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/365

 A R N A U D. 329 find began to ftiuly the law ; but, at the pcrfuafion of his mother and the abbot of St. Cyran, he rclblved to apply himfelf to divinity. He accorJin /ly Jtuditd in the college of the Sorbonne, under Mr. I'Efrot. This proftflor gave lectures concerning grace ; but Arnauil, not approving of hii> lenti- ments upon this fubjccl, read St. Augultm, whofe fyftem of grace he greatly preferred to that of Mr. 1'Efcot : this he publicly teftihed in his thefts, when he was examined in j6-;6, fur his bachelor's degree. After he had (pent two years more in ftudy, which, according to the laws of the faculty of Pari*, muft be between the iirlr. examination and sll rt the licenfe, he began the ads of h'.s Ik-erne at rafter, 1638,^'* and continued th.-m to Lent, 1640. He maintained the aft of vefpers the i8th of December, 1641, and the following day put on the doctor's cap. He nad begun his licenle without being entered in form at the Sorbonne, and was thereby rendered incapable of being admitted, according to the ordinary rules. The fociety, on account of his extraor- dinary merit, requcfted of cardinal Richelieu, their provifor, that he might be admitted, though contrary to form ; which, however, was refufed : but the year after Richelieu's death, he obtained this honour. In 16-1.3, he puMifhed his "Treatife 64 on frequent Communion," which highly dilpleafed the Jefuits. They refuted it both from the pulpit and the prefs, repreiVnting it as containing a molt pernicious doctrine: and the difp ites upon grace, which broke out at thi rime in the univerfny of Paris, helped to increafe 'he animofity between the Jefuics and Mr. Arnaud, who took part with the Jan- feniits, and fupported their tenets with great zeal [B_|. But nothing raifed fo great a clamour againll him, as the two let- ters which he wiore upon abfolution having been refufed by a prieft to the duke of Lianc -ur, a greit friend of the Port Ro)al [c]. In the fecond of iheie lctt?rs, the faculty of di- vinity [B] "On one fide," fjys Vo'taire, ti n by the fword as well as the gown. " a doctor named Habert, mv. id. ' His genius and partiuilar fituatioit " agamft the d.'liine of Janfenius wi h ' determined him to be a controverful " gre:t warmth. t>n tlie c-hcr fi. e, ' wiitrr, and to m.-ke hi ~ef head of " t!<e famous Arnaim, a JifcipU of Si. " a partv ; a k ^d ot ambition, to '* Cyran, detVn-(fd Janfenifm with the tl wh ch tvery 'th-r gives place. He " moft nervous eloquence, c h ted " carried ^n the con'roverfv againft ihe " the Jefuits more than he 1 VL-, -. Ifi " Jcfuit* and the proteft nts till his  cacious grace; nd was flili more ' e.ghtif h year. Age ot Lewis XI V, " fity againft their eftablifliment His his houfe the Abbe De Bourzeys. it J' anceftors had acquired great reputa- happened in the year 1655, that the duke
 * ' hated by them, as the (on of a man chap, xxxiii.
 * ' who, having been bie- 1 up to the bar, [cj This duke educated his grand-
 * had pleaded warmly tor the univer- daughter at Port Roy.il, and kept in