CASAUBON, ISAAC DE, was born at Geneva, on the 18th February 1559; his family, which was originally from Dauphiné, having taken refuge in that city after embracing the Reformed religion. He received the rudiments of his education from his father, who was latterly minister of Crest; and his progress was so rapid that at the age of nine he spoke Latin with correctness and fluency. At the age of nineteen he entered upon his academical course at Geneva; and having devoted himself to the study of jurisprudence, theology, and the oriental languages, in 1582 he succeeded his master, Francis Portus, in the chair of Greek. He married Florence, daughter of M. Etienne; and in 1596 accepted the chair of Greek and belles-lettres at Montpellier, where, however, as his salary was ill paid, he remained only two years. He was soon after appointed by Henry IV. to a similar situation in Paris; but his religion, the jealousy of the other professors, and perhaps also his untractable temper, produced misunderstandings and occa-
sioned inconveniences, for which, however, he was indemnified by being appointed librarian to the king, with a salary of four hundred francs. He was one of the commissioners at the conference of Fontainebleau, between Cardinal Du Perron and Duplessis-Mornay, and gave his opinion in favour of the former and against the latter. It is known, indeed, that on various important points he dissented from the tenets of the Reformed church; and he was even suspected of a disposition to reconcile himself to the ancient religion; a suspicion which was strengthened when his son embraced the Romish religion, and became a Capuchin. After the death of Henry IV. Casaubon went to England with Sir Henry Wotton, ambassador extraordinary of King James I., and was received with great favour by that monarch, who gave him two prebends, one at Canterbury and the other at Westminster, and also conferred on him a pension of L.200. Casaubon now established himself in England, and died at London on the 1st of July 1614. He was buried at Westminster, where a monument was erected to his memory. The Protestants of France always doubted the sincerity of his attachment to their party; and Pierre Dumoulin, writing to Montague bishop of Bath, said that Casaubon had a great inclination towards popery, and predicted that he would end by changing his religion. This prediction, however, was not verified. Casaubon was an able theologian, a scholar of the first order, a good translator, and an excellent critic. Pithou, De Thou, Heinsius, Grævius, Duperron, and other learned men, have all given him the same character. His Latin is slightly deformed by Gallicisms, and his historical works are not free from inaccuracies. A complete list of his works would of itself fill several columns.
The principal are, 1. In Diogenem Laertium Notae, 1583, 8vo; 2. Polyani Stratagematum, Gr. et Lat. cum Notis Casaubon., Lyons, 1589, 8vo; 3. Aristotelis Opera, Gr. et Lat. Lyons, 1590; 4. Theophrasti Characteres, Gr. et Lat. Lyons, 1622; 5. Suotoni Opera, cum animadversionibus, Paris, 1605, 4to; 6. Perii Satyras, cum Comment., Paris, 1608, 8vo; 7. Polybi Optra, Gr. et Lat. Paris, 1609; 8. De Satyrica Graecorum Poësi et Romanorum Satyra, libri duo, Paris, 1605, 8vo; 9. Exercitationes contra Baronium, London, 1614, folio; 10. De Libertate Ecclesiastica, lib. singularis, 1607; 11. Ad Frontonem Ducium Epistola, London, 1611; 12. Casauboni Epistola, the best edition of which is that of Ameloveen, Rotterdam, 1709.