603 



MELCHIOR-FREDERIC. 



father assisted him in pursuing the requisite preparatory studies. At 

 what time he went to Rome, where, through the influence of M. de 

 Saiut-Aignant, the ambassador, he was admitted as a pensionary at the 

 French academy, is not precisely known, but he remained there three 

 years, after which he spent several more at Lyon where he commenced 

 the practice of his profession ; and besides the Exchange (afterwards 

 converted into the Protestant church), and some other works of less 

 importance, he executed one of the largest public edifices in that city, 

 the Great Hospital, the fagade of which is somewhat more than 1000 

 feet in extent. The distinction he thus acquired caused him to be 

 invited to Paris, where he was admitted into the Royal Academy of 

 Architecture. Within a short time an opportunity presenting itself of 

 revisiting Italy, in company with M. de Marigny (Madame Pompa- 

 dour's brother), the superintendent of the crown buildings, he availed 

 himself of it, and examined the antiquities of Psestum in 1750. In 

 1754 he was again employed at Lyon to erect the Grand Theatre, 

 which was capable of containing 2000 spectators, and was considered 

 to be excellently contrived in every respect, but has since been 

 replaced by another structure. 



It having been determined to rebuild the ancient and greatly decayed 

 church of St. Ge"ne"vieve, several architects presented designs for the 

 new edifice, among which those by Soufflot obtained the preference ; 

 and in 1757 the works commenced, but they proceeded so slowly, 

 that the ceremony of laying the first stone by Louis XV. did not take 

 place till the 6th of September, 1764. In this work Soufflot entirely 

 changed the system which had till then prevailed in all the modern 

 churches of Paris ; and although he could not attempt to rival the 

 magnitude of St. Peter's at Home, or St. Paul's, London, his aim seems 

 to have been to produce greatness of effect of a different kind, together 

 with decided difference of character. Avoiding two orders, as in the 

 latter building, and the attached columns and heavy attic of the 

 former, he has employed a single order of insulated columns 60 feet 

 high as a prostyle, occupying the entire width of the fagade at that 

 extremity of the cross ; and has moreover confined the order to that 

 feature of the building, the entablature alone being continued along 

 the other elevations, which else present little more than unbroken 

 surface of solid wall, a circumstance that gives the whole a degree of 

 severity, not to call it nakedness, that contrasts most strongly with 

 the~breaks and multiplicity of parts in the two other buildings. The 

 portico itself is therefore a feature which strikingly distinguishes this 

 from both the Italian and the English churches. Like St. Paul's, 

 Soufflot's edifice has a Corinthian peristyle of thirty columns, encircling 

 the tambour of the dome, with the difference that all the columns are 

 insulated, whereas in the other instance eight of them are attached to 

 four massifs, or piers. Another marked distinction in regard to the 

 effect of the dome in the exterior composition generally is, that the 

 plan of the building being a Greek cross, it comes in the centre, con- 

 sequently is not thrown so far back from the front as in the other two 

 instances. In the interior, again, Soufflot's dtsign differs from them 

 still more : it has colonnades, comparatively shallow as to depth, 

 instead of aisles separated from the naves by massive piers and arches; 

 neither has it any windows, except in the tambour of the dome and 

 the arches in the vaultings of the roof, so that the light is admitted 

 entirely from above. In consequence however of settlements and 

 fractures taking place, it was afterwards found necessary to deviate 

 from the original plan, filling up the spaces between the columns at 

 the four angles beneath the dome, so as to convert them into solid 

 piers. 



Soufflot did not live to see his great work completed, for he died on 

 the 29th of August, 1781, after which period many repairs in the con- 

 struction took place, an account of which, and criticisms upon the 

 building, may be found in Wood's 'Letters of an Architect,' vol. i. 

 At the time of the Revolution, the destination of the building 

 was changed, and it was then called the Pantheon, by which name it is 

 still generally spoken of, although now restored to its original purpose, 

 and the dome, &c. decorated with paintings by Gros and others. 

 Among other buildings by Soufflot may be mentioned the Ecole de 

 Droit (1775) in the Place du Pantheon (which last formed part of his 

 plan for a uniform architectural area round the church), the Orangery 

 at the Chateau de Menars, the sacristy of Notre Dame, and several 

 private hotels. 



SOULIE, MELCHIOR-FREDERIC, one of the most fertile writers 

 of the French Romantic school, was the son of a teacher of philosophy 

 at Toulouse, and was born at Foix, in the department of Ariege, 

 December 23, 1800. In 1808, his father having obtained employment 

 at Nantes, Frdde'ric Soulie" commenced his studies at the Ljce'e of 

 that city ; and afterwards completed them at Poitiers, Paris, and 

 Rennes, so migratory was his early life. In 1820 he accompanied his 

 father to Laval, where the elder Soulid had received an appointment 

 in a public office, and in this office the future novelist laboured also 

 assiduously for several years. The object of his father had been to 

 prepare him for the bar, and young Souae" having spent several years 

 in the study of law, was admitted an avocat, and waited for his 

 briefs, like other barristers. But his inclinations were for literature ; 

 he wrote pretty verses for his amusement, his letters already displayed 

 an elegant style, and a vein of exquisite pathos, if not of deep 

 reflection, pervaded all he produced. About the year 1825 his father's 

 desultory life brought the family once more to Paris ; when the young 



poet published a volume of fugitive pieces under the title of ' Amours 

 Frangaises.' The book did not sell ; but several of the poems it con- 

 tained have since been well spoken of. Freddric Soulie" at once took 

 his resolution, and unwilling to trust for his maintenance to literature 

 alone, sought for and accepted a situation as foreman to an upholsterer. 

 In this laborious employment he passed ten hours a day, and at night 

 he devoted one or two more to the production of his first drama, 

 ' Romeo et Juliette.' This play, though founded on the great tragedy 

 of Shakspere, which consequently afforded its adapter nearly all his 

 materials, took him three years to prepare. Nearly another year was 

 spent in vain endeavours to obtain from the managers permission to 

 read it ; at last he was fortunate enough to secure the intervention of 

 Jules Janin, who had read and admired some of his poems, and Soulid's 

 drama was represented with some e"clat at the theatre in 1828. From 

 that day be took his place as a man of letter?. In 1829 he produced 

 at the Odeon "his ' Christine h, Fontainebleau,' but it failed ; and in 

 1830 he began to write critical articles for the ' Mercure,' the ' Figaro,' 

 and the ' Voleur,' in all of which his genial spirit sought consolation 

 for his own failure, by his cordial panegyrics of other dramatists. 

 His ' Lusigny,' which was produced at the Thdatre Frangais in 1831 

 with better success, was followed in 1832 by hia ' Clotilde," the 

 triumph of which, both on the stage and in the drawing-room, was 

 absolute. 



Shortly after his ' Clotilde,' which established his reputation as a 

 dramatic writer, Fre'de'ric Soulie began to contribute a series of 

 romances in the shape of feuilletons to the newspapers. In this new 

 and lucrative class of literature, he became and continued for twelve 

 year?, 1833-45, the most popular of French romancists. The 'Deux 

 Cadavres ' was published in this form in 1833 ; the ' Vicomte de 

 Beziers' in 1834; the'Comte de Toulouse' in 1835; the ' Cointe de 

 Foix' in 1836; ' Un Ete"aMeudon' and 'Deux Sejours : Provence 

 et Paris' in 1837; 'L'homme de Lettres' in 1838. In this manner 

 upwards of thirty fictions, some of them of considerable length, were 

 produced. In 1842 appeared his ' M'e"moires du Diable,' the sale of 

 which was immense. It was the universal popularity of this novel 

 which stimulated Eugene Sue to undertake his ' Mysteres de Paris.' 

 Soon after this the success of Sue and Dumas in the s-ame class of 

 writing somewhat obscured the fame of Fre'de'ric Soulie", who witnessed 

 their sudden popularity without jealousy. But he never gave up his 

 connection with the newspapers, whose . proprietors to the last paid 

 him liberally for his works. In 1846 he bought an estate at Bievre, 

 where he died September 22, 1847. 



SOULT, NICOLAS JEAN-DE-DIEU, MARECHAL DUC DE 

 DALMATIE, was born at Saint Amand-du-Tarn, on the 29th of 

 March 1769, or, accoruing to some biographers, in 1765. He was the 

 son of a notary, but not being inclined to follow his father's calling, 

 and having made, it is said, but little progress at college, it was con- 

 sidered best to devote him to a military life, for which he manifested 

 more inclination. Consequently he was allowed to enlist as a private 

 iu the regiment of the Royale-Infanterie, on the 15th of April 1785. 

 So slow was his early advancement, that six years after, in 1791, he 

 had reached no higher grade than that of sergeant. In that year he 

 was noticed by old Marshal Luckner, who appointed him to discipline 

 a regiment of volunteers of the Upper Rhine, giving him a commission 

 of sub-lieutenant for that service. The great war shortly after opened 

 new paths to talent, and men of true capacity and courage were no 

 longer prevented, by court favour to high birth and family interest, 

 from ascending by degrees to the highest ranks for which nature had 

 fitted them. 



On the 29th of March 1793, Lieutenant Soult obtained credit for 

 his conduct at the combat of Oberfelsheim, under General Custine. 

 In November 1793, Hoche placed him on the staff of the army of La 

 Moselle, when, as captain, Soult led the attack of the left at the battle 

 of Weissenberg, and repulsed a body of Austrians. His next service 

 was in the Palatinate under General Lefebvre, who entrusted him with 

 the post of chief of the staff in the vanguard of his army. In 17!) t, 

 Soult was created colonel, and was one of the most distinguished 

 officers present at the great battle of Fleurus, June 26. He displayed 

 great skill by his dispositions in this action, and in the very crisis of it, 

 when General Marceau, deserted by his troops, had resigned himself 

 to despair, Soult arrested the panic, and restored the battle. For this 

 feat of arms he was promoted to a brigade, October 11, 1794, in the 

 division of General Harty, and assisted at the blockade of Luxemburg. 

 At the battle of Altenkirchen, in 1796, he commanded the attack of 

 the left against the Austrians, who were entirely defeated. Shortly 

 after this victory, being detached with 500 horse to cover the left of 

 the army at Herborn, he was suddenly hemmed in by the enemy's 

 cavalry, amounting, it is said, to 4000 ; repulsed seven charges without 

 his ranks being broken ; and at lenuth drew off his troop without the 

 loss of a single soldier. This brilliant retreat covered him with 

 honour, and has always been cited among the mo^t memorable actions 

 of the war. His excellent manoeuvres at the battle of Friedberg, in 

 1796, contributed most effectually to its success. At this epoch, and 

 during the whole period of the Revolution, Soult was a constant 

 frequenter of the clubs, a flatterer of the men then in power, and no 

 voice more loudly denounced the " ancien rdgime ; " conduct which 

 was not forgotten in after days. 



In 1799 he joined the army on the Upper Rhine, under Jourdan, 



