DES BARREAUX

des barreaux, jacques vallee, sieur (1602-1673), french poet, was born in paris in 1602. his great-uncle, geoffroy-vallee, had been hanged in 1574 for the authorship of a book called _le fleau de la foy_. his nephew appears to have inherited his scepticism, which on one occasion nearly cost him his life. the peasants of touraine attributed to the presence of the unbeliever an untimely frost that damaged the vines, and proposed to stone him. his authorship of the sonnet on "penitence," by which he is generally known, has been disputed. he had the further distinction of being the first of the lovers of marion delorme. he died at chalon-sur-saone on the 9th of may 1673. see _poesies de des barreaux_ (1904), edited by f. lachevre.