L'amant chiche, et la dame au coeur interesse;
La troupe des censeurs, peuple a l'Amour rebelle;
Ceux enfin dont les vers ont noirci quelque belle.

------Artificers of many a loveless match,
And lovers who but sought the pence to catch;
The crew censorious, rebels against Love;
And those whose verses soiled the fair above.

To be "rebels against Love" was quite unpardonable with La Fontaine; and
to bring about a "_hymen force_" was a crime, of which he probably
spoke with some personal feeling. The great popularity of "Psyche"
encouraged the author to publish two volumes of poems and tales in 1671,
in which were contained several new fables. The celebrated Madame de
Sevigne thus speaks of these fables, in one of her letters to her
daughter:--"But have you not admired the beauty of the five or six fables
of La Fontaine contained in one of the volumes which I sent you? We were
charmed with them the other day at M. de la Rochefoucauld's: we got by
art that of the Monkey and the Cat." Then, quoting some lines, she
adds,--"This is painting! And the Pumpkin--and the Nightingale--they are
worthy of the first volume!" It was in his stories that La Fontaine
excelled; and Madame de Sevigne expresses a wish to invent a fable which
would impress upon him the folly of leaving his peculiar province. He
seemed himself not insensible where his strength lay, and seldom ventured
upon any other ground, except at the instance of his friends. With all
his lightness, he felt a deep veneration for religion--the most spiritual
and rigid which came within the circle of his immediate acquaintance. He
admired Jansenius and the Port Royalists, and heartily loved Racine, who
was of their faith. Count Henri-Louis de Lomenie, of Brienne,--who, after
being secretary of state, had retired to the Oratoire,--was engaged in