CASAUBON, MERIE, son of the preceding, was born at Geneva on the 14th of August 1599. He commenced his studies at the Protestant academy of Sedan, but when his father settled in England, he was sent to Christ College, Oxford, and took the degree of M.A. in 1621. He was successively appointed curate of Bledon, Somersetshire, prebendary of Canterbury, and rector of Wickham, and obtained the degree of D.D. from Oxford; but was stripped of his preferments at the Revolution. Cromwell wished him to engage in writing a history of the civil wars, and offered him a gratuity of L.400 to assist him in the undertaking; but Casaubon, whose sentiments were unfavourable to the protector, rejected both the proposal and the gift. He refused also a proposal from Queen Christina, who was anxious to appoint him to a high professional office in her dominions. At the Restoration he was rewarded for his fidelity by being reinstated in all his benefices, which he enjoyed till the period of his death in July 1671. He was interred in the cathedral of Canterbury, where a monument was erected to his memory. Casaubon was a pious man, charitable to the poor, of an honest and affable character, and ever ready to communicate the result of his researches. He applied himself principally to criticism, and his erudition was varied, though far from being so profound as that of his father. To the philosophy of Descartes he ascribed the decline of the taste for the belles-lettres, which formed one of the characteristics of his time.
His principal works are, 1. Optati Millevitanti libri vii., cum notis et emendationibus, London, 1631, 8vo; 2. Notae et Emendationes in
M. Antonini libris xii., ibid. 1643, 8vo; 3. De Verborum Uti et accu-
rata corum Cognitionis utilitate Diatribe, 1647, 12mo; 4. De qua-
tuor Linguis Commentationis pare prior, 1650, 8vo; 5. De la Necessi-
té de la Réformation au temps de Luther, London, 1654; 6. De la
Credulité et de l'Incrédulité, 1668 and 1670, 8vo; 7. La Croix pré-
sente des Biens et des Maux qui arrivent en ce Monde, 1642, 4to; 8.
Traité de l'Enthousiasme, 1655, 8vo; 9. Veritable et fidèle Relation
de ce qui s'est passé entre Jean Dole et certains Esprits, 1659, folio;
10. Défense de l'Oraison Dominicale, 1669, in reply to Dr Owen. He
was also the author of several productions on ecclesiastical subjects,
and of notes on Terence, Epictetus, Hierocles, Florus, Diogenes
Laertius in the edition of Melobomus, Polybius in the edition of
Gronovius, and Persius in the London edition, 1647, 8vo. He left
a great number of manuscripts, which are preserved at Oxford.