Aubignac, François Hédelin, abbé d' (1604-76). French critic and dramatic theorist. A protégé of Richelieu, he wrote poems, plays, and novels; from 1663 to 1671 he directed a semi-official Académie des Belles-Lettres. He was the author of essays on eloquence, and of Conjectures académiques (published 1715), in which he cast doubt on the existence of Homer. His most important work is La Pratique du théâtre (published 1657, written much earlier), the best summary of the classical theory of tragedy; it contains detailed advice on ways of affecting an audience, stressing verisimilitude, the unities, and the rhetoric of the passions.
[Peter France]
