CASABON, Isaac de, was born at Geneva, on the 18th February 1559, his family, which was originally from Dauphiné, having taken refuge in that city after embracing the reformed religion. He received the rudiments of his education from his father, who was latterly minister of Crest; and his progress was so rapid that at the age of nine he spoke Latin with correctness and fluency. He remained under the paternal roof till he was nineteen, when he entered upon his academical course at Geneva; and having devoted himself to the study of jurisprudence, theology, and the oriental languages, he was in 1582 found qualified to succeed his master, M. Portus, in the chair of Greek. He married Florence, daughter of M. Etienne; and, in 1596, accepted the chair of Greek and belles-lettres at Montpellier, where, however, he remained only two years, because the salary which had been promised him was ill paid. Henry IV. informed of his merit, now called him to Paris, and gave him a situation similar to that which he had held in Languedoc. But his religion, the jealousy of the other professors, and perhaps also his untractable temper, produced misunderstandings, and occasioned inconveniences, for which, however, he was amply indemnified by being appointed librarian to the king, with a salary of four hundred francs, which was a considerable sum at that period. He was one of the commissioners at the conference of Fontainbleau, between Cardinal Duperron and Duplessis Mornai, and gave his opinion in favour of the former and against the latter. It is known, indeed, that on various important points he dissented from the tenets of the reformed church; and he was even suspected of a disposition to reconcile himself to the ancient religion; a suspicion which was strengthened when his son embraced the Romish religion, and became a Capuchin. After the death of Henry IV. Casaubon went to England in the suite of Sir Henry Wotton, ambassador extraordinary of King James I. and was received with great favour by that monarch, who gave him two prebends, one at Canterbury and the other at Westminster, and, besides, conferred on him a pension of L200. Casaubon now established himself definitively in England, and died at London on the 1st of July 1614. He was buried at Westminster, where a monument was erected to his memory. The Protestants of France always doubted the sincerity of his attachment to their party; and Pierre Dumoulin, writing to Montague, bishop of Bath, said that Casaubon had a great inclination towards popery; that he only adhered to the reformed religion by reason of his doubts regarding a small number of articles; and that he would end by changing his religion; a prediction which, however, was not verified. Nevertheless, Casaubon was an able theologian, a scholar of the first order, a good translator, and an excellent critic. Pithou, De Thou, Heinsius, Gravius, and other learned men, have all given him the same character. Cardinal Duperron said of him that, in the belles-lettres, he knew more than all the Jesuits put together, which was manifestly an exaggeration; and added, that when he spoke French, he appeared to be a peasant, but when he spoke Latin, he seemed to employ his native tongue, which was not far from the truth. His Latin, however, is deformed by Gallicisms, and his historical works are not Casaubon free from inaccuracies. A complete list of his works would itself fill several columns. The principal are, 1. *In Diogenem Laertium Notae*, 1583, 8vo; 2. *Polygeni Stratagematum*, Gr. et Lat. cum Notis Casauboni, Lyons, 1589, 8vo; 3. *Aristotelis Opera*, Gr. et Lat. Lyons, 1590; 4. *Theophrasti Characteres*, Gr. et Lat. Lyons, 1622; 5. *Suetonii Opera, cum annotationibus*, Paris, 1606, 4to; 6. *Persii Satyrae, cum Comment.* Paris, 1608, 8vo; 7. *Polygii Opera, Gr. et Lat.* Paris, 1609; 8. *De Satyrice Grecorum Poesi et Romanorum Satyrae, libri duo*, Paris, 1605, 8vo; 9. *Exercitationes in Baronium*, London, 1614, folio; 10. *De Libertate Ecclesiastica, liber singularis*, 1607; 11. *Ad Frontonem Ducaeum Epistola*, London, 1611; 12. *Casauboni Epistle*, the best edition of which is that of Ameloeven, Rotterdam, 1709.

Casaubon, Meric, son of the preceding, was born at Geneva, on the 14th of August 1599. Having commenced his studies at the Protestant academy of Sedan, he followed his father to England, and went to pursue them at Christ College, Oxford, where he took the degree of master of arts in 1621. He was appointed curate of Beldon in the county of Somerset, prebendary of Canterbury, and rector of Wickham; but the great revolution which conducted Charles I. to the block deprived him of all his preferments. A proposal was afterwards made to him upon the part of Oliver Cromwell, to write the history of the civil war, a task in the performance of which he was assured that he might exercise the greatest impartiality; and at the same time a pension was offered to him with reversion to his children, and determinable only by the death of the youngest of them. But he respectfully declined to undertake the proposed work, upon the ground that it would be equally unsuitable to his character and principles, and that he might conceive himself obliged to introduce reflections which could scarcely fail to be displeasing to the protector. Notwithstanding this refusal, however, Cromwell, sensible of his integrity and worth, ordered a gratuity of L400 to be tendered him by a bookseller in London; but Casaubon, although his circumstances were then straitened, rejected the offer, which he could only consider as in reality a bribe. Christina, queen of Sweden, also attempted, by her ambassador, to induce him to repair to that country, promising him a suitable appointment; but with no better success; for he had resolved to spend the remainder of his days in England. At the restoration he was rewarded for his unalterable fidelity, by being reinstated in all his benefices, which he enjoyed till the period of his death, which happened on the 14th July 1671. He was interred in the cathedral of Canterbury, where a monument with a suitable inscription was erected to his memory. Casaubon was a pious man, charitable to the poor, of an honest and affable character, and ever ready to communicate the result of his researches. He applied himself principally to criticism, in which he succeeded better than in any other pursuit; and his erudition was varied, though by no means so profound as that of his father, from whose papers, moreover, he derived great benefit. To the philosophy of Descartes he ascribed the decline of the taste for the belles-lettres, which formed one of the characteristics of his time. His principal works are, 1. *Optati Milevianti libri vii.*, cum notis et emendatioribus, London, 1631, 8vo; 2. *Notae et Emendationes in M. Antonini libros xii.*, ibid. 1643, 8vo; 3. *De Verborum Usu et accuratae verum Cognitionis utilitate Distracta*, 1647, 12mo; 4. *De quatuor Linguis Commentationis pars prior*, 1650, 8vo; 5. *De la Nécessité de la Réformation au temps de Luther*, London, 1664; 6. *De la Credulité et de l'Incredulité*, 1668 and 1670, 8vo; 7. *La Cause première des Biens et des Mauvais qui arrivent en ce Monde*, 1642, 4to; S. Traité de l'Enthousiasme, 1655, 8vo; 9. Veritable et fidèle Relation de ce qui s'est passé entre Jean Déé et certains Esprits, 1659, fol.; 10. Défense de l'Oraison Dominicale, 1669, in reply to Dr Owen. He was also the author of several productions on ecclesiastical matters, and of notes on Terence, Epictetus, Hierocles, Florus, Diogenes Laertius in the edition of Meibomius, Polybius in the edition of Gronovius, and Persius in the London edition, 1647, 8vo. Casaubon's English style is hard and lumbering, being interlarded with Greek and Latin words, according to the usage of his time. He left a great number of manuscripts, which are preserved in one of the libraries at Oxford.