1831.] The Character and Anecdoles of Nicolas Chamforl. 37l 



passes before our eyes, like a series of anatomical plates, his wonderful 

 delineation of their loves and caprices, their devotion and hypocrisy, 

 their enthusiasm and their hatred. His history seems to be the trans- 

 cript of a manuscript Avritten by the hand of Nature herself. 



A brief account of the author whose name is at the head of this paper, 

 more especially as he is very little known even to French scholars in this 

 country, may not be uninteresting to the reader. 



Sebastian-Roch-Nicolas Chamfort was bom, in 1741, in a village near 

 Chamont, in Auvergne. Unnoticed and unregarded by his father (he 

 was illegitimate), he interests our feelings by the Avarm and glowing 

 affection with which, in his boyhood days, he conducted himself towards 

 his mother. Excluded by the prejudices of opinion, as his biographer 

 phrases it, from a place in honourable society, he devoted himself assi- 

 duously to the improvement of his talents, and finally obtained, by his 

 genius, what had been denied to his birth. His success at the imiversity 

 was proportionate to his merits. The second year he carried away all 

 the prizes. It was with this happy omen that young Chamfort con- 

 cluded his studies; and he entered upon the avocations of hfe with 

 nothing but virtue for his guide, and learning for his patrimony. After 

 many changes of place and occupation, he thought himself fortunate in 

 being appointed secretary to a wealthy gentleman cf Leige, who pro- 

 fessed himself to be a patron of letters, and offered the destitute student 

 his protection and assistance. But the Maecenas of Chamfort resembled 

 the JMeecenas of Horace no more than the Cicerone of Rome the Cicero 

 of the republican age — he had perceived the literary talent of his elite, 

 and had engaged him in the hope of appropriating the fame of some of 

 his compositions to himself But Chamfort scorned the idea of pander- 

 ing to the ignorance of the wealthy, and he returned to Paris as poor 

 and as independent as he had quitted it. He supported himself during 

 the two following years by contributions to various literary journals — 

 among others, to the Journal Enci/clopedique ; but his labour was harass- 

 ing, and his emolument trifling. His success in the literary world may 

 be dated from the publication of his Jeune Indicn, and was rapidly 

 increased by his Marckand de Smyrna, and other miscellaneous produc- 

 tions. His Eloges de Moliere cl La Fontaine obtained the prize proposed 

 by the French^Academy and the Academy of JMarseilles. His tragedy 

 of Mustapha el Zeangir, in which the queen is said to have discovered 

 some flattering references to herself, introduced the author to the notice 

 and favour of the court. He was, soon after, nominated " Secretaire 

 des Commandemens" to the Prince of Conde. 



So far the life of Chamfort had passed in a gentle and delightful sere- 

 nity ; but it was soon to be shaken into tumult by the rushing whirlwind 

 of the coming revolution. I am ready to believe that Chamfort united 

 himself, at least in sentiment, to the bands of eager and hot-headed 

 republicans from a conviction in his own mind that he was acting with 

 honour. He had, indeed, nothing to gain, but every thing to lose ; the 

 torrent of infidelity and blood which was roaring over the land, so far 

 from washing to his door, as it had done to that of thousands who were 

 anxiously watching its desolating progress, any fragment of the mighty 

 and costly shipwreck, carried away, on the contrary, even the little 

 which an active and not unprosperous life had enabled him to collect. 

 The first act of the Constitutional Assembly deprived him of his place 

 and pension in the Academy, to which he had been elected hi 1781. 



