BEAUMARCHAIS (Pt sans AVOUSTIN CAROB DE) appears to have been one of those persons who, from restlessness of disposition and singularity of character, obtain, in their own age, more celebrity than they are entitled to from their merit or talents. He was born at Paris in 1732, and was the son of a clockmaker, who brought him up to his own trade. From his earliest youth, however, he discovered. an inclination for literature, together with a re markable talent for music. His proficiency in that art procured him an introduction to the French court, where he was employed to teach the prin cesses, daughters of Lows XV. to play on the gui tar. At their concerts, which he attended, be be came acquainted with the banker Duverney, by whom he was instructed in business, and placed in a situa tion which was likely to lead to fortune. Beamitar chais first attracted public attention by his drama.ot: Eugenie, which was.published in 1767 ; but be war chiefly indebted for the notoriety he obtained, to the. various law-suits in which he became involvedafter the death of his patron Duverney. Having commenced_ an action • the Count de la. Black% the grand. nephew of uveriey, for perimeter a trilling balance of an account which wasdue to him by his deceits. ed patron, mid the suit having been removed from. Aix to Paris, M. Goesman, one of the judges of the Parliament Maupeou, which was then very unpopular in the capital, was appointed to report and decide on its merits. Beaumarchais suspecting that he was excluded from the presence of Goexmaa by the in fluence of the Count de is Blache, and thus prevent ed from explaining the merits of his case, bribed certain dependents of the judge in order to be admit ted to an interview. The cause, however, was decided against him. before he could obtain an audience, and the whole of the bribe not having been returned, along correspondence took place, by which Goezman was at length so much exasperated, that he instituted a prosecution against Beaumarchais for an attempt to • corrupt him in his judicial capacity. Beaumarchais was acquitted of the charge, while Goesman was found liable to him in damages, and was farther con victed of subornation and falsehood in his attempts to substantiate the accusation. The decision of Goezinan having been rescinded, and the principal cause remitted to the Parliament of Aix, where it had originally depended, Beaumarchais again became involved with the Count de la Blache, in a litigation which originated in the calumnies and undue influ ence by which the Count attempted to overpower his adversary. In this dispute, Beaumarchais also pre
vailed ; but the chief advantage which he acquired from these various processes was the astonish ipg interest and admiration which were waiver sally excited in France by the Factums or Met moires which he wrote his defence ; in which the most logical and convincing argument is di versified with the bitterest sarcasm, the keenest raillery, and the relation of incidents as strange and amusing as. those which are met with, in romance. These able and lively productions, however, procur ed him many enemies, as they discovered him to be a man of a most resentful and calumnious dis position. He also lost adeal of the repu tation he had acquired, ro:' being involved in a new process, in which he found the advocate Bergasee a more formidable opponent than Goes man, or Li Blache ; and his new Afimeires want ed the spirit and gaiety to which his former ones were. indebted for their popularity. Though oc cupied with these and various literary pursuits, Beauma ais did not neglect the im provement of his fortune. He engaged in Ntigions speculations, of which the most profitable was his project of supplying the Americans with arms and ammunition during the war with, this country. Having thus gained a considerable fortune, he built a magnificent villa ip the Faubourg St An. toine, which he embellished with much taste, and at great expence. He afterwards lost some part of the money, be bad acquired by an expensive and ill-executed edition of the works of Voltaire ; and neither the early support which he gave to the principles of the French Revolution, nor his int mtation of fire-arms for the use of the Frgnah forces, were sufficient to preserve his property, Seat confiscation, or his person from proscription. TW sufferings and dangers which he experienced during this period, have been detailed by him in a work en-. titled, Mes Six Epoque*, which is written with eons& derable force and interest. After he had endured every species of accusation and persecution, and bad passed some time as an exile from his native country, he returned to France when the storms of the Revolution had subsided into a more settled ty-. tunny, and having recovered possession of his villa in the Faubourg St Antoine, he remained there till his death, which happened suddenly in the 1799.