CHAPELAIN, shap-Life, Jean, French poet, one of the earliest members of the French Academy; b. Paris, 4 Dec. 1595; d. there, 22 Feb. 1674. Having gained a high literary reputation, after writing a preface for Marine's 'Adone,) translating Aleman's 'Guzman de and composing four odes, he conceived the project of writing an epic on Joan of Arc, 'La Pucelie,' which proved a total failure, al though he spent over 20 years on it. The first 12 cantos appeared in 1656; and to so high a pitch had public expectation been wrought, that notwithstanding the adverse criticism of Boileau and Voiture, six editions came forth within the following 18 months. Eight new parts appeared in 1757, and the concluding four parts, which never were printed, are in manu script in the Imperial library of Paris. Riche lieu, to whom he dedicated a poem and whom he assisted in concocting literary works, con ferred a pension on him; he presided over the organization of the French Academy, took a conspicuous part in the early labors of that body, sat as academical critic upon Corneille's 'Cid) and possessed during nearly 40 years a literary prestige, which was broken by his 'Pucelle,' although he remained in favor with the court. Consult his 'Lettres> (ed. in part
by T. de Larroque, 2 vols., Paris 1880-82) ; 'Lettres inedites,' ed. by L. G.Pellissier (1894) ; Duchesne, Julien, 'Les poemes epiques du XVIII' siecle> (1780) ; Fabre, A., 'Les en nemis de Chapelain' (1888) ; Molenes, E. de, Pucelle par Jean Chapelain' (Paris 1891) ; Fabre, 'Chapelain et nos deux premieres Academies' (Paris 1890); Miihlan, A., 'Jean Chapelain : Eine, biographisch-kritische Studie' (Leipzig 1893) ; Searles, 'The Library of Jean Chapelain' (Chicago 1910) ; Saints buiy, George, 'History of Criticism' (Vol. II, 1911).