Release date : April 29, [eBook ] Most recently updated: January 6, In consequence of a dispute with the authorities over the question of his right to make provincial tours in France he resigned in In he joined the Renaissance theatre in Paris, and played there until he became director of the Porte Saint Martin in He died on the 8th of February Coquerel q.
He studied theology at Geneva and at Strassburg, and at an early age succeeded his uncle, C. Coquerel, as editor of Le Lien , a post which he held till He received the cross of the Legion of Honour in He died at Fismes Marne , on the 24th of July He received his early education from his aunt, Helen Maria Williams, an Englishwoman, who at the close of the 18th century gained a reputation by various translations and by her Letters from France.
He completed his theological studies at the Protestant seminary of Montauban, and in was ordained minister. In he was invited to become pastor of the chapel of St Paul at Jersey, but he declined, being unwilling to subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England. During the following twelve years he resided in Holland, and preached before Calvinistic congregations at Amsterdam, Leiden and Utrecht. In , at the suggestion of Baron Georges de Cuvier, then minister of Protestant worship, Coquerel was called to Paris as pastor of the Reformed Church.
In the course of he was chosen a member of the consistory, and rapidly acquired the reputation of a great pulpit orator, but his liberal views brought him into antagonism with the rigid Calvinists. He took a warm interest in all matters of education, and distinguished himself so much by his defence of the university of Paris against a sharp attack, that in he was chosen a member of the consistory of the Legion of Honour.
After the revolution of February , Coquerel was elected a member of the National Assembly, where he sat as a moderate republican, subsequently becoming a member of the Legislative Assembly.
