s of the military school. He afterwards co-operated, under the marquis de Paulmy, and again with the count de Tressan, in the “Bibliotheque des Romans;” after which he
, was born at Amiens, June
3, 1737, and was surnamed d'Aussy, because his father
was a native of Auxy-le-Chateau, in the department of
Pas-de-Calais. He received his education in the college
of the Jesuits at Amiens at the age of eighteen entered
into the society of his preceptors and, a few years afterxvards, had the honour of being elected to the rhetorical
chair at Caen. At the age of twenty-six he was thrown on
the world by the dissolution of the order, and was soon
employed in the elaborate work of the French Glossary,
projected by Lacurne de Sainte-Palaye, and in an examination of the very rich library of the marquis de Paulmy.
In 1770 he was appointed secretary in the direction of the
studies of the military school. He afterwards co-operated,
under the marquis de Paulmy, and again with the count
de Tressan, in the “Bibliotheque des Romans;
” after
which he became still deeper engaged in collecting, translating, extracting, and commenting upon the “Fabliaux,
”
or tales of the old French poets of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In 1782 he published, in three volumes,
8vo, his “Histoire de la Vie privee des Frangais;
” and in
Tour to Auvergne,
” which
province he visited the preceding year, at the entreaty of
his Jesuit brother Peter Theodore Lewis Augustin, who
was then prior of the abbey of Saint Andre, in the town of
Clermont. This Tour he first published in one volume,
ivo; but he afterwards enlarged and republished it in
1795, in three volumes of the same size. His contributions
to the Institute were numerous, and, for the most part,
possessed of merit. For some years before his death, he
had conceived the plan of a complete history of French
poetry, and had even begun to carry it into execution; and
as he stood in need of all the treasures of the national library, he was fortunately nominated, in 1796, conservator
of the French Mss. of this library and he now not only
renewed his intention, but enlarged his scheme he included in it the history of the French tongue that of literature in all its extent, and all its various ramifications as
well as that of science, of arts, and their utility in different
applications a monument too vast for the life and power
of an individual to be able to construct. He had, however,
accomplished some part of his design, when, after a slight
indisposition which caused no alarm, he died suddenly in
1801. He was upon the whole a retired and taciturn scholar. “His life,
” says his biographer, “like that of most
other men of letters, may be comprized in two lines What
were his places of resort The libraries. Among whom did
he live His books. What did he ever produce Books.
What did he ever say? That which appears in his books.
”
, count de Tressan, a lively French writer, was born at Mons, Nov. 4,
, count de Tressan, a lively French writer, was born at Mons, Nov. 4, 1705, of a noble family originally from Languedoc, one branch of which had been protestants, and fought on that side in the civil wars preceding the massacre. He came early in life to Paris, and attached himself to Voltaire and Fontenelle, who initiated him in the belles lettres, and in those principles which afterwards made him be ranked among the philosophers of France. He served afterwards in the French army, and attained the rank of lieutenant-general. In 1750 he was admitted a free associate of the French academy, and contributed a memoir on Electricity, a subject then not much known, and written with so much ability that it was supposed he might have acquired no small fame in pursuing scientific subjects. This, however, was not agreeable to his disposition. After the battle of Fontenoy, in 1741, in which he served as aide-de-camp to Louis XV. he went to the court of Stanislaus, king of Poland, at Luneville, where he recommended himself by the sprightliness of his temper, and by the freedom of his remarks, but at the same time made some enemies by his satirical and epigrammatic productions. On the death of Stanislaus, he retired from active life, and devoted his time to the composition of a variety of works, particularly romances. Some of which were however translations, and others abridgments. These fill 12 octavo volumes published in 1791. His translation of Ariosto seems to have done him most credit. A light, trifling spirit never deserted him, but still sported even in his grey-hairs, until death put a serious end to it, Oct. 31, 1782, in his seventy-seventh year. Almost up to this period he was abridging Amadis de Gaul, and writing tales of chivalry, after having begun his career with the grave and abstruse parts of science. While in this latter employment he was, in 1749, chosen a member of our Royal Society.