Antoine Halley

Who was Antoine Halley?

Antoine Halley was a French professor and poet.

Halley was born at Bazenville near Bayeux. A professor of belles-lettres and Principal of the Collège du Bois, at the University of Caen, he succeeded Antoine Gosselin and distinguished himself from the age of twenty-two, by his eloquence and the brilliance of his teaching. He taught Latin poetry at the University of Caen, for nearly forty years. He cultivated Latin and French poetry and won the prize of the Immaculate Conception time and again so that the Académie des Sciences, Arts et Belles-Lettres de Caen pleaded with him to quit competing.

Halley had ties with Charles de la Rue and Huet, the bishop of Avranches. The latter urged him to publish his poems. Huet, in his Origines de Caen, hailed him as mentor: "I am obliged to give this testimony of gratitude to Mr. Halley. I deem it one of the greatest joys of my life to have been his disciple at his home for five years. He trained my mind, he refined my taste, he gave me an understanding of good authors. He taught me an infinite number of rare and curious things."