Pierre-François Godard de Beauchamps

Who was Pierre-François Godard de Beauchamps?

Pierre-François Godard de Beauchamps, born in 1689 in Paris, where he died on March 12, 1761, was a playwright, theater historian, libertine novelist and French translator. In his youth he was the secretary of François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi, who became governor of the child King Louis XV of France. His most famous works are Arlequin amoureux par enchantement and Les Amans réunis.

Beauchamps worked for different theatres of the French capital. In 1721, he directed the performance of the play Soubrette, a comedy in one act, which was a success, and within ten years, he directed successively the plays: le Jaloux; Arlequin amoureux par enchantement; le Portrait; le Parvenu; le Mariage rompu; les Effets du dépit; les Amants réunis; le Bracelet; la Mère rivale and la Fausse Inconstance. Almost all were praised for their novelty at their time, but now have fallen into oblivion.

From Beauchamps, we still can find: Funestime, a novel, Paris, 1737, in-12, rare and reprinted in the 31st volume of the Cabinet des Fées, les Lettres d’Héloïse et d’Abailard, Paris, 1737, in-8°, les Amours d’Ismène et d’Isménias, a translated novel, or rather imitated from the Greek Eustathius Macrembolites. The work of Beauchamps was printed in Paris, under the rubrique de la Haye, 1743, in-8°, and was reprinted, in the same town, in 1797, in-4° ; the second edition is adorned with illumination drawings, Imitation du roman grec de Théodore Prodrome Pria, 1746, in-8°. This imitation differ from a translation which came out the same year, Paris, in-12, and which author have stayed unknown.