called England ‘the isle of the blessed,’ and so far identified himself with us as to speak to an Englishman of ‘our ancestors.’ He made the personal acquaintance of Grotius, who was then in England, and the acquaintance ripened into an enthusiastic friendship; and he found great delight in the society of Thomas Morton, afterwards the famous bishop of Durham. The chief drawback to his happiness was the strong distaste which Madame Casaubon felt for England. She made long absences, and when his wife was away Casaubon was helpless. And he had other troubles. He was regarded with an evil eye by the puritans as a traitor to their cause. More than once his windows were broken by the mob. He declares that ‘the streets were not safe to him; he was pursued with abuse, or with stones; his children were beaten.’ On one occasion he actually appeared at Theobalds with a black eye, given him by a ruffian as he was travelling through the city; and during the whole of his four years in England he was a failing man. Intense study had worn him out prematurely, and his constant moving about was perhaps too much for him. Besides his frequent removals in the train of the court, we hear of him now at Oxford, now at Cambridge, now at Ely. He died at last of an injudicious trip to Greenwich on 12 July 1614. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, one friend, Bishop Overall, preaching the funeral sermon, another, Bishop Morton, writing his epitaph. His wife survived him for twenty-one years, and was most kindly treated by King James. To the very last he was annoyed by his old persecutors. The French ambassador sent a nobleman to ask him in what religion he professed to die. ‘Then you think, my lord,’ he replied with horror, ‘that I have been all along a dissembler in a matter of the greatest moment!’
In the life of a student the account of his works is generally more important and interesting than the account of his personal career. Casaubon left behind him no less than twenty-five separate publications, most of them on classical subjects. But editions of classical authors necessarily become superseded. Again, Latin translations of Greek authors were useful when Latin was so much more generally spoken and written, but not in later times; and, finally, it may be doubted whether the authors themselves whom Casaubon edited, commented on, or translated—Strabo, Theophrastus, Athenæus, Suetonius, and Polybius—are much read except by specialists. Those, however, who take the trouble to study the huge folios in which Casaubon's learned labours are preserved will assuredly find the character he bore was not undeserved. Casaubon's principal works, in chronological order, are as follows: 1. ‘Isaaci Hortiboni Notæ ad Diogenis Laertii libros,’ &c., 1583. 2. ‘Strabonis Rerum Geographicarum libri xvii., Is. Casaubonus recensuit,’ &c., 1587. 3. ‘Novi Testamenti libri omnes recens nunc editi cum notis Is. Casauboni,’ &c., 1587. 4. ‘Is. Casauboni Animadversiones in Dionysii Halicarnassei Antiquitatum Romanarum libros,’ 1588. 5. ‘Polyæni Strategematum libri octo. Is. Casaubonus Græcè nunc primùm edidit, emendavit, et notis illustravit,’ &c., 1589. 6. ‘Operum Aristotelis … nova editio,’ &c., 1590. 7. ‘Theophrasti Characteres Ethici, &c. Is. Casaubonus recensuit, in Latinum sermonem vertit, et libro commentario illustravit,’ 1592. 8. ‘Suetonii de xii Cæsaribus libri viii. Is. Casaubonus recensuit,’ &c., 1595. 9. ‘Athenæus: Isaaci Casauboni animadversionum in Athenæi Deipnosophistas libri xv.,’ 1600. 10. ‘Persii Satirarum liber. Is. Casaubonus recensuit et commentario libro illustravit,’ 1605. 11. ‘Gregorii Nysseni ad Eustathiam, Ambrosiam, et Basilissam epistola. Is. Casaubonus nunc primum publicavit, Latinè vertit, et illustravit notis,’ 1606. 12. ‘Polybii Historiarum libri qui supersunt. Is. Casaubonus ex antiquis libris emendavit, Latinè vertit, et commentariis illustravit,’ 1609. 13. ‘Is. Casauboni ad Frontonem Ducæum Epistola,’ 1611. 14. ‘Is. Casauboni ad Epistolam Cardinalis Perronii responsio,’ 1611. 15. ‘De rebus sacris et ecclesiasticis Exercitationes xvi ad Baronii Annales,’ 1614. 16. ‘Is. Casauboni ad Polybii Historiarum librum primum commentarii,’ 1617.
Of these works the most important are the ‘Athenæus,’ which took up full four years of his life, and gave him an immense amount of ungrateful labour, which he yearned to spend upon christian antiquity; the ‘Theophrastus,’ the first in date of those of his works of which he was not himself ashamed; the ‘Polybius,’ which also cost him more than four years' labour, though he lived only to finish the translation, the fragment of the commentary being published after his death; the ‘Suetonius,’ which first led Scaliger duly to appreciate his greatness. The ‘Persius’ and ‘Strabo’ also long continued standard works. It is not necessary to say much of his theological works. His criticism on the Annals of Baronius, though it is but a small fragment of what he intended, took up the last four years of his life, and probably hastened his death. It was undertaken at the request of King James; and though we may well regret that the great
