setting a pattern to Swift.
Cyrano, let it be repeated, was a man of talent, but his powers (he died
before he was thirty-five) had not time to mature, and the reckless
boastfulness of his character would probably have disqualified him at
all times from adequate study and self-criticism. Personally, he is an
amusing and interesting figure in literary history, but he is not much
more. In company with him and with Scarron may be mentioned Dassoucy,
alternately a friend and enemy of Cyrano, and a light writer of some
merit.

[Sidenote: Furetiere.]

Charles Sorel, an exceedingly voluminous author, historiographer of
France, deserves mention in passing for his _Histoire Comique de
Francion_[247], in which, as in almost all the fictitious work of the
time, serious as well as comic, living persons are introduced. The
chief remarkable thing about _Francion_ is the evidence it gives of an
attempt at an early date (1623) to write a novel of ordinary manners. It
is a dull story with loose episodes. More interesting is Antoine
Furetiere, author of the _Roman Bourgeois_[248]. Furetiere, who was a
man of varied talent, holds no small place in the history of the
calamities of authors. He wrote poems, short tales, fables, satires,
criticisms. He is said to have given both Boileau and Racine not
inconsiderable assistance. Unfortunately for him, though he had been
elected an academician in 1662, he conceived and executed the idea of
outstripping his tardy colleagues in their dictionary work. He produced
a book of great merit and utility, but one which brought grave troubles
on his own head. It was alleged that he had infringed the privileges of
the Academy; he was expelled from that body, his own privilege for his
own book was revoked, and it was not published till after his death,
becoming eventually the well-known _Dictionnaire de Trevoux_.
Furetiere's side has been warmly taken in these days, and it has been
sought, not without success, to free him from the charge of all
impropriety of conduct, except the impropriety of continuing to be a
member of the Academy, while what he was doing could hardly be regarded
as anything but a slight on it. The _Roman Bourgeois_ is an original and
lively book, without any general plot, but containing a series of very
amusing pictures of the Parisian middle-class society of the day, with
many curious traits of language and manners. It was published in 1666.

[Sidenote: Madame de la Fayette.]

Of v