FRANCOIS LE METEL DE

See also:

• FRANCOIS LE METEL DE BOISROBERT (1592-1662)

BOISROBERT (1592-1662)  , French poet, was born at Caen in 1592 . He was trained for the law, and practised for some time at the bar at Rouen . About 1622 he went to Paris, and by the next year had established a footing at court, for he had a share in the ballet of the Bacchanales performed at the Louvre in February . He accompanied an embassy to England in 1625, and in 163o visited Rome, where he won the favour of Urban VIII. by his wit . He took orders, and was made a canon of Rouen . He had been introduced to Richelieu in 1623, and by his humour and his talent as a raconteur soon made himself indispensable to the cardinal . Boisrobert became one of the five poets who carried out Richelieu's dramatic ideas . He had a passion for play, and was a friend of Ninon de l'Enclos; and his enemies found ready weapons against him in the undisguised looseness of his life . He was more than once disgraced, but never for long, although in his later years he was compelled to give more attention to his duties as a priest . It was Boisrobert who suggested to Richelieu the plan of the Academy, and he was one of its earliest and most active members . Rich as he was through the benefices conferred on him by his patron, he was liberal to men of letters . After the death of Richelieu, he attached himself to Mazarin, whom he served faithfully throughout the Fronde .

He died on the 30th of

March 1662 . He wrote a number of comedies, to one of which, La Belle Plaideuse, Moliere's L'Avare is said to owe something; and also some volumes of verse . The licentious Conks, published under the name of his brother D'Ouville, are often attributed to him .