AN Universal, Historical, and Literary DICTIONARY. F F. ABER (JACOBUS), in French, James le Fevre, a very little man, fays Bayle, and of mean extraction, Dia but a great genius, fupported by a great deal of learn ing, was born at Etaples in Picardy, about the year 1440; and was one of thofe, who began to expel the barbarifm, which reigned in the university of Paris. He became fufpected of Lutheranifm, and was obliged to give way to the outrages of certain paffionate and ignorant zealots, who suffered him not to reft. He quitted the field, and retired from Paris to Meaux; where the bifhop was William Briconnet, a lover of the fciences and men of true learn ing. The perfecution raised by the Francifcans at Meaux obliging the bishop, against his inclination, to be a good Catholic; Faber was forced to retire to Blois, and from thence to Guienne. Margaret, queen of Navarre, fifter to Francis I. honoured him with her protection; fo that he enjoyed full liberty at Nerac till his death, which happened in 1537, when he was little fhort of a hundred years old. He was one of those, who, like Erafmus, though they did not outwardly depart from the church of Rome, and difapproved in fome measure the conduct of those, who eftablished the Reformation in Germany, yet at the bottom were very indifferent Papifts. He took a journey to Strasburg, by the queen of Navarre's order, to confer with Bucer and Capito, concerning the reformation of the church. He pubVOL. V. lifhed, B Crit. Hift. des Comment. du N. T. lifhed, fo early as the year 1512, a tranflation of St. Paul's Epiftles, with critical notes and a commentary, wherein he frequently cenfures the Vulgate. He published, in the year 1522, the like notes and commentary upon the other parts of the New Teftament. Natalis Bedda, a divine of Paris, cenfured his divinity as well as that of Erafmus: and the Inquifitors of Rome under Clement VIII. put his commentary on the whole New Teftament, in the catalogue of prohibited books, till it fhould be corrected and purged from its errors. Father Simon has paffed a judgment on this work of Faber's, which he concludes with obferving, that "he "ought to be placed among the most able commentators of "the age. But Erafmus, who wrote at the fame time, and with infinitely more politenefs, greatly leffened his repu"tation. The works of Faber are no longer read at Paris, "whereas those of Erafmus are highly esteemed even at "this day." His natural moderation left him, when he wrote against his friend Erafmus, and the quarrel did not end at all to his advantage. Faber was angry at Erafmus for no other reafon, but because he had not adopted all his opinions as to certain paffages of fcripture, when he publifhed his notes on the New Teftament. He rudely attacked him, and accused him of having advanced impious notions. Erafmus defended himself; and when he had faid what was fufficient for that purpose, begged of his adverfary the continuance of his friendship, affuring him, that he had always loved and esteemed him. The letter he wrote him on this occafion, is dated April 1517; the very year that Luther began to preach. Erafmus was very fincere in his profeffions to Faber; and accordingly, was much difpleafed with the compliments, which he received from his friends on his victory, defiring them at the fame time not to change their opinion of Faber, on account of this quarrel. What Erafmus wrote on this head to Tonftal, the English embaffador at Paris, in the year 1517, does fo much honour both to himself and Faber, that it is but right to transcribe it. Quæ fcribis de noftra ad Fabrum Apologia, &c. that is, " What you write concern"ing my answer to Faber, though I know you wrote it with "6 a moft friendly intention, yet gave me uneafinefs on a "double account: because it revives my paft grief, and be❝ cause you seem on this occafion, to fpeak with less esteer "than I could wifh of Faber; a man, who for integrity and "humanity has scarcely his equal among thousands. In this fingle inftance only, has he acted unl ke himself in, at པ་ "lent a manner. 66 am lib. 3. "tacking a friend, who deferved not fuch ufage, in fo vioBut what man was ever wife at all times? "And I wish I could have fpared my adverfary: but now I afflicted for two reasons; both because I am conftrain-Erafm. "ed to engage with fuch a friend, and because I perceive, Epift. 3. "fome to think lefs candidly of Faber, for whom it is my "earneft defire, that all should entertain the utmost esteem." Can there, fays Mr. Bayle, be more heroic fentiments than Epift. 28. these? They had their effect on Faber, who repented of his attack, and made no reply. lib. 7. Some very fingular things are related of Faber's laft hours, which it may not be improper juft to mention. Margaret of Navarre was very fond of Faber, and vifited him often. He and some other learned men, whofe converfation greatly pleased the queen, dined with her one day; when, in the midft of the entertainment, Faber began to weep. The queen asking the reason of it, he anfwered, That the ênormity of his fins threw him into grief: not that he had ever been guilty of debaucheries, or the like, but he reckoned it a very great crime, that having known the truth, and taught it to several perfons who had fealed it with their blood, he had had the weakness to keep himself in a place of refuge, far from the countries where crowns of martyrdom were diftributed. The queen, who was very eloquent, comforted him; yet, going to bed, he was found dead a few hours after. Mr. Bayle fays, it is hard to doubt the truth of this ftory, and hard not to doubt of it: and canvaffes the point. It is probably one of thofe ftrange ftories, which confift of a mixture of truth and falfhood. FABER (NICOLAUS), a very ingenious, learned, and pious man, was born at Paris upon the 2d of June 1544; Dupin Hift. and liberally educated by his mother, his father dying while Eccles. he was an infant. During the course of his ftudies, a terrible accident happened to him. As he was cutting a pen, a bit of the quill flew into his eye, and gave him fuch exceffive pain, that haftily lifting up his hand to it, he ftruck it, out with his knife. Having finished his ftudy of the languages, he was fent to ftudy the civil law at Tholouse, and Padua, and Bolonia. He did not come back, till he had travelled through Italy; and he refided eighteen months in Rome, about the year 1571, where he cultivated a friendship with Sigonius, Muretus, and other learned men. He there got his tafte for antiquity, and brought away with him many curiofities. Upon his return to France, he applied himself B 2 wholly Jugemens des Savans. wholly to letters, and would hear no mention of marriage. His mother and brother dying in the year 1581, he lived with Peter Pithæus, with whom he was very intimate; and haying nothing to do but ftudy, he employed himself in reading the works of the ancients, in correcting them by the manu fcripts, of which he had a great number in his own library, and in writing notes upon them. He laboured particularly on Seneca, whom he published in the year 1587, with a learned preface and notes. He applied himself also, to studies of a different kind, to the Mathematics paticularly; which he fucceeded in fo well, that he difcovered immediately the defect in Scaliger's demonftration of the Quadrature of the Circle. When Henry the IVth of France, became at length the peaceable poffeffor of the crown, he appointed Nicolaus Faber, or Nicholas le Fevre, preceptor to the prince of Condé. During this important truft, he found time to labour upon fome confiderable works; and compofed that fine preface to the fragments of Hilary, in which he discovered fo many important facts, relating to the hiftory of Arianifm, not known before. After the death of Henry IV. he was chofen by the queen, preceptor to Lewis XIII. He died upon the 3d of November, 1611. Though he laboured intenfely all his life, he was one of those learned men, who are not ambitious of the character of author, but content with ftudying for themselves and their friends. He applied himself in his youth to the reading of the Belles Lettres and Hiftory, which he never neglected. Civil Law, Philofophy, and Morality, were afterwards his occupation and at the latter part of life, he spent his time chiefly among Ecclefiaftical Antiquities. As he kept up a correfpondence with all the learned men of Europe, so when he heard of any perfon, about to publifh an author, or to compose a work of his own, he took care to affift him with manuscripts, and to furnish him with memoirs, but without. fuffering any mention to be made of his name, though his injunctions upon this point were not always obferved. His own works, which were but few, were collected after his death, by John le Begue his friend, and printed at Paris in the year 1614, in one fmall volume in quarto. They confift of pieces in Latin and French. Nicholas le Fevre, fays Baillet," is the model of a truly "chriftian critic. He knew fo perfectly well how to join "virtue to learning, which before were thought to be fome"what inconfiftent with each other, that he rendered the for66 mer amiable to all the learned, and the latter to all the ❝ virtuous. |