Bois, Gerard Du

, of the Oratory, a native of Orleans, was born in 1629, and died July 15, 1696. He succeeded father le Cointe his friend in the place of librarian to the house of St. Honore, and inherited his papers, which were not useless in his hands. He revised the eighth volume of the “Ecclesiastical Annals of France,” and published it in. 1683. This work procured him a pension of a thousand livres granted him by the clergy. He afterwards undertook, at the entreaty of Harlay, archbishop of Paris, the History of that church; 1690, 2 vols. folio. The second did not appear till eight years after his death, by the care of father de la Rippe, and father Desmolets of the oratory. He frequently mingles civil with ecclesiastical history, and these digressions have lengthened his work; but they have also diversified it. The dissertations with which he has accompanied it evince great sagacity in discerning what is true from what is false. His history is written in Latin, and the style is pure and elegant. ²