FONTAINE, JEAN DE LA. 



FONTAINE, PIERRE-FRANCOIS-LEONARD. 



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would be neutralised by the consideration that some of the most 

 charactt ristic papers of Swift upon whom probably some of the 

 peculiarities of Mr. Fonblanque's style are founded equally deal with 

 matters whose interest is now wholly passed away, except as mani- 

 festations of the rare skill which has given them a long vitality. It 

 is always interesting to see how passing topics, which gradually grow 

 dim as they recede into the historical distance, were viewed under 

 the strong light of contemporary judgments, expounded by men of 

 remarkable talent. Those who would judge how the political circum- 

 stances of this country were viewed at a time when every great 

 improvement which distinguishes the present age was struggling with 

 the most inveterate prejudice and the most fiery opposition, should 

 read Mr. Fonblanque's ' England under Seven Administrations,' pub- 

 lished in 1837. This is a selection of his articles from the ' Examiner.' 

 They will thence learn also, how surely, however gradually, public 

 opinion is formed under the constant vigilance of a free press ; and 

 how large a measure of gratitude is due to those who, possessing the 

 high responsibilities of the journalist, wield the powers of great 

 abilities and established reputations, for the advancement of real 

 improvement without wild innovation; and for the destruction of 

 evil principles and gross abuse*, without resorting to that personal 

 defamation which was the chief weapon of those who once laboured 

 to oppose all national progress. In 1852 Mr. Fonblanque was appointed 

 Director of the Statistical Department of the Board of Trade, vacant 

 by the dtath of Mr. Porter an office of great public usefulness thus 

 properly bestowed upon a man of letters. In the conduct of the 

 4 Examiner ' Mr. Fonblanque was for some years assisted by Mr. John 

 Forster; and under that gentleman's responsible editorship, since 

 1846, the paper has fully maintained its reputation for vigour and 

 honesty, for brilliancy of style, and soundness of judgment. 



FONTAINE, JEAN DE LA, was born in 1621 at Chateau-Thierry, 

 where his father was Maitre dea Eaux et des Forets. No great 

 attention was paid to his education, and it is said that he did not 

 display any sort of talent till he had attained the age of twenty-two. 

 His genius was first called forth ou his hearing read an ode by 

 Malherbe, when he is reported to have exclaimed, " I also am a 

 poet ! " At first he took Malherbe for his model, but afterwards 

 turned his attention to the works of Rabelais, Voiture, and Clement 

 Uarot. His father, delighted with his imitations of his favourite 

 authors, thought him a prodigy of poetic genius, and a relation 

 advised him to study the classics. A translation of Terence's ' Eunuch,' 

 published by La Fontaine in 1654, was the fruit of this advice. He 

 was much delighted with the Italian authors, especially Machiavelli, 

 whom ho chiefly admired for his little novels. On the death of his 

 father, he succeeded to his office, which he filled inefficiently, aud 

 took a wife, with whom he lived unhappily, and from whom he finally 

 separated. In fact, he was of too indolent and improvident a dispo- 

 sition for any of the common avocations of life ; he does not seeui to 

 have had any absolute vice, but to have gone on in his own lounging 

 way without taking any interest in what was passing around him. In 

 an epitaph on himself he describes his life as having been occupied 

 with sleeping and doing nothing ; in the latter category he evidently 

 includes the writings of his poems, which he probably threw 

 off when in a happy vein without giving himself any great exer- 

 tion. Some verses of La Fontaine happening to fall in the way 

 of the exiled Duchcsse de Bouillon, who was residing at Chateau 

 Thierry, she caused the author to be introduced to her, and took 

 him with her to Paris when she returned. Here the superintendent 

 Fuuquet became his Maecenas, and placed his name on a list of 

 pensions which he allowed to various persons of merit. On the 

 exile of this minister La Fontaine wrote a pathetic elegy. Though 

 many distinguished persons honoured him with their patronage, his 

 Ignorance of the world and his habitual carelessness would have 

 plunged him into difficulties had not a liberal lady, Madame Sabliere, 

 taken him into her house, where he resided for twenty years in 

 perfect tranquillity. A well-known story gives a good idea of La 

 Fontaine's quiet lazy disposition. Madame Sabliero having had ooca- 

 ioii to part with her servants, said to a friend, " I have now got rid 

 of all my animals but three my dog, my cat, and La Fontaine." 



In Kii4 he was received into the Academy as successor to Colbert, 

 not without opposition from the graver sort, on account of the 

 licentiousness of some of his works. However he triumphed over 

 Boileau, who was the rival candidate. The king, indignant at this, 

 delayed giving assent to his admission, but on the death of M. 

 Jiezoni, and the election of Boileau to fill his place, the king expressed 

 liU approbation of the choice of La Fontaine. On the death of his 

 benefactress, La Fontaine was agaiu reduced to difficulties, and would 

 have been forced to accept an offer of St. Evrcmond to take him to 

 England, had not the Duke of Burgundy as-isted him. In 1692, 

 when he became seriously ill, the Abb(S Pougit paid him a visit to 

 attend to his spiritual welfare. La Fontaine submitted to the dictates 

 of the abbe", though hfl was somewhat restive ou two points. In the 

 first place, the abbe 1 demanded a public apology for bis licentious 

 tales ; in the second, a solemn promise not to give to the actors a 

 comedy which he had written. He made the required apology, but 

 he applied to the Sorbonne before he yielded to the second demand ; 

 however, receiving an unfavourable answer, he committed the comedy 

 to the flames. In 1?93 La Fontaine btcatne worse, aud was oven 



reported dead ; but he recovered, and devoted himself to a translation 

 of the hymns of the church and other religious works. He would 

 now have been almost alone in the world, if a friend, M. D'Hervart, 

 had not kindly offered him an asylum ia his owa house. He died 

 in 1695. 



The works by which La Fontaine is known are hia Talea and his 

 Fables. The former have a very equivocal set of readers, and are 

 seldom mentioned in society ; the latter belong to that small class of 

 works the reputation of which never fades, and which are almost as 

 well known at present as they were iu tha 17th century. Innu- 

 merable are the editions of these fables, and great is the field they 

 have offered for the ingenuity of artists in furnishing illustrations. 

 To say nothing of the various unornamented editions, they appear in 

 every variety of shape, from an ISmo with vignettes to a huge folio 

 with large and elaborate plates. It is remarkable that La Fontaino 

 never (or rarely) invented his subjects : his tales are taken from 

 Boccaccio, Machiavelli, Ariosto, aud others; his fables are chiefly 

 selected from -<Esor>. It is not the matter of his compositions, but 

 the manner in which he tells a tale, that constitutes his merit. His 

 narrative is marked by that ease and grace which are to be perceived, 

 not described. Curiosity will cause a reader to wade through a new 

 story even when indifferently written ; but a man who, by his mere 

 manner of narrating, can make a vast number of readers peruse a 

 series of narratives, with every incident of which they are perfectly 

 acquainted must have talents great indeed. 



FONTAINE, PIERRE-FRAN^OIS-LEONARD, was born at Pou- 

 toise, department of Seine-et-Oise, France, in 1762, and through a life 

 of unusual duration, was associated with many of the chief buildings of 

 his country. He has been called the father of the modern French school 

 of architects though this may refer to his years more than to rela- 

 tion of style. He began the study of architecture under Peyre the 

 younger ; and hero was formed with Charles Percier, one of his fellow- 

 students, an intimate friendship, broken only by the death of the 

 latter, and an union of two artists both possessed of great though 

 diverse talent, which largely operated upon architecture, aud especially 

 upon its departments, decorative and ornamental art. [PERCIER, 

 CHARLES]. 



In 1785, Fontaine obtained the second grand prize for architecture ; 

 and, in consequence of the high merit of his work, was made a 

 pensioner of the academy which the French maintain at Rome. 

 There, in the course of their architectural studies, the French students 

 select models from the ruins, which they measure and draw, designing 

 the missing portions. Fontaine however undertook to present the 

 restoration of the entire city of Rome, as it was in the time of the 

 ( '.osars. His drawings procured him an extraordinary prize of 3000 

 francs. Soon after his return to France, the revolution commenced. 

 Fontaine, during the most terrible events of that time, passed over 

 to England, and a few years elapsed era he and hia friend Percier 

 could be called upon for any practical exemplification of their 

 talent. But during the consulate, the friends were entrusted with the 

 work of restoring the palace of Malmaison. On attaining the imperial 

 dignity, Napoleon I. conceived sonio vast projects : ho named Foutaina 

 his architect, and required of him the restoration of all the palaces, 

 and the completion of those of the Louvre and T uileries. He also 

 commanded the erection of the triumphal arch of the Carrousel, an-' 

 the preparation of plans for a large palace which he proposed to have 

 built for the king of Rome, upon the heights of Chaillot, but which 

 was not completed. Such important works occupied Funtaiuo and 

 Percier during the whole period of the empire. After the events of 

 1814 and 1815, Fontaine was named architect to the kiug, aud he 

 retained that position till the events of 1848. He then decliued a 

 similar position under the provisional government, by whom how- 

 ever he was made president of the Council of Civil Buildings. 



Amongst his chief works during the reigns of Louis XVIII., Charles 

 X., and Louis-Philippe, may be named the grand staircase of the 

 Louvre, and the halls called after 'Charles X., the funereal chapel of 

 the Rue d'Anjou-Saint-Houord, and the complete restoration of the 

 Palais-Royal. For the uuiuu of the Louvre aud the Tuileries, projects 

 had been prepared from 1800 by tha chief French arehitects. The 

 arch of the Carrousel, by Percier and Fontaine, was commenced iu 1800, 

 and in 1811 the plau of the same architects for the extension of the 

 Louvre having been approved of, a building 700 feet in length was 

 erected enclosing the Carrousel ou the north side. Iu thu reiyn of 

 Louis XVIII., from 1820 to 1823, the new wing was extended 70 

 or 80 feet ; but the reign of Louis-Philippe was occupied in other 

 works; and the original project remiined in abeyance till agaiu taken 

 up by the aid of another architect under the present emperor. 



The manner of Percier aud Fontaine was founded upon the study 

 of the antique Roman architecture, of which character of art, the 

 decorative sculptures of the Arc du Carrousel present admirable 

 adaptations. Their work, published in 1812, entitled 'Recueil de 

 Decorations Interieures,' comprises designs for all kinds of furniture, 

 and fittings for interiors of houses ; and, together with their example, 

 had a wide influence upon general taste. This has been since inoditied 

 by more discursive study of models, especially those of the Renaissance 

 period. Amongst their other publications were one illustrative of the 

 chief villas of Rome and its euviroiis; illustrations of the ceremonies 

 at the coronation, and at the marriage of Napoloon ; plain of the palace 



