French dramatist, of Italian origin, the son of one of the Giunta, the famous printers of Florence and Venice. The family was established at Troyes and had taken the name of Larivey or LArrivey, by way of translation from giunto. Pierre Larivey appears to have cast horoscopes, and to have acted as clerk to the chapter of the church of St. Étienne, of which he eventually became a canon. He has no claim to be the originator of French comedy. The Corrivaux of Jean de la Taille dates from 1562, but Larivey naturalized the Italian comedy of intrigue in France. He adapted, rather than translated, twelve Italian comedies into French prose. The first volume of the Comédies facétieuses appeared in 1579, and the second in 1611. Only nine in all were printed. 1 The licence of the manners depicted in these plays is matched by the coarseness of the expression. Lariveys merit lies in the use of popular language in dialogue, which often rises to real excellence, and was not without influence on Molière and Regnard. Molières LAvare owes something to the scene in Lariveys masterpiece, Les Esprits, where Séverin laments the loss of his purse, and the opening scene of the piece seems to have suggested Regnards Retour imprévu. It is uncertain whether Lariveys plays were represented, though they were evidently written for the stage. In any case prose comedy gained very little ground in popular favour before the time of Molière. Larivey was the author of many translations, varying in subject from the Facétieuses nuits (1573) of Straparola to the Humanité de Jésus-Christ (1604) from Pietro Aretino.