Benserade . Court versifier. The wretched sonnet about Job caused a vast deal of windy argument. Its rival was Voiture's equally vapid Il faut finir mes jours.

Maucroix . Court versifier. Canon of Rheims and bon viveur.

La Fontaine . Born at Château-Thierry, in Champagne. Fouquet, superintendent of finance to Louis XIV, became his patron. Published the Ode au Roi in 1663; Contes et Nouvelles, 1664, 1671; six books of fables, 1668; Philémon et Baucis, 1685. Wrote comedies.

[Contes et Fables, ed. Jouaust. Paris, Librairie des Bibliophiles (Flammarion). OEuvres, ed. Régnier, 11 vols., Paris, 1883-1892.]

Molière . Born in Paris, educated at Clermont. Tapissier valet du roi; resigned this position and became actor-manager, 1643. Ill-success at first; toured the provinces; appeared before the King Oct. 24, 1658. Les Précieuses ridicules, 1659; followed by twenty-eight plays. Le Malade Imaginaire (1673) was the last.

[Poésies diverses, vol. ix, ed. Despois et Mesnard, 1873-1900.]

Chapelle . Born at the Chapelle-Saint-Denis. Part-author (with Bachaumont) of the celebrated Voyage en Provence et en Languedoc.

[OEuvres, ed. T. de Latour. Bibl. Elzév., 1854.]

Madame Deshoulières . Born in Paris. The `tenth muse' of the Court. An opponent of Boileau.

Boileau . Born in Paris. Studied law and theology. The sworn enemy of the Précieuses and of Chapelain, and the ally of Racine, La Fontaine, and Molière. Satires (1666), Art poétique (1673), Épîtres (1669-1695); Le Lutrin (1674). Presented to the King by Mme de Montespan. Abandoned verse in order to write the King's history (1677).

[OEuvres, ed. Saint-Marc, 5 vols., Paris, 1747.]

Racine . Born at La Ferté-Milon, educated at Port-Royal. La Thébaïde, his first tragedy (1664), was violently attacked, and throughout his career he had to endure the enmity of the pedants. Boileau always faithful to him. Quarrelled with the authorities of Port-Royal and lost favour with the King. Andromaque (1667), Les Plaideurs (1668), Britannicus (1669), Bérénice (1670), Bajazet (1672), Mithridate (1673), Iphigénie (1674), Phèdre (1677), Esther (1689), Athalie (1691).

[His poems are printed in vol. iv of the OEuvres, ed. Mesnard, Paris, 1865-1873.]

174. Le Clerc (1622-1691), a tedious tragic author.

175. L'`Aspar' de Fontenelle. Fontenelle was a nephew of Corneille, and none the less bitter against Racine and Boileau for that. Boyer: another dreary person (1618-1698).

176. Pradon (1632-1698). Beloved by the Précieuses. He wrote a Phèdre, which was voted superior to Racine's. He is said to be quite unreadable.

Chaulieu . Born at Fontenay.

Regnard . Born in Paris. Wrote comedies. Le Joueur (1696), Le Distrait (1697), Démocrite, Le Retour imprévu (1700), Les Folies Amoureuses (1704), &c.

J.-B. Rousseau . Born in Paris. Wrote comedies, then `sacred odes,' in which the more imaginative critics have detected a lyrical quality.