CONRART (or CONRARD), VALENTIN (1603-1675)  , one of the founders of the French Academy, was born in Paris of Calvinist parents . He was educated for a commercial life; but after his father's death in 162o he began to come into contact with men of letters, and soon acquired a literary reputation, though he wrote nothing for many years . He was made councillor and secretary to the king; and in 1629 his house became the resort of men of letters, who met to talk over literary subjects, and to read and mutually criticize their works . Cardinal Richelieu offered the society his protection, and in this way (1635) the French Academy was created . Its first meetings were held in the house of Conrart, who was unanimously elected secretary, and discharged the duties of his post for forty-three years, till his death on the 23rd of September 1675 . The most important of Conrart's works is his Memoires sur l'histoire de son temps published by L . J . N. de Monmerque in 1825 . See also R . Kerviler and Edouard de Barthelemy, Conran, sa vie et sa correspondance (1881); C . B . Petitot, Memoires relatifs a l'histoire de France, tome xlviii .

; and Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du lundi (19 juillet 1858) .