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/339

 A R E T I N. 303 old [D}. It is faid by fomc-, that he fell into fuch a fit of Jaughter, on hcarin; 1 ; fome fmutty conversation, that heAnt. Lau- ovcrturncc) the chair upon which he tat, raid th.it falling lic rcn P |lts - . . . ,. . . mi- ID Dial hurt his head, and died upon the (pot. Aietin wrote lome,j er jf u _ -g^ verfes againit Peter Stro/./j, but he heartily repented of this,k rr.i ; .-.n - for Stro-/,zi, being a refolute man, threatened to have him Jlabbed in his bed ; which fo frightened the poet, that lie ^ pra 'cuic- durlt not allow any body to come into his honk-, nor nad hec die courage to go out oi it hiniiclr, as Jong as Strozzi itaid in tlie Hate of Venice. [D] Mr. Moron fays, that Arctin died at Venice, and gives the following lines as his epitaph : Condit Are'.ini cinerc? bpis ipfe fepulto;, Mort.'les atro qui L'e perfriouit. ' t.dtus Deus cftilli, caufamqus rogatus Hanc dedir, " Ille, inquit, non mihi notui erat." Here Aretin the bitter Tufcan lies, A man who never ceas'J to Utirize The w hole human race ; Gold alone was free, He gave this reafon, " Ht's unknown to me." ARGENS (JEAN BAPTISTE DE BOYER, Marquis de), a French writer, famous rather for the number than weight of his productions, was born at Aix in Provence, 1704. His talents difcovered therofelves early, and his father in- tended him for the magiftracy ; but a gallant and voluptuous humour difpofed him rather to the military, in which he ferved fome time. Difgufted however with this profeffion, he pafled into Holland, and devoted himfelf to the exercife of the pen ; when the king of Prufiia gave him an invitation, and attached him to him in quality of chamberlain. After having fpent about five and twenty years with this monarch, he began to look towards his native country, and returned to Aix> where he lived like a philofopher, and died at the end of 1770. He had an ardent defire of knowledge, and knew a great deal. He was matter of many langu.ic.es : he painted very well; and was a confiderable proficient in anatomy and chemiftry. His works are very weil known to the public, the principal of whi:h are, " Lettres Juives," " Lettres Chi- " noifes," " Lettres Cabaiiftiques," ' Philofophie du bon " fens," &c. &c. He tranflated alfo from the Greek into French, " Ocellus Lucanu?," and '* Julian's difccurfe upon " Paganifm." There is learning, knowledge, and good fenfe, fcattered through all his writings ; but they are very little favourable to religion - t on the contrary, they are itrongly