hardcover 8vo, 384 pages, b+w illustrations, index. Saint Evremond spent the last 40 years of the 17th century in England and his letters "throw a vivid light on Restoration England" as well as himself. Name whited out at top front endpaper. Light general agewear with edgewear and light soiling to dustjacket. Solid and clean with dj in protective cover.


Charles de Marguetel de Saint-Denis, seigneur de Saint-Évremond (April 1, 1610 - September 29, 1703), was a French soldier, epicurean, essayist and literary critic. After 1661, he lived in exile, mainly in England, as a consequence of his attack on French policy at the time of the peace of the Pyrenees (1659). He is buried in Poets' Corner, Westminster. He wrote for his friends, and did not intend his work to be published although a few of his pieces were leaked in his lifetime. The first full collection of his works was published in London in 1705, after his death.


He soon, however, took to arms, and in 1629 went with Marshal Bassompierre to Italy. He served through great part of the Thirty Years' War, distinguishing himself at the siege of Landrecies (1637), when he was made captain. During his campaigns he studied the works of Montaigne and the Spanish and Italian languages.


During the Fronde, Saint-Évremond was a steady royalist. The duke of Candale (of whom he has left a very severe portrait) gave him a command in Guienne, and Saint-Évremond, who had reached the grade of maréchal de camp, is said to have saved 50,000 livres in less than three years. He was one of the numerous victims involved in the fall of Fouquet. His letter to Marshal Créqui on the peace of the Pyrenees, which is said to have been discovered by Colbert's agents at the seizure of Fouquet's papers, seems a very inadequate cause for his disgrace.

Saint-Évremond fled to Holland and to England, where he was kindly received by Charles II and was pensioned. After James II's flight to France Saint-Évremond was invited to return, but he declined. Hortense Mancini, the most attractive of Mazarin's attractive group of nieces, came to England in 1670, and set up a salon for love-making, gambling and witty conversation, and here Saint-Évremond was for many years at home. He died on 29 September 1703 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, where his monument still is in Poets' Corner close to that of Prior.