[Born in Paris, 1669. Died at Brussels, 1741. Aged 72.]
A lyric poet of great celebrity in France, but many of his compositions
defaced by scurrility and indecency. He was the son of a shoemaker, but
he received a good education, and at an early age, gave sign of his
poetic genius. In his nineteenth year, appointed page to the French
ambassador at the court of Denmark; and subsequently attached as
Secretary to the Embassy in England. In 1712, he fell into disfavour,
and was banished from France for writing libellous verses, which, to the
last moment of his life, he declared were the production of some enemy,
who had designed his ruin. Retiring to Vienna, he found favour with
Prince Eugene. The odes of Jean Baptiste Rousseau are not surpassed, if
they are equalled, in the French language; his lyrics are elegant and
harmonious, and his epigrammatic skill is perfect. His later
productions, however, exhibit a lamentable falling off from the early
excellence by which he won his fame.
[In marble, by Caffieri. No date.]