Jean de La Bruyère

Jean de La Bruyère (August 16 1645 - May 10, 1696), was a French essayist and moralist.

Early life

The son was educated by the Oratorians and at the University of Orléans; he was called to the bar, and in 1673 bought a post in the revenue department at Caen, which gave him status and an income. His predecessor in the post was a relation of Jacques Benigne Bossuet, and it is thought that the transaction was the cause of La Bruyère's introduction to the great orator Bossuet, who from the date of his own preceptorship of the Dauphin, was a kind of agent-general for tutorships in the royal family, introduced him in 1684 to the household of the Henry II, Prince of Condé, to whose grandson Henry-Julius as well as to that prince's girl-bride Mlle de Nantes, one of Louis XIV's natural children, La Bruyère became tutor. The rest of his life was passed in the household of the prince or else at court, and he seems to have profited by the inclination which all the Condé family had for the society of men of letters.

Related Topics:
Oratorians - University of Orléans - Bar - 1673 - Caen - Jacques Benigne Bossuet - Bossuet - Preceptorship - Dauphin - 1684 - Henry II, Prince of Condé - Henry-Julius - Mlle de Nantes - Louis XIV - Condé family

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Very little is known of the events of this part - or, indeed, of any part - of his life. The impression derived from the few notices of him is of a silent, observant, but somewhat awkward man, resembling in manners Joseph Addison, whose master in literature La Bruyère undoubtedly was. Yet despite the numerous enemies which his book raised up for him, most of these notices are favourable - notably that of Saint-Simon, an acute judge and one bitterly prejudiced against roturiers generally. There is, however, a curious passage in a letter from Boileau to Racine in which he regrets that "nature has not made La Bruyère as agreeable as he would like to be."

Related Topics:
Joseph Addison - Saint-Simon - Roturier - Boileau - Racine

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