Dassier et fils représentant une suite de sujets tirés de l'Histoire romaine,’ &c. [Paris, 1778] 8vo). In 1744 he visited Turin and made a medal of the king of Sardinia, who received him kindly. On his return to Geneva he worked industriously in the preparation of seals and medals. He died 15 Oct. 1763. There is no complete list of his very numerous foreign medals, but many of them are enumerated in Koehler's ‘Münz-Belustigung,’ Theil xvii. 434–6, in the ‘Leipziger gel. Zeit.’ 1725, pp. 75–80, 1726, pp. 199–200, and Senebier, iii. 308–12. His medal signatures are, I. D., I. Dassier, Iean Dassier.
[Fuessli's Geschichte der besten Künstler in der Schweitz, iv. 93–9; Senebier's Histoire littéraire de Genève, iii. 304–12; Hawkins's Medallic Illustrations of Hist. of Gt. Brit. ed. Franks and Grueber, ii. 723, 724; Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting, ed. Wornum, 762, 763; Vertue's MS. Memorials of Arts, &c., Brit. Mus. 23079, pp. 13b, 14a; Blavignac's Armorial genevois, 313–14; Von Haller's Schweizerisches Münz- und Medaillen Kabinet, p. 489 and Index; Koehler's Münz-Belustigung, Theil xvii. 434–6; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists of Eng. School; Nagler's Künstler-Lexikon; Bolzenthal's Skizzen zur Kunstgesch. der mod. Medaillen-Arbeit, p. 257; Poole's Cat. of Swiss Coins in South Kensington Mus., Index under ‘I. A. [should be ‘Iean’] Dassier;’ Brit. Mus. Catal.; Dassier's Medals in Brit. Mus.]
D'ASSIGNY, MARIUS (1643–1717), author and translator, was born in 1643. His name indicates that he was of French extraction, and he was probably a son of Monsieur D'Assigny, French protestant minister at Norwich. He took orders in the church of England, and in 1668 obtained the degree of B.D. ‘per literas regias’ from the university of Cambridge (Cantabrigienses Graduati, ed. 1787, p. 110). In Woodham Walter Church, Essex, is the following inscription: ‘Here lieth the body of the Rev. Marjus D'Assigney B.D., who died Nov. 14, 1717, aged 74’ (Nichols, Lit. Anecd. ix. 781; Wright, Essex, ii. 660 n.)
His works are: 1. ‘The Assurance of the Faithfull: or the glorious estate of the Saints in Heaven described, and the certainty of their future Happiness manifested by Reason and Scripture,’ Lond. 1670, 4to. 2. A translation of Pierre Gautruche's ‘Histoire Poëtique’ under the title of ‘The Poetical Histories, being a compleat collection of all the stories necessary for a perfect understanding of the Greek and Latin Poets … Englisht and enricht with observations concerning the Gods worshipped by our ancestors. Unto which are added two treatises [by D'Assigny]; one of the curiosities of old Rome, the other containing the most remarkable hieroglyphicks of Ægypt,’ Lond. 1671, 8vo. This work, dedicated to Sir Orlando Bridgeman [q. v.], keeper of the great seal, was very popular; the eighth edition was published in 1701. 3. ‘The Divine Art of Prayer, containing the most proper rules to pray well, with divers meditations and prayers suitable to the necessity of Christians,’ Lond. 1691, 8vo. 4. ‘The Art of Memory. A treatise useful for all, especially such as are to speak in publick,’ Lond. 1697, 1699, 1706, 8vo (Feinagle, New Art of Memory, ed. 1812, pp. 170–88). 5. ‘Rhetorica Anglorum; vel, Exercitationes oratoriæ in rhetoricam sacram et communem. Quibus adjiciuntur quædam regulæ ad imbecilles memorias corroborandas,’ Lond. 1699, 8vo. 6. Translation of Charles Drelincourt's ‘Christian's Defence against the Fears of Death,’ 4th edit. Lond. 1701, 8vo. This passed through many editions; the twenty-seventh appeared at Liverpool in 1810. 7. ‘The History of the Earls and Earldom of Flanders from the first establishment of that sovereignty to the death of the late King Charles II of Spain. To which is prefixed a general Survey of Flanders, with a curious map of that country [by Moll],’ Lond. 1701, 8vo. 8. ‘Seasonable Advice to the Protestant Nonjurors: showing the absurdity and danger of acknowledging the pretended Prince of Wales for King of England,’ Lond. 1702, 4to. 9. ‘An Antidote against the pernicious Errors of the Anabaptists, or of the Dipping Sect.’ An answer to this work, by R. Morgan, was published at London in 1708.
[Biog. Dict. Soc. D. U. K. iii. 826 (article by J. Winter Jones, s.v. ‘Assigny’); Cat. of Printed Books in Brit. Mus.; Christie's Old Church and School Libraries of Lancashire (Chetham Soc.), p. 154; Agnew's Protestant Exiles from France (1874), ii. 222, and index vol. p. 129.]
DASTIN, DASTYN, or DAUSTIN, JOHN (fl. 1320), alchemist, occupied, according to Tanner, the foremost place among the alchemists of his time, and was the only master of his art in England. Originally a monk, he gave himself up to philosophical inquiries, and was reduced to the utmost poverty. The only record which remains to fix the period when Dastin lived is a letter which he addressed to Pope John XXII. Among other of his correspondents was a Cardinal Adrian of Naples, and it was apparently this fact which led Pierre Borel (Bibl. Chemique, p. 73) to incorrectly state that Dastin was himself a cardinal known as St. Adrian. Dastin was the author of numerous alchemical treatises in Latin, which, if we may judge from the number of manuscript
