JEAN DE LA FONTAINE

(1621-1695)

BY GEORGE MCLEAN HARPER

T THE Court of Louis XIV. there once appeared a figure which clashed with the regularity and harmony of the scene. A tall, spare man, with a long nose, thin satirical lips, and kindly eyes, which could be sharp enough but were for the most part veiled by revery, wandered through the palace of Versailles and lingered half amused in the stately and unnatural gardens. Jean de La Fontaine, then in discredit as the author of certain licentious tales and the associate of malcontents, had come, rather sheepishly, at the instance of his friends, to present a volume of his fables to the King, of whose disfavor he was well aware. Though not quite clear as to the nature of his offense nor over-anxious for royal patronage, he was willing to purchase protection by an act of homage. He felt uncomfortable in his rôle of suitor, but played it with what grace and countenance he could. While conforming, with an odd mingling of ease and childish awkwardness, to the requirements of the situation, there was a fine, incredulous smile about the corners of his mouth as he bent the knee to the monarch whom under his breath he called Sire Lion,-feeling himself to be neither more nor less of a courtier than that handsome rascal, the Fox. The glitter of ceremony failed to dazzle him; and although he manifestly tried to be interested in the regal pageant, he was not much impressed. When he had finished his harangue, he found he had forgotten to bring the book which was to have been its excuse, and he absent-mindedly left in the carriage that bore him away, the purse of gold with which his solicitations had been rewarded.

To the King and his elegant retinue he must have seemed a naughty, undisciplined child,- rustic, old-fashioned, irreverent, out of keeping with the world and the times. Yet he was in some ways the most real man there; certainly the most natural. He understood his world and his time profoundly, after his fashion, and was destined to interpret them to future generations. For if he never succeeded in pleasing the King or obtaining a royal pension, he was only too popular with many great lords and ladies, and knew most of the celebrities of Paris; and though his acquaintances would have been