[_Lat. orig. autogr._--_Library of Geneva._ Vol. 107, _a_.]
[308] The celebrated printer Robert Etienne, (Stephens,) a man of
the purest reputation, who lived in an age which failed to recognize
his genius, and which rewarded his labours with ingratitude. Having
become odious to the clergy by his beautiful editions of the Bible,
and by his desire for reform, and but ill protected by the King of
France against the vexations of the Sorbonne, he resolved to quit
his country and remove his presses to Geneva, whither the printer
Crespin had already preceded him. He arrived there towards the end
of the year 1550, with his son Henry, who afterwards shed a new
lustre on the name of Stephens. He publicly embraced the cause
of the Reformation, together with the members of his family, and
honoured his adopted country by the publication of various works
of antiquity, both sacred and profane. Made a burgess of Geneva in
1556, he lived in constant intimacy with Calvin and Beza, until his
death in 1559.--Senebier, _Hist. Litt._, pp. 355, 356; Haag. _France
Protestante_, Art. Estienne.
[309] In allusion to a tolerably numerous party in France, who, on
receiving the Gospel, believed they might remain united in external
communion with the Romish Church, and escape persecution by an
apparent adhesion to its dogmas.