Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/98

 82 SIMON SIMON, ABRAHAM (1622-1692), medallist and mod- eller, was born in Yorkshire in 1622. He was originally intended for the church, but turned his attention to art, and, after studying in Holland, proceeded to Sweden, where he was employed by Queen Christina, in whose train he travelled to Paris. He returned to England before the outbreak of the Civil War, and attained celebrity by his medals and portraits modelled in wax. During the Commonwealth he executed many medals of leading Parliamentarians, and. at the Restoration he was patronized by Charles II., from whom he received a hundred guineas for his portrait designed as a medal for the proposed order of the Royal Oak. Having incurred the displeasure of the duke of York, he lost the favour of the court, and died in obscurity in 1692. Among the more interesting of his medals are those of the second earl of Dunfermline, the second earl of Lauderdale, and the first earl of London ; that of the duke of Albemarle, and many other fine medals, were modelled by Abraham Simon and chased by his younger brother Thomas, noticed below. SIMON, RICHARD (1638-1712), the "father of Biblical criticism," was born at Dieppe on the 13th May 1638. His early studies were carried on at the college of the Fathers of the Oratory in that city. He was soon, by the kindness of a friend who discerned the germs of those talents which were afterwards to render him so celebrated, removed to Paris and enabled to enter upon the study of theology, where he early displayed a taste for Hebrew and other Oriental languages. He was allowed great indulgence in the prosecution of his studies by the authorities of the Congregation of the Oratory, being exempted from those exercises of piety which for an entire year were binding on the other students. This dispensation aroused the ill-will and jealousy of the other Oratorian novitiates. Simon was charged with reading "heretical" books, this designation being applied to Walton's Polyglott, the Critici Sacri, and other works of a similar kind. But this jealous opposition proved abortive. Simon, after investigation, was allowed and encouraged to continue his favourite pursuits. At the end of his theological course he was sent, according to custom, to teach philosophy at Juilly, where there was one of the colleges of the Oratory. But he was soon recalled to Paris, and employed in the congenial labour of preparing a catalogue of the Oriental books in the library of the Oratory. This gave him full access to those works, the fruits of the study of which appear so fully in his after writings. His first essay in authorship was the publication of a work entitled Fides JEcclesise Orientalis, sen Gabrielis Metropolitan Philadelphiensis Opuscula, cum interpretatione Latina, cum notis (Paris, 1671), the object of which was to demonstrate that the belief of the Greek Church regarding the Eucharist was the same as that of the Church of Rome. Simon entered the priesthood in 1670, and the same year wrote a pamphlet in defence of the Jews of Metz, who had been accused, as they have so often been before and since, of having murdered a Christian child. It was shortly before this time that there were sown the seeds of that enmity with the Port Royalists which filled Simon's after life with many bitter troubles. The famous Arnauld had written a work on the Perpetuity of the Faith, the first volume of which treated of the Eucharist. M. Diroys, a doctor of theology, and a friend of Arnauld's, asked Simon his opinion of the book. Simon replied that it was one of the best works which had been published by the Port Royalists, but that it nevertheless required correction in several important passages, and agreed reluctantly, and after some delay, at Diroys's request, to write a letter referring to these passages, on the understanding that the original was to be returned to him. The criticisms of Simon excited great indignation among the friends and admirers of Arnauld, and he felt the effects of their vin- dictiveness to the latest hour of his life. Another matter was the cause of inciting against him the ill-will of the monks of the Benedictine order. A friend of Simon's, one of the Oratorians, was engaged in a lawsuit, in his capacity as grand vicar of Prince Neubourg, abbe of Fc'carnp, with the Benedictine monks of that establishment. Simon lent to his friend the aid of his powerful pen, and composed a memorandum in which he employed pretty strong language against the opponents of his friend. They were greatly exasperated, and made loud complaints to the new general of the Oratory that they were virulently assailed by a member of the brotherhood, with which they had always been on friendly terms. The charge of Jesuitism was also brought against Simon, apparently on no other ground than that his friend's brother was an eminent member of that order. The commotion in ecclesiastical circles was great, and it was seriously contemplated to remove Simon not only from Paris but from France. A mission to Rome was proposed to him, but he saw through the design, and, after a short delay dictated by prudential motives, declined the proposal. He was engaged at the time in superin- tending the printing of his -Histoire Critique du Vieux Testament. He had hoped, through the influence of Pere la Chaise, the king's confessor, and the Due de Montausier, to be allowed to dedicate the work to Louis XIV., but as His Majesty was absent in Flanders at the time the volume could not be published until the king had accepted the dedication, though it had passed the censorship of the Sorbonne, and the chancellor of the Oratory had given his imprimatur. The printer of the book, in order to promote the sale, had caused the titles of the various chapters to be printed separately, and to be put in circulation. These, or possibly a copy of the work itself, had happened to come into the hands of his ever-watchful enemies the Port Royalists. It seems that, with a view to injure the sale of the work, which it was well known in theological circles had been long in preparation by Simon, the Messieurs de Port Royal had undertaken a translation into French of the Prolegomena to Walton's Polyglott. To counteract this proceeding Simon announced his intention of publishing an annotated edition of the Prolegomena, and actually added to the Critical History a translation of the last four chapters of that work, which had formed no part of his original plan. Simon's announcement prevented the appearance of the projected translation, but his enemies Avere all the more irritated against him on that account. They had now obtained the opportunity, which they had long been seeking, of gratifying their hatred of the bold Oratorian. The freedom with which Simon expressed himself on vari- ous topics, and especially those chapters in which he de- clared that Moses could not be the author of much in the writings attributed to him, especially aroused their opposi- tion. The powerful influence of Bossuet, at that time tutor to the dauphin, was invoked ; the chancellor Le Tellier lent his assistance ; a decree of the council of state was obtained, and after a series of paltry intrigues the whole impression, consisting of 1300 copies, was seized by the police and destroyed, and the animosity of his colleagues in the Oratory rose to so great a height against Simon for having so seriously compromised their order by his work that he was declared to be no longer a member of their body. Full of bitterness and disgust Simon retired to the curacy of Bolleville, to which he had been lately appointed by the vicar-general of the abbey of F6camp. The work thus confiscated in France it was proposed to republish in Holland. Simon, however, at first opposed this, in hopes of overcoming the opposition of Bossuet by