, son of Isaac Claude, pastor at the Hague, and grandson of the celebrated
, son of Isaac Claude, pastor at
the Hague, and grandson of the celebrated minister of that
name, was born January 16, 1684, in that city, and from
his infancy displayed a taste for reading and literary research. At fifteen he wrote a curious Latin dissertation
on the manner of saluting among the ancients, and published it at eighteen, with another dissertation, in the
same language, on nurses and paedagogues, under the title
“J. J. Claudii Dissertatio de Salutationibus Veterum, cui
addita est Diatribe de Nutricibus et Paedagogis,
” Utrecht,
Behold,
my dear child, of what use the belles lettres are, when a
man is reduced to my situation.' 7 These words made so
deep an impression on the young scholar, that he determined from that time to make divinity his chief study. He
afterwards came over to England, and became pastor of the
Drench church in London, 1710, where he died of the
small-pox, March 7, 1712, lamented by the friends of
learning and piety. A volume of his
” Sermons" was
published by his brother in 1713. They are only ten in
number, but were highly praised in the literary journals of
the time, and occasioned redoubled regret that the world
had been so soon deprived of his talents