, a French journalist, generally known for having been the constant
, a French journalist, generally known for having been the constant object of the
satire of Voltaire, was born at Quimper, in 1719. His
talents were considerable, and he cultivated them in the
society of the Jesuits, under fathers Brumoy and Bougeant.
In 1739, on some disgust, he quitted the Jesuits, and for
a time assisted the abbé des Fontaines in his periodical
publications. He then published several critical works on
his own account, which were generally admired, but sometimes suppressed by authority. His “Letters on certain
writings of the time
” began to be published in Anne Litie>aire,
” and published
in that year 7 volumes of it; and afterwards 8 volumes
every year as long as he lived, which was till 1776. In
this work, FreVon, who was a zealous enemy of the modern
philosophy, attacked Voltaire with spirit. He represented
him as a skilful plagiary; as a poet, brilliant indeed, but
inferior to Corneille, Racine, and Boileau; as an elegant,
but inaccurate historian; and rather the tyrant than the
king of literature. A great part of this Voltaire could bear
with fortitude; but a very skilful and victorious attack
upon a bad comedy, “La Femme qui a raison,
” drove
him beyond all bounds of patience; and henceforward his
pen was constantly in motion against Fre>on, whose very
name at any time would put him in a rage, nor was Freron
more a favourite with the encyclopedists, whose principles
he exposed.