, one of the most celebrated scholars of the seventeenth century,
, one of the most celebrated scholars
of the seventeenth century, was born at Verona, Aug. 29,
1631. His baptismal name was Jerom, which he changed
tO'Henry, when he entered the order of the Augustines.
His family is said to have been originally of England,
whence a branch passed into Ireland, and even to Cyprus.
When this island was taken by the Turks, a James Noris,
who had defended it as general of artillery, settled afterwards at Verona, and it is from this person that the subject
of the present article descended. His father’s name was
Alexander, and, according to Niceron, published several
works, and among them a History of Germany. Maffei,
however, attributes this work only to him, which is not a
history of Germany, but of the German war from 1618 to
the peace of Lubec, translated from the Italian by Alexander Noris. His son discovered, from his infancy, an
excellent understanding, great vivacity, and a quick apprehension. His father, having instructed him in the rudiments of grammar, procured an able professor of Verona
to be his preceptor. At fifteen, he was admitted a pensioner in the Jesuits’ college at Rimini, where he studied
philosophy; after which, he applied himself to the writings
of the fathers of the church, particularly those of St. Augustine; and, taking the habit in the convent of Augustine
monks of Rimini, he so distinguished himself among that
fraternity, that, as soon as he was out of his noviciate, the
general of the order sent for him to Rome, in order to
give him an opportunity of improving himself in the more
solid branches of learning. Here he indulged his favourite
propensity for study to the utmost, and spent whole days,
and even nights, in the library of his order at Rome. His
daily course of reading was fourteen hours, and this practice he continued till he became a cardinal. It, is easy to
conceive that a student of such diligence, and whose memory and comprehension were equally great, must have
accumulated a vast stock of knowledge. But for some
time his reading was interrupted by the duties of a regent
master being imposed on him, according to the usual practice; and we find that for some time he taught at Pesaro,
and afterwards at Perugia, where he took his degree of
doctor of divinity. Proceeding then to Padua, he applied
himself to finish his “History of Pelagianism,
” which he
had begun at Rome, when he was no more than twentysix: and, having now completed his design, it was printed
at Florence in 1673. The great duke of Tuscany invited
him, the following year, to that city, made him his chaplain, and professor of ecclesiastical history in the university
of Pisa, which the duke had founded with that view.