HUET, PETER DANIEL, was b. at Caen, Feb. 8, 1630. His father had been converted from Calvinism, but died while Huet was still very young. The latter was educated in the Jesuit school of Caen, and was early distinguished by his extraordinary progress in almost every department of learning. He was a zealous pupil of Descartes and of Bochart—the latter of whom lie accompanied on his visit to Stockholm in 1652, when he discovered and transcribed the MS. of Origen, which, subsequently, was the basis of his celebrated edition of that father. On his return to Caen, he gave himself up entirely to study; and as a preliminary to his translation of the text of Origen, he published, in 1664, his wel1known essay De Inteqpretatione; but it was only at the end of 15 years' study that lie published his edition of Origen's Conthwntaria in Sae. Scripturam, 2 vols. fol. (Rouen, 1668), with a most learned introduction, entitled Origeniana, which has since been reprinted in the great Benedictine edition of that father. In 1670 Huet received the degree of doctor of law; and soon after he was summoned to Paris to take part with Bossuet in the education of the dauphin. In 1679 he published his Demon stratio Evangelica. He had an active part, moreover, in the De1phin edition of the classics. In 1676 he entered into holy orders; and in 1678 was named abbot of the
Cistercian abbey of Aunay, from which place is named his well-known work, Qucestiones Alnetamv de Concordia 1?ationis et Fidel (1690). About the same time, also, he published a work On the Site of the Terrestrial Paradise, another On the Voyages of SoloMon, which were followed later by his equally celebrated work in classical geography, History of the Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients. In 1685 lie was named bishop of Soissons, a dignity, however, on which he never entered, being transferred to the see of Await elms in 1692. He was as zealous in the discharge of his episcopal duties as lie had been in his devotion to literature; but his health having given way, he obtained permission to resign his see in 1699, and retired to the abbey of Fontenay, near Caen; but in 1701 he took up his residence in the Jesuits' house in Paris, and published in 1718 his autobiographical memoirs—a model of pure Latinity as well as a most interesting record of the history of his time. Huet died in 1721. His works were published in a collected form in 1712, and a volume of Haeliana appeared in 1729.