CHARLES DE ST DENIS, a polite scholar and soldier, was born at St Denis le Guant in Lower Normandy in 1613. He was intended for the profession of the law, and entered on the study; but he soon quitted it, and was made an ensign before he was 16. A military life did not hinder him from cultivating polite literature; and he signalized himself by his politer and wit as much as by his bravery. The king made him a marshal de camp, and gave him a pension of 3000 livres per annum. He served under the duke of Candale in the war of Guienne; and in Flanders, till the suspension of arms was agreed on between France and Spain: he afterwards accompanied Cardinal Mazarine when he went to conclude the peace with Don Lewis de Haro, the king of Spain's first minister. He wrote, as he had promised, a long letter to the marquis de Crequi, of this negotiation; in which he showed, that the cardinal had sacrificed the honour of France to his own private interest, and rallied him in a very satirical manner. This letter falling into the hands of the cardinal's creatures some time after his death, was represented as a base crime, and he was obliged to fly to Holland. He had too many friends in England (whither he had taken a tour the year before with the count de Soiffons, sent to compliment Charles II, upon his restoration) to make any long stay in Holland; and therefore passed over into England, where he was received with great respect, and admitted into intimate friendship with several persons of distinction. The king gave him a pension of 300l. a-year. He had a great desire to return to his native country; and, after the peace of Nimeguen, wrote a letter in verse to the king of France to ask leave, but in vain. Upon the death of King Charles, he lost his pension. He did not rely much on King James, though that prince had shown himself extremely kind to him. The Revolution was advantageous to him. King William, who had known him in Holland, gave him substantial marks of his favour. He died of a strangury in 1703, aged 90; and was interred in Westminster abbey, where a monument is erected to his memory. His behaviour was engaging, his humour cheerful, and he had a strong disposition to satire: he professed the Roman religion, in which he was born; but at the bottom was certainly a freethinker. He always spoke of his disgrace with the resolution of a gentleman; and whatever strong desire he had to return to his country, he never solicited the favour with meanness; therefore, when this leave was signified to him unexpectedly in the decline of his life, he replied, that the infirmities of age did not permit him to leave a country where he lived agreeably. There have been many editions of his works: but the best is that of Amsterdam in 1726, in 5 vols. 12mo, to which is prefixed his life by Doctor Des Maizeaux; who has also given an accurate English translation of them in 3 vols. 8vo.