Dangeau, Louis Courcillon De

, a French abbe, and a man of family, was the son of Louis cle Courcillon, lord oi' Dangeau, &c. by a daughter of the celebrated Plessis-Mornay. He was born in January 1643, and educated in the protestant religion, which was that of his family, and which he professed in 1667, when envoy extraordinary in Poland but he was afterwards induced to become a Roman catholic, and entered into the church, in which he held some benefices, although none of such importance as might have been expected from his merits and family interest. In 1671 he purchased the office of reader to the king, which he sold again in 1685. In 1680 the king gave him the abbey of Fontaine-Daniel, and in 1710 that of Clermont, and he was also prior of Gournay and St. Arnoul. He devoted himself, however, principally to the belles lettres, the study of which he endeavoured to facilitate by various new modes of instruction, some of which were successful, and others rather whimsical. In the sme way, by some new expedients, he endeavoured to increase the knowledge of history, geography, heraldry, grammar, &c. and his services were so highly esteemed, that in 1682 he was admitted into the French academy, and in 1698 into that of the Ilicovrati of Padua. His own house, indeed, was a species of academy, where men of taste and learning were invited to assemble once a week for conversation. The abbe Dangeau was an accomplished scholar: besides the sciences we have mentioned, he knew Greek, Latin, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, &c. Being admitted into the confidence of his sovereign, he took frequent opportunities to promote learning and learned men, and along with his brother the marquis Dangeau established a school for the education of voung men of family, the superintendance of which he took upon himself; but this did not last above ten years, the wars having obliged the king to withdraw the pecuniary assistance he had given^ a striking proof of the necessities to which Louis XIV. was sometimes driven by his ambition. He died Jan. 1, 1723, leaving the character of a man whose virtues were superior to his knowledge, extensive us the latter was. “His humanity towards the sons and daughters of misfortune was such, (says his eulogist M. d’Alembert), that, with but a moderate fortune, he was lavish of his bounty towards the poor, and added to his benefits the more uncommon benefit of Concealing them. He possessed that prudent œconomy, | without which there can be no generosity; and which, never dissipating for the sake of giving continually, is always giving with propriety. His heart was formed for friendship, and for that reason he was not careless in bestowing it; but when once it was obtained, it was settled for ever. If he had any defect, it was perhaps too much indulgence for the faults and weaknesses of mankind; a defect, which by its scarceness is almost a virtue, and of which few persons have to reproach themselves, even in regard to their friends. He possessed in the highest degree that knowledge of the world and of man, which neither books nor genius ever gave the philosopher, while neglecting the commerce of his fellow creatures. Enjoying the esteem and the confidence of all the great men in the kingdom, no one had better advice to give in the most important affairs. He kept inviolably the secrets of others as well as his own. Yet his generous, delicate, and honest soul disdained dissimulation, and his prudence was too enlightened to be mistaken for artifice. Easy and affable in company, but preferring truth in all things, he never disputed except in its defence: accordingly the lively interest he shewed for truth on all such occasions gave him in the eyes of the generality an air of obstinacy, which truth is much less likely to find among mankind than a cold and criminal indifference.

He wrote above an hundred treatises on different subjects of history, grammar, geography, &c. the greater part of which remained in manuscript, and of those which were published, many soon became very scarce, as it was his custom to print only a few copies for distribution among his friends. 1. “Quatre Dialogues,” on the immortality of the soul, the existence of God, &c. Paris, 1684, 12mo, with a vignette of Sebastian le Clerc to each dialogue, This was animadverted upon by the celebrated Jurieu in “Apologie d’un tour nouveau pour ies Quatre Dialogues, &c.Cologne (the Hague), 1685. 2. “Cartes Geographiques, Tables Chronologiques, Tables Genealogiques, &c.1693, 12mo. 3. “Lettre sur Tortographe aM.de Poutchartrain,1693, 12mo. 4. “Reflexions sur toutes Ies parties de la Grammaire,1694, 12mo. ]n this and the preceding, he attempts some new modes of spelling, which have never been adopted. 5. “Nouvelle methods de Geographic historique, &c.1697, folio. 6. “Leg principes du Blason en quatorze planches,Paris, 1709, | folio, reprinted in 1715, 4to. 7. “Essais de Grammaire,1711, 8vo. 8. “Reflexions sur la Grammaire Franeoise,1717, 8vo, with some other treatises on the same subjects he also invented a historical game of the kinos of France, somewhat like what have lately been introduced in our schools. The best of the above treatises were reprinted by the abbe Olivet in 1754, under the title of“Opuscules sur la langue Francaise.1

1 Moreri in Courcillon. —Niceron. Eloges by D’Alembert.