[Born at Château Thierry, in France, 1621. Died in Paris, 1695. Aged
74.]
A great French poet! His fables in verse, published when he was forty
years of age, placed him at once amongst the first writers in verse that
France had produced, and created an epoch in French literature. As a
writer of fables he is probably not surpassed by any writer of any
country. His life was full of vicissitudes. He succeeded his father, as
Keeper of the Royal Domains at Château Thierry, but deserting both his
wife and his occupation, he went to Paris, where he formed a lasting
friendship with Molière, Racine, and Boileau. A pension saved him from
starvation; and losing this with the fall of the Minister, Fouquet, who
gave it, he was again rescued by the charity of Henrietta of England,
daughter of Charles I., and wife to the Duke of Orleans. Upon the death
of this princess, he was again fortunately provided for by Madame de
Sablière, in whose house the poet lived for twenty years. In society, La
Fontaine was dull, silent, and subject to absence of mind. In his youth
he was remarkable for his aversion to poetry. He lies buried by the side
of Molière, who ever regarded him with affection, and who discovered his
genius years before it was acknowledged by the world. His style is
easy, sprightly, graceful, witty, pointed, and inimitably naïve.
[This is from the bust in terra cotta in the Théâtre Français, by
Caffieri. It has served as the authority for that by Dessine, at
Versailles, and the statue in the Vestibule of the Admirals, by M.
Seurre, done in 1837. Unfortunately, none of these could have been
modelled from the life.]
220A. JEAN DE LA FONTAINE. _Poet._
[By Auguste Dumont.]