Eminent literary and scientific men of France.

Date:
1838-1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Eminent literary and scientific men of France. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Cream,” a burlesque on the disputations of the schoolmen and the Sorhonne. “ The heroic Lives of the great Giants Garagantua and Pantagruel” have gone through countless editions, various expurgations, and endless commentaries; but the most valuable or curious are Duchat’s, with a historical and critical commentary, in French; Motteux’s, with similar commentaries, in English; an edition by the bookseller Bernard, of Amsterdam, in 1741, with the annotations of the two former, revised and criticised, and illustrations of the text engraved from drawings by Picart; an edition, in three volumes, Paris, 1823, with a copious glossary, a curious and highly illustrative table of contents, and “ Rabelaesiana,” collected from the author’s book, not from his life ; another Paris edition, of the same date, in nine volumes, with a “ variorum” commentary, from the earliest annotators down to Ginguene, valuable from its copiousness rather than discernment. This last edition gives the 120 wood-cut Pantagruelian caricatures, first published in 1655, under the title of “ Songes drolatiques,” and ascribed, upon questionable grounds, to Rabelais. It has been said, with every appearance of truth, that the conversation and character of Rabelais were greatly superior to his book. He knew fourteen languages, dead and living, including Hebrew and Arabic, and wrote Greek, Latin, and Italian. The Greek which he puts into the mouth of Panurge, though not the purest, even for a modern, is fluent and correct. We may re- mark, in passing, that the Greek word “ av To,” given as part of the text in the common character, is written “ afto.” He was conversant with all the sciences and most of the arts of his time: a physician, a naturalist, a mathematician, an astronomer, a theologian, a jurist, an antiquary, an architect, a grammarian, a poet, a musi- cian, a painter. His person and deportment are described as noble and graceful, his countenance engaging and expressive, his society agreeable, his disposition generous and kind. He was the physician as well as pastor of
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