Evariste Desire Desforges Parny, chevalier de, a French poet, born in St. Paul, island of Bourbon, Feb. 6, 1753, died near Paris, Dec. 5, 1814. He went to France to study for the church, but became a soldier. In 1773, returning to his native island, he fell in love with Esther de Baif, whom he celebrated under the name of Sleonore. His father opposing the marriage, he went to Paris and devoted himself to literature. In 1777 he published his Voyage en Bourgogne, and a semi-satirical poem, Epitre aux insurgents de Boston. This was followed in 1778 by his first collection of erotic poems. In 1785 he went to India as aide-de-camp to M. de Souillac, governor general of the French possessions. Returning with despatches, he retired to Feuillan-court, near Paris, where he wrote Les fleurs, Lajournee champetre, Les dome tableaux, and other poems. In 1795 he was appointed to a subordinate office in the department of public instruction, and for one year held the post of administrator of the theatre des arts. His later poems were remarkable for their wit and obscenitv. He was admitted to the French academy in 1803. Francais de Nantes gave him an office in the administration of the droits reunis, and Napoleon bestowed upon him a pension of 3,000 francs.

His complete works were published in Paris (5 vols. 18mo, 1808) and Brussels (2 vols. 8vo, 1826); selections, with notice of his life and writings by Tissot (Paris, 1826); and Elegies et poesies di-verses, with preface by Sainte-Beuve (1862).