, known under the name of Maitre Adam, a joiner at Nevers, about the
, known under the name of Maitre
Adam, a joiner at Nevers, about the close of the reign of
Louis XIII. and the beginning of that of Louis XIV. was
called by the poets of his time Le Virgile au rabot. He
made verses amidst his tools and his bottles. Cardinal
Richelieu and the duke of Orleans settled pensions on him,
and Corneille was among his panegyrists. His “Chevilles,
”
Villebrequin,
” Rabot,
” in
12mo, &c. had a great run. Among a considerable number of dull frivolities we meet with some happy lines. He
died in 1662 at Nevers, which he never could be brought
to quit for a lodging at Versailles. He had a just notion of
greatness, and was capable of feeling and inspiring the
charms of friendship. An epicurean without libertinism,
and a stoic without supersition, he so associated these two
sects as to have it said, that if Epicurus and Zeno had
lived in his time, he would have brought them to drink
together. He stuck to his mediocrity in order to preserve
his happiness. The poets his contemporaries were his
friends, and not envious of his fame. Mainard says, that
the muses ought never to be seated but on tabourets made
by the hand of this poetical joiner. St. Amand proved that
he understood the art of poetry as well as that of making
boxes. The duke de St. Aignan tells him, in some very
agreeable lines, that, by his verses and his name, he is the
first of men. Such praises were probably offered in ridicule; but Billaut knew how to make the most of his friends,
and is said to have tried the sincerity of their friendship
with very little ceremony. A new edition of his works was
published in 1806, 12mo, Paris, and the year before a
comedy was acted on the Paris stage, with some success,
called “Chevilles de Maitre Adam.
” Two poetical tradesmen, in his time, endeavoured to rival him, but without
success, Ragueneau, a pastry-cook, and Reault, a locksmith. Each addressed a sonnet to him that of the pastrycook concludes with a point quite in character: