Régnier, Mathurin (1573-1613). French poet and satirist, the nephew of Desportes, whose benefice he inherited. Legend has exaggerated his reputation as a debauchee; he seems to have frequented learned circles more than the cabaret. He enjoyed the favour of Henri IV and wrote a number of court poems, including verse for royal entries. His work also includes both religious poetry and love poetry, but his reputation rests on a group of 17 satires, verse discourses addressed to friends and patrons. While some of these (e.g. Satire 13, a vivid portrait of the entremetteuse Macette) conform to the then current vogue for picturesque and grotesque sketches in the style of the Italian Berni [see Satire], his more constant aim was to raise satire to a proper dignity, following like the Pléiade the model of the classics, notably Horace; to this end he uses alexandrines throughout. His poems contain much criticism of contemporary society, with the usual nostalgia for previous, more virtuous ages. He writes above all as a moralist, echoing Montaigne's views on the variability of opinion and the weakness of the human will. His verse is full of life and variety and in Satire 9 he defends his freedom, together with the poetic ambitions of Ronsard and the classics, against the modern purism of Malherbe.
— Peter France
