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preparations for an edition of Claudian, and had corrected above seven hundred errors in that author; but this has not been published. At his leisure hours, he studied music, optics, and poetry. We have a specimen of his poetry in his "Protrepticon ad Corycium," of eighty-seven verses, which is printed in a very rare work, entitled "Coryciana," Rome, 1524, 4to. This Corycius, according to La Monnoie, was a German of the name of Goritz. The volume contains the poems of various Neapolitan authors, as Arisio, Tilesio, &c.

In Accorso's time, it was the fashion with many Latin writers to make use of obsolete words. This he endeavoured to ridicule, and with considerable success, in a dialogue entitled "Osco, Volsco, Romanaque eloquentia interlocutoribus, dialogus ludis Romanis actus, &c." 1531, 8vo, without place, or the name of the author; but La Monnoie thinks it must have been printed before, as it is quoted by Tori in his "Champ-Fleuri," which appeared in 1529. At the end of this volume is a small work, entitled "Volusii Metiani, jurisconsulti antiqui distributio. Item vocabula ac notæ partium in rebus pecuniariis, pondere, numero, et mensura." The Dialogue was reprinted at Rome, 1574, 4to, with the author's name, and with the title of "Osci et Volsci Dialogus ludis Romanis actus a Mariangelo Accursio." There is another 4to edition, without date or name of the author. In the imperial library of Paris are two editions, both of Cologne, 1598. It appears by the dedication of the fable Testudo, that Accorso was employed on a history of the house of Brandenbourg; but this, and his other works, were lost on the death of his son Casimir, who was a man of letters, and had intended to publish all his father's works. Toppi, in his Biblioteca Napolet. among other inaccuracies, attributes to Accorso a work entitled " De Typographicæ artis Inventore, ac de libro primum omnium impresso;" but the mistake seems to have arisen from a few manuscript notices on the subject, written by our author in a copy of Donatus' grammar, a very early printed book.1

ACERNUS (SEBASTIAN FABIAN), a native of Poland, whose real name was Klonowicz, was born in 1551, and became burgomaster of Lublin. His Latin poem, "Victoria Deorum, in qua continetur veri Herois educatio,"

1 Gen. Dict.-Biographie Universelle, 1811.-Saxii Onomasticon.-Moreri, -For the Coryciana, see Roscoe's Life of Leo, and art. GORIZIO in this work.

on which he spent ten years, procured him the name of the Sarmatian Ovid. This poem, which was printed at Racow by Sebastian Sternacius, the Socinian printer, in 1600, is become very rare, as the impression was ordered to be burnt. He wrote also in the Polish language, a poem on the Navigation of the Dantzickers, 1643; a Memorial of the Dukes and Kings of Poland, and other works, and "Disticha moralia Catonis, interprete Seb. Fab, Klonowicio," Cracow, 1595. He died in 1608 in great distress, owing to the extravagance of his wife.1

ACHÆUS, a Greek poet, a native of Eretria, the son of Pythodorus, flourished, according to Saxius, between the 74th and 82d olympiad, or between 484 and 449 before the Christian æra, and consequently was the contemporary of Æschylus. He was both a tragic and satirical poet, having, according to some, composed thirty tragedies, and according to others, more than forty. These are all lost, except some fragments which Grotius collected in his "Fragmenta Tragic. et Comicorum Græcorum." Achæus carried off the poetical prize only once. satirical pieces have likewise perished, but Athenæus quotes them often. There was another Greek poet of the same name, quoted by Suidas, who also composed tragedies, of which there are no remains. 2

His

ACHARD, bishop of Avranches in Normandy, usually surnamed ST. VICTOR, flourished in the twelfth century. His birth-place is much contested; but it appears most probable that he was a Norman, of a noble family; and as Normandy was at that time subject to the King of England, it was supposed he was an Englishman. He was, however, a Canon-regular of the order of St. Augustine, and second abbot of St. Victor at Paris. He was preferred to the bishoprick of Avranches in 1162 by the interest of King Henry II. of England, with whom he appears to have been a favourite, as he stood god-father to Eleanor, daughter to that prince, and afterwards wife of Alphonso IX. king of Castile. He died March 29, 1172, and was interred in the church of the Holy Trinity, belonging to the abbey of Luzerne, in the diocese of Avranches. His epitaph, which, the authors of the General Dictionary say, is still remaining, speaks his character : " Here lies bishop Achard, by whose charity our poverty was enriched." He

1 Biog. Universelle, 1811.

? Ibid. Saxii Onomasticon, Fabric. Bibl. Græc.

was a person of great eminence for piety and learning. His younger years he spent in the study of polite literature and philosophy, and the latter part of his life in intense application. His works were: "De Tentatione Christi," a MS. in the library of St. Victor at Paris. "De divisione Animæ & Spiritus," in the same library; copies of which are in the public library at Cambridge, and in that of Bene't. His "Sermons" are in the library of Clairvaux. He likewise wrote "The Life of St. Geselin," which was published at Douay, 12mo, 1626.1

ACHARD (ANTHONY), a learned Prussian divine, was born at Geneva in 1696, took orders in 1722, and in 1724 was promoted to the church of Werder in Berlin. He enjoyed the protection of the prince-royal of Prussia; and having in 1730 accompanied the son of M. de Finkenstein to Geneva, was admitted into the society of pastors. Eight years after, the king of Prussia appointed him counsellor of the supreme consistory, and in 1740, a member of the French directory, with the title of Privy-counsellor. Having been received into the academy of Berlin in 1743, he was also appointed inspector of the French college, and director of the Charity-house. He died in 1772. He was long the correspondent of the jesuits Colonia, Tournemine, Hardouin, Poreus, and of father Le Long, and Turretine, Trouchin, and Vernet of Geneva. He often preached before the royal family of Prussia; and such were his powers of oratory, that a celebrated French comedian at Berlin, who there taught the theatrical art, recommended his pupils to hear Achard. He was of a very feeble constitution, and for twenty years subsisted entirely on a milk-diet. In the Memoirs of the Academy of Berlin, for 1745, there is the outline of a very considerable work, in which he proves the liberty of the human mind against Spinosa, Bayle, and Collins. Two volumes of "Sermons sur divers textes de l'Ecriture Sainte," were published at Berlin after his death.

His son FRANCIS, born at Berlin in 1753, a member of several academies, has furnished many dissertations for the Literary Journal of Berlin, and other Memoirs of, learned societies. Senebier in his literary history of Geneva gives a list of all his pieces, and a collection of them was published in German, in two volumes.

Gen. Dict. - Moreri. -Tanner.

• Biographie Universelle, 1811. See Monthly Review, vols. 72, 75, 77, 80, &c.

ACHARD (CLAUDE FRANCIS), a French physician, secretary to the academy of Marseilles, and librarian of that city, was born in 1753, and died in 1809. He published, 1. "Dictionnaire de la Provence et du Comtat Venaissin," Marseilles, 1785-87, 4 vols. 4to. The first two volumes contain a French and Provençal vocabulary, and the last two the lives of the celebrated characters of Provence. Bouche, the abbe Paul, and some other authors, assisted in this work.

2.

"Description historique, geographique, et topographique de la Provence et du Comtat Venaissin," Aix, 1787, 4to.; one volume only of this has been published. 3. "Tableau de Marseilles," intended to be comprized in two vols.; of which one only has appeared. 4. "Bulletin des Societés savantes de Marseilles et de departements du Midi," 1802, 8vo. 5. "Cours elementaire de Bibliographie, ou la Science du Bibliothecaire," Marseilles, 1807, 3 vols. 8vo, very incorrectly printed, and little more than a compilation from Fournier's "Manuel Typographique," and Peignot's " Dictionnaire de Bibliologie;" and it is objected to him that the immense knowledge he requires in a librarian would render bibliography impossible, and tiresome. He also published a Catalogue of the Abbe Rive's library, 1793, 8vo, and another of the library of Marseilles; and had published four numbers of the first volume of a Catalogue of the Museum of Marseilles.1

ACHARDS (ELBAZAR-FRANCIS DE LA BAUME DE) was born at Avignon, Jan. 29, 1679, of a noble and ancient family. After having embraced the ecclesiastical profession, he became not only distinguished by the excellence of his doctrines, but particularly by his charitable exertions during the plague in 1721; and his subsequent promotions had no other effect on him than to increase his zeal and his piety. Pope Clement XII. informed of his talents and conciliating spirit, employed him in the capacity of apostolic vicar, to settle the disgraceful disputes that had-arisen among the missionaries of China. Achards, who was then bishop of Halicarnassus, undertook this commission; and after a tedious voyage of two years, and two years' residence in China, where he ineffectually laboured to accomplish the object of his mission, died at Cochin, April 2, 1741, a martyr to his indefatigable and benevolent zeal. The Abbe Fabre, his secretary, published an account of this mission, entitled "Lettres edifiantes et curieuses sur la visite apostolique de M. de la Baume, eveque d'Halicarnasse, a la Cochinchine," Venice, 1746, 4to, & 1753, 3 vols. 12mo, with the translation of a funeral oration delivered on his death by a Chinese priest. 1

1 Biographie Universelle, 1811.

ACHEN, or ACH (JOHN VAN), an eminent painter, was born at Cologne, in 1556, of a good family. He discovered a taste for his art from his earliest years, and at the age of eleven, painted a portrait with such success, as to induce his parents to encourage his studies. After having been for some time taught by a very indifferent painter, he became the disciple of de Georges, or Jerrigh, a good portrait-painter, with whom he remained six years; and afterwards improved himself by studying and copying the works of Spranger. In his twenty-second year he went to Italy, and was introduced at Venice to a Flemish artist, named Gaspard Reims. This man no sooner learned that Van Achen was a German, than he recommended him to an Italian who courted necessitous artists that he might make a trade of their labours. With him Van Achen made some copies, but, being unable to forget the reception which Reims had given him, he painted his own portrait, and sent it to him. Reims was so struck with the performance, that he apologized to Van Achen, took him into his house, and preserved the portrait all his life with great veneration. At Venice, he acquired the Venetian art of colouring, and thence went to Rome to improve his design, but never quitted the mannered forms of Spranger. His best performances at Rome were a Nativity for the church of the Jesuits, and a portrait of Madona Venusta, a celebrated performer on the lute. His talents, however, and polite accomplishments, recommended him to several of the greatest princes of Europe, and particularly to the elector of Bavaria, and the emperor Rodolph, by both of whom he was patronized and honoured. He was one of that set of artists who, in the lapse of the sixteenth century, captivated Germany and its princes by the introduction of a new style, or rather manner, grossly compounded from the principles of the Florentine and Venetian schools. He died at Prague in 1621.*

ACHENWALL (GODFREY), a celebrated publicist, and considered by some as the father of the science of Statistics, was born at Elbing, a Prussian town, Oct. 20,

1 Biographie Universelle, 1811.-Dict. Historique.

• Biographie Universelle, 1811.-Pilkington's Dict. by Fuseli.

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