A General Biographical Dictionary, Vol. 3 of 3 (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from A General Biographical Dictionary, Vol. 3 of 3

Pantagruel. In 1535 he was taken under the protection of cardinal John du Bellay, who te ceived him into his house as physician, libra ian, and steward. The cardinal being nomi mated ambassador to Rome the next year, was accompanied by Rabelais, who so much amu sed the papal court with his wit and bufi'oonery, that he obtained a plenary absolution for the crime of apostacy. In 1537 he took the de gree of doctor of physio, at Montpellier; and in 1538 was presented by cardinal Du Bellay with a prebendary. He afterwards became _cur , or parochial priest, of Meudon, which office he held from 1545 until his death. His Pantagruel, which was finished about the time he became pastor of Meudon, excited much enmity against him on the part of the monks, who'caused the condemnation of his work by the Sorbonne and the parliament but, in other respects it rendered him popular as the greatest wit of his time, a reputation which he fully maintained by his companionable quali ties, and the inexhaustible store of ludicrous ideas which he displayed in conversation. He died in 1553, at the age of seventy. The History of Gargantua and Pantagruel, of Rabelais, is an extravagant and whimsical sa tire in the form of a romance, attacking all sorts of monkish, and other follies, which it would not have been safe to seriously expose. Wit and learning are scattered in great profu sion, but in a very wild and irregular manner.

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