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CHAPELAIN, JEAN (1595-1674)

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 851 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CHAPELAIN, See also:JEAN (1595-1674) , See also:French poet and See also:man of letters, the son of a See also:notary, was See also:born in See also:Paris on the 4th of See also:December 1595. His See also:father destined him for his own profession; but his See also:mother, who had known See also:Ronsard, had determined otherwise. At an See also:early See also:age Chapelain began to qualify himself for literature, learning, under See also:Nicolas See also:Bourbon, See also:Greek and Latin, and teaching himself See also:Italian and See also:Spanish. Having finished his studies, he was engaged for a while in teaching Spanish to a See also:young nobleman. He was then appointed See also:tutor to the two sons of a M. de la Trousse, See also:grand See also:provost of See also:France. Attached for the next seventeen years to the See also:family of this See also:gentleman, the See also:administration of whose See also:fortune was wholly in his hands, he seems to have published nothing during this See also:period, yet to have acquired a See also:great reputation as a See also:probability. His first See also:work given to the public was a See also:preface for the Adone of See also:Marini, who printed and published that notorious poem at Paris. This was followed by an excellent See also:translation of Mateo See also:Aleman's novel, Guzman de Alfarache, and by four extremely indifferent odes, one of them addressed to See also:Richelieu. The See also:credit of introducing the See also:law of the dramatic unities into French literature has been claimed for many writers, and especially for the See also:Abbe d'See also:Aubignac, whose Pratique du thedtre appeared in 1657. The theory had of course been enunciated in the See also:Art poetique of J. C. See also:Scaliger in 1561, and subsequentlyby other writers, but there is no doubt that it was the See also:action of Chapelain that transferred it from the region of theory to that of actual practice.

In a conversation with Richelieu in about 1632, reported by the abbe d'Olivet, Chapelain maintained that it was indispensable to maintain the unities of See also:

time, See also:place and action, and it is explicitly stated that the See also:doctrine was new to the See also:cardinal and to the poets who were in his pay. French classical See also:drama thus owes the riveting of its fetters to Chapelain. Rewarded with a See also:pension of a thousand crowns, and from the first an active member of the newly-constituted See also:Academy, Chapelain See also:drew up the See also:plan of the See also:grammar and See also:dictionary the compilation of which was to be a See also:principal See also:function of the young institution, and at Richelieu's command drew up the Sentiments de l'Academie sur le See also:Cid. In 1656 he published, in a magnificent See also:form, the first twelve cantos of his celebrated epic La Pucelle,1 on which he had been engaged during twenty years. Six See also:editions of the poem were disposed of in eighteen months. But this was the end of the poetic reputation of Chapelain, " the legist of See also:Parnassus." Later the slashing See also:satire of Boileau (in this See also:case fairly See also:master of his subject) did its work, and Chapelain (" Le plus grand poete FranQais qu' ait jamais ete et du plus solide jugement," as he is called in See also:Colbert's See also:list) took his place among the failures of See also:modern art. Chapelain's reputation as a critic survived this See also:catastrophe, and in 1663 he was employed by Colbert to draw up an See also:account of contemporary men of letters, destined to See also:guide the See also:king in his See also:distribution of See also:pensions. In this pamphlet, as in his letters, he shows to far greater See also:advantage than in his unfortunate epic. His See also:prose is incomparably better than his See also:verse; his criticisms are remarkable for their See also:justice and generosity; his erudition and kindliness of See also:heart are everywhere apparent; the royal See also:attention is directed alike towards the author's firmest See also:friends and bitterest enemies. To him young See also:Racine was indebted not only for kindly and seasonable counsel, but also for that pension of six See also:hundred livres which was so useful to him. The catholicity of his See also:taste is shown by his De la lecture See also:des vieux See also:romans (pr. 1870), in which he praises the chansons de geste, forgotten by his See also:generation.

Chapelain refused many honours, and his disinterestedness in this and other cases makes it necessary to receive with caution the stories of See also:

Menage and See also:Tallemant des Reaux; who assert that he was in his old age a See also:miser, and that a considerable fortune was found hoarded in his apartments when he died on the 22nd of See also:February 1674. There is a very favourable estimate of Chapelain's merits as a critic in See also:George See also:Saintsbury's See also:History of See also:Criticism, ii. 256-261. An See also:analysis of La Pucelle is given in pp. 23-79 of See also:Robert See also:Southey's See also:Joan of Arc. See also See also:Les Lettres de Jean Chapelain (ed. P. Tanuzey de Larroque, 188o–1882) ; Lettres inedites a P. D. See also:Huet (1658–1673, ed. by L. G. Pellissier, 1894) ; See also:Julien See also:Duchesne, Les Poemes epiques du X VIP siecle (1870) ; the abbe A.

See also:

Fabre, Les Ennemis de Chapelain (1888), Chapelain et nos deux premieres See also:Academies (189o) ; and A. Muehlan, Jean Chapelain (1893). See also:CHAPEL-EN-LE-See also:FRITH, a See also:market See also:town in the High See also:Peak See also:parliamentary See also:division of See also:Derbyshire, See also:England, 20 M. S.E. of See also:Manchester, on the See also:London & See also:North-Western and Midland See also:railways. Pop. (1901) 4626. It lies in an upland valley of the Peak See also:district, the hills of which rise above 1200 ft. in its immediate vicinity. There are See also:paper-See also:works and ironworks, and The last twelve cantos of La Pucelle were edited (1882) from the MS. with corrections and a preface in the author's autograph, in the Bibliotheque Nationale, by H. Herluison. Another edition, by E. de Molenes (2 See also:vole.), was published in 1892.See also:brewing is carried on. The See also:foundation of the See also:church of St See also:Thomas of See also:Canterbury is attributed to the foresters of the royal See also:forest or frith of the Peak early in the 13th See also:century; and from this the town took name. After the defeat of the Scottish forces at See also:Preston by See also:Cromwell in 1648, it is said that 1500 prisoners were confined in the church at Chapel-en-le-Frith.

End of Article: CHAPELAIN, JEAN (1595-1674)

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