lly
supposed to be Melin de Saint-Gelais, with whom du Bellay had always,
however, been on friendly terms.

A long and eloquent _Discours au roi_ (detailing the duties of a prince,
and translated from a Latin original written by Michel de l'Hopital, now
lost) was dedicated to Francis II. in 1559, and is said to have secured
for the poet a tardy pension. In Paris he was still in the employ of
the cardinal, who delegated to him the lay patronage which he still
retained in the diocese. In the exercise of these functions Joachim
quarrelled with Eustache du Bellay, bishop of Paris, who prejudiced his
relations with the cardinal, less cordial since the publication of the
outspoken _Regrets_. His chief patron, Marguerite de Valois, to whom he
was sincerely attached, had gone to Savoy. Du Bellay's health was weak;
his deafness seriously hindered his official duties; and on the 1st of
January 1560 he died. There is no evidence that he was in priest's
orders, but he was a clerk, and as such held various preferments. He had
at one time been a canon of Notre Dame of Paris, and was accordingly
buried in the cathedral. The statement that he was nominated archbishop
of Bordeaux during the last year of life is unauthenticated by
documentary evidence and is in itself extremely improbable.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The best edition of the works of J. du Bellay is
_OEuvres francaises_ (2 vols., 1866-1867), edited with introduction
and notes by C. Marty-Laveaux in his _Pleiade francaise_. His _OEuvres
choisies_ were published by L. Becq de Fouquieres in 1876. The chief
source of his biography is his own poetry, especially the Latin elegy
addressed to Jean de Morel, "_Elegia ad Janum Morellum Ebredunensem,
Pyladem suum_," printed with a volume of _Xenia_ (Paris, 1569). A
study of his life and writings by H. Chamard, forming vol. viii. of
the _Travaux et memoires de l'universite de Lille_ (Lille, 1900),
contains all the available information and corrects many common
errors. See also Sainte-Beuve, _Tableau de la poesie francaise au
XVI^e siecle_ (1828); _La Defense et illust. de la langue francaise_
(1905), with biographical and critical introduction by Leon Seche, who
also wrote _Joachim du Bellay, documents nouveaux et inedits_ (1880),
and published in 1903 the first volume of a new edition of the
_OEuvres; Lettres de Joachim du Bellay_ (1884), edited by P. de
Nolhac; G. Wyndham, _Ronsard and La Pleiade_ (1906); H.