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See also:ISAAC See also:CASAUBON (1559-1614) , See also:French (naturalized See also:English) classical See also:scholar, was See also:born at See also:Geneva, on the 18th of See also:February 1559, of French refugee parents . On the publication of the See also:edict of See also:January 1562, the See also:family returned to See also:France and settled at See also:Crest in See also:Dauphine, where See also:Arnaud See also:Casaubon, See also:Isaac's See also:father, became See also:minister of a Huguenot See also:congregation . Till he was nine-teen, Isaac had no other instruction than what could be given him by his father during the years of See also:civil See also:war . Arnaud was away from See also:home whole years together in the Calvinist See also:camp, or the family were flying to the hills to hide from the fanatical bands of armed Catholics who patrolled the See also:country . Thus it was in a See also:cave in the mountains of Dauphine, after the See also:massacre of St See also:Bartholomew, that Isaac received his first See also:lesson in See also:Greek, the See also:text-See also:book being Isocrates ad Demonicum . At nineteen Isaac was sent to the See also:Academy of Geneva, where he read Greek under See also:Francis See also:Portus, a native of See also:Crete . Portus died in 1581, having recommended Casaubon, then only twenty-two, as his successor . At Geneva he remained as. See also:professor of Greek till 1596 . Here he married twice, his second wife being See also:Florence, daughter of the scholar-printer, See also:Henri See also:Estienne . Here, without the stimulus of example or encouragement, with few books and no assistance, in a See also:city peopled with religious refugees, and struggling for See also:life against the troops of the See also:Catholic See also:dukes of See also:Savoy, Casaubon made himself a consummate Greek scholar and See also:master of See also:ancient learning . His See also:great wants at Geneva were books and the sympathy of learned associates . He spent all he could See also:save out of his small See also:salary in buying books, and in having copies made of such See also:classics as were not then in See also:print .
Henri Estienne, See also:Theodore de See also:Beza (See also:rector of the university and professor of See also:theology), and Jacques Lect (Lectius), were indeed men of See also:superior learning
.
But Henri, in those last years of his life, was no longer the Estienne of the See also:Thesaurus; he was never at home, and would not suffer his son-in-See also:law to enter his library
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" He See also:guards his books," writes Casaubon, "as the griffins in See also:India do their See also:gold!" Beza was engrossed by the cares of See also:administration, and retained, at most, an See also:interest for theological See also:reading, while Lect, a lawyer and diplomatist, had Ieft classics for the active business of the See also:council
.
The sympathy and help which Casaubon's native city could not afford him, he endeavoured to See also:supply by cultivating the acquaintance of the learned of other countries
.
Geneva, as the
See also:metropolis of Calvinism, received a See also:constant See also:succession of visitors
.
The See also:continental tour of the See also:young Englishman of See also:birth was not See also:complete without a visit to Geneva
.
It was there that Casaubon made the acquaintance of young See also: In Montpellier he never took See also:root . He held the professor-See also:ship there only three years, with several prolonged absences . The hopes raised by his brilliant reception were disappointed; he was badly treated by the authorities, by whom his salary was only paid very irregularly, and, finally, not at all . He was not, at any See also:time, insensible to the attractions of teaching, and his lectures at Montpellier were followed not only by the students, but by men of mature See also:age and position . But the love of know-ledge was gradually growing upon him, and he began to perceive that editing Greek books was an employment more congenial to his See also:peculiar See also:powers than teaching . At Geneva he had first tried his See also:hand on some notes on See also:Diogenes Laertius, on See also:Theocritus and the New Testament, the last undertaken at his father's See also:request . His debut as an editor had been a complete See also:Strabo (1587), of which he was so ashamed afterwards that he apologized for its crudity to Scaliger, calling it " a See also:miscarriage." This was followed by the text of See also:Polyaenus, an editio princeps, 1589; a text of See also:Aristotle, 1590; and a few notes contributed to Estienne's See also:editions of See also:Dionysius oi See also:Halicarnassus and See also:Pliny's Epistolae . It is not till we come to his edition of See also:Theophrastus's Characteres (1592), that we have a specimen of that peculiar See also:style of illustrative commentary, at once apposite and profuse, which distinguishes Casaubon among annotators . At the time of his removal to Montpellier he was engaged upon what is the See also:capital See also:work of his life, his edition of, and commentary on, See also:Athenaeus . In 1598 we find Casaubon at See also:Lyons, superintending the passage of his Athenaeus through the See also:press, for which he had been unable to find facilities at Montpellier . Here he lived in the house of Meric de Vicq, surintend See also:ant de la See also:justice, a Catholic, but a See also:man of acquirements, whose connexions were with the circle of liberal Catholics in See also:Paris . In the See also:suite of De Vicq Casaubon made a flying visit to Paris, and was presented to Henry IV .
The See also: We now know enough of Casaubon's See also:mental See also:history to know how erroneous were these computations of his motives . But, at the time, it was not possible for the immediate parties to the See also:bitter controversy to understand the intermediate position between Genevan See also:Calvin-ism and See also:Ultramontanism to which Casaubon's reading of the fathers had conducted him . Meantime the efforts of De Thou and the liberal Catholics to retain him in Paris were successful . The king repeated his invitation to Casaubon to See also:settle in the capital, and assigned him a See also:pension . No more was said about the university . The See also:recent reform of the university of Paris had closed its doors to all but Catholics; and though the chairs of the College de France were not governed by the statutes of the `university, public See also:opinion ran so violently against See also:heresy, that Henry IV. dared not appoint a Calvinist to a chair, even if he had desired to do so . But it was designed that Casaubon should succeed to the See also:post of sub-librarian of the royal library when it should become vacant, and a patent of the reversion was made out in his favour . In See also:November 1604, See also:Jean Gosselin died in extreme old age; and Casaubon succeeded him as sub-librarian, with a salary of 400 livres in addition to his pension . In Paris Casaubon remained till 1610 . These ten years were the brightest See also:period of his life . He had attained the reputation of being, after Scaliger, the most learned man of the age,—an age in which learning formed the See also:sole See also:standard of See also:literary merit . He was placed above penury, though not in easy circumstances .
He had such facilities for religious See also:worship as a Huguenot could have, though he had to go out of the city to Hablon, and after-wards to Charenton, for them
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He enjoyed the society of men of learning, or of men who took an interest in learned publications
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He had the best opportunities of seeing men of letters from See also:foreign countries as they passed through Paris
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Above all, he had ample facilities for using Greek books, both printed and in MS., the want of which he had See also:felt painfully at Geneva and Montpellier, and which no other See also:place but Paris could at that period have supplied
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In spite of all these advantages we find Casaubon restless, and ever framing schemes for leavingParis,and settling elsewhere
.
It was known that he was open to offers, and offers came to him from various quarters, from See also:Nimes, from See also:Heidelberg, from See also:Sedan
.
His See also:friends Lect and Giovanni See also:Diodati wished, rather than hoped, to get him back to Geneva
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The causes of Casaubon's discomfort in Paris were various, but the See also:principal source of uneasiness See also:lay in his See also:religion
.
The life of any Huguenot in Paris was hardly secure at that time, for it was doubtful if the See also:police of the city was strong enough to protect them against any sudden uprising of the fanatical See also:mob, always ready to re-enact the St Bartholomew
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But Casaubon was exposed to persecution of another sort
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Ever since the Fontainebleau Conference an impression prevailed that he was wavering
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It was known that he rejected the outre See also:anti-popery opinions current in the Reformed churches; that he read the fathers, and wished for a See also:
He was given to understand that he could have a professorship only by recantation
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When it was found that he could not be bought, he was plied by controversy
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Henry IV., who liked Casaubon personally, made a point of getting him to follow his own ex-ample
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By the king's orders Duperron was untiring in his efforts to convert him
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Casaubon's knowledge of the fathers was that of a scholar, Duperron's that of an adroit polemist; and the
scholar was driven to admit that the polemist was often too hard for him
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These encounters mostly took place in the king's library, over which the cardinal, in his capacity of aumonier, exercised some See also:kind of authority; and it was therefore impossible for Casaubon to avoid them
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On the other hand, the Huguenot theologians, and especially See also:Pierre du See also:Moulin, See also:chief pastor of the church of Paris, accused him of conceding too much, and of having departed already from the lines of strict Calvinistic orthodoxy
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When the assassination of Henry IV. gave full See also:rein to the Ultramontane party at court, the obsessions of Duperron became more importunate, and even menacing
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It was now that Casaubon began to listen to overtures which had been faintly made before, from the bishops and the.court of See also:England
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In See also:October 1610 he came to England in the suite of the See also:ambassador, See also:Lord Wotton of Marley (See also:brother of Casaubon'searlyfriend), an See also:official invitation having been sent him by Richard See also:Bancroft, See also:archbishop of See also:Canterbury
.
He had the most flattering reception from See also:
Casaubon, though a layman, was collated to a prebendal See also:stall in Canter-See also:bury, and a pension of £300 a year was assigned him from the See also:exchequer
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Nor were these merely See also:paper figures
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When See also:Sir See also:Julius See also:Caesar made a difficulty about See also:payment, James sent a See also:note in his own hand: " Chanceler of my excheker, I will have Mr Casaubon paid before me, my wife, and my See also:barnes." He still retained his appointments in France, and his See also:office as librarian
.
He had obtained leave of See also:absence for a visit to England, where his permanent See also:settlement was not contemplated
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In See also:order to retain their hold upon him, the See also:government of the See also:queen See also:regent refused to allow his library to be sent over
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It required a See also:special request from James himself to get leave for Madame Casaubon to bring him a See also:part of his most necessary books
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Casaubon continued to speak of himself as the servant of the regent, and to .declare his readiness to return when summoned to do so
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Meanwhile his situation in See also:London gradually See also:developed unforeseen See also:sources of discomfort
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Not that he had any See also:reason to complain of his patrons, the king and the bishops
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James continued to the last to delight in his See also:company, and to be as liberal as the See also:state of his finances allowed
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See also: These two were attracted to Casaubon by congenial studies and opinions . With the witty and learned bishop of Ely in particular Casaubon was always happy to spend such See also:hours as he had to spare from the labours of the study . Andrewes took him to Cambridge, where he met with a most gratifying reception from the notabilities of the university . They went on together to Downham, where Casaubon spent six See also:weeks of the summer of 1611, in which year he became naturalized . In 1613 he was taken to See also:Oxford by Sir Henry See also:Savile, where, amid the See also:homage and feasting of which he was the object, his principal interest was for the See also:MSS. treasures of the Bodleian . The honorary degree which was offered him he declined . But these distinctions were far from compensating the serious inconveniences of his position . Having been taken up by the king and the bishops, he had to See also:share in their rising unpopularity . The courtiers looked with a jealous See also:eye on a pensioner who enjoyed frequent opportunities of taking James I. on his weak See also:side—his love of book talk—opportunities which they would have known how to use . Casaubon was especially mortified by Sir Henry Wotton's persistent avoidance of him, so inconsistent with their former intimacy . His windows were broken by the roughs at See also:night, his See also:children pelted in the streets by See also:day . On one occasion he himself appeared at Theobalds with a See also:black eye,443 having received a See also:blow from some See also:ruffian's fist in the See also:street .
The historian See also:Hallam thinks that he had "become personally unpopular "; but these outrages from the vulgar seem to have arisen solely from the See also:cockney's antipathy to the Frenchman
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Casaubon, though he could make shift to read an English book, could not speak English, any more than Mme Casaubon
.
This deficiency not only exposed him to insult and See also:fraud, but restricted his social intercourse
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It excluded him altogether from the circle of the " wits "; either this or some other cause prevented him from being acceptable in the circle of the lay learned—the " antiquaries." See also:
But the most serious cause of discomfort in his English See also:residence was that his time was no longer his own
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He was perpetually being summoned out of townto one or other of James's See also:hunting residences that the king might enjoy his talk
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He had come over from Paris in See also:search of leisure, and found that a new claim on his time was established
.
The king and the bishops wanted to employ his See also:pen in their literary warfare against See also:Rome
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They compelled him to write first one, then a second, pamphlet on the subject of the day,—the royal supremacy
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At last, ashamed of thus misappropriating Casaubon's stores of learning, they set him upon a refutation of the See also:Annals of Baronius, then in the full See also:tide of its See also:credit and success
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Upon this task Casaubon spent his remaining strength and life
.
He died in great suffering on the 1st of See also:July 1614
.
His complaint was an organic and congenital malformation of the See also:bladder; but his end was hastened by an unhealthy life of over-study, and latterly by his anxiety to acquit himself creditably in his See also:criticism on Baronius
.
He was buried in Westminster See also:Abbey
.
The See also:monument by which his name is there commemorated was erected in 1632 by his friend See also: The edition of See also:Polybius, on' which he had spent vast labour, he See also:left unfinished . His most ambitious work was his revision of the text of the Deipnosophistae of Athenaeus, with commentary . The Theophrastus perhaps exhibits his most characteristic excellences as a commentator . The Exercitationes in Baronium are but a fragment of the massive criticism which he contemplated; it failed in bringing before the reader the uncritical See also:character of Baronius's history, and had only a moderate success, even among the Protestants . His See also:correspondence (in Latin) was finally collected by See also:Van Almeloveen (See also:Rotterdam, 1709), who prefixed to the letters a careful life of Isaac Casaubon . But this learned Dutch editor was acquainted with Casaubon's See also:diary only in See also:extract . This diary, Ephemerides, of which the MS. is preserved in the See also:chapter library of Canterbury, was printed in 185o by the See also:Clarendon Press . It forms the most valuable See also:record we possess of the daily life of a scholar, or man of letters, of the 16th See also:century . (M . P.) A few See also:minor changes have been made in the above See also:article, compared with its See also:form in the 9th edition . The most complete See also:account 1 Eudaemon was a Cretan, Rosweyd a Dutch, Jesuit; Schoppe, a See also:German philologist and critic . of Casaubon is the full See also:biography by See also:Mark |