A MVOT, JAMES, bishop of Auxerre, and great almo ner of France, was born at Melun on the 30th of Octo ber, 1514. It is said, that at the age of ten years, he fled from the severity of his father, whose condition was very obscure; but being seized with sudden illness on the road, he was carried to the hospital at 01 leans, where he remained till his health was restored, and was then furnished with 1Cd. to defray the expense of his journey home. This kindness he afterwards very am ply requited, by to the hospital a legcy of 1200 crowns. At Paris, he was a very diligent student; and, he through laborious application, one of the first literary characters of the 16th century. On leaving Paris, he accompanied the sieur Colin, abbot of St Ambrose, to Bourges, where he became tutor to the children or Bouchetel, secretary of state. Bou chute' was so highly satislied with his attention to his pupils, and their rapid proficiency, that lie warmly re commended him to Margaret, dutchess of Berry, the only sister of Francis 1. Through the patronage of this princess, Ainyot was chosen public professor of Greek and Latin in the university of Bourges. While in this situation, he translated from the Greek the ancient ro mance of Heliodorus, entitled " The Amours of Thea genes and Chariclea;" and Francis was so lunch pleased with the translation, that he soon rewarded Amyot by promoting him to the abbey of Bellosane. After the death of his royal patron, Amyot went to Venice with Morvillier, the ambassador of Henry II., and was em ployed to carry the letters of the French monarch to the council of Trent. In this commission he acquitted him self so well, as to acquire the favour of some of the most eminent ecclesiastics at Rome. Instead of returning with Morvillicr, therefore, he spent two years in the house of the bishop of Alirepoix, prosecuting his stu dies with ardour, and ransacking the treasures of the Vatican. The cardinal de Tournon, who happened at the same time to be at Rome, became so attached to Amyot, that on his return to France, he recommended him to king Henry as the most proper person to be en trusted with the education of the two princes. His fidelity and attention were gratefully acknowledged and amply rewarded, by his eldest pupil Charles IX., who, on his accession to the throne, conferred on his precep tor the office of great almoner, appointed him curator of the university of Paris, and invested him in the abbey of St Corneille, and the bishopric of Auxerre. When his younger pupil Henry III. received the sceptre, he shelved himself equally inclined to patronise the fortu nate prelate. He not only continued him in the office of great almoner, but, to add greater lustre to that dig nity, made him commander of the order of the Holy Ghost, and decreed that, in future, all the great almo ners of France should, e.c officio, be commanders of that sacred order. In the midst of all the commotions and civil wars which ensued, Amyot was still allowed to re tain his diocese till he died, in the year 1593, the 79th of his age. Amyot has been accused of extreme ava rice, and had amassed a sum of 200,000 crowns. The learning of Amyot is sufficiently evinced by his works.
Of these, the principal are his translations of the Ro mance of Heliodorus, of Plutarch's Lives, of seven books of Diodorus Siculus, of some Greek tragedies, and of the pastoral of Daphnis. Racine says, of his translation of Plutarch, that it possesses a grace which modern language could not equal. The best edition of it is that of Vacossan, printed in 1567 and 1571, in 13 volumes Svo. His miscellaneous works were printed at Lyons in 1611. (k) ANA, a termination of uncertain crigin, now employ ed to denominate a peculiar species of writing, which consists in collections of the trivial dicta, or loose re marks of eminent men. Contrary to general belief, this kind of collection is far from being of recent date; for although not known under the same precise appella tion, it ascends to a period as remote as the time of Xenophon and Plato. Julius Cxsar is said to have col lected the sayings of Cicero; and Suetonius, in his work, De Illust•ibus Grammaticis, informs us, that Me lissus, a gentleman of Spolato, who was exposed during infancy by his parents, and from that time became a slave, having obtained his freedom, and being appointed libra rian to Augustus, the Roman emperor, composed works of a similar nature in his old age. The like collections are found in all countries, even among the Turks and Jews.
W late, the publication of the Ana has been greatly extended, though, as Peignut justly observes, but a very small portion merits removal front the dust, which in most libraries conceals them hunt notice ; and we must remark, that, except in rare instances indeed, the fame of the author is depreciated instead of being enhanced, by the exposure of his unguarded observations; neither can we forbear classing them with the work of Otho Melander, Jocorunz et Seriorum eenturix aliquot, jucund.e suaves et amteme,necnon utiles et frstivi,e (cent(' ue maxime opere diTnce, 1626. A modern publication at Amster dam, in a number of volumes, unites many of the Ana together, under a title somewhat analogous, which may serve as a good illustration of the subject. Ana, on choix des bons mots, conies et anecdotes des homnzes bres, Silvis de propos joy us, mots idaisans et conies rire. These include several centuries. Thus the Pog giana are the sayings of Giovanni Francesco Braceiolini, who was born in Terra Nueva, in the Florentine terri tory, in the year 1580; and was secretary to several of the popes; and under the same title are contained those of the famous Enca Sylvio Piccoloinini, afterwards pope Pius II. who travelled into Scotland early in the fifteenth century.
The peculiarities of the various Ana are characterised in a French poem, by Lamonnoye, who died in 1727; and we ought not to overlook the labours of the French Encyclopedists on this subject, who have reduced it to a systematic form, under the title Eneye/Vi•diana, in a quarto volume consisting of no less than 964 pages, which they affirm, " is calculated solely for the amuse ment of their readers." It begins with numerous anec dotes of the letter A, and terminates with those of the Greek painter Lcusis, who lived 400 years before Christ. (c)