, sieur d'Ablancourt, a scholar of considerable parts, and once admired
, sieur d'Ablancourt, a scholar of
considerable parts, and once admired for his translations
from ancient authors, was born at Chalons, April 5, 1606.
He sprung from a family which had been illustrious in the
law, and the greatest care was bestowed on his education.
His father, Paul Perrot de la Sailer, who was a protestant,
and also a man learning, sent him to pursue his studies in
the college of Sedan; where he made so rapid a progress,
that, at thirteen, he had gone through the classics. He
was then taken home, and placed for some time under a
private tutor, after which he was sent to Paris, where he
studied the law five or six months, and was, when only in
his eighteenth year, admitted advocate of parliament but
did not adhere longto the bar. Another change he made
about this time of great importance, was that of his religion, for popery, of which he embraced the tenets at the
persuasion of his uncle Cyprian Perrot, who, in hopes of
procuring him some valuable benefices, took great pains to
recommend the church as a profession, but in vain. Nor
did he succeed better in retaining him as a convert, for fte
had scarcely distinguished himself in the republic of letters,
by writing a preface to the “HonneXe Femme,
” for his
friend, father Du Bosc, than he felt a desire to return to
the religion he had quitted. He was now, however, in his
twenty-seventh year, and had sense enough to guard
against precipitation in a matter of so much consequence.
He studied, therefore, the differences betwixt the Romish
and reformed church, and after three years’ investigation,
during which he did not disclose his intention to any one,
he set out from Paris to Champagne, where he abjured
popery; and very soon after went to Holland, till the clamour which followed this step was over. He was near a
year in Leyden, where he learned Hebrew, and contracted
a friendship with Salmasius. From Holland he went to
England; then returned to Paris; and, after passing some
weeks with M. Patru, took an apartment near the Luxembourg. He passed his days very agreeably; and though
he devoted the greatest part of his leisure to books, mixed
occasionally in society, and was the respected associate of
all the learned in Paris. In 1637 he was admitted a member of the French academy, but was soon after forced to
leave Paris, on account of the wars; and therefore retired
to his estate, called Ablancourt, where he lived till his
death. He died Nov. 17, 1664, of the gravel, with which
he had been afflicted the greater part of his life.