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/431

 A T T I C U S. 395 Atticus was extremely fond of polite literature; he ought to be ranked amoiv.: the r he wrote Annals, which Cicero declares to have hccn ('I Mime ulc to him. HelnBrutot was of the fe<5t of Epicurus ; and, thou;>,h many have thought tint it is impofiihk- (or a denier of a Providence to equ.il in morality an acknowledger of the Gods, yet Bayle defies any one to ihevv a perfon of greater integrity than Atticus among the moft bigoted of the Pagans. AURIGNE (TiiF.onoRE AGRIPPA D'), a very illuftrious Frenchman, and grandfather of the no left, illuftrious madamc de Maintenon, was born about the year 1550. His parts were fo uncommon, and his progrefs in letters fo very rapid, thatheisfaid to havetranflated the " Crito" of Plato from the Greek into French, when no more than eight years old. His father dying when he was thirteen, and leaving him no- thing but his name and his debts, he attached himfclf to the perfon and caufe of Henry IV. imagining that his fword would provide for him better than his pen. Henry made him gentleman of his bedchamber, and raifed him fucceflively to feveral high offices and commands; and Aubigne was ab- iolutely a favourite with him : but he loft at length his fa- vour, partly hy refilling to comply wilh the paffions of his mafter, but chiefly by a certain hardncfs and inflexibility of temper, which is not agreeable to any body, but is particularly difgufting to kings, and all who think that fome homage is due to fjperiority of ttation. He quitted therefore the court of Henry, and afterwards the kingdom, and took refuge at Geneva, where he met with the moll welcome reception, and was diftinguifhcd with the highefr. honours. Here hefpent a good portion of his time in writing, and is the author of fe- veral productions. His principal work is " Hiftoire Uni- " veifelle, from 1550 to 1601, with a fhort Account of 1616, 1618, 1620, and 1626. I he firft volume was fcarcely publifhed, when the parliament of Paris caufed it to be burnt, as a production wherein kings arc not only treated with little refpecft, but lometimes outraged ; as Henry III. whofc reign, as reprelented by Aubigne, mipires a reader with con- tempt and horror. Aubigne died at Geneva in 1630, aged eighty. A life of him, written by himfelf, was printed in 1729. AUDREY (JOHN), an eminent Englifh antiquary, de- i'cended from an ancient family in Wiltfliire, was born at EaUon-Piers in that county, November 3, 1625 or 1626; 5 He
 * ' the Death of Henrv TV." in three volumes, folio, printed