Scarron, Paul, French poet and dramatist, b. in Paris, 4 July, 1610; d. 7 October, 1660. His father was a judge and one of his uncles was Bishop of Grenoble. After graduating from the Sorbonne, he received tonsure at the age of nineteen and soon after became attached {o the house of Charles de Beaumanoir, Bishop of Le Mans, whom he accompanied to Rome in 1635.
A year later he was made a canon in Saint Julian's Cathedral without being in holy orders, a benefice
P Morta Paris, le 1 4 Octobre 0t he resigned in
January, 1652, when he married
Frangoise d'Aubigné, later Madame de Maintenon. He was then a cripple and for the remainder of his life was confined to bed, being nursed by his young wife, whose devotion, piety, and patience were admirable. In a distorted body, he preserved the acuteness of his mind, and pursued his literary career. His comedies “Jodelet, ou le maitre valet" (1645); “Les trois Dorothées" (1646); ∗' L’héritier ridicule” (1649); “ Don Japhet d' Arménie" (1652); ∗L'Ecolier de Salamanque” (1654); “Le gardien de soi-méme" (1655); “Le marquis ridicule” (1656) contained quite a number of amusing scenes and odd characters that Moliére borrowed. He achieved a lasting reputation by his burlesque productions, “Le Typhon” (1644), and “Le Virgile travesti" (1648-1652), in which he displayed all the resources of his humour. The “Roman comique" (1649-1657), whose realistic presentation of customs and manners was imitated by later novelists, is not far from being a masterpiece. There is no certainty about the place where Scarron's remains were taken, but it is now believed that he was buried in the church of Saint-Gervais.
MORILLOT, Scarron et le genre burlesque (Paris, 1888); IDEM, Scarron, Etude biographique et littéraire (Paris, 1890); CHARDON, Scarron inconnu (Paris, 1904); MAGNE, Scarron et son milieu (Paris, 1905).
Louis N. Delamarre.