tiations. We muſt not omit what Thuanus relates of a converſation he had with him in the year 1579.[1]
- ↑ He got acquainted with Languet at the wells of Baden in the year 1579, and was ſo well pleaſed with this man’s behaviour, and with his agreeable and learned converſations, that he thought he ſhould never be able to part with him. Here follows the elogy he beſtows upon him; I tranſcribe it here, because neither Voetius nor Monſieur Teiſſier mention it in the leaſt. Argentinâ Badam ventum, ubi Thuanus Languetum vacuum nactus ita mordicus per triduum ei adhæſit, ut ab to divelli non poſſe putaretur. Ita candor hominis illum ceperat, inſigni probitate, judicio non ſolum in literis, ſed in publicis negotiis, quæ tota vita ſub variis Principibus magna fide geſſerat, præditi ad hæc rerum Germaniæ callentiſs. Ut Germanos ipſos res patrias ſuas doceret. Toto illo tempore cum to aſſiduus, niſi quantum aquis ſumendis impendebat, cum multa didicit, tum breviculum manu ipſius perſcriptum, quod & nunc ſervat, poſtquam binc diſceſſit, ab eo accepit, quo generalis Germaniæ ſtatus, ſicut bodie eſt, comitiorum jus, circulorum numerus, conſiliorum ordo deſcribitur.[20] i. e. “From Straſburg we came to Baden, where Thuanus meeting with Languet, who was free from all buſineſs, ſtuck ſo cloſely to him during three days, that it was imagined he could never part from him: ſo pleaſed was he with this man’s eminent probity, and with his great judgment not only in the Sciences, but alſo in publick affairs, in which he had been ingaged all his life time, having ſerved ſeveral Princes very faithfully: he was particularly ſo well acquainted with the affairs of Germany, that he could inſtruct the Germans themſelves in the affairs of their own country. Thuanus being conſtantly, with him all that time, except when he was drinking the waters, learnt a great many things from him; and when he had left that place, he received from him ſome memoirs, written in his own hand, containing an account of the preſent ſtate of Germany, of the rights of the diets, of the number of the circles, and of the order or rank of the different councils of that Country, which memoirs he ſtill keeps by him.”
Thuanus alſo relates that Languet made him take notice of a German Lord who was at a window with his wife, and aſked him afterwards with a ſmile, If you were put to your choice, would you prefer a woman as beautiful as ſhe is, before the Archbiſhoprick of Cologne? Thuanus, who did not underſtand the deſign of this queſtion, made no anſwer to it. Whereupon Languet explained the whole myſtery to him, and told him that the German Lord was the Count of Iſemburg, who had lately reſigned the Archbiſhopric of Cologne, to marry Jane de Lignes, the Count of Aremberg’s ſiſter. He added that the ſuppreſſion of Celibacy was burthenſom to the great Proteſtant Lords in Germany; for whereas in the time of Popery they uſed to put their daughters into Nunneries, with certain hopes to ſee them ſoon raised to the dignity of Abbeſſes in ſome rich Nunnery, they were now obliged to provide huſbands for them, though they lived in a country, where people were very prolific.[21]
facts, which are not in the leaſt connected with any general ſubject. This work is intitled, Arcana ſæculi decimi sexti. Huberti Langueti, Legati, dum viveret, & Conſiliarii Saxonici, Epiſtolæ ſecretæ ad Principem ſuum Auguſtum Sax. Ducem & S. R. I. ſeptem virum. Ex ΑΡΧΕΙΩ Saxonico deſcriptas primus è Muſeo edit. jo. Petr. Ludovicus. i. e. “The ſecret hiſtory of the ſeventeenth century, being a collection of letters written by Hubert Languet, Embaſſador and Counſellor of the Court of Saxony, to his maſter, Auguſtus Duke of Saxony and Elector of the Empire, tranſcribed from the publick records of Saxony, and now publiſhed for the firſt time by John Peter Ludovicus.” The Abbot Nicaiſe had told me for certain, that the author’s life writen by Monſieur de la Mare would be prefixed to theſe letters; but this did not prove true. It has been publiſhed by itſelf in the ſame city of Hall, in the year 1700, in 12 mo. If I had met with it ſoon enough, this article would have been much better, more complete and more connected. Conſult Monſieur Bernard,[19] who has given a very full and accurate account of this piece; which is very well written and very curious.
- References
LANSBERGIUS (PHILIP) had a rank amongſt the Mathematicians of the ſeventeenth Century. He was born in Zealand[notes 1] in the year 1561,[notes 2] and was a Miniſter of the Goſpel at Antwerp in the year 1586, and afterwards for ſeveral years[1] at Goes in Zeland; and being afterwards diſcharged of his functions on account of his old age, he retired to Middleburg,[notes 3] where he died in the year 1632. You will find the titles of his works below.[2]
- ↑ Voſſius↑ aſſerts in page 237, that he was Miniſter at Goes thirty nine years more or leſs: but in page 341 he ſets down but twenty nine years. There is certainly an error of the preſs here; but whether it conſiſts in the omiſſion or in the addition of an x, I own I cannot tell it: It muſt be one.
- ↑ Chronologiæ Sacræ Libri VI. “Six books of ſacred Chronology;” printed in the year 1626. Progymnaſmata Aſtronomiæ reſtitutæ. “Eſſays on the reſtitution of Aſtronomy;” printed at Middelburg in the year 1629. Triangulorum Geometricorum Libri IV. “Four books of Geometrical triangles;” printed in the ſame City, in the year 1631. Uranometriæ Libri III. “Of meaſuring the Heavens, in three books;” printed the ſame year, and in the ſame City. Commentationes in motum terræ diurnum & anmuum, & in verum aſpectabilis cœli typum. “An account of the diurnal and annual motion of the earth, and of the true ſituation of the viſible celeſtial bodies.” In this work he declares himſelf openly for Copernicus’s opinions, and even pretends to improve it. He compoſed this work in Dutch; but it was tranſlated into Latin by Martin Hortenſius, and printed at Middelburg in the year 1630. Fromond a Doctor of Louvain refuted it in his Anti-Ariſtarchus, five orbis terræ immobilis: “A treatiſe in which it is proved that the earth ſtands ſtill.” Lanſbergius, who did not live long enough to reply to this refutation, left a ſon, who publiſhed an anſwer to Fromond, and at the ſame time to Morin, Regius Profeſſor at Paris, and to a Dane named Peter Bartholinus. This anſwer is intitled, Jacobi Lanſbergii Medicinæ Doctoris Apologia pro Commentationibus, &c. i. e. “A defence of the account &c. By James Lanſbergius, Doctor of Phyſick;” it was printed at Middelburg in the year 1635, and refuted in a new work of Fromond printed in the year 1634, and intitled Veſta or Anti-Ariſtarchi Vindex. i. e. “The earth,” or “a vindication of Ariſtarchus.” I think the controverſy ended here.
- Notes
- References
- ↑ De Scient. Mathemat.
LANSDOWNE (GEORGE GRANVILLE, Lord) was deſcended of an antient and noble family derived from Rollo, the firſt Duke of Normandy, and was ſecond ſon of Bernard Granville, who was ſecond ſon of Sir Bevil Granville, killed at the battle of Lanſdowne in 1643, and younger brother of Sir John Granville, who was a chief inſtrument in the Reſtoration, after which he was created Earl of Bath and Viſcount Lanſdowne. The Nobleman, of whom we treat in this article, received the firſt
