SKETCH OF GERARD MERC AT OR. 409 



In preparing his maps, Mercator had to give attention to the study 

 of the best methods of lettering"-. The results of these studies were 

 published for the information of the public, in an essay on italic and 

 cursive letters " Ratio scribendarum literarum latinarum quas italicas 

 cursoriasque vocant " which was a treatise on calligraphy and much 

 more ; for it embodied the fruit of much thought and careful in- 

 vestigation on a subject which was of great importance, to him at 

 least. 



The services of Mercator were in frequent demand for the prepa- 

 ration of maps of private estates, and from this occupation he was able 

 to meet the current expenses of his living and his family, and derived 

 a considerable income. 



Mercator's most important work, after his maps and atlases, was 

 his chronology : " Chronologia a Mundi exordio ex eclipsibus et ob- 

 servationibus ac bibliis sacris " (" Chronology from the Beginning of 

 the World ; from Eclipses and Observations, and Holy Books ") ; Co- 

 logne, 1568 ; Basle, 1577. It was an elaborate work, the result of four 

 years of labor, and gave 3965 years from the creation to the birth of 

 Christ. Scaliger expressed a high opinion of it, and Lenglet Dufres- 

 noy spoke of it as clear but dry ; but it was pronounced by one of 

 the best judges of the time, Onupbre Panvini, of Verona, author of 

 several historical and chronological books, preferable to all existing 

 chronologies. In the preface to this work he sketched a plan of a 

 universal cosmography. Repeating this plan in 1585, he described it 

 as intended to include, first, the form of the world and the general 

 distribution of its parts ; second, the order and motions of the heav- 

 enly bodies ; third, their nature and radiation, and the concurrence of 

 their influences, from which may be derived a veritable astrology ; 

 fourth, the elements ; fifth, descriptions of kingdoms and of the whole 

 earth ; sixth, the genalogies of princes from the beginning of the 

 world, with the emigrations of the peoples, their abodes, their first 

 inventions, and antiquities. This order was not, however, observed 

 in actual publication. 



Piety was a predominant feature in all of Mercator's life. To ex- 

 tol the works of God, he said, "to exhibit the infinite divine wisdom 

 and inexhaustible goodness by showing how all things in their compo- 

 sition concur to glorify him and reveal his incomprehensible provi- 

 dence such is the end toward which I shall direct all my efforts, all 

 my readings, and all my meditations." 



This feeling it was, probably, that impelled him, in the latter part 

 of his life, to give attention to theological questions., and which 

 prompted the composition of his " Harmony of the Gospels " (" Har- 

 mbnia Evangelistarum " ), which was published at Duisburg in 

 1592. 



He seems to have had opinions of his own on theological subjects, 

 even earlier in his life and that was against the order of society. He 



