CLERC, John le, a celebrated writer and universal scholar, was born at Geneva in 1657. After he had passed through,the usual course of study at Geneva, and had lost his father in 1676, he went to France in 1678; but returning the year after, he was ordained with the general applause of all his examiners. In 1682, Le Clerc visited England with the view of learning the language of that country. He preached several times in the French churches in London, and visited several bishops and men of learning; but the smoky air of the town not agreeing with his lungs, he returned to Holland within the year, where he at length settled. He preached before a synod held at Rotterdam by the remonstrants in 1684, and was admitted professor of philosophy, polite literature, and the Hebrew tongue, in their school at Amsterdam. The remainder of his life affords nothing but the history of his works, and of the controversies in which he was engaged; but these would lead into too extensive a detail. He continued to read lectures regularly; and because he found no single author full enough for his purpose, he drew up and published his Logic, Ontology, Pneumatology, and Natural Philosophy. He published Ars Critica ; a Commentary on the Old Testament; a Compendium of Universal History; an Ecclesiastical History of the two first Centuries; and a French Translation of the New Testament. In 1686, he began, jointly with Μ. de Crose, his Bibliothèque Universelle et Historique, in imitation of other literary journals; which was continued till the year 1693 inclusive, in 26 volumes. In 1703 he began his Bibliothèque Choisie, and continued it to 1714, when he commenced another work on the same plan, called Bibliothèque Ancienne et Moderne, which he continued to the year 1728; all of them justly deemed excellent stores of useful knowledge. In 1728 he was seized with a palsy and fever; and having spent the last six years of his life in a state of mental imbecility, he died in 1736.

Clerc, Sebastian le, engraver and designer in ordinary to the French king, was born at Metz in 1637. After having learned designing, he applied himself to mathematics, and became engineer to the Marshal de la Ferté. He went to Paris in 1665, where he applied himself to designing and engraving with such success, that Μ. Colbert gave him a pension of 600 crowns. In 1672 he was admitted into the royal academy of painting and sculpture; and in 1680 he was made professor of geometry and perspective in the same academy. Besides a great number of designs and prints, he published, 1. A Treatise on Theoretical and Practical Geometry; 2. A Treatise on Architecture; and other works. He died in 1714. Le Clerc was an excellent artist, but chiefly in the petty style. His genius seldom exceeds the dimensions of six inches. Within these limits he could draw up 20,000 men with great dexterity. No [7:6:739]artist except Callot and Della Bella could touch a small figure with so much spirit. His most esteemed prints are, 1. The passion of our Saviour, on 36 small plates, lengthwise, from his own compositions; the best impressions of which are without the borders; 2. The miracle of die feeding of five thousand ; a middling-sized plate, lengthwise; 3. The elevation of the large stones used in building the front of the Louvre; a large plate, lengthwise; 4. The academy of die sciences, a middling-sized plate, lengthwise; the first impressions are before the skeleton of the stag and tortoise were added; 5. The May of the Gobelins, a middlesized plate, lengthwise; the first impression of which is before the woman was introduced, who covers the wheel of the coach; 6. The four conquests, large plates, lengthwise, representing the taking of Tournay, the taking of Douay, the defeat of the Comte de Marsin, and the Switzerland alliance; 7. The battles of Alexander, from Le Brun, six small long plates, including the title, which represents the picture gallcry at the Gobelins; and, 8. The entry of Alexander into Babylon, a middle-sized plate, lengthwise, in the first impressions of which, the face of Alexander is seen in profile; but in the second, it is a three-quarter face, and therefore called the print with the head turned.