ROLLIN Charles (1661-1741), was born at Paris on 30th January 1661. He was the son of a tradesman, but distinguished himself at school, and at the age of twenty-two was made a master in the Collége du Plessis. He was successively promoted to various other posts of the same kind. In 1694 he was rector of the university of Paris. He held that post for two years instead of one, and was then appointed principal of the Collége de Beauvais. He was of Jansenist principles, and in the later years of his life was for this cause deprived of his appointments and disqualified for the rectorship, to which in 1719 he had been re-elected. It is said that the same reason prevented his election to the French Academy, though he was a member of the Academy of Inscriptions. He was concerned in the affair of the deacon Paris, and shortly before his death (14th December 1741) protested publicly against the acceptance of the bull Unigenitus....
Rollin’s literary work dates chiefly from the later years of his life, when he had been forbidden to teach. His once famous Atvcient History (Paris, 1730-38) and the less generally read Roman History which followed it were avowed compilations, and compilations which were not only far from critical but even somewhat inaccurate. But they have hàd the merit not merely of instructing but of interesting generation after generation almost to the present day. A more original and really important work, though less generally known out of France, was his Traité des Etudes (Paris, 1726-31). It contains a summary of what was even then a reformed and innovating system of education, including a more frequent and extensive use of the vulgar tongue and discarding the mediaeval traditions that had lingered in France. It had very considerable influence. Rollin’s style is good and his personal character was irreproachable.
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