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/367

 A R N A U D. Jifts againft a man who made ufe of fuch fort nf weapons [E], The principal books Ahich he wrote alter his deparrure from }<<ance, were a piece concerning '* Maibranche'a Syflem of " Nature and Grace," one on the * k Morals ot rhe Jefuits," and " a tr^atife relating to lome proportions ot Mr. " Stcyaert" [F]. In this laft performance he attacks father Simon, concerning the infpiration ot the; holy Scriptures, and the tranflating of the Bible into the vulgar tongue. A catalogue of all his works may be feen in Mo-eri. He died on thegth of A'.s^ulr, 1694, aged eighty-two years and lix months : his illnels lailed about a week. He had a remark.ible (tren^th of genius, memory, and command of his pen, nor did thefe decay even to the laft year of his life. Mr. -Bay le fays, he had been told by perfons who had been admitted into his familiar co.iverfation, that he was a man very fimple in hi* IM aners ; an i that, unieii; any one propof.d fome que- ftion to him, or ddired feme information, he (aid nothing that was beyond common converfation, or that might make one take him for a man uf great abilities ; but when he fet him- felf o give ?n anfwer to iucn as propofed a point of learning, he feerr.ed as it were transformed into another man : ho would tht-n deliver a multitude of fine things with great per- fpicuity and learning, and had a particular talent at making himfelf intelligible to perfons of not the greatelt penetration. His heart, at his own requelr, was fent to be deposited in the Port Royal. The Jefuits have been much cenfured for carrying their refentment fo far as to get the (beet fupprelled, which Mr. Perrault had written concerning Mr. Arnaud, in his " Collec- [t] Mr. Bayle tells Whof a young " putationof the author, and that ea- Janfe"i.1, who, fpeaking JK the effect " gernefs for difputes then fo prevalenr. of this latire, corr-p ired Mr. Arnaud to  People, however, grew more cool by the ancient city of Troy, which was im- " degrees, and thefe books are now pregnable to the attack of the hraveft " en'.ircly forgotten. Of all h;s writ- warriors, and a thnufand (hips, and was  i n g s > norie are now regarded but thole at laft taken bv theftratagemofa delerter " upon reafoning ; fuch as his  Trea- and a wooden hr/rle. " tife upon Geometry," his ' Ratio- [rj M. Voltaire, perhaps from an " nal Grammar," and his " Logic," aver(-,on to all controverfial writings, " all which fubjefls "he very much, fpsaks with contempt of thofe of Ar- ' ftudied No man ever had, perhaps, naud : " He publifhed," fays this au- " a greater turn for philofophical en- thor, " no lefs than one hundred and ' quiries; but his philofophy was vi- " four volumes, of which there is hard- lt tinted by that party fpirit which hur.  Ivor-.ethat can be ranked amongft ' ried him way, andwni'h, for fixty " thofe claffical books which do honour " years, invuived a geniu.-, formed to " to the a lie of Lewis XIV. and are de- " enlighten mankind, in fcholaOic drf- " pofued in the libraries of different " putes, and all thofe evils fo ftrongly f vpguc in his own time, from the re- A^e of Lewis XI V. chap. $xxiii.
 * ' nations. All his works were in high " connected with cbftinacy of opinion."
 * tioq