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 death. He was one of the very first to make Descartes known in Europe. On his return to his native land, he determined to plant the young tree of philosophy in Hungarian soil, to spread knowledge and culture , and to found a scientific academy. Unfortunately he was not a man of commanding and original genius, and he had to contend with the difficulties that invari­ably beset the pioneer. People did not understand his ideas, and his efforts failed. Cseri was first, among Hungarian authors, to raise his voice against serfdom.

The catastrophe of his life was connected with the visit of the English scholar, Isaac Basire, to Transylvania. Isaac Basire's life was a ebequered one. He was born at Rouen in 1607, and became chaplain to Charles I. After the king was beheaded, Basire went to Constantinople as a doctor, and from Turkey to Transylvania, where one of the successors of Gabriel Bethlen, George Rákóczy II., made hím a professor at Gyulafehérvár. Here he at once carne face to face with Apácai Cseri. The latter, after studying in Holland and England, had carried Presbyterian prin­ciples home with hím, while Basire, the Court chaplain, was naturally Episcopalian. The controversies of the English Church were thus transplanted into Transylvania, and the prince commanded the two scholars to discuss their differences in public debate. The debate took place, and the Episcopal doctrines of Basire fo und favour with the audience, and he carried the day. On his defeat, Apácai was deprived of his chair at the high school, and given employment at a much less important school at Kolozsvár, where the great idealist died at the age of thirty-five. The victorious Basire then returned to England and entered the service of Charles II. The other Protestant high school was that of Sárospatak.