Orford and Mr. Strutt have mentioned the principal, as connected with the English series; but they have omitted his Virgil, Homer, and Ovid, and his "Hortus Floridus," the latter a folio, and the other in 4to, which are much valued abroad, but very scarce. There is, or was, a complete collection of his illustrated books, and single plates, in the royal library at Paris, and many of them are in every English collector's portfolio or library.

Passe worked entirely with the graver, in a neat, clear style, which has much originality in it; and, excepting some little stiffness which frequently appears, and the want of harmony, with respect to the distribution of the light and shadow, a fault which prevailed at the time in which he lived, his best works possess a very considerable share of merit, especially his portraits, many of which he drew from the life; and the far greater part of his historical and emblematical subjects are engraved from his own compositions. He drew the human figure very correctly, and marked the extremities with a degree of exactness, not usually found in the works of those masters who employed themselves upon small subjects; when he attempted large ones he was not equally successful.

His family consisted of three sons, Crispin, William, and Simon, and a daughter Magdalen, all of whom, except perhaps the first, attained considerable fame in their father's art. William and Simon resided some time in England, and executed many portraits in the English series, but particulars of their lives are unknown. 1

1

PASSEMANT (CLAUDE SIMEON), an able French optician, was born in 1702, and at first brought up to trade, which he partly relinquished for the study of natural philosophy and astronomy, and being already known to his advantage by several members of the academy of sciences, he published a volume in 1738, 12mo, on the construction of a reflecting telescope from sixteen inches to six feet and a half, the latter producing the effect of a telescope 150 feet long; and some time after, he wrote "The Description and use of Telescopes, Microscopes," &c. of his own invention. He also constructed an astronomical pendulum, crowned with a moving sphere, which was made to repre sent the revolutions of the planets, in a manner that exactly. corresponded with the astronomical tables. He presented 1 Walpole and Strutt. N

VOL. XXIV.

this machine to Lewis XV. and it was formerly to be seen in the royal apartments at Versailles. He made a similar instrument for the Turkish emperor, which shewed the rising and setting of the sun and moon. He furnished the king and other great men in France with sets of instruments for making experiments in optics, and other branches of science. In 1765 he gave some plans for making canals, by means of which ships might come up to Paris; and his proposal is inserted in M. de la Lande's work on "Navigable Canals," published 1778; but he had not the satis faction of seeing it accomplished, being carried off in twenty-four hours, by a lethargy, November 6, 1769.1

PASSERAT (JOHN), a celebrated professor of eloquence in the royal college at Paris, and one of the politest writers of his time, was born Oct. 18, 1534, at Troyes in Champagne. His uncle, who undertook to educate him, placed him at the college of his native city, where some harsh conduct of his master induced him to run away. Arriving at Bourges, he entered first into the service of a farrier, and afterwards waited upon a monk; but, growing in time sagacious enough to see his folly, he returned to his uncle, who pardoned him, and maintained him for three years at college, where he proceeded in his studies with so much. diligence, that he became in a short time able to teach in public. In that capacity his first post was master of the second class in the college of Du Plessis, from which he removed to that of cardinal Le Moine; but being obliged to retire for some time from Paris on account of the plague, on his return he engaged in the business of teaching Latin. At length he took up a resolution to study the law; for which purpose he went to Bourges, and spent three years under Cujacius; but at last became professor of eloquence, having obtained that chair in 1572, on the vacancy which happened by the assassination of Ramus. In the discharge of this post he grew so eminent, that the most learned men of the time, and the counsellors of the supreme courts at Paris, went to hear his lectures. He was an indefatigable student, passing frequently whole days without taking any food; yet to an extraordinary erudition he joined an uncommon politeness of manners, having nothing of the mere scholar, except the gown and hood. These accomplishments brought him acquainted with all

1 Dict. Hist.

the people of quality; but he contracted an intimacy only with M. de Mesmes, in whose house he lived for thirty years, till his death, which was occasioned by a palsy, Sept. 14, 1602.

6.

He was highly esteemed by Ronsard, Belleau, and Baif; and was much admired as a Latin poet; he was indeed chiefly partial to the Latin authors, and formed a dictionary of that language, which some say was incorporated in an improved edition of Calepin. His chief works are, 1. "Chant d'allegresse pour l'entrée de Charles IX. en sa ville de Troyes," Troyes, 1564, 8vo. 2. "Complainte sur la mort d'Adrien Turnebe," Paris, 1565, 8vo. 3. "Sonnets sur le tombeau du Seigneur de la Châtre, 1569, 8vo. 4." Hymne de la paix, Paris, 1563, 8vo. 5. "Recueil des poesies, Françoises et Latines," Paris, 1606, 8vo. "Orationes et præfationes." 7. "Conjecturarum liber." 8. "De literarum inter se cognatione et permutatione." 9. "Commentarii in Catullum, Tibullum, et Propertium." 10. "Kalendæ Januariæ." 11. "Oratio de Cæcitate." 12. "Notæ in Petronii Arbitri satyricon." 13. "Encomium Asini." Besides which, Grævius tells us that he had met with academical questions by Passerat in manuscript upon some of Cicero's orations, out of which he took what was for his purpose in illustrating that author; and Pithou said that Passerat knew nothing else but Cicero,'

PASSERI (JOHN BAPTIST), a painter and a poet, of no great merit in either line, died at Rome in 1679, at the age of about seventy. The work which is most likely to preserve his name is his "Lives of the Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, who flourished at Rome in his own time." This book is full of curious and interesting anecdotes, and was published in Italian at Rome in 1772. Fuseli speaks of him as celebrated for his impartiality and acumen in this work. Though no great painter, he was a disciple of the famous Dominichino; and though his sonnets were bad, one of them is said very materially to have promoted his fortune. 2

PASSERI (JOSEPH), nephew of the former, was born at Rome in 1654, and was at first a pupil of his uncle, but, soon discovering the inability of that teacher, became the disciple of Carlo Maratti. Under such a master he made

1 Life by Le Clerc in Bibl. Anc. et Moderne, vol. VII.-Niceron, vol. II.Bullart's Academie des Sciences,-Blount's Censura. 2 Pilkington.

great progress, and became famous. His style of historical composition was grand, his colouring like that of his master Maratti, his invention fruitful, and his expression natural and agreeable. One of his best works is his "St. Jerome meditating on the last Judgment," at Pesaro. He died in 1744.1

PASSERI (JOHN BAPTIST), a learned Italian antiquary and philologer, was born at Gubio in the duchy of Urbino, in Nov. 1694. His father, who was a physician at Todi, designed him for the study of the law, which accordingly he followed, but pursued with it that of antiquities, for which he had a strong genius. After residing four years at Rome he returned to Todi, and began to collect the antiquities of that city and its environs. In 1726 he turned his attention chiefly to the Etruscan antiquities, and collected a vast number of lamps, which he arranged in classes. Having lost his wife in 1738, after twelve years of happy union, he became an ecclesiastic, and was apostolic prothonotary, and vicar-general of Pesaro. In February 1780, he was overturned in his carriage, and died in consequence of the fall. His works are, 1. "Lucernæ fictiles Musei Passerii," a splendid book in 3 vols. folio. He had drawn up a fourth, on the lamps of the Christians, but this has not been published. These came out in 1739, 1743, and 1751. 2. "Lettere Roncagliesi ;" Letters from his villa at Roncaglia, on Etruscan antiquities, 1739. There were seventeen letters, and a continuation was afterwards published. 3. "In Thomæ Dempsteri Libros de Etruria regali Paralipomena, quibus tabulæ eidem operi additæ illustrantur. Accedunt dissertatio de re numaria Etruscorum; de nominibus Etruscorum; et notæ in tabulas Eugabinas, auctore I. Baptista Passerio," Luca, 1767, folio. 4. "Picturæ Etruscorum in vasculis, nunc primum in unum collectæ, explicationibus et dissertationibus illustratæ,' Romæ, 1767, 3 vols. folio. 5. Many learned dissertations published in several collections; as, for example, five in the third volume of Gori's Museum Etruscum; De Genio domestico, de Ara sepulchrali, de funeribus Etruscorum, de Velciorum familia, de Architectura Etrusca. These are all full of the most recondite learning."

PASSEROTI (BARTHOLOMEW), an artist of Bologną, was one of the pupils and assistants of Zuccari, and the first of

1 Pilkington.-Argenville, vol. I.

3 Dict. Hist.-Saxii Onomast.

Bolognese painters who introduced naked torsoes in sacred subjects. The most eminent of his altar-pieces are the Decollation of St. Paul alle Tre Fontane, at Rome, and at S. Giacomo, of Bologna, our Lady with various Saints, painted in competition with the Caracci, and honoured by their praise. His Tityus, when exhibited to the public at Bologna, was by the Dilettanti mistaken for a work of Michael Angelo. But he did not always husband his powers: with equal diligence and refinement, hurried away by that: frankness and facility of execution which debauched Cesari, whom he however excelled in correctness of design. portrait, for character, dignity, and propriety of composition, he approached Titian himself, in the opinion of Guido. His power of drawing with the pen attracted Agostino Caracci to his school, who made it the guide of his line in engraving. He composed a book on symmetry and anatomy, which may be considered as a commentary on his works, He had three sons of considerable merit as artists. A sparrow, often introduced in the works of Bartholomew, is an allusion to his name. He died in 1595.1

In

PASSIONEI (DOMINICK), an Italian cardinal, famous rather as a patron of letters, than as a writer, and employed by the see of Rome in many important negociations, was born at Fossombrone in the dutchy of Urbino, in 1682. He studied in the Clementine college at Rome, where he afterwards formed that vast library and curious collection of manuscripts, from which the learned world has derived so much advantage. In 1706 he attended the nuncio Gualterio, his relation, to Paris, where he formed an intimacy with the most learned men of the time, and examined every thing that deserved attention. He was particularly intimate with Mabillon, and Montfaucon. In 1708 he went into Holland, at first for the sake of literary inquiries, but afterwards as a kind of secret agent for the pope at the Hague, where he resided four years, and attended the congress at Utrecht in 1712. On his return to Rome, he passed through Paris, where he was most graciously and honourably received by Louis XIV. who gave him his portrait set with diamonds. He then proceeded to Turin to accommodate some differences between the pope and the duke of Savoy; and upon his return to Rome was declared president of the apostolic chamber. In the two

1 Pilkington, by Fuseli.