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He was born at Hesdin, Artois, and first appears, with the full name of Prévost d'Exiles, in a letter to the booksellers of Amsterdam in 1731. His father Lievin Prévost, was a lawyer, and several members of the family had embraced the ecclesiastical estate. Prévost was educated at the Jesuit school of Hesdin, and in 1713 became a novice of the order in Paris, pursuing his studies at the same time at the college of La Flèche.
At the end of 1716 he left the Jesuits to join the army, but soon tired of military life, and returned to Paris in 1719, apparently with the idea of resuming his lovitiate. He is said to have travelled in Holland about this time; in any case he returned to the army, this time with a commission. Some biographers have assumed that he suffered some of the misfortunes assigned to his hero Des Grieux. Whatever the truth, he joined the learned community of the Benedictines of St Maur, with whom he found refuge, he himself says, after the unlucky termination of a love affair. He took his vows at Jumieges in 1721 after a year's novitiate, and in 1726 took priest's orders at St Germer de Flaix. He spent seven years in various houses of the order, teaching, preaching and studying. In 1728 he was at the abbey of St Germain-des-Pres, Paris, where he was engaged on the Gallia Christiana, the learned work undertaken by the monks in continuation of the works of Denys de Sainte-Marthe , who had been a member of their order. His restless spirit made him seek from the PopeThis article is about the Catholic pope. See Pope (disambiguation) for other meanings of the word pope. The Pope is the Catholic bishop and patriarch of Rome, and ex officio supreme spiritual leader of what might be called the Catholic Communion (that is, a transfer to the easier rule of Cluny; but he left the abbey without leave (1728), and, learning that his superiors had obtained a lettre de cachetIn French history, lettres de cachet were letters signed by the king of France, countersigned by one of his ministers, and closed with the royal seal, or cachet''. They contained orders directly from the king, often to enforce arbitrary actions and judgem against him, fled to EnglandEngland is the largest, the most populous, and the most densely populated of the four " Home Nations" which make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK). Occupying the south-eastern portion of the island of Great Britain, England.
In London he acquired a wide knowledge of English history and literature, as can be seen in his writings. Before leaving the Benedictines Prévost had begun his most famous romance, Mémoires et aventures d’un homme de qualité qui s’est retiré du monde, the first four volumes of which were published in Paris in 1728, and two years later at Amsterdam. In 1729 he left England for Holland, where he began to publish (Utrecht, 1730) a romance, the material of which, at least, had been gathered in London Le Philosophe anglois, ou Histoire de Monsieur Cleveland, fils naturel de Cromwell, écrite par lui-mesme, et traduite de l'anglois (Paris 1731-1739, 8 vols., but most of the existing sets are partly Paris and partly Utrecht). A spurious fifth volume (Utrecht, 1734) contained attacks on the Jesuits, and an English translation of the whole appeared in 1734.
Meanwhile, during his residence at the HagueThis article is about the city in the Netherlands; there is also a region known as (the) Hague in France. The Hague ( Dutch: Den Haag or officially 's-Gravenhage is the administrative capital of the Netherlands, located in the west of the country, in the, he engaged on a translation of De ThouJacques Auguste de Thou Thuanus ( 1553 May 7, 1617) was a French historian. He was the grandson of Augustin de Thou, president of the parlement of Paris (died 1544), and the younger son of Christophe de Thou (died 1582), "first president" of the same parl's Historia, and, relying on the popularity of his first book, published at Amsterdam a Suite in three volumes, forming volumes v, vi, and vii of the original Mémoires et aventures d’un homme de qualité. The seventh volume contained the famous Manon LescautManon Lescaut is a novel by the abbe Prevost. Considered one of the greatest novels of the 18th century, it is very short; it is entirely free from improbable incident, it is penetrated by the truest and most cunningly managed feeling; and almost every on, separately published in Paris in 1731 as Les Aventures Du Chevalier Des Grieux Et De Manon Lescaut proposé par Monsieur D.... The book was eagerly read, chiefly in pirated copies, being forbidden in France. In 1733Events February 12 English colonist James Oglethorpe founds Savannah, Georgia. May 29 Right of Canadians to keep Indian slaves upheld at Quebec Quebec. July 30 First Freemasons lodge opened in what will become the United States. Births May 4 Jean-Charles he left the Hague for London in company with a lady whose character, according to Prévost's enemies, was doubtful. In London he edited a weekly gazette on the model of Joseph AddisonJoseph Addison ( May 1, 1672 June 17, 1719) was an English politician and writer. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend, Richard Steele, with whom he founded The Spectator magazine. Addison was born in Milston, Wiltshir's Spectator, Le Pour et centre, which he continued to produce, with short intervals, until 1740.
In the autumn of 1734 Prévost was reconciled with the Benedictines, and, returning to France, was received in the Benedictine monastery of La Croix-Saint-Leufroy in the diocese of Evreux to pass through a new, though brief, novitiate. In 1735 he was dispensed from residence in a monastery by becoming almoner to the prince de Conti, and in 1754 obtained the priory of St Georges de Gesnes. He continued to produce novels and translations from the English, and, with the exception of a brief exile (1741-1742) spent in Brussels and Frankfurt, he resided for the most part at Chantilly until his death, which took place suddenly while he was walking in the neighbouring woods. The cause of his death, the rupture of an aneurism, is all that is definitely known. Stories of crime and disaster were related of Prévost by his enemies, and diligently repeated, but appear to be apocryphal.
Prévost's other works include:
For the bibliography of Prévost's works, which presents many complications, and for documentary evidence of the facts of his life see H Harrisse, L'Abbé Prévost (1896); also a thesis (1898) by V Schroeder.
Prevost, Antoine Francois Prevost, Antoine Francois Prevost, Antoine Francois Prevost, Antoine Francois| Politics | Business | Finance |
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