Give account of some French writer (8)
I believe the answer is:
describe
'give account of' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'some french writer' is the wordplay.
'some french' becomes 'de'.
'writer' becomes 'scribe' (scribe is a kind of writer**).
'de'+'scribe'='DESCRIBE'
(Other definitions for describe that I've seen before include "Paint in words" , "Give detailed account of" , "Draw (figure); give account of" , "Give an account of in words" , "Delineate" .)