by the text of Polyaenus, an _editio princeps_, 1589; a
text of Aristotle, 1590; and a few notes contributed to Estienne's
editions of Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Pliny's _Epistolae_. It is
not till we come to his edition of Theophrastus's _Characteres_ (1592),
that we have a specimen of that peculiar style of illustrative
commentary, at once apposite and profuse, which distinguishes Casaubon
among annotators. At the time of his removal to Montpellier he was
engaged upon what is the capital work of his life, his edition of, and
commentary on, Athenaeus.

In 1598 we find Casaubon at Lyons, superintending the passage of his
Athenaeus through the press, for which he had been unable to find
facilities at Montpellier. Here he lived in the house of Meric de Vicq,
_surintendant de la justice_, a Catholic, but a man of acquirements,
whose connexions were with the circle of liberal Catholics in Paris. In
the suite of De Vicq Casaubon made a flying visit to Paris, and was
presented to Henry IV. The king was very gracious, and said something
about employing Casaubon's services in the "restoration" of the fallen
university of Paris. Full of hope he returned to Montpellier. In January
1599, he received a summons to repair to Paris. But the terms of the
letter missive were so vague that, though it bore the sign manual,
Casaubon hesitated to act upon it. However, he resigned his chair at
Montpellier, but instead of hastening to Paris, he lingered more than a
year at Lyons, in De Vicq's house, where he hoped to meet the king, who
was expected to visit the south. Nothing more was heard about the
professorship, but instead he was summoned by De Vicq, who was then in
Paris, to come to him in all haste on an affair of importance. The
business proved to be the Fontainebleau Conference. Casaubon allowed
himself to be persuaded to sit as one of the referees who were to
adjudicate on the challenge sent to Du Plessis Mornay by Cardinal
Duperron. By so doing he placed himself in a false position, as Scaliger
said: "Non debebat Casaubon interesse colloquio Plessiaeano; erat asinus
inter simias, doctus inter imperitos" (_Scaligerana_ 2^[alpha]). The
issue was so contrived that the Protestant party could not but be
pronounced to be in the wrong. By concurring in the decision, which was
unfavourable to Du Plessis Mornay, Casaubon lent the prestige of his
name to a court whose verdict would without him have been worthless, and
confirmed the suspic