greater than that of composition itself; nor does he endeavour to acquire a reputation for profoundness, by leaving a great deal to be guessed by the reader. He learned the history of mathematics, not merely out of curiosity, but because he was desirous of acquiring knowledge from every quarter. This historical knowledge is doubtless an ornament in a mathematician; but it is an ornament which is by no means without its utility. Though Varignon's constitution did not seem easy to be impaired, assiduity and constant application brought upon him a severe disease in 1705. He was six months in danger, and three years in a languid state, which proceeded from his spirits being almost entirely exhausted. He said that sometimes when delirious with a fever, he thought himself in the midst of a forest, where all the leaves of the trees were covered with algebraical calculations. Condemned by his physicians, his friends, and himself, to lay aside all study, he could not, when alone in his chamber, avoid taking up a book of mathematics, which he hid as soon as he heard any person coming, and again resumed the attitude and behaviour of a sick man, which unfortunately he seldom had occasion to counterfeit. In regard to his character, Fontenelle observes, that it was at this time that a writing of his appeared, in which he censured Dr. Wallis for having advanced that there are certain spaces more than infinite, which that great geometrician ascribes to hyperbolas. He maintained, on the contrary, that they were finite. The criticism was softened with all the politeness and respect imaginable; but a criticism it was, though he had written it only for himself. He let M. Carré see it, when he was in a state that rendered him indifferent about things of that kind; and that gentleman, influenced only by the interest of the sciences, caused it to be printed in the memoirs of the Academy of Sciences, unknown to the author, who thus made an attack against his inclination. He recovered from his disease; but the remembrance of what he had suffered did not make him more prudent for the future. The whole impression of his "Project for a New System of Mechanics," having been sold off, he formed a design to publish a second edition of it, or rather ■ work entirely new, though upon the same plan, but more extended. It must be easy to perceive how much learning he must have acquired in the interval; but he often com plained, that he wanted time, though he was by no means disposed to lose any. Frequent visits, either of French or of foreigners, some of whom went to see him that they might have it to say that they had seen him, and others to consult him and improve by his conversation: works of mathematics, which the authority of some, or the friendship he had for others, engaged him to examine, and of which he thought himself obliged to give the most exact account; a literary correspondence with all the chief mathematicians of Europe; all these obstructed the book he had undertaken to write. Thus, says his biographer, a man acquires reputation by having a great deal of leisure time, and he loses this precious leisure as soon as he has acquired reputation. Add to this, that his best scholars, whether in the college of Mazarine or the Royal college (for he had a professor's chair in both), sometimes requested private lectures of him, which he could not refuse. He sighed for his two or three months of vacation, for that was all the leisure time he had in the year, and he could then retire into the country, where his time was entirely his own. Notwithstanding his placid temper, in the latter part of his life he was involved in a dispute. An Italian monk, well versed in mathematics, attacked him upon the subject of tangents and the angle of contact in curves, such as they are conceived in the arithmetic of infinites; he answered by the last memoir he ever gave to the Academy, and the only one which turned upon a dispute. In the last two years of his life he was attacked with an asthmatic complaint. This disorder increased every day, and all remedies were ineffectual. He did not, however, cease from any of his customary business; so that, after having finished his lecture at the college of Mazarine, on the 22d of December 1722, he died suddenly the following night. His character, says Fontenelle, was as simple as his superior understanding could require. He was not apt to be jealous of the fame of others: indeed he was at the head of the French mathematicians, and one of the best in Europe. It must be owned, however, that when a new idea was offered to him, he was too hasty to object, and it was frequently not easy to obtain from him a favourable attention. His works that were published separately, were, 1. "Projet d'une Nouvelle Mechanique," Paris, 1687, 440. 2. "Des Nouvelles conjectures sur la Pesanteur. 3. 4. "Nouvelle Mechanique ou Statique," 1725, 2 vols. 4to. "Un Traité du Mouvement et de la Mesure des Eaux Courantes, &c." 1725, 4to. 5. "Eclaircissement sur l'Analyse des Infiniment-petits," 4to. 6. "De Cahiers de Mathematiques, ou Elemens de Mathematiques," 1731. 7. "Une Demonstration de la possibilité de la presence réelle du Corps de Jesus Christ dans l'Euchariste," printed in a collection entitled "Pieces fugitives sur l'Eucharistie," published in 1730; an extraordinary thing for a mathematician to undertake to demonstrate; which he does, as may be expected, not mathematically but sophistically. His "Memoirs" in the volumes of the Academy of Sciences are extremely numerous, and extend through almost all the volumes down to the time of his death in 1722.' VARILLAS (ANTHONY), a French writer, more known than esteemed for several historical works, was descended from a good family, and born at Gueret in 1624. After a liberal education, of which he made the proper advantage, he became a private tutor to some young persons of quality; and then went to Paris, where he was well received as a man of letters, and had access to the Dupuy's, whose house was the common rendezvous of the learned. He obtained afterwards a place in the kings' library, by his interest with Nicolas Colbert, who was made librarian after the death of James Dupuy in 1655. Mr. Colbert, afterwards minister of state, commissioned his brother Nicolas to find out a man capable of collating certain manuscripts. Varillas was recommended, and had the abbé of St. Real for his coadjutor; and handsome pensions were settled upon both. But whether Varillas was negligent and careless, or had not a turn for this employment, he did not give satisfaction, and was therefore dismissed from his employment in 1662; yet had his pension continued till 1670. He then retired from the royal library, and spent the remainder of his days in study, refusing, it is said, several advantageous offers. He lived frugally and with œconomy, and yet not through necessity, for his circumstances were easy. St. Come was the seat of his retirement; where he died June 9, 1696, aged seventy-two. He wrote a great number of works, chiefly of the historical kind; and published, at different times and in distinct portions, a history of France, comprising a period of 176 1 Niceron, vol. XI.—Fontenelle's Eloges.-Martin's Biog. Philos.-Hutton's Dictionary. years under nine different reigns, beginning with Lewis XI. and ending with Heury III. He published also "Les Anecdotes de Florence, ou l'Histoire secrette de la Maison de Medicis, at the Hague," 1685, in 12mo; and, "Histoire des Révolutions arrivés en Europe en matiere de Religion," Paris, 1686, and often reprinted. Varillas had some advantages of style to recommend him as an historian ; he had likewise a pleasing manner of relating and setting off facts; and his characters, though somewhat diffuse, are drawn with art, and for the most part appear curious and interesting. Add to this, that he abounds in anecdotes, and told Menage that, "of ten things which he knew, he had learned nine from conversation." He was also profuse in his professions of sincerity, and was thought to have penetrated into the inmost recesses of the cabinet, and drawn forth a great deal of secret history from the numerous and important manuscripts which he pretends in his prefaces to have been from time to time communicated to him. All this procured him a vast reputation at first his books were read with eagerness: and such was the call for them, that the booksellers generally sent forth two editions, in different forms, at the same time. The public, however, were at length undeceived, and came to be convinced that the historical anecdotes, which Varillas put off for authentic facts, were wholly of his own invention, notwithstanding his affected citations of titles, instructions, letters, memoirs, and relations, all of them imaginary. As his design was to please rather than instruct his readers, he omitted nothing which he thought might conduce to this. Thus he characterised persons he knew little of, as if he had lived in the greatest familiarity with them; and gave particular reasons for all the steps they took, as if he had been privy to their councils. He advanced facts with the utmost confidence, which were scarcely probable: the air of politics, which runs through all his writings, is romantic; and every event, according to him, proceeded from premeditation and design. Such is the opinion which his own countrymen soon learned to give of his "History of France," and Florentine Anecdotes:" but his "History of the Revolutions in matters of Religion which have happened in Europe," utterly ruined his reputation abroad, and exposed him to the criticisms of able men in each country: of Burnet and Dr. King, in England, Brunsmann in Denmark, Puffendorf and Seckendorf in Germany, who copi ously detected and exposed his falsehoods and' misrepresentations concerning the state of religion in their respective countries, and totally destroyed the reputation of his works.1 VAROLI (CONSTANTIUS), an able anatomist, was born at Bologna in 1542. He taught surgery in his native place, until pope Gregory XIII. soon after his elevation to the pontificate in 1572, invited him to Rome, and appointed him his first physician. Here he lectured on anatomy, and acquired very great reputation, not only for his discoveries in that branch, but for his skill in lithotomy and other surgical operations; and he promised to have attained the highest rank in his profession, when a premature death deprived the world of his services. He died in 1575, at the age of thirty-two. The Pons Varolii, which still perpetuates his name, and his other discoveries in the œconomy of the brain and nerves, are contained in his "Anatomiæ, sive de resolutione corporis humani, libri quatuor," Padua, 1573, 8vo, and "De Nervis opticis Epistola," ibid." VARRO (MARCUS TERENTIUS), usually styled the most learned of all the Romans, was born in the year of Rome 638, or 28 B. C. His immense learning made him the admiration of his time; which yet was the most flourishing for arts and glory that Rome ever knew. He was an intimate friend of Cicero; and his friendship was confirmed and immortalized by a mutual dedication of their learned works to each other. Thus Cicero dedicated his "Academic Questions" to Varro; and Varro dedicated his "Treatise on the Latin tongue" to Cicero, who, in a letter in which he recommends him as questor to Brutus, assures the commander, that he would find him perfectly qualified for the post, and particularly insists upon his good sense, his indifference to pleasure, and his patient perseverance in business. To these virtues he added uncommon abilities, and large stores of knowledge, which qualified him for the highest offices of the state. He attached himself to the party of Pompey, and in the time of the triumvirate was proscribed with Cicero: and, though he escaped with his life, he suffered the loss of his library, and of his own writings; a loss which would be severely felt by one who had devoted a great part of his life to letters. Returning, at 1 Niceron, vol. V.-Moreri.-Reflections upon Varillas, in Dr. King's Works, vol. I. Eloy, Dict. Hist. de Medecine, VOL. XXX. S 1 |