La Harpe, the authority in such
matters for two generations: he devotes a chapter to Regnard, and calls
him the worthy successor of Moliere. And Beranger, in his charming
autobiography, an epilogue worthy of the noble part he had played upon
the stage of the world, speaks of the unflagging gayety and abundant wit
of Regnard's dialogue, and of his lively and graceful style. "In my
opinion," he adds, "Regnard would be the first of modern comedians, if
Moliere had not been given to us."

In spite of the idle complainings into which authors are betrayed by the
pleasure human nature takes in talking about self to attentive
listeners, all who are familiar with the history of the brethren of the
quill know, that, as a class, they have had a large share of the good
things of the earth,--cheerful occupation, respected position,
comfortable subsistence, and long life. France, in particular, has been
the _Pays de Cocagne_ of book-makers for the last two hundred years.
Neither praise, pay, nor rank has been wanting to those who deserved
them. But in the long line of _litterateurs_ who have flourished since
Cardinal Richelieu founded the Academy, few were so fortunate as
Regnard. He entered upon his career with wealth, health, and a jovial
temperament: three supreme blessings he kept through life.

He was born in Paris in 1655, three years before Moliere brought his
company from the provinces to the Hotel de Bourbon, and opened the new
theatre with the "Precieuses Ridicules." Regnard's father, a citizen of
Paris and a shopkeeper, died when his son was a lad, leaving him one
hundred and twenty thousand livres,--a fortune for a man of the middle
class at that period. Like most independent young fellows, Regnard made
use of his money to travel. He went to Italy, and spent a year in the
famous cities of the Peninsula,--but returned home with thirty thousand
additional livres in his pocket, won at play. He soon went back to the
land of pleasure and of luck. At Bologna he fell in love with a lady
from the South of France, whom he calls Elvire. The lady was married,
the husband was with her; they were travellers like himself. Regnard
joined the party, and sailed with them from Civita Vecchia in an English
ship bound for Toulon. The vessel was captured, off Nice, by a Barbary
corsair, and brought into Algiers; the crew and passengers were sold to
the highest bidder. One Achmet Talem paid fifteen hundred livres for
Regnard, and one thousand