Beyerlinck, Laurence

, a voluminous author, was born April 1578, at Antwerp, of a family originally of Bergeu-op-Zoom, and had his education among the Jesuits. He went afterwards to study philosophy at Louvain, and had scarcely assumed the ecclesiastic dress in order to pursue his divinity course in that university, when he was appointed professor of poetry and rhetoric in the college of Vaulx. He had, some time after, a living near Louvain, and taught philosophy in a house of regular canons in the same neighbourhood. In 1605 he was called to Antwerp, where he had the charge of the school, and some promotion in the church. He died there June 7, 1627. Foppen has given a long list of his works, the principal of which seem to be 1. “Apophthegmata Christianorum,” Antwerp, 1608, 8vo. 2. “Biblia sacra variarum translationum,” Antwerp, 1616, 3 vols. fol. 3. “Promptuaarium morale super evangelia communia, et particularia qusedam festorum totius anni,” 1613, 8vo, and often reprinted. 4. “Magnum Theatrum vitae humanae.” Referring our readers to Freytag for a more minute account of this vast compilation, it may be sufficient to add, that Conrad Lycosthenes left the materials for it, and Theodore Swinger or Zwinger having put them in order with some additions with which his course of reading had furnished him, published three editions of them the first in 1 vol. fol. 1565, the second in 3 vols. fol. 1571, and the third in. 4 vols. fol. all at Basil, 1586. James Swinger went on improving and adding to this work, which was at last taken up by Beyerlinck, whose edition appeared after his death, Cologne, 1631, enlarged to 8 vols. folio; and it was reprinted in the same form at Lyons, 1678, and at Venice, 1707. It is a mass of theology, history, politics, philosophy, &c. in alphabetical order, containing all the knowledge of the times upon the various subjects, and we may add, all the ignorance and superstitions. ¹