissenters,  and  he  carried 
on  a  controversy  with  Dr  South  relative  to 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  His  works  on 
jractical  theology,  especially  his  Discourses 
on  Death  and  on  Judgment,  are  much  es- 
teemed, and  have  passed  through  numerous 
editions. — SHERLOCK  (THOMAS)  son  of  the 
preceding,  also  adopted  the  clerical  profession, 


S  II  1 

&nd  distinguished  himself  as  a  theological 
writer.  He  was  bom  in  London  in  1678,  and 
received  his  education  at  Eton  school,  and 
Catherine-hall,  Cambridge,  where  he  obtained 
a  fellowship.  He  succeeded  his  father  as 
master  of  the  Temple  in  1704  ;  and  ten  years 
after,  he  was  chosen  master  of  Catherine-hall. 
He  was  promoted  to  the  deanery  of  Chiches- 
ter  in  1716,  after  which  he  entered  into  a  con- 
troversy with  bishop  Hoadly,  in  defence  of 
the  corporation  find  test  acts.  In  1725  he 
published  "  Discourses  on  the  Use  and  Intent 
of  Prophecy,"  preached  at  the  Temple  church. 
These  sermons,  which  were  intended  to  ob- 
viate the  infidel  objections  of  Anthony  Col- 
lins, were  severely  animadverted  on  by  Dr 
Conyers  Middleton,  whose  criticisms  did  not 
prevent  the  work  from  attaining  a  considerable 
degree  of  popularity.  Dr  Sherlock,  in  1728, 
succeeded  his  antagonist  Hoadly  in  the 
bishopric  of  Bangor,  and  in  1734  he  again 
replaced  him  at  Salisbury.  He  was  offered 
the  primacy  on  the  decease  of  archbishop 
Potter  in  1747,  but  he  thought  proper  to  refuse 
it;  and  the  following  year  he  was  translated 
to  the  see  of  London,  where  he  remained  till 
his  death,  which  took  place  at  Fulham,  July 
18,  1761.  Bishop  Sherlock  was  the  author  of 
an  ingenious  tract  entitled  "  The  Trial  of  the 
Witn esses  of  the  Resurrection  of  Jesus  ;" 
and  his-'  Sermons  "  are  among  the  best  spe- 
cimens of  English  pulpit  eloquence  extant. — 
Aikiu's  G.  Biog. 

SHERW1N  (JOHN  KEYSE)  an  eminent 
historical  engraver,  who,  till  the  age  of  nine- 
teen, exercised  the  humble  occupation  of  a 
wood-cutter.  He  was  at  that  period  employed 
on  the  estate  of  Mr  Mitford,  near  Petworth 
in  Sussex,  and  being  one  day  at  the  house  of 
that  gentleman  on  business,  he  was  admitted 
into  a  room  where  some  of  the  family  were  I 
amusing  themselves  in  drawing,  when,  on  his  j 
appearing  to  view  the  process  with  more  atten- 
tion than  could  be  excited  by  common  curio- 
sity, he  was  asked  if  he  could  do  any  thing  in 
that  way.  Sherwin  said  that  he  could  not  tell, 
but  he  should  like  to  try.  Mr  Mitford  gave 
him  a  crayon,  when  he  produced  on  the  spot 
a  drawing  which  surprised  not  a  little  those 
who  witnessed,  his  performance  ;  and  on  its 
being  exhibited  to  the  Society  for  the  Encou- 
ragement of  Arts,  &c.  the  self-taught  artist 
was  rewarded  with  a  silver  medal.  He  then 
removed  to  London,  and  was  enabled  to  be- 
come a  pupil  of  Rartolozzi,  under  whom  he 
improved  very  rapidly.  Among  his  principal 
works  are  engravings  of  "  Christ  and  Mary 
Magdalen  in  the  Garden  ;"  and  "  Christ  bear- 
ing his  Cross  ;"  from  the  altar-pieces  of  All 
Souls  and  Magdalen  colleges,  Oxford  ;  and  an 
admirable  print  representing  the  "  Finding  of 
Moses,"  which,  with  other  excellent  produc- 
tions of  his  burin,  render  his  early  death, 
which  took  place  in  1790,  a  subject  of  regret 
to  tlie  admirers  of  the  fine  arts. — Europ.  Pdug. 

SHIPLEY,  the  name  of  two  distinguished 
divines  of  the  established  church,  father  and 
BOD.  JONATHAN  SHIPLEY,  the  elder,  was 
born  in  1714,  and  received  his  education  at 


S  H  I 

Christehurch,  Oxford,  where  he  graduated  in 
1738.  Having  taken  holy  orders,  he  obtained 
a  stall  in  Winchester  cathedral,  and  the  ap- 
pointment of  domestic  chaplain  to  the  duke  of 
Cumberland,  whom  he  accompanied  in  his 
continental  campaign.  On  his  return  to  Eng- 
land, lie  was  preferred  to  a  canonry  at  Christ- 
church,  which  he  resigned  in  1760,  for  the 
valuable  deanery  of  Winchester.  From  this 
responsible  situation  he  was  afterwards  ele- 
vated to  the  see  of  Liandaff,  and  thence  trans- 
lated to  that  of  St  Asaph  in  1769.  Bishop 
Shipley  wrote  some  elegant  lines  on  the  death 
of  queen  Caroline,  as  well  as  some  other  mis- 
cellaneous poems  of  considerable  merit,  which 
have  been  collected  and  published  in  two 
octavo  volumes.  In  the  house  of  Lords  he 
much  distinguished  himself  against  the  Ame- 
rican war,  during  which  he  signalized  himself 
as  a  spirited,  able,  and  eloquent  opposer  of 
administration.  At  his  death,  which  took 
place  in  1788,  besides  two  daughters,  he  left 
behind  him  a  son,  WILLIAM  DAVIES  SHIP- 
LEY, born  at  Midgham  in  Berkshire,  October 
5,  1745,  who  at  an  early  age  was  sent  by  his 
father  to  Westminster  school.  On  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  latter,  however,  to  the  deanery  of 
Winchester,  he  carried  his  son  with  him  to 
thnt  city,  and  placed  him  in  the  college  there, 
whence  he  removed  to  Oxford  in  1763,  and 
was  admitted  a  student  of  Chvistchurch  in  that 
university.  Here  he  graduated  as  MA.  in 
1770,  and  the  year  following  he  was  collated 
by  his  father  to  the  vicarage  of  Wfexham  in 
Denbighshire.  On  the  death  of  Dr  Herring, 
1774,  he  was  farther  promoted  to  the  deanery 
and  chancellorship  of  the  diocese  of  St  Asaph. 
Dean  Shipley  appears  to  have  inherited 
from  his  father  a  strong  attachment  to  Whig 
principles,  which  engaged  him  in  a  contest 
then  as  attractive  of  public  attention  as  ulti- 
mately productive  of  public  benefit.  His  bro- 
ther-in-law, the  celebrated  sir  William  Jones, 
having,  about  the  close  of  the  American  war, 
published  a  little  piece  on  the  subject  of  go- 
vernment, entitled  "  A  Dialogue  between  a 
Gentleman  and  a  Farmer,"  the  dean  repub- 
lished  it  in  Wales,  on  which  he  was  indicted 
for  a  libel  by  a  political  adversary.  The  pro- 
secution was  long  and  vexatious,  being  twice 
brought  for  trial  into  the  Welsh  courts,  and 
then  removed  by  certiorari  to" Shrewsbury.  It 
was  in  this  celebrated  cause  that  the  question 
was  first  mooted,  whether  the  jury  were  or 
were  not  judges  of  law  as  well  as  of  fact. 
Judge  Buller,  in  summing  up,  charged,  in 
conformity  with  the  doctrine  laid  down  by  the 
counsel  for  the  prosecution,  that  the  jury  were 
not  to  decide  whether  the  matter  was  or  was 
not  libellous  ;  notwithstanding  which  the  ver- 
dict brought  in  was,  "  Guilty  of  publishing 
only  ;"  afterwards  altered,  at  the  suggestion  of 
the  prosecutor's  counsel,  to  "  Guilty  of  pub- 
lishing, but  whether  a  libel  or  not,  we  do  not 
find."  On  the  question  being  subsequently 
brought  before  the  court  of  King's  Bench,  the 
whole  was  quashed,  through  a  flaw  in  the  pro- 
ceedings ;  but  from  this  memorable  contest 
arose  the  statute  by  which  the  right  of  the 


SHI 

jury  to  decide  upon  law,  aa  well  as  fact,  in 
cuses  of  libel,  was  afterwards  recognized  and 
established,  in  opposition  to  the  opinions  of 
lords  Thurlow  anil  hienyon.  Throughout  the 
whole  transaction  the  dean's  conduct  was  ir- 
reproachable ;  and  it  is  not  a  little  remarkable 
that  the  real  and  avowed  author  was,  pen  den  te 
lite,  appointed  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Judicature  at  Calcutta.  Dean  Shipley,  in 
whom  were  united  high  intellectual  powers, 
independence  of  mind,  and  great  hencvolence 
of  heart,  died  at  Boddryddan,  June  7,  1826. 
— Gent.  Mag-  1788.  Ann.  Biog. 

SHIPPEN  (WiLLtAivi)  a  distinguished  po- 
litical character  during  the  administration  of* 
sir  Robert  Walpole.  He  was  the  son  of  the 
rev.  W.  Shippen,  rector  of  Stockport  in  Che- 
shire ;  and  about  1672  he  married  the  daugh- 
ter of  sir  Richard  Stote,  knight,  with  whom  he 
obtained  a  fortune  of  seventy  thousand  pounds. 
He  was  chosen  successively  representative  in 
parliament  for  the  boroughs  of  Bramber  in 
Sussex,  Saltash  in  Cornwall,  and  Newton  in 
Lancashire.  One  of  his  speeches  in  the  house 
of  Commons,  in  opposition  to  Walpole,  was 
published  ;  and  he  was  the  author  of  several 
pamphlets  and  political  poems  against  that 
minister.  Pope  and  Sheffield  have  alluded  to 
him  in  their  writings  ;  the  former  terms  him 
"  downright  Shippen."  He  died  about  1741. 
— His  brother,  DR  ROBERT  SHIPPEN,  was  a 
man  of  eminent  abilities,  and  was  principal  of 
Brazennose  college,  Oxford,  from  1710  to 
174.5. — Coi's  Lij'e  of  Sir  R.  IVulpote,  vol.  iii. 

SHIRLEY  (A.)     See  SHERLEY. 

SHIRLEY  (.TAMES)  a  poet  and  dramatic 
writer,  was  descended  from  an  ancient  family, 
and  born  in  London  about  1594.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  Merchant  Tailors'  School,  and  thence 
removed  to  St  John's  college,  Oxford.  He 
became  a  favourite  with  Ur  Laud,  who,  how- 
ever, discountenanced  his  entry  into  the 
church,  on  account  of  a  large  mole  upon  his 
cheek,  which  he  deemed  a  disqualification  by 
deformity,  according  to  the  canons.  On  re- 
moving to  Cambridge,  he  met  with  no  diffi- 
culty on  this  score,  but  entered  into  orders, 
and  obtained  a  curacy  near  St  Albans.  His 
religious  opinions  being  unsettled,  he  soon 
after  went  over  to  the  church  of  Rome,  and 
giving  up  his  curacy,  sought  to  establish  a 
grammar-school  in  the  same  town.  Failing  in 
this  endeavour,  he  removed  to  London,  and 
became  a  fertile  writer  for  the  stage  ;  and  his 
efforts  being  successful,  he  acquired  a  reputa- 
tion which  caused  him  to  be  taken  into  the 
service  of  queen  Henrietta  Maria.  His  first 
comedy  is  dated  1629,  and  he  wrote  nine  or 
ten  between  that  year  and  1637,  when  lie  ac- 
companied the  earl  of  Kildare  to  Ireland.  He 
returned  the  following  year,  and  when  the 
civil  war  broke  out,  he  left  London,  with  his 
wife  and  family  ;  and  being  invited  by  the  earl 
of  Newcastle,  he  accompanied  that  nobleman 
to  the  wars.  On  the  decline  of  the  king's 
cause,  lie  returned  to  London  ;  and  the  acting 
of  plays  being  prohibited,  he  returned  to  his 
old  occupation  of  a  school,  and  educated  seve- 
ral eminent  men.  At  the  Restoration  many 


J5  II   O 

of  his  plays  were  brought  upon  the  theatre 
again,  and  he  appears  to  have  been  compara- 
tively prosperous.  In  1666  he  was  forced, 
with  Ins  second  wife  Frances,  by  the  great  fire, 
from  his  house  in  St  Giles's  parish  ;  and  beinp- 
extremely  affected,  both  by  the  loss  and  terror 
that  fire  occasioned,  they  both  died  on  the 
29th  October,  within  the  space  of  twenty -four 
hours,  and  were  buried  in  the  same  grave. 
Besides  thirty-seven  plays,  tragedies,  and 
comedies,  he  published  a  volume  of  poems, 
some  very  beautiful  specimens  of  which  may 
be  found  in  Ellis's  Selection.  As  a  dramatist 
he  may  be  said  to  rank  immediately  between 
Beaumont  and  Fletcher;  and  his  comedies 
have  been  recommended  into  so  much  obser- 
vation of  late,  as  to  induce  Mr  Gifford  to  un- 
dertake a  complete  edition  of  his  works.  Shir- 
ley, in  fact,  m;>y  be  deemed  one  of  those  se- 
condary men  of  genius  of  his  own  age,  who 
have  been  too  much  neglected  by  posterity, 
and  who  go  a  great  way  towards  justifying  the 
revived  attention  with  which  they  have  been 
recently  favoured. — Biog.  Dram.  Ellin's  Spe- 
cimens. 

SHORT  (JAMES)  an  eminent  mechanic  and 
natural  philosopher,  who  was  a  native  of 
Edinburgh.  He  receiveil  his  education  at  the 
high-school  and  the  university  of  the  Scottish 
metropolis,  where  he  applied  himself  particu- 
larly to  mathematics  ;  and  having  taken  the 
degree  of  MA.,  he  was,  through  the  recom- 
mendation of  professor  Maclaurin,  appointed 
mathematical  tutor  to  the  duke  of  Cumber- 
land, the  son  of  George  II.  In  1739  he.  was 
employed  by  government  to  make  a  survey  of 
the  Orkney  Islands.  He  afterwards  settled  in 
London,  as  a  mathematical  instrument-maker, 
and  obtained  deserved  celebrity  for  his  skill 
in  the  construction  of  telescopes.  He  was 
chosen  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  to  whose 
Transactions  he  was  a  contributor.  His  death 
took  place  in  1768,  at  the  age  of  fifty-seven. — 
ttees's  Cyrltip. 

SHORT  (THOMAS)  a  physician  and  medical 
writer,  who  was  a  native  of  North  Britain. 
He  studied  at  Edinburgh,  and  established  him- 
self as  a  practitioner  of  medicine  at  Sheffield 
in  Yorkshire,  whence  he  removed  to  Ro- 
theram  in  the  same  county.  In  1734  he  pub- 
lished a  "  History  of  the  Mineral  Waters  of 
Derbyshire,  Lincolnshire,  and  Yorkshire," 
4to;  and  he  was  also  the  author  of  "  Obser- 
vations on  the  Bills  of  Mortality,"  1750,  8vo; 
"  A  General  Chronological  History  of  the 
Air,  Weather,  Seasons,  Meteors,  &c."  2  vols. 
8vo ;  "  A  Comparative  History  of  the  In- 
crease and  Decrease  of  Mankind  in  England, 
and  Countries  abroad,"  1767,  4to  ;  besides 
other  works.  lie  died  at  Rotheram  in  1772. 
— Gent.  Mag. 

SHOVEL  (sir  CLOUDESLEY)  an  able  Eng- 
lish admiral,  was  born  near  Clay,  in  Norfolk, 
about  1656.  He  was  put  apprentice  to  some 
mechanical  trade,  but  taking  a  liking  to  sea, 
he  went  out  under  the  protection  of  sir  Chris- 
topher Seymour,  as  cabin-boy,  and  in  due 
time  attained  the  commission  of  a  lieutenant, 
in  which  capacity  he  served  under  sir  John 


sue 

Harborough  in  1647.  He  was  employed  by 
that  commander  to  wait  upon  the  dey  of  Tri- 
poli with  a  requisition,  which  the  latter  treated 
witli  contempt.  On  his  return,  he  stated  to 
the  admiral  the  practicability  of  burning  the 
shipping  in  the  harbour,  which  service  he  per- 
formed the  same  evening,  without  the  loss  of 
a  single  man.  For  this  exploit  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  command  of  a  ship,  and  he  gra- 
dually rose  in  his  profession,  until  tlu  era  of 
the  Revolution,  in  which  lie  heartily  con- 
curred. He  was  employed  to  convey  William 
and  bis  army  to  Ireland  ;  and  for  the  skill 
with  which  he  performed  this  service,  was 
knighted,  and  made  rear-admiral.  He  also 
commanded  the  squadron  which  in  1692  con- 
veyed William  to  Holland  ;  and  he  had  a  share 
.vith  Russel  in  the  victory  of  La  Hogue.  In 
'1708  he  commanded  a  fleet  in  the  Mediterra- 
nean, and  in  the  year  following  partook  of  the 
victory  of  Malaga.  In  1705  he  sailed  for 
England,  and  on  the  night  of  the  22d  October 
fell  by  mistake  upon  the  rocks  of  Scilly,  when 
his  ship,  with  some  others,  was  totally  lost, 
and  all  on  board  perished.  His  body  was  dis- 
covered by  some  fishermen,  who  stripped  and 
buried  it ;  but  the  fact  becoming  known,  his 
remains  were  brought  to  London,  and  interred 
in  Westminster  abbey,  where  a  memorial  in 
niserable  taste  records  his  fate  and  services. — 
Campbell's  Admirals. 

SHO\VER  (JOHN)  an  eminent  puritan  di- 
vine, was  born  at  Exeter  in  1657,  and  edu- 
cated privately  in  his  native  city,  and  at  the 
dissenting  academies  of  Taunton  and  Newing- 
ton-green.  In  1679  he  received  ordination 
from  the  dissenting  ministry,  and  officiated  at 
a  chapel  in  Tothill- fields,  which  situation  lie 
left  in  1686,  to  escort  the  nephew  of  sir  Samuel 
Bavnardiston  to  the  continent.  Being  dis- 
gusted with  the  measures  of  James  II,  with 
the  exception  of  occasional  visits  to  London,  he 
took  up  his  residence  in  Holland  until  after  the 
Revolution,  when  he  returned  to  England,  and 
became  assistant  to  the  learned  John  Howe, 
in  Silver-street.  He  finally  removed  to  the 
chapel  in  the  Old  Jewry,  where  he  preached 
with  great  reputation  until  his  death;  in  1715. 
His  works,  which  are  very  numerous,  consist 
chiefly  of  sermons  adapted  for  the  press, 
which  have  been  much  read  by  those  of  simi- 
lar opinions.  He  was  also  author  of  a  letter  to 
the  lord  treasurer  Oxford,  respecting  the  oc- 
casional conformity  bill,  dated  December  20, 
1701  ;  which  letter,  with  the  lord-treasurer's 
answer*  written,  it  is  said,  by  Swift,  in  his 
most  vituperative  style,  will  be  found  in 
Swift's  works,  vol.  xi.  p.  201. — Life  by  Tong. 

SHOWER  (sir  BARTHOLOMEW  )  an  eminent 
lawyer,  was  brother  to  the  preceding,  but  ap- 
parently of  very  different  sentiments.  Little 
is  known  of  him,  except  that  by  the  appoint 
ment  of  James  II,  he  became  recorder  of  Lon- 
don during  the  time  that  the  city  was  deprived 
of  its  charter  ;  but  was  obliged  to  resign  when 
that  monarch's  fears  induced  him  to  restore  it. 
As  a  pleader  he  distinguished  himself  before 
the  two  houses  of  parliament  in  petitions  and 
appeals.  He  died  in  1701.  He  is  author  of 

Bioo.  DitT.— VOL.  111. 


SI  B 

"  Cases  in  Parliament  resolved,  and  adjudged 
upon  Petitions  and  Writs  of  Error,"  1698  and 
1740  ;  as  also  of  "  Reports  of  Cases  in  Banco 
Regis,  from  30  Car.  II.  to  6  W.  Ill,"  1708 
and  1720,  2  vols.  folio.-  -Bridgman's  Le^al 

nil-  °  ° 

nililing. 

SHUTER  (EDWARD)  a  celebrated  actor  in 
low  comedy,  said  to  have"  been  the  son  of  a 
clergyman,  though  stated  by  soioe  to  have 
been  a  person  of  mean  origin,  which  is  most 
probable,  as  he  was  utterly  unacquainted  with 
literature,  and  was,  before  he  went  on  the 
stage,  employed  as  a  marker  at  a  billiard- 
table.  Having  been  engaged  at  Covent-gar- 
den  theatre,  he  displayed  such  talents  in  the 
delineation  of  humorous  characters  as  raised 
him  into  high  favour  with  the  public.  Not- 
withstanding his  professional  emoluments  were 
considerable,  such  was  his  carelessness  and 
extravagance,  that  he  was  involved  iu  per- 
petual embarrassments,  which  were,  doubt- 
less, increased  by  his  contributions  in  support 
of  Methodism  ;  for  it  is  a  singular  fact  that 
Shuter  was  a  devoted  follower  of  George 
Whiterield.  He  was  gifted  by  nature  with 
strong  features,  over  the  expression  of  which 
lie  had  the  most  perfect  command,  exercising 
a  despotic  power  over  the  risible  faculties  of 
the  spectators.  Among  his  principal  charac- 
ters were  Falstaff,  Scrubb,  Master  Stephen, 
Trapolin,  Lauucelot,  &c.  He  at  one  time  car- 
ried on  a  paper  war  (by  proxy)  with  Mrs 
Clive,  which  originated  in  the  collision  of  their 
interests,  owing  to  their  benefits  happening  on 
the  same  night.  Churchill  satirized  him  in 
the  Rosciad  ;  but  he  was  so  little  affected  by 
the  criticism,  that  he  took  the  first  opportunity 
of  making  merry  with  the  author  over  a  bottle. 
His  death  took  place  November  1,  1776. — 
Lempriere.  Thesp.  Diet. 

SIBBALD  (sir  ROBERT)  a  Scottish  physi- 
cian and  naturalist,  born  near  Leslie  in  Fife- 
shire,  about  1643.  He  was  educated  at  the 
university  of  St  Andrews,  after  which  he  tra- 
velled for  improvement  in  France  and  Italy. 
On  bis  return  to  Scotland  he  was  nominated 
physician  and  geographer  to  Charles  II,  by 
whom  he  was  honoured  with  knighthood,  and 
appointed  to  write  the  history  of  the  king- 
dom. He  contributed  to  the  foundation  of  the 
College  of  Physicians  at  Edinburgh,  of  which 
he  became  the  first  president ;  and  he  was 
also  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  of  London. 
Having  renounced  Protestantism  for  the  faith 
of  the  Catholic  church,  he  returned  to  the 
communion  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland  in  the 
reign  of  James  II  ;  and  his  religious  versa- 
tility subjected  him  to  the  sarcasms  of  the  Ja- 
cobite physician,  Pitcairne.  Sir  Robert  Sib- 
bald  died  about  1712.  He  was  the  author  of 
"  Scotia  Illustrata,  sive  Prodromus  Historic 
Naturalis  Scotia;,"  1684,  folio  ;  "The  Liberty 
and  Independency  of  the  Kingdom  and  Church 
of  Scotland,"  4 to  ;  "  The  History  of  Fife  :" 
besides  many  other  works,  of  which  a  list  may 
be  found  in  the  first  of  the  annexed  authori- 
ties.—  Watt's  Bib.  Brit.  Chalmers's  Biog.  Diet. 
Biog.  Univ. — SIBBALD  (JAMES)  a  bookseller 
at  Edinburgh,  published  in  1802  a  "  Chio- 

M 


SI  B 

nicle  of  Scottish  Poetry,  from  the  thirteenth 
Century  to  the  Union  of  the  Crowns,"  4  vols. 
8vo.  He  died  a  short  time  after  the  publica- 
tion of  this  work. —  U'att. 

SIBTIIO11P  (JoiiN)  a  physician,  distin- 
guished as  a  writer  on  hotany.  He  was  a  na- 
tive of  Oxford,  and  received  his  education  at 
Lincoln  college,  in  the  university  of  that  city, 
•where  he  obtained  a  travelling  fellowship  on 
Dr  RadclihVs  foundation.  Having  taken  the 
degree  of  BA.  and  spent  some  time  at  Edin- 
burgh, lie  visited  France,  Switzerland,  and 
Germany  ;  and  on  his  return  to  England  in 
1784,  lie  succeeded  his  father  as  professor  of 
botany  at  Oxford.  He  twice  travelled  into 
Greece,  viz.  in  1786,  1787,  and  in  1794,  1795, 
with  a  view  to  the  improvement  of  his  fa- 
vourite science.  The  result  of  his  researches 
was  a  collection  of  plants,  destined  to  form  a 
splendid  work,  in  ten  volumes  folio,  entitled 
"  Flora  Grteca  ;"  and  being  prevented  by 
death  from  publishing  his  observations,  he 
bequeathed  to  the  university  an  estate  of  300/. 
a-year,  to  be  applie  •>  in  the  completion  of  the 
undertaking,  and  the  foundation  of  a  profes- 
sorship of  rural  economy.  Dr  Sibthorp  died 
at  Bath,  February  7,  1796,  in  consequence  of 
a  pulmonary  disease  occasioned  by  the  fa- 
tigues he  underwent  in  the  course  of  his  last 
tour.  He  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Royal 
Society  in  1789  ;  and  he  became  one  of  the 
earliest  fellows  of  the  Linnaean  Society.  In 
1794  he  published  a  work  on  local  botany,  en- 
titled "  Flora  Oxoniensis,"  8vo. — Gent.  Mag. 
Rees's  Cyclop. 

SIBTHORPE  (ROBERT)  a  dhine,  who  ob- 
tained considerable  notoriety  in  the  reigii  of 
Charles  I,  by  his  defence  of  the  royal  prero- 
gative  and  of  high  church  principles.  He  was 
a  native  of  Lincolnshire,  and  received  his 
education  at  Oxford,  where  he  took  the  de-  ; 
gree  of  DD,  after  which  he  became  rector  of  ( 
Water  Stratford  in  Buckinghamshire,  and 
vicar  of  Brackley  in  Northamptonshire.  His 
services  as  a  political  partizan  were  rewarded 
with  a  prebend  in  Peterborough  cathedral,  and 
the  rectory  of  Burton  Latimers  in  Northamp- 
tonshire ;  but  he  lost  his  preferments  after  the 
destruction  of  the  monarchy,  and  the  dis- 
courses which  had  contributed  to  his  advance- 
ment were  severely  censured  by  the  house  of 
Commons.  He  survived  the  Restoration, 
dying  in  1662.  Dr  Sibthorpe  published  a 
"  Sermon  upon  Jeremiah  v.  7,"  Lond.  1618, 
4to  ;  and  "  Apostolical  Obedience,  or  a  Ser- 
mon on  Romans,  xiii.  7,"  1627,  4to. — Lem- 
pnere's  Univ.  Bing.  Watt's  Bibl.  Brit. 

SICARD  (CLAUDE)  a  French  missionary, 
born  at  Aubagne,  in  1677.  He  entered  young 
among  the  Jesuits,  and  taught  rhetoric  and 
classical  literature  at  Lyons.  In  September 
1706,  he  left  France  to  engage  in  the  mis- 
sionary service  in  Syria ;  and  arriving  at 
Aleppo,  he  entered  on  the  study  of  Arabic. 
Being  removed  to  Cairo,  he  was  employed  by 
the  regent  duke  of  Orleans  in  investigating 
l he  antiquities  of  Egypt.  He  consequently 
united  the  Thebais,  the  cataracts,  and  the 
co.. MS  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  extended  his  re- 


S  1C 

searches  to  mount  Sinai  ;  in  the  course  of  Lid 
labours  he  made  plans  and  views  of  buildings 
and  other  objects  of  curiosity  ;  and  in  his  tra- 
vels in  the  Delta,  in  1723,  he  discovered  the 
remains  of  several  ancient  cities.  He  died 
of  the  plague,  April  12,  1726.  Some  of  his 
observations  on  Egypt  were  published  in  th* 
"  Lettres  Edifiantes,"  in  toai.  ii.  v.  vi.  vii.  of 
the  Memoirs  from  the  Levant,  first  collection, 
and  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences. 
A  Description  of  the  Ancient  and  Modern 
State  of  Egypt,  which  he  had  projected  and 
partly  executed,  was  left  unpublished,  in  con- 
sequence of  his  death.  The  accuracy  of  fa- 
ther Sicard  is  attested  by  all  subsequent  Egyp- 
tian travellers. —  Kioo.  Univ. 

O 

SICARD  (RocH  AMBROSE  CUCURRON) 
successor  of  the  abbe  1'Epee  at  the  Parisian 
institution  for  the  education  of  the  Deaf  and 
Dumb.  He  was  born  September  20,  1742,  at 
Fousseret.uear  Toulouse,  in  which  city  he  com- 
pleted his  studies,  and  then  entered  into  holy 
orders.  He  devoted  himself  to  the  instruction 
of  persons  born  deaf  and  dumb,  and  became  in 
17ij6  director  of  a  school  established  for  that 
purpose  by  the  archbishop  of  Bordeaux  ; 
whence  in  1789  he  removed  to  Paris,  and  was 
chosen  successor  to  the  abbe  1'Epee,  in  whose 
system  he  made  some  important  improve- 
ments. On  the  26th  of  August  1792,  he  was 
arrested  in  the  midst  of  his  pupils,  by  order  of 
the  commune  of  Paris  ;  and,  notwithstanding 
various  efforts  of  his  friends,  he  was  on  the 
2nd  of  September  transferred  to  the  prison  of 
the  abbey  of  St  Germain,  where  he  narrowly 
escaped  becoming  a  victim  in  the  ensuing 
massacres.  After  a  few  days'  imprisonment 
he  was  set  at  liberty,  and  during  the  reign  of 
terror  he  suffered  no  further  molestation.  On 
the  foundation  of  the  normal  school  in  1795, 
he  was  appointed  professor  of  grammar  ;  and 
about  the  same  time  he  was  made  a  member 
of  the  Institute.  He  then  became  one  of  the 
conductors  of  a  periodical  work  entitled 
"  Annales  religieuses,  politiques,  et  litte- 
raires,"  on  account  of  which  he  was  included 
by  the  directory  in  the  number  of  the  journal- 
ists sentenced  to  be  exiled  to  Synamari.  This 
persecution  obliged  him  to  conceal  himself, 
and  he  thus  avoided  deportation  ;  but  it  was 
not  till  after  the  overthrow  of  the  directory 
that  he  was  able  to  return  to  his  situation  at 
the  school  of  instruction  for  the  Deaf  and 
Dumb.  The  old  age  of  Sicard  was  clouded 
with  misfortunes  arising  from  his  own  im- 
providence, and  Buonaparte,  to  whom  he  ap- 
plied in  his  pecuniary  difficulties,  treated  him 
with  neglect.  After  the  restoration  of  the 
king  he  was  more  fortunate,  being  successively 
made  a  knight  of  the  legion  of  honour,  admi- 
nistrator of  the  hospital  of  Quinze  Vingts,  ad- 
ministrator of  that  of  blind  youths,  and  knight 
of  the  order  of  Sc  Michael.  He  was  also  ho- 
noured with  attentions  from  the  foreign  princes 
who  visited  Paris  in  1814  and  l;>lo.  His 
death  took  place  May  10,  1822.  Besides 
various  other  works,  he  was  the  author  of 
"  Elemens  de  Grammaire  geneiale  apphquee 
a  la  Langue  Francaise,"  2  vole.  8vo ;  "  Coura 


S  t  D 

d'lnstruction  d'un  Sourd-muet  de  Naissance," 
8vo  ;  and  "  Theorie  des  Sixties  pour  1'Instruc- 
tion  des  Sourils-muets,"  2  vols.  8vo.  He  also 
contrived  a  method  of  pasigrapliy,  or  universal 
language,  of  which  he  published  only  some 
slight  sketches. — Biog.  Univ. 

SIDNEY  (ALGERNON)  a  celebrated  Eng- 
lish  republican  and  martyr  to  liberty,  was  the 
second  son  of  Robert,  earl  of  Leicester,   by 
Dorothy,  eldest  daughter  of  Henry  Percy,  earl 
of  Northumberland.     He  was  born,  according 
to  some   accounts  in   1617,  and  to  others  in  j 
16SJ2,  and  was   carefully  educated  under  the 
inspection  of  his  father,  whom  he  accompanied  • 
in  his  embassies  to  Denmark  and  France.    He  , 
was  also  early  trained   to  a  military  life,  re- 
ceived    a   commission    in  a  regiment  of  ca- 
valry commanded  by  the  same  nobleman,  and 
served  with  considerable  distinction  under  his 
brother,  lord  Lisle,  during  the  Irish  rebellion. 
In  16-13  both  brothers  returned   to  England, 
and  joined  the  parliament ;  and  in  1643  Al 
gernon  was   promoted  by  Fairfax  to  the  co- 
lonelcy  of   a    regiment   of  horse  ;  and    after 
being  present  in  several  actions,  was  entrusted 
with  the  government  of  Chichester.    In  1646, 
lord  Lisle  being  constituted  lieutenant-gover- 
nor and  commander  of  the  forces  in  Ireland, 
he  accompanied  him  thither,  and  was  raised 
to  the  post  of  lieutenant-general  of  the  ca- 
valry and  governor  of  Dublin.     He  was  how- 
ever soon  after  superseded  by  a  senior  officer, 
and    returned    to    England,    where   he    was 
thanked  by  parliament  for  his   services,  and 
made    governor  of   Dover.     When    the   high 
,  court  of  justice  was   formed  for  the  trial  of  the 
king,  he  was  nominated  a  member,  but  was 
neither  present  when  sentence  was  pronounced, 
nor  signed  the  warrant  for  the  execution.     It 
appears  however  that   he  was  in  the  habit  of 
vindicating  that  catastrophe,  which  has  led  to 
a  supposition   that,  in   withholding  his  pre- 
sence  and  signature,   he   only  yielded  to  the 
influence  of  his  father.     A  politician  so  inimi- 
cal to  the  encroachments  of  regular  authority 
was  not  likely  to  acquiesce  in  an  usurpation,  and 
he  therefore  warmly  opposed   the   designs  of 
Cromwell  ;   during    the  government   both    of 
the  protector  and  his  son  Richard,  he  lived  in 
retirement  at  Penshtirst,  where  he  is  supposed 
to  have  composed  his  celebrated  "  Discourses 
on   Government."     When   the  return  of  the 
long  parliament  gave  expectations  of  the  esta- 
blishment of  a  republic,  he  willingly  assumed 
a  public  character,  and  was  nominated  one  of 
the  council  of  state.     He  was  soon  after  ap- 
pointed   a  commissioner  to  mediate  a  peace 
between  Denmark  and  Sweden,  and  while  en- 
gaged in  this  embassy,  the  Restoration  took 
place.     Conscious  of  the  offence  he  had  given 
the  royal  party,  he  refused  to  return,   and  ic- 
mained  an  exile  for  seventeen  years  ;  and  al- 
though  occasionally   assisted   by    his    family, 
he  found  it  difficult  to  support  himself  in  con- 
formity to  his  birth  and  rank.     At  length,  in 
1677,    the    influence    of   his  father   obtained 
leave  for  him  to  return  with  a  pardon  for  all 
offences.     According  to  Hume,  the  acceptance 
of  this  favour  should  have  prevented  him  from 


SI  D 

engaging  against   the  measures  of  the  court ; 
but  it  is  doubtful  how  far  a  man  of  the  strong 
sentiments   of  Sidney   might    balance   the  ac- 
count between  private   obligation  and  public 
duty,  or  whether  he  did  not  regard  his  pardon 
as  a  mere  reparation  of  injustice.     At  the  time 
of  his  return  parliament  was  urging  the  king 
to  a  war  with  France  ;  and  it  was  feared  by 
the  opposition  that  Charles  II  would  agree  to 
it,  until  he  obtained  the  supplies,  which  be 
would  either  squander  on  his  pleasures,  or  de- 
vote to  arbitrary  purposes.     The   English  pa- 
triots were  therefore  opposed  to  this  war,  and 
some  of  the  leaders  intrigued  with  the  French 
ambassador,  Barillon,  to  defeat  the  measure. 
— (See   Article  RUSSEL,  lord  William.) — It 
even  appears,  according  to  the  Barillou  papers, 
as   given    by  sir  John    Dalrymple,    that    the 
name  of  Sidney  was  among  those  who  received 
pecuniary  aid   from   France.     The   testimony 
thus  afforded  against  a  man  of  high  character, 
and  whose   sacrifices  to  principle  were  noto- 
rious, has  of  course  met  with  different  degrees 
of  credence,  and  both  fabrication  and  interpo- 
lation have  been  surmised.     The  death  of  his 
father  soon  after  his  return  led  him  openly  to 
join  in  the  opposition,  and  he  consorted  much 
with  the  duke   of  Monmouth   and  others  who 
held  views  kindred  or  similar  to  his  own.     In 
the  Rye-  house  plot  he  is  named  as  one  of  a 
council  of  six  who  were  to  organize  an  insur- 
rection in  conjunction  with  the  Scottish  mal- 
contents.    It  was,   however,  for  his  supposed 
share  in  the  subordinate  conspiracy  for  assas- 
sinating the   king,  that  he  was  arrested  with 
lord  William   Russel    and  others.     After  the 
sacrifice  of  the  latter,  he  was  tried,  as  the  next 
most  obnoxious  person,  for  high  treason,  be- 
fore the  hardened  tool,  chief-justice  Jeffreys, 
on  the  21st  November  1678.     There  was  no 
direct  evidence   against  him,  except   that   of 
the  miserable  disgrace  to  nobility,  lord  Howard, 
while  the  law  for  high   treason   required  two 
witnesses.     To  help  this  defect,  the  attorney- 
general  had  recourse  to  the  expedient  of  pro- 
ducing passages  from  some  Discourses  on  Go- 
vernment, found  in   MS.  in  his  closet,  which 
maintained  the  lawfulness  of  resisting  tyrants, 
and  the   preference  of  a  free   to  an  arbitrary 
government.     Although   there   was  no  proof 
that  these  papers  were  in  his  own  hand-writ- 
ing, in  defiance  both  of  law  and  common  sense, 
they  were  deemed  equivalent  to  a  second  wit- 
ness ;  and,  in  spite  of  his  spirited  defence,  lie 
was  declared  guilty.     After  his  conviction  he 
sent,  by  his  relation  the  marquis  of  Halifax,  a 
paper  to  be  laid  before  the    king,   requesting 
his  review  of  the  whole  matter  ;  but  it  served 
only   to  delay  his    execution   about  a  week. 
Hume,  obliged  to   acknowledge  the  illegality 
of  his  condemnation,   for  which   lie  observes 
"  the  jury  were    very    blamable,"   with    his 
usual  sophistication    in  respect  to  Stuart  in- 
justice, remarks,   that  an  interference  on  this 
occasion  by  the  king,  after  his  former  pardon, 
might  be  regarded  as  an  act  "  of  heroic  gene- 
rosity, but  could  never  be  deemed  an  indis- 
pensable duty."     Would  it  not  be  more  to  the 
purpose  to  say,  that  a  re.- card)  who  exe-rised 
ft!  a 


SID 

Ihe  crown  influence,  and  employed  the  crown 
lawyers,  to  procure  an  iniquitous  verdict, 
could  scarcely  be  expected  to  spare  a  victim 
thus  secured?  Sidney  was  executed  OH  Tower  - 
hill,  December  7,  1678,  when  he  delivered 
the  sheriff  a  paper,  alleging  the  injustice  of 
his  condemnation,  and  concluding  with  a  prayer 
for  "  the  good  old  cause."  This  document  was 
printed  some  time  after,  and  made  a  consi- 
derable impression,  a  circumstance  which  gave 
great  offence  to  the  court.  He  suffered  with 
all  the  firmness  and  constancy  belonging  to 
his  character.  One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  Re- 
volution was  to  reverse  his  attainder,  and  the 
name  of  Algernon  Sidney  has  since  been  held 
in  great  honour  by  the  majority  of  those  who 
maintain  the  fundamental  principles  of  free 
government.  Burnet  speaks  of  him  as  of  ex- 
traordinary courage,  steady,  even  to  obstinacy, 
impatient  of  contradiction,  and  a  decided 
enemy  to  monarchy  and  church  government. 
His  "Discourses  on  Government"  were  first 
printed  in  1698,  and  reprinted  in  1704  and 
1751,  in  folio  and  in  4to  1772,  at  the  ex- 
pense of  Thomas  Hollis,  esq.,  with  the  trial 
and  letters  prefixed.  They  contain  consider- 
able historical  information,  and  are  composed 
with  the  clearness,  acuteness,  and  force,  which 
usually  accompany  the  arguments  of  those  who 
are  sincere  and  able  converts  to  the  opinions 
which  they  support. — Hume.  Bwg.  Brit.  Sir 
J.  Dalrymple's  Mem.  of  Great  Britain. 

SIDNEY  (sir  PHILIP)  an  ingenious  writer 
and  accomplished  officer  and  statesman  in  the 
reign  of  queen  Elizabeth.  He  was  the  son  of 
sir  Henry  Sidney,  of  Penshurst  in  Kent, 
where  he  was  born  the  29th  November,  1554. 
After  previous  instruction  at  a  grammar-school 
at  Shrewsbury,  he  was  sent  to  Christchurch, 
Oxford,  whence  he  removed  to  Trinity  col- 
lege, Cambridge.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he 
set  off  on  his  travels,  and  arriving  at  Paris, 
Charles  IX  made  him  a  gentleman  of  his  bed- 
chamber. The  massacre  of  the  Huguenots, 
which  soon  after  took  place,  disgusted  Sidney 
with  the  service  of  the  French  monarch,  which 
he  speedily  quitted,  and  went  to  Frankfort  in 
Germany,  where  he  formed  an  acquaintance 
with  the  famous  Hubert  Languet.  In  1573 
lie  vi.sited  Vienna,  whence  he  proceeded  to 
Hungary,  and  then  to  Italy;  and  returning 
through  Germany  and  Flanders,  he  arrived 
in  England  in  1575.  He  became  deservedly 
a  favourite  with  the  queen,  who  in  1576 
sent  him  on  an  embassy  to  congratulate 
the  emperor  Rodolph  II  on  his  accession,  at 
the  same  time  charging  him  with  important 
negotiations  with  other  princes  of  Germany. 
In  1579  he  addressed  to  the  queen  a  private 
letter,  dissuading  her  from  contracting  a  mar- 
riage then  projected  with  the  duke  of  Anjou, 
brother  to  the  king  of  France  ;  and  his  ad- 
vice seems  to  have  been  favourably  received. 
The  following  year  he  had  a  quarrel  with  Ed- 
ward Vere,  earl  of  Oxford,  in  consequence  of 
a  previous  dispute  at  a  tournament ;  and  her 
majesty  thought  proper  to  interpose  her  au- 
thority to  prevent  a  duel  from  taking  place. 
Sidney,  displeased  at  the  issue  of  the  affair, 


SID 

retired  to  Wilton  in  Wiltshire,  the  seat  of  his 
brother-in-law,    the    earl    of   Pembroke,  and 
amused  himself  with  the  composition  of  a  pas- 
toral romance,  which,  in   compliment   to  his 
sister,  was  entitled  "  The  Countess  of  Pem- 
broke's Arcadia."     While   thus  occupied,  his 
assistance   was  requested   by    Don    Antonio, 
who   was  endeavouring  to  vindicate  his  ri^ht 
to  the  kingdom  of  Portugal,  which  had  been 
seized   by   the  Spaniards.     In  1581  he  again 
appeared   at  court,   where    he    distinguished 
himself  in  the  jousts  and  tournaments,  cele- 
brated for  the   entertainment  of  the  duke  of 
Anjou,  who  had  visited  P^ngland  ;  and  on  the 
return  of  that  prince  to  the  continent,  he,  with 
several  of  the   nobility,  accompanied  him  to 
Antwerp.     The  prince  palatine  being  invested 
with  the  order  of  the  garter  in  1583,  Mr  Sid- 
ney was   appointed  his    proxy,   when  he  re- 
ceived the   honour    of  knighthood.      At    this 
period  he  married  the  daughter  of  sir  Francis 
\Valsingham.     In  1585  he  projected,  in  con- 
cert with   sir  Francis   Drake,    an  expedition 
against  the  Spaniards  in  America  ;  and  he  had 
gone    to  Plymouth  to  embark   on  the  under- 
taking, when    an   express  mandate   from  the. 
queen   recalled   him  to  court.     Her  influence 
also  was  exerted  to   prevent  him  from  being 
elected  king  of  Poland,  "  refusing,"  as  Camden 
says,  "  to  further  his  advancement,  out  of  fear 
that  she  should  lose  the  jewel  of  her  times." 
He  was   subsequently  appointed  governor  of 
Flushing,    and  general   of  the   cavalry  under 
his  maternal  uncle,  Dudley,  earl  of  Leicester, 
who  commanded  the  forces  which  the  queen 
had  sent  into   the   Netherlands   to  assist   the 
Dutch  against  the  Spaniards.     On  the  22d  of 
September,  1586,  being  at  the  head  of  a  de- 
tachment of  the  English  troops,  he  fell  in  with 
a    convoy   of    the  enemy    marching    towards 
Zutphen.      An   engagement    took    place,    in 
which  his  party  gained  the  victory,  dearly  pur- 
chased with  the  life  of  their  commander,  who 
received  a  shot  in  his  thigh,  which  shattered 
the  bone.     He  was  carried  to  Arnheim,  where 
he  expired  on  the    17th  of  October;  and  his 
body  being  brought  to  England  was   interred 
in  St  Paul's   cathedral.      Thus    perished  the 
gallant,  amiable,  and   accomplished  sir  Philip 
Sidney,  in  his  thirty-second  year,  whose   fate 
was  the  object  of  general  regret,  and  whose 
talents  and  acquirements  have  been  made  the 
subject  of   almost   universal  panegyric.     His 
works,   besides    the    "  Arcadia,"    consist   of 
"  The  Defence  of  Poesy  ;"    "  Astrophel   and 
Stella  ;"    a  collection,    entitled   "  Songs  and 
Sonnets;"    and  other  poetical  pieces.     "  The 
Defence"   was  republi^hed  in    1752,   12mo; 
and  a  complete  edition  of  his  works  appeared 
in   three   volumes,   8vo.    Load.    1725.      The 
work  by  which  sir  Philip  Sidney  is  principally 
known  is  his  "  Arcadia,"  which  is  one  of  the 
earliest  specimens   of  the  grave   or  heroic  ro- 
mance.   It  is  a  mixture  of  prose  and  verse,  the 
latter  exhibiting  various  attempts  to  natura- 
lize   the  measures   of    Roman   poetry.      It  is 
spoken  of  with  great  contempt  by  lord  Orford 
(Horace  Walpole)  ;  but   Dr  Zouch,   the  late 
biographer   of  sir  Philip,   while  he  acknow 


S  I  E 

ledges  that  the  changes  in  taste  anil  manners 
have  rendered  it  unsuitable  to  modern  readers, 
contends  that  there  are  exquisitely  beauti- 
ful passages,  sound  observations  on  life  and 
manners,  animated  descriptions,  sage  lessons 
of  morality,  and  judicious  reflections  on  go- 
vernment and  policy.  Upon  the  whole  it  was 
a  sort  of  fashion  to  exalt  both  the  literary  and 
chivalric  reputation  of  sir  Philip  Sidney  in 
exaggerated  terms  in  his  own  time  ;  but  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  he  fully  merited  to  be 
recorded  among  the  most  distinguished  per- 
sons of  his  age  and  nation. —  Biog.  Brit.  Life 
of  Sir  P.  Sidney,  6y  Sir  F.  Grevile. 

SIDNEY  (MARY)  countess  of  Pembroke, 
sister   of    the   preceding,    married    in    1576, 
Henry  earl  of  Pembroke.     She  had  received  a 
liberal  education,  and  possessed  a  talent    for 
poetry,    which      she     assiduously    cultivated. 
Congenial    qualities  and    pursuits  united  her 
closely  with  her  brother,   sir  Philip,   who,  as 
already  intimated,  wrote  the   "  Arcadia"   for 
her  amusement.     She  translated  many  of  the 
Psalms  from  the  Hebrew  into   English  verse, 
as  also  "  A  Discourse  on  Life  and  Death,"  from 
the  French  of  Mornay,  London,  1600,  l'2mo; 
"  The  Tragedie  of  Antonie,"   London,  1595, 
12mo.     She   likewise  wrote    "  An  Elegy  on 
Sir   Philip   Sidney  ;''   "  A   pastoral  Dialogue 
in  Praise  of  Astrasa  "  (queen  Elizabeth)  ;  and 
a  long  poem  in  six  line  stanzas,  entitled  "  The 
Countess  of  Pembroke's  Passion,"  to  be  found 
in  the  Sloane  MSS.  She  survived  her  husband 
twenty  years,  her  death  taking  place  in   Lon- 
don, September  25,  1601.     The  following  ad- 
mired epitaph   by   Ben  Jonson  was  designed 
for  an  inscription  on  the  tomb  of  this  lady  : 
Underneath  this  sable  herse 
Lies  the  subject  of  all  verse  ; 
Sidney's  sister,  Pembroke's  mother  ; 
Death,  ere  thou  hast  kill'd  another, 
Fair,  and  learn'd,  and  good  as  she, 
Time  shall  throw  a  dart  at  thee. 

Billani's  Memoirs. 

SIDONIUS  (CAIUS  SOLLIUS  APOLLINARIS 
MODESTUS,)  a  learned  ecclesiastic  of  the  sixth 
century,  was  born  at  Lyons.  He  married  the 
daughter  of  Avitus,  who  was  raised  to  the 
imperial  dignity  on  the  death  of  Maximus,  but 
was  afterwards  deposed  by  Majoriauus.  Si- 
donius  was  on  that  occasion  carried  a  captive 
to  Rome,  where  he  obtained  favour  by  his 
learning  and  talents.  He  was  subsequently 
made  governor  of  Rome,  and  a  patrician,  but 
quitted  his  secular  employment  in  472,  on 
being  chosen  bishop  of  Clermont.  He  died 
in  487,  leaving  behind  him  many  works,  of 
which  nine  books  of  epistles,  with  about  four- 
and-twenty  poems  interspersed,  are  still  ex- 
tant. They  contain  many  particulars  relative 
to  the  learning  and  history  of  the  times,  and 
were  published  by  father  Sirmond,  at  Paris, 
1614,  8vo,  and  after  his  death,  with  additions, 
in  1652,  4to. — Cave.  Vossii  Hist.  Lat. 

SIEBENKEES  (JoriN  PHILIP)  an  emi- 
nent Greek  critic,  who  was  a  native  of  Nurem- 
berg in  Germany.  After  studying  at  that 
place,  he  went  in  1778  to  Altorf,  where  he  ap- 
plied himself  to  theology  and  the  ancient  lan- 


S  10 

guages.  He  then  removed  to  Venice  as  a 
private  tutor,  and  there  he  wrote  the  "  Life 
of  Bianca  Capello,  Grand  Duchess  of  Tus- 
cany," published  at  Gotha,  1789,  8vo  ;  and 
translated  into  English.  In  1788  he  went  to 
Rome,  where  he  was  patronized  by  cardinal 
Borgia ;  and  returning  to  Nuremberg,  he  was 
in  1791  nominated  professor  at  Altorf,  where 
he  died  of  apoplexy,  June  25,  1796.  He  was 
the  author  of  a  "  History  of  the  Inquisition  of 
the  State  of  Venice,"  1791,  8vo,  and  other 
works  ;  and  he  was  one  of  the  editors  of  the 
Leipsic  Strabo,  and  of  the  Characters  of  Theo- 
phrastus,  published  by  Goetz  at  Nuremberg, 
1798,  8vo. —  Biog.  Univ. 

SIGAUD  DE  LAFOND  (JEAN  RENE)  a 
French  philosopher,  born  at  Dijon  in  1740. 
He  studied  among  the  Jesuits,  and  afterwards 
entered  as  a  surgical  pupil  at  the  school  of  St 
Come,  at  Paris.  In  1768  he  communicated  to 
the  Royal  Academy  of  Surgery  a  memoir  re- 
commending the  section  of  the  symphisis 
pubis,  in  certain  cases  of  difficult  parturition  ; 
and  though  his  proposal  did  not  receive  the 
sanction  of  the  Academy,  he  determined  to 
put  it  to  the  test  of  experiment  at  the  first 
opportunity.  In  1770  he  was  admitted  a  mas- 
ter of  surgery,  and  he  devoted  himself  chiefly 
to  obstetrical  practice.  In  October  1777  he 
first  performed  the  projected  operation  on  the 
wife  of  a  soldier  at  Paris  ;  and  his  success 
was  rewarded  by  the  Parisian  faculty  of  medi- 
cine with  the  gift  of  a  medal  struck  to  com- 
memorate the  occurrence.  His  plan  however 
has  found  but  few  advocates  among  his  profes- 
sional contemporaries  or  successors,  and  has 
seldom  been  adopted.  He  practised  medicine 
in  various  countries,  and  delivered  lectures  on 
natural  philosophy,  which  procured  him  much 
reputation.  He  was  a  member  of  several 
academies  ;  and  at  the  establishment  of  the 
Institute,  in  1796,  he  became  an  associate. 
The  preceding  year  he  had  obtained  a  gratuity 
of  three  thousand  francs  from  the  National 
Convention.  He  died  in  1810  at  Bourges, 
where  he  was  professor  of  physics.  Sigaud 
was  the  author  of  "  Elemens  de  Physique 
theoretique  et  experimentale,"  4  vols.  8vo, 
translated  into  Spanish  by  Taddeo  Lope  ;" 
"  Dictionnaire  de  Physique,"  1780,  4  vols. 
8vo,  with  a  supplement,  published  in  1782; 
and  "  Dictionnaire  des  Merveilles  de  la  Na- 
ture," 1781,  2  vols.  8vo,  translate*  into  Ger- 
man by  Webel ;  besides  several  other  works. 
—  Biog.  Univ. 

SIGNORELLI  (PIETRO  NAPOM)  a  dis- 
tinguished Italian  writer,  born  at  Naples  in 
1731.  He  received  his  education  under  the 
Jesuits,  and  at  the  university  of  his  native 
place,  after  which  he  became  an  advocate. 
That  profession  he  abandoned  to  devote  him- 
self to  literature,  and  especially  to  dramatic 
poetry.  In  1765  he  went  to  Madrid,  where 
lie  obtained  the  office  of  keeper  of  the  seal  of 
the  royal  lottery.  Returning  after  about  three 
years'  absence  to  Italy,  he  settled  at  Naples, 
where,  in  1784,  he  published  '  Vicende  della 
Coltura  delle  due  Sicilie,"  5  vols.  8vo,  en- 
larged to  8  vols.  in  the  edition  of  1810.  He 


S  I  I, 

was  appointed  secretary  to  the  academy  of 
Naples  ;  and  he  engaged  in  writing  a  "  Cri- 
tical History  of  ancient  and  modern  Theatres," 
of  which  a  sketch  had  appeared  in  1777. 
When  the  French  became  masters  of  Naples 
in  1798,  Signorelli  was  made  a  member  of  the 
committee  of  legislation  ;  and  he  subsequently 
went  to  Milan,  where  he  was  nominated  dra- 
matic professor  at  the  Lyceum  of  Brera.  Soon 
after,  he  became  professor  of  diplomatics  and 
history  at  Bologna,  where  he  continued  till 
1806,  when  he  returned  to  Naples,  in  which 
city  he  died  of  apoplexy,  April  1,  1815.  His 
works  are  numerous,  including  "  Faustina,"  a 
comedy,  1779,  8vo ;  "  A  Sketch  of  the  pre- 
sent State  of  the  Sciences  and  Literature  in 
Spain,"  Madrid,  1780,  8vo  ;  "  Delle  migliori 
Tragedie  Greche  e  Francesi,  Traduzioue  ed 
Analisi  comparative,"  1804,  3  vols.  8vo  ;  and 
"  Element!  di  Critica  Diplomatica,  con  Istoria 
preliminare,"  1805,  4  vols.  8vo. — Bing.  Nuuv. 
des  Coutemp.  Biog.  Univ. 

SIGONIUS  (CHARLES)  a  learned  Italian, 
was  of  an  ancient  family  of  Modena,  where 
he  was  born  in  1524.  He  studied  physic  at 
Bologna,  but  renounced  that  profession  for 
literature,  and  at  tbe  age  of  twenty-two  be- 
came Greek  professor  in  his  native  city.  In 
1550  he  made  himself  advantageously  known 
to  the  learned  world  by  publishing  the  "  Fasti 
Consulares,"  with  a  learned  and  ample  com- 
mentary. The  reputation  which  he  acquired 
by  this  work  introduced  him,  in  1554,  to  the 
professorship  of  belles  lettres  at  Venice, 
whence  he  removed  successively  to  Padua  and 
Bologna.  He  had  some  literary  controversies 
with  Robortellius  and  Gruchius  on  Roman 
antiquities,  in  which  he  was  exceedingly  well 
versed.  Of  his  numerous  works  the  most 
esteemed  are  "  De  Republica  Hebraeorum  ;" 
"  De  Republica  Atheniensium  ;"  "  Historia 
de  Occidentali  Imperio  ;  "  and  "  De  Regno 
Italian."  He  died  in  1585,  aged  sixty.  His 
works  were  collected  and  printed  at  Milan  in 
1733-4,  6  vols.  folio.  His  "  Fasti  Consulares" 
were  printed  with  the  Oxford  Livy  in  1800. — 
Life  by  Muratori.  Moreri. 

SIKE,  or  SIECKE  (HENRY)  a  philological 
writer,  who  was  a  native  of  Bremen  in  Ger- 
many. He  studied  the  Oriental  languages, 
and  was  professor  at  Utrecht,  and  afterwards 
at  Cambridge.  In  1697  he  published,  with 
notes,  in  Arabic  and  Latin,  "  Evangelium 
Infantire  Christi,  adscriptum  Thomce,"  8vo, 
one  of  the  most  curious  of  the  apocryphal 
gospels,  reprinted  by  Fabricius  in  his  Codex 
apocryphus  Nov.  Test.  Sike  also  co-operated 
witli  Kuster  in  the  "  Bibliotheca  Novorum 
Librorum,"  a  Latin  review  published  at 
Utrecht  He  put  an  end  to  his  own  life  in 
1712. — Sfliii  Onomast. 

SILANION,  a  Greek  sculptor,  who  was  a 
native  of  Atnens,  and,  according  to  Pliny,  con- 
temporary with  Lysippus  and  Alexander  the- 
Great.  Among  the  most  celebrated  works  of 
this  artist  were  statues  of  Corinna  the  poetess, 
of  Theseus,  and  of  Achilles.  He  also  made 
a  statue  of  Sappho,  which  ornamented  the 
city  of  Syracuse,  and  became  the  prey  of 


S  I  1, 

Verres  the  Roman  governor  of  Sicily,  whose 
rapacity  is  recorded  in  the  famous  orations  of 
Cicero.  A  statue  of  Pluto  by  Silanioa  is  be- 
lieved to  have  served  as  the  model  of  all  au- 
thentic portraits  of  that  philosopher.  He  was 
alive  346  BC.  but  the  period  of  his  death  is 
not  known. — Bi<ig.  Univ.  Piinii  H.  N. 

SILBERSCHLAG  (JOHN  ISAIAH)  a  Ger- 
man divine,  born  at  Aschersleben  in  1721 

1  le  was  educated  at  Halle,  and  in  1745  he  was 
appointed  professor  at  the  school   of  Kloster 
Bergen,    near  Magdebourg.     After  having  for 
some  years  been  pastor  of  a  church  at  Magde- 
bourg, he  was  called  to  Berlin   to  become  di- 
rector of  the    Royal  School,  and  he  was  also 
minister  of  the  church   of  the  Trinity  in  that 
capital.    In  1784  he  resigned  the  former  office, 
only  retaining  his  ecclesiastical   employment, 
and  that  of  member  of  the  supreme  council  of 
buildings  [board  of  works],     Frederic  II  had 
erected  this  council  in  1770  ;  and  to  the  great 
astonishment  of  the    public,  he  made  Silber- 
schlag  a   member,  justly   conceiving  that  his 
religious  character  formed  no  ground  of  exclu- 
sion  from    a  civil  office    for   which    he    was 
highly  qualified  by  his  extensive  acquaintance 
with  mechanics    and    physical    science.     He 
published,  in  the  German  language,  "  Geogouy , 
or    an    Explication   of    the    Creation    of    the 
World  according   to  Moses,  on  mathematical 
and   physical    Principles,"  1780,  3  vols.  4to  ; 
"  Chronology    rectified    by    the    Holy    Scrip- 
tures," 1784,  4to  ;  and  "  A  Treatise  on  Hydro- 
technics,  or  Hydraulic  Architecture,"  1772-3, 

2  vols.  8vo  ;  besides  dissertations  in  the  Me- 
moirs of  the  Academy  of  Berlin.      His  death 
took  place  November  22,  1791.     In  1788  he 
printed  his  "  Biography,"  written  by  himself 
for  his  family,  quarto. — Biog.  Univ. 

SILHOUETTE  (STEPHEN  de)  a  French 
writer,  distinguished  by  his  taste  for  English 
literature,  was  born  at  Limoges  in  1709.  He 
purchased  the  office  of  master  of  requests,  and 
after  having  managed  the  affairs  of  the  duke 
of  Orleans,  he  became  comptroller  general 
and  minister  of  state  in  1759.  At  this  time 
France  was  carrying  on  a  ruinous  war,  and  the 
finances  were  in  a  very  low  condition,  which 
induced  him  to  propose  retrenchment  and  eco- 
nomy. Finding  that  the  proposal  only  excited 
ridicule,  he  quitted  his  post,  after  a  short  oc- 
cupation of  nine  months,  and  retired  to  his 
estate  of  Brie-sur-Marne,  and  devoted  his 
time  to  study,  and  his  wealth  to  benevolence. 
He  died  in  1767.  He  published  "  Idee  gene- 
rale  du  Governement  Chinois  ;"  "  Reflexion 
Politique,"  from  the  Spanish  of  Gracian  ; 
translations  of  Pope's  "  Essay  on  Man,"  and 
"  Miscellanies,"  and  of  Bolingbroke's  "  Dis- 
sertation on  Parties  ;"  "  Lettres  sur  les  Trans- 
actions publiques  du  Regne  d'Elizabeth  ;'' 
"  Tiaite  mathematique  sur  le  Bonheur  ;"  a 
translation  of  Warburton's  "  Alliance  ;" 
Epitres  morales,  Lettres  philosophiques,  et 
Trnites  Matliematiques  ;"  "  Memoirs,"  relative 
to  the  rights  of  England  and  France  in  Ame- 
rica ;  "  Voyage  de  France,  Espagne,  Portu- 
gal et  d'ltalie." — AToiu>.  Diet.  Hist. 

SILIUS  IT  A  L1C  US  (CAius)  a  Latin  poet 


SI  L 

and  author  of  a  poetical  history  of  the  second 
Punic  war,  was  born  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius, 
about  the  year  15.     He  is  supposed  to  have 
derived  his  name  of  Italicus  from  the  place  of 
his  birth,    r>«-t  whether  Italica   in   Spain,  or 
Corsinium  in  Jtaly  (sometimes  so  called),  is 
unknown,  or  even  if  his  name  be  connected 
with  his  birth-place  at  all.      When  he  came 
to   Rome  he  applied  himself  to  the  bar,  and  by 
a  close  imitation  of  Cicero  succeeded  so  well, 
that  he  became  a  celebrated  orator  and  advo- 
cate.    It  appears  from  a  letter  from  Pliny  the 
younger  to  Canidius  Rufus,  announcing  his  de- 
cease, that  he  was  consul  at  the  time  of  Nero's 
death,  and  that  he  incurred  some  reproach  for 
assisting  in   that  tyrant's   prosecutions.     It  is 
added,  however,  that  he  made  a  humane  use 
of  the  friendship  of  Vitellius,  and   acquired 
much  honour  from  his  conduct  in  the  procon- 
sulate of  Asia,  assigned  to  him  by  Vespasian, 
from  which  he   retired  into  private  life,  and 
maintained  the  rank  of  one  of  the   principal 
inhabitants  of  Rome,  without  power  and  with- 
out envy.   He  was  fond  of  elegance,  purchased 
villas,  collected  books,  statues,   and   busts   of 
eminent  men,  to  the  latter  of  which  he  paid  a 
kind  of  religious  veneration.    Among  his  villas 
one  had  belonged  to  Cicero  ;  and  he  possessed  a 
farm  near  Naples  which  had  been  the  property 
of  Virgil,  and  on  which  was  that  great   poet's 
tomb.   For  Virgil,  whom  he  imitated,  his  vene- 
ration was  so  great,  that  he  annually  solemnized 
his  birth-day  with   more   splendour  than  his 


own.  He  finally  retired  altogether  to  his  seat 
in  Campania,  where,  being  seized  with  an  in- 
curable ulcer,  he  determined  to  put  an  end  to 
his  life  by  refraining  from  sustenance,  which 
resolution  he  maintained,  and  expired  in  the 
early  part  of  the  reign  of  Trajan,  in  his  seventy  - 
fifth  year.  The  only  work  of  Silius  which 
u»s  reached  modern  times,  is  the  poem  on  the 
second  Punic  war,  already  mentioned,  which 
is  an  epic,  consisting  of  sixteen  books.  Like 
Voltaire's  Henriade,  it  is  too  much  withit  '.lie 
range  of  history  to  congenially  mix  with  fic- 
tion ;  and,  as  Pliny  judiciously  remarks,  he 
writes  with  more  diligence  than  genius.  He 
ciowever  occasionally  elaborates  passages  into 
splendour,  and  his  description  of  the  passage 
of  Hannibal  across  the  Alps  is  particularly- 
admired.  The  best  editions  of  his  work  are 
those  of  Drakenborch,  1717,  4to;  of  Villebrun, 
Paris,  1781,  8vo  ;  of  Ernesti,  Leipsic,  1791, 
2  vols.  8vo;  of  Heber,  1792,  2  vols.  12mo: 
and  of  Ruperti,  Gottingen,  1795—8,  2  vols. 
STO- — Fossil  Hist.  Lat.  Ptinii  Epist. 

SILVA  (JOHN  BAPTIST)  a  French  physi- 
cian, born  of  a  Jewish  family,  at  Bordeaux, 
in  1 682.  He  studied  at  Montpellier,  and  took 
the  degree  of  MD.  at  the  age  of  nineteen.  He 
went  to  Paris,  where  he  was  encouraged  by 
the  physicians  Chirac  and  Helvetius,  and  his 
own  skill  soon  raised  him  to  eminence.  In 
1724  he  was  appointed  consulting  physician 
to  Louis  XV,  and  he  was  invited  to  Munich 
by  the  elector  of  Bavaria,  afterwards  emperor  ; 
and  in  1738  was  offered  the  post  of  first  phy- 
sician to  the  empress  of  Russia,  which  he  re- 
fused. The  king  bestowed  on  him  a  patent  of 


S.IM 

nobility  a  few  years  before  his  death,  which 
took  place  at  Paris,  August  19, 1742.  M.  Silva 
was  the  author  of  "  Traite  de  1' Usage  des  dif- 
ferentes  Sortes  des  Saignees,  et  priucipalemeut 
de  celle  du  Pied,"  2  vols.  8vo  ;  and  "  Disser- 
tations et  Consultations,"  3  vols.  12mo. — Die*. 
Hist.  Bwg.  Univ. 

SILVESTER  II  (Pope).— See  SYLVES- 
TER II. 

SIMEON  OF  DURHAM,  an  early  Eng- 
lish historian,  was  a  contemporary  of  William 
of  Malmesbury,  in  the  twelfth  century.  He 
both  studied  and  taught  the  sciences,  and 
particularly  the  mathematics,  at  Oxford.  He 
became  precentor  of  the  church  of  Dur- 
ham, and  died  probably  soon  after  the  year 
1130,  at  which  time  his  history  terminates. 
He  employed  himself  assiduously  in  collecting 
ancient  records,  especially  in  the  north  of 
England,  after  they  had  been  scattered  by  the 
Danes.  From  these  he  composed  a  history  of 
the  Saxon  and  other  kings,  from  the  year  616 
to  1130.  This  work,  which  was  continued  by 
John,  prior  of  Hexham,  to  1156,  is  printed 
among  Twysden's  "  Decem  Scriptores,"  and 
separately  in  1732,  8vo. — Cave,  vol.  ii. 

SIMEON,  surnamed  METAPHRASTES, 
an  ecclesiastical  writer  of  the  tenth  century, 
who  being  nobly  born  and  well  educated,  rose  to 
high  employments  under  the  emperors  Leo  and 
Constantine  Porphyrogenitus.  His  writings 
consist  of  the  lives  of  about  120  saints,  the 
history  of  which,  in  respect  to  style,  Baronius 
asserts  was  not  contemptible,  although  the 
original  Greek  being  lost,  this  judgment  being- 
formed  from  Latin  translations,  is  of  course 
problematical.  With  respect  to  facts,  the 
same  authority  gives  him  up  as  one  who  com- 
posed panegyrics  rather  than  biography.  He 
also  wrote  sermons  and  other  pieces,  which 
are  still  extant.  Of  his  "  Lives  of  the  Saints," 
several  Latin  versions  exist  ;  and  it  is  sup- 
posed that  his  translators  have  made  many 
additions  to  his  narratives,  which  at  this  time 
of  day  merit  and  receive  the  least  possible  at- 


tention. 
Anita  lea. 


He    died 
Mosheim. 


in   976  or  977. — Baronii 


SIMEON,  surnamed  STYLITES,  a  re- 
markable fanatic,  was  born  about  392  at  Sison, 
a  town  on  the  borders  between  Syria  and 
Cilicia.  He  was  the  son  of  a  shepherd,  and 
followed  the  same  occupation  until  the  age  of 
thirteen,  when  he  entered  a  monastery.  After 
some  time  he  left  it,  and  betook  himself  to 
abodes  on  the  tops  of  mountains,  or  in  the 
caverns  of  rocks,  fasting  for  many  days  toge- 
ther in  all  the  spirit  of  ascetic  devotion.  At 
length  lie  worked  himself  to  such  a  pitch  of 
extravagance,  that  he  adopted  the  strange 
fancy  of  fixing  his  habitation  on  the  tops  of 
pillars  (whence  his  Greek  appellation),  and 
with  the  notion  of  climbing  higher  and  higher 
towards  heaven,  successively  emigrated  from 
a  pillar  of  six  cubits  high  to  others  of  twelve, 
twenty-two,  thirty-six,  and  forty  cubits. 
What  is  most  extraordinary,  he  was  enabled, 
in  the  mild  climate  of  Syria,  to  pass  forty- 
seven  years  upon  his  pillars,  and  his  wretched 
existence  was  at  last  terminated  by  an  ulcer,  ai 


S  I  M 

the  age  of  sixty-nine.  The  age  was  stupid 
enough  to  consider  this  madness  as  a  proof  of 
extraordinary  sanctity,  and  he  was  supplied 
with  food,  ivc.  with  all  the  zeal  of  profound 
admiration.  His  body  was  taken  down  from 
his  last  pillar  by  the  hands  of  bishops,  and 
conveyed  to  Antioch  by  an  escort  of  6000 
soldiers,  and  with  almost  imperial  honours. 
Such  was  a  part  of  the  Christianity  of  the 
fifth  century  ;  and  what  is  still  more  lamenta- 
ble to  this  day,  writers  have  been  found  to  exalt 
the  almost  incredible,  but  well-authenticated 
acts  of  insanity  of  this  madman,  as  the  deeds 
of  a  Christian  saint.  His  fanaticism  pro- 
duced many  imitators,  and  an  existence  on 
pillars,  in  the  mild  climate  of  Asia,  was  exhi- 
bited by  similar  lunatics  until  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury, when  the  folly  was  suppressed. — Rloreri, 
Mosheim. 

SLMLER  (JosiAs)  a  learned  Protestant 
divine,  born  at  Cappel  in  Switzerland,  in 
lo.'SO.  His  father,  who  had  been  prior  of  the 
monastery  of  Cappel,  embraced  the  doctrines 
of  the  reformers,  and  became  a  minister  of  the 
Swiss  church.  The  son  studied  at  Zurich  un- 
der Henry  Bullinger,  whose  daughter  he  sub- 
sequently married  ;  and  having  completed  his 
education  at  Basil  and  Strasburg,  he  returned 
to  his  native  country,  and  was  employed  both 
as  a  tutor  and  a  preacher  at  the  age  of  twenty. 
In  1563  he  succeeded  to  the  theological  pro- 
fessorship at  Zurich,  on  the  death  of  Peter 
Martyr,  in  which  station  he  industriously  em- 
ployed himself  in  confuting  the  various  here- 
sies which  sprang  up  among  the  Protestants  in 
Poland  and  other  parts  of  Europe.  But  he 
did  not  confine  his  labours  to  theological  con- 
troversy, having  published  several  works  rela- 
tive to  history,  mathematics,  and  philology.  j 
The  productions  which  have  procured  him  the 
most  lasting  reputation  are  those  which  relate 
to  the  history  of  his  native  country,  and  his 
abridgment  of  Gesner's  Bioiiotheca.  He  died 
in  1576. — Teissier  Elng.  des  H.S.  Biog.  Univ. 

SIMMIAS  of  Rhodes,  a  Greek  poet,  some 
of  whose  works  are  still  extant,  but  of  whose 
history  little  or  nothing  is  known.  According 
to  Suidas,  he  flourished  406  years  after  the 
taking  of  Troy,  or  778  BC. ;  but  this  is  a  ma- 
nifest error,  and  the  conjecture  of  Vossius, 
which  places  him  under  the  reign  of  Ptolemy 
Lagus,  is  probably  not  far  from  the  truth.  He 
must  have  lived  at  a  period  when  a  corrupt 
taste  prevailed,  for  his  works  are  chiefly  dis- 
tinguished for  singularity  of  form.  Three 
pieces  of  his  composition  remain,  "  The 
Wings,"  "  The  Egg,"  and  "  The  Ax,"  thus 
denominated  from  the  arrangement  of  the 
verses  so  as  to  form  the  respective  figures. 
These  elaborate  trifles  may  be  found  in  various 
editions  of  the  "  Poetre  Grsci  Minores. —  Bing. 
Univ. 

SIMMONS  (SAMUEL  FOART)  a  physician 
and  anatomical  writer,  born  at  Sandwich  in 
1730.  He  commenced  his  professional  studies 
in  France,  and  pursued  them  afterwards  at 
Edinburgh  and  Leyden,  at  which  last  univer- 
sity he  took  the  degree  of  MD.  In  1778  he 
established  himself'as  a  practitioner  of  medi- 


SI  M 

cine  in  the  metropolis,  and  the  following  year 
he  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society. 
In  1780  he  became  physician  to  the  Westmin- 
ster Dispensary  ;  and  in  1781  he  commenced 
the  publication  of  a  review  and  magazine,  en- 
titled "  The  London  Medical  Journal,"  which 
first  appeared  in  monthly  numbers,  and  was  for 
some  years  conducted  with  great  spirit  and 
ability.  Having  obtained  the  office  of  physi- 
cian to  St  Luke's  hospital,  he  resigned  his 
situation  at  the  dispensary.  In  1803  he  was 
consulted  relative  to  the  indisposition  of  the 
late  king  ;  ou  whose  recovery  he  received  the 
appointment  of  physician  extraordinary  to  his 
majesty.  His  death  took  place  in  1813.  Dr 
Simmons  was  the  author  of  "  Elements  of 
Anatomy,"  8vo  ;  "A  Treatise  on  Consump- 
tion," 8vo  ;  and  "  Memoirs  of  Dr  William. 
Hunter,"  besides  contributions  to  the  Philo- 
sophical Transactions. — Gent.  Mag. 

SIMON  (RICHARD)  an  eminent  French 
divine  and  theological  writer,  born  at  Dieppe 
in  Normandy,  in  1638.  Aft»  t  he  had  finished 
his  studies,  he  entered  into  the  congregation 
of  the  Oratory,  and  became  lecturer  on  philo- 
sophy at  the  college  of  Juilly.  He  distin- 
guished himself  as  a  bold  and  original  specu- 
lator, exhibiting  a  fondness  for  paradoxical 
opinions,  which  however  he  supported  with 
great  learning  and  ingenuity.  In  1678  he  pub- 
lished "  Histoire  Critique  du  Vieux  Testa- 
ment," in  which  the  latitude  of  sentiment  ex- 
hibited was  such  that  the  work  was  suppressed 
in  France.  That  circumstance,  as  usual,  served 
to  excite  public  curiosity,  to  satisfy  which  a 
Latin  version  was  published  at  Amsterdam, 
and  an  English  one  in  London.  M.  Simon 
subsequently  withdrew  from  the  society  of  the 
Oratory,  and  settling  at  Paris,  devoted  his 
time  to  theological  and  critical  inquiries.  He 
at  length  removed  to  Dieppe,  where  he  died 
in  April  1712.  Besides  the  work  already 
mentioned,  he  was  the  author  of  "  Histoire 
Critique  du  Nouveau  Testament,"  4to  ;  "  His- 
toire Critique  de  la  Creance  et  des  Coutumes 
des  Nations  du  Levant,"  12mo  ;  "  Disquisi- 
tiones  criticag  de  variis  Bibliorum  Editionibus, 
quibus  acced.  Castig.  Theolog.  ad  Opuscul. 
Vossii  de  Sibyllic.  Orac."  4to ;  "  Lettres 
Choisies,"  12mo;  and  various  other  works, 
including  a  French  translation  of  the  New 
Testament,  with  remarks.  He  likewise,  under 
the  pseudonym  of  Sainjore,  edited  an  interest- 
ing miscellany,  entitled  ' '  Bibliotheque  Choisie, 
ou  Recueil  de  divers  Pieces  critiques,  dont  la 
pluspart  ne  sont  point  imprimees,  ou  ne 
se  trouvent  que  tres  difficilement,"  Paris, 
1708 — 10,  4vols.  12mo. — Moreri.  Biog.  Univ. 
Stollii  lutrod.  in  Hist.  Litt. 

SIMON  (RICHARD)  a  lexicographer,  a  na- 
tive of  Dauphiny,  who  must  not  be  confounded 
with  the  subject  of  the  last  article.  Having 
entered  into  the  ecclesiastical  state,  he  ob- 
tained the  cure  of  a  parish  in  the  diocese  o» 
Vienne ;  but  he  was  obliged  to  resign  it  on 
account  of  ill  health.  He  then  settled  at 
Lyons,  where  he  employed  himself  in  com- 
piling a  "  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,"  1693, 
folio,  republished  in  2  vo!s.  in  1703.  This 


S  IM 

work  is  not  destitute  of  merit,  bu   it  lias  been  ' 
superseded  by  the  dictionary  of  father  Calmtt. 
—  Biog.  Univ. 

SIMONIDES,  a  celebrated  Grecian  poet, 
was  bora  in  the  island  of  Ceos,  one  of  the 
Cyclades,  where  he  flourished  in  the  fifth  cen-  | 
tury  BC.  He  excelled  in  various  kinds  of 
poetry,  but  particularly  in  the  elegiac  ;  and  is 
mentioned  by  Plato  and  Cicero,  not  only  as  a 
good  poet,  but  as  a  man  of  wisdom  and  vir-  ! 
tue.  Xenophon,  in  his  Dialogue  on  Tyranny, 
makes  him  one  of  the  interlocutors,  and  his 
famous  answer  to  Hiero,  King  of  Sicily,  has 
often  been  quoted.  Hiero  having  one  day 
asked  him  a  definition  of  God,  he  requested  a 
day  to  consider  of  it.  When  this  day  expired 
he  doubled  the  time,  and  this  he  did  repeat- 
edly until  the  king  wished  to  know  his  reason 
for  thus  proceeding.  "  It  is,"  he  replied, 
"  because  the  longer  I  reflect  on  the  question, 
the  more  difficult  it  appears  to  be."  He  was 
frequently  employed  by  the  victors  at  the 
games,  to  write  panegyrics  and  odes  in  their 
praise,  like  the  celebrated  Pindar,  who 
was  his  pupil  ;  and  he  is  reproached  with 
being  the  first  who  took  money  on  that  ac- 
count. He  was  accused  of  avarice  in  his  old 
age,  and  in  excuse  asserted,  that  he  would 
rather  leave  money  to  his  enemies  after  his 
death,  than  be  troublesome  to  his  friends  when 
living  ;  and  obtained  the  prize  in  poetry  at 
the  public  games,  when,  he  was  eighty  years 
of  age.  He  was  celebrated  among  the  ancients 
for  the  sweetness,  correctness,  and  purity  of 
his  style.  Addison,  in  the  Spectator,  No.  209, 
has  an  ingenious  paper  on  Simonides'  "  Cha- 
racters of  Women,"  which  fragment,  preserved 
by  Stobaeus,  was  published  in  Greek  and 
Latin,  by  Kohler,  Gottingen,  1781,  8vo;  and 
in  Latin  only,  in  1789,  to  which  version,  pro- 
fessor Heyne  prefixed  a  letter  on  the  condition 
of  women  in  ancient  Greece.  Simonides' 
fragments  of  poetry  are  printed  in  the  Cor- 
pus Poetarum  Graec.  This  ancient  poet 
reached  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-nine. — 
Fabric.  Bibl.  GrifC.  Bayte. 

SIMPLICIUS,  a  philosopher  of  the  sixth 
century,  was  a  native  of  Cilicia.  He  endea- 
voured to  unite  the  Stoic  and  Platonic  doc- 
trines with  the  Peripatetic,  of  which  combina- 
tion of  tenets  his  commentary  upon  the  En- 
chiridion of  Epictetus  is  a  remarkable  ex- 
ample. Of  this  work  Fabricius  affirms  that 
there  is  nothing  in  Pagan  antiquity  better  cal- 
culated to  form  the  morals,  or  which  affords 
juster  views  of  divine  providence.'  Simplicius 
was  one  of  the  philosophers  who  took  refuge 
with  Chosroes,  king  of  Persia,  from  an  appre- 
hended persecution  by  Justinian  ;  the  whole  of 
whom  returned  to  Athens  upon  a  truce  between 
the  Romans  and  Persians  in  549,  which  stipu- 
lated a  toleration  for  them.  The  commentaries 
of  Simplicius  upon  Aristotle  have  been  several 
times  published  in  Greek,  and  those  on  Epic- 
tetus in  Greek  and  Latin,  Leyden,  1639,  and 
London,  1670.  They  have  also  been  trans- 
lated into  English  and  French  by  Stanhope 
and  Dacier. — Fabricii  Bibl.  Grose.  Brucker. 

SIMPSON    (CHRISTOPHER)     one    of    the 


S  IM 

most  eminent  English  musicians  ji  m 
teenth  century.  Of  his  birth  or  family  littlo 
is  known,  but  it  is  ascertained  that  during  tho 
civil  wars  he  served  with  credit  in  the  army 
raised  by  the  duke  of  Newcastle  in  support  of 
the  royal  cause  against  the  parliament.  He  is 
now  principally  known  by  some  able  treatises 
on  musical  subjects.  Of  these  his  "  Chelys 
Minuritionum,"  printed  in  columns,  English 
and  Latin,  1665,  folio,  dedicated  to  his  scho- 
lar and  patron,  sir  John  Bolles,  contains  in- 
structions for  the  viol  de  gamba,  an  instru- 
ment popular  in  his  time.  His  next  work, 
"  A  Compendium  of  practical  Music,"  pub- 
lished in  five  parts,  1667,  is  an  able  one,  and 
treats  of  vocal  as  well  as  instrumental  music. 
The  time  of  his  decease  is  uncertain. — Biog. 
Diet,  of  Mus. 

SIMPSON  (EDWARD)  a  learned  English 
divine,  was  born  in  1578,  at  Tottenham,  in 
Middlesex,  of  which  parish  his  father  was 
rector.  He  was  educated  at  Westminster 
school,  whence  he  removed  to  Trinity  college, 
Cambridge,  where  he  obtained  a  fellowship, 
and  took  the  degree  of  DD.  He  obtained  the 
living  of  Eastbury  in  Kent,  and  was  also  made 
a  prebend  of  Canterbury.  He  devoted  much  of 
his  time  to  study,  and  died  in  1651.  His  principal 
works  are  "  Mosaica,  sive  Chronic!  Historiam 
Catholicam  complectentis,  &c."  4to  ;  "  Chroni- 
con  Catholicum  ab  exordio  JMundi  ;  "  Prae- 
lectiores  in  Persii  Satyras ;"  "  Notae  Selec- 
tiores  in  Horatium  ;"  "  Anglicana?  Linguae 
Vocabularium  Etymologicum,"  with  several 
theological  tracts,  and  other  pieces.  Life  by 
Wesseting.  Lloyd's  Memoirs. 

SIMPSON,  FRS.  (THOMAS)  a  very  emi- 
nent mathematician,  was  born  at  Market  Bos- 
worth,  in  the  county  of  Leicester,  in  1710. 
His  father,  who  was  a  stuff-weaver,  intended 
him  for  the  same  business,  and  perceiving  his 
taste  for  study,  forbade  him  the  use  of  books, 
which  produced  an  open  rupture,  and  he  was 
left  to  shift  for  himself.  He  in  consequence 
left  Bosworth,  and  took  lodgings  at  the  house 
of  a  tailor's  widow  at  Nuneaton,  whom  he 
afterwards  married.  Here  he  lived  some  time, 
working  at  his  trade,  and  while  thus  employed 
became  acquainted  with  a  pedlar,  who  pro- 
fessed astrology.  His  new  friend  lent  him 
Cocker's  arithmetic,  a  treatise  on  algebra,  and 
Partridge's  book  of  genitures ;  which  he  stu- 
died so  diligently,  that  he  soon  became  astro- 
loger on  his  own  account,  and  the  fortune- 
telling  oracle  of  the  neighbourhood.  An  un- 
lucky undertaking  to  raise  the  devil,  by  which 
piece  of  imposture  a  simple  girl  was  nearly 
frightened  into  confirmed  insanity,  obliged 
him  to  quit  Nuneaton,  and  he  repaired  to 
Derby,  where  lie  occupied  himself  in  his  trade 
by  day,  and  instructed  pupils  at  night.  He 
remained  at  Derby  until  1736,  when  he  re- 
paired to  London,  and  resided  near  Spital- 
fields,  where  he  wrought  at  his  business,  and 
taught  mathematics  in  the  evening.  His  ex- 
ertions being  attended  with  success,  he  brought 
his  wife  and  children  to  town,  and  his  name  be- 
coming known,  he  was  encouraged  to  publish 
by  subscription  "A  new  Treatise  of  Fluxion.^" 


S  I  M 

17.37,  4to.  This  able  work  was  followed  in 
1740  bj  a  "  Treatise  on  the  Nature  and  Laws 
of  Chance,"  4to ;  and  a  quarto  volume  of 
"  Essays  on  several  curious  and  interesting 
Subjects  in  speculative  and  mixed  Mathema- 
tics." In  1742  appeared  his  "  Doctrine  of 
Annuities  and  Reversion,"  which  involved 
hi;n  in  a  dispute  with  l)c  Moure,  in  which  how- 
ever lie  maintained  a  decided  advantage.  Such 
was  his  industry,  that  the  ensuing  year  he  pro- 
duced a  large  volume  of  "  Mathematical  Dis- 
sertations ;"  his  celebrated  "  Treatise  on  Al- 
gebra "  was  published  in  1745  ;  his  "  Ele- 
ments of  Geometry  "  in  1747  ;  his  "  Trigono- 
metry, plane  and  spherical,"  in  1748  ;  his 
"  Doctrine  and  Application  of  Fluxions  "  in 
1750  j  in  1752  his  "Select  Exercises  for, 
young  Proficients  in  Mathematics  ;"  and  in 
1757  bis  "  Miscellaneous  Tracts."  He  had  , 
previously,  in  1743,  been  appointed  to  the 
professorship  of  the  mathematics  at  Woolwich, 
by  the  instrumentality  of  Mr  Jone-s,  father  of 
the  celebrated  sir  William  Jones,  and  in  1745 
admitted  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  He.  j 
bad  a  peculiar  and  happy  mode  of  teaching, 
but  owing  to  his  great  simplicity  of  character, 
lie  was  often  the  butt  of  his  more  waggish  pu- 
pils. He  had  also  a  predilection  for  low  com- 
pany, and  for  some  of  the  habits  consequent 
thereon.  When  his  constitution  began  to  de- 
cline, a  proper  regimen  was  enforced  ;  but  it 
was  too  late,  as  be  gradually  sank  under  a 
depression  of  spirits,  which  rendered  him  in- 
capable of  bis  professional  duties.  Being  re- 
commended to  try  his  native  air,  he  set  out  in  ] 
February  1761,  to  Boswortb,  where  he  lin-  j 
gered  until  the  14th  of  May  following,  when 
be  expired  in  the  fifty-first  year  of  his  age.  Be- 
sides the  works  already  mentioned,  he  wrote 
several  papers  which  were  read  at  the  Royal 
Society,  and  printed  in  its  Transactions  ;  and 
also  assisted  in,  and  superintended  the  "  La-  | 
dies'  Diary"  for  several  years.  In  1760  he  was 
consulted  on  the  plan  for  Blackfriars  bridge, 
and  made  a  report  to  the  committee,  which, 
with  several  of  his  letters  on  the  subject,  were 
collected  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine.  The 
widow  of  this  self  taught  and  extraordinary 
man,  who  was  allowed  a  pension  of  200/.  per 
annum  after  his  death,  reached  the  age  of  102. 
— Mutton's  Math.  Diet. 

SIMSON  (  ROBERT)  a  distinguished  ma- 
thematician of  the  last  century.  He  was  born 
in  1637,  at  Kirtonhall  in  Ayrshire,  and  re- 
ceived his  education  at  the  university  of  Glas- 
gow. He  studied  medicine,  and  took  the  de- 
gree of  doctor  in  t'.iat  faculty  ;  but  he  never 
practised,  and  in  1711  he  was  elected  to  the 
mathematical  chair  at  Glasgow,  which  be 
filled  during  a  period  of  nearly  fifty  years, 
maintaining  the  highest  reputation  for  geome- 
trical science.  He  became  a  fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society,  and  furnished  many  mathema- 
tical papers  to  the  Philosophical  Transactions. 
He  published  a  translation  of  Euclid's  Geo- 
metry, which  superseded  all  former  elementary 
works  ;  and  he  was  also  the  author  of  "  The 
Loci  of  Apollonius  restored,"  4to,  and  a  trea- 
tise on  Conic  Sections,  4to.  His  death  took 


SI  N 

place  Octobnr  1,  1768  ;  and  a  volume  of  his 
posthumous  tracts  on  mathematics  appeared  in 
1776. — His  brother,  THOMAS  SIMSON,  was 
professor  of  medicine  and  anatomy  at  the  uni- 
versity of  St  Andrews.  He  published,  in  1726, 
"  Quatuor  Dissertationes  de  Re  Medica," 
Edinburgh,  8vo ;  "An  Essay  on  Muscular 
Motion,"  1752,  8vo  ;  besides  memoirs  in  the 
Transactions  of  the  Edinburgh  Philosophical 
Society. — button's  Math.  Diet.  Riog.Univ. 

SINCLAIR  (CHARLES  GIDEON,  baron)  a 
distinguished  Swedish  general,  who  served  in 
his  youth  in  France,  in  Prussia,  and  in  Sax- 
ony, and  was  subsequently  engaged  in  the 
wars  which  took  place  in  various  parts  of  Eu- 
rope in  the  last  century.  He  made  himself 
known  likewise  by  bis  writings,  which  dis- 
play a  profound  acquaintance  with  military 
tactics.  Among  his  published  works  are 
"  Regulations  for  Infantry,"  still  adopted  in 
Sweden  ;  and  "  Military  Institutions,  or  an 
elementary  Treatise  on  Tactics,"  Deux  Fonts, 
1773,  3  vols.  8vo.  Baron  Sinclair  died  near 
j  Westerass,  in  Sweden,  September  1,  1803, 
aged  seventy-three. — Bwg.  Univ. 

SINCLAIR,  or  SINCLARE  (GEORGE)  a 
philosopher,  distinguished  for  his  researches  in 
physical  science,  and,  very  inconsistently,  also 
as  the  advocate  for  popular  superstition.  He 
held  the  office  of  philosophical  professor  at 
Glasgow  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century  ;  but  being  a  zealous  Presbyterian,  be 
resigned,  after  the  Restoration  of  Chailes  II, 
rather  than  submit  to  the  renunciation  of  the 
solemn  league  and  covenant  required  under 
the  new  government.  He  was  then  employed 
as  an  engineer  in  procuring  a  supply  of  water 
from  the  Pentland  hills  for  the  city  of  Edin- 
burgh ;  in  the  course  of  which  undertaking,  in 
1668 — 70,  he  made  use  of  the  mercurial 
column  to  ascertain  the  height  of  Arthur's 
seat  and  other  bills  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Scot- 
tish metropolis ;  and  he  is  said  to  have  been 
the  first  who  applied  to  this  instrument  the 
appellation  of  baroscope,  since  changed  for 
that  of  barometer.  In  1672  he  published  a 
treatise  on  hydrostatics  and  the  working  of 
coal  mines,  4to,  which  was  somewhat  illibe- 
rally animadverted  on  by  Dr  Gregory,  the  in- 
ventor of  the  reflecting  telescope.  Sinclair 
appunded  to  bis  work  a  strangely  irrelevant 
piece,  entitled  "  A  true  Relation  of  the 
Witches  of  Glenluce."  After  the  Revolution 
he  recovered  his  professorship,  aud  retained  it 
till  his  death  in  1696.  He  was  the  author  of 
a  book  called  "  Satan's  Invisible  World  dis- 
covered," long  popular  among  the  Scottish 
peasantry  ;  besides  which  be  published  several 
works  on  mathematics  and  natural  philosophy. 
— Mutton's  Math.  Diet. 

SINDIAH,  or  SCINDIA  (MAHADJEE) 
the  son  of  a  Mahratta  officer,  at  the  court  of 
the  Peishwa,  in  Hindostan,  was  born  about 
1743.  He  was  at  the  battle  of  Panniput  in 
1761,  where  his  uncle,  one  of  the  Mahratta 
generals,  was  killed,  and  he  himself  was  badly 
wounded  and  taken  prisoner.  Having  made 
his  escape,  he  took  refuge  in  the  Decan  ;  and 
when  the  Mahrattaa  recovered  the  province 


S  I  R 

of  Malwa  some  years  after,  he  was  restored  to 
his  patrimonial  domain.  His  ambition  prompted 
him  to  aspire  to  the  possession  of  sovereign 
power,  and  his  courage  and  address  rendered 
him  successful.  In  1770  he  invaded  Hindos- 
tau  in  concert  with  Holkar,  at  the  head  of  a 
Mahratta  army,  when  he  made  himself  master 
of  Delhi,  and  obtained  the  tutelage  of  the  no- 
minal emperor  Shah  Aulum,  who  had  been 
the  pensioner  and  vassal  of  the  English,  He 
then  attacked  the  Rohillas,  who  were  sup- 
ported by  the  nabob  Shujah-Doulah  and  the 
English  ;  and  this  contest  was  terminated  by 
the  treaty  of  1782,  ratified  towards  the  close 
of  the  following  year.  After  this  he  pursued  ' 
his  projects  of  aggrandisement  ;  and  in  1785  i 
he  a  second  time  made  himself  master  of 
Delhi  and  of  the  person  of  the  emperor.  He 
also  took  Agra,  where  he  established  a  can- 
non-foundry ;  and  he  was  the  first  Indian 
prince  who  possessed  troops  armed  and  disci- 
plined in  the  European  manner.  He  had  taken 
into  his  service  general  Leborgne  de  Boigne, 
a  Frenchman,  to  whose  talents  and  courage  he 
was  indebted  for  much  of  the  success  which 
attended  his  undertakings  ;  and  it  was  this 
officer  who,  at  the  head  of  ail  army  of  Mah- 
rattas  and  Moguls,  gained  the  famous  battle  of 
Patan  in  June  1790.  Sindiah  was  called  a 
third  time  to  Delhi,  to  the  assistance  of  Shah 
Aulum,  who  had  beeu  deposed  and  cruelly 
treated  by  a  rebel  chief.  The  Mahratta  prince 
restored  him  to  the  empty  title  of  sovereignty, 
reserving  to  himself  the  imperial  power,  with 
the  quality  of  vizir.  In  1791  he  returned  to 
the  Decan,  where  he  endeavoured  to  obtain 
the  office  of  minister  of  the  Peishwa,  who  was 
a  minor ;  but  in  this  scheme  he  was  disap- 
pointed. He  seems  to  have  conceived  ambi- 
tious designs  of  much  greater  importance,  but 
these  were  frustrated  by  his  sudden  death  in 
1794.  The  dominions  of  this  prince  extended 
from  the  Ganges  to  the  gulf  of  Cambaya,  and 
from  the  frontiers  of  Lahore  to  those  of  Can- 
deish.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  nephew 
Dowla  Rao  Sindiah. —  Biog.  Univ. 

SINNER  (JOHN  RODOLPH)  a  philological 
writer,  born  at  Berne,  of  a  patrician  family,  in 
1730.  After  finishing  his  studies,  he  travelled 
abroad,  and  on  his  return  was  made  keeper  of 
the  public  library  at  his  native  place.  He  pub- 
lished "  Extracts  from  some  Poems  of  the 
twelfth,  thirteenth,  and  fourteenth  Centuries," 
Lausanne,  1759,  8vo  ;  which  was  followed  by 
his  catalogue  of  the  MSS.  in  the  library  of 
Berne,  with  critical  annotations,  3  vols.  8vo  ; 
and  a  catalogue  of  the  printed  books  in  the 
same  collection,  2  vols.  8vd.  He  was  also  the 
author  of  a  French  translation  of  the  satires  of 
Persius ;  an  Essay  on  the  doctrines  of  trans- 
migration and  purgatory  ;  and  a  tour  in  Swit- 
zerland. He  resigned  his  office  of  librarian 
in  1776,  to  enter  into  the  grand  council  of 
Berne,  and  he  became  bailli  of  Erlach.  His 
death  took  place  February  28,  1787. — E' 
Uniu. 

SIRI  (YITTORIO)  an   Italian  annalist,  was 
born  at  Parma  about  1613.    He  took  the  Bene 
dictine  habit  in  the  monastery  of  Si  John,  and 


SI  S 

there  began  to  publish  a  work,  entitled  "  Mer- 
curio  Politico,"  which  obtained  great  celebrity, 
and  of  which  fifteen  volumes  appeared  succes- 
sively from  1635  to  1655.  He  afterwards 
joined  to  it  "  Memorie  Recondite,"  in  eight 
volumes.  The  writer's  purpose  was  not  only 
to  record  facts,  but  to  investigate  their  causes 
in  the  secret  negotiations  of  cabinets,  and  to 
give  documents  in  support  of  his  narrative. 
Through  the  influence  of  caidinal  IVIazarin  he 
was  invited  to  Paris,  and  presented  with  a 
secular  abbacy,  and  allowed  to  entitle  himself 
counsellor,  historiographer,  and  almoner  to  his 
most  Christian  majesty.  He  died  in  1683, 
aged  seventy.  He  is  said  to  have  had  a  venal 
pen,  but  he  had  opportunities  for  good  informa- 
tion ;  and  the  number  of  original  documents 
which  he  published  still  give  a  certain  value  to 
his  works.  A  translation  into  French  of  the 
most  important  part  of  both  the  Mercurio  and 
Memorie,  have  been  published  by  M.  Requier, 
under  the  title  of  "  Memoires  Secrets." — Tira- 
ioschi.  Landi.  Moreri. 

SIRMOND  (JAMES)  a  French  Jesuit,  dis- 
tinguished for  his  learning  and  ability.  He 
was  born  at  Riom  in  the  province  of  Auvergne 
in  1559,  and  he  prosecuted  his  youthful  stu- 
dies with  such  diligence,  that  having  entered 
into  the  order  of  St  Ignatius  at  the  age  of  fif- 
teen, he  was  immediately  employed  as  a  clas- 
sical tutor  in  the  college  of  Paris.  For  several 
years  he  taught  with  great  reputation,  and 
among  his  pupils  were  the  duke  d'Angouleme, 
a  natural  son  of  Charles  IX,  and  Francis  de 
Sales,  afterwards  bishop  of  Geneva.  In  1590 
he  was  called  to  Rome,  and  appointed  secre- 
tary to  Claudius  Aquaviva,  the  general  of  his 
order.  Returning  to  Parisj  he  employed  him- 
self in  various  undertakings,  which  display 
immense  literary  industry  and  acuteness  of  in- 
tellect. In  1629  appeared  his  greatest  work, 
"  Concilia  antiqua  Galliae,"  2  vols.  folio  ;  and 
he  edited  the  writings  of  Sidonius  Apollioaris, 
and  other  early  Christian  authors.  As  a  con- 
troversial writer,  he  obtained  great  celebrity, 
particularly  in  his  dispute  with  James  Gode- 
froi,  relative  to  the  extent  of  the  pope's  juris- 
diction ;  and  in  his  defence  of  himself,  against 
the  abbe  de  St  Cyran,  who  attacked  his  work 
on  the  councils  of  the  French  church.  In 
1  637  he  was  chosen  confessor  to  Louis  XIII, 
which  appointment  interrupted  his  literary 
avocations  ;  but  on  the  death  of  that  prince  in 
1643,  he  returned  to  his  favourite  studies,  and 
prosecuted  them  with  great  assiduity  till  his 
death.  That  event  took  place  in  1651,  in  the 
ninety-third  year  of  his  age.  The  works  of 
this  learned  Jesuit  are  very  numerous,  extend- 
ing to  fifteen  folio  volumes,  inclusive  of  his 
editions  of  ancient  writers.  In  1728  appeared 
"  Sirmondi  Opera  Varia,  cura  Theodori," 
Venice,  5  vols.  folio. — Xiceron  Mem.  vol.  xvii. 
xx.  Perrault. '  Moreri. 

S1SEMNA  (Lucius  CORNELIUS)  a  Roman 
orator  and  historian,  descended  from  the  same 
family  with  the  dictator  Sylla.  He  wasquass- 
tor  of  Sicily  in  the  year  of  Rome  676,  and  af- 
terwards prffitor  and  governor  of  Achaia,  aa 
lieutenant  of  Pompey.  He  wrote  a  History 


S  I  X 


SK  E 


of  Rome,  from  the  taking  of  the  city  by  the  only  king  of  Navarre,  and  deprived  him  of  the 
Gauls  to  the  lime  of  Sylla,  in  twenty-two  right  of  succession  ;  and  solemnly  approved 
books  ;  and  a  history  of  the  wars  of  Sylla,  be-  the  assassination  of  Henrv  111,  by  the  domini- 
sides  which  he  composed  a  commentary  on  can  Clement.  He  however  refusr-d  on  that 
the  comedies  of  Plautus  ;  and  translated  from  event  to  renew  the  excommunication  a-;iin>t 

Henry  IV,  who  he  said  was  worthy  of  a  crown; 

and  he  also  much  admired  our  queen  Elizabeth 


the  Greek  the  Milesian  Tales.  All  his  works 
have  perished  except  some  fragments  of  the 
history  collected  by  Cortius,  and  published  in 
the  notes  to  his  edition  of  Sallust  ;  and  relics 
of  the  Tales  cited  by  Charisius  and  Servius. — 
WDU-.  Univ. 

SIXTHS  V  (Pope)  was  born  in  1521  at 
Mont  alto,  in  the  marche  of  Ancona,  where 
his  father,  Francis  Peretti,  was  a  vinedresser. 
The  son,  whose  name  was  Felix,  was  employed 


for  the  freedom  and  vigour  of  her  government. 
After  the  defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada,  lie  in- 
tended to  struggle  with  Philip  II,  for  the  full 
possession  of  Naples,  but  death  prevented  him. 
Although  he  reigned  only  five  years  and  four 
months,  he  undertook  and  completed  nume- 
rous magnificent  works,  and  on  his  death  left 


— ,-.__,  --  ,  a  large  sum  in  his  treasury.     He   was  by  no 

by  a  neighbouring  farmer  in  keeping  swine,  in  |  means  exempt  from  nepotism  ;  he  raised  his 
winch  mean  situation  he  attracted  the  notice  poor  sister,  the  widow  of  a  peasant,  to  the 
of  a  Franciscan  friar,  who  obtained  admission  rank  of  a  princess,  exalted  her  grandson  to 
for  him  into  the  convent  of  Ascoli,  in  the  !  the  cardinalship,  and  married  his  nieces 
quality  of  lay  brother.  His  natural  acuteness  '  into  the  first  families.  This  celebrated  pontiff 
and  thirst  for  learning  being  remarked,  he  was  was  the  first  who  fixed  the  number  of  cardi- 
taught  the  Latin  language  ;  and  being  received  nals  at  seventy.  He  also  caused  the  vulgate 
into  the  order,  went  through  the  usual  courses  edition  of  the  Bible  to  be  revised  ;  and  to"the 
of  philosophy  and  theology.  He  was  ordained  great  dismay  of  the  Catholic  priesthood,  even 
priest  in  1545,  and  soon  after  made  a  doctor  allowed  of  an  Italian  version  of  it.  He  died 
in  theology,  when  he  assumed  the  name  of  !  August  27,  1590,  after  a  short  but  active  reigti. 
Montalto.  Having  acquired  a  high  character  His  death  created  great  joy  at  Rome,  owing 
by  his  preaching,  he  was  nominated  commissary  to  his  extreme  rigour;  but  the  vigour  of  his 
general  at  Bologna,  and  inquisitor  at  Venice,  administration  and  the  mighty  works  which  he 
where,  however,  he  excited  the  jealousy  of  the  effected,  have  thrown  a  considerable  lustre 
senate,  and  in  consequence  retired  to  Rome,  about  his  name,  and  have  constituted  him  one 


where    he   became  procurator  general   of  his 
order.       On   his    pupil,    cardinal    Alexandri, 


of  the  most  distinguished  characters  in  an  age 
which   abounded   with    great  men. —  LiJ'e  bij 


being   raised    to  the   papal   throne   under  the    Leti.     Tiraboschi. 

name  of  Pius  V,  he  was  made  general  of  his  |  SK  ELTON  (  JOHN)  an  old  English  poet, 
order,  and  cardinal.  On  the  accession  of  (  descended  from  an  ancient  family  in  Cumber- 
Gregory  XIII,  finding  himself  without  influence  land,  was  born  towards  the  latter  part  of  the 
or  connexions  to  push  him  forward,  he  sud-  fifteenth  century.  He  appears  to  have  studied 
deniy  changed  his  demeanour,  and  assumed  at  both  universities,  but  certainly  at  Oxford, 
quite  an  opposite  character  of  gentleness  and  |  where  about  1489  he  received  the  laureateship 
meekness,  and  appeared  all  humility  and  con-  !  as  a  degree,  not  being  at  that  time  a  court 
descension.  He  even  carried  his  hypocrisy  [  office  as  at  present.  He  took  orders  in  1498, 
so  far  as  to  treat  his  family  with  neglect,  and  and  in  some  of  his  works  he  alludes  to  his 
affecting  the  infirmities  of  age,  to  assure  j  being  curate  of  Trompington  in  Cambridge- 
them  that  he  was  dead  to  the  affairs  of  the  shire  in  1507,  as  well  as  rector  of  Diss  in  Nor- 
present  world.  With  similar  craftiness  he  !  folk.  Tradition  informs  us  that  he  occasionally 
took  no  part  in  political  contentions,  and  so  created  disgust  by  his  buffooneries  iu  the  pul- 
imposed  on  the  cardinals,  that  in  derision  pit ;  and  there  were  three  objects  at  which  he 
they  used  to  call  him  "  the  ass  of  La  Marca."  :  delighted  to  aim  his  satire,  which  were  the 
At  length  Gregory  X11I  died,  on  which  a  mendicant  fiiars,  Lily  the  grammarian,  and 
strong  contest  took  place  ;  and  the  interest  of  cardinal  Wolsey.  His  attacks  even  when  me- 
the  more  influential  candidates  being  nearly  rited  were  extremely  coarse,  nor  was  his  own 
equal,  they  agreed  to  choose  Montalto  for  the  j  life  either  moral  or  regular.  His  attacks  on 
present,  who  appeared  before  them  incessantly  j  Wolsey  at  length  roused  the  resentment  of 
coughing,  as  if  about  to  expire.  He  was  ac-  |  that  powerful  prelate,  and  an  order  being 
cordingly  elected  on  the  24th  April  1585  ;' issued  for  his  apprehension,  he  took  refuge  in 
and  scarcely  had  the  tiara  been  placed  on  his  the  sanctuary  at  Westminster,  where  the  abbot 
head,  than  he  threw  away  his  staff,  walked  j  Islip  afforded  him  protection  until  his  death, 
erect,  and  chanted  Te  Ueum  with  a  voice  so  on  the  21st  June  1529,  r.ot  long  before  the 
strong,  that  the  roof  of  the  chapel  re-echoed  i  fall  of  Wolsey.  Skelton  appears  to  have  been 
with  the  sound.  He  took  the  name  of  Sixtus  deemed  a  more  important  person  in  his  own 
V,  and  commenced  his  reign  with  a  degree  of  day  than  has  been  generally  imagined.  How- 
rigour  in  the  administration  of  justice  which  ever  obscured  by  indecency,  scurrility,  and 
was  quite  unknown  in  Rome,  and  which,  al-  the  broadest  burlesque,  he  occasionally  exhi- 
though  much  severity  had  become  necessary,  bits  much  sound  sense,  and  his  vein  of  satire 
was  in  many  instances  cruel  and  implacable.  j  is  often  copious  and  original.  Its  application 
His  foreign  policy  was  equally  significant  of :  to  the  clergy  of  the  day  was  certainly  un- 
the  strength  and  audacity  of  his  character.  He  sparing,  but  vices  that  almost  justified  the 
excommunicated  Henry  IV  of  France,  while  plunder  of  the  church  by  Henry  V 111,  in  the 


SLA 

eyes  of  his  subjects,  might  naturally  enough 
excite  the  spleen  of  a  caustic  satirist  ;  and 
Skelton  himself  insinuates  that  he  was  chiefly 
reviled  for  his  blunt  exposure  of  the  reigning 
follies  of  the  day.  His  works  will  be  found  in 
Chalmers's  edition  of  the  English  poets,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  which,  owing  to  their 
coarseness,  it  was  thought  proper  to  omit. 
The  whole  are  enumerated  by  Ritson. — Life 
in  Chalmers's  Edition  of  Poets.  Warton's  Hist, 
of  Eng,  Poet. 

SKELTON  (PHir.ip)  alearned  Irish  divine, 
was  born  in  the  parish  of  Derriaghly  near  Lis- 
burne  in  1707.  Being  one  of  a  numerous  family 
of  ten  children,  after  being  sent  to  Lisburne 
school,  he  lost  his  father,  and  he  was  in  1724 
entered  as  a  sizar  in  the  university  of  Dublin. 
He  left  college  after  taking  his  first  degree,  and 
assisted  his  brother,  a  clergyman  and  school- 
master, at  Dundalk.  He  was  himself  ordained 
in  1729,  and  first  served  a  curacy  in  the 
county  of  Fermanagh,  whence  lie  removed  to 
another  in  Monaghan.  While  iu  this  situa- 
tion he  published  several  able  controversial 
tracts  anonymously,  some  of  which  exhibited  a 
peculiar  vein  of  satire  ;  one  of  them,  entitled 
"  Proposals  for  the  Revival  of  Christianity," 
being  attributed  to  Swift.  His  conduct  as  a 
clergyman  was  exemplary  for  its  correctness 
and  benevolence  ;  yet  he  obtained  no  prefer- 
ment until  1750,  when  he  received  the  small 
living  of  Pettego  in  Donnegal.  He  had  pre- 
viously written  his  principal  work,  called 
"  Deism  Revealed,"  which  appeared  in  1749, 
in  2  vols.  8vo.  In  1759  he  obtained  the  living 
of  Devenish  near  Enniskillen,  and  in  1766 
that  of  Fintona  in  the  county  of  Tyrone.  This 
active  and  conseipntious,  but  in  some  respects 
eccentric  clergyman,  died  May  4,  1787,  in  his 
eightieth  year.  His  works,  in  five  volumes 
octavo,  which  were  published  by  himself  in 
1770,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Magdalen  charity, 
consist  of  "  Deism  Revealed,"  various  ser- 
mons, and  some  curious  original  tracts,  too 
numerous  for  detail. —  LiJ'e  by  S.  Burdy. 

SKINNER  (STEPHEN)  a  philological  writer 
of  eminence  in  the  seventeenth  century,  who 
was  a  native  of  London  or  its  vicinity.  He 
studied  at  Christchurch,  Oxford,  but  left  the 
university  at  the  commencement  of  the  civil 
war  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I,  and  went  to  the 
continent.  In  1646  he  returned  home,  and 
took  his  degrees  in  arts,  after  which  he  again 
travelled  abroad,  and  at  the  university  of  Hei- 
delberg he  was  admitted  MD.  In  1654  he 
obtained  the  same  degree  at  Oxford,  after 
which  he  engaged  in  practice  as  a  physician 
at  Lincoln.  Dr  Skinner  devoted  much  of  his 
time  to  etymological  researches,  especially  re- 
lative to  the  dialects  of  his  native  country  ; 
and  at  his  death,  in  1667,  he  left  the  mate- 
rials of  a  valuable  work,  edited  by  Thomas 
Henshaw,  under  the  title  of  "  Etymologicon 
Lingiiie  Anglican^,"  1671,  folio. —  Wood's 
A  then.  Oxnn. 

SLATER  or  SLAYTER  (WILLIAM)  a  di- 
vine and  poet,  was  born  in  Somersetshire  in 
1587,  and  was  admitted  a  member  of  StMary- 
hall,  Oxford  in  1600,  whence  he  removed  to 


S  L  E 

Brazennose  in  1607.  In  1611  he  entered  into 
orders,  and  was  beneficed  at  Otterdeu  in  Kent, 
where  he  died  in  1647.  lie  obtained  a  con- 
siderable reputation  for  poetical  talent,  and  a 
knowledge  of  English  history,  which  is  to  be 
estimated  by  the  followwing  works,  "  Thre- 
nodia  sive  Pandkmium,"  being  elegies  and 
epitaphs  on  queen  Anne  of  Denmark,  1619; 
these  elegies  and  epitaphs  are  in  Hebrew, 
Greek,  Latin,  and  English  verses,  and  some  of 
them  are  in  the  fantastical  shapes  of  pillars, 
circles,  &c.  ;  "  False-Albion,  or  the  History  of 
Great  Britain,"  folio,  in  Latin  and  English 
verse,  with  historical  notes,  which  production 
Grainger  deems  his  "  capital  work  ;"  "  Ge- 
nethliacon,  sive  Stemma  Regis  Jacobi,"  folio, 
Latin  and  English,  in  which  work  the  ge- 
nealogy of  James,  from  Adam,  is  laboriously 
deduced  ;  "  The  Psalms  of  David,  in  four 
Languages,  Hebrew,  Greek,  Latin,  and  Eng- 
lish, set  to  the  Tunes  of  our  Churches."  Both 
words  and  music  are  neatly  engraved  in  sixty 
copper-plates,  and  taken  as  a  whole,  Dr  Bur- 
ney  esteems  it  one  of  the  most  curious  pro- 
ductions of  the  seventeenth  century. — Athcn. 
Oxon.  Barney's  Hist,  of  Music. 

SLEIDAN  (JOHN)  an  able  and  learned 
German  historian,  so  named  from  the  place  of 
his  nativity,  Sleidna,  a  small  town  in  the  vici- 
nity of  Cologne,  where  he  was  born  in  1506. 
He  was  the  son  of  humble  parents,  and  was 
distinguished  by  a  certain  precocity  of  talent, 
which,  having  cultivated  by  all  the  means 
afforded  him  at  home,  he  accompanied  his 
fellow-townsman  and  friend,  John  Sturmius, 
to  France,  where  he  completed  his  studies  in 
the  universities  of-  Paris  and  Orleans.  The 
recommendation  of  his  companion  secured  him 
in  1535  a  situation  iu  the  household  of  the 
cardinal  archbishop  John  du  Bellay,  to  whom 
lie  acted  many  years  as  confidential  secretary, 
and  obtained  from  the  munificence  of  that  pre- 
late a  comfortable  pension.  He  accompanied 
the  French  ambassador  to  the  diet  at  Hage- 
nau,  and  afterwards  resided  at  Paris,  until  in 
1542  his  attachment  to  the  doctrines  of  the 
Reformation  caused  him  to  retire  to  Strasburgh. 
The  sect  which  he  first  embraced  was  that  ot 
Zuingle,  but  he  afterwards  joined  the  Lu- 
therans, and  became  considerable  in  that  party 
both  by  his  writings  and  public  employment. 
He  was  deputed  in  1545  to  the  king  of  Eng- 
land, and  in  1551  was  one  of  the  Protestant 
envoys  to  the  Council  of  Trent,  which  was 
soon  after  dissolved  by  the  troops  of  Maurice, 
elector  of  Saxony.  He  ultimately  retired  to 
Strasburgh,  where  he  occupied  his  leisure 
hours  in  writing  the  memoirs  of  his  own  times, 
from  1517,  the  year  when  Martin  Luther 
first  commenced  his  opposition  to  the  see 
of  Rome,  to  1555,  that  in  which  the  work 
appeared.  This  elaborate  history,  which  is 
written  in  twenty- five  books,  and  has  been 
translated  into  most  of  the  European  languages, 
is  entitled  "  De  Statu  Religionis  et  Reipub- 
licte  Carolo  Quinto  C;«sare  Commeutarii." 
He  was  also  the  author  of  another  historical 
treatise  in  three  books,  "  De  qnatuor  summis 
Imperils,"  and  of  a  few  tracts,  principally  po- 


S  LO 

litical,  collected  ;md  printed  in  161)8,  under 
tLe  title  of  "  Opuscula,  &c."  The  death  of 
his  wife,  to  whom  he  was  much  attached,  in 
the  same  year  in  which  his  principal  work  ap- 
peared, produced  in  him  a  morbid  melan- 
choly, which  impaired  his  faculties,  and  at 
length  terminated  in  death  in  1556.  The 
"  De  St;ttu  Religionis "  of  Sleidan  lias  al- 
ways been  in  great  credit  with  the  Protes- 
tants, although  charged  with  partiality  by  the 
Catholic  writers  and  the  adherents  of  Charles 
V.  Jt  is  highly  praised  by  the  impartial  De 
Thou.  His  compendium  of  ancient  history, 
"  De  quatuor  summis  Imperils,"  has  also  been 
frequently  reprinted. —  Melchior  Adam.  Mo- 
reri.  Thuanus- 

SLINGELAND  (JoiiN  PETER  van)  a 
Dutch  artist,  celebrated  as  a  painter  of  por- 
traits and  conversations,  was  born  at  Leyden 
in  1640.  He  was  a  pupil  and  decided  imitator 
of  Gerard  Douw,  whom  he  is  sometimes 
thought  to  surpass.  His  extreme  attention  to 
finish  caused  him  to  work  very  slowly,  and  he 
was  once  three  years  engaged  in  one  family 
piece.  He  imitated  nature  with  extreme  ac- 
curacy, but  with  very  little  taste  in  the  way  of 
selection.  He  is  however  esteemed  one  of 
the  best  painters  of  the  Flemish  school. — 
Argenville  Vies  de  Peiut. 

SLOANE  (sir  HANS)  a  celebrated  English 
physician  and  naturalist,  who  by  a  testamen- 
tary bequest  laid  the  foundation  of  that  most 
important  national  establishment,  the  British 
Museum.  He  was  of  Scottish  extraction,  his  fa- 
ther Alexander  Sloane  being  the  head  of  a  co- 
lony ofScotswhich,  in  thereign  of  James  I,  set- 
tled in  the  north  of  Ireland,  where  the  subject  of 
this  article  was  born,  at  the  town  of  Killileagh, 
April  16,  1660.  He  manifested  a  predomi- 
nant taste  for  natural  history  at  an  early  age, 
which  led  him  to  choose  the  profession  of  me- 
dicine, as  affording  the  greatest  facility  for 
indulging  in  his  favourite  studies.  He  went 
to  London,  where  he  attended  lectures  on 
anatomy,  botany,  and  chemistry,  and  formed 
an  acquaintance  with  Boyle  and  Ray.  After 
remaining  in  that  metropolis  four  years,  he  re- 
moved to  Paris,  and  then  to  Montpellier, 
where  he  appears  to  have  taken  his  medical 
degrees.  In  1684  he  returned  to  London,  to 
engage  in  the  practice  of  his  profession.  The 
following  year  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Royal  Society,  and  in  1687  he  was  chosen  a 
fellow  of  the  College  of  Physicians.  He  shortly 
after  went  to  Jamaica  as  physician  to  Christo- 
pher, duke  of  Albemarle,  who  had  been  ap 
pointed  governor  of  that  island.  The  death  of 
that  nohleman,  shortly  after  his  arrival  in  the 
West  Indies,  occasioned  the  return  of  Dr 
Sloane  to  England,  after  an  absence  of  about 
fifteen  months,  which  period  he  had  most  se- 
dulously employed  in  collecting  from  Jamaica 
and  some  of  the  Carihhee  Islands,  plants  and 
other  objects  of  natural  history,  which  served 
as  the  foundation  of  a  splendid  work  subse- 
quently published.  lie  resumed  his  practice 
as  a  physician  in  London  ;  and  in  1694  he  was 
chosen  physician  to  Christ's  hospital,  which 
office  he  held  till  1730.  Being  appointed  se- 


S  M  A 

cretary  to  the  Royal  Society,  ho  renewed  the 
publication  of  the  Philosophical  Transactions, 
which  had  for  some  time  been  interrupted.  In 
1701  lie  obtained  the  diploma  of  MD.  from  the 
university  of   Oxford  ;  and   he    was   likewise 
elected  an  associate  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences 
at  Paris.    His  most  important  work,  the  "  Na- 
tural   History   of  Jamaica,"  was  partly  pub- 
lished in  1707,  when  the  first  volume  made  ita 
appearance  ;  but   the   numerous  avocations  of 
the  author  delayed  the  publication  of  the  se- 
cond   till  1725.     He   was  one   of   the  medi- 
cal attendants  of  queen  Anne  in  her  last  ill- 
ness; and  George   1  created  him  a  baronet  in 
1716;  being,  it  is  said,  the  first  physician  on 
whom   that  honour  was    conferred.     He  was 
likewise    appointed   physician-general    to  the 
army  during  the  reign  of  that  king  ;  and  on 
the  accession  of  George  II,  he  was  nominated 
physician  in  ordinary  to  his  majesty.    In  1719 
he   became  president  of   the   physician's  col- 
lege ;  and  on  the  death   of  sir  Isaac  Newton, 
in  1727,   he   succeeded  to    the  presidency  of 
the  Royal  Society.     He   held  the  latter  post 
till  1740,  when  his   great  age  and  infirmities 
induced  him  to  resign  it.     The  following  year 
he  retired  to  Chelsea,  where  lie  died  January 
11,  1752,  and  his  remains  were  interred  in  a 
vault  in  the  parish  church.     Sir  Hans  Sloane 
was  not  only  distinguished  as  a  man  of  science 
but  also  as  a  liberal  and  patriotic  citizen.     He 
was  a  governor  of  most  of  the   metropolitan 
hospitals,  to  which  he  was  not  only  a  constant 
benefactor  while  living,  but   he  also  left  con- 
siderable sums  to  them  at  his  death.     He  set 
on   foot  the   scheme  of  a   dispensary  for  the 
poor  ;  and  he  gave  to   the  apothecaries'  com- 
pany a  piece  of  ground   for  a   botanic  garden. 
He  contributed    greatly    to    the   execution    of 
other  schemes   for  the  public  benefit ;  but  the 
share  he  had   in  the   institution  of  the  British 
Museum   will    most    effectually  preserve    his 
name  from  oblivion.  Having  with  great  labour 
and   expense,  during  the  course  of  his   long 
life,  collected  a  rich  cabinet  of  medals,  objects 
of  natural  history,  &c.  and  a  valuable  library 
of    printed    books    and    manuscripts,   he    be- 
queathed  the  whole  to  the  public,  on  condi- 
tion that  the  sum  of  20.000/.  should  be  paid 
to  his    executors,   being   little  more    than  the 
intrinsic  value  of   the  medals,  metallic   ores, 
and  precious  stones,   comprised   in  his  collec- 
tion.    Parliament   fulfilled    the  terms   of  the 
legacy,  and  in  1753  an  act  was  passed — "  for 
the  purchase  of  the  museum   or  collection  of 
sir  Hans  Sloane,  hart,  and  of  the  Harleian  col- 
lection of  MSS.  and  for  procuring  one  general 
repository  for  the   better  reception  and  more 
convenient  use  of  the  said  collection,  and  of 
the  Cottonian  library,  and  additions  thereto." 
Such  was   the   commencement  of  the  British 
Museum,  every  department  of  which,  and  es- 
pecially the   library,  lias  recently  been  vastly 
augmented. —  Bin*.  Brit,    ftlartin's  Biog.  Phil. 
SM  A  LBROKE  (RICHA  RD)  bishop  of  Lich- 
field  and  Coventry,  a  learned  and  zealous,  but 
somewhat  fanciful  polemic,  who  flourished  in 
the  earlier  part  of  the  last  century.     He  was 
a    native  of   the    to-.vn   of  Birmingham,  born 


S  M  A 

1672,  and  took  his  degrees  in  divinity  at  Mag- 
dalen college,  Oxford,  where  he  obtained  a 
fellowship,  and  continued  to  reside,  till  in 
1723  he  was  raised  to  the  see  of  St  David's. 
Over  this  diocese  he  presided  about  seven 
years,  when  he  was  farther  preferred  to  the 
more  valuable  one  of  Lichfield.  In  the 
Whistonian  controversy  he  maintained  the 
Anti-Socinian  side  of  the  question  with  con- 
siderable ability  ;  but  much  weakened  the  effect 
of  a  subsequent  treatise  in  vindication  of  the 
miracles  of  Christ  against  the  objection  of 
Woolston,  by  certain  calculations,  as  useless 
as  absurd,  on  the  precise  number  of  devils  in 
the  Gadarene  herd  of  swine.  Of  this  anec- 
dote a  very  facetious  use  was  once  made  by 
Mr  Home  Tooke,  in  ridicule  of  some  minis- 
terial calculation  in  the  house  of  Commons. 
•  Some  observations  made  by  bishop  Smalbroke 
in  one  of  his  pastoral  charges  also  drew  down 
upon  him  from  bishop  Warburton  all  the 
caustic  severity  for  which  that  learned  but 
acrimonious  disputant  was  so  celebrated.  Bishop 
Smalbroke  died  in  1749.  Some  of  his  ser- 
mons and  other  devotional  writings  were  pub- 
lished by  him  previously  to  his  decease. — JYi- 
cholis  Lit.  Anec. 

SMALRIDGE  (GEORGE)  bishop  of  Bris 
tol,  was  descended  of  a  respectable  family  of 
that  name,  and  was  born  at  Lichfield,  where 
his  father  was  a  dyer,  in   1663.      After  re- 
ceiving the    rudiments  of   a  classical   educa- 
tion at  the  grammar-school  in   that   city,  his 
friends  placed  him  at   Westminster,   on  the 
foundation,    whence    he   was   in    due    course 
elected    to    a    studentship  at    Christcburch, 
Oxford,  at  the  age  of  nineteen.    Here  he  soon 
distinguished   himself  by  his  general  powers, 
and  at  an  early  age  he  was  selected  with  Al- 
drich  and  Atterbury  as  a  manager  of  the  con- 
troversy with  Obadiah  Walker,  master  of  Uni- 
versity college,  and  a  convert  to  popery.     He 
was  also  much  distinguished  by  the  elegance 
of  his  Latinity,  of  which  the  first  specimen 
appeared  in  1689,  in  a  poem  written  on  the 
unpromising  subject  of  a  bookseller's  auction, 
entitled  "  Auctio  Davisiana."     Having  taken 
holy  orders,  his  rise  in  the  church  was  rapid  ; 
and  after  obtaining  some  previous  preferment 
from  his  college,  he  was  collated  in  1 693  to  a 
stall  in  the  cathedral  of  his  native  city.     His 
strict  intimacy    with  Dr   Atterbury  involved 
him   in    the    proceedings   of    party  ;    but    he 
avoided  the  animosities  too  prevalent  in  its 
disputes,  and  held  an  amicable  correspondence 
with  Winston  and  Dr  Samuel  Clarke,  to  whom 
he  was  serviceable  in  moderating  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Convocation  against    them.      He 
was  the  proposer  of  a  conference   with   Dr 
Clarke   on  the  subject  of  the   Trinity,  which 
accordingly  took  place,  and  in  which  he  ap- 
peared   the  advocate    of  orthodoxy.      These 
connexions  and  this  candour  as  usual  produced 
an  accusation  of  a  leaning  towards  the  opinion 
of  those  whom  he  forbore  to  treat  with  ran- 
cour, from  which  imputation  he  formally  vin- 
dicated himself  in  a  letter  to  bishop  Trelawny. 
In  1711  he  was  made  canon   of  Christchurch, 
Oxford,  in  the  college  of  which  he  had  so  long 


Oxford. — Biog. 


SM  A 

been  a  member,  which  he  only  resigned  in 
1713  for  the  deanery,  in  succession  to  his  friend 
Atterbury.  The  following  year  the  see  of 
Bristol  was  added,  together  with  the  appoint- 
ment of  grand  almoner.  On  the  breaking  out 
of  the  rebellion  of  1715,  he  lost  his  post  of 
almoner,  in  consequence  of  refusing  to  sign 
the  declaration  of  the  bishops  on  that  occa- 
sion, which  was  interpreted  into  friendship  to 
the  exiled  family.  Of  his  writings,  "  A  Re- 
ply to  Walker  on  Church  Government,"  and 
a  volume  containing  twelve  discourses,  were 
printed  in  his  life-time  ;  but  a  collection  of 
sixty  sermons  appeared  after  his  decease, 
which  soon  ran  to  a  second  edition.  His  death 
took  place  in  1719.  Bishop  Smalridge,  who 
was  much  beloved  and  esteemed,  lies  buried 
in  Cbristchurch  cathedral, 
Brit. 

SMART  (CHRISTOPHER)  a  wit  and  poet 
of  the  last  century,  descended   of  an  ancient 
and  respectable  family  in  the  north  of   Eng- 
land, where  his  father  superintended  the  ma- 
nagement of  the   earl  of  Darlington's  estates. 
He  was  born  in  1722  at  Shipbourne,  a  village 
near  Maidstone  in  Kent,  and  was  first  placed 
at  the  grammar-school  in  that  town,  but  soon 
after  removed  to  that  of  Durham,  where  his 
strong   developement  of  precocious  talent  ob- 
tained him  the  steady  patronage  of  the  duchess 
of    Cleveland.      His   father     dying    much    in- 
volved in  his  circumstances,  her  grace  placed 
young  Smart,    when   only  seventeen  years  of 
age,  at  Pembroke  college,  Cambridge,  with  an 
allowance  of  forty  pounds  a-year,  a  pension  he 
continued  to  receive   during  the   three   years 
which  his  patroness  survived.  At  her  decease, 
in   1742,  he    was  thrown    upon    his  own  le- 
sources  ;  but  having  by  this  time  distinguished 
himself  much  in    his   literary  career,   in  the. 
course  of  which   he  carried  oft'  the  Seatonian 
prize  on    four  successive  occasions,   a  fellow- 
ship was  conferred  on   him   by  his  college  in 
1745.     The  gaiety  of  his  disposition,  and  the 
buoyancy  of  his  spirits,    which  even    poverty 
could  not  depress,  now  rendered   him  an  ac- 
ceptable   companion    to   most  of    the    beaux 
esprits  of  the  day,  with  many  of  whom,  espe- 
cially   with     Pope,     Johnson,    Garrick,    and 
Hawkesworth,  he  became  intimate.  His  friend- 
ship with  the  first-named   poet  was  much  in- 
creased by  the  elegant  translations  which  he 
made  of  the  "  Ode  on  St  Cecilia's  Day,"  and 
the  "  Essay  on  Criticism,"  into   Latin  verse. 
He  appears  however  to  have  acquired  more  in 
point  of  reputation  than  of  pecuniary  profit 
from  both  these   performances,  while   an   un- 
successful    dramatic   effusion,    entitled    "    A 
Trip  to  Cambridge*"  added  to  neither.     His 
marriage  in  1753  with  Miss  Carnan,  daughter- 
in-law  to  Mr  Newberry,  the  bookseller  in  St 
Paul's  church-yard,  having  vacated  his  fellow- 
ship, he  settled  in  London,   and  commenced 
author  by  profession  ;  in  which  capacity  he  be- 
came  a  principal  contributor  to  "  The  Old 
Woman's  Magazine,"  and  "   The   Universal 
Visitor,"  besides   publishing  a  volume  of  ori- 
ginal poems,   "  The  Hilliad,"   &c.     Poverty 
however,  so  often  the  attendant  upon  genius 


SM  E 

again  overtook  him;  and  his  distresses,  aided 
|n Tliaps  not  a  little  by  the  intemperance  to 
which  he  gave  way,  at  length  unsettled  his 
intellects,  and  compelled  his  relations  to  place 
him  for  a  while,  under  personal  restraint.  Yet 
even  in  this  melancholy  state  the  ruling  pas- 
sion still  manifested  itself  ;  and  his  "  Song  to 
David,"  written  in  a  madhouse,  and  partly 
with  charcoal  on  the  walls  of  his  cell,  bears  a 
strong  though  melancholy  attestation  to  the 
strength  of  his  mental  powers,  even  in  their 
derangement.  A  temporary  recovery  restored 
him  to  liberty  for  a  few  years,  but  only  to  ter- 
minate in  a  confinement  on  another  score. 
During  the  interval  he  gave  to  the  world  his 
translations  of  Horace's  works,  both  in  prose 
and  verse  ;  of  those  of  Phaedrus  in  verse,  a 
metrical  version  of  the  Parables  ;  Hannah,  an 
oratorio,  with  several  odes,  fables,  and  other 
miscellaneous  pieces.  Although,  as  before 
stated,  given  to  occasional  fits  of  intemperance, 
Sm;irt  possessed  a  strong  devotional  feeling, 
and  is  even  said  to  have  written  certain  pas- 
sai'es,  in  his  poems  on  religious  subjects,  upon 
his  knees  ;  while  the  whole  of  his  compositions 
exhibit  proofs  of  a  refined  taste,  and  much 
originality  of  thought,  combined  with  a  style 
at  once  animated  and  correct.  This  unfortu- 
nate votary  of  the  Muses  died  at  length  of  a 
liver  complaint,  within  the  rules  of  the  King's 
Bench  prison,  May  12,  1771. — Chalmers's 
Poets. 

SMEATHMAN  (HENRY)  a  traveller,  who 
after  having  been  secretary  to  the  board  of 
trade, visited  the  intertropical  regions  of  Africa. 
He  was  well  acquainted  with  natural  history  ; 
and  on  his  return  to  England  in  1781,  he  ad- 
dressed to  sir  Joseph  Banks  a  letter,  contain- 
ing an  account  of  the  termites,  or  white  ants, 
found  in  Guinea  and  other  hot  countries, 
which  was  published  in  the  Philosophical 
Transactions,  and  also  separately  in  London, 
1781.  His  death  took  place  July  1,  1786. — 
Renss.  Biog.  Univ. 

SM EATON  (JOHN)  a  celebrated  civil  en- 
gineer, distinguished  as  the  architect  of  Eddy- 
Btone  lighthouse,  and  the  conductor  of  various 
other  important  undertakings.  He  was  born 
at  Austhorpe,  near  Leeds,  in  Yorkshire,  Way 
28,  17'24;  and  was  the  son  of  an  attorney, 
who,  observing  that  he  had  a  strong  taste  for 
mechanics,  wisely  allowed  him  to  follow  the 
impulse  of  his  genius,  and  become  a  mathe- 
matical instrument- maker.  He  commenced 
business  in  that  capacity  in  Holborn,  in  1750  ; 
but  he  subsequently  adopted  the  profession  of 
an  engineer.  He  was  in  1753  elected  a  fel- 
low of  the  Royal  Society,  and  in  1759  he  ob 
tained  a  prize  medal  for  a  paper  on  the  power 
of  wind  and  water  to  turn  mills.  His  great 
undertaking,  the  erection  of  the  lighthouse  on 
the  Eddystoue  rock  in  the  English  channel, 
was  finished  in  the  year  last  mentioned,  and 
it  was  executed  in  such  a  manner  as  almost  to 
bid  defiance  to  the  power  of  time  or  accident, 
and  to  place  in  a  strong  point  of  view  the 
enterprising  talents  and  industry  of  the  archi 
tect.  He  became  in  1761  one  of  the  receivers 
of  the  Derwentwater  estates,  the  property  of 


SM  E 

Greenwich  hospital,  to  the  revenues  of  which 
he  added  by  his  improvements.  Among  his 
various  enterprises  were  the  rendering  the 
river  Calder  navigable,  and  the  superinten- 
dence of  the  grand  canal  in  Scotland.  In  1771 
he  engaged  in  the  management  of  the  Green- 
wich and  Deptford  waterworks,  and  he  was 
subsequently  employed  in  improving  the  har- 
bour of  Ramsgate.  His  death  took  place  at 
Austhorpe,  September  8,  1792.  He  pub- 
lished "  An  Experimental  Enquiry  concerning 
the  Natural  Powers  of  Wind  and  Water  to 
turn  Mills,  and  other  Machines  depending  on 
a  circular  Motion,  &c."  1760,  4to  ;  "  An 
Answer  to  the  Misrepresentation  of  his  Plan 
for  Blackfriars  Bridge,"  1760,  folio  :  "  An 
Historical  Report  on  llamsgate  Harbour," 
1791,  8vo  ;  "  A  Narrative  of  the  Building,  and 
a  Description  of  the  Construction  of  Eddy- 
stone  Lighthouse  with  Stone ;  to  which  is 
subjoined  an  Appendix,  giving  some  Account 
of  the  Lighthouse  on  the  Spurn  Point,  built 
upon  Sand,"  1791,  imp.  folio.  He  was  also 
the  author  of  a  number  of  papers  published  in 
the  Philosophical  Transactions  ;  and  his"  Re- 
ports made  on  various  Occasions,  in  the  course 
of  his  Employment  as  an  Engineer,"  appeared 
posthumously  in  3  vols.  4to  ;  "  A  Narrative 
of  the  Genius,  Life,  and  Works  of  J.  Smea- 
ton,"  was  published  in  1793,  12mo  ;  and  a 
biographical  memoir  was  also  prefixed  to  his 
"  Reports." — Gent.  Mag. 

SMELLTE  (WILLIAM)  an  eminent  prac- 
titioner of  midwifery,  who  was  a  native  of 
Scotland.  He  practised  first  in  the  country, 
and  then  settled  in  London,  where  he  was 
very  extensively  employed,  and  was  also  dis- 
tinguished as  an  obstetrical  lecturer.  He 
states  in  one  of  his  publications,  that  he  had 
educated  nearly  one  thousand  pupils,  who  had, 
while  attending  his  lectures,  afforded  assist- 
ance to  eleven  hundred  and  fifty  poor  women, 
such  patients  being  supported  during  their 
confinement  by  a  subscription  raised  among 
the  pupils.  In  1752  Dr  Smellie  published 
the  substance  of  his  lectures,  under  the  title 
of  a  "  Treatise  on  Midwifery,"  8vo,  which  he 
had  been  six  years  in  preparing  for  the  press. 
This  was  followed  in  1754  by  a  volume  of 
cases  illustrative  of  the  method  of  practice 
which  he  recommended.  Both  works  were 
translated  into  French,  and  another  volume  of 
cases  was  published  posthumously.  In  1754  he 
also  laid  before  the  public  a  set  of  "  Ana- 
tomical Tables,"  with  explanations,  and  an 
abridgment  of  the  Practice  of  Midwifery;  and 
the  plates  of  this  work,  thirty -six  in  number 
large  folio,  are  well  executed,  and  fully 
adapted  for  the  purposes  of  the  author.  Dr 
Smellie,  in  the  course  of  his  professional 
career,  was  engaged  in  a  controversy  with  Dr 
Burton  of  York,  and  with  Dr  William  Doug- 
las, physician  extraordinary  to  the  prince  of 
Wales  ;  but  though  some  of  the  critical  ani- 
madversions of  those  gentlemen  were  not  des- 
titute of  foundation,  they  by  no  means  de- 
tracted from  the  reputation  of  their  antagonist, 
whose  numerous  improvements  in  the  art  he 
professed,  give  him  a  permanent  claim  to  the 


gratitude  of  posterity.  He  died  at  Lanark,  in 
Scotland,  at  an  advanced  age,  in  1763. — Hut- 
rkinson's  Biog.  Med. 

SMELLIE  (WILLIAM)  a  Scottish  printer, 
distinguished  as  a  man  of  learning  and  science. 
lie  was  born  at  Edinburgh  in  1740,  and  he 
served  an  apprenticeship  to  Messrs  Hamilton 
and  Co.  printers  in  that  city.  While  in  their 
office  lie  displayed  his  ahility  as  the  composer 
and  corrector  of  an  immaculate  edition  of  Te- 
rence's comedies,  for  which  he  received  a 
premium  from  the  Edinburgh  Philosophical 
Society.  He  also  made  himself  acquainted 
with  natural  history,  and  in  1764  he  published 
a  prize  dissertation  on  -the  sexes  of  plants. 
Sucli  was  his  proficiency  as  a  botanist,  that 
he  was  employed  as  an  occasional  assistant 
lecturer  to  the  professor  at  the  university,  Dr 
Hope.  He  entered  into  business  for  himself  in 
1765,  and  he  was  employed  to  print  the  first 
edition  of  the  "  Encyclopaedia  Britannica," 
1771,  3  vols.  4to,  for  which  he  wrote  some 
articles.  The  "  Edinburgh  Magazine  and 
Review"  was  another  of  his  undertakings, 
carried  on  in  conjunction  with  Dr  Gilbert 
Stuart,  whose  imprudence  and  il liberality  oc- 
casioned the  termination  of  the  work  three 
years  after  its  commencement.  Mr  Smellie 
translated  Buffon's  "  Natural  History,"  and 
he  was  also  the  author  of  an  original  work 
entitled  "  The  Philosophy  of  Natural  His- 
tory," 1790 — 95,  2  vols.  4to.  He  was  a  fel- 
low of  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh,  and 
secretary  to  the  Society  of  Scottish  Antiqua- 
ries ;  and  was  much  esteemed  among  the  lite- 
rati of  his  native  city,  where  he  died  June  25, 
1795.  Some  biographical  sketches  and  essays 
from  his  pen  were  published  in  an  octavo  vo- 
lume, after  his  death. — Life  of  Smellie,  by 
Kerr. 

SMITH  (ADAM)  a  distinguished  writer  on 
morals  and  politics,  was  the  only  son  of  Adam 
Smith,  comptroller  of  the  customs  at  Kirkaldy, 
where  he  was  born  June  5, 1723,  a  few  months 
after  the  death  of  his  father.  He  received  his 
early  education  at  the  school  of  Kirkaldy, 
whence  he  was  removed  at  the  age  of  fourteen 
to  the  university  of  Glasgow,  where  he  re- 
mained until  1740,  when  he  repaired  to  Baliol 
college,  Oxford,  as  an  exhibitioner  on  Snell's 
foundation.  Quitting  Oxford  and  all  views  to 
the  church  which  had  led  him  there,  in  1748 
he  took  up  his  abode  at  Edinburgh,  and  read 
some  courses  on  rhetoric  and  polite  literature, 
under  the  patronage  of  lord  Kames.  In  1751 
he  obtained  a  more  permanent  provision  by 
being  elected  professor  of  logic  at  Glasgow, 
and  the  year  following  to  that  of  moral  philo- 
sophy at  the  same  university.  He  was  now  in 
a  situation  which  perfectly  agreed  with  his 
talents  and  inclination,  and  both  in  matter  and 
manner  his  lectures  were  of  the  first  degree  of 
merit.  Those  on  moral  philosophy  contained 
the  rudiments  of  two  of  his  most  celebrated 
publications,  of  which  the  first,  entitled  "  The 
Theory  of  Moral  Sentiments,"  appeared  in 
1795,  and  was  most  favourably  received.  He 
lounds  it  upon  the  principle  of  sympathy, 
which  he  makes  the  source  of  all  our  senti- 

Bioc.  DJCT.— VOL.  III. 


S.MI 

ments  on  the  propriety  or  impropriety  o 
actions.  To  this  work  ha  afterwards  addca 
"  An  Essay  on  the  Origin  of  Languages;" 
and  the  elegance  and  acuteness  displayed  in 
these  treatises  introduced  him  to  several  emi- 
nent persons,  and  among  others  to  Mr  Charles 
Townshend,  who  engaged  him  in  1763  to  at- 
tend the  duke  of  Buccleugh  in  his  travels  :  a 
long  residence  in  France  with  this  nobleman 
introduced  him  to  the  acquaintance  of  Turgot, 
Quesnoi,  Necker,  D'Alembert,  Helvetius,  and 
Marmontel,  to  several  of  whom  he  was  re- 
commended by  David  Hume.  He  returned 
to  Scotland  in  1766,  and  immediately  retired 
with  his  mother  to  Kirkaldy,  where  he  led  a 
life  of  strict  study  and  retirement  for  ten 
years,  the  fruits  of  which  resolution  was  his 
celebrated  "  Inquiry  into  the  Nature  and 
Causes  of  the  Wealth  of  Nations,"  2  vols. 
4to,  1776.  It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  this 
work  has  become  a  standard  one  in  Europe, 
and  that  it  may  be  deemed  the  formal  precur- 
sor of  the  modern  science  of  political  economy, 
About  two  years  after  the  publication  of  this 
able  production  he  obtained,  through  the  pa- 
tronage of  the  duke  of  Buccleugh,  the  lucra- 
tive place  of  commissioner  of  the  customs  in 
Scotland,  in  consequence  of  which  he  removed 
with  his  mother,  who  attained  a  great  age,  to 
Edinburgh.  After  the  death  of  his  friend 
Hume,  he  published  that  philosopher's  me- 
moirs of  his  own  life,  with  some  additions,  in 
which  he  expressed  himself  so  favourably  of 
his  character  and  opinions,  it  was  at  once  in- 
ferred that  his  own  could  not  be  very  different. 
This  drew  upon  him  attacks  from  various 
quarters,  the  ablest  of  which  was  an  ironical 
anonymous  letter,  since  known  to  have  pro- 
ceeded from  the  pen  of  Dr  Home,  bishop  of 
Norwich.  In  1787  he  was  chosen  rector  of 
the  university  of  Glasgow,  and  soon  after  his 
health  began  to  decline,  and  he  sank  under  a 
chronic  disease  in  July  1790,  at  the  age  of 
sixty -seven.  A  short  time  before  his  death, 
he  ordered  all  his  MSS.  to  be  burnt  except  a 
few  detached  essays.  Dr  Smith  was  a  man 
of  much  simplicity  of  character,  subject  to  ab- 
sence of  mind  in  society,  and  better  fitted 
for  speculation  than  action.  He  was  at  the 
same  time  much  beloved  by  his  friends  for  his 
kind  and  benignant  disposition,  and  died  gene- 
rally admired  and  highly  respected. — Life  by 
Dugald  Stewart. 

SMITH  (CHARLES)   an  Irish  topographer 
and  naturalist,   who  resided  at  Dublin,  and 
appears  to  have  belonged  to  the  medical  pro- 
fession.    He  was  the  author  of  "  The  aiitient 
and  present  State  of  the  County  and  City  of 
Cork,  in  four  Books,"  Dublin   1750,  2   vols. 
8vo,    repubhshed   with    additions    in     1774 ; 
j  "  The  antient  and  present  State  of  the  Co. 
I  and  City  of  Waterford,"    1751,   8vo,  second 
;  edition,    1774  ;  and  "  The  antient  and  pre- 
sent State  of  the  Co.  of  Kerry,  being  a  natural, 
civil,  ecclesiastical,  historical,  and  topographi- 
cal  Description  thereof,  &c."   1756,   second 
edition    1774.     These   works  were  executed 
under  the  patronage  of  the  Physico-historical 
Society  of  Dublin,  an  association  formed  fa- 
ff 


SMI 

the  purpose  of  collecting  the  materials  for  a 
work  on  the  plan  of  Camden'a  Britannia,  to  be 
entitled  "  Hibernia,  or  Ireland  ancient  and 
modern."  Besides  these  protraction*  of  Dr 
Smith,  an  account  of  the  county  of  Down  was 
published  in  1744,  and  a  natural  history  of 
the  county  of  Dublin,  by  Dr  Rutty,  177-J, 
%  vols.  8vo  ;  through  the  exertions  of  the  Phy- 
sico-historical  Society. — Gaugtis  Brit.  Fopog. 

SMITH  (CHARLOTTE)  an  ingenious  but 
unfortunate  poetess  and  novel-writer,  a  native 
of  Sussex,  in  which,  as  well  as  in  the  adjoin- 
ing county  of  Surrey,  her  father,  Mr  Turner, 
was  possessed  of  considerable  landed  estates. 
She  was  born  in  1749,  and  married  at  a  very 
early  age  a  West  India  merchant,  whose  im- 
prudence aggravated  (if  we  are  to  believe  the 
allusions  of  his  wife  in  her  fictitious  narra- 
tives) by  legal  chicanery,  ultimately  dissi- 
pated the  whole  of  a  once  handsome  property, 
and  consigned  its  former  possessor  to  a  prison. 
In  this  melancholy  situation  he  was  not  how- 
ever abandoned  by  his  wife,  who  appears  to 
have  clung  to  him  in  his  falien  fortunes  with  a 
ilevotedness  of  affection  not  often  witnessed, 
and  to  have  dedicated  her  talents  to  the  sup- 
port of  her  husband  and  family.  Her  first 
production  was  a  series  of  "  Elegiac  Sonnets," 
printed  at  Chicbester  in  1784,  which,  though 
tinged  with  the  melancholy  naturally  occa- 
sioned by  her  misfortunes,  exhibit  considerable 
poetic  talent  as  well  as  pathos.  It  is  how- 
ever as  a  writer  of  novels  that  she  is  prin- 
cipally known,  in  which  capacity  she  far  ex- 
cels most  of  her  contemporaries,  though  a  vein 
of  querulous  egotism,  arising  from  her  situa- 
tion, is  perhaps  too  perceptible  through  the 
•whole.  Of  these  the  principal  are  her  "  Ro- 
mance of  real  Life  ;"  "  Emmeline  ;"  "  Des- 
mond ;"  "  Marchmont ;"  "  Ethelinda  ;"  "  Old 
Manor  House  ;"  "  Celestina,"  &c.  Much  of 
the  latter  part  of  her  life  was  passed  in  the 
closest  retirement  with  her  family  in  Nor- 
mandy, but  neither  there  was  she  inaccessible 
to  the  same  species  of  persecution  which  had 
tormented  her  at  home,  and  at  length  return- 
ing to  England,  she  ended  her  days  in  com- 
parative comfort  at  Thetford,  near  Farnham, 
Surrey,  in  the  autumn  of  1806.  Besides  the 
works  already  mentioned,  Mrs  Smith  wrote 
several  pleasing  volumes  for  young  persons, 
entitled  "  Rural  Walks;"  "  Rambles  Far- 
ther ;"  "  Minor  Morals  ;"  and  "  Conversa- 
tions." She  also  composed  a  poem  called 
"  The  Emigrant,"  in  addition  to  a  second 
volume  of  sonnets. — Gent.  Mug. 

SMITH  (EDMUND)  the  adopted  name  of 
a  wit,  scholar,  critic,  and  poet.  He  was 
the  only  son  of  a  Mr  Neale,  a  merchant  of 
some  eminence,  by  a  daughter  of  baron  Lech- 
mere,  and  was  born  in  1668.  He  lost  his 
father  in  his  infancy,  the  latter  having  fallen 
into  difficulties,  which  injured  his  health,  and 
tended  much  to  the  premature  termination  of 
his  life,  on  which  las  mother  retired  to  Wor- 
cester, leaving  her  son  to  the  care  of  a  brother- 
in-law  of  his  father,  named  Smith.  By  this 
worthy  man  he  was  brought  up  as  his  own 
child.,  and  placed  at  Westminster-school  under 


SM  i 

the  celebrated  Dr  Busby,  who  considered  him 
one  of  his  best  scholars.  His  generous  rela- 
tion died  before  he  left  school,  but  bis  aunt 
furnished  him  with  the  necessary  supplies  for 
a  university  education  ;  and  such  was  his  pro- 
gress in  literature,  that  at  the  annual  election 
Trinity-college,  Cambridge,  and  Christchurcb, 
Oxford,  contended  which  should  number  him 
among  their  members.  Young  Smith,  for 
he  had  now  assumed  the  name  of  his  benefac- 
tor, made  his  election  for  a  studentship  at 
Christchurch,  whither  he  soon  after  removed, 
and  continued  occasionally  to  reside  till  within 
five  years  of  his  death.  Through  the  exercises 
of  his  college  and  the  university  he  passed 
with  unusual  credit,  and  acquired  considerable 
reputation  in  the  schools,  both  as  a  philoso- 
pher and  a  polemic,  especially  distinguishing 
himself  by  his  Bodleian  oration,  which  is  Vo 
be  found  in  the  printed  collection  of  his  works. 
In  1707  a  tragedy  from  his  pen,  entitled 
"  Pluedra  and  Hippolytus,"  was  brought  out, 
supported  by  Betterton,  Booth,  Barry,  and 
Oldfield  ;  yet,  notwithstanding  their  talents,  its 
merits  being  rather  poetical  than  dramatic,  the 
success  of  it  was  questionable,  a  circumstance 
which  drew  down  some  severe  animadversions 
on  the  vitiated  taste  of  the  public  from  Addi- 
son  in  a  spirited  prologue  written  for  the  oc- 
casion. Ilis  other  works  consist  principally  of 
an  excellent  translation  of  "  Longinus  on  the 
Sublime,"  a  poem  to  the  memory  of  his  friend 
John  Philips,  some  odes,  &c.  ;  and  according 
to  his  biographer  Oldisworth,  it  is  much  to  be 
regretted  that  he  did  not  live  to  complete  a 
spirited  translation  of  the  works  of  Pindar, 
which  he  had  commenced.  Habits  of  intem- 
perance and  great  personal  imprudence  re- 
duced him  to  poverty;  yet,  notwithstanding, 
the  oddity  of  his  appearance  and  his  careless-  < 
ness  in  dress  procured  him  the  appellation  of 
"  Captain  Ragg,"  yet  such  was  the  natura. 
gracefulness  of  his  person  and  demeanour, 
that  from  the  female  part  of  his  acquaintance 
he  received  to  the  last  the  more  complimentary 
designation  of  "  the  handsome  sloven."  His 
death  took  place  at  Hartham  in  Wiltshire,  the 
seat  of  George  Ducket,  esq.  in  1710. — Life 
by  Gibber, 

SMITH  (ELIHU  HUBBAUD)  an  American 
physician,  who  was  born  at  Lichfield  in  Con- 
necticut, in  1771.  Having  adopted  the  medi- 
cal profession,  and  taken  the  degree  of  Ml), 
lie  settled  as  a  physician  at  New  York,  where 
he  died  September  19,  1798.  Dr  Smith  WHS 
one  of  the  conductors  of  the  American  journal 
called  the  "  Medical  Repository,"  to  which 
he  contributed  papers  "  On  the  Plague  of 
Athens;"  "  On  the  Origin  of  the  pestilential 
Fever  which  prevailed  in  the  Island  of  Gre- 
nada in  1793  and  1794;""  On  the  natural 
History  of  the  Elk  ;"  "  On  the  pestilential 
Diseases  which  at  different  times  appeared  in 
the  Athenian,  Carthaginian,  and  Roman  Ar- 
mies in  the.  Neighbourhood  of  Syracuse  ;  and 
two  medical  cases.  —  Gent.  Mag.  Month. 
Mag. 

SMITH  (ELIZABKTH)  a  lady  of  great  na- 
tural abilities,  aided  by  unwearied  cultivation. 


SMI 

She  was  descended  of  a  respectable  family 
settled  at  Burnhall  in  the  palatinate  of  Dur- 
ham, where  she  was  born  in  1776.  Besides 
most  of  the  modern  European  languages,  she 
was  a  considerable  proficient  both  in  classical 
aud  Oriental  literature,  extending  her  re- 
searches even  into  the  Arabic,  Syriac,  and 
Persian,  as  well  as  into  the  Greek  and  Hebrew 
tongues.  She  had  also  made  a  considerable 
progress  in  the  science  of  mathematics,  and 
the  art  of  drawing,  to  which  attainments  were 
added  a  lively  wit  and  a  poetic  talent  far  above 
mediocrity.  The  physical  powers  of  this  ac- 
complished young  female  were  however  un- 
equal to  support  the  unceasing  activity  of  her 
mind,  and  symptoms  of  decline,  soon  termi- 
nating in  rapid  consumption,  carried  her  off 
in  the  month  of  August,  1806.  The  only 
monument  of  her  talents  which  survives  her, 
is  a  translation  of  the  book  of  Job  from  the 
original. — Memoir  by  Miss  Bou'dler. 

SMITH  (HUGH)  a  medical  writer  and  prac- 
titioner of  eminence  in  the  metropolis,  during 
the  latter  part  of  the  last  century.  He  was 
originally  an  apothecary,  but  afterwards  he 
became  physician  to  the  Middlesex  hospital, 
and  an  alderman  of  London.  He  died  at  Tre- 
vor park,  near  Barnet,  June  26,  1789,  at  the 
age  of  fifty-three.  His  principal  publications 
are  "  The  Family  Physician,"  1760,  4to  ;  "  A 
Treatise  on  the  Use  and  Abuse  of  Mineral 
Waters,  with  Remarks  on  the  immoderate 
Use  of  Sea-water,"  1777,  8vo  ;  "  An  enlarged 
Syllabus  of  Philosophical  Lectures  delivered 
by  Hugh  Smith,  MD.  with  the  Principles  on 
which  his  Conjectures  are  founded  concerning 
Animal  Life  and  the  Laws  of  the  Animal 
Economy,"  1778,  4to  ;  and  "  Letters  to  Mar- 
ried Women  upon  the  Management  of  Infants, 
with  a  View  to  prevent  the  Diseases  incident 
to  Children,"  8vo. — There  was  another  Dr 
HUOH  SMITH,  a  very  popular  metropolitan 
physician,  who  was  a  native  of  Hertfordshire, 
and  died  at  Westham,  in  Essex,  December  26, 
1790.  He  was  the  author  of  "  Essays,  phy- 
siological and  practical,  on  the  Nature  and  Cir- 
culation of  the  Blood,  and  the  Effects  and 
Uses  of  Blood-letting,"  1761,  12mo ;  and 
"  Formulae  Medicainentorum,  or  a  Compen- 
dium of  the  Modern  Practice  of  Physic," 
1768,  8vo. —  Lvsons's  Environs  nf  London, 
vol.  iv.  Clutterbuck's  Hist,  nf  Hertfordshire, 
vol.  i. 

•  SMITH  (JOHN)  commonly  called  Captain 
John  Smith,  was  born  at  Willoughby  in  the 
county  of  Lincoln.  He  flourished  in  the  reigns 
of  Elizabeth  and  James  I,  and  is  distinguished 
by  the  number  and  angularity  of  his  travels 
and  adventures.  In  the  war  in  Hungary,  about 
1602,  he  overcame  three  Turks  successively 
in  single  combat,  and  cut  off  their  heads,  for 
which  and  other  exploits  Sigismond,  duke  of 
Transylvania,  under  whom  he  served,  gave 
him  his  picture  set  in  gold,  with  a  pension  of 
;>iN)  ducats,  and  allowed  him  to  bear  the 
Turks'  heads  in  his  arms.  He  afterwards 
went  to  America,  where  he  was  taken  prisoner 
by  the  Indians,  from  whom  he  found  means  to 
escape.  He  had  subsequently  a  considerable 


SM  I 

snare  in  reducing  New  England  ;  and  is  pro- 
bably the  same  captain  John  Smith  who  is 
mentioned  in  "  Stow's  Survey  "  as  some  time 
governor  of  Virginia  and  admiral  of  New  Eng- 
land. He  died  June  21,  1631.  He  is  author 
of  a  "  History  of  Virginia,  New  England,  aud 
the  Summer  Isles,"  1624,  folio  ;  "  A  Map  of 
Virginia,"  1612,  4to  ;  "  New  England's Tryals, 
&c."  1620,  4to  ;  "  Travels  in  Europe,  &c." 
1630,  4to,  reprinted  in  Churchill's  Voyages. — 
Fuller's  Worthies.  Granger. 

SMITH  (JOHN)  a  learned  divine,  was  the 
son  of  a  farmer  at  Achurch  in  Northampton- 
shire, where  he  was  born  in  1618.  He  was 
educated  at  Emanuel  college,  Cambridge, 
where  he  took  his  degree  as  AM.  in  1644, 
and  the  same  year  was  chosen  fellow  of 
Queen's  college.  Here  he  became  an  emi- 
nent tutor,  and  died  in  1652.  He  published  in 
1640  a  quarto  volume  of  "  Select  Discourses," 
which,  as  exhibiting  great  judgment  and  eru- 
dition, were  much  esteemed,  and  went  through 
a  second  edition  in  1673,  4to  ;  one  of  these 
discourses  "  On  Prophecy,"  was  translated 
into  Latin  by  Le  Clerc,  and  prefixed  to  his 
"  Commentary  on  the  Prophets." — Funeral 
Sermnn  by  Patrick. 

SMITH  (JOHN)  a  learned  divine,  was  born 
in  1659,  at  Lowther  in  Westmoreland,  of 
which  parish  his  father  was  rector.  He  be- 
came a  student  of  St  John's  college,  Cam- 
bridge, where  he  took  the  degree  of  MA.  in 
1681,  and  the  following  year  was  appointed  a 
minor  canon  of  Durham.  Bishop  Crew,  to 
whom  he  became  chaplain,  gave  him  the  rec- 
tory of  Greenwich,  and  soon  after  a  prebend 
at  Durham,  on  which  he  took  the  degree  of 
DD.  He  made  collections  for  a  History  of 
Durham  ;  and  at  the  time  of  his  death,  in 
1715,  was  engaged  in  preparing  an  edition  of 
the  works  of  Bede,  which  was  completed  by 
his  son,  GEORGE  SMITH,  who  took  orders 
among  thenonjurors,  and  became  titular  bishop 
of  Durham.  Besides  completing  his  father's 
edition  of  Bede,  he  wrote  a  book  entitled 
Britons  and  Saxons  not  converted  to  Po- 
pery."— Biog.  Brit. 

SMITH  (JOHN  RAPHAEL)  an  eminent  de- 
signer and  engraver  in  mezzotinto,  born  in 
London  about  1740.  This  most  industrious 
artist  executed  a  vast  number  of  plates  of  dif- 
ferent kinds,  including  ten  portraits  from  his 
own  drawings,  thirty-seven  after  sir  Joshua 
Reynolds,  and  fourteen  after  other  masters. 
Among  the  historical  engravings  which  he 
produced  was  one  of  the  Bard,  from  Gray's 
celebrated  ode,  and  others  from  the  designs  of 
Fuseli.  He  drew  portraits  in  crayons  with 
great  felicity. — Biog,  Univ. 

SMITH  (J.  STAFFORD)  was  born  at  Glou- 
cester about  the  year  1750,  where  his  father 
was  organist  at  the  cathedral.  Having  been 
initiated  in  music  at  Gloucester,  he  was  sent 
to  London,  and  placed  under  Dr  Boyce.  From 
the  excellence  of  his  voice  he  obtained  the 
situation  of  chorister  of  the  chapel  royal,  and 
some  years  after  was  chosen  one  of  die  or- 
ganists. He  distinguished  himself  in  compo- 
sition while  yet  a  youth,  and  gained  a  prize 
N  2 


SM  I 

'rum  the  Noblemen's  Catch  Club  for  the  best 
glee.  Besides  a  great  number  of  admired 
glees  and  other  compositions,  he  published  a 
"  ( 'ollection  of  Songs  of  various  kinds  and  for 
different  Voices,  with  the  Music,"  folio,  178.5, 
and  "  Musica  Antiqua,"  a  selection  of  music 
from  the  twelfth  to  the  eighteenth  century," 
2  vols.  folio,  1012. — Biog.  Diet,  of  Music. 

SMITH  VANDER  KETTEN  (JOHN)  bet- 
ter  known  by  the  Latinized  name  of  Smetius, 
an  historian  and  antiquary,  born  in  the  pro- 
vince of  Gueldres  in  the  Netherlands,  to- 
wards the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century.  He 
studied  at  Ilardcrwyck  under  Pontanus,  and 
afterwards  visited  France.  He  then  entered 
into  the  ministry  among  the  Lutherans,  and 
became  pastor  and  professor  of  philosophy  at 
Nimeguen.  He  formed  a  valuable  cabinet  of 
ancient  medals  and  other  antiquities,  which, 
was  some  time  after  his  deatli  purchased  by 
the  elector  palatine,  John  William,  for  20,000 
florins.  He  died  at  Nimeguen  May  30,  1C51. 
His  principal  works  are,  "  Oppidum  Batavo- 
rum,  seu  Noviomagum,  lib.  sing."  Amst.  1644, 
4to  ;  and  "  Thesaurus  Antiquarius,  seu  Sme- 
tianus,  sire  Notitia  elegantissimoe  supellectilis 
Pvomanreet  rarissimsR  Pinacothecas,  &c."  1658, 
12mo,  reprinted  with  additions  by  his  son, 
under  the  title  of  "  Antiquitates  Novioma- 
genses,"  1678,  4to. — JOHN  SMITH,  or  SME- 
TIUS, son  of  the  preceding,  was  born  at  Nime- 
guen about  1630,  and  having  adopted  the  ec- 
clesiastical profession  he  exercised  the  office 
of  minister  first  at  Alcmaer,  and  then  at  Am- 
rterdam,  where  he  died  May  23,  1710.  He 
was  the  author  of  an  explanation  of  the  Book 
of  Ecclesiastes,  and  several  other  theological 
works. — Bwg.  Univ. 

SMITH  (MILES)  a  learned  prelate,  was 
born  in  the  city  of  Hereford  about  1568,  and 
was  educated  at  Corpus  Christi  college,  Ox- 
ford, whence  he  removed  to  Brazen-nose,  and 
took  his  degrees  in  arts.  In  1.594  lie  took  his 
doctor's  degree,  and  in  1612  was  advanced  to 
the  see  of  Gloucester.  He  is  chiefly  distin- 
guished as  one  of  the  translators  of  the  Bible, 
for  which  he  also  wrote  the  preface.  He  died 
in  1624.  A  volume  of  his  sermons  was  printed 
in  lt\52,  folio. —  Wood.  Fuller. 

SMITH  (ROBERT)  an  eminent  divine  and 
mathematician,  was  horn  in  1689.  Very 
ttle  is  known  of  his  family  or  early  career, 
except  that  he  was  educated  at  Trinity  college, 
C:n!il>  ulye,  where  he  took  the  degree  of  DD. 
in  l?S!>,  on  succeeding  to  the  mastership  by 
the  death  of  I)r  Bentley.  He  was  appointed 
.i'Hthemadcal  preceptor  to  William  Juke  of 
Cumberland,  mid  master  of  mechanism  to  the 
king.  He  was  cousin  to  the  celebrated  Roger 
Cotes,  whose  "  1  lydrostatical  and  Pneumatical 
Lectures  "  he  published  in  1737,  8vo,  as  also 
a  collection  of  the  same  writer's  papers  from 
the  Philosophical  Transactions.  His  own 
works,  which  acquired  considerable  reputation, 
are  "  A  System  of  Optics,"  2  vols.  4to  ;  and 
"  Harmonics,  or  the  Philosophy  of  Musical 
Sounds."  1760.  He  died  in  1768,  in  the  se- 
venty-ninth year  of  his  age. — Ilutum's  Malh. 
Diet. 


SM  I 

SMITH  (SAMUEL)  an  American  historian, 
who  was  born  in  New  Jersey,  and  died  in 
1778.  lie  was  the  author  of  a  "  History  of 
New  Jersey,  from  the  foundation  of  the  Co- 
lony to  1721,  with  an  Appendix,"  in  which  he 
gives  an  account  of  the  most  important  events 
from  that  year  to  the  publication  of  his  work 
(1765)  with  a  short  view  of  the  situation  of 
New  Jersey  at  that  period.  This  history  is 
deserving  of  commendation  for  impartiality, 
and  the  writer  appears  to  have  drawn  his  in- 
formation from  original  sources.  —  Bwg.  Un/r. 
—  SMITH,  DD.  (SAMUEL  STANHOPE)  presi- 
dent of  the  college  of  New  Jersey,  was  pro- 
bably a  relative  of  the  preceding.  He  pub- 
lished an  ingenious  "  Essay  on  the  Causes  of 
the  Variety  of  Complexion  and  Figure  in  the 
Human  Species,  with  Strictures  on  Lord 
Kames's  Discourse  on  the  original  Diversity  of 
Mankind,"  reprinted  at  Edinburgh,  1788,  8vo; 
and  "  Sermons  on  various  Sub  ects,"  1800, 
8vo.  —  lleuss. 

SMITH  (sir  THOMAS)  an  eminent  states- 
man, philosopher,  and  linguist  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  was  born  at  Saffron  Walden  in  Essex, 
in  1512,  or  according  to  some  authorities,  two 
years  later.  He  received  his  education  at 
Queen's  college,  Cambridge,  of  which  he  be- 
came fellow  in  1531,  and  afterwards  obtained 
in  succession  the  appointments  of  Greek  pro- 
fessor 1533,  public  orator  to  the  university 
1536  and  reius  rofess  ' 


1536,  and  regius  professor  of  civil  law 
It  was  in  the  former  capacity  that,  in  con- 
junction with  the  learned  John  C'heke,  he  ven- 
tured on  the  experiment  of  introducing  a  new 
and,  as  they  contended,  a  more  correct  pro- 
nunciation of  the  Greek  language.  Ascham, 
Poynet,  and  other  distinguished  scholars  of  the 
time,  concurred  with  the  associates  in  their 
opinion  and  practice  ;  but  a  dread  of  inno- 
vation, raised  among  others  of  the  leading 
members  of  the  university  a  strong  feeling  of 
opposition  to  the  new  method,  and  Gardiner, 
bishop  of  Winchester,  then  its  chancellor,  was 
easily  induced  by  their  representations  to  ful- 
minate a  prohibition  on  the  attempt.  This 
arbitrary  mandate,  if  obeyed,  was  at  least  not 
silently  acquiesced  in  by  Smith,  who  printed 
a  vindication  of  his  orthoepy  in  an  epistle  ad- 
dressed to  the  bishop,  and  entitled  "  Ue  recta 
et  emendata  Lingu;e  Gracas  Pronunciatione." 
In  1539  he  visited  the  continent,  and  having 
spent  some  time  among  the  learned  in  several 
French  as  well  as  Italian  universities,  gra- 
duated as  LLD.  in  that  of  Padua.  After  the  , 
death  of  Henry  VI  11,  the  lord-  protector  So- 
merset, who  held  his  talents  as  well  as  scho- 
larship in  high  esteem,  placed  h;m  about  his 
person,  and  employed  him  in  various  political 
services,  the  rewards  of  which  were  the  stew- 
ardship of  the  Stanneries,  the  provostship  of 
Eton  college,  and  the  deanery  of  Carlisle.  I  In- 
ability which  he  continued  to  display  in  ins 
diplomatic  functions,  raised  him  in  1548  to  the 
post  of  secretary  of  state  with  the  honour  of 
knighthood.  He  was  afterwards  despatched 
on  an  embassy  to  the  States  General,  but  on 
Somerset's  disgrace  fell  for  'a  while  with  his 
patron.  His  acknowledged  skill  as  a  political 


SMi 

agent,  however,  soon  restored  him  to  a  com- 
parative degree  of  favour  ;  he  was  liberated 
from  the  Tower  to  which  he  had  been  con- 
signed ;  and  in  1551  sent  on  a  mission  to 
Paris,  the  object  of  which  was  to  conclude  a 
matrimonial  treaty  between  Edward  VI  and  a 
daughter  of  France.  His  journey  proved  un- 
successful ;  and  the  premature  death  of  the 
young  king  placing  Mary  upon  the  throne, 
sir  Thomas,  whose  religious  principles  were 
strongly  opposed  to  the  prevailing  sentiments 
of  the  court,  was  again  discharged  from  his 
employments.  His  dismissal,  though  abrupt, 
was  not  foil-owed  up  by  any  more  serious 
manifestation  of  the  royal  displeasure,  and 
though  forbidden  to  quit  the  realm,  he  had 
even  a  pension  granted  him  of  100/.  perannum. 
The  accession  of  Elizabeth  once  more  called 
.him  into  active  life,  and  a  prominent  part  was 
assigned  him  by  that  princess,  in  settling  the 
constitution  both  of  church  and  state,  hi  15612 
he  returned  to  France,  in  quality  of  ambas-  j 
sador;  and  during  bis  residence  in  that  coun- 
try employed  hu<  leisure  hours  in  completing 
bis  treatise  "  De  Ilepnblica  Anglorum," 
which  he  printed  on  his  return  in  1565.  In 
1570  he  was  sworn  of  the  privy  council,  and  { 
two  years  after  resumed  his  post  of  secretary  of 
state.  The  chancellorship  of  the  order  of  the  ' 
garter  was  subsequently  added  to  his  other  dig- 
nities, which  he  continued  to  enjoy  till  his  de- 
cease, which  took  place  at  his  seat  Mounthall,  ' 
Essex,  in  1577.  Sir  Thomas  carried  with  him 
to  his  grave  a  high  character  as  an  acute  meta- 
physician, an  able  scholar,  an  enlightened 
statesman,  and  an  honest  man. — Bio*.  Brit. 

SMITH  (sir  THOMAS)  a  native  of  Abingdon 
in  Berkshire,  who  was  educated  at  Oxford, 
and  obtained  preferment  in  the  court  of . 
James  I.  Fuller  says  that  he  raised  himself 
to  eminence  by  his  talents  alone.  He  was 
master  of  requests  and  Latin  secretary  to  king 
James,  and  was  about  to  receive  farther  pro- 
motion, when  he  died  November  28,  1609. 
He  was  interred  at  Fulham,  in  Middlesex, 
where  a  monument  was  erected  for  him  by  his 
widow,  the  daughter  of  William  lord  Chandos, 
who  afterwards  became  countess  of  Exeter. 
Probably  he  was  the  author  of  a  very  scarce 
tract  entitled  "  Sir  Thomas  Smithe's  Voyage 
and  Entertainment  in  Russia,  with  the  tra- 
gical Ends  of  two  Emperors  and  one  Empresse 
during  his  being  there,  and  the  miraculous 
Preservation  of  the  now  raigning  Emperor, 
esteemed  dead  for  eighteen  Yeares,"  1605, 
4to.  Tanner,  in  his  Bibliotheca  Britannico- 
Hibernica,  strangely  attributes  this  work  to  the 
foregoing  sir  Thomas  Smith,  secretary  of 
state  to  queen  Elizabeth. — Fuller's  Worthies. 
Edit. 

SMITH,  DD.  (THOMAS)  a  learned  English 
divine  of  the  seventeenth  century,  especially 
eminent  for  his  acquaintance  with  the  Hebrew 
and  other  Oriental  languages.  He  was  born 
in  the  metropolis  in  1638,  and  received  his 
education  at  Oxford,  being  elected  oft"  from 
Queen's  college  in  that  university,  where  he 
had  graduated,  on  a  fellowship  to  Magdalen, 
witli  which  he  united  the  situation  of  master 


SMT 

of  the  school.     Towards  the  close  of  James's 
reign,    the    president   of  his  college  being  a 
Catholic,  deprived  him  of  his  fellowship,   to 
which  he    was  however  soon    afterwards  re- 
stored, and  accompanied  the  English  embassy 
to  the  Porte  in  1688,  in  quality  of  chaplain. 
After  remaining  three  years  m  the  East,  he  re- 
turned to  England,  when  a  proposal  was  made 
to  him  that  he  should  set  out  for  the  Levant, 
with  a  view  to  the  collecting  of  manuscripts, 
especially  from  the  libraries  of  the  Greek  mo- 
nasteries, those  then  almost  unexplored  depo- 
sitaries of  buried  literature.     This  task  he  de- 
clined, and  subsequently  again  lost  his  fellow- 
ship, as  well  as  a  stall  to  which   he  had  been 
inducted  in  Salisbury  cathedral  for  refusiugto 
take  the  oaths  to  king  William.     He  was  the 
author   of  a  great    variety   of  learned  works, 
among  the  principal  (if  which  are  his  "  Diatnlia 
de  Chaldaicis  Paraphrastis,'' 8vo  ;  '"  DeGrn>r;v 
Ecclesiaa    hodierno    Stalu  ;"    "  Vitas    <,n<>ru> 
dam  eruditissimorum   <-i  iilustnum  Vp    run 
iu  which   work   are   to   be  found     '.iog>H    h 
sketches  of  archbishop  L'.-her,  Patrick  \  <> 
&c. ;   "  De   Druiilimi    M   ri'ms  f    I" 
8vo  ;  a  "  Life  oi  Camden,"  wruter 
a  "  Catalogue,  of  the  A16S.  in   the  Co 
Library  ;"  "  On  tin-  Manners,  Relit;   in, 
the  Turks,"  in  Latin  ;"  •'  On  the  Cn  m; 
the   Mysteries  of   the    Christian    K.  li^io 
"  The  Causes  and  Remedies  of  Religious  l.'n 
ferences;"    "  The  Lives   of  Huntingdon    ami 
Bernard,"    and    a    volume    of    miscellaneous 
tracts.     His    death   took    place  at  London  in 
1710. — Ring.  Brit.     Alhen.  Oxon. 

SMITH  (WALTER)  a  poet  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  who  was  the  author  of  a  satire  enti- 
tled "  The  mery  gestys  of  one  called  Edyth, 
the  lyeing  Wydow,  which  still  livith,"  printed 
in  15(25.  This  composition  is  curious  on  ac- 
count of  the  sketches  which  it  presents  of  the 
manners  which  prevailed  in  England  just  be- 
fore the  Reformation.  The  narrative  is  found- 
ed on  facts;  the  satirist  himself  having  been 
in  the  number  of  the  false  widow's  dupes;  and 
one  of  her  tricks,  it  seems,  was  played  off  at 
the  house  of  sir  Thomas  More  at  Chelsea. 
This  poem,  somewhat  modernized,  was  re- 
printed in  1573,  4to. — Tannen  Bib.  Brit.  Hi- 
hern.  Ames's  Hist,  of  Printing, 

*/  o 

SMITH  (WILLIAM)  an  industrious  anti- 
quary and  topographer  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. He  held  in  the  herald's  office  the  situa- 
tion of  rouge  dragon  pursuivant ;  and  being  a 
native  of  Cheshire  lie  devoted  much  of  his 
attention  to  the  history  and  antiquities  of  that 
county.  Under  the  patronage  of  the  son  of 
sir  Ranulph  Crew,  chief-justice  of  the  King's 
Bench,  he  drew  up  an  account  of  Cheshire, 
which  together  with  the  similar  composition 
of  William  Webb,  clerk  in  the  mayor's  court 
at  Chester,  was  published  by  Daniel  King 
in  1656,  under  the  title  of  "  The  Vale-Royail 
of  England,  or  the  County  Palatine  of  Chester 
illustrated,"  folio.  King  added  a  "  Discourse 
of  the  Inland  of  Man,"  and  engraved  the  plates 
for  this  work,  as  he  likewise  did  those  for 
Dugdale's  Monasticon.  In  the  heralds'  office 
is  extant  a  large  MS.  description  of  England, 


SMI 

with  fair  draughts  of  its  cities  and  towns, 
1.588,  by  AVilliam  Smith,  rouge  dragon.  Mr 
Gough  also  mentions  as  existing  among  Dr 
Rawlinson's  MSS.  in  the  Bodleian  library  a 
"  Description  of  the  County  Pallatine  of  Chea- 
ter ;  a  Work  deserving  to  be  better  handled, 
but  want  of  accuracy  in  the  Author  was  the 
cause.  Collected  and  set  down  by  William 
Smith,  citizen  of  Noremburgh."  He  died  Oc- 
tober 1,  1618. — There  was  a  WILLIAM  SMITH, 
who  in  the  reign  of  James  I  wrote  three  dra- 
matic pieces,  "  Hector  of  Germanic,"  hist, 
play,  1615,  4to  ;  and  "  Freeman  Honour  ;"  and 
"  St  George  for  England."  Coxeter  conjec- 
tures that  he.  was  the  Cheshire  antiquary. — 
Fuller's  Worthies.  Cough's  Brit.  Tnpng.  King. 
Dram. 

SMITH  (WILLIAM)  a  learned  English  di- 
vine, was  the  son  of  the  rev.  Richard  Smith, 
rector  of  All  Saints,  Worcester,  where  he  was 
born  in  1711.  He  was  educated  at  New  col- 
lege, Oxford,  where  lie  took  the  degree  of 
MA.  in  1737.  In  1737  he  was  presented  to 
the  rectory  of  Trinity  church,  Chester,  by  the 
Derby  family  ;  and  in  1758  the  same,  interest 
obtained  him  the  deanery  of  Chester,  when  he 
took  his  doctor's  degree.  He  died  January  12, 
1787.  He  is  chiefly  known  to  the  learned 
world  by  his  valuable  translations,  comprising 
"  Longinus  on  the  Sublime,"  1739,  8vo,  which 
lias  gone  through  four  editions  ;  "  Thucy- 
dides,"  1753,  2  vols.  4to,  reprinted  in  1781, 
8vo ;  "  Xenophon's  History  of  the  Affairs  of 
Greece,"  1770,  4to  ;  "  Nine  Sermons  on  the 
Beatitudes  ;"  and  a  volume  of  poems  published 
posthumously  in  1791,  by  the  rev.  Thomas 
Crane  of  Chester,  with  his  life  prefixed. — Life 
by  Crane.  Gent.  Mag. 

SMITH  (WILLIAM)  a  traveller,  born  about 
the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century.  He  was 
sent  in  1726  by  a  commercial  company  to  the 
coast  of  Guinea,  to  make  plans  and  views  of 
the  forts,  and  to  survey  the  country  from  the 
mouth  of  the  river  Gambia  to  Juidah.  He  re- 
turned to  England  in  September  1727,  after 
having  visited  Barbadoes ,  and  lie  subse- 
quently published  the  result  of  his  labours, 
under  the  title  of  "  A  New  Voyage  to  Guinea, 
containing  an  exact  Description  of  the  Coun- 
try and  of  the  Manners  and  Customs  of  the 
Inhabitants,"  London,  1744,  8vo,  which  work 
was  translated  into  French  ;  and  "  Draughts 
of  Forts  on  the  Coast  of  Guinea,"  4to. — An- 
other WILLIAM  SMITH  was  the  author  of 
"  The  History  of  the  Province  of  Xew  York 
(N.  A.)  to  the  year  1732,"  London.  1757, 
4to ;  reprinted  1765,  8ro,  and  published  in 
French,  Paris,  1767,  12mo. — Ring-  Univ. 

SMITH  (WILLIAM)  an  eminent  dramatic 
performer,  born  about  1730  in  the  city  of  Lon- 
don, where  his  father  carried  on  business  as  a 
wholesale  grocer  and  tea-dealer.  He  was 
educated  at  Eton  school  and  St  John's  college, 
Cambridge,  with  a  view  to  the  clerical  pro- 
fession ;  but  having  subjected  himself  to  the 
danger  of  academical  censure  by  some  youth- 
fid  irregularities,  he  left  the  university,  and 
relinquished  his  prospects  of  ecclesiastical  pre- 
ferment. Returning  to  London  he  directed 


SMO 

his  attention  to  the  stage,  and  in  January  1753 
lie  made  his  first  appearance  at  Covent-gar- 
den  theatre,  in  the  character  of  Tlieodosius, 
in  the  tragedy  of  "  The  Force  of  Love."  He 
was  very  successful ;  and  he  continued  to  till 
some  of  the  principal  parts  in  a  variety  of 
plays  for  twenty-two  years  with  established 
reputation.  In  1774  he  removed  to  Drurv- 
lane,  and  continued  to  belong  to  the  com- 
pany there  till  1788,  when  he  retired  from  the 
stage,  in  consequence  of  having  married  a  lady 
of  fortune,  the  widow  of  Kelland  Courtenay, 
esq.  and  daughter  of  viscount  Hinchinbrooke. 
He  then  retired  into  the  country,  devoting  his 
time  to  the.  cultivation  of  polite  literature, 
with  which  he  was  intimately  conversant ;  and 
to  the  enjoyment  of  rural  pleasures,  especially 
fox-hunting,  to  which  lie  was  very  partial. 
His  death  took  place  September  13,  1819,  at 
Bury  St  Edmunds  in  Suffolk,  where  he  had 
long  resided.  The  characters  in  which  he 
chiefly  excelled  were  Richard,  Hastings,  and 
Hotspur,  in  tragedy  ;  and  Kitely,  Oakley,  and 
Charles  Surface,  in  comedy  ;  and  in  the  latter 
esqecially  he  was  almost  without  a  rival. — 
Tliesp.  Diet.  Gent.  Mug. 

SMITS  (DiEDEUic)  a  Dutch  poet,  who  was 
a  native  of  Rotterdam.  He  united  with  a 
poetical  genius  a  taste  for  music,  and  his  verses 
are  said  to  be  distinguished  for  smoothness 
and  harmony  in  no  common  degree.  M.  de 
Vries,  in  his  History  of  Dutch  poetry,  prefers 
the  heroic  poem  of  Smits,  "  On  the  Delivery 
of  the  Children  of  Israel  from  the  idolatrous 
Worship  of  Baal-peor,"  to  "  Abraham  the 
Patriarch,"  the  celebrated  epopea  of  Nicholas 
Hoogvliet.  Smits  wrote  a  poem  on  the  river 
llotte,  which  gives  name  to  the  city  of  Rotter- 
dam ;  and  he  translated  Pope's  Epistle  from 
Heloise  to  Ahelard,  and  other  pieces. — Biog. 
Univ. 

SMOLLETT  (TOBIAS)  a  writer  of  consi- 
derable reputation  and  varied  powers,  was  the 
grandson  of  Sir  James  Smollett  of  Bonhill, 
one  of  the  commissioners  for  the  union,  heing 
the  youngest  son  of  Archihald,  the  fourth  son 
of  that  baronet.  He  was  born  at  Dalquhurn 
in  Dumbartonshire,  in  1721,  and  after  being 
educated  at  the  grammar-school  of  Dumbarton, 
where  he  discovered  an  early  taste  for  poetry 
and  satire,  lie  was  apprenticed  to  a  surgeon  at 
Glasgow,  and  at  the  same  time  attended  the 
medical  lectures  in  that  university.  While 
in  this  situation  he  composed  his  tragedy  of 
"  The  Regicide  ;,"  and  in  his  nineteenth  year 
was  induced  by  the  death  of  his  grandfather, 
which  left  him  without  a  provision  for  the  pro- 
secution of  his  studies,  to  repair  to  London, 
in  quest  of  professional  employment  in  the 
army  or  navy.  Having  failed  in  his  applica 
tion  to  the  managers  to  produce  his  tragedy, 
in  17-11  he  procured  the  situation  of  a  surgeon's 
mate  in  a  ship  of  the  line,  and  sailed  on  the 
expedition  against  Carthagena,  of  which  ill- 
conducted  enterprise  he  subsequently  published 
an  account,  in  his  Compendium  of  Voyages. 
He  was  soon  disgusted  with  the  naval  service, 
which  he  quitted  in  the  West  Indies,  and  re- 
sided some  ';~*  in  Jamaica.  On  his  return 


S  M  O 

hi  17-16,  the  severities  used  by  the  king's 
troops  in  Scotland  after  the  battJe  of  Cullod, n, 
induced  him  to  write  his  short  poem  entitled 
"  The  Tears  of  Scotland,"  which  by  its  spirit, 
pathos,  and  elegance,  attracted  considerable 
attention.  This  was  followed  by  two  satires, 
entitled  "  Advice"  and  "  Reproof,"  in  which, 
besides  a  very  free  attack  on  public  characters, 
be  severely  lashed  the  managers  and  others  who 
b  ad  personally  offended  him.  He  soon  after  mar- 
ried a  lady  with  whom  he  had  become  acquaint- 
ed in  Jamaica  ;  but  received  only  a  small  part  of 
the  fortune  which  be  bad  expected,  and  in  con- 
i  '(juence  was  under  the  necessity  of  applying 
once  more  to  his  pen.  The  novel  of  "  Roderick 
Random"  was  the  first  fruits  of  this  application, 
which  soon  became  highly  popular;  and  al- 
though part  of  its  attraction  consisted  in  its  sup- 
posed allusion  to  the  life  of  the  author,  and  ad- 
vertence to  the  public  events  and  characters 
of  the  day,  it  will  probably  ever  remain  so. 
He  soon  after  published  his  tragedy  of  "  The 
Regicide,"  which  bis  growing  reputation  ren- 
dered profitable,  without  convincing  the  critics 
that  the  managers  bad  done  wrong  in  refusing 
it.  In  1750  he  enlarged  his  acquaintance 
with  the  world  by  a  trip  to  Paris,  which 
enabled  him  in  1751  to  give  to  the  public  his 
"  Adventures  of  Peregrine  Pickle,"  another 
novel,  in  which,  with  no  inconsiderable  sacri- 
fice of  morality  and  delicacy,  he  exerted  bis 
strong  powers  of  humorous  invention  and  de- 
lineation. He  next  thought  of  settling  as  a 
physician  at  Bath,  but  be  soon  experienced 
that  confidence  is  seldom  reposed  in  medical 
men  who  divide  their  attention  between  lite- 
rature and  their  profession.  He  accordingly 
resumed  bis  pen,  and  soon  after  produced  his 
"  Adventures  of  Ferdinand  Count  Fathom," 
and  a  new  translation  of  Don  Quixote,  by 
subscription.  The  latter  is  little  more  than  an 
improvement  of  that  by  Jarvis,  which  however 
in  its  conveyance  of  the  more  composed  hu- 
mour of  Cervantes,  is  still  preferred  by  many 
critics.  His  next  undertaking  was  "  The  Cri- 
tical Review,"  set.  up,  it  is  said,  in  reliance  on 
the  patronage  of  the  tory  and  high-church 
partv,  in  opposition  to  the  Monthly  Review. 
To  tbis  task  he  brought  many  necessary  qua- 
I  fications,  which  were  however  much  alloyed 
l>y  his  acrimonious,  jealous,  and  irritable  pro- 
pensities, which  involved  him  in  much  coarse 
and  illiberal  controversy,  and  subjected  him 
in  one  instance  to  fine  and  imprisonment  for  a 
libel  on  admiral  Knowles.  In  1757  he  at- 
tempted the  stage  a  second  time,  in  a  farce 
called  "The  Reprisals,  or  the  Tars  of  Old 
England,"  which,  notwithstanding  his  attack 
on  Garrickin  Roderick  Random,  that  manager 
accepted  ;  and  it  is  pleasant  to  observe  that 
this  kindness  not  only  produced  a  reconcilia- 
tion between  them,  but  a  handsome  apology 
from  Smollett  in  a  subsequent  publication. 
Notwithstanding  his  numerous  engagements, 
he  produced  in  1758  bis  "  Complete  History 
of  England,"  in  four  quarto  volumes,  a  work 
which,  with  many  imperfections,  is  to  be  re- 
garded as  an  extraordinary  instance  of  literary 
acilif  and  industry,  being  completed  in  four- 


SIV1  G 

teen  months.  I*.  \vas  afterwards  printed  in 
weekly  numbers,  and  continued  by  Guthrie  to 
1765,  under  the  auspices  of  the  original 
author.  The  portion  from  the  Revolution,  when 
that  of  Hume  ceases,  is  generally  published  as 
a  sequel  to  that  author.  During  his  confine- 
ment in  the  King's  Bench  for  the  libel  on 
admiral  Knowles,  he  composed  his  "  Adven- 
tures of  Sir  Lancelot  Greaves,"  which  he  gave 
in  detached  parts  to  the  British  Magazine.  It 
was  subsequently  published  in  two  volumes, 
12mo,  but  will  bear  no  comparison  with  his 
previous  works  of  humour.  When  lord  Bute 
assumed  the  ministerial  lead,  Smollett  was  en- 
gaged to  support  him  in  a  weekly  paper  called 
"  The  Briton,"  which  was  rapidly  encountered 
by  the  celebrated  North  Briton  of  Wilke, 
which,  backed  by  the  public  voice,  soon  re- 
duced it  to  silence,  and  dissolved  a  friendship 
which  had  long  subsisted  between  the  respec- 
tive authors.  In  1763  grief  at  the  loss  of 
his  daughter  induced  him  to  make  a  tour 
through  France  and  Italy,  in  which  he  spent 
two  years,  and  on  his  return  published  his 
"  Travels,"  in  2  vols.  8vo.  Ill  at  ease  with 
himself,  although  they  contain  acute  and  sen- 
sible remarks,  a  querulous  disposition  to  com- 
plain is  exhibited  from  beginning  to  end,  for 
which  the  author  is  lashed  by  Sterne  in  his 
"  Sentimental  Journey,"  under  the  name  of 
Smelfungus.  In  1764  be  published  his  "  Ad- 
ventures of  an  Atom,"  a  political  satire,  in 
ridicule  of  different  administrations,  but  par- 
ticularly that  of  lord  Chatham.  Increasing 
disease  induced  him  to  revisit  Italy  in  1770, 
as  a  last  resource,  and  lie  had  still-  sufficient 
mental  vigour  to  compose  bis  last,  and  as  many 
think  bis  best  novel,  the  "  Expedition  of  Hum- 
phry Clinker."  In  the  cynical  but  humane 
character  of  Matthew  Bramble  the  author  is 
supposed  to  have  bad  an  eye  to  himself,  whom 
he  also  more  formally  sketches  under  the  name 
of  Serle  in  the  same  work.  This  was  the 
last  flash  of  his  genius.  He  died  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Leghorn,  October  21,  1771,  in 
the  fifty-first  year  of  his  age.  Dr  Smollett  was 
undoubtedly  a  man  of  considerable  talents  and 
various  powers,  but  his  claim  to  original  genius 
rests  principally  on  his  novels.  In  these,  al- 
though the  portraiture  often  approaches  to  ca- 
ricature, and  the  incident  to  extravagance,  he 
exhibits  a  knowledge  of  life  and  manners  and 
an  exuberance  of  humour  which  have  seldom 
been  excelled.  At  the  same  time  it  is  not  to 
be  concealed  that  morals  and  decency  are  fre- 
quently violated,  nor  ought  a  reader  who  ex- 
pects much  pleasure  from  them  to  be  very 
fastidious  on  the  score  of  taste.  As  a  his- 
torian be  has  obtained  some  credit  for  ease  and 
animation  of  style  ;  but  in  the  higher  qua- 
lities of  judgment,  impartiality,  and  philoso- 
phical appreciation,  he  falls  infinitely  below 
the  rank  maintained  by  Hume,  Gibbon,  and 
Robertson.  His  poetic  powers  were  con- 
siderable. "  The  Tears  of  Scotland,  '  "  Ode 
to  Leven  Water,"  and  other  short  pieces  are 
polished,  tender,  and  picturesque.  His  "  Ode 
to  Independence  "  is  also  a  very  spirited  and 
noble  production.  His  satires  are  vigorous- 


SNE 

b'lt  virulent  and  disgusting. — Life  prefixed  to 
IVo-ks  bit  Df  Moore. 

SMYTH  (JAMES  CAKMICHAEL)  an  eminent 
physician,  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  was 
born  in  Scotland  in  1741.  He  studied  at 
Edinburgh  and  Ley  den,  where  he  took  his  de- 
gree, and  subsequently  settled  in  the  metro- 
polis. Not  meeting  with  the  success  he  ex- 
pected, he  obtained  a  situation  in  the  medical 
department  of  the  army,  and  in  1700  had  the 
charge  of  the  French  prison  hospital  at  Win- 
chester. A  fever  breaking  out  in  this  recep- 
tacle, he  employed  the  three  mineral  acids 
with  great  effect  in  preventing  contagion  ;  a 
discovery  the  value  of  which  was  sufficiently 
proved  on  farther  trial,  and  the  doctor  in  con- 
sequence received  a  remuneration  from  par- 
liament in  1802.  A  claim  was  notwithstand- 
ing made  by  Monsieur  Chaptal  for  Guyton 
Morveau,  whom  he  alleged  to  have  practised 
the  same  method  as  early  as  1773.  Dr  John- 
stone  of  Kidderminster  also  made  a  similar 
claim  ;  but  it  did  not  appear  on  examination 
that  he  had  ever  tried  it  on  a  sufficient  scale. 
Dr  Smyth's  writings  are,  an  essay  "  On  the 
Effect  of  Swinging  as  a  Remedy  in  Pulmonary 
Complaints,"  8vo,  1787;  "  A  Description  of 
the  Jail  Distemper,  as  it  appeared  among  the 
Spanish  Prisoners  at  Winchester  in  1780,  &c." 
fivo,  1795  ;  "  The  Effects  of  Nitrous  Vapour 
in  preventing  and  destroying  Contagion  ascer- 
tained, &c."  8vo;  "  A  Letter  to  W.  Wilber- 
force,  Esq.  on  Dr  Johnstone's  Pamphlet," 
8vo,  1805  ;  "  Remarks  on  the  Report  of  M. 
Chaptal,  &c."  8vo ;  and  "  A  Treatise  on 
Hydrocephalus,"  8vo,  1814.  He  also  pub- 
lished an  edition  of  Dr  W.  Stark's  works,  4to, 
17158.  He  died  June  18,  1821. — Ann.  Biog. 

SMYTHE  (JAMES  MOOEE)  a  miscellaneous 
writer  of  the  last  century,  who  was  the  son  of 
Arthur  Moore,  one  of  the  lords  commissioners 
of  trade  in  the  reign  of  queen  Anne.  He  de- 
rived the  surname  of  Smythe  from  his  maternal 
uncle,  who  left  him  a  large  fortune.  He  was 
educated  at  Worcester  college,  Oxford,  and 
lie  held  jointly  with  his  brother  the  office  of 
paymaster  to  the  band  of  gentlemen  pen- 
sioners. He  wrote  songs  in  conjunction  with 
the  duke  of  Wharton,  and  he  commenced  a 
Jacobite  paper,  called  "  The  Inquisitor  ;"  but 
he  is  principally  remembered  at  present  as  one 
of  the  characters  who  figure  in  Pope's  Dun- 
ciad.  lie  had  offended  the  irritable  bard  of 
Twickenham  by  a  comedy  entitled  "  The 
Rival  Modes,"  published  in  1727,  8vo.  His 
death  took  place  October  18,  1734. — Sin 
Dramatm 

SNELL,  or  SNELLIUS  (RODOLPH)  an 
eminent  mathematician  and  philological  wri 
ter,  born  at  Oudewater,  in  Holland,  in  1546 
He  studied  at  Cologne,  Heidelberg,  and  Mar- 
purg,  where,  in  15(32,  he  took  the  degree  of 
MA.  He  then  travelled  into  Italy,  and  on  his 
return  to  his  native  country  he  settled  at  Ley- 
den  as  a  classical  teacher,  but  he  was  after- 
wards  made  professor  of  Hebrew  and  then  oj 
mathematics  in  the  university  there.  He  died 
in  16TJ,  after  having  twice  been  rector  of  the 
university  to  which  he  belonged.  His  works 


SN  Y 

comprise  a  restoration  of  the  geometiy  of 
Apollonius  Pergseus,  published  under  the  title 
of  "  Apollonius  Batavius,"  4to,  and  "  Ethica 
methodo  Ramxa  consciipta,"  Ilerborn.  1597, 
8vo. —  M.Adam.  Vit.  Philos.  Stollii  Introd.in 
Hist.  Lit. 

SNELL  (WIT.LEBHOD)  son  of  the  preceding, 
greatly  distinguished  as  a  mathematician,  was 
sorn  at  Leyden  in  1591.  He  succeeded  his 
father  in  the  mathematical  professorship,  and 
published  several  scientific  works  ;  but  he  is 
;hiefly  known  on  account  of  his  mensuration 
of  a  degree  of  the  earth's  surface.  He  carried 
on  his  operations  between  Alcmaer  and  Ber- 
gen-op-Zoom,  and  also  between  Alcmaer  and 
Leyden,  and  published  an  account  of  them  in 
a  treatise  entitled  "  Eratosthenes  Batavus." 
Willebrod  Snell  is  said  to  have  been  the  third 
geometer  who  measured  a  degree  of  the  meri- 
dian, which  lie  estimated  at  55,021  toises. 
Muschenbroek,  who  repeated  his  measure- 
ments in  the  last  century,  found  a  degree  to 
consist  of  57,033  toises,  which  number  nearly 
corresponds  wilh  the  determination  of  Picard 
and  Cassini.  Besides  the  work  above  noticed 
Snell  was  the  author  of  "  Elements  of  Trigo- 
nometry ;"  "  Hessian  and  Bohemian  Observa- 
tions," with  his  notes  ;  "  Libra  Astronomica 
et  Philosophica,"  wherein  he  undertakes  the 
examination  of  the  principles  of  Galileo  con- 
cerning comets ;  and  a  treatise  on  the  comet 
of  1618.  His  death  took  place  in  1626. — 
Martin's  Biog.  Philos.  Hutton's  Math.  Diet, 

SNELLING  (THOMAS)  an  English  wriu-r 
on  numismatics,  who  died  in  1773.  He  pub- 
lished a  treatise  on  the  "  Silver  Coin  and 
Coinage  of  England,"  1762,  4to  ;  "  The  Gold 
Coin  and  Coinage  of  England,"  1763,  4to  ; 
and  after  his  death  appeared  "  Thirty- three 
Plates  of  English  Medals,"  1776,  4to  ;  and 
"  A  View  of  the  Origin,  Nature,  and  Use  of 
Jettons  or  Counters,  especially  those  commonly 
known  by  the  name  of  Black  .Money  and 
Abbey  Pieces,"  1779,  4to.— OnX 

SNORRO  STURLESON,  or  SNORRO 
STURL^EUS,  an  Icelandic  historian  and  anti- 
quary of  the  thirteenth  century,  who  was 
counsellor  to  the  kings  of  Sweden  and  Nor- 
way, and  afterwards  governor  of  Iceland.  He 
wrote  in  the  Icelandic  language  the  history  of 
the  Norwegian  kings  from  the  time  of  Odin, 
translated  into  Danish  by  Peter  Claudius, 
about  1559,  and  published  with  a  Latin  version 
by  Peringskiold  in  1697.  Snorro  was  also  the 
compiler  of  the  later  "Edda,"  or  Bible  of  Ice- 
landic mythology,  printed  with  a  Latin  transla- 
tion and  notes  by  Resenius,  Copenhagen, 1665, 
4to.  He  was  killed  by  his  enemy  Gyssurus  in 
1241. — STURLA  LAGIFER,  the  son  of  Thordus, 
and  nephew  of  Suorro,  was  a  distinguished 
Icelandic  historian,  who  wrote  the  lifeofHaco 
the  elder,  king  of  Norway.  He  was  also  the 
author  of  "  Sturlungorum  Historia,"  relating 
to  the  affairs  of  Iceland  down  to  his  own  time  ; 
and  "  Liber  Originum  Islandicum."  He  was 
governor  of  Iceland,  but  he  resigned  his  office, 
and  died  in  retirement  in  1284. — Sibbern  Bihl. 
Hist.  Dano-Norveg. 

SN\DKRS  (FRANCIS)  an  eminent  ar'.ist  :>f 


s  oc 

the  Flemisn  school  of  painting,  born  at  An- 
twerp in  1579.  He  studied  the  rudiments  of 
his  art  under  his  celebrated  countryman  Van 
Balen,  after  which  he  travelled  through  great 
part  of  Italy,  visiting  the  most  esteemed  col- 
lections in  that  country.  On  his  return  to 
Flanders  he  attached  himself  to  the  household 
of  the  archduke  Ferdinand,  with  whom  he  was 
a  great  favourite,  as  he  was  also  with  the  car- 
dinal Infant  of  Spain,  and  finally  took  up  his 
abode  at  Brussels.  Snyders,  who  is  considered 
never  to  have  been  surpassed  in  his  delinea- 
tion of  beasts,  fish,  hunting-parties,  &c.  was 
accustomed  to  work  in  concert  with  Rubens 
and  Jordaens,  and  some  of  the  most  valuable 
paintings  of  that  school  are  their  joint  pro- 
duction. Many  of  his  choice  pieces  were  to 
be  found  in  the  collections  of  the  elector  pala- 
tine, and  at  the  Escurial.  His  death  took 
place  in  1657. 

SOC1NUS  (LvEtius)  an  eminent  Italian 
scholar,  the  third  son  of  Mariamis  Socinus,  an 
eminent  civilian  of  Bologna,  was  born  at 
Sienna,  1525.  He  was  designed  for  the  legal 
profession  by  his  father,  but  having  been  led 
to  doubt  the  truth  of  certain  doctrines  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  church,  he  directed  his 
studies  towards  sciiptural  investigation,  for 
which  purpose  he  acquired  the  Greek,  He- 
brew, and  Arabic  languages.  About  the 
year  1746  he  attached  himself  to  a  society 
friendly  to  the  principles  of  reformation  in 
religion,  which  held  secret  meetings  at  Vicenza. 
Being  discovered,  several  of  them  were  ap- 
prehended, and  two  of  the  number  suffered 
death  as  heretics.  In  1547  La-lius  quitted 
Italy,  and  travelled  into  France,  England,  the 
Low  Countries,  and  Poland,  after  which  he 
settled  at  Zurich,  and  maintained  a  corres- 
pondence among  the  leading  reformers,  which, 
as  he  showed  a  predilection  for  Arian  doc- 
trines, gradually  made  him  an  object  of  sus- 
picion ;  Calvin  in  particular  wrote  him  a  letter 
of  admonition,  which  being  followed  by  the 
detestable  immolation  of  Servetus,  was,  out- 
wardly at  least,  attended  to.  He  subsequently 
visited  Italy  and  Poland,  but  ultimately  re- 
turned to  Zurich,  where  he  died  in  1562.  He 
appears  to  have  been  a  mild,  conscientious 
man,  and  much  averse  to  contest,  which  dis- 
position led  him  to  adopt  the  Helvetic  pro- 
fession of  faith.  He  doubtless  indulged  many 
of  the  opinions  of  his  more  celebrated  nephew 
Faustus,  but  as  the  authenticity  of  the  writings 
attributed  to  him  are  much  doubted,  it  is  dif- 
licult  to  ascertain  the  exact  extent  of  his  Ariau 
predilections. — Bayle.  Tiraboschi. 

SOCINUS  (FAUSTUS)  nephew  of  the  pre- 
ceding, being  the  son  of  his  brother  Alessan- 
dro,  a  professor  of  law,  was  horn  at  Sienna 
in  1539.  Having  lost  his  parents  at  an  early 
age,  his  education  was  neglected,  and  he 
reached  his  twenty-third  year  with  but  a 
small  stock  of  general  learning,  and  some  ac- 
quaintance with  the  law,  his  intended  profes- 
sion. Having  imbibed  the  theological  opinions 
of  his  uncle,  he  was  obliged  to  quit  his  native 
city,  when  he  repaired  to  the  court  of  the  grand 
duke  of  Tuscany.  Here  he  obtained  honour- 


SO  C 

able  employments,  which  however  at  tie  ex- 
piration of  twelve  years  he  resigned,  and 
visited  Basil  in  order  to  study  theology.  He 
remained  at  Basil  three  years,  during  which 
time  he  confirmed  himself  in  the  religious  opi- 
nions of  bis  uncle,  which  he  further  extended 
and  modified.  About  this  time  some  dif- 
ferences took  place  among  the  anti-trinitarian 
reformers  of  Transylvania,  owing  principally 
to  certain  doctrines  propagated  by  Francis 
David  concerning  the  adoration  due  to  Christ. 
To  heal  these  divisions,  Blandrata,  a  leader 
of  much  influence,  sent  for  Socinus,  who  ar- 
gued the  various  points  with  David,  but  with 
no  success  ;  and  the  latter  was  thrown  into 
prison  by  the  prince  of  Transylvania,  where 
he  died,  so  little  was  toleration  understood  at 
this  time  in  any  quarter.  This  circumstance 
was  the  source  of  much  obloquy  against  So- 
cinus, who  ultimately  justified  himself  from  the 
charge  of  promoting  these  severities,  which  it 
does  not  however  appear  he  exercised  any  in- 
fluence to  prevent.  In  1579  he  repaired  to 
Poland,  where  he  was  desirous  of  being  ad- 
mitted a  member  of  the  Unitarian  churches, 
but  was  harshly  repulsed  ;  and  as  usual  in  theo- 
logical quarrels,  he  was  represented  to  the 
king  of  Poland  as  a  person  dangerous  to  au- 
thority, although  he  carried  the  doctrine  of 
passive  obedience  to  its  entire  extent,  so  as 
even  to  condemn  the  resistance  of  the  Nether- 
lands to  the  tyranny  of  Spain.  It  was  with  dif- 
ficulty he  found  protection  under  the  roof  of 
a  noble  Pole,  whose  daughter  he  married  ; 
and  the  publication  of  his  hitherto  suppressed 
work,  "  De  Christo  Servatore,"  so  enraged 
his  opponents,  it  was  with  difficulty  he  was 
rescued  from  the  fury  of  a  mob,  who,  insti- 
gated by  the  students  of  Cracow,  would  have 
torn  him  to  pieces.  His  house  being  pillag- 
ed, and  his  MSS.  destroyed,  he  was  obliged 
to  retire  from  Cracow  to  a  distant  vil- 
lage, where  at  length  his  unremitted  exertions 
to  compose  the  differences  between  the  Uni- 
tarian churches  in  some  degree  succeeded. 
He  did  not  long  survive  this  successful  labour, 
but  died  in  1 604,  in  ins  last  retreat,  in  the 
sixty-fifth  year  of  his  age.  The  private  cha- 
racter of  Socinus  is  spoken  of  with  uniform 
encomium,  and  as  he  made  great  sacrifices  for 
his  opinions,  their  foundation  in  rigid  prin- 
ciple is  not  to  be  denied.  The  main  distinc- 
tion of  the  system  to  which  he  has  given  name, 
is  that  stated  by  Mosheim — the  use  of  reason 
in  judging  of  the  doctrines  of  Christianity, 
which,  although  to  be  derived  solely  from  the 
Scriptures,  according  to  Socinus  and  his  fol- 
lowers are  to  be  explained  according  to  the 
dictates  of  reason.  Hence  a  rejection  of  all 
that  appears  to  them  inconsistent  or  incom- 
prehensible in  the  orthodox  creed,  and  a  dis- 
position to  regard  the  mission  of  Christ  upon 
earth  as  chiefly  designed  to  introduce  a  new 
moral  law,  distinguished  by  its  superior  sanc- 
tity and  perfection.  As  regards  the  person 
and  divinity  of  Christ,  however,  they  retained 
notions  which  verge  much  more  towards 
Arianism  than  those  of  the  modern  Unitarians. 
Socinus  was  the  author  of  many  tracts  in  rcla 


K  OC 

lion  to  his  system,  and  to  the  controversies  in 
\vliirh  he  was  engaged,  which  foim  collec- 
th-L'ly  two  volumes  folio  of  the  "  Bibliotheca 
I'Vatnun  Polonorum." — Bai/le.  Moilieim.  To\d- 
min's  Life  nf  Socinus. 

SOCRATES,  tlie  most  eminent  of  the  Gre- 
cian philosophers,  was  born  about  BC.  469, 
;it  Alopece,  a  village  near  Athens.  His  father, 
named  Sophroniscus,  was  a  statuary,  and  his 
mother,  Phaenarete,  exercised  the  profession 
of  a  midwife.  He  was  brought  up  to  his 
father's  pursuit,  in  which  he  obtained  some 
proficiency  ;  out  the  cultivation  of  his  mind 
was  the  object  nearest  his  heart,  and  that  to 
whicli  he  devoted  his  chief  attention.  On  the 
death  of  his  father  he  succeeded  to  a  small 
inheritance,  which  he  lost  by  the  knavery  of 
a  relation,  and  was  obliged  to  labour  for  his 
maintenance.  At  length  a  wealthy  Athenian, 
who  admired  his  ingenuous  disposition  and 
acute  understanding,  appointed  him  preceptor 
to  his  children,  by  which  means  lie  was  enabled 
to  attend  the  lectures  of  the  most  celebrated 
philosophers  of  that  time,  and  Anaxagoras,  of 
the  Ionic  sect,  is  mentioned  as  the  one  by  whom 
he  benefited  philosophically  ;  while  he  imbibed 
from  other  masters  the  principles  of  eloquence, 
poetry,  music,  and  geometry,  the  usual  branches 
of  a  course  of  liberal  education  at  Athens. 
Thus  highly  endowed  he  lived  as  an  humble  but 
meritorious  citizen,  anxious  to  perform  every 
duty  enjoined  by  the  laws  of  his  country.  He 
served  as  a  soldier  at  the  siege  of  Potidaea, 
and  several  years  afterwards  joined  an  expedi- 
tion against  the  Boeotians,  and,  in  an  unsuc- 
cessful engagement,  retired  witli  great  deli- 
beration, and  bore  away  on  his  shoulders  the 
wounded  Xenophon.  A  tbird  campaign  in 
which  he  served,  is  mentioned,  after  which  he 
returned  to  Athens,  and  never  again  quitted  it. 
He  was  sixty  years  of  age  before  he  was  em- 
ployed in  any  civil  office,  when  he  was  elected 
one  of  the  representatives  of  his  district  to 
the  senate  of  Five  Hundred.  In  this  situa- 
tion he  quickly  displayed  a  firmness  and  in- 
tegrity which  placed  him  above  all  his  col- 
leagues. He  singly  stood  forth  in  defence  of 
the  commanders  at  the  battle  of  Arginusre, 
who  having  been  prevented  by  a  storm  from 
paying  funeral  honours  to  the  slain,  were 
cruelly  and  absurdly  condemned  to  death,  in 
obedience  to  the  clamours  of  the  populace. 
With  equal  courage  and  rectitude  he  also  ha- 
zarded his  life  in  opposing  the  violence  and 
oppression  of  the  thirty  tyrants.  It  was  how- 
ever as  a  teacher  of  morality  that  Socrates  has 
acquired  his  best  and  noblest  fame.  Despising 
philosophy  as  a  mere  art  of  disputation,  or  as 
principally  occupied  in  subtle  questions,  which 
it  was  at  once  impossible  and  useless  to  solve, 
he  made  it  his  great  object  to  inculcate  the 
wisdom  which  has  an  immediate  reference  to 
practice.  Instead  of  opening  a  private  school 
like  other  teachers,  he  passed  his  time  chiefly 
in  places  of  public  resort,  and  frequently  col- 
lected an  audience  in  the  Lyceum  on  the  bor- 
ders of  the  llyssus,  where  he  sometimes  de- 
livered a  discourse  from  an  elevated  chair. 
The  mode  of  instruction  which  he  chiefly 


soc 

practised  towards  individuals,  was  to  propose 
questions  to  them,  and  upon  their  answers  to 
found  other  questions,  and  thus  to  lead  them 
step  by  step  to  conclusions  upon  their  own 
admissions  ;  a  mode  of  argument  ever  sin  :e 
termed  Socratic.  His  own  conduct  was  in  all 
respects  exemplary,  exhibiting  all  the  tem- 
perance, forbearance,  and  self-command  which 
principally  constitute  elevation  of  character. 
Tried  in  domestic  life  by  the  proverbial  shrew- 
ishness of  his  wife  Xantippe,  he  bore  her  pro- 
vocation with  his  usual  equanimity,  and  in  all 
respects  practised  the  noble  lessons  which 
he  taught.  A  distinguished  man,  whose  life 
formed  a  tacit  reproach  upon  so  many  per- 
sons, and  who  did  not  spare  his  ridicule  of  the 
numerous  pretenders  to  wisdom  and  know- 
ledge with  which  Athens  abounded,  neces- 
sarily created  many  enemies,  who  repaid  him 
both  with  insult  and  slander.  The  famous 
comic  writer  Aristophanes,  m  particular,  em- 
ployed all  the  licence  of  the  Grecian  comedy, 
in  regard  to  living  characters,  to  brincr  him 
personally  on  the  stage,  in  a  piece  entitled 
"  The  Clouds,"  in  which  the  character  in- 
tended to  satirise  him  was  made  to  utter 
nothing  but  absurdity  and  profanenesa.  Socrates 
coolly  attended  the  performance,  and  as  a  sort 
of  tacit  appeal  to  the  audience,  stood  up  in 
their  view  while  it  proceeded.  This  calm 
contempt  had  its  effect,  for  the  next  year  it 
was  received  with  marked  disapprobation,  and 
withdrawn.  Until  lately  the  views  taken  of  the 
conduct  of  Aristophanes  have  been  uniform, 
but  recently  a  writer  in  a  leading  review  has 
taken  up  the  cause  of  the  latter,  by  assuming 
the  fact  that  Socrates  was  a  specious  opposer 
of  the  established  religion  and  social  order  of 
his  day,  in  other  words  a  reformer — an  ex- 
ample of  the  influence  of  modern  associa- 
tions over  the  most  established  facts  and 
conclusions  of  history,  in  the  highest  degree 
curious.  It  appears,  however,  that  this  dis- 
tinguished character  held  it  to  be  the  duty  of  a 
citizen  to  comply  with  the  religious  rites  of  bis 
country  ;  and  as  to  the  rest,  while  he  repro- 
bated many  of  the  popular  and  indecent  stories 
of  the  gods,  he  seems  to  have  believed  in  the 
existence  of  a  plurality  of  deities,  in  obedience 
to  one  supreme.  Whether  by  his  allusion  to 
the  inspiration  of  an  attendant  genius,  he  in- 
dulged in  an  artifice  to  create  an  opinion  of 
something  extraordinary  belonging  to  his  na- 
ture or  character,  or  that  he  really  enter- 
tained some  superstitious  notions  in  relation  to 
his  impulses  and  convictions,  is  doubtful. 
Neither  his  virtues  nor  his  pretensions  could, 
however,  save  him  from  the  almost  general 
fate  of  a  reformer  ;  and  the  sophists  whose 
;al'acies  hi  exposed,  and  the  many  influential 
political  pretenders  whose  views  he  thwarted, 
with  a  multitude  of  zealots  who  detested  him 
as  dangerous  to  the  popular  superstitions,  gra 
dually  raised  a  storm  against  him,  the  result 
of  which  was  a  criminal  accusation  before  the 
supreme  court  of  judicature.  ltw;is  brought 
by  Mehtus,  a  young  rhetorician,  aided  by 
Anytus,  a  sordid  man  enriched  by  trade, 
and  by  an  individual  named  Lycon.  He  wa> 


soc 

accused  in  the  following  terms  : — "  Socrates 
violates  the  laws  in  not  acknowledging  the 
gods  which  the  state  acknowledges,  and  by 
introducing  new  divinities.  He  also  violates 
the  laws  hy  corrupting  youth."  The  manner 
in  which  he  met  this  ancient  specimen  of  a 
species  of  persecution  which  unhappily  has  met. 
with  much  modern  imitation,  was  in  the  high- 
est degree  noble  and  characteristic.  After 
Plato,  then  a  young  man,  had  been  forbidden 
to  speak  in  his  behalf,  he  rose,  and  with  the 
calm  confidence  of  innocence,  rebutted  the 
charges  against  him,  by  appealing  to  his  regu- 
lar attendance  on  religious  ceremonies,  the 
pure  morality  of  his  inculcation,  and  the  per- 
sonal example  which  he  afforded  of  temper- 
ance, moderation,  and  obedience,  to  the  laws. 
All  availed  nothing  against  a  premeditated  in- 
•  tention  to  condemn  ;  and  he  was  sentenced  to 
die  hy  the  poison  of  hemlock.  It  is  to  be  re- 
gretted that  the  limits  of  this  work  will  not 
allow  of  those  5?vteresting  details  of  his  deport- 
ment in  prison,  and  on  the  day  of  his  death, 
which  are  narrated  with  so  much  affecting 

O 

simplicity  by  Xenophon.  When  at  last  the 
fatal  cup  was  presented  to  him,  he  received  it 
with  a  steady  hand,  and  after  a  prayer  to  the 
gods  for  a  favourable  passage  to  the  invisible 
world,  he  serenely  swallowed  the  fatal  draught. 
His  disciples  at  that  awful  moment  could  not 
refrain  from  marks  of  the  most  poignant  sor- 
row ;  on  which  he  gently  reproved  their  want 
of  courage,  and  observed  that  such  a  change 
ought  to  be  hailed  by  better  omens.  He  then, 
as  he  was  directed,  walked  about  until  he 
began  to  feel  the  benumbing  effects  of  the  poi- 
son ;  upon  which  symptom  he  lay  down,  and 
wrapped  himself  in  his  mantle.  After  a  short 
silence  he  raised  his  mantle,  and  said  to  his 
friend  Crito,  "  We  owe  a  cock  to  Esculapius, 
do  not  forget  to  pay  it  ;"  and  then  covering 
himself  again,  presently  expired.  Such,  in 
his  seventieth  year,  was  the  end  of  a  man 
whom  all  heathen  antiquity  has  pronounced 
the  wisest  and  most  virtuous  of  mortals.  Party 
enmity  for  a  while  pursued  his  memory  ;  but 
at  length  the  Athenians  became  sensible  of 
their  injustice,  and  turned  their  anger  against 
his  accusers,  of  whom  they  condemned  Melitus 
to  death,  and  banished  Anytus.  In'  further 
testimony  of  their  penitence,  they  recalled  his 
friends,  and  erected  a  statue  to  his  memory. 
As  this  eminent  person  left  nothing  in  writing, 
his  reputation  must  have  been  founded  on  the 
reports  of  his  discourses,  handed  down  by  his 
disciples,  of  whom  the  principal  were  Xeno- 
phon and  Plato.  Of  these  the  former  is 
judged  to  have  given  the  most  faithful  idea  of 
his  master's  manners  and  sentiments,  the  "  So- 
cratic  Dialogues  "  of  Plato  being  intermi\cd 
with  his  own  language  and  conceptions.  Of  the 
leading  doctrines  of  Socrates  some  account 
lias  been  already  given.  It  is  certain  that  he 
was  a  pure  theist,  as  f;ir  as  the  term  is  appli- 
cable to  a  belief  in  a  supreme  intelligence, 
without  excluding  the  existence  of  subordinate 
agencies.  His  system  of  morals  was  founded 
on  the  basis  of  religion  ;  as  he  held  that  vir- 
tuous principles  are  the  laws  of  God,  from 


S  O  L 

which  no  one  can  depart  with  impunity,  how« 
ever  they  may  evade  the  penalties  of"  human 
laws.  Concerning  the  soul  of  man,  according 
to  Xenophon,  he  regarded  it  as  allied  to  the 
Supreme  Being,  not  by  a  participation  of  es- 
sence, but  similarity  of  nature,  and  conse- 
quently believed  that  it  was  immortal.  As  he 
was  in  all  respects  a  modest  inquirer,  he  was 
more  allied  to  the  sceptical  than  dogmatical 
philosophy,  and  hence  it  is  not  surprising  that 
after  his  death  his  followers  broke  into  a  va- 
riety of  sects.  The  person  of  this  great  moral 
philosopher  was  very  homely,  being  bald,  and 
of  a  dark  complexion,  with  aflat  nose,  pro- 
jecting eyes,  and  severe  downcast  look. — 
Diogenes  Lacrt.  Cicero.  Xenophon' s  Memo- 
rabilia. 

SOCRATES,  surnamed  SCHOLASTICUS, 
an  ecclesiastical  historian  of  the  fifth  century, 
was  horn  at  Constantinople  in  the  beginning 
of  the  reign  of  Theodosius.  He  had  for  some 
time  been  a  professor  of  law,  when  he  under- 
took to  write  a  history  of  the  churches,  which 
he  commences  at  the  year  309,  where  that  of 
Eusebius  terminates,  and  brings  it  down  to 
440.  As  a  historian  he  is  deemed  judicious 
and  exact,  and  his  observations  are  generally 
calm  and  impartial.  He  has  however  fallen 
into  some  mistakes,  especially  in  relation  to 
theological  dogmas  ;  and  is  accused  of  being 
too  favourable  to  the  sect  of  the  Novatians. 
Nothing  more  is  known  of  his  personal  history. 
His  work  has  been  translated  into  Latin  and 
published  in  Greek  and  Latin  by  Valesius, 
folio,  Paris,  1668,  and  republished  with  addi- 
tional notes  by  Reading,  London,  1720,  3  vols. 
folio. — Cave.  Dnpin.  IWii  Hhl.  Grace. 

SOLANDER  (DAMF.L  CIIAIMES)  a  Swe- 
dish naturalist,  born  in  the  province  of  Nord 
land,  February  28,  1736.  He  studied  at  Up- 
sal  under  Linna-us,  and  took  the  decree  of 
RID.  In  1760  he  visited  England  ;  and  in 
1762,  through  the  recommendation  of  Peter 
Collinson,  he  was  employed  by  the  trustees  of 
the  British  Museum  to  draw  up  a  catalogue  of 
the  natural  curiosities  belonging  to  that  insti- 
tution. He  was  subsequently  appointed  an 
assistant  keeper  of  the  cabinet  of  natural  his- 
tory ;  and  in  1761-  he  was  chosen  a  fellow  of 
the  Royal  Society.  In  1766  he  assisted  in  a 
publication  entitled  "  Kossilia  llamoniensia, 
collects  et  in  P.Iuseo  Britannico  deposita  a 
Gustavo  Brander,  H.  S.  et  S.  A.  S.  Mus.  Brit. 
Cur."  4to.  Dr  Solander  accompanied  Mr 
(afterwards  sir  Joseph)  Hanks  in  his  voyage 
round  the  world,  with  captain  Cook  in  1768 — 
1771  ;  and  he  was  afterwards  employed  in 
arranging  and  describing  the  valuable  botani- 
cal collections  which  were  the  result  of  their 
researches  in  this  expedition.  He  was  created 
DCL.  at  Oxford  in  1771  ;  and  in  1773  he  was 
made  one  of  the  assistant  librarians  at  the 
British  Museum.  He  died  of  apoplexy,  May 
16,  1782.  Dr  Solander  being  a  pupil  of  I.in- 
najus,  and  intimately  acquainted  with  the  sys- 
tem of  tbat  great  naturalist,  contributed  mate- 
rially  to  its  general  reception  in  this  country; 
though  his  published  productions  are  f"W  and 
unimportant,  consisting  cbi-'fiy  of  papers  in 


SOL 

periodical  works,  and  a  Letter  to  Philip  Car-  | 
teret  Webb,  FRS.  entitled   "  An  Account  of 
the  Gardenia  (Jasminoides)  "  in  the   Philoso- 
phical Transactions. — Hutchinson's  Bio^.  Hied. 
Pulteneif's  Sketches  of  the  Prog,  of  Botany  in 
England. 

SOLINUS  (CAIUS  JULIUS)  a  Latin  gram- 
marian, who  is  thought  to  have  lived  at  Rome 
in  the  third  century.  He  is  known  only  as 
the  author  of  a  work,  which  he  first  entitled 
"  Collectanea  Return  Memorabilium,"  but  af- 
terwards "  Polyhistor."  This  is  a  collection 
without  method  or  judgment  of  the  remarkable 
things  in  different  countries,  a  great  part  of' 
which  is  borrowed  from  the  natural  history  of 
Pliny.  As  however  it  contains  some  things 
not  in  that  writer,  and  serves  to  elucidate  his 
text,  it  has  been  deemed  worthy  of  notice  by 
the  critics,  and  has  served  as  a  repository  for 
the  unwieldy  erudition  of  Salmasius,  who 
published  an  edition  of  it  in  1629,  in  2  vols. 
folio,  illustrated  or  rather  overwhelmed  by  his 
copious  commentary.  Solinus  was  also  author 
of  a  poern  entitled  "  Pouticou,"  of  which  a 
few  verses  only  remain. — Vussii  Hist.  Lat. 

SOL1S  (ANTONIO  de)  a  Spanish  poet  and 
historian,  born  at  Placenza  in  Old  Castile  in 
1610.  He  wrote  a  comedy  at  the  age  of  se- 
venteen, which  was  exhibited  with  great  ap- 
plause, and  he  obtained  considerable  reputa- 
tion for  his  poetical  productions  of  various 
kinds  ;  but  he  is  principally  known  at  present 
as  an  historical  writer.  Having  been  appointed 
historiographer  of  the  Indies,  he  drew  up  a 
work  entitled  "  Historia  de  la  Conquista  de 
Mexico,"  which  passed  through  many  edi- 
tions, and  of  which  an  English  translation  was 
published  in  1724,  folio.  He  took  orders  in 
the  church  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  and 
died  at  an  advanced  age  in  1686.  An  edition 
of  the  History  of  the  Conquest  of  Mexico,  in 
the  original  Spanish,  was  printed  in  London 
in  1809,  3  vols.  8vo. — Antonio  Bibl.  Hisp. 
Biog.  Univ. 

SOLON,  one  of  the  seven  sages  of  Greece, 
and  the  celebrated  lawgiver  of  tbe  Athenians, 
was  born  in  the  sixth  century  BC.  at  Salamis, 
of  parents  descended  from  Codrus.  His  fa- 
ther leaving  him  but  a  small  patrimony,  he 
had  recourse  to  commerce,  but  at  the  same 
time  cultivated  poetry,  and  applied  himself  to 
the  study  of  moral  and  political  wisdom.  He 
first  distinguished  himself  by  an  elegy,  by 
which  he  prevailed  on  the  Athenians  to  re- 
scind an  ignoble  resolution,  never  to  attempt 
regaining  the.  island  of  Salamis.  He  after- 
wards increased  his  reputation  by  advocating 
a  necessary  war  with  the  people  of  Cirrha, 
and  by  contributing  to  the  reduction  of  their 
city.  Athens,  being  at  that  time  in  a  turbulent 
state,  arising  from  the  contention  of  different 
political  factions,  and  the  oppression  of  the  lower 
classes  by  their  creditors,  Solon  was  regarded 
as  one  who  tould  devise  the  best  means  of  re- 
storing them  to  tranquillity.  A  large  party 
was  desirous  of  aising  him  to  the  sovereignty  ; 
this  however  he  declined,  but  being  chosen 
archon  by  acclamation,  BC.  594,  he  set  him- 
self to  compose  the  dissensions  by  moderate 


SOL 

measures.  He  relieved  the  poor  in  respect  to 
their  debts,  auJ  rescued  them  from  bondage  ; 
but  he  refused  to  gratify  them  by  dividing  the 
lands,  and  in  the  first  instance  pleased  neither 
party.  The  wisdom  of  his  conduct  was  however 
soon  generally  acknowledged,  and  he  was  una- 
nimously invested  with  the  high  trust  of  re- 
modelling the  laws  and  constitution  of  Athens. 
In  the  exercise  of  this  power  lie  began  by 
abrogating  the  sanguinary  laws  of  Draco,  and 
then  made  a  new  distribution  of  the  people, 
formed  on  different  scales  of  property,  with  a 
view  to  a  well-formed  democracy,  tie  also  form- 
ed new  seats  of  judicature,  and  framed  a  code 
of  laws  which  afterwards  became  tbe  basis  of 
those  of  the  twelve  tables  at  Rome.  As  a 
supreme  judicial  court,  tbe  guardian  of  the 
laws  and  morals  of  tbe  nation,  he  revived  the 
ancient  Areopagus,  and  ordained  that  it  should 
be  composed  of  those  only  who  had  passed 
the  office  of  archon,  by  which  means  it  rapidly 
obtained  a  reputation  that  rendered  its  decress 
revered  throughout  Greece.  After  the  pro- 
mulgation of  this  code  Solon  travelled  ;  and 
having  obtained  leave  of  absence  for  ten  years, 
exacted  an  oath  from  tbe  citizens  that  nothing 
should  be  altered  until  his  return.  lie  visited 
Egypt,  Cyprus,  and,  as  it  is  said,  the  court  of 
Croesus,  king  of  Lydia,  although  it  is  difficult 
to  reconcile  his  reputed  adventure  with  that 
monarch  with  chronology.  On  his  return  to 
Athens  he  found  parties  running  high,  and  bis 
kinsman  Pisistratus  aiming  at  the  sovereignty, 
which,  notwithstanding  the  attempts  of  Solon 
to  rouse  up  the  people,  he  acquired.  He  then 
withdrew  from  Athens,  to'which  he  never  re- 
turned, and  the  time  and  place  of  his  death  are 
uncertain  ;  but  it  is  commonly  said  that  he 
died  at  Cyprus,  at  the  age  of  eighty.  The 
Athenians  held  his  memory  in  great  reverence, 
and  placed  his  statue  in  the  forum.  Laertius 
has  mentioned  among  his  writings  his  orations, 
poems,  laws,  and  Atlantic  History,  left  unfi- 
nished, and  afterwards  continued  by  Plato, 
who  has  also  preserved  some  of  his  supposed 
epistles.  Of  his  sayings,  as  one  of  the  wise 
men  of  Greece,  tbe  best  is  that  which  com- 
pares laws  to  cobwebs,  which  hold  the  weak, 
but  are  broken  through  by  the  strong. — Plu- 
tarchi  Vit.  Solon.  D/'pn;.  Laert. 

SOLVYNS  (FRANCIS  BALTHAZAn)  an  art- 
ist and  Oriental  traveller,  born  at  Antwerp  in 
17(30.  He  displayed  his  abilities  at  an  early 
age,  and  acquired  skill  both  as  a  painter  an"d 
an  engraver.  His  first  works  were  sea  views. 
He  went  to  Germany  with  the  archduchess 
Maria  Christina,  who  had  been  governess  of 
the  Netherlands  ;  and  after  the  death  of  that 
princess  he  accompanied  sir  Home  Popbam  in 
a  voyage  to  the  Red  Sea  and  the  East  Indies. 
On  his  arrival  at  Hindostan  he  studied  the 
languages  of  the  Hindoos,  and  their  religion, 
manners,  and  customs,  that  he  might  be  able 
accurately  to  illustrate  them  by  the  joint  aid 
of  the  pen  and  pencil.  After  fifteen  years' 
absence  be  returned  to  Europe  with  a  valuable 
stock  of  materials  for  the  execution  of  his  de- 
sign. Having  settled  at  Paris,  he  commenced 
a  work  entitled  "  Les  Ilindous,  o-a  Description 


SOM 

pittoresque  des  iMamrs,  Costumes,  et  Cere- 
monies religieuses  de  ce  Peuple,"  which  was 
completed  in  four  volumes,  Jarge  folio,  in 
181 '2.  After  the  restoration  of  the  prince  of 
Orange,  Solvyns  returned  to  his  native  coun- 
try, and  was  made  captain  of  the  port  of  Ant- 
werp, where  he  died  October  10,  1824. — 
Biog.  Nouv.  des  Contcmp.  Biog.  Uiiiv. 

SOMBREUIL  (CHARLES  VEROT  de)  a 
French  royalist  officer,  who  distinguished  him- 
self by  his  courage  in  the  opening  scenes  of 
the  Revolution.  During  the  tumults  of  the 
Palais  Royal  lie  saved  from  the  fury  of  the 
mob,  one  of  the  Mess,  de  Polignac.  He 
at  length  emigrated,  and  in  the  campaign  of 
1792  he  served  in  the  Prussian  army,  when 
his  bravery  was  rewarded  with  the  military 
order  of  merit.  In  1793  he  entered  into  the 
army  of  the  prince  of  Conde  ;  and  in  the 
winter  of  1794  he  commanded  a  corps  of  emi- 
grants in  Holland.  He  subsequently  went  to 
England,  and  became  one  of  the  victims  of 
the  ill-concerted  expedition  to  Quiberon.  The 
English  government  placed  under  his  command 
seven  regiments,  with  which  he  arrived  on  the 
coasts  of  Britanny,  July  7,  1794.  Sombreuil 
was  taken  prisoner,  tried  before  a  military 
commission,  and  shot  at  Vannes  shortly  after- 
wards.— Diet,  des  H.  M.  du  iSine  S.  Biog, 
Univ. 

SOMERS  (Joiiv  LOHD)  a  distinguished 
Jawyer  and  statesman,  was  the  son  of  a  respect- 
able attorney  at  Worcester,  where  he  was 
born  in  1652.  He  received  his  education  at 
the  college  school  of  his  native  city,  and  was 
entered  a  gentleman  commoner  at  Trinity  col- 
lege, Oxford.  Being  destined  for  the  legal 
profession,  he  passed  some  time  as  clerk  to  sir 
Francis  Winning  ton,  an  eminent  barrister,  and 
when  called  to  the  bar  himself,  quickly  evinced 
talents  of  a  very  high  order.  As  his  principles 
led  him  to  oppose  the  measures  of  Charles  II, 
he.  was  the  reputed  author  of  several  tracts, 
in  which  their  tendency  was  exposed.  On  the 
accession  of  James  II  he  continued  a  firm 
opposer  of  the  court,  and  acquired  great  cre- 
dit as  one  of  the  counsel  for  the  seven  bishops, 
lie  heartily  concurred  in  the  Revolution,  and 
sat  as  one  of  the  representatives  for  Worcester 
in  the  convention  parliament  summoned  by  the 
prince  of  Orange,  and  was  one  of  the  ma- 
nagers appointed  by  the  Commons  to  confer 
wiih  tne  Lords  on  the  word  abdicate.  In  1689 
he  was  knighted,  and  made  solicitor-general  ; 
in  1692  attorney-general,  and  lord-keeper  of 
the  great  seal  the  following  year,  in  which 
capacity  he  displayed  equal  ability,  integrity, 
and  gentleness.  lie  was  one  of  the  first  pa- 
trons of  Addison,  for  whom  he  procured  an 
allowance  to  enable  him  to  make  the  tour  of 
Italy.  In  1695  he  was  advanced  to  the  dig- 
nity of  lord  high  chancellor  of  England,  and 
was  raised  to  the  peerage  by  the  title  of  lord 
Somers,  baron  Evesham.  Being  now  regarded 
a?  the  head  of  the  whigs,  he  made  great  ex- 
ertions to  moderate  the  zeal  and  jealousy  of 
that  party,  and  possibly  was  too  compliant  in 
some  points  to  ensure  to  it  the  royal  favour, 
"lis  acquiesce  ace  in  the  firat  partition  treaty 


S  0  M 

j  in  1699,  with  other  measures,  produced  grrat 
'  dissatisfaction,  and  an  address  was  moved  in 
the  house  of  Commons,  praying  the  king  to 
remove  him  from  his  councils.  This  was  de- 
feated by  a  great  majority  ;  but  to  appease  the 
malcontents,  the  king  deprived  him  of  the 
seals.  King  William  soon  after  died,  and  f.ha 
new  reign  being  unfavourable  to  the  principles 
of  lord  Somers,  he  spent  his  time  in  literary 
retirement,  and  was  chosen  president  of  the 
Royal  Society.  In  1706  he  drew  up  a  plan 
for  effecting  a  union,  between  England  and 
Scotland,  which  was  so  much  approved,  that 
queen  Anne  appointed  him  one  of  the  com- 
missioners to  carry  it  into  execution.  He  is 
also  said  to  have  had  a  great  share  in  the  bill 
of  regency  for  securing  the  protestant  succes- 
sion. Upon  a  change  of  ministry  in  1708,  he 
was  nominated  president  of  the  council,  but 
was  again,  dismissed  in  1710,  and  although  he 
continued  for  some  time  to  take  an  active  part 
in  debate,  a  gradual  decline  in  health  rendered 
him  unfit  for  public  business.  In  the  ensuing 
reign,  therefore,  he  only  retained  a  seat  at  the 
council  board,  until  in  April  1716  he  was  car- 
ried off  by  an  apoplectic  fit  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
four.  The  memory  of  lord  Somers  is  highly 
esteemed  by  the  friends  of  constitutionsil 
liberty  and  of  the  Revolution,  to  which  no  one 
contributed  more  than  he.  His  abilities  were 
at  the  same  time  very  considerable,  and  few 
statesmen  have  passed  through  life  with  a 
purer  political  character.  He  was  also  a  great 
patron  of  men  of  letters,  and  was  one  of  those 
who  redeemed  Milton's  "  Paradise  Lost "  from 
the  obscurity  in  which  party  prejudice  and 
hatred  had  involved  it.  Besides  the  many 
speeches  and  political  tracts  attributed  to 
this  able  nobleman,  he  translated  some  of 
Ovid's  Epistles,  and  Plutarch's  life  of  Alci- 
biades.  He  also  made  a  large  collection  of 
scarce  and  curious  tracts,  of  which  there  has 
been  published  a  selection  in  four  parts,  each 
consisting  of  four  volumes,  quarto.  His  col- 
lection of  original  papers  and  letters  was  un- 
fortunately destroyed  by  a  fire  at  Lincoln's 
Inn.  lie  never  married,  and  the  present  noble 
family  of  Somers  is  descended  from  his  sister, 
married  to  —  Cocks,  esq. —  Biog.  Brit. 

SOMERVILE  (WILLIAM)  a  minor  poet, 
was  the  son  of  Robert  Somervile,  esq.  at 
whose  estate  at  Edston,  in  Warwickshire,  he 
was  born  in  1692.  He  was  educated  at  Win- 
chester school,  whence  he  was  removed  to 
New  college,  Oxford.  He  made  a  due  pro- 
ficiency in  classical  literature,  and  early  cul- 
tivated his  talent  for  poetry.  His  political 
attachments  were  to  the  whig  party,  as  he 
proved  by  his  praises  of  Marlborough,  Stan- 
hope, and  Addison.  He  inherited  a  con- 
siderable paternal  estate,  on  which  he  chiefly 
lived,  acting  as  a  magistrate,  and  mingling  an 
ardent  attachment  to  the  sports  of  the  Held 
with  the  studies  of  a  man  of  letters.  He  was 
courteous,  hospitable,  convivial,  and  what  is 
too  often  attendant  upon  those  qualities,  care- 
less in  pecuniary  matters,  which,  by  involving 
him  in  embarrassments,  preyed  on  his  mind, 
and  produced  habits  which  shortened  his  life. 


SOM 

lie  died  in  1742,  and  Laving  lived  in  celibacy, 
made  over  the  reversion  of  his  estate  to  lord 
Somervile,  a  branch  of  the  same  ancient  fa- 
mily.  As  a  poet,  Somervile  is  chiefly  known 
by  his  "  Chace,"  a  poem  in  blank  verse, 
which  maintains  a  respectable  rank  in  the  di- 
(Uctic  and  descriptive  class,  his  enthusiasm  as 
n  sportsman  aiding  his  talents  as  a  poet.  Its 
language  is  free  and  nervous,  and  its  versifica- 
tion tuneful  and  correct.  Another  piece  con- 
nected with  the  same  subject  is  entitled  "  Field 
Sports."  His  "  Hobbinol,  or  Rural  Games," 
is  a  kind  of  mock  heroic,  in  which  the  bur- 
lesque is  often  well  managed.  Of  his  other 
pieces,  serious  and  comic,  a  few  tales  are 
rather  free,  and  in  other  respects  not  calculated 

to  increase  the   poet's  reputation. Johnson's 

Lives  of  the  Poets,     Shenst one's  Letters. 

SOMNER  (WILLIAM)  a  distinguished 
English  antiquary  and  philologer,  born  at  Can- 
terbury in  1598.  His  father  was  registrar  of 
the  metropolitan  court,  and  the  son  was  edu- 
cated at  the  grammar-school  of  his  native 
city.  He  became  a  clerk  in  his  father's  office, 
where  his  abilities  attracted  the  notice  of  that 
great  patron  of  learning,  archbishop  Laud, 
who  bestowed  on  him  a  situation  in  the  eccle- 
siastical court  better  suited  to  his  merit.  In 
the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  Charles  I,  he 
collected  the  materials  for  his  history  of  Can- 
terbury, which  however  was  aot  published  till 
1640.  He  formed  the  design  of  writing  the 
history  of  the  whole  county  of  Kent,  but  the 
misfortunes  which  befel  his  patron  Laud,  and 
the  impetuous  storm  of  civil  discord  and  fana- 
ticism which  supervened,  obliged  him  to  re- 
linquish his  purpose,  and  turn  his  thoughts  to 
the  preservation  of  his  property  and  the  safety 
of  himself  and  his  family.  He  however  drew 
up  a  "  Treatise  on  the  Roman  Ports  and  Forts 
in  Kent,"  published  in  1693  ;  and  gathered 
some  MS.  collections  relating  to  a  few  of  the 
Kentish  towns  and  churches,  preserved  in  the 
library  of  the  dean  and  chapter  of  Canterbury. 
The  language  and  literature  of  our  Anglo- 
Saxon  ancestors  engaged  much  of  his  atten- 
tion ;  and  in  1652  he  completed  a  Saxon  glos- 
sary to  the  "  Historiae  Auglicana;  Scriptores," 
published  by  Twysden  ;  which  was  succeeded 
in  1659  by  his  grand  work,  "  Dictionarium 
Saxonico-Latinum  Anglicum,"  folio,  in  the 
publication  of  which  he  was  assisted  by  the 
liberality  of  the  university  of  Cambridge,  from 
which  be  received  the  salary  attached  to  the 
Anglo-Saxon  professorship  founded  by  sir  II. 
Spelman.  On  the  restoration  of  king  Charles  II 
iSomner  was  one  of  the  royalist  sufferers,  who 
were  fortunate  enough  to  obtain  some  compen- 
sation for  the  sacrifices  they  had  made  at  the 
shrine  of  loyalty.  He  was  appointed  master 
of  St  John's  hospital  and  auditor  of  Christ- 
church,  Canterbury,  which  offices  he  held  till 
his  death  in  1662.  Besides  the  works  already 
mentioned,  he  was  the  author  of  a  "  Treatise 
of  Gavclkind,"  1660,  4to,  republished  by 
Kcnnet,  with  a  life  of  the  author  ;  "  Julii 
Cacsaris  Portus  Icciusillustratus,"  1694,  8vo  ; 
and  elegiac  poems  on  the  death  of  Charles  I. 
Nicholas  Batteley  reprinted  Somner's  Anti- 


SON 

quities  of  Canterbury,  to  which  he  added  a 
sequel  or  second  part,  1703,  folio.  Soinner 
also  translated  the  old  Saxon  Laws,  collected 
by  Lambarde,  into  Latin  and  English,  but  this 
work  has  never  been  made  public. — Ilusled's 
Hist,  of  Kent,  Pref.  Cough's  Bnt.  Topo*. 
Chalmers's  Birio-.  Diet. 

SONNERAT  (PETER)  a  naturalist  and 
voyager,  born  at  Lyons  about  1745.  Having 
obtained  some  knowledge  of  natural  history, 
and  studied  drawing,  he  entered  into  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  marine.  In  1768  lie  left 
Paris  to  go  to  the  Isle  of  France,  where  his 
relation  M.  de  Poivre  was  intendant.  After 
making  various  voyages  to  Madagascar,  the 
East  Indies,  the  Philippine  Islands,  &c.  Le 
returned  to  France  in  1774  with  a  rich  col- 
lection of  natural  curiosities,  which  were  de- 
posited in  the  royal  cabinet  at  Paris.  The 
same  year  he  returned  to  India,  to  continue 
his  researches,  with  the  title  of  commissary  of 
the  marine.  He  then  visited  Ceylon,  the  Ma- 
labar coast,  Malacca,  and  various  other  places. 
At  the  siege  of  Pondicherry  he  acted  as  in- 
spector of  the  hospitals,  and  after  the  capitu- 
lation of  that  fortress  in  1778,  he  returned  to 
Europe.  He  made  subsequent  voyages  to  the 
East  Indies,  and  passed  several  years  in  that 
part  of  the  world.  He  was  at  Pondicherry  in 
1801  ;  but  at  length  returned  to  his  native 
country,  and  his  death  took  place  at  Paris, 
April  12,  1814.  He  published  "  Voyage  a  la 
Nouvelle  Guinee,  dans  lequel  on  trouve  la  De- 
scription des  Lieux,  des  Observations  physiques 
et  morales,  et  des  Details  relatifs  a  I'Histoire 
naturelle  dans  le  Regne  Animal  et  le  Regne 
Vegetal,"  Paris,  1776,  4to  ;  and  "Voyage 
aux  Indes  Orientates  et  a  la  Chine,  fait  par 
Ordre  du  Roi  depuis  1774  jusqu'en  1781," 
Paris,  1782,  2  vols.  4to. — Bwv.  Univ. 

SONNINI  DE  MANONCOURT 
(CHARLES  NICHOLAS  SIGISBERT)  a  distin- 
guished traveller  and  naturalist,  born  at  Lune- 
ville,  February  1,  1751.  He  was  the  son  of  a 
gentleman  of  Roman  descent,  who  was  coun- 
sellor and  treasurer  to  Stanislaus  I,  the  ex-king 
of  Poland.  He  studied  under  the  Jesuits  at 
Pont-a-Mousson,  and  before  he  was  sixteen 
he  received  the  degree  of  doctor  in  philosophy. 
Being  destined  for  the  magistracy,  he  went  to 
Strasbourg  as  a  student  of  law,  and  in  Novem- 
ber 1768  he  was  admitted  an  advocate  of  the 
sovereign  court  of  Nanci.  He  had  become 
acquainted  with  Buffon,  who  inspired  him 
with  a  taste  for  natural  history :  and  being  of 
an  active  disposition,  he  relinquished  the  law 
for  the  army,  and  afterwards  entering  into  the 
corps  of  marine  artillery,  he  was  in  1772  sent 
to  Cayenne.  He  travelled  over  various  parts 
of  Guiana,  and  after  a  voyage  made  to  the 
western  coast  of  Africa,  he  returned  to  France 
in  1775,  with  a  collection  of  rare  birds  for  the 
cabinet  of  natural  history.  An  account  of 
his  researches  appeared  in  the  Journal  de  Phy- 
sique of  the  abbe  de  Rozier.  He  passed  part 
of  the  years  1776  and  1777  at  Montbard, 
where  he  drew  up  for  Buffon  that  part  of  his 
Natural  History  which  relates  to  foreign  birds, 
in  1779  he  was  sent  to  Greece  and  Egypt  to 


SOP 

make  new  observations  ;  and  returning  home 
the  following  year,  he  employed  himself  in 
the  cultivation  of  science  till  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Resolution.  For  some  time  he 
was  administrator  of  the  department  of  La 
Meurthe  ;  but  during  the  reigu  of  terror  he 
was  displaced  and  imprisoned.  Being  set  at 
liberty  on  the  fall  of  Robespierre,  he  first  of 
all  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits,  but  being 
unsuccessful,  he  went  to  Paris,  and  pub- 
lished an  account  of  his  travels  in  Greece 
and  Egypt ;  and  occupied  himself  in  other 
literary  undertakings.  Under  the  consular 
and  imperial  governments  he  was  unable 
to  obtain  any  public  office,  notwithstand- 
ing the  patronage  of  Lucien  Buonaparte,  who 
iu  vain  endeavoured  to  overcome  the  pre- 
possessions of  Napoleon  against  Sonnini,  on 
account  of  his  remarks  on  the  Egyptian  expe- 
dition in  his  travels.  In  1805  he  became  di- 
rector of  the  college  of  Vienne,  which  post 
however  he  was  soon  after  forced  to  resign. 
He  had  subsequently  a  prospect  of  an  esta- 
blishment in  Moldavia  ;  but  he  was  again  des- 
tined to  meet  with  disappointment ;  and  after 
travelling  in  Moldavia  and  Wallachia,  lie  re- 
turned to  Paris  in  December  1811.  His  death 
took  place  in  that  metropolis  May  29,  1812. 
Among  his  works  are  "  Voyage  dans  la  Haute 
et  Basse  Egypt,"  1799,  3  vols.  8vo  ;  "  Voy- 
age en  Grece  et  en  Turquie,"  1801,  2  vols. 
8vo  ;  besides  which  he  published  the  seventh 
edition  of  the  Natural  History  of  Buffon  in 
127  vols.  8vo  ;  assisted  in  the  "  Dictionnaire 
d'Histoire  Naturelle,"  in  24  vols.  8vo ;  and 
was  conductor  of  the  "  Bibliotheque  Physico- 
economique."  The  Egyptian  Travels  of  Son- 
nini were  translated  into  English  by  Dr  Henry 
Hunter,  1799,  3  vols.  8vo  ;  and  his  Travels  in 
Greece  also  appeared  in  an  English  dress, 
1801,  2  vols.  8vo. — Bing.  Nouv.  des  Contemp. 
Binv.  Univ. 

SOPHOCLES,  a  famous  Greek  tragic  poet, 
was  born  at  Athens  about  BC.  497.  He  was 
of  a  condition  that  entitled  him  to  the  best 
education  of  his  age  and  country  ;  and  in  the 
first  instance  applied  himself  to  lyric  poetry, 
but  the  fame  acquired  by  jEschylus  induced 
him  to  try  his  powers  in  tragedy.  In  his 
twenty-eighth  year  he  accordingly  contended 
with  that  veteran  for  the  prize,  which  being 
decreed  to  him,  ./Eschylus  retreated,  and  left 
him  undisputed  master  of  the  field.  The  im- 
provements which  he  made  in  the  drama  were 
very  considerable  ;  he  brought  more  than  two 
interlocutors  on  the  stage  at  a  time  ;  inte- 
rested the  chorus  in  the  subject  of  the  piece, 
and  invented  a  more  artful  construction  of  fable 
and  developement  of  incident.  In  these  points 
he  is  even  deemed  superior  to  his  younger  rival, 
Euripides,  and  upon  the  whole  appears  to 
have  stood  at  the  head  of  tragedy  in  the  esti- 
mation both  of  Greece  and  Rome.  Sophocles 
was  a  man  of  general  capability,  and  entrusted 
with  civil  and  military  employments,  being 
joined  iu  one  instance  with  Pericles,  in  a  com- 
mission against  the  revolted  Samians.  He 
continued  to  write  tragedies  at  an  advanced 

D 

age,  and  the  benignity  of  his   character  ac- 


SO  R 

quired  him  a  number  of  friends,  it  is  related 
to  his  honour,  that  at  the  death  of  his  great 
rival  Euripides  he  put  on  mourning,  and  would 
not  suffer  the  actors  in  a  new  piece  of  his  to 
wear  crowns.  He  is  said  to  have  passed  his 
ninetieth  year,  and  to  have  died  with  joy  on 
obtaining  the  prize  for  his  last  tragedy.  Above 
a  hundred  pieces  were  attributed  to  him  by 
ancient  writers,  of  which  only  seven  have 
reached  modern  times.  These  however  have 
produced  a  pretty  general  opinion,  that  he  is 
to  be  regarded  as  the  most  masterly  of  the 
three  Greek  tragedians,  the  most  correct  in 
developement,  the  most  just  and  sublime  in 
sentiment,  and  the  most  vivid  in  description. 
His  tragedies  have  been  frequently  published 
separately  and  together,  with  the  Greek  scholia 
and  Latin  versions,  and  without.  Among  the 
most  esteemed  are  those  of  Johnson,  3  vols. 
8vo,  Oxon.  and  London  ;  Caperonier,  Paris, 
4to,  and  2  vols.  8vo,  1781  ;  Brunck,  1786,  2 
vols.  4to,  1788,  3  vols.  8vo  ;  Musgrave,  Oxon. 
3  vols.  8vo ;  and  Bothe,  1786,  2  vols.  8vo. 
Tbey  have  all  been  translated  into  English  by 
Francklin  and  Potter. — Vossii  Poet.  Gr.  Dib- 
din's  Classics,  Moreri. 

SORANUS  EPHESIUS,  a  physician,  who 
lived  in  the  second  century  of  the  Christian 
aera.  He  was  probably  a  native  of  Ephesus  ; 
but  he  practised  medicine  at  Alexandria,  and 
afterwards  at  Rome,  in  the  reigns  of  Trajan 
and  Adrian.  He  belonged  to  the  sect  of  the 
Methodists,  and  was  a  disciple  of  Thessalus. 
Some  of  his  writings  are  still  extant,  particu- 
larly a  life  of  Hippocrates,  usually  prefixed  to 
the  works  of  that  author  ;  and  a  treatise  "  De 
Via  saluberrima  in  Artem  Medendi,"  pub- 
lished at  Basil  in  1528. — Hutchinson's  Biog. 
Med. 

SORBIERE  (SAMUEL)  a  miscellaneous 
French  writer,  by  profession  a  physician,  born 
at  St  Ambroise  in  1615.  He  was  originally  a 
Protestant ;  but  he  exchanged  his  religion  for 
that  of  the  church  of  Rome,  as  was  supposed, 
through  interested  motives,  for  going  to  Rome 
he  was  much  disappointed  at  receiving  from 
the  pope  empty  honours,  instead  of  substantial 
preferment.  Soon  after  the  restoration  of 
Charles  II  he  visited  England,  where  he  ob- 
tained an  introduction  to  many  men  of  learning 
and  science,  was  noticed  by  the  king,  and  ad- 
mitted to  a  sitting  of  the  newly  founded  Royal 
Society.  He  published  in  1664  an  interesting 
account  of  his  observations,  entitled  "  Rela- 
tion d'un  Voyage  en  Angleterre,  ou  sout 
touches  plusieurs  choses  qui  regardent  1'Etat 
des  Sciences,  et  de  la  Religion,  et  autres 
matieres  curieuses."  This  work  was  trans- 
lated into  English,  and  was  severely  criticised 
by  Dr,  afterwards  bishop  Sprat,  who  was  of- 
fended by  the  freedom  of  Sorbiere's  remarks. 
His  death  took  place  in  1670.  He  was  much 
acquainted  with  Hobbes,  some  of  whose  works 
he  translated  into  French  ;  and  he  corres- 
ponded with  many  persons  of  eminence,  whose 
epistolary  intercourse  with  him  was  published 
after  his  death. — Bing.  Univ.  Moreri. 

SORBONNE  (ROBERT  de)  founder  of  the 
celebrated  theological  college  which  bears  hia 


sou 

name,  was  born  lii  1201,  of  an  obscure  family 
at  SorboTiw,  or  S-tbon,   a  village  in   the  dio- 
cese of  Rheims.     After  receiving  tbe  di^ 
of  floctor    at    Paris,    lie    devoted    himself  to 
preaching  and  pious  conference,  and  became 
chaplain  and  confessor  to  the  king,  St  Louis 
Having  become  a  canon  of  Cambrai  in  1251 
his  recollection   of  the   difficulties   which   he 
had  experienced  in  the  course  of  his  own  stu- 
dies, suggested  to  him  a  plan  for    facilitating 
to  poor  scholars   the  means  of  proceeding   to 
graduation.     This  was  to  provide  a  society  o: 
secular  ecclesiastics,  who  living  in  common, 
and  provided  with  a  maintenance,  should  reat 
lectures  gratuitously.     With  the   assistance  o 
his  friends,  therefore,  he  founded  in  1263  the 
celebrated    college  of  the    Sorbonne,  in    the 
street  of  Deux  Fortes  at  Paris.     It  was  par- 
ticularly dedicated  to  the  study  of  theology 
and  its  constitution  has  served  for  a  model  for 
all  the  colleges  subsequently  erected.     He  af- 
terwards added  a  college  for  languages  and 
philosophy,  under  the  name  of  the  College  ol 
Calvi,  or  the  Little  Sorbonne.     He  was  made 
canon  of  Paris  in  1258,  and   rose  to  such  a 
height  of  reputation,  that  princes  frequently 
chose   him  arbitrator  in  their  disputes.     He- 
died  in  1274,  at  the  age  of  seventy- three,  and 
left  very  considerable  property  to  his  college. 
He  was  the  author  of  several  works  on  divinity, 
which  are  preserved  in  MSS.  in    the  library 
of  the  Sorbonne. — Moreri.      Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 
SOSIGENES,  an  Egyptian  mathematician, 
who  lived  in  the  century  preceding  the  Chris- 
tian rcra.     He  appears   to  have  directed   his 
attention  principally  to  astronomy  and  chro- 
nology ;  and  he  is  said  to  have  been  well  ac- 
quainted with   the   works  of  Thales,  Archi- 
medes,   Hipparchus,  Calippus,  and  other  an- 
cient  mathematicians,  who  had  endeavoured 
to   regulate    the   solstices,  and  ascertain    the 
length  of  the  solar  year.     When  Julius  Caesar 
undertook  the  reformation  of  the  kalendar,  he 
sent  for  Sosigenes  to  Rome,  and  availed  him- 
p"lf  of  his  talents  in  the  formation  of  the  Ju- 
lian year,  first  adopted  45  BC.     There  are  no 
writings  extant  of  this  mathematician  ;  nor  is 
any  thing  farther  known  of  his  history. — Mar- 
tin's Bing.  Philos.     Button's  Math.  Diet. 

SOSTRATUS,  the  most  eminent  architect 
of  his  time,  was  a  native  of  Gnidos  in  Lesser 
Asia,  and  flourished  in  the  third  century  BC. 
He  was  in  particular  favour  with  Ptolemy  Phi- 
ludelphus,  king  of  Egypt.  One  of  his  great 
works  was  the  famous  Pharos,  or  light-house 
of  Alexandria,  said  to  have  cost  800  talents, 
and  reckoned  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world. 
He  transmitted  his  name  to  posterity  by  the 
following  inscription  on  the  Pharos  in  the 
Greek  language  : — "  Sostratus  of  Gnidos,  the 
son  of  Dexiphanes,  to  the  preserving  gods  for 
navigators." — Pliny.  Strabo. 

SOUCIET  (STEPHEN)  a  learned  French 
jesuit,  born  at  Bourges  in  1671.  He  took  the 
vows  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  and  going  to  Paris 
he  soon  distinguished  himself  by  his  talents. 
Being  employed  by  his  superiors  to  answer  a 
work  of  the  English  divine,  Dr.  Pearson,  he 
Ibuud  it  ut  "essarv  to  study  the  Oriental  lan- 


so  u 

gnagc-s,  in  which  he  made  a  rapid  progress* 
lie  also  applied  himself  to  history,  astronomy, 
chronology,  and  mathematics  ;  and  quitting  the 
chair  of  theology,  which  he  had  occupied  for 
some  years,  he  was  appointed  keeper  of  the 
library  at  the  college  of  Louis  le  Grand.  He 
died  at  Paris,  January  14,  1744.  Besides  va 
rious  other  works,  he  was  the  author  of  •'  Ob- 
servations mathematiques,  astronomiques,  geo- 
graphiques,  et  physiques,  tirees  des  anciens 
Livres  Chinois,  ou  faites  nouvellement  aux 
Indes  eta  la  Chine,  par  les  Missionnaires  Je- 
suites,"  Paris,  1729,  4to. — His  brother,  STE- 
PHEN AUGUSTIN  SOUCIET,  was  the  author  of 
several  Latin  poems,  distinguished  for  beauty 
and  elegance. — Another  brother,  JOHN  SOU- 
CIET, was  one  of  the  principal  co-operators  in 
the  Journal  de  Trevoux.  All  the  brothers  be- 
longed to  the  society  of  the  Jesuits. — Biog. 
Univ. 

SOULAV1E  (JEAN  Louis  GIRAUD)  an 
historical  and  miscellaneous  writer,  who  was 
a  native  of  the  province  of  Viverais  in  France. 
He  embraced  the  ecclesiastical  profession,  and 
at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  he  was 
cur6  of  Seveut  and  vicar-general  of  the  dio- 
cese of  Chalons.  He  became  a  warm  parti/an 
of  popular  opinions,  and  was  one  of  the  first 
among  the  priests  who  threw  off  the  yoke  of 
the  church,  and  entered  into  the  state  of  wed- 
lock. In  1793  he  was  nominated  resident  of 
the  French  republic  at  Geneva,  whence  he  was 
recalled  the  following  year  and  imprisoned. 
At  tlae  amnesty  in  1796  he  was  liberated ;  and 
in  1798  he  was  destined  to  deportation,  but 
Buonaparte  prevented  the  execution  of  the 
decree  of  his  brother  consuls.  Soulavie  then 
devoted  himself  entirely  to  literature.  Towards 
the  close  of  his  life  he  appears  to  have  re- 
pented of  his  apostacy,  and  reconciled  himself 
to  the  church.  He  died  in  March  1813,  a  few- 
days  after  he  had  made  the  retractation  of  his 
errors.  Among  his  numerous  publications  may 
be  mentioned  "  Memoires  du  Marechal  Due 
de  Richelieu;"  "  Memoires  historiques  et 
politiques  du  Regne  de  Louis  XVI,"  1801, 
6  vols.  8vo ;  and  "  Histoire  de  la  Decadence 
de  la  Monarchic  Fnu^aise,"  1805,  3  vols. 
8vo.  He  also  edited  many  volumes  of  me- 
moirs, and  left  a  large  quantity  of  manuscripts. 
— Biog.  Univ. 

SOUTH  (ROBERT)  a  celebrated  divine  of 
:he  church  of  England,  who  was  the  son  of  a 
London  merchant,  and  was  born  at  Hackney 
n  1633.  He  was  educated  at  Westminster 
school  and  Christchurch,  Oxford.  In  1654  he 
•vrote  a  copy  of  Latin  verses,  addressed  to 
Cromwell,  on  the  conclusion  of  peace  with 
:he  Dutch ;  and  the  following  year  he  pro- 
duced a  poem  entitled  "  Musica  lncantans\" 
In  1660  he  was  chosen  public  orator  of  the 
university  of  Oxford  ;  and  soon  after  lie  was 
nominated  domestic  chaplain  to  lord  Claren- 
don, then  lord  chancellor.  In  1663  he  be- 
came a  prebendary  of  Westminster,  was  ad- 
mitted DD.  and  obtained  a  living  in  Wales. 
On  the  disgrace  of  his  patron,  he  was  made 
•haplain  to  the  duke  of  York.  In  1670  he 
vas  installed  canon  of  Christchurch ;  and  ii 


so  u 

if.76  he  went  to  Poland,  as  chaplain  to  the 
English  ambassador,  Lawrence  Hyde.  On  his 
return  home  in  1678  he  was  presented  to  the 
rectory  of  Islip  in  Oxfordshire,  where  he  re- 
built a  part  of  the  church  and  the  parsonage- 
house.  In  the  letter  part  of  the  last  century 
Dr  South  commenced  a  controversy  with  Dr 
William  Sherlock,  relative  to  the  doctrine  of 
the  Trinity,  which  was  continued  for  some 
time,  exciting  a  great  deal  of  interest  among 
the  clergy  of  that  period.  Both  these  dispu- 
tants professed  to  be  orthodox  sons  of  tl 
church,  their  difference  relating  to  the  mou. 
of  explaining-  the  doctrine  in  question  ;  it 
which  fruitless  undertaking  much  wit  and 
learning  were  expended  to  little  purpose.  Dr 
South  died  in  1716,  after  having  for  several 
years  been  in  an  infirm  state  of  health.  He 
possessed  an  abundant  share  of  wit  and  hu- 
mour, which  he  not  unfrequently  displayed 
in  his  most  serious  compositions.  His  "  Ser- 
mons," which  have  been  much  admired,  were 
published  in  11  vols.  8vo.  He  also  wrote  an 
account  of  his  journey  to  Poland,  and  other 
works. — 73JDO-.  Brit.  Aikin's  Gen.  Biog. 

SOUTHCOTT  (JOHANNA)  a  singular  fa- 
natic, who,  in  the  early  part  of  the  present 
century,  attracted  by  her  extravagant  preten- 
sions a  numerous  band  of  converts  in  London 
and  its  vicinity,  which  is  said  to  have  at  one 
period  amounted  to  upwards  of  a  hundred 
thousand.  She  was  born  in  the  west  of  Eng- 
land, about  the  year  1750,  of  parents  in  very 
humble  life,  and  being  carried  away  by  the 
fervour  of  a  heated  imagination,  gave  herself 
out  as  the  woman  spoken  of  in  the  book  of 
Revelations.  In  this  her  assumed  capacity, 
although  in  the  highest  degree  illiterate,  she 
scribbled  much  mystic  and  unintelligible  non- 
sense in  the  way  of  vision  and  prophecy,  and  for 
a  while  carried  on  a  lucrative  trade  in  the  sale 
of  seals,  which  were,  under  certain  conditions, 
to  secure  the  salvation  of  the  purchasers.  A 
disorder  of  rather  rare  occurrence  subsequently 
giving  her  the  outward  appearance  of  preg- 
nancy after  she  had  passed  her  grand  climac- 
teric, she  unhesitatingly  announced  herself  as 
the  mother  of  the  promised  Shiloh,  whose 
speedy  advent  she  as  confidently  predicted. 
The  faith  of  her  followers,  among  whom  were 
more  than  one  clergyman  of  the  established 
church,  rose  to  enthusiasm.  A  cradle  of  the 
most  expensive  materials,  and  highly  de- 
corated, was  prepared  by  her  expectant  vo- 
taries at  a  fashionable  upholsterer's,  and  every 
preparation  was  made  for  the  reception  of  the 
miraculous  babe  that  superstition  and  credu- 
lity could  induce  ;  and  so  fully  persuaded  were 
many  of  her  deluded  attendants  of  the  reality 
of  her  mission,  that  one  of  the  ecclesiastics, 
already  alluded  to,  on  receiving  a  remonstrance 
from  his  diocesan,  actually  offered  to  bind  him- 
self to  resign  a  benefice  he  possessed  into  tin 
bishop's  hands,  if  the  holy  Johanna,  as  he 
styled  her,  should  fail  to  appear  on  a  specified 
tlay  with  the  expected  Shiloh  in  her  arms. 
About  the  close  of  the  year  1814,  however, 
tlie  prophetess  herself  began  to  have  her  mi*- 
.  DICT. — VOL.  III. 


SOD 

giving*  during  some  comparatively  lucid  in- 
tervals, in  which  she  declared  that  "  if  she 
was  deceived,  she  was  convinced  she  had  at 
all  events  been  the  sport  of  some  spirit,  either 
good  or  evil,"  and  011  the  27th  of  December 
in  that  year,  death  put  an  end  to  both  her 
hopes  and  fears.  With  her  followers,  however, 
it  was  far  otherwise ;  and  though  for  a  time 
confounded  by  her  decease,  which  they  could 
scarcely  believe  to  be  real,  a  speedy  resurrec- 
tion was  confidently  anticipated,  and  one  of 
her  most  devoted  adherents,  Mr  Sharp,  the 
eminent  engraver  (see  SHARP),  publicly  as- 
serted his  conviction  that  "  she  was  only  gone 
to  heaven  for  a  season,  in  order  to  legitimate 
the  embryo  child."  In  this  persuasion  he,  as 
well  as  many  others,  lived  and  died,  nor  is  her 
sect  yet  extinct;  on  the  contrary,  within  a 
very  short  period  several  families  of  her  dis- 
ciples were  living  together  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Chatham  in  Kent,  remarkable  for  the  pa- 
triarchal length  of  their  beards  and  the  ge- 
neral singularity  of  their  appearance.  The 
body  of  Johanna  underwent  an  anatomical  in- 
vestigation after  her  death,  when  the  extra- 
ordinary appearance  of  her  shape  was  fully 
accounted  for  upon  medical  principles,  and 
her  remains  were  conveyed  for  interment 
under  a  fictitious  name  to  the  burying-g-round 
attached  to  the  chapel  in  St  John's  Wood.  A 
stone  lias  since  been  erected  to  her  memory, 
which,  after  reciting  her  age,  and  other  usua, 
particulars,  concludes  with  some  lines,  evi- 
dently the  composition  of  a  still  unshaken 
believer,  the  fervour  of  whose  faith  far  exceeds 
his  inspiration  as  a  poet. — Original  Communi- 
cation. 

SOUTHERN  (THOMAS)  an  eminent  dra- 
matic poet  of  the  age  of  the  second  Charles, 
born  at  Dublin  in  1660,  and  educated  there  at 
Trinity  college.  In  1678  he  came  to  London 
with  the  view  of  making  the  law  his  profes- 
sion, and  entered  himself  of  the  Middle 
Temple  ;  but  like  many  a  kindred  genius  simi- 
larly circumstanced,  soon  abandoned  a  study 
so  little  congenial  to  persons  of  his  vivacity  of 
temperament,  and  dedicated  his  time  to  the 
cultivation  of  his  muse.  His  first  dramatic 
effort  was  a  tragedy  entitled  the  "  Persian. 
Prince,  or  the  Loyal  Brother,"  founded  on  the 
story  of  Schah  Thamas,  but  written  with  a 
strong  bias  towards  the  tory  party,  then  pre- 
valent in  England,  and  full  of  compliment  to 
its  head,  the  duke  of  York,  under  the  cha- 
racter of  the  Loyal  Brother.  To  this  tragedy 
Dryden,  whose  friendship  he  enjoyed,  fur- 
nished the  prologue  and  epilogue,  the  former 
however  especially  being  more  remarkable  for 
party  virulence  than  for  poetry.  The  play  was 
first  performed  in  1682,  and  besides  raising 
the  author's  reputation  by  its  success,  procured 
him  a  reward  of  a  more  substantial  nature,  in. 
the  favour  of  the  prince  to  whom  he  had  paid 
his  court  in  it.  On  the  accession  of  James  to 
the  throne,  Southern  went  into  the  army,  and 
rose  gradually  to  the  command  of  a  company 
in  the  regiment  raised  by  lord  Ferrers,  in 
which  he  served  during  Monmouth's  rebellio-a. 
O 


sou 

Another    of    bis    tragedies,    "  The    Spartan 
Dame,"  though  written  in  1687,  was  not  ;n  i.  il 
till  17'J1,    and  then  with  considerable  altera- 
tions, from  some  supposed  resemblance  in  the 
situation  of  its  heroine  to  that  of  queen  Mary. 
It  was  very   strongly   cast,   and  produced  its 
author  1.50/.  for  the  copyright,  an  extraordinary 
sum  at  that   time.     From  this  period  he  con- 
tinued  to    produce  occasionally    a   variety  of 
comedies  as  well  as  tragedies  ;  in    the  former 
style  of  composition  however  lie  was  far  from 
being  successful,  all  bis  lighter  pieces  having 
perished,  while   of  the   latter,  two  especially 
yet  keep  possession  of  the  stage.     These  are 
bis  "  Oronooko,"  founded,  it  is  said,  on  a  true 
story,  which  forms  the  groundwork  of  one  of 
Mrs   Behn's    novels;    and   "Innocent   Adul- 
tery," which  under  its  modern   name  "  Isa- 
bella,  or  the  Fatal  Marriage,"  is  one  of  the 
most  pathetic  and  effective  dramas  in  the  lan- 
guage, and  has  in  succession  tried  the  strength 
of  all    our   principal   female  tragedians,    from 
Mrs  Porter  and  Mrs  Woffington,  down  to  Mrs 
Siddons  and  Miss  O'Neil.     The  latter  part  of 
bis  days  was  passed  by  Mr  Southern,  who  bad 
:ong  quitted  the  service,  in  ease  and  affluence. 
His  writings  and  his  commission  had  produced 
him  a  handsome   competency,   and  be  is  re- 
corded to  have  been  the  first  who  raised   the 
advantage  derived   by  diamatic  authors  from 
the  treasury  of  the  theatre  to  a   second  and 
third  night,  a  circumstance  alluded  to  by  Pope. 
During  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life  be  resided 
in  Westminster,  and  was  a  constant  attendant 
at    the   abbey   from  his  partiality   for  sacred 
music.     His  deatb  took   place  May  26,  1746, 
when   he  bad   attained   the   advanced  age  of 
eighty-six.     His    works    have    gone    through 
several  editions. — Life  by  Gibber. 

SO UTHWELL(RoBF.RT) an  English  jesuit 
and  poet,  was  born  in  1560,  as  it  is  said,  of  an 
ancient  family  in  Norfolk  or  Suffolk.  Being 
sent  abroad  for  education,  be  became  a  Jesuit 
at  Rome  in  1578.  He  was  a  few  years  after 
sent  missionary  to  England,  and  in  159S  was 
apprehended  and  examined  with  the  strictest 
rigour.  He  was  confined  three  years,  and,  as 
be  himself  affirms,  he  endured  the  torture 
several  times,  until  at  length  he  owned  that 
be  came  to  England  to  propagate  the  Catholic 
eligion,  and  was  ready  to  lay  down  his  life 
for  it.  He  was  accordingly  tried  in  February 
1595,  under  the  existing  law,  and  the  presence 
of  a  Jesuit  in  England  being  treason,  he  was 
condemned,  and  executed  the  next  day  at  Ty- 
buru.  According  to  Dodd,  Warton,  Headley, 
and  others,  there  is  considerable  beauty  in 
some  of  the  poetical  pieces  of  Southwell,  a  few 
pleasing  examples  of  which  will  be  found  in 
Ellis's  Specimens.  On  these  his  fame  must 
now  principally  rest,  as  copies  of  this  work 
are  rarely  to  be  met  with,  although  the  rem- 
nant of  twer  ty-four  editions.  The  title  of  his 
principal  w  jrks  are,  "A  Consolation  for 
imprisoned  Catholics  ;"  "  A  Supplication  to 
Queen  Elizabeth  ;"  "  St  Peter's  Complaint, 
with  other  Poems;"  "  Majoniaj,  or  certain 
excellent  Poema  and  spiritual  Hymns ;'' 
"  Mary  Magdalene's  Funeral  Teares,"  re- 


so  w 

printed  in  1772  by  the  rev.  William  Tookcv— 
Dndd's  Ch.  Uhl.  Ellis  and  Ile/idley's  Spe- 
cimens. 

SOU/A  BOTELIIO  (  JOSEPH  MARIA, 
baron  de)  a  Portuguese  nobleman,  equally  difl- 
tinguisbed  as  a  diplomatist  and  a  man  of  let- 
ters, born  at  Oporto  in  17.50.  Having  ter- 
minated bis  studies  at  Coimbra,  lie  entered 
into  the  army,  and  served  from  1778  to  1791. 
At  that  period  be  was  nominated  ambassador 
to  Sweden,  whence  in  1795  he  proceeded  in 
the  same  capacity  to  Lisbon.  After  the  peace 
of  Amiens  lie  resided  as  Portuguese  minister 
at  Paris  till  1805,  when  he  was  chosen  fo  fill 
the  post  of  plenipotentiary  from  the  court  of 
Lisbon  at  Petersburg  ;  but  he  declined  the 
office,  and  spent  the  rest  of  his  days  in  literary 
retirement.  He  devoted  his  leisure  to  the  pre- 
paration of  an  edition  of  the  Lusiad  of  Ca- 
moens,  with  a  bibliographical  memoir  and 
life  of  the  poet.  This  magnificent  work, 
printed  by  Didot  at  Paris,  in  folio,  with  en- 
gravings by  M.  Gerard,  appeared  in  1817. 
M.  de  Souza  afterwards  formed  the  design  of 
writing  the  history  of  Portugal  ;  but  ill  health 
prevented  the  execution  of  his  plan.  In  1804 
he  published  a  translation  in  his  native  lan- 
guage of  the  famous  "  Lettres  Portugaises," 
with  the  French  on  the  opposite  pages,  and 
prefatory  observations  relative  to  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  work.  His  deatb  took  place 
June  1,1825.  After  the  death  of  bis  first 
wife,  be  married  at  Paris,  in  1802,  the 
countess  de  Flahault,  widow  of  the  count  de 
Fiahault  de  la  Billarderie.  guillotined  in  1792. 
This  lady  is  well  known  in  the  literary  world 
as  the  authoress  of  "  Emilie  et  Alpbonse,  ou 
le  Danger  de  se  fier  a  ses  premiers  Impres- 
sions ;"  "  Adele  de  Senanges  ;"  "  Charles  et 
Marie  ;"  and  other  very  popular  and  in- 
teresting works  of  fiction. —  Biog.  des  Ccntemp, 
Ring.  Unit- 

SOUZA  (JOHN  de)  a  Portuguese  historian, 
born  at  Damas  or  Damascus,  in  Syria,  of  Ca- 
tholic parents,  about  1730.  He  went  to  Por- 
tugal iu  1750,  and  he  was  patronized  and 
employed  by  Caspar  de  Saldanha,  rector  of 
the  university  of  Coimbra,  who  introduced 
him  to  the  count  d'Oeyras,  afterwards  marquis 
de  Pombal.  In  1770  he  entered  into  the 
order  of  St  Francis,  soon  after  which  he  was 
withdrawn  from  his  convent,  to  be  employed 
as  secretary-interpreter  to  the  Spanish  ambas- 
sador at  Morocco.  He  subsequently  became 
professor  of  Arabic  at  the  convent  of  St  Jesus, 
at  Lisbon,  where  be  died  January  29,  1812. 
Father  de  Souza,  who  was  a  member  of  the 
Portuguese  Academy  of  Sciences,  published 
"  Vestiges  of  the  Arabic  Language  in  Portu- 
gal, or  an  Etymological  Dictionary  of  Portu- 
guese Words  derived  from  the  Arabic,"  1789  ; 
"  Arabian  Documents  from  the  Archives  of 
Lisbon ;"  and  other  works.  He  aJso  left 
many  valuable  MSS. —  fiiog.  Univ. 

SOWERBY,  FLS.  MGS.  (JAMES)  an  in- 
genious  artist  and  naturalist,  born  1766.  In 
the  early  part  of  his  life  Mr  Sowerby  sup- 
ported himself  by  instructing  .pupils  in  the 
(art  of  drawing  ;  but  being  fond  of  botany, 


SPA 

exercising  his  pencil  chiefly  in  the  delineation 
of  p\ants,  he  attracted  the  notice  of  sir  J.  E. 
Smith,  the  president  of  the  Linnrean  Society, 
who  employed  him  to  illustrate  his  works.  J  le 
published  several  works  afterwards,  connected 
with  his  favourite  pursuit ;  among  others,  "  A 
Botanical  Drawing  Book,"  4to,  1789  and  1791; 
"  Florist's  Delight,"  folio,  1791  ;  "  English 
Fungi,"  folio,  1796;  "  British  Mineralogy," 
8vo,  1808  ;  "  Description  of  Models  to  Ex- 
plain Chrystallography,"  8vo,  1805;  and 
"  English  Botany,"  8vo,  1805.  Mr  Sowerhy 
was  a  correspondent  and  fellow  of  the  Linnrcan 
Society,  among  whose  transactions  are  several 
papers  from  his  pen  ;  and  had  collected  a  con- 
siderable museum,  which  was  always  acces- 
sible to  students  and  scientific  men.  He  died 
in  Lambeth,  October  25,  1822. — Ann.  Biog. 

SOZOMEN  (HERMIAS)  a  native  of  Pales- 
tine, was  in  great  repute  as  an  advocate  at 
Constantinople  about  the  year  4-10,  arid  is 
known  as  the  author  of  a  "  History  of  the 
Christian  Church,"  from  its  first  establishment 
to  his  own  times.  Of  this  work  the  latter 
part  only  has  reached  posterity,  containing  an 
account  of  transactions  from  the  year  324 
downwards.  It  is  visibly  copied  from  the  si- 
milar history  of  Socrates,  and  is  equally  re- 
markable for  the  marvellous  legends  which  it 
details,  and  the  florid  style  in  which  they  are 
r-arrated.  He  is  supposed  to  have  died  about 
the  middle  of  the  fifth  century.  His  history 
was  translated  and  published  by  Valesius, 
with  Eusebius  and  other  ecclesiastical  histo- 
rians ;  and  separately,  with  additional  notes 
by  Reading,  London,  1720,  3  vols.  folio. — 
JOHN  SOZOMEN,  a  Venetian  lawyer,  of  the  se- 
venteenth century,  is  known  as  having  ren- 
dered Plato's  work  on  Republics  into  the  Ita- 
lian language.  In  this  translation,  or  rather 
adaptation,  the  original  form  of  dialogue  is 
abandoned  for  that  of  a  continuous  treatise. — 
Cave.  Dupin. 

SPAENDONCK  (GERARD  van)  an  emi- 
nent flower-painter,  born  at  Tilbourg  in  Hol- 
land, in  1746.  He  studied  under  Herreyus, 
an  artist  of  Antwerp  ;  and  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
four  he  went  to  Paris,  where  he  expected  to 
meet  with  more  encouragement  than  in  his 
own  country.  He  distinguished  himself  by 
his  miniatures  as  well  as  his  flower-pieces, 
and  through  the  friendship  of  Watelet  he  ob- 
tained, in  1774,  the  reversion  of  the  place  of 
miniature-painter  to  the  king.  In  1781  he 
was  admitted  into  the  Academy  of  Painting  ; 
and  after  the  Revolution  he  was  made  profes- 
sor of  iconography  at  the  Jardin  des  Plantes. 
After  having  enjoyed  an  excellent  state  of 
health  to  a  very  advanced  age,  he  died  sud- 
denly, May  11,  1822.  The  works  of  Spaen- 
donck  are  extremely  numerous,  and  some  of 
the  mist  valuable  are  preserved  in  the  mu- 
seum of  the  Louvre. — Biog.  Urdu. 

SPAGNOLETTO.     See  RIBERA. 

SP  ALDING  (JOHN  JOACHIM)  a  celebrated 
Protestant  preacher  and  man  of  letters,  born 
at  Triebsess  in  Swedish  Pomerania,  in  1714. 
He  studied  at  the  university  of  Rostock, 
whence  he  removed  to  Griefswald,  to  become 


SPA 

tutor  to  the  children  of  one  of  the  professors 
in  that  university,  who  kindly  directed  his 
studies.  In  1735  he  supported  a  thesis  "  De 
Calumnia  Juliani  Apostate  in  Confinnationera 
Ileligionis  Christiana?  versa."  Having  adopted 
the  ecclesiastical  profession,  after  assisting  his 
brother,  who  was  pastor  and  rector  of  the 
gymnasium  at  Triebsess,  he  went  in  1742  to 
Halle,  with  a  young  man  to  whom  he  was 
tutor.  In  1745  he  became  secretary  of  le- 
gation to  M,  de  Rudenskiold,  Swedish  envoy 
at  Berlin.  He  now  published  translations  of 
the  works  of  lord  Shaftesbury,  of  Silhouette, 
and  of  Le  Clerc,  having  studied  the  English 
and  French  languages  as  well  as  the  Swedish. 
In  1748  appeared  his  "  Destination  of  Man," 
a  work  which  established  the  reputation  of  the 
author  as  a  moralist  and  a  general  scholar.  In 
1749  he  was  appointed  pastor  of  Lassalm  in 
Swedish  Pomerania  ;  and  in  1757  he  removed 
to  Earth,  near  Stralsund.  He  published  his 
second  classic  work,  "  Thoughts  on  the  Im- 
portance of  Religious  Sentiments,"  in  1761  ; 
and  three  years  after  he  became  member  of 
the  general  consistory,  and  first  pastor  of  the 
church  of  St  Nicholas  at  Berlin.  In  1765  he 
published  a  volume  of  "  Sermons,"  distin- 
guished for  elegance  of  style  and  sound  mo- 
rality ;  and  this  was  followed  by  another  a 
few  years  after.  In  1772  appeared  his  trea- 
tise on  "  The  Utility  of  Preaching  ;"  and  in 
1784  "  Confidential  Letters  concerning  Reli- 
gion." Spalding  was  an  advocate  for  free  in- 
quiry in  matters  of  religion,  his  own  sentiments 
tending  towards  that  system  of  rationalism  so 
prevalent  among  the  German  theologists  of 
the  last  century.  Whence,  on  the  publica- 
tion of  the  famous  edict  of  religion  of  1788, 
lie  relinquished  preaching  altogether ;  but  he 
still  retained  his  consistorial  functions.  In 
1797  he  published  his  last  work,  "  Religion 
the  most  important  Affair  of  Mankind  ;"  and 
the  same  year  he  was  honoured  by  the  univer- 
sity of  Halle  with  the  diploma  of  doctor  of 
theology.  His  death  took  place  at  Berlin, 
May  26,  1804.— Biog.  Univ. 

SPALDING  (GEORGE  Louis)  second  son 
of  the  preceding,  eminent  as  a  philological 
writer.  He  was  born  at  Barth,  April  8,  1762, 
and  he  studied  under  the  famous  Busching, 
at  the  gymnasium  of  Berlin.  He  afterwards 
directed  his  attention  to  philology  and  divinity 
at  the  universities  of  Gottingek  and  Halle  ; 
and  in  1784  he  engaged  in  a  literary  tour 
through  Germany,  Switzerland,  France,  Eng- 
land, and  Holland.  Returning  to  Berlin,  he 
was  appointed  tutor  to  the  children  of  prince 
Ferdinand  ;  and  in  1787  professor  at  the  gym- 
nasium of  Berlin.  His  religious  sentiments 
coinciding  with  those  of  his  father,  the  edict 
of  religion  induced  him  to  renounce  his  inten- 
tion of  becoming  an  ecclesiastic,  and  devote 
himself  entirely  to  literature.  In  1792  he 
went  to  Halle,  and  graduated  as  MA,  having 
published  a  dissertation  entitled  "  Vindicias 
Philosophorum  Megaricorum,  subjicitur  Com- 
mentarius  in  priorem  Partem  Libelli  de  Xeno- 
phane,  Zenone  et  Gorgia,"  which  procure! 
him  great  reputation.  Being  employed  by  a 
02 


5P  A 

bookseller  of  Leipsic  to  revise  the  text  of 
Quintilian  for  a  now  edition,  he.  dedicated  the 
last  nineteen  years  of  his  life  to  that  under- 
taking, which  he  executed  in  a  masterly  man- 
ner, and  the  work  appeared  in  4  vols.  8vo, 
1798 — 1816,  the  last  volume  having  been 
published  after  the  death  of  the  learned  edi- 
tor, which  took  place  June  7,  1811.  G.  L. 
Spalding  published  in  1804  a  volume  of  "  Di- 
dactic Poetry  ;"  and  the  same  year  he  printed 
his  father's  Autobiography. — Id. 

SPALL ANZAN1   (LAZARUS)  an  eminent 
modern  naturalist,  was  born  at  Scandiano  in 
Italy,  January  10,   1729.     He  studied  polite 
literature  under  the  Jesuits  at  Reggio  de  Mo- 
dena,  whence  he  removed  to  Bologna,  where 
lie  cultivated  science  under  his  relation  Laura 
Bassi,  the  celebrated  female  professor  of  phy- 
sics in  that  place.     Being  nominated  physical 
professor  at  Pavia,  he  devoted  himself  to  ex- 
perimental   researches     into     nature,     which 
course  of  scientific  study  he  pursued  for  many 
years  with  more  assiduity  and  intelligence  than 
most  of  his  contemporaries.    He  began  in  1765 
to  publish  in  Italian,  various  works  on  physio- 
logy, chiefly  animal,  which   made    his   name 
known    throughout    Europe.     He    employed 
some   of  the   intervals  of  his  academical    la- 
bour in  travelling  for  information.     In  1779  he 
made  a  tour  through  the  Swiss  cantons  ;  in 
1785    he    took   a  voyage  to  Constantinople, 
visiting  in  his  way  the  isles  of  Corfu  and  Cy- 
thera,  of  which  he  described  the  geology  and 
fossil  remains.     In  1788  he  journeyed  through 
the    two    Sicilies,  and  part  of  the  A ppenines, 
to  collect  volcanic  products  for  the  museum  at 
Pavia.     This  celebrated  natural  philosopher, 
whose   private  character  was  in  the   highest 
degree  sincere  and  benevolent,    died   of  apo- 
plexy,   February  1798.     The  numerous  writ- 
ings  of  Spallanzani  may  be  comprised  under 
the  following  classes  :  experiments  on  animal 
reproductions,  in  which  he  pursued  the  steps 
of    Reaumur  and  Bonnet  ;    on    infusory   ani- 
malcules, in   which,   in   opposition  to  Buffon 
and  Needham,  he  establishes  their  claim  to 
the  rank  of  complete  animals ;  microscopical 
experiments,   relative  to  reviviscent   animal- 
cules ;  memoirs  on  mucus,  or  mould  ;  on  the 
phenomena  attendant  on  the  circulation  of  the 
blood  ;  on  digestion,  and  the  manner  in  which 
it  is  effected  ;  inquiries  concerning  generation  ; 
on  the  influence  of  confined  and  unchanged  air 
on  animals  and  vegetables  ;  travels  in  the  two 
Sicilies  ;  observations  on   the  transpiration  of 
plants ;    and  lastly,   a  curious   and  elaborate 
correspondence   with  the   most   distinguished 
naturalists  of  the  age.     That  in  so  wide   and 
curious  a  range  of  inquiry  he  was  sometimes 
mistaken  in  his  conclusions  will  not  be  deemed 
wonderful,  but  he  will  always  be  regarded  as 
one    of   the    most    industrious   inquirers  into 
nature  of  his  day.     It  must  not  be  concealed, 
that  much  humane  objection  has  been  made  to 
the  deliberate  cruelty  of  many  of  his  experi- 
ments, for  which,  as  in  some  later  instances  of 
n  similar  nature,  it  has    been  doubted  if  the 
knowledge  attained  would  entirely  atone. — 
Life  by  Tourdts      JIalleri  BibL  Anat. 


SPA 

fcPANGENBERG  (AUGUSTUS  TIIKOPKT- 
i  us)  a  Moravian  bishop,  who  was  the  son  of  a 
clergyman  of  Klt-ttenburg  in  Germany,  wheie 
he  was  born  in  1704.  He  became  a  student 
of  law  at  Jena,  and  in  1726  he  obtained  the 
degree  of  doctor  of  philosophy.  The  follow- 
ing year  he  formed  an  acquaintance  with  the 
famous  count  ZinzendorfF,  founder  of  the  sect 
of  Moravians  or  Herrnhutters,  of  whom  he 
some  time  after  became  a  follower.  On  his 
forming  this  connexion  he  was  sent  on  a  mission 
to  the  West  Indies  and  North  America,  whi- 
:her  he  went  in  1735,  and  remained  till  1739. 
Having  established  a  colony  of  the  united 
brethren,  as  they  styled  themselves,  in  Geor- 
gia, and  visited  Pennsylvania,  he  returned  to 
Europe.  lie  displayed  his  zeal  and  activity 
in  the  cause  which  he  had  embraced,  both  in 
Germany  and  in  England  ;  and  in  1745  he 
was  elected  bishop  of  the  Moravians,  and  sent 
again  to  America  as  inspector  of  all  the  esta- 
blishments of  the  brethren  among  the  English 
and  savage  nations.  He  returned  from  this 
mission  in  1749,  and  in  1751  he  crossed  the 
Atlantic  a  third  time.  On  the  death  of  Zin- 
zendorff  in  1760,  he  was  called  to  the  su- 
preme council  of  the  Herrnhutters  ;  and  in  1764 
lie  was  appointed  general  inspector  of  the  es- 
tablishments in  Upper  Lusatia.  He  took  up 
liis  residence  at  Zeitz,  whence  in  1769  he  re- 
moved to  Herrnhut,  devoting  his  time  espe- 
cially to  the  seminaries  for  the  education  of 
foreign  missionaries.  In  1789  he  accepted 
the  office  of  president  of  the  general  directory, 
with  which  he  settled  two  yeais  after  at  Ber- 
tholsdorf  near  Herrnhut,  where  he  died  Sep- 
tember 18, 1792.  Among  his  works  are  "  The 
Biography  of  count  N.  L.  de  Zinzendorff," 
1772—75,  8  vols.  8vo  ;  and  "  Idea  Fidei  Fra- 
trum,  or  a  Summary  of  the  Christian  Doctrine 
of  the  Evangelical  Community  of  the  Bre- 
thren," 1779,  8vo,  translated  into  English  by 
Latrobe. — Biitg.  Univ, 

SPANHEIM  (FREDERICK)  professor  of 
divinity  at  Leyden,  was  the  son  of  a  learned 
Protestant  divine,  who  filled  the  post  of  ec- 
clesiastical counsellor  to  the  elector  palatine, 
and  was  provost  of  the  college  of  Amberg, 
where  the  subject  of  this  article  was  born  in 
1600  ;  and  after  benefiting  a  while  by  his  fa- 
ther's instructions,  he  completed  his  education 
at  the  universities  of  Heidelberg  and  Geneva, 
in  the  latter  of  which  he  obtained  the  divinity 
professorship  in  1627,  having  previously  de- 
clined one  offered  him  at  Lausanne.  This  ho- 
nourable situation  he  resigned  in  1642  for  a 
similar  one  at  Leyden,  where  he  distinguished 
himself  both  as  a  lecturer  in  theology  and  a 
preacher,  acquiring  by  his  learning  and  ta- 
ients  the  especial  favour  of  the  prince  of 
Orange  and  the  celebrated  Christina  of  Swe- 
den, with  whom  he  was  in  habits  of  corres- 
pondence. He  was  the  author  of  "  Exercita- 
tiones  de  Gratia  Universali,"  8vo,  3  vols.  ; 
"  Duhia  Evangelica,"  4to,  2  vols.  ;  a  "  Life 
of  Count  Dhona  ;"  "  The  Swiss  Mercury," 
&c.  He  died  in  the  spring  of  1649,  his  great 
labours  shortening  his  days.  He  was  a  cor- 


S  P  A 

respondent  of,  and  highly  esteemed  by  arch- 
bishop Usher. — Niceron.     Freheri  Theatrum. 

SPANHEIM  (EZEKIEL)  eldest  son  of  the 
preceding,  was  born  in  1629,  during  his  fa- 
ther's residence  at  Geneva.  At  a  very  early 
age  he  manifested  the  possession  of  consider- 
able talent,  which  received  ample  cultivation 
under  the  care  of  his  father,  whom  he  accom- 
panied to  Leyden  in  1642  ;  and  although  at 
that  period  the  animosity  between  Daniel 
Heinsius  and  Salmasius  was  at  its  height,  he 
succeeded  by  his  modesty  and  abilities  in  ob- 
taining the  friendship  and  esteem  of  both 
these  eminent  scholars.  The  death  of  his  fa- 
ther destroying  the  tie  which  bound  him  to 
Leyden,  he  accepted  a  professorship  of  rhe- 
toric which  was  ottered  him  in  his  native  city  ; 
.  hut  the  repatation  he  had  by  this  time  ac- 
quired inducing  the  elector  palatine  to  select 
him  as  superintendant  of  his  son's  studies,  he 
entered  the  service  of  that  prince,  and  soon 
after  confirmed  the  favourable  impression  made 
on  his  patron's  mind  by  an  eloquent  tract  in 
support  of  his  pretensions  to  the  grand  vicar- 
ship  of  the  empire.  The  prudence  which 
seems  to  have  been  one  distinguishing  cha- 
racteristic of  Spanheim,  did  not  desert  him  at 
this  time  in  the  difficult  situation  in  which  he 
was  placed  between  the  elector  and  electress, 
with  both  of  whom,  though  at  open  variance 
with  each  other,  he  continued  a  favourite. 
An  opportunity  at  length  occurred  which  en- 
abled him  to  carry  into  e fleet  a  desire  he  had 
long  formed  of  visiting  Italy,  the  best  school 
for  the  study  of  antiquities.  His  sovereign 
wishing  to  keep  an  eye  upon  the  intrigues  car- 
rying on  by  the  Catholic  electors  at  the  papa! 
court,  dispatched  him  as  his  accredited  envoy 
to  Rome,  where  he  became  personally  ac- 
quainted with  his  father's  patroness,  queen 
Christina,  who  treated  him  with  much  dis- 
tinction. In  1665  he  returned  to  Heidelberg, 
and  was  afterwards  employed  by  his  master  in 
a  variety  of  diplomatic  missions  to  the  States- 
General,  Breda,  London,  &c.  all  which  he 
executed  with  great  ability,  and  highly  to 
the  satisfaction  of  his  employer.  Circum- 
stances induced  him  at  length  to  quit  the  Pa- 
latinate and  enter  the  service  of  the  elector  of 
Brandenburg,  afterwards  king  of  Prussia,  who 
on  his  assumption  of  the  regal  title,  raised  him 
into  the  order  of  nobility  by  a  baron's  patent, 
while  acting  as  his  ambassador  extraordinary  at 
the  court  of  Paris.  In  1702  he  proceeded  in  the 
same  capacity  once  more  to  London,  where  he 
remained  till  the  day  of  his  decease,  Oct.  28, 
1710.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  in  the  midst 
of  such  active  and  various  political  employ- 
ments lie  could  find  time  to  compose  the  se-~ 
veral  works  which  he  produced,  all  of  which 
are  distinguished  by  their  acuteness  and  erudi- 
tion. The  principal  of  these  are  a  "  Disserta- 
tion on  the  Excellence  and  Use  of  the  Medals 
a(  the  Ancients,"  folio,  2  vols. ;  "  Letters  and 
Kssays  on  Medals  ;"  "  A  Commentary  on  the 
Writings  of  Aristophanes  and  Callimachus." 
An  edition  of  the  writings  of  the  emperor  Ju- 
lian, in  Greek  and  Latin,  and  a  French  trans- 
ation  of  the  same  work,  illustrated  by  medals. 


SPA 

His  remains  lie  buried  in  Westminster  abbey. 
—There  was  also  a  second  FREDERICK  SPAN- 
HEIM,  son  of  the  first,  and  younger  brother  of 
Ezekiel,  born  in  1631  at  Geneva.  He  stu- 
died at  Leyden  under  the  celebrated  Here- 
boord  and  other  learned  men,  and  succeeded 
through  the  patronage  of  the  elector  to  the 
divinity  chair  at  Heidelberg  in  1665,  which  he 
exchanged  for  that  at  Leydeu  in  1670.  He 
was  a  voluminous  writer,  principally  on  theo- 
logical subjects,  and  compiled  an  elaborate 
history  of  the  Christian  church.  His  death 
took  place  in  1701  from  a  paralytic  attack, 
brought  on  by  incessant  and  laborious  applica- 
tion to  study. — Niceron.  Bing.  Brit. 

SPARRE  (ERIC)  a  Swedish  statesman,  de- 
scended from  an  ancient  and  powerful  family, 
and  born  in  1550.  He  was  made  a  senator  in 
1582,  and  in  1587  he  was  sent  by  John  III  to 
Warsaw,  where  he  succeeded  in  securing  the 
crown  of  Poland  for  Sigismund,  son  of  the 
Swedish  monarch,  whom  he  accompanied  to 
his  new  kingdom.  Having  entered  into  the 
views  of  a  party  desirous  of  separating  the  in- 
terests of  king  John  from  those  of  his  son, 
Sparre  was  arrested  and  accused  with  other 
senators  before  the  states  of  Sweden  ;  and  lie 
was  deprived  of  all  his  dignities.  On  the 
death  of  John  lie  declared  against  his  suc- 
cessor, Charles  duke  of  Suderrnania,  and  wrote 
a  tract  "  Pro  Lege,  Rege,  et  Grege,"  in  which 
he  openly  attacked  the  duke's  pretensions. 
He  subsequently  submitted  to  his  authority, 
and  was  restored  to  his  employments.  Again 
opposing  Charles  he  took  refuge  in  Poland, 
and  being  delivered  up  to  that  prince,  he  was 
tried  before  the  states  assembled  at  Lind- 
koping,  condemned,  and  beheaded  in  1600. 
His  famous  treatise  "  De  Rege,  &c."  which 
has  been  printed,  is  extremely  scarce.  He 
composed  many  other  works  relative  to  the 
political  affairs  of  his  own  time. — Diet.  Hist. 
Bing.  Univ. 

SPARRMAN  (ANDREW)  a  Swedish  natu- 
ralist and  traveller,  born  in  the  province  of 
Upland  about  1747.  He  studied  medi:ine  at 
Upsal,  and  by  his  attention  to  natural  history 
attracted  the  notice  of  Linnasus.  In  1765 
Sparrman  made  a  voyage  to  China  with  his 
cousin  captain  Ekeberg,  who  commanded  a 
vessel  belonging  to  the  Swedish  East  India 
company.  On  his  return  he  described  in  an 
academical  thesis  the  previously  unknown 
animals  and  vegetables  which  he  had  dis- 
covered ;  and  wishing  to  continue  his  re- 
searches in  distant  countries,  he  accepted  the 
office  of  tutor  to  the  children  of  a  Dutch  in- 
habitant of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  where  he 
arrived  in  April  1772.  Dr  Forster  and  his  son 
visiting  the  Cape  with  captain  Cook,  persuaded 
Sparrman  to  accompany  them,  as  an  assistant 
in  their  researches  ;  and  accepting  a  proposal 
so  agreeable  to  his  taste,  he  made  the  voyage 
round  the  world,  returning  in  1775  to  Africa, 
where  he  engaged  in  the  practice  of  medicine 
and  surgery.  As  soon  as  the  state  of  his 
funds  permitted,  he  undertook  a  journey  into 
the  interior  of  the  country,  and  after  pene- 
trating to  the  distance  of  three  hundred  and 


SPE 

fifty  leagues  from  the  Cape,  he  returned  to  that 
settlement  in  April  1776,  bringing  a  copious 
collection  of  African  plants  and  animals.  The 
same  year  he  revisited  his  native  country,  and 
during  his  absence  he  had  been  raised  to  the  ] 
degree  of  MI).  He  was  chosen  a  member  of  ; 
the  Academy  of  Sciences  at  Stockholm  ;  and 
on  the  death  of  baron  de  Geer  he  was  nomi- 
nated conservator  of  the  fine  museum  left  to  , 
the  Academy  by  that  celebrated  naturalist.  He 
was  subsequently  made  president  of  that  insti- 
tution, but  he  held  the  office  only  three  months. 
In  1787  he  engaged  in  an  abortive  attempt  to 
explore  the  interior  of  Africa,  and  he  returned 
home  in  1788.  His  death  took  place  at  Stock- 
holm July  20,  1820.  He  was  the  author  of 
several  works,  among  which  is  an  Account  of 
his  Voyage  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and 
Travels  in  Africa,  written  in  Swedish,  and 
published  in  German  at  Berlin  ;  and  in  an 
English  dress  in  London,  1785,  2  vols.  4to. — 
Biog.  Univ. 

SPARROW  (ANTHONY)  bishop  of  Nor- 
wich, a  native  of  Depden  in  Suffolk.  He  was 
educated  at  Queen's  college,  Cambridge,  where 
he  obtained  a  fellowship  ;  but  was  rejected  in 
1643  by  the  parliamentarian  visitors,  on  ac- 
count of  his  adherence  to  the  royal  cause.  On 
the  restoration  of  monarchy  he  was  reinstated 
in  this  as  well  as  in  another  piece  of  prefer- 
ment, from  which  he  had  been  ejected,  the 
living  of  Hawkedori  in  his  native  county. 
This  act  of  justice  was  followed  up  by  a 
greater  manifestation  of  gratitude  than  Charles 
was  accustomed  to  display  towards  many  who 
kad  suffered  in  his  cause,  and  Dr  Sparrow  ob- 
tained through  court  influence  the  headship  of 
his  college,  the  archdeaconry  of  Sudbury,  and 
a  stall  in  Ely  cathedral,  till  in  1667  he  va- 
cated the  two  last  mentioned  benefices,  on 
being  elevated  to  the  see  of  Exeter ;  over 
this  diocese  however  he  had  presided  scarcely 
a  twelvemonth  when  he  was  translated  to  the 
more  lucrative  one  of  Norwich.  •  As  a  prelate 
he  was  distinguished  for  his  learning,  piety, 
and  benevolence ;  as  a  writer  he  is  known  by 
his  "  Rationale  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,"  8vo,  1657,  reprinted  1722  j  and  his 
collection  of  "  Articles,  Injunctions,  Canons, 
&c.  of  the  Church  of  England,"  4to.  His 
death  took  place  in  1685. — Athen.  Oxon. 

SPARTIANUS  (^LIUS)  a  Latin  historian 
of  the  time  of  Diocletian,  to  whom  he  de- 
dicated the  lives  of  Adrian,  yElius  Verus, 
Didius  Julianus,  Severus,  and  Pescennius  Ni- 
ger, which,  as  well  as  his  lives  of  Caraialla 
and  Gela,  have'come  down  to  our  own  times. 
He  makes  one  of  the  Historiaj  Augustas  Scrip- 
tores,  but  his  historical  merits  are  very  incon- 
siderable. The  life  of  Severus  is  by  some 
attributed  to  Lampridiua,  while  many  critics 
have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  Spartianus 
and  Lampridius  (see  his  article)  were  the 
same  persons,  and  that  Spartiautis  was  a  third 
name  of  the  latter. —  Vossii  Hist.  Lat.  Moreri. 

SPECKBACHER  ( )  a  Tyrolese  chief, 

who  took  arms  in  1809  to  defend  his  country 
against  foreign  invasion,  and  acquired  high 
reputation  among  his  fellow-citizens,  by  his 


SPE 

'  astonishing  activity,  courage,  and  intellectual 
su]>eriority.  He  for  a  long  time  seconded  ths 
operations  of  Ilofer  ;  and  lie  gained  signal  ad- 
vantages over  the  Bavarians,  and  defeated 
some  detached  parties  of  the  French,  but  at 
length,  after  a  severe  struggle,  he  was  over- 
whelmed by  superior  forces.  He  distinguished 
himself  no  less  by  his  moderation  and  hu- 
manity towards  such  of  the  enemy  as  fell  into 
his  hands,  than  by  his  courage  and  conduct. 
After  the  successive  defeats  suffered  by  Hofer, 
and  the  total  dispersion  of  their  followers, 
Speckbacher  had  the  good  fortune  to  escape 
the  pursuit  of  the  victors,  and  thus  avoided 
the  sad  fate  of  his  companion  in  arms.  [See 
HOFER  (ANDREW.)]  On  the  evacuation  of 
the  Tyrol  by  the  French  troops,  and  the  re- 
storation of  the  country  to  Austria  in  1813,  he 
returned  home,  and  resided  many  years  among 
his  fellow-citizens,  by  whom  lie  was  highly 
honoured  and  respected.  Speckbacher  died 
at  Hall,  in  the  Tyrol,  in  the  beginning  of  1820. 
— Biog.  Nouv.  des  Contemp. 

SPEED  (JOHN)  an  industrious  elucidator 
of  the  geography  and  history  of  Great  Britain, 
was  born  at  Farrington  in  Cheshire,  about  155.5. 
He  was  brought  up  to  the  business  of  a  tailor, 
and  became  a  freeman  of  the  company  of 
Merchant  Tailors  in  London,  in  which  si- 
tuation he  obtained  the  notice  of  sir  Fulk 
Greville,  who  gave  him  an  allowance  to  en- 
able him  to  quit  his  mechanical  employment, 
and  devote  himself  to  the  study  of  English 
history  and  antiquities.  His  first  publication 
was  entitled  "  The  Theatre  of  the  Empire  of 
Great  Britain,"  presenting  an  exact  geography 
of  the  kingdoms  of  England,  Scotland,  and 
Ireland,  and  die  isles  adjoining,  London,  1606, 
folio.  This  was  a  set  of  maps  of  all  the  coun- 
ties, with  short  descriptions,  mostly  copied 
from  Camden's  Britannia.  His  greatest  work, 
which  was  the  labour  of  fourteen  years  of  his 
life,  is  his  "  History  of  Great  Britain  under 
the  Conquests  of  the  Romans,  Saxons,  Danes, 
and  Normans,  &c."  folio,  which  was  pub- 
lished in  1614.  It  is  chiefly  a  compilation 
from  Camden  and  previous  writers,  but  he  also 
received  considerable  assistance  from  sir  Ro- 
bert Cotton,  ssir  Henry  Spelman,  and  other  an- 
tiquaries of  his  day,  with  whom  he  was  well 
acquainted.  Although  rude  in  style,  it  much 
exceeded  in  matter  and  arrangement  the  pre- 
ceding chronicles  ;  and  according  to  Tyrrel 
and  bishop  Nicolson,  he  was  the  first  who, 
slighting  Geofiry  of  Moumouth  and  other  le- 
gendaries, commenced  at  once  with  solid  and 
rational  matter.  He  was  also  author  of  "  A 
Cloud  of  Witnesses,  or  the  Genealogies  of 
Scripture,"  prefixed  to  the  new  translation  of 
the  Bible  in  1611.  This  useful  and  industrious 
compiler  lived  fifty-seven  years  with  one  wife, 
by  whom  he  had  twelve  sons  and  six  daugh- 
ters. He  died  in  1629. — Biog.  Brit.  Fuller's 
IVi'rthies.  Granger. 

SPELMAN  (sir  HENRY)  a  celebrated  En- 
glish antiquary  and  philologer,  born  at  Cong- 
ham  in  Norfolk,  in  1562.  He  was  taken  froiv 
a  grammar-school  in  the  country  at  the  age  0 
fifteen,  and  sent  to  Trinity  college,  Cambridge, 


SPE 

where  he  remained  two  years  and  a  half,  and 
then   returned  to  Congham  to  reside  with  his 
Jjother,  who  had  lost  her  husband.     The  fol- 
•owirig  year  he  went  to   London,  and  entered 
as  a   law   student  at    Lincoln's    Inn;  but   he 
seems  to  have  paid  but  little  attention  to  legal 
science  at  this  period,   and  within  three  years 
he   left  the    metropolis,    and   settled   on    his 
estate  in  the   country.      He  married,  and   for 
some  time  led  a  retired  and  domestic  life,  only 
interrupted   by   desultory  study,  and  the  tem- 
porary assumption  of  a  civil  olhce,  for  in  1604 
lie  was  high  sherilV  for  the  county  of  Norfolk. 
At    length   the  embarrassments  partly   aiising 
from  a  numerous  and  increasing  family  aroused 
him  to  the  exertion   of  his  talents,     lie  went 
to  Ireland  in    1607    as   member  of  a  board  of 
commissioners  for   settling   the  titles  to  hinds 
and  manors  in  certain   counties   of  that  king- 
dom ;  and  he  was  afterwards  employed  to  in- 
vestigate the  subject   of  the   exaction  of  fees 
by  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  courts.     On  this 
occasion  he  drew  up  his  learned  treatise  "  De 
Sepultura,"  in  which  he  demonstrates  the  fla- 
grant abuses  which  had  occurred  to  his  notice. 
His  services  were  rewarded  with    a  pecuniary 
gift,  and  the  honour  of  knighthood.      In  1612 
he  settled  in  London,  devoting  his  leisure  to 
the    study    of  the   juridical   antiquities  of  his 
native  country.     Having  purchased   the  lands 
which  had  belonged  to  two  suppressed  monas- 
teries, and   becoming  involved  in  a  law-suit, 
and  meeting  with  other  obstacles  to  the  quiet 
enjoyment  of  the  property,  he  began  to  enter- 
tain  scruples    of    conscience    relative    to   the 
alienation  of  church  lands  ;  and  at   length  he 
wrote  on  the  subject  a  work  entitled  "  De  non 
temerandis  Ecclesiis,"  in  which  he  maintains 
the  inviolability  of  property    devoted'  to  re- 
ligious purposes.  On  the  revival  of  the  Society 
of  Antiquaries  in  1614,   sir  H.  Spelman  be- 
came a  member  ;  and  on  that  occasion  he  pro- 
duced a  "  Discourse  concerning  the  Original 
of  the  four  Law-terms  of  the  Year."     In  his 
researches   into   legal  archaeology  lie  found  it 
necessary  to  study  the  Saxon  language,  and 
this  led  to  the  composition  of  his  great  work, 
the  Archreological  Glossary.  He  printed  a  spe- 
cimen in  1621,  and  in  1626  appeared  the  first 
part,  entitled  "  Archaeologus  in  modum  Glos- 
snrii  ail    Rem  antiquam  posteriorum,"  folio. 
The  sale  of  this  valuable  book  was  so  unpro- 
mising, that  the  second  part  was  not  published 
till  after  the  death  of  the  author.     Before  he 
had   completed   the  glossary,    he  engaged  in 
preparing  a  "  History  of  English  Councils,"  of 
which  the  first  part,  to  the  Norman  conquest, 
appeared   in   16;>9  ;    and    two   additional   vo- 
lumes   were    subsequently  published,    partly 
from  the  papers  of  Spelman,  by  sir  W.  Dug- 
dale.      In    16:39   likewise    appeared  the   last 
work  of  our  author,  entitled  '•'  The  History  of 
Tenures   by    Knights'  Service    in    England." 
His  death  took   place  in  1641,  and   his  body 
was  interred  in  Westminster  abbey.     Besides 
the  works  already  noticed,  he  was  the  author 
of  a  •'  History  of  the  Civil  Affairs  of  the  King- 
dom from  the  Conquest    to   the  Grant  of  the 
Magna    Charta  ;"     "  A  Treatise   concerning 


S  P  E 

Tithes;"  a  "  History  of  Sacrilege;"  "  Aspi- 
logia  ;"  &c.  His  English  works  were  pub- 
lished collectively  in  a  folio  volume  in  1727. — 
Sir  JOHN  SIM-I  M  A  •- ,  the  eldest  son  of  sir  Henry, 
inherited  his  father's  taste  for  archaeological 
inquiries.  He  published  the  Psalter  in  the 
Sax<>n  language,  and  was  the  author  of  a 
"  Life  of  Alfred  the  Great,"  printed  at  Ox- 
ford, 1709,  8vo,  and  which  had  previously 
appeared  in  a  Latin  translation.  He  was  mas- 
ter of  Sutton's  hospital  ;  and  was  knighted  by 
king  Charles  1.  He  died  at  Oxford  in  164.'3. 
—  KnwA  nr>  SIM  t  MA\,  who  was  a  descendant 
of  Sir  II.  Spelman,  translated  Xenophon's  Cy- 
ropn-dia,  and  the  Roman  History  of  Dionysii's 
of  Halicarnassus  ;  and  also  was  the  author  of 
a  treatise  on  the  Greek  accents.  He  died  in 
1767. —  /?(>>£.  Urn.  Ail'.iii':,  (ien.  Mi^g- 

SPKNCK  (.IOSFPII)  an  ingenious  critic  of 
the  last  century,  who  belonged  to  the  clerical 
profession.  He  was  born  in  1698,  and  re- 
ceived his  education  at  Winchester  school  and 
New  college,  Oxford,  where  he  obtained  a 
fellowship.  About  172.i  lie  attended  as  a  tra- 
velling tutor  to  Edward  Hudge,  es<).  of  Wheat- 
field  in  Oxfordshire,  in  whose  family  he  was  a 
frequent  inmate  in  the  subsequent  part  of  his 
life.  In  1727  he  laid  the  foundation  of  his 
literary  reputation  by  his  Kssay  on  Pope's 
Translation  of  the  Odyssey,  which  led  to  an 
intimate  friendship  between  the  poet  and  his 
critic.  In  1728  he  was  elected  professor  of 
poetry  at  Oxford  ;  and  he  afterwards  travelled 
abroad  with  the  earl  of  Lincoln.  On  his  return 
he  obtained  the  living  of  Great  Ilorwood  in 
Buckinghamshire  ;  and  in  17.V1-  he  was  pro- 
moted to  a  prehendal  stall  in  Durham  cathe- 
dral. After  the  death  of  his  friend  IMrUudge 
in  1763,  he  resided  much  with  the  widow  of 
that  gentleman,  who  usually  spent  the  summer 
months  at  Weybridge  in  Surrey.  On  the 
I  morning  of  August  20,  1768,  Mr  Spence  was 
i  found  hy  a  servant,  who  was  sent  to  call  him 
to  breakfast,  lying  on  his  face  in  a  shallow 
'  piece  of  water  in  the  garden,  into  which  it  ap- 
'  peared  that  lie  had  fallen  by  accident,  and 
j  being  unable  to  extricate  himself,  he  was  un- 
i  fortunately  drowned.  His  principal  work  is 
!  entitled  "  Polymetis,  or  an  Enquiry  into  the 
Agreement  between  the  Works  of  the  Roman 
Poets  and  the  Remains  of  ancient  Artists," 
1747,  folio.  He  distinguished  himself  also 
hy  his  patronage  of  Stephen  Duck,  the  poeti- 
cal thresher;  Robert  Hill,  the  Hebrew  tailor  ; 
and  Dr  Thomas  Blacklock.  ]n  1819  appeared 
"  Observations,  Anecdotes,  and  Characters  of 
Books  and  Men,  collected  from  the  Conversa- 
tion of  Mr  Pope,  and  of  other  eminent  Persons 
of  his  Time,"  from  a  MS.  of  Mr  Spence,  with 
his  life,  &c.  by  S.  W.  Singer,  8vo. — Chalmers's 
Bing.  Diet.  Gent.  Mag. 

SPENCER  (JoriN)  a  learned  and  ingenious 
divine,  was  born  in  1650  at  the  village  of 
Boughton,  Kent,  received  the  rudiments  of  a 
classical  education  at  the  foundation  school  in 
Canterbury,  whence  he  removed  on  a  scholar- 
ship to  Corpus  Christi  college,  Cambridge,  and 
succeeded  in  due  course  to  the  fellowship  an- 
nexed. In  1687  he  was  elected  to  the  head- 


SPE 

sliip  of  his  college,  and  obtained  shortly  afte 
a  prebend  at  Kly,  with  the  archdeaconry  o 
Sudbury.  In  1677  he  vacated  his  stall  for  th< 
deanery,  but  still  continued  to  reside  occa 
sionally  in  his  college,  where  he  died  in  the 
spring  of  1695,  and  lies  buried  in  the  chapel 
Dean  Spencer  was  an  acute  biblical  critic  anc 
a  good  Hebraist,  as  is  evinced  by  his  learnei 
treatise  "  On  the  Laws,  Ritual,  and  Customs 
of  the  Jews,"  folio,  2  vols.  Cambridge,  1727 
He  was  also  the  author  of  a  Latin  dissertation 
"  On  the  Urim  and  Thummim,"  1668  ;  an 
"  Essay  on  Miracles,"  and  another  "  On  Pro- 
phecies," with  some  occasional  sermons. — 
WILLIAM  SPENCER,  another  able  divine,  held 
a  fellowship  at  Trinity  college  in  the  same 
university  in  16.38,  in  which  year  he  published 
an  edition  of  the  works  of  Origen,  with  a  Latin 
translation  annexed. —  Bivg-  Brit. 

SPENEIl  (PuiLrp  JAMES)  a  Lutheran 
divine  of  Frankfort  on  the  Maine,  but  born  in 
Alsatia  in  1635.  He  signalized  himself  by 
his  exertions  to  free  divinity  from  scholastic- 
subtleties,  and  about  1680  became  founder  of  a 
new  sect  entitled  pietists,  which  unfortunately 
in  the  sequel  produced  quite  as  much  disorder 
by  the  substitution  of  fierce  and  intemperate 
zeal  and  enthusiasm.  At  length  in  many 
places  severe  laws  were  passed  against  the 
pietists,  and  Spener  retired  first  to  Dresden 
and  afterwards  to  Berlin,  where  he  held  eccle- 
siastical offices  of  trust  under  the  elector  of 
Brandenburgh.  His  principal  religious  work 
was  entitled  "  Pious  Desires  ;"  hut  he  also 
wrote  some  works  on  heraldry  and  genealogy 
in  Latin.  He  died  in  1705. — His  son,  JAMES 
CHARLES  SPENER,  wrote  a  "  Historia  Germa- 
nica  universalis  et  pragmatica,"  2  vols.  8vo  ; 
and  "  Notitia  Germaniaj  antiquae,"  1717,  4to, 
both  works  of  authority.  He  died  in  1730. 
— Moreri.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hisl. 

SPENGLER  (LAWRENCE)  an  ingenious 
artist,  born  at  Schaffhausen  in  Switzerland,  in 
1720,  and  died  at  Copenhagen  in  1808.  He 
was  originally  a  common  turner,  but  by  his 
skill  he  acquired  great  reputation,  and  was 
invited  to  Denmark,  where  he  executed  works 
in  ivory  of  the  highest  merit.  He  also  applied 
himself  to  the  study  of  natural  history,  and 
published  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy  of 
Copenhagen  a  multitude  of  observations  on 
that  science.  Spengler  possessed  the  richest 
collection  of  shells  known,  and  he  printed 
many  memoirs  on  the  different  species  cf 
shells.  He  likewise  composed  a  useful  work 
on  the  method  of  cleaning  ivory  when  become 
discoloured,  and  the  means  of  preserving  it  in 
its  state  of  natural  whiteness. — tti°g'  Nouv.des 
Con  temp. 

SPENSER  (EDMUND)  a  justly  celebrated 
English  poet,  descended  from  the  ancient 
family  of  Spenser,  was  born  in  London  near 
the  Tower  about  1553.  It  is  not  known 
where  he  received  his  early  education,  but  he 
was  admitted  as  a  sizar  of  Pembroke-hall, 
Cambridge,  May  W,  l.'>(>9,  where  he  gra- 
duated MA.  in  1576.  On  leaving  the  uni- 
versity he  took  up  his  residence  with  some 
relations  in  the  north  of  England,  probably  as 


SPE 

a  tutor,  where  he  unsuccessfully  wooed  a  lady, 
whom  he  records    in   his    "  Shepherd's    Ca- 
lendar," under  the  name  of  Rosaline,  which 
elegant  poem,  his  first  publication,  appeared  in 
1576.     The   year  preceding  he  had  been  ad- 
vised by  his  friend  Gabriel  Harvey  to  remove 
to  London,  where    he  was  introduced  to   sir 
Philip    Sidney,    to   whom    he    dedicated    the 
Shepherd's  Calendar.     The  patronage  of  men 
of   genius    in  Spenser's   age    was    frequently 
exerted  in  procuring  for  them  public  employ- 
ment ;  aud  it  was  probably  by  the  interest  of 
the  Sidney  family  that  in  1580  he  accompa- 
nied lord    Grey  de   Wilton,    appointed    lord- 
lieutenant  of  Ireland,  as   his  secretary.     He 
returned  in  1582  with  lord  Grey,  who  in  con- 
junction  with   the  earl  of  Leicester   and  sir 
Philip  Sidney,    procured  for  him  in  1586  a 
grant  of  3028  acres  in  the  county  of  Cork,  out 
of  the  forfeited  lands  of  the  earl  of  Desmond  ; 
on  which  however,  by  the  terms  of  the  gift, 
he  was  obliged  to  become  resident.     He  ac- 
cordingly fixed  his  residence,  at  Kilcolmau  in 
the  county  of  Cork,  where  he  was  visited  by 
sir  Walter   Ralegh,   who  became  his   patron 
in  lieu  of  sir   Philip  Sidney,  then  deceased, 
and  whom    he    celebrates    under    the    title 
of  "  The  Shepherd  of  the  Ocean."     He  was 
then   engaged  in  the    composition  of   "  The 
Faery  Queen,"  of  which  he  had   written  the 
first  three  books.     With  these  he  accompanied 
Ralegh    the  next  year  to  England,  where  they 
were  published   with  a  dedication   to  queen 
Elizabeth,  and  an  introductory  letter  to  Ra- 
'egh,    explaining    the    nature    of    the    poem. 
The  latter  celebrated  person  also  ensured  him 
the  favour  of  the   queen,  who  rewarded  his 
poetry  and  dedication  with  a  pension  of  50/. 
jer   annum ;    and    he  has   been    termed  her 
aureate,  although  the  title  was  not  formally 
conferred  on  him.     In  1591   he  returned  to 
Ireland,  and  the  succeeding  year    his   rising 
•eputation    induced    his    bookseller    to    col- 
ect  arid  print   his  smaller  pieces.     He   then 
massed  an  interval  of  two  or  three  years  in 
treland,  where  in  1594  he  married,  being  then 
n  his  forty-first  year.      He    had  not  long  en- 
oyed   his  connubial  happiness  before  it  was 
disquieted  by  the  disturbances  excited  by  the 
arl    of    Tyrone,    which    were    probably    the 
cause  of  his  revisiting  England  the  following 
,'ear.     Here  he  printed  some  poems,  and  drew 
ip  his  "  View  of  the  State  of  Ireland  ;"  which, 
n  consequence  it  is  supposed  of  the  severity 
of  some  of  its  suggestions,  lay  in  MS.  until 
>rinted  in   1633  by  sir  James  Ware,  who  be- 
tows  much  applause  on  the  information  and 
udgment  otherwise  displayed  in  it.     In   1596 
le    published    a  new  edition  of  his  "  Faery 
jueen,"  with  three  additional  books.     Of  the 
emaining    six,  which  were   to  complete   the 
iriginal  design,  two  imperfect  cantos  of  "  Mu- 
abilitie"ouly  have  been  recovered,  which  were 
ntroduced  into  the  folio  edition  of  1609,  as  a 
lart  of  the  lost  book,  entitled  "  The  Legend  of 
Constancy."  Much  controversy  has  been  main- 
ained  in  respect  to  the  presumed  loss  of  the  re- 
mainder of  these  six  books  on  the  poet's  flight 
rom  Ireland ;  the   most   probable  conclusion 


S  P  E 

from  which  investigation  is,  that  they  were 
never  finished,  but  that  some  parts  of  them 
were  lost  on  that  melancholy  occasion.  In 
1597  he  returned  to  Ireland  ;  and  in  Septem- 
ber 1598  was  recommended  to  be  sheriff  of 
Cork.  The  rebellion  of  Tyrone,  however, 
took  place  in  October,  and  with  such  fury  as 
to  compel  Spenser  and  his  family  to  quit  Kil- 
colman  in  so  much  confusion  that  an  infant 
child  was  left  behind,  whom  the  merciless 
cruelty  of  the  insurgents  burnt  with  the  house. 
The  unfortunate  poet  arrived  in  England  with 
a  heart  broken  by  these  misfortunes,  and  died 
the  16th  of  the  following  January,  1598-9,  in 
the  forty-sixth  year  of  his  age.  It  is  asserted 
that  he  terminated  his  life  in  great  distress ; 
but  it  has  been  contended,  that  the  poverty 
referred  to  by  Camden  and  several  of  his  poe- 
tical contemporaries,  applies  rather  to  his  loss 
of  property  generally,  than  to  absolute  per- 
sonal endurance.  This  inference  seems  the 
more  probable,  as  he  was  interred  in  Westmin- 
ster abbey  at  the  expense  of  the  earl  of 
Essex,  who  would  scarcely  have  allowed  the 
man  to  starve  whom  he  thus  honoured.  Several 
of  his  brother  poets  attended,  and  threw  co- 
pies of  verses  into  bis  grave  ;  and  a  monument 
was  afterwards  erected  over  his  remains  by  the 
celebrated  Anne,  countess  of  Dorset.  Of  his 
family  but  few  particulars  are  known,  except 
that  two  sons  survived  him,  named  Sylvanus 
and  Peregrugoninine  ;  and,  that  a  son  of  the 
latter,  recovered  a  part  of  the  Irish  estate  in 
the  reign  of  Charles  II,  which  he  subsequently 
forfeited  by  his  adherence  to  James  II.  It 
also  appears,  that  after  the  Revolution  his 
cousin  William,  the  son  of  Sylvanus,  became 
a  suitor  for  the  forfeited  property,  which  he 
obtained  by  the  influence  of  Montagu,  earl 
of  Halifax.  Of  the  personal  character  of 
Spenser  there  is  no  direct  testimony,  but  the 
friendships  which  he  formed  are  favourable  to 
its  respectability,  which  is  also  to  be  ;mplie<i 
from  the  purity,  devotion,  and  exalted  morality 
of  his  writings.  Neither,  although  he  paid 
assiduous  court  to  the  great,  was  be  guilty  of 
the  mean  adulation  so  common  in  his  time, 
except  indeed  to  queeu  Elizabeth,  by  <*'hom, 
both  as  a  sovereign  and  a  woman,  it%as  le- 
vied as  a  kind  of  tax.  As  a  poet,  although 
his  minor  works  contain  many  beauties, 
Spenser  will  be  judged  chiefly  from  the 
"Faery  Queeu,"  the  predominant  excellencies 
of  which  are  imagery,  feeling,  and  melody  of 
versification.  Its  defects  are  those  of  Ariosto 
and  the  Italian  school,  including  a  still  more 
absurd  mixture  of  Christian  and  Pagan  allu- 
sions. With  all  its  defects,  however,  it  fur- 
nishes admirable  examples  of  the  noblest  graces 
of  poetry—sublimity,  pathos,  unrivalled  fertility 
of  conception,  and  exquisite  vividness  of  des- 
cription. Its  great  length,  and  want  of  interest 
as  a  fable, added  to  the  real  and  affected  obsolete- 
ness of  the  language,  may  indeed  deter  readers 
in  general  from  a  complete  perusal,  but  it  will 
always  be  resorted  to  by  the  genuine  lovers  of 
poetry  as  a  ricli  storehouse  of  invention.  To 
this  -day,  detached  personifications  of  moral 
ideas,  in  the  manner  of  Spenser,  remain  a 


SPI 

favourite  exercise  with  our  best  poets,  of  which 
it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  mention  The  Castle 
of  Indolence  of  Thomson  as  a  memorable  ex- 
ample.— Todd's  Life  of  Spenser.  Blag.  Brit. 

SPERONI  (SPERONE)  an  Italian  poet  and 
statesman,  born  at  Padua  about  the  com- 
mencement of  the  sixteenth  century.  In  the 
earlier  part  of  his  life  lie  studied  at  the  uni- 
versity of  Bologna,  where  he  afterwards  ob- 
tained a  professorship  in  dialectics.  At  the 
age  of  sixty  he  went  to  Rome,  and  entered 
into  the  service  of  pope  Pius  the  Fourth,  who 
having  employed  him  to  conduct  various  ne- 
gociatious  with  the  courts  of  Paris  and  Ma- 
drid, and  with  the  Venetian  republic,  re- 
warded his  labours  with  the  honour  of  knight- 
hood ;  but  his  infirmities  increasing  with  his 
years,  he  retired  at  length  to  pass  the  remain- 
der of  his  days  in  bis  native  city.  As  a  wri- 
ter he  is  distinguished  for  the  purity  and  ele- 
gance of  his  style,  especially  in  his  letters  and 
orations.  His  other  works  consist  of  "  Ca- 
nace,"  a  tragedy  ;  dialogues,  essays,  &c. ;  all 
of  which  have  been  collected  and  printed  in 
five  quarto  volumes.  His  death  took  place  at 
Padua  in  1588. — Tiraboschi. 

SPEUSIPPUS,  an  Athenian  philosopher, 
the  son  of  Eurymedori,  by  the  sister  of  Plato. 
He  succeeded  his  uncle  in  his  school,  over 
which  he  presided  eight  years,  commencing  at 
the  death  of  that  celebrated  philosopher  about 
BC.  348.  He  closely  adhered  to  the  doctrines 
of  his  master,  but  his  manners  did  no  honour 
to  them,  being  both  avaricious  and  a  lover  of 
pleasure.  He  was  the  author  of  several  phi- 
losophical treatises,  which  have  perished,  al- 
though Aristotle  thought  them  worth  purchas- 
ing at  the  price  of  three  talents.  Becoming 
paralytic  in  his  limbs,  he  was  borne  to  and 
from  the  academy  on  a  vehicle,  which  pro- 
duced a  rude  rebuke  from  Diogenes  the  cynic, 
at  his  abiding  to  live  in  such  a  condition.  "  I 
live,"  replied  Spensippus,  "  not  in  my  limbs, 
but  my  mind."  At  length,  according  to  Laer- 
tius,  overcome  by  age  and  maladies,  he  volun- 
tarily resigned  life,  having  first  constituted 
Xenocrates  his  successor  in  the  academy. — 
Diog.  Laert.  Brucker. 

SPIELMANN  (JAMES  REINHOLD)  an 
eminent  chemist,  born  at  Strasburg  in  Ger- 
many, in  1722  He  studied  medicine,  and 
obtained  the  professorship  of  chemistry  in  the 
university  of  his  native  city.  He  travelled 
through  several  countries  of  Europe,  with  a 
view  to  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  and  re- 
turning to  Strasburg  engaged  in  practice  as  a 
physician,  and  held  also  for  a  time  the  profes- 
sorships of  medicine  and  poetry.  The  science 
of  botany  engaged  much  of  his  attention,  and 
he  procured  the  foundation  of  a  botanical  gar- 
den at  Strasburg,  and  likewise  published 
"  Prodromus  Florae  Argentinensis."  Amoiig 
his  other  works  are,  "  Pharmacopoeia  gene- 
ralis,"  2  vols.  4to  ;  "  Institutiones  Chemicae," 
8vo;  and  "Institutiones  Materis  Medics," 
8vo.  He  died  in  1783. — Biog.  Univ. 

SPIGELIUS.  The  Latin  name  by  which 
Adrian  Vander  Spieghel,  an  eminent  Flemish 
medico-chirurgeon,  is  known  in  his  wiitiugs. 


SPI 

He  was  a  native  of  Brussels,  born  1.578.  and 

received  his  education  at  Louvain  and  Padua, 

in  which  latter  university  his  reputation  rose 

to  a  great  height,  while  filling  the  professor's 

chair  in  the  science  of  anatomy.     The  Vene- 
tian government,  out  of  respect  to  his  talents, 

conferred  on   him  the  order  of  St  Mark,  and 

an  honorary  gold  chain  of  considerable  value. 

He  is  considered  to   have  been  the  first  who 

pointed    out    the    smaller    lobe  of  the  human 

liver,  which  has  since  been  called  after  him, 

and  to   have  thrown   many   other  interesting 

lights  upon  surgery.      A  short  time  previously 

to  his  death,  Spigelius  returned  and  settled  in 

his  native  city,  where  his  decease   took  place 

in  1625.     Twenty  years    afterwards    Vamler 

Linden  collected  and  published  an  edition  of 

his  professional  writings,  at  Amsterdam,  in  two 

olio  volumes. — E/»y  Diet,  de  Mtd. 
SPILLER  (JOHN)  a  young   and   classical 

sculptor  of  very  great  promise,  was  born  De- 
cember 1763,  in  London,  and  after  a  liberal 

education  became  a  pupil  of  Bacon.  He  dis- 
tinguished himself  at  the  Royal  Academy,  and 

on  his  talents  becoming  known  was  chosen   to 

execute  a  statue  of  Charles  the  Second  for  the 
centre  of  the  Royal  Exchange.  While  en- 
gaged in  this  work,  the  pulmonary  disease,  to 
which  he  had  a  constitutional  tendency,  be- 
came much  aggravated  ;  and  soon  after  his 
very  able  and  much-admired  production  was 
placed  on  its  pedestal  he  expired,  in  May 
3794,  at  the  premature  age  of  thirty.  It 
is  of  this  accomplished  and  promising  artist 
that  the  author  of  the  Curiosities  of  Litera- 
ture gave  the  following  interesting  notice,  as 
illustrative  of  the  enthusiasm  of  genius  :  "  The 

young  and  classical  sculptor  who  raised  the.  operations,  Spinola  visited  Paris,  where  he  was 
statue  of  Charles  the  Second,  placed  in  the  interrogated  by  Henry  IV  on  the  plans  of  the 
centre  of  the  Royal  Exchange,  was,  in  the  j  ensuing  campaign.  He  readily  communicated 
midst  of  his  work,  advised  by  his  medical  his  projects,  on  which  Henry  instructed  prince 
friends  to  desist  from  working  in  marble,  for 
the  energy  of  his  labour,  with  the  strong  ex- 
citement of  his  feelings,  already  had  made 


SP  I 

Chronicle  of  Domenico  da  Peccioli,  a  Domi- 
nican friar,  who  was  a  native  of  Pisa,  and  who 
farther  states  that  Fra  Alessandro  della  Spina 
died  in  the  year  1312. — New  '  m.  of  Lit. 
vol.  iv. 

SPINELLO  (ARETINO)  an  Italian  painter 
of  portrait  and  history,  was  born  at  Arezzo  in 
1328.  He  gave  a  singular  grace  to  his  figures, 
especially  to  his  Madonnas,  and  was  particu- 
larly successful  in  his  portraits  of  the  popes 
Innocent  IV  and  Gregory  IX.  Ilia  fresco 
paintings  on  the  life  of  the  Virgin,  in  the  cha- 
pel of  St  Maria  Maggiore  at  Florence,  are  also 
much  valued.  He  died  in  1420,  at  the  age  of 
ninety-two. —  PAKIS  SPINELLO,  his  son,  was 
also  an  able  painter,  whose  style  much  resem- 
bled that  of  his  father.  To  him,  and  riot  to 
the  latter,  must  belong  the  anecdote  which  is 
related  in  some  books,  that  having  painted  a 
hideous  figure  of  the  devil,  in  a  picture  repre- 
senting the  fallen  angels,  he  dreamed  that  Sa- 
tan appeared,  and  angrily  asked  his  authority 
for  representing  him  as  so  frightful.  Being  of  a 
morbid  gloomy  temperament,  this  vision  so 
alarmed  him,  th-at  he  became  melancholy,  and 
died  only  two  years  after  his  father,  in  1422. — 
Pilkington, 

SPINOLA  (AMBROSE,  marquis)  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  generals  of  his  time,  was  born 
in  Spain  in  156.-),  of  a  noble  family  originally 
of  Genoa.  He  commanded  a  Spanish  army  in 
Flanders,  and  signalized  himself  by  the  reduc- 
tion of  Ostend,  after  every  other  commander 
had  failed.  For  this  exploit  he  was  made  ge- 
neral of  all  the  Spanish  troops  in  the  Low 
Countries,  where  he  was  opposed  by  prince 
Maurice  of  Nassau.  During  a  cessation  of 


Maurice  the  direct  contrary,  but  finding  Spi- 
nola as  good  as  his  word,  he  exclaimed, 
"  Others  deceive  by  telling  falsehoods,  but  this 


fatal  inroads  on  his  constitution.  But  he  was  '  man  by  telling  the  truth."  In  the  next  year  he 
willing,  he  said,  to  die  at  the  foot  of  his  sta-  ;  obtained  several  successes,  until  impeded  by 
tue.  The  statue  was  raised,  and  the  young  i  prince  Maurice,  between  whom  and  Spinola 
sculptor,  with  the  shining  eyes  and  hectic  \  the  whole  art  of  war  was  exhausted  to  no  de- 
blush  of  consumption,  beheld  it  there,  re-  i  cisive  result,  and  a  truce  was  agreed  upon, 
turned  home,  and  shortly  was  no  more."  He  In  the  war  produced  by  the  disputed  succes- 
married  in  1792.  His  beautiful  and  accom-  sion  to  the  duchy  of  Cleves,  he  took  Aix-la 
plished  wife  died  a  few  months  after  him,  of  a  Chapelle,  Wesel,  and  Breda,  during  the  siege 
similar  disease.  They  left  behind  them,  at  the  of  which  last  strong  place  prince  Maurice  died 
tender  age  of  a  few  months,  an  only  daughter,  On  the  capitulation  of  Breda  he  resigned  the 
who  has  since  become,  in  every  respect,  an  command,  and  was  subsequently  employed  in 


ornament  to  her  sex. — Orig.  Com, 


Italy,    where    in    1630    he    took   Casal ;    but 


SPINA  (ALEXANDER  de)  a  friar  of  Pisa  in  being  unable,  to  subdue  the  citadel  of  that 
Italy,  who  lived  in  the  beginning  of  the  four-  town,  in  consequence  of  the  imprudent  or - 
teenth  century,  and  who  is  regarded  as  the  in- '  dera  sent  to  him  from  Madrid,  chagrin  co- 
ven tor  of  optical  glassfs,  or  spectacles.  The  operated  with  despair  to  put  an  end  to  his  life 
mode  of  constructing  these  useful  instruments  the  same  year,  at  a  time  when  he  stood  at 
Is  said  to  have  been  first  discovered  by  some  the  pinnacle  of  military  reputation. — Moreri. 
other  person,  who  not  being  willing  to  com-  None.  Diet.  Hist. 

municate  his  invention  to  others,  Spina  found  'INOZA  (BAUUCH,  or  BENEDICT  de)  a 

it  out  by  his  own  application,  and  made  it  ge-  celebrated  modern  sceptic,  was  born  in  1692 

nerally  known.     He  was  not  only  an  ingenious  at  Amsterdam,  where  his  father,  a  Portuguese 
mechanic,  but  likewise  a  good  singer,  an  ele-  '  Jew,  was  occupied  in  commerce.     Of  an    in- 

gant  scribe,  and  a  skilful  illuminator  of  MSS.  quiring  turn  of  mind,  he  early  engaged  in  the 

Such  is  the  account  given  of  this  artist  in  the  study  of  theology  and   philosophy,    by  whic^ 


SPI 

he  was  led  to  doubt  the  authority  of  the  Jewish 
religion.    Not  being  satisfied  with  the  answers 
of  the  rabbins,  he  made  no  secret  of  his  state 
of  mind,  but  did  not  altogether  desert  the  sy- 
nagogue until  stabbed  by  a  Jewish  zealot  as 
he  was  coming  from  a  play.     His  open  defec- 
tion produced  a  sentence  of  excommunication 
against  him,  upon   which  he   frequented  the 
churches  of  the  Armenians  and  Meunonites. 
He  then  applied  himself  to  the   study  of  the 
Cartesian  philosophy,  and  either  with  a  view 
to  more  privacy,  or  as  some  say  in  consequence 
of  an   accusation  of  impiety,  withdrew  from 
Amsterdam  to  Rhensburg,  and  subsequently 
to  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Hague,  where  he 
led  a  retired  life,  and  for  an  independent  sub- 
sistence employed  himself  in  grinding  glasses 
for  microscopes  and   telescopes.     While  thus 
situated  he  was  resorted  to  by  several  of  the 
followers  of  Descartes,  at  whose  request  he 
published   in   1664  a  treatise  entitled    "  The 
Principles  of    the  Cartesian  Philosophy  de- 
monstrated geometrically,"  adding  an  appen- 
dix, in  which  he  broached  metaphysical  doc- 
trines of  quite  an  imposing  tendency.  In  1670 
he  published   his  most  celebrated  work,    en- 
titled "  Tractatus  Theologico-politicua,"  which 
made  him  extensively  known,    and  produced 
numerous  attacks  from  divines  of  every  per- 
suasion.    Previous  to  this  publication  he  had 
received  an  invitation  from  the  elector  pala- 
tine   to   occupy   a  chair  in  the   university  of 
Heidelberg,    accompanied  with   the    offer    of 
full  liberty  to  philosophize,  provided  he  would 
not  exercise  it  to  the  disturbance  of  the  pre- 
vailing religion  ;  but  Spinoza,  whose  only  wish 
was  literary  retirement,  declined  the  proposal. 
This  extraordinary   individual,  whose  private 
character  was  unexceptionable,  died  of  a  de- 
cline in  1677,  at  the  early  age  of  forty-five,  in 
full  persuasion  of  the  truth  of  his  system  ;  and 
lest  reports  might  be  circulated  to  the  con- 
trary, he  charged  his  hostess  not  to  allow  any 
minister  to  approach  his  death-bed.     His  sys- 
tem, which  was  more  fully  developed  in  his 
posthumous  works,  had  some  resemblance  to 
that  maintained  by  several  of  the   Greek  and 
Oriental  philosophers,  who  held  the  notion  of 
a  soul  of  the  world,  and  a  universal  whole. 
The    sum  of  his   doctrine  is  thus  estimated 
by  Brucker.     The  essence  of  substance  is  to 
exist.     There  is  but  one  substance,  with  its 
modifications,   thought   and   extension.     This 
substance    is     infinitely     diversified,    having 
within     itself   the    necessary    causes    of   the 
changes  through   which  it  passes.     No    sub- 
stance  can  be    supposed  to  create  or  produce 
another  ;  therefore,    besides  the  substance  of 
the  universe  there  can   be   no  other,  and  this 
substance  Spinoza  calls   God,   and  assigns  to 
it  divine  attributes.     His    doctrines    therefore 
differ  from  that  of  the  philosophers  who  he  d 
God  to  be  the  universal  whole,  since,  according 
to  them,  the  visible  and  intellectual  worlds  are 
produced  by  emanation  from  the  eternal  fount 
of  divinity,  and  are  the  effect  of  intelligence 
i  r  design  ;  whereas,  according  to  Spinoza,  all 
things    are  immanent,    and    necessary    modi- 
lications    of    one  eternal  substance.      These 


S  PO 

notions,  which  seem  to  have  originated  it  cer- 
tain refinements  on  the  abstract  noticris  of 
substance,  essence,  and  existence,  to  the  neg- 
lect of  the  arguments  for  a  Deity  derived 
from  the  productions  of  nature,  and  the  marks 
of  design,  met  with  many  patrons  in  the 
United  Provinces,  but  at  the  same  time  they 
were  also  encountered  by  refutations  from  all 
descriptions  of  thinkers  ;  even  the  scepticism  of 
Bavle  allows  him  to  speak  with  acrimony  and 
contempt  of  the  opinions  of  Spinoza.  Toland, 
in  his  Fantheisticou,  approaches  the  nearest  to 
his  doctrines.  In  18O2  anew  edition  of  his 
works  was  published  by  professor  Paul  us  of 
Jena. — Niceron,  Brucker.  Battle. 

SPIZELIUS  (TuEOPiiiLus)  a  learned  Ger- 
man ecclesiastic,  born  about  the  year  1639. 
He  took  his  degrees  in  theology  in  the  univer- 
sity of  Leipsic,  when  he  distinguished  himself 
by  his  proficiency  in  Oriental  learning.  The 
fruits  of  his  labours  are  an  elaborate  "  Com- 
mentary 011  the  State  of  Literature  among  the 
Chinese  ;"  three  treatises,  somewhat  fanci- 
fully entitled  "  Felix  Litteratus,"  "  Infelix 
Litteratus,"  and  "  Litteratus  Felicissimus  ;" 
and  biographical  sketches  of  fifty  of  the  most 
eminent  scholars  and  divines  of  his  own  times, 
portrayed  in  a  work  entitled  "  Templum  Ho- 
noris reseratum."  He  died  in  1691,  at  Augs- 
burgh,  where  he  had  for  some  time  officiatej 
as  pastor  to  a  numerous  congregation. — Nice 
ran,  Moreri. 

SPOHN  (FREDERIC  AUGUSTUS  WILIIAM 
an  eminent  German  writer  on  philology  an 
classical  literature.  He  was  born  at  Dort 
muud  in  1792,  and  he  studied  at  the  univer- 
sity of  Wittemberg.  His  house  and  part  01 
his  library  having  been  destroyed  at  the  bom 
bardment  of  that  place  in  1813,  he  rernovec 
to  Leipsic,  where  in  1817  he  was  nominatec 
extraordinary  professor  of  philosophy,  and  in 
1819  professor  of  ancient  literature.  He  died 
January  16,  1824,  in  consequence  of  disease 
brought  on  by  his  excessive  application  to 
study.  Though  his  life  was  short,  his  literary 
labours  were  numerous  and  important.  He 
published  in  1815  a  dissertation  "  De  Agro 
Trojano  in  Carminibus  Homeri  descripto," 
8vo  ;  and  "  Commentarius  de  extrema  Parte 
Odyssiee  inde  a  Rhapsod.  ^.  v.  297,  JEvo  re- 
centiori  orta  quam  Homerica  ;"  and  in  the 
last  year  of  his  life  he  printed  three  pieces 
under  the  title  of  "  Lectiones  Theocriteae." 
He  left  a  large  quantity  of  manuscripts,  con- 
taining the  materials  for  several  works  which 
he  had  projected,  and  some  part  of  them  has 
been  published  since  his  decease. — Biog.  Univ. 

SPON  (JAMES)  a  physician  and  man  of 
letters,  was  the  son  of  the  learned  Charles 
Spon,  also  an  eminent  physician,  and  the 
friend  and  correspondent  of  Guy  Patin.  He 
was  born  at  Lyons,  and  studied  physic  at 
Montpellier ;  after  which  he  travelled  into 
Italy,  with  the  celebrated  antiquary  Vaillant. 
In  1675  and  1676  he  accompanied  Mr,  after- 
wards sir  George  Wheeler,  in  a  tour  through 
Italy  to  Dalmatia,  Greece,  and  Lesser  Asia. 
The  observations  made  in  this  journey  were 
published  by  him  in  a  work  entitled  "  Voyages 


S  P  O 

d'ltalie,  de  Dalmruie,  de  Grece,  et  du  Le- 
v-nit," 3  vols.  1'Jino,  1677.  These  chiefly 
relate  to  antiquities,  but  are  aUo  interspersed 
with  remarks  relative  to  medicine  and  natural 
history.  Dr  Spon  returned  to  France,  where 
he  remained  until  160.5,  when,  being  a  Pro- 
testant, he  was  forced  by  the  revocation  of  the 
edict  of  Nantz  to  quit  France,  and  intended 
to  retire  to  Zurich,  but  he  fell  sick  on  the 
way,  and  died  at  Vevay  in  the  same  year. 
He  was  the  author  of  several  curious  works, 
the  principal  of  which  are  "  Recherches  des 
Antiquites  de  Lyons,"  1674,  8vo  ;  "  Igno- 
torum  atque  obscurum  Deorum  Arae,"  1677, 
8vo;  "  Ilistoire  de  la  Ville  et  de  1'Etat  de 
Geneve,"  1680,2  vols.  I2mo;  "  Lettre  sur 
1'Antiquite  de  la  Religion,"  12mo  ;  "  Re- 
cherches curieuses  d'Antiquite,"  1683;"  Mis- 
cellanea eruditre  Amiquitatis,"  1679  and  1683, 
folio,  lie  also  wrote  some  medical  treatises, 
which  exhibit  him  as  a  strenuous  advocate 
for  the  use  of  Peruvian  bark. — Moreri.  Eloy 
Diet.  Hist,  de  Med. 

SPONDE  (HENRY  de)  or  SPONDANUS, 
a  French  prelate  and  ecclesiastical  historian, 
was  born  in  1568  at  Mauleon-de-Soule,  a  town 
between  Navarre  and  Beam.  His  father  was 
secretary  to  Joan,  queen  of  Navarre,  and  be- 
ing a  Calvinist,  educated  his  children  in  the 
same  persuasion.  He  studied  at  Ortiz,  where 
the  reformed  had  a  college ;  and  became  so 
distinguished  for  his  classical  and  legal  attain- 
ments, that  he  was  made  master  of  requests 
by  Henry  IV,  then  prince  of  Beam.  A  pe- 
rusal of  the  controversial  works  of  Du  Perron 
and  Bellarmine,  and  the  example  of  his  elder 
brother  John,  induced  him  in  1595  to  abjure 
Protestantism.  In  1600  he  accompanied  car- 
dinal de  Sourdis  to  Rome,  where  he  WHS  in- 
duced to  take  orders  in  1606,  and  after  a  visit 
to  Paris  he  returned  and  accepted  office  under 
pope  Paul  V  ;  but  in  1626  was  recalled  to 
France,  and  made  bishop  of  Pamiers,  in  which 
station  he  distinguished  himself  by  his  zeal 
and  benevolence.  -  He  died  at  Toulouse  in 
1643,  aged  seventy-five.  Sponde's  principal 
work  is  an  abridgement  and  continuation  of 
t  he  Ecclesiastical  Annals  of  Baronius,  in  3  vols. 
folio,  which  work,  although  in  esteem  with 
those  of  his  own  communion,  contains  many 
errors,  and  exhibits  strong  marks  of  a  party 
spirit.  He  was  also  author  of  a  work  en- 
titled "  De  Cccmeteriis  Sacris,"  stating  the 
grounds  of  his  conversion;  and  of  "  Annales 
Sacri,  a  Mundi  Creatione  ad  ejusdem  Re- 
i  emptionem,"  with  other  works. — JOHN  DE 
SPONDE,  elder  brother  of  the  preceding,  was 
the  author  of  "  Commentaries  on  Homer;" 
"  An  Account  of  the  Motives  which  induced 
him  to  join  the  Catholic  Church  ;''  and  an 
"Answer  to  Bezu's  Treatise  on  the  Marks  of 
the  Church."  He  also  published  an  edition 
of  Aristotle's  Logic,  with  notes.  He  died 
prematurely,  in  1595. — Moreri.  Bayle.  Nouv. 
Diet.  Hist. 

SI'O TSWOOD  orSPOTISWOOD  (JOHN) 
an  eminent  Scottish  prelate,  was  descended 
from  an  ancient  family,  one  of  whom,  his 
grandfather,  was  killed  in  the  battle  of  Flud- 


den- field.  He  was  born  in  1565,  and  v.v>' 
educated  at  the  university  of  Glasgow,  when? 
he  received  a  degree  in  his  sixteenth  year 
In  1601  he  attended  the  duke  of  Richinoa.! 
as  chaplain  in  his  embassy  to  France,  and  ii> 
1603,  upon  the  accession  of  James  VI  to  the 
throne  of  England,  accompanied  the  king  intr> 
that  kingdom,  and  the  same  year  was  advanr*  ii 
to  the  archbishopric  of  Glasgow,  and  madj 
one  of  the  privy  council  of  Scotland.  Ha 
very  actively  seconded  the  wishes  of  James  n 
restore  the  church  of  Scotland  to  episcopacy, 
and  is  supposed  to  have  made  no  less  than  fifty 
journeys  to  London  on  that  account.  In  16I.» 
he  was  translated  to  the  see  of  St  Andrews, 
and  thus  became  primate  of  Scotland,  in  which 
capacity  he  presided  in  the  assembly  of  Aber- 
deen and  elsewhere,  to  restore  the  ancient 
discipline,  and  produce  a  uniformity  with  the 
church  of  England.  He  was  held  in  no  less 
esteem  by  Charles  I,  than  by  his  father ;  and 
in  1635  was  made  chancellor  of  Scotland, 
which  post  he  had  not  held  four  years  when 
the  popular  confusions  obliged  him  to  retire 
into  England,  and  he  had  scarcely  reached 
London  when  age,  grief,  and  sickness  con- 
signed him  to  the  grave,  in  1639.  In  1655 
his  "  History  of  the  Church  of  Scotland"  was 
published  in  London,  in  folio;  it  bears  a  ge- 
neral character  of  fidelity  and  impartiality, 
although  Dr  Jamieson  wrote  critical  notes  to 
point  out  several  errors  in  his  two  first  books. 
Spotswood,  in  regard  to  whose  political  con- 
duct and  opinions  historians  have  given  diffe- 
rent accounts,  also  wrote  a  tract  in  defence  of 
the  ecclesiastical  establishment  of  Scotland, 
entitled  '  Ilefutatio  Libelli  de  Regimine  EC 
desire  Scotticanae." — Life  prefixed  to  History. 
Granger.  Laing's  Hist.  r>/  Scotland. 

SPRAT  (THOMAS)  bishop  of  Rochester, 
an  accomplished  divine,  was  born  in  1636  at 
Tallaton  in  Devonshire,  where  his  father  was 
a  clergyman.  He  received  his  academical 
education  at  Wadham  college,  Oxford,  of  which 
he  was  elected  a  fellow  in  1657.  Upon  the 
death  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  in  the  following  year 
he  composed  an  "  Ode  to  the  happy  Memory 
of  the  late  Lord  Protector,"  which  poem, 
abounding  with  the  most  high-flown  adulation, 
was  of  the  irregular  class  then  termed  Pinda- 
ric. Another,  "  On  the  Plague  of  Athens," 
followed  in  the  same  style,  which  was  that  of 
Cowley.  On  the  Restoration  he  atoned  foi 
former  subserviency  by  an  equal  excess  in  the 
contrary  direction,  and  taking  orders,  was  re- 
commended by  Cowley  to  Villiers  duke  of 
Buckingham,  who  made  him  his  chaplain,  and 
whom  he  assisted  in  the  composition  of  the 
"  Rehearsal.''  Being  introduced  by  that  no- 
bleman to  the  king,  the  latter  *.ook  much 
pleasure  in  his  conversation,  and  nominated 
him  one  of  his  chaplains.  His  intimacy 
with  bishop  \Vilkius  caused  him  to  be  chosen 
one  of  the  fellows  of  the  new  Roval  Society  ; 
of  which,  in  1667,  he  wrote  the  history,  ana 
obtained  great  praise  for  the  elegance  and 
style  of  sentiment  displayed  in  the  composi- 
tion, which,  however,  was  by  no  means  a  nu.- 
del  for  thut  order  of  narrative.  !n  1665  1. 


SP  L1 

published  some  observations  in  cnstigation  of 
J-orbiere's  Voyage  to  England,  the  freedom  of  i 
whose  strictures  had  given  much  ofience  ;  and 
in  1668  edited  the  Latin  poems  of  Cowley,  to 
which  he  added  a  life  of  that  author  in  the 
same  language,  afterwards  amplified  by  him- 
self in  English,  and  annexed  to  the  same  au- 
thor's English  works.  His  reputation  and  ta- 
lents for  conversation  and  society  now  rapidly 
advanced  him  in  the  career  of  preferment, 
and  he  became  successively  prebendary  of 
Westminster,  rector  of  St  Margaret's,  canon 
of  Windsor,  aud  finally,  in  1686,  bishop 
of  Rochester.  This  last  elevation  was 
probably  his  reward  for  drawing  up  an 
account  of  the  Rye-house  plot,  which  was 
first  published  in  168.5.  The  manner  in 
which  he  accomplished  this  task,  under- 
•  taken  as  he  asserts  at  the  king's  command, 
rendered  it  expedient  for  him  after  the  Re- 
volution to  print  an  apology.  He  was  no- 
minated by  James  II  one  of  the  commissioners 
for  ecclesiastical  affairs,  in  the  execution  of 
which  office  he  exhibited  compliances,  in  ex- 
pectation, it  is  said,  of  the  archbishopric  of 
York,  which  produced  general  censure,  that 
was  only  partially  alleviated  by  his  withdraw- 
ing from  the  commission  in  1688.  When 
James  retired,  Sprat  spoke  in  his  favour  in  the 
great  conference  on  the  vacancy  of  the  crown, 
but  submitted  to  the  new  government,  and  was 
left  unmolested.  In  1692  he  was  involved 
with  Bancroft,  Marlborougb,  and  others  in  a 
pretended  conspiracy.  lie  was  enabled  to 
detect  the  infamous  practices  of  the  informers, 
and  to  clear  himself  from  the  charge  ;  but  he 
was  so  affected  by  the  danger,  that  he  com- 
memorated his  deliverance  by  an  annual 
thanksgiving.  He  passed  the  rest  of  his  life 
in  tranquillity,  and  expired  at  Bromley  in  1713, 
in  the  seventy-ninth  year  of  his  age.  The 
writings  of  this  prelate  were  all  highly  ap- 
plauded in  his  own  time  ;  but  notwithstanding 
the  favourable  mention  of  Dr  Johnson,  they 
are  little  esteemed  at  present.  His  few  poems 
make  part  of  the.  mass  of  minor  English 
poetry,  but  can  only  be  regarded  as  inferior 
specimens  of  a  bad  manner. — Biog.  Brit. 
Johnson's  Poets.  Gibber's  Lives. 

SPURINNA  (VESTRICIUS)  a  Roman,  who 
obtained  celebrity  as  a  warrior  and  a  man  of 
learning,  born   about    A.D.  23.       Being  the 
friend   of  the  emperor   Otho,  he   proceeded 
from  Rome  to  his  assistance  at  the  head  of 
some  troops,  and  with  some   difficulty  joined 
him  previous  to  the  battle  with  the  army  of 
Yitellius,  to  whom  Spurinna  submitted  after 
the  death  of  Otho.     Under  Vespasian  and  his 
successors  he  filled  various  offices,  governed 
provinces,  and  commanded  the  army  in  Ger- 
many.    He  there  subjugated  the  Bructeri,  a 
nation  of  IVroiious  barbarians,  and  performed 
oilier  exploits,  for  which  the  senate  decreed 
him  a  triumphal  statue.     Being  advanced  in 
years,  he  retired  into  the  country  ;  where  he 
died,  but  at  what  period  is  not  exactly  known. 
Pliny  describes  his  mode  of  life  in  his  retreat, 
and  eulogizes  his  character   and    his    talents, 
comparing  him  with    Marcus  Antonius.     He 


S  Q  A 

says  that  Spurinna  composed  with  equal  suc- 
cess, both  in  Greek  and  in  Latin,  and  that  he 
published  some  admirable  lyric  poems.  These 
appear  to  be  entirely  lost,  though  Barthiua 
discovered  in  an  ancient  MS.  fragments  of 
odes,  bearing  the  name  of  Vesprucius,  which 
he  attributed  to  Spurinna  ;  but  they  are  pro- 
bably the  work  of  some  other  writer.  Sir 
Thomas  Bernard  has  commemorated  the  virtues 
of  this  illustrious  Roman,  in  his  Ciceronian 
dialogue,  entitled  "  Spurinna,  or  the  Comforts 
of  Old  Ag-e." — Biog.  Univ. — SPURINNA,  01 
SPUHINA,  was  also  the  name  of  a  mathemati 
cian  in  the  time  of  Julius  Ca?sar,  who  warned 
that  dictator  to  beware  of  the  ides  of  March 
As  Caesar  was  going  to  the  senate-house  on 
that  day  he  met  the  astrologer,  and  tauntingly 
said  to  him,  "  Well,  Spurinna,  the  ides  of 
March  are  come."  "  Yes,"  replied  he,  "  but 
they  are  not  yet  past."  A  few  minutes  after 
Cresar  was  assassinated.  Such  is  the  story 
told  by  Suetonius  and  Valerius  Maximus,  of 
this  mathematician,  who  is  said  to  have  as- 
sisted in  Cffisar's  reformation  of  the  calendar. 
— Lempriere's  Bibl.  Clans. 

SQUIRE  (SAMUF.L)  a  learned  English 
prelate,  was  the  son  of  an  apothecary  at  War- 
minster,  where  he  was  born  in  1714.  He 
was  educated  at  St  John's  college,  Cambridge, 
of  which  he  became  a  fellow,  and  after  ob- 
taining various  preferments,  through  the  pa- 
tronage of  the  duke  of  Newcastle,  he  was  in 
1760  presented  to  the  deanery  of  Bristol,  and 
the  following  year  advanced  to  the  see  of  St 
David's.  He  died  in  1766,  leaving  an  ex- 
emplary character  both  in  a  professional  and  a 
private  capacity.  He  was  the  author  of  various 
works  in  different  classes.  As  a  divine,  besides  a 
number  of  single  sermons,  he  published  "  The 
Ancient  History  of  the  Hebrews  vindicated  ;" 
"  Indifference  for  Religion  inexcusable  :"  and 
"  The  Principles  of  Religion  made  easy  to 
young  Persons."  In  classical  literature  he 
composed  "  Two  Essays,"  consisting  of  a  de- 
fence of  the  ancient  Greek  Chronology,  and 
an  Inquiry  into  the  origin  of  the  Greek  Lan- 
guage ;  and  an  edition  of  "  Plutarch  delside  et 
Osiride,"  Greek  and  English,  with  commen- 
taries. His  political  works  are,  an  "  Enquiry 
into  the  Nature  of  the  English  Constitution  ;" 
"An  Essay  on  the  Balance  of  Civil  Power  in 
England  ;''  "  Remarks  upon  Mr.  Carte's  Spe- 
cimen of  a  Genuine  History  of  England." 
He  also  assisted  his  chaplain,  Dr  Dodd,  in 
his  "  Letter  to  Lord  Halifax  on  the  Peace." 
He  was  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  and  Antiquarian 
Societies,  and  left  a  Saxon  Grammar  in  MS. 
compiled  by  himself. — Nichols's  Lit.  Aitec. 

STAAL  (Madame  de)  an  ingenious  French 
writer,  first  known  as  mademoiselle  de  Launai, 
was  the  daughter  of  a  painter  of  Paris,  where 
she  was  horn  towards  the  close  of  the  seven- 
teenth century.  Her  father,  being  obliged  to 
quit  the  kingdom,  left  her  in  great  indigence, 
but  some  female  recommendation  procured  her 
a  good  education  at  a  priory  in  Rouen.  Her 
patroness  dying,  she  was  compelled  to  hir-3 
herself  as  bed-chamber  woman  to  the  duchess 
of  Maine.  Unfit,  however,  for  the  duties  of 


ST  A 

such  an  office,  she  was  ahout  to  quit  it,  when 
a    singular    event    rescued    her  from   ohscu- 
rity.    A  beautiful  girl  of  Paris,  named  'Petard, 
was   induced   hy    her    mother    to  counterfeit 
being  possessed  ;    and  all  Paris,  including  the 
court,  flocking  to  witness  this  wonder,  made- 
moiselle de  Launai  wrote  a  very  witty  letter 
on  the  occasion  to  M.  de  Fonteueile,  which  was 
universally  admired.     The  duchess  of  Maine 
having  discovered  the  writer  in  the  person  of 
her  waiting-woman,  employed  her  from   tliat 
time  in  all  her  entertainments  given  at  Sceaux, 
and  treated  her  as  a  confidante.     Thus  en- 
couraged   she  wrote  verses  for  some  of  the 
pieces  acted  at  Sceaux,   drew  up  the  plans  of 
others,  and  was  consulted  in  all.      She  was 
involved   in    the   disgrace    incurred    by    the 
duchess,  her  patroness,  during  the  regency, 
and  was  kept  two  years  a  prisoner  in  the  lias- 
tile.     On  her  release,  the  duchess  found  her 
a  husband  in  M.  de  Staal,  lieutenant  in   the 
Swiss    guard,    having  previously  refused  the 
learned  but  then  too-aged  Dacier.     She  died 
n  17.50  ;    and  some  "  Memoirs  of  her  Life," 
written  by  herself,  were  soon  after  published 
in   3  vols.   12mo.     They  contain  nothing  of 
much  importance,  but  are  composed  in  a  pure 
and  elegant  style,   and  are  very  entertaining. 
A  fourth  volume  has  since  appeared,  consist- 
ing of  two  comedies  acted  at  Sceaux,  entitled 
"  L'Engouement,"  and  «  La  Mode."      This 
lady,  who,  even  by  her  own  description,  did 
not  abound  in  personal  attractions,  was  never- 
theless engaged  in  various  gallantries  or  amours 
more  or  less  sentimental.     Being  asked  how 
she  would    treat   such  matters    in    her    life, 
"  I  will  paint  myself  en  buste,"  was  the  reply. 
Her  Memoirs  have  been  poorly  translated  into 
English.  —  Nnuv.  Diet.  Hist. 

STACKHOUSE  (JOHN)  an  ingenious  na- 
turalist,  was    the   youngest   son    of  the  rev. 
William   Stackhouse,   rector  of  St    Erme   in 
Cornwall,  and  nephew  of  the  subject  of  the 
next  article.     He  was  for  some  time  fellow  of 
Exeter   college,    Oxford,  but   resigned  it    in 
1~63,  on  succeeding  to  an  estate  in  Cornwall.  ' 
He  resided  for  the  latter  part  of  his  life  at  ! 
Bath,   where  he  died    November  22,    1819,  j 
aged  seventy-nine.      Mr  Stackhouse   was   a 
fellow  of  the  Linnrean  and  several  foreign  so- 
cieties, and  his  studies  in  natural  history,  and 
particularly  botany,  were  very  extensive.     He 
directed  much  attention  to  marine  plants,  the  I 
result  of  which  was  published  by  him  in  1801  ,  j 
in  a   folio  volume,   entitled  "  Nereis  Britan-  i 
nica."     This  work    contains  coloured  figures 
of  all  the  British  Fuci,  as  far  as  discovered, 
with  descriptions  in  Latin  and  English.     Of 
this  work  a  second  edition,  in  a  reduced  size, 
appeared  in  1816.     He  also  gave  an  edition 
of"  Theophrasttis  on  Plants,"  with  notes,  in 
2  vols.  8vo  ;  and  lastly,  a  Catalogue  of  the 
Plants  of  Theophrastus,  arranged  according  to 
the  system  of  Linna-us,  Oxford,  1811.  —  Gent. 


STACKHOUSE  (THOMAS)  a  learned  and 
laborious  divine,  was  born  in  1680,  but  in 
what  part  of  the  kingdom,  or  where  edu- 
cated, is  not  known.  He  was  some  time 


SI  A 

minister  of  the  English  church  at  Amsterdam 
and  afterwards  successively  curate  at  Rich- 
mond, Baling,  and  Finchley,  near  London,  in 
all  which  places  he  was  much  respected.  In 
1753  he  was  presented  to  the  vicarage  of 
Beenham  in  Berkshire,  where  he  died,  Octo- 
ber 11,  1752,  aged  seventy-two.  The  prin- 
cipal works  of  tbis  laborious  divine,  who  ap- 
pears to  have  had  to  encounter  with  narrow 
circumstances  during  the  whole  of  his  life,, 
are,  "  Miseries  and  Hardships  of  the  Inferior 
Clergy  ;"  "  Memoirs  of  Bishop  Atterbury ;" 
"  A  Complete  Body  of  Divinity  ;"  "  State  of 
the  Controversy  between  \Voolston  and  his 
Opponents;"  "  New  History  of  the  Bible," 
j  (his  most  important  work,  which  has  been 
often  reprinted,  and  the  best  edition  of  which 
is  that  of  1817)  ;  "  Defence  of  the  Christian 
Religion  ;"  "  Exposition  of  the  Creed  ;"  va- 
rious sermons  and  abridgments ;  and  lastly, 
a  poem  entitled  "  Yana  Doctrinaj  Emolu- 
menta,"  in  which  he  deplores  his  unfortu- 
nate condition,  in  the  language  of  disappoint- 
ment and  despair. — There  was  also  another 
rev.  THOMAS  STACK  HOUSE,  who  published  a 
"Greek  Grammar;"  "  A  General  View  ot 
Ancient  History,  Chronology,  and  Geogra- 
phy;" and  an  "  Atlas  of  Ancient  and  Mo- 
dern Geography." — Nichols's  Lit.Aner. 

STAD1US  (JOHN)  an  eminent  mathema- 
tician and  astronomer  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
who  was  a  native  of  Brabant.  He  was  first 
professor  at  Louvain,  and  afterwards  suc- 
ceeded the  famous  Ramus  in  the  university 
of  Paris.  De  Thou  says  that  Stadius,  after 
acquiring  great  celebrity  hy  his  astronomical 
computations,  injured  his  character  by  turning 
astrologer  to  gratify  the  curiosity  of  the  French 
courtiers,  and  other  inquisitive  persons  of  both  . 
sexes.  He  was  intimately  acquainted  with 
Joseph  Scaliger,  who,  in  his  letters,  testifies 
his  high  esteem  for  the  virtues  and  the  learn- 
ing of  Stadius.  He  died  October  31,  1579. 
Among  his  works  are,  "  Tabula;  Bergana;. 
sive  Ephemeriues  Astrologies  secundum  Ant- 
werpia':  Longitudinem,  ab  An.  1554  ad  1606  ;" 
"  Tabuhe  requabilis  et  apparentis  Motus  Coe- 
lestium  Corporum  ;"  and  "  Provincial  Bra- 
zilian Historia.'' — Teissier  Elnges  des  H.S. 

STAEL  HOLSTEIN  (ANNE  LOUISE  GEU- 
MAINE  NECKER,  baroness  de)  the  most  cele- 
brated female  writer  of  the  present  age,  was 
the  daughter  of  Necker  the  French  financier, 
and  was  born  at  Paris,  April  22,  1766.  She 
soon  displayed  signs  of  a  precocious  genius,  to 
the  developement  of  which  her  education,  un- 
der the  care  of  her  parents  (who  were  both 
highly-talented  persons),  greatly  contributed. 
At  the  age  of  fifteen  she  was  capable  of  dis- 
cussing with  her  father  the  most  serious  and 
important  subjects  ;  and  at  the  same  time  she 
manifested  a  strong  taste  for  the  lighter  kinds 
of  literature.  Theatrical  compositions  parti- 
cularly interested  her;  and  before  she  was 
twenty  she  wrote  a  comedy  in  three  acts,  en- 
titled "  Sophie,  on  les  Sentiments  secrets  ;" 
and  the  year  following  she  produced  a  tragedy 
on  the  story  of  Lady  Jane  Gray.  In  1786 
she  was  married  to  the  baron  de  Stael  Hoi- 


S  T  A 

stein,  the  Swedish  ambassador,  through  the 
patronage  of  the  queen  of  France  ;    and  she 
was   consequently  introduced  at  court.     Hei 
'  Lettres  surJ.  J.  Rousseau,"  soon  after  pub- 
lished, greatly  attracted  the  public  notice.  But 
the  state  of  national  affairs  at  this  period  ren- 
dered all  other  subjects  subordinate  to  politics, 
at  least  in  France  ;  and  madame  de  Stael,  who 
was  warmly  attached  to  the  cause  of  liberty, 
took  a  lively  interest  in  the  success  of  the 
measures  then  adopted  by  the  patriotic  party. 
In   the  month  of  August,  1788,  she  had   the 
pleasure  of  announcing  to  her  father  his  ap- 
pointment to  the  ministry;  but  her  triumph 
was  not  of  long'  duration,  for  M.  Necker  was 
dismissed  from  office,   and  he  left  France,  ac- 
companied by  his  daughter.     He  had  scarcely 
reached  Basil,  when  he  was  recalled,  only  how- 
•ever  to  experience  the  inconstancy  of  popular 
favour,  as  he  was  soon  obliged  again  to  resign 
and  quit  the  country,  to  which  he  never  re- 
turned.     Mad.  de  Stael  followed  him  in  his 
retreat  to  Coppet ;   but  she  revisited  France 
in  1792,  when  she  endeavoured  to  save  some 
of  the    victims   of  revolutionary   fury.     Her 
own  life  was  endangered  by  the  attempt,  and 
she  only  escaped  through  the  care  of  Manuel, 
attorney  of  the  commune  of  Paris,  who  him- 
self afterwards  perished  by  the  guillotine.   She 
returned  to  Switzerland,  and  subsequently  went 
to  England,  where  she  heard  of  the  execution 
of  Louis  XVI.     She  immediately  rejoined  her 
father,  and  she  published  an  elegant  discourse, 
entitled  "  Defense  de  la  Heine."     After  the 
fall  of  Robespierre  she  produced  two  anony- 
mous  pamphlets,    "  Reflexions   sur  la  Paix, 
addressees  a  M.  Pitt  et  aux  Francais ;"  and 
"  Reflexions  sur  la  Paix  interieure."     Under 
the  government  of  the  Directory  she  again  re- 
turned to  France,  where,  through  her  influence 
with  Barras,  she  was  the  means  of  procuring 
the  elevation  of  her  friend  Talleyrand  to  the 
post  of  minister  of  foreign  affairs.     In  Decem- 
ber 1797,  she  for  the  first  time  saw  Buona- 
parte, then  at  Paris,  preparing  for  his  expedi- 
tion to  Egypt ;   and  the  admiration  with  which 
she  had  regarded  the  conqueror  of  Italy,  was 
succeeded  by  a  sentiment  bordering  on  aver- 
sion, which  appears  to  have  become  mutual. 
She  continued  in  France  after  the  return  of 
Buonaparte  from  Egypt,  and  his  assumption  of 
supreme  authority  ;  and  her  influence  was  fre-  i 
quently  employed  in  opposition  to  his  views  | 
and  sentiments.    This  conduct  having  exposed  ; 
her  to  the  displeasure  of  Napoleon  and  his 
partisans,  she  at  length  left  France,  and  went 
to  reside  with  her  father.    During  her  journey 
to  Coppet  she  lost  her  husband,  who  had  long 
been  in  an  ill  state  of  health.     She  remained 
about  twelve  months  in  her  retreat,  and  com- 
posed at  that  time  the  romance  of"  Delphine," 
which  was  not  published  till  1803.     SI  e  re- 
turned to  Paris;  but  this  work,  and  a  tract  en- 
titled  "  Les  Dernieres  Vues  de  Politique  et 
de   Finance,"   published  by  M.  Necker,   had 
given   so  much    offence    to    Napoleon,    that 
he  banished  madame  de  Stael  from  his  ter- 
ritories at  t.ie  close  of  the   year  180:5.     She 
was  consequently   obliged   to  leave    her   fa- 


S  T  A 

tlier,  whom  she  never  afterwards  saw.  Af- 
ter visiting  Germany  and  Italy,  she  was 
permitted  to  return  to  Coppet  in  1805;  and 
subsequently  she  resided  at  Auserre  and  a* 
Rouen.  In  1807  appeared  her  "  Corinne," 
a  novel,  the  sentiments  of  which  revived  the 
anger  of  the  French  rider,  and  she  was  exiled 
to  Coppet.  In  this  retirement  she  was  visited 
by  a  young  French  officer,  M.  de  Rocca, 
whom  she  afterwards  married,  and  by  whom 
she  had  a  son  ;  but  the  union  was  kept  a 
secret  till  after  her  death.  In  the  beginning 
of  181'2  she  took  a  journey  into  Austria; 
thence  she  went  to  Russia,  and  afterwards 
visited  Sweden  and  England,  where  she  was 
received  with  enthusiasm.  She  was  in  Lon- 
don at  the  period  of  the  taking  of  Paris  ;  and 
on  the  restoration  of  Louis  XVI1T.  she  re- 
turned to  France.  On  the  escape  of  Buona- 
parte from  Elba,  she  retired  to  Coppet ;  and 
after  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  and  the  decree 
of  the  5th  of  September  1815,  she  made  her 
appearance  at  Paris,  with  her  daughter,  who 
was  married  to  the  duke  de  Broglio.  She 
was  favourably  received  by  Louis  XVIII,  who 
was  pleased  with  her  conversation  ;  and  she 
obtained  an  order  on  the  royal  treasury  for  the 
payment  of  two  millions,  which  had  been  de- 
posited there  by  M.  Necker.  In  1816  she 
went  to  Italy,  and  resided  some  time  at  Pisa. 
Returning  to  France,  she  became  seriously 
indisposed,  and  her  death  took  place  July  14, 
1817.  Her  works,  including,  besides  those 
already  mentioned,  "  Considerations  sur  les 
principaux  Evenemens  de  la  Revolution 
Franchise,"  "  De  la  Litterature  consideree 
dans  ses  Rapports  avec  les  Institutions  So- 
ciales,"  and  "  L'Allemagne,"  or  Observations 
on  Germany,  &c.  have  been  published  since 
her  death  by  her  son  the  baron  de  Stael  Hoi- 
stein,  in  18  vols.  8vo. — Biog.  Nnuv.  des  Cmi' 
temp,  Bitig.  Univ. 

STAHELIN,  or  STJ2HELIN,  (Jony 
HENRY)  a  Swiss  physician,  who  was  born  at 
Basil  in  1668  ;  and  died  July  19,  1721.  He 
devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  botany,  and 
more  especially  to  the  anatomy  of  plants,  on 
which  subject  he  published  "  Theses  Ana- 
tomico-Botanica;,"  1711,  4to ;  and  he  also 
furnished  some  materials  for  the  works  of 
Scheuchzer,  relative  to  Swiss  botany. —  His 
son,  BENEDICT  STAIIF.I.IV,  engaged  in  similar 
pursuits,  and  became  the  disciple  of  the 
famous  Vaillant  at  Paris.  Returning  home, 
he  employed  his  time  in  studying  the  vegetable 
productions  of  his  native  country,  and  parti- 
cularly the  mosses  and  fungi.  He  discovered 
many  new  species;  and  connecting  himself 
witli  Haller,  then  a  young  man,  they  prose- 
cuted their  inquiries  in  concert,  with  a  view- 
to  the  completion  of  a  Swiss  Flora.  Besides 
his  contributions  to  the  works  of  Haller,  he 
wrote  "  Observationes  Anatomico-Botanicoe," 
1721,  4to;  "  Tentamen  Medicum,"  1724. 
4to  ;  "Observationes  Anatomica?  etBotanicas, 
1731  ;  and  papers  in  the  "  Memoirs  of  the 
Parisian  Academy  of  Science*,"  of  which  he 
was  a  corresponding  member.  He  became 
professor  of  natural  philosophy  at  Basil,  ia 


ST  A 

1 727,  and  died  in  that  city  in  1750,  aged  fifty- 
five. — JOHN  RoDOi.ru  STAIIELIN,  probably  of 
the  same  family  with  the  preceding,  was  born 
at  Basil  in  1724,  and  obtained  the  chair  of 
anatomy  and  botany  in  the  university  there 
in  1753,  that  of  medicine  in  1776,  and  died 
about  the  end  of  the  last  century.  He  pub- 
lished in  1751  "  Specimen  Observationum 
Anatomicarum  et  Botanicarum  ;  aud  in  1753 
"  Specimen  Observationum  Medicarum  ;"  be- 
sides observations  in  the  "  Memoirs  of  the 
Helvetic  Society."  Linna?us,  in  commemora- 
tion of  the  family  of  Stahelin,  has  given  the 
appellation  of  Stajhelina  to  a  genus  of  plants 
of  the  composite  order. — Biog-  Univ. 

STAHL  (GEORGE  ERNEST)  a  German  phy- 
sician and  chemist,  born  at  Anspach,  October 
21,  1660.  He  studied  at  Jena  under  Wede- 
lius ;  and  in  1687,  he  became  physician  to 
the  duke  of  Saxe  Weimar.  In  1691  be  was 
chosen  second  professor  of  medicine  at  Halle  ; 
and  lie  rendered  his  name  famous  over  all 
Germany  by  his  academical  prelections  and 
his  publications.  He  was  in  1700  elected  a 
member  of  the  Academia  Curiosorum  Naturae. 
His  fame  at  last  procured  him  the  appoint- 
ment of  physician  to  the  king  of  Prussia,  in 
1716  ;  and  going  to  Berlin,  he  died  there  in 
1734.  Stahl  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  most 
illustrious  medical  philosophers  of  his  age  ; 
his  name  marks  the  commencement  of  a  new 
a?ra  in  chemistry.  He  was  the  author  of  the 
doctrine  which  explains  the  principal  chemi- 
cal phenomena  by  the  agency  of  phlogiston  ; 
and  though  his  system  was  in  a  great  mea- 
sure overturned  by  the  discoveries  of  Priestley, 
Lavoisier,  and  others,  it  nevertheless  displays 
powerfully  the  genius  of  the  inventor.  This 
theory  maintained  its  ground  for  more  than 
half  a  century,  and  was  received  and  sup- 
ported by  some  of  the  most  eminent  men 
which  Europe  had  produced.  He  was  also 
the  proposer  of  a  theory  of  medicine,  founded 
on  the  principle  of  the  dependance  of  the  state 
of  the  body  on  the  mind  ;  in  consequence  of 
which  he  affirmed  that  every  action  of  the 
muscles  is  a  voluntary  effort  of  the  mind, 
whether  attended  with  consciousness  or  not. 
'['hough  Stahl  and  his  followers  carried  this 
theory  too  far,  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  its 
general  foundation  in  truth  and  nature  ;  and 
the  advice  which  he  gives  to  physicians  to 
attend  to  the  state  of  mind  of  the  patient  is 
highly  deserving  of  attention.  His  principal 
works  are  "  P^xperimenta  et  Observationes 
Chymicre  et  Physicae,"  8vo  ;  "  Disputationes 
Medico,"  2  vols.  4to  ;  "  Theoria  Medica 
vera,"  4to  ;  "  Opusculum  Chymico-physico- 
Medicum,"  4to  ;  "  Negotium'Otiosum,"  4to, 
in  which  he  defends  his  system  relative  to 
the  influence  of  the  mind  against  Leibnitz  ; 
"  Fundamenta  Chymisc  dogmatics  et  expe- 
rimentalis,"  3  vols.  4to  ;  "  De  Venre  Portae 
porta  Malorum  Ilypochondriaco-splenetico- 
euffocativo-hysterico-haemorrhoidarum,"  4to- 
• — E/ic.tjclop.  liritun.  Jiio^.  Univ. 

STAHREMBERG  (Guino  BALDI,  count 
4e)  an  Austrian  general,  born  November  11, 

657.     His  father  was  an  officer  of  the  court 


ST  A 

of  Austria,  and  he  was  destined  for  the 
church  ;  but  he  preferred  the  army,  and  com- 
menced his  career  at  the  siege  of  Vienna  bv 
the  Turks,  in  1680.  He  obtained  a  regiment 
for  his  bravery  at  the  attack  of  Buda  in  1686, 
when  he  was  badly  wounded.  In  1692  he 
was  nominated  lieutenant-field-marshal,  and 
sent  to  defend  the  fortress  of  Ehrenbreitslein. 
In  1700  he  was  with  Prince  Eugene  in  Italy, 
at  the  battles  of  Carpi,  of  Chiari,  and  of  Luz- 
zari  ;  and  the  following  year  he  first  had  the 
chief  command,  when  he  distinguished  him- 
self by  his  defence  of  the  territory  of  Savoy 
against  the  French  ;  and  in  1704  he  was  made 
field-marshal.  He  afterwards  served  with 
distinction  in  Hungary,  and  in  the  war  about 
the  succession  to  the  crown  of  Spain.  He  re- 
turned to  Vienna  in  1713,  and  in  1716  he  was 
appointed  president  of  the  aulic  council  of 
war,  which  post  he  held  till  his  death  in 
1737.— King.  Univ. 

STANHOPE  (GEORGE)  dean  of  Canter- 
bury, was  the  son  of  the  incumbent  of  Hertis- 
horn,  a  parish  in  the  county  of  Derby,  where 
he  was  born  in  1660.  He  received  the  nidi, 
ments  of  a  classical  education  at  the  grammai 
schools  of  Uppingham  and  Eton,  from  which 
latter  seminary  he  removed  on  the  foundation 
to  King's  college,  Cambridge.  Having  gra- 
duated as  MA.  in  168-T,  he  took  holy  orders, 
and  obtained  as  his  first  piece  of  preferment 
the  living  of  Tewing,  Herts.  The  earl  of 
Dartmouth,  to  whose  son  he  had  acted  in  the 
capacity  of  private  teacher,  soon  after  gave 
him  the  vicarage  of  Lewisham  in  Kent,  in 
which  parish  the  family  seat  is  situated  ;  and 
through  the  same  interest  he  was  afterwards 
appointed  one  of  the  royal  chaplains.  In  1701 
he  preached  the  Boyle  lecture  ;  and  two  years 
after  exchanged  his  living  of  Tewing  for  that 
of  Deptford,  rendered  more  desirable  from  its 
adjoining  his  other  preferment.  On  the  eleva- 
tion of  bishop  Hooper  to  the  episcopal  bench, 
Dr  Stanhope  was  nominated  to  succeed  him 
in  the  vacant  deanery,  which  he  enjoyed  till 
his  death,  in  1728.  lie  was  a  divine  of  sin- 
gular learning  and  integrity,  to  which  he 
united  great  simplicity  of  manners.  As  an 
author,  he  is  known  by  his  Boyle  Lectures 
"  on  the  Truth  and  Excellence  of  Christianity," 
4to ;  a  set  of  miscellaneous  Sermons ;  and  a 
"  Paraphrase  of  the  Gospels  and  Epistles," 
8vo,  4  vols.  He  also  published,  translations 
of  the  Meditations  of  Marcus  Aurelius  Anto- 
ninus, and  those  of  St  Augustine,  of  Andrews's 
Greek  Devotions,  Rochefoucault's  Maxims, 
Charron  on  Wisdom,  the  "  De  Imitatioue 
Christi "  of  Thomas  a  Kempis,  8vo  ;  Epic- 
tetus,  with  the  Commentary  of  Simplicius, 
8vo  ;  and  other  works  of  various  writers  on 
devotional  subjects.  After  his  decease,  his 
remains  were  brought  from  Bath  and  interred 
in  his  parish  church  at  Lewisham. — Twlti's 
Deans  of  Canterbury. 

STANHOPE  (JAMES,  first  earl)  wa?  the 
son  of  Alexander  Stanhope,  esq.  descended 
from  an  ancient  family  of  the  name  in  the 
county  of  Nottingham.  lie  was  born  in  He- 
refordshire in  1673;  and  after  being  educated 


ST  A 

with  great  care,  lie  accompanied  his  father  to 
the  court  of  Spain,  when  the   latter  was  sent 
early  in  William's  reign  as  an  envoy  extraor- 
dina'ry.     He  continued  in  Spain  some  years, 
and  then  made  the  tour  of  France   and  Italy  ; 
after  winch  he  served  as  a  volunteer  in  Flan- 
ders, and  being  much  noticed  by  king  William 
received  the  commission  of  colonel  at  the  age 
of  twenty-two.      In    the    first    parliament  .of 
Anne  he  was  chosen  member  for  Cockermouth, 
and  he  soon  after  gained  great  reputation  in 
Spain,  where   he  served  as  brigadier-general 
under  the  earl  of  Peterborough,  at  the  capture 
of  Barcelona.     In  1708  he  was  raised   to  the 
rank   of    major-general    and    commander-in- 
chief  in  Spain  ;  and  the  same  year  he  reduced 
the  island  of  Minorca.      In  a  subsequent  cam- 
paign in  1711  he  was  made  prisoner,  but  was 
exchanged  the  following  year,   when   he  re- 
turned to  England,   and  acted   vigorously  in 
opposition.     On  the  accession  of  George  I  he 
was  received  with  particular  marks  of  favour, 
and    appointed    one    of    the     secretaries    of 
state.     In  1716  he  attended  the  king  to  Ha- 
nover,  where   he   was    principally   concerned 
in  the  formation  of  the  alliance  concluded  with 
France  and    the   States    General,   which    re- 
moved the  Pretender  beyond  the  Alps.     The 
next  year  he  was  appointed   first  lord  of  the 
treasury  and  chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  and 
was  soon   after  created  a  peer  by  the   title  of 
baron  Stanhope  of  Elvaston.     In  1718  he  was 
succeeded  in  the  treasury  by  lord  Sunderland, 
whose  office  of  secretary  of  state  he  assumed 
in    return,  and  was    created   earl    Stanhope. 
This  sensible  and  able  peer  terminated  his  ac- 
tive and  faithful  services  to  tbe  newly  acceded 
house  of  Brunswick  on  the   4th  of  February 
1721,  when  a  sudden  impulse  of  resentment 
at  an  abusive  speech  from  the  profligate  duke 
of  Wharton    produced   a    degree  of   emotion 
which  broke  a  blood-vessel,  and  he  died  the 
following;  day,  to  tbe  great  grief  of  the  king. 
As  a  statesman    the  earl  of  Stanhope,  who 
inherited  a  confirmed  attachment  to  the  prin- 
ciples established   at  the  Revolution,  evinced 
great  abilities,  integrity,  and  disinterestedness; 
and  he  was  also  esteemed  a  very  skilful  sol- 
dier.    He  is  said  to  have  been  learned,  and  a 
curious    inquirer    into    ancient    history  ;    and 
some  queries  addressed   by  him    to  the   abbe 
Vertot,    respecting    the     constitution   of    the 
Roman  senate,  with  the  answers  of  the  abbe, 
were    published   in   1721. — Collins' s  Peerage. 
Coxe's  Life  of  Walpole. 

STANHOPE  (CHARLES,  the  third  earl) 
grandson  of  the  above,  was  born  August  3, 
1753.  He  received  the  early  part  of  his  edu- 
cation at  Eton,  and  finished  it  at  Geneva, 
where  his  genius  led  him  to  pay  a  close  atten- 
tion to  the  mathematics  ;  and  such  was  his 
progress,  that  he  obtained  a  prize  from  the 
society  of  Stockholm  for  a  memoir  on  the  pen- 
dulum. In  1774  he  stood  candidate  for  West- 
minster without  success  ;  but  was  introduced 
by  the  earl  of  Shelburne  into  parliament  as 
member  for  the  borough  of  Wycombe,  which 
he  represented  until  1786,  when  the  death  of 
his  father  called  him  to  the  house  of  Peers. 

Broo.  DICT — VOL.  Ill 


ST  A 

He  was  one  of  the  many  English  politician* 
who  regarded  with  pleasure  the  dawn  of  tne 
French  Revolution  ;  but  what  was  much  more 
extraordinary  in  a  peer  by  birth,  he  openly 
avowed  republican  sentiments,  and  went  so 
far  as  to  lay  by  the  external  ornaments  of  the 
peerage.  He  was  also  a  frequent  speaker  against 
the  war;  and  although  singular  in  many  of 
his  opinions,  a  strong  vein  of  sense  and  hu- 
mour often  qualified  his  statements  of  peculiar 
views.  As  a  man  of  science  he  ranked  high, 
both  as  an  inventor  and  patron  ;  and  among 
other  things  was  the  author  of  a  method  for 
securing  buildings  from  fire,  an  arithmetical 
machine,  a  new  printing-press,  a  monochord 
for  tuning  musical  instruments,  and  a  vessel  to 
sail  against  wind  and  tide.  He  was  twice 
married,  first  to  lady  Hester  Pitt,  daughter  of 
the  first  earl  of  Chatham,  by  whom  he  had 
three  daughters  ;  and  secondly  to  Miss  Gren- 
ville,  by  whom  he  had  three  sons.  This 
scientific,  ingenious,  but  eccentric  nobleman 
published  several  philosophical  and  a  few  po- 
litical tracts.  He  died  54th  December  1816. 
— Ann.  Bwg. 

STANHOPE  (PHILIP  DORMER)  earl  of 
Chesterfield,  a  nobleman  celebrated  as  a  wit 
statesman,  and  man  of  letters,  was  the  eldest 
son  of  Philip,  third  earl  of  Chesterfield,  by 
lady  Elizabeth  Savile,  daughter  of  the  marquis 
of  Halifax.  He  was  born  in  London  Septembei 
22,  1694,  and  received  a  private  education 
until  bis  eighteenth  year,  when  he  was  entered 
of  Trinity-hall,  Cambridge,  where  he  applied 
to  his  studies  with  great  assiduity.  On  quit- 
ting the  university  he  made  the  tour  of  Europe, 
and  on  his  return  to  England,  having  early  de- 
clared in  favour  of  the  principles  of  freedom 
which  placed  the  house  of  Hanover  on  the 
throne,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  gentlemen 
of  the  bedchamber  to  the  prince  of  Wales. 
He  was  also  elected  member  for  the  borough  of 
St  Gerrnains,  aud  commenced  his  parliamen- 
tary career  in  a  speech  in  support  of  the  im- 
peachment of  the  persons  concerned  in  the 
treaty  of  Utrecht.  The  following  year  he 
spoke  in  favour  of  the  septennial  bill  ;  and 
soon  after,  on  the  difference  between  the 
•dng  and  the  prince  of  Wales,  he  became  one 
of  the  opposition  which  was  headed  by  the 
atter.  In  1723  he  was  made  captain  of  the 
yeomen  of  the,  guards,  from  which  post  he  was 
dismissed  in  1725  ;  and  the  following  year  the 
death  of  his  father  removed  him  to  the  house 
of  Lords.  This  theatre  was  better  suited  than 
the  Commons  to  his  style  of  eloquence,  which 
was  less  characterised  by  force  and  compass 
than  by  elegance,  perspicuity,  and  a  vein  of 
delicate  irony.  On  the  accession  of  George  II 
in  1727,  he  was  nominated  ambassador  to  the 
Hague,  a  post  which  he  filled  with  great 
ability.  On  his  return  in  1730  he  was  ap- 
lointed  lord  steward  of  the  household,  and 
created  a  knight  of  the  garter  ;  after  which 
ic  again  repaired  to  Holland,  and  was  instru- 
mental in  forming  an  important  treaty  between 
the  courts  of  London  and  Vienna  and  the 
States  General.  In  1732  he  obtained  his  re- 
call, and  the  next  year  married  Melusina  de 
P 


ST  A 

Schulemherg,  countess  of  Walsingham,  natural 
daughter  of  Geoige  I.  by  the  duchess  of  Ken- 
dal.  lie  had  previously  deserted  the  minister, 
sir  Robert  Walpole,  whose  excise  bill  lie  ve- 
hemently opposed,  and  thereby  lost  his  office 
of  steward  of  the  household,  and  was  so  ill  re- 
ceived at  court  that  he  desisted  from  attending 
it.  He  continued  in  opposition  until  the  co- 
alition of  parties  in  174-1,  during  which  long 
interval  lie  distinguished  himself  by  many  able 
speeches,  none  of  which  were  more  generally 
admired  than  that  against  the  bill  for  granting 
the  lord  chamberlain  the  power  of  licensing 
dramatic  performances.  In  1741  he  was 
obliged  to  visit  the  continent  on  the  score  of 
health,  when  he  confirmed  his  intimacy  witk 
Voltaire,  whom  he  had  previously  known  in 
England  ;  while  the  facility  and  grace  of  his 
address  rendered  him  a  general  favourite.  In 
1745  he  was  again  sent  ambassador  to  the 
Hague,  and  succeeded  in  acquiring  the  con- 
currence of  the  States  General  in  the  war 
against  France.  On  his  return  the  rebellion 
had  broken  out,  and  he  was  selected  for  the 
then  critical  post  of  lord-lieutenant  of  Ireland. 
This  office  he  filled  with  a  degree  of  dignity 
and  ability  which  has  seldom  been  equalled. 
He  acquired  the  good  will  of  the  Catholics  by 
discouraging  officious  and  rancorous  informa- 
tions, without  neglecting  the  precautions  ren- 
dered necessary  by  the  ominous  state  of  affairs. 
He  returned  to  England  in  1746,  and  having 
entirely  recovered  the  favour  of  the  king,  he 
received  the  seals  of  secretary  of  state,  which 
office  he  resigned  in  1748,  in  consequence  of 
being  overruled  in  his  wish  for  peace  by  the 
rest  of  the  Cabinet.  He  never  again  took  part 
in  any  administration,  but  lived  as  a  private 
nobleman  attached  to  arts  and  to  letters, 
and  was  deemed  inferior  to  none  of  his  rank 
throughout  Europe  for  brilliancy  of  wit,  ele- 
gance of  manners,  and  the  polish  of  cultivated 
society.  The  senatorial  exertions  of  lord 
Chesterfield  after  he  quitted  office  were  few, 
and  of  little  political  importance  ;  his  health 
being  delicate,  and  deafness  being  added  to 
his  other  complaint.  He,  however,  distin- 
guished himself  on  more  than  one  occasion, 
and  especially  by  a  speech  in  support  of  the 
bill  for  the  reform  of  the  English  calendar, 
concerning  which  some  curious  observations 
will  be  found  in  his  letters  to  his  son.  He  was 
also  anxious  to  be  thought,  and  in  some  re- 
spects merited  the  character  of  a  patron  of  li- 
terature ;  but  he  managed  his  advances  to  Dr. 
Johnson  so  ill  on  the  subject  of  his  Dictionary, 
that  on  the  appearance  of  his  two  papers  in 
"  The  World,"  written  expressly  in  favour  of 
it,  he  received  the  celebrated  letter  of  dignified 
severity,  which  although  he  affected  to  despise, 
it  was  impossible  for  him  not  to  feel.  In  1768 
he  lost  his  natural  son  Mr.  Stanhope,  who  from 
his  infancy,  in  consequence  of  his  want  of  legi- 
timate issue,  had  been  the  principal  object  of 
his  solicitude.  This  heavy  affliction  was  ag- 
gravated by  the  intelligence  that  the  deceased 
had  lii'tn  long  secretly  married,  and  had  left 
a  widow  and  two  children,  the  latter  of  whom 
he  immediately  took  under  his  protection.  His 


ST  A 

infirmities  from  this  time  increased  fast  upon 
him,  and  he  gradually  was  reduced  to  a  state 
in  which,  as  he  himself  observed,  he  rather 
endured  than  enjoyed  life,  until  the  scene  was 
tranquilly  closed  on  the  24th  March  1773, 
in  his  seventy-ninth  year.  The  character  of 
this  nobleman,  although  far  from  faultless,  and 
founded  infinitely  too  much  on  the  love  of  ap- 
plause and  of  popular  esteem,  exhibited  many 
excellencies,  which  enabled  him  to  perform 
important  services  to  his  country,  as  a  con- 
summate diplomatist  and  sagacious,  sound, 
and  able  statesman.  In  his  literary  capacity, 
to  much  wit,  ease,  and  information,  he  united 
good  sense  and  good  taste  in  a  high  degree, 
and  his  style  is  of  very  pure  and  unaffected 
English.  No  sooner  was  he  defunct  than  the 
widow  of  Mr  Stanhope,  who  had  sold  to  him 
the  originals,  and  preserved  copies,  published 
his  celebrated  "  Letters  to  his  Son,"  in  2  vols. 
4to.  1774.  Of  these  it  is  proper  to  say,  that 
they  were  intended  for  an  individual  of  a  par- 
ticular disposition,  and  never  meant  for  pub- 
lication. That  portions  of  them  upon  a  sound 
moral  principle  are  altogether  indefensible,  is 
not  to  be  denied  ;  and  it  is  also  necessary  to 
recollect  that  they  were  written  to  an  embryo 
diplomatist,  to  reconcile  ourselves  to  much  of 
the  casuistry  regarding  the  simulation  and  dis- 
simulation which  is  so  ingeniously  inculcated. 
On  the  other  hand  it  may  be  confidently  as- 
serted, that  no  work  in  the  English  lanouage 
contains  more  valuable  lessons  for  the  early 
cultivation  of  the  understanding  in  the  way  of 
acquirement,  and  for  the  formation  of  the  tem- 
per and  manners.  Besides  this  continually 
reprinted  collection,  his  miscellaneous  works 
appeared  in  1774,  in  2  vols.  4to,  which  con- 
tain his  various  papers  in  the  literary  and  po- 
litical journals,  speeches,  state  papers,  letters, 
French  and  English,  &c.  with  a  memoir  of  his 
life  by  the  editor,  Dr  Maty.  To  these  a  third 
4to  volume  was  published  in  1778,  the  autho- 
rity of  which  being  doubtful,  attracted  little 
comparative  attention. —  Life  by  Maty.  Lord 
Orford's  Works.  Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson. 

STANISLAUS  I,  king  of  Poland,  was  born 
at  Leopold,  October  20,  1677.  His  family 
name  was  Leczinski,  and  his  father  held  the 
important  post  of  grand  treasurer  to  the  crown. 
He  very  early  displayed  indications  of  an 
amiable  and  estimable  character,  and  at  the 
age  of  twenty-two  was  entrusted  with  an  em- 
bassy to  the  Ottoman  court.  In  1704,  being 
then  palatine  of  Posnania,  and  general  of 
Great  Poland,  he  was  deputed  by  the  assembly 
of  the  States  at  Warsaw  to  wait  upon  Charles 
XII  of  Sweden,  who  had  invaded  the  king- 
dom with  a  view  to  dethroning  Augustus  of 
Saxony.  In  a  conference  with  the  Swedish 
monarch  he  so  rapidly  acquired  his  esteem, 
that  Charles  immediately  resolved  to  raise  him 
to  the  throne  of  Poland,  which  he  effected  at 
an  election  held  in  the  presence  of  the  Swe- 
dish general  on  the  27th  July  1704,  Stanis- 
liius  Li'ing  then  in  his  twenty-seventh  year 
He  was  however  soon  after  driven  from  War- 
saw by  his  rival  Augustus;  but  another  change 
brought  him  back  to  that  capital,  where  be 


ST  A 

was-  clowned,  with  his  wife,  in  October  1705, 
and   the   next  year  Augustus  was  compelled 
solemnly  to  abdicate.     The  fatal  defeat  of  his 
patron    Charles    XII   at    Pultowa,    in    1709, 
again  obliged  him  to  retreat  into  Sweden ,  where 
he  endeavoured  to  join  Charles  XII  at  Bender, 
in  disguise,  but  being  detected,  he  was  held  cap- 
tive in  that  town  until  1714.  Being  then  suffered 
to  depart,  lie  repaired  to  Deux  Pouts,  where 
he   was  joined  by  his  family,   and  remained 
until  the  death  of  Charles  XII  in  1719,  when 
the  court  of  France  afforded  him  a  retreat  at 
Weissembourgh,  in  Alsace.     He  remained  in 
obscurity  until  1725,  when  his  daughter,  the 
princess  Mary,  was  unexpectedly  selected  as 
a  wife  by  Louis  XV,  king  of  France.     On  the 
death  of  Augustus   in   1735,  an  attempt  was 
made  by  the  French  court  to  replace  Stanis- 
•laus  on  the  throne  of  Poland  ;  but  although  he 
had   a  party  who    supported   him   and   pro- 
claimed him  king,  his  competitor,  the  electoral 
prince  of  Saxony  being  aided   by  the  empe- 
rors of  Germany  and  Russia,  he  was  obliged 
to  retire.     He  endured  this,  like  every  other 
reverse  of  fortune,  with  great  resignation,  and 
at  the  peace  of  1736  formally   abdicated  his 
claim  to  the  kingdom  of  Poland,  on  condition 
of  retaining  the  title  of  king,  and  being  put  in 
possession  for  life  of  the  duchies  of  Lorraine 
and    Bar.     Thenceforward    lie    lived    as   the 
sovereign  of  a  small  country,  which  he  ren- 
dered happy  by  the  exercise  of  virtues  which 
acquired  him  the  appellation  of  Stanislaus  the 
Beneficent.     He  not  only  relieved  his  people 
from  excessive  imposts,  but  by  strict,  economy 
was  enabled  to  found  many  useful  charitable 
establishments,  and  to  patronize  the  arts  and 
sciences.     He  was  himself  attached  to  litera- 
ture, and  wrote  various  treatises  on  philosophy, 
morals,   and   politics,    which  were    published 
under  the   title  of   "  CEuvres  du  Philosophe 
Bienfaisant,"   4  vols.  8vo,   1765.      He    died 
much  lamented,    February  23,   1766,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  injury  which  he  sustained  from 
his  nightgown  being  accidentally  set  on  fire. — 
Kmiv.  Did.  Hist.     Hist,  par  £  Abb£  Proyart. 

STANISLAUS  II,  king  of  Poland,  whose 
proper  name  was  Stanislaus  Augustus  Ponia- 
towski,  a  prince  more  distinguished  on  account 
of  the  great  events  in  which  he  was  interested 
than  for  his  talents  or  personal  character.  He 
was  the  son  of  count  Poniatowski,  a  Lithua- 
nian nobleman,  by  the  princess  Cziirtorinska. 
After  receiving  an  education  suitable  to  his 
quality,  he  went  to  Paris,  where  he  was  im- 
prisoned for  debt,  and  liberated  through  the 
generosity  of  the  famous  Madame  Geoffrin. 
He  then  visited  England,  whence  he  proceeded 
to  Russia  with  the  English  ambassador,  sir  C. 
Hanbury  Williams.  At  Petersburg  he  ac- 
quired the  particular  favour  of  Catharine  II, 
then  grand  duchess.  This  attachment  was  not 
forgotten  when  she  was  raised  to  the  throne, 
and  in  1764  her  influence  placed  her  ancient 
lover  on  that  of  Poland,  vacant  by  the  death 
of  Augustus  111.  Had  the  new  sovereign  pos- 
sessed any  energy  of  character,  he  would  at 
once  have  taken  a  decided  part,  and  either 
have  uniformly  endeavoured  to  maintain  the 


ST  A 

ascendancy  of  Russia  over  Poland,  and  sup- 
ported the  interests  of  his  imperial  patroness, 
or  have  acted  in  the  spirit   of  honourable  and 
manly  patriotism,  and  consulted  the  welfare  of 
his  own  subjects,   and   the  prosperity  of  his 
kingdom.       But    although   possessed   of    re- 
spectable  talents   for   a   private    station,    he 
wanted  such  as  were    requisite  to   govern   a 
state  like  Poland,  even  setting  aside  the  de- 
grading  nature  of  the  influence  which   made 
him  its  sovereign.     He  began   his  reign  with 
moderate  councils,   but   was  soon  involved  in 
troubles  in   consequence  of  the  disputes    be- 
tween the  Protestants,  who  were  called  Dis- 
sidents, and  the  Catholics.     The  former  de- 
manded the  execution  of  the  treaty  of  Oliva, 
by  virtue  of  whicli  they  were  entitled  to  cer- 
tain   immunities ;    and    this    demand,    being- 
seconded  by  the  Russian,  English,   and  Prus- 
sian ministers,  it  was  granted,  to  the  extreme 
disgust   of  the  Catholics.     The  bigots  on  this 
event  enrolled  themselves  into  a  confederacy 
for  the  alleged  defence  of  the  faith,  and  a  body 
of  them,  headed  by  a  leader,  termed  Palawski, 
formed  the   daring   resolution  of  carrying  off 
the  king,  which  they  successfully  effected  on 
the  night  of  the  3d  of  November,  1771,  when 
he  was  surrounded  in  his  coach  by  forty  mili- 
tary  conspirators,  who,  in    spite   of    the    re- 
sistance of  his  attendants,   made  themselves 
masters  of  his  person,  and  forced  him  out  of  the 
city.     After    leaving  Warsaw,    however,    the 
party  missed  the  road  which  they  intended  to 
take,  and  a  part  of  the  company  being  sepa- 
rated from   the  rest,   Stanislaus  induced  Ko- 
sinski,   who    headed   the  few  who   remained 
with  him,  to  relent,  and  allow  him  to  write  to 
Warsaw.       A  guard  being   immediately   dis- 
patched from  the  capital,  he  returned  amidst 
the  acclamations  of  the   people,   but  only  to 
remain  powerless  amidst  the  distractions  of  the 
country,  and  to  endure   the  ignominy  of  wit- 
nessing   the    first   infamous   partition   of    his 
country   in    1773,   by    Russia,    Prussia,    and 
Austria,   and    of  being   suffered  to  exercise  a 
mere  limited  and  precarious  authority  over  the 
remainder.     Poland    thus   became  little  more 
than  a  province  of  Russia ;  and  the  orders  of 
the    ambassador    of    Catliarine,    resident    at 
Warsaw,  were  of  more  force  than  those  of  the 
king   and   the  Polish  government.     This  state 
of  things   continued  till    1789,  when  the  dis- 
putes oetween   Russia  and  Prussia   tempted 
the  Poles  to  make  an  effort  for  the  recovery 
of  their  freedom.     On  the  3d  of  May,  1791, 
3  revolution  took  place  in  Poland,  and  a  new 
constitution  was  proclaimed,  which  provided 
for  the  independence  of  the  kingdom.     But 
the  tyrannical  interference  of  her  more  im- 
mediate neighbours,  and  the  apathy  of  other 
European  powers,  prevented  the  liberation  of 
Poland    from    being    completed  ;    instead    of 
which  her  chains  were  more  firmly  rivetted  by 
a  second  partition  of  her  territories  in  1793. 
The  Poles  made,  however,  another  effort  to 
shake  oft'  the  foreign  yoke  in  the   following 
year,  under  the  guidance  of  the  famous  Kos- 
sciusko ;  but  this  contest,  like  the  preceding, 
terminated  unfavOurabl  v  ;   and  the  wretched 
f  V. 


S  T  A 

people,  after  suffering  all  the  horrors  of  war 
and  conquest  from  the  Russians,  led  by  the 
ruthless  Suwarrow,  were  completely  sub- 
jugated, and  their  name  was  erased  from  the 
list  of  Kuropeau  nations.  The  imbecile  mon- 
arch, after  having  been  alternately  the  pup- 
pet of  various  parties,  was  obliged  by  the 
command  of  Catharine  to  sign  a  formal  act  of 
abdication,  November  2.5,  17 9.1.  He  lived  in 
obscurity  till  the  accession  of  the  emperor 
Paul,  when  he  was  invited  to  Petersburg, 
vliere  he  died  April  2,  1793. — Diet.  -Wist,  des 
JL  M.  tin  IKme  S.  Bio/,'.  Univ. 

STANLEY  (JOHN)  "a  singular  instance  of 
musical  genius  contending  against  the  dis- 
advantage of  a  total  loss  of  sight,  which  the 
subject  of  this  article  experienced  when  only 
two  years  old.  He  was  born  about  the  year 
1713,  in  London,  and  the  melancholy  depri- 
vation alluded  to  was  caused  by  his  falling  on 
a  marble  hearth  with  a  basin  in  his  hand.  In 
teaching  him  music,  his  own  amusement  was 
the  first  object  with  Ins  parents,  but  making  a 
considerable  proficiency  in  the  science,  and 
discovering  a  strong  taste  for  it,  he  was  after- 
wards placed  under  Dr  Gieene,  with  whom 
his  progress  was  so  rapid,  that  at.  the  age  of 
eleven  he  obtained  the  situation  of  organist  to 
the  church  of  Allhallows,  Bread- street,  and 
two  years  afterwards  was  elected  to  that  of 
St  Andrew's,  Holborn,  in  preference  to  a  nu- 
merous body  of  candidates.  At  sixteen  he 
took  the  degree  of  Mus.  Bac.  at  Oxford,  and 
in  1734  became  organist  at  the  Temple  church, 
which  is  considered  to  contain  the  finest  in- 
strument in  the  kingdom.  On  the  death  of 
Handel,  Mr  Stanley,  in  conjunction  with 
Smith,  and  afterwards  Liuley,  carried  on  the 
oratorios  till  within  two  years  of  his  death  in 
1786. —  Bio/r.  Diet,  of  Mus. 

STANLEY  (THOMAS)  an  English  writer  of 
considerable  erudition,  was  the  son  of  sir 
Thomas  Stanley,  knight,  of  Laytonstone, 
Essex,  where,  or  at  Cumberlow-green,  in  Hert- 
fordshire, another  residence  of  the  family,  he 
was  born  in  1625.  He  was  educated  at  home, 
under  the  care  of  William  Fairfax,  son  to  the 
celebiated  translator  of  Tasso,  after  which  he 
was  admitted  a  gentleman  commoner  of  Pem- 
broke-hall, Cambridge,  where  in  16-41  betook 
the  degree  of  MA.  After  travelling  upon  the 
continent  he  returned  to  England  during  the 
civil  wars,  and  took  up  his  residence  in  the 
Mid. He  Temple.  He  there  pursued  his  stu- 
dies with  much  assiduity,  and  in  1649  pub- 
lished a  volume  of  original  poems,  chiefly 
amatory,  with  a  number  of  translations  from 
the '  ancif  nt  and  modern  languages.  In  I6.i5 
appeared  the  first  volume,  in  folio,  of  the  work 
by  which  he  is  principally  known,  entitled 
"  The  History  of  Philosophy,  containing  the 
Lives,  Opinions,  Actions,  and  Discourses  of 
the  Philosophers  of  every  Sect,"  of  which 
three  more  volumes  were  published  suc- 
cessively in  Ib.ib,  1660,  and  1662.  All  these 
were  r<  printed  collectively  in  1  6H7  and  1701), 
in  one  volume  folio,  and  in  17-13,  4to.  Its 
reputation  abroad  was  commensurate,  a  Latin 
edition  being  printed  at  Leipsic  in  1711, 


ST  A 

another  translation  of  the  part  relative  to  th 
Oriental  philosophy  having  been  previously 
published  by  Le  Clere  iu  1690.  It  is  rather 
however  a  work  of  industry  and  compilation 
than  of  criticism,  and  the  style  is  deemed 
harsh  and  obscure.  His  other  works  are  an 
edition  of  "  Aeschylus,"  1665 — 4.  He  al«o 
left  behind  farther  monuments  of  his  eru- 
dition, in  MSS.  consisting  of  commentaries  on 
/Eschylus,  in  8  vols.  folio;  "  Adversaria,"  or 
remarks  on  passages  in  various  ancient  au- 
thors ;  "  Prelections  on  the  Characters  of 
Theophrastus  ;"  and  "  A  critical  Essay  (in 
Latin)  on  the  First-fruits  and  Tenth  of  the 
(Hebrew)  Spoil."  The  poems  and  translations 
of  Stanley  were  republished  by  sir  E.  Brydges 
in  1814  and  1815,  with  a  biographical  memoir, 
from  which  this  account  is  cliiefly  taken.  He 
died  in  1678,  leaving  a  son  of  the  same  name, 
who  translated  ^Elian's  "  Various  Histories." 
— Life  by  Sir  E.  Brydges.  Biog.  Brit. 

STANYHURST  (RICHARD)  a  Catholic 
divine  and  historical  writer,  born  at  Dublin 
about  1.V16.  He  studied  at  University  col- 
lege, Oxford,  and  afterwards  at  Lincoln's  Inn. 
He  then  returned  to  his  native  country,  and 
married.  He  was  originally  a  Protestant,  but 
he  forsook  the  church  in  which  he  had  been 
educated,  and  became  a  Catholic.  Going  to 
the  continent  he  entered  into  holy  orders  after 
the  death  of  his  wife,  and  died  himself  at 
Brussels  in  1618.  Stanyhurst  published  se- 
veral works,  historical  and  theological,  of  little 
value.  Among  the  former  is  a  treatise  "  De 
Rebus  in  Hibernia  gestis  ;"  and  he  was  also 
the  author  of  a  translation  of  the  first  four 
books  of  Virgil's  yEneis  into  very  ludicrous 
hexameter  verse. —  Wood's  Alhen.  Oxon. 

STAPEL  (JoiiN  BODOEUS  de)  a  Dutch 
physician,  born  at  Amsterdam  about  the  be- 
ginning of  the  seventeenth  century.  He  stu- 
died at  Leyden,  and  devoted  his  time  to  bo- 
tany and  the  Greek  language.  The  fruit  of 
his  labours  was  an  edition  of  the  botanical 
works  of  Theophrastus,  which  he  had  pre- 
pared for  the  press  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
in  the  flower  of  his  age,  in  1636.  His  re- 
searches appeased  in  "  Theophrasti  Eresii  de 
Historia  Plantarum  Libri  decem,  Grsece  et 
Latine,"  Amst.  1644,  folio,  edited  by  his 
father,  Dr  Engelbert  Stapel.  He  had  com- 
menced a  commentary  on  the  work  of  Theo- 
phrastus "  De  Causis  Plautarum,"  but  his 
MSS.  were  too  imperfect  for  publication. 
Linna-us  has  consecrated  to  the  memory  of 
this  young  botanist  a  genus  of  plants  called 
Stapelia. —  Biog.  Univ.  . 

STAFFER  (JOHN  FREDERIC)  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  theologians  of  the  reformed 
church,  born  at  Bruggin  Switzerland,  in  1708. 
He  studied  at  Berne  and  Marpurg,  and  after- 
wards went  to  Holland.  Returning  into  his 
native  country,  he  applied  his  talents  to  the 
defence  of  Christianity ;  and  he  enriched 
Protestant  theological  literature  with  some 
valuable  works.  These  are  "  Instituiiones 
Theologize  Polemicas,"  Zurich,  1743 — 17, 
r>  vols.  8vo  :  "  The  Foundations  of  the  true 
Religion,"  1746—53,  12  vols.;  and  "  Chris- 


ST  A 

tian  Morality,"  1756 — 66,  6  vols.  8vo.  He 
was  pastor  of  the  parish  of  Diesbach,  in  the 
canton  of  Berne,  an  office  which  he  filled  with 
distinguished  zeal  and  ability.  His  deatli 
took  place  in  1775. — STAFFER  (JOHN)  bro- 
ther of  the  preceding,  was  also  a  Protestant 
divine,  and  was  professor  of  theology  in  the 
university  of  Berne.  He  died  in  1801,  aged 
eighty-two.  He  was  the  author  of  "  Theologia 
analytica,"  1763,  4to  ;  and  he  published 
eleven  volumes  of  sermons,  to  which  another 
was  added  after  his  death. — Biog.  Univ. 

STAPLETON,  or  STAPYLTON  (sir  Ro- 
BEHT)  a  soldier  and    poet  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  descended  of  a  respectable  Catholic 
family,  settled  at  Carleton,  in  Yorkshire.    He 
was  sent  to  the  continent  by  his  friends,  for 
education,  and  was  brought  up  in  the  Scotch 
college   at  Douay,  notwithstanding  which,  on 
his  return  to  England,  he  abjured  the  Romish 
church,   and  entered  into  the   service  of  the 
court.     Charles  I  gave  him   the  appointment 
of  one  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  bedchamber  to 
the  prince   of  Wales,  whose  fortunes  he  fol- 
lowed ;  and  on   the  breaking  out  of  the  civil 
wars,  distinguished  himself  by  his  gallant  be- 
haviour at  the  battle  of  Edgehill  in  1642.  For 
his  good  service  on  this  occasion,  he  received 
the  honour  of  knighthood  at  the  king's  hand, 
and  afterwards  received  an  honorary  degree  of 
LLD.  from  the  university  of  Oxford.     On  the 
restoration     of    monarchy,    he    accompanied 
Charles  II  to  London,  and  remained  about 
the  court  till  his  decease  in  1669.     As  a  poet 
lie  is  not  without  merit,  which  is  more  espe- 
cially exhibited  in  his  translations  of  Juvenal 
and  MUSEEUS.     Four  plays  of  which  he  was 
the  author  are  less  known  ;  they  are  entitled 
"  The  Slighted  Maid,"  "  The  Step-mother," 
"  Hero    and    Leander,"    and    "  The    Royal 
Charm."     He  also  published  a  translation  of 
Strada's   History  of  the  War  in    Flanders — 
Gibber's  Lives. 

STARCK  (JonN   AUGUSTUS  von)  a  Ger- 
man divine   and  theological  writer,  who  was 
preacher  to    the  court  of  Hesse    Darmstadt. 
He  was  born  at  Schwerin  in  1741,  and  being 
brought  up   a    Lutheran,  he   applied  himself 
with  success  to  the  study  of  theology  and  the 
Oriental  languages.     In    1761   he    became  a 
member   of    the   Teutonic   academy   of    Got- 
tingen  ;  and  the  following  year  he  was  invited 
to  fill  the  chair  of  Eastern  literature  and  anti- 
quities at  St  Petersburg.     Having  conceived  a 
disgust  for  the  doctrines  of  Luther,  from  the 
perusal  of  the  writings  of  that  reformer.  Bos- 
suet's   "  Histoire   des  Variations  "  completed 
his  dissatisfaction  with  the  faith  in  which  he 
had  been  educated.     The  result  was  a  journey 
to  Paris,  where  lie  made  his  abjuration  of  Pro- 
testantism, February  8,     1766.     Being   dis- 
appointed of   obtaining,  as  he  probably  ex- 
pected,  some  lucrative   establishment  among 
the  Catholics,  he  yielded  to  the  solicitations 
of  his  friends  and  relatives  in  Germany,  and 
returning  thither,  resumed  the  exercise  of  his 
former  religion.     His  abjuration  was  privately 
made,  and  in  consequence  of  his  subsequent 
conduct  it  remained  a  secret.     In  1770  he  be- 


ST  A 

came  professor  of  divinity  and  court  preacher 
at  Konigsberg,  which  offices  he  resigned    in 
1777   for   the  chair  of  philosophy  at  Mittati, 
and  in  1781  he  was   appointed   first  preacher 
at  the  'court  of   Darmstadt,   where    he    was 
highly  esteemed  by  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse, 
who  in  1807  conferred  on  him  the  grand  cross 
of  the  order  of  Louis  pour  le  merite  ;  and  in 
1811  made  him  a  baron.     He  died  in  March, 
1816.      His    works    are  numerous.      Among 
the  most  important  are  "  The  History  of  the 
first  Age  of  the  Christian  Church,"  1779—80, 
3  vols.  8vo  ;  "  The  Triumph  of  Philosophy  in 
the  eighteenth  Century,"  1803,  2  vols  ;  "The 
Banquet  of  Theodulus,"  translated  into  French 
by  the   abbe  de  Kentsinger,  and  published  at 
Paris  under  the  title  of  "  Entretiens  philoso- 
phiques  sur  la  Reunion  des  differentes  Com- 
munions Chretiennes,"   8vo.     He   also  wrote 
on  freemasonry. — Bing.  Univ. 

STARK  (WILLIAM)  an  ingenious  physi- 
cian   and    physiological   experimentalist,    de- 
scended from  a  Scottish  family,  but  born  at 
Manchester  in  1740.  He  studied  under  Adam 
Smith   and   Dr  Black   at  Glasgow,  and  com- 
pleted his    education  at   Edinburgh,   London, 
and  Leyden,  where  he   graduated  as  MD.  in 
1768  or  1769.     He  then  returned  to  London, 
and  commenced  a  series  of  interesting  but  ec- 
centric researches  on  diet.     He  made  himself 
the   subject  of   a    multitude   of   culinary  ex- 
periments, the  object  of  which  seems  to  have 
been  precisely  contrary  to  that  of  the  famous 
Dr  Kitchener.     The  strange  and  impalatable 
combinations  of  food  on  which  he  successively 
subsisted  for  some  months,  manifestly  iniured 
his  health,  which  suffered  also  from    chagrin 
and  disappointment  in  liis  expectations  of  suc- 
cess  in  his   profession.     Thus   a    martyr    to 
science,  after    much   suffering,   he  died,   Fe- 
bruary 23,   1770.     The  works   of  Dr  Stark, 
containing    an    account    of    his    experiments, 
were    published  by    Dr  Carmichael    Smyth, 
1788,  4to. — Encyclop.  Brit. 

STATIUS  (PuBLius  PAPINIUS)  a  Roman 
epic  poet,  born  at  Naples  in  the  reign  of  the 
emperor  Domitian.  He  was  educated  by  his 
father,  who  was  a  rhetorician.  His  principal 
productions  are  two  epic  poems,  the  "  The- 
bais,"  in  twelve  books  ;  and  the  "  Achilleis,"  in 
two  books,  which  last  is  unfinished.  These 
works  are  both  dedicated  to  Domitian,  whom 
the  adulatory  bard  ranks  among  the  gods.  The 
style  of  Statius  is  bombastic  and  affected, 
often  exhibiting  the  art  of  the  declaimer  rather 
than  that  of  the  poet ;  but  he  probably  stu- 
died the  taste  of  his  contemporaries,  as  he 
attracted  general  admiration  in  his  own  time, 
and  even  some  modern  critics  have  consi- 
dered him  as  inferior  only  to  Virgil.  He  wrote 
some  shorter  poems,  called  "  Sylvas,"  which 
have  been  distributed  into  four  books,  and 
some  of  these  compositions  are  eminently 
beautiful.  Statius  is  supposed  to  have  been 
destitute  of  the  gifts  of  fortune,  as  lie  is  said 
to  have  supported  himself  by  writing  for  the 
stage  ;  none  however  of  his  dramatic  compo- 
sitions- are  extant.  He  died  about  the  hun- 
dredth year  of  the  Christian  era.  Among  the 


ST  A 

best  editions  of  the  works  of  Statius  are  those 
of  Harthius,  Leips.  1664,  2  vola.  4to  ;  and  the 
Variorum,  Lugd.  Bat.  3671,  8vo  ;  of  the  The- 
bais  separately  that  of  Warrington,  J.778,  2 
vols.  12mo,  and  of  the  Sylvae  Notis  Mark- 
lancii,  Lond.  1728,  4to. — STATIUS  (C^ci.Lius) 
was  a  comic  poet  of  the  age  of  Ennius,  who 
was  a  native  of  Gaul,  and  originally  a  slave. 
His  language  was  inelegant,  but  he  is  said  to 
have  possessed  much  dramatic  talent. — Mo- 
reri. 

STAUNTON,  bart.  (sirGsoRGE  LEONARD) 
a  modern  traveller  and  diplomatist,  who  was  a 
native  of  the  county  of  Galway  in  Ireland.  He 
was  destined  for  the  medical  profession,  with 
a  view  to  which  lie  studied  at  the  university  of 
Montpellier,  and  took  the  degree  of  MD. 
About  the  year  1762  he  established  himself  in 
practice  in  the  island  of  Grenada  in  the  West 
Indies,  where  he  obtained  the  patronage  of 
the  governor,  lord  Macartney,  who  made  him 
his  secretary  ;  and  he  likewise  held  the  office 
of  attorney-general  of  Grenada,  till  the  taking 
of  that  island  by  the  French.  His  lordship 
being  appointed  governor  of  Madras,  took  Mr 
Staunton  with  him  to  the  East  Indies,  where 
lie  was  employed  in  the  arrest  of  general 
Stuart,  who  had  opposed  the  authority  of  the 
governor.  He  also  induced  the  French  ad- 
miral Suffren  to  suspend  hostilities  before 
Gondelour,  previously  to  the  official  announce- 
ment of  the  peace  in  1714  ;  and  he  nego- 
ciated  a  treaty  with  Tippoo  Saib.  Returning 
to  England,  the  East  India  Company  repaid 
his  services  with  a  pension  of  500/.  a-year,  the 
king  created  him  a  baronet,  and  the  univer- 
sity of  Oxford  bestowed  on  him  the  diploma 
of  LLD.  When  lord  Macartney  went  as  am- 
bassador to  China,  sir  George  accompanied 
him  as  secretary  of  legation,  with  the  provi- 
sional title  of  envoy  extraordinary  and  minis- 
ter plenipotentiary.  Of  that  mission  and  of 
the  empire  and  people  of  China  he  published 
an  interesting  account  in  1797,  2  vols.  4to, 
which  was  translated  into  French  and  Ger- 
man. He  died  in  London,  in  January  1801. 
— Gent.  Mag.  Bing.  Univ. 

STAVELEY  (THOMAS)  an  English  lawyer 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  eminent  for  his 
acquaintance  with  the  antiquities  of  his  native 
country.  He  was  born  of  a  respectable  family 
at  Cussington  in  Leicestershire,  and  having 
gone  through  a  regular  course  of  academical 
education  at  Peterhouse,  Cambridge,  became 
a  member  of  the  society  of  the  Inner  Temple, 
by  which  he  was  in  1654  regularly  called  to 
the  bar.  The  local  influence  of  his  family 
having  procured  him  in  1662  the  situation  of 
steward  of  the  records  of  Leicester,  an  ap- 
pointment previously  filled  by  a  relation,  he 
removed  to  that  city,  and  employed  his  leisure 
hours  in  a  manner  most  congenial  to  his  favou- 
rite study  of  antiquities,  by  compiling  a  history 
of  Leicestershire,  an  undertaking  to  which  the 
access  afforded  him  by  his  post  to  rare  and  in- 
teresting documents  materially  contributed. 
He  was  also  the  author  of  a  "  History  of 
English  Churches,"  8vo.  1712;  and  of  a 
singular  volume  exposing  the  avarice  of  the 


STE 

Romish  church,  entitled  "  The  Romish  Horse- 
leech," 8vo,  1674.  A  total  depression  01 
spirits,  the  result  of  laborious  application, 
clouded  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  which  ter- 
minated in  1683. — Nichols's  Hist,  of  Leicester- 
shire. 

STAVEREN  (AUGUSTUS  van)  a  Dutch 
critic  of  the  last  century.  He  was  a  native  of 
Leyden,  where  he  became  rector  of  the  philo- 
logical school.  In  1734  he  published  a  va- 
riorum edition  of  Cornelius  Nepos,  Lugd.  Bat. 
8vo  ;  the  same  author  with  a  more  condensed 
commentary,  1755,  12mo  ;  and  a  third  edi- 
tion, augmented  and  improved  from  his  MSS. 
appeared  after  his  death,  "  curante  Carolo 
Antonio  Wetstenio,"  1773,  8vo.  He  died  in 
1772,  aged  sixty-eight. — Saxii  Onom.  Lit. 

STAY  (BENEDICT)  a  modern  Latin  poet, 
born  at  Ragusa  in  1714.  He  was  educated 
at  a  college  of  the  Jesuits,  and  gave  early 
proof  of  his  talents  for  poetical  composition. 
He  attempted  didactic  versification  in  the 
style  of  Lucretius  ;  and  in  1732  appeared  his 
"  Essay  on  Man,"  in  which  he  has  expounded 
with  skill  and  elegance  the  philosophy  of  Des- 
cartes. He  went  to  Rome,  and  was  made 
professor  of  rhetoric  and  history  in  the  college 
of  Wisdom  in  that  city.  His  reputation  in- 
duced the  pope  to  appoint  him  Latin  secre- 
tary at  the  Vatican  ;  and  in  1769  Clement  XI V 
placed  him  at  the  head  of  the  office  of  briefs 
for  princes,  one  of  the  most  important  posts  at 
the  court  of  Rome.  He  was  successively  made 
a  canon  of  St  Mary  Major,  domestic  prelate, 
consultator  of  the  judex,  and  dotary  of  the 
penitentiary.  Pius  VI  intended  to  have  raised 
him  to  the  purple  ;  but  this  design  was  pre- 
vented by  the  political  troubles  in  which  his 
holiness  was  involved  in  the  latter  part  of  his 
reign.  Stay  lived  in  retirement  during  tha* 
disastrous  peiiod  ;  and  on  the  accession  of 
Pius  VII  he  begged  to  be  excused  from  en- 
gaging again  in  public  affairs.  He  was  how- 
ever employed  to  prepare  the  bull  for  the  re- 
organization of  the  papal  government.  His 
death  took  place  February  25,  1801.  His 
works  are  "  Philosophise  [Cartesian*]  versi- 
bus  traditae,  libri  vi.  ;"  "  Philosophic  recen- 
tioris  [Neutonianas]  verss.  trad.  lib.  x."  with 
notes,  &c.  by  father  Boscovich,  3  vols.  8vo  ; 
and  Latin  discourses  before  the  sacred  col- 
lege.— Fabroni  Vit.  Italor.  Bing.  Univ. 

STEDMAN  (JOHN  GABRIEL)  a  military 
officer,  was  born  in  Scotland  in  174,5.  Little 
is  known  of  his  birth  or  education  ;  hut  it 
appears  that  he  obtained  a  commission  in  the 
Dutch  service,  and  was  employed  in  an  expe 
dition  against  the  revolted  negroes  of  Suri- 
nam. Of  this  enterprise  he  has  published  an 
entertaining  account  in  two  vols.  quarto,  in 
which  much  curious  and  useful  information  is 
blended  with  some  romance  and  eccentricity  in 
the  way  of  personal  adventure.  On  his  re- 
tirement from  the  Dutch  service  he  resided  at 
Tiverton  in  Devonshire.  A  "  History  of  the 
American  War,''  has  been  improperly  attri- 
buted to  him.  He  died  in  1797. — Gent.  Mag 

STEELE  (sir  RICHARD)  the  first  of  the 
modern  class  of  essayists  for  a  long  time  pe- 


STE 

culiar  to  this  country,  was  born   at  Dublin  in  ! 
1671.     His  family  was  of  English  extraction,  i 
and  respectable,    his  father   being  counsellor 
and  secretary  to  James,  the  first  duke  of  Or- 
mond.   He  was  educated  at  the  Charterhouse, 
whence  he  removed  to  Merton  college,  Oxford. 
He  left  the  university  without  taking  a  degree, 
and,   a  thing  not  unusual  at  that   time  with 
needy  young  men  of  good  connections,  he  for 
some   time  rode   as  a  private  trooper  in  the 
dragoon  guards.     His  frank  and  generous  tem- 
per soon  however  gained  him  friends,  and  lie 
obtained    an    ensigncy   in    the    foot    guards. 
Being  led  into  many  irregularities,  he  drew  up 
and  published  a  little   treatise  as  a  testimony 
against    himself,    entitled    "  The     Christian 
liero,"   the  seriousness    of   which    work    ex- 
cited much  ridicule    among  his  companions, 
'his  conduct,   as    might   be  expected,   falling 
far    short   of    his  theory.     For   this    reason, 
as  he   himself  observed,  to  enliven  his  cha- 
racter,  he    wrote    his    first  comedy,   entitled 
"  The  Funeral,  or  Grief  a-Ia-mode,"  which 
was  acted  in  1702,  with  considerable  success. 
About  this  time  he  appears  to  have  been  re- 
commended to  the   notice  of   king  William, 
who  was  only  prevented  by   death  from  pro- 
viding for  him.     He  however  obtained  a  com- 
pany  in  a  regiment  of  fusileers,  by  the  in- 
terest of  lord  Cutts,  to  whom  he  was  secretary, 
and  through  the  recommendation  of  Addison, 
he  was  appointed,  in  the  beginning  of  the  reign 
of  Anne,  to  the  post  of  writer  of  the  London 
Gazette.     His  comedy  of  "  The  Tender  Hus- 
band" successfully  appeared  in  1703,  and  his 
"  Lying   Lover"  with  less  success  in    1704 
In  1709  the  happy  idea  occurred  to   him  of 
that  series  of  periodical   papers  so  celebrated 
under  the  title  of  "  The  Tatler."     Although 
comparatively    crude    in  its   plan,  which,  in- 
cluded a  portion  of  the  information  of  a  com- 
mon newspaper,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  for 
the  genuine  raciness  of  the  humour,  and  spon- 
taneous  vivacity    and  urbanity  of  its  tone,  it 
has  been  exceeded  by  the   most  celebrated  of 
its  successors.     As  it  sided  with  the  existing 
ministry,  and  was  extensively  circulated,   its 
projector  was  appointed  one  of  the   commis- 
sioners   of  the   stamp  duties.     In    1711    the 
"  Tatler  "  was  brought  to  a  close,   and  suc- 
ceeded by  the  still   more  celebrated   "  Spec- 
tator,"  in  which   the   assistance   of  Addison 
and  other  eminent  writers  was  more  regular 
than  in  its  predecessor,  although   Steele,  as 
before,    supported    the    chief   burthen.     The 
"  Spectator"  terminating,  he  commenced   the 
"  Guardian"  in   1713,   and  also  produced   a 
political  periodical,  called  the  "  Englishman," 
with  several  other  political  pieces  of  temporary 
celebrity.     His  object  was  now  to  obtain  a  seat 
in  parliament,  for  which  purpose  he  resigned 
his  place  in  the  stamp  office,  and   a  pension. 
He  was   accordingly  elected  for  Stockbridge, 
but  was  soon  after  expelled   the  house  for  an 
alleged  libel  in  the  last  number  of  the  "  En- 
glishman," and  in   another  paper  called  the 
"  Crisis."     His  expulsion  being   purely    the 
result  of  temporary  ministerial  resentment,  he 
regained  favour  on  the  accession  of  George  I, 


STE 

and  received  the  appointments  of  surveyor  of 
the  royal  stables,  and  governor  of  the  king's 
comedians,  and  was  knighted.     He  also  again 
entered  the  house  of  Commons  as  member  for 
Boroughbridge,  and   received   5001.  from   sir 
llobert  Walpole  for  special  services.     On  the 
suppression  of  the  lebellion   of  1715,  he  was 
appointed   one  of  the  commissioners   for  the 
forfeited   estates  in  Scotland,  when  he  busied 
himself  in  an  abortive  scheme  for  a  union  be- 
tween the  churches  of  England  and  Scotland. 
Unhappily  devoid  of  all  prudential  attention 
to  economy,   although   he  married  two  wives 
successively  with  respectable  fortunes,  he  was 
uniformly   embarrassed  in  his  ciicumstances, 
one    cause    of    which   was    his  love    of    pro- 
jecting.    Always  engaged  in  some  scheme  or 
other,    few  or   none   of  which    succeeded,  lie 
wasted  his  regular  income  in  the  anticipation 
of  a  greater,   until  absolute  distress  was  the 
consequence.     A  scheme  for  bringing  fish  to 
market  alive,  in    particular  involved  him  in 
much  embarrassment,  which  was   heightened 
by  the  loss  of  his  theatrical  patent,    in  con- 
sequence of  his  opposition  to  the  peerage  bill. 
He  appealed  to   the  public  in  a  paper  called 
the  "  Theatre,"  and  in  1720  honourably  dis- 
tinguished himself  against  the   famous  South 
Sea  scheme.     He  was  restored  the  following 
year  to  his  authority  over  Drury-lane  theatre, 
and  soon  after  wrote  his  comedy  of"  The  Con- 
scious Lovers,"  on  a  hint  from  Terence,  first 
acted  in  1722,  and  dedicated  to  the  king,  who 
rewarded   the  author   with   500/.     His  pecu- 
niary  difficulties  however  increased,   and  he 
was  obliged  to  sell  his  share  in  the  playhouse, 
and  retire  to  a  seat  in  Wales,  his  property  by 
his  second  wife,  where  a  paralytic  stroke  in 
the  first  instance  impaired  his  understanding, 
and  finally  terminated  his  life,  on   the   1st  of 
September,  1729.     The  general  character  of 
sir  Richard  Steele  may  be  estimated  by  the 
foregoing  sketch.     As  a  public  man  he  sup- 
plies an  example  of  one  of  those  many  indi- 
viduals of  open  and  originally  generous  spirit, 
who,  by  the  neglect  of  prudence   and  a  due 
regard  to  economy,  are  reduced  to  expedients 
unworthy  of  their  character,  and  even  opposed 
to  their  principles.     In  this  respect  his  con- 
trast to  his  friend  Addison  was  complete  ;  and 
it  is  to  be  hoped   that  a  harsh  recourse  to  law 
for  a  pecuniary  claim  on  the  part  of  the  latter, 
does  not,  with  all  faults,  give  Steele  a  claim  to 
a   higher  degree    of    unsophisticated  regard. 
Nor   is    it    quite  certain    that,  as  to    original 
humour,   and  a  careless   felicity  of  social  ob- 
servance, the  projector  of  the  "  Taller"  was 
not   equal    to    his  great  coadjutor,    although 
with     less   precision    and   refinement.      The 
comedies  of  Steele  at  least    are    superior  to 
the    "  Drummer,"  and  in   having  nothing  to 
oppose  to  '•'  Cato,"   he  will  lose   little  in  the 
fair  race  of  comparison  ;    not  to  mention  his 
indisputable  claim  to  the  invention  of  a  species 
of   periodical,    which   may  be   said    to    have 
given  a  distinctive  tone   to  British  sentiment, 
manners,   and  general  feeling.       Besides  the 
w6rks  already  mentioned,  sir  Richard  Steele 
published    two  periodical    papers   called   the 


ST  E 

"  Lover,"  and  the  "  Reader,"  as  we/1  as 
various  political  pieces  too  numerous  for  de- 
tail.—  Riiiir.  Brit. 

STKEN  (JAN)  a  distinguished  painter,  was 
born  at  Leyden  in  1636.  He  studied  under 
Brouwer  and  Van  Goyen,  and  married  the 
daughter  of  the  latter.  Being  imprudent  and 
intemperate  in  his  habits,  lie  neglected  all  the 
advantages  which  lay  in  his  way,  until  finally 
reduced  to  paint  for  a  mere  subsistence.  He 
had  a  stiong,  manly  style  of  execution,  the 
result  of  native  talent  rather  than  of  applica- 
tion, which,  together  with  a  fine  feeling  of 
humour,  conducted  him  to  a  high  degree  of 
professional  excellence.  Among  his  capital 
pictures  are  mentioned,  a  Mountebank  sur- 
rounded with  Spectators,  a  Quaker's  Funeral, 
and  a  Marriage  Contract,  all  which  bear  a 
striking  air  of  nature  and  probability.  His 
works  did  not  obtain  an  extraordinary  price 
during  his  life,  but  after  his  death,  being  far 
from  numerous,  they  so  rose  in  value  as  to  be- 
come some  of  the  highest  priced  of  his  pe- 
culiar school.  His  death  is  generally  dated 
1689,  but  by  Houbraken  eleven  years  earlier. 
— Pilkington.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds' s  Discourses. 

STEEVENS  (GEORGE)  a  celebrated  dra- 
matic critic  and  biographer.  He  was  born  at 
Stepnev%  where  his  father  resided,  who  was  an 
East  India  director.  His  education  was  con- 
ducted at  the  grammar-school  at  Kingston, 
and  at  King's  college,  Cambridge.  He  applied 
himself  to  the  cultivation  of  polite  literature, 
and  in  1766  he  published  twenty  of  the  plays 
of  Shakspeare,  with  notes,  in  4  vols.  8vo.  The 
skill  which  he  displayed  as  a  commentator 
induced  Dr  Johnson  to  take  him  as  a  co- 
adjutor in  the  edition  of  the  works  of  our  great 
dramatist,  which  he  published  in  1773,  10 
vols.  8vo.  A  new  edition  of  the  Shakspeare 
of  Johnson  and  Steevens  appeared  in  1785  ; 
and  in  1793  Mr  Steevens  produced  an  en- 
larged and  improved  edition  of  the  same  work 
in  15  vols.  8vo.  He  was  one  of  the  contri- 
butors to  Nichols's  "  Biographical  Anecdotes 
of  Hogarth  ;"  and  he  also  assisted  in  the 
"  Bicgrapbia  Dramatica."  His  death  took 
place  at  Hampstead,  January  22,  1800.  Mr 
Steevens  left  a  valuable  library  of  dramatic 
And  other  English  literature,  of  which  a  cata- 
logue appeared  after  his  decease. — Nichols's 
Literari/  Anecdotes.  Monthly  Mag. 

STEFFANI  ( AGOSTINO)  an  Italian  prelate, 
eminent  as  an  ecclesiastic,  a  musician,  and  a 
diplomatist.  He  was  born  in  1650  at  Cas- 
tello  Franco,  a  small  town  in  the  Venetian 
states,  and  was  brought  up  as  a  chorister  in  a 
neighbouring  church,  till  attracting  the  atten- 
tion of  a  German  nobleman  by  the  sweetness 
of  his  voice,  he  was  by  him  carried  into  Ba- 
varia, and  received  a  classical  education  ;  his 
musical  studies  being  especially  superintended 
by  Ercole  Bernabei.  Taking  holy  orders,  he 
obtained  an  abbey,  and  distinguishing  himself 
by  his  compositions,  both  in  sacred  and  secular 
music,  was  appointed  by  the  duke  of  Bruns- 
wick, father  of  George  I.  of  England,  to  direct 
the  opera  at  Hanover.  While  in  this  situa- 
tion he  produced  several  operas,  the  principal 


S  T£ 

of  which  are  his  "  Alexander  the  Great," 
"  Alcibiades,"  and  "  Orlando,"  performed 
between  the  years  1694  and  1700.  He  uas 
also  celebrated  for  his  madrigals  and  some 
beautiful  vocal  duets,  afterwards  avowedly 
imitated  by  Handel  in  those  composed  by  him 
for  queen  Caroline.  Becoming  a  favourite 
with  his  adopted  sovereign  he  turned  his 
attention  to  politics  as  well  as  music  ;  and 
exerted  himself  so  effectually  towards  erecting 
the  duchy  of  Brunswick  Lunenburg  into  an 
electorate,  that  he  obtained  from  his  master  a 
pension  of  fifteen  hundred  rix-dollars.  Shortly 
after  Innocent  XI  conferred  on  him  the  bi- 
shopric of  Spigna,  from  which  period,  although 
he  still  continued  to  amuse  himself  by  musi- 
cal composition,  he  no  longer  put  ,h.is  own 
name  to  his  productions,  but  used  that  of  Gre- 
gorio  Puia,  his  secretary.  About  the  year 
1724  the  London  Academy  of  Ancient  Music 
chose  him  their  president  ;  and  several  spe- 
cimens of  his  style  are  to  be  found  in  the  col- 
lections of  Stevens  and  Dr  Crotch,  especially 
a  beautiful  "  Qui  diligit  Mariam,"  in  the  lat- 
ter. His  death  took  place  at  Frankfort  in 
1730. —  Biog.  Diet  of  Mus. 

STEINBACH  (£RWIN  von)  a  German  ar- 
chitect, who  lived  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
thirteenth  century.  The  celebrated  Minster 
of  Stvasburg  was  begun  and  carried  on  under 
his  superintendance  for  twenty-eight  years  ; 
and  he  was  therefore  probably  the  designer  of 
that  edifice,  which  is  said  to  be  a  specimen  of 
the  purest  Gothic  style. — Mailer's  Essay  on 
the  Origin  and  Progress  of  Gothic  Architecture. 
Elmr.s's  Diet,  of  the  Fine  Arts. — See  HILTZ 
(JOHN). 

STELLA  (JAMES)  an  eminent  painter,  was 
born  at  Lyons  in  1596,  being  the  son  of  a 
Flemish  artist,  who  settled  in  that  city.  At 
the  age  of  twenty  he  travelled  into  Italy  for 
improvement,  and  at  Florence  engaged  the 
notice  of  the  grand  duke  Cosmo  II,  who  em- 
ployed him  in  his  service  for  several  years, 
during  which  time  he  exhibited  many  proofs 
of  his  skill  in  painting,  engraving,  and  design. 
He  then  went  to  Rome,  where  he  acquired  so 
great  a  reputation,  that  on  his  return  to  France 
cardinal  Richelieu  presented  him  to  the  king, 
who  assigned  him  a  pension,  and  apartments 
in  the  Louvre.  After  executing  several  great 
works  for  the  king  and  cardinals,  he  was  de- 
corated with  the  order  of  St  Michael,  and  re- 
ceived the  brevet  of  first  painter  to  the  crown. 
His  manner  of  painting  resembled  that  of 
Poussin,  but  although  upon  the  whole  an  ex- 
cellent artist,  he  was  defective  in  spirit  and 
force.  Ilis  principal  works  are  in  the  churches 
of  Rome,  Paris,  Lyons,  and  Abbeville.  Many 
of  them  are  engraved.  He  died  in  1647. — 
D'Argeiiville.  Pilkingti  n. 

STELLER  or  STOELLER  (GEORGE  WIL- 
LIAM) a  German  physician  and  traveller,  born 
at  Windsheim  in  Franconia,  in  1709.  He 
studied  at  Halle,  and  afterwards  went  to  take 
his  degrees  at  Berlin.  Thence  he  proceeded 
to  Russia,  where  he  became  physician  to  Pro  - 
copius,  the  learned  archbishop  of  Novogorod, 
with  whom  he  continued  till  the  death  of 


ST  E 

fchat  prelate.     Having  been  nominated  an  ad- 
wnct  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  at  Peters- 
burg, lie  offered  to  join  a  commission  for  ex- 
ploring  Siberia   and   Great  Tartary  ;    and   in 
3738  he  commenced  his  journey,  and   arriving 
the  year  following  at  Kamtschatka,  he  accom- 
panied commodore  Behring  in  his  voyage  to 
the  north-west    coast   of  America.      On  the 
death  of  that  commander  he   succeeded  to  the 
direction  of  the  expedition,  and  after  encoun- 
tering great  suffering  he  returned  to  Kamt- 
schatka.    He  received  orders  to  repair  to  Pe- 
tersburg.    In  March  1745  he  was  at  Yakutsch 
in  Siberia,  on  his  way  thither  ;  and  a  painter, 
whom  he  had  sent  forward,  arrived  at  Moscow 
with   all    his  effects;  but  the  fate  of  Steller 
himself  is  enveloped  in  obscurity.     It  is  only 
certain  that  he  died  soon  after,  as  he  was  bu- 
ried near  Tumen,  November  12,   174.5.     He 
was  the  author  of  "  A  Description  of  Kamt- 
schatka, its  Inhabitants,  their  Manners,  Cus- 
toms, &c. "published  at  Leipsic,  in  1774,  8vo; 
a  Journal,  published  by  Pallas  ;  and  memoirs 
in   "  Novi  Commentarii  Acad.  Scient.  Petro- 
polit."  all    containing   much    information    re- 
lating  to  natural    history   and    geography. — 
Bioo-.  Univ.     Aikins  Gen.  Biog. 

STENBOCH  or  STEIN  BOCK  (MAGNUS) 
a  Swedish  general,  born  in  1664.  He  made 
his  first  campaign  in  the  war  of  the  allies 
against  France,  under  the  princes  of  Waldeck 
and  Baden.  In  1700  he  followed  Charles  XII 
in  Russia,  Poland,  and  Saxony  ;  and  espe- 
cially distinguished  himself  at  the  battle  of 
Narva.  In  1707  he  returned  to  Sweden,  and 
assumed  the  government  of  the  province  of 
Scania  ;  and  in  1709  he  defeated  the  Danes 
at  Helsingborg.  He  gained  the  battle  of  Ga- 
dembusch  against  the  Danes  and  Saxons  in 
1712,  and  the  following  year  burnt  Altona. 
From  that  time  he  experienced  nothing  but 
misfortunes  ;  and  having  shut  himself  up  in 
the  fortress  of  Tonningen,  he  was  besieged 
and  obliged  to  capitulate  for  want  of  provi- 
sions. He  was  conveyed  a  prisoner  to  Den- 
mark, where  he  died  in  1717.  He  wrote  an 
account  of  his  reverses  of  fortune  and  his  suf- 
ferings, published  in  a  collection  of  Swedish 
anecdotes  in  1773.  His  life  has  been  written 
in  Swedish  by  Laenboru,  Stockholm,  1757 — 
65,  4  vols.  4to. —  Biog.  Diet,  of  Gezelius.  Biog. 
Univ. 

STENNET  (SAMUEL)  an  anabaptist  cler- 
gyman, who  was  pastor  of  a  congregation  in 
London,  born  in  1727,  died  August  22,  1795, 
at  his  residence  at  Muswell-hill  near  High- 
gate,  in  Middlesex  He  was  a  man  much  re- 
spected among  the  Protestant  dissenters,  both 
for  the  excellence  of  his  character  and  for  his 
learning  and  ability.  Besides  some  single 
sermons,  be  was  the  author  of  "  Discourses  on 
Personal  Religion,"  "2  vols.  12mo  ;  "  Dis- 
courses on  Domestic  Duties,"  8vo  ;  "  Ser- 
mons on  the  Divine  Authority  and  various 
Use  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,"  1790,  8vo.  He 
also  carried  on  a  controversy  on  the  subject  of 
baptism  with  Dr  Stephen  Addiugton. — Reuss's 
Cat.  of  Eng.  A  nth. 

STENO   II.  or  STENO  STURE,  admini- 


ST  E 

strator  of  the  kingdom  of  Sweden,  succeeded 
his  father  in  that  office  in  1513.  His  govern- 
ment giving  offence  to  a  part  of  his  subjects, 
who  suspected  him  of  arbitrary  designs,  they 
resolved  to  depose  him,  and  invited  Christiern 
II,  king  of  Denmark,  to  their  assistance.  That 
prince  having  invaded  Sweden,  and  laid  siege 
to  Stockholm,  Steno  marched  against  .him.  and 
obliged  him  to  raise  the  siege,  having  taken 
the  baggage  of  the  Danes  and  many  prisoners, 
including  officers  and  persons  of  distinction. 
The  Danish  fleet  being  detained  by  contrary 
winds,  and  a  great  mortality  taking  place 
among  the  troops,  owing  to  a  scarcity  of  water 
and  provisions,  Christiern  sent  to  the  admi- 
nistrator to  propose  a  truce,  which  the  latter 
readily  granted,  and  sent  several  boats  loaded 
with  provisions  for  the  use  of  the  king  and  his 
navy.  After  some  time  Christiern  invited 
Steno  on  board  the  fleet  to  treat  of  peace,  but 
the  senate  opposed  his  acceptance  of  the  in- 
sidious proposal ;  and  Christiern  having  trea- 
cherously seized  some  Swedish  noblemen,  set 
sail  for  Denmark.  He  sent  a  second  expedi- 
tion against  Sweden,  and  a  battle  taking  place, 
Steno  was  killed  by  a  cannon-shot,  in  conse- 
quence of  which  his  people  were  disheartened, 
and  the  country  ffll  under  the  power  of  the 
Danish  tyrant.  These  events  took  place  in 
1519. —  Univ.  Hist.  Biog.  Univ. 

STENO  (NICHOLAS)  an  anatomist,  born  at 
Copenhagen  January  10,  1638.  His  father, 
who  was  goldsmith  to  Christiern  IV,  was  a 
strict  Lutheran,  and  he  instructed  his  son  in 
the  principles  of  the  Reformation.  He  stu- 
died professionally  under  Bartholine,  Bor- 
richius,  and  Paulli  at  Copenhagen,  whence, 
after  taking  the  degree  of  doctor,  he  proceeded 
to  Leyden,  attracted  by  the  celebrity  of  pro- 
fessor Sylvius.  There  lie  also  became  ac- 
quainted with  PMasius,  to  whom  he  demon- 
strated the  excretory  duct  of  the  parotid 
gland,  since  called  Ductus  Stenonianus,  from 
the  discoverer,  who  was  subsequently  obliged 
to  vindicate  his  title  to  the  discovery  against 
the  claims  of  Blasius.  After  travelling  for 
improvement  in  Germany,  France,  Holland, 
and  Italy,  he  became  physician  to  Ferdinand 
II,  grand  duke  of  Tuscany.  He  had  previously 
embraced  the  Catholic  faith  at  Paris,  having 
been  converted  by  the  eloquent  arguments  of 
the  famous  Bossuet.  In  1 672  Christiern  V 
offered  him  the  anatomical  chair  at  Copen- 
hagen, which  he  accepted  ;  but  though  the 
free  exercise  of  his  religion  had  been  guaran- 
teed, he  experienced  so  much  annoyance  from 
the  bigotry  of  the  Lutherans,  that  he  thought 
fit  to  return  to  Tuscany,  where  the  duke  Cosmo 
III  entrusted  him  with  the  education  of  his 
son  Ferdinand.  He  then  renounced  his  me- 
dical studies  for  the  church,  and  Pope  Inno- 
cent XII  consecrated  him  bishop,  in  partibus, 
of  Titopolis,  and  vicar  apostolic  in  the  north 
of  Europe.  He  then  resided  some  time  with 
duke  John  Frederic  of  Brunswick,  who  like 
himself  had  abjured  Lutheranism.  After  the 
death  of  that  prince  (1679)  he  removed  to 
Munster;  and  he  died  at  Schwerin,  Novem- 
ber 25,  1687.  A  list  of  his  numerous  works, 


ST  E 

medical  and  theological,  may  be  found  in  the  ' 
annexed  authority. —  Bi<»".  I'uii. 

STENWYCK,orSTEENWYCH(HENRY)  I 
usually  called  the  Old,  to  distinguisli  him  from 
his  son,  a  painter   of  singular  excellence  in  a 
particular    line,    was    born    at    Steenwych    in 
Flanders,  in  1550.     He   was  the    disciple   of 
John  de  Vries,  who  was  eminent  for  painting 
architecture  and  perspective.     Following  the 
steps  of  his  master,  he  became  celebrated  for 
his    admirable   delineation  of    the   insides    of 
convents  and  churches  of  Gothic  architecture, 
viewed  by  the  light  of  torches  or  lustres,  to  ' 
which     pictures    his    perfect    knowledge    of! 
chiaro-scuro,  and  the  lightness  and  delicacy  of 
his  pencil,  gave  a  surprising  effect.     The  pic- 
tures of  this  artist,  which  are  very  rare,  bear 
a  high  price  throughout  Europe.      He  died  in 
160.'). — HENRY  STENWYCK  the  Younger,  son 
and  pupil  of  the  preceding,  copied  his  father's  i 
manner,  and  by  competent  judges  was  thought 
frequently  to  equal  him.     He  was   introduced 
by  Vandyke  to  the  court  of  Charles  I,  and  he 
painted  many  pictures  in  England,  where  he  ! 
died,  but  in  what  year  is  unknown. — D'Argen- 
I'ille.     Pilkingtori. 

STEPHANIUS,  or  STEPHEN  (JOHN)  a 
learned  Dane,  was  born  at  Copenhagen  in 
1599.  He  received  a  good  education,  and  after 
twice  travelling  in  foreign  countries,  was  made 
professor  of  eloquence  at  Soroe  in  1630.  In 
1639  he  became  professor  of  history  in  the 
Game  seminary,  and  afterwards  historiographer 
to  Christiern  IV.  He  died  in  1650.  Among 
his  works  are  "  Breves  Emendationes  et 
Nots;  in  Saxouem  Grammaticum  ;"  "  De 
Ilegno  Danise  et  Norvegire  Insulis  adja- 
centibus  Tractatus  varii  ;"  "  Svenonis  Aggonis 
Filii  Opuscula,  Nods  illustrata ;"  "  NotM 
uberiores  in  Hist.  Dan.  Saxonis  Grammatici ;" 
"  Histome  Danica;,  Libri  duo,  ab  anno  1550 
ad  annum  1559,"  &c. — Saxii  Oiinm. 

STEPHANUS  BYZANTINUS  or  STE- 
PHEN OF  BYZANTIUM,  a  grammarian  of 
the  age  of  the  emperors  Arcadius  and  Hono- 
lius,  who  resided  at  Constantinople.  He  was 
the  author  of  a  treatise  "  De  Gentibus,"  or  a 
Geographical  Lexicon,  which  throws  great  light 
on  the  state  of  the  ancient  world.  Unfortu- 
nately however  the  work  is  lost,  except  a  frag- 
ment published  in  the  "  Thesaurus  Antiqui- 
tatum  Graecarurn  "  of  Gronovius  ;  but  there  is 
extant  an  epitome  or  abridgement  by  Hermo- 
laus,  who  lived  under  Justinian.  The  epi- 
tomized lexicon  of  Stephanus  has  been  pub- 
lished by  Aldus,  1502,  folio  ;  Steph.  de 
Pinedo,  Amst.  1678,  folio  ;  with  the  commen- 
tary of  Abr.  Berkelius,  and  the  observations 
of  James  Gronovius,  Lugd.  Bat.  1688,  folio  ; 
and  by  Gronovius,  L.  B.  1694,  2  vols.  folio. — 
Faliricii  Bibling.  Antiq. 

STEPHEN,  king  of  England,  was  the  son 
of  Stephen,  count  of  Blois,  by  Adela,  fourth 
daughter  of  William  the  Conqueror.  He  was 
born  in  1104,  and  invited  when  young  into 
England  by  his  uncle  Henry  I,  who  gave  him 
the  earldom  of  Mortaigne  in  Normandy,  and 
also  large  estates  in  England,  lie  likewise 
pDcured  for  him  in  marriage  the  daughter 


ST  E 

and  heiress   of  Eustace,  count  of  Boulogne, 
for  all  which  favours  he  professed   the   most 
grateful  attachment  to  the  king,  and  was  the 
most   zealous  in   taking  the  oath  for  securitg 
the  succession  to   Henry's  daughter,  the  em- 
press Matilda.     No  sooner,  however,  did  that 
monarch's  death  take  place,  than  he  hastened 
from  France  to  Flngland,  and  laid  claim  to  the 
crown  for  himself.     Having  for  a    long  time 
courted    popularity,   and  ingratiated    himself 
with  both  nobles  and  people,  he  was  at  once 
received  as  king  in  London.    The  concurrence 
of  the  clergy  was    however  necessary,   which 
was  at  length  obtained  by  Stephen's  brother, 
the  bishop  of  Winchester,  aided   by  the  oath 
of  a  nobleman  of  the  late  king's  testifying  his 
intentions  in  favour  of  his  nephew  while  on 
his  deatli  bed.     Such  were  the  lax  ideas  of 
the  age  in  regard    to   hereditary    succession, 
these  intrigues  succeeded,  and    Stephen  was 
crowned.     Having  possessed  himself   of    the 
treasure  of  Henry,   he  was  enabled  to  bribe 
some  of  the   most  restive   of  his   opponents, 
while  he  sought  the   support  of  the  people  at 
large  by  promising  to  restore  the  laws  of  Ed- 
ward the  Confessor.    His  first  disturbance  was 
on  the  side  of  Scotland,    David,  the   king  of 
which,  marched  an  army  into   England,  and 
Carlisle  and  the  county  of  Cumberland  formed 
the  price  which  Stephen  was  obliged  to  pay  for 
peace.     He  was  however  enabled  to  master 
the  resisting  nobles  of  England,  and  was  also 
invited  by   the   barons   to   take  possession   of 
the  duchy  of  .Normandy.     The  earl  of  Glou- 
cester, natural    son    of   the   late    king,    being 
much   attached   to    the    empress,    his    half- 
sister,     naturally    fell    under    the    suspicions 
of    Stephen  ;    and    although     the    earl    had 
sworn  a  conditional  fealty,  the  king  laid  a  plan 
to  seize  his  person,  which  however  failed,  and 
he  was  obliged  to  take  an  oath  never  to  make  a 
second  attempt  of  the  same  kind.  Another  war 
with  Scotland  followed,  which  was  terminated 
by  the  famous  battle  of  the  Standard,  wherein 
the  Scots  were  entirely  defeated  by  the  north- 
ern barons.  In  the  mean  time  Stephen  involved 
himself  in  a  dangerous  contest  with  the  eccle- 
siastical power,  in  consequence  of  the  castles 
which  several  bishops  held  in  defiance  of  the 
regal  authority.     He  was  no  sooner  extricated 
from   this    difficulty  by    the    firmness   of  his 
barons,  than  the  empress  Matilda  landed  in 
I  England  with  her  brother,  the  earl  of  Glou- 
cester ;  and  being  joined    by  several  powerful 
barons  a  civil  war   ensued,  which  for  cruelty 
and  devastation  proved  one  of  the  most  cala- 
mitous in  the  English   annals.     Stephen  per- 
formed his  part  with  vigour  and  courage,  but 
being  taken   prisoner  in  1 141   his   party  was 
broken  up,  and  Matilda  was  generally  acknow- 
ledged  queen.     The    haughty   and   impolitic 
conduct  of  the  new  sovereign  excited  an  in- 
surrection against  her  government  almost  im- 
mediately ;  and  being  invested  in  Winchester 
castle   she   escaped  with   difficulty,  while  IIT 
great  support,    the    earl  of   Gloucester,    was 
taken  prisoner.     This  circumstance  occasioned 
the  liberation  of  Stephen,  who  was  exchanged 
for  the  earl,  and  the  civil  war  was  renewed, 


STE 

After  various  conflicts  Matilda  was  induced, 
by  the  death  of  the  earl,  to  retire  to  Normandy, 
and  the  contest  was  carried  on  by  her  son, 
Henry  Plantagenet,  who  in  1153  landed  an 
army  in  England,  and  being  joined  by  the 
barons  of  his  mother's  party,  the  competitors 
met  at  the  head  of  their  respective  forces  at 
Wallingford.  An  armistice  however  took 
place  instead  of  a  battle,  and  a  treaty  was  set 
on  foot,  the  difficulties  of  which  were  alle- 
viated by  the  death  of  Eustace,  Stephen's 
eldest  son.  It  was  at  length  concluded  that 
Stephen  should  reign  during  his  life-time; 
that  Henry  should  succeed  him,  leaving  Wil- 
liam, the  remaining  son  of  Stephen,  the  inhe- 
ritance of  his  father's  patrimonial  estates. 
The  death  of  the  king  the  following  year  pre- 
vented the  disputes  which  might  otherwise 
have  followed,  and  Henry  quietly  ascended 
the  throne.  Stephen  died  in  the  fiftieth  year 
of  his  age,  and  the  nineteenth  of  his  uneasy 
reign.  Had  he  succeeded  fairly  to  the  throne 
he  possessed  talents  which  would  have  en- 
abled him  to  fill  it  with  honour.  His  resistance 
to  the  encroachments  of  the  clergy  and  the  see 
of  Rome  were  spirited  and  creditable  ;  and  he 
was  active  and  able  both  in  the  cabinet  and 
the  field. —  Hums.  Henry. 

STEPHENS,  STEPHEN,  STEPHANUS, 
or    ESTIENNE,   the,    name  of  a    family    of 
learned  French  printers  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury.    HENRY  STEPHENS,   the  elder,  the  fi?  ,t 
of    these    eminent    typographers,    settled    at 
Paris  about  1503,  and  appears  to  have  been 
patronized  by  Louis  XII.     The   books  which 
he  published  were  chiefly  in  Latin,  and  among 
the  most  valuable  is  an  edition  of  the  "  Itine- 
rarium    Antonini,"    1512.      He    died    about 
1520 ;    and  his  widow  married   his  partner, 
Simeon  de  Colines  (Colinaeus)  who  continued 
to  conduct  the  affairs  of  the  printing-office  till 
his  death. — H.  Stephens  left  three  sons,  Fran- 
cis, Robert,  and  Charles,  of  whom  ROBERT 
STEPHENS,   born   in  1503,  was  highly  distin- 
guished for  his  learning  and  professional  skill. 
U  Idle  young   he   studied  with  great  success 
the  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew  languages,  and 
made  himself  acquainted  with  general  litera- 
ture.   At  the  age  of  nineteen  his  father-in-law 
Colines  entrusted  him  with   the  management 
of  his  office.     He  soon  after  published  an  edi- 
tion of  the  New  Testament,  in  a  more  correct 
and  convenient  form  than  any  which  had  pre- 
viously appeared.      About   1526   he   quitted 
Colines,   and   established  a  press,   where  he 
published  works  in  his  own  name.     In  1532 
appeared  the  first  edition  of  his  "Thesaurus 
Lingu*  Latins,"  a  work  of  great  research  ; 
and    in    1539    Francis   I   appointed    him  his 
printer,  and  gave  orders  for  casting  a  new  and 
beautiful  set  of  types   for  his  use.     Having 
given  offence  to  the  doctors  of  the  Sorbonue 
by  the  freedom  of  opinion  manifested  in  some 
of  the  theological  works  which  he  printed,  and 
especially  by  the  notes  to  an  edition  of  the 
Bible  in  1545,  he  experienced  so  much  annoy- 
ance from  the  inordinate  zeal  of  those  divines, 
that  at  length,  after  the  death  of  his  patron 
and  protector  Francis  I,  he  removed  to  Ge- 


S  T  E 

neva,  and  openly  professed  the  Protestant 
faith.  He,  settled  in  that  city  in  1552,  and 
the  same  year,  in  conjunction  with  his  brother- 
in-law  Conrad  Badius,  he  printed  an  edition, 
of  the  New  Testament  in  French.  In  1556 
he  was  admitted  a  burgess  of  Geneva,  and  he 

B 

died  there  September  7,  1559.     Robert  Ste- 
phens was  the  author  of  the  present  division 
of  the  New  Testament  into  verses,  which  lite- 
rary labour  he  says  that  he  performed  during 
a  journey  from  Paris  to  Lyons  on  horseback 
(inter  equitandum).     Among  the  works  from 
his  press  one  of  the  most  famous  is  his  edition 
of  the    Greek   Testament,    1549,   called    the 
"  pulres   edition,"  from  an  erroneous  opinion 
that  the  only  typographical  error  in  it  is  the 
word  "  pulres,"  instead  of  "  plures,"  in    the 
preface.       It    is  however    ('though   not   quite 
immaculate)   exceedingly  correct. — CHARLES 
STEPHENS,  younger  brother  of  the  preceding, 
received  a  liberal  education,  and  added  to  the 
professional  pursuits  of  his  family  the  study  of 
medicine.     His  learning  recommended  him  to 
Lazarus  Baif,  the  education   of  whose  son  he 
superintended,   and    afterwards    accompanied 
the  father  in  embassies  to  Germany  and  Italy. 
He  was  admitted  a  doctor  of  the   faculty   of 
medicine  at  Paris,  and  he   published  several 
medical  works.     In  1551  he  commenced  husi- 
ness  as  a  printer,  and  the  same  year  he  pub- 
ished  the  first  edition  of  the  works  of  Appian, 
rom  JMSS.  in  the  French   king's   library.     It 
appears  that  he  was  unsuccessful  in  business, 
as  he  was  confined  in  the   pvison   of  the  Cha- 
elet  for  debt  in   1561,   and  he  died  there  in 
564.     He  was  the  author  as  well  as   printer 
f  a  great  number  of  works,  of  which  a  com- 
!ete  list  is  given  by  Niceron.     His  "  Dictio- 
narium    Historico-geographico-poeticum"  ap- 
)eared  posthumously,   at  Geneva,  1566,  4to. 
As  a  typographer  his   productions  are  distin- 
guished for  accuracy  and   elegance. — He  Irft 
an  only  daughter,  NICOLE  ESTIENNE,  who  was 
married  to  Jean    Liebaut,   and  died  in  1570. 
She  spoke  and  wrote  with  facility  several  lan- 
guages, and  she  left  in   MS.   "  Apolo^ie  pour 
es  Femmes  contre  ceux   qui  en  medisent  ;'' 
'  Contresitances,  ou  Reponses  aux  Stances  de 
Desportes    contre    le    Marriage  ;"    "  Mepris 
d'Amour  ;"  and  other  poetical  pieces,  none  of 
which  have  been  printed. — HENRY  STEPHENS, 
the  son  of  Robert,  born  at  Paris  in  1528,  was 
one  of  the  most  learned  men  of  his  time.  From 
bis  earliest  years  he   gave  proofs   of  his  pre- 
dilection  for    literature.       His    mother,     the 
daughter  of  Jodocus    Badius,  a   printer,  was 
a  woman  of  extraordinary  acquirements,  and 
the  Latin  language  was  used  in  common  con- 
versation in  his  father's  family.   He  soon  made 
himself  familiar  with  the  Greek    also,  and  at 
the  age  of  eighteen  he  assisted  his  father  in 
collating  the   MSS.  of  Dionysius  of  Halicar- 
nassus.     He  then  travelled  into  Italy,  whence 
he  brought  the  "  Odes   of  Anacreon,"  which 
he    afterwards    published.       Having    visited 
England  and  the  Netherlands,  he  returned  to 
Paris  about  the  time  his  father  quitted  it ;  and 
he  appears  to  have  accompanied  him   to  Ge- 
neva, but  he  was  again  at  Paris  in  1554,  when 


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bis  edition  of  Ar/acreon  was  published  from 
tlie  press  of  his  brother  Charles.  He  estab- 
lished a  printing-office  of  his  own  at  Paris  in 
1557,  at  which  period  he  began  printing 
various  Greek  authors,  the  MSS.  of  which  he 
had  collected  during  his  travels,  all  which  he 
corrected  and  enriched  with  annotations.  In 
1572  appeared  the  "  Thesaurus  Lingua; 
( !ra>c!B,"  4  vols.  folio,  a  work  of  vast  erudition, 
which  has  principally  contributed  to  establish 
his  literary  reputation.  John  Scapula,  a  per- 
son employed  in  his  office,  treacherously  com- 
piled an  abridgment  of  this  lexicon,  as  it  was 
passing  through  the  press,  and  by  its  pub- 
lication greatly  injured  the  sale  of  the  original 
work.  This  was  not  his  only  misfortune.  He 
was  patronised  by  his  sovereign  Henry  III, 
whose  flattering  promises  of  assistance  and 
protection  proved  utterly  delusive,  owing  to 
the  civil  broils  with  which  France,  was  at  that 
time  distracted.  The  loss  of  his  wife,  to  whom 
he  was  tenderly  attached,  deeply  affected  his 
mind  ;  and  the  death  of  the  king  in  1589, 
putting  an  end  to  his  hopes  of  court  favour, 
he  thenceforth  led  a  wandering  and  distracted 
life.  He  resided  alternately  at  Geneva,  at 
Paris,  in  Germany,  and  even  in  Hungary.  At 
length  he  died  in  an  almshouse  at  Lyons,  in  a 
state  of  miud  bordering  on  insanity,  in  1598. 
Among  his  works,  besides  those  already  men- 
tioned, are  "  An  Apology  for  Herodotus,"  de- 
signed as  a  satire  on  the  legends  of  the  Ca- 
tholics ;  "A  Treatise  on  the  French  Lan- 
guage ;"  and  "  Lexicon  Grseco-Latinum  Ci- 
ceronianum."  He  also  published  a  great  num- 
ber of  the  ancient  classics. — His  son,  PAUL 
STEPHENS,  was  a  printer  at  Geneva,  where  he 
died  in  1627.  He  distinguished  himself  both 
as  an  author  and  an  editor. — Mattaire  de  Vitis 
Stephaiwrnm.  THug.  Univ.  Art.  ESTIENNE. 

STEPHENS  ( ROBERT )  was  born  of  an 
ancient  family  at  Eastington  in  Gloucester- 
shire, about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  His  first  education  was  at  Wotten 
school,  whence  he  removed  to  Lincoln  college, 
Oxford,  in  1681.  He  was  subsequently  en- 
tered very  young  in  the  Middle,  Temple,  where 
he  applied  himself  to  the  law,  and  was  called 
to  the  bar.  As  his  fortune  was  ample,  he  did 
not  practise  his  profession,  but  engaged  in  the 
study  of  history  and  antiquities.  Having, 
while  a  young  man,  met  with  some  original 
letters  of  lord  Bacon  at  the  house  of  a  rela- 
tion, and  finding  they  would  contribute  to  a 
better  knowledge  of  the  events  of  the  reign 
of  James  I,  he  published  a  complete  edition 
of  them  in  1702,  with  useful  notes,  and  an 
excellent  historical  introduction.  Being  a  re- 
lation of  Harley,  earl  of  Oxford,  he  was  made 
chief  solicitor  to  the  customs,  which  office  he 
resigned  in  1726,  and  was  appointed  historio- 
grapher royal.  He  died,  much  esteemed,  in 
November,  1732.— Nichols's  Lit.  Anec. 

STEPNEY  (GEORGE)  an  ingenious  poet 
and  political  writer,  descended  of  an  ancient 
family  settled  at  Pei:degrast  in  Pembroke- 
shire, but  born  in  Westminster  in  1663.  Being 
placed  on  the  royal  foundation  in  the  vicinity 
he  removed  at  the  usual  age  to  Trinity  college, 


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Cambridge,  where  he  acquired  the  friendship 
of  Mr  Montagu,  afterwards  earl  of  Halifax 
By  the  steady  patronage  of  this  nobleman  he 
afterwards  rose  to  be  employed  on  several  im- 
portant and  confidential  missions  to  the  courts 
of  Brandenburgh,  Vienna,  Dresden,  Meutz, 
and  Cologne,  as  well  as  to  the  congress  of 
Frankfort.  In  1706  queen  Anne  dispatched 
him  on  an  embassy  to  Holland  ;  and  on  all 
these  occasions  he  appears  to  have  conducted 
the  business  committed  to  his  charge  with 
equal  prudence  and  success.  He  survived  his 
return  to  England  from  this  last  mission  onlv 

J 

a  few  months,  dying  at  Chelsea  in  1707,  and 
he  lies  buried  in  Westminster  abbey,  with  a 
somewhat  pompous  inscription  over  his  re- 
mains. One  of  his  first  poems  was  an  inflated 
address  to  king  James  II  on  his  accession,  at 
which  period  he  favoured  the  tory  interest, 
although  he  subsequently  accommodated  his 
principles  to  those  of  the  dominant  party.  His 
poetical  works,  which  if  occasionally  felicitous 
in  expression,  do  not  in  general  rise  above  me- 
diocrity, consist  of  a  translation  of  the  eighth 
satire  of  Juvenal  ;  Imitations  of  Horace  ; 
"  The  Austrian  Eagle  ;"  "  On  Dreams,"  &c. 
and  are  to  be  found  in  Ton  son's  collection  of 
minor  poets.  His  prose  writings  are  "  An  Essay 
on  the  present  Interest  of  England,"  1701, 
and  "  The  Proceedings  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons in  1677,  on  the  French  King's  Progress 
in  Flanders,"  in  Lord  Somers's  Collection. — 
Gibber's  Lives. 

STERNE  (LAURENCE)  a  divine,   and  po- 
pular writer  of  a  very  original  cast,  was  the 
son  of  Roger  Sterne,  a  lieutenant  in  the  army, 
and  grandson  of  Sterne,  archbishop  of  York. 
He  was  born  at  Clonmell,  in  Ireland,  in  No- 
vember 1713,  and  was  put  to  school  at  Hali- 
fax in  Yorkshire,  in  1722,  whence  he  removed 
to  Jesus  college,  Cambridge,  and  studied  for 
the  church.     He  took  his   degree   of  MA.  in 
1740,  before  which  time  he  was  advanced,  arid 
by  the  interest  of  Dr   Sterne,  his  uncle,   who 
was  a  prebendary  of  Durham,  he  obtained  the 
living  of  Sutton,  a  prebend  of  Y'ork,  and  sub- 
sequently, by  the  interest  of  his  wife,  whom 
he  married  in  1741,  the   living  of  Stillington, 
at  which  and  at  Sutton  he  performed  the  duty 
for  nearly  twenty  years.  During  this  period  he 
appears  to  have  amused   himself  with  books, 
painting,  music,  and  shooting,    but  was  little 
known  beyond  his  vicinity,  the  only  production 
of  his  pen  being  his  humorous   satire  upon   a 
greedy    church    dignitary    of    York,    entitled 
"  The  History  of  a  Watch  Coat."     In  1759 
following,  appeared   the   two   first  volumes  of 
his    celebrated    "   Tristram    Shandy,"    which 
drew  upon  him   praise   and  censure  of  every 
kind,  and  became  so  popular  that  a  bookseller 
engaged  for  its  continuance  on  very  lucrative 
terms.     Accordingly  a  third  and  a  fourth  vo- 
lume appeared   in   1761,  a  fifth  and  sixth  in 
1762,   a  seventh  and   eighth   in  1764,  and  a 
ninth  singly  in  1766.     If  in  the  ground-work 
of  this  extraordinary  production  a  resemblance 
may  be  traced  to  the  ridicule  of  pedantry  and 
false  philosophy  in   Scriblerus,    the  style  and 
filling  up  are  chiefly  his  own,  although  the  late 


ST  E 

Dr   Ferrian,     of    Manchester,    incontestabl 
proved  his  loan  of  entire   passages  from  Bur 
ton's  Anatomy  of  Melancholy,  and  the  work 
of  bishop  Hall  and  others.     In  1768  he  pro 
duced  his  "  Sentimental  Journey,"  in  2  vols 
12mo,  which,    by    a  number  of  pathetic  in 
cidents  and  vivid  strokes  of  national  and  cha 
racteristic  delineation,  is   rendered  extreme! 
entertaining,  and  acquired  a  more  general  re 
putation  than  even  its  predecessor.     Its  chie 
fault  is  an  exaggeration  of  impulsive   feeling 
which,   when  imitated  by  inferior  writers,   he 
came   very   sickly  and  disgusting.     In   176( 
appeared  two  volumes    of   "  Sermons  of  M 
Yorick,"  to  which  he   added  two  additiona 
volumes  in  1766,  with  his  own  name.     Thesi 
are  lively,   unmethodical    moral   essays,  con 
taining  many  striking  passages,  and  some  ligh 
ones,   which  not  very  materially  differ  from 
the  tone  of  his  former  works.     A  tendency  to 
pulmonary    consumption   at  length  became  a 
confirmed   disease,    under   which  he   sank  in 
March  176  i,  leaving  a  widow  and  one  daugh 
ter.     The  latter,  who  was  married  to  a  Frencl 
gentleman,   published  a  collection  of  her  fa- 
ther's  letters,    in    three    volumes,    12mo,   to 
which  were  prefixed  memoirs  of  his  life  anc 
family.     In  the  same  year  an  anonymous  edi- 
tor published  "  Letters  between  Yorick  anc 
Eliza,"  which  were  regarded  as  the  authentic 
correspondence,  in  a  strain  of  high  sentimental 
friendship,    between  Sterne  and  Mrs  Diaper, 
an  accomplished  East  Indian  lady.     It  is  un 
pleasant  to  be  obliged  to  observe,  that  the 
private  character   of  this  eccentric  writer  was 
by  no  means  honours.blu  to  his  indisputable 
genius,  affording  another  proof  that  the  power 
of  expressing  and  conceiving  strong  feelings 
by  no  means  supplies  giounds  for  a  presump- 
tion  that  they  will  iufluence  the  conduct. — 
Life  prefixed  to  Works, 

STERN  HOLD  (THOMAS)  noted  as  the 
principal  author  of  the  metrical  version  of  the 
Psalms  long  used  in  public  worship  in  our 
churches,  and  not  yet  entirely  discontinued. 
He  was  a  native  of  Hampshire,  and  appa- 
rently of  a  respectable  family,  as  he  was  edu- 
cated at  Oxford,  and  became  groom  of  the 
robes  to  Henry  VIII.  in  whose  will  he  is  so 
designated,  and  who  left  him  a  legacy  of  one 
hundred  marks.  He  held  the  same,  or  a  si- 
milar office,  under  Edward  VI,  in  whose  reign 
he  died  in  August  1549.  The  principal  co- 
adjutor of  Sternhold,  in  his  versification  of  the 
Psalter,  was  JOHN  HOPKINS,  and  the  names 
of  these  unfortunate  persons  have  passed  into 
a  proverbial  designation  of  bad  poets.  The 
wicked  wits  of  the  reign  of  Charles  I,  as 
Fuller  informs  us,  termed  their  translations  of 
the  Psalms  "  Geneva  Gigs."  Sternhold  also 
produced  "  Certayne  Chapters  of  the  Pro- 
verbs of  Solomon,  drawen  into  Metre,"  which 
were  published  after  his  death. — Fuller. 
IVeoiL  Warton. 

STESICHORU3,  a  Greek  lyric  poet,  was 
born  at  Himera,  in  Sicily,  about  BC.  612.  He 
appears  to  have  been  a  man  of  note  among  his 
feliow-citzens,  and  to  have  had  a  great  deal 
to  do  in  the  transactions  between  Himera  and 


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the  tyrant  Phalaris.  Much  of  his  history, 
however,  depends  upon  the  authenticity  of  the 
pretended  epistles  of  Phalaris,  which  are  now 
generally  given  up.  It  is  certain,  however, 
that  he  composed  a  number  of  works  which 
were  highly  esteemed  by  the  ancients.  Horace 
speaks  of  "  Stesichori  graves  camnense  ;"  and 
Dionysius  Halicarnassus  says,  that  he  had  all 
thegiaces  of  Pindar  and  Simonides,  while  he 
surpassed  them  both  in  the  grandeur  of  his 
subjects.  He  was  the  first  who  introduced 
into  the  ode  the  triple  division  of  strophe, 
antistrophe,  and  epode,  and  he  was  thence 
said  to  have  derived  his  name,  which  was  be- 
fore Tisias,  as  signifying  "  places  of  the  cho- 
rus." A  few  fragments  of  his  works,  to  the 
amount  of  fifty  or  sixty  lines,  alone  remain, 
which  were  printed  in  the  collection  of  Fulvius 
Ursinus.  His  death  is  placed  BC.  556. — 
Suidas.  Vossii  Poet.  Grtrc. 

STE  VENS(GEORGE  ALEXANDEH)  a  whim- 
sical and  eccentric  character,  was  born  in 
London,  and  brought  up  to  a  mechanical 
business,  which  he  quitted  to  become  a  stroll- 
ing- player.  In  1751  he  published  a  poem, 
entitled  "  Religion,  or  the  Libertine  repen- 
tant," which  was  succeeded  in  1754  by  "  The 
Birthday  of  Folly/'  He  followed  these  pro- 
ductions by  a  novel  called  "  Tom  Fool,"  and 
"  The  Dramatic  History  of  Master  Edward 
(Shuter)  and  Miss  Ann  "  (Catley).  He  sub- 
sequently invented  his  entertainment,  called  a 
'  Lecture  on  Heads),"  which  possessed  no 
imall  portion  of  ribbald  drollery,  and  became 
very  popular.  Several  of  his  songs  have  also 
)een  much  and  deservedly  admired. — Euron. 
Mag. 

STEVENS  (WILLIAM  BAGSHAW)  an  epi- 
scopal  clergyman,    who    obtained  some   dis- 
inction  as  a  poet.     He  was   born  in   1756  at 
Abingdon,  in  Berkshire,  and  received  his  edu- 
cation at  Magdalen  college,  Oxford,  where  he 
obtained  a  fellowship,  and  took  the  degree  of 
3D.     He  also  became  rector  of  Seckingtou, 
and  vicar  of  Kingsbury,  in  the  county  of  War- 
wick ;  and  he  died  at  Repton,  iu  Derbyshire, 
May    28,    1800.     Dr    Stevens    was    a  corre- 
ponding  contributor  to  the  Gentleman's  Ma- 
jazine,   under    the   signature    M.  C.  S.    (i.  e. 
Magdalen.  Colleg.  Semisoc.);  andin  the  second 
olume  of  the  Topographer  are  three  "  Idylls" 
f  his  composition.     He   was  also  the  author 
>f  "  Retirement,   a  Poem,"   1782,  4to  ;  and 
'  Sermons,"  3  vols.  8vo. — Gent.  Mag. 

STEVENSON  (JoiiN  HALL)  a  gentleman, 
iossessed  of  a  landed  estate  in  Yorkshire,  who 
esided  at  Skelton  castle,  in  that  county,  and 
vas  distinguished  for  his  talents  as  a  writer  of 
atirical  and  humorous  poetry.  He  was  bom 
i  1718,  and  received  his  education  at  Jesus 
ollege,  Cambridge.  He  became  the  friend  of 
awrence  Sterne,  and  it  is  supposed  that  their 
ntimacy  commenced  at  the  university,  as  they 
vere  members  of  the  same  college.  Mr  H;ill 
tevenson  afterwards  made  the  tour  of  Europe, 
nd  on  his  return  home  passed  his  time  in  con- 
ivial  society  or  literary  occupation,  either  in 
,ondon  or  the  country,  till  his  death,  which 
ook  place  in  March  1785.  He  was  a  man  of 


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a  peculiar  genius  and  iurn  of  fancy,  and  it 
appears  from  his  writings,  that  as  he  sought 
amusement  in  tracing  the  ridiculous  features 
in  human  life  and  manners,  so  he  also  felt  for 
the  misfortunes  of  bis  fellow-creatures.  He 
sat  for  the  portrait  of  Eugenius  in  Sterne's 
Tristram  Shandy  ;  and  though  the  hand  of 
friendship  is  obvious  in  the  graces  of  the  por- 
trait, its  likeness  kas  been  acknowledged  by 
all  who  knew  the  original.  His  works  con- 
sist of  "  Crazy  Tales  ;"  "  Fables  for  Grown 
Gentlemen  ;"  "  Lyric  Epistles  ;"  "  Moral 
Tides  ;"  &C.  first  published  separately,  and 
together  with  some  additional  pieces,  printed 
in  3  vols.  8vo,  1795. — Pref.  to  the  Works  of  J. 
Hull,  Stevenson,  Esq.  1795. 

STEVENSON  (WILLIAM)  an  able  and  in- 
dustrious antiquarian;  of  which  society  he  was 
a  fellow.  He  was  a  native  of  East  Retford, 
Notts,  where  his  father,  who  held  the  rectory 
of  Tresswell  in  the  same  county,  resided.  In 
1799  Mr  Stevenson  served  the  office  of  sheriff 
of  the  city  of  Norwich,  and  died  May  13, 
1821,  in  his  seventy-second  year,  having  been 
upwards  of  thirty- five  years  proprietor  of  the 
Norfolk  Chronicle.  He  published  in  1812, 
from  his  own  press,  a  corrected  edition  of  Ben- 
thanrs  History  of  Ely  Cathedral,  with  a  me- 
moir of  the  author,  which  he  followed  up  five 
years  afterwards  by  a  supplement,  and  drew 
up  an  interesting  memoir  of  his  friend  Ignatius 
Sancho,  printed  in  the  ninth  volume  of  Ni- 
chols's "  Literary  Anecdotes." — A  ichols's  Lit. 
Altec.  Gent.  Mag. 

STEVIN  (SIMON)  or  STEVINUS,  a  Fle- 
mish mathematician,  born  at  Bruges,  some 
time  beyond  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. He  was  employed  in  Holland,  as  in- 
spector of  the  dykes,  by  prince  Maurice  of 
Nassau,  and  he  is  celebrated  for  the  invention 
of  the  sailing  chariot,  which  was  moved  en- 
tirely by  the  impulse  of  the  wind.  He  was  an 
excellent  practical  mathematician  and  mecha- 
nist, and  was  the  author  of  several  useful 
works  in  the  Dutch  language,  on  arithmetic, 
algebra,  geometry,  statics,  optics,  trigono- 
metry, geography,  astronomy,  and  fortification, 
all  of  which  have  been  translated  into  Latin 
by  Suellius,  and  published  in  two  volumes, 
folio.  A  full  account  of  the  inventions  of 
Stevinus  will  be  found  in  our  authority,  under 
the  article  Algebra. — Button's  Math.  Diet. 

STEWART  DENIIAM  (sir  JAMES)  an 
eminent  political  writer,  was  born  at  Edin- 
burgh October  10,  1713.  He  was  the  only 
son  of  sir  James  Stewart  of  Goostrees,  baronet, 
solicitor-general  of  Scotland,  under  queen  Anne 
and  George  I.  Having  gone  through  his  aca- 
demical courses  at  Edinburgh  he  went  to  the 
bar  as  an  advocate  ;  and  then  proceeded  on  a 
tour  through  all  the  principal  countries  of  Eu- 
rope, which  occupied  him  five  years.  He  re- 
turned to  Scotland  in  1740,  and  in  1742  be 
married  lady  Frances,  daughter  of  the  earl  of 
Wemyss.  While  abroad  he  had  formed  an 
intimacy  with  the  pretender,  which  connection 
it  was  presumed  led  him  to  Edinburgh  in 
1745,  in  support  of  that  unfortunate  personage, 
on  the  defeat  of  whose  party  he  retired  to 


STE 

France,   and  settled    at   Sedan.     In  1755  lie 
removed  his  family  to  Flanders,  and  began  to 
communicate  his  literary  labours  to  the  public. 
The  works  which  first  appeared  were  a  "  Vin- 
dication   of    Newton's    Chronology,"    1757  ; 
"  A  Treatise  on  German  Coins,"  1758  ;   "  A 
Dissertation  on  the  Doctrine  aud  Principles  of 
Money  as  applied  to  the  German  Coin,"  1761. 
lie  had  during  this  time  removed  to  Tubingen, 
whence  he  subsequently  repaired  to  Antwerp  ; 
from  which  town  having  made  an  excursion  to 
the  Spa,  he  was,  in  consequence  of  some  sus- 
picion on  the    part  of  the  French  authorities, 
arrested  as  a  spy  ;  but  a  peace  soon  after  tak- 
ing place  he  was  restored  to  liberty.      Having 
at  length  received  an  assurance  that  he  would 
not  be  molested  on  account  of  his  former  poli- 
tical attachments,   he  returned   to  Scotland  in 
1763,   and  soon  after  settled  at  his  estate  of 
Coltness.     In  this  retirement  he    concluded 
Ins  "  Inquiry  into  the  Principles  of  Political 
Economy,"  the  result  of  eighteen  years'  labo- 
rious research.     Upon    this   work    there    has 
existed  much  difference  of  opinion  ;  but  it  is 
now  generally  admitted  to  exhibit  great  acu^e- 
ness  aud    industry,  which   are  unhappily  ob- 
scured  by  considerable  defects  in    style  and 
method,   which  induced    Dr  Adam   Smith  to 
say  that  he  could  understand  his  system  better 
from  his  conversation  than  his  writings.     By 
the  interest  of  his  friends  he  obtained  a  full 
pardon    under   the   great    seal   in   1771,   and 
from  that  period  until  bis  death  published  va- 
rious works,  the  principal  of  which  are  "  Prin- 
ciples of  Money  applied  to  the  present  State  of 
the  Coin  of  Bengal  ;"  "  A  Plan  for  introducing 
a  Conformity  of  Weights  and  Measures;"  "  Ob- 
servations on  Beattie's  Essay  on  Truth  ;"  "  Cri- 
tical  Remarks  on  the  Atheistical  Falsehoods 
in   JMirabaud's  System  of  Nature  ;"  "  A  Dis- 
sertation concerning  the  Motive  of  Obedience 
to  the  Law  of  God  ;"  all  which,  with  the  rest 
of  his  productions,  were  published  in  1805  in 
6  vols.  8vo.    He  died  in  November  1780,  aged 
sixty-seven. — Life  annexed  to  Works. 

STEWART  (JOHN)  commonly  called  Walk- 
ing Stewart,  from  bis  pedestrian  feats,  an 
eccentric  but  clever  individual,  who  in  the 
course  of  a  long  life  wandered  on  foot  over 
the  greater  part  of  the  habitable  globe.  He 
was  born  in  Bond-street,  London,  and  having 
received  the  rudiments  of  education  at  the 
Charterhouse,  was  sent  out  in  1763  as  a  wri- 
ter to  Madras,  through  the  interest  which  his 
friends  had  with  the  earl  of  Bute.  In  this 
situation  he  remained  not  quite  two  years. 
Being  smitten  with  a  strong  indication  to  tra- 
vel, he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  court  of  directors, 
which,  from  its  remarkable  character,  has  been 
preserved  on  their  records  as  a  curiosity  to  this 
day.  Adverting  to  his  design  of  travelling, 
he  told  them  that  "  he  was  born  for  nobler 
pursuits  than  to  be  a  copier  of  invoices  and 
bills  of  lading  to  a  company  of  grocers,  ha- 
berdashers, and  cheesemongers  ;"  and  within 
a  few  weeks  after  the  transmission  of  his 
epistle,  he  took  his  leave  of  the  presidency. 
In  spite  of  the  remonstrances  of  his  friends, 
who  sent  after  him,  intreating  him  to  return 


S  T  E 

lip  prosecuted  his  route  over  Hindostan,  walk- 
ing to  Delhi,  to  Persepolis,  and  other  parts  of 
Persia,    traversing   the    greater   part    of    the 
Indian  peninsula,  and  visiting   Abyssinia  and 
Nubia.     Entering   the   Carnatic,   he  obtained 
the.  favour  of  the  then  nawaub,  who  made  him 
Lis  private  secretary,  and  to  this  circumstance 
he  in  his  latter  days   owed  his  support,   the 
British  house   of  Commons  voting  him  a  few- 
years  since  the  sum  of  1.5, OOO/.  in  liquidation 
of  his  demands  upon  the   nawaub.     Quitting 
the  service  of  this  prince,  he  imprudently  set 
out   to  walk   to   Seringapatam,  where  he  was 
arrested   by  the  orders  of  Tippoo   Saib,  who 
compelled  him  to  enter  his  army,  in  which  he 
bestowed  on  him  a  commission  as   captain  of 
sepoys.     While  serving  in   this   capacity,    lie 
was  engaged  in  several  actions  with  the  Mah- 
rattas,  and  received  a  wound  in  the  right  arm, 
nor  did  he  succeed  in  quitting  the  situation  in 
which  he  was  thus    involuntarily    placed,  till 
the  exertions    of  sir  James  Sibbald,  the  com- 
missioner for  settling  the  terms  of  peace  be- 
tween   the   Presidency  and  the   Sultan,   pro 
cured  his  liberation.     This  at  length  effected, 
Mr  Stewart  started  to  walk  to  Europe,  crossing 
the  desert  of  Arabia,  and  arriving  at  length 
safely  at  Marseilles.     Thence  he  proceeded  in 
the  same  manner,  through   France  and  Spain, 
to  his  native  country.  Having  walked  through 
England,   Scotland,   and  Ireland,   he  crossed 
the    Atlantic,    and  perambulated  the  United 
States  of  America.     In  the  course   of   these 
peregrinations  he  was  frequently  exposed   to 
dangers  of  no   common  magnitude,  and  once 
on  crossing  from   Ireland,   narrowly    escaped 
shipwreck,   in    anticipation    of  which  he   en- 
treated earnestly   some  of  the  crew,  in  case 
they  should  survive  him,  to  take  care  of  a  MS. 
he  then  had  about  him,  and  intended  to  pub- 
lish, which  he  called  bis  "  Opus  Maximum." 
The  last  ten  years  of  his  life  were  passed  in 
London,  in  the  vicinity  of  Charing  Cross,  that 
he  might  be,  to  use   his  own  expression,  "  in 
the  full  tide  of  human  existence  ;"  and  in  thi 
neighbourhood  he    died,    his    decease   taking 
place  at  his  house  in  Northumberland-street, 
on  the  20th  of  February,  1822. — Ann.  Bing. 

STEWART,  DD.  (MATTHEW)  professor  of 
mathematics  in  the  university  of  Edinburgh, 
was  the  son  of  the  rev.  Dugald  Stewart,  mi- 
nister of  Rotbsay  in  the  isle  of  Bute,  where 
he  was  born  in  1717.  He  received  his  aca- 
demical education  at  the  university  of  Glas- 
gow, where  he  paid  a  devoted  attention  to  the 
mathematics,  under  the  able  instructions  of 
the  celebrated  Dr  Simson,  whose  predilection 
for  the  ancient  geometry,  in  preference  to 
modern  analysis,  he  fully  imbibed.  Pursuing 
the  same  line  of  inquiry,  he  was  led  to  a  dis- 
covery of  the  curious  propositions  which  he 
published  in  1746,  under  the  title  of  "  General 
Theorems."  While  thus  engaged  he  had  en- 
tered into  the  church,  and  obtained  the  living 
of  Rosneath  ;  but  the  mathematician's  chair 
in  the  university  of  Edinburgh  becomin°'  soon 

J  O 

after  vacant  by  the  death  of  Maclaurin,  he  wat- 
in  1747  elected  his  successor.  In  this  situa- 
tion he  still  more  systematically  pursued  the 


STE 

ibject  nearest  his  heart,  namely,  the  applica- 
tion of  geometry  to  such  problems   as  the  al- 
gebraic  calculus  alone   had  been  deemed  able 
to  resolve.     His  solution  of  Kepler's  problem 
was    the   first  specimen  which   he  gave    the 
world.     It  appeared  in  the  second  volume  of 
the  Essays  of  the  Society  of  Edinburgh,  and 
with  farther  discoveries  in  the   same  line  of 
inquiry.     His  "  Tracts,  Physical  and  Mathe- 
matical," followed  in  1761,   in  farther  prose- 
cution   of  his    plan    of  introducing    into    the 
igher   branches   of   the    mixed  mathematics 
the  strict  and  simple  form  of  ancient  demon- 
stration.    The  transit  of  Venus,  which  took 
place  the  same  year,  led  to  the  composition  of 
his  "  Essay  on  the  Sun's  Distance,"  which  al- 
though not  free  from  error,  will  always  be  in- 
teresting to  the  lovers  of  geometry.    Soon  after 
the   publication   of  this  work  his  health  de- 
clined, and  in  1772  he  retired  into  the  country. 
In  1775  his  son,  the  since   celebrated  Dugaid 
Stewart,  was  elected  joint  professor  with  him  ; 
and  still  pursuing  his  mathematical  researches 
as  an  amusement,  he  lived  ten  years  longer  in 
retirement,  dying  in  January  178.5,  at  the  age 
of  sixty-eight.      Besides   the  works   already 
mentioned,  he  wrote  "  Propositiones  Geome- 
tries  modo  Veterum  demonstrate." — Edinb. 
Phil.  Transactions. 

STEWART  (ROBERT)  marquis  of  Lon- 
donderry, a  conspicuous  modern  statesman,  was 
the  second  son  of  the  first  marquis  by  lady 
Sarah  Frances  Seymour  Conway,  sister  to  the 
first  marquis  of  Hertford.  He  was  born  in  the 
north  of  Ireland,  June  18,  1769,  and  was  edu- 
cated at  Armagh,  after  which  he  became  a 
commoner  of  St  John's  college,  Cambridge. 
On  leaving  the  university  he  made  the  tour  of 
Europe,  ami  on  his  return  was  chosen  member 
in  the  Irish  parliament  for  the  county  of 
Down.  He  joined  the  opposition  in  the  first 
place,  and  declared  himself  an  advocate  for 
parliamentary  reform  ;  but  on  obtaining  a  seat 
in  the  British  parliament  he  took  his  station 
on  the  ministerial  benches.  In  1797,  having 
then  become  lord  Castlereagh,  he  returned  to 
the  Irish  parliament,  and  the  same  year  be- 
came keeper  of  the  privy  seal  for  that  kingdom  ; 
and  was  soon  after  appointed  one  of  the  lords 
of  the  treasury.  The  next  year  he  was  nomi- 
nated secretary  to  the  lord-lieutenant,  and  by 
his  strenuous  exertions  and  great  abilities  in 
the  art  of  removing  opposition,  the  union  with 
Ireland  was  very  mainly  facilitated,  In 
the  united  parliament  he  sat  as  member 
for  the  county  of  Down,  and  in  1802  was 
made  president  of  the  board  of  controul.  In 
1805  he  was  appointed  secretary  of  war  and 
colonies  ;  but  on  the  death  of  Mr  Pitt  he  re- 
tired until  the  dissolution  of  the  brief  admi- 
nistration of  1806  restored  him  to  the  same 
situation  in  180/  ;  and  he  held  his  office  until 
the  ill-fated  expedition  to  Walcheren,  and  his 
remarkable  duel  with  his  colleague,  Mr  Can- 
ning, produced  his  resignation.  In  1812  he 
succeeded  the  marquis  of  Wellesley  as  foreign 
secretary  ;  and  the  following  year  proceeded 
to  the  continent,  to  assist  the  coalesced  powers 
in  negociating  a  general  peace.  His  services 


S'l  1 

after  the  capture  of  Napoleon,  and  in  the  ge- 
neral pacification  and  arrangements,  wliich 
have  been  usually  designated  by  the  pliiii.se 
"  the  settlement  of  Europe,"  form  a  part  of 
history.  It  is  sufficient  to  notice  here  that 
lie  received  the  public  thanks  of  parliament, 
and  was  honoured  with  the  order  of  the  garter. 
On  the  death  of  his  father  in  April  1821  he 
succeeded  him  in  the  Irish  marquisate  of  Lon- 
donderry, but  still  retained  his  seat  in  the  Bri- 
tish house  of  Commons,  where  lie  acted  as 
leader.  After  the  arduous  session  of  1824,  in 
which  his  labour  was  unremitting,  his  mind 
was  observed  to  be  much  shattered,  but  un- 
happily, although  his  physician  was  apprised 
of  it,  he  was  suffered  to  leave  London  for  his 
seat  at  North  Cray  in  Kent,  where  on  August 
24,  1824,  he  terminated  his  existence  by  in- 
flicting a  wound  in  his  neck  with  a  penknife, 
of  which  he  died  almost  instantly.  The  po- 
litical character  of  this  nobleman  will  be  re- 
garded differently  by  opposing  partisans.  It 
was  certainly  never  in  a  strict  sense  very  po- 
pular, although  exceedingly  influential  in  his 
immediate  sphere.  He  has  been  censured  on 
the  one  side  for  severe,  rigid,  and  persecuting 
domestic  government  ;  and  for  an  undue  coun- 
tenance of  despotic  encroachment  and  arrange- 
ment as  regards  the  social  progress  of  Eu- 
rope. His  party  and  supporters  in  answer  to 
these  strictures  for  the  most  part  plead  poli- 
tical necessity  and  expediency,  while  no  mean 
portion  of  them  defend  his  views  on  the 
stronger  ground  of  principle.  The  change  of 
temper  produced  in  the  cabinet  by  his  death, 
and  the  increase  of  its  popularity  which  fol- 
lowed, will  possibly  be  regarded  as  decisive 
of  the  more  general  sentiment  of  the  nation. 
For  the  rest  he  was  an  active  man  of  business, 
and  a  ready  although  not  an  elegant  orator.  His 
remains  were  interred  in  Westminster  abbey 
with  great  ceremony,  but  not  without  an  ex- 
hibition of  some  marks  of  popular  ill-will.  He 
married  a  daughter  of  the  earl  of  Buckingham- 
shire, by  whom  he  left  no  issue,  being  suc- 
ceeded in  his  title  by  lord  Stuart,  his  half- 
brother,  now  marquis  of  Londonderry. — Ann. 
Biog. 

STIERNHIELM  (GEOIIGF.)  a  learned 
Swede,  born  in  1598.  He  travelled  through 
various  European  countries;  and  being  in 
London  a  little  before  the  Restoration,  he 
assisted  in  those  conferences  of  the  English 
philosophers  which  led  to  the  foundation  of 
the  Royal  Society.  Returning  to  his  own 
country,  he  was  employed  in  public  affairs,  and 
was  highly  esteemed  and  trusted  by  his  sove- 
reign Christina.  Stiernhielm  was  skilled  in 
mathematics,  natural  philosophy,  history,  and 
philology  ;  and  he  also  cultivated  poetry.  He 
is  chiefly  known  as  a  philosopher,  and  espe- 
cially on  account  of  his  microscopical  experi- 
ments. He  died  in  1672.  He  published  the 
Gothic  version  of  the  Gospels  by  Ulphilas, 
Stockholm,  1671,  4to  ;  and  several  works  re- 
lating to  the  languages  and  archaeology  of  the 
northern  nations. — Bing.  Univ. 

STILES,  DD.  and  LLD.  (EznA)  an  Ame- 
rican divine  and  historian,  born  at  North- 


S  1  I 

haven  iu  the  United  States,  November  29 
1727.  He  became  president  of  Vale  college, 
at  Newhaven,  in  Connecticut,  in  1778,  when 
he  published  "  Oratio  Inauguraiis  habita  in 
Sacello  Collegii  Yalensis,"  Hartfordiae,  1778, 
8vo.  He  was  also  the  author  of  a  sermon  en- 
titled "  The  United  States  elevated  to  Glory 
and  Honour,"  second  edition,  Worcester, 
1785,  8vo  ;  and  of  a  very  curious  "  History 
of  three  of  the  Judges  of  King  Charles  1, 
Major  General  Whalley,  Major  General  Goffe, 
and  Colonel  Dixwell,  who,  at  the  Restoration, 
1660,  fled  to  America,  and  were  secreted  in 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  for  near  thirty 
years  ;  with  an  Account  of  Theophilus  Whale, 
of  Narragansett,  supposed  to  have  been  one  of 
the  Judges,"  Hartford,  1794,  8vo.  Dr.  Stiles 
was  also  a  contributor  to  the  "  American  Mu- 
seum," in  which  appeared  his  "  Correspond- 
ence with  Noah  Webster,  respecting  the  For- 
tifications in  the  Western  Country."  He  died 
May  12,  1795.— New  York  Magaz.  Benss. 

STIL1CHO,  a  Vandalic  general,  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  emperor  Theodosius  the  Great, 
whose  niece  Serena  he  married.  Theodosius 
having-  bequeathed  the  empire  of  the  East  to 
his  son  Arcadius,  and  that  of  the  West  to  his 
second  son  Honorius,  the  former  was  left 
under  the  care  of  Rufinus,  and  the  latter  under 
the  guardianship  of  Stilicho.  No  sooner  was 
Theodosius  no  more,  than  Rufinus  stirred  up 
an  invasion  of  the  Goths  in  order  to  procure  the 
sole  dominion,  which  Stilicho  not  wily  put 
down,  but  was  enabled  to  effect  the  destruc- 
tion of  his  rival.  After  suppressing  a  revolt 
in  Africa,  he  inarched  against  Alaric,  whom 
he  signally  defeated  at  Pollentia.  After  this, 
in  406,  he  repelled  an  invasion  of  barbarians, 
who  penetrated  into  Italy  under  Rhadagasius, 
a  Hun  or  Vandal  leader,  who  formerly  accom- 
panied Alaric,  and  produced  the  entire  de- 
struction both  of  the  force  and  its  leader. 
Either  from  motives  of  policy  or  state  neces- 
sity, he  then  entered  into  a  treaty  with  Alaric, 
whose  pretensions  upon  the  Roman  treasury 
for  a  subsidy,  he  warmly  supported.  This  con- 
duct excited  suspicion  of  his  treachery  on  the 
part  of  Honorius,  who  withdrew  from  his  pro- 
tection, and  massacred  all  his  friends  during 
his  absence.  He  received  intelligence  of  this 
fact  at  the  camp  of  Bologna,  whence  he  was 
obliged  to  flee  to  Ravenna.  He  took  shelter 
in  a  church,  from  which  he  was  inveigled  by  a 
solemn  oath  that  no  harm  was  intended  him, 
and  conveyed  to  immediate  execution,  which 
he  endured  in  a  manner  worthy  his  great 
military  character.  Stilicho  was  charged  with 
the  design  of  dethroning  Honorius,  in  order  to 
advance  his  own  son  Eucherius  in  his  place, 
and  the  memory  of  this  distinguished  capty.in 
has  been  treated  by  the  ecclesiastical  his- 
torians with  great  severity.  Zosimus,  however, 
although  otherwise  unfavourable  to  him,  ac- 
quits him  of  the  treason  which  was  laid  to  his 
charge,  and  he  will  live  in  the  poetry  of  Clau- 
dian  as  the  most  distinguished  hero  of  his 
age. — Gibbon.  Univ.  Hist. 

STILL  (JOHN)  bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells, 
was  bom  in  1543,  at  Grantham,  in  Lincoln- 


S  TI 

shire.  He  was  admitted  of  Christ's  college, 
Cambridge.  In  1370  lie  was  Margaret  pro- 
fessor at  Cambridge,  and  he  received  variou 
collegiate  and  other  preferment,  until  in  1590 
lie  was  advanced  to  the  see  of  Bath  and 
Wells,  in  which  he  continued  till  his  decease, 
February  26,  1627.  The  historians  of  the 
drama  are  of  opinion  that  he  was  the  author  in 
his  youth  of  the  curious  old  characteristic 
play  of  "  Gammer  Gur ton's  Needle,"  per- 
formed at  Cambridge  in  1575,  and  which  has 
been  repnblished  in  Dodsley's  and  other  col- 
It  ctions. — Atlien.  O.wn.  Fuller's  Worthies. 

ST1LLINGFLEKT    (EDWARD)    bishop  of 
Worcester,  a  prelate  of   great   learning   and 
ability,  as  well  as  an  acute  and  argumentative 
polemic.     He  was  descended  of  a  respectable 
Yorkshire  family,  but  his  immediate  ancestors 
tfvre  settled  at  Cranbourne,  Dorsetshire,  where 
bo  was  born  in  April,  1635.     He  received  his 
education  at  St  John's  college,    Cambridge, 
where  he  distinguished   himself  so  much    by 
his  industry  and  talent,  that  he  was  elected  in 
1655  to  the  first  fellowship  that  became  vacant 
after  ho  had  taken  his   bachelor's  degree  in 
arts.     His  reputation  for  wit   at  this  period 
was  not  inferior  to  that  which  he  hail  acquired 
for    severer    qualifications,    and    his    Tripos 
speech  is  quoted  as  being  peculiarly  replete 
with    it.      On    quitting     the     university,     he 
lived    for    a    short    time    at    Nottingham,     in 
quality  of  tutor   to  the  marquis  of  Dorches- 
ter's  nephew  ;  and   about   this   period   com- 
menced a   work  calculated,  as  lie  imagined, 
though   erroneously,     to     heal     the    existing 
schisms  into  which  the  nation  was  then  more 
especially    divided.      This    treatise,    entitled 
"  Irenicum,  or  a  weapon  Salve  for  the  Wounds 
of  the  Church,"  appeared  in  1659,  and  had 
no  other  effect  than  that  of  uniting  both  par- 
ties against  it.     Previous  to  its  publication  the 
author  had  taken  up  his  abode  at  Wroxall  in 
Warwickshire,  the  family  seat  of  his  friend 
and  patron,  sir  Roger  Burgoyne  ;  and  having 
taken  holy  orders,  obtained  in  1657,   through 
the  interest  of  that   gentleman,  the   rectory  of 
Sutton   in    Bedfordshire.      Five  years  after- 
wards appeared  his  greatest  work,  under  the 
title  of  "  Origines  Sacra;,  or  a   Rational  Ac- 
count of  Natural    and  Revealed    Religion." 
I  his  has  since  gone  through   a  variety  of  edi- 


ST  1 

William  III.  Besides  the  writings  already 
enumerated,  this  eminent  controversialist  was 
the  author  of  numerous  others,  especially  an 
answer  to  Crellius's  reply  to  Grotius,  an  ap- 
pendix to  Tillotson's  "  Rule  of  Faith,"  1676; 
"  The  Unreasonableness  of  Separation,"  1683; 
and  a  highly  valuable  work,  replete  with  anti- 
quarian research,  "  Origines  Britannic-re,  or 
Antiquities  of  the  Churches  in  Britain,"  folio, 
1685.  A  short  time  before  his  death  bishop 
Stillingfleet  engaged  in  a  controversy  with  the 
celebrated  John  Locke,  respecting  some  p-.irt 
of  that  philosopher's  writings,  which  he  con- 
ceived had  a  leaning  towards  materialism  ; 
but  found  in  his  opponent  a  much  sturdier  an- 
tagonist than  he  had  before  experienced,  and 
has  generally  been  regarded  as  in  this  instance 
lefeated.  His  decease  took  place  March  27, 
1699,  of  an  attack  of  the  gout,  at  his  house  in 
Park-street,  and  his  remains  were  interred  in 
Westminster  abbey,  with  an  inscription  from 
the  pen  of  I)r  Bentley.  As  a  diocesan  he  was 
equally  celebrated  for  his  piety,  learning,  and 
munificence  ;  and,  with  some  loftiness  of  tem- 
per, in  private  life  for  the  general  amiability  of 
lis  disposition  and  manners.  His  works  have 
seen  collected  and  published  entire  in  six  folio 
volumes,  1710. —  B/ow.  Brit. 

STILLING  FLEE  T  (BENJAMIN)  grandsoa 
of  the  above,  and  son  to  the  rev.  Edward  Stil- 
iingfleet,  rector  of  Wood  Norton,  in  the  county 
of  Norfolk,  where  he  was  born  in  1702.  His 
father  appears  to  have  displeased  his  family, 
by  what  they  considered  an  unequal  alliance, 
and  this  circumstance  seems  to  have  had  a 
material  and  unfriendly  influence  upon  the 
prospects  of  his  son.  Its  ill  effects  were  first 
manifested  when,  after  having  gone  through 
the  grammar-school  of  Norwich  with  credit, 
and  distinguished  himself  at  Trinity-college, 
Cambridge,  the  interference  of  the  master,  who 
had  been  chaplain  to  the  bishop,  prevented 
his  being  elected  a  fellow  of  that  society. 
Having  taken  the  degree  of  BA.  Mr  Stilling- 
fleet went  abroad,  and  travelled  through  Italy 
in  quality  of  tutor  to  the  son  of  Mr  Windham; 
but  being  fortunate  enough  to  obtain  the  pa- 
tronage of  lord  Barrington,  that  nobleman,  on 
his  return  to  England,  obtained  him  the  situa- 
tion of  barrackmaster  at.  Kensington  in  1760. 
The  emoluments  of  this  appointment,  and  a 


tions,  and   is  justly  prized  for  the  elegance  of   handsome   bequest    left    him    by    his    former 


its  style  and  the  erudition  which  it  display 
lie  followed  it  up  in  1661  by  a  similar  treatise 
"  On  the  Origin  and  Nature  of  Protestantism," 
which,  together  with  an  able  answer  to 
"  Laud's  Labyrinth,"  a  severe  attack  upon  the 
primate,  written  about  the  same  time,  gained 
him  the  preuchership  of  the  Roll's  chapel  and 
the  valuable  rectory  of  St  Andrew's,  Holborn, 
together  with  a  stall  in  St  Paul's  cathedral. 
His  subsequent  rise  in  the  church  was  rapid, 
being  appointed  in  succession  chaplain  to 
Charles  II,  archdeacon  of  London  1677,  dean 
of  St  Paul's  1678.  Having  distinguished  him- 
self by  the  prominent  part  which  he  took  pre- 
vious to  the  Revolution,  against  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Romish  church  in  these  realms, 
he  was  elevated  to  the  see  of  Worcester  by 
Bine.  DICT.— VOL.  III. 


pupil,  enabled  him  to  live  in  comfort,  and  to 
devote  himself  to  the  study  of  natural  history, 
of  which  he  was  passionately  fond.  The  fruits 
of  his  literary  labours  are  "  The  Calendar  of 
Flora;"  "  Miscellaneous  Tracts  on  Natural 
History  ;"  "  On  the  Principles  and  Power  of 
Harmony,"  4to  ;  an  octavo  volume  of  travels, 
and  some  poetical  pieces.  His  death  took 
place  at  his  lodgings  in  Piccadilly,  Dec.  15, 
1771,  and  his  remains  were  interred  in  the 
parish  church  of  St  James,  Westminster.-- 
Ann.  Reg.  Life  hy  Core. 

STILPO,  the  Megarean,  a  Stoic  philo- 
sopher, who  flourished  about  the  commence- 
ment of  the  third  century  before  the  Christian 
era.  He  was  field  in  great  esteem  hy  his  con- 
temporaries, for  his  sagacity,  moderation,  and 


STO 

integrity,  and  several  disputes,  which  threat- 
ened serious  consequences,  occasioned  by  the 
clashing  interests  of  the  Grecian  cities,  were 
arranged  by  his  mediation,  while  his  virtues 
and  character  so  far  conciliated  the  regard 
even  of  the  enemies  of  his  country,  that  on  the 
storming  of  his  native  city,  especial  directions 
were  issued  by  the  assailants,  that  the  person 
and  property  of  the  philosopher  should  be  re- 
spected. He  was  a  very  subtle  dialectician, 
and  it  was  one  of  his  positions  that  species,  or 
universals,  have  no  real  existence,  which  ap- 
pears to  be  an  anticipation  of  the  doctrine  of 
the  nominalists,  which  so  long  afterwards  was 
to  produce  so  much  heat  in  the  field  of  logic 
and  metaphysics. — Diog.  Laert.  Brucker. 

STIRLING  (JAMES)  an  English  mathema- 
tician, who  was  born  towards  the  end  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  and  educated  at  Oxford. 
In  1717  he  published  "  Lineas  Tertii  Ordinis 
Neutonianas,  sive  Illustratio  Tractatiis  Neutoni 
de  Enumeratione  Linearum  Tertii  Ordinis," 
8vo,  which  procured  him  admission  into  the 
Royal  Society.  This  work  was  followed  by 
"  MethodusDifferentialis,  sive  Tract,  de  Sum- 
matione  et  Interpolatione  Seriarum  Infinita- 
r.im,"  1730,  4to  ;  and  in  1735  he  published  in 
<he  Philosophical  Transactions  a  memoir  on 
(he  figure  of  the  earth.  The  time  of  his  death 
is  uncertain. — Ring.  Univ. 

STO B^EUS  (Jons)  the  name  of  a  Greek 
writer,  who,  about  the  middle  of  the  fifth  cen- 
tury, was  the  author  of  a  variety  of  miscel- 
laneous works,  most  of  which  have  perished  ; 
but  his  collection  of  excerpta  from  those  of 
other  learned  philosophers  and  poets,  lias 
come  down  to  posterity  under  the  title  of 
"  Eclog;e,"  "  Sententia?,"  and  "  Sermones." 
Of  this  work  there  are  several  editions,  the  first 
is  that  of  Venice,  1536,  in  4to  ;  another  was 
published  in  four  octavo  volumes  by  Heeren, 
about  the  latter  end  of  the  last  century.  Ges- 
ner  printed  his  "  Sententiae  "  in  1659.  There 
is  also  an  edition  of  Stobaeus  entitled  "  Ser- 
mones," Lips.  1797.  He  is  regarded  as  a 
pagan  writer  by  Fabricius,  as  he  quotes  ex- 
clusively from  heathen  authors. — Gesner  Pro- 
legom.  Fabricii  Bibl.  Gr. 

STOCK  (CHRISTIAN)  a  learned  German 
professor,  born  in  1672,  at  Camburg.  He 
studied  at  the  university  of  Jena,  where  he 
distinguished  himself  by  his  proficiency  in  the 
eastern  languages,  and  at  length  obtained  the 
professorship  of  Hebrew.  Of  his  writings  the 
most  valuable  are  his  keys  to  the  languages  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  He  was  also 
Ihe  author  of  an  erudite  treatise  on  the  ex- 
istence, mode,  &c.  of  inflicting  capital  punish- 
ment among  the  ancient  Jews.  His  death 
took  place  at  Jena  in  1733. — Moreri. 

STOCKDALE  (PERCIVAL)  the  name  of 
an  English  clergyman,  a  native  of  Branxton, 
in  the  county  of  Northumberland,  where  he 
was  born  about  the  year  1736.  He  was  sent 
into  Scotland  for  education,  and  studied  at  the 
university  of  St  Andrew's,  where  he  gra- 
duated, but  afterwards  embraced  a  military 
life,  and  served  abroad.  His  predilection  for 
the  army  at  length  gave  way  to  circumstances, 


STO 

and  on  his  return  to  England  he  recurred  to 
the  line  of  life  for  which  he  had  been  origi- 
nally designed,  and  entered  the  church  in 
1 759.  Settling  in  the  metropolis,  he  for  some 
time  continued  to  support  himself  by  combining 
the  profession  of  an  author  with  that  of  his 
adoption,  till  an  opportunity  offering  in  the 
royal  navy,  he  again  entered  the  service,  in 
the  capacity  of  chaplain  to  a  king's  ship,  and 
eventually  obtained  the  livings  of  Long 
Houghton  and  Lesbury,  in  his  native  county. 
He  was  a  tolerable  critic,  and  published  a 
series  of  "  Lectures  on  the  Poets,"  an  "  Essay- 
on  the  Genius  of  Pope,"  and  a  "  Biographical 
Memoir  of  Waller,"  besides  a  volume  of  mis- 
cellaneous poems  of  no  great  merit,  and  a  few 
sermons  adapted  for  the  navy.  He  also  wrote 
his  own  life  with  a  most  surprising  degree  of 
vanity  and  self-sufficiency.  His  death  took 
place  at  the  Rectory  house,  in  Long  Hough  - 
ton,  in  1811. — Gent.  Mag. 

STOERK  (ANTHONY,  baron  von)  physician 
to  the  court  of  Vienna,  was  born  at  the  town 
of  Sulgau  in  Suabia,  February  21,  1731. 
Being  left  poor  and  friendless  in  his  early 
years,  he  was  brought  up  at  a  house  for  the 
indigent  at  Vienna ;  and  he  repaid  by  his 
talents,  application,  and  good  behaviour,  the 
generosity  of  his  benefactors.  He  studied 
with  great  application,  and  in  1752  he  took 
the  degree  of  MA.  In  1757  he  received  the 
diploma  of  doctor  of  medicine  ;  and  in  1760 
he  was  nominated  physician  to  the  court.  A 
few  years  after  he  attended  the  empress  Maria 
Theresa,  when  ill  with  the  small-pox  ;  and 
her  recovery  raised  him  to  the  first  rank  in  his 
profession.  He  was  made  an  aulic  counsellor 
and  a  baron  of  the  empire.  As  the  successor 
of  van  Swieten  he  powerfully  contributed  to 
the  improvement  of  the  art  of  medicine  in  the 
Austrian  states,  and  his  professional  zeal  and 
ability  were  conspicuous  on  every  occasion. 
He  died  September  11,  1803,  leaving  behind 
him  a  fortune  of  half  a  million  of  florins. 
Stoerk  chiefly  distinguished  himself  by  his  ex- 
periments relative  to  the  medical  properties  of 
hemlock  and  other  poisonous  plants,  particu- 
larly stramonium,  hyosciamus,  aconite,  and 
colchicum.  Besides  his  tracts  on  these  me- 
dicines, he  published  "  Annus  Medicus,  quo 
sistuntur  Observat.  circa  Morbos  acutos  et 
chronicos  ;"  "  Instituta  Facultatis  Medicsp. 
Vindobonensis  ;"  and  "  Medico-practical  In- 
structions for  Austrian  Physicians  in  the 
Army  and  the  Country,"  2  vols.  8vo. — Biog. 
Univ. 

STOEVER  (JOHN  HERMAN)  a  German 
historian,  born  at  Verdeu  in  1764.  He  was 
coadjutor  with  Schirach  in  a  political  jour- 
nal from  1783  to  1786  ;  and  for  several 
years  editor  of  the  Courier  of  Altona.  At 
length  he  became  rector  of  the  gymnasium  of 
Buxtehude,  where  he  died  in  February  1792. 
He  published  several  historical  works  without 
his  name. — When  he  quitted  Schirach  in  1786 
his  brother,  DESIDERIUS  HENRY  STOEVKU, 
succeeded 'him,  and  was  till  1793  the  prin- 
cipal co-operator  in  the  political  journal.  In 
1788  he  took  the  degree  of  doctor  in  philo- 


STO 

sophy  at  ilelinstadt,  wlien  he  maintained  a 
thesis  on  Danish  history.  In  1793  he  was 
entrusted  with  the  management  of  the  cele- 
brated journal  called  the  "  Impartial  Corres- 
pondent of  Hamburg,"  which  he  conducted  in 
a  manner  creditable  to  his  talents  till  his 
death  in  April  1822.  Though  he  held  no 
public  office  he  had  the  honorary  title  of  coun- 
sellor of  legation  to  the  duke  of  Mecklenberg, 
and  he  was  a  knight  of  the  order  of  Vasa. 
He  published  a  Life  of  Linnaeus,  2  vols.  8vo  ; 
a  Collection  of  the  Letters  of  that  Naturalist 
in  Latin,  8vo  ;  and  a  German  work  entitled 
"  Our  Age,"  or  a  view  of  remarkable  things, 
and  of  the  most  celebrated  men,  forming  a 
manual  of  modern  history,  Altona,  1791,  3  vols. 
8vo. —  Hi'uff.  Univ. 

STOEFLER,  STOFLERINUS,  or  STO K- 
•PHLERUS  (Jons)  a  mathematician  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  who  was  a  native  of  Suabia. 
He  was  professor  of  mathematics  at  Tubingen, 
ami  enjoyed  considerable  reputation ;  but 
being,  according  to  the  fashion  of  the  age  in 
which  he  lived,  addicted  to  the  study  of  astro- 
logy, he  hazarded  a  prediction  of  the  occur- 
rence of  a  great  deluge  to  take  place  in  1524  ; 
and  oven  the  failure  of  his  prophecy  did  not 
convince  him  of  his  folly.  Besides  works  on 
astrology,  he  was  the  author  of  "  Cosmogra- 
phical  Delineations  ;"  "  An  Elucidation  of  the 
Structure  of  the  Astrolabe;"  "  Commentaries 
on  the  Sphere  of  Proclus ;"  &c.  His  death 
took  place  in  1531. —  Kwg.  Univ. 

STOFFLET  (NICHOLAS)  general  in  chief  of 
the  royalist  armies  of    La   Vendee.     Having 
entered  young  into  the   army,   he  served  for 
.some   time  as  a  common   soldier,  and   after- 
wards  became    gamekeeper   to   the   count  de 
Maulevrier.  In  March  1793  observing  that  the 
people  of  lower  Anjou  and  the  neighbouring 
provinces  were  exasperated  against  the  repub- 
lican government,  he  raised  the  standard  of 
revolt ;  and  having  taken  possession  of  Bres- 
suire  he  set  free  Messrs,  de  JMarigny,  de  la 
Rochejacquelin,  de  Lescure,  Desessarts,  and 
others  who  had  been  confined  by  the  republi- 
cans, and  who  became  leaders  of  the  Vendean 
royalist  forces.     He  afterwards  resigned  the 
command  of  the  army  of  Upper  Poitou  to  M. 
d'Elbee,  under  whose  orders  he  acted  till  the 
death  of  that  general,  when  he  resumed  his 
station.     In  1795  Stofflet  concluded  a  species 
of  armistice  with  the  French  government ;  but 
subsequently  taking  up  arms  lie  was  made  a 
prisoner,and  was  shot  at  Angers,  February  23, 
1796.     He  was  a  native  of  Luneville,  and  was 
forty-four  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

-Diet,  ties  iL.  M.  du  18/ne  5.    Biug.  Univ. 

STOKE  (MELIS,  or  EM  I  LI  us)  a  Dutch 
chronicler,  who  wrote  in  verse,  about  the  be- 
ginning of  the  fourteenth  century.  He  was  a 
priest,  attached  to  the  service  of  Florence  V, 
earl  of  Holland,  to  whom  his  work  is  dedi- 
cated. The  Chronicle  of  Stoke  was  first  pub- 
lished by  Janus  Dousa,  in  1591  ;  and  reprinted 
in  1620  ;  but  the  best  edition  is  that  of  Bal- 
thasar  Huydecoper,  1772,  3  vols.  3vo,  en- 
riched with  a  valuable  historical  and  philo- 
logical commentary. — Biog.  Univ. 


STO 

STOLBERG  (FREDERIC  LEOPOLD,  count) 
a  nobleman  distinguished  for  his  talents,  de- 
scended from  one  of  the  sovereign  houses  of 
Germany.  He  was  born  November  7,  17,50, 
at  Bramstedt,  in  Holstein,  where  his  father 
held  the  office  of  grand  bailli.  He  studied  at 
Halle  and  Gottingen,  and  on  quitting  the  lat- 
ter university  lie  published  a  poetical  trans- 
lation of  the  Iliad.  He  then  travelled  with 
hia  brothel' itito  Switzerland  and  Italy  ;  and  on 
his  return  home,  the  duke  of  Oldenburg, 
prince-bishop  of  Lubeck,  appointed  him  his 
minister  plenipotentiary  in  Denmark.  In  I78.T 
he  accepted  a  territorial  government  in  the 
country  of  Oldenburg  ;  but  previously  to  en- 
tering on  the  duties  of  his  orifice  he  w«s  em- 
ployed on  a  diplomatic  mission  in  Russia.  He 
subsequently  resided  some  time  at  Berlin,  as 
ambassador  from  the  prince  regent  of  Den- 
mark. Having  visited  Italy  a  second  time  in 
1790,  lie  published  his  travels  in  Germany, 
Switzerland,  Italy,  and  Sicily,  1794,  4  vols. 
8vo,  translated  into  English  by  Thomas  Hoi- 
croft,  1796-7,  2  vols.  4to.  On  his  return  to 
Eutin,  after  eighteen  months'  absence,  he  was 
made  head  of  the  government,  of  the  con- 
sistory, and  the  finances  of  the  bishopric  of 
Lubeck.  His  leipure  was  dedicated  to  study, 
and  he  employed  himself  in  translating  some 
of  the  dialogues  of  Plato,  and  the  last  discourse 
of  Socrates,  which  were  published  in  three 
volumes,  octavo  On  the  death  of  Catherine  1 1 
he  was  dispatched  on  an  embassy  of  congra- 
tulation from  the  duke  of  Oldenburg  to  the 
emperor  of  Russia,  Paul  I,  who  bestowed  on 
him  the  order  of  St  Alexander  Newski.  The 
latitudinarian  principles  of  the  Lutheran 
clergy  in  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century, 
had  such  an  effect  on  the  mind  of  count  Stol- 
berg,  that  he  determined  at  length  to  quit 
their  communion,  in  which  he  had  been  edu- 
cated, and  to  become  a  Catholic.  He  accord- 
ingly made  a  public  renunciation  of  Pro- 
testantism in  1800,  and  in  the  month  of  Sep- 
tember that  year  he  relinquished  all  his  em- 
ployments. Literary  pursuits  and  the  edu- 
cation of  his  children  occupied  the  remainder 
of  his  life,  which  was  terminated  December  5, 
1819.  He  was  twice  married,  first  to  Agnes 
von  Witzleben,  who  died  in  November  1788, 
and  then  to  the  countess  Sophia  von  Iledern. 
He  published,  besides  the  works  already  no- 
ticed, "  The  History  of  the  Christian  Re- 
ligion," 1806,  15  vols.  8vo  ;  "  The  History  of 
Alfred  the  Great,"  1815;  Odes;  Satires; 
Translations  from  ^schylus,  Sophocles,  Pin- 
dar, &c. — His  brother,  CHRISTIAN,  count 
Stolberg,  was  distinguished  among  the  modern 
poets  of  Germany,  and  was  an  admirer  and 
disciple  of  Klopstock.  He  was  born  Oct.  15, 
1748,  and  died  January  18, 1821. —  Bing.  Unii'. 
STOLL  (MAXIMILIAN)  a  celebrated  Ger- 
man physician,  born  in  Suabia,  in  1742.  His 
father  was  a  surgeon,  and  he  was  destined  for 
the  same  profession  ;  but  tiie  sight  of  an  ope- 
ration so  much  disgusted  him,  that  he  relin- 
quished the  study  of  surgery,  and  obtained 
admission  into  the  college  of  the  Jesuits  at 
Rotweil.  After  a  three  years'  noviciate,  he 
Q2 


STO 

entered  into  the  order  in  1761  ;  but  being  em- 
ployed to  teach  the  classics  at  Halle,  in  the 
Tyrol,  his  mode  of  instruction  displeased  his 
superiors,  and  he  left  the  society  in  1767.  He 
ihea  determined  to  apply  himself  to  the  study 
of  medicine,  which  he  prosecuted  at  Stras- 
burg  and  at  Vienna,  where  he  was  admitted 
1UD.  in  1772.  A  few  months  afterwards  lie 
was  nominated  physician  to  a  canton  in  Ilun- 
j.',:iry,  and  in  1776  he  removed  to  Vienna, 
where  lie  succeeded  Dr  de  Ilaen  as  a  medical 
I'  cturer.  lie  died  March  23,  1788.  Among 
his  works  are  "  Ratio  Medendi,"  1777 — 80, 
4  vols.  8vo,  of  which  there  is  a  French  trans- 
lation ;  "  Aphorism!  de  Cognoscendis  et  Cu- 
i.uidis  Febribus,"  1787,  8vo  ;  "  Pnelectiones 
in  diversos  Morboschronicos,"  1788 — 9,  2  vols. 
Uvo  ;  and  "  Dissertationes  medicie  ad  Morbos 
chronicos  pertiuentes,  in  Universitate  Vindo- 
bonensi  habits,"  1788 — 9,  4  vols.  8vo,  which, 
ns  well  as  the  preceding,  was  published  after 
the  death  of  the  author,  by  Eyerel.  Professor 
Stoll  was  a  great  advocate  for  inoculation  of 
the  small-pox,  which  he  extensively  practised. 
— Bifltr.  Univ. 

STOLLE  (GOTTLIEB),  THEOPII1LUS 
STOLLIUS,  a  German  critic  and  biblio- 
grapher, born  at  Lignitz  in  Silesia,  in  1673. 
\  le  studied  at  Breslau  and  Leipsic,  and  after- 
wards travelled  in  Holland  and  Germany  with 
a  young  nobleman,  to  whom  he  was  tutor.  He 
then  went  to  Halle  and  Jena  to  complete  his 
academical  education,  and  in  170,3  maintained 
a  thesis  "  De  splendida  magis  quam  solicki 
I'.thnicorum  1'hilosophorum  Doctriua  morali." 
1  laving  taken  his  degrees  he  became  rector  of 
the  gymnasium  of  Hildburghausen  ;  and  in 
1714  having  been  aggregated  to  the  faculty  of 
philosophy  at  Jena,  he  subsequently  obtained 
the  professorship  of  that  science.  In  1738 
he  was  nominated  keeper  of  the  university 
library  at  Jena ;  and  he  died  in  that  city, 
March  14,  1744.  His  principal  work  is  an 
"  Introduction  to  the  History  of  Literature," 
of  which  there  is  a  Latin  translation  by 
Charles  Henry  Lange,  1728,  4to.  He  also 
published  remarks  on  "  Heumanni  Conspectus 
Reipublicoi  Litterariaj ;"  "Observations  on 
the  most  important  Books  in  the  Library  of  G. 
Stolle  ;"  "  An  exact  View  of  the  Lives,  Writ- 
ings, and  Doctrines  of  the  Fathers  of  the 
Church  in  the.  first  four  Centuries,"  &c. — King. 
Univ. 

STONE  (EDMUND)  an  eminent  mathemati- 
cian, who  was  a  native  of  Scotland,  and  was 
the  son  of  the  duke  of  Argyle's  gardener  ;  but 
the  time  and  place  of  his  birth  are  not  exactly 
known.  With  the  assistance  of  books  only, 
he  learnt  Latin  and  French  and  the  elements 
of  mathematics.  Before  he  was  eighteen  he 
had  acquired  a  knowledge  of  geometry  and 
analysis  ;  and  his  proficiency  having  engaged 
the  attention  of  the  nobleman,  in  whose  gar- 
I'.ens  lie  was  employed  under  his  father,  an 
occupation  was  procured  for  him  which  left 
him  leisure  for  his  favourite  pursuits.  He  at 
length  went  to  London,  where  he  made  him- 
self known  by  his  talents  ;  and  in  1725  he  was 
chosen  a  fellow  of  the  llo^al  Society,  but  his 


STO 

name  was  erased  from  the  registers  of  that 
learned  corporation  in  1742  or  1743.  Being 
obliged  to  employ  himself  in  writing  fora  sub- 
sistence, he  rather  injured  than  increased  his 
reputation  by  some  of  his  productions  ;  and  he 
died  in  poverty  in  March  or  April  1768.  Be- 
sides several  articles  in  the  Philosophical 
Transactions,  he  published  English  transla- 
tions, and  improved  editions  of  mathematical 
works.  His  principal  work  is  "A  New  Ma- 
thematical Dictionary,"  first  printed  in  1726, 
8vo  ;  and  he  was  the  author  of  "  A  Treatise 
on  Fluxions,"  1730,  8vo,  partly  taken  from 
the  marquis  de  1' Hospital's  "  Analyse  des  In- 
finiments  Petits  ;"  and  "  Some  Reflections  on 
the  Uncertainty  of  the  Figure  anil  Magnitude 
of  the  Earth,  and  on  the  different  Opinions  of 
the  most  celebrated  Astronomers,"  1766,  8vo. 
— Encyclop.  Britan.  Biog.  Univ. 

STONE  (JEROME)  the  son  of  a  mariner, 
was  born  in  the  county  of  Fife  in  Scotland. 
1  Us  father  dying  abroad  when  he  was  but  three 
years  old,  and  his  mother  being  in  straitened 
circumstances,  he  obtained  only  such  a  com- 
mon education  as  was  afforded  by  the  parish 
school,  after  which  lie  became  a  travelling 
chapman  or  pedlar.  The  love  of  literature  in- 
duced him  to  exchange  the  sale  of  haber- 
dashery for  that  of  books,  that  he  might  have 
an  opportunity  for  reading.  He  studied  Greek 
and  Hebrew,  and  after  learning  enough  of 
those  languages  to  be  able  to  read  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments  in  the  original  tongues,  he 
acquired  a  knowledge  of  Latin.  He  was  en- 
couraged to  prosecute  his  studies  at  the  uni- 
versity of  St  Andrew's,  whence  he  was  recom- 
mended as  usher  to  the  school  of  Dunkeld  ; 
and  two  or  three  years  after  he  succeeded  to 
the  office  of  master  in  that  seminary.  He  died 
in  the  thirtieth  year  of  his  age  in  1757,  leaving 
imperfect  an  ingenious  and  learned  work,  en- 
titled "  An  Inquiry  into  the  Original  of  the 
Nation  and  Language  of  the  Ancient  Scots, 
with  Conjectures  about  the  primitive  State  of 
the  Celtic  and  other  European  Nations  ;"  an 
allegorical  tract  entitled  "  The  Immortality 
of  Authors,"  which  lie  also  left  in  manuscript, 
has  been  published  and  often  reprinted  since 
his  death.  Some  very  humorous  poetical 
pieces  of  bis  composition  appeared  in  the  Scots' 
Magazine. — Encyclop.  Brit. 

STONE  (NICHOLAS)  an  English  statuary  of 
eminence  in  the  reigns  of  James  I  and  his  son. 
He  was  employed  under  Inigo  Jones  on  the 
embellishments  of  the  Banqueting-house, 
Whitehall ;  and  the  gate  and  porch  of  St 
Mary's  church,  Oxford,  also  afford  fine  speci- 
mens of  his  productions.  He  executed  many 
sepulchral  monuments,  among  which  the  best 
known  is  that  of  the  Bedford  family,  for  which 
he  was  paid  1120/.  He  died  in  1647,  aged 
sixty-one. — HENRY  STONE,  his  son,  was  also 
a  sculptor,  but  he  was  principally  noted  as  a 
painter.  He  was  an  imitator  of  Vandyck, 
some  of  whose  portraits  he  copied  with  re- 
markable fidelity.  He  passed  several  years  in 
Holland,  France,  and  Italy  ;  but  he  died  in 
London  in  1653. — His  younger  brother,  JOHN 
STONE,  was  likewise  a  painter,  and  was  em- 


STO 

ployed  in  England  in  the  reigns  of  the  tsvo 
Charleses.  He  studied  under  Cross,  and  going 
abroad  for  improvement,  he  remained  there 
thirty-seven  years,  and  acquired  a  knowledge 
of  several  languages. —  Walpole.  Rees's  Cycl. 

STORAGE  (STEPHANO)  an  eminent  com- 
poser of  dramatic  music,  the  son  of  an  Italian 
performer  on  the  bass  viol  of  the  same  name, 
long  settled  in  London,  where  the  subject  of; 
this  article  was  born  in  1763.  Displaying 
early  in  life  a  strong  musical  talent,  he  was 
sent  by  his  father  to  Italy,  that  he  might  enjoy 
every  opportunity  of  cultivation,  where  his  pro- 
gress was  so  rapid,  that  at  this,  the  very  com- 
mencement of  his  career,  he  produced  his  ce- 
lebrated finalelo  the  first  act  of  the  "  Pirates," 
and  some  others  of  his  most  finished  composi- 
tions. On  his  return  to  England  he  resided 
•at  Bath,  till  the  friendship  of  the  well-known 
Michael  Kelly  procured  him  the  appointment 
of  composer  to  Drury-lane  theatre.  In  this 
capacity  he  continued  to  act  with  a  daily  in- 
creasing reputation,  till  a  violent  attack  of 
gout  in  the  head  carried  him  off  in  the  flower 
of  his  age  in  1796.  His  compositions  are  re- 
markable for  their  fire  and  spirit,  and  his  me- 
lodies especially  have  not  often  been  excelled. 
His  productions  are  the  music  to  "  The  Doctor 
and  Apothecary,"  a  farce,  1788  ;  "  Haunted 
Tower,"  opera,  1789  ;  "  No  Song  no  Supper," 
farce,  1790  ;  "  Siege  of  Belgrade,"  opera, 

1791  ;  "  Cave  of  Trophonius,"  musical  inter- 
lude, 1791  ;  "  Pirates,"  and  "  Dido,"  operas, 

1792  ;  "  Prize,"  and  "  Glorious  First  of  June," 
musical  entertainments  ;    "   Cherokee,"   and 
"  Lodoiska,"  operas,  1794  ;  "  Three  and  the 
Deuce,"  comic  drama,   1795  ;  "  My  Grand- 
mother," farce,    "  Iron  Chest,"  musical  play, 
and  "  Mahmoud,"  an  opera,  1796. — His  sis- 
ter,   ANNA    SELINA    STORAGE,    an    excellent 
comic  actress  and  accomplished  singer,  was  a 
pupil  of  Sacchini ;  and  after  singing  at  Flo- 
rence, Vienna,  &c.   between   the  years   1780 
and  1787  with  great  reputation,  came  to  Lon- 
don in  the  latter  year,  and   soon  rose  to  be  a 


first-rate  favourite  in  her  profession,  a  station 
which  she  maintained  till  her  decease,  which 
took  place  in  the  neighbourhood  of  London 
in  1814. — Biog.  Diet,  of  Music. 

STOSCH    (PHILIP,  baron)  a  distinguished 
antiquary,   born   March   22,  1691,  at  Custrin 
in  Germany,  where  his  father  was  a  physician 
and  burgomaster.     He  studied  at  Frankfort- 
on-t'ie-Oder,  and  was  designed  for  the  eccle- 
siastical profession,  but  his   taste   led  him  to 
devote  his  time   to  numismatics.     In  1708  he 
visited    Jena,    Dresden,    Leipsic,    and   other 
places  in    Germany,  for  the  purpose  of  exa- 
mining cabinets  of  medals  and  antiquities.    In 
1710,  going  to  the  Hague,  he  was  recommended 
by  his  uncle,  baron  Schmettau,  the  Prussian 
minister,  to  the   celebrated  Dutch  statesman 
Fagel,   who  employed  him  on  a   mission   to 
England,  where   he  became  acquainted  with 
sir  Hans  Sloane,  lords  Pembroke,  Winchelsea, 
Carteret,    and   other    virtuosi.     In    1713    he 
went  to  Paris,  and  the  following  year  to  Rome; 
and  returning  to  Germany,  he  engaged  in  col- 
lecting other  antique  curiosities  besides  me- 


STO 

dais,  particularly  engraved  gem?.  At  Augs- 
burg he  fortunately  discovered  the  celebrated 
ancient  itinerary  called  the  "  Peutingerian 
Table,"  which  he  subsequently  sold  to  prince 
Eugene  ;  and  it  is  at  present  preserved  in  the 
imperial  library  at  Vienna.  He  then  went  to 
Dresden,  where  he  was  well  received  by  the 
king  of  Poland,  who  appointed  him  his  coun- 
sellor. At  length  he  accepted  the  office  of  re- 
sident from  the  English  court  at  Rome,  for  the 
purpose  of  observing  the  conduct  of  the  pre- 
tender and  his  adherents.  This  not  very  ho- 
nourable post  becoming  extremely  hazardous 
after  the  accession  of  pope  Clement  XII,  who 
was  disposed  to  favour  the  Stuarts,  baron 
Stosch  thought  proper  to  withdraw  to  Flo- 
rence, where  he  died  of  apoplexy,  November 
7,  1757.  He  deserves  a  place  among  the  most 
skilful  and  industrious  antiquaries  of  Ins  time  ; 
his  collections,  and  especially  those  of  ca- 
meos and  engraved  gems,  being  peculiarly 
valuable.  A  catalogue  of  the  latter  was  drawn 
up  by  Winkelmann.  The  baron  himself  pub- 
lished two  volumes  of  plates  representing  his 
gems,  engraved  by  Picart  and  Adam  Schweick- 
ard  ;  and  he  was  also  the  author  cf  a  "  Let- 
ter on  a  newly-discovered  Medal  of  the  Em- 
peror Carinus  and  his  Consort,"  17.55,  4to. — 
Bioy.  Univ. 

STOTHARD  (CHARLES  ALFRED)  an  artist 
and  antiquary  of  great  talent  and  research,  son 
of  Thomas  Stothard,  RA.  born  July  5,  1789. 
He  exhibited  at  an  early  age  a  great  fondness 
for  drawing,  which  afterwards  ripened  into  a 
love  for  the  art  little  short  of  enthusiasm. 
His  paintings  are  remarkable  for  the  faithful 
delineation  which  they  exhibit  of  ancient  cos- 
tume, a  subject  to  which  he  more  especially 
directed  his  attention,  visiting  for  that  pur- 
pose not  only  the  principal  vestiges  of  anti- 
quity in  our  own  country,  but  extending  his 
researches  to  the  continent.  His  drawings  of 
the  effigies  of  various  members  of  the  house  ol 
Plantagenet,  taken  from  the  abbey  of  Fonte- 
vraud,  are  equally  curious  and  accurate  :  and 


it  is  gratifying  to  reflect  that  his  efforts  not, 
only  succeeded  in  preserving  copies  of  these 
interesting  relics,  but  mainly  contributed  to 
save  the  originals  themselves  from  destruc- 
tion. In  1810  appeared  his  celebrated  pic- 
ture of  the  death  of  Richard  II,  equally 
valuable  for  the  excellence  of  its  execution, 
and  from  the  accuracy  with  which  the  costume 
of  the  period  to  which  it  refers  is  represented. 
In  the  same  year  appeared  the  first  number  of 
his  Monumental  Effigies  of  Great  Britain,  the 
tenth  number  of  which  was  preparing  for  pub- 
lication when  a  melancholy  accident  caused 
him  an  untimely  death.  In  1816  he  visited 
France,  and  commenced  at  the  instance  of  the 
Antiquarian  Society  his  elaborate  drawings 
from  the  celebrated  tapestry  deposited  at 
Bayeux;  which  he  afterwards,  in  a  memoir  ad- 
dressed to  the  society,  proved  from  internal 
evidence  to  be  contemporary  with  the  com- 
monly received  era  of  its  production,  the  pe- 
riod succeeding  the  Norman  conquest,  satis 
factorily  refuting  the  objections  of  the  abbe  de 
la  Rur.  This  lutle  essay  is  to  be  found  iu 


STO 

the  nineteenth  yolume  of  the  Archajologia.  In 
July  1819  he  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  An- 
tiquarian Society  ;  and  in  the  same  year  made 
a  series  of  drawings  from  the  paintings  then 
lately  discovered  on  the  walls  of  the  painted 
chamber  in  the  house  of  Lords.  Being  en- 
gaged to  make  some  illustrations  for  Mr 
l.v  M.iis's  Magna  Britannia,  he  set  out  for  that 
purpose  on  a  tour  through  Devonshire,  and 
was  employed  in  the  act  of  tracing  the  stained 
glass  in  a  window  over  the  altar  of  the  parish 
church  of  Bere  Ferrers  in  that  county,  when 
the  ladder  on  which  he  was  standing  giving 
way,  he  was  precipitated  to  the  earth,  and  his 
head  striking  against  the  monument  of  a 
knight  in  the  chancel,  his  life  was  instanta- 
neously terminated  by  a  concussion  of  the 
brain.  This  fatal  accident  took  place  on  the 
28th  May  1821,  in  the  thirty-fourth  year  of 
his  age.  Pie  left  behind  him  several  unfinished 
manuscripts  am1  unpublished  drawings,  espe- 
cially a  work  on  ancient  seals,  which  he  had 
begun,  and  materials  for  a  work  illustrative  of 
the  age  of  Elizabeth.  He  lies  buried  in  the 
Church  which  was  the  scene  of  his  decease.— 
i;m.  Biog. 

STOW  (JOHN)  a  valuable  historian  and  an- 
tiquary, was  born  about  1525,  in  London,  and 
as  is  usually  supposed  in  the  parish  of  St  Mi- 
chael, Cornhill.  His  father  was  a  tailor,  to 
which  business  he  was  also  brought  up  ;  but 
his  mind  early  took  a  bent  towards  antiquarian 
researches,  which  became  his  leading  pursuit 
through  life.  He  first  exhibited  himself  as  an 
antiquary  in  an  able  settlement  of  the  bound- 
aries between  Lime  Street  and  Bishopsgate 
wards.  Continuing  his  studies,  about  the  year 
1560  he  formed  the  design  of  composing  the 
annals  of  English  history,  to  the  completion  of 
wliich  work  he  sacrificed  his  domestic  con- 
cerns, and  quitted  his  trade.  For  the  purpose 
of  examining  records,  charters,  and  other  do- 
cuments, he  travelled  on  foot  to  several  cathe- 
drals and  other  public  establishments,  and  as 
far  as  his  means  would  go,  purchased  old 
books,  MSS.  and  parchments,  until  he  had 
made  a  large  and  valuable  collection.  The 
want  of  patronage  obliged  him  at  length  to 
intermit  his  favourite  pursuits,  until  the 
assistance  which  he  received  from  archbishop 
Parker  enabled  him  to  resume  them.  In  com- 
mon with  many  other  antiquaries  he  was 
thought  to  be  favourable  to  the  ancient  re- 
ligion, and  in  1568  an  information  was  laid 
against  him  as  a  suspicious  person  who 
possessed  many  dangerous  and  supeutitious 
books.  Dr  Grindal,  bishop  of  London,  ac- 
cordingly ordered  an  investigation  of  his  study, 
in  which  of  course  were  found  many  popisa 
books  among  the  rest,  but  the  result  has  not 
been  recorded.  Two  years  afterwards  an  un- 
natural brother  having  defrauded  him  of  his 
goods,  sought  to  take  away  his  life  by  pre- 
ferring one  hundred  and  forty  articles  against 
him  before  the  dreaded  ecclesiastical  com- 
mission. So  base,  however,  was  the  perjury 
and  means  employed  on  this  occasion,  that 
lie  was  acquitted.  He  had  previously  printed 
his  first  work,  entitled  a  "  Summarie  of  the 


STR 

Englyshe  Chronicles,"  compiled  at  the  instance 
of  the  favourite  Dudley,  afterwards  earl  ol 
Leicester,  which  production  was  published  in 
1565,  and  afterwards  continued  by  EdmomJ 
Howes,  who  printed  several  editions.  In 
158.5  he  petitioned  the  lord  mayor  and  court 
of  aldermen  for  two  freedoms,  in  which  request 
he  pleads  his  honourable  mention,  in  various 
works,  of  the  worthy  deeds  of  the  notable 
citizens  of  London.  Four  years  afterwards  he 
claimed  a  pension  on  the  same  score,  but  with 
what  success  does  not  appear.  He  contributed 
largely  to  the  improvement  in  the  second  edi- 
tion of  Hollingshed,  in  1587,  and  gave  cor- 
rections and  notes  to  two  editions  of  Chaucer. 
At  length,  in  1598,  appeared  his  "  Survey  of 
London,"  the  work  on  which  he  had  been  so 
long  employed,  and  which  came  to  a  second 
edition  during  his  lifetime.  He  was  very 
anxious  to  publish  Ins  large  chronicle,  or  his- 
tory of  England,  but  lived  only  to  print  an 
abstract  of  it,  entitled  "  Flores  Historiarum, 
or  Annals  of  England."  From  his  papers 
Edmond  Howes  published  a  folio  volume,  en- 
titled "  Stow's  Chronicle,"  which  does  not 
however  contain  the  whole  of  that  "  far  lareer 
work"  which  he  had  left  in  his  study,  tran- 
scribed for  the  press,  and  which  is  said  to  have 
fallen  into  the  possession  of  sir  Symonds 
Dewes.  It  is  painful  to  record  the  final  suf- 
fering and  poverty  of  this  ingenious  and  in- 
dustrious man,  one  proof  of  which  is  recorded 
in  a  licence  granted  him  by  James  I,  "  to  re- 
pair to  churches  or  other  places  to  receive 
the  gratuities  and  charitable  benevolence  of 
well-disposed  people.  "This  act,  so  discredi- 
table to  the  period,  took  place  in  the  seventy- 
eighth  year  of  his  age.  He  died  afflicted  by 
poverty  and  disease,  in  1605,  at  the  age  of 
eighty.  Stow's  "  Survey  ''  has  run  through 
six  editions,  the  sixth  and  last  of  which  was 
published  in  1754,  with  considerable  additions, 
and  a  continuation  of  all  the  useful  lists.  Stow 
is  described  as  a  man  of  cheerful  aspect,  anil 
mild  and  courteous  behaviour.  He  was  a  cor- 
rect and  zealous  antiquary,  and  a  sincere  lover 
of  truth,  who  never  would  be  satisfied  without 
a  recourse  to  original  documents.  He  is  uni- 
formly referred  to  with  respect,  and  may  be 
considered  entitled  to  the  lead  among  those  in 
his  line  of  inquiry  who  claim  the  praise  of 
humble  and  industrious  utility. — Fuller's  Wor- 
thies. Biog.  Brit.  Life  bit  Stripe. 

STR  A  BO,  a  famous  ancient  geographer, 
who  was  a  native  of  Amasia,  a  city  of  Pontus, 
or  Cappadocia.  He  lived  in  the  reigns  of  the 
first  two  Roman  emperors,  but  the  time  of  his 
birth  and  death  are  not  known.  It  appears 
that  he  studied  grammar  and  rhetoric  at  Nyssa, 
and  that  he  was  instructed  in  the  principles  of 
philosophy  in  several  of  the  most  celebrated 
schools  of  Asia.  He  was  a  great  traveller, 
and  visited  a  considerable  proportion  of  the 
countries  which  he  describes  in  his  treatise  of 
"  Geography, ''  in  seventeen  books,  the  only 
one  of  his  works  which  have  been  preserved, 
and  which  is  justly  reckoned  among  the  most 
important  relics  of  antiquity.  He  also  wrote 
"  Historical  Memoirs,"  which  are  cited  by 


STR 

Josephus,  by  Plutarch,  and  by  the  author 
himself  in  his  Geography.  The  principal  edi-  j 
tions  of  Strabo  are  those  of  Aldus,  Yen.  1516, 
folio  ;  of  Casaubon,  Geneva,  1587;  and  Paris, 
1620.  folio;  of  Almeloveen,  Amsterd.  1707,] 
2  vols.  folio  ;  of  Siebenkees  and  Tzchucke, 
Leips.  1796—1811,  6  vols.  8vo  ;  of  Falconer, 
Oxford,  1807,  2  vols.  folio;  and  of  Coray, 
Paris,  1818 — 19,  4  vols.  8vo.  A  French  trans- 
lation was  published  at  Paris,  1805 — 19,  5 
vols. — Aikin's  Gen.  Biog. 

STRABUS  or  STRABO  (WALAFRIDUS)  a 
Benedictine  monk  of  the  ninth  century,  who 
distinguished  himself  by  the  extent  of  his 
knowledge,  and  who  was  the  author  of  nume- 
rous works,  including  verses  of  extraordinary 
elegance  for  the  period  to  which  they  are  at- 
tributed. Bale  and  Pits  represent  him  as  an 
Anglo-Saxon,  and  the  brother,  or  relation,  of 
the'famous  Beda  ;  but  it  is  more  probable  that 
he  was  a  native  of  Suabia.  He  was  educated 
at  the  abbey  of  St  Gall,  whence  about  818  he 
removed  to  the  abbey  of  Fulda.  Returning 
to  St  Gall  he  was  appointed  dean  of  that. mo- 
nastery in  842,  and  he  at  length  became  abbot 
of  Reichenau,  in  the  diocese  of  Constance. 
The  emperor  Louis  I  sent  him  on  an  embassy 
to  Charles  the  Bald,  king  of  France,  and 
Strabo  died  at  Paris,  in  the  course  of  that 
mission,  about  849.  A  list  of  his  works  may 
be  found  in  the  annexed  authority.  Among 
them  is  a  poem  entitled  "  Hortulus,"  or  the 
Little  Garden,  which  displays  to  great  advan- 
tage his  talents  as  a  writer  of  didactic  poetry, 
and  the  worthy  precursor  of  Pontanus,  Rapin, 
and  other  georgical  authors. — Biog.  Univ. 

STUADA  (FAMIANUS)  an  Italian  historian 
and  elegant  writer  of  modern  Latin  poetry, 
born  at  Rome  in  1572.     He  entered  into  the 
society   of   the  Jesuits  in   1592,  and  became 
professor  of  rhetoric  at  the  Roman   college, 
where  he  resided  till  his  death  in  1649.     His 
most  famous  work  is  a  "  History  of  the  Wars 
in  the  Netherlands,"  in   Latin,  written  at  the 
request  of  the  princes  of    Farnese,   and  ex- 
tending from  the   death  of  Charles  V  to  the 
year  1590.     This  production  was  criticized  by 
cardinal  Bentivoglio,  who  wrote  on  the  same 
events  ;    and    it  was  virulently    attacked    by 
Scioppius,  in  his  "  Infamia  Famiani  Stradse," 
the  exaggerated  censure  of  which  injured  the 
credit  of  the  critic  more  than  that  of  the  his- 
torian.    Strada  is  also  advantageously  known 
on  account  of  his  "  Prolusiones  Academics," 
which  have  been   repeatedly  published.     In 
one  of  these  prolusions  he  has  introduced  in- 
genious  imitations  of  the  style  of  the  most 
celebrated  Roman  poets,  of  which  there  are 
many  translations,  including  those  published 
by    Addison   in    the     Guardian. — Tiraboschi, 
Biog.  Univ.     Aihin. 

STRADELLA  (ALESSANDRO)  a  Neapoli- 
tan musician  and  composer,  who  with  the  ex- 
ception perhaps  of  Carissimi,  was  the   mos 
celebrated  writer  of  vocal  music  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  about  the  middle  of  which  his 
reputation  had  reached  its  zenith.     His  pri 
vate  history  is  as  romantic  in  its  progress  as 
melancholy  in  its  termination.     While  yet  a 


ST  R 

very  young  man  he  was  employed  by  a  Vene 
tian  noble   to  instruct  his  mistress,  Hortensia 
(a  girl  descended    of    a  patrician  family   at 
Rome,  whom  he  had  seduced),  hi  the  art  of 
singing.     A  strong  and  mutual  attachment  be- 
tween the  master  and  the   pupil  ensued  ;  an 
elopement  was  the  consequence,  and  the  lovers 
led  to  Rome.    To  this  city  they  were  followed 
iy  two  ruffians,  dispatched  by  the  forsaken 
Venetian  with  peremptory  orders  to   assassi- 
nate Stradella.     The  opportunity  selected  by 
he  villains  to  carry  their  murderous  design 
nto  execution  was  the  evening  after  an  ora- 
orio  of  their  intended  victim's  own  composi- 
ion,  in  which  he  was  both  to  play  and  sing 
he  principal  part  in  the  church  of  St  John 
l,ateran  ;  on   his  return   from  which  they  de- 
ermiued  to  avail  themselves  of  the  darkness 
of  the  evening.     Entering  the  church  during 
he  performance  of  the  music,   they  resolved 
,o  wait  quietly  till  its  conclusion,  but  long  be- 
"ore  that  took  place  their  hearts  were  so  sof- 
:ened  by  its  excellence,  that  they  found  it  im- 
possible to  execute  their  design,  and  accosting 
lim  afterwards  in  the   street,  confessed  their 
errand,  recommending  him  to  flee  to  some  safer 
asylum.     He  took  their  advice,  and  retired  to 
Turin,  where  the  duchess  of  Savoy,  to  whom 
;hey  confessed  their  danger,  placed  the  lady 
n  the  security  of  a  convent,  and  retained  Stra- 
della in  the  palace  in  quality  of  chapel  master. 
Their  vindictive  enemy  however,   enraged  at 
earning  their  escape,   sent  after   them   two 
other  emissaries  of  a  more  determined  cha- 
racter and  less  accessible  to  the  charms  of 
music,  who  after  residing  for  some  time  in  the 
city  under  a  passport  from  the  abbe  D'Es'trade, 
the  French  ambassador  at  Venice,  in  the  cha- 
racter of  merchants,  at  length  surprised  Stra- 
della walking   one  evening  on  the  ramparts, 
and  plunged  their  daggers  into  his  breast.  This 
done,   they  took  refuge   in  the   house  of  the 
marquis  de  Villars,  ambassador  from  the  court 
of  France  to  that  of  Turin,  who  insisting  on 
his  privilege,  refused  to  give  them  up  ;  and 
eventually,  though  undeceived  as  to  their  as- 
sumed characters,  allowed  them  to  escape.  In 
the   mean    time    Stradella,    whose    wounds, 
though  serious  were  not  mortal,  slowly  reco- 
vered, and  a  year  having  elapsed,  he  fancied  the 
vengeance  of  his  enemy  had  been  satiated.   In 
this  supposition  he  was  fatally  deceived,  for 
being  invited  to  Genoa  to  compose  an  opera 
in  the  year  1678,  lie  set  out  with  his  wife 
Hortenria  for  that  city,  intending  to  return  to 
Turin  in  time  for  the  carnival  ;  but   scarcely 
had  they  reached  the  place  of  their  destination 
when  a  third  set  of  assassins  found  means  to 
enter  their  chamber  early  one  morning,  and 
stabbing  tnem  both  to  the  heart  effected  their 
escape,  by  means  of  a  boat  which  waited  for 
them  in  the  port.     Of  the  works  of  this  un- 
fortunate man    and    delightful    composer  the 
most  celebrated  are  "  John  the  Baptist,"  an 
oratorio  written  for  five  voices  ;  and  a  serious 
opera,    the   production    of    which   at    Genoa 
proved  so  disastrous    to   him,    entitled  "  La 
Forza  dell'  Amor   paterno." — Biog.  Diet,   oj 
Mus. 


ST  R 

SIR  ADIVARIUS  (ANTHONY)  a  celebrated 

nuisical-instrunient-maker,  boni  at  Cremona, 
about  1670.  He  was  the  last  and  the  most 
skilful  pupil  of  the  Amati,  who  for  more  than 
a  century  enjoyed  the  reputation  of  being  the 
first  lute-manufacturers  in  Europe.  The  vio- 
lins of  Stradivarius  are  extremely  valuable, 
especially  those  fabricated  between  1700  and 
1722.  He  died  about  1728. — Biog.  Univ.  , 

STRAHAN  (WILLIAM)  an  eminent  printer, 
who  was  a  native  of  Edinburgh.  Having  ac- 
quired a  knowledge  of  his  profession,  he  re- 
moved to  London,  and  entered  into  business. 
He  succeeded  so  well  that  in  1770  he  was 
enabled  to  purchase  a  share  of  the  patent 
office  of  king's  printer.  In  1775  he  became 
IMP.  for  the  borough  of  Malmesbury,  having 
for  his  colleague  the  celebrated  C.  J.  Fox  ;  and 
in  the  next  parliament  he  had  a  seat  for  Wot- 
ton  Basset.  Mr  Strahan,  who  was  much  es- 
teemed by  persons  of  rank  and  learning,  was 
himself  an  author,  having  written  a  paper  in 
' '  The  Mirror,"  and  some  other  pieces,  lie  died 
in  178.5,  aged  seventy. —  Nichols's  Lit.  Anec. 

STRALENBERG  (Piin.ip  JOHN)  a  Swe- 
dish military  officer,  born  in  Pomerania  in 
1676.  His  proper  name  was  Tabbert,  which 
was  changed  for  that  of  Stralenberg,  when  his 
family  was  ennobled  by  Charles  XII  in  1707. 
After  having  served  in  Poland,  he  accompa- 
nied the  king  of  Sweden  in  his  Russian  expe- 
dition, and  was  present  at  the  battle  of  Pul- 
towa,  where  he  was  taken  prisoner.  He  was 
carried  to  Moscow,  and  at  length  sent  to  Si- 
beria, where  he  continued  thirteen  years.  He 
obtained  permission  to  travel  in  the  interior  of 
the  country,  of  which  he  made  a  geometrical 
survey,  and  confided  the  care  of  his  papers  to 
a  merchant  of  Moscow,  on  whose  death  they 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  emperor  Peter  I. 
Stralenberg  continued  his  labours,  and  having 
preserved  copies  of  bis  charts  and  memoirs, 
when  lie  had  completed  his  design  he  was 
allowed  to  return  to  Sweden.  The  emperor 
would  willingly  have  retained  him  in  his  ser- 
vice, but  he  rejected  the  offers  made  him,  and 
went  to  Stockholm,  where  his  sufferings  in  the 
cause  of  his  sovereign  were  but  indifferently 
rewarded.  lie  obtained  in  1724  the  rank  of 
lieutenant-colonel,  with  the  pay  of  a  captain  ; 
and  in  1740  he  was  appointed  commandant  of 
the  fortress  of  Carlsham,  where  he  died  in 
1747.  He  published  at  Lubeck,  in  1730,  in 
the  German  language,  his  "  Historico-Geo- 
graphical  Description  of  the  North-east  Por- 
tion of  Europe  and  Asia,"  4to. — Aildn's  Gen. 
Bing.  Ring.  Univ. 

STRANGE  (sir  R.OBERT)  an  eminent  engra- 
ver, born  in  Pomona,  one  of  the  Orkney  islands, 
in  172.5.  He  first  studied  painting,  and  being 
at  Edinburgh  in  1745,  he  was  induced  to  enter 
the  army  of  the  pretender,  after  whose  de- 
feat at  Culloden  he  concealed  himself  for  some 
time  in  the  Highlands,  and  then  returned  to 
Edinburgh  to  pursue  his  studies.  At  length 
he  went  to  Paris,  and  became  the  pupil  of  Le 
IJ.is,  who  excelled  as  a  landscape  engraver. 
Strange  however  devoted  his  talents  to  histo- 
rical engraving,  in  which  lie  arrived  at  great 


ST  R 

eminence.  In  1761  he  settled  in  London, 
and  after  residing  there  about  seven  years,  he 
took  a  journey  to  Italy,  where  he  remained 
a  considerable  time,  and  was  admitted  a  mem- 
ber of  several  Italian  academies  of  the  fine 
arts,  and  of  the  academy  of  painting  at  Paris 
He  received  the  honour  of  knighthood  in  1787, 
and  died  in  London  in  1795.  lie  published 
in  1769  "  A  Descriptive  Catalogue  of  a  Col  • 
lection  of  Pictures  selected  from  the  Roman, 
Florentine,  Lombard,  Venetian,  Neapolitan, 
Flemish,  French,  and  Spanish  Schools,  with 
Remarks  on  the  principal  Painters  and  their 
Works,  with  a  List  of  thirty-two  Designs 
from  the  best  Compositions  of  the  great  Mas- 
ters, collected  and  drawn  during  a  Tour  of 
several  Years  in  Italy,"  8vo. — Aikin's  Gen, 
Binir. 

STRAPAROLA  DI  CARAVAGIO(.ToiiN 
FRANCIS)  an  Italian  novelist  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  of  whose  personal  history  so  little  is 
known  that  it  is  uncertain  whether  the  de- 
signation applied  to  him  is  that  of  his  family 
or  a  name  assumed,  according  to  a  common 
custom  of  his  literary  contemporaries.  One  of 
his  publications,  "  Sonetti,  Strambotti,  Epis- 
tole  e  Capitoli,"  was  printed  at  Venice,  in 
1508 ;  and  he  was  living  in  1554,  the  period 
when  the  second  part  of  his  Tales  was  pub- 
lished. Straparola  obviously  imitated  Bon- 
caccio,  from  whom,  as  well  as  from  Poggio, 
Morlino,  Machiavel,  and  others,  he  has  bor- 
rowed with  great  freedom  the  incidents  of 
many  of  his  narratives,  so  as  to  have  not  un- 
deservedly incurred  the  imputation  of  pla- 
giarism. His  tales  or  novels,  "  Le  Piacevoli 
Notti,"  have  been  often  printed. — Biog.  Univ. 
STRATO,  a  philosopher  of  Lampsacus, 
who  flourished  in  the  reign  of  Ptolemy  Phila- 
delphia, to  whom  lie  gave  lessons  in  meta- 
physics. Although  of  the  Peripatetic  or  Aris- 
totelian school,  his  tenets  approached  nearer 
to  those  of  the  materialists  of  modern  times 
than  those  of  Theophrastus,  his  immediate 
predecessor,  or  any  of  the  sages  who  had  pre- 
ceded him  at  the  Lyceum.  According  to 
Brucker  he  maintained  that  there  is  inherent 
in  nature  a  principle  of  motion  or  force,  with- 
out intelligence,  which  is  the  only  cause  of 
the  production  or  dissolution  of  bodies.  It 
was  a  more  rational  deduction  from  his  phy- 
sical inquiries,  that  the  seat  of  the  soul  is  in 
the  brain,  and  that  it  only  acts  by  means  of 
the  senses. — Ding-  Laert.  Bayle,  art.  Spinoza. 
STRAUCHIUS  (vEoiDius,  or  GILES;  an 
eminent  mathematician  and  zealous  controver- 
sialist of  the  seventeenth  century,  a  native  of 
\Vittemberg  in  Germany,  born  16o2.  Having 
graduated  in  the  university  of  Leipsic,  he  re- 
turned to  the  place  of  his  birth,  where  he  ob- 
tained a  divinity  professorship,  which  he  after- 
wards resigned  for  a  similar  appointment  at 
Dantzic.  Polemical  disputes  running  high,  the 
earnestness  and  acrimony  with  which  he  indis- 
criminately attacked  both  Catholic  and  Cal- 
vinist,  as  a  devoted  partisan  of  Luther,  not  only 
lost  him  his  situation,  but  was  the  occasion  of 
his  being  thrown  into  prison  by  the  elector  of 
Brandenburg  (whom  he  had  personally  re- 


Sri-*     ji  i 
1   K 

fleeted  upon  in  his  sermons)  at  a  time  when 
he  was  travelling  through  that  prince's  domi- 
nions. His  principal  writings  consist  of 
"  Breviarium  Chronologicum,"  a  work  of  con- 
siderable merit,  of  which  there  is  an  English 
translation  by  Sault ;  "Breviarium  Histori- 
cum  ;"  "  Doctrina  Astrorum  Mathematica  ;" 
and  "  Geographia  Mathematica."  He  sur- 
vived his  liberation  some  years,  and  died  in 
1682. — Jocher,  Allgem.  Gelehrte  Lexicon. 

STPvIGELlUS  (VICTORINUS)  a  philoso- 
phical divine  of  the  sixteenth  century,  dis- 
tinguished among  the  first  reformers.  He  was 
a  Suabian  by  birth,  being  born  in  1524,  at 
Kaufbier,  and  completed  his  education  at  Wit- 
temberg,  of  which  university  he  became  a 
member  in  his  twentieth  year.  Here  he  at- 
tached himself  particularly  to  Melancthon  and 
Martin  Luther,  whose  doctrines  he.  strongly 
advocated;  and  among  the  many  absurd 
schisms  into  which  Protestantism,  even  in 
those  days  of  its  infancy,  was  divided,  he  ap- 
pears to  have  uniformly  shown  much  modera- 
tion and  good  sense,  especially  in  regard  to 
the  disputes  carried  on  between  Major  and 
Amsdorf,  at  Eisenach,  in  1556,  on  the  efficacy 
of  good  works,  wherein  the  latter  controver- 
sialist went  so  far  as  to  denounce  them  as  being 
actually  pernicious  to  the  soul.  This,  which 
may  be  called  the  fourth  Lutheran  schism,  was 
ably  treated  of  by  Strigelius.  In  1556  he  held  a 
public  disputation  atWeimar,  against  Illyricus, 
but  at  length  falling  into  discredit  on  account 
of  the  part  he  took  in  the  argument  between 
the  theologians  of  Weimar  and  those  of  Wit- 
temberg,  he  suffered  an  imprisonment  of  three 
years'  duration.  In  1563  having  obtained  his 
liberty,  he  took  up  his  abode  at  Leipsic,  where 
he  continued  to  lecture  in  theology,  logic,  and 
metaphysics,  till  the  arm  of  power  again  in- 
terfered, and  drove  him  for  refuge  into  the 
Palatinate.  The  offer  of  an  ethical  profes- 
sorship at  length  induced  him  to  settle  at  Hei- 
delberg, where  he  remained  till  his  death  hi 
June  1569.  He  was  the  author  of  a  com- 
mentary on  the  Old  and  New  Testaments ; 
"  Scholse  Historicae  ;"  "  Epitome  Doctrine 
de  primoMotu,"  &c. ;  but  although  a  man  of 
considerable  learning,  which  he  was  especially 
famed  for  conveying  to  his  pupils  by  his  ad- 
mirable mode  of  instructing  them,  his  writings 
are  now  but  little  known. — Id. 

STR1TTER  (JOHN  GOTTHEI.F  von)  a  Rus- 
sian historian,  born  in  1740,  After  he  had 
finished  his  studies,  he  went  to  Petersburg, 
and  obtained  the  office  of  inspector  of  the 
gymnasium  of  the  academy  of  Sciences.  In 
1780  he  was  appointed  archivist  of  the  em- 
pire, and  at  length  counsellor  of  state.  He 
died  March  2,  1801.  He  distinguished  him- 
self by  his  erudition,  and  his  numerous  re- 
searches into  the  works  of  the  Byzantine  his- 
torians. The  result  of  his  labours  appeared 
in  his  "  Memoriae  Populorum  olim  ad  J)anu- 
bium,  Pontum  Euxinum,  Paludtm  Mosotidem, 
Caucasum,  Mare  Caspium,  et  inde  magis  ad 
Septentriones  incolentium,  e  Scriptoribus  His- 
toriaj  ByzantiniE  enUre  et  digesta;,"  Petersb. 
1771 — 80,  4  vols.  4to.  He  also  drew  up  an 


S  T  R 

abridgment  of  tliis  work  in  Latin  ;  and  lie 
wrote  historical  dissertations,  and  a  history  ol 
Russia,  in  the  Russian  language. — Bivg.  Univ. 

STROEMER  (MARTIN)  professor  of  astro- 
nomy, born  in  1707  at  Upsal,  where  he  died 
in  1770.  To  the  study  of  astronomy  he  joined 
that  of  natural  philosophy  ;  and  he  was 
one  of  the  first  who  applied  electricity  to 
medical  purposes.  After  having  been  ap- 
pointed to  organize  the  school  of  marine  ca- 
dets at  Carlscrona,  he  was  employed  in  con- 
structing improved  charts  of  the  coasts  of 
Sweden.  Stroemer  succeeded  the  learned 
Andrew  Celsius  in  the  astsonomical  chair  at 
Upsal ;  and  he  was  a  member  of  the  Academy 
of  Sciences  at  Stockholm,  to  whose  Me- 
moirs he  was  a  contributor.  He  also  pub- 
lished a  Swedish  translation  of  the  Elements 
of  Euclid  ;  and  remarks  on  the  ancient 
Runic  calendars  used  in  Sweden. — Biog. 
Univ. 

STROGONOFF  (count  ALEXANDER  de)  a 
Russian  nobleman,  born  about  the  middle  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  He  received  a  good 
education,  and  in  his  youth  displayed  a  strong 
taste  for  literature,  especially  that  of  the 
French.  Several  years  which  he  passed  at 
Paris  in  intercourse  with  men  of  letters,  doubt- 
less occasioned  this  partiality.  Returning  to 
Petersburg,  he  was  nominated  president  of  the 
Academy  of  the  Fine  Arts,  and  he  made  a 
noble  use  of  his  immense  riches,  by  giving  an 

JO  o 

asylum  in  his  palace  to  authors  and  artists, 
and  by  forming  a  valuable  collection  of  paint- 
ings, medals,  and  engravings,  and  a  rich  li- 
brary, which  was  ever  open  to  the  lovers  of 
the  arts  and  sciences.  He  died  at  Petersburg, 
September  27,  1811. — Count  PAUL  STROCO- 
NOFF,  his  nephew,  entered  into  the  army,  and 
served  in  Austria  in  1805,  and  in  Prussia  in 
1807,  when  he  was  made  adjutant  major- 
general.  He  was  afterwards  employed  against 
the  Swedes  in  Finland,  and  against  the  Turks 
in  Moldavia  ;  and  after  being  engaged  against 
the  French,  in  the  campaigns  of  1812  and 
1813,  he  was  killed  under  the  walls  of  Laon, 
in  February  1814. — Baron  ALEXANDER  de 
SIROCONOFF,  born  in  1772,  displayed  an  early 
genius  for  learning  and  the  arts,  and  travelled 
for  improvement  in  Germany,  France,  and 
Italy.  He  published  at  Geneva,  in  1809,  two 
volumes  of  "  Letters  to  his  Friends,"  written 
with  taste  and  sensibility,  to  which  were  added 
two  remarkable  little  pieces,  entitled,  "  The 
History  of  the  Chevaliers  de  la  Vallee  ;"  and 
"  The  History  of  Pauline  Dupuis."  The 
baron  de  Strogonoff  then  laboured  under  a 
state  of  blindness  and  debility,  which  did  not 
however  disturb  the  tranquillity  of  his  mind. 
His  death  took  place  in  September,  1815. — 
Biog.  Univ. 

STROZZI  (TITUS  and  HERCULES)  father 
and  son,  were  two  poets  of  Ferrara,  who  both 
wrote  in  Latin.  Their  poems  were  printed 
together  at  Venice,  1513,  8vo,  and  consist  of 
t-legies  and  other  compositions  in  a  pure  and 
pleasing  style.  Titus  died  about  1502,  and 
Miuules,  his  son,  was  killed  by  a  rival  in 
1508.  There  have  been  several  other  writers 


STR 

of  the  name. — CVRIAC  Srnozzi  was  bom  at 
Florence  in  1504,  and  became  professor  of 
Greek  at  Florence,  Bologna,  and  Pisa.  lie 
added  a  ninth  and  tenth  book  to  Aristotle's 
Politics,  and  composed  them  both  in  Greek 
and  Latin.  He  died  in  1565. — THOMAS 
STROZZI,  a  Jesuit  of  Naples  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  wrote  a  Latin  poem  in  praise  of  cho- 
colate, a  discourse  on  liberty,  and  other  works. 
—  GIULIO  STUOZZI  distinguished  himself  by 
a  fine  piece  on  the  origin  of  the  city  of  Ve- 
nice, entitled  "  Venetia  sdificata."  He  died 
about  1636. — NICOLAS  Sritozzr,  who  died  in 
1654,  another  poet,  was  author  of  two  tra- 
gedies, "  David  of  Trebisonde,"  and  "  Conra- 
dus  ;"  also  "  Idylls,"  "  Sonnets,"  and  other 
works. — J\Ioreri.  Tiraboschi. 

STUOZZI  (PHILIP)  a  celebrated  Florentine 
patriot,  was  a  member  of  the  eminent  com- 
mercial family  of  the  same  name,  and  one  of 
the  richest  citizens  of  Florence  in  the  early 
part  of  the  sixteenth  century.  He  was  allied 
by  marriage  with  the  Medici,  but  was  too  much 
attached  to  the  ancient  republican  constitution, 
to  acquiesce  in  the  domination  of  that  house. 
Accordingly,  when  the  sovereignty  was  as- 
sumed by  Alessandro  de'  Medici,  he  joined 
the  party  which  aimed  at  restoring  a  free  go- 
vernment. Their  application  for  support  to 
the  emperor  Charles  V  being  unattended  to, 
Strozzi  exercised  the  influence  of  a  master 
spirit  over  Lorenzo  de'  Medici,  and  induced 
him  to  assassinate  the  duke.  The  only  result 
of  this  action  was  the  immediate  succession 
of  Cosmo,  whom  he  opposed  at  the  head  of 
a  body  of  troops,  but  being  defeated  at  the 
battle  of  Marona,  he  was  made  prisoner. 
Apprehending  that  he  should  be  put  to  the 
torture  to  force  a  disclosure  of  his  accomplices, 
he  resolved  to  anticipate  the  trial  by  a  volun- 
tary death,  which  he  accomplished  by  a 
poniard  which  had  been  negligently  left  in  his 
apartment.  Having  first  traced  with  the 
point  of  it  upon  the  mantel-piece  the  line 
from  Virgil,  "  Exoriare  aliquis  nostris  ex  os- 
sibusultor!"  he  pierced  his  breast,  and  im- 
mediately expired.  This  event  took  place  in 
1538.  He  was  doubtless  a  man  of  great  qua- 
lities, and  disinterestedly  sincere  in  his  repub- 
lican sentiments.  His  sons  went  to  France, 
where  one  of  them  became  a  marshal  of 
France. —  Bai/le.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

STRUENSEE  (JOHN  FREDERICK)  a  cele- 
brated political  adventurer,  was  the  son  of  a 
clergyman  at  Halle  in  Saxony,  where  he  was 
born  in  1737.  He  was  brought  up  to  medi- 
cine, and  on  taking  his  degree  of  doctor  in 
1757,  removed  to  Altona.  Here  he  acquired  a 
connexion,  which  so  far  promoted  his  interest, 
that  through  its  influence  he  was  in  1768  ap- 
pointed physician  to  the  king  of  Denmark, 
whom  he  accompanied  on  his  tour  to  Ger- 
many, France,  and  England.  Soon  after  the 
marriage  of  Christiem  VII  with  the  princess 
Matilda  of  England,  a  coolness  was  observed 
between  the  king  and  queen,  which  was  fo- 
mented by  the  queen-dowager  by  every  means 
in  her  power.  At  length  the  young  queen 
being  led  into  an  observation  of  the  influence 


STR 

of  Struensee  over  the  king,  and  of  bis  accom- 
plishments and  attractive  qualities,  sought  by 
!  his  means  to  effect  a  reconciliation  with  her 
husband,  and  succeeded.  After  a  long  course 
of  conflicts  and  court  intrigues,  count  Bern- 
storffand  the  other  ministers  of  Chrisiieruwere 
obliged  to  yield  to  the  influence  of  the  queen 
and  the  new  favourite,  with  his  firm  coadjutor, 
count  Brandt.  The  manner  in  which  Struensee 
exercised  his  new  authority  was  that  of  a  man 
whose  presumption  was  far  greater  than  either 
his  courage  or  las  talents  ;  and  although  some 
of  his  measures  and  reforms  were  in  them- 
selves desirable  and  well  intended,  his  man- 
ner of  advancing  them  occasioned  very  great 
disgust.  Taking  advantage  of  the  extreme 
imbecility  of  the  monarch,  he  gradually  con- 
trived in  the  name  of  the  king  to  direct  the 
whole  machine  of  government.  Such  a  state 
of  things  could  not  last,  and  a  conspiracy  was 
formed  by  a  strong  party  of  the  nobility, 
headed  by  count  Rantzau  and  aided  by  the 
queen- dowager.  So  well  were  their  measures 
taken,  that  on  the  night  of  the  16th  Jan.  1772, 
the  young  queen,  Struensee,  then  become  count, 
his  brother,  and  count  Brandt,  with  all  their 
friends  and  adherents  were  arrested  ;  and  the 
weak  monarch  Christiern,  who  had  been  roused 
in  his  bedchamber,  and  made  to  believe  that 
his  life  was  in  danger,  signed  an  order  by 
which  all  this  was  rapidly  effected.  The  un- 
fortunate and  imprudent  queen  was  conveyed 
with  much  indignity  to  the  castle  of  Cronen- 
burgh  ;  and  an  immediate  prosecution  was  in- 
stituted against  Struensee,  who  was  convicted 
of  treason,  and  sentenced  on  the  25th  of  the 
following  April  to  lose  his  right  hand,  to  be 
then  beheaded,  and  his  body  to  be  quartered. 
This  barbarous  sentence  he  endured  on  the 
28th  of  the  same  month  along  with  his  friend 
and  associate,  count  Brandt,  who  had  also 
been  condemned.  An  elaborate  account  of 
the  conversion  of  this  presumptuous  and  unfor- 
tunate adventurer,  from  a  state  of  scepticism 
to  religious  belief,  forms  the  subject  of  a  nar- 
rative by  a  Dr  Munter,  who  attended  him  in 
his  last  moments.  The  life  of  the  queen  was 
in  some  danger,  and  what  the  result  might 
have  been,  where  so  much  imprudence  ex- 
isted to  countenance  imputation,  had  not  a 
British  fleet  appeared  in  the  Baltic,  is  doubtful, 
By  that  fleet  she  was  conveyed  to  Zell,  where 
she  died  in  1776,  leaving  issue  the  present 
king  of  Denmark. — Papers  respecting  Trial  of 
Count  Struensee. 

STRUTT  (JOSEPH)  an  artist  and  anti- 
quary, was  born  in  1749,  at  Springfield  in 
Essex,  where  his  father  followed  the  business 
of  a  miller.  In  1764  he  was  articled  to  the 
unhappy  engraver,  W.  Wynn  Ryland,  and  in 
1770  obtained  the  gold  and  silver  medals  of 
the  Royal  Academy.  Uniting  the  study  of 
antiquities  with  the  practice  of  his  art,  he  pub- 
lished in  1773  his  first  work,  entitled  "  The 
Regal  and  Ecclesiastical  Antiquities  of  Eng- 
land," 4to,  which  contained  representations  of 
all  the  English  monarchs  from  Edward  the 
Confessor  to  Henry  VIII.  This  was  followed 
by  "  Horda  Angel  Cynnan,"  or  a  complete 


STR 

view  of  the  manners,  customs,  arms,  habits, 
&c.  of  the  English,  from  the  arrival' of  the 
Saxons '  to  the  times  of  Henry  VIII,  &c. 
1774,  1775,  and  1776,  3  vols.  with  157  plates. 
In  1777  and  1778  he.  published  "  A  Chronicle 
of  England,"  which  he  meant  to  extend  to  six 
volumes,  but  dropped  the  design  for  want  of 
encouragement.  His  "  Biographical  Dic- 
tionary of  Engravers"  appeared  in  1785  and 
1786,  in  2  vols.  In  1790  he  was  obliged  by 
the  state  of  his  health  to  quit  the  metropolis, 
and  retire  into  Hertfordshire,  where  he  occu- 
pied himself  in  a  series  of  plates  for  the  Pil- 
grim's Progress.  In  1795  he  returned  to  Lon- 
don, and  began  to  collect  materials  for  his 
"  Complete  View  of  the  Dresses  and  Habits  of 
the  People  of  England,"  &c.  the  first  volume  of 
which  appeared  in  1796,  and  the  second  in 
1799,  4to.  In  1801  he  published  his  last  and 
most  favourite  work,  entitled  "  The  Sports 
and  Pastimes  of  the  People  of  England,"  with 
forty  plates,  of  which  a  new  octavo  edition, 
with  a  hundred  and  forty  plates,  edited  by 
William  Hone,  is  now  (1827)  in  publication. 
He  died  in  London  in  October  1802,  aged  fifty- 
three.  His  modest  character  scarcely  met  da- 
ring his  lifetime  with  the  encouragement  it  de- 
served. He  left  some  MSS.  in  the  possession  of 
his  son,  from  which  have  since  been  published 
his  "  Queen  Hoo  Hall,  a  Romance,"  and  "  An- 
cient Times,  a  Drama,"  4  vols.  1 2mo ;  also  ' '  The 
Test  of  Guilt,  or  Traits  of  Ancient  Superstition, 
a  dramatic  Tale,"  and  verses,  which  may  be 
deemed  an  entire  failure. — Nichols's  Lit.  Anec. 
STRUVE  (GEORGE  ADAM)  an  eminent 
German  jurist,  born  of  an  honourable  family 
at  Magdeburg  in  1619.  He  studied  at  Jena 
and  Helmstadt ;  and  was  appointed  in  1645 
assessor  of  the  juridical  court  at  Haile.  He 
took  his  degrees  at  Helmstadt  the  following 
year,  and  became  professor  of  jurisprudence  at 
Jena.  In  1669  he  relinquished  this  situation 
for  that  of  first  counsellor  of  the  city  of  Bruns- 
wick ;  and  he  was  employed  in  several  impor- 
tant affairs  by  the  elector  and  the  princes  of 
Saxony.  He  returned  in  1673  to  Jena,  to 
occupy  the  chair  of  canon  law,  the  first  office 
in  the  university  ;  and  after  being  elected 
president  of  the  senate  and  the  consistory,  he 
died  December  15,  1692.  The  titles  of  his 
principal  works,  relating  to  the  feudal  and  the 
civil  law,  may  be  found  in  the  Biographic 
Universelle — His  son,  BUUCHARD  GOTTHELF 
STROVE,  one  of  the  most  learned  and  indus- 
trious of  German  bibliographers,  was  born  at 
Weimar  in  1671.  He  was  educated  at  the 
gymnasium  of  Zeitz,  after  which  he  passed 
some  time  at  Jena  and  other  universities.  His 
original  destination  was  to  the  bar,  at  which 
he  practised  for  a  time,  and  then  left  it  for 
the  study  of  history  and  bibliography.  He 
travelled  repeatedly  in  Germany,  Holland, 
and  Sweden,  after  which  ill-health  and  family 
misfortunes  plunged  him  into  a  state  of  reli- 
gious melancholy,  which  lasted  two  years.  At 
length  he  was  able  to  resume  his  studies,  and 
being  appointed  librarian  to  the  university  of 
Jena,  in  1697  he  commenced  lectures  on  phi- 
losophy, Greek  literature,  and  antiquities.  In 


STR 

1702  he  was  admitted  doctor  of  law  and  phi- 
losophy at  Halle,  and  received  the  same  de- 
grees at  Jena,  where  two  years  after  he  suc- 
ceeded professor  Schubart  in  the  chair  of  his- 
tory. His  talents  attracted  a  great  concourse 
of  pupils,  whence  the  curators  of  the  univer- 
sity were  induced  to  give  him  the  title  of  pro- 
fessor extraordinary  of  law,  and  to  procure  for 
him  that  of  counsellor  to  the  elector  of  Saxony. 
He  died  May  28,  1738.  Among  his  nume- 
rous and  valuable  works  may  be  mentioned 
"  Bibliotheca  Juris  Selecta,"  1703,  8vo  ;  "  In- 
troductio  in  TNotitiam  Rei  Litteraria?,  et  Usum 
Bibliothecarum,"  1704,  8vo  ;  "  Bibliotheca 
Philosophica,  in  suas  Classes  distributa,"  8vo; 
"  Selecta  Bibliotheca  Historica,"  1705,  8vo ; 
"  Syntagma  Historiae  Germanic®,"  1716,  4to  ; 
"  AntiquitatumRomanarum  Syntagma,"  1728, 
4to ;  most  of  which  have  been  repeatedly 
printed,  and  variously  enlarged  by  succeeding 
writers. — Suxii  Onom.  Lit.  Biog.  Univ. 

STRUYS  (JOHN)  a  Dutch  traveller,  who 
about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century 
made  several  voyages  to  the  Japanese  Islands, 
the  Levant,  and  other  parts  of  the  East,  an 
account  of  which  was  published  by  Glarius  at 
Amsterdam,  in  quarto,  in  1681.,  the  year  suc- 
ceeding that  of  his  decease.  A  French  edi- 
tion of  the  work,  in  three  duodecimo  volumes, 
appeared  subsequently  at  Rouen  in  1730. — 
Kouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

STRYPE  (JOHN)  a  voluminous  contributor 
to  English  ecclesiastical  history  and  biography, 
was  of  German  extraction,  but  born  in  the  sub- 
urban parish  of  Stepney  in  1643.  He  was 
educated  atSt  Paul's  school,  whence  in  1661 
he  was  removed  to  Jesus  college,  and  after- 
wards to  Catherine-hall,  Cambridge.  He  gra- 
duated MA.  in  1666,  and  taking  orders  was 
nominated  to  the  perpetual  curacy  of  Theydon 
Boys  in  Essex.  He  was  soon  after  appointed 
minister,  but  never  regularly  inducted  to  the 
living  of  Low  Layton  in  Essex,  in  which  pa- 
rish was  Rickholts,  formerly  belonging  to  sir 
Michael  Hickes,  secretary  to  lord  Burleigh, 
and  still  containing  his  numerous  MSS.  It  is 
thought  that  his  accidental  access  to  these 
papers  inspired  Mr  Strype  with  his  strong  at- 
tachment to  historical  antiquities,  the  first 
fruits  of  which  was  his  publication  entitled 
"  Ecclesiastical  Monuments,  relating  chiefly 
to  Religion  and  the  Reformation  of  it,  and  the 
Emergencies  of  the  Church  of  England  under 
Henry  VIII,  King  Edward  VI,  and  Queen 
Mary  I,"  in  three  vols.  folio,  which  volumes 
were  printed  in  succession,  the  last  in  1721. 
His  "  Annals  of  the  Reformation,"  4  vols. 
folio,  began  to  be  published  in  1709,  and  were 
not  completed  until  1731.  He  also  published 
an  augmented  edition  of  Stow's  "  Survey  of 
London,"  in  2  vols.  folio,  1720;  and  was  a 
considerable  benefactor  to  English  biography, 
by  publishing  separately,  in  folio  volumes,  the 
lives  of  the  archbishops  Cranmer,  Parker, 
Grindal,  and  Whitgift,  and  in  three  octavo 
volumes,  those  of  sir  John  Cheke,  sir  Tho- 
mas Smith,  and  bishop  Aylmer.  His  diligence 
and  exactness  procured  him  considerable 
countenance  from  the  leaders  of  the  church, 


STU 

with  whom  he  was  in  constant  correspondence, 
;nid  although  he  was  not  adequately  exalted, 
lie  seems  to  have  been  rewarded  with  various 
minor  preferment.  This  laborious  student 
was  for  many  years  rector  of  Hackney,  in 
which  he  spent  many  years  of  the  latter  part 
of  his  life,  which  was  prolonged  to  the  age  of 
ninety-four,  his  death  taking  place  in  Decem- 
ber 1797.  His  works  for  some  time  after  his 
death  were  much  neglected,  but  have  since 
risen  in  value  from  an  increasing  opinion  of 
his  industry  and  fidelity,  however  ungraced  by 
style  and  the  art  of  connexion.  His  life  of 
Cranmer,  &c.  has  been  reprinted  at  the  Cla- 
rendon press. — Bitig.  Brit.  Ly sons' s  Environs, 
Gent.  Mug' 

STUART  (ARABELLA).     See  AH  A  BELLA. 

STUART  (sir  CHARLES)  an  English  gene- 
ral, son  of  the  marquis  of  Bute,  born  in  1753. 
He  was  educated  under  the  superintendance  of 
his  father,  and  after  having  been  presented 
at  the  principal  European  courts,  Le  entered 
into  the  army,  and  was  appointed  aide-de-camp 
to  the  viceroy  of  Ireland.  In  1775  he  was 
sent  to  America,  where  he  distinguished  him- 
self on  several  occasions.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  war  with  the  French  republic,  he  was 
made  a  major-general,  and  employed  in  the 
Mediterranean,  where  he  made  himself  master 
of  the  isiland  of  Corsica,  and  after  having  con- 
ciliated the  minds  of  the  inhabitants  towaids 
the  British  government,  he  returned  home  in 
1796.  His  next  service  was  in  Portugal, 
whither  he  was  sent  at  the  beginning  of  1797, 
at  the  head  of  an  auxiliary  corps  of  8000  men  ; 
and  his  measures  not  only  secured  the  country 
against  the  hostile  designs  of  the  French  Di- 
rectory, but  also  contributed  to  the  future  suc- 
cess of  the  British  arms  in  the  Peninsula.  In 
1798  he  distinguished  himself  by  the  conquest 
of  Minorca,  which  he  had  scarcely  completed 
when  he  was  summoned  to  the  defence  of 
Sicily,  which  he  effectually  guarded  from  the 
threatened  danger,  arising  from  the  French 
invasion  of  Naples.  At  the  close  of  the  s^me 
year  lie  was  ordered  to  Malta,  which  Buona- 
parte had  conquered  in  his  voyage  to  Egypt. 
General  Stuart,  after  having  taken  the  fortress 
of  La  Valette  by  blockade,  returned  to  Eng- 
land ;  and  to  his  representations  it  was  partly 
owing  that  the  British  government  retained 
possession  of  that  island,  against  the  transfer 
of  the  sovereignty  of  which  he  strongly  remon- 
strated. He  died  in  1801,  leaving  two  sons, 
the  elder  of  whom,  the  present  sir  Charles 
Stuart,  was  ambassador  from  the  court  of  Lon- 
don to  that  of  France,  after  the  restoration  of 
the  Bourbons. — Bing.  Univ. 

STUART  (JAMES  EDWAIID  FRANCIS)  the 
eldest  son  of  James  II  by  his  second  wife, 
Mary  of  Modena,  born  in  London  June  10, 
1688.  He  was  but  five  months  old  when  his 
father  was  dethroned,  and  his  mother  with  her 
infant  fled  to  France,  where  Louis  XIV  af- 
forded an  asylum  to  the  exiled  family  at  St 
Germains.  An  attempt  was  made  at  the 
peace  of  Ryswick,  in  1697,  to  insure  the  resto- 
ration of  this  young  prince  to  the  throne  of  his 
ancestors,  which  was  only  defeated  by  the  op- 


STU 

position  of  his  father,  as  William  III  ha<l 
agreed  to  procure  the  recognition  of  theprinri' 
of  Wales,  as  lie  was  styled,  as  his  successor  ; 
but  James  II  rejected  the  proposal,  observing 
that  he  could  support  with  resignation  thr 
usurpation  of  his  son-in-law,  but  he  could  not 
suffer  his  son  to  become  a  party  to  it.  On  the 
death  of  the  ex-king  in  1701,  Louis  XIV  re- 
cognized his  son  as  king  of  England,  by  the 
title  of  James  II f,  and  a  proclamation  in  the 
name  of  the  latter  was  addressed  to  the  Kng- 
lish  nation  ;  but  no  effective  measures  were 
adopted  in  his  favour.  The  death  of  William 
III  revived  the  hopes  of  his  party  ;  but  no- 
thing beyond  unavailing  negotiation  took  place 
till  1708,  when  a  maritime  expedition  against 
Scotland  was  fitted  out,  in  which  the  prince 
embarked,  under  the  command  of  the  cheva- 
lier Forbin.  This  armament,  however,  bein° 
attacked  by  an  English  fleet  of  superior  force, 
returned  to  France  without  landing  the  in- 
vading forces  ;  and  the  young  adventurer  (who 
now  assumed  the  name  of  the  chevalier  de  St 
George)  joined  the  French  army  in  Flanders, 
and  distinguished  himself  by  his  valour  at  the 
battle  of  Malplaquet.  In  the  latter  part  of  the 
reign  of  Anne  repeated  intrigues  were  set  on 
foot  to  secure  the  restoration  of  her  brother, 
or  his  succession  to  the  crown  after  her  death, 
but  they  proved  entirely  abortive  ;  and  on  the 
treaty  of  Utrecht  taking  place  in  1713,  he 
was  obliged  to  submit  to  a  temporary  retire- 
ment from  France,  and  when  he  returned  to 
Paris  he  resided  there  incognito.  Had  not 
the  decease  of  queen  Anne  been  speedily  fol- 
lowed by  that  of  Louis  XIV  in  171,5,  the  in- 
vasion of  Scotland  by  the  pretender,  as  he  was 
called,  might  have  led  to  a  very  different  re- 
sult from  that  which  actually  took  place.  The 
regent  duke  of  Orleans  wished  to  maintain 
peace  with  George  I  ;  and  the  British  ambas- 
sador at  Paris  was  informed  of  the  projects  of 
the  chevalier  de  St  George  by  the  abbe  Stiick- 
land,  one  of  his  agents,  who  betrayed  his  con- 
fidence. The  earl  of  Mar  in  Scotland  raised 
the  standard  of  revolt  against  the  house  of 
Hanover,  proclaiming  the  heir  of  the  Stuarts 
king,  under  the  title  of  James  III  ;  and  the 
latter  embarking  at  Dunkirk,  made  a  descent 
on  the  Scottish  coasts  ;  but  he  soon  perceived 
that  success  was  hopeless,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  return  to  France.  Even  that  kingdom  no 
longer  yielded  him  an  asylum,  and  he  was 
forced  to  remove  first  to  Avignon  and  then  to 
Rome.  In  consequence  of  the  disputes  which 
occurred  becween  the  duke  of  Orleans  and 
cardinal  Alberoni,  the  prince  was  a  few  years 
after  invited  to  Spain,  where  he  was  well  re- 
ceived by  Philip  V  ;  but  the  visit  had  no  im- 
portant influence  on  his  affairs,  and  Rome 
again  became  his  retreat,  as  it  was  his  future 
residence.  In  17'_'0  he  married  the  princess 
Mary  Casimira  Sobieska,  grand-daughter  of 
the  famous  John  Sobieski,  king  of  Poland. 
This  union  was  not  attended  with  domestic 
happiness,  and  a  separation  between  the  hus- 
band and  wife  was  with  difficulty  prevented 
by  the  interference  of  cardinal  Alberoni,  then 
a  resident  at  Rome.  He  took  no  active  part 


STU 

in  the  expedition  against  Scotland  under  his 
son  in  1745  ;  and  the  latter  part  of  his  'ife 
was  dedicated  to  exercises  of  piety.  He  died 
January  2,  1765. — Life  of  James  II.  Kiog. 
Univ. 

STUART  (CHARLES  EDWARD  Louis 
PHILIP  CASIMIR)  son  of  the  preceding,  known 
in  England  by  the  appellation  of  the  young 
pretender,  born  at  Rome  December  31,  17'JO. 
In  his  youth  he  was  styled  the  count  of  Al- 
bany, and  under  that  title,  at  the  age  of  se- 
venteen, he  travelled  in  the  north  of  Italy,  and 
visited  Parma.  Genoa,  and  Milan.  The  war 
which  broke  out  between  England  and  France 
in  1740,  inspired  the  partizans  of  the  exiled 
family  with  hopes  of  a  restoration,  and  excited 
the  young  prince  to  risk  his  personal  safety  in 
an  attempt  towards  the  recovery  of  the  throne 
of  his  ancestors.  In  June  1745  he  embarked 
at  Nantes  with  a  few  followers,  and  landing 
on  the  western  coast  of  Scotland,  he  found 
himself  ere  long  at  the  head  of  a  considerable 
army.  He  matched  to  Perth,  and  having 
taken  possession  of  that  place  he  proclaimed 
his  father  king  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ire- 
land, by  the  style  of  James  III,  and  himself 
regent  of  the  three  kingdoms.  Success  for  a 
while  attended  his  arms  ;  and  the  submission 
of  Edinburgh,  and  the  victory  of  Prestonpans 
raised  the  hopes  of  his  adherents,  and  induced 
them  to  march  into  England.  They  proceeded 
as  far  as  Derby,  and  terror  and  confusion  per- 
vaded the  metropolis  ;  but  disappointed  in  his 
hopes  of  a  general  insurrection  in  his  favour, 
and  alarmed  at  the  approach  of  an  English 
army,  the  prince  found  it  necessary  to  return 
to  Scotland.  The  battle  of  Falkirk,  which  he 
gained  in  January  1746,  was  the  last  instance 
of  success  which  he  experienced  ;  for  he  was 
soon  after  obliged  to  raise  the  siege  of  Stir- 
ling, and  followed  by  the  duke  of  Cumberland 
at  the  head  of  a  considerable  force,  he  re- 
treated to  Inverness.  The  decisive  battle  of 
Culloden,  fought  on  the  27th  of  April,  gave 
the  death  blow  to  his  hopes  and  those  of  his 
followers.  For  several  succeeding  months  the  [ 
young  pretender  suffered  the  miseries  and  pri-  j 
vations  of  a  wretched  outcast  and  proscribed 
wanderer  on  the  territories  where  his  ances- 
tors had  held  sovereign  sway.  At  length  he 
embarked  on  board  a  French  vessel,  and  after 
escaping  the  pursuit  of  some  English  cruisers, 
he  landed  in  safety  at  St  Pol  de  Leon  in  Bri- 
tanny,  October  10,  174fi.  New  mortifications 
however  awaited  him  ;  and  on  the  signature 
of  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  two  years 
after  his  return  to  France,  he  found  himself 
obliged  to  quit  that  country.  He  then  went 
to  reside  with  his  father  at  Rome.  In  1755 
the  French  ministers,  in  consequence  of  dis- 
putes with  the  English  government,  appear  to 
Lave  projected  a  new  invasion  ;  and  Charles 
Edward,  who  went  to  Nanci,  held  a  conference 
on  the  subject  with  the  famous  count  Lally, 
and  opened  a  correspondence  with  the  Jaco- 
bites in  England  ;  but  the  differences  between 
the  two  governments  being  adjusted,  the  de- 
sign of  invasion  was  relinquished,  and  the 
pnriix-  returned  to  Rome.  The  court  of 


STU 

France,  to  make  him  some  amends,  nego- 
tiated a  marriage  for  him  with  the  young  prin- 
cess of  Stolberg  Gccdern  ;  but  this  union  did 
not  answer  the  views  of  any  of  the  parties  con- 
cerned in  it.  He  had  no  children  by  his  wife, 
whom  lie  appears  to  have  used  in  a  most 
brutal  manner,  which  induced  her  at  length  to 
flee  from  him,  and  take  refuge  in  a  convent  in 
Florence,  where  they  then  resided  ;  and  she 
subsequently  found  an  asylum  with  her  bro- 
ther in-Iaw,  the  cardinal  of  York,  at  Rome. 
Charles  Edward  Stuart  spent  the  latter  part  of 
his  life  at  Florence,  not  only  ingloriously  but 
disgracefully,  being  abandoned  to  the  lowest 
sensual  indulgences  ;  and  lie  died  in  that  city 
January  31,  1788.  He  is  said  to  have  been  in 
England  in  1753,  when  lord  Holdernesse,  secre- 
tary of  state,  inquiring  of  George  II  what  should 
be  done  with  him,  the  king  said,  "  Nothing  ; 
when  he  is  tired  of  staying  here,  let  him  go 
away."  It  has  been  also  asserted  that  he  came 
here  again,  and  witnessed  the  coronation  of  his 
Inte  majesty. — His  widow,  the  princess  LOUISA 
MAXIMILIANA  DE  STOLBERG  GCEDERN,  born 
at  Mons  in  1752,  had  before  hwr  marriage  been 
a  canoness.  On  obtaining  her  freedom  by  his 
death  she  went  to  Paris,  where  and  in  Italy 
she  resided  with  her  favourite,  the  celebrated 
Aliieii  ;  and  having  long  survived  him,  she 
i.s  said  to  have  married  secretly  Francis  Xavier 
Fabre,  a  painter  of  history,  whom  she  at  all 
events  constituted  her  general  legatee  on  her 
decease,  which  occurred  January  29,  1824. — 
Chevalier  Johnstone's  Memoirs  of  the  Rebellion 
in  1745.  Boswell's  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  the 
Hebrides.  Dutens's  Memoirs.  Biocr.  Univ.  \ 

STUART  (HENRY  BENEDICT  MARIA  CLE- 
MENT) cardinal  of  York,  younger  brother  of 
the  preceding,  and  the  last  descendant  of  the 
royal  line  of  the  Stuarts.  He  was  born  at 
Rome,  March  20,  1725,  and  being  destined 
for  the  church,  the  Pope,  as  a  peculiar  favour, 
bestowed  on  him  the  right  to  hold  benefices 
without  receiving  the  ecclesiastical  tonsure. 
The  incidents  of  his  life  are  by  no  means  im- 
portant. In  1745,  when  the  last  grand  effort 
was  made  for  die  restoration  of  his  family,  he 
went  to  France,  and  assumed  the  command  of 
troops  assembled  at  Dunkirk  to  aid  the  opera- 
tions of  his  brother  in  Great  Britain  ;  but  the 
news  of  the  battle  of  Culloden  prevented  the 
embarkation  of  this  armament,  and  prince 
Henry  returned  to  Home.  The  visions  of 
regal  splendour  in  which  he  might  have  in- 
dulged being  thus  dissipated,  lie  took  holy 
orders,  and  in  1747  pope  Benedict  XIV  raised 
him  to  the  purple.  He  was  subsequently  made 
chancellor  of  the  Basilic  of  St  Peter,  and 
bishop  of  Frescati.  On  the  death  of  his  bro- 
ther in  1788,  he  assumed  the  barren  title  to 
which  the  family  had  aspired  ;  and  on  that 
occasion  he  caused  a  medal  to  be  struck,  with 
the  inscription  "  Henricus  nonus,  Angliaj 
Rex  ;"  and  on  the  obverse,  "  Gratia  Dei,  non 
Yoluntate  Hominum."  The  great  events 
which  marked  the  close  of  the  last  century 
had  the  singular  eii'ect  of  rendering  the  car- 
dinal of  \ork,  as  he  was  styled,  a  dependant 
on  the  bounty  of  the  king  of  England  ;  fat 


STU 

when  the  Fivnch  conquered  Italy,  he  was  ob- 
liged to  flee  to  Venice,  and  was  indebted  for 
his  support  to  a  pension  from  the  English 
court.  In  1801  lie  returned  to  Rome,  and 
became  dean  of  the  sacred  college.  His  death 
took  place  in  1807.  The  valuable  papers  of 
his  grandfather,  and  his  father,  which  had  re- 
mained in  his  possession,  were  after  his  de- 
cease sent  to  England,  and  have  since  been 
published. — Bio«-.  Univ. 

STUART  (Dr  GILBERT)  an  eminent  his- 
torical writer,  born  at  Edinburgh  in  1742. 
He  was  educated  in  the  university  of  that  city, 
where  his  father  was  professor  of  humanity  , 
and  he  was  destined  for  the  legal  profession, 
which  he  relinquished  for  that  of  an  author. 
In  1767  he  published  "  An  historical  Disser- 
tation concerning  the  Antiquity  of  the  British 
Constitution,"  8vo,  the  merit  of  which  pro- 
cured him  the  degree  of  LLD.  This  was  fol- 
lowed a  few  years  after  by  his  "  View  of  So- 
ciety in  Europe,  in  its  Progress  from  Rude- 
ness to  Refinement  ;  or  Inquiries  concerning 
the  History  of  Lawa,  Government,  and  Man- 
ners," 4to,  a  work  which  shows  that  he  had 
deeply  studied  the  records  of  the  middle 
ages.  Being  disappointed  in  an  attempt  to 
obtain  the  professorship  of  public  law  in  the 
university  of  Edinburgh  (as  he  alleged 
through  the  jealousy  of  Dr  Robertson)  he  re- 
moved to  London,  and  from  1768  to  1774  he 
was  a  contributor  to  the  Monthly  Review. 
He  then  returned  to  his  native  city,  and  in 
conjunction  with  Smellie  the,  printer,  and 
others,  lie  established  a  new  literary  journal, 
entitled  the  "  Edinburgh  Magazine  and  Re- 
view," which  was  at  first  very  successful  ; 
but  the  illiberality  and  virulence  of  criticism 
with  which  Stuart  assailed  several  authors 
respectable  for  talents  and  learning,  whom  he 
considered  as  personal  enemies,  ruined  the 
credit  of  the  work,  which  was  discontinued  in 
1776.  About  this  time  he  revised  and  pub- 
lished Sullivan's  "  Lectures  on  the  Constitu- 
tion of  England,"  4to  ;  and  soon  after  ap- 
peared his  "  Observations  concerning  the  pub- 
lic Law  and  constitutional  History  of  Scot- 
land," 8vo.  This  was  followed  by  "  The 
History  of  the  Establishment  of  the  Refor- 
mation of  Religion  in  Scotland,"  1780,  4to ; 
and  "  The  History  of  Scotland  from  the  Re- 
formation till  the  Death  of  Queen  Mary," 
1782,  2  vols.  4to.  In  the  year  last  mentioned 
lie  again  repaired  to  London,  and  engaged  as 
a  writer  in  the  "  Political  Herald,"  and  in  the 
"  English  Review,"  besides  other  literary  un- 
dertakings. Habits  of  intemperance  had 
however  undermined  his  constitution,  and  sub- 
jected him  to  attacks  of  jaundice  and  dropsy  ; 
and  these  diseases  recurring  in  a  more  violent 
degree,  he  once  more  returned  to  his  native 
place,  where  he  died  at  the  house  of  his  father, 
on  the  13th  of  August,  1786.  Few  writers 
have  afforded  more  striking  examples  of  the 
misapplication  of  talents  and  learning  than 
Gilbert  Stuart,  whose  disingenuous  illiberality 
as  a  critic  has  exposed  his  memory  to  deserved 
execration.  Mr  Chalmers,  in  his  life  of  Rud- 
dimun,  affirms,  tint  "  such  was  Stuart's  laxity 


STU 

of  principle  as  a  man,  that  he  considered  in- 
gratitude  as  one  of  the  most  venial  sins  ;  such 
was  his  conceit  as  a  writer,  that  he  reyauled 
no  one's  merits  but  his  own  ;  such  were  his 
disappointments,  both  as  a  writer  and  a  man, 
that  he  allowed  his  peevishness  to  sour  into 
malice,  and  indulged  his  malevolence  till  it 
settled  in  corruption."  His  cruel  treatment 
of  Dr  Henry,  author  of  the  History  of  Eng- 
land, has  been  fully  exposed  by  Mr  D'Israeli. 
It  is  proper  however,  in  justice  to  the  literary 
character  of  Stuart,  to  remark,  that  his  works 
display  erudition,  industry,  and  sound  judg- 
ment, wherever  the  latter  quality  is  not  in- 
fluenced by  his  jealousy  and  hatred  of  contem- 
porary writers. — Enciiclop.  Brit.  Biog.  Univ. 
STUART  (JAMES)  a  distinguished  anti- 
quary, and  architectural  draughtsman,  de- 
scended from  a  Scottish  family,  but  born  in 
London  in  1713.  His  father  died  when  he 
was  young,  and  having  acquired  some  know- 
ledge of  drawing,  he  assisted  his  mother  in 
the  support  of  a  young  family,  by  practising 
fan-painting.  Prompted  by  inclination  he 
studied  anatomy,  geometry,  and  other  branches 
of  science  conducive  to  his  improvement  iu 
the  art  of  designing  ;  and  having  by  his  in- 
dustry provided  for  the  support  of  his  younger 
brother  and  sister,  he  set  out  with  a  very  slen- 
der supply  of  money  on  a  journey  to  Rome. 
He  supported  himself  during  his  travels  by  the 
exercise  of  his  talents  ;  and  at  Rome  he  was 
fortunate  enough  to  make  an  acquaintance  with 
Mr  Nicholas  Revett,  a  skilful  architect.  With 
that  gentleman  he  visited  the  northern  parts 
of  Italy,  and  then  went  to  Athens,  where 
they  arrived  in  March  1751.  In  that  seat  of 
ancient  arts  and  learning  they -remained  till 
the  latter  part  of  1753,  employing  themselves 
in  making  drawings  and  taking  exact  measure- 
ments of  the  architectural  relics,  which  have 
escaped  the  ravages  of  time  and  violence.  In 
Greece  Mr  Stuart  met  with  sir  Jacob  Bouverie 
and  Messrs  Wood  and  Dawkins,  whom  a  si- 
milar taste  for  antiquities  had  drawn  into  that 
country,  and  they  were  happy  to  patronize  a 
man  of  so  much  genius  and  industry.  Leaving 
Athens,  Stuart  and  Revett,  after  visiting  Salo- 
nica,  Smyrna,  and  some  of  the  ^Egean  islands, 
they  returned  to  England  in  the  beginning- 
of  1755.  The  result  of  their  labours  partly 
appeared  in  the  first  volume  of  a  work  entitled 
"  The  Antiquities  of  Athens,"  published  in 
1762,  folio,  containing  accurate  delineations  of 
the  remains  of  ancient  edifices  and  sculpture 
in  that  literary  metropolis  of  Greece.  Mr 
Stuart,  through  the  interest  of  those  friends  he 
had  met  with  abroad,  was  appointed  surveyor 
of  Greenwich  hospital ;  and  his  abilities  be- 
coming known,  he  obtained  much  employment 
as  an  architect.  He  was  likewise  chosen  a 
fellow  of  the  Royal  and  of  the  Antiquarian 
Societies.  Late  in  life  he  entered  into  wedlock 
a  second  time,  and  one  of  his  children  by  this 
marriage,  a  boy  three  years  old,  dying  of  the 
small-pox,  he  was  so  affected  by  the  melan- 
choly misfortune,  that  he  survived  it  only  a 
short  time,  his  own  death  taking  place  Fe- 
bruary 2,  1788.  A  second  volume  of  the 


STU 

"  Antiquities  of  Athens"  appeared  in  1787  ;  a 
third,  edited  by  Mr  Reveley,  in  1799;  and  the 
fourth  and  last,  with  an  account  of  the  life  of 
Stuart,  in  1816.  One  is  at  present  in  progress 
(18'27),  published  by  Priestley  and  Weale. — 
Aikin's  Gen.  Biog. 

STUBBS  (GEORGE)  a  celebrated  anatomist 
and  painter  of  animals,  was  born  at  Liverpool 
in  1724,  and  at  the  age  of  thirty  went  to  Rome 
for  improvement.  He  subsequently  settled  in 
London,  which  was  the  best  theatre  for  ma- 
turing his  anatomical  skill  in  the  portraiture  of 
animals,  more  especially  the  horse.  His  ex- 
cellence lay  chiefly  in  precision,  and  the  ac- 
curacy with  which  he  painted  the  object  be- 
fore him,  rather  than  in  imaginative  spirit ; 
hut  in  accordance  with  this  faculty,  none  ever 
exceeded  him  in  the  representation  of  race 
horses,  which  are  usually  portraits  of  existing 
animals.  He  was  one  of  the  first  who  painted 
on  enamel  on  a  large  scale,  and  he  finally  be- 
came an  associate  of  die  Royal  Academy.  He 
died  in  1806.  He  is  the  author  of  a  work 
entitled  "  The  Anatomy  of  the  Horse  ;"  and 
of  part  of  another,  called  a  "  Comparative 
Anatomical  Exposition  of  the  Structure  of  the 
Human  Body  with  that  of  a  Tiger  and  a  com- 
mon Fowl." — Pilkington  by  Fuseli. 

STUBBS,  or  STUBBE  (JOHN)  a  spirited 
lawyer  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  was  born 
about  1541,  and  is  said  by  Strype  to  have  been 
a  member  of  Corpus  Christi  college,  Cam- 
bridge. He  removed  thence  to  Lincoln's-inn, 
and  became  a  puritan,  a  turn  of  mind  which 
led  him  to  regard  the  possible  marriage  of 
the  queen  with  the  French  duke  of  Alencon 
with  considerable  alarm,  as  fraught  with  injury 
to  the  Protestant  establishment.  The  result  of 
this  opinion  was  the  publication  of  a  satirical 
work ,  entitled  "The  Discovery  of  a  gaping  G ulf , 
wherein  England  is  likely  to  be  swallowed  up 
by  another  French  Marriage."  This  highly 
incensed  the  queen,  who  immediately  issued  a 
proclamation  against  it,  and  the  author  and 
printer  or  bookseller  being  discovered,  they 
were  soon  apprehended,  and  sentenced,  ac- 
cording to  an  act  of  Philip  and  Mary,  to 
have  their  right  hands  cut  off.  When  Stubbs 
came  to  receive  his  sentence,  which  was  in- 
flicted with  a  butcher's  knife  and  mallet  with 
great  barbarity,  he  immediately  took  off  his 
hat  with  his  left  hand,  and  exclaimed  "  God 
save  the  queen."  He  carried  with  him  the 
sympathy  of  the  people  for  his  protestant  zeal; 
and  some  time  after  he  was  employed  by  Bur- 
leigh  to  answer  cardinal  Allen's  Defence  of 
the  English  Catholics ;  but  it  is  not  known 
whether  his  answer  was  ever  published. 
He  also  translated  Beza's  Meditations  on  the 
first  Psalm,  and  the  seven  penitential  psalms 
from  the  French,  which  he  dedicated  to  the 
lady  of  sir  Nicholas  Bacon.  It  is  said  that  he 
was  afterwards  a  commander  of  the  army  in 
Ireland,  but  nothing  farther  is  known  of  him  ; 
nor  has  the  date  of  his  death  been  recorded. 
— Stri/pe's  Life  of  Grindal.  Athen.  Oxon.  vol.  i. 

STUCK  or  STUCKIUS  (Joim  WILLIAM) 
a  critic  and  antiquary  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, who  was  a  native  of  Zurich.  He  was 


STU 

the  author  of  a  learned  work  on  the  festivals 
and  sacrifices  of  the  ancients,  printed  at  Zu- 
rich in  1591,  folio,  and  republished  with  other 
writings  on  the  same  subject  in  1695,  Leyden, 
2  vols.  folio.  He  likewise  composed  a  Com- 
mentary on  Arrian ;  and  a  parallel  between 
Henry  IV  and  Charlemagne,  entitled  "  Caro- 
lus  Magnus  redivivus,"  1598,  4to.  He  died 
in  1607. — Biog.  Univ.  Rees's  Cyclop.  . 

STUCK  (THEOPHILUS  HENRY)  a  biblio- 
graphical writer,  bom  at  Halle,  in  Saxony,  in 
1716.  He  was  appointed  inspector  of  the 
salt-works  in  1744,  and  in  1751  treasurer  of 
his  native  city.  All  his  leisure  was  devoted 
to  study  ;  and  mineralogy,  geography,  and  his- 
tory especially  engaged  his  attention.  His 
death  took  place  July  30,  1787.  He  was  the 
author  of  a  work  of  considerable  value,  en- 
titled "  A  Catalogue  of  Accounts  of  Voyages 
and  Travels,  and  Descriptions  of  Countries 
ancient  and  modern,  forming  a  View  of  the 
literary  History  of  Geography,"  1784,  8vo  ; 
supplement,  1785 ;  second  part,  1787,  8vo, 
published  posthumously. — Biog.  Univ. 

STUKELEY  (WILLIAM)  a  celebrated  Eng- 
lish antiquary,  born  at  Holbeach  in  Lincoln- 
shire, November  7,  1687.  He  received  his 
early  education  at  the  free  grammar  school  of 
his  native  place,  whence  in  1703  he  removed  to 
Bennet  college,  Cambridge.  While  an  under- 
graduate he  indulged  his  inclination  by  col- 
lecting antiquities,  and  making  drawings  of  the 
subjects  of  ancient  art  which  occurred  to  his 
notice  ;  but  he  devoted  his  time  principally  to 
medical  studies  ;  and  in  1709  he  took  the 
degree  of  MB.  After  having  attended  St 
Thomas's  hospital,  London,  as  a  pupil  of  Dr 
Mead,  he  settled  as  a  physician  at  Boston,  in 
his  native  county.  In  1717  he  removed  to 
the  metropolis,  and  soon  after  Le  was  elected 
a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  The  following 
year  he  contributed  to  the  revival  of  the  So- 
ciety of  Antiquaries,  of  which  he  was  one  of 
the  earliest  members,  and  for  some  time  se- 
cretary. He  took  the  degree  of  MD.  at  Cam- 
bridge in  1719,  and  the  following  year  he  was 
admitted  a  fellow  of  the  College  of  Physicians, 
and  was  subsequently  chosen  one  of  the  cen- 
sors of  the  college.  In  1726  he  left  London 
for  Grantharn  in  Lincolnshire,  where  he  set- 
tled as  a  medical  practitioner,  and  acquired 
great  reputation.  Severe  attacks  of  the  gout 
at  length  induced  him  to  relinquish  his  pro- 
fession, and  to  enter  into  holy  orders,  which 
he  received  from  the  hands  of  archbishop 
Wake  in  July  1720  ;  and  shortly  after  he  was 
presented  to  the  living  of  All  Saints,  Stamford. 
He  was  afterwards  appointed  chaplain  to  the 
duke  of  Ancaster,  who  in  1739  gave  him  the 
living  of  Somerby  near  Grantharn.  His  last 
preferment  was  the  rectory  of  St  George  the 
Martyr,  Queen-square,  London,  for  which  he 
was  indebted  to  the  duke  of  Montagu.  He 
then  resided  occasionally  at  Kentish-town, 
near  the  metropolis ;  but  his  death  occurred 
at  his  house  in  Queen-square,  March  3,  1765, 
in  consequence  of  a  paralytic  stroke.  Dr 
Stukeley  was  a  learned,  indefatigable,  and  in- 
genious antiquary  ;  but  the  bold  and  fancifu1* 


ST  U 

nature  of  some  of  his  speculations  ex])oseJ 
him  to  censure  and  ridicule,  not  wholly  unde- 
served. He  however  pursued  his  researches 
with  a.  degree  of  spirit  and  enthusiasm  highly 
deserving  of  commendation,  and  made  impor- 
tant accessions  to  our  knowledge  of  the  early 
monuments  of  human  art  and  industry  belong- 
ing to  our  native  country.  His  principal  works 
are  "  Itinerarium  Curiosum.or  an  Account  of 
the  Antiquities  and  Curiosities  of  Great  BrU 
tain,"  2  vols.  folio  ;  "  An  Account  of  Stone- 
lienge,"  folio;  "  The  History  of  Carausius," 
1757 — 39,  2  vols.  4to  ;  besides  which  lie  pub- 
lished papers  in  the  Philosophical  Transac- 
tions and  the  Archreologia  ;  and  also  a  trea- 
tise on  the  structure  and  uses  of  the  spleen, 
1723,  folio. — Hntchinson'i  I3it>g.  Me<l. 

STURM  (Cu  IUSTOPIILR.  CHRISTIAN)  a 
German  divine  and  religious  writer,  born  at 
Augsburg  in  1740.  He  studied  at  Jena  and 
Halle,  and  in  1761  he  was  appointed  one  of 
the  college  tutors  in  the  latter  university  ;  in 
1761  inspector  of  the  gymnasium  of  Sorau  ; 
and  in  1767  pastor  of  one  of  the  churches  of 
Halle.  In  1769  he  removed  to  Magdeburg  to 
fill  a  similar  office  ;  and  he  subsequently  be- 
came first  pastor  of  the  parish  of  St  Peter,  at 
Naumburg,  where  he  died  August  26,  1786. 
Sturm  is  well  known  in  England  as  the  author 
of  "  Reflections  on  the  Works  of  God  and 
his  Providence,"  which  have  been  repeat- 
edly translated,  and  published  both  at  Edin- 
burgh and  London;  and  of  which  there  are 
Dutch,  Danish,  and  Swedish  versions,  and 
one  in  the  French  language,  by  queen  Chris- 
tina of  Prussia.  He  also  published  "  Anec- 
dotes from  the  ancient  Greek  and  Roman 
Authors,"  2  vols.  8vo  ;  ami  "  Morning  Con- 
verse with  God,  for  every  Day  in  the  Year," 
*J  vols.  8vo,  which  passed  through  several  edi- 
tions.—  Hi'ig.  Univ. 

STURMIUS,  a  name  distinguished  in  Ger- 
man literature  as  that  of  several  erudite  and 
ingenious  scholars.  Of  these  the  first  in  point 
of  chronology  was  JAMES,  a  native  of  Stras- 
burg.bornin  149(1.  He  was  the  friend  and  asso- 
ciate of  many  of  the  early  reformers,  and  besides 
exerting  himself  strenuously  in  the  defence  and 
promulgation  of  their  doctrines,  was  avowedly 
the  coadjutor  and  assistant  of  the  celebrated 
Sicilian,  in  compiling  his  history  of  the  rise 
and  progress  of  the  Reformation  in  the  empire. 
His  influence  with  those  in  power,  which  was 
considerable,  from  his  acknowledged  talents  as 
a  statesman  and  diplomatist,  was  also  ac- 
tively employed  in  the  behalf  of  the  Protes- 
lants  at  Strasburg  ;  and  to  it  they  were  in- 
debted for  much  of  the  countenance  which 
they  received  in  that  city.  As  a  politician  he 
conducted  himself  with  great  prudence  and 
ability  in  various  missions  to  different  courts, 
especially  to  those  of  London  and  Vienna ; 
and  having  lived  to  witness  the  establishment 
of  a  reformed  college  in  his  native  city,  died 
there  in  the  autumn  of  1553. — JOHN  STTR- 
Mius,  the  most  celebrated  of  the  name,  whose 
learning  and  eloquence  acquired  him  the  ho- 
nourable appellation  of  "  The  German  Ci- 
cero," was  horn  in  150?  at  Sleidan,  a  small 


S  T  U 

town  of  Eisel  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Co- 
logne, where  his  father  resided  in  quality  of 
steward  to  the  count  Von  Manderscheid.  lie 
received  the  rudiments  of  a  classical  educa- 
tion with  the  sons  of  his  patron,  after  which 
he  was  removed  to  the  college  of  St  Jerome  at 
Liege,  and  thence  in  1524  to  Louvair.e.  Hav- 
ing passed  five  years  in  this  university,  he  in 
conjunction  with  Rescius  formed  a  plan  for 
publishing  improved  editions  of  the  Greek 
classics  ;  and  in  furtherance  of  his  views  set  up 
a  press,  which  he  superintended  till  the  year 
1529,  when  he  quitted  Louvaine  for  Paris.  In 
the  French  metropolis  he  remained  upwards 
of  seven  years,  reading  lectures  with  great 
ability  and  reputation  in  the  classics  and  dia- 
lectics, till  at  length  taking  alarm  at  the  sus- 
picions which  had  begun  to  be  excited  of  his 
leaning  towards  the  reformed  doctrines,  he 
thought  it  advisable  to  retire  to  Strasburg.  In 
this  city,  where  he  arrived  in  1537,  his  repu- 
tation which  had  preceded  him  soon  acquired 
him  a  numerous  and  most  respectable  body  of 
disciples  ;  and  the  credit  of  his  establishment 
increasing,  the  emperor  Maximilian  II  was  in- 
duced to  raise  it  to  the  rank  and  privileges  of 
a  university  in  1566.  Of  this  foundation 
Sturmius  was  appointed  the  first  rector  ;  but 
being  at  length  too  honest  to  disavow  the  re- 
ligious opinions  which  he  thought  it  perhaps 
no  crime  to  conceal,  his  candour  lost  him  his 
situation.  His  talents  were  by  no  means  con- 
fined to  mere  scholastic  learning,  but  well 
adapted  to  politics  and  the  business  of  life,  of 
which  he  gave  many  striking  proofs  ;  while  to 
the  sufferers  for  conscience-sake  his  liberality 
was  squared  rather  by  the  benevolence  of  his 
disposition  than  the  dictates  of  prudence  ;  and 
his  private  finances  suffered  in  consequence 
materially,  through  his  bounty  to  refugees.  As 
an  author  he  is  known  by  some  valuable  ori- 
ginal works,  especially  by  his  "  In  Partitiones 
Oratorias  Ciceronis  Lib.  ii  ;"  "  Do  Literarum 
Ludis  recti  Aperiendis;"  "  Anti-pappi ;" 
"  Rhenani  Vita,"  &c.  besides  some  good  edi- 
tions which  he  printed  of  Aristotle's  Rhetoric 
and  some  of  the  works  of  Cicero  and  Galen. 
His  death  took  place  in  the  spring  of  1589. — 
JOHN  CiiRisToriiF.il  STURMIUS,  a  native  of 
HippolsU-in,  born  1635,  waa  a  sound  classical 
scholar  and  a  good  mathematician.  He  settled 
at  Altdorf,  where  he  lectured  on  general  phi- 
losophy and  mathematics  with  great  credit, 
and  distinguished  himself  as  the  author  of 
some  valuable  treatises  on  different  subjects 
connected  with  literature  and  science.  Of 
these  the  best  known  are  his  "  Malhesis  Ju- 
venilis,"  2  vols.  of  which  there  is  an  English 
translation  in  three  octavo  volumes  ;  "  Phy- 
sicai  Moderns  Compendium ;"  "  Pra;lec- 
tiones  Academics,"  2  vols;  "  Collegium  ex- 
perimentale  curiosum,"  4lo  ;  "  Scienti;i  Cos- 
mica,"  folio;  "  Physica  E'.ectiva  et  Hypothe- 
tica,"  4to,  2  vols  ;  "  Tyrocinia  Mathe.natica  ;" 
"  Architecturns  militaris  Tyrociiv.a ;"  "  Phy- 
sics? conciliatricis  Conamina,"  12mo;  "  De 
Veritate  Propositionum  Borelli  de  Motu  Ani- 
malium ;"  "  Contra  Astrologia;  Divinatricia 
Vaiilta'.em,"  4to,  2  vols;  "  ivlathesis  Kim- 


SI  >J 

->ata,"  and  a  translation  of  the  works  of  Ar- 
cMrnedes.  He  died  in  1703  at  Altdorf,  leav- 
ing ason,  LEONARD  CHRISTOPHER  STURMIUS, 
born  in  that  city  in  1669,  who  acquired  some 
celebrity  as  an  architect  and  engineer.  He 
commenced  his  studies  at  Leipsic,  but  quitted 
that  university  for  a  mathematical  piofessor- 
ship  at  Wolfenbuttel.  He  subsequently  held 
a  similar  appointment  at  Frankfort,  which  he 
resigned  on  entering  the  service  of  the  duke  of 
Mecklenberg  Strelitz,  who  made  him  his  sur- 
veyor of  works.  Some  time  previous  to  his  de- 
cease he  accepted  a  similar  appointment  under 
the  duke  of  Brunswick.  He  was  the  author 
of  "  A  Complete  Course  of  Architecture," 
printed  at  Augsburg  in  sixteen  volumes,  in 
which  work  he  advocates  anew  system  of  na- 
tional architecture,  but  his  ideas  gamed  few 
proselytes.  He  also  translated  a  work  of  Bok- 
Jer's  on  a  similar  subject  into  the  German  lan- 
guage. His  death  took  place  in  1719. — Fre- 
heri  Theatmm.  Bayle. 

STURT  (JOHN)  an  engraver  of  some  note, 
was  born  in  London  in  1658.  His  works  are 
exceedingly  numerous,  but  he  is  principally 
celebrated  for  his  excellence  in  the  engraving 
of  letters,  and  the  minuteness  with  which 
they  were  executed.  His  best  work  is  the 
"  Book  of  Common  Prayer,"  which  he  en- 
graved on  silver  plates.  Each  page  is  headed 
with  a  vignette,  and  prefixed  thereto  is  a  por- 
trait of  George  I,  in  which  the  lines  of  the 
king's  face  are  expressed  by  writing  so  small 
as  scarcely  to  be  read  with  a  magnifying  glass. 
Tins  work  was  published  by  subscription  in 
1717,  8vo,  and  was  followed  by  a"  Companion 
to  the  Altar,"  executed  in  the  same  manner. 
In  1694  he  contrived  to  accomplish  an  elegy 
on  queen  Mary  on  so  small  a  size  that  it 
might  be  set  in  a  ring.  He  died  in  1730, 
aged  seventy-two. —  Walpole's  Anec. 

STURZ  (HELFRICH  PETER)  a  German 
writer,  born  at  Darmstadt  in  1736.  After 
having  studied  law  at  Gottingen,  Jena,  and 
Giessen,  he  became,  in  1759,  private  secretary 
to  baron  Widmanu,  minister  of  the  empress- 
ijueen  at  Munich.  The  following  year  he  en- 
tered into  the  service  of  M.  D'Eyben,  chan- 
cellor of  the  duchy  of  Holstein,  by  whom  in 
1762  he  was  sent  to  Copenhagen,  with  a  re- 
commendation to  count  Bernstorff,  who  made 
Sturz  his  private  secretary,  and  gave  him  a 
place  in  the  office  of  foreign  affairs.  In  1768 
he  obtained  the  title  of  counsellor  of  legation ; 
and  he  accompanied  the  king,  Christiern  VII, 
in  his  voyage  to  England.  On  his  return  he 
published  "  Letters  of  a  Traveller,"  com- 
prising interesting  notices  of  the  English  and 
French  literati.  In  1770  his  patron  being  re- 
moved from  the  ministry  by  count  Struensee, 
he  attached  himself  to  the  new  favourite,  and 
obtained  the  lucrative  office  of  director  general 
of  the  posts.  On  the  fall  of  Struensec  he  was 
imprisoned,  but  after  a  few  months  being  set 
at  liberty,  he  was  nominated  member  of  the 
regency  of  Oldenburg  ;  and  in  1775  the  prince 
Ct"  Holstein,  to  whom  the  duchy  of  Oldenburg 
6elonged,  made  him  a  counsellor  of  state.  He 
died  JNovember  12,  1776.  His  works,  in- 
Bio 2.  Dicr,-— -VOL.  III. 


SUC 

eluding  the  letters  already  mentioned,  were 
published  collectively  at  Leipsic,  1786,  2  vols. 
8vo,  with  an  account  of  the  life  of  the  author. 
— Biog.  Univ. 

SU  ARES,  or  SUAREZ  (FRANCIS)  alearned 
theologian,  born  at  Grenada,  in  Spain,  in 
1548.  After  having  completed  his  education 
as  a  iaw  student  at  Salamanca,  he  entered  into 
tbe  society  of  the  Jesuits,  who  employed  him 
to  teach  philosophy  at  Segovia,  and  he  subse- 
quently occupied  the  chairs  of  theology  at 
Valladolid,  Rome,  Alcala,  and  Salamanca. 
The  first  professorship  in  tb"  university  of 
Coimbra  becoming  vacant,  it  .as  bestowed  on 
Suares  by  Philip  II  at  the  request  of  the  heads 
of  that  institution.  He  took  an  active  part  in 
the  disputes  which  originated  from  the  theo- 
logical doctrine  of  father  Molina,  on  the  sub- 
ject of  grace,  which  Suares  endeavoured  to 
explain  by  means  of  the  principle  termed 
"  Congruism."  He  published  a  work  against 
our  king  James  I,  in  defence  of  the  Catholic 
faith,  for  which  he  received  the  public  tbanks 
of  the  pope  and  the  king  of  Spain  ;  but  the 
book  was  prohibited  in  England  and  France, 
and  ordered  to  be  burnt  in  London  by  the 
;  common  hangman.  His  death  took  place  in 
September  1617,  at  Lisbon,  whither  he  had 
gone  to  be  present  at  conferences  to  oe  held 
before  the  legate  of  the  holy  see.  His  works, 
extending  to  twenty-three  volumes,  folio,  were 
published  at  Mentz  and  Lyons,  1630,  &c.  and 
reprinted  at  Venice  in  1740.  His  "  Trattatus 
de  Legibus,  ac  Deo  Legislatore,"  esteemed 
his  best  work,  was  printed  in  London,  1679, 
folio.  An  abridgment  of  the  works  of  Suares, 
by  father  Noel,  appeared  at  Geneva  1732, 
2  vols.  folio. — Moreri.  Biog.  Univ. 

SUARES  (JOSEPH  MARIA)  a  learned  anti- 
quary, the  son  of  an  auditor  of  the  Rota  at 
Avignon,  where  he  was  born  about  the  end  of 
the  sixteenth  century.  Having  adopted  the 
ecclesiastical  profession,  he  was  appointed 
provost  of  the  cathedral  of  Avignon,  whence 
cardinal  Francis  Barberini  took  him  to  Rome, 
made  him  his  librarian,  and  procured  him  the 
title  of  chamberlain  to  pope  Urban  VI11.  In 
1633  he  was  raised  to  the  bishopric  of  Vaison, 
which  he  resigned  in  favour  of  his  brother  in 
1666,  and  returning  to  Rome  he  became 
keeper  of  the  Vatican  library,  and  vicar  of  the 
Basilic  of  St  Peter.  His  death  t.aak  place 
December  8,  1677.  Among  hiv.  ^/incipal 
works  are  "  Prasnestes  antiqua  libii  duo,  cum 
Numismatibus,  Inscnptionibus,  et  Figuris," 
1655,  4to ;  "  Vindicire  Sylvestri  II.  Pont. 
Max."  Lyon.  1658,  4to  ;  and  "  Arcus  Sept. 
Severi  Aug.  ari  incis.  cum  Explicatione," 
1676,  folio. — Biug.  Univ. 

SUCKLING  (sir  JOHN)  a  wit,  courtier,  and 
dramatist,  who  flourished  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  when  those  characters  were  so  fre- 
quently united.  He  was  the  son  of  a  knight 
of  the  same  name,  who  held  a  seat  in  parlia- 
ment for  the  city  of  Norwich  and  the  post  of 
comptroller  of  the  household  to  Charles  I. 
He  was  born  in  1613  at  Witham  in  Middlesex, 
and  according  to  some  of  his  biographers  gave 
promise  of  being  an  extraordinary  charade: 
R 


SUE 


even  before  his  birth,  the  period  of  gestation 
having  been  prolonged  in  his  mother  to  eleven 
months.     A  story  no  less  marvelous  is  told  of 
his  precocity  and  early  proficiency  in  the  clas- 
sics ;  and  we  are    gravely  informed    that  lie 
spoke    Latin  fluently   at    five    years  old,   and 
wrote  it  with  ease  and  elegance  at  nine.  After 
lingering  some    little    time  about    the    court 
during  which   period  he   seems  to  have  given 
some  uneasiness  to  his  father,  whose  gravity 
but   ill   accorded  with  the   gaiety  and  French 
manners  adopted  by  his  livelier  offspring,   he 
was  despatched  upon  his  travels  ;  and  while  on 
the   continent    served  a  campaign   under  the 
celebrated  Gustavus  Adolphus,  in  the  course 
of  which  he  was  present   at  three  battles  and 
several  sieges.     On  his  return  to  England,  the 
civil  war   being  then  in   its  infancy,  sir  John 
raised  a  troop  of  horse  for  the  king's  service, 
at  the  expense  of  1^,00(H.  to  himself,  throw 
ing  away,  it  would  seem,  a  great  deal  of  money 
on  much  useless  finery  ;  as  notwithstanding  the 
complete  equipment  of  his  men,  they  behaved 
so  badly  in  the  field  as  to  disgrace  botli  them- 
selves and  their  commander.     An  abortive  at- 
tempt to  effect  the  escape  of  the  earl  of  Straf- 
ford,  then  confined  in  the  Tower  under   arti- 
cles of  impeachment  from  the  Commons,  im- 
plicated sir  John  so  seriously,  that  he  thought 
it  advisable  to  retire  to  France,  where  he  died 
in  1641  of  a  fever,  increased  it  is  said,  if  not 
brought  on,  by  vexation  at  his  double  miscar- 
riage.    He  is  described  as  having  been  a  good 
musician,  though  the  want  of  harmony  in  his 
verses  would  seem  to  indicate  a  defective  ear. 
His  writings  have   gone   through  several  edi- 
tions ;  they    consist    of   letters    written    with 
much    eafce   and   spirit  ;    some    miscellaneous 
poems;  "  Aglaura,"   a  play  of  which  Lang- 
baine    says,  "   it    is    at  the    pleasure  of  the 
actors,    by  altering    the  last  act,  to   make  it 
either  a   tragedy  or   tragi-comedy;"   "  Bren- 
noralt,"  a  tragedy  ;   "  The   Sad  One,"  a  tra- 
gedy left  incomplete  ;  and  "  The  Goblins/' a 
tragi-comedy. — Gibber's  Lives. 

SUE  (PETER)  an  eminent  French  surgeon, 
born  at  Paris  December  28,  1739.  He  suc- 
ceeded in  1762  to  the  office  of  surgeon  of  the 
city  of  Paris  ;  and  the  following  year  he  was 
admitted  a  master  of  surgery,  when  he  main- 
tained a  thesis  "  De  Sectione  Csesarea."  In 
1767  La  Martinierp.  nominated  him  professor 
and  demonstrator  at  the  school  of  practice, 
in  conjunction  with  Lassus,  a  circumstance 
which  produced  considerable  jealousy  be- 
tween the  two  practitioners.  In  1770  Sue 
published  a  translation  of  the  pathology  of 
G;iubius;  and  this  was  followed  by  a  Dic- 
tionary of  Surgery,  1771,  8vo.  The  Academy 
of  Surgery  appointed  him  provost  of  the  col- 
lege, then  counsellor,  commissary  for  extracts 
and  correspondence,  and  at  length  receiver  of 
the  funds  of  the  institution.  On  the  death  of 
professor  Hevin  he  succeeded  to  the  chair  of 
therapeutics  in  1790,  which  post  he  soon  after 
lost  on  the  suppression  of  the  Academy  of  Sur- 
gery. In  1794,  on  the  establishment  of  the 
School  of  Health,  now  the  Faculty  of  Medicine,  I 
lie  was  appointed  librarian,  then  professor  of  bib- 1 


SUE 

I  liography,  and  afterwards  of  medical  jurispru- 
'  dence,  and  treasurer.     He  died  at  Paris,  April 
8,    1816.     Besides   the  works   already   men- 
tioned he  published  "  A  Memoir  on  Aneurism 
of  the    Crural  Artery,"    1776  ;    "   Historical 
and  Critical  Essays  on  the  Art  of  Midwifery, 
among  the  Ancients  and  the  Moderns,"  1779, 
2  vols.  8vo ;  "  Anecdotes  of  Medicine,  Sur- 
gery, &c."  1785,  2  vols.  12mo;   "A  History  of 
Galvanism,"  1801,&c.  4  vols.Svo. — Bin<r.Univ 
SUETONIUS  PAU  LINUS  (CAius)  a  Ro- 
man warrior,  flourished  about  the  commence- 
ment of  the  ninth  century  of  the  Roman  era, 
arid  is  celebrated  as  an  able  and  enterprising 
commander.     He  was  the  first  Roman  general 
who  led  his  troops   beyond  Mount  Atlas,  in 
the  victorious   contest   which    he   carried  on 
against  the  Mauri,  while  governor  of  Numidia, 
aimo   urbis  794.     He  went   subsequently  into 
Britain,  where  he  crushed  a  rebellion,  and  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  his  severity  towards  the 
vanquished    in  814    and   the    following  year. 
These   demonstrations  of  a  cruel  disposition, 
however,  procured  his  recal  at  a  time  when  it 
was  considered  that  conciliation  would  prove 
better  policy  than  barbarity.     In  819  he  ob- 
tained the  consulship,  and  afterwards  espoused 
the  cause  of  Otho  against  Vitellius  ;  not,  it 
has  been  said,  without  undergoing  some  sus- 
picion of  entertaining  views  upon  the  empire 
for  himself;  an  imputation,  however,  which 
Tacitus  considers  to  have  been  altogether  un- 
merited.— Hooke.     Lempriere. 

SUETONIUS  TRANQUILLUS  (CAIUS) 
the  second  and  more  celebrated  of  the  two, 
was  the  friend  of  the  younger  Pliny,  who  ob- 
tained for  him  the  dignity  of  military  tribune 
under  Trajan.  He  was  also  secretary  to  the 
emperor  Hadrian  ;  but  falling  into  disgrace 
with  Sabina,  that  prince's  consort,  was  dis- 
missed from  his  employment.  He  was  the 
author  of  a  variety  of  works,  the  principal  of 
which  that  has  come  down  to  posterity  is  his 
liistory  of  the  first  twelve  Caesars.  His  trea- 
tise "  De  Claris  Grammaticis,"  and  some 
fragments  of  another  "  De  Rhetoricis,"  are 
also  extant.  Of  the  former  work  there  are 
several  editions,  the  first  of  which  appeared  at 
Rome,  in  folio,  1470.  That  by  Graevius  in 
4to,  1691,  and  that,  cum  notis  auctioribus 
Pitisci,  1714,  are  considered  the  best.  There 
is  also  an  English  translation  of  the  book,  in 
one  volume,  octavo.  Suetonius's  Lives  of  the 
Caesars  form  one  of  the  most  interesting  re- 
mains of  historical  antiquity  ;  for  although  the 
work  cannot  rank  high  in  respect  to  style  or  sen- 
timent, it  abounds  with  anecdotes  and  incidents 
of  the  times,  and  affords  striking  views  of  the 
irivate  life  of  those  elevated  personages,  who 
in  history  are  scarcely  seen  but  in  their  public 
actions.  He  has  been  accused  of  unnecessary 
freedoms  in  his  details  of  the  detestable  actions 
of  some  of  the  sovereigns  who  form  the  sub- 
jects of  his  narrative  ;  but  possibly  more  would 
have  been  lost  as  an  instructive  lesson  on  some 
of  the  most  disgusting  consequences  of  abso- 
lute power,  than  could  have  been  gained  by  the 
greater  reserve  contended  fur  on  the  score  of 
decorum. — Biog.  Clitssica, 


SUE 

SUETT  (RICHARD)  a  comic  actor  of  grea 
note  in  low  aud  humorous  characters,  who  wa 
a  native  of  London,  and  in  the  early  part  o 
his  life   belonged  to   the   choir   of  St  Paul's 
cathedral,     tie  made  his  first  appearance  01 
the  stage  at  the  Haymarket  theatre,  while  ye 
very  young  ;  but  on   arriving  at  manhood,  he 
made  his  noviciate  in  the  country,  aud  attaine 
considerable    reputation   at  York,    where    he 
performed  for  some  time.     In  1781    lie  first 
exhibited    his  peculiar  talents  at  Drury-lane 
theatre,  and    he  gradually   rose  to  great  emi 
nence,   particularly  ill  ludicrous  comedy  and 
broad  farce.     His  Robin  (in  the  Waterman), 
Endless    (No  Song  no  Supper),    and   Dicky 
Gossip  (My  Grandmother),  may  be  mentioned 
as  almost  inimitable.     The   love  of  convivial 
society   unfortunately   led  him    to  indulge  iu 
habits  of  intemperance,  which  brought  on  in- 
curable disease,   and  occasioned  his  death  in 
1805,   at  the   age  of   forty-seven.     His  body 
was  interred  iu  the  cemetery  belonging  to  the 
metropolitan  cathedral,  of  whose  choir  he  had 
formerly  been  a  member. — Thesp.  Diet.  Jones. 
SUEUR.     There  were  three  distinguished 
personages   of   this   name. — EUSTACHIUS    LE 
SUEUR,  a  native  of  Paris,  born  1617,  was  one 
of  the  most  eminent  masters  of  the  Parisian 
school  of  painting,  and  acquired  the  appellation 
of  "  The  French  Raphael."  He  was  the  pupil 
of  Simon  Vouet,  but  far  surpassed  his  master. 
Although  he  was  never  out  of  his  native  coun- 
try, his  compositions  are  chiefly  remarkable  for 
iheir  sublimity  and  judgment,  but  prove  him 
to  have  been  at  the  same  time  very  deficient 
in  the  knowledge  of  local  colours  and  chiar' 
oscuro.     His  principal  work  is  the  life  of  St 
Bruno,  in  twenty-two  pictures,  which  it  took 
him  three  years  to  complete,   and  which  are 
etill  to  be  seen,    though  much  defaced  (it  is 
said  by  the  malignity  of  a  rival),  in  the  Car- 
thusian convent  at  Paris,  in  which  metropolis 
the  artist  died  in  1655. — JEAN   LE  SUEUR,  a 
French  ecclesiastic   minister  to  a  Protestant 
congregation  at  Feste-sous-Jouarre  en  Brie, 
is  known  as  the  author  of  a  treatise  on  the 
divine  inspiration   of  the    Scriptures,    and   a 
"  History  of  the  Church  and  of  the  Empire," 
of  which  latter  work,  originally  printed  in  Hol- 
land about  the  year  1730,  Pictet  has  since  pub- 
lished a  continuation. — THOMAS  le  SUEUR,  a 
French  ecclesiastic  and  eminent  mathematician, 
born  at  Rethel  in  Champagne,  in  1703.  He  en- 
tered into  the  order  of  friars  Minims  in  1722  ; 
and  after  having  been  a  teacher  of  philosophy 
and   theology,   he  was  called  to   Rome,  and 
made  professor  of  mathematics  at  the  college 
of  wisdom,  and  of  theology  at  the  propaganda 
in  that  city.     He  afterwards  went  to  Parma,  to 
assist  in   the  education  of  the  infant   duke  ; 
and  returning   to  Rcme  he  died  there  Sep- 


SU  H 

whom  I  have  integrated  a  very  difficult  equn 
tion."  Le  Sueur  was  the  author  of  several  ma- 
thematical works,  but  he  is  principally  known 
in  England  as  a  commentator  on  Newton, 
having  published  "  Neutoni  Philosophise  Na- 
turalis  Principia  Mathematica,  perpstuis  Com- 
mentariis  illustrata,  a  T.  le  Seur  et  F.  Jac- 
quier,"  Genev.  1739 — 40,  2  vols.  4to. — D'Ar- 
genville.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist,  Biog.  Univ, 

SUFFREN  ST.TROPEZ(PETER  ANDREW 
de)  a  distinguished  French  naval  officer,  born 
at  the  castle  of  St  Caunat  in  Provence,  in 
1726.  His  family  was  noble,  and  being  des- 
tined for  the  sea  service,  he  received  a  suitable 
education  at  Toulon.  He  entered  the  navy  as 
garde-marine  in  1743,  and  in  1748  he  was  an- 

•      .        i  •  i  • 


tember  22,  1770.  He  exhibited,  like  many 
other  individuals  on  record,  an  instance  of 
"  the  ruling  passion,  strong  in  death."  Two 
days  previous  to  his  decease  he  appeared  to 
have  entirely  lost  his  memory ;  but  on  his 
scientific  associate,  father  Jacquier,  inquiring 
whether  he  knew  him,  the  dying  mathemati- 
cian replied,  "  Yes,  you  are  the  person  with 


pointed   enseigne   de  vaisseau.     Being   made 
prisoner  at    the  battle  of  Bellisle  he  was  sent 
to  England  ;  and  on  the  conclusion  of  peace  he 
went  to  Malta,  where  he  was  admitted  a  knight 
of  the  order  of  St  John.  On  the  commencement 
of  hostilities  in  1755  he  was  again  employed  ; 
aud  serving  as  a  lieutenant  in  the  fleet  com- 
manded byDe  laClue,  hewas  captured asecond 
ime  in  the   engagement  off  Cape  Lagos.     In 
1772  he  was  made  a  captain,   and  he  com- 
manded a  vessel  in  the  fleet  of  the  count  de 
jrasse  at  the  conquest  of  the  isle  of  Grenada 
n  the  West  Indies,   iu  1779.     But  the  most 
mportant  services  of  Suffren  were  performed 
n  the  East  Indies,  after  he  obtained  the  rank 
fan  admiral.     He  returned  from  that  part  of 
he  world  to  Toulon  in  March  1784,  when  he 
was  received  by  his  countrymen  with  the  most 
tattering  honours.     A  medal  was  struck  with 
lis  effigy  and  the  following  inscription  :   "  Le 
~p  protege  ;  Trinquemale  pris  ;    Goudelour 
delivre  ;  L'Inde  detendue  ;  Six  Combats  glo- 
rieux.     Les    Etats  de  Provence   out  decerne 
cette  Medaille  MUCCLXXXIV."     Admiral 
Suffren   died  at   Paris  December  8,  1788. — 
Biog.  Univ. 

SUGER,  abbot  of  StDenis,  a  French  states- 
man of  the  twelfth  century,  born  in  1082  at 
Touri  in  Beauce.  He  was  successively  mi- 
nister of  state  to  Louis  VII  aud  Louis  the 
Fat,  and  was  raised  by  the  latter,  whose  con- 
fidence he  enjoyed,  1o  the  benefice  which  he 
retained  until  his  death  in  1152.  Pere  Ger- 
vaise,  a  monk  of  the  order  of  St  Dominic,  who 
wrote  his  life,  gives  him  a  high  character  both 
for  talents  and  integrity,  while  his  celebrity 
among  his  contemporaries  is  somewhat  at- 
tested by  the  simplicity  of  his  epitaph,  "  Here 
lies  the  abbe  Suger." — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

SUHM  (ULRIC  FREDERIC  von)  a  Sa\on 
diplomatist,  born  at  Dresden  in  1691.  He 
studied  at  Geneva,  and  then  went  to  Paris, 
where  his  father  was  ambassador  from  the 
elector  of  Saxony.  In  1718  his  sovereign  ap- 
pointed him  minister  plenipotentiary  at  Vienna, 
and  in  1720  at  Berlin.  He  remained  there 
ten  years,  and  became  the  personal  friend  of 
the  prince  royal,  afterwards  Frederick  the 
Great.  This  intimacy  gave  rise  to  an  episto- 
lary commerce,  which  was  printed  in  1787, 
under  the  title  of  "  Correspondence  familiere 
et  amicale  de  Frederic  avec  Suhm,"  2  vols. 
8vo.  In  1737  he  was  sent  to  replace  the  count 
R  2 


S  U  L 

Ue  Lynar,  as  Saxon  minister  at  Petersbur 
and  he  remained  there  til!  after  the  accession 
of  his  royal  friend  to  the  throne,  at  whose  in- 
vitation he  set  out  for  Berlin  in  November 
1710  ;  hut  lie  was  seized  with  a  fit  of  illness 
at  Warsaw,  which  carried  him  off  in  a  few 
days. —  Biog.  Univ. 

SUHM  (PETEK  FREDERIC)  a  distinguished 
Danish  historian,  born  at  Copenhagen  October 
18,  1728.  He  descended  from  a  family  origi- 
nally from  Germany,  hut  long  settled  in  Den- 
mark, and  his  father  was  an  admiral  in  the 
Danish  navy.  He  displayed  in  his  youth  an 
unconquerable  passion  for  reading  ;  and  in 
1746  he  was  admitted  into  the  university  of 
Copenhagen,  where  the  ensuing  year  he  re- 
ceived the  title  of  hof-junker,  or  gentleman  of 
the  court,  which  he  owed  to  his  merit.  He 
was  after  appointed  assessor  of  the  court  tri- 
bunal ;  but  having  accepted  of  this  office 
merely  to  gratify  his  father,  lie  ere  long  re- 
signed it,  that  he  might  dedicate  all  his  time 
to  literature.  Though  the  government  suc- 
cessively made  him  gentleman  of  the  royal 
chamber,  counsellor  of  conference,  chamber- 
•hin,  and  at  last  historiographer  royal,  he 
scarcely  ever  interfered  in  public  affairs  ;  the 
only  occasion  on  which  he  is  known  to  have 
done  so  having  been  at  the  revolution,  which 
proved  fatal  to  Struensee,  wheii  he  joined  the 
party  of  the  queen -do  wager,  and  drew  up  for 
the  use  of  the  conspirators  a  plan  of  a  tempe- 
rate monarchical  constitution,  which  however 
was  not  adopted.  M.  Suhm,  who  was  a  mem- 
ber of  almost  all  the  literary  academies  in  the 
north  of  Europe,  died  of  the  gout  September 
7,  1798.  His  principal  writings  are  "  An 
Introduction  to  the  Critical  History  of  Den- 
mark," 1769 — 73,  5  vols.  4to  ;  "  The  Critical 
History  of  Denmark  during  the  Pagan  Ages," 
1774 — 81,  4  vols  ;  "  The  Modern  History  of 
Denmark,"  of  which  seven  volumes  have 
been  published,  the  first  of  which  appeared  in 
1782.  His  miscellaneous  works  were  col- 
lected and  reprinted,  with  an  account  of  his 
life  at  Copenhagen,  1788 — 98,  15  vols.— 
Month.  Mag.  Biiig.  Univ. 

SUIDAS,  the  name  of  an  ancient  Greek 
writer,  the  era  of  whose  life  has  been  variously 
fixed  at  the  commencement  and  the  close  of 
the  eleventh  century.  He  is  however  gene- 
rally considered  to  have  flourished  in  the  reign 
of  the  emperor  Alexis  Comnenus.  He  was 
the  compiler  of  a  valuable  lexicon,  which,  if 
not  altogether  to  be  relied  upon  as  to  accu- 
racy in  the  historical  facts  which  it  alludes  to, 
is  yet  highly  interesting  from  the  references 
which  it  occasionally  makes  to,  and  the  quo- 
tations it  gives  from  the  writings  of  lost  authors. 
Of  this  work,  which  was  first  printed  about 
the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century  at  Milan, 
there  are  several  editions,  the  best  of  which  is 
the  English  one  of  Kuster  with  a  Latin  version, 
printed  at  Cambridge  in  2  vols  folio,  1705. — 
Ftibiicii  Bibl.  Grace. 

SULGHER  FANTASTICI  MARCHE- 
SIN1  (  FORTUNE)  a  celebrated  improvisatrice, 
who  was  a  native  of  Leghorn,  and  at  an  early 
age  manifested  extraordinary  poetical  abilities. 


S  U  L 

1  She  settled  at  Florence,  as  a  situation  favour- 
able for  improvement  ;  and  she  there  gave  up 
her  attention  to  the  study  of  the  belles  lettres, 
the  learned  languages,  and  natural  philosophy. 
Thus  furnished  with  knowledge,  she  was  ac- 
customed to  reply,  impromptu,  in  verse  to  all 
questions,  and  to  pour  forth  in  elegant  but  un- 
premeditated poetry  her  sentiments  on  a  va- 
riety of  subjects.  Her  excellence  is  said  to 
have  been  unrivalled,  and  the  charms  of  her 
voice,  her  gestures,  and  her  person,  extorted 
the  admiration  of  those  who  were  emulous  of 
her  fame.  She  was  admitted  into  the  Arcadian 
Academy  by  the  title  of  Themira  Parnasida, 
under  which  she  published  some  of  her  verses. 
She  died  at  FlorenceJune  t3,18'24,  after  having 
been  twice  married.  Her  works  are  "  Poesie," 
Florence,  1782  ;  "  Ero  e  Leandro,  Poemetto," 
Leghorn,  1805  ;  "  La  Morte  di  Abele,  Tra- 
gedia,"  1804  ;  and  "  Favole  Esopiane,"  1806. 
— Biog.  Univ. 

SULIVAN,  hart,  (sir  RICHARD  JOSEPH). 
He  was  a  native  of  Ireland,  and  in  early  life, 
together  with  his  brother,  John  Sulivan,  sent 
out  to  India  under  the  patronage  of  their  re- 
lation Laurence  Sulivan,  chairman  of  the  East 
India  Company.  On  his  return  to  England  he 
made  a  tour  through  Ireland,  Scotland,  and 
Wales  ;  of  which  he  gave  an  account  in  a  se- 
ries of  letters,  in  two  octavo  volumes  in  1780. 
He  soon  after  published  a  "  Letter  to  the  East 
India  Directors,"  which  was  followed  by  an 
"  Analysis  of  the  Political  History  of  India  ;" 
"  Thoughts  on  Martial  Law  •"  and  "  Philoso- 
phical Rhapsodies,  being  Fragments  of  Akber 
of  Betlis,"  3  vols.  8vo.  His  last  and  most 
elaborate  work  appeared  in  1794,  under  the 
title  of  "  A  View  of  Nature,  in  Letters  to  a 
Traveller  among  the  Alps,"  6  vols.  8vo.  In 
1790  he  was  elected  member  of  the  house  of 
Commons  for  New  Romney,  and  in  1802  for 
Seaford.  He  was  created  a  baronet  in  1804. 
He  died  in  1806. — Gent,  Mag. 

SULLIV7AN  (JOHN)  an  American  gene- 
ral during  the  revolutionary  war,  who  was 
born  at  Berwick  in  the  territory  of  Maine 
(NA.)  in  1741.  He  was  appointed  general 
of  brigade  by  the  congress  in  1775,  and  the 
next  year  being  made  a  major-general,  he  was 
sent  to  replace  Arnold  in  the  command  of  the 
army  in  Canada.  The  superiority  of  the  Eng- 
lish forces  obliged  him  to  retreat  from  that 
country  ;  and  he  was  then  employed  in  Long 
Island,  where  he  was  taken  prisoner.  Being 
speedily  exchanged,  he  served  wit  hgreat  re- 
putation at  the  battles  of  Brandywine  and 
German  town  in  1777  and  1778  ;  and  subse- 
quently against  the  Indians.  Having  been 
deprived  of  his  command,  on  account  of  a 
barge  of  peculation,  he  lived  in  retirement 
till  1788,  when  he  became  a  member  of  the 
congress  ;  and  he  was  afterwards  president  of 
New  Hampshire,  and  then  judge  of  that  dis- 
:rict.  He  died  in  1795. — His  brother,  JAMES 
SULLIVAN,  adopted  the  legal  profession,  and 
was  successively  justice,  attorney-general,  and 
governor  of  the  province  of  Massachusetts. 
He  was  also  a  member  of  the  American  Aca- 
demy of  Arts  and  Sciences,  and  long  presi- 


SU  L 

dent  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Massachu- 
setts. He  died  in  1808,  leaving,  besides  de- 
tached memoirs,  "  Observations  on  the  Go- 
vernment of  the  United  States  of  America," 
1791,  8vo  ;  a  "  History  of  the  District  of 
Maine,"  1795,  8vo  ;  a  "  History  of  the  Ter- 
ritory of  Massachusetts,"  1801,  8vo  ;  and  a 
"  Dissertation  on  the  Constitutional  Liberty 
of  the  Press  in  the  United  States,"  8vo. — 
Bing.  Nimv.  des  Contemp.  Biog.  Univ. 

SULLY  (HENRY)  an  English  artist,  who 
contributed  greatly  to  the  improvement  of 
horology  in  the  eighteenth  century.  He  stu- 
died his  profession  in  London,  and  attracted 
the  esteem  of  sir  Isaac  Newton,  by  his  re- 
searches on  the  longitude.  He  then  visited 
Holland  and  Germany,  and  afterwards  going 
to  Paris,  the  duke  of  Orleans  gave  him  the 
direction  of  amanufactoryoftime-pieces,  which 
he  established  at  Versailles.  Having  lost  this 
situation  by  his  imprudence,  he  endeavoured  to 
found  another  manufactory  at  St  Germains  ; 
but  his  affairs  were  ruined  by  the  Missisippi 
scheme  of  the  projector  Law.  He  afterwards 
went  to  England,  and  being  disappointed  in 
his  expectations  there,  he  returned  to  Ver- 
sailles, where  he  executed  his  principal  work 
of  art,  a  lever-pendulum,  to  measure  time  at 
sea,  for  which  he  received  from  the  king  a 
pension  of  six  hundred  livres.  He  died  at 
Paris  October  13,  1728,  and  his  body  was  in- 
terred in  the  church  of  St  Sulpice,  in  which  fie 
had  traced  a  meridian  line,  afterwards  repaired 
by  Lemonnier.  Sully  was  distinguished  not 
only  as  an  artist,  but  also  as  an  author.  He 
published,  "  Regie  artificielle  du  Temps," 
Paris,  1717,  8vo  ;  "  Description  d'une  Hor- 
loge,"  4to  ;  and  "  M6thode  pour  r6gler  les 
Montres  et  les  Pendules,"  1728,  8vo. — Biog. 
Univ. 

SULLY  (MAXIMILIAN  de  BETHUNE,  duke 
de)  was  born  at  Rosny,  December  13,  1560, 
of  an  illustrious  family,  being  the  second  son 
of  Francis  de  Bethune  and  Charlotte  d'Auvet. 
He  was  educated  in  the  Protestant  faith,  to 
which  he  always  adhered  ;  and  his  father  pos- 
sessing but  a  moderate  fortune,  presented  him 
at  the  age  of  eleven  to  the  queen  of  Navarre, 
and  he  was  educated  with  her  son,  afterwards 
Henry  IV.  He  accompanied  the  latter  to 
Paris,  where  he  narrowly  escaped  becoming  a 
victim  in  the  detestable  massacre  of  St  Bar- 
tholomew. When  the  young  king  of  Navarre 
escaped  from  the  court  of  France,  the  baron 
du  Rosny,  as  Sully  was  then  called,  followed 
him.  And  in  the  subsequent  wars  which 
Henry  carried  on  before  he  obtained  the 
French  crown,  his  friend  greatly  distinguished 
himself  in  various  campaigns,  particularly  at 
Marmande,  Lectoure,  Coutras,  where  he  com- 
manded the  artillery,  and  at  Ivry,  where  he 
took  the  standard  of  the  duke  of  Maine,  and 
was  most  dangerously  wounded.  In  1591  he 
took  Gisors  ;  and  the  capture  of  Dreux  in  1593 
Laon  in  1594,  La  Fere  in  1596,  Amiens  in 
1597,  and  Montmeliau  in  1600,  added  new 
lustre  to  his  reputation  as  a  warrior.  But  his 
abilities  as  a  diplomatist  and  financier  were  no 
less  remarkable.  In  1586  he  concluded  a 


SU  L 

reaty  with  the  Swiss  for  a  supply  of  20,000 
roops  for  his  master's  service  ;  and  in  1597  lie 
was  placed  at  the  head    of  the   department  of 
inance,  and  two   years   after  he  was   declared 
superintendant.      About  the  same  lime  lie  also 
negociated  the  marriage  of  Henry  with  Mary 
de'  Medici.     Tn  his  embassy  to  England  after 
he   death  of  queen   Elizabeth,   he  displayed 
jreat  penetration  and  address,  and  concluded 
a  treaty  with  James  I,   advantageous   to  the 
nterests  of  both  countries.     In  addition  to  his 
other  offices  he  was  appointed  grand  surveyor 
of  France,  grand  master   of  the  artillery,   go- 
vernor of  the  Bastile,    and    superintendant  of 
brtifications   throughout  the   kingdom.      His 
abours  as  minister   of  finance  were  attended 
with  the   happiest  success  ;  and  the  revenues 
of  the    government,  which   had    been  reouced 
o  a  state  of  complete  dilapidation  by  the  com- 
bined effect  of  civil   anarchy  and  open   war- 
'are,  were  by  his  care  restored  to  order,  regu- 
arity,     and     affluence.      Though    frequently 
thwarted  in  his  purposes  by  the  rapacity  of  the 
courtiers  and  mistresses  of  the    monarch,   he 
nobly  pursued  his  career,   ever  distinguishing 
inmself  as  the  zealous   friend  of  his  country, 
and  not  the  temporizing  minister  of  his  mas- 
ter.    His  industry  was    unwearied.      He  rose 
every  morning  at  four  o'clock,  and  after  dedi- 
cating some  time  to  business,  he  gave  audience 
to  all  who  solicited  admission  to  him,  without 
distinction  of  persons.    Though  he  persevered 
in  the  reformed  religion  himself,  he  appears  to 
have  viewed  the   subject  of  religious  belief  as 
by  no  means  of  paramount  importance,   since 
it  was  principally  owing   to  his   counsels  that 
the  king  was  reconciled  to  the  Catholic  church. 
The  pope  having  addressed  to  him  a  letter,  in 
which,  after  paying  him  many  compliments  on 
the  score   of  his   abilities,  he  invited   him  to 
become   a    Catholic,  and  concluded  with  de- 
claring that  he  should  always  pray  for  his  con- 
version to  the  true  faith  ;  Sully,   in  his   reply, 
observed,    that   on    his  part  he   would  never 
cease  to  pray  God   for   the   conversion   of  his 
holiness.     After  his  return  from  his  mission  to 
England,   he  was  made    governor   of  Poitou, 
and  grand  master  of  the  poris  and  harhours  of 
Provence,  and  the  territory  of  Sully-sur  Loire 
was  erected  into  a  duchy  in  his  favour  in  1606. 
After  the  murder  of  Henry  IV  he  was  obliged 
to  retire  from  court ;  but   after  some  years  he 
was  recalled   by  Louis  XIII,  and  on   makin4 
his  appearance  in  the  royal  circle,  the  courtier* 
did  not  treat  him  with  that  respect  to  which 
he  thought  himself  entitled,  on  which  he  said 
to  the  king,  "  Sire,  when  your  father  did   me 
the  honour  to  consult  me,  we  never  spoke  on 
affairs  till  he  had  dismissed  his  flatterers  and 
buffoons  to  the  antechamber."     In   1634  he 
received  the  staff  of  a  marshal  in   exchange 
for  the  office  of  grand  master  of  the  artillery. 
His   death   took   place  at  Villebon.  Dec.  22, 
1641.      His     well-known    "  Memoirs  "  were 
partly  published  by  himself,  under  the  title  of 
"  Economies   Royales,"  Amsterdam,  Io'o4,  2 
vols.  folio,  but  printed  in   his  own  house  ;   :uid 
the  third  and   fourth  volumes  were  published 
at  Paris  in  1662.     They  have  often  appeared 


SU  L 

since,  and  the  abbe  1'Ecluse  in  1745  edite 
them  in  a  modernized  form,  not  much  to  th 
advantage  of  the  work,  with  which  lie  La 
taken  great  liberties.  The  "  Memoirs  "  hav 
been  translated  into  English  by  Mrs  Charlott 
Lennox,  8  vols.  12mo. — Diet.  Hist.  Kifg 
Univ. 

SULPICIA,  a  Roman  poetess,  who  livec 
in  the  r?ign  of  the  emperor  Domitian.  Shi 
was  the  wife  of  Calenns,  to  whom  she  ad 
dre?sed  a  poem  on  Conjugal  Love,  which  i 
highly  praised  bv  Martial,  in  one  of  his  epi 
grams,  but  it  is  unfortunately  no  longer  extant 
The  only  specimen  remaining  of  her  produc- 
tions is  a  fragment  of  a  satire  against  Domi- 
tian, composed  on  the  promulgation  of  his 
edict  for  the  banishment  of  the  philosophers 
from  Rome.  This  piece  may  be  found  in  the 
"  Corpus  Poetarum  "  of  Maittaire,  and  in  the 
"  Poetae  Latinse  minores."  The  "  Elegies  ' 
annexed  to  the  fourth  book  of  those  of  Tibul- 
us  have  been  erroneously  attributed  to  this 
poetess. — Elton's  Specimens  of  the  Classic  Poets. 
-#/<>«• .  Univ. 

S'ULPICIUS  CALLUS,  a  member  of  the 
illustrious  Roman  family  of  the  Sulpicii,  who 
was  one  of  the  earliest  astronomers  his  coun- 
try produced.  He  first  made  known  to  the 
Romans  the  cause  of  solar  and  lunar  eclipses; 
and  being  a  tribune  in  the  army  of  Paulus 
yEmilius,  in  Greece,  the  year  168  BC.,  his 
skill  enabled  him  to  discover  that  an  eclipse  of 
the  moon  would  happen  on  the  night  previous 
to  the  day  fixed  for  giving  battle  to  Perseus, 
king  of  Macedon,  he  explained  the  cause  of 
the  approaching  phenomenon  to  the  soldiers, 
and  thus  prevented  the  panic  with  which  they 
might  otherwise  have  been  seized.  Two  years 
after  Sulpicius  filled  the  office  of  consul  ;  but 
the  time  of  his  death  is  uncertain. — Diet. 
Hist. 

SULPICIUS  SEVERUS,  an  ecclesiastical 
historian  of  the  fifth  century,  was  a  native  of 
Aquitania.  He  was  brought  up  to  the  bar, 
acquired  wealth,  and  married,  but  upon  the 
death  of  his  wife  embraced  a  religious  life. 
He  was  the  author  of  a  "Sacred  History," 
written  in  a  pure  Latin  style,  but  otherwise 
incorrect,  and  of  little  value.  He  also  com- 
posed a  life  of  St  Martin ;  but  his  most  enter- 
taining work  is  a  dialogue  illustrative  of  the 
mode  of  life  of  the  eastern  monks,  which  piece 
affords  an  instructive  view  of  the  monachism 
of  the  period.  His  works  have  been  several 
times  published,  and  the  best  editions  are  that 
of  Le  Clerc,  Lips.  1709,  8vo  ;  and  that  of 
Hieron.  a  Prate,  Veron.,  4to,  2  vols.  1741, 
1754. — Vossii  Hist.  Lat.  Dupin. 

SULZER  (Jonv  GEORGE)  an  ingenious 
Swiss  writer,  was  born  in  the  canton  of  Zurich 
in  1720.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  became 
an  ecclesiastic,  and  two  years  afterwards  pub- 
lished "  Mora!  Contemplations  of  the  Works 
of  Nature,"  and  "  A  Description  of  the  most 
remarkable  Antiquities  in  the  Lordship  of 
Kronau."  He  subsequently  became  a  tutor  at 
Magdeburg,  and  professor  of  mathematics  in 
the  royal  college  of  Berlin.  Besides  the 
works  already  mentioned,  he  published  a 


SU  R 

"  Universal  Theory  of  the  Fine  Arts,"  a  sort 
of  dictionary,  which  is  deemed  his  principal 
performance  ;  and  "  Remarks  on  the  Philo- 
sophical Kssayo  of  Hume."  He  died  in  1779. 
—  ~Kloge  Ini  Formeii. 

SUMOROKOF  (ALKXANDKn)  regarded  as 
the   founder  of  the  Russian   theatre,  was  the 
son  of  a  Russian  noble,  and  was  bom  at  Mos- 
cow,  November  14,  1727.     He  received  the 
rudiments  of  education  in  his  father's  house, 
whence    he   was   removed  to  the  seminary  of 
cadets  at  St  Petersburg,  where   he  gave  early 
proofs  of  his  genius  for  poetry.     On  quitting 
the  seminary  he  was  appointed  toanadjutantcy, 
and    being    noticed   by  count  Struvalof,   that 
nobleman   introduced  him  to  the  empress  Eli- 
zabeth.    He  had  reached  the  age   of  twenty- 
nine,  when  having  contracted  an  enthusiastic 
admiration  for  the  works  of  Racine,   his  at- 
tention was  turned  to  the  drama,  and  he  com- 
posed his  tragedy  of  "  Koref,"  which  was  first 
acted  by  some  of  his  former  companions  among 
the  cadets.     Being  informed   of  this  first  na- 
tive attempt,  the  empress  Elizabeth  caused  it 
to  be  represented  at  the  private  court  theatre. 
Thus  encouraged,  he  followed  with  other  tra- 
gedies, several  comedies,  and  two  operas  ;  in 
addition  to  which  he  attempted  almost  everv 
species  of  poetry,  except  the  epic — love-songs, 
dylls,  fables,  satires,  Anacreontics,  versions  of 
the  Psalms,  and  Pindaric  odes.     He  was  also 
author  of  a  few  historical  pieces,  the  titles  of 
which  are   "  A  Chronicle  of  Moscow;"  "  A 
history  of  the  first  Insurrection  of  the  Stre- 
itzesin  1682  ;"  and  "An  Account  of  Stenko 
lasin's  Rebellion."     Elizabeth  gave  him  the 
ank  of  brigadier,  and  appointed  him  director 
)f  the  Russian  theatre,  with  a  pension  ;  and  Ca- 
harine  II  created  him  a  counsellor  of  state, 
md  conferred  upon  him  the  order  of  St  Anne, 

Mi  many  other  marks  of  favour.     He  died 

at  Moscow,  October  1,  1777,   in  his  fifty-first 

fear.     The  characteristics  of  Sumorokof  as  a 

oet,  are  harmony,  softness,  and  elegance,  and 

ic  shines  most  in  the  class  of  poetry  which  is 

'est  calculated  to  exhibit  them.     His  tragedies 

iossess  great  merit,   regarded   as  the  first  in 

he    language,    and    his  comedies   are    very 

umorous,  with  now  and  then  a   tendency  to 

arce.     His   pastorals,  elegies,  and  fables  are 

eemed  the  most  finished  of  his  compositions, 

nd  his  satires  the  most  defective.    Sumorokof 

ossessed  all  the  caprice  and  waywardness  of 

enins  ;  his  extreme  sensibility  approached  to 

lorbidity,  and  the  caprice   and  irritability  of 

is  nature  were    equally  troublesome  to  his 

riends  and  to  himself.     He  may  be  regarded 

vith  Lomonozof,  as  one  of  the  chief  inspirers 

f  a  native  poetical   taste  in  Russia. — Care's 

ravels  in  Russia, 

SURENHUSIUS  (WILLIAM)  a  celebrated 
lebrew  and  Greek  professor  in  the  university 
f  Amsterdam.  He  is  chiefly  known  for  his 
clition  of  the  "  Mischna  "  of  the  Jews,  with 
otes,  and  a  Latin  version,  which  lie  began  to 
ublish  in  1698,  and  finished  in  1703,  in  three 
olumes,  folio.  It  contains  also  the  cominen- 
aries  of  the  rabbins  Maimonides  and  Barte- 
ora.  He  likewise  published  in  1713  a  Latin 


SUT 

work,  in  which  he  professes  to  vindicate  and 
reconcile  the  passages  in  the  Old  Testament 
luoted  in  the  New,  according  to  the  critical 
principles  of  the  ancient  Hebrew  theologists. 
Neither  the  date  of  his  birth  nor  of  his  death 
is  recorded. — Saxii  Onnm. 

SURITA  (JEROME)  a  Spanish  historian, 
was  born  at  Saragossa,  of  an  ancient  family, 
December  4,  1512.  He  made  a  great  progress 
in  his  academical  studies  at  the  university  of 
Alcala,  and  subsequently  became  secretary  to 
the  Inquisition.  He  died  October  31,  1580. 
His  principal  historical  work  is  entitled 
"  Anales  de  la  Corona  del  Reyno  de  Aragon," 
7  vols.  folio,  of  which  the  edition  of  1610  is 
deemed  the  most  complete.  He  also  published 
in  Latin  "  Indices  Rerum  ab  Aragoniue  Regibus 
gestarum,  libritres  ;"  and  edited  the  Itinerary 
of  Antoninus,  his  notes  to  which  have  been 
adopted  by  Gale. — Antonio  Bibl.  Hispan. 

SURITJS  (LAURENTIUS)  a  voluminous  com- 
piler, was  born  at  Lubeck  in  1522,  and  entered 
the  Carthusian  order  in  that  city,  where  he 
became  celebrated  for  his  integrity  and  learn- 
ing. The  principal  among  his  numerous 
works  are  a  "  Collection  of  Councils,"  1567, 
4  vols.  folio  ;  "  The  Lives  of  the  Saints," 
1687,  7  vols.  folio  ;  "  A  History  of  his  own 
Times,"  1569,  8vo.  He  was  learned,  but  cre- 
dulous, and  destitute  of  judgment.  He  died 
at  Cologne  in  1578. — Saiii  Onom. 

SUSSMILCH  (JOHN  PETER)  a  German 
^/utheran  divine  and  an  eminent  writer  on 
tatistics,  was  born  about  the  beginning  of  the 
ast  century.  He  applied  himself  with  great 
diligence  to  the  study  of  history,  and  made  a 
reat  progress  in  mathematics,  which  enabled 
.im  to  be  a  good  calculator  in  political  arith- 
metic. He  is  principally  known  by  a  work 
in  the  German  language,  entitled  "  The  Order 
observed  by  God  in  the  Changes  of  the  Hu- 
man Race,  demonstrated  by  the  Births.Deaths, 
and  Propagation  of  Man,"  a  fourth  edition  of 
which  was  published  at  Berlin  in  1775.  In 
this  work  the  author  treats  of  the  multiplica- 
tion of  mankind  in  general,  the  proportion  of  the 
two  sexes  to  each  other,  the  relative  operation 
of  diseases  and  of  deaths  at  different  pe- 
riods, as  also  of  the  uses  of  bills  of  mortality, 
and  of  the  best  method  of  keeping  registers. 
It  has  been  of  great  use  to  subsequent  writers 
on  population,  and  is  frequently  quoted  by  Mr 
Maithus.  He  died  in  1767. — La  Prusse  Lit- 
tcraire  sous  Frederic  II. 

SUTCLIFFE  (MATTHEW)  an  English  di- 
vine, was  born  in  Devonshire,  and  educated  at 
Trinity  college,  Cambridge.  Of  his  early  his- 
tory nothing  is  recorded  ;  hut  in  1585  he  was 
installed  archdeacon  of  Taunton,  and  in  1588 
confirmed  dean  of  Exeter.  He  died  in  1629. 
He  was  eminent  in  his  day  as  a  controver- 
sialist, and  wrote  a  great  number  of  tracts 
against  the  Catholic  propagandists.  He  is 
chiefly  mentioned  here  as  the  founder  of  a 
singular  college  at  Chelsea,  the  fellows  of 
which  were  to  be  employed  in  writing  the  an- 
nals of  their  own  times,  and  in  combating 
Popery  and  Pelagianism.  He  was  himself  the 
first  provost ;  but  his  bequest  turning  out  less 


SUT 

valuable  than  was  expected,  the  establishment 
fell  to  decay,  and  finally  was  transformed  into 
an  asylum  for  decayed  soldiers,  being  a  part 
of  the  existing  one  at  Chelsea. — Lysnns's  En- 
virons of  London. 

STJTTON  (DANIEL)  a  medical  practitioner, 
distinguished  for  his  successful  treatment  of 
the  small-pox.  His  father,  ROBERT  SUTTON, 
was  an  apothecary,  who,  in  1757,  established 
at  Debenham,  in  Suffolk,  a  house  for  the  re- 
ception of  persons  under  inoculation  for  the 
disease  just  mentioned,  where,  in  the  course  of 
ten  years,  he  is  said  to  have  inoculated  2541 
subjects,  all  of  whom  recovered  from  their  dis- 
order. Daniel  simplified  and  improved  his 
father's  mode  of  practice,  and  settled  first  at 
Ingatestone,  Essex,  and  afterwards  in  London, 
where  he  was  very  successful.  Baron  Dims- 
dale,  a  rival  of  the  Suttons,  published  a  work, 
professedly  developing  their  mode  of  practice, 
m!767  ;  and  in  1796  appeared  a  tract  entitled 
"  The  Inoculator,  or  the  Suttonian  System  of 
Inoculation  fully  set  forth  in  a  plain  and  fa- 
miliar manner,"  8vo. — Biog.  Univ. 

SUTTON  (SAMUEL)  a  native  of  Alfretton, 
Derbyshire.who having  served  with  some  credit 
under  the  great  duke  of  Marlborouyh,  com- 
menced  business  as  a  brewer  in  A Idersgate- 
street,  where  he  also  opened  a  coffee-house. 
He  was  a  man  of  strong  though  uncultivated 
genius,  and  in  1744  obtained  a  patent  for  an 
invention  which  he  had  discovered  four  years 
before,  of  a  method  of  extracting  the  foul  air 
from  the  wells  of  ships  by  pipes  communicating 
with  their  coppers.  Dr  Stephen  Hales  about 
the  same  time  produced  his  scheme  for  ob- 
taining the  same  end  by  means  of  ventilators, 
and  a  warm  discussion  ensued  on  the  compa- 
rative merits  of  the  two  plans,  in  which  doctors 
Mead  and  Watson  warmly  advocated  that  ol 
Mr  Sutton  ;  the  interest  of  his  rival  with  the 
navy- board,  however,  eventually  prevailed, 
and  the  ventilators  were  adopted.  His  death 
took  place  in  1752. — Nichols's  Lit,  Anec. 

SUTTON  (THOMAS)  a  wealthy  and  philan- 
thropic English  raerchant  of  the  age  of  Eliza- 
beth, born  in  1532  at  Knaith  in  Lincolnshire, 
where  his  family,  which  was  ancient  and  re- 
spectable, had  been  settled  for  several  gene- 
rations. After  receiving  a  sound  classical  edu- 
cation at  Eton  ar.d  Cambridge,  he  became  a 
member  of  the  society  of  Lincoln's-inn,  but 
soon  quitted  it  for  the  continent,  and  spew 
some  time  in  visiting  the  Low  Countries, 
France,  Italy,  and  Spain.  On  his  return  to 
England  he  attached  himself  to  the  earl  of 
Warwick  ;  and  having,  through  the  interest 
of  that  nobleman,  obtained  the  appointment 
of  master  of  the  ordnance  at  Berwick-upon- 
Tweed,  he  distinguished  himself  so  much  by 
his  gallant  behaviour  against  the  insurgents, 
under  the  earla  of  Westmorland  and  Northum- 
berland, that  he  received  a  grant  of  that  office 
for  his  life.  While  resident  in  the  north  he 
was  singularly  fortunate  in  a  purchase  which 
he  made  of  two  valuable  manors  from  the  then 
bishop  of  Durham,  on  which  a  vein  of  coal 
was  subsequently  discovered,  and  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  immense  riches  which  after- 


SUV 

wards  flowed  in  upon  him.  A  marriage  which 
he  contracted  with  an  opulent  widow  added 
still  more  to  his  already  large  propeity,  which 
he  increased  still  farther  by  trade,  maintaining, 
it  is  said,  no  fewer  than  thirty  agents  at  various 
continental  ports.  So  powerful  indeed  was 
ths  influence  which  his  wealth  acquired  for 
him,  that  owing  to  the  large  drafts  which  he 
designedly  made  on  the  bank  of  Genoa,  when 
that  city  had  entered  into  a  treaty  with  the 
<in»  of  Spain  to  supply  him  with  money  for 
nis  expedition  against  England,  the  sailing  of 
the  armada  was  necessarily  deferred  a  twelve- 
month. Part  of  the  money  which  he  thus 
drew  together  was  farther  employed  against 
the  enemies  of  his  country  in  fitting  out  a 
ship  of  war,  which  he  completely  equipped 
at  his  own  expense,  called  by  his  own  name, 
and  sent  to  join  the  fleet  under  Drake.  In  his 
personal  expenditure  he  was  singularly  magni- 
ficent, till  the  death  of  his  wife  in  1602  threw 
him  into  a  degree  of  melancholy  which  occa- 
sioned a  total  change  in  his  mode  of  living.  As 
he  was  without  issue  much  speculation  existed 
with  respect  to  the  person  who  might  inherit 
his  property,  and  overtures  were  even  made 
him  from  the  court,  which  by  the  offer  of  a 
peerage  endeavoured  to  divert  a  portion  of  it 
at  least  to  the  young  duke  of  York,  afterwards 
Charles  I.  Sutton  however  was  seized  with  a 
more  noble  ambition,  and  resolved  to  raise  a 
more  lasting  fame  by  dedicating  his  wealth  to 
the  benefit  of  his  fellow-creatures.  With  this 
view  he  laid  out  thirteen  thousand  pounds  in 
purchasing  from  the  earl  of  Suffolk  the  dis- 
solved monastery  of  the  Cbartreux,  then 
called  Howard- house,  and  there  founded  a 
munificent  institution,  under  the  name  of 
the  Charter-house.  This  noble  establish- 
ment, which  comprises  in  itself  a  hospital 
for  decayed  tradesmen  and  a  public  gram- 
mar-school, he  endowed  in  1611  most  liberally 
with  the  whole  of  his  property,  which  amount- 
ed to  the  then  large  sum  of  sixty  thousand 
pounds  in  money  and  landed  estates  to  the 
value  of  five  thousand  a- year.  The  founder 
scarcely  lived  to  witness  the  infancy  of  his  es- 
tablishment, dying  at  Hackney  on  the  llth 
of  December  in  the  same  year.  His  remains, 
which  were  at  first  deposited  in  Christchurch, 
^Newgate-street,  were  afterwards  exhumed 
and  interred  again  in  1614,  in  a  vault  pre- 
pared for  their  reception  in  the  chapel  belong- 
ing to  the  Charter-house. — Life  by  Bearcrojt. 
Hearne's  Damns  Carthusians. 

SUVARROFF  or  SUWARROW  (ALEX- 
ANDER, count  Riminisky,  prince  of  Italisky)  a 
field-marshal  of  the  Russian  armies,  equally 
renowned  for  his  desperate  courage  in  battle 
and  his  barbarity  to  the  conquered.  He  was 
descended  of  a  noble  Swedish  family,  born  in 
1730,  and  was  originally  intended  by  his  father 
for  the  profession  of  the  law.  in  order  to  avoid 
which  destination  he  left  his  home  abruptly, 
and  entered  the  army  as  a  private  soldier 
when  only  thirteen  years  of  age.  His  distin- 
guished gallantry  in  the  ranks  during  the  seven 
years'  war  gained  him  promotion,  and  after 
twenty  years'  service  he  wns  raised  to  the  com- 


SUV 

mand  of  a  regiment.  In  1768  he  obtained 
the  rank  of  brigadier-general,  and  served  se- 
veral campaigns  in  Poland,  receiving,  in  re- 
ward for  his  courage  and  conduct,  the  crosses 
of  three  Russian  orders  of  knighthood.  In  1773 
he  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  a  divi- 
sion of  the  troops  under  count  Roman  zoff',  ana 
completely  defeated  a  portion  of  the  Turkish 
army  at  Turtukey,  killing,  it  is  said,  several 
of  the  enemy  with  his  own  hand,  and  sending 
their  heads  with  a  laconic  message  announc- 
ing the  victory  to  his  general-in-chief.  Cross- 
ing the  Danube,  he  afterwards,  in  conjunction 
with  the  force  under  Kamcaskuy,  routed  the 
army  of  the  reis  effendi  with  great  slaughter. 
and  the  capture  of  all  his  artillery.  IN  178:5 
he  marched  against  the  Bud-/iac  Tartars,  and 
reduced  them  under  the  Russian  yoke.  In 
1787  being  then  chief  in  command,  he  was 
entrusted  with  the  defence  of  Kinburn,  then 
attacked  by  the  Turkish  forces  both  by  sea 
and  land  ;  and  after  an  obstinate  siege  suc- 
ceeded in  repulsing  his  assailants  with  consi- 
derable loss.  At  Oczacow  and  Fockzani  (at 
the  former  of  which  places  he  received  a  se- 
vere wound)  his  daring  valour  was  equally 
displayed;  and  in  the  September  of  1789  the 
Austrian  troops  under  the  prince  of  Saxe  Co- 
burg  being  surrounded  on  the  hanks  of  the 
Ryminisk  by  a  hundred  thousand  Turks,  owed 
their  preservation  to  his  timely  arrival  with 
ten  thousand  Russians,  who  not  only  res- 
cued them  from  a  destruction  that  appeared 
inevitable,  but  occasioned  the  utter  overthrow 
of  the  enemy.  To  this  victory  he  was  indebted 
for  the  first  of  his  above-named  titles  and  the 
dignity  of  a  count  of  both  empires.  The  next 
and  perhaps  the  most  sanguinary  of  his  ac- 
tions was  the  storming  of  Ismail  off  in  1790. 
This  strongly  fortified  town  had  resisted  all 
attempts  to  reduce  it  for  a  period  of  seven 
months,  when  Suwarrow  received  peremptory 
orders  from  prince  Potemkin  to  take  it  with- 
out delay,  and  pledged  himself  to  execute  the 
task  assigned  him  in  three  days.  Of  the 
sackiNg  of  the  place  on  the  third,  and  the  in- 
discriminate massacre  of  forty  thousand  of  its 
inhabitants  of  every  age  and  sex,  the  accounts 
of  the  period  give  a  report  the  most  revolting 
to  humanity,  while  the  announcement  if  his 
bloody  triumph  was  made  by  the  general,  who 
affected  a  Spartan  brevity  in  his  despatches, 
in  two  short  sentences,  "Glory  to  God! — 
Ismailoff  is  onrs."  Peace  being  proclaimed 
with  Turkey,  the  empress  had  leisure  to  ma- 
ture her  designs  against  the  devoted  kingdom 
of  Poland,  and  Suwarrow  was  selected  as  a  fit 
instrument  to  carry  them  into  execution.  He 
marched  accordingly  at  the  head  of  his  troops 
to  Warsaw,  destroying  about  twenty  thousand 
Poles  in  his  way,  and  ended  a  campaign,  of 
which  the  unprincipled  partition  of  the  in- 
vaded country  was  the  result.  On  this  occa- 
sion he  received  a  field-marshal's  baton,  and 
an  estate  in  the  dominions  which  he  thus  con- 
tributed to  annex  to  the  Russian  crown.  The 
last  and  most  celebrated  of  his  actions  was  his 
campaign  in  Italy  in  1799,  when  his  courage 
and  genius  for  a  while  repaired  the  disasters 


SWA 

of  the  allied  forces  in  arms  against  the  French, 
whom  he  defeated  i,t  the  battle  of  Novi.  A 
more  formidable  antagonist  than  any  he  had 
yet  encountered  was  at  length  opposed  to  him 
in  M  reau ;  the  obstinate  valour  of  the  Rus- 
sian, however,  continued  to  baffle  the  general-  j 
ship  of  his  opponent,  and  though  ultimately 
compelled  to  retire  by  way  of  Switzerland,  his 
retreat  was  conducted  in  so  masterly  a  man 
ner,  that  the  glory  he  acquired  by  it  was  not 
inferior  to  that  which  he  had  derived  from  his 
victories.  The  change  of  politics  in  the  Rus- 
sian cabinet,  or  rather  in  the  vacillating  mind 
of  the  capricious  autocrat  who  then  wore  the 
imperial  diadem,  by  producing  a  peace  with 
France,  occasioned  the  recal  of  the  veteran  to 
St.  Petersburg!!,  where,  although  he  was  re- 
ceived with  honour  and  distinction,  the  cha- 
grin which  he  experienced  at  the  new  turn 
affairs  were  taking  is  said  to  have  injured  his 
health,  and  to  have  materially  accelerated  his 
decease,  which  took  place  near  that  capital  in 
the  spring  of  1800.  The  virtues  of  Suwarrow 
were  those  of  a  barbarian,  intrepidity,  disin- 
terestedness, and  affability  to  his  soldiers, 
whose  labours  he  shared,  and  who  followed 
him  with  a  blind  clevotedness  little  short  of 
adoration;  bat  these  were  disfigured  by  the 
most  reckless  cruelty  and  barbarity,  which 
must  ever  cause  his  name  and  actions  to  be 
held  in  abhorrence  by  all  civilized  nations. 
Civil  diplomacy  he  disdained,  as  unworthy  of 
a  soldier;  and  the  most  absurd  superstition 
reigned  predominant  in  a  mind  utterly  inac- 
cessible to  the  dictates  of  all  real  and  prac- 
tical religion.  In  this  respect  his  character 
appears  to  have  borne  no  slight  resemblance 
to  that  of  Louis  XI.  of  France,  and  like  that 
pitiless  despot,  he  always  carried  about  him  a 
small  image  ot  his  patron  saint,  to  which  he 
affected  the  greatest  devotion.  His  manner 
of  appearing  in  the  field  exhibited  occasionally 
a  singularity  which  would  almost  seem  to  in- 
dicate a  disordered  intellect.  In  the  conflict 
especially  which  took  place  during  his  cele- 
orated  passage  of  the  St.  GotharJ  Alps,  he  is 
represented  as  continuing  the  whole  day  in 
His  shirt,  with  a  boot  on  one  leg  and  a  shoe 
on  the  other,  in  accomplishment,  as  was  ge- 
nerally supposed,  of  some  vow  or  other  su- 
perstitious observance —  Histm-y  of  his  Cam- 
paigns bit  Anking.  Enevc.  Brit. 

SWAMMERDAM  (Jon*)  a  very  distin- 
guished naturalist,  was  born  at  Amsterdam  in 
1637.  His  father,  who  was  an  apothecary, 
designed  him  for  the  church,  but  as  he  pre- 
ferred physic,  he  was  allowed  to  pursue  his 
studies  in  that  profession.  He  was  sent  to 
Leyden,  where  he  quickly  distinguished  him- 
self by  his  anatomical  skill,  and  the  art  of 
making  preparations.  After  visiting  Paris  for 
improvement,  he  returned  to  Leyden,  and  took 
the  degree  of  MD.  in  1667,  and  about  the 
tame  time  began  to  practice  his  invention  of 
Injecting  the  vessels  with  a  ceraceous  matter, 
frhich  kept  them  distended  when  cold  ;  a 
method  from  which  anatomy  has  derived  very 
important  advantages.  Entomology  however 
oeoame  his  great  pursuit,  and  in  1669  he  pub- 


SWA 

lished  in  the  Dutch  Language  a  "  General 
History  of  Insects."  In  this  work  are  many 
curious  observations  on  the  changes  produced 
in  this  class  of  animals,  which  he  demon- 
strafed  to  be  a  mere  evolution  of  parts,  and  he 
ascribed  generation  altogether  to  evolution,  a 
theory  which  has  been  widely  countenanced. 
He  was  so  devoted  to  these  pursuits,  that  ha 
neglected  his  practice  as  a  physician,  but  con- 
sulted his  reputation  as  a  medical  anato- 
mist, by  publishing  in  1672  a  work  entitled 
"  Miraculum  Naturae,  seu  Uteri  Muliebris  Fa- 
brica,"  to  which  was  added  an  account  of  his 
new  method  of  waxen  injection.  Rendered 
hypochondriacal,  by  intensity  ot  study  and 
other  causes,  he  became  totally  unfit  for  so- 
ciety, in  which  state  he  unfortunately  received 
impressions  from  the  mysticism  of  Antoinette 
Bourignon.  I5y  her  desire  it  is  said  that 
he  published  in  1675  an  account,  in  Dutch,  of 
the  insect  named  Kphemeris  ;  and  lie  followed 
this  selfish  and  unamiable  fanatic  to  Holstein, 
although  he  afterwards  returned  fo  Amsterdam, 
where,  reduced  to  a  skeleton  by  his  abstractions 
and  mortifications,  he  terminated  his  life  in 
1680.  Previously  to  his  death,  in  a  paroxysm 
of  enthusiasm,  he  burnt  all  his  remaining-  pa- 
pers ;  but  under  the  pressure  of  indigence, 
having  sold  the  greater  part  of  his  writings 
and  drawings  to  Thevenot.  These,  half  a 
century  afterwards,  came  into  possession  of 
Boerhaave,  who  caused  them  to  be  published 
in  Latin  and  Dutch,  under  the  superinten- 
dance  of  Ganbius,  with  the  title  of  Biblia 
Naturae,  sive  Historia  Insectorum  in  Classes 
certasreducta,  &c."2vols.  folio,  Leyden,  1737, 
of  which  papers  the  substance  had  appeared  in 
the  previous  and  less  perfect  edition  of  1 633, 
4to.  This  publication  which  has  been  translated 
into  English  by  sir  John  Hill,  abounds  with 
the  most  curious  discoveries.  Besides  the 
works  before  mentioned,  he  is  author  of 
''  Tractatus  Phvsico-Anatomico-Medicus  de 
Respiratione,"  Leyden,  1679,  8vo,  and  1738, 
4to. — Life  by  Bwhaave.  Halleri  Bibl.  Aunt. 

SWARTZ  (OLAF)  a  Swedish  botanist, 
born  at  Nordkopingin  1760.  He  studied  under 
Linnajus  at  Upsal,  and  afterwards  improved 
his  acquaintance  with  science  by  travelling  in 
search  of  plants  through  the  provinces  and 
inlands  of  Sweden.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
three  he  undertook  a  voyage  to  the  West 
Indies  and  Souih  America  ;  and  on  his  return 
he  resided  a  year  in  London,  where  he  he- 
came  acquainted  with  sir  Joseph  Banks  He 
reached  his  native  country  in  1789,  bringing 
with  him  a  rich  collection  of  vegetable  trea- 
sures. He  then  visited  the  Alpine  mountains 
of  Norway  and  a  part  of  Lapland.  On  his 
return  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Aca- 
demy of  Stockholm,  of  which  the  following 
year  he  was  president ;  and  the  king  appointed 
him  professor  of  natural  history  at  the  medico- 
surgical  institution,  and  made  him  a  knight  of 
the  orders  of  Vasa,  and  of  the  Polar  Star. 
He  died  September  18,  1817.  Among  his 
•vorks  are  "  Nova  Genera  et  Species  Plan- 
tarum,"  1788;  "  Icones  Plantarum  inoogni- 
tarnm,"  1794,  fol.  fascicul.  prim.-,  'Flora 


SWE 

India;  Occidental, "  1797 — 1806,  3  vols.  8vo  ; 
"  Fasciculus  Liclienum  Americanorum,"  1811. 
~—Biog.  Unit'. 

SWEDENBORG  (the  hon.  EMANTKI.)  a 
philosophical  Swedish  enthusiast  of  the  htst 
century,  who,  though  greatly  distinguished  for 
his  valuable  contributions  to  science,  is  now 
better  known  on  account  of  his  remarkable 
views  in  theology.  He  was  born  at  Stockholm 
in  the  year  1688,  and  educated  under  the  care 
of  liis  father,  who  was  bishop  of  Skara  in 
Westrogothia.  He  gave  early  indications  of 
great  aptitude  for  learning  ;  and  by  the  pub- 
lication of  some  Latin  verses  under  the  title  of 
"  Ludus  Heliconius,  sive  Carmina  Miscel- 
lanea," he  displayed  a  singular  vivacity  of 
mind,  and  proved  that  the  period  of  youtli  had 
been  well  employed.  After  pursuing  his  stu- 
dies in  the  university  of  Upsal,  he  proceeded 
on  his  travels  ;  during  the  four  years  of  which, 
from  1710  to  1714,  lie  visited  the  universities 
of  England,  Holland,  France,  and  Germany. 
In  171  f>  he  commenced  the  publication  of  his 
"  Daedalus  Hyperboreus,"  a  work  consisting 
of  essays  and  remarks  on  questions  in  mathe- 
matics and  physics,  which  evinced  his  taste 
for  those  sciences.  At  this  time  his  learning 
and  other  qualities  had  procured  him  the  fa- 
vourable notice  of  his  sovereign  Charles  XII, 
who  appointed  him  assessor  extraordinary  of 
his  board  of  mines.  13y  the  king's  direction 
also  he  was  associated  with  his  friend,  the 
celebrated  Polhem,  in  the  construction  of 
various  mechanical  public  works.  He  had 
thus  an  opportunity  of  bringing  his  knowledge 
and  genius  into  exercise  ;  and  during  the  siege 
of  Frederickshall  in  1718,  he  invented  ma- 
chinery, by  means  of  which  two  galleys,  five 
large  boats,  and  a  sloop,  were  transported  from 
Stromstadt  to  Iderfjol,  over  valleys  and  moun- 
tains, a  distance  of  fourteen  English  miles. 
His  mind  however  was  not  wholly  employed  by 
works  of  this  kind  ;  for  in  the  same  year  lie 
printed  an  introduction  to  algebra,  which  was 
followed  in  the  next  year  by  three  other  trea- 
tises on  different  subjects.  Having  lost  his 
patron  during  the  siege,  he  was  protected  and 
ennobled  in  1719  by  his  sister  and  successor. 
In  order  to  obtain  a  practical  knowledge  of 
metallurgy,  and  thus  qualify  himself  for  bet- 
ter performing  the  duties  of  his  office,  he  went 
in  1720  and  1721  to  inspect  the  mines  of  Sax- 
ony and  Hartz,  as  well  as  those,  of  his  own 
country ;  and  during  these  journeys  he  col- 
lected much  information  in  science  and  natural 
philosophy,  which,  on  his  return,  was  given  to 
the  world  in  several  small  publications.  In 
1734  was  published,  in  three  folio  volumes,  a 
collection  of  his  philosophical  and  mineralo- 
gical  works,  the  merit  of  which  was  acknow- 
ledged throughout  Europe,  and  procured  for 
him  those  honours  and  distinctions  which  uni- 
versities and  other  learned  bodies  have  it  in 
their  power  to  bestow.  His  fame  was  now 
established,  but  he  still  assiduously  cultivated 
science.  Between  1738  and  1740  he  travelled 
in  France  and  Italy  ;  and  in  the  latter  year  he 
published  his  "  Kconomia  Regni  Auimalis  ;" 
in  1744 — 5.  his  "  Jlegnum  Animale  ;"  and 


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also  a  work  entitled  "  De  Cultu  et  Amora 
Dei."  From  this  time  his  industry  was  not 
diminished,  nor  were  his  publications  less 
numerous,  but  they  were  of  a  very  different 
description.  "  Whatever  of  worldly  honour 
or  advantage  may  appear  to  be  in  these 
things,"  wrote  the  baron,  "  I  hold  them  but 
as  matters  of  very  low  estimation,  compared 
to  the  honour  of  the  holy  office  to  which  1  have 
been  called  by  the  Lord  himself,  who  was 
graciously  pleased  to  manifest  himself  to  me 
his  unworthy  servant,  in  a  personal  appearance 
in  the  year  1743,  to  open  to  me  a  sight  of  the 
spiritual  world,  and  to  enable  me  to  converse 
with  spirits  and  angels  ;  and  this  privilege 
has  continued  with  me  to  this  day."  After 
this  extraordinary  call,  that  he  might  wholly 
devote  himself  to  the  great  work  which  he 
supposed  assigned  to  him,  he  obtained  per- 
mission to  retire  from  his  office,  and  was 
allowed  to  retain  half  the  salary  attached  to  it. 
For  the  greater  convenience  of  printing  the 
works  suggested  to  him  by  this  peculiar  state 
of  mind  (all  of  which  were  printed  at  his  own 
expense),  he  resided  alternately  in  Sweden, 
Holland,  and  England.  All  his  theological  as 
well  as  his  philosophical  works  were  originally 
published  in  Latin,  but  have  been  subsequently 
translated  into  English.  They  are  very  volu- 
minous, one  alone,  entitled  "  Arcana  Coeles- 
tia,"  occupying  twelve  closely  printed  octavo 
volumes.  There  are  also  several  distinct 
treatises,  the  most  remarkable  of  which  are 
the  aforesaid  "  De  Cultu  et  Amore  Dei," 
"  De  Telluris  in  Mundo  nostro  Solari," 
1758  ;  "  DeEquo  Alboin  Apocalypsi,"  1758  ; 
"  De  Novo  Hierosolyma ;"  "  De  Coelo  et  In- 
ferno ;"  "  Sapientia  Angelica  de  Divina  Pro- 
videntia,"  Amst.  1764  ;  "  Vera  Christiana 
Religio,"  Amst.  1771.  The  whole  may  be 
divided  into  two  general  classes,  one  contain- 
ing religious  doctrines  grounded  on  his  pecu- 
liar interpretations  of  Scripture,  and  the  other 
including  his  assumed  communications  con- 
cerning the  state  of  man  after  death.  He  di'ed 
in  London,  in  the  month  of  March,  1772,  and 
his  remains,  after  lying  in  state,  were  deposited 
in  a  vault  at  the  Swedish  church,  near  Rat- 
cliffe  Highway.  His  followers,  who  were  not 
numerous  during  his  lifetime,  have  rapidly  in- 
creased since  his  death,  and  his  sect  may  be 
now  deemed  established,  under  the  title  of 
The  New  Jerusalem  Church."  One  of  their 
discriminating-  tenets  is  the  identity  of  God 
with  Jesus  Christ.  In  this  sense  they  are 
Unitarians,  yet  they  hold  that  in  this  one  per- 
son there  is  a  trinity,  consisting  of  the  divi- 
nity, the  humanity,  and  the  operation  of  both 
on  Christ,  who  always  existed  in  a  human 
form,  and  who  assumed  a  material  body  in 
order  to  redeem  the  world.  This  redemption 
consists  in  bringing  the  hells  or  evil  spirits  into 
subjection,  and  in  preparing  the  way  for  a 
more  spiritual  church.  They  maintain  that 
the  Scriptures  are  to  be  interpreted  not 
only  in  a  literal  but  in  a  spiritual  sense,  un- 
known to  mankind  until  revealed  to  baron 
Swedenborg.  They  also  inculcate  a  spiritual 
influence  overman  by  means  of  good  and  bad 


S  WE 

angels  residing   within    their  affections,  who 
are  continually  struggling  against  each  other; 
and  assert  that  by  the  former  God  assists  them 
under  temptation.     Their  leader  indeed  held 
that  there  is  a  universal  influx  from  God  into 
the   soul  of  man,  which   he    compares  to  the 
communication    of  light  from   the   sun.     The 
existence  of  two  worlds,  the  natural   and  the 
spiritual,  which  exactly  correspond  with  eacl 
other,  is  also  taught ;  and  that  at  his  death  a 
man  enters  into  the  latter,  and  is  clothed  with 
a    substantial,  although  not   a  material  body 
Such  are  a  few  of  the  leading  doctrines  of  the 
"  new  and  perpetual  church,"  which  this  extra- 
ordinary personage  declared  himself  appointed 
to  make  known  ;  and  which  he  asserts  is  pre- 
dicted in  the  Apocalypse,  under  the  figure  ol 
the  New  Jerusalem  descending  from  God  out 
of  heaven.  "  When  once,"  says  Swift,"  the  ima- 
gination gets  astride  of  the  senses,    there  is 
nothing  which  a  man  may  not  bring  himself  to 
believe,  and  if  he  once  believe  himself,  to  per- 
suade other  people  to  believe."     Thus  there  is 
not  the  least  reason  .to  impute  intended  impo- 
sition to  the  extraordinary  tissue  of  ingenuity 
and  fancy,  which  is  contended  for  as  inspira- 
tion by  the  followers  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg. 
Some    of   them   indeed    insist   that    lie    was 
neither  visionary  nor  enthusiastic  ;  an  assertion 
which,  out  of  pure  regard  to  the  best  tempered 
alternative,  all  other  persons  will   hesitate  to 
admit.     There  are  societies  formed  in  London 
and  Manchester    for   the  express  purpose  of 
printing  and  keeping  the  works  of  Swedenborg 
in    circulation. — Sandel's    Eul.      Aikin's    Gen. 
Biog.     Orig,  Com. 

SWEDIAUR  (FRANCIS  XAVIER)  a  phy- 
sician and  writer  on  medicine,  born  at  Steyer, 
in  Upper  Austria,  in  1748.  He  studied  at 
Vienna,  and  afterwards  travelled  for  three 
years  in  different  parts  of  Europe.  He  then 
settled  in  London,  and  engaged  in  practice ; 
but  at  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution 
he  went  to  reside  at  Paris,  where  he  became 
connected  with  the  Jacobin  leaders,  and  espe- 
cially with  Danton.  He  died  August  27,  1824. 
He  published  several  professional  works,  the 
most  important  of  which  is  his"  Traitecomplet 
sur  les  Symptomes,  les  Effets,  la  Nature  et  le 
Traitement  des  Maladies  Syphilitiques,"  Paris, 
1798.  He  was  also  the  author  of  a  "  Philo- 
sophical Dictionary,"  1786,  8vo,  characterised 
by  the  Monthly  Reviewers  as  the  quintessence 
of  impiety. — Biog.  Univ. 

SWERT  (FRANCIS)  an  industrious  man  of 
letters,  was  born  at  Antwerp  in  1567.  Little 
is  known  of  his  personal  history  beyond  the 
fact  that  he  devoted  himself  exclusively  to 
literature,  and  was  connected  with  most  of 
the  learned  men  of  his  day.  He  was  particu- 
larly conversant  with  Belgic  history  and  Ro- 
man antiquities.  He  died  at  Antwerp  in  1629. 
Of  his  numerous  works  the  principal  are  "  Re- 
rum  Belgicaruin  Annales,  Chronicos  et  Histo- 
ricos,"  2  vols.  folio  ;  "  Athens  Belgicae," 
folio  ;  "  Deorum  et  Dearum  Capita  ex  Anti- 
f]uis  Numismantibus,"  4to  ;  "  Monumenta 
Sepulchralia  Ducatus  Brabantiae." — Moreri. 
Saiii  Onom. 


S  W  I 

SWIFT  (JONATHAN)   an  eminent  English 
divine,  wit,    humorist,    and    politician.     His 
grandfather  was  a  clergyman,  possessed  of  a 
paternal    estate  near   Ross  in    Herefordshire, 
who  held  the  vicarage  of  Goodrich  in  the  same 
county.     By  his  wife  Elizabeth  Dryden,  aunt 
to  the  poet,  this  gentleman   had  a  number  of 
sons,  who  for  the  most  part  settled  in  Ireland. 
One  of  the   youngest,   named  Jonathan,  who 
was  brought  up  an  attorney,  before  he  went  to 
Ireland  married  Mrs  Abigail  Erick,  a  Leices- 
tershire lady,  whom  at  a  very  early  age  he  left 
a  widow,   with  one  daughter,    and  pregnant 
with  the  subject  of  this  article,  who  was  born 
November  30,   1667.     This   event  took  place 
under  the    roof  of    his  elder  uncle    Godwin, 
who  had  kindly  afforded  protection  to  his  sis- 
ter-in-law and  family.     He  was  placed  at  a 
school  in  Kilkenny  when  six  years  old,  and  in 
his  fifteenth  year  was  removed  to  Trinity  col- 
lege, Dublin,  where  applying  himself  to   his- 
tory and  poetry,  to  the  neglect  of  academical 
pursuits,  especially  the  mathematics,  he  was  at 
the  end  of  four  years  refused  the  degree  of  BA. 
for  insufficiency,  and  even  at  the  end  of  seven 
years  was  only  admitted  speciali  gratia,  a  species 
of  favour  which  was  deemed  highly  discredit- 
able.    To  this  mortification  is  attributed  the 
contempt  with  which   he  treats  mathematical 
learning  in  his  various  writings  ;  but  another 
and  a  better  effect  of  it  was  evinced  in  a  reso- 
ution  to  apply  to  his  studies  with  more  dili- 
gence.    This    determination    he    steadily  ad- 
lered  to  for  the  following   seven  years,  three 
of  which  he  spent  at  the  university  of  Dublin, 
during  which  last-mentioned  period  he  is  said 
:o  have  composed  his  celebrated  "  Tale  of  a 
Tub."     In  his  twenty-first  year  the  death  of 
iis  uncle  rendered  it  necessary   for  him    to 
)ay  a  visit    to   Leicester,   for  the   purpose  of 
consulting  his  mother,  then  resident  in  that 
neighbourhood.  By  her  advice  he  was  induced 
:o  communicate  his  situation  to  the  celebrated 
iir  William  Temple,  who  had  married  one  of 
ler  relatives,  and  who  at  that  time  lived  in 
•etirement  at  Moor  park,  Surrey.     He  was  re- 
ceived by  the  latter  with  great  kindness,  and 
le    rendered  himself   so    accceptable   to    the 
aged  statesman,  that  he  resided  with  him  at 
Vloor  park  and  Sheene   for  nearly  two  years. 
At  the  latter  place  he  was  introduced  to  king 
William,  who  often  visited  Temple  privately  ; 
and  the  king,  whose  feelingswere  all  military, 
offered  him  a  captaincy  of  horse,  which,  hav- 
ng  already  decided  for   the   church,   he  de- 
fined.    Being  attacked  by  the  disorder  which 
occasioned   those   fits  of  vertigo  that  afflicted 
lim  more  or  less  all  his  life,  and   finally  de- 
troyed  his  reason,   he  was  induced  to  revisit 
reland,  but  soon  returned   and  resided  with 
ir   William  Temple   as   before.     Some  time 
after  he  determined  upon  graduating  MA.  at 
Dxford,    and  having  entered  at   Hart-hall  in 
May  1692,   he  received  the  deserved  honour 
n  the  July  following.     He  was  probably  iu- 
lebted  to  his  known    connexion  with  Temple 
or  this  mark  of  respect ;  but  it  has  also  been 
juspected  that  the  words  speciali  gratia  in  his 
Dublin  testimonials,  were  mistaken  for  a  com- 


SW  I 

pliment  at  Oxford.  He  had  certainly  not  dis- 
tinguished himself  at  this  time  by  any  public 
specimen  of  talent,  although  he  made  some 
attempts  at  poetry  in  the  form  of  odes  to  his 
patron  and  king  William.  This  species  of  com- 
position being  wholly  unfitted  to  his  genius, 
his  relation  Dryden  is  said  honestly  to  have  told 
him  that  he  would  never  be  a  poet,  to  which 
brief  observation  is  attributed  the  extraordinary 
rancour  with  which  he  always  alluded  to  that 
eminent  writer.  After  residing  two  years 
longer  with  his  patron,  conceiving  the  latter  to 
be  neglectful  of  his  interest,  he  parted  from 
him  in  1694  with  some  tokens  of  displeasure, 
and  went  to  Ireland,  where  he  took  orders 
with  very  moderate  expectations  from  the 
church.  A  recommendation  to  the  lord-de- 
puty Capel,  however,  procured  him  a  prebend 
in  one  of  the  northern  dioceses,  which  he  soon 
resigned,  in  order  to  return  to  sir  William 
Temple,  who,  sinking  under  age  and  infirmi- 
ties, required  his  company  more  than  ever. 
During  the  few  remaining  years  of  that  states- 
man's life,  they  therefore  remained  together  ; 
and  on  his  death  Swift  found  himself  benefited 
by  a  pecuniary  legacy  and  the  bequest  of  his 
papers.  From  the  latter  he  selected  two  vo- 
lumes of  "  Letters,"  which  he  dedicated  to 
king  William,  who  taking  no  notice  of  him, 
he  accepted  an  invitation  from  the  earl  of 
Berkeley,  one  of  the  lords  justices  in  Ireland, 
to  accompany  him  as  chaplain  and  secretary. 
The  latter  office  was  soon  taken  from  him, 
as  fit  only  for  a  layman  ;  and  he  was  also 
disappointed  of  the  deanery  of  Derry,  which 
had  been  promised  him,  acquiring  only  the 
comparatively  poor  livings  of  Laracor  and 
Rathbiggin  in  the  diocese  of  Meath.  While  ' 
in  the  family  of  the  earl  of  Berkeley  he  began  ! 
to  make  himself  known  by  his  remarkable  ' 
talent  for  humorous  verses,  as  may  be  seen  by 
the  petition  of  Frances  Harris  and  various 
other  excellent  specimens.  On  the  return  of 
that  nobleman  to  England,  he  went  to  reside 
at  his  living  of  Laracor  ;  and  during  his  resi- 
dence there  he  invited  to  Ireland  Miss  John- 
son, the  lady  whom  he  has  so  much  cele- 
brated by  the  name  of  Stella,  and  who  had 
become  known  to  him  owing  to  her  father  hav- 
ing held  the  office  of  steward  to  sir  William 
Temple.  She  came  accompanied  by  a  Mrs 
Dingley,  a  distant  relation  of  the  Temple  fa- 
mily, who  was  fifteen  years  older  than  her- 
self ;  and  of  circumstances  so  confined  as  to 
render  the  situation  eligible.  The  two  ladies 
resided  in  the  neighbourhood  when  Swift  was 
at  home,  and  at  the  parsonage- house  during 
his  absence  ;  and  this  mysterious  connexion 
lasted  till  her  death.  In  1701  he  took  his 
doctor's  degree,  and  the  same  year,  being  then 
of  the  mature  age  of  thirty-four,  first  entered 
on  the  stage  as  a  political  writer,  by  a  pam- 
phlet in  behalf  of  king  William  and  his  minis- 
ters, entitled  "  A  Discourse  of  the  Contests 
and  Dissensions  between  the  Nobles  and  Com- 
mons of  Athens  and  Rome,"  a  work  of  no 
great  force.  In  1704.  he  published,  although 
anonymously,  his  famous  "  Tale  of  a  Tub,"  of 
which  eccentric  production,  although  he  would 


S  WI 

never  own  it,  lie  is  the  undoubted  author- 
This  very  original  piece  of  humour,  while  it 
advanced  his  reputation  as  a  wit,  did  him 
no  small  injury  as  a  divine,  being  deemed 
light  and  indecorous,  if  not  irreligious,  by  the 
graver  functionaries  of  the  church.  The 
"  Battle  of  the  Books  "  was  appended  to  the 
"  Tale  of  a  Tub ;"  it  is  a  burlesque  compa- 
rison between  ancient  and  modern  authors,  in 
which  he  exercises  his  satire  with  great  unfair- 
ness against  Dryden  and  Bentley,  but  whose 
fame,  in  their  respective  lines,  even  his  sa- 
tire could  not  permanently  affect.  In  1708  he 
began  to  appear  as  a  professed  author,  bv  the 
publication,  of  four  different  works,  "  The 
Sentiments  of  a  Church  of  England  Man,  in 
respect  to  Religion  and  Government  ;"  "  Let- 
ter concerning  the  Sacramental  Test  ;"  "  Ar- 
gument for  the  Abolition  of  Christianity  ;" 
and  "  Predictions  for  the  Year  1708,  by  Isaac 
Bickerstaff,  Esq."  Of  these  pieces  the  former 
two  set  the  seal  to  his  adhesion  to  the  tories, 
while  the  others  exhibit  that  inimitable  talent 
for  irony  and  grave  humour  which  forms  his 
principal  distinction  as  a  man  of  genius.  Re- 
turning to  Ireland  he  commenced  an  intimacy 
with  Addison,  then  secretary  to  the  lord  lieu- 
tenant. In  1710,  being  engaged  by  the  Irish 
prelacy  to  obtain  a  remission  of  the  first-fruits 
and  twentieths,  payable  by  the  Irish  clergy  to 
the  crown,  he  was  introduced  to  Harley,  after- 
wards earl  of  Oxford,  and  to  secretary  St  John, 
subsequently  lord  Bolingbroke.  He  gained 
the  confidence  of  these  leaders  to  such  a  de- 
gree, that  he  became  one  of  the  sixteen  bro- 
thers who  dined  weekly  at  each  other's  houses, 
and  took  a  leading  share  in  the  famous  tory 
periodical,  entitled  "  The  Examiner.''  Al- 
though now  immersed  in  politics,  he  did  not 
neglect  literature,  and  in  1711  published  a 
"  Proposal  for  correcting,  improving,  and  as- 
certaining the  English  Tongue,"  in  a  letter  to 
the  earl  of  Oxford,  the  object  of  which  scheme 
was  to  establish  an  institution  to  secure  the 
purity  of  the  language,  in  some  respects  re- 
sembling the  French  Academy.  The  same 
year  produced  his  celebrated  tract,  entitled 
"The  Conduct  of  the  A  Hies,"  written  to  dispose 
the  nation  to  peace,  and  which,  as  the  nation 
was  beginning  to  be  weary  of  the  war,  was 
received  with  great  applause.  "  Reflections 
on  the  Barrier  Treaty  "  followed  in  1712,  in 
which  year  he  also  printed  "  Remarks"  on 
Burnet's  introduction  to  his  third  volume  of 
the  History  of  the  Refoimation,  in  which 
he  freely  indulged  in  the  spleen  produced  by 
his  personal  enmity  to  that  prelate.  A  bishopric 
in  England  was  the  secret  object  of  his  am- 
bition, but  archbishop  Sharpe,  on  the  ground, 
it  is  said,  of  his  "  Tale  of  a  Tub,"  having  in- 
fused into  the  mind  of  queen  Anne  suspicions 
of  his  orthodoxy,  the  only  preferment  his  mi- 
nisterial friends  could  venture  to  give  him,  was 
the  Irish  deanery  of  St  Patrick's,  to  which  he 
was  presented  in  1713.  The  following  year 
he  published  ;monymously  his  "  Public  Spirit 
of  the  Whigs,"  which  evinced  so  much  con- 
tempt of  the  Scottish  nation,  that  the  peers  of 
that  country  wenf  in  a  body  to  demand  repa- 


S  W  I 

ration,  and  a  prosecution  was  with  great  dif- 
ficulty avoided.     He  was  hastily   recalled  the 
same  year  from  his  deanery,  to  which  he  had 
repaired  to  take  possession,  by  the  violent  dis- 
sensions   between    Oxford    and    Bolmybroke, 
•whom  he  in  vain  attempted  to  reconcile  ;  and 
the  death  of  the  queen,  which  soon  followed, 
put  an  end  equally  to  their  power  and  his  own 
prospects,  and  condemned  him  to  unwilling  re- 
sidence for  life  in  a  country  which  lie  disliked. 
He  accordingly  returned  to  Dublin,  and  intro- 
duced a  meritorious  reform  into  the  chapter  of 
St  Patrick's,  over  which  he  ohtained  an  autho- 
rity never  before  possessed  in  his  station.     He 
now  opened  his  house  twice  a  week  to  the  best 
company,    on   which  occasion     Mrs    Johnson 
regulated  the  table  although  only  in  the  cha- 
racter of  guest.     In    1716    he  was   privately 
married    to  this  lady  by  Dr  Ashe,  bishop  of 
Clogher  ;    but  the  ceremony  was  attended  with 
no    acknowledgment  which  could  gratify  the 
feelings  of  the  amiable  victim  of  his  pride  and 
singularity.     The  ascendancy  which  this  extra- 
ordinary mau  had  acquired  over  Miss  Hester 
Vanhomrigh,   another    accomplished    female, 
was  attended  with    circumstances  which  ap- 
pear even  still  more  censurable   and  conflict- 
ing.    He  became  acquainted  with   this   lady 
in  London  in  1712,  and  as  she  possessed,  with 
a  large   fortune,   a  taste  for  literature,  Swift 
took  pleasure  in  affording  her  instruction.  The 
result  was  a  second  part  of  the  story  of  Abe- 
lard    and    Heloise ;    the    pupil    became   ena- 
moured of  her  tutor,  and  even  proposed  mar- 
riage to  him  ;   but  being  probably  at  that  time 
engaged  to  Stella,  he  indefensibly  avoided  a 
decisive  answer.     That  he   however  felt    her 
attractions,  seems  obvious  from  his  Cadenus 
and  Vanessa,  the  longest  and  most  finished  of 
his  poems  of  fancy.     This  affair  terminated 
fatally  ;  for  ultimately  discovering   his  secret 
union  with  Stella,  the  unfortunate  lady  never 
recovered  the  shock,  but  died  fourteen  months  ; 
after,  in    1723.     She   previously  cancelled  a 
will  she  had  made  in   his  favour,   and  left  it 
in  charge  to  her  executors  (one  of  whom  was 
bishop  Berkeley)  to  publish    all    the    corre- 
spondence between  her  and  Swift,  which  how- 
ever never  appeared.    After  residing  some  time 
in  Ireland  without  attending  to   public  affairs, 
in  1720  he  was  roused  by  the  illiberal  manner 
in  which  Ireland  was  governed,  to  publish  "A 
Proposal   for  the  universal  Use  of  Irish  Ma- 
nufactures," which  rendered  him  very  popular. 
His  celebrated    Letters    followed,  under  the 
name  of  M.  B.  Drapier,   in  which  he  so  ably 
exposed  the  job  of  Wood's  patent  for  a  supply 
of  copper  coinage.  A  large  reward  was  offered 
for   the  discovery  of   the    author,    but    none 
took  place,   and  the  dean   became  the  public 
idol  of   the  Irish  people.     It   was  about  this 
lime  that  he  composed  his  famous  "  Gulliver's 
Travels,"  which  appeared  in  1726,  a  work  too 
•we  11  known  to  require  any  thing  beyond  advert- 
ence to  the  indescribable  union  of  misanthropy, 
satire,  irony,  ingenuity,  and   humour  which  it 
exhibits.    Its  popularity  was  unbounded,  and 
the  imitations  of  it  have   been  very  numer- 
v.  us.  In  the  same  year  he  joined  Pope  in  three 


s  wi 

volumes  of  miscellanies,  leaving  the  piofi'    to 
the  poet.     On  the  death  of  George  I,   he  paid 
his  court  to  the  new  king  and  queen,  and  seems 
to  have  flattered  himself  with   some  hopes  of 
notice,    through  the  influence   of  the  favourite 
Mrs  Howard.   He  was  however  disappointed, 
and  the  death  of  Stella,   about  this   time,  who 
had  been  long  languishing  in  a  state  of  decline, 
completed  his  chagrin.    When  her  health  was 
ruined,  it   is  said,  that  he  offered  to  acknow- 
ledge her  as   his  wife,  but  she  emphatically 
replied,   "  It  is  too  late."     He  allowed  her  to 
make  a  will  in  her  maiden  name,  in  which 
she  consigned  her  property  to  charitable  uses. 
From  the  death  of  this  injured  female,  his  life 
became  much  retired,  and  the  austerity  of  his 
very  acrid  temper  increased.     He   continued 
however,  for   some  years  to  exercise  both  his 
patriotic  and  his  splenetic  feelings,  in  various 
effusions  of  prose  and  verse,  and  was  certainly 
very    earnest    in    his  exertions  to  better  the 
condition  of  the  wretched  poor  of  Ireland,  in 
addition  to  which  endeavours  he   dedicated  a 
third  of  his  income  to  charity.     Some  of  his 
most  striking   poems  were  written  about  this 
time,  including  }'',s  celebrated    "    Verses  on 
his  own  DeatL,     formed  on  one  of  the  maxims 
of  Rochefoucault.       He    kept  little  company 
at  this  advanced  period,    but  with  inferiors, 
whom  he  could  treat  as  he  pleased,  and  especi- 
ally that  of  a  knot  of  females,  who  were  always 
ready  to  administer  the  most  obsequious  flat- 
tery.     In  1736   he  had  so  severe  an  attack 
of  deafness  and  giddiness,  that  lie  never  af- 
terwards undertook    any  work  of  thought  or 
labour,  although  he  allowed  his  "  Polite  Con- 
versation "  to  be  published.     This   piece  and 
his  "  Directions  for  Servants,"  not  printed  until 
after  his    death,    curiously    evince    his    close 
attention  to  the  minutest  oddities   and  impro- 
prieties of   every  station.     The    fate,    which, 
owing  to  the  peculiar  nature  of  his  constitu- 
tional infirmities  he  always  feared  would  be- 
fal  him,  at    length  reached  him  ;  the   facul- 
ties of  his  mind  decayed  before  his  body,  and 
a  gradual  abolition  of  reason  settled  into  ab- 
solute   idiocy  early  in  1742.     Some  glimmer- 
ings of  reason  subsequently  appeared  at  distant 
intervals,  until  the  latter  end  of  October,  1745, 
when  he  died  without  a  pang  or  convulsion,  in 
his  seventy-eighth  year.     He  bequeathed  the 
greatest  part  of  his  fortune   to  a  hospital    for 
lunatics  and  idiots,  the  intention  of  which  he 
had   announced  in    the   verses  upon  his  own 
death  : 

"  To  show,  by  one  satiric  touch, 
No  nation  needed  it  so  much." 
The  character  of  this  celebrated  person  is  so 
strongly  denoted  by  his  life  and  writings,  it 
can  scarcely  be  mistaken  in  its  principal  fea- 
tures. Pride,  misanthropy,  and  stern  inflexi- 
bility of  temper  formed  its  basis  ;  but  the  su- 
perstructure was  strangely  compounded  of  sin- 
cerity and  absence  of  paltry  jealousy,  with  arro- 
gance, implacability,  carelessness  of  giving 
pain,  and  a  total  want  of  candour  as  a  politician 
or  partizan.  Of  his  obdurate  and  unfeeling  na- 
ture, besides  his  culpable  and  indefensible 
treatment  of  his  wife  and  Miss  VanhomrigU 


SW  I 

(for  which  various  reasons,  including  secret 
constitutional  infirmities,  have  been  conjec- 
tured), his  utter  abandonment  of  an  only  sis- 
ter simply  for  marrying  a  tradesman,  and 
many  other  instances,  might  be  adduced.  Even 
his  whim  and  humour  was  indulged  with  a 
most  callous  indifference  to  the  pain  which  lie 
might  inflict,  or  the  sensibilities  he  might 
wound.  Asa  writer,  his  claim  to  originality 
is  unimpeachable,  and  probably  he  will  never 
be  exceeded  in  the  walk  of  grave  irony,  which 
he  veils  with  an  air  of  serious  simplicity,  admi- 
rably calculated  to  set  off  the  humour  it  is  ap- 
parently suited  to  conceal.  He  also  abounds 
in  ludicrous  ideas  of  every  kind,  and  these,  as 
if  intent  to  prove  his  own  position  that  a  nice 
man  (and  lie  was  fastidiously  so)  is  a  man 
of  dirty  ideas,  often  deviate,  both  in  his  poetry 
and  prose,  into  very  unpardonable  grossness. 
His  style  in  each  department  forms  the  most 
perfect  example  of  easy  familiarity  that  the 
language  affords  ;  but  although  admirable  for 
its  pureness,  clearness,  and  simplicity,  it  ex-  j 
hibits  lit'.le  of  the  glow  or  impress  of  genius, 
its  highest  characteristic  consisting  in  its  ex-  ! 
treme  accuracy  and  precision.  As  an  argu- 
mentative and  didactic  writer,  he  has  therefore 
been  not  only  equalled,  but  excelled  by  many  ; 
but  in  wit,  humour,  and  irony  he  is  more  than 
the  Lucian  of  the  modern  world,  and  in  his  own 
especial  vein  is  never  likely  to  be  surpassed. 
To  conclude,  this  great  and  singular  man  will 
always  be  regarded  as  among  the  most  ori- 
ginal of  English  writers,  while  on  the  part  of 
Ireland  he  will  ever  claim  respect  as  one  of 
the  most  powerful  and  fearless  of  the  literarv 
and  social  advocates  who  have  been  roused 
into  honourable  indignation  by  her  wrongs. 
His  works  have  been  often  printed,  and  in 
various  forms,  one  of  the  latest  and  best  editions 
of  which  is  that  under  the  superintendance  of 
Nichols,  in  19  vols.  8vo. — Biog.  Brit.  Orrery's 
Life.  Johnson's  Lices  aj  the  Poets.  Aikin's 
Gen.  Biofr. 

SWIFT    (DEANE)   a  near  relation  to   the 
subject  of  the  preceding  article,  being  grand- 
son to  Godwin  Swift,  his  eldest  uncle.  He  was 
named  Deane  from  his  maternal  great-grand- 
father, who  was  the  admiral  Deane  that  sat  as 
one  of  the  judges  on  the  trial  of  Charles  I.     He  j 
was  introduced  in   1739  to  Pope  as  a  learned 
ingenious  man  and  the  lineal  representative  of 
the  Swift  family.     He  published  in  1755  an 
"  Essay  upon  the  Life,  Writings,  and  Charac- 
ter   of    Dr   Jonathan    Swift ; "   in    1765,  the  j 
eighth  4to  volume  of  the  Dean's  Works  ;  and  j 
in  1768,  two  volumes  of  his  "  Letters."     He  ! 
meditated  a  complete  edition  of  Swift,  and  had  ] 
collected  many  materials  for  the  purpose,  when 
he  was  interrupted  by  death,  July  12,  1783. —  | 
Swift's  Works  hit  Nichols. 

SWINBURNE  (HENRY)  an  eminent  ec- 
clesiastical lawyer,  flourished  about  the  close 
of  the  16th  and  during  the  early  part  of  the 
17th  centuries.  He  was  born  at  York;  and 
after  going  through  the  usual  course  of  acade- 
mical education  at  Hart- hall  and  Bro.idgate- 
liall,  Oxford,  graduated  as  LL.D,,  and  obtain- 
ed the  situation  of  proctor  and  judge  of  the  i 


SW  I 

archbishop's  court  in  his  native  city.  He  was 
the  author  of  several  professional  works  con- 
nected with  the  practice  of  the  civil  courts.  In 
particular,  of  "  A  Treatise  on  Matrimonial 
Contracts,'  4to  ;  and  "  On  Last  Wills  and 
Testaments,"  4to,  a  useful  book,  which  has 
been  frequently  reprinted.  His  death  took 
place  at  York  in  1620,  or,  as  some  say,  1624. — 
Bridaemans  Legal  Bibliog. 

SWINBURNE  (HENnv)  a  learned  tra- 
veller, was  descended  of  a  respectable  family 
in  Northumberland,  where,  as  well  as  in  the 
neighbouring  county  of  Durham,  he  possessed 
some  property.  The  date  of  his  birth  is  not 
recorded,  but  he  received  the  rudiments  of  a 
classical  education  at  the  grammar-school  of 
Scorton,  Yorkshire  ;  after  which  die  religious 
opinions  of  his  family,  who  were  of  the  Romish 
church,  precluding  his  matriculation  at  an 
English  university,  he  visited  France  and  Italy 
for  the  purpose  of  completing  it.  A  second 
tour,  which  occupied  his  time  from  1774  to 
1780,  carried  him  through  great  part  of  the 
south  of  Europe  ;  and  on  his  return  to  Eng- 
land he  published  an  account  of  his  Travels 
through  Spain  and  the  Sicilies,  the  former 
work  in  one,  the  latter  in  two  4to  volumes, 
both  being  regarded  as  works  of  great  merit. 
Pecuniary  embarrassments,  arising  from  the 
marriage  of  his  daughter  to  Paul  Bentield,  and 
consequent  involvement  in  the  misfortunes  of 
that  adventurer,  eventually  induced  him  to  re- 
turn to  the  island  of  Trinidad,  where  he  died 
in  1803. — Nichols's  Lit.  Anec. 

SWINDEN  (JoHN  HENRY  VAN)  a  Dutch 
philosopher,  born  at  the  Hague,  in  1746.  He 
was  educated  at  Leyden,  and  became  professor 
of  philosophy,  logic,  and  metaphysics  at 
Fianeker  in  1767.  Nineteen  years  after  he 
was  called  to  the  chair  of  physics,  mathematics, 
and  astronomy  at  the  Athenaeum  at  Amster- 
dam. In  1770  he  became  a  member  of  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  at  Paris,  and  he  gained 
the  prize  offered  by  that  learned  body  for  the 
best  memoir  "  Sur  les  Aiguilles  Aimantees  et 
leurs  Variations  ;"  and  in  1780  he  obtained  a 
prize  from  the  Academy  of  Munich,  for  a  me- 
moir in  answer  to  the  question  "  What  ana- 
logy is  there  between  Electricity  and  Magne- 
tism ?  "  which  was  afterwards  printed  in  2  vols. 
8vo.  In  1798  he  appeared  at  Paris,  at  the  Na- 
tional Institute,  to  assist  in  the  establishment  of 
anew  metrical  system,  when  he  was  appointed 
to  draw  up  the  reports  on  those  subjects.  In 
1803  he  was  nominated  a  correspondent  of  the 
French  Institute ;  and  he  belonged  to  the 
principal  learned  societies  in  Europe.  He  also 
occupied  the  offices  of  member  of  the  Execu- 
tive Directory,  under  the  Batavian  republic, 
and  that  of  counsellor  of  state  in  the  service  of 
the  king  of  the  Netherlands.  He  died  March 
9,  1823.  Van  Swiuden  was  the  author  of  se- 
veral works  besides  those  already  mentioned, 
of  which  notices  may  be  found  in  the  annexed 
authorities. — Bitg.  Nouv.  des  Contemp.  Biog. 
Unii'. 

SWINTON  (JOHN)  a  learned  antiquary, 
was  born  at  Bexton,  Cheshire,  in  1703.  In 
1719  he  was  entered  a  servitor  atWadham 


S  Y  D 

college,  Oxford,  and  after  obtaining  the  usual 
degrees,  took  priest's  orders  in  1727.  In  the 
following  year  he  was  elected  fellow  of  his 
college,  and  soon  after  became  chaplain  to  the 
English  factory  at  Leghorn.  He  visited,  while 
abroad,  the  capitals  of  Venice,  Vienna,  and 
Petersburg,  and  was  made  member  of  one  or 
two  Italian  academies,  having  previously  been 
admitted  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  On  his 
return  to  Oxford,  he  was  appointed  keeper  of 
the  archives  of  the  university  and  chaplain  to 
the  jail.  The  monuments  of  his  literary  life, 
which  are  numerous  without  being  of  magni- 
tude, consist  principally  of  Dissertations  on 
the  ancient  Etruscan  language,  on  Pheniciau 
and  Samaritan  coins  and  inscriptions  ;  on  Par- 
thian and  Persian  coins,  and  similar  subjects, 
most  of  which  appear  in  the  Philosophical 
Transactions.  He  also  composed  the  account 
of  the  Carthaginians,  Jews,  Tartars,  Moguls, 
Indians,  and  Chinese,  &c.  for  tbe  Universal 
History.  He  died  in  1774,  aged  71  — Gent. 
Mag. 

SYBRECHT  (JOHN)  a  Flemish  artist  of 
considerable  celebrity,  son  of  a  painter  of  the 
same  name  who  instructed  him  in  the  princi- 
ples of  his  art.  He  was  a  native  of  Antwerp, 
born  about  the  year  1630,  and  became  dis- 
tinguished at  an  early  age  by  the  beauty  of  his 
landscapes.  Vilhers  duke  of  Buckingham,  on 
his  return  through  the  Low  Countries  from 
his  embassy  to  tbe  court  of  Paris,  was  much 
struck  with  his  performances  ;  and  prevailing 
upon  him  to  accompany  him  to  England,  re- 
tained him  several  years  in  his  service,  during 
which  time  he  employed  him  in  adorning  his 
magnificent  mansion  at  Cliefden.  Sybrecht 
died  in  the  metropolis  in  1703,  and  was  bu- 
ried at  St  James's  church  in  Piccadilly.  Of 
his  works  the  most  admired  are  some  beauti- 
ful scenes  on  the  Rhine  and  views  in  Derby- 
shire.—  Walpnle's  Anec. 

SYDENHAM  (FLOYER)  a  learned  man, 
whose  misfortunes  are  said  to  have  given  rise 
to  the  institution  of  the  Literary  Fund  So- 
ciety. He  was  born  in  1710,  and  studied  at 
Wadham  college,  Oxford,  where  he  proceeded 
MA.  in  1734.  He  published  in  1759  "  Pro- 
posals for  Printing  by  subscription  tbe  Works 
of  Plato,  translated  into  English,"  with  Notes 
critical  and  explanatory.  Between  1759  and 
1767,  lie  produced,  in  succession,  versions  of 
the  "  Io,"the  "  Greater  and  Lesser  Hippias," 
and  the  "  Banquet,  Parts  I  and  II."  His 
undertakings  met  with  little  encouragement, 
and  after  living  for  some  time  in  indigence, 
he  died  while  confined  in  prison  for  debt, 
April  1787.  Such  was  the  sympathy  which 
his  sad  fate  excited,  that  it  led  a  few  indivi- 
duals to  commence  the  institution  mentioned 
at  the  head  of  this  article,  which  has  subse- 
quently obtained  very  extensive  patronage  and 
support,  and  been  the  means  of  frequently  af- 
fording relief  to  the  unfortunate  members  of 
the  literary  profession. — Aikin's  Gen.  Biog. 
Bing.  Univ. 

SYDENHAM  (THOMAS)  a  celebrated  Eng- 
lish physician  and  medical  writer,  who  was 
the  sou  of  a  gentleman  of  Wiuford  Eagle  in 


S  YK 

Dorsetshire,  where  he  was  born  in 
After  having  studied  for  some  time  at  Mag- 
dalen-hall, Oxford,  he  left  the  university,  when 
the  partizans  of  Charles  I  garrisoned  Oxford, 
and  withdrew  to  London  with  his  brother, 
who  was  a  colonel  in  the  parliament  army. 
Having  determined  to  adopt  the  medical  pro- 
fession, he  returned  to  Oxford  iu  1646,  and 
in  1648  he  took  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  me- 
dicine. His  connexion  with  the  prevailing 
paity,  or  the  interest  of  a  relation,  procured 
him  a  fellowship  at  All  Souls  college,  in  the 
room  of  an  ejected  cavalier.  He  subsequently 
commenced  practice  as  a  physician  at  West- 
minster, and  for  some  unexplained  reason  he 
took  his  doctor's  degree  at  Cambridge.  Such 
was  the  success  of  his  practice  that  he  speedily 
arrived  at  great  reputation  ;  and  from  1660  to 
1670  he  held  the  first  place  in  his  profession, 
though  it  was  not  till  the  latter  part  of  his  ca- 
reer that  he  became  a  licentiate  of  the  college. 
Being  a  great  sufferer  from  the  gout,  he  was 
unable  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life  to  go  much 
from  home  ;  but  he  continued  to  benefit  so- 
ciety by  his  writings  and  advice  till  near  the 
time  of  his  decease,  which  occurred  at  his 
house  in  Pall  Mall,  December  29,  1689.  Dr 
Sydenham's  improvements  form  an  era  in  the 
history  of  medicine.  He  first  applied  him- 
self to  an  attentive  observation  of  the  pheno- 
mena of  diseases,  founding  his  practice  on  the 
obvious  indications  of  nature,  rather  than  on 
prevalent  theories,  drawn  from  the  prin- 
ciples of  chemistry  or  mathematics.  Febrile 
disorders  attracted  his  especial  notice,  and  iu 
1666  he  communicated  to  the  public  the  re- 
sult of  his  observations,  in  a  work  entitled 
"  Methodus  curandi  Febres,  propriis  Obser- 
vationibus  superstructa  ;"  which  was  reprinted 
with  additions,  under  the  title  of  "  Observa- 
tiones  Medics  circa  Morborum  acutorum 
Historiam  et  Curationem,"  1675.  He  first 
recommended  a  cooling  regimen  in  the  small- 
pox, a  mode  of  treatment  fully  sanctioned  by 
subsequent  experience,  as  also  has  been  his 
general  practice  in  what  are  termed  inflamma- 
tory fevers  ;  but  with  regard  to  those  of  the 
typhous,  or  malignant  kind,  his  practice  de- 
serves no  peculiar  commendation.  Amongst 
his  principal  works  are,  "  Epistolaj  Responso- 
riaeduie,  1.  De  Morbis  Epidemicis  a  1675  ad 
1680  ;  2.  De  Luis  Venereas  Historia  et  Cura- 
tione,"  1680  ;  "  De  Podagra  et  Hydrope," 
1683,  8vo  ;  and  "  Processus  Integri  in  Morbis 
fere  omnibus  Curandis,"  published  posthu- 
mously. The  reputation  of  Sydenham  has 
been  by  no  means  confined  to  his  native  coun- 
try, for  Haller  denominates  from  him  one  of 
his  periods  in  the  history  of  medicine  ;  and 
Boerhaave  mentions  him  on  several  occasions 
with  expressions  of  the  highest  respect. — 
Aikin's  Gen.  Biog. 

SYKES  (ARTHUR  ASHLEY)  a  learned  Eng- 
lish divine,  was  born  in  London  about  1684. 
He  was  educated  at  St  Paul's  school,  and  ad- 
mitted of  Corpus  Christi  college,  Cambridge, 
in  1701.  After  graduating  MA.  he  left  col- 
lege, and  for  some  time  acted  as  one  of  the 
assistants  of  St  Paul's  school.  He  subse 


s  y  L 

quently  was  collated  in  succession  to  the  vicar- 
age of  Goilmersham  in  Kent,  and  to  the  rec- 
tories of  Dry  Drayton  in  Cambridgeshire,  and 
Rayleigh  in  Essex,  which  last  he  retained  to 
his  death.  He  was  also  appointed,  in  the 
first  place,  evening,  and  afterwards  morning 
preacher  at  King-street  chapel, Golden-square, 
a  chapel  of  ease  to  St  James's,  Westminster, 
of  winch  his  friend  Dr  Samuel  Clarke  was 
rector.  In  1723  he  was  collated  to  a  prebend 
in  the  cathedral  of  Salisbury,  by  bishop  I  load 
ley,  who  also  made  him  precentor  of  the 
same  cathedral.  In  17'J5,  upon  the  nomina- 
tion of  L)r  Clarke,  he  was  appointed  assistant 
preacher  of  St  James's  church,  Westminster, 
and  finally  obtained  the  deanery  of  St  Burien 
in  Cornwall,  and  a  prebend  in  the  cathedral 
of  Winchester.  He  died  November  15,  1756, 
in  the  seventy-third  year  of  his  age.  Dr 
Sykes  is  principally  distinguished  as  an  able 
controversialist  in  favour  of  Whig  opinions  in 
the  state,  and  what  are  termed  Hoadleyan 
principles  in  the  church.  His  tracts  in  de- 
fence of  his  views  are  numerous  and  able,  and 
in  particular  he  laboured  hard  to  prove  that  a 
latitude  of  opinion  in  subscribing  to  the  articles 
of  the  church  of  England  was  allowed  and  in- 
tended by  the  legislature.  As  this  and  the 
other  points  of  dispute  alluded  to,  have  for 
some  time  past  engaged  very  little  attention, 
the  works  by  which  he .is now  chiefly  known 
are  entitled  "  An  Essay  on  the  Truth  of  the 
Christian  Religion"  in  answer  to  Collins's 
Discourse  on  the  Grounds  and  Reasons  of  the 
Christian  Religion  ;  and  "  The  Principles  and 
Connexion  of  Natural  and  Revealed  Religion 
distinctly  considered."  Dr  Sykes  composed 
no  fewer  than  sixty-three  publications. — Me- 
moirs by  Dr  Disney. 

SYLBUBGIUS  (FREDERIC)  a  learned 
grammarian  of  the  sixteenth  century,  born  at 
Marpurg,  in  Germany,  in  1546,  and  during  the 
earlier  part  of  his  life,  master  of  a  school  at 
Licha.  He  afterwards  retired  to  Marpurg,  and 
gave  himself  wholly  up  to  the  study  and  eluci- 
dation of  ancient  authors,  of  several  of  whose 
works  he  published  valuable  editions,  particu- 
larly of  those  of  Dion  Cassius,  Herodotus, 
An?tGiie,  Dionysir.sof  tlalicarnassus,  &c.  He 
also  assisted  in  the  compilation  of  the  ce- 
ebrated  Greek  Thesaurus  of  Henry  Stephens. 
His  own  writings  consist  of  some  miscella- 
neous poems  in  Greek,  and  a  valuable  gram- 
mar and  lexicon  of  that  language.  This  last 
appeared  in  one  large  folio  volume,  two  years 
previous  to  his  death,  which  took  place  in 
1596. — Melc hinr  Adam.  Saxii  Onom. 

SYLLA  (Lucius  CORNELIUS)  a  famous 
general  and  statesman  in  the  last  period  of  the 
Roman  republic.  He  was  descended  from  a 
branch  of  the  illustrious  family  of  the  Cornelii, 
which  had  sunk  into  comparative  indigence 
and  obscurity.  His  youth  was  passed  in  dis- 
sipation, and  having  obtained  wealth  from  the 
bequests  of  a  courtezan  and  of  his  mother- in - 
law,  he  aspired  to  political  distinction,  and  in 
107  BC.  he  was  chosen  qurestor.  He  soon 
displayed  evident  proofs  of  his  talents  and 
Him  ition  ;  and  after  having  served  with  credit 


S  Y  L 

as  an  officer  under  Marius,   in  Africa  and  tb» 
north  of  Italy,  he  was,  BC.  96,  sent  into  Cap 
padocia,  to   establish   on  the  throne  Ariobar 
zanes,   who    had    been   declared   king   of  thar 
country  by  the  Roman  senate.     In  the  Soi  ia\ 
war,  which  began  in  Italy  BC.  91,  S)lla  again 
distinguished    himself  ;   and   in    the  year   BC. 
88  he  was  chosen  consul.     At  this  period  be- 
gan his  contest  witli  Marias,  which  occasioned 
the  most  dreadful  misfortunes  to  their  common 
country.     The  first  object  of  dispute   between 
these  ambitious  rivals  was  the   appointment  to 
the   command   in  the.  war   with   Mithridates, 
king    of    Pontus.     Marius,    through    the    in- 
fluence  of  the   tribune   Sulpitius,  procured  a 
decree  of  the  people  that  Sylla  should  remain 
in   Italy,    and    Marius   lead   the    expedition 
against  Mithridates  ;  and   two  tribunes   were 
sent  to  acquaint  the  army  at  Nola  with   this 
resolution.      But    the     soldiers    attached     to 
Sylla  treated  the    messengers  with  contempt 
and  outrage,  and  demanded  to  be  led  to  Rome, 
where  their  commander  took  vengeance  on  his 
enemies,    and    re-established    his    authority. 
Soon  after  the  expiration   of  his  consulate  he 
set  sail  for  the  East  ;  and   having  landed  in 
Thessaly,  and  received  the  submission  of  se- 
veral   Grecian  cities,   he  besieged    and    took 
Athens,  and  slaughtered  multitudes  of  its  in- 
habitants.     He   then   proceeded  to  Asia,  and 
after  repeatedly  defeating  Mithridates,  he  con- 
cluded a  very  advantageous  treaty  with  that 
powerful  enemy  of  the  Romans.      While  he 
had  been  absent  from  Italy  the  party  of  Marius 
had  triumphed  at  Rome,  and  sacrificed  to  their 
vengeance  the  adherents  of  the  absent  gene- 
ral.   He  therefore  returned  with  his  victorious 
army,  and  landed  at  Brundusium,  or  according 
to   some  writers    at  Tarentum,  84  BC.     The 
details  (if  the  proceedings  of  Sylla  must  be 
sought  in  the  pages  of  history.     It  can  only 
here  be  stated  that  the  death  of  Marius  had 
preceded  the  arrival   of  his  opponent,   who. 
though  treated  as  a  public  enemy  by  the  ex- 
isting authorities,  was  in  the  end  completely 
successful.     Having  entered  Rome  at  the  head 
of  his  troops,  he  began  the  horrid  work  of  re- 
taliation.    He  declared  that  all  who  expected 
a  pardon  for  their  late  offences  must  gain  it 
by  destroying  the  enemies  of  the  state  ;  and 
he  thus  unsheathed  the  sword  of  the  assas- 
sin, and  encouraged  murder  as  the  means  of 
acquiring  distinction  and  power.     Slaves  were 
rewarded  for  killing  their  masters,  and  chil- 
dren were  seen  dragging  their  parents  to  exe- 
cution.    After  the  destruction  at   Rome  of  a 
multitude  of  persons,  including  fifteen  men  of 
consular  rank,   the  two  consuls,  eiglity  sena- 
tors, and   sixteen  hundred    knights,  and  the 
desolation  of  several  Italian  cities,  the  wrath 
of  Sylla  was  somewhat  appeased  ;   and  having 
obliged  the  people  to  choose  him  dictator,  he 
governed  the   Roman   world  two  years  under 
that  title,  and  then  voluntarily  laid   down  his 
power,  and  retired  to  private  life.     Resuming 
his  early  habits  of  debauchery,  and  abandoning 
himself  to  sensual  gratifications,  he  at  length 
was  attacked   by  a  disgusting  disease,  which 
occa.-ioned  his  death  at  the  age  of  sixty,  in  the 


S  V  L 

year  of  Rome   676. — Plutarch.     Aikin's  Gen. 
Biog. 

SYLVESTER  If  (pope)  previouslv  named 
Gerbert,  was  born  of  an  obscure  family  in  Au- 
vergne,  in  the  tenth  century.     At  an  early  age 
lie  entered  himself  f.  monk  in  the  monastery  o 
St  Gerard,  in  Aurillac.     After  laying  a  foun- 
dation for  all  the  sciences   cultivated  in   that 
ignorant  age,  he  travelled  into  Spain  to  hear 
the  Arabian  doctors,  and  at  length  became  so 
distinguished  that  he  was  appointed  by  Hugh 
Capet  preceptor  to  his  son  Robert.     Otho  III, 
emperor,  who  had  also  been  his  pupil,  confer- 
red upon  him  the  archbishopric  of  Ravenna  ; 
and  on  the  death  of  Gregory  V,  in   999,  pro- 
cured his   election  to  the    papacy,    on  which 
event  he  took  the  name  of  Sylvester.      He 
acted  with  great  vigour  in  this  capacity,  and 
maintained  the    power  of  the  church  with   a 
high  hand.     He  was  also  a  great   promoter  of 
learning,  and  a  proficient  in  various  branches 
of  science  himself.     He  spent  much  time  and 
expended    large    sums    in    the    collection    of 
books  from  various  parts  of  Europe  ;  composed 
a  number  of  works,  particularly  on  arithmetic 
and  geometry  ;  and  with  his  own  hands  made 
a  clock,  a   globe,  and  an  astrolabe.     A  great 
number  of  Letters  on  various  subjects   were 
written  by  this  pope,  of  which  160  were  printed 
at  Paris  in  1611  ;  but  the  most  complete  col- 
lection has  been  given   by  Du   Chesne.     One 
of  these,  written  in  the  first  year  of  his  pontifi- 
cate, contains  a  project  for  a  crusade.    He  died 
in  1003. — Tirabuschi.     Moaheim.     Moreri. 

SYLVESTER  (JOSHUA)  a  quaint  and  la- 
borious poet,  known  among  his  contempora- 
ries as  "  the  silver-tongued  Sylvester,"  flou- 
rished about  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth 
and  the  commencement  of  that  of  J  ames,  with 
Loth  of  whom  he  was  a  favourite.  lie  was 
born  about  the  J -ar  1563  ;  and  although  he 
does  not  appear  to  have  had  a  university  edu- 
cation, became  familiarly  acquainted  with  the 
Italian,  French,  Dutch,  and  Spanish  tongues, 
together  with  a  competent  knowledge  of  the 
Latin.  These  languages  he  probably-  acquired 
in  the  course  of  his  travels  on  commercial  spe 
culations,  as  tradition  states  him  to  have  been 
a  merchant  in  the  earlier  part  of  his  life.  His 
reputation  as  a  poet  is  principally  owing  to  his 
translation  of  the  works  of  l)u  Bartas,  which 
was  very  popular,  as  were  also  some  others 
from  the  writings  of  De  la  Noue,  Baron  1  e- 
ligny,  and  Fibrac.  In  original  composition, 
according  to  Winstanlev,  he  was  much  less 
successful,  and  in  both  capacities  has  long  since 
been  regarded  as  a  singularly  curious  and  fan- 
tastical writer.  Henry  prince  of  Wales,  son  to 
James  I,  placed  him  about  his  person  as  poet- 
pensioner  ;  and  on  his  death,  which  took  place 
in  1618  at  Middleburg  in  Holland,  John 
Viccars,  who  much  admired  him, wrote  a  whim- 
sical epitaph  to  his  memory.  Sylvester,  among 
other  things,  imitated  the  example  of  his  royal 
patron  James  in  levelling  a  satire  against  to- 
bacco, under  the  quaint  title  of  "  Tobacco 
battered  and  the  Pipes  shattered  (about  their 
oars  that  idly  idolize  so  base  and  barbarous  a 
weed,  or  at  least-wise  overlove  so  loathsome  a 
DICT. — VOL.  III. 


S  Y  L 

vanitie),  by  a  volley  of  holy  shot  thundered 
from  Mount  Helicon."  This  circumstance  may 
perhaps  in  some  measure  account  for  the  fa- 
vour he  enjoyed  at  court,  which  did  not,  how- 
ever, preserve  him  from  the  evils  of  poverty, 
which  is  thought  to  have  driven  him  abroad. 
— MATTHEW  SYLVESTER,  a  non- conformist 
clergymau  of  the  seventeenth  century,  edu- 
cated at  Cambridge,  ia  known  as  the  edi- 
tor of  "  Baxter's  History  of  his  Life  and 
Times."  He  suffered  a  similar  fate  with  many 
of  his  brethren  in  being  ejected  from  his  living, 
Gunnerby  in  Lincolnshire,  and  retired  to  Lon- 
don, where  he  died  in  1708,  pastor  of  a  dis- 
senting congregation. — Atlien.  Onm.  Centura 
LiteraHa,  vol.  li. 

SYLVIUS.  There  were  several  learned 
and  ingenious  persons  of  this  name  ;  of  these 
JAC«UES  (who,  according  to  the  fashion  of  the 
age  in  which  he  lived,  thus  Latinized  his 
French  patronymic  Dubois)  was  one  of  the 
most  skilful  and  celebrated  physicians  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  He  was  a  native  of  Amiens, 
born  in  1478,  and  studied  medicine  at  the  col- 
lege of  Tournay  in  Paris,  of  which  his  elder 
brother,  Francis  Dubois,  who  had  adopted  the 
same  mode  of  designating  himself,  was  the 
principal.  He  soon  rose  to  the  first  rank  in 
his  profession  in  point  of  science  and  ability  ; 
but  being  of  a  most  penurious  turn  of  mind, 
refused  to  take  his  university  degrees  in  the 
faculty  on  account  of  the  necessary  fees.  Con- 
tinuing however  both  to  practise  and  to  lec- 
ture upon  medicine,  as  well  as  on  anatomy  and 
botany,  the  wealth  and  reputation  which  he 
rapidly  acquired  drew  on  him  the  attacks  of 
the  regular  practitioners,  who,  from  his  not 
having  graduated,  stigmatized  him  as  an  em- 
piric, and  endeavoured  to  prevent  his  prac- 
tising. In  this  respect  they  so  far  succeeded 
as  to  induce  him  to  retire  for  a  while  to  Mont- 
pellier.  While  thus  in  comparative  retire- 
ment, he  occupied  himself  in  writing  a  valu- 
able treatise  "  On  the  Exhibition  of  Wine  in 
Fevers."  Subsequently  he  succeeded  in  mak- 
ing matters  up  with  his  old  antagonists  ;  and 
on  the  celebrated  Vidius  quitting  Paris  for 
Italy  in  1548,  the  vacant  professorship  of 
physic  in  the  royal  college  at  Paris  was  offered 
to  him.  After  a  hesitation,  real  or  affected, 
which  however  lasted  nearly  two  years,  he 
accepted  this  honourable  situation  in  1550,  and 
filled  it  till  his  decease  in  1555.  The  acknow- 
ledged abilities  of  Sylvius  were  much  sullied 
by  the  avaricious  disposition  already  alluded 
to,  and  by  the  rudeness  of  his  manners.  He 
was  a  warm  defender  of  the  opinions  of  Galen, 
except  upon  points  connected  with  judicial 
a.-trology,  which  he  held  at  its  true  value,  but 
coincided  with  him  in  some  other  ideas  per- 
haps scarcely  less  chimerical.  Besides  the 
tract  before  mentioned,  he  was  the  author  of 
a  French  Grammar,  as  well  as  of  a  variety  of 
professional  works,  which  have  been  several 
times  reprinted,  under  the  title  of  "  Opera 
Medica  ;"  the  best  edition  is  that  of  Moreau, 
published  at  Cologne  in  1630,  in  one  volume 
folio. — His  brother,  FRANCIS,  formerly  spoken 
of,  was  one  of  the  most  elegant  scholars  of  his 


S  YM 


S  Y  M 


day,  and  aid  much  towards  reforming  the  bar-  not  a  word  to  the  ambassador,  who  howevet 
barous  Latin  used  in  the  schools.  He  pub-  had  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  his  reception  j 
lished  a  treatise  on  rhetoric,  called  "  Pro^yiii-  and  in  spite  of  the  intrigues  of  the  Birmese 
nasmata  in  Artem  Oratoriam,"  and  died  in  ministers,  he  had  the  satisfaction  to  conclude 
1  :">;;<>.- — LAMUKKT  VANDEN  Bosr.ii,  a  native  of  an  advantageous  treaty  of  commerce.  On  the 
Dordrecht  in  Holland,  also  assumed  the  name  29th  of  October  he  quitted  Amerapoora,  and 
ofSvi.vius.  He  was  born  in  1610,  and  dis-  returned  to  Calcutta,  December,  2<id,  having 
tinguished  himself  both  as  a  poet  and  an  his-  ,  been  absent  ten  months.  The  following  year 
torian.  In  his  former  capacity  he  produced  the  government  of  Bengal  sent  out  another 
several  dramatic,  as  well  as  miscellaneous  embassy,  at  the  head  of  which  was  captain 
pieces,  while  in  the  latter  he  is  advantageously  \  Hiram  Cox,  who  returned  to  Calcutta,  unsuc- 
known  by  his  "History  of  his  own  Times,  cessful,  in  November  1797.  Major  Symes  was 
from  1667  to  1687  ;"  a  "  Theatre  of  Illus-  .  therefore  sent  a  second  time  to  Amerapoora, 
trious  Men,"  4to,  2  vols  ;  and  a  "  History  of  and  he  accomplished  the  object  of  his  mission. 
Sea  Heroes,"  4to. — FRANCIS  HE  LA  BOE,  or  He  afterwards  returned  to  England,  and  pub- 
SYLVIUS,  born  in  1614  at  Hanau  in  Veteravia,  Jished  "  An  Account  of  an  Embassy  to  the 
was  also  eminent  as  a  chymist  and  medico-  Kingdom  of  Ava  in  1795,"  London,  1800,  4to, 
surgeon.  He  was  the  first  who  very  ably  which  was  translated  into  French  and  German, 
demonstrated  Harvey's  doctrine  of  the  circula-  His  public  services  were  recompensed  with 
tion  of  the  blood  at  Leyden,  where  he  rilled  the  commission  of  lieutenant-colonel  in  the 
the  medical  chair.  His  death  took  place  in  |  sixty-sixth  regiment  of  the  line  ;  and  being 
November  1672.  There  are  two  editions  '.  sent  to  Spain  in  1808,  the  fatigues  which  he 
of  his  works ;  the  4to,  printed  by  Elzevir  had  experienced  in  the  retreat  of  sir  John 
at  Amsterdam  in  1679,  and  that  of  Venice,  ;  Moore  to  Corunna,  occasioned  his  death  shortly 
folio,  1708. — Moreri.  Eloy  Diet.  Hist,  de  la  '  after  he  had  embarked  for  England.  He  died 


MeiL 

SYMES  (MICHAEL)  an  English  officer  and 
traveller  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  He  entered  while  young  into  the 


Jan.  22,  1809,   and  his  corpse  being  brought 
home,  was  interred  at  Rochester. — Biog.  Univ. 
SYMMACHUS  (QUINTUS  AURELIUS  AVIA- 
NUS)  a  Roman  senator  of  the  fourth  century, 


army,  and  having  served  in  the  East  Indies,  was  the  son  of  a  prefect  of  Rome,  who  himself 
he  attained  the  rank  of  major.  In  1795  sir  ,  arrived  at  the  consular  dignity.  He  was 
John  Shore,  governor-general  of  the  British  ;  warmly  attached  to  the  ancient  religion,  and 
establishments  in  that  country,  determined  on  j  headed  a  deputation  from  the  senate,  to  re- 
sending  an  embassy  to  the  court  of  the  king  of,  quest  from  the  emperor  Yalentinian  the  resto- 
the  Birmans,  to  settle  some  disputes  which  had  ration  of  priests  and  vestals,  and  of  the  altar 
arisen  between  the  two  governments.  Mr  of  victory.  His  petition,  which  is  extant,  was 
Symes  was  chosen  to  conduct  this  mission,  in  answered  by  St  Ambrose  and  the  poet  Pru- 
the  prosecution  of  which  he  departed  from  j  dentius,  and  he  lost  his  cause.  He  was,  how- 
Calcutta  February  21,  1795;  the  vessel  in  ,  ever,  raised  by  the  emperor  Theodosius  to  the 
which  he  sailed  touched  at  the  Andaman.  \  consulate  in  391,  but  was  subsequently  ban- 
isles,  and  after  passing  five  davs  there,  arrived  j  ished  and  treated  with  great  rigour.  Though 
on  the  18th  of  March  at  the  mouths  of  the  highly  celebrated  for  oratory,  it  was  of  the 


Irouwaddy,  and  ascended  that  river  to  Ran- 
goon. While  waiting  for  permission  to  conti- 
nue his  voyage  to  the  capital  of  the  Birmans, 
.Symes  visited  Pegu,  formerly  the  capital  of  an 
independent  kingdom.  On  the  26th  of  April 
he  returned  to  Rangoon,  and  a  few  days  after 
he  received  the  expected  permission  to  pro- 
ceed to  Ameiapoora,  the  residence  of  the  Bir- 
man  monarch,  situated  on  the  Irouwaddy.  He 
embarked  on  that  river  the  29th  of  May  ;  and 
on  the  18th  of  July  he  entered  the  capital, 
where  he  was  well  received,  but  was  directed 
not  to  leave  the  place  appointed  for  his  resi- 
dence, till  lie  had  obtained  an  audience  of  his 
Birmese  majesty.  That  prince  was  then  ab- 
sent;  but  on  his  return,  the  fortunate  day 
being  fixed  on  by  the  court  astrologer,  Mr 
Symes  and  the  other  members  of  the  embassy 
were  conducted  with  great  pomp  to  the  palace, 
on  the  30th  of  August.  The  emperor  did  not 
show  himself  on  this  occasion  ;  and  it  was  not 
till  the  30th  of  September,  at  the  second  so- 
lemn audience,  that  he  mad?  his  appearance. 
He  was  visible  only  for  a  short  time,  most 
splendidly  attired,  and  seated  in  a  magnificent 
recess,  closed  by  folding-doors,  which  were 
opened  for  the  momentary  display.  He  spoke 


florid  corrupted  kind  of  his  day  ;  and  from  his 
ten  books  of  epistles,  which  have  been  pre- 
served, Gibbon  asserts  that  little  of  value  can 
be  extracted.  The  best  edition  of  them  is  that 
of  Scioppius,  4to,  1658. — Moreri.  Gibbon. 

SYMMONS,  DD.  (CHARLES)  a  native  of 
Cardigan,  which  town  his  father  had  repre- 
sented in  three  successive  parliaments.  He 
was  born  in  1749,  and  received  the  rudiments 
of  a  classical  education  under  Dr  Smith  at 
Westminster  school,  whence  he  removed  to 
the  university  of  Glasgow,  and  subsequently 
to  Clare-hall,  Cambridge.  Having  graduated 
in  1776  as  bachelor  in  divinity,  he  obtained 
two  years  afterwards  the  rectory  of  Narberth, 
and  in  1794  that  of  Lampeter  in  Pembroke- 
shire, the  latter  through  the  interest  of  Mr 
Windham,  with  whom  he  had  contracted  an 
intimacy  when  in  Scotland.  This  last  piece  of 
preferment  he  narrowly  escaped  losing,  in 
consequence  of  a  sermon  preached  by  him  at 
Cambridge,  before  the  presentation  was  made 
out,  the  discourse  containing  some  wiiiggish 
sentiments  little  congenial  to  those  then  in 
power ;  and  the  remembrance  of  which  cost 
liis  friend  much  trouble  to  obliterate.  1  tie 
same  cause  operated  to  throw  difficulties  in 


SY  N 

ihe  way  of  his  doctor's  degree,  and  he  there- 
fore found  it  advisable  to  enter  himself  ad 
eundem  at  Jesus  college  Oxford,  in  which 
university  he  proceeded  DD.  in  the  March  of 
the  same  year.  Dr  Symmons  was  a  warm  ad- 
mirer of  literature,  and  a  zealous  supporter  of 
the  Literary  Fund  for  the  relief  of  indigent  au- 
thors. Mis  own  writings  consist  of  "  Inez,  a 
Dramatic  Poem,"  1797;  a  second  entitled 
"  Constantia,"  1800  ;  an  octavo  volume  of 
miscellaneous  poetry,  partly  of  his  own  com- 
position and  partly  that  of  his  daughter,  1813; 
a  Rhymed  Translation  of  the  yEneid,  1817; 
and  a  "Life  of  Milton,  "prefixed  to  an  edition  of 
that  author's  prose  works.  After  his  decease, 
which  took  place  at  Bath  in  the  spring  of 
1826,  his  friend,  Mr  Whittingham,  published 
a  posthumous  biographical  sketch  of  Shak- 
speare  of  his  writing.  In  private  life  Dr 
Symmons  was  distinguished  by  the  amenity  of 
liis  manners  and  the  benevolence  of  his  dis- 
position.— Ann.  Biog. 

SYNCELLUS  (GEORGE)  a  monk  of  die 
Greek  empire,  so  named  from  his  office  ahout 
the  person  of  the  patriarch.  He  flourished 
about  the  close  of  the  eighth  century,  and  is 
known  as  the  author  of  a  valuable  chronolo- 
gical work,  which  throws  some  light  on  the 
early  history  of  the  Egyptians.  Of  this  there 
is  an  edition  with  a  Latin  version  annexed, 
printed  in  folio  in  16.52. — Moreri. 

SYNESIUS.  There  were  two  of  this  name. 
The  one  a  philosopher  of  the  Platonic  school, 
of  whom  little  is  known  except  his  work  on 
natural  philosophy  and  another  on  dreams. 
Of  the  former  there  is  an  edition  extant, 
printed  at  Paris  in  quarto,  1612  ;  the  other 
is  to  be  found  annexed  to  the  writings  of  Jam  • 
blicus. — The  second  and  most  celebrated  was 
a  native  of  Gyrene,  who  went  for  the  purpose 
of  completing  his  education  to  Alexandria, 
where  he  became  a  disciple  of  Hypatia,  and 
was  eventually  converted  to  Christianity. 
His  leaining  and  blameless  life  caused  him  to 
be  chosen  bishop  of  Ptolemais,  contrary  to  his 
own  wishes,  although  in  his  tenets  he  was  far 
from  coinciding  with  the  doctrines  then  gene- 
rally approved.  This  Synesius  flourished  about 
the  commencement  of  the  fifth  century,  and  is 
recorded  to  have  visited  Constantinople  in  the 
year  400,  for  the  double  purpose  of  presenting 
*.o  Arcadius  his  treatise  "  De  Regno/'  and 
soliciting  his  interposition  in  favour  of  his 
native  land  against  the  Goths.  There  are 
two  editions  of  his  writings,  botli  edited  by 
Dionysius  Petavius  at  Paris  in  1623  and  1633. 
Cave.  Dupin.  Brucker. 

SYNGE  (EDWARD)  archbishop  of  Tuam 
in  Ireland,  a  learned  and  able  prelate,  born  in 
April  1659,  at  Inishonane  in  that  country. 
He  was  *he  second  son  of  the  bishop  of  Cork, 
and  it  is  recorded  as  a  singular  occurrence  with 
respect  to  this  family,  that  both  his  father,  his 
uncle,  himself,  and  two  of  his  sons  were  all  in 
succession  elevated  to  the  mitre.  Having 
gone  through  a  preliminary  course  of  educa- 


SZ  E 

tion  at  the  grammar-school  in  Cork,  he  re- 
moved to  Christchurch,  Oxford,  and  thence 
again  to  Trinity  college,  Dublin  ;  after  which 
he  commenced  an  active  and  laborious  ministry 
as  vicar  of  Cork,  of  which  he  continued  the 
incumbent  above  twenty  years.  Having  after- 
wards obtained  the  living  of  St  Werburgh, 
Dublin,  and  a  stall  in  the  cathedral,  he  took 
up  his  abode  in  that  metropolis,  till  in  1714 
his  exertions  in  favour  of  the  house  of  Bruns- 
wick were  rewarded  by  his  elevation  to  the  see 
of  Raphoe.  Over  this  diocese  he  presided 
about  two  years,  when  he  was  translated  to 
Tuam,  and  continued  to  fill  that  primacy  till 
his  death  in  1741.  He  was  the  author  of  a 
variety  of  treatises  on  devotional  subjects, 
written  with  great  piety  and  ability,  which 
occupy  four  12mo.  volumes. — Biog.  Brit. 

SYRUS  (PUBLIUS)  a  famous  Latin  poet,, 
who  was  a  writer  of  mimes,  or  mimic  verses. 
He  was  a  native  of  Syria,  and  was  carried  to 
Rome  a«  a  slave  ;  but  becoming  the  pro- 
perty of  a  master  named  Domitius,  he  was 
made  a  freedman  while  very  voung.  His  ta- 
lents procured  him  the  esteem  of  Julius  Cffi- 
sar  ;  and  i,«  tecited  his  verses  at  the  public 
theatre,  jvhich  were  so  much  admired  that 
they  eclipsed  the  fame  of  the  works  of  the 
mimic  poet  Laberius.  He  flourished  about 
44  BC.  A  collection  of  sentences  or  maxims, 
in  iambic  verse,  ascribed  to  Publius  Syrus, 
has  been  often  published.  One  of  the  best 
editions  is  that  of  Havercamp,  Leyden,  1708, 
8vo. — Diet.  Hist. 

SZALKAI  (ANTHONY  von)  one  of  the  best 
Hungarian  poets  of  modern  times,  who  is  re- 
garded as  the  founder  of  the  national  dramatic 
literature.  His  "  Pikko  Hertzeg,"  is  the  first 
regular  piece  composed  in  the  Hungarian  lan- 
guage ;  and  it  is  said  to  possess  considerable 
merit.  The  author  had  previously  distinguish- 
ed himself  by  a  Travesty  of  the  yEneid,  in 
Hungarian,  1792,  8vo,  written  on  the  model 
of  that  of  Blumauer,  but  more  licentious  than 
the  Travesty  of  Scarron.  Szalkai,  who  for  a 
time  belonged  to  the  household  of  the  arch- 
duke palatine  Alexander  Leopold,  died  at  Buda 
in  August  1804. — Biog.  Univ. 

SZEGEDI  (JOHN  BAPTIST)  a  Jesuit,  who 
was  of  a  noble  family,  and  was  born  in  1699, 
in  the  county  of  Eisenstadt.  After  having  been 
a  professor  of  the  sciences  in  different  esta- 
blishments of  his  order,  he  became  succes- 
sively rector,  missionary,  and  almoner-general. 
He  distinguished  himself  by  his  talents,  his 
affability,  and  the  purity  of  his  morals  ;  and  he 
was  intimately  acquainted  with  the  laws  and 
history  of  Hungary.  He  died  atTirnau,  Dec. 
8,  1760.  His  works  are  "  Tripartitum  Juris 
Hungarici  Tirocinium,"  1734,  12mo  ;  "  Sy- 
nopsis Titulorum  Juris  Hungarici,"  1734,  8vo; 
"  Decreta  et  Vitae  Regum  Hungarian  qui  Tran- 
sylvaniam  possiderunt,"  1743,  8vo ;  and 
"  VVerbotsius  illustratua,"  1753,  Rvo.—Biog. 
Univ. 


1  2 


T  A  li 


1  A  C 


rrVVBARI  (Anu  JAAFAR  MOHAMMED EBN 

_|_  .ToRAinal)  a  celebrated  Arabian  historian, 
born  in  839  at  Ainol,  the  capital  of  Tabaristan. 
He  distinguished  himself  by  his  acquaintance 
with  the  religious  traditions,  jurisprudence, 
and  history  of  the  Mahometans  ;  and  he  wrote 
a  great  number  of  works,  the  principal  of  which 
are  a  Commentary  on  the  Koran  and  a  His- 
tory or  General  Chronicle,  from  the  Creation 
to  the  Year  302  of  the  Hegira.  There  is  ex- 
tant an  abridgment  and  continuation  of  the 
Chronicle  of  Tabari,  by  Elmacinus  ;  and  the 
part  which  commences  at  the  birtli  of  Ma- 
homet has  been  published  in  Arabic  and  Latin, 
but  so  incorrectly  as  to  render  the  printing  of 
the  original  work  extremely  desirable.  Tab.iri 
died  at°Bdgdad  in  the  year  of  the  Hegira  310, 
and  his  body  was  interred  in  the  house  he  had 
inhabited. — Bh>g.  Univ. 

TABERNJ£MONTANUS,orjAMEsTiiF.o- 
DORE,  an  early  physician  and  botanist,  was 
Lorn  at  Berg  Zabein,  in  Alsace.  He  took  the 
degree  of  MD.  in  France,  and  became  first 
physician  to  the  elector  palatine.  He  resided 
for  some  time  at  Worms,  which  he  quitted  for 
Heidelberg,  where  he  died  in  1.590.  This  phy- 
sician, who  had  great  faith  in  the  virtue  of 
herbs,  published  in  1558  a  German  herbal, 
with  figures,  folio,  of  which  a  second  volume 
appeared  after  his  death  in  1590,  and  a  third 
in  1592.  The  figures  are  partly  copied,  and 
partly  drawn  from  nature  by  himself  ;  and  he 
has  added  to  each  plant  a  long  catalogue  of 
its  medical  virtues.  This  work  was  once  held 
in  great  esteem,  and  has  been  several  times  re- 
printed. He  also  published  a  treatise  on  baths 
and  mineral  waters. — Halleri  Bihl.  Botan. 

TABOUROT  (STEPHEN)  a  French  author, 
generally  known  by  the  name  of  the  Sieur  des 
Accords,  was  born  in  1549.  lie  was  king's 
proctor  in  the  bailliage  of  Dijon,  and  obtained 
celebrity  by  some  very  eccentric  productions. 
The  principal  of  these  is  entitled  "  Les  Bi- 
garrures  et Touches du  Seigneur  des  Accords  ;" 
to  which  some  editions  add,"avec  lesApoph- 
thegmes  du  Sieur  Gaulard,  et  les  Escraignes 
Dijonnaises  ;"  and  the  best  of  all  (that  of 
Paris,  1614),  "de  nouveau  augmentees  de  plu- 
sieurs  Epitaphes,  Dialogues,  et  ingenieuses 
Equivoques."  It  is  in  two  volumes,  1'^mo,  and 
contains  a  great  many  singular  and  oddly  con- 
structed verses.  He  died  in  1590,  aged  forty- 
one. —  Niniv.  Diet.  Hist. 

TABRIZ!  (Asu  ZACHARIAH  YAHYA  EBN 
A i.i  al)  also  known  under  the  appellations  of 
Scheibani  and  Ebn  Alkateb,  was  a  celebrated 
Arabian  critic  and  grammarian  of  the  eleventh 
century.  He  was  a  native  of  the  city  of  Tau- 
ris  or  Tabriz,  whence  he  derived  his  name  ; 
and  he  resided  at  Bagdad,  where  he  died  in 
1109.  He  studied  under  the  most  celebrated 
doctors  of  his  time  ;  and  having  acquired  a 
profound  acquaintance  with  the  Arabian  lan- 
guage and  literature,  he  instructed  many  dis- 
ciples, and  composed  several  works  much  es- 
teemed bv  his  countrymen.  His  principal 
writing  are  Commentaries  on  the  "  llamasa;" 


on  the  "  Dievan,"  or  Collection  of  the  Poems 
of  Motanabbi;  on  the  "  Sikt  Alzend,"  or 
Poems  of  Abu'lola;  ou  the  Poems  termed 
"  Moallakat,"  &c.  besides  grammatical  works, 
and  two  treatises  intended  to  facilitate  the  in- 
telligence of  books,  entitled  '•'  Ghaiib  Allo- 
gat,"  and  "  Isla  Almantik." — Biog.  (!>th-. 

TACITUS  (CAIUS  CORNELIUS)  a  highlj 
distinguished  Roman  historian,  was  bom 
about  the  year  fifty-six  of  the  Christian  era  ; 
but  the  place  of  his  birth  is  no  where  men- 
tioned. He  was  the  son  of  Cornelius  Tacitus, 
a  procurator,  appointed  to  manage  the  imperial 
revenue,  and  govern  a  province  in  Belgic  Gaul. 
Little  is  kno\vu  of  the  manner  in  which  lie 
spent  his  early  years  ;  but  it  is  certain  that  if  lie 
were  the  author  of  the  "  Dialogue  concerning 
Oratory,"  usually  printed  with  his  works,  that 
his  first  ambition  was  to  distinguish  himself  at 
the  bar.  He  must  have  early  acquired  a  solid 
reputation,  as  the  excellent  Julius  Agricola 
gave  him  his  daughter  in  marriage  when  only 
in  his  twenty- first  year.  He  received  his  first 
public  honours  from  Vespasian,  which  were 
augmented  by  Titus  and  Domitian,  the  latter 
of  whom  raised  him  to  the  post  of  prretor. 
After  serving  that  office  lie  was  absent  from 
the  capital  four  years,  during  which  period  he 
lost  his  father-in-law  Agricola.  On  his  return 
lie  found  Domitian  in  the  fiercest  exercise  of 
his  tyranny,  and  rendering  the  city  of  Rome  a 
scene  of  blood  and  horror.  At  length  this 
tyrant  fell  the  victim  of  a  conspiracy,  and 
Nerva  succeeded,  in  whose  reign,  in  the  vear 
97,  Tacitus  succeeded  the  celebrated  Vergiuius 
Rufus,  who  died  during  his  consulship,  as 
consul  for  the  remainder  of  the  year.  Under 
Trajan  he  enjoyed  great  distinction,  and  lived 
on  terms  of  strict  friendship  with  the  younger 
Pliny,  in  conjunction  with  whom  he  pleaded 
against  Priscus,  accused  of  oppression  in  his 
proconsulate  of  Africa.  It  was  about  this 
time  that  he  composed  his  celebrated  "  His- 
tory," which  commences  with  the  accession  of 
Galba,  and  ends  with  the  death  of  Domitian. 
Of  this  work,  which,  according  to  Yossius, 
contained  thirty  books,  only  the  first  four  and 
part  of  the  fifth  remain,  which  carry  the  nai- 
rative  but  little  beyond  the  accession  of  Yrs- 
pasian.  His  "  Annals  "  followed,  so  called 
because  the  narrative  is  distributed  into  years. 
They  supply  an  account  of  Roman  affairs  from 
the  death  of  Augustus  to  that  of  Nero  ;  but 
of  these  have  perished  part  of  the  fifth  book, 
containing  three  years  of  Tiberius,  the  entire 
four  years  of  Caligula,  the  first  six  of  Clau- 
dius, and  the  last  two  of  Neio.  He  intended, 
if  his  life  and  health  continued,  to  review  the 
reign  of  Augustus,  in  order  to  detect  the  arts 
by  which  the  old  constitution  was  finally  over- 
thrown ;  but  this  work,  which  would  have 
been  invaluable  from  such  a  writer,  it  does 
not  appear  that  he  lived  to  carry  into  execu- 
tion. His  other  productions,  which  have 
reached  modern  times  entire,  are  a  "  Life  of 
Agricola,"  his  father-in-law  ;  a  "  Treatise  ou 
the  Manners  of  the  Germans;"  and,  ad  giue- 


TAG 

lan'y  supposed,  the  "  Dialogue  concerning 
Orators,"  to  which  allusion  has  been  already 
made.  Nothing  is  known  of  the  remaining 
circumstances  of  his  life,  or  of  the  time  of  his 
death ;  but  as  lie  makes  no  allusion  to  Hadrian 
in  any  of  his  writings,  it  is  supposed  that  he 
died  during  the  reign  of  Trajan,  leaving  issue, 
as  the  emperor  Tacitus  professed  to  be  one 
of  his  descendants.  In  historical  reputation 
no  name  stands  higher  than  that  of  Tacitus, 
or  has  been  the  object  of  more  earnest  dis- 
cussion. It  is  partly  his  fault  and  partly  his 
excellence  to  aim  at  saying  a  great  deal  in  a 
small  compass,  and  to  give  a  thought  the  force 
of  an  apophthegm  by  concentration.  This  he 
has  commonly  done  with  such  effect,  that  his 
writings  are  regarded  as  a  great  storehouse  of 
political  maxims,  the  energetic  brevity  of 
which  impress  them  indelibly  on  the  memory. 
On  the  other  hand,  in  consequence  of  a  style 
so  singularly  concise,  abrupt,  and  elliptical,  he 
is  often  obscure.  lie  is  also  accused  of  some 
affectation  of  exalting  common  remarks  into 
aphorisms,  and  of  philosophizing  when  he 
should  only  narrate.  No  prose-writer,  however, 
excels  him  in  the  force  of  description,  and  in  the 
choice  of  circumstances  of  a  nature  to  plnce 
a  scene  distinctly  before  the  eyes  of  the  reader. 
With  respect  to  his  moral  merits  as  an  historian, 
he  has  been  charged  with  too  great  a  disposition 
to  attribute  unfavourable  motives  to  actions, 
and  with  a  misanthropical  bias  in  his  views  of 
human  nature.  Little  more  however  is  neces- 
sary to  justify  him  than  a  due  consideration  of 
the  persons  and  actions  which  he  had  to  de- 
scribe ;  and  that  he  believed  in  the  reality  of 
virtue  is  evident  from  the  animation  with 
which  he  frequently  describes  it.  On  the 
whole  he  is  indisputably  the  most  profound 
and  philosophical  of  the  ancient  historians, 
and  his  works  will  erer  be  esteemed  among 
the  most  valuable  remains  of  antiquity.  Of 
the  numerous  editions  of  Tacitus,  that  of 
Brotier,  Paris,  1771,  7  vols.  4to,  is  certainly 
the  best.  There  have  however  been  subse» 
quently  published  the  editions  of  Crollius, 
1779 — 92,  4  vols.  8vo  ;  Homer,  1790,  4  vols. 
8vo  ;  of  Edinburgh,  4  vols.  4to  ;  and  of  Ober- 
lin,  18ol,  2  vols.  8vo,  &c.  The  whole  of  Tacitus 
has  been  translated  into  English,  both  by 
Gordon  and  Murphy. — Tiraboschi.  Preface  of 
Brotier.  Life  bij  Murphy. 

TACITUS  (M.  CLAUDIUS)  a  virtuous  and 
patriotic  emperor  of  Rome,  who  boasted  of  his 
descentfrom  thesubject  of  the  preceding  article, 
was  in  his  seventy- fifth  year  when  hailed  em- 
peror by  the  senate,  on  the  death  of  Aurelian, 
in  275.  Having  been  a  conspicuous  member  of 
that  assembly,  all  his  predilections  were  in  its 
favour,  and  his  first  object  as  emperor  was  to 
restore  to  that  body  the  rights  and  privileges, 
which  would  have  rendered  him  little  more 
than  their  servant,  and  the  head  of  a  limited 
monarchy.  The  senators  were  transported 
with  joy  at  this  event,  and  announced  the  con- 
cession in  circulars  to  the  principal  cities  of 
the  empire.  lie  made  several  regulations  for 
the  reform  of  public  morals,  and  having  pre- 
viously distinguished  himself  as  a  lover  of  lite- 


T  A  0 

rature,  continued  to  cultivate  it  on  the  throne 
He  showed  his  regard  to  the  memory  and 
writings  of  his  ancestor,  by  directing  that  teu 
copies  of  his  works  should  annually  be  made, 
and  deposited  in  the  public  libraries,  by  which 
means,  had  his  reign  been  of  sufficient  length, 
posterity  would  probably  have  enjoyed  the 
whole  of  those  productions,  the  fragments  of 
which  are  so  valuable.  An  early  visit  to  the 
army  became  necessary  to  fix  him  on  the 
throne,  and  he  accordingly  proceeded  to 
Thrace,  where  he  punished  the  murderers  of 
Aurelian,  and  repressed  an  incursion  of  the 
Alans.  Dissensions  however  broke  out  among 
the  soldiery,  and  either  by  direct  violence,  or  by 
the  vexation  the  malcontents  occasioned,  the 
aged  emperor's  life  was  brought  to  a  close  at 
Tyana,  in  Cappadocia,  after  a  short  reign  of 
two  hundred  days. — Crevier.  Gibbon. 

TACQUET  (ANDREW)  an  able  mathema- 
tician, was  born  at  Antwerp  in  161 1.  In  1629 
he  entered  into  the  order  of  Jesuits,  and  taught 
the  languages  and  the  mathematics  for  several 
years.  He  was  the  author  of  various  able 
works  upon  mathematical  subjects,  and  ac- 
cording to  Montucla  he  endeavoured  to  ex- 
tend the  boundaries  of  geometry  in  his  book 
"  De  Annularibus  et  Cylindricis  ;"  in  which 
however  he  rather  affects  to  give  a  rigorous 
demonstration  of  things  which  present  little 
difficulty,  than  to  exhibit  new  truths.  Se- 
veral of  his  treatises  were  collected  after 
his  death,  in  a  folio  volume,  under  the  title  of 
"  Andrefe  Taqueti  Antverpiensis  Opera  Ma- 
thematica."  The  chief  recommendation  of 
this  collection  is  its  clearness  and  perspicuity. 
— Montucla  Histaire  de  RIath. 

TAFFI  (ANDREA)  an  ingenious  artist,  bora 
at  Florence  in  1213.  He  claims  notice  chiefly 
as  the  person  who  introduced  into  Italy  the  art 
of  designing  in  Mosaic,  which  he  learned  from 
some  Greek  artists  employed  at  Venice.  With 
the  chief  of  these,  an  individual  of  the  name 
of  Apollonius,  he  associated  himself,  and  they 
worked  together  at  Florence  with  great  suc"- 
cess.  The  most  famous  work  of  Taffi  is  a  dead 
Christ,  in  a  chapel  at  Florence.  He  died  in 
1294.— Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

TAGLIACOZZI  (CASPAR)  an  Italian  sur- 
geon, ludicrously  immortalized  by  Butler  in  his 
Hudibras,  under  the  Latin  appellation  of  Ta- 
liacotius.  He  was  born  in  1.546,  at  Bologna, 
at  the  university  of  which  city  he  was  edu- 
cated under  Cardan.  In  his  twenty-fourth 
year  lie  was  admitted  MD.  and  he  subse- 
quently obtained  the  professorship  of  surgery. 
He  applied  himst  If  chiefly  to  curing  wounds 
of  the  ears,  excisions  of  the  lips,  and  more 
especially  of  the  nose.  On  the  restoration  of 
the  nose,  &c.  by  a  surgical  operation,  he  pub- 
lished a  curious  work,  entitled  "  De  Curtorum 
Chirurgia  per  Insitionem,  additis  Cutis  tradu- 
cis,  Instrumentorum  omnium,  atque  Deliga- 
tionum  Iconibus  et  Tabulis,  Lib.  ii."  Venice, 
1597,  folio,  which  has  been  frequently  re- 
printed. Tagliacozzi  is  said  to  have  practised 
the  operation  in  question,  which  consisted  in 
partially  dissecting  out  a  portion  of  skin  and 
flesh  from  '.he  tipper  part  of  the  arm  of  the  pe- 


T  A.  1 

tient,  applying  it  to  the  raw  skin  of  the  face, 
in  the  situation  of  the  lost  nose,  and  retaining; 
it  there  by  ligatures  till  the  parts  were  pro- 
perly united,  when  the  piece  cut  out  must 
have  been  entirely  separated  from  the  arm, 
which  till  then  had  been  kept  iti  contact  with 
the  face.  A  better  contrived  operation 
for  the  restoration  of  the  nose  has  been  per- 
formed in  England,  by  Mr  Carpue  and  Mr 
Travers,  who  have  written  on  the  subject. 
This  method  consists  in  dissecting  a  part  of 
the  integuments  of  the  forehead  from  the 
skull,  and  bringing  it  down  to  the  proper  si- 
tuation, where  it  is  confined  till  adhesion 
takes  place.  A  similar  operation  appears  to 
have  been  long  practised  in  India,  where  the 
punishment  of  cutting  off  the  nose  is  some- 
times inflicted  by  the  Hindoo  chiefs.  Some 
writers  have  expressed  doubts  whether  Taglia- 
cozzi  ever  performed  the  operation  which  he 
describes  ;  but  his  pupil,  Fyens,  in  a  work 
"  De  Prrecipuis  Artis  Chirurgicaj  Contro- 
versiis,"  expressly  testifies  that  he  had  wit- 
nessed many  cures  of  lost  noses  performed  by 
his  master.  Tagliacozzi,  after  having  for  many 
years  occupied  the  anatomical  chair  at  Bo- 
logna, died  there  November  7,  1599.  His 
fellow-citizens  erected,  in  the  hall  of  medi- 
cine, a  statue  of  him,  holding  in  his  hand  a 
nose,  with  an  inscription  commemorating  his 
skill. — Aikin's  Gen.  Biog.  Biog.  Univ. 

TAISAND  (PETER)  a  French  lawyer,  born 
at  Dijon  in  1644.  His  father,  who  was  a 
counsellor,  was  related  to  the  celebrated  Bos- 
suet  ;  and  the  son,  after  studying  under  the 
Jesuits,  took  his  degrees  at  the  university  of 
Orleans.  He  distinguished  himself  as  an  ad  • 
vocate,  but  a  weakness  of  the  chest  obliged 
him  to  relinquish  his  profession,  and  in  1680 
lie  obtained  the  office  of  treasurer  of  France. 
His  leisure  was  devoted  to  the  composition  of 
several  works,  particularly  his  "  Commentaire 
sur  la  Coutume  du  Uuche  de  Bourgogne," 
1698,  folio.  He  resigned  his  post  after  hold- 
ing it  twenty-six  years,  and  died  at  Dijon  in 
1715.  Besides  the  work  mentioned,  he  was 
the  author  of  "  Histoire  da  Droit  Remain," 
1678,  12mo ;  and"  Les  Vies  de?  plus  cele- 
bres  Jurisconsults  de  toutes  les  Nations,"  pub- 
lished posthumously,  Paris,  1721,  4to. — Biog. 
Univ. 

TAISNIER  (JOHN)  a  man  of  science,  who 
was  a  native  of  Aeth  in  the  Netherlands,  and 
was  born  in  1509.  He  was  at  one  period  go- 
vernor of  the  pages  at  the  court  of  Charles  V  ; 
but  that  employment  not  suiting  his  inclina- 
tion, he  went  to  Cologne,  where  he  obtained 
the  office  of  master  of  music  in  the  Electoral 
chapel.  He  was  the  author  of  a  work  entitled 
"  Opus  Mathematicum,"  Colon.  Agrip.  1562, 
folio,  from  which  it  appears  that,  like  many  of 
his  learned  contemporaries,  he.  professed  the 
visionary  sciences  of  chiromancy  and  judicial 
astrology.  He  also  wrote  on  the  magnet,  and 
he  gave  an  account  of  a  curious  experiment 
which  he  witnessed  of  the  descent  of  persons 
under  water  by  means  of  a  vessel  like  a  diving- 
bell.  Taisnier,  who  was  a  great  traveller,  died 
at  a  very  advanced  age,  towards  the  end  of 


T  A  L 

tbe  sixteenth  century. — Miireri.    Bai/le.    Diet, 
Hist. 

TALBOT  (JOHN)  first  earl  of  Shrewsbury, 
a  famous  commander,  was  born  in  1373.  lie 
was  the  second  son  of  sir  Richard  Talbot,  of 
Goodrich  castle,  in  Herefordshire,  and  on  the 
j  death  of  his  elder  brother  he  became  heir  to 
the  family.  He  was  called  to  parliament  by 
Henry  IV,  by  the  title  of  lord  Furnival,  whose 
eldest  daughter  and  co-heiress  he  had  mar- 
ried. In  141-1  he  was  appointed  lord  lieu- 
tenant of  Ireland,  in  which  post  he  continued 
seven  years,  and  performed  great  services  for 
the  crown,  by  keeping  the  native  Irish  in  sub- 
jection, and  taking  prisoner  Donald  Mac- 
murrogh,  a  dangerous  insurgent.  In  1420  he 
attended  Henry  V  to  France,  and  was  present 
with  him  at  his  two  sieges  and  triumphant 
entry  into  Paris.  At  the  beginning  of  Henry 
the  Sixth's  reign,  he  was  created  a  knight  of 
the  garter,  and  again  entrusted  with  the  go- 
vernment of  Ireland.  He  then  served  in 
France,  under  the  regent,  the  duke  of  Bed- 
ford, and  by  his  exploits  rendered  his  name 
more  terrible  to  the  enemy  than  that  of  any 
other  English  leader.  Being  raised  to  the 
rank  of  general,  he  commanded  the  troops 
which  were  sent  to  the  province  of  Maine, 
and  made  himself  master  of  Alencon.  He 
afterwards  joined  the  earl  of  Salisbury  at 
the  famous  siege  of  Orleans,  which  failed 
through  the  intervention  of  the  celebrated  Joan 
of  Arc.  The  French  recovering  their  courage 
under  the  guidance  of  that  heroine,  defeated 
the  English  at  the  battle  of  Patai,  in  which 
Talbot  was  made  prisoner.  After  a  captivity 
of  three  years  he  was  exchanged,  on  which  lie 
repaired  to  England  to  raise  fresh  troops,  and 
recrossing  the  sea,  he  found  the  duke  of  Bed- 
ford at  Paris.  After  a  conference  with  that 
prince,  he  took  several  strong  places  in  succes- 
sion ;  and  for  his  eminent  services  was  raised 
to  the  dignity  of  marshal  of  France,  and  in 
144"J  created  earl  of  Shrewsbury.  The  fol- 
lowing year  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  am- 
bassadors to  treat  of  peace  with  Charles  VII, 
after  which  he  was  sent  once  more  to  Ireland, 
and  the  earldom  of  \\  exford  and  Waterford, 
in  that  kingdom,  was  added  to  his  honours. 
The  English  affairs  in  France  continuing  t« 
decline,  he  was  made  lieutenant-general  of 
Aquitaine,  in  which  capacity  he  took  Bor- 
deaux and  received  the  allegiance  of  several 
other  towns.  Receiving  intelligence  that  the 
French  were  besieging  Chastillon,  he  marched 
to  its  relief,  and  made  an  attack  upon  the  ene- 
my ;  but  here  his  usual  fortune  deserted  him  ; 
he  was  left  dead,  with  one  of  his  sons,  on  the 
field  of  battle  ;  and  the  English  being  wnolly 
routed,  their  expulsion  from  France  soon  fol- 
lowed. This  great  captain,  whose  merit  was 
acknowledged  equally  by  friends  and  foes,  fell 
on  the  20th  July,  1453,  at  the  age  of  eighty. 
His  remains  were  interred  at  Wlntchurch, 
where  a  splendid  monument  was  erected  to  his 
memory. — Collins' s  Peerage.  Monstrelet. 

'I  ALBOT  (PETER)  a  catholic  divine  and 
writer  on  controversial  theology,  who  was  de- 
scended from  the  noble  fhmily  of  Talbot,  <nd 


T  A  L 

•was  born  in  Ireland  in  1620.  He  studied  in 
Portugal  among  the  Jesuits,  and  after  entering 
into  their  society,  he  was  ordained  to  the 
priesthood  at  Rome,  and  became  professor 
of  divinity  at  Antwerp.  He  followed  Charles 
II  to  England  at  the  Restoration,  and  was  ap- 
pointed almoner  to  the  queen.  His  zeal  for  the 
catholic  faith  having  given  offence,  he  removed 
to  Ireland,  where  pope  Clement  IX  nominated 
him  archbishop  of  Dublin.  After  a  temporary 
retreat  to  Paris,  he  returned  to  his  diocese  ; 
and  in  1678  was  accused  as  an  accomplice 
in  the  pretended  popish  plot,  to  which  so  many 
victims  were  sacrificed,  and  being  confined  in 
the  castle  of  Dublin,  he  died  there  in  1680. 
Lists  of  his  works  may  be  found  in  the  annex- 
ed authorities. — Moreri.  Biog.  Univ. 

TALBOT  (RICHARD)  earl  of  Tyrconnel, 
was  the  younger  brother  of  the  preceding.  He 
entered  into  the  army,  and  displayed  great 
bravery  in  the  civil  war  in  Ireland  in  the  reign 
of  Charles  I.  After  the  death  of  Cromwell,  he 
went  to  England  to  represent  to  Charles  II  the 
complaints  of  the  Irish  catholics  relative  to  the 
oppression  they  suffered  ;  but  his  mission  pro- 
cured no  redress.  He  was  involved  in  the 
same  accusation  with  his  brother  the  arch- 
bishop ;  but  after  being  imprisoned,  he  obtain- 
ed his  liberty  on  the  triumph  of  the  catholic- 
party.  James  II  appointed  him  to  the  govern- 
ment of  Ireland,  giving  him  the  command  of 
the  army  in  that  country,  and  at  length  making 
him  viceroy.  He  displayed  his  zeal  in  the  ser- 
vice of  his  misguided  master,  and  vigorously 
opposed  the  prince  of  Orange  ;  but  while  he 
was  making  preparations  for  an  engagement 
with  the  forces  of  the  new  king,  he  was  sud- 
denly taken  ill,  and  died  three  days  after,  Au- 
gust 24,  1691.  He  left  an  only  daughter,  who 
married  her  cousin,  Richard  Talbot,  to  whose 
family  the  empty  title  of  Tyrconnel  was  con- 
tinued by  James  II. — Moreri. 

TALBOT  (CHARLES)  duke  of  Shrewsbury, 
the  son  of  Francis,  earl  of  Shrewsbury,  who 
was  killed  in  a  duel  with  the  seducer  of  his 
wife,  the.  profligate  duke  of  Buckingham,  in 
1667.  The  subject  of  this  article  held  the  of- 
fice of  lord  chamberlain  to  James  II,  but  dis- 
approving the  imprudent  measures  of  that 
prince,  he  resigned  ;  and  on  the  arrival  of  the 
prince  of  Orange  he  became  an  active  promoter 
of  the  Revolution.  On  the  accession  of  the 
prince  as  William  III,  lord  Shrewsbury  was 
made  principal  secretary  of  state,  and  knight 
of  the  garter  ;  and  in  1694  he  was  created 
marquis  of  Alton  and  duke  of  Shrewsbury.  He 
resigned  his  post  of  secretary  in  consequence 
of  ill  health  ;  but  in  the  reign  of  queen  Anne 
lie  was  sworn  a  member  of  the  privy  council. 
After  having  been  viceroy  of  Ireland,  he  held 
the  office  of  lord  treasurer;  and  his  death  took 
place  in  1717,  at  the  age  of  fifty-seven.  An 
account  of  the  life  and  characer  of  this  noble- 
man was  published  in  1718,  8vo. — Collins's 
Peerage. 

TALBOT  (CHARLES)  lord  high  chancellor 
of  Great  Britain,  was  the  son  of  William  Tal- 
bot, bishop  of  Durham,  descended  from  a 
younger  grandson  of  the  first  earl  of  Shrews- 


T  A  I. 

bury,  and  was  born  in  1684.  In  1701  lie 
was  admitted  of  Oriel  college,  Oxford,  and  in 
1704  elected  a  fellow  of  All  Souls,  but  in  a  ff  w 
years  voided  his  fellowship  by  marriage.  Ou 
quitting  the  university,  he  was  admitted  a 
member  of  the  society  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  and 
was  very  speedily  called  to  the  bar.  In  1719 
he  was  chosen  to  represent  Tregony  in  Corn- 
wall, and  in  1726  made  solicitor- general,  and 
elected  member  for  the  city  of  Durham.  In 
November,  1733,  he  was  constituted  lord  liiyh 
chancellor,  and  created  a  baron  of  Great  Bri- 
tain by  the  title  of  lord  Talbot,  baron  of  Hen- 
sol  in  the  county  of  Glamorgan.  lie  died,  in 
the  enjoyment  of  high  character  and  reputa- 
tion, after  an  illness  of  only  a  few  days,  on  the 
14th  February,  1737.  Few  chancellors  have 
been  mere  lamented  than  lord  Talbot,  who  in 
this  high  office,  as  well  as  in  his  capacity  of 
senator  and  in  private  life,  acquired  universal 
esteem. — Biog.  Brit. 

TALBOT  (CATHERINE)  a  very  ingenious 
lady,  was  the  only  child  of  Edward  Talbot,  se- 
cond son  of  the  bishop,  and  brother  to  the  sub- 
ject of  the  last  article.  She  was  born  five 
months  after  the  decease  of  her  father,  who 
died  early  ;  on  which  account  her  mother  ac- 
cepted the  invitation  of  Mr.  Seeker,  afterwards 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the  friend  of  her 
late  husband,  and  of  his  lady,  who  was  her  own, 
together  with  her  daughter,  to  become  a  part 
of  their  family,  and  they  never  afterwards  se- 
parated. Thus  situated,  Miss  Talbot  received 
an  excellent  education,  which  she  much  im- 
proved by  her  own  subsequent  application.  On 
the  death  of  the  archbishop  in  1768,  who  be- 
queathed 400/.  to  Mrs  and  Miss  Talbot;  they 
removed  to  a  habitation  of  their  own  ;  and 
after  a  while,  in  consequence  of  the  declining 
health  of  Miss  Talbot,  to  the  house  of  the  mar- 
chioness De  Grey  at  Richmond,  where  the 
latter  died  of  a  cancer,  in  her  forty-ninth 
year.  This  amiable  lady  was  the  intimate 
friend  of  the  celebrated  Mrs  Carter,  with  whom 
she  kept  up  a  literary  correspondence  of  con- 
siderable interest.  Her  works  are,  "  Reflec- 
tions on  the  Seven  Days  of  the  Week  ;  "  "  Es- 
says on  Various  Subjects;"  "  Letters  to  a 
Friend  on  the  Future  State  ;"  "  Dialogues  ;" 

Prose  Pastorals;"  "  Imitations  of  Ossian  ;" 
"  Allegories;"  and  "Poetry." — Lije  by  Mon- 
tague Pennington. 

TALBOT  (ROBERT)  an  English  antiquary, 
born  at  Thorp,  in  Northamptonshire,  about 
the  commencement  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
He  studied  at  Oxford,  which  he  left  in  1530  to 
enter  into  holy  orders  ;  and  in  1541  he  ob- 
tained a  prebend  in  Wells  cathedral.  In 
1547  he  was  made  treasurer  of  Norwich  ca- 
thedral, in  which  station  he  remained  till  his 
death  in  1558.  He  paid  great  attention  to  the 
antiquities  of  his  native  country  ;  and  from  his 
collections  Leland,  Bale,  Camden,  and  others 
derived  much  assistance.  He  left  his  MSS.  to 
the  library  of  New  college,  Oxford.  Talbot 
was  the  first  English  writer  who  illustrated 
the  Itinerary  of  Antoninus,  by  a  Commentary 
and  Notes,  which  Hearne  published  at  the 
end  of  the  third  volume  of  Leland's  Itinerary 


T  A  L 

He  left  other  works,  remaining  unprinted.— 
Gallon's  Brit.  Topog. 

T  AI.1ESIN,  the  most  celebrated  of  the  an- 
cient British  poets,  and  therefore  termed  Pen 
Beirdd,  or  the  Cliief  of  the  Bards.  He  flou- 
rished between  520  and  570,  and  many  of  his 
compositions  are  extant,  and  have  been  printed 
in  the  Welsh  Archaeology.  He  was  ranked 
with  the  two  Merlins,  under  the  appellation  of 
the  Three  principal  Christian  Bards.  Tradition 
represents  him  as  an  orphan  exposed  by  the 
side  of  a  river,  where  he  was  found  by  Elfin, 
the  son  of  Gwyddno,  by  whom  he  was  edu- 
riiti'd  and  patronised.  He  studied  in  the  school 
of  the  famous  Cadog  at  Llanveithin,  in  Gla- 
morganshire, and  in  the  mature  part  of  his 
life  lie  was  the  bard  of  Urien  Rbeged,  a  Welsh 
prince,  as  appears  by  many  of  his  poems  ad- 
dressed to  that  chieftain. — Owen's  Cambrian 
Biograph  <i. 

TALL  ART  (CAMILLE  D'HOSTUN,  duke  de) 
marshal  of  France,  was  descended  of  an  an- 
cient family  of  the  province  of  Dauphiny,  and 
was  born  February  14,  1652.  He  entered  very 
young  into  the  army,  and  after  serving  under 
the  great  Conde  in  Holland,  and  under  Tu- 
renne  in  Alsace,  he  was  engaged  in  the  bril- 
liant campaigns  of  1674  and  1675.  He  dis- 
tinguished himself  subsequently  on  various 
occasions,  and  in  1693  he  was  made  a  lieute- 
nant-general. In  1697  he  was  sent  ambassa- 
dor to  England  to  negociate  concerning  the 
succession  to  the  crown  of  Spain  on  the  death 
of  Charles  II.  His  services  on  this  occasion 
were  rewarded  with  the  knighthood  of  the 
royal  orders  and  the  government  of  the  county 
of  Foix.  War  breaking  out,  in  170-2,  Tal- 
lart  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the 
French  troops  on  the  Rhine,  and  soon  after  he 
was  honoured  with  a  marshal's  staff.  He  sub- 
sequently defeated  the  Imperialists  before 
Landau,  and  having  taken  that  place  after  a 
short  siege,  he  announced  his  success  to  Louis 
XIV,  in  the  following  terms  :  "  I  have  taken 
more  standards  than  your  majesty  has  lost  sol- 
diers." In  1704  he  was  opposed  to  the  great 
Marlborough  ;  and  being  taken  prisoner  at  the 
battle  of  Hochstedt,  or  Blenheim,  he  was  con- 
veyed to  England,  where  he  remained  seven 
years.  On  his  return  to  France  in  1712  he 
was  created  a  duke  ;  and  in  1726  he  was  ap- 
pointed secretary  of  state.  His  death  hap- 
pened the  3d  of  March,  1728.— Wet.  Hist. 
Bing.  Univ. 

TALLEMANT   (PAUL)    a  French  writer, 
who  was  an  ecclesiastic  and  academician.      He 
was  born  at  Paris  in  1652,  and  was  the  son  of 
Gideon  de   Tallemant,    who    hell    the  office 
of  master   of  requests  and  provincial   inten 
dant.      He  assumed  the  ecclesiastical  profes 
sion  ;  and  though  the  death  of  his    father  left 
him  unprovided  for  in    point  of   fortune,  yet 
havinor  some  powerful  friends,  and  possessing 
considerable  talents   and    learning,    lie  raised 
himself  to  eminence  as  a  man  of  letters.      He 
became   a    member  of  the    French  Academy 
and  secretary  of  the   Academy  of  Inscriptions 
and    Belles- Lettres.     Through   the  patronage 
of   the  minister   Colbert   he  obtained  various 


T  A  I, 

)pnefices  and  pensions  ;  and  his  pen  among 
others  was  employed  to  celebrate  the  victories 
of  Louis  XIV,  particularly  in  the  "  Histoire  de 
L.ouis  XIV  par  les  Medailles,"  for  which  he 
wrote  the  preface,  said  to  be  the  best  of  his 
:ompositions.  He  was  also  the  author  of  se- 
veral funeril  orations,  and  academical  dis- 
courses ;  and  of  a  piece  consisting  of  prose 
and  verse,  intitled  "  Voyage  de  1'Ile  d'A- 
mour,"  besides  other  works.  He  died  at 
Paris,  July  30,  1712. — FRANCIS  TALLEMANT, 
cousin  of  the  preceding,  was  also  an  eccle- 
siastic, and  a  member  of  the  French  Academy, 
le  published  a  French  Translation  of  Plu- 
arch's  Lives  of  Illustrious  Men,  which  for  a 
while  superseded  the  earlier  version  of  Amyot, 
ind  went  through  several  impressions.  His 
death  took  place  in  1693,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-three. —  Did.  Hist.  Bing.  Univ. 

TALLEYRAND-PEIUGORD  (ALEXAN- 
DRE  ANGEMQUE  de)  the  son  of  the  marquis 
de  Talleyrand,  and  uncle  of  the  celebrated 
statesman  of  the  same  name,  now  living,  was 
5orn  at  Paris  in  1736.  Entering  into  the 
church  he  obtained  various  benefices,  and  be- 
came royal  almoner,  and  grand  vicar  of  Ver- 
dun, and  before  he  was  thirty  he  was  ap- 
pointed coadjutor  of  the  archbishop  of  Rheims, 
whom  be  succeeded  in  1777.  He  was  nomi- 
nated a  member  of  the  second  assembly  of  the 
Notables,  and  afterwards  a  deputy  of  the 
States  General,  where  he  vainly  endeavoured 
:o  defend  the  privileges  of  the  clergy,  and  pub- 
ished  various  tracts  on  the  subject.  At  length 
ie  retired  to  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  subsequently 
resided  at  Weimar  and  Brunswick.  Louis 
XVIII  having  invited  him  to  Mittau,  he  ac- 
companied that  prince  to  England  ;  and  on 
the  death  of  the  cardinal  de  Montmorenci,  in 
1808,  he  succeeded  him  as  grand  almoner, 
lie  turning  to  France  at  the  restoration  he  had  at 
first  great  influence  in  ecclesiastical  affairs,  but 
bis  councils  were  afterwards  neglected.  In  1 8 1 6 
lie  resigned  the  archbishopric  of  Rheims,  and 
the  following  year  he  was  appointed  to  that  of 
Paris,  and  was  made  a  cardinal.  The  execu- 
tion of  the  concordat  of  1817  meeting  with 
obstacles,  he  did  not  take  possession  of  his 
see  till  1819,  and  the  remainder  of  his  life  was 
devoted  to  the  regulation  of  the  concerns  of 
the  diocese.  He  died  October  20,  1821. — 
Bipg.  Unit: 

TALLIEN  (JoHN  LAMBERT)  a  French  re- 
publican statesman,  born  at  Paris  in  1769.  He 
was  the  son  of  the  maftre-d'hotel  to  the  mar- 
quis de  Bercy,  to  whom  he  was  indebted  for 
his  education.  Previously  to  the  Revolution 
he  had  been  clerk  to  an  attorney,  and  also  to 
a  notary  ;  and  he  commenced  his  political 
career  as  secretary  to  the  deputy  Broustaret. 
He  then  published  a  kind  of  daily  journal, 
called  "  Ami  du  Citoyen,"  which  was  affixed 
to  the  walls  of  the  metropolis.  The  Jacobins 
furnished  the  expenses  of  printing  this  paper, 
the  object  of  which  was  to  excite  the  indig- 
nation of  the  populace  against  Louis  XVI  and 
his  ministers.  Tallien,  who  neglected  no 
means  to  bring  himself  into  notice,  also  pub- 
lished a  discourse  delivered  at  the  Jacobiu 


T  A  L 

club,  "  Sin  les  Causes  qui  ont  produit  la  Re- 
volution ;"  and  he  soon  became  one  of  the 
most  popular  men  of  tlie  revolutionary  party. 
July  8,  179'.',  he  made  his  appearance  at  the 
bar  of  the  National  Assembly,  at  the  head  of 
a  deputation  from  the  commune  of  Paris,  to 
demand  the  restoration  of  Pethion,  who  had 
been  suspended  from  his  functions  as  mayor  of 
the  capital,  in  consequence  of  the  riots  of  the 
20th  of  June,  in  which  he  was  supposed  to 
hare  been  implicated.  Tallien  was  deeply 
concerned  in  the  terrible  commotions  of  the 
10th  of  August,  and  he  was  secretary-general 
of  the  commune  which  had  installed  itself  at 
the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  which  continued  its 
sittings  in  spite  of  the  Assembly,  becoming  the 
centre  and  origin  of  the  intrigues  and  massacres 
of  that  disastrous  period.  Hence  the  appel- 
lation of  Septembrizer  was  justly  applied  to 
him,  though  it  must  be  admitted  that  his  in- 
fluence was  occasionally  employed  to  preserve 
the  lives  of  individuals.  Being  nominated  a 
deputy  to  the  Convention,  from  the  depart- 
ment of  Seine  and  Oise,  he  often  mounted  the 
tribune,  and  was  the  constant  advocate  for 
violent  measures.  In  the  session  of  Dec.  15, 
1792,  he  strongly  urged  the  immediate  trial  of 
Louis  XVI,  objected  to  allowing  him  counsel, 
and  added  new  charges  to  the  accusation 
against  him.  He  afterwards  voted  for  his 
death,  and  against  an  appeal  to  the  people  ; 
and  on  the  day  of  execution,  January  21,  1793, 
he  was  president  of  the  Convention.  He  took 
part  in  most  of  the  sanguinary  proceedings 
which  occurred  during  the  ascendancy  of 
Robespierre  ;  and  after  defending  Marat,  as- 
sisting in  the  destruction  of  the  Girondists, 
and  becoming  the  advocate  of  the  infamous 
Rossignol,  lie  was  sent  on  a  mission  to  Bor- 
deaux, where  he  showed  himself  the  worthy 
associate  of  Carrier,  Lebon,  and  Collotd'Her- 
bois.  After  he  had  desolated  and  pillaged 
that  wealthy  city,  he  was  checked  in  his  san- 
guinary career  by  the  influence  of  madame  de 
Fontenai,  whose  family  name  was  Cabarrus. 
She  was  a  woman  remarkable  for  her  personal 
beauty,  and  having  been  imprisoned  at  Bor- 
deaux, as  she  was  going  to  join  her  family  in 
Spain,  she  owed  her  life  to  compassion,  or  to 
a  tenderer  feeling  on  the  part  of  Tallien.  He 
took  her  with  him  to  Paris,  wh'ither  he  went  to 
defend  himself  before  the  Convention  against 
the  charge  of  moderantism,  which  his  recent 
conduct  had  caused  some  of  his  more  blood- 
thirsty colleagues  to  prefer  against  him.  Ma- 
dame de  FonUnai  was  exposed  to  new  per- 
secutions, and  in  order  to  maintain  his  in- 
fluence for  her  protection  as  well  as  his 
own,  he  thought  it  necessary  still  to  ap- 
pear the  advocate  of  violence  and  proscrip- 
tion. At  length,  after  the  fall  of  Danton 
and  his  party,  Tallien  perceived  that  he 
should  become  one  of  the  next  victims  of 
Robespierre,  if  he  did  not  strike  the  first  blow 
at  the  overgrown  power  of  that  tyrant  of 
France.  Accordingly,  at  the  sitting  of  the 
convention  of  the  9th  of  Thermidor,  1794,  he 
trended  the  tribune,  and  after  an  animated 
picture  of  the  atrocities  which  had  taken  place, 


T  A  1. 

and  which  he  positively  ascribed  to  Robes- 
pierre, he  suddenly  turned  to  the  bust  of  Brjtua 
in  the  hall  of  the  assembly,  and  invoking  the 
genius  of  that  patriot,  he  drew  a  dagger  from 
!iis  girdle,  and  swore  that  he  would  plunge  is 
into  the  heart  of  Robespierre  if  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  people  had  not  courage  to  order 
his  immediate  arrest.  On  the  morrow  Tal- 
lien had  the  satisfaction  to  announce  to  hi-; 
colleagues  that  their  enemies  had  perished  on 
the  scaffold.  Being  elected  a  member  of  the 
Committee  of  Public  Safety,  the  jacobins  re- 
placed his  name  on  their  list.  At  this  period 
he  married  his  protegee,  Madame  de  Fon- 
tenai. He  took  a  part  in  all  the  proceedings 
of  the  Assembly,  and  used  his  power  and  in- 
fluence only  to  promote  the  interests  of  justice 
and  humanity.  This  was  the  most  honourable 
period  of  his  life  ;  but  the  recrimination  and 
opposition  which  he  experienced  prevented 
him  from  enjoying  tranquillity.  If  his  own 
statement  were  to  be  believed,  an  attempt  was 
made  to  assassinate  him  ;  but  this  report  was 
regarded  as  a  wretched  attempt  to  excite  the 
interest  of  the  public  in  his  favour.  In  July 
1795  he  was  sent  with  extensive  powers  to  the 
army  on  the  coasts  of  Britanny  ;  but  after  the 
victory  of  the  republicans  at  Quiberon  he  re- 
turned to  Paris.  He  subsequently  became  a 
member  of  the  Council  of  Five  Hundred,  un- 
der the  constitution  of  the  year  3  ;  but  his  in- 
fluence gradually  declined,  and  he  was  at 
length  reduced  to  such  a  state  of  political  in- 
significance, that  he  thought  proper  to  retire 
to  private  life.  Domestic  uneasiness  induced 
him  to  wish  to  leave  France,  and  he  followed 
Buonaparte  to  Egypt,  as  one  of  the  literati 
attached  to  the  expedition.  He  became  a 
member  of  the  Egyptian  Institute  and  editor 
of  the  "  Decade  Egyptienne,"  a  journal  printed 
at  Cairo  ;  besides  being  administrator  of  the 
national  domains.  After  Buonaparte  left  Egypt, 
general  Menou  treated  Tallien  very  harshly, 
and  at  last  obliged  him  to  return  to  France.  The 
vessel  in  which  he  sailed  was  captured  by  the 
English,  and  he  was  taken  to  London,  where 
he  experienced  some  attention  from  the  leaders 
of  the  whig  party.  The  duchess  of  Devon- 
shire sent  Tallien  her  portrait,  enriched  with 
diamonds,  when  he  kept  the  portrait  but  re- 
turned the  diamonds.  On  revisiting  his  na- 
tive country  he  discovered  that  he  had  lost  his 
wife,  as  well  as  the  favour  of  Buonaparte,  who 
was  then  rising  to  sovereign  power.  He  ap- 
pears to  have  been  reduced  to  distress,  but  at 
length  he  obtained,  through  Fouche  and  Tal- 
leyrand, the  office  of  French  consul  at  Alicant. 
He  died  at  Paris  November  16, 1820.  Madame 
Taliien  having  been  divorced  from  her  husband 
(by  whom  she  had  a  daughter  named  Ther- 
midor) was  married  in  1805  to  M.  Joseph  de 
Caramar,  prince  de  Chimay. — Biog.  Nouv.  det 
Coiitemp.  Biog.  Univ. 

TALLIS  (THOMAS)  one  of  the  greatest 
musicians  not  of  this  country  only  but  of  Eu- 
rope in  the  sixteenth  century.  He  was  born  in 
the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VI] I, 
and  it  has  been  said  that  he  filled  the  situation 
of  organist  to  the  chapel  royal  under  tha'  mon- 


T  A  L 

well,  as  well  as  under  his  three  immediate 
successors  ;  the  tradition  is  however  improba- 
ble, as  it  is  doubtful  whether,  in  the  reigns 
of  Henry  and  Mary  at  least,  laymen  were  ever 
admitted  to  perform  upon  the  organ  in  conse- 
crated buildings.  It  is  certain  however  that 
he  acted  as  such  under  Elizabeth,  succeeding 
Blithman,  and  being  himself  succeeded  by  his 
own  pupil  bird.  In  this  capacity  he  first  en- 
riched witli  harmony  the  melody  of  the  cathe- 
dral service  originally  adapted  to  English 
words  by  Marbeck.  This  sterling  composi- 
tion is  still  frequently  used  in  our  cathedrals, 
and  his  Litany  especially  is  commonly  per- 
formed at  the  metropolitan  church  of  St  Paul 
on  the  high  festivals  of  Christmas,  Easter,  and 
Whitsunday.  As  a  contrapuntist  he  yields 
perhaps  to  no  one,  and  a  most  extraordinary 
proof  of  his  abilities  in  this  respect  still  sub- 
sists in  a  song  composed  in  parts  for  forty 
voices  ;  viz.  eight  basses,  eight  tenors,  eight 
counter-tenors,  eight  mezzo- sopranos,  and 
eight  trebles,  placed  under  each  other,  with 
one  line  for  the  organ,  each  of  which  has  its 
share  in  the  subjects  of  fugue  and  imitation 
introduced  on  every  change  of  words,  and  ter- 
minating in  twelve  bars  of  universal  chorus. 
Tallis  died  in  1585,  and  was  buried  in  the 
old  church  at  Greenwich,  where  an  epitaph  to 
his  memory  was  existing  in  Strype's  time, 
and  was  renewed  by  dean  Aldrich  ;  but  the 
church  having  been  rebuilt  in  1720,  it  is  now 
to  be  found  only  in  Boyce's  collection. — Bur- 
ner's Hist,  of  Mils.  Biog.  Diet,  of  Mus. 

"TALMA  (FRANCIS  JOSEPH)  the  Roscius  of 
the  French  stage,  on  which  he  produced  a  re- 
volution equal  to  that  created  by  Garrick  on  the 
English.  He  was  born  at  Paris  about  the  year 
1770,  and  is  said  to  have,  given  the  first  indi- 
cation of  his  histrionic  talent  when  only  eight 
years  old,  in  an  old  tragedy  entitled  "  Tamer- 
lane," performed  by  boys.  Soon  af'er  his  father, 
who  had  settled  in  London  as  a  goldsmith, 
sent  for  him  to  England  ;  and  after  a  few 
years  spent  at  a  boarding-school  in  Lambeth 
articled  him  to  a  surgeon.  His  fondness 
for  theatrical  amusements,  having  introduced 
him  to  sir  John  Gallini,  who  at  that  time 
superintended  an  amateur  French  company, 
which  performed  at  the  Hanover-square 
rooms  ;  under  his  auspices  he  appeared 
in  several  comedies,  especially  as  count  Al- 
maviva  in  Beaumarchais'  comedy  of  the  Bar- 
ber of  Seville,  then  at  the  height  of  its  popu- 
larity. Kemble  and  Mrs  Siddons  were  at  this 
period  in  the  zenith  of  their  reputation,  and 
the  former  had  just  succeeded  in  reforming  the 
absurdities  of  theatrical  costume,  which  had 
hitherto  disgraced  the  drama.  The  perform- 
ance of  these  two  eminent  professors  decided 
Talma's  vocation,  as  well  as  formed  his  taste  ; 
lie  returned  to  Paris,  and  through  the  interest 
of  Mole,  the  actor,  obtained  an  engagement. 
His  debut  upon  the  boards  of  the  Theatre 
Francais  was  made  in  the  part  of  Seide,  in 
Voltaire's  tragedy  of  "  Mahomet;"  but  it 
created  no  particular  sensation  in  the  minds 
of  the  audience,  which  had  yet  to  discover 
that  a  new  light  had  risen  upon  their  drama. 


T  A  L 

After  performing  a  variety  of  insignificant  cha- 
racters, arcidi'iit  lifud  him  at  once  to  the 
summit  of  his  profes.-ion.  Chenier's  tragedy 
of  Charles  IX  was  accepted,  and  put  in  re- 
hearsal, when  Saintfal,  the  principal  actor, 
returned  his  part  with  a  sneering  recommenda- 
tion to  the  author  to  "  give  it  to  young  Talma." 
Chenier  took  him  at  his  word  ;  Talma  accept- 
ed the  part  with  delight,  and  feeling  that  his 
future  fame  and  fortune  depended  on  that 
night's  success,  not  only  devoted  all  his  ener- 
gies to  the  study  of  it,  but  directed  his 
attention  in  so  especial  a  manner  to  give  it 
effect  by  strict  fidelity  of  costume,  that  the 
audience,  equally  surprised  and  delighted, 
continued  to  him,  throughout  the  representa- 
tion, the  tumultuous  approbation  with  which 
they  greeted  his  first  appearance.  Thus  the  tra- 
gedy was  completely  triumphant  and  the  fame 
of  the  actor  established.  His  greatest  triumph, 
however,  was  yet  to  follow.  Ducis  had 
translated  the  Othello  of  Shakspeare,  but  not 
daring  to  contend  so  far  against  French  preju- 
dices as  to  exhibit  the  murder  of  Desdemona  on 
the  stage,  he  had  furnished  a  new  catastrophe 
of  a  more  fortunate  description.  Talma  alone 
was  bold  enough  to  prefer  the  original  termina- 
tion, and,  after  considerable  hesitation,  re- 
solved, with  the  consent  of  the  author,  to  risk 
the  attempt.  His  success  astonished  even  him- 
self, and  most  honourably  rewarded  his  intre- 
pidity. From  this  moment  he  became  the  pa- 
ramount tragedian,  and  though  occasionally 
annoyed  by  criticisms,  the  personality  of  some 
of  which  brought  him  on  one  occasion  into  per- 
sonal contact  with  their  author,  M.  Geoffroi, 
he  continued  at  the  summit  of  his  profession 
till  his  death.  He  acquired  a  handsome  for- 
tune by  his  profession  ;  and  was  not  only  ge- 
nerally esteemed  by  men  of  rank  and  talents 
for  his  powers  of  fascination  in  private  society, 
but  was  also  a  favourite  with  the  emperor  Na- 
poleon. In  1825  he  published"  Reflexions" 
on  the  art  lie  professed,  which  display  the  ex- 
tent and  variety  of  study  and  research  by 
which  he  had  arrived  at  such  extraordinary  ex- 
cellence. The  death  of  '['alma  took  place  at 
Paris,  October  19,  1826,  after  a  distressing 
illness  arising  from  an  obliteration  of  a  portion 
of  the  large  intestines,  as  appeared  from  an  ex- 
amination of  the  body  after  his  decease.  He 
preserved  all  his  intellectual  faculties  to  the 
last,  and  his  latest  hours  were  employed  in 
giving  directions  about  his  funeral,  which  he 
desired  might  take  place  at  the  cemetery  of 
Pere  la  Chaise,  without  any  of  the  usual  ce- 
remonies of  religion.  The  excommunication 
pronounced  by  the  Catholic  church  against  the- 
atrical performers  doubtless  caused  this  con- 
duct on  the  part  of  the  dying  actor;  and  se- 
veral applications  made  by  the  archbishop  of 
Paris  to  the  nephew  of  Tulma  to  be  allowed 
an  interview  with  him  were  unsuccessful.  Ma- 
dame Vanhove,  his  wife,  from  whom  he  had 
been  separated,  also  applied  to  be  permitted  to 
see  him  ;  but  Talma  declined  the  interview, 
lest  it  might  be  thought  that  he  complied  from 
interested  motives,  she  being  possessed  of  a 
independent  property.  A  short  time 


T  A  L 


T  A  M 


1,-riore  his  death  he  embraced  his  theatrical  |  came  consul  at  Leghorn,  and  two  years  after  at 
friends,  Jouy,  Arnault,  aud  Duvilliers,  and  ex-  ' 
pired,  ejaculating  the  name  of  Voltaire.  As 
soon  as  his  death  became  known,  public  re- 
spect was  shown  to  his  memory  by  the  closing 
of  the  doors  of  the  Comedie  Francaise.  The 
funeral  took  place  agreeably  to  his  directions, 
the  corpse  being  taken  to  the  place  of  inter- 
ment without  interruption  or  ceremony.  The 
procession  consisted  of  a  magnificent  hearse, 
fifteen  mourning  coaches,  Talma's  own  car- 
riage, and  several  empty  ones  ;  a  number  of 
literary  and  theatrical  characters  followed  on 
foot,  and  the  whole  was  closed  by  a  body  of 
four  or  five  thousand  persons  ;  a  vast  concourse 
of  the  citizens  filling  the  cemetery  and  surround- 
ing the  tomb.  Funeral  orations  or  eulogies 
were  delivered  at  the  grave  by  Lafon,  the  col- 
league of  the  deceased,  and  by  two  tragic 
writers,  Jouy  aud  Arnault,  on  whose  works 
Talma  had  by  his  talents  conferred  great  sce- 
nic popularity. — Biog,  Nouv.  des  Contemp.  Atlas 
Newspaper. 

TALMONT  (A.  PH.  DK  LA  TRIMOILLE, 
prince  de)  second  son  of  the  duke  de  Tri- 
moille,  distinguished  as  a  royalist  officer  in  the 
war  of  La  Vendee.  His  youth  had  been  de- 
voted to  dissipation  ;  and  when  the  Revolution 
broke  out  he  became  a  partizan  of  monarchy, 
and  in  1792  he  joined  a  confederation  of  roy- 
alists in  the  province  of  Poitou.  He  afterwards 
•went  to  England  and  Germany,  and  returned 
to  France  in  1793,  with  the  plan  of  an  insur- 
rection in  the  western  provinces  against  the 
republican  government.  He  was  arrested  and 
imprisoned  at  Angers,  and  narrowly  escaped 
suffering  death  ;  but  his  brother,  the  abbe  de 
la  Trimoille,  found  means  to  procure  his  re- 
lease, on  which  he  went  and  joined  the  insur- 
gents in  La  Vendee,  by  whom  he  was  ap- 
pointed general  of  the  cavalry.  His  signalized 
himself  for  his  courage  at  the  attack  of  Nantes 
June  28,  1793,  and  on  various  other  occasions, 
in  the  desperate  service  in  which  he  engaged. 
After  the  great  defeat  of  the  royalists  at  Mans, 
December  14,  he  wandered  in  disguise  in  the 
environs  of  Laval  and  Fougeres  ;  and  being  re- 
cognized he  was  taken  prisoner,  and  was  soon 
after  executed  before  the  principal  entrance 
of  his  own  castle  of  Laval.  Being  interred  in 
the  vicinity,  the  spot  was  enclosed  in  1822, 
and  a  monument  erected  in  commemoration  of 
this  victim  of  national  discord. — Bing.  Univ. 

TAMBRON1  (JOSEPH)  an  Italian  poet  and 
historian,  born  at  Bologna  in  1773.  He  stu- 
died in  the  university  there  ;  and  in  1794  he 
was  elected  palaeographer,  or  inspector  of  the 
archives  of  his  native  city.  When  the  French 
invaded  Lombardy  the  first  time,  he  went  to 
Milan,  and  attached  himself  to  Marescalchi, 
whom  he  accompanied  to  the  congress  of  Ras- 
tadt  and  to  Vienna,  as  secretary  of  the  Cisal- 
pine Legation.  Oil  the  return  of  the  Aus- 
trians  to  Italy,  Tambroni  found  an  asylum  in 
the  mountains  of  Savoy  ;  but  lie  returned  after 
the  battle  of  Marengo  and  the  foundation  of 
the  Cisalpine  republic.  He  was  then  attached 
to  the  Italian  legation  at  Paris,  under  his 


friend  count  Marescalchi  :  aud  in  1809  he  be- 


Rome.  On  the  fall  of  the  impe'rial  govern- 
ment in  1814  he  retired  from  public  life,  and 
engaged  in  conducting  the  "  Giornale  Arca- 
dico."  He  belonged  to  several  learned  so- 
cieties, and  he  was  decorated  with  the  order 
of  the  iron  crown.  Tambroni  died  at  Rome 
January  10,  1824.  Among  his  works  are 
"  Compendio  delle  Storie  di  Polonio,"  2  vols. 
8vo  ;  "  Intorno  alia  Vita  di  Canova  Commen- 
tario,"  8vo  ;  besides  many  letters  and  poems. 
— Biog.  Nmiv.  des  Contemp.  Biog.  Univ. 

TAMBRONI  (CLOTILDA)  sister  of  the 
preceding,  alady  distinguished  for  her  acquaint- 
ance with  Greek  literature.  She  was  born  in 
1758,  and  from  her  early  years  she  displayed 
an  invincible  attachment  for  study,  in  conse- 
quence of  which  her  parents  afforded  her  the 
means  of  instruction.  She  was  admitted  into 
the  Arcadian  academy  at  Rome,  the  Etruscan 
academy  at  Cortona,  and  the  Clementine  at 
Bologna  ;  and  in  1794  the  professorship  of 
the  Greek  language  was  bestowed  on  her, 
which  she  retained  till  1798,  when  she  was 
displaced  because  she  refused  to  take  the  oath 
of  hatred  to  royalty  required  by  the  laws  of  the 
Cispadane  republic.  She  was  afterwards  re- 
stored by  Buonaparte  ;  but  the  Greek  profes- 
sorship being  at  length  suppressed,  she  retired 
to  the  bosom  of  her  family.  Her  death  hap- 
pened June  4,  1817.  Her  works  consist  chiefly 
of  poems  written  in  Greek,  among  which  is  an 
elegy  in  honour  of  Bodoni,  the  celebrated 
printer. — Id 

TAMMEAMEA   or  TAMAHAMA,  king 
of  the  Sandwich  isles,    in   the   Pacific    ocean, 
was  one  of  those  individuals  who  are  destined 
to  produce  <>  great  effect  on  the  state  of  society 
around  them.     He  belonged  to  the  race  of  the 
native  chiefs ;    and  at    the   death   of  captain 
Cook,  in   1780,    he  had  arrived  at  manhood, 
bat  he  had  no  concern  in  that  event.  Tirrioboo, 
the  king  of  Owhyhee,  the  largest  of  the  Sand- 
wich islands,  having  offended  his  principal  of- 
ficers, he  was  put  to  death,   and  Tammeamea 
was  chosen  to  succeed  him.     He  soon  showed 
extraordinary  talents   for  his  situation,    and  it 
was  a  part  of  his  policy  to  encourage  the  set- 
tlement of  European  mariners  and    others  iu 
his  dominions,     When  captain  Vancouver  vi- 
sited Owhyhee  Tammeamea  put  himself  undei 
the  protection  of  that  ofticer,as  the  representative 
of  the  king  of  Great  Britain  ;  and  as  the  price 
of  his  submission,  lie  was  assisted  in  building 
a  fine  vessel,  which  afforded  a  model  for  the 
construction  of   several   more.      Tammeamea 
thus  formed  a  fleet,  with  which  he  conquered 
the  adjoining  islands,  and  traded   to    China. 
He  subsequently  erected  a  fort   on  the  island 
of  Vahou,  and  he  obtained  from  the  Russians 
some  artillery  ;  while  by  encouraging  the  trad- 
ing of  his  subjects  with  navigators,  he  added 
to  his  own  wealth  and   importance  as  well  as 
that  of  his  people.     This  enterprising  monarch 
died  in  March,    1819.     Rhio  Rhio,    the    son 
and  successor  of  Tammeamea,  having  made  a 
visit  to  this  country  together  with   his   queen, 
in  1824,   both  their  majesties  died  in.    Lon- 
don, after  a  few  months'  residence,  ic  conse- 


T  A  N 

qurnre    of  a    disease    arising  from  change  of 
climate  find   liabits  of  life. —  1'iiotr.  Univ. 

TANDY  (.(AMIS  NAEPF.R)  bom  in  Ireland 
in  1757,  was  a  merchant  at  Dublin,  who 
being  an  enemy  to  the  ascendency  of  the  Eng- 
lish over  his  native  country,  attempted  to 
bring  about  a  revolution.  In  1791  he  pub- 
lished a  plan  of  reform,  and  he  was  appointed 
secretary  of  a  Catholic  association,  though 
he  was  himself  a  Protestant  dissenter.  He 
was  nominated  colonel  of  the  volunteers  of 
Dublin  ;  and  he  rendered  himself  so  obnoxi- 
ous to  the  government  that  to  avoid  being 
arrested  he  took  refuge  in  France.  He  was 
well  received  by  the  Executive  Directory, 
who  gave  him  a  commission,  as  general  of 
brigade  in  the  expedition  against  Ireland,  in 
August,  1798,  under  general  Rev.  On  its 
failure  he  took  refuge  at  Hamburg  ;  but  he 
was  delivered  up  on  the  requisition  of  the 
English  minister.  Being  taken  to  Ireland,  he 
was  tried  for  treason,  found  guilty  and  con- 
demned to  death.  But  the  judgment  was  not 
executed,  and  being  liberated  after  the  peace 
of  Amiens,  he  went  to  France,  and  died  at 
Bordeaux,  in  August  1803. —  R'ng-  Univ. 

TANNER  (THOMAS)  bishop  of  St  Asaph, 
a  prelate  distinguished  for  his  learning,  espe- 
cially in  the  antiquities  of  his  native  country. 
He  was  the  son  of  a  country  clergyman,  in- 
cumbent of  the  living  of  Market  Lavington  in 
Wiltshire,  where  he  was  born  in  1674.  At 
Queen's  college,  Oxford,  (where  he  remained 
till  his  abilities  procured  his  election  in  1697 
to  a  fellowship  in  All  Souls,)  he  was  led 
by  a  congeniality  of  taste  for  antiquarian  re- 
search, to  form  a  close  intimacy  with  Mr  (af- 
terwards bishop)  Gibson.  In  1701  Moore, 
bishop  of  Norwich,  himself  a  great  promoter 
of  historical  inquiry,  gave  him  the  rectory  of 
Thorpe  and  the  chancellorship  of  the  diocese, 
whence  he  rose  successively  to  a  stall  in  Ely 
cathedral  1713,  the  archdeaconry  of  Norwich 
1722,  and  a  canonry  of  Christchurch  1724, 
till  in  1732  he  was  was  elevated  to  the  epi- 
scopal bench.  As  an  author,  besides  contri- 
buting considerably  to  the  revived  edition  of 
Anthony  a  Wood's  "  Athensp,"  he  is  advan- 
tageously known  by  a  work  compiled  with 
great  industry,  under  the  title  of  "  Biblio- 
theca  Britannico-Hibernica,"  folio,  1748,  con- 
taining alphabetical  memoirs  of  the  prin- 
cipal English,  Scotch,  and  Irish  writers,  from 
the  earliest  periods  to  the  commencement  of 
the  seventeenth  century  ;  aud  an  elaborate 
though  brief  account  of  the  religious  houses 
of  England  and  Wales,  entitled  "Notiiia  Mo- 
nastica,"  which  has  gone  through  two  editions, 
8vo,  1695  ;  folio,  1744;  the  latter  containing 
additions  and  emendations  by  his  brother.  A 
third,  considerably  improved,  was  published 
in  1787  by  Nasinuh.  Bishop  Tanner  died 
at  Oxford,  December  14,  1735,  and  lies  bu- 
ried there  in  Christchurch  cathedral. — 
lirit.  Nicotian's  Hist.  Lit. 

TANNER  (BERNARD)  a  native  of  Prague 
in  Bohemia,  distinguished  as  a  traveller.  He 
had  already  visited  Italy  and  Poland,  when  in 
1678  he  was  appointed  interpreter  to  an  em- 


T  A  N 

bassy  which  John  Sobiefki,  king  of  Poland, 
sent  to  Moscow.  He  published  a  particular 
account  of  this,  entitled  "  Legatio  Polon-i- Li- 
thuanii  :i  in  Moscoviam,  potent.  Polonicaj 
Regis  ac  Reip.  niandato  et  consensu  anno 
1678  feliciter  suscepta,  breviter  sed  accurate 
quoad  singula  notabilia  [descripta  ii  teste 
oculato  B.  L.  F.  Tannero,"  Nuremburg,  1689, 
4to.  The  time  of  bis  death  is  uncertain. — 
Bintr.  Univ. 

TANSILLO  (LuioO  an  Italian  poet,  born 
about  1M6,  at  Nola.  He  lived  a  groat  part 
of  bis  time  in  the  service  of  Don  Pedro,  of 
Toledo,  viceroy  of  Naples.  The  period  of 
his  death  is  not  precisely  known,  but  he  is 
said  to  have  been  judge  of  Gaieta  in  1569  ; 
and  being  then  in  a  very  bad  state  of  health, 
he  is  supposed  to  have  died  soon  after.  When 
he  was  in  his  twenty-fourth  year,  he  composed 
a  poem  entitled  "  II  Vendemmiatore,"  in  which 
he  related  with  too  free  a  pen  the  scurrilous 
and  obscene  jests  which  in  some  parts  of  the 
kingdom  of  Naples  pass  between  the  vinta- 
gers. This  poem  was  first  printed  in  1534, 
and  went  through  several  other  editions  under 
the  title  of  "  Stanze  Amorose  sopra  gli  Ate 
delle  Donne."  To  Tansillo  is  also  attributed 
another  poem  of  the  same  licentious  character, 
entitled  "  Stanze  in  Lode  delle  Menta."  The 
disrepute  into  which  the  author  fell  in  conse- 
quence of  these  productions,  induced  pope 
Paul  V  to  place  all  his  works  in  the  Index 
Expurgatorius,  or  list  of  prohibited  books. 
Deeply  mortified  by  this  circumstance,  he  ad- 
dressed a  penitential  canzone  to  the  pope,  and 
pleaded  that  he  had  made  reparation  by  com- 
posing a  devout  poem,  "  La  Lagrime  di  San 
Pietro."  This  apology  was  admitted,  and  his 
name  erased  from  the  list.  Besides  the  works 
already  mentioned,  he  was  author  of  '•'  II  Ca- 
v;ilarezzo,"  Vicenza,8vo,  and  of  sonnets,  songs, 
stanzas,  and  some  comedies.  Lastly  so  late 
as  1767  professor  Ranza  published  two  ele- 
nnt  poems  by  Tansillo,  entitled  "  La  Halia," 
and  "  II  Podere,"  the  former  of  which  has 
been  elegantly  translated  into  English  by  Mr 
Roscoe,  under  the  title  of  "  The  Nurse."  Of 
his  miscellaneous  poems  the  best  edition  is 
that  of  Venice  1738. — Mnreri.  Tirabmchi 

TANUCCI  (BERNARDO,  marquis)  an  Ita- 
lian statesman,  was  born  in  1698,  of  indi- 
gent parents,  at  Stia,  a  village  in  Tuscany. 
He  studied  law  at  the  university  of  Pisa,  and 
was  subsequently  nominated  to  the  professor- 
ship of  jurisprudence  in  that  seminary.  When 
Don  Carlos,  prince  of  Spain,  came  into  Italy 
to  receive  the  inheritance  of  the  house  of  Me- 
dici, Tanucci  was  introduced  to  him,  and  se- 
cured his  favour  by  the  able  manner  in  which 
he  supported  the  right  of  the  sovereign  to 
withdraw  an  assassin  from  the  sanctuary  of  a 
church,  against  the  reclamation  of  the  couit  of 
Rome.  Soon  after,  Don  Carlos  being  seated 
on  the  throne  of  Naples,  called  Tanucci  to 
his  ministry,  and  gave  him  his  entire  con- 
fidence. So  great  was  his  favour,  that  when 
this  prince  quitted  Naples  in  1759,  to  inherit 
the  throne  of  Spain,  he  placed  Tanucci  at  the 
head  of  the  regency  formed  to  govern  the  two 


T  A  II 

Sicilies  during  the  minority   of  his  son  Ferdi- 
nand.     For  the  space  of  fifty  years  his  power 
and   the  kindness  of  his  sovereigns  remained 
undiminished,    and    his   ministry    was  in   the 
highest  degree  beneficial.  He  restricted  within 
the    narrowest    limits    the  jurisdiction  of  the 
nunciature,  and  without  having  recourse  to  the 
pontifical  authority,  united  bishoprics,  and  sup- 
pressed seventy-eight  monasteries  in  Sicily.  He 
also  did  every  thing  in  his  power  to  effect  the 
suppression  of  the  annual  homage  to  the  holy 
see  of  a  white  palfrey,  established  by  Charles 
of  Anjou.     Tanucci  was   at  the  same  time  au 
enlightened  patron  of  the  sciences  ;  and  it  was 
he  who  caused  the  excavations  to  be  made  in 
Henulaneum  and  Pompei.     This  able  and  up- 
right   statesman,  justly  accounted  one  of  the 
greatest  ministers    of  his  time,  retired   from 
office  at  the  age  of  eighty,  and  died  four  years 
afterwards  in  1783. — Aroui;.  Diet.  Hist. 

TAPLI-N  (WILLIAM)  an  eminent  veteri- 
nary surgeon,  who  died  in  London  in  January 
1807.  He  was  one  of  the  first  scientific  culti- 
vators of  the  veterinary  art  in  England,  and 
he  contributed  by  his  writings  not  a  little  to  its 
improvement.  His  principal  publications  are, 
"  The  Gentleman's  Stable  Directory, or  the  Mo- 
dern System  of  Farriery,"  1790,  2  vols.  8vo  ; 
"  Practical  Observations  upon  Thorn  Wounds, 
Punctured  Tendons,  and  Ligamentary  Lame- 
ness in  Horses,  with  Instructions  for  their 
Treatment  and  Cure,"  8vo;  and  "A  Com- 
pendium of  Experimental  Farriery,  originally 
suggested  by  Reason  and  confirmed  by  Prac- 
tice," 1796,  8vo.  He  also  published  a  tract 
on  the  Preservation  of  Game  ;  and  other 
pieces  of  no  permanent  importance.  He  is  said 
to  have  been  deranged  in  the  latter  part  of  his 
life,  owing  to  domestic  misfortunes. — Biog. 
Urdu. 

TARGIONI  TOZETTI  (GIOVANNI)  an 
eminent  Italian  physician  and  naturalist,  was 
born  at  Florence  in  1712,  in  which  city  his 
father  also  practised  medicine  with  distinction. 
He  studied  at  Pisa,  where  he  took  the  degree 
of  MD.,  and  on  the  death  of  Micheli  suc- 
ceeded him  in  the  directorship  of  the  botanical 
garden  at  Florence,  and  was  also  nominated 
professor  of  botany  in  the  Florentine  college. 
He  repaid  those  honours  by  drawing  up,  in 
junction  with  Cocchi,  a  catalogue  of  the  famous 
library  which  Magliabecchi  bequeathed  to  the 
public,  and  was  in  consequence  made  librarian 
to  the  grand  duke.  In  1778  he  published 
Micheli's  catalogue  of  plants  in  the  Florentine 
garden,  to  which  he  added  an  appendix,  con- 
sisting of  a  description  of  many  rare  plants 
native  and  foreign.  He  also  made  several 
scientific  excursions,  of  which  he  published 
the  results  in  a  work  entitled  "  llelazioni 
d'alcune  Viaggi  fatte  in  diverse  Parte  della 
Toscana,  per  observar  le  Produzioni  Naturali 
et  gli  Antichi  Monument!  d'  esse,"  Fiorenze, 
17.51,  8vo.  He  likewise  wrote  several  able 
medical  treatises,  including  a  dissertation  on 
the  vegetables  which  may  be  profitably  sub- 
stituted for  bread.  He  died  in  1783,  aged 
seventy-one. — Halleri  Bibl.  Botan. 

TARLETON  (RICHARD)  a  dramatic  per- 


T  AR 

former  and  author  of  the  age  of  Elizabeth, 
celebrated  as  a  humourist,  whose  witticisms 
are  often  quoted  in  the  eailier  jest  books.  He 
was  a  native  of  Condover  in  Shropshire,  and 
was  originally  attached  to  a  company  of  come- 
dians iu  the  occasional  employ  of  the  earl  of 
Leicester.  Tradition  states  him  to  have  enacted 
the  character  of  judge  in  the  old  play  of 
Henry  V,  now  lost,  and  to  have  been  admitted 
among  "  the  queene's  players  "  in  1383.  The 
only  composition  ascribed  to  him,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  facetiae  already  alluded  to,  is  an 
interlude,  entitled  the  "  Seven  Deadly  Sins." 
He  is  said  to  have  died  in  1589. — Biug.  Dram. 
TARQUIJSiIUS,  surnamed  Priscus,  fifth 
king  of  Rome,  was  the  son  of  a  wealthy  mer- 
chant of  Corinth,  who  settled  at  Tarquinii  iu 
Etruria.  He  married  a  woman  of  high  birth, 
named  Tanaquil,  who  perceiving  that,  not- 
withstanding her  husband's  great  riches,  he 
could  obtain  no  rank  in  Etruria,  urged  him 
to  repair  to  Rome.  He  accordingly  procured 
himself  to  be  admitted  a  Roman  citizen,  and 
changed  his  name  from  Lucumon  Demanttus  to 
Lucius  Tarquinius.  By  his  address  he  in- 
gratiated himself  both  with  the  king  Ancus 
Martius,  and  the  people,  and  the  former  con- 
ferred on  him  the  guardianship  of  his  two 
sons.  These  he  superseded  on  their  father's 
death,  and  procured  by  bribes  and  solicitations 
the  suffrages  of  the  people  for  himself.  His 
first  step,  when  king,  was  to  admit  two  hun- 
dred plebeians  into  the  senate,  after  which  lie 
engaged  in  a  war  with  the  Latins,  and  having 
finally  defeated  a  confederacy  between  them 
and  the  Sabines  and  Etrurians,  obliged  them 
to  sue  for  peace  on  terms  of  dependence.  For 
this  success  he  was  honoured  with  a  triumph, 
and  he  employed  the  spoils  of  war  in  erecting 
the  Circus  Waximns,  for  the  exhibition  of  the 
great,  or  Roman  games.  A  confederacy  of  all 
the  Etrurian  tribes  against  the  Romans  fol- 
lowed, which  after  a  war  of  nine  years'  dura- 
tion, terminated  in  the  Etiurians  acknow- 
ledging him  for  their  sovereign.  The  suc- 
ceeding interval  of  repose  was  employed  by 
Tarquin  in  improving  the  city  of  Rome, 
which  he  enclosed  with  walls  of  hewn  stone  ; 
and  constructed  for  the  purposes  of  health  and 
cleanliness,  those  celebrated  sewers,  which 
even  at  the  summit  of  the  Roman  splendour 
were  not  viewed  without  admiration.  A  new 
war  breaking  out  with  the  Sabines,  being  pre- 
vented by  the  superstitious  attachment  of  the 
Romans  to  the  arrangements  of  Romulus  from 
increasing  the  number  of  his  divisions  of  ca- 
valry, he  augmented  the  strength  of  each,  and 
obliged  the  Sabines  to  purchase  peace  by  tiie 
surrender  of  all  their  fortresses.  Tarquin, 
who  had  vowed  a  temple  to  Jupiter,  Juno, 
and  Minerva,  now  laid  its  foundation  in  the 
Tarpeian  rock,  and  thus  founded  the  principal 
seat  of  the  Roman  religion.  He  had  iu 
the  course,  of  a  long  and  prosperous  reign 
reached  his  eightieth  year,  when  the  sons  of 
Ancus,  finding  by  the  mairiage  of  his  daughter 
with  Servius  Tullius,  that  a  design  existed  to 
peipetuate  the  sovereignty  in  his  family,  pro- 
cured bis  assassination  at  the  gate  of  his  own 


T  A  R 

palace,  whither  he  was  inveigled  by  a  pro- 
tended brawl.  lie  was  struck  on  the  lit  ad 
with  a  hatchet,  but  the  wound  not  proving 
mortal  on  the  spot,  his  queen  Tanaqml  kept 
his  death  a  secret  until  the  succession  was  se- 
cured to  her  son-in-law.  At  the  same  time, 
the  conspiracy  of  the  sons  of  Ancus  being  de- 
tected, they  went  into  voluntary  banishment. 
Thus,  BC.  570,  perished  the  elder  Tarquin, 
undoubtedly  one  of  the  most  illustrious  of  the 
Roman  kinjjs,  both  in  peace  and  war. — Dionys. 
Ha  Hear.  Univ.  Hist. 

TAHQUINIUS,  named  Superbus,  or  the 
Proud,  is  supposed  to  have  been  grandson  to 
Tarquinius  Priscus.  When  grown  to  matu- 
rity, Servius  Tullius  married  his  two  daugh- 
ters to  the  brothers  Aruns  and  Tarquin  ;  the 
latter  of  whom  was  violent  and  ambitious, 
while  liis  brother  was  mild  and  unaspiring.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  same  character  was  re- 
versed in  their  respective  wives.  The  tragical 
deaths  of  Aruns  and  the  wife  of  Tarquin,  and 
a  criminal  union  between  the  latter  and  his  sis- 
ter-in-law Tullia,  followed,  and,  finally,  the 
most  unnatural  murder  of  Servius,  and  the  ac- 
cession of  Tarquin  to  the  sovereignty,  BC.  534. 
As  he  acquired  the  throne  by  a  party,  he  act- 
ed as  an  arbitrary  monarch,  never  communica- 
ting with  the  senate  or  the  people,  but  sup- 
porting his  usurpation  by  a  baud  of  foreign 
mercenaries.  Among  the  victims  of  his  sus- 
picion and  avarice  was  Marcus  Junius,  a 
wealthy  patrician,  whom  he  caused  to  be  as- 
sassinated, as  also  one  of  his  sons  ;  the  other, 
the  celebrated  Junius  Brutus,  escaping  the 
same  fate  by  counterfeiting  idiocy.  To  avoid 
similar  danger,  many  of  the  principal  senators 
went  into  voluntary  banishment,  and  the  ple- 
beians, who,  in  the  first  instance,  were  pleased 
with  their  humiliation,  soon  found  the  yoke 
press  as  hardly  on  themselves,  all  public  as- 
semblies, whether  for  business  or  pleasure, 
being  prohibited.  Conscious  of  the  odium  un- 
der which  he  laboured  at  Home,  Tarquin  poli- 
tically ingratiated  himself  with  the  allies,  and 
laid  the  foundation  of  a  confederacy  and  of  an 
annual  assembly,  in  which,  as  the  Romans  took 
the  lead,  essentially  contributed  to  the  exten- 
sion of  their  dominion  in  Italy.  Fje  subse- 
quently undertook  war  against  such  of  the 
Volscians  as  had  rejected  his  alliance,  as  also 
against  the  Sabines,  and  was  victorious  in  both 
instances.  Returning  to  Rome,  he  twice  tri- 
umphed, and  there  employed  the  idle  popu- 
lace in  finishing  the  great  circus  and  sewers 
commenced  by  his  grandfather.  It  was  in  the 
reign  of  this  Tarquin  that  the  Sibylline  books 
were  brought  to  Rome,  where  they  were  for 
many  years  resorted  to  for  purposes  of  super- 
stition or  state  policy.  lie  had  also  the  glory 
of  completing  the  Capitoline  temple.  His 
next  warlike  enterprise  was  the  siege  of  Ar- 
dea,  the  capital  of  the  Rutuli.  This  circum- 
stance was  the  remote  cause  of  that  brutal 
treatment  of  Lucretia,  which  led  to  the  e.vpul 
sion  of  himself  and  family,  the  particulars  of 
which  have  been  already  related  in  the  articles 
BRUTUS  and  LUCRETIA.  Brutus  skilfully  em- 
ploying the  passion  excited  in  the  people  by 


TAR 

the  unhappy  fate  of  Lucretia,  procured  a  pub- 
lic decree  for  the  banishment  of  Tarquin  and 
his  sons  ;  and  the  army  stationed  before  Ardea 
concurring  in  the  resolution,  the  king,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-six,  BC.  539,  was  obliged  to 
abandon  his  capital  and  take  refuge  in"  Ktru- 
ria.  Various  attempts  were  made  by  his  party 
at  Rome  to  procure  his  restoration,  in  which 
even  the  sons  of  Brutus  engaged  ;  but  they 
were  all  rendered  abortive.  The  Tarquins  were 
even  enabled  to  interest  some  of  the  neighbour- 
ing states  in  their  favour,  and  a  battle  was 
fought,  in  which  Aruns,  one  of  the  sons  of  Tar- 
quin, and  Brutus  fell  by  mutual  wounds.  Por- 
senna,  king  of  the  Clusini,  an  Etrurian  tribe, 
invested  Rome  in  their  behalf,  but  discover- 
ing treachery  in  their  conduct,  he  timely 
renounced  their  cause.  The  Latins  also  took 
arms  in  their  favour,  and  were  backed  by  a 
dangerous  conspiracy  in  Rome  itself,  but  the 
genius  of  the  new  republic  finally  triumphed 
over  all  its  enemies.  Tarquin  at  length,  hav- 
ing seen  all  his  sons  perish  in  the  field,  retired 
to  Cumffi,  where  he  died  in  the  ninetieth  year 
of  his  age  and  the  fourteenth  of  his  exile.  He 
appears  to  have  been  a  man  of  considerable 
energy  and  talent  for  command,  but  violent, 
cruel,  and  altogether  unprincipled. — Livy. 
Diimi/s.  Halicar.  Univ.  Hist. 

TARIN  (PIERRE)  an  eminent  French  phy- 
sician of  the  last  century,  whose  medico-chi- 
rurgical  writings  have  procured  him  consider- 
able celebrity  among  the  faculty.  The  prin- 
cipal and  most  approved  of  these  are  his  "  Ana- 
tomical Dictionary,"  4to  ;  "  Adversaria  Ana- 
tomica,"  4to  ;  "Art  of  Dissecting,"  12mo,  2 
vols.  ;  "  Osteographia,"  4to  ;  "  A  Description 
of  the  Muscles,"  4to  ;"  On  Ligaments,"  and 
"  Observations  on  Medicine  and  Surgery," 
12mo,  3  vols.  He  was  a  native  of  Courtenai, 
but  the  time  of  his  birth  is  uncertain  ;  his 
death  took  place  in  1761. — Biog.  Univ. 

TARTAGLIA  (NICHOLAS)  whose  name  is 
also  sometimes  spelt  Tartalea,  an  eminent  ma- 
thematician of  Brescia,  who  flourished  about 
the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century.  lie  was 
the  author  of  a  variety  of  useful  works  con- 
nected witli  his  favourite  science,  especially 
of  an  Italian  translation  of  the  twelve  books  of 
Euclid,  with  notes,  printed  in  1543,  folio  ;  a 
treatise  on  "  Numbers  and  Measures,"  folio, 
1556  ;  "  Quesiti  et  Invention!  diversi,"  and  a 
tract  on  the  art  of  gunnery,  entitled  "  Nova 
Scientia  inventa."  He  lived  to  an  advanced 
age,  and  died  about  the  year  1557. — Tira- 
boschi. 

TARTINI  (GIUSEPPE)  an  admirable  Ita- 
lian musician  and  composer,  a  native  of  Pirano 
in  the  province  of  Istria,  where  he  was  born 
in  1692.  His  father,  a  rich  citizen  of  Parenza, 
ennobled  for  bis  liberal  benefactions  to  the 
church,  gave  him  an  expensive  education, 
with  the  view  of  qualifying  him  to  follow  the 
law  as  his  profession,  and  had  him  also  in- 
structed in  all  the  lighter  accomplishments  of 
a  gentleman,  in  which,  especially  in  the  use  of 
the  small  sword,  he  made  a  great  proficiency. 
Among  them  music  was  not  forgotten,  but  it 
was  not  till  bis  attachment  loan  unworthy  ob- 


T  AS 

jecl,  which  terminating  in  a  marriage,  alien- 
ated from    him  the  affections   of  his  friends, 
thai,  he  thought  of  making  it  conducive  to  his 
support.     The  interest  of  an  ecclesiastic  con- 
nected with  the  family  procured   him  a  situa- 
tion in  the  orchestra  of  his  convent,  where  an 
accident  discovering  his  retreat,  matters  were 
at  length  accommodated,  and  lie  was  enabled 
to  settle  with   his  wife  at  Venice.     Here  the 
example  of  the  celebrated  Veracini  excited  in 
him  the  strongest  emulation  ;  and  he   is  said 
to  have  retired  to  Ancona  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  being  able    to    practise  on    the  violin    in 
greater  tranquillity   than  circumstances,   and 
especially  his  wife's  temper,   allowed  him  to 
enjoy  at  Venice.     While   thus    occupied,  he 
discovered  in  1714  the  phenomenon  of  "  the 
third  sound,"  i.e.  the  resonance  of  a   third 
note  when  the  two  upper  notes  of  a  chord  are 
sounded ;  and  after  seven  year's  hard  prac- 
tice obtained,  without  solicitation,  the  distin- 
guished situation  of  leader  of  the  orchestra  in 
the   cathedral  of  St  Anthony  at  Padua.     In 
this  capacity  he  continued  to  act  till  the  day 
of  his  decease,  with  a  constantly  increasing 
Teputation,  and  declining,  from  a  remarkable 
species  of  devotion  to  his  patron  saint,  many 
advantageous  offers  both  from  Paris  and  Lon- 
don.    A  singular  story  respecting  one  of  his 
most  celebrated  compositions  is  told  on   the 
authority  of  M.  de  Lalande.    One  night  in  the 
year    1713  he  dreamed  that  he  had   made  a 
compact  with  the  devil,  and  bound  him  to  his 
service.      In   order  to  ascertain  the   musical 
abilities  of  his  new  associate  he  gave  him  his 
violin,  and  desired  him,  as  the  first  proof  of  his 
obedience,  to  play  him  a  solo,  which,   to  his 
great  surprise,  Satan  executed  with  such  sur- 
passing sweetness  and  in  so  masterly  a  man- 
ner, that  awaking  in  the  ecstacy  which  it  pro- 
duced,  he.    sprang  out  of  bed,  and  instantly 
seizing  his  instrument,    endeavoured  to  recal 
the  delicious  but  fleeting  sounds.  Although  not 
attended  with  the  desired  success,  his  efforts 
were  yet  so  far  effectual   as  to  produce  the 
piece  since  generally  admired,  under  the  name 
of  "  The   Devil's  Sonata  ;"  still  the  produc- 
tion was  in  his  own  estimation   so  inferior  to 
that  which  he  had  heard  in   his  sleep,  as  to 
cause  him  to  declare,  that  could  he  have  pro- 
cured a  subsistence  in  any  other  line  of  life, 
he  should  have  broken   his  violin  in  despair, 
and  renounced  music  for  ever.     Besides  the 
musical    compositions   of  Tartini,   which    are 
numerous,  and  among  which  two  books,  con- 
taining more    than    fifty  sonatas,   have    been 
printed  in  England,   he  was  the  author  of  se- 
veral  treatises  on  the  science,   published  at 
Padua,  Venice,  and  Naples,  about  the  years 
1754  and  1767  ;  besides  some  which,  accord- 
ing   to   Fanzago,   yet   remain  in  manuscript. 
The  death  of  this   celebrated  musician  took 
place  at  Padua   in   1770. — Burney's  Hist,  of 
Mus.    B'wg.  Diet,  of  Mus. 

TASMAN  (ABEL  JANSEN)  a  Dutch  navi- 
gator and  geographical  discoverer  in  the  17th 
century.  He  was  employed  by  the  Dutch 
East  India  Company,  under  whose  directions 
'iiree  vessels  were  fitted  out  at  Batavia,  and 


T  A  S 

the  command  of  them  given  to  captain  Tasman, 
who  set  sail  on  his  expedition  of  discovery  on 
the  5th  of  September,  1642.  The  first  fruits 
of  this  enterprise  was  the  discovery  of  that 
part  of  New  Holland  called  Van  Diemen's 
Land,  where  the  navigators  landed  November 
24,  and  proceeded  again  on  their  voyage  the 
5th  of  December.  On  the  13th  of  the.  same 
month,  Tasman  saw  the  islands  of  New  Zea- 
land, where  his  vessels  were  attacked  by  the 
savage  inhabitants,  which  circumstance  pre- 
vented him  from  landing.  After  visiting  se- 
veral islands  in  the  South  Sea,  some  of  which 
were  previously  unknown,  he  arrived  at  Ba- 
tavia, June  15,  1643,  having  sailed  round  the 
southern  hemisphere  of  the  globe.  The  Dutch 
East  India  Company  considered  it  a  point  of 
wise  policy  to  prevent  the  publication  of  any 
account  of  this  voyage  ;  but  a  map  or  chart  of 
the  discoveries  of  Tasman  was  preserved  at  the 
Stadthouse  at  Amsterdam,  and  at  length  Dirk 
Rembrandts  published  an  extract  from  the 
journal  of  this  enterprising  seaman,  which  has 
appeared  in  many  geographical  compilations. — 
Barrow's  Collection  of  Voyages  and  Discoveries, 
vol.  ii. 

TASSIE  (JAMES)  a  very  ingenious  model- 
er, was  born  of  obscure  parents  in  the  neigh- 
)ourhood  of  Glasgow,  and  began  life  in  the 
mmble    condition  of   a  country   stonemason. 
On   a  visit   to  Glasgow,    having   obtained  a 
sight  of  the  collection  of  pain  tings  made  by  the 
eminent  printers  the  Foulises,  for  the  purpose 
of  establishing  an  academy,  he  was  prompted 
:o  remove   to   that  city,   in  order  to  obtain  a 
knowledge  of  drawing  at  the  infant  academy, 
though  still   obliged   to  follow   stone-cutting 
'or  a  maintenance.     Repairing  to  Dublin  for 
employment,  he  became  acquainted  with  Dr 
Quin,   a  physician,  who  was   amusing  his  lei- 
sure with  attempts  to  imitate  precious  stones 
with  coloured  pastes,  and  to  take  off  impres- 
sions of  the  antique   sculptured  gems,  an  art 
practised  in   France  and   Italy  with  great  se- 
cresy.     The  doctor  finding  in  Tassie  the  qua- 
lities   of   modesty,    patience,    and  integrity, 
united  with  a  fine  natural  taste,  took  him  as  an 
assistant ;  and  their  attempts  being  successful, 
when  the  discovery  was  completed  generously 
enabled  Tassie    to    proceed    to   London,    and 
adopt  as  a  profession,  for  his  own  benefit,  the 
business  of  making  these  paste  gems.     He  ac- 
cordingly came  to  London  in  1766,  where  he 
long  struggled  with  difficulties,  which  by  pa- 
tience and  perseverance  he  finally  surmounted  ; 
and  emerging  from  obscurity,  acquired  both 
money  and  reputation.     At  length  his  name 
became  so  much  respected,  that  the  first  cabi- 
nets in   Europe  were  open   to  his  use.     The 
first  catalogue  of  his  gems  was  published  in 
1775,  8vo  ;  but  such  was  his  progress,  that  a 
new  edition  was   subsequently    published  in 
2  vols.  4to.     Many  of  his  pastes  were  sold  on 
the  continent  for  real  gems  ;  and  several  vears 
before  his  death  he  executed  a  commission  for 
the   empress  of  Russia,    consisting  of  fifteen 
hundred  engravings,  which  he  afterwards  aug- 
mented to  twenty  thousand.   lie  likewise  prac- 
tised modelling    portraits  in  wax,  which  La 


T  A  S 

moulded  and  cast  in  paste.  In  private  life  he 
was  universally  esteemed  for  the  modesty,  be- 
nevolence, and  simplicity  of  his  character.  He 
died  in  1799. 

TASSIN  (RENE  PROSPER)  a  French  writer, 
who  belonged  to  the  congregation  of  St  Maur. 
He  was  a  native  of  Loulai,  in  the  di6ce.se  of 
Coutances  ;  and  died  in  Paris,  in  1777,  aged 
eighty.  Father  Tassin  deserves  notice  for  his 
labours  in  illustrating  the  literary  history  of 
his  order  and  other  subjects  connected  with  his 
profession.  He  published  "  Dissertation  sur 
les  Hymnographes,"  8vo  ;  "  Notice  des  MSS. 
de  1'Eglise  de  Rouen,"  12mo  ;  "  Defense  des 
Titres  et  des  Droits  de  1'Abbaye  de  St  Ouen, 
a  Rouen,  "  4to  ;  and  "  Histoire  Litteraire  de 
la  Congregation  de.  St  Maur,"4to. — Biog.Univ. 

TASSO  (BERNARDO)  an  eminent  Italian 
poet  of  the  sixteenth  century,  who  may  be 
said  to  have  bequeathed  his  own  poetic  ta- 
lents to  his  son  Torquato,  the  celebrated  author 
of  the  "  Jerusalem  Delivered."  He  was  of 
a  respectable  family,  and  filled  the  situation  of 
secretary  to  San  Severino,  prince  of  Salerno. 
On  the  determination  of  the  Neapolitan  vice- 
roy to  introduce  the  tribunal  of  the  inquisition 
into  the  kingdom,  the  prince,  accompanied  by 
Tasso,  set  out  for  Vienna,  and  endeavoured  by 
a  personal  appeal  to  the  emperor  Charles  V 
to  prevent  so  obnoxious  a  measure.  He  expe- 
rienced, however,  the  fate  which  but  too  com- 
monly awaits  those  who,  relying  on  the  justice 
of  their  cause  and  the  integrity  of  their  mo- 
tives, do  not  sufficiently  calculate  on  the  over- 
whelming power  to  which  they  oppose  them- 
selves. His  condemnation  was  pronounced, 
and  he  together  with  his  secretary,  who  shared 
at  once  his  disgrace  and  sentence,  fled  to 
Rome,  in  order  to  avoid  the  punishment  de- 
nounced against  them  both.  Besides  the 
"  Amadis,"  a  poem  written  in  one  hundred 
cantos,  and  other  miscellaneous  metrical  effu- 
sions of  less  note,  Bernardo  Tasso  was  the 
author  of  a  variety  of  epistles  still  held  in  great 
esteem  by  his  countrymen  for  the  classical  ele- 
gance of  their  diction.  Of  the  poem  above- 
mentioned  the  first  edition  appeared  at  Ve- 
nice in  1560,  where  his  letters  also  appeared 
in  157-1.  The  latter  days  of  his  life  were 
passed  in  the  convent  of  St  Onofrio  at  Rome, 
where  he  died  in  1575. — Tiraboschi. 

TASSO  (TOHQUATO)  one  of  the  most  cele- 
brated names  in  Italian  poetry,  was  the  son  of 
the  preceding  Bernardo  Tasso,  and  of  Portia 
Rossi.  He  was  born  at  Sorrento,  on  the  11th 
of  March,  1544,  and  from  infancy  exhibited 
such  quickness  of  understanding,  that  at  the 
age  of  five  he  was  sent  to  the  Jesuits'  school 
at  Naples,  and  two  years  afterwards  he  recited 
verses  and  orations  of  his  own  composition. 
His  education  was  interrupted  by  the  misfor- 
tune which  obliged  his  father  to  quit  Naples  ; 
but  it  was  in  a  great  degree  compensated  by 
the  care  taken  of  him  at  Rome  by  a  friend  to 
the  family.  He  was  thence  removed  to  Ber- 
gamo, where  he  was  perfected  in  Greek  and 
Latin,  and  at  twelve  years  of  age  entered  at 
the  iiiiiversitv  of  Padua.  Here  he  pursued  his 
with  such  success,  that  in  his  seven- 


T  A  S 

teenth  year  he  was  honoured  with  degrees  in 
the  four  branches  of  civil  and  cauou  law,  theo- 
1  >^\,  and  philosophy.  His  extraordinary  abi- 
lities attracting  the  notice  of  the  vice -legate  o\ 
Bologna,  he  was  invited  to  that  city,  where 
he  gave  manv  proofs  of  his  abilities  ;  but  quit- 
ted it  in  disgust  in  consequence  of  an  afl'ront 
he  received  as  the  supposed  author  of  some 
defamatory  veraes.  He  retired  in  the  first 
instance  to  Castelvetro,  and  afterwards  re- 
turned to  Padua,  where  he  distinguished  him- 
self as  one  of  the  most  illustrious  of  the  aca- 
demicians named  Eretri.  At  the  age  of 
eighteen  he  had  published  at  Venice,  in  1.562, 
a  poem  of  the  romanesque  class,  entitled  "  Ri- 
naldo,"  which  he  dedicated  to  the  cardinal 
d'Este.  The  compliment  was  so  well  received, 
that  the  author  was  invited  iu  1566  to  the 
court  of  Ferrara,  and  so  splendidly  entertained 
and  provided  for,  that  he  had  full  leisure  to 
carry  on  his  noble  design  of  the  "  Gerusa- 
lemme  Liberata,"  of  which  he  had  conceived 
the  plan  so  early,  that  he  is  said  to  have  com- 
posed six  cantos  by  the  time  he  had  reached 
the  a<re  of  seventeen.  In  1571  he  accom- 

D 

panied  cardinal  d'Este  into  France,  where  he 
was  honourably  received  by  Charles  IX  and  al 
his  court.  He  returned  to  Italy  the  following 
'year,  when  he  caused  his  dramatic  pastoral  of 
"  Amiuta"  to  be  represented,  of  which  spe- 
cies of  composition  it  is  deemed  one  of  the  finest 
examples.  In  the  meau  time  separate  cautos 
of  the  Gerusalemme  got  into  print,  and  in  158  L 
three  editions  were  extant,  the  last  of  which 
may  he  regarded  as  that  which  first  exhibited 
the  poem  in  a  genuine  form.  It  has  caused 
some  surprise  that  Tasso  did  not  anticipate 
these  unauthorised  publications  by  one  under 
his  own  hand  ;  but  while  all  Italy  was  re- 
sounding with  his  fame,  the  poet  himself  was 
suffering  under  the  severest  of  mental  dis- 
tresses. The  story  of  the  unhappy  poet  at 
this  period  of  his  life  is  involved  in  great  ob- 
scurity, but  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  a 
mental  malady,  often  connected  with  keen 
sensibility  and  fervid  genius,  was  the  origin  of 
his  calamities.  According  to  Tiraboschi,  on 
the  credit  of  the  marquis  Manso,  who  derived 
the  particulars  from  the  poet  himself,  a  cour- 
tier having  betrayed  some  secrets  respecting 
his  amours,  his  resentment  induced  him  to  in- 
sult this  person  in  the  duke's  presence-cham- 
ber. The  consequence  of  this  conduct  was  a 
fray,  in  which  he  had  to  defend  himself  with 
his  sword,  not  only  against  his  enemy,  but  his 
three  brothers,  which  tumult  produced  the  ba- 
nishment of  the  brothers,  and  the  confinement 
of  Tasso  himself  to  his  apartment.  This  event 
is  said  to  have  taken  place  in  his  thirty-third 
year.  Being  apprehensive  of  worse  treatment, 
he  made  his  escape,  and  wandered  on  foot  to 
Turin,  where  he  was  received  with  great  ho- 
nour. He  then  proceeded  to  Rome,  and  sub- 
sequently to  Sorrento,  where  he  spent  soiut 
months  with  a  married  sister,  and  then  rt  - 
turned  to  Ferrara,  but  had  scarcely  shown 
himself  at  court  before  he  withdrew  to  Urbino. 
By  the  advice  of  the  duke  of  Urbino,  he  h^w- 
ever  once  more  returned  to  Ferrara.  when  his 


T  AS 

disorder  of  mind  becoming-  manifest,  lie  was 
bhut  up  by  order  of  the  duke  Alfonso,  in  a 
part  of  the  monastery  of  St  Anne,  designed 
for  lunatics.  A  traditionary  story  attributes 
this  step  to  some  extravagancy  on  the  part  of 
the  poet,  evincing  an  amatory  attachment  to 
the  princess  Leonora,  the  duke's  sister,  in 
whose  praise  he  had  certainly  written  some 
very  warmly  toned  verses.  However  this 
might  have  been,  the  confinement  only  aggra- 
vated his  malady,  and  all  sorts  of  fantastical 
suspicions  and  apprehensions  filled  his  dis- 
ordered imagination.  At  the  same  time  the 
faculties  of  his  mind  in  other  respects  were  in 
full  vigour,  as  he  proved  by  his  writings  in  de- 
fence of  his  poem,  against  the  virulent  attacks 
of  inimical  criticism.  At  length  his  applica- 
tion to  various  quarters  for  aid,  produced  such 
'high  and  influential  solicitation  for  his  release, 
that  it  was  ultimately  granted  in  1586".  The 
following  year  he  was  seized  with  a  new  fit  of 
wandering,  in  which  he  took  so  little  care  to 
provide  himself  with  money,  that  he  was  more 
than  once  obliged  to  request  supplies  in  the 
way  of  alms.  Such  was  the  condition  of  the 
admired  author  of  the  "  Jerusalem  Delivered," 
the  favourite  of  princes,  and  boast  of  Italy  ; 
so  strongly  may  the  highest  gifts  of  intellect, 
and  the  most  favourable  circumstances  of  for- 
tune be  often  counteracted.  The  latter  years 
of  his  life  he  passed  partly  at  Rome  and  partly 
at  Naples,  with  the  exception  of  some  months, 
which  in  1590  he  spent  at  Florence.  His  last  ( 
retreat  was  with  cardinal  Aldobrandino  at 
Rome,  who  obtained  for  him  a  pension  from 
pope  Clement  VIII,  and  had  intended  to  pro- 
cure him  a  solemn  poetical  canonization  in  the  , 
capitol.  The  ceremony  being  however  de-  i 
layed  in  consequence  of  illness  on  the  part  of 
the  cardinal,  Tasso  was  himself  seized  with 
symptoms  which  announced  approaching  dis-  ' 
solution,  and  at  his  own  desire  being  removed 
to  the  monastery  of  St  Onofrio,  with  every  de-  ; 
monstration  of  sincere  piety  he  closed  his  life 
on  the  25th  of  April  1595,  at  the  age  of  fifty- 
one.  In  person  this  great  poet  was  tall  and 
•well  proportioned,  with  a  countenance  pale 
through  sickness  and  study.  His  forehead  was 
square  and  high,  his  head  large,  his  eyes  of  a 
deep  blue,  full,  and  piercing,  and  his  couute- | 
nance  altogether  noble  and  expressive.  His 
voice  was  clear  and  solemn,  he  spoke  with  de- 
liberation, and  in  conversation,  displayed  little  ] 
of  the  fire  which  animates  his  poetry.  The  ' 
works  of  Tasso  are  so  numerous,  that  it  is  asto-  j 
nishing  how  a  man  of  his  moderate  length  of 
life  and  unfortunate  tendencies  could  compose 
BO  much.  His  works  in  prose  consist  of  a  great 
number  of  treatises,  dialogues,  and  letters 
on  moral,  literary,  and  familiar  topics,  in 
which  he  displays  much  originality  and  pro- 
fundity, but  is  occasionally  too  subtle  and  re- 
fined. Of  his  poetry  the  "  Gerusalemme  Li- 
berata  "  undoubtedly  takes  the  lead,  and  by 
universal  consent  is  placed  among  the  few 
epics  which  rank  as  first-rate  productions  in 
that  noble  department  of  poetry.  His  subject 
is  singularly  adapted  for  lofty  narrative,  and 
with  little  exception  the  characters  are  well 
Bioc.  DICT, — Vol..  III. 


TAT 

drawn  and  supported  ;  the  fictions  stronglj 
conceived  ;  the  style  dignified,  and  the  versi- 
fication harmonious.  It  doubtless  betrays  se- 
veral faults  peculiar  to  the  author's  age  and 
country,  but  upon  the  whole  displays  no  small 
portion  of  taste  and  judgment  as  well  as  ge- 
nius.  Of  the  "  Aminta  "  it  is  only  necessary 
to  report,  that  it  has  always  delighted  tha 
lovers  of  Italian  poetry,  whether  natives  oi 
foreigners ;  while  his  "  Rime,"  or  miscel- 
laneous pieces,  are  regarded  both  in  style  and 
sentiment  as  among  the  finest  compositions  of 
their  kind.  His  "  Sette  Giornata,"  or  works 
of  seven  days,  and  other  devotional  pieces, 
also  bear  the  marks  of  genius,  although  writ- 
ten in  the  late  and  calamitous  period  of  his 
life.  The  abbe  Serassi  enumerates  no  fewer 
than  a  hundred  and  thirty-two  editions  of 
Tasso,  the  best  of  which,  in  the  opinion  of 
Mr  Black,  is  that  of  Venice,  12  vols.  4to. 
The  "  Jerusalem  Delivered  "  has  been  trans- 
lated into  English  by  Fairfax  and  Hoole ; 
and  the  "Aminta"  by  Mr  Leigh  Hunt.— Life 
by  Black.  Tirabnschi. 

TASSONI  (ALESSANDUO)  a  poet  of  Mo- 
dena,  equally  admired  for  the  elegance  of  his 
composition  and  the  delicacy  of  his  humour. 
He  was  born  in  1565,  and  being  left  an  or- 
phan, was  taken  at  an  early  age  into  the  house- 
hold of  the  cardinal  Colonna,  in  quality  of  his 
eminence's  secretary.  He  subsequently  occu- 
pied a  similar  post  in  the  service  of  the  duke 
of  Savoy,  which  again  he  quitted  for  that  of 
his  native  prince.  A  war  carried  on  between 
Modena  and  the  Bolognese  gave  rise  to  his 
most  celebrated  poem,  a  mock  heroic,  entitled 
"  Secchia  Ilapita,"  or  "  The  Rape  of  the 
Bucket,"  which  has  gone  through  several  edi- 
tions, and  is  deemed  by  the  Italians  the  most 
finished  specimen  in  existence  of  that  peculiar 
species  of  composition,  not  to  mention  its  title 
to  having  furnished  hints  for  the  Lutrin  of 
Boileau,  and  The  Rape  of  the  Lock  of 
Pope.  His  other  writings  are  "  Observations 
on  Petrarch,"  in  which  he  lashed  the  eternal 
imitations  of  that  poet,  which  ultimately  pro- 
duced his  humorous  piece  entitled  "  J,a 
Tendaressa  Riposta  di  Girolamo  Nomisenti ;" 
an  Ecclesiastical  History  ;  and  "  Pensieri  di- 
versi."  The  will  of  Tassoni  is  also  regarded 
as  a  genuine  piece  of  humour.  I  Us  death  took 
place  in  163  >. — Memoir  by  Walker. 

TATE  (FRANCIS)  an  English  lawyer  and 
antiquary,  was  the  son  of  Bartholomew  1'ate, 
of  Delapre  in  Northamptonshire,  where  he 
was  born  in  1560.  He  received  his  academi- 
cal education  at  Magdalen  college,  Oxford, 
and  on  leaving  the  university  studied  at  the 
Middle  Temple  ;  and  after  admission  to  the 
bar  acquired  great  reputation  as  a  lawyer.  He 
had  a  seat  in  parliament  during  the  latter  end 
of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  and  in  the  fifth  year 
of  James  was  made  a  Welsh  judge.  He  ac- 
quired great  reputation  as  a  Saxon  scholar  and 
antiquary,  and  left  various  MSS.  behind  him 
on  legal  antiquities,  the  fate  of  which  is  un 
known,  but  the  following  have  been  printed  in 
Grose's  "  Collectanea  Curiosa,"  "  The  Anti- 
quity, Uses,  and  Privileges  of  Cities,  Bo- 

m 


TAT 

roughs  and  Towns  ;"  "  The  Antiquity,  Use, 
and  Ceremonies  of  Lawful  Combats  in  Eng- 
land." Hearne's  Curious  Discourses  also 
contain  the  following:  "  Of  Knights  made  by 
Abbots  ;"  "  Questions  about  the  Ancient  Bri- 
€.ons  ;"  "  Of  the  Antiquity  of  Arms  in  Eng- 
land ;"  "  Of  the  Antiquity,  Variety,  and  Ce- 
remonies of  Funerals  in  England  ;"  "  The 
Antiquity,  Authority,  and  Succession  of  the 
Jli'^h  Steward  of  England." — Athen.  Oxon. 

•Ircini'iiliiiriii,  vol.  i. 

TATE  (.NAIIUM)  an  English  poet,  who 
flouiished  about  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
;uul  the  commencement  of  the  following  cen- 
tury. His  father,  Dr  Faithful  Tate,  resided 
in  Dublin,  where  he  was  born  about  the  year 
iii.'v.'  ;  and  after  receiving  a  classical  education 
at  Trinity  college  in  that  metropolis,  came  to 
London,  where  he  obtained  the  patronage  of 
ill.'  carl  of  Doisot  and  the  friendship  of  John 
Dryden.  The  countenance  of  his  noble  patron 
was  the  more  useful  to  him  on  account  of  the 
narrowness  of  his  circumstances,  which  ex- 
posed him  to  much  mortification  and  inconve- 
nience. The  death  of  Shadwell  at  length  made 
an  opening  for  him,  and  the  interest  of  his 
friends  procured  him  the  situation  of  poet 
laureate  to  William  III.  This  post  he  held 
through  that  and  the  succeeding  reign,  and  he 
even  lived  long  enough  to  write  the  first  birth- 
day ode  (his  best  composition  of  the  kind)  on 
George  I  ;  soon  after  which  he  died,  at  his 
apartments  in  the  Mint,  whither  he  had  re- 
tired from  his  creditors,  August  12,  1715.  As 
a  dramatic  writer  he  is  principally  remembered 
by  his  alterations  of  some  of  Shakspeare's  tra- 
gedies, of  which  his  Lear  alone  kept  possession 
of  the  stage  till  of  late  the  old  catastrophe, 
which  he  had  rendered  a  happy  one,  has  been 
restored.  He  was  also  the  author  of  "  Brutus 
of  Alba,"  a  tragedy  acted  in  1678  ;  "  Duke 
and  no  Duke,"  a  farce,  1684  ;  and  some  other 
dramatic  pieces,  exhibiting  little  genius  and 
less  invention,  but  it  is  by  his  metrical  version 
of  the  Psalms  of  David,  executed  in  conjunc- 
tion with  Dr  Nicholas  Brady,  and  commonly 
affixed  to  the  liturgy  of  the  church  of  England, 
that  his  name  is  now  principally  known.  Se- 
veral elegies  and  other  occasional  pieces  also 
proceeded  from  his  pen. — Gibber's  Lives. 

TATIAN,  a  Syrian  rhetorician,  converted 
to  Christianity  by  Justin  Martyr,  whom  he 
followed  to  Rome  in  the  latter  part  of  the  se- 
cond century.  After  the  death  of  Justin  the 
opinions  of  his  proselyte  took  a  tendency  to- 
wards those  of  Marcion,  with  whom  he  was 
contemporary  ;  but  differing  from  that  here- 
siarch  in  some  material  points,  he  became  the 
head  of  a  sect  of  followers  of  his  own,  who 
acquired  the  appellation  of  Enrratitas  and 
Hydroparastata?,  from  the  abstinence  which 
they  enjoined  from  wine  and  animal  food,  and 
their  substitution  of  water  for  the  former  in 
the  administration  of  the  Eucharist.  There  is 
yet  extant  an  Addres  to  the  Greeks  of  his 
composition,  of  which  an  edition  appeared  in 
!?()()  at  Oxford,  in  one  volume  duodecimo. — 
(.'mi'.  Hi-iic!:i-r. 

TAT1SC1IEF  (VASSII.I)  the  name  of  aRus- 


T  AU 

sian  author  of  the  last  century,  who  spent 
thirty  years  of  his  life  in  collecting  materials 
for  a  history  of  that  vast  empire,  which  he 
had  partially  succeeded  in  reducing  into  the 
shape  of  a  chronicle,  when  his  death  in  17.">(> 
prevented  him  from  the  completion  of  his  task. 
This  however  was  carried  into  execution  after 
his  decease  by  Muller,  who  taking  up  the 
thread  of  the  narrative  at  the  reign  of  Theo- 
dore Ivanovitz,  filled  three  duodecimo  vo- 
lumes with  his  continuation. — Coxe's  \Trav  Is 
in  Riasia. 

TATIUS  (ACHILLES)  a  Christian  bishop  of 
the  third  century,  born  at  Alexandria  in 
Egypt.  Prior  to  his  becoming  a  proselyte 
from  Paganism,  he  was  the  author  of  one  of 
the  earliest  Greek  romances  now  extant,  enti- 
tled "  The  Amours  of  Clitophon  and  Leu- 
cippe,"  of  which  there  is  a  translation  by  Cm- 
ceius.  Part  of  a  Commentary  on  the  "  De 
Spha;ra"  of  Aratus,  ascribed  to  him,  lias  come 
down  to  posterity,  and  has  been  translated  by 
Petavius.  This  prelate  is  occasionally  men- 
tioned both  by  Suidas  and  Photius. — TATIUS 
is  also  the  name  of  an  ancient  king  of  the  Sa- 
bines,  who  made  peace  with  the  Romans,  and 
shared  his  kingdom  with  Romulus,  but  was 
assassinated  six  years  afterwards  at  the  insti- 
gation of  his  colleague. — Vossius  de  Scient. 
Alnth.  Biog.  Unic. 

TAUBE  (FREDERICK  WILLIAM  von)  a  Ger- 
man writer,  was  the  son  of  Dr  Taube,  physi- 
cian to  queen  Caroline,  consort  of  George  IT, 
whom  he  accompanied  to  London,  where  the 
subject  of  this  article  was  born  in  1728.  He 
was  educated  at  the  university  of  Gottingen, 
where  he  applied  chiefly  to  the  study  of  juris- 
prudence. On  quitting  the  university  he  tra- 
velled into  Africa  and  America  ;  and  on  his 
return  practised  law  at  Gottingen,  where  per- 
ceiving but  little  prospect  of  advancement,  he 
proceeded  to  Vienna,  and  became  secretary  to 
baron  von  Molke,  privy  counsellor  to  the  em- 
peror, and  colonel  of  a  regiment  of  foot.  While 
in  this  situation  ,the  seven  years'  war  took 
place,  on  which  he  volunteered  into  the  army, 
which  he  subsequently  quitted  to  become  se- 
cretary to  count  von  Seilern,  imperial  ambas- 
sador to  the  court  of  London.  In  1766  he 
was  recalled  from  London,  and  made  secre- 
tary to  the  council  of  trade  at  Vienna.  1  It- 
was  afterwards  employed  by  the  emperor  in  a 
mission  to  Sclavonia  and  Transylvania,  and  on 
his  retuin  to  Vienna  was  ennobled,  and  ap- 
pointed a  member  of  the  government  of  Lower 
Austria.  He  died  in  1778,  aged  fifty.  His 
principal  works  are,  "  De  DiffVrcntiis  Juii.s 
Civilis  a  Juris  Nature  ;"  "  Thoughts  on  the 
present  State  of  our  Colonies  in  North  Ame- 
rica," London,  1766  ;  "  Historical  and  Poli- 
tical Sketch  of  the  Present  State  of  the  Eng- 
lish Manufactures,"  1774,  8vo  ;  "  History  of 
the  English  Trade,  Manufactures,  Colonies, 
and  Navigation  from  the  earliest  Periods  to 
1776,"  8vo  ;  "  Historical  and  Geographical 
Dc.-cription  of  the  Kingdom  of  Sclavonic  and 
Duchy  of  Syrmia,"  parts  I  and  II,  1777,  part 
111,  1778  ;  "  An  Account  of  vaiious  New 
Discoveries  made  in  the  Years  1776  and  1777 


T  A  V 

in  Sclavonia,  Syrmia,  and  the  Neighbouring 
Districts,"  Leipsic,  1777,  4to.  He  also  com- 
municated to  the  Royal  Society  of  London 
"  A  Short  Account  of  a  particular  Kind  of 
Torpedo  found  in  the  River  Danube,"  pub- 
lished in  the  Philosophical  Transactions  for 
1775.— Rees's  Cyclop. 

TAUBMAN  (FREDERIC)  a  German  author 
of  humble  origin,  but  considerable  ability  and 
deep  erudition.  He  was  a  native  of  Wonscisch 
in  Francouia,  bora  1565.  After  receiving  an 
excellent  education  at  Culmbach  and  Heilbrun 
he  settled  at  Wittemberg  in  1592,  and  ob- 
taining the  notice  of  the  prince  of  Saxony,  be- 
came through  his  interference  professor  of 
poetry  and  the  belles  lettres  in  that  univer- 
sity. His  principal  writings,  in  which  he  dis- 
plays much  critical  acumen,  are  two  Commen- 
.taries  on  the  works  of  Virgil  and  Plautus,  the 
latter  of  which  appeared  in  1605  ;  some  mis- 
cellaneous poems,  written  in  Latin  ;  and  a 
treatise  on  the  genius  and  construction  of  that 
language.  His  death  took  place  in  1613. — 
Melchior  Adam.  Kiceron. 

TAUSEN  (JOHN)  one  of  the  first  promoters 
of  the  Reformation  in  Denmark,  and  on  that 
account  styled  the  Danish  Luther.  He  was 
born  in  1499  in  the  island  of  Fyen,  where  his 
parents  were  peasants.  Having  gone  through 
his  school  education  he  embraced  the  monas- 
tic life,  and  entered  a  convent  of  the  order  of 
St  John  of  Jerusalem.  Being  allowed  a  pen- 
sion to  travel,  he  proceeded  to  Cologne,  Lou- 
vaine,  and  ^Yittemberg•,  where  he  studied  un- 
der Melancthon  ;  and  on  his  return  to  Den- 
mark was  made  professor  of  theology  at 
Copenhagen.  In  a  short  time,  however,  he 
was  recalled  to  his  convent,  wherein  after  a 
while  he  threw  away  disguise,  and  declared 
himself  a  Lutheran.  He  endured  some  perse- 
cution on  this  account,  but  in  1526  was  libe- 
rated from  confinement,  and  made  chaplain 
to  the  king.  The  people  now  flocked  to  hear 
him  from  all  quarters  ;  and  he  continued  to 
maintain  the  reformed  principles  with  zeal  and 
courage,  until  at  length  he  was  raised  to  the 
episcopal  chair  of  Ribe.  He  died  in  1561. 
Besides  an  improved  translation  of  the  Psalms 
he  wrote  various  theological  treatises  in  de- 
fence of  the  Reformation. — Munter's  Hist,  of 
the  Reformation  in  Denmark. 

TAUVRI  (DANIEL)  a  French  physician 
and  anatomist,  born  in  1669.  He  studied  his 
profession  under  bis  father  (who  was  a  physi- 
cian at  Laval)  after  which  he  went  to  Paris, 
and  then  to  the  university  of  Angers,  where 
he  took  the  degree  of  MD.  At  the  age  of 
eighteen  he  published  a  treatise  on  "  Rational 
Anatomy  ;"  and  settling  at  Paris,  he  became 
an  associate  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences.  He 
principally  distinguished  himself  by  a  contro- 
versy with  M.  Mery,  on  the  circulation  of 
blood  in  the  fo?tus  ;  on  which  occasion  he  pub- 
lished hi<"treatise  "  On  the  Generation  and 
Nourishment  of  the  Fa>tus,"  1700.  Tauvri 
died  soon  after,  in  the  beginning  of  1701, 
leaving  other  works  besides  those  just  men- 
tioned.—  Bing.  Univ. 

TAVANNES  (GASPATID    DE  SAULX  de) 


T  A  V 

marshal  of  France,  and  one  of  the  most  eminent 
commanders  of  his  day,  was  born  in  1509  of 
an  ancient  family  in  Burgundy.  He  was  in- 
troduced at  an  early  age  to  Francis  I,  who 
made  him  his  page,  in  which  capacity  he  at- 
tended that  monarch  when  captured  at  Pavia. 
He  afterwards  served  in  the  wars  of  Pied- 
mont, in  which  he  distinguished  himself  by 
acts  of  the  most  romantic  valour.  In  1542 
he  reduced  Rochelle,  which  had  revolted  on 
account  of  the  gabelle,  and  in  1544  had  a  con- 
siderable share  in  the  victory  of  Cerisolles.  In 
1552  he  was  made  marshal-de-camp,  and  be 
acted  with  such  courage  and  conduct  against 
the  imperialists,  that  he  was  honoured  with 
the  order  of  St  Michael.  He  assisted  in  1558 
at  the  captures  of  Calais  and  Thionville  ;  and 
during  the  civil  wars  of  Francis  II  and  Charles 
IX,  reduced  the  insurgents  of  Dauphiny  and 
Burgundy,  on  which  occasion  however  he  sul- 
lied his  reputation  by  great  cruelty,  especially 
to  the  Protestants.  He  was  afterwards  chief 
of  the  council  to  the  duke  of  Anjou,  and  had 
a  great  share  in  the  victories  of  Jarnac  and 
Montcontour.  For  his  services  he  was  re- 
compensed in  1570  with  the  staff  of  marshal 
of  France.  Brantome  represents  him  as  one  of 
the  principal  advisers  of  the  horrible  massacre 
of  St  Bartholomew,  and  asserts  that  on  that 
day  he  went  through  the  streets  of  Paris,  ex- 
claiming to  the  people,  "  Let  blood  !  let  blood ! 
physicians  say  that  bleeding  is  as  good  in 
August  as  in  May."  He  however  opposed 
the  design  of  including  the  king  of  Navarre  in 
the  massacre.  In  1573,  being  directed  by  the 
king  to  repair  to  the  siege  of  Rochelle,  he  was 
taken  ill  on  the  road,  and  died  at  his  castle  of 
Sully,  being  then  in  his  sixty-second  year. 
—His  son  WILLIAM,  who  also  distinguished 
himself  by  his  bravery  in  the  wars  of  the 
League,  composed  "Memoirs"  in  his  own 
name,  and  published  others  under  that  of  Ins 
father,  which  were  actually  written  by  his  bro- 
ther, JOHN  DE  SAULX,  marshal  of  France, 
who  died  in  1630. — JAMES  DE  SAULX,  grand- 
son to  the  first  marshal,  published  "  Memoirs 
on  the  Wars  of  the  Fronde." — Brantome. 
Noun.  Diet.  Hist. 

TAVERNER  (RICHARD)  a  polemic  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  who,  though  not  iu  holy 
orders,  obtained  from  Edward  VI  his  royal 
licence  to  preach  the  reformed  doctrines.  He 
was  a  native  of  Brisley,  Norfolk,  born  about 
the  year  1505,  and  received  his  education  both 
at  Cambridge  and  Oxford,  in  which  latter  uni- 
versity he  graduated  as  MA.  in  1530,  and 
subsequently  entered  at  the  Temple,  with  a 
view  to  following  the  law  as  a  profession. 
Taverner  held  a  Gresham  professorship,  and 
was  one  of  those  concerned  in  first  printing  an 
English  translation  of  vthe  Scriptures,  com- 
monly known  as  Matthew's  Bible,  which  occa- 
sioned his  temporary  imprisonment  by  Henry. 
He  survived  however  that  monarch  and  his 
two  immediate  successors,  and  lived  to  witness 
the  complete  establishment  of  the  Reforma- 
tion in  this  country.  His  death  took  place  in 
1575. — There  was  also  a  contemporary  of  bis, 
JOHN  TAVERNER,  like  himself  a  member  of 
T  2 


T  A  Y 

Cardinal  college  (now  Christchurch),  Oxford, 
who  was  an  eminent  musician,  but  is  now 
more  known  as  having,  like  his  na-mesake,  un- 
dergone, considerable  persecution  on  account 
of  his  religious  tenets.  Beiii'T  accused  in 

D  O 

company  with  John  Smith,  Frith,  and  others, 
of  holding  heretical  opinions,  he  was,  together 
with  his  companions,  thrown  into  a  dungeon 
under  the  college,  where  the  foul  air  actually 
suffocated  one  of  them,  while  another  only 
then  escaped  death  to  meet  it  in  a  more  ter- 
rible form  by  fire  in  Smithfield.  His  skill  in 
music  is  thought  to  have  proved  a  stronger 
advocate  for  Taverner  on  this  occasion  than 
his  innocence  of  the  facts  laid  to  his  charge. 
— Athen.  Own.  Bio^.  Brit. 

TA VERNIER  (JEAN  BAPTISTS)  baron 
d'Aubonne,  a  title  which  he  derived  from  an 
estate  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Geneva,  which 
his  success  in  mercantile  pursuits  enabled  him 
to  purchase.  lie  was  the  son  of  a  Dutch  mer- 
chant settled  at  Paris,  and  trading  largely  in 
charts  and  maps,  the  perusal  of  which  is  said 
to  have  first  inspired  his  son  with  the  strong 
propensity  for  tiavelling  which  he  afterwards 
indulged.  He  was  born  in  the  French  metro- 
polis about  the  year  1605,  and  before  he  had 
reached  his  twenty-first  year,  had  already  vi- 
sited a  considerable  portion  of  the  European 
continent.  He  subsequently  travelled  through 
Turkey,  Persia,  and  other  Eastern  countries, 
no  fewer  than  six  times  by  different  routes,  se- 
curing to  himself  considerable  commercial  ad- 
vantages by  trading  as  a  diamond  merchant, 
at  the  same  time  that  he  indulged  his  thirst 
for  making  himself  acquainted  with  the  man- 
ners and  customs  of  remote  nations.  Of  these 
his  journeys  he  gave  an  account  to  the  public, 
with  the  assistance  of  a  literary  friend,  whose 
services  from  a  defect  in  his  own  education  were 
found  necessary  to  reduce  into  shape  and  ar- 
arrange  the  mass  of  his  observations.  In  1(368, 
having  realized  a  large  fortune,  and  obtained  a 
patent  of  nobility  from  the  French  king,  he  re- 
tired to  his  newly-purchased  estate  in  the  Gene- 
vese  territories,  with  the  view  of  passing  the 
remainder  of  his  life  in  tranquillity.  The  mis- 
conduct of  a  nephew  whom  he  had  sent  to  the 
Levant  witli  a  cargo,  which  had  cost  him  up- 
wards of  222,000  livres,  by  injuring  his  pecu- 
niarv  resources,  altered  his  determination,  and 
induced  him  once  more  to  set  out  for  Russia 
for  the  purpose  of  recruiting  his  shattered 
finances.  He  succeeded  in  reaching  Moscow, 
the  ancient  capital  of  that  vast  empire,  but 
died  there  soon  after  his  arrival  in  the  summer 
of  1689.  His  travels,  of  which  there  is  an 
English  translation,  have  gone  through  several 
editions  in  the  original  French,  the  first  of 
which  appeared  at  Paris  in  three  quarto  vo- 
lumes, 1676.  They  have  since  been  printed 
in  six  volumes,  12mo. — Moreri.  Ring.  Univ. 

TAYLOR  (BROOK)  a  celebrated  philoso- 
pher and  mathematician,  was  born  at  Edmon- 
ton in  Middlesex,  August  28,  1685.  He  was 
the  son  of  John  Taylor,  esq.  of  Bifrons-house, 
Kent,  who  being  fond  of  music,  the  subject  of 
this  article  became  an  early  proficient  therein, 
as  also  very  skilful  with  his  pencil.  He  was 


T  A  V 

instructed  in  languages  and  the  mathematics 
under  a  private  tutor,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen 
was  entered  a  fellow  commoner  of  St  John's 
college,  Cambridge.  Here  he  applied  with 
great  assiduity  to  the  mathematics,  and  in  170,! 
wrote  his  treatise  "  On  the  Centre  of  Oscil- 
lation." The  following  year  he  took  his  de- 
gree of  BL,  and  in  1712  was  elected  a  fellow 
of  the  Royal  Society.  On  this  occasion  he 
presented  the  society  with  the  aforesaid  tr<  a- 
tise  "  On  the  Centre  of  Oscillation,"  and  two 
more  "  On  the  Ascent  of  Water  between  two 
Glass  Planes,"  and  "  On  the  Motion  of  a 
stretched  String."  In  1711  he  was  elected  to 

o 

the  office  of  secretary  to  the  society,  and  made 
doctor  of  laws  at  Cambridge.  In  1715  he 
published  his  "  Methodus  Incrementorum  ;" 
"  An  Account  of  an  Experiment  for  Dis- 
covering the  Laws  of  Magnetic  Attraction  ;" 

O  O 

and  his  celebrated  treatise  "  On  the  Prin- 
ciples of  Linear  Perspective."  In  1716  he 
paid  a  visit  to  Paris,  and  was  received  with 
great  distinction,  and  on  his  return  composed 
several  more  scientific  treatises,  which  were 
read  before  the  Royal  Society.  Intense  ap- 
plication having  impaired  his  health,  lie  pro- 
ceeded to  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  on  his  return 
appears  to  have  turned  his  thoughts  to  studies 
of  a  religious  nature.  He  did  not  however 
entirely  neglect  his  previous  pursuits,  but  im- 
proved his  book  on  linear  perspective,  anil 
wrote  in  defence  of  it  against  the  attacks  of 
John  Bernoulli,  who  deemed  it  too  abstruse. 
This  fault  has  since  been  obviated  in  a  work 
entitled  "  Dr  Brook  Taylor's  Perspective 
made  easy,  by  Joshua  Kirby,  Painter,"  a  pub- 
lication which  long  remained  the  manual  of 
students  and  dilettanti.  He  died  of  a  decline 
in  his  forty-first  year,  on  the  29th  of  December, 
1731.  He  left  behind  him  several  MSS.  one 
of  which,  entitled  "  Contemplation  Philoso- 
phica,"  was  printed  in  1793,  with  the  life  of 
the  author,  by  his  grandson,  sir  William 
Young.— Life  asubnve. 

TAYLOR  (JANK)  an  amiable  and  accom- 
plished female    writer,   born    September   23, 
1783,  in  London,  where  her  father,  a  highly 
respectable  artist,  then  resided.  While  scarcely 
emerged  from  infapcy,  she  was  perceived  to 
possess  a  vivid  imagination,  and  gave  evident 
indications  of  poetic  talent,  which   her  riper 
years  did  not  fail  to  fulfil.     Mr  Taylor,  a  dis- 
senter from  the  church  of  England,  having  ac- 
cepted an  invitation  in  1792  from  a  congrega- 
tion of  his  own  persuasion  at  Colchester,  to 
[officiate  as  their  pastor,  carried  his  daughters 
thither  with  him,  and  continued  to  superintend 
;  their  education,  teaching   them    his   own  art 
,  as  an  engraver,  with  a  view  to  their  making  it 
|  their  profession.     It  was  in  the  intervals  be- 
j  tween  these   pursuits  that  Miss  Taylor  began 
j  to  commit  the  effusions  of  her  genius  to  writ- 
ing ;  and  a  visit  to  London  in  130'J  introducing 
:  her  to  the  society  of  some  young  females  of 
congenial  disposition   and  talent,  she,  as  well 
as  her  sister,  was  induced  to  join  them  in  con- 
tiibuting   to   the  "  Minor's  Pocket  Book,"  a 
small    publication,    in   which   her  first   work, 
"  The  Beggar  Boy,"  appeared  in  1804.    The 


T  A  Y 

success  of  this  little  poem  encouraged  her  to 
proceed,  and  from  this  period  till  1813  she 
continued  to  publish  occasionally  miscella- 
neous pieces  in  verse,  of  which  the  principal 
are  entitled  "  Original  Poems  for  Infant 
Minds,"  in  two  volumes  ;  "  Rhymes  for  the 
Nursery,"  in  one  ;  and  some  verses  in  "  The 
Associate  Minstrels,"  a  publication  written  in 
conjunction  with  the  ladies  already  alluded  to. 
In  the  winter  of  the  last-mentioned  year  she 
commenced  a  prose  composition  of  higher 
pretension,  which  appeared  in  181.5,  under 
the  name  of  "Display,"  and  met  with  much 
success.  Her  last  and  principal  work  consists 
of  "  Essays  in  Rhyme  on  Morals  and  Man- 
ners," didactic  poems  written  with  much  ele- 
gance and  feeling.  The  latter  part  of  her  life 
was  passed  in  occasional  excursions  from  On- 
gar,  in  which  place  her  family  had  resided 
since  the  year  1810.  After  some  months  of 
lingering  debility,  in  which  however  the  vigour 
of  her  mind  appears  to  have  subsisted  to  the 
last,  this  aminble  and  intellectual  female  expired 
of  a  pulmonary  complaint,  in  the  month  of 
April  1823. — Ann.  Biog.  Life  by  her  Brother 
J.  Taylor. 

TAYLOR  (JEREMY)  a  very  eminent  di- 
vine and  prelate  of  the  Irish  church,  was  born 
in  the   year  1613   at   Cambridge,   where  his 
father  exercised  the  calling  of  a  barber.     He 
was  educated  at  Perse's  free  school  in  his  na- 
tive place,  and  entered  in    1626    a   sizar  in 
Caius   college,   where  he   continued  until  he 
had  graduated  MA.     Entering  into  orders  he 
occasionally  lectured  for  a  friend  at  St  Paul's 
cathedral,  where  he  attracted  the  attention  of 
archbishop  Laud,  who  procured  him  a  fellow- 
ship of  All  Souls  college,  Oxford,  although  his 
election  was  scarcely  compatible  with  the  sta- 
tutes.    He    also  nominated    him  one    of    his 
chaplains,  and  in   16-10  obtained  for  him  the 
rectory  of  Uppingham,   on  which   lie   quitted 
his  fellowship,  and  married.     In  1642  he  was 
created  DD.  at  Oxford,  at  which  time  he  was 
chaplain  in  ordinary   to   Charles  I,  whom  he 
attended  in  some  of  his  campaigns,  and  aided 
hv  several  writings  in  defence  of  the  church  of 
England.     After  the  parliament    proved  vic- 
torious, iiis  living  being  sequestrated,   he  re- 
tired into  Wales,  where  he  was  kindly  received 
by    the  earl    of    Carbery,   of  Golden   Grove, 
Carmarthenshire,   under  whose   protection  he 
was  allowed  to  exercise  his  ministry,  and  keep 
a  school  for  the  maintenance  of  his  family.    It 
was  in   this  obscure   situation   that  he  wrote 
those  copious  and  fervent  discourses,  which, 
with>  respect  to   fertility  of  composition,  elo- 
quence of  expression,  and  comprehensiveness 
of  thought,  have  rendered  him  one  of  the  first 
writers  in  the   English  language.     He  lost  in 
this  retreat  three  hopeful  sons  within  a  short 
period  of  time,  which  rendering  a  change  of 
place  necessary  for  the  restoration  of  his  tran- 
quillity, he  removed  to  London,  and  officiated, 
not  without  danger,   to   private  congregations 
of  royalists.      At  length  he  accepted  an  invi- 
tation from  lord  Conway  to  reside  at  his  seat 
in  Ireland,  where  he  remained  until  the   Re- 
storation, when  he  came  to  England  ;  and  in 


T  A  Y 

the  promotion  of  January,  1660 — 1,  was  ele- 
vated to   the  Irish  see  of  Down  and  Connor, 
with  the   administration   of  that  of  Dromore. 
He  was  also  made  a  privy  counsellor  for  Ire- 
land, and  chosen  vice-chancellor  of  the  uni- 
versity of  Dublin.     He  conducted  himself  on 
his  advancement  with   all  the   attention  to  his 
duties,   public  and  private,    which  had    ever 
distinguished  him  in  humble  situations.  Piety, 
humility,  and  charity  were  his  leading  cha- 
racteristics ;  and   on  his   death,    which    took 
place  at  Lishurne,  August  13,  1667,   he  left 
but  very  moderate  fortunes  to  his  three  daugh- 
ters.    This  eminent  prelate  possessed  the  ad- 
vantages of  a  comely  person  and  a  melodious 
voice,  which  were  farther  set  off  by  the  most 
urbane  manners  and  agreeable  conversation. 
Bishop  Taylor  was   a  voluminous  writer,   his 
works  having  been  printed  in  four  and  also  in 
six  volumes  folio,  a  gre:it  part  of  which  con- 
sists in  sermons  and  devotional  pieces.    There 
are  likewise    several  distinct    treatises    upon 
various  subjects,  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
of  which  is  entitled  "  Theologia  Eclectica,  a 
Discourse    of    the     Liberty    of    Prophesying 
(Preaching),  showing  the    Unreasonableness 
of  Persecution  to  other  Men's  Faith,  and  the 
Iniquity  of  persecuting   different    Opinions," 
4to,     1647.     This  work,  which   was   written 
while   he  was  one   of  the  vanquished  party, 
pleads  eloquently  and   strenuously  for  liberty 
of  conscience,  and  treats  the  damnatory  clause 
of  the  Athanasian  creed  with  a  decree  of  free- 
dom  that   put  honest  Anthony  AYood  to  the 
trouble  of  inventing  a  theory  to  prove  that  he 
was  not  in  earnest,  and  only  intended  to  pro- 
duce   schism   among    the    opponents    of    the 
church.     It  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  upon  the 
absurdity  of  such  a  supposition  in  reference  to 
a  divine  of  the  pure  uud  earnest  character  of 
bishop  Taylor.     Of  the  other  writings  of  this 
prelate,  the  most  generally    known    and  ap- 
proved are  his  "  Golden  Grove,  or  Manual  of 
daily  Prayers  ;"  his  "  Treatises  on  Holy  Living 
and  Dying  ;"  and   his  "  Ductor  Dubitantium, 
or   Rule  of  Conscience."     Of  these  the   two 
former   are  peculiarly  admired  for  fervour  of 
devotional    feeling,    beauty   of    imagery,    and 
illustrative  and  copious  impressiveness  of  elo- 
quence.    At  the  same   time,   like  almost  all 
men   of  genius  and    imagination,    the  author 
has  sometimes  hazarded  passages  which  savour 
more  of  fancy  than  of  judgment.    The  English 
prose  of  bishop  Taylor  is  by  many  thought  to 
surpass  in  strength  and   elegance   that  of  all 
preceding    writers.  — Biog.    Brit.     Grainger. 
Life  bif  Bonney. 

TAYLOR  (JOHN)  usually  called  the  water 
poet,  from  his  being  a  waterman,  was  born  in 
the  city  of  Gloucester,  about  l.iSO.  lie  went 
to  school  in  his  native  place,  but  appears  to 
have  learned  no  more  than  his  accidence,  when 
he  was  taken  to  London,  and  bound  apprentice 
to  a  waterman.  He  was  either  impressed,  or 
went  voluntarily  into  the  naval  service,  for  he 
was  at  the  taking  of  Cadiz,  under  the  ear!  of 
Essex,  in  1596,  when  only  sixteen  years  of 
aj_e,  and  afterwards  in  some  capacity  or  other 
visited  Germany  and  Scotland.  At  home  he 


i  A  Y 

was  many  years  collector  for  the  lieutenant  of 
the  Tower  of  London,  of  his  fees  of  the  wines 
from  all  the  ships  which  brought  them  up  the 
Thames,  but  was  at  last  discharged  because  he 
would  not  purchase  the  place  for  more  than  it 
was  worth.  He  called  himself  the  king's 
water  poet,  and  the  queen's  waterman,  and 
\vnrc  tlic  badge  of  the  royal  arms.  While  a 
waterman  he  had  a  great  aversion  to  coaches, 
and  besides  writing  a  satire  against  them,  had 
the  modesty  to  present  a  petition  to  king 
James,  that  all  playhouses  might  be  prohibited 
except  that  on  Bankside,  in  order  that  the 
greater  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  London  who 
wished  to  see  plays,  might  he  compelled  to  go 
by  water.  When  the  civil  wars  broke  out,  he 
retired  to  Oxford,  where  he  was  much  noticed 
by  the  Cavaliers,  and  encouraged  in  a  common 
victualling  house,  which  he  kept  there,  as  a 
reward  for  his  pasquinades  upon  the  Round- 
heads. After  the  garrison  at  Oxford  had  sur- 
rendered, he  retired  to  Westminster,  and  kept 
a  public-house  ;  and  constant  in  his  loyalty  after 
the  death  of  the  king,  assumed  for  a  sign  the 
crown  in  mourning,  which  proving  offensive, 
he  substituted  his  own  head.  He  died  in  1654, 
aged  seventy-four.  His  works  are  published 
under  the  title  of  "  All  the  Works  of  John 
Taylor,  the  Water  Poet,  being  Sixty  and  Three 
in  Numbei,  collected  into  One  Volume  by  the 
Author,  with  sundry  new  Additions,  corrected, 
revised,  and  newly  imprinted,"  1630,  folio. 
These  pieces  are  not  destitute  of  natural  hu- 
mour, and  of  the  jingling  wit  which  prevailed 
so  much  during  the  reign  of  James  1.  He  was 
countenanced  by  a  few  persons  of  rank,  who 
enjoyed  his  oddities,  but  was  the  darling  of 
the  common  people.  This  volume,  from  its 
early  date,  could  not  contain  the  "  pasquils  " 
which  Anthony  Wood  believed  did  such  loyal 
service  at  Oxford. — Athen.  Oxon.  Gibber's 
Lives. 

TAYLOR  (JOHN)  an  eminent  dissenting 
divine,  was  born  in  1694,  at  or  near  Lancaster, 
and  educated  at  Whitehaven.  In  1715  he  was 
nominated  by  one  of  the  Disney  family,  to  the 
chapel  of  Kirkstead,  in  Lincolnshire,  a  cure 
exempt  from  episcopal  jurisdiction,  where  he 
remained  eighteen  years,  upon  a  very  small 
salary,  aided  by  a  school.  In  1733  he  accepted 
the  invitation  of  a  presbyterian  congregation 
at  Norwich,  which  had  hitherto  been  served 
by  ministers  of  Calvinistic  sentiments.  The 
first  edition  of  his  "  Scripture  Doctrine  of 
Original  Sin"  appeared  in  1740  ;  which  attack 
upon  a  theory  that  had  been  long  considered 
fundamental  by  nearly  all  classes  of  Christians, 
exposed  him  to  much  obloquy.  In  1745  he 
published  a  paraphrase  on  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans,  with  a  key  to  the  apostolic  writings, 
a  production  that  has  been  honoured  with  very 
high  approbation  even  from  distinguished 
members  of  the  church  of  England.  He  fol- 
lowed with  the  "  Scripture  Doctrine  of  Atone- 
ment," and  various  other  smaller  tracts,  until 
in  1754  he  published  the  first  volume  of  his 
"  Hebrew  Concordance,"  the  second  of  which 
appeared  in  1757,  being  the  labour  of  fourteen 
years.  The  degree  of  DD.  was  conferred 


T  A  Y 

upon  him  soon  after  publishing  this  able  work, 
and  he  soon  after  accepted  the  office  of  di- 
vinity tutor  at  the  newly-founded  academy  <  f 
Warrington.  Here  however  he  found  sources 
of  disquiet,  which  affected  his  health  and  spi- 
rits to  such  a  degree  that  they  are  supposed  to 
have  hastened  his  death,  which  took  place 
suddenly  during  the  night  of  March  5,  1761, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-six.  Besides  the  works 
already  mentioned,  he  was  author  of  "A  Sketch 
of  Moral  Philosophy,"  together  with  various 
theological  tracts  in  advancement  of  the  anti- 
trinitarian  and  other  opinions,  which  distin- 
guished the  rising  sect  of  Unitarians  to  which 
he  belonged.  Harwood's  Fun.  Sermon.  Me- 
moir of  his  Life. 

TAYLOR,  LLD.  (JOHN)  a  distinguished 
scholar  and  critic,  was  the  son  of  a  barber  of 
Shrewsbury.  He  received  the  rudiments  of 
education  at  the  grammar-school  of  his  native 
town,  and  then  was  entered  of  St  John's  col- 
lege, Cambridge,  of  which  he  became  a  fellow 
in  1730.  In  1732  he  was  appointed  librarian 
of  the  university,  which  office  he  soon  after 
quitted  for  that  of  registrar.  He  published  an 
edition  of  "  Lysias"  in  1739,  and  in  1742  gra- 
duated LLD.  and  became  a  member  of  Doc- 
tors Commons.  Two  years  afterwards  he  was 
made  chancellor  of  Lincoln  ;  and  in  1751  en- 
tering into  orders,  was  presented  to  the  living 
of  Lawford  in  Essex,  to  which  in  1757  was 
added  a  residentiaryship  of  St  Paul's.  Not 
deserting  his  legal  studies,  he  published  in  1755 
"  Elements  of  Civil  Law,"  4to,  reprinted  in 
1769.  i.  He  also  held  the  offices  of  commissary 
of  Lincoln  and  of  Stowe,  and  was  elected 
fellow  of  the  Royal  and  Antiquarian  Societies. 
He  died  in  1766,  after  having  just  completed 
an  edition  of  Demosthenes,  in  2  vols.  8vo. 
Besides  the  works  already  mentioned,  he  was 
author  of  "  An  Explanation  of  the  Marmor 
Sandvicense  ;"  an  edition  of  "  Two  Orations 
of  Demosthenes  and  Lycurgus,"  with  notes 
and  emendations ;  and  of  various  pieces  of 
poetry  printed  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine 
and  Nichols's  Select  Collection  of  Poems. — 
Xirhuh's  Lit.  Anec.  Monthly  Rev. 

TAYLOR  (chevalier  JOHN)  an  eminent 
English  oculist  of  the  eighteenth  century.  He 
was  the  son  of  a  mathematician,  who  published 
some  works  on  the  branch  of  science  which  he 
cultivated.  The  son  having  finished  his  me- 
dical studies,  according  to  his  own  account, 
under  the  first  professor  of  the  age,  devoted 
himself  particularly  to  the  treatment  of  dis- 
eases of  the  eyes,  and  acquired  great  skill  in 
the  performance  of  various  surgical  operations 
for  the  relief  of  such  complaints.  His  reputa- 
tion procured  him  the  appointment  of  oculist 
to  the  king  ;  but  not  satisfied  with  the  fame 
he  had  gained  at  home,  he  determined  to 
make  a  professional  journey  on  the  continent. 
He  left  England  in  1733,  and  stayed  some 
time  in  Holland,  after  which  he  travelled 
through  various  parts  of  Europe  for  more  than 
thirty  years.  He  procured  introductions  to  the 
courts  of  several  princes,  and  obtained  orders 
of  knighthood  from  some  of  them,  as  well  as 
more  substantial  remuneration  of  his  profes- 


TCH 

sional  services.  Marchant,  professor  at  the 
university  of  Tubingen,  delivered  a  public  pa- 
negyric on  Taylor  in  1750,  and  Halter  and 
others  have  referred  tc  him  as  a  skilful  ope- 
rator ;  but  he  seems  to  have  assumed  an  air 
of  splendour  and  parade  and  an  imposing  self- 
sufficiency  of  behaviour  which  reduced  him 
nearly  to  the  level  of  a  travelling  empiric,  and 
which  sometimes  exposed  him  to  mortification 
and  disgrace.  He  published  "  Anecdotes  of 
the  Life  of  the  Chevalier  Taylor,"  4to,  ex- 
truded from  another  work,  "  The  History  of 
his  Travels,"  3  vols.  8vo,  in  which  he  has 
given  a  list  of  his  works,  and  a  pompous  de- 
tail of  the  honours  bestowed  on  him  by  the 
great.  He  announced  in  1767  his  intention 
of  settling  at  Paris  ;  and  he  is  supposed  to 
have  died  soon  after  that  time.  A  list  of  his 
.works  may  also  be  found  in  the  annexed  autho- 
rity.— Biog.  Univ. 

TAYLOR  (SILAS)  an  able  English  anti- 
quary, was  the  son  of  Sylvanus  Taylor,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  high  court  of  justice  which  tried 
king  Charles  I.  He  was  born  at  Harley  in 
Shropshire  in  1624,  and  after  receiving  the 
elements  of  education  at  Shrewsbury  and 
Westminster  schools,  he  became  a  commoner 
of  New  Inn-hall,  Oxford,  in  1641.  He  had 
begun  to  distinguish  himself  at  the  university, 
when  he  was  taken  home  and  placed  in  the 
parliamentary  army  with  the  commission  of 
captain.  When  the  war  was  over  his  father 
made  him  sequestrator  to  the  royalists  in  Here- 
fordshire ;  but  although  he  enriched  himself 
considerably,  he  behaved  with  so  much  mode- 
ration, that  on  the  Restoration  he  found  friends 
who  obtained  for  him  the  appointment  of  com- 
missary of  ammunition,  &c.  at  Dunkirk,  and 
subsequently  that  of  king's  storekeeper  at  Har- 
wich. He  died  November  4,  1678.  He  left 
large  materials  for  a  history  of  Herefordshire 
and  of  Harwich  ;  but  the  only  work  which  he 
published  was  a  "  History  of  Gavelkind," 
London,  1663,  4to.  In  this  work,  a  copy  of 
which  is  in  the  library  of  Canterbury,  with 
notes  written  therein  by  Somner,  lie  carries 
the  name  and  custom  higher  than  the  latter 
writer.  It  is  very  scarce. — Athen.  Own. 
trough's  Topog. 

TCHAMTCHIAN  or  CIAMCIAN  (MI- 
CHAEL) an  Armenian  historian,  born  at  Con- 
stantinople in  1738.  Being  brought  up  to  the 
profession  of  a  jeweller,  he  relinquished  it  for 
tbe  study  of  literature  ;  and  at  the  age  of 
twenty-three  he  became  an  ecclesiastic,  and 
was  admitted  into  the  Armenian  congregation 
of  the  Mickitarists  at  Venice.  He  made  a 
rapid  progress  in  Armenian  literature,  but 
being  employed  to  instruct  others  he  never 
could  obtain  leisure  for  studying  Latin.  Most 
of  his  works  were  published  at  Venice  ;  but 
having  had  some  disputes  with  the  members 
of  the  religious  society  to  which  he  belonged, 
he  removed  to  Constantinople,  and  after  re- 
siding there  twenty-five  years  he  died  Nov. 
3'),  18ii;5.  His  principal  production  is  a"  His- 
tury  of  Armenia,"  1784—86,  3  vols.  4to.— 
Biov.  Univ. 

iCHEOU  KONG,  one  of  the  sages  and  le- 


rce 

gislators  of  China,  who  flourished  eleven  cen- 
turies before  the  Christian  era.  He  was  equally 
distinguished  as  a  statesman,  a  warrior,  and  a 
man  of  learning.  Having  assisted  his  elder 
brother,  Won  Wang,  to  dethrone  the  last  em- 
peror of  the  dynasty  of  Chang,  and  obtain  the 
sovereign  authority,  his  services  were  recom- 
pensed with  the  post  of  prime  minister  and  the 
government  of  the  country  of  King-feou.  Won 
Wang  dying,  lie  appointed  Tcheou  guardian  of 
his  son  and  successor,  Tching  Wang,  and  regent 
of  the  empire.  He  carefully  educated  the  young 
prince,  and  after  crushing  a  rebellion,  and 
performing  various  other  services  to  the  state, 
he  resigned  his  employments,  and  died  at  au 
advanced  age,  1106  BC.  Tcheou  contributed 
greatly  to  polish  the  Chinese,  and  he  is  re- 
garded as  the  most  learned  man  of  the  age  in 
which  he  lived.  Father  Gaubil  reports  that 
astronomical  observations  which  he  made  are 
still  preserved.  The  first  use  of  the  compass 
at  sea  is  ascribed  to  him  by  the  Chinese  his- 
torians ;  but  M.  Azuui,  in  his  "  Dissertation 
sur  1'Origine  de  la  Boussole,"  Paris,  1809, 
8vo,  denies  his  title  to  this  invention.  He  is 
celebrated  as  an  orator,  poet,  and  philosopher, 
and  the  ancient  books  of  the  Chinese  contain 
several  of  his  imputed  productions. — Amiot 
Memoires  sur  les  Chinois.  Biog.  Univ. 

TCH1NG  TCHING  KONG,  a  famous 
Chinese  admiral  or  pirate  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  known  to  Europeans  by  the  name  of 
Koxinga.  His  father,  Tching  Tchi  Long,  was 
admiral  in  the  reign  of  the  last  emperor  of  the 
dynasty  of  Ming  ;  and  being  disappointed  in 
an  attempt  to  get  his  son  adopted  by  the  em- 
peror as  his  successor,  he  quitted  the  court  in 
1646,  at  the  time  China  was  invaded  by  the 
Mantchou  Tartars.  He  retired  on  board  the 
fleet,  and  carried  on  hostilities  against  the 
Mantchous,  after  the  emperor  had  killed  him- 
self, to  avoid  falling  into  their  hands.  Tching 
Tchi  Long  was  at  length  treacherously  taken 
prisoner  by  the  invaders,  and  conducted  to 
Pekin.  His  sou,  the  subject  of  this  article, 
then  assumed  the  command  of  the  fleet,  and 
swore  implacable  veugeance  against  the  insi- 
dious Tartars,  who  had  conquered  the  country. 
He  attacked  the  coasts  and  besieged  the  city 
of  Nankin  ;  but  being  surprised  in  his  camp 
by  the  foe,  he  was  obliged  hastily  to  re-em- 
bark. In  a  subsequent  engagement  with  the 
Mantchous  at  sea,  he  took  four  thousand  pri- 
soners, whom  he  cruelly  mutilated  by  cutting 
oft"  their  noses  and  ears,  in  16.58.  On  the  death 
of  the  last  descendant  of  the  imperial  family 
of  Ming,  in  whose  name  he  had  carried  on  the 
war,  he  determined  to  form  an  establishment 
for  himself  on  the  island  of  Formosa.  He  laid 
siege  to  the  fort  of  Zealandia,  built  by  the 
Dutch ;  and  having  driven  them  from  For- 
mosa, and  from  the  adjacent  isles  of  Pong-hou, 
he  took  the  title  of  king.  He  made  a  treaty 
with  the  English,  and  favoured  their  establish- 
ment iu  his  territories,  with  a  view  to  their  aid 
against  the  Mantchous.  He  died  in  1670, 
leaving  his  dominions  to  his  son ;  but  the 
Mantchou  governor  of  the  province  of  Fou- 
kien  reconquered  Formosa  in  168/  '"ith  the 


TEG 

aviiitance  of  the  Hollanders. — Klaproth'i  New 
Annuls  of  Voyages,     ^"'A'-  Unir, 

TKISALDF.O  or  TIBALDEO  (ANTONIO) 
an  Italian  poet,  who  was  a  native  of  Ferrara. 
He  adopted  the  military  profession,  which  he 
relinquished  for  the  study  (if  literature.  lie 
then  entered  into  the  service  of  Francisco  de 
Gonznga,  marquis  of  Mantua,  whom  lie  quitted 
to  go  to  Home,  then  the  principal  seat  of  arts 
and  learning.  lie  was  an  imitator  of  Petrarch, 
and  was  highly  praised  by  Bembo  and  otiiers 
of  his  contemporaries  ;  and  pope  Leo  X  gave 
him  live  hundred  ducats  for  a  copy  of  verses. 
Tebaldeo  was  in  the  enjoyment  of  reputation 
and  affluence  at  Rome  when  that  city  was 
sucked  by  the  troops  of  the  constab  de  Hour 
bon.  The  house  of  the  poet  was  pill&ged  sc 
that  he  was  reduced  to  poverty  ;  and  having 
borrowed  thirty  florins  of  his  friend  Bembo,  lie 
died  soon  after  in  misery,  November  4,  1538. 
1 1  is  works  are  "  Sonetti  e  Capitoli ';"  "  Stauze 
Nuove  ;"  "  Capitoli  non  pin  stampati ;"  and 
"  Epigrammata."  The  poems  of  Tebaldeo, 
and  especially  some  of  his  sonnets,  display 
purity  of  feeling  and  delicacy  of  sentiment, 
heightened  and  adorned  by  that  elegance  of 
style  and  diction  which  so  advantageously  cha- 
racterizes the  golden  age  of  literature  in  mo- 
dern Italy. — E>icg-  Univ. 

TEDESCHJ  (NICHOLAS)  or  Panormita- 
nus,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  canonists  of 
the  fifteenth  century.  It  is  uncertain  whether 
he  was  a  native  of  Palermo  or  Catanea  ;  but 
it  was  at  the  latter  city  that  he  assumed  -the 
habit  of  St  Benedict,  at  the  age  of  fourteen, 
when  his  superiors  perceiving  his  abilities, 
ft- ut  him  to  study  at  Bologna.  Me  applied 
himself  particularly  to  the  investigation  of  the 
ration  law,  and  having  taken  the  degree  of 
doctor,  he  returned  to  Catanea,  and  opened  a 
course  of  lectures  on  that  subject.  He  was 
afterwards  professor  at  Sienna,  Parma,  Bo- 
logna, and  Florence,  and  every  where  acquired 
great  reputation.  Pope  Martin  V  bestowed 
on  him  various  ecclesiastical  offices,  and  Eu- 
^enius  IV  raised  him  to  the  archbishopric  of 
Palermo  in  1434.  He  was  sent  by  his  sove- 
reign, Alphonso  V,  to  the  council  of  Basil  ; 
and  his  services  on  that  occasion  procured  him 
a  cardinal's  hat.  He  died  of  the  plague  in 
1445.  Besides  a  treatise  "  De  Concilio  Ba- 
siliensi,"  Tedeschi  published  several  works  on 
the  canon  law,  reprinted  collectively  a:  Ve- 
nice, 1617,  9  vols.  folio. —  Biiig.  Univ. 

TF.GKL  (Enic)  a  Swedish  historiographer, 
ivhose  father  was  the  minister  and  favourite 
of  king-  Eric  XIV,  and  was  beheaded  by  order 
of  prince  Charles,  afterwards  Charles  IX,  who 
took  the  son  under  his  protection,  and  pro- 
vided for  his  education.  On  his  return  from 
his  travels  in  Germany,  he  waa  sent  into 
Spain  and  Poland  to  conduct  important  nego- 
ciations  ;  and  after  being  employed  in  other 
political  affairs,  he  was  in  the  reign  of  Gusta- 
vu«  Adolphua  appointed  historiographer  of 
the  kingdom,  and  in  1617  he  was  made  a  privy 
counsellor,  lie  died  at  Stockholm  in  1636. 
His  works  are  "  Genealogies  of  the  Kings  of 
Sweden,  Poland,  and  Denmaik  ;"  "  History 


T  E  K 

of  Gustavus  I,"    1622,    folio ;    "  History   of 
Eric  X\V."—Rees's  Cyclop.     BiW.  Univ. 

TEICHMEYER  (HERMAN  FREDERIC)  an 
eminent  physician,  born  at  Minden  in  Ger- 
many, in  1685.  After  finishing  his  school 
education  lie  studied  medicine  at  Leipsic  and 
Jena,  and  received  the  degree  of  M  I),  in  1707. 
Ten  years  after  he  became  professor  of  expe- 
rimental philosophy  at  Jena,  where  his  fame 
attracted  a  great  number  of  pupils,  among 
whom  was  the  celebrated  Haller,  who  married 
the  daughter  of  Teichmeyer.  He  lectured  on 
anatomy,  surgery,  medical  jurisprudence,  che- 
mistry, and  botany,  and  maintained  a  high  re- 
putation as  a  public  teacher.  His  death  took 
place  February  5,  1746.  Besides  a  great 
number  of  dissertations  he  was  the  author  of 
"  Elementa  Anthropologies  sive  Theoria  Cor- 
poris  humani,"  4to  ;  "  Institutiones  Medi- 
ciiim  legalis  et  forensis,"  4to,  both  which 
have  been  repeatedly  reprinted  ;  and  he  pro- 
duced several  other  useful  elementary  trea- 
tises.—  Hivg-  Univ. 

TEIFASCHY  (ABU'L  ABBAS  AHMED  al) 
an  Arabian  of  the  thirteenth  century,  who  was 
the  author  of  a  curious  work  relative  to  pre- 
cious stones.  He  is  supposed  to  have  been 
born  in  Egypt,  as  he  resided  in  that  country, 
and  appears  to  have  exercised  the  profession 
of  a  jeweller  at  Cairo.  lie  travelled  a  great 
deal,  but  whether  in  the  prosecution  of  com- 
merce or  merely  to  satisfy  his  curiosity  is  un- 
certain. An  Italian  translation  of  the  work  of 
Teifaschy,  with  the  Arabic  text  and  notes, 
was  published  by  M.  A.  Raineri,  Florence, 
1818,  4to,  under  the  title  of  "  The  Flower  of 
Thoughts  on  Precious  Stones."  The  author 
finished  *his  treatise  in  1265.  According  to 
Bochart  he  also  wrote  a  book  relative  to  "  The 
Divers  Kinds  of  Wood." — Biog.  Univ. 

TEISSIER  (ANTOINE)  a  learned  French 
advocate  of  the  seventeenth  century,  a  native 
of  the  city  of  Montpellier,  born  1632.  He  was 
descended  of  Protestant  parents,  and  was  him- 
self a  member  of  the  consistory  court  of  the 
reformed  church  at  Nismes,  where  he  prac- 
tised in  his  legal  capacity.  The  revocation  of 
the  edict  of  Nantes  forced  him  in  common 
with  innumerable  others  who  held  the  same 
religious  opinions  to  emigrate.  •  He  accord- 
ingly retired  into  the  Prussian  territories,  and 
being  introduced  to  the  notice  of  the  sovereign, 
was  appointed  historiographer  to  the  court. 
lie  published  "  The  Eloges  of  Learned  Men," 
from  the  works  of  Thuanus,  12mo,  4  vols ; 
"  Catalogus  Auctorum  qni  Librorum  Catalogos, 
Indices,  Bibliothecas,  Virorum  Literatorum 
Elogia,  Vitas,  aut  Orationes  funebres,  scriptis 
consignarunt,"  4to,  an  excellent  and  useful 
compilation  ;  "  On  the  social  Duties  of  Man," 
from  Puflendorff;  "  The  Lives  of  illustrious 
Princes;''  "Instructions  Moral  and  Politi- 
cal ;"  Biographical  Memoirs  of  Theodore 
Beza,  Spira,  and  Calvin,  with  the  letters  o, 
the  latter,  &c.  Teissier  died  at  Berlin  rj 
1715. — Kouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

TEKELI  (E.MEiuc,  count  de)  was  born  iu 
1658,  of  an  illustrious  family  in  Hungary.  Hii 
father,  Stephen  Tekeli,  had  been  concerned  ia 


TEL 

the  conspiracy  of  the  counts  Seurin  and  Frange- 
pani,  for  which  his  castle  was  besieged  by  the 
imperialists.     It  was  taken,  and  the  old  count 
soon  after  died  ;  but  the  young  Tekeli  escaped 
and  took  refuge  in  Transylvania,  where  be  ob- 
tained the  patronage  of  prince  Abaffi,  and  sub- 
sequently became  his  prime  minister.     Being 
sent  to  succour  the  malcontents  of  his  native 
country,  he  was  chosen  their  commander,  and 
his  arms  were  crowned  with  success  in  various 
actions.     Having  formed  a  connexion  with  the 
Ottoman  Porte,  he  exchanged  the  Hungarian 
cap  for  the  turban,  which   he  received  from 
the    sultan,    highly    enriched  with    precious 
stones  ;  but  he  sent  it  back  again  on  assuming 
the  crown  of  his  native  country.   He  still  how- 
ever continued  his  alliance  with  the  Porte  ;  but 
the  losses  sustained  by  the  Turks  at  the  siege  of 
Vienna,   and    reverses    sustained  by  himself, 
were  followed  by  the  submission  of  the  greater 
part  of  the  malcontents.     Falling  under  the 
suspicion  of  the  Turks  he  was   put  in  irons, 
and  sent  to  Adrianople,  where  he  completely 
justified  himself  to  the  sultan,  who  made  him 
prince  of  Transylvania  on  the  death  of  Abaffi. 
He  could  not  however  maintain  himself  in  this 
dignity  against  the  imperial   forces,  and  was 
afterwards  made  hospodar  of  Moldavia  ;  but 
on  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  of  Carlowitz  in 
1699,  he  withdrew  into  Turkey,   and  died  at 
Constantinople  in  1705,  in    the  profession  of 
the   faith    of  the  church  of  Home. — Moreri. 
Mod.  Unit,.  Hist. 

TELEMANN  (Gio.  PHILIP)  one  of  the 
greatest  and  most  voluminous  musical  com- 
posers who  flourished  in  Germany  during  the 
former  portion  of  the  last  century.  He  was 
oorn  at  Magdeburg  in  1631,  and  he  preceded 
Keiser  as  composer  of  operas  for  the  city  of 
Hamburg.  In  1740  his  overtures  on  the  mo- 
del of  those  of  Lulli  amounted  to  the  number 
of  six  hundred.  The  list  of  his  printed  works, 
which  appeared  in  VValther's  Musical  Lexicon 
in  1732,  extended  to  twenty-nine  ;  and  fifteen 
more  are  specified  in  Gerber's  Continuation  of 
Walther ;  but  double  the  number  of  those 
printed  were  long  circulated  in  manuscript 
from  the  music-shops  of  Lsipsic  and  Ham- 
burg. His  later  compositions  are  said  to  be 
pleasing,  graceful,  and  refined.  Telemann, 
who  lived  to  a  great  age,  drew  up  a  well-writ- 
ten account  of  his  own  life,  in  the  earlier  part 
of  which  he  was  the  fello\v-student  and  inti- 
mate acquaintance  of  Handel.  He  died  in 
1767,  and  immediately  after  ins  decease  pro- 
fessor Ebeling,  an  excellent  musical  critic, 
published  remarks  on  the  professional  merit  of 
Telemann. — Rea's  Cyclop. 

TELES1O  (ANTONIO)  called  also Thylesias 
ir  Tilesius,  was  born  at  Cosenza  in  the  king- 
dom of  Naples  in  1-182.  He  travelled  for  the 
sake  of  improvement  in  classical  learning 
through  different  parts  of  It;tly,  and  in  1512 
lie  was  called  to  Milan  to  illustrate  the  Greek 
and  Latin  authors.  He  subsequently  obtained 
a  benefice  at  Rome,  and  a  professorship  in 
the  Roman  college.  He  there  published  Latin 
notes  on  the  Odes  of  Horace  ;  a  collection  of 
Latin  POCIIIG;  and  a  treatise  "  De  Coronis." 


TEL 

After  the  sack  of  Rome  by  the  troops  of  the 
constable  de  Bourbon,  Telesio  retired  to  Ve- 
nice, where  he  gave  public  lectures,  and  printed 
a  treatise  "  De  Coloribus,"  and  a  tragedy 
entitled  "  Imber  Aureus,"  on  the  story  ol 
Danae.  He  died  at  Cosenza  in  1533.  Ilij 
works  were  published  at  Naples  in  1762,  and 
again  in  1808,  4to. — tii°g-  Univ. 

TELESIO  (BERNARDINO)  nephew  of  the 
preceding,     a   modern    philosopher,    born   at 
Cosenza  in   1508   or  1509.     He  received  his 
early  education   from  his  uncle,  who  kept  a 
school  at  Milan,  and  accompanying  the  same 
relative  to  Rome,  he  was  present  at  the  sack 
of  that  city  by  the  troops  of  the  constable  de 
Bourbon.    Removing  to  Padua,  he  closely  ap- 
plied to  the  studies  of  philosophy  and  the  ma- 
thematics,   and    then  went    again    to   Rome, 
where  he  obtained    the    friendship    and    pa- 
tronage of  pope   Pins  IV.     He  subsequently 
retired  to   Cosenza,   where  he  married  at  an 
advanced  age,  and  founded  an  academy  which 
thence  took   the  name  of  Cosentina.  -  He  was 
patronised  by  several    persons  of  distinction, 
but  was  otherwise  much  disquieted  by  the  ca- 
lumnies raised  against  his  school  of  philosophy, 
which,  in  addition  to  the  grief  produced  by  the 
assassination  of  one  of  his  sons,  are  thought  to 
have  hastened   his  death  in   1588.     Telesio 
was  a  bold  and  vigorous  opposer  of  the  Ari- 
stotelian doctrines  of  physics,   and  employed 
mathematical    principles    in     explaining    the 
works  of  nature.     These  he  first  promulgated 
in  a  woiii  printed  at  Rome  in  1565,  entitled 
"  De  Rerum  Natura  juxta  propria  Priucipia," 
1565  and  1586.     The  essence  of  this  system, 
which  was  also  maintained   by  him  in  various 
other  treatises,  was  the  doctrine  of  the  ancient 
sage  Parmenides,  that  the  first  productive  prin- 
ciples in  nature  are  cold  and  heat,  as  well  ob- 
served by   lord  Bacon,    a  mere  transformation 
of  properties   into  principles.     He  was  how- 
ever a  lover  of  truth,  and  opened  the  way  for 
greater  improvements.      After  his  death  his 
writings,     as     containing     innovations,    were 
placed  in  the  Index  Expurgatorius  of  the  in- 
quisition, which  did  not   prevent  their  repub- 
lication   at  Venice  in  1590. — Brucker.     Tim- 
boschi.     Bing.  Univ. 

TELL  (  WILLIAM)  a  celebrated  person  in 
the  patriotic  annals  of  Switzerland,  was  a  na- 
tive of  Burgeln,  in  the  canton  of  Uri,  and  was 
early  distinguished  by  his  skill  in  archery,  as 
well  as  by  his  pre-eminence  over  his  com- 
panions in  activity  and  all  those  hardy  ex- 
ercises which  are  peculiarly  characteristic  o.' 
the  inhabitants  of  a  mountainous  region.  The 
tyrannic  despotism  of  the  emperor  Albert  suf- 
riciently  grievous  in  itself,  was  carried  by  Her- 
man Gesler,  whom  he  had  appointed  governor 
of  Switzerland,  to  the  most  intolerable  height. 
The  most  abject  submissions  were  exacted  from 
the  peasantry,  and  the  whole,  country  ripe  for 
a  civil  explosion,  required  only  some  daring 
hand  to  fire  the  train.  The  opportunity  at 
length  occurred.  Gt-sler,  who  had  been  led 
to  suspect  the  general  feeling,  with  a  degree  of 
insolence  as  impolitic  as  wanton,  placed  his 
plumed  cap  upon  a  spear  in  the  centre  of  the 


T  E  L 

market- place  of  Altorff,  and  in  order  to  show 
his  utter  contempt  of  the  people  and  their 
supposed  design  of  emancipation,  issued  an 
01  i  that  every  one  in  passing  should,  on  pain 
of  death,  pay  it  the  same  tokens  of  submission 
which  he  exacted  in  his  own  person.  Tell, 
disdaining  to  comply,  was  seized  and  brought 
before  him,  and  by  a  refinement  in  cruelty, 
according  to  the  current  story,  after  some 
ironical  praises  of  his  talents  as  an  archer, 
was  ordered  to  shoot  an  apple  from  the  head 
of  his  son  as  the  price  of  his  own  redemption 
from  the  punishment  of  his  insubordination. 
Tell  drawing  two  arrows  from  his  quiver, 
placed  one  in  his  bosom,  and  with  the  other 
succeeded  in  hitting  the  proposed  mark  with- 
out injury  to  the  boy  ;  but  having  the  bold- 
ness to  avow  his  purpose  of  using  the  weapon 
he  had  reserved  against  the  governor,  had  he 
failed  in  his  previous  attempt,  the  latter  sen- 
tenced him  to  perpetual  imprisonment,  and 
carried  him  off  in  his  own  barge  across  the 
lake  of  Lucerne,  to  prevent  the  possibility  of 
a  rescue.  One  of  those  sudden  storms  so  com- 
mon in  the  country,  arising  during  the  passage, 
Tell,  whose  skill  as  a  navigator  was  not  infe- 
rior to  his  other  qualifications,  was  of  neces- 
sity released  from  his  chains,  and  placed  at 
the  helm.  Steering  the  vessel  under  a  rock, 
still  shown  as  the  site  of  the  exploit,  one 
desperate  leap  from  the  deck  placed  him  out 
of  the  reach  of  his  captors.  The  death  of 
Gesler,  whom  Tell  soon  after  shot  through  the 
heart  while  riding  near  Kusnacht,  formed  the 
signal  of  a  general  rising,  which  terminated  in 
the  complete  establishment  of  Swiss  inde- 
pendence on  the  first  of  January  1308.  Tell, 
who,  notwithstanding  his  services  to  the 
cause,  and  the  universal  gratitude  of  his  coun- 
trymen, continued  to  remain  a  private  citizen, 
survived  the  liberation  of  his  country  forty-six 
years,  and  perished  at  length  in  an  inundation 
which  committed  great  ravages  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Burgeln  in  1354.  A  chapel  in 
commemoration  of  his  bold  escape  was  built 
near  the  spot  where  it  took  place.  This  cir- 
cumstance, together  with  the  respect  in  which 
his  supposed  descendants  were  held  so  late  as 
the  commencement  of  the  last  century,  goes 
far  to  obviate  a  suspicion  which  the  similarity 
of  the  event  of  the  apple  and  arrow  to  a  story 
related  by  Saxo  Grammaticus,  (of  which  one 
Tocco,  a  Dane,  is  the  hero,)  has  thrown  upon 
the  authenticity  of  the  narrative. — fuller's 
Hist,  of  Switzerland. 

TELLER  (WILLIAM  ABRAHAM)  aGerman 
divine,  born  at  Leipsic  in  1734.  Having  been 
appointed  in  1764  superinteudaut,  professor 
of  theology,  and  first  pastor  at  Hehnstadt,  he 
\v.is,  on  account  of  his  religious  opinions,  de- 
clared a  heretic,  and  deprived  of  his  offices  in 
1767.  He  went  to  Berlin,  where  he  became 
member  of  the  consistory,  and  first  pastor  of 
the  church  of  St  Peter.  When  the  edict  con- 
cerning religion  was  issued  in  1787,  Teller  was 
suspended  from  his  functions,  but  he  was  soon 
restored ;  and  the  prejudices  against  him  being 
dissipated,  he  was  admitted  a  member  of  the 
academy  of  Berlin,  before  which  in  1802  he 


TEL 

read  a  discourse  in  honour  of  the  minister 
Wtilner,  who  had  been  Ids  most  determined 
persecutor.  He  died  December  9,  1804. 
Even  the  enemies  of  this  heterodox,  theologian 
admit  that  he  was  intimately  acquainted  with 
the  Oriental  languages  and  with  history,  espe- 
cially that  of  the  reformed  church.  His  opi- 
nions relative  to  religion  and  the  Scriptures 
were  bold  and  singular,  tending  to  introduce 
a  system  of  philosophical  Deism  in  the  room 
of  Christianity,  by  allegorizing  and  explaining 
away  the  supernatural  portion  of  revelation. 
Among  his  works  are  "  The  Doctrine  of  the 
Christian  Faith,"  1764,  8vo,  which  first  ex- 
cited an  outcry  against  him  as  a  heretic  ;  a 
"  Dictionary  of  the  New  Testament,"  8v0, 
1772 ;  "  An  Introduction  to  Religion  in  ge- 
neral and  to  Christianity  in  particular,"  1792; 
"  Sermons ;"  and  a  "  Magazine  for  Preachers ;" 
Jena,  1792 — 1801,  10  vols.  8vo. — Biog.  Univ. 
TELLEZ  (BALTIIASAH)  a  Portuguese  his- 
torian, born  at  Lisbon  in  1595.  He  became 
a  Jesuit,  and  after  having  for  more  than  twenty 
years  been  a  teacher  in  the  principal  si'inina- 
ries  of  his  order,  he  was  appointed  rector  of 
the  Irish  seminary,  and  of  the  college  of  Don 
Antonio  at  Lisbon.  He  at  length  arrived  at 
the  dignity  of  provincial  ;  but  he  resigned  that 
office  in  his  old  age,  and  died  at  Lisbon  in 
1675.  His  historical  works  are  a  "  Chronicle 
of  the  Affairs  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  in  Por- 
tugal," 1644 — 47,  2  vols.  folio  ;  and  a  "  Ge- 
neral History  of  Upper  Ethiopia,  and  of  the 
Establishments  of  the  Jesuits  in  that  King- 
dom," 1660,  folio. — Biog.  Univ. 

TELLEZ  DE  SYLVA  (Do>i  MANUEL) 
marquis  d'Alegrete,  descended  of  a  family  dis- 
tinguished by  an  hereditary  taste  for  literature, 
was  born  at  Lisbon  in  1682.  His  father,  one 
of  the  most  learned  men  of  his  rank  and  coun- 
try, was  censor  and  afterwards  director  of  the 
Royal  Portugueze  Academy  of  History.  Dom 
Manuel  cultivated  with  success  Latin  poetry, 
and  on  the  foundation  of  the  academy  just 
mentioned,  in  1720,  he  was  elected  the  first 
perpetual  secretary.  He  displayed  indefati- 
gable zeal  in  attending  to  the  duties  of  this 
office,  till  his  death  in  1736.  Besides  a  volume 
of  Latin  poems  and  epigrams,  he  was  the  au- 
thor of  "  Historia  da  Academia  real  da  IIis- 
toria  Portugueza,"  1727,  4to  ;  and  he  pub- 
lished a  collection  of  the  memoirs,  &c.  of  the 
academy,  1721 — 27,  7  vols.  folio. — Id. 

TELL1ER  (MICHAEL  le)  chancellor  of 
France,  born  in  1603,  was  the  son  of  a  coun- 
sellor in.  the  court  of  aids.  He  passed  through 
various  posts,  until,  under  the  patronage  of 
cardinal  Mazarin,  he  became  secretary  of  state 
under  Louis  XIII,  He  also  obtained  a  prin- 
cipal share  of  the  confidence  of  that  minister 
and  Anne  of  Austria  during  the  subsequent 
regency.  In  1651,  when  Mazarin  was  obliged 
to  retire,  Le  Tellier  supplied  his  place  in  the 
ministry,  and  on  his  return  retained  the  office 
of  secretary  of  state,  until  he  resigned  it  to 
his  son,  the  marquis  de  Louvois,  in  1666.  He 
however  still  held  his  place  in  the  council, 
and  in  1677  was  raised  to  the  station  of  chan- 
cellor, and  keeper  of  the  seals.  He  was  severe 


TEL 

in  bis  temper,  and  despotic  in  his  principles, 
and  urged  all  those  violent  measures  against 
the  Protestants,  which  terminated  in  the  re- 
vocation of  the  edict  of  Nantz.  la  signing 
the  edict  for  that  iniquitous  breach  of  faith, 
he  exclaimed,  Nunc  dimittis,  &c.  and  expired 
a  few  days  afterwards,  in  his  eighty -third 
year.  Bossuct  pronounced  his  funeral  oration, 
and  paints  him  as  a  great  man.  He  was  Cer- 
tainly a  man  of  abilities,  and  probably  a  sin- 
cere bigot,  a  fact  which  does  not  exclude  his 
possession  of  the  dark  and  dangerous  disposi- 
tion that  several  authors  have  imputed  to  him, 
and  which  induced  the  count  de  Grammont  to 
exclaim  one  day,  on  observing  him  come  from 
a  secret  audience  with  the  king, ""  I  think  I 
see  a  polecat  stealing  away  from  a  henroost, 
and  licking  his  snout  stained  with  blood."- 
Voltaire.  Siecle  de  Louis  XIV.  Nouv.  Diet. 
Hist. 

TELLIER  (FRANCOIS  MICHAEL  le)  mar- 
quis de  Louvois,  son  of  the  preceding,  was 
born  in  1641.  His  father  artfully  proposed 
him  to  Louis  XIV,  as  a  young  man  of  sense, 
but  rather  slow,  who  might  be  aided  by  his 
majesty's  instructions.  This  was  taking  Louis 
by  his  foible,  which  was  that  of  afl'ecting  to 
govern  every  thing  himself.  Louvois  made  a 
rapid  progress  in  his  favour,  and  rose  to  great 
posts,  the  principal  of  which  was  that  of  war 
minister.  He  acquired  and  merited  great 
praise  for  his  abilities  in  this  department, 
being  the  first  who  perfected  the  system  of 
supplying  armies  by  magazines  disposed  in 
convenient  places.  He  also  rendered  officers 


attentive  to  their  duty,  and  banished  much  of 
the  luxurious  indulgence  which  had  previously 
reigned  in  the  French  service.     Sensible  how 
much  his  credit  and  the  ascendancy  which 
he  had  acquired  over  the  king  depended  upon 
war,  he  was  always   solicitous  to  perpetuate 
and  renew  hostilities,  and  thereby  with  all  his 
abilities  acted  very  perniciously  for  France  in 
the  sequel.     Neither  in   the  practice  of  wars 
was  he  restrained   by  any  sense  of  humanity  ; 
and   the  desolation  of  the  Palatinate,  which 
excited  the  indignation  of  all  Europe,  was  his 
measure.     His  haughty  and  overbearing  tem- 
per rendered  him  much  more  feared  than  be- 
loved ;  and  sometimes  even  led  him  to  forget 
the   respect  due  to  the  king   himself.     It  is 
even  asserted  that  owing  to  the  disgust  thus 
engendered,   he  had  reached  the  end  of  his 
favour,  and  was  on  the  point  of  being  sent  to 
the  Bastille  when  he  was  carried  off  by  a  sud- 
den death,  July  16,  1691,  immediately  on  re- 
turning from   a  council,   in  which  Louis  had 
treated  him  with  extreme  coldness.     Suspi- 
cions were   entertained   of  poison,  but  appa- 
rently without  foundation.     Louvois,  although 
an    unprincipled   minister,    was  certainly    an 
able  man,  and  did  his  duty  in  recommending 
the  king  not  to  acknowledge  his  marriage  with 
Madame  de  Maintenon,  which  conduct  excit- 
ing the  enmity  of  that  influential  personage, 
probably  hastened    the    loss   of  that   favour, 
which  he  was  so  solicitous  to  preserve. —  Vol- 
taire Siecle  de  Louis  XIV.    Mem.  de  Duclos. 
TELL1EH  (MICHAEL  le)  a  distinguished 


TEM 

Jesuit,  was  born  in  1643,  near  Pere  in  Lower 
Normandy.     He  studied  in  the  Jesuits'  college 
at  Caen,   and  entered  the  society  at  the  age 
of  eighteen.    In  1687  he  published  a  Defence 
of  the  Mission  to  China,  Japan,  and  the  In- 
dies, which  was  attacked  by  Arnauld  in  his 
"  Morale  Pratique,"  and  delated  to  the  holy 
office,  which  required  alterations  in  the  work. 
Many  publications  followed    on    both   sides, 
the  result  of  which  was  a  great  increase  of  re- 
putation on  the  part  of  Le  Tellier,  who  was 
advanced  to  the  posts  of  reviser,  rector,  and 
provincial  of  his    order.      At   length,  on  the 
death  of  father   La  Chaise  in   1709,   he  was 
presented  by  the  Jesuits  with  two  others  to  fill 
the  vacant  place  of  confessor  to  the  king,  and 
was  chosen,  it  is  said,  principally  on  account  of 
the  appearance  of  profound  modesty  and  hu- 
mility which  he    assumed  in   his  deportment 
on  that  introduction.     It  was  foreseen  the  use 
which  he  would  make  of  his  influence  over  an 
aged    and  bigotted  monarch  ;  and   he  is  said 
to  have  himself  exclaimed  that  he  would  make 
the   Jansehists  "  drinksto  the  lees  of  the  cup 
of  the  society's  indignation."     His    first   act 
was  the  demolition  of  the  famous  house  of  the 
Port   Royal,   of  which   he  left  not  one  stone 
upon  another.     He  then  forced  upon  the  ma- 
gistracy and    the   nation  the  bull  unigenitus  ; 
and  such  was  the  violence  with  which  he  pro- 
ceeded, that  the  Jesuits  themselves  exclaimed, 
"  Father  le   Tellier  drives  too   fast;  he  will 
overturn  us."     In  reality  he  was  the  cause  of 
much  of  the  odium  which  soon   after  fell  on 
the   society,  and  paved   the  way  for  its  aboli- 
tion ;  nor  was  he  esteemed  even  by  his  bre- 
thren, over  whom  he  ruled  with  a  rod  of  iron. 
On  the  death  of  Louis  he  was  exiled,  first  to 
Amiens  and  afterwards  to  La  Fleche,  where 
he  died  in  1719,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six.  Le 


Tellier  was  a  man  of  regular  morals,  and  pos- 
sibly more  a  real  bigot  than  an  ambitious  hy- 
pocrite. He  was  well  versed  in  literature,  and 
wrote  several  worffs  besides  those  already 
alluded  to,  which  it  is  unnecessary  to 
enumerate. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist.  Destruction 
des  Jesuit es. 

TEMPELHOF(GEORGEFnEDEinc)a  Ger- 
man officer  and  writer  on  military  tactics,  bom 
in  1737.  After  having  studied  at  Frankfort- 
on-the-Oder  and  at  Halle,  he  entered  into  a 
Prussian  regiment  of  infantry  as  a  corporal  ; 
and  in  that  capacity  he  served  in  Bohemia  in 
1757.  He  afterwards  entered  into  the  artil- 
lery, and  distinguished  himself  at  the  battles 
of  Hocbkirchen,  Kunnersdorf,  Torgau,  &c. 
and  at  the  sieges  of  Breslau,  Olmutz,  Dres- 
den, and  Schweidnitz.  At  the  close  of  the 
second  campaign  he  was  made  a  lieutenant ; 
and  after  the  peace  of  1763  he  continued  his 
studies  at  Berlin,  and  became  acquainted  with 
Euler,  Lambert,  Sulzer,  Lagrange,  and  other 
men  of  science.  He  then  published  some  ma- 
thematical works,  and  also  "  The  Prussian 
Bombardier,"  1781,  8vo,  in  which  he  reduced 
the  doctrine  of  projectiles  to  scientific  princi- 
ples. He  afterwards  published  "  The  Ele- 
ments of  Military  Tactics,"  developing  the  ma- 
noeuvres and  warlike  operations  of  Frederic  II, 


1  EM 

fie  was  appointed  by  the  king  to  instruct 
'.he  oliicers  of  infantry  and  c;iv;ilry,  in  the 
inspections  of  Berlin,  and  of  the  march  of 
Brandenburg  ;  in  1782  he  was  appointed  ma- 
jor and  commandant  of  a  corps  of  artillery, 
aud  in  1784  he  obtained  letters  of  nobility. 
Frederic  William  11  employed  Tetnpelhof  to 
instruct  the  princes,  his  two  elder  sons,  in 
mathematics  and  the  science  of  war  ;  and  he 
was  soon  after  nominated  a  lieutenant-colonel 
and  member  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences.  In 
1790  he  was  promoted  to  a  colonelcy  ;  and  in 
the  beginning  of  the  revolutionary  war  with 
France  he  had  the  command  of  all  the  Prus- 
sian artillery,  and  in  1795  he  became  chief  of 
the  third  regiment  of  that  corps.  In  180.'  he 
received  the  order  of  the  red  eagle  from  Fre- 
deric William  III,  who  nominated  him  lieute- 
nant-general and  military  tutor  of  the  young 
princes,  his  brothers.  He  died  at  Berlin 
July  13,  1807.  Tempelhof  published  some 
important  works  besides  those  mentioned 
above,  of  which  the  best  known  is  his  "  His- 
tory of  the  Seven  Years'  War  in  Germany, 
between  the  King  of  Prussia  and  the  Empress 
Queen,  &c."  1783,  6  vols.  4to,  of  which  an 
English  translation  was  executed  by  general 
Lloyd. — Biog.  Univ. 

TEMPEST  A.  There  were  two  artists  who 
are  known  by  this  designation  ;  ANTONIO,  a 
Florentine  by  birth,  to  whom  it  belonged  of 
riyht  as  a  patronymic,  and  one  Peter  Molyn, 
a  native  of  Haerlem,  who  received  it  as  a  sou- 
briquet from  the  circumstance  of  his  pencil 
being  principally  employed  in  the  delineation 
of  tempests,  shipwrecks,  and  similar  subjects. 
The  former  was  born  about  the  year  1545, 
and  studied  the  principles  of  his  art  under  John 
Strada,  whose  style  he  imitated  in  his  land- 
scapes and  hunting-pieces.  He  also  produced 
dome  battle-pieces  and  other  paintings,  much 
admired  for  the  spirit  and  delicacy  with  which 
they  are  executed,  especially  the  animals 
which  they  contain.  Many  of  these  have 
been  engraved,  some  of  them  by  his  own  hand. 
His  death  took  place  in  16oO. — The,  second, 
born  of  Protestant  parents,  quitted  his  native 
country  for  Italy,  where  he  reconciled  him- 
scif  to  the  Romish  church,  and  received  the 
honour  of  knighthood  ;  but  was  afterwards 
condemned  to  death  for  the  murder  of  his  own 
wife.  This  sentence  he  had  interest  enough 
to  get  commuted  for  one  of  perpetual  imprison- 
ment; and  after  remaining  in  prison  nearly 
sixteen  years,  succeeded  in  making  his  escape 
from  the  place  in  which  he  was  confined.  His 
death  took  place  about  the  commencement  of 
the  last  century. — D'Argenville  Vies  das  Peint. 

TEMPLE  (sir  WILLIAM)  provost  of  Trinity 


college,  Dublin,  and  grandfather  of  the  states- 
man of  the  same  name.  He  was  a  younger 
eon  of  the  Temples  of  Leicestershire,  aud  was 
educated  at  King's  college,  Cambridge,  where 
and  at  Oxford  lie  was  admitted  to  the  degree 
of  master  of  arts.  He  afterwards  became  mas- 
ter of  the  school  of  Lincoln,  and  secretary  suc- 
cessively to  sir  Philip  Sidney,  Elizabeth's 
ill-treated  minister,  Davison,  and  to  the  ce- 


TEM 

licitation  of  T)r  Usher,  he  acre-pled  the  pro- 
vostship  of  Trinity  college  in  Dublin,  and  was 
afterwards  knighted  and  made  a  master  in 
chancery.  lie  died  in  l6-'6,  aged  seventy- 
two.  He  was  the  author  of  several  scholastic 
treatises  in  Latin,  and  the  father  of  sir  Joiiv 
TEMIM.E,  who  was  educated  under  him  at 
Dublin,  and  who  became  master  of  the  rolls 
and  a  privy  counsellor  in  Ireland,  during  the 
reign  of  Charles  II.  Sir  John  wrote  a  "  His- 
tory of  the  Irish  Rebellion  of  1641,"  from  his 
own  observations,  which  work  was  published 
in  4to,  1646  ;  in  8vo,  1746  ;  and  republished 
in  1812  by  baron  Maseres.  The  date  of  his 
death  is  not  recorded. — Atltcn.  Oxnn, 

TEMPLE  (sir  WILLIAM)  a  very  eminent 
statesman,  was  the  son  of  the  aforesaid  sir 
John  Temple,  by  his  lady,  who  was  sister  to 
the  learned  Dr  Henry  Hammond.  He  was 
born  in  London  in  1628,  and  first  sent  to 
school  at  Penshurst  in  Kent,  under  the  care  of 
his  uncle,  Dr  Hammond,  and  afterwards  to  the 
school  of  Bishop  Stortford.  At  the  age  of  se- 
venteen he  was  entered  of  Emanuel  college, 
Cambridge,  under  the  tuition  of  the  learned 
Cudworth,  and  in  his  twentieth  year  he  com- 
menced his  travels,  and  passed  six  years  in 
France,  Holland,  Flanders,  and  Germany. 
He  returned  in  1654,  and  married  the  daugh- 
ter of  sir  Peter  Osborne  of  Chicksand,  Bed- 
fordshire ;  and  not  choosing  to  accept  any 
office  under  Cromwell,  he  occupied  himself  in 
the  study  of  history  and  philosophy.  On  the 
Restoration  lie  was  chosen  a  member  of  the 
Irish  convention,  when  he  acted  with  great 
independence  ;  and  in  1661  lie  was  returned 
with  his  father  representative  for  the  county 
of  Carlow.  The  following  year  he  was  nomi- 
nated one  of  the  commissioners  from  the  Irish 
parliament  to  the  king,  and  removed  to  Lon- 
don. Declining  all  employment  out  of  his 
chosen  field  of  diplomacy,  he  was  disregarded 
until  the  breaking  out  of  the  Dutch  war,  when 
he  was  employed  in  a  secret  mission  to  the 
bishop  of  Munster.  This  he  executed  so 
much  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  ministers,  that 
in  the  following  year  he  was  appointed 
resident  at  Brussels,  and  received  the  pa- 
tent of  a  baronetcy.  A  complete  history 
of  all  the  negociations  in  which  he  was 
from  this  time  concerned,  would  be  that 
of  the  foreign  politics  of  the  reign  of  Charles 
II.  One  of  the  most  distinguished  of  those 
services  was  his  accomplishment,  in  con- 
junction with  the  equally  able  and  patriotic 
De  Witt,  of  the  treaty  between  England,  Hol- 
land,and  Sweden,  concludedin  February  1668, 
with  a  view  to  oblige  France  to  restore,  her 
conquests  in  the  Netherlands.?.  He  also  at- 
tended as  ambassador  extraordinary,  and  me- 
diator, when  peace  was  concluded,  between 
France  and  Spain,  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and 
subsequently  residing  at  the  Hague  as  ambas- 
sador, cultivated  a  close  intimacy  with  De 
Witt,  and  became  familiar  with  the  prince  of 
Orange,  afterwards  William  HI,  then  only  m 
his  eighteenth  year.  A  change  of  politics  at 
home  led  to  ihe  recal  of  Temple  in  1661),  who 


lebrated   earl  of   Essex.     lu  1609,  at  the  so-  I  refusing  to  assist  in  the  intended  breach  with 


T 


EM 


Holland,  retired  from  public  business  to  his  ! 
house  at  Sheen,  and  employed  himself  in  writ- 
ing his  "  Observations  on  the  United  Pro- 
vinces," and  part  of  his  "  Miscellanies." 
When  the  unprincipled  war  against  Holland 
terminated  with  the,  necessity  of  making  peace, 
sir  William  Temple  was  again  employed,  and 
in  1674  was  sent  ambassador  to  the  States 
General,  in  order  to  negociate  a  general  paci- 
fication. Previously  to  its  termination  in  the 
treaty  of  Nimeguen,  in  1678,  he  was  instru- 
mental in  promoting  the  important  and  highly 
popular  marriage  of  the  prince  of  Orange 
with  Mary,  eldest  daughter  of  the  duke  of  I 
York,  which  union  took  place  in  1677.  In 
1679  he  was  recalled  from  the  Hague,  and  of- 
fered the  post  of  secretary  of  state,  which  he 
declined.  As  a  statesman  he  expressed  him- 
self decidedly  averse  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
duke  of  York,  and  the  last  act  which  he  per- 
formed in  parliament,  where  he  sat  as  member 
for  the  university  of  Cambridge,  was  to  carry 
from  the  council  the  king's  answer  to  the 
Commons,  containing  his  resolution  never  to 
consent  to  the  exclusion  of  his  brother.  Dis- 
gusted however  by  Charles's  dissolution  of  the 
parliament  in  1681,  without  the  advice  of  his 
council,  he  declined  the  offer  of  being  again 
returned  for  the  university,  and  retired  from 
public  life  altogether.  In  the  reign  of  James  II 
he  had  so  estranged  himself  from  politics  that 
he  was  one  of  the  last  to  credit  the  landing  of 
the  prince  of  Orange.  When  the  Revolution 
was  concluded,  however,  he  waited  on  the  new- 
monarch  to  introduce  his  son,  and  was  again 
requested  to  accept  the  office  of  secretary  of 
state,  which  he  once  more  declined.  His  son 
was  afterwards  appointed  secretary  at  war,  but  | 
in  the  very  week  of  taking  office,  in  a  fit  of  j 
melancholy  threw  himself  into  the  Thames, 
which  only  extorted  from  his  father  a  maxim 
of  the  Stoic  philosophy,  "  That  a  wise  man 
might  dispose  of  himself,  and  render  life  as 
short  as  he  pleased."  It  was  about  this  time 
that  sir  William  took  Swift  to  live  with  him, 
as  already  related  ;  lie  was  likewise  occasion- 
ally visited  by  king  William.  He  died  at 
Moor  park,  Surrey,  in  January  1700,  in  his 
seventy-second  year.  Sir  William  Temple 
merits  a  high  rank  both  as  a  statesman  and  a 
patriot.  He  well  understood  his  country's 
interest,  and  steadily  pursued  it,  without  either 
ambition  or  avarice.  He  had  some  foibles  of 
tea^per,  and  a  share  of  vanity  and  conceit,  but 
was  substantially  a  worthy  man  in  all  the  rela- 
tions of  life.  As  a  writer  he  ranks  among  the 
most  eminent  and  popular  of  his  day.  His 
"  Observations  upon  the  United  Provinces," 
printed  in  1672,  are  interesting  and  valuable, 
and  his  "  Miscellanea"  are  lively  and  enter- 
laining,  if  not  profound.  His  memoirs  are 
also  important  as  regards  the  history  of  the 
tunes,  an  observation  which  may  be  also  ex- 
tended to  the  "  Letters"  published  by  Swift 
fifter  bis  death.  All  his  works,  which  have 
been  published  collectively  in  two  volumes 
quarto,  and  four  volumes  octavo,  display  a 
great  acquaintance  both  with  men  and  books, 
conveyed  in  a  style  negligent  and  incorrect, 


but  agreeable,  and  much  resembling  that  of 
easy  and  polite  conversation. — Biog.  Brit.  Life 
prefixed  to  edition  of  his  Works,  181 4. 

TEMPLEMAN  (PETER)  a  physician  of  the 
last  century,  as  eminent  for  his  erudition  and 
general  knowledge  as  for  his  skill  in  the  sci- 
ence lie  professed.  He  was  a  native  of  the 
town  of  Dorchester,  in  the  county  of  Dorset, 
born  in  March  1711,  and  received  the  rudi- 
ments of  a  classical  education  at  the  Charter- 
house, whence  he  removed  to  Trinity  college, 
Cambridge,  and  then  graduated  in  arts.  After- 
wards he  proceeded  to  Leyden  for  the  purpose 
of  completing  his  medical  studies,  which  he- 
did  under  the  celebrated  Boerhaave,  and  hav- 
ing taken  the  degree  of  MD.  returned  to  Lon- 
don in  1739,  and  commenced  practice  in  that 
metropolis.  A  fondness  however  for  literary 
pursuits,  and  the  society  of  literary  men,  left 
him  little  leisure,  and  perhaps  less  inclination, 
to  follow  up  his  profession  with  the  requisite 
perseverance  ;  and  having  in  1753  obtained  a 
situation  in  the  British  Museum,  as  keeper  of 
the  reading-room,  he  from  that  period  devoted 
almost  the  whole  of  his  time  to  pursuits  more 
congenial  to  his  disposition.  Besides  a  trans- 
lation of  "  Norden's  Travels  in  Egypt,"  which 
lie  printed  in  one  volume,  folio,  lie  was  the 
author  of  "  Remarks  and  Observations  on 
Physic,  Anatomy,  &c.  extracted  from  the  Me- 
moirs of  the  Freuch.  Academy  of  Sciences,"  '2 
vols. ;  "  Cases  and  Consultations,"  &c. ;  with 
a  few  pieces  of  miscellaneous  poetry.  In  1760 
he  quitted  the  museum,  on  being  chosen  secre- 
tary to  the  Society  of  Arts,  in  which  capacity 
he  continued  to  act  till  his  death  in  September 
1769. — There  was  also  a  THOMAS  TKMFLE- 
MAN,  a  respectable  mathematician,  of  Bury,  in 
Suffolk,  where  he  kept  an  arithmetical  school, 
who  printed  a  folio  volume  of  tables,  exhibiting 
the  extent  and  comparative  population  of  the 
different  kingdoms  of  the  world.  His  death 
took  place  about  the  year  1729. — Nichols's  Lit, 
Anec. 

TENCIN  (PIERRE  GUERIN  de)  an  eminent 
ecclesiastic  and  statesman,  who  reached  the 
summit  of  his  career  in  the  earlier  part  of  the 
last  century.  He  was  born  at  Grenoble  in 
1678,  and  having  received  his  education  in  the 
university  of  Paris,  took  the  vows,  and  ob- 
tained early  in  life  some  considerable  prefer- 
ment in  the  church.  On  the  election  of  In- 
nocent XIII  to  the  tiara,  he  was  confirmed 
envoy  from  the  court  of  Paris  to  that  of  the 
Vatican,  and  soon  after  was  made  archbishop 
of  Enibrun.  His  subsequent  rise  to  the  high- 
est dignities  in  the  church  was  rapid,  but  ap- 
pears to  have  been  rather  the  result  of  his 
genius  for  intrigue  than  of  genuine  merit  or 
even  commanding  talent,  since,  after  having 
become  a  member  of  the  college  of  cardinal*, 
with  the  rich  archbishopric  of  Lyons,  when  he 
had  at  length  reached  the  highest  pinnacle  of 
his  ambition,  by  being  appointed  to  succeed 
cardinal  Fleuiy  as  minister  of  France,  both  his 
abilities  and  courage  seem  to  have  sunk  under 
the  difficulties  of  a  post  so  arduous  ;  and  giv- 
ing up  a  situation,  to  the  duties  and  responsi- 
bilities of  which  he  felt  himself  unequal,  he 


TE  N 

Lad  the  prudence  to  exchange  the  cares  at- 
tendant on  his  short-lived  power  for  the  dig 
nified  retirement  of  his  see.  His  death  took 
j  lace  in  1758. — His  sister,  CLAUDINE  ALEX- 
ANDRINE GUERIN  DE  TEN<  IN,  who  died  in 
17-19,  was  originally  destined  like  himself  for 
a  religious  life,  and  took  the  veil  in  the  con- 
vent of  Montfleuri.  Her  own  dislike  of  a 
seclusion  to  which  she  had  perhaps  in  the  first 
instance  reluctantly  dedicated  herself,  aided  by 
her  brother's  interest  at  Rome,  procured  her  a 
dispensation  from  her  vows,  and  she  repaired 
to  Paris,  where  she  distinguished  herself  in 
the  first  circles  by  her  gaiety  and  wit.  The 
death  of  the  counsellor  La  Fresnaye,  who  was 
said  to  have  been  murdered  in  her  apartment, 
at  length  interrupted  her  career,  and  she  un- 
derwent a  short  imprisonment,  first  in  the 
Cliatelet,  and  afterwards  in  the  Bastille.  She 
was  the  authoress  of  "  Biographical  Sketches 
of  De  Comminges,  and  Edward  II,"  and  two 
romances,  "  Les  Malheurs  de  1'Amour,"  and 
the  "  Siege  of  Calais." — Biog,  Univ. 

TENIERS  (DAVID)  the  name  of  two  of 
the  most  celebrated  artists  of  the  Flemish 
school  of  painting,  father  and  son,  both  na- 
tives of  Antwerp,  in  which  city  die  elder  was 
born  in  1582.  Having  been  well  grounded  in 
the  principles  of  the  art  under  the  famous 
Rubens,  who  much  esteemed  him,  and  always 
expressed  the  highest  opinion  of  his  genius, 
he  went  to  Rome  for  the  purpose  of  studying 
the  great  models  of  antiquity  contained  in  that 
city,  and  became  a  scholar  of  Adam  Elshei- 
mer,  of  whose  instruction  and  advice  he  con- 
tinued to  avail  himself  for  a  period  of  six 
years.  On  his  return  to  his  native  country  he 
occupied  himself  principally  in  the  delineation 
of  fairs,  shops,  rustic  sports,  and  drinking  par- 
ties, which  he  exhibited  with  such  truth,  hu- 
mour, and  originality,  that  he  may  be  con- 
sidered the  founder  of  a  style  of  painting 
which  his  son  afterwards  brought  to  perhaps 
the  highest  degree  of  perfection  of  which  it 
is  capable.  His  pictures  are  mostly  of  a  small 
size.  The  elder  Teniers  died  in  1649. — His 
son,  born  in  1610,  imitated  the  style  and  ex- 
pression of  his  father,  whom  he  much  ex- 
celled in  the  correctness  as  well  as  finish  of  his 
works.  He  confined  himself  principally  to  the 
same  subjects  of  low  humour  in  his  original 
pieces;  but  from  the  wonderful  exactness  with 
which  he  was  enabled  to  copy  the  productions 
of  others,  deceived  even  those  who  were  es- 
teemed among  the  best  judges  of  the  age,  and 
acquired  for  himself  the  appellation  of  "  The 
Ape  of  Painting."  Leopold,  archduke  of  Aus- 
tria, made  him  one  of  the  gentlemen  of  his 
bedchamber  ;  William  prince  of  Orange  ho- 
noured him  with  his  friendship,  and  the  king 
of  Spain  built  a  gallery  purposely  for  the  re- 
ception of  his  paintings.  The  smaller  figures 
of  the  younger  Teniers  are  the  most  admired. 
His  death  took  place  in  1694. — There  was 
another  son,  named  ABRAHAM,  also  a  good 
painter,  especially  excelling  in  his  perfect 
knowledge  of  chiar'-oscuro.  —  D'Argeniilie 
Vies  ties  Feint. 

TENISON  (THOMAS)  archbishop  of  Can- 


TEN 

terbury,  a  prelate  of  great  piety  and  learning 
lie  was  a  native  of  Cottenham  in  Cambridge- 
shire, born  September  29,  1636.  His  father, 
who  was  rector  of  Topcroft,  in  tin-  cou  ty  of 
Norfolk,  till  ejected  by  the  parliament  for  his 
adherence  to  royalty,  placed  him  at  the  gram- 
mar-school of  Norwich,  whence  he  removed 
to  Corpus  Christi(Ben'et)  college,  Cambridge, 
and  having  graduated  there;  obtained  a  fellow- 
ship in  1662.  His  first  inclination  led  him  to 
the  study  of  physic  as  a  profession,  but  the 
church  becoming  open  to  him  by  the  Resto- 
ration, he  took  orders,  and  became  curate  of 
the  parish  of  St  Andrew,  Cambridge ;  in  which 
capacity  he  distinguished  himself  so  highly, 
especially  by  his  exemplary  conduct  towards 
his  sick  parishioners  when  the  plague  raged 
there  in  1665,  that  he  was  presented  with  a 
handsome  piece  of  plate,  as  a  testimonial  of 
their  gratitude  and  affection.  Soon  after  he 
was  presented  by  lord  Manchester  to  the 
living  of  Holy-well,  Huntingdonshire,  and  sub- 
sequently obtained  in  succession  those  of  St 
Peter  Mancroft,  Norwich,  1674,  and  St  Mar- 
tin's in  the  Fields,  London,  1680.  Dr  Teni- 
son  was  a  2ealous  polemic  on  the  Protestant 
side,  both  previous  to  and  after  the  Revolution, 
which  circumstance,  together  with  his  tried 
integrity  and  ability,  procured  him  rapid  pro- 
motion under  king  William.  One  of  the  first 
acts  of  that  monarcli  was  to  make  him  arch- 
deacon of  London,  and  in  1691  to  raise  him  to 
the  episcopal  bencli  as  bishop  of  Lincoln.  On 
the  death  of  Tillotson  in  1694,  he  was  ad- 
vanced to  the  primacy  ;  which  high  dignity  he 
continued  to  hold  with  equal  moderation,  firm- 
ness, and  ability,  for  a  period  of  twenty  years, 
till  his  death  in  December  1715.  As  an  au- 
thor he  is  known  by  his  "  Creed  of  Hobbes 
examined,"  an  able  and  argumentative  trea- 
tise ;"  "  Baconiana,  or  Remains  of  Sir  F.  Ba- 
con," 8vo  ;  "  Sir  Thomas  Browne's  Tracts  ;" 
ami  a  variety  of  miscellaneous  sermons.  St 
Martin's  parish  is  indebted  to  his  munificence 
for  a  parochial  school  and  library. — Bin<r, 
Brit. 

TENNANT  (SMITIISON)  an  able  chemist, 
was  born  at  Selby  in  Yorkshire,  of  n  hicb  place 
his  father  was  vicar  in  1761.  He  received  his 
early  education  at  Scorton,  near  Tadcaster,  and 
afterwards  under  Dr  Croft  at  Be  verley,  where  he 
attended  more  to  the  sciences  than  the  classics. 
In  1781  he  proceeded  to  Edinburgh  to  study 
physic,  and  the  year  following  became  a  mem- 
ber of  Christ's  college,  Cambridge,  whence  he 
removed  to  Emanuel  college,  where  in  1786 
he  graduated  BM,  and  in  1796  took  that  of 
doctor  in  the  same  faculty.  In  1812  he  set- 
tied  in  London,  and  delivered  lectures  on  mine- 
!  ralogy,  and  the  following  year  was  elected 
professor  of  chemistry  at  Cambridge.  He  had 
read  but  one  course  of  lectures,  when  he  vi- 
sited France,  where  he  was  killed  by  a  fall 
from  his  horse  near  Boulogne,  which  fractured 
his  skull.  This  event  took  place  February  22, 
1815.  lie  was  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society, 
to  which  body  he  communicated  various  pa- 
jiers  on  the  decomposition  of  fixed  air  ;  the 
nature  of  the  diamond  ;  the  action  of  nitre  on 


TE  K 

gold  and  platina  ;  on  the  uses  of  lime  in  agri- 
culture ;  on  the  composition  of  emery  ;  a  new 
•aethod  of  obtaining  potassium,  &c.  &c.  He 
also  contributed  to  the  Transactions  of  the 
Geological  Society  the  analysis  of  a  volcanic 
substance  containing  boracic  acid. — Thomson's 
Annals  of  Philus. 

TENNENT  (GILBERT)  the  son  of  an  Irish 
presbyteriau  minister,  who  removed  in  1718 
to  North  America,  and  settled  near  Philadel- 
phia, where  he  opened  an  academy  for  the 
education  of  students  in  divinity.  The  son 
assisted  in  the  direction  of  this  establishment, 
and  after  having  studied  medicine  as  well  as 
theology,  he  was  in  1726  ordained  pastor  of  a 
congregation  at  New  Brunswick.  In  1743  he 
founded  a  presbyterian  church  at  Philadel- 
phia, and  he  subsequently  travelled  in  the 
various  Anglo-American  provinces  as  a  mis- 
sionary. Notwithstanding  his  zeal  and  success 
in  this  undertaking,  a  party  was  formed 
against  him,  and  he  was  accused  of  immorality. 
A  hostile  pamphlet  was  published,  called  the 
"  Examiner  ;"  to  which  he  replied  in  another, 
entitled  the  "  Examiner  examined."  This 
controversy  occasioned  the  convocation  of  a 
synod  in  1741,  but  no  decision  on  the  points 
in  dispute  took  place.  Tennent,  with  a  view 
to  conciliation,  published  a  remarkable  work, 
under  the  title  of  "  The  Peace  of  Jerusalem." 
He  died  in  1765. — His  brother,  WILLIAM 
TENNENT,  minister  of  Freehold,  in  New  Jer- 
sey, was  a  distinguished  preacher  among  the 
Calvinists.  He  published  a  tract,  giving  an 
"  Account  of  the  Revival  of  Religion  at  Free 
hold  and  elsewhere,"  8vo. — Biog.  Univ. 

TERENCE  or  PUBLIUS  TEUENTIUS,  a  ce- 
lebrated Latin  writer  of  comedies,  is  supposed 
to  have  been  born  in  Carthage,  about  the  year 
of  Rome  566  (BC.  194).     He  was  brought  a 
slave  to   that  capital  in  his  youth,  but  falling 
into  the  hands  of   a  generous  master  named 
Terentius   Lucanus,    the   latter  was  so  taken 
with  the  quickness  of  his  parts,  that  he  first 
gave  him  a   good  education,   and    then    his 
liberty.  He  acquired  the  friendship  and  esteem 
of  several  Romans  of  rank,  among  whom  were 
Scipio  Africanus  the  younger,  and  his  friend 
Ljelius.  He  applied  himself  to  the  composition 
of  comedies  on  the  Greek  model,  and  indeed, 
either  in   whole  or  in  part,  translated   them 
from  the  Greek.     The  first  piece  which  he  is 
recorded  to   have  brought  on    the  stage,  was 
the  "Andria,"  represented  BC.  166  ;  and  the 
whole  of  his  six  comedies  which  remain,  were 
acted  at  Rome  between   the    last-mentioned 
date  and  BC.  160.     They  were  received  with 
great  applause,  especially  the  "  Eunuchus," 
for  which,  according  to  Donatus,  he  received 
8000  sesterces  (about  64<.),  the   largest  sum 
which  had  ever  been  given  for  a  comedy.     It 
was  a  common  opinion,   confirmed   by  several 
ancient  writers,  that  Scipio  and  Lrelius  assisted 
him  in  the   composition  of  these  pieces.     Te- 
rence himself  hints  at  this  rumour  as  a  charge 
made  by  detractors,   but   regards  it  as  confer- 
ring honour  rather  than  requiring  contradiction. 
It  is  not  likely  however  these   statesmen  and 
commanders,  whatever   their  love  for  letters, 


TER 

should  possess  talent  of  this  description ,  not 
to  mention  that  no  writings  are  more  strongly 
marked  by  their  style  and  manner  as  the  pro- 
duct of  a  single  hand,  than  those  of  Terence. 
After  he  had  given  his  six  comedies  to  the  Ro- 
man public,  he  departed  for  Greece,  where  he 
stayed  about  a  year,  in  order,  it  is  thought,  to 
collect  some  of  the  plays  of  Menander.     He 
fell  sick,  according  to  some,  and  died  at  sea  on 
his  voyage  home,  while   others  represent  his 
death  to    have  taken  place  at  Stymphalis  in 
Arcadia.     Upon   the  merits  of  Terence  much 
opposing  opinion  has  existed,  partly  in  conse- 
quence of  his  known  obligation  to  the  comic 
writers  of  Greece,  and  especially  to  MenanJer. 
Thus  it  is  supposed  that  he  has  little  claim  to 
originality,  either  for  the  incident  or  sentiment 
of  his  pieces,  which   however  still  leave  him 
the  high  praise  of  judicious  selection,  happy 
disposition,  and  purity  and  sweetness  of  lan- 
guage. Cicero  also  speaks  of  him  as  the  trans- 
lator of  Menander,    praises  his  Latin  as  ex- 
pressing all  the  politeness  and  amenity  of  the 
original  ;  and  Cfesar  calls  him  a  lover  of  pure 
diction,  while  expressing  his  regret  that  lie  did 
not  possess  the  vis  comica  of  his  original.     Of 
the  numerous  editions  of  Terence,   the  most 
esteemed  are  the  Elzevir,  1635;  the  Variorum, 
Amst.    1686;  that  of  Westerhovius,    2  vols. 
4to,  1726  ;  that  of  Bentley,  Cambridge,  4to, 
of  the  same  year  ;  the   Edinburgh  edition  of 
1758  ;  and  that  of  Zeunius,  Leipsic,  1774,  2 
vols.  8vo.     Terence   has  been  translated  into 
English  by  the  elder  Colman,  and  into  French 
by  Madame  Dacier. —  Vossii  Poet.  Lat,     Cru- 
sius's  Roman  Poets.  •  Saiii  Onom. 

TERENTIANUS  MAURUS,  a  Libyan 
author,  born  at  Carthage,  of  whom  a  gram- 
matical treatise  is  yet  extant,  written  in  Latin 
hexameters.  It  is  entitled  "  De  Literis,  Syl- 
labis,  Pedibus,  et  Metris,"  Milan,  1497.  It 
is  also  to  be  found  in  the  Genevese  "  Corpus 
Poetarum."  Of  his  birth  or  condition  but 
little  is  known. — Moreri. 

TERPANDER,  a  Lesbian  poet,  who  flou- 
rished towards  the  close  of  the  seventh  cen- 
tury before  the  Christian  era.  Like  most  of 
his  brethren  he  united  practical  to  theoretical 
harmony,  and  is  said  to  have  been  the  inventor 
of  an  additional  string  to  the  lyre.  He  first 
gained  the  prize  for  music  at  the  Carnian 
games,  instituted  by  the  Lacedemonians  ;  who 
however  banished  him  for  the  innovation  of 
the  additional  string,  and  declared  his  instru- 
ment forfeited. —  Vossius. 

TERRASSON,  the  name  of  several  inge- 
nious French  writers,  who  flourished  during 
the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries.  Of 
these,  JEAN,  born  at  Lyons  in  1670,  the  son 
of  an  advocate  of  that  city,  enjoyed  the  repu- 


ta'.ion  of  being  one  of  the  best  practical  phi- 
losophers as  well  as  soundest  scholars  of  his 
time.  He  was  for  some  time  a  member  of  the 
Oratory,  and  eventually  obtained  in  1721  the 
Greek  professorship  in  the  Royal  College  of 
Paris.  His  dissertation  on  the  Iliad,  printed 
in  2  vols.  12mo,  made  him  a  prominent  con- 
troversialist in  the  dispute  carried  on  between 
Madame  Dacier  and  l)e  la  Motte,  respectiu? 


TER 

Homer.  His  other  works  are  "  Sethos,"  a 
moral  and  political  romance  ;  a  French  trans- 
lation of  the  works  of  Diodorus  Siculus,  in 
seven  duodecimo  volumes ;  and  a  tract  in  fa- 
vour of  the  Missisippi  scheme.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Academic  des  Sciences,  and 
di.'d  in  1750. —  ANDREW  TERRASSON,  brother 
to  the  above,  was  also  an  ecclesiastic  belong- 
ing to  the  Oratory,  and  was  celebrated  for  his 
eloquence  in  the  pulpit  " '— J— : 


Four  duodecimo  vo- 


lumes of  his  discourses  were  published  after 
his  decease,  which  took  place  at  Paris  in 
]7'j:3. — GASPARD,  another  brother,  was  edu- 
cated in  the  same  seminary,  but  becoming  a 
convert  to  the  Jansenist  party,  not  only  lost 
the  reputation  he  had  previously  acquired,  but 
was  thrown  into  confinement.  After  his  libe- 
ration he  settled  at  Paris,  and  died  there  in 
1752,  leaving  also  behind  him  four  volumes 
of  sermons. — MATTHEW  TERRASSON,  of  the 
same  family,  was  a  native  of  Lyons,  where  he 
practised  with  much  credit  as  an  advocate.  He 
was  born  in  the  autumn  of  1669,  and  graduated 
ni  Paris,  where  he  died  September  30,  1734. 
Several  professional  tracts  of  his  compilation 
were  much  esteemed,  and  are  printed  together 
in  one  quarto  volume. — His  son  ANTOINE, 
born  at  Paris  in  November  1705,  'was  brought 
up  to  the  same  profession  as  his  father.  His 
history  of  the  Roman  code,  first  printed  in 
1750,  is  an  able  work,  and  gained  its  author  a 
considerable  degree  of  reputation  as  well  as 
advantages  of  a  more  solid  nature.  He  ob- 
tained the  situation  of  censor  loyal,  with  a  law 
professorship  in  the  Royal  college,  to  whicl 
he  united  the  lucrative  appointment  of  coun- 
sellor to  the  French  clergy.  Besides  the  work 
already  alluded  to,  he  was  the  author  of  a 
variety  of  treatises  on  historical  and  critical, 
as  well  as  on  professional  subjects.  His  death 
took  place  in  the  October  of  1782. —  Bio>r. 
Univ.  Mum.  Diet.  Hist. 

TERR  AY  (JOSEPH  MARiE)abbe,  aFrench 
ecclesiastic  and  financier,  was  born  in  1715  at 
Bean  in  Foivz.  He  was  educated  at  the  col- 
lege of  Jully,  after  which  he  became  a  clerk 
in°the  parliament  of  Paris.  He  ne\t  entered 


into  orders,  but  a  defective  utterance  and  for- 
bidding exterior  prevented  him  from  making 
his  way  in  the  church,  and  he  became  chie 
of  the  council  to  the  prince  of  Conde,  then 
comptroller,  afterwards  minister  of  state,  and 
finally  director-general  of  the  public  buildings 
of  France.  He  was  a  man  of  a  firm  decided 
temper,  and  of  indefatigable  application,  who 


rendered    his    accounts   models    of 
order,    precision,    and   perspicuity. 


financia 
He    re 


T  ER 

India  lie  was  chosen  to  supply  the  place  Oi 
lie  chaplain  to  the  embassy,  who  had  died  in 
he  voyage.  He  remained  two  years  at  the 
ourt  of  the  Mogul  emperor  :  and  in  1617  Le 
eturned  with  sir  T.  Roe  to  England.  He  sub- 
eqnently  became  rector  of  Greenford  in  Mid- 
llesex,  where  he  passed  the  remainder  of  his 
ife.  Terry  drew  up  an<  account  of  the  ob- 
ervationshe  made  during  his  residence  abroad, 
which  he  presented  in  MS.  to  Charles  I,  then 
irince  of  Wales,  in  1622.  It  was  published 
under  the  title  of  "  A  Voyage  to  East  India," 
Condon,  1655,  8vo,  and  was  reprinted  in  1777, 
jvo. — 75(00-.  Univ. 

TKRTRK.     There    were   two    French  ec- 
clesiastics of  this  name  ;  JEAN  BAPTISTE  DU 
TERTRE,  the  first  in  point  of  time,  was  a  na- 
ive of  Calais,  born   in  1610.     He  served  ori- 
ginally in  the  army,   but  afterwards  preferring 
a  religious  life,   assumed  the  habit  of  St  Do- 
minic, and   proceeded   to  the  West  Indies  in 
]u;tlity  of  a   missionary.      On   has    return  to 
France  in  1658  he  employed  himself  in  writing 

history  of  the  French  settlements  in  the  An- 
:illes,  which  is  more  remarkable  for  the  accu- 
racy of  its  statements  than  the  elegance  of  its 
composition.  This  work,  which  occupies  four 
quarto  volumes,  appeared  partly  in  1667,  and 
was  completed  in  1671.  The  author  sur- 
vived ks  publication  several  years,  dying  at 
Paris  in  1687. — RODOLPHUS,  a  Jesuit  of  the 
same  name,  was  born  in  Alenfon  in  1667. 
The  latter  is  known  as  the  author  of  several 
metaphysical  and  devotional  tracts,  especially 
of  a  reply  to  the  opinions  broached  by  Male- 


branche. —  Bio 


Kouv.  Diet.  fiht. 


formed  many  abuses,  and  introduced  severa 
economical  reforms,  which  produced  him  nu 
merous  enemies,  whose  opposition  Le  treate< 
with  contempt.  He  resigned  his  places  ii 
1774,  and  died  in  1778  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
three. —  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

TERRY  (EDWARD)  an  English  voyager 
and  traveller,  born  about  1590.  Being  ap- 
pointed chaplain  to  a  fleet  which  accompa- 
nied sir  Thomas  Roe,  who  was  sent  ambassa- 
dor to  the  Great  Mogul,  Mr  Terry  sailed  from 
Gravesend  in  February  1615,  and  on  arriving 


TERTULLIAN  (QUINTUS  SEPTIMUS  FLAC- 
cus)  considered  the  most  early  Latin  father 
extant,  was  born  at  Carthage  about  the  mid- 
dle of  the  second  century.  His  father  was  a 
centurion  under  the  proconsul  of  Africa,  and 
he  was  at  first  a  Pagan,  although  when  or 
where  he  embraced  the  Christian  religion  docs 
not  appear.  He  received  a  liberal  education, 
and  was  well  versed  in  Greek  and  Roman 
literature,  and,  as  some  assert,  learned  in  the 
Roman  law.  He  flourished  chiefly  under  the 
reigns  of  the  emperors  Severus  and  Caracalla  ; 
and  Jerome  mentions  a  report  that  he  lived  to 
a  very  advanced  age.  He  employed  him- 
self vigorously  in  the  cause,  of  Christianity  ; 
but  towards  the  latter  part  of  his  life 
quitted  the  Catholic  church  to  join  the 
Montanists,  out  of  which  he  formed  a  sect 
of  his  own,  named  Tertullianists.  The  ground 
of  his  separation,  however,  related  rather  to 
discipline  than  doctrine,  being  favourable  to 
the  greater  austerities  inculcated  by  Montanus 
and  his  two  prophetesses.  Of  the  personal 
history  of  Tertullian  little  more  is  known  than 
that  he  did  not  separate  from  his  wife  on  be- 
coming a  priest,  if  even  he  did  not  many  her 
after  that  event. 


Of  his  writings 


the   most 


noted  is  his  "  Apologeticus,  or  Apology  for  the 
Christian  Religion,"  addressed  to  the  procon- 
sul of  Africa,  which  contains  much  information 
on  the  manners  and  conduct  of  the  early 
Christians,  and  in  a  manly  strain  asserts  the 
falsehood  of  the  calumnies  by  which  they  were 


T  ES 

assailed,  and  the  injustice  of  persecuting  them. 
Connected  with  this  work  are   his  two  books, 
"  Ad   Nationes,"  in  which,  with   his  charac- 
teristic vehemence,  he  carries  his  attack  into 
the  quarters  of  his  opponents.     He  also  wrote 
largely  against  various  heresies,   and  several 
distinct  tracts  "  On  Baptism,"  "  On  Idolatry," 
and  on   the  conduct   required   from  Christians 
under  heathen  domination.      In    one  of  these, 
"  Upon  Public  Spectacles,"  he  dissuades  them 
from  attending   shows  and  festivals  as  partak- 
iug  of  idolatry  ;  and  he  luxuriates  in  the  anti- 
cipation of  the  transport  with  which  he  shall 
survey  the    torments  of  persecutors,   philoso- 
phers, poets,  and  tragedians  in  another  world. 
This   father  was  a  man  of  lively  parts,   but  he 
displays  little  judgment  in   his  reasoning,  and 
while  led  by  his  temper  to  violence  and  exag- 
geration, he  was  at  the  same  time  weakly  cre- 
dulous and   gloomily  austere.      His   style  is 
concise  and  figurative,  but  harsh,  unpolished, 
and  obscure.  On  the  whole  it  has  been  doubt- 
ed  whether  he   did    more   good   or   harm  to 
Christianity.     His  works  have  been  frequently 
edited,  both  collectively  and  separately,  par- 
ticularly his  "  Apology."      Of  the  entire  works 
the  editions  of  Rigaldus,  Paris,  1641,  and  of 
Semler,  Hal.  Magd.  6  vols.  1770,  are  esteemed 
the  best.     The  best  edition  of  the  "  Apology" 
is  that  by  Havercamp,   Leyden,  1718,  8vo. — 
Dupin.     Caie.     Mnsheim. 

TESSE  (RENE  DK  FROULAI,  countde")  mar- 
shal of  France,  was  born  about  1650.  He 
served  with  distinction  as  aide-de-camp  to  mar- 
shal de  Crequi  in  1669.  Having  become  a 
lieutenant-general  in  1692,  he  raised  the 
blockade  of  Pignerol  in  1693  ;  and  he  was 
commander-in -chief  in  Piedmont  during  the 
absence  of  Catinat.  In  1703  he  was  made  a 
marshal,  and  the  next  year  he  went  to  Spain, 
where  he  had  some  success,  though  he  failed 
before  Gibraltar  and  before  Barcelona,  where 
he  was  opposed  by  the  earl  of  Peterborough. 
He  was  more  fortunate  in  1707,  when  he  drove 
the  Piedmontfse  out  of  Dauphiny.  Disgusted 
with  the  world  he  entered  into  the  religious 
society  of  the  Camaldules  in  1722  ;  but  he 
•was  obliged  to  quit  his  retreat  to  take  the  com- 
mand of  the  French  in  Spain.  On  his  return 
in  1725  he  retired  again  to  his  solitude,  and 
died  the  10th  of  May,  the  same  year.  He  was 
the  author  of  three  historical  tracts  ;  and  ge- 
neral Grimoard  published  in  1806,  "Memoires 
et  Lettres  du  Marechal  de  Tesse,"  2  vols. 
8vo. — Diet.  Hist.  Biog.  Univ. 

TESSIN  (NicooEMi's,  count  de)  senator  of 
Sweden  and  grand  marshal  of  the  court,  prin- 
cipally known  for  his  works  of  architecture, 
was  born  at  Nikoping  in  1654.  His  father, 
who  was  architect  to  Charles  XI,  received 
from  that  prince  letters  of  nobility.  The  son, 
after  studying  the  art  of  building  at  home, 
travelled  for  improvement,  and  stayed  some 
tiine  at  Rome  to  observe  the  monuments  of 
ancient  and  modern  genius.  Returning  to 
Sweden,  he  was  successively  nominated  cham- 
berlain, baron,  count,  superintendent  of  build- 
ings, grand-marshal,  and  senator.  Among 
the  numerous  edifices  erected  from  his  designs 
GEN.  Bioo.  VOL.  III. 


TES 

may  be  mentioned  the  king's  palace  at  StocK- 
holm,  and  the  royal  castle  of  Drottingholm. 
He  died  in  1718,  leaving  many  Latin  works, 
including  a  treatise,  "  De  Cometarum  JNa- 
tura,"  1700,  folio. — Biog.  Univ. 

TESSIN  (CHARLES  GUSTAVUS,    count  de) 
son  of  the  preceding,  was  one  of  those  indivi- 
duals to  whose   influence  may  be   principally 
ascribed  the  modern  revolutions    of  Sweden. 
He  was  born  at  Stockholm  in  169.5,  and  after 
being  educated   by    his   father,    he    travelled 
from  1714  to  1719  in   Germany,  France,  and 
Italy.     His  talents  were  displaved   in  the  po- 
litical discussions  which  arose  in  Sweden  after 
the  death  of  Charles   XII,  when  he  declared 
for  the  party  of  the  Hats,  one  of  the  two  grei  t 
factions  which  alternately  governed  or  agitated 
the  country.  His  influence  caused  the  decided 
triumph  of  the  party  which  he  joined.      After 
having  assisted  at  the  most  secret   delibera- 
tions of  the  states,  and  negociated  with  many 
foreign  courts,   he   was    nominated    president 
of   the   assembly    of    nobility   in    the  diet  of 
1738.     He  presented  and  procured    the  adop- 
tion by  the  diet   of  a  plan  for  a  most  essential 
change   in  the   system  of  government.      His 
favourite  measure  was  the   encouragement  of 
manufactures,  aud  the  appropriation  of  a  part 
of  the  public   revenue   to  that   purpose.     He 
also   cultivated   the  friendship  of  France,    in 
preference  to  that  of  England  or  Russia  ;   and 
from  1739  to  1742   he  resided  as  ambassador 
at  Paris,    where  he  concluded  a  treaty  of  al 
liance  and  for  a  subsidy  with   the  French  go- 
vernment.      Soon    after    his    return    he    was 
made  a  senator,  and  was  sent  on   a  mission  to 
Denmark  ;  and  in  1744  he  went  to  Berlin   to 
negociate  the  marriage  of  Lousia  Ulrica,  sister 
of  the  prince  royal   of  Sweden,  when  he  re- 
ceived the  decoration  of  the  order  of  the  Black 
Eagle,  and  many  other  marks  of  consideration 
for  his  services.     From   1747  to  1752   count 
de  Tessin  had  the  direction  of  foreign  affairs 
as  president  of  the  chancery  ;  and  at  the  same 
time  he  was  appointed  governor  of  the  prince 
royal,  afterwards  Gustavus  III.    He  addressed 
to  his  pupil  a  series  of  letters  relative  to  morals, 
politics,  and  administration,  which  were  pub- 
lished, and  which  have   been   translated  into 
English,  French,  and  other  languages.     The 
English    version    is    entitled    "    Letters    to   a 
Young  Prince   from  his  Governor,"  London, 
1755,  8vo.     About  1760  the  approach  of  party 
disputes  in  the  diet  induced  count   de  Tessin 
to  think  of  retiring  from   the   public  service, 
and  in  the  following  year  he   resigned  all   his 
employments.     He   then  settled   at  his  estate 
of  Akeroe  in    Sudermania,  where   he  died  in 
1770.     He  promoted  the  establishment  of  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  at  Stockholm  ;  and  be- 
sides  his  Letters,  he  wrote  a  number  of  dis- 
courses and  essays.   A  description  of  a  cabinet 
of  natural    history  which   he  had  formed,  was 
published  in   1753,  under  the   title  of  "  Mu- 
seum Tessinianum,"  folio,  with  plates. — Id. 

TESTI  (FuLvio,  count)  an  admired  Italian 
poet,  was  born  in  1593,  at  Ferrara,  of  parents 
in  medium  circumstances.  He  was  carried 
when  youug  to  Modena,  where  he  rose  to  th> 


TET 

highest  offices  in  that  court,  and  was  honoured 
will)  various  orders  of  knighthood.  His  life 
was  however  a  perpetual  alternation  of  pro- 
sperity and  adversity,  chiefly  in  consequence 
of  his  own  ambition  and  inconsistency,  which 
caused  him  to  fall  into  disgrace  with  duke 
Francis  I,  who  imprisoned  him  in  the  citadel 
of  Modena,  where  he  died  in  1646.  His 
poems  are  chiefly  of  the  lyric  class,  and  those 
which  he  published  in  his  youth  abound  in  the 
conceits  and  false  taste  of  his  age.  When  his 
judgment  was  matured,  however,  he  composed 
in  a  purer  style,  and  he  exhibits  a  degree  of 
vigour  and  poetical  spirit  which  will  bear  com- 
parison with  the  best  poets  of  Italy.  He  wrote 
two  tragedies,  entitled  "  Arsinda,"  and 
"  L'Isola  d'  Alcina,"  the  style  of  which  is 
rather  lyric  than  dramatic. — Tiraboschi, 

TETENS  (JOHN  NICHOLAS)  counsellor  of 
state  and  of  finance  at  Copenhagen,  was  born 
at  Tetenshull,  in  the  duchy  of  Sleswick,  in 
1737".  After  having  been  variously  engaged 
as  a  public  teacher,  he  went  in.  1776  to  the 
university  of  Kiel,  to  give  lectures  on  pLiJo 
sophy  and  mathematics.  In  1789  he  was 
called  to  Copenhagen,  where  he  died  Aug.  19, 
1807,  after  having  for  nearly  twenty  years 
filled  honourable  posts  in  the  departments  of 
finance  and  administration.  His  works  are 
"  An  Introduction  to  the  Calculation  of  An- 
nuities, "  Leipsic,  1785,  8vo ;  "  A  Voyage  to 
the  Coasts  of  the  North  Sea,  to  observe  the 
Construction  of  Canals,"  1788,  8vo  ;  "A  Phi- 
losophical Essay  on  Human  Nature,"  1777, 
8vo  ;  "  The  Origin  of  Language  and  Writing," 
Butzow,  1772,  8vo  ;  and  "  Considerations  on 
the  reciprocal  Rights  of  belligerent  and  ne,u. 
tral  Powers  at  Sea,"  Copenhagen,  1805,  8vo. 
All  these  treatises  are  in  German  ;  and  he 
likewise  published  a  Latin  translation  of 
Kraft's  Lectures  on  Mechanics,  1773,  4to. — 
Bi.og.  Univ. 

TETZEL,  or  TESTZEL  (JOHN)  a  fanatical 
monk  of  the  sixteenth  century,  whose  bigotry 
and  absurdities  may  be  considered  among  the 
proximate  causes  of  the  Reformation.  He  was 
of  German  extraction,  born  at  Fiern  upon  the 
Elbe,  and  having  taken  the  habit  of  St  Do- 
minic, received  a  commission  from  his  dio- 
cesan, the  archbishop  of  Mayence,  to  preach 
up  the  indulgences  of  Leo  X.  The  excess  of 
zeal  which  he  displayed  in  the  execution  of 
this  charge,  and  the  extravagant  power  and 
virtue  which  he  attributed  to  his  commodities, 
declaring  that  they  were  sufficient  to  procure 
impunity  for  a  sinner,  though  he  had  even  vio- 
lated the  mother  of  God  herself,  first  roused 
the  indignation  of  Luther,  and  drew  upon  him 
those  attacks  which  were  at  length  transferred 
from  the  effect  to  the  cause,  and  diverted 
from  combating  the  absurdities  themselves  to 
exposing  the  corruption  of  the  system  by 
which  they  were  originated  and  sanctioned. 
The  eyes  of  the  papal  government  were  at 
'<'n<;tl],  when  too  late,  opened  to  the  mischief 
which  their  indiscreet  instrument  had  occa- 
sioned, and  he  received  so  severe  a  rer- 
from  the  legate,  that  his  wounded  pride 
not  bear  up  against  what  he  considered 


TH  A 

grateful  a  return  for  his  exertions,  and  lie  is 
said  to  have  literally  died  in  consequence  of  a 
broken  heart  in  1519. —  Moreri. 

TKXK1RA  (JOSEPH)  a  Portuguese  his- 
torian of  the  sixteenth  century,  born  about 
the  year  1543.  He  was  a  monk  of  the  order 
of  St  Dominic,  and  head  of  a  religious  house 
belonging  to  that  fraternity  at  Santarem.  His 
principal  works  consist  of  a  life  of  king  Sebas- 
tian, with  a  particular  account  of  the  disas- 
trous expedition  of  that  prince  into  Africa,  and 
an  early  history  of  Portugal.  On  the  acces- 
sion of  Don  Antonio  to  the  throne,  Texeira 
was  one  of  those  who  went  with  him  to  Paris, 
in  order  to  solicit  assistance  against  Spain. 
His  death  took  place  in  1620. — Moreri. 

TEXEIRA  (PETER)  a  Portuguese  histo- 
rian and  traveller,  born  about  1570.  Nothing 
is  known  of  his  history  till  1600,  when,  as 
appears  from  his  own  relation,  he  had  resided 
some  years  in  Persia,  and  particularly  at  the 
Portuguese  settlement  on  the  island  of  Ormuz. 
After  having  studied  the  Persian  language,  he 
y«x>t  to  India,  and  thence  he  determined  to 
return  to  Europe  by  a  route  which  would  en- 
able him  to  visit  various  parts  of  Asia,  with 
which  he  was  unacquainted.  Having  em- 
barked at  Malacca,  he  touched  at  Sumatra,  the 
Sunda  Isles,  Borneo,  and  the  Philippines,  and 
crossing  the  Pacific  ocean,  arrived  in  Decem- 
ber 1600  at  Acapulco.  He  then  travelled  to 
Mexico,  and  sailing  from  the  port  of  St  John 
d'Uloa,  he  arrived  at  Lisbon  in  October  1601. 
He  subsequently  undertook  a  second  voyage  to 
Malacca,  and  on  his  return  travelled  by  land 
from  Bassora  to  Aleppo.  Arriving  in  Europe 
he  passed  through  Italy  and  France  to  the 
Netherlands  ;  and  at  Antwerp  he  published 
"  Relaciones  de  Pedro  Texeira  del  Origen, 
Dfscendencia,  y  Succession  de  los  Reyes  de 
Persia  y  de  Hormtiz,  y  de  un  Viage  hecho  por 
el  mismo  Autor  dende  la  India  Oriental,  hasta 
Italia  por  tierra,"  1610,  8vo.  This  work  is 
curious,  as  exhibiting  much  information  pre- 
viously unknown  in  Europe,  relative  to  the 
history  and  geography  of  Asia. —  Bing.  Univ. 

THABET  BEN  CORRAH,  an  Arabian 
mathematician,  philosopher,  and  physician, 
who  was  of  the  sect  of  the  Sabaeans,  and  was 
born  at  Haran  or  C'arrhae,  in  Mesopotamia,  in 
835.  He  is  said  to  have  been  skilled  in  the 
Greek,  Syriac,  and  Arabic  languages,  and  to 
have  composed  in  the  latter  one  hundred  and 
fifty  works  on  dialectics,  mathematics,  astro- 
logy, and  medicine,  besides  sixteen  in  Syriac, 
including  a  treatise  on  music,  a  chronicle  of 
the  kings  of  Syria,  and  a  book  on  the  religion 
of  the  Sabseans.  Thabet  resided  at  Bagdad, 
and  was  one  of  the  astrologers  of  the  caliph 
Motaded.  Among  his  works  are  translations 
from  Euclid,  Galen,  Aristotle,  Ptolemy,  Archi- 
medes, and  Apollonius  Pergajus.  He  died 
AD.  900. — SENAN,  or  SINANT  BEN  THABF.T, 
not  less  celebrated  than  his  father,  was  first 
physician  to  the  caliph  Caber  Billah.  He 
turned  Mahometan  at  the  solicitation  of  the 
prince  whom  he  served,  and  whose  cruel  dis- 
position he  dreaded.  At  length  he  fled  to 
Khorasan,  whence  he  returned  after  the  de 


TH  A 

position  of  Caher  Billah.  He  died  in  942. 
He  was  learned  both  in  astronomy  and  medi- 
cine, and  composed  works  on  both  those  sci- 
ences, much  esteemed  by  the  Orientals. — 
THABET  BEN  SINAN,  his  son,  cultivated  the 
same  branches  of  learning  with  his  father  and 
grandfather,  and  was  physician  to  the  hospital 
at  Bagdad.  He  wrote  the  history  of  his  own 
time  from  AD.  902  to  970,  in  which  year  he 
died. — Bwg.  Univ. 

THALEBI  (ABU  MANSUR  ABD'  EL  MELEK 
AL)  author  of  a  great  number  of  works  on  a 
variety  of  subjects,  was  born  at  Nischabur,  in 
Persia,  AD.  961,  and  died  in  1038.  Among 
his  principal  productions  may  be  specified  an 
Arabian  Anthology,  or  Florilegium  ;  a  treatise 
on  the  intelligence  of  the  Arabian  language  ;  a 
collection  of  the  most  elegant  Arabian  phrases; 
and  a  history  of  illustrious  poets,  entitled 
"  The  Pearl  of  the  most  meritorious  Men  of 
the  Age,"  which  is  reckoned  his  chef-d'oeuvre. 
Copies  of  this  work  exist  in  the  royal  libraries 
of  Paris,  and  the  Escurial,  and  in  the  Bod- 
leian at  Oxford. —  Biug.  Univ. 

THALES  the  founder  of  the  Ionic  school  of 
philosophy,  was  born  at  Miletus,  in  Asia  Minor, 
about  the  year  580  BC.  He  rose  to  distinction 
among  his  fellow-citizens,  and  was  earJy  em- 
ployed in  public  affairs.  His  ardour  for  im- 
provement led  him  to  travel  in  search  of  in- 
struction, and  after  visiting  Crete,  he  sailed  to 
Egypt,  where,  according  to  some  authorities, 
he  acquired  his  knowledge  of  philosophy  and 
mathematics  from  the  priests  of  Memphis. 
Upon  his  return  to  Miletus  he  communicated 
the  knowledge  which  he  had  acquired  to  many 
disciples,  among  the  principal  of  whom  were 
Anaximander,  Anaximenes,  and  Pythagoras. 
In  order  to  pursue  his  studies  with  the  lese 
interruption,  he  gave  up  the  management  of 
his  estate  to  his  nephew  ;  and  is  otherwise  the 
subject  of  several  popular  tales,  founded  on 
Lis  close  attention  to  philosophical  specula- 
tions, and  abstraction  from  common  affairs. 
He  reached  the  age  of  ninety,  and  died  through 
mere  infirmity,  as  he  was  attending  the  Olym- 
pic games.  Laerdus  and  several  other  writers 
regard  Thales  as  the  founder  of  the  Greek 
philosophy,  but  as  neither  he  nor  his  earliest 
successors  in  the  Ionic  school  left  any  writings 
behind  them,  their  tenets  can  only  be  conjec- 
tured from  the  obscure  notices  of  the  later 
Greek  writers.  He  is  represented  as  having 
held  that  water  was  the  first  principle  of  natural 
bodies,  and  according  to  Cicero  he  spoke  of 
God  as  the  mind  which  formed  all  things  out 
of  that  primary  element.  Others  deny  that 
he  represented  God  as  the  intelligent  cause  of 
the  universe,  and  aver  that  the  sayings  as- 
cribed to  Thales  are  of  dubious  authority. 
According  to  him,  the  principle  of  motion, 
wherever  it  exists,  is  mind,  the  soul  being  con- 
sidered as  a  moving  power,  perpetually  in 
action.  Respecting  the  material  world,  he 
held  that  night  was  created  before  day,  that 
the  stars  are  fiery  bodies,  and  that  the  moon  is 
an  opaque  one,  illuminated  by  the  sun.  The 
earth  he  regarded  as  a  spherical  body,  placed 
in  the  centre  of  the  universe.  In  the  mathe- 


THE 

matics  he  is  reported  to  have  been  the  in- 
ventor of  several  fundamental  propositions, 
adopted  by  Euclid.  He  was  also  a  considerable 
improver  of  astronomy,  and  the  first  Greek  who 
predicted  a  solar  eclipse.  He  moreover  taught 
the  Greeks  the  division  of  the  heavens  into 
five  zones,  and  fixed  the  revolution  of  the  sun 
at  365  days.  Thales  was  likewise  one  of  the 
philosophers  who  united  moral  and  political 
wisdom  to  the  researches  of  science  ;  and  nu- 
merous aphorisms  are  attributed  to  him,  in 
exemplification  of  his  social  penetration.  On 
the  whole  he  was  doubtless  one  of  the  greatest 
men  of  early  Greece,  and  well  entitled,  as  was 
the  case,  to  be  regarded  as  the  first  of  its 
seven  sages. — Diogenes  Laert.  Stanley.  Brucker, 
Bayle. 

THALES,  or  THALETAS,  an  ancient 
Greek  musician,  who  has  been  sometimes  con- 
founded with  the  celebrated  philosopher  of 
Miletus.  He  was  a  native  of  the  isle  of  Crete, 
and  was  contemporary  with  Lycurgus,  the 
Spartan  legislator,  by  whom  lie  was  much  es- 
teemed. He  introduced  into  Sparta,  and  also 
into  Arcadia  and  Argos,  several  sorts  of  dances, 
including  that  denominated  gymnopedia.  Con- 
siderable improvements  in  the  art  he  professed 
are  attributed  to  Thaletas,  and  he  is  said  to 
have  composed  lyric  poems,  which  in  conjunc- 
tion with  his  music  inspired  those  who  heard 
them  with  sentiments  of  admiration  and  esteem 
for  the  social  and  manly  virtues,  producing 
effects  hardly  less  surprising  than  those  as- 
cribed to  the  songs  of  Orpheus  or  Amphion. — • 
Bwg.  Univ.  Rees's  Cyclop. 

THEDEN  (JOHN  CHRISTIAN  ANTHONY) 
an  eminent  Prussian  surgeon,  born  in  Meck- 
lenberg  in  1714.  His  youth  was  passed  in 
poverty,  and  he  raised  himself  to  distinction  by 
his  own  exertions.  After  having  been  attached 
to  a  regiment  of  cavalry,  he  in  1758  was  ap- 
pointed surgeon  of  a  regiment  of  infantry,  and 
at  length  first  surgeon  of  the  Prussian  armies. 
He  died  in  1797.  He  invented  various  in- 
struments for  the  improvement  of  surgical  ope- 
rations ;  and  lie  published  several  works,  in- 
cluding "  New  Observations  and  Experiments 
for  the  Advancement  of  Surgery,"  and  "  In- 
structions for  Sub-surgeons  in  the  Army." — 
Biug.  Univ. 

THELLUSON  (PETER)  a  native  of  Ge- 
neva, descended  from  an  ancient  family  of 
French  Protestants,  who  settled  as  a  merchant 
in  London,  and  acquired  an  immense  fortune. 
He  died  at  his  seat  at  Plastow  in  Kent,  July 
21,  1797.  The  testamentary  disposition  which 
he  made  of  his  property  was  not  a  little  ex- 
traordinary. To  his  widow  and  children 
(three  sons  and  three  daughters)  he  be- 
queathed about  100, 0001.  and  the  remainder, 
amounting  to  more  than  600.000/.  he  left  to 
trustees,  to  accumulate  during  the  lives  of  his 
three  sons  and  the  lives  of  their  sons  ;  then  the 
estates  directed  to  be  purchased  with  the  pro- 
duce of  the  accumulating  fund,  to  be  conveyed 
to  the  eldest  male  descendant  of  his  three 
sons,  with  benefit  of  survivorship.  This 
singular  will  being  contested  by  the  heirs  at 
law,  was  finally  established  bv  a  decision  of 
U  2 


T  H  E 

the  house  of  Lords,  June  25,  1805.  It  how- 
ever occasioned  the  passing  of  the  Act  of 
Parliament  of  the  39th  and  40th  of  George 
I  i  I ,  cap.  98,  restraining  the  power  of  devising 
jir  /perty  for  the  pmpose  of  accumulation  to 
twenty-one  years  after  the  death  of  the  tes- 
tator. In  case  there  should  be  no  such  heir 
as  the  devisee  described  in  the  will,  the  accu- 
mulated property  (which  will  probably  amount 
to  at  least  thirty-two  millions)  is  to  be  added 
to  the  sinking-fund. — PUTER  ISAAC  THELLU- 
SON,  the  eldest  son  of  the  subject  of  this  arti- 
cle, was  raised  to  the  peerage  by  the  Iri.-li 
tide  of  baron  Rendlesham  in  1806  ;  and  lie 
died  September  16,  1808,  leaving  several  male 
children. —  Debrett's  Peerage. 

THEMIST1US,  surnamed  EUPHRADES, 
a  rhetorician  of  Paphlagonia,  wh:>  flourished 
during  the  greater  part  of  the  fourth  and  the 
beginning  of  the.  fifth  centuries.  Constantius, 
Julian,  and  Theodosius  all  vied  in  distinguish- 
ing with  their  favour  a  man  who,  though  op- 
posed to  them  in  his  religious  opinions,  was 
so  little  bigotted  to  Paganism,  that  lie  was  on 
terms  of  intimacy  with  many  of  the  leading 
Christians  of  his  time,  especially  with  Gre- 
gory Nazianzen.  In  the  reign  of  the  former 
prince  he  was  admitted  into  the  patrician  order, 
and  eventually  rose  to  be  prefect  of  Constan- 
tinople. Of  his  works  more  than  thirty  ora- 
tions are  yet  extant,  as  well  as  his  Commen- 
taries on  the  Philosophy  of  Plato  and  Ari- 
stotle. He  lived  to  an  extreme  old  age,  and 
died  about  the  year  410. — Fabricii  BibL  Grtec. 

THEMIS  1'OCLES,  an  illustrious  Athenian 
warrior  and  statesman,  whose  father's  name 
was  Neocles.  He  is  said  to  have  indulged  in 
dissipation  in  his  youth,  and  to  have  been  dis- 
inherited on  that  account.  It  does  not  how- 
ever appear  that  he  neglected  the  cultivation 
of  his  talents,  since  he  seized  every  opportu- 
nity for  obtaining  popularity  and  military  re- 
putation. By  this  means  he  triumphed  over 
his  more  virtuous  rival,  Aristides,  whose  ban- 
ishment he  procured ;  and  at  the  period  of 
the  invasion  of  Greece  by  Xerxes,  King  of 
Persia,  Themistocles  was  at  the  head  of  the 
Athenian  republic,  and  in  this  station  the 
fleet  was  entrusted  to  his  direction.  After 
the  battle  of  Thermopylae,  when  the  Persian 
army  was  approaching,  the  people  of  Athens 
forsook  their  city  and  retired  on  board  their 
navy  ;  a  measure  which  they  adopted  through 
the  influence  of  Themistocles,  who  is  re- 
ported to  have  bribed  the  priestess  of  Apollo  at 
Delphos,  in  order,  through  the  sanction  of  her 
oracular  advice,  to  work  on  the  minds  of  his 
superstitious  countrymen.  He  then  joined  the 
confederate  armament  of  the  Grecian  states  ; 
and  to  prevent  the  separation  of  the  fleet, 
through  the  fears  and  jealousies  of  the  different 
commanders,  lie  privately  sent  to  inform  the 
Persian  monarch  that  such  a  design  was  in 
agitation  ;  and  Xerxes,  by  the  immediate  ad- 
vance of  his  navy  to  prevent  their  escape, 
obliged  the  Greeks  to  come  to  an  engagement 
oft  Salamis,  when  they  gained  a  most  decisive 
and  glorious  victory,  BC.  480.  Themistocles, 
to  hasten  the  retreat  of  the  Persians  had  re- 


THE 

course  to  another  stratagem,  sending  informa 
tion  to  Xerxes  that  the  Greeks  intended  to 
destroy  the  bridge  of  boats  which  he  had  con- 
structed for  the  conveyance  of  his  troops 
arr.>:-s  the  Hellespont.  His  plan  succeeded, 
and  Xerxes  hastily  fled,  and  left  his  a  my  to 
its  fate.  The  signal  services  of  Themistocles 
were  at  first  warmly  acknowledged  by  his 
countrymen,  and  the  Greeks  in  general  paid 
him  the  highest  honours.  Athens  flourished 
under  his  administration,  and  he  fortified  the 
city  with  strong  walls,  rebuilt  the  Piranis,  and 
augmented  the  navy.  Yet  the  fickle  Athe- 
nians at  length  treated  with  ingratitude  the 
conqueror  of  Salamis,  whom  they  banished 
from  their  territories,  and  obliged  him  to 
take  refuge  in  the  dominions  of  the  ancient 
enemies  of  Greece,  whom  he  had  so  nobly  op- 
posed. Artaxerxes,  the  son  and  successor  of 
Xerxes,  received  the  illustrious  exile  with 
kindness  and  attention,  and  provided  him  with 
a  liberal  revenue  for  his  support.  The  pre- 
cise time  and  manner  of  his  death  are  uncer- 
tain. According  to  Plutarch,  Themistocles 
put  an  end  to  his  own  life,  to  avoid  serving 
against  his  native  country,  having,  after  some 
years'  residence  in  Persia,  received  a  command 
from  the  king  to  head  an  army  destined  for 
the  invasion  of  Greece  ;  but  Thucydides  says 
that  he  died  of  disease. — Plutarch's  Lives. 
Moreri. 

THEOBALD  (Louis)  a  miscellaneous 
writer,  principally  known  as  one  of  the  editors 
of  Shakspeare,  and  as  the  original  hero  of 
Pope's  Dunciad.  He  was  born  at  Setting- 
bourn  in  Kent,  where  his  father  was  an  at- 
torney, to  which  profession  he  was  himself 
brougfit  up.  He  wrote  various  works,  critical, 
poetical,  and  dramatic  ;  but  merits  remem- 
brance only  as  a  commentator  on  Shak^peare, 
in  which  office  he  was  the  first  who  duly  re- 
ferred to  the  books  and  learning  of  that  great 
dramatist's  contemporaries.  After  publishing 
in  1726  a  work  entitled  "  Shakspeare  Re- 
stored," he  gave  an  edition  of  that  author, 
which  immediately  followed  the  publication 
of  that  of  Pope,  from  whom,  although  in  cor- 
respondence with  him,  he  concealed  his  de- 
sign. Nothing  more  was  necessary  to  embroU 
him  with  that  irascible  bani,  and  hence  his 
place  in  the  Dunciad.  Although  he  did  not 
deserve  all  the  contempt  cast  upon  him  by 
Pope,  and  certainly  rectified  many  errors  in 
Shakspeare,  he  was  a  man  of  but  small  powers 
of  mind.  Besides  twenty  dramatic  pieces  writ- 
ten by  himself,  he  produced  on  the  stage  in  17i!0 
a  tragedy,  entitled  the  "  Double  Kalsehood," 
which,  upon  evidence  that  was  far  from  satis- 
factory, he  attributed  to  Shakspeare  ;  but  in 
the  opinion  of  Dr  Farmer  it  belongs  to  Shirley. 
He  died  in  1744. — Eiog.  Dram. 

THEOCRITUS,  a  Greek  poet  of  Syracuse 
in  Sicily,  celebrated  as  a  writer  of  bucolics  or 
pastorals,  whose  numerous  imitators,  includ- 
ing Virgil,  attest  the  unequivocal  excellence 
of  his  productions.  He  did  not  however  con- 
fine himself  to  one  peculiar  style  of  composi- 
tion, as  appears  from  his  epigrams,  still  ex- 
tant ;  and  from  the  story  of  his  having  written 


THE 

satires  or  invectives  against  Hiero,  the  sovereign 
of  Syracuse,  who  is  said  to  have  inflicted  sum- 
mary vengeance  on  the  bard  by  ordering  him  to 
be  strangled.  According  to  other  accounts,  how- 
ever, lie  fled  from  Sicily,  and  found  an  asylum 
at  the  court  of  Ptolemy  Philadelphia  at  Alex- 
andria ;  and  he  was  not  only  a  favourite  with 
that  prince,  whose  praises  lie  sang,  hut  was  also 
held  in  high  esteem  among  the  literati  of  the 
Egyptian  metropolis,  and  was  one  of  the  seven 
bards  complimented  by  their  contemporaries 
with  the  appellation  of  the  Pleiades.  Theo- 
critus has  by  some  critics  been  censured  for 
the  rustic  simplicity  of  character  and  manners 
which  his  personages  exhibit,  as  inconsistent 
witli  the  recondite  nature  of  the  subjects  of 
their  dialogue  ;  and  with  more  obvious  jus- 
tice the  gross  obscenity  of  expression  in  which 
he  too  frequently  indulges  himself,  has  ex- 
posed him  to  severe  reprobation.  Besides  his 
"Idylls  or  Pastorals,"  thirty  in  number,  he 
wrote  epigrams,  and  a  ludicrous  poem  called 
"  Syrinx."  Among  the  best  editions  of  the 
works  of  Theocritus  are  those  of  West,  with 
the  notes  of  Scaliger,  Casaubon,  and  Heinsius, 
Oxford,  1699,  8vo  ;  Reiske,  Leipsic,  1765 — 
66,  2  vols.  4to  ;  Warton,  Oxford,  1770,  2  vols. 
4to ;  and  Valckenaer,  Leyden,  1781,  8vo  ; 
hesides  which  his  poems  have  been  frequently 
printed  with  those  of  Bion  and  Moschus,  and 
in  various  collections  of  the  Poette  Graci  Mi- 
nores. — Moreri.  Aiitin's  Gen,  Bing.  Eltun's 
Specimens. 

THEODORA,  empress  of  the  East,  the 
wife  of  Justinian,  famous  for  her  beauty,  in- 
trigues, ambition,  and  talents,  and  for  the  part 
she  acted  in  the  direction  of  affairs,  both  in 
church  and  state,  in  the  reign  of  her  husband. 
Her  father  was  the  keeper  of  the  beasts  for 
public  spectacles  at  Constantinople,  and  she 
herself  was  a  dancer  at  the  theatre,  and  a  cour- 
tesan notorious  for  her  contempt  of  decency, 
before  her  elevation  to  the  throne.  Justinian 
saw  her  on  the  stage,  and  made  her  his  mis- 
tress during  the  reign  of  his  uncle  Justin, 
•whose  consent  he  at  length  obtained  for  his 
marriage  with  Theodora  ;  and  a  Roman  law, 
which  prohibited  the  marriage  of  the  great 
officers  of  the  empire  with  actresses,  was  re- 
pealed in  her  favour.  She  was  crowned  toge- 
ther with  Justinian  in  527  ;  and  the  death  of 
Justin  shortly  after  left  her  in  possession  of 
sovereign  authority,  through  the  blind  par- 
tiality and  weakness  of  her  imperial  consort. 
She  made  use  of  the  power  she  had  attained 
to  raise  from  obscurity  her  friends  and  favou- 
rites, and  to  avenge  herself  of  her  enemies. 
According  to  Procopius  she  continued  to  in- 
dulge herself  in  the  most  degrading  sensuality 
after  she  became  empress;  and  if  the  disgust- 
ing detail  which  he  gives  of  her  crimes  is  to  he 
believed,  seldom  indeed  has  a  brothel  been  dis- 
graced by  scenes  of  more  infamous  profligacy 
than  those  exhibited  in  the  palace  of  Theodora. 
With  all  her  faults,  however,  this  woman  dis- 
played courage  and  presence  of  mind  in  cir- 
cumstances of  difficulty  and  danger  ;  for  in 
the  alarming  sedition  at  Constantinople  in  532, 
her  counsels  animated  the  drooping  spirits  of 


TH  E 

Justinian,  and  induced  him  to  forego  his  in- 
glorious design  of  fleeing  before  the  rebels, 
who  were  subsequently  reduced  to  subjection 
by  Belisarius.  Theodora  died  of  a  cancer  in 
548,  much  to  the  regret  of  her  surviving  hus- 
band.— Gihbon.  Biog.  Univ. 

THEODORE  OF  CYRENE,  a  heathen 
philosopher,  surnamed  the  Atheist,  who  lived 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  fourth  century  JJC. 
He  excited  the  displeasure  of  numerous  and 
powerful  enemies  by  the  singularity  and  bold- 
ness of  his  opinions  ;  and  being  exiled  from 
his  native  country,  he  went  and  resided  at 
Athens,  where  he  narrowly  escaped  the  judg- 
ment of  the  court  of  Areopagus,  but  he  was 
protected  by  Demetrius  Phalereus.  His  irre- 
ligious tenets  were  disclosed  in  a  treatise 
"  Concerning  the  Gods,"  which  was  service- 
able to  Epicurus.  Ptolemy,  king  of  Egypt, 
sent  Theodore  on  an  embassy  to  Lysimachus, 
king  of  Thrace,  and  his  conduct  on  that  occa- 
sion displayed  great  courage  and  elevation  of 
mind.  He  was  the  founder  of  the  sect  of 
Theodorians,  one  of  the  three  subdivisions  of 
the  Cyreniac  school  of  philosophy. — Diogenes 
Laertius.  Stanley's  Hist.  of^Philos. 

THEODORE,  an  ecclesiastical  historian  of 
the  sixth  century,  who  was  reader  in  the 
great  church  at  Constantinople,  and  has  there- 
fore been  styled  Theodoras  Lector.  He  com- 
piled a  work  called  the  "  Tripartite  History," 
in  two  books,  extracted  from  the  writings  of 
the  ecclesiastical  chroniclers,  Socrates,  Sozo- 
men,  and  Theodoret,  which  is  still  in  manu- 
script; and  he  continued  the  annals  of  the 
church  from  the  reign  of  Theodosius  the 
Younger  to  that  of  Justinian,  in  two  more 
books,  of  which  some  fragments  only  are  ex- 
tant. These  have  been  published  by  Henry 
Valesius,  and  by  Reading  in  his  edition  of 
Theodoret. — Aikin's  Gen.  Bing.  Biog.  Univ. 

THEODORE  or  THEODORUS  PRO- 
DROMUS,  a  Greek  monk  of  Constantinople, 
known  at  present  principally  as  the  author  of 
a  romantic  poem  entitled  "  The  Amours  of 
Rhodanthe  and  Dosicles,"  published  with  a 
Latin  translation  by  Gilbert  Gaulmin,  Paris, 
1625,  8vo.  The  editor  has  added  another 
work  of  Theodore,  called  "  Amarantus,  or  the 
Amours  of  Old  Age,"  which  has  been  repub- 
lished  by  M.  Dutheil,  in  the  eighth  volume  of 
the  "  Notice  des  Rlanuscrits  du  Roi."  This 
monk  was  a  very  prolific  writer,  having  pro- 
duced "  Galeomachia,"  a  burlesque  tragedy 
in  imitation  of  the  Batrachomyomachia, 
attributed  to  Homer  ;  a  dialogue  entitled 
"  Friendship  banished  from  the  World,"  and 
many  other  works.  He  lived  in  the  twelfth 
century,  and  his  poetry  exhibits  abundant 
proofs  of  the  bad  taste  which  prevailed  at  that 
period. — Eadem. 

THEODORET,  bishop  of  Cyrus,  a  town 
in  Syria,  an  ecclesiastical  historian,  who  was 
a  native  of  Antioch  and  a  disciple  of  the  cele- 
brated St  John  Chrysostorn.  He  was  raised 
to  the  see  of  Cyrus  AD.  420  ;  and  after  having 
favoured  the  opinions  of  JNestorius,  he  wrote 
against  that  heresiarch.  His  zeal  for  the  Ca- 
tholic faith  rendered  him  obnoxious  to  the  Eu- 


THE 

tychians,  by  whom  lie  was  deposed  in  the 
synod  which  they  held  at  Ephesus  ;  but  he 
was  restored  to  his  diocese  by  the  council  of 
Chalcedon  in  421.  Nothing  is  known  of  his 
future  history  except  that  he  was  alive  till 
after  AD.  460.  He  wrote,  besides  his  "  Ec- 
clesiastical History,"  from  the  time  of  Con- 
stantine  to  that  of  Theodosius  the  Younger  ; 
Commentaries  on  the  Scriptures  ;  Epistles  ; 
Lives  of  famous  Anchorites  ;  Dialogues  ; 
Books  on  Heresy  ;  and  Discourses  on  Provi- 
dence, and  against  the  Pagans.  His  works 
Lave  been  edited  by  Sirmond  and  Gamier, 
Paris,  1642 — 1684,  5  vols.  folio  ;  and  also 
published  at  Halle,  1769 — 74,  5  vols. — Dupin. 
Moreri.  King.  Univ. 

THEODORIC,  king  of  the  Ostrogoths,  sur- 
named  the  Great,  descended  of  the  royal  Go- 
thic race  of  the  Amali,  was  born  near  Vienna 
in  the  year  458.  His  father,  Theodemir,  was 
one  of  the  three  brothers  who  jointly  ruled  the 
Ostrogoths  settled  in  Pannouia,  and  he  sent 
Lim  when  only  eight  years  of  age  to  Constan- 
tinople as  a  hostage,  to  secure  the  conditions 
of  a  treaty  between  the  Goths  and  the  empe- 
ror Leo.  After  residing  two  years  with  that 
emperor  he  was  restored  to  his  father,  then 
sole  monarch  of  the  Ostrogoths,  under  whom 
be  gave  various  indications  of  his  warlike 
spirit  and  ability  for  command.  On  the  death 
of  Theodemir  in  475,  he  succeeded  to  the 
crown,  and  commenced  a  course  of  proceeding 
and  policy  which,  after  menacing  the  safety  of 
the  Greek  empire  and  Constantinople  itself, 
terminated  in  an  expedition  against  Odoacer, 
who  had  assumed  the  title  of  king  of  Italy. 
After  several  bloody  engagements,  the  latter 
was  finally  induced  to  yield  on  condition  that 
he  and  Theodoric  should  govern  Italy  with 
equal  authority.  The  murder  of  Odoacer  at  a 
banquet  rapidly  followed  this  agreement  ;  on 
which  Theodoric  caused  himself  to  be  pro- 
claimed king  of  Italy,  a  title  that  the  emperor 
Anastasius  was  reluctantly  obliged  to  sanc- 
tion. However  indefensibly  he  acquired  do- 
minion, he  governed  with  extraordinary  vigour 
and  ability.  He  attached  his  soldiers  by  as- 
signing them  a  third  part  of  the  lands  of 
Italy  on  the  tenure  of  military  service  ;  while 
among  his  Italian  subjects  he  encouraged  in- 
dustry and  the  arts  of  peace.  He  even  im- 
proved the  administration  of  justice  ;  and  so 
far  from  being  one  of  the  Goths  who  are  ac- 
cused of  delighting  in  the  destruction  of  public 
monuments,  he  issued  edicts  to  protect  them 
at  Rome  and  elsewhere,  and  assigned  revenues 
for  the  repair  of  the  public  edifices.  Able  in 
peace  and  victorious  in  war,  he  maintained 
the  balance  of  the  West  until  it  was  over- 
thrown by  the  ambition  of  Clovis,  who  slew 
Alaric,  the  Visogoth  king,  the  remains  of 
whose  family  and  property  were  saved  by 
Theodoric,  who  also  checked  the  victorious 
Franks  in  their  farther  career.  Like  his  an- 
cestors, he  was  an  Ariau,  but  was  indifferent 
to  controversy,  and  never  violated  the  peace 
or  privileges  of  the  Catholic  church.  The 
particulars  of  the  government  of  this  memor- 
able prince,  who  shed  a  short-lived  lustre  on 


THE 

the  Gothic  name,  are  recorded  in  twelve  books 
by  his  secretary,  the  senatoi  Cassiodorus,  a 
man  of  learning,  who  induced  his  illiterate 
master  to  become  a  patron  of  letters.  Towards 
the  close  of  his  reign  an  intolerant  edict  of  the 
Byzantian  court  against  the  Arians  in  its  do- 
minions, induced  Theodoric,  against  his  usual 
policy,  to  meditate  a  retaliation  against  the 
Catholics  of  Italy,  which  however  was  pre- 
vented from  taking  place  by  his  death.  It  is 
to  be  lamented  that  an  act  of  tyranny  against 
two  exemplary  characters,  Boethius  (see  his 
article)  and  Symmachus,  his  father-in-law, 
closed  his  career.  These  senators  were  both 
arbitrarily  put  to  death,  on  the  mere  suspicion 
of  an  intrigue  between  a  senatorial  party  and 
the  imperial  court.  This  cruel  act  had  no 
sooner  been  perpetrated,  than  Theodoric  was 
seized  with  remorse,  and  a  fever  ensued, 
which  terminated  his  existence  in  three  days, 
in  August  526,  being  the  seventy-second  year 
of  his  age  and  thirty-fifth  of  his  reign.  The. 
ordinary  residence  of  this  king  was  at  Ka 
venna,  above  which  city  his  daughter,  Amala- 
suntha  (left  regent  of  Italy  until  the  majority 
of  one  of  her  nephews)  erected  a  splendid  mo 
nument  to  his  memory. — Univ.  Hist.  Gibbon. 
THEODOSIUS,  surnamed  the  Great,  a 
Roman  empe-ror,  was  the  son  of  a  distinguish- 
ed general  of  the  same  name,  who  was  exe- 
cuted for  the  alleged  crime  of  treason  at  Car- 
thage in  376.  He  was  born  about  346  at 
Canetra  in  Gallicia,  or  according  to  other  ac- 
counts, at  Italica  near  Seville.  At  a  very 
early  age  he  obtained  separate  command,  but 
on  the  execution  of  his  father  he  sought  retire- 
ment, until  selected  by  the  emperor  Gratian 
in  379  for  his  partner  in  the  empire.  To  his 
care  was  submitted  Thrace  and  the  eastern 
provinces,  which  he  delivered  from  an  inva- 
sion of  the  Goths.  This  emperor  distinguished 
himself  by  his  zeal  for  orthodoxy  and  intole- 
rance of  Arianism,  which  he  put  down  through- 
out the  whole  of  his  dominions.  In  the  space 
of  fifteen  years  he  promulgated  the  same  num- 
ber of  edicts  against  heretics  ;  and  the  office 
of  inquisitors  of  the  faith  was  first  instituted  in 
his  reign.  He  liberated  the  provinces  from  the 
barbarians  with  great  prudence  and  diligence  ; 
and  in  the  various  warlike  and  other  proceed- 
ings of  his  reign,  showed  himself  an  able  and 
equitable  monarch,  except  when  under  the 
influence  of  resentment  or  religious  zeal.  On 
the  defeat  and  death  of  Maximus  he  became 
the  sole  head  of  the  empire,  although  he  ad- 
ministered the  affairs  of  the  west  in  the  name 
of  Valentiuian,  the  son  of  Gratian,  then  a 
minor.  He  passed  three  years  in  Italy,  during 
which  period  the  Roman  senate,  which  still 
chiefly  adhered  to  the  old  religion,  begged 
permission  to  restore  the  altar  of  victory  , 
a  request  which  he  at  first  was  inclined  to 
tyrant,  until  prevented  by  St  Ambrose,  who 
also  induced  him  to  pardon  some  zealots  for 
having  burnt  a  Jewish  synagogue.  In  3'JO  ;t 
sedition  took  place  in  Thessalonica,  the  result 
of  which  has  branded  the  name  of  Theodosius 
with  great  odium.  The  origin  of  the  catas- 
trophe was  in  itself  very  trivial,  taking  its  rise 


T  H  E 

simply  in  the  imprisonment  of  a  favourite  cha- 
rioteer of  the  circus.    This  provocation,  added 
to  some  former  disputes,  so  inflamed  the  popu- 
lace, that  they  murdered  their  governor  and 
several  of  his  officers,  and  dragged  their  man- 
gled bodies  through  the  mire.     The  resent- 
ment of  Theodosius  was  natural  and  merited, 
but  the  manner  in  which  he   displayed  it  was 
in  the  highest  degree  detestable  and  inhuman. 
An  invitation  was  given  in  the  emperor's  name 
to  the  people  of  Thessalonica,  to  an  exhibition 
at  the  circus,  and  when  a  great  concourse  of 
spectators  had  assembled,  they  were  massacred 
by  a  body  of  barbarian  soldiery,  to  the  num- 
ber, according  to  the   lowest  computation,  of 
seven   thousand,  and  to  the  highest  of  fifteen 
thousand.     For  this  atrocious  proceeding  Am- 
brose, with   great  courage  and  propriety,  re- 
fused him  communion  for  eight  months  ;  and 
the   docile,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped,   repentant 
Theodosius,   humbly   submitted.      About  this 
time  the  pious  emperor  crowned  his  merits  as 
a  foe  to  Paganism,  by  demolishing  the  cele- 
brated temple  of  Serapis,  and   all  the  other 
heathen  temples  of  Egypt ;  and  he  also  issued 
a  final  edict,  prohibiting  the  ancient  worship 
altogether.     On  the  murder  of  Valentinian  by 
Arbogastes,  and  the  advancement  of  Eugenius 
in   his  place,  the  emperor  carried  on  a  war 
against  the  latter,  which  finally  terminated  in 
his  defeat  and   death.      Theodosius    did  not 
long  survive   this  success,  but  after  investing 
his  sons,    Arcadius   and  Honorius,    with   the 
eastern  and  western  empire,  he  was  carried  off 
at  Milan  by  a  dropsical  disorder,  in  January 
395,  in  the  fiftieth  year  of  his  age  and  six- 
teenth of  his  reign.     lie   died  possessed  of  a 
distinguished  reputation,  which  was  much  con- 
firmed by  his  services  to  orthodoxy  and  docility 
towards  the  priesthood,  which  has  rendered  him 
a  subject  of  incessant  ecclesiastical  eulogy,  both 
in  ancient  and  modern  times.  He  was  doubtless 
a  man  of  considerable  abilities,  and  possessed 
many  public  and  private  virtues,   which  how- 
ever will  scarcely  excuse  the  fierceness  of  his 
intolerance,  or  the  barbarity  of  his  anger  and 
revenge. — Univ.  Hist.     Gibbon. 

THEODOSIUS,  a  mathematician  of  Tri- 
poli, who  nourished,  as  it  is  supposed,  in  the 
first  century.  In  the.  opinion  of  Suidas  he  is 
the  same  with  Theodosius  of  Bithyuia,  men- 
tioned by  Strabo  as  excelling  in  the  mathe- 
matics. He  chiefly  cultivated  the  part  of 
geometry  that  relates  to  the  sphere  on  which 
he  wrote  three  books,  containing  fifty-nine 
propositions,  all  demonstrated  in  the  pure  geo- 
metrical manner  of  the  ancients.  In  1558  a 
Greek  and  Latin  edition  of  this  work  was 
printed  at  Paris ;  but  that  at  present  most  in 
use  was  published  by  Dr  Barrow  at  Cambridge 
in  1675. — Hutton's  Math.  Diet. 

THEODOTION ,  the  third  translator  of  the 
Old  Testament  into  Greek,  who  lived  in  the 
reign  of  the  emperor  Commodus.  He  was  a 
native  of  Sinope,  in  Poutus  ;  and  according  to 
Epiphauius,  he  belonged  to  the  heretical  sect 
of  the  Marcionites.  He,  afterwards  left  them 
to  join  the  Ebionites,  or  Judaizing  Christians, 
as  we  are  informed  by  Eusebius  and  St  Je- 


TH  E 

rome.  He  rather  remodelled  the  Septuagint 
than  produced  a  new  Greek  version  of  the 
Old  Testament,  his  object  being  to  accommo- 
date the  Jewish  Scriptures  to  the  Ebionite 
doctrines.  Origen  introduced  this  work  into 
his  "  Hexapla,"  but  little  of  it  is  now  extant 
except  the  book  of  Daniel,  which  has  been 
substituted  for  the  Septuagint  version  of  that 
prophet. — Calmet's  Diet,  of  the  Bible.  Biog. 
Univ. 

THEODULPH,  bishop  of  Orleans  in   the 
age  of  Charlemagne,  one   of  the  principal  re- 
storers of  learning  in  France,  was  a.  native  of 
Cisalpine  Gaul,  and,  as  his  name  implies,  of 
Gothic   descent.     Having  distinguished  him- 
self by   his  erudition,  he  was  invited  to   the 
court  of  Charlemagne  about  781.    That  prince 
gave  him  the  abbey  of  Fleury,  and  afterwards 
the  bishopric  of  Orleans  ;  and  Theodulph  re- 
stored in  his  diocese  the  ancient  discipline  of 
the  church,   and  founded  schools   for  the  in- 
struction of  the  people.     He  was  sent  into  the 
Narbonnese  provinces,  together  with  the  arch- 
bishop of  Lyons,  to  regulate  the  administration 
of  justice,  when  he  signalized  himself  by  the 
reformation  of    some    glaring   abuses.      After 
the  death   of  Charlemagne   (to  whose  will  he 
was  a  subscribing   witness),  he  was  in  great 
favour  with  Louis  le  Debonnaire,  who  sent  him 
to  attend  pope  Stephen  IV,  when  he   visited 
France  to  crown  the   king  at  Ilheims.     Tlieo- 
dulph  then  received  the  Pallium  with  the  title 
of  archbishop.     On  the  conspiracy  of  Bernard 
king  of  Italy  against  his  uncle  king  Louis  in 
817,  this  prelate  was  accused  of  being  an  ac- 
complice, and  banished  from  court ;  and  though 
he  protested  his  innocence,  he  was  deprived  of 
his  benefices,  and  exiled  to  Angers,  where  he 
died  in  8i21.    The  works  of  Theodulph,  which 
were  published   by  father    Sirmond,    include 
"  Capitularies,"  or  instructions   to  the  clergy 
of  his  diocese  ;  an  abridgment  of  ecclesiastical 
history  ;  homilies  ;  and   Latin  poems,  among 
which    is  a  hymn  retained    by  the  Catholic 
church  in  the  service  for  Palm  Sunday. — Tira- 
boschi.-    Biog.  Univ.     Aikin's  Gen.  Biog. 

THEOGNIS,  a  Greek  poet,  was  born  in  the 
fifty-ninth  Olympiad,  about  550  BC.  He  calls 
himself  a  Megarian  in  one  of  his  verses,  mean- 
ing most  probably  of  Megara  in  Achaia.  He 
wrote  a  series  of  moral  precepts  in  verse,  con- 
sisting of  more  than  a  thousand  lines,  which 
are  without  ornaments,  and  the  precepts  were 
probably  versified,  merely  with  a  view  to  as- 
sist the  memory.  They  have  been  often 
printed,  both  with  and  without  Latin  versions, 
and  are  to  be  found  in  all  the  collections  of  the 
minor  Greek  poets.  One  of  the  best  separate 
editions,  and  a  rare  book,  is  that  by  Black- 
well,  1706,  12mo. — Fabricii  Poet.  Gritc. 
^  THEON  OF  ALEXANDRIA,  a  celebrated 
Greek  philosopher  and  mathematician,  nou- 
rished in  the  fourth  century,  about  the  year 
380,  but  the  time  and  manner  of  his  death  are 
unknown.  He  became  president  of  the  famous 
Alexandrian  school,  and  one  of  his  pupils  was 
his  daughter,  the  celebrated  and  ill  fated  Hy- 
patia.  Theon  wrote  notes  and  commentaries 
ou  some  of  the  ancient  mathematicians  and 


T  II  E 

also  composed  a  work  entitled  "  Progynas- 
mata,"  written  with  considerable  judgment 
and  elegance,  in  which  he  criticised  on  the 
writing  of  several  illustrious  authors  and  his- 
torians. This  work  was  printed  at  Basle  in 
1541,  but  the  best  edition  is  that  of  Leydeu, 
1626. — Hittton's  Math.  Diet. 

THEOPHANES  (GEOUGE)  aConstantino- 
politan  Greek,  of  a  rich  and  noble  family,  who 
became  a  monk.  He  was  present  at  the  gene- 
ral council  held  in  787,  where  he  was  treated 
with  singular  respect,  but  was  afterwards  ba- 
nished to  Samothrace  for  his  attention  to  the 
exiled  primate  Nicephorus.  He  died  in  818. 
This  monk  published  a  chronicle  in  continua- 
tion of  that  of  Syncellus,  which  he  carried 
down  to  the  reign  of  Michael  Curoplata. 
This  work,  which  is  valuable  for  its  facts, 
while  it  otherwise  displays  the  superstition  aud 
credulity  of  the  author,  was  printed  at  Paris, 
with  a  Latin  version  in  1655. — Vossii  Hist. 
Grate.  Moreri. 

THEOPHILE  DE  VIAUD,  aFrenchpoet, 
was  born  about  1590,  at  Clerac,  in  the  Age- 
nois.  He  early  resorted  to  the  capital,  where 
he  rendered  himself  acceptable  by  his  lively 
sallies  and  epigrams,  but  not  without  creating 
enemies.  He  was  a  Calvinist  by  education  ; 
but  was  very  licentious  both  in  his  conduct 
and  writings  ;  and  for  some  cause  or  other 
found  it  expedient  in  1619  to  withdraw  to 
England.  His  friends  having  procured  him 
leave  to  return,  he  professed  himself  a  Catho- 
lic, a  conversion  which  however  had  no  effect 
upon  the  irregularity  of  his  personal  conduct. 
He  was  at  length  burnt  in  effigy,  as  the,  reported 
compiler  of  "  Le  Parnasse  Satyrique,"  a  col- 
lection by  different  authors,  in  which  are  se- 
veral pieces  offensive  to  decency  and  religion. 
He  was  subsequently  arrested  in  Picardy,  and 
being  brought  to  Paris,  was  placed  in  the 
same  dungeon  which  had  been  occupied  by 
Ravaillac,  and  was  detained  in  prison  two 
years.  At  length,  after  repeated  petitions  in 
protestation  of  his  innocence,  he  was  released 
by  the  parliament  of  Paris,  which  however 
sentenced  him  to  banishment.  He  was  after- 
wards protected  by  the  duke  of  Montmorency, 
at  whose  hotel  lie  died  in  1626.  Theophile 
was  one  of  the  first  French  authors  who  niiu* 
gled  prose  and  verse,  the  latter  of  which,  al- 
though irregular,  displays  genius  and  imagi- 
nation. His  works  consist  of  odes,  elegies, 
Bonnets,  tragedies,  a  dramatic  dialogue  on  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  apologies  for  himself, 
and  letters.  A  collection  containing  his  poems 
and  apologies  was  printi-d  at  Rome  in  1627, 
8vo.  His  "  Letters  "  appeared  separately  in 
1642. — Moreri.  Nnuv.  Diet.  Hist. 

THEOPHILUS,  an  eminent  bishop  of  An- 
tioch,  who  was  advanced  to  that  see  in  the 
year  170.  He  was  a  vigorous  opponent  of 
heresy,  and  wrote  several  works,  all  of  which 
are  lost  except  three  books  addressed  to  Auto- 
lycus,  a  learned  heathen,  who  had  written  to 
vindicate  the  ancient  religion  against  the  at- 
tacks of  the  Christians.  They  are  filled  with 
a  variety  of  curious  disquisitions  concerning 
die  opinions  of  poets  and  philosophers,  and 


THE 

are  remarkable  as  affording  the  earliest  er 
ample  of  the  use  of  the  word  Trinity,  which 
is  applied  by  the  author  to  the  three  persons 
of  the  Godhead,  the  third  of  whom  he  deno- 
minates "  Wisdom."  The  "  Books  of  Theo- 
philus  to  Autolycus  "  were  published  in  Latin 
by  Gesner,  Zurich,  1546,  and  are  also  in- 
serted in  the,  "  Orthodoxographia,"  Basil, 
1555. — Dupin.  Lurdner. 

THEOl'HRASTUS,  a  native  of  Eresns,  in 
the  island  of  Lesbos,  who  was  the  son  of  a 
fuller,  and  became  famous  as  a  naturalist  and 
philosopher.  He  was  born  371  BC.  and  he 
studied  at  Athens,  in  the  school  of  Plato,  and 
afterwards  under  his  rival  Aristotle,  of  whom 
he  was  the  favourite  pupil  and  successor.  His 
original  name  was  Tyrtamus,  which  his  mas- 
ter, in  admiration  of  the  brilliancy  of  his  ge- 
nius and  the  eloquence  of  his  style  and  lan- 
guage, exchanged  for  that  of  Euphrastus,  or 
the  Fine  Speaker,  and  afterwards  for  that  of 
Theophrastus,  or  the  Divine  Orator,  by  which 
he  is  familiarly  known.  On  the  secession  of 
Aristotle  from  Athens,  after  the  judicial  mur- 
der of  Socrates,  he  became  the  head  of  the 
Peripatetic  school  of  philosophy,  where  two 
thousand  students  are  said  to  have  attended 
his  lectures.  His  fame  extended  to  foreign 
countries,  kings  and  princes  solicited  his  friend- 
ship, and  he  was  treated  with  particular  at- 
tention by  Cassander,  the  sovereign  of  Mace- 
don,  and  Ptolemy  Lagus,  the  potent  king  of 
Egypt.  Theophrastus  composed  a  multitude 
of  books,  the  titles  of  two  hundred  being  spe- 
cified by  Diogenes  Laertius.  About  twenty  of 
these  have  escaped  the  ravages  of  time,  amono- 
which  are  his  Natural  History  of  Stones  ;  of 
Plants  ;  of  the  Winds,  &c. ;  and  his  "  Cha- 
racters," or  Ethic  Portraits,  by  far  the  most 
celebrated  of  all  his  productions,  and  the  mo- 
del of  numerous  imitators,  including  the  moral 
satirist  La  Bruyere.  He  died  about  288 
BC.  and  consequently,  if  the  preceding  date  of 
his  birth  be  correct,  he  must  have  survived  to 
the  age  of  a  hundred  and  seven,  thv.u^L  somo 
state  him  to  have  been  hut  eighty-Jive  at  the 
time  of  his  decease.  He  is  said  to  have  ex- 
pired lamenting  the  comparative  brevity  of 
human  existence,  complaining  of  the  partiality 
of  nature  in  granting  longevity  to  the  crow  and 
to  the  stag,  and  witholding  it  from  man.  To 
his  care  we  are  indebted  for  the  preservation 
of  the  writings  of  Aristotle,  who,  when  dying, 
entrusted  them  to  the  keeping  of  his  favourite 
disciple.  The  works  of  Theophrastus  were 
published  collectively  by  Dan.  Heinsius,  Lev- 
den,  1613,  folio;  and  among  the  numerous 
editions  of  his  Characters  may  be  noticed 
those  of  Needham,  Cambridge,  1712,  8vo ; 
of  Fischer,  Coburg,  1763,  8vo  ;  and  thf  re- 
cent English  translation,  with  notes,  and  the 
Greek  text,  by  Mr  F.  Howell. — Ding.  Laert. 
Vit.  Philos.  Moreri.  Bhtg.  Univ. 

THEOPOMPUS,  an  eminent  Greek  his- 
torian, who  was  a  native  of  the  island  of 
Chios,  and  studied  at  Athens  under  the  orator 
Isocrates.  He  distinguished  himself  by  gain- 
ing a  prize  for  a  funeral  discourse  in  honour  of 
Mausolus,  when  his  master  was  one  of  tho 


THE 

candidates.  Only  a  few  fragments  of  his  wri- 
tings are  extant,  a  circumstance  the  more  to 
be  regretted,  as  lie  has  been  thought  worthy  of 
being  compared  with  Herodotus  and  Thucy- 
dides  ;  yet  he  is  severely  censured  for  his  dis- 
position to  satire  and  illiberal  reflection.  He 
flourished  354  BC. — THEOPOMPITS  was  also 
the  name  of  a  comic  poet,  contemporary  with 
Menander.  He  wrote  twenty-four  plays,  all 
of  which  are  lost. — Lempriere's  Bibi.  Class. 
Moreri. 

T  H  E  O  P  H  Y  L  A  C  T,  surnamed  S I M  O- 
CATl'A,  a  Greek  historian,  nourished  about 
the  year  612.  He  wrote  in  eight  books  the 
history  of  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Maurice, 
and  is  accounted  by  Casaubon  one  of  the  best 
of  the  later  Greek  historians.  This  work  was 
printed  at  the  Louvre  in  1647.  He  also  com- 
posed "  Epistles,  Moral,  Rural,  and  Ama- 
tory," of  which  an  edition  was  given  by  Al- 
dus ;  and  "  Physical  Problems,"  published  at 
Leyden  byVulcanius,  and  afterwards  by  Schot- 
tus.  Another  work  entitled  "  A  History  of 
the  habitable  World,"  by  this  writer,  is  cited 
by  Eustathius. — Vossii  Hist.  Grec. 

THEOPHYLAC T,  archbishop  of  Acris,  in 
Bulgaria,  in  the  eleventh  century.  He  was  a 
native  of  Constantinople,  whose  great  repu- 
tation for  theological  attainment  induced  Ma- 

O 

ria,  the  empress  of  Michael  Ducas,  to  urge 
him  to  accept  the  see  of  Acris,  in  a  province 
then  nearly  barbarous.  He  zealously  employed 
himself  to  diffuse  Christianity  in  his  diocese, 
and  wrote  several  works  which  rank  him 
among  the  principal  ecclesiastical  writers  of 
the  period.  He  was  living  in  1071,  but  the 
exact  period  of  his  death  is  unknown.  His 
principal  work  is"  Commentaries  upon  the  four 
Gospels,  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  the 
Epistles  of  St  Paul."  He  also  wrote  "  Com- 
mentaries on  the  four  minor  Prophets."  Of 
these  works  several  editions  have  been  pub- 
lished in  Greek  and  Latin,  and  in  Latin  alone. 
His  "  Epistles,"  in  number  seventy-five,  will 
be  found  in  the  Bibliotheca  Patrum.  His 
Commentaries  are  well  spoken  of  by  Dupin 
and  Lardner. — Dupin,  Lardner.  Moreri. 

THERESA  (ST)  a  religious  enthusiast, 
born  at  Avila  in  Spain,  in  1515.  At  an  early 
age  the  perusal  of  the  Lives  of  the  Saints  in- 
spired her  with  the  romantic  desire  to  become 
a  holy  martyr  ;  and  accompanied  by  her  bro- 
ther, she  eloped  from  home,  to  seek  death  at 
the  hands  of  the  Mahometan  Moors.  Being 
brought  back,  she  erected  an  hermitage,  in 
her  father's  garden,  for  retirement  and  devo- 
tion. After  having  been  a  boarder  at  a  con- 
vent of  Augustine  nuns,  she  took  the  veil 
among  the  Carmelites  at  Avila,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-two.  Her  rapturous  piety  and  religious 
zeal  inspired  general  admiration,  and  being 
dissatisfied  at  the  relaxation  of  discipline 
which  she  noticed  in  the  order  to  which  she 
belonged,  she  undertook  to  restore  the  original 
severity  of  the  institute.  After  overcoming 
much  opposition  to  her  scheme,  she  was  en- 
abled to  found  the  first  convent  of  reformed 
Carmelite  nuns  at  Avila  in  1562,  and  a  mo- 
nastery of  friars  in  1568  at  Dorvello,  where 


T  HE 

originated  the  order  of  Barefooted  Carmelites, 
so  denominated  from  their  wearing  sandals  in- 
stead of  shoes.  Such  was  the  success  of  her 
zealous  exertions,  that  she  lived  to  witness  the 
foundation  of  thirty  convents  for  her  followers  ; 
and  members  of  the  order  subsequently  ob- 
tained settlements  in  most  Catholic  countries. 
Theresa  died  at  Alba,  in  October  1582  ;  and 
in  1621  she  was  canonized  by  pope  Gregory 
XV.  The  character  of  this  religious  votary 
has  ever  been  highly  appreciated  by  the  di- 
vines of  the  Catholic  church,  and  among  hei 
warmest  panegyrists  may  be  mentioned  car 
dinal  Borromeo,  Bossuet,  Fleury,  and  the  abbe 
Clioisy.  She  was  the  author  of  several  trea- 
tises, of  which  a  list  may  be  found  in  the  first 
of  the  annexed  authorities.  The  life  of  St 
Theresa,  by  herself,  is  in  various  respects  a 
curious  and  interesting  specimen  of  autobio- 
graphy.— Biiig.  Univ.  Antonio  Bibl.  Hispan. 
Moreri.  Aikin's  Gen.  Biog. 

THESPIS,  the  inventor  of  the  tragic  drama 
among  the  Greeks.  He  was  a  native  of  a  town 
of  Attica,  called  Icaria,  and  lived  in  the  time 
of  Solon.  Previous  to  his  exhibitions,  sets  of 
singers  and  dancers  were  accustomed  to 
chaunt  hymns,  accompanied  by  dances  in 
honour  of  Bacchus  ;  and  Thespis  conceived 
the  idea  of  relieving  die  monotony  of  these 
festive  scenes,  by  introducing  recitation  at  in- 
tervals between  the  songs  of  the  chorus,  and 
this  was  afterwards  extended  to  dramatic  dia- 
logue. He  was  the  author  of  several  tragedies, 
the  titles  of  some  of  which  were  "  Alcestes  ;" 
"  The  Combat  of  Pelias  or  Phorbas  ;"  "  The 
Priests;"  "The  Grecian  Youths  ;"  and"  Pen- 
theus."  Some  dramatic  fragments  are  extant 
which  are  ascribed  to  Thespis,  but  they  ap- 
pear to  be  spurious. —  Vossius  de  Poet.  GrcEc. 
Aikin's  Gen.  Biog.  Biog.  Univ. 

THEVENOT  (MELCHIZEDEC)  a  distin- 
guished traveller,  who  was  born  at  Paris  iu 
1621.  He  had  scarcely  finished  his  studies, 
when  he  determined  to  gratify  the  strong  in- 
clination which  he  felt  to  visit  foreign  coun- 
tries. Having  previously  travelled  in  different 
parts  of  Europe,  he  was  sent  by  the  govern- 
ment to  Genoa  in  1645,  and  in  1652  to  Rome, 
where,  by  order  of  tbe  king,  he  assisted  at  the 
conclave  in  which  Alexander  VII  was  elected, 
in  1654.  Returning  to  Paris,  he  devoted  him- 
self entirely  to  study,  and  to  the  promotion  of 
the  interests  of  literature,  by  collecting  books 
and  manuscripts,  anil  by  carrying  on  a  corre- 
spondence with  the  learned  in  various  parts  of 
the  world.  The  office  of  royal  librarian,  which 
he  obtained  in  1684,  greatly  facilitated  his  re- 
searches, and  he  contributed  much  to  the  im- 
provement of  the  establishment  under  his  care. 
His  age  and  infirmities  induced  him  to  resign 
his  office  in  1692,  and  he  died  October  29, 
that  year,  at  his  house  at  Issy,  near  Paris. 
He  published  "  Relations  de  divers  Voyages 
curieux  qui  n'ont  point  etc  publics,"  Paris, 
1663 — 1672,  4  parts,  in  2  vols.  folio,  including 
translations  from  several  European,  and  some 
of  the  Oriental  languages  ;  "  Recueil  de  Voy- 
ages," 1681,  8vo,  comprising  a  description  of 
an  instrument  for  taking  levels,  and  details  of 


T  II  E 

natural  history  ;  and  "  De  1'Art  de  Nager," 
If) 95.  8vo.  A  catalogue  of  the  library  of 
Theveuot  was  published  at  Paris  in  1694, 
12mo. —  Nomri.  King.  Univ. 

T1IEVENOT  (JoiiN  de)  a  traveller,  born  at 
Paris  in  1633,  was  the  nephew  of  the  subject 
of  the  preceding  article,  with  whom  he  has 
sometimes  been  improperly  confounded.  He 
received  a  good  education  at  the  college  of 
Navarre,  and  the  death  of  his  father  having 
put  him  iu  possession  of  a  considerable  for- 
tune, curiosity  prompted  him  to  travel.  In 
1652  he  commenced  a  journey  through  Eng- 
land, Holland,  Germany,  and  Italy  ;  after 
which  he  resolved  to  visit  the  East.  In  1655 
he  embarked  at  Civita  Vecchia,  and  after 
touching  at  Sicily  and  Malta,  he  went  to  Con- 
stantinople, thence  to  Natolia,  and  having  vi- 
sited Alexandria  and  other  places  in  Egypt, 
lie  went  in  an  English  vessel  to  Tunis,  and 
Carthage,  then  sailed  to  Leghorn,  and  after 
passing  through  Italy,  he  returned  to  France, 
whence  he  had  been  absent  seven  years.  His 
passion  for  exploring  foreign  countries  was  not 
however  satiated,  and  in  October  1663  he 
again  left  Paris  to  commence  a  second  Oriental 
tour.  After  visiting  various  parts  of  Syria  and 
Persia,  he  went  to  the  East  Indies,  and  in  his 
return  through  Persia,  he  died  near  Tauris, 
November  28,  1667.  An  account  of  his  first 
expedition  was  published  by  himself,  under 
the  title  of  "  Voyage  de  Levant,"  1664,  4to; 
which  was  followed  by  "  Suite  du  meme  Voy- 
age," 4to  ;  and  "  Voyage  contenant  la  Rela- 
tion de  1'Indostan,"  1684,  4to.  The  different 
narratives  were  collectively  printed  afterwards 
in  5  vols.  12mo,  and  they  have  been  trans- 
lated into  English  and  other  languages.  This 
traveller  is  said  to  have  introduced  into  France 
the  use  of  coffee. — Biog.  Univ. 

THEW  (ROBERT)  an  English  historical  en- 
graver of  eminence,  born  in  Yorkshire  in  1758. 
His  father  kept  a  small  inn,  and  the  son  during 
the  American  war  served  as  a  common  soldier 
in  the  Northumberland  militia.  He  subse- 
quently settled  at  Hull,  and  employed  himself 
in  engraving  cards,  shop-bills,  &c.  He  soon 
however  attempted  works  belonging  to  a 
higher  style  of  art,  and  an  engraving  of  the 
head  of  an  old  woman  after  Gerard  Dow  and 
other  pieces  which  he  executed,  procured  him 
so  much  notice,  that  through  the  recommend- 
ation of  Charles  James  Fox,  the  duchess  of 
Devonshire,  and  lady  Duncannon,  he  was  ap- 
pointed historical  engraver  to  the  prince  of 
Wales.  He  was  then  employed  by  alderman 
Boydell,  for  whom  he  engraved  from  a  point- 
ing by  Northcote,  "  Edward  V  taking  leave  of 
his  Brother  the  Duke  of  York  ;"  and  he  also 
executed  nineteen  large  plates  from  the  paint- 
ings of  Reynolds,  Shee,  Westall,  Smirke,  Fu- 
seli,  Northcote,  Peters,  &c.  for  Boydell's 
Shakspeare.  He  died  in  July  1802,  at  Ste- 
venage,  iu  Hertfordshire. — Gent.  Mag. 

THIBAULT  VI,  count  of  Champagne  and 
king  of  Navarre,  noted  among  the  early  wri- 
ters of  French  poetry,  as  well  as  for  his  per- 
son;! 1  concern  in  the  affairs  of  Europe  in  the 
thirteenth  century.  He  was  the  posthumous 


THI 

son  of  the  count  of  Champagne,  by  a  daughter 
of  Sancho,  king  of  Navarre.  After  bavin" 
been  educated  at  the  court  of  Philip  Augustus, 
king  of  France,  he  was  enabled,  through  the 
influence  of  that  monarch,  to  maintain  a  suc- 
cessful contest  for  the  succession  to  the  coun- 
ties of  Champagne  and  Brie,  to  which  his 
right  was  decided  by  the  peers  of  the  realm 
in  1221.  On  the  death  of  his  maternal  uncle 
in  1234,  he  became  king  of  Navarre  ;  and  in 
1239  he  embarked  for  the  East,  to  engage  in  a 
crusade  against  the  infidels.  After  an  absence 
of  two  years  he  returned  to  his  own  dominions, 
and  his  death  took  place  at  Pampelona,  July 
10,  1253.  Thibault  was  deeply  engaged  in 
the  intrigues  and  civil  dissensions  which  took 
place  in  France  during  the  minority  of  St 
Louis,  whose  father  Louis  VIII  he  is  said  to 
have  poisoned,  and  for  whose  mother,  the 
beautiful  Blanche  of  Castille,  he  is  supposed 
to  have  entertained  a  criminal  passion.  These 
charges  rest  chiefly  on  the  authority  of  the 
contemporary  English  historian  Matthew  Paris  ; 
and  though  they  have  been  adopted  by  several 
modern  writers,  they  appear  to  be  undeserving 
of  credit.  The  poetical  talents  of  Thibault 
procured  him  the  title  of  the  "  Song-maker;" 
and  love  being  the  theme  of  his  muse,  his 
verses  have  been  considered  as  corroborative 
of  his  guilty  attachment  to  queen  Blanche  ; 
but  this  opinion  is  strongly  controverted  by 
M.  Levesque  de  la  Ravahere,  who  published, 
with  a  glossary  and  dissertations,  the  songs  of 
the  king  of  Navarre,  Paris,  1742,  2  vols.  12mo. 
— Bayle.  Moreri.  Bing.  Univ. 

THICKNESSE  (PHILIP)  the  son  of  acler- 
gyman,  born  in  1720.  He  entered  into  the 
army  when  young,  and  went  to  Georgia  with 
governor  Oglethorpe,  after  which  he  served  in 
the  West  Indies,  and  on  his  return  to  England 
he  obtained  a  captain's  commission.  He  then 
married  a  lady  of  French  extraction,  with 
whom  he  expected  to  have  received  an  ample 
fortune  ;  but  his  views  were  disappointed,  and 
becoming  a  widower,  he  entered  again  into 
matrimony,  becoming  the  husband  of  lady 
Elizabeth  Touchet,  heiress  of  the  ancient  ba- 
rony of  Audley.  Her  fortune  enabled  him  to 
purchase  the  office  of  lieutenant  governor  of 
Landguard  Fort;  but  the  union,  which  took 
place  in  opposition  to  the  wishes  of  his  wife's 
family,  involved  him  in  disputes,  and  contri- 
buted by  no  means  to  his  happiness  in  any  of 
the  domestic  relations.  About  1761  MrThick- 
nesse  lost  his  second  consort  by  death  ;  and 
on  her  only  son  succeeding  to  the  title  and 
estate  of  his  mother's  family,  an  unpleasant 
disagreement  took  place  between  him  and  his 
father,  who  thought  proper  to  lay  his  griev- 
ances before  the  public  in  a  pamphlet  entitled 
"  Queries  to  Lord  Audley,"  8vo.  The  year 
after  he  became  a  widower,  he  married  the 
daughter  of  Mr  Ford,  a  solicitor  in  London, 
who  long  survived  him.  [See  the  following 
article.]  By  this  lady  he  had  several  chil- 
dren, and  the  difficulty  of  providing  for  his 
numerous  offspring  induced  him  to  retire  first 
to  Wales,  and  afterwards  to  the  continent. 
Having  travelled  through  France,  Italy,  and 


THI 

Spain,  lie  returned  home,  and  resided  again  in 
Wales,  and  subsequently  at  Bath.  Shortly 
after  the  beginning  of  the  revolutionary  com- 
motions in  France,  Mr  Thicknesse  again  went 
abroad,  intending  to  settle  in  Italy  ;  but  he 
died  of  apoplexy,  while  travelling  in  a  car- 
riage, near  Boulogne,  in  1792.  His  life  was 
distinguished  by  much  eccentricity  of  man- 
ners, conduct,  and  opinion,  which  was  occa- 
sionally displayed  in  the  numerous  pieces 
which  he  committed  to  the  press.  Among 
them  are  "  Man-midwifery  analysed,  and  the 
Tendency  of  that  Practice  detected  and  ex- 
posed," 1765,  4to  ;  "A  Year's  Journey 
through  France  and  Part  of  Spain,"  1777, 
2  vols.  8vo ;  "  The  new  prose  Bath  Guide," 
1778,  8vo  ;  "  The  Valetudinarian's  Bath 
Guide,  or  the  Means  of  obtaining  long  Life 
•  and  Health,"  1780,  8vo  ;  "  A  Year's  Journey 
through  the  Pays  Bas  and  Austrian  Nether- 
lands/' 1786,  8vo  ;  "  A  Sketch  of  the  Life  of 
ThomasGainsboiough,"1788,  8vo ;  and  "Me- 
moirs and  Anecdotes  of  Philip  Thicknesse, 
late  Lieutenant  Governor  of  Landguard  Fort, 
and  unfortunately  Father  to  George.  Touchet, 
Baron  Audley,"  1788,  2  vols.  8vo. — Nichols's 
Lit.  Anec. 

THICKNESSE  (ANNE)  an  authoress  of 
great  beauty  and  accomplishments  in  her 
youth.  Her  maiden  name  was  Ford  ;  her 
father,  who  enjoyed  the  lucrative  office  of 
clerk  of  the  arraigns,  possessed  a  house  near 
the  Temple,  in  which  she  was  born,  February 
22,  1737.  Her  talents  and  personal  attrac- 
tions having  early  introduced  her  into  the 
world  of  fashion,  she  took  advantage  of  that 
circumstance  to  give  three  concerts  at  the 
opera-house  on  her  own  account,  having  left 
her  father's  house  abruptly,  in  consequence  of 
his  endeavouring  to  force  her  into  a  disagree- 
able marriage.  By  this  bold  step  she  realized 
fifteen  hundred  pounds,  and  acquiring  the  pa- 
tronage of  lady  Betty  Thicknesse,  became  do- 
mesticated in  her  family.  On  the  death  of  this 
lady,  the  widower,  governor  Thicknesse,  the 
subject  of  the  last  article,  offered  her  his  hand 
after  a  due  interval,  which  she  accepted,  above 
three  hundred  persons  being  present  ai  the 
wedding.  During  a  union  of  thirty  years  she 
accompanied  her  husband  on  various  journeys 
to  different  parts  of  the  continent ;  and  was 
with  him  at  his  death,  which  took  place  in  his 
carriage,  near  Boulogne  in  1792.  The  convul- 
sions of  the  French  Revolution  had  now  com- 
menced, and  Mrs  Thicknesse,  in  company 
with  several  other  English  ladies,  was  impri- 
soned, and  narrowly  escaped  the  guillotine, 
through  the  death  of  Robespierre,  who  had 
sent  an  order  for  their  execution.  On  her 
liberation  she  returned  to  England,  and  ended 
a  long  and  exemplary  life  at  her  house  in  the 
Edgeware-road,  January  20,  1824.  She  was 
the  personal  friend  of  most  of  the  wits  of  the 
last  generation,  speaking  various  modern  lan- 
guages with  fluency  and  elegance.  Her  prin- 
cipal works  are  "  Biographical  Sketches  of 
Literary  Females  of  the  French  Nation,"  3  vols. 
1  2mo,  1778,  and  a  novel  entitled  "  The  School 
of  Fashion,"  2  vols.  Svo,  1800. — Ann.  Biog. 


THI 

THIERRY  or  THEODORIC  OF  NIEM, 

an  ecclesiastical  writer  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury. He  was  a  native  of  Paderborn  in  West- 
phalia, and  served  Gregory  XI,  Urban  VI, 
and  several  succeeding  popes  as  under  secre- 
tary. He  also  attended  John  XXIII  to  the 
council  of  Constance  as  writer  of  the  aposto- 
lical letters  ;  hut  after  that  pontiff's  flight  he 
drew  up  an  account  of  his  life  and  vices  in  a 
style  of  bitter  but  well  merited  invective.  He 
died  about  1417,  leaving  the  following  works  : 
"  A  History  of  the  Schism,"  Nuremberg-, 
1.592  ;  "  The  Privileges  and  Rights  of  the 
Emperors  in  the  Investiture  of  Bishops  ;" 
"A  History  of  John  XXIII, "Frankfort,  1620, 
and  "  A  Journal  of  the  Council  of  Constance." 
His  style  is  harsh  but  energetic  ;  and  his  writ- 
ings, which  describe  chiefly  what  he  himself 
witnessed,  and  draw  a  shocking  picture  of  the 
court  of  Rome  and  the  clergy  of  the  period, 
are  deemed  accurate  and  faithful. — Dupin. 
Moreri. 

THIERS  (JOHN  BAPTIST)  a  French  eccle- 
siastic, very  singular  in  his  character  and 
writings,  was  born  in  1636  at  Chartres,  and 
educated  at  Paris,  where  he  became  a  doctor 
of  the  Sorhonne.  He  was  afterwards  appointed 
to  a  benefice  in  the  diocese  of  Chartres  ;  but 
his  caustic  and  litigious  temper  having  in- 
volved him  in  a  dispute  with  the  archdeacon 
and  chapter,  he  wrote  a  satire  upon  the  for- 
mer, which  caused  the  issue  of  a  decree  for  his 
arrest.  He  however  escaped  fiom  the  officers 
of  justice,  and  took  refuge  at  Mons,  where  he 
was  well  received  by  the  bishop,  who  appoint- 
ed him  to  the  cure  of  Vitraie,  in  which  situa- 
tion he  died  the  28th  of  February  1703.  His 
temper  led  him  to  delight  in  polemics,  and  he 
chose  odd  and  uncommon  subjects.  Of  Ids 
numerous  writings  the  following  are  the  most 
observable,  "  Traite  des  Superstitions  que  re- 
gardent  les  Sacremens,"  four  volumes,  I2mo  ; 
"  Traite  de  1'Exposition  du  Saint  Sacrement 
de  1'Autel ;"  "  L'Avocat  des  Pauvres,  que 
faitvoir  les  Obligations  qu'ont  les  Beneficiers 
de  faire  un  bon  Usage  des  Biens  de  1'Eglise  ;" 
"  De  Festorum  Dierum  Immunatione ;" 
'  Traites  des  Jeux  Permis  et  Defendeurs  ;" 
"  Histoire  des  Perruques,  oa  Ton  fait  voir  leur 
Origine,  leur  Usage ,  leur  Forme,  1'  A  bus,  et  1'lr- 
regularite  de  celles  des  Ecelesiastiques,"  a  most 
singular  and  entertaining  disquisition,  with  se- 
veral more,  all  of  which  are  deemed  very  cu- 
rious, and  none  more  than  a  dissertation  on  an 
inscription  over  the  great  portal  of  the  convent 
of  the  cordeliers  at  Rheims,  which  tract  is 
extremely  rare. — Moreri.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

THIRLBY  (STYAN)  a  learned  critic,  was 
born  at  Leicester,  where  his  father  was  a  pa- 
rish clergyman,  about  1692.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  the  free  school  of  his  native  place, 
whence  he  was  removed  to  Jesus  college, 
Cambridge,  where  he  obtained  a  fellowship, 
and  had  several  pupils,  among  whom  was  Dr 
Jortin.  He  was  however  a  neglectful  tutor, 
and  otherwise  of  very  irregular  habits.  Such 
was  his  caprice  that  he  studied  physic,  divinity, 
and  civil  law  successively,  with  a  view  to  a 
profession  ;  but  although  he  took  a  doctor'* 


r  H  o 

degree  in  the  latter  faculty,  he  never  sought 
practice  as  a  civilian.  After  losing  many 
friends  and  some  promising  patronage  by  bis 
uneven  temper,  imprudence,  and  irregularity, 
sir  Edward  Walpole  obtained  him  a  small  sine- 
cure in  the  custom-house,  in  possession  of 
which  he  died  in  1753,  a  martyr  to  intempe- 
rance, in  his  sixty-first  year.  In  1723  he 
gave  the  world  his  edition  of  Justin  Martyr, 
folio,  with  notes  and  emendations,  which  is 
esteemed  a  very  valuable  performance.  lie 
also  contributed  some  notes  to  Theobald's 
Edition  of  Shakspeare. — Nichols's  Lit.  Anec. 

THISTLE  WOOD  (ARTHUR)  memorable 
for  his  concern  in  the  political  commotions 
which  disturbed  this  country  after  the  restora- 
tion of  regal  government  in  France,  was  the 
son  of  a  farmer  in  Lincolnshire,  and  was  born 
in  1772.  He  obtained  a  lieutenant's  commis- 
sion in  the  supplementary  militia  in  1797,  and 
soon  after  he  married  a  young  lady  with  a  con- 
siderable fortune.  He  then  resided  at  Bawtry 
in  Yorkshire,  but  his  wife  dying  in  about 
eighteen  months,  he  went  to  Lincoln,  where 
he  abandoned  himself  to  dissipation,  and  hav- 
ing; squandered  his  property  at  the  gaming- 
table, he  was  obliged  at  length  to  take  refuge 
in  London.  There  he  remained  some  time, 
making  however  occasional  voyages  to  Ame- 
rica and  France,  where  he  connected  himself 
with  the  pani/ans  of  anarchy  and  revolution, 
and  probably  contracted  that  spirit  of  discon- 
tent which  influenced  his  future  conduct. 
After  the  peace  of  Amiens  he  returned  toF^ng- 
land,  and  improved  his  circumstances  by  a 
second  marriage.  But  he  had  now  become  a 
gambler  by  profession  ;  and  having  associated 
himself  with  other  persons  of  desperate  cha- 
racter, he  engaged  in  schemes  which  drew 
on  him  the  notice  of  government.  When  the 
riots  in  Spa-fields  took  place,  he  was  arrested 
with  Watson  and  others  ;  and  the  proceedings 
against  him  on  that  occasion  only  served  to 
irritate  his  passions  and  prompt  him  to  such 
outrageous  behaviour  towards  lord  Sidmouth, 
then  secretary  of  state,  as  occasioned  his  sub- 
sequent detention  in  prison  for  a  considerable 
time.  On  his  liberation  he  gave  way  to  the 
suggestions  of  rage  and  despair,  and  became 
the  principal  agent  in  the  memorable  Cato- 
street  conspiracy,  the  object  of  which  was  to 
murder  several  members  of  the  administration 
at  a  cabinet-dinner,  and  excite  an  insurrection 
in  the  city  of  London.  This  absurd  scheme 
was  betrayed  by  a  man  employed  as  a  spy  by 
the  ministry,  and  the  insane  projectors  were 
arrested  just  as  they  were  about  to  proceed  to 
the  execution  of  their  purpose.  Being  tried 
and  condemned  as  a  traitor,  Thistlewood  with 
his  coadjutors  suffered  the  sentence  of  the  law 
on  the  1st  of  May  1820. 

THOMAS  (ANTHONY  LEONARD)  a  distin- 
guished French  writer  and  member  of  the 
Academy,  who  was  born  near  Clermont  in 
Auvergne,  in  1732.  He  was  a  professor  at  the 
college  of  Beauvais  at  Pans,  and  subsequently 
secretary  to  the  duke  of  Orleans.  Among  a 
number  of  works  which  he  published  are  Pane-  . 
gyrics,  or  biographical  eulogies,  remarkable 


THO 

for  the  beauties  of  style  and  elegance  of  com- 
position which  they  exhibit,  and  to  these  lie  is 
chiefly  indebted  for  his  literary  reputation. 
Ilis  Eulogy  on  the  Roman  emperor,  Marcus 
Aurelius,  has  been  especially  admired.  Among 
the  other  productions  of  his  pPT  are,  "  Re- 
flexions historiquee  et  litteraires  sur  le  Poeme 
de  la  Religion  Naturelle  de  Voltaire  ;"  "  Eloge 
de  Marechal  Snxe  ;"  "  Essai  sur  les  Eloges  ;" 
"  Essai  sur  le  Caractere,  les  Moeurs,  et 
1'Espht  des  Femmes;"  besides  "  La.  Petreide," 
aa  epic  poem,  published  posthumously,  and 
other  poetical  compositions.  He  died  in  1785, 
and  his  works  have  been  subsequently  pub- 
lished in  7  vols.  8vo. — Biog.  Univ.  Diet.  Hist. 

THOMAS  (ELIZABETH  )  a  female  author, 
principally  deserving  of  notice  on  account  of 
her  having  been  praised  by  Dryden  and  abused 
by  Pope  in  his  Uunciad.  The  former  bard 
gave  her  the  poetical  appellation  of  Comma ; 
and  she  provoked  the  resentment  of  the  latter, 
by  publishing  his  letters  to  Mr  H.  Cromwell, 
which  had  come  into  her  hands  through  her 
intimacy  with  that  gentleman.  She  died  in 
1730,  at  he  age  of  fifty-five  ;  and  a  vo- 
lume of  her  Po^ms  and  Letters  was  afterwards 
published,  with  a  biographical  memoir,  written 
by  herself,  in  a  very  romantic  style. — Gibber's 
Lives  of  the  Poets. 

THOMAS  (JOHN)  a  prelate  respectable  for 
his  learning  and  liberality,  who  was  the  son  of 
a  clergyman,  and  was  born  at  Carlisle  in  1712. 
He  studied  at  Queen's  college,  Oxford,  and 
was  afterwards  a  private  tutor  to  the  son  of 
sir  William  Clayton.  Having  been  ordained, 
he  became  rector  of  Blechingley  in  Surrey  ; 
and  a  marriage  with  the  daughter  of  his  patron 
opened  the  way  to  higher  preferment  in  the 
church.  In  1748  he  was  appointed  one  of  the 
royal  chaplains  ;  and  after  holding  various  in- 
ferior benefices,  he  succeeded  bishop  Pearce 
in  the  deanery  of  Westminster,  and  the  bi- 
shopric of  Worcester.  He  died  in  1793.  His 
Sermons  and  Charges  were  published  posthu- 
mously by  his  chaplain,  the  rev.  G.  Thomas, 
in  2  vols.  8vo,  with  a  biographical  memoir. — 
Chalmers's  Bion.  Diet. 

O 

T11OA1AS  (Josi.ui)  an  English  divine  of 
the  established  church,  who  was  educated  at 
the  university  of  Cambridge.  Having  taken 
the  degree  of  MA.  he  was  ordained,  and  be- 
came rector  of  Kingston  Deverel  in  Wiltshire. 
He  afterwaids  held  the  living  of  Street  in  So- 
mersetshire, and  at  length  obtained  the  arcn- 
deaconry  of  Bath,  and  was  also  minister  of 
Chrisichurch  in  that  city.  Mr  Thomas  was 
the  author  of  a  very  pleasing  piece,  entitled 
"  A  Poetical  Epistle  to  a  Curate;"  and  he 
published  some  tracts  against  the  doctrines  of 
those  who  style  themselves  the  evangelical 
clergy  ;  and  distinguished  himself  as  the  op- 
ponent of  his  diocesan,  DrRvder,  who  advo- 
cated those  principles  at  a  missionary  meeting. 
He  died  in  1820,  at  the  age  of  sixty. — Biit- 
ttm's  Hist,  of  Bath  Abbey. 

THOMAS  (  WILMAM)  an  eminent  prelate, 
born  at  Bristol,  and  educated  at  Oxford.  Af- 
ter previous  preferment  he  became  precentor 
of  St  David's,  and  in  1665  dean  of  Worces- 


THO 

ter,  whence  he  was  removed  to  the  see  of  St 
David's,  and  he  died  bishop  of  Worcester  in 
1689.  He  published  some  sermons  and  tracts 
on  divinity. — His  grandson,  WILLIAM  'Ino- 
MAS,  who  was  educated  at  Westminster  school 
and  Trinity  college,  Cambridge,  took  orders 
in  the  church,  and  became  rector  of  Exal,  in 
Warwickshire.  In  1723  he  was  presented  to 
the  living  of  St  Nicholas,  Worcester,  where 
lie  continued  till  his  death  in  1738.  He  made 
collections  for  a  history  of  Worcestershire,  and 
lie  published  "  Antiquitates  Prioratus  majoris 
Malverne  ;"  and  "  A  Survey  of  Worcester 
Cathedral  ;"  and  was  the  editor  of  an  im- 
proved republication  of  Dugdale's  Survey  of 
Warwickshire.  His  topographical  papers  fell 
into  the  hands  of  Dr  Treadway  Nash,  and 
served  as  the  foundation  of  his  county  history. 
—  Chalmers's  B'tog.  Diet. 

THOMAS  (WILLIAM)  a  native  of  Wales, 
who  appears  to  have  received  his  education  at 
Oxford,  and  taken  the  degree   of  bachelor  of 
canon  law  there  in   1529.     Being  obliged  to 
quit  the  kingdom  in  1544,  on  account  of  some 
misfortune,  he  went  to  Italy,   and  two  years 
after  he  resided  at  Bologna,  and  subsequently 
at  Padua.     In  1549  he    had  returned  to  Eng- 
land, as   he  was  then  appointed  clerk  of  the. 
council  to  king  Edward   VI,  who,  though    he 
was  a  layman,  bestowed  on  him  a  prebend  in 
St  Paul's  cathedral,  and  a  living  in  Wales.  On 
the  accession  of  queen  Mary  he  lost  his  office 
and  benefices,  in  consequence  of  which  pro- 
bably he  engaged  in  a  design  to  assassinate  her 
majesty,  fi  according  to   others   he  joined  in 
the  rebellnn  of  sir  Thomas  Wyatt,  and  beiu 
arrested   and  imprisoned    in    the    Tower,     he 
made  an  attempt  at  suicide.     He  was  however 
tried   for   treason  at  Guildhall  on   the   9th  of 
May,    1554,    and  being    convicted,    he    was 
handed  at  Tyburn.     Thomas  was   the   author 
of  "  The    History   of  Italy,"    London,    1549, 
4to,  reprinted  in  1561  ;  besides  several  other 
works  of  less  importance,  original  and  trans- 
lated.—  Wood's  Athenee    Oxon.      Berkenhout's 
Bing.  Lit. 

THOMASIUS  (JAMES)    a   learned   critic, 
distinguished  for  his  researches  concerning  the 
history  of  literature.      He  was  born  at  Leipsic 
in  1622,  and  he  became  professor  of  rhetoric 
and  rector  of  the  Thoman  school  in  that  city, 
where  he  died  in  1684.     Among   his   works 
are  "   De    Fabulis    Poetarum    Dissertatio ;" 
"  De  Theologia  Scholastica  ;"  "  Erotemata  Lo- 
gica;"  "  Erotemata  Metaphysica  ;"  "De  Vita 
Abelardi  ;"  "  De  Plagio  Litterario,"    &c. — 
CHRISTIAN  THOMASIUS,  son  of  the  preceding, 
was  also  a  man  of  learning,  and  a  very  multi- 
farious and  prolific  writer.     He  was  born  at 
F/eipsic  in  1655,  and  received  his  education  in 
the  university   of  his   native   place.     The  au- 
thority of  Aristotle  still  prevailed  in  Germany 
when  he  became  a  candidate  for  literary  dis- 
tinction, and  he  obtained  the  credit  not  only  of 
successfully    opposing    the     reveries    of    the 
schoolmen,  but  also  of  contributing  greatly   to 
the  general  diffusion  of  a  spirit  of  philosophi- 
cal inquiry  throughout  his  native  country.    He 
was  one  of  the  first  to  combat  the  popular  doc- 


T  HO 

trines  of  witchcraft  and  demonology  ;  and  his 
cepticism   on   these   subjects  exposed  him  to 
no  small  degree    of    obloquy.     After   having 
graduated  as  LLD.  at  Leipsic,  he  obtained  the 
professorship  of  the  law  of  nature  in  that  uni- 
versity ;  but  the  freedom  with  which  he  de- 
livered his  sentiments  having  given  offence,  he 
resigned  his    office,    and    removed  to   Halle, 
where  he  obtained  the  chair  of  jurisprudence. 
His  death  took  place  in  1T-28.     The  list  of  his 
very  numerous  publications  includes  "  Institu- 
tiones  Jurisprudentise  Divinae  ;"  "  Historia  Sa- 
pientiae   et  Stultitis,"  3  vols.  8vo  ;  "  Funda- 
menta   Juris    Naturae    et    Gentium  ex  Sensu 
Communi  deducta ;"    "  Historia   Juris  Natu- 
ralis;"  and  a  journal  entitled  "  Free  Thoughts, 
or     Monthly    Dialogues    on    Books." — StuUii 
Introd.  in  Hist.  Lit.      Diet.  Hist.      Bing.  llniv. 
THOMASSIN  (Louis)  an  eminent  French 
ecclesiastical  writer,  was  born  in  1619,  at  Aix, 
in  Provence,  of  a  family  distinguished  in  the 
church  and  the  law.     He  was  educated  in  the 
seminary  of  the  Oratory,  and  entered  into  that 
congregation  in  his  fourteenth  year.     He  was 
subsequently   made   professor  of  theology  at 
Saumur,  whence  he  was  called  in  1654  to  Pa- 
ris,  to   teach  in  the  school   of  St    Magloire. 
Here  he  obtained    great   reputation,    and    in 
1668  published  his  "  Memoires  sur  la  Grace," 
in   which   he   endeavoured    to    reconcile    the 
Greek  fathers  with  St  Augustine.     In  1678  he 
published  the  first  volume  of  the  book  by  which 
he  is  most  known,  entitled  "  De  la  Discipline 
Ecclesiastique,"    which     was    completed    in 
three   volumes  in   1681.     This  work  was  so 
much  esteemed  at  Home,  that  pope  Innocent 
XI  wished  to  draw  him  to  the  papal  court,  but 
Louis  XIV  refused  his  sanction.     Another  of 
his  great  works  was  "  Dogmata  Theologica," 
3  vols.  folio,  1680 — 9.     He  also  published  se- 
parate treatises  "On  the  Unity  of  the  Church," 
3  vols.  4to  ;  "  On  the  Divine  Service  ;"  "  On 
Fasts  and  Festivals;"  "  On  Truth  and  False- 
hood;" "  On  Alms,  Trade,  and  Usury,''  &c. 
He  was  likewise  the  author  of  several  philolo- 
gical tracts,  and  undertook  a  large  work,  en- 
titled   "  Glossaire     Universelle    Hebra'ique," 
folio.     This  work,  which    appeared  in  1697, 
after  his  death,  is  spoken  of  by  Huetasa  very 
insufficient     performance.      The    learning     of 
Thouicissin,  although  extensive,  has  not  been 
deemed  of  the  highest  class.    His  private  cha- 
racter was  peculiarly  modest,  benevolent,  and 
amiable.     He  died  in    1695,  in  his  seventy- 
fifth  year. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist, 

THOMPSON  (sir  BENJAMIN)  usually  de- 
signated by  his  German  title  of  COUNT  RUM- 
FORD,  was  born  at  a  village  of  that  name  in 
New  England  (N.  A.),  in  1752.  He  acquired 
when  young  a  knowledge  of  natural  philo- 
sophy, for  which  he  was  indebted  to  a  profes- 
sor of  that  science  in  the  American  university 
of  Cambridge.  He  then  employed  himself  as 
a  teacher,  till  he  was  raised  to  independance  by 
an  advantageous  marriage,  when  he  became  a 
major  in  the  militia  of  his  native  provn.ce; 
and  when  the  war  took  place  between  Great 
Britain  and  her  colonies,  his  local  knowledge 
enabled  him  to  render  services  of  importance 


T  HO 

to  the  English  commanders.  He  came  to  this 
country,  and  as  the  reward  of  his  services  ob- 
tained a  situation  in  the  foreign  office,  umliT 
lord  George  Germaine.  Towards  the  close  of 
the  war  he  was  sent  to  New  York,  where  he 
raised  a  regiment  of  dragoons,  of  which  he 
was  appointed  colonel,  and  thus  became  en- 
titled to  half-pay.  Returning  to  England  in 
1784,  he  received  the  honour  of  knighthood,  and 
was  for  some  time  one  of  the  under  secretaries 
of  state.  Soon  after  he  went  to  the  continent, 
and  through  the  recommendation  of  the  prince 
of  Deux  Fonts,  afterwards  king  of  Bavaria, 
he  entered  into  the  service  of  the  reigning 
elector  palatine  and  duke  of  Bavaria,  when  he 
effected  many  important  and  useful  reforms  in 
both  the  civil  and  military  departments  of  the 
state.  Among  these  was  a  scheme  for  the 
suppression  of  mendicity,  which  he  carried 
into  execution  at  Munich  and  other  parts  of 
the  Bavarian  territories,  providing  labour  for 
able-bodied  paupers,  and  exciting  a  spirit  of 
industry  among  the  lower  orders  of  the  people 
in  general.  As  the  reward  of  his  success  in 
this  and  other  undertakings,  he  was  decorated 
by  the  sovereign  of  Bavaria  with  various  or- 
ders of  knighthood,  made  a  lieutenant  general, 
und  created  count  Ilumford.  He  left  Bavaria 
In  1799,  and  returned  to  England,  where  he 
imployed  himself  in  making  experiments  on 
the  nature  and  application  of  heat,  and  on  other 
subjects  of  economical  and  philosophical  re- 
search. He  likewise  suggested  the  plan,  and 
assisted  in  the  foundation  of  the  Royal  Insti- 
tution, which  led  to  other  establishments  of  a 
similar  description.  In  1802  he  removed  to 
Paris,  where  he  took  up  his  residence,  and  his 
wife  being  dead,  he  married  the  widow  of  the 
celebrated  Lavoisier  ;  but  the  union  proved 
unfortunate,  and  a  separation  ere  long  took 
place.  Count  Rum  ford  then  retired  to  a 
country-house  at  Auteuil,  about  four  miles 
from  Paris,  and  there  he  devoted  his  time  to 
the  embellishment  of  his  domain  and  to  the 
cultivation  of  chemistry  and  experimental  phi- 
losophy. Though  he  disliked  both  the  charac- 
ter and  politics  of  the  French,  he  preferred 
the  climate  of  their  country  to  every  other  ; 
and  he  therefore  procured  permission  from  the 
king  of  Bavaria  to  continue  in  France,  and 
retain  the  pension  of  1200/.  a  year,  granted 
him  by  that  prince.  He  died  in  August  1814, 
leaving  by  his  first  wife  a  daughter,  who  re- 
sided at  Boston,  in  America.  Count  Rumford 
was  by  no  means  a  man  of  learning,  his  lite- 
rary acquirements  being  confined  to  the  Eng- 
lish, French,  and  German  languages  ;  but  he 
was  familiar  with  the  discoveries  and  improve- 
ments of  modern  science,  and  the  industry 
and  perseverance  with  which  he  pursued  his 
inquiries,  enabled  him  to  make  some  con- 
siderable additions  to  our  knowledge  of  che- 
mistry and  practical  philosophy.  Besides  a 
great  number  of  papers  in  various  scientific 
journals,  he  published  four  volames  of  "Essays, 
experimental,  political,  economical,  and  phi- 
losophical."— Gent.  Mag.  Rees's  Cyclop. 

THOMPSON   (EDWAHD)    a   minor   poet, 
was   born  at  Hull  in  1738,  and  went    first  to 


r  no 

sea  in  the  merchant  service.  HP  afterwards  re- 
moved into  the  navy,  in  which  he  obtained  th^ 
rank  of  lieutenant,  and  by  the  interest  of  Garrick 
he  was  presented  to  the  command  of  the  Hyaena, 
in  1785  he  became  captain  of  the  Grampus,  in 
which  he  proceeded  to  the  coast  of  Africa, 
where  he  died  the  following  year.  lie  wrote 
some  poems  of  a  too  free  description,  an  en- 
tertainment called  "  Trinculo's  Trip  to  the 
Jubilee  ;"  "  The  Sailor's  Letters,"  V  vols. ; 
and  several  sea  songs,  of  more  than  usual 
merit.  He  also  published  editions  of  the 
works  of  Andrew  Marvell,  of  the  poet  Old- 
ham,  and  of  Paul  Whitehead. — European  Mag. 

THOMPSON  (WILLIAM)  a  scholar  and 
poet  of  merit,  was  born  in  the  early  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  was  the  second  son 
of  the  rev.  Francis  Thompson,  rector  of  Brongh 
in  Westmoreland.  At  the  usual  age  he  was 
sent  to  Queen's  college,  Oxford,  where  he  gra- 
duated A  M.  in  1738.  He  afterwards  became 
fellow  of  the  same  college,  and  succeeded  to 
the  livings  of  Weston  and  Hampton  Poyle  in 
Oxfordshire  ;  after  which  he  became  dean  of 
Raphoe  in  Ireland,  where  he  died  about  1766. 
He  published  an  edition  of  bishop  Hall's  Vir- 
gidemiarum  in  1753,  and  two  volumes  of 
poems,  among  which  those  entitled  "  The  Na- 
tivity," "  Sickness,"  and  "  The  Hymn  to 
May,"  have  met  with  considerable  approba- 
tion.— Chalmers's  Poets. 

THOMSON  (ALEXANDER)  a  writer  on 
miscellaneous  literature,  who  died  at  Edin- 
burgh in  1 803,  at  the  age  of  forty-one.  Ha 
was  the  author  of  "  Whist,  a  Poem  in  two 
Cantos,"  1791,  8vo  ;  "  An  Essay  on  Novels, 
a  poetical  Epistle,  with  six  Sonnets  from  Wer- 
ter,"  1738,  4to  ;  "  The  Paradise  of  Taste,  a 
Poem,"  1793,  4to  ;  "The  German  Miscel- 
lany, consisting  of  Dramas,  Dialogues,  Tales, 
and  Novels,  translated  from  that  Language," 
1796,  8vo;  "The  East  Indian,  a  Comedy, 
from  the  German  of  A.  von  Kotaebue,"  1799, 
8vo  ;  "  Pictures  of  Poetry,  Historical,  Bio- 
graphical, and  Critical,"  1799,  8vo  ;  "  The 
British  Parnassus  at  the  Close  of  the  Eighteenth 
Century,  a  Poem,  in  four  Cantos,"  1801, 
4to  ;  and  "  Sonnets,  Odes,  and  Elegies,"  8vo. 
He  also  published  in  the  Monthly  Magazine, 
1810,  "  The  Plan  of  a  History  of  Scottish 
Poetry." — Eenss.  Biog.  Univ. 

THOMSON  (JAMES)  a  distinguished  Bri- 
tish poet,  was  born  in  1700,  at  Ednam  near 
Kelso  in  Scotland,  being  one  of  the  nine  chil- 
dren of  the  minister  of  that  place.  He  was 
sent  to  the  school  of  Jedburgh,  where  he  early 
discovered  a  propensity  to  poetry,  which  drew 
the  attention  of  the  neighbouring  gentry,  who 
in  consequence  invited  him  to  their  houses. 
Being  removed  to  the  university  of  Edinburgh, 
his  father  soon  after  died,  which  induced  him 
to  attend  to  the  wishes  of  his  friends,  and 
study  for  divinity.  Quickly  convinced  that  his 
inclinations  lay  another  way,  he  soon  gave  up 
theological  studies,  and  paid  an  exclusive  at- 
tention to  literature.  After  acting  some  time 
as  a  private  tutor  to  lord  Binning,  he  quitted 
the  university  and  came  to  London,  where  ha 
found  out  his  college  acquaintance,  Mailet, 


THO 

to  whom  lie  showed  bis  "  Winter,"  which  was 
purchased  by  Millar  for  a  very  trifling  consi- 
deration, and  published  in  \T-26  with  a  dedi- 
cation to  sir  Spencer  Compton.  Its  merits  how- 
ever were  not  discovered  until  it  accidentally 
caught  the  eye  of  Mr  Whately,  a  critic  of  ac- 
knowledged taste,  who  brought  it  into  general 
notice  ;  and  besides  a   present  of  twenty  gui- 
neas from  his  dedicator,  it  led  to  the  author's 
introduction    to    Pope    and    bishop    Rundle, 
the  latter  of  whom  recommended  him  to  the 
lord  chancellor  Talbot.     In  1728  he  published 
his  "  Summer,"  which  he  addressed  to  Bubb 
Doddington,   and  during   the   same    year   he 
gave  the  world  his  "  Poem  sacred  to  the  Me- 
mory of  Sir  Isaac  Newton,"  and  his  "  Bri- 
tannia."    His  "  Spring  "   appeared  in  1728, 
addressed  to  the  countess  of  Hertford,  and  his 
"  Autumn,"  rendering  the  Seasons  complete, 
in  1730,   when  he  published   his  poems  col- 
lectively.    He  had  previously  brought  on  the 
stage  his  tragedy  of  "  Sophonisba,"  the  success 
of  which  was  but  moderate  ;  and  not  long  after, 
on  the  recommendation  of  Dr  Rundle,  lie  was 
selected  as  the  travelling  associate  of  the  hon. 
Mr  Talbot,  with  whom  he  visited  most  of  the 
courts  and  countries  on  the  continent.     On  his 
return  he  was  rewarded  with  the  post  of  secre- 
tary of  briefs  by  the  chancellor,  which  was 
nearly  a  sinecure.     About  this  time  he  pub- 
lished his   poem  of  "  Liberty,"  with  the  cool 
reception  of  which  he  was  much  disappointed. 
Soon  after  the   lord  chancellor  Talbot  died, 
which  vacated  Thomson's  office,   who  lost  it 
either  from  pride  or  indolence,  by  omitting  to 
request  it  of  lord  Hardwick,  who  succeeded  to 
the  seals,  and  who  held  it  a  while  open  for 
him,  but  claiming  the  attention   of  a  request, 
finally  gave  it  to  another.     Possibly  neither 
party  acted  with  much  magnanimity  on   this 
occasion.  An  introduction  to  Frederick,  prince 
of  Wales,  produced  him   a  pension  from  that 
prince    of  100/.   per    annum.      In   1738     he 
produced  a  second  tragedy,  entitl-ed   "  Aga- 
memnon," which  was  represented  at  Drury- 
lane   theatre,   and  was  received  very  coolly, 
while  a  third,  entitled  "  Edward  and'Eleanora," 
being  deemed  allusive  to  the  prince  and  prin- 
cess of  Wales,  the  lord  chamberlain  would  not 
allow  to  be   performed    at  all.     In   1740  he 
composed  the  masque   of  "  Alfred,"  in  con- 
junction   with   Mallet,    but    which   of    them 
wrote  the    song,    since  become   national,   of 
"  Rule  Britannia,"  has  not  been  ascertained. 
In  174.5  his  most  successful  tragedy,  entitled 
"  Tancred  and  Sigismunda,"  was  brought  out 
at  Drury-lane  theatre,  and  warmly  applauded. 
The  following  year  produced  his  admirable 
"  Castle  of  Indolence,"  his  final  and  crowning 
performance.     He  had  now,  by  the  favour  of 
Mr  Lyttelton,  obtained  comparative  indepen- 
dance,  by  the  place  of  surveyor-general  of  the 
Leeward    Islands,    which,    after   paying  his 
deputy,  cleared   him    SOO/.   per  annum.     lie 
died    prematurely    of  a   cold  caught    on  the 
Thames,   as  he  was  returning  one   night  by 
water  from   London  to  his  residence  in  Kew- 
lane.     A  fever  supervened,  which  terminated 
his  existence  in  August  1748,    in  the  forty- 


THO 

eighth  year  of  his  age.  He  was  buried  at 
Richmond,  and  a  monument  was  erected  to 
him  in  Westminster-abbey  in  1762,  with  the 
profits  arising  from  an  edition  of  his  works 
published  by  Millar.  He  left  behind  a  tra- 
gedy entitled  "  Coriolanus,"  which  was  acted 
for  the  benefit  of  the  surviving  branches  of  his 
family.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  Quin,  at 
once  a  generous  friend  and  companion  to  the 
deceased  poet,  spoke  the  prologue  with  so 
much  feeling  that  was  composed  for  the  occa- 
sion by  lord  Lyttelton.  Thomson  was  large 
and  ungainly  in  person,  and  somewhat  heavy 
in  deportment,  except  among  intimate  friends, 
by  whom  he  was  singularly  beloved  for  the 
kindness  of  his  heart,  and  his  freedom  from  the 
little  malignant  jealousies  which  so  frequently 
debase  the  literary  character.  He  was  re- 
markably indolent  and  unhappily  too  much  dis- 
posed to  indulge  in  the  grosser  pleasures  of 
sense,  than  from  his  writings  would  seem 
probable.  The  poetical  merits  of  Thomson 
stand  very  conspicuously  forward  in  his  "  Sea- 
sons," which  for  sensibility  and  beauty  of  na- 
tural description  have  scarcely  been  excelled. 
His  diction,  although  occasionally  cumbrous 
and  laboured,  is  always  energetic  and  expres- 
sive, and  if  its  versification  does  not  invariably 
denote  a  nice  ear,  it  is  seldom  harsh  or  un- 
tunable.  On  the  whole  few  poems  have  ope- 
rated more  forcibly  on  public  taste,  not  only  in 
England  but  throughout  Europe.  His  other 
pieces  in  blank  verse  display  a  vivid  imagina- 
tion and  a  comprehensive  understanding,  but 
assume  no  marked  or  distinctive  character  like 
the  "  Seasons ;"  and  his  additional  fame  as 
a  poet  arises  chiefly  from  his  "  Castle  of  In- 
dolence," certainly  the  most  spirited  and  beau- 
tiful of  all  the  imitations  of  Spenser,  both  for 
moral,  poetical,  and  descriptive  power.  This 
piece  and  his  "  Seasons"  are  poems  which  no 
time  will  render  obsolete.  Of  his  tragedies  it 
is  only  necessary  to  remark,  that  they  possess 
little  dramatic  interest,  and  merely  appear  re- 
spectable amidst  the  mediocre  dramas  of  the 
French  school,  which  prevailed  at  the  time  he 
composed  them. — Johnson's  Lives  of  the  Poets. 
Murdoch's  Life  of  Thomson. 

THOMSON   (WILLIAM)    a  miscellaneous 
writer,  born  in  1746  at  Burnside  in  Perthshire. 
He  was  educated  at  the  university  of  St  An- 
drews for  the  church,  after  which  he  became 
librarian  to  the  earl  of  Kinnoul  and  minister  of 
Monivad,     Dissatisfied  with  his   situation  in 
Scotland,   he  repaired  to  London,  where  he 
kept  an  academy,  and  exercised  his  pen  as  an 
author  by  profession.     His  compilations  were 
very  numerous,  and  he  was  also  the  editor  of 
several  periodical  publications,  including  "  The 
Political  Magazine  ;"  "  The  Whitehall  Even- 
ing Post ;"  and  "  The  Annual  Register."  His 
original  works  are  "  The  Man  in  the  Moon  ;" 
"  Memoirs  of   the    War   in  Asia,"  2  vols.  ; 
"  Mammoth,  or  Human   Nature  Displayed," 
vols.  &c.      He  obtained  a  doctor's   degree 
from  St  Andrews,  and  died  at   Kensington  in 
i817. — Ann.  Biog. 

THORESBY  (RALPH")   an  eminent  anti- 
quary,   was    born  at    Leeds  in    1658.     His 


TIIO 

father,  who  traced  his  origin  up  to  the  reign 
of  Canute,  was  a  respectable  merchant  of  the 
presbylenan  religion,  who  being  much  ad- 
dicted to  antiquarian  research,  founded  the 
collection  entitled  "  Museum  Thoresbiantim." 
The  subject  of  this  article  received  his  school 
education  at  Leeds,  whence  he  was  removed 
to  London  ;  and  being  designed  for  the  mer- 
cantile profession,  he  was  sent  in  his  twentieth 
ye;ir  to  Rotterdam,  to  acquire  the  Dutch  and 
French  languages.  On  the  death  of  his  father 
in  1679  he  succeeded  him  in  business,  and 
married  and  settled  in  his  native  place.  Hav- 
ing imbibed  a  taste  for  antiquity  from  his  pa- 
rent, he  pursued  the  study  of  it  with  so  much 
ardour,  that  it  became  the  principal  employ- 
ment of  his  life.  He  also  formed  connections 
with  the  most  distinguished  votaries  of  the 
s;une  pursuits  ;  and  in  1697  was  admitted  a 
member  of  the  Royal  Society.  Having  long 
entertained  the  design  of  writing  the  history 
of  his  native  town,  he  made  large  collections 
for  the  purpose,  which  he  published  in  1714, 
under  the  title  of  "  Ducatus  Leodensis,  or 
the  Topography  of  Leedes  and  Parts  adjacent." 
In  this  volume  he  refers  to  an  intended  his- 
torical part,  which  was  to  give  a  view  of  the 
state  of  the  northern  districts  of  the  kingdom 
in  remote  ages.  A  portion  of  this  he  left  be- 
hind in  MS,  which  is  printed  entire  in  the 
Biographia  Britannica,  under  the  article 
Thoresby.  He  also  published  "  Yicaria  Leo- 
densis, or  the  History  of  the  Church  of  Leedes," 
London,  1724.  He  died  in  1725,  of  a  para- 
lytic affection,  in  the  sixty-eighth  year  of  his 
age.  Besides  his  own  writings,  he  lent  his 
assistance  to  various  works  of  the  antiquarian 
and  biographical  chiss,  among  which  are  enu- 
merated Gibson's  edition  ofCamden;  Calamy's 
Memoirs  of  Divines  ;  Walker's  Sufferings  of 
the  Clergy  ;  and  Collins's  Peerage  of  England. 
— fiiog.  Brit. 

THORIUS  (RAPHAEL)  a  physician,  who 
died  of  the  plague  in  London,  in  1629.  He 
was  a  French  Protestant,  and  was  in  favour 
at  the  court  of  James  I.  He  is  said  to  ha*e 
been  distinguished  for  his  learning  and  for 
his  excessive  devotion  to  the  pleasures  of  the 
table.  His  works  are  "  Hymnus  Tabaci," 
Lond.  1626,  12mo,  republishtd  at  Utrecht, 
1644  and  16.51,  and  translated  into  English  by 
P.  Hausted  ;  "  Elegia  in  Obitum  Joannis  Bar- 
claii,"  4to  ;  and  a  Letter  "  De  Causa  Morbi 
et  Mortis  Isaac!  Casauboni." — Diet.  Hist. 

THORKKL1N  (GniMU  JOHNSON)  profes- 
sor in  the  university  of  Copenhagen,  keeper 
of  the  royal  archives  of  Denmark,  member  o: 
the  Icelandic  Society,  &c.  a  learned  and  inge- 
nious investigator  of  northern  antiquities.  He 
lived  in  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century,  and 
was  a  coadjutor  in  the  literary  labours  of  Suhm 
and  Resenius.  He  published  "  Diplomattim 
Arna-MagnKanum  exhibens  Monumenta  Di 
plomatica  qure  colligit  et  Uuiversitati  Haf- 
niensi  Testamento  reliquit.  Arnas  Magnsus 
Ihstoriam  atque  Jura  Daniae,  Norvegias,  &c 
illu&trantia,"  1786,  2  vols.  4to  ;  and  "  Eyr 
by'ri-na  Saga,  sive  Eyvanorum  Historia,  quan 
mandante  et  impensas  faciente  P.  F.  Suhm 


THO 

ersione,  Lectionum  Varietate,  ac  Indice 
ierum  auxit  G.  J.  Thorkelin,"  1787,  4to  ; 
nil  "  Fragments  of  English  and  Irish  His- 
ory,  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  Centuries,  trans- 
ted  from  the  Icelandic,  with  Notes,"  Lon- 
on,  1788,  4to. —  Biog.  Univ. 

TIIOUL  \I\SKN    (GUDEBIIAND)    an   Ice- 
andic  writer,  born  in  the  district  of  Holum  in 
celand,  in  1542.  He  studied  at  the  university 
f  Copenhagen,  and  then  became  rector  of  the 
chool   of  Holum,   and  in  lr>7<)  bishop  of  the 
.iocese.      He  established  a  printing-press,  and 
contributed  greatly  to  the  diffusion  of  know- 
edge  among  bis  countrymen,  being  one  of  the 
nost   learned    among  the   Icelandic  prelates; 
)ut  he  is  said  to  have  exercised    his  authority 
n  too   arbitrary  a  manner,  and  thus  involved 
limself  in  great  difficulties.     He  died  in  1629. 
Arngrim  Jonas   was   coadjutor  of  this  learned 
ishop,  from  whose  press  issued  several  works 
)f  his  own  composition,  relating   to   theology 
and    history.      Thorlaksen    also    constructed 
a  map    of  Iceland,   which   has   been  engraved 
nd  published. — Aikin's  Gen.  Biog. 

THORNDIKK  (HEHBERT)  alearnod  Eng- 
ish  divine  of  the  seventeenth  century,  was 
educated  at  Trinity  college,  Cambridge,  of 
vhich  he  became  a  fellow.  In  1642  he  was 
admitted  to  the  rectory  of  Barley  in  Hertford- 
shire, and  in  1643  was  elected  master  of  Sid- 
pev  -ollege,  of  which  office  he  was  deprived 
•,  ,,n  oppressive  piece  of  court  intrigue.  In 
;ie  sequel  he  was  also  doomed  to  experience 
equal  injustice  from  the  opposing  party,  and 
wlio  ejected  him  from  his  living  of  Barley,  in 
which  he  was  replaced  at  the  Restoration,  until 
e  resigned  it  on  being  made  a  prebendary  of 
Westminster.  He  died  in  1672.  The  prin- 
cipal works  of  this  divine,  whose  orthodoxy 
was  somewhat  suspected,  are,  "  A  Discourse 
on  Church  Government;"  "  A  Discourse  of 
Religious  Assemblies  ;"  "  Just  Weights  and 
Measures,  or  the  present  State  of  Religion 
weighed  in  the  Balance  ;"  "  Origines  Eccle- 
;"  "  Epilogue  to  the  Tragedy  of  the  Church 
of  Er, gland,"  &c  He  also  assisted  Walton  in 
iis  1'olyglott.  —  ]l'dtkin's  Sufferings  of  the 
Clergy.  Keiniett's  Chron. 

THORN  HILL   (sir   JAMES)    an    eminent 
English  painter,  descended  from  a  good  family 
in    Dorsetshire,   was    born    at    Weymouth  in 
1676.     He  chose  painting  for   his  profession, 
and  was  enabled  to   pursue    the  study  of  that 
art   by    the   assistance  of  his   uncle,  the   cele- 
brated physician,  Sydenham.   Although  placed 
under  a  very  indifferent   master,    he    made  a 
great    progress,  by   the   force   of   his  natural 
taste    and    abilities,    and    then    proceeded  to 
Holland,  Flanders,  and  France,  where  he  exa- 
mined all  the  good  pictures,  and  himself  pur- 
chased and  brought  over  several  to  England. 
On  his  return  he  quickly  acquired  employment 
and  reputation  ;  and  was  much  engaged  in  the 
decoration   of  palaces    and  public    buildings. 
Among  his  principal  works  are  the  inside  of 
the    dome    of   St    Paul's;    the    great  hall    at 
Greenwich  hospital;  an  apartment  at  Hamp- 
ton  Court ;  the  hall  at  Blenheim  ;  the  altar- 
piece  of  All  Souls'  chapel,  Oxford  ;  the  chape- 


TH  O 

at  lord  Orford's  at  Wimpole  •  and  the  saloon  j 
at  More  park,  Hertfordshire.  He  was  state 
painter  to  queen  Anne,  George  I,  and  George 
II,  by  the  latter  of  whom  he  was  knighted. 
Although  he  lost  much  money  by  injudicious 
credit,  he  acquired  sufficient  property  to  re- 
purchase a  family  estate,  which  the  distresses 
of  his  father  had  obliged  him  to  alienate.  Atten- 
tive to  the  improvement  of  his  art  in  England, 
he  opened  a  school  at  his  own  house  in  Covent- 
gardt-n,  having  failed  in  an  application  to  lord 
Halifax  for  the  foundation  of  a  royal  academy. 
He  died  at  his  seat  of  Thornhill  in  1734,  aged 
fifty-seven,  leaving  a  son  and  a  daughter,  the 
latter  of  whom  was  married  to  Hogarth.  The 
pencil  of  sir  James  Thornhill  was  firm  and  free, 
and  his  taste  in  design  good,  displaying  great 
judgment  in  treating  the  allegorical  composi- 
tions in  which  he  was  so  much  employed.  His 
colouring  was  however  defective,  and  his 
drawing  often  incorrect,  defects  attributable 
to  the  want  of  adequate  instruction  in  the  out- 
set. Sir  James  Thornhill,  in  company  with 
sir  Christopher  Wren,  was  most  ungenerously 
deprived  of  his  state  appointment  in  the  even- 
ing of  life,  in  both  instances  to  make  room  for 
persons  of  far  inferior  abilities. — Walpoles 
Anecdotes.  Pilkington. 

THORNTON  (BONNELL)  a  miscellaneous 
writer  of  genuine   humour,  was  the  son  of  an 
apothecary  in  London,  where   he  was  born  in 
1724.     After  the  usual  course  of  education  at 
Westminster  school,   he  was  in  1743  elected 
to   Christchurch,   Oxford.     Here  he    became 
concerned  in  "The Student,  or  Oxford  Monthly 
Miscellany,"  conducted  by   Smart.     In  1750 
he  graduated  MA.  and  as   his  father  wished 
him  to  study  physic,  in  1754  he  added  that  of 
bachelor  in  the  latter  faculty.     His  bent  how- 
ever was  not  for  severe    studies,  and  he  soon 
after    united  with    the   elder   Colman  in  the 
establishment  of  the  amusing  periodical  paper 
entitled  "  The  Connoisseur."     Assuming  lite- 
rature as  a  profession,   he  was  also  a  profuse 
contributor  to  magazines,  newspapers,  and  all 
the  periodicals  of  the  day,  chiefly  in  the  light 
and    humourous    way  ;    and     when     the    St 
James's  Chronicle  was  projected,  he  not  only 
assisted,   but  became   a  proprietor.     His  hu- 
mour was  not  altogether  confined  to  his  pen, 
as  he  projected  a  ludicrous  exhibition  of  sign 
paintings,  which   actually    took    place  at  his 
house  ;  and  as  its  object  was  to  satirise  tern 
porary  objects,  events,  and  persons,  it  amused 
for  a  season.     Of  a  kindred  nature  was  the 
composition  and   performance   at   Ranelagh  of 
a  burlesque  "  Ode  for  St  Cecilia's  Day,"  pro- 
fessedly adapted  to  "  Ancient  British  Music," 
meaning    the   salt-box,  Jew's-harp,   marrow- 
bones  and   cleavers,   &c.   &c.     This  farcical 
performance  was  often  alluded  to  by  Dr  John- 
son   as  exceedingly   humorous.     In   1766,   in 
conjunction    with    Warner    and  Colman,    he 
published  two  volumes  of  a  translation  of  Plau- 
tus,  afterwards  completed  in  five.     In  1767  he 
published  "  The  Battle  of  the  Wigs,"  in  ridi- 
cule of  the  disputes   between  the  fellows  and 
licentiates  of  the  College  of  Physicians  ;  and 
this  was  followed  by  his  "  City  Latin,"  in  ri- 
Bioo.  DICT.— VOL.  III. 


TH  O 

dicule  of  the  inscription  on  Blackfriars  bridge. 
Me  died  prematurely  in  his  forty-seventh  year, 
eaving  a  widow,  a  daughter,  and  two  sons, 
one  of  whom  is  the  well-known  Dr  Thornton 
the  physician. — British  Emayisls,  Preface  lo 
vol.  xxx. 

THORNTON  (THOMAS)  a  noted  sports- 
man and  eccentric  bon  vivant,  lieutenant-co- 
lonel of  the  West  York  militia,  prince  de 
Chambord  and  marquis  de  Pont  in  France,  in 
which  country  he  had  purchased  the  estates  to 
which  those  titles  are  attached.  He  was  born 
in  London,  and  educated  at  the  Charter-house, 
whence  he  proceeded  to  the  university  of  Glas- 
gow. On  inheriting  his  patrimonial  estate  of 
Thornville  Royal,  he  distinguished  himself  by 
liis  attachment  to  field  sports,  and  especially 
to  falconry,  which  he  revived  on  a  most  ex- 
tended and  magnificent  scale.  At  the  peace  of 
Amiens  he  pioceeded  to  France,  where  he  after- 
wards settled,  for  the  purpose  of  examining  the 
state  of  sporting  in  that  country,  and  gave  there- 
suit  of  his  observations  to  the  world  in  a  work 
(in  which,  as  in  some  others,  he  is  said  to  have 
been  assisted  by  the  rev.  Mr  Marty n)  entitled 
"  A  Sporting  Tour  through  France,"  1806, 
2  vols.  4to.  Previously  to  the  appearance  of 
this  work  he  had  printed  in  1804  "  A  Sporting 
Tour  through  the  North  of  England  and  the 
Highlands  of  Scotland,"  4to.  He  was  also  the 
author  of  a  small  work  entitled  "  A  Vindica- 
tion of  Colonel  Thornton's  Conduct  in  his 
Transactions  with  Mr  Burton, "  8vo,  1806. 
He  died  at  Paris  early  in  the  summer  of  1823. 
— Ann.  Bicig. 

THOROTON  (ROBERT)  an  English  physi- 
cian of  the  seventeenth  century,  known  as  a 
writer  on  topography.  Having  obtained  pos- 
session of  a  transcript  of  the  account  of  Not- 
tinghamshire from  the  Domesday  Book,  by 
sergeant  Gilbert  Boun,  with  some  other  mate- 
rials, Dr  Thoroton  improved  and  augmented 
them,  and  following  the  plan  of  Burton's  Lei- 
cestershire, lie  composed  and  published  "  The 
Antiquities  of  Nottinghamshire,  extracted  out 
of  Records,  Original  Evidences,  Leiger  Books, 
other  MSS.  and  authentic  Authorities,"  Lon- 
don, 1677,  folio.  This  work  consists  chiefly 
of  a  collection  of  epitaphs  and  a  history  of 
property,  arranged  according  to  the  division 
of  hundreds  and  towns;  no  notices  occurring 
of  our  early  national  antiquities,  whether  Bri- 
tish, Roman,  or  Saxon.  An  improved  edition 
of  the  Antiquities  of  Nottinghamshire  was 
published  by  J.  Throsby,  3  vols.  4to,  in  1797. 
— Cough's  Brit.  Topog, 

1  HORPE  (JOHN)  a  physician  and  anti- 
quary, was  born  at  Penuhurst  in  Kent  in  1682. 
After  practising  in  London  he  settled  at  Ro- 
chester, where  he  died  in  1750.  He  was 
chosen  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  in  1705, 
to  whose  transactions  he  was  a  contributor  ; 
he  also  printed  several  ancient  documents,  in 
illustration  of  the  history  and  antiquities  of 
Rochester,  and  a  volume  of  Scheuchzer's 
"  Itinera  Alpina." — His  son,  JOHN  THORPE, 
was  born  in  1714,  and  educated  at  University 
college,  Oxford,  where  he  took  a  master's 
degree.  He  devoted  the  greatest  part  of  his 

A 


T  II  O 

life  to  the  study  of  antiquities,  the  fruits  of 
which  appeared  in  1769,  in  a  volume  entitled 
"  Registrum  Roir'ensi,  or  a  Collection  of  An- 
cient Records  necessary  for  illustrating  the 
History  of  the  Diocese  and  Cathedral  of  !!•)- 
chester."  In  1788  he  also  published  "  Cus- 
tornale  Roffensi,  from  the  Original  in  the  Ar- 
chives of  the  Church  of  Rochester."  He  died 
at  Chippenham  in  1792. — Gent.  Mag. 

THOU  (.JAMES  AUGUSTUS  de)  in  Latin 
Thuanus,  an  eminent  magistrate  and  historian, 
was  born  at  Paris  in  1553,  being  the  third  son 
of  Christopher  de  Thou,  a  highly  respectable 
president  of  the  parliament  of  Paris.  At  ten 
years  of  age  he  was  placed  in  the  college  of 
Burgundy  and  designed  for  the  church,  but  was 
afterwards  sent  to  Orleans,  for  the  study  of 
the  civil  law,  which  he  farther  cultivated  under 
Cujncius  at  Valence.  In  1573  he  travelled 
into  Italy,  and  in  1576  his  high  character  for 
prudence  and  ability  induced  the  court  to  em- 
ploy lain  to  negociate  with  marshal  Montmo- 
rency  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  a  civil  war. 
On  the  death  of  his  elder  brotker  in  1579  he 
dedicated  himself  to  the  long  robe,  and  in 
1584  was  made  a  master  of  requests  ;  and  in 
1587,  having  resigned  all  his  previous  eccle- 
siastical engagements,  he  married.  On  the 
revolt  of  Paris,  produced  by  the  violences  of 
the  league,  he  adhered  to  Henry  III  ;  and 
after  the  assassination  of  the  duke  of  Guise, 
was  principally  instrumental  in  reconciling 
that  prince  with  the  king  of  Navarre.  On  the 
death  of  Henry  III  he  hastened  from  Venice 
to  support  the  legal  heir,  Henry  IV,  who  em- 
ployed him  in  several  important  negociations, 
and  nominated  him  principal  librarian  to  the 
king,  on  the  death  of  Amyot.  In  1594  he 
succeeded  his  uncle  as  president -a-mortier, 
and  was  afterwards  one  of  the  Catholic  com- 
missioners at  the  celebrated  theological  con- 
ference at  Fontainebleau,  between  Du  Perron 
and  Du  Plessis  Mornai.  In  the  regency  of 
Mary  de'  Medici  he  was  appointed  one  of  the 
directors-general  of  finance  and  otherwise  em- 
ployed in  nice  and  difficult  matters,  in  which 
lie  rendered  himself  equally  conspicuous  by 
integrity  and  ability.  These  various  occupa- 
tions did  not  prevent  him  from  an  assiduous 
cultivation  of  literature  ;  and  being  fond  of 
composition  in  Latin  verse,  in  1584  he  gave 
the  world  a  descriptive  poem  on  the  subject 
of  hawking,  entitled  "  De  Re  Accipitraria." 
He  afterwards  published  other  pieces  of  Latin 
poetry,  but  his  greatest  literary  labour  was  the 
composition  in  the  same  language  of  a  volumi- 
nous history  of  his  own  times,  of  which  the 
first  part  was  made  public  in  1604.  To  the 
great  discredit  of  Henry  IV,  this  work  was 
condemned,  in  submission  to  the  influence  of 
the  Catholic  leaders,  where  was  nettled  at  the 
freedom  with  which  the  historian  did  justice 
tw  the  Huguenots,  and  censured  the  popes,  the 
clergy,  and  the  house  of  Guise.  The  history 
when  finished  consisted  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty-eight  books,  comprising  the  events  from 
1545  to  1607  ;  and  as  few  writers  have  under- 
taken a  work  of  this  extent  with  better  quali- 
fications for  the  task,  it  was  accomplished  in 


THL 

a  manner  which  has  unequivocally  secured  the 
approbation  of  unbiassed  posterity.  Accu- 
rately acquainted  with  the  politics,  revolutions, 
and  geography  of  modern  Europe,  the  narra- 
tive of  De  Thou  is  at  once  copious  and  exact, 
while  his  native  candour  and  love  of  truth  has 
ensured  all  the  necessary  freedom  and  impar- 
tiality. To  this  work  he  subjoined  "  Com- 
mentaries, or  Memoirs  of  his  own  Life,"  com- 
posed in  the  same  manly  spirit.  In  1601  lie 
lost  his  first  wife,  by  whom  he  had  no  children, 
and  married  a  second,  who  brought  him  three 
sons  and  three  daughters.  The  loss  of  this 
lady  in  1616,  together  with  the  calamities 
which  befel  the  country  after  the  assassination 
of  Henry  IV,  is  thought  to  have  hastened  his 
own  death,  which  took  place  in  1617,  at  the 
age  of  sixty-four.  The  most  complete  edition 
of  the  History  of  De  Thou  is  that  published 
in  London  in  1733  by  Buckley,  in  7  vols. 
folio. — Memoirs  by  Himself.  Mareri.  A'oiu>. 
Diet.  Hist. 

THOU  (FRANCIS  AUGUSTUS  de)  eldest  son 
of  the  preceding,  born  in  1607,  inherited  the 
virtues  and  intelligence  of  his  father,  and  was 
made  master  of  requests  and  grand  master  of 
the  royal  library.  Cardinal  Richelieu  having 
discovered  that  he  kept  up  a  correspondence 
with  the  duchess  de  Chevreuse,  studiously 
kept  him  out  of  all  confidential  employment, 
which,  unhappily  for  himself,  threw  him  into 
the  party  of  Cinqmars.  When  that  imprudent 
person  therefore  was  detected  in  a  secret  cor- 
respondence with  Spain,  De  Thou  was  appre- 
hended on  the  charge  of  not  revealing  it ;  and 
notwithstanding  an  able  and  eloquent  defence, 
was  condemned,  and  sentenced  to  lose  his 
head.  Resolved  upon  a  signal  sacrifice  to  his 
power,  the  unrelenting  minister  resisted  all 
entreaties  in  his  favour,  and  his  execution  was 
irrevocably  determined  upon.  Cinqmars,  who 
was  the  cause  of  his  ruin,  humbled  himself 
before  him  drowned  in  tears  ;  but  De  Thou 
raised  and  embraced  him,  saying,  "  There  is 
now  nothing  to  be  thought  of  but  how  to  die 
well."  He  was  beheaded  at  Lyons  in  164'2, 
at  the  age  of  thirty-five,  universally  lamented. 
—Id. 

THOUIN  (ANDREW)  proiessor  of  agri- 
culture at  the  Royal  Garden  at  Paris,  was  born 
in  that  city  in  1747.  His  father  was  chief 
gardener  to  the  king,  and  on  his  death  Buffon 
and  Bernard  de  Jussieu  procured  the  office 
for  the  son,  though  he  was  then  but  seventeen 
years  old.  He  devoted  himself  with  great  as- 
siduity to  the  improvement  of  the  establish- 
ment under  his  care,  and  to  the  advancement 
of  botanical  science.  His  merit  procured  him 
admission  into  the  Parisian  Society  of  Agii- 
culture  and  into  the  Academy  of  Sciences.  In 
1790  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  council 
general  of  the  department  of  Paris,  where  he 
was  specially  charged  with  the  direction  of 
affairs  relating  to  agriculture.  In  November 
1794  he  was  sent  into  Holland,  and  in  1796 
into  Italy,  to  collect  whatever  might  be  ser- 
viceable to  the  progress  of  cultivation  in 
France.  He  became  one  of  the  earliest  mem- 
bers of  the  French  Institute,  and  iii  1806  he 


TH  U 

procured  the  establishment  of  a  school  of  prac- 
tical agriculture.  He  carried  on  a  very  ex- 
tensive correspondence  with  botanists,  both 
in  France  and  in  foreign  countries ;  and  be- 
sides his  public  lectures  and  tracts  in  the 
transactions  of  the  societies  to  which  he  be- 
longed, he  published  "  Essai  sur  1'Exposition 
et  la  Division  methodique  de  1'Economie  Ru- 
rale,  sur  la  Maniere  d'etudier  cette  Science 
par  Principes,  et  sur  les  Moyens  de  1'eteudre 
et  de  la  perfectionner,"  4to  ;  "  Monographic 
des  Greffes,"  1821,  4to,  with  lithographic 
plates  ;  and  other  works.  His  death  took 
place  October  27,  1824. — Biog.  Kouv.  des 
Contemp.  Biog.  Univ. 

THRELKELD  (CALEB)  a  natural  histo- 
rian, was  born  May  31,  1676,  at  Kirkoswald, 
in  Cumberland.  He  was  educated  at  Glasgow, 
where  he  graduated  MA.  in  1698.  He  soon 
after  settled  as  a  dissenting  minister  in  a  vil- 
lage near  the  place  of  his  birth  ;  but  having 
made  a  considerable  progress  in  the  study  of 
physic,  he  took  a  doctor's  degree  at  Edinburgh 
in  1712,  and  proceeded  with  a  wife  and  large 
family  to  Dublin,  where  his  practice  soon  in- 
creased, and  became  respectable.  He  died  of 
a  violent  fever  in  1728.  In  1727  he  published 
his  "  Synopsis  Stirpium  Hiberuicarum,"  12mo, 
being  a  short  treatise  on  the  plants  which  grow 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Dublin,  with  their 
Latin,  English,  and  Irish  names  ;  and  an  ap- 
pendix of  observations  made  upon  plants,  by 
DrMoiyneux,  physician  to  the  state  in  Ireland. 
This  book,  which  is  written  in  a  quaint  style, 
is  occasionally  interspersed  with  curious  ob- 
servations, one  of  which  states  that  "  The 
Irish  grammarians  remark  that  all  the  letters 
of  the  Irish  alphabet  are  names  of  trees." — 
Pulteney's  Bot. 

THROSBY  (JOHN)  a  topographical  writer, 
whose  productions  on  the  suhject  of  his  native 
county  are  numerous,  was  born  in  1746,  and 
•was  for  many  years  parish-clerk  of  St  Mar- 
tin's, Leicester.  He  appears  to  have  been  a 
man  of  good  natural  parts,  and  he  rendered 
himself  conspicuous  as  a  draughtsman  and  to- 
pographer. He  seems  however  to  have  found 
much  difficulty  in  maintaining-  a  numerous  fa- 
mily, and  in  the  decline  of  life  depended 
chiefly  upon  the  benevolence  of  those  who  re- 
spected his  industry  and  integrity.  He  died 
February  3,  1803.  His  publications  are  "Me- 
moirs of  the  Town  and  County  of  Leicester," 
1777,  6  vols.  12mo  ;  "  Select  Views  in  Leices- 
tershire," 1789,  4to  ;  "  The  History  and  An- 
tiquities of  the  ancient  Town  of  Leicester,'' 


1791,  8vo  ;  "  Letters  on  the  Roman  Cloaca  at 
Leicester,"  1793  ;  "  Thoughts  on  the  Pro- 
vincial Corps,"  1795,  8vo.  He  also  repub- 
lished  in  1797,  "  Thoroton's  History  of  Not- 
tinghamshire, with  large  Additions,"  3  vols. 
4to. — Nichols's  Lit.  Anec. 

THUCYDIDES,  a  celebrated  Grecian  his- 
torian, born  at  Athens  469  BC.  He  was  the 
son  of  Olorus,  said  to  have  been  descended 
from  Miltiades,  prince  of  the  Thracian  Cher- 
sonesus,  and  commander  of  the  Greeks  at  the 
memorable  battle  of  Marathon.  Thucydides 
was  distinguished  in  his  youth  for  his  eager 


TH  U 

desire  to  excel  in  gymnastic  sports  and  military 
exercises,  and  on  arriving  at  a  proper  age  be 
entered    into    the    service    of    his    country. 
Being   appointed    commander    of    a   body   of 
troops  in  the  Peloponnesian  war,  he  was  or- 
dered  to  relieve  Amphipolis,  besieged  by  the 
Lacedemonians  ;  but  the  speedy  approach  of 
the  hostile  general  Brasidas  frustrated  his  ope- 
rations, and   returning  home  unsuccessful,  he 
was  driven  into  banishment.     Thus  removed 
from  his  military  command,  he  devoted  his  in- 
voluntary leisure  to  study  ;  and  in  the  place  of 
his  exile  he  began  to  write  the  history  of  that 
intestine  contest  between  the  Grecian  states, 
in  the  early  part  of  which  he   had  been  em- 
ployed, and  which   continued  long  after  his 
retirement  from  the   scene  of  actual  warfare. 
He  continued  his  narrative  only  to  the  twenty- 
first  year  of  the  war  (thirteen  years  after  his 
banishment)  ;   and   the  subsequent  history  of 
the  contest,  till  the  demolition  of  the  walls  of 
Athens  by  the  Lacedemonians,  lias   been  re- 
lated by  Theopompus  and  Xenophon.     Thu- 
cydides  wrote   in  the  Attic  dialect,  as  being, 
by  its  purity,  elegance,  and  energy,  peculiarly 
adapted  to  the  subject  of  his  composition.    He 
spared  no  pains  to  procure  authentic  materials 
for  his  purpose,  and  both  the  Athenians  and 
their  opponents  furnished  him  with  important 
communications,  calculated    to  illustrate   the 
transactions  which  he  described.     His  history 
is  divided  into  eight  books,  the  last  of  which, 
left  imperfect,  is  supposed  to  have  been  drawn 
up  by  his  daughter.     The  son  of  Olorus  and 
the  historian  of  Halicarnassus  have  been  fre- 
quently made  the   subjects  of  critical  compa- 
rison.    Herodotus   has   the  advantage   in  the 
variety  and  extent  of  his  information,  and  he 
excels  in  sweetness  of  style,  grace,  and  ele- 
gance  of    expression ;    but   Thucydides    sur- 
passes his  predecessor  in  all  the  severer  beau- 
ties of  historical  composition,  and  the  fire  and 
energy  of  his  descriptions,  the  fidelity  of  his 
narrative,    and  the   more  immediate   interest 
which    it    excites   as   the    account    of   recent 
events,  have   secured  for  him  the  almost  un- 
rivalled admiration  of  succeeding  ages.     The 
ultimate  fate  of  Thucydides  is  somewhat  un- 
certain ;  but  it  is  probable  that  he  was  recalled 
from  his  banishment,  and  died  at  Athens  39 L 
BC.     Among  the  best  editions   of  his   history 
are   those    of  Duker,  Amsterd.    1731,    folio; 
Glasgow,   from    the    press   of    Foulis,    1759, 
8  vols.  12mo  ;   Bipont.  1788 — 9,  6  vols.  8vo  ; 
andGottleber  and  Bauer,  Leipsic,  1790 — 1804, 
2  vols.  4to.     There  are  English  translations  of 


Thucydides  by  the  famous  Hobbes>  and  by  Dr 
W.  Smith,  dean  of  Chester. — Moreri.  Aiktn's 
Gen.  Biog.  Vossius. 

THUNBERG  (CHARLES  PETER)  a  Swe- 
dish physician  and  traveller  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, was  instructed  by  Linnjeus.  In  1770  he 
visited  France,  and  afterwards  went  to  Am- 
sterdam, where  he  formed  an  intimacy  with 
Burmann,  professor  of  botany,  on  whose  re- 
commendation in  1775  he  was  engaged  by  the 
Dutch  East  India  Company  to  proceed  in  a 
medical  capacity  to  Japan.  After  continuing 
some  time  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  where 
X  2 


T  II  U 

he  made  some  interesting  botanical  researches, 
lie  proceeded  to  Japan  ;  and  notwithstanding  the 
jealousy  of  that  government  on  account  of  his 
great  reputation  as  a  physician,  he  was  allowed 
to  explore  the  curiosities  of  that  very  singular 
country.  Thence  he  proceeded  to  Ceylon,  and 
on  his  return  to  Sweden,  he  succeeded  Lin- 
miMis  in  the  professorship  of  botany  at  Upsal, 
where  he  died  in  1799.  He  enriched  the 
memoirs  of  the  society  of  Upsal  with  many 
valuable  communications,  besides  which  he 
published  "  Flora  Japouica,"  1784,  8vo  ;  and 
his  interesting  voyages,  which  have  been  trans- 
lated into  English  in  4  vols.  8vo. — Nouv.  Diet. 
Hist. 

TIIURLOE  (JOHN)  secretary  of  state  dur- 
ing the  protectorate,  was  the  son  of  the  rev. 
Thomas  Thurloe,  rector  of  Abbot's  Rodney, 
in  Essex,  where  lie  was  born  in  1616.  He  was 
brought  up  to  the  law,  and  in  164-1-5,  through 
the  interest  of  Oliver  St  John,  appointed  one 
of  the  secretaries  to  the  parliamentary  com- 
missioners at  the  treaty  of  Uxbridge.  After 
occupying  some  other  offices,  in  1650  he  at- 
tended chief  justice  St  John  and  Mr  Strick- 
land in  their  embassy  to  the  States  General,  in 
the  quality  of  secretary.  In  1652  he  became 
secretary  to  the  council  of  state,  and  the  fol- 
lowing year  was  chosen  by  Cromwell  for  his 
own  secretary,  and  also  entrusted  witli  the  ma- 
nagement of  the  post-office.  In  1656  he  was 
chosen  to  represent  the  Isle  of  Ely  in  par- 
liament, and  it  was  by  his  means  that  the  plot 
of  major-general  Harrison  and  the  other  fifth 
monarchy  men,  for  an  insurrection  in  1657, 
was  detected,  on  which  occasion  he  persuaded 
Cromwell  and  Whitelock  to  try  the  conspira- 
tors by  the  ordinary  course  of  law  in  pre- 
ference to  a  commission.  On  the  deatli  of 
Oliver  he  signed  the  order  for  proclaiming 
Richard  Cromwell,  and  was  chosen  member 
for  the  university  of  Cambridge  in  the  new 
parliament  ;  retaining  his  post  of  secretary  of 
state,  both  under  the  new  protector  and  the 
parliament  which  deposed  him.  On  the  Re- 
storation it  appears  that  he  offered  his  services 
to  Charles  II ;  but  they  were  not  only  declined, 
but  in  a  few  weeks  after  he  was  arrested  on  a 
charge  of  high  treason.  He  was  however 
soon  set  at  liberty,  on  which  he  retired  to 
his  seat  in  Oxfordshire,  and  only  attended 
Lincoln's-inn  in  term  time.  Subsequently 
Charles  II  often  invited  him  to  take  part  in 
his  administration,  but  disliking  the  mixture 
of  men  and  principles,  he  declined  in  his  turn, 
but  was  very  serviceable  to  the  chancellor 
Clarendon,  by  the  instructions  which  he  gave 
him  of  the  state  of  foreign  affairs  during  the 
protectorate.  This  minister,  who  appears  to 
have  been  as  amiable  in  private,  as  able  in 
public  life,  died  at  Lincoln's-inn  in  February 
1667-8,  and  was  buried  in  its  chapel.  The 
state  papers  of  Thurloe,  which  form  a  very 
valuable  collection,  and  display  his  abilities 
both  as  a  statesman  and  writer,  were  published 
by  Dr  Birch,  in  seven  volumes,  folio,  1742. — 
Life  by  Kirch.  Hii><r.  Brit.  Granger. 

THURLOW  (EDWARD)  baron  Thurlow,  a 
distinguished  statesman,  who  was   lord  high 


TH  U 

chancellor  of  Grea  Britain.  He  was  the  son 
of  a  clergyman,  who  was  rector  of  Ashfield  in 
Suffolk,  where  he  was  born  in  1752.  He  was 
educated  at  Caius  college,  Cambridge  ;  and 
after  having  been  a  student  of  the  Middle 
Temple,  he  was  in  1758  called  to  the  bar.  He 
rose  to  eminence  through  the  display  of  his 
abilities  in  the  famous  Douglas  cause  ;  and  he 
soon  after  obtained  a  silk  gown.  In  1770  he 
was  appointed  solicitor-general,  in  the  room 
of  Dunning  (lord  Ashburton),  and  the  follow- 
ing year  he  succeeded  sir  W.  de  Grey  (lord 
Walsingham)  as  attorney-general.  He  was 
now  chosen  IMP.  for  the  borough  of  Tarn  worth, 
and  he  became  a  warm  and  powerful  supporter 
of  the  ministry  in  the  house  of  Commons.  He 
retired  from  office  in  1783,  but  resumed  it 
again  on  the  dissolution  of  the  coalition  mi- 
nistry ;  and  lie  continued  to  hold  the  seals 
under  the  premiership  of  Mr  Pitt  till  1792. 
His  death  took  place  in  September  1806  ;  and 
he  was  succeeded  in  the  peerage  by  his  ne- 
phew, the  son  of  his  brother,  the  bishop  of 
Durham.  He  was  never  married,  but  he  left 
three  illegitimate  daughters,  to  two  of  whom 
he  bequeathed  large  property  ;  the  other  hav- 
ing offended  him  by  an  imprudent  marriage, 
he  left  hensonly  a  small  annuity. — Bridget's 
F.ilit.  of  Cnllbis's  Peerage. 

THUROT  (FRANCIS)  a  French  naval  of- 
ficer, born  at  Nulls  in  Burgundy,  in  1727.  He 
was   destined  for  the   profession  of   surgery, 
and   studied  at  the  Jesuits'  college  at  Dijon  ; 
after  which  he  devoted  two  years  to  the  art  of 
healing,  and   then   he  quitted  the  person  with 
whom  he  was  placed,   and  going  to  Dunkirk, 
embarked  as  a  surgeon  on  board  a  privateer. 
The  vessel  was  captured,  but  Thurot  made  his 
escape,  and  returning  to  Dunkirk,  went  to  sea 
again  as  a  common  sailor.     His   skill  and  en- 
terprising spirit  procured  him  promotion,   and 
he  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  a  priva- 
teer, when  he  took  many  prizes  from  the  Eng- 
lish,  and   displayed    his   courage   in    several 
bloody  engagements.     On  peace  taking  place 
in  1748,  he  entered  into  the  merchant  service; 
but  when  war  again  broke  out  in  1755  he  re- 
newed his  attacks  on  the  commerce   of  the 
English  with  such  success  as  a  privateer  officer, 
that  he   was  invited   to  enter  into  the  roya 
navy.     He  accepted  the    offer,  and  was  pa- 
tronized by  marshal  de  Bellisle,  who  gave  him 
the  command  of  a  division  consisting  of  two 
frigates  and  two  corvettes.     He  sailed  from  St 
Malo  July    12,    1757  ;  and  after  having   sig- 
nalized himself  in   several  engagements,   and 
taken  many  prizes,   he  returned  to   Dunkirk 
December  3,  1758.     He   appeared  at  court, 
where  he  was  well  received  ;  and  having  re- 
commended  a  descent  on  the  British  coasts, 
he  was   entrusted  with  the  command  of  five 
frigates   and  a  corvette,  destined  to  convey  a 
body  of  troops  for  that  service.     He  sailed  on 
this  expedition  October  15,  1759,  and  arriving 
at  Carrickfergus-bay  in  Ireland,    January  10 
following,   the  troops   were   landed,  and  that 
place  being    invested,    surrendered   in  a  few 
days.     Thurot  however  thought  proper  to  re- 
embark  the  troops,  and  return  to  France.  Two 


T  1  B 

of  his  vessels  had  parted  company  in  a  gale, 
when  he  was  attacked  by  three  English  fri- 
gates under  captain  Elliott,  and  an  engage- 
ment ensuing,  Thurot  was  killed,  January  20, 
1760. — Riog.  Univ. 

THVVA1TE3  (EDWARD)  an  eminent  Saxon 
scholar,  was  born  in  1687,  and  educated  at 
Queen's  college,  Oxford,  where  he  graduated 
MA.  iu  1697,  and  obtained  a  fellowship.  In 
1698  he  became  a  preceptor  in  the  Saxon 
tongue  in  the  same  college,  and  assisted  Dr 
Hickes  in  the  composition  of  his  Thesaurus. 
He  published  "  Dionysii  Orbis  Descriptio," 
Oxon.  8vo,  1697  ;  "  Heptateuchus  Liber  Job 
et  Evangelium  Nicodemi,  Anglo-Saxonice  ; 
Historias  Judith  Fragmentum,  Dano-Saxo- 
nice ;"  and  an  Anglo-Saxon  Grammar.  Mr 
Thwaites,  who  in  Saxon  learning  was  deemed 
second  only  to  Dr  Hickes,  died  in  1711,  in  his 
forty-fourth  year,  owing  to  an  amputation  ren- 
dered necessary  by  a  white-swelling  in  his 
knee. — Nichols's  Lit.  Anec. 

THYNNE  (FRANCIS)  an  antiquary  and  he- 
rald of  the  sixteenth  century,  was  the  son  of 
William  Thynne,  editor  of  Chaucer  and  stew- 
ard of  the  household  to  Henry  VIII.  He  was 
born  at  Stratton  in  Shropshire,  and  educated 
at  Tunbridge  school,  whence  he  was  removed 
to  Magdalen  college,  Oxford.  He  afterwards 
became  a  member  of  Lincoln's-inn,  and  re- 
ceived the  appointment  of  Lancaster  herald. 
He  died,  according  to  some  accounts,  in  161 1 ; 
but  it  is  thought  from  the  date  of  the  patent  of 
his  successor,  that  it  must  have  been  in  1608. 
Hearne  published  a  "  Discourse  of  the  Dutye 
and  Office  of  an  Heraulde  at  Armes,"  written 
by  Thynne,  who  also  composed  "  Histories 
concerning  Ambassadors,"  published  in  1651  ; 
and  a  "  History  of  Dover  Castle  and  the  Cinque 
Ports,"  which  with  many  other  productions 
remain  in  MS.  He  intended  to  have  pub- 
lished an  edition  of  Chaucer,  but  resigned  the 


T  I  B 

son  of  a  father  of  the  same  name,  of  the  an- 
cient Claudian  family,   and  of  Livia  Drusilla, 
the    celebrated  wife    of    Augustus.     Rapidly 
raised  to  authority  by  the  influence  of  his  mo- 
ther, he  displayed  no  inconsiderable  ability  in 
an  expedition  against  certain  revolted  Alpine 
tribes,  in  consequence  of  which  he  was  raised 
to  the  consulate  in  his  twenty-eighth  year.  On 
the  death  of  Agrippa,  the  gravity  and  austerity 
af  Tiberius  having  gained  the  emperor's  confi- 
dence, he  chose  him  to  supply  the  place  of  that 
minister,    obliging  him   at   the  same  time  to 
divorce  Vipsania  and  wed  his  daughter  Julia, 
whose  flagitious  conduct  at  length  so  disgusted 
him,    that  he    retired   in    a   private   capacity 
to    the    isle  of  Rhodes.     After  experiencing 
much     discountenance     from    Augustus,    the 
leaths  of  the   two  Capsars,  Caius  and  Lucius, 
induced  the  emperor  to  take   him  again  into 
favour  and  adopt  him.     During  the  remainder 
of  the  life  of  Augustus  he  behaved  with  great 
prudence  and   ability,  concluding   a  war  with 
the  Germans  in  such  a  manner  as  to   merit  a 
triumph.     After   the  defeat  of  Varus  and  his 
legions,  he  was  also  sent  to  check  the  progress 
of  the  victorious  Germans,  and  acted  in  that 
war  with  equal  spirit  and  prudence.     On  the 
death  of  Augustus  he  succeeded  without  oppo- 
sition to  the  sovereignty  of  the  empire,  which, 
however,  with  his  characteristic  dissimulation, 
he  affected  to  decline,  until  repeatedly  soli- 
cited by  that  now  servile  body  the  Roman  se- 
nate.    The  new  reign  was  disquieted  by  dan- 
gerous mutinies  in  the  armies  posted  in  Pan- 
nonia  and  on  the  Rhine,  which  were  however 
suppressed  by  the  exertions  of  the  two  princes, 
Germanicus    and    Drusus.      The   conduct    of 
Tiberius  as  a  ruler  has    formed   a    complete 
riddle  for  the  student  of  history,  uniting  with 
an   extreme  jealousy  of  his  own   power,  the 
highest  degree  of  affected  respect  for  the  pri- 
vileges of  the   senate,  and  for  the  leading  vir- 


task  to  Speght  ;    on  whose   edition,  in   1599,    tues  of  the  ancient  republican  character.     He 


he  drew  up  "  Animadversions  and  Correc- 
tions," addressed  to  sir  Thomas  Egerton. 
This  work  remained  in  MS.  until  1810,  when 
it  was  published  by  Mr  Todd,  in  his  "  Illus- 
trations of  the  Writings  of  Gower  and  Chau- 


also  displayed  great  zeal  for  the  due  adminis- 
tration of  justice,  and  was  careful  that  even  in 
the  provinces  the  people  should  not  be  op- 
pressed with  imposts,  a  virtue  which,  accord- 
ing to  Tacitus,  he  retained  when  he  renounced 
every  other.  It  is  the  province  of  history  to 


cer." — Alhen.  Oxon.     Hearne  s  Discourse. 

THYSIUS  (ANTONY)  a  celebrated  Dutch  !  record  the  events  of  this  reign,  so  ably  narrated 
philologer,  was  born  about  1683  at  Harderwyck.  by  Tacitus,  including  the  suspicious  death  of 
He  studied  at  Leyden,  where  he  ultimately  Germanicus,  the  detestable,  administration  of 
became  professor  of  poetry  and  eloquence  and  Sejanus,  the  consequent  poisoning  of  Drusus, 
librarian  to  the  university.  Besides  being  an  with  all  the  extraordinary  mixture  of  tyranny 
able  commentator  on  ancient  authors,  he  pub-  j  with  occasional  wisdom  and  good  sense,  which 
lisbed  several  other  productions,  including  distinguished  the  conduct  of  Tiberius,  until  his 
"  Historia  Navalis,"  a  history  of  the  naval  infamous  and  dissolute  retirement  to  the  isle  of 
war  between  the  Dutch  and  Spaniards,  1657,  \  Caprere  in  the  bay  of  Naples,  never  to  return 
4to  ;  "  Compendium  Historias  Batavica?,"  i  to  Rome.  On  the  death  of  Livia  in  the  year 
1645  ;  "  Exercitationes  Miscellaneae,"  1639,  29,  the  only  restraint  upon  his  actions  and 
12mo  ;  and  two  tracts  on  the  government  and  {  those  of  the  detestable  Sejanus  was  removed, 
laws  of  Athens.  He  also  published  editions  ;  and  the  well-known  destruction  of  the  widow 
of  Paterculus,  1663  ;  of  Sallust,  1665  ;  of  Va-  and  family  of  Germanicus  followed.  At  length 
lerius  Maximus,  1670  ;  of  Seneca's  Tragedies,  the  infamous  favourite  extending  his  views 
1651  ;  of  Lactantius,  1652  ;  and  of  Aulus  Gel-  to  the  empire  itself,  Tiberius  duly  informed 
lius,  1661,  all  at  Leyden. — Saxii  Onom.  •  of  his  machinations,  prepared  to  encounter  him 


TIBALDI. 


with  his  favourite  weapon,  dissimulation.    Al- 


TIBERIUS   CLAUDIUS  NERO,  a   Ro- !  though  fully  resolved   upon  his  destruction,  he 
man  emperor,  was  born  BC.  42.     He  was  the  j  accumulated  honours  upon   him,  declared  him 


T  I  B 

J.-13  partner  in   the    consulate,  and   after  long 
playing  with  his  credulity,  and  that  of  the  se- 
nate, who  thought  him  in  greater  favour  than 
ever,   he  artfully  prepared  for  his  arrest.     Se- 
janus  fell  deservedly  and  uu  pi  tied  ;  but  many 
innocent  persons  shared  in  his  destruction,  by 
the   suspicion  and  cruelty  of  Tiberius,  which 
DOW  exceeded   all  limits.     The  remainder  of 
the  detestable  reign  of  this  odious  tyrant 
scarcely  any  thing  more  than  a  disgusting  uar- 
rative  of  every  form   of  servility  on  the  one 
hand,   and  of  despotic  ferocity  on   the  other. 
That  he  himself  endured  as  much  misery  as  he 
inflicted  is  evident,   from  the   following  com- 
mencement of  one  of  his  letters  to  the  senate  : 
"  What  I  shall  write  to  you,  conscript  fathers, 
or  what  I  shall  not  write,   or  why   I  should 
write    at   all,    may   the   gods    and    goddesses 
plague  me  more  than  I  feel  daily  that  they  are 
doing,   if  I  can  tell."     What  mental  torture  ! 
observes  Tacitus,  in  reference  to  this  passage, 
which  could  extort  such  a  confession.     In  the 
midst  however  of  all  this  tyranny  he  often  ex- 
hibited gleams  of  strong  sense,  and  of  a  judi- 
cious  attention   to  the  public  welfare  ;  a  re- 
mark  which  holds  good   in  every  part  of  his 
anomalous  reign.     Having  at  length  reached 
an  advanced  age,  Caius,  the  son  of  Germanicus, 
his  grandson   by  adoption,  and  Gemellus,  the 
son  of  Drusus,  his  grandson  by  nature,  became 
objects  of  interest.     Caius  however,  who   had 
reached  the  age  of  twenty-five,  and  who  held 
the  popular  favour  as  a  paternal   inheritance, 
was  at  length  declared  his  successor.     Acting 
the   hyprocrite  to   the  last,   he  disguised  his 
increasing  debility  as   much  as   he   was  able, 
even  affecting  to  join  in  the  sports  and  exer- 
cises of  the  soldiers  of  his  guard.     At  length 
leaving  his  favourite  island,  the  scene  of  the 
most  disgusting  debaucheries,  he  stopped  at  a 
country  house   near  the   promontory  of  Mise- 
num,  where  on  the  16th  of  March  37  he  sunk 
into  a  lethargy,  in  which  he   appeared  dead, 
and   Caius   was  preparing   with   a   numerous 
escort  to  take  possession  of  the  empire,  when 
his  sudden  revival  threw  them  all  into  conster- 
nation.     At  this  critical  instant    Macro,  the 
pretorian   prefect,   took   the  decisive    step  of 
causing  him    to   be   suffocated    with  pillows. 
Thus    expired    the  emperor  Tiberius,  in  the 
seventy-eighth  year    of  his  age   and   twenty- 
third  of  his  reign,  universally  execrated  ;  and 
so  detestable    is  ensnaring  dissimulation  and 
deep-rooted  hypocrisy,    he    has    left  a   more 
odious  name   behind  him  than  many,  who  to 
equal  cruelty  united  none  of  his  better  actions 
and  more  laudable    qualities. —  Tacitus.     Sue- 
tonius.     Crevier. 

T1BULLUS  (AUMTS  ALIUUS)  a  Roman 
knight,  who  lived  in  the  reign  of  Augustus, 
celebrated  as  an  elegiac  poet.  He  lost  his 
estate  in.  consequence  of  having  joined  the 
party  of  "Brutus  in  the  last  struggle  for  liberty 
which  preceded  the  subversion  of  the  republic  ; 
and  he  afterwards  attached  himself  to  Messala 
Corvinus,  and  went  with  that  commander  to 
the  island  of  Corcyra.  Returning  to  Italy  he 


TIC 

indulgence,  occupying  a  distinguished  place  in 
the  group  of  men  of  letters  who  adorned  the 
court  of  Augustus,  and  whose  unrivalled  com- 
positions have  amused  and  delighted  mankind 
in  every  succeeding  age.  Tibullus  first  em- 
ployed his  pen  to  celebrate  the  virtues  of  his 
friend  Messala  ;  but  love  was  his  favourite 
theme,  and  the  poetic  taste  and  warmth  of 
feeling  which  he  displays  in  his  alternate  ad- 
dresses to  his  mistresses  Delia  and  Plautia, 
Nemesis  and  Neaera,  are  alike  creditable  to 
his  talents,  and  discreditable  to  his  personal 
character,  aa  the  reckless  votary  of  pleasure  in 
the  luxurious  capital  of  the  world.  Four 
books  of  "  Elegies  "  are  the  only  remaining 
pieces  of  his  composition.  They  are  uncom- 
monly elegant  and  beautiful,  entitling  the  wri- 
ter to  a  station  at  the  head  of  that  class  of 
bards  to  which  he  belonged.  Tibullus  was 
intimate  with  the  literary  men  of  his  time. 
Ovid  has  consecrated  to  his  memory  a  funereal 
elegy,  and  Horace  has  advantageously  drawn 
his  character  in  one  of  his  epistles.  His  works 
have  been  often  published  together  with  those 
of  Catullus  and  Propertius,  as  by  Vulpius, 
Patav.  1737,  4  vols.  4to  ;  and  Notis  Var.  et 
Grsvii,  Traject.  1680,  8vo.  Separately,  the 
Elegies  of  Tibullus  have  been  edited  by  Heyne, 
Lips.  1776,  8vo  ;  and  1817,  8vo,  with  the  ob- 
servations of  Wunderlich.  Dart  and  Grain- 
ger are  among  the  English  translators  of  this 
poet,  and  the  latter  is  by  far  the  most  success- 
ful. Tibullus  died  19  BC.  at  the  age  of 
forty-three. — Moreri.  Elton's  Spec,  of  Class. 
Poets. 

TICKELL  (THOMAS)  an  ingenious  writer 
both  in  prose  and  verse,  and  the  intimate 
friend  of  Addison,  was  a  native  of  Bridekirk, 
in  the  county  of  Cumberland,  of  which  parish 
his  father,  the  rev.  Richard  Tickell,  was  the 
incumbent,  and  where  he  was  born  in  1686. 
He  received  his  education  at  Queen's  college, 
Oxford,  where  he  graduated  and  obtained  a 
fellowship  in  his  twenty-fifth  year.  While  at 
the  university,  an  elegant  copy  of  verses,  ad- 
dressed by  him  to  Addison,  on  his  opera  of 
Rosamond,  introduced  him  to  the  acquaintance 
of  that  accomplished  scholar,  who  induced 
him  to  lay  aside  his  previous  intention  of  tak- 
ing orders,  and  on  his  own  accession  to  office 
appointed  him  his  under-secretary  of  state. 
This  measure  was  warmly  opposed  by  sir  Rich- 
ard Steele,  who  seems  to  have  undervalued 
both  his  temper  and  abilities,  and  even  to  have 
insinuated  suspicions  of  his  fidelity,  which  the 
other  warmly  resented,  and  as  far  as  Addison 
was  concerned  appears  certainly  not  to  have 
deserved.  The  latter  at  his  death  bequeathed 
to  Tickell  the  publication  of  his  works,  a  task 
which  he  performed  with  great  ability,  print- 
ing them  in  four  volumes,  quarto,  and  prefixing 
an  elegiac  poem  to  the  memory  of  his  patron, 
addressed  to  their  mutual  friend  the  earl  of 
Warwick.  In  the  summer  of  1724,  Mr  Tickell 
obtained  the  situation  of  secretary  to  the  lords 
justices  of  Ireland,  and  two  years  afterwards 
vacated  his  Oxford  fellowship  by  contracting  a 


relinquished   the  pursuit  of  military  glory  for    marriage   while    resident  at   Dublin.     As  an 
the    cultivation  of    literature   and  voluptuous    author    he    may    be     considered    to    take 


TIE 

prominent  rank  among  the  minor  Englisl 
poets;  bis  versification  especially,  in  its  ease 
Hnd  harmony,  being  inferior  perhaps  to  that 
of  no  one,  with  the  exception  of  Dryden  anc 
Pope.  About  the  period  when  the  latter  gave 
to  the  world  his  celebrated  translation  of  the 
Iliad,  Tickell  avowedly  entered  the  lists  with 
him,  and  printed  his  own  version  of  the  first 
book  in  opposition  to  that  of  the  other.  In 
the  execution  of  this  rival  production,  if  he 
falls  far  below  his  antagonist  in  spirit  and  har 
mony,  he  is  considered  to  more  than  rival  him 
in  fidelity  to  his  original.  The  production  of 
this  poem  at  the  time  occasioned  an  interruption 
to  the  good  understanding  between  Pope  and 
Addison,  the  former  strongly  suspecting,  and 
not  perhaps  without  reason,  that  Addison  him- 
self was  a  contributor  to,  if  not  the  author  of, 
the  work.  Tickell's  other  writings  consist  of 
"  The  Prospect  of  Peace,"  a  poem,  1713  ; 
"The  Royal  Progress;"  "  Kensington  Gar- 
dens ;"  "  A  Letter  to  Avignon  ,"  "  Imitation 
of  the  Prophecy  of  Nereus ;"  with  several 
epistles,  odes,  and  other  miscellaneous  pieces, 
to  be  found  in  the  second  volume  of  the  ?VLi.or 
Poets.  His  death  took  place  at  Bath,  April  £3, 
1740. — Johnson's  Lives. 

TICKELL  (RICHARD)  grandson  of  the 
preceding,  was  a  native  of  Bath,  where  he  be- 
came, by  his  marriage  with  Mary  Linley,  bro- 
ther-in-law to  Richard  Briusley  Sheridan.  For 
wit,  repartee,  aud  convivial  qualities,  it  is  said 
on  the  authority  of  those  who  knew  him,  that 
few  could  equal,  nor  did  even  the  brilliant 
effusions  of  his  facetious  relative  in  this  respect 
eclipse,  his  celebrity.  As  a  writer,  if  less 
happy,  he  yet  ranks  very  far  above  mediocrity, 
and  a  political  effusion  from  his  pen,  entitled 
"  Anticipation,"  which  appeared  in  1778,  was 
of  infinite  service  to  the  ministry  of  the  day, 
by  the  poignancy  of  its  humour  and  the  keen- 
ness of  its  satire.  "  The  Project,"  and  "  The 
Wreath  of  Fashion,"  two  poems  written  about 
the  same  period,  were  also  highly  popular. 
The  success  of  his  first-mentioned  work  pro- 
cured him  the  situation  of  a  commissioner  in 
the  stamp-office,  and  his  society  was  much 
courted  by  the  leading  characters  of  his  time. 
But  although  the  life  of  every  company  in 
which  he  mixed,  his  spirits  were  subject  to  an 
occasional  reaction  of  the  most  distressing 
kind  ;  and  in  one  of  the  fits  of  despondency 
produced  by  this  unhappy  circumstance,  he 
threw  himself  from  the  window  of  his  bed- 
room in  Hampton  Court  palace,  and  was  killed 
upon  the  spot,  on  the  4th  of  November,  1793. 
"  The  Carnival,"  a  comic  opera,  and  a  new 
version  of  Allan  Ramsay's  "  Gentle  Shep- 
herd," were  adapted  by  him  for  the  stage. — 
Biog.  Dra*n. 

TIEDEMANN  (DIETEIUC)  a  modem 
German  philosopher  of  considerable  eminence, 
was  born  April  3,  1748,  at  Bremervorde,  in 
the  duchy  of  Bremen,  of  which  place  his  fa- 
ther was  a  burgomaster.  He  was  intended 
for  the  study  of  divinity,  but  he  early  gave  up 
his  views  in  that  direction  for  an  undivided 
pursuit  of  science  and  literature.  In  177 'J  he 
published  at  Riga,  hi§  "  Essay  on  the  Origin 


TI  L 

of  Languages,"  and  in  1776  his  "  System  of 
the  Stoic  Philosophy,"  which  work  was  much 
admired  by  the  celebrated  Heyne,  who  procured 
him  the  professorships  of  the  Greek  aud  Latin 
languages  in  the  Collegium  Carolinum  at  Cas- 
sel.  In  1786  he  published  his  "  Investigation 
of  Man,"  3  vols.  8vo,  and  in  1780  "  The  First 
Philosopher  of  Greece."  In  1786  he  was  re- 
moved with  the  other  teachers  of  the  college, 
to  Marpurg,  and  appointed  professor  of  philo- 
sophy, in  which  capacity  he  taught  with  high 
reputation,  logic,  metaphysics,  empirical  psy- 
chology, the  law  of  nature,  and  the  history  of 

OJ  '  »• 

philosophy  and  of  man.  His  latest  perform- 
ance was  a  translation  of  Denou  s  Travels  in 
Egypt.  He  died  May  24,  1803,  in  the  fifty, 
fiftb  year  of  his  age.  The  labours  of  Tiede- 
mann  are  highly  valued  by  Blumenbach  and 
other  modern  physiologists.  Besides  the 
works  already  enumerated,  he  was  also  author 
of  a  work  entitled  "  The  Spirit  of  Speculative 
Philosophy." — AT0«i>.  Diet.  Hist. 

TIL'LCKE  (JOHN  GOTTLIEB)  a  captain  of 
engineers  aud  artillery  in  the  Saxon  service, 
born  at  Tautenburg,  in  Thuringia,  in  1731. 
He  served  at  first  as  a  private  grenadier,  and 
after  having  been  employed  in  the  principal 
actions  of  the  Seven  Years'  war,  he  was  sent 
as  captain  of  the  staff  of  the  artillery  to  Frey- 
berg,  where  he  died  November  6,  1787.  Tins 
officer,  who  was  self- instructed,  was  a  keen 
observer  of  military  occurrences,  and  he  suf- 
fered nothing  to  escape  his  notice,  from  the 
slightest  movement  of  an  army  to  the  most 
important  battles.  He  published  in  German, 
"  Instructions  for  the  Officers  of  Engineers  ;" 
"  The  Qualities  and  Duties  of  a  good  Soldier;" 

Prayers  aud  Psalms  forSoldieis  ;"  and  "  Mi- 
litary Memoirs  of  the  History  of  the  War, 
from  1756  to  1763,"  with  plans  and  charts, 
5  vols. — Bing.  Univ. 

TIL  (SOLOMON  van)  a  learned  and  indus- 
trious divine,  born  at  Wesop,  a  town  near 
Amsterdam,  in  1644.  He  studied  at  Utrecht, 
and  afterwards  at  Leyden,  and  became  a  dis- 
ciple of  the  Dutch  theologian  John  Cocceius. 
He  entered  on  the  pastoral  offite  on  leaving 
the  university,  and  in  168'2  he  was  appointed 
minister  at  Medemblik,  in  North  Holland,  and 
shortly  after  at  Dordrecht.  In  1685  he  re- 
fused the  offer  of  the  church  of  Amsterdam  ; 
but  he  accepted,  in  1702,  a  theological  profes- 
sorship at  Leyden  ;  and  after  occupying  that 
station  with  distinguished  credit  during  ten 
years,  he  became  subject  to  painful  infirmities, 
which  occasioned  his  death  on  the  3lst  of 
October,  1713.  His  principal  works  are 
"  The  Poetry  and  Music  of  the  Ancients,  and 
especially  the  Hebrews,  illustrated  by  curious 
researches  into  Antiquity,"  1692,  12mo,  se- 
veral times  republished  and  translated  into 
German  ;  "  The  History  of  the  Elevation  and 
Fall  of  the  first  Man  developed  and  defended, 
or  a  Commentary  on  the  first  eight  Chapters 
of  Genesis,"  1698,  4to  ;  "Phosphorus  pro. 
:>heticus,  seu  Mosis  et  Habakuki  Yaticinia 
novo  ad  istius  Cauticum  et  hujus  Librum  pro- 
iheticum  Commentario  illustrata  ;  accodit 
Dissertatio  de  Anno,  Mense,  et  Die  Nati 


T  1  L 

Christi,"  1700,  4to  ;  "  Malachias  illustratus  ; 
accedit  Dissertatio  de  Situ  1'aradisi  terrestris,'1 
1701,  4to;  "  Theologian  utriusque  Conipen- 
dium,  cum  naturalis,  turn  revelata;,"  1701,  Ito  ; 
and  "  The  Peace  of  Salem  concluded  in  Cha- 
rity,  in  Confidence,  and  in  Truth,"  1687,  4to. 
The  praiseworthy  object  of  this  last  publica- 
tion was  the  promotion  of  a  spirit  of  liberality 
and  conciliation  among  different  sects  of  Chiis- 
tians,  and  especially  the  Cocceians  and  Voe- 
tians,  whose  disputes  divided  into  parties  the 
Dutch  Protestant  clergy. — Biog.  Univ. 

TILLEIMONT  (Louis  SEBASTIAN  le  NAIN 
de)  an  eminent  historian,  born  at  Paris,  No- 
vember 30,  1637.  He  was  the  son  of  John  le 
Nain,  who  held  the  office  of  master  of  lequests, 
and  he  received  his  education  at  the  Port 
Royal.  Having  chosen  the  ecclesiastical  pro- 
fession, he  assumed  the  name  of  Tillemont  on 
entering  into  the  order  of  priesthood.  He  de- 
voted himself  with  great  assiduity  to  study, 
and  by  his  extraordinary  industry  and  accuracy 
of  research,  he  gained  a  high  reputation  as  an 
historical  writer.  His  death  took  place  Janu- 
ary 10,  1698.  He  was  the  author  of  "  Me- 
nioires  pour  servir  a  1'Histoire  Ecclesiastique 
des  six  premiers  Siecles,"  16  vols.  4to  ;  and 
"  Histoire  des  Empereurs  et  des  autres 
Princes  qui  ont  regne  durant  les  six  premiers 
Siecles  de  1'Eglise,"  5  vols.  4to,  to  which  was 
added  a  sixth,  published  in  1738.  The  first 
volume  of  the  Imperial  History  appeared  in 
1690,  and  the  first  volume  of  the  Memoirs  in 
1693;  and  M.  de  Tillemont,  previous  to  his 
death,  published  foui  volumes  of  each  work, 
and  the  remainder  were  posthumous  publica- 
tions, exhibiting  occasional  defects,  which 
show  that  they  had  not  received  the  ultimate 
attentions  of  the  learned  author.  He  seems  to 
have  pursued  his  investigations  more  from  an 
ardent  love  of  literature  than  from  the  wish  to 
acquire  reputation  as  a  man  of  learning  ;  for 
he  laboured  on  his  works  more  than  twenty 
years  without  giving  way  to  the  temptation  to 
appear  before  the  public.  Gibbon  praises 
highly  the  accuracy  and  industry  of  Tillemont. 
— Diet.  Hist.  Biog.  Univ. 

TILLET  (MATTHEW)  a  French  writer  on 
agriculture,  born  at  Bordeaux  about  1720.  He 
retained  the  title  of  director  of  the  mint  at 
Troyes  in  1766,  though  no  money  had  then 
been  coined  in  that  city  for  several  years.  The 
cultivation  of  land  occupied  much  of  his  atten- 
tion ;  and  the  care  and  skill  with  which  he  con- 
ducted his  experimental  researches  on  hus- 
bandry, render  his  observations  peculiarly  va- 
luable. In  1758  he  was  admitted  into  the 
Academy  of  Sciences,  and  he  assisted  in  the 
useful  investigations  of  Duhamel  du  Monceau. 
He  died  in  1791.  He  published  "  Disserta- 
tion sur  la  Ductilite  des  Metaux,  et  les  Moyens 
de  1'augmenter,"  1750,  4to  ;  "  Essai  sur  la 
Cause  qui  corrompt  et  noircit  les  Grains  dans 
les  Epis,"  175.5,  4to ;  "Precis  des  Expe- 
riences faites  a  Trianon,  sur  la  Cause  qui  cor- 
rompt les  Bleds,"  1756,  8vo  ;  "  Histoire  d'un 
Insecte  qui  devore  les  Grains  dans  1'Angou- 
mois,"  1763,  12mo;  "  Essai  sur  le  Rapport 
des  Poids  Etrangers  avec  le  Marc  de  France," 


T  1  L 

1766,  4to ;  "  Experiences,  sur  le  Poids  du 
Pain  au  sortir  du  Four,"  1781,  8vo  ;  "  Projet 
d'un  Tarif  propre  a  servir  de  Regie  pour  £ta- 
blir  la  Valeur  du  Pain,  proportionellement  u 
celles  du  Bled  et  des  Farines,"  1784. — Biog. 
Univ. 

T1LLI  (MICHAEL  ANOELO)  an  Italian  bo- 
tanist, born  at  Castelfiorentino  in  1655.  He 
studied  at  the  university  of  Pisa,  and  in  1677 
settled  at  Florence,  where  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  celebrated  naturalist  Fran- 
cis Redi,  through  whose  recommendation  he 
was  appointed  physician  to  the  Tuscan  gallies. 
He  visited  the  Balearic  isles,  and  afterwards 
went  to  Constantinople,  to  attend  the  son-in1" 
law  of  the  grand  signior,  who  had  requested 
the  assistance  of  a  skilful  professor  of  medi- 
cine from  Florence.  He  proceeded  to  the 
camp  of  the  Turks  at  Belgrade,  and  witnessed 
the  disastrous  defeat  of  their  army  under  the 
walls  of  Vienna.  Returning  home,  he  be- 
came director  of  the  botanic  garden  at  Pisa. 
The  fame  which  he  had  obtained  for  medical 
skill  in  Turkey  occasioned  an  application  for 
his  advice  from  the  bey  of  Tunis  ;  and  after 
he  had  restored  the  bev  to  health,  he  obtained 
permission  to  make  botanical  researches  among 
the  ruins  of  Carthage.  He  subsequently  de- 
voted his  time  to  the  improvement  of  the  gar- 
den which  he  superintended  at  Pisa,  to  the 
duties  of  his  profession,  and  to  the  instruction 
of  youth.  He  died  at  Pisa  in  1740.  As  an 
author  Tilli  is  known  on  account  of  his  "  Cata- 
logus  Plantarum  Horti  Pisaui,"  1723,  folio, 
with  plates. — Fahroni  Vitif  Italor.  Biog.  Univ. 

TILLOCH,  LLD.  (ALEXANDER)  the  son 
of  a  respectable  tobacconist  of  Glasgow,  who 
filled  one  of  the  municipal  magistracies  in  that 
city,  where  his  son  was  born  February  28, 
1759.  On  leaving  school  he  was  intended  by 
his  father  to  follow  his  own  business,  and 
taken  accordingly  into  his  warehouse  ;  but  a 
strong  bias  towards  mechanical  and  scientific 
pursuits  soon  diverted  his  attention  from  com- 
mercial pursuits.  The  art  of  stereotype  print- 
ing, said  to  have  been  practised  by  Vander 
Mey  and  Mullen  at  Leyden,  about  the  close 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  even  conjectured 
by  some  antiquaries  to  have  been  known 
among  the  ancient  Romans,  had,  at  all  events, 
even  if  these  assertions  be  correct,  fallen  into 
desuetude,  and  ranked  among  the  aries  de- 
perditse.  In  1736,  it  is  true,  a  jeweller  of 
Edinburgh,  named  Ged,  had,  though  unac- 
quainted with  the  tradition  respecting  Vander 
Mey,  devised  the  art  of  printing  from  plates, 
and  actually  produced  an  edition  of  Sallust  so 
printed  ;  but  so  much  was  the  art  then  under- 
valued, that  it  perished  with  him.  It  was  re- 
served for  Dr  Tilloch  to  revive  and  bring  it  to 
the  state  of  practical  utility  which  it  now  ex- 
hibits, having  himself  again  made  the  dis- 
covery without  any  previous  acquaintance  with 
Ged's  attempts.  In  this  new  process  Mr 
Foulis  of  Glasgow,  a  printer,  joined  him,  and 
a  patent  in  their  names  was  taken  out,  both  in 
England  and  Scotland.  Circumstances  how- 
ever induced  them  to  lay  aside  the  business 
for  a  time,  and  it  never  was  renewed  by  them 


T  I  L 

as  a  speculation.  In  1787  DrTilloch  came  to 
London,  and  two  years  afterwards,  in  con- 
junction with  others,  purchased  the  "  Star" 
evening  paper,  which  he  continued  to  edit  till 
within  four  years  of  his  death.  In  1797  the 
public  attention  being  then  much  directed  to 
schemes  for  the  prevention  of  forgery,  he  sub- 
mitted to  the  Bank  of  England  a  plan  respect- 
ing which  he  had  been  previously  in  commu- 
nication with  the  French  government,  for  pro- 
ducing a  note  beyond  the  reach  of  imitation  ; 
which  however,  like  all  similar  proposals,  was 
declined,  and  in  1820  Dr  Tilloch  petitioned 
parliament  on  the  subject,  which  was  then 
again  brought  before  the  house,  but  without 
any  practical  result.  In  June  1797  he  pro- 
jected and  established  the  "  Philosophical  Ma- 
gazine," sixty-five  volumes  of  which  are  now 
before  the  public  ;  and  only  fifteen  days  be- 
fore his  death  he  had  obtained  a  patent  for  an 
improvement  on  the  steam-engine.  Amidst 
his  other  avocations  he  also  found  leisure  to 
apply  himself  to  theological  studies  with  no 
common  perseverance,  the  fruits  of  which  ap- 
peared in  a"  Dissertation  on  the  Apocalypse," 
published  in  1823,  besides  a  variety  of  de- 
tached essays,  collected  under  the  title  "  Bib- 
licus."  The  last  work  which  he  was  engaged 
to  superintend,  was  the  "  Mechanics'  Oracle," 
published  in  numbers  at  the  Caxton  press.  In 
his  religious  opinions  Dr  Tilloch  was  a  dis- 
senter from  the  established  church,  and 
preached  occasionally  to  a  congregation  who 
assembled  in  Goswell-street  road.  His  death 
took  place  at  his  house  in  Barnsbury-street, 
Islington,  January  26,  182,5. — Ann,  Biog. 

TILLOTSON  (JOHN)  an  eminent  English 
prelate,  was  the  son  of  Robert  Tillotson,  a 
clothier,  at  Sowerby,  near  Halifax,  where  he 
was  born  in  1630.  His  father,  who  was  a 
strict  Calvinist,  carefully  brought  up  his  son 
in  the  same  principles,  and  after  bestowing 
upon  him  a  proper  preparatory  education,  sent 
him  a  pensioner  to  Clare-hall,  Cambridge,  of 
which  he  was  elected  a  fellow  in  1651,  and 
took  pupils.  He  exhibited  at  this  time  all  the 
characteristics  of  his  sect,  and  some  time  after- 
wards became  tutor  and  chaplain  in  the  family 
of  Prideaux,  attorney-general  to  the  protector. 
It  is  not  known  when  he  entered  into  orders, 
but  his  first  sermon  which  appeared  in  print 
is  dated  September  1661,  at  which  time  he 
was  still  among  the  presbyterians.  When  the 
act  of  uniformity  passed  in  the  following  year, 
be  however  submitted  to  it  without  hesitation, 
ami  became  rector  of  Cheshunt  in  Plert- 
fordshire.  Preaching  frequently  for  his  cle- 
rical friends  in  London,  he  became  celebrated 
for  his  pulpit  oratory,  and  in  1663  was  pre- 
sented to  a  rectory  in  Suffolk,  which  he  re- 
signed on  being  chosen  preacher  to  the  society 
of  Lincoln's-inn.  In  1664  he  married  Eliza- 
beth French,  daughter  to  Dr  French,  canon  of 
Christchurch,  and  niece  to  Oliver  Cromwell, 
whose  sister  Robina  was  her  mother.  In  1666 
he  took  the  degree  of  DD.  and  was  made 
king's  chaplain  and  presented  to  a  prebend  of 
Canterbury  When  Charles  II  in  1672  issued 
a  declaration  for  liberty  of  conscience,  for  the 


T  I  L 

purpose  of  favouring  the  "Roman  Catholics,  ho 
preached  and  counselled  strongly  against  it, 
but  was  nevertheless  advanced  to  the  deanery 
of  Canterbury,  and  soon  after  presented  to  a 
prebend  in  the  church  of  St  Paul.  Popery 
was  so  much  the  object  of  his  dread  and  aver- 
sion, that  in  a  sermon  preached  before  the  king 
in  1680,  he  was  betrayed  into  sentiments  of 
intolerance,  which  exposed  him  to  heavy  cen- 
sure, implying  that  no  man,  unless  divinely 
commissioned,  and  who,  like  the  apostles, 
can  justify  that  commission  by  miracles,  is  en- 
titled to  draw  men  away  from  an  established 
religion,  even  although  false.  Several  animad- 
versions were  made  upon  this  extraordinary 
doctrine,  which  assailed  the  authors  of  the 
Reformation  itself;  but  Dr  Tillotson  made  no 
open  reply  to  them,  although  he  privately  ac- 
knowledged to  his  friends  that  he  had  hastily 
expressed  himself  in  terms  which  could  not 
be  maintained.  He  warmly  promoted  the  ex- 
clusion bill  against  the  duke  of  York,  and  re- 
fused to  sign  the  address  of  the  London  clergy 
to  the  king  on  his  declaration  that  he  would 
not  consent  to  it.  In  1682  he  published  a 
volume  of  sermons  from  the  papers  left  in  his 
care  by  Dr  Williams,  and  in  the  following  year 
edited  the  three  folio  volumes  of  Dr  Barrow's 
Theological  works,  the  MSS.  of  which  had  also 
been  left  to  his  superintendance.  At  the  execu- 
tion of  lord  William  Russel  he  attended  with 
Dr  Burner,  ;  and  though  afterwards  decided 
friends  to  the  Revolution,  both  these  divines 
urged  that  nobleman  to  acknowledge  the  ab- 
solute unlawfulness  of  resistance.  On  the 
accomplishment  of  the  latter  great  event, 
he  was  immediately  taken  into  favour  by 
king  William,  who  had  known  him  in  his  pre- 
vious visit  to  London ;  and  in  1689  he  was  ap- 
pointed clerk  of  the  closet  to  that  sovereign, 
and  subsequently  permitted  to  exchange  the 
deanery  of  Canterbury  for  that  of  St  Paul's. 
On  the  refusal  of  archbishop  Bancroft  to  take 
the  oaths  to  the  new  government,  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  exercise  the  archiepiscopal  juris- 
diction during  the  suspension  of  that  prelate  ; 
and  in  1691,  after  exhibiting  the  greatest  re- 
luctance, he  was  induced  to  accept  the  arch- 
bishopric itself.  He  had  previously  formed  a 
second  scheme  for  the  comprehension  of  the 
presbyterians  within  the  pale  of  the  church, 
which  had  been  rejected  by  convocation.  He 
had  also  failed  in  another  design  for  forming  a 
new  book  of  Homilies  ;  and  a  sermon  which 
he  preached  before  the  queen,  against  the  abso- 
lute eternity  of  hell  torments,  still  farther  invol- 
ved him  with  the  advocates  of  rigid  orthodoxy. 
When  therefore  he  accepted  the  primacy, 'a 
large  party,  of  course  including  all  the  nonju- 
rors,  assailed  him  with  great  animosity  ;  and  in 
particular  he  was  reproached,  and  not  unjustly, 
with  the  inconsistency  of  Lis  own  conduct 
with  the  doctrine  he  had  advanced  to  lord 
William  Russel.  He  prudently  bore  these 
attacks  in  silence,  and  even  prevented  some 
prosecutions  for  libel  against  him,  directed  by 
the  crown.  He  was  also  vehemently  charged 
with  Socinianism,  in  answer  to  which  he  only 
republishcd  four  of  his  sermons  "  On  the  In- 


TIL 

carnation  and  Divinity  of  our  Saviour."  There 
appears  to  have  been  no  other  ground  for  tha 
imputation,  than  that  he  defended  Christianity 
on    rational  grounds,  and  corresponded    will 
such  men  as  Limborch,  Locke,  and  Le  Clerc 
to  which  reason  Dr  Jortin  adds,  that  he  had 
made  some  concessions    concerning  the  Soci- 
nians,  which  broke  an  ancient  and  fundamenta 
rule   of  controversial  theology,  "  allow  not  an 
adversary    either  to   have  common   sense    or 
common  honesty."     He  gave  the  last  answer  to 
these  and  other  strictures  by  doing  every  thing 
he  could  to  advance  the  respectability   of  the 
church,  and  among  other  things  he  wished  to 
correct  the  evils   arising  from   non-residence. 
He  was  however   counteracted    in  all   his  en- 
deavours hy   the    most   perverse    opposition, 
which   rendered  his  high   station  a   scene   ol 
much  more  disgust  than  gratification.    He  had 
indeed  but  little  time  to  effect  much  of  what 
he  proposed,    being  seized  with   a  paralytic 
stroke,  the  consequences  of  which  carried  him 
off  after  an  illness  of  five   days,  on  the  24th 
November,  1694,  in  his  sixty-fifth  year.     So 
little  had  he  been  addicted  to  accumulation, 
that  all  he  left  his   widow  was  the  copyright 
of  his  sermons  ;    but  a  pension  was  very  pro- 
perly settled  on  her  by  the  crown.     The  tem- 
per and  private   character  of  Dr  Tillotson  are 
entitled  to    great  encomium  ;  he    was   open, 
sincere,   benevolent,   and  forgiving  ;  and   al- 
though  in  some   points    too    compliant,    and 
fairly    liable   to  the  charge    of  inconsistency, 
his  intentions  always  seem  to  have  been  pure 
and  disinterested.     As   a  writer  he  is  princi- 
pally remembered  for  his  sermons,  which  have 
long  maintained  a  place  among  the  most  po- 
pular of  that  class  of  compositions  in  the  Eng- 
lish language.      He  published  as  many  during 
his  life   as,  with   his  controversial  work,   en- 
titled the  "  Rule   of  Faith,"  filled  a  folio  vo- 
lume ;  and  after  his  death  two  more  folio  vo- 
lumes were  published   from  his    MSS.   by  his 
chaplain  Dr  Barker.     They  obtained   a  high 
reputation  both  at  home  and  abroad,  and  have 
passed    through  numerous   editions.     At  one 
time  they  were  regarded  as  a  standard  both  of 
finished  oratory  and  of  the  purity  of  the  Eng- 
lish language,  but  to  this  eulogy  Mr  Melmoth, 
in  his  "  Fitzosborne's  Letters,"  very  justly  ob- 
jects.    He  however  possesses  great  copious- 
ness of  thought  and  expression,  and   abounds 
in  passages  which  strongly  impress  the  mind. 
His  sermons  are  doubtless  much  less  read  than 
formerly,  but  can  scarcely  fail  of  remaining  a 
permanent  part  of  the  branch  of  English  lite- 
rature to  which  they   belong. — Life  by  Birch. 
Biog.  Brit. 

TILLY  (count  ALEXANDER  de)  born  in 
1754,  of  an  ancient  family  in  Normandy,  lie 
entered  young  into  the  army,  and  from  its 
commencement  he  was  an  opponent  of  the 
Revolution.  In  1790  and  1791  he  published 
in  the  "  Actes  des  Apotres,"  and  the"  Feuille 
de  Jour,"  some  political  essays,  remarkable 
for  energy  tf  style  and  boldness  of  sentiment. 
In  1792  he  exerted  all  his  talents  in  defence 
of  Louis  XVI,  to  whom,  on  the  27th  of  July 
that  year,  he  addressed  a  remarkable  letter  of 


T  1M 

spirited  advice,  which  he  also  published.  After 
the  commotions  of  the  10th  of  August,  he 
emigrated  from  France,  and  taking  refuge  in 
P^ngland,  and  then  at  Berlin,  he  returned  with 
the  Bourbons  to  Paris  in  1814.  The  return 
of  Buonaparte  from  Elba  obliged  him  to  quit 
France  a  second  time,  and  he  remained  in  Bel- 
gium, and  put  an  end  to  his  life  at  Brussels, 
December  23,  1816.  He  was  the  author  of 
"  (Euvres  melees,"  1785,  8vo,  Berlin,  1803, 
8vo ;  "  Lettre  a  M.  Philippe  d'Orleans," 
1790,  8vo  ;  "  Six  Romances,  mises  en  Mu- 
sique  par  Carat,"  1792,  8vo ;  "  De  la  Revo- 
lution Franfaise  en  1794,"  Lond.  1794,  8vo. 
This  nobleman  was  the  author  of  the  well- 
known  distich  on  Louis  XVI : 

"  II  ne  sut  que  mourir,  aimer  et  pardoner  ; 

S'il  avail  su  punir,  il  aurait  su  regner." 
Lieutenant  general  the  count  de  TILLY,  though 
a  native  of  Normandy,  was  of  a  different  fa- 
mily from  the  preceding.  He  entered  into  the 
army  early  in  life,  and  becoming  a  partizan  of 
the  Revolution,  he  was  made  a  colonel  of  ca- 
valry in  1792,  and  Dumouriez  appointed  him 
his  aide-de  camp,  and  iu  March  1793  confided 
to  him  the  command  of  Gertruydenberg,  which 
he  defended  with  great  spirit,  and  obtained  an 
honourable  capitulation.  He  was  subsequently 
;>eneral-iu-cuief  of  the  army  on  the  coasts  of 
Cherbourg,  when  he  gained  some  victories 
over  the  Vendeans.  In  1794  he  commanded 
a  division  of  the  army  of  the  North,  and  then 
of  that  of  the  Sambre  and  Meuse  ;  in  1796  he 
was  governor  of  Brussels,  when  he  returned 
to  the  army  of  the  West.  Under  the  imperial 
government  he  served  in  Austria,  Prussia, 
Poland,  and  Spain,  where  he  distinguished 
'limself  at  the  battle  of  Ocana.  In  1814  the 
ting  nominated  him  grand  officer  of  the  legion 
of  honour  ;  but  having  accepted  an  appoint- 
ment during  the  hundred  days,  he  was  not 
again  employed  after  the  second  restoration 
of  Louis  XVIII.  He  died  at  Paris,  Jan.  10, 
1822. — Biog.  Univ.  Bing.  Nouv.  des  Contemp 

T IMyEUS,  a  Pythagorean  philosopher,  who 
was  a  native  of  Locris  in    Greece,   and  has 
herefore  been  denominated  the  Locrian.     He 
composed  a  treatise  on  the  nature  and  the  soul 
of  the  world,  in   the  Doric  dialect,  which  has 
>een  preserved  by   Proclua,  and   inserted  in 
Stanley's  History  of  Philosophy.     Timaeus  m 
general  adopted  the  doctrines   of  Pythagoras, 
hough  in  his  system  of  cosmogony  he  was  ra- 
her  the  follower  of  Ocellus  Lucanus.      Plato, 
who  has  introduced  tliis  philosopher  as  an  in- 
erlocutor  in  one   of  his  dialogues,  styles  him 
'  a  most  diligent  inquirer  into  all  the  works  ol 
lature." — Stanley.     Brucker.    Stollii  Intrud.  in 
iist.  Litt. 

TIMAEUS,  a  Greek  historian,  bom  at  Tau- 
omenium   in   Sicily  about  350  BC.     Cicero 
tyles  him  the  most  learned   and   eloquent  of 
he   Grecian  historians,  but  Plutarch  notices 
lim  in  very  different  terms.     He  wrote  many 
sooks,  including  a   "  General  History  of  Si- 
cily ;"  a  "  History  of  the  Wars  of  Pyrrhus  ;" 
and  a  great  number  of  pieces  relating  to  rhe- 
oric.     His  works  are  lost,  but  M.  Goeller  has 
:ollected  and  published  fragments  of  them  in 


T  i  M 

bis  treatise  "  De  Situ  et  Origine  Syracusa- 
rum,"  Leipsic,  1818,  8vo.  Tnnasus  was  ban- 
ished from  Sicily  by  Agathocles,  tyrant  of 
Syracuse  ;  and  in  his  history,  which  he  wrote 
at  Athens,  he  has  treated  the  character  of  his 
persecutor  with  great  severity.  He  is  said  to 
have  lived  to  the  age  of  ninety-six. — Adam's 
Classical  Biography.  Biog.  Univ. 

TIM/EUS,  the  Sophist,  a  Greek  gramma- 
rian, only  known  as  the  author  of  a  Dictionary 
of  Platonic  Phrases  ('tK  Tiiiv  rov  nXdroji/og 
Xs^fwv)  accompanied  with  short  explications. 
He  is  supposed  to  have  flourished  in  the  third 
or  fourth  century  of  the  Christian  era  ;  and  his 
Lexicon,  which  was  known  to  Photius  and 
Suidas,  was  published  from  the  only  existing 
manuscript  by  David  Ruhneken,  with  valu- 
able notes,  Leyden,  1754,  8vo  ;  and  in  a  se- 
cond and  improved  edition,  Leyden,  1789, 
8vo. — Biog,  Univ. 

TIMAGENES,  a  Greek  historian  of  Alex- 
andria, who  was  brought  to  Rome  by  Gubi- 
nius,  54  BC.  and  was  sold  as  a  slave  to  the 
son  of  Sylla.  His  talents  were  the  means  of 
procuring  his  liberty,  and  he  became  a  favou- 
rite among  the  great.  The  emperor  Augustus 
patronized  him ;  but  afterwards  being  dis- 
gusted at  his  impertinence,  dismissed  him 
from  the  court,  and  the  irritated  historian  re- 
venged the  insult  by  burning  the  flattering 
memoirs  which  he  had  composed  of  the  reign 
of  his  patron. —  Plutarch.  Biog.  Univ. 

TIMANTHES,  a  celebrated  Greek  painter 
of  antiquity,  contemporary  with  Alexander  of 
Macedon.  The  place  of  his  birth  is  variously 
stated  to  have  been  Sicyon  and  Cythnus,  a 
small  island  in  the  Grecian  Archipelago.  His 
reputation  now  rests  principally  upon  the  tra- 
dition of  an  exquisite  picture  of  his,  represent- 
ing the  sacrifice  of  Iphigenia  at  Aulis.  The 
other  figures  are  all  spoken  of  as  having  been 
delineated  in  the  most  masterly  manner,  but 
the  artist,  unable  to  embody  his  own  concep- 
tion of  the  feelings  of  the  father,  was  com- 
pelled to  throw  a  veil  over  the  face  of  Aga- 
memnon.—  Pliny's  Nat.  Hist. 

TIMOLEON,  one  of  the  illustrious  charac- 
ters of  Greece.  He  was  a  native  of  Corinth, 
of  noble  parentage,  and  born  about  four  centu- 
ries BC.  He  early  exhibited  marks  of  intre- 
pid courage  and  a  rooted  hatred  of  tyranny, 
which  he  carried  to  that  extent,  that  unable  to 
induce  his  brother  Timophanes  to  resign  his 
usurped  authority,  he  stood  by  while  he  was 
assassinated,  according  to  Plutarch  ;  but  Dio- 
dorus  asserts  that  he  killed  him  with  his  o\vn 
hand.  This  deed,  although  justified  by  the 
code  of  morals,  which  places  love  of  country 
at  the  head  of  all  the  social  duties,  caused  him 
great  distress  of  mind,  which  was  increased  by 
the  direful  imprecations  of  his  mother,  who 
would  never  again  admit  him  into  her  pre- 
sence. He  lived  several  years  in  retirement, 
until  the  Syracusans  sought  the  aid  of  the  Co- 
rinthians against  an  invasion  of  the  Carthagi- 
nians, when,  without  the  least  expectation  on 
his  own  part,  he  was  appointed  to  command 
the  auxiliary  forces.  He  accordingly  set  sail 
for  Sicily,  BC.  344,  with  a  fleet  exceeding 


T  IM 

ten  sail,  and  by  a  happy  mixture  of  valour  and 
prudence  succeeded  not  only  in  restoring  Syra- 
cuse to  liberty,  hut  he  brought  the  whole 
island  of  Sicily  into  a  more  prosperous  and 
tranquil  state  than  it  had  been  in  for  man  v  years. 
The  Sicilians  were  so  sensible  of  their  obliga- 
tions to  Timoleon,  that  he  was  ever  afterwards 
consulted  in  all  their  affairs,  as  the  father  of 
their  country.  He  fixed  his  abode  at  Syracuse, 
whither  he  sent  for  his  wife  and  children  from 
Corinth,  and  lived  as  a  private  citizen,  distin- 
guished only  by  his  influence  and  the  respect 
paid  to  his  virtues.  He  was  so  peculiarly  pros- 
perous in  all  his  transactions  after  he  left  Co- 
rinth, that  he  ascribed  all  his  successes  to  the 
goddess  Fortune,  an  opinion  which  was  much 
promoted  by  a  very  singular  and  extraordinary 
escape  from  a  premeditated  assassination.  The 
only  deduction  from  his  prosperity  was  the 
loss  of  sight  at  an  advanced  period  of  life,  but 
which  misfortune  was  much  alleviated  by  the 
continued  kindness  and  respect  of  the  Syracu- 
sans.  He  was  at  length  carried  off  by  a  slight 
disease  BC.  33.5,  and  was  honoured  with 
a  very  magnificent  public  funeral,  and  a 
monument  was  afterwards  erected  to  his 
memory,  which  being  surrounded  with  porti- 
coes and  other  public  buildings,  was  made  a 
place  of  exercise  for  youth,  and  named  the  Ti- 
moleonteum. — Plutarch  Vit.  Timotent.  Univ. 
History. 

TIMON,  the  Phliasian,  a  Greek  poet  and 
philosopher,  born  in  Peloponnesus,  about 
the  middle  of  the  third  century  before  Christ. 
After  he  had  enriched  himself  by  teaching 
philosophy  and  rhetoric,  he  visited  Egypt, 
where  he  was  noticed  by  Ptolemy  Phila- 
delphus  ;  notwithstanding  whose  favours  Ti- 
mon  wrote  a  satire  against  the  museum  of 
Alexandria,  founded  or  at  least  improved  by 
that  prince.  He  afterwards  went  to  the  court 
of  Aiitigonus  Gonatus,  where  he  was  well  re- 
ceived ;  and  at  length  settling  at  Athens,  he 
died  at  an  advanced  age.  Timou  was  a  dis- 
ciple of  Pyrrho,  the  sceptic,  and  some  of  his 
writings  relate  to  the  philosophy  of  that  school. 
He  also  wrote  a  number  of  comedies,  trage- 
dies, and  satiric  dramas  ;  but  the  most  cele- 
brated of  his  works  are  his  satires,  called 
"  Silte,"  still  in  part  extant.  The  relics  of 
these  pieces  were  published  by  H.  Stephen  in 
his  Poesis  Philosophica,  1573  ;  by  Brunck  in 
his  Analecta,  1776  ;  and  more  recently  by  F 
Paul  in  a  treatise  De  Sillis  Grascorum,  Berlin,. 
1821,  8vo. — Diogen.  Laert.  Biog.  Univ. 

TIMON  (SAMUEL)  a  writer  of  history,  was 
born  at  Tirnau  in  Hungary.  He  entered  among 
the  Jesuits  in  1693,  but  principally  devoted 
himself  to  the  history  of  his  native  country. 
His  works  are  "  Celebriorum  Hungarian  Ur- 
bium  et  Oppidorum  Chorographia,"  Tirn 
4to,  1702 ;  "  Epitome  Rerum  Hungarica- 
rum,"  Cassov.  8vo,  1734  ;  "  Imago  Novre 
Hungarian,"  Cassov.  8vo,  1734,  which  last  two 
were  published  together  at  Vienna,  1734,  4to. 
He  died  in  1736,  at  the  age  of  sixty-one. — 
Nfiuv.  Diet.  Hist. 

TIMOTHEUS,  the  name  of  one  of  the  most 
celebrated  lyric   poets  and  musicians  of  anti- 


T  IM 

quity,  who  flourished  at  the  court  of  Philip  ofi 
TMacedon  and  his  son  Alexander,  about  the 
middle  of  the  fifth  century  before  the  Christian 
era.  He  was  a  native  of  Miletus  in  Caria  ; 
and  Pausanias  attributes  to  him  the  comple- 
tion of  the  lyre  by  the  addition  of  four  new 
strings. — There  was  also  an  Athenian  general 
of  this  name,  the  son  of  Conon,  celebrated 
alike  for  his  success  in  war  and  his  eloquence 
in  peace,  who  however  lived  to  experience  the 
proverbial  ingratitude  of  bis  fickle  countrymen, 
and  died  in  exile. — Vossii  Poet.  Griec.  Corn. 
Nepos. 

T1MOUR  or  TAMERLANE,  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  of  the  Oriental  conquerors, 
was  born  in  the  village  of  Sebzar  in  the  terri- 
tory of  Kesh,  about  forty  miles  from  Samar- 
cand,  in  the  year  1335.  His  ancestors  were 
chiefs  of  the  districts,  and  remotely  related  to 
the  family  of  Zinghis.  At  the  time  of  his 
birth  great  anarchy  prevailed  in  his  native 
country,  which  suffered  from  an  invasion  of 
the  Getes,  against  whom  lie  acted  at  the  head 
of  a  body  of  his  countrymen,  and  endured 
much  diversity  of  fortune,  until  at  length  being 
joined  by  a  large  body  of  volunteers,  he  was 
enabled  to  expel  the  Getes  from  Transoxiana. 
A  dispute  with  his  confederate  and  brother- 
in-law  Houssein,  led  to  a  brief  civil  war  ;  but 
the  latter  being  defeated  and  put  to  death,  a 
general  diet  in  1370,  seated  him  on  the  throne 
of  Zagatai,  on  which  he  made  Samarcand  the 
seat  of  his  empire.  His  elevation,  so  far  from 
satisfying  his  ambition,  only  opened  farther 
prospects  to  it ;  and  in  a  very  few  years  lie 
reunited  to  Zagatai  its  former  dependencies, 
Candaharand  Carizme;  overran  Persia;  passed 
as  a  conqueror  through  the  whole  course  of 
the  Tigris  and  Euphrates  ;  reduced  the  Chris- 
tians of  Georgia  ;  subdued  the  kingdom  of 
Cashgar ;  and  his  emirs  even  crossed  the  river 
Irtish  into  Siberia.  He  also  despatched  an 
army  into  Western  Taitary,  under  a  fugitive 
prince  named  Toctamish,  who  having  esta- 
blished himself  by  its  means,  turned  his  arms 
against  his  benefactor,  and  obliged  Timour  to 
contend  for  his  capital  and  empire.  He  was 
however  finally  defeated,  and  in  the  pursuit 
Timour  captured  a  duke  of  Russia.  In  1390 
he  invaded  Hindostan,  and  rapidly  penetrating 
to  Delhi,  soon  completed  the  subjugation  of 
the  country.  While  on  the  banks  of  the 
Ganges  he  was  informed  of  great  disturbances 
on  the  confines  of  Georgia  and  Anatolia,  and 
of  the  ambitious  projects  of  the  Turkish  sultan 
Bajazet.  He  soon  made  arrangements  to  en- 
counter this  new  enemy,  whom,  after  a  war  of 
the  most  barbarous  ferocity,  which  lasted  two 
years  and  upwards,  he  encountered  and  con- 
quered, and  made  captive  in  the  decisive  bat- 
tle of  Angora,  fought  in  1402.  Concerning 
the  treatment  of  his  prisoner  different  accounts 
are  given,  the  most  common  of  which  states 
that  he  was  carried  about  by  the  conqueror  in 
an  iron  cage,  against  the  bars  of  which  he  in  a 
few  months  beat  out  his  brains  in  rage  and 
despair.  The  conquests  of  the  Tartar  now  ex- 
Bended  from  the  Irtish  and  Volga  to  the  Per- 
sian gulf,  and  from  the  Ganges  to  the  Archi- 


T  I  N 

pelago  ;  and  the  want  of  shipping  alone  pre- 
vented him  from  crossing  into  Europe.  His 
inordinate  ambition  was  not  yet  satisfied,  and 
he  was  making  mighty  preparations  for  an  in- 
vasion of  China,  when  death  arrested  his  pro- 
gress, at  his  camp  at  Otrar,  and  he  expired 
April  1,  1405,  in  the  seventieth  year  of  his 
age,  having  previously  declared  his  grandson 
Mahomet  Jehan  Ghiz  his  successor.  He  left 
fifty-three  descendants,  and  a  name  much  re- 
vered in  the  East,  where  his  posterity  until 
lately  still  preserved  the  title  of  the  Mogul 
emperors,  although  the  dominion  had  passed 
into  other  hands.  Timour  was  tall  and  corpu- 
lent, with  a  wide  forehead,  large  head  and 
pleasing-  countenance  ;  but  he  was  maimed  in 
one  hand  and  lame  on  the  right  side.  He 
conducted  his  government  alone,  and  without 
favourites,  but  was  in  the  highest  degree  fierce 
and  fanatical  in  his  religion  ;  and  although  no 
conquests  were  ever  attended  with  greater 
cruelty,  devastation,  and  waste  of  human  life, 
he  affected  the  title  of  a  benefactor  to  man- 
kind. Happily  his  ambition  was  too  gigantic 
for  its  consequences  to  last,  and  his  dominions 
rapidly  became  divided  as  before.  Yet  he  was 
not  a  mere  barbarian  conqueror,  if  the  Insti- 
tutes are  to  be  regarded  as  genuine,  which 
under  the  title  of  "  The  Institutions  of  Ti- 
mour," have  been  made  known  in  England  by 
a  version  from  the  Persian,  executed  by  major 
Davy  and  professor  White,  Oxford,  1783. — 
Mud.  Univ.  Hist.  Gibbon. 

TINDAL,  LLD.  (MATTHEW)  a  controver- 
sial writer,  was  born  about  1657,  at  Beer  Fer- 
ris, in  Devonshire,  of  which  place  his  father 
was  the  clergyman.  He  was  admitted  of  Lin- 
coln college,  Oxford,  in  1672,  where  he  gra- 
duated BA.  in  1676,  and  was  afterwards 
elected  a  fellow  of  All  Souls' college.  In  1679 
he  took  a  bachelor  of  law's  degree,  and  after- 
wards became  a  doctor  in  this  faculty.  At  the 
commencement  of  the  reign  of  James  II  he 
was  induced  to  turn  Romanist  by  some  of  the 
emissaries  of  that  persuasion  which  then  sur- 
rounded the  universities,  of  which  conversion, 
like  Gibbon,  he  gave  a  very  candid  account, 
when  in  1687  he  returned  to  the  worship  of 
the  church  of  England.  Having  heartily  con- 
curred in  the  Revolution,  he  was  admitted  an 
advocate,  and  sat  frequently  as  a  judge  in  the 
court  of  delegates,  being  favoured  with  a  pen- 
sion of  200L  per  annum  from  the  crown.  He 
published  several  pieces  political  and  theolo- 
gical, among  which  were  a  "  Letter  to  the 
Clergymen  of  the  two  Universities,"  on  the 
subject  of  the  Trinity  and  Athanasian  creed, 
and  a  .^realise  entitled  "  The  Rights  of  the 
Christian  Church  against  the  Romish  and  all 
other  Priests,  who  claim  an  independant 
Power  over  it,"  &c.  This  work  excited  a  con- 
siderable sensation  among  the  high  church 
clergy,  who  attacked  it  with  great  animosity 
and  even  indicted  its  venders  ;  while  the  ce- 
lebrated Le  Clerc,  in  his  "  Bibliothequa 
Cboisie,"  spoke  of  it  as  a  book  of  great  argu 
mentative  power.  Tindal,  in  the  mean  time, 
was  by  no  means  silent  in  his  own  vindication, 
and  published  a  defence,  the  second  edition  o5 


TIN 

which,  in  two  parts,  was  ordered  by  a  vole  of 
the  house    of  Commons   to    be  burnt  by  the 
common  hangman  in  the  same  fire  with  Sache- 
verel's  sermon,  thus  treating  the  disputants  on 
each  side  in  the  same  manner,     he  soon  after- 
wards defended  the  doctrine  of  necessity  from 
the  censure  of  the  lower  house  of  convocation, 
and  actively  engaged  in  political   controversy, 
in  the  course  of  which  he  wrote  several  poli- 
tical  pamphlets,   which  are    now    forgotten. 
Hitherto,  although  a  declared  enemy  to  priestly 
claims,  he  had  made  no  attack  on  revealed  re- 
ligion, but  iu  1730  he  published  his  celebrated 
"  Christianity  as  old   as  the  Creation,  or  the 
Gospel    a  Republication  of  the    Religion   of 
Nature."     In  this  work,    although  lie  allows 
Christianity,  stripped  of  the  additions  which 
policy,  mistake,  and  circumstances  have  made 
to  it,  to  be   a  most  holy  religion,  his   object 
was  clearly   to  show  that    there  neither  has 
been,  nor  can  be,  any  revelation  distinct  from 
what  he  terms  the   internal  revelation  of  the 
law  of  nature  in  the  hearts  of  mankind.    This 
book  was  attacked  by  Dr  Waterland,  who  af- 
fected to  tieat  the  author  with  great  contempt, 
in  opposition  to  the  opinion  of  Dr  Middleton, 
who  thought  it  exhibited  a  degree  of  study  and 
learning,  which  called  for  a  very  different  kind 
of  refutation.     The   author   defended    himself 
with  his  usual  tenacity  ;  but  his  health   was 
now  declining,  and  he  died  in  consequence  of 
concretions  in   the  gall-bladder  in  1733.     He 
left  in  MS.  a  second  volume  of  "  Christianity 
as  old   as  the  Creation,"   the   publication  of 
which  was  prevented  by  Dr  Gibson,  bishop  of 
London. — Biog.  Brit.    Leland's  Deist.  Writers. 

TIN  DAL  (NICHOLAS)  nephew  to  the  pre- 
ceding, was  born  in  1687,  and  was  entered  of 
Exeter  college,  Oxford,  where  he  took  his  de- 
gree of  BD.  in  1713.  He  was  presented  to 
the  rectory  of  Alverstoke  iu  Hampshire,  by  the 
bishop  of  Winchester,  and  to  that  of  Great 
YValtham,  near  Chelmsford,  Essex,  in  1722, 
hy  Trinity  college,  Oxford,  of  which  he  had 
become  a  fellow.  He  was  finally  appointed 
chaplain  of  Greenwich  hospital,  where  he  died 
June  27,  1774,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty- 
seven.  He  published  a  translation  of  Calmet  on 
the  history  of  the  Hebrews,  and  wrote  part  of  a 
history  of  Essex  ;  but  quitted  the  latter  under- 
taking for  a  translation  of  Rapin's  History  of 
England,  which  was  printed  in  folioand  octavo, 
with  a  continuation.  He  also  translated  Can- 
temir's  History  of  the  Turkish  Empire,  and 
abridged  Spence's  Polymetis  for  the  use  of 
schools. — Chalmers's  Biug.  Diet. 

TINDAL.     (SeeTYNDALE.) 

TINGRY  (PETEH  FRANCIS)  professor  of 
chemistry  and  natural  history  at  Geneva,  was 
1  orn  at  Soissons  in  1743.  He  studied  at  Paris, 
under  the  celebrated  Rouelle,  and  in  1770  he 
went  to  Geneva,  where  his  talents  and  acquire- 
ments recommended  him  to  Saussure,  Sene- 
bier,  and  other  men  of  science  ;  and  he  de- 
termined to  take  up  his  abode  at  tbat  place, 
where  he  was  admitted  a  citizen  in  1773.  The 
following  year  he  published  "  Analyse  des 
Eaux  de  Marclaz,"  8vo  ;  and  "  Prospectus 
pour  un  Cours  de  C'himie  theorique  et  pra- 


TI  P 

tique,"  4to.  He  contributed  to  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Society  of  Arts  at  Geneva,  of 
which  he  was  vice-president  ;  and  under  the 
patronage  of  this  society  he  delivered  lectures 
on  chemistry  for  the  use  of  artists.  A  variety 
of  valuable  treatises  and  memoirs,  which  he 
subsequently  published,  attest  the  zeal  and 
ability  with  which  he  pursued  his  researches, 
leading  to  improvements  in  processes  con- 
nected with  natural  philosophy  and  the  arts. 
He  died  February  13,  1821,  at  the  age  of  se- 
venty-eight, displaying  his  regard  for  the  in- 
terests of  science,  by  bequeathing  his  country- 
house,  on  the  borders  of  lake  Leman,  to  the 
occupier  of  the  chair  of  chemistry  in  the  uni- 
versity of  Geneva  for  the  time  being.  Besides 
analyses  of  the  mineral  waters  of  Drise,  near 
Carouge,  and  of  the  hot  waters  of  St  Gervais 
near  Salenches,  Memoirs  on  the  Composition 
of  Oilier,  on  Phosphoric  Acid,  on  the  Inspis- 
sation  of  Oils  through  the  Influence  of  Light, 
on  the  Phosphorescence  of  Sea  Water,  &c.  and 
on  the  Electric  Fluid,  he  published  a  "  Theo- 
retical and  practical  Treatise  on  the  Ait  of 
making  and  applying  the  Varnishes  proper  for 
different  Kinds  of  Painting,"  Geneva,  1803, 
2  vols.  8vo. — Biog.  Nouv.  des  Contemp.  Biag. 
Univ. 

TINTORETTO,  the  name  generally  given 
to  Giacomo  Robusti,  the  son  of  a  Venetian 
dyer,  whose  father's  occupation  gave  rise  to 
the  appellation.  He  was  bora  in  1512,  and 
having  been  placed  under  the  celebrated  Titian 
as  a  scholar  in  the  art  of  painting,  that  emi- 
nent master,  whose  jealousy  appears  to  have 
been  scarcely  inferior  to  his  talents,  endea- 
voured to  crush  the  genius  which  he  feared, 
and  dismissed  him  abruptly.  Notwithstanding 
this  disadvantage,  Tintoretto  continued  to  per- 
severe in  his  favourite  pursuit,  and  by  uniting 
the  natural  colouring  of  his  instructor  to  the 
gusto  and  more  correct  design  of  Michael 
Angelo,  established  for  himself  a  lasting  repu- 
tation. The  boldness  of  his  style,  the  strong 
contrast  which  he  exhibits  in  his  lights  and 
shadows,  together  with  the  rapidity  and  spirit 
of  his  genius,  acquired  him  the  epithet  of  II 
Furioso.  With  his  countrymen  he  was  espe- 
cially popular,  and  obtained  from  the  senate 
the  rights  of  citizenship.  Tintoretto  died  at 
Venice  in  1594,  leaving  a  son,  Domiuico,  who 
evinced  some  talent  as  a  portrait  painter,  and 
died  in  1637.  Maria,  a  daughter,  was  equally 
eminent  in  the  same  line,  and  an  excellent 

musician.     Her  death  took  place  in  1630. 

D'Argenville.     Pilkington's  Diet,  by  Fnseli 

TIPPOO  SAHEB,  sovereign  of  Mysore, 
son  and  successor  to  the  famous  Hyder  Ally. 
He  maintained  the  independance  of  his  states 
against  the  Great  Mogul,  by  the  assistance  of 
the  French,  during  the  war  with  America. 
When  however  the  French  Revolution  de- 
prived him  of  his  European  allies,  he  had  to 
contend  with  the  English,  who  defeated  him 
in  several  battles,  until  in  1792  he  was  com- 
pelled by  the  marquis  Cornwallis  to  sue  for 
peace,  which  was  granted  on  his  payment  of  a 
large  sum  of  money,  ceding  part  of  his  terri- 
tories, and  giving  up  his  two  sons  to  the  Eng- 


T  I  P 

lish  as    hostages.     Of  a    fierce    and  haughty 
disposition,  Tippoo  naturally  felt  impatient  at 
tlie  humiliations  that  lie   had    endured,  which 
disposition  led  to  a  revival  of  the  war  in  1799 
which  was   terminated  by  the  capture   of  Se- 
riugapatam,  by  an  English  force  under  genera 
now  lord  Harris,  in  the  defence  of  which  capi- 
tal, the  ill-fated  sultan  lost  his  life.     An  im- 
mense booty  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  English, 
among  which  was  the  library  of  the  deceased 
prince,  consisting  of  many  valuable  works  iu 
Sanscrit ;  the  Koran  in  all  the  languages  in  the 
East  ;    a    history  of  Tamerlane  ;  memoirs  ol 
Hindostan,   and    other   MSS.  of  great  rarity, 
which  are  all  in  possession   of  the  East  India 
Company.       Tippoo    Saheb     was    personally 
brave,  but  rash  and  presumptuous,   although 
possibly  no  qualities  would  long  have  preserved 
his  dominion  against  the  union  of  policy  and 
force  with  which  it  was  his  bad  fortune  to  see 
it  assailed. — Nituv.  Diet.  Hist.     Ann.  Register. 
TIPTOFT  (JOHN)  earl  of  Worcester,  a  pa- 
tron of  learning,    and  one  of  the  few  literary 
ornaments   of  England   in   the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, was  born  at  Everton  or  Evasion  in  Cam- 
bridgeshire,  and   educated  at  Baliol   college, 
Oxford.     He  was  the  son  of  lord  Tibetot  or 
Tiptoft   and  Powys,   and  was  created  a  vis- 
count  and   earl    of  Worcester  by  Henry  VI, 
who   also  appointed   him  lord-deputy  of  Ire- 
land.     By  Edward  IV  he  was  made  knight  of 
the  garter  ;  and   constituted  justice  of  North 
Wales  for   life.     Dugdale  says   he  was    soon 
after   made    constable   of  the   Tower  ;    while 
others  assert  that  he  was  twice  lord  high  con- 
stable, and  twice  lord  high  treasurer.    He  was 
also  a  second  time  deputy  or  lieutenant  of  Ire- 
land,   under  the   duke   of  Clarence,  in  which 
capacity  he   attainted  the  earls  of  Kildare  and 
Desmond  for  supporting  the  insurrection  against 
government ;  and  sentenced   the   latter  to  be 
beheaded.     On  the  temporary  reverse  of  for- 
tune experienced  by  Edward  IV  and  the  house 
of  Yor»x,   in   consequence  of  the  junction  be- 
tween  the  earl   of  Warwick  and  the  duke  of 
Clarence,  the  earl  of  Worcester,  the  seventy 
of  whose  judicial   proceedings    as    high  con- 
stable had  rendered  him  extremely  obnoxious 
to   the  Lancastrians,   became   one  of  the  first 
objects  of  their  vengeance.     He  endeavoured 
to  find  security  for  his  person  by  concealment, 
but  was  discovered  in  a  tree  in  the  forest  of 
Weybridge  near  Huntingdon,  and  thence  con- 
veyed to  London,  where  he  was  rapidly  tried 
on  the  accusation  of  cruelty  in  his  Irish  adminis- 
tration, particularly  towards  two  infant  sons  of 
the  earl  of  Desmond,  and  condemned  to   lose 
his  head  on  Tower-hill,   on  the  18th  of  Oct. 
1470,  which   sentence  was  executed  accord- 
ingly.    He  was  married  three  times,  but  left 
only  one  son  and  heir  by  his  third  wife.     The 
earl  of  Worcester  appears  to  have  been  a  per- 
son of  considerable   learning  and  of  great  ac- 
complishments for  the  age  in  which  he  lived. 
In   his  return  from  a  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem 
he  had  passed   some   time   at  Venice,  Padua, 
and  Home.     He  was  led  to  Rome  by  his  de- 
sire to   see  the   Vatican  library,  and   he  there 
made   so  elegant  an  oration  to  pope  Pius  II, 


T  IR 

as  to  receive  the  admiration  of  his  holiness  i.i 
tears.     He  was  a  great  collector  of  books,  and 
gave  manuscripts  of  rive  hundred  marks  value 
to  the  university  of  Oxford.    Caxton  speaks  of 
him   as  one  who  "  in   his   tyme   flowered  in 
vertue  and  cunnyng,   and  to  whom   he  knew 
none  like  among  the  lordes  of  the  temporalite 
in  science  and   moral  vertue."     Another  wri- 
ter, speaking-    of  the   earl's   execution,   says, 
"  The  axe  then   did  at  one  blow  cut  off  more 
learning  than  was  left  in  the  heads  of  all  the 
surviving  nobility."     An  opinion  of  the  writer 
whose  words   are  last  quoted,  that  the  earl's 
expedition  to  Jerusalem  was  undertaken   at  a 
time  when  he  was  in  a  state  of  suspense  be- 
tween gratitude  to  king  Henry  and  loyalty  to 
king  Edward,    is    without   foundation  ;  for  so 
far  from  his  travelling  to  Jerusalem  under  such 
circumstances,   he  does    not  appear   to    have 
quitted  his  office  in  Ireland  after  his  appoint- 
ment in  1457,  during  the  reign  of  Heurv,  and 
he  had  an  office  conferred  upon  him  by  king 
Edward  in  the  first  year  of  his  reign.     There 
is  not  probably  much  better  foundation  for  the 
idea   of   Leland,  in   his    History  of  Ireland, 
though  adopted  by  Walpole  in  his  Royal  and 
Noble  Authors,  that  the  exertions  of  this  earl 
against  the  Yorkists  had  drawn  down  the  ven- 
geance of  that  party  upon  him  ;  for  the  principal 
charge  against  him,  on  which  he  was  brought 
to  the  scaffold,  was  his  severity  to    the  Lan- 
castrians, which  shows  him,   notwithstanding 
his  learuing,  to  have  been  deeply  imbued  with 
the  ferocity  of  the  times.     The  literary  works 
of  this  nobleman,  as  far  as  we  are  acquainted 
with  them,  are  an  English  translation  of"  Tul- 
lius  de  Amicitia,"  and  of  "  Two  Declarations 
made  by  Publius  Cornelius  Scipio  and  Gayus 
Flamigneus,  Competitors  for  the  Love  of  Lu- 
crece,"  both  printed  by  William  Caxton  ;  some 
Orations  and  Epistles  ;  and  an  English  trans- 
ation  of  "  Caesar's  Commentaries,"  as  touch- 
ing British  affairs,  supposed  to   be  printed  by 
John  Rastall,  temp.  Henry  VIII.  In  the  sixth 
of  Edward    IV  he  drew  up  "  Orders  for  the 
jlacing  of  the   Nobility  in  all   Proceedings," 
and    "   Orders    and     Statutes    for   Justs   and 
Triumphs  ;  "  and  in  the  Ashmolean  collection 
are  "  Ordinances,  Statutes,  and   Rules,  made 
)y  John  Tiptofte,  Erie  of  Worcester  and  Con- 
table  of  England,    by  the  King's  Command- 
nent  at  Windsor,  29th  May,  6th  Edward  IV, 
o  be  observed  in  all  Justs  of  Peers  within  the 
lealm  of  England,"  &c.     He  is  also  said  to 
have   written   "  A   Petition  against   the   Lol- 
lards," and  an   "  Oration   to  the  Citizens  of 
Padua  ;"  and  among  the  manuscripts  belong- 
ing to  Lincoln  cathedral   is  a  volume  contain- 
ing about  twenty  epistles,  four  of  his  writing 
and   the  rest  addressed   to    him. — Royal  and 
Noble   Authors.     Fuller's   Worthies.     Original 

o 

Communteation. 

TIRABOSCHI  (GmOLAMo)  a  learned  Ita. 
liau  writer,  born  at  Bergamo  in  1731.  He  en- 
tered into  the  society  of  the  Jesuits  ;  and  for 
some  time  he  taught  grammar  and  rhetoric  at 
the  college  of  Brera  at  Milan.  He  was  like- 
wise appointed  to  the  office  of  keeper  of  the 
college  library,  and  in  1767  he  was  made  libra- 


T1S 

rian  to  the  duke  of  Modena.  In  1780  Lis 
highness  gave  him  the"  situation  of  superin- 
tendant  of  his  cabinet  of  medals,  and  bestowed 
on  him  the  honour  of  knighthood  and  a  patent  of 
nobility.  His  death  took  place  June  8,  1794. 
The  principal  work  of  Tiraboschi  is  his  "  Sto- 
ria  della  Letteratura  Itahana,"  which  has  passed 
through  several  editions  in  quarto  and  octavo  ; 
and  among  his  other  productions  are  "  Biblio- 
teca  Modenese,  overo  Notizie  della  Vite  e 
delle  Opere  degli  Scrittori  natii  degli  Stati  del 
Duca  di  Modena,"  1781,  6  vols.  4to  ;  "  Ve- 
tera  Humiliatorum  Monumenta  Anuotationi- 
hus  ac  Dissertationibus  prodromis  illustrata," 
3  vols.  4to  ;  and  "  Memorie  Storiche  Mo- 
danesi,"  3  vols.  4to  ;  and  he  was  also  the  con- 
ductor of  a  review,  published  under  the  title  of 
"  Nuovo  Giornale  de'  Litterati  d'  Italia." — 
.  Aikin's  Gen.  Bwg.  Bing.  Univ. 

TISCHBEIJN    (JOHN  ANTHONY)   a  native 
of  Hesse  in  Germany,  the  son  of  a  baker,  and 
the  fourth  of  seven  brothers  all  devoted  to  the 
cultivation  of  the  fine  arts.     He  studied  draw- 
ing at  Frankfort,  and  afterwards  -went  for  im- 
provement to  Paris  and  Rome.     Having  gone 
to  Hamburgh   to  establish  a  school  of  design, 
he  died  there  in  July  1784.     He  published  a 
work  on  the  Elements  of  the  Art  of  Painting, 
Hamb.1771,  8vo. — TISCHBEIN  (Jonn  HENRY) 
painter  to  the  landgrave  of  Hesse  Cassel  and 
founder  of  a  new  school  of  art  in  Germany, 
was  a  younger  brother  of  the  foregoing.     At 
the,  age  of  fourteen  he  was  placed   under  an 
indifferent  tapestry -painter,  whom  he  soon  ex- 
celled.    Count  Stadion   having  seen  some  of 
his  work,  was  struck  with  the  proofs  of  talent 
which  it  exhibited,   and  furnished  him  with 
the   means  of  studying  in  France  and  Italy. 
He  returned  home  in  1751 ,  and  was  appointed 
painter  to  the  landgrave  of  He*se  Cassel.   His 
talents  were  employed  in  enriching  the  gallery 
of  the  landgrave,  for  which  he  produced  seve- 
ral excellent  paintings  of  subjects  taken  from 
ancient  mythology,  executed  between  the  years 
1762  and  1783.     An  academy  of  painting  and 
architecture   having  been  founded    at  Cassel 
in   1776,   Tischbein  was  nominated  director, 
and   afterwards   professor  of  painting   at  the 
Caroline  college.     He  died  at  Cassel,  August 
22,   1789. — TISCHBEIN   (JOHN  HENRY   CON- 
RAD) nephew   of  the  preceding,  was  also  his 
pupil,  and  applied  himself  particularly  to  the 
painting  of    landscapes  and   natural   history. 
After  having  travelled  in  Holland,  he  was  in 
1755  appointed  inspector  of  the  gallery  of  the 
landgrave,  to  the  improvement  of  which  his 
uncle  had  so  much  contributed.     He  acquired 
a  knowledge  of  etching  with  aquafortis   and 
engraving  in  wood  ;  and  in  1790  he  published 
an  "  Elementary  Treatise  on  Engraving  with 


Aquafortis,  with  Plates  executed  in  that  Me- 
,hod,"  folio.  This  artist  died  in  1808,  aged 
ixty-six. — TISCHBEIN  (JoHN  HENRY  WIL- 
LIAM) brother  of  the  last  noticed,  and  student 
under  his  uncle  in  the  gallery  of  Cassel,  be- 
came one  of  the  first  historical  painters  of  his 
tune.  After  having  been  employed  at  Ham- 
burgh, in  Holland,  and  at  Hanover,  he  went  in 
1777  to  Berlin,  where  he  executed  several  por- 


TIS 

traits  of  the  royal  family.  In  1779  he  was  at 
Rome,  and  in  1787  at  Naples,  where  his  ta- 
lents attracted  the  notice  of  the  court.  Tn 
1790  he  was  appointed  director  of  the  Academy 
of  Painting  ;  and  he  held  the  office  till  1799, 
when  the  calamities  of  war  falling  on  Naples, 
he  was  obliged  to  return  to  his  own  country. 
He  published  a  Collection  of  Engravings  from 
Antique  Vases  ;  Designs  of  Subjects  from 
Homer  ;  and  various  other  works. — TTSCHBEIN 
(Jons  FREDERIC  AUGUSTUS)  brother  of  the 
foregoing  artists,  was  professor  and  director 
of  the  school  of  the  fine  arts  at  Leipsic.  He 
excelled  as  a  portrait  painter,  and  died  at  Hei- 
delberg, June  21,  1812. — Biog.  Univ. 

TISSOT  (SIMON  ANDREW)  an  eminent  phy- 
sician and  medical  writer,  born  at  Graucy,  in 
the  Pays  de  Vaud,   in    1728.     He   studied  at 
Geneva,  and  then  at  Moutpellier,  and  having 
taken  his  doctor's  degree  in  medicine  in  1749, 
he  settled  at  Lausanne,  in  Switzerland.     The 
success  with  which   he  treated  the  confluent 
small-pox,  by  means  of  fresh  air  and  a  cool- 
ing diet,  at  a  period  when   stimulants  and  su- 
dorifics  were  generally  adopted,   fixed   on  the 
young  practitioner  the  public  attention.     He 
published  a  tract  in  favour  of  inoculation  in 
1750,  and  he  soon  after  translated  into  French 
Haller's  Dissertations  on  Sensibility  and  Irri- 
tability,  and   on    the   Motion    of   the    Blood. 
These  pieces  were  followed  by   several   other 
medical  publications,   the  most  distinguished 
of  which  is  his  "Avis  au  Peuple  sur  sa  Sante," 
Lausanne,   1761,  which    was   translated  into 
English  by  Dr  James   Kirkpatrick,  and  pro- 
bably served  as  the  model   of  Buchan's   Do- 
mestic   Medicine,    and  other  popular  works. 
Among  his  other  productions  may  be  specified 
"  Avis  aux  Gens  des  Lettres  et  aux  Personnes 
sedentaires  sur  leur  Sante,"  Paris,  1768  ;  and 
"  Essai  sur  les  Maladies  des  Gens  du  Monde," 
Lyou.  1770,  12mo.     After  Tissot  had  refused 
advantageous  offers  made  him   by  the  kings 
of  Poland  and  England,  to  induce  him  to  quit 
Lausanne,  he  acceded  to   the   request  of  the 
emperor  Joseph  II,  and  accepted  of  a  profes- 
sorship in  the  university  of  Pavia.     This  office 
however  he  relinquished    after    three    years, 
agreeably  to  a  stipulation  he  had  made  on  ac- 
cepting it.     He  returned  to  Lausanne,  where 
he  had  been  invested  with  the  right  of  citizen- 
ship,  and  created  a  member  of  the  council  of 
Two  Hundred.     His  death  took  place  June  13, 
1797.     The   principal   works  of   Tissot  were 
published  together  at  Paris,  1809,  8  vols.  8vo, 
with   the    notes   of   professor    Halle. — Biog. 
Univ. 

TISSOT  (CLEMENT  JOSEPH)  a  relative  of 
the  subject  of  the  last  article,  was  born  at  Or- 
nans  in  the  department  of  Jura,  in  1750,  and 
he  studied  medicine  at  Besancon,  where  he 
took  the  degree  of  doctor  in  1776.  He  pub- 
lished a  treatise  entitled  "  Gymnastique  Me- 
dicale,"  1781,  12mo;  and  in  1785  he  was 
chosen  correspondent  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
Medicine  at  Paris.  Going  afterwards  to  that 
capital,  he  was  appointed  adjunct  physician  to 
the  household  of  the  duke  of  Orleans,  through 
the  recommendation  of  his  friend  Dr  Trou- 


T  I  T 

cbin.  In  1788  he  was  nominated  chief  sur- 
geon-adjunct at  the  camp  of  St  Omer's ;  and 
shortly  alter  the  king  made  him  divisional  in- 
spector of  the  hospitals  of  Alsace  and  Franche 
Coir.te.  After  the  Revolution  he  was  sur- 
g'-on  in-chief  in  various  corps  of  the  French 
armies  ;  and  in  that  capacity  lie  served  in  tb  e 
campaigns  in  Austria,  Prussia,  Poland,  and 
Italy.  At  length  be  retired  fiom  the  service, 
and  settled  in  professional  practice  at  Paris, 
where  he  died  June  30,  1826.  lie  was  an  of- 
ficer of  the  legion  of  honour,  consulting  physi- 
fiun  to  the  duke  of  Orleans,  and  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  Medico- practical  Society.  Be- 
sides the  work  already  noticed,  he  published 
several  essays  and  treatises,  the  result  of  his 
professional  observations,  of  which  a  list  is 
given  in  the  first  of  the  annexed  authorities. — 
Bioor.  Nuiiv.  des  Contemp.  Biog.  Univ. 

TITIAN  or  TIZIANO  VECELLI,  one  of 
the  most  distinguished  of  the  great  Italian 
painters,  was  born  at  Capo  del  C'adore  in  the 
Alps  of  Friuli  in  1480.  His  early  indication 
of  talent  for  the  arts  of  design  induced  bis  pa- 
rents to  place  him  under  Sebastiano  Zuccati  of 
frevigi,  and  subsequently  under  Giovanni 
Bellini  of  Venice.  He  soon  made  an  extraor- 
dinary proficiency,  and  arrived  at  so  exact  an 
imitation  of  his  master's  style,  that  their  works 
could  scarcely  be  distinguished.  This  style 
however  was  stiff  and  dry,  so  that  when  the 
young  artist  had  seen  the  performances  of 
Giorgione,  which  were  of  a  more  free  and  ele- 
gant character,  he  quitted  his  former  master, 
and  soon  by  bis  facility  excited  envy  in  his 
new  one.  At  the  same  time  he  by  no  means 
neglected  the  other  objects  of  education,  but 
made  so  great  a  progress  under  proper  instruc- 
tors, that  at  the  age  of  twenty-three  he  was 
celebrated  as  one  of  the  most  promising  poets 
of  the  day.  With  great  judgment,  however, 
he  devoted  himself  to  the  pursuit  for  which  he 
felt  the  most  decided  predilection,  and  he  at- 
tained to  great  perfection  in  the  three  great 
branches  of  landscape,  portrait,  and  history. 
He  was  particularly  remarkable,  for  bis  accu- 
rate observation  and  faithful  imitation  of  na- 
ture, as  regards  the  tones  and  shades  of  colour- 
ing ;  and  as  taste  in  design  was  a  less  conspi- 
cuous part  of  his  excellence,  it  is  in  portraits 
and  landscapes  that  he  is  deemed  unrivalled. 
Indeed  in  the  opinion  of  Mr  Fuseli  be  is  to  be 
regarded  as  the  father  of  portrait  painting,  as 
relates  to  resemblance,  character,  grace,  and 
tasteful  costume.  His  principal  residence  was 
at  Venice,  though  be  occasionally  complied 
with  invitations  from  princes  to  their  courts. 
At  Ferrara  he  executed  the  portraits  of  the 
duke  and  duchess,  as  also  that  of  Ariosto, 
then  a  resident  there.  He  was  sent  for  to 
Rome  by  cardinal  Farnese,  and  he  attended 
Charles  V  at  Bologna,  who  was  so  pleased 
with  the  portrait  which  be  made  of  him,  that 
lie  honoured  him  with  the  order  of  knighthood, 
and  granted  him  a  pension  which  was  after- 
wards augmented  by  Philip  II.  Happily  most 
of  the  princes  and  leading  men  of  the  day 
were  ambitious  of  being  painted  by  him, 
which  renders  his  pictures  doubly  valuable  as 


T  I  T 

portraits  of  eminent  individuals  and  for  beauty 
of  execution.  lie  resided  for  some  time  both 
in  Spain  and  Germany,  but  iiis  borne  was 
Venice,  wbere  be  lived  in  great  splendour,  and 
maintained  the  rank  due  to  bis  genius.  He 
retained  the  spirit  and  vigour  of  youth  to  the 
advanced  age  of  ninety-six,  and  then  died 
of  the  plague  in  1376.  This  great  painter 
had  bis  weaknesses,  the  chief  of  which  was  an 
extreme  jealousy  of  ail  approaching  excellence, 
which  rendered  him  ungenerous  to  Tintoretto, 
and  even  to  a  brother  of  his  own.  The  first 
of  all  colourists,  this  great  excellence  may 
possibly  have  rendered  bis  other  character- 
istics as  a  painter  too  subordinate.  In  general 
bis  male  forms  are  less  elastic  than  mus- 
cular, while  bis  females  partake  too  much  of 
the  fair,  dimpled,  soft,  Venetian  forms,  which 
are  too  full  for  elegance,  and  for  air  and  action 
too  rotund.  He  left  two  sons,  one  of  which 
obtained  preferment  in  the  church  ;  the  other 
became  a  distinguished  painter  ;  but  being  ad- 
dicted to  alchymy  he  wasted  his  patrimony 
and  neglected  his  art.  Of  the  historical  pic- 
tures of  Titian,  two  are  mentioned  as  pecu- 
liarly excellent,  a  Last  Supper  in  the  Escurial, 
and  Christ  crowned  with  Thorns,  in  a  church 
at  Milan.  The  engravings  from  bis  pictures, 
including  landscapes  and  pieces,  cut  in  wood, 
amount  to  more  than  six  hundred. —  D'Argen- 
vitte.  Pilkington  by  Fuseti.  Tiraboschi. 

TITIUS  (THEOPHILUS  GERARD)  a  German 
lawyer,  born  at  Nordhausen,  in  1661.  He  stu- 
died at  Leipsic,  and  afterwards  going  to  Ros- 
tock, be  devoted  twenty  yeara  to  researches 
concerning  jurisprudence,  and  the  publication 
of  bis  works.  In  1709  be  became  professor 
of  law  in  the  university  of  Leipsic,  in  1710 
counsellor  of  the  tribunal  of  appeal  at  Dres- 
den, and  in  1713  assessor  of  the  superior  tri- 
bunal of  Leipsic.  He  died  in  that  city,  April 
10,  1714.  His  principal  works  are  "  Speci- 
men Juris-publici  Romano-Germanici,"  1698, 
liiJmo  ;  "  The  German  Feudal  Law  considered 
according  to  its  Nature  and  to  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  Empire,"  1699,  12mo  ;  "  Ars  Co- 
gitandi,"  1702  ;  "  Observationes  in  Sam.  L. 
B.  de  Puffendorf,  Libros  II.  de  Officio  Ho- 
minis  et  Civis,"  1703,  I2mo  ;  "  An  Essay  on 
the  Canon  Law  of  Germany  for  the  Pro- 
testant States,"  1701  ;  and  other  treatises  on 
German  jurisprudence,  for  the  titles  of  which 
we  must  refer  to  the  subjoined  authority.  His 
dissertations  on  legal  topics  were  collected  and 
republished  by  Hommel,  Leipsic,  1729,  4to. 
— Biog.  Univ. 

TITON  DU  TILLET(EvR  A  no)  celebrated 
for  bis  zeal  for  the  honour  of  literature,  and 
the  curious  monument  wLich  be  designed  to 
perpetuate  the  fame  of  the  learned.  He  was 
born  at  Paris  in  1677,  and  was  the  son  of 
Maximilian  Titon,  director  general  of  manu- 
factures and  royal  magazines  of  arms.  Having 
finished  bis  education,  he  entered  into  the 
army,  and  served  till  the  peace  of  Ryswick. 
Pie  then  bought  the  office  of  maitre-d'hote)  to 
the  duchess  of  Burgundy,  afterwards  dau- 
phiness  ;  on  whose  death,  in  1712,  he  travelled 
into  Italy,  and  on  his  return  home  he  was  made 


TI  T 

provincial  commissary  at  war.  In  1708  he 
conceived  the  idea  of  a  Parnassus  in  bronze, 
in  honour  of  the  king  and  the  great  men  who 
flourished  in  France  during  his  reign.  The 
work  on  a  small  scale  was  executed  by  Louis 
Gamier,  the  pupil  of  Girardon  ;  and  the  pro- 
jector flattered  himself  with  the  hope  of  ob- 
taining from  the  government  the  means  of  con- 
structing his  Parnassus  on  a  grand  scale  in  a 
garden  or  public  place  ;  but  he  was  disap- 
pointed. In  1726  he  published  a  description 
of  his  poetical  monument,  with  notices  of  the 
lives  and  works  of  the  personages  exhibited, 
to  which  he  added  supplements,  the  last  of 
which  appeared  in  1760.  He  was  also  the 
author  of  "  Essais  sur  les  Honneurs  et  sur  les 
Monuments  accordes  aux  illustres  Savants 
pendant  la  Suite  des  Siecles,"  Paris,  1734, 
12mo.  His  death  took  place  December  26, 
1762. —  Rii'#.  Univ.  Aiken's  Gen.  Bing. 

TITS1NGH  (IsAAc)a  Dutch  voyager,  born 
at  Amsterdam  about  1440.  He  went  out  in 
the  service  of  the  East  India  Company  and 
obtained  a  place  in  the  council  at  Batavia, 
where  for  seventeen  years  his  constitution 
witlistood  the  effects  of  the  pestiferous  climate, 
BO  peculiarly  fatal  to  Europeans.  In  1778  he 
Kent  as  chief  of  a  commercial  mission  to  Ja- 
pan, where  he  remained  for  some  time  in  the 
isle  of  Devima,  appropriated  for  the  residence 
of  the  Dutch  factory.  He  was  repeatedly  sent 
ambassador  to  Yedo,  the  residence  of  the  se- 
cular emperor  of  Japan,  and  thus  he  obtained 
unusually  favourable  opportunities  for  making 
observations  on  a  country  and  people  seldom 
visited  by  Europeans.  He  left  Japan  in  1784, 
and  was  subsequently  appointed  governor  of 
Chinchoura,  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  in 
Bengal.  Returning  to  Batavia,  he  resumed 
his  functions  as  counsellor  of  the  government, 
which  post  he  a  second  time  quitted  to  go  to 
Pekin  as  ambassador  from  the  Dutch  East 
India  Company  to  the  emperor  of  China.  An 
account  of  this  mission  was  published  by  M. 
Van  Braam,  who  held  the  second  place  in  the 
embassy.  After  a  residence  of  thirty-three 
years  in  the  East,  Titsingh  returned  to  Eu- 
rope, and  having  acquired  a  considerable  for- 
tune, he  devoted  much  of  bis  time  to  the  ar- 
rangement of  the  materials  illustrative  of  the 
state  of  Japan,  which  he  had  collected,  and 
intended  to  publish  both  in  Holland  and  in 
France.  He  died  at  Paris,  in  February  1812, 
and  the  result  of  his  labours  subsequently  ap- 
peared in  his  "  Ceremonies  usitees  au  Japon, 
pour  les  Marriages  et  les  Funerailles,  &c." 

1819,  2  vols.  8vo  ;  and   "  Memoires  et  Anec- 
dotes de  la  Dynastic  regnante  des  Djogouns, 
Souverains  de  Japon,  avec  la  Description  des 
Fetes  et  Ceremonies  observers  aux  differentes 
Epoques  de  1'Annee  a  la  Gourde  ces  Princes," 

1820,  8vo.—  BiVnr.  Univ. 

TITUS  VESFASIANUS,  the  son  and  suc- 
cessor of  the  Roman  emperor  Vespasian,  dis- 
tinguished for  his  military  talents  and  for  the 
wisdom  and  beneficence  of  his  government. 
His  youth  was  tainted  with  the  vices  of  ex- 
travagance and  incontinence,  and  while  an  in- 
mate of  his  father's  palace  he  chose  his  as- 

BIOG.  DICT. — VOL.  III. 


TO  A 

sociates  among  the  most  awtm'  .iced  of  the 
youthful  courtiers,  and  indulged  iii  the  gra- 
tification of  every  impure  desire  and  un- 
natural vice.  From  one  so  little  accuston>«.-d 
to  restrain  his  passions,  the  Roman  people 
anticipated  nothing  but  the  misrule  of  a  se- 
cond Caligula  or  Nero  ;  but  on  ascending 
the  throne  Titus  happily  disappointed  these 
gloomy  prognostications,  and  relinquishing  his 
vicious  habits  and  debauched  companions,  he 
became  the  father  of  his  people,  the  guardian 
of  virtue,  and  the  patron  of  liberty.  His  re- 
formation, like  that  of  our  Henry  V,  appeared 
to  be  sincere  and  perfect  ;  and  the  unworthy 
and  dissolute  youth  assumed  the  character  of 
the  enlightened  and  munificent  sovereign  of  a 
vast  empire.  All  informers  were  banished 
from  his  court,  and  even  severely  punished  ;  a 
reform  took  place  in  judicial  proceedings  ;  and 
the  public  edifices  were  repaired,  and  new 
ones  erected  for  the  convenience  of  the  people. 
The  memorable  exclamation  of  Titus,  "  Perdidi 
diem,"  "  i  have  lost  a  day,"  which  he  is  said 
to  have  uttered  one  day  when  no  opportunity 
had  occurred  for  doing  any  service  or  granting 
a  favour  to  any  one  of  his  subjects,  has  been 
considered  as  strikingly  characteristic  of  his 
sentiments  and  behaviour,  which  procured  for 
him  the  title  of  "  deliciae  generis  bumani,"' 
the  delight  of  mankind.  Two  senators  having 
engaged  in  a  conspiracy  against  his  life,  he  not 
only  pardoned  them,  but  also  admitted  them 
to  his  friendship.  During  his  reign  there  was 
a  conflagration  at  Rome,  which  lasted  three 
days  ;  the  towns  of  Campania  were  desolated 
by  an  eruption  of  Vesuvius,  and  the  empire 
was  visited  by  a  destroying  pestilence.  In 
this  season  of  public  calamity  the  emperor's 
benevolence  and  philanthropy  were  most  con- 
spicuously displayed.  He  comforted  the  af- 
flicted, relieved  the  sufferers  by  his  bounty, 
and  exerted  all  his  care  for  the  restoration  of 
public  prosperity.  The  Romans  did  not  long 
enjoy  the  benefits  of  his  wise  and  virtuous  ad- 
ministration. He  was  seized  with  a  violent 
fever,  and  retiring  to  a  country-house  which 
had  belonged  to  his  father,  he  there  expired, 
lamenting  with  his  latest  breath  the  severity 
of  his  fate,  which  removed  him  from  the  world 
before  he  had  perfected  his  plans  for  the  be- 
nefit of  his  grateful  subjects,  whose  sorrow  for 
his  loss  was  heightened  by  their  apprehen- 
sions arising  from  the  gloomy  and  unpromising 
character  of  his  brother  Domidan,  who  was 
even  suspected  of  having  hastened  the  cata- 
strophe which  was  to  contribute  to  his  own 
elevation  to  imperial  power.  Titus  died  AD. 
81,  in  the  forty-first  year  of  his  age,  after 
reigning  two  years. — Suetonius.  Moreri. 

TOALDO  (GIUSEPPE)  a  learned  Italian 
meteorologist,  was  born  in  1719  at  Pianezza 
in  Vincenza,  and  educated  at  Padua,  where 
he  took  a  degree  as  doctor  of  theology,  but 
was  principally  engaged  in  mathematical  stu- 
dies. He  however  obtained  some  ecclesiasti- 
cal preferment,  and  in  1762  was  appointed 
professor  of  astronomy  and  meteorology  in  the 
university  of  Padua.  Here  he  procured  an 
obser^atorv  to  be  built,  which  was  furnished 
Y 


TOD 

with  instruments  from  England.  In  1777  he 
was  elected  an  honorary  member  of  our  Royal 
Sorotv,  ami  contributed  some  memoirs  to  our 
Plri'isonlucarlransactions.  He  however  first 
becan.e  Known  throughout  Europe  by  an  inge- 
ni->iis  work  on  the  influence  of  the  heavenly 
bou'ies  on  the  weather  and  atmosphere,  "  Delia 
vera  Influenza,"  &c.  1770,  4to.  His  reputa- 
tion was  subsequently  much  increased  by  his 
"  Meteorological  Journal,"  which  he  began 
in  1773,  and  continued  until  his  death.  He 
also  wrote  a  variety  of  works  on  kindred  sub- 
jects, of  which  Fabroni  has  given  a  list.  He 
died  much  esteemed  in  November  1797,  in  his 
seventy-ninth  year. —  Fabroni  !7itte  Itaiorum. 

TOB1N  (JoHN)  an  English  dramatic  poet, 
who  acquired  a  considerable  d^ee  of  posthu- 
mous reputation  about  the  commencement  of 
the  present  century.  He  was  a  native  of  Sa- 
lisbury, born  in  1770,  and  was  educated  by 
his  father,  a  West  India  merchant,  for  the  in- 
ferior department  of  the  law.  With  this 
view,  after  the  usual  period  spent  in  prepara- 
tory study  at  Southampton  and  Bristol,  he 
placed  him  in  a  conveyancer's  office  in  the 
metropolis,  where  he  served  his  time,  and  was 
admitted  at  its  expiration  as  an  attorney  of  the 
Court  of  King's  Bench.  His  predilection  how- 
ever for  lighter  studies  soon  induced  him  to 
direct  his  attention  towards  writing  for  the 
stage,  of  which  he  was  passionately  fond. 
The  critics  of  the  green-room,  proverbially  the 
worst  judges  of  dramatic  composition,  re- 
jected all  the  pieces  which  he  submitted  for 
their  acceptance,  with  the  exception  of  a 
farce,  really  deficient  in  merit,  which  was  pro- 
duced on  a  benefit  night ;  iior  was  it  till  some 
time  after  his  decease,  which  took  place  at  Cork, 
in  1804,  that  accident  having  brought  his  play 
of  the  "  Honejmoon"  before  the  public,  the 
popularity  it  rapidly  acquired  induced  the  ma- 
nagers to  bring  out  another  of  his  pieces,  the 
"  Curfew,"  which,  though  it  did  not  attaiu  to 
the  same  degree  of  estimation  as  its  precursor, 
met  with  a  very  favourable  reception.  In  the 
first  of  these  plays  Mr  Tobin  was  very  happy 
in  imitating  the  style  of  the  older  dramatists, 
from  whom  indeed  not  merely  his  characters,  but 
even  his  incidents  are  manifestly  borrowed,  a 
circumstance  which  may  peihaps  in  some  de- 
gree account  for  its  remaining  so  long  in  abey- 
ance on  the  shelves  of  the  prompter's  room. 
A  delicate  state  of  health,  which  had  long 
threatened  the  most  serious  consequences, 
terminated  at  length  in  a  consumption,  which 
carried  him  off,  after  embarking  for  the  West 
Indies  in  1804,  and  he  was  buried  at  Cork. — 
Life  by  Miss  Benger. 

TODD,  DD.  (linen)  a  learned  antiquary 
and  divine,  born  at  Blencow  in  the  county  of 
Cumberland,  in  1658.  He  was  admitted  on  the 
foundation  of  Queen's  college,  Oxford,  which 
lie  quitted  in  1678  for  a  fellowship  at  the  op- 
posite college  of  University.  Having  taken 
holy  ciders,  lie  proceeded  doctor  in  divinity 
iu  1692,  and  enjoyed  a  stall  in  Carlisle  cathe- 
dral through  the  interest  of  bishop  Smith,  to 
whom  he  was  domestic  chaplain  ;  but  being 
afterwards  worsted  iu  a  contest  carried  on 


TOG 

with  his  patron's  successor  in  the  see,  on  a 
disputed  point  respecting  the  riyht  of  visita- 
tion, lie  resigned  it  in  disgust,  and  subsequently 
his  vicarage  of  Stanwix  for  that  of  Penrith 
and  the  rectory  of  Arthuret.  lie  was  the  au- 
thor of  a  History  of  the  Diocese  of  Carlisle, 
another  of  its  Cathedral,  and  one  of  the  Priory 
of  Wedderhall,  never  printed  ;  besides  a  "  De- 
scription of  Sweden,"  and  a  "  Life  of  Pho- 
cion,"  which  have  appeared,  as  also  of  a  va- 
riety of  papers  to  be  found  among  the  Philoso- 
phical Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society.  Dr 
Todd  died  in  1728. — Hittchinson's  Cumberland. 

TODEKLNI  (GIOVANNI  BATTISTA)  an 
Italian  writer,  born  at  Venice  in  1728.  He 
entered  into  the  order  of  the  Jesuits,  and  he- 
came  professor  of  philosophy  at  Verona  and  at 
Forli.  After  the  suppression  of  the  Jesuits  he 
attached  himself  to  the  bailli  Garzoni,  whom 
he  accompanied  in  1781,  in  his  embassy  to 
Constantinople.  Toderini  remained  there  till 
1786,  and  employed  himself  in  collecting  a 
library  of  books  and  Arabian  MSS.  On  his 
return  to  Italy  he  published  the  work  on  which 
his  reputation  is  founded  "  Delia  Letteratura 
Turchesca,"  1787,  3  vols.  8vo,  afterwards 
translated  into  French  and  German.  He  was 
also  the  author  of  some  other  productions, 
chiefly  relative  to  philosophy  and  natural  his- 
tory ;  but  they  require  no  particular  notice. 
He  died  at  Venice,  July  4, 1799. — Biog.  Nouv. 
des  Contemp.  Bins,  Univ. 

TaFIi\O  DE  SAN  MIGUEL  (don  VI- 
CENTE) a  Spanish  astronomer,  born  at  Cartha- 
gena  in  Mexico  in  1740.  He  entered  young 
into  the  navy,  and  having  distinguished  him- 
self by  his  application  to  mathematical  science, 
he  was  in  1770  appointed  professor  at  the 
marine  academy  in  the  Isle  of  Leon.  During 
the  American  war  he  was  directed  to  survey 
the  Spanish  coasts  and  the  islands  visited  by 
vessels  in  voyages  to  America.  Tofino  had  in 
1786  been  made  director  of  the  companies  of 
royal  marine  guards  ;  and  he  was  afterwards 
brigadier  of  the  naval  forces  of  Spain,  member 
of  the  academy  of  history  at  Madrid,  and  cor- 
respondent of  the  academies  of  sciences  of 
Paris  and  of  Palma.  He  died  at  Madrid  in 
1806.  He  was  the  author  of  an  Atlas  of  the 
coasts  of  Spain,  1786;  Astronomical  Observa- 
tions made  at  Cadiz,  2  vols.  4to ;  besides 
other  works. — Biog.  Univ. 

TOGRAY  (MOUAYAD  EDDIN  ABU  ISMAEL 
HOSEIN  AL)  a  native  of  Ispahan,  who  lived  in 
the  twelfth  century,  celebrated  as  a  writer 
both  in  prose  and  verse.  He  was  the  visir  of 
iMasoud,  the  seljuk  sultan  of  Mosul,  who  going 
to  war  with  his  brother  Mahmoud,  was  de 
feated  in  a  great  battle  near  Hamadan,  AD. 
1120;  and  Togiay  falling  into  the  hands  of 
the  victors  was  put  to  death.  The  most  fa- 
mous of  his  compositions  is  his  "  Lamiyya  al 
Adjem,"  so  called  from  every  verse  terminat- 
ing with  the  letter  lam  or  1,  and  as  distin- 
guished from  a  more  ancient  poem,  the  "  La- 
miyya of  the  Arabs,"  al  Adjem,  signifying  the 
Persians.  The  poem  of  Togray,  with  a  Latin 
version  by  Edward  Pocock,  was  published  at 
Oxford  in  1661  ;  and  another  translation  by 


TO  L 

Golius  was  printed  with  the  original  Arabic 
at  Utrecht  in  1709.  Both  the  Lamiyyas,  with- 
out any  version,  were  published  at  Casau  in 
1814.—  King.  Univ. 

TOLAND  (JOHN)  a  writer  of  considerable 
note,  in  political  and  religious  controversy, 
was  born  in  1669  near  Londonderry  in  Ire- 
land. His  parents  were  Catholics  of  a  good 
family,  who  educated  him  in  the  religion  of 
his  ancestors.  He  however  discarded  the 
Romish  faith  before  he  had  attained  the  age 
of  sixteen,  and  finished  his  education  at  the 
universities  of  Glasgow  and  Edinburgh,  in  the 
'atter  of  which  he  sjiuduated  MA.  in  1690. 
lie  then  went  to  England,  where  he  became 
introduced  to  some  respectable  dissenting  fa- 
milies, who  enabled  him  to  pursue  his  studies 
for  two  years  more  at  Leyden.  Returning  to 
England  he  collected  materials  for  various  lite- 
rary designs,  and  composed  several  treatises, 
one  of  which  was  to  prove  the  common  narra- 
tive of  the  death  of  Regulus  a  fable.  He  also 
began  the  work  that  commenced  the  contro- 
versial warfare  which  he  ever  after  sustained. 
This-  lie  published  in  1696,  under  the  title  of 
"  Christianity  not  Mysterious,  or  a  Treatise 
showing  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  Gospel 
contrary  to  Reason  or  above  it,  and  that  no 
Christian  Doctrine  can  be  properly  called  a 
Mystery."  The  foregoing  work  naturally  ex- 
cited a  considerable  sensation  among  divines 
of  all  persuasions,  and  various  answers  were 
published  ;  and  among  the  rest  a  confutation, 
net  unusual  at  the  time,  in  the  form  of  a  pre- 
sentment by  the  grand  jury  of  Middlesex.  To 
withdraw  himself  from  the  obloquy,  he  visited 
his  native  country,  where  the  character  of  his 
work  having  preceded  him,  he  was  assailed 
with  even  greater  violence  than  in  England. 
The  correspondence  between  Molyneux  and 
Locke  shows  that  some  portion  of  this  outcry 
was  produced  by  his  own  vanity  and  impru- 
dence ;  and  lie  seriously  offended  Locke,  who 
had  recommended  him  to  Molyneux,  by  the 
ostentatious  manner  in  which  he  boasted  of 
his  acquaintance.  The  result  was,  that  a 
grand  jury  of  Dublin  imitated  that  of  Middle- 
sex ;  and  the  Irish  parliament  not  only  voted 
his  book  to  be  burnt  by  the  hangman,  but  or- 
dered him  to  be  taken  into  custody  by  the  ser- 
geant-at-arms,  and  prosecuted  by  the  attorney- 
general.  He  was  therefore  obliged  to  quit 
Ireland,  and  soon  after  his  arrival  in  London 
he  published  an  account  of  his  treatment  in 
that  country,  and  declared  himself  a  Protestant 
latitudinarian.  He  followed  this  publication 
by  a  pamphlet,  entitled  "  The  Militia  Re- 
formed ;"  and  by  a  life  of  Milton,  in  which  he 
strongly  opposed  the  common  notion,  that  the 
Eikou  Basilike  was  written  by  Charles  I. 
This  production  drew  upon  him  a  double  set 
of  adversaries,  political  and  religious,  against 
whom  he  defended  himself  in  a  treatise  en- 
titled "  Amyntor,"  in  which  he  gave  a  com- 
plete history  of  the  publication  of  Eikon  Ba- 
silike,  and  also  a  catalogue  of  such  primitive 
writers  as  he  deemed  spurious  ;  which  latter 
topic  bearing  upon  the  authenticity  of  the  re- 
veived  canon  of  Scripture,  was  answered  by 


TO  L 

Mr,  afterwards  Ur  Samuel  Clarke  and  others. 
In  1699  he  published  a  life  of  Denzil  lord 
Holies,  and  in  the  following  year  sent  out  an 
edition  of  Harrington's  Oceana.  These  he 
followed  up  with  various  publications  ;  and  one 
of  them  being  in  favour  of  the  act  of  succes- 
sion, passed  on  the  death  of  the  duke  of  Glou- 
cester in  1701,  he  was  allowed  to  accompany 
the  earl  of  Macclesfield  to  Hanover,  where  he 
was  introduced  to  the  electress  Sophia.  On 
his  return  to  England,  after  a  second  visit  to 
tbe  same  court  and  to  Berlin,  he  published  his 
philosophical  "  Letters  to  Serena,"  meaning 
the  queen  of  Prussia ;  and  two  latter  disserta- 
tions, one  vindicating  Livy  from  the  charge  of 
superstitious  credulity  ;  and  the  other  with  a 
view  to  show  that  Strabo's  account  of  the 
Jewish  religion  was  to  be  preferred  to  that  of 
the  Jews  themselves.  Omitting  allusion  to  a 
variety  of  political  and  other  pamphlets,  in 
1718  he  published  a  work  entitled  "  Naza- 
renus,  or  Jewish,  Gentile,  and  Mahometan 
Christianity,"  in  which  he  stated  his  own 
views  of  primitive  Christianity.  It  was  fol- 
lowed two  years  after  by  a  Latin  tract,  called 
"  Pantheisticon,"  &c.  which  work  has  sub- 
jected him  to  the  charge  of  atheism,  as  one  of 
the  philosophers  who  identity  Deity  with  the 
nature  of  things,  and  represent  it  rather  as  a 
piinciple  than  a  person.  In  the  second  year 
he  published  "  Tetradymnus,"  in  four  parts, 
the  second  of  which  on  the  exoteric  and  eso- 
teric philosophy  of  the  ancients,  is  deemed 
one  of  his  most  learned  and  valuable  produc- 
tions. In  the  conclusion  of  this  work  he  pro- 
fessed his  preference  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion, pure  and  unmixed,  to  all  others.  He  soon 
after  fell  into  a  declining  state  of  health,  and 
being  in  narrow  circumstances,  received  very 
kind  attentions  from  lord  Molyneux  ;  but  his 
disease  being  beyond  remedy,  brought  his  life 
to  a  close  on  the  llth  March  1722,  in  the  fifty- 
third  year  of  his  age.  The  posthumous  works 
of  this  author,  who  was  more  estimable  for 
learning  and  abilities  than  for  character  or 
conduct,  were  published  in  2  vols.  8vo,  1726, 
and  again  in  1747,  with  an  account  of  his  life 

D 

and  writings  by  Des   Maizeaux. — Life  by  Lies 
Maizeaux.     Biog.  Brit. 

TOLLIUS  (CORNELIUS)  a  philological  wri- 
ter, born  at  Utrecht  about  1620.  He  studied 
at  Amsterdam  under  G.  J.  Vossius,  to  whom 
he  became  secretary.  Being  afterwards  ap- 
pointed professor-extraordinary  at  Harderwyk, 
he  obtained  in  1648  the  chair  of  rhetoric  anci 
the  Greek  language  ;  and  the  following  year 
he  delivered  a  funeral  oration  for  his  benefac- 
tor Vossius.  He  died  after  1662,  but  in  what 
year  is  uncertain.  He  was  the  editor  of  the 
work  of  J.  P.  Valeriano,  "  De  Infelicitate  Lit- 
teratorum,"  Amsterd.  1647,  12mo,  to  which 
he  added  a  supplement;  and  he  published  an 
edition  of  Pala?phatus,  "  De  Incredibihbus," 
1649,  12mo. — TOLLIUS  (ALEXANDER)  bro- 
ther of  Cornelius,  studied  also  at  Amsterdam, 
and  became  corrector  of  the  press  to  John 
Blaeuw,  the  printer.  He  is  supposed  to  have 
succeeded  his  brother  at  Harderwyk,  and  he 
died  there  in  1675.,  He  is  known  for  having 


TOO 

published  the  variorum  edition  of  Appian, 
Amsterdam,  1(570,  two  volumes  octavo. — 
TOLLIUS  (JAMES)  another  brother  of  the 
same  family,  was  born  near  Utrecht  about 
1630.  He  was  educated  at  Amsterdam 
and  Utrecht,  and  after  having  been  clerk 
to  a  bookseller,  he  went  to  Stockholm,  to 
become  secretary  to  N.  Heinsius,  who  dis- 
missed him  for  keeping  copies  of  the  notes  he 
transcribed.  He  returned  to  Holland,  and  ob- 
tained the  direction  of  the  gymnasium  of 
Gouda.  At  his  leisure  lie  studied  medicine, 
and  took  the  degree  of  doctor  in  that  faculty 
in  16"69.  He  was  afterwards  professor  of  clas- 
sical learning  at  Duisbourg  ;  and  at  length  he 
engaged  in  speculations  relative  to  the  philo- 
sopher's stone,  and  died  in  distress  in  1696. 
His  principal  work  is  entitled  "  Epistola:  Iti- 
nerariae,"  containing  details  of  his  travels  and 
observations.  He  also  published  editions  of 
Ausonius,  1669,  8vo  ;  and  of  Longinus,  1694, 
4to  ;  and  he  wrote  much  on  alchymy  and  other 
subjects. — Bing.  Univ. 

TOLLIUS  (HERMAN)  a  Dutch  critic,  born 
at  Breda  in  1742.  He  studied  jurisprudence 
at  Leyden,  and  wae  admitted  doctor  of  law  in 
1763.  In  1767  he  was  made  professor  of  rhe- 
toric and  Greek  at  Harderwyk,  and  in  1784 
the  stadtholder  William  V  appointed  him 
tutor  to  his  children.  He  became  professor  of 
statistics  and  diplomacy  at  Leyden  in  1809, 
and  he  died  professor  of  the  Greek  and  Latin 
languages  in  1822.  Besides  a  number  of 
tracts  and  memoirs  on  political  affairs  and 
other  subjects,  he  published  "Apollonii  Lexi- 
con Homericum,  Graece,  cum  Notis  Villoisonii 
et  H.Tollii,"  Leyden,  1788,  8vo.— Id. 

TOMASINI  (GIOVANNI  FILIPPO)  a  native 
of  Padua,  born  1597.  He  at  the  usual  age 
received  the  tonsure,  and  by  his  learning  and 
abilities  rose  to  be  bishop  of  Citta  Nuova,  in 
Istria,  under  the  patronage  of  Urban  VIII. 
He  published  a  life  of  his  illustrious  country- 
man, the  historian  Livy,  an  account  of  the 
manuscripts  in  the  public  library  at  Padua  ; 
"  Petrarcha  Redivivus  ;"  "  Gymnasium  Pa- 
tavinum  ;"  "  lllustrium  Virorum  Elogia,"  2 
vols. ;  and  "  De  Donariis  ac  TabellisVotivis," 
a  learned  work  on  the  Votive  tablets  of  the 
ancients.  His  death  took  place  in  1654. — 
Moreri. 

TOOKE  (ANDREW)  was  one  of  two  bro- 
thers educated  at  the  Charterhouse,  of  which 
the  subject  of  this  article  came  to  be  head 
master.  He  was  a  native  of  the  metropolis, 
born  1673,  and  having  graduated  at  Clare-hall, 
Cambridge,  returned  to  the  seminary  where 
he  had  been  brought  up,  in  quality  of  a  junior 
master,  when  in  his  twenty-second  year.  In 
1704  he  obtained  the  geometry  professorship 
at  Gresham  college,  which  he  resigned  in 
1728,  on  being  appointed  to  the  headship  of 
the  school.  This  situation  he  continued  to  fill 
nil  his  death,  although  a  considerable  fortune, 
which  his  brother  had  amassed  in  trade  as  a 
bookseller,  fell  to  him  by  his  decease,  and  ren- 
dered him  perfectly  independent  in  his  cir- 
cumstances. He  was  the  author  of  several 
useful  school-books,  especially  of  a  synopsis 


TOO 

of  the  Greek  language  ;  an  edition  of  the 
"  Fasti  "  of  Ovid  ;  a  translation  of  the 
•'  Whole  Duty  of  Man,"  from  PuftVndm-f  ; 
and  another  of  the  "Pantheon,  or  Heathen 

i  Mythology,"  better  known  in  this  country  by 
his  name  than  by  that  of  its  real  author,  the 
Jesuit  Pomey,  to  whom  he  had  not  the  candour 

j  to  acknowledge  his  obligations,  but  printed  it 
as  an  original  work.  His  death  took  place  of 
dropsy  in  1731. — He  must  not  be  confounded 
with  another  eminent  schoolmaster,  his  con- 

!  temporary,  THOMAS  TOOKK,  a  native  of  Kent, 
who  having  received  a  classical  education  at 
St  Paul's  school  and  Bene't  college,  Cam- 
bridge, presided  for  upwards  of  thirty  years 
over  the  grammar-school  at  Bishop  Stortford, 
with  a  high  reputation.  With  this  situation 
he  held  the  rectory  of  Lamborue,  Essex,  and 
was  buried  in  the  church  belonging  to  that 
parish,  on  his  death,  which  took  place  in  the 
spring  of  1721. —  King.  Brit. 

TOOKE  (JOHN  HORNE)  a  person  of  con- 
siderable  celebrity  both  in  the  literary  and  po- 
litical world,  was  born  in  Newpoit  street, 
Westminster,  in  June  1736.  His  father,  John 
Home,  was  a  poulterer  in  Newport  market, 
who  having  acquired  considerable  property, 
reputably  brought  up  a  family  of  seven  chil- 
dren. John,  the  third  son,  was  educated  both 
at  Westminster  and  Eton,  whence  he  was  re- 
moved to  St  John's  college,  Cambridge,  where 
he  took  the  degree  of  BA.  In  1756  he  had 
entered  himself  of  the  Inner  Temple,  but  at 
the  earnest  request  of  his  family  he  consented 
to  be  ordained,  and  was  inducted  to  the  cha- 
pelry  of  New  Brentford,  which  his  father  had 
purchased  for  him.  Three  years  afterwards 
he  accompanied,  as  travelling  tutor,  the  son 
of  Mr  Elwes  of  Berkshire,  in  a  tour  to  France. 
On  his  return  he  took  a  warm  share  in  oppo- 
sition politics, -in  behalf  of  the  celebrated  John 
Wilkes,  to  whom  on  a  second  visit  to  Paris  he 
was  personally  introduced,  and  an  intimate 
friendship  ensued.  On  this  second  tour  he  re- 
tained in  his  appearance  no  outward  mark  of 
the  clerical  office,  of  which,  in  an  often-quoted 
letter  to  Wilkes,  he  expressed  himself  with 
sarcastic  contempt.  When  he  returned  to 
England  however  he  resumed  his  black  coat 
and  his  functions,  and  obtained  some  distinc- 
tion in  the  pulpit,  until  the  return  of  Wilkes, 
who  became  a  candidate  to  represent  the 
county  of  Middlesex,  plunged  him  again  into 
politics,  and  it  was  very  much  through  his  in- 
fluence and  activity  that  the  latter  was  suc- 
cessful. It  was  also  through  his  instigation 
that  Mr  Beckford,  then  lord-mayor,  made  the 
verbal  rejoinder  to  his  majesty's  answer  to  a 
remonstrance  of  the  city  of  London,  suhse- 

,  quently  inscribed  on  the  pedestal  of  that  ma- 
gistrate's statue  in  Guildhall.  He  is  likewise 
regarded  as  the  principal  founder  of  the  "  So- 

1  ciety  for  supporting  the  Bill  of  Eights."  In 
1770  and  1771  a  public  altercation  took  place 
between  Messrs  Wilkes  and  Home,  arising 
from  the  indignation  of  the  latter  at  seeing 
attempts  made  to  render  the  above-mentioned 
society  instrumental  to  the  discharge  ef  the 
former's  private  debts.  As  usual  in  such  dis- 


TOO 

putes,  disclosures  took  place  to  the  injury  of 
both  parties  ;  but  there  appeared  no  political 
stain  in  the  character  of  Mr  Home,  who  how- 
ever lost  much  of  his  popularity.  In  1771, 
afier  some  opposition,  he  graduated  MA.  at 
Cambridge.  It  was  through  his  means  that 
two  printers  of  the  newspapers  were  in  the 
same  year  induced  to  violate  the  orders  of  the 
house  of  Commons,  by  publishing  their  de- 
bates, which  brought  on  those  extraordinary 
proceedings  which  terminated  in  a  disgraceful 
defeat  of  the  house,  and  the  unopposed  prac- 
tice of  such  publication  ever  since.  The  same 
vear  also  witnessed  his  contest  with  Junius,  in 
which  in  the  general  opinion  he  came  off  victor. 
In  1773  he  resigned  his  clerical  gown,  and 
shut  himself  up  in  retirement,  with  a  view  to 
study  for  the  bar  :  and  it  was  by  affording  le- 
gal advice  to  Mr  Tooke  of  Purley,  in  his  oppo- 
sition to  an  enclosure  bill,  and  defeating  the 
same  by  a  boldness  of  stratagem  peculiarly  in 
character,  that  he  acquired  the  good  will  and 
ultimately  shared  in  the  fortune  of  that  gentle- 
man. He  was  a  warm  opponent  of  the  Ame- 
rican war,  and  was  prosecuted  for  sedition, 
for  the  wording  of  a  resolution,  by  which  the 
Constitutional  Society  voted  1001.  to  the  wi- 
dows and  children  of  the  Americans  who  fell 
in  the  battle  of  Lexington.  For  this  obnox- 
ious paragraph  he  was  tried  at  Guildhall  in 
1777,  on  which  occasion  he  defended  himself 
with  his  characteristic  spirit  and  acuteness, 
but  was  sentenced  to  a  year's  imprisonment 
and  a  fine  of  200L  In  1779,  after  having  fully 
prepared  for  the  bar,  lie  applied  for  admission 
to  the  society  of  the  Inner  Temple,  and  was 
refused,  on  the  ground  that  he  was  still  a 
priest  and  ineligible  ;  a  decision  which  de- 
stroyed all  his  future  views  in  a  profession  for 
which  he  was  eminently  calculated.  In  1780 
he  published  a  keen  review  of  lord  North's 
administration,  in  a  pamphletentitled  "  Facts," 
and  in  1782  addressed  "  A  Letter  on  Parlia- 
mentary Reform,  with  a  Sketch  of  a  Plan," 
which  did  not  embrace  the  principle  of  uni- 
versal suffrage.  About  this  time  he  became 
the  avowed  friend  of  Mr  Pitt,  then  also  fa- 
vourable to  parliamentary  reform,  and  a  vehe- 
ment opponent  to  Mr  Fox  for  his  coalition 
with  lord  North.  In  1786  he  appeared  in  a 
character  more  important  to  his  lasting  repu- 
tation than  that  of  a  subordinate  politician,  by 
the  publication  of  an  octavo  volume,  entitled 
"  Epea  Pteroenta,  or  the  Diversions  of  Pur- 
ley," which  he  afterwards  expanded  into  two 
volumes  quarto.  In  this  celebrated  work  he 
gave  expression  to  those  ideas  concerning 
grammar  and  the  formation  of  words  of  which 
the  germ  had  appeared  in  a  letter  to  Mr  Dun- 
ning some  vears  before.  Of  these  one  of  the 

a  J 

most  prominent  was  the  derivation  of  preposi- 
tions and  conjunctions  from  verbs  and  nouns, 
an  din  consequence  assigning  the  ma  determinate 
meaning,  often  different  from  that  which  had 
been  arbitrarily  given  to  them.  The  know- 
ledge of  language  and  logical  acuteness  which 
he  displayed  iu  this  performance  raised  him  to 
a  high  rank  as  a  philologist,  and  it  was  thought 
that  he  would  form  a  new  era  iu  the  philo- 


TOO 

sopliy  connected  with  the  theory  of  language' 
He  himself  seemed  to   entertain  an  opinion  o' 
this  kind  ;  but  no  one  has  hitherto  attempted 
any  adequate  superstructure  upon  his  founda- 
tion.    In  1788   he   published    "  Two    Pair  of 
Portraits,"  the  figures  in  which  were  the  two 
Pitts  and  the  two  Foxes,  of  the  past  and  pre- 
sent generation,  the  preference  being  given  to 
the  Pitts.     In  1790    he  offered  himself  as  a 
candidate   for  Westminster,   in   opposition  to 
Mr  Fox  and  lord  Hood,  when  he  distinguished 
himself  by   the  strong  vein  of  humour  in  his 
daily  addresses  to  the  populace  ;  and  although 
he  failed,  lie  polled  one  thousand   seven  hun- 
dred votes,  without  solicitation  or  corruption. 
The  year  1794  was  an   important    era  in   his 
life,  being  apprehended  and  committed  to  the 
Tower  on  a  charge  of  high   treason,  founded 
on  the  presumed  objects  of  the  corresponding 
and  other  societies  to  overthrow  the  constitu- 
tion.    It  is  unnecessary  here  to  enter  into  the 
details  which  led  to  this  severity,  his  trial  with 
that  of  the  other  parties  accused  at  the  same 
time,  holding  a  conspicuous   place  in  the  his- 
torical annals  of  a  period  rendered  so  remarka- 
ble by  the  excitement  produced  by  the  French 
revolution.     The  trial  of  Mr  Tooke,  although 
made  interesting  by  Jhe   ease,  self-possession, 
and  acuteness  displayed   by  the  accused,  was 
deprived  of  much  political  importance  by  the 
previous  acquittal  of  Hardy  insuring  his  own. 
From  this   time,  however,   he  was  more  cau- 
tious in  his   company,  and  seems  to  have  de- 
clined the  visits  of  persons  of  violent  characters 
and  principles  at  Wimbledon.     It  is  to  be  no- 
ticed thatafcer  the  death  of  Mr  Tooke  of  Pur- 
ley,  he   had  taken  his  name,  in   consequence 
of  inheriting  a  portion  of  the   fortune  of  that 
gentleman,  which,  after  some   litigation,  ulti- 
mately reached  him.     In  1796   he  again  of- 
fered   himself    for  Westminster    and    failed, 
although  with  a  greater  accession  of  votes  than 
before  ;  and  in  1801,  notwithstanding  his  sar- 
casm against  rotten  boroughs,   he  accepted  a 
seat  for  Old  Sarum,  on  the  nomination  of  lord 
Camelford.     His     parliamentary    career    was 
neither  long  nor  distinguished  ;  but  an  attempt 
to  exclude  him  on  the   ground  of  ordination 
was  turned  aside  by  the  minister,  Mr  Adding- 
ton,  who  substituting  a  bill   to  determine  the 
future  ineligibility  of  persons  in  that  predica- 
ment,   the  political  life  of    Mr  Tooke  closed 
with    the  dissolution   of  parliament  in  1802. 
In  1805  he  published   a   second  part   of  the 
"  Diversions  of  Purley,"  which  is  chiefly  de- 
dicated to  etymology,  and  adjectives  and  par- 
ticiples, and  their  formation  ;  but  also  abounded 
like  the  former,  with  various  satirical  strictures 
on  literary  characters  of  note,  the  reputations 
of  some  of  whom  have  beeo   permanently  af- 
fected by  them.  He  survived,  although  latterly 
with   considerable  infirmity,  until  March  19, 
1812,  when  he  expired  at  Wimbledon,  in  his 
seventy-seventh   year.     His  latter  days  were 
cheered  by  easy  circumstances,    and   the  at- 
tention of  numerous  visitors,  whom  he  treated 
with  great  hospitality,  and  amused   with   his 
conversation,  which  was    singularly    pleasant 
and   lively,    although    at  the  same   time    he 


TOP 

would  ofcen  make  his  guests  objects  of  his 
satire,  which  he  would  cover  with  the  most 
imperturbable  countenance.  At  the  same  time 
liis  manners  were  polished,  and  his  appearance 
that  of  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school.  The 
stronger  points  of  his  character  are  tolerably 
well  unfolded  by  his  singular  career.  As 
regards  the  essentials  of  truth,  honour,  and 
integrity,  forming  in  n  popular  sense  the  mo- 
rality of  a  gentleman,  his  character  was  never 
seriously  impeached  ;  but  he  manifested  a  li- 
bertinism in  his  habits  and  discourse,  very  un- 
becoming his  profession,  and  latterly  his  age. 
Asa  public  man  he  exhibited  too  much  cyni- 
cism and  asperity  for  a  perfect  patriot,  being 
rather  an  able  and  active  offensive  partisan. 
As  a  scholar  he,  possessed  considerable  learn- 
ing, but  it  is  supposed  that  his  knowledge  of 
modern  languages  was  in  proportion  more 
considerable  than  his  profundity  in  Greek 
and  Latin  :  his  acquaintance  with  the  Gothic, 
as  he  has  shown  in  his  etymological  re- 
searches, was  very  extensive.  He  was  never 
married,  but  left  natural  children,  to  whom  he 
bequeathed  his  property. — Steplie/is's  Memoirs 
of  J.  II.  Tooke. 

TOOKE,  FRS.  (WILLIAM)  a  native  of  Is- 
lington, in  the  neighbourhood  of  London,  born 
1744,  and  bred  a  printer  ;  but  having  obtained 
ordination,  he  went  out  to  Russia  as  chaplain 
to  the  English  factory  at  Cronstadt,  which  si- 
tuation he  subsequently  exchanged  for  a  more 
lucrative  one  of  a  similar  description  at  St 
Petersburg.  Mr  Tooke  is  known  as  the  author 
of  a  "  History  of  Russia;"  a  "  Life  of  the 
Empress  Catherine  II  ;"  '•'  A  View  of  the 
Russian  Empire  ;"  a  miscellany  entitled  "  Va- 
rieties of  Literature,"  8vo,  2  vols. ;  and  as  the 
translator  of  the  works  of  Lucian  in  two  quarto 
vols.  and  the  sermons  of  Zollikoffer.  Although 
much  of  his  life  was  passed  abroad,  his  deat'i 
took  place  in  England  in  1820. — Ann,  Biog. 

TOPHAM  (EDWARD)  a  miscellaneous  wri- 
ter, was  the  son  of  Dr  Topham,  judge  of  the 
prerogative  court  at  York.  He  was  educated 
at  Eton,  whence  he  was  removed  to  Trinity- 
college,  Cambridge,  on  quitting  which  he  en- 
tered the  guards,  where  he  attained  the  rank 
of  major.  He  ultimately  became  proprietor  of 
a  fashionable  paper  entitled  the  World,  which 
he  contributed  to  support  by  various  lively 
pieces  in  prose  and  verse.  His  curious  memoir 
of  the  celebrated  miser,  John  Elwes,  of  Berk- 
shire, which,  when  published  separately,  ran 
through  two  editions,  appeared  first  in  this 
journal.  He  also  wrote  "  Letters  from  Edin- 
burgh," 8vo  ;  "  Address  to  Edmund  Burke, 
Esq."  8vo  ;  "  Account  of  a  Stone  which  fell 
from  the  Clouds  on  his  Estate  in  Yorkshire." 
He  died  in  1820. — Gent.  Mag. 

TOPLADY  (AUGUSTUS  MONTAGUE)  a 
strenuous  advocate  for  the  Calvinism  of  the 
church  of  England,  was  born  at  Faniham  in 
Surrey,  November  4,  1740.  His  father,  a  cap- 
tain in  the  army,  died  at  the  siege  of  Cai  thagena 
soon  after  his  birth.  He  received  the  rudi- 
ments of  his  education  at  Westminster  school, 
but  his  mother  being  obliged  to  visit  Ireland, 
to  pursue  a  claim  to  an  estate  in  that  country, 


TO  R 

he  accompanied  her  thither,  and  was  entered 
of  Trinity  college,  Dublin,  where  he  graduated 
BA.  lie  received  orders  i:>  176^,  and  after 
some  time  was  inducted  into  the  living  of 
Broad  Ilembury,  in  Devonshire.  Here  he 
lived  for  several  years,  and  composed  most  of 
his  writings,  occasionally  visiting  and  spending 
intervals  in  London.  At  length,  in  1775,  find- 
ing his  constitution  much  impaired  by  the 
moist  atmosphere  of  Devonshire,  lie  removed 
to  London  entirely,  and  at  the  solicitation  of 
his  numerous  friends,  engaged  the  chapel  be- 
longing to  the  French  Protestants  in  Leici-ster- 
fields,  where  he  preached  twice  in  the  w  L 
while  his  health  permitted,  and  afterwards  oc- 
casionally, until  his  death  in  August  11,1778, 
which  event,  it  is  supposed,  was  hastened  by 
his  intense  application  to  study.  His  writings, 
collected  in  six  volumes,  octavo,  are  almost 
exclusively  controversial,  in  favour  of  the  Cal- 
vinism of  the  Church  of  England,  and  in  op- 
position to  John  Wesley,  to  whom  lie  more 
especially  opposed  himself.  The  chief  of  these 
are  "  The  Church  of  England  vindicated  from 
the  charge  of  Arminianism  ;"  "  The  Doctrine 
of  absolute  Predestination  stated  and  asserted ;" 
and  "  Historical  Proofs  of  the  Calvinism  of 
the  Church  of  England."  This  zealous  di- 
vine possessed  considerable  talents  for  argu- 
mentation, and  brought  a  larger  share  of  me- 
taphysical acuteness  into  the  Calvinistic  con- 
troversy than  any  other  of  the  modern  wri- 
ters on  the  subject. — Life  prefixed  to  Works. 

TORELLI  (GIUSEPPE)  an  Italian  mathe- 
matician and  miscellaneous  writer,  who  was  a 
native  of  Verona.  He  studied  at  Pisa,  and 
took  the  degree  of  doctor  of  law,  but  he  did 
not  engage  in  professional  practice.  He  was 
not  only  skilled  in  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew, 
but'also  acquainted  with  the  English  and  other 
modern  languages.  Mathematics  principally 
occupied  his  attention,  to  which  he  added  a 
considerable  knowledge  of  classical  archeeology. 
He  died  in  1781,  at  the  age  of  sixty.  He  pub- 
lished an  Italian  translation  of  the  first  twc 
books  of  the  JLneid;  and  a  version  in  the 
same  language  of  Gray's  Elegy  written  in  a 
Country  Churchyard  ;  but  he  is  principally 
known  on  account  of  his  edition  of  the  works 
of  Archimedes,  printed  at  Oxford,  1792,  folio. 
— Hiog.  Univ. 

TORELLI  (POMPONIO)  count  of  Mont!  - 
chiarugolo,  in  the  Parmesan,  a  poet  and  in;in 
of  letters  of  the  sixteenth  century.  He  was 
educated  at  Padua,  whence,  after  a  residence 
|  of  eleven  years,  he  returned  to  his  native 
'  place,  and  married.  He  chiefly  employed 
himself  in  literary  composition,  an-d  besides 
j  publishing  several  Italian  poems,  and  a  trea- 
tise "  Del  Debito  del  Cavaliero,"  1596,  com- 
posed four  tragedies,  entitled  "  La  Merope," 
"  II  Tancredi,"  "  La  Galatea,"  "  La  Yit- 
toria;"  and  "  II  Polidoro."  These,  for  ele- 
gance of  style  and  regularity  of  plan,  aro 
equal  to  any  of  the  age,  although  rendered  in- 
sipid by  too  close  an  attention  to  the  Greek 
models.  lie  also  left  a  number  of  pieces  in 
manuscript,  which  are  preserved  at  Reggio. 
He  died  in  1608. — 


TOR 


T  O  11 


TOUKllUS  (THKAMODUS)  a  learned  Dan-  '  Psaltp.rio,"  Rome,  1470;  "Meditations," 
isli  historian  and  antiquary,  was  born  in  Ice-  !  P,ome,  1474.  He  also  wrote  several  sli  >rt 
land.  He  was  partly  educated  in  his  native  !  treatises  in  Latin,  in  servile  defence  of  ultra- 
place,  but  in  1 654  was  sent  to  the  university  of  j  montane  opinions,  and  the  policy  of  the  court 


Copenhagen.  He  ultimately  so  distinguished 
himself  by  his  acquaintance  with  history,  that 
he  was  recommended  to  the  king  of  Denmark 
to  translate  the  Icelandic  MSS.  in  his  library. 
He  executed  this  task  so  much  to  the  king's 
satisfaction,  that  he  retained  him  for  several 
years  in  his  court,  and  employed  him  in  genera! 
affairs.  As  a  reward  for  these  services,  a  va- 
luable place  in  the  customs  was  bestowed 
upon  him  ;  which  employment  not  suiting  him, 
he  was  soliciting  an  exchange,  when  the  king 
died,  and  his  successor  Christian  V  appointed 
Torfaeus  his  historiographer,  with  a  salary  of 
600  German  crowns.  This  stipend  enabled 
•  him  to  pursue  his  researches  into  history  and 
antiquities  at  his  ease  until  his  deatli  in  1719 
or  1720,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty.  As 
an  historian  he  occupies  a  high  rank  among 
his  countrymen,  notwithstanding  which  all 
his  works  are  scarce.  Those  best  known  are 
"  Historia  Rerum  Norvegicarum,"  Copen- 
hagen, 1741,  2  vols.  folio  ;  "  Orcades,  seu 
llerum  Orcadensium  llistori»  libri  tres," 
ibid.  1697 — 1715,  folio  ;  "  Series  Djnastarum 
et  Regutn  Danire  a  Skioldo  Odini  Filio  ad 
Gormum  Grandrevum,"  ibid.  1702,  folio  , 
"  Historife  Vinlandiae  antiqua?,"  1705,  8vo; 
"  Groenlaudia  antiqua,  seu  Veteris  Groen- 
landiaa  Descriptio,"  1706,  8vo. — Morcn.  Biiig. 
Viiiv. 

TORNIELLI  (AGOSTINO),  a  learned  eccle- 
siastic, born  at  Novarain  1543,  entered  into  the 
society  of  the  Barnabites,  of  which  he  became 
the  general.  He  composed  an  ecclesiastical 
history,  from  the  beginning  of  the  world  to 
the  time  of  Christ,  in  the  form  of  annals  ;  and 
was  the  first  who  did  so,  to  any  extent,  and 
with  due  accuracy.  This  work,  which  clears 
up  many  obscurities  in  chronology,  geography, 
and  topography,  is  regarded  as  an  excellent 
commentary  on  the  books  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. An  edition  of  it,  with  several  additions 
by  father  Negri,  of  the  same  order,  was  pub- 
lished at  Lucca  iu  1757,  in  4  vols.  folio.  Tor- 
nielli  was  offered  a  bishopric  by  the  duke  of 
Mantua,  but  preferred  the  tranquillity  of  his 
cloister,  where  he  died  in  1622. — Dupin. 
Tiraboschi. 

TORQUEMADA  (JOHN  DE),  a  celebrated 
dominican,  better  known  by  the  name  of  Tur- 
recremata,  was  born  in  1388  of  a  noble  family 
of  Valiadolid.  He  attended  the  council  of 
Constance  in  1417,  and  was  admitted  a  doctor 
of  the  Sorbonue  in  1429  ;  he  also  held  some 
important  offices  in  his  order,  and  was  ap- 
pointed master  of  the  sacred  palace  at  Rome. 
He  was  sent  by  pope  Eugenius  IV  to  the 
council  of  Basil,  where  he  strongly  defended 
the  interests  of  Rome  ;  for  which,  in  1439,  he 
was  created  a  cardinal.  He  performed  great 
services  for  his  order,  and  died  at  Rome  in 
1  168,  aged  eighty.  His  works  are,  "  Commen- 
taries on  Gratian's  Decretal,"  Venice,  1578; 
"  A  Treatise  on  the  Church  and  Papal  Autho- 
rity,1' Venice,  1563;  "  E*positio  super  toto 


of  Rome.  This  bigoted  and  persecuting  pre- 
late was  confessor  to  Isabella,  queen  of  Cas- 
tile, from  her  infancy  ;  and  is  said  to  have 
made  her  promise,  that  if  ever  she  came  to  the 
throne  she  would  make  the  punishment  and 
destruction  of  heretics  her  principal  object. — 
Dupin.  Moreri. 

TORRE  (Fn.ippo  DEL),  a  learned  anti- 
quary, was  born  in  1657  of  a  noble  family  at 
Ciudad  de  Friuli.  He  studied  polite  litera- 
ture at  Padua,  under  the  celebrated  Ottavio 
Ferrari ;  and  after  adding  to  his  other  ac- 

'  o 

quisitions  the  knowledge  of  mathematics, 
jurisprudence,  and  anatomy,  he  returned  to  his 
native  country.  Iu  1687  he  proceeded,  for 
further  improvement,  to  Rome,  where  he 
gained  the  esteem  and  friendship  of  some  of 
the  most  eminent  prelates  in  the  papal  court, 
and  in  1702  waa  nominated  bishop  of  Adria 
by  pope  Clement  XI.  He  then  removed  to 
his  see,  which  he  governed  with  great  reputa- 
tion until  his  death,  which  took  place  in  1717. 
The  principal  writings  of  this  prelate  are 
"  Monumenta  Veteris  Antii,"  4to,  which 
ranks  high  among  those  of  the  class  ;  "  Tauro- 
boiium  Antiquum,  Lugduui  repertum,  1704, 
cum  Explicatione  ;"  "  De  Annis  linperii  M. 
Aurelii  Antonini,  Ileliogabali,"  &c.  4to,  1714. 
—  Fabroni.  Tiraboschi. 

TORRE  (GIOVANNI  MARIA  DELLA),  an 
eminent  natural  philosopher,  w  as  born  at  Rome 
of  a  family  originally  of  Genoa,  and  studied  at 
the  Clementine  college.  He  afterwards  he- 
came  professor  of  philosophy  and  the  mathe' 
ma  tics  at  Ciudad  de  Friuli ;  which  he  quitted 
for  Naples,  where,  in  1754,  he  was  appointed 
librarian  to  the  king,  superintendant  of  the 
royal  printing  office,  and  keeper  of  the  mu- 
seum. Here  he  applied  himself  to  his  favourite 
pursuits,  one  of  which  was  the  improvement 
of  microscopes,  which  he  brought  to  a  high 
degree  of  perfection,  by  inventing  the  highest 
magnifiers  that  had  ever  been  known,  some  of 
which  he  presented  to  our  Royal  Society.  He 
was  a  member  of  all  the  principal  academies 
of  Italy,  as  well  as  a  corresponding  one  of 
those  of  Paris,  London,  and  Berlin.  He.  died 
March  7,  1782.  His  principal  works  are, 
"  On  Natural  Philosophy,"  Naples,  1749,  2 
vols.  ;  "  Elementa  Physical,"  1767,  8  vols.  ; 
"  History  and  Phenomena  of  Vesuvius,"  1755, 
4to ;  "  Microscopical  Observations,"  1766, 
&c. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

TORRENTIUS  (JOHN)  a  Dutch  painter,  a 
native  of  Amsterdam,  who  disgraced  himself 
by  the  prostitution  of  his  talents.  He  dis- 
played great  skill  in  his  spirited  delineations 
of  small  figures  ;  but  on  account  of  his  ob- 
scene pictures  and  irregular  conduct  while  in 
Italy,  he  was  seized  by  order  of  the  inquisitors, 
and  died  in  the  prison  of  the  holy  office  in 
1640. — Sandrart.  Orlandi 

TORRENTIUS  (LasviNus)  the  Latinized 
denomination  of  a  learned  Flemish  critic, 
whose  family  name  was  Vander  Beken.  Ha 


TO  R 

was  born  at  Client  in  1525,  and  he  studi"<i  at 
Louvain,  anil  afterwards  at  the  univei>ity  of 
Bologna.  After  having  been  employed  in  di- 
plomatic affairs,  he  entered  into  holy  onirrs, 
and  was  raised  to  the  see  of  Antwerp.  He 
was  subsequently  archbishop  of  Mechlin, 
where  lie  died  iu  1593.  Torrentius  was  dis- 
tinguished as  a  classical  commentator  and  a 
writer  of  Latin  poetry.  His  notes  on  Horace 
have  been  frequently  printed.  He  was  the 
founder  of  a  Jesuit's  college  at  Louvain,  to 
which  he  bequeathed  his  library  and  museum. 
— J\[nreri.  Hi"g-  Univ. 

TOR11ICELLI    (KVANGF.MSTE)  an    illus- 
trious mathematician  and  philosopher,  born  at 
Faenza,  in  Italy,   October  15,1608.     He  was 
instructed  in   Greek  and   Latin  by  his  uncle 
who  was  a  monk,  probably  with  a  view  to  his 
obtaining-  preferment   in    the   church  ;  but  his 
genius  induced  him  to  devote  himself  to  the 
study  of  mathematics,  which  he  attended   to 
for   some   time  without  a  master  ;  but  at  the 
age  of  twenty   he    went  to  Rome,   and    pro- 
secuted  his    studies  under    father    Benedict 
Castelli.     Torricelli  thus  assisted  made  great 
improvement,   and  having  read  Galileo's  Dia- 
logues,  he   composed    a    treatise   concerning 
Motion,  according  to  his  principles.     Castelli, 
astonished    at    the    ability   displayed   in    this 
piece,  took  it  to  Galileo  at  Florence,  who  con- 
ceived a  high  opinion  of  the  author,  and  en- 
gaged him  as  his  amanuensis.      He  entered  on 
this  office  in  October  1641,  but  Galileo  dying 
three  months  after,  Torricelli  was  about  to  re- 
turn to  Rome,  when  the  grand  duke  of  Tus- 
cany, Ferdinand  II,  engaged   him  to  continue 
at  Florence,  giving  him  the  title  of  ducal  ma- 
thematician, and  the  promise   of  a  professor- 
ship  in  the    university  on  the    first  vacancy. 
Here  he  applied  himself  closely  to  study,  and 
made    many    improvements    and    some    dis- 
coveries in  mathematics,   physics,   and  astro- 
nomy.    He  vastly   improved  the  construction 
of  microscopes  and  telescopes  ;  and   he  is  ge- 
nerally considered  as  having   first  ascertained 
the  gravity  of  the  air,  by  means  of  mercury  in 
a  glass  tube,  whence   resulted   the  barometer. 
He  would  probably  have  added   more   to  the 
stores  of  science  if  he  had  not   been   cut  off 
prematurely,  after  a  few  days'  illness,  in  Oct. 
1647.     He  published  in   1644   a  volume  en- 
titled "  Opera  Geometrica  ;"    and  his  acade- 
mical lectures  were  printed  in  17 15. — Martin's 
Biog,  Philos.     Aikiu's  Gen.  Biog. 

TORRIGIANO  (PIETRO)  a  Florentine 
tist  of  great  eminence,  who  flourished  to- 
wards the  close  of  the  fifteenth  and  the  com- 
mencement of  the  succeeding  century.  He  was 
born  in  1472,  and  while  yet  a  lad  gave  evi- 
dence of  that  genius  for  sculpture  which  time 
only  was  wanting  to  bring  to  perfection.  Be- 
ing at  the  time  a  fellow-student  with  the  fa- 
mous Michael  Angela  Buonaroti,  a  dispute, 
arising  from  a  jealousy  excusable  perhaps  in 
such  artists,  with  respect  to  their  comparative 
proficiency,  terminated  in  blows  ;  one  of  which 
from  the  hand  of  Torrigiano  bioke  the  bridsre 

o  n 

of  his  antagonist's  nose,  and  inflicted  a  mark 
which   he  carried  to  his  grave.     While  in  the 


T  0  T 

zenith  of  his  reputation,  he  came  to  this 
country,  which  he  afterwards  quitted  for 
Spain,  and  there  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
holy  office,  being  denounced  as  guilty  of  im- 
piety and  sacrilege  in  breaking  to  pieces  a  sta- 
tue of  the  virgin,  which  he  had  himself  exe- 
cuted for  an  hidalgo,  who  afterwards  refused 
to  pay  him  an  adequate  reward.  He  was  con- 
demned to  expiate  his  crime  at  the  stake,  but 
avoided  the  torture  and  ignominy  of  a  public 
execution,  by  refusing  all  manner  of  food,  and 
dying  in  consequence  of  exhaustion,  previously 
to  the  celebration  of  the  auto  da  fe  in  1522. 
He  has  left  a  splendid  specimen  of  his  abi- 
lities here, in  the  beautiful  tomb  of  Henry  VII, 
to  be  seen  in  the  chapel  erected  by  that  mon- 
arch in  Westminster  abbey. — Cumberland's 
Anec.  of  Paint. 

TOTILA,  king  of  the  Ostrogoths  in  Italy, 
succeeded  to  the  throne  on  the  murder  of  his 
uncle  Eraric  in  541,  having  previously  much 
distinguished  himself  in   the  war  against  the 
Romans.     The  confusion  among  the  Goths  at 
this  period,  induced  the  Romans  to  make  an 
attempt  upon  their  capital  Verona,  which  was 
unsuccessful  ;   and  soon  after  Totila  defeated 
them    still   more    signally   near    Faenza.     He 
then    invested    Florence,    but    broke    up    the 
siege  to  meet  the  Romans,  whom  he  a  second 
time   defeated,    and   reduced    all    the    strong 
places  in  Tuscany.      He  then  marched  through 
Italy,     took     Beneventum,     and    formed    the 
blockade  of   Naples.     After  the  failure  of  two 
fleets,  despatched  by  the  emperor  to  succour 
the  garrison,  it  was  obliged  to  surrender  ;  and 
Totila,  who  in  the  meantime  had  reduced  the 
arovinces  of  Lucania,    Apulia,  and  Calabria, 
ed  his   army  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Rome, 
and  posted  himself  at  Tivoli,  within  eighteen 
miles  from  the  capital.     The  danger  of  Rome 
low  urged    the    emperor  Justinian     to  recal 
Belisarius  from  the  Persian  war,  and  send  him 
o  its  relief.     Rendered  unable,  from  disparity 
of  force,   to  meet  the  Goths   in  the  field,  that 
able  general  sailed  to  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber, 
and   sought   to  throw  succours  into  the  city  ; 
but  not  succeeding,   Rome  was  abandoned  to 
its  fate,  and  fell  into  the   possession  of  Totila. 
Very  little  bloodshed  ensued  ;  but  he  indulged 
his   Goths  with    free   liberty   of  pillage,    and 
many  of  the  wealthy  citizens  and  their  families 
were  reduced  to  beggary.     He  then  sent  Pe- 
lagius  on  an  embassy  to  Justinian  to  proffer  a 
treaty  of  amity  ;  which  being  rejected,  he  was 
so  much   incensed,  that  he  proceeded   to  the 
demolition  of  the  city,   and   had  destroyed  a 
third  part,  when  he  was  induced  by  Belisarius 
to  desist.   On  quitting  it,  however,  to  march  to 
Lucania,  he  carried   the  senators  along  with 
him  ;  and   Belisarius  and  his  small  army  soon 
after  occupied  the  vacant  city,   and   began  to 
repair    the  fortifications   and  recal    the   inha- 
bitants.      Upon    intelligence    of    this  event, 
Totila  returned,  and  made  a  furious  assault,  in 
which   he  was   repulsed  with  great  loss,   and 
symptoms  of  disobedience  began  to  appear  in  his 
army.   Having  received  a  reinforcement,  how- 
ever, he  made  a  second  attempt,   and,   by  the 
treachery   of  some   Isauriau   guards,  was  en- 


r  o 


abled  to  re-enter    Rome.     On    this  occasion, 
policy  induced  him  to  master  his  resentment, 
and   he  not  only  restored  the  senators  to  their 
honours,   and  the  inhabitants  to   their  posses- 
sions, but  repaired   many   of   the    walls   and 
buildings  which   he  had   formerly  demolished. 
He  then  made  proposals  to  J  ustinian  a  second 
time,  which  were   not  even   listened  to  ;    on 
which,  after  taking   Rhegium  and  Tarentum, 
lie  passed  over  to   Sicily,  and  made    himself 
master  of  that  island  ;  as  also  those  of  Sardinia 
and  Corsica.     His  troops   were   in    the  mean 
time    besieging    Ancona  ;    but  a   naval   force 
being  sent   to  its  relief,  the  siege  was  raised, 
and  the  recovery  of  Sicily  soon  after  followed. 
At    length   Justinian,   resolved   to  free    Italy, 
recalled  Belisarius,  and  despatched  a  powerful 
armv  to  its  relief  under  the   able  and  valiant 
Narses,    with    which    he    advanced    directly 
'towards    Rome.      Totila,    assembling  all   his 
forces,  met  him  in  the  neighbourhood  of  that 
capital  ;  and  Narses  proposing  no  better  terms 
than  a    simple   offer  of    pardon,    the  Gothic 
monarch  declared  his  resolution  to  conquer  or 
to  die.     A   day  was  agreed  upon  for  the  com- 
bat ;  but  in  the  interval  Totila  attempted  to 
surprise  his   foe,   who,   being  wary  and  pre- 
pared,  a  furious  battle  was  the  consequence, 
iu  which  the    Goths  were   entirely  defeated, 
and  their  leader,  perceiving  the   day  was  lost, 
quitted  the  field  with   no   more  than  five  com- 
panions.      Being   overtaken     by    a   party    of 
Gepidffi,  Asbad,  their  commander,  not  know- 
ing him,  ran   a  lance  through  his  body.     His 
faithful    companions    bore    him   seven    miles 
from   the  scene  of  action,   when  he   expired 
in    July,    552,    in   the   eleventh   year  of  his 
reign  ;  and  with  him  expired  the  revived  glory 
of  the  Goths  in  Italy.     His  character  is  highly 
spoken  of  by  the  historians  of  the  time,  who 
commend  him  for  valour,  tempered  by  huma- 
nity and   moderation,  and  for  the  justice  and 
equity  of  his  government,  when  it  was  once 
submitted  to.  —  Univ.  Hist.  Gibbon. 

TOULMIN   (JOSHUA),    a    dissenting    di- 

vine,  of  the    general  baptist  persuasion,   ant 

also  an  Unitarian,  was  born  in  London,  about 

1742.     He  officiated  several  years  as  minister 

t6  a  congregation  at  Taunton,  in  Somersetshire 

where   he  also  carried  on  the   business  of  a 

bookseller.     On  the  emigration  of  Dr.  Priest- 

ley to  America,   he  was  appointed  to  succeet 

him  by  the   united   congregation  at  Birming- 

ham, where  he  died  in   1815,  aged  seventy- 

three.     Dr.  Toulmin,  who  obtained   a  degre 

from   an  American  college,  was  a  very  indus 

trious  writer  and   compiler,  and  published  se 

veral  works,  of  which  the  principal  are,  "  Tin 

Life  of  Socinus,"  8vo  ;  "  Dissertation  on  tht 

Evidences  of    Christianity,"  8vo  ;    "  Life  o 

John   Biddle  ;"  "  History  of  Taunton,"  4to 

a  new  edition  of  Neal's  I  listory  of  the  Puritans 

5  vols.  8vo  ;   "  Biography  of  Dr.  Priestley  ;f 

*'  Memoirs  of  Samuel    Brown  ;"  "  Histories 

View  of  the  Protestant  Dissenters."  —  Month/ 

Mag. 

TOUP  (JONATHAN),  a  learned  divine  and 
critic,  was  born  in  1713  at  St  Ives,  in  Corn- 
wall, being  the  son  of  the  curate  of  that  place. 


TOU 

After  receiving  a  regular  school  education,  lie 
vas  entered  of  Exeter  college   Oxford,  where 

graduated  BA  ;  his  degree  of  master  being 
ken  at  Pembroke-hall,  Cambridge,  in  1756, 
laving    previously    been    presented    to     die 
fictory  of    St  Martin's,  Cornwall.     In  1760 

was  made  known  to  the  learned  world  by 
lie  first  part  of  his   "  Emendationes  in   Sui- 
am  ;"  the  second  of  which  appeared  in  1764, 
ind  the  third  in  1766.     This  work,  which  dis- 
lays  great  erudition,   but  unfortunately  in  a 
ositive   and    self-sufficient    manner,    recom- 
mended him  to  bishop  Warburton,  who  became 
jis  correspondent   and   patron.     la    1767    he 
mblished  "  Epistola  Critica,"    addressed  to 
hat  prelate,    containing   various    remarks  on 
Greek  writers.     In  1772  appeared  his  "  Cnraj 
losteriores   sive   Appendicula  Notarum  atque 
mendationum  in  Theocritum,   Oxonii  uuper- 
ime  publicatum,"  4to  ;  the   merits  of  which 
were  again  balanced   by  a  contemptuous   and 
imperative  spirit.    The  interest  of  Warburton. 
)rocured  him  in  1774  a  presentation  to  a  pre- 
)end   in  the   church  of  Exeter,  and  in  1776 
another  to  the  vicarage  of  St  Merryn.     In  1715 
printed   "  Appeudicula  Notarum  in   Sui- 
Jam  ;"  and  in  1778  he  closed  his  critical  la- 
jours  by  his  edition  of  Longinus.     This  work 
was  received  very  favourably  by  the   learned 
world,  and  a  second  edition  was  printed  in  8vo. 
He  continued  to  reside  at  his  living  of  St  Mar- 
tin's until  his  death,  in  January,  1785,  in  his 
seventy-third  year.     Notwithstanding   his  as- 
perity as  a  critic,  he  was  kind  and  beneficent 
.n  private  life,  and  was  a  liberal  and  tolerant 
divine.     As  a  writer  of  profound  learning  and 
critical  sagacity,  he  ranks  very  high,  and  in 
the  opinion  of  Dr  Burney,  he  is  to  be  regarded 
as  one  of  the  seven  pre-eminent  scholars   of 
the  eighteenth  century. — Nichols's  Lit.  Anec. 

TOURNEFORT   (JOSEPH  PITON  de)  an 
eminent  French  physician   and  botanist,  was 
born  of  noble   parents  at  Aix  in  Provence,  in 
1656.      He  was  educated   at  the  Jesuits'  col- 
lege in  that  city,  where  his  passion  for  botany 
disclosed  itself  at  an  early  age,   so  that  in  a 
short  time   he  had  made   himself  acquainted 
with  all  the   plants  in  the  vicinity.     He  was 
destined  for  the  church,  and  placed  in  a  semi- 
nary of  theology  ;   but  he   continued  his  bota- 
nical researches  by  stealth,  and  encouraged  by 
a  paternal  uncle,  who  was  an  eminent  physi- 
cian,  applied   to    the    study   of  anatomy   and 
chemistry.     In  1677,  being  left  by  the  death 
of  his  father  to  pursue  his  own  inclinations,  he 
determined  to    adopt  the  medical  profession, 
and  for  that  purpose  repaired  in  1679  to  Mont- 
pellier.     He   had  previously  enriched  his  her- 
barium from  the  mountains  of  Dauphiny  ;  and 
he  not  only  examined  all   the  plants    in  the 
neighbourhood    of  Montpellier,   but  in    1681 
crossed  to   Barcelona,  and  attended  by  a  nu- 
merous troop  of  students,  ascended  the  hills  of 
Catalonia.     Thence  he  proceeded  to  the  Py» 
renees,  and  undeterred  by  danger  or  hardship, 
pursued    his    researches.      On    his    return   to 
France  he  was  appointed  professor  of  botany 
to   the  garden  of  plants  at  Paris  ;  and  soon 
after  he  resumed  his  travels,  revisiting  Spain, 


TO  U 

and  thence  proceeding  to  Portugal,  England 
and  Holland.  In  1691  he  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  and  in  1694  he 
published  his  first  work,  entitled  "  Elemens 
de  Botanique,"  3  vols.  Bvo,  with  numerous 
plates.  The  method  established  by  Tourne- 
fort  was  primarily  founded  upon  the  varieties 
of  the  petals  of  flowers,  taken  in  conjunction 
with  the  fruit.  In  became  rapidly  popular  bv 
its  facility  and  elegance,  although  imperfec- 
tions were  early  pointed  out  in  it  by  our  English 
naturalist  Ray,  which  objections  were  replied 
:o  by  Tournefort  in  a  Latin  epistle,  addressed 
to  Sherard.  In  1696  he  was  admitted  a  doctor 
of  the  faculty  of  Paris  ;  and  being  now  a  regu- 
lar member  of  the  medical  body,  he  composed 
a  work  on  the  history  of  plants  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Paris,  with  their  medicinal  proper- 
ties. This  work,  the  first  edition  of  which 
appeared  in  1698,  was  reprinted  by  Jussieu 
in  172o,  in  2  vols. ;  and  an  English  translation 
was  given  by  professor  Marty n  in  1732.  In 
1700  he  gave  a  Latin  version  of  his  "  Ele- 
ments of  Botany,"  with  many  valuable  addi- 
tions, and  a  learned  preface,  which  he  pub- 
lished under  the  title  of  "  Institutiones  Rei 
Herbaria;,"  3  vols.  4to.  In  the  same  year  he 
received  an  order  from  the  king  to  travel  into 
the  Levant,  for  the  purpose  of  examining  the 
plants  mentioned  by  writers  of  antiquity,  and 
accordingly,  accompanied  by  Guridelsheirnen, 
an  able  German  physician,  and  by  a  skil- 
ful draughtsman,  he  visited  Greece  and  its 
islands,  and  Asia  Minor  as  far  as  the  fron- 
tiers of  Persia.  He  returned  to  France  by 
way  of  Smyrna  in  1702  ;  and  the  first  botani- 
cal fruits  of  his  travels  appeared  the  following- 
year,  in  a  supplement  to  his  Elements  of  Bo- 
tany. He  now  purposed  to  quietly  follow  the 
practice  of  physic  at  Paris  ;  but  his  various 
avocations  at  the  royal  gardens  and  royal  col- 
lege, in  which  last  he  held  the  station  of  a  me- 
dical professor,  together  with  the  business  of 
preparing  his  travels  for  the  press,  began  to 
affect  his  health  ;  and  a  violent  blow  which  he 
received  upon  the  chest  from  the  axletree  of  a 
passing  carriage,  after  some  months  of  decline, 
terminated  his  life  in  December  1708.  He  left 
his  cabinet  of  curiosities  to  the  king  for  public 
use,  and  his  botanical  books  to  the  abbe  Big- 
non.  The  first  volume  of  his  travels  was 
printed  at  the  Louvre  before  his  death,  and 
the  second  being  completed  from  his  MSS. 
both  were  published  in  1717,  with  the  title  of 
"  Relation  d'un  Voyage  du  Levant,  fait  par 
ordre  du  Roi,  &c."  2  vols.  4to.  Of  this 
work,  which  stands  high  among  books  of  the 
class,  there  have  been  several  editions,  and  it 
has  also  been  translated  into  English  and 
Dutch.  Dr  Bunier  published  from  the  papers 
of  Tournefort  a  "  Trait6  de  Matiere  MeJi- 
cale,"  2  vols.  12mo,  1717. — Halleri  BU>1.  Bot. 
et  Aled. — Life  prefixed  to  Voyage.  > 

TOURNON  (CHARLES THOMAS  MAILLARD 
de)  a  cardinal,  was  born  at  Turin  in  1668,  of 
an  ancient  Savoyard  family.  lie  was  brought 
up  at  Home,  and  having  embraced  the  eccle- 
siastical profession,  he  acquired  so  much  repu- 
ation,  that  pope  Clement  XI  consecrated  him 


T  (3  W 

bishop  of  Antiodi,  and  afterwards  sent  linn  as 
apostolic  legate  to  China,  to  decide  the  differ 
ences  between  the  missionaries  in  that  empire 
respecting  the  toleration  of  the  Chinese  cere- 
monies among  the  Christian  converts.  He  ar- 
rived in  China  in  170. >,  and  his  first  measure 
at  Nankin  was  to  issue  a  mandate  to  forbid 
the  fixing  up  of  tablets  in  churches,  inscribed 
"Adore  Heaven,"  (orTien),  as  also  the  honours 
paid  by  the  Chinese  to  Confucius,  to  their  pa- 
rents, and  to  the  planets.  Proceeding  to  IV- 
kin,  he  was  at  first  well  received  by  the  em- 
peror, but  his  apostolic  vicar  having  impru- 
dently declared  that  the  Chinese  rites  were 
incompatible  with  the  Christian  religion,  he 
was  sent  back  to  Macao,  and  imprisoned  in  the 
Jesuits'  house,  where  in  1707  he  received  a 
cardinal's  hat  from  the  pope,  who  also  con- 
firmed his  decision  against  the  appeal  of  the 
Jesuits.  He  died  in  confinement  at  Macao  in 
1710.  He  acted  with  good  intentions,  but 
much  too  precipitately  for  China,  from  which 
those  disputes  soon  after  produced  the  expul- 
sion of  Christianity. — Dupin.  Moreri. 

TOURRETTE  (MARC  ANTONINE  Louis 
CLARET  de  la)  a  naturalist,  was  born  at  Lyons 
in  1729.  He  studied  first  iu  the  Jesuits'  se- 
minary in  his  native  city,  and  then  proceeded 
to  the  university  of  Paris.  On  his  return  home 
he  became  a  magistrate,  which  office  he  filled 
with  much  reputation,  and  devoted  his  leisure 
hours  to  science,  especially  natural  history.  He 
formed  an  extensive  collection  of  insects,  and 
also  a  curious  botanical  park  and  garden.  His 
death  took  place  in  1793.  He  is  author  of 
"  Elementary  Demonstrations  of  Botany,"  2 
vols.  8vo ;  "  Journey  to  Mount  Pilate,"  8vo  ; 
"  Chloris  Lugdunensis,"  8vo  ;  "  Conjectures 
on  the  Origin  of  Belemnitea  ;"  "  Memoirs  of 
Singular  Vegetables;"  "Memoir  upon  Hel- 
minthocoiton,  or  CorsicanMoss." — A'oiiy.  Diet. 
Hist. 

TOUSSAINT.    See  L'OuvKTvruRE. 

TOWERS  (JOSEPH)  apolitical  and  miscel- 
laneous writer,  was  born  March  31,  17:57,  in 
Southwark,  where  his  father  was  a  dealer  in 
second-hand  books.  He  appears  to  have  re- 
ceived no  regular  education  ;  and  at  the  age  of 
seventeen  was  bound  apprentice  to  a  printer  at 
Sherborne  in  Dorsetshire.  Here  in  his  leisure 
hours  he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  Greek 
and  Latin,  and  perused  the  best  books  in  every 
branch  of  learning.  In  1763  he  commenced 
author,  by  publishing  "  A  Review  of  the  Ge- 
nuine Doctrines  of  Christianity,"  in  \vhi.-h  he 
states  his  reason  for  quitting  Calvinism,  in 
which  he  had  been  educated.  He  soon  after 
left  Sherborne  and  came  to  London,  where  he 
supported  himself  by  working  as  a  journeyman 
printer.  He  was  soon  after  employed  by  his 
late  master  in  the  compilation  entitled  "  Bri- 
tish Biography,"  the  first  volume  cf  which 
appeared  iu  1766;  and  he  composed  seven 
of  the  latter  ten  volumes  of  which  the  work 
consists.  Having  acquired  some  property  by 
manage,  he  opened  a  bookseller's  shop  in 
For --street,  but  with  no  great  success.  In 
1774  he  resigned  his  business,  and  became  a 
preacher  among  the  dissenters,  and  was  pas- 


T  O  W 

tcT  of  a  congregation  at  Highgate  ;  which  of- 
fice he  gave  up  for  that  of  forenoon  preacher 
at  Newington-green,  where  Dr  Price  preached 
in  the  afternoon.  When  Dr  Kippis  was  em- 
ployed by  the  hooksellers  on  a  new  edition  of 
the  Biographia  Britannica,  he  adopted  Mr 
Towers  as  his  assistant ;  and  he  accordingly 
composed  several  lives,  and  necessarily,  now 
anil  then,  under  the  bias  of  his  own  political 
and  religious  opinions.  In  1779  he  received 
the  degree  of  LLD.  from  the  university  of 
Edinburgh,  and  continued  occasionally  to  com- 
municate his  opinion  on  public  affairs  in  pam- 
phlets, of  which,  together  with  various  mis 
cellaneous  tracts,  he  published  by  subscription, 
in  1796,  a  collection  in  3  vols.  8vo  :  of  thfse 
the  principal  are  "  A  Vindication  of  the  Poli- 
tical opinions  of  Mr  Locke  ;"  "  A  Letter  to 
.  Dr  Samuel  Johnson  ;"  "  Observations  on  Mr 
Hume's  History  of  England  ,"  "  Observations 
on  the  Eights  and  Duties  of  Juries  ;"  "  An 
Examination  of  the  Charges  brought  against 
Lord  W.  Rnssel  and  Algernon  Sidney;" 
"  Remarks  on  the  Conduct,  Principles  and 
Publications  of  the  Crown  and  Anchor  Asso- 
ciation ;"  "  An  Essay  on  the  Life  of  iJr  Sa- 
r.ael  Johnson,"  &c.  &c.  He  died  May  20, 
1793,  in  his  sixty-third  year.  Dr  Towers, 
whose  life  points  out  how  much  may  be  done 
by  industry  and  application  to  remedy  original 
want  of  education,  appears  in  his  religious 
opinicns  to  have  been  a  modified  Arian. — 
Fun.  Sermon  by  Lindsay.  Gent.  Mag. 

TOWGOOD  (MATTHEW)  a  Protestant  dis- 
senting divine  of  eminence,  was  born  at  Ax- 
minster  in  Devonshire,  December  6,  1750, 
where  his  father  was  a  physician.  He  received 
his  education  at  Taunton,  and  becoming  a  mi- 
nister, was  first  pastor  to  a  congregation  of 
dissenters  at  Moretonhampstead,  whence  lie 
removed  to  Crediton,  both  in  Devonshire.  His 
first  publication  was  a  pious  tract  upon  "  Re- 
covery from  Sickness,"  which  was  followed  by 
a  pamphlet  entitled  "  High-flown  Episcopal 
and  Priestly  Claims  freely  Examined,"  and 
"  The  Dissenter's  Apology."  In  1741  he 
published  a  pamphlet  in  favour  of  a  Spanish 
war,  and  in  1754  another  against  the  legiti- 
mate birth  of  the  pretender  ;  his  best  work 
however  is  "  The  Dissenting  Gentleman's 
Answer  to  Mr  White,"  the  person  addressed 
being  a  clergyman  of  the  diocese  of  Norwich, 
who  had  written  against  dissent  with  consi- 

D 

derable  ability.  Towgood's  letters  to  him  ap- 
peared separately  from  1746  to  1748,  and  col- 
lectively have  passed  through  six  editions.  In 
1748  he  published  a  pamphlet  in  examination 
of  the  character  of  Charles  I,  and  in  17.50 
composed  several  tracts  in  favour  of  infant 
baptism.  In  1761  he  became  the  head  of 
an  academy  at  Exeter  for  the  education  of 
dissenting  ministers.  The  infirmities  of  age 
obliged  him  to  resign  the  pulpit  in  1784,  but  he 
lived  to  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-two,  his 
death  taking  place  at  Exeter,  January  31, 
1792. — Life  by  Manning. 

TOWJvLEY  (CiiAni.Fs)  a  gentleman  of 
large  and  independent  fortune,  which  he  em- 
ployed in  the  collection  of  every  thing  which 


TO  W 

conic,  illustrate  the  ages  of  antiquity.  He  was 
descended  of  an  ancient  Roman  Catholic  fa- 
mily, for  many  generations  resident  at  Tovniley- 
hall,  in  Lancashire,  where  he  was  born  in 

1737.  The   religious  opinions  of  his   family 
preventing  his  enjoying  the  benefit  of  a  uni- 
versity education   in  England,  he  was  sent  to 
the  continent,    and   placed    under  the  care  of 
the  learned  John  Tuberville  Needham.    Prom 
this  very  able   instructor  he   imbibed  a  fine 
classical  taste,  which  the  affluence  to  which  he 
was  born  permitted  him  to  indulge,  ami  a  re- 
sidence of  some  continuance  at  Home  enabled 
him  to  form  a  noble  museum,  replete  witli  va- 
luable   manuscripts,  specimens   of   the  finest 
sculpture,  medals,  vases,  urns,  and   other  re- 
lics   of  ancient    art.     These    he    transported 
eventually  to  England,  where  they  filled    two 
large  adjoining  houses  purchased  by  him  for 
that  purpose,  in  Park-street,  Westminster.   His 
acknowledged    taste    and   liberality   procured 
his  election  as  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  and  An- 
tiquarian Societies,  as  well  as  a  trustee  of  the 
British  museum,  to  which  noble  institution  he 
bequeathed  contingently  the  whole  of  his  col- 
lection  of  antiquities,  and  his  heirs  not  com- 
plying with  the  alternative  mentioned   in  his 
testament,  it  has  accordingly  now  become  the 
property   of  the    nation      A   work   has    been, 
published  in  two  quarto  volumes  by  M.  D'An- 
carville,    a  French    antiquary,    illustrative    of 
part  of  it ;  and  one  of  the  rare  manuscripts  it 
contains  was  used  in  a  late  edition  of  the  Iliad. 
His  death  took  place  January  3,  1805. — JOHN 
TOWNLEY,  uncle   to  the  above,  born  in  1697, 
resided   almost  wholly   in  France,  where   he 
held   a  commission    in   the  army,  and  was  a 
chevalier  of  St  Louis.     He  is  known   as  the 
author  of  an  admirable   French  translation  of 
Hudibras,  and  he  died  in  1782. —  Whitaker's 
Hist,  of  Whalley. 

TOWNLEY  (JAMES)  a  clergyman  of  the 
church  of  England,  who  is  supposed  to  have 
been  the  author  of  a  popular  farce.  He  was 
a  native  of  London,  and  studied  at  St  John's 
college,  Oxford,  where  he  proceeded  MA.  in 

1738.  Having  been   ordained,    he    was    ap- 
pointed morning   preacher    at    Lincoln's-inn, 
afterwards  lecturer  of  St  Dunstan's  in  the  East, 
and  at  length    he  obtained   the  rectory  of  St 
Bennet,  Gracechurch-street.    He  was  likewise 
chosen  master  of  Merchant  Tailors'  school,  in 
which  he  had   been    educated.     He   died   in 
1778.     The  amusing  drama,  "  High  Life  he- 
low    Stairs,"  is  said  to  have   been     his    pro- 
duction, and  he  wrote  some  other  light  pieces, 
and  assisted  Hogarth  in  his  Analysis  of  Beautv. 
— Bing.  Draniat. 

TOWNSEND  (JOSEPH)  an  English  physi- 
cian, fellow  of  Caius  college,  Cambridge,  and 
a  graduate  of  the  university  of  Edinburgh, 
where  he  studied  medicine  under  Cullen  ;  till 
becoming  a  convert  to  the  opinions  of  Calvin, 
his  disposition,  naturally  enthusiastic,  was  so 
heated  that  he  renounced  medicine,  find  be- 
came a  popular  preacher  in  the  methodist  con- 
nexion. Having  taken  holy  orders  he  was  pre- 
sented to  the  living  of  Pewsey,  Wilts,  but  for 
some  time  resided  principally  at  Bath  where 


T  11  A 

lie  officiated  as  domestic  chaplain  to  the  coun- 
tess of  Huntingdon.  Besides  some  miscella- 
neous sermons,  and  a  treatise  on  the  accuracy  of 
the  Mosaic  history,  in  two  quarto  vols.  he  pub- 
lished an  account  of  his  travels  in  the  Penin- 
sula, in  3  vols. ;  a  tract  on  the  Poor  Laws, 
and  two  works  on  medical  subjects,  entitled 
"  The  Physician's  Vade-Mecum,"  and  "  A 
Guide  to  Health."  His  death  took  place  at 
Pewseyin  1816.— Gent.  Mag. 

TOWNSON,  Dl).  (THOMAS)  archdeacon 
of  Richmond,  Yorkshire,  a  distinguished 
clergyman  of  the  established  church.  He  was 
a  native  of  the  county  of  Essex,  born  in  171.5, 
and  educated  at  Chnstchurch,  Oxford,  till  he 
obtained  a  demyship  at  Magdalen  college  in 
the  same  university,  and  in  due  course  became 
fellow.  Having  attracted  the  notice  of  the  late 
Beilby  Porteus,  bishop  of  Chester  and  after- 
wards of  London,  he  obtained,  through  the 
influence  of  that  prelate,  some  valuable  church 
preferment,  of  which  the  livings  of  Hatlield 
Peveril,  Blithfield,  and  Malpas,  constituted  a 
part.  The  works  of  this  eminent  divine  con- 
sist of  a  series  of  sermons  on  the  Gospels,  with 
some  other  devotional  tracts  of  great  merit,  and 
a  posthumous  treatise  on  evangelical  history, 
printed  with  a  biographical  sketch  of  his  life 
prefixed.  His  death  took  place  in  1792. — 
Life  by  Churton, 

TRADESCANT  (JOHN)  the  name  of  two, 
or  according  to  the  epitaph  on  their  tomb, 
which  has  been  recently  restored  in  Lambeth 
churchyard, 

"  Beneath  this  stone 

Lie  JohnTradescant,  grandsire,  father,  son," 
of  three  eminent  gardeners,  travellers,  and  an- 
tiquaries, of  whom  the  two  last  are  by  far  the 
most  celebrated. — The  second  JOHN  TRAUF.S- 
CAXT  is  supposed  to  have  been  born  in  the 
Netherlands,  and  to  have  arrived  in  England, 
whither  it  would  seem  he  was  accompanied 
by  his  father,  in  the  early  part  of  the  reign 
of  James  I,  after  having  travelled  over  most 
of  the  European  continent  and  part  of  the 
East.  He  obtained  the  appointment  of  gar- 
dener to  king  Charles  I,  in  which  situation  he 
was  assisted  by  his  son.  The  Tradescants  are 
celebrated  as  being  the  first  collectors  of  rari- 
ties in  this  country,  which  they  deposited 
during  their  lives  in  a  large  house  situate  in 
the  parish  of  Lambeth.  This  became  a  popu- 
lar place  of  fashionable  resort  from  the  curiosi- 
ties it  contained,  and  obtained  the  appellation 
of  Tradescant's  ark.  A  catalogue  of  its  con- 
tents, which  have  since  formed  the  nucleus  of 
the  Ashmolean  museum  at  Oxford,  was  printed 
by  the  younger  of  the  three  in  16.T6,  under 
the  title  of  "  Museum  Tradescantianum,"  with 
portraits  of  himself  and  his  father,  whom  he 
survived  about  ten  years,  dying  in  1662. — 
Pulteney's  Sketches  of  But. 

TRAETTA  or  TRAJETTA  (TOMASO)  a 
Neapolitan  musician  and  composer  of  the  last 
century,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  pupils  of 
the  famous  Durante.  He  was  born  in  1738, 
and  was  educated  at  the  conservatorio  of  La 
Pieta,  which  he  had  scarcely  quitted  two  years, 
when  the  extraordinary  success  of  an  opera, 


T  R  A 

which  he  brought  out  at  the  theatre  of  St 
Carlos,  entitled  "  Farnace,"  raised  him  at 
once  to  the  first  rank  in  his  profession,  and 
procured  him  an  immediate  engagement  to 
compose  six  different  operas  for  as  many  thea- 
tres. On  the  death  of  the  infant  d<m  Philip, 
he  went  to  Venice,  and  was  employed  for  a 
short  time  in  superintending  the  conservatory 
of  the  Ospedaletto,  but  soon  quitted  this  situa- 
tion, on  receiving  an  invitation  from  Catherine 
II  to  succeed  Galuppi  as  her  principal  chapel- 
master  at  St  Petersburg.  After  remaining  seven 
years  in  Russia  he  came  to  England,  where 
Sacchini  was  then  in  the  zenith  of  his  reputa- 
tion ;  and  in  consequence  not  succeeding  so 
well  as  he  had  anticipated,  Trajetta  retired  to 
his  native  country,  where  he  died  about  the 
year  1779.  Dr  Burney  speaks  highly  of  the 
talents  of  this  composer,  whose  works  are  but 
little  _known  in  this  country.  They  consist 
principally  of  twenty  operas,  of  which  his  "  Ip- 
polito  ed  Aricia,"  was  perhaps  the  most  popu- 
lar.—  TSurnei/'s  History  of  Mns. 

TIIAILL  (ROBERT)  a  presbyterian  divine, 
of  an  ancient  Scottish  family,  was  born  at  Ely, 
in  the  county  of  Fife,  in  1642.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  Edinburgh,  but  afterwards  went  to 
Holland,  whence  he  returned  in  the  reign  of 
Charles  II,  and  suffered  imprisonment  under 
the  conventicle  act.  On  gaining  his  liberty,  he 
removed  to  London,  and  became  minister  to  a 
congregation  of  dissenters.  He  died  in  1716. 
He  was  a  rigid  Calvinist,  and  his  Sermons  are 
extremely  popular  among  persons  of  that  per- 
suasion. They  were  published  so  lately  as 
181 1  in  4  vols.  8vo,  with  the  life  of  the  author 
prefixed. — Dr.  JAMES  TRAILL,  grandson  of 
the  preceding,  conformed  to  the  establishment, 
and  became  bishop  of  Down  and  Counor,  in 
Ireland. —  Life  prefixed  ti>  Sermons. 

TRAJAN  M.  ULPIUS  TRA JANUS,  a 
Roman  emperor,  born  in  Italica,  in  the  Spanish 
province  of  Bastica,  was  the  son  of  Trajanus, 
a  distinguished  Roman  commander  under 
Vespasian.  He  accompanied  his  father  in  a 
campaign  against  the  Parthians,  and  also 
served  on  the  Rhine,  where  he  acquired  so 
high  a  character,  that  when  the  excellent  and 
aged  Nerva  came  to  the  throne,  he  saw  no  one 
so  fit  to  succeed  him  as  Trajan.  He  accord. 
ingly  adopted  and  raised  him  to  the  rank  of 
Cresar,  in  97,  being  then  in  his  forty-second, 
or  according  to  others,  in  his  forty-fifth  year; 
and  of  a  most  dignified  appearance  and  com- 
manding aspect.  His  elevation  immediately 
curbed  the  insolence  of  the  pretorian  guards ; 
and  Nerva  dying  a  few  months  after,  he  peace- 
ably succeeded  to  the  throne.  He  was  at  that 
time  in  Germany,  where  he  remained  for  more 
than  a  year  to  settle  a  peace  with  the  German 
states,  and  in  99  set  out  with  a  numerous 
escort  to  Rome.  After  a  liberal  largess  to  the 
soldiers  and  people,  he  interested  himself  in 
promoting  measures  for  duly  supplying  the 
capital  with  corn  ;  in  which  he  was  eminently 
successful.  He  then  proceeded  to  punish  and 
banish  the  pernicious  tribe  of  delatores  or  in- 
formers, and  to  reduce  some  of  the  most  odious 
of  the  taxes  ;  aud  showed  the  most  praise- 


IRA 

*ouT>y  solicitude  for  tbo  occupation  of  the 
most  impoitant  posts  by  men  of  talent  and  in- 
tegrity. Like  Augustus,  lie  cultivated  per- 
sonal friendships,  and  visited  his  intimates  at 
their  houses  with  entire  confidence,  and  as  a 
private  person.  His  palace  was  not  only  open 
to  his  friends,  but  to  all  who  chose  to  enter  it, 
and  his  audiences  were  free  and  unrestrained 
to  all  the  citizens.  At  lib  table  were  always 
some  of  the  principal  and  most  respectable 
of  the  Romans,  who  indulged  in  all  the  ease 
and  pleasantry  of  mixed  conversation.  Al- 
though his  early  military  experience  had  pre- 
vented him  acquiring  the  accomplishments  of 
learning,  he  was  sensible  of  its  importance, 
and  founded  libraries  ;  and  under  his  patron- 
age the  studies  were  revived  which  had  suf- 
fered from  the  persecution  of  Domitian.  All 
these  proofs  of  the  possession  of  virtues,  cal- 
culated to  make  the  Romans  happy,  procured 
for  him,  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  the  senate, 
the  title  of  Optimus,  which  although  con- 
ferred on  him  in  the  early  part  of  his  reign, 
he  never  lost.  In  the  third  year  of  his  reign 
lie  accepted  of  a  third  consulship  ;  and  it  was 
during  his  possession  of  this  magistracy,  that 
the  celebrated  panegyric  upon  him  was  pro- 
nounced by  Pliny,  which  is  still  extant.  In 
the  following  year  a  war  broke  out  with  De- 
cebalus,  king  of  the  Dacians,  whom,  after  a 
campaign  attended  with  some  severe  service, 
he  subdued,  and  made  a  vassal  of  the  em- 
pire. He  then  returned  to  Rome,  and  enjoyed 
the  honours  of  a  triumph,  with  the  name  of 
Dacicus.  The  two  following  years  were  passed 
by  Trajan  at  Rome  ;  and  in  the  last  of  them, 
103,  Pliny  went  as  governor  of  Pontus  and 
Jiithynia,  which  circumstance  has  afforded  a 
series  of  official  letters  between  him  and  Tra- 
jan, which,  beyond  any  rhetorical  panegyric, 
afford  proof  of  the  liberal  spirit  of  the  govern- 
ment. Among  these  are  the  famous  epistles 
respecting  the  Christians,  whom  he  directs 
Pliny  not  to  look  out  for,  but  to  punish  if 
brought  before  him  ;  and  on  no  account  to 
listen  to  anonymous  charges.  This  conduct, 
compared  with  the  deportment  of  opposing 
sects  of  Christians  to  each  other  for  several 
centuries,  may  be  deemed  highly  humane  and 
considerate.  In  104  Decebalus  renewed  the  war 
with  the  Romans,  which  immediately  called 
out  the  warlike  emperor,  who,  with  a  view  to 
form  a  road  for  his  troops,  constructed  abridge 
over  the  Danube,  which  was  deemed  one  of 
die  greatest  works  of  antiquity.  He  then 
marched  into  Dacia,  and  reduced  the  capital 
of  Decebalus,  who  in  despair  killed  himself, 
and  Dacia  became  a  Roman  province.  His 
innate  passion  for  war,  the  only  fault  which 
can  be  charged  on  Trajan  as  a  sovereign,  ex- 
hibits him  for  the  remainder  of  his  reign 
rather  as  a  victorious  commander,  engaged  in 
distant  expeditions  for  the  enlargement  of  the 
empire,  than  as  a  sovereign  ruler.  The  dis- 
posal of  the  crown  of  Armenia  led,  in  the  first 
instance,  to  a  contest  with  Chosroes  the  Par- 
thian, of  which  warfare  the  reduction  of  Ar- 
menia to  a  Roman  province  was  the  result. 
The  succeeding  eastern  campaigns  of  Trajan, 


T  R  A 

and  renewal  of  the  war  with  Parthia,  cannot 
be  detailed  in  summaries  of  this  nature  ;  but  it 
may  be  remarked  in  proceeding,  that  the  year 
114  is  eiven  as  that  of  his  dedicating  the  ma^- 

5  O 

nificent  Forum  which  he  built  in  Rome,  and 
erecting  the  column  sculptured  with  his  ex- 
ploits, which  still  remains  under  his  name.  In 
a  final  campaign  in  the  East,  after  with  great 
pomp  giving  a  king  to  the  Parthians,  he  laid 
siege  to  Atra,  the  capital  of  an  Arabian  tribe, 
which  he  was  obliged  to  raise,  and  to  with- 
draw to  Syria.  In  the  following  year,  117, 
when  he  proposed  returning  into  Mesopo- 
tamia, he  was^  attacked  by  a  paralytic  disorder, 
attended  by  a  dropsy,  which  induced  him  to 
repair  to  Italy,  leaving  the  army  under  the 
command  of  Adrian.  He  had  proceeded  no 
farther  than  Selinus,  in  Cilicia,  when  he  had 
another  seizure,  from  which  he  did  not  re- 
cover. The  empress  Plotina  took  advantage 
of  his  last  moments  to  secure  the  adoption  of 
Adrian  for  his  successor,  not  without  some 
suspicion  of  a  gross  deception.  Trajan  died 
in  his  sixty-fourth  year,  after  a  reign  of  nearly 
twenty  years.  As  a  sovereign  the  only  blemish 
in  his  character  was  his  great  passion  for  war, 
the  extension  of  empire  produced  by  which — 
the  greatest  that  ever  acknowledged  Roman 
sway — scarcely  lasted  longer  than  his  own  life- 
time. In  his  private  character  he  lay  under 
the  imputation  of  being  addicted  to  sensual  in- 
dulgences, of  which  a  passion  for  wine  was  by 
far  the  least  disgraceful.  Happily  these  feel- 
ings of  the  man  did  not  affect  his  good  qua- 
lities as  a  ruler,  and  at  the  distance  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  from  his  death,  the 
senators,  in  their  acclamations  on  the  accession 
of  a  new  emperor,  were  accustomed  to  wish 
that  he  might  be  more  fortunate  than  Augustus 
and  better  than  Trajan. —  Univ.  Hist.  Crevier. 

TRALLES(BALTHASAR  LEWIS)  the  name  of 
a  highly  intelligent  native  of  Switzerland,  emi- 
nent for  his  skill  in  the  mathematics,  of  which 
science  he  was  professor,  first  at  Berne  and 
afterwards  at  Berlin.  He  commenced,  in  con- 
cert with  his  friend  Hassler,  the  astronomer,  a 
trigonometrical  survey  of  his  native  country  ; 
the  completion  of  his  undertaking  was  however 
prevented  by  the  breaking  out  of  the  French 
Revolution.  Afterwards,  when  the.  French  go- 
vernment invited  other  nations  to  assist  in 
forming  one  standard  of  weights  and  mea- 
sures, calculated  for  universal  adoption,  M. 
Tralles  on  the  part  of  the  Swiss,  and  M.  Van 
Swinden  on  that  of  the  Dutch,  were  selected 
to  draw  up  the  reports  of  the  committee. 
On  the  establishment  of  a  university  at 
Berlin  in  18 13,  Tralles  was  chosen  profes- 
sor of  mathematics  and  astronomy,  in  which 
situation  he  continued  until  his  death,  which 
took  place  the  19th  November,  1822,  at  the 
age  of  sixty,  in  England,  to  which  country  he 
had  come  for  the  purpose  of  selecting  and 
purchasing  scientific  instruments  for  the  Rus- 
sian government.  Several  able  papers  of  his 
composition  are  to  be  found  among  the  me- 
moirs of  the  Berlin  academy. — Ann.  Biog. 

TRALLIANUS.     See  ALEXANDER  TRAI,- 

I.fiKUS- 


T  R  A 

TRAPEZUNTIUS.     See  GEORGE  of  THE 

BISON  D. 

TRAPP,  DD.   (JOSEPH)   an  English  poet 
second  son  to  a  clergyman  of  the   same  name 
incumbent  of  the  living  of  Cherington  in  (jlou 
cestershire,  where  he  was  born   in  1679,  anc 
was  educated  by  his  father  till  he  had  attainci 
a  sufficient  dc^'v  <.f  classical  learning  to  pre 
pare  him  for  Oxford.   Here  he  obtained  a  scho 
larship,   and  in   due    course  a  fellowship    a 
Wadham    college,    in  his  twenty- fifth   year 
Four  years  after   he   was  unanimously  electee 
professor  on  the  first  institution  of  that  appoint 
inent  by  Dr  Henry  Birkhead  of  All  Souls.   Hi 
was  also  chaplain  to  the  lord  Bolingbroke,  fa 
tlier  of  the  celebrated  writer  who  subsequently 
bore  that  title  ;  mnd  in  1711  went  to   Dublir 
in  a  similar  capacity  with  sir  C.  Phipps,  the 
Irish  chancellor.     Being  strongly  attached  to 
high   church    principles,  which   he   never  at- 
tempted to  conceal,  it  was  not  likely  that  opi- 
nions so  adverse  to  those  of  the  party  then  in 
power  would  procure   him  that   advancement 
in  the  church  which  his  blameless  manners  and 
unquestioned   learning  might  otherwise  have 
placed   within  his  reach  ,   he  succeeded  how- 
ever in  obtaining  some  small  pieces  of  prefer- 
ment, such  as  the   living  of  Dantsey,  Wilts, 
which  he  exchanged  for  that  of  the  united  pa- 
rishes of  Christchurch  and  St  Leonard  in  the 
city  of  London,  to  which  was   added   in  1733 
the   rectory   of   Harlington,    Middlesex.      Dr 
Trapp  in    the  mean  time  was  an  active  and 
an  upright  minister,   and  distinguished  him- 
self   much   Dy    his  eloquence    in   the  pulpit, 
especially    at    St    Martin's-in-the- Fields,    of 
which   parish    he    held  the  evening    lecture- 
ship.   His  mode  of  delivery  was  hjwever  cen- 
sored   by  some,   as  one  better  adapted  for  a 
theatre  than  a  church.  In  his  capacity  of  pro- 
fessor he    published  his    "  Pra?let'tiones  Poe- 
tics,*1 in  three  vols. ;  a  work  which  proves  that 
it  is  much  easier  to  lay  down   regulations  for 
the  composition  of  good  poetry  than  to  become 
a  good   poet,   inasmuch   as  in   his  subsequent 
metrical  attempts  he  failed  to  embody  his  own 
conceptions  of  the  character.     Of  this  a  strong 
instance  is  afforded  by  a  translation  which  he 
produced  of  Virgil's  JEneid  into  blank  verse, 
the  work  by  which  his  name  is  now  principally 
known,  unfortunately  perhaps,   as  it  is  clearly 
inferior  to  some  other  pieces  of  his  composi- 
tion, and  though  a  closer  transcript  of  the  ori- 
ginal,  is  utterly   destitute   of   the   fire  which 
glows  in  the  animated  version  of  Dryden.    The 
opinion  of  a  witty  contemporary  with  regard  to 
this  poem    is    perpetuated    in    a  well-known 
couplet,   written    on    the    first   appearance   of 
Glover's  Leonidas  : — 

"  Equal  to  Virgil  ?     It  may  perhaps, 

But  then,  by  heaven,  'tis  Dr  Trapp's." 
lie  was  also  the  author  of  a  tragedy  called 
"  Abramule,  or  Love  and  Empire  ;"  some  mis- 
cellaneous Poems  in  English  and  Latin,  and  a 
Latin  translation  of  the  Paradise  Lost  of  Milton, 
which  met  with  but  indifferent  success.  His 
other  writings  are  principally  on  devotional 
subjects,  anil  consist  of  a  polemical  treatise 
entitled  "  The  Church  of  England  defended 


T  K  E 

against  the  false  Keafornnp;  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  ;"  "  A  Preservative,  against  unsettled 
Notions  in  Religion  ;"  some  Annotations  on 
the  four  Gospels,  and  a  variety  of  Sermons. 
His  death  took  place  at  Ilarliugton  in  the  No- 
vember of  17  17. —  /in'/.  />/(/£. 

TRAVKKS    (JOHN)    an   eminent  English 
musician  ;rmt  composer  of  the  earlier  part  of 
the  last  century.     Dr  Godolphin,  dean  of  St 
Paul's  and  provostof  Eton,  having  marked  his 
musical    talent  while  a    boy  in    the  choir  at 
Windsor,  placed  him  at  his  own  expense  under 
the  tuition  of  the  celebrated  Dr  Greene,  with 
whom  and  Pepusch  he   completed  his  educa- 
tion.    Travers  succeeded  Jonathan   Martin  in 
1737  as  organist  at  the  chapel  royal,  a  situa- 
tion which  he  retained  till   his  death  in  1758. 
There  are   several   delightful  pieces  of  sacred 
music  composed  by  him  to  be  found  in  the  col- 
lections of  most  of  our  cathedrals  ;  but  he  is 
perhaps  best  known  to  the  world  in  general  by 
Ins  celebrated  Canzonets,  eighteen  in  number, 
the  words  of  which  are  chiefly  taken  from  the 
writings  of  Prior,  and  more  especially  by  one 
of  them,   the  still    popular  air,    "  Haste,  my 
Nannette."       He    died   in    1758.  —  Bunn-i/s 
Hist,  of  Mus. 

TRAVIS  (GEORGE)  a  divine  of  the  church 
>f  England,  was    born  at   Roy  ton   in  Lanca- 
hire,  and  educated  at  the  free-school  of  Man- 
hester,  whence  he  was  removed  to  St  John's 
o'lege,  Oxford,  where   he  took  his  degree  in 
arts.     On  entering  into  orders  he  obtained  the 
icarage  of  Eastham  and  the  rectory  of  Hend- 
ey   in  Cheshire.     He   afterwards  obtained  a 
rebend  in  the  cathedral  oi  Chester,  and  was 
iade  archdeacon  of  that  county.     He  is  re- 
orded  here  for  the  ardour  with  which  he  pur- 
ued  a  controversy  with  Air  Gibbon  on  the  au- 
lenticity  of  the  celebrated  text,  1  John  v.  ?, 
dispute  which  was  subsequently  set  entirely 
t  rest  by  professor  Porson  and  bishop  Marsh, 
le  died  in  1797. — Gent.  Mag. 
TREBELLIUSPOLLIO.aLatin  historian, 
rho  flourished  about   the  year  298.     Vossius 
:ates   that   he  wrote  the  lives  of  the  Roman 
mperors,  from  the  two   Philips   to  Claudius  ; 
ut  there   remains  only  the   close  of  the  life 
of  the    elder  Valerian,   and   that  of   his  son, 
those    of  the    two  Gallieni,   of  the    usurpers 
called   the    thirty   tyrants,    and   of  Claudius. 
As  a    historian   his  judgment  is  not  superior 
to  the   others    who    compose  the   "  Historic 
Augusts  Scriptores,"   but  his  style   is  some- 
what superior,   and  he  is  exact  as  to  dates. — 
I'ossii  Hist.  Lat. 

TREBY  (sir  GEORGE)  an  able  judge  and 
lawyer,  was  born  at  Plympton,  in  Devonshire, 
in  1641 ;  and  was  admitted  a  commoner  of 
Exeter  college,  Oxford,  in  1660.  On  quitting 
the  university,  he  went  to  the  Inner  Temple, 
and  being  admitted  to  the  bar,  obtained  consi- 
derable practice.  In  1678  and  167  9  he  sat 
in  parliament  for  his  native  place,  and  was  ap- 
pointed chairman  of  the  committee  of  secrecy 
t'or  the  investigation  of  the  popish  [lot,  and 
one  of  the  managers  in  the  impeachment  of 
lord  Stafford.  When  Jefferies  was  dismissed 
from  the  recordersaip  of  London,  Mr  Treby 


THE 

was  appointed  to  succeed  him  ;  on  which  oc 
casiou  he  received  the  honour  of  knighthood 
but  when  the  quo  warranto  was  issued,  anc 
the  city  charter,   for  which  he  pleaded  along 
with  Pcllexfen,  was  forfeited,  he  lost  the  re 
cordership  ;  which  was,  however,   restored  tc 
him  at  the  Revolution.   lie  rapidly  ran  thioug) 
the  offices  of  solicitor  and  attorney -general 
and  in  1692  was  promoted  to  the  chief  justice 
ship    of   the    Common    Pleas.      He    died    in 
March    1701-2,  aged   fifty-six.      Sir   Georg 
Treby  published  a  collection  of  papers  on  the 
Popish  Plot ;  and   his  Pleadings  and   Argu- 
ments in  regard  of  the  quo  warranto,  are  pjb- 
lished  with  those  of  Finch,  Sawyer,  and  Pol- 
lexfen,    London,   1690,    &c. — Burnett's    Own 
Times. 

TREMBLEY  (ABRAHAM),  an  eminent 
naturalist,  was  born  at  Geneva  in  1710,  anc 
was  intended  by  his  father  for  the  church,  for 
which  reason  he  was  sent  to  pursue  his  studies 
in  Holland.  He  there  became  tutor  to  the 
children  of  M.  Bentinck,  and  thence  proceed- 
ing to  London,  was  engaged  to  instruct  the 
young  duke  of  Richmond.  He  returned  to 
Geneva  in  1737,  where  he  settled,  and  de- 
voted his  leisure  to  certain  branches  of  natural 
history.  His  reputation  as  a  naturalist  was 
firsi  promoted  by  his  discoveries  on  the  nature 
of  polypi ;  which,  although  discovered  by 
Leuvvenhoek,  their  wonderful  properties  were 
not  known  until  made  public  by  M.  Trembley 
in  his  "  Memoires  sur  les  Polypes,"  Leyden, 
1744.  He  also  wrote  several  communications 
on  the  subject  to  the  Royal  Society,  of  which 
he  was  elected  a  member  in  1743.  He  was 
likewise  the  author  of  some  useful  books  for 
young  persons,  particularly  "  Instructions 
d'un  Pere,  a  ses  Enfans,  sur  la  Nature  et  la  Re- 
ligion," 2  vols.  8vo  ;  "  Instructions  sur  la  Reli- 
gion Naturelle,"  3  vols.  8vo  ;  and  "  Recherches 
sur  le  Principe  de  laVertu  et  du  Bonheur,"  8vo. 
He  died  in  1784.— Nouv.  Diet.  Hint. 

TREMELLIUS  (EMMANUEL)  a  converted 
Jew  of  the  sixteenth  century,  who  became 
much  distinguished  for  his  piety  and  learning. 
He  was  a  native  of  Ferrara  in  Italy,  born 
about  the  year  1510,  and  was  early  instructed 
by  his  parents  in  all  the  arcana  of  Hebrew 
learning  ;  but  becoming  a  proselyte,  first  to  the 
Romish  church,  and  afterwards,  through  the 
exertions  of  Peter  Martyr,  to  the  reformed  re- 
ligion, he  travelled,  in  company  witli  his  in- 
structor in  the  faith,  through  great  part  of 
Italy,  thence  to  Germany,  and  afterwards  to 
this  country,  where  he  settled  for  a  while  at 
Cambridge  as  professor  of  Hebrew,  and  lec- 
tured to  a  numerous  class  of  pupils.  The 
temporary  predominance  of  the  Roman  Ca- 
tholic party  in  England  on  the  accession  of 
Mary  to  the  throne,  induced  him  once  more 
to  retire  to  the  continent,  and  to  accept  an  in- 
vitation made  him  from  Heidelberg,  to  hold  a 
situation  there,  similar  to  the  one  he  had  va- 
cated. From  this  place  he  removed  to  Sedan, 
where  he  died  in  1580.  He  translated  the 
Bible  into  Latin,  with  the  assistance  of  Ju- 
nitis,  which  was  first  published  in  1575.  Seven 
years  after  his  decease  his  coadjutor  reprinted 


T  RE 

the  work,  with  emendations  and  additional 
notes,  which  version  was  much  approved  by 
the  reformed  church.  He  was  also  the  author 
of  a  Latin  translation  of  the  New  Testament 
from  the  Syriac. — Melchior  Adam. 

TRENCHARD  (JOHN)  a  political  writer, 
son  of  a  secretary  of  state  to  king  William  III, 
who  was  born  in  1669.     He  was  educated  for 
the  legal  profession  ;  but  being  appointed  com- 
missioner of  forfeited  estates  in  Ireland,  and 
having  by  the  death  of  an  uncle  and  by  mar- 
riage obtained  a  considerable  fortune,  he  relin- 
quished the  law  for  politics.  In  1698  he  com- 
menced his  literary  career  by  publishing  two 
tracts  against  standing  armies,  which  provoked 
the  animadversions  of  several  other  writers. 
In    November   1720  he   commenced,   in  con- 
junction with  Gordon,  the  translatorof  Tacitus, 
a  series  of  letters  on  public  affairs,  under  the 
signature  of  Cato,  which  appeared  in  the  Lon- 
don  Journal,    and    afterwards  in    the  British 
Journal.     In   letters   signed    Diogenes,  Tren- 
chard  warmly  attacked  the  ecclesiastical  esta- 
blishment of  the  country  ;  and  his  principles 
were  animadverted  on  by  the  rev.  John  Jackson 
and  by  Dr  Clarke.  He  sat  in  the  house  of  Com- 
mons for  some  years  as  MP.  for  the   borough 
of  Taunton.     His  death  took  place  December 
17,  1723,  in  consequence  of   an   ulcer  in  the 
kidneys.      Besides    the  works   already    men- 
tioned, he  was  the.  author  of  "  The  Natural 
History  of  Superstition,"    1709  ;  and   several 
pamphletson  temporary  topics.  Gordon  printed 
collectively,    in  4  vols.    8vo,  "  Cato's  Letters, 
or   Essays  on  Civil  and  Religious  Liberty  and 
other    important  subjects,"  of  which  a  fourth 
dition  appeared  iu  1737. — Biog,  Brit.  vol.  vi. 
part  2. 

TRENCK  (FREDERIC,  baron  von)  a  Prus- 
dan   officer,   memorable  for  the   persecutions 
which  he  experienced,  and  for  the  courage  and 
address  with  which  he  contrived  to   extricate 
limself  from  the  power  of  his  enemies.     He 
was  born  at  Konigsberg,  February  16,  1726, 
and  was  the  descendant  of  an  ancient  and  il- 
ustrious  family.     In  his  youth  he  displayed 
in  adventurous  disposition,  and  while   at  the 
College  where  he  was  educated  he  fought  two 
luels.     At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  was  admitted 
o  the  court  of  the  great  Frederick,  as  a  cadet 
n  the  regiment  of  guards ;  and  he  became  a 
great  favourite  with  the  king,  who  made  him 
isaide-de  camp.  The  war  which  subsequently 
roke    out  between  Austria  and    Prussia,  in 
which     Trenck     greatly    signalized    himself, 
aised  him  to  the  highest  degree   of  favour ; 
nd  he  was  rewarded  with  the  order  of  merit. 
In  amorous  intrigue,  which  he  had  the  im- 
)ru<!ence  to  carry  on  with  the  princess  Ame- 
la,  the  younger  sister  of  Frederick  II,  put  a 
ieriod    to    his  credit  with  the  king,  and  in- 
olved  him  in  severe  misfortunes.     As  he  pers- 
evered in  maintaining  this    connexion,  not- 
withstanding repeated  warnings  from  his  royal 
master,  he  was  at   length   imprisoned   in  the 
ortress  of  Glat?.     The  pretext  for  his  punish- 
ment was  a  correspondence  which  he  l).:d  car- 
ied  on  with  his  cousin   Francis  von   Trenck, 
ommander  of  the  Pandours,  in  the  s<  rvice  of 


TRE 

Austria.  Relieving  that  lie  was  destined  to 
confinement  for  life,  lie  resolved  to  attempt 
an  escape  ;  and  with  some  difficulty  he  elk-ct- 
ed  it,  with  the  assistance  of  a  lieutenant  of  the 
garrison,  named  Scho>ll,  who  accompanied  him 
in  his  flight,  lie  took  refuge  at  Vienna,  and 
then  went  to  Nuremberg,  where  his  relation, 
general  Lie  vert,  who  was  in  the  service  of 
Russia,  persuaded  him  to  go  to  Moscow,  where 
the  empress  Elizabeth  then  held  her  court. 
He  was  exceedingly  well  received  ;  hut  his 
disposition  for  intrigue  led  him  to  the  commis- 
sion of  some  imprudence,  from  the  conse- 
quence of  which,  however,  he  had  the  address 
to  extricate  himself  ;  after  which  he  travelled 
to  Petersburg!),  and  having  visited  Sweden, 
Denmark,  and  Holland,  he  returned  to  Vienna, 
to  take  possession  of  the  property  of  his  cou- 
sin, mentioned  above,  who  died  October  4, 
1749.  He  obtained,  after  engaging  in  tedious 
law-suits,  only  a  part  of  the  immense  riches 
which  had  been  bequeathed  to  him  by  Treuck 
the  Pandour  ;  and,  dissatisfied  with  the  treat- 
ment he  had  received,  he  took  a  journey  to 
Italy.  On  his  return  he  was  appointed  a 
captain  of  Austrian  cuirassiers,  and  joining  his 
regimentin  Hungary,  hecontributed  materially 
to  its  improvement  in  discipline.  The  death 
of  his  mother  taking  place  in  17.58,  he  went 
to  Dantzic,  to  arrange  with  his  brothers  and 
sisters  the  disposition  of  her  property,  when 
he  was  arrested  at  the  request  of  the  Prussian 
resident,  and  conducted  to  the  fortress  of  Mag- 
deburg, where  he  remained  in  close  and  ri 
gorous  confinement  till  1763.  His  involun- 
tary seclusion  was  devoted  to  ineffectual  pro- 
jects for  effecting  his  escape,  to  study,  and  to 
writing  verses.  Being  at  length  set  at  liberty, 
probably  through  the  interference  of  the  prin- 
cess Amelia  (who  had  never  censed  to  take  a 
lively  interest  in  his  fate,  and  had  liberally 
supplied  him  with  money),  he  went  to  Vienna, 
and  afterwards  to  Aix-la- Chapelle,  where  he 
fixed  his  residence  :  and  in  1765  he  married 
the  daughter  of  a  burgomaster  of  that  city. 
Literature,  politics,  and  commerce  as  a  wine- 
merchant,  then  alternately  engaged  his  at- 
tention. He  wrote  a  piece  entitled  "  The 
Macedonian  Hero,"  the  professed  design  of 
which  was  to  unmask  the  character  of  Fre- 
derick II ;  and  he  edited  a  weekly  paper  called 
"  The  Friend  of  Men."  In  177'J  he  com- 
menced a  gazette  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  which  he 
conducted  for  some  time  with  considerable 
success.  From  177-4  to  1777  he  travelled 
through  various  parts  of  France  and  England, 
and  in  the  former  country  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  Dr  Franklin  and  with  the  war- 
minister,  St  Germain,  both  of  whom  persuaded 
him  to  go  to  America,  but  his  affection  for  his 
wife  and  children  prevented  him  from  quitting 
Europe.  His  wine -trade  failing,  he  returned 
to  Germany,  and  was  employed  in  various  po- 
litical missions.  At  Vienna  he  received  new 
favours  from  the  empress  Maria  Theresa,  who 
oestowed  a  pension  on  the  baroness  Trenck, 
which  however  she  lost  on  the  death  of  that 
princess,  for  whom  Trenck  composed  a  funeral 
oration  and  ode.  He  then  retired  to  his  castle 


THE 

of  Zwerback,  in  Hungary,  where  for  bis  years 
he   devoted   himself  to   agricultural  pursuits. 

I  He  also  published  by  subscription  various 
works  in  prose  and  verse,  including  the  his- 
tory of  his  own  life.  Afier  an  exile  of  forty- 

|  two  year?  he  was  permitted  to  revisit  his  na- 
tive country  in  1787,  when  he  was  kindly 
received  by  the  successor  of  the  great  Fre- 
derick ;  and  he  hud  an  interview  with  the 
princess,  to  whose  favour  he  had  owed  so 
many  of  his  misfortunes.  She  listened  with 
interest  to  the  details  of  her  adventures,  and 
assured  them  that  she  would  extend  her  pro- 
tection to  his  children  ;  bnt  she  survived  this 
meeting  only  a  few  days.  The  publication  of 
his  memoirs  excited  great  temporary  attention 
from  the  public,  especially  at  Paris,  where  his 
portrait  and  his  figure  in  wax  were  generally 
exhibited,  and  a  dramatic  piece,  entitled  "  Ba- 
ron  de  Trenck,  ou  le  Prisonnier  Prussien," 
was  performed  at  one  of  the  minor  theatres. 
The  revolutions  which  successively  took  place 
in  Belgium  and  France,  found  a  ready  par- 
tizan  in  Trenck,  who  published  some  political 
pamphlets,  which  involved  him  in  disgrace 
with  the  Austrian  government,  and  he  not 
only  lost  a  pension  which  he  had  hitherto  re- 
ceived, hut  also  suffered  a  short  imprisonment. 
Towards  the  end  of  1791  he  revisited  France, 
hoping  to  gain  the  notice  and  favour  of  the 
dominant  party  ;  but  he  was  deceived,  and  he 
lived  at  Paris  in  a  state  of  great  penury.  At 

|  length  he  was  arrested  on  suspicion  of  being  a 
secret  emissary  of  the  king  of  Prussia,  aud 
was  imprisoned  at  St  Lazarus.  There  being 
no  evidence  to  support  this  charge,  he  was 
accused  of  having  taken  part  in  a  conspiracy 
in  the  prison,  for  which  he  was  guillotined 
July  25,  179-1.  Besides  the  works  already 
mentioned,  he  wrote  several  others,  including 
memoirs  of  his  cousin,  Francis  baron  Trenck. 
— Aikin's  Gen.  Biog.  Biog.  Nouv.  des  Contemp. 
/Ji'oi;-.  Univ. 

TBESHAM,  RA.  (HENRY)  a  native  of 
Ireland,  distinguished  as  a  proficient  in  the 
sister  arts  of  painting  and  poetry.  A  long 
residence  in  Italy,  and  a  correct  and  classic  ;il 
taste,  enabled  him  to  draw  together  at  a  small 
expense,  a  valuable  collection  of  articles  of 
virtu,  the  disposal  of  which  to  the  late  earl  of 
Carlisle  and  other  patrons  of  the  arts,  laid  the 
foundation  of  his  future  fortunes.  As  a  poet 
he  is  principally  known  by  a  clever  produc- 
tion, entitled  "  The  Sea-sick  Minstrel,"  while 
his  professional  works  procured  him  the  ho- 
nourable distinction  of  a  seat  among  the  royal 
academicians. — His  death  took  place  in  11!  1  1. 
Gent.  Mag. 

TRESSAN  (Louis  ELIZABETH  de  la 
VEHGNF,  count  de)  was  born  in  1705,  at 
Mans,  in  the  palace  of  his  great  uncle,  the 
bishop  of  that  city.  Educated  at  the  colleges 
of  La  Fleche  and  Louis  le  Grand,  he  had  the 
honour  at  the  age  of  thirteen  to  partake  of 
the  studies  and  amusements  of  Louis  XV.  In 
17i23  he  entered  into  the  army,  and  he  after- 
wards travelled  in  Italy  with  recommendations 
from  M.  de  Bissy,  the  French  ambassador  at 
Parma.  Returning  home,  a  war  soon  broke 


TRE 

sut  between  France  and  Austria,  and  he  was 
appointed    aide-de-camp    to     the     duke    de 
Noailles,  with  whom  he  was  at  the  siege  of 
Kehl.      He  also  distinguished  himself  in  the 
attack  of  the    lines   of  Eslingen,  and  he  was 
wounded  at  the  siege  of  Philipsburg,  in  1734. 
After  hostilities  were  concluded  he  was  nomi- 
nated   brigadier    and    ensign     of    the    Scots 
guardes  du  corps.     War    being   rekindled  in 
1741 ,  Tressan  was  employed  in  Flanders.     In 
1744   he   obtained  the  rank  of  marechal-de- 
camp,   and    in  that  quality  he   served  at  the 
sieges  of  Menin,  Ipres,  and  Furnes.     He  was 
aide-de-camp  to  the  king  at  the  battle  of  Fon- 
tenoi,  where   be  was  wounded.     In  1750  he 
was  appointed  governor  of  Toulouse  and  French 
Lorraine,  and  soon  after  made  grand  marsbal 
to  tbe  ex-king  of  Poland  at  Luneville,  where 
he  remained  till  the  death  of  that  prince.     In 
1781  he  was  admitted  into  the   French  Aca- 
demy ;  and  be  took  up  his  residence  in  Paris, 
where  he  died  October  31, 1783.  He  published 
a  translation  of  the  Orlando  Furioso  of  Ariosto, 
wbich,  together  with  extracts  and  translations 
of  many  other   Italian    and    old    French    ro- 
mances, appeared  in   "  Les  CEuvres  Choisies 
de  Tressan,"  Paris,  1787—91,  12  vola.  8vo. 
He   also  wrote    "  Reflexions    sommaires   sur 
1'Esprit;"  "  Discours,  prononce  a  1'Acad.  de 
Nanci ;"  "  Eloges  ;"  &c.— The  abbe  de  TRES- 
SAN,  younger  son   of  this  nobleman,  was  the 
author  of  "  Le  Chevalier  Robert  le  Brave," 
a  romance  ;  "  La  Mythologie  comparee  avec 
1'Histoire,"    8vo ;    and  a    French    translation 
of  Blair's  Sermons,   5  vols,  8vo.     He  died  in 
1809,  aged  sixty. — Biog.  Univ. 

TREW  (CHRISTOPHER  JAMES)  a  distin- 
guished naturalist,  was  born  at  Lauffen  in  Fran- 
conia  in  1695.  He  studied  medicine  at  Nurem- 
berg, where  he  became  director  of  the  academy 
known  by  the  name  of  Naturae  Curiosorum. 
In  conjunction  with  some  members  of  this  so- 
ciety, he  conducted  a  work  entitled  "  Com- 
mercium  Litterarium  ad  Rei  Medicae  et 
Scientia;  naturalis  Incrementuro.  institutum." 
He  died  in  1769.  His  principal  works  are 
"  Icones  postlmmae  Gesnerianae  ;"  "  Selecta- 
rum  Plantarum,  Decades;"  "  Librorum  Bo- 
tanicorum ;"  "  Plants  Selects  quarum  Ima- 
gines, ad  Exemplaria  Naturalia,  Londini  in 
Hortis  Curiosoium  nutrita  ;"  "  Cedrorum  Li- 
bani  Historia."  He  also  published  a  much 
improved  edition  of  Blackwell's  Herbal,  in 
English  and  German,  with  an  appendix  of 
new  plants,  which  is  much  esteemed. — Hutlerii 
Bill.  Bat.  Pvlteney's  Sketches. 

TREW  (WILLIAM)  an  eminent  professor  of 
elocution,  born  at  Havant  near  Chichester,  on 
the  15th  of  December  1756.  At  an  early  age 
he  came  to  London,  where  his  rising  talents  at- 
tracted the  notice  of  the  celebrated  Mr  John 
Walker,  who  received  him  as  his  pupil  ;  and 
on  the  retirement  of  that  gentleman  from  his 
professional  pursuits,  he  introduced  Mr  Trew 
to  his  connexions,  as  a  tit  person  lo  succeed 
him  in  business.  Mr  Trew  was  consequently 
appointed  master  of  elocution  at  Kensington 
school,  and  held  the  same  situation  at  Lough- 
bt-rough-house  school,  North  Bhxton,  from 
GEN.  BIOG.  VOL.  III. 


TRI 

1792  till  his  decease,  a  series  of  thirty-two 
years.  During  the  lent  season  of  1785,  the 
public  were  much  amused  by  the  recitations  of 
Mr  Thomas  Sheridan  and  Mr  John  Henderson 
at  Freemason's-hall ;  and  on  the  death  of  the 
latter,  and  when  the  Attic  Evening's  Enter- 
tainment at  this  place  was  resumed  the  next 
and  subsequent  seasons,  Mr  Trew  supplieJ 
his  place,  and  gave  much  satisfaction  by  hi& 
public  readings,  both  in  London  and  at  Oxford. 
To  bis  powerful  delivery  of  the  celebrated  Ode. 
on  the  Passions  at  Chichester,  the  birth-piaceoi 
its  author,  William  Collins,  may  also  be  attri- 
outed  the  erection  of  a  monument  to  tbe  me- 
mory of  the  poet  in  the  cathedral  church  of 
that  city  in  1795.  He  had  likewise  the  honour 
of  being  selected  as  teacher  of  elocution  to  the 
late  princess  Charlotte,  whom  he  attended  for 
a  period  of  five  years.  Mr  Trew  died,  deeply 
lamented  b,y  his  family  and  friends,  on  the  8th 
of  September,  1824,  in  the  sixty-eighth  year 
of  his  age. — Orig.  Com. 

TRIBONIANUS,  an  eminent  Roman  law- 
yer in  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Justinian, 
and  the  object  of  equal  praise  and  censure, 
was  a  native  of  Sede  in  Pamphylia  ;  and  es- 
teemed a  man  of  extensive  learning.  He 
made  the  Roman  civilians  his  more  particular 
study;  and  his  knowledge  of  law  conducted 
him  to  some  of  the  highest  posts  in  the  em- 
pire. From  the  bar  of  the  praetorian  prefect 
he  was  called  to  the  office  of  qusestor  ;  but  he 
became  so  unpopular  by  his  avarice,  that  his 
removal  formed  one  of  the  demands  of  the 
people  in  the  sedition  of  532.  He  was  how- 
ever soon  restored,  and  during  twenty  years 
preserved  the  favour  and  countenance  of  Jus- 
tinian. When  the  latter  determined  to  form  a 
new  code,  from  the  works  of  former  civilians, 
Tribonianus  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the 
commission.  In  the  perfonr.ance  of  this  task 
he  deserves  great  praise  ;  and  the  result,  the 
celebrated  Digest  and  Pandects,  would  have 
transmitted  his  name  with  great  honour  to 
posterity,  but  for  his  moral  defects.  In  the 
administration  of  justice  he  is  accused  of  hav- 
ing been  notoriously  influenced  by  bribes  ;  and 
he  was  also  charged  wit}',  atheism,  which 
Gibbon  deems  a  calumny.  The  latter  histo- 
rian lias  drawn  a  parallel  between  Tribonianus 
and  Bacon. —  Univ.  Hist.  Gibbon. 

TRIEWALD  (MARTIN)  a  Swedish  mathe- 
matician and  engineer,  born  at  Stockholm  in 
1691.  He  went  to  England,  where  he  was 
engaged  to  superintend  the  machinery  at  some 
coal-works  near  Newcastle.  He  there  met 
with  a  steam-engine,  with  the  construction  of 
which  he  made  himself  acquainted,  and  by 
his  improvements  in  it,  and  his  invention  of 
various  other  machines,  lie  made  himself  ad- 
vantageously known.  After  having  attended 
the  lectures  of  Dr  Desaguliers  in  London,  lie 
returned  to  Sweden,  whence  he  had  been  ab- 
sent ten  years.  He  erected  a  steam-engine, 
and  commenced  lectures  on  natural  philo- 
sophy, illustrated  by  experiments.  He  also 
enriched  his  native  country  with  many  in- 
ventions of  utility  in  the  mines  and  iron- 
works ;  and  he  contributed  much  to  propagate 


TRI 

a  taste  for  the  physical  sciences.  His  services 
were  rewarded  with  several  important  em- 
ployments, and  he  became  a  member  of  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  at  Stockholm,  to  whose 
Memoirs  he  was  a  considerable  contributor. 
Much  of  his  attention  was  devoted  to  the  im- 
provement of  die  diving-bell,  relative  to  which 
he  wrote  a  treatise  in  Swedish,  entitled  "  The 
Art  of  Living  under  Water,"4to.  1741.  He  died 
suddenly  in  1747. — A ikin's  G.  Biog.  Biog.Univ. 

TRIMMER  (SARAH)  a  literary  lady,  whose 
writings  are  principally  adapted  for  the  reli- 
gious and  moral  instruction  of  the  more  juve- 
nile members  of  society.  Her  maiden  name 
was  Kirby,  being  the  daughter  of  Joshua 
Kirby,  who  held  the  situation  of  clerk  of  the 
works  at  Kew-palace,  and  was  himself  a  good 
draughtsman  and  instructor  to  some  of  the  then 
younger  branches  of  the  royal  family  in  the  art 
of  designing.  The  subject  of  the  present  ar- 
ticle was  born  about  the  commencement  of  the 
year  1741  at  Ipswich,  and  was  early  initiated 
in  classical  as  well  as  English  literature.  She 
married  her  husband,  Mr  Trimmer,  in  1762, 
by  whom  she  had  twelve  children,  to  whose 
education  she  devoted  herself  with  exemplary 
assiduity.  She  was  distinguished  through 
life  as  an  active  and  benevolent  instructress  of 
youth,  for  whose  use  she  produced  a  variety  of 
ingenious  tracts,  several  of  which  have  been 
adopted  by  the  Society  for  promoting  Christian 
Knowledge.  Her  death  took  place  in  the  win- 
ter of  1810. — Chalmers's  Biog.  Diet. 

TRISSINO  (GIOVANNI  GIORGIO)  one  of 
the  fathers  of  Italian  poetry.  He  was  de- 
scended of  a  noble  family  of  Vicenza,  where 
he  was  born  in  1478,  and  received  a  liberal 
education  at  Milan  and  at  Rome.  The  death  of 
his  first  wife,  to  whom  he  was  married  early, 
drove  him  from  the  quiet  of  domestic  privacy, 
to  which  his  disposition  seems  to  have  inclined 
him,  into  active  life.  He  acquired  by  his  abi- 
lities the  favour  of  that  great  encourager  of 
talent,  Leo  X,  under  whose  auspices  he  pro- 
duced his  first  literary  effort,  a  tragedy  enti- 
tled "  Sophonisba."  The  successor  of  this 
munificent  pontiff  held  him  in  no  less  esteem, 
and  availed  himself  of  his  services  in  several 
diplomatic  missions,  especially  to  the  emperor 
Charles  V,  and  to  the  republic  of  Venice.  His 
best  production,  and  that  on  which  his  fame 
now  principally  rests,  is  an  heroic  poem  in 
blank  verse,  being  the  first  attempt  of  the  kind 
in  the  Italian  language  ;  and  which,  if  inferior  in 
spirit  and  elegance  to  the  epic  of  Tasso,  is  yet 
by  no  means  deficient  either  in  energy  or  in- 
vention. The  subject  of  this  poem  is  the  de- 
liverance of  Rome  from  the  Goths  by  Belisa- 
rins,  and  it  is  entitled  "  Italia  liberata  da 
Gotti."  In  private  life  he  was  unfortunate  ;  a 
second  marriage  involved  him  in  a  quarrel 
with  his  son  by  the  first  wife,  which  ended  in 
an  appeal  to  the  laws.  Trissino  was  worsted 
in  the  contest,  which  affected  him  so  much 
that  his  anxiety  during  the  progress  of  the  suit, 
and  the  chagrin  he  experienced  at  its  result, 
are  said  to  have  materially  accelerated  his 
death,  which  took  place  at  Rome  in  1550. — 
Tiraboschi.  Roscoe's  Life  of  Leo  X, 


TRO 

TRISTAN  L'HERMITE  (FnANfois)  a  na- 
tive of  Souliers  in  La  Marche,  distinguished  at 
the  French  court  in  the  earlier  moiety  of  the 
seventeenth  century  as  a  wit,  poet,  and  ac- 
complished gentleman.  He  was  born  about 
the  year  1601,  and  at  first  held  a  situation 
about  the  person  of  the  marquis  de  Verneuil, 
the  illegitimate  son  of  Henri  Quatre.  An  un- 
fortunate quarrel,  which  terminated  in  the 
death  of  his  antagonist,  a  young  nobleman, 
who  fell  in  the  rencontre,  drove  him  for  a 
while  into  exile  ;  but  he  afterwards  obtained 
his  pardon,  and  became  a  member  of  the 
household  of  Gastou  d'Orleans.  His  works, 
consisting  principally  of  dramatic  compositions, 
have  been  published  in  three  quarto  volumes. 
The  production  by  which  he  is  principally 
known  is  his  tragedy  of  •'  Mariamne."  His 
death  took  place  in  1649. — Moreri.  Nouv. 
Diet.  Hist. 

TRITHEMIUS  (JOHN)  abbot  of  Span- 
heim,  a  Benedictine  monk  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, born  at  Tritenheim  in  Germany  in  1462. 
He  is  known  as  an  industrious  compiler  as 
well  as  writer  of  some  talent  on  subjects  not 
altogether  confined  to  those  which,  during  the 
period  in  which  he  lived,  occupied  almost  ex- 
clusively the  attention  of  the  brethren  of  his 
order.  Two  treatises  on  steganography  and 
polygraphy,  written  with  some  ability,  evince 
his  ingenuity,  while  his  industry  is  proved  by 
his  other  writings,  "  Opera  Historica,"  folio, 
2  vols.  ;  "  On  the  illustrious  Writers  of  the 
Church,"  4to,  1546  ;  "  On  illustrious  Mem- 
bers of  the  Order  of  St  Benedict;"  "  On  il- 
lustrious Germans,"  4to;  and  "  Annales  Hir- 
sangieses,"  folio,  2  vols.  He  died  abbot  of  a 
religious  house  dedicated  to  St  James  at  Wurtz- 
berg  in  1516. — Niceron.  Dupin. 

TRIVET  (NICHOLAS)  a  Dominican  friar, 
son  of  sir  Thomas  Trivet,  lord-chief-justice, 
lived  in  the  reigns  of  Edward  I,  II,  and  III. 
He  was  the  author  of  "  Annales  lleg«am  An- 
glise,"  published  by  Anthony  Hall  of  Queen's 
college,  Oxford,  in  1719,  in  2  vols.  8vo.  Bishop 
Nicolson  speaks  of  this  work  as  having  formed 
part  of  the  library  of  Merton  college,  Oxford, 
under  the  title  of  "  Les  Gestesdes  Apostoiles  ;" 
but  the  tatter  must  evidently  have  been  a  dif- 
ferent production.  Trivet,  who  was  educated 
at  Oxford,  left  many  other  MSS.  on  various 
subjects  of  philosophy  and  theology.  He  died 
in  1328. — Nicolsvn's  Hint.  Lib.  Bale.  Tanner. 

TROGUS  POMPEIUS,  a  Latin  historian, 
who  flourished  in  the  reign  of  Augustus.  His 
family  were  Vocontian  Gauls,  a  tribe  of  Gallia 
Narbonensis  ;  his  grandfather  having  been 
made  a  Roman  citizen  by  Pompey  the  Great, 
while  his  father  became  keeper  of  the  seal  and 
secretary  to  Julius  Caesar.  He  wrote  forty- 
four  books  of  a  history,  which  he  called  "  Phi- 
lippics," from  their  subject,  which  was  the 
Macedonian  empire,  taking  its  rise  from  Philip, 
the  father  of  Alexander.  Of  this  work  we 
have  only  the  epitome  by  Justin,  who  terms 
Trogus  a  man  of  antique  eloquence  ;  he  is  also 
often  referred  to  by  the  elder  Pliny,  who  calls 
him  a  very  exact  author. — Vossii  Hist.  Lat. 

TEOIL  (UNO  von)  the   son  of  the  arch 


TR  O 

bishop  of  Upsal,  was  born  at  Stockholm  iu  1746, 
and  being  destined  for  the  church,  he  was 
educated  at  the  university  of  Upsal.  He  then 
travelled  in  Germany,  France,  and  England  ; 
and  becoming  acquainted  with  the  late  sir  Jo- 
seph Banks,  he  accompanied  that  gentleman 
and  Dr  Solander  to  Iceland,  and  returned  with 
them  to  London.  In  1773  he  proceeded  to 
Holland,  and  thence  to  Sweden,  where  the 
king  appointed  him  almoner  to  a  regiment,  and 
employed  him  to  translate  the  Memoirs  of 
Whitelocke,  English  ambassador  at  the  court  of 
quten  Christina.  This  work  was  published  at 
the  expense  of  the  government  in  1774  ;  and 
the  following  year  von  Troil  was  made  preacher 
in  ordinary  to  the  king.  In  1777  he  pub- 
lished the  work  by  which  he  is  principally 
known,  his  "  Letters  on  a  Voyage  to  Ice- 
land," 8vo,  since  translated  into  several  lan- 
guages. He  was  at  length  raised  to  the  bi- 
shopric of  Lindkoping,  afterwards  made  pre- 
sident of  the  consistory  of  Stockholm,  and  in 
1786  promoted  to  the  archbishopric  of  Upsal. 
lie  died  July  27,  1803.  Von  Troil  was  in- 
vested with  the  royal  orders,  and  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  academies  of  Sweden  ;  and  he  also 
held  the  office  of  vice-chancellor  of  the  uni- 
versity of  Upsal.  He  published  "  Memoirs 
relative  to  the  History  of  the  Church  and  the 
Reformation  in  Sweden,"  Upsal,  1790 — 95, 
5  vols.  8vo. — Biog.  Univ. 

TROMP  (MARTIN  HERBERTSON)  a  cele- 
brated Dutch  naval  officer,  born  at  Brill,  in 
1597.  He  went  to  sea  when  young  with  his 
father,  and  was  taken  prisoner  in  a  combat 
with  an  English  piratical  vessel,  on  board 
which  he  continued  two  years.  Being  restored 
to  his  country,  he  was  made  lieutenant  on 
board  a  ship  of  the  line  in  1622  ;  and  two  years 
after  he  received  the  command  of  a  frigate. 

o 

After  experiencing  some  neglect  he  was  created 
lieutenant-admiral  in  1637,  and  appointed 
commander  of  a  squadron  of  eleven  vessels, 
with  which  he  attacked  and  beat  a  superior 
fleet  of  the  Spaniards.  In  October  1639  he 
defeated  the  Spaniards  again  under  admiral 
Oquendo.  But  his  principal  services  were 
against  the  English.  Before  the  declaration 
of  hostilities  against  Holland  in  1652,  a  ren- 
counter took  place  in  the  Downs  between 
Tromp  and  admiral  Blake,  which  was  disad- 
vantageous to  the  former.  He  was  dismissed 
from  his  command,  but  being  soon  after  re- 
stored, he  fought  another  battle  with  Blake, 
whom  he  compelled  to  retreat  to  the  Thames 
with  the  loss  of  five  ships.  In  February  1653 
Tromp  and  De  Ruyter,  convoying  a  great  fleet 
of  Dutch  merchantmen,  were  attacked  by  the 
united  squadrons  of  Blake,  Monk,  and  Dean, 
when  an  engagement  ensued  which  lasted 
three  days,  and  terminated  in  the  loss  of  nine 
men-of-war  to  the  Dutch,  who  however  re- 
treated in  good  order,  and  saved  their  convoy. 
Another  bloody  combat  took  place  off  Nieu- 
port,  June  12,  1653,  in  which  the  English  ad- 
miral Dean  was  killed,  but  the  Dutch  were 
beaten.  On  the  6th  of  August  Tromp  again 
met  the  English  fleet  near  the  coasts  of  Hol- 
land, and  on  the  following  day  a  most  ob- 


TKO 

I  stinate  engagement  occurred,  in  which  this 
brave  and  meritorious  officer  was  killed  by  a 
musket-ball ;  and  the  dearly  purchased  victory 

)  remained  with  the  English.  The  body  of 
Tromp  was  honourably  interred  in  the  church 
of  Delft,  where  a  magnificent  monument  was 
raised  to  his  memory. — CORNELIUS  TROMP, 
son  of  the  preceding,  born  at  Rotterdam  iu 
1629,  was  also  a  distinguished  na-val  com- 
mander. At  the  age  of  twenty-one  lie  wys 
captain  of  a  vessel  in  a  squadron  sent  against 
the  emperor  of  Morocco,  and  two  years  after 
he  was  made  a  rear-admiral  of  the  Admiralty 
of  Amsterdam.  In  1653  he  took  an  English 
man-of-war  in  the  Mediterranean.  He  suc- 
ceeded to  the  reputation  of  his  father,  and  like 
him  he  distinguished  himself  against  the  na- 
vies of  Britain.  He  was  one  of  the  admirals 
in  the  sea-fight  off  Solebay,  in  which  the 
Dutch  commander  Opdam  was  blown  up,  and 
the  Dutch  were  defeated  ;  but  Tromp,  by  a 
masterly  retreat,  contributed  to  lessen  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  victors.  In  the  famous  battle 
in  the  Downs,  in  June  1666,  which  lasted 
lour  days,  Tromp  was  inferior  to  De  Ruyter 
only  in  the  glory  of  successful  valour,  and  he 
was  obliged  repeatedly  to  shift  his  flag  from 
ships  which  had  been  disabled  in  the  terrible 
conflict.  He  was  again  present  in  the  engage- 
ment of  the  4th  and  5th  of  August  following, 
in  which  it  is  said  that  he  neglected  properly 
to  second  his  rival  coadjutor  De  Ruyte'r.  The 
complaints  of  that  officer  caused  him  to  be 
superseded  ;  and  it  was  not  till  1673,  when 
the  States  General  were  involved  in  a  war  with 
England  and  France  at  the  same  time,  that 
Cornelius  Tromp  was  again  called  to  the  ser- 
vice of  his  country.  The  rival  admirals  were 
now  reconciled,  and  they  fought  in  concert 
with  the  French  and  English  off  the  Dutch 
shores  in  June  and  August.  Peace  soon  fol- 
lowed, and  in  1675  Tromp  made  a  visit  to 
London,  where  he  was  honourably  received  by 
Charles  II,  who  created  him  a  baronet.  The 
same  year  he  was  sent  with  a  fleet  to  assist 
the  king  of  Denmark  against  Sweden,  when 
he  was  invested  with  the  Danish  order  of  the 
Elephant.  Iu  1677  he  succeeded  De  Ruyter 
as  lieutenant-admiral-general  of  the  United 
Provinces  ;  and  he  died  at  Amsterdam,  May 
29,  1691,  just  as  he  was  about  to  take  the 
command  of  a  fleet  destined  to  act  against 
France.  He  was  buried  in  the  splendid  tomb 
of  his  father  at  Delft. — Morsri.  Aikin.  Biog. 
Univ. 

TRONCHIN  (THEODORE)  one  of  the  most 
celebrated  physicians  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. He  was  born  at  Geneva  in  1709,  and 
being  maternally  related  to  lord  Bolingbroke, 
he  was  sent  at  an  early  age  to  England,  to  re- 
ceive the  benefit  of  his  patronage.  That 
statesman  however  falling  into  disgrace  at 
court,  could  only  assist  his  kinsman  with  advice 
for  the  direction  of  his  studies.  He  went  to 
the  university  of  Cambridge,  and  thence  to 
Leyden,  where  he  became  a  favourite  pupil  of 
Boerhaave ;  and  having  taken  the  degree  of 
MD.  in  1730,  he  settled  in  medical  practice  at 
Amsterdam.  He  was  made  a  member  of  the 
Z  2 


TRU 

college  of  physicians,  and  an  inspector  of  hos 
pitals  in  that"  city,  and  he  distinguished  him- 
self much    by  promoting  inoculation   for  the 
email-pox.     In   1750  he  returned  to  Geneva, 
where  his  reputation   induced  the   council  of 
state    to  give  him  the  title   of  honorary  pro- 
fessor of  medicine.     In  1756  he  was  called  to 
Paris  to  inoculate  the  children  of  the  duke  of 
Orleans;  and  some  years  after   he  accepted 
the  office   of  chief  physician   to   that  prince, 
when  he  removed  to  t'he  French  metropolis. 
Tronchin  there  became  intimately  connected 
with  Voltaire,  J.  J.  Rousseau,  Diderot,  Tho- 
mas, and  other  philosophers  and  men  of  let- 
ters, who  have  amply  celebrated  in  their  wri- 
tings his  talents  and  his  virtues.  The  practice 
of  Tronchin  was  simple,  and  founded  on  close 
observation   of  the  phenomena  of  health  and 
disease.     He  administered  medicine  sparingly, 
trusting   principally  to  diet   and  regimen,  and 
to  the  regulation   of  the  passions  and  mental 
affections.    He  paid  particular  attention  to  the 
diseases  of  women  and   children,    and   espe- 
cially to  nervous  disorders  ;  and  he  has  the 
merit  of  having  adopted  the  cooling  plan  in  the 
treatment  of  the  small-pox.    He  died  at  Paris, 
November  30,  1781.    Besides  articles  relating 
to  medicine,  in  the  Encyclopedic,  and  an  edi- 
tion of  the  works  of  Baillou,  he  published  aca- 
demical theses  •'  De  Nympha;  de  Chloride," 
Leyd.  1736,  4to  ;  a  small  treatise,  "  De  Colica 
Pictorum,"  Genev.  1757,  8vo ;  and  papers  in 
the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy  of  Surgery.  He  be- 
longed to  the  principal  scientific  and  medical  so- 
cieties in  Europe. — Aikin's  G.  Biog.  Bivg.  Univ. 
TRUBLET  (NICHOLAS  CHARLES  JOSEPH) 
a  French  abbe  and  man  of  letters,  was  born  at 
St  Malo,  in  December  1697.     He  was  brought 
up  to  the  shurch,  and  became  treasurer  of  the 
cathedral  of  Nantes,  and  afterwards  archdeacon 
and  canon  of  St  Malo.     His  first  appearance 
as  an  author  was  in  1717,  when  he  published 


TSC 

TRUMBULL,  or  TRUMBALl.  (sir  Wi  „- 
I.IAM)  an  English  statesman,  born  at  East 
Hcmpsted  in  Berkshire,  in  1636.  He  studied 
at  Oxford,  and  having  taken  the  degree  of  ba- 
chelor of  laws  in  1659,  he  travelled  in  France 
and  Italy.  On  his  return  home,  he  finished 
his  legal  studies,  and  became  a  barrister  in 
the  court  of  chancery.  In  1682  he  obtained 
the  office  of  clerk  of  the  signet ;  and  after 
having  occupied  various  posts,  diplomatic  and 
political,  he  was  at  length  made  secretary  of 
state.  He  resigned  this  office,  after  holding  it 
two  years,  in  1697,  and  retired  to  his  estate  at 
East  Hempsted,  where  he  died  December  14, 
1716.  Burnet  describes  him  as  an  able  civi- 
lian and  most  virtuous  man,  but  he  is  chiefly 
known  as  the  friend  of  Pope,  who  wrote  his 
epitaph,  and  has  preserved  some  of  his  letters. 
— Bifig.  Univ. 

TRTJSLER  (Dr  JOHN)  a  singular  literary 
compiler,  was  born  in  London  in  1735,  and 
brought  up  in  one  of  the  humblest  lines  of 
physic.  He  however  contrived  to  get  into  holy 
orders,  and  for  some  time  officiated  as  a  curate, 
but  at  length,  in  1771,  he  hit  upon  the  more 
profitable  scheme  of  composing  abridgments  of 
popular  sermons,  printed  in  imitation  of  manu- 
script, for  the  use  of  the  pulpit.  He  next  es- 
tablished a  bookselling  concern  upon  an  ex- 
tensive scale,  and  by  business  and  the  success 
of  his  numerous  but  very  puerile  compilations 
for  youth,  &c.  realised  a  handsome  fortune. 
He  died  at  Englefield-green,  where  he  had 
purchased  an  estate,  in  1820.  His  compilations 
are  not  worth  enumerating  ;  the  best  are  his 
"  Hogarth  Moralized,"  and  a  "  Compendium 
of  Chronology." — Gent.  Mag. 

TRYPH1ODORUS,  a  Greek  poet,  was  by 
birth  an  Egyptian.  The  time  when  he  lived 
is  uncertain,  but  it  is  usually  referred  to  the 
reign  of  the  emperor  Anastasius,  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  sixth  century.  Nothing  is  known 


in  the  French  Mercure,  his  "  Reflections  on 
Telemachus,"  which  introduced  him  to  La 
Motte  and  Fontenelle.  For  some  time  he  was 
attached  to  cardinal  Tencin,  whom  he  accom- 
panied to  Rome  ;  but  disliking  a  life  of  de- 
pendence, he  returned  to  Paris,  and  employed 
himself  in  literary  pursuits.  He  was  received 
into  the  French  academy  in  1761,  and  about 
six  years  afterwards  he  retired  to  St  Malo, 
where  he  died  in  March  1770.  His  principal 
works  are  "  Essais  de  Litterature  et  de  Mo- 
rale," 4vols.  l2mo,  which  have  been  often  re- 
printed and  translated  into  other  languages. 
These  essays,  although  he  was  neither  gifted 
with  the  elegance  of  La  Bruyere  nor  the  pene- 
tration of  Rochefoucault,  contain  much  lively 
remark,  and  knowledge  of  books  and  men. 
"  Panegyriques  des  Saintes,"  a  work  feebly 
written,  but  to  which  he  prefixed  some  valu- 
able reflections  upon  eloquence  ;  "  Memoires 
pour  servir  a  1'Histoire  de  Mess,  de  la  Motte 
et  de  Fontenelle."  He  was  also  a  contributor 
to  the  "  Journal  des  Savans"  and  "  Journal 
Chretien,"  in  which  last  work  he  spoke  of 
Voltaire  in  a  manner  which  drew  upon  him 
some  severe  epigrams  from  that  irritable  wit. 
— Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 


ot  his  personal  history,  more  than  that  he  was 
a  grammarian,  and  that  he  wrote  a  great  many 
works,  the  titles  of  which  are  given  by  Suidas. 
Of  these  nothing  is  extant  except  a  poem  on 
the  destruction  of  Troy,  which  has  no  poetical 
merit.  The  standard  of  this  writer  may  be 
taken  from  the  circumstance  of  his  being  one 
of  the  tribe  of  Lipogrammatists,  having  com- 
posed an  Odyssey  of  twenty-four  books,  each 
of  which  dropped  a  letter  of  the  alphabet  in 
succession,  but  of  this  piece  of  laborious  ab- 
surdity no  specimens  remain.  The  existing 
poem  of  Tryphiodorus  was  first  printed  by 
Aldus,  with  those  of  Quintus  Calabar  and 
Coluthus.  Of  the  subsequent  editions  the 
best  are  those  of  Merrick,  with  an  English 
version,  of  Baudini,  Florence,  1765,  and  of 
Northmore,  Oxford,  1791. — Merrick's  Disserta- 
tion. Baijle.  Spectator,  No.  59. 

TSCHIRNHAUSEN  (EHRENFRIED  WAL- 
TER von)  an  ingenious  mathematician,  lord  of 
Killingswald  and  of  Stolzenberg,  in  Lusatia, 
was  born  April  10,  1651.  He  studied  somg 
time  at  the  university  of  Leyden,  and  in  167  '2 
entered  the  Dutch  army,  in  which  he  served 
some  time  as  a  volunteer,  and  then  travelled 
into  most  of  the  leading  countries  of  Europe. 


TUC 

On  his  return,  being  desirous  to  perfect  the 
Science  of  optics,  he  established  three  glass- 
iouses  in  Saxony,  and  showed  how  porcelain 
might  be  made  from  a  particular  kind  of  earth, 
thereby  entitling  himself  to  be  considered  as 
the  founder  of  the  celebrated  Dresden  porce- 
lain manufactory.  He  likewise  directed  his 
attention  to  mathematics,  and  discovered  a 
particular  kind  of  curves,  endowed  with  very 
remarkable  properties,  called  after  himTschirn- 
hausen's  caustics,  an  account  of  which  he 
communicated  to  the  Academy  of  Sciences  of 
Paris,  in  1682,  which  body  elected  him  a 
member.  About  the  year  1687  he  constructed 
an  extraordinary  burning  mirror,  and  soon  after 
succeeded  in  making  a  glass  lens,  three  feet  in 
diameter,  and  convex  on  both  sides,  which 
had  a  focus  of  twelve  feet,  and  weighed  one 
hundred  and  sixty  pounds.  Its  effects  were 
'astonishing ;  wood  was  set  on  fire  with  it  in  an 
instant,  and  all  earthy  substances,  asbestos  ex- 
cepted,  converted  by  it  into  glass.  It  was  pur- 
chased by  the  regent  duke  of  Orleans,  who 
subsequently  presented  it  to  the  Academy  of 
Sciences.  The  only  work  which  lie  published 
separately  was  his  "  De  Medicina  Mentis  et 
Corporis,"  printed  at  Amsterdam  in  1687  ;  but 
he  was  the  author  of  several  papers  on  burning- 
glasses,  and  on  his  discoveries  in  regard  to 
curves,  which  appear  in  the  Leipsic  Trans- 
actions and  the  Memoirs  of  the  French  Aca- 
demy of  Sciences. — Huttons  Math.  Diet. 

TSCHUDI  (GILES  de)  one  of  a  family  of 
Swiss  writers,  and  landaman  of  the  canton  of 
Glarus,  was  born  in  1505.  IJe  devoted  much 
of  his  time  to  historical  researches,  and  pro- 
duced, among  other  works  of  less  note,  "  The 
Helvetic  Chronicle,"  which  remained  in  ma- 
nuscript until  1734,  when  it  was  edited  and 
published  by  Iselin,  in  2  vols.  folio. — Another 
of  the  family,  DOMINIC  TSCHUDI,  who  died  in 
1654,  wrote  in  Latin  on  the  constitution  of  the 
Benedictine  congregation  in  Switzerland,  and 
an  account  of  the  founder  of  the  abbey,  which 
was  printed  in  1651. — A  third,  JOHN  HENRY 
TSCHUDI,  who  died  in  1729,  was  the  author 
of  an  Account  of  the  Abbots  of  St  Gall,  17 1 1, 
4to,  and  a  "  Chronicle  of  the  Canton  of  Gla- 
rus," both  in  German.  He  also  conducted  a 
literary  journal  from  1714  to  1726.— There 
was  likewise  a  JOHN  PETEK  TSCHUDI,  who 
wrote  in  German  a  History  of  Weidenberg, 
published  in  1726. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist.  Saxii 
Onom. 

TUCKER  (ABRAHAM)  an  English  writer 
on  morals  and  metaphysics,  who  was  the  sor 
of  a  merchant  of  London,  where  he  was  borr 
in  1705.  After  completing  his  studies  at  Ox- 
ford, and  learning  French,  Italian,  and  music,  to 
which  he  was  passionately  attached,  he  travelled 
in  France.  He  married  in  1736,  and  having  los 
his  wife  in  1754,  he  published  under  the  tills 
of  "  A  Picture  of  Love  without  Art,"  all  tin 
letters  she  had  written  to  him  during  his  fre 
quent  absences  in  various  parts  of  England  an< 
Scotland.  Some  time  after  he  produced  hi 
"  Advice  from  a  Country  Gentleman  to  hi 
Son  ;"  and  he  commenced  his  great  work,  calle 
"  The  Light  of  Nature  pursued,"  7  vols.  8vo 


T  UL 

ie  first  three  of  which  appeared  in  176S,  un- 
er  the  pseudonym  of  Edward  Search,  Esq  ; 
nd  the  remaining  volumes  were  printed  after 
ue  death  of  the  author,  which  took  place  No- 
ember  20,  1774.— Diet.  Hist  Ring.  Univ. 

TUCKER  (JosiAii)  an  eminent  political 
vriter,  who  was  the  son  of  a  Welsh  gentleman 
f  small  property,  who  farmed  his  own  estate. 
ie  was  born  in  1711,  and  having  been  educated 
t  St  John's  college,  Oxford,  he  entered  into 
oly  orders,  and  obtained  the  curacy  of  the 
ansh  of  All  Saints  at  Bristol.  Bishop  But- 
er  appointed  him  his  chaplain,  and  procured 
im  the  rectory  of  St  Stephens  in  the  same 
ity.  His  situation  in  tbis  seat  of  commerce 
robably  drew  his  attention  to  that  subject, 
nd  in  1747  lie  published  "  A  brief  Essay  on 
lie  Advantages  and  Disadvantages  which  re- 
pectively  attend  France  and  Great  Britain 
vith  regard  to  Trade  ;"  and  this  piece  wasfol- 
owed  by  "  Reflexions  on  the  Expediency  of  a 

aw  for  the  Naturalization  of  Foreign  Protes- 
ants,"  for  which  measure  he  was  an  advocate, 
,s  he  likewise  was  for  the  naturalization  of  the 
ews,  which   he  defended  in  "  Letters  to  a 
^riend  concerning  Naturalizations."     He  ch- 
ained tbe  degree   of  DD.  in  1755,  and  was 
dso  made  a  prebend  of  Bristol.     The  exertion 
)f  his  influence  among  his  parishiorers  to  pro- 
ure  the  election  of  Mr  Nugent  (lord  Clare) 
is  MP.  for  Bristol,  procured  him  the  deanery 
f  Gloucester  in  1758.     He  afterwards  wrote 
igainst  the  petition  for  relieving   the   clergy 
rom  subscription  to  the   thirty-nine  articles ; 
'  Letters  to  Dr  Kippis,"  against  repealing  the 
;orporation   and  test  acts  ;    several    tracts   on 
he   disputes   between  Great   Britain  and  her 
American  Colonies  ;  and  a  "  Treatise  concern- 
ng  Civil    Government,"  1781  ;  in  which  he 
combats  the  principles  of  Locke,  on  the  origin, 
extent,  and  end  of  civil  institutions.     His  life 
vas  terminated  by  a  paralytic  stroke  in  1799. 
Besides  the  works  already  noticed  and  a  vo- 
ume  of  sermons,  he  produced   a  multitude  of 
publications  on  commerce,  politics,  and  religion. 
[n  his  tracts  on  the  American  war,  he  warmly 
:ondenmed  the   opposition   of  the  colonies  to 
the  autbority  of  the  mother  country ;  and  re- 
commended, at  an  early  period  of  the  contest, 
as  a  matter  of  absolute  necessity,  a  separation 
of  the  former  from  the  British  empire,  and  a 
consequent  recognition  of  their  independence. 
— Gent.  Moo-.     Aikin's  Gen.  Biog. 

TULL  (JETHRO)  an  agricultural  writer,  dis- 
tinguished for  having  recommended  what  has 
been  termed  the  horse-hoeing  method  of  hus- 
bandry. He  was  a  gentleman  of  an  ancient 
Yorkshire  fanuly,  and  was  born  about  1680. 
After  receiving  a  liberal  education  at  an  uni- 
versity, he  studied  at  the  Temple,  and  was  ad- 
mitted a  barrister-at-law  in  the  early  part  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  He  then  appears  to 
have  made  the  tour  of  Europe,  in  the  course  of 
which  he  diligently  observed  the  soil,  the 
modes  of  culture,  and  the  productions  of  the 
countries  which  he  visited.  Returning  home 
he  married,  and  settled  on  a  farm  of  his  own  iu 

Oxfordshire,  where  he  diligently  engaged  in  a 

course  of  agricultural  experiments,   llluesain 


TUL 

duced  nim  again  to  go  abroad  ;  and  after  three  ' 
years'  absence  he  came  home,  and  resumed  j 
his  projects  on  another  estate  in  Berkshire. 
His  grand  object  was  to  substitute  labour  and 
arrangement  in  the  place  of  manure  ami  fal- 
lowing in  the  culture  of  land.  With  that 
view  lie  invented  various  instruments,  adapted 
to  wbat  hecalledhorse-boeing  husbandry.  Like 
most  innovators,  he  experienced  many  losses 
and  disappointments  from  the  stupidity  or  un- 
faiihfulness  of  his  labourers  and  others  whom  ; 
he  employed  ;  and  in  a  pecuniary  point  of 
view  his  scheme  appears  to  have  been  unsuc- 
cessful. In  1733  he  published  "  An  Essay  on 
Horse-hoeing  Husbandry,"  folio,  which  was 
translated  into  French  by  Duhamel ;  and  from 
that  time,  he  continued  occasionally  to  publish 
other  pieces  in  defence  of  his  system,  &c.  He 
died  in  1740. — Aikin's  Gen.  Biog. 

TULLY  (THOMAS)  a  learned  divine  and 
controversial  writer,  was  born  at  Carlisle  in 
16'<!2.  He  become  a  fellow  of  Queen's  college, 
Oxford,  and  in  1642  was  appointed  master  of 
the  grammar  school  at  Tetbury  in  Gloucester- 
shire. In  1657  he  took  his  degree  of  bache- 
lor of  divinity,  and  soon  after  was  made  master 
of  Edmund-hall.  After  the  Restoration  he 
was  created  DU.  and  appointed  chaplain  to 
the  king  ;  and  was  also  presented  by  one  of 
his  pupils  to  the  rectory  of  Grittleton  in  Wilt- 
shire, to  which  was  added  the  deanery  of  Ri- 
pon.  He  died  in  1656.  This  divine,  who 
carried  on  a  controversy  with  Dr  Bui!  and  Mr 
Baxter  on  the  subject  of  justification,  published 
"  Logica  Apodeictica  ;"  "  Enchiridion  Didac- 
ticum,  cum  Appendice  de  Coeno  Domini, 
&c. ;"  "  Justificatio  Paulina,  sine  Operibus." 
— GEORGE  TULLY,  nephew  of  the  preceding, 
was  also  educated  at  Queen's  college,  Oxford. 
He  became  subdean  of  York,  and  published 
among  otber  works  a  discourse  on  "  The  Go- 
vernment of  the  Thoughts."  He.  died  in  1697. 
— Athen.  Oxnn.  vol.  ii. 

TULP  (NICHOLAS)  an  eminent  physician 
and  distinguished  patriot,  was  the  son  of  a  rich 
merchant  of  Amsterdam,  where  he  was  born 
in  1593.  He  studied  physic  at  Leyden,  where 
he  graduated,  and  then  settled  in  his  native 
place.  He  not  only  rose  to  eminence  in  his 
profession,  but  possessing  much  judgment  as 
a  politician,  he  was  elected  a  counsellor  of 
Amsterdam  in  1622,  and  nominated  six  times 
to  the  office  of  sheriff.  He  was  finally  ap- 
pointed to  the  important  post  of  burgomaster, 
which  he  occupied  on  the  unprincipled  invasion 
of  Holland  by  Louis  XIV  in  1672.  Notwith- 
standing his  advanced  age,  he  retained  so 
much  firmness  and  vigour,  that  it  was  chiefly 
through  his  persuasion  that  his  fellow  citizens 
we:e  animated  to  the  resistance  that  saved 
their  country.  For  his  services  on  this  occasion 
a  silver  medal  was  struck  to  his  honour,  with 
amottofrom  the  ^Eneid,  "  Vires  ultra  sortem- 
que  senectas."  Tulp  was  the  author  of  a  vo- 
lume of  rare  and  curious  cases,  entitled  "  Ob- 
servationum  Medicarum,  Libri  Tres,"  1641, 
12mo,  reprinted  subsequently  with  a  fourtli 
book,  Amst.  1672 — 1675,  and  Leyden,  1716. 
It  ia  written  in  Latin,  with  great  purity  of  dic- 


TUN 

tion  and  conciseness,  and  contains  many  va- 
luable anatomical  remarks.  According  to  Hal- 
ler,  Tulp  was  the  first  who  observed  the  lac- 
teal vessels. —  llnllerl  Bilil.  Mi'il.  VAmi. 

TUNSTALL  or  TONSTAL  (CUTIIHEIIT) 
an  eminent  English  prelate,  was  bnrn  at 
Hatehford  in  Yorkshire  about  1474.  He  was 
the  natural  son  of  a  gentleman  of  the  same 
name,  who  sent  him  to  Baliol  college,  Oxford, 
whence  he  removed  to  Cambridge,  where  he 
was  chosen  fellow  of  King's-hall,  now  Trinity 
college.  He  next  proceeded  to  Padua,  where 
he  took  the  degree  of  doctor  of  laws,  and  on  his 
return  was  made  vicar-general  to  archbishop 
Warham,  obtaining  various  preferments,  until 
in  1516  he  was  appointed  master  of  the  rolls. 
The  same  year  he  was  sent  ambassador,  in 
conjunction  with  sir  Thomas  More,  to  the  em- 
peror Charles  V,  then  at  Brussels,  during  which 
mission  he  lived  in  the  same  house  witli  Eras- 
mus. Various  additional  preferments  followed 
this  service,  until  in  1522  he  was  made  bishop 
of  London,  and  the  following  year  appointed 
keeper  of  the  privy  seal.  In  1527  he  attended 
Wolsey  in  his  embassy  to  France  ;  and  he  was 
also  one  of  the  ministers  appointed  to  negociate 
the  treaty  of  Cambrai.  In  1530  he  was  trans- 
lated to  the  see  of  Durham,  and  during  the 
reign  of  Henry  VIII  he  concurred  in  most  of 
the  proceedings  adopted  by  that  self-willed 
monarch  for  the  reformation  of  the  church. 
Under  Edward  VI  he  was  deprived  of  his 
bishopric,  on  pretences  by  no  means  creditable, 
and  he  remained  a  prisoner  in  the  Tower 
until  the  accession  of  Mary,  when  he  was  re- 
stored to  his  bishopric.  He  conducted  himself 
with  great  moderation  in  this  sanguinary  rei.;n, 
to  the  Protestants  in  his  diocese,  a  deportment 
that  was  by  no  means  agreeable  to  Mary  and 
her  council.  On  the  accession  of  Elizabeth  it 
was  supposed  that  he  would  easily  reconcile 
himself  to  the  meditated  settlement  of  the 
church,  but  he  resolutely  refused  the  oath  of 
supremacy  ;  and  was  again  deprived  and  com- 
mitted to  the  custody  of  archbishop  Parker, 
who  treated  him  with  great  respect,  and  under 
whose  roof  he  died  November  18,  1559.  This 
able  prelate  was  uncle  to  the  celebrated  Ber- 
nard Gilpin,  who  supplied  many  curious  par- 
ticulars of  his  conduct  and  deportment,  which 
exhibit  him  as  much  of  a  courtier,  but  pos- 
sessed of  sense  and  humanity.  Several  ser- 
mons and  theological  tracts  of  his  were  pub- 
lished in  his  life  time,  and  many  of  his  letters 
and  papers  will  be  found  in  Burnet's  History 
of  the  Reformation,  Strype's  Memorials,  Col- 
lier's Church  History,  and  Lodge's  Illustrations. 
— Athen.  Oimi.  vol.  i.  Tanner.  Strype's  Life 
of  Parker.  Biog.  Brit. 

TUNSTALL  (JAMES)  a  learned  divine  and 
classical  critic,  born  in  1710,  and  educated  at 
St  John's  college,  Cambridge.  He  there  be- 
came a  fellow  and  a  tutor,  and  in  1741  he  was 
chosen  public  orator  of  the  university.  He 
subsequently  was  chaplain  to  archbishop  Pot- 
ter, who  gave  him  the  rectory  of  Great  Chart, 
in  Kent,  which  he  exchanged  for  the  valuable 
vicarage  of  Rochdale,  in  Lancashire.  He  died 
in  1772.  His  principal  works  are  "  Epistola 


TUR 

ad  Virum  eruditum  Conyers  Middleton,  Vitae 
M.  T.  Ciceronis  Scriptorem,"  impugning  the 
authenticity  of  the  letters  between  Cicero  and 
Brutus,  of  which  Middleton  had  made  great 
use  in  his  life  of  Cicero  ;  "  Observations  on  the 
present  Collection  of  Epistles  between  Cicero 
and  M.  Brutus  ;"  "  Academica,  or  Discourses 
on  Natural  and  Revealed  Religion  ;"and  "Lec- 
tures on  Natural  and  Revealed  Religion,"  a 
sequel  to  the  discourses,  published  posthu- 
mously.— Nichuls's  Lit.  Aitec. 

TURBERVILE  (GEORGE)  an  English 
poet,  descended  from  an  ancient  family  in 
Dorsetshire,  is  supposed  to  have  been  born 
about  1530.  He  received  his  education  at 
Winchester  school,  and  became  a  fellow  of 
New  college,  Oxford,  in  1561.  He  left  the 
university  without  taking  a  degree,  and  resided 
for  some  time  in  one  of  the  inns  of  court, 
where  he  began  to  exhibit  his  predilection  for 
poetry.  His  abilities  soon  after  recommended 
him  to  MT  Randolph,  sent  ambassador  by  Eli- 
zabeth to  the  court  of  Russia,  who  appointed 
him  his  secretary  during  the  mission.  On  his 
rettrrn  he  was  much  courted  as  a  man  of  accom- 
plished education  and  manners,  and  the  first 
edition  of  his  "Songs  and  Sonnets,"  published 
in  1567,  seems  to  have  added  considerably  to 
his  reputation.  His  other  works  are  trans- 
lations of  "  The  Heroical  Epistles  of  Ovid," 
the  Eclogues  of  B.  Mantuan,  and  a  collection 
entitled  "Tragical  Tales,"  translated  from  va- 
rious Italian  writers.  He  is  also  supposed  to 
be  in  reality  the  author  of  the  "  Booke  of 
Falconrye,"  attributed  to  another  writer  of  the 
same  name.  He  was  living  in  1594  in  great 
esteem,  but  no  account  of  his  death  is  recorded. 
There  is  some  diversity  of  fancy  and  sentiment 
in  Turbervile's  pieces,  mixed  up  with  much 
pedantry,  flatness,  and  common -place  ;  but 
unlike  many  poets  of  that  early  age,  he  sel- 
dom infringes  upon  morals  or  delicacy. — Cen- 
tura Lit.  vol.  ii.  and  iii.  Ellis's  Specimens. 

TURBILLY  (Louis  FRANCIS  HENRY  de 
MENON,  marquis  de)  a  French  officer  and  agri- 
culturist, born  in  1717,  of  a  distinguished  fa 
mily  of  Anjou.  Becoming  the  master  of  a 
considerable  estate  by  the  death  of  his  father 
in  1737,  he  commenced  various  improvements 
on  it,  especially  by  draining.  The  war  of  1741 
called  him  to  his  regiment,  and  he  has  re- 
peatedly  left  the  ploughshare  for  the  sword, 
and  returned  to  the  former  as  often  as  his  duty 
permitted  him.  He  engaged  in  various 
schemes,  and  like  most  projectors  ruined  him- 
self in  attempts  to  benefit  the  public.  He 
was  the  first  person  in  France  who  instituted 
agricultural  prizes,  and  to  him  also  his  country 
owes  the  establishment  of  societies  of  agri- 
culture. He  died  in  1776,  and  his  property 
being  sold  for  the  benefit  of  his  creditors,  all 
traces  of  his  improvements  were  subsequently 
destroyed.  Turbilly  was  the  author  of  "  Me- 
moire  sur  les  Defrichements,"  1760,  12mo  ; 
and  "  Pratique  des  Defrichements,"  of  which 
the  fourth  edition,  with  improvements  and  ad- 
ditions, was  published  in  1811,  8vo.  Voltaire 
Jias  contributed  to  the  celebrity  of  this  inge- 
nious but  unfortunate  speculator,  whom  he 


TUR 

thus  refers  to  in  his  "  Epitre  a  Madame  Deun 
eur  I'Agriculture." 

"  Turbilly  dans  1'Anjou  t'imite  et  t'aplaudit." 
An  interesting  account  of  the  marquis's  pro- 
jects and  labours  is  given  in  the  fiist  volume  of 
Arthur  Young's  "  Travels  in  France." — Biog. 
Univ. 

TURENNE  (HENRY  de  la  TOUR  d'Au- 
VERGNE,  viscount  de)  one  of  the  greatest  cap- 
tains of  modern  times,  was  the  second  son  of 
the  duke  of  Bouillon,  and  was  born  at  Sedan, 
September  16,  1611.  From  his  childhood  he 
was  destined  for  the  military  profession,  and 
lie  learnt  the  rudiments  of  war  under  his  ma- 
ternal uncle,  prince  Maurice  of  Nassau.  In 
1634  he  was  placed  at  the  head  of  a  French 
regiment,  with  which  he  served  under  marshal 
de  la  Force,  at  the  siege  of  La  Mothe,  in 
Lorraine,  when  he  greaf.ly  distinguished  him- 
self. The  same  year  he  was  made  marechal- 
de-camp,  and  he  added  so  much  to  his  repu- 
tation, that  after  the  taking  of  Brisac  in  1638, 
cardinal  Richelieu,  desirous  of  securing  the 
young  warrior  to  his  interest,  offered  him  one 
of  his  nieces  in  marriage,  but  he  declined  the 
proposal  through  his  attachment  to  the  re- 
formed religion.  In  1639  he  served  in  Italy, 
where  he  raised  the  siege  of  Casal,  and  ob- 
tained a  victory  at  Montcallier.  He  signalized 
himself  at  the  conquest  of  Rousillon  in  1643, 
and  the  next  year  he  was  made  marshal  of 
France.  He  then  had  the  command  of  the 
army  in  Germany,  where  he  vanquished  ge- 
neral Merci  ;  hut  he  was  himself  defeated  in 
1645,  at  Marieudahl  ;  yet  he  took  his  revenge 
soon  after  in  the  victory  of  Nordlingen.  The 
following  year  he  obliged  the  duke  of  Bavaria 
to  sue  for  peace,  and  on  his  breaking  the 
treaty  drove  him  entirely  out  of  his  dominions. 
In  the  civil  war  of  the  Fronde  he  first  opposed 
the  court,  who  sent  against  him  the  marshal 
du  Plessis  Piaslin,  by  whom  he  was  defeated 
near  Rhetel  in  1650.  Afterwards  joining  the 
royal  party,  he  gained  the  battle  of  Dunes  in 
1657,  which  led  to  the  peace  of  the  Pyrenees. 
When  the  war  with  Spain  was  renewed  in 
1667,  Turenue,  who  had  the  title  of  marshal- 
general  of  the  French  armies,  was  chosen  by 
Louis  XIV  as  his  ostensible  tutor  in  the  art  of 
war.  His  success  obliged  the  enemy  to  make 
peace  the  next  year,  and  about  this  period  he 
gratified  his  royal  master  by  turning  Catholic. 
His  subsequent  services  against  the  Dutch, 
his  conquest  of  Franche-Compte  in  1674, 
his  brilliant  success  in  Germany,  with  the  bar- 
barous devastation  of  the  Palatinate  by  his 
troops,  must  be  traced  in  the  pages  of  the  his- 
torian, as  the  slightest  details  would  exceed 
our  limits.  After  he  had  defeated  the  impe- 
rialists at  Mulhausen,  and  again  at  the  more 
terrible  battle  of  Turkheim,  he  was  opposed 
by  the  celebrated  Montecuculi ;  and  these  ri- 
vals for  glory  w?re  about  to  meet  at  Salt/,bach, 
when  Turenne  was  killed  by  a  cannon-ball  as 
he  was  examining  the  ground  for  raising  a 
battery,  July  27,  1675.  He  was  honoured 
with  a  splendui  funeral,  and  interred  at  St 
Denys,  among  tlie  sovereigns  of  France.  Ilia 
private  character  is  said  to  have  oeen  amiable, 


T  U  R 

an!  his  disposition  was  disinterested  ;  hut  the 
love  of  military  glory  led  him  to  tarnish  his  fame 
by  cruelty  and  barbarity. — Aikin's  Gen.  Bii>g. 

TUIKjOT,  a  monkish  historian  of  the 
eleventh  century,  was  an  Anglo-Saxon  of  a 
good  family  in  Lincolnshire.  He  became  a 
monk,  and  subsequently  prior  of  Durham,  and 
in  1107  was  •  invited  to  Scotland,  and  elected 
bishop  of  St  Andrew's  under  the  patronage  of 
Malcolm  and  his  Saxon  queen  Margaret.  On 
the  deatli  of  that  king  and  queen  he  returned 
to  Durham,  where  he  employed  his  leisure 
hours  in  writing  the  history  of  the  church  of 
Durham,  the  MSS.  of  which  falling  into  the 
hands  of  Simeon  of  Durham,  he  dishonourably 
published  it  in  his  own  name.  This  curious 
fact,  which  was  not  known  when  the  brief 
article  of  Simeon  of  Durham  was  written,  is 
demonstrated  by  Selden  in  his  preface  to 
Twisden's  "  Decem  Scriptores."  Turgot  also 
composed  lives  of  king  Malcolm  and  his  queen. 
often  quoted  by  Fordice  and  others  but  not 
supposed  at  present  to  exist.  He  died  in  1115. 
— Hutch  in  son's  Durham. 

TURGOT   (ANNE  ROBERT  JAQUES)  a  pa- 
triotic and  enlightened   French  minister,   was 
the  son  of  Michael  Etienne  Turgot,  president 
of  the  grand  council.     He  was  born  at  Paris 
in  1727,  and  in  his  youth   gave  himself  up  to 
the  study  of  theology  at  the  Sorbonne.     At 
the  age  of  twenty-four  lie  commenced  a  trans- 
lation of  Virgil's  Georgics,  and  soon  after  at- 
taching himself  to    Quesnay  and  the  Econo- 
mists, quitted  the  Sorbonne  in  order  to  accom- 
pany De  Gournay,  intendant  of  commerce,  in 
his  travels.     On  his  return  he  was  himself  ap- 
pointed  intendant  of  Limoges,  which  post  he 
occupied  for  twelve   years,   and   long  caused 
himself  to  be  remembered  with   gratitude  for 
his  wise,  salutary,  and  benevolent  reforms  and 
regulations.     When   raised    to    the    post   of 
comptroller-general  of  the  finances,  he  gave  a 
wider  extent  to  the  principles  of  amelioration. 
He  moderated  the  duties  on  entrance  of  articles 
of  the  first  necessity,  without  loss  to  the  re- 
venue ;    freed  commerce   from    many   fetters, 
and    encouraged   industry    by    enlarging    the 
lights  of  individuals   and   abolishing  the  ex- 
clusive, privileges  of  companies  and  corpora- 
tions. He  also  formed  a  project  for  commuting 
the  feudal  rights,  for  rendering  salt  an  article 
of  free  merchandise,    and   for    reforming    the 
royal  household.     The  return  for  these  useful 
and  benevolent  views  was  opposition  and  ridi- 
cule, the   ordinary  payment  of  such  services 
under  the  former  government  of  France.     He 
was  however  able  to  carry  into  effect  some 
very  important  improvements  ;  but  as  he  en- 
deavoured to  control  the  nobility,  restrict  the 
clergy,   and  restrain  the  licence  assumed  by 
the    officers  of   the  crown,   they    all    united 
against    him.     The  result  was  his  dismissal 
from  office  in  1776,  from  which  period  he  lived 
a  retired   and  studious    life  until  his  death  in 
1781,  at  the  age  of  forty-nine.  Turgot  having 
written  for  the  Encyclopedic  and  been  attached 
to  the  principles  of  the    Economists,  has,   in 
common  with  all  the  reasoning  and  philoso- 
phical characters  of  the  period,  been  accused 


T  U  R 

of  being  one  of  the  promoters  of  the  French 
Revolution,  his  innovations  in  favour  of  the 
people,  according  to  this  reasoning,  having  led 
them  to  the  expectation  of  greater.  It  is  un- 
necessary to  add,  that  every  alteration  on  the 
side  of  justice  and  humanity  is  chargeable 
with  the  same  consequence,  and  that  it  is  ob- 
viously unjust  to  impute  to  moderate  schemes 
of  amelioration  the  fatal  result  of  the  very  ex- 
cess of  corruption,  which  had  rendered  them 
nugatory. — LiJ'e  by  Condorcet.  Nouv.  Diet. 
Hist. 

TURNEBUS  (ADRIAN)  an  eminent  French 
critic,  whose  real  name  was  Tournebocuf,  or 
Turnbull,  was  born  in  1512,  at  Andeli  in  Nor 
mandy.  He  was  educated  at  Paris,  and  soon 
became  profoundly  versed  in  every  branch  of 
classical  literature.  He  was  for  some  time  a 
teacher  of  the  classics  at  Toulouse,  but  in  1547 
became  professor  of  Greek  at  Paris.  He  was 
I  one  of  the  few  profound  scholars  the  mildness 
and  amenity  of  whose  disposition  did  honour 
to  their  learning.  His  high  reputation  pro- 
duced him  offers  from  Italy,  Spain,  Germany, 
and  England,  but  he  preferred  living  on  a 
scanty  income  in  his  own  country.  He  died 
at  Paris  in  1565.  The  works  of  Turnebus 
consist  of  annotations  upon  Cicero,  Varro, 
Thucydides,  nnd  Plato  ;  writings  against  Ra- 
mus,  and  Lunn  translations  from  Aristotle, 
Theophrastus,  Plato,  Plutarch,  and  other  an- 
cient authors.  His  works  were  printed  col- 
lectively at  Strasburgh,  in  three  volumes,  folio, 
1606,—Thuani  Hist.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

TURNER  (FRANCIS)  an  English  divine, 
who  was  one  of  the  seven  bishops  prosecuted 
for  resisting  the  royal  authority  in  ecclesias- 
tical affairs  under  James  II.  He  was  the  son 
of  the  dean  of  Canterbury,  and  was  educated 
at  New  college,  Oxford,  where  he  proceeded 
DD.  and  obtained  a  fellowship.  After  holding 
some  inferior  preferments,  he  became  bishop 
of  Rochester  in  1683,  and  a  few  months  after 
he  was  translated  to  Ely.  Notwithstanding 
his  opposition  to  king  James,  he  followed  the 
example  of  Sancroft  and  Ken  in  refusing  to 
take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  William  III, 
and  was  consequently  deprived  of  his  benefice. 
His  death  took  place  in  1700.  He  was  the 
author  of  "  A  Vindication  of  the  late  Arch- 
bishop Sancroft,  and  his  Brethren  the  rest  of 
the  deprived  Bishops,  from  the  Reflections  of 
Mr  Marshall,  in  his  Defence  of  our  Constitu- 
tion ;"  besides  sermons,  poems,  and  other 
works  of  little  importance. — Wood's  Athen. 
Oxon. 

TURNER  (SAMUEL)  a  traveller  and  diplo- 
matist, born  in  Gloucestershire  about  1749. 
He  entered  into  the  military  service  of  the 
East  India  Company,  and  attracted  the  favour- 
able notice  of  governor  Hastings.  In  1774 
the  latter  had  sent  an  embassy  to  the  court  of 
Tibet,  and  the  envoy  was  well  received  by  the 
Tchou-lama,  the  tutor  or  minister  of  the  Da- 
lai-lama, or  ostensible  sovereign  of  the  coun- 
try. The  Tchou-lama  dying  in  1780,  and  the 
decease  of  the  ambassador,  Mr  Bogle,  hap- 
pening about  the  same  time,  Mr  Hastings 
thought  it  proper  to  send  another  embassy  u> 


TUR 

congratulate  the  new  potentate  of  Tibet.  The 
mission  was  confided  to  captain  Turner,  who 
set  off  from  Calcutta,  about  the  middle  of  Ja- 
nuary 1783 ;  and  on  the  first  of  June  he 
reached  Tassi-Soudon,  the  capital  of  Boutan, 
where  he  received  every  attention  from  the 
Deb  rajah,  the  sovereign  of  Boutan.  After 
waiting  three  months,  he  received  permission 
from  the  regent  of  Tchou  Lumbo  to  enter  the 
territories  of  Tibet  ;  but  he  was  to  be  accom- 
panied by  only  one  Englishman.  On  the  8th 
of  September  he  left  Tassi-Soudon,  and  after 
a  perilous  journey  over  lofty  mountains,  he  en- 
tered, on  the  19th,  the  monastery  of  Tchou- 
Lumbo,  situated  to  the  south  of  the  city  of 
Jikadze.  The  next  day  he  had  an  audience  of 
the  regent.  He  wished  to  have  been  present 
at  the  solemn  recognition  of  the  Lama,  which 
took  place  a  few  days  after  ;  but  Le  could  not 
'obtain  permission,  as  it  would  have  given 
offence  to  the  Chinese  delegates,  who  were  to 
attend  the  ceremony.  November  30th,  the 
ambassador  received  his  audience  of  leave 
from  the  regent,  who  sent  despatches  to  go- 
vernor Hastings,  and  expressed  his  wishes  to 
preserve  relations  of  sincere  friendship  with 
the  English.  Captain  Turner,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  March  1784,  arrived  at  Patna  in  the 
province  of  Bahar,  where  he  met  Mr  Hastings. 
In  1792,  in  the  war  with  Tippoo  Sahib,  this 
officer  signalized  himself  at  the  siege  of  Se- 
ringapatam.  He  was  afterwards  sent  ambas- 
sador to  the  sovereign  of  Mysore,  and  he  ac- 
quitted himself  so  much  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  East  India  Company,  that  he  received  a 
present  of  500/.  Having  acquired  a  large 
fortune  he  returned  to  England,  but  he  did 
not  long  enjoy  it,  dying  in  London,  Jan.  2, 
1802,  in  consequence  of  an  attack  of  paralysis. 
He  published  "  An  Account  of  an  Embassy  to 
the  court  of  the  Teshoo  Lama  in  Thibet,  con- 
taining a  Narrative  of  a  Journey  through 
Boutan  and  Part  of  Thibet ,  with  Views 
taken  on  the  Spot,  by  Lieutenant  lilu-vis,  and 
Observations,  botanical,  mineralogical,  and 
medical,"  1800,  4to  ;  and  "  A  Description  of 
the  Yak  of  Tartary,  called  Soora-Goy,  or  the 
bushy-tailed  Bull  of  Thibet,"  in  the  Asiatic- 
Researches.  Captain  Turner's  account  of 
Tibet  was  translated  into  French  by  Castera, 
and  into  German  by  M.  C.  Sprengel. — Biog. 
Univ. 

TURNER  (WILLIAM)  an  English  natu- 
ralist of  the  sixteenth  century.  He  was  a  na- 
tive of  Morpeth  in  Northumberland,  and  was 
educated  at  Cambridge,  where  he  was  a  fellow 
collegian  with  the  reformer  Ridley,  whose 
doctrines  he  imbibed.  Having  become  a  tra- 
velling preacher  of  Protestantism,  bishop  Gar- 
diner had  him  arrested  and  imprisoned  ;  and 
on  being  liberated  he  went  to  Ferrara,  in 
Italy,  and  took  the  degree  of  MD.  He  then 
resided  in  Germany  till  the  accession  of  Ed- 
ward VI,  when  he  returned  home,  and  ob- 
tained various  henefices  in  the  church  ;  be- 
sides  which  he  was  appointed  physician  to  the 
duke  of  Somerset.  He  went  abroad  again  in 
the  succeeding  reign,  but  after  the  death  ol 
queen  Mary  he  repaired  to  his  native  country, 


TU  R 

recovered  his  church  preferment,  and  died  in 
1568.  Turner  is  distinguished  in  the  aunala 
of  botany  as  the  author  of  the  earliest  Eng- 
ish  Herbal,  of  which  the  first  part  was  pub- 
.ished  in  1551,  London;  the  second  at  Co- 
iogne,  1562  ;  and  a  third,  together  with  the 
others,  in  a  complete,  edition,  Cologne,  1568. 
He  also  wrote  "  Avium  pracipuarum  quarurn. 
apud  Plinium  et  Aristotelem  mentio  est,  brevis 
et  succincta  Historia,"  Colon.  1554,  8vo,  a 
work  which  has  obtained  the  praise  of  Conrad 
Gesuer.  Some  other  of  his  pieces  on  natural 
history  are  likewise  extant,  besides  several  re- 
ligious compositions. —  [Food's  Athen,  OJ.OH. 
Hallcri  Bibl.  Bot.  •  Aikin's  Gen.  Bing. 

TURPIN,  TULPIN,  or  TILPIN,  a  monk 
of  St  Denis,  afterwards  archbishop  of  Rheims, 
to  which  see  he  was  probably  raised  about  753, 
and  after  holding  it  more  than  forty  years,  he 
died  at  the  close  of  the  eighth  or  the  beginning 
of  the  ninth  century.  He  encouraged  litera- 
ture by  procuring  books  to  be  copied,  and  he 
enriched  the  library  of  his  church,  for  which 
be  procured  from  Charlemagne  many  privi- 
leges. His  name  has  escaped  oblivion  only  in 
consequence  of  its  having  been  prefixed  to  the 
romantic  History  of  Charlemagne  and  Roland, 
one  of  the  grand  sources  of  the  tales  of  chivalry 
of  the  middle  ages.  From  internal  evidence  it 
appears  that  this  mass  of  fable  was  compiled  in 
the  eleventh  century,  about  the  time  the  first 
crusade  was  projected.  Various  unsatisfactory 
conjectures  have  been  hazarded  relative  to  the 
real  author.  It  was  translated  from  Latin  into 
French  in  1206  and  1207,  by  a  clerk  depend- 
ant on  Renaud,  count  of  Boulogne  ;  and  a 
more  recent  version  was  published  by  Robert 
Gaguin,  in  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. The  original  fust  appeared  in  the  his- 
torical collection  of  Schardius,  Frankfoit-on- 
the-Main,  1566,  folio  ;  and  M.  Ciampi  printed 
at  Florence  in  1822,  8vo,  an  edition  of  the 
work,  with  a  preliminary  dissertation. —  War- 
ton's,  Hist,  of  Eng.  Poetry.  Biog.  Univ. 

TURPIN  (FRANCIS  HENRY)  an  industrious 
writer  on  history  and  biography,  born  at  Caen 
in  Normandy,  in  1709.  He  obtained  a  profes- 
sorship in  the  university  of  his  native  city, 
which  he  resigned  to  go  to  Paris,  and  employed 
himself  in  literary  composition.  He  possessed 
some  talents,  having  a  lively  imagination  and 
considerable  command  of  language  ;  but  writ- 
ing almost  continually  for  hire,  the  haste  with 
which  his  works  are  executed  has  in  some  re- 
spects impaired  their  value.  In  the  early  part 
of  his  career  he  was  indebted  to  the  liberality 
of  the  celebrated  Helvetius  ;  and  in  1795  he 
was  among  the  men  of  letters  who  obtained 
pecuniary  aid  from  the  government.  He  died 
in  indigence  at  Paris,  in  September  1799.  His 
principal  works  are  the  Lives  of  the  Grand 
Conde  and  of  marshal  de  Choiseul,  in  conti- 
nuation of  D'Auvigny  and  Perau's  Hommes 
illustres  de  la  France  ;  "  Histoire  du  Gou- 
vernementdes  auciennes  Republiques,"  12mo; 
"  Vie  de  Mahomet,"  2  vols.  12mo;  "Histoire 
de  1' Alcoran,"  2  vols.  12mo;  "La  France 
illustre,  ou  le  Plutarque  Fran^ais,"  4  vols. 
4to,  republishedin  duodecimo;  and  au  ubridg- 


TU  II 

ment  of  the  English  Universal  History. — Diet. 
]ln,l.      /likin's  Gen.  l^iog.      Hwu;.  Univ. 

TURPIN  DE  CRISSE  (LANCELOT,  count) 
an  eminent  French  writer  on  military  affairs, 
horn  of  a  noble  family  in  the  province  of 
Beauce,  about  1715.  Having  chosen  the  pro- 
fession of  arms,  he  obtained  a  company  in 
173-1',  and  ten  years  after  a  regiment  of  hus- 
sars, at  the  head  of  which  he  displayed  his 
valour  in  the  wars  of  Italy  and  Germany.  He 
quitted  the  aimy  and  retreated  to  the  abbey  of 
La  Trappe  ;  but  repenting  of  the  step  he  had 
so  hastily  taken,  he  returned  to  his  post,  and 
not  long  after  he  married  the  daughter  of  the 
celebrated  general  Lowendhal.  His  leisure 
was  dedicated  to  study,  and  in  1754  he  pub- 
lished, it)  concert  with  Castilhon,  "  Les  Amuse- 
ments philosophiques  et  litteraires  de  deux 
Amis."  Being  called  to  active  service  in  the 
war  of  1757,  he  distinguished  himself  as  a 
skilful  tactician,  and  he  was  appointed  mare- 
chal-de-camp  in  1761,  and  in  1771  a  com- 
mander of  the  order  of  St  Louis.  After  forty 
years' service,  during  seventeen  campaigns,  he 
at  length  obtained  the  rank  of  lieutenant-ge- 
neral in  1780  ;  and  the  next  year  he  was  made 
governor  of  the  fort  of  Scarpe  at  Douai.  His 
name  appeared  on  the  list  of  lieutenant-gene- 
rals in  1792  ;  and  all  that  is  known  of  his  sub- 
sequent history  is,  that  he  emigrated  and  died 
in  Germany.  He  was  a  member  of  the  acade- 
mies of  Berlin,  of  Nanci,  and  of  Marseilles  ; 
and  he  published  the  following  works,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  volume  above-mentioned — "  Essai 
sur  1'Art  de  la  Guerre,"  Paris,  1754,  2  vols. 
4to,  of  which  there  are  English,  Russian,  and 
German  translations  ;  "  Commentaires  sur  lea 
TMemoires  de  Montecuculi,"  1769,  3  vols. 
4to  ;  "  Commentaire  sur  les  Institutions  de 
Vegece,"  Montargis,  1770,  3  vols.  4to ;  and 
"  Les  Commentaires  de  Cesar,  avecdes  Notes 
historiques,  critiques  et  militaires,"  Montargis, 
178.1,  3  vols.  8vo,  reprinted  at  Amsterdam  in 
1787. — Biog.  Univ. 

TURRETINI  (BENEDICT)  a  Protestant  di- 
vine, born  at  Zurich  in  1588.  He  studied  at 
Geneva,  where  he  was  appointed  professor  of 
theology  in  1612  ;  and  he  died  in  1631,  after 
having  published  a  great  number  of  theologi- 
cal dissertations,  sermons,  &c.  of  which  a  list 
is  given  by  Senebier,  in  Hist.  Litt.de  Geneve. 
• — TuRRiifivi  (FnANCis)  son  of  Benedict,  born 
in  1623,  followed  the  same  career  with  his  fa- 
ther. After  studying  at  Geneva  and  Leyden, 
he  went  to  Paris,  to  hear  the  philosophical 
lectures  of  Gassendi.  Returning  to  Geneva, 
he  was  admitted  to  the  ministry  ;  and  having 
refused  the  chair  of  philosophy  he  officiated 
for  some  time  as  pastor  of  a  Ca'vinist  church 
at  Lyons.  In  1653  he  was  invited  to  accept 
the  theological  professorship  at  Geneva,  which 
lie  held  till  his  death  in  1687.  He  published 
a  volume  of  sermons  and  many  tracts,  theolo- 
gical and  controversial,  besides  his  "  Insti- 
tutiones  Theologise  Elenchticae,"  1679 — 85, 
^  vols.  4to,  a  work  still  held  in  estimation. — 
TURRETINI  (JOHN  ALPHONSO)  son  of  the  fore- 
going, the  most  celebrated  of  all  the  members 
of  his  family,  was  born  at  Geneva  in  1671. 


TUS 

Having  finished  his  studies  in  divinity,  in  1691 
IP'  travelled  for  improvement;  and  after  visit- 
ing England,  Holland,  and  France,  and  becom- 
ing acquainted  with  the  learned  in  those  coun- 
tries, he  returned  home,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  evangelical  ministry  in  1694,  and  aggre- 
gated to  the  society  of  pastors  in  the  following 
year.  In  1697  lie  became  the  first  professor 
of  ecclesiastical  history  at  Geneva,  and  in  1705 
professor  of  theology,  both  which  offices  he 
held  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  was 
not  less  distinguished  for  his  liberality  than  for 
his  learning  and  abilities ;  and  besides  engag- 
ing with  Wake,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and 
some  German  divines,  in  schemes  for  a  re- 
union among  Protestants,  he  assisted  in  ob- 
taining a  dispensation  from  signing  the  formu- 
lary of  faith  called  Consensus,  to  which  the 
Genevan  clergy  had  been  subjected.  Among 
his  principal  works  are  "  Pyrrhonismus  Pon- 
tificius,"  1692,  designed  as  an  antidote  to  the 
celebrated  Bossuet's  Variations  des  Eglises 
Protestantes  ;  "  Nubes  Testium  pro  moderato 
et  pacifico  in  Rebus  Theologicis  Judicio  Prre- 
missa  est  Disquisitio  de  Articulis  fundamenta- 
libus,"  1719,  4to  ;  "  Historic  Ecclesiastics 
Compendium,  a  Ch.  N.  usque  ad  an.  1700," 
1734,  8vo  ;  Commentaries  on  the  Epistles  to 
the  Thessalonians,  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Ro- 
mans ;  Sermons  ;  and  numerous  academical 
Discourses  and  Dissertations.  Professor  T ur- 
retini  died  in  1737.  His  works  were  published 
collectively  at  Leeuwarden,  1775,  3  vols.  4to. 
— Aikin's  Gen.  Biog.  Biog.  Univ. 

TURSEL1N  (HORACE)  a  learned  and  in- 
defatigable Italian  Jesuit,  was  born  at  Rome 
in  1545.  He  entered  into  the  society  of 
Jesus  in  1562,  and  was  for  twenty  years  pro- 
fessor of  rhetoric  in  that  capital.  He  was  also 
successively  rector  of  the  seminary  at  Rome, 
and  of  the  colleges  of  Florence  and  Loretto 
He  died  in  1599.  Turselin  was  the  author  of 
several  works  written  in  elegant  Latin,  the 
principal  of  which  are  "  De  Vita  Francisci 
Xavierii,"  1594,  often  reprinted  and  trans- 
lated into  French  and  Italian  ;  "  Historia 
Lauretana,"  or  History  of  the  House  of  Lo- 
retto, also  often  reprinted,  and  probably  edi- 
fying to  good  Catholics,  as  it  was  translated 
into  French,  Italian,  and  Spanish  ;  "  De  Par- 
ticulis  Latins  Orationis,"  a  treatise  in  great 
esteem  ;  and  "  Epitome  Historiarum,"  an 
abridgment  of  universal  history,  1598;  a 
French  translation  of  the  latter  work,  which 
has  little  merit  beyond  its  style,  by  the  abbe 
Lagneau,  is  enriched  with  useful  and  copious 
notes, — Tirabnschi.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

TUSSER  (THOMAS)  an  English  georgical 
poet  of  the  sixteenth  century,  was  born  about 
the  year  1515  at  Rivenhall  near  Witham  in 
Essex.  At  an  early  age  he  was  sent,  much 
against  his  will,  to  a  music  school,  and  was 
first  a  chorister  in  the  collegiate  chapel  of  the 
castle  of  Wallingford,  and  afterwards  at  St 
Paul's  cathedral,  where  he  attained  a  consider- 
able proficiency  in  music  under  the  able  or- 
ganist John  Redford.  From  St  Paul's  he  wa§ 
sent  to  Eton,  and  thence  to  King's  college, 
Cambridge.  He  however  soon  quitted  the 


TWE 

university,  and  was  employed  most  likely  in 
a  musical  capacity  at  court,  through  the  pa- 
tronage of  lord  Paget.  After  a  residence  in 
J  ondon  of  ten  years  he  married,  and  took  a 
farm  in  Suffolk,  where  he  composed  a  book  on 
husbandry,  which  he  published  in  1557,  and 
dedicated  to  his  patron.  He  subsequently 
endured  considerable  vicissitudes,  sometimes 
as  a  chorister  and  at  others  as  a  farmer,  until 
his  death  in  London,  about  1580.  Tusser's 
"  Five  Hundred  Points  of  Good  Husbandry," 
which  is  an  amplification  of  the  work  already 
mentioned,  has  induced  Googe  and  others  to 
rank  him  with  Columella  and  Palladius,  but 
Stillingfleet  regards  him  as  exhibiting  more  re- 
semblance to  Hesiod.  The  best  editions  are 
those,  of  1580  and  1585,  which  are  very  rare  ; 
but  in  1812  L)r  Mavor  published  a  new  edi- 
tion, with  copious  notes,  a  biographical  sketch, 
and  a  glossary. — Life  by  Mavor.  CensuraLi- 
teraria, 

TUTCHIN  (Jons)  a  political  writer  about 
the  period  of  the  Revolution,  distinguished  for 
the  virulence  of  his  style  and  the  boldness  of 
his  opposition  to  the  ruling  powers  both  in 
church  and  state.  At  the  time  of  Monmouth's 
rebellion  he  published  a  pamphlet  in  his  fa- 
vour, and  being  arrested  among  his  partizans, 
he  was  tried  before  judge  Jefferies,  who  sen- 
tenced him  to  be  whipped  through  all  the  prin- 
cipal market  towns  in  the  west  of  England. 
He  petitioned  the  king  that  this  sentence 
might  be  commuted  for  hanging  ;  and  being 
seized  with  some  dangerous  disease  in  prison* 
he  was  at  length  pardoned.  On  the  death  of 
James  II  he  wrote  an  invective  against  the  un- 
fortunate monarch,  which  subjected  the  author 
to  the.  merited  contempt  of  all  parties.  He 
commenced  a  paper  called  "  The  Observator," 
on  the  1st  of  April,  1702  ;  and  he  was  also  the 
author  of  poetry,  and  a  play  called  "  The  Un- 
fortunate Shepherd,"  1685,  8vo.  He  died  in 
the  Mint  (prison)  Southwark,  September  23, 
1707.  Pope  has  noted  Tutchin  in  his  Dun- 
ciad  ;  and  some  particulars  relating  to  him 
are  preserved  in  the  works  of  Swift,  and  in 
Bowles's  edition  of  Pope. — Bivg.  Dram. 

TWEDDELL  (JOHN)  an  accomplished 
scholar  and  traveller,  was  born  June  1,  1769, 
at  Threepwood,  near  Hexham  in  Northumber- 
land, where  his  father,  Francis  Tweddell,  esq. 
acted  as  a  magistrate.  He  was  educated  in 
the  first  instance  at  Harforth  school  in  York- 
shire, next  under  Dr  Parr,  and  lastly  at  Trinity 
college,  Cambridge,  where  he  obtained  a  fel- 
lowship in"  1792.  He  distinguished  himself 
very  much  at  the  university  for  his  composi- 
tions, which  repeatedly  gained  prizes,  and 
were  published  by  him  in  1794,  under  the 
title  of  "  Prolusiones  Juveniles."  On  quitting 
the  university  he  became  a  student  in  the 
Middle  Temple,  but  subsequently  resolved  to 
travel  with  a  view  to  accomplish  himself  for 
diplomacy.  '  After  remaining  abroad  nearly 
four  years,  having  explored  Switzerland,  the 
north  of  Europe,  and  various  parts  of  the 
East,  he  died  prematurely  at  Athens  on  the 
25th  of  July  1799.  As  it  was  known  that  he 
had  ama&se:;  large  materials  with  a  view  to 


TW  Y 

publication,  the  learned  wor.d  anxiously  ex- 
pected  the  fruits  of  his  labours ;  but  unfortu- 
nately, although  his  manuscripts  were  officially 
placed  in  the  custody  of  the  British  ambas- 
sador at  Constantinople,  none  of  them,  not- 
withstanding their  eawiest  enquiries,  have  ever 
come  to  the  hands  of  his  anxious  friends.  A 
volume  of  his  remains,  consisting  of  a  selec- 
tion from  his  letters,  a  republication  of  his 
"  Prolusiones  Juveniles,"  and  a  memoir,  ap- 
peared in  1815,  edited  by  iris  brother,  the 
rev.  Robert  Tweddell. — Memoir  prefixed  to  He- 
mains.  British  Critic,  vol.  v.  N.S. 

TWELLS  (LEONARD)  a  learned  divine, 
was  educated  at  Jesus  college,  Cambridge, 
where  he  proceeded  BA.  in  1704.  He  became 
vicar  of  St  Mary,  Marlborough,  where  he 
wrote  "  A  Critical  Examination  of  the  late 
new  Text  and  Version  of  the  Testament  in 
Greek  and  English,"  the  object  of  which  was 
to  prove  the  incorrectness  of  the  version  al- 
luded to.  For  this  publication  lie  was  ho- 
noured by  the  university  of  Oxford  with  the 
degree  of  MA.  In  1737  he  was  presented  to 
the  rectory  of  St  Matthew,  Friday-street,  and 
St  Peter's,  Cheap,  in  London,  and  also  was 
made  a  prebendary  of  St  Paul's,  and  chosen 
lecturer  of  St  Dunstan's  in  the  West.  His 
other  works  are  "  A  Vindication  of  the  Gos- 
pel of  St  Matthew,"  8vo  ;  "  An  Answer  to 
the  Enquiry  into  the  Meaning  of  the  Demo- 
niacs ;"  and  a  "  Life  of  Dr  Pocock." — Nichols's 
Lit.  Anec. 

TVVISS  (RICHARD)  an  English  tourist,  who 
died  at  an  advanced  age  in  1821.  Being  a 
man  of  fortune,  he  thought  proper  to  indulge 
his  curiosity  by  travelling,  and  after  taking  a 
journey  to  Scotland,  he  went  to  the  continent, 
and  successively  visited  Holland,  the  Nether- 
lands, France,  Switzerland,  Italy,  Germany, 
and  Bohemia.  He  spent  several  years  in  tra- 
velling through  these  countries,  and  returned 
to  England  in  1770.  Two  years  after  he  took 
a  voyage  to  Portugal  and  Spain,  and  in  1775 
he  went  to  Ireland.  At  the  period  of  the 
Revolution  he  revisited  France,  and  returning 
home  he  devoted  the  latter  part  of  his  life  to 
literature  and  the  arts,  particularly  music. 
His  works  are  "  Travels  through  Spain  and 
Portugal,  in  1772  and  1773,"  1775, 4to,  trans- 
lated into  French  and  German  ;  "  A  Tour  in 
Ireland  in  1775,"  1776,  8vo,  in  which  the 
freedom  of  the  author's  animadversions  pro- 
voked the  wrath  of  the  Hibernians,  and  occa- 
sioned the  publication  of  "An  Heroic  Epistle 
from  Donna  Teresa  Pinna  y  Ruiz  of  Murcia, 
to  R.  Twiss,  with  Notes  by  Himself,"  Dublin, 
1776,  8vo ;  "  Anecdotes  of  the  Game  of 
Chess ;"  "  A  Trip  to  Paris  in  July  and  Au- 
gust, 1792,"  1793,  8vo;  and  "  Miscellanies," 
1805,  2  vols.  8vo. — Gent.  Mas;.  Biog.  Univ. 

TWYNE  (JoiiN-)  one  of  a"  family  of  Ox- 
ford antiquaries,  was  the  son  of  sir  Brian 
Twyne,  of  Long  Parish,  Hants,  knight,  and 
was  born  at  Bolingdon,  in  the  same  county. 
He  was  educated  at  New  Inn-hall,  Oxford, 
and  after  he  left  the  university,  was  appointed 
master  of  the.  free  grammar-school  at  Canter- 
bury, and  in.  1553  became  mayor  of  that  an- 


T  YC 

cient  cJty.  He  acquired  property,  and  was 
held  in  great  esteem  as  an  antiquary,  but  Tan- 
ner has  much  lowered  his  character  by  pro- 
ducing a  record  dated  1560,  which  shows  that 
he  was  formally  ordered  to  abstain  from  riot 
and  drunkenness.  He  died  at  an  advanced 
age,  November  24,  1581,  leaving  a  posthu- 
mous work,  which  appeared  in  1590,  under 
the  title  "  De  Rebus  Albionicis,  Britannicis 
atque  Anglicis  Commentariorum,  Libri  duo," 
8vo.  Hid  MSS.  were  given  by  his  grandson 
to  the  library  of  Corpus  Christi  college,  Ox- 
ford.— The  aforesaid  grandson,  BRYANTWYNE, 
was  born  in  1579,  and  became  a  scholar  of 
Corpus  Christi  college,  where  he  obtained  a 
fellowship,  and  was  appointed  Greek  reader. 
He  afterwards  was  presented  to  the,  rectory 
of  Rye  in  Sussex,  and  made  keeper  of  the  ar- 
chives at  Oxford,  where  ho  died  in  1644.  He 
was  author  of  "  Antiquitatis  Academiaj  Oxo- 
niensis  Apologia,"  4to,  a  very  credulous  per- 
formance. He  also  left  large  collections  rela- 
tive to  the  history  of  the  university. — Athen. 


T\VYSDEN  (sir  ROGER)  the  second  ba- 
ronet of  the  family,  of  Roydon-hall,  East 
Peckham,  Kent,  was  born  in  1597.  He  re- 
ceived a  learned  education,  and  becoming  an 
excellent  antiquary,  assisted  Philpot  in  his 
Survey  of  Kent,  lie  suffered  severely  for  his 
attachment  to  the  royal  cause,  for  which  he 
endured  a  personal  confinement  of  seven 
years,  besides  being  under  the  necessity  of 
compounding  for  his  estate.  The  appearance 
of  the  "  Decem  Scriptores,"  with  other  col- 
lections, was  chiefly  owing  to  his  endeavours. 
He  also  wrote  a  book  entitled  "The  Historical 
Defence  of  the  Church  of  England."  He  died 
iu  1672. — Collins' s  Baronetage. 

TYCHSEN  (OLAUS)  professor  of  the 
Oriental  tongues  at  Rostock,  was  born  in  the 
duchy  of  Sleswick  in  1734.  He  studied  at 
the  gymnasium  of  Altona,  where  he  not  only 
acquired  a  knowledge  of  classical  learning, 
but  also  became  acquainted  with  the  Hebrew 
and  Arabic  languages,  previously  to  his  re- 
moval to  the  university  of  Halle.  There  he 
added  to  his  acquirements  a  knowledge  of 
the  English,  the  Hindustani  and  Tamul  lan- 
guages, which  he  was  taught  by  the  ex-mis- 
sionary B.  Schulz  ;  and  the  Ethiopic,  which 
he  studied  under  the  professor  J.  H.  Michaelis. 
Thus  qualified  he  was  employed  by  a  society 
for  the  conversion  of  the  Jews  and  Maho- 
metans, and  in  1759  and  1760,  he  traversed 
various  parts  of  the  north  of  Germany,  Prus- 
sia, Denmark,  and  Saxony,  on  this  mission. 
Soon  after  he  was  appointed  adjunct  at  the 
newly  founded  university  of  Butzow,  where 
lie  obtained  the  professorship  of  the  Oriental 
languages  in  1763.  This  establishment  being 
suppressed,  and  reunited  to  the  university  of 
Rostock  in  1789,  the  library  which  had  been 
founded  by  professor  Tychsen,  and  of  which 
he  had  been  keeper  since  1770,  was  removed 
to  Rostock,  and  still  committed  to  his  care. 
He  was  subsequently  chosen  a  member  of  se- 
veral learned  societies  ;  and  his  death  took 
place  December  30,  1815.  His  works  are 


T  YN 

numerous,  including  "Tentamen  de  variia  Co- 
dicum  Hebraicorum  Vet.  Test.  MSS.  GenerU 
bus,"  1772,  8vo  ;  "  Introductio  in  Hem  Nu- 
mariam  Muhammedanorurn,"  1794,  8vo.  with 
a  Supplement ;  "  Pbysiologus  Syrus,  sive  His- 
toria  Auimalium  XXXII,  in  S.  S.  memorato- 
rum,  Syriace,"  1795,  8vo;  tracts  on  Samaritan 
coins  ;  on  the  nail-headed  characters  of  Per- 
sepolis;  and  editions  in  Arabic  and  Latin  of 
Makrizi's  works  on  the  money  and  on  the 
weights  and  measures  of  the  Mahometans. — 
Biog.  Univ. 

TYE  (CHiUSTOTHEtt)  an  eminent  church 
composer,  was  preceptor  in  music  to  prince 
Edward,  afterwards  Edward  VI.  He  was  ad- 
mitted a  doctor  of  music  at  Cambridge  in 
1545,  and  was  incorporated  a  member  of  the 
university  of  Oxford  in  1548.  In  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth  he  was  organist  of  the  chapel 
royal,  where,  according  to  Anthony  Wood,  he 
made  so  free  with  the  queen,  as,  in  answer  to 
a  message  that  he  was  out  of  tune,  to  observe 
that  her  own  ears  were  in  fault.  According 
to  the  same  writer  he  did  much  to  restore 
church  music  after  it  had  been  nearly  ruined 
by  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries ;  and 
Dr  Burney  mentions  with  great  applause  his 
clear  and  masterly  manner  of  composing  for 
the  church  service  in  Latin.  In  the  reign  of 
Edward  he  translated  the  first  fourteen  chap- 
ters of  the  Acts  into  metre,  and  set  them  to 
music,  the  poetry,  which  closely  resemb.'ed 
that  of  Sternhold,  being  rendered  still  more 
ridiculous  by  the  elaborate  nature  of  the  mu- 
sic, which  consisted  of  fugues  and  canons  of 
the  most  complicated  and  artificial  kind.  He 
died  about  1590. — Bumey's  Hist,  of  Music. 
Hawkins's  Hist,  of  Rlusic. 

TYERS  (THOMAS)  a  miscellaneous  writer, 
was  one  of  the  two  sons  of  Jonathan  Tyers, 
the  original  embellisher  of  Vauxhall  gardens. 
He  was  born  in  1726,  and  being  intended  for 
one  of  the  learned  professions,  was  sent  very 
early  to  Exeter  college,  Oxford,  where  he  gra- 
duated MA.  in  his  nineteenth  year.  In  1753 
he  was  admitted  a  student  of  the  Inner 
Temple,  but  never  followed  the  legal  profes- 
sion, possessing  a  handsome  fortune,  and  a 
share  in  Vauxhall  gardens,  which  enabled  him 
to  live  at  his  ease.  He  was  a  great  lover  of 
literature,  and  intimate  with  Dr  Johnson  and 
most  of  the  eminent  men  of  the  day,  but  he 
published  only  "  Rhapsodies  on  Pope  and 
Addison  ;"  "  Political  Conferences  ;"  and  cer- 
tain pastoral  and  lyrical  pieces  for  Vauxhall. 
He  died  February  1,  1787,  in  his  sixty-first 
year. — Nicltols's  Lit.  Anec. 

TYNDALE  (WiLLrAw)  also  named  Ilit- 
chins,  a  learned  martyr  to  the  Reformation, 
was  born  in  the  year  1500,  somewhere  near 
the  borders  of  Wales.  Of  his  family  there  is 
no  account,  but  he  was  learnedly  educated, 
and  placed  at  Magdalen  college,  Oxford,  where 
he  imbibed  the  doctrines  of  Luther.  Bearing 
an  excellent  character  for  morals  and  diligence, 
he  was  admitted  a  canon  of  Wolsey's  new  col- 
lege of  Christehurch,  but  his  principles  be- 
coming known,  he  was  subsequently  ejected. 
He  then  withdrew  to  Cambridge,  where  he 


T  YR 

took  a  degree,  and  soon  after  went  to  reside  as 
tutor  in  the  family  of  sir  John  Welch  in 
Gloucestershire.  While  in  this  capacity  he 
translated  Erasmus's  "  Enchiridion  Militis 
Christian!  "  into  English  ;  but  in  consequence 
of  his  openness  as  to  his  opinions,  articles  were 
preferred  against  him  before  the  chancellor  of 
the  diocese,  and  after  receiving-  a  reprimand 
he  came  to  London,  and  preached  at  St  Dun- 
stan's  in  the  West.  Having  obtained  the  pa- 
tronage of  sir  Henry  Guildford,  to  whom  he 
presented  a  translation  of  an  oration  of  Iso- 
crates,  that  courtier  recommended  him  to  Tun- 
stall,  bishop  of  Durham,  which  recommenda- 
tion was  not  however  attended  to,  and  he  ac- 
cepted of  a  retreat  in  the  house  of  an  alder- 
man of  London,  where  he  assiduously  em- 
ployed himself  in  preparing  an  English  ver- 
sion of  the  New  Testament.  England  not 
being  a  place  where  such  a  work  could  with 
safety  be  effected,  he  was  enabled,  by  a  small 
annuity,  to  proceed  to  Saxony,  where  he  was 
introduced  to  Luther  and  other  reformers. 
He  thence  proceeded  to  Antwerp,  where,  with 
the  assistance  of  John  Fry,  and  one  lloye,  a 
friar,  lie  completed  his  work,  which  was 
printed  in  that  city  in  1.52-6,  8vo,  without  a 
name.  Of  the  fifteen  hundred  copies  printed, 
the  greater  part  were  sent  to  England,  which 
produced  great  alarm  among  the  church  dig- 
nitaries, and  the  prelates  Warham  and  Tunstall 
collected  all  they  could  seize  or  purchase,  and 
committed  them  to  the  flames.  By  this  means 
Tyndale  was  enabled  to  print  another  edition, 
which  was  circulated  very  widely  ;  and  in  con- 
junction with  Miles  Coverdale  he  commenced 
translating  the  Pentateuch,  and  subsequently 
the  prophecy  of  Jonas,  which  formed  the 
whole  of  his  labours  on  the  Scriptures,  although 
others  have  been  ascribed  to  him.  He  then 
returned  to  Antwerp,  where  he  took  up  his 
residence  with  an  English  merchant  named 
Pointz.  The  detestable  spirit  of  the  times 
would  not  however  leave  a  heretic  unmolested 
even  in  another  country,  and  Henry  VIII  and 
his  slavish  council  employed  a  wretch  of  the 
name  of  Phillips to  betray  Tyndale  to  the  em- 
peror's procurator,  who  obtained  possession  of 
Ins  person,  and  in  1.536  he  was  brought  to 
trial  upon  the  emperor's  decree,  at  Augsburgh, 
where  he  was  condemned  to  the  stake,  which 
sentence  he  quietly  endured,  being  first  stran- 
gled and  then  burnt.  His  last  words  were 
"  Lord,  open  the  king  of  England's  eyes!" 
Thus  perished  a  man  of  the  most  blameless 
life  and  manners,  simply  for  facilitating  to 
Christians  the  perusal  of  a  book  which  is  the 
foundation  of  their  religion.  Besides  his 
translations  he  wrote  other  pieces,  which  were 
collected  and  printed  with  those  of  Fryth 
and  Barnes's  work,  folio,  1572.  Dr  Geddes 
thinks  very  highly  of  Tyndale's  translation  of 
the  Scripture,  although  not  a  perfect  one,  and 
considers  that  in  point  of  perspicuity  and 
noble  simplicity  of  idiom,  it  has  never  been 
surpassed. — Biog.  Brit. 

TYRANNIC),  an  eminent  Greek  gramma- 
rian, was  a  native  of  Amissa  in  the  kingdom 
of  Pontus  When  Lucullus  defeated  Mithri- 


T  YR 

dates  and  subdued  his  kingdom,  EC.  70,  Ty- 
rannio  became  a  captive,  hut  was  released  by 
Munena.  He  was  taken  to  Rome,  where  he 
set  up  a  school,  and  rendered  himself  eminent 
among  the  friends  of  literature.  He  was  very 
serviceable  to  Cicero  in  putting  his  library  in 
order,  and  was  the  instructor  of  that  great 
orator's  son  and  nephew.  He  became  rich, 
and  collected  a  library  of  thirty  thousand  vo- 
lumes. Literature  is  indebted  to  Tyrannio  for 
the  preservation  of  many  of  the  writings  of 
Aristotle  and  Theophrastus,  which,  after  se- 
veral changes,  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
Sylia,  from  whose  library  he  procured  them, 
and  afterwards  imparted  them  to  Andronicus 
of  Rhodes.  •  Tyrannio  was  an  author,  but 
none  of  his  works  have  reached  modern  times. 
— MorerL 

TYRRELL  (JAMES)  historian  and  poli- 
tical writer,  was  the  eldest  son  of  sir  Timothy 
Tyrrell,  knight,  of  Shotover  near  Oxford,  by 
Elizabeth,  the  only  daughter  of  archbishop 
Usher.  He  was  born  in  London  in  1642,  and 
in  3657,  was  admitted  of  Queen's  college,  Ox- 
ford. On  quitting  the  university  he  entered 
himself  a  student  in  the  Inner  Temple  ;  and 
in  1666  was  called  to  the  bar,  although  he 
never  practised  professionally,  but  lived  stu- 
I  diously  as  a  private  gentleman  on  his  estate  in 
Buckinghamshire.  In  1681  he  published  an 
answer  to  the  patriarchal  scheme  of  sir  Robert 
Fihner,  under  the  title  of  "  Patriarcha  non 
Monarcha,  or  the  Patriarch  unmasked."  He 
was  struck  out  of  the  commission  of  the  peace 
by  James  II,  for  refusing  to  aid  in  the  mea- 
sures in  favour  of  the  Catholic  religion.  He 
heartily  concurred  in  the  Revolution,  in  sup- 
port of  which  he  published  fourteen  Politi- 
cal Dialogues,  published  from  1692  to  1695, 
which  he  subsequently  collected  into  a  folio 
publication,  which  he  called  "  Bibliotheca 
Politica."  He  also  drew  up  an  abridgment  of 
Dr  Cumberland's  "  De  Legibus  Nature," 
which  he  entitled  "  A  Brief  Disquisition  of  the 
Law  of  Nature,  according  to  the  Principles 
laid  down  in  the  Rev.  Dr  Cumberland's  Latin 
Treatise  on  that  subject."  The  bishop's  ap- 
probation was  prefixed,  and  a  second  edition, 
corrected  and  enlarged,  appeared  in  1701.  Mr 
Tyrrell's  principal  performance,  however,  was 
his  "  General  History  of  England,"  which  he 
intended  to  bring  down  to  the  Revolution, 
but  only  completed  to  the  conclusion  of  that 
of  Richard  II,  in  5  vols.  folio,  1700 — 1704. 
The.  chief  merit  of  this  work  consists  in  the 
copious  translations  from  the  old  English  his- 
torians and  their  methodical  arrangement,  so 
as  to  afford  comparative  reviews  of  their  dif- 
ferent accounts.  Heiu.e,  although  not  so  agree- 
able to  the  reader  as  histories  otherwise  com- 
posed, it  possesses  an  intrinsic  value  ;  several 
mistakes,  however,  have  been  detected  in  these 
translations.  In  other  respects  its  political 
purpose  appears  to  have  been  to  confute  the 
leading  doctrine  in  that  of  Dr  Brady,  who 
contends  that  all  the  liberties  of  the  people  of 
England  were  concessions  from  their  kings,  and 
that  the  representation  of  the  Commons  did 
not  exist  until  the  49th  of  Henry  III.  Mi 


TYR 

Tyrrel  died  in  1718  in  his  seventy -sixth  year. 
—Biog.  Brit,     Athen.  Oxon.  vol.  li. 

TYRTyEUS,  an  ancient  Greek  poet,  cele- 
brated for  his  martial  strains,  is  said  to  have 
been  a  native  of  Miletus,  who  settled  at  Athens 
in  the  capacity  of  poet,  musician,  and  school- 
master. He  is  described  as  being  short,  lame, 
and  blind  of  one  eye  ;  but  he  possessed  a  manly 
and  elevated  soul.  In  the  war  between  the 
Lacedemonians  and  Messeniaus,  the  former 
were  promised  victory  by  the  oracle,  if  they 
obtained  a  general  from  Athens.  The  Athe- 
nians, it  is  supposed  in  derision,  sent  them 
Tyrtaius,  who  so  animated  the  Spartans  by  his 
spirited  strains,  and  aided  them  so  effectually 
by  his  advice,  that  the  Messenians  were  re- 
duced to  subjection.  For  these  services  the 
Spartans  treated  him  with  great  respect,  and 
granted  him  the  rights  of  citizenship.  The 
war  poems  of  Tyrtajus  must  have  been  in  high 
repute,  as  Horace  joins  him  with  Homer  in 
that  department.  He  also  composed  "  Moral 
Precepts,"  and  a  work  "  On  the  Policy  of  the 
Lacedemonians."  Some  fragments  of  his  war 
poems  remain,  which  are  characterised  by  their 
masculine  simplicity.  They  have  been  pub- 
lished with  the  other  minor  Greek  poets. — 
Vossii  Poet.  Gr&c.  Moreri.  Univ.  Hist. 

TYRWHUT  (THOMAS)  a  profound  scho- 
lar and  distinguished  critic,  who  was  the  son 
of  the  rector  of  St  James's,  Westminster,  and 
was  born  in  1730.  He  was  educated  at  Eton 
school  and  Queen's  college,  Oxford,  where  he 
took  his  degrees,  and  in  1755  he  obtained  a 
fellowship  at  Merton.  He  was  acquainted  with 
almost  all  the  European  languages,  as  well  as 
those  of  classical  antiquity.  In  1756  he  was 
appointed  under-secretary  in  the  war  depart- 
ment ;  and  in  1762  he  succeeded  Mr  Dyson  as 
clerk  of  the  house  of  Commons.  This  office 
he  resigned  in  1768,  and  the  remainder  of  his 
life  was  devoted  to  study.  He  became  a  fellow 
of  the  Royal  and  Antiquarian  Societies,  and 
also  one  of  the  curators  of  the  British  Museum. 
His  death  took  place  August  15,  1786.  Mr 
Tyrwhitt  published  a  valuable  edition  of  "  The 
Canterbury  Tales  of  Chaucer,  with  a  Glos- 
sary," 1778,  5  vols.  8vo,  reprinted,  Oxford, 
1798,  2  vols.  4to ;  "  Dissertatio  de  Babrio 
(Gabri«)  Fabularum  ./Esopearum  Scriptore  ; 
.nserujturFabuke  quredam  ^Esopeae  numquam 
antehac  editae,  ex  Cod.  MS.  Bodleiano  ;  acce- 
dit  Babrii  (Gabrias)  Fragmenta,"  Lend.  1776, 
8vo  ;  "  Auctarium  Dissertationis  de  Babrio  ad- 
iecit  Th.  Tyrwhitt  sua  Orphei  de  Lapidibus 
Edit."  1781,  8vo  ;  Rowley's  (Chatterton's) 
Poems,  with  a  Preface  and  Glossary,  8vo  ; 
"Vindication  of  the  Appendix  to  the  Poems 
called  Rowley's  Poems,  in  reply  to  the  Ans- 
wers of  the  Dean  of  Exeter,  Jacob  Bryant, 
Esq.  and  a  third  anonymous  Writer,  with  some 
further  Observations  on  these  Poems,  and  an 
examination  of  the  Evidence  which  has  been 
produced  in  support  of  their  Authenticity ;" 
besides  Poems  in  English  and  Latin,  which 
were  his  earliest  productions.  Mr  Tyrwhitt 
likewise  left  materials  for  a  new  edition  of  the 
Poetics  of  Aristotle,  which  was  printed  at  Ox- 
ford in  1791,  4to  aud  8vo,  under  the  superin- 


T  YT 

tendance  of  Dr  Burgess,  now  bishop  of  Salis- 
bury, and  Dr  Randolph,  afterwards  bishop  of 
London. — Aikin's  Gen.  Biog. 

TYSON  (EDWARD)  an  able  physician,  w&s 
a  native  of  Somersetshire,  where  he  was  born 
in  1649.  He  was  admitted  a  commoner  of 
Magdalen-hall,  Oxford,  in  1667  ;  and  after 
graduating  MA.  he  embraced  the  profession 
of  physician.  He  was  early  made  a  member 
of  the  Royal  Society,  and  proceeded  ML),  at 
Cambridge  in  1680.  He  was  a  very  skilful 
anatomist  and  ingenious  writer,  as  appears  by 
his  essays  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions. 
He  published  "  The  Anatomy  of  a  Porpoise, 
dissected  at  Gresham  College,"  London,  1680  ; 
"  The  Anatomy  of  a  Pigmy  compared  with 
that  of  a  Monkey,  an  Ape,  and  a  Man,"  Lon- 
don, 4to  ;  and  a  "  Philosophical  Essay  on  the 
Pigmies  of  the  Ancients."  lie  was  physician 
to  the  hospitals  of  Bridewell  and  Bethlehem  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  which  took  place  Au- 
gust 1,  1708. — Athen.  Oxon. 

TYSSENS  (PETER)  a  Flemish  painter,  born 
at  Antwerp  in  1625,  whose  excellence  in  his- 
torical composition  has  procured  him  a  repu- 
tation almost  equal  to  that  of  Rubens.  The 
love  of  gain,  however,  induced  him  to  forsake 
history  for  portrait- pain  ting  ;  but  he  applied 
himself  again  to  the  former  with  great  success. 
He  painted  the  Assumption,  for  the  altar  of 
the  Virgin,  in  the  church  of  St  James  at 
Antwerp,  and  many  pictures  for  different 
churches  in  Flanders,  which  have  been 
much  and  deservedly  admired.  He  displays 
boldness  of  conception,  freedom  of  colour- 
ing, and  accuracy  of  execution,  being  well 
acquainted  with  architecture  and  perspec- 
tive. In  1661  he  was  director  of  the  Aca- 
demy of  Painting  at  Antwerp  ;  and  he  died 

in   1692. — TYSSENS  ( )  born  at  Antwerp 

about  1660,  and  supposed  to  have  been  a  son 
of  the  preceding,  became  eminent  as  a  painter 
of  birds.  He  travelled  in  Italy,  Germany,  and 
Holland,  and  at  length  settled  in  England, 
where  he  died. — TYSSENS  (AUGUSTIN)  bro- 
ther of  the  foregoing,  was  born  about  1659. 
He  was  a  landscape  painter,  and  executed 
pieces  with  cattle  in  the  style  of  Berghem  ; 
and  in  1691  he  was  director  of  the  academy 
of  Antwerp. —  Bing.  Univ. 

TYTLER  (HENRY  WILLIAM)  a  Scottish 
physician,  who  died  at  Edinburgh,  August  •_'•!, 
1808,  at  the  age  of  fifty-six.  He  distinguished 
himself  principally  as  a  poetical  translator, 
and  published  the  Hymns  of  Callirnachus,  from 
the  Greek  ;  the  Coma  Berenices,  from  the  La- 
tin of  Catullus  ;  the  Poem  on  the  Punic  War, 
from  the  Latin  ofSilius  Italicus  ;  Paedotrophia, 
or  the  Art  of  Nursing  and  Rearing  Children, 
a  poem  in  three  books,  from  the  Latin  of  St 
Marthe,  with  medical  and  historical  *otes,  and 
the  life  of  the  author,  8vo  ;  besides  "  The 
Voyage  Home  from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
with  other  Poems  relating  to  the  Cape,  and 
Notes,"  1804,  4to. — Bwg.  Univ. 

TYTLER,  MA.  (JAMES)  a  person  of  emi- 
nent abilities  and  of  a  singular  character, 
born  at  Brechin  in  the  county  c/f  Forfar  in 
Scotland,  in  1747.  He  first  nuule  himseif 


r  YT 

known  in  the  literary  world  by  the  publication 
of  "  Essays  on  the  most  important  Subjects  o 
Natural  and  Revealed  Religion,"  Edinburgh 
1772,  8vo.     This   work  was   printed    by  th 
author  himself,  at  a  press  which  he  haderectei 
for  the  purpose  within  the  privileged  precinct 
of  Holyrood  house,  where  he  had  sought  refug 
from  his  creditors.     It  had  also  the  peculiarity 
of  being  printed  as  the  ideas  arose  in  the  mini 
of  the  author,  who  had  no  manuscript  or  note 
whatever.      lie    afterwards  produced,  in  tin 
same  manner,  "  A.  Letter  to  Mr.  J.  Barclay,  on 
the  Doctrine  of  Assurance."  In  1780  he  com 
inenced  the  publication  of  a  periodical  paper 
called  "  The  Weekly  Mirror  ;  and  in  1786  he 
published  at   Glasgow  "  The  Observer,"  an- 
other hebdomadal    paper,    comprehending    a 
series  of  essays,  extending  to  twenty-six  num- 
bers, folio.     Among   his  many   other  produc- 
tions may  be  mentioned  "  A  System  of  Geo- 
graphy," 1788,  8vo;    "A    History  of  Edin- 
burgh," 12mo  ;  "  A  Geographical,  Historical 
and    Commercial    Grammar,"    2    vols.   8vo ; 
"  Remarks  on  Pinkerton's  Introduction  to  the 
History  of  Scotland,"  8vo  ;  a  Poetical  Trans- 
lation of  Virgil's  Eclogues,  4to  ,  "  The  Histo- 
rical    Register,"   a   periodical  work  ;  "  The 
Gentleman  and  Lady's  Magazine  ;"  and  "  The 
Weekly  Review."     He  is  also  said  to   have 
been  the  principal  conductor  of  the  second  edi- 
tion of  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  in  which 
he  wrote  many  of  the   scientific  treatises,  and 
almost   all  the  minor   articles.     He  had  also 
(according  to  Dr  Watt)  the  sole  merit  of  pro- 
jecting and  executing  the  original  Encyclopae- 
dia,   published    in  3  vols.  4to,   by  C.  M'Far- 
quhar.     Numerous  articles  of  his  composition 
are  likewise  scattered  in  various  periodical  pub- 
lications ;  and  he  also  wrote  several  poetical 
pieces,  among  which  is  a  ballad  entitled  "The 
Pleasures  of  the  Abbey,"  (Holyrood-house.) 
This  eccentric   and  laborious,   but  apparently 
imprudent  and  unfortunate   retainer  of  litera- 
ture, died   in  America  in  1805. —  Watt's  Bibt. 
Etit. 

TYTLER  (WILLIAM)  an  historical  and  mis- 
cellaneous writer,  born  at  Edinburgh  in  1711. 
He  received  his  education  at  the  high  school 
and  the  university  of  that  city,  and  adopting 
the  legal  profession  he  became  a  writer  to  the 
signet,  or  solicitor,  which  profession  he  exer- 
cised till  his  death,  which  took  place  in  1792. 
lie  was  an  active  member  and  one  of  the  vice 
presidents  of  the  Edinburgh  Antiquarian  So- 
ciety, to  whose  Transactions  lie  was  a  contri- 
butor; but  he  is  chiefly  known  as  the  author 
of  "  A  Historical  and  Critical  Inquiry  into 
the  Evidence  produced  against  Mary  Queen  of 
Scots,  and  an  Examination  of  the  Histories  of 
Dr  Robertson  and  Mr  Hume  with  respect  to 


TZE 

that   Evidence,"  1759,   1767,  Qvo,  4th   edit. 
Loud.  1790,  2  vols.  8vo,  with  lar^e  additions. 
Mr  Tytler  also  published  "  The  Poetical  Re- 
mains of  James  I   of  Scotland,    consisting  of 
the  King's  Quair,  in  six  Cantos,  and  Christ's 
Kirk  on  the  Green,  to  which  is  prefixed  a  Dis- 
sertation on   the  Life   and  Writings  of  King 
James,"  Edinb.  1783,  8vo  ;  and   a  "  Disser- 
tation on  Scottish  Music."     A   memoir  of  W. 
Tytler,  by  H.  Mackenzie,  may  be  found  in  the 
Transactions  of  the   Royal   Society  of  Edin- 
burgh, vol.  iv. — TYTLER,  (ALEXANDER  FRA- 
SEII)  lord  Woodhouselee,  one  of  the  senators 
of  the  college  of  justice  in  Scotland,   son   of 
the  preceding,  was  born  at  Edinburgh  in  1747, 
and  died  in  1813.     He   published  "  The  De- 
cisions of  the  Court  of  Session,  from  its  first 
Institution  to  the  present  Time,  abridged  and 
digested  under  proper  Heads,  in  the  form  of  a 
Dictionary,"   1778,   folio,  1797,  2  vols.  folio. 
Having  been  elected  professor  of  history  at 
Edinburgh,  he  printed  in  1783,  "  Outlines  of 
a  Course  of  Lectures  on  Universal  History," 
8vo,  which  was  followed  by  his  most  popular 
work,  "  Elements  of  General  History,  ancient 
and  modern,"  2  vols.  8vo.     Among  the  other 
works   of  lord  Woodhouselee    are  "  Memoirs 
of    the    Life  and    Writings   of  the    Hon.  H. 
Home,  Lord   Kames,   containing  Sketches  of 
the  Progress   of  Literature  and   general  Im- 
provement in  Scotland  in  the  Eighteenth  Cen- 
tury," 1807,   2  vols.  4to,  with  a  Supplement, 
1810,  4to  ;  "  An  Historical  and  Critical  Essay 
on  the  Life  of  Petrarch,  with  a  Translation  of 
a  few  of  his  Sonnets,"  Lond.  1810,  8vo  ;   and 
'  An  Essay  on  the  Principles  of  Translation," 
3vo.     Memoirs  of  his  life,  by  the  rev.  A.  Ali- 
son., were  published  in  the  Transactions  of  the 
Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh,  vol.  via.  part  2. 
—  Chalmers's  Biog.  Diet.      }Vatts's  liilil.  Brit. 

TZETZES  (JOHN)  a  Greek  poet  and  gram- 
marian of  the  twelfth  century,  was  famous  in 
iis  time   for   a  variety  of  acquisitions  and  a 
srodigious  memory.     He    was    the  author  of 
'  Allegories  on  Homer,"  which  he  dedicated 
to  Irene,  wife  of  the  emperor  Michael  Com- 
nenus;  and  also  of  "  Miscellaneous  Histories," 
n  thirteen  chiliads,  composed  in  the  lax  mea- 
sure called  political  or  popular  verse.     Some 
of  his  poetry,  which  is  at  once  insipid  and  ar- 
ogant,  is  contained  in  a  collection,  printed  at 
•Some  by  Arsenius.  He  was  more  respectable 
as  a  critic,  and  gave  useful  scholia  on  Hesiod. 
Us  "  Allegories  "  were   published   by  Morel, 
aris,  8vo,  1616,  and  his  Histories  or  Chiliads 
at   Basle,   folio,  1546. — ISAAC  TZETZF.S,  bro- 
her  of  the  preceding,  published  learned  com- 
mentaries on  Lycophron,  which   are  inserted 
n  Potter's  edition  of  that  obscure  ancient. — 
laillet.     Moreri. 


UD1 


ui  r 


U BALDING  (PETRUCCIO)  a  Florentine 
artist,  eminent  in  the  sixteenth  century 
for  the  beauty  and  elegance  of  his  illumina- 
tions on  vellum.  Arriving  in  this  country,  In- 
derived  great  encouragement  from  Elizabeth 
who  then  filled  the  English  throne.  One  o 
the  finest  specimens  of  his  art  was  preservet 
in  the  library  at  Gorhambury,  consisting  of  a 
series  of  scriptural  extracts  executed  for  th 
lady  Lumley.  He  is  also  known  as  an  author 
and  his  life  of  Charlemagne,  which  appeared 
iu  1581,  in  one  volume,  quarto,  is  said  to  have 
been  the  first  book  printed  in  England,  com- 
posud  in  the  Italian  language.  His  other  works 
are  a  "  Description  of  Scotland,"  folio,  An- 
twerp, 1538;  and  "  The  Lives  of  illustrious 
Females  of  England  and  Scotland,"  1.591. 
The  precise  date  of  his  decease  is  uncertain. 
Several  of  his  performances  are  still  to  be 
seen  in  the  national  collection  at  the  British 
Museum. —  Walpoles  Anec. 

UDAL,  the  name  of  several  learned  and 
ingenious  persons,  of  whom  the  first  on  record 
in  point  of  time  was   NICHOLAS  UDAL,  head 
master   of  the  grammar-school  of  Westmin- 
ster.    He  was  a  native  of  the  county  of  Hants, 
born  soon  after  the  commencement  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  and  received  a  university  edu- 
cation at  Corpus   Christi  college,  Oxford,  of 
which  foundation   he  afterwards  became  fel- 
low.    Having  taken  orders,  he  was  preferred 
in  succession  to  the  livings  of  Braintree,  Es- 
sex, and  Calbouvne,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  be- 
nefices which  he   held  with  the  mastership  of 
Eton  till   his  reputation  as   a  pedagogue  pro- 
cured his  removal  to  Westminster.     Mr  Udal 
was  an  excellent  classical  scholar,  and  was  the 
author  of  more  than  one  dramatic  production, 
composed,  as  was  the  fashion   of  his  day,   in 
the  Latin  tongue,  and  also  of  some   books  of 
instruction  for   youth.     The   latter  are  yet  in 
existence,  but  the  former  have  perished.     As 
a  schoolmaster  he  appears  to  have  been   the 
Busby  of  his  day.     The  time  of  his  decease  is 
uncertain. — JOHN  UDAL,  a  learned  Orientalist 
and  good  Biblical  scholar,  is  known  as  the  au- 
thor of  "  A  Key  to  the   Holy  Tongue,"  being 
the  first  Hebrew  grammar  printed  in  England. 
He  was  a  rigid  precisian,  and  having  suffered 
much    persecution  for  his  religious  opinions, 
died    at  length   in    confinement   in    1592. — 
EPHRAIM  UDAL,  son  to  the  above-mentioned 
John,  graduated  at  Emanuel    college,    Cam- 
bridge, in  1614,  and  obtained  the  living  of  St 
Augustine  in  the   city  of  London,  which  was 
united  after  the  great  fire   in  1666,  to  that  of 
St  Faith  under  St  Paul's.     He  was  the  author 
of  a  "  Treatise    on  Sacrilege,"  and  was  alike 
remarkable  for  the  extent  of  his  learning  and 
the  purity  of  his    life   and  manners  ;  but  his 
attachment  to  the  royal  cause  being  equally 
conspicuous,   he  was  ejected    by   the    parlia- 
mentarian party  from  his  living.     His  death 
took  place  in  1647. — Walker's  Sufferings  of  the 
Clergy.      Wood's  Athen.  Oxon. 

UDINA  (GIOVANNI  da)  an  Italian  painter, 
born  in  1489,  who  was  the  disciple  of  Gior- 


gione,  and  afterwards  of  Raphael.  Flo  studied 
the  grotesque,  and  carried  that  branch  of  his 
art  to  great  perfection.  Raphael  invited  him 
to  Rome,  and  employed  him  in  ornamenting 
the  Vratican.  After  the  sack  of  Rome  he  vi- 
sited various  parts  of  Italy,  where  he  left  spe- 
cimens of  his  talents,  particularly  in  the  pa- 
lace Grimani,  which  he  painted  for  his  patron, 
the  patriarch  of  Aquileia,  in  a  manner  which 
has  excited  general  admiration.  He  also 
worked  for  the  Medicis  family  at  Florence, 
and  returning  to  Rome,  he  died  there  in  1562. 
— Bing.  Univ. 

UFFEMBACH  (ZACHARY  CONRAD)  a  na- 
tive of  Frankfort,  born  1683,  and  educated  at 
Rudelstadt,  Strasburg,  and  Halle,  in  which 
latter  university  he  graduated  in  civil  la'.v.  He 
was  the  author  of  an  "  Historical  Account  of 
Germany  during  the  Middle  Ages  ;"  "  Se- 
lections, historical  and  literary  ;"  and  some 
autobiographical  memoirs  of  himself.  As  a 
book-collector  he  was  unrivalled  in  his  day, 
and  at  his  death,  which  took  place  at  Frank- 
fort in  1734,  left  behind  him  one  of  the  first 
private  libraries  in  Europe. — Chaufepie. 

UGHELLI  (FERDIMANDO)  a  Cistercian 
monk  of  the  seventeenth  century,  distinguished 
for  his  learning,  modesty,  and  other  amiable 
qualities.  He  was  a  native  of  Florence,  born 
1595,  and  rose  to  several  offices  of  honour  and 
responsibility  in  his  order.  He  is  now  prin- 
cipally remembered  as  the  author  of  a  history 
of  the  Papal  States,  first  printed  in  1662,  in 
line  folio  volumes,  under  the  title  of  "  Italia 
Sacra."  This  work  was  reprinted  in  1772, 
with  an  additional  volume.  Ugtelli  died  at  . 
Rome,  abbot  of  the  monastery  of  Trois  Fon- 
:aines,  in  that  capital,  May  19,  1670. — Tira- 
boschi. 

UILKENS  (JAMES  ALBERT)  a  Dutch  di- 
vine and  naturalist,  born  at  Wierum,  near 
Groningen,  in  1772.  He  passed  through  his 
academical  studies  at  Groningen  with  reputa- 
ion,  and  in  1795  he  took  the  degree  of  MD. 
On  proceeding  doctor  in  philosophy,  he  sup- 
)orted  an  ingenious  thesis  "  On  the  Nature 
of  the  Atmosphere,  and  its  Influence  on  the 
Vegetable  Kingdom  ;"  and  he  afterwards  pro- 
lucedan  "  Elementary  Treatise  on  Physics," 
"or  which  he  obtained  the  prize  offered  by  a 
earned  society.  This  work  became  very  po- 
iular,and  has  been  often  printed.  His  "  Dis- 
course, on  the  Perfections  of  the  Creator  con- 
sidered in  the  Creature,"  4  vols.  8vo,  is  ano- 
ther valuable  piece,  as  also  are  his  "  Memoir 
on  the  Utility  of  Insects  ;"  and  his  "  Manual 
of  Technology."  In  1815  he  was  chosen  to 
fill  the  newly  established  chair  of  rural  eco- 
nomy at  Groningen,  and  in  1819  he  published 
a  treatise  on  that  subject.  He  died  in  1825, 
having  written  several  other  works  besides 
those  which  have  been  noticed. — Biog.  Unit'. 

UITEMBOGAERT  (JOHN)  an  Arminian 
pastor,  a  native  of  Utrecht,  born  in  1557. 
Having  studied  divinity  at  Geneva,  under  the 
celebrated  Theodore  Beza,  he  returned  in  1583 
to  his  native  city,  and  there  took  charge  of 


U  L  L 

the  spiritual  concerns  of  a  congregation  of  re- 
monstrants, as  the  sect  to  which  he  belonged 
was  then  called  in  Holland.  After  a  ministry 
of  eight  years  at  Utrecht,  he  removed  to  the 
Hague,  where  he  passed  the  next  twenty  years 
of  his  life,  and  then  accompanied  the  embassy 
from  the  States  General  to  the  court  of  Paris  ! 
in  quality  of  its  chaplain.  On  his  return  to  I 
Holland  he  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  dis- 
putes then  raging  in  the  Low  Countries  be-  | 
tween  the  Lutherans  and  Calvinists,  and 
eventually  found  it  advisable  to  retire  from  the 
hostility  of  the  latter  party,  first  to  Antwerp, 
and  eventually  into  Normandy.  After  a  stay 
of  some  continuance  in  the  capital  of  that  pro- 
vince, during  which  the  religious  heats  of  the 
opposing  sects  in  his  own  country  had  in  a 
degree  subsided,  he  returned  once  more  to  La 
Hague,  and  died  there  in  the  year  1644.  He 
was  the  intimate  friend  of  Episcopius,  whom 
he  is  considered  to  have  exceeded  in  literary 
acquirements,  as  much  as  he  fell  short  of  him 
in  genius.  An  "  Ecclesiastical  History,"  in 
folio,  written  with  much  elegance  and  purity 
of  style,  and  an  autobiographical  sketch  of  his 
own  life,  are  all  of  his  writings  that  have  ap- 
peared.— Aikin's  G.  Biog. 

ULLOA  (clou  ANTONIO  de)  a  celebrated 
Spanish  mathematician  and  commander  of  the 
order  of  St  Jago,  was  born  at  Seville,  January 
It',  1716.  He  waa  brought  up  iu  the  royal 
marines,  in  which  he  obtained  the  rank  of 
lieutenant-general.  Havingmuch  distinguished 
himself  as  an  engineer  and  man  of  science,  he 
was  in  1755  joined  in  a  commission  with  don 
George  Juan  and  others  to  measure  a  degree 
of  the  meridian  in  Peru.  He  remained  nearly 
ten  years  in  South  America  on  this  occasion, 
and  on  his  return  to  Europe  in  1745  he  was 
intercepted,  and  carried  into  an  English  port. 
Here  his  talents  and  character  recommended 
him  to  Martin  Folkes,  then  president  of  the 
Royal  Society,  of  which  he  was  elected  a  mem- 
ber in  the  same  year.  On  his  return  to  Spain 
he  published  his  voyage  to  South  America, 
which  was  soon  translated  into  German,  French, 
and  English  ;  but  the  latter  version,  which  ap- 
peared in  1758,  in  2  vols.  8vo,  is  miserably 
garbled  and  inaccurate.  He  was  afterwards 
ai  pointed  by  Ferdinand  III  to  travel  over  Eu- 
rope, to  collect  useful  information  in  regard  to 
improvements  in  the  arts,  sciences,  and  agri- 
culture, the  result  of  which  was  very  useful  to 
his  country.  He  became  the  chief  promoter 
of  the  royal  woollen  manufactories  ;  newly  or- 
i^iinised  the  colleges  of  history  and  surgery  ; 
superintended  and  completed  the  basins  at 
Ferrol  and  Carthagena,  and  gave  new  activity 
to  the  celebrated  quicksilver-mines  of  Alma- 
dan.  In  1766  he  was  made  governor  of  Louis- 
iana, which  had  been  ceded  to  Spain.  In  1772 
lie  published  another  important  work,  entitled 
•'  Kntretenimientos  Physico-Historicos  sobre 
la  America  Meridionale,  &c."  4to,  which  con- 
tains some  ingenious  disquisitions  on  the  peo- 
pling of  America.  This  eminent  Spaniard, 
who  contributed  several  scientific  papers  to  the 
Royal  Society,  died  in  the  Isle  of  Leon  near 
C«nua,  on  the  5th  of  July,  1795. — He  must  not 

hiuo.  DICT. — VOL.  II J. 


U  L  U 

be  confounded  with  don  BEHNATID  DE 
a  near  relation,  who  published  in  1740  an  in- 
teresting work  "  On  the  Revival  of  the  Mai.u- 
factures  and  Commerce  of  Spain." — Nouu. 
Diet.  }Iist.  Ullna's  Vvyage. 

ULLOA  Y  PEREIRA  (Louis  de)  a  Spa- 
nish poet  of  the  age  of  Philip  IV.  was  born  at 
Toro  iu  the  kingdom  of  Leon  ;  and  having  the 
good  fortune  to  secure  the  friendship  of  the 
count-duke  d'Olivarez,  was  raised  bv  the  pa- 
troniige  of  that  powerful  minister  from  a  com- 
paratively humble  rank  in  life  to  be  governor 
of  his  native  province.  His  works,  which  con- 
sist principally  of  miscellaneous  poetry,  ex- 
hibit a  pleasant  vein  of  humour,  while  some  of 
a  graver  cast  are  by  no  means  deficient  in  ele- 
gance or  pathos.  There  is  an  edition  of  them 
in  one  quarto  volume,  printed  at  Madrid  in 
1674.  His  death  took  place  in  1660. — An- 
tonio Bibl.  Hispan. 

ULPHILAS,  a  Gothic  bishop,  and  the  first 
translator  of  a  part  of  the  Bible  into  that  lan- 
guage, flourished  in  the  fourth  century,  and 
obtained  leave  of  the  emperor  Valens  that  the 
Goths  should  reside  in  Thrace,  on  condition  that 
he  himself  embraced  theArian  faith.  Little  more 
is  known  of  him,  than  that  be  translated  the 
Evangelists,  and  perhaps  some  other  books  of 
the  New  Testament  into  the  Gothic  language, 
which  he  achieved  by  inventing  a  new  alpha- 
bet of  twenty-six  letters.  His  translation  is 
now  in  the  library  at  Upsal  ;  and  there  have 
been  three  editions  of  it,  the  best  of  which  is 
that  of  Mr  Lye,  printed  at  Oxford  in  1750. 
Much  controversy  has  taken  place  with  re- 
gard to  the  authenticity  and  antiquity  of  this 
version,  which  has  been  increased  by  the  dis- 
covery of  another  written  fragment  of  the  trans- 
lation of  Ulphilas,  discovered  in  the  library  at 
Wolfenbuttel,  containing  a  portion  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans.  The  latter  has  been 
published  by  Knittel,  archdeacon  of  Wolfen- 
buttel, who  thinks  that  Ulphilas  translated  the 
whole  Bible. — Notiv.  Diet.  Hist.  SaiiiOnom. 

ULPIANUS  (DOMITIUS)  an  eminent  law- 
yer, the  tutor,  friend,  and  minister  of  the  em- 
peror Alexander  Severus.  When  Alexander 
became  emperor,  one  of  his  first  acts  was  to 
recal  Ulpian,  who  had  been  exiled  by  Helio- 
gabalus,  and  to  place  him  at  the  head  of  his 
council  of  state.  He  was  also  made  secretary 
of  state,  and  ultimately  pretorian  prefect.  He 
lived  in  great  repute  for  his  wise  and  virtuous 
administration,  until  the  emperor,  probably  at 
his  suggestion,  undertook  the  dangerous  task 
of  reforming  the  army.  The  discontent  of  the 
soldiery  broke  out  into  a  mutiny,  and  Ulpian, 
pursued  by  a  body  of  them,  was  massacred  in 
the  presence  of  the  emperor  and  his  mother, 
iu  the  year  228.  Ulpian  has  obtained  the 
praise  of  all  the  heathens,  but  the  Christians 
accuse  him  of  a  determined  enmity  to  their 
sect,  which  he  carried  so  far  as  to  collect  all 
the  edicts  and  decrees  of  the  preceding  sove- 
reigns against  them.  There  are  remaining  of 
Ulpian  twenty-nine  titles  or  fragments,  which 
are  inserted  in  some  of  the  editions  of  the  civil 
law. — Crevier.  Gibbnii. 

ULUGH-BEIGH  or  OLEG  BEK,  a  Tartu 
2  A 


UNZ 

prince,  celebrated  as  an  astronomer  in  the  fif- 
teenth century.  He  was  the  son  of  the  sultan 
Shah  Rohk,  and  grandson  of  Timur  Bek,  and 
Lis  birth  took  place  iu  1393.  His  proper  name 
\vas  Mohammed  Taragai,  that  by  whicli  he  is 
usually  known  being  an  epithet,  signifying 
Great  Lord.  He  entered  on  the  government 
during  the  life  of  his  father  in  1407,  and  con- 
ducted himself  so  well  as  to  acquire  general 
esteem.  He  formed  a  seminary  for  the  learned 
at  Samarcaml  ;  and  directed  much  of  his  at- 
tention to  mathematics  and  astronomy,  having 
constructed  an  observatory,  and  invited  men 
of  science  to  his  capital,  to  assist  in  his  obser- 
vations. After  reigning  forty  years,  he  was 
put  to  death  by  one  of  his  sons,  who  had  re- 
belled against  him.  To  this  prince  science  is 
indebted  for  a  series  of  observations  on  the 
fixed  stars,  the  results  of  which  are  given  in  the 
"  Tabula;  Longitudinum  et  Latitudinum  Stel- 
larum  Fixarum,"  published  by  Dr  Thomas 
Hyde,  Oxford,  1665,  4to.  The  works  of  Ulugh 
Beigh  on  Chronology,  Geography,  and  Astro- 
nomy were  also  previously  published  in  Latin, 
by  John  Greaves,  MA. — Aloreri.  Aikin's  Gen. 
Bwg. 

UNGER  (JOHN  FREDERICK)  private  secre- 
tary to  the  duke  of  Brunswick,  was  born  in 
1716,  and  died  at  Brunswick  in  1781.  He 
published  a  tract  "  On  the  Nature  of  the 
Electric  Fluid,"  which  was  crowned  by  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  at  Berlin  in  1745;  and 
a  work  "  On  the  Price  of  Corn,  on  its  Sale, 
on  its  Variations,  and  on  the  Influence  which 
it  has  on  the  most  important  Affairs  of  Human 
Life,"  Gotiingen,  1752.  He  invented  in  1749 
a  self-acting  machine  for  noting  down  any 
tune  as  it  is  played  on  the  harpsichord  ;  and 
an  artist  of  Berlin  executed  this  piece  of  me- 
chanism, of  which  a  description  was  inserted 
in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy  of  Berlin  for 
1771  ;  and  the  author  himself  published,  at 
Brunswick,  in  1774,  a  "  Circumstantial  De- 
scription of  his  Invention,  and  of  the  Manner 
in  which  he  discovered  it,"  4to. — Sing.  Univ. 

UNZER  (JonN  AUGUSTUS)  a  German  phy- 
sician and  copious  writer  on  medicine  and 
physiology.  He  was  born  at  Halle,  in  the 
duchy  of  Magdeburg,  in  17ii7,  and  after  hav- 
ing been  engaged  in  professional  practice  at 
Ins  native  place  and  at  Hamburgh,  he  estab- 
lished himself  at  Altona,  where  he  arrived  at 
extraordinary  reputation.  He  died  April  1, 
1799.  Kuttner,  in  his  "  Characters  of  the 
German  Poets  and  literary  Men,"  says,  "  Un- 
zer  united  to  experience  the  most  pro-found 
knowledge  of  medicine.  He  was  the  writer 
of  the  nation  and  of  mankind.  Like  the 
English  Spectator,  he  knew  how  to  please,  to 
attach,  and  to  make  a  deep  impression,  in 
treating  the  driest  and  most  abstruse  subjects. 
In  his  writings  he  endeavoured  to  excite  the 
attention  of  his  readers  to  their  health,  ami 
warn  them  against  the  dangers  of  quackery. 
And  he  attained  his  purpose."  Among  his 
v/orks  are  "  A  new  Doctrine  concerning  the 
Movements  of  the  Soul  and  of  the  Imagina- 
tion," Halle,  1746,  8vo  ;  "  Thoughts  on  Sleep 
»nd  Dreams/'  8vo  ;  "  Philosophical  Medita- 


U  RB 

tions  on  the  Human  Body,"  1750,  8vo  ;  "  The 
Physician,  or  Journal  of  Medicine,"  published 
at  Hamburgh,  from  1759  to  1764,  8vo  ;  "  A 
Collection  of  Writings  and  Dissertations  on 
Philosophy  and  Medicine,"  1768,  3  vols.  8vo  ; 
"  Ou  the  Sensitive  Faculties  of  animated  Bo- 
dies," Lunebourg,  1768,  8vo  ;  "  A  Manual  of 
Medicine,"  Hamb.  1770,  2  vols.  8vo  ;  "  '1  he 
Physiology  of  Animal  Nature  in  living  Bo- 
dies," Leipsic,  1771, 8vo;  and  "Physiological 
Researches  relative  to  the  Criticisms  on  the 
Physiology  of  Unzer,"  1773,  8vo ;  besides 
publications  on  contagious  diseases. — UNZKR 
(JANE  CHAIILOTTE)  wife  of  the,  preceding, 
was  an  honorary  member  of  learned  societies 
at  London,  Gottingen,  and  Helmstadt ;  ;ind 
she  published  poetry,  which  in  1753  obtained 
a  prize  offered  by  the  university  of  Helmstadt, 
She  died  January  29,  1782.  Besides  two 
volumes  of  poems,  she  publi.-hed  "  Principles 
of  Conduct  and  of  Wisdom  for  Women,"  8vo. 
—  Biog.  Uttiv. 

UPTON  (JAMES)  the  name  of  two  English 
divines,  father  and  son,  both  eminent  for 
learning  and  ability  in  the  last  century.  The 
elder,  a  native  of  Winslow,  in  the  palatinate 
of  Chester,  was  born  in  1670,  and  educated 
at  Eton,  whence  he  removed  on  the  foundation 
to  a  fellowship  at  King's  college,  Cambridge. 
Having  taken  orders,  he  accepted  the  appoint- 
ment of  head-master  to  '.he  grammar-school  at 
Taunton,  and  was  presented  in  succession  to 
the  livings  of  Brimpton  and  Mount  Silver, 
both  in  Somersetshire.  He  was  the  author  of 
several  useful  publications,  calculated  for  the 
instruction  of  youth  in  classical  rudiments, 
such  as  "  Novus  Historiarum  et  Fabellarum 
Delectus,"  &c.  and  new  editions  of  Hogei 
Ascham's  "  Schoolmaster,"  with  a  com 
mentary,  8vo,  1711  ;  "  Aristotle's  Art  of 
Poetry  ;"  and  "  Dionysiusof  Halicarnassus  on 
Rhetoric."  His  death  took  place  in  1749. — 
His  son,  born  in  1707,  was  educated  at  Ox- 
ford, and  obtained  a  fellowship  at  Exeter-col- 
lege, in  that  university.  He  was  the  author 
of  a  commentary  on  the  writings  of  Shak- 
speare,  8vo,  and  superintended  the  publica- 
tion of  new  editions  of  Spenser's  works  in  two 
quarto  volumes,  and  of  Epictetus,  4to,  2  vols. 
Mr  Upton  held  a  prebendal  stall  in  Rochester 
cathedral  with  the  rectory  of  Rissington, 
Gloucestershire,  and  died  in  1760. — Memoirs 
6y  Tmilmin. 

URBANI,  the  name  of  an  eminent  Italian 
composer,  who  lived  a  good  deal  in  this  coun- 
try and  in  Ireland  about  the  latter  end  of  the 
last  century.  He  was  the  author  of  two  operas, 
"  Farnace  "  and  "  11  Trionfo  di  Cleha,"  both 
of  whicli  met  with  considerable  success  at 
Dublin,  where  they  were  originally  produced. 
He  was  also  very  happy  in  his  arrangement  of 
old  Scottish  melodies,  several  volumes  of 
whicli  he  published  at  Edinburgh,  and  in  some 
of  his  own  airs,  especially  in  that  of  "  The 
Red  Rose,"  printed  in  the  Vocal  Anthology 
he  imitated  that  su  le  of  music  with  great  suc- 
cess. His  death  took  place  iu  the  metropolis 
of  the  sister  island  in  1816. — Biog.  Diet,  of 
Music. 


U  KB 

URBAN  VIII,  (pope)  one  of  the  Roman  ' 
pontiffs  who  deserve  notice  on  account  of 
their  learning  and  attention  to  literature,  was 
born  in  Florence  in  1568.  His  name  was 
Maffei  Barberini,  being  that  of  a  very  ancient 
and  honourable  family.  His  father  dying  in  his 
infancy,  he  wasentrusted  to  the  care  of  an  uncle, 
•who  was  a  prothonotary  at  the  Roman  court. 
The  latter  placed  him  under  Tursellinus,  in  the 
Jesuits'  college ;  and  being  subsequently  sent 
to  Pisa,  he  obtained  the  degree  of  doctor  in 
his  twentieth  year.  He  then  returned  to  Rome, 
•where  he  inherited  a  handsome  fortune  from 
his  uncle,  and  having  obtained  the  patronage 
of  cardinal  Farnese,  he  gradually  passed 
through  all  the  grades  of  preferment,  until  he 
was  created  a  cardinal  in  1606  by  pope  Paul 
V.  In  1623,  while  legate  at  Bologna,  he  was 
elected  pope,  in  succession  to  Gregory  XV, 
and  took  the  name  of  Urban  VIII.  The  pub- 
lic transactions  of  his  pontificate  fall  within 
the  province  of  history.  The  errors  in  his  go- 
vernment, which  were  not  very  numerous  or 
glaring  for  so  zealous  an  advocate  for  the 
church,  arose  principally  from  his  early  at- 
tachment to  the  Jesuits,  and  his  nepotism,  or 
regard  to  his  relations,  on  whom  he  bestowed 
red  hats  and  temporal  employments  with  a 
very  liberal  hand.  As  a  man  of  learning  and 
a  patron  of  learned  men,  he  has  merited  con- 
siderable praise,  but  he  was  no  antiquary,  and 
destroyed  some  Roman  antiquities,  which  the 
Goths  had  spared.  It  was  this  conduct  that 
gave  rise  to  the  famous  pasquinade  "  Quod 
non  fecerunt  Barbari  fecerunt  Barberini."  He 
wrote  several  Latin  poems  in  an  elegant  style, 
of  which  an  edition  was  published  at  Paris  in 
1642,  and  a  very  beautiful  ons  at  Oxford  in 
1726,  8vo,  with  a  life  and  learned  notes  by 
Brown.  His  patronage  of  learned  men  was 
very  liberal,  and  he  received  those  of  all  na- 
tions with  equal  respect.  Among  the  rest  are 
to  be  included  the  two  Scottish  writers  Demp- 
ster and  Barclay,  the  latter  of  whom  has  cele- 
brated him  iu  his  "  Argenis,"  under  the  ana- 
gram of  Iburranis.  Urban  published  a  re- 
markable edition  of  the  Roman  breviary,  and 
several  bulls  and  decrees,  the  most  noticeable 
of  which  are  those  which  abolish  the  order  of 
female  Jesuits  and  certain  festivals  ;  and  in 
compliance  with  the  Jesuits  condemn  the  pro- 
positions of  Jansenism.  Among  his  founda- 
tions was  the  college  "  De  Propaganda  Fide." 
This  pontiff  made  no  fewer  than  seventy-four 
cardinals.  He  died  on  July  29,  1644,  and  was 
buried  in  a  stately  tomb  erected  by  his  own 
orders  by  the  celebrated  Bernini. — Life  by  Dr 
Broun.  Bower's  Hist,  of  the  Popes. 

URBAN  (FERDINAND  de  St)  an  eminent 
artist,  born  at  Nanci  in  1654.  He  studied 
painting  when  young,  without  a  master  ;  and 
in  1671  he  went  to  Munich,  and  afterwards 
visited  the  most  celebrated  academies  of  Ger- 
many and  Italy.  Arriving  at  Bologna  he  was 
admitted  a  member  of  the  academy  ;  and  the 
municipal  council  confided  to  him  the  di- 
rection of  its  cabinet  of  medals,  and  ap- 
pointed him  first  engraver  and  first  artichect 
to  th3  council.  He  had  l.eld  these  offices  ten 


URQ 

years,  when  Innocent  XI  called  him  to  Rome, 
and  made  him  his  first  architect,  and  director 
of  his  cabinet  of  medals.  He  executed  a 
great  number  of  moulds  or  matrices  of  rare 
beauty,  both  for  the  current  coin  and  for  me- 
dals struck  during  the  pontificates  of  Inno- 
cent XI,  Alexander  VIII,  and  Innocent  XII. 
At  length  his  sovereign  leopold  1,  duke  of 
Lorraine,  recalled  St  Urban  to  Nanci,  where 
he  held  the  same  offices  he  had  filled  at  Bo- 
logna and  Rome.  Besides  the  pieces  he  exe- 
cuted for  the  popes  and  the  dukes  of  Lor- 
raine, he  produced  a  great  many  commemo- 
rating royal  personages,  Italian  princes,  car- 
dinals, and  illustrious  men.  In  1735  pope 
Clement  XII  sent  him  the  insignia  of  the  or- 
der of  Christ.  His  death  took  place  at  Nanci, 
January  11,  1738. —  Ihog.  Univ. 

URCEUS  CODRUS  (ANTHONY)  an  Italian 
satirist  and  grammarian  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, born  about  the  year  1446,  at  Rubiera,  in 
the  vicinity  of  Reggio.  He  lectured  in  the 
belles  lettres  at  Forli  with  some  reputation, 
till  an  accidental  fire  destroying  his  books,  of 
which  he  was  passionately  fond,  a  temporary 
derangement  ensued  of  a  very  formidable  cha- 
racter. On  his  recovery  he  settled  at  Bo- 
logna, and  became  professor  of  eloquence  and 
grammar  in  that  university.  There  is  an  edi- 
tion of  his  works,  containing  all  his  epigrams, 
satires,  pastorals,  and  other  poetical  pieces, 
together  with  some  orations  and  other  prose 
compositions  printed  in  cuarto,  15 15,  and 
another  which  appeared  at  Basle  in  1540. 
His  death  took  place  in  the  beginning  of  the 
year  1500. — Tirahoschi. 

URFK,  the  name  of  two  ingenious  Frerch 
writers,  brothers,  the  elder  of  whom  is  bettet 
known  by  the  family  title  of  compte  de  Lyon. 
He  was  the  author  of  several  poetical  compo- 
sitions on  miscellaneous  subjects,  and  died  in 
1621. — His  brother  HONOR  E  d'UnFE,  survived 
him  about  four  years.  He  was  born  in  1567 
at  Marseilles,  where  he  received  his  education 
in  the  Jesuits'  college.  His  writings  consist 
chiefly  of  romances  and  other  works  of  fiction, 
of  which  the  principal  is  entitled  "  L'Astree," 
8vo.  4  vols.  Much  scandal  was  occasioned  by 
his  contracting  a  mairiage  with  the  divorced 
wife  of  his  brother,  a  profligate  woman,  from 
whom  he  afterwards  in  turn  separated.  His 
death  took  place  in  1625. —  Nmiv.  Diet.  Hist. 

URQUHART  or  URCHARD  (sir  THO- 
MAS) of  Cromarty,  a  Scottish  writer  of  the  se- 
venteenth century,  who  is  known  as  the  trans- 
lator of  Rabelais.  He  was  a  cavalier  officer 
among  the  followers  of  Charles  II,  and  was 
present  at  the  battle  of  Worcester  in  1651, 
relative  to  which  he  published  a  piece  entitled 
"  The  Discovery  of  a  most  rare  Jewel,  found 
in  the  Kennel  of  Worcester  Streets  the  Day 
after  the  Fight,  and  six  before  the  Autumnal 
Equinox,  anno  1651,  serving  in  this  Plate  to 
frontal  a  Vindication  of  the  Honour  of  Scot- 
land from  that  Infamy  whereunto  the  ritjid 
Presbyterian  Party  ot  that  Nation,  out  of  their 
Covetousness  and  Ambition  most  dissembledly 
hath  involved  it,"  London,  1652,  8vo.  He 
was  also  the  author  of  a  work  on  Trigonometry  ; 
2  A  2 


u  us 

an  "  Introduction  to  the  Universal  Language, 
in  six  Books,"  16.V3,  4to  ;  and  a  Genealogy  of 
the  Urqubart  Family,  which,  with  other  tracts 
of  the  author  was  printed  at  Edinburgh  in 
1782,  ISmo.—  Haft's  Kill.  Brit. 

URQU1JO  (MARIANO  Louis,  chevalier  de) 
a  Spanish  minister  of  state,  born  in  Old  Cas- 
tille  in  1768.  He  received  a  careful  education, 
and  he  travelled  when  very  young,  and  passed 
some  years  in  England,  where  lie  acquired 
ideas  of  philosophy  and  independance,  which 
had  much  influence  on  his  character.  Re- 
turning home,  he  published  a  translation  of 
Voltaire's  tragedy  on  the  Death  of  Csesar,  with 
a  "  Discourse  on  the  Origin  and  PresentState 
of  the  Spanish  Theatre,  and  its  indispensable 
.Reformation,"  which  drew  on  him  the  notice 
of  the  inquisition.  He  was  however  employed 
under  the  secretary  of  state,  count  d'Aranda  ; 
and  during  the  ministry  of  Godoy,  then  duke 
de  la  Alcudia,  he  became  secretary  of  state 
for  foreign  affairs,  through  the  influence  of  the 
queen.  In  this  important  office  lie  acted  on 
the  most  enlightened  and  liberal  principles, 
and  be  succeeded  in  greatly  curbing  the  power 
of  the  inquisition  and  of  the  clergy,  by  which 
means  however  he  excited  the  displeasure  of 
those  who  from  principle  or  interest  were  at- 
tached to  the  ancient  institutions  of  the  king- 
dom. Having  also  offended  the  favourite  Go- 
doy, he  was  at  length  disgraced,  and  towards 
the  close  of  1800,  confined  in  the  citadel  of 
Pampeluna.  He  languished  there  several 
years,  in  the  most  severe  imprisonment,  being 
debarred  the  use  of  paper,  ink,  books,  and 
even  light.  Ferdinand  VII,  on  his  accession 
in  1808,  declared  the  persecutions  of  Urquijo 
to  be  unjust,  and  he  was  set  at  liberty.  He 
endeavoured  to  prevent  that  prince  from  taking 
his  journey  to  Bayonne  ;  and  though  repeat- 
edly summoned  by  Buonaparte,  Urquijo  did 
not  go  himself  to  Bayonne  till  after  the  abdi- 
cation and  renunciation  of  the  crown  by  Charles 
IV,  Ferdinand  VII,  and  the  Infants,  and 
when  those  princes  had  quitted  that  city.  Not 
being  ab/e  to  prevail  on  Napoleon  to  abstain 
from  his  projects  against  Spain,  he  accepted  the 
office  of  secretary  of  the  Junta  of  Spanish  No- 
tables, assembled  at  Bayonne,  and  afterwards 
that  of  minister  of  state.  He  had  the  satis- 
faction to  see  the  inquisition  suppressed  by 
Buonaparte  in  1808,  and  by  the  Cortes  in 
1813.  After  the  reverses  of  the  French  in 
Spain,  he  was  obliged  to  follow  king  Joseph 
Buonaparte;  and  in  1814  lie  fixed  his  resi- 
dence at  Paris.  He  died  there  May  3.  1817. 
—  King.  A'oju'.  des  Contemp.  Biog.  Univ. 

URSINS  (ANNA  MARIA,  princess  des)  wife 
of  Flavio  des  Ursins,  first  lady  of  the  bed- 
chamber to  the  queen  of  Spain.  She  was  de- 
scended of  the  noble  French  family  de  la  Tre- 
mouille,  and  was  born  in  1642.  Being  a  woman 
of  great  natural  parts  and  an.  intriguing  dispo- 
sition, she  involved  herself  to  a  considerable 
extent  in  the  politics  of  the  day,  and  contrived 
to  exercise  a  strong  influence  for  many  years 
in  the  Spanish  cabinet,  till  falling  into  disgrace 
with  Philip  V,  that  monarch  banished  her  from 
his  dominions.  This  event  took  i>lace  in  1715!. 

* 


U  RS 

\  She  survived  her  disgrace  about  ten  years, 
dying  at  Rome  in  the  winter  of  1722. — ATOUD- 
Diet.  Hist. 

URSINUS.     There  were  several  eminent 
scholars  of   this   name,  who  flourished  in  dif- 
ferentages. — FULVIUS  URSINUS,  born  at  Rome 
in  1529,  being  abandoned  in  his  infancy  by  his 
father,  whose  vow  of  celibacy  as  a  knight  of 
Malta  prevented  his  acknowledging  him  as  his 
son,  had  the  good  fortune  while  yet  a  child  to 
attract  the  notice  of  one  of  the  dignified  eccle- 
siastics attached  to  the  cathedral   of  St  Gio- 
vanni di  Laterano,  by  name  Delfini,  who  gave 
him  a  classical  education,  and  continued  to  pa- 
tronize him  till  his  death.    He  was  well  versed 
in    antiquarian    researches,  especially   as   re- 
spects ancient  literature  ;  and  was  particularly 
celebrated  for  his  method  of  ascertaining  the 
dates  of  manuscripts,  which  he  did  with  great 
accuracy.     As  an  author  iie  is  known  by  se- 
veral ingenious  commentaries  on  the  works  of 
various  classical   writers,  as    well   as    by   his 
"  Imagines  Virorum  illustrium  et  eruditorum," 
and  his  treatise  "  De  Famihis  Romanis."  His 
death  took  place  about  the  commencement  of 
the  seventeenth  century. — ZACHARY  UHSINUS, 
a  native  of  Breslau,  the  capital  of  Silesia,  born 
1534,   was  among    the   most   celebrated    po- 
lemics of  the  age  of  the  Reformation.  Having 
in  early  life  acquired  the  friendship  of  Philip 
Melaucthon,  while  a  student  in  the  university 
of  Wittemberg,   he  accompanied  him   to   the 
conference  held  at  Worms  in  1559,  and  at  its 
close   went   to  Paris   by  the  way  of  Geneva. 
After  a  stay  of  some  continuance  in  the  French 
metropolis,  he  accepted  an  offer  made  him  by 
the  magistrates  of  his  native  city,  to  superintend 
their  principal  school,  but  becoming  at  length 
obnoxious  to  the  Lutheran  party  there,  on    ac- 
count of  his  rigid  adoption  of  the  peculiar  te- 
nets of  Calvin    he  experienced  a  series  of  per- 
secutions which    induced    him    to  resign    his 
situation,  and  retire  to  Zurich  in  1560.     Here 
he  was  received  with  great  distinction  by  those 
of  his  own  creed,  and  remained  till  the  follow- 
ing year,  when  the  influence  of  the  elector  pa- 
latine  procured   him  the  divinity  chair  in  the 
university  of  Heidelberg.     This  appointment 
he  held  till  1577,  attending  in  the   mean  time 
at  the  conference  of  Maulbrun,  where,  though 
deficient  in   pulpit  eloquence,  he  yet  distin- 
guished  himself  by  his  speeches   against  the 
doctrine  of  ubiquity.    Although  a  modest  and 
most  industrious  scholar,  he   appears  to  have 
united  a  considerable  degree   of  religious  en- 
thusiasm to  a  warm  and  irritable  temper,  which 
circumstance   involved    him  a  second   time  in 
disputes,  when  being  left  comparatively  unpro- 
tected by  the  deaih  of  his  illustrious  patron, 
the  elector  Frederick,  he  was  once  more  com- 
pelled to  change  bis  abode.     On  this  occasion 
he  settled  at  Neustadt,  where  he  continued  to 
read  lectures  in  theology  till  his  death  in  Io83. 
Abouc    twenty  years    after   his  decease,  his 
writings  were  collected  and   published   toge- 
ther in   three   folio  volumes. — JOHN   HENRY 
URSINUS,  a  German  divine  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  presided  over  the   Protestant  congre- 
gations at  Ratisbon,  and  is  known  as  the  au 


I.J  S  il 

tiior  of  a  history  of  the  "  Rise  and  Progress  ol 
.'he  Churches  of  Germany  ;"  "  A  Commentary 
on  the  Bible  ;"  a  Disquisition  on  the  Philo- 
sophy of  Zoroaster,  and  two  devotional  Trea- 
tises, entitled  "  Sacra  Analecta,"  and  "  Para- 
lella  Evangelica."  His  death  took  place  at 
Ratisbon  in  1667. — GEORGE  HENRY  URSINUS, 
eon  to  the  last-mentioned,  was  himself  a  di- 
vine of  great  erudition.  He  wrote  an  able 
work  "  On  the  Etymology  and  Signification  ol 
Words;"  "  On  the  'J  aprobana,  Cerne,  and 
Ogygia  of  the  Ancients;"  "  On  Locusts;" 
"  Philological  Remarks,"  &c.  and  died  in 
1707. — Moreri.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

URSUS  (NICHOLAS  RAIMA  P.US)  a  native 
of  Holstein  in  the  Danish  dominions,  who 
from  the  humble  condition  of  a  swineherd 
raised  himself  into  considerable  notice  as  a 
mathematician  and  astronomer.  He  was  born 
at  Henstedt  in  the  province  above-mentioned, 
about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and 
till  his  eighteenth  year  is  said  to  have  been  so 
utterly  illiterate,  as  to  be  unacquainted  even 
with  the  alphabet.  An  opportunity  offering 
itself  of  obtaining  instruction,  he  seized  it  with 
avidity,  and  by  the  most  unwearied  assiduity 
made  such  a  proficiency  in  his  favourite  science, 
astronomy,  that  some  of  the  discoveries  in  it, 
usually  attributed  to  Tycho  Brahe,  have  been 
also  assigned  to  Ursus.  It  is  certain  that  the 
latter  advanced  his  claim  to  them,  and  that  a 
serious  dispute  arose  between  the  two  philo- 
sophers in  consequence.  Ursns  settled  at 
Stut^ard,  and  resided  for  some  time  in  that 

O 

city,  till  the  offer  of  a  handsome  appointment 
as  imperial  astronomer,  induced  him  to  remove 
to  Prague.  His  death  took  place  in  1600. 
Several  of  his  tracts  connected  with  the  celestial 
system  are  yet  extant. — Ibid. 

USHER  (JAMES)  archbishop  of  Armagh  in 
Ireland,  a  celebrated  divine  and  historian, 
born  at  Dublin,  January  4,  1580.  His  atten- 
tion is  said  to  have  been  particularly  directed 
to  the  study  of  history  by  the  perusal  of  Slei- 
dan's  work  "  De  Quatuor  Imperils,"  which 
fell  into  bis  hands  at  the  age  of  fourteen. 
After  the  death  of  his  father,  who  was  one  of 
the  six  clerks  in  chancery,  and  who  had  de- 
signed him  for  his  own  profession,  he  gave  up 
the  paternal  estate  to  his  younger  brother,  and 
determined  to  devote  himself  to  the  church. 
He  prosecuted  his  studies  at  Trinity  college, 
in  his  native  city,  with  great  success,  and  when 
only  eighteen,  he  entered  into  a  public  con- 
troversy with  the  Jesuit  Fitz  Simons,  then  a 
prisoner  in  the  castle  of  Dublin,  who  had  is- 
sued a  general  challenge  to  the  oppugneis  of 
the  doctrines  of  Bellannine,  engaging  to  de- 
fend them  against  all  opposers.  Reading  the 
controversial  works  of  Stapelton  induced  him 
to  study  the  writings  of  the  fathers  and  the 
schoolmen,  whence  he  compiled  a  systematic 
body  of  extracts,  entitled  "  Bibliotheca  The- 
ologica,"  still  in  manuscript  in  the  Bodleian 
library.  In  1601  he  entered  into  holy  orders, 
and  was  appointed  afternoon  preacher  at 
Christchurch,  Dublin.  Soon  after,  he  visited 
England  to  purchase  books  and  MSS.  for  Tri- 
nity college  library,  and  visiting  Loudon,  Ox- 


U  S  II 

ford,  and  Cambridge,  he  became  acquainted 
with  sir  T.  Rodley,  sir  Robert  Cotton,  Allen, 
Camden,  Seklen,  and  other  learned  men.  His 
talents,  and  the  favour  of  his  sovereign  James 
I,  successively  procured  him  the  professorship 
of  divinity  at  Trinity  college  ;  in  1607  the 
office  of  chancellor  of  St  Patrick's  ;  the  bi- 
shopric of  Meatli,  in  1620;  the  post  of  privy 
counsellor,  in  1623  ;  and  the  following  year 
the  primacy  of  Ireland.  In  this  high  and  in- 
fluential station  lie  displayed  the  same  zeal 
against  the  Catholics  for  which  he  had  been 
distinguished  in  the  early  part  of  his  career. 
He  warmly  opposed  the  passing  an  act  of  par- 
liament in  favour  of  the  professors  of  the  an- 
cient faith  ;  though  he  was  willing  to  accept 
the  contributions  they  offered  towards  the  ex- 
igencies of  the  state,  on  condition  of  the  sus. 
pension  of  the  anti-catholic  penal  laws  then 
in  force.  He  employed  his  pen  as  well  as  his 
influence  in  supporting  his  opinions,  and  among 
the  works  he  published  are  a  treatise  "  De 
Ecclesiarum  Christianarum  Successione  et 
Statu,"  Lond.  1613;  "An  Epistle  concerning 
the  Religion  anciently  professed  by  the  Irish 
and  Scottish,  showing  it  to  be  for  Substance 
the  same  with  that  at  this  Day  established  in 
the  Church  of  England,''  4to  ;  and  "  Veterum 
Epistolarum  Hibernicarum  Sylloge,"  1632, 
4to.  He  was  not  more  disposed  to  favour  the 
Arminians  than  the  Catholics,  as  appeared, 
from  his  work  entitled  "  Goteschalci  et  Prre- 
destinarianaj  Controversial  ab  eo  motas  Histo- 
ria,"  Dublin,  1631,  said  to  have  been  the  first 
Latin  book  printed  in  Ireland.  Though  an 
archbishop  and  metropolitan,  he  held  peculiar 
ideas  relative  to  the  origin  and  nature  of  those 

o 

dignities  ;  his  notions  of  church  government 
verging  towards  presbyterianism.  The  ene- 
mies of  Usher  took  advantage  of  this  to  de- 
stroy his  credit  witli  James  1 ;  but  his  unde- 
viating  support  of  the  royal  supremacy,  and 
the  excellence  of  his  character,  saved  him  from 
suffering  by  their  machinations,  and  lie  en- 
joyed to  the  last  the  esteem  of  king  James, 
He  endeavoured  to  prevent  Charles  I  from 
sacrificing  to  the  public  displeasure  his  mi- 
nister lord  Strafford,  whom  Usher  attended  in 
prison  and  at  his  execu  ion.  He  adhered  to 
the  king's  interest  during  the  civil  war,  and 
wrote  in  his  defence  a  treatise  on  "  The  Power 
of  the  Prince  and  the  Obedience  of  the  Sub- 
ject." Having  witnessed  the  execution  of  his 
unfortunate  master,  the  scene  had  such  an  ef- 
fect on  his  senses  that  he  fainted  in  the  arms 
of  an  attendant ;  and  lie  commemorated  the 
event  by  an  anniversary  celebration  of  funeral 
rites  for  the  deceased  monarch.  After  that 
event  he  experienced  civility  and  flattering 
promises  from  Cromwell,  but  the  latter  were 
not  fulfilled.  His  death  took  place  at  Rye- 
gate,  in  Surrey,  March  21,  1656;  and  the 
protector  ordered  that  he  should  be  splendidly 
interred  in  Westminster  abbey,  leaving  how- 
ever the  primate's  relations  to  defray  the 
greater  part  of  the  funeral  expenses.  Arch- 
bishop Usher  carried  on  an  extensive  cor- 
respondence with  the  learned  in  various  part* 
of  Europe,  and  collected  at  considerable  ex- 


U  S  T 

pense  valuable  books  and  MSS.  Among  the 
latter  were  the  Samaritan  Pentateuch,  and  a 
Syriac  version  of  the  Old  Testament.  Sn.cl' 
was  the  general  esteem  excited  by  his  charac- 
ter and  literary  reputation,  that  on  his  quit- 
ting Ireland  in  consequence  of  the  rebellion, 
he  was  offered  a  professorship  at  Leyden  ;  and 
cardinal  Richelieu  invited  him  to  settle  in 
France,  promising  him  his  patronage,  with 
perfect  freedom  as  to  religion.  But  he  thought 
proper  to  decline  botli  these  proposals.  His 
principal  works  are  "  The  Annals  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testament,"  folio,  a  treatise  of  the 
highest  authority  in  chronology  and  sacred  his- 
tory ;  "  Britannic-arum  Ecclesiarum  Amiqui- 
tates,"  folio;  and  "A  Body  of  Divinity," 
folio,  compiled  surreptitiously  from  his  ser- 
mons and  notes.  A  collection  of  his  letters, 
with  his  life,  was  publislied  by  his  chaplain, 
Dr  Kichard  I'arr. — Smittiii  Vitte  quorund.erud. 
et  ill.  Vinir.  Bing.  Britim. 

USTARIZ  (JEROME)  a  Spanish  writer, 
distinguished  as  the  first  who  applied  himself 
to  the  study  of  political  economy.  He  was  a 
native  of  Navarre,  and  died  about  the  middle 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  Ho  is  chiefly 
known  on  account  of  his  work  on  the  "Theory 
and  Practice  of  Commerce  and  Navigation," 
17'24,  4to,  Madrid,  174'2,  folio,  of  which 
there  are  many  other  editions.  Nothing  can 
prove  the  value  and  importance  of  this  pro- 
duction more  than  its  having  been  translated 
into  the  languages  of  two  of  the  most  en- 
lightened commercial  nations.  An  English 
version  of  the  work,  by  John  Kippax,  Bl). 
was  printed  in  London,  17.51,  2  vols.  8vo;  and 
there  is  a  French  translation  by  Forbonnais, 
Paris,  1753.  4tO. — Bii>y.  Univ. 

USTE1U  (  LEONARD)  a  Swiss  writer,  dis- 
tinguishes! for  his  improvements  in  the  art  of 
education.  He  was  born  at  Zurich  in  1741, 
and  having  become  an  ecclesiastic,  he  resided 
some  time  at  Geneva,  and  travelled  in  France 
and  Italy.  Returning-  home  he  obtained  a 
professorship  in  the  university  of  Zurich,  and 


U  V  E 

a  canonry  in  the  church,  the  latter  only  a  snort 
time  before  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1789. 
The  reform  in  the  schools  and  gymnasiums 
effected  in  1773,  were  principally  owing  to  his 
exertions  ;  and  he  published  the  details  of 
their  "  New  Organization,"  in  an  octavo  vo- 
lume, Zurich,  1773.  He  also  laid  before  the 
public  five  "  Reports  "  on  the  same  subject, 
from  1777  to  1789.  He  was  keeper  of  the 
public  library,  and  member  of  the  philosophi- 
cal society  at  Zurich  ;  and  he  took  an  active 
part  in  the  measures  of  that  association  for 
the  encouragement  of  agriculture. — Biog. 
Univ. 

UTENHOVIU9  (CHARLES)  a  Protestant 
divine  of  the  sixteenth  century.  He  was  born 
at  Ghent  about  the  year  1536,  and  received 
his  education  in  the  university  of  Paris.  After 
the  death  of  Mary  he  visited  England,  and 
employed  his  pen  in  defence  of  the  reformed 
religion,  and  of  the  title  of  Elizabeth  to  the 
English  throne,  with  a  degree  of  industry  and 
ability  which  raised  him  high  in  the  favour  of 
that  princess.  Besides  these  polemical  and 
political  writings  he  was  the  author  of  "  A 
Century  of  Epistles  ;"  "  Mythologia  /Esopica 
Metro  Elegiaco,  8vo,  1607  ;  "  Epithalamia 
Grreca ;"  and  of  a  variety  of  miscellaneous 
poems  both  in  Greek  and  Latin.  He  died  at 
Cologne  about  the  close  of  the  century. — 
Moreri. 

UVEDALE,  LLD.  (ROBERT)  an  eminent 
botanist,  master  of  the  foundation  school  at 
En  field.  He  was  a  native  of  the  metropolis, 
born  in  1642,  and  educated  at  Westminster 
school,  whence  he  removed  on  an  exhibition 
to  Trinity  college,  Cambridge.  He  was  a  good 
classical  scholar,  and  assisted  Dryden  and  his 
associates  in  translating  the  works  of  Plutarch. 
None  of  his  botanical  writings  have  been 
printed,  hut  his  garden  at  Enfield  was  justly 
celebrated  for  the.  extent  and  variety  of  his 
collection  of  rare  plants.  The  precise  time 
of  his  decease  is  not  recorded. — Pnlteiicy's 
Sketches. 


VAC 

VACCA  (FLA.  MIX  10)  a  Roman  sculptor  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  less  known  on 
account  of  his  own  works,  which  ornament 
the  churches  and  other  public  places  at  Home, 
than  as  the  restorer  of  ancient  statues.  I  It- 
was  employed  at  Rome  under  Sixtus  V,  and 
also  in  Tuscany.  In  1594  he  finished  a  col- 
lection  of  "  Memorie  di  varie  Antiihitu  di 
Roma,"  published  by  Octavio  Fah-onieri  in 
1704,  and  translated  by  iMoiitfaucon  into  La- 
tin, and  inserted  in  his  "  Ju-r  halicum."  — 


VACCA  BERLTNGHIE1U  (FRAM-IS)  a 
physician,  who  was  a  native  of  lYmsacco,  near 
J'isa,  in  the  university  of  which  city  he  stu- 
died, and  afterwards  became  professor  of  sur- 
gery. Both  by  his  lectures  and  his  writings 


V  AD 

he  endeavoured  to  promote  the  cause  of  me- 
dical science,  carefully  distinguishing  real 
knowledge  as  founded  on  observation,  from 
conjecture  and  hypothesis.  Hence,  when  the 
Hrunonian  theory  of  medicine  (see  JOHN 
MIIOWN)  began  to  prevail  in  Italy,  lie  attacked 
it  in  his  "  Meditazioni  sull'  Uomo  malato  e 
sulla  nuova  Dottriim  di  Brown,"  1795,  8vo. 
Hi?  was  offered  the  chair  of  clinical  medicine 
at  Pavia  iu  1796;  but  his  attachment  to  his 
native  country  indue- d  bim  to  refuse  it.  He 
died  October  6,  1812.  His  works  relative  to 
Malignant  fevers,  the  philosophy  of  medicine, 
&c.  arc  enumerated  in  our  authority. —  Biog. 

IhllPm 

YADE  (Joiiv  Josn-n)  a  native  of  Ham  in 
Picnrdy,  who  nfrcr  having  sptent  his  yontu  in 


V  A  I 

dissipation,  attached  himself  in  some  degree 
to  study,  and  acquired  much  reputation  as  a 
farce  writer  and  lyric  poet.  His  verses  are 
chiefly  in  the  style  which  the  French  term 
Poissard,  [Billingsgate]  displaying,  in  the 
energetic  language  of  the  mob,  their  manners 
and  occupations.  He  was  in  fact  the  Teniers 
of  French  poetry  ;  and  his  songs,  parodies, 
bouquets,  fables,  and  epistles,  as  well  as  his 
comic  operas,  exhibit  the  humour  and  vivacity, 
as  well  as  the  rustic  coarseness  of  low  life.  He 
died  July  4,  1757,  at  the  age  of  thirty-seven, 
owing  to  disease  occasioned  by  his  early  ex- 
cesses. His  works,  consisting  of  twenty  comic 
operas,  &c.  were  published  in  4  vols.  8vo,  and 
6  vols.  12mo. — Biog.  Univ. 

VA  HL  (MARTIN)  an  eminent  botanist,  born 
at  Bergen  in  Norway,  in  1749.  He  went  to 
Copenhagen  to  learn  natural  history  under  Dr 
Stroem,  whence  he  repaired  to  Upsal,  and  at- 
tended for  five  years  the  lectures  of  Linnaeus. 
Returning  to  Copenhagen  in  1779,  he  was  ap- 
pointed reader  at  the  botanic  garden  ;  and  he 
was  sent,  at  the  expense  of  the  king,  to  travel 
in  Holland,  France,  Spain,  the  coasts  of  Bar- 
bary,  Italy,  Switzerland,  England,  and  Lap- 
land. Appointed  professor  at  Copenhagen  in 
1735,  he  made  a  second  journey  to  the  coasts 
and  mountains  of  Norway,  to  collect  new  ma- 
terials for  the  "  Flora  Danica,"  the  continua- 
tion of  which  national  work  had  been  en- 
trusted to  him  ;  and  in  conjunction  with  Horne- 
mann,  he  published  parts  VIII — XXIV,  from 
1787  to  1810,  the  first  seven  parts  having  ap- 
peared at  Copenhagen,  1761 — 1782,  folio.  In 
1799  and  1800  Vabl  undertook  another  journey 
to  Holland  and  France,  at  the  expense  of  the 
government  ;  and  on  his  return  to  Copenhagen 
he  was  appointed  professor  of  botany  and  in- 
spector of  the  botanic  garden.  His  death  took 
place  December  24,  1804.  Among  his  most 
important  works  are  "  Eclogae  Americans,  seu 
Descriptiones  Plantarum,  praesertitn  Americas  j 
Meridionalis,  nondum  cognitarum,"  folio ;  and  \ 
"  Enumeratio  Piantarum,  vel  ab  aliis,  vel  ab 
ipso  Observatarmn,  cum  earum  Descripdonibns 
succinctis,"  2  vols.  8vo,  1805  and  1807. — 
Bing.  Univ.  Rees's  Cyclop. 

VAIDJAN  or  VIDJAN  (Aeu  SAID  Mo- 
HAMMKD)  a  mathematician  and  astronomer  of 
great  celebrity  among  the  Arabs,  who  was 
bom  at  Cufah  about  the  middle  of  the  tenth 
century.  He  flourished  at  Bagdad  under  the 
government  of  the  sultan  A'dnilodawla  and  his 
sons.  One  of  the  latter,  Scherifedvlawla,  hav- 
ing erected  an  observatory  in  (.he  garden  of  his 
palace  at  Bagdad,  placed  it  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Vaidjan,  who  was  charged  with  the 
operation  of  observing;  the  periods  of  the  sum- 
mer solstice  and  the  autumnal  equinox,  for  the 
year  378  of  the  Hegira  (AD.  933);  and  the 
days,  as  determined  by  his  experiments,  were 
the  16th  of  June  and  the  18th  of  September. 
Vaidjan  wrote ''  On  the  Centre  of  the  Earth  ;" 
"  Commentaries  on  Euclid's  Elements  ;"  and 
several  other  works. — Casiri  Bibl.  Arab.  Hisp. 
Escur.  Biou-.  Univ. 

VAILLANT  (  FRANCIS  le)a  celebrated  tra- 
veller, born  at  Parimaribo  in  Dutch  Guiana, 


V  A  I 

(S.  A.)  in  1753.  His  father,  who  was  a  ricn 
merchant,  originally  from  Metz,  exercised  the 
functions  of  consul.  He  went  with  his  familv 
to  Holland  in  1763,  and  afterwards  resided  in 
France,  Germany,  Lorraine,  and  the  Vosges. 
In  1777  circumstances  drew  him  to  Paris,  and 
having  examined  the  cabinets  of  natural  his- 
tory in  that  capital,  he  conceived  an  irresisti- 
ble desire  to  visit  the  countries  whence  the  cu- 
riosities he  saw  were  procured.  Africa  be- 
came the  first  object  of  his  attention  ;  and 
embarking  in  Holland,  he  arrived  in  March 
1781  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Between 
that  period  and  July  1784  he  made  repeated 
excursions  into  the  interior  of  Cafiraria,  and 
returning  to  Europe  in  January  1785,  he  em- 
ployed himself  in  drawing  up  an  account  of  his 
travels  and  observations.  Though  he  took 
little  interest  in  politics,  he  did  not  escape  the 
calamities  of  the  Revolution  ;  and  being  im- 
prisoned on  suspicion  in  1793,  he  owed  his  life 
to  the  fall  of  Robespierre.  He  possessed  a 
considerable  estate  at  La  Noue  near  Sezanne, 
which  was  his  chief  residence  in  his  latter 
years;  and  there  he  passed  in  hunting  (to 
which  amusement  he  was  much  attached)  the 
time  which  was  not  devoted  to  the  composi- 
tion of  his  works.  He  died  in  his  retreat,  No- 
vember 22,  1824.  He  published  "  Voyage 
dans  1'Interieur  de  PAfrique  par  le  Cap  de 
Bonne  Esperance,"  Paris,  1790,  2  vols. 
8vo  ;  and  "  Second  Voyage  dans  1'Interieur  de 
1'Afrique,"  1796,  3  vols.  8vo,  both  which  have 
been  translated  into  English  and  several  other 
languages.  He  was  also  the  author  of"  His- 
toire  Naturelle  des  Oiseaux  d'  Afrique,"  1796 — 
1812,  6  vols.  folio,  two  more  volumes  to  com- 
plete the  work  being  left  in  manuscript  ; 
"Histoire  Naturelle  des  Perroquets,"  1801 — 5 
2  vols.  folio  ;  "  Histoire  Naturelle  des  Oiseaux 
de  Paradis,"  1801 — 6,  folio;  "  Histoire  Na- 
turelle des  Cotingas  et  des  Todiers,"  1804, 
folio  ;  "  Histoire  Naturelle  des  Calaos,"  1804, 
folio.  Le  Vaillcint  had  observed  in  the  cli- 
mates of  which  they  are  natives  almost  all  the 

!  birds  which  he  describes  ;  and  the  figures 
which  accompany  his  works  are  considered 

1  as  very  accurate. —  Biog.  Nuuv.  des   Contemp. 

'  Biog.  Univ. 

|  VAILLANT  (JOHN  Foi)  a  celebrated  wri- 
ter on  numismatics,  born  at  Beauvais  in  France 
in  1632.  He  was  brought  up  by  a  maternal 
uncle,  who  destined  him  for  the  magistracy,  in 
consequence  of  which  he  studied  jurisprudence. 
The  death  of  his  relative,  who  left  him  bis 
name  and  a  part  of  his  fortune,  having  freed 
him  from  all  restraint,  he  relinquished  the  law 
for  medicine,  and  took  the  degree  of  doctor  in 
that  faculty.  He  was  engaged  in  practice  at 
Beauvais,  when  his  attention  was  drawn  to 
numismatics,  by  the  accidental  discovery  of  a 
parcel  of  ancient  medals  which  came  into  his 
possession.  On  a  vi^it  to  Paris  he  became 
acquainted  with  Sequin  and  other  antiquaries  ; 
and  being  introduced  to  Colbert,  that  minister 
employed  him  to  travel  over  Italy,  Sicily,  and 
Greece,  in  search  of  medals  for  the  royal  ca- 
binet. In  1674,  having  embaiked  in  the  Me- 
diterranean to  return  to  Rome,  he  wa*  taken 


V  A  I 

by  a  Barbary  corsair,  and  detained  more  thar. 
four  months  at  Algier.  On  being  set  at  liberty 
he  recovered  twenty  gold  medals  which  had 
been  taken  from  him  ;  and  on  his  homeward 
voyage,  the  dread  of  bi'ing  again  captured,  in- 
duced him  to  swallow  his  medals,  which  he 
fortunately  obtained  again  without  suffering 
from  his  imprudence.  He  afterwards  visited 
Egypt  aud  Persia,  in  quest  of  medals  and  an- 
tiquities ;  and  he  made  repeated  visits  to  Italy, 
aud  al^o  went  twice  to  England  and  Holland, 
for  the  purpose  of  augmenting  the  treasures  of 
the  king's  cabinet.  On  the  organization  of 
the  Academy  of  Inscriptions  (1701)  he  was 
admitted  an  associate,  and  he  succeeded  Char- 
pentier  as  one  of  the  pensioners.  He  died  of 
apoplexy,  October  23,  1706.  Among  his 
works  are  "  Numismata  Impp.  Rom.  prastan- 
tiora,  a  J.  Crcsare  ad  Posthumum  et  Tyran- 
nos,"  1694,  2  vols.  4to  ;  "  Selucidarum  Impe- 
rium,  sive  Hist.  Regum  Syria?  ad  fidemNumis- 
matum  accommodata,"  1681,  4to ;  "  Numis- 
mata Impp.  Augg.  et  Cassarum,"  2  vols. ;  "  His- 
toria  Piolemaeorum,  at  fidem  Numismatum  ac- 
commodata," 1701,  folio;  "  Nummi  Antiqui 
Familiarum  Romanarum,"  1703,  folio ;  and 
"  Arsacidum  Imperium,  &c.  et  Achsemenida- 
rum  Imperium,  &c."  2  vols.  4to,  published 
posthumously.  He  was  also  a  contributor  to 
the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions. 
— His  son,  JOHN  FRANCIS  Foi  VAILLANT, 
studied  medicine,  and  took  the  degree  of  MD. 
in  1691.  He  was  instructed  by  his  father  in 
the  science  of  medals,  and  some  of  his  disser- 
tations on  that  subject  appeared  in  the  "  Mem. 
de  Tr£voux."  He  also  wrote  a  Treatise  on 
Coffee,  never  published.  His  death  took 
place  November  17,  1708,  at  the  age  of  forty- 
four. — Niceron.  Chanfepie.  Biog.  Univ. 

VAILLANT  (SEBASTIAN)  member  of  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  and  demonstrator  of  the 
royal  garden  of  plants  at  Paris.  He  was  born 
at  Vigny  near  Pontoise  in  1669  ;  and  at  a  very 
early  age  he  displayed  a  taste  for  botany.  His 
father  had  him  instructed  in  music,  in  which 
he  became  such  a  proficient,  that  at  the  age 
of  eleven  lie  succeeded  his  master  as  organist 
to  the  Benedictines  at  Pontoise.  His  incli- 
nation however  prompted  him  to  study  sur- 
gery, and  after  being  assistant  surgeon  to  a 
hospital,  he  entered  into  the  army,  and  was  at 
the  battle  of  Fleuius.  In  1691  he  went  to 
Paris,  where  the  lectures  of  Tournefort  revived 
his  botanical  taste  ;  and  he  at  length  became 
secretary  to  Fagon,  the  first  physician  to  Louis 
XIV.  His  patron  made  him  director  of  the 
royal  garden,  and  subsequently  resigned  in  his 
favour  the  offices  of  professor  and  sub-demon- 
strator. His  botanical  lectures  attracted  a 
great  concourse  of  pupils  ;  and  his  reputation 
in  1716  procured  him  admission  into  the  Aca- 
demy of  Sciences.  He  died  of  asthma,  May 
22,  1722.  The  principal  work  of  Vaillant  is 
his  "  Botanicon  Parisiense,"  Amsterd.  1707, 
folio,  with  three  hundred  figures,  published  by 
Boerhaave,  with  a  life  of  the  author.  He  also 
wrote  "  Discours  pronouce  le  10  Juin,  1717, 
a  1'Ouverture  du  Jardin  Royal  des  Plantes, 
sur  la  Structure  des  Fleurs,  leurs  Differences 


V  A  L 

et  1'Usage  de  leurs  Parties;"  besides  several 
other  tracts,  in  which  he  proposed  an  arrange- 
ment of  plants  founded  on  the  parts  of  fructi- 
fication, in  some  degree  forestalling  the  system 
of  Linnaeus. —  Bin*.  Univ.  Rees's  Cyclop. 

VAILLANT  (\VALLERANT)  a  painter,  born 
at  Lisle  in  Flanders,  in  1623.  He  studied 
painting  at  Antwerp,  under  Erasmus  Quelli- 
uus,  and  attached  himself  principally  to  por- 
trait, in  which  branch  of  his  art  he  was  very 
successful.  Going  to  Frankfort  at  the  corona- 
tion of  the  emperor  Leopold,  he  executed  a 
portrait  of  his  imperial  majesty,  which  pro- 
cured him  great  reputation  and  abundance  of 
employment.  He  afterwards  spent  four  years 
in  France,  where  Le  was  patronized  by  mar- 
shal Grammont,  and  painted  the  portraits  of 
the  queen  mother  aud  the  duke  of  Orleans. 
At  length  lie  settled  at  Amsterdam,  where  he 
acquired  great  riches.  He  likewise  practised 
the  art  of  engraving  in  mezzotinto,  the  secret 
of  which  Le  learnt  from  prince  Rupert ;  and 
several  portraits,  from  his  own  designs  and 
those  of  other  masters,  are  extant,  which  he 
executed  in  this  manner. — Pilkington.  Biog. 
Univ 

VAISSETE  (Don  JOSEPH)  a  learned  Bene- 
dictine of  the  congregation  of  St  Maur,  born 
at  Gaillac  iu  the  diocese  of  Alby,  in  1685. 
After  studying  at  Toulouse,  he  became  an  ad- 
vocate, and  obtained  the  office  of  king's  at- 
torney. A  strong  attachment  to  historical  re- 
searches induced  him  to  give  up  his  profession 
for  a  monastic  life  in  1711.  Two  years  after 
he  entered  the  abbey  of  St  Germain  at  Paris, 
where  he  was  amply  supplied  with  the  means 
of  prosecuting  his  studies.  He  employed 
twenty-five  years  in  writing  the  history  of 
Languedoc,  in  which  Dom  Claude  de  Vic  was 
his  coadjutor ;  and  the  work  appeared  in  five 
volumes,  folio,  1730 — 45.  He  died  at  Paris 
in  1756.  Besides  his  great  history,  he  pub- 
lished Abrege  de  1'Histoire  generale  du  Lan- 
guedoc," 1749,  6  vols.  12mo;  "Dissertation 
sur  1'Origine  des  Fran9ais,"  1722,  12mo ; 
"  Geographie  historique,  ecclesiastique,  et 
civile,"  1755,  4  vols.  4to,  and  12  vols.  It'mo. 
— Tassin  Hist,  de  la  Cong,  de  S.  Maur.  Biug. 
Univ. 

VALAZE  (CHARLES  ELEONORE  du  FRICHE 
de)  a  native  of  Alencon,  who  after  receiving 
a  good  education,  entered  into  the  army,  and 
was  appointed  in  1774  lieutenant  in  the  pro- 
vincial regiment  of  Argentan.  On  leaving  the 
service  he  employed  himself  in  agriculture, 
and  he  also  composed  a  work  on  the  "  Penal 
Laws,"  1784,  8vo,  which  procured  him  great 
reputation.  In  1792  he  was  chosen  a  deputy 
to  the  National  Convention,  in  which  he  joined 
the  party  of  the  Girondins,  and  connected 
himself  particularly  with  Vergniaux.  He  dis- 
played great  warmth  against  the  king,  but  on 
the  trial  he  voted  for  death  conditionally,  with 
an  appeal  to  the  people.  He  was  himself  in- 
cluded in  the  proscription  of  his  party,  and  he 
avoided  a  public  execution  by  stabbing  him- 
self to  the  heart  with  a  poniard,  as  soon  as 
he  heard  his  sentence  pronounced.  This  ca- 
tastrophe took  place  October  3d.  1793.  In 


V  A  L 

prison  he  wrote  "  Defense  de  C.  E.  Dufriclie 
\ralaze,"  8vo,  published  in  1795  ;  and  he  was 
the  author  of  some  other  pieces  besides  that 
above  mentioned. — Diet.  Hist.  Biog.  Univ. 

VALCARCEL  (JOSEPH  ANTHONY)  a  Spa- 
nish agriculturist,  born  at  Valentia  in  1722. 
Rural  economy  as  a  science  had  been  entirely 
neglected  in  Spain  from  the  time  when  Al- 
phonso  de  Herrera  wrote  on  that  subject,  till 
the  attention  of  the  public  was  recalled  to  it 
by  Valcarcel.  lie  not  only  collected  accounts 
of  the  impiovements  in  agriculture  which  had 
been  made  by  foreigners,  but  he  likewise  made 
experiments  himself;  and  the  result  of  his 
researches,  observations,  and  inquiries  ap- 
peared in  a  work  which  he  published  under 
the  title  of  "  Agricultura  general,  y  gobierno 
de  la  Casa  del  Campo,"  7  vols.  4to,  1765 — 
1786.  He  also  wrote  "  Directions  for  the 
Culture  of  Rice,"  1768  ;  and  "  Directions 
for  the  Culture  of  Flax,  and  its  Preparation 
for  Spinning,"  1781.  Valcarcel  died  at  Va- 
lentia in  1800. — Biog.  Nouv.  des  Contemp. 
Biog.  Univ. 

VALCKENAER  (Louis  CASPAR)  a  cele- 
brated critic  and  pbilologer,  born  in  1715,  at 
Leeuwarden,  in  Friseland.  He  studied  the 
learned  languages  at  Franeker  and  at  Leyden, 
after  which  lie  became  co-rector  of  the  gymna- 
sium of  Campen.  In  1741  he  was  called  to 
the  chair  of  Greek  literature  at  Franeker,  to 
which  in  1775  was  joined  that  of  Greek  an- 
tiquities. In  1766  he  removed  to  Leyden, 
where  he  was  professor  of  the  Greek  language 
and  antiquities,  and  also  of  history.  He  be- 
came one  of  the  most  distinguished  hellenists 
of  his  time,  and  both  as  a  public  teacher  and 
writer  he  arrived  at  great  reputation.  His 
death  took  place  March  15,  1785.  Among 
his  principal  publications  may  be  mentioned 
"  Euripidis  PhcenissK,"  with  collections  of 
MSS.  scholia,  critical  observations,  &c.Franek. 
1755,  4to  ;  "  Euripidis  Hippolytus,  et  Dia- 
tribe in  deperditas  Euripidis  Tragoedias," 
Leyd.  1768,  4to  ;  "  Theocriti  X  Idyllia,  cum 
Notis  ;  ejusd.  Adoniazusas,  uberioribus  Adno-  j 
tationibus  instructs, "  1773  8vo  ,  "  Callima-  ! 
chi  Klegiarum  Fra^menta,  cum  Elegia  Catulli 
Callimachea,"  1799,  8vo  ;  "  Observationes  j 
Academics,  quibus  Via  munitur  ad  origines  • 
Graecas  investigandas,  Lexicorumque  Defectus 
rcsarciendos,"  Utrecht,  1790,  8vo,  edited  by 
Everard  Scheidius  ;  Two  Discourses  of  St 
John  Cbrysostom ;  and  "Specimen  Adnota- 
tionum  criticarurn  in  loca  qu^dam  Novi  Foede- 
ris,"  Leyd.  1782,  8vo.  In  1809  were  printed 
at  Leipsic,  "  L.  C.  Valckenarii  Opuscula  Phi- 
lologk-a,  Critica  et  Oratoria,  nunc  primum  con- 
'unctim  edita." — JOHN  VAI.CKENAER,  son  of 
the  preceding,  studied  jurisprudence,  and  be- 
came professor  of  that  science  at  Franeker. 
About  1787,  having  joined  the  patriotic  party, 
against  the  house  of  Orange,  he  was  made 
professor  of  law  at  Utrecht,  in  the  room  of 
Tydeman  ;  but  on  the  restoration  of  the  stadt- 
holder  he  was  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  France. 
He  returned  at  the  invasion  of  Holland  by  the  j 
French  in  1795,  when  he  published  a  periodi-  | 
cal  paper,  entitled  "  The  Advocate  of  Batavian  j 


V  A  L 

Liberty. *  He  was  then  appointed  to  tha 
chair  of  jurisprudence  at  Leyden,  on  which 
occasion  he  delivered  a  discourse  "  De  Officio 
Civis  Batavi  in  Republic  a  turbata."  Aftei 
being  employed  on  a  diplomatic  mission  to 
Prussia,  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  legis- 
lative body  of  the  republic,  and  subsequently 
sent  by  the  Batavian  directory  ambassador  to 
Spain.  He  returned,  and  went  a  second  time 
in  1799,  as  minister  plenipotentiary.  Coming 
home  in  1801  he  resumed  his  place  in  the 
academical  senate,  and  became  a  member  of 
the  administration  of  the  Rhinland.  He  was 
also  a  member  of  the  Dutch  Institute.  In 
1810  Valckenaer  was  sent  to  Paris  to  endea- 
vour to  prevent  the  incorporation  of  Holland 
with  the  French  empire  ;  and  returning  un- 
successful, he  aftevvards  took  no  part  in  public 
affairs.  He  died  January  19,  1820.  He  left 
some  learned  dissertations  on  juridical  topics  ; 
legal  opinions  on  affairs  of  political  coutro 
versy,  &c. — Biug,  Univ.  — 
^  VALDES,  or  VAL  D'ESSO  (JOHN)  a 
Spanish  gentleman,  who  served  as  a  military 
officer  under  Charles  V,  to  whom  he  was  after- 
wards secretary.  Having  in  the  latter  part  of 
his  life  retired  to  Naples,  he  employed  himself 
in  religious  inquiries,  and  though  he  did  not 
openly  separate  from  the  church  of  Rome,  he 
adopted  many  of  the  principles  of  the  German 
reformers,  and  appears  to  have  had  several  se- 
cret disciples,  some  of  whom,  as  Peter  Martyr 
and  Vergerius,  afterwards  became  Protestants. 
Valdes  died  in  1540.  He  wrote  a  treatise  of 
ascetic  divinity,  entitled  "  Considerations  on  a 
religious  Life,"  which  was  translated  into 
English  by  Nicholas  Ferrar,  and  published  in 
1638. — Biog  Univ. 

VALDEZ  (JUAN  MELENDEZ)  regarded  as 
the  Spanish  Anacreon,  was  born  of  noble  pa- 
rentage at  Ribera  in  Estremadura,  and  was 
educated  at  Salamanca.  He  took  the  degree 
of  doctor  of  laws  at  the  age  of  twenty-two, 
and  might  have  been  professor  of  that  faculty 
had  not  his  inclinations  led  him  to  prefer  the 
chair  of  belles  lettres.  In  1780  his  poetical 
"  Panegyric  on  a  Country  Life  "  was  crowned 
by  the  Spanish  Academy,  and  some  time  after 
he  gained  another  prize  by  his  "  Bathyllus." 
He  was  appointed  a  judge  at  Saragossain  1789* 
and  in  1797  he  was  called  to  the  office  of  ad- 
vocate general  in  the  metropolis,  where  he 
ultimately  was  made  a  counsellor  of  state,  and 
director  general  of  public  instruction.  He 
died  at  Montpellier  in  1817,  leaving  many 
works  which  are  highly  esteemed  by  his  coun'- 
tryinen. — Biog.  Univ. 

VALDO  (PETER)  the  chief  of  the  heretics 
called  Vaudois  or  Waldenses,  who  was  a  na- 
tive of  Vaux,  in  Dauphiny.  He  acquired  a 
considerable  fortune  by  commerce,  at  Lyons  ; 
but  the  sudden  death  of  one  of  his  fiiends  in- 
duced him  to  sell  his  property,  and  give  the 
produce  to  the  poor,  and  devote  himself  to 
works  of  piety.  He  fancied  that  it  was  the 
duty  of  every  Christian  to  imitate  the  example 
of  the  apostles,  and  like  the  Quakers,  he  taught 
that  both  men  and  women  might  conduct  the 
offices  of  public  worship,  without  the  inter»en 


VA  L 

tion  of  the  order  of  priesthood.  This  doctrine 
was  condemned  by  the  general  council  of  La- 
teran,  in  1179;  and  Val  do,  driven  from  Lyons, 
took  refuge  with  his  followers  in  the  mountains 
of  Dauphin y  ami  Piedmont,  whence  they 
spread  over  several  parts  of  Europe.  They 
tvere  however  exterminated  everywhere  except 
in  the  three  vallies  of  Piedmont,  where  the 
Waldenses  still  subsist,  amounting  to  the  num- 
ber of  twenty  thousand  souls,  and  possessing 
thirteen  churches.  By  a  decree  of  the  10th 
of  January,  1824,  their  sovereign,  the  king-  of 
Sardinia,  authorized  them  to  erect  a  hospital 
for  their  sick  poor,  to  be  attended  by  a  phy- 
sician and  surgeons  of  their  own  persuasion. 
—  Bdsstiet  Hist,  des  Variations.  Pluquet  Diet, 
den  Heresies.  ]$iog.  Univ. 

VALKN  TIN  (MICHAEL  BERNARD)  a  phy- 
sician and  naturalist,  born  at  (jiessen,  in  Ger- 
many, in  1657.  After  having  finished  his 
studies,  he  visited  the  universities,  cabinets, 
hospitals,  and  other  medical  establishments 
in  Holland,  England,  and  Fiance,  and  having 
jiractist-d  his  profession  at  Plnlipsburg,  he  be- 
came a  professor  in  the  university  of  Giessen, 
and  died  there  in  1726.  Among  his  principal 
works  are  "  Musseum  Musseorum,  sive  TJe- 
scriptio  Rerum  naturalium,  pnecipue  in  Indiis 
nascentium,"  Frankfort,  1704,  folio,  repr. 
1730,  3  vols.  folio  ;  "  Mistoria  Simplicium  ; 
accedit  India  litterata,  edit.  2,  auctior  per 
Chnstoph.  Bern.  Auctoris  h'l."  1716,  folio; 
"  Amphitheatrnm  Zootomicum,"  1720,  folio  ; 
Yiridarium  Reformatum,  sen  llegnum  Vege- 
tabile,"  1719,  folio  ;  and  "  Letters  from  the 
East  Indies,"  in  German,  chiefly  relating  ' 
to  the  vegetable  productions  of  that  part  of  j 
the  world,  and  affording  information  interesting 
to  the  cultivators  of  natural  history. — Aikins 
Gen.  Bio<r.  Bin".  Univ. 

O  O 

VALENTIN  (  MOSES)  a  French  painter, 
born  at  Coulommiers  in  the  county  of  Brie 
Champenoise,  in  1600.  He  is  said  to  have 
been  a  disciple  of  Vouet,  and  he  studied  in 
Italy,  where  lie  became  acquainted  with  Pous- 
sin,  and  obtained  a  zealous  protector  in  cardi- 
nal Barberini,  the  nephew  of  Urban  VIII. 
Through  his  recommendation  he  painted  for 
the  church  of  St  Peter's  "  The  Martyrdom  of 
the  Saint's  Processusand  Martiuian  ;"  and  this 
chef  d'ceuvre  of  Valentin  was  removed  to  Paris 
by  Buonaparte,  but  restored  in  1815.  The 
subjects  on  which  he  usually  employed  his 
pencil  are  similar  to  those  chosen  by  Michael 
Angelo  da  Caravaggio,  representing  social 
scenes  and  rustic  amusements.  His  death 
took  place  in  16'J2. — Pilkington.  Bing.  Univ. 

VALENTINE  (BASIL)  achymist  or  alchy- 
jnist  of  the  fifteenth  century,  to  whom  is  as- 
cribed the  discovery  of  antimony,  or  rather  of 
the  properties  of  the  native  sulphuret  of  anti- 
mony. He  is  supposed  to  have  been  a  native 
of  Erfurdt  in  Germany,  and  to  have  been  a 
member  of  the  monastic  order  of  Benedictines  ; 
but  his  history  is  very  obscure  and  imperfect, 
as  he  is  merely  known  as  the  author  of  a  trea- 
tisu  entitled  "  Currus  triumphalis  Antimo- 
ni:."  and  other  works  of  a  like  description, 
writings  were  printed  collectively  in  Ger- 


V  AL 

man  at  Hamburgh,  in  1677,  17  17,  and  1740; 
and  many  of  the  pieces  ascribed  to  him  have 
been  published  in  French  and  English. — Diet. 
Hist. 

V  A  LENTINUS,  an  ancient  heretic,  founder 
of  a  sect  from  him  termed  Valentinians.  He 
was  a  native  of  Egypt,  and  was  educated  at 
Alexandria.  Having  it  is  said  been  disappointed 
in  his  expectation  of  obtaining  the  office  of  a 
bishop,  lie  adopted  the  principles  of  the  Gnos- 
tics, and  opposed  the  Catholic  faith,  for  which, 
after  causing  great  dissensions  at  Rome,  he 
was  excommunicated.  He  subsequently  went 
to  Cyprus,  where  he  is  supposed  to  have  re- 
turned to  the  bosom  of  the  church,  and  died 
AD.  160.  The  Valentinians,  whose  heresy 
consisted  in  certain  notions  relative  to  an«elic 
beings,  and  their  influence  in  the  creation  and 
government  of  the  world,  seem  to  have  been  a 
branch  of  the  widely  extended  sect  of  the 
Gnostics  ;  aud  they  acquired  considerable  im- 
portance in  the  age  in  which  their  founder 
flourished. —  Mosheim.  Lardner. 

VALKNTYN  (FRANCIS)  a  Dutch  clergy- 
man and  traveller,  born  at  Dordrecht  about 
1660.  He  engaged  as  a  chaplain  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  East  India  Company,  and  sailing 
for  Batavia  in  May  1685,  he  arrived  there  the 
3()th  of  December  following.  He  was  for  a 
time  preacher  at  Japara,  and  afterwards  exer- 
;  cised  his  functions  at  Amboyua.  He  studied 
the  Malay  language,  and  in  1689  he  engaged 
in  making  a  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into 
that  widely-extended  dialect.  In  1694  he  re- 
turned to  his  native  country,  in  consequence  of 
ill  health  ;  but  he  made  a  second  voyage  to 
Java  in  1706,  and  the  following  year  again 
settled  as  a  preacher  at  Amboyna.  After  five 
years'  residence  there  he  requested  leave  to  re- 
sign his  post  ;  but  he  did  not  return  to  Europe 
till  17 14.  He  subsequently  employed  himself 
in  arranging  the  materials  of  a  work  winch  he 
published  in  Dutch,  under  the  title  of  "The 
East  Indies,  ancient  and  modern,  comprising 
an  exact  and  detailed  Account  of  the  Power 
of  the  Dutch  in  those  Countries,"  Dordrecht 
and  Amsterdam,  1724 — 26,  8  vols.  folio.  This 
work,  which  is  illustrated  with  charts  and 
other  engravings,  contains  copious  information 
relating  to  the  Dutch  Indies,  forming  a  sort  of 
East  Indian  Cyclopaedia. — Biog.  Univ. 

VALERIANUS(JoANNEsPiF.Rius)or  VA- 
I.ERIANO  BOLZANI,  an  Italian  writer,  born  at 
Belluno  in  1477.  The  poverty  of  his  family 
was  such  that  he  had  no  opportunity  of  acquir- 
ing the  elements  of  learning  till  he  was  fifteen 

o  r? 

years  old  ;  but  he  then  made  so  rapid  a  pro- 
gress in  his  studies  as  to  attract  the  favour  of 
some  of  the  most  celebrated  scholars  of  his 
time.  Laurence  V alia  and  Lascaris  taught 
him  Latin  and  Greek  ;  and  cardinal  Bembo, 
Leo  X,  and  Clement  VII,  afforded  him  their 
patronage.  Wishing  to  devote  himself  to  li- 
terature, he  refused  the  bishoprics  of  Capo 
d'  Istria  and  of  Avignon,  and  accepted  the  of- 
fice of  apostolic  prothonotary  and  private 
chamberlain  to  the  pope.  He  undertook  the 
education  of  Hippolyto  and  Alexander  de  Me- 
dicis,  the  nephews  of  Clement  VII,  with  whom 


V  A  L 

lie  retired  to  Placentia,  on  the  capture  of  Rome 
by  the  imperialists  in  1  .527.  His  pupil  Hip- 
polyto  becoming  a  cardinal  in  1529,  lie  lived 
with  him  as  secretary  ;  and  after  his  death  he 
attached  himself  to  duke  Alexander,  who 
was  killed  in  1537.  Valerianus  then  retired 
to  Padua,  where  he  died  in  1558.  The  work 
by  which  he  is  principally  known,  is  his  treatise 
"  De  Infelicitate  Litteratorum,  Lib.  ii."  Venice, 
1620,  8vo,  often  reprinted.  Among  his  other 
productions  may  be  mentioned  his  "  Hierogly- 
phica,  sive  de  Sacris  ^Egyptiorum,  aliarumque 
Gentium  Litteris  Commentaria,"  Basil,  1566, 
republislied,  with  additions,  at  Frankfort-on- 
the-Mayne,  1678,  4to.  —  Aikin's  Gen.  Biog. 


VALERIUS  MAXIMUS,  a  Roman  histo- 
rian, who  lived  in  tlie  reign  of  the  emperor  Ti- 
berius. He  served  in  Asia  under  Sextus  Pom- 
peius,  who  was  consul  in  the  year  of  the  death 
of  Augustus  ;  and  returning  to  Rome,  lie  ap- 
pears to  have  taken  no  part  in  public  affairs. 
He  devoted  his  leisure  to  the  composition  of 
a  work  entitled  "  De  Dictis  et  Factis  Memo- 
rabilibus  Antiquorum,  Lib.  ix,"  which  is  a 
collection  of  anecdotes  and  observations,  com- 
prising some  curious  facts  and  details,  recorded 
by  no  other  ancient  writer.  This  treatise  is 
dedicated,  in  a  style  of  high  eulogy,  to  Tibe- 
rius. It  is  quoted  by  the  elder  Pliny,  by  Plu- 
tarch, and  by  Aulus  Gellius  ;  and  it  attracted 
much  notice  on  the  revival  of  literature  in  the 
fifteenth  century,  having  been  one  of  the  earl- 
iest books  which  issued  from  the  press  after 
the  invention  of  printing.  The  first  edition, 
without  date,  is  supposed  to  have  been  exe- 
cuted by  J.  Mentel  in  1469  ;  and  several  other 
impressions  appeared  before  the  end  of  the  fif- 
teenth century.  Among  the  best  modern  edi- 
tions are  those  of  Torrenius,  Leyden,  17'26, 
4to  ;  of  Kapp,  Leipsic,  1782,  8vo  ;  and  of  T. 
B.  Helfrecht,  Iloff,  1799,  8vo.  —  Vossius  de 
Hi>t.  Lat.  Riog.  Univ. 

VALLA  (GEOHGE)  a  native  of  Placentia  in 
Italy,  who  became  professor  of  the  belles  let- 
tres  at  Pavia.  In  1481  be  was  professor  at 
Venice,  where,  in  consequence  of  his  inter- 
ference in  political  affairs,  he  was  thrown  into 
prison  ;  but  after  a  time  he  was  released,  and 
restored  to  his  office.  As  he  was  one  morning 
preparing  to  go  to  his  lecture-room,  where  he 
explained  Cicero's  Tuscular  Questions,  and 
held  disquisitions  on  the  immortality  of  the 
soul,  he  died  suddenly,  about  the  end  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  He  translated  into  Latin 
some  of  the  works  of  Aristotle  and  other  Greek 
writers  ;  and  he  was  the  author  of  a  treatise 
"  De  Expetendis  et  Fugiendis  Rebus,"  pub- 
lished by  his  son  in  1501,  2  vols.  folio.  —  Tiru- 
boschi.  Ring.  Univ. 

VALLA  (LAUREVCE)  probably  a  relation 
of  the  preceding,  was  born  at  Rome  in  1406. 
lie  was  educated  in  his  native  city,  and  re- 
mained there  till  1431,  when  lie  visited  Pla- 
centia, to  take  possession  of  s:>me  property  be- 
queathed to  him  by  his  relations.  He  after- 
wards  went  to  Pavia,  where  he  obtained  the 
professorship  of  rhetoric.  His  invectives 
against  Bartr.lus  drew  an  hi'm  the  enmity  of 


V  A  I 

the  scholars  of  that  celebrated  civilian  ,  and 
Poggio  also  brings  against  Valla  serious  accu- 
sations of  misconduct,  for  which,  ho>vever, 
there  does  not  appear  to  have  been  any  just 
foundation.  He  did  not  remain  long  at  Pavia, 
for  the  plague  dispersed  the  members  of  the 
university,  and  he  went  and  lectured  at  Milan, 
Genoa,  and  Florence.  At  length  he  became 
known  to  Alphonso,  king  of  Arragon,  whom 
he  followed  in  his  wars  and  travels  from  1435 
till  1442,  when  that  prince  made  himself  mas- 
ter of  the  kingdom  of  Naples.  In  1443,  on 
the  return  of  pope  Eugenius  to  Rome,  lie  set- 
tled in  that  city.  A  work  which  he  wrote  on. 
the  pretended  donation  of  Constantine  to  the 
holy  see,  discrediting  that  imaginary  grant, 
and  reflecting  on  the  characters  of  some  of  the 

& 

popes,  excited  the  displeasure  of  Eugenins  ; 
and  Valla  found  it  necessary  to  withdraw  first 
to  Ostia  and  afterwards  to  Barcelona.  Thence 
he  addressed  an  apologetical  defence  of  his 
writings  to  the  pontiff,  though  •without  retract- 
ing the  offensive  opinions  which  lie  had  main- 
tained. He  afterwards  returned  to  Naples, 
and  under  the  protection  of  king  Alphonso  he 
opened  a  school  of  eloquence,  to  which  many 
scholars  resorted.  Notwithstanding  however 
his  great  reputation  for  learning,  he  narrowly 
escaped  suffering  in  consequence  of  the  free- 
dom with  which  he  attacked  notions  sanctioned 
by  antiquity;  and  it  was  to  the  influence  of  his 
patron  Alphonso  that  he  owed  his  preservation 
from  the  vengeance  of  the  inquisition.  At 
length  he  was  invited  to  Rome  by  Nicholas  V, 
and  he  there  commenced  giving  lectures  on 
rhetoric  in  1450.  He  engaged  in  a  literary 
dispute  with  George  Trapezuntius,  on  the  com- 
parative merits  of  Cicero  and  Quintilian  ;  and 
he  also  carried  on  a  controversy  with  Poggio, 
which  was  conducted  with  a  degree  of  illibe- 
rality  and  virulence  discreditable  to  both  par- 
ties. He  did  not  however  neglect  more  pro- 
fitable occupations,  and  among  the  labours  of 
his  later  years  were  Latin  translations  of  the 
histories  of  Thucydides  and  Herodotus,  the 
latter  of  which  he  left  unfinished  at  his  death, 
which  occurred  in  August  1457.  Among  the 
revivers  of  literature  Valla  has  always  held  a 
high  rank,  which  he  merited  by  unwearied  ap- 
plication and  an  enlarged  course  of  study,  in- 
cluding history,  criticism,  dialectics,  moral 
philosophy,  and  divinity.  Of  his  numerous 
writings  his  treatise  "  De  Elegantia  Latini  Ser- 
monis."  Mill  maintains  its  reputation.  His 
original  works  were  published  together  at  Ba- 
sil in  1543. —  Fuhricii  Bibl.  Med.  et  Injim. 
Latin.  Aiicin's  Gen.  Biog, 

VALLA  N'CEY  (CHARLES)  an  enthusiastic 
investigator  of  Irish  antiquities,  was  born  in 
England  in  1721,  his  real  name  being  Val- 
lance,  which  he  altered  it  is  said  on  the  score 
of  euphony.  His  education  was  liberal,  and 
at  an  oarly  age  he  entered  into  the  military 
profession,  and  for  several  years  served  in 
Gibraltar  as  a  captain  in  the  12th  foot.  He 
subsequently  obtained  a  commission  in  the 
corps  of  engineers  upon  the  Irish  establish- 
ment, and  thereby  securing  a  settlement  in 
the  country,  life  s?sidcroos!y  devoted  himself 


V  A  L 

to  the  study  of  the  language,  topography,  and 
antiquities  of  Ireland.  He  also  made  a  survey 
of  the  island,  for  which  he  received  a  thousand 
pounds,  and  an  extra  allowance  of  lifteen 
shillings  per  day.  Previously  to  the  publication 
of  his  map  of  Ireland,  he  wrote  two  treatises, 
one  entitled  the  ''  Field  Engineer,"  and  the 
other  "  On  Stonecutting  ;"  but  his  principal 
work  is  a  grammar  of  the  Irish  language, 
which  appeared  first  in  1773,  and  again  in 
1781,  witli  an  essay  on  the  Celtic.  He  was 
also  author  of  an  "  Essay  on  the  Antiquity  of 
the  Irish  Language,"  which  he  traces  to  the 
Phoenician,  and  carried  on  a  periodical  work, 
xvliich  he  afterwards  published  in  two  volumes, 
octavo,  entitled  "  Collectanea  de  Rebus  Hi- 
bernicis,"  a  production  in  which  the  zeal  of 
the  antiquary  occasionally  interferes  with  the 
judgment  of  the  calm  enquirer.  He  next 
employed  himself  in  the  laborious  task  of  con- 
structing a  dictionary  of  the  Irish  language. 
To  his  learning  as  an  antiquary  he  united  a 
taste  for  the  fine  arts,  particularly  architec- 
ture, of  which  a  fair  specimen  exists  in  the 
Queen's  bridge  at  Dublin.  Besides  the  rank 
of  general  to  which  he  attained  before  his 
death,  he  was  a  doctor  of  laws  of  Trinity  col- 
lege, Dublin,  and  a  member  of  the  Royal  Irish 
Academy,  and  of  various  institutions.  He 
died  at  Dublin  in  1812,  in  his  ninety-first 
year. — Gent.  Mag. 

VALLE  (PETER  de  la)  a  celebrated  travel- 
ler, was  a  Roman  gentleman,  and  member  of 
the  academy  dell'  Umoristi.  He  commenced 
his  travels  in  1614  over  the  East,  and  did  not 
return  until  1626  ;  and  his  account  of  them  in 
Italian,  1662,  4  vols.  4to,  has  always  been  con- 
sidered the  best  that  had  then  appeared  of 
Egypt,  Persia,  Turkey,  and  India.  He  mar- 
ried at  Babylon  an  amiable  young  woman,  who 
accompanied  him  on  his  travels  until  her 
death  at  Mina  in  Caramania  in  1622.  Her 
death  so  much  affected  him,  that  he  caused 
her  body  to  be  embalmed,  and  he  bore  it 
about  with  him  in  a  coffin  until  his  return  to 
Rome,  where  he  buried  it  with  great  magnifi- 
cence in  his  own  family  vault,  and  spoke  a  fu- 
neral oration  on  the  occcasion  himself,  which 
may  be  found  in  Italian  and  French  in  the 
Isfmo  edition  of  his  travels.  He  died  at  Rome 
in  16.52.  Gibbon  styles  De  la  Valle  "  a  gen- 
tleman and  a  scholar,  but  intolerably  vain  and 
prolix."  An  English  translation  of  his  tra- 
vels was  published  in  London,  166.3,  folio. — 
Tirabnschi  Mnreri. 

VALLEMONT  (PETER  le  LORRAIN,  tetter 
known  by  the  name  of  the  abbe  de)  a  miscel- 
Jmeous  writer,  horn  at  Pont- Audemer  in  164'J. 
Having  adopted  the  ecclesiastical  profession, 
Jie  took  the  degree  of  doctor  in  theology. 
After  residing  some  time  at  Rouen,  he  went  to 
Paris,  and  became  tutor  to  the  son  of  M.  Pol- 
lart,  a  counsellor  of  parliament,  and  subse- 
quently to  the  marquis  de  Courcillon,  son  of 
the  marquis  de  Dangeau.  At  length  he  was 
attached  as  professor  to  the  college  of  cardinal 
Le  Moine  ;  but  towards  fhe  close  of  his  life 
lie  retired  to  his  native  place,  and  died  there 
in  1721.  Besides  several  works  on  numis- 


V  A  L 

matics,  on  which  subject  lie  carried  on  a  con- 
troversy with  M.  Baudelot,  he  was  the  author 
of  "  La  Physique  occulte,  on  Traite  cle  la  Ba- 
guette divinatoire,"  1693,  12mo  ;  and  "  Ele- 
mens  d'Histoire,"  4  vols.  12mo,  of  both  which 
works  there  are  several  editions. — ft»>if.  Unto. 

VALLI  (EUSFBIUS)  an  eminent  Italian 
physician,  born  at  Pistoia  in  1762.  He  studied 
at  the  college  of  Prato,  and  afterwards  applied 
himself  to  medicine  at  the  university  of  Pisa. 
He  travelled  to  Smyrna  and  Constantinople, 
where  he  made  observations  on  die  plague, 
and  returning  after  some  years  to  Tuscany,  lie 
distinguished  himself  by  his  attention  to  the 
subject  of  vaccination.  In  a  second  visit  to 
Constantinople,  where  he  introduced  Dr  Jen- 
ner's  discovery,  he  made  a  bold  experiment  to 
determine  whether  the  cow-pox  might  not 
prove  a  preseivative  from  the  plague.  l?ut 
the  result  of  his  inoculating  himself  with  the 
virus  of  those  diseases  successively,  nearly 
cost  him  his  life,  as  he  was  seized  with  the 
plague,  from  which  he  had  the  good  fortune  to 
recover.  He  returned  to  Italy  in  1804,  and 
in  the  following  year  he  served  in  a  medical 
capacity  in  the  Gallo-Itaiian  army  in  Dal- 
matia.  In  1809  he  went  to  Spain  to  observe 
the  yellow  fever,  and  he  afterwards  practised 
medicine  in  Tuscany.  At  length  he  fell  a  vic- 
tim to  his  imprudence;  for  in  September  1816, 
having  gone  to  Havannah,  to  add  to  his  ob- 
servations on  the  yellow  fever,  he  purposely 
exposed  himself  to  the  influence  of  the  con- 
tagion, and  caught  the  disease,  of  which  he 
died  September  24,  1816.  He  published 
"  Memoria  sulla  Peste  di  Smyrna,  nel  1784," 
12mo;  "  Saggio  sulle  Malattie  croniche," 
1'isa,  1792,  12mo  ;  "  Memoria  sulla  Tisi  ere- 
ditaria,''  Florence,  1796,  12mo;  "Memoria 
sulla  Peste  di  Constantiuopoli  del  1803, 12mo  ; 
and  "  Memoria  sui  mezzi  d'impedire  la  Fer- 
mentazione  dei  varj  liquidi  estratti,  &c." 
1814,  12 mo. — Biog.  Univ. 

VALLISNIERI  (ANTHONY)  an  Italian 
naturalist,  born  in  1661,  in  the  territory  of 
Modena.  He  studied  among  the  Jesuits  at 
home,  and  afterwards  went  to  Bologna  ;  and 
having  taken  his  degrees  at  Reggio  in  1684, 
be  returned  to  Bologna  to  apply  himself  to 
medicine.  He  then  passed  some  time  at  Pa- 
dua, Venice,  and  Parma  ;  and  at  length  set- 
tled as  a  physician  at  Reggio.  In  1700  he 
became  professor  of  the  practice  of  medicine 
at  Padua,  where  he  rose  successively  from  one 
professorship  to  another,  till  in  1711  lie  ob- 
tained the  first  chair  of  the  theory  of  medicine. 
The  emperor  Charles  VI,  to  whom  he  dedi- 
cated a  work  on  the  "  History  of  Generation," 
appointed  him  his  honorary  physician,  and  in 
1728  the  duke  of  Modena  bestowed  on  him. 
a  patent  of  knighthood.  Academical  honours 
were  also  liberally  extended  to  him,  as  he  was 
an  associate  of  the  Academia  Natune  Curio- 
sorum,  the  Royal  Society  of  London,  and 
many  other  scientific  societies.  He  died  Ja- 
nuary 18,  1730.  A  list  of  his  works  on  me- 
dicine and  natural  history  may  be  found  in  the 
first  of  the  annexed  authorities.  A  collective 
edition  was  published  by  his  sou  at  Venice, 


V  A  L 

1733,  3  vols.  folio. — Bwg.  Univ.  Rees's  Cyclop. 
Fabroui.     Eloy  Diet.  Hist,  de  la  Med. 

VALMIKI,  a  celebrated  Hindoo  poet,  au- 
thor of  die  epic  poem  entitled  "  Ramayana," 
recounting  the  adventures  of  the  Hindoo  deity 
Rama.  The  first  two  books  of  the  Sanscrit 
text  of  the  Ramayana,  with  an  English  ver 
sion.were  published  at  Serampoor,  by  W.  Ca- 
rey and  J.  Marshman,  3  vols.  4to.  1806 — 10; 
and  some  episodes  from  the  poem  have  been 
translated  into  French  by  M.  Chezy  ;  and  into 
German  by  M.  Fr.  Bopp,  of  Berlin.  A.  W. 
von  Schlegel  has  also  promised  to  the  learned 
world  a  complete  edition  of  the  work  of  Val- 
miki,  in  Sanscrit  and  Latin,  with  a  commen- 
tary. Sir  VV.  Jones  advanced  the  opinion  that 
this  Hindoo  bard  was  the  same  personage  witli 
Cush,  mentioned  by  Moses  ;  but  no  biogra- 
phical information  is  extant  concerning  him. 
—Jlees's  Cyclop.  Biog.  Univ. 

VAL01S  (HENRY  de)  or  HENRICUS 
VALES1US,  historiographer  to  the  king  of 
France,  a  distinguished  scholar  and  critic, 
born  at  Paris  in  1603.  He  studied  among  the 
Jesuits  at  the  college  of  Verdun,  and  after- 
wards at  that  of  Clermont,  under  the  cele- 
brated Denis  Petau.  He  then  went  to  the 
university  of  Bourges,  and  having  taken  his 
degrees  in  law,  he  was  admitted  a  counsellor 
of  the  parliament  of  Paris.  After  attending 
to  his  profession  awhile,  he  abandoned  it  that 
he  might  devote  himself  entirely  to  literature. 
The  works  of  the  Grecian  and  Roman  writers 
especially  engaged  his  attention,  and  he  con- 
tinued his  studies  till  the  excess  of  his  appli- 
cation injured  his  sight.  The  president  de 
Mesmes  however  having  bestowed  on  him  a 
pension,  he  was  enabled  to  keep  a  secretary, 
and  proceed  in  his  researches.  The  death  of 
the  president  in  1650  deprived  him  of  this  re- 
source, and  he  was  also  disappointed  in  some 
expectations  of  advantage  which  he  had  been 
led  to  form  from  the  patronage  of  Christina, 
queen  of  Sweden.  But  he  was  relieved  from 
his  difficulties,  by  being  employed  by  the  body 
of  the  French  clergy  to  edit  the  Greek  eccle- 
siastical historians;  and  in  1660  he  received 
the  title  of  royal  historiographer,  with  a  consi- 
derable pension.  At  the  age  of  sixty-one  he 
married  a  lady  possessed  of  youth  and  beauty, 
by  whom  he  had  seven  children  ;  and  he  sur- 
vived this  union  twelve  years,  dying  in  1676. 
His  principal  literary  undertaking  was  his 
edition  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Histories  of  Euse- 
bius,  Socrates,  Sozomen,  Theodoret,  and  Eva- 
grius,  with  the  Fragments  of  Philostorgius, 
Paris,  1659,  1668,  1673,  3  vols.  folio,  in  Greek 
and  Latin,  with  notes  and  learned  disserta- 
tions. He  also  published  "  Excerpta  Polybii, 
Diodori  Siculi,  &c.  ex  Collet-tan.  Constantini 
Porphyrogen."  Paris,  1634,  8vo  ;  and  "  Am- 
miani  Marcel lini  RerurnGestarum,  Lib.  xviii,1' 
1636,  4to  ;  besides  a  number  of  opuscula,  re- 
pnblished  collectively  by  Peter  Burmann,  jun. 
under  the  title  of  "  H,  Valesii  Emendationum, 
Lib.  v  et  de  Critica,  Lib.  ii,  &c."  Amsterd. 
1740,  4to. — YALOIS  (ADRIAN  de)  brother  of 
the  preceding,  was  born  at  Paris  in  1607,  and 
stuiied  under  the  Jesuits.  He  applied  himself 


VAL 

with  ardour  to  classx-al  learning  ;  but  he  af- 
terwards attached  himself  more  particularly  to 
the  study  of  French  history.  In  1646  he  laid 
before  the  public  the  fruits  of  his  researches  in 
the  first  volume  of  his  "  Gesta  Francorum," 
which  was  completed,  making  three  volumes, 
folio,  in  1658.  He  defended  this  work  against 
the  criticisms  of  father  Launoi  and  other  wri- 
ters ;  and  he  acquired  so  much  reputation  by 
his  labours  that  he  was  associated  with  his  bro- 
ther in  the  office  of  historiographer.  In  1675 
he  published  "  Notitia  Galliarum,  ordine  Lit- 
terarum  digesta,"  folio,  being  a  general  topo- 
graphical dictionary  of  the  kingdom  of  France, 
which  has  been  superseded  by  the  more  recent 
work  of  U'Anville,  under  the  same  title.  He 
lived  in  intimate  friendship  with  his  brother, 
whose  life  he  wrote  ;  and  he  followed  the  ex- 
ample of  that  relative  by  marrying  late  in  life. 
He  published  some  other  works  besides  those 
above-mentioned  ;  and  his  death  took  place  in 
1692. — His  son,  CHARLES  DE  VALOIS  DE  I,A 
MARE,  inheiited  the  family  taste  for  letters, 
and  was  a  member  of  the  Academy  of  In- 
scriptions, and  held  the  office  of  royal  anti- 
quary. He  published  from  his  father's  iMSS. 
a  miscellaneous  work,  entitled  "  Valesiana," 
12mo;  and  he  was  a  contributor  to  the  Me- 
jnoirs  of  the  academy  to  which  he  belonged. 
He  died  in  1747,  aged  seventy-six. — Moreri. 
Biog.  Univ. 

VALPERGA  DI  CALUSO  (THOMAS  dea 
comtes  Massino)  a  Piedmontese  mathemati- 
cian, born  at  Turin  in  1737.  After  he  had 
studied  at  Rome,  meeting  by  accident  with  the 
history  of  marshal  Saxe,  he  wa<«  seized  with 
military  enthusiasm,  and  entering  on  board  a 
Maltese  galley  in  1764,  he  at  lef.gth  became 
commander  of  a  vessel.  He  afterwards  served 
as  a  sub-lieutenant  in  the  navy  of  his  sove- 
reign ;  but  he  forsook  the  profession  of  arms 
to  enter  into  the  church  as  a  member  of  the 
congregation  of  the  Oratory,  founded  by  St 
Philip  Neri.  He  took  the  habit  of  the  order 
at  Naples,  where  he  became  librarian  and  pro- 
fessor of  theology.  Returning  subsequently 
to  his  native  country  he  settled  at  Turin,  and 
established  there  a  literary  society,  and  was 
admitted  into  the  academy  of  painting  and 
that  of  sciences,  of  which  he  was  secretary  for 
eighteen  years.  He  afterwards  employed  much 
of  his  time  in  travelling  ;  and  being  at  Lisbon 
in  1772  he  met  with  the  celebrated  Alfieri, 
with  whom  he  contracted  a  close  intimacy. 
From  1800  to  1814  he  consecrated  a  great 
part  of  his  evenings  to  the  instruction  of  youth 
in  Greek  and  Oriental  literature.  Pie  was  a 
member  of  the  grand  council  and  director  of 
the  observatory  of  the  university  of  Turin  ;  anr 
in  1814  he  was  appointed  president  and  direc- 
tor of  one  of  the  classes  of  the  Academy  of 
Sciences  and  Letters.  He  was  also  a  member 
of  the  legion  of  honour,  a  correspondent  of  the 
French  Institute  and  of  the  Italian  Society  of 
Verona,  &c.  His  death  took  place  April  1, 
1815.  A  catalogueof  hisnumerouspublications, 
which  embrace  a  variety  of  pubjects  (including 
mathematics  and  astronomy"),  may  be  found 
in  the  annexed  authority.  —Ring.  Unit). 


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VALSALVA  (ANTON-MARIA)  an  emi-  I 
nent  anatomist,  born  at  Tmola  in  Italy,  in 
1666.  He  studied  at  Bologna  under  the 
celebrated  Malpighi;  and  having  graduated 
in  1687,  he  connected  together  the  prac- 
tice of  medicine  and  surgery.  He  simpli- 
fied and  improved  surgical  instruments,  and 
succeeded  in  abolishing  at  Bologna  the 
painful  and  uncertain  operation  of  cauterizing 
the  arteries  after  amputation.  In  1697  lie  was 
elected  professor  of  anatomy  at  the  university, 
which  acquired  under  his  direction  great  cele- 
brity as  a  school  of  medical  science.  Some  of 
his  pupils  attained  great  eminence,  in  the  num- 
ber of  whom  was  Morgagni,  who  became  the 
editor  of  seme  of  the  works  of  his  master,  and 
also  his  biographer.  Valsalva  died  of  apo- 
plexy in  1723.  His  principal  production  is 
"  De  Aure  Humana  Tractatus,  in  quo  Integra 
ejusd.  Auris  Fabrica  multis  novis  Inventis  et 
Iconibus  suis  illustrata  describitur  omniumque 
fjus  Partium  usus  indagatur,"  1704,  4to,  often 
reprinted.  Morgagni  also  published  three  Aca- 
demical Dissertations  of  Valsalva  ;  and  insert- 
ed some  of  his  accounts  of  dissections  in  bis 
own  work,  "  De  Sedibus  et  Causis  Morbo- 
rum." — Halleri  Bib.  Anat.  Biog.  Univ. 

VALVASONE  (ERASMUS  di)  an  Italian 
poet,  of  eminence  among  those  of  the  second 
order,  who  was  lord  ot  Valvasone,  a  castle  in 
Friuli,  where  he  was  born  in  1523.  He  lived 
retired  on  his  own  domain,  dividing  his  time 
between  his  literary  studies  and  the  chase,  to 
which  he  was  passionately  addicted.  His 
principal  work  is  a  didactic  poem  on  chess, 
"  La  Caccia,"  in  eight  cantos,  in  octave  verse, 
first  printed  in  1591.  This  piece  is  reckoned 
inferior  to  none  of  the  kind,  except  "  The 
Bees "  of  Ruccellai,  and  Alamanui's  poem 
on  "  Cultivation."  Valvasone  translated  the 
"Thebais,"  of  Statius,  the  "  Electra,"  of  So- 
phocles, and  wrote  a  poem,  called  "  II  Lancel- 
lotti  ;"  and  an  epopea  entitled  "  Angeleida," 
on  the  combat  of  the  good  and  bad  angels, 
which,  according  to  Tiraboschi,  afforded  some 
hints  to  Milton.  Erasmus  di  Valvasone  died 
in  the  castle  of  his  ancestors  in  1593. — Biog. 
Univ. 

VANBRUGH  (sir  JOHN)  a  dramatist  and 
architect,  descended  from  a  Flemish  family  ex- 
patriated through  the  cruelties  of  the  duke  of 
Alva,  and  settled  in  England  in  the  16th  cen- 
tury. He  was  born  about  1672  ;  and  his  father 
holding  a  respectable  statiou  in  society  he  en- 
tered into  the  army,  and  obtained  an  ensign's 
commission.  How  long  he  remained  in  the 
service  is  uncertain  ;  but  it  appears  that  early 
in  life  he  became  a  writer  for  the  stage.  In 
1697  was  represented  his  comedy,  "  The  Re- 
lapse ;"  and  in  the  following  year  he  produced 
that  very  popular  drama,  "  The  Provoked 
Wife,"  and  also  another  entitled  "  JEsop," 
afterwards  altered  by  Garrick.  When  Better- 
ton  and  Congreve  obtained  a  patent  for  erect- 
ing a  theatre  in  the  Haymarket,  which  was 
opened  in  1707,  they  were  joined  by  Van- 
brugh, who  wrote  for  this  house  his  comedy 
"  The  Confederacy,"  the  most  witty  as  well  as 
th.3  most  licentious  of  his  productions,  which, 


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notwithstanding  its  faults,  long  kept  possession 
of  the  stage.  "  The  Provoked  Husband,  or 
the  Journey  to  London,"  which  he  left  imper- 
fect at  his  death,  was  completed  and  brought 
forward  by  Colley  Citiber  ;  and  it  still  retains 
its  attraction  as  an  amusing  though  exag- 
gerated picture  of  obsolete  manners  and  cha- 
racters. As  an  arcbitect  Vanbrugh  has  been 
the  subject  of  much  depreciating  and  illiberal 
criticism  ;  but  that  he  held  a  high  statiou  in 
that  profession  may  be  inferred  from  his  hav- 
ing  been  selected  to  build  the  monument  of 
national  gratitude  to  the  duke  of  Marlborough, 
Blenheim. house  ;  and  tbat  structure,  as  well 
as  another  of  his  erections,  Castle  Howard, 
affords  proofs  of  the  skill  and  genius  of  the 
artist.  More  wit  than  argument  has  been 
directed  against  the  taste  of  Vanbrugh,  and 
many  persons  know  nothing  more  of  his  cha- 
racter than  what  may  be  inferred  from  the  sar- 
castic epitaph  written  for  him  by  Dr  Abel 
Evans: — 

"  Lie  heavy  on  him,  earth,  for  he 

Laid  many  a  heavy  weight  on  tbee." 
He  obtained  in  1704  the  heraldic  office  of  cla- 
rencieux-king-at-arms;  and  in  1714  he  receiv- 
ed the  honour  of  knighthood.  He  was  also 
appointed  comptroller  of  the  board  of  works 
and  surveyor  of  Greenwich  hospital.  His  death 
occurred  March  26,  1726.—  Walvole.  lieef's 
Cyclop,  hiog.  Univ. 

VANCOUVER  (GEORGE)  a  modern  cir- 
cumnavigator, and  captain  in  the  British  navy. 
He  served  as  a  midshipman  under  the  cele- 
brated captain  James  Cook,  and  upon  a  de- 
termination being  taken  for  a  voyage  of  dis- 
covery, to  ascertain  the  existence  of  any  na- 
vigable communication  between  the  North  Pa- 
cific and  North  Atlantic  oceans,  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  command  it.  Of  this  voyage  cap- 
tain Vancouver  compiled  an  account,  under 
the  title  of  "  Voyage  of  Discovery  to  the 
North  Pacific  Ocean,  and  round  the  World, 
in  the  years  1790 — 5,"  3  vols.  4to,  which 
work  was  nearly  ready  for  the  press  when  the 
author  died,  May  10,  1798. — Naval  Register. 

VANDALE  (ANTONY)  a  meritorious  man 
of  letters,  was  born  in  Holland  in  1638.  He 
received  a  learned  education,  but  was  destined 
for  commerce,  in  which  he  was  engaged  for  a 
few  years,  but  at  the  age  of  thirty  he  resumed 
his  literary  pursuits,  and  applied  to  medicine, 
in  which  he  graduated,  and  became  a  practi- 
tioner, and  was  also  for  some  time  a  preacher 
among  the  Mennonites.  At  length  he  de- 
dicated himself  almost  exclusively  to  study,  and 
wrote  several  works,  which  rendered  him  ad- 
vantageously known  in  the  learned  world.  Of 
these  the  most  noted  was  bis  "  Dissertationes 
dux  de  Oraculis  Ethnicorum,"  first  printed  in 
1683,  12mo,  and  afterwards  in  an  enlarged 
form  in  1700,  4to.  The  scope  of  this  produc- 
tion was  to  prove  the  heathen  oracles  forgeries, 
and  that  they  did  not  cease  on  the  coming  of 
Christ,  a  position  at  tbat  time  deemed  erroneous 
and  in  opposition  to  tradition  and  the  fathers. 
As  the  author  was  destitute  of  the  graces  of 
style,  and  defective  in  arrangement,  Fonte- 
nelle  gave  the  subject  of  these  dissertations  in 


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a  more  agreeable  form,  in  his  "  Histoire  des 
Oracles,"  which  popular  production  produced 
much  theological  opposition.  His  other  works 
are  a  dissertation  "  On  the  Progress  and  Ori- 
gin of  Idolatry  ;"  "  A  Dissertation  on  true  and 
false  Prophecy  ;"  "  A  Dissertation  on  the 
Narrative  of  Aristeas  on  the  Seventy  Inter- 
preters :"  the  "  History  of  Baptisms,  Jewish 
and  Christian  ;"  "  A  Dissertation  on  Sancho- 
niatho  ;"  and  "  Dissertations  on  some  ancient 
Marbles."  All  these  writings  display  great 
erudition  and  sagacity,  obscurely  and  unme- 
thodically conveyed.  Like  all  writers  who 
disturb  received  opinions,  however  erroneous, 
he  was  accused  of  indulging  a  dangerous  li- 
berty of  discussion.  lie  dud  at  Haerlem  in 
1708.—  J.e  Clerc  Bibl.  Chois. 

VANDELLI  (DOMINIC)  an  Italian  physi- 
cian and  naturalist,  who  was  the  correspon 
dent  of  Patrick  Browne,  at  whose  suggestion 
Linnauis  gave  the  name  of  Vandellia  to  a  ge- 
nus of  plants  of  the  order  of  Personals.  Dr 
Vandelh  published  at  Padua  in  1761,  a  trea- 
tise in  Latin,  on  the  hot-baths  in  that  neigh- 
bourhood, with  notices  of  some  cryptogamic 
plants  growing  in  them.  Being  subsequently 
appointed  superintendant  of  the  royal  botanic 
garden  at  Lisbon,  he  published  there  in  1771, 
a  small  "  Fasciculus  Plantarum,"  describing 
some  supposed  new  genera  and  several  new 
species,  with  figures.  He  likewise  wrote  on 
zoology  ;  and  he  opposed  Haller's  doctrine  of 
the  insensibility  of  tendons  and  membranes, 
by  which  he  gave  great  umbrage  to  that  illus- 
trious physiologist.  Vaudelli  made  a  visit  to 
London  in  1815,  and  died  not  long  after,  at  a 
verv  advanced  age. — llea's  Cyclop. 

VANDER  LINDEN  (JOHN  ANTONIDES) 
was  born  at  Enckhuisen,  January  13,  1609, 
his  father  being  a  learned  professor  of  physic 
at  Leyden.  lie  was  also  brought  up  to  phy- 
sic, and  became  professor  at  Franekerin  1639, 
whence  he  removed  to  the  chair  of  the  same 
faculty  at  Leyden,  which  he  filled  with  high 
reputation  until  his  death  on  March  4,  1664. 
He  wrote  several  works  on  medical  subjects, 
together  with  a  work  entitled  "  De  Scriptis 
Medicis,"  being  a  catalogue  of  books  upon 
physic,  which  he  several  times  enlarged  dur- 
ing his  life- time,  and  which  was  considerably 
more  so  after  his  death,  in  a  thick  quarto, 
under  the  title  of  "  Lindenius  Renovatus," 
Nuremberg,  1686.  lie  was  also  editor  of  the 
works  of  Celsus  and  of  Hippocrates. — E/ojy 
Diet.  Hist,  de  Med. 

VANDER-MERSCH  (JOHN  ANDREW) 
bord  at  Menin  in  the  Netherlands,  of  a  noble 
family,  in  1734..  After  finishing  his  studies, 
which  were  particularly  directed  to  mathema- 
tics and  geography,  he  entered  into  the  French 
fcervice  as  a  volunteer.  He  signalised  his  cou- 
rage on  many  occasions  in  the  seven  years' 
•War,  and  he  at  length  arrived  at  the  rank  of 
lieutenant-colonel  of  cavalry.  Having  expe- 
rienced however  some  injustice  from  his  supe- 
riors, he  quitted  the  French  army  for  that  of 
Austria  in  1778,  and  after  the  peace  of  Tes- 
chen  he  retired,  with  the  title  and  pay  of  a 
colonel,  to  his  own  estate.  Wbeu  the  revolt 


VAN 

against  the  emperor  Jospph  II  took  place  in 
the  Austrian  Netherlands  in  1789,  he  was 
chosen  commander  of  the  insurgent  forces,  at 
the  head  of  which  he  beat  the  imperialists  at 
Turnbout,  on  the  27th  of  October,  and  having 
obtained  various  other  advantages,  be  made 
his  entry  into  Namur,  the  17th  of  December. 
A  misunderstanding  afterwards  arising  be- 
tveen  the  general  in  chief  and  the  sovereign 
(digress  of  the  states,  the  former  was  accused 
of  treason,  and  an  army  was  assembled  to  op- 
pose him  under  the  command  of  the  Prussian 
general  Schoenfeld.  On  that  officer  advancing 
against  him,  \ander-Mersch  was  obliged  to 
submit ;  and  going  to  Brussels  to  defend  his 
conduct,  the  congress  committed  him  a  pri- 
soner to  the  citadel  of  Antwerp,  and  he  was 
afterwards  confined  at  Louvain  till  the  restor- 
ation of  tranquillity.  He  died  at  JMenin  in 
1792.  He  had  a  considerable  share  in  the 
composition  of  a  work  entitled  "  Memoire 
historiqtie,  et  Pieces  justificatives  pour  M. 
Vander-Mersch,"  Lille,  1791,  3  vols.  8vo, 
published  by  one  of  his  officers  named  Dinne, 
who  was  adjutant  general  in  La  Vendee,  and 
died  in  1795. — Biog.  Nouv.  des  Conteinp. 
Bing  Univ. 

VANDERMONDE  (CHARLES  AUGUSTIN) 
the  son  of  a  Flemish  physician,  settled  at  Ma- 
cao in  China,  where  he  was  horn  in  1727. 
Being  brought  to  Europe  by  his  father  in  1731, 
lie  studied  at  Paris,  and  was  admitted  a  mem- 
ber of  the  medical  faculty.  He  took  thedegiee 
of  MD.  in  1748.  The  first  work  which  he 
published  was  "  Histoire  d'une  Maladie  sin- 
guliere  de  la  Peau,"  translated  from  the  Ital- 
ian, with  valuable  notes ;  and  in  1756  ap- 
peared his  "  Essai  sur  les  Moyens  de  perfec- 
tionner  1'Espece  Humaine,"  which  procured 
him  great  reputation.  Shortly  after  he  became 
editor  of  the  "  Journal  General  de  Medicine," 
still  continued.  He  died  May  28,  1762,  leav- 
ing in  manuscript  papers  relating  to  the  state 
of  medicine  in  China,  partly  derived  from  the 
notes  and  observations  of  his  father. — Bios. 
Univ. 

VANDERMONDE  ( 1  a  mathema- 
tician, born  at  Paris  in  1735.  He  studied  geo- 
metry under  Fontaine,  and  afterwards  under 
Dionis  de  Sejour,  who  introduced  him  10  the 
notice  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  of  which  he 
was  admitted  a  member  in  1771.  He  pub- 
ished  successively  memoirs  on  the  "  Resolu- 
tion of  Equations,"  and  other  subjects  ;  and  in 
1772  appeared  his  work  on  the  "  Elimination 
of  unknown  Quantities  in  Algebra."  Vancler- 
monde  was  very  fond  of  music,  the  science  of 
which  he  had  profoundly  studied  ;  and  at  a 
public  session  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  in 
1780  he  established,  according  to  two  general 
rules,  the  succession  cf  concords  and  the  ar- 
rangement of  parts,  demonstrating  that  these 
two  rules,  recognized  by  musicians,  depend  oo 
a  higher  law,  which  ought  to  govern  the  whofc 
construction  of  harmony.  '1  his  system  waj 
approved  by  Philidor,  Gluck,  Piccini,  ami 
other  eminent  composers.  Vandermonde  be- 
came a  warm  partizan  of  the  Revolution,  and 
was  unhappily  connected  with  the  demagogue* 


V  AN 

whose  influence  was  so  perniciously  exercised. 
After  the  suppression  of  the  Academy  of 
Sciences  he  was  for  some  time  director  of  the 
clothing  department  of  the  army.  In  179.S  he 
was  appointed  professor  of  political  economy 
at  the  Normal  School,  and  the  same  year  ad- 
mitted into  the  first  class  of  the  Institute.  He 
died  January  1,  1796,  on  his  return  from  a 
sitting  of  the  Institute,  in  consequence  of  a 
vomiting  of  blood,  arising  from  a  disease  of 
the  stomach,  with  which  he  had  been  for  some 
years  affected. —  fi/.'g.  Unii:  Bi,>g.  Koui<.  des 
Cmitemp, 

VANDERVELDE  (Win  IA.M)  called  the 
OLD,  one  of  a  distinguished  family  of  painters, 
was  born  at  Leyden  in  1610.  He  v>as  origi- 
nally bred  to  the  sea,  but  afterwards  studied 
painting,  and  retained  enough  of  his  former 
profession  to  make  it  the  source  of  his  future 
fame.  He  became  early  distinguished  for  his 
excellence  in  marine  subjects,  which  induced 
him  to  come  to  England  with  his  son,  both  of 
whom  entered  into  the  service  of  Charles  11. 
He  repaid  this  service  more  gratefully  than 
patriotically,  by  conducting,  as  it  is  said,  the 
English  fleet  to  burn  Schelling.  He  was  so 
much  attached  to  his  art,  that  in  order  to  be  a 
neai  spectator  of  sea  engagements,  he  hired  a 
light  vessel,  in  wl;ich  he  approached  both 
friends  and  enemies,  in  order  to  sketch  all  the 
incidents  of  the  action  upon  the  spot  ;  and  in 
this  manner  he  is  said  to  have  been  a  spectator 
of  the  engagement  between  the  duke  of  York 
and  Opdam,  and  of  the  memorable  three  days' 
engagement  between  Monk  and  De  Huyter. 
He  chiefly  painted  in  black  and  white,  on  a 
ground  so  prepared  on  canvas  as  to  give  it  the 
appearance  of  paper.  He  died  at  London  in 
1693. —  Wnl)i«le's  Anecdotes. 

VANDERVELDE  (WILLIAM)  called  the 
YOUNG,  he  was  born  at  Amsterdam  in  16:>3, 
and  was  the  son  of  the  preceding.  After  being 
carefully  instructed  by  his  father,  he  was 
placed  under  Simon  de  Ylieger,  a  celebrated 
marine  painter,  who  however  was  far  surpassed 
by  his  pupil.  His  subjects  were  similar  to 
those  of  his  father,  whom  he  not  only  sur- 
passed, but  no  age  since  the  revival  of  art  has 
produced  his  equal  in  his  own  peculiar  line,  of 
which  \\alpole  calls  him  the  Raphael.  He 
was  equally  with  his  father  a  copyist  of  reality, 
and  by  orc'.er  of  the  duke  of  York  attended  the 
engagement  at  Solebay  in  a  small  vessel ;  as 
also  the  junction  of  the  English  and  French 
fleets  at  the  More.  The  principal  performances 
of  this  admirable  arti.--t  are  chiefly  to  be  found 
in  the  royal  collections  and  cabinets  of  England. 
He  died  April  6,  1707,  in  his  seventy- fourth 
year. —  llml. 

V  A  NDEK-\VF.RF(Ai. in  A\)  a  Dutch  pain- 
ter, born  near  Rotterdam  in  I6.i9.  He  was 
first  instructed  in  his  art  by  1'iccolett,  a  por- 
trait -painter .  and  he  afterwards  became  a  pu- 
ptl  of  VanJer-Neer.  Having  setthd  at  Kot- 
tctdam,  he  obtained  great  reputation  as  a  pain- 
ter of  portraits  .  and  he  executed  a  piece  for 
M.  Mem,  a  rich  merchant  of  Amsterdam, 
which  proiured  him  the  patronage  of  the  elec- 
tor palatine.  That  prince  having  visited  Ilol- 


VAN 

land  with  his  family  in  1696,  went  to  Rotter- 
dam, anil  ordered  Vander-Werf  to  paint  for 
him  "  The  Judgment  of  Solomon,"  and  his 
portrait.  The  artist  took  the  pictures  to  Dus- 
seldorf  when  tliey  were  finished  ;  and  the  elec- 
tor wished  to  retain  him  in  his  service,  but  he 
only  engaged  himself  for  siz  months  in  the 
year,  receiving  a  handsome  pension.  In  1703 
he  went  to  present  to  his  patron  his  "  Christ 
carried  to  the  Sepulchre,"  which  is  regarded  as 
his  best  production.  He  was  honoured  with 
knighthood  by  the  elector,  who  treated  him 
witli  great  liberality,  augmenting  his  pension, 
and  bestowing  on  him  many  marks  of  his  es- 
teem. Me  died  at  Rotterdam,  November  12, 
172^.  Yander-Werf  was  particularly  noted 
for  his  small  historical  pieces,  which  are  most 
exquisitely  finished,  and  which  are  still  in  high 
request,  though  his  reputation  is  not  quite 
equal  to  what  it  was  during  his  life. — His  bro- 
and  pupil,  PETKH  VANUEK-WEUF,  painted 
portraits  and  conversation-pitces,  and  was  a 
very  able  artist.  He  died  in  1718,  aged  fifty- 
five. —  Pilkingtonm  Blag.  Univ. 

YANDOEVhEN  (\VAI.TKII)  a  physician, 
born  in  Dutch  Flanders  in  1730.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  Leyden  anil  Paris,  and  on  taking 
his  degrees  at  the  former  university  in  17o3, 
he  published  a  treatise  on  Worms,  which  pro- 
cured him  much  reputation,  and  was  trans- 
lated into  French.  Ho  became  professor  of 
anatomy  and  surgery  at  Groningen  ;  and  he 
was  afterwards  called  to  the  medical  chair  at 
l.eyden.  lie  died  of  the  gout  in  1783.  Be- 
sides two  inaugural  dissertations,  he  was  the 
author  of  a  much  esteemed  work  on  the  Dis- 
eases of  Females. —  I.<>it<t.  i\leil.  Jt'urn.  Bivg. 
I'mi. 

VANDYCK  (sir  AMO\Y)  a  portrait  pain- 
ter of  peculiar  e  uellence,  was  born  at  Antwerp, 
Manh  i<!,  i.->1J8-9,  being  the  son  of  a  merchant 
in  tl.at  city,  l>)  a  mother  who  was  very  skilful 
in  flower  painting  and  needle-work.  He  re- 
ceived his  tirst  instructions  from  Van  Hale, 
after  winch  he  entered  the  school  of  Kubens. 
He  highly  distinguished  himself  among  the 
pupils  of  that  great  master,  by  whose  advice 
be  travelled  for  improvement  into  Italy,  and 
resided  at  (jenoa.  Home,  and  Venice,  from 
which  last  place  he  derived  the  perfection  of 
colouring  that  rendered  him  nearly  the  riv;J 
of  I  man.  I  he  reports  of  the  favour  shown  to 
tin-  ans  by  Charles  1  drew  him  to  England, 
uhere  he  was  at  first  disappointed  in  the  ex- 
pected introduction  ;  but  subsequently  he  re- 
ceived an  invitation  from  the  king,  through  sir 
Kenelm  Digby,  with  which  he  complied,  and 
England  was  afterwards  his  principal  abode. 
He  was  highly  patronized  at  court,  being  em- 
ployed to  paint  many  portraits  of  the  king  and 
ro\al  family  ;  and  in  163'2  he  received  the  ho- 
nour of  knighthood  and  a  pension  for  life.  Ac- 
cording to  VValpole,  the  prices  of  \  amKck  were 
4(>/.  for  a  half  portait,  and  oO/.  for  a  whole 
length  ;  but  it  seems  that  he  painted  for  the 
royal  family  sometimes  so  low  as  'J.i/.  a  pur- 
trait,  and  even  less.  He  lived  in  a  splri.rlid 
style,  kept  the  first  company,  and  was  himself 
a  liberal  patron  of  the  arts.  His  works  in 


VAN 

England,  chiefly  portraits,  are  exceedingly  nu- 
merous, for  lie  was  very  industrious,  ami  many 
of  his  pieces  rank  among  the  most  extellent 
productions  of  that  branch  of  the  art.  He 
possessed  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  chiar- 
oscuro ;  gave  singular  grace  and  variety  to  die 
airs  of  his  heads  ;  and  a  surprising  expression 
of  soul  and  character  when  really  existing  in 
his  subjects.  His  colouring  was  also  excellent, 
and  no  part  of  his  figures  was  neglected.  He 
drew  hands  with  particular  exactness  and  de- 
licacy, and  his  draperies  were  at  ouce  grand 
and  simple.  He  so  little  nattered  the  fair 
sex  in  his  portraits,  that  we  are  left  to  wonder 
at  the  reputation  of  some  celebrated  beauties 
of  the  day.  His  earlier  works  in  England  are 
deemed  the  best,  particularly  some  of  the  por- 
traits of  king  Charles,  of  the  duke  of  Bucking- 
ham, of  lord  Strafford,  and  of  the  Pembroke 
family.  He  latterly  injured  his  fortune  by  high 
living,  and  vainly  sought  to  repair  it  by  the 
philosopher's  stone,  which  only  involved  him 
the  more  ;  but  he  must  have  maintained  a 
prosperous  appearance,  as  the  king  negociated 
for  him  a  marriage  with  the  daughter  of  lord 
Gowrie,  by  whom  he  left  a  daughter.  His 
constitution  early  gave  way  to  repeated  attacks 
of  the  gout;  and  he  died  in  London  in  1641, 
at  the  premature  age  of  forty -two,  and  was 
interred  at  St  Paul's,  Covent-garden.  The 
engravings  from  this  eminent  master  are  very 
numerous. —  Walpole's  Anec.  PUkington. 

VANE  (sir  HENRY)  the  younger,  a  conspi- 
cuous and  extraordinary  character,  in  the  time 
of  Charles  I  and  the  Commonwealth,  was  the 
son  of  sir  Henry  Vane  of  Hadlow  in  Kent, 
and  Raby  castle  in  Durham  ;  secretary  of  state 
and  treasurer  of  the  household  to  Charles  I, 
until  dismissed  for  taking  part  against  the  earl 
of  Strafford.  The  subject  of  this  article  was 
born  about  1612,  and  was  educated  at  West- 
minster school,  whence  he  was  removed  to 
Magdalen  college,  Oxford.  He  then  proceeded 
to  Geneva,  from  which  he  returned,  much  in- 
disposed towards  the  English  liturgy  and 
church  government.  About  this  time  several 
persons,  who  were  uneasy  at  home  on  account 
of  their  religious  opinions,  migrated  to  New 
England  ;  among  whom  was  Vane,  who  not- 
withstanding his  youth,  was  elected  governor 
of  Massachusetts  ;  but  his  enthusiasm  soon  led 
the  colonists  to  repent  their  choice,  and  his 
government  terminated  at  the  next  election. 
He  then  returned  privately  to  England,  and  with 
his  father's  concurrence  married  a  lady  of  good 
fortune,  and  was  appointed  a  joint  treasurer 
of  the  navy.  He  was  chosen  to  represent 
Hull  in  the  next  parliament,  yet  still  kept  on 
euch  terms  with  the  royal  party  as  to  obtain 
knighthood.  The  spirit  of  the  times,  how- 
ever, soon  led  him  to  take  part  against  the 
court,  and  he  was  very  instrumental  in  pro- 
ducing the  condemnation  of  lord  Strafford,  and 
he  als°o  carried  up  to  the  Lords  the  articles  of 
impeachment  against  archbishop  Laud.  He 
likewise  acted  as  one  of  the  parliamentary 
commissioners  at  the  treaty  of  Uxbridge  in 
164.5;  and  at  the  negociations  in  the  isle  of 
Wight  in  1648.  he  was  an  opposer  of  the 

L'JOG.  Dior.  VOL.  III. 


VAN 

terms  of  peace.  Either  from  policy  or  feel- 
ing, however,  he  had  no  immediate  concern  in 
the  king's  trial  or  death  ;  but  he  was  one  of 
I  the  council  of  state  appointed  to  supreme 
(power  after  that  event,  lii  1651  he  was  ap- 
'  pointed  a  commissioner  to  be  sent  into  Scot- 
land, in  order  to  introduce  the  English  go- 
vernment there.  He  continued  a  strenuous 
adversary  to  Cromwell  during  the  whole  pro- 
gress of  that  leader  to  sovereignty,  on  which 
account  the  latter  found  means  to  imprison 
him  in  Carisbrook  castle.  He  even  sought  to 
intimidate  him  by  questioning  his  title  to  the 
Kaby  estate,  notwithstanding  which  he  con- 
tinued inflexible  during  the  whole  of  the  pro- 
tectorate. After  the  restoration  of  the  long 
parliament  he  was  nominated  one  of  the  com- 
mittee of  safety  ;  when  he  strenuously  exerted 
himself  to  restore  republican  government, 
until  the  Restoration  put  an  end  to  all  farther 
contest.  On  this  event  he  had  considered 
!  himself  in  no  danger,  but  he  was  notwith- 
standing arrested  and  committed  to  the 
Tower  as  a  person  whom  it  was  dangerous  to 
allow  to  be  at  large.  The  convention  parlia- 
msnt  petitioned  in  favour  of  him  and  Lam- 
bert, and  the  king  promised  that  his  life 
should  be  spared.  Charles  II  however  kept 
his  word  i-n  this  instance  much  the  same  as 
in  other  matters,  and  sir  Henry  was  brought 
to  trial  for  high  treason.  Although  accused 
only  for  transactions  that  occurred  after  the 
king's  death,  he  was  found  guilty  in  the  teeth 
of  a  defence  of  great  vigour  and  ability,  in 
which  he  pleaded  that,  if  complying  with  the 
existing  government  was  a  crime,  all  the  na- 
tion had  been  equally  criminal.  He  farther 
observed  that  he  had  in  every  change  adhered 
to  the  Commons  as  the  root  of  all  lawful  au- 
thority. His  trial  took  place  early  in  June 
1662,  and  on  the  14th  of  the  same  month  he 
was  beheaded  on  Tower  Hill,  when  he  be- 
haved with  great  composure  and  resolution. 
He  began  to  address  the  people  at  the  scaf- 
fold in  justification  of  his  conduct,  but  was 
rudely  interrupted  by  drums  and  trumpets, 
which  was  deemed  a  nove4,  as  it  was  certainly 
a  most  indecent  -practice.  Sir  Henry  Vane, 
like  most  religious  enthusiasts  who  inter- 
fere in  politics,  was  a  very  doubtful  and  equi- 
vocal character,  and  mingled  much  fanatical 
speculation  with  an  extraordinary  degree  of 
acuteuess  and  general  good  sense.  Although 
he  employed  craft  and  dissimulation  as  his 
means,  there  is  little  reason  to  doubt  that  Le 
was  sincere  as  to  his  ends,  and  the  real  con- 
vert to  republicanism  which  he  professed  to 
be.  His  enemies  scarcely  charged  him  with 
mercenary  views,  and  his  friends  regarded 
him  as  a  mistaken  lover  of  his  country.  He 
was  the  author  of  some  writings,  chiefly  on  re- 
ligious subjects,  upon  which  the  cloudiness 
and  confusion  of  his  expressions  and  ideas  sin- 
gularly contrast  with  his  clearness  of  mind  on 
other  subjects. — Clarendon.  Bivg.  Brit.  Hume, 
VAN-EUPEN  (PETER  JOHN  SIMON) 
grand  penetentiary  of  Antwerp,  distinguished 
among  the  flemish  revolutionary  statesmen  of 
tht  last  century.  He  was  born  in  1744,  Mid 


V  A  N 

studied  philosophy  and  theology  at  the 
university  of  Louvain,  he  entered  into  the 
church.  He  became  successively  professor  at 
the  episcopal  seminary,  curate  of  Cuntich,  and 
canon  and  penitentiary  of  Antwerp.  'I'hnu 
he  opposed  the  innovations  projected  by  Jo- 
seph II,  he  took  no  ostensible  part  in  the  pro 
ceedings  of  the  insurgents  against  the  Aus 
trian  government,  till  after  the  victory  of 
Turnhout.  (See  VANDER-MEUSCH.)  He  sub- 
sequently became  secretary  of  the  states  of 
Brabant  and  of  the  sovereign  congress  ;  and 
he  was  considered  as  the  soul  of  the  aristo- 
cratic party.  On  the  triumph  of  the  Impe- 
rialists he  fled  to  Holland.  After  the  French 
conquest  in  1794  he  returned  to  his  native 
country,  but  bis  intriguing  disposition  exciting 
the  alarm  of  the  police,  he  was  anested,  and 
sent  to  Lisle,  and  afterwards  to  Paris,  where 
be  was  imprisoned  till  after  the  death  of 
Robespierre.  He  then  retired  to  the  village  of 
Zutphaas,  near  Utrecht,  where  he  exercised 
the  sacerdotal  office  for  ten  years,  and  died 
May  14,  1804. — Bing.  Univ. 

VAN-EYCK  (HUBERT).  See  EycK  (H. 
VAN). 

VAN-EYCK  (JOHN).  See  EYCK  (J.  VAN). 

VAN-GOYEN  (JOHN)  a  landscape  pain- 
ter and  aquatinta  engraver,  born  at  Leyden 
in  1596.  He  was  the  disciple  of  William  Gee- 
ritz  and  Isaiah  Van  den  Velde.  His  compo- 
sitions generally  represent  rivers  with  boats 
and  fishing- barks,  or  peasants  returning  on  the 
water  from  market,  and  in  the  back -ground 
villages  or  small  towns.  Some  of  his  engrav- 
ings from  his  own  designs  are  very  rare,  and 
bear  a  high  price.  He  died  at  the  Hague  in 
16.56.  Hi<'g-  Univ. 

VAN-HUGTENBURG  (  JOHN)  a  famous 
battle  painter,  born  at  Haerlem  in  1646.  He 
studied  at  Rome,  and  afterwai  Is  at  Paris,  un- 
der Vander-Meulen.  In  1670  he  returned  to 
Holland,  where  his  reputation  had  preceded 
him,  and  his  works  became  much  in  request. 
In  1710  prince  Eugene  took  him  into  his  ser- 
vice, and  employed  him  to  paint  views  of  the 
battles  and  sieges  in  which  he  had  been  en- 
gaged. He  practised  engraving  as  well  as 
painting,  and  executed  many  plates  from  his 
own  designs,  and  those  of  Vander-Meulen. 
This  artist  carried  on  a  lucrative  commerce  in 
paintings  and  engravings  at  the  Hague,  but  he 
died  at  Amsterdam  in  1733.—  K^'g-  Univ. 

VAN1ERE  (JACQUES)  a  French  poet  of 
some  note  in  the  early  part  of  the  last  century. 
He  was  born  at  Gausses  in  the  province  of 
Languedoc,  in  the  spring  of  1664,  and  having 
received  his  education  in  the  Jesuits'  college  at 
Montpellier  under  Joubert,  when  he  became 
of  sufficient  age,  entered  the  order.  Very 
early  in  life  be  displayed  considerable,  talents 
for  metrical  composition,  especially  in  the  La- 
tin tongue  which  he  wrote  with  great  facility 
and  elegance.  His  principal  production  in 
this  language  is  entitled  "  Praedium  llusti- 
cum,"  or  "  The  Country  Farm,"  a  work  in 
sixteen  cantos,  in  which  he  has  imitated  the 
("iforgics  of  Virgil  with  great  success,  though 
with  too  much  of  prolixity.  This  poem  has 


VAN 

gone  through  several  editions,  the  best  of 
which  is  that  of  17  'M~>,  printed  at  Paris  in 
12mo.  His  other  writings  are  a  volume  of 

O 

"  Opuscula,"  containing  epigrams,  epistles, 
&c.  ;  and  a  "  Poetical  Dictionary,"  in  Latin. 
Father  Vamere  rose  to  be  president  of  the 
seminary  in  which  he  was  brought  up,  and 
afterwards  of  those  belonging  to  his  fraternity 
at  Auch  and  Toulouse,  in  which  latter  city  he 
died  in  1739. —  Nouv.  Diet.  //(.si. 

VAN  IN  I  (LuciLio)  a  writer  stigmatised 
with  atheism,  was  born  at  Taurosano,  in  the. 
kingdom  of  Naples,  in  1585,  and  was  the  son 
of  John  Baptist  Vanini,  steward  to  the  vice- 
roy of  that  kingdom.  He  was  early  sent  to 
Rome  for  education,  and  he  finished  his  stu- 
dies, which  were  various,  at  Padua.  His  mind 
seems  to  have  been  perverted  by  the  works  of 
Cardan  and  Pomponatius,  of  which  he  most 
admired  the' least  intelligible  parts  ;  and  the 
philosophy  of  Aristotle  andAverroes,  with  the 
absurdities  of  astrology,  served  to  confirm  bis 
tendency  to  mysticism  and  delusion.  He  en- 
tered into  ecclesiastical  orders,  and  preached  ; 
but  his  discourses  were  in  general  unintelli- 
gible to  his  hearers,  and  very  likely  not  much 
less  so  to  himself.  After  having  resided  for 
some  time  in  his  own  country,  he  travelled, 
with  a  view,  it  is  said,  of  propagating  his  opi- 
nions, and  visited  Germany,  the  Netherlands, 
France,  and  England,  in  which  last  country 
his  theological  disputes  on  the  subject  of  heresy 
subjected  him  to  a  brief  imprisonment.  On 
his  return  to  Italy  he  for  some  time  kept  a 
school  of  philosophy  at  Geneva  ;  but  being 
regarded  with  suspicion,  he  again  visited 
France,  and  lived  partly  at  Paris  and  partlv  at 
Lyons,  where  in  1615  he  published  a  mys- 
tical work,  under  the  title  "  Amphuheatrum 
ajternae  Providentia?,  Divino-Magicuni,  Chris- 
tiano-Physicum,  Astrologico-Catholicum,  ad- 
versus  veteres  Philosophos,  Atheos,  Epicu- 
reos,  Peripateticos,  et  Stoicos,"  which,  al- 
though full  of  extravagance,  exhibited  nothing 
atheistical,  and  was  formally  licensed.  The 
following  year  he  composed  another  work,  ad- 
dressed to  marshal  de  Bassompierre,  entitled 
"  De  Admirandis  Naturje  Regina?  Deaque 
Mortalium  Arcanis,"  which  was  also  printed 
with  a  privilege,  but  subsequently  burnt  by  a 
decree  of  the  Sorbonue.  His  imputed  atheism 
in  this  production  resembled  that  of  some  of 
the  ancient  sects,  which  ascribed  to  the  god- 
dess Nature  the  attributes  of  deity.  On  this 
incident  he  quitted  Paris  and  proceeded  to 
Toulouse,  where  he  professed  to  teach  philo- 
sophy, medicine  and  theology.  .Being,  how- 
ever, suspected  of  inculcating  atheistical  opi- 
nions, he  was  denounced,  prosecuted,  and  con- 
demned to  have  his  tongue  cut  out,  and  to  be 
burnt  to  death,  which  sentence  was  executed 
February  19,  16)9.  At  his  trial,  so  far  from 
denying  the  existence  of  a  God,  he  took  up  a 
straw,  and  said,  that  itobliged  him  to  acknow- 
ledge the  existence  of  one.  Gramont,  pre- 
sident of  the  parliament  of  Toulouse,  gives  an 
evidently  prejudiced  and  sophisticated  account 
of  his  deportment  at  his  death,  where  it 
seems  that,  on  refusing  to  put  out  his  tongue 


VAN 

for  tlie  executioner  to  cut  it  off,  it  was  torn 
from  his  mouth  with  pincers,  such  being  the 
Christianity  of  the  French  district,  which  af- 
terwards got  up  the  tragedy  of  Galas.  He  suf- 
fered this  cruel  punishment  in  the  thirty- 
fourth  year  of  his  age.  Mosheim  remarks  that 
several  learned  and  respectable  writers  regard 
this  unhappy  man  rather  as  the  victim  of  bi- 
gotry and  prejudice  than  as  a  martyr  to  im- 
piety and  atheism,  and  deny  that  his  writings 
were  so  absurd  or  so  impious  as  they  were 
said  to  be.  A  direct  apology  for  Vanini  was 
published  by  a  learned  lawyer,  named  Peter 
Arpe,  and  his  life  has  been  written  in  French 
by  Durand,  and  translated  into  English  in 
i730.  He  was  evidently  a  weak  and  vain  en- 
thusiast, but  his  treatment  was  much  more 
brutally  opposed  to  the  doctrines  of  Chris- ' 
tianity  than  any  tbing  of  which  he  had  him- 
self been  the  author. — Tirabuschi.  Mosheim. 
Life  bit  Durand. 

VANLOO  (JOHN  BAPTIST)  an  eminent 
painter,  was  born  at  Aix  in  1681,  and  distin- 
guished himself  at  an  early  age,  both  in  por- 
trait and  historical  painting.  He  entered  the 
service  of  the  king  of  Sardinia,  who  kept  him 
attached  to  his  household  ;  but  lie  eventually 
gave  up  his  appointment  ami  settled  at  Paris. 
While  in  this  capital  he  was  induced  to  embark 
nearly  the  whole  of  his  property,  which  was 
considerable,  in  Law's  famous  Mississippi  pro- 
ject, the  failure  of  which  reduced  him  to  indi- 
gence. He  had  however  sufficient  perseverance 
to  attempt  the  realization  of  a  second  fortune, 
and  with  that  view  came  over  to  England, 
where  he  soon  grew  into  great  repute  among 
the  nobility,  and  acquired  sufficient  wealth  to 
enable  him  to  return  once  more  with  affluence 
to  his  native  country.  This  artist  possessed 
great  quickness  of  invention,  and  drew  with 
great  facility.  His  touches  were  liajhtand  spi- 
rited, and  he  Lad  a  very  fine  tone  of  colouring, 
his  carnations  approaching  those  of  Rubens. 
]\]ost  of  his  best  pieces  are  to  be  found  in  the 
churches  and  private  collections  of  Paris.  His 
death  took  place  in  1746. — D'Argenville  Vies 
de  Peint.  Walpole's  Anec. 

VANLOO  (CHARLES  AN  DREW)  younger  bro- 
ther by  many  years,  and  pupil  to  the  preceding, 
was  born  in  1704  at  Nice.  Having  acquired  a 
sufficient  familiarity  with  the  rudiments  of 
painting  at  home,  he  went  to  Rome,  and  there 
completed  his  education  in  the  art  under  Lutti. 
Afterwards  settling  at  Paris  he  grew  into  great 
estimation  at  court,  was  created  a  chevalier  of 
the  order  of  St  Michael,  with  the  title  of  first 
portrait  painter  to  the  king,  and  the  appoint- 
ment of  master  of  the  royal  school  of  painting. 
His  branch  was  that  of  history,  in  which  he 
showed  a  lively  and  fertile  imagination,  an  ele- 
gant taste,  and  a  solid  judgment,  with  great 
power  of  pencil,  and  a  sweet  and  brilliant  tone 
of  colouring.  His  principal  performances  are 
in  the  churches  of  Paris,  the  most  admired 
being  his  "  Peter  healing  the  Cripple."  His 
"  Iphigenia  in  Aulis,"  is  also  very  highly  re- 
garded. His  death  took  place  ia  1765. — 
I^KWIS  MICHAEL  VANLOO  and  his  brother, 
CIIARLF«.  AMADEVS  PHILIP,  sous  of  John 


V  A  N 

Baptist,  also  enjoyed  a  considerable  degree 
of  reputation,  the  one  at  Madrid,  the  other  at 
Berlin,  where  they  held  appointments  in  the 
royal  academies. — Ibid. 

VAN-LOON  (GEUARD)  a  Dutch  historian 
and  numismatical  writer,  born  at  Levden  iu 
1683.  He  was  the  author  of  many  learned 
works  in  his  native  language,  including  "  The 
Medallic  History  of  the  Netherlands,  from  the 
Abdication  of  Charles  V  to  the  Peace  of  Ba- 
den, in  1716,"  1723,  4  vols.  folio;  "The 
Ancient  History  of  Holland,"  1732,  2  vols. 
folio;  "Modern  Numismatics,"  1734,  folio; 
"  A  Description  of  the  Ancient  Dutch  Govern- 
ment ;''  in  six  parts,  1744,  8vo  ;  and  he  pub- 
lished an  edition  of  the  rhymed  Pseudo  Chro- 
nicle of  (vlaas  Kolyn,  with  literary  and  histo- 
rical Observations,  Hague,  1745.  folio. — Bi»g. 
Univ. 

VAN-MANDER  (CHARLES)  a  Dutch  poet, 
painter,  and  biographer,  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. He  was  a  native  of  Meulebeke,  boru  in 
1548,  and  having  early  displayed  a  strong  ge- 
nius for  the  fine  arts,  travelled  into  Italy  for 
improvement.  On  his  return  to  his  native 
country  he  settled  at  Haerlem,  and  there 
founded  a  school  of  painting,  to  which  art, 
however,  he  did  not  so  entirely  devote  his 
time  as  to  prevent  his  cultivating  the  belles 
lettres.  Several  dramatic  pieces  of  his  pro- 
duction, both  humorous  and  pathetic,  were 
highly  successful,  while  his  "  Lives  of  the 
Painters  "  afford  a  favourable  specimen  of  his 
talents  for  prose  composition.  As  an  artist  he 
excelled  equally  in  fresco  painting  and  in  oils, 
in  historical  pieces  and  in  landscapes.  His  ce- 
lebrated picture  of  our  first  Parents  in  the 
Garden  of  Eden  is  a  happy  amalgamation  of 
the  two  latter.  His  "  Universal  Deluge  "  is 
also  much  admired.  Vau-Mander  died  in  1605. 
—  Piikington  by  Fuseli. 

VANNI  (FRANCESCO)  an  eminent  artist  of 
the  Italian  school  of  painting,  the  pupil  of  Sa- 
limbeni,  Passerotti,  and  afterwards  of  Da  Vec- 
chia.  He  was  a  native  of  Sienna,  boru  about 
the  year  1563.  To  great  excellence  as  a  pain- 
ter he  added  a  strong  genius  for  mechanics  and 
architecture,  which  latter  he  studied  as  a 
science  with  great  perseverance  and  success. 
Vanni,  whose  paiutings,  executed  chiefly  after 
Corregio  and  F.  Baroche,  are  principally  on 
religious  subjects,  was  held  in  great  esteem 
by  Pope  Clement  VIII,  who  knighted  him, 
and  gave  him  othei  and  more  substantiai 
marks  of  his  favour.  There  is  a  fine  picture 
by  him  in  the  papal  collection,  on  the  subject 
of  Simon  Magus.  His  death  took  place  at 
Rome  early  in  1C  10. — Ibid. 

VANSOMER  (PAUL)  a  portrait  painter,  who 
was  born  at  Antwerp  in  1576.  He  resided  for 
some  time  at  Amsterdam,  and  with  his  brother 
Bernard  practised  his  art  there  with  consider- 
able success.  In  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of 
James  T  he  removed  to  London,  where  he  was 
much  employed ;  and  his  portraits  are  fre- 
quently to  be  found  in  the  collections  of  our 
nobility.  Among  the  portraits  he  executed, 
were  those  of  king  James  and  of  his  queen, 
Anne  of  Denmark.  He  died  in  Januray  162t, 
2  Bi> 


V  A  N 

and  was  interred  in  the  church  or  cemetery  oi 
St  Martin-in-the  fields,  in  which  parish  he 
probably  had  resided. —  Walpote.  Rees's  Cyclop. 
VAN-SW1ETEN  (GERARD)  a  celebrated 
physician,  born  at  Leyden,  May  7,  1700. 
After  studying  at  Louvain,  his  parent?  being 
Catholics,  lie  returned  to  Leyden,  and  became 
the  pupil  of  Boerhaave.  In  1725  he  took  his 
doctor's  degree,  and  published  an  inaugural 
thesis  "  On  the  Structure  and  Use  of  the  Ar- 
teries." He  afterwards  employed  himself  in 
illustrating  the  doctrines  of  his  master,  in  his 
"  Commentaria  in  11.  Boerhaavii  Aphorismis 
de  CognoscendisetCurandis  Morbis,"  of  which 
the  first  volume  appeared  in  1741.  Soon  after 
lie  was  appointed  to  a  medical  professorship 
at  Leyden  ;  but  objections  arising  on  the  score 
of  his  religion,  he  was  obliged  to  resign  his 
office.  The  empress  Maria  Theresa  indemni- 
fied him  abundantly  for  the  injury  he  had  sus- 
tained from  the  illiberality  of  his  enemies,  by 
inviting  him  to  Vienna,  where  in  17-15  he  was 
made  a  professor  in  the  university,  and  after- 
wards first  physician  to  the  empress  and  a 
baron  of  the  empire.  He  was  also  imperial 
librarian,  and  director- general  of  the  study  of 
medicine  in  Austria,  an  office  which  afforded 
him  opportunities  for  inlroducing  many  impor- 
tant improvements  in  the  healing  art.  He  con- 
tinued his  work  on  the  Aphorisms  of  Boer- 
haave, which  was  completed  by  the  publica- 
tion of  the  fifth  volume  in  1772.  These  com- 
mentaries were  reprinted  at  Paris  and  Turin, 
and  they  have  been  translated  into  French  and 
English.  He  enjoyed  the  highest  reputation 
till  his  death,  which  took  place  at  Sclioen- 
brunn,  June  18,  1772  ;  and  he  was  interred 
in  the  Augustine  church  at  Vienna.  He  was 
the  author  of  a  treatise  on  the  Diseases  of  the 
Army  ;  and  of  a  work  on  Epidemics,  the  latter 
of  which  was  published  posthumously,  by  pro- 
fessor Stoll,  1782,  2  vols.  8vo.— Etoy  Diet. 
Hist,  de  la  Med.  Biog.  Univ. 

VANUDEN  (LUCAS)  a  Dutch  painter  and 
engraver  of  the  seventeenth  century,  born  at 
Antwerp  about  the  year  1595.  Pie  assisted 
Rubens  in  putting  in  the  back-grounds  to  his 
paintings,  and  in  his  own  landscapes  was  re- 
markable for  the  delicate  accuracy  with  which 
his  foliage  and  other  objects  are  delineated. 
His  death  took  place  iu  1660,  or  as  others  say 
in  1663.  Some  of  the  etchings  by  this  artist 
are  much  admired. —  D'Argenville.  Pilkington. 

VANVITELLI  or  VAN  VITEL  (CAS- 
PAR) a  painter,  born  at  Utrecht  in  1647.  He 
went  to  Rome  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  and  by 
his  application  to  the  study  of  nature  and  the 
antique,  he  became  eminent  as  a  painter  of 
architecture  and  landscape.  He  visited  Ve- 
nice, Bologna,  Milan,  and  Florence  ;  and  re- 
turning to  Rome,  he  settled  there,  and  was  ad- 
mitted a  Roman  citizen,  and  made  a  member 
of  the  academy  of  St  Luke.  He  died  in  1736. 
— VANVITELLI  (Louis)  son  of  the  preceding, 
one  of  the  most  celebrated  architects  of  modern 
times,  was  born  at  Naples  in  1700.  He  first 
studied  painting,  but  afterwards  applied  him- 
self to  architecture,  under  Ivara.  Cardinal  de 
'tit  Clement  employed  him  to  restore  the  Al- 


V  A  R 

bani  palace,  at  Urbiuo,  where  he  also  ct.ir 
structed  the  churches  of  St  Francis  and  A 
Dominic.  He  was  then  appointed  architer, 
of  St  Peter's  ;  and  though  that  magnificent 
edifice  had  been  previously  completed  as  to 
its  principal  parts,  the  architect  found  ample 
scope  for  the  exercise  of  his  genius,  in  the  ar- 
rangement of  Mosaics  and  other  interior  deco- 
rations. Among  the  buildings  he  erected  at 
Rome,  the  most  considerable  was  the  monas- 
tery of  St  Augustin.  His  reputation  at  length 
induced  the  king  of  Naples,  Charles  III  (after- 
wards king  of  Spain)  to  choose  him  as  the  ar- 
chitect of  his  projected  palace  at  Caserta,  a 
structure  in  grandeur  and  magnificence  not  in- 
ferior to  any  work  of  the  kind  in  Europe.  Van- 
vitelli  left  many  other  monuments  of  his 
talents  in  various  parts  of  Italy  ;  and  after  long 
holding  a  high  station  in  his  profession,  he 
died  at  Caserta  in  1773.  He  published  from 
the  royal  printing-office  at  Naples,  in  1756, 
"  Plans  and  Designs  of  the  Palace  of  Caserta.  : 
— Milizia  Memorie  degli  Architeiti.  Biog. 
Univ. 

V  ARCH  I  (BENEDETTO)  an  eminent  man  of 
letters,  was  born  at  Florence  in  1502,  being 
the  son  of  a  lawyer  of  that  city.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  the  university  of  Padua,  where  he 
made  a  great  progress  in  the  belles  lettres,  but 
was  designed  for  the  law,  which  he  studied 
during  the  life  of  his  father,  and  was  even  ad- 
mitted a  notary.  When  the  decease  of  his 
parents  left  him  at  liberty  to  pursue  his  own 
inclinations,  he  forsook  the  law,  and  devoted 
himself  entirely  to  literature.  He  accordingly 
studied  the  Greek  language  and  philosophy, 
until  driven  from  Florence  by  his  attachment 
to  the  Strozzi.  He  returned  to  Padua,  where 
he  became  a  member  of  the  Academy  degli 
Infiammatti,  and  read  public  lectures  on  morals 
and  literature.  The  grand  duke  of  Tuscany, 
Cosmo  I,  healing  of  his  reputation,  invited  bun 
back  to  Florence,  although  lie  had  opposed 
the  Medici,  and  assigned  to  him  the  office  of 
writing  a  history  of  the  late  revolution.  Whilst 
thus  employed  he  was  attacked  at  night  by 
some  persons,  who  feared  that  his  strictures 
might  be  unfavourable  to  them,  who  stabbed 
him  in  several  places.  He  however  recovered, 
and  had  either  the  prudence  or  the  lenity  not 
to  name  the  parties,  although  he  knew  them. 
Cosmo  recompensed  him  for  his  services  with 
the  provostship  of  Monte  Varchi,  on  which  oc- 
casion he  took  holy  orders  ;  but  before  he  could 
remove  thither  he  was  carried  off  by  an  apo- 
plexy in  1565,  at  the  age  of  sixty-three.  Var- 
chi was  a  man  of  indefatigable  industry,  and 
there  is  scarcely  a  branch  of  literature  which 
he  did  not  cultivate.  His  "  Storia  Fioren- 
tina,"  although  comprising  only  the  period  of 
eleven  years,  is  very  voluminous,  and  is  written 
in  a  diffuse  languid  manner.  It  is  also  charged 
with  gross  adulation  to  the  house  of  Medici. 
Varchi  likewise  wrote  poems  and  a  comedy, 
and  as  a  grammarian  obtained  reputation  by 
liis  dialogue  entitled  "  L'  Ercolano,"  on  the 
Tuscan  language.  His  "  Lezioni  lette  nella 
Academia  Fiorentina,"  display  a  very  multi- 
rarious  erudition;  and  upon  the  whole  Italian 


V  A  R 

literature  was  highly  indebted  to  him. — Mo~ 
reri.     Tirabnschi. 

VARENIUS.  There  were  two  of  this  name, 
AUGUSTUS,  a  learned  Lutheran  divine  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  was  born  at  Lunenburg 
ia  1620.  He  was  celebrated  for  his  familiar 
acquaintance  with  early  Oriental  literature 
and  his  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  which  lie 
is  said  to  have  committed  to  memory  in  the 
original  language.  He  was  also  the  author  of 
a  Commentary  on  the  Prophecies  of  Isaiah, 
in  one  volume,  4to,  and  died  in  1684. — BER- 
NARD VARENIUS,  a  native  of  Holland,  tra- 
velled in  quality  of  physician  to  some  of  his 
countrymen  to  the  Japanese  Islands  and  the 
kingdom  of  Siam,  of  which  countries  he  after- 
wards published  an  account  in  the  Latin  lan- 
guage. He  was  also  the  author  of  a  useful 
work  entitled  "  Geographia  Universalis,"  8vo, 
of  which  there  are  translations  both  in  French 
and  English  ;  the  former  by  Puisieux,  in  4 
vols,  12mo  ;  the  latter  by  sir  Isaac  Newton, 
2  vols.  8vo,  1672.  His  death  took  place  in 
1660. — Kouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

VARGAS  (FuANCis)  a  Spanish  lawyer, 
who  held  several  judicial  offices  under  Charles 
V  and  Philip  II.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Supreme  Council  of  Castile,  and  for  a  long 
time  advocate-fiscal.  The  emperor  in  1548 
sent  him  to  Bologna,  to  protest  against  the 
translation  of  the  Council  of  Trent  to  that 
city;  and  in  1550  he  was  sent  to  Trent  to 
congratulate  the  fathers  of  the  council  on  their 
return  thither.  After  the  dissolution  of  the 
council  he  resided  seven  or  eight  years  in  a 
public  capacity  at  Venice  ;  and  he  was  subse- 
quently envoy  from  Philip  II  at  Rome,  where 
he  was  highly  respected  by  the  pope  and  the 
cardinals.  Towards  the  close  of  his  life  he  re- 
tired to  a  monastery  near  Toledo,  where  he 
died  in  1560.  He  was  the  author  of  a  trea- 
tise "  De  Episcoporum  Jurisdictione  et  Pon- 
tificis  Max.  A uthoritate,"  Venice,  1563,  4to  ; 
and  "  Letters  and  Memoirs  relative  to  the 
Council  of  Trent,"  a  French  translation  of 
which  was  published  by  Levassor,  Amster- 
dam, 1700  and  1720,  8vo. — Moreri.  Aikin. 
Ring.  Univ. 

VARGAS  (Louis  de)  a  Spanish  painter  of 
eminence,  born  at  Seville  in  1502.  He  studied 
at  Rome,  under  Pierino  del  Vaga,  and  after 
fourteen  years'  residence  there,  he  returned  to 
his  native  place,  where  he  acquired  great  re- 
putation. The  first  piece  he  executed,  repre- 
senting "  The  Nativity,"  attracted  much  no- 
tice ;  and  he  afterwards  painted  a  representa- 
tion of  "  The  Temporal  Generation  of  Jesus 
Christ,"  and  many  works  in  fresco,  for  the  ca- 
thedral of  Seville.  His  skill  was  also  dis- 
played as  a  portrait-painter,  and  his  portrait 
of  the  duchess  of  Alcana  has  been  ranked  with 
the  finest  productions  of  Raphael  in  the  same 
department.  His  death  took  place  in  1568. — 
King.  Univ.  Pilkington. 

V ARG AS  Y  PONCE  (don  JOSEPH)  a  Spa- 
nish geographer  and  navigator,  born  at  Seville 
or  Cadiz  about  1755.  lie  had  already  made 
himself  known  by  a  Eulogium  of  King  Al- 
phonso  thf  Wise,  which  the  Royal  Academy 


VA  R 

of  Madrid  had  crowned  and  published  in  l7b-2. 
when  he  was  appointed  an  assistant  to  D. 
Vincent  Tofino  in  the  formation  of  the  "  Atlaa 
of  the  Spanish  Coasts."  He  resided  some 
time  at  Ivifa,  while  engaged  in  this  under- 
taking, which  led  to  the  publication  of  his 
"  Description  of  the  Pityusae  and  Biileares," 
Madrid,  1787,  4to.  He  afterwards  published, 
by  order  of  the  king,  "  An  Account  of  the  last 
Voyage  to  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  made  by 
the  Frigate  Santa  Maria  de  laCabeza,"  1788, 
4to.  Vargas  was  a  member  of  the  Academy 
of  History  ;  and  he  had  become  captain  of  a 
frigate  when  he  quitted  the  service.  He  sat 
as  a  member  of  the  Cortes  after  the  revolution 
of  1820,  and  he  died  at  Madiid  in  1821. — Biog. 
Univ. 

VARIGNON  (PIERRE)  an  eminent  French 
mathematician,  was  born  at  Caen  in  1564.  He 
was  the  son  of  an  architect,  and  was  intended 
for  the  church,  but  early  showed  a  great  fond- 
ness for  mathematical  pursuits,  which,  by  the 
generosity  of  the  abbe  St  Pierre,  who  studied 
at  the  same  college,  he  was  enabled  to  indulge. 
So  much  attached  was  the  latter  to  Varignon, 
that  he  took  him  with  him  to  Paris  in  1686, 
where  the  two  friends  resided  together.  Here 
he  became  acquainted  with  many  other  men  of 
science  and  learning,  and  made  himself  fa- 
vourably known  to  the  public  bv  a  work  enti- 
tled "  Projet  d'une  Nouvelle  Meranique." 
This  work,  which  contained  many  new  ideas, 
procured  for  him  the  offices  of  geometrician  in 
the  Academy  of  Sciences,  and  of  professor  in 
the  college  of  Mazarin.  In  1690  he  published 
"  Nouvelles  Conjectures,  sur  le  Pesanteur;" 
and  when  the  science  of  infinitesimals  was  first 
promulgated,  he  became  one  of  its  most  early 
cultivators.  Although  possessed  of  a  strong 
constitution,  he  brought  on  a  dangerous  illness 
by  intense  study,  which  on  his  recovery  he 
recommenced  with  as  much  ardour  as  ever. 
The  last  two  years  of  his  life  he  was  afflicted 
with  an  asthmatic  complaint,  wliich  carried 
him  off  suddenly,  after  delivering  a  lecture  at 
the  college  of  Mazarin,  on  the  22d  of  Decem- 
ber 1722.  The  private  character  of  Varignon 
was  as  simple  and  amiable  as  his  scientific  one 
was  profound.  Few  mathematicians  have  la- 
boured more  in  the  theory  of  the  mathematics, 
into  which  he  introduced  a  spirit  of  generali- 
zation, while  he  simplified  many  of  its  princi- 
ples, and  resolved  a  number  of  questions  which 
had  not  been  before  touched.  Besides  the 
works  already  mentioned,  he  was  author  of 
"  Nouvelle  Mecanique  ou  Statique,"  an  en- 
largement of  his  first  work,  1725,  2  vols.  4to  ; 
"  Un  Traite  du  Mouvement  et  de  la  Mesure  des 
Eaux  Conrantes,"  1725,  4to  ;  "  Eclaircisse- 
ment  sur  1'Analyse  des  Jnfiniment-petits,"  4to  ; 
and  "  Des  Cahiers  de  Mathematiques."  He 
also  wrote  a  strange  work  for  a  mathematician, 
to  prove  the  possibility  of  the  real  presence 
in  the  Eucharist.  His  Memoirs  in  the  Aca- 
demy of  Sciences  are  extremely  numerous.— 
Kicercm.  Mutton's  Math.  Diet. 

VAR1LLAS  (ANTONY)  a  French  historian, 
was  born  in  1624  at  Gueret,  in  the  Upper  Ln 
Marche,  wh^re  his  father  was  an  attorney  of 


V  A  R 

the  presidential  court.  After  being  employed 
as  a  domestic  tutor  in  his  native  province,  he 
Ciimc  to  Paris,  and  was  patronized  by  Ciaston 
duke  of  Orleans,  who  gave  him  the  title  of  his 
historiographer.  In  1655  he  obtained  a  place 
in  the  royal  library,  where  he  prosecuted  his 
historical  studies  with  great  assiduity.  He  was 
a  pleasing  writer  as  regards  style,  but  was 
more  solicitous  to  please  the  genera!  reader 
by  the  ease  and  vivacity  of  his  narrative,  than 
by  the  accuracy  of  his  relations,  which  has  ul- 
timately rendered  his  historical  productions 
of  little  or  no  value.  He  was  however  at 
first  successful,  and  obtained  a  pension  from 
Colbert,  of  which  he  was  subsequently  de- 
prived ;  but  he  obtained  another  from  fhe 
French  clergy,  for  a  work  entitled,  "  Histoire 
des  Revolutions  arrivees  eu  P^urope  en  Ma- 
tiere  de  Religion,"  a  party  performance,  which 
produced  a  severe  critique  from  bishop  Hurnet ; 
and  the  numerous  mistakes  and  falsifications 
in  which  have  been  ab!y  exposed  by  Hayle 
and  others.  With  the  exception  of  the  fore- 
going work,  his  writings  relats  chiefly  to 
French  and  Spanish  affairs  ;  but  as  they  are 
seldom  at  present  either  read  or  quoted,  it 
would  be  useless  to  enumerate  their  titles.  He 
died  in  1696. — Huet  de  Rebus  $nis,  AWv. 
Diet.  Hist. 

VARIN,  or  WARIN  (JOHN)  an  engraver 
of  medals,  who  was  a  native  of  Liege,  and 
being  the  son  of  an  attendant  of  the  count  de 
Rockefort,  he  was  admitted  very  young  among 
the  pages  of  that  prince.  At  his  leisure  he 
cultivated  the  art  of  drawing,  and  having  ac- 
quired great  skill,  he  devoted  himself  to  en- 
graving of  medals,  in  which  art  lie  made  many 
improvements.  In  1635  he  executed  the  seal 
for  the  then  newly-founded  French  Academy, 
and  soon  after  he  was  appointed  to  the  direc- 
tion of  the  mint,  to  which  was  afterwards 
added  the  office  of  intendant  of  the  crown 
buildings,  lie  practised  the  art  of  statuary, 
and  was  one  of  the  first  members  of  the  aca- 
demy of  painting  and  sculpture.  He  executed 
the  statue  of  Louis  XIV  in  marble,  besides 
two  busts  of  that  prince  in  marble  and  bronze, 
of  colossal  proportions ;  and  he  had  under- 
taken a  medallic  history  of  his  reign,  when  he 
died,  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight,  in  169V2. —  I'er- 
ranlt.  Ring.  Unit). 

VARIN  (JOSEPH)  an  eminent  French  en- 
graver, born  at  Chalons-sur-Marne  in  1740. 
lie  studied  his  ait  first  under  his  father,  who 
had  founded  at  Chalons,  in  1755,  a  gratuitous 
school  of  design  ;  and  he  afterwards  went  to 
Paris,  where  he  was  protected  by  count  de 
Caylus  and  other  amateurs.  He  first  devoted 
himself  to  engraving  maps  and  archil ectural 
designs,  and  in  conjunction  wiih  St.  Aubm  he 
executed  the  plates  for  blondel's  "Treatise  of 
Architecture,"  4to.  lu  1766  he  was  employed 
with  his  brother,  who  was  also  an  engraver,  to 
transfer  to  copper  plates  the  designs  of  Mo- 
reauand  Blaremberghe,  representing  the  fetes 
which  took  place  atRheims,  on  the  inaugura- 
tion of  the  pedestrian  statute  of  Louis  XV. 
He  subsequently  made  engravings  for  the 
"  Voyage  pittoresque  de  Naples  tide  Sicile," 


V  A  II 

of  St  Non  ;  the  "  Voyage  en  Grece  "  of 
Choiseul-Gouffier  ;  the  "Tableau  de  1'Km- 
pire  Othomau  "  of  d'Ohsson  ;  and  various 
other  works.  The  Revolution  deprived  this 
able  and  industrious  artist  of  his  property  ; 
and  he  died  November  6,  1800. —  ft''»g  Univ, 

VAROLI  (CONSTANZO)  a  Bolognese  sur- 
geon of  the  sixteenth  century,  celebrated  as 
one  of  the  first  anatomists  of  the  age  in  which 
lie  lived.  He  was  born  about  the  year  1542, 
and  having  distinguished  himself  by  the  suc- 
cess of  his  practice,  especially  in  his  opera- 
tions for  the  stone,  came  to  Home,  where  he 
read  lectures  to  a  numerous  assemblage  of  pu- 
pils both  in  surgery  and  medicine.  His  repu- 
tation at  length  induced  pope  Gregory  XIII  to 
make  him  first  physician  to  the  papal  court. 
He  was  the  author  of  a  valuable  treatise  on 
the  optic  nerves,  and  of  another  on  the  con- 
struction of  the  human  frame.  Varoli  died 
in  the  prime  of  life  in  1575. — Etoy  Diet,  llist 
de  ta  Med. 

VARRO  (MARCUS  TERENTIUS)  usually 
considered  as  the  most  learned  of  the  ancient 
Romans,  was  born  BC.  118.  He  early  served 
his  country  in  various  considerable  posts,  and 
at  first  joined  the  party  of  Pompey  in  the  civil 
j  war  against  Cffisar,  but  soon  submitted  to  the 
latter  ;  by  whom  he  was  so  much  esteemed, 
that  when  that  eminent  leader  adopted  the  de- 
sign of  forming  a  public  library  at  Rome,  he 
fixed  upon  Varro  as  the  person  to  whom  the 
collection  of  books  should  be  confided.  The 
death  of  Cassar  interrupted  this  design,  and 
Varro  was  involved  in  the  proscriptions  of  the 
triumvirate,  from  which  he  escaped  with  life, 
but  with  the  loss  and  dispersion  of  his  valuable 
library.  On  the  restoiation  of  tranquillity  he 
devoted  himself  to  his  studies  in  retirement, 
continuing  to  compose  books  so  late  as  his 
eighty-eighth  year.  He  survived  to  the  age 
of  ninety,  dying  about  BC.  27.  The  prose 
writings  of  Varro  were  exceedingly  numerous 
and  treated  of  various  topics  in  antiquities, 
chronology,  geography,  natural  and  civil  his 
tory,  philosophy,  and  criticism.  He  was  be- 
sides a  poet  of  some  note,  and  wrote  in  every 
kind  of  verse.  Of  his  works  however  there 
only  remain  three  books  "  De  Re  Rustica,  ' 
five  "  De  Lingua  Latina,"  which  he  addressed 
to  Cicero,  who  in  his  turn  dedicated  hi* 
Tusculan  Questions  to  Varro ;  some  frag- 
ments of  his  "  Menippean  Satires  ;"  and  a 
few  of  his  epigrams.  His  whole  works,  with 
the  notes  of  Scaliger,  Turnebus,  &c.  weie 
printed  by  Henry  Stephens,  1573,  8vo,  arid 
again  in  1581.  The  work  "  De  Re  Rustica" 
is  scarcely  worthy  the  very  high  reputation  of 
Varro,  being  filled  with  much  trite  matter 
and  many  absurdities,  but  it  is  still  amusing, 
as  giving  a  notion  of  the  agriculture  of  his  day, 
and  the  method  of  laying  out  gardens  and 
providing  for  the  luxuries  of  the  table  among 
the  Romans.  A  good  translation  of  this  work 
appeared  in  1800,  8vo,  by  the  rev.  T.  Owen, 
of  Queen's  college,  Oxford. —  Vossii  Poet.  Lot. 
Bracket:  Sa.iii  Oiiom. 

VARRO    (ATACINI/S)    a  contemporary  of 
the  preceding,  and  sometimes  confounded  with 


V  A  S 

him,  was  a  native  of  Atace,  in  the  Narbon- 
nensian  Gaul.  He  wrote  an  esteemed  poem, 
entitled  "  De  BelloSequanico," and  also  trans- 
lated into  Latin  verse  the  Argonautics  of  Apol- 
lonius  Rhodius,  which  is  liberally  commended 
by  Quintillian.  A  few  fragments  of  his  poetry 
are  to  be  found  in  the  Corpus  Poetarum  Latino- 
rum. —  Fossi  Poet.et  Hist.  Lat.  Tiraboschi, 

VARTAN,  Vertabied,  or  Armenian  Doc- 
tor, one  of  the  most  learned  writers  Ar- 
menia has  ever  produced.  He  flourished  in 
the  thirteenth  century  of  the  Christian  era; 
and  lie  was  the  author  of  a  "  History  of  Ar- 
menia, from  the  commencement  of  the  world 
to  AD.  1267  ;  "  Fables,"  partly  original  and 
partly  from  yEsop  ;  "  Poems;"  "  Commenta- 
ries on  the  Old  Testament ;"  "  Homilies  ;" 
and  various  other  works.  The  Armenian  His- 
tory of  Vartan  is  preserved  in  MS.  in  the  li- 
brary of  the  Armenian  convent  at  Venice,  but 
it  has  never  been  printed.  The  fables  were 
published,  with  a  French  translation,  by  J.  M. 
St  Martin,  Paris,  1825,  Svo. — Biog.  Univ. 

VASARI  (GEORGE)  a  Florentine  artist  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  eminent  as  a  painter, 
architect,  and  author.  He  was  born  in  1512, 
or  as  others  aver  in  1514,  at  Arezzo,  in  the 
dominions  of  the  grand  duke,  and  at  first 
studied  the  art  of  painting  on  glass  under  the 
celebrated  William  of  Marseilles.  This  branch 
of  the  profession  he  afterwards  abandoned  for 
the  higher  department,  and  became  the  pupil 
cf  Andrea  del  Sarto,  and  afterwards  of  Michael 
Angelo,  while  his  progress  in  classical  learning 
was  so  far  from  being  neglected,  that  he  is 
said  to  have  been  able  to  repeat  the  entire 
yEneid  before  he  had  attained  his  tenth  year. 
Those  munificent  patrons  of  the  arts,  the  Me- 
dici family,  gave  him  great  encouragement, 
and  the  literary  work  by  which  he  is  princi- 
pally known  as  an  author,  "  The  Lives  of  the 
most  excellent  Painters,  Sculptors,  Architects, 
&c."  Florence,  1550,  2  vols.  4to,  was  written 
at  the  instigation  and  under  the  auspices  of  the 
cardinal  of  that  name.  A  second  edition  of 
this  treatise  appeared  in  1568,  4to,  3  vols.  a 
third  in  1571,  and  a  fourth  at  Rome  as  late  as 
1758,  in  7  vols.  His  death  took  place  in  1574. 
His  nephew  of  the  same  name  printed  a 
treatise  on  painting,  Florence,  1619,  in  4to. — 
rt/oreri.  Tiraboschi.  Duppa's  Life  of  Mich. 
Angela. 

VASE  (JOSEPH)  an  engraver  and  designer 
of  antiquities,  born  in  Sicily  in  1710.  He 
settled  at  Rome,  where  he  passed  the  greater 
part  of  his  life,  employing  himself  in  the  pro- 
duction of  various  works,  which  procured  iiim 
the  title  of  a  knight  of  the  golden  spur.  He 
was  particularly  patronized  hy  pope  Benedict 
XIV  and  Charles  111  of  Naples  ;  and  he  pub- 
lished a  collection  of  the  finest  public  mouu- 
imnts  of  Home,  including  buildings,  gardens, 
fountains,  &c.  1761,  10  vols.  folio,  with  de- 
scriptions by  father  Bianchini.  This  was  fol- 
lowed by  his  "  Tesoro  Sacro,"  exhibiting  the 
Roman  basilics,  churches,  cemeteries,  sanc- 
tuaries, &c.  2  vols.  and  in  1777  he  published 
'•  Itinerario  istruttivo  di  Roma  nella  Pittura, 
Scultura,  e  Arcliitettura,  &c."  of  which  there 


V  A  T 

is  an  abridgment  in  16mo,  often  repriuted. 
Vasi  died  at  Rome,  April  16,  1782.  J.  B.  Pi- 
rauesi  was  one  of  his  pupils. — Bivg.  Univ. 

VA.SSALLI-EANDI  (ANTON-MARIA)  a 
learned  Piedmontese,  born  at  Turin  in  17fij. 
He  was  educated  under  his  uncle,  who  was  a 
professor  at  the  university  of  Turin,  and  in 
1779  he  was  elected  to  a  place  at  the  royal 
college  of  the  provinces,  where  he  studied  phi- 
losophy under  the  celebrated  father  Beccaria. 
In  1785,  having  become  a  priest,  he  was  sent 
as  professor  of  philosophy  to  Tortona,  and  he 
published  in  1786  a  botanical  dissertation, 
which  procured  him  the  acquaintance  of  Se- 
nebier,  Saussure,  Toaldo,  and  Volta.  In  1792 
he  was  called  to  Turin,  where  he  was  made 
supplementary  professor  of  physics.  After  the 
overthrow  of  the  Sardinian  monarchy  by  the 
French,  Vassalli  continued  his  labours  as  a 
public  teacher,  and  he  was  sent  to  Paris  in 
1799,  as  a  member  of  the  commission  for  the 
reformation  of  weights  and  measures.  After 
the  battle  of  Marengo,  in  1800,  he  returned  to 
Turin,  where  he  was  appointed  professor  of 
physics.  He  became  a  member  of  the  Legis- 
lative Consulta,  and  in  1805  he  received  from 
Buonaparte  the  cross  of  the  legion  of  honour. 
On  the  return  of  the  king  of  Sardinia  to  his 
territories  in  1814,  Vassalli  was  displaced  from 
his  chair,  retaining  however  the  title  of  hono- 
rary professor,  and  that  of  perpetual  secretary 
of  the  Academy  of  Sciences.  In  1819  he  ob- 
tained a  salary  as  director  of  the  Museum  of 
Natural  History  and  of  the  Observatory.  He 
ciied  July  5,  1825.  Among  the  works  he  pub- 
lished are  a  memoir  "  On  the  Affinities  of  the 
Gases  ;"  "  Physicae  Elementa  et  Geometric, " 
3  vols.  8vo  ;  "  Letters  on  Galvanism  ;"  besides 
memoirs  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  of  Turin 
from  1792  to  1809  ;  annals  of  the  Observa- 
tory from  1809  to  1818;  and  meteorological 
observations  from  1757  to  1817. — Bwg.  Univ. 

VASSOR  (MICHAEL  le)  a  French  writer  of 
singular  character,  was  born  at  Orleans  in 
1648.  He  was  a  member  of  the  congregation 
of  the  Oratory,  where  he  distinguished  him- 
self as  much  by  eccentricities  as  by  his  learn- 
ing. In  1690  he  forsook  the  Catholic  com- 
munion, and  removed  to  Holland,  whence  he 
was  invited  to  England,  and  obtained  a  pen- 
sion from  William  III.  He  died  here  iu  1713, 
aged  seventy.  He  wrote  a  theological  treatise 
and  paraphrases  of  the  Gospels  and  Epistles, 
but  his  principal  work  is  a  history  of  Europe 
during  the  reign  of  Louis  XIII,  in  20vols.l2mo, 
and  7  vols.  4to. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

VATABLUS,  the  assumed  name  of  Fran- 
cis Gastlebled,  a  native  of  Gamache  in  Pi- 
cardy,  distinguished  as  an  eminent  biblical 
scholar  in  the  earlier  moiety  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  Francis  I  made  him  professor  of 
Hebrew  in  the  Royal  College  at  Paris,  where 
the  learning  and  ingenuity  he  displayed  pro- 
cured him  many  pupils,  especially  among  the 
Hebrew  nation  itself.  Robert  Stephens  hav- 
ing procured  a  surreptitious  copy  of  his  lec- 
tures, digested  them  into  a  series  of  annota- 
tions which  he  affixed  to  the  version  of  the 
Bible  by  Leo  Suda,  15-15.  The  publication 


V  A  T 

of  this  commentary  caused  much  discussion, 
and  almost  a  schism  in  the  church  ;  the  doc- 
tors of  the  Sorbonne  condemning  it  as  impious 
and  heretical,  while  its  orthodoxy  was  as  j 
strenuously  maintained  by  the  university  of 
Salamanca.  The  best  edition  of  these  notes 
is  that  of  1729,  folio,  2  vols.  Yatablus  was 
afterwards  engaged  in  Marot's  version  of  the 

f      O 

Psalms,  and  in  translating  some  of  the  works 
of  Aristotle.  He  died  in  1547. — Dupin. 

YA'l'ER  (Ann A ii AM)  an  eminent  physi- 
cian, the  son  of  Christian  Vater,  professor  of 
medicine  at  Wittemberg,  and  author  of  some 
works  on  medicine  and  philosophy,  who  died 
in  17:32.  The  subject  of  this  article  was  born 
at  Wittemberg  in  1684,  and  in  1710  he  was 
nominated  to  the  first  medical  chair  in  that 
university.  He  travelled  for  improvement  in 
Germany,  Holland,  and  England  ;  and  on  his 
return  to  Wittemberg  he  exchanged  his  profes- 
sorship for  that  of  botany  and  anatomy,  which 
king  Augustus  II  endowed  with  royal  magni- 
ficence. He  formed  an  anatomical  cabinet, 
and  he  had  the  honour  of  first  introducing 
into  Germany  inoculation  for  the  small-pox. 
His  death  took  place  November  18,  1751. 
His  works,  which  are  written  in  Latin,  relate 
to  the  structure  of  the  lungs,  the  secretion  of 
the  nervous  fluid,  the  gravid  uterus,  calculous 
diseases,  &c.  besides  a  description  of  his 
anatomical  museum,  a  system  of  physiology 
and  some  tracts  on  botany. — Biog.  Univ. 

VATER  ( JOHN SEVERINUS)  a  distinguished 
writer  on  philological  literature,  born  at  Alten- 
burgh  in  Saxony,  in  1771.  II«  was  appointed 
professor  at  the  university  of  Jena  in  1798, 
and  the  following  year  he  obtained  the  chair  of 
the  Oriental  languages  at  Halle.  He  removed 
in  1810  to  Konigsberg,  where  he  was  made 
professor  of  theology  ;  but  in  1820  his  literary 
projects  recalled  him  to  Halle,  and  he  resumed 
liis  office  as  Oriental  professor,  which  he  re- 
tained till  his  death  in  March,  1826.  Pro- 
fessor Vater  was  the  editor  and  continuator  of 
Adelung's  treatise  on  languages,  entitled 
"  Mithridates  ;"  besides  which  lie  published 
"  Synchronistic  Tables  of  Ecclesiastical  His- 
tory ;"  "  General  Archives  of  Ethnography 
and  Linguistic  Science  ;"  "  Linguarum  totius 
Orbis  Index  Alphabeticus  ;"  "  An  Universal 
Chronological  History  of  the  Christian  Church, 
from  the  Reformation  to  our  own  Time  ;"  and 
many  other  works,  for  which  we  must  refer  to 
our  authority. — Id. 

VATTEL,  or  WATTEL  (EMF.R  de)  an 
eminent  publicist,  was  the  son  of  a  clergyman 
of  Neufchatel,  where  he  was  born  April  25, 
1714.  After  completing  his  studies  he  went 
to  Berlin,  and  subsequently  to  Dresden,  where 
lie  was  introduced  to  the  king  of  Poland, 
elector  of  Saxony,  who  received  him  with 
great  kindness,  and  some  years  after  he  was 
appointed  privy  counsellor  to  the  elector.  He 
was  residing  at  Dresden  in  1765,  when  his 
health  began  to  decline,  and  he  sought  relief 
from  the  air  of  his  native  country,  but  the 
removal  proved  ineffectual,  and  he  died  at 
Neufchatel  in  1767,  in  the  fifty  third  year  of 
his  a^e.  He  owed  his  early  literary  rcputa- 


V  A  II 

tion  to  works  which  are  little  known  in  thi« 
country,  namely,  "  A  Defence  of  the  Philo- 
sophy of  Leibnitz  against  M.  de  Crousaz," 
published  in  1741 ,  and  "  Pieces  Diverses  de 
Morale  et  d'Amusement,"  Paris,  1746.  His 
grand  work  did  not  appear  until  1758,  when 
it  was  published  at  Neufchatel,  under  the  title 
of"  Droits  des  Gens,  ou  Principes  de  la  Loi 
naturelle,  &c."  It  was  translated  into  most  of 
the  leading  modern  lauguages,  including  the 
English,  in  which  it  is  entitled  "  The  Law  of 
Nations,  or  Principles  of  the  Law  of  Nature 
applied  to  the  Conduct  and  Affairs  of  Nations 
and  Sovereigns,"  1760,  4to,  and  1793,  8vo. 
This  work  was  particularly  admired  in  Eng- 
land, from  the  predilection  of  the  author  for 
English  authorities,  while  several  of  the  max- 
ims of  Pulfendorf  and  Grotius,  who  too  often 
adapted  their  opinions  to  the  states  in  which 
they  lived,  are  forcibly  refuted.  In  general 
Vattel  takes  the  celebrated  Saxon  philosopher 
Wolff  for  his  guide  ;  but  he  differed  with  him 
in  some  points,  in  relation  to  which  he  pub- 
lished in  1762,  "  Questions  sur  le  Droit  Na- 
ture!, et  Observations  sur  le  Traite  du  Droit  de 
la  Nature  de  M.  le  Baron  de  Wolff."  The 
authority  of  this  able  writer  since  his  death 
has  rather  increased  than  diminished. — Nouv. 
Diet.  Hist.  Biog.  TJniv, 

VATTIER  (PETER)  a  learned  Orientalist, 
born  at  Lisieux  in  Normandy,  in  1623.  Having 
studied  medicine  and  taken  the  degree  of  doc- 
tor in  that  faculty,  he  settled  at  Paris,  and  be- 
came physician  to  Gaston  duke  of  Orleans. 
In  1658  he  obtained  the  professorship  of  Ara- 
bic at  the  college  de  France,  and  he  held  it 
till  his  death  in  1667.  He  published  an 
abridgment  of  the  Mahometan  history,  1657, 
4to  ;  the  History  of  Tamerlane  the  Great, 
1658, 4to  ;  a  poitraiture  of  Tamerlane  the  Great, 
with  a  sequel,  4to  ;  besides  the  Logic  of  Avi- 
cenna,  from  the  Arabic,  and  other  translations 
from  the  same  language. — Moreri.  Biog. 
Univ. 

VAUBAN  (SEBASTIAN  LE  PRESTRE,  seig- 
neur de)  marshal  of  France,  and  the  greatest 
engineer  which  that  country  has  produced, 
was  the  son  of  Urban,  seigneur  de  Vauban,  a 
descendant  of  an  ancient  and  noble  family  of 
Nivernois.  He  was  born  May  1,  1633,  and 
early  entered  the  army,  where  his  uncommon 
talents  and  genius  for  fortification  soon  became 
known,  and  were  signally  displayed  in  various 
successive  sieges.  He  consequently  rose  to 
the  highest  military  rank  by  his  merit  and 
services,  and  was  made  governor  of  the  citadel 
of  Lisle  in  1668,  and  commissioner- general  of 
fortifications  in  1678.  He  took  Luxemburgh 
in  1684,  and  was  present  in  1688  at  the  sieges 
a-nd  capture  of  Pliilipsburg,  Manheim,  and 
Frankendal,  under  the  dauphin.  He  was 
made  marshal  of  France  in  1703,  and  died  at 
Pans  March  30,  1707,  aged  seventy-four. 
Marshal  de  Vauban  was  a  man  of  high  and 
independent  spirit,  of  great  humanity,  and  al- 
together devoted  to  the  good  of  his  country. 
As  an  engineer  he  carried  the  art  of  fortifying, 
attacking,  and  defending  towns,  to  a  degree  of 
perfection  unknown  before  his  time.  He  for- 


V  A  U 

tified  above  tliree  hundred  ancient  citadels, 
erected  thirty-three  new  ones,  had  the  prin- 
cipal management  and  direction  of  fifty-three 
sieges,  and  was  present  at  a  hundred  and 
forty-three  engagements.  His  works  consist  of 
a  treatise  entitled  "  La  Dixme  Royale,"  1704, 
4to  and  12mo  ;  a  plan  for  a  consolidation  of 
the  taxes  ;  and  a  vast  collection  of  ftlSS.  iu 
twelve  volumes,  which  he  calls  "  Mes  Oisi- 
vetes, "which  contain  his  ideas,  reflections,  and 
projects  for  the  advantage  of  France.  The  fol- 
lowing works  have  also  been  published  either 
under  his  name  or  avowedly  from  his  ideas  : 
"  Maniere  de  Fortifier  par  M.  de  Vanban.mise 
en  ordre  par  le  Chevalier  de  Cambrai,"  1689  and 
1692;  "  I.'Ing£nieur  Francais,"  with  notes 
by  Herbert ;  "  Nouveau  Traite  de  1'Attaque  et 
'de  la  Defense  des  Places,  suivant  le  Systeme 
de  M.  Yauban,"  1736  ;  "  Essais  sur  la  Forti- 
fications, par  M.  de  Vauban,"  1746.  —  Eloge 
par  Fontenelle.  Nouv  Diet.  Hist. 

VAUGELAS  (CLAUDE  FAVRE  de)  an  ele- 
gant Frencli  writer,  born  in  1585,  at  Cliam- 
berry,  of  an  ancient  and  respectable  family, 
long  settled  iu  that  neighbourhood.  He  held 
a  situation  in  the  household  of  the  duke  of  Or- 
leans, and  had  acquired  so  high  a  character  as 
a  critic  and  philologist,  that  cardinal  Riche- 
lieu, in  his  favourite  design  of  forming  a  com- 
plete dictionary  of  the  French  tongue,  thought 
it  advisable  to  put  the  whole  project  under  his 
superintendence.  His  services  on  this  occa- 
sion were  requited  by  the  payment  of  the  ar- 
rears of  a  pension  which  had  been  withheld 
from  him,  a  cheap  recompence,  arising  from 
his  own  property  ;  hut  the  lasting  reputation 
which  he  acquired  by  the  work,  formed  per- 
haps his  best  reward.  He  was  the  author  of 
a  valuable  treatise,  entitled  "  Remarks  on  the 
French  Language,"  in  one  quarto  volume,  and 
of  a  singularly  faithful  as  well  as  elegant 
translation  of  "  Quintus  Curtius'  Life  of 
Alexander  the  Great,"  which  latter  work, 
owing  to  his  fastidious  nicety  in  composition, 
is  said  to  have  occupied  him  nearly  thirty 
years,  in  which  time  it  was  more  than  once 
nearly  rewritten.  His  death  took  place  about 
the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century. — 
Kiceron.  Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

VAUGHAN  (sir  JOHN)  a  learned  chief- 
justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  was  born  in 
Cardiganshire  in  1608,  and  educated  at  Wor- 
cester school,  whence  he  removed  to  Christ- 
church,  Oxford,  and  next  to  the  Inner  Temple, 
where  he  contracted  an  intimacy  with  Selden, 
who  made  him  one  of  his  executors.  During 
the  civil  war  he  lived  in  retirement,  but  at 
the  Restoration  he  was  elected  member  of 
parliament  for  the  county  of  Cardigan,  and  in 
1668  made  chief  justice  of  the  Common  Pleas. 
He  died  in  1674.  Sir  John  Vaughan's  "  Re- 
ports and  Arguments  "  in  the  Common  Pleas 
are  all  special  cases,  and  ably  reported.  They 
were  first  printed  in  1677,  and  again  in 
1706  by  his  son  Edward  Vaughan. — Bridg- 
man's  Legal  Bibliography. 

VAUGIIAN  (HENRY)  commonly  known  by 
his  assumed  name  of  the  Silurist,  adopted  that 
appellation  somewhat  affectedly,  from  the  place 


V  A  V 

of  his  nativity,  Newton  in  Brecknockshire,  a 
county  forming  part  of  the  ancient  kingdom 
oe  the  Silures.  He  was  born  in  1621,  and 
studied  at  Jesus  college,  Oxford,  in  which 
his  brother,  Thomas  Vaughan,  also  held  a  fel- 
lowship. He  afterwards  settled  in  his  native 
province,  and  practised  medicine  there,  al- 
though he  appears  never  to  have  giaduated 
either  in  physic  or  in  arts.  His  writings  con 
sist  of  "  The  Mount  of  Olives,"  a  poem  , 
"  Thalia  Rediviva  ;"  "  Olor  Iscanus  ;"  and 
"  Silex  Scintillans,  or  the.  Bleeding  Heart." 
His  death  took  place  in  1695. — The  THOMAS 
VAUGHAN  before  alluded  to,  is  known  as  the 
author  of  some  absurd  treatises  on  Alchymy 
and  Judicial  Astrology,  to  which  he  was  de- 
voted, though  a  clergyman,  and  a  man  of  talent 
as  well  as  learning.  He  had  however  sufficient 
sense  not  to  give  them  to  the  world  under  his 
own  name,  but  under  the  fictitious  one  of  Eu- 
genius  Philalethes.  They  are  now  deservedly 
forgotten.  He  died  rector  of  St  Bridget's  in 
Brecknockshire,  in  1666. — Athen.  Oion.  vol.  ii. 

VAUGH  AN  (WiLLiAM)an ingenious  Welsh 
poet,  descended  of  a  highly  respectable  family 
in  Carmarthenshire,  the  seat  of  which  was 
known  by  the  name  of  Golden  Grove,  was 
born  in  1577,  and  having  gone  through  the 
usual  course  of  academical  education  at  Jesus 
college,  Oxford,  the  favourite  college  of  the 
principality,  graduated  in  that  university  as 
LLD.  He  was  the  author  of  a  variety  of  mis- 
cellaneous poems,  the  principal  of  which  are 
entitled  "  De  Sphserarum  Ordiue  ;"  "  The 
Golden  Fleece,"  4to  ;  "  The  Golden  Grove 
moralized,"  &c.  and  of  a  metrical  version  of 
the  Psalms  and  Solomon's  Song.  Some  time 
previously  to  his  decease  he  quitted  England  for 
Newfoundland,  where  he  remained  till  his 
death  in  1640. — Ibid.  vol.  i. 

VAUVENARGUES(Luc  DE  CLAPIERS, 
marquis  de)  a  French  writer  of  eminence  on 
moral  philosophy.  He  was  born  at  Aix  in 
Provence,  in  1715  ;  and  at  the  age  of  seven- 
teen he  entered  into  the  army  as  a  sub-lieute- 
nant, and  served  in  Italy,  in  the  campaign  of 
1734.  He  was  again  employed  in  Germany 
in  1741,  when  the  fatigues  he  underwent 
ruined  his  health,  and  obliged  him  to  retire 
from  the  service.  He  afterwards  endeavoured 
to  obtain  a  diplomatic  employment,  but  he 
was  disappointed  ;  and  he  passed  the  remain- 
der of  his  life  in  study,  the  fruit  of  which  ap- 
peared in  his  "  Introduction  a  la  Connaissance 
de  1'Esprit  Humain,"  which  he  published  in 
1746.  His  death  took  place  the  following 
year,  in  which  a  new  edition,  corrected  and 
enlarged,  from  the  papers  he  had  left  behind 
him,  was  published  by  the  abb£s  Trublet  ami 
Seguy.  This  work  has  been  several  times  re- 
printed with  additions  ;  and  in  1818  appeared 
a  supplementary  volume  of  the  writings 
of  Vauvenargues,  containing  "  Dialogues," 
"  Pensees  Diverses,"  "  Paradoxes,"  "  Re- 
flexions et  Maximes,"  "Characteres,"  "Eloge 
de  Louis  XV,"  &c.  This  Supplement  is  in- 
cluded in  a  complete  edition  of  his  works, 
published  at  Paris,  1821,  3  vols.  8vo. — Nouv. 

Diet.  Uht,     Bwg.  Univ. 


V  A  U 

VAUVILL1ERS  (JEAN  FRANCOIS).  There 
were  two  learneii  I'rench  professors  of  this 
name,  father  and  son,  the  elder  of  whom  read 
lectures  on  eloquence  and  Greek  in  the  uni- 
versity of  Paris,  with  considerahle  reputation, 
about  the  beginning  of  the  last  century.  A 
treatise  written  by  him,  on  the  excellence  of 
Greek  literatuie,  gives  a  favourable  specimen 
both  of  his  taste  and  scholarship. — The  son, 
born  in  1736,  was  educated  under  his  father, 
and  in  1778  himself  succeeded  to  the  profes- 
sor's chair.  This  situation  he  rilled  with  great 
ability  till  the  Revolution,  when  becoming  ob- 
noxious to  thf3  prevailing  faction,  on  account  of 
lii.s  aristocratical  principles,  he  fled  to  Russia, 
lie  published  some  clever  essays  on  the  writings 
and  genius  of  Pindar  and  Horace  ;  "  An  His- 
torical Examination  of  the  Government  of 
Sparta  ;"  and  a  "  Selection  from  the  Works  of 
various  ancient  Greek  Authors,,  for  the  Use 
of  the  Military  School,"  in  six  duodecimo  vo- 
lumes. His  death  took  place  at  St  Petersburg 
in  1800. — Biog.  Moderne. 

VAUX.  The  name  of  a  noble  English  fa- 
mily, originally  of  French  extraction,  which 
during  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries 
was  possessed  of  considerable  property  in  the 
county  of  Northampton,  where  was  situated 
their  family  seat  of  Harrowden. — NICHOLAS, 
first  lord  VAUX,  was  the  son  of  sirWilliamVaux, 
and  himself  received  the  honour  of  knighthood 
for  his  gallantry  at  the  battle  of  Stoke  in  1487. 
He  ranked  deservedly  high  in  the  favour  of 
Henry  VIII,  who  carried  him  will)  him  into 
France,  where  he  was  present  at  the  cele- 
brated meeting  between  that  king  and  the 
French  monarch  in  the  "  field  of  cloth  of 
gold  ;"  and  was  afterwards  ennobled.  His 
death  took  place  in  1530. — His  sou,  THOMAS 
lord  VAUX,  who  inherited  the  talents  and 
valour  of  his  father,  and  succeeded  him  in  the 
esteem  of  his  prince,  was  born  in  1510.  He 
attended  Henry  on  his  second  French  expedi- 
tion, and  was  made  governor  of  Jersey,  with 
the  collar  of  the  order  of  the  Bath.  Like 
many  of  the  young  nobility  of  the  age,  he 
joined  the  cultivation  of  poetry  to  the  study 
of  martial  exercises  ;  and  several  of  his  poetic 
effusions  are  yet  to  be  found  in  The  Paradyse 
of  daintie  Devyces,  of  which  his  "  Aged 
Lover's  Renunciation  of  Love,"  and  "  The 
Assault  of  Cupid, ;I  have  been  much  admired. 
His  death  vook  place  soon  after  the  accession 
of  Mary  to  the  throne. — The  noble  French  fa- 
mily, with  which  the  one  above  mentioned  is 
supposed  to  have  been  collaterally  connected, 
was  long  settled  in  the  vicinity  of  Gevaudan  : 
NOEL  JORDAN  DE  VAUX,  one  of  its  most  emi- 
nent members,  distinguished  himself  by  along 
course  of  military  service  in  the  wars  of  the 
last  century.  He  was  born  about  the  year 
1705,  and  having  entered  the  French  army  at 
an  early  age,  rose  in  it  eventually  to  the  rank 
of  a  general  and  marshal  cf  France.  In  the 
course  of  his  long  life,  which  was  extended  to 
the  commencement  of  the  Revolution,  he  was 
present  at  fourteen  pitched  battles  and  nine- 
teen sieges,  in  one  of  the  latter  of  which,  that 
of  Bergen  op-Zoom,  he  received  aseverewound 


v  i-;  G 

from  the  bursting  of  a  bomb- shell  ;  among  ths 
former  may  be  reckoned  those  of  Guastalla, 
Parma,  Fontenoy,  and  Rocroix.  He  was  a 
good  officer,  but  a  severe  disciplinarian,  which 
occasioned  some  charges  of  cruelty  to  be  exhi- 
bited against  him  while  governor  of  Corsica, 
of  which  island  he  completed  the  reduc- 
tion in  1769.  On  inquiry,  however,  he  sa- 
tisfied his  government  that  the  severity  he 
had  used  was  justified  by  circumstances.  He 
died  in  the  autumn  of  1788  in  the  province  of 
Dauphine,  whither  he  had  been  despatched  i 
quiet  some  local  manifestations  of  popuUr 
discontent. —  Walpole's  Royal  and  NobleAuthon. 
Biog.  Univ. 

VAVASSEUR(FnAN9ois)  a  French  critic, 
poet,  and  philologist,  born  at  Paray  in  the 
bishopric  of  Autun,  in  1605.  He  receive^ 
his  edjcation  in  the  Jesuits'  college,  and  hav- 
ing become  a  member  of  that  fraternity,  read 
lectures  on  eloquence  and  the  polite  arts,  both 
in  the  provinces  and  capital,  till  at  length  set- 
tling entirely  at  Paris,  he  devoted  his  attention 
principally  to  the  instruction  of  youth  in  theo- 
logy and  classical  literature.  A  work  of  his, 
entitled  "  Ue  Ludicra  Dictione,"  exhibits  to- 
kens of  deep  erudition  and  great  antiquarian 
research  ;  its  main  object  being  to  prove  that 
the  humour  of  the  ancients  never  showed  itself 
in  the  burlesque  style  of  composition.  This 
treatise  first  appeared  at  Paris  in  1658.  Ilia 
second  production,  "  De  Epigrammate,"  in- 
volved him  in  a  controversy  with  Rapin,  a 
brother  of  his  own  order,  who  held  that  species 
of  writing  in  great  contempt.  His  other  writ- 
ings, all  of  which  were  collected  and  printed 
by  Le  Clerc  at  Amsterdam  in  1709,  consist  of 
Poems  on  the  Miracles,  the  Book  of  Job,  FJe- 
gies,  Epigrams,  &c.  Father  Vavasseur  died 
at  Paris  about  the  close  of  1681. — Nouv.  Diet. 
Hist. 

VEG  A  (  LOPEZ  de  la)  or  LOPE  FELIX  DE 
VEGA  CARPIO,  a  celebrated  Spanish  poet, 
was  born  at  Madrid,  November  25,  1562.  He 
studied  four  years  in  the  university  of  Alcala, 
and  afterwards  became  private  secretary  to  the 
duke  of  Alva  and  to  the  count  de  Lemos.  He 
also  spent  some  time  in  travel,  and  with  some 
of  his  brothers  served  in  a  military  capacity 
in  the  armada,  designed  by  Philip  II  for  the 
conquest  of  England,  being  driven  to  a  change 
of  scene  by  the  grief  which  he  indulged  at  the 
death  of  his  wife.  He  lost  a  brother  in  this 
disastrous  expedition,  which  possibly  height- 
ened his  indignation  against  sir  Francis  Drake, 
on  whose  death  he  wrote  a  poem,  entitled 
"  Dragontea,"  in  which  both  that  commander 
and  his  royal  mistress  are  treated  with  much 
virulence.  In  1520  he  returned  to  Madrid, 
and  married  a  second  time  ;  and  for  the  next 
eight  or  ten  years  exercised  himself  in  every 
species  of  poetical  composition,  including  the 
drama,  with  such  an  astonishing  celerity  of 
production,  that  his  mental  fertility,  without 
ample  authority,  would  be  scarcely  credible. 
He  was  then  a  second  time  plunged  into  af- 
fliction, by  the  deatli  of  his  second  wife  and 
only  son,  which  induced  him  to  take  orders, 
and  he  also  became  an  honorary  member  of  the 


VEG 

brotherhood  of  St  Francis.  This  step  by  no 
means  turned  his  attention  from  composition. 
He  seldom  passed  a  week  without  giving  some 
poem  to  the  press,  and  scarcely  a  month,  or 
even  a  week,  without  producing  some  play 
upon  the  stage.  At  the  same  time  his  "  Pas- 
tores  de  Belen,"  a  work  in  prose  and  verse, 
on  the  nativity  ;  and  rhymes,  hymns,  and 
poems  without  number  on  sacred  subject.0, 
evinced  his  zeal  in  the  profession  which  he  had 
latterly  embraced.  Few  poets  have  met  with 
the  encouragement  or  admiration  which  was 
experienced  by  Lope  de  Vega.  Besides  the 
honours  and  rich  presents  which  he  received  in 
liis  own  country,  pope  Urban  VIII  wrote  him 
a  flattering  letter  on  the  production  of  his 
poem  on  the  death  of  Mary  queen  of  Scots,  ob- 
tained him  the  insignia  of  a  knight  of  Malta  and 
conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of  doctor  of  theo- 
logy. His  annual  income  was  therefore  large, 
and  he  might  have  been  very  rich  but  for  his 
improvident  and  indiscriminate  charity.  His 
imprudence  in  this  respect  produced  incon- 
veniences, which  he  had  the  unreasonable 
weakness  to  attribute  to  ill-usage  and  neglect, 
while  living  in  the  highest  state  of  splendour 
and  prosperity,  and  absolutely  regarded  as 
the  idol  of  the  whole  nation.  He  continued 
to  publish  plays  and  poems,  and  to  receive 
every  remuneration  that  adulation  and  gene- 
rosity can  bestow,  until  1635,  when  his  ill- 
judged  religious  austerities  rendered  him  me- 
liincholy  and  hypochondriacal,  and  at  length 
led  to  his  decease  on  the  26th  of  August,  in 
that  year,  at  the  age  of  seventy-three.  Such 
was  the  honour  paid  to  his  remains,  that  the 
ceremonies  of  his  funeral  lasted  nine  days,  aud 
all  the  pulpits  cf  Spain,  and  all  the  poets  of 
the  age,  vied  in  eulogistic  tributes  to  his  me- 
mory. Lope  de  Vega  is  with  some  justice 
regarded  as  the  parent  of  the  modern  conti- 
nental drama,  by  the  inexhaustible  fertility  of 
his  invention  in  the  construction  of  plots,  and 
the  faculty  of  pouring  out  verse  without  stint 
or  premeditation.  In  other  respects  the  de- 
luge of  his  fancy  seems  to  have  been  composed 
of  but  very  ordinary  matter,  which  can  readily 
be,  imagined  when  it  is  added,  that  his  miscel- 
laneous works  in  prose  aud  verse  are  contained 
in  22  vois.  4to,  Madrid,  1776 — 9,  and  his  dra- 
matic pieces  in  25  vols.  4to,  1609 — 1647. 
Lord  Holland,  in  his  able  and  interesting  ac- 
count of  his  life,  regards  this  Spanish  literary 
prodigy  as  one  of  the  men  who  merit  honour 
for  having  promoted  literature  by  their  labours, 
and  prepared  the  way  for  others  to  eclipse 
their  own  reputation. — Life  by  Lord  Holland. 

VEGA  (GEORGE,  baron  de)  an  Austrian 
officer  of  artillery,  born  at  Sagoritz  in  Car- 
niola,  in  1754.  He  studied  at  the  college  of 
Laybach,  where  he  made  a  rapid  progress  in 
mathematics.  Being  appointed  an  engineer 
in  Carniola,  and  afterwards  in  Hungary,  he 
became  known  as  a  man  of  talent  in  his  pro- 
fession, and  was  patronized  by  the  emperor 
Joseph  II.  He  served  in  several  campaigns 
against  the  French,  and  having  distinguished 
himself  on  many  occasions,  especially  in  1796, 
he  was  made  a  major,  and  afterwards  a  lieu- 


V  E  L 

tenant- colonel,  knight  of  the  order  of  Maii.j 
Theresa,  and  a  baron  of  the  empire.  His 
death  took  place  in  September  1 802.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  academies  of  Gottingen,  Er- 
furt, Berlin,  aud  several  others,  and  he  was 
considered  as  a  mathematician  of  the  first  rank. 
He  published  "  A  Course  of  Mathematics,  tor 
the  Use  of  the  Artillery  of  the  Imperial  Army," 
Vienna,  1786—1800,  4  vols.  4to,  3d  edit. 
1802,  folio  ;  "A  Logarithmo-  trigonometrical 
Manual,"  Leipsic,  1793,  4to  ;  "  A  Complete 
Collection  of  grand  Logarithmo- trigonome- 
trical Tables,"  1794,  folio  ;  "  Manuale  Loga- 
rithmico-trigonometricum,"  1800,  4to  ;  "  An 
Introduction  to  Chronology,"  Vienna,  1801, 
8vo  ;  and  "  A  natural  System  of  Measures, 
Weights,  and  Coins,"  1803,  4to. — Bing.  Unii\ 

VEGKTIUS  RENATUS  (FLAVIUS)  the 
most  celebrated  of  the  Roman  writers  on  the 
military  art,  flourished  towards  the  end  of  the 
fourth  century,  in  the  reign  of  the  emperor 
Valentinian  II.  The  title  of  illustrious  joined 
to  his  name  in  some  MSS.  of  his  treatise  "  De 
Re  Militari  Lib  v."  proves  that  he  belonged 
to  a  family  of  distinguished  rank  ;  and  some 
authors  have  given  him  the  title  of  count.  He 
is  supposed  to  have  been  an  inhabitant  of  Con- 
stantinople, but  nothing  certain  is  known  of 
his  history.  The  work  of  Vegetius  is  to  be 
found  in  various  editions  of  the  Veteres  de 
Ke  llilitari  Scriptores  ;  and  it  has  been  often 
printed  separately.  Among  the  best  editions 
are  those  of  Schwebel,  Nuremberg,  1767, 
4to ;  and  Strasburg,  1806,  8vo.  (See  art. 
TURPIN  DE  CRISSE.) — PUBLIUS  VFGETIUS, 
who,  notwithstanding  the  difference  of  pras- 
nomen,  has  been  carelessly  confounded  with 
the  military  tactician,  was  a  writer  on  farriery. 
His  work,  entitled  "  Artis  Veterinarian  sive 
.Mulo-medicinas  Lib.  iv."  was  first  printed  at 
Basil  in  15528  ;  but  the  best  edition  is  that 
of  J.  M.  Gesner,  Manheim,  1781,  8vo.  This 
treatise  likewise  is  included  in  the  Scrip- 
tores  Rei  Rustics. — Moreri.  Bio*.  Univ. 

VELASQUEZ,  or  DON  DIEGO  VF.LASQUKZ 
de  SILVA,  an  eminent  Spanish  history  and 
portrait  painter,  was  born  at  Seville  in"  1594. 
He  studied  under  Herrera  and  Pacheco,  and 
his  first  efforts  were  employed  in  familiar  and 
domestic  subjects,  until  the  sight  of  some  of 
the  pictures  of  the  Italian  masters  inspired  him 
with  loftier  ideas.  He  was  in  particular 
charmed  with  the  colouring  of  Caravaggio, 
whom  he  began  to  make  his  model,  and  his 
success  in  that  style  equalled  his  most  sanguine 
expectation.  Having  spent  five  years  with 
Pacheco,  he  repaired  to  Madrid,  where  he  ob- 
tained the  patronage  of  the  duke  d'Olivan  z, 
who  introduced  him  to  Philip  IV,  by  whom  he 
was  appointed  his  principal  painter.  While 
in  that  situation,  Rubens  arrived  at  Madrid, 
and  recommended  him  to  spend  some  time  in 
Italy,  which  advice  he  followed,  and  acquired 
such  an  improvement  in  taste,  correctness, 
composition,  and  colouring,  as  placed  him  at 
the  head  of  his  profession.  On  his  return  to 
Spain  he  was  received  with  the  most  flatter- 
ing distinction,  and  he  was  some  time  after 
employed  by  the  king  to  make  the  tour  of 


V  E  L 

huly,  and  procure  the  best  collection  of  pic- 
tures and  statues  tliat  were  to  be  bought,  and 
to  copy  such  as  were  unpurchaseable.  Dur- 
ing this  progress  he  visited  Rome,  where  lip- 
was  employed  on  the  portraits  of  pope  Inno- 
cent X,  and  most  of  the  cardinals.  The  com- 
positions of  Velasquez  are  remarkable  for 
strong  expression,  freedom  of  pencil,  and  an 
admirable  tone  of  colouring.  His  most  cele- 
brated picture  is  the  historical  representation 
of  the  expulsion  of  the  Moors  by  Philip  III. 
He  died  at  Madrid  in  1660,  in  his  sixty-sixth 
year,  and  was  interred  with  great  magnificence. 
— Cumberland's  Anec.  of  Painters  in  Spain. 

VELDE   (CHARLES   FRANCIS  VANDER)  a 
native  of  Breslau,  who  occupied  several  offices 
of  the  magistracy  in  Silesia,  and  distinguished 
himself  by  his  literary  productions.     He  com- 
menced  his  career   as  an  author  in  1809,  by 
inserting  some  pieces  in  periodical  works.    At 
the   same  time   he  wrote  for  the  theatres  of 
Breslau,    Vienna,    Prague,   and   Magdeburg ; 
but  his  dramatic  efforts  not  proving  very  suc- 
cessful, he  devoted  himself  to  the  composition 
of  romances,  in  which  he   attained  such   ex-  ] 
cellence,  that  he  received   the  appellation  of 
the    German  Walter  Scott.     From    the  year ; 
1817    he   was  employed    in    writing   for    the; 
"  Evening  Journal,"  to  which  paper  he  owed 
much   of  his    celebrity.     He  died   in    March  ; 
182-1.     His  works  were  published  at  Dresden,  ' 
1823,  14  vols.  8vo.     The  following  have  been 
translated  into   French  :   "  Naddock   le  Noir, 
ou    le     Brigand    des      Pyrenees,"     3    vols.  ; 
"  Wlaska,  ou  Jes   Amazones  de  Boheme,"  3 
vols.  ;     "  Les    Anabaptistes  ;"    "  Les    Patri- 
ciens  ;"  and  "  Arwed  Gyllenstierna,''  2  vols. 
Biug.  Uiiiv. 

VELEZ  DE  GUEVARA  (Louis)  a 
Spanish  comic  poet  and  satirist  of  the  seven 
teentli  century,  was  born  at  Icijain  Andalusia. 
He  recommended  himself  at  the  court  of  Phi- 
lip IV  by  his  humour  and  vivacity,  which  ob- 
tained for  him  the  title  of  the  Spanish  Scarron. 
He  was  the  author  of  several  comedies,  and 
of  a  humorous  piece,  entitled  "  El  Diablo 
Cojuelo,  novella  de  la  otra  Veda,"  Madrid, 
16-11,  which  production  was  the  origin  of  the 
celebrated  Diable  Boiteaux  of  Le  Sage, 
translated  into  English  under  the  strange  title 
of  the  "  Devil  on  two  Sticks."  The  piquancy 
and  spirit  of  the  latter  work  it  is  unnecessary 
to  point  out,  but  it  is  said  that  Le  Sage  has 
exceedingly  improved  on  the  Spanish  original. 
Velez  died  at  Madrid  iu  1646. — Antonio  Bibl. 
Hispan. 

VELEZ  (MICHAEL)  a  poet  of  Csokona- 
killa,  in  Hungary,  who  died  in  1806.  He  was 
the  author  of  a  heroi-comic  poem,  in  four 
bo  >ks,  entitled  "  Dorothea,  or  the  Triumph 
of  the  Ladies  at  the  Carnival,"  published  in 
1804.  In  the  preface,  which,  as  well  as  the 
pot  m,  is  written  in  the  Hungarian  language, 
Velez  treats  of  the  nature  of  heroic  poetry,  a 
branch  of  literature  which  had  scarcely  occu- 
pied the  attention  of  any  previous  Hungarian 
writer,  lie  als  >  published,  in  1805,  a  collec- 
tion of  songs,  which  obtained  great  popularity. 
— Aikin's  Alhunenm. 


\  M  1. 

VELLI,   or   VELLY    (PAUL   F 
French  Jesuit  of  the  last  century,  born  in  171  I, 
at    Nismes,  in   the   province  of    Champagne. 

He  is  advantageously  known  as   the    author  of 

O  J 

a  "  History  of  Fiance,"  of  which  eight  quarto 
volumes  were  completed  prior  to  his  deceive, 
after  which  event  it  was  continued  by  VilUret 
and  Gamier,  who  extended  it  to  fifteen.  The 
work  is  written  in  a  plain  but  energetic  style, 
and  the  facts  are  given  with  every  appearance 
of  accuracy  and  impartiality.  Velli  quitted 
the  order  to  which  he  had  belonged  some  time 
before  his  death,  and  acted  as  tutor  in  the  fa- 
mily of  a  counsellor  to  the  parliament  of  Pari.i. 
He  died  September  4,  1759. — Nouv.  Diet.  Ui.-t. 

VELLUTl  (DONATO)  the  author  of  a  cele- 
brated Chronicle  of  Florence,  born  in  that  city 
in  1313.  He  was  educated  at  Bologna  and 
Florence,  and  having  studied  jurisprudence,  he 
acquired  great  reputation  as  a  law\er.  The 
duke  of  Athens  having  usurped  the  supreme 
power  at  Florence,  placed  Velluti  at  the  head 
of  the  magistracy,  called  priori  di  liberta,  anil 
appointed  him  advocate  of  the  poor.  The  duke 
being  expelled,  new  judicial  arrangements 
were  made,  in  which  Donato  co-operated  ; 
and  the  remainder  of  his  life  was  devoted  to 
his  profession  as  an  advocate,  and  to  the  exe- 
cution of  his  duty  in  several  important  situa- 
tions. In  1350  he  became  gonfalonier  of  jus- 
tice, in  which  high  post  he  exerted  himself  to 
settle  the  disputes  which  existed  among  the 
Florentine  nobility,  an^  was  otherwise  ser- 
viceable to  his  native  country.  At  the  age  of 
fifty  four,  when  prevented  by  the  gout  from 
more  active  employment,  he  undertook  the 
composition  of  his  Chronicle  ;  and  three  years 
after  he  died,  in  1370.  The  best  edition  of 
the  work  of  Velluti  is  that  published  by  Dom. 
Maria  Manni,  under  the  title  of  "  Cronico  di 
Firenze  di  Donatto  Velluti,  dall'  anno  1300, 
in  circa  fino  al  1370,"  Florence,  1731,  4to. — 
Bing.  Univ. 

VELSER  or  WELSER  (MARK)  a  man  of 
letters  and  an  eminent  patron  of  learning,  was 
born  at  Augsburg  in  1558,  of  an  ancient  and 
opulent  family  in  that  city.  He  was  educated 
with  great  care,  and  sent  to  Rome  to  study, 
under  the  celebrated  Muretus.  Returning  to 
his  native  place,  he  practised  at  the  bar,  and 
rose  through  different  grades  of  the  magistracy 
to  the  highest  rank  in  the  municipal  govern- 
ment of  his  native  place.  He  held  a  corre- 
spondence with  the  most  eminent  men  of  let- 
ters throughout  Europe,  and  was  looked  upon 
as  one  of  the  most  distinguished  promoters  of 
science  and  literature  in  Germany.  He  was 
also  the  author  and  editor  of  several  works, 
the  principal  of  his  own  writing  being  "  Rerum 
Augustanarum  Vindelicarum  Lib.  viii."  Venet. 
1594,  and  "  Rerum  Boicarum  Lib.  v."  Aug. 
Vinci.  1602.  He  likewise  composed  the  lives 
of  some  martyrs  of  Augsburg,  and  was  one  of 
the  principal  contributors  to  Gruter's  Collec- 
tion of  Inscriptions.  He  has  by  some  too  been 
deemed  the  author  of  the  famous  "  Squittinio 
de  la  Liberia  Veneta."  The  writings  of  Vel- 
ser  were  collected  in  a  folio  volume,  Nurem 
berg,  1681. — Freheri  Theat.  Bayle, 


YEN 

VELTHEIM  (AUGUSTUS  FERDINAND,  j 
count)  member  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Lou-  | 
don  and  that  of  Helmstadt,  was  bora  in  the 
duchy  of  Magdeburg  in  1741.  Having  shown 
a  taste  for  the  study  of  mineralogy  when 
young,  he  was  placed  at  the  university  of 
Helmstadt  ;  and  in  1762,  having  a  situation  ' 
in  the  chamber  of  finance  at  Brunswick,  he 
travelled  with  his  father  through  Germany,  to 
visit  the  mines  and  salt-works.  On  his  return 
in  1766  he  was  appointed  sub-inspector  of 
mines  in  the  Hartz  mountains.  This  situation 
he  relinquished  iu  1779,  on  the  death  of  his 
wife,  and  retired  to  the  castle  of  Harbke,  in 
the  territory  of  Magdeburg,  where  he  conti- 
nued chiefly  to  reside  the  remainder  of  his  life. 
He  published  many  works  on  mineralogy  and 
othei  subjects,  among  which  are  "  Regulations 
against  Fires,"  Helmstadt,  1794,  4to;  a  trea- 
tise on  the  Barberini  or  Portland  Vase,"  1791, 
8vo  ;  "  On  the  Formation  of  Basalt,  and  the 
Ancient  State  of  the  Mountains  in  Germany  ;" 
"  Mineralogy,"  Brunswick,  1781,  folio;  and 
a  work  on  the  Forest  Trees  of  North  America, 
which  he  had  cultivated  in  his  park  at  Harbke. 
He  printed  at  Helmstadt  a  collective  edition 
of  his  works,  historical,  archaeological,  and 
mineralogical,  in  2  vols.  8vo.  In  1798  he  was 
nominated  deputy  of  the  duchy  of  Magdeburg, 
to  do  homage  to  the  king  of  Prussia,  Frederick 
William  111,  who  raised  him  to  the  rank  of  a 
count.  He  died  at  Brunswick,  October  2, 
1801. — Biog.  Univ. 

VENANTIUS  FORTUN  ATUS  (HoNORios 
CLEMENTIANUS)  a  Christian  poet  of  the  sixth 
century.  He  was  born  at  Trivigi  in  Italy,  and 
studied  at  Ravenna,  where  he  distinguished 
himself  in  the  meagre  acquirements  of  the  pe- 
riod. On  the  invasion  of  the  Lombards  he 
quitted  his  country  for  France,  and  was  or- 
dained a  priest  at  Poictiers  about  the  year  565, 
and  afterwards  elected  bishop  of  ihat  see.  He 
was  much  esteemed  by  Sigebert,  king  of  Aus- 
trasia,  and  by  Gregory  of  Tours  ;  and  he  is 
supposed  to  have  died  in  the  beginning  of  the 
seventh  century.  The  writings  of  Venantius 
are  for  the  most  part  in  verse  ;  the  Life  of  St 
Martin  of  Tcurs  consists  of  four  books  ;  and 
there  are  eleven  of  miscellaneous  poetry,  chiefly 
on  ecclesiastical  subjects.  One,  however,  is 
exclusively  filled  with  pieces  addressed  to 
queen  Radegonda  ;  two  or  three  of  which,  says 
a  French  writer,  may  be  termed  "  very  preity 
msidriijals."  His  prose  writings  are  principal!) 
lives  of  saints.  His  works  were  republished 
at  Rome  in  1786 — 87,  in  2  vols.  4to. — Nouv. 
Diet.  Hist.  Tiraboschi. 

VENDOME  (Louis  JOSEPH,  duke  of)  a 
distinguished  French  general,  who  was  the 
great-grandson  of  Henry  IV,  and  his  mother 
was  one  of  the  nieces  of  cardinal  Mazarin.  He 
was  bom  in  1654,  and  entering  young  into  the 
army,  he  served  in  the  wars  of  Louis  XIV  in 
Holland.  After  signalizing  himself  on  many 
occasions,  he  was  employed  in  Spain,  and  in 
1697  he  took  Barcelona.  Being  afterwards 
sent  into  Italy,  he  was  very  successful  against 
the  imperialists,  defeating  prince  Eugene  in 
1706  at  the  battle  of  Cassano,  and  having 


YEN 

nearly  made  himself  master  of  Turin,  when  ha 
was  recalled  to  oppose  the  English  and  their 
allies  in  the  Netherlands.  He  was  subse- 
quently again  sent  to  Spain,  to  support  the 
cause  of  Philip  V,  to  whose  establishment  on 
the  Spanish  throne  he  greatly  contributed  by 
the  victory  of  Villaviciosa  iu  1710;  and  in 
reward  of  his  services  he  was  admitted  to  the 
honours  of  a  prince  of  the  blood  royal,  being 
descended  from  one  of  the  illegitimate  sons  of 
Henry  IV.  He  died  at  Tignaros  iu  Spain, 
June  11,  17  ];?.  Vendome  possessed  un- 
doubted military  talents  and  a  vast  deal  of  cou- 
rage ;  but  his  manners  were  brutal  and  repul- 
sive, and  his  character  highly  deserving  of  re- 
probation.— Diet.  Hist.  Bing.  Univ. 

VENEL  (GABIUEL  FRANCIS)  an  eminent 
French  physician  of  the  last  century,  who  filled 
the  professor's  chair  in  medicine  at  Montpel- 
lier  for  several  years  with  great  reputation. 
He  was  born  in  1723  at  Pezenas,  and  is  now 
principally  known  by  his  writings  on  the  re- 
spective properties  of  the  mineral  waters  of 
Seltz,  Passi,  &c.  He  also  wrote  on  the  use 
of  the  Houille  or  Pitcoal.  His  death  took  place 
at  Montpellier  in  1776. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

VENERONI  (JOHN)  a  native  of  Verdun, 
whose  proper  name  was  Vigneron.  Havino- 
engaged  in  the  profession  of  an  Italian  master 
at  Paris,  he  adopted  the  name  by  which  he 
is  usually  designated,  that  he  might  pass  for  a 
native  of  Florence.  He  published  an  Italian 
Grammar  and  an  Italian  and  French  Dic- 
tionary, which  obtained  the  approbation  of  the 
Cruscan  Academy  ;  and  he  likewise  produced 
some  translations  of  Italian  authors.  He  was 
also  the  author  of  "  Dictionnaire  Manuel,  en 
quatre  Langues,  Francais,  Italien,  Allemand, 
et  Russe,"  Moscou,  1771,  8vo.  The  Gram- 
mar of  Veneroni  is  still  held  in  estimation,  but 
his  Italian  Dictionary  has  been  superseded  by 
that  of  Alberti.  He  held  the  office  of  secre- 
tary-interpreter to  the  king.  Neither  the  pe- 
riod of  his  birth  nor  that  of  his  death  can  be 
ascertained  ;  but  from  the  dates  of  his  publi- 
cations it  appears  that  he  lived  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  seventeenth  and  the  beginning  of 
the  eighteenth  centuries. — Biog.  Univ. 

VEN  EZIA  NO.  The  name  of  two  eminent 
artists,  assigned  to  them  on  account  of  the 
country  which  produced  them.  DOMENICO 
VENEZIANO  was  an  early  painter  of  great  me- 
rit, and  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  who  in- 
troduced oil  painting  into  Italy.  He  was  bar- 
barously assassinated  about  the  middle  of  the 
fifteenth  century  by  his  friend  and  pupil,  An- 
drea del  Castagno,  whom  he  had  initiated  in 
his  secret,  and  who  murdered  him  that  he 
might  himself  become  its  sole  possessor. —  A 
celebrated  Italian  engraver,  whose  family  name 
was  AGOSTINO  DE  Musis,  is  also  known  by 
this  appellation.  He  studied  the  art  under  the 
celebrated  Raimondi,  and  produced  many  ex- 
cellent prints,  most  of  which  are  now  ex- 
tremely rare  and  valuable.  His  death  took 
place  iu  1540  at  Rome.— D'Argenuitle  Vies  de 
Peint. 

VENIUS,  or  VAN  VEEN  (Oxno)  a  Dutch 
painte-rof  eminence,  was  bom  in  1556,  of  a 


VEN 

considerable  family  in  Leyden.  lie  was  care 
fully  educated  in  the  belles  lettres,  and  stu- 
died design  under  Isaac  Nicholas.  He  subse- 
quently repaired  to  Liege  and  to  Rome,  where 
he  perfected  himself  in  his  profession,  and 
especially  in  chiar-oscuro,  and  became  the  first 
who  explained  to  the  Flemish  artists  the  prin- 
ciples of  lights  aud  shadows,  which  his  dis- 
ciple Rubens  afterwards  carried  to  so  high  a 
degree  of  perfection,  lie  was  much  pa- 
tronized by  the  archduke  Albert,  governor  ol 
the  Low  Countries,  who  made  him  master  ol 
the  Mint.  He  drew  the  full-length  portrait  of 
this  prince  and  the  infanta  Isabella,  to  be  sent 
to  James  I  of  Great  Britain.  To  show  his  ac- 
quisitions in  polite  learning,  he  published  se- 
veral treatises,  with  cuts  of  his  own  designing, 
among  which  are"  Horatii  Emblemata,"  1607, 
4to  ;  "  Anioris  Divini  Emblemata,"  1615,  4to; 
"  Amorum  Emblemata,"  1608;  "  Batavorum 
cum  Romauis  Bellum,"  1612,  4to,  &c.  He 
died  at  Brussels  in  his  seventy-eighth  year. — 
]S  Argeniille  Vies  des  Peint. 

VENNER,  MD.  (TOBIAS)  an  English  phy- 
sician of  great  eminence  in  his  profession  dur- 
ing the  earlier  moiety  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. He  was  a  native  of  the  village  of  North 
Petherton,  Somerset,  where  he  was  born  about 
the  year  1577.  Having  prosecuted  his  studies 
with  great  success  at  St  Alban-hall,  Oxford,  he 
visited  the  continent  for  the  purpose  of  ex- 
tending his  medical  inquiries  in  various  foreign 
hospitals  and  universities,  and  in  one  of  the 
latter  took  his  degree  as  doctor  of  physic  in 
1613.  On  his  return  to  England  he  com- 
menced practice  at  Bridgewater,  in  his  native 
county,  whence,  as  his  reputation  increased, 
he  removed  to  Bath,  and  died  in  that  city  in 
1660.  His  treatise  "  On  the  Prolongation  of 
Life  "  was  long  a  very  popular  work.  His 
other  writings  consist  of  a  tract  on  the  pro- 
perties of  the  Bath  water ;  another  on  that  of 
St  Vincent's  rocks,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Bristol,  which  he  condemns  as  unsalutary  ; 
and  a  third  on  "  Fumigation  by  Tobacco." — 
Athen.  Oxoii. 

VENTENAT  (STEPHEN  PF.TER)  a  cele- 
brated French  botanist,  bom  at  Limoges, 
March  1,  1757.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  en- 
tered into  the  order  of  the  canons  regular  of 
St  Genevieve,  and  having  distinguished  him- 
self by  his  progress  in  philosophical  and  theo- 
logical studies,  his  superiors  wished  him  to  be- 
come a  preacher;  but  he  preferred  the  culti- 
vation of  science,  and  with  that  view  he  pro- 
cured a  situation  in  the  library  of  his  convent. 
In  1788  being  sent  to  England  to  procure 
books,  his  notice  was  attracted  by  many 
beautiful  works  on  plants,  and  his  subsequent 
visits  to  some  of  the  finest  gardens  in  Eng- 
land gave  him  a  decided  predilection  for 
botany,  to  the  study  of  which  he  determined 
to  devote  himself  on  his  return  to  France.  In 
1792  lie  combated  the  theory  of  Hedwig,  on 
the  fructification  of  mosses,  in  his  "  Disserta- 
tion sur  les  Parties  des  Mousses  qui  out  etc 
regardees  comme  Fleurs  males  et  Fleurs  fe- 
niflles,"  8vo  ;  and  three  years  after  appeared 
a  "  Memoire  sur  les  meilleurs  Moyens  de  dis- 


V  EN 

tinguer  le  Calice  de  la  Corolla."  In  1796  lie 
gave  a  course  of  lectures  on  botany  ;it  tin- 
Lyceum,  which  he  afterwards  published.  He 
was  appointed  subsequently  chief  librarian  of 
the  Pantheon,  and  a  member  of  the  Institute  ; 
and  in  1799  he  published  "  Tableau  du  Regne 
Vegetal,"  4  vols.  8vo,  which  is  a  translation 
of  the  "  Procmium  "  of  the  "  Genera  Plan- 
tarum"  of  Jussieu,  with  additions.  The  chief 
merit  of  Ventenat  lay  in  descriptive  botany, 
and  he  belonged  to  the  class  of  botanists 
termed  by  Linnsus  Iconographers.  Among 
his  works  of  this  kind  are  "  Description  des 
Plantesnouvelles,  ou  peu  connues,  du  Jardin 
de  J.  M.  Cels,"  Paris,  1800,  folio  ;  "  Le  Jar- 
din  de  la  Malmaison,"  2  vols.  folio;  "  Le 
Choix  de  Plantes,"  folio  ;  and  "  Decas  Gene- 
rum  Novorum,"  folio.  During  the  prevalence 
of  revolutionary  principles,  Ventenat  followed 
the  example  of  many  of  his  brother  canons  in 
taking  a  wife.  His  death  took  place  at  Paris, 
August  13,  1808.  He  was  the  author  of  many 
interesting  memoirs  in  the  Transactions  of  the 
Institute,  the  Botanical  Annals  of  Usteri,  and 
the  Magasin  Encyclopedique. — Journ,  de  Bti- 
tanique.  Ri°g-  Univ. 

VENTURI  (PoMPEio)  an  Italian  critic, 
who  was  a  native  of  Sienna,  and  entered  intc 
the  society  of  the  Jesuits  in  1711.  He  taught 
philosophy  at  Florence,  and  afterwards  rhe- 
toric successively  at  Sienna,  Prato,  Florence, 
and  at  Rome,  till  1746.  In  consequence  of 
ill  health  he  then  retired  to  Ancona,  where  he 
died  in  1752.  His  commentary  on  Dante,  first 
printed  at  Lucca  in  1732,  3  vols.  8vo,  and  de- 
dicated to  Clement  XII,  has  been  repeatedly 
republished  ;  but  the  only  complete  editions 
are  said  to  be  those  of  Verona,  1749,  8vo; 
and  Venice,  1751,  8vo. — Ring.  Univ. 

VENTURI  (JOHN  BAPTIST)  a  writer  on 
natural  philosophy,  was  born  at  Bibiano,  in  the 
duchy  of  lleggio,  in  1746,  and  he  studied  in 
:he  seminary  of  that  city,  under  the  celebrated 
Spallanzani.  At  the  age  of  twenty-three  he 
Became  professor  of  metaphysics  and  geome- 
:ry  in  the  same  seminary,  whence  in  1773  he 
removed  to  occupy  the  chair  of  philosophy  at 
Modena.  In  1796,  being  sent  to  Paris  ou  a 
>olitical  mission,  he  remained  in  France,  em- 
iloying  himself  in  the  cultivation  of  physical 
science.  Returning  to  his  native  country  he 
was  nominated  a  member  of  the  legislative 
jody  at  Milan.  But  after  the  overthrow  of 
the  republican  government  in  1799,  the  duke 
of  Modena  had  him  imprisoned,  and  he  did 
not  recover  his  liberty  till  after  the  battle  of 
Marengo.  He  was  then  chosen  professor  of 
physics  at  Pavia,  and  afterwards  decorated 
with  the  cross  of  the  legion  of  honour,  and 
the  order  of  the  iron  crown.  He  subsequently 
occupied  for  twelve  years  the  post  of  charge 
d'affaires  of  the  kingdom  of  Italy  at  Berne, 
He  retired  with  a  pension  in  1813,  and  his 
death  took  place  September  10,  IS^'2,  at  Reg- 
gio.  Among  his  principal  works  are  "  Com- 
mentari  sopra  la  Storia  e  la  Teorie  dell'  Ot- 
tica,"  t.  i.  Bologna,  1814,  4to  ;  "  Dell'  Ori 
ginee  de'  Progress!  delle  odierne  Artiglierie,' 
Keggio,  1815,  4to  ;  and  "  Memorie  e  Lettere 


V  E  11 

inedite  e  disperse  di  Galileo  Galilei,"  Modena, 
1818,  2  vols.  4to. — Biog.  Univ. 

VERBIEST  (FERDINAND)  a  celebrated  Je- 
suit missionary,  a  native  of  Flanders,  who 
much  distinguished  himself  in  China  in  the 
beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Being 
drawn  from  prison,  into  which  all  the  mission- 
aries had  been  cast,  to  correct  some  errors  in 
the  Chinese  calendar,  he  so  convinced  the  em- 
peror Cam- Hi  of  the  ignorance  of  his  chief 
astrologer,  that  he  was  appointed  in  his  place. 
He  also  ohtained  leave  to  preach  the  Christian 
religion  in  China,  and  the  emperor  was  so 
much  attached  to  him,  that  he  himself  com- 
posed an  eulogy  on  him  when  he  died,  and 
caused  him  to  be  buried  with  Christian  ho- 
nours. His  principal  work  is  entitled  "  As- 
tronomia  Europaea,  sub  linperatore  Tartaro- 
Sinico  Cam-Hi,  &c."  Dilmgaj,  1687,  4to. 
This  celebrated  missionary,  at  the  request  of 
the  emperor,  caused  to  be  made  under  his  own 
inspection,  various  astronomical  instruments, 
and  wrote  sixteen  volumes  in  the  Chinese  lan- 
guage, on  their  use  and  construction,  He 
died  in  1688. — Montucia  Histoire  des  Math£- 
matiques. 

YKKDIER.  There  were  several  ingenious 
French  writers  of  this  name. — ANTOINE  DU 
VERDIER,  lord  of  Vauprivas,  was  a  native  of 
Montbiisson  in  Forez,  born  of  a  noble  family 
about  the  year  154-1,  and  held  a  situation  in 
the  household  of  the  French  king.  He  was 
the  author  of  a  variety  of  miscellaneous  works, 
of  which  the  principal  are  his  "  Bibliotheque 
des  Auteurs  Francais,"  folio  ;  "  Prosopogra- 
phy,"  or  memoirs  of  illustrious  personages, 
in  3  vols.  folio  ;  "  Les  Diverses  Lefons,"  &c. 
8vo  ;  and  a  humorous  work  entitled  "  Le 
Compteseutique."  He  obtained  the  post  of 
historiographer  royal,  and  died  about  the  be- 
ginning of  the  seventeenth  century. — CLAUDE 
DU  VERDIER,  son  of  the  above,  was  born  in 
3566,  and  distinguished  himself  by  the  seve- 
rity of  his  hypercrhicisms  in  an  essay,  in 
which  he  deals  out  censure  on  almost  all  the 
principal  authors  of  antiquity,  especially  on 
the  poet  Virgil.  His  death  took  place  in  1649. 
— C*SAR  VERDIER,  an  eminent  surgeon  and 
professor  of  anatomy,  was  a  native  of  Molieres, 
a  village  in  the  vicinity  of  Avignon.  He  was 
the  author  of  a  great  variety  of  tracts  on  pio- 
fessional  subjects,  which  he  treated  in  an  able 
manner.  Of  these  the  best  known  are  his 
"  Abridgment  of  Anatomy,"  12ino,  2  vols.  to 
which  Sabatier  added  a  commentary  ;  "  Me- 
dical Observations  ;"  "  On  the  Diseases  of 
the  Bladder,"  &c.  &c.  He  died  at  Paris  in 
the  spring  of  1759. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

VERE  (EDWARD)  earl  of  Oxford,  one  of 
the  literary  courtiers  of  queen  Elizabeth.  He 
was  descended  from  one  of  the  most  ancient 
families  of  the  English  nobility,  his  father 
being  the  sixteenth  peer  who  had  held  the 
title,  which  became  extinct  in  the  reign  of 
queen  Anne.  He  was  born  about  1.540,  and 
received  an  education  suitable  to  his  rank.  He 
held  the  office  of  lord  high  chamberlain,  and 
sat  as  such  at  the  trials  of  the  queen  of  Scots, 
tad  subsequently  at  those  of  the  earls  of 


V  E  11 

Arundel,  Essex,  and  Southampton.  Sped- 
int  is  of  his  talents  as  a  poet  are  preserved  in 
the  '•'  Paradise  of  Daisty  Devices."  His  per- 
sona \  character  seems  to  have  been  by  no 
means  favourable.  He  had  a  quarrel  with  sir 
Philip  Sidney,  which  did  him  no  credit  ;  and 
he  is  said  to  have  ill-treated  his  wife,  who 
was  the  daughter  of  lord  Budeigh.  His  deatli 
took  place  in  1604. — Berkenhout's  Bwg.  Lit. 

VERE  (FRANCIS)  a  celebrated  English 
captain,  was  the  grandson  of  John  Vere,  earl 
of  Oxford,  and  was  born  in  1554.  He  served 
first  in  the  Netherlands,  under  the  earl  of 
Leicester,  and  next  under  lord  Willoughby, 
who  conferred  on  him  the  honour  of  knight- 
hood for  his  gallantry  at  the  siege  of  Bergen-op- 
Zoom.  After  this  he  was  intrusted  to  throw 
supplies  into  the  town  of  Berg  on  the  Rhine, 
in  which  arduous  service  he  received  several 
wounds.  He  also  took  a  fort  near  Zutphen  in 
1591,  and  was  chiefly  instrumental  in  the  cap- 
ture of  Deventer.  In  1596  he  was  recalled 
from  the  Netherlands,  and  employed  in  the 
expedition  against  Cadiz,  with  the  title  of  lord 
marshal.  He  returned  to  Holland  the  follow- 
ing year,  and  was  appointed  governor  of  the 
Brill,  one  of  the  customary  honours  in  the  Low 
Countries.  In  1600  he  served  under  prince 
Maurice,  who  was  principally  indebted  for  his 
victory  at  Nieuport  to  sir  Francis  Vere,  who 
was  severely  wounded.  His  last  great  action 
was  the  defence  of  Ostend,  which  he  main- 
tained with  a  garrison  of  twelve  hundred  mr-n 
against  a  besieging  army  of  ten  thousand. 
His  death  took  place  in  1608,  in  his  fifty- 
fourth  year,  and  lie  was  magnificently  interred 
in  Westminster  abbey.  He  has  recorded  his 
own  exploits  in  a  work  entitled  "  The  Com- 
mentaries of  Sir  Francis  Vere,  being  diverse 
Pieces  of  Service,  wherein  he  had  Command, 
written  by  himself."  This  piece  was  published 
from  the  original  MS.  by  Dr  Dillingham, 
Camb.  1657,  folio. — Biog.  Brit. 

VERE  (HORACE)  baron  Vere  of  Tilbury, 
younger  brother  of  sir  Francis  Vere,  was  born 
at  Kirby-hall  in  Essex,  in  1565.  He  adopted 
the  military  profession,  and  served  under  his 
brother  in  the  Netherlands,  where  he  distin- 
guished himself  at  the  battle  of  Nieuport,  and 
in  the  defence  of  Ostend  against  the  Spaniards. 
He  was  sent  to  Germany  in  the  reign  of  James 
I,  with  a  body  of  troops  to  assist  the  elector 
palatine,  the  king's  son-in-law,  when  he  was 
opposed  by  the  celebrated  Spinola  ;  and  he 
strikingly  displayed  his  talents  in  effecting  a 
retreat  before  the  superior  forces  of  that  gene- 
ral. He  was  raised  to  the  peerage  by  Charles  I, 
and  he  died  in  1655. — Biog.  Brit. 

VERELIUS  (OLOF)  a  celebrated  Swedish 
antiquary  and  librarian  in  the  academy  of  Up- 
sal,  was  born  in  1618  in  East  Gothland,  where 
his  father  was  a  clergyman.  After  receiving 
a  learned  and  collegiate  education,  he  made 
the  tour  of  Europe,  as  tutor  to  some  Swedish 
gentleman  ;  and  on  his  return  was  appointed 
professor  of  eloquence  at  Dorpt,  by  queen 
Christina.  In  1653  he  was  made  treasurer  to 
the  academy  at  Upsal,  and  in  1666  constituted 
antiquary  of  the  kingdom.  He  died  at  Up-al 


V  E  11 

in  662.  He  was  a  most  enthusiastic  stu- 
dent of  Swedish  antiquities,  His  principal 
works  are  "  Uunographia  Scandica  Autiqua," 
folio,  Upsa!,  1675;  "  Historia  Gothrici  et 
Rolfonis,  Westrogothiaj  llegum,"  4to,  1680  ; 
"  Historia  Horvurae,"  folio,  1671,  with  a  sup- 
plement thereto,  &c. — Moreri.  Bing.  Unit'. 

VERGENNES  (CHARLES  GRAVIER,  count 
de)  a  French  statesman,  born  at  Dijon  in  1717, 
who  was  the  son  of  a  president  a  mortier  of 
the  parliament  of  that  city.  His  relative, 
M.  de  Chavigny,  took  him  in  1740  to  Lisbon, 
where  he  occupied  a  diplomatic  situation  ;  and 
in  1750  he  was  himself  appointed  French  mi- 
nister at  the  court  of  the  elector  of  Treves.  In 
17.55  he  succeeded  the  count  Desalleurs  as 
ambassador  in  Turkey ;  and  in  both  these 
posts  his  conduct  gave  great  satisfaction.  He 
was  however  recalled  in  1768,  in  consequence 
of  a  difference  of  opinion  with  the  duke  de 
Choiseul,  relative  to  the  propriety  of  exciting 
hostilities  between  the  Turks  and  Russians  ; 
and  returning  home  he  retired  to  his  estate  at 
Toulongeon  in  Burgundy.  After  the  fall  of 
Choiseul,  he  was  summoned  from  his  retreat, 
and  sent  to  Sweden  in  1771  ;  and  he  had  no 
small  share  in  the  revolution  which  took  place 
in  that  country  under  Gustavus  III.  When 
Louis  XVI  came  to  the  crown  he  recalled  M. 
de  Vergenues  and  made  him  minister  of  fo- 
reign affairs  in  July  1774.  Among  the  princi- 
pal acts  of  his  ministry  were  the  treaty  of  So- 
leure  with  the  Swiss  in  1777  ;  that  with  the 
United  States  of  America  in  1778  ;  the  treaty 
of  Tescheu  with  the  emperor  Joseph  II  in 
1779  ;  and  that  which  concluded  the  American 
war  in  1783.  To  which  may  be  added  the 
treaty  of  commerce  negociHted  with  England 
in  1785  and  1786,  which  was  one  of  the  last 
labours  of  the  count  de  Vergeiines,  whose  death 
happened  February  13,  1787.  Louis  XVI  had 
so  high  an  opinion  of  the  talents  of  this  minis- 
ter, that  he  used  to  say  the  Revolution  would 
not  have  taken  place  if  he  had  lived. — Diet. 
Hist.  Bing.  Univ. 

VERGER  DE  HAURANE  (JOHN  du) 
abbot  of  St  Cyran,  by  which  title  he  is  best 
known,  was  born  of  a  noble  family  at  Bayonne 
in  1581.  He  was  educated  for  the  church  at 
Paris  and  Louvaine,  where  he  contracted  a 
friendship  with  the  celebrated  Jansenius.  He 
was  made  a  canon  by  the  bishop  of  Bayonne, 
but  afterwards  repaired  to  Paris  ;  and  in  1620 
he  was  presented  to  the  abbacy  of  St  Cyran. 
He  continued  his  intimacy  with  Jansenius, 
whose  opinions  he  zealously  propagated,  and 
by  his  soft  and  insinuating  address  made  many 
proselytes,  particularly  among  the  females.  At 
length  he  was  denounced  as  a  dangerous  per- 
son to  cardinal  Richelieu,  who  was  otherwise 
piqued  at  his  refusal  to  declare  in  favour  of  the 
nullity  of  the  marriage  of  Gaston  duke  of  Or- 
leans wit!)  Margaret  of  Lorraine.  That  des- 
potic minister  in  consequence  imprisoned  him 
in  the  castle  of  Vincennes,  from  which  con- 
finement he  was  not  released  until  the  death 
of  the  cardinal.  The  abbot  St.  Cyran  did  not 
iorig  survive  his  liberation,  dying  at  Paris  in 
'643.  His  principal  works  are  "  LettresSpi- 


V  E  II 

rituelles,"  2  vols.  4to  ;  "Question  Royal;" 
"  L'Aumone  Chretieime  ;"  "  Petrus  Aure- 
lius,"  a  controversial  work,  in  which  he  fiercely 
attacked  the  Jesuits.  He  was  regarded  .is  a 
champion  and  martyr  of  the  Jansemsts,  and 
must  have  possessed  some  ability  to  gain  such 
disciples  as  the  MM.  Arnauld,  De  Sacy, 
D'Andilli,  and  others  of  the  Port  Royal  ;  bu 
his  writings  by  no  means  support  his  reputa- 
tion in  other  respects. — Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 

VERGERIUS  (PETER  PAUL).  There  were 
two  eminent  ecclesiastics  of  this  name,  both 
natives  of  Capo  d'  Istria,  and  descended  of  the 
same  family.  The  first,  in  point  of  time,  was 
born  about  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, and  was  the  pupil  of  Chrysoloras  and 
Zabarella.  He  was  considered  one  of  the  most 
able  ecclesiastical  lasvyers  of  his  day,  and  dis- 
tinguished himself  in  the  general  council  held 
at  Constance.  Besides  a  translation  of  the 
works  of  Arrian,  he  was  the  author  of  a  "  His- 
tory of  the  princely  House  of  Carrara,"  a  fa- 
mily in  which  he  had  acted  for  many  years  as 
instructor  to  some  of  its  junior  branches.  His 
other  writings  a-re  an  "  Essay  on  the  Republic 
of  Venice  ;"  the  Lives  of  St  Jerome  and  of  the 
celebrated  Petrarch,  and  a  treatise  "  De  Mo- 
ribus  ingenuis."  His  death  took  place  in  1431. 
— The  younger  VERGEKIUS,  who  eventually 
succeeded  to  the  see  of  Capo  d'  Istria,  was  a 
prelate  of  considerable  learning  and  ability, 
and  was  employed  as  legate  on  various  mis- 
sions, both  by  Clement  VII  and  his  immediate 
successor  in  the  papal  chair.  While  assisting 
in  that  capacity  at  the  council  of  Augsburg  in 
1530,  his  zeal  against  the  reformers  was  un- 
questioned ;  but  at  the  expiration  of -twelve 
years  appears  to  have  so  much  dimini>hed  m 
its  fr'vour,  that  at  the  diet  of  Worms  he  ex- 
cited the  suspicions  of  his  court,  as  feeling  an 
inclination  in  their  favour.  His  sincere  at- 
tachment to  the  Romish  church,  however,  at 
this  period  of  his  life  is  not  to  be  doubted,  if 
we  are  to  believe  the  generally  accredited  tra- 
dition, that  being  excited  by  the  manifest  dis- 
trust of  the  reigning  pontiff  to  do  something 
which  might  evince  his  orthodoxy,  he  set  about 
a  treatise  levelled  directly  against  the  "  Ger- 
man Apostates,"  but  was  himself  in  reality 
converted  to  their  opinions,  while  engaged  in 
reading  their  books  for  the  purpose  of  oppugn- 
ing their  arguments.  His  falling  off  from  Ca- 
tholicism drew  on  him  the  indignation  of  the 
inquisition,  whose  power  he  narrowly  escaped 
by  a  precipitate  flight.  The  sudden  death  of 
Ins  brother,  the  bishop  of  Pola,  universally  at- 
tributed to  the  effects  of  poison,  would  seem 
to  intimate  that  he  was  less  successful,  as  his 
opinions  also  had  notoriously  undergone  a  simi- 
lar change.  Vergerius  in  his  timely  retreat 
took  refuge  at  Tubingen,  where  he  superin- 
tended a  complete  edition  of  his  own  writings, 
in  one  volume,  quarto,  1563,  and  survived  its 
publication  something  less  than  three  years. — 
Tiraboschi,  Melchior  Atlum. 

VERGIL  (PoLYDORi;)  an  historical  anJ 
philological  writer  of  eminence  in  the  sixteenth 
century.  He  was  a  native  of  Urbino  in  Italy, 
and  became  a  member  of  the  ecclesiastics. 


VE  R, 

profession.  One  of  his  first  productions  was  a 
collection  of  Latin  poems,  which  \vas  followed 
in  1499  by  his  work  "  De  llerum  Inventori- 
bus,"  which  has  been  often  republished.  Pope 
Alexander  VI  sent  him  to  England,  as  collec- 
tor of  the  tribute  called  Peter's  pence  ;  and 
lie  was  the  last  person  who  held  that  office  iu 
this  country  previously  to  the  Reformation  un- 
der Henry  VI II.  That  prince  bestowed  on 
him  the  archdeaconry  of  Wells  and  several 
other  benefices  in  the  church  ;  and  at  the  re- 
quest of  Henry  he  composed  a  general  History 
of  England,  from  the  earliest  ages  to  his  own 
time.  This  work,  which  is  written  in  Latin, 
considered  as  the  production  of  a  foreigner,  is 
highly  creditable  to  his  talents  ;  but  his  repu- 
tation lias  suffered  in  some  degree  from  the 
charge  of  having  destroyed  memoirs  and  re- 
cords which  he  made  use  of  in  his  undertaking. 

O 

The  History  of  Polydore  has  passed  through 
several  editions.  He  quitted  England  iu  the 
reign  of  Edward  VI,  and  going  to  Italy,  he  died 
at  Urbinoin  1555.  Besides  the  works  noticed 
he  was  the  author  of  a  treatise  on  Prodigies. 
— Aikin.  Biog.  Univ. 

VERHEYEN  (PETER)  a  physician  and 
anatomist  of  considerable  reputation,  was  born 
at  Vesbronck  in  Holland,  in  1648.  He  was 
brought  up  to  husbandry,  but  the  curate  of  the 
parish  perceiving  his  capacity,  gave  him  in- 
struction, and  procured  him  admission  into 
the  college  of  Louvain,  where  he  became  pro- 
fessor of  medicine.  His  "  Corporis  Humani 
Anatomia,"  published  in  1693,  is  a  work 
which  still  maintains  a  considerable  portion  of 
reputation  as  containing  the  opinions  of  the 
ancients,  and  more  accurate  descriptions  of 
modern  discoveries  than  had  previously  ap- 
peared. He  died  in  1710. — Eloy  Diet.  Hist,  de 
Med. 

VERNES  (JACOB)  aGenevese  divine,  born 
in  17528.  After  he  had  completed  his  studies, 
he  was  admitted  to  the  evangelical  ministry, 
but  not  obtaining  any  immediate  preferment, 
he  devoted  his  time  to  the  cultivation  of  lite- 
rature, and  commenced  a  periodical  work  en- 
titled "  Choix  Litteraire,"  which  is  not  so  much 
a  journal  as  a  collection  of  pieces  in  prose  and 
verse.  It  was  continued  from  1755  to  1760, 
forming  24  vols.  8vo.  Vernes  was  at  one 
time  intimate  with  J.  J.  Rousseau ;  but  that 
irritable  genius  having  quarrelled  with  him, 
he  published  "  Lettres  sur  le  Christianisir.e  de 
J.  J.  Rousseau,"  1763,  8vo,  and  other  tracts 
relating  to  the  "  Profession  de  Foi  du  Vicaire 
Savoyard,"  to  which  the  philosopher  refused 
to  make  any  reply.  Vernes  after  a  time  be- 
came pastor  at  Seligny,  and  in  1771  he  was 
called  to  Geneva.  In  1782  he  was,  with 
other  distinguished  citizens,  exiled  for  opposi- 
tion to  the  changes  made  in  theGenevese  con- 
stitution. Having  obtained  'permission  to  re- 
turn home  in  1789,  he  died  at  Geneva  in  Octo- 
ber 1791.  Besides  the  works  already  noticed, 
he  was  the  author  of  "  Conference  Philoso- 
phi.iue,"  1771,  8vo,  fourth  edition,  1788,  2 
vols.  8vo  ,  and  "  Sermons,"  1792,  2  vol.s.  8vo, 
published  by  his  son,  with  a  biographical  me- 
moir.— Biiig.  Unit). 

VOL.  III. 


V  E  K 

VERNET  (JACOB)  professor  of  theoiocy  at 
Geneva,  where  he  was  born  in  1698.  Hehrst 
studied  under  his  uncle,  Daniel  Leclerc,  the 
learned  author  of  the  History  of  Medicine  ; 
but  he  afterwards  adopted  the  ecclesiastical 
profession,  fie  visited  Paris  in  his  youth,  and 
then  travelled  in  Italy,  Germany,  and  Eng- 
land. In  1739  he  became  professor  of  ancient 
literature  at  Geneva,  and  he  held  that  office 
till  1756,  when  he  passed  to  the  chair  of  theo- 
logy. He  was  connected  with  Rousseau  and 
Voltaire  ;  but  when  the  latter  settled  at  Fer- 
ney,  the  Genevan  professor  thought  it  his  duty 
to  warn  the  public  against  the  dangerous  prin- 
ciples of  the  author  of  the  Essai  sur  1'His- 
toire,  in  a  letter  printed  in  the  Nouvelle  Bib- 
liotheque  Germanique  ;  and  this  produced  a 
rupture  of  their  acquaintance.  Vernet  after- 
wards combated  the  opinions  of  Voltaire  and 
his  friends,  in  a  work  published  under  the  title 
of  "  Lettres  critiques  d'une  Voyageur  Anglais 
sur  1'Article  Geneve  de  1'Encyclopedie."  He 
was  also  the  author  of  "  Traite  de  la  Verite  de 
la  Religion  Chretienne,  tire  en  Partie  du  L:itin 
de  J.  A.  Turretini,"  10  vols.  8vo  ;  "  Dialogues 
Socratiques,  ou  Eutretiens  sur  divers  Sujets  de 
Morale;"  "  Reflexions  sur  les  Mrcurs,  la  Re- 
ligion,  etle  Culte  ;"  "  Instruction  Chretienne," 
4  vols.  8vo  ;  and  "  Opuscula  Selecta,"  1784, 
8vo.  His  death  took  place  March  26.  1789. — 
His/.  Lilt,  de  Geneve.  Biog.  Univ. 

VERNET  (JOSEPH)  a  celebrated  marine 
painter  of  the  last  century ,  whose  skill  in  his  pro- 
fession appears  to  have  been  almost  intuitive, 
and  procured  him  from  some  of  his  contempora- 
ries, thecompliment  that"  his  talents  hadnever 
known  infancy  or  old  age."  He  was  a  native 
of  Avignon,  born  there  of  humble  parents  in 
1712,  and  during  the  earlier  years  of  his  life 
subsisted  by  painting  houses,  waggons,  and 
implements  of  agriculture,  till  an  accidental 
visit  to  a  seaport,  which  he  delineated  at  once, 
developed  his  geuius.  He  subsequently  visited 
Italy  for  improvement,  and  on  his  return 
painted  many  of  the  seaports  of  his  nativo 
country.  Louis  XVI  conferred  a  pension  on 
him,  and  the  title  of  marine  painter  to  tho 
king,  both  of  which  he  enjoyed  till  his  death 
in  the  winter  of  1789. — A'<>i(i>.  Diet.  H'nt. 

VERNIER  (PETEII)  a  French  mathema- 
tician, who  was  the  inventor  of  an  astrono- 
mical instrument,  which  bears  his  name.  He 
was  born  about  1580,  at  Ornans,  in  the  county 
of  Burgundy,  and  he  studied  mathematics  un- 
der his  father.  After  being  employed  in 
Flanders,  he  was  appointed  captain-com- 
mandant of  the  castle  of  Ornans,  counsellor 
to  the  king  of  Spain,  and  director-general  of 
the  mint  in  the  county  of  Burgundy.  He  died 
in  1637.  He  was  the  author  of  a  work  de- 
scribing his  invention,  entitled  "  La  Construc- 
tion, 1" Usage,  et  les  Propriettis  du  Quadrant 
nouveau  de  Mathematiques,"  1631,  8vo. — 
Bin"-.  Unit'. 

VERNON  (EDWAUD)  a  distinguished  Eng- 
lish admiral,  descended  from  a  Staffordshire 
family,  but  born  in  Westminster  in  1684.  He 
adopted  the  naval  profession  in  opposition  to 
the  wishes  of  his  father,  who  held  the  post  of 
2G 


V  ER 

y  of  state   to  William  III.     lie  first 
went  to  sea  with  admiral  Hopson,  and  in  1704 
\in   served   under   sir   George   Rooke  at   the 
battle  of  Malaga.     lie  was  also  employed  on 
many  other  occasions,  and  gradually  arrived  at 
the  rank  of  vice-admiral.     In  1739,  when  the 
treatment  of  the  English  traders   by  the   Spa- 
niards in  America  had  excited  great  indigna- 
tion in  this  country,  admiral  Vernon,  who  was 
a  member   of  the   house  of  Commons,  spoke 
warmly  against  the  indifference  of  the  ministry 
to    the    complaints    of   the    merchants,    and 
pointed  out  the  means  of  redressing  or  aveng- 
ing the  injuries  which  they  had  suffered.     In 
consequence  of  these   representations   he  was 
sent  with  a    squadron    to    the    West   Indies, 
where  he  took  the  town  of  Porto  Bello,  and 
destroyed  the  fortifications.     In   1741  lie  was 
sent  out  agam  to  attack  Carthagena  ;  but  the 
expedition  proved  unsuccessful.     During  the 
rebellion  in  1745  he  was  employed  in  defend- 
ing  the    coasts    of  Kent  and   Sussex;  but  on 
account  of  his  opposition  to  the  ministry,  he 
was  subsequently  superseded,  and  even  struck 
off  the  list  of  admirals.     His  death  took  place 
October    29,    1757. — Charnock's  Naval   Biog. 
Smollett's  Hist,  of  England. 

VERNON  (WILLIAM)  an  antiquary  and 
topographer  of  the  seventeenth  century.  He 
was  descended  from  the  Yernonsof  Shipbrook, 
and  was  probably  born  about  1588.  He  mar- 
ried Margaret,  the  daughter  of  Philip  Oldfield, 
of  1'radwall,  and  widow  of  Peter  Shakerley, 
of  Shakerley  and  Hulme,  esq.  in  whose  right 
ne  resided  at  Shakerley  in  Lancashire.  The 
antiquarian  collections  of  his  father-in-law  re- 
lative to  Cheshire,  and  his  own  descent  from 
one  of  the  barons  of  the  Palatinate,  led  him  to 
undertake  a  history  of  the  county  of  Chester. 
He  corresponded,  between  1647  and  1652, 
with  the  celebrated  Dugdale,  from  whom  he 
derived  considerable  assistance  in  the  prose- 
cution of  his  work.  Much  was  expected  from 
the  skill,  zeal,  and  systematic  industry  of  Ver- 
non,  with  the  aid  of  Dugdale's  learning  and 
ability  ;  but  from  some  unknown  cause  the 
History  of  Cheshire  was  never  completed,  and 
the  undertaker  died  at  Shakerley  in  1667, 
leaving  numerous  MS.  volumes  of  Collectanea, 
preserved  in  a  private  library  ;  and  transcripts 
of  some  portions  of  them  may  be  found  among 
the  Harleian  MSS.  in  the  British  Museum. — 
Ormerod's  Hist,  of  Cheshire,  vol.  i. 

VERONESE  (PAUL).  See  CAGLIARI. 
VERONESE.  See  GUAIUNO. 
VERSCHUURING  (HENRY)  a  celebrated 
Dutch  artist,  whose  principal  excellence  lay  in 
the  lively  delineation  of  battles,  camps,  skir- 
mishes, and  other  warlike  subjects.  He  was 
a  native  of  the  province  of  Holland,  born  in 
1627,  at  Gorcum,  of  which  place  he  rose  to  be 
the  chief  public  functionary,  but  without 
abandoning  his  profession.  Verschuuring  was 
a  pupil  first  of  Govertz  and  then  of  John  Both 
of  Utrecht,  with  whom  he  studied  six  years, 
and  afterwards  proceeded  to  Rome  in  order 
to  perfect  himself  in  his  art  by  the  careful  ex- 
amination of  the  numerous  antiquities  in  that 
capital.  So  great  indeed  was  his  partiality  for 


V  E  R 

the  particular  branch  of  painting  to  which  he 
principally  devoted  himself,  that  he  actually 
made  a  campaign  in  1672  at  some  personal 
risk,  in  order  that  he  might  he  able  to  repre- 
sent his  battle  pieces  with  the  greater  accu- 
racy, by  taking  his  designs  from  real  life.  His 
style  is  original,  and  hia  pictures  in  general 
are  remarkably  well  finished.  His  death  took 
place  in  1690,  off  Dort,  the  vessel  in  which 
lie  was  sailing  being  suddenly  capsized  in  a 
gale  of  wind. — D'Argenville  Vies  des  Peint. 

VERSTEGAN  (RICHARD)  an  ingenious 
writer,  well  versed  in  antiquarian  research, 
especially  with  respect  to  the  earlier  periods 
of  English  history.  He  was  born  in  London, 
of  Dut~h  parents,  and  having  gone  through 
the  usual  course  of  classical  education  at  Ox- 
ford, took  up  his  abode  at  Antwerp,  While 
resident  in  this  city,  his  zeal  in  the  cause  of 
the  Romish  church,  of  which  he  was  a  mem- 
ber, broke  forth  on  the  occasion  of  certain 
Jesuits,  who  were  executed  in  this  country  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The 
work  which  he  produced  however  on  this  sub- 
ject in  1592,  under  the  title  of  "  Theatrum 
Crude'itatum  Hajreticorum  nostri  Temporis," 
met  with  but  indifferent  success  among  those 
of  his  own  communion,  while  it  occasioned 
his  being  thrown  into  prison  at  Paris,  through 
the  influence  of  the  English  embassy,  during 
a  visit  which  he  paid  to  that  capital.  His  an- 
tiquarian writings  were  much  more  favourably 
received,  and  on  them  it  is  that  his  reputation 
nowrests.  Of  these  the  principal  is  his  "Resti- 
tution of  decayed  Intelligence  concerning  the 
Antfljuities  of  the  noble  and  renowned  English 
Nation,"  first  printed  in  4to  at  Antwerp,  1605, 
of  which  curious  and  valuable  treatise  there  are 
also  two  later  editions,  both  of  London,  the 
first  in  1634,  the  second  in  1674.  His  other 
productions  are  "  Antiquitates  Belgica?,"  in 
one  vol.  12mo,  and  an  essay  "  On  the  regal 
Government  of  England,"  with  a  few  metrical 
and  other  miscellanies.  His  death  took  place 
at  Antwerp  in  1635. — Athen.  Oxon. 

VERTOT  D'AUBCEUF  (RENE  AUBMIT 
de)  a  pleasing  French  historian,  whose  works 
have  been  translated  into  English,  was  bom 
at  the  castle  of  Bennetot,  in  Normandy,  of  a 
good  family,  November  25,  1655.  His  appli- 
cation to  study  was  early  and  persevering;  but 
much  against  his  father's  will  he  entered 
among  the  Capuchins,  and  took  the  name  of 
brother  Zachary.  The  austerities  of  his  order 
not  agreeing  with  his  health,  he  was  induced 
to  change  it  for  that  of  the  Premonstratenses, 
when  he  became  successively  secretary  to  the 
general  of  the  order,  rector,  and  at  length 
prior  of  the  monastery.  All  this  however  did 
not  suffice,  and  after  other  changes  of  situation 
he  became  a  secular  ecclesiastic,  and  in  1701 
came  to  Paris  in  that  character.  His  talents 
soon  procured  him  patronage.  In  1705  he 
was  made  associate  of  the  academy  of  belles 
lettres,  and  after  a  while  secretary  of  languages 
to  the  duke  of  Orleans.  In  1715  the  grand 
master  of  Malta  appointed  him  his  historio- 
grapher, and  but  for  some  reasons  not  speci- 
fied, he  would  have  been  entrusted  with  the 


VE  R 

education  of  Louis  XV.     His  last  years  were 
passed  iu  much  bodily  infirmity,   from  which 
he  was  relieved  by  death,  June  15,  173.5.  His 
literary  career  is  remarkable  ;  he  was  border- 
ing on  his  forty-fifth  year  when   he  wrote  his 
rirst  history,  and  had  past  his  seventieth  when 
lie   finished    his   last,    that    of    Malta.     The 
French  regard  him  as  their  Quintus  Curtitis  ; 
his  style  is  lively,  pleasing,  and  elegant  ;  his 
reflections  always  just,   and  often    profound. 
He  however  wanted  the  industry  and  research 
which  are  justly  considered  among  the  leading 
requisites  of  the  historian  in  these  days  ;  and 
he  yielded  too  much  to  imagination,  and  de- 
pended too  much  upon  memory,  to   be  either 
accurate  or  trustworthy.    His  principal  works, 
which  have  been  long  both  before  the  French 
and  English  public,  are  "  Histoire  des  Revo- 
lutions de    Portugal,"   Paris,    1689,     12mo ; 
"  Histoire  des  Revolutions  de  Suede,"  1696, 
'2    vols.   li'mo  ;    "  Histoire    des    Revolutions 
Romaines,"     3   vols.    12mo  ;    "  Histoire    de 
Malthe,"  1727,   4  vols.  4to ;   "  Traite  de  la 
Monvance  de  Bretagne  ;"  "  Histoire  Critique 
de    1'Etablissement     des    Bretons    dans    les 
Gaules,"  2  vols.  12mo.     He  wrote  also  some 
dissertations  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy 
of  Belles  Lettres,  and   had  much   intercourse 
with    the  literati   of    his    day.     His    corres- 
pondence with  lord  Stanhope  on  the  senate  of 
ancient  Rome  has  been  published  by  the  Ro- 
man    historian    Hooke. — Nouv.    Diet.    Hist. 
Biog.  Gallica. 

VERTUE  (GEORGE)  an  eminent  engraver 
and  antiquary,  was  born  at  St  Martiii's-in-the- 
Fields,  in  London,  in  1684.  His  parents,  who 
were  in  humble  circumstances,  placed  him 
with  au  artist  who  engraved  arms  on  plate, 
but  who  failed  from  imprudence  at  the  end  of 
three  years.  He  then  studied  drawing  for  two 
years,  and  afterwards  engaged  himself  for 
three  more  to  the  engraver  Vandergucht,  which 
term  he  protracted  to  seven.  In  1709,  having 
received  instruction  and  advice  from  several 
painters,  he  commenced  business  on  his  own 
count,  being  principally  engaged  in  draw- 
ings and  engravings  for  books.  He  soon  after 
acquired  the  patronage  of  sir  Godfrey  Knel- 
ler,  and  was  employed  by  lord  Somers  to  en- 
grave the  portrait  of  archbishop  Tillotson, 
which  was  followed  by  that  of  George  I, 
from  a  picture  by  Kneller,  from  both  of  which 
he  acquired  considerable  reputation.  He  also 
employed  himself  in  biographical  and  anti- 
quarian Researches,  and  was  noticed  and  em- 
ployed by  Harley,  earl  of  Oxford,  whom  he 
accompanied  in  several  tours,  and  who,  as  well 
as  lord  Burlington  and  most  of  the  nobility 
and  gentry  who  favoured  the  arts,  very  much 
employed  him.  In  1730  appeared  his  twelve 
heads  of  distinguished  poets,  which  work  he 
was  to  have  followed  with  those  of  other  emi- 
nent men,  but  the  scheme  was  taken  out  of 
his  hands  by  the  Knaptons.  He  then  under- 
took the  portraits  of  Charles  I,  and  the  suf- 
ferers in  his  cause,  with  illustrations  from 
Clarendon  ;  which  labour  he  followed  up  with 
engravings  of  the  effigies  of  the  kings,  and 
othrr  pictorial  embellishments  for  Rapin's 


VES 

History  of  England.  In  1749  he  acquired  ;\ 
still  more  exalted  protector  in  Frederick  prince 
of  Wales,  from  whose  encouragement  he  ex- 
pected considerable  benefit,  insomuch  thai 
when  the  prince  died,  his  health  was  per- 
manently affected  by  the  disappointment,  and 
he  died  in  17.56,  aged  seventy- two.  Lord 
Orford  has  given  a  catalogue  of  the  engravings 
of  Vertue,  which  amount  to  five  hundred,  and 
are  more  valuable  for  their  authenticity  than 
style  of  execution.  The  public  however  owe 
another  obligation  to  this  industrious  artist, 
whose  manuscript  notes  and  observations  being 
purchased  from  his  widow  by  lord  Orford, 
formed  the  principal  materials  of  his  useful 
and  interesting  Anecdotes  of  Painting  in  Eng- 
land. His  collections  amounted  to  nearly  forty 
volumes,  having  carried  them  on  with  extra- 
ordinary industry  from  1713  till  his  death. 
The  private  character  of  Vertue  appears  to 
have  been  in  the  highest  degree  amiable,  mo- 
dest, and  exemplary. —  Walpol.e's  Anec.  IVt- 
chnlis  Lit.  Anec. 

VESALIUS  (ANDREAS)  a  celebrated  sur- 
geon and  anatomist,  who  was  born  at  Brus- 
sels in  1514.  His  grandfather,  Everard  Vesa- 
lius,  wrote  commentaries  on  the  works  of 
Rhazes,  and  on  the  aphorisms  of  Hippocrates; 
and  his  father  held  the  office  of  apothecary  to 
tLe  emperor  Charles  V.  He  studied  the  lan- 
guages and  philosophy  at  Louvain,  and  at  an 
early  age  he  displayed  his  predominant  taste 
for  anatomical  inquiries,  by  dissecting-  the 
bodies  of  dogs,  cats,  and  other  animals.  He 
then  went  to  Paris,  and  studied  the  medical 
sciences  under  James  Sylvius.  When  only 
eighteen  he  composed  his  treatise  "  De  Cor- 
poris  HumaniFabrica;"  and  returning  to  Lo!)- 
vain,  he  delivered  lectures  on  anatomy.  He 
afterwards  visited  Italy,  where  science  had 
made  a  greater  progress  than  in  the  Nether- 
lauds,  and  by  his  lectures  and  demonstrations 
at  Pisa,  Bologna,  and  other  Italian  cities,  he 
acquired  great  reputation.  In  1537  the  go- 
vernment of  Venice  appointed  him  professor 
of  anatomy  in  the  university  of  Padua,  where 
he  remained  seven  years.  He  was  subse- 
quently physician  to  Charles  V.  as  he  also  was 
to  Philip  II.  of  Spain.  At  length  when  iu  the 
height  of  his  fame,  he  suddenly  engaged  in  a, 
pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem.  The  motive  to  this 
undertaking-  is  thus  related  iu  a  letter  of  Hu- 
bert Languet  to  Caspar  Peucer  :  "  Vesalriis 
believing  a  young  Spanish  nobleman  whom  he 
had  attended  to  be  dead,  obtained  leave  of  bis 
parents  to  open  him  for  the  sake  of  inquiring 
into  the  real  cause  of  his  illness,  which  he 
had  not  rightly  comprehended.  This  was 
granted  ;  but  he  had  no  sooner  made  an  inci- 
sion into  the  body,  than  he  perceived  the 
symptoms  of  life,  and  opening  the  breast,  he 
saw  the  heart  beat.  The  parents  coming 
afterwards  to  the  knowledge  of  this,  were  not 
satisfied  for  prosecuting  him  for  murder,  but 
accused  him  of  impiety  to  the  Inquisition,  in 
hopes  he  would  be  punished  with  greater  ri- 
gour by  the  judges  of  that  tribunal  than  by 
those  of  the  common  law.  But  the  king  of 
interposed  and  saved  him,  on  condition 
2  C  2 


V  ES 

however,   that    by   way   of    atoning   for   the 
crime,  he   should  undertake   a   pilgrimage  to 
the   Holy    Land."     The  credit   of  this    story 
seems  to  be  rather  dubious,  and  different  mo- 
tives for  the  journey  of  Vesalius  have  been 
assigned  by  other  writers.     But   however  the 
undertaking  might   have   originated,  its  result 
was  unfortunate.     He  went  witli  Nicholas  de 
Rimini,  general  of  the  Venetian  army,  to  Cy- 
prus, whence   lie    passed    to  Jerusalem,     lie 
was  returning  to  occupy  the  chair  of  medicine 
at  Padua,  left  vacant  by  the  death  of  Fallopius 
in  1563,   when   he    was   shipwrecked   on   the 
island  of  Zante,   and  he  died  there,  from  the 
effects   of  hunger    and  hardship,   in    October 
1564.     The    great  work  of   Vesalius    on  the 
structure   of  the   human  body  was  first  pub- 
lished at  Basil,  154.3,  folio  ;  and    the   second 
edition,  augmented   and  corrected  by  the  au- 
thor,  appeared    in   155.5.     Many    subsequent 
editions  and  translations  have   been   printed  ; 
nut  of  all  the  editions  of  the  writings  of  this 
great  anatomist,  the  most   accurate  and  com- 
plete is  that  published  at  Leyden,  in  1725,  2 
vols.  folio,  by  Boerhaave   and  Albinns.     This 
collection  includes   the   letter  printed  at  Ra- 
tisbon  in  1546,  under  the  title  of  "  Epistola 
nd  Joachimum  Roelants,  ike.  Rationem  Mo- 
duznque   propinandi   Radicis  Chynw  Decocti, 
quo  nuper  mvictissimus  Carolus  V  Imp.  usus 
est  ;"  the  answer  to  Fallopius,  written  in  1561, 
entitled  "  Anatomicaruin   G.  Fallopii  Obser- 
vationum  Examen  ;"  and  "  Chirurgia  Magna,  ' 
a  compilation    probably  from  the   lectures  of 
Vesalius,     published     four    years    after     his 
death,    by    Prosper    Bogarucci. — Hntchinson's 
Bios  Med.     Aikin's  Gen.  Biog.     Biog.  Univ. 

vESLTNG  (.IOIJN)  an  eminent  writer  on 
natural  history  and  anatomy,  born  at  Minden 
in  Germany,  in  1598.  He  studied  at  Vienna, 
and  afterwards  took  a  journey  to  Palestine, 
where  he  employed  himself  in  botanical  re- 
searches. Returning-  to  Europe  he  obtained 
the  professorship  of  anatomy  at  Padua  ;  but 
he  quitted  that  office  to  become  keeper  of  the 
botanic  garden,  of  the  plants  cultivated  in 
which  he  published  a  catalogue.  He  then  vi- 
sited Egypt,  where  he  made  observations  on 
the  mode  of  hatching  fowls  by  means  of  arti- 
ficial heat,  piactised  in  that  country.  His 
death  took  place  in  1649.  Among  his  works 
are  "  Syntagma  Anatomicum  ;"  "  De  Pulli- 
.ione  /Egyptioruni,  et  aliac  Observationes  Ana- 
tomicae  ;"  and  "  Observationes  et  Nota?  ad 
Prosp.  Alpini  Librum  de  Plantis  /Egypti." — 
Aikin's  Gen.  Bing. 

VP:SPASIANUS  (Tirus  FI.AVIUS)  em- 
peror of  Rome  was  born  near  Rieti,  in  the 
country  of  the  Sabines,  towards  the  close  of 
the  reign  of  Augustus.  His  father,  T.  Fla- 
vins Sabinus,  was  a  receiver  of  taxes  in  Asia  ; 
and  in  that  generally  disreputable  office  lie 
was  distinguished  for  moderation  and  inte- 
grity. Vespasian  displayed  but  little  ambition 
in  his  youth  ;  and  it  was  not  till  the  reign  of 
Claudius  that  he  exhibited  his  military  talents. 
Being  then  appointed  commander  of  a  legion, 
lie  acquired  great  reputation  in  Germany  and 
in  Britain. ;  and  on  his  return  to  Rome  he  was 


V  ES 

made    consul.     In    the    beginning  of    Nero'i 
reign  he  lived  in  retirement,  but  was  at  lengtl< 
appointed  proconsul  of  Africa  ;  and  on  the  re- 
bellion of  the  Jews  he  was  sent  with  an  army 
into  Judea,   AD.  66.     After  taking  some  im- 
portant    fortresses,  and    reducing  almost  the 
whole  of  Galilee   to   subjection,   he  waa  pre- 
paring to  attack  Jerusalem,  when  he  received 
the  news  of  the  death  of  Nero,  AD.  68.  After 
the  transient  reigns  of  Galba,  Otho,  and  Vitt-1- 
lius,    he    was    himself    elevated    to    imperial 
power;  and  such  was  his   good  fortune,  thai 
he  found  himself  seated  ou  the  throne  without 
having  recourse  to  those   hostilities  which  he 
had  anticipated    as  necessary  to    support  his 
claims.     Reaching  Rome  about  the  middle  of 
the  year  70,  he  was  received  with  general  and 
sincere   rejoicing,  the   reputation  he  had  ac- 
quired promising-  relief  from   the  miseries  of 
misgovernmeut  under  which  the   people   had 
long  suffered.     He  did  not  disappoint  the  ex- 
pectations which  his   character  had  excited. 
He  reformed  the  discipline  of  the   army,  pu- 
rified the  senatorial  and  equestrian  orders,  by 
degrading    the    unworthy,     and    filling    their 
places  with  respectable  citizens  ;  and  he   ap- 
pointed a   commission  to  settle  the  vast  mul- 
titude of  suits  which  had  accumulated  during 
the  late   troubles  ;    besides  presiding    on   the 
bench  frequently  himself  that  justice  might  be 
administered  with  impartiality.  He  was  an  ene- 
my to  luxury,  and  devoid  of  personal  or  family 
pride,  being  by  no  means  desirous  to  conceal  the 
obscurity  of  his  origin.  On  the  other  hand  he  is 
charged  with  displaying  a  degree  of  meanness 
and  rapacity  in  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  in- 
consistent   with    his    character  and    station. 
1'houi'li  this  reproach  is  not  destitute  of  foun- 
dation, it  appears  however  to  be  exaggerated; 
and  necessity  probably  obliged  him  to  have  re- 
course to  the  means  he  employed  for  the  exi- 
gences of  government,   after  the  treasury  had 
been  exhausted  by  the  luxury  and  profusion  of 
his  predecessors.     Among  the  principal  public 
events  of  the   reign  of  Vespasian  are  the  ter- 
mination of   the    dangerous   rebellion    of  the 
Gauls  under  Civilis,  and  the  capture  of  Jeru- 
salem by  Titus,  whom  the  emperor  had  made 
his  lieutenant  in  Judea.     After  reigning  ten 
years   he  died,   in  June,  <YD.  79,  greatly  re- 
gretted by  the  Romans,  who  under  his  domi- 
nion enjoyed  a  degree  of  national  prosperity  to 
which  they  had  long  been  strangers. — Tacitus. 
Suetonius.     Crevier  Hist.  Ram. 

VESPUC1US  (AMEKICUS)  or  AMERIGO 
VESPUCCI,  an  able  Italian  mariner,  who 
has  very  unjustly  attained  the  honour  of  giv- 
ing a  name  to  the  largest  quarter  of  the  globe, 
was  born  of  a  distinguished  tamily  of  Florence, 
March  9,  1451.  He  received  an  excellent 
education  under  a  paternal  uncle,  who  was  a 
learned  Dominican,  but  of  his  subsequent  life 
nothing  certain  is  known  until  1490,  when  he 
was  sent  by  his  father  to  carry  on  a  commer- 
cial concern  in  Spain.  While  at  Seville  he 
was  informed  of  the  discoveries  of  Columbus, 
and  became  inflamed  with  a  desire  of  partici- 
pating in  his  glory,  which  ambition  implies  a 
previous  life  of  nautical  experience,  agreeably 


VES 

to  the  suggestions  of  his  biographer  BaruHui. 
His  story  now  becomes  a  matterof  controversy, 
but  bis  own  account  is,  that  having   been  en- 
gaged  by  Ferdinand,  king  of  Spain,  to  con- 
tinue the  discoveries  in  the  New  World,   lie 
sailed   from   Cadiz    in   May   1497,  and   after 
touching  at  the  Canaries,  in  thirty-seven  days 
arrived  at  a  land  which  was  judged  to  be  Terra 
Firma.     Had  this  account  been  true,  he  would 
have  certainly  anticipated   the    discovery    of 
the  coast  of  Paria  by  Columbus,  by  an  entire 
year.     It  is  however  remarked  that  no  other 
writer  takes  the  least  notice  of  such  an  expe- 
dition, and  that  in  1497  Columbus  himself  was 
in  Spain,  and  highly  honoured  at  the  court  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella.     It  is  therefore  gene- 
rally concluded  that  Vespucius's    account    of 
this  voyage  is  either  a  mere   fiction,  or  ante- 
dated as  the  account  of  a  voyage  which  really 
took  place  subsequently.     He   for  some  time 
quitted  the    service  of  Spain  for  that  of  Por- 
tugal, and   conducted  an  expedition  of  three 
ships,   in  which   he   assumes  to  have  coasted 
along  the  whole  American  coast,  from  Brazil  to 
Patagonia.     In   1505  he    undertook    another 
expedition  for  the  same  power  with  a  fleet  of 
six  ships,  in    order  to  discover  a  way  to  Ma- 
lacca by  the  west,  in  which  endeavour  he  en- 
countered the  greatest  dangers,   and  lost  one 
of  his  vessels.     On   the   death  of  Columbus, 
Vespucius  was  again  invited  into  the  service 
of  Spain,  and  in  1507  placed  at  Seville  with 
the  title  of  pilot  major.     It  being  part  of  his 
office  to  mark  out  the  tracks  to  be  followed  by 
navigators,  he  always  distinguished   the  new 
countries  by  the  word  America,  or  "  Amerigo's 
Land."     Hence,    notwithstanding    the    com- 
plaints of  the  Spaniards,  the  honour  was  stolen 
from  the  rightful  possessor,  although  the  re- 
nown has  not  gone  with  the  name,  Vespucius 
being  deemed  a  very  inconsiderable  person  in 
comparison  with  Columbus.     He  left  a  journal 
of  his  four  voyages,  which  was  printed  in  La- 
tin at  Paris  in  1532,  and  at  Basle  in  15:57,  and 
afterwards  in  Ramusio's  collections.     Bandini 
having  at  length  discovered  the  Italian  origi- 
nnls,  also  gave  them  to  the  public.     Some  oi 
his  letters  were  printed   at  Florence  in   1516, 
in  a  thin  quarto  of  twenty-two  pages.     They 
are  addressed  to  Soderini  and  Lorenzo  cle'  Me- 
dici, and  are  said  to  discover  a  very  superior 
knowledge  of  navigation.     The  date   of   his 
death    is    not    recorded. —  Tirabpschi...   Biog. 
Univ. 

VESTRIS  (GAETANO  APOLINE  BALTHA- 
ZAR) a  celebrated  professor  of  the  art  of  danc- 
ing, born  at  Florence  in  1729.     He  receivec 
lessons  when  very  young  from  Dupre  at  Paris 
and  in  1748  he  made  his  debut  at  the  opera 
In  1753  he  became  a  member  of  the  Academy 
of  Dancing,  which  had  been  founded  by  Louis 
XIV.     On  the  retirement  of  Dupre  from  the 
stage  Vestris  succeeded  him  ;  and  he  was  in 
liis  turn  surnained  Dieu  de  la   Danse.     Hi 
vanity  appears  to  have  been  at  least  equal  to 
his  merit.     It  is  reported  that  in  answer   t 
•he  question,  who  were  the  three  greatest  men 
of  the   age,   he  said,   '•'  Myself,  Voltaire,  inn 
Frederick  the  Great  •"  and  many  other  Minus 


VIB 

ing  traits  of  his  extraordinary  self-estimation 
are  recorded.  He  had  the  office  of  ballet-mas- 
ter, but  his  choregraphical  compositions  were 
not  of  much  importance.  He  retired  with  a 
pension  in  1781  ;  and  his  death  took  place  at 
Paris  September  27,  1808. — His  wife,  ANNA 
FREDEHICA  HEINEL,  who  was  his  pupil,  be- 
came highly  distinguished  as  an  opera-dancer. 
She  was  born  at  Bareuth  in  1752,  and  died  in 
808,  a  few  months  before  her  husband. — 
li<<g.  Univ. 

VESTRIS  (MARIE  ROSE  GOURGAUD  Du- 
,AZO\)  a  distinguished  French  actress,  who 
vas  the  wife  of  Paco  Vestris,  brother  of  the 
tibject  of  the  last  article.  She  made  her  first 
ppearance  on  the  stage  in  December  1768, 
nd  having  been  instructed  by  the  celebrated 
ragedian  Lekain,  she  speedily  attained  great 
eputation,  not  only  in  tragic  characters,  but 
ilso  in  the  higher  walks  of  comedy.  Her 
juarrels  with  the  rival  actresses,  mademoiselle 
Sainval  and  her  sister,  not  only  engrossed  a 
great  deal  of  the  public  attention  at  Paris,  but 
required  the  interference  of  the  government, 
vhich  was  exerted  in  favour  of  madame  Ves- 
tris. She  died  at  Paris,  October  6,  1804,  not 
ong  after  she  had  retired  from  the  stage. — 
Idem. 

VETTORI.  See  VTCTORIUS. 
VIAL  DUCLAIRBOIS(HoNORE  SEBAS- 
TIEN)  director  of  the  school  of  naval  engineers, 
and  chief  of  the  maritime  artillery  at  Brest. 
He  was  a  native  of  Paris,  and  after  having 
jeen  a  lieutenant  in  the  navy,  in  1754  he  en- 
tered the  army,  and  served  till  1777,  when  he 
resumed  his  former  profession,  in  the  office  of 
marine  sub-engineer.  The  talents  which  he 
displayed  in  the  construction  of  vessels,  pro- 
cured him  in  1793  the  post  of  engineer-con- 
structor-in-chief.  He  had  some  other  appoint- 
ments previously  to  that  of  director  of  the  school 
of  engineers  at  Brest,  which  he  held  from  1801 
till  1810,  when  his  great  age  and  infirm  health 
obliged  him  to  retire  from  the  service  of  his 
country.  He  died  in  1816,  aged  eighty-three. 
He  published  "  Essai  Geometrique  et  Pratique 
sur  1'Architecture  Navale,"  Brest,  1776,  2 
torn.  8vo  ;  "  Traite  Elementaire  de  la  Con- 
struction des  Vaisseaux,"  Paris,  1787 — 18O5, 
2  vols.  4to  ;  and  a  translation  of  an  English 
work  on  Ship-building.  He  was  also  a  prin- 
cipal contributor  to  the  "  Encyclopedic  Me- 
thodique." — Bwg.  Univ. 

V1BIUS  SEQUESTER,  an  ancient  geo- 
grapher, who  is  supposed  to  have  been  a  Ro- 
man, and  according  to  Oberlin  he  flourished 
between  the  fifth  and  the  seventh  centuries. 
He  is  only  known  as  the  author  of  a  work  en- 
titled "  De  Flnminibus,  Fontibus,  Lacubus, 
Nemoribus,  Paludibus,  Montibus,  Gentibus, 
quorum  apud  Poetas  fit  mentio."  This  piece 
has  been  published  with  the  writings  of  other 
ancient  geographers  ;  and  it  was  edited  sepa- 
rately by  Ilessel,  Rotterdam,  1711,  8vo  ;  and 
by  Oberlin,  Strasburg,  1778.  8vo. — Biog. Univ. 
VIBORG  (ERICH  NISSEN)  an  eminent  ve- 
terinary surgeon,  born  in  the  duchy  of  Slr.s- 
\\ick  in  1759.  His  father,  who  was  a  Protes- 
tant minister,  gave  him  some  classical  iutitruc- 


V  1  C 

tion,  and  in  1777  sent  him  to  the  university  of 
Copenhagen,  to  study  theology.  Relinquish- 
ing his  dii-in;i]  d. xiniiiion  to  the  church,  he 
applied  himself  to  mathematics  and  natural 
history,  under  the  veterinary  professor  Abild- 
g;iard,  to  whose  office  he  succeeded  in  1801. 
He  was  subsequently  made  a  counsellor  of 
state,  and  a  knight  of  the  order  of  Danuebrog. 
He  died  September  25,  1822.  Besides  a  con- 
siderable number  of  memoirs  and  treatises  on 
veterinary  surgery  and  medicine,  he  was  the 
author  of  tracts  on  moving  sands,  and  the 
means  of  preventing  the  mischief  arising  from 
them;  and  in  consequence  of  the  importance 
of  his  researches  on  this  subject,  lie  was  ap- 
pointed inspector-general  of  flug-sand,  or  mov- 
ing sands. — Biog.  Univ. 

VICCARS  (JOHN)  a  zealous  puritan,  con- 
cuous  in  the  time  of  the  Commonwealth  for 
his  intemperate  and  fanatical  writings,  which 
drew  upon  him  the  sarcastic  wit  of  Butler  in 
his  Hudibras.  lln  was  born  and  educated  in 
London,  the.  period  of  his  birth  being  fixed 
about  the  year  1582.  From  Christ's  hospital 
he  removed  to  Queen's  college,  Oxford ;  and 
having  taken  his  degrees,  became  one  of  the 
under-masters  of  the  seminary  in  which  he  had 
originally  imbibed  the  rudiments  of  education. 
His  tirades  against  the  monarchy  and  the 
episcopal  form  of  church  government  are 
scarcely  more  remarkable  for  their  violence 
than  for  the  very  absurd  titles  under  which 
some  of  them  were  produced,  and  which  are 
quite  in  the  style  of  the  enthusiasts  of  that 
day.  They  consist  of  "  God's  Arke  overtop- 
ping the  World's  Waves;"  "The  Burning 
Bush  not  consumed ;"  and  "  God  in  the 
Mount,"  afterwards  published  in  one  volume 
as  "  The  Parliamentary  Chronicle  ;"  and  an 
attack  on  Goodwin,  called  "  Coleman  Street 
Conclave  visited."  Pie  died  about  the  middle 
of  the  seventeenth  century. — Athen.  Oion. 

VICENTE  (GiL)  the  earliest  and  most  ce- 
lebrated of  the  Portuguese  comic  poets.  He 
was  born  about  1480,  and  he  received  his  edu- 
cation at  the  university  of  Lisbon,  where  he 
studied  jurisprudence.  Having  composed  some 
pastoral  poems  in  1502  for  recitation  at  court 
on  public  festivals,  they  were  so  much  ad- 
mired that  he  was  induced  to  relinquish  his 
profession,  and  devote  himself  to  dramatic 
composition.  He  continued  to  write  till  1536, 
when  he  produced  the  last  and  most  spirited 
of  his  comedies,  "  Floresta  d'Engafios,"  "  The 
Garden  of  Deceptions."  His  death  took  place 
at  Evora  in  1557.  None  of  the  dramas  of  Gil 
Vicente  were  printed  during  his  life  ;  but  his 
son,  Louis  Vicente,  collected  and  published 
them  in  a  folio  volume  in  1562t  They  consist 
of  comedies,  tragi-comedies,  farces,  &c.  be- 
tides works  of  devotion,  or  autos.  It  mav  be 
noticed,  as  a  proof  of  the  merit  of  this  dra'ma- 
tist,  that  Erasmus  learnt  Portuguese  in  order 
to  be  able  to  read  his  works,  which  he  found 
to  be  superior  to  the  idea  he  had  conceived  of 
them. — Diet.  Hist.  Eiog.  Univ. 

VICO  (jliNiiAs)  better  known  perhaps  as 
.Tineas  Vighi,  was  a  native  of  Parma,  eminent 
ibout  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  for 


VIC 

his  acquaintance  with  the  study  of  anci"it 
medals.  Although  following  the  profession  of 
an  engraver,  he  yet  found  time  to  give  to  the 
world  several  useful  treatises,  the  result  of  his 
numismatic  researches.  Of  these  the  principal 
are  "  Crcsarum  verissimm  Imagines  ex  anti- 
quis  Numismatibus  desumpta?,"  a  valuable 
series  ;  "  Discourses  on  the  Medals  of  the 
Ancients,"  1555  ;  "  Augustorum  Imagines 
Formis  expresss,  Vita:  quoque  earundanim 
breviter  enarratac,"  4to,  1558  ;  and  "  Monu- 
menta  aliquot  Antiquorum  ex  Gemmis  et  ( 'a- 
meis  incisa."  Of  his  life  little  is  known  far- 
ther than  that  he  resided  chiefly  at  Home,  and 
had  learned  the  principles  of  his  art  under  the 
famous  Raimondi,  who  did  not  however  con- 
sider him  one  of  his  best  scholars. — GIOVANNI 
BATTISTA  Vico,  an  Italian  rhetorician,  born  in 
1670,  was  professor  of  eloquence  at  Naples,  of 
which  capital  he  was  a  native,  and  is  known 
as  the  author  of  a  work  entitled  "  Seienza 
Nuova."  His  death  took  place  about  the  year 
1740.— Tirahvsclii. 

VICQ-D'AZYR  (FELIX)  an  eminent  French 
physician  and  anatomist,  born  at  Valogne  in 
1748.  He  went  to  Paris  in  1765,  and  after 
having  devoted  several  years  to  the  study  of 
medicine  and  the  sciences  connected  with  it, 
especially  anatomy  and  physiology,  he  com- 
menced giving  lectures  on  human  and  compa- 
rative anatomy  in  1773.  Through  the  influence 
of  Daubenton  he  was  enabled  to  prosecute 
with  advantage  his  researches  concerning  the 
structure  of  foreign  animals  ;  and  the  memoirs 
in  which  he  gave  an  account  of  his  discoveries, 
procured  him  admission  into  the  Academy  of 
Sciences  in  1774.  The  following  year  he  was 
sent  by  the  minister  Turgot  intoLanguedoc,  to 
investigate  the  causes  of  a  destructive  disease 
among  cattle.  Soon  after  he  became  one  of 
the  principal  founders  of  a  medical  society  at 
Paris,  of  which  he  was  appointed  perpetual 
secretary ;  and  in  that  capacity  he  wrote  the 
biographical  eulogies  of  many  of  the  members. 
The  reputation  he  acquired  by  this  exertion  of 
his  talents  occasioned  his  being  chosen  to  suc- 
ceed Buffon  in  1788,  as  a  member  of  the 
French  Academy.  He  was  constituted  first 
physician  to  the  queen  in  1789,  and  notwith- 
standing his  connexions  with  Condorcet  and 
other  philosophers,  which  injured  his  credit  at 
court,  he  had  also  the  reversion  of  the  office  of 
first  physician  to  the  king.  He  died  June 
20,  1794.  Vicq-d'Azyr  in  1786  commenced 
the  publication  of  a  work  entitled  "  Traite 
d'Anatomie  et  de  Physiologie,"  with  coloured 
plates,  folio.  This  part,  which  is  all  that  ap- 
peared, relates  only  to  the  brfrin,  with  an  in- 
troductory discourse  on  anatomy  in  general. 
He  also  wrote  part  of  "  Systeme  Anatomique 
des  Quadrupedes,"  for  the  Encyclopedic  Me- 
thodique.  ;  a  treatise  entitled  "  Medecine  des 
Betes  a  Cornes,"  1781,  2  vols.  8vo  ;  and  many 
medical  and  anatomical  memoirs.  His"  Eloges 
Historiques,"  were  published  in  1797  and  in 
1826  ;  and  his  works  appeared  in  6  vols.  8vo, 
with  an  Atlas  in  4to,  Paris,  1805. — Aikin. 
ii'i;.  Univ. 

VICTOR  (SEXTUS  AUKELIUS")  a  Romau 


V  I  C 

Listorian,  who  lived  in  the  fourth  century.  He 
wad  the  eon  of  humble  parents,  and  did  not 
enjoy  the  benefit  of  a  learned  education.  The 
piace  of  his  birth  is  not  recorded  ;  but  however 
obscure  his  origin,  lie  possessed  talents  which 
procured  him  the  highest  honours.  Ill  the 
year  361  the  emperor  Julian  appointed  him 
prefect  of  Pannonia ;  and  a  long  time  after- 
wards he  was  prefect  of  Rome,  and  in  the  year 
369  consul  with  Valentinian.  He  appears  to 
have  lived  till  towards  the  end  of  the  fourth 
century.  The  following  works  are  extant  un- 
der his  name,  "  Origo  Gentis  Roman  SB  ;"  "  l)e 
Yiris  illustribus  Urbis  Romse  ;"  "  De  Csesari- 
bus  Historia  ab  Augusto  Octavio  usque  ad 
Consulatum  decimum  Constantii  August!  et 
Juliani  Ca;saris  tertium  ;"  "  De  Vita  et  Mo- 
ribus  Imperatorum  Romanorum  Excerpta,  e 
Cresare  Augusto  usque  ad  Theodosium  Impe- 
ratorem."  It  is  thought  that  the  work  "  De 
Cajsaribus  Historia,"  can  alone  be  ascribed 
with  certainty  to  Aurelius.  The  first  edition 
of  Aurelius  Victor  was  printed  at  Antwerp, 
1579,  with  notes  by  Schottus.  There  are  se- 
veral other  good  editions,  of  which  the  latest 
is  the  Bipont  of  1789. — Vvssii  Hist.  Lat,  Saxii 
Onom. 

VICTOR  AMADEUS  II,  duke  of  Savoy 
and  first  king  of  Sardinia,  was  born  in  1666, 
and  succeeded  his  father,  Charles  Emanuel,  in 
1674,  under  the  guardianship  of  his  mother. 
In  1684  he  married  Anna  Maria  of  Orleans, 
daughter  to  the  duke  of  Orleans,  by  Henrietta 
Anna  of  England,  sister  to  Charles  II,  which 
might  have  conveyed  the  crown  of  Great  Bri- 
tain to  this  family,  but  for  the  Revolution  of 
1688.  The  first  military  transaction  of  this 
prince  was  his  expelling  with  great  bloodshed 
his  Protestant  subjects  of  the  Vaudois.  In 
1687  he  joined  the  grand  alliance  against 
France,  but  was  a  severe  sufferer  in  the  con- 
test, being  defeated  by  marshal  Catinat,  who 
entered  Piedmont,  and  took  all  his  strong 
places.  He  still  however  remained  so  formi- 
dable by  his  activity  and  resources,  that 
France  strained  every  nerve  to  detach  him 
from  the  confederacy,  and  he  at  length  agreed 
to  a  trenty,  by  which  all  the  places  taken  from 
him  were  to  be  restored  with  a  sum  of  money, 
by  way  of  indemnification,  and  a  contract  of 
marriage  was  entered  into  between  his  eldest 
daughter  and  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  heir  ap- 
parent to  the  crown  of  France.  The  duke  of 
Savoy  then  joined  his  troops  to  those  of  his  new 
ally  ;  and  in  less  than  a  month,  from  being  ge- 
neralissimo of  the  emperor,  became  that  of 
Louis  XIV.  This  state  of  things  was  termi- 
nated the  following  year  by  the  peace  of  Rys- 
wick.  Soon  after  a  marriage  was  entered  into 
between  the  second  daughter  of  Victor  Ama- 
deus  and  Philip  of  Anjou,  called  to  the  throne 
of  Spain  ;  and  thus  he  had  the  rare  fortune  of 
seeing  the  two  principal  kingdoms  of  Europe 
fall  to  his  immediate  descendants.  This  close 
connexion,  however,  did  not  prevent  him  from 
entering  into  negociations  with  the  allied 
powers  in  1702  ;  which  conduct  produced  im- 
mediate hostilities  on  the  part  of  France,  who 
took  from  him  a  number  of  towns,  and  at 


V  I  C 

length  in  1706  laid  siege  to  Turin,  his  ca- 
pital, which  was  relieved  by  the  imperialists 
under  prince  Eugene.  The  duke  in  conse- 
quence recovered  all  that  he  had  lost,  and 
assisted  the  emperor  to  expel  the  French  from 
Lombardy.  His  importance  in  the  eyes  of  the 
contending  powers  was  proved  by  the  terms  he 
obtained  at  the  peace  of  Utrecht.  Besides 
being  restored  to  all  his  own  possessions,  France 
made  several  cessions  to  him,  and  the  empe- 
ror conferred  on  him  a  part  of  Montferrat  and 
several  provinces  in  Italy.  The  king  of  Spain 
also  resigned  to  him  the  kingdom  of  Sicily, 
which  gave  his  house  the  royal  title  ;  and  it 
was  also  agreed  that  in  default  of  heirs  to  the 
Spanish  monarch,  the  crown  of  Spain  should 
descend  to  the  house  of  Savoy,  in  preference 
to  that  of  Bourbon.  Victor  Amadeus  with 
his  duchess  were  accordingly  crowned  at  Pa- 
lermo in  the  close  of  the  same  year  ;  but  great 
confusion  soon  after  arose,  in  consequence  of 
the  terms  of  the  cession,  which  terminated  in 
the  resignation  of  Sicily  by  Victor,  who  re- 
ceived the  island  of  Sardinia  in  lieu  of  it,  with 
the  royal  title  appended  to  it.  This  event 
took  place  in  1718,  and  ever  since  the  dukes 
of  Savoy  rank  among  the  sovereigns  of  Europe 
as  kings  of  Sardinia.  From  that  time  Victor 
Amadeus  dedicated  himself  solely  to  the  arts 
of  peace,  until  in  1730,  after  a  reign  of  fifty- 
three  years,  he  was  induced  to  abdicate  in  fa- 
vour of  his  son  Charles  Emanuel.  Instigated 
by  an  ambitious  mistress,  to  whom  he  was 
privately  married,  he  had  soon  after  the  weak- 
ness to  seek  to  resume  his  authority,  which 
being  opposed  by  the  new  king  and  council, 
the  abdicated  monarch  was  placed  under  a 
degree  of  personal  restraint,  in  which  situa- 
tion he  died,  at  the  castle  of  Rivoli  near  Tu- 
rin, in  1732,  in  his  sixty-seventh  year. — Mod. 
Univ.  Hist.  Nonv.  Diet.  Hist. 

VICTORIUS,  or  VETTORI  (PETER)  an 
eminent  Italian  scholar,  was  born  at  Florence, 
in  July  1499.  He  early  began  his  studies  in 
the  Greek  and  Latin  languages,  philosophy, 
mathematics,  and  jurisprudence.  In  152^  he 
visited  Spain  in  the  train  of  a  relative  appointed 
to  accompany  the  new  pope,  Adrian  VI,  into 
Italy,  and  took  copies  of  the  Roman  antiquities 
in  Catalonia.  In  the  disputes  at  Florence  he 
sided  with  the  republican  party,  but  would  not 
take  part  in  the  deliberations  to  settle  a  new 
form  of  government,  after  the  assassination  of 
duke  Alexander  de'  Medici,  and  retired  to 
Rome.  His  fame  for  learning  was  so  giv:it, 
that,  notwithstanding  his  opposition  to  the 
house  of  Medici,  he  was  invited  by  Cosmo  II 
to  become  Greek  and  Latin  professor  in  the 
university  of  Florence,  the  duties  of  which 
office  he  exercised  with  celebrity  for  upwards 
of  forty  years.  Literature  was  as  much  in- 
debted to  Victorius  as  to  any  scholar  of  the  age. 
Had  he  done  nothing  but  collate  and  correct 
other  editions  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  autbors 
which  had  appeared  from  the  invention  of 
printing  to  his  own  time,  his  services  would 
have  been  eminent  ;  but  he  also  supplied  the 
learned  world  with  notes  and  commentaries  to 
Aristotle,  Terence,  Varro,  Sallust,  Kuripiilt  r> 


V  I  D 

Porphyry,  Plato.Xenophon,  and  more  especially 
to  Cicero,  his  edition  of  which  author,  printed 
in  4  vols.  folio,  l.*-34 — 37,  has  always  received 
extraordinary  commendation.  Besides  these, 
and  his  "  Varhe  Lectiones,"  of  which  tliere 
have  been  several  editions,  he  was  likewise 
author  of  some  Latin  poetry,  and  orations  and 
letters,  both  in  Latin  and  Italian.  He  died  in 
1585,  in  his  eighty-sixth  year,  and  was  interred 
with  great  magnificence  at  the  public  expense. 
— Tiraboschi,  Moreri. 

ViDA  (MARK  JKROME)  a  celebrated  mo- 
dern Latin  poet,  born  in  1490  at  Cremona,  of 
parents  who  were  poor  but  of  noble  descent. 
He  studied  with  distinction  at  Padun,  Bologna, 
arid  Mantua,  and  he  was  admitted  while  young 
into  the  congregation  of  the  canons  regular  of 
St  Mark.  He  afterwards  went  to  Rome,  and 
became  a  canon  of  St  John  Lateran.  His  ta- 
lent for  Latin  poetry  recommended  him  to 
Leo  X,  who  gave  him  the  priory  of  St  Silvester 
near  Tivoli.  There  he  wrote  his  "  Cbristiud," 
which  was  finished  in  the  pontificate  of  Clement 
VII,  who  in  recompence  of  his  merit,  bestowed 
on  him  in  1532  the  bishopric  of  Alba.  Paul 
III  intended  to  have  translated  Vida  to  the  see 
of  Cremona,  but  the  death  of  the  pope  pre- 
vented his  promotion,  and  he  died  at  Alba, 
September  27,  1566.  His  poetical  produc- 
tions, besides  the  Christiad,  are  "  Scacchia 
Ludus,"  the  Game  of  Chess,  which  has  been 
highly  praised  by  Warton  ;  "  Poeticorum  Li- 
bri  iii,"  translated  by  the  abbe  Batteux  into 
French,  and  published  with  the  Poetics  of 
Aristotle,  Horace,  and  Boileau ;  "  Bombycum 
Libri  ii."  on  Silk-worms,  esteemed  the  most 
correct  and  elegant  of  the  works  of  Vida ; 
"  Hymni  de  Rebus  Divinis ;"  "  Carminum  j 
Liber."  His  prose  works  consist  of  "  Dialog! 
de  Reipublica;  Dignitate  Libri  ii.  ;"  "  Dis- 
corsi  contra  gli  Abitanti  di  Pavia,"  Paris,  1 5(52, 
8vo,  republished  at  Venice  in  1764,  under  the 
title  of  Cremonensium  Orationes  tres  adversus 
Papienses  in  Controversia  Principatus  ;"  and 
Synodal  Constitutions,  Letters,  &c.  Most  of 
these  works  were  published  collectively  at 
Padua,  1731,  2  vols.  4to ;  and  the  Poems  of 
Vida  were  printed  at  Cremona,  1550,  2  vols. 
8vo  ;  at  Oxford,  1722,  4  vols.  8vo;  in  1725 
and  1733,  3  vols.  8vo.  The  Poetics  of  Vida 
were  translated  into  English  by  the  rev.  Christ. 
Pitt,  and  the  Poem  of  Chess  by  George  Jef- 
freys.— Biog.  Univ. 

VIDUS  VIDTUS,  the  Latinized  name  of 
Guido  Guidi,  a  Florentine  physician  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  After  completing  his  edu- 
cation he  went  to  Paris,  where  he  was  much 
noticed  by  Francis  I,  who  made  him  his  first 
physician,  and  created  for  him  the  office  of 
lecturer  on  medicine  at  the  Royal  college, 
then  recently  established.  After  the  death  of 
his  patron  in  1547,  he  returned  to  Florence, 
•where  he  became  first  physician  to  the  grand 
duke  Cosmo  de'  Medici,  and  a  member  of  the 
Florentine  Academy.  He  was  afterwards  pro- 
fessor of  philosophy,  and  then  of  medicine, 
at  Pisa.  His  death  occurred  in  1569.  His 
works,  which  are  very  numerous,  were  pub- 
lished together,  in  3  vols,  folio,  Venice,  1614, 


V  IG 

and  reprinted  at  Frankfort  in  1626,  1643,  and 
1657. —  Vorlal  Hist.d'Anat.      Tirahoscht. 

VIEL  (CHARLES  FRANCIS)  an  architect, 
who  was  a  native  of  Paris,  and  studied  at  the 
college  of  Beauvais,  and  afterwards  became 
the  pupil  of  Chalgrin.  He  erected  the  Monte 
'•  de  Piete,  the  Hospital  Cochon,  the  amphi- 
theatre of  the  Hotel  Dieu,  and  many  other 
buildings  at  Paris  and  elsewhere  ;  and  lie  dis- 
tinguished himself  also  by  his  professional 
writings.  He  published  "  Projet,  Plan,  et 
Elevation  d'un  Monument  consacre  a  I'llis- 
toire  Naturelle,  dedie  a  M.  le  Comte  de  Buf- 
fon,"  1780,  4to  ;  "  Moyens  pour  la  Kestaura- 
tion  des  Piliers  du  Dome  du  Pantheon,"  17'.V, 
4to ;  "  Principes  de  1'Ordonnance  et  de  la 
Construction  des  Batimens,"  1797 — 1814, 
5  vols.  He  died  at  Paris,  December  1,  181l.». 
— Bios;.  Univ. 

VIETA  (FRANCIS)  an  eminent  French  ma- 
thematician, born  in  the  province  of  Lower 
Poitou  in  1540.  He  has  been  represented  by 
some  writers  as  the  inventor  of  algebra,  but 
he  merely  improved  that  branch  of  science  by 
introducing  letters  as  symbols  of  known  or  un- 
known quantities.  On  this  subject  he  wrote  a 
treatise  "  Denumerosa  Potestatum  Resolutione 
ad  Exegesin,"  Paris,  1600,  folio.  He  held 
the  office  of  master  of  requests  at  Paris,  and 
he  died  in  that  city  in  1603.  Vieta  assisted 
in  the  correction  of  the  Gregorian  Calendar  ; 
and  he  was  distinguished  for  his  skill  in  the 
art  of  decyphering.  According  to  De  Thou 
Le  pursued  his  mathematical  speculations  in 
such  complete  abstraction  from  the  common 
concerns  of  life,  and  with  so  little  regard  for 
the  exigences  of  nature,  that  he  would  sit  in 
profound  meditation  at  his  table  for  three  days 
together,  almost  without  taking  food  or  rest, 
flis  trigonometrical  tracts  were  published  in 
1579,  and  the  rest  of  his  works  were  edited 
by  Schooten  in  1646. — Blonnt  Centura  Celehr. 
Anctm:  Mutton's  Math.  Diet. 

VIEUSSENS  (RAYMOND)  an  eminent 
French  anatomist,  physician  to  the  court.  He 
was  born  at  Rouergue,  in  1641,  and  studied 
the  science  of  medicine  at  Montpellier,  where 
he  graduated.  His  principal  writings  are,  a 
treatise  on  "  Internal  Diseases,"  published 
many  years  after  his  death  by  his  grandson,  in 
four  quarto  volumes,  and  another  in  folio,  en- 
titled "  Neurologia  universalis,"  an  able  work 
on  the  nervous  system,  printed  in  his  life-time, 
about  the  year  1685.  His  declining  health  in- 
duced him  to  retire  from  the  capital  to  Montpel. 
Her,  some  short  time  previously  to  his  decease, 
which  took  place  in  1716. — Halleri  Bibl.  Jl/rrf. 

V1GILIUS,  bishop  of  Tapsus  in  Africa, 
an  ecclesiastical  writer  of  the  fifth  century. 
He  was  involved  in  apersecution  of  the  catho- 
lics by  Hunneric  the  Arian,  king  of  the  Van- 
dals. This  is  supposed  to  be  the  cause  of  his 
composing  a  number  of  writings  under  the 
names  of  persons  eminent  in  the  church.  Thus 
he  composed  a  supposed  discussion  between 
Arius  and  Athanasius,  at  Laodicea.  He 
also  wrote  a  dialogue  against  Arius,  in  the, 
name  of  St  Augustin  ;  and  to  him  is  also  at- 
tributed a  dispute  of  St  Auguslin  and  Pascen- 


V  IG 

tins,  and  the  celebrated  Athanasian  creed.  Af- 
ter lie  retired  to  Constantinople,  he  published 
works  in  his  own  name,  which,  with  others 
attributed  to  him,  were  printed  at  Dijon  in 
1665,  4to. — Flenry  Hist.  Eccles. 

VIGNE  (PIER  DELLA)  a  celebrated  minis- 
ter of  the  emperor  Frederick  II,  was  born  of 
mean  parents,  at  Capua,  towards  the  latter 
end  of  the  twelfth  century.  He  was  a  men- 
dicant scholar  of  Bologna,  but  pursued  his 
studies  to  such  good  effect,  that  he  was  ad- 
vanced successively  by  the  emperor  to  the 
posts  of  prothonotary  of  his  court,  judge,  and 
chancellor.  He  was  also  employed  as  anego- 
ciator  in  various  embassies,  and  took  a  leading 
part  in  that  eventful  reign.  Ultimately,  how- 
ever, he  was  accused  of  betraying  his  master's 
interest  to  pope  Innocent  IV ;  and  being  thrown 
into  prison  and  deprived  of  sight,  lie  termi- 
nated his  life  with  his  own  hand.  Six  books 
of  letters  are  remaining  in  his  name,  which 
Tiraboschi  regards  as  one  of  the  most  valuable 
monuments  of  the  thirteenth  century.  He  also 
collected  and  arranged  the  laws  of  Sicily, 
composed  a  book  on  consolation,  in  imitation 
of  Boethius,  and  several  Italian  poems.  In 
common  with  his  master,  he  lias  a  share  in 
the  imputation  of  being  concerned  in  the  com- 
position of  the  famous  hook  "  De  tribus  Impos- 
toribus ;"  a  work  of  which  it  is  equally  dis- 
puted who  was  the  author,  or  whether  it  ever 
really  existed. — Tiraboschi. 

VIGN1ER,  the  name  of  two  ingenious 
French  writers,  who  stood  to  each  other  in  the 
relation  of  grandfather  and  grandson. — NICHO- 
LAS YiGNiF.it,  the  elder  of  the  two,  was  a  na- 
tive of  Troyes,  born  in  1530,  and  distinguished 
himself  as  a  souud  scholar  and  a  learned  anti- 
quarian. He  was  the  author  of  a  variety  of 
able  works,  principally  connected  with  the 
early  history  of  his  native  country.  These  con- 
sist of  "  An  Essay  ou  the  Origin  and  Condi- 
tion of  the  ancient  Franks,"  folio;  "  On  the 
ancient  State  of  Armorica  or  Brittany  ;"  "A 
Summary  of  the  History  of  France,"  folio  ; 
"  Annals  of  the  ancient  Jews,  Greeks,  and 
Romans,"  4to  ;  and  an  "  Historical  Diction- 
ary," in  four  volumes,  folio.  He  died  historio- 
grapher royal  in  1596.  —  JEROME  YIGNIER 
was  born  in  1606  at  Blois.  He  was  educated 
in  the  reformed  religion,  but  reconciled  him- 
self to  the  Romish  church,  took  the  vows,  and 
became  a  priest  of  the  Oratory.  Jerome  in- 
herited the  antiquarian  propensities  of  his 
grandfather,  and  especially  distinguished  him- 
self by  his  acquaintance  with  the  pedigrees  of 
the  principal  continental  families.  In  the 
course  of  this  pursuit  he  collected  and  pub- 
lished genealogies  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg, 
of  the  counts  of  Champagne,  and  of  the  feudal 
seigneurs  of  Alsace.  He  was  also  the  author 
of  a  theological  treatise  "  On  the  Harmony  of 
the  four  Evangelists,"  and  died  in  1661. — 
Moreri,  Nimu.  Diet.  Hist. 

YIGNOLA,  or  GIACOMO  BAROZZIO, 
a  celebrated  Italian  architect,  who  derived  the 
former  appellation,  by  which  he  is  best  known, 
from  the  small  town  of  Yignola,  in  the  duchv 
of  Modena,  where  he  was  born  iu  1507.  lie 


VIG 

applied  himself  first  to  painting,  hut  his  inclina- 
tion leading  him  to  prefer  architecture,  h« 
studied  the  works  of  Vitruvius  and  other  an- 
cient writers,  and  then  went  to  Rome,  where 
he  carefully  surveyed  and  measured  the  re- 
mains of  ancient  art.  He  visited  France  in 
the  reign  of  Francis  I,  and  he  furnished  the 
designs  for  several  edifices  in  that  country. 
Returning  to  Italy,  he  designed  the  church  of 
St  Petronius  at  Bologna,  and  built  a  magnifi- 
cent palace  for  count  Isolani  He  executed 
many  other  works  of  importance  in  various 
parts  of  Italy,  but  none  of  them  to  be  com- 
pared with  the  palace  of  Caprarola,  which  he 
erected  for  cardinal  Alexander  Farneae.  The 
immense  reputation  which  he  acquired,  in- 
duced Philip  II  to  invite  him  to  Spain ;  but 
he  declined  going  thither  on  account  of  his 
great  age,  and  his  engagements  as  architect  of 
St  Peter's,  where  he  had  succeeded  Michael 
Angdo.  However  he  sent  designs  for  the  Escu- 
riiil,  which  were  preferred  before  those  of  the 
other  celebrated  architects  who  were  his  com- 
petitors on  that  occasion.  Vignola  died  in 
l'~73,  and  was  interred  with  great  pomp  in 
the  Pantheon  at  Rome.  He  was  the  author 
of  a  treatise  on  Perspective,  commented  on 
by  Jgnazio  Dante  ;  and  of  a  work  on  the  Five 
Orders  of  Architecture,  translated  into  French, 
with  a  Commentary  by  Daviler.  A  new  edi- 
tion of  the  works  of  YignoJa  was  commenced 
at  Paris,  in  1815,  folio.  Aikiii's  Gen.  Eiog. 
Bio/>.  Univ. 

VIGNOLES  (ALPHONSO  de)  a  French  Pro- 
testant clergyman,  who  was  the  son  of  a  Cal- 
vinist  officer,  and  was  born  at  Aubais  in  Lan- 
guedoc,  in  1649.  After  having  been  in  the 
army,  he  studied  theology  at  the  university  of 
Saumur ;  and  he  was  minister  first  at  Aubais 
and  then  at  Cailar,  where  he  continued  till  the 
revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes  in  1685.  He 
found  an  asylum  in  the  territories  of  the  elector 
of  Brandenburg,  and  became  successively  mi- 
nister of  Schwedt,  of  Halle,  and  of  Branden- 
burg near  Berlin.  He  was  one  of  the  first 
members  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  at  Ber- 
lin, on  its  establishment  in  1701  ;  and  he  was 
chosen  director  of  that  institution  in  1727.  He 
published  many  learned  works,  of  which  the 
most  important  is  his  "  Chronologic  de  1'His- 
toire  Sainte  et  des  Histoires  Etrangeres  qui  la 
concernent,  depuis  la  Sortie  d'Egypt  jusqu'a  la 
Captivite  de  Babyloue,"  1738,2  vols.  4to.  He 
died  at  Berlin,  July  24,  1744. — Diet.  Hist. 
Aikiii's  Gen.  Eiog. 

VIGNOLI  (JOHN)  a  learned  writer  on  ar- 
chaeology  and  numismatics,  born  in  Tuscany, 
about  1680.  After  having  studied  philosophy 
and  theology,  he  took  the  ecclesiastical  habit, 
consecrating  his  leisure  to  the  investigation  of 
medals  and  other  ancient  monuments.  In 
1720  he  succeeded,  on  the  death  of  Zaccagni, 
to  the  office  of  librarian  of  the  Yatican ;  and 
his  death  took  place  in  1753.  Besides  an 
edition  of  the  Lives  of  the  Popes,  by  Anasta- 
sius  Bibliothecarius,  1724,  1753,  1755,  3  vols 
4to ;  he  published  "  Antiquiores  Pontilicum 
Denarii,"  1709,  4to;  "  Dissertatiode  Columns 
Imp.  AnUmiui  l'ii,  una  cum  Antiquis  Inscrip- 


VIL 

tionibus,"  1705,  4to,  and  other  works.-  I'>! "-. 
UHIH. 

VILLA  (GninoN  FRANCIS,  marquis  de)one 
of  the  most  distinguished  military  officers  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  lie  was  the  .son  of 
Guido,  marquis  de  Villa,  a  general  in  the 
French  service,  who  was  killed  at  the  siege  of 
Cremona,  in  1648.  The  son,  who  inherited  the 
talents  and  courage  of  his  ancestors,  after  hav- 
ing been  employed  in  the  wars  of  Italy,  en- 
tered into  the  service  of  the  Venetians,  and  was 
sent  in  1665  with  a  body  of  troops  to  Candia, 
then  attacked  by  the  Turks.  He  defended  that 
place,  notwithstanding  the  inferiority  of  his 
forces,  and  the  repeated  wounds  which  he  re- 
ceived, against  the  assaults  of  the  enemy,  in  a 
manner  highly  creditable  to  his  talents  and 
bravery.  In  1668  he  quitted  Candia,  in  obe- 
dience to  the  commands  of  his  sovereign,  the 
duke  of  Savoy  ;  and  he  died  not  long  after,  in 
consequence  of  the  injuries  he  had  suffered. 
An  account  of  the  Travels  of  the  Marquis  de 
Villa  in  Dalmatia  and  the  Levant,  and  of  the 
Siege  of  Candia,  by  J.  13.  Rostagno,  counsellor 
and  secretary  of  state  to  the  Duke  of  Savoy, 
was  published  at  Turin,  1668,  4to  ;  and  there 
are  two  abridged  translations  of  the  work  into 
French. — Biog.  Univ. 

VILLALPANDI(JonNBAPTiST)alearned 
Spanish  Jesuit,  was  horn  at  Cordova,  in  1552  ; 
and  he  entered  the  society  of  Jesuits  in  the 
twenty- sixth  year  of  his  age.  He  was  distin- 
guished for  extensive  theological  and  mathe- 
matical knowledge,  and  was  associated  with 
Jerome  Prado,  in  a  commentary  on  Ezekiel. 
He  particularly  distinguished  himself  in  a  dis- 
sertation upon  the  structure  of  Solomon's 
Temple,  in  respect  to  which,  having  adopted 
a  theory  that  it  was  perfect,  as  the  model  had 
been  given  by  God  himself,  he  exhausted 
much  fancy  and  ingenuity  to  describe  an  edi- 
fice which  should  answer  that  character.  Cal- 
met's  Dictionary  contains  some  account  of  this 
curious  inquiry,  as  also  several  engravings  in 
illustration  of  it.  Villalpandi  likewise  edited 
a  theological  tract  by  St  Remi.  He  died  at 
Rome,  1608. — Calmet.  Antonio  Bibl.  Hist. 

VILLANI,  the  name  of  three  historians  of 
the  same  family,  natives  of  Florence,  of  which 
republic  they  wrote  the  annals  in  conjunction. 
— GIOVANNI,  the  elder,  was  a  traveller  over 
great  part  of  the  European  continent,  but  died 
in  his  native  city,  where  he  enjoyed  a  post 
under  the  government,  in  1348,  before  the 
completion  of  the  work. — MATTED  VILLANI 
went  on  with  it;  but  he,  too,  dying  in  1363, 
it  was  reserved  for  Filippo,  son  of  the  latter, 
and  nephew  to  Giovanni,  to  put  a  finishing 
hand  to  it. — FILIPPO  afterwards  published  the 
"  Memoirs  of  illustrious  Florentines,"  and 
died  soon  after  the  commencement  of  the  fif- 
teenth (.entury.  Their  History,  which  was  not 
printed  all  above  a  century  after  their  decease, 
has  gone  through  several  editions.  The  first 
is  that  of  Florence,  1537  ;  another,  that  of 
Milan,  in  two  folio  volumes,  1729,  and  several 
•still  later. — Tirabnschi. 

VILLARET  (CLAUDE)  a  French  historian 
born  :st  "uaris  about  1715.  lie  was  intended 


VIL 

for  the  legal  profession,  but  he  preferred  the 
study  of  the  belles  lettres  ;  and  after  assisting 
with  Bret  and  Daucour  in  the  composition  of 
a  comedy  in  one  act,  he  published  in  1743  a 
novel  called  "  Histoire  du  Cu_-ur  Ilumain." 
and  in  1745  another,  "  La  Belle  Allemande." 
The  derangement  of  his  affairs  obliging  him  to 
leave  Paris,  he  went  in  1748  to  Rouen,  where 
he  appeared  on  the  stage ;  and  he  continued 
that  mode  of  life  till  1756.  He  then  returned 
to  Paris,  and  having  obtained  a  financial  situa- 
tion, he  relinquished  his  lighter  studies,  and 
applied  himself  to  the  investigation  of  the  his- 
tory of  his  native  country.  On  the  death  of 
the  abbe  Velly  in  1759,  he  was  selected  to 
continue  the  History  of  France,  commence.! 
by  that  writer,  and  he  was  at  the  same  tinu 
made  secretary  to  the  peerage.  His  portion 
of  the  work,  which  is  reckoned  superior  to 
that  of  his  predecessor,  extends  from  1329  to 
1469,  or  from  the  reign  of  Philip  de  Valois  to 
that  of  Louis  XI.  He  also  assisted  in  the 
"  Cours  d'Histoire  Universelle,"  undertaken  by 
Luneau  de  Boisgermain.  His  death  took  place 
in  February  1766. — Diet.  Hist.  Biog.  Unic. 

VILLA RS  ( DOMINIC)  a  French  botanist, 
born  in  1745.  His  father  was  a  fanner  in  the 
south  of  France,  on  whose  death  he  was 
obliged  to  undertake  the  care  of  the  farm  for 
the  support  of  his  family.  Resolved  however 
to  study  medicine  and  botany  he  quitted  hi? 
home,  and  in  1771  went  to  Grenoble,  where 
he  fortunately  obtained  the  patronage  of  .M. 
de  Marcheval,  intendunt  of  Dauphiny,  who 
procured  for  him  a  pension,  and  admission  as 
a  pupil  at  an  hospital.  In  1773  he  commenced 
a  course  of  lectures  on  botany,  and  in  1778  he 
took  his  degrees  in  the  faculty  of  medicine  at 
Valence.  In  1781  his  friend  M.  de  Marche- 
val obtained  for  him  the  office  of  chief  physi- 
cian to  the  military  hospital  at  Grenoble,  and 
a  botanic  garden  being  founded  there  in  17(',:\, 
he  lectured  on  botany.  The  suppression  of 
the  hospital  in  1803,  and  that  of  the  central 
school  soon  after,  left  him  without  employ- 
ment ;  but  in  1805  he  was  nominated  professor 
of  botany  and  medicine  at  Slrasburg,  and  in 
1807  he  became  dean  of  the  faculty  in  that  city. 
He  died  June  27,  1814.  His  principal  works 
are  "  Histoire  Naturelle  des  Plantes  du  Dau- 
phine,"  Grenoble,  1786,  4  vols.  8vo  ;  "  Me- 
moires  sur  la  Topographie  et  ITIistoire  Natu- 
relle," 1804,  8vo  ;  and  "  Precis  d'un  Voyage 
Botanique  fait  en  Suisse,  dans  les  Grisons,  «S.c. 
en  1811,"  Paris,  1812,  8vo. —  Biog.  Univ. 

VILLARS  (Louis  HECTOR,  duke  de)  mar- 
shal of  France,  was  the  son  of  Peter,  marquis 
of  Villars,  and  was  born  at  Moulins  in  1653. 
He  bore  arms  at  an  early  age,  as  aide-de-camp 
to  his  cousin,  the  marshal  de  Bellefons  ;  and 
he  served  in  Holland  in  1672,  and  the  follow- 
ing year  signalized  his  courage  at  the  siege  of 
Maestricht.  In  1674  be  obtained  the  com- 
mand of  a  regiment  of  cavalry,  and  in  1678  lie 
distinguished  himself  in  Germany  under  the 
marshal  de  Crequi.  He  was  made  a  lieute- 
nant general  in  1693;  and  after  the  peacn  of 
Ryswick  be  went  as  envoy  extraordinary  to 
Vienna.  War  being  renewed,  he  was  tin- 


V  1L 

ployed  in  Germany,  where  in  1702  he  gained 
the  victory  of  Friedlingen,  and  obliged  the  im- 
perialists to  abandon  their  lines  at  Haguenau. 
He  was  rewarded  with  the  staff  of  a  marshal 
of  France.  lu  1704  be  was  sent  to  Languedoc 
against  the  insurgent  fanatics  of  the  Cevennes, 
with  whom  he  made  a  treaty  of  pacification  ; 
and  on  his  return  to  Paris  he  was  made  a  duke, 
and  received  the  collar  of  the  royal  orders. 
After  serving  against  the  imperialists  in  1705, 
and  against  the  duke  of  Savoy  in  Dauphiny  in 
1708,  he  was  sent  the  following  year  to  the 
^Netherlands,  where  he  was  wounded  and  de- 
feated at  Malplaquet.  After  having  gained 
the  victory  of  Denain,  he  negociated  with  his 
antagonist  prince  Eugene  at  Kastadt  in  1714. 
He  preserved  his  credit  at  court  after  the  death 
of  Louis  XIV.  In  1715  he  was  appointed  pre- 
sident of  the  council  of  war,  and  was  admitted 
into  the  council  of  regency  in  1717.  When 
the  duke  of  Bourbon  succeeded  to  power  on 
the  death  of  the  duke  of  Orleans,  during  the 
minority  of  Louis  XV,  marshal  Villars  was 
consulted  on  all  important  affairs  of  state,  and 
he  was  then  at  the  height  of  his  fortunes.  War 
taking  place  in  1733,  he  was  sent  to  command 
in  the  Milanese,  where  he  took  Pizighitone ; 
but  age  and  debility  prevented  him  from  making 
more  than  one  campaign.  He  was  taken  ill  as 
he  was  returning  to  France,  and  died  at  Turin 
June  17,  1734.  There  are  extant  "  Memoires 
du  Mare'chal  de  Villars,"  3  vols.  12mo,  printed 
in  Holland,  of  which  the  first  part  only  was 
written  by  himself.  In  1784  M.  Anquetil 
published  "  La  Vie  du  Marechal  de  Villars," 
4  vols.  12mo,  containing  letters,  recollections, 
and  a  journal  of  the  marshal,  arranged  by  the 
editor. — MARIE  GIGAULT  DE  BELLEFONS, 
marquise  de  Villars,  mother  of  the  marshal, 
was  a  correspondent  of  mad.  de  Coulanges, 
and  her  letters  are  printed  with  those  of  mad. 
de  Sevignel. — Aikin's  Gen.  Biog.  Biog.  Univ, 

VILLARS  (MONTFAUCON  de)  a  French 
abbe,  related  to  the  celebrated  antiquary  Mont- 
faucon.  He  was  either  a  native  of  Toulouse, 
or  educated  there  ;  but  came  early  to  Paris, 
where  he  attracted  much  attention  by  his  ta- 
lents as  a  preacher,  and  his  lively  and  inge- 
nious conversation.  He  also  published  various 
works  of  imagination  and  criticism,  written  in 
ft  peculiar  style  of  humour,  the  most  cele- 
brated of  which  is  "  Le  Comte  de  Gabalis, 
ou  Entretiens  sur  les  Sciences  secrettes,"  with 
an  addition  entitled  "  Les  Genies  assistans  et 
les  Gnomes  irreconciliables."  When  the 
book  first  appeared,  it  was  universally  read  as 
a  mere  sport  of  the  imagination,  at  once  inno- 
cent and  amusing ;  but  ultimately,  certain 
theologians  professed  to  discover  a  secret  and 
irreligious  aim  in  it,  and  the  abbe  was  forbid- 
den the  pulpit,  and  his  book  prohibited.  The 
second  volume  which  he  promised  would  have 
set  this  silly  matter  at  rest,  but  the  unfortnnate 
abbe  was  soon  afterwards  assassinated  by  ruf- 
fians in  his  way  to  Lyons,  the  direct  perpe- 
trator of  the  deed  being  a  member  of  his  own 
family.  This  catastrophe  took  place  in  1675. 
It  was  avowedly  from  the  "  Comte  de  Ga- 
balis" that  Pope  derived  the  hint  of  his 


VI  L 

machinery  fcr  the  Rape  of  the  Lock.  It  in 
merely  the  general  notion  however  tLr.t  Ii  is 
been  so  felicitously  adopted,  the  spirits  in  Un- 
original work  being  much  more  important  per- 
sonages than  in  the  poem. — Nonv.  Diet.  hist. 
IVarton's  iJ.ss«t/  «n  Pope. 

VILLAVICIOSA  (JOSEPH  cle)  a  Spanish 
inquisitor,  distinguished  as  one  of  the  Lest  lie- 
roi-comic  poets  of  his  nation.  lie  was  born  in 
1589,  and  studied  at  Cuenfa,  where  he  ap- 
plied himself  to  poetical  composition.  After 
some  essays  of  less  importance,  he  wrote 
"  La  Mosquea,  Poetica  Inventiva  en  octava 
rima,"  1615,  8vo.  This  piece,  consisting  of 
twelve  cantos,  is  conceived  in  the  same  spirit 
with  the  Batrachomyomachia,  ascribed  to 
Homer,  and  the  Gatomaquia  of  Lope  de  Vega; 
and  it  is  deserving  of  perusal,  not  only  on  ac- 
count of  the  grace  and  facility  of  the  author's 
style,  but  also  for  the  bold  originality  of  in- 
vention which  it  exhibits.  Villaviciosa  seems 
to  have  relinquished  poetry  after  this  effort; 
and  continuing  his  studies  as  a  lawyer  and  an 
ecclesiastic,  he  gradually  rose  to  be  archdea- 
con of  Moya,  and  inquisitor  of  Cuenca,  where 
he  died  in  1658. — Biog.  Univ. 

VILLEBRUNE(JoHN  BAPTIST  LEFEBVRE 
de)  a  learned  Hellenist  and  Orientalist,  born 
at  Senlis,  about  1732.  He  studied  medicine, 
and  having  taken  the  degree  of  doctor  in  that 
faculty,  he  appears  to  have  practised  for  some 
years  as  a  physician.  At  length  he  aban- 
doned his  profession,  and  applied  himself  to 
the  study  of  various  languages.  Having  an 
excellent  memory  he  acquired  a  knowledge  of 
almost  all  the  principal  dialects  of  Europe  and 
Asia.  He  became  Oriental  professor  at  the 
College  of  France,  and  in  1796  he  succeeded 
Chamfort  as  keeper  of  the  national  library. 
In  1797  he  was  proscribed  by  the  Directory, 
for  having,  in  a  printed  letter,  proclaimed  the 
necessity  of  a  single  governor  for  France. 
After  residing  in  various  departments,  lie 
settled  at  Angouleme,  where  he  was  for  a  time 
professor  of  natural  history  at  the  central 
school  and  then  of  classical  literature  and  ma- 
thematics. He  died  October  7,  1809.  His 
works,  both  original  and  translated,  are  very 
numerous.  Among  the  most  important  are 
his  versions  of  Silicus  Italicus  on  the  Punic 
War;  the  Manual  of  Epictettis,  and  the  Table 
of  Cebes  ;  the  Aphorisms  and  Coac  Preno- 
tions  of  Hippocrates  ;  and  the  Deipnosophists 
of  Athenasus.  He  also  assisted  in  the  mag- 
nificent editions  of  Herodotus  and  Strabo, 
published  in  folio,  at  Utrecht  and  Oxford. — 
Biog.  Univ. 

VILLEFEU  (Josrm  FRANCIS  BOURGOIN 
de)  a  French  biographer,  was  born  at  Paris 
December  '_'•!,  1652,  being  the  son  of  a  king's 
counsellor,  and  hereditary  judge  and  warden 
of  the  mint.  He  was  singularly  attached  to 
study  and  retirement,  and  although  chosen  a 
member  of  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions,  volun- 
tarily withdrew  from  it  in  order  to  retire  to  a 
small  apartment  in  the  cloisters  of  the  metro- 
politan church,  to  pursue  his  avocations  unnio- 
lested.  In  this  retreat  Ik*-  composed  a  great 
number  of  works,  residing  there  a  layman 


V  IL 

an  3  unmarried,  to  December  1737,  when  he 
died  at  the  age  of  eighty-five.  His  biogra- 
phical productions  are  "  Tlie  Life  of  St  Ber- 
nard," 4to  ;  "The  Lives  of  the  holy  Fathers 
of  the  Desert,"  5  vols.  12mo;  "  The  Life  of 
St  Theresa,"  with  the  "  Select  Letters"  of 
the  same  saint,  4to  and  12mo  ;  "  Anecdotes 
and  secret  Memoirs  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
Bull  Unigenitus,"  3  vols.  12mo,  subsequently 
prohibited  ;  "  Life  of  the  Duchess  of  Longue- 
ville,"  2  vols.  8vo.  He  also  translated  several 
of  the  works  of  Cicero,  St  Augustin,  and  St 
Bernard. —  /Vimu.  Diet.  Hist. 

VILLEHARDOUIN  (GF.OFFRY  de)  an 
ancient  French  chronicler,  was  marshal  of 
Champagne,  an  office  held  by  his  father  and 
descendants.  He  acted  a  considerable  part 
in  the  fourth  crusade  of  1198,  which  led  to 
the  capture  of  Constantinople  by  the  French 
and  Venetians  in  1204.  Of  this  expedition  he 
wrote,  or  dictated  a  narrative  which  is  extant 
in  the  rude  idiom  of  his  age  and  country.  It 
is  an  interesting  narrative  from  its  simplicity 
and  apparent  fidelity,  and  is  much  referred  to 
by  Gibbon  in  his  account  of  the  events  which 
it  describes.  The  best  edition  is  that  of  Du 
Cange,  folio,  1657. — Moreri.  Gibbon. 

VILLENA  (HENRY  D'ARAOON,  marquis 
de)  one  of  the  most  distinguished  persons  in 
the  history  of  Spanish  literature  during  the 
fifteenth  century.  He  was  descended  of  a  fa- 
mily connected  by  blood  with  the  royal  houses 
of  Castile  and  Aragon  ;  and  he  was  born  in 
1334.  He  manifested  an  early  propensity  for 
study,  and  attached  himself  to  the  service  of 
John  II,  king  of  Castile,  an  eminent  patron  of 
literature.  Having  obtained  the  earldoms  of 
Cangas  andTineo,in  the  province  of  Asturias, 
he  was  induced  to  resign  them  in  order  to  be- 
come grand  master  of  the  military  order  of 
St  Mary  of  Calatrava  ;  but  his  election  being 
contested,  the  pope  deprived  him  of  the  title, 
and  he  retained  only  the  post  of  commandant 
of  the  small  town  of  Iniesta,  which  he  held 
in  right  of  his  wife.  He  consoled  himself  for 
his  ill-fortune  by  employing  himself  in  the 
study  of  literature  and  philosophy,  and  wrote 
much  both  in  prose  and  verse,  though  nothing 
more  than  the  titles  of  some  of  his  works  have- 
been  preserved.  None  of  his  productions  ap- 
pear to  have  been  printed,  and  the  destruction 
of  his  papers  after  his  death,  in  consequence 
of  the  imputation  of  cultivating  the  cabalistic 
sciences,  occasioned  a  loss  which  the  Spanish 
critics  represent  as  a  circumstance  deeply  to  be 
regretted.  The  marquis  de  Villena  died  at 
Madrid,  December  1.5,  1 134. — Antonio  Bibl. 
Hispan.  Bing.  Univ. 

VILLENEUVE  (GABRIELLE  SUSANNE 
BARHOT,  dame  de)  a  French  novelist,  who  was 
the  daughter  of  a  gentleman  of  Rochelle,  and 
was  married  to  M.  Gaalonde  Villeneuve,  lieu- 
tenant colonel  of  infantry.  Becoming  a  widow, 
and  being  destitute  of  fortune,  she  settled  at  j 
Paris,  and  found  resources  for  her  support  in 
the  exercise  of  her  talents.  Her  first  essays 
in  literature  attracted  the  favourable  notice  of 
the  elder  Crebillon,  who  examined  them  in 
the  course  of  his  qificial  duty  as  censor.  Si- 


VIL 

milarity  of  taste  and  disposition  having  pro- 
duced a  close  intimacy  between  madamc  de 
Yilleneuve  and  Crebillon,  they  resided  to- 
gether, lodging  in  the  same  house,  till  the 
death  of  the  former,  which  happened  Dec.  2'.(, 
17.S5,  when  she  was  about  sixty  years  of  »ge. 
Her  works  are  "  Les  Contes  Marins,  ou  la 
jeune  Americaine,"  4  vols.  12 mo  ;  "  Les 
Belles  Solitaires,"  3  vols.  l;2mo  ;  "  La  Jardi- 
niere de  Vincennes,  ou  les  Caprices  de  1' Amour 
et  de  la  Fortune,"  4  parties,  12mo,  reckoned 
the  best  and  most  interesting  of  her  produc- 
tions ;  "  Le  Beau-frere  suppose,"  4  vols. 
12mo  ;  and  "  Le  Juge  prevenu,"  .5  parties, 
li'ino.  Several  other  novels  have  also  been 
erroneously  attributed  to  this  writer. — De  la 
Porte  Hist.  Litt.  ties  Fern/net  Fran.  Biog. 
Univ. 

VJLLERS  (CHARLES  FRANCOIS  Do.in- 
NIQUE  de)  a  French  writer  of  modern  times, 
a  native  of  Belchen  in  Lorraine,  where  he  was 
born  in  1764.  In  the  earlier  part  of  his  life 
he  served  in  the  French  army  as  a  lieutenant 
of  artillery,  but  on  the  breaking  out  of  the 
Revolution  emigrated,  and  joined  the  Royalist 
force  under  the  prince  de  Coude.  On  the 
failure  of  the  hopes  of  the  party  to  which  he 
had  attached  himself,  he  went  to  Lubec,  and 
devoted  himself  to  literary  pursuits.  Villers, 
who  was  a  man  of  considerable  talent,  and 
some  reading,  soon  obtained  a  rising  reputa- 
tion in  the  republic  of  letters,  which  was  much 
increased  by  his  obtaining  thfc  prize  given  by 
the  Institute,  for  an  "  Essay  on  the  Influence 
of  the  Reformation;"  and  was  at  length  in- 
vited to  £11  the  professor's  chair  in  philosophy 
at  the  university  of  Gottingen.  This  situation, 
when  the  French  influence  predominated,  he 
was  compelled  to  resign,  but  received  a  pen- 
sion in  lieu  of  it.  During  the  occupation  of 
Hanover  by  the  troops  of  that  nation,  under 
Davouet,  the  excesses  committed  by  the  sol- 
diery induced  him  to  address  a  letter  to  Fanny 
Beauharnois,  with  the  hope  of  procuring, 
through  her  interest,  some  mitigation  of  the 
evils  under  which  the  unhappy  country  of  his 
adoption  then  laboured.  The  work  was 
printed,  but  the  only  effect  it  produced  was  to 
draw  on  its  author  the  personal  hatred  of  the 
French  commander.  He  also  addressed  to  the 
Institute  two  reports  on  the  state  of  ancient 
literature,  and  on  the  history  of  Germany. 
The  honours  which  his  own  country  denied 
him  were  accorded  by  the  Swedish  govern- 
ment, which  made  him  a  chevalier  of  the 
order  of  the  polar  star.  M.  de  Villers  died 
in  the  spring  of  1815. — Biog.  Univ. 

V1LL1ERS  (GEORGE)  first  duke  of  Buck- 
ingham, the  favourite  and  minister  of  James  I 
and  Charles  I,  was  the  third  son  of  sir  George 
Villiers,  and  was  born  at  Brookesby  in  Lei- 
cestershire, August  20,  1582.  After  receiving 
an  indifferent  education  at  home,  lie  was  sent 
to  France  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  and  he  spent 
three  years  there,  chiefly  in  acquiring  personal 
accomplishments.  After  his  return  he  was  in- 
troduced to  the  notice  of  king  James  at  a  play 
represented  for  his  amusement  by  the  students 
of  Cambridge.  His  handsome  person  and 


VIL 

agreeable  manners  gained  him  the  royal  favour, 
and  in  1613  he  was  promoted  to  the  office  of 
cup-bearer.  The  disgrace  and  fall  of  the  earl 
of  Somerset  made  way  for  the  elevation  of 
this  new  minion,  who  became  the  object  of 
his  master's  gross  and  doating  affection.  In 
1615  he  was  knighted,  and  made  a  gentleman 
of  the  bedchamber,  with  a  pension  of  1000/. 
a  year.  He  soon  after  received  the  post  of  mas- 
ter of  the  horse,  and  in  1616  he  was  honoured 
with  the  garter,  and  created  a  baron  and  vis- 
count. The  earldom  of  Buckingham  and  ad- 
mission into  the  privy  council  soon  followed  ; 
and  after  having  accompanied  James  into 
Scotland  in  1617,  lie  was  created  a  marquis, 
and  recsived  the  office  of  lord  high  admiral, 
and  several  other  posts  of  importance.  He 
likewise  became  the  grand  dispenser  of  court 
favour,  which  advantage  he  made  use  of  for 
the  promotion  of  his  family  and  connexions. 
His  travels  in  Spain  and  France  on  a  matrimo- 
nial expedition  with  prince  Charles,  afterwards 
Charles  I,  and  his  intrigues  in  those  countries, 
as  well  as  the  events  to  which  they  gave  ori- 
gin, are  matter  of  history.  Though  the  con- 
duct of  Buckingham  abroad  is  said  to  have 
given  offence  to  the  king,  yet  his  favour  ap- 
pears to  have  been  but  little  diminished,  since 
during  his  absence  he  was  raised  to  the  rank 
of  a  duke,  and  after  his  return  was  made  lord 
warden  of  the  cinque  ports.  On  the  death  of 
James  he  retained  all  the  influence  he  had 
acquired  over  the  new  monarch,  who  be- 
stowed on  him  still  greater  confidence  than 
his  father.  But  though  so  highly  esteemed 
by  the  king,  he  was  the  object  of  national  jea- 
lousy and  dislike.  He  increased  his  unpopu- 
larity by  advising  his  master  to  dissolve  the 
parliament,  and  raise  supplies  without  the 
consent  of  the  people.  In  the  midst  of  the 
public  discontents  a  war  broke  out  with  France, 
and  the  duke  conducted  an  expedition  to  the 
isle  of  Rlie.  He  returned  unsuccessful,  and 
wishing  to  redeem  his  credit,  he  was  pre- 
paring to  lead  a  new  armament  to  the  relief  of 
Rochelle,  when  he  was  killed  at  Portsmouth 
by  a  discontented  officer  named  Felton.  This 
catastrophe  happened  August  23,  1628.  He 
possessed  the  qualities  of  generosity  and  cou- 
rage, but  he  owed  his  station  much  more  to 
favour  and  accident  than  to  his  talents  or  ac- 
quirements. By  his  wife,  lady  Catherine 
Manners,  daughter  of  the  earl  of  Rutland,  he 
left  two  sons. — Aikin's  Gen.  Biog. 

VILL1ERS  (GEORGE)  second  duke  of 
Buckingham,  son  of  the  preceding,  was  born 
at  WallingfoixUhouse,  in  Westminster,  Jan.  30, 
16'27.  After  studying  at  Trinity  college,  Cam- 
bridge, he  travelled  abroad,  and  on  his  return 

o     ' 

home  after  the  commencement  of  the  civil 
war,  he  was  presented  to  the  king  at  Oxford, 
lie  served  in  the  royal  army  under  prince  Ru- 
pert and  lord  Gerard.  His  estate  was  seized 
by  the  parliament,  but  having  obtained  the 
lestoration  of  it,  he  travelled  with -his  brother 
into  France  and  Italy.  In  1648  he  returned 
to  England,  and  was  with  Charles  II  in  Scot- 
land, and  at  the  battle  of  Worcester.  He  fol- 
lowed that  prince  abroad,  and  served  as  a  vo- 


V  1  L 

unteer  in  the  French  army  in  Flanders1.  I[j 
afterwards  returned  to  England,  and  in  lo".>7 
named  the  daughter  of  lord  Fairfax,  by  which 
neans  he  repaired  the  ruin  of  his  fortune  in 
he  royal  cause.  He  however  preserved  the 
favour  of  Charles  II,  and  at  the  Restoration 
ic  was  made  master  of  the  horse.  He  also 
)ecame  one  of  the  king's  confidential  minis- 
ers,  who  were  designated  by  the  appellation 
of  the  Cabal.  His  political  conduct  was,  like 
lis  general  behaviour,  characterized  by  un- 
principled levity  and  imprudence.  In  1666 
engaged  in  a  conspiracy  to  effect  a  change 
of  the  government ;  notwithstanding  which 
ic  recovered  the  favour  of  king  Charles , 
which  lie  repeatedly  abused.  The  profligacy 
of  his  private  life  was  notorious.  He  seduced 
:he  countess  of  Shrewsbury,  and  killed  her 
lusband  in  a  duel  ;  and  he  was  more  than 
suspected  of  having  been  the  instigator  of  the 
nfamous  colonel  Blood  to  his  brutal  outrage 
against  the  duke  of  Ormond,  whom  lie  at- 
tempted with  the  assistance  of  other  ruffians 
:o carry  to  Tyburn,  and  hang  on  the  common 
gallows.  In  1676  he  was,  together  with  the 
earls  of  Shaftesbury  and  Salisbury,  and  lord 
Wharton,  committed  to  the  Tower  for  con- 
tempt, by  order  of  the  house  of  Lords  ;  but 
on  petitioning  the  king,  these  noblemen  were 
released.  After  plotting  against  government 
with  the  dissenters,  and  making  himself  the 
object  of  contempt  to  all  parties,  he  died  neg- 
ected  and  unregretted,  at  Kirkby  Moorside,  in 
Yorkshire,  April  16,  1688.  His  abilities  were 
far  superior  to  those  of  his  father  ;  and  among 
bis  literary  compositions  the  comedy  of  "  The 
Rehearsal "  may  be  mentioned  as  a  work 
which  displays  no  common  powers,  and  which 
jreatly  contributed  to  the  correction  of  the 
ublic  taste,  which  had  been  corrupted  by 
Dryden  and  other  dramatists  of  the  age. — Id. 
VILLOISON  (JEAN  BAPTISTE  GASPAUD 
ANSE  de)  a  distinguished  French  scholar  and 
critic  of  modern  times,  born  about  the  middle 
of  the  last  century  at  Corbeille  sur  Seine,  and 
educated  iu  the  Royal  college  at  Paris  under 
Capperonier.  His  learned  labours  in  illus- 
trating the  Greek  poets,  in  bringing  to  light 
valuable  but  forgotten  manuscripts  of  their 
works,  and  in  collating  them  with  the  gene- 
rally received  editions,  were  as  successful  as 
they  were  praiseworthy.  In  the  pursuit  of 
this  object  he  visited  several  of  the  principal 
continental  libraries,  especially  those  belong- 
ing to  the  Venetian  republic  iu  the  palace  of 
St  Mark,  and  that  of  the  duke  of  Saxe  Weimar, 
to  whose  court  he  went  on  the  express  invita- 
tion of  the  sovereign.  In  the  first  mentioned 

O 

of  these  collections,  he  was  particularly  fortu- 
r.ate  iu  finding  a  MS.  of  the  Iliad  of  as  early 
a  date  as  the  tenth  century,  which  he  gave  to 
the  press  in  1788,  in  one  folio  volume.  He 
subsequently  sailed  into  the.  Levant,  and  had 
got  together  numerous  materials  for  a  new 
edition  of  the  "Palseographia  Gra;ca"  of 
Montfaucon,  which  it  was  his  design  to  have 
published,  had  he  not  been  prevented  by 
death.  During  the  Revolution,  he  suffered,  in 
common  with  many  other  learned  men  cou- 


V  I  N 

(tiderahly  in  his  property  ;  bjt  on  the  restora- 
tion of  order,  resumed  his  literary  career,  and 
was  appointed  by  Buonaparte  professor  of  an- 
cient ami  modern  Greek;  but  only  filled  that 
situation  a  few  months,  dying  in  the  spring  of 
180/j.  Villcison  was  a  man  of  great  critical 
acumen  and  patient  research,  to  which  he 
added  a  soundness  of  scholarship  and  a  depth 
as  well  as  variety  of  erudition,  much  beyond 
the  common  average  of  scholastic  attainments. 
He  had  been  admitted  a  member  of  the 
French  Institute  in  his  twenty-fourth  year,  in 
consequence  of  his  edition  of  the  Homeric 
Lexicon  of  ApoJlonius,  the  manuscript  of 
which  he  had  found  at  St  Germain  des  Pres. 
His  other  productions  are,  an  edition  of  the 
works  of  Loneus,  with  notes  ;  "  Anecdota 

O 

Graeca,"  4to,  2  vols.  Venice,  178'2,  being  a 
selection  from  the  writings  of  some  unpub- 
lished Greek  authors;  "  Epistolae  Vima- 
rienses,"  a  collection  of  letters  on  literary  sub- 
jects published  at  Zurich  ;  and  a  translation 
of  part  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  made  by  a 
Jew  as  early  as  the  tenth  century. — Eloge  by 
Dueler. 

VINCE,  AM.  FRS.  (SAMUEL)  an  emi- 
nent mathematical  scholar,  Plumian  professor 
of  astronomy  and  experimental  philosophy  at 
Cambridge.  He  was  of  humble  parentage, 
his  friends  being  settled  at  Tressingfield,  in 
Suffolk  ;  but  the  munificence  of  Mr.  Tilney, 
of  Harleston,  enabling  him  to  enter  himself  of 

p 

Caius  College  in  1775,  he  soon  distinguished 
himself  by  gaining  one  of  Smith's  mathemati- 
cal prizes,  and  became  the  senior  wrangler  of 
his  year.  In  1796,  being  then  a  fellow  of  Sid- 
ney Sussex  college,  lie  was  elected  to  the  pro- 
fessorship, which  he  afterwards  filled  in  so  dis- 
tinguished a  manner,  and  which  he  held  till  his 
death  in  1821.  His  works  are,  a  treatise  on 
the  ".Elements  of  Conic  Sections,"  8vo, 
1781  ;  another  on  "  Practical  Astronomy," 
ito,  1790  ;  "  Plan  of  a  Course  of  Lectures  on 
Natural  Philosophy,"  8vo,  1793;  "  Tho 
Principles  of  Fluxions,"  2  vols.  8vo,  1795 ; 
"The  Principles  of  Hydrostatics,"  8vo,  1796- 
1800  ;  "  A  complete  System  of  Astronomy,"  2 
vols.4to,  17 97- 1799  ;  Svols.  4to,  with  additions, 
1 814.  A  Vindication  of  Christianity  against  the 
objections  of  Hume,  in  two  discourses  preached 
before  the  University,  1798-1809  ;  a  treatise 
on  Trigonometry,  the  nature  and  use  of  Lo- 
garithms, &c.  8vo,  1800;  "  A  Confutation  of 
Atheism,  from  the  Laws  of  the  Heavenly 
Bodies,"  8vo,  1806  ;  and  "  On  the  Hypo- 
theses accounting  for  Gravitation  from  Me- 
chanical Principles,"  8vo,  1806.  He  obtained 
several  pieces  of  preferment  in  the  church, 
and  at  the  time  of  his  decease  was  rector  of 
Kirkby  Bedon,  vicar  of  South  Creak  (both  in 
Norfolk),  and  archdeacon  of  Bedford. — Ann. 
Hiog, 

VINCENT  (THOMAS)  a  nonconformist  mi- 
nister, who  received  his  education  at  Oxford, 
and  obtained  a  living  in  London,  from  which 
he  was  ejected  in  1662.  He  then  became  a 
tutor  in  a  dissenting  academy  at  Islington  ; 
and  during  the  great  plague  in  London  in  1665, 
Le  dmiiiugished  himself  by  his  zeal  in  attend- 


V  I  N 

ing  persons  attacked  with  that  malady.  lie 
subsequently  published  a  tract,  entitled"  God's 
terrible  Voice  in  the  City,  by  Plague  and  Fire," 
which  comprises  some  interesting  details  re- 
lative to  occurrences  which  fell  under  lus  ob- 
servation. He  died  in  1678,  aged  forty-four.— 
('ii/tnnij's  N<)itcoitJ'<jri>ii!>t's  Memorial.  Centura 
Literaria. 

VINCENT  (Wn.r.iAM)  a  distinguished 
critic  and  divine,  who  was  born  in  London  in 
1739.  He  was  educated  at  Westminster  school 
and  Trinity  college,  Cambridge,  where  he  ob- 
tained a  fellowship.  In  17<i2  he  became  an 
usher  at  Westminster,  and  nine  years  after  he 
succeeded  to  the  office  of  second  master.  lie 
took  the  degree  of  L)D.  and  was  appointed 
chaplain  in  ordinary  to  the  king.  In  1778  he 
became  vicar  of  Longdon,  in  Worcestershire  ; 
but  lie  soon  after  resigned  his  benefice  for  the 
rectory  of  Allhallows,  Thames-street,  in  Lon- 
don. In  1788  he  arrived  at  the  station  of  head 
master  at  Westminster,  where  he  continued  to 
preside  till  1801,  when  he  was  made  a  pre- 
bend of  Westminster  ;  and  two  years  after  he 
succeeded  to  the  deanery,  on  the  promotion  of 
Dr  Ilorsley  to  the  see  of  St  Asaph.  As  an 
author  dean  Vincent  is  principally  known  on 
account  of  his  Commentary  on  Arrian's  Voyage 
of  Nearchus  ;  and  his  Periplus  of  the  Eryth- 
rean  Sea,  republished  together  under  the  title 
of  "  The  Commerce  and  Navigation  of  the 
Ancients  in  the  Indian  Ocean,"  1807,  2  vols. 
4to.  The  Voyage  of  Nearchus  was  translated 
into  French  by  Billecocq,  Paris,  1800.  Dr 
Vincent  died  in  December  i:,l.i.  Besides 
the  works  just  mentioned,  he  published  "  The 
Conjugation  of  the  Greek  Verb,  and  the  Greek 
Verb  analysed;"  "A  Defence  of  Public 
Education  ,"  and  a  Charity  Sermon.  A  volume 
of  his  Discourses,  with  his  life,  was  published 
posthumously. — Gent.  Mag.  Bing.  Unic. 

VINCENTIUS  LIRINENSIS,  or  ST. 
VINCENT  of  LERINS,  a  monk  of  the 
fifth  century,  who  was  the  author  of  a  tract  en- 
titled "  Conimonitorium  adveivus  Ha?reti- 
cos,"  of  which  an  English  translation  by  the 
rev.  William  Reeves  was  published  in  1709. 
Vincentius  who  after  having  served  as  a  sol- 
dier, entered  into  the  monastery  of  Lerins  in 
Provence,  died  about  AD.  440.  —  [lupin. 
Moreri. 

VlNCI(LEONARDoda)  an  illustrious  Italian 
painter.  He  was  the  natural  son  of  one  Pietro, 
a  notary  at  Florence,  and  was  called  da  Vinci, 
from  the  place  of  his  birth,  a  small  borough  of 
Valdarno  di  Sotto.  He  was  born  in  145'J, 
and  at  an  early  age  having  given  indications  of 
extraordinary  genius,  he  was  placed  under 
Verrochio,  an  eminent  artist  of  that  period. 
He  soon  surpassed  his  master,  and  executed 
several  pictures  at  Florence  ;  which  gave  him 
so  high  a  reputation  that  Lodovico  Sforza,  then 
regent  of  Milan,  invited  him  to  that  capital  in 
I -If!'.',  and  settled  upon  him  an  annual  stipend. 
I  lere  he  displayed  the  universality  of  his  genius, 
not  only  by  his  paintings,  but  by  his  skill  in 
music,  and  skill  as  an  engineer.  It  was  in  Milan 
also  that  he  painted  his  celebrated  Last 
Supper  in  the  Dominican  convent  of  St  Maria  ; 


VIN 

which   being  executed   on   a  wall  not  suffi- 
ciently secured  from  moisture,  lias  been  much 
defaced  long  ago,  although  in  a  certain  sense 
preserved  by  a  copy  taken  by  order  of  Francis 
I.  On  his  return  to  Florence  in  1508,  he  exe- 
cuted many  of  his  best  pieces,  and  in  particu- 
lar, was  employed  by  the  senate  to  paint  the 
council  chamber  in  conjunction  with  Michael 
Angelo,  then  a  much  younger  man ;  and  his 
admired  cartoon  of  Piccinino's  battle  of  ca- 
valry was  a  product  of  the  emulation  of  these 
great  artists.     On  the  elevation   of  Leo  X  to 
the  pontificate,  Leonardo  is  said  to  have  visited 
Rome,  and  to  have  painted  several  pictures  for 
that  pope,  who   was  however   dissatisfied  at 
the  slowness  of  his  execution.  The  rivalship  of 
Michael  Angelo  seems  also  to   have  disgusted 
him,  so  that  he  willingly  accepted  an  invitation 
to  France  from  Francis  I.     He  was  advanced 
in  years  when  he  undertook  this  journey,  which 
was  soon  followed  by  a  languishing  distemper, 
which  confined  him  to  his  bed  at  Fontainebleau. 
During  his  illness  the  king  went  frequently  to 
visit  him,  and  one  day  as  he  was  raising  him- 
self on  his  couch  to  thank  that  monarch  for  the 
honour  done  him,  he  was  seized  with  a  faint- 
ing fit,  and  died  in  the  arms  of  Francis,  who 
had    stepped   forward   to  support  him.     This 
event  took  place  iu  1520,  in  his  sixty-seventh 
year.     Leonardo  da  Vinci  is  allowed  to  have 
been  one  of  the  greatest  geniuses  of  his  country, 
and  few  men  have  united  more  various  excel- 
lencies. As  a  painter  he  possessed  correctness 
of  design,  taste,  and  great  powers  of  expres- 
sion.    He  had  also  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the 
theory  of  his  art,  and  was  the  first  who  made 
anatomical  drawings.  His  ideas  of  perfection, 
and  solicitude  to  finish  with  nicety,  made  him 
slow,  and  his  colouring  was  defective,  which 
has  been  attributed  to  his  fondness  for  chemi- 
cal experiment.     The  strength  of  his  concep- 
tion lay  principally  in  the  delineation  of  male 
heads,  in  respect  to  which  and  to  his  other  ex- 
cellencies, it  is  with  apparent  justice  asserted, 
that  to  him  Raphael  and  Michael  Angelo  owe  a 
part  of  their  subsequent  celebrity.    Leonardo  da 
Vinci  was  the  author  of  a  "  Treatise  on  Paint- 
ing," which  is  still  in  esteem.     He  also  left 
a  number  of  drawings  and  manuscript  books, 
containing    figures    relative    to    architecture, 
mechanics,  anatomy,  and  other  sciences,  some 
of  which  are  in  the  possession  of  his  present 
majesty.     Of  his  poetry  a  moral  sonnet  has 
been  preserved,  of  considerable  merit  for  the 
time. — Tiraboschi.     Pilkington  by  Fuseli. 

VINCI  (LEONAHDO  DA)  an  eminent  mu- 
sical composer,  was  born  at  Naples  in  1690. 
He  early  showed  great  ability,  and  was  a 
pupil  at  the  Conservatory  when  engaged  at 
Home  to  compose  the  opera  of  "  Semiramis." 
The  applause  he  obtained  by  this  performance 
<m  his  return  to  Naples,  led  to  his  composition 
of  the  opera  of  "  Astyanax,"  and  from  wb"-.h 
iouient  tin1  most  distinguished  theatres  of  Iraly 
solicited  his  services.  He  gave  the  preference 
to  that  of  Venice,  where  he  produced  "  Se- 
faei,"  and  "  Ifigenia."  He  concluded  tos 
career  at  Rome,  where  it  began,  with  the 
operas  of  "  Artaserse,"  and  "  Didoue  the 


VTN 

first  of  which  is  deemed  his  master-  pit  ce,  and 
among  the  first  productions  of  the  Italian 
theatre.  This  able  composer  was  poisoned  in 
a  cup  of  chocolate,  administered  to  him  by  the 
relation  of  a  Roman  lady  of  rank,  of  whose 
favours  he  had  boasted.  Da  Vinci  was  the 
first  composer  who  effected  any  great  improve- 
ment in  the  musical  drama,  aftei  the  invention 
of  recitative  by  Peri,  in  1600.  The  accompa- 
nied recitations  in  "  Didone,"  are  peculiarly 
celebrated.  He  composed  several  other  operas 
besides  those  mentioned  in  this  article,  in- 
cluding several  of  a  comic  kind. — Biog.  Diet. 
of  Mus.  Rees's  Cyclop. 

VINER  (CHARLES)  an  eminent  English 
lawyer,  born  about  the  year  1680,  at  Alder- 
shot,  Hants.  He  is  celebrated  as  the  founder 
of  the  Vinerian  professorship  in  the  university 
of  Oxford,  and  the  industrious  compiler  of  a 
"  General  Abridgment  of  the  Law  of  Eng- 
land," which  laborious  work  occupied  him 
more  than  twenty-four  years.  It  was  originally 
printed  under  his  own  immediate  superin- 
tendance,  and  in  his  own  house,  in  twenty- 
four  folio  volumes.  The  last  edition  is  in 
octavo.  He  was  a  great  benefactor  to  Oxford, 
where  he  endowed  several  scholarships  ;  and 
to  the  professorship  already  mentioned  we 
are  perhaps  indebted  for  Blackstone's  Com- 
mentaries, the  learned  author  of  that  work 
having  originally  commenced  it  as  a  university 
lecture.  Mr  Viner  died  m  1756. — Bridg?nan's 
Legal  Bibliog. 

VINET  (EtiAs)  an  industrious  French 
scholar  of  the  sixteenth  century.  He  was 
the  son  of  a  labourer  at  Vinets,  a  village  of 
Saintonge,  but  he  received  a  literary  education 
at  Barbesceux  and  Poitiers,  which  he  followed 
up  himself  at  Paris.  He  ultimately  taught 
philosophy  and  mathematics  in  the  university 
of  Bordeaux,  an  office  which  he  filled  with 
great  reputation  for  a  quarter  of  a  century. 
Vinet  was  the  editor  of  various  classical  au- 
thors, on  whom  he  noted  and  commented  with 
great  erudition  and  critical  skill.  He  also 
translated  some  ancient  authors  into  French, 
and  published  some  original  works,  including 
treatises  on  the  "  Art  of  making  Dials,"  and 
on  Mensuration,  and  the  "  Antiquities  of 
Saintes  and  Barbesceux,"  4to,  1571  ;  and 
"  Antiquities  of  Bordeaux  and  Berry,"  4to, 
1574.  He  died  in  1587. — Thuani  Hist.  Moreri. 
VINNIUS,  or  VINNEN  (ARNOLD)  an 
eminent  jurist,  was  born  at  Holland  in  1588. 
He  studied  at  Leyden,  in  which  university  he 
ultimately  became  professor  of  law.  He  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  various  very  able  works 
on  jurisprudence,  which  he  composed  in  a 
style  that  lias  rendered  them  more  agreeable  iu 
their  perusal  than  most  of  those  on  legal  topics. 
Of  his  publications,  the  principal  are,  "  Com- 
mentarius  Academicus  et  Forensis,  in  quatuor 
Libros  Institutionum  Imperialium,"  of  which  a 
valuable  edition  was  given  by  Heineccius, 
with  a  preface  and  annotations,  Lugd.  17'2(>, 
4to  ;  Notaj  ad  Institutiones,"  printed  with  the 
above  ;  "  Junsprudentw  Contracta  ;"  "  Ques- 
tiones  Juris  Selects  ;"  "Tractatusde  Partis," 
iXc.  lie  died  in  lo'.J>7. — Moreri.  Saxii  Oil.  ..••. 


VI  H 

VIOTTI    (G.  B.)    an    eminent  musician, 
justly  considered  the  first  violinist  of  his  age. 
lie  was  a  Piedmoutese,  bom  at  Fontaneto,  a 
village   near   Crescentiiio,  in   1755,   and    was 
|  l.ired   early  in  life  under  the  tuition  of  Png- 
nani,  by  whose  instructions  lie  profited  so  ra- 
pidly, that  in  his  twenty-first  year  he  obtained 
the  appointment  of  first  violinist  at  the  royal 
chapel  in  Turin.    After  retaining  this  situation 
rather  more  than  two  years,  he  visited  Berlin 
and  Paris,  in  which  latter  capital  his  fame  for 
the  beauty  of  liis  compositions,  as  well  as  for 
the  brilliancy  of  his  execution,  rose  to  a  great 
height  and  attracted  the  notice  of  the  queen, 
Marie  Antoinette.     He  was  ordered  to  play 
before  the   royal   family,  and   complied  ;  but 
being  interrupted  in  the  performance  of  a  fa- 
vourite solo,  by  the  noise  made  at  the  entrance 
of  the  count  d'Artois,  he  evinced  his  indepen- 
dence, as  well  as  his  indignation,  by  breaking 
oft'  abruptly   and    quietly    leaving   the  room. 
From  that  time  he  persevered  in  a  resolution 
he  then  formed,  never  again  to  play  at  a  public 
concert  in  France.  On  the  breaking  out  of  the 
Revolution,  Viotti  took  refuge  in  England,  and 
from  the  year  179-t  till  1793   had  a  share  in 
the  management  of  the  king's  theatre,  himself 
leading  in  the  orchestra.     At  the  latter  period 
however  he  received  a  peremptory  order  from 
the  Alien  Office  to  quit  the  country,  a  circum- 
stance which  has  been  by  some  attributed  to 
the  misrepresentations  of  those  who  envied  him 
his  skill  as  a  performer.     He  retired  in  con- 
sequence to  Holland,  and  thence  to  Hamburgh, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  which  city  he  resided 
about  three  years,  associating  principally  with 
his    fellow-exile    Jarnowick.     In    1801,     the 
storm  having  by  that  time  blown  over,  he  re- 
turned to   London,  and  engaged  in  the  wine 
trade,  which  he  carried  on  for  several  years, 
till  the  speculation   failing,  he  lost  the  whole 
of  his  property.     After  the  restoration  of  the 
Bourbons    to    the    throne    of    France,     Louis 
XVIII  invited  him  to  preside  over  the  Aca- 
demie  Royale  de  Musique  at  Paris,  which  si- 
tuation he  accepted,  but  did  not  retain  it  long, 
owing  to  his  increasing  age  and  bodily  infirmi- 
ties.    In  1822,  having  obtained  permission  to 
retire  on  a  moderate  pension,  he  settled  finally 
in  London,  and  there  remained  till  his  death 
in  the    spring    of  182-i.     Though  Viotti  had 
long  seceded  from  his  profession,  he  to  the  last 
did  all  in  his  power  towards  its  advancement, 
and  assisted  occasionally  at  the  Philharmonic 
Society,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  original 
members.     Viotti  was  a  man  of  superior  intel- 
lect,  unquestioned  honour,   and  refined  man- 
ners, though  of  eccentric  habits.     He  has  also 
obtained  from  some  of  his   admirers  the  cha- 
racter of  a  wit,  but  such  of  his  repartees  as 
have  been  recorded  do  not  rank  very  high  in 
the  scale  of  humour.     He  was  the  author  of  a 
great  variety  of  music  for  the  violin,  but  his 
only  two  vocal  compositions  are  the   polaccas 
"  Che  Gioja,"  and  "  Consola,   amato  bene," 
both  of  them  master-pieces  in  their  way. — 
Ling.  Diet,  ff  Mus. 

V1RET  (Pcrr-n)  a  Swiss  divine  of  the  six- 
teenth ccnturv,  who  was  a  native  of  Orbe  in 


VI  B 

the  canton  of  Berne,  llo  was  educated  at 
Paris,  and  having  contracted  an  intimacy  with 
William  Fare!,  who  had  embraced  the  doc- 
trines  of  the  Huguenots,  he  went  with  him  to 
Geneva,  where  he  contributed  his  aid  towards 
the  destruction  of  popery.  He  afterwards  re- 
moved to  Lausanne,  and  thence  to  Lyons, 
whence  he  was  invited  to  Bearne  by  the  great' 
patroness  of  the  reformers,  Jane  d'Albret, 
queen  of  JS'avarre.  He  wrote  many  works 
against  the  doctrines  of  the  Catholic  church, 
one  of  which,  exhibiting  a  curious  commentary 
on  the  sacramental  service,  was  translated  into 
English  by  Thomas  Stone,  and  published  un- 
der the  title  of  "  The  Cautelesof  the  Masse," 
1  1584,  12mo.  Viret  died  in  1571. — Mun'ri. 
Aikin's  Gen.  Biog, 

VIRGIL,  or  PUBLIUS  VIRGILIUS 
MARO,  the  most  eminent  of  the  Roman 
poets,  was  born  BC.  70,  at  Andes,  a  village 
near  Mantua.  His  father  was  a  man  of  obscure 
origin,  who  became  bettered  in  circumstances 
by  marriage,  and  who  appears  ultimately  to 
have  become  the  owner  of  a  small  estate  cul- 
tivated by  himself.  Virgil  enjoyed  the  benefit 
j  of  a  liberal  education,  and  Cremona,  Milan, 
and  Naples  are  said  to  have  successively  con- 
tributed to  his  instruction.  Physics  and  ma- 
thematics were  in  the  first  instance  his  fa- 
vourite studies,  and  he  cultivated  the  Epicu- 
rean philosophy  under  Syro,  a  master  much 
praised  by  Cicero.  It  has  been  generally  sup- 
posed that  he  wrote  in  early  life  the  poems 
which  go  by  the  title  of  "  Catalecta  Virgilii  ;" 
but  some  of  these  are  undoubtedly  spurious, 
and  of  others  the  date  is  uncertain.  If,  as  ge- 
nerally believed,  he  relates  his  own  adven- 
tures in  his  first  eclogue,  his  earliest  visit  to 
Rome  was  undertaken  in  his  thirtieth  year, 
with  a  view  to  recover  his  lands,  which  had 
been  occupied  during  the  first  triumvirate 
by  the  soldiers  of  Octavius,  to  whom  he 
obtained  an  introduction  by  means  of  Pol- 
lio,  or  of  some  other  protector.  He  also 
became  known  to  his  great  patron  Mecasnas, 
and  through  their  influence  his  farm  was  re- 
stored to  him.  The  veteran  who  had  acquired 
possession,  was  however  so  little  disposed  to 
give  it  back  to  him,  that  he  found  his  life  in 
danger  ;  and  was  obliged  to  fly  back  to  Rome, 
where  a  second  application  proved  effective. 
He  subsequently  proceeded  in  the  composition 
of  his  eclogues,  the  tenth  and  last  of  which, 
dedicated  to  Gallus,  appears  to  have  been 
written  in  his  thirty-third  or  thirty-fourth 
year.  He  then  commenced  his  "  Georgics," 
at  the  request  of  Mecajnas,  which  production 
contains  many  masterly  proofs  of  an  exalted 
genius  in  its  vigour  and  maturity.  He  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  in  his  forty-fifth  year  when 
he  began  to  compose  the  "/Eneid,"  which 
occupied  many  of  the  latter  years  of  his  life. 
Augustus,  with  whom  he  was  at  this  time  in 
the  greatest  favour,  entreated  him  by  letter  to 
communicate  it  to  him  in  its  progress  ;  with 
which  request  he  at  length  complied,  and  read 
himself  the  sixth  book  to  the  emperor,  in  the 
presence  of  his  sister  Octavia,  who  fainted 
when  she-  heard  his  exquisite  tribute  to  the  :r.e- 


VI  R 

mory  of  her  son,  the  young  Marce.  \a,  so  beau- 
tifully introduced  into  that  portion  c.  his  poem, 
and  rewarded  him  with  a  present  of  ten  ses- 
terces a  line,  which  amounted  to  upwards  of 
tOOO/.  When  he  had  finished  his  JEueid,  he 
visited  Greece,  in  order  to  correct  and  polish 
it  at  leisure  ;  but  meeting  Augustus  at  Athens, 
on  his  return  from  the  east,  he  resolved  upon 
going  ba~k  in  his  company.  Unfortunately  he 
was  attacked  at  Megara  by  an  indisposition, 
which  became  still  more  serious  during  his 
voyage  to  Italy,  and  which  terminated  his  life 
a  few  days  after  his  arrival  at  Brundusium, 
BC.  19,  in  the  fifty-second  year  of  his  age. 
According  to  his  request,  his  bones  were  con- 
veyed to  Naples,  and  interred  in  the  Puteolan 
Way.  He  died  with  such  steadiness  and  tran- 
quillity, as  to  be  able  to  dictate  his  own  epitaph 
in  the  following  words  : 

"  Mantua  me  genuit,  Calabri  rapuere,  tenet 
nunc 

Parthenope :  ceciui  Pascua,  Rura,  Duces." 
From  the  concurrent  testimony  of  various 
writers,  including  Pliny  the  elder  and  Aulus 
Gellius,  it  appears  that  on  his  death-bed  he 
wished  to  commit  the  JEneid  to  the  flames  as 
an  imperfect  production  ;  but  it  was  either 
saved  by  the  interposition  of  his  friends,  Tucca 
and  Varius,  or  by  the  injunctions  of  Augustus 
to  his  executors,  a  convincing  proof  of  the  mo- 
dest self- estimation  which  was  a  characteristic 
of  this  great  poet.  His  disposition  in  other 
respects  was  so  mild  and  unassuming,  that  he 
was  singularly  beloved,  not  only  by  Augustus 
and  Mecaenas,  but  by  all  the  distinguished  per- 
sons of  the  period.  He  also  obtained  all  the 
honours  which  his  modesty  led  him  to  shun  ; 
and  it  is  said,  that  on  some  of  his  verses  being 
recited  in  the  theatre  when  he  was  present, 
the  audience  rose  up,  and  paid  him  the  same 
respect  which  was  usually  paid  to  the  empe- 
ror. Virgil  was  tall,  of  a  swarthy  complexion, 
and  sickly  constitution,  affected  with  frequent 
head  aches  and  spitting  of  blood.  Notwith- 
standing some  licentious  verses  written  in  early 
youth,  no  longer  in  existence,  and  certain  pas- 
sages in  his  Bucolics,  his  conduct  was  as  tem- 
perate and  regular  as  his  manners  were  mo- 
dtst  and  amiable.  In  respect  to  genius, 
s-carcely  any  poet  has  more  occupied  the  critics, 
both  ancient  and  modern,  and  all  concur  in 
ranking  him  in  the  first  class  of  poetical  merit. 
He  is  however  distinguished  less  by  the  faculty 
of  invention  than  most  of  the  leading  poets  ; 
his  Bucolics,  Georgics,  and  <<3£neid,  being  full 
of  imitation,  and  even  of  translation  ;  but  in 
all  that  can  exemplify  the  art  of  poetry,  he  has 
never  been  excelled,  and  his  admirers  will  not 
allow  that  the  splendour  and  majesty  of  his 
style  have  ever  been  equalled.  Hence  his  se- 
lect passages  are  dwelt  upon  with  more  plea- 
sure than  those  of  almost  any  other  classical 
poet.  His  Georgics  have  been  the  object  of 
HI. nation  to  all  who  have  since  attempted  to 
mingle  practical  instruction  with  the  beauties 
of  description  ;  and  although  inferior  to  the 
Iliad  in  point  of  genius,  his  ^liueid  is  re- 
garded as  presenting  the  finest  example  of  the 
epic  after  that  immortal  poem,  from  the  most 
DICT.— VOL.  III. 


V  IS 

ancient  times  to  the  present  day.  The  fame 
of  Virgil  is  testified  by  almost  innumerable 
editions,  commentaries,  and  translations.  Tho 
best  editions  are  those  of  Masvicius,  Leu- 
warden,  1717,  2  vols.  4to  ;  of  Burmann,  Am- 
sterdam, 1746,  4  vols.  4to  ;  and  of  Heyne, 
1793,  6  vols.  8vo.  Of  his  translators  the  most 
popular  are  Dryden,  Pitt,  and  Warton,  to 
which  is  to  be  added  the  recent  version  of  John 
Ring,  Esq.  in  2  vols.  8vo.  The  Bucolics  and 
Georgics  have  been  published  separately  by 
professor  Martyn,  of  Cambridge,  with  an  Eng- 
lish version  in  prose  and  curious  notes. — Vitu. 
a  Donat.  Warton's  Life  prefixed  to  his  Virgil. 

VISCONTI  (JOHN  BAPTIST  ANTHONY)  an 
Italian  antiquary,  born  at  Vernazza  in  the  dio- 
cese of  Sarzano,  in  1722.  He  was  educated 
at  Rome  by  an  uncle,  who  was  a  painter,  and 
who  designed  his  nephew  for  the  same  profes- 
sion. But  the  latter  preferred  the  study  of 
antiquities  to  any  other  pursuit ;  and  that  lie 
might  be  at  liberty  to  follow  his  inclination, 
he  purchased  the  office  of  apostolic  notary.  He 
became  connected  with  the  celebrated  Winck- 
elmann,  whom  he  succeeded  in  1768,  in  the 
station  of  prefect  or  commissary  of  antiqui- 
ties at  Rome  ;  and  Clement  XIV,  on  his  ele- 
vation to  the  pontifical  throne  the  following 
year,  having  formed  the  design  of  founding  a 
new  museum  in  the  Vatican,  the  execution  of 
the  plan  was  entrusted  to  Visconti,  who  super- 
intended the  researches  for  ancient  monu- 
ments carried  on  at  Rome  under  popes  Cle- 
ment XI V  and  Pius  VI.  Among  the  relics  of 
former  ages  brought  to  light  was  the  tomb  of 
the  Scipios,  relative  to  which  Visconti  pub- 
lished Letters  and  Notices  in  the  Roman  An- 
thology ;  and  he  was  the  author  of  some  other 
archffioiogical  memoirs.  His  death  took  place 
September  2,  1784.  He  was  appointed  editor 
of  the  "  Museum  Pio-Clementiuum,"  but  the 
text  accompanying  the  engravings  of  that  work 
was  written  by  his  son,  the  subject  of  the  next 
article. — Biog  Univ. 

VISCONTI  (ENNIUS  QUIRINIUS)  eldest 
son  of  the  preceding,  was  born  at  Rome,  No- 
vember 1,  1751.  He  studied  under  his  father, 
and  showed  such  a  precocity  of  talent,  that  at 
three  years  and  a  half  old  he  was  able  to  read 
Greek  and  Latin,  as  appeared  from  a  public 
examination.  His  subsequent  progress  in 
knowledge  was  not  less  remarkable ;  and  in 
1764  he  translated  from  Greek  into  Italian 
verse  the  Hecuba  of  Euripides,  printed  at 
Rome  in  1765.  His  father  designed  him  for 
the  church,  hoping  through  the  patronage  of 
pope  Piua  VI  that  he  might  obtain  a  cardi- 
nali's  hat.  He  therefore  studied  the  canon  and 
Roman  law,  and  in  1771  took  the  degree  of 
doctor.  Soon  after  he  was  made  a  papal 
chamberlain  and  sub -librarian  of  the  Vatican. 
Having  however  formed  an  attachment  to  a 
lady,  whom  be  wished  to  marry,  he  refused  to 
enter  into  holy  orders  ;  in  consequence  of 
which  he  was  deprived  of  his  posts,  through 
the  interference  of  his  father.  A  reconciliation 
subsequently  took  place,  when  J.  B.  Visconti 
being  charged  with  the  preparation  of  the  de- 
scriptions to  accompany  tiis  piatcs  of  ihe 
2D 


V  I  S 

"Museum  Pio-Clementinum,"  found  it  neces- 
sary to  call  his  sou  to  liis  assistance  ;  and  tlit 
latter  published  the   first  volume  of  the  work 
in  1782,  and  the  second  in   1784.     Me  was 
then  appointed  conservator  of  the  museum  of 
the  Capitol,  and  obtained  the  restoration  ol 
those  emoluments  of  which   he  had  been  de- 
prived.    The  remaining  volumes  of  the  "  Mu- 
seum Pio-Clementinum  "   appeared  between 
1788  and  1807,   when  the   seventh  and   last 
was  published  at  Rome,  though  after  the  re- 
moval of  the    author   to   Paris.      When  the 
French  took  possession  of  Rome,  and  esta- 
blished  a    provisional     government   in    1797, 
Visconti  was  nominated  minister  of  the  inte- 
rior ;  and  the  following  year,  when  the  mode 
of  administration  was  changed,  he  became  one 
of  the  five  members  of  the  new  government. 
In  1798  he  was  obliged  to  retire  from  Rome 
to  Perusia,  on    the  approach  of  a  Neapolitan 
army  ;  and  in  1799  he  quitted  Rome  entirely, 
and  took  refuge  in  France,  where  he  met  witl- 
a  most  flattering  reception.    He  was  appointed 
surveyor  of  the  Museum  of  Antiquities  at  the 
Louvre  and  professor  of  archaeology,  with   a 
liberal  pension  ;  and  in  1804  he  was  admitted 
into  the  class  of  history  and  ancient  literature 
at  the   Institute.     His  death  took   place  Fe- 
bruary 7,  1818.     Among  the  most  important 
of  his  very   numerous   publications   may    be 
mentioned  the  Catalogue  of  the  Antiquities  of 
the  Museum  at  Paris ;  "  Grecian  Iconogra- 
phy," 3  vols.  1808  ;  "  Roman  Iconography," 
vol.  1st,  1817  ;  "  Memoire  sur  des  Ouvrages 
de   Sculpture   du  Parthenon,    et  de.  quelques 
Edifices  de  1'Acropole  a  Athenes,  &c."  1818, 
8vo.     He  also  was  a  co-operator  in  the  Musee 
Napoleon,  and   many  other   works.     A  com- 
plete edition  of  the  works  of  E.  Q.  Visconti 
was  commenced  at  Milan  in  1818. — Biog.  No- 
tice by  Zannoni  in  Antholog.  Nn.  18,  Florence, 
1822.     Bwg.  Univ. 

VISDELOU  (CLAUDE)  a  French  Jesuit 
and  missionary  in  China,  who  was  born  in 
Britanny  in  1656.  After  studying  among  the 
Jesuits,  he  became  one  of  the  brothers  of  the 
order  at  an  early  age  ;  and  he  was  only  nine- 
teen when  he  was  sent  to  reinforce  the  mission 
in  China.  He  arrived  at  Macao  in  1687,  and 
having  studied  the  Chinese  language,  he  de- 
voted himself  for  more  than  twenty  years  with 
great  zeal  to  the  duties  of  his  station.  At 
length  he  became  involved  in  the  disputes  be- 
tween the  missionaries  of  different  nations  ; 
and  when  cardinal  de  Tournon  arrived  in 
China,  Yisdelou,  who  rendered  some  services 
to  that  prelate,  was  exposed  to  the  animosity 
of  his  enemies.  In  vain  did  he  receive  the 
titles  of  vicar-apostolic  and  bishop  of  Claudio- 
polis,  for  his  opponents  disputed  the  legitimacy 
of  his  appointment ;  so  that  he  was  obliged  to 
quit  China,  and  in  1709  he  embarked  for  Pon- 
dicherry.  His  conduct  was  approved  by  pope 
Clement  XI ;  but  in  answer  to  an  apology 
which  he  sent  to  France,  the  regent  duke  of 
Orleans  ordered  him  to  remain  at  Pondicherry, 
where  he  continued  till  his  death  in  1737. 
Besides  several  works  relating  to  China,  Vis- 
delou  drew  up  a  History  of  Tartary,  published 


V  I  T 

a*  a  ^upplrmfeiil  to   D'Herbelot  Bibliotheque 
Orientate. —  Biog.  Univ. 

VISHNOO-SARMA,  the  name  of  a  Bra- 
min,  to  whom  is  ascribed  the  composition  of 
the  celebrated  collection  of  apologues,  known 
under  the  title  of  the  Fables  of  Pilpay  or  Bid- 
,pai.  The  original  of  this  work,  composed  in 
the  Sanscrit  language,  bears  the  title  of  "  Pant- 
cha-tantra,"  and  it  has  given  birth  to  two 
other  works,  one  of  which,  called  "  Hitopar 
desa,"  has  been  translated  by  sir  William  Jones 
and  by  Mr  Wilkins.  The  version  of  the  latter 
was  published  at  Bath  in  1787,  8vo  ;  that  of 
the  former  is  printed  in  the  collection  of  his 
works ;  and  the  Sanscrit  text  has  been  pub- 
lished at  Serampore  in  1806,  and  in  London 
in  1810.  The  abbe  Dubois  published  a  French 
version  of  the  "  Pantcha-tantra,"  Paris,  1826. 
Nothing  certain  is  known  concerning  Vishnoo- 
Sarma,  the  alleged  author  of  this  curious  mo- 
nument of  Hindoo  literature. — Trans,  of  the 
Rni/al  Asiatic  Society,  vol.  i.  Biog.  Univ. 

VITELLIO  or  VITELLO,  a  Polish  ma- 
thematician, born  in  the  thirteenth  century  of 
the  illustrious  family  ofCiolek,  who,  according 
to  a  common  custom  of  the  learned  in  former 
times,  translated  his  Polish  name  into  Latin. 
He  resided  near  Cracow,  where  he  arranged 
the  materials  which  had  been  the  result  of  Ins 
nquiries  in  his  travels,  and  the  numerous  opti- 
cal experiments  which  he  had  made.  His  work, 
which  did  not  appear  till  long  after  his  death, 
was  tirst  printed  at  Nuremberg,  1.533,  folio, 
under  the  title  of  "  Vitellronis  Perspective 
Lib.  x."  It  was  dedicated  by  the  author  to 
William  de  Morbeta,  who  in  1262  was  grand- 
penitentiary  at  the  court  of  Rome.  Vitellio 
is  the  earliest  writer  who  gives  a  philosophical 
explanation  of  the  cause  of  the  rainbow. — Biog. 
Univ. 

VITRINGA  (CAMPEGIUS)  an  eminentand 
learned  Protestant  divine,  was  born  May  16, 
16.59,  at  Leuwarden  in  Friesland.  He  took 
the  degree  of  DD.  at  Leydfin  in  1679,  and  was 
successively  professor  of  Oriental  languages, 
divinity,  and  sacred  history  at  Franeker.  He 
died  March  3,  1722,  of  an  apoplexy.  He  is 
author  of"  A  Commentary  on  Isaiah,"  2  vols. 
folio,  Lat. ;  "  Apocalypseos  Anachrysis," 
1719,  4to  ;  "  Typus  Theologize  Practicsc," 
8vo  ;  "  Hypotyposis  Histories  et  Chronologic 
Sacrae,"  8vo  ;  "  Syuagoga  vetus,"  4to  ;  "  Ar- 
chi-synagogus,"  4to;  "  De  Decemviris  otiosis 
Synagogae,"  4to,  &c. — CAMPECIUS  VITRINGA, 
one  of  his  sons,  born  March  23,  1693,  was 
also  professor  of  divinity  at  Franeker,  and 
died  nine  months  after  his  father  in  1723, 
aged  thirty-one,  leaving  an  able  "  Abridg- 
ment of  Natural  Theology,"  and  "  Sacred 
Dissertations." — Niceron.  Saxii  Onom. 

VITRUVIUS  POLLIO  (MARCUS)  a  cele- 
brated writer  on  architecture,  who  is  supposed 
to  have  flourished  in  the  times  of  Julius  Csesar 
and  Augustus ;  and  of  whose  parentage  and 
place  of  nativity  no  certain  knowledge  can  be 
attained.  The  most  probable  opinion  is  that 
he  was  born  at  Formia,  a  city  of  Campania, 
now  called  Mola  di  Gaeta.  He  plainly  appears 
to  have  been  liberally  educated  ;  and  that  lt> 


VIV 

travelled  for  information  and  improvement  we 
learn  from  his  writings.  He  acquired  by  the 
exercise  of  his  profession  some  property,  though 
he  seems  to  have  been  less  employed  than 
some  of  his  contemporaries  ;  and  the  only 
public  edifice  which  he  mentions  as  being  con- 
structed from  his  designs  is  a  basilica  at  Fano. 
He  wrote  at  an  advanced  age  his  work  "  De 
Architectura  Lib.  x."  which  he  dedicated  to 
Augustus,  under  whose  reign  he  had  held  the 
office  of  inspector  of  the  military  machines. 
This  treatise  was  first  printed  at  Venice,  1497, 
folio ;  and  among  modern  editions  the  most 
valuable  is  that  of  Schneider,  Leipsic,  1808, 
3  vols.  8vo.  An  English  translation  of  the 
work  of  Vitruvius,  with  a  commentary  by 
William  Newton,  appeared  in  1771,  folio, 
repub.  1791,  2  vols.  folio  ;  and  a  new  transla- 
tion by  W.  Wilkins,  with  an  Introduction  con- 
taining an  historical  View  of  the  Rise  and 
Progress  of  Architecture  among  the  Greeks, 
was  published  in  1812,  folio. — Rees's  Cyclop. 
Biog.  Univ. 

VIVES  (JoiiN  Louis)  one  of  the  revivers 
of  literature,  was  born  at  Valentia  in  Spain, 
in  1492.     He  studied  at  Paris  and  Louvain, 
after  which  he  visited   England,  having  pre- 
viously become  one  of  the  first  fellows  of  Cor- 
pus Christi  college,   Oxford.     He  was  much 
respected  and  patronised  by  Catherine  of  Ar- 
ragon  ;  and  in  1522  dedicated  his  Commentary 
upon  St  Augustine  "  De  Civitate  Dei,"  to  king 
Henry  VIII.     He   was  also  appointed  to  in- 
struct the  princess  Mary  in  polite  literature  and 
the  Latin  language,  for  whose   use  he  wrote 
the  tracti  "  De  Ratione  Studii  Puerilis,"  and 
"   De     Institutione     Fccminse     Christians." 
During  his  residence  at  Oxford   he  was  ad- 
mitted   doctor    of  laws,   and   acquired    much 
favour  with  Henry  VIII  ;    but  venturing  to 
argue  and  write  against  his  divorce  from  Ca- 
therine, he   was  disgraced    and  imprisoned. 
On  regaining  his  liberty  he  repaired  to  Brus- 
sels, where  he  married,  and  remained  for  the 
rest  of  his  life,  occupied  as  a  teacher  of  the 
belles  lettres.     He  died  in  1541.     His  works 
were  printed  at  Basil  in  1555,  in  2  vols.  folio, 
but  this  collection  did  not  include  his  Com- 
mentary on  St  Augustine,  which  was  esteemed 
too  bold  and  free   by  the   Louvain   doctors  ; 
it  has  however    been    published    separately 
Among  his   works   are  "  De  prima  Philoso- 
phia  ;"    "  De    Explanatione    Essentiarum ;" 
"  De  Censura  Veri ;"   "  De  Initiis  Seeds  et 
Laudibus   Philosophise  ;    and  "  De  corruptis 
Artibus  et  tradendis  Disciplinis,"  which  writ- 
ings, in  the  opinion  of  Brucker,  exhibit  great 
strength  of  judgment,  and  a  mind  capable  oi 
things  beyond  the  level  of  the  age  in  which  he 
lived. — Antonio  Bibl.  Hispan.  Dupin.  Brucker. 
VI  VIA  NI(VINCENTIO)  a  celebrated  Italian 
physician,   was  born  at  Florence  in  1621  or 
1622.     He  was  a  disciple  of  the  justly   cele 
brated  Galileo,  and  lived  with  him  from  his 
seventeenth  to  his  twenty-first  year.    He  early 
distinguished  himself  by  his  attempt  for  the 
restoration  of  Aristeus,   an  ancient  geometri- 
cian, who  was  contemporary  with  Euclid,  am 
had    composed  five  books  of  problems  "  De 


VOE 

solidis,    which  were  lost,  with  the  ex.- 
eption    of   the   names   of   the   propositions, 
.'his  labour  he  however  discontinued,  in  order 
o  restore  the  lost  fifth  book  of  the  Conic  Sec- 
ions  of  Apollonius.     This  work  he  published 
n  1659,  in  folio,  under  the  title  "  De  Maxi- 
mis  et  Minimis  Geometrica  Diviuata  in  quin- 
um  Conicorum  Apollonii  Pergaii,"  which  was 
•steemed  superior  to  Apollonius  himself.     In 
664  he  was  honoured  with   a  pension  from 
..ouisXIV,  and  in  1666  the  grand  duke  of  Tus- 
:any,  who  employed  him  both  in  public  works 
and  in  negociation,  gave   him  the  title  of  his 
irst  mathematician.     In  1669  he  was  chosen 
o  fill  a  chair  in  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sci- 
ences of  Paris,  which  honour  induced  him  to 
inish  three  books   of  his  Divination  of  Aris- 
eus,  and  address  them  to  the  king  of  France, 
died  in  1703,  in  the  eighty-first  or  eighty- 
second  year  of  his  age.     Foutenelle    speaks 
warmly  of  the  integrity  and  simplicity  of  man- 
ners of  Viviani,  who  composed  several   ma- 
hematical  treatises  in  the   Latin  and  Italian 
anguages,   besides  those  already  alluded  to, 
he  principal  of  which  is  entitled  "  Enodat  o 
r'roblematum,"  comprising    the    solution    of 
.hree  problems  which  had  been   submitted  to 
all  the  mathematicians  of  Europe. — Fabroiii 
Italorum.     Buttons  Math.  Diet. 

VLITIUS  or  VAN  VLIET  (JOHN)  a  phi- 
ological  writer,  whose  birth-place  is  unknown, 
and  who  died  at  Breda  in  1666.  He  received 
a  liberal  education,  and  travelled  in  England 
and  France,  in  both  which  countries,  as  well 
as  in  Holland,  he  was  connected  with  many 
men  of  eminence  in  literature.  Among  his 
publications  are  "  Jani  Vlitii  Venatio  novan- 
:iqua,"  1645,  12mo  ;  a  treatise  in  Dutch,  on 
:he  law  of  succession  according  to  the  custom 
of  Breda,  appended  to  which  is  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  in  twenty  German  or  northern  dia- 
lects ;  and  a  new  edition  of  the  Gothic  Glos- 
sary of  Francis  Junius. — Biog.  Univ. 

VOET  (GisBERj)a  Dutch  theologian,  born 
at  Heusden  in  1593.  After  having  studied  at 
Leyden,  he  settled  as  a  minister  at  his  native 
place,  where  he  remained  till  1634,  He  was 
then  invited  to  teach  the  eastern  Janguagei 
and  theology  at  the  Schola  Illustris  at  Utrecht, 
which  was  two  years  after  made  a  university. 
He  also  became  co-pastor  of  one  of  the  churches 
of  Utrecht ;  and  being  a  zealous  supporter  of 
the  system  of  orthodoxy  promulgated  by  the 
synod  of  Dordrecht,  he  distinguished  himself 
by  his  attacks  on  the  Arminians  or  remon- 
strants. The  Cartesian  philosophy  engaging 
the  public  attention,  Voet  in  1639  wrote 
against  Descartes,  whom  he  accused  of  atheism, 
and  treated  with  great  illiberality.  He  like- 
wise entered  into  a  controversy  with  the  Ley- 
den  professor,  Cocceius ;  and  he  engaged  in 
many  other  disputes  with  contemporary  di 
vines.  He  died  at  Utrecht  in  1677.  His 
principal  works  are  "  Selectae  Disputationeb 
Theologicae,"  5  vols.  4to  ;  and  "  Politica  Ec- 
clesiastica,"  4  vols.  4to. — His  son,  PAVI 
VOET,  was  successively  professor  of  logic,  meta- 
physics, the  Greek  language,  and  civil  law,  a« 
Utrecht,  where  he  died  in  1677.  He  was  >h* 
2  D2 


VO  I 

author  of  several  learned  works  on  jurispru- 
•ience  and  theology. — JOHN  VOET,  the  son  of 
Paul,  professor  of  law  at  Bertram,  afterwards 
ut  Utrecht,  and  ultimately  at  Leyden,  was  the 
author  of  a  valuable  "  Commentary  on  the 
1'andects,"  Leyden,  169<?,  2  vols.  folio,  often 
reprinted,  lie  died  in  1714. — Burmanni  Tra- 
jcct.  Erudit.  Mosheim.  Biog.  Univ. 

VOISENON  (CLAUDE  HENRV  FUSEE  de) 
a  man  of  letters,  distinguished  for  his  eccen- 
tricities and  his  talents.  He  was  born  Ja- 
nuary 8,  1708,  at  the  castle  of  Voisenon  near 
Melun,  and  was  educated  for  the  ecclesiastical 
profession.  He  commenced  his  career  as  a 
divine,  by  the  appointment  of  grand-vicar  of 
the  see  of  Boulogne  ;  and  he  also  obtained 
the  abbacy  of  Jard,  bestowed  on  him  by  car- 
dinal Fleury,  after  he  had  declined  accepting 
the  bishopric  of  Boulogne,  from  a  sense  of  his 
own  unfitness  for  such  a  dignified  situation  in 
the  church.  He  was  of  a  lively  humorous 
disposition,  and  he  determined  to  pursue  the 
studies  for  which  nature  had  qualified  him. 
In  1763  he  was  admitted  a  member  of  the 
French  Academy ;  and  the  duke  de  Choiseul 
gave  him  a  pension  of  six  thousand  livres,  to 
write  a  French  history,  in  return  for  which, 
however,  he  produced  nothing  but  some  "  His- 
torical Fragments  "  of  little  interest.  His  other 
works  consist  of  "  Literary  Anecdotes ;"  fugi- 
tive poetry,  in  the  style  of  Chaulieu  ;  ro- 
mances ;  and  comedies,  the  most  esteemed  of 
which  are  "  Marriages  assortis,"  and  "  La 
Coquette  fixee."  Both  in  his  personal  and  his 
literary  character  he  seems  much  to  have  re- 
sembled Piron  ;  and  though  he  belonged  to 
the  Academy,  he  was  no  favourite  with  his  co- 
adjutors, who  had  many  of  them  been  the  ob- 
jects of  his  satirical  wit.  His  private  cha- 
racter was  singularly  dissolute  ;  and  like  many 
other  libertines,  in  the  fits  of  illness  to  which 
he  was  subject,  he  was  occasionally  a  zealous 
devotee.  He  died  November  22,  1775.  His 
works  were  published  in  1781,  5  vols.  8vo, 
with  a  life  of  the  author. — Diet.  Hist.  Biog. 
Univ. 

VOITURE  (  VINCENT)  a  celebrated  French 
wit,  was  horn  at  Amiens  in  1598.  His  father 
was  a  wealthy  wine-merchant,  who  lived 
freely,  but  the  health  of  the  subject  of  this 
article  was  delicate,  and  he  drank  only  water. 
His  agreeable  manners  and  conversation  early 
introduced  him  to  good  company,  and  he  was 
a  distinguished  visitor  at  the  Hotel  de  Ram- 
bouillet.  He  was  also  well  received  at  court 
and  by  Gaston  duke  of  Orleans,  who  made 
him  his  piaster  of  the  ceremonies.  In  1634 
lie  was  admitted  into  the  French  Academy, 
tind  was  subsequently  sent  on  a  mission  to 
Spain,  whore  he  was  much  caressed,  and 
where  he  composed  some  verses  in  such  pure 
and  natural  Spanish,  that  every  body  ascribed 
ihem  to  Lope  de  Vega.  He  also  visited  Rome 
and  England,  and  was  the  person  employed  to 
notify  the  birth  of  the  dauphin,  afterwards 
Louis  XIV,  to  the  court  of  Florence.  He  en- 
joyed seveial  considerable  pensions,  but  at- 
tachment to  play  and  to  women  prevented  him 
CM  in  growing  rich  He  died  in  1648.  Voi- 


\  0  L 

iiire  was  one  of  the.  first  in  France  distin- 
guished by  the  title  of  bel  esprit.  He  wrote 
verses  in  French,  Spanish  and  Italian  ;  the 
former  are  occasionally  easy  and  sprightly,  with 
a  refined  turn  of  thought,  but  for  the  most 
part  fall  into  strained  wit  and  affected  senti- 
ment, without  being  nice  in  point  of  delicacy, 
which,  however,  was  rather  the  fault  of  the 
age  than  of  the  man.  His  letters  make  up 
the  bulk  of  his  works,  and  also  proved  the 
chief  cause  of  his  literary  reputation  ;  they 
exhibit  a  perpetual  attempt  at  wit,  which  is 
sometimes  successful,  and  places  the  writer 
high  in  the  class  of  epistolary  writers  ;  but  on 
the  other  hand,  they  often  degenerate  into 
affectation,  plays  on  words,  insipid  pleasan- 
tries, and  far-fetched  allusions.  Nothing,  as 
••veil  observed  by  Voltaire,  flows  from  the 
heart,  paints  the  manners  of  the  times,  or 
shows  the  characters  of  men  ;  they  are  rather 
an  abuse  than  an  exercise  of  wit.  They  were 
however  extremely  admired  in  their  day,  and 
a  letter  from  Voiture  was  a  passport  into  the 
politest  companies.  One  of  the  latest  editions 
of  his  works  is  that  of  Paris,  1729,  2  vols. 
12mo. — NMIV.  Diet.  Hist. 

VOLKOFF  (THEODORE)  a  Russian  dra- 
matist, born  at  Kostroma  in  1729.  He  was 
sent  when  young  to  Moscow,  to  study  music, 
and  at  the  age  of  fifteen  he  had  also  acquired 
a  knowledge  of  geometry,  drawing,  and  the 
French,  Italian,  and  German  languages.  Re- 
turning home,  he  secretly  employed  his  pen 
in  writing  plays,  and  having  collected  a  small 
company  of  young  actors,  he  exhibited  at  Ja- 
roslaw  some  pieces  composed  by  St  Dimitri 
de  Rostoff.  Going  to  Petersburgh  in  1746,  he 
formed  an  acquaintance  with  the  Italians  at- 
tached to  the  court  theatre  ;  and  on  his  return 
to  Jaroslaw,  he  found  means  to  erect  a  theatre, 
which  would  hold  a  thousand  spectators. 
There  he  performed  the  tragedies  of  Sumo- 
rokof,  and  other  pieces,  with  so  much  success, 
that  the  empress  Elizabeth  sent  for  him  to 
Petersburgh,  where  he  was  appointed  first 
actor  of  the  Russian  theatre.  In  1759  he  was 
sent  to  establish  a  national  theatre  at  Moscow  ; 
and  Catherine  II,  on  her  accession  to  the 
throne,  bestowed  on  him  an  estate,  with  a 
patent  of  nobility.  He  was  engaged  by  order 
of  the  court,  in  1763,  in  preparing  a  grand 
dramatic  spectacle,  called  "  The  Triumph  ot 
Minerva,"  for  which  he  had  just  completed 
the  arrangements,  when  he  was  taken  ill,  and 
his  death  occurred  a  few  days  after,  April  4, 
1763.  His  funeral  obsequies  were  celebrated 
with  a  degree  of  magnificence  not  inferior  to 
those  of  Garrick.  lie  possessed  considerable 
talents  as  a  poet,  a  musician,  and  a  sculptor  ; 
and  also  a  general  acquaintance  with  litera- 
ture.— Biog.  Univ. 

VOLNEY  (CONSTANTINO  FRANCISCHASSE- 
BOZUF,  count  de)  a  celebrated  French  writer, 
was  born  at  Craon  in  Britanny,  in  1755.  In- 
spired at  an  early  age  with  a  desire  to  visit  fo- 
rcii'ii  countries  in  search  of  knowledge,  he  no 

o  O      ' 

sooner  became  master  of  a  small  patrimonial 
estate,  than  he  converted  it  into  money,  and 
.embarked  for  the  Lcrant.  He  tiavelled 


VOL 

through  several  parts  of  Egypt  and  Syria,  and 
after  a  residence  for  some  time  in  a  Maronite 
convent  on  Mount  Libanus,  for  the  purpose  of 
studying  the  Oriental   languages,  he   returned 
to  France,  whence  he  had  been  absent  more 
than  two  years.     The  fruits  of  his  inquiries 
appeared    in    his   "  Voyage    en   Syrie  et   en 
Egypte,"  2    vols.  8vo,   which  was  translated 
into  English,  Dutch,  and  German.    This  work 
procured  him  much  reputation,  and  taking  up 
his  residence  at  Auteuil  near  Paris,  he  be- 
came intimately  connected  with  some  of  the 
most  eminent  among  his  literary  contempora- 
ries.    On  the  convocation  of  the  States  Gene- 
ral in  1789,  Volney  was  elected  a  deputy  from 
the  Tiers  Etat  of  Anjou,  when  he  embraced 
the  cause  of  liberty,  and  frequently  appeared 
with  advantage  as  a  public  speaker.     In  1791 
lie  published  his  deisticalwork,  entitled  "  Les 
Ruines,    ou  Meditations  sur  les  Revolutions 
des  Empires,"  the  first  idea  of  which  he  is  said 
to  have  conceived  in  the  cabinet  of  Dr  Frank- 
lin.    After  the  conclusion  of  the  sessions  of 
the  National  Assembly,  he  accompanied  M. 
Pozzo  di  Borgo  to  Corsica,  where  he  had  pro- 
jected some  agricultural  improvements.     He 
made  attempts  to  establish  in  that  island  the 
cultivation  of  the  sugar-cane,  indigo,  and  other 
tropical  plants,  but  he  was  unsuccessful.    Re- 
turning to  Paris,  he  suffered  persecution  under 
the  reign  of  terror  ;  and  after  ten  months'  im- 
prisonment, the  fall  of  Robespierre  restored 
him  to  liberty.     In  November  1794  he  was 
appointed  professor  of  history  at  the  Normal 
School,  and  the  course  of  lectures  on  the  phi- 
losophy of  history  which  he  delivered  (and 
which  was  published  and  translated  into  Eng- 
lish) added  considerably  to  his  reputation.   In 
1795  he  made   a  voyage  to  the  United  States 
of  America,  where,  as  the  friend  of  Franklin, 
he  experienced    a   flattering   reception    from 
Washington,  who  invited  him  to  visit  him  in 
his  retirement  from  the  toils  of  warfare  and 
politics.     Volney  would  probably  have  settled 
in  America,  had  not  the  prospect  of  a  war  with 
France  induced   him  to  return  home  in  the 
spring  of  1798.     After  the  revolution  which 
elevated  Buonaparte  to  the  consulship,  he  was 
nominated  a  senator ;  and  it  is  said  the  office 
of  second  consul  was  designed  for  him,  hut 
his  political  opinions   prevented  the  appoint- 
ment from  taking  place.     In  the  senate  he  co- 
operated with  Lanjuiuais,  Cabanis,  Destutt  de 
Tracy,  Collaud,  Garat,  and  others,  whose  in- 
fluence was  constantly  exerted  in  the  cause  of 
freedom.     After  the  return  of  the  king,  Vol- 
ney, by  a  decree  of  the  4th  of  June  1814,  was 
designated    a    member   of  the    Chamber    of 
Peers,    where   he    remained   faithful    to   his 
principles,  always  appearing  among  the  ardent 
defenders  of  the  rights  of  the  nation.     His 
death  took  place,  after  a  short  illness,  at  Paris, 
April  24,  1820.     Besides  the  works  already 
mentioned,   he  published  "  Simplification  des 
Langues  Orientales,  ou  Methode  nouvelle  et 
facile  d'apprendre  les  Langues  Arabe,  Persane 
et  Turque,  avec   les  Caracteres  Europe-ens," 
179.7,  8vo  ;  "  Tableau  du  Climat  et  du  Sol  de 
rAmerifjue,"  1803,  2  vols.  8vo,  with  a  Voca- 


V  O  L 

Vmlary  of  the  Language  of  the  Miamis ; 
"  Rapport  fait  a  I'^icademie  Celtique  sur 
1'Ouvrage  Russe  de  M.  le  Prof.  Pallas,  Vo- 
cabulaires  compares  des  Langues  do  toute  la 
Terre,"  1805,  4to  ;  Supplement  a  I'Herodote 
de  Larcher,  ou  Chronologic  d'Herodote  con- 
forme  a  son  Texte,"  1808,  2  vols.  8vo , 
"  Questions  de  Statistique  a  1'Usage  des  Voy- 
ageurs,"  1813,  8vo  ;  "  Recherches  nouvellea 
sur  1'Histoire  Ancienne,"  1814 — 15,  3  vols. 
8vo.  Volney  was  a  member  of  the  Institute 
from  its  foundation  ;  and  he  belonged  to  th« 
Asiatic  Society  of  Calcutta,  and  to  several 
Eurooean  literary  associations. —  Biog.  Nouv 
des  Con  temp.  Ring-  Univ. 

VOLPATO  (JOHN)  an  eminent  engraver, 
born  at  Bassano,  in  Italy,  in  1733.  He  was 
a  self-taught  artist,  and  his  first  essays  were 
so  successful  as  to  attract  the  admiration  of 
the  most  skilful  professors.  The  celebrated 
ttartolozzi,  then  employed  at  Venice,  in- 
structed Volpato  in  the  secrets  of  his  art.  Ho 
afterwards  went  to  Rome,  where  he  was  en- 
gaged to  make  engravings  from  the  paintings 
of  Raphael  at  the  Vatican.  His  death  took 
place  at  Rome,  August  21,  1802.  He  pub- 
lished a  work,  entitled  "The  Principles  of 
Design,  deduced  from  the  best  ancient  Sta- 
tues," Rome,  1786,  folio,  with  thirty-six 
plates.  The  famous  Raphael  Morghen  was 
the  pupil  and  son-in-law  of  this  artist. — Biog. 
Univ. 

VOLPI  (JOHN  ANTHONY)  an  elegant  mo- 
dern Latin  poet,  descended  of  a  noble  family, 
and  born  at  Como  in  1514.  He  studied  juris- 
prudence at  Pavia,  and  afterwards  went  to 
Rome  in  search  of  preferment.  Being  dis- 
appointed in  his  expectations,  he  returned  to 
his  native  place,  and  eventually  succeeded 
Bernardine  della  Croce,  bishop  of  the  church, 
in  1559.  His  death  took  place  in  1588.  His 
poems,  which  were  published  at  Padua,  in 
1725,  have  been  highly  praised  ;  two  of  his 
satires  in  particular  are  said  to  be  the  finest 
modern  compositions  of  the  kind,  happily 
imitating  the  style  of  Horace. — Rees's  Cyclop. 
VOLTA  (ALEXANDER)  an  Italian  philoso- 
pher, distinguished  for  his  discoveries  relative 
to  Galvanic  electricity.  He  was  descended  of 
a  noble  and  ancient  family,  and  was  born  at 
Como  in  1745.  He  applied  himself  particu- 
larly to  the  study  of  the  natural  sciences,  and 
especially  electricity  ;  and  in  1769  he  ad 
dressed  to  father  Beccaria  a  dissertation  "  De 
Vi  attractiva  Ignis  Electrici."  In  1774  he 
was  appointed  professor  of  natural  philosophy 
at  Pavia  ;  and  he  was  in  that  situation  when 
the  discoveries  of  Galvani  were  published  in 
1789.  Volta  immediately  turned  his  attention 
to  the  subject  of  Galvanism,  or  animal  elec- 
tricity ;  and  to  his  researches  is  due  the  di»- 
covery  of  what  has  been  termed  the  principle 
of  electro-motion,  or  the  excitement  of  elec- 
tricity by  the  contact  of  heterogeneous  sub- 
stances, as  exhibited  in  the  phenomena  Oi 
the  Voltaic  pile,  or  electric  column.  Volta 
addressed  to  the  Royal  Society  of  London,  in 
17PV',  an  account  of  his  observations,  and  in 
17 '.'4  he  was  presented  with  the  Copleian 


VOL 

medal.  In  1801,  Buonaparte  invited  profes- 
sor VoVta  to  Paris,  where  he  exhibited  his 
discoveries  to  the  members  of  the  Institute. 
He  was  subsequently  deputy  from  the  univer- 
sity of  Pavia  to  the  consulta  of  Lyons,  and 
then  a  member  of  the  college  of  the  Dotti,  a 
senator,  and  at  length  a  count.  He  died 
March  6,  1826.  A  complete  edition  of  his 
works  appeared  at  Florence  in  1816,  5  vols. 
8vo. —  Bwg.  Univ. 

VOLTAIRE  (MARIE  FRANCIS  AUOUET 
de)  indisputably  the  most  celebrated  literary 
character  of  his  own  age,  was  born  at  Chate- 
nay  near  Paris,  in  1694.  His  father,  Francis 
Arouet,  had  been  a  notary,  and  was  a  treasurer 
of  the  chamber  of  accounts.  The  subject  of 
this  article  showed  a  singular  fondness  for 
verse  from  his  cradle,  which  was  fostered  by 
his  godfather,  the  abb6  de  Chateauneuf.  He 
received  his  classical  education  at  the  Jesuits' 
college  of  Louis  le  Grand,  under  father  Poree, 
an  eminent  preceptor,  and  was  presented 
when  very  yonng  to  the  celebrated  Ninon  de 
L'Enclos,  who  left  him  two  thousand  livres  for 
a  juvenile  library.  On  quitting  college  his 
father  destined  him  for  the  bar ;  and  he  was 
sent  to  the  schools  of  law,  which  he  com- 
pletely neglected,  and  obtained  admission  to 
a  society  of  wits  and  Epicureans,  including 
Chaulieu,  the  marquis  de  la  Fare,  the  grand 
prior  of  Vendome,  the  marshal  de  Villars,  and 
others.  His  father,  fearful  of  his  becoming  a 
poet  merely,  induced  the  marquis  de  Chateau- 
neuf, ambassador  from  France  to  Holland,  to 
take  him  in  his  suite  in  quality  of  page ;  but 
falling  in  love  with  the  daughter  of  madame 
Du  Noyer,  a  refugee,  he  was  sent  back  again. 
Returning  to  Paris,  he  was  excluded  from  his 
father's  house,  and  refused  re-admission,  ex- 
cept on  the  condition  of  entering  an  attorney's 
office,  which  however  he  would  not  fulfil. 
Having  early  imbibed  a  turn  for  satire,  he  was 
imprisoned  by  the  regent  duke  of  Orleans  al- 
most a  year  in  the  Bastille  for  some  philippics 
against  the  government.  He  had  some  time  be- 
fore composed  his  tragedy  of  "  CEdipe,"  which 
produced  him  two  advantages  besides  consi- 
derable reputation,  the  regent  releasing  him 
from  the  Bastille,  while  his  father,  moved  to 
tears  at  its  representation ,  was  reconciled  to  him 
upon  the  spot,  and  never  more  pressed  him  to 
become  a  lawyer.  In  1722  he  made  an  ex- 
cursion to  Brussels,  where  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  Jean  Baptiste  Rousseau  ;  but  the 
poets  quickly  became  disgusted  with  each 
other  ;  Rousseau  was  jealous  of  a  rival,  and 
the  bon  mots  of  Voltaire  (for  so  was  he  from 
about  this  time  called)  were  not  of  a  nature  to 
conciliate  his  good-will.  On  Ins  return  to 
Paris  in  1722,  he  produced  his  tragedy  of 
"  Mariamne,"  which  escaped  success,  owing 
to  an  exclamatory  witticism  from  an  individual 
among  the  audience,  a  similar  fate  having  pre- 
viously attended  another  tragedy  called  "  Ar- 
temire."  His  reckless  vivacity,  his  imprudence, 
and  sentiments  in  regard  to  religion,  also  con- 
tributed to  subject  him  to  many  mortifications ; 
and  he  was  soon  after  again  imprisoned  in  the 
Bastille,  in  consequence  of  a  broil  with  the 


VOL 

chevalier  c  3  Rohan.     After  an  imprisonment 
of  six  months,  lie  was  released  on  condition  of 
quitting   the    kingdom,    on   which    he  chose 
England  for  his  retreat ;  and  took  with  him 
the  "  Henriade."  He  was  favourably  received 
by  George  I,  and  still  more  so  by  the  princess 
of  Wales,  afterwards  queen  Caroline,  who  ob- 
tained for  him  a  great  number  of  subscriptions  ; 
and  this  liberality  laid  the  foundation  of  his 
fortune.     In  England  he  was   introduced    to 
many  persons  eminent  for  rank  and  literature, 
but  whom,  according  to  tradition,  he  disgusted 
by  the  levity  and  indelicacy  of  his  conversation. 
In  1728   he  obtained   permission  to  return  to 
France,  where  he  put  the  money  he  had  ac- 
quired into  a  lottery,  established  by  the  comp- 
troller-general of  the  finances,  by  which,  and 
other  fortunate  speculations  he  realised  much 
property,  which  he  still  farther  improved  by 
economy  and  good  management.     In  1730  he 
produced  his  tragedy  of  "  Brutus,"  which  did 
not  become  popular ;  and  it  has  been  said  that 
La  Motte  and  Foutenelle  recommended  him  to 
renounce  the  drama,  instead  of  which  he  pro- 
duced his    celebrated    "  Zaire,"  deemed   the 
most   pathetic  tragedy  on   the  French   stage, 
after  the  "  Phedre  "  of  Racine.  The  freedoms 
which  he  took  with  revealed  religion  in  his 
"  Lettres  Philosophiques,"  which  were  burnt 
by  order  of  the   parliament  of  Paris,  obliged 
him  once  more  to  quit  the  capital,  to  avoid  an 
arrest  of  his  person,  which  had  been  directed 
by  the   same   authority.     He  retired  to   the 
castle  of  Circy  in  Champagne,  the  seat  of  the 
marchioness  de  Chatelet,  with  whom   he  waa 
intimately  associated.    Here  he  occupied  him- 
self in  writing  his  "  Elements  of  the  New- 
tonian Philosophy,"  then  scarcely  known   in 
France,  where   the  Cartesian    still  predomi- 
nated.   It  was  but  a  slight  work,  but  answered 
the  intended  purpose,  by  opening  the  avenue 
to  more    profound    expositions,  which   ulti- 
mately rendered  it  as  triumphant  in  France  as 
n  England.     He  continued  to  write  tragedies, 
of  which  his  "  Alzire"  appeared  in  1736,  his 
Mahomet "  in  1741,  and  his  "  Merope  "  in 
1743.     The  latter  tragedy,  celebrated  for  its 
jathos,  without  the  intermixture  of  love,  a 
;hing  almost  unprecedented  on    the  French 
stage,  first  gave  origin  to  the  custom  of  calling 
"or  the  author  of  an  approved  play.     Before 
this  period  he  had  made  his  peace  with  the 
court,   by  the  able  manner  in  which  he  exe- 
cuted a  political  mission  to  Frederick  II,  who 
lad  just  then  ascended  the  throne  of  Prussia, 
with  whom  he  had  previously  held  a  literary 
correspondence  when  prince  royal.     This  fa- 
vourable opening  he  improved  by  securing  the 
jood  graces  of  madame  d'Etioles,  afterwards 
uarchioness  de  Pompadour,  the  well- known 
mistress  of  Louis  XV.  He  was  in  consequence 
employed  to  write  n  dramatic  piece  for  per- 
:ormance  at  the  festivities  which  took  place 
on  the  marriage  of  the  dauphin,  and  was  re- 
warded by  the  posts  of  gentleman  of  the  king's 
chamber  in  ordinary  ami  of  historiographer  of 
France.     In  1746  he  also  overcame  the  niK 
merous  obstacles  winch  had  opposed  hi*  ad- 
mission into  the  French  Academy,  and  was  the 


VO  L 

<sr»t  who  broke  the  hacknied  custom  of  repeat- 
ing the  praises  of  cardinal  Richelieu  on  ad- 
mission. He  was  however  so  much  annoyed 
by  literary  and  ecclesiastical  enmity,  that  he 
rttiied  with  madame  de  Chatelet  to  the  court 
of  king  Stanislaus  at  Luneville.  On  the  death 
of  that  lady  in  1749  he  returned  to  Paris,  and 
in  the  June  of  the  following  year  paid  his  long- 
solicited  visit  to  the  king  of  Prussia  at  Pots- 
dam, where  he  was  assured  of  an  annual  pen- 
sion of  22,000  livres  and  other  important  be- 
nefits. All  that  was  expected  of  him  was  to 
spend  two  hours  a  day  with  the  king,  correct- 
ing his  works,  being  left  in  other  respects 
at  his  own  disposal.  Tranquillity  seldom 
lasts  long  in  courts,  and  against  Frederick's 
express  wishes,  Voltaire  took  part  in  a 
literary  squabble  between  the  mathematicians 
Maupertuis  and  Koenig,  and  made  the  former 
the  butt  of  his  powerful  raillery.  The  result 
was  his  dismissal,  on  which  he  returned  to 
the  king  his  chamberlain's  key  and  the  cross 
of  his  order,  with  some  lines  implying  that  he 
parted  with  them  as  a  lover  resigns  the  por- 
trait of  his  mistress.  The  king  however  sent 
him  back  his  key  and  ribbon,  and  he  paid  a 
visit  to  the  duchess  of  Saxe  Gotha,  and  might 
possibly  have  been  recalled  to  Berlin,  but  for 
a  bon  mot  wherein  he  compared  Frederick's 
writings  to  dirty  linen  that  he  had  to  wash, 
which  piece  of  wit  reaching  the  king's  ears, 
rendered  his  return  impossible.  He  was  even 
arrested  at  Frankfort  by  order  of  the  Prussian 
resident,  who  roughly  obliged  him  to  restore 
some  poems  by  the  king,  which  he  had  in  his 
possession.  He  now  wished  to  obtain  per- 
mission to  reside  at  Paris,  but  his  witty  and 
licentious  poem,  "  LaPucelle  d'Orleans  "  hav- 
ing caused  a  great  outcry  against  him,  he  pur- 
chased a  country  house  near  Geneva.  His 
restless  and  petulant  disposition  soon  in- 
volved him  in  the  party  squabbles  of  that 
disputatious  place,  on  which  he  heaped  ridi- 
cule upon  both  parties,  until  he  was  again 
obliged  to  remove ;  on  which  he  purchased  an 
estate  at  Ferney  in  the  Pays  de  Gex,  an  al- 
most savage  desert  belonging  to  France,  but 
within  a  league  of  Geneva,  which  place  he 
had  the  satisfaction  of  fertilizing.  The  village 
of  Ferney,  which  contained  but  tifty  inhabi- 
tants, became  by  his  means  the  residence  of 
1200  persons,  among  which  were  a  great  num- 
ber of  artists,  principally  watchmakers,  whoes- 
tablished  their  manufacture  under  his  auspices, 
and  exported  their  labours  throughout  the 
continent.  He  also  invited  to  his  house  and 
a  Horded  protection  to  the  great  niece  of  the 
celebrated  Corneille,  and  nobly  distinguished 
himself  by  his  services  to  the  persecuted  Ser- 
vin  and  those  victims  to  fanaticism  and  super- 
stition, the  unhappy  members  of  the  family  of 
the  judicially  murdered  Galas.  He  may  be 
s;ud  to  have  erected  in  this  retreat  a  sort  of 
universal  and  independent  tribunal,  in  which 
he  freely  passed  judgment  on  all  human  af- 
fairs. The  most  powerful  dreaded  the  force 
of  his  pen,  and  endeavoured  to  secure  his  re- 
gnn),  as  was  the  case  with  Aretin  in  the  six- 
'eeuth  century  ;  but  Ajytin  often  received  in- 


VOL 

suits  as  well  as  rewards,  whereas  the  far  su- 
perior wit  and  address  of  Voltaire  secured  uni- 
versal  homage.     With    an  apparently    inex- 
haustible vein,  he  was  continually  pouring  out 
a  great   variety  of  works,  which  were   eagerly 
read  by  all  Europe.     They  were  generally  di- 
rected to  the  subversion  of  civil  and  ecclesias- 
tical tyranny,  and  indeed,  every  sort  of  abuse 
of  power,  and  inculcated  a  horror  of  ambitious 
war,  and  the  most  unfettered  toleration.     In 
his  attacks  on  the  usurpations  of  the  priest- 
hood,   however,    bis    hostilities    reached     to 
revealed  religion  generally,  and   although  he 
admitted  natural  religion,  it  is  to  be  lamented 
that  lie  did  little  to  establish  its  moral  efficacy. 
Some  of  the  greatest  sovereigns  of  the  age 
might  at  this  time  be  esteemed  his  pupils,  and 
more  especially  the  king  of  Prussia,  who  re- 
newed his  correspondence  with  him,  and  Ca- 
therine II  of  Russia,  who  sent  him  magnifi- 
cent presents,  and  most  obliging  letters.     In 
the  mean  time  his  principles  had  made  such  a 
progress  in  Pans,  that  that  capital  was  tilled 
with  his  admirers,  which  rendered  him  once 
more  anxious  to  visit  it.     He  accordingly  ar- 
rived there  very   unexpectedly  in  February, 
1778,  much  to  the  dissatisfaction  of  a  power- 
ful party,  who  regarded  him  with  aversion  and 
alarm.     He  felt  his  situation,  and  when  his 
carnage  was  stopped  at  the  barriers  by  the 
officers  of  the  customs,  and  he  was  asked  if  he 
had  any  thing  for  which  duty  should  be  paid, 
he  replied  with  his  usual  constitutional  vivacity, 
"  No,  gentlemen,    here    is   nothing    contra- 
band but  myself."     In  fact,  the  decree  of  the 
parliament  of  Paris  was  still  in  force  against 
him,  but  the  government  allowed  public  feel- 
ing to  take  its  course,  and  the  scenes  which  il 
produced  were  highly  and  nationally  charac- 
teristic.    The  French  Academy  deputed  three 
of  their  members  instead  of  one  to  congratu- 
late him,  and  placed  his  bust  by  that  of  Cor- 
neille ;  while  the  actors  paid  him  their  homage 
in  a  body.     His  bust  was  also  crowned  in  full 
theatre,  on  the  sixth  representation  of  his  new 
tragedy  of  "  Irene  ;"  and  dramatic  glory  could 
scarcely  be  carried  to  a  greater  height.     This 
excess   of    stimulus,   joined    to    literary    la- 
bour  and  a  great   change  in  his  manner  of 
living,  was  too  much  for  the  feeble  frame  of  a 
man  of  eighty-four ;  and  it  became  apparent 
that  he  had  not  long  to  live.     "  I  am  come  to 
Paris,"  he  exclaimed,  "  to  find  glory   and  a 
tomb."     He  was   unable  to  sleep,  and  it  is 
supposed  that  a  large  dose  of  opium,  which 
he  took  to  produce  it,  without  consulting  his 
physician,   hastened  his  death.     When  near 
his  end,  the  marquis  of  Villette,  with  whom 
he  resided,  sent  for  the  rector  of  St  Sulpice, 
and  of  this  interview  various  very  contradictory 
accounts  have  been  published  ;  but  it  is  cer- 
tain that  he  did  not  receive  the   last  ceremo- 
nies of  the  Catholic  church.     His  death   took 
place  May  30,  1778,  in  the  eighty-fifth  year 
of  his  age  ;  and  iu  consequence,  it  is  said,  of 
the  refusal  of  the  archbishop  of  Paris  to  allow 
him  Christian  burial,  he  was  interred  secretly 
at  Sellices,  a  Benedictine  abbey,  between  No- 
gent  and  Troyes,  whence  he  was  brought  in 


VOL 

1791  Ly  a  decree  of  the  National  Assembly, 
and  interred  at  St  Genevieve.     The  part  per- 
formed l>y  Voltaire  iu  a  long  and  extraordinary 
life,  was  of  too  strong  and  decided  a  cast,  as 
regards    opinions    which   agitate    and  divide 
mankind  of  all  classes,  not  to  have  operated 
very    materially   on    the   numerous    portraits 
which  have  been  drawn  of  him.     His  phy- 
siognomy is  said  to  have  partaken  of  the  eagle 
and  the  monkey,  whence  has  been  inferred  his 
possession  of  the  fire  and  rapidity  of  the  one 
animal,   and  the  mischievous  restlessness  and 
petulance  of  the  other.     With  strong  percep- 
tions of  moral  excellence,  he  was  often  replete 
with  petty  design,  disingenuous,  and  extremely 
capricious  iu   his  personal  attachments.     He 
was  also  deemed   somewhat  mean  and  avari- 
cious, until  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  when  he 
certainly  did  many   generous  and   benevolent 
actions.     Of  a  temperament  which  never  -al 
lowed    him  to  be  at  rest,  either  in  mind  or 
body,  he  was  a  philosopher  rather  in  his  opi- 
nions than  in  his  actions,  which  often  appeared 
to  be  guided  more  by  caprice  and  impulse,  than 
by  settled  resolution  and  firmness  of  purpose. 
This  censure  must  be  confined  to  a  portion  of 
his  conduct  in  respect  to  social  intercourse, 
literary  enmities,  and  personal  deportment,  as 
no  one  could  display  more  steadiness  and  firm- 
ness of    purpose  as  regarded   such  party  or 
public  principles  as  he  either  espoused  or  op- 
posed.    A  youth  spent  among  the  dissipated 
wits  of  Paris,  in  the  sensual  and  corrupt  pe- 
riod of  the  regency,  was  scarcely  calculated  to 
form  a  moralist,  and  no  small  portion  both  of 
its   licence    and    licentiousness   pervaded   his 
manners,   conduct,  and  not  unfrequently  his 
writings.     As  an  author,  he  was  himself  pro- 
bably most  anxious  for  his  reputation  as  a  dra- 
matist and    poet.     His    "  Henriade"   is   the 
finest,  if  not  possibly  the  only,  epic  poem  in 
the  French  language  :  it  displays  correctness 
and  elevation  of  thought,  well  drawn  charac- 
ters,   striking   descriptions,    and    harmonious 
versification  ;  but  the  subject,  taken  from  com- 
paratively recent  history,  precludes  fancy  and 
invention,  which  indeed  are  not  characteristics 
of  Voltaire.     As  a  dramatist,  he  immediately 
follows  Corueille  and  Racine  in  the  estimation 
of  the  French  ;  and  possibly  precedes   them 
in  that  of  most  of  the  foreign  readers  of  their 
language.     Comedy  he  has  attempted  with  no 
great  success,  like  many  other  men  of  brilliant 
wit,  which  quality  rather  impedes  than  assists 
genuine  representations  of  life  and  manners.  ' 
As  a  writer  of  history,  he  is  celebrated  for  his  | 
light,  rapid,  and  pervading  glance  at  events, 
their  causes  and  results,  but  is  often  careless, ! 
and  occasionally  also  inaccurate  as  to  fact,  and 
sometimes,  it  is  contended,  designedly.     His  ! 
"  Essai  sur  1'Histoire  Gen£rale,"  "  Siecles  de 
Louis  XIV  et  de  Louis  XV,"  and  "  Histoire  j 
de  Charles  XII,"  are  the  most  admired  per- 
formances in  this  line.     His  style  in  prose  may  j 
be  regarded   as  perfect  in  its  kind,  which  is 
the    middle   species,  that    aims    neither    at 
elegance  nor  fine  writing ;  but  is  lively,  pointed, 
in  unaffected  good  taste,  and  admirably  adapt- 
ed for  his  light  and  fugitive  pieces,  which  are 


VON 

among  the  happiest  of  their  class.     They  ar« 
very   numerous,    assuming   the   form  of  tale, 
romance,  dialogue,  and  every  variety  of  pas- 
quinade.    The  general  purpose  of  these,  when 
not  stimulated   by  personal  distaste,  were  to 
repel  what  he  deemed  usurpation  upon  human 
reason  in  every  quarter,  and  confining  the  re- 
mark to  the  evils  produced  to  mankind  by  su- 
perstition, intolerance,  and  fanaticism,  it  has 
been  the  lot  of  few  men  to  work  a  more  rapid 
change  in  the   sentiments  of   mankind  than 
Voltaire.     However  extraordinary  the   intel- 
j  lectual    diversity  of   this   remarkable   genius. 
!  possibly  that  quality  by  which   he  was  most 
signally  distinguished  and  set  apart  from  other 
men,  was  the  astonishing  talent  which  he  pos- 
sessed of  placing  whatever  he  pleased  in  a  lu- 
dicrous light,  and  raising  a  laugh   whenever, 
and  at  whatever  he  thought  proper.  This  faculty 
rendered  his  raillery  an  affliction  of  the  most 
unbearable  kind,  and  the   fear  of  it  operated 
even  upon  persons  of  the  most  powerful  and 
influential  description.    The  mass  of  the  works 
of  all    kinds  by  this  rapid  and   indefatigable 
writer  amounts  to  30  vols.  4to  of  the  Genevan 
edition,  and  71  vols.  8vo  in  the  more  complete 
edition  of  Basle  ;    and  French  editions,  in  all 
sizes,  and  at  all  prices,  are  continually  multi- 
plying (although   probably  with  some  exclu- 
sion)  at  Paris.     The   greater   part   of  these 
have  been  translated  into  English  by  Smollet 
and  Francklin,  or  at  least  under  their  names  ; 
and  the  "  Dictionnaire  Philosophique,"  which 
they  omitted,  received  an  English  version  in 
1825,   in  6  vols.  12mo.     That  the  whole  of 
works  so  voluminous  will  reach  posterity,  is 
to  be  doubted  ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  name  of  Voltaire  will  ever  remain  the  most 
conspicuous  in  the  literary  history  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century. — AW.    Diet.   Hist.     Life  by 
Condorcet.     Aikiu's  Gen.  Biog. 

VOLTERRA  (DANIEL  de)  an  Italian 
paintei  and  sculptor,  whose  proper  name  was 
Ricciarelli,  was  born  at  Volterra  in  Tuscany 
in  1509.  He  was  educated  at  the  schools  of 
Peruzzi  and  Razzi  in  Sieuna,  but  derived  the 
principles  of  art  chiefly  from  Michael  Angelo, 
to  whom  he  was  an  assistant.  He  was  slow 
in  execution,  and  owed  his  reputation  chiefly 
to  two  or  three  great  works,  of  which  it  is 
doubtful  how  much  he  owed  to  the  advice  and 
assistance  of  his  great  patron  and  adviser.  His 
most  noted  performance  was  the  fresco  in  a 
chapel  of  the  Trinita  del  Monte  in  Rome, 
which  engrossed  the  labour  of  seven  years. 
He  was  subsequently  nominated  superintendent 
of  the  paintings  at  the  Vatican  by  pope  Paul 
111,  of  which  place  he  was  deprived  by  Julius 
III,  disgusted,  as  he  said,  by  his  slowness. 
Under  the  pontificate  of  Paul  IV  he  was  em- 
ployed to  cover  the  nudities  of  some  of  the 
figures  in  the  Last  Judgment  of  Michael  An- 
gelo, which  obtained  for  him  the  ludicrous 
title  of  Bragghettone.  He  died  at  Rome  iu 
1566,  at  the  age  of  fifty-seven. — D'Argenville. 
Pilkington  by  Fuseli. 

VONDEL  (Joosr  VAN  den)  a  distin- 
guished Dutch  poet,  born  in  1587.  He  wan 
originally  a  hosier  at  Amsterdam  ;  but  prefer- 


V  O  R 

ring  literature  to  commerce,  he  neglected  his 
shop,  and  at  the  age  of  thirty  commenced 
learning  Latin,  and  ten  years  after  lie  studied 
logic.  He  wrote  tragedies,  odes,  a  treatise  on 
the  art  of  poetry,  and  various  other  original 
compositions ;  and  he  translated  into  Dutch 
the  works  of  Virgil,  Horace,  and  Ovid.  On 
relinquishing  trade,  he  obtained  an  office  un- 
der government,  and  his  death  took  place  in 
1679.  His  productions  have  been  published 
together  in  nine  quarto  volumes.  He  be- 
longed in  early  life  to  the  sect  of  the  Menno- 
nites ;  but  when  religious  disputes  arose  be- 
tween the  Arminians  and  the  Gomarists,  he 
took  part  with  the  former,  and  joined  their 
communion.  Afterwards  he  became  disgusted 
at  the  conduct  of  the  Dutch  divines  belonging 
•to  the  Orange  faction,  and  forsaking  the  Pro- 
testants altogether,  he  turned  Catholic.  Two 
of  his  tragedies,  "  Palamedes,  or  Innocence 
oppressed  ;"  and  "  Gisbert  Van  Amstel,"  re- 
late to  the  political  transactions  of  his  own 
age  and  country. — Moreri.  Biog.  Univ. 

VORSTIUS  (CONRAD)  an  eminent  divine 
of  the  Arminian  sect,  born  at  Cologne  in 
1569,  was  the  son  of  a  dyer  with  a  numerous 
family,  who  secretly  seceded  to  the  Protestant 
communion.  Conrad,  who  was  destined  to  a 
literary  life,  after  passing  five  years  at  a  village 
grammar-school,  was  entered,  in  1587,  at  the 
college  of  St  Lawrence  at  Cologne,  which  he 
quitted  without  taking  a  degree,  but  was  sub- 
sequently sent  to  Haerlem  and  Heidelburgh,  at 
which  university  he  was  created  a  doctor  of 
divinity.  After  visiting  the  academies  of 
Switzerland,  and  giving  lectures  on  theology 
at  Geneva  in  1596,  he  accepted  the  professor- 
ship of  the  latter  faculty  at  Steinfurt,  where 
he  also  officiated  as  minister  until  1610,  when 
he  received  a  call  to  succeed  Armiuius  in  the 
professorship  of  theology  at  Leyden.  Having 
accepted  this  offer,  he  soon  became  involved  in 
the  controversial  war  which  raged  in  the 
Netherlands  ;  and  the  Gomarists,  or  rigid  Cal- 
vinists,  taking  advantage  of  a  book  which  he 
had  lately  published,  entitled  "  Tractatus  The- 
ologicus  de  Deo,  sive  de  Natura  et  Attributis 
Dei,"  they  accused  him  of  heresy,  and  en- 
gaged several  foreign  universities  in  the  party. 
In  particular,  they  obtained  the  aid  of  our  own 
James  I,  who,  on  receiving  the  book  of  Vor- 
Btius  in  an  hour's  time  drew  up  a  large  ca- 
talogue of  heresies  from  it,  which  he  sent  to 
bis  minister  at  the  Hague,  with  an  order  to 
certify  to  the  States  how  much  he  detested 
those  alleged  errors.  He  also  caused  bis  book 
to  be  burnt  in  London ;  and  informed  the  States, 
who  had  sent  a  doubtful  reply,  that  they  would 
inquire  into  the  case,  that  if  they  did  not 
dismiss  Vorstius  none  of  his  subjects  should 
visit  Leyden.  James  moreover  wrote  against 
Vorstius,  who  respectfully  replied  ;  all  which 
would  not  have  prevailed  upon  the  States  to 
dismiss  him,  but  for  the  untimely  appearance 
of  a  book  by  some  of  his  disciples,  entitled 
"  De  Officio  Christian!  Hominis,"  which  con- 
tained some  anti- trinitarian  doctrines;  and  al- 
though formally  disclaimed  by  Vorstius,  so 
much  odium  was  thereby  excited  against  him, 
VOL.  III. 


VOS 

that  he  provisionally  resigned  the  professorship, 
from  which,  by  the  synod  of  Dordrecht,  he  was 
entirely  dismissed,  and  banished  by  the  State* 
of  Holland  from  their  territories.  He  lived  for 
more  than  two  years  in  secrecy,  frequently 
changing  his  abode  in  fear  for  his  life,  until 
in  1622  the  duke  of  Holstein  collected  the 
dispersed  followers  of  Arminianism,  and  as- 
signed them  a  spot  of  ground  for  building  a 
city.  To  this  place  Vorstius  retired,  but  died 
soon  after  at  Toningen,  in  September  1622,  at 
the  age  of  fifty-three.  According  to  Bayle 
and  Sandius,  the  opinions  of  this  theologian 
probably  leaned  towards  Socinianism,  or  at 
least  he  dogmatized  on  the  doctrines  of  God 
in  a  manner  which  was  quite  unusual  at  the 
period. — His  son,  WILLIAM  VOUSTIUS,  also 
an  Arminian  minister,  published  some  work* 
on  rabbinical  literature. — There  was  also  a 
JOHN  VORSTIUS,  a  German  divine,  who  was 
librarian  to  the  elector  of  Brandenburgh,  in 
whose  service  he  died  in  1676.  He  wrote  a 
work  on  the  Hebraisms  of  the  New  Testament, 
part  of  which  was  republished  at  Leyden  in 
1638,  under  the  title  of  "  Philologia  Sacra." — 
Freheri  Theat.  Baifle.  Moreri. 

VOS  (MARTIN  de)  an  eminent  painter  of 
the  Flemish  school,  was  born  at  Antwerp  in 
1520.  He  studied  under  his  father,  who  was 
an  able  artist,  and  having  made  himself  emi- 
nent in  Flanders,  he  visited  Venice,  Rome, 
and  Florence,  where  he  made  a  curious  col- 
lection of  drawings  from  various  sorts  of 
vases  used  by  the  Greeks  and  Romans  at  their 
entertainments,  funerals,  and  sacrifices.  His 
fame  as  an  artist  induced  some  of  the  Medici 
family  to  sit  to  him,  and  on  his  return  to 
Flanders  he  executed  various  altar-pieces, 
which  were  much  admired,  as  also  several 
festival  solemnities  of  the  ancients,  to  which 
his  drawings  afforded  much  lively  repre- 
sentation. He  possessed  a  fertile  invention, 
a  ready  pencil,  and  a  colouring  approaching  to 
that  of  Tintoret.  He  died  at  Antwerp  in 
1604,  in  the  eighty-fourth  year  of  his  age. — 
Two  other  painters  of  this  name,  SIMON  nc 
Vos  of  Antwerp,  and  PAUL  DE  Vos,  of 
Hulst,  a  painter  of  battles  and  hunting,  also 
obtained  considerable  distinction. — D'Argen- 
ville  Vies  de  Peint.  Pilkington. 

VOSS  (JOHN  HENRY)  a  German  poet  and 
critic  of  emicence,  born  at  Sommersdorf  in 
1751.  He  was  educated  at  the  school  of  Neu 
Brandenburg,  and  having  attracted  some  no- 
tice by  his  poems,  inserted  in  the  Almanac  of 
the  Muses,  of  Gottingen,  in  1770,  he  pro- 
cured the  means  of  studying  in  the  university 
at  that  place,  where  he  attended  the  lectures 
of  professor  Heyne.  A  literary  society  having 
been  formed,  called  "  The  Friends  of  Gottin- 
gen," he  became  one  of  the  members,  among 
whom  were  count  Stolberg,  Holty,  Burger, 
Klopstock,  and  other  persons  who  obtained 
great  literary  reputation.  In  1775  Voss  en- 
gaged in  the  publication  of  the  Almanac  of 
the  Muses,  or  Anthology  (Blumenlese)  of 
Gottingen,  which  he  conducted  till  1800,  in- 
serting in  it  annually  a  number  of  pieces  of 
his  own  composition.  In  1778  he  was  nomi- 
*  2  D 


V  OS 

nated  rector  of  the  college  of  Ottemlorf,  in  th 
territory  of  Hanover,  whence  he  removed  t 
occupy  a  similar  office  at  F.utin,  in  the  duchy 
of  Oldenburg.  He  remained  there  twenty 
three  years  ;  and  in  1805  the  grand  duke  o 
Baden  invited  him  to  Heidelberg,  where  h« 
remained  till  his  death,  which  occurred  March 
29,  1826.  Voss  translated  the  works  of  the 
following  Greek  and  Roman  poets  :  Homer 
1793;  Virgil,  1799;  Horace,  1806;  Hesiod 
and  the  Pseudo-Orpheus,  1806 ;  Theocritus, 
Bion,  and  Moschus,  1808  ;  Tibullus  and  Lyg- 
damus,  1810;  Aristophanes,  1821  ;  Aratus, 
1824;  and  extracts  from  the  Metamorphoses 
of  Ovid,  1798.  His  original  writings  com- 
prise "Letters  on  Mythology;"  "Idylls;" 
and  otbsr  poems  ;  besides  numerous  papers  in 
periodical  works.  He  was  also  engaged  in 
various  literary  controversies  with  Heyne, 
count  Stolberg,  Creuzer,  and  others  of  his 
learned  contemporaries. — Bing.  Univ. 

VOSSIUS  (GERARD)  a  Flemish  divine  and 
man  of  letters  in  the  sixteenth  century.  He 
was  a  native  of  the  bishopric  of  Liege,  and 
became  apostolic  prothonotary,  and  dean  of 
the  college  of  Tongres.  He  died  at  Liege  in 
1609.  Vossius  was  the  first  editor  of  the 
works  of  St  Ephrem  Syrus  ;  and  he  also  pub- 
lished some  of  the  writings  of  St  Chrysostom, 
Theodoret,  and  St  Bernard  ;  besides  which  he 
was  the  author  of  "  Gesta  ac  Monumenta 
Gregorii  Papee  IX,  cum  Scholiis,"  1586. — 
Bing.  Univ. 

VOSSiUS  (GERARD  JOHN)  a  celebrated 
writer  on  criticism  and  philology,  bora  near 
Heidelberg  in  1577.  He  studied  at  Dor- 
drecht, and  afterwards  at  Leyden,  where  he 
proceeded  to  the  degree  of  doctor  in  philo- 
sophy. At  the  age  of  twenty  he  commenced 
bis  literary  career  by  the  publication  of  a 
Latin  panegyric  on  prince  Maurice  of  Nassau ; 
and  two  years  after  he  became  director  of  the 
college  of  Dordrecht.  In  1614  the  chair  of 
philosophy  was  offered  him  at  Steinfurt ;  but 
he  preferred  the  direction  of  the  theological 
college  established  at  Leyden  ;  and  after  hav- 
ing occupied  that  post  four  years,  amidst  the 
storms  of  religious  controversy,  he  procured 
the  more  peaceable  appointment  of  professor 
of  rhetoric  and  chronology.  Having  declared 
Limself  in  favour  of  the  Remonstrants,  he 
uecame  obnoxious  to  the  prevailing  party  in 
the  church  ;  and  at  the  synod  of  Tergou,  or 
Gouda,  iu  1620,  he  was  deprived  of  his 
office.  Through  the  influence  of  archbishop 
Laud,  the  great  patron  of  Arminianism  in 
England,  Vossius  was  in  some  measure  in- 
demnified for  his  loss  by  a  prebendal  stall  at 
Canterbury,  with  permission  to  continue  his 
residence  in  the  Netherlands.  In  1633  he 
was  invited  to  Amsterdam,  to  occupy  the 
chair  of  history  at  the  Schola  lllustris  ;  and 
he  continued  there  till  his  death,  March  19, 
1649.  Among  his  numerous  works  may  be 
specified  the  treatises  "  De  Origine  Idolola- 
trife ;"  "  De  Historicis  Graecis,  etde  Historids 
Latinis ;"  "  De  Poetis  Grajcis  et  Latinis ;" 
"  De  Scientiis  Mathematicis ;"  "  De  Quatuor 
Artibus  popularibus ;"  "Historia  Pelagiana;" 


v  o  u 

"  Institutiones  Histories;,  Grammatics, 
tica; ;"  "  Etymologicon  Lingnae  Latin*," 
''  De  Vitiis  Sermonis;"  "  De  Philosophoru'm 
Sectis."  A  collective  edition  of  the  works  of 
G.  J.  Vossius  appeared  in  6  vols.  folio,  Am- 
sterdam, lc,95 — 1701.  He  was  twice  mar- 
ried, and  had  several  children.  His  five  sons, 
DENYS,  FRANCIS,  GERARD,  MATTHEW,  and 
ISAAC  were  all  men  of  letters;  and  the  last 
and  most  distinguished  is  the  subject  of  the 
ensuing  article. — Morm.  Diet.  Hist,  Biog. 
Univ. 

VOSSIUS  (ISAAC)  was  born  at  Leyden  in 
1618,   and  possessing  great  natural    talents, 
and   the  advantage  of  his  father's  tuition,  he 
acquired  early  reputation  among  the  learned. 
At   the  age  of    twenty-one   he   published  an 
edition  of  the  Periplus  of  Scylax,  with  a  Latin 
version,  and  notes.     Christina,  queen  of  Swe- 
den, prepossessed  by  report  iu  his  favour,  in- 
vited him  to  Stockholm,  and  chose  him  for  her 
preceptor  in  the  Greek  language.     His  quar- 
rels with  Saumaise  having  rendered  the  court 
of  Sweden  disagreeable,  he  quitted  it  in  1649, 
and  returned  to  his  native  country,  where  he 
employed  himself  in  the  production  of  various 
learned  works.     In  1670  he  visited  England, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  degree  of  LLD.  at 
Oxford  ;  and  in   1673,  having  been  presented 
to   a  canonry  at  Windsor,  by  Charles  II,  he 
massed  the  remaining  part  of  his  life  in  this 
country.     He  died   February  ]0,  1688,  O.  S. 
Besides  editing  the   works  of  Scylax,  Justin 
:he  historian.    Catullus,   Pomponius  Mela,  St 
Barnabas,  and  St  Ignatius,  he  published  "  Dis- 
sertatio  de  vera^Etate  Mundi;"  "  DeSeptua- 
~inta  Interpretibus  eorumque  Translatione  et 
/hronologia  Dissertationes,"  in  which  he  de- 
ended  the  chronology  of  the  Septuagint  ver- 
lion  against  the  Hebrew  text  of  the  Old  Tes- 
ament ;   "  De   Poematum   Cantu  et  Viribus 
Ihythmi,"  the  most  original  of  all  his  pro- 
luctions  ;  "  De  Sibyllinisaliisque  quae  Christi 
Vatalem    pra?cessere    Oraculis ;"    and  "  Va- 
riarum  Observationum  Liber.''    Isaac  Vossius 
was,    while   in    England,    intimate    with    St 
"vremond  and  the   duchess  of  Mazarin  ;  but 
hough  he  lived   much  in  the  society   of  the 
preat,  his  behaviour  was  sometimes  rude,  and 
lis  language    by  no  means   decent.     In   his 
writings  he  maintained  extravagant  paradoxes, 
while  he  was  generally  considered  as  an  in- 
idel  in  religion.     Hence  Charles  II  said  he 
was  a  strange  divine,  for  he  believed  every 
liing  except  the  Bible. — Rees's  Cyclop.   Biog. 
Jniv. 

VOUET  (SIMON)  a  French  painter,  very 
onsiderable  in  his  day,  was  born  at  Paris  iu 
582,  and  was  bred  up  under  his  father,  who 
ras  also  an  artist.  He  accompanied  th« 
'rench  embassy  at  Constantinople,  and  drew 
be  grand  signior  from  memory  after  an  au- 
ience  in  the  train  of  the  ambassador.  He 
lien  visited  Venice  and  Rome,  at  which  latter 
apital  he  acquired  great  distinction.  He  re- 
nained  in  Italy  fourteen  years,  when  he  was 
ent  for  by  Louis  XIII  to  work  iu  his  palaces, 
nd  he  furnished  some  of  the  apartments  of 
ie  Louvre,  the  palace  of  Luxemburg!),  and 


VUL 

{lie  galleries  of  cardinal  Richelieu  and  other 
public  places,  with  his  works.  He  was  a  good 
colourist,  but  had  little  genius  for  grand  com- 
position, although  France  was  certainly  in- 
debted to  him  for  introducing  a  better  taste. 
Most  of  the  succeeding  French  painters  who 
gained  distinction  were  bred  up  under  him, 
including  Le  Brun,  Perrier,  Mignard,  Le 
Sueur,  Doriguy,  Du  Fresnoy,  and  others.  He 
died  in  1641,  aged  fifty-one. — Pilkington. 
I)' Argenville. 

VOTER.     See  ARGENSON. 

VROON  (HENRY  CORNELIUS)  a  Dutch 
painter,  was  born  at  Haerlem  in  1566.  Being 
shipwrecked  on  the  coast  of  Portugal  during 
a  voyage  to  Spain,  he  succeeded  so  well  in 
painting  the  storm  which  caused  his  misfor- 
tune, that  he  dedicated  himself  entirely  to 
sea-pieces  on  his  return  home.  About  this 
time  the  earl  of  Nottingham,  lord  high  ad- 
miral of  England,  being  desirous  of  preserving 
the  details  of  the  defeatof  the  Spanish  armada, 
in  which  hebore  so  conspicuous  a  part, bespoke 
a  suit  of  tapestry,  descriptive  of  each  day's 
engagement.  For  this  tapestry  Vroon  was 
employed  to  furnish  designs,  and  the  tapestry 
has  often  excited  great  admiration  in  the  house 
of  Lords,  where  it  was  placed.  The  date  of 
the  death  of  this  artist  is  not  recorded.  Wai- 
pole's  Anec.  of  Painting. 

VULCANIUS  (BoNAVENTURE  de  SMET, 
or  SMITH,  known  under  the  Latinized  name 
of)  a  learned  Fleming,  born  in  1538.  Having 
finished  his  studies  at  the  university  of  Lou- 
vain,  he  went  to  Spain,  and  became  secretary 
and  librarian  to  cardinal  F.  de  Mendoza,  bi- 
shop of  Burgos.  In  1570  he  returned  to  the 
Netherlands,  whence  (in  consequence  of  the 


VUL 

disturbed  state  of  public  affairs)  he  removed 
to  Cologne,  and  subsequently  to  Basil  and 
Geneva.  He  at  length  fixed  his  residence  at 
Antwerp,  and  was  for  some  time  rector  of  the 
school  in  that  city.  In  1578  he  obtained  the 
chair  of  Greek  literature  in  the  university  of 
Leyderi ;  and  being  declared  professor  eme- 
ritus in  1612,  he  died  October  9, 16 14.  Vul- 
canius  translated  from  Greek  into  Latin,  and 
published  with  notes,  the  works  of  Arrian, 
Callimachus,  Bion,  Moschus,  Agathias,  and 
other  authors  ;  and  he  edited  several  Latin 
works,  ancient  and  modern,  among  the  latter 
of  which  is  a  curious  anonymous  piece,  en- 
titled "  De  Litteris  et  Lingua  Getarum,  sive 
Gothorum;  item  de  Notis  Lombardicis  quibus 
accesseruntSpeciminavariarumLinguarum," 
Leyd.  1597,  8vo.— AndrcEce  Bibl.  Belg.  Mo- 
reri.  Biog.  Univ. 

YULSON  (MARC  de)  sieur  de  la  Colom- 
biere,  a  writer  on  the  heraldic  science,  and  a 
gentleman  of  theking  of  France'sbedchamber. 
Living  at  Grenoble  in  1618,  he  surprised  his 
wife  with  a  gallant,  and,  having  killed  them 
both  on  the  spot,  he  rode  post  to  Paris  to 
solicit  a  pardon,  which  he  obtained.  He  was 
the  author  of  a  treatise  entitled"  La  Science 
He'roique,traitantdela  Noblesse,  de  1'Origine 
des  Arrnes,"  &c.  1644,  reprinted  with  aug- 
mentations in  1699,  folio.  This  is  accounted 
the  most  complete  French  work  on  the  sub- 
ject. He  also  wrote  "  Le  Theatre  d'Hon- 
neuretde  Cavalerie;  oule  Miroir  Historique 
de  la  Noblesse,"  2  vols.  folio,  1648,  a  work 
useful  for  the  knowledge  of  the  ceremonial  be- 
longing to  ancient  chivalry ;  and  "Recueil  de 
plusieurs  Pieces  et  Figures  d'Armoires."  He 
died  in  1658.— Nouv.  Diet.  Hist. 


END    OF    VOL.    III. 


XiONDON  t  PRINTED  BV  \VIt,I.IAM  CLOWES  AND  SONS,  STAMFORD  STREET. 


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