Note 839 — Chapter VI
Reading edition
His Abrégé Chronologique was published in 1668, in three volumes quarto. Biog. Univ. vol. xxviii. p. 510. Le Long (Bibliothèque Historique, vol. iii. p. lxxxv.) says, that it was only allowed to be published in consequence of a ‘privilège’ which Mezeray had formerly obtained. But there seems to have been some difficulty, of which these writers are not aware: for Patin, in a letter dated Paris, 23 December 1664, speaks of it as being then in the press: ‘on imprime ici en grand-in-quarto un Abrégé de l'Histoire de France, par M. Mezeray.’ Lettres de Patin, vol. iii. p. 503: compare p. 665. It long remained an established school-book: see D'Argenson's Essay, in Mém. de l'Académie, vol. xxviii. p. 635; and Works of Sir William Temple, vol. iii. p. 70.