Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Misson, Francis Maximilian
MISSON, FRANCIS MAXIMILIAN (1650?–1722), traveller and author, was born in France about 1650, and was one of the protestant judges in the ‘chamber of the edict’ in the parlement of Paris. On the revocation in 1685 he found refuge in England, and was chosen by James, first duke of Ormonde [q. v.], to be tutor to his younger grandson, Charles Butler, afterwards Earl of Arran. Misson made the grand tour with his pupil during 1687 and 1688, travelling to Italy through Rotterdam, Cologne, Nuremberg, Munich, and Innspruck, over the Brenner, and thence by Verona to Venice. He visited the Santa Casa at Loretto and the places of interest round about Naples, made a long sojourn in Rome, and returned by leisurely stages through Bologna, Modena, Parma, Milan, Pavia, Genoa, Turin, Chambéry, Geneva, Strasburg, and Brussels. A product of the journey was a work which remained the standard ‘Handbook’ for Italy for at least fifty years after its publication, the much-quoted ‘Nouveau Voyage d'Italie, avec un Memoire contenant des avis utiles à ceux qui voudront faire le mesme voyage,’ 2 vols. 12mo, the Hague, 1691. The dedication to Charles Butler is dated London, 1 Jan. 1691 (2nd ed. ‘beaucoup augmentée,’ 1694, 12mo; 4th edit. 1698, 12mo; 5th ed. ‘contenant les remarques que M. Addisson a faites dans son Voyage d'Italie,’ Utrecht, 1722, 12mo; 6th ed. the Hague, 1731, 8vo. The first English translation appeared in 1695, London, 8vo; a second in 1699; the fourth in 1714: it formed part, together with the European travels of Dr. Edward Brown and John Ray, of the second volume of John Harris's ‘Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca,’ 1705, and occupies vols. xviii. and xix. of ‘The World Displayed,’ 1774).
Addison, in the preface to his ‘Travels,’ remarked with justice of Misson that ‘his account of Italy in general is more correct than that of any writer before him, as he particularly excels in the plan of the country which he has given in true and lively colours.’ The work is not, as has often been stated, aggressively protestant; it nevertheless provoked in 1705 ‘Remarques historiques et critiques faites dans un Voyage d'Italie,’ by P. Freschot, a Benedictine of Franche-Comté, Cologne, 1705, 8vo. Misson replied with unnecessary acrimony in the preface to his edition of the voyages of Francois Leguat [q. v.], and Freschot replied in ‘Nouvelle Relation de la Voyage de Venise.’ A few historical errors on Misson's part are pointed out by Francis Pegge in his ‘Anonymiana’ (1809, pp. 210-13).
Misson's second work, which has proved itself almost if not quite as quotable as his first, was ‘Mémoires et Observations faites par un voyageur en Angleterre … avec une description particulière de ce qu'il y a de plus curieux dans Londres,’ the Hague, 1798. The plates of the original edition are curious, notably one entitled ‘Coacres et Coacresses dans leurs assemblées.' A translation by J. Ozell [q. v.] appeared at London in 1719, 8vo. The observations, which are disposed in alphabetical order, forming a descriptive dictionary of London, are both humorous and original; among the most entertaining are those on ‘Beaux,’ ‘Benefit of clergy,’ ‘Boats,’ ‘Coals,’ ‘Funerals,’ ‘Hanging,’ ‘Jacobites,’ ‘King's Evil,’ ‘Penny Post,’ ‘Quakers,’ ‘Sports,’ ‘Wales, Prince of’ (containing a racy supplement to the warming-pan legend), and ‘Weddings.’ The best part of the material is embodied in Mr. Ashton's valuable ‘Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne.’
From 1698 Misson appears to have lived in London and to have participated largely in the dissensions of the resident French colony. In his ‘Théâtre Sacré des Cevennes, ou Recit des prodiges arrivés dans cette partie du Languedoc’ (London, 1707), he espoused the cause of the ‘French prophets’ with a pathetic credulity, and his championship of Elias Marion and his confederates might well have brought him to the pillory (Boyer, Queen Anne, 1735, p. 317). For an English version of Misson's ‘Théâtre,’ entitled ‘A Cry from the Desart: or Testimonials of the Miraculous Things lately come to pass in the Cevennes, verified upon oath and by other proofs’ (1707), John Lacy [q. v.], the pseudo-prophet, appears to have been responsible. The work evoked several critical and satirical pamphlets (see ‘Lettre d'un Particulier à Mr. Misson, l'honnête homme, touchant les Miracles, burlesques,’ &c., 1707, and ‘Meslanges de Literature historique et critique sur ce qui regarde l'état extraordinaire des Cévennois, appelez Camisards.’ See also authorities under Lacy, John). Misson died in London on 22 Jan. 1722. Hearne calls him, truly, ‘vir navus et industrius, summaque humanitate præditus’ (Collect., ed. Doble, ii. 226).
[Moreri's Dict. Historique; Chalmers's Biog. Dict. xxii. 200; Biog. Univ. xxviii. 400; McClintock and Strong's Cyclopædia, vi. 382; Aikin's General Biog. vii. 120; Agnew's Protestant Exiles, p. 303; Smiles's Huguenot Refugees, p. 415; Weiss's Protestant Refugees, p. 266; Lowndes's Bibl. Man. (Bohn); Southey's Commonplace Book, ii. 50; Hudibras, ed. Zach. Grey, 1819, iii. 92 n.; Halkett and Laing's Dict. of Anon. and Pseudon. Lit. col. 546; Brit. Mus. Cat.]