François de Porchères d'Arbaud was born on December 20, 1590, in Brignoles in the French department of Var. He went to Paris to study poetry under François de Malherbe, who left him half of his library in his will, the other half went to Racan.Éléments biographiques d'après Tyrtée Tastet, Histoire des quarante fauteuils de l'Académie française depuis la fondation jusqu'à nos jours, 1635-1855, volume III, 1855, p. 419-420.
