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ANQUETIL (LEWIS-PETER), a French historian, and political writer, was born at Paris, Jan. 21, 1723. Having in his seventeenth year entered the congregation of St. Genevieve, he distinguished himself by the ability with which he afterwards discharged the office of teacher in theology and literature. His residence at Rheims, as director of the academy, seems to have suggested to him the first idea of writing the history of that city. In 1759, he was appointed prior of the abbey de la Roe, in Anjou, and soon after, director of the college of Senlis, where he composed his work entitled "L'Esprit de la Ligue." In 1766 he obtained the curacy or priory of Chateau-Renard, near Montargis, which, about the beginning of the revolution, he exchanged for the curacy of La Villette, near Paris. During the revolutionary phrenzy, he was imprisoned at St. Lazare, and wrote there part of his "Histoire universelle." When the Institute was formed, he was chosen a member of the second class, and was soon after taken into the office of the minister for foreign affairs, whom he thought to oblige by his "Motifs des traites de Paix." Enjoying a strong constitution, the fruit of a placid and equal temper, and aversion to the luxuries of the table, he was enabled to study ten hours a day; and undertook, without fear or scruple, literary undertakings of the most laborious kind. Even in his eightieth year, he was projecting some new works of considerable size, and was apparently without a complaint, when he died, Sept. 6, 1808, in the eightyfourth year of his age. On this occasion he said to one of his friends, come and see a man die who is full of life."

His principal writings are: 1. "Histoire civile et politique de la ville de Reims," 1756-7, 3 vols. 12mo; a work in the true spirit of antiquarian research, which he wrote in concert with one Felix de la Salle, and when they were about to publish, they cast lots, as to whose name should be prefixed, and the lot fell on Anquetil. Towards the end of his life, he said, "I have been reading the history of Rheims, as if it did not belong to me, and I have no scruple in pronouncing it a good work." 2. "Almanach

de Rheims," 1754, 24mo. 3. "L'Esprit de la Ligue; ou histoire politique des troubles de France pendant les 16 et 17 siecles," 1767, 3 vols. 12mo. This has been often reprinted, and is accurate and curious as to facts, but not thought profound in reasoning. 4. "Intrigue du cabinet sous Henry IV. et sous Louis XIII. terminée par VOL. II. T

la Fronde," 1780, 4 vols. 12mo. 5. "Louis XIV. sa cour et le regent," 1789, 4 vols. 12mo, 1794, 5 vols. 12mo, translated likewise into English. It is a kind of sequel to the preceding, and a collection of anecdotes without much order, which has lost its value since the memoirs have been published from whence it was formed. 6. "Vie du marechal Villars, ecrite par lui-meme, suivie du journal de la cour de 1724 à 1734," Paris, 1787, 4 vols. 12mo, and 1792. 7. "Precis de l'Histoire universelle," 1797, 9 vols. 12mo, the third and best edition, corrected by M. Jondot, 1807, 12 vols. 12mo. This work has been translated into English, (1800,) Spanish, and Italian. It has not been very successful in this country; his French biographer calls it merely an abridgment of the English universal history, and says that it must be read with caution. 8. "Motifs des guerres et des traites des paix de la France, pendant les regnes de Louis XIV. XV. et XVI." 1798, 8vo. This work was adapted to the state of the French government at the time it was written, but the author lived to find his theory overturned by the accession of a monarchical constitution. 9. "Histoire de France, depuis les Gaules jusqu'a le fin de la monarchie," 1805, &c. 14 vols. 12mo, a performance of which his countrymen do not speak in very high terms. Besides these, he wrote a life of his brother, the subject of the following article, and several papers in the memoirs of the institute. 1

ANQUETIL-DUPERRON (ABRAHAM HYACINTH), brother to the preceding, was born at Paris, Dec. 7, 1731. After having studied at the university of Paris, where he acquired an extensive knowledge of the Hebrew, he was invited to Auxerre by M. de Caylus, then the bishop, who induced him to study divinity, first at the academy in his diocese, and afterwards at Amersfort, near Utrecht; but Anquetil had no inclination for the church, and returned with avidity to the study of the Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian. Neither the solicitations of M. de Caylus, nor the hopes of preferment, could detain him at Amersfort longer than he thought he had learned all that was to be learned there. He returned therefore to Paris, where his constant attendance at the royal library, and diligence in study, recommended him to the abbé Šallier,

Biog. Universelle.

keeper of the manuscripts, who made him known to his friends, and furnished him with a moderate maintenance, under the character of student of the Oriental languages. The accidentally meeting with some manuscripts in the Zend, the language in which the works attributed to Zoroaster are written, created in him an irresistible inclination to visit the East in search of them. At this time an expedition for India was fitting out at port l'Orient, and when he found that the applications of his friends were not sufficient to procure him a passage, he entered as a common soldier; and on Nov. 7, 1754, left Paris, with his knapsack on his back. His friends no sooner heard of this wild step, than they had recourse to the minister, who surprized at so uncommon an instance of literary zeal, ordered him to be provided with a free passage, a seat at the captain's table, and other accommodations. Accordingly, after a nine months voyage, he arrived Aug. 10, 1755, at Pondicherry. Remaining there such time as was necessary to acquire a knowledge of the modern Persian, he went to Chandernagor, where he hoped to learn the Sanscrit; but sickness, which confined him for some months, and the war which broke out between France and England, and in which Chandernagor was taken, disappointed his plans. He now set out for Pondicherry by land, and after incredible fatigue and hardships, performed the journey of about. four hundred leagues in about an hundred days. At Pondicherry he found one of his brothers arrived from France, and sailed with him for Surat, but, landing at Mahe, completed his journey on foot. At Surat, by perseverance and address, he succeeded in procuring and translating some manuscripts, particularly the "Vendidade-Sade," a dictionary; and he was about to have gone to Benares, to study the language, antiquities, and sacred laws of the Hindoos, when the capture of Pondicherry obliged him to return to Europe. Accordingly, he came in an English vessel to London, where he spent some time, visited Oxford, and at length arrived at Paris May 4, 1762, without fortune, or the wish to acquire it; but rich in an hundred and eighty manuscripts and other curiosities. The abbé Barthelemi, however, and his other friends, procured him a pension, with the title and place of Oriental interpreter in the royal library. In 1763, the academy of belles-lettres elected him an associate, and from that time he devoted himself to the arrangement

and publication of the valuable materials he had collected. In 1771, he published his "Zend-Avesta," 3 vols. 4to, a work of Zoroaster, from the original Zend, with a curious account of his travels, and a life of Zoroaster. In 1778 he published his "Legislation Orientale," 4tó, in which, by a display of the fundamental principles of government in the Turkish, Persian, and Indian dominions, he proves, first, that the manner in which most writers have hitherto represented despotism, as if it were absolute in these three empires, is entirely groundless; secondly, that in Turkey, Persia, and Indostan, there are codes of written law, which affect the prince as well as the subject; and thirdly, that in these three empires, the inhabitants are possessed of property, both in movable and immovable goods, which they enjoy with entire liberty. In 1786 appeared his "Recherches historiques et geographiques sur l'Inde," followed in 1789, by his treatise on the dignity of Commerce and the commercial state. During the revolutionary period, he concealed himself among his books, but in 1798 appeared again as the author of "L'Inde au rapport avec l'Europe," 2 vols. 8vo. In 1804, he published a Latin translation from the Persian of the "Oupnek' hat, or Upanischada," i. e. " secrets which must not be revealed," 2 vols. 4to. Not long before his death he was elected a member of the institute, but soon after gave in his resignation, and died at Paris, Jan. 17, 1805. Besides the works already noticed, he contributed many papers to the academy on the subject of Oriental languages and antiquities, and left behind him the character of one of the ablest Oriental scholars in France, and a man of great personal worth and amiable manners. His biogra pher adds, that he refused the sum of 30,000 livres, which was offered by the English, for his manuscript of the ZendAvesta. 1

. ANSART (ANDREW JOSEPH), a French historian, and ecclesiastical writer, was born in the Artois, in 1723, and became a Benedictine, but being appointed procurator of one of the houses of that order, he disappeared with the funds intrusted to his care. How he escaped afterwards, his biographer does not inform us, but he attached himself to the order of Malta, became an advocate of parlia

1 Biog. Universelle. -Month. Rev, vol. LXI.-Dict. Historique, Sax Onomasticon, vol. VIII.

ment, and doctor of laws of the faculty of Paris. He was afterwards made prior of Villeconin, and a member of the academies of Arras and of the arcades of Rome. He died about 1790, after having published: 1. "Dialogues sur l'utilité des moines rentés," 1768, 12mo. 2. "Exposition sur le Cantique des Cantiques de Salomon," 1770, 12mo. 3.Histoire de S. Maur, abbé de Glanfeuil," 1772, 12mo. The first part contains the life of St. Maur; the second and third give an account of his relics; and the fourth is a history of the abbey of St. Maur-des-Fossés. 4. "Eloge de Charles V. empereur," from the Latin of J. Masenius, 1777, 12mo. 5. "Esprit de St. Vincent de Paul," proposed as a pattern to ecclesiastics, 1780, 12mo. 6. "Histoire de Sainte Reine d'Alise, et de l'abbaye de Flavigny," 1783, 12mo. 7. "Histoire de S. Fiacre," 1784, 12mo. 8. "Bibliotheque litteraire du Maine," Chalons sur Marne, 1784, 8vo, in which he has revived the memory of above three hundred authors. The work was intended to consist of eight volumes, but no more was printed than this. 9. "La Vie de Gregoire Cortez, Benedictine, eveque d'Urbin, et cardinal," 1786. Ansart, according to his biographer, was both ignorant and idle, and took the substance of all the works he published with his name, from the archives of the Regime, formerly at Germain-des-Pres. 1

ANSCARIUS, one of the early propagators of Christianity, and the first who introduced it into Denmark and Sweden, and hence called the apostle of the north, was born at Picardy, Sept. 8, in the year 801. He was educated in a Benedictine convent at Corbie, from whence he went to Corvey, in Westphalia, where he made such progress in his studies, that, in the year 821, he was appointed rector of the school belonging to the convent. Harold, king of Denmark, who had been expelled from his dominions, and had found an asylum with Lewis, the son and successor of Charlemagne, who had induced him to receive Christian baptism, was about to return to his country, and Lewis enquired for some pious person, who might accompany him, and confirm both him and his attendants in the Christian religion. Vala, the abbot of Corbie, pointed out Anscarius, who readily undertook the perilous task, although against the remonstrances of his

1 Biog. Universelle.