, seigneur du Fresne, counsellor of state, was born 1551 at Paris, and
, seigneur du Fresne, counsellor of state, was born 1551 at Paris, and carefully educated
by his father James de la Canaye, an eminent advocate.
At the age of fifteen, having declared himself a Calvinist,
he went into Italy, Germany, and to Constanstinople; and
published an account of his travels to that city, under the
title of “Ephemerides.
” He shone afterwards at the bar,
and was counsellor of state under Henry III. Henry IV.
sent him ambassador into England, Germany, and to Venice. He assisted at the famous conference of Fontainebleau, 1600, between cardinal du Perron and DuplessisMornay, and afterwards turned catholic. The year following he was sent ambassador to Venice, where he contributed greatly to the termination of the disputes between
that republic and pope Paul V. He died at his return to
Paris, February 27, 1610. Three vols. fol. of his embassies
were published in 1635, with his life prefixed to the first.