La Bruy�re, Jean de 1645-96
French writer

Born in Paris, he was educated by the Oratorians, and was chosen to aid Jacques Bossuet in educating the Dauphin. For a time he was treasurer at Caen. He became tutor to the Duc de Bourbon, grandson of the great Cond�, and received a pension from the Cond�s until his death. His Caract�res (1688), which gained him a host of implacable enemies as well as an immense reputation, consists of two parts, the one a translation of Theophrastus, the other a collection of maxims, reflections and character portraits of men and women of the time. He found a powerful protector in the Duchesse de Bourbon, a daughter of Louis XIV. His Dialogues sur le qui�tisme (1699, 'Dialogues on Quietism') were directed against Fran�ois F�nelon. A writer rather than a thinker of any real depth, his insight into character is shrewd rather than profound.

Bibliography: E Gosse, in Three French Moralists (1918)