by the enemy, and defeated both by land and sea, most of his vessels being destroyed by the famous "Greek fire." In 944 he renewed the attempt, and dictated humiliating terms of peace to the Grecian emperor at Kieff. In 945, however, he fell into an ambuscade, and was put to death after cruel tortures. Himself a pagan, he yet tolerated Christianity; and his wife Olga, who had adopted the new faith, was subsequently canonized.—W. J. P.
IHRE, Johan, the most eminent of Swedish philologists, was born at Lund on the 3rd March, 1707. His father, who held the theological chair in the university of that place, died in 1720, and the education of young Ihre devolved upon his mother's family. He was sent to study at Upsal, where he won the highest honours, and afterwards spent three years in travel, visiting during that period Oxford, London, and Paris. After his return to Upsal he was appointed to the post of sublibrarian in the university there, and subsequently rose through a gradation of offices to one of the highest in the institution—that of Skyttian professor of belles-lettres and political science—which he retained for the long space of forty years. A treatise on the Swedish language which he gave to the world in 1751 so greatly exalted his philological reputation, that when he signified his intention of compiling a Swedish glossary, the states of the kingdom actually voted, in 1756, a grant of ten thousand dollars to aid him in the completion of the task. After protracted and vexatious delays the "Glossarium Suiogothicum" at last appeared, and it inaugurated a new era in the philology of Sweden. Hire's great work, published in 1769 at Upsal in two folio volumes, forms a perfect treasury of learning; and most European philologists who succeeded him have been deeply indebted to its stores. Besides the "Glossarium," Ihre wrote other valuable works, and amongst them a vast number of academical disputations, principally on his favourite theme. He was distinguished for vivacity and humour as well as learning; and some curious anecdotes are recorded of him that strikingly exhibit the former characteristics. His death occurred on the 1st December, 1780.—J. J.
IKEN, Conrad, born in 1689, and died in 1753. He was a minister and theological professor at Bremen, his native city. His "Ecclesiastical, political, and domestic antiquities of the Jews" was a popular work, and was several times reprinted. He wrote several other works, theological and critical.—B. H. C.
ILDEFONSO (Saint), a Spanish prelate and theologian, was born in 607, and was a pupil of St. Isidore. He became abbot of Agali, and was present at the ninth council of Toledo in 653. In 658 he succeeded his maternal uncle, Eugenius, as archbishop of Toledo. His biographers relate various miracles said to have been wrought by and for him, as a reward for having in various writings defended the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of the mother of Jesus. Ildefonso added fourteen lives to the work of Isidore, De viris illustribus scriptoribus ecclesiasticis, and wrote two other works, one on baptism, the other on grace, besides several hymns, sermons, &c., the authenticity of which is doubtful. He died in 667.—F. M. W.
ILIVE, Jacob, an eccentric writer, originally a printer, was born in 1710, and died in 1763. He wrote a work in proof of the plurality of worlds, in which he maintained that earth is hell, men fallen angels, &c. In 1751 he published the Book of Jasher, which, he said, had been found in Persia, translated by Alcuin in the eighth century, and attested by Wycliffe. This book is a manifest forgery, and Ilive was undoubtedly its author. He was sent to prison for two years for his "Modest Remarks upon the late Bishop Sherlock's sermons." He wrote other pieces more or less eccentric, and was probably half insane.—B. H. C.
ILLYRICUS, Matthias. See Flaccius.
IMAD ED-DIN, Mohammed, Saladin's secretary, and hence commonly called Al-Kateb (the Secretary), was born at Ispahan in 1125, and died in 1201. Before entering the service of Saladin he had been secretary to Nour-ed-din, prince of Damascus. Four works are attributed to the secretary, the fruit of his leisure after the death of the sultan, one of which, a series of notices of poets, is a valuable and interesting performance.
IMBERT, Barthelemi, was born at Nismes in 1747. At twenty he came to Paris and devoted himself to literature. Dorat was then the favourite model for young French poets, and Imbert by his "Jugement de Paris," quickly earned for himself a reputation as high as that of his master. Although an exceedingly prolific writer, he never surpassed his first effort; and indeed his poems have but little to recommend them beyond a certain graceful ingenuity and sweetness of versification. His personal character was that of a thoughtless but generous man of society. He died at Paris in 1790.—W. J. P.
IMBERT, Jean, a French jurisconsult, was born at Rochelle about 1522, studied at Poitiers, established himself at Fontenay-le-Comte, and, after achieving great professional success, died there about the end of the sixteenth century. His chief publications were "Institutiones Forenses," and "Enchiridion Juris Scripti Galliæ," both of which have been translated into French.
IMHOFF, Gustav Wilhelm, Baron van, governor-general of the Dutch East Indian possessions from 1740 till his death, was born in 1705, and died at Batavia in 1751. He was concerned, while holding a subordinate post in the employment of the Dutch East India Company, in the atrocious massacre of the Chinese at Batavia, October, 1740; and, as governor-general, he waged against that people a war of extermination.
IMHOFF, Wilhelm von, was born at Nuremberg in 1651, and died in 1728. He acquitted himself creditably in some official situations, but his chief ambition was to shine as a genealogist. His erudition in this special branch of knowledge has rarely been surpassed. His chief works were "Genealogiæ excellentium in Galliâ Familiarum;" "Genealogiæ Familiarum Bellomaneriæ;" "Historia Genealogica Regum Pariumque Magnæ Britanniæ;" "Notitia Procerum S. R., G. Imperii;" "Historia Italiæ et Hispaniæ Genealogica;" "Corpus Historiæ Genealogicæ Italiæ et Hispaniæ;" "Récherches Historiques et Généalogiques des Grands d'Espagne;" "Stemma Regium Lusitanicum;" and "Geneologiæ xx. illustrium in Hispaniâ Familiarium."—W. J. P.
IMISON, John, an English mechanical writer, died in London on the 16th of August, 1788. He is best known by his work, "The School of Arts," a treatise on the practical applications of mechanical science.—W. J. M. R.
IMMERMANN, Karl Leberecht, a distinguished German dramatist and novelist, was born at Magdeburg, 24th August, 1796, and died at Dusseldorf, 25th August, 1840. After having studied the law, he served against Napoleon in 1815. In 1827 he was appointed one of the judges at Dusseldorf, which office, however, did not prevent him from superintending the management of the Dusseldorf theatre, which tor some time he raised to classic eminence. He is best known by his two great novels, "Münchhausen" and the "Epigonen." His dramas have not taken a permanent place either in literature or upon the stage. Collected works in 12 vols., 1835-40.—K. E.
IMOLA. See Francucci.
IMPERIALI, Giovanni, an eminent physician, eldest son of a physician and writer, and of a noble Genoese family, born at Nice in 1602; died in 1670. His chief works are a "Dissertation on the Plague of 1630 in Italy," 1631; "Musæum Historicum et Physicum," 1640—a work containing eulogies and portraits of fifty-four celebrated men of letters; and "Le Notti Barberine, ovvero de Quesiti e Discorsi Fisici, Medici," &c.—The Barberini Nights; or physical, medical, &c., queries and discourses, 1663.—W. M. R.
IMPERIALI, Giovanni Vincenzo, Duke of St Angelo in the kingdom of Naples, born in Genoa of a great Genoese family (his father Giovanni having been doge of that republic) towards 1570; died in the same city in 1645. His reputation both as a public man and as a man of letters stood very high in his own time. He was ambassador to Spain and other powers; senator; captain-general of the galleys, in which capacity he cleared out the pirates from the Genoese coasts, and faced the knights of Malta in the port of Messina; commissary of the Genoese troops; and in 1625 governor of the Milanese. His munificence in public works and other popular qualities raised him so high in the esteem of his countrymen that the senate of Genoa, jealous of his influence, banished him when already advanced in years. Such is the motive usually assigned for the act; other versions are that Imperiali was charged with libertinism, and with having procured the death of a Neapolitan singer. It appears that he did not appeal against the sentence; he complains of its injustice, however, in one of his poems, "Il Ritratto del Casalino Abbozzato" (A Sketch of a Cottage). Shortly before his death he was permitted to return to Genoa. His writings comprise religious and political subjects as well as poems; the one most famous in its day being "Lo Stato Rustico" (The Rustic Condition), 1611, written in blank verse, with rhymed terminal couplets.—W. M. R.
IMPERIALI, Giuseppe Renato, Cardinal, born at Oria, kingdom of Naples, 26th April, 1651, of the same great Genoese
