Author: Blin de Sainmore, Adrien-Michel-Hyacinthe
Biography:
BLIN DE SAINMORE, Adrien-Michel-Hyacinthe (1733-1807: Biographie Universelle)
He was born in Paris on 15 Feb. 1733 and was educated at the Collège du Cardinal-Lemoine. Blin de Sainmore became a prolific writer in several genres—history, drama, verse—and he was a close friend and correspondent of Voltaire. He specialised in epistolary poems, including the one listed in this database. His Lettre de Jean Calas (1765), was based on Voltaire’s account of the life and persecution of Calas. Blin de Sainmore’s plays include Orphanis, Tragédie en Cinq Actes (1773) and Joachim, ou, Le Triomphe de la Piété Filiale (1775). His Histoire de Russie was published in two volumes in 1797-99. In 1776 he was made the royal censor and in 1800 he became the curator of the Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal. Blin de Sainmore died at Paris on 26 Sept. 1807. His Lettre de Gabrielle d’Etrées [sic] A Henri IV is dedicated in verse to Voltaire and includes a poem of thanks from Voltaire. These elements and Blin de Sainmore’s introduction are not included in the English translation by John Williams, q.v. (“Anthony Pasquin”). (Biographie Universelle; bnf.fr 13 Jan. 2025; Wikipédia 13 Jan. 2025; Electronic Enlightenment) SR