Pechmeja, John De

, a man of letters in France, who was for some time professor of eloquence in the royal college of la Fleche, was born in 1741, at Villa Franca in Rouergue. He was a disinterested scholar, a plain, modest, and vjrtuous man. His eulogium on the great Colbert received the public approbation of the French academy in 1773. His principal fame has arisen from a poem (as he calls it) in prose, named “Telephus,” in twelve books. It was published in octavo in 1784, and is said to have been translated into English. The piece is well written, and contains, among other things, a beautiful picture of true friendship, of which he himself afforded a noble example. Pechmeja, and M. du Breuil, an eminent physician of the time, were the Pylades and Orestes of their age. The former had a severe illness in 1776, when his friend flew to his assistance, and from that time they were inseparable, | and had every thing in common. A person once inquired of Pechmeja what income he possessed, “I have,” said he, “200 livres a-year.” Some wonder being expressed how he could subsist on so little, “Oh,” said he, “the doctor has plenty more.” The doctor died first of a contagious disorder, through which his friend attended him, and died only twenty days after, a victim to the strength of his friendship. He died about the end of April 1785, at the age of only forty-four. ¹