o have been a man of great reading and universal learning. Jiaillet has the following quotation from a German author: “Alstedius has indeed many good things, but he
, a German protestant divine, and a voluminous writer, was some time professor of
philosophy and divinity at Herboni in the county of Nassau; afterwards professor at Alba Julia in Transylvania,
where he continued till his death, which happened in 1638,
in his 50th year. Of his public character, we only know
that he assisted at the synod of Dort. He applied himself
chiefly to reduce the several branches of arts and sciences
into systems. His “Encyclopaedia
” has been much esteemed even by Roman catholics: it was printed at Herborn, 1610, 4to, ibid. 1630, 2 vols. fol. and at Lyons, 1649,
and sold very well throughout all France. Vossius mentions the Encyclopaedia in general, but speaks of his treatise of Arithmetic more particularly, and allows the author
to have been a man of great reading and universal learning.
Jiaillet has the following quotation from a German author:
“Alstedius has indeed many good things, but he is not
sufficiently accurate; yet his Encyclopedia was received with
general applause, when it first appeared, and may be of
use to those who, being destitute of other helps, and not
having the original authors, are desirous of acquiring some
knowledge of the terms of each profession and science.
Nor can we praise too much his patience and labour, his
judgment, and his choice of good authors: and the abstracts
he has made are not mere scraps and unconnected rhapsodies, since he digests the principles of arts and sciences
into a regular and uniform order. Some parts are indeed
better than others, some being insignificant and of little
value, as his history and chronology. Jt must be allowed
too, that he is often confused by endeavouring to be clear;
that he is too full of divisions and subdivisions; and that
he affects too constrained a method.
” Lorenzo Brasso
says, “that though there is more labour than genius in Alstedius’s works, yet they are esteemed; and his industry
being admired, has gained him admittance into the temple
of fame.
” Alstedius, in his “Triumphax Bibliorum Sacrorum, seu Encyclopaedia Biblica,
” Francfort, Theologia Polemica,
” which was one of the best performances
of Alstedius. He also published in 1627, a treatise entitled
“De Mille Annis,
” wherein he asserts that the faithful
shall reign with Jesus Christ upon earth a thousand years,
after which will be the general resurrection and the last
judgment. In this opinion, he would not have been singular,
as it has more or less prevailed in all ages of the church,
had he not ventured to predict that it would take place in
the year 1694. Niceron has given a more copious list of
his works, which are now little known or consulted.
, a German author, was born in 1573, and died in 1630. He compiled
, a German author, was born in
1573, and died in 1630. He compiled a work entitled
“Bibliotheca Classica,
” of which the best edition is that
in two volumes 4to, Frankfort, 1625 in which are inserted the titles of all kinds of books. It is, however,
merely a crowded catalogue of all the works which had appeared at the Francfort fairs; but although they are not
well arranged, or very easily found, and the errors are innumerable, it is, upon the whole, a very useful catalogue,
particularly for German books, and musical publications.
, is said to have been the real name of a German author, who, tinder the fictitious one of Publius Porcius
, is said
to have been the real name of a German author, who,
tinder the fictitious one of Publius Porcius Porcellus, wrote
the Latin poem entitled “Pugna porcorum,
” consisting of
Nugae venales,
” &c. We have followed Baillet in- calling him Peter Placentinus, but Le Clerc says that his
name was John Leo Placentius, a Dominican monk, who
died about 1548, and that he composed an history of the
bishops of Tongres, Maestricht, and Liege, taken out of
fabulous memoirs, and several poems besides the “Pugna
Porcorum.
” In this last he imitated one Theobaldus,. a
Benedictine monk, who flourished in the time of Charles
the Bald, to whom he presented a panegyric on baldness,
every word of which began with the letter C (calvities, baldness). Placentinus is said to have had another object,