GRESSET, JEAN BATTISTE LOUIS

GRESSET, JEAN BATTISTE LOUIS, the author of Ver-Vert, and many other poems, was one of the most original French writers of the eighteenth century. He was born at Amiens in 1709, and was educated there in the college of the Jesuits. In his seventeenth year he entered their order, and was sent to Paris to complete his studies at the Collège de Louis-le-Grand. He had not completed his twenty-third year when he wrote his inimitable little poem of Ver-Vert. There is not in the French language any badinage more pleasant or more graceful than the adventures of the famous parrot of Nevers. He next published the Caricature Impromptu and the Lutin Vivant, two brilliant trifles that display remarkable powers of narrative; and soon after, two charming epistles under the title of La Chartreuse and Les Ombres. Both of these epistles, but especially the first-named, are in their way as remarkable as the Ver-Vert. They are perhaps less correct; the copiousness of diction degenerates into luxuriance, and the abandon sometimes savours of carelessness. Yet the happy flow and pleasant cadences of the lines redeem the diffusion and the long sentences which have been often censured as the prevailing faults of almost all Gresset's compositions. An exception must be made in favour of his Épitre à ma sœur, sur ma convalescence, which is in its way a perfect masterpiece, and far superior to many of the fugitive pieces of Voltaire in the same vein. Inferior in merit to these, yet still worthy of respectful mention, are the Épitre au père Bougeant, A ma mère, Épitre d'un Chartreux, &c. The fame of these works spread far and wide, and gained for their author the professorship of humanity at Tours. Here he had the misfortune to displease an influential and high-born religious, who accused him of doing mischief by the light and frivolous character of his poetry; and Gresset by way of punishment was transferred to La Flèche. To divert his thoughts, he set himself to translate the Éclogues of Virgil, which he accomplished, however, with very indifferent success. Finding his banishment intolerable, he applied for a recall; and when his superiors refused, he left the order. He always preserved a kindly remembrance of his connexion with it, however, as is evidenced by his Adieux aux Jésuites. He now removed to Paris, where he endeavoured to gain a reputation as a tragic writer. In 1740 he produced his drama of Edouard III., which La Harpe pronounced a "roman sans vraisemblance, sans intérêt et sans aucune entente du théâtre;" and his Sidney, played five years later, has no merits to save it from a like condemnation. Both were utter failures on the stage. Hardly more fortunate was his comedy of Le Méchant, which possesses very great merits, though these are more appreciable in the closet than on the stage. This comedy gives a most brilliant picture of the period which culminated in the Regency. Many of the lines are exquisitely finished, and many of them have become proverbs, but the plot is cold and commonplace. In 1748 Gresset obtained the much coveted honour of a seat in the French Academy; but a few years later he retired to his native town, where, with permission from the king, he founded an academy. The remainder of his life was spent in the neighbourhood of his beloved Amiens, which he never quitted unless business called him to the capital for a few days. One of these flying visits to Paris was made in 1774, to congratulate Louis XVI. on his accession, in the name of the French Academy. The new monarch ennobled him, and the dauphin (afterwards Louis XVIII.) made him historiographer of the order of St. Lazarus. In his latter days Gresset became religiously disposed, and published a letter of regret for the mischief which he believed his comedies

to have done. This retraction excited the wrath of Voltaire, who wrote of him in 1759—"Et ce polisson de Gresset qu'en dirons-nous? quel fat orgueilleux! quel plat fanatique!" This was at least ungrateful in the patriarch of Ferney; for Gresset had not only never joined in the outcry against him, but had even defended his Zaire against its many assailants. Though it is hard to see what Gresset had to retract, or what evil influence he had exerted over French literature, he took great blame to himself for having multiplied editions of his works; and in deference to his religious advisers, he burned some unpublished plays, and two new cantos of Ver-Vert. Gresset died at Amiens, June 16, 1777.

Gresset, more than any other French poet, seems to have felt the influences of time and circumstance; and his works reflect to a surprising degree the influences by which he was surrounded at the time when each was written. He was the most original poet of his century in France, and neither belonged to any school nor followed any model. Not a trace of the Voltairianism which was the ruling spirit of French literature in his day is to be found in his writings. His originality, refined humour, easy grace, and beautiful versification, will always secure for him an independent niche in the pantheon of French greatness. The best editions of his poems are those of Fayolle, Paris, 1803, 3 vols. 18mo; and Renouard, Paris, 1811, 3 vols. 8vo. The Ver-Vert has been twice translated into English, first by T. G. Cooper, and afterwards by Alexander Geddes; into German by J. M. Goetz; into Italian by L. A. Vincenzi; and into several other modern tongues.