Jean de La, a celebrated French poet, was born at Château-Thierry, in Champagne, on the 8th of July 1621. At the age of nineteen he entered into the congregation of the Oratory, but quitted it about eighteen months afterwards. He was twenty-two years of age before he knew his own talents for poetry; but hearing read an ode of Malherbe, upon the assassination of Henri IV., he was so seized with admiration of it, that the poetical fire, which had before lain dormant within him, seemed to be kindled from that of the other great poet. La Fontaine therefore applied himself to read, to meditate, to repeat, in fine to imitate, the works of Malherbe. The first essays of his pen he confined to one of his relations, who made him read the best Latin authors, and then the best compositions in French and Italian. He applied himself likewise to the study of the Greek authors, particularly Plato and Plutarch. Some time afterwards his parents induced him to marry a daughter of a lieutenant-general; a relation of the great Racine. This young lady, besides possessing great beauty, was remarkable for the delicacy of her wit, and La Fontaine never composed any work without consulting her. But as her temper was none of the best, the poet, to avoid dissension, separated himself from her company as often as he well could. The celebrated Duchess of Bouillon, niece of Cardinal Mazarin, being exiled to Château-Thierry, took particular notice of La Fontaine; and on her recall he followed her to Paris, where, by the interest of one of his relations, a pension was settled upon him. He met with friends and protectors amongst the most distinguished persons of the court, but Madame de la Sablière was the most prominent. She took him to live at her house; and there Fontaine, divested of domestic concerns, led a life conformable to his disposition, and cultivated an acquaintance with all the great men of the age. It was his custom, after he had fixed at Paris, to go every year, during the month of September, to his native place of Château-Thierry, and pay a visit to his wife, carrying with him Racine, Despréaux, Chapelle, or some other celebrated writers. After the death of Madame de la Sablière, he was invited into England, particularly by Madame Mazarin, and by St Evremond, who promised to secure him all the comforts of life; but the difficulty of learning the English language, and the liberality of the Duke of Burgundy, prevented his crossing the Channel.
About the end of the year 1692 he fell dangerously ill, and, as is customary upon these occasions in the Catholic church, he made a general confession of his whole life to Father Poguet of the Oratory; and, before he received the sacrament, he sent for the gentlemen of the French Academy, and in their presence declared his sincere compunction for having composed his Tales, a work he could not reflect upon without the greatest repentance and detestation; promising that if it should please God to restore him to health, he would employ his talents only in writing upon matters of morality or piety. He survived this illness two years, living in the most exemplary and edifying manner, and died on the 13th of March 1693, at the age of seventy-four. When his body was stripped they found next his skin a hair shirt, which gave room for the following expression of the younger Racine:
Et l'auteur de Jacomé est orné d'un cilice.
La Fontaine has been justly regarded as the prince of fabulists. In his hands the apologue, which had hitherto been extremely confined, became a little poem, in which all the shades, varieties, and qualities of the other kinds of poetry were intermingled with inimitable art and simplicity. Epic poetry there recognised its recitals and its characters; dramatic poetry its actors, dialogues, and passions; didactic poetry its lessons and instruction. We there find simplicity united with vigour and dignity, and great naiveté with exquisite wit and refinement. Nothing can exceed the freshness and grace with which he paints gentle, amiable, and smiling objects; whilst, besides the other charms of the picture, the reader is agreeably surprised by those strokes of genuine comic humour in which he so greatly excelled. There is no doubt much art in all this; and it is indubitable that La Fontaine carefully elaborated his fables; but as the perfection of art is to conceal it, and simplicity is the joint result of genius and labour, so, by the union of these eminent qualities, La Fontaine, with- out having almost invented any thing, is nevertheless regarded as one of the most original of the French poets. He invented nothing, said Laharpe, but his style; and the secret remained with him. In imitating others he became insensible; and he is perhaps the only poet of whom this may with truth be said. For the numerous editions of his works we must refer our readers to Brunet's Manuel du Libraire. The best edition of the Fables de La Fontaine is that of Charles Nodier, with a new literary and grammatical Commentary, Paris, 1818, in 2 vols. 8vo. Of the Œuvres Complètes de La Fontaine there are only four editions, all of which were published at Paris in 1813, 1814, 1817, and 1818 respectively. These editions alone contain the ballad commencing with the verse
C'est à bon droit que l'on condamne à Rome,
and Ragotin, a metrical comedy, in five acts, discovered by Barbier in 1811. (See Histoire de la Vie et des Ouvrages de M. de La Fontaine, 1811.)