Yriarte, Juan De

, a learned and laborious Spanish writer, was born in the island of Teneriffe in 1702, and, at the age of eleven, was sent by his father to France, where he studied at Rouen and Paris for many years, till he was recalled, by the way of London, to the Canary islands, in order to be sent into Spain, where he intended him for the profession of the law. His father died before his arrival; but in pursuance of his design, Juan arrived at Madrid in 3724. Here he was admitted into the royal library, and patronized by many noblemen of the first rank. In 1729 he was appointed clerk, and in 1732, keeper of the royal library, which office he held for fifteen years, and being entrusted likewise with the augmentation of the library, be added 2000 manuscripts, and more tnan 10,000 printed volumes. At length he was appointed to the place of interpreter in the first secretaryship of state and dispatches, and chosen a fellow of the royal academy. He died at Madrid, Aug. 23, 1771.

That in his several employments he acquitted himself with great application and industry,' appears from the | catalogue of his works, which consist of “Regiae Bibliothecae Matritensis codices Graeci Mss. Joan Yriarte ejusdem custos excussit, recensuit, notis, indicibus, auecdotis pluribus evulgatis illustravit,” 1769, folio, vol. I.; vol II. hr left in manuscript “Regiae Mat. Bibl. Geographica & Chronologica,” 1729; “R. M. Bibl. Mathematical 1730; corrections and improvements of Antonio’s” Bibliotheca Hispana,“and Don Miguel Casiri’s” Bibl. Arabieo-Hispana-­Escurial;“” Palseographia Graeca,“a ms. 4to; his collection of Spanish treaties of peace; near 600 articles intended for a Castilian Dictionary; a treatise on the orthography and grammar of the Castdian idiom; his immense collections of materials for a general alphabetical library, in many folios, of all the authors who have treated of the geography, history, politics, literature, biography, trade, &c. of Spain and for a history of the Canary islands, which was 10 consist of six quarto volumes at least. He wrote also a great number of articles inserted in the” Diario de los literatos,“a critical journal. In 1774, his” Select Works“were published in 2 vols. 4to,” for the benefit of literature, at the expence of several noblemen, lovers of genius and merit.“This collection,” Obras Sueltas,“contains some works of imagination, his sacred and prophane Latin poems, or translations; and his Latin translations of a number of Castilian proverbs, and of some oratorical and critical discourses. Juan de Yriarte was probably related to Don Tomas de Yriarte, whose ingenious” Literary Fables“were published at Madrid in 1782, and were lately well translated into English verse by John Belfour, esq; but of this Don Tomas we have not found any biographical memoir. His poem” La Musica" has gone through many editions, and is much admired in Spain. ¹