GAYANGOS Y ARCE

gayangos y arce, pascual de (1809-1897), spanish scholar and orientalist, was born at seville on the 21st of june 1809. at the age of thirteen he was sent to be educated at pont-le-voy near blois, and in 1828 began the study of arabic under silvestre de sacy. after a visit to england, where he married, he obtained a post in the spanish treasury, and was transferred to the foreign office as translator in 1833. in 1836 he returned to england, wrote extensively in english periodicals, and translated almakkari's _history of the mahommedan dynasties in spain_ (1840-1843) for the royal asiatic society. in england he also made the acquaintance of ticknor, to whom he was very serviceable. in 1843 he returned to spain as professor of arabic at the university of madrid, which post he held until 1881, when he was made director of public instruction. this office he resigned upon being elected senator for the district of huelva. his latter years were spent in cataloguing the spanish manuscripts in the british museum; he had previously continued bergenroth's catalogue of the manuscripts relating to england in the simancas archives. his best-known original work is his dissertation on spanish romances of chivalry in rivadeneyra's _biblioteca de autores espanoles_. he died in london on the 4th of october 1897. gayarre, charles etienne arthur (1805-1895), american historian, was born in new orleans, louisiana, on the 9th of january 1805. after studying at the college d'orleans he began, in 1826, to study law in philadelphia, and three years later was admitted to the bar. in 1830 he was elected a member of the house of representatives of louisiana, in 1831 was appointed deputy attorney-general of his state, in 1833 became presiding judge of the city court of new orleans, and in 1834 was elected as a jackson democrat to the united states senate. on account of ill-health, however, he immediately resigned without taking his seat, and for the next eight years travelled in europe and collected historical material from the french and the spanish archives. in 1844-1845 and in 1856-1857 he was again a member of the state house of representatives, and from 1845 to 1853 was secretary of state of louisiana. he supported the southern confederacy during the civil war, in which he lost a large fortune, and after its close lived chiefly by his pen. he died in new orleans on the 11th of february 1895. he is best known as the historian of louisiana. he wrote _histoire de la louisiane_ (1847); _romance of the history of louisiana_ (1848); _louisiana: its colonial history and romance_ (1851), reprinted in _a history of louisiana_; _history of louisiana: the spanish domination_ (1854); _philip ii. of spain_ (1866); and _a history of louisiana_ (4 vols., 1866), the last being a republication and continuation of his earlier works in this field, the whole comprehending the history of louisiana from its earliest discovery to 1861. he wrote also several dramas and romances, the best of the latter being _fernando de lemos_ (1872).