, a man of letters in France, who was for some time professor of
, 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.