f 574 J 
MEMOIRS AND REMAINS OF EMINENT PERSONS. 
account of the laieé MaRQUIS D’ARGENS, 
“WNHE Marquis D’Argens was one of 
~ those hterary cuaracters of the last 
century, who have rendered themselves! 
more remarkable than illustrieus by theif 
Opinions, their adventures, and the re- 
putation of their works. 
Like Saint Evremond, the Marquis 
D’Argens passed one pait of his life in 
gallantry, and the other at the court of 
« Prince, and in the circle of the great 
world. But the former possessed talents, 
and a rank in society above the latter. 
Some fragments of St. Evremond, such 
as, for mstance, ‘ Considérations on the 
Roman People,” evince a taste and ge- 
nius, not to be found in the Author of 
the “ Philosophy ot Good Sense,” or 
the “ Jewish Letters.” 
The writings of the Marquis D’Argens 
are not however without considerable 
merit—they had a rapid circulation— 
they were read with great avidity ; and 
im that they resembled those of St. tivre- 
thond ; but posterity will find less to pre- 
Serve in the one, than in the other. 
The first years of the hfe of Saint 
Evremond are unknown; at least, even 
to the present day, we have no authentic 
account of them. The Marquis D’Ar- 
gens wrote the Memoirs of his Life, which 
are read with pleasure—contain many 
pointed facts; and the narrative pleases, 
notwithstanding ‘some apparent neeli- 
gences of the style, and some of those 
Ineonsiderate reflections, which at that 
time were termed ‘“ philosophical,” 
though, to speak more correctly, they 
should be called those of a young man, 
He conunences at that-period when 
the passions are in full force and vigour ; 
for itis by the influence of one of the 
most powerful that he enters on his sub- 
ject, without acquainting us with the 
place of his birth, or the condition of his 
parents. Mie ss 
Information, however, collected since, 
supplied that deficiency. He was born 
“at Aix in Provence, in 1704, being the 
son of M. Boyer, Marquis D’Argens, 
Procureur Geteral of the Parliament of 
that city. Tt was natural, that his fa- 
ther, who held one of the first situations 
in the Magistracy, should intend him for 
this his honourable profession: but the 
ardour of youth, an impatience to be 
eimployed, and the idea that the military 
dine affurded him greater opportunities 
fur pleasure, made iim prefer the pro- 
[ lly I, 
fession of arms, into which he entered 
when he was scarcely fifteen years 
eld. He at first served in * the ‘m:i- 
rines, aud then in the regiment of Riche- 
lieu, after having’ been received as a 
Knight of Malta: but he suon forgot the 
state he had embraced; and his amours 
with the handsome Sylvia, whose lis- 
tory he gives in his memoirs, contributed 
not a little te effect it. , 
‘The petulance and impetuosity of his 
youth were subjects of inuch discontent 
and unhappiness to his father, who, i 
the end disinherited him; but Mons. 
D'Eguilles, his younger brother, Presi- 
dent of the Parhament of Aix, annulled 
the deed of inheritance, by making an 
equal division of the property, and by 
adopting a natural daughter of the Mar- 
quis, and restoring her to the name ané 
rights she derived from her father, At 
first he would by no means consent to 
this arrangement, fearful of doing what 
might displease the family; but the rea= _ 
sons and the principles of justice which 
the Magistrate advaniced'soon fund their 
way to his heart, and Mademoiselle Mina 
became Marchioness D’Argens. 
On his return from a jourtiey to Spain, 
where he left his mistress Sylvia, he bee 
came reconciled to his familiy; but he 
Soon left France, and departed for'Con- 
stantinople along with Mons. D’An- 
dreselle, ambassador to the Ottoman 
Porte, of whom he speaks in his me- 
moirs. A judgment may be formed of 
his character and of hi’ conduct in that 
city, by the following anecdote, which - 
was furnished by Mr, Thiebault in his 
“ Recollections :”-— . 
“Qn his arrival at Constantinople,” 
says this writer, “ he'cenceived the de- 
sign of witnessing the ceremonies used in 
the mosques. Nothing could dissuade 
him from underiaking this dangerous én- 
terprize, in which, if he had been disco- 
vered or betrayed, he would only have 
escaped the scaffold or the bow-string, 
by assuming the tarban, or, in other 
words, becoming messtilman: \he ap- 
plied to the Turk who-kept the keys of 
the mosque of Santa Sophia,-and by dint 
ot bribery succeeded in gaining him to his 
purpose. It was agreed between thein, 
at the next great day of public worship, 
the infidel should introduce the Christian 
in great secrecy by night, and that he 
should conceal him behind a painting | 
which was placed, a long time back, at 
the bottom of a tribune, which was in 
| front. 
