JOHN BAPTIST DU, was born at Paris in the year 1674, and having entered into the society of the Jesuits, he was by them entrusted with the care of collecting and arranging the letters which they received from different quarters of the globe. He also filled the office of secretary to Father le Tellier, who was confessor to the king of France. He died in the year 1743, leaving a character behind him truly amiable for mildness, piety, and unwearied industry. He was the author of some Latin poems, but that which most distinguished him was his being the editor of the Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses, from the ninth to the 26th collection inclusive, with a valuable preface written by himself. He was also the author, (some say editor) of Description Historique, Geographique, et Physique, de l'Empire de la Chine, et de la Tartarie Chinoise, 4 vols folio, considered as the completest account of that prodigious empire which has appeared in Europe. It has, with some necessary abridgements, been translated into English. It has all the appearance of veracity, and the style is simple and unaffected.