Jean Francois Regnard, the second of French comic dramatists in general estimation (though it is doubtful whether any single piece of his equals _Turcaret_), was born at Paris in 1656, and lived a curious life. He was heir to considerable wealth and increased it, singular to say, by gambling. He had also a mania for travelling, and when he was only two-and-twenty was captured by an Algerian corsair and enslaved. After some adventures of a rather dubious character he was ransomed, but continued to travel for some years. At last he returned to France, bought several lucrative offices and an estate in the country, and lived partly there and partly at Paris, writing comedies and indulging largely in the pleasures of the table. He died at his chateau of Grillon in 1710, apparently of a fit of indigestion; but various legends are current about the exact cause of his death. He wrote twenty-three plays (including one tragedy of no value) and collaborated with Dufresny in four others. Many of these pieces were comic operas. At least a dozen were represented by the 'Maison de Moliere.' The best of them are _Le Joueur_, _Le Distrait_, _Les Menechmes_, _Le Legataire_, the first and the last named being his principal titles to fame. Regnard trod as closely as he could in the steps of Moliere. He was destitute of that great dramatist's grasp of character and moral earnestness; but he is a thoroughly lively writer, and well merited the retort of Boileau (by no means a lenient critic, especially to the young men who succeeded his old friend), when some one charged Regnard with mediocrity, 'Il n'est pas mediocrement gai.' Baron the actor was born in 1643 and died in 1729, after having long been the leading star of the French stage. He wrote, though it is sometimes said that he was aided by others, seven comedies. One of these, _L'Andrienne_, is a clever adaptation of Terence, and another, _L'Homme aux Bonnes Fortunes_, has considerable merit in point of writing and of that stage adaptability which few writers who have not been themselves actors have known how to master. Charles Riviere Dufresny, a descendant of 'La Belle Jardiniere,' one of Henri IV.'s village loves, was born in 1648 and died in 1724. He was a great favourite of Louis XIV. and a kind of universal genius, devoting himself by turns to almost every branch of literature and of the arts. He was, however, incurably desultory, and was besides a man of disorderly life. His comedies were numerous and full of wit and knowledge of the world, but somewhat destitute of finish. Besides those in which Regnard collaborated he was the author of eleven pieces, of which _L'Esprit de Contradiction_, _Le Double Veuvage_, _La Coquette de Village_, and _La Reconciliation Normande_ are perhaps the best.