ARNAULT, ANTOINE VINCENT (1766-1834), French dramatist, was born in
Paris in January 1766. His first play, _Marius a Minturnes_ (1791),
immediately established his reputation. A year later he followed up his
first success with a second republican tragedy, _Lucrece_. He left
France during the Terror and on his return was arrested by the
revolutionary authorities, but was liberated through the intervention of
Fabre d'Eglantine and others. He was commissioned by Bonaparte in 1797
with the reorganization of the Ionian Islands, and was nominated to the
Institute and made secretary general of the university. He was faithful
to his patron through his misfortunes, and after the Hundred Days
remained in exile until 1819. In 1829 he was re-elected to the Academy
and became perpetual secretary in 1833. Others of his plays are _Blanche
et Montcassin, ou les Venitiens_ (1798); and _Germanicus_ (1816), the
performance of which was the occasion of a disturbance in the _parterre_
which threatened serious political complications. His tragedies are
perhaps less known now than his _Fables_ (1813, 1815 and 1826), which
are written in very graceful verse. Arnault collaborated in a _Vie
politique et militaire de Napoleon_ (1822), and wrote some very
interesting _Souvenirs d'un sexagenaire_ (1833), which contain much
out-of-the-way information about the history of the years previous to
1804. Arnault died at Goderville on the 16th of September 1834.
His eldest son, Emilien Lucien (1787-1863), wrote several tragedies, the
leading roles in which were interpreted by Talma.
See Sainte-Beuve, _Causeries du lundi_, vol. 7. Arnault's _Oeuvres
completes_ (4 vols.) were published at the Hague and Paris in
1818-1819 and again (8 vols.) at Paris in 1824.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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