THEVENOT (Melchisedeck), a celebrated writer of travels, and keeper of the French king's library, was born at Paris. At a very early period he discovered an extreme desire to see foreign countries; and notwithstanding the intreaties of his mother, who strove to detain him, he set out from Paris on his travels. However, he visited only a part of Europe; but the study of the languages of different countries, and the great pains he took to obtain a knowledge of their manners and customs, rendered him, perhaps, as well skilled in them as if he had himself travelled in those countries. He collected a great number of curious manuscripts in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Turkish, and Persian. He applied himself to study during his whole lifetime; and his Travels into the Levant are esteemed. They were published in folio, in French, in 1663, and in English in 1687.