CINO DA PISTOIA, che'n6 cla pes-to'yi, Italian jurisconsult and poet: b. Pistoia 1270; d. there, 24 Dec. 1336. He ranks among the best of the early Italian poets, and resembles Petrarch more than any of the other predeces sors of this poet. His poems were first pub lished at Rome in 1558 by Pilli. They after ward appeared at Venice increased by a second volume, which, however, was not considered genuine. The most complete•edition is that of Ciampi (1812). He published a commentary on the first nine books of the (Codex Justinianus' in 1314.
Henri Coiffier de Ruze, MARQUIS DE, French courtier: b. 1620; d. Lyons, 12 Sept. 1642. At the age of 18 he was presented at court by Cardinal de Richelieu and soon obtained the favor of Louis XIII, to whom he became master of the horse. Chafing at the restraint under which Richelieu held him and ambitious of political power, he framed a conspiracy to overthrow the cardinal, of which the king himself and his brother, Gaston, Duc d'Orleans, were members. But Louis was weak and fickle, Gaston perfidious and Riche lieu not the man to be put down by a youth just turned 20. Cinq-Mars was delivered up to the cardinal and beheaded at Lyons with his friend, the councillor De Thou. Consult Bas serie, (La conjuration de Cinq-Mars' (Paris 1896) •, Bazin, A. de R., 'Histoire de France sous Louis XIII' (Paris 1846).
by Alfred de Vigny, is one of the most popular French his toric novels. Published in 1826, it showed unmis takable traces of the influence of Sir Walter Scott and was an immediate success. The novel deals with that important and interesting period of French history which culminated in the sway of Cardinal Richelieu, the minister of Louis
XIII. It is Richelieu, more than the favorite of the king, Cinq-Mars, who is the central figure of the story. The author does not keep very strictly to the historic facts and misrep resents to a great extent the characters which he portrays. For de Vigny, Richelieu is a symbol of ambition, while de Thou, the de voted follower of Cinq-Mars, is the type of the friend. Even the minor characters of the book are treated according to the preconceived idea of the author. The novel is thus a curious mixture of history and fiction. But in spite of the falseness of the historic treatment there is much in the novel which explains and in a way justifies its wide popularity. There was a great revival of interest in the past at the time the book was written, and no other period, perhaps, was so full of dramatic incidents and gave such opportunities for character study as that of the administration of Richelieu. Again, the lyric note of the novel is admirable. The picture in the opening chapter of beautiful and peaceful Touraine, where the author him self was born and which he knew well and loved, together with passages of similar charm and beauty, such as the description of the chateau of Chambord, are veritable poetic gems—and, after all, was not Alfred de Vigny primarily a poet? The reader will gladly over look the historical inaccuracies, which were intentional, and will forgive the rather poor psychology of the characters for the sake of the spirited and entertaining story and the passages of exquisite description.