Bergerac, SAVINIE CYRANO DE

Bergerac, SAVINIE CYRANO DE, a French author, born in Paris, 1619, distinguished for his courage in the field, and for the number of his duels, more than a thousand, most of them fought on account of his monstrously large nose. He died in 1655. His writings, which are often crude, but full of invention, vigour, and wit, include a tragedy, Agrippine, and a comedy, Le Pédant Joué, from which Corneille and Molière have freely borrowed ideas; and his Histoire Comique des Etats et Empires de la Lune et du Soleil probably suggested 'Micromégas' to Voltaire, and 'Gulliver' to Swift. His works have been frequently republished, the last time at Paris, 1875.