But De Rosieres altered
and transposed many ancient charters and royal patents, in order to
support his theory with regard to the sovereignty of the House of
Lorraine. His false documents were proved to have been forged by the
author. The anger of the French was aroused. He was compelled to sue for
pardon before Henry III.; his book was proscribed and burnt; but for the
protection of the House of Guise, he would have shared the fate of his
book, and was condemned to imprisonment in the Bastille.
The learned Swedish historian Rudbeck may perhaps be included in our list
of ill-fated authors, although his death was not brought about by the
machinations of his foes. He wrote a great work on the origin,
antiquities, and history of Sweden, but soon after its completion he
witnessed the destruction of his book in the great fire of Upsal in 1702.
The disappointment caused by the loss of his work was so great that he
died the same year.
Rudbeck is not the only author who so loved his work that he died broken-
hearted when deprived of his treasure. A great scholar of the fifteenth
century, one Anthony Urseus, who lived at Forli, had just finished a great
work, when unhappily he left a lighted lamp in his study during his
absence. The fatal flame soon enveloped his books and papers, and the poor
author on his return went mad, beating his head against the door of his
palace, and raving blasphemous words.
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