The dramatists of the Pleiade school, though they chiefly cultivated tragedy, did not by any means neglect comedy, their leader, Jodelle, having, as has been shown, set them the example in both kinds. Their comedy was, however, for some time a somewhat indeterminate kind of composition, and did not for the most part show much sign of the extraordinary excellence which French comedy was to attain in the next century. They seem to have hesitated between three models, the indigenous farce, the Italian comedy, which was a graft on the Latin, and the Latin comedy of Plautus and Terence itself. Yet _Eugene_, as has been said, is a great deal better as a play than either _Didon_ or _Cleopatre_. Its manner was closely imitated in the already-mentioned comedies of Grevin. The _Reconnue_ of Belleau is a work of merit. Baif turned the _Miles Gloriosus_ into French under the title of _Taillebras_, which was acted with the curious accompaniment of choruses composed by, among others, Desportes, Belleau, and Ronsard himself. All these pieces kept the octosyllabic verse which the farce had consecrated. Afterwards it became fashionable to write comedies in prose. Jean de la Taille thus gave _Les Corrivaux_, Odet de Turnebe _Les Mecontents_, Francois d'Amboise _Les Napolitaines_. But the chief comic author of the century, a better playwright than Garnier himself, was Pierre Larivey, who also wrote in prose[208]. He was born at Troyes about 1540, and died probably in the second decade of the seventeenth century. His father was an Italian, of the famous printer family of the Giunti, and on settling in France he had dubbed himself L'Arrive, which soon took the less recognisable form under which the dramatist is known. Pierre Larivey held a canonry at Troyes, and translated many Italian books of the most diverse kinds into French. Among these were numerous comedies, and the genius of the translator for his task in this case produced what are in effect as original compositions as most plays which call themselves original. Larivey took the utmost liberties with his models, adding, dropping, altering, exactly as he pleased, and writing his adaptations in a style excellent for the purpose. He produced twelve plays, of which nine are extant, _Le Laquais_, _La Veuve_, _Les Esprits_, _Le Morfondu_, _Les Jaloux_, _Les Escoliers_, published in 1579, and _Constance_, _Le Fidele_, _Les Tromperies_, published in 1611. Each of these has an Italian original. But, as the originals themselves are frequently derived from classical sources, Larivey very often seems to be imitating these latter. A nearly complete idea of the character of his best piece, _Les Esprits_, may be obtained by those who know the _Aulularia_ and _Andria_, and, on the other hand, the _Ecole des Maris_ and _L'Avare_, for he stands about midway between the classical comedies of Latin and French. Moliere found a good deal of his property in Larivey, and so did other French comic authors. FOOTNOTES: