HALDE, DU, born at Paris in 1674, entered the society of the Jesuits, and being distinguished for his information and laboriousness, he was entrusted by his superiors with the care of collecting and arranging the numerous letters written by the missionaries of the society from various parts of the world. This employment furnished him with materials for the collection styled ' Lettres Edifiantes et Curieusese which he edited, and which contain much interesting and valuable matter. lie also compiled from the reports of tho Jesuit missionaries and their translations of Chinese works, a full and well digested description of that empire, which was the first published in Euroee : ' Description Ilietorique, Geographique et Physique, do l'Empire de Is Chino et de Is Tartarie Chinoisee 4 vols. fol., with an atlas, Paris, 1735, reprinted soon after at the Hague, in 4 vols. 4to, and translated into English by R. Brookes, 4 vols. Svo, London, 1736.
Du llalde made a conscientious use of the best materials which he could get at the time from his brethren of the Chinese missions, and his authorities must answer for the charge brought by some against his work, that it is too favourable to the Chinese and their social rystem, and that ho is too credulous as to the accounts of the Chinese concerning the prodigious amount of their population, the sire of their towns, &c. A clever, though sarcastical and somewhat desultory notice of Du lialde's work appeared in England not long after its publication, under the title, 'An Irregular Dissertation occasioned by reading Father Du lialde's Description of China,' London, 1740.
Du Halde was at one time secretary to Father le Tellier, confessor of Louis XI V. He died at Paris in 1743.