C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Jean de La Bruyère (1645–1696)
La Bruyère, Jean de (lä brü-yãr’). A famous French moralist and satirist; born in Paris, Aug. 1645; died at Versailles, May 10, 1696. Appointed tutor of the dauphin, he spent a large part of his life at the court of Louis XIV. His great work, ‘The Characters of Theophrastus, Translated from the Greek, with the Characters or Manners of this Century’ (1688), was a cloak for the keenest and most sagacious observations on the court. The number of “characters” was greatly increased as the various editions came out. Numerous keys appeared, the first in 1720. (See Critical and Biographical Introduction).