Paul de Saint Hyacinthe ( 1684 - 1746 )

Birth: Orleans, France (24 September 1684) Death: Genecken, near Breda, Holland (1746) Profession: Author Education: Oratory school, Troyes Career: Served as a cavalry officer; taken prisoner at the Battle of Helmstett and taken to Holland (1704); paroled, he went to Sweden in the hope of serving in the army of Charles XII but was unsuccessful and returned to Holland; had an affair with the wife of the Spanish Ambassador at the Hague and returned to Troyes when her husband discovered it; seduced a girl to whom he was giving Italian lessons and was forced to flee back to Holland; with Willem Jakob 's Gravesande and others founded the 'Journal litteraire de La Haye' (1713); wrote 'Chef d'oeuvre d'un inconnu', a witty criticism of pedantry which was a great popular success; he twice returned to Paris but was forced to depart because he was still wanted on a charge of rape; eloped with his future wife to London, where he received a pension as a Protestant refugee (1722); returned to Paris (1722) but, finding it boring, settled at Genecken Membership: Fellow Election Date: 24/10/1728 Proposers: Paul Buissiere; John Gaspar Scheuchzer; Peter Desmaizeaux.