DAURAT, Jean (or Dorat; in Latin, Auratus), French poet of the renaissance, and founder of the Pldiade, was born at Limoges in 1507. He was of illustrious family, and, after studying at the college of Limoges, came up to Paris to be presented to Francis I., who made him tutor to his pages. He rapidly gained an immense reputation, especially for proficiency in classical learning. As private tutor in the house of Lazare de Baif, he had J. A. de Baif, afterwards famous as a poet, for his pupil. His son, Louis, was of a marvellous precocity, and at the age of ten translated into French verse one of his father’s Latin pieces; his poems were published with his father’s. Jean Daurat became the director of the College de Coqueret, where he had among his pupils, besides Baif, Ronsard, Remy Belleau, and Pontus de Thyard. Du Bellay was added by Ronsard to this group; and these five young poets, under the direction of Daurat, formed a species of society for the reformation of the French language and literature. They increased their number to seven by the initiation of the dramatist Etienne Jodelle, and thereupon they named themselves “La Pleiade,” in emulation of the seven Greek poets of Alexandria. The election of Daurat as their president proved the weight of his personal influence, but as a writer of French verse he is the least important of the seven. Meanwhile he collected around him a sort of Academy, and stimulated the students on all sides to a passionate study of Greek and Latin poetry. He himself wrote incessantly in both those languages, and was styled the Modern Pindar. In 1560 he was appointed professor of Greek at the College Royale, a post which he continued to hold until, in his extreme old age, he resigned it in favour of his nephew, Nicolas Goulu. Charles ...