SANADON, NOEL ETHENNE, a Jesuit, and professor of
humanity at Caen, was born at Rouen in 1676. He became acquainted with Huet, Bishop of Avranches, whose taste for literature and poetry was similar to his own. Sanadon afterwards taught rhetoric at the university of Paris, and upon the death of Du Cerceau he was entrusted with the education of the Prince of Conti. In 1728 he was made librarian to Louis XIV., an office which he retained to his death, which took place on the 21st of September 1733, in the fifty-seventh year of his age.
His works are, Poesies Latin., in 12mo, 1715, reprinted by Barbou, in 8vo, 1754. These poems consist of odes, elegies, and epigrams on various subjects. A translation of Horace, with remarks, in two vols. 4to, printed at Paris in 1727. The best edition of this work was printed at Amsterdam in 1735 in 8 vols. 12mo, in which are also inserted the versions and notes of Madame Dacier, whose version of Horace is decidedly inferior to that of Sanadon, although his version is rather a paraphrase than a faithful translation, and possesses very few of the beauties of Horace. A collection of Discours, delivered at different times, afford strong proofs of his knowledge of oratory and poetry. A book entitled Prières et Instructions Chrétiennes, 1752, gives good evidence of genuine piety.