CLAUDE FRANCIS XAVIER, of the French academy, was born at Béziers, March 1726, and was for some time a Jesuit. He was consecrated for the pulpit, and continued to preach after he left the society: But the weakness of his voice, his timidity, and the awkwardness of his manner, not permitting him to continue in this profession, he relinquished it, although he had preached Advent sermons at Versailles, and Lent sermons at Luneville. The marquis de Feline, minister of Parma, instituted an historical class for the benefit of the young nobility; and, at the desire of M. le Duc de Nivernois, he gave the charge of it to the abbé Millot. The minister having occasioned a kind of rebellion among the people by some innovations which he had made in the state, the abbé continued attached to the interests of his patron, and would not desert him till the storm was blown over. When he was told that he would lose his place by this conduct, he replied, "My place is with a virtuous persecuted man who has been my benefactor; and that I shall never lose." At length, having filled the historical chair with great approbation, he returned to France, and was appointed preceptor to M. le Duc d'Enghien. In this situation he died, A.D. 1785, aged 59. The abbé Millot did not shine in company; he was cold and reserved in his manner; but everything he said was judicious, and exactly in point.—D'Alembert said, that of all his acquaintance the abbé Millot had the fewest prejudices and the least pretension. He composed several works, which are digested with great care, and written in a pure, simple, and natural style. The principal are, 1. Éléments de l'Histoire de France, depuis Clovis jusqu'à Louis XIV. 3 vols. in 12mo. The author, selecting the most curious and important facts, has suppressed every thing foreign to the subject; and has not only arranged the materials in their proper order, but chosen them with the greatest judgment. Querlon thought this the best abridgement which we have of the history of France, and preferred it to that of the president Renaut. 2. Éléments de l'Histoire d'Angleterre depuis son origine jusqu'aux Romains, jusqu'à George II. 3 vols. 12mo. In this valuable abridgement, the author satisfies, without tiring, his readers. It is all that is necessary for those who wish to gain a general knowledge of the English history, without entering minutely into its particular parts.—3. Éléments de l'Histoire Universelle, 9 vols. 12mo. A certain critic maintains, that this work is merely a counterfeit of Voltaire's general history. But this censure is altogether unjust. The ancient history in this work is wholly composed by the abbé Millot; and, no less than the modern part, discovers his abilities in the choice of facts, in divesting them of useless circumstances, in relating them without prejudice, and in adorning them with judicious reflections. 4. L'Histoire des Troubadours, 3 vols. 12mo, compiled from the manuscripts of M. de Saint-Palace. This work appears rather tedious, because it treats of men almost unknown, and most of them deserving to be so. What is there quoted from the Provengal poets is not at all interesting; and, according to the observation of a man of wit, "it serves no purpose to search curiously into a heap of old ruins while we have modern palaces to engage our attention." 5. Mémoires Politiques et Militaires pour servir à l'Histoire de Louis XIV. et de Louis XV., composed from original papers collected by Adrian Maurice duc de Noailles, marshal of France, in 6 vols. 12mo. 6. The abbé Millot published also several Discourses, in which he discusses a variety of philosophical questions, with more ingenuity of argument than fire of expression; and a translation of the most select harangues in the Latin historians; of which it has been remarked, as well as of the orations of the abbé d'Olivet, that they are coldly correct, and elegantly insipid. The character of the author, more prudent and circumspect than lively and animated, seldom elevated his imagination above a noble simplicity without warmth, and a pure style without affectation. Some of the critics, however, have accused him of declamation in some parts of his histories, particularly in those parts which concern the clergy. But, in our opinion, the word declamation is totally inapplicable to the writings of the abbé Millot. He flatters, it is true, neither priests nor statesmen; and he relates more instances of vicious than virtuous actions, because the one are infinitely more common than the other: But he relates them coldly; and he appears to be guided more by sincerity and a love of truth, than by that partial philosophy which blames the Christian religion for those evils which it condemns.