LA HARPE, JEAN FRANcOIS DE French critic, was born in Paris of poor parents. His father, who signed himself Delharpe, was a descendant of a noble family originally of Vaud. Left an orphan at the age of nine, La Harpe was a scholar of the College d'Harcourt. When 19 he was imprisoned for some months on the charge of having written a satire against his protectors at the college, though he always denied it. In 1763 his tragedy of Warwick, perhaps the best he ever wrote, was played at court. Timoleon (1764), Pharamond (1765) and Gus tave Wasa (1766) were failures. Melanie was a better play, but was never represented. The success of Warwick led to a corre spondence with Voltaire, who even allowed him to correct his verses. In 1764 La Harpe married the daughter of a coffee-house keeper. This marriage, which proved very unhappy and was dis solved, did not improve his position. They were very poor, and for some time were guests of Voltaire at Ferney. When, after Voltaire's death, La Harpe in his praise of the philosopher ven tured on some reasonable, but rather ill-timed, criticism of individual works, he was accused of treachery to one who had been his constant friend. In 1768 he returned from Ferney to Paris, where he began to write for the Mercure. He was a born fighter and a severe critic. He was himself violently attacked, and his reception (1776) at the Academy, is described by Sainte-Beuve as his "execution." On the stage he produced Les Barmecides ( I 778) , Philoctete, Jeanne de Naples (1781) , Les Brames (1783), Coriolan (1784), Virginie (1786). In 1786 he began a course of literature at the newly established Lycee. In these lectures, pub lished as the Cours de litterature ancienne et moderne, La Harpe is at his best, for he found a standpoint more or less independent of contemporary polemics. If he is inexact in dealing with the
ancients and the middle ages, he is excellent in his analysis of I7th-century writers.
As a disciple of the "philosophes" La Harpe supported the extreme party through the excesses of 1792 and 1793. In 1793 he edited the Mercure de France which supported the revolu tionary leaders. But in April 1794 he was nevertheless seized as a "suspect." In prison he underwent a spiritual crisis, and emerged an ardent Catholic and a reactionary in politics. When he resumed his chair at the Lycee, he attacked his former friends in politics and literature. He was imprudent enough to begin the publication (1801-07) of his Correspondance litteraire (1774-91) with the grand-duke, afterwards the emperor Paul of Russia. In these letters he surpassed the brutalities of the Mer cure. He contracted a second marriage, which was dissolved after a few weeks by his wife. He died on Feb. 11, 1803 in Paris. Among his posthumous works was the Prophetie de Cazotte, a sombre description of a dinner-party of notables long before the Revolution, when Jacques Cazotte is made to prophesy the fright ful fates awaiting the various individuals of the company.