CHATEAUBRIAND, sha-to-bee-an, Fran.' Auguste Rent, Vicosrre DE, French au thor and politician : b. Saint Malo, Brittany, 4 Sept. d. Paris, 4 July 1848. He received a commission in the army in 1788, and at the commencement of the Revolution he hurried into Paris to witness the great commotions then taking place there. In the spring of 1791 his, ardent and enthusiastic spirit led him to join an expedition to America for the purpose ofex ploring its Arctic regions, and discovering the northwest passage. He crossed the Atlantic, landed at Baltimore; and proceeded' to Phila delphia, where he had an interview with Wash ington. Returning to France in 1792 he mar ried Celeste Buisson de Lavigne, a girl of 17, who brought him a small fortune. Out of.iris .American experience :largely grew his 'Lea Natchez' (see NATCHEZ, Les). Shortly after his return from America he quitted France and joined with other emigrants the Prussian army on the Rhine. At the siege of Thionville he was wounded in the thigh, and subsequently became an exile in England. Here his health gave way, and friendless and penniless he continued for a time to wear out a miserable existence in Lon don. He at last found means of earning a sub sistence by giving lessons in French and execut ing translations for the booksellers. In 1797 he published his (Essai historique, politique et moral sur les revolutions anciennes et moderns, considerees dans leurs rapports avec la Revo lution Fraticaise.) It did not win very much success in England, and attracted no notice whatever in France. The essay is pervaded by a strong skeptical spirit in religious matters, but its author's views on this subject. were soon to experience a sudden and important change. The death of his mother in prison, and the accounts of her last moments trans mitted. to him by his sister, who herself was no more by the time her letter reached her brother, made a lasting impression on the mind of Chateaubriand, and he became a firm believer in Christianity. In 1800 he ventured to return to France and take up his abode under an assumed name at Paris. Encouraged by the success of an essay on literature, contributed to the Mercure, he published in 1801 his which was afterward introduced as an episode into his (Genie du In the fol lowing year appeared his celebrated work (Le Genie du Christianisme,' which may be said to have caused a religious reaction, and inaugu rated a new period in the social history of France. The object of Chateaubriand was to demonstrate the superiority of Christianity over all other religions in a poetic and artistic, as well as moral and beneficial point of view. Though a work more brilliant than profound,, it is unsurpassed for beauty of language and description and the eloquence of its impassioned appeals. The main charm indeed of the book may be said to lie in its 'beautiful imagery, drawn from external nature, and more espe cially from nature as exemplified in the glowing scenery of the New World. In this respect Chiteaubriand may be said to have revived in French literature the description of natural scenery and objects which had long been al most unknown. His work attracted the atten tion and admiration of Bonaparte, and in 1803 he was appointed French minister for the re public of the Valais. This office he resigned in 1804.
In order to give life and tangible form to the theories propounded in the 'Genie du Christian isme,' hp commenced Martyrs,' and to qualify himself for describing accurately the scenes amid which the poem is laid, made a pilgrimage to the East. In 1809 Martyrs',
was published, and is considered _by many the best of his works. Some of the descriptions, such as of the ancient forests of Gaul, the as semblies of the Christians in the catacombs and the picture of Rome under the emperors, are given with marvelous beauty and effect. In 1811 appeared his (Itineraire de Paris .a Jeru salem.> The restoration of Louis XVIII was hailed by him with enthusiasm, and a pamphlet entitled (De Bonaparte et des Bourbons.' pub lished by him in 1814, was said by the King to have been worth to him an army of 100,000 men. On the second restoration he preserved the title of minister of state, but refused to take office along with Fouche. On the accession of Villele tower Chateaubriand was appointed Ambas to Berlin, then to London, and in Septem ber 1822, crossed the Alps to represent France at the congress of Verona. In 1824 he was sum marily dismissed from office at the instance of Villele, and the indignation which he felt at such treatment made him join the ranks of the op position, where in the columns of the Journal des Debots he fulminated attacks against gov ernment. On the accession of the Martignac ministry he again returned to office, and pro ceeded as ambassador to Rome, but resigned this appointment on Polignac becoming Premier. On the revolution of 1830 he refused to take the oath of allegiance to Louis Philippe, and con sequently forfeited his seat in the House of Peers and a pension of 12,000 francs. In 1831 a new work appeared from his pen, entitled 'De la Restauration, et de la monarchic elective,' in which occurs the following singular avowal : am a Bourbonist by, honor, a royalist by reason and conviction, and a Republican by inclination and character" In the same year he published his 'Etudes ou discours historiques sur la chute de l'Empire Romain,' a work exhibiting more of the imagination of the poet than the critical acumen of the historian. Owing to sev. eral pamphlets of a legitimist tendency issued by him, he was arrested in 1832, but defended by M. Berryer, and acquitted. In the latter years of his life he published an 'Essay on English Literature,' a literal prose translation of 'Mil ton's Paradise Lost,' and other works. His memoirs appeared after his death, under the / title of IMemoires d'outre tombe.' They poss' sess a great interest, and contain many charm ing passages, but are at times disfigured by the ebullitions of personal vanity, which formed one of the principal weaknesses of Chateaubriand. He was an Intimate friend of the celebrated Madame Recamier, whose feeling toward him amounted almost to worship. He was the first in France to draw attention to the literary re sources of the Middle Ages and Christian an tiquity. He was a renovator in imagination and persuaded his generation to break with the Imitation of imitation that had sapped the literary life of the 18th century. His style left its mark on poetry, history, fiction — on the very language. His effect on religion and morals was transitory, but in literary art he opened a new era. (See GENIUS OF CHRISTIAN ITY, THE). Consult Lenormant, M. briand et ses mernoires,' and also works upon his life and literary work by Vil lemain and Saint Beauve; Phailhes, 'Chateau briand, sa femme et ses amis' (Bordeaux 1896) ; Lemaitre, 'Chateaubriand' (1912) ; 'Correspondance general de Chateaubriand,' edited with introduction, etc., by L. Thomas (3 vols., Paris 1912-13).