Antoine François Prévost (Antoine Francois Prevost d'Exiles) (April 1, 1697 - December 23, 1763), usually known simply as the Abbé Prévost, was a French author and novelist. April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 274 days remaining. ... Events September 20 - The Treaty of Ryswick December 2 – St Pauls Cathedral opened in London Peter the Great travels in Europe officially incognito as artilleryman Pjotr Mikhailov Use of palanquins increases in Europe Christopher Polhem starts Swedens first technical school. ... December 23 is the 357th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (358th in leap years). ... Events February 10 - French and Indian War: The 1763 Treaty of Paris ends the war and France cedes Great Britain. ... The French Republic or France (French: République française or France) is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents. ... The word author has several meanings: The author of a book, story, article or the like, is the person who has written it (or is writing it). ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ...

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. Artois is a former province of northern France. ... Municipality of Amsterdam Alternate meanings: See Amsterdam Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands. ... Events 10 Downing Street becomes the official residence of the United Kingdoms Prime Minister when Robert Walpole moves in. ... For information on the type of fish called Lawyer, see the article on Burbot. ... The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu), commonly known as the Jesuits, is a Roman Catholic religious order. ...

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 Pope 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 cachet against him, fled to England. Events Natchez, one of the oldest towns on the Mississippi, founded. ... The longest lasting of the western Catholic monastic orders, the Benedictine Order traces its origins to the adoption of the monastic life by St. ... Pope John Paul II has reigned since 22 Oct 1978. ... In 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. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Religion...

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 Hague, he engaged on a translation of De Thou'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 Lescaut, 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 1733 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 Addison's Spectator, Le Pour et centre, which he continued to produce, with short intervals, until 1740. This article is about the city in the Netherlands; there is also a region known as (the) Hague in France. ... Jacques Auguste de Thou (Thuanus) (1553 - May 7, 1617) was a French historian. ... Manon Lescaut is a novel by the abbé Prévost. ... Events February 12 - British colonist James Oglethorpe founds Savannah, Georgia. ... Joseph Addison, the Kit-cat portrait, circa 1703-1712, by Godfrey Kneller. ...

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. Events January 8 - Premiere of George Frideric Handels opera Ariodante at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. ... Évreux is a commune of Normandy, France, in the Eure département, of which it is the préfecture (capital). ... The title of Prince of Conti, assumed by a cadet branch of the house of Bourbon-Condé, was taken from Conti-sur-Selles, a small town of northern France, about 20 miles southwest of Amiens, which came into the Condé family by the marriage of Louis of Bourbon, first prince... Emblem of the Brussels-Capital Region Flag of The City of Brussels Brussels ( Dutch: Brussel, French: Bruxelles, German: Brüssel) is the capital of Belgium and is considered by many to be the de facto capital of the European Union, as two of its three main institutions have their headquarters... Frankfurt am Main [ˈfraŋkfʊrt] is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth largest city of Germany. ... An aneurysm (or aneurism) (from Gr. ...

Prévost's other works include:

• Le Doyen de Killerine, Killerine, histoire morale composée sur les mémoires d'une illustre famille d'Irlande (Paris, 1735; 2nd part, the Hague, 1739, 3rd, 4th and 5th parts, 1740)
• Tout pour l'amour (1735), a translation of Dryden's tragedy
• Histoire d'une Grecque moderne (Amsterdam [Paris] 2 vols., 1740)
• l'Histoire de Marguerite d'Anjou (Amsterdam [Paris] 2 vols., 1740)
• Memoires pour servir a l'histoire de Malte (Amsterdam, 1741)
• Campagnes philosophiques, ou memoires ... contenant l'histoire de la guerre d'Irelande (Amsterdam, 1741)
• Histoire de Guillaume le Conquerant (Paris, 1742)
• Histoire générale des voyages (15 vols., Paris, 1746-1759), continued by other writers
• translations from Samuel Richardson, Pamela (4 vols., 1742)
• Lettres anglaises ou Histoire de Miss Clarisse Harlovie (6 vols., London, 1741)
• Nouvelles lettres anglaises, ou Histoire du chevalier Grandisson (Amsterdam, 3 vols., 1755)
• Mémoires pour servir a l'histoire de la vertu (Cologne, 4 vols., 1762), from Mrs Sheridan's Memoires of Miss Sidney Bidulph
• Histoire de la maison de Stuart (3 vols., 1740) from Hume's History of England to 1688
• Le Monde morale, ou Mémoires pour servir a l'histoire du coeur humain (2 vols., Geneva, 1760)

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. John Dryden John Dryden (August 19, 1631 – May 12, 1700) was an influential English poet, literary critic, and playwright. ... Samuel Richardson (August 19, 1689 - July 4, 1761) was an eighteenth century writer best known for his three epistolary novels: Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740), Clarissa (1748) and Sir Charles Grandison (1753). ... Frances Sheridan (1724-1766) was an Irish novelist and dramatist, and was the mother of Richard Brinsley Sheridan. ... David Hume David Hume (April 26, 1711 – August 25, 1776) was a Scottish philosopher and historian and, with Adam Smith and Thomas Reid among others, one of the most important figures in the Scottish Enlightenment. ...

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica ( 1911) in many ways represents the sum of knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century. ...