|
|
|
|
|
Paul PellissonPaul Pellisson (October 30, 1624 - February 7, 1693) was a French author. He was born at Bziers, of a distinguished Calvinist family. He studied law at Toulouse, and practised at the bar of Castres. Going to Paris with letters of introduction to Valentin Conrart, a fellow Calvinist, he was introduced to the members of the Acadmie franaise. Pellisson undertook to be their historian, and in 1653 published a Relation contenant l'histoire de l’acadmie francaise. He was rewarded with a promise of the next vacant place and permission to be present at their meetings. In 1657 Pellisson became secretary to the minister of finance, Nicolas Fouquet, but when, in 1661, Fouquet was arrested, his secretary was imprisoned in the Bastille. Pellisson had the courage to stand by his fallen patron, in whose defence he issued his celebrated Mmoire in 1661, with the title Discours au roi, par un de ses idles sujets sur le procs de M. de Fouquet, in which the facts in favour of Fouquet are marshalled with great skill. Another pamphlet, Seconde defense de M. Fouquet, followed. Pellisson was released in 1666, and sought the royal favour. He became official historian to the king, and in that capacity wrote a fragmentary Histoire de Louis XIV, covering the years 1660 to 1670. In 1670 he was converted to Catholicism and obtained rich ecclesiastical preferment. He was very intimate with Mlle de Scudry, in whose novels he figures as Herminius and Acante. He had many friends, and Bussy-Rabutin's described him as "encore plus honnte homme que bel esprit." See Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du lundi, vol. xiv.; and FL Marcon, Étude sur la vie et les wuvees de Pellisson (1859). This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. Pellisson, Paul Pellisson, Paul Pellisson, Paul
|
 |
|
| Copyright 2005-2009 OnPedia.com. All Rights Reserved |
|
|