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See also: man of letters, was See also: born at the chateauof Voisenon near See also: Melun, on the 3th of See also: July 1708
.
At the age of ten he addressed an See also: epistle in verse to Voltaire, who asked the boy to visit him
.
From this introduction dated a friendship that lasted for fifty years
.
Voisenon made his debut as a dramatist with L'Heureuse ressemblance in 1728, followed in 1739 by a three-See also: act See also: comedy L'Ecole du monde at the Theatre frangais
.
This was preceded by a verse prologue, L'See also: Ombre de See also: Moliere, and a See also: month later Voisenon produced a See also: criticism on his own piece in Le Retour de l'ombre de Moliere
.
A duel in which he was the aggressor inspired him with remorse, and he entered the priesthood, becoming See also: vicar-general to the See also: bishop of See also: Boulogne
.
He received the abbey of Jard, which made no demands on him
.
He became closely attached to Madame du See also: Chatelet, the See also: mistress of Voltaire (q.v.), and was intimate with the comte de See also: Caylus and Mademoiselle See also: Quinault Dufresne
.
He made witty but by no means edifying contributions to the Etrennes de See also: Saint-See also: Jean, the Bads de Bois, &c
.
In 1744 he produced the Mariages assortis and in 1746 his masterpiece, the Coquette fixee
.
He lived on terms of the closest intimacy with See also: Charles
See also: Simon See also: Favart and his wife
.
His See also: pen was always at the service of any of his See also: friends, and it was generally supposed, though on insufficient grounds, that he had a considerable share in Favart's most successful operas
.
Voisenon had, See also: strange to say, scruples all his See also: life about the incongruity between his way of living and his profession, but he continued to write indecent stories for private circulation, and wrote verses in honour of Madame du See also: Barry, as he had done for Madame de Pompadour
.
He was elected to the See also: Academy in 1762
.
On the disgrace of his See also: patron, the duc de Choiseul, he lost his See also: pensions and honours, but soon recovered his position
.
He was intimate with the chancellor Maupeou, and was suspected of writing on his behalf in defence of the abolition of the See also: parlement
.
This and some other incidents brought him into general disgrace
.
Early in 1775 he retired to the chateau de Voisenon, where he died on the 22nd of See also: November of the same See also: year
.
His cEuvres completes were published by his executrix, Madame. de Turpin, in 1781
.
VOI'f URE, VINCENT (1598-1648), French poet, was the son of a See also: rich See also: merchant of See also: Amiens
.
He was introduced by a school-See also: fellow, the comte d'Avaux, to Gaston d'See also: Orleans, and accompanied him to Brussels and
See also: Lorraine on See also: diplomatic See also: missions
.
Although a follower of Gaston, he won the favour of See also: Richelieu, and was one of the earliest academicians
.
He also received appointments and pensions from See also: Louis XIII. and
See also: Anne of See also: Austria
.
He published nothing in See also: book See also: form, but his verses and his See also: prose letters were the delight of the coteries, and were copied, handed about and admired mote perhaps than the See also: work of any contemporary
.
He had been early introduced to the Hotel de Rambouillet, where he was the especial friend of Julie d'Angennes, who called him her " dwarfSee also: king." His ingenuity in providing amusement for the younger members of the circle ensured his popularity, which was never seriously threatened except by
See also: Antoine Godeau, and this rivalry ceased when Richelieu appointed Godeau bishop of Grasse
.
When at the See also: desire of the duc de See also: Montausier nineteen poets contributed to the.Guirlande de Julie, which was to decide the much-feted Julie in favour of his suit, Voiture refused to take See also: part
.
The See also: quarrel between the Uranistes and the Jobelins arose over the respective merits of a sonnet of Voiture addressed to a certain Uranie, and of another composed by Isaac de .See also: Benserade, till then unknown, on the subject of See also: Job
.
Another famous piece of his of the same kind, La Belle Matineuse, is less exquisite, but still very admirable, and Voiture stands in the highest See also: rank of writers of vers de societe
.
His prose letters are full of lively wit, and, in some cases, as in the letter on Richelieu's policy (Letter LXXIV.), show considerable See also: political penetration
.
He ranks with Jean de Balzac as the chief director of the reform in French prose which accompanied that of See also: Malherbe in French verse
.
Voiture died at the outbreak of the See also: Fronde, which killed the society to which he was accustomed, on the 26th of May 1648
.
' See A
.
Roux, cEuvres de M. de Voiture (See also: Paris, 1856) ; and C
.
A
.
Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du lundi, vol. xii
.
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