Ardene, Esprit-Jean De Rome D'

, a French poetical and miscellaneous writer, was born at Marseilles, where his father was a commissioner of the gallies, March 3, 1684, and studied first at Nancy, and afterwards at home under the eye of his parents. His first verses were engraven on the trees, and his long residence in the country inspired him to write in the pastoral style. His parents in vain solicited him to engage in some profession, but he shelved an invincible repugnance, and was afterwards enabled to pursue his inclinations. He married in 1711, and some time after came to Paris, where he connected himself with Du Bos, Danchet, and Fontenelle; and during his essence here, he wrote his fables. In 1724, he returned to Provence, and was a competitor for some academical prizes, and in 1727, published his performances. He died at Marseilles, March 27, 1748. His principal works are, 1. “Recueil de Fables nouvelles en vers,” 1747, 12mo. 2. “Œuvres posthumes,” Marseilles, 1764, 4 vols. 12mo, consisting of a volume of new fables, a comedy, the Novelist, in three acts, odes, epigrams, epistles in prose and verse, and an academical discourse. His preliminary Essay on Fable, in the first volume, is considered as an ingenious performance. ²

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