Bellenger, Francis

, doctor of the Sorbonne, was born in the diocese of Lisieux, and died at Paris the 12th of April 1749, aged sixty-one. He was master of the Greek and Latin, and of several of the living languages. He published, 1. A French translation of Dionysius Halicarnensis, 1723, 2 vols. 4to. 2. A translation of the continuation of Plutarch’s Lives by Rowe, and of Derham’s Astrotheology. 3. An edition of the “Vulgate Psalms,” with an excellent preface and notes, 1728, 4to, concealing his name under the letters V. E. S. P. D. F. B. P. I. V. 4. A critical essay on the works of Rollin, on the translators of Herodotus, and the dictionary of la Martinicre, in 8vo. with a continuation. This work, though heavily written, is esteemed. The result of the first part is, that Rollin had but a slight knowledge of Greek, and that he often appropriated the sentiments and observations of French authors, without citing them. Rollin answered him in the preface to the fourth vol. of his Roman History. The two other parts are neither less just nor less learned. He left in ms. a French version of Herodotus, with notes replete with erudition. His translations are faithful; but he had neither the ease nor the elegance of style of Rollin, although he surpassed him in the knowledge of Greek. ²