Baudouin, Benedict

, a divine of Amiens, the place of his birth, acquired the notice of the learned by his dissertation “De la chaussure des Anciens,” published in 1615, under the title of “Calceus antiquus et mysticus,” 8vo. This work was the occasion of the false notion that he was the son of a shoemaker, and had followed the trade himself, to which he intended to do honour by this publication. Such is the brief notice of this author in the last edition of this Dictionary. It is necessary, however, to add that he was esteemed a man of learning in his day, was principal of the college of Troyes; and on his return to Amiens, accepted the charge of master of the Hotel-Dieu, and died here Nov. 1632. Whether he was the son of a shoemaker, and bred to that business himself, seems doubtful. The Dict. Hist, asserts it on the authority of Daire in his “Hist. Litt. de ia ville d‘ Amiens,” p. 161. The continuator of Moreri contradicts it, on the authority of La Morliere in his “Antiquités de la ville d’Amiens,” and informs us that the “Calceus antiquus” was a work compiled by the author as an exercise on a curious question in ancient manners and dress. From la Morliere, we learn also that Baudouin translated Seneca’s tragedies into French verse, which translation was published at Troyes in 1629. ²