New-York tribune., 1912-04-07

,rdsed performed acceptably task be
.st b,. peculiarly negative difficulties, by
lack of first hand information ana II at
times he fills out his page with eNtrane-
nus material such as an unnecessarily
circumstantial sketch of the hVes ana
achievements of Fouquet and Luliy' OF
an over-lonR consideration of Nine. de
10 Sahliere's 1rdnde passion, he sticks on
tho vhole. with laudable closeness to MS
subiect. He has nothing new to tell u.s.
the portrait he draws is the one that'
whether authentic or not, has long peeh
familiar 10 students of literature, Dut' 10
retain the simile, he has cleaned the
canvas and vanished it, bringing out
in the process some obscured details.
Iean de Ia Fontaine was born on July
or 8. 1921. at Chateau Thierry. in
Champagne, the son of a Commissioner
of Water and Forests and Kings Couh-
cillor. His mother, Francoise PldouH'
was the daughter Of the Magistrate Oh
Coulommiers. through whom he could
claim a remote relationship with the
bouse of Richelieu. Still, on both sides
of his descent the poet belonged decided
ly to the middle class. fact that Wouid
not be worth mentioning were 1t not
that at later date La Fontaine was
fined for describing himself as an hs-
ouirs" in his signature to public doc
ument.
Destined for the Church, the future
met soon vetoed his fathers plan. At
the age of twenty he had already earned
his reputation for a vague dreamlnesS
and an utter lack of practical sense in
the material affairs of existence compli-
Gated with a far from admirable notorl-
ety as a decidedly bucolic lady killer
At the age of twenty-five he discoVerei
Malherbe. then Horace and Virgil ana
the older French poets, and began to try
his wings with trifles in verse. -Four
years later he married Marie Hericart' III
obedience to his fathers wishes. the in
ducement offered him being the trans
ference into his hands Of the Office Of
Commissioner of Water and Forests.
The couple did not get along well to-
gether. and soon separated. their son
and only child remaining with Nine. de
Ia Fontaine. who survived her famous
husband many years.
His first important work was trans
lstion of Terence's "Eunuchus, pub
lished in 1854. 1t drew to him the at
tention of his first patron, the all-power-
full Fouquet, who offered him pension
in recognition Of the dedication Of an
other work. "Adonls." The poet was t.
earn his wage with poetic effusions, de
livered quarterly, like his stipend On
the great minister's fall, in 1868, La
Fontaine accompanied him into exile,
writing a number of letters to his wife
at Chateau Thierry, some extracts from
which may be found in Mr. Hamers
pages.
However dreamy and impractical he
may have been, the poet certainly had
the best of good luck through life in find
ing patrons willing to take care Of him.
Returned TO Paris in 1864, he was made
xentleman-in- waiting to the DoWager
Duchess of Orleans at the Luxembourg
shich under that lady's pious rule was
1ot a gay abode at all. He wrote verses
in praise of his august employer, her
daughters and even her pet dog, Mignon,
jedicating to her son-in-law. the Due de
;uise. his Fables Nouvelles," published
in 1G71 the first collection having APP
peared three years earlier. The poet
consoled himself, no doubt, for the 6u:-
ness of his employment in the gay, ar
tistic and literary circle of the Duchess
Of Bouillon, the youngest of MaZarins
five famous nieces who. il modern
phrase had Ttaken him up and tried to
polish his awkward, provincial manners
She remained his good and powerful
friend during the greater part of his life.
Tradition connects her name with the
composition and publication of the "Nou-
yeIles en- Vers tirees de Boccace ct
d'Arioste." but Mr.. Hamel points out
that, as these were Issued in 1860, when
she was but seventeen years old, the
story deserves no credence. From this
period date also the weekly meetings of
MoIiere, Boileau, Racine and La Fon-
iaine. Of which many anecdotes have
, been told. perhaps the best one dealing
with La Fontaine's depuncistion of the
stage aside" as utterly s1artistic ana
3 tnadmissible
Nothing ne faid. is more contrary to
seod sense. What. the pt Is supposed to