brews," was afterwards inserted among the "Critici Sacri.""

THEODORE BEZA, one of the most eminent of the reformers, was born at Vezelai, a small town of Nivernois, in France, June 24th, 1519. His father, Peter Beza, or De Beze, was bailiff of the town. His first years were passed at Paris under the care of his uncle De Beze, a counsellor of parliament, who sent him at six years of age to Orleans, in order to be educated under Melchior Wolinar, noted for his skill in the Greek, and one of the first who introduced the principles of the Reformation into France, whom he accompanied to Bourges, and with whom he remained until 1535. He was originally intended for the bar, but the study of the law not suiting his disposition, he ardently pursued classic literature, and devoted his time principally to the reading of Greek and Roman authors, and composing verses. In 1539, he took his licentiate's degree, at Orleans. He soon after returned to Paris, and was presented to two benefices, to which was joined the expectation of the rich abbey of Frigidimontanus, which the abbot, his uncle, designed to resign in his favour. The ample revenue of Beza, and the prospect of increasing wealth, produced a baleful influence on his mind, and he gave way to dissipation and licentiousness, though not without frequent resolutions of amendment, occasioned by the remonstrances of his friends, and the recollection of the instructions of Melchior Wolmar. At this period he privately married a young woman, but kept his marriage secret, for fear of losing his preferments. Hitherto he had not avowed his attachment to the cause of the Reformation, but, alarmed by a fit of sickness in which his life was despaired of, he determined, on his recovery, to devote his life to the service of reli

(21) Nouv. Dict. Hist. II. p. 103.

Le Long, II. p. 636. Paris, 1723.

Monumenta Litteraria ex Hist. Thuan, p.321.

As soon

gion, and a preparation for a future state. therefore as health was restored, he resigned his benefices, and withdrew to Geneva, where he publicly celebrated his marriage, and abjured the tenets of popery, in 1548. The year following he was appointed Greek professor at Lausanne, where he remained for ten years, and not only published several works which increased his reputation, but also read lectures on the New Testament to the French refugees in that city. Among the works he published, during this period we must enumerate his French Poetical Translation of such of the PSALMS as had not been translated by Clement Marot; and his Latin Translation of the NEW TESTAMENT, with Notes, first printed by Robert Stephens, in 1556, in fol., and afterwards revised and published with the Greek text. In 1559, he left Lausanne to settle at Geneva, where he was admitted a citizen at the request of Calvin, whose associate he became in the church, and by whose interest he was placed in the office of rector of the academy. About the same time he was delegated by the senate of Geneva, to confer with the king of Navarre respecting the Reformation, and so completely succeeded in his mission, that the reformed religion was publicly preached at Nerac, the residence of the king and queen of Navarre, a church was built, and, in the course of the following year, the queen ordered the monasteries to be destroyed. In 1561, he attended the conference of Poissy; and afterwards preached frequently before the king of Navarre and the prince of Condé, in Paris. He did not return to Geneva, until after the peace of 1563, when he resumed his place in the academy, or college, which Calvin had founded. He was afterwards engaged as a zealous and active advocate in several synods held on ecclesiastical affairs. In 1588, his wife, Claudia Denosa, died, with whom he had lived in conjugal felicity for about forty years, and who bore an excellent character, as diligent, frugal, and affectionate.

Some months afterwards he attended a synod at Berne, with Anthony la Faye, and John Rotan, as deputies from Geneva. At length, by the advice of his friends, he entered a second time into the married state, and took to wife Catharine Plania, the widow of Francis Taruff, of Genoa, who afforded him every attention under his increasing infirmities. His declining strength obliged him, in the year 1600, to discontinue his public lectures. He died in peace, October 13th, 1605, in the 87th year of his age."

In 1581, Beza presented to the university of Cambridge, an ancient Greek and Latin MS. containing the Four Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles, written on vellum, in 4to.in uncial, or capital letters, without accents, and without spaces between the words. Sixty-six leaves of it are much torn and mutilated, and ten of them have been supplied by a later transcriber;-it is supposed to have been written in the fifth century. A splendid facsimile of it was published by the Rev. Dr. Kipling, at Cambridge, under the patronage, and at the expense of the university, in 2 vols. atlas folio, in 1793. This MS. is usually termed the Codex Beza, and sometimes Coder Cantabrigiensis. It was found at Lyons, in the monastery of St. Irenæus, in the year 1562, at the commencement of the civil war in France.2

23

At the same time, he presented to the lord treasurer, chancellor of that university, a POLYGLOTT PENTATEUCH, to be deposited in the new library establishing under his sanction. It was brought by the nephew of the chancellor, Anthony Bacon, who had visited Beza, at Geneva. Beza, in his letter to the chancellor, calls it an Hexaglott,

(22) Melch. Adam, Decades Duæ continent. Vit. Theolog. Exter. pp. 202-245. Francof. 1653, 8vo.

Chalmers' Gen. Biog. Dict. V. pp. 213-220.

(23) Horne's Introduction to the Critical Study of the Bible, II. App. pp. 110-114. Lond. 1818, 8vo.

Marsh's Michaelis, II. p. 236.

and says it contains "the Arabic, Persian, barbarous Greek, and ancient Spanish, set forth for the use of the Jewish Synagogues; besides the Hebrew, and the Chaldee;" printed either at Constantine in Africa, or at Constantinople. In another letter addressed to the chancellor, the following year, he advises him to procure the printing of it; or "at least the Persian, Arabic and Vulgar Greek versions, with the Hebrew; which might" he said, “be done at no great charge by Plantin, at Antwerp; and that such an edition would be highly profitable to the whole Christian world, and procure himself an immortal name."" This Polyglott Pentateuch was probably composed of the two Pentateuchs printed at Constantinople, in 1546, and 1547, in fol.

ANTHONY FAYUS, or LA FAYE, another of the learned pastors employed in the revision of the Genevan Bible, was born at Chateau-Dun, in France. He became professor of divinity and minister at Geneva, and accompanied Theodore Beza, and John Baptiste Rotan, as deputy to the synod at Berne. He died in 1616. He was the author of various works, particularly, 1. Commentaries on the Psalms, Ecclesiastes, the Epistle to the Romans, and the first Epistle to Timothy; 2. Disputatio de Vernaculis Bibliorum Interpretationibus, &c.; or "Defence of Vernacular Translations of the Bible;" Genev. 1572, 4to. 3. A Life of Theod. Beza, in Latin; to whose memory he, with others, caused a monument to be erected, of which he wrote the inscription."

JOHN JAQUEMOT, one of the ministers of Geneva, was a native of Bar, in France. He published a lyric translation of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, Geneva, 1591, 8vo. SIMON GOULART, minister of Geneva, was born at Sen

(24) Strype's Annals, III. ch. vii, pp. 76, 77.

(25) Le Long, II. p. 722.

Melch, Adami Decades Duæ, pp. 236, 237, 245.

(26) Le Long, II. p. 792.

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lis near Paris, in 1543. He studied at Geneva, and died there in 1628. He was a man of irreproachable character both in private and public life, and indefatigable as an author. Among his works are, 1. Translations of Seneca; and of Cyprian De Lapsis. 2. Morum Philosophia Historica. 3. Histoires admirables de nostre temps. 4. Notes on Plutarch's Works, translated by Amyot; and several Devotional Treatises."

He was

JOHN BAPTISTE ROTAN was born at Geneva. deputy from Geneva with Theod. Beza, and Ant. Fayus, to the synod at Berne, assembled in 1588, to decide a controversy between Samuel Huber and the other ministers of Berne; and another created at Lausanne by Claudius Alberius, respecting justification. He afterwards became minister of Rochelle, and at the synod of Montauban, in 1594, was deputed to attend it by the churches of Xaintonges or Saintonge, Aulnis, and Angoulmois, and was elected assessor of the synod. He was subsequently the minister of Castres, and died there.25

Beside the translations of the Bible already noticed as published at Geneva, those by SEBASTIAN CASTALIO claim our attention. This erudite but eccentric divine was for some years regent in the college of Geneva, having obtained that situation through the interest of Calvin, who was for some time particularly attached to him. During his residence at Geneva, he projected and commenced a LATIN translation of the Bible, from the Hebrew and Greek, which he afterwards completed at Basil, or Bâsle, where it was printed in 1551, in fol. with Notes by John Oporinus. The translation occupied Castalio nearly nine years, being begun in 1542, and finished in 1550. It is dedicated to Edward VI.'king of

(27) Lempriere's Univ. Biog.

Leigh's Treatise of Religion and Learning, p. 211. Lond. 1656, fol. (28) Quick's Synodicon, I. p. 174.

Melchior Adami Decad, Duæ, p. 229.