(Jean de), a Parisian, one of the finest geniuses of the 17th century, became at last a visionary and a fanatic. He was a great favourite of cardinal Richelieu, and possessed an employment of genius under him; for he was called upon to relax and divert him, after the fatigue of business, by factious conversation. He used, in order to triumph over the virtue of women, when they objected to him the interest of their salvation, to lead them into atheistical principles. He was a member of the French academy from its first erection. He wrote several dramatic pieces, which were well received. He attempted an epic poem; but after spending several years about it, dropped the design to write books of devotion. He likewise wrote romances; but not such virtuous ones as used to be written at that time. He was a declared enemy of the Jansenists. His visions are well described by the Messieurs de Port Royal. He promised the king of France, by the explication of prophecies, the honour of overthrowing the Mahometan empire. In his last years he wrote something against Boileau's Satires.

(Samuel de), one of the most celebrated divines of the reformed church, was born in Picardy, in 1599. In 1620, he was settled in the church of Laon; but, in 1624, accepted a call to that of Sedan; in 1642, he obtained a professorship at Groningen; and, from that time to his death, exerted himself so much in the service of that university, that it was reckoned one of the most flourishing in the Netherlands. His System of Divinity was found to be so methodical, that it was made use of at other academies; and at the end of it may be found a chronological table of all his works. Their number is prodigious; and their variety... variety shows the extent of his genius. He was moreover engaged in many disputes and controversies, and died in 1673.