de Dairval, an eminent French antiquary, was born at Paris, Nov.
de Dairval, an eminent French antiquary, was born at Paris, Nov. 29, 1648.
He studied partly at Beauvais, under his uncle Halle, an
eminent doctor of the Sorbonne, and director of that school,
and afterwards at Paris under Danet, author of the dictionaries which bear his name. His inclination was for
medicine as a profession, but family reasons decided in
favour of the law, in which he became an advocate of parliame,nr, and a distinguished pleader. Happening to be
pbligedto go to Dijon about a cause in which his mother
was concerned, he amused his leisure hours in visiting the
libraries and museums with which Dijon at that time
abounded. He pleaded that cause, however, so ably, that
the marquis de la Meilleraye was induced to intrust him
with another of great importance which had brought him
to Dijon, and our young advocate, now metamorphosed
into an antiquary, laid out the fee he received from his
noble client, in the purchase of a cabinet of books, medals,
&c. then on sale at Dijon. With this he returned to Paris,
but no more to the bar, his whole attention being absorbed
in researches on the remains of antiquity. The notions
he had formed on this subject appeared soon in his principal work on the utility of travelling, and the advantages
which the learned derive from the study of antiquities.-It
was entitled “Dd'ntilite des Voyages,
” 2 vols. ie>86, 12mo,
often reprinted, and the edition of Rouen in 1727 is said
to be the best, although, according-to Niceron, not the
most correct. The reputation of this work brought him
acquainted with the most eminent antiquaries of England,
Holland, and Germany, and, when he least expected such
an honour, he was admitted an associate of the academy
of the Ricovrati of Padua, and was generally consulted on
all subjects of antiquity which happened to be the object
of public curiosity. In 1698 he printed a dissertation on
Ptolomy Auletes, whose head he discovered on an ancient
amethyst hitherto undescribed, in the cabinet of the duchess
of Orleans, who rewarded him by the appointment of keeper
of her cabinet of medals. In 1700, he wrote a letter to
Mr. Lister of the royal society of London, describing an
enormous stone found in the body of a horse. He afterwards published separately, or in the literary journals,
various memoirs on antique medals, and in 1705 he was
chosen a member of the academy of inscriptions and belles
lettres. This honour inspirited his labours, and he became
a frequent contributor to the memoirs of the academy.
His last piece is entitled “Dissertation sur le guerre des
Atheniens centre les. penples de Pisle Atlantique.
” His
health now began to decline, although for some time it was
not discovered that his disorder was a dropsy of the chest,
which proved fatal June 27, 1722. His character is represented by all his biographers as being truly amiable. He
bequeathed to the academy, what he valued most, his books,
medals, bronzes, and antique marbles. Two of the latter
of great value, which were brought from Constantinople
by M. Nointal, and are supposed to be more than two thousand years old, contain the names of the Athenian captains
and soldiers who were killed, in one year, in different expeditions. These afterwards became the property of M.
Thevenot, the king’s librarian, who placed them at his
country-house at Issy. Thevenot’s heirs, who had little
taste for antiquities, were about to have sold them to a
stone-cutter for common purposes, when Baudelot heard of
the transaction, anil immediately went in pursuit of the
treasure. Having purchased them, he had them placed in
a carriage of which he never lost sight until they were deposited in a house which he then occupied in the faubourg
of St. Marceau, and when he removed to that of St. Germain, he conveyed them thither with the same care, and
placed them in a small court. Here, however, they were
not quite safe. A considerable part of the house happened
to be occupied by a young lady who had no taste for antiquities, and soon discovered that these marbles were an
incumbrance. In order to make Baudelot remove them,
she pretended to hire the dustmen to take them away.
Baudelot, returning home at night, was told of this project,
and although it was then late, would not go to sleep until
he had seen them deposited in his apartment. They are
now in the museum of antiquities in the Louvre.
and died there in 1737, after an illness of eight months. His travels, which were edited by Baudelot de Dairval, Fourmont, and Banier, are not ill written, and sufficiently
, a French traveller, was the son of a merchant at Rouen, and born there in 1664. From his youth he felt a strong inclination for travelling, which he gratified by several voyages to the Levant, Egypt, Turkey, and other countries. He brought home a great number of medals and other curiosities for the king’s cabinet, who made him his antiquary in 1714, and ordered him to write the history of his travels. Louis XV. sent him again to the Levant in 1723, whence he brought abundance of curiosities for the king’s library; particularly medals and manuscripts. His passion for travelling reviving again in 1736, he went to Madrid; and died there in 1737, after an illness of eight months. His travels, which were edited by Baudelot de Dairval, Fourmont, and Banier, are not ill written, and sufficiently amusing; yet not of the first authority, being supposed to contain some exaggerated, and some false representations. They consist of 7 vols. 12mo, published in 1699 1714.