Claude Gaspar Basset Sieur de, one of the most ingenious men of the 17th century, was born at Bresse, of an ancient and noble family. He was a good poet in French, Italian, and Latin; an excellent grammarian, a great Greek scholar, and an admirable critic. He was well versed in the controversies, both in philosophy and religion; and was deeply skilled in algebra and geometry, of the former of which he gave proof by publishing the six books of Diophantus, enriched with a very able commentary and notes. In his youth he spent a considerable time at Paris and at Rome; at which last place he wrote a small collection of Italian poems, in competition with Vaugelas, who was there at the same time; among which there are imitations of the most beautiful lines contained in the first eight books of the Æneid. He also translated Ovid's Epistles; a great part of which he illustrated with very curious commentaries of his own. While he