BAYLE. 



359 



Ifayle. tiable thirst for learning, and uncommon powers of 

 " '' study and application. His father, who was protes- 

 tant minister of Carla, and who seems to have been 

 both a wise and a good man, instructed him with 

 great care in the Greek and Latin languages ; but 

 finding that the task of education occupied more 

 time than he could spare from the duties of his pas- 

 toral office, and that his son was capable of much 

 higher attainments than he could possibly reach un- 

 der his tuition, he sent hirn to the academy of Puy- 

 laurens. Young Bayle arrived there in his 19th year; 

 and his passion for letters continued so strong, that, 

 to gratify it, he spent, in preparing his academical 

 exercises, and in reading such books as he could 

 procure, those hours which his fellow-students de- 

 voted to amusement or to pleasure ; and, indeed, ap- 

 plied so closely to his studies, that he repeatedly fell 

 into severe and dangerous distempers. 



From Puylaurens he went to Toulouse, one of the 

 most celebrated universities in France, where he ob- 

 tained great reputation by his good conduct and li- 

 terary acquirements. He had not been long there 

 when he changed his religion, and became Roman 

 Catholic. This step displeased his father so much, 

 that the paternal aid, on which he was still depend- 

 ent, was withdrawn, and he was under the necessity 

 of accepting money and protection from Mertier, 

 bishop of Rieux. Actuated by the zeal of a new 

 convert, and in obedience to the commands of his 

 new patron, he wrote a long letter to his brother, 

 with a view to persuade him and the rest of the fa- 

 mily to embrace the Catholic system. This letter, 

 filled with those common-place "sophisms which had 

 strangely seduced his own mind, and somewhat tinc- 

 tured with the spirit of gloomy fanaticism, failed to 

 produce its intended effect. And, indeed, many 

 months had not elapsed, when he himself returned 

 again to the bosom of the Protestant church. The 

 doctrine of implicit faith did not accord with his in- 

 tellectual habits. He considered examination in re- 

 ligious matters to be an indispensible duty. He 

 continued to think, to inquire, and to compare. His 

 researches were assisted by the conversation of two 

 gentlemen of wit and address, who were anxious for 

 his conversion. And the result was, that, convinced 

 of his errors, he departed secretly from Toulouse, to 

 avoid the resentment of the Jesuits, was reconciled 

 to his family and friends, abjured the Popish com- 

 munion, in presence of several ministers, and imme- 

 diately set out for Geneva to resume the course of 

 his studies. There he soon distinguished himself: 

 and got acquainted with M. Basnage, and other 

 learned men, to whom he endeared himself by his ta- 

 lents and his virtues. He refused a regency in the 

 college ; but accepted of the office of tutor to the 

 Count de Dhona's children. Shortly after he be- 

 came tutor to a merchant's son in the neighbour- 

 hood of Rouen. But disliking the solitary and se- 

 questered life to which he was doomed in both these 

 places, he resolved to go to Paris, where he expect- 

 ed to meet with every thing agreeable to his taste. 

 Soon after his arrival (1675) he became preceptor 

 to the children of a Mr de Beringhen. This situa- 

 tion, however, did not please him more than those 

 which he had left on account of their tiresome soli. 



tude. The character of a preceptor, as he remark- 

 ed in a letter to Mr Basnage, had sunk so low in 

 the general estimation, that no personal merit almost 

 could redeem it from contempt. And he was desi- 

 rous, therefore, of getting into some respectable and 

 permanent establishment. His wishes were soon gra- 

 tified. By the friendly exertions of Mr Basnage, 

 and by the superior merit which he himself displayed 

 in a comparative trial, he was appointed a professor of 

 philosophy in the academy at Sedan. He remained 

 there for about six years, fully justifying the good 

 opinion which had been entertained of him by his 

 friends, and gaining the respect and esteem even of 

 those who had been his keenest opponents. When, 

 the academies of the reformed were suppressed in 

 France, that of Sedan was the first that suffered 

 (1681); although its continuance was an express 

 stipulation in the treaty, made between the Duke de 

 Bouillon and Louis XIII. , and afterwards con- 

 firmed by Louis XIV. himself. 



By this most iniquitous measure, MrBayle was thrown 

 out of regular employment. But in the course of a 

 few months, he and Jurieu were nominated profes- 

 sors in a school that was instituted on their account 

 in the town of Rotterdam. It was here that he 

 commenced his labours as an author, by publishing 

 a Letter on Comets, as presages of evil, which he 

 had written in consequence of the appearance of the 

 famous comet of 1680, and had originally intended 

 to print at Paris. It was printed at Cologne in 

 1682, under the title of Lettre a Mr L. A. D. C. 

 Doctear de Sorbonne. On il est prouve, par phi- 

 sieurs raisons t trees de la Philosophic et de la Tkeo- 

 logie, que les Cometes ne sont point le presage d' au- 

 cun malfieur, &c. He did not put his name to it, 

 and employed other methods to prevent the public 

 from suspecting it to have proceeded from his pen. 

 But some of his friends, to whom the secret had been 

 communicated, thinking the concealment of it a piece 

 of injustice to his reputation, told openly that Mr 

 Bayle was the author. His next work, which came 

 out in the same year, was entitled, Critique Ge- 

 nerate de I'histoire du Calvinisme de M. Maiinbourg. 

 It was a duodecimo volume of 339 pages closely- 

 printed ; yet such was the facility in writing which 

 he had acquired, that he finished it in the space of 

 fifteen days. This treatise, in the form of a series of 

 letters, contained general observations on Maim- 

 bourg's work, pointing out its errors and its malice, 

 and exhibiting such a happy mixture of raillery and 

 good sense, as could not fail to mortify the feelings 

 and sink the credit of the author, against whom it 

 was directed. So acceptable, indeed, was it to the 

 reformed, whose cause it vindicated, and so agree- 

 able to the more judicious and moderate of the Ca- 

 tholics themselves, that the first impression was sold 

 off almost as soon as it appeared. A great many- 

 copies of it found their way into France, where it 

 was well received, and much read. Maimbourg, pro- 

 voked at its popularity, and under the dominion of 

 that persecuting spirit, which he had manifested in 

 his book, applied to the king, for an order to sup- 

 press the obnoxious publication. A king, who could 

 set his seal to such a deed as the revocation of th& 

 edict of Nantes, was easily persuaded to grant the 



Bayle, 



