, one of the most learned men of the seventeenth century, and whom
, one of the
most learned men of the seventeenth century, and whom
Baillet has with great propriety classed among his “Enfant
celebres par les etudes,
” was born at Semur-en-Auxois, in
Burgundy. His family was ancient and noble, and his father, an eminent lawyer, and a member of the parliament
of Burgundy, wasa man of worth and learning. Respecting the time of his birth, all his biographers differ. Peter
Burman, who has compared their differences, justly thinks
it very strange that so many persons who were his contemporaries and knew him intimately, should not have
ascertained the exact dates either of his birth or death. The
former, however, we presume may be fixed either in 1593
or 1594. He was educated at first solely by his father,
who taught him Latin and Greek with astonishing success.
At the age of ten he was able to translate Pindar very correctly, and wrote Greek and Latin verses. At the age of
eleven, his father wished to send him for farther education
to the Jesuits’ college at Dijon, not to board there, but to
attend lessons twice a day, and improve them at his lodgings. In this scheme, however, he was disappointed. His
mother, who was a protestant, had not only inspired Claude
with a hatred of the Jesuits, but encouraged him to write
satires against the order, which he did both in Greek and
Latin, and entertained indeed throughout life the same
aversion to them. Having refused therefore to comply
with his father’s request m this respect, his mothef proposed
to send him to Paris, where her secret wish was that he
should be confirmed in her religion. This being complied
with, he soon formed an acquaintance with Casaubon and
some other learned men in that metropolis, who were astonished to find such talents and erudition in a mere boy.
During his residence here he conversed much with the
clergy of the reformed church, and being at length determined to make an open avowal of his attachment to protestantism, he asked leave of his father to go to Heidelberg,
partly that he might apply to the study of the law, but
principally that he might be more at his freedom in religious matters. Baillet calls this a trick of his new preceptors, who wished to persuade Salmasius’s father that Paris,
with respect to the study of the law, was not equal to Heidelberg, where was the celebrated Denis Godefroi, and an
excellent library.
, one of the most learned men of the seventeenth century, wasthe son
, one of the most learned men of the
seventeenth century, wasthe son of John Selden, a yeoman, by Margaret his wife, only daughter of Mr. Thomas
Baker of Rushington, descended from the family of th
Bakers in Kent. He was born Dec, 16, 1584, at a house
called the Lacies at Salvinton, near Terring in Sussex, and
educated at the free-school at Chichester, where he made a
very early progress in learning. In 159$, at fourteen years
of age, as some say, but according to Wood, in 1600, he
was entered of Hart-hall, Oxford, where under the tuition
of Mr. Anthony Barker (brother to his schoolmaster at Chichester) and Mr. John Young, both of that hall, he studied
about three years, and then removed to Clifford’s Inn,
London, for the study of the law, and about two years
afterwards exchanged that situation for the Inner Temple.
Here he soon attained a great reputation for learning, and
acquired the friendship of sir Robert Cotton, sir Henry
Spelman, Camden, and Usher. In 1606, when only twentytwo years of age, he wrote a treatise on the civil government of Britain, before the coming in of the Normans,
which was esteemed a very extraordinary performance for
his years. It was not printed, however, until 1615, and
then very incorrectly, at Francfort, under the title “Analects Anglo-Britannicwv Hbri duo, de civile administratione
Britanniae Magnae usque ad Normanni adventum,
” 4to.
Nicolson is of opinion that these “Analecta
” do not so
clearly account for the religion, government, and revolutions of state among our Saxon ancestors, as they are reported to do. It was an excellent specimen, however, of
what might be expected from a youth of such talents and
application.
, an ingenious doctor, and one of the most learned men of the seventeenth century, in Hebrew
, an ingenious doctor, and one of
the most learned men of the seventeenth century, in Hebrew and the Oriental languages, was a native of Bourdeaux, descended from a respectable family of distinction
in the law. He at first held the office of counsellor to the
parliament in his native city; but having afterwards chosen
the ecclesiastical profession, was raised to the priesthood,
and became preacher and almoner to Armand de Bourbon,
prince of Conti. M. de Voisin was extremely well skilled
in rabbinical learning, and the ecclesiastical authors. He
died 1685. His principal works are, a “System of Jewish
Theology,
” On the Divine Law,
” 8vo another “On the Jubilee of the Jews,
”
8vo, both in Latin learned notes on Raymond Martin’s
“Pugio Fidei
” Defense du Traite de M. le Prince
de Conti centre la Comédie et les Spectacles,
”