SISMONDI, JEAN CHARLES LEONARD DE, a distinguished historian of Italian descent, was born at. Geneva on May 9, 1773. reeeiverl his education as a boy at the "col lege" or high school of his native town. t the due age he was removed to the audi toire, or university. Before he had completed Ids education, the pecuniary reverses of his father made it necessary for Sismondi to do something for his own maintenance, for which purpose he entered the counting-house of the eminent firm of Eynard & Co. of Lyons. Hateful as mercantile pursuits seem to have been to him, he applied himself to his drudgery with all diligence. He became a thoroughly good ,clerk, and in after life he acknowledged that the practical training had been of Incalculable benefit to him. The French revolution sent Sismondi back to Geneva, but the storm following, he took refuge in England, along with his family. Home-sickness soon sent them back to Geneva, but the continuance of political trouble made it impossible to remain there long. In 1795 they bought a small farm near Pescia, in Tuscany, where their narrow circumstances rcnacred it necessary for Sismondi almost literally to put his hand to the plow. lie had now, however, leisure for literature. In 1798 he began to collect materials for his History of the Italian Republics. In 1803 appeared a work on political economy, De in Richessc Commerciale, in which he writes like a decided follower of Adam Smith, though at a later period, in his .NOureaux Principes d'Economic Polztirpte (1819), he abandoned the wiser views of his youth. In consequence, a professorship is this science was in the same year offered to him in the university of Vilna, which he declined. It was in history, however, that his literary forte lay. The 16 vols. of his histoire des Rt.lpubliques Italiennes, published between 1807 and 1818, placed him in the first rank among contemporary historians, and brought him praise from the most dis tinguished men in France and Germany. The events of the hundred days occasioned one of the most memorable passages in the life of Sismondi—hisinterview with Nauoleon.
In 1813 appeared his Litterature du Midi de t'Europe ("Literature of the South of Edvpe," Eng. by Roscoe, frequently reprinted). In 1819 he began his best and greatest work, the Histoire des Francais, with which he was occupied until his death. On April 19, of the same year he married Miss Allen, an English lady, whom he had previously met in Italy. This marriage was followed by many happy years, during which Sis mondi resided at Geneva, making frequent visits to Pescia and England. His latter slays were, however, darkened by the troubles of his native city, in whose politics he took a keen interest. He died June 25, 1842. Sismondi has contributed more to his torical literature than any other writer of his time, and the labor which he bestowed on his works has never been surpassed. "Nine times," he says, " have I traversed Italy, and I have visited every place which has been the scene of any great historical event." For twenty years he worked habitually eight hours a day. Both as a worker and as a thinker lie was thoroughly conscientious. His mind was to the last open to truth; neither fettered by prejudice nor blinded by self-conceit. At the same time, no one has surpassed him in tenacity of purpose, nor in energy in following it out. His feel ings on religious questions were especially intense. Having on one occasion heard a sermon in an English church on eternal punishment, he vowed never again to enter another church holding the same creed; and "never to contribute to spread what the English call their reformation; for by its side Romanism is a religion of mercy and peace." His private character was singularly amiable and benevolent. His whole career is a noble one, full of interest and instruction.—See Quarterly Review. Sept. 1844; ie et Iraraux de Sismondi (Paris, 1845); see also his correspondence with Mlle. de St. Aulaire (Paris, 1863); and his Lettres Inedites is Madame d' Albany (1864).