(Francis), was at first a curate in the diocese of Amiens, the place of his birth, and afterwards theologian and confidant to the virtuous De Brou bishop of that diocese. He was appointed to the charge of a seminary of learning under that prelate. He deserved this employment both from his piety and profound learning. The oriental languages were as familiar to him as his native tongue. He pursued his researches into the idioms of the east with the spirit and the ingenuity of a philosopher. He was made canon of Amiens a little before the death of De Brou, which happened in 1706. His opinions on the Jansenist controversy were so offensive to Sabbatier, the successor of that worthy prelate, that he was removed from the care of the seminary and from almost every other public office which he held. The regard of the dead comforted Mascal under the opprobrium of the living. He devoted himself to study with so much ardour, that he contracted a disease of which he died the 14th Nov. 1728, aged 66 years. His principal works are, 1. A Hebrew Grammar in Latin, after his new method, printed at Paris 1716, in 12mo. This grammar was again printed in two volumes in 12mo in the year 1730, under the direction of M. de la Bletterie at that time priest of the oratory and the friend of Mascal. All the objections which Father Guarin made in his Hebrew grammar to Mascal's method of reading Hebrew without the use of points are attended to in this edition. There is nothing more necessary, according to this plan, than to take the vowel which is next the consonant in the order of the alphabet. This method was approved of by some learned men, but rejected by a great many more. 2. Les Conferences Ecclesiastiques du diocese d'Amiens, in 12mo. 3. Le Catechisme d'Amiens, in 4to. 4. Une Philosophie et une Théologie, in MS. These would have been published had they not discovered a partiality to the principles of Jansenism. The author was an austere man, equally respectable for his manners and his knowledge.