VILLEMAIN, AIJKL F. 



V 1 U< i IN I A. 



743 



to the public lis first work, "The History of 

 < 'ronnvell, according to tin- Memoirs of tho 

 Time anil tho Parliamentary Kecords.' 1 Th'n 

 work was iniicli admired for tin- .simple elo- 

 of it> stsle ;ui(l its synipatliy with mod- 

 liheralism in its political tone, and was 

 t -.-inflated into most of the languages of Eu- 

 rope. It was about this time that ho entered 

 upon political lite, hoing aftpointed, l>y direc- 

 tion of Louis XVIII., chief of tho division of 

 printing and of books, and subsequently, under 

 tin- l>cca/N ministry, Master of Requests to 

 the Council of State. Both these posts ap- 

 pertained to the censorship of the press. In 

 i^-Jit ho was made a Chevalier of tho Legion 

 of Honor, and in 1821 chosen a member of 

 tho French Academy as successor to his old 

 patron, De Fontanes. For tho next five or six 

 I M. Villemain devoted himself soduously 

 to the duties of his professorship, publishing 

 in 1822 a translation of tho new manuscript 

 of "The Republic" of Cicero, then recently 

 discovered by Cardinal Mai, with a preliminary 

 essay and critical notes, and in 1825, Apropos 

 of tho revolution in Greece, two works rela- 

 tive to that country : " Lascasis, or the Greeks 

 of the Fifteenth Century," a dramatic study, 

 and an " Essay on tho Condition of the Greeks 

 after tho Mussulman Conquest." M. Villemain 

 \vas at heart a Liberal, as his history of Crom- 

 well demonstrated ; and, as the Bourbons grow 

 more intolerant and crushed with greater se- 

 verity the freedom of tho press each year, his 

 love of liberty overpowered his devotion to 

 tho royal family, and he began to lean toward 

 tho opposition. In 1827, having resigned his 

 professorship, ho was appointed by the Acad- 

 emy, with Lacretello and Chateaubriand, to 

 draw up the protest of the Academy addressed 

 to Charles X., against the reiistablishment of a 

 rigorous censorship of the press. This pro- 

 test cost him his position as Master of Re- 

 quests, but ho went back to his professorship 

 at the Sorbonne, where he was received with 

 tho most hearty ovations, and attained a great- 

 er popularity than ever before. In 1830 he 

 was elected to the Chamber of Deputies from 

 Evreux, and at once took his place in tho 

 ranks of the Liberal party. lie took an active 

 part in the discussion and labors which ensued 

 upon the transformation of the government 

 into a constitutional monarchy, was a mem- 

 ber of the committee on tho revision of the 

 charter, and succeeded in incorporating into it 

 some of its best features. lie was not long in 

 the Chamber, for in 1831 Louis Philippe ap- 

 pointed him a member of the Royal Council 

 of Public Instruction, and in 1832 vice-presi- 

 dent of that Council. In the same year ho 

 was made a peer of France, and soon after 

 elected perpetual secretary of the French 

 Academy. His action in the Council was con- 

 sistent with his avowed opinions in regard to 

 the freedom of tho press, and brought him 

 once or twice into collision with the ministry. 

 In tho Soult Cabinet of May, 1839, he was 



a member, as Minister of Public Instruction, 

 and, with tin- i-xc.-ption of the brief duration 

 ofthe Thiers Cabin, -t of March to October, 1840, 

 remained in that position till December, 1844. 

 To him was assigned tho impossible task of 

 framing a law, organizing secondary instruc- 

 tion, which should satisfy classes diametrically 

 opposed to each other, tho clergy and the lib- 

 erals tho King and the university, tho parties 

 of the right and the left. After four years of 

 harassing labor his project was laid before 

 tho Assembly, but it was, of course, unsatis- 

 factory, and with broken health M. Villemain 

 resigned his office.- The Government proposed 

 to grant him a pension of 3,000 per annum, 

 with reversion to his family, but he refused to 

 accept it. His health restored, he devoted 

 himself with now zeal to literature, and to 

 tho duties of his scholarship at the Academy. 

 In 1843 he was promoted to the rank of Grand 

 Officer of the Legion of Honor. He took no 

 active part in politics from this time onward, 

 remaining quiet during the Revolution of 1848, 

 the coup d'etat of December, 1851, and the 

 subsequent career of Napoleon III. The lit- 

 erature and tho history of the past had greater 

 charms for him than the life of tho present 

 age. Among the Frenchmen of the nine- 

 teenth century he stands preeminent for tho 

 grace and purity of his style and the elevated 

 tone of his writings. His principal works 

 were : " A course of French Literature of the 

 Eighteenth Century," in five vols., which has 

 been translated into English by Mr. W. Chase ; 

 "Literary Addresses and Miscellanies," 1823; 

 "New Historic and Literary Miscellanies,'' 

 1827; "Studies in Ancient and Foreign Lit- 

 erature," 1846 ; " A View of Christian Elo- 

 quence in the Fourth Century," 1849; 

 "Studies in Modern History," 1846; "Remi- 

 niscences of the History and Literature of our 

 Times," 1856; "Selection of Studies in Con- 

 temporary Literature," 1857; "The Tribune 

 of our Day, M. de Chateaubriand," 1857; 

 " Essays upon the Genius of Pindar and upon 

 Lyric Poesy," 1859. Aside from these there 

 was an almost endless variety of essays, stud- 

 ies, addresses, notices and reports, addressed 

 to the French Academy from his prolific pen, 

 and many occasional publications, all exhib- 

 iting his peculiarly finished and classic style. 

 He had been long engaged upon an elaborate 

 "History of Gregory VII.," which was about 

 ready for the press at the time of his death. 



VIRGINIA. The bill for the admission of 

 Virginia into the Union having become a law 

 on tho 26th of January, on the following day a 

 military order was issued by General Canby 

 transferring the government of the State to 

 the civil authorities, and Governor Walker 

 issued a proclamation for the assembling of 

 the Legislature on the 8th of February. The 

 Legislature then convened, and continued in 

 session until July llth. The Governor rec- 

 ommended that the immediate attention of 

 the Legislature should be directed to filling the 



