Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 58.djvu/403

Vossius natalem præcessere Oraculis’ (‘e Theatro Sheldoniano,’ Oxford, 1679, 8vo; Leyden, 1680, 12mo), the main contention of which was fairly refuted by Reiskius, ‘Exercitationes,’ 1688, and later by Fontenelle. A short passage of arms followed upon the old battleground of the Septuagint, but before his adversary, Richard Simon, had time to reply (see R. Simonis Critica Opuscula adversus L. Vossium, 1685), the versatile Vossius was engaged upon an edition of Catullus (London, 1684, 4to), with a commentary rich in erudition, though disfigured, as some held, by an excursus (which was practically a résumé of the suppressed work of Adrian Beverland), ‘De prostibulis veterum’ (see, Nouvelles de la Républ. des Lettres, June 1684). Next year appeared ‘Variarum Observationum liber’ (London, 1685, 4to), containing a dissertation of interest ‘De Triremium et Liburnicarum constructione,’ which Grævius inserted in the twelfth volume of his ‘Thesaurus Antiquitatum Romanorum’ (it is referred to with commendation in Smith of Jordanhill's ‘Dissertation’ on the ‘Navigation of the Ancients,’ ed. 1880, p. 223), a treatise ‘De Origine et progressu pulveris bellici,’ and another opuscule, ‘De antiquæ Romæ magnitudine’ (Thesaurus Antiq. Rom. vol. iv.). Throughout this work Vossius gave free rein to his capricious imagination and to his love of paradox. He passes an extravagant eulogy on the Chinese civilisation, and tries to prove that the population of Rome was fourteen millions, and that its area was twenty times greater than that of Paris and London combined. (He introduces some flattering remarks about Charles II and upon the country of his adoption, see pp. 65 seq.; but his alleged depreciation of the size of London elicited several replies, notably London bigger than Old Rome demonstrated … against Vossius, by De Souligné, London, 1701 and 1710). Evelyn, who was delighted with their ingenuity, mentions several other opuscules, notably one ‘Περὶ ταχυπλοία,’ on the subject of tacking in navigation, which was never published; he was also greatly diverted by a note of Vossius upon a certain harmony which was produced in the east by the snapping of drivers' whips (Evelyn to Pepys, 23 Sept. 1685).

Among the labours of his last years were some annotations upon the works of his father, particularly the ‘Etymologicon,’ and an edition of the ‘Satires’ of Juvenal (London, 1685, 4to, and 1695). Some corrections by him were included in the 1695 edition of Anacreon, ‘variæ lectiones ex notulis I. Vossii,’ appeared in the Lucretius of 1725, and some notes by him were embodied in the edition of Hesychius of Alexandria, published at Leyden in 1746, fol. He also made some notes on Arrian, which were included in the large edition of 1842. His objections to the accented pronunciation of Greek were answered by W. Primatt in his ‘Accentus Redivivi’ (1764).

Vossius fell ill during the winter of 1688–1689. According to the story told by Des Maizeaux and Nicéron, he obstinately refused to conform to the usages of religion and receive the sacrament until two of his fellow canons urged that if not for the good of his soul, he must needs comply for the honour of the chapter. He died at Windsor on 21 Feb. 1688–9. A warrant was issued from Whitehall on 20 May for the grant of his prebend to John Maynard (State Papers, Dom. 1689–90, p. 111; see under, (1600–1665)).

According to Wood, Vossius had accumulated the finest private library in the whole world. It included 762 manuscripts which his enemies described as ‘spoils.’ A catalogue of these was drawn up by Colomiès, and is now in the Bodleian (Cod. Tanneri, 271; cf. Brit. Mus. Eg. MS. 2260, f. 142); 3,000l. was offered by the university of Oxford for the library in September 1710, but on 10 Oct. it was sold to Leyden for thirty-six thousand florins (Reliq. Hearn. i. 207). Evelyn bitterly deplored the loss to the country. ‘Where are our rich men? he asked. Will the Nepotismo never be satisfied?’ (Diary, iii. 306, 308). A large number of the original letters of Vossius are preserved in the Bodleian, and form nine quarto volumes. Others included in the d'Orville collection were purchased by the Bodleian in 1805. The same library has the ‘Codex Vossianus,’ a Latin psalter of the tenth century, in Anglo-Saxon characters (see, Palæographia Sacra, and Facsimiles, 1868, p. 100, and Plate xxxiv). The British Museum has a Greek Testament (1620, fol.), with manuscript notes and readings by Vossius. Most of his books were included in the ‘Index librorum prohibitorum,’ some of them, it is said, against the advice of Mabillon, the usual referee in such matters between 1680 and 1705 (see, Der Index der verbotenen Bücher, 1885, ii. 115, 152). Vossius's correspondence with Heinsius comprises the third volume of the ‘Sylloges Epistolarum’ of Burmannus (1727), and other letters to the same correspondent are in Addit. MS. 5158.
 * [Le Neve's Fasti Eccl. Angl. i. 404; Wood's Fasti Oxon. ed. Bliss, ii. 323; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714; Gent. Mag. 1796, ii. 717; Nicéron's Mémoires, vols. vii. viii. and xiii. 89–