[65] Roger de Rabutin, Count de Bussy (1618-1693), a friend of our author, enjoyed a certain literary reputation in the seventeenth century, now completely lost. He is only remembered by his licentious and satirical _Histoire amoureuse des Gaules_, for which he was banished from the court for more than twenty years. [66] Damis was meant for Boileau. [67] There had been a whole family of printers of that name, though only André was alive when the “Characters” appeared. At that time books in France and in England were almost always sold bound. [68] By “newsmonger” our author alludes to the manufacturers of manuscript newspapers, containing all kinds of social and political scandal, eagerly sought for, and who were severely punished when caught. The English translator of 1702 gives for _nouvelliste_ “journalist,” and says in his “Key:” “The author of the Works of the Learned of Paris,” etc. The _Histoire des Savants_, edited by H. Basnage (1656-1710), was published in Holland. Mr. N. Rowe, in his translation published in 1713, also uses the word “journalist,” and says in the “Key:” “On the authors of Journals, or accounts of books and News, published in France, Holland,” etc. [69] La Bruyère speaks here of himself. [70] In the seventeenth century, _bel esprit_, plural _beaux esprits_, in the original, meant a man of intelligence, but began already in La Bruyèreʼs time to have the meaning of “witling.” [71] Jean Guez de Balzac (1594-1655), one of the first members of the French Academy, wrote, besides his over-praised “Letters,” a _Socrate Chrétien_, the _Prince_, a panegyric on Louis XIII., and _Entretiens ou Dissertations littéraires_. [72] Voiture (1598-1648), also a member of the French Academy, is chiefly known by his “Letters” and some namby-pamby poetry, amongst which is the well-known sonnet on “Uranie,” which was by many preferred to the sonnet on “Job” by Benserade, and gave rise to a pretty literary quarrel in the seventeenth century. Voiture and Balzac are now deservedly buried in oblivion. [73] The letters of Madame de Sévigné (1626-1696) were not published until 1726, or thirty years after La Bruyèreʼs death, though perhaps he might have seen some of them in manuscript. Among the ladies celebrated for their epistolary style in the seventeenth century were Madame de Maintenon, Mademoiselle de Scudéry, Madame de Bussy-Lameth, and above all Madame de Boislandry. See the Chapter “Of Opinions,” § 28, “A Fragment.” [74] Publius Terentius Afer (194-158 B.C.), a celebrated Latin comic dramatist. [75] Some commentators on La Bruyère think that the words “vulgar tongue (_jargon_) and barbarisms” refer to Molière having put peasants on the stage, and letting them speak their dialect. See § 52. [76] Malherbe (1555-1628) was one of the greatest purists amongst the authors of his time. Théophile de Viau (1591-1626), a writer of tragedies and a poet, was by some of his contemporaries thought to be a rival of Malherbe.