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DKSMAH1S, JOSEPII-FRANCOIS. 



DESSALINES, JAC', 



87 



at her wort popular Idyls ; indeed her fame rests ou lier Idyls alone, 

 the rest c.' l;r work* having falluu into oblivi m. Slio died in 1684, 

 leaving a daughter, Antoinette-Theresa Deshuulieres (born 1662, died 

 1718). who obtained Rome celebrity as poetess, and whose workt 

 are oft-n bound up with those of her mother. 



La Harpe, after Haying that the Idyls are the only works of Madame 

 Deshoulieres worth noticing, limit* his commendation to three of 

 them. He justly censures her fur treating books, flowers, Ac., as if 

 they were living persons. Thus, for instance, she envies a streamlet 

 for bearing fish without pain to itaelf, and nsks it why it muumir.i 

 when it is so happy ? However, her little poem of ' Les Oiseaux,' 

 cited in La Harm's ' Court <le la LitWraturc,' is written with great 

 ligfatuess and elegance, and fully deserves the commendations bestowed 

 on it by that severe though impartial critic. 



-MAULS, .TOSKl'H KK\N< olS-KDOUARD DE CORSEM- 

 BLEU, was born in the year 1722, at Sully sur-Loire. His father 

 designed him for the law, but he devote 1 himself to poetry, and at the 

 age of eighteen went to Paris, whore ho was well received by Voltaire, 

 and admitted into high society. He distinguished himself by a number 

 of little poems, which enjoyed a considerable reputation in tlieir day, 

 but which, as most of them are suited to particular persons and occa- 

 tions, and moreover are filled with mythological allusions, have little 

 interest at prexcnt. The Greek mythology was put to a peculiar use 

 in the days of Louis XIV. and those of our own Queen Anno : poems 

 were written altogether in the court taste, and yet perpetual references 

 were made to pagan gods ; not the slightest attempt however being 

 made to write in the true spirit of the Greeks. Hence a variety of 

 little works, which acquired a great reputation daring the reign of a 

 certain fa-hion, have fallen into oblivion on that fashion having passed 

 away. The poems of Desmahis are precisely of this class. He wrot i 

 some comedies, of which ' L'Impertineut ' was very successful iu its 

 day, but which soon passed into oblivion. Desinahis was greatly 

 blamed for the articles ' Fat ' and ' Femme ' in the ' Encyclopedic.' 

 Instead of writing something that contained information, be made 

 two satirical essays in the style of Rochefoucauld. He died in 

 ITtL 



DK.SMOULINS, CAMILLE, was born at Guise, in Picardy, in 1762. 

 His father having obtained for him a free education at the college of 

 Louis le Grand, in Paris, he commenced hia studies there in 1776. 

 At thin public school he met with Robespierre, when an intimacy was 

 formed which lasted for eighteen years, and this friendship, in the 

 sequel, twice icreencd him from prosecution. He finished his course 

 of education by the study of the law, and was admitted as an advocate 

 to the parliament of Paris. Having embraced with ardour the new 

 principles of liberty, and issued from time to time several inflammatory 

 pamphlets ' J-a Philosophic an Peuple Francais,' appeared in 1758, 

 and 'La Krauce Libre' iu 1789 these political appeals at once 

 brought him into notice as a bold reformer ; and they contain many 

 of the germs of that socialism which has been more recently formed 

 into a doctrine. 



On the 12th of July 1789 young Desmoulins, in the garden of the 

 Palais-Royal, harangued the people on the dismissal of Nccker, and 

 other exciting topics of the day ; described with extreme exaggeration 

 the conduct of the court, and gave the first signal of revolt by 

 brandishing a sword and discharging a pistol. He then invited all 

 the bystanders to arm themselves like him, if they did not wish to 

 perish in a new massacre of St. Bartholomew, which was impending. 

 In the heat of this address he tore off a srn.ill twig from one of the 

 trees an example which was followed by most of the multitude. 

 This led to the immediate adoption of the green ribbon as the national 

 cockade, afterwards replaced by tho tricolor. He then moved out 

 of the garden, and, followed by thousands, instigated them to thut 

 pillage of arms which prepared the way to the capture of tho Bastille 

 on tho Hth. 



Camilla Desmoulins being afflicted with a most indistinct utterance, 

 which degenerated into a stutter when he was unusually excited, was 

 continually driven to his pen to proclaim his opinions. His next 

 pamphlet was ' La Lanterue aux Parisiens,' a violent attack on all 

 tho*-- who were averse to the revolution. He now adopted the title 

 of 'Attorney-General to the Lantern,' in reference to the summory 

 executions iu the streets, when the mob took the law into their own 

 hands, and hung up those they considered their opponents by the long 

 ropes to which the lamps were suspended. This was followed by a 

 serial publication iu numbers, called Les Revolutions de France et 

 de Brabant,' which had great influence on the progress of events). On 

 the 2nd of August 1790, in the Assembles Constituanto, Malouet called 

 attention to the malicious misrepresentations of this d.magogue, and 

 concluded his denunciation in these words : " Let him excuse himself, 

 if he dare." ' 80 I do dare !" exclaimed Desmouliu*, who was in one 

 of the galleries. This turbulent politician bad been a visitor at the 

 Palaw Royal, and a constant guest at the table of the Dnke of Orleans 

 before th revolution, and had met Mirabeau, Petion, Danton, and ; 

 BarcTd in the e laloons, where the first riots had been anticipated, and 

 discussed, and organised with funds supplied by the prince. Incapable 

 of taking the lead himself, he first attached himself to Mirabeau, and 

 after the death of that great tribune ho became the instrument of 

 Danton. In 1791 he married Lucile 1 'uptown, nn ill<ijiti:nato daughter 

 of onu of tho chief officer* iu the household of tin- Duke of OrK'an : 



the two Robespierre*, Danton, Petion, and a great number of repub- 

 licans were present at tho ceremony. 



Desmoulins was one of the chief instigators of the insurrection of 

 the 10th of August 1792, and appeared amoug the insurgents during 

 the storming of the Tuileries. He was likewise implicated in the 

 massacres of September, as well as Danton, but he succeeded iu saving 

 several valuable liven. Notwithstanding his defective utterance he 

 became a member of the National Convention, and voted for the 

 death of Louis XVI. 



No man perhaps contributed more than Camilla Desmoulins to the 

 fall of the Girondists ; his ' Histoire des Brissotins,' which professed 

 to unmask their schemes and objects, had as much influence ou the 

 destruction of that party as the denunciations from the Mountain, or 

 ultra-republican party. This powerful satire contained a remorseless re- 

 trospect of the early life of Brissot, their leader, and in it was comprised 

 all the wont calumnies which had been invented against Brissot for 

 tha preceding four years. After tho execution of t^ic Girondists, 

 Desmouliue attacked the fiction of Hubert in the same manner, and 

 never deaUted until ho had sent them to the guillotine. Fatig 

 length of so much slaughter he wanted to stop the impetus of tho 

 Revolution, and united his efforts with those of Danton and Lacroix, 

 to propose a new course of moderation and indulgence. In the 

 beginning of 1794 he published ' Le Vieux Cordelier,' advocating 

 these new principles ; but his exuberant fancy and irrepressible spirit 

 of raillery carried him beyond the limits of prudence, and in one 

 passage that ridicule touched the dictator. This act of rashness cost 

 him hia life. Robespierre, who felt no animosity towards those 

 whom he did nut fear, intended to overlook this folly, and proposed 

 to burn the last number of Camille's work. " Bruler n'est pas 

 rdpondre," cried the unfortunate man. Then his school com; 

 withdrew his shielding hand, the Committee of Public Safety ordered 

 his arrest, he was carried to the cells of the Couciergerie on the 

 30th of March, and executed with the Dautouists, April 5, 171' 4. 

 During UU transit iu the fatal tumbril he was in a state of extreme 

 excitement, reminding the people that he hod called them to arnu 

 uu the 14th of July. He was almost naked when he reached the 

 scaffold. His wife Lucile was executed soon after. 



(Thiera; Bioyraphie UnvcerteUe; Rbbe; Michel 



DESNOYKR3, AUGUST ii - GASPARD - LOUIS - BOUCHER, 

 BAUO.V, a celebrated French line engraver, was born at Paris on the 

 20th of December 1779. Under Lethicre, at the Academy, and as 

 assistant to M. Darcis, he made such rapid progress that in his seven- 

 teenth year he was employed to execute works on his own account. A 

 ' Venus desarmant 1' Amour,' after R. Lefevre, obtained him a prize of 

 2000 franca at the Exposition of 1799. In 1801 he received a com- 

 mission from Messrs. Morel d'Arlcux and Foubert to engrave Raflaelle'a 

 ' Belle Jardiniere' in the gallery of the Luxembourg. This was really 

 the turning point iu his career. Although far inferior to many of hia 

 subsequent works, M. Desuoyers showed in this plate that he could 

 really appreciate tho refinement and elevation of the greatest of 

 painters, and faithfully render hU characteristics. He now found 

 ample employment, but though he continued to engrave from th 

 pictures of the leading French artists, especially Ingres and Girard, it 

 was to Rafikelle that he really dedicated his burin, and beyond any of 

 his countrymen he has succeeded as an engraver of the works of 

 RaSaelle. HU chief engravings after Rafiaelle are (to give the I 

 titles) ' La Vierge au D jnaltre,' ' La Vierge au Lingo,' ' La Vierge h la 

 Chaise' (an exquisite version), ' La Vierge au Poisson,' ' La Visitation,' 

 ' Ste, Catharine,' ' La Vierge d'Albe,' ' La Vierge au Berceau,' ' La 

 Belle Jardiniere de Florence,' and tho ' Transfiguration ' a magnifi- 

 cent work, for which he went to Rome to make the copy, 

 engravings from Raflaello are marked by great purity of style, a clear 

 and delicate line, and a considerable feeling : perhaps no other living 

 engraver has on the whole rendered the works of RaOaelle so 

 admirably. M. Desnoyer has also engraved several of the works ol 

 Leonardo da Vinci, Poussin, and others of the great masters. During 

 the n-igu of Napoleon I. he was several times called on to engrave 

 court-portraits of the Emperor and of the Empress Marie-Louise. 



M. Desnoyers was elected a Member of the Institute in 1816; 

 appointed chief engraver to the king in 1825 ; created baron iu 1828 ; 

 and an officer of tho Legion of Honour iu 1835. 

 i-'i'i, in A'r/ui). litog. Ofn.) 



DESSALI'NES, JACQUES, a negro from the Gold Coast of Africa, 

 was imported into the French colony of St. Domingo as a slave. 

 Having become free like all his fellow slaves by a decree of the Con- 

 vention, 4th of February 1794, be soon figured among the foremost in 

 the insurrection of the blacks against the white colonists. He 

 attached himself to the negro chief, Toussaint 1'Ouverture, who made 

 him hU first lieutenant. His intrepidity, his extreme activity :md 

 quickne.-s of movement*, distinguished him in tho war ugaiust the 

 French troops, and particularly against Generals Rigaud and Leclerc 

 in 1802. After Toussaint's capture by the French, Dessalines sub- 

 mitted for awhile, and accepted an amnesty, but he was in a short 

 time at the head of a new insurrection against General Rochambeau, 

 Leclerc's successor, and contributed greatly to the victory of the 

 blacks at tho battle of St. Marc, which decided the evacuation uf tin- 

 island by the French in October 1303. Dossalints encouraged n 

 general massacre of the whites, without distinction of age or sex. 



