Page:The Library, volume 5, series 3.djvu/95

RECENT FOREIGN LITERATURE. 83 provincial life as lived at Chateau-Thierry and in its neighbourhood. So far, La Fontaine had done nothing, he was an c ame vagabonde,' and his late development was the fault of his indolence : c il a dormi sa jeunesse, mais il songe.' At the age of twenty-six he married a girl of fourteen-and-a-half; the union was scarcely a success. La Fontaine was not the kind of man to be tied ; he grew weary of domestic and provincial life, and, the opportunity offering, he entered the household of Fouquet, where La Fontaine led a pleasant, luxurious existence, meeting interesting people like the young Racine, Lebrun the artist, Mme. de Sevigne, until his patron's arrest. He next became a gentleman of the household of the Duchesse de Bouillon at the Luxembourg, and it was then that the meetings between himself and his three friends, Moliere, Racine and Boileau, took place ; the chapter describing their intercourse entitled ' Les quatre amis ' is one of the best in the book. La Fontaine also became familiar with the salons of the time, especially that of Mme. de la Fayette, where he would have met La Roche- foucauld, and where he read aloud his 'Contes' and 6 Fables' to an admiring and appreciative audience. His 'Contes et Nouvelles' appeared in 1665, and his ' Fables ' in 1 668. In 1 672 he became a member of the household of Mme. de la Sabliere, the 'Iris' of his poems, and remained there for twenty years. It was a happy, fruitful time ; he issued more ' Contes ' and more ' Fables,' and became a member of the Academy. La Fontaine cannot be summed up in a formula. It may be said that he lounged