Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (January 15, 1674 - June 17, 1762), was a French poet and tragedian. January 15 is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events February 19 - England and the Netherlands sign the Treaty of Westminster. ... June 17 is the 168th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (169th in leap years), with 197 days remaining. ... 1762 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Poets are authors of poems, or of other forms of poetry such as dramatic verse. ... Tragedy is a form of drama characterized by seriousness and dignity, usually involving a conflict between a character and some higher power, such as the law, the gods, fate, or society. ...

He was born at Dijon, where his father, Melchior Jolyot, was notary-royal. Having been educated at the Jesuit school in the town, and afterwards at the Collège Mazarin, he became an advocate, and was placed in the office of a lawyer named Prieur at Paris. With the encouragement of his master, son of an old friend of Scarron's, he produced a Mort des enfants de Brutus, which was never produced on the stage. In 1705 he succeeded with Idomnée; in 1707 his Atrée el Thyeste was repeatedly acted at court; Electre appeared in 1709; and in 1711 he produced his finest play, Rhadamiste et Zénobie, which is his masterpiece and ran for a long period, although the plot is so complicated as to be almost incomprehensible. But his Xerxes (1714) was only performed once, and his Sémiramis (1717) was an absolute failure. Location within France Street in the centre of Dijon Dijon (  pronunciation?) is a city in eastern France, the préfecture (administrative capital) of the Côte-dOr département (county) and of the Bourgogne région. ... Notary can refer to either of the following two professions: Notary public. ... The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu), commonly known as the Jesuits, is a Roman Catholic religious order. ... An advocate is one who speaks on behalf of another, especially in a legal context. ... Paul Scarron (c. ...

In 1707 Crébillon had married a penniless girl, who had since died, leaving him two young children. His father had also died, insolvent. In three years at court he had gained nothing and aroused considerable envy. Oppressed with melancholy, he moved to a garret, where he surrounded himself with dogs, cats and birds, which he had befriended; he became utterly careless of cleanliness or food, and sought comfort only in smoking. Events January 1 - John V is crowned King of Portugal March 26 - The Act of Union becomes law, making the separate Kingdoms of England and Scotland into one country, the Kingdom of Great Britain. ... Melancholia (Greek μελαγχολια) was described as a distinct disease as early as the fifth and fourth centuries BC in the Hippocratic writings. ... For information about smoking tobacco, see tobacco smoking. ...

In 1731, despite his long seclusion, he was elected to the Académie Française; in 1735 he was appointed royal censor; and in 1745 Madame de Pompadour presented him with a pension of 1000 francs and a post in the royal library. He returned to the stage in 1726 with a successful play, Pyrrhus; in 1748 his Catilina was performed with great success at court; and in 1754, aged eighty, he appeared his last tragedy, Le Triumvirat. His only son Claude was also an author. Events 10 Downing Street becomes the official residence of the United Kingdoms Prime Minister when Robert Walpole moves in. ... The Académie française, or French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. ... Madame de Pompadour, an engraving after her portrait by François Boucher1756 Madame de Pompadour (December 29, 1721 - April 15, 1764) was the famous mistress of King Louis XV of France. ... Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (February 14, 1707 - April 12, 1777), was a French novelist. ...

Crébillon was considered by many to be superior to Voltaire as a tragic poet. The spirit of rivalry induced Voltaire to take the subjects of no less than five of Crébillon's tragedies (Semiramis, Electre, Catilina, Le Triumviral and Ahreeas), of his own. The so-called Éloge de Crébillon (1762) (the title meant ironically), which appeared in the year of the poet's death, was generally attributed to Voltaire, though he strenuously denied the authorship. The force of Crébillon's drama was too often gained at the expense of scenes of unnatural horror; his pieces show lack of culture and a want of care which displays itself even in the mechanism of his verse. Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (November 21, 1694 – May 30, 1778), better known by the pen name Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, deist and philosopher. ...

There are numerous editions of his works, among which may be noticed: Œuvres (1772), with preface and éloge, by Joseph de La Porte; Œuvres (1828), containing D'Alembert's Éloge de Crébillon, (1775); and Théâtre complet (1885) with a notice by Auguste Vito. A complete bibliography is given by Maurice Dutrait, in his Étude sur la vie et le théâtre de Crébillon (1895). Jean le Rond dAlembert, pastel by Maurice Quentin de la Tour Jean Le Rond dAlembert (November 16, 1717 – October 29, 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist and philosopher. ...

Reference

• This entry incorporates public domain text originally from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica.