BEAUZÉE, NICOLAS. - French grammarian and apologist, b. at Verdun on 9 May 1717, d. in Paris on 25 January 1789. BEAUZÉE’s fame is bound up with his studies in grammar and linguistics. Indeed, after the death of Dumarsais, he was entrusted with writing the grammar articles for the *Encyclopédie*, which he later collected and published in 3 vols. together with the literary articles by Marmontel.
He also wrote a *Grammaire générale, ou Exposition raisonnée des éléments nécessaires du langage pour servir de fondement à l'étude de toutes les langues* (Paris 1767).
BEAUZÉE is especially remembered for his apologetic work: *Exposition abrégée des preuves historiques de la religion pour servir d'apologie contre les sophismes de l'irréligion* (Paris 1747), composed when he was 29 years old and included by Migne in his *Démonstrations évangéliques*.