Jean Pierre Claris De Florian, a French author, born at the chateau de Florian in Lan-guedoc, March 6, 1755, died in Sceaux, Sept. 13, 1794. His uncle, the marquis de Florian, placed him when 13 years old at Ferney with Voltaire, where he remained three years, when he became page to the duke de Penthievre, who subsequently procured him a commission in a regiment of cavalry. He left his troop to attach himself as a gentilhomme de cour to the duke, at whose residence he pursued his literary avocations. Several of his dramas were performed at the theatre of D'Argental, and on these occasions Florian often played the part of harlequin. Though not the best of his works, some of his plays, as Les deux billets, Le ton pere, La bonne mere, etc., have considerable merit, and the first still holds its place on the French stage. In 1783 he produced his Galatee, a novel in imitation of the "Galatea" of Cervantes; and in 178G his Ku-ma Pompilius, a classic romance in the style of Fenelon's Telemaque. After these appeared Estelle, a pastoral tale, Gonzalve de Cordoite, with a preliminary sketch of Moorish history, and a collection of fables, which are deemed the best that have been produced in France since La Fontaine's. He wrote also several poems.

On the outbreak of the revolution ho was consigned to a dungeon, where he finished his poem of Ephraim, and wrote his romance of Guillaume Tell. He was liberated after the 9th Thermidor, but soon fell a victim to grief. After his death appeared his translation of "Don Quixote." The best uniform edition of his works is that of Paris in 1820, 1G vols.