GALLOIS, John, one of the founders of the Journal des Savons, was born at Paris on the ∏th of June 1632. From his infancy he evinced a strong inclination for learning, which his father, an advocate in the parliament, cultivated with the greatest care. Having embraced the ecclesiastical state, he turned his studies towards theology, and at the same time endeavoured to perfect himself in the knowledge of Greek and of Hebrew, that he might be able to read the sacred books in the originals; he also devoted his leisure hours to literature and the sciences; and as he was endowed with an excellent memory, as well as a sound judgment, his different acquisitions arranged themselves without confusion or disorder in his mind. To learning equally solid and various he joined the talent, then rare among scholars, of writing his mother tongue with precision and elegance; and hence no one could be better qualified than he for conducting a work having for its object to make known the literary and scientific productions of other nations. Such was the object of the Journal des Savons; and as the privilege had been withdrawn from Sallo, on the complaints of some writers whom he had censured with too great bitterness, Colbert bestowed it on the Abbé Gallois in 1666. The latter had the sole charge of this journal till 1674, when the amount of labour which it imposed, and his other avocations, forced him to abandon it altogether. Colbert, who had appreciated the merit of Gallois, gave him at first an apartment in his hôtel, and afterwards, during his journeys to Versailles, intrusted it entirely to his care. It has been alleged that this great minister desired to leant Latin, and that he retained the Abbé Gallois[7:10:301] for the purpose of instructing him in that language. But, however this may be, it is certain that, while Colbert lived, Gallois enjoyed the highest favour, although he never took advantage of it to promote his own advancement or fortune. On the contrary, he was singularly moderate and disinterested; the only benefice he possessed was the abbey of Corres, the revenue of which was so small that he resigned it because it had become chargeable to him, and never thought of asking another. But if he was careless of all that concerned himself, none was more active or more indefatigable in soliciting assistance for unfortunate men of letters. It is believed that it was he who gave to the minister the plan of the Academy of Inscriptions, although he did not become a member; but he had been admitted into the Academy of Sciences in 1668, and in 1673 he filled the place of Bourzéis in the French Academy, being admitted the same day with Fléchier and Racine. After the death of his illustrious protector, he obtained the place of keeper of the king’s library; and, some years afterwards, when he lost this situation, he was, by way of compensation, appointed professor of the Greek language in the Royal College. After the remodelling of the Academy of Sciences, he was placed in the class of geometry; and he then proposed to publish the treatise of Pappus, of which there only existed a defective Latin translation; but this design was not carried into execution. The Abbé Gallois died on the 19th of April 1707, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. Notwithstanding the extreme mediocrity of his fortune, he had collected more than twelve thousand choice volumes, a catalogue of which was printed in 1710. Besides his contributions to the Journal des Satans, the Abbé Gallois wrote, 1. Traduction Latine du Traité de Paix des Pyrenées, Paris, 1659, in fol.; 2. Remarques sur le projet de l’Histoire de France, dressé par Ducange, printed in the new edition of the Bibliothèque Historique de France, tome iii.; 3. Réponse à l’écrit de David Gregory, touchant les lignes appelées Robervalliennes, qui servent á transformer les figures, Mém. de l’Acad. des Sciences, 1692; with some others of less note. The éloge of Gallois was pronounced by Fontenelle. (a.)