The abbé Augustin Nadal (1659 – 7 August 1741) was the author of plays, through the failure of which he became the butt of a withering public reply from

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—es ...

that has rendered the abbé immortal. He was born in Poitiers. Having finished his studies there, he was appointed tutor to the young comte de Valançay, who was killed at the battle of Blenheim (1704). Nadal put himself under the patronage of the

house of Aumont The family of d'Aumont is a French noble house which takes its name from Aumont, a small commune in the department of the Somme. The dukedom of Aumont in the peerage of France was created in 1665 for Antoine d'Aumont de Rochebaron (1601–166 ...

. He was received in 1706 into the

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France. The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigr ...

. With

Jean-Aymar Piganiol de La Force Jean-Aymar Piganiol de la Force (Aurillac, 1673 – Paris, 1753), son of Pierre and of Marguerite Parisot, dame de La Force, was a French man of letters known above all for works of a descriptive geographical character, for which he travelled exten ...

, he took on the editing of the '' Nouveau Mercure'' until 1711, a premature force for literary modernism that was not successful. In 1712 he was secretary of the embassy of the duc d'Aumont to London as liaison between King

Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of ...

and

Anne, Queen of Great Britain Anne (6 February 1665 – 1 August 1714) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland from 8 March 1702 until 1 May 1707. On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union, the kingdoms of England and Scotland united as a single sovereign state known as ...

, in the negotiations that led up to the

Treaty of Utrecht The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne ...

. In 1716 he was appointed abbot '' in commendam'' of the Abbey of Doudeauville. Aside from his academic dissertations and his ''Histoire des Vestales'' ("History of the

Vestal Virgins In ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins or Vestals ( la, Vestālēs, singular ) were priestesses of Vesta, virgin goddess of Rome's sacred hearth and its flame. The Vestals were unlike any other public priesthood. They were chosen before puberty ...

") (1725), which caused a stir of interest in this aspect of

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

, the Abbé Nadal composed five

tragedies Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

: ''Saül'' (1705), ''Hérode'' (1709), ''Antiochus, ou les Machabées'' (1722), ''

Mariamne Mariamne is a name frequently used in the Herodian royal house. In Greek it is spelled Μαριάμη (Mariame) by Josephus; in some editions of his work the second ''m'' is doubled (Mariamme). In later copies of those editions the spelling was ...

'' (1725) and ''Osarphis'', all on classical or biblical subjects. He was included in ''Le Parnasse françois'' project of

Évrard Titon du Tillet Évrard Titon du Tillet (January 1677 – 26 December 1762) is best known for his important biographical chronicle, ''Le Parnasse françois'', composed of brief anecdotal ''vite'' of famous French poets and musicians of his time, under the reign of ...

, which provoked Voltaire's sarcastic epigram (see

). Nadal was convinced his tragedy of ''Mariamne'' had failed because of Voltaire's ''"brigue horrible et scandaleuse"'' that set Paris against it, and said so in the preface to the printed play, giving Voltaire the opportunity to reply under a

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

with withering compliments ("Lettre de M. Thieriot à M. l'Abbé Nadal", 1725), commiserating with Nadal, that it was solely the machinations of Voltaire's intrigues "that one hears it said so scandalously that you are the worst versifier of the century and the most tiresome writer."''"qu’on entend dire si scandaleusement que vous êtes le plus mauvais versificateur du siècle, et le plus ennuyeux écrivain."'' Voltaire's fine-honed savagery inspired Nadal to excise the uncomplimentary remarks about Voltaire in his prefaces when he came to collect and publish the plays in 1736 with others of his poems, in three small volumes. But it is in Voltaire's response that the abbé Nadal is remembered.

Notes

References

Augustin Nadal
* ttp://www.voltaire-integral.com/ Voltaire-integralSearch "Nadal"
(Voltaire) "Lettre de M. Thieriot à M. l'Abbé Nadal"
1725 {{DEFAULTSORT:Nadal, Augustin 18th-century French dramatists and playwrights 18th-century French poets 18th-century French male writers French literary critics Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres People from Poitiers 1659 births 1741 deaths