Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/618

BIG homicide drove the man of the fierce heart, but gentle trade, to Verona, where he worked for the nobles and for half the rich men of Europe, who could not appreciate a flower till it was painted.—W. T.  BIGIO,, born at Florence in 1445. Painted architecture, animals, and landscapes. Died in 1525.  BIGLAND,, an English miscellaneous writer, born at Skirlaugh, in the county of York, followed the profession of a schoolmaster until his fiftieth year, when the success of his first work, "Reflections on the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ," determined his adoption of a literary career. He published a series of popular works on subjects of history, geography, and natural history; particularly "Letters on the Study and Use of Ancient and Modern History," and an account of his native county, Yorkshire, forming the 16th volume of the Beauties of England and Wales. Died at Finningley, near Doncaster, in 1832.—J. S., G.  BIGLAND,, garter king-at-arms, born at Kendal in Westmoreland, 1711; died in London, 1784. He collected, in the course of his antiquarian researches, materials for a history of Gloucestershire, which have been in part published by his son.  BIGLIA,, an Italian historian, died at Sienna in 1435. He was distinguished for his profound knowledge of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew; author of "Historia rerum Mediolanensium," inserted by Muratori in the 19th volume of Scriptores rerum Italicarum.  * BIGNAN,, a masculine poet, notwithstanding his christian name; born at Lyons in 1795. Although the French Academy have at four different times crowned his muse with their authoritative approbation, yet he is best known by his translations of Greek poets. As one of the classic school, against which that called the romantic wages implacable war, M. Bignan only enjoys favour in the rather fastidious circle which eschews innovation as a sort of sacrilege against the gods of Greece, dressed up in the flowing wigs of the artificial period of the old monarchy. A volume of evangelical poems from his pen has been much admired for purity and elevation of sentiment.—J. F. C.  BIGNE,, a French theologian, doctor of the Sorbonne, and successively canon of Bayeux, and deacon of the church of Mans, was born at Bernières-le-Patry in 1546, and died at Paris in 1590. He resigned his canonry in 1581, in consequence of a dispute which arose between him and his bishop at the council of Rouen. His principal work is a collection of the Fathers, under the title of "Bibliotheca vet. Patrum et antiq. script, ecclesiasticorum Latine."—J. S., G.  BIGNES,, born about 1428 in the diocese of Bayeux in Normandy. Brought up by the Cardinal Desprez, he took orders, was chaplain to Philippe de Valois, John II., and Charles II. Falconry was the great amusement of Philippe de Valois and John, which led to Bignes' "Roman des Oyseaulx." This poem is an essay on falconry, in which he describes minutely the modes of rearing and training the falcon.—J. A., D. <section end="618H" /> <section begin="618I" />BIGNICOURT,, born at Rheims, 1709; died at Paris in 1755; held some judicial office at Rheims; wrote poems, "Poésies Latines et Françaises." His French poems posess the charm of ease and simplicity. <section end="618I" /> <section begin="618J" />BIGNON,, grandson of Jerome, born at Paris, 1662; died 1743; preacher and librarian to the king, member of the French Academy, &c., author of some memoirs. He was one of the most zealous patrons of Tournefort, who gave the name Bignonia to a newly-discovered American plant. <section end="618J" /> <section begin="618K" />BIGNON,, born at Paris in 1590, was early distinguished by the variety of his acquirements. When only ten years of age, he published "Chorographie ou Description de la Terre Sainte;" and three years afterwards two other works; one a treatise concerning the antiquities and curiosities of Rome, and another on the election of the popes. These publications introduced him to the acquaintance of the most considerable persons in France. Henry IV. heard of his reputation, desired to see him, and appointed him page of honour to the dauphin, afterwards Lewis XIII. His advancement was rapid. He had prodigious success at the bar. He was made in 1620 advocate-general of the grand council, councillor of state, and advocate-general in the parliament. Cardinal Richelieu did not like him; yet, such was the honour in which Bignon was held, that in 1642 the former appointed him chief librarian of the royal library. He was amiable and devout. He died April 7, 1656, a rare example of precocious learning not out-living its reputation.—T. J. <section end="618K" /> <section begin="618L" />BIGNON,, a celebrated French statesman, diplomatist, and political writer, born at Meilleraye in 1771; died in Paris, 1841. In 1797 he entered the public service as secretary of legation in Switzerland; in 1799 held the same rank in the Cisalpine republic; in 1800 was transferred to Berlin, where, in 1802, he was promoted to the rank of chargé d'affaires. As minister plenipotentiary he resided at Cassel in the years 1804-6, and was mainly instrumental in organizing the Confederation of the Rhine. After Napoleon's entrance into Berlin, he was appointed administrator-general of Prussia, and in this difficult situation he earned, by his perfect integrity and popular manners, the affectionate respect of the people, as well as the confidence of his master. In 1809 he was named to the still more difficult post of administrator-general of Austria, and in Vienna rendered himself as popular as he had been in Berlin. He was afterwards transferred to Warsaw, where, with a short interval, occasioned by his being summoned to Wilna by the emperor, he managed the affairs of Poland during the last three years of French domination in that country. During the Hundred Days he was under-secretary for foreign affairs, and towards the end of that eventful epoch, foreign minister. In 1817 he was elected to the chamber of deputies, and in 1837 raised to the peerage. Among his works are two which he undertook in obedience to a testamentary request of Napoleon—"Histoire de France depuis le 18 brumaire jusqu'à la paix de Tilsitt," and "Histoire de France sous Napoleon depuis la paix de Tilsitt jusqu'en 1812."—J. S., G. <section end="618L" /> <section begin="618M" />BIGNONI,, an Italian capuchin, born at Venice, published in 1649-1651, three volumes of sermons, which procured him considerable celebrity, and entitled him to a place in the Index Expurgatorius. They were translated into Latin by Bruno Neusser. Died in 1660. <section end="618M" /> <section begin="618N" />BIGNOTTI,, an Italian theologian, canon of the cathedral of his native town, Vercelli, and author of a collection of miscellaneous poems, was born in 1764, and died in 1831. <section end="618N" /> <section begin="618O" />BIGOT,, a learned Frenchman, born at Rouen in 1626; died in 1689. He inherited a considerable fortune and a valuable library, to which he made ample additions. He discovered at Florence the Greek text of the Life of Saint Chrysostom, by Palladius. This work he published at Paris in 1680, with some other Greek pieces. He inserted in it Chrysostom's famous letter to Casarius, but was obliged by the censors to suppress it, from the arguments that might be deduced from it against the doctrine of transubstantiation. His published correspondence contains a mass of valuable information and curious literary details.—J. G. <section end="618O" /> <section begin="618Zcontin" />BIGOT,, born at Laval, 1502. He was the son of Jean Bigot. It would appear that he was born with teeth, an inconvenience that was near ending in his death, the result of some local superstition on the subject. His nurse, with thirteen other persons resident in the house with her, died of the plague, and all fled with fear from the strange infant, who survived the calamity. He was exposed on the highway, and rescued from death by the accident of his father passing in that direction. The life which was thus saved was, when the boy came to adult years, near having a more sad termination. His morals and his education were neglected, and he fell into vice and crime. With difficulty he escaped the officers of justice, for some offence arising out of a drunken frolic. Disease and distress awoke him to a sense of his degradation, and he now gave himself to unremitting study. He may be described as self-taught, as from school he brought little more than the rudiments of Latin, and he now acquired, without a master, the knowledge of Greek, of the philosophy of the period, its medicine, its astronomy, astrology, &c. Some mischief was done him with the king of France, to whom he was represented as an Aristotelian. "What is that?" said Francis; and the reply was given, that Aristotle preferred aristocracy as a form of government to monarchy. This and some other reasons made Bigot think Germany a better country in which to push his fortunes than France; and straightway he went to Tübingen to teach philosophy. He and his brother professors quarrelled on the class of theological topics, on which men have been quarrelling ever since, and our hero's chair at Tübingen became no easy chair. He went to Bâle in 1536; he did not linger there long. Padua sent him an invitation to hold a professorship, but the "maladies du pays" now assailed him. and he returned to France to establish a school of philosophy at Nismes; but at this time a domestic affliction occurred winch embittered the rest of his days. Bigot was married—had two <section end="618Zcontin" />