Saint-Evremond, Charles de Marguetel de Saint-Denis (1616-1703)

French writer. His often witty expression of the Pyrrhonian viewpoint (see Pyrrho) and the Epicurean ideal of human happiness are illustrated in his essay ‘Conversation du maréchal d'Hocquincourt avec le Père Canaye’. His writings include political essays, literary criticism, and the play La Comédie des académistes 1643.

He was born in St-Denis, Normandy, and fought in the Thirty Years' War. In 1661, however, he had to flee and went first to Holland and then to England, where he spent the rest of his life and became the chief figure at the salon of the duchess of Mazarin in London.