A French humourist, writer of the burlesque, born, of good parentage, in Paris; entered the Church, and was for some years somewhat lax-living abbe of Mans, but stricken with incurable disease settled in Paris, and supported himself by writing; is chiefly remembered for his "Virgile Travesti" and "Le Roman Comique," which "gave the impulse out of which sprang the masterpieces of Le Sage, Defoe, Fielding, and Smollett"; married in 1652 Francoise d'Aubigne, a girl of fifteen, afterwards the famous Madame de Maintenon; was a man who both suffered much and laughed much (1610-1660).