MOREL, the name of several celebrated printers to the kings of France, who, like the Stephens, were also men of great learning.

Frederic Morel, who was interpreter in the Greek and Latin tongues, as well as printer to the king, was heir to Valcozan, whose daughter he had married.—He was born in Champagne, and he died in an advanced age at Paris, 1583. His sons and grandsons trode in his steps; they distinguished themselves in literature, and maintained also the reputation which he had acquired by printing. The edition of St Gregory of Nyssa, by his son Claude Morel, is held in great estimation by the learned.

Morel, Frederic, son of the preceding, and still more celebrated than his father, was professor and interpreter to the king, and printer in ordinary for the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and French languages. He was so devoted to study, that when he was told his wife was at the point of death, he would not stir till he had finished the sentence which he had begun. Before it was finished, he was informed that she was actually dead: I am sorry for it (replied he coldly), she was an excellent woman. This printer acquired great reputation from the works which he published, which were very numerous and beautifully executed. From the manuscripts in the king's library, he published several treatises of St Basil, Theodore, St Cyril; and he accompanied them with a translation. His edition of the works of Oecumenius and Aretas, in 2 vols. folio, is much esteemed. In short, after distinguishing himself by his knowledge in the languages, he died June 27, 1630, at the age of 78. His sons and grandsons followed the same profession.

Morel, William, regius professor of Greek, and director of the king's printing house at Paris, died 1564. He composed a Dictionnaire Grec-Latin Francois, which was published in quarto in 1622, and some other works which indicate very extensive learning. His editions of the Greek authors are exceedingly beautiful. This great scholar, who was of a different family from the preceding, had a brother named John, who died in prison (where he had been confined for heresy) at the age of 20, and whose body was dug out of the grave, and burnt Feb. 27, 1559. They were of the parish of Tillieul, in the county of Mortain in Normandy.