Jean Luzac, a Dutch philologist, born in Leyden, Aug. 2, 1746, killed by an explosion of gunpowder in the port of Leyden, Jan. 12, 1807. He was of a French Protestant family, was educated for the bar at the Hague, and in 1772 became one of the editors of the "Leyden Gazette," a journal of European reputation, controlled since 1738 by his father and uncle. For a number of years subsequent to 1775 he was its sole editor, in which capacity he became known as a friend or correspondent of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and of many eminent Europeans. He was afterward Greek professor at the university of Leyden, and in 1795 published an address De Socrate Cive, dedicated to John Adams, whose son, John Quincy Adams, had studied under his direction. During the revolutionary troubles in Holland he was forbidden to lecture on Greek history; and having refused to obey this injunction, he was deprived of his professorship, which was however restored to him in 1802 with an increase of salary. Upon being suspended from his professional functions, he received a letter from Washington, expressing sympathy in his behalf.

His Lectiones Attico3, a defence of Socrates, was published in 1809.