BA RTHE LEMY, JEAN JA QUES, a French Abbe, eminently distinguished by his literary attainments and virtues. He was born in Jan. 1716 at Cassis, a small seaport in Provence. Being destined.for the church, he was sent at twelve years of age to study at Mar seilles, where he was admitted into the college of the oratory, under the tuition of father Renaud, a man of learning and taste, who became warmly at tacked to his young pupil. It became necessary for / him, however, to quit this seminary, en account of an ordinance of the bishop of Marseilles, by which students of the oratory were refused admission to holy orders. With much regret, therefore, Barthelemy was obliged to quit his esteemed preceptors, and to betake himself to the study of philosophy and theolo gy under the Jesuits.
Dissatisfied, however, with the plan adopted by his new masters, he determined to follow a method of his own, in private ; and applied to the study of the an. cient languages, as well as of the Hebrew, Chaldean, and Syriac, with such indefatigable perseverance, that it had nearly cost him his life. Having recovered. from a dangerous illness, brought on by too intense an application to study, he at length entered the se minary, where he received the clerical tonsure. Here he made such progress in the study of Arabic, by the assistance of a young Maronite, who had been edu cated at Rome, that he was able to deliver some ser mons in that language, composed by a Jesuit belong ing to the Propaganda, to an assembly of Maronites, Armenians, and other Catholic Arabians, then at Marseilles. He also gave another uncommon specimen of his proficiency in the oriental languages ; for, at the age of twenty-one, at the request of some of the principal merchants of Marseilles, he, with great ap plause, conducted a learned dialogue, with an itinerant Jewish rabbin, who had become a professor of the Christian religion, and claimed to be deeply skilled in the languages of the East.
Having finished his studies at Marseilles, Barthe-. lemy retired to his family at Aubagne ; but was ac customed to repair occasionally to his former resi dence, in order to enjoy the society of the academi-• cians, and other learned men residing there. Among those to whom he more particularly attached himself, was a M. Cary, the possessor of a valuable collection
of books, and fine cabinet of medals ; so that now he laid the foundation for that knowledge and taste in antiquities for which he was afterwards so justly ce lebrated. It was in 1741 that Barthelemy repaired to Paris, with a view of devoting himself entirely to literature. He was furnished with a letter of intro duction to M. de Boze, keeper of the royal cabinet of medals, and perpetual secretary to the academy of inscriptions and belles lettres. By this eminent anti quarian he was warmly patronised, and introduced to the acquaintance of the most distinguished members of the three academies, who dined twice a week at his. apartments. In such society the taste and knowledge of Barthelemy could not fail to be materially improved.
In consequence of the declining health, and increa sing age of M. de Boze, an associate became necessa ry to aid him in the labour of completing the royal cabinet of medals ; and Barthelemy was selected for this office, in preference to M. Bastie, a learned mem ber of the academy of inscriptions. From this mo ment he devoted the whole of his attention and care to the elucidation of that branch of study which had now become his official employment. In 1747, he succeeded M. Burette as associate to the academy of inscriptions ; M. le Beau, who had been a candidate, declining a competition with so eminent an antiqua rian. When he was afterwards nominated nister to be secretary to the academy, he waved the nomination in favour of M. le Beau, as an acknow ledgment of his former liberality. In return, M. lc Beau, on resigning this office, gave his interest to Bar thelemy, who was appointed Ins successor ; and thus did these distinguished rivals vie with each other in the exercise of a liberality which reflected equal hon our upon both. On the death of M. de Boze in 1753, the AbbC Barthelemy succeeded him as prin cipal keeper of the medals ; and during this interval, he had enriched the memoirs of the academy with se veral valuable papers relative to ancient monuments ; and, in particular, an interesting dissertation on the in scriptions found at Palmyra by the English travellers.