CALMET, AUGUSTINE, a learned Benedictine, was born at Mesnil-la-Horgne, near Commerci, in Lorraine, in 1672. After some early study at the Priory of Brenil, he removed, in 1687, to the Uni versity of Pont-a-Mousson, where he went through a course of rhetoric. In 1688 he entered, in the Abbey of St. Mansui, into the order of St. Bene dict ; and subsequently completed his philosophical and theological studies in the Abbey of Munster. In 1696 he was studying with a class of learned companions in the Abbey of Moyen-Moutier. From this time we hear of him as an instructor. In 1698 he was appointed tutor in theology and philosophy to the young alumni of the last-men tioned abbey. From this employment he was promoted in 1704 to the post of sub-prior of the Abbey of Munster, where, at the head of an aca demy of a dozen religieux, he diligently pursued biblical theology. The fruit of his learned labours at Moyen-Moutier and Munster were voluminous notes and dissertations on various parts of Holy Scripture, carefully drawn tip for the use of him self and his pupils, rather than for publication. It was in deference to the judgment of the Abbe Duguet and the learned Mabillon that he published these commentaries in 1707-1716, in twenty-three volumes 4to, under the title Commentaire /Paral sur totes les livers de l'Ancien et du Nouveau Testa ment. This valuable work brought him reputation and promotion. In 1715 he became prior of Lay, near Nancy ; in 5718 he was appointed by the chapter Abbe of St. Leopold in Nancy, and in the following year he was promoted to the dignity of Visitor of the Congregation of St. Vannes. In 172S he resigned his priory of Lay, on being chosen Abbe of Scnones in Lorraine, on which appoint ment he entered in 1729. Here he lived in the prosecution of his favourite studies, and in great esteem for his learning, amiability, and candour, until the year 1757, when he died, October 25, having declined a bishopric which Pope Benedict XIII. offered him, at the suggestion of the College of Cardinals. His Commentaire littiral was after wards republished in 26 vols. 4to, and again in 9 vols. folio ; and in 1721 abridged by Pierre Guille min. Rondet published a revised edition of the abridgment at Avignon in 1761-1773.
In 1715, Calmet published the dissertations and prefaces of his Commentary, with 19 new disserta tions, in a separate work of five vols. 8vo, entitled (in the first and second editions), Dissertations qui tenvent servir de Proligondwes a l'Ecriture Sainte, revues, corrisies, conszdemblement augmenties, et mises dans un ordre methodique. The third edition was considerably enlarged and republished under the title of Tr,lsor d'AntiquilVs Sacrees et profanes ; Paris, 1722, 3 vols. 4to. This work was so favour ably received, that it was translated very soon into Latin, German, Dutch, and English. The Latin version was by J. D. Mansi, Lucca, 1729, in two folio vols. ; the German by L Mosheim, with notes and prefaces of the translator, Bremen, 1738 47, in six vols. 8vo. The English edition was brought out in the year 1726, by Samuel Parker at Oxford. But neither of these works acquired either the celebrity or the durable reception of Calmet's best known publication, first published at Paris, in four vols. 4to, under the title Dictionnaire
Historique et Critique de la Bible; this work ob tained a European circulation, having been trans lated in England, IIolland, Germany, and Italy. The English translation, which first appeared in 1732, in three folios, was republished with much additional matter, as `Biblical Fragments,' by Mr. Charles Taylor, first in 5793, in quarto. These fragments contain a vast amount of curious infor mation relating to the manners and customs of the East, the natural history of the Bible, extracts from the writing of travellers, etc., all well illustrated by plates. Taylor lived to publish a fourth edition in 1823. The last edition, bearing the date of 1841, and designated as the eighth edition, consists of two vols. of Calmet's original, two more vols. of Taylor's fragments, and one vol. of plates and maps—all in 4to. This once much-prized publica tion, notwithstanding its elegant getting-up and un doubted worth in some respects, has been super seded by works of sounder and more advanced learning. Of the many other writings which issued from the pen of the industrious Calmet, three should be here mentioned as connected with Bibli cal literature—(s.) His Hirtoire de l'Ancien et du Nouveau Testament, intended as an introduction to Fleury's Eccl. History ; (2.) De la Pobie et lltusique des Anciens Hibreux, Amst. 1723, 8vo ; (3.) Bibliotheca Sacra, a most copious and useful catalogue of the best books to be read in order to acquire a good understanding of Holy Scripture in every department of biblical literature. This work was originally a pendant to the Dictionary :' but the English readers of the 4to edition of that work ' were deprived of it by Mr. Taylor, who superseded it by other matter of questionable value in compari son with it. The learned Italian Mansi so highly ap preciated Calmet's biblical labours that he trans lated the whole of his Commentary, Dissertations, and Dictionary (including the Bibliotheca and the Supplements) into very readable Latin. This aggregate of ten folio well-printed volumes is the most convenient form in which the learned student can possess Calmet's still valuable biblical works. The following judgment, pronounced by a compe tent man, on these works of the French divine, we translate from the Bibliotheca Theologica selecta of J. G. Watch (iv. 433) :—` Let Calmet's Roman Catholic opinions which he occasionally introduced be only put aside, and certain inaccuracies amended, and then his great work is worthy of all praise and recommendation. Rejecting all allegorical inter pretation, Calmet, with great painstaking, investi gates the literal sense of Holy Scripture ; exhibits the divergences of the Greek and Latin, and other versions, from the Hebrew text ; and what is ob scure and difficult in history, chronology, geography, and criticism, he carefully explains. In his disser tations he has, with much erudition, illustrated various points of interest, and thereby shed much light on the sacred writings.'—P. H.