BOSSU, RENE LE (1631-168o), French critic, was born in Paris. He studied at Nanterre, and in 1649 became one of the regular canons of Sainte-Genevieve. He wrote Parallele des principes de la physique d'Aristote et de celle de Rene Descartes (1674), and a Traite du poeme epique, highly praised by Boileau, the leading doctrine of which was that the subject should be chosen before the characters, and that the action should be arranged without reference to the personages who are to figure in the scene.