Marin Le Roy, sieur de Gomberville, son of Louis Le Roy and Marie Vallençon, was born probably in 1600 or possibly in 1599. His father's profession and exact status have been the subject of debate, but he was likely an officeholder under the Crown, with all that that implied in terms of pretensions to nobility. The family estate of Gomberville was situated at Magny-les-Hameaux, near Chevreuse, to the southwest of Paris, but the family resided in the capital, and the boy was educated there at the Collège de la Marche, run by the Jesuits, who provided the soundest education available at the time. He was drawn to the literary life from an early age, having his first work, a book of verse titled Tableau du bonheur de la vieillesse opposé au malheur de la jeunesse (A Depiction of the Happiness of Old Age Opposed to...