CHENIER, ANDRE-MARIE DE, 1762-94; a French poet, b. in Constantinople. He undertook military life, but resigned his commission after six months' trial, and returned to Paris, where he wrote idyllic poems, such as Le Mendicant; L' Aveugle; and Le Jeune .Malade. Overwork made a journey for health necessary, and he traveled in Switzerland, Italy, and the Grecian islands. Returning to Paris in 1786, he recommenced study and work, and produced the Elegies; Art d' Ajmer; L'Invention; Hermes; &Leanne, and La Liberte. From 1787 to 1790, he resided in London as a secretary to the French embassy, but neither the position nor the people were congenial, and he returned to France, plung ing at once into the revolution, then well under way, taking the moderate side. In 1791, he was defeated as a candidate for a seat in the national assembly, and the next year an invective against the Jacobins involved him in a quarrel with his brother Joseph, whom he was afterwards to defend against the attack of Burke. When the hopes of the monarchy were gone, he returned to literature, but the trial of the king brought him once more forward, and he took part in preparing the defense, and also drew up an appeal to the people, He was broken in health and spirits; Paris was dangerous; and he went to Versailles, where he wrote poems to " Fanny." At Passy, Jan. 6, 1794, he
opposed the arrest of a lady in whose house he was living, an act which resulted in his own seizure and incarceration in St. Lazare. Here he wrote La Jeune Captive for the duchess of Fleury, and for the convention the furious iambics so often quoted. At the tribunal he appeared with 44 others, and 38, including himself, were condemned to execution. The next day, July 25. 1794, he, with the counts de Montalembert and de Crequi, was led to death. As he descended the steps of the •conciergerie, he said to Roueher, " Je n'ai rien fait pour la posterite. Pourtant" (striking his forehead), " j'avais quelque chose la." Three days later, in the same place, Robespierre and his fellows were executed, and the " reign of terror" was at an end. C.'s poems, with the excep tion of two, remained unedited for a quarter of a century.