Juan Antonio Melendez Valdez, a Spanish poet, born at Ribera del Fresno, March 11, 1754, died in Montpellier, France, May 24, 1817. He was educated at Salamanca, where he became professor of belles-lettres. In 1780 he obtained a prize offered by the Spanish academy for the best eclogue. He was afterward employed in judicial and civil service in Saragossa, Valladolid, and Madrid, but was banished in 1792, after the downfall of Jove-llanos. After some years he was permitted to return to Salamanca, and in 1808 attached himself to the French party, sharing in its misfortunes. Once he was led out to be shot by the populace of Oviedo, whither he had been sent as a commissioner. Finally he fled to the south of France, where he lived for four years in misery, and his death was hastened by destitution. His poems embrace odes, eclogues, idyls, and pastoral dramas, of which the most popular is "Camacho's Wedding." His collected works, with a life by Quintana, were published at Madrid in 1820.