CAS 



58.3 



CAS 



the end of the M-th century, it became the residence 

 of its sovereigns. 1'opr Sextttl IV. rn-ind Casal 

 ^' into an i-pNv-op.,1 city ; and, in spite of the revolt of 

 its inhabitants, the Dukes of Mantua preferred it to 

 ;i:i as a place of residence. About this time, 

 when the arts made such a rapid progress in Italy, 

 this city acquired fresh lustre. New palaces and 

 new churches were erected ; and many families re- 

 moved to it from Mantua. While it was in the pos- 

 session of the French, Catinot, who was the gover- 

 nor, constructed the citadel, which was reckoned 

 one of the strongest in Italy. It was, however, car- 

 ried away by the Piedmontese and Spanish troops in 

 1(>9.>, and all the fortifications were demolished. 

 There now remains only an old castle, where a small 

 garrison might hold out for some hours. 



The principal public buildings in Casal are, the 

 theatre, the seminary, the lyceum, the palaces of 

 M. M. Gozzani St George, Gozzani Odalengo, Vin- 

 cent Ricci, and Roland Di-lavalle ; and the churches 

 of St Dominique and St Philippe. There is a charm- 

 ing promenade from the Marengo gate to that of the 

 Po. The principal hotels are, the Hotel Mogul, the 

 Trois Rois, and the Nouveau Puits. 



Casal is inhabited by several ancient and illustrious 

 families, some of whom pretend to have their descent 

 even from Numa Pompilius. Population 14,000. 

 East Long. 8 37', North Lat. 45 7'. (*) 



CASAL MAGGIORE, the name of a town which 

 is the chief place of a district of the same name in 

 the department of the higher Po and the kingdom 

 of Italy. It is situated near the Po, and was made 

 a town in 17.5k Population 4-150. 



CASAN. See KAZAN. 



CASAUBON, ISAAC, a very learned critic and 

 editor, was born at Geneva in February 1559. His 

 natural abilities were good, and so great- was the 

 progress which he made under the tuition of his fa- 

 ther, who had become minister of Crest in Dauphine, 

 that he was scarcely nine years of age, when he could 

 both write Latin with correctness, and speak it with 

 ease. But his father being under the necessity of 

 going from home on business for three years toge- 

 ther, Isaac's education was neglected, and he almost 

 entirely lost what he had acquired. When he reach- 

 ed his twelfth year, he again applied to his studies, 

 and partly by his own exertions, partly by the occa- 

 sional assistance of his father, he began to recover 

 his classical knowledge. This method, however, be- 

 ing uncertain and tardy, he was sent in 1578 to Ge- 

 neva, to study under the professors there ; and so 

 great was his diligence, and so attentive were his 

 teachers, that lie soon redeemed all the time which 

 he had formerly lost. Such was his proficiency in 

 Greek, that Francis Portus, the Cretan, by whose 

 instructions he had been made acquainted with it, 

 thought him worthy to be his successor in the aca- 

 demical chair at the age of twenty-three ; and to 

 that honourable situation, accordingly, he was ap- 

 pointed in 1582. In 1586, his father died, and 

 shortly after he married a daughter of the celebra- 

 ted printer Henry Stephens, by whom he had twen- 

 ty children. After holding the professorship of 

 Greek at Geneva for fourteen years, during which 

 time he studied philosophy and civil law, and paid 



some attention to Hebrew and the Oriental language!, 

 he removed to Montpelier, as professor of the Greek 

 tongue and polite literature, with a more consider, 

 able salary than he enjoyed at Geneva. This change 

 of situation was occasioned, not merely by the dif- 

 ference in h emoluments, but tlto by the morose 

 temper of his father-in-law, and by his own restless 

 disposition. At Montpelier, he was at first much 

 esteemed, and greatly pleased ; and resisted the in- 

 vitations which were given him, first by the city of 

 Nismes, and afterwards by that of Franekcr, to ac- 

 cept of a chair in their universities. But he soon 

 began to be disgusted with the treatment which he 

 received. The promises that had been held out to 

 him were not fulfilled ; his salary was neither regu- 

 larly nor fully paid ; and he experienced so much 

 vexation from these and other causes, that he was 

 just on the eve of returning to Geneva, when better 

 prospects were opened up to him in another quarter. 

 By M. de Vicq, a :nan of some note at Lyons, whom 

 he visited in 1598, he was taken to Paris, and intro- 

 duced to King Henry IV., President de Harley, 

 President de Thou, (Thuanus,) and other persons of 

 eminence, who gave him a very civil reception. The 

 king offered him a professor's place, and, after his 

 return to Montpelier, renewed the offer by letter. 



He at last resolved to go to Paris, though he was 

 warned by M. De Vicq and Scaliger, that his ex- 

 pectations would probably be disappointed. Henry 

 received him most graciously; but the jealousy of 

 the other professors, and his own Protestant prin- 

 ciples, were the occasion of much opposition and 

 trouble, and even prevented him ultimately from ob- 

 taining the situation which his majesty had promised. 

 He was, however, appointed one of the judges on the 

 Protestant's side at the conference between these and 

 the Catholics, held at Fountainbleau in 1600. And 

 afterwards he was nominated keeper of the king's 

 library, which gave him access to a valuable collec- 

 tion of books, and enabled him to prosecute his lite- 

 rary views with great success. He had also a pen- 

 sion from the king, which was considerably augment- 

 ed, in order to prevent him from yielding to the 

 many pressing solicitations and pecuniary induce- 

 ments which he had to go to other places. Many 

 artful and unworthy attempts were made to bring 

 him over to the Romish faith, but these he uniformly 

 resisted, and lived and died a Protestant. The mur- 

 der of the king, which happened in 1610, distressed 

 him deeply, as it deprived him of his chief patron ; 

 and in the same year, the conversion of his eldest son 

 to the Roman Catholic religion, gave another blow 

 to his feelings, and he felt it the more, because it was 

 generally reported, and by many believed, that he 

 himself had contributed to this change. These af- 

 flicting circumstances, together with the continual 

 vexations in which he lived at Paris, determined him 

 to set out for England, into which country he had 

 been frequently invited by James I. He arrived 

 there in 1610, and experienced from persons of rank 

 and learning the kindest reception, though he him- 

 self has complained, that from the inferior classes of 

 people, he met with more insults than he had even 

 done at Paris in the midst of Papists. The king 

 shewed him particular attention, took much pleasure 



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