CHAMFORT, shan'for, Nicolas, French revolutionist: b. Auvergne 1741; d. 1794. He left school to become an abbe, but refused a benefice. For a time, his efforts to publish his works were unsuccessful. He finally made his debut as a litterateur under the name of Chamfort, and obtained some suc cess as a dramatist and as a critic, which pro cured him a place in the French -Academy, a pension and a place at court. An independent and somewhat misanthropic spirit made him, however, in spite of his interest, favor the Revo lution, of which he became the epigrammatist. He resigned his employment at court, and took the literary editorship of the Mecure de France. He won several academic prizes, as on his essays on Moliere and La Fontaine. The King added 1,200 livres to his pension and the Prince de Conde made him his secretary, a post which he found uncongenial to his Bohemian tastes. He withdrew to Auteuil, and thence to Hol land, but returned and became a member of the Academy in 1781. An unfortunate love affair made him quit the court, but he gathered about him at the house of M. de Vaudreuil a con genial circle which included Mirabeau. He fur nished Sieyes with the idea and the title of his famous pamphlet (Qu'est-ce que ce Tiers Etat ?' and forged such popular watchwords as: Guerre aux chateaux, paix aux chaumieres ("War to the castles, peace to the cottage?).
He was employed by Roland in the National Library and published the first 26 Historiques de la Threatened with imprisonment, he endeavored to blow out his brains. Though not immediately fatal, the wounds he inflicted on himself ultimately caused his death. His poetry has now little reputation. His best work, (Mustapha and Zeangir,> at which he labored for 15 years, exhibits him as a feeble follower of Racine and Voltaire. It is praised for purity of style and mildness of sentiment; but, as a French critic pungently observes, he reserved all his mildness for his tragedies. A collection of 1,800 bon mots, under the title (Chaznfortiana,' is now considered the best memorial of him. His (CEuvres completes' is in five volumes (1824-25); a selection from his writings ap peared as de Chamfort> (1852 with a critical preface by Houssaye). In 1879 ap peared (CEuvres Choisis' (2 vols., with preface and notes by M. De Lescure). Consult Sainte Beuve, 'Causeries du Lundi> (Vol. IV, Paris 1857-62); Pelisson, Thamfort' (Paris 1895).