Adrien Baillet (13 June 164921 January 1706) was a French scholar and critic. He is now best known as a biographer of René Descartes.
Life
He was born in the village of Neuville near Beauvais, in Picardy. His parents could only afford to send him to a small school in the village, but he picked up some Latin from the friars of a neighbouring convent, who brought him under the notice of the bishop of Beauvais. By his kindness Baillet received a thorough education at the theological seminary, and was afterwards appointed to a post as teacher in the college of Beauvais. In 1676 he was ordained priest and was presented to a small vicarage. The article contains this footnote: See the edition by M. de la Monnoye of the (Amsterdam, 4 vols. 1722), which contains the of Gilles Ménage, and an .
He accepted in 1680 the appointment of librarian to , advocate-general to the parlement of Paris. He made a (in 35 vols.) of its library, all written with his own hand.
The remainder of his life was spent in incessant, unremitting labour; so keen was his devotion to study that he allowed himself only five hours a day for rest.
With regard to René Descartes, he is popularly said to have recorded in his biography the three dreams La vie de monsieur Descartes, vol. I, pp. 81-86. leading up to the Cartesian Cogito.
Works
Of his numerous works the following are the most conspicuous:
(4 vols. 1693), a continuation of Grotius, and published under the name of La Neuville (4 vols. 1701) (2 vols. 1689) (2 vols. 1691; modern edition in one volume: , Paris: Éditions des Malassis, 2012) (1692; modern edition: , Paris, La Table Ronde, 1992) (1690) (9 vols. 1685—1686).
The last is the most celebrated and useful of all his works. At the time of his death he was engaged on a . The praise bestowed on the Jansenists in the brought down on Baillet the hatred of the Jesuits, and his , in which he brought his critical mind to bear on the question of miracles, caused some scandal. His is a mine of information on the philosopher and his work, derived from numerous unimpeachable authorities.
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