Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/250

 214 A M Y O T. natural defecls. Having taken the degree of Matter of Arfs atf nineteen, he purfued his ftudies under the ro.al prefVflbrg eftdblifhed by Francis I. viz. James Tufen, who explained the Greek poets ; Peter Dones, profeflbr of rhetoric ; and Oronce Fine, profeflbr of mathematics. He left Paris at the, age of twenty-three, and went to Bourges with the fieur Co- lin, who had the abbev of St. Ambrofe in that city. At the recommendation of this abbot, a fecretary of Mate took Am- yot into his houfe, to be tutor to his children. The great improvements they made under his direction induced the fe- cretary to recommend him to the princefs Margaret duchefs of Berry, only fifter of Francis I. and by means of this re- commendation Amyot was made public profefibr of Greel^ and Latin in theuniverfity of Bourges : he read two lectures ^ day for ten years, a Latin lecture in the morning, and a Creek one in the afternoon. It was during this time h tranfiated into French the " Amours of Thea^enes and Cha- O riclea," which Francis I. was fopleafed with, that he confer- red upon him the abbey of Bcllofane. The death of this prince happening foon after, Amyot thought it would be bet- ter .to try his fortune el fe where, than to expect any prefer- ment at the court of France ; he therefore accompanied Mor- villier to Venice, on his embafly from Henry II. to that re- public. When Morvillier was recalled from his embafTy, Amyot would not repafs the Alps with him, choofmg rather to go to Rome, where he was kindly received by the bifhop of Mirepoix, at whofe houfe he lived two years. It was here, that, looking over the manufcripts of the Vatican, he discovered that Heiiodorus, bifhop of Tiicca, was the author of the "Amours of Theagenes :" and finding alfoa manufcript more correct and complete than that which he had tranflated ? he was enabled thereby to give a better edition of this work. His labours, however, in this way did not engage him fo, as to divert him from pulhing his fortune : he infmuated himfelf fo far into the favour of cardinal De Tournon, that the car- dinal recommended him to the king, to be preceptor to his two younger fons. While he was in this employment hq finifhed his tranflation of Plutarch's Lives, which he dedica- ted to the king; and afterwards undertook that of Plutarch's Morals, which he ended in the reign of Charles IX. and de- dicated to that prince. Charles conferred upon him the ab- bey of St. Cornelius de Compiegne, and made him great al- moner of France and bifhop of Auxerrej and the place of great almoner and that of curator of the univerfny of Paris Happening to be vacant at the fame time, he was alfo inveftecl