SKETCH

OF THE

LIFE AND WRITINGS

OF

CARDINAL PERRON.

JAMES DAVY DU PERRON was born in the Canton of Berne in 1556, of parents of the persuasion of Calvin. Desportes introduced him at the court of Henry III. He abjured his former religious sect, and entered into the Church, and became a popular preacher. Henry IV. sent him to Rome, to negociate a reconciliation with the Holy See. Pope Clement VIII. made him a Cardinal in 1604. Henry IV. sent

him a second time to Rome, to settle the disputes which had arisen between Paul V. and the Venetians. He died at Paris in 1618. His works comprehend a treatise on the Eucharist, and other professional

tracts.

PERRONIANA.

ALLEGORY.

ALLEGORICAL arguments very properly accompany literal proofs, but cannot be substituted for them, or produce them; and when a position of credit is advanced, they add a grace and energy to the sentence; but when the position is doubtful and contested, arguments of this kind carry not with them the solid part of reason and conviction.

THE ARABIAN TONGUE.

The last time I was at Rome, I desired the Pope to grant by a bull higher honours to those, who, on taking a doctor's degree, were conversant in Arabic. I instituted

In the Vatican there are some works of Archimedes in the Arabian language, which we have not in Greek. There are besides twenty other Greek authors in Arabic translations, the originals of which are lost; together with a vast many Greek books in astrology and history, preserved to us in Arabic; Archimedes de Suppositis, Apollonius Pergæus, &c. The Arabian language is very rich, and to it we are indebted for many illustrated passages of the sacred writings. Aristotle was entirely translated into this tongue, as were Hippocrates and Galen. Many ancient mathematical writers of Greece are preserved now in Arabian translations only.

ARISTOTLE

Is admirable in his metaphysics and logic; but in his physics many great errors are discoverable. For instance, he asserts that in bodies whose parts are continuous, if one part moves, the whole mass is in agitation; which in general is false; for liquid bodies which are continuous move in one part, as the sea, for example, without

any motion taking place in another. He is likewise mistaken when he says that the skies are above all decay: for I assert, and have written fully on the subject, and most mathematicians of the present time agree with me, that the skies are a very fine transparent liquid, and that they make no resistance to the stars.

BATHS.

Among the ancients the use of baths was very necessary, as the use of linen was unknown to them.

BEER.

Those who drink malt liquor generally have a very fresh complexion. I remember to have seen an English priest, who at the age of 60, from the colour in his cheeks, appeared only 45.

I observed one day to the Duke of Mantua, who said the jester whom he retained in his service was a fellow of no wit or humour-" Your Grace must pardon me. I think he has a deal of wit, who can live by