Lucas, Paul

, a French traveller, was the son of a merchant at Rouen, and born there in 1664. From his youth he felt a strong inclination for travelling, which he gratified by several voyages to the Levant, Egypt, Turkey, and other countries. He brought home a great number of medals and other curiosities for the king’s cabinet, who made him his antiquary in 1714, and ordered him to write the history of his travels. Louis XV. sent him again to the Levant in 1723, whence he brought abundance of curiosities for the king’s library; particularly medals and manuscripts. His passion for travelling reviving again in 1736, he went to Madrid; and died there in 1737, after an illness of eight months. His travels, which were edited by Baudelot de Dairval, Fourmont, and Banier, are not ill written, and sufficiently amusing; yet not of the first authority, being supposed to contain some exaggerated, and some false representations. They consist of 7 vols. 12mo, published in 1699 1714. ²