URBAN (1612-1701), a learned writer, was born at Loudon in Poitou. He early distinguished himself in the study of the belles-lettres, and was appointed secretary to Queen Christina of Sweden. After spending some time at the court of Denmark, he was employed as counsellor by Charles Louis, the elector palatine; and on the death of that prince he returned to France, where he became tutor to the Duke of Maine. His principal work, the Histoire du Monde, Paris, 1686, 2 vols. 4to, he is alleged by some to have taken without acknowledgment from the Theatrum Universum of Christian Mathias; but this charge has not been substantiated.