LEnVBS
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LXIWItl
the doctorate in theology from the Sorbonne, His
works are the following: "Entretiens d'Eudoxe et
d* Euchariste sur les histoires de I'arianisme et des
iconoclastes du P. Maimbourg" (Paris. 1674J. The
first of these dialogues was condemned and burned.
" Motifs invincibles pour convaincre ceux de la religion
pr6tendue r^form^** (Paris, 1682), in which Le F^vre
endeavours to show that there is fundamental agree-
ment between Catholic and Protestant teachings, the
differences being of slight importance and mostly
verbal. These conciliatory views were attacked by
Aniauld, and, in answer. Lie F^vre wrote "R^plique a
M. Amauld pour la defense du livre des motifs invin-
cibles " (1C85) . Amongst Le Fdvre's other works are:
" Conference avec un ministre touchant les causes de la
separation des protestants" (Paris, 1685); "Instruc-
tions pour confirmer les nouveaux convertis dans la
foi de reglise" (Paris, 1686); "Recueil de tout ce qui
s'est fait pour et centre les protestants en France"
(Paris, 1686); "Lettres d'un docteur sur ce qui se
passe dans les assemblies de la facult6 de th^ologie de
Paris'* (Cologne, 1700). These letters were published
anonymously when the work of the Jesuit Father Le-
comte, " M^moires sur la Chine '*, was referred to the
faculty of theology. To Father Lallemant, who had
defended his confrere in the "Journal historique.des
assembl6es tenuesenSorbonne", Le F6\Te replied in
his "Anti-journal histori que . . •"; and he also pro-
duced " Animadversions sur Thistoire ecciesiastique du
P. No6l Alexandre "j the first volume of which was
printed at Rouen without date about 1680; it was
seized and destroyed, and the other volumes were not
published.
HuRTER, NoTnenctator; NouvelU biographie gSn^rale, XXX (Paris, 1858), 344.
C. A. DUBRAY.
Lefdvre de la Boderie, Gut, French Orientalist and poet; b. near Falaise in Normandy, 9 August, 1541; d. in 1598 in the house in which he was bom. At an early age he devoted himself to the study of Oriental languages, particularly Hebrew and Syriac. After much travelling in different provinces 01 France he settled down to iminterrupLed study under the guidance of the Orientalist Guillaume Pos- tel, who was a professor in the Coll^ge de France. Guy was an earnest student and his scientific ardour was intensified by the religious enthusiasm of his char- acter. He was convinced that deep study and full knowledge were the surest natural mainstays of faith. He felt, too, that if this was true generally, it was true in a very special way in regard to Biblical work. He became an Orientalist therefore, like many others, be- cause he was an apologist. He selected Syriac and Aramaic generally as ms spjecial department that he might come nearer to the mind of Cni*ist by the study of Christ's vernacular. His first published work of importance was a Latin version of the Syriac New Tes- tament published in 1 560. This work att racted much attention, and in 1568 Guy was invited by Arias Montanus to assist in the production of the Antwerp Polyglot. Guy accepted the invitation and proceeded to Antwerp with his brother Nicolas who was also an Orientalist.
The work assigned to Guy by Arias Montanus was the editing of the Syriac New Testament. He examined for this purpose a new S>Tiac MS. of the New Testament whicn Guillaume Postel had brought from the East. In 1572 appeared in the fifth volume of the Antwerp Polyglot Bible the result of Lef^vre's work, entitled " Novum Testamentum s>Tiace, cum versione latina ". This work included the collated Syriac text and Le- fdvre*s previously published (and now amended) Latin version. Tliis work was republished by I^ Jay in 1645 in the Paris Polyglot. In 1 572 Lcf^vre publishe<l at Antwerp a shortSyriac text which he had found accidentally thrown together with the Eastern Bibli-
cal MS. above mentioned. This text, furnished w'tD
a Latin translation, appeared under the title "D.
Severi, Alexandrini, quondam patriarchse, de Ritibus
baptism! et sacrse S3rnaxis apud Syros Christianos re-
ceptis liber". Leflvre teUs us (Epistola dedicatoria,
p. 4 f.) that he published this text to illustrate the
agreement of the ancient Eastern Church with the
Western in the important matter of sacramental ritual.
To make the little text useful for beginners in Syriac
Leflvre vocalized the text and added at the foot of the
page a vocalized transliteration in Hebrew characters.
In the sixth volume of the Antwerp Polyglot appeared
a further work by Leflvre, " Grammatica chaldaica et
Dictionarium Syro-Chaldaicum ", In the same year
1572, Lefdvre published^ also at Antwerp, a short intro-
duction to Syriac, "Synacss linguae prima elementa".
This work has no scientific value: it is little more than
an account of the names of the consonants and vowel
signs with a few easy texts. On completing his worit
in Antwerp in 1572 Lefdvre returned to France where
he soon obtained the post of secretary and interpreter
to the Duke of Alen^on. In this position he was
brought into close contact with the somewhat radical
thouglit of the period. His associates were men like
Baif, Dorat, Ronsard, Vauquelin de La Fresnaye etc.
But Lef6vre remained, in spite of all, a strong Catholic
and a steady enemy of Protestantism. In 1584 he
published a transliteration in Hebrew characters of the
Syriac Nc^ Testament, "Novum J. Chr. Testamen-
tum, syriace Htteris hebraicis. cum versione latind
interlincari ". In this work the Vulgate and Greek
texts were printed at the foot of the page.
But Lef6vre was not merely a philologist; he was also a poet. His poetic flights, nowever, were not high, and in his poetry, as in his Orientalia, the apolo- getic trend of his thought is clear. He was, as his friend Vauquelin de La Fresnaye said of him, poHe tout chresiien. Among his more important poetic per- formances are: " L'Encyclie des secrets de 1 Etermt4 " (Antwerp, 1571), an apology of Christianity^; "La Galliade, ou de la revolution des arts et sciences" (Paris, 1578; 2nd ed. 1582), which celebrates the re- turn to France of the banished sciences; "H^mnes ecclesiastiques" and "Cantiques spirituels et autres melanges po^tiques'* (Paris, 1578-1582), many of which are translations from the Italian; " L'Harmonie du Monde " (Paris, 1582) , a translation of a Latin work. Leflvre published in his last years an immense number of translations from Latin, Italian, Spanish etc., in verse and prose. Most of these translat i ons are apolo- getic, and few of them are of any value. Lefevre shows by the choice of his life-work that his thoughts were ahead of his time. Of his life, apart from his writings, we know next to nothing. It nas been con- jectured from some words of his in a poem addressed to Marguerite de France that he was an ecclesiastic; and it has been said that Pope Clement VIII wished to make him a cardinal. But Lefdvre would not allow himself to be led away in his last days from his books to the Roman Court. He died in the peaceful family mansion of La Boderie in 1598. An epitaph which he wrote for himself sums up his life work simply and well:
Tandisque j'ai vescu, j*ai toujours souhait^ Non d'amasser tr^sors, mais chercher Verity.
De La Fekriiire-Percy, LcsLa Boderie (Paris, 1857); NJtVB, Gu>t Le Ft-vre de Im Boderie (Brussels, 1862); Nickron, Mi- moires. Vol. XXXVIII, 303-314; Goujet, BikioUikque Fn^n- ^iee, VI, XIII.
P. BOYLAN.
Lefdvre d'Etaples, Jacques, frequently called Faber Stapulensis, a French philosopher, biSlical and patristic scholar, b. at Etaples in Picardy, about 1455; d. at Ndrac, 1536. He pursued his classical studies at the University of Paris, graduating as master of arta In 1492 he made a journey to Italy. His protracted vi.<5its to Florence, Rome, and Venice were devoted
