The Memoirs of François René Vicomte de Chateaubriand sometime Ambassador to England, Volume 1 (of 6): Mémoires d'outre-tombe, volume 1Chateaubriand, François-René, vicomte de
General
The Memoirs of François René Vicomte de Chateaubriand sometime Ambassador to England, Volume 1 (of 6): Mémoires d'outre-tombe, volume 1
Chateaubriand, François-René, vicomte de
Chateaubriand, François-René, vicomte de, 1768-1848
[251] It is true that Le Brun wrote trenchant versus against Bonaparte,
but he kept them to himself, and took care to publish those in which he
extolled him. Bonaparte awarded him a pension of 6000 francs.--B.
[252] Chamfort was his adopted name. He never knew his real name nor
that of his father.--T.
[253] Jacques Delille (1738-1813) translated the _Georgics_, the
_Æneid_, and _Paradise Lost_ into French verse. He had a facile talent
for versification, and was admitted to the French Academy in 1774. He
appears to have been in orders, and undoubtedly for some time held the
abbey of Saint-Séverin, but he never followed an ecclesiastical career,
and he married after the Revolution.--T.
[254] Claude Carloman de Rulhière (1735-1791) was elected to the
Academy in 1787. He commenced life as aide-de-camp to the Marshal
de Richelieu in Guyenne. He then became secretary to the Baron de
Breteuil, whom he accompanied on his embassy to Russia in 1760. In
1765, having meantime enjoyed a pension of 6000 francs for that
purpose, he completed his _Histoire de la révolution de Russie en
1762._ This work, however, could not be published during the lifetime
of Catherine II., and it eventually saw the light in 1797, six years
after the death of the author. He published some poetry, in addition to
the above and other historical works.--T.
[255] The Comtesse d'Egmont was the daughter of the Maréchal de
Richelieu, and it was she who urged Rulhière to adopt a literary
career.--B.
[256] Charles Palissot de Montenoy (1730-1814), author of a number of
more or less polemical comedies, poems, and historical works.--T.
[257] Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799), author of
the _Barbier de Séville_, the _Folle Journée, ou le Manage do Figaro,
Tarare_, &c.--T.
[258] Jean François Marmontel (1723-1799), author of the _Contes
moraux_ and a large number of miscellaneous and voluminous works.--T.
[259] Marie Joseph de Chénier (1764-1811), the poet, brother of André
de Chénier. Chateaubriand succeeded to his chair at the Institute.--T.
[260] Urquhart and Motteux' RABELAIS, Book II. chap. 6: _How Pantagruel
met with a Limosin, who affected to speak in learned phrase._--T.
[261] Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585), the leading French poet of his
day, but also noted for a pedantic affectation of erudition and a
barbarous neologism which made Boileau say of him:
Que sa muse en français parla grec et latin.
("That his muse, speaking French, talked in Latin and Greek").--T.
[262] Chateaubriand wrote this page in June 1821; Fontanes had died on
the 17th of March previous.--B.
[263] Rosanbo was guillotined on 1 Floréal Year II. (20 April 1794).--B.
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