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B A 11 T H E L E M Y. 



nister to bo secretary to the academy, he waved the 

 nomination in favour of M. le Beau, as an acknow- 

 ledgment of his former liberality. In return, M. le 

 Beau, on resigning this office, gave his interest to Bar- 

 thelcmy, who was appointed his successor ; and thus 

 did these distinguished rivals vie with each other in 

 the exercise of a liberality which reflected equal hon- 

 our upon both. On the death of M. de Boze in 

 1758, the Abbe Barthelemy succeeded him as prin- 

 cipal keeper of the medals ; and during this interval, 

 he had enriched the memoirs of the academy with se- 

 veral valuable papers relative to ancient monuments ; 

 and, in particular, an interesting dissertation on the in- 

 scriptions found at Palmyra by the English travellers. 

 At this period Barthelemy was particularly patron- 

 ised by M. de Stainville, afterwards better known un- 

 der the title of the Due de Choiseul. This gentle- 

 man, as well as his lady, who was young and beauti- 

 ful, were great admirers of the fine arts, and found in 

 Barthelemy a man of letters, in whose conversation 

 and manners they enjoyed a constant gratification. In 

 1754, M. de Stainville having proceeded with his fa- 

 mily to Rome, in the capacity of ambassador, was 

 followed by Barthelemy, who was distinguished by 

 the particular notice of Benedict XIV., who then 

 wore the tiara, and was himself an accomplished scho- 

 lar. From Rome the Abbe proceeded to Naples, 

 then rendered peculiarly interesting to antiquarians by 

 the recent discovery of the subterranean treasures of 

 Pompeii. In the museum of Portici, amidst numer- 

 ous interesting remains of antiquity, the attention of 

 Barthelemy was peculiarly attracted by the manu- 

 scripts rescued from the ruins of Herculaneum ; of 

 which four or five hundred had been recovered ; but 

 all of them remained in their original forlorn state, 

 except two or three that had been unrolled, and com- 

 mented upon by the learned Mazocchi. Barthelemy 

 used his most strenuous efforts to engage the Neapo- 

 litan court to expedite the examination of the remain- 

 ing manuscripts ; and succeeded in persuading the 

 Marquis Caraccioli to enter into his views ; but this 

 desirable object was frustrated by the death of that 

 minister a few years afterwards. 



Barthelemy was also extremely desirous of present- 

 ing the learned men in France with a specimen of the 

 ancient writing employed in the Greek manuscripts. 

 He was informed, however, by the guardians of the 

 treasures at Portici, that they were expressly enjoined 

 to communicate nothing. On this Barthelemy solicited 

 permission to look, for a few minutes only, on a page of 

 a manuscript which had been cut from top to bottom 

 since its discovery. It contained 28 lines, which our 

 ( antiquarian read over six different times with extreme 

 attention. He then retired to a corner, and transcri- 

 bed the precious fragment from memory ; after which 

 he again examined the manuscript in order to render 

 his copy more correct. Having by this stratagem 

 rendered himself master of a facsimile of the MS. 

 which related to the persecution of the Greek philo- 

 sophers, during the time of Pericles, he immediately 

 transmitted his literary plunder to the academy of 

 belles lettres, with an injunction of secresy, in order 

 that the keepers of the museum might escape from 

 blame. On his return to Rome he acquired great 

 applause for a new tfnd ingenious explanation of the 

 1 



famous Mosaic at Prancste, or Patestrina, which, ac- 

 cording to him, related not to Sylla but to Adrian. 



In 1757 we find Barthelemy escorting the lady of 

 M. de Stainville to Vienna, at which court that gen- 

 tleman had been appointed ambassador. Here he 

 had the self-denial to refuse an offer of his friend and 

 patron to procure him permission to visit Greece and 

 the ports of the Mediterranean, at the king's expense; 

 because he conceived it inconsistent with the calls of 

 his duty at Paris, as custodiary of the royal medals. 

 When in 1758 M. de Stainville was nominated minis- 

 ter for foreign affairs, and became Due de Choiseul, he 

 immediately exerted himself to provide for Barthele- 

 my, for whom he procured pensions to a considerable 

 amount, and among others an annuity of 5000 livres 

 on the Mercury. The Abbe himself had the modesty, 

 to name 6000 livres a year, as the sum that would 

 make him easy for life. But before M. de Choiseul 

 was obliged to retire from power in 1771, his income 

 amounted to '1200 sterling per annum, of which, 

 however, he distributed more than a fourth part 

 among indigent men of letters. He also educated 

 and established three nephews, one of whom after- 

 wards made a considerable figure on the stage of re- 

 volutionary politics as a member of the directory ; 

 and appears to have inherited many of the virtues and 

 talents of his ancestor. He at the same time support- 

 ed his relations in Provence, and selected a noble li- 

 brary, which he was obliged to dispose of some time 

 before his death. 



When the Due de Choiseul was disgraced and ba- 

 nished to his seat at Chanteloupe, in order to make 

 way for his enemy the Due d'Aiguillon, Barthelemy 

 became the companion of his exile, and offered the 

 resignation of his secretaryship of the Swiss guards, 

 because his patron's commission as colonel-general was 

 demanded from him. An arrangement, however, was 

 made, by which the Abbe's- revenue received no ma- 

 terial diminution ; and thus for twenty years of his 

 life he enjoyed a state of literary affluence. In ad- 

 vanced age, however, he found himself reduced, by 

 the suppression of places and pensions, to mere ne- 

 cessaries ; but he supported this reverse of fortune 

 with the greatest equanimity and good humour ; and 

 was never heard to complain, nor did he even seem 

 to perceive the change. 



In 1788 appeared his celebrated work, entitled, 

 Voyage dujeune Anachanis en Grece, dans le milieu 

 du quatricme siecle avant I'ere Christiennc, which 

 had occupied his leisure hours during an uninterrupt- 

 ed succession of ISO years ; and in 1 789 he became a 

 candidate for a chair in the French academy, to 

 which, in consequence of his high reputation, he was 

 elected by general acclamation. In the following 

 year he declined an offer of the place of librarian to 

 the king, apprehensive that it might interfere with 

 his literary occupations, and his labours in the cabinet 

 of medals, in which he had now got an useful associate 

 in his nephew Barthelemy Courcy, who was conjoined 

 with him in the office in 1768. 



At that gloomy period of the French revolution, 

 when virtue and talents were proscribed and persecu- 

 ted, the age, declining health, and long services of 

 Barthelemy, could not save him from the suspicions 

 and insults of the wretches then in power. On the 



Barthclc- 

 my. 



