A General Dictionary; Historical and Critical - In Which a New and Accurate Translation of That of the Celebrated Mr. Bayle, with the Corrections and (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1739 edition. Excerpt: ...for him to read the originals; so that he was obliged to have recourse to other Bibliothecarians, and to copy what they had written. This made him often fall into gross errors, and likewise occasioned his omitting the most material and useful things in those Authors, whom he analyses. To this we may also ascribe his absolute silence as to some Authors, his ascribing works to others, which they never wrote, his omitting a great part of the works of many, is'c Monsieur Simon supplies these defects; and where he is not so exact as could be wished, the Remarks of an anonymous Author at the end of each volume make up the defect. To give seme instances of the want of accuracy in Monsieur du Pin; he frequently mistakes widely in geography, taking the Euxine See for a country; confounding Mortaigne in Pieardy with Mauritania; Flejfingben in Zeland with Frifingben's in Bavaria, Sec. But such errors had been pardonable in him, if he had been exactin more material points; but on the contrary, in his analysis of Authors, he shews that he did not understand them. For instance, in his analysis of St. Jerom's$2d Letter, he makes him fay, that he had written Commentaries upon the Book of Kings, which he never did, nor does he here fay he had done. St. Jerome's words are these: Mijeram quadum riir noumuttenn in Propbetas duodecim sancto Patri Domnioni, Samuelem quoque isf Malachim, id est, quatuor Libros Regum. Whoever understands Latin, may fee plainly, that he does not here speak of Commentaries upon the books of the Kings, but only upon the twelve Prophets. Nor are the mistakes less considerable, which Monsieur du Pin is guilty of in his account of the different editions and best impressions of the ecclesiastical Writers. For instance, speaking of Origen...