HENRY STEPHENS, the remaining son of Robert, was born at Paris in 1528. He became the most learned and most celebrated of all his family. From his very birth almost he gave proofs of uncommon abilities, and displayed an ardent passion for knowledge. The Medea of Euripides, which he saw acted while at school, first kindled his love for poetry, and inspired him with the desire of acquiring the language in which that tragedy is written. He intreated his father not to condemn him to study Latin, which he already understood from conversation, but to initiate him at once into the knowledge of Greek. His father willingly granted his request; and Henry applied with such vigour, that in a short time he could repeat the Medea by heart. He afterwards studied Greek under Peter Danesius, who was tutor to the Dauphin, and finally heard the lectures of Tufanus and Turnebus. He became eager at an early age to understand astrology, and accordingly attended a professor of that mysterious art; but he was not long in discovering its absurdity. At 19 he began his travels, which he undertook in order to examine foreign libraries, and to become acquainted with learned men. He spent two years in Italy, and returned into France completely master of Italian, and bringing along with him copies of several scarce authors, particularly a part of Anacreon, which before was thought lost.
He found his father publishing an edition of the New Testament, to which he prefixed some Greek verses.—Soon after, he visited England and the Netherlands, where he met with John Clement, an Englishman, to whom he was indebted for the remaining odes of Anacreon. During this journey he learned the Spanish language, which was very much spoken at that time in the Low Countries.
Whether Henry accompanied his father to Geneva or not is uncertain; at least he must have returned immediately to France, for we find him soon after established at Paris, and publishing the odes of Anacreon. In 1554 he went to Rome, and thence to Naples. This journey was undertaken at the request, and in the service, of the French government. He was discovered, and would have been arrested as a spy, had he not by his address and skill in the language of the country been able to pass himself for a native of Italy. On his return to France he assumed the title of printer to Ulric Fugger, a very rich and learned German nobleman, who allowed him a considerable pension.
In 1560 he married a relation, as is generally supposed, of Henry Scrimgeour, a Scotch nobleman, with whom he was intimately acquainted. She was a woman, as he himself informs us, endowed with the noblest
Stephens spirit and the most amiable dispositions. Her death, which happened in 1586, brought on a disease that had twice attacked him before. It was a disgust at all those pursuits which had formerly charmed him, an aversion to reading and the sight of books. It was probably occasioned by too constant and severe an application to literary pursuits. In 1572 he published his Theſaurus Linguae Græcæ, one of the greatest works, perhaps, that ever was executed by one man, if we consider the wretched materials which more ancient dictionaries could furnish, if we consider the size and perfection of the work, and the immense labour and learning which must have been employed in the compilation. This work had been carried on at a greater expence than he could well bear. He expected to be reimbursed by the sale of the book, but he was unfortunately disappointed. John Scapula, one of his own servants, extracted from it whatever he thought would be most serviceable to students, and published it beforehand in 4to. By this act of treachery Henry was reduced to poverty.
About this time he was much beloved by Henry III. of France, who treated him so kindly, and made him such flattering promises, that he resided frequently at court. But these promises were never fulfilled, owing to the civil wars which soon after distracted France, and the unfortunate death of King Henry himself. During the remainder of his life his situation was very unsettled. We find him sometimes at Paris, sometimes in Geneva, in Germany, and even in Hungary. He died at Lyons in 1598, at the age of 70. He was fond of poetry from his very infancy. It was a custom of his to compose verses on horseback, and even to write them, though he generally rode a very mettlesome steed. His Theſaurus was his great work, but he was also the author of several other treatises. His poems are numerous: His Apology for Herodotus is a witty satire on the Roman Catholics. His Concordance to the New Testament must have been a laborious work, and has deservedly endeared him to every Christian who wishes to acquire a rational and critical knowledge of the Scriptures. The number of books which he published, though fewer than his father, was great, and superior in elegance to any thing which the world had then seen. A great proportion of them were Greek; he was the editor, however, of many Roman and even of some eastern writings. His Greek classics are remarkably correct; the principal of them are Homer, Anacreon, Æschylus, Maximus Tyrus, Diodorus Siculus, Pindar, Xenophon, Thucydides, Herodotus, Sophocles, Diogenes Laertius, Plutarch, Plato, Apollonius Rhodius, Æschines, Lyfias, Callimachus, Theocritus, Herodian, Dionysius Halicarnassensis, Dion Cassius, Isocrates, Appian, Xiphilin, &c. His temper in the latter part of his life is represented as haughty and severe, owing probably to his disappointments. He left behind him a son and two daughters, one of whom was married to the learned Isaac Casaubon.