Peyrere

(Isaac de la), French writer, b. Bordeaux, 1594, and brought up as a Protestant. He entered into the service of the house of Condé, and became intimate with La Mothe de Vayer and Gas send i. His work entitled Præadam itæ , 1653, in which he maintained that men lived before Adam, made a great sensation, and was burnt by the hangman at Paris. The bishop of Namur censured it, and la Peyrère was arrested at Bru els, 1656, by order of the Archbishop of Malines, but escaped by favor of the Prince of Condé on condition of retracting his book at Rome. The following epitaph was neverthele made on him: La Peyrere ici gît, ce bon Israelite, Huge not, Catholique, enfin Pre-adamite: Quatre religions lui plurent à la fois: Et son indifférence était si peu commune Qu’après 80 ans qu’il eut à faire un choix Le bon homme part it, et n’en choisit pas une. Died near Paris, 30 Jan. 1676.