SIMON, Richard, a learned Hebraist, was born at Dieppe on the 15th May 1638. He began his studies in the Oratory of that city, but in a short time quitted the place. From Dieppe he went to Paris, where he made great progress in the study of the oriental languages. Some time afterwards he joined the society of the Oratory again, and became a priest of it in 1660. In 1670 he published some pieces of a smaller kind; and in 1678 his Critical History of the Old Testament appeared, but was immediately suppressed by the influence of the gentlemen of Port-Royal. It was reprinted the year after, and its excellence soon drew the attention of foreigners; an edition of it was accordingly published at Amsterdam in Latin, and in London, in English, in 1682. He died at Dieppe in 1712, at the age of seventy-four.
Simon certainly possessed a vast deal of learning. His criticism is exact, but not always moderate; and there reigns in his writings a spirit of novelty and singularity which raised him a great many adversaries. The most celebrated of these were Le Clerc, Vossius, Jurieu, Dupin, and Bossuet. Simon wrote an answer to most of the books that were published against him, and displays a pride and obstinacy in his controversial writings which do him little honour. He was the author of a great many books. The following are the principal, viz.:—The Ceremonies of the Jews, 1674, translated from the Italian of Leo of Modena, with a supplement concerning the sects of the Caraites and Samaritans; The Critical History of the Old Testament, 1678; Critical History of the Text of the New Testament, 1685; Critical History of the Versions of the New Testament, 1690; Critical History of the Principal Commentators on the New Testament, 1693; Inspiration of the Sacred Books, 1687; A French Translation of the New Testament, 1702, which was censured by Cardinal Noailles and by Bossuet; The History of the Rise and Progress of Ecclesiastical Revenues, 1684, which is commended by Voltaire, as is his Critical History of the Old Testament; A New Select Library, 1714, pointing out the good books in the various departments of literature, and the use to be made of them; Critical History of the Beliefs and Customs of the Nations on the Levant, 1711; and Critical Letters, 1730. The works of Simon have nearly all been translated into English.