391 



VILLENEUVE. 



VlLLENEUVF. 



392 



reputation for talent was such that at the early age of nineteen (1810) 

 he was appointed Professor of Rhetoric in the College Charlemagne. 

 Here, besides gaining fame as an eloquent lecturer, he distinguished 

 himself by two published essays, both of which were crowned by the 

 Institute an ' ftloge de Montaigne,' published in 1812, and a ' Discours 

 sur les avantagea et les inconvenients de la critique,' published in 

 1814. The approbation bestowed on these Essays was such, that the 

 young professor was removed in 1816 to the University of Paris, first 

 as assistant professor of Modern History, and afterwards, in the same 

 year, as Professor of Eloquence. In that year, too, he published his 

 ' Eloge de Montesquieu,' which was again crowned by the Institute. 

 A work of far greater importance was his ' Histoire de Cromwell, 

 d'apres les mdmoires du temps et les recueils parlementaires,' pub- 

 lished in 1819, in two volumes. In 1821 he became a member of the 

 Academy ; and in 1822 he published a translation of Cicero's ' Re- 

 public,' from the palimpsest manuscript discovered ih 1820 by Angelo 

 Mai. It was about this time that he entered on official political life. 

 In reading his ' Discourse on the Advantages and Inconveniences of 

 Criticism,' in 1814, he had pronounced a panegyric on the allied 

 sovereigns then in Paris ; and this was remembered against him. 

 Since then, however, he had shown his sentiments to be those of a 

 moderate liberal opposed to the reactionary policy of the Restoration. 

 Having been appointed to the office of Maitre des Requetes to the 

 Council of State, his liberalism brought him into collision with the 

 excessive legitimism of the Villele ministry, more -particularly as he 

 was a strenuous advocate for the liberty of the press. His lectures, 

 with those of his colleagues Guizot and Cousin, were suspended, and in 

 1827 he was deprived of office. Meanwhile he had published 'Lascaris, 

 ou les Grecs du 15me siccle, suivi d'un essai historique sur I'd tat des 

 Grecs depuis la conquete musulmane jusqu'h- nos jours' (1825); also, 

 'Fundrailles de M. Lemontey : Discours' (1826). In the former of 

 these works the author showed his ardent sympathy with the Greek 

 struggle for independence. In 1829 M. Villemaia published ' Fund- 

 rallies de M. Picard : Discours;' and in 1830, the first portion of his 

 well-known work entitled ' Cours de Littdrature Frangaise,' the re- 

 mainder of which appeared in 1838. Just before the revolution of 

 1830, he had been chosen deputy for 1'Eure; with Guizot and others 

 he figured as a man of influence at that crisis ; and was consequently 

 an important personage in the new government of Louis-Philippe. He 

 was made a peer of France in 1833, was one of the most eloquent of 

 political orators of the period, and, after having acted as Vice-President 

 of the Council of Education, became Minister of Public Instruction 

 under Guizot. In 1833 he published ' Funeraillcs de M. le Baron 

 Cuvier : Discours;' in 1837 a collection of his miscellaneous writings 

 under the title of ' Melanges Historiques et Littdraires;' and in 1811 

 a Report entitled ' Tableau de 1'dtat actuel de I'instruction primaire en 

 France.' In 1845 he resigned the Ministry of Instruction, and during 

 the rest of the reign of Louis Philippe the state of his health pre- 

 cluded much public activity. In 1847 he gave to the world a new 

 edition of the ' Provincial Letters of Pascal,' with an accompanying 

 essay. Since the revolution of 1848, M. Villemain, like his friends 

 Guizot and Cousin, has lived in retirement, waiting for a change of 

 system rather than hoping for it, and attending to no other duties 

 of a public kind than those of the perpetual secretaryship of the 

 Academy, which he has held since 1834. In 1854 he published 

 ' Souvenirs Contemporains d'Histoire et de Littdrature.' He has since 

 published ' Tableau de 1'Eloquence Chrdtienne au IVe. siecle,' 1856, 

 and ' Choix d'dtudes sur la littdrature contemporaiue,' 8vo, 1857 ; and 

 he is engaged in translating Pindar into French. Among M. Ville- 

 main's works, besides those which we have enumerated, are several 

 translations from the English, including one of Sheridan's comedy of 

 ' The School for Scandal,' published in 1822. 



VILLENEUVE. From the birth of Romde de Villeneuve, grand- 

 senechal of Provence in 1170, to the death of Vice-Admiral Villeneuve 

 in 1806, there has almost always been some one of this name to lend 

 it distinction in France. 



ROM&E DE VILLENEUVE (born 1170, died soon after 1250) deserves 

 to be remembered in the history of France as one of the earliest 

 statesmen who appears to have comprehended the importance of 

 uniting all the Gallic provinces into one nation. The history of his 

 early life is obscure and distorted by fables. Created constable of 

 Provence by Berenger before 1238, he besieged and took Nice, which 

 had revolted against the count. Villeneuve frequently made that city 

 his place of abode during his subsequent career, and conciliated its 

 citizens by his wise and humane government. He fought bravely 

 against the Pisans and Genoese, patronised the Troubadours in general, 

 and punished some in particular who sinned against morality in their 

 writings. On the 12th of July, 1238, Berenger nominated him in his 

 will regent of Provence, and guardian of Beatrice, his fourth and un- 

 married daughter. On the death of Berenger, in 1245, Villeneuve 

 assembled the nobility of Provence, and persuaded them to swear 

 fealty to Beatrice. He next married his ward to Charles of Anjou, 

 brother of St. Louis, who had, many years before, in a great measure 

 through the instrumentality of Villeneuve, been married to Marguerite, 

 her eldest sister. The regent procured the insertion of a clause in the 

 marriage contract of Charles of Anjou, in virtue of which the terri- 

 tories of Provence, if Beatrice died without male issue, were to descend 

 to the offspring of her sister Marguerite by St. Louis. The object of 



this arrangement was realised two centuries later by Palamede de 

 Forbin. After this marriage Villeneuve appears to have withdrawn 

 himself from public life. His name only appears again in the page of 

 history in the mention of his will, by which he disposed of an 

 enormous fortune for that age. 



ELION, or HELION, DE VILLENEUVE (born in 1270, died in 1346), 

 of the same family as the preceding, entered in early life the order of 

 St. John of Jerusalem, and, in 1319, on the abdication of Foulques de 

 Villaret, grand-master of Rhodes, was elected his successor. Before 

 repairing to his seat of government, the new grand-master visited 

 several courts to collect contributions for his Order, which was at that 

 time deeply involved in debt. The division of the order into langues 

 has been attributed to him, and is said to have been proposed at a 

 chapter which he held at Montpellier soon after his election. His 

 visits to the courts above noticed, and a severe attack of illness, pre- 

 vented his reaching Rhodes before 1336 ; the remaining ten years of 

 his life were exclusively devoted to the discharge of his official duties. 

 In 1344 he in person besieged and took Smyrna. 



ROSALINE DE VILLENEUVE (born 1263, died 1329), sister of the 

 grand-master of Rhodes, was famous for her piety, her charity, and 

 her ascetic exercises of devotion. In 1310 she was elected head of the 

 order of Chartreux. She was canonised after her death ; and some 

 legendary writers have attributed in a great measure to her inter- 

 cession the suppression of the heresy of the Albigeois. 



Louis DE VILLENEUVE, premier marquis de France, distinguished 

 by the title ' Riche d'Honneur,' belonged to the same family. He was 

 born about 1451. Charles VIII., whose chamberlain he was, intrusted 

 Villeneuve with the command of the army destined for the conquest 

 of Naples. When Louis XII. mounted the throne, he sent Villeneuve 

 as his ambassador to the papal court. At Rome the Provengal am- 

 bassador received extraordinary honours ; the Romans were charmed 

 with his manly and persuasive eloquence ; and his popularity was the 

 occasion of his being again employed on a mission to that court at the 

 perilous crisis of 1500. Villeneuve was the intimate and esteemed 

 friend of Bayard and Gaston de Foix. In 1505 Louis XII. erected the 

 barony of Trans, hereditary in the family of Villeneuve, into a 

 marquisate, the first instance of that title being conferred in France. 

 The only son of Louis de Villeneuve fell at the king's side in the 

 battle of Marignan", and the father, already enfeebled by wounds and 

 years, died not long after of grief, in the month of July, 1516. 



CHRISTOPHEDE VILLENEUVE, who was born on the 30th of June, 1541, 

 was a member of this illustrious family. He was in his youth page to 

 Frangois de Lorraine, due de Guise. He entered the service of 

 Claude of Savoy, and earned a high reputation for bravery in that 

 prince's campaigns against the Huguenots. On the death of the duke 

 of Savoy, Villeneuve remained attached to the Comte de Carces, Lis 

 lieutenant and successor in the government of Provence. De Carceo 

 intrusted to Villeneuve the delicate mission of moving the king to 

 countermand the orders for the massacre of St. Bartholomew. The 

 envoy reached Paris on the same day that a messenger was despatched 

 from that city by the. king, with fresh orders for the massacre. His 

 representations were however successful in partially shaking the reso- 

 lution of the king, who sent for him in the course of the night, and 

 charged him with a message to De Carces, countermanding his previous 

 orders in so far as Provence was concerned. Villeneuve started im- 

 mediately, passed the messenger of death on his way, and reached Aix 

 in time to save Provence from the massacre. The subsequent career 

 of Villeneuve was as honourable as this its commencement. He 

 served with distinction Henri III., Henri IV., and Louis XIII. He 

 died on the 26th of July, 1615. 



There have been several authors of the name of Villeneuve. Huon 

 DE VILLENEUVE, an ancient French poet of some reputation, was a 

 contemporary of Philippe Auguste. He was one of the earliest versi- 

 fiers of the legends of the Twelve Peers. His principal work is ' Le 

 Quatre Fils d'Aymon,' next to which perhaps ranks his 'Doolin de 

 Mayence,' of which a prose translation into more modern French was 

 published at Paris in 1501, with the title 'Fleur des Batailles." 

 GUILLAUME DE VILLENEUVE, a good soldier, who served Charles VIII. 

 in his Neapolitan campaigns, published in 1497 'Mdmoires sur la 

 Conquete de Naples.' It is the only narrative by an eye witness of 

 the adventures of the French army and partisans from the departure 

 of Charles till their final expulsion. GAB-UELLE SUSANNE BARROT, 

 dame de Villeneuve (born about 1695 ; died in 1755), was a friend of 

 Crebillon, and published many tales and romances. Only one has 

 retained hold of the popular mind, and that in the form of an abridg- 

 ment : it is the famous ' Beauty and the Beast.' 



The reputation of the name of Villeneuve was well sustained during 

 the wars of the French revolution by PIERRE CHARLES JEAN BAP- 

 TISTE SILVESTRE DE VILLENEUVE, vice-admiral. He was born at 

 Valensoles in Provence, on the 31st of December 1763. He entered 

 the navy in his fifteenth year, and obtained the command of a vessel 

 in 1793. In 1796 he was promoted to be commodore (capitaine de 

 division), and a few months later to be rear-admiral (contre-amiral). 

 He was appointed to command a division of the fleet destined for the 

 invasion of Ireland ; but contrary winds detained him in the Medi- 

 terranean, and rendered the expedition abortive. At Aboukir Ville- 

 neuve commanded the Guillaume Tell, and carried off his own vessel, 

 with two other ships and two frigates, in safety after the defeat. In 



