Claude, John James

, son of Isaac Claude, pastor at the Hague, and grandson of the celebrated minister of that name, was born January 16, 1684, in that city, and from his infancy displayed a taste for reading and literary research. At fifteen he wrote a curious Latin dissertation on the manner of saluting among the ancients, and published it at eighteen, with another dissertation, in the same language, on nurses and paedagogues, under the title “J. J. Claudii Dissertatio de Salutationibus Veterum, cui addita est Diatribe de Nutricibus et Paedagogis,” Utrecht, 1702, 12mo. He then studied at Utrecht, under Burman, and devoted himself entirely to the belles lettres; but M. Martin, his relation and tutor, who was minister there, falling dangerously ill, and seeing M. Claude one day by his- bed-side, said to him, among other things, “Behold, my dear child, of what use the belles lettres are, when a man is reduced to my situation.' 7 These words made so deep an impression on the young scholar, that he determined from that time to make divinity his chief study. He afterwards came over to England, and became pastor of the Drench church in London, 1710, where he died of the small-pox, March 7, 1712, lamented by the friends of learning and piety. A volume of his” Sermons" was published by his brother in 1713. They are only ten in | number, but were highly praised in the literary journals of the time, and occasioned redoubled regret that the world had been so soon deprived of his talents ¹