DUSSAULX (JOHN), a French writer, best known as the translator of Juvenal, was born at Chartres, on the 28th of December 1728. He studied first at La Fleche, and afterwards at Paris. Having obtained the situation of a Commissary in the gendarmerie, he served under the Marshal de Richelieu, in Hanover, during the seven years' war. At the age of twenty-one, he was admitted a Member of the Academy of Nanci; and, in 1770, he published his translation of Juvenal. This work procured him admission into the Academy of Inscriptions; and he was also appointed Ordinary Secretary to the Duke of Orleans.
For some years he quietly prosecuted his literary occupations at Paris; but, upon the breaking out of the Revolution, his enthusiastic disposition led him to adopt its principles; and he took a part in the debates of the Legislative Assembly. He spoke and voted, however, at all times, for moderate measures; and, on several occasions, he was employed to calm the passions of the people during public tumults. At the memorable sitting of the Convention, of the 15th of January 1793, he voted that the King should be detained in custody during the war, and banished on the return of peace. It is rather remarkable, that, when the Committee of Public Safety wished to send him to the scaffold, his pardon was obtained by Marat; who represented him as an old dotard, incapable of becoming dangerous. He became President of the Council of Ancients in the month of July 1796; but left it in 1798. At the sitting of the 27th of April, he took leave of the Assembly in a speech which was ordered to be printed. He died on the 16th of March 1799, after a long and painful illness.
Dussaulx was a man of considerable literary attainments; and amiable, upright, and disinterested, in his conduct. His translation of Juvenal is esteemed the best version of that poet in the French language. His other works are:—Memoires sur les Satiriques Latins. Lettres et Reflexions sur la sureur du Jeu, auxquelles on a joint une autre Lettre Morale, Paris, 1775. Discours sur la Passion du Jeu dans les differents Siècles. De la Passion du Jeu, depuis les temps anciens jusqu'à nos jours, 1779, 8vo. Vie de l'Abbé Blanchet, prefixed to the Apologies and Tales of that author, Paris, 1784, 8vo. De l'Insurrection Parisienne, et de la prise de la Bastille, Paris, 1790. Lettre au Citoyen Fréron, 1796, 8vo. Voyage à Barrege, et dans les Hautes-Pyrenées, Paris, 1796, 2 vols. 8vo. De mes Rapports avec Jean-Jacques Rousseau, &c. Paris, 1798, 8vo,—a curious work, which throws considerable light on the character of that celebrated man.
Marie-Jeanne Lieutau, the widow of Dussaulx, published Memoirs of his life, which are exceedingly interesting. See also Palissot, Memoires sur la Littérature; and Biog. Universelle. (ii.)