, a man of a visionary turn, was a native of Venice, born in the
, a man of a visionary turn, was a native of Venice, born in the beginning of the sixteenth century. He embraced the Protestant religion, and expressed a great zeal against Popery. He published several books in Holland, in which he maintained that the particular events of the sixteenth century had been foretold by the prophets, and after he had applied scripture, as his fancy directed, to things that had already happened, he took the liberty to apply it to future events. In this he succeeded so far as to persuade a French gentleman of noble extraction, and a Protestant, that a Protestant prince would quickly overthrow the Pope’s kingdom, and make himself the head of all the united Christians. This gentleman, Segur Pardaillan, was a faithful servant to the ing of Navarre, afterwards Henry IV. and thought heaven designed his master for the glorious enterprise which Brocardus had foretold. Big with these hopes, he proposed to him to send an embassy to the Protestant princes, offering to be his ambassador; and there being nothing in his proposal but what suited with the exigencies of the time, it was approved of, and he was actually deputed to those princes in 1583.