URFE, Hoxon D', author of the once famous pastoral romance L'Astree, was descended from a noble Swabian family, and was born at Marseilles in 1567. He studied at the college of Tournon, and afterwards entered the army, where he fought bravely in the wars of Henry IV. The first part of his great work L'Astree appeared in 1610, a second in 1612, and two more in 1618. This romance was run up by the public; it was resorted to by the playwright, and it was studied by the painter, for upwards of half a century. D'Urfe wrote besides numerous epistles and fables. He died in 1625.