Sr., the first abbot of Clairvaux, was born in the year 1091, in the village of Fontaine, in Burgundy. He acquired so great a reputation by his zeal and abilities, that all the affairs of the church appeared to rest upon his shoulders, and kings and princes seemed to have chosen him for a general arbitrator of their differences. It was owing to him that Innocent II. was acknowledged sovereign pontiff, and after the death of Peter Louis anti-pope, that Victor, who had been named successor, made a voluntary abdication of his dignity. He convicted Abelard at the council of Sens, in the year 1140. He opposed the monk Raoul; he persecuted the followers of Arnaud de Brelle; and, in 1148, he got Gilbert de la Porvée, bishop of Poitiers, and Eonde l'Etoile, to be condemned in the council of Rheims. By such zealous behaviour he verified (says Mr Bayle) the interpretation of his mother's dream. She dreamed, when she was with child of him, that she should bring forth a white dog, whose barking should be very loud. Being affrighted at this dream, she consulted a monk, who said to her, "Be of good courage; you shall have a son who shall guard the house of God, and bark loudly against the enemies of the faith." But St Bernard went even beyond the prediction, for he barked sometimes against chimerical enemies: he was more happy in exterminating the heterodox than in ruining the infidels; and yet he attacked them last, not only with the ordinary arms of his eloquence, but also with the extraordinary arms of prophecy. He preached up the crusade under Louis the Younger, and by this means he enlarged the troops of the crusaders beyond expression: but all the fine hopes with which he flattered the people were disappointed by the event; and when complaint was made that he had brought an infinite number of Christians to slaughter without going out of his own country, he cleared himself by saying that the sins of the croissants had hindered the effect of his prophecies. In short, he is said to have founded 165 monasteries, and to have wrought a great number of miracles. He died on the 20th of August, 1153, at 63 years of age. The best edition of his works is that of 1690, by Father Mabillon.

Dr Edward, a learned astronomer, linguist, and critic, was born at Perry St Paul, on the 2nd of May, 1638, and educated at Merchant-Taylor's school, and St John's college, Oxford. During his stay at school, he had laid in an uncommon fund of classical learning; so that, on his going to the university, he was a great master of all the elegancies of the Greek and Latin tongues, and not unacquainted with the Hebrew. On his settling in the university, he applied himself with great diligence to history, philology, and philosophy; and made himself master of the Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, and Coptic languages, and then applied himself to the study of the mathematics under the famous Dr Wallis. Having successively taken the degrees Bernard, degrees of bachelor and master of arts, and afterwards that of bachelor of divinity in 1668, he went to Leyden to consult several oriental manuscripts left to that university by Joseph Scaliger and Levinus Warnerus. At his return to Oxford, he collated and examined the most valuable manuscripts in the Bodleian library; which induced those who published any ancient authors, to apply to him for his observations or emendations from the manuscripts at Oxford; which he readily imparted, grudging neither time nor pains to serve the learned; and by this means he became engaged in a very extensive correspondence with the learned of most countries. In the year 1669, the famous Christopher Wren, Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford, having been appointed surveyor-general of his majesty's works, and being much detained at London by this employment, he obtained leave to name a deputy at Oxford, and pitched upon Mr Bernard, which engaged the latter in a more particular application to the study of astronomy. In 1676, he was sent by the earl of Arlington to France, in order to be tutor to the dukes of Grafton and Northumberland, sons to King Charles II. by the duchess of Cleveland, who then lived with their mother at Paris: but the simplicity of his manners not suiting the gaiety of the duchess's family, he returned about a year after to Oxford, and pursued his studies; in which he made great proficiency, as his many learned astronomical and critical works show. He composed tables of the longitudes, latitudes, right ascensions, &c. of the fixed stars; Observations in Latin on the Obliquity of the Ecliptic; and other pieces inserted in the Philosophical Transactions. He also wrote, 1. A Treatise of the ancient Weights and Measures. 2. Chronologiae Samaritanae Synopsis, in two tables. 3. Testimonies of the Ancients concerning the Greek Version of the Old Testament by the Seventy; and several other learned works. He was a person of great piety, virtue, and humanity, and died on the 12th of January, 1696, in the 59th year of his age, leaving behind him a great number of learned and valuable manuscripts.

James, professor of philosophy and mathematics, and minister of the Walloon church at Leyden, was born September 1, 1658, at Nions in Dauphine. Having studied at Geneva, he returned to France in 1679, and was chosen minister of Venteler, a village in Dauphine. Some time after, he was removed to the church of Vinsobres in the same province. But the persecutions raised against the Protestants in France having obliged him to leave his native country, he retired to Holland, where he was received with great civility, and was appointed one of the pensionary ministers of Gauda. In July 1688, he began a political publication entitled Histoire abrégée de l'Europe, &c. which he continued monthly till December 1688, and makes five volumes in 12mo. In 1692, he began his Lettres Historiques, containing an account of the most important transactions in Europe, with necessary reflections. He carried on this work, which was also published monthly, till the end of the year 1698. It was afterwards continued by other hands, and consists of a great many volumes. Mr Le Clerc having left off his Bibliothèque Universelle, in 1691, Mr Bernard wrote the greatest part of the 20th volume, and by himself carried on the five following to the year 1693. In 1698, he collected and published Bernard des Négociations de la paix de Ryswick, in four volumes 12mo. In 1699 he began the Nouvelles de la république des lettres, which continued till December 1710. Mr Bernard having acquired great reputation by his works, as well as by his sermons at Gauda, and the Hague, the congregation of the Walloon church at Leyden became extremely desirous to have him for one of their ministers; and a vacancy happening in 1705, he was unanimously chosen. About the same time, Mr de Volder professor of philosophy and mathematics at Leyden having resigned, Mr Bernard was appointed his successor; and the university presented him with the degrees of doctor of philosophy and master of arts. His public and private lectures took up a great part of his time; yet he did not neglect his pastoral function, but composed his sermons with great care: he wrote also two excellent treatises, one on a late repentance, the other on the excellency of religion. In 1716, he published a supplement to Moretius's dictionary in two volumes folio. The same year he resumed his Nouvelles de la république des lettres; which he continued till his death, which happened the 27th of April, 1718, in the 60th year of his age.

St., the Great; a mountain in Savoy and Switzerland, between Valais and the valley of Aosta, at the source of the rivers Drance and Doria. The top is always covered with snow; and there is a great monastery seated thereon, where the monks always entertain travellers without distinction of religion for three days.