DESPORTES, PHILIPPE (1546-1606), French poet, was born at Chartres in 1546. As secretary to the bishop of Le Puy he visited Italy, where he gained a knowledge of Italian poetry. He then attached himself to the duke of Anjou, and followed him to Warsaw on his election as king of Poland. Nine months in Poland satisfied the civilized Desportes, but in 1574 his patron be came king of France as Henry III. and gave the poet the abbey of Tiron and four other valuable benefices. A good example of the light and dainty verse in which Desportes excelled is furnished by the well-known villanelle with the refrain "Qui premier s'en repentira," which was on the lips of Henry, duke of Guise, just before his tragic death. Desportes imitated Petrarch, Ariosto, Sannazaro, and still more closely the minor Italian poets, and in 1604 a number of his plagiarisms were exposed in the Reconcontres des Muses de France et d'Italie. As a sonneteer he showed much grace and sweetness, and English poets borrowed freely from him. In his old age Desportes prepared a translation of the Psalms re membered chiefly for the brutal mot of Malherbe: Votre potage vaut mieux que vos psauones. Desportes died on Oct. 5, 1606, leaving the reputation of the courtier poet.