, who has been called the Æsehvlus of France, was born at Dijon, Feb.
, who has been
called the Æsehvlus of France, was born at Dijon, Feb.
13, 1671, and was educated among the Jesuits, who are
said to have recorded him in their registers “as a boy of
parts, but remarkably graceless.
” His family, long distinguished in the magistracy both on the father’s and
mother’s side, wishing to preserve its acquired lustre, his
father, who was chief register in the chamber of accounts
at Dijon, recommended the law to him, without, it would
appear, consulting his inclination. He studied it,
however, at Paris; was admitted advocate, and afterwards entered as pupil to a solicitor. His frequent attendance on
public spectacles, appears to have early given him a relish
for the stage, and he could not conceal it from his master,
the solicitor, who, from the eloquence with which Crebillon spoke of the master-pieces of the drama, predicted
that he would one day make a figure on the theatre. He
even ventured to advise his pupil to renounce the bar, and
follow the impulse of his genius. This, however, rather
disheartened, than encouraged him, as he had a great diffidence of himself; but at length, daily urged by counsels,
the sincerity of which he could not suspect, and still more
by inclination, he hazarded a piece which he ventured to
read to the players, but it was rejected, and he almost
forswore the pursuit of dramatic fame.