The History of the Crusades (vol. 1 of 3) — John Shaqi
The History of the Crusades (vol. 1 of 3)Michaud, J. Fr. (Joseph Fr.)
History
The History of the Crusades (vol. 1 of 3)
Michaud, J. Fr. (Joseph Fr.)
Crusades
he was ill, and gone home; and contrived to lead them a long useless
search in a way directly opposite to that which he knew the late
prisoner had taken. Michaud’s escape was a happy one; for that very
day, the council had condemned him to death. Poor Giguet’s friendly
zeal cost him nearly a month’s imprisonment, and placed his life even
in jeopardy.
The career of Buonaparte was so successful, that, at length, further
resistance seemed useless, and Michaud even wrote complimentary verses
on the marriage of Napoleon with Maria Louisa, and upon the birth
of the young king of Rome. But this submission to circumstances was
no voluntary homage; he was still at heart faithfully attached to
the Bourbons. For a length of time he resisted the tempting offers
of the emperor, and one of his refusals, for its wit, if not for
its patriotism, almost deserves to be placed by the side of Andrew
Marvel’s. Fontaines, Buonaparte’s emissary, said to him: “There must
be an end to all resistance; it is diminishing every day. Come, do as
other men do. Look at Delille, for instance, he has just accepted a
pension of six thousand francs.” “Oh! as to that,” replied Michaud,
“he is so frightened, that he would accept a pension of a hundred
thousand francs, if you were to offer it to him.” Posterity, perhaps,
may be thankful that he was driven from politics to literature. During
one of his necessary exiles, he had written his beautiful poem of “Le
Printemps d’un Proscrit:” he afterwards became associated with his
brother as a bookseller, and planned and executed the works of which
we will furnish a list. Whatever opinion might be entertained of his
talents, it is more than probable that without his implied submission
to Buonaparte, he never would have obtained that object of the hopes of
all French authors, the immortal fauteuil in the Academy. This honour
he attained in 1813, and, upon the publication of his fourth volume of
the “History of the Crusades,” had the gratification of signing himself
“Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem,” and “Knight of the
Holy Sepulchre:” titles bestowed upon him, unasked, by the commanders
representing the order of St. John of Jerusalem in France.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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