Drexelius, Jeremiah

, a celebrated Jesuit, was born at Augsburgh in Germany, in 1581, 2nd after a classical education, entered the society of the Jesuits in 1598. He taught rhetoric for some time, but was most distinguished for his talents as a preacher. The elector of Bavaria was so struck with his manner, that he appointed him his chaplain in ordinary, which office he held for twenty-three years. He died at Munich April 19, 1638. Notwithstanding his frequent preaching, and a weak state of health, he found leisure and strength to write a great many volumes for the use of young persons, most of them in a familiar and attractive style, and generally ornamented with very beautiful engravings by Raphael Sadler and others, which made them be bought up by collectors with avidity. Some of them have been also translated into several languages, and one of them, his “Considerations on Eternity,” has been often reprinted in this country from a translation made by S. Dunster in 1710. The whole of Drexelius’s works were collected in 2 vols. folio, Antwerp, 1643, and Lyons, 1658. Many of his pieces have very whimsical titles, and are upon whimsical subjects. In one of them, entitled “Orbis Phaeton, hoc est, de universis vitiis linguæ,” chapter XLI. in which he treats of those who employ their time on trifles, he enters upon a calculation to resolve in how many ways six persons invited to dine may be placed at table, and after six pages of combinations, he gives 720 as the result. ²