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Born at La Rochelle, he belonged to a wealthy middle-class Huguenot family; the name des Réaux was derived from a small property he purchased in 1650. When he was about eighteen, he was sent to Italy with his brother François, abbé Tallemant. On his return to Paris, Tallemant took his degrees in civil law and canon law, and his father obtained for him the position of conseiller au parlement. Disliking his profession, he decided to seek an alternative income by marriage with his cousin Elisabeth de Rambouillet. His half-brother had married a d'Angennes, and this connection secured for Tallemant an introduction to the Hôtel de Rambouillet.
Madame de Rambouillet was no admirer of King Louis XIII, and she gratified Tallemant's curiosity with stories of the reigns of Henry IVFrans Pourbus the younger. Henry IV ( December 13, 1553 May 14, 1610) was the first of the Bourbon kings of France, reigning from 1589 until 1610. As a Protestant he was involved in the Wars of Religion before acceding to the throne; as King he converted and Louis XIII that were of real historical value. The society of the Hôtel de Rambouillet opened a field for his acute and somewhat malicious observation. In the Historiettes he gives finished portraits of Vincent VoitureVincent Voiture ( February 24, 1597 May 26, 1648), French poet, was the son of a rich merchant of Amiens. He was introduced by a schoolfellow, the comte d'Avaux, to Gaston, Duke of Orleans, and accompanied him to Brussels and Lorraine on diplomatic missio, Jean Louis Guez de Balzac, MalherbeFrancois de Malherbe ( 1555 October 16, 1628) was a French poet, critic and translator. Biography Born in Caen, his family was of some position, though it seems not to have been able to establish to the satisfaction of heralds the claims which it made to, Jean ChapelainJean Chapelain ( December 4, 1595 February 22, 1674) was a French poet and writer. Chapelain, the son of a notary for whom Colbert may have once been employed, was born in Paris. His father wanted him to become a notary; but his mother, who had known Pier, Valentin Conrart and many others; Blaise PascalBlaise Pascal ( June 19, 1623 August 19, 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher. His contributions to the natural sciences include the construction of mechanical calculators, considerations on probability theory, studies of and Jean de la Fontaine appear in his work; and he chronicles the scandals of which Ninon de l'Enclos and Angélique Paulet were centres.The Historiettes are invaluable for the literary history of the time. It has been said that the malicious intention of Tallemant's work may be partly attributed to his bourgeois extraction and that the slights he received are avenged in his pages, but independent testimony has established the substantial correctness of his statements. In 1685 he was converted to Catholicism. It seems that the change was not entirely disinterested, for Tallemant, who had suffered considerable pecuniary losses, soon after received a pension of 2000 livres. He died in Paris.
Des Réaux was a poet and contributed to the Guirlande de Julie, but it is by his Historiettes that he is remembered. The work remained in manuscript until it was edited in 1834-6 by MM. de Châteaugiron, Jules Taschereau and LJN de Monmerqué , with a notice on Tallemant by Monmerqué. A third edition (6 vols. 1872) contains a notice by Paulin Paris. Tallemant had begun Mémoires pour Ia régence d'Anne d'Autriche, but the manuscript has not been found.