Protestant Exiles from France/Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 12 - Note
Note.
An interesting reinforcement of French Protestant Refugees arrived after the Peace of Utrecht, and were called French Protestants released from the galleys of France. One among these became an author, namely, Jean Marteille, a native of Bergerac, born in 1684. The dragoons had been let loose upon the Protestants wuh renewed fury after the Peace of Ryswick in 1698. Jean was then aged fourteen; and troopers having been quartered in his father’s house, he fled towards Holland; but, having entered Marienburg, he found himself surrounded by French soldiers, and was arrested and sent to the galleys. It was not till 1714 that he was released and arrived in London. (A Jean Marteille was married in London on 26th December 1711. See my Historical Introduction.) His coming to England was not with the view of settling there, but only on an errand of mercy. His adopted country was Holland, where he died in 1777, aged ninety-three. He published, in 1757, Memoires d’un Protestant condamné aux galères de France pour cause de religion, écrits par lui-même. There is an English translation of this book largely circulated and extensively read. The first translation appeared in 1758, in two volumes, said to be “translated by J. Willington;” but it was in fact the work of the poet Goldsmith. The following receipt has been preserved:—[1]
“London, Jan. 7, 11, 1758. — Received of Mr. Edward Dilly, six pounds thirteen shillings and four pence, in full for his third share of my translation of a book entitled ‘Memoirs of a Protestant Condemned to the Galleys for his Religion,’ &c.“Oliver Goldsmith.”
- ↑ John Waller’s Catalogue of Autographs, No. 137.