249 



VAILLANT, JEAN FOY. 



VAILLANT, JEAN FRANCOIS FOY. 



20 



first expedition from the Cape was published in 1790. In 1789, and 

 again in 1795, efforts were mado to have his cabinet purchased by 

 government, but a price could not be agreed upon. In 1796 the 

 second part of his Travels appeared. The first volume of the ' Natural 

 History of the Birds of Africa ' was published the same year ; it was 

 followed at intervals by four others; the sixth appeared in 1812; and 

 Le Vaillant at his death left two additional volumes in manuscript. 

 The ' Natural History of Parrots,' in 2 vols., was published 1801-5; 

 'The Natural History of Birds of Paradise,' 1801-6; 'The Natural 

 History of Contingas,' 1805; ' The Natural History of Calaos,' 1804. 



The veracity of Le Vaillant has been questioned by Barrow and 

 Lichtenstein, but on very insufficient grounds, the loose statements 

 of colonists speaking from recollection after a lapse of twenty or thirty 

 years, or the non-appearance of a particular horde at the place where 

 it was met by Le Vaillant after a similar interval It may be conceded 

 to Barrow that Le Vaillant was not an accurate geographer he made 

 no pretensions to the character. In his ornithological works he 

 describes the appearance and habits of birds; in his travels he 

 narrates his adventures while in pursuit of them. His accounts of 

 birds are such as could only be supplied by one with whom it was a 

 passion to follow them into their most secluded haunts and watch all 

 their actions. The narrative of his travels throws light upon his 

 character, and explains how he came to be capable of such persever- 

 ing and minute observation. It is allowed by all who b ave had oppor- 

 tunities of observing, that he has described the character of the 

 Hottentot with perfect fidelity. The narratives of Barrow, Campbell, 

 Pringle, and the events of later years, show how truthfully he has 

 delineated the robust recklessness of the Dutch colonists. Mistakes 

 there are doubtless many, but the history of his travels is essentially 

 a truthful book. It is a sincere faithful record of his impressions, of 

 things in the light in which he viewed them ; and the author delineates 

 himself so unreservedly and so unconsciously in his eagerness, 

 buoyance, enterprise, vanity, warmth of affection, and unregulated 

 enthusiasm, that it is easy to estimate the colouring effects of the 

 medium through which all objects are viewed. There is a graphic 

 power and life in Le Vaillant's descriptions, that give all his writings 

 the charm of romance. He is great in the description of an elephant 

 or rhinoceros chase : his faithful monkey Klees is a most felicitous 

 picture ; and there is scarcely a more delicate creation in poetry than 

 his Gonaquoi girl Narina. Le Vaillant stands high in a class of 

 writers, of which St. Pierre, Wilson (the ornithologist), and Audubon 

 may be considered the types. 



Neither Le Vaillant's entire devotion to his favourite pursuits, nor 

 his innocent boyish enthusiasm for that kind of liberty which the 

 possessor of the wealth and acquirements of civilised life can com- 

 mand in a genial climate among a rude and simple people, could 

 enable him to escape entirely the dangers of the Revolution. He was 

 only saved from the guillotine by the opportune death of Robespierre. 

 After his liberation he retired to a small property which he possessed 

 at La Neve, near Lauzun ; and there, except at brief intervals, during 

 which he was obliged to visit Paris to superintend the publication of 

 his works, he spent the remaining thirty years of his life. There he 

 lived through all the wars of the Revolution, hunting as eagerly, and 

 with as little distraction from the turmoil around him, as if he had 

 been among the woods of Surinam or in the valleys of the Cape. He 

 died on the 22nd of November 1824. 



(Le Vaillant, Voyage dans I'Interieur de I'Afrique, and Second 

 Voyage dans I'Interieur de I'Afrique, and also incidental notices in his 

 ornithological works ; Travels in Africa, by Barrow, Lichtenstein, and 

 Campbell; Biographie Universelle.) 



VAILLANT, JEAN FOY, was born at Beauyais on the 24th of 

 May 1632. When only three years old he lost his father, but he was 

 educated by an uncle, who wished his nephew to study the law, in 

 order that he might become his successor in some offices which he 

 held. The uncle however, who left all his property to his nephew, 

 died at a time when Vaillant was not yet old enough to become his 

 successor, and being now in the possession of a considerable fortune, 

 he followed his own inclinations, and devoted himself to the study of 

 medicine, of which he was made doctor at the age of twenty-four. 

 Vaillant's name has become celebrated, not for what he did in his pro- 

 fession, but for what he did for numismatics : he is one of the first 

 men who showed the importance of ancient coins for history. The 

 circumstance which led him to the pursuit of these studies is related 

 as follows : A farmer in the neighbourhood of Beauvais, while 

 working in his fields, discovered a great quantity of ancient coins, and 

 not knowing what to do with them, he took them to Vaillant, and 

 consulted him about the use that could be made of the coins. Vaillant 

 looked at them at first very cursorily, but on further thoughts his 

 curiosity became excited, and he began examining them carefully. 

 The discoveries which he made afforded him so much pleasure that 

 henceforth he devoted nearly all his time to the study of this branch 

 of antiquity. Some years after this occurrence he had occasion to go 

 to Paris, whf re he became acquainted with Pierre Seguin, who had a 

 fine collection of ancient coins, and was very fond of the study. 

 Vaillant visited him frequently, and made also the acquaintance of 

 several other eminent men, who soon perceived that he possessed 

 extraordinary talent, and more than an ordinary knowledge of ancient 

 medals, until at length he also attracted the attention of Colbert. This 



minister was then about removing the numismatic cabinet of Gaston 

 de Bourbon to Versailles, and he wished to increase it. He therefore 

 commissioned Vaillant to travel through Italy, Sicily, and Greece, for 

 the purpose of collecting ancient medals for the king's cabinet. 

 Vaillant spent two years on this journey, and collected a great quan- 

 tity of beautiful and rare coins, which made the cabinet of Versailles 

 one of the most splendid collections of medals in Europe. In the 

 year 1674 Vaillant published his first work, on the coins of the Roman 

 emperors, under the title ' Numismata Imperatorum Rouianorum 

 praestantiora, a Julio Caosare ad Postumum et Tyrannos/ of which a 

 second and much improved edition appeared in 1692, 2 vola. 4to. The 

 last and best edition is that of Baldinus, 3 vols. 4to, Rome, 1743. 

 In the same year in which Vaillant published his first work, he was 

 sent out a second time by Colbert in search after ancient coins. He 

 embarked at Marseille for Rome, but on the second day after leaving 

 the port the French vessel was captured by an Algerine corsair, and 

 all persons on 'board were taken to Algiers as slaves. Vaillant was 

 kept in slavery for upwards of four months, until, after some energetic 

 remonstrances on the part of the French government, he was restored 

 to freedom. After having recovered a number of gold corns which 

 the Algerines had taken from him, he embarked for Marseille. On 

 the second day of the voyage the vessel was again pursued by a 

 corsair, and when Vaillant saw that the danger became threatening, 

 he resolved to secure at least his gold medals, and he swallowed them. 

 However, a sudden change of the wind delivered the vessel from the 

 enemy, and after several adventures it was thrown among the Bauds at 

 the mouth of the Rhone. Vaillant got on shore in a skiff, but 

 suffered very much from the medals till he was relieved of them. 

 Soon after his arrival he was sent out on a third expedition, during 

 which he travelled through Egypt and several parts of Asia. His 

 exertions were richly rewarded; he returned to Paris in 1680, and 

 brought with him a very largo collection of coins, which were again 

 incorporated in the king's cabinet, the whole arrangement of which 

 was now intrusted to him. Immediately after his return he was 

 chiefly occupied with studying the coins and the history of the Seleu- 

 ciclse in Syria, and in 1681 he published the results of his labours in 

 his ' Seleucidarum Imperium, seu Historia Regum Syriae ad fidem 

 Numismatum accommodata,' 1 vol. 4to. The remaining years of his 

 life Vaillant spent at Paris, in the uninterrupted study of numis- 

 matics and the composition of his works. During this period he also 

 paid a visit to England to see the most valuable collections of medals. 

 In 1702, when Louis XIV. gave a new constitution to the Academy of 

 Inscriptions, Vaillaut was made a member, and soon after a pensionary 

 of it. He died on the 23rd of October 1706. 



In estimating the merits of Vaillant, we must bear in mind that he 

 cultivated numismatics at a time when the subject was yet in its 

 infancy, and his labours, if estimated under these circumstances, are 

 highly meritorious. Although most of his works have been super- 

 seded by the more recent investigations of Eckhel, Sestiui, and others, 

 some are still of great value. Besides those mentioned above, the 

 following works deserve notice: 1, 'Numismata Eerea Imperatorum 

 et Csesarum in Coloniis, Municipiis, et Urbibus jure Latio donatis, ex 

 omni Modulo percussa,' 2 vols. fol., Paris, 1688 ; 2, ' Numismata 

 Imperatorum et Csesarum a Populis Romanae ditionis Grsece loquenti- 

 bus ex omni Modulo percussa,' 4to, Paris, 1698, a second and enlarged 

 edition of this work appeared at Amsterdam, fol., 1700 ; 3, ' Historia 

 Ptolemseorum, ^Egypti Regum, ad fidem Numismatum accommodata,' 

 fol., Amsterdam, 1701 ; 4, ' Nummi Antiqui Familiarum Romanarum 

 perpetuis Interpretationibus illustrati,' 2 vols. fol., Amsterdam, 1703. 

 After his death there appeared 5, 'Arsacidarum imperium, sive 

 Regum Parthorum Historia ad fidem Numismatum accommodata,' 

 4to, Paris, 1725; and 6, ' Acbaomenidarum Imperium, sive Hegum 

 Ponti, Bosphori, Thraciae, et Bithyniae Historia ad fidem Numismatum 

 accommodata/ 4to, Paris, 1725. The ' Mdmoires de l'Acade"mie des 

 Inscriptions et Belles Lettres ' also contain several interesting papers 

 by Vaillant. 



VAILLANT, JEAN FRANCOIS FOY, a son of the celebrated 

 numismatist, Jean Foy Vaillant, was born at Rome on the 17th of 

 February 1665, when his father was travelling for the purpose of col- 

 lecting ancient coins. At the age of three years he was brought to 

 Beauvais, and at twelve he was sent to a college of the Jesuits at Paris. 

 His father wished him to follow the medical profession, but at the 

 same time made him familiar with numismatics, and usually took him 

 with him to the royal cabinet of medals during the time that he was 

 engaged in arranging them. Young Vaillant accompanied his father 

 on his visit to England, and after his return to Paris he began seriously 

 to apply himself to the study of medicine, of which he was made a 

 doctor in 1691. His reputation as a numismatist however appears to 

 have been much greater than that as a physician, and in 1702 he was 

 made a member of the Academy of Inscriptions, to the ' Memoires ' of 

 which he contributed several papers on antiquarian and numismatic 

 subjects, which raised great expectations, and show that he would per- 

 haps have surpassed his father had his life been spared longer. He 

 died on the 17th of November 1708, in consequence of a fall which 

 produced an abscess in his head. The only medical work of Vaillant 

 is a treatise on the virtues of coffee. 



(Nice"ron, Memoires des Hommes Illiistres, voL xv. ; Chaufepie", Die- 

 lionnaire Historique et Critique.) 



