ARNAULT, ar'n(Y, ANTOINE VINCENT (1166 1834). A French poet and dramatist. He was born in Paris, January 1, 1766, and died at Goderville. September 16, 1834. He is remem bered for his satirical fables, for his Soli ecnirs d'uu sexagenaire (4 vols., 1833), which contain many interesting facts concerning the inner his tory of France up to 1804; and, most of all, for several graceful poems, one of which, "La is known to every French school child. He first ohtained celebrity through his tragedies, Marius Minturnes (1791) and Lucrecc (1792), and wrote the libretti to Mehul's operas, Horatius Cocles and Phrosine et Melidore. His tragedy Les enetiens was produced at the Theatre Franeais, in Paris, September 12, 1798, and was very successful. Upon the second restoration of the Bourbon dynasty, Arnault was officially included in the proscription of 1816 and fled to Belgium.
where lie wrote his two books of fables. These books, together with six others of a similar nature, written in 1813, were published in 1826 under the title of Fables et poesics, Ar nault was a representative of classicism and a pronounced opponent of the romantic school. In 1819 he collaborated with Jay, Jouy, and De Norvins in the publication of the once famous Biographic nourelic des contemporains (8 vols., 1820-25). In recognition of his celebrated biog raphy Vie politique et militaire dc Yapoleon (2 vols., 1822-26). a work full of curious facts and piquant revelations, Napoleon, while at Elba. settled upon the author a legacy of 100,000 francs. The works of Arnault were edited by himself in 1818, 1823, and 1827; all of these editions are somewhat incomplete.