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Rh Gaulois," says Labitte, "who, while living in the seventeenth century, belonged in many respects to the sixteenth."

Foremost in this second group stands Gabriel Naudé, who, in spite of his intense love for books, was no mere bookworm. "A moralizing sceptic wearing the mask of an erudite" is what Sainte-Beuve calls him. Naudé was born in Paris in February, 1600. We are told that his parents were honest people, probably small shopkeepers, who, early recognizing his bookish tendencies, made all efforts to give their son an education.

Too much influenced by the writings of Charron and