[260] The _Chroniques de Saint-Denys_ or _Grandes chroniques de France_ were chronicles compiled from the earliest times of the French Monarchy by the Benedictines of Saint-Denis and kept in the treasury of the abbey. The Abbot of Saint-Denis used to appoint a monk as historiographer whose duty it was to follow the Court in order to collect and write down events as they occurred. On the death of the king, a history of his reign was drawn up from these notes, and this history, after being submitted to the Chapter, was incorporated in the _Grandes chroniques._ Suger, who became Abbot of Saint-Denis in 1122, collected all the chronicles compiled from the commencement of the Monarchy and himself wrote those of his own time. After the discovery of printing, an abstract of the _Grandes chroniques_ was prepared and published by Jean Chartier, the Benedictine, in 1476, under the title, _Chroniques de France depuis les Troiens jusqu'à la mort de Charles VII._, in 3 volumes 4to. They constitute the first French book known to have been printed in Paris. These three volumes, which brought up the History of France to 1461, were reprinted, with a continuation to 1513, in 1514. A more recent edition appeared in Paris in 1836 to 1841, in 6 volumes 8vo.--T. [261] Alfred Xavier Baron Dufougerais (1804-1874), a member of a royalist family, was a barrister in Paris when, in 1828, he became one of the proprietors and one of the editors of the _Quotidien._ In April 1831, he bought the _Mode, revue du monde élégant_ from Émile de Girardin, its founder, and turned it into a political organ. He kept the fashion article and plates, so as to justify the title and retain the advantages attaching to the speciality; but at the same time the paper, in his hands, became a formidable weapon against the Monarchy of July. Without being exactly a writer, Alfred Dufougerais possessed the journalistic instinct to a high degree, and, under his management, the _Mode_ soon took the leading place in the van-guard of the royalist press. In September 1834, the state of his health obliged him to transfer the ownership of his paper to other hands. Alfred Dufougerais, who was gifted with a genuine talent for speaking, preferred the contests of the bar to those of the press. He appeared in all the leading newspaper trials and soon became standing counsel to the royalist journals both in the provinces and in Paris. Among other feats, he thrice obtained the acquittal of the _Indépendant de l'Ouest_ at Laval. In 1849, Dufougerais was elected by the Department of the Vendée to the Chamber of Deputies, where he constantly voted with the Right until the _coup d'État_ of 2 December 1851, when he retired into private life.--B. [262] Charles Vicomte de Nugent, poet and prose-writer and a member of the editorial staff of the _Revenant_ and the _Mode._--B.