Protestant Exiles from France/Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 18 - Section V
V. De Missy.
Charles De Missi, or De Missy, a Huguenot merchant, and native of the province of Saintonge, became a refugee in Berlin, along with his wife. Her maiden name was Susanne Godefroy; her grandfather, Jean Godefroy, ecuyer, Sieur de Richal, had been major and captain-general of La Rochelle during its last historic siege. César De Missy, the son of the refugee, was born at Berlin, 2d June 1703. He was educated at the French College of that city, and at the University of Frankfort-on-Oder. The consistory of the French Church at Berlin admitted him as a candidât, or probationary preacher, in 1725. But the Prussian Government interposed with a test for his signature, according to custom. Young De Missy and another candidât, named Franc, scrupled as to signing; but after eleven months’ correspondence, they were allowed (partly on account of the death of a Prussian prime minister) to accompany their signatures with the desired reservations. The same test would have been imposed upon the occasion of his induction to a pastoral charge; César De Missy, therefore, removed to the Netherlands, and preached in various towns for five years. In 1731 he came to England, and settled in London as a minister of the French Church in the Savoy. In 1762 he was translated to the French Chapel Royal of St. James’, as successor to Mr. Serces. He died in London on 10th August 1775, aged seventy-two.
During a residence in London for forty-four years he was respected as a pastor and a scholar. Pie did not forget his worthy ancestors. In 1735 he preached in the French Church of La Patente in Soho a sermon suitable to the anniversary of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes; it was printed along with his exposition of Psalm cxxxvii., and passed through several editions, the last of which is dated 1751. He was a diligent and successful Biblical student, as appears from his Greek Testament (Mill’s text and Kuster’s edition), the margins of which are covered with Latin notes in his neat handwriting. It is to be regretted that what he has printed should have consisted to so large an extent of trifles in prose and verse, appearing in periodicals either anonymously, or signed C.D.M. Paul Vaillant tertius, the French publisher, prevailed upon him to print the following critical work:—
“De Joannis Harduini jesiutae Prolegomenis, cum autographo collatis, Epistola quam ad amicissimum virum Willielmum Bowyer, iisdem nondum prsestantibus, scripserat Caesar Missiacus [vulgò Caesar De Missy] Reg. Brit, a sacris Gallicè peragendis. Prostant Harduini Prolegonmia Londini, apud P. Vaillant, 1766.”
Mr. De Missy was celebrated as a collector of rare books and manuscripts. He had three copies of the first printed Polyglot, namely, a Pentaglott Psalter (in Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, and Chaldee, with three Latin versions of the Psalms), printed at Genoa in 1516 by Petrus Paulus Porrus; the first of these was sold to the late Rev. Mr. Cracherode, and thus passed into the library of the British Museum. He had also two copies of John Polken’s Psalter, printed at Cologne in 1518. Accordingly we find in “Nichols’ Literary Anecdotes,” vol. iv., some interesting Remarks on the first printed Polyglotts addressed by Mr. De Missy to Mr. Bowyer in the year 1770. One of his slight publications was entitled, “Parables ou Fables et autres petites narrations d’un Citoyen de la Republique Chrétienne du dixhuitième siècle mis en vers par César De Missy, 1759;” 2d edition, 1770; 3d edition, 1776 — which edition, although posthumous, had been revised and corrected by the author himself, and had his portrait as the frontispiece. He was, no doubt, urged by his admiring friends to bring out something really important, and in his old age he set to work in earnest to prepare a learned work on the Complutensian Polyglot; but at his death it was found to be in a quite unfinished state. Three volumes of his sermons, however, were printed as a memorial of him, viz., “Sermons sur divers Textes de l’Ecriture Sainte — par feu César De Missy, un des Chapelains Francois de Sa Majesté Britannique, 1780.”
His library was sold by auction by Messrs Baker and Leigh, March 18 to 26, 1778. It was rich in biblical and other manuscripts, and in classical works; several of the most curious books were bought for the king’s library; the British Museum bought the Greek Testament which I have mentioned above. It was the occasion of Mr. Beloe’s panegyric, with which I conclude this memoir:—
“I have before had occasion to mention with respect the name of Caesar De Missy. He was a profound scholar, an acute writer, and above all a most excellent theologian. This will sufficiently appear from an edition of the Greek Testament preserved in the Museum. It formerly belonged to De Missy, and is enriched with innumerable notes from his pen. I transcribe a few of them . . . taken without any particular care as to the selection . . . to satisfy the theological student that the book from which they are transcribed will amply repay his attention.”[1]
- ↑ Anecdotes of Literature and Scarce Books, by Rev. William Beloe, vol. i. p. 113, London, 1807.