[Born at Crosne, in France, 1636. Died at Paris, 1711. Aged 75.]
One of the illustrious writers of his time. His labours went far to fix
the character and purity of the French language, and his sharp
criticisms have exercised ever since his day a salutary influence upon
the literature of his country. He ridiculed with singular acuteness the
false taste of his generation, and endeavoured to point out the true
principles of composition. His “Art Poétique” is considered by many, as
rivalling the “Ars Poëtica” of Horace. His humorous and heroic poem of
“Le Lutrin,” written to illustrate his theory that an epic ought to have
a slender groundwork, abounds in fanciful and sportive wit. He was the
friend of Molière, Racine, and Lafontaine, and the great Condé was his
patron. A generous and charitable man, an upholder of religion, but a
sworn hater of hypocrisy. Constant in his friendships, and always ready
to forgive injuries.
[From a marble, by François Girardon, in the Louvre, a sculptor born
at Troyes, in Champagne, 1630, and died 1715.]