RAYNOUARD, IIIANcors JUSTE MARIE, a French poet and philologist, was he at B;ignoles, in Provence, Sept. 8,1761. He studied at Aix, and came to Paris to cultivate literature at the age of 23,.but soot went back to the south, and joined the bar at Draguignan, where he acquired a high reputation. In 1791 he was elected a member of the legislative assembly; but after the fall of the Girondins, whose opinions he shared, lie was thrown into prison, and forgotten. Released from confinement after the fall of Robespierre, he resumect his profession of advocate, and in the course of five or ten years, acquired a modest competency. He then returned to Paris, and devoted himself anew to -literary pursuits. His first poem, &crate au Temple d'Aglanre (Par. 1803), was followed by the tragedies, Eleonore de Baviere and Les Templiers, the latter of which Was brought on the stage in 1805. and met with unbounded success. Two years later Raynouard was chosen a member of the academy, of which he bdcame perpetual secretary in 1817. He had been made u member of the imperial legislative body in 1806, and Napoleon. it is said, even meditated appointing him to the presidency, but could not get over Raynonard's brusque manner and fearless independence of spirit. The
principal dramas which he wrote during' the regime of Napoleon, beside those already, mentioned, are Scipio; Les Elate de Blois; Don Carlos; Charles I.; Debora; Jeanne d' Arc a Orleans. Toward the fall of the empire his attention was turned to linguistic studies, particularly. to the study of the Provencal language and literature; and his researches into the origin, grammatical rules, and transformations of the Romance tongue, led to many valuable discoveries, though his theories as to the relation of the language of the troubadours to the other tongues derived from Latin. have been shown to be erroneous (see Romamq LAxGUAIIES). 'His chief writings in this department are—E/emods de In Grantinaire Romane (Par. 151G); Moil: de Puesics Originates des Troubadours (Par. 6 vols., 1816-21); Gram ulaire compu*, des Longues fie l'Eurvpe Latina daia, leo,. Rapport& ayes lib Laugue des Troubadours (Par. 1821); Otisereatimis ear Id Ronan do Kos (l own, 18;:9); Injtuenee de la Longue Romans (Par. 1835); and Lexique Roman, ou Die tiouloa're 414 la League des Troubadours (Paris, 6 vols., 1838 11). Raynouard died at Pussy, near Paris'', Oct. 27, 1836.