GEOFFROY GEOGRAPHY. 



391 



claim a preference : the mistress of the house her- 

 self was tar from desiring any precedence ; she was 

 only amiable and animating. The abbe de St Pierre, 

 when she dismissed him, atter a long conversation, 

 with the words, " P'ous avez ete charmant aujourd'- 

 'iut," addressed to her the well-known and deserved 

 compliment, " Je ne SHIS qu'un instrument, madame, 

 tlont vous avez bienjoue." " The question is often 

 asked," says La Harpe, " whether this woman, who 

 converses so much with wits, is herself a wit : she is 

 not so, but she possesses a sound judgment, and a wise 

 moderation is the foundation of her character. She 

 exhibits that pleasing politeness which is gained 

 only by intercourse with society; and no one has a 

 more delicate feeling of propriety." Among the 

 great number of strangers who visited her house in 

 Paris, the most distinguished was count Poniatow- 

 sky, afterwards king of Poland. He apprized her of 

 his accession to the throne with these words : " Ma- 

 man, votre Jils est roi," inviting her, at the same 

 time, to Warsaw. On her journey thither (1768), 

 she was received at Vienna in the most flattering 

 manner, by the emperor, and empress. The latter, 

 having met Mad. Geoffrin, while taking a ride with 

 htr children, immediately stopped, and presented 

 them to her. Upon her arrival at Warsaw, she 

 found a room there, perfectly like the one which she 

 had occupied in Paris. She returned to Paris, after 

 having received the most flattering marks of respect, 

 and died in 1777. Three of her friends, Thomas, 

 Morellet, and d'Alembert, dedicated particular 

 writings to her memory, which, with her treatise, 

 Sur la Conversation, have been lately republished. 

 See Louis XP~., Age of. 



GEOFFROY, JULIEN Louis ; a celebrated French 

 critic, was born at Rennes, in 1743. He studied in 

 the schools of the Jesuits, and was left in very strait- 

 ened circumstances by the suppression of that order. 

 He then became a tutor in the family of a rich indi- 

 vidual ; and, having frequent opportunities of visit- 

 ing the theatre, he contracted a taste for the drama, 

 which led him to the study of the dramatic art, to an 

 examination of its principles, of the merit of the dif- 

 ferent pieces, the genius of the poets, and the talents 

 of the actors. In order to understand more thoroughly 

 the theory of the art, he wrote a tragedy, the 

 Peath of Cato, merely as an exercise. He offered 

 the piece to the directors of the theatre, who received 

 it, and granted him free entrance. This was all he 

 wished ; and he never made any attempt to bring 

 the piece on the stage. At a later period, a tragedy, 

 under the same name, was published, and ascribed 

 to him, by some malicious wit, said to have been 

 Cubieres Palmezeaux. Geoffrey had hitherto sup- 

 ported himself by giving private instruction ; he now 

 endeavoured to become a professor in the university. 

 Having carried off the annual prize for the best Latin 

 discourse, in 1773, and the two succeeding years, it 

 was considered necessary to establish the rule that 

 tiie same person should not receive the prize more 

 than three times. In the competition for the prize 

 offered by the French academy for the best panegy- 

 ric on Charles V., La Harpe was the successful 

 candidate, but honourable mention was made of 

 Geoffroy's performance. Geoffrey then entered upon 

 tile career in which he gained so much reputation. 



The proprietors of the Annee Litteraire were 

 desirous of finding a man able to fill with honour 

 IVeron's place, and to maintain the credit of that 

 celebrated critical journal ; and their choice fell 

 upon Geoffroy, who, a short time before, had re- 

 ceived the professorship of eloquence in the college 

 of Mazarin, and was considered the ablest of the 

 professors of rhetoric. He accepted the offer, and 

 conducted tliat journal from 177G till two years after 



the breaking out of the revolution. During these 

 fifteen years, he enriched it with profound itnd in 

 teresting articles on philosophy, morals, and litcni 

 ture. His style is pure, clear, and concise, and wliat- 

 ever he lias written bears testimony to his taste, 

 knowledge of classical literature, and the desire of 

 instructing, rather than of amusing his reader. The 

 revolution, to the principles of which Geoffroy was 

 opposed, put an end to these occupations. In 

 connexion with the abbe Royou, he then undertook 

 another journal UAmi du Roi; but both journal 

 and editors were soon after proscribed. Geoffroy fled 

 to an obscure village, where he lived in disguise, 

 teaching the children of the peasants, until the year 

 1799, when he returned to Paris. 



In 1800, he undertook the dramatical criticism in 

 the Journal des Debats, which afterwards appeared 

 under the name Journal de I' Empire, thus entering, 

 under favourable auspices, on a new career, which 

 rendered him truly celebrated. He received for his 

 labours, a salary of 24,000 francs. For a little more 

 than ten years, false doctrines had introduced con- 

 fusion into philosophy, morals, politics, and litera- 

 ture; truth and sound principles seemed to have 

 been forgotten, and appeared, when revived, like 

 new discoveries. Criticism gained a great advan- 

 tage by thus being permitted to examine into truths, 

 which had already been investigated a hundred 

 times, and to speak of ancient and modern literature 

 as if neither had ever been judged before. Geoffroy 

 investigated with sagacity, and without sparing the 

 principles of modern writers. They insulted and 

 calumniated him. Still he appeared every morning 

 with new expositions and new sarcasms. He did 

 not always remain within the bounds of moderation ; 

 his wit was often too severe ; his sarcasms in bad 

 taste. He once censured an actress for her manner 

 in a piece in which she had never acted. Upon the 

 whole, however, it must be acknowledged, that 

 Geoffroy knew how to be just, if he intended to be, 

 and that he generally had this intention. He made 

 a great many enemies, for he was obliged to deal 

 with the vanity of dramatic poets and actors ; but 

 he had also many friends, who appreciated his judg- 

 ment, learning, and talents, and admired the fecundity 

 of his mind, that, in so narrow a subject, was never 

 at a loss for new resources. Even if we cannoi 

 always admit his principles, we never tire of reading 

 his observations, and the Journal de I Empire, during 

 the time that Geoffroy wrote its Feuilleton, had the 

 most extensive circulation of all the French daily 

 papers. Notwithstanding this occupation, he found 

 time for publishing, in 1808, a commentary on Ra- 

 cine, in seven vols. If, in this work, the poetry of 

 that great author is not deeply investigated, it has 

 other merits, for the excellent translations which it 

 contains of several fragments, and even of two entire 

 tragedies of the ancients. He published, also, a 

 translation of Theocritus, in 1801. He died in 

 Paris, Feb. 26, 1814, at the age of seventy-one 

 years. See Cours de Litterature dramatique, ou Re- 

 cueil, par Ordre des Matieres, des Feuilletons de 

 Geoffroy, precede d une Notice historique sur sa Vie 

 et ses Ouvrages, 2nd. ed., t. I VI., Paris, 1825. 



GEOGRAPHY (Greek) description of the earth, 

 of the condition of our globe: in a narrower sensr, 

 also, the description of the condition of one of its 

 parts ; for instance, the geography of Europe, Rus- 

 sia, Saxony, &c. The earth may be considered as a 

 world, in relation to the other worlds ; or as a body 

 of different parts, properties, and phenomena, which, 

 at the same time, is inhabited by beings of different 

 natures ; or as the residence of free moral agents, 

 among whom its surface is divided, and through 

 whose influence it undergoes many changes. Geo 



