Duret as a polyglot

Duret
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One of the writers named in a previous page, Claude Duret, although Adelungt could not discover any particulars regarding him, beyond those which are detailed in the title of his book, (where he is merely described as " Bourbonnais,' President a Moulins,") nevertheless deserves very special mention on account of the extensive and curious learning, not alone in languages, but also in general literature, history and science, which characterize his rare work, Thresor de L'Histoire des Langues de cet Univers. This work is undoubtedly far from being exempt from grave inaccuracies; but it is nevertheless, for its age, a marvel, as well of curious learning and extensive research, as of acquaintance with a great many (according to one account, seventeen,) languages, both of the East and of the West. How much of this, however, is mere book-scholarship, and how much is real familiarity, it is impossible, in the absence of all details of the writer's personal history, to decide.