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Voswius, Isaac

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Vossius, Gerard Jan

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a Dutch scholar and theologian, the only son of Gerard Jan Vossius, who survived him, was born at Leyden in 1618. He was educated entirely by his fatherland at the age of twenty-one he published an edition of the Periplus of Scylax, the Greek geographer, with a Latin translation and notes. He then traveled through Italy, France, and England for three years, during which he collected many valuable manuscripts of ancient writers. In 1648 he took up his abode at the court of queen Christina of Sweden; but in 1658, in consequence of a quarrel with Salmasius, he returned to Holland. In 1670 he went to England, where he was made a doctor of laws by the University of Oxford, and in 1673 appointed canon of Windsor by Charles 11, and assigned apartments in the Castle. He died there in 1688. It is recorded that on his death-bed he refused to take the sacrament until one of his colleagues argued that he ought to do so for the honor of the chapter. He was skeptical in religion, and it is related that king Charles said of him on one occasion, "This learned divine is a strange man; he will believe anything except the Bible." His literary merits are great, though his works are not so valuable as those of his father. Among his most important works are, Dissertations on the Seventy Interpreters, and their Translation and Chronology (1663): — On the Chanting of Poems and the Power of Rhythm (1673): — A Book of Various Observations besides numerous editions of the classics. His large and valuable library was purchased by the University of Leyden. See Foppens, Bibliotheca Belgica; Niceroan, Memores.