[1] His father, a minister of the reformed church, had to leave France on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and took refuge in Geneva, where Pierre was educated.
Pierre Bayle gave him an introduction to Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, with whom, in 1689, he went to England, where he engaged in literary work.
Des Maizeaux also translated the works of Charles de Saint-Évremond in English from the French published in 1714 during his exile in England.
In 1700 des Maizeaux wrote a remark concerning Leibniz' 'New System'[5] and in 1720 he edited and prefaced a French translation of the Leibniz–Clarke correspondence.
Part of Des Maiseaux's correspondence is preserved in the British Museum, and other letters are in the Royal Library in Copenhagen.