PREVOST D'EXILES, Antoine Francois, French author : b. Hesdin (Artois), 1 April 1697; d. near Chantilly, 23 Nov. 1763. He was at first a Jesuit, then enlisted in the army, after a brief return to the order again turned soldier, and still later joined the Benedictines of Saint Maur. Subsequently he lived in Holland and England, and in 1735 became almoner and secretary of the Prince de Conti. He was a great admirer of England and things English and his writings, his influ ence and his translations from English into French created a great interest in English literature; and this in its turn helped to pave the way for the democratic and liberal tend encies which later took possession of the literature of France. Rousseau was the first great writer notably to exhibit this tendency. 'Manon Lescaut,' which became immensely popular, influenced most of the great writers from the days of Prevost to Victor Hugo. He founded Le Pour et le Contre, a journal patterned after the Spectator, which ran through 20 volumes (1733-40) ; translated Rich ardson and Hume's (History of England) ; and wrote a 'Histoire des Voyages' (1747-80), and several works of fiction, including Doyen de (1732-35) ; • (Memoires et Aven ture d'un Homme de Qtialite qui s'est Retire du Monde) (1728-56), which includes 'Manon Lescaut,> a story of some celebrity in French literature, frequently reprinted, and the basis of a drama (1851) by Barriere and Fournier and 'Contes, Aventures et Faits (1764). A selection from his works appeared
at Paris in 1810-16. (See MANOR LESCAUT). Consult Harisse, (Paris 1896) ; Schroeder, V., (Un romancier francais XVIIe siècle, rabbi Prevost' (Paris 1898) ; (Rousseau and the Cosmopolitan Spirit in Literature' (New York 1899) ; de lundi) (Vol. IX, Paris 1862).