Jean Passerat . Latin scholar; one of the authors of the famous Satire Ménippée. Born at Troyes. Studied jurisprudence under Cujas. Professor of Latin in the Collège de France.

114. Sonnet. Thulène was the Court fool of Henri III. [Les poésies françaises de Jean Passerat. P. Blanchemain, 2 vols., Paris, 1880.]

Nicolas Rapin . Sénéchal de Fontenay. Wrote many Latin poems.

116. Sonnet. Courage, grand Achille . . . Achille de Harlay -- first President of the Palace of Justice. Faithful to Henri III throughout his struggle with the League. After the day of the Barricades (May 12, 1588), and when the king had fled from Paris, Guise tried to persuade De Harlay to join the adherents of the League. De Harlay's reply is historical: `C'est grand pitié, quand le valet chasse le maître; au reste, mon âme est à Dieu, mon coeur est au roi, et mon corps entre les mains des méchants; qu'on en fasse ce qu'on voudra.' `Je me suis trouvé,' said Guise afterwards, `à des batailles, à des assauts et à des rencontres les plus dangereuses du monde, mais jamais je n'ai été étonné comme à l'abord de ce personnage.'

Vauquelin de la Fresnaye . A magistrate of Caen. Wrote an interesting Art Poétique.

[Les diverses poésies de Jean Vauquelin Sieur de la Fresnaie, publ. et annot. par Julien Travers, 3 vols., Caen, 1870.]

Amadis Jamyn . Born at Chaource, near Troyes. A later star in the Pléiade. Translated thirteen books of the Iliad.

[OEuvres poétiques, 2 vols., Paris, 1584.]

Du Bartas . Seigneur de Salluste. Born at Montfort (Gers).

This ponderous and affected writer had a vast reputation in his day. His Création du Monde was reprinted many times. His neologisms are more amusing than poetical; his waves `floflottent,' and his lark ascends `avec sa tirelire, tirant l'ire à lire,' &c. Goethe admired him.

[OEuvres du G. du Bartas. La Rochelle, 1591.]

Desportes . Born at Chartres. Travelled in Italy, and went to Poland with the Duc d'Anjou, afterwards Henri III. Court poet, rich and unimaginative.

D'Aubigné . Born at Saintonge. Protestant.

[OEuvres complètes, ed. by Reaume, Caussade, and Legouez. Paris.]

Malherbe . Born at Caen; educated at Paris, Bâle, and Heidelberg. Secretary of Henri d'Angoulême, governor of Provence. Was presented to the king in 1604, and thenceforward had supreme poetic authority. Il réduisit la muse aux règles du devoir. His life was written by Racan.

In a dixain called Enfin Malherbe vint, Banville has summed up the state of affairs at the end of the sixteenth century:--

Les bons rythmeurs, pris d'une frénésie,
Comme des Dieux gaspillaient l'ambroisie;
Si bien qu'enfin, pour mettre le holà,
Malherbe vint, et que la Poésie,
En le voyant arriver, s'en alla.

125. Consolation à M. du Périer. Written in 1599. Du Périer was a native of Provence and had some renown as a bel esprit.

128. Sonnet sur la mort de son fils. Marc-Antoine de Malherbe, his last surviving child, was killed in a duel by the Seigneur de Piles in July, 1626. 5. The duel, however, seems to have been fairly fought.