BEAUHAECRAIS, PIERRE AUGUSTIN CARON DE, a French poet, b. in Paris, Jan. 24, 1732, d. May 17, 1799, was the son of a watchmaker, and was brought up to his father's trade. He soon displayed a remarkable taste for music, attained proficiency as a player on tit.; harp and the guitar, and was appointed music-master to the daughters of Louis V. This was the be,ginning of his course of good-fortune. lie acquired considerable property by marriage, and to dignify the somewhat ambiguous position in which his calling placed him, he devoted his talents to literature. His first play, Eugenie (1767), was successful, aad was followed by Les Deux Antis (1'770). Having become involved in lawsuits with Lablache and GOtzman, he revenged himself on the latter—who was a member of the so called Parlament Maupeou—by publishing his famous Memoires (Paris, 1774), which united the bitterest satire with the sharpest logic, and gained for him a reputation that made even Voltaire uneasy, who could not bear a rival in his own department. Despite
his wit, however, he lost his suit. His fame now rests on his two comedies, Le Barbie?. de Sallie (1775), and Le Mariage de Figaro. Of his later works, we may mention Mrs Six Epoqucs, in which he describes the perils through which he had passed in the first period of the revolution. During the American war of independence, he entered into a speculation for supplying arms, etc., by which be realized a considerable profit, but was a great loser by his expensive edition of Voltaire's works, and other speculations. The desire of gain and love of distinction were the leading motives which actuated B. his literary merits have been differently estimated. The most judicious critic of his writ ings and character is M. de Lomkie, whose B. and his Times is full of interesting literary anecdote. An edition of B. was published at Paris in 1809.