a French writer and poet, of a family originally of Scots origin. He was appointed royal historiographer to Louis XV of France. His parody of owlishly pedantic scholarship, Histoire des chats, and the protection of the house of Orléans gained him entry to the Académie française. Maurepas records in his memoirs that at the induction ceremony, a member let loose a cat he had secreted in his pocket: the cat miaowed, the Académiciens miaowed and the serious oration dissolved in laughter.
