LARIVEY, PIERRE (c. 1550-1612), French dramatist, be longed to a family of Italian origin, established at Troyes, which had gallicized its name from Giunta to L'Arrivey. Pierre Larivey appears to have cast horoscopes, and to have acted as clerk to the chapter of the church of St. Etienne, of which he eventually be came a canon. Larivey was not the originator of French comedy, but he naturalized the Italian comedy of intrigue in France. He adapted, rather than translated, 12 Italian comedies into French prose. The first volume of the Comedies facetieuses appeared in 1579, and the second in 161i. Only nine in all were printed. The licence of the manners depicted in these plays is matched by the coarseness of the expression. Larivey's merit lies in the use of popular language in dialogue, which often rises to real excel lence; and which was not without influence on Moliere and Reg nard. Moliere's L'Avare owes something to the scene in Larivey's masterpiece, Les Esprits, where Severin laments the loss of his purse, and the opening scene of the piece seems to have suggested Regnard's Retour imprevu. It is quite likely that Moliere may
have played in some of Larivey's pieces while he was touring the provinces. Larivey was the author of many translations, varying in subject from the Facetieuses suits (1573) of Straparola to the Humanite de Jesus-Christ (1604) from Pietro Aretino. The nine comedies printed were : Le Laquais, from the Ragazzo of Ludovico Dolce; La V euve, from the Vedova of Nicolo Buonaparte; Les Esprits, from the Aridosio of Lorenzino de Medicis ; Le Morfondu, from the Gelosia of Antonio Grazzini ; Les Jaloux, from the Gelosi of Vincent Gabbiani ; and Les Escolliers, from the Cecca of Giro lamo Razzi, in the first volume; and in the second, Constance, from the Costanza of Razzi; Le Fidele, from the Fedele of Luigi Pasqualigo ; and Les Tromperies, from the Inganni of N. Secchi.