[1] It was only published after the author's death; and of it, besides
the French version, there exists an English translation "by a Person
of Quality."
[2] _OEuvres_, v. 255.
[3] Ib. vi. 199.
[4]: _OEuvres_, viii. 59.
[5] Ib. viii. 173.
[6] Ib. viii. 181.
[7] Ib. vi. 123.
[8] Ib. x. 375.
[9] Ib. ix. 6.
[10] Ib. iii. 24.
[11] Ib. vi. 234.
[12] Ib. ix. 131.
[13] Ib. ix. 341.
[14] Ib. vi. 89.
[15] Ib. vi. 210.
[16] Ib. vi. 73.
[17] Ib. vi. 239.
[18] Ib. vi. 248.
[19] _OEuvres_, vi. 276.
[20] Ib. ix. 250.
[21] _Princip._ L. iii. S. 45.
[22] _OEuvres_, x. 26.
[23] _OEuvres_, x. 3.
[24] Ib. x. 53.
[25] _Regulae_, _OEuvres_, xi. 202.
[26] _OEuvres_, xi. 219.
[27] _Disc. de méthode_, part ii.
[28] _Géométrie_, book iii.
[29] _OEuvres_, xi. 224.
[30] Ib. xi. 212.
[31] _Disc. de méthode_, part. ii.
[32] _OEuvres_, xi. 243.
[33] Ib. vii. 381.
[34] _OEuvres_, vi. 132.
[35] Ib. vi. 109.
[36] _Princip._ part ii. 37.
[37] Ib. part iii. 47.
[38] _OEuvres_, iv. 494.
[39] Ib. ix. 426.
[40] Ib. x. 204.
[41] Ib. vi. 339.
[42] Ib. x. 208.
[43] Ib. iv. 452 and 454.
[44] _OEuvres_, ix. 166.
[45] _Passions de l'âme_, 36.
[46] Ib. 48.
[47] _OEuvres_, ix. 170.
DESCHAMPS, ÉMILE (1791-1871), French poet and man of letters, was born
at Bourges on the 20th of February 1791. The son of a civil servant, he
adopted his father's career, but as early as 1812 he distinguished
himself by an ode, _La Paix conquise_, which won the praise of Napoleon.
In 1818 he collaborated with Henri de Latouche in two verse comedies,
_Selmours de Florian_ and _Le Tour de faveur_. He and his brother were
among the most enthusiastic disciples of the _cénacle_ gathered round
Victor Hugo, and in July 1823 Émile founded with his master the _Muse
française_, which during the year of its existence was the special
organ of the romantic party. His _Études françaises et étrangères_
(1828) were preceded by a preface which may be regarded as one of the
manifestos of the romanticists. The versions of Shakespeare's _Romeo and
Juliet_ (1839) and of _Macbeth_ (1844), important as they were in the
history of the romantic movement, were never staged. He was the author
of several libretti, among which may be mentioned the _Roméo et
Juliette_ of Berlioz. The list of his more important works is completed
by his two volumes of stories, _Contes physiologiques_ (1854) and
_Réalités fantastiques_ (1854). He died at Versailles in April 1871. His
_OEuvres complètes_ were published in 1872-1874 (6 vols.).
His brother, Antoine François Marie, known as ANTONY DESCHAMPS, was born
in Paris on the 12th of March 1800 and died at Passy on the 29th of
October 1869. Like his brother, he was an ardent romanticist, but his
production was limited by a nervous disorder, which has left its mark on
his melancholy work. He translated the _Divina Commedia_ in 1829, and
his poems, _Dernières Paroles_ and _Résignation_, were republished with
his brother's in 1841.
DESCHAMPS, EUSTACHE, called MOREL (1346?-1406?), French poet, was born
at Vertus in Champagne about 1346. He studied at Reims, where he is said
to have received some lessons in the art of versification from Guillaume
de Machaut, who is stated to have been his uncle. From Reims he
proceeded about 1360 to the university of Orleans to study law and the
seven liberal arts. He entered the king's service as royal messenger
about 1367, and was sent on missions to Bohemia, Hungary and Moravia. In
1372 he was made _huissier d'armes_ to Charles V. He received many other
important offices, was _bailli_ of Valois, and afterwards of Senlis,
squire to the Dauphin, and governor of Fismes. In 1380 his patron,
Charles V., died, and in the same year the English burnt down his house
at Vertus. In his childhood he had been an eye-witness of the English
invasion of 1358; he had been present at the siege of Reims and seen the
march on Chartres; he had witnessed the signing of the treaty of
Bretigny; he was now himself a victim of the English fury. His violent
hatred of the English found vent in numerous appeals to carry the war
into England, and in the famous prophecy[1] that England would be
destroyed so thoroughly that no one should be able to point to her
ruins. His own misfortunes and the miseries of France embittered his
temper. He complained continually of poverty, railed against women and
lamented the woes of his country. His last years were spent on his
_Miroir de mariage_, a satire of 13,000 lines against women, which
contains some real comedy. The mother-in-law of French farce has her
prototype in the _Miroir_.
The historical and patriotic poems of Deschamps are of much greater
value. He does not, like Froissart, cast a glamour over the miserable
wars of the time but gives a faithful picture of the anarchy of France,
and inveighs ceaselessly against the heavy taxes, the vices of the
clergy and especially against those who enrich themselves at the expense
of the people. The terrible ballad with the refrain "_Sà, de l'argent;
sà, de l'argent_" is typical of his work. Deschamps excelled in the use
of the ballade and the chant royal. In each of these forms he was the
greatest master of his time. In ballade form he expressed his regret for
the death of Du Guesclin, who seems to have been the only man except his
patron, Charles V., for whom he ever felt any admiration. One of his
ballades (No. 285) was sent with a copy of his works to Geoffrey
Chaucer, whom he addresses with the words:--
"Tu es d'amours mondains dieux en Albie
Et de la Rose en la terre Angélique."
Deschamps was the author of an _Art poétique_, with the title of _L'Art
de dictier et de fere chancons, balades, virelais et rondeaulx_. Besides
giving rules for the composition of the kinds of verse mentioned in the
title he enunciates some curious theories on poetry. He divides music
into music proper and poetry. Music proper he calls artificial on the
ground that everyone could by dint of study become a musician; poetry he
calls natural because he says it is not an art that can be acquired but
a gift. He lays immense stress on the harmony of verse, because, as was
the fashion of his day, he practically took it for granted that all
poetry was to be sung.
The work of Deschamps marks an important stage in the history of French
poetry. With him and his contemporaries the long, formless narrations of
the _trouvères_ give place to complicated and exacting kinds of verse.
He was perhaps by nature a moralist and satirist rather than a poet, and
the force and truth of his historical pictures gives him a unique place
in 14th-century poetry. M. Raynaud fixes the date of his death in 1406,
or at latest, 1407. Two years earlier he had been relieved of his charge
as _bailli_ of Senlis, his plain-spoken satires having made him many
enemies at court.
His _OEuvres complètes_ were edited (10 vols., 1878-1901) for the
_Société des anciens textes français_ by Queux de Saint-Hilaire and
Gaston Raynaud. A supplementary volume consists of an Introduction by
G. Raynaud. See also Dr E. Hoeppner, _Eustache Deschamps_
(Strassburg, 1904).