Chapelain

Chapelain, Jean (1595-1674), a French poet born at Paris. His first work was the translation of a Spanish romance, Guzman d'Alfarache. An ode to Cardinal Richelieu brought him a pension and the reputation, both in his own opinion and that of others, of being a poet, and he had great influence in forming the academy. He considered himself the first poet of France, and projected an epic in twenty-four cantos, The Maid of Orleans; but on the publication of the first twelve in 1656 the feebleness of the work brought him into ridicule, and the remaining twelve still remain in MSS. at the National Library. He also wrote Melanges en Prose.