DU CANOE, CHARLES DUFRESNE, SEIGNEUR, was born at Amieus, December 18, 1610, iu Jesuits' College of which place he was educated. He studied the law, but after a time gave himself up entirely to history and philosophy. His first work was 'Histoire de l'Erepire de Constantinople sous lee Empereure Francois,' folio, 1657 ; but he is better known for his 'Glossariurn ad Scriptores ILIOMA et inflnase Latinitatis,' 3 vela folio, afterwards republished in 6 vols. in 1733, to which were added 4 more vols. by Carpentier, a Benedictine of the order of Cluni. It is a most useful work for the understanding of the numerous writers of the dark or middle ages, when for many centuries a corrupt and barbarous Latin was the only literary language of Europe. All the words used by these writers, which are not found in cls-eiral Latiuity, are ranged in alphabetical order, with their varione meanings, their etymology, and references to the authorities. This work is also useful for understanding old charters, and other legal documents of an early date. The labour and research required for the compilation of such a work can be best appreciated by those who have frequent occasion to consult it. Du Cange was ouo of the editors of tho 'Corpus Historke Byzantinte.' He died in 1688. Louis XIV. bestowed a pension of 2000 francs upon his children. ((BTza:'arise litsronuses.) Ile wrote also s-1, 'Ilistoria Byzantine illustrate,' folio, 1680, befog an historical description of Constantinople and its monuments, with biographies and genealogies of several dis tinguished families of that city ; 2, ' Glossarium ad Scriptores median et infinuo Griecilatis,' Paris, 1688, 2 vols. folio, a work that is very necessary fur those who are studying the lower Byzantine writers. Ile left a vast quantity of manuscripts, especially on historical, archaeological, and genealogical subjects, which have been collected in the Imperial Library at Paris, and of which an account is given in the Memoire lliatorique cur lee MSS. de M. Du Cange,' Paris, 1752. Du Cange is often quoted by the name of Du Fresne, under which he is also registered in many catalogues.
DUCAItEL, ANDREW COLTEE, an eminent English antiquary, was born in 1713 in Normandy, whence his father, who was descended from an ancient family at Caen in that province, came to England soon after the birth of his second son James, and resided at Greenwich. In 172e, whilst a scholar at Eton., Ducarel was for three months under the care of Sir liana Sloane, on account of an accident which deprived him of the eight of one eye. In 1731 he was Admitted a gentleman commoner of St. John's College, Oxford ; B.C.L. in 1738; LL.D. in 1742; and became a member of Doctors' Commons in 1743. Ile was elected commissary of the exempt jurisdiction of the collegiate church of St. Katharine, near the Tower of London, in 1755; and was appointed commissary and official of the city and diocese of Canter bury by Archbishop lierring in 1758. Upon the incorporation of the Society of Antiquaries in 1755, he was appointed one of its first fellows.
Dr. Ducarel's earliest publication (without his name) was a' A Tour through Normandy, described in a Letter to a Friend,' published iu 1754 in 4to, enlarged and republished in folio in 1767 under the title of ' Anglo-Norman Antiquities, considered in a Tour through part of Normandy, by Dr. Ducarel, illustrated with twenty-seven plates.' His second publication was ' A Series of above two hundred Anglo-Gallic, or Norman and Aquitain, Coins of the Ancient Kings of England, exhibited in sixteen copperplates, and illustrated in Twelve Letters, addressed to the Society of Antiquaries of Loudon and several of its Members,' 4to, London, 1757. In 1760 he printed for private distri
bution, In 4to, an account of his friend Browne Willis, read at the Society of Antiquaries that year. In 1763 he published 'A Repertory of the Endowments of Vicarages in the Diocese of Canterbury,' in 4to, which was reprinted with largo additions in 8vo in 1782, with the further addition of a repertory of endowments of vicarages in the diocese of Rochester. Dr. Ducarel gave a manuscript Abstract of the large history of the Benedictine Abbey of Bee, iu Normandy, drawn np by Dom John Bourget, a monk of that house, to Mr. John Nichol., who printed it in 1779 in 8vo, with an appendix of original deeds ; and who likewise printed in the esme year, in 2 vols. 8vo, 'Some Account of the Alien Priories, and of such lauds as they are known to have possessed in England and Wales,' the chief InateriaLa of which were also collected by Dr. Daeartl. The greater part of the materials of the 'Collection of Royal and Noble Wills,' from the Conqueror to Henry VIL, printed by Mr. Nichols in 1780, were likewise furnished by Dr. DucareL In 1782 he published ' The History of the Collegiate Church of St. Katherine, near the Tower of London, from its Foundation in 1273.' This work bed been compiled by the doctor for the use of Queen Charlotte, this church being the only ecclesiastical preferment iu the gift of the Queen-Consort of England. An appendix to this work was published in 1793 in No. LII. of Mr. Nichola's' Bibliothcca Topographica Britannica.' In 1783 he published, as No. Xli. of the I3ibliotheca Topogr•phica Britannica," Some Account of the Town, Church, and Areldepacepal Palace of Croydon, in the County of Surrey, from its Foundation to 1783,' 4to, originally drawn op by hhn in 1754 at the request of Ilerring. Ha also drew up in the' Bibliotheca Topographis Britannic:a,' No. XXVII., ' The !Finery and Antiquities of the Archiepiscopal Palace of Lambeth, from its Foundation to the Present Time, 17A5, 4to, dedicated to Archbishop Moore.
Dr. Thicarere life was ono of Indefatigable industry. Exclusive of the works already n,entioned, the publication of Snelliug's plates of English medals originated with him. He wrote in the ' Phil000plileal Transactions' upon the subject of trees indigenous to Great Britain, followed by an account of the early cultivation of botany in England.
Ills letter to Gerard Mearman, grand-peuaionary at the Hague, on the dispute concerning Corsallie as the first printer in England, translated into Latin by Dr. Musgrave, with Meerman's answer, was published in the second volume of Meermen's 'Origiues Typographies's' in 1765. He entered deeply into the Rowleian controversy, of which he enter tained what is now the general opinion. lie completed a list of various editions of the Bible and parte thereof, in English, from 1526 to 1776, an improved editiou of which was published in 1778 at the expense of Archbishop Cornwallis. His memoirs of Archbishop Mutton and his family, fairly written, were purchased at the sale of his library, by Dr. Lort for the Hatton family. lie perfected the catalogues of the different portions of the Lambeth library, and made a general index to all the archiepiscopal registers at Lambeth, from Peahen' to Herring, in 48 vole. folio, his own duplicate of which was bought at the sale of the late Mr. Gough's library, for the manuscript department of the British Museum. In addition to all these literary labours, his official attendance to the duties of Doctors Commons was unremitting. Dr. Ducarel died at his house at South Lambeth on the 29th of May, 1785.
(Nichols, Literary Anecdotes, vol. vi. p. 380.401; Chalmers, B. Diet., voL xii. p. 374-385.)