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See also: political writer, was See also: born in See also: Paris on the 4th of See also: January 1773
.
Brought up on his See also: father's estate of See also: Mere in See also: Touraine, he conceived a bitter aversion for the See also: nobility, which seemed to strengthen with See also: time
.
He would never take the name " de Mere," to which he was entitled, lest he should be thought a nobleman
.
At the age of fifteen he was sent to Paris to See also: complete his See also: education; his father's teaching had already inspired him with a passionate devotion to See also: Greek literature, and although he showed considerable mathematical ability, he continued to devote all his leisure to the See also: classics
.
He entered the school of artillery at Chalons, however, and immediately on receiving his See also: appointment as sub-See also: lieutenant in See also: September 1793 he joined the army of the Rhine
.
He served in various See also: campaigns of the Revolutionary See also: wars, especially in those of See also: Italy in 1798-99 and 1806-7, and in the See also: German See also: campaign of 1809
.
He became chef d'escadron in 1803
.
He made his first appearance as an author in 1802, when he contributed to the Magasin encyclopedique a critique on Johannes See also: Schweighauser's edition of See also: Athenaeus
.
I.n the following See also: year appeared his Eloge d'Helene, a See also: free imitation rather than a See also: translation from Isocrates, which he had sketched in 1798
.
See also: Courier had given up his commission in the autumn of 18o8, but the general See also: enthusiasm in Paris over the preparations for the new campaign affected him, and he attached himself to the staff of a general of artillery
.
But he was horror-struck by the carnage at See also: Wagram (1809), refusing from that time to believe that there was any See also: art in war
.
He hastily quitted Vienna, escaping the formal See also: charge of See also: desertion because his new appointment had not been confirmed
.
The savage independence of his nature rendered subordination intolerable to him; he had been three times disgraced for absenting himself without leave, and his superiors resented his satiricalSee also: humour
.
After leaving the army he went to Florence, and was fortunate enough to discover in the Laurentian Library a complete See also: manuscript of See also: Longus's See also: Daphnis and Chloe, an edition of which he published in 181o
.
In consequence of a misadventure—blotting the manuscript—he was
involved in a See also: quarrel with the librarian, and was compelled by the See also: government to leave See also: Tuscany
.
He retired to his estate at Veretz (See also: Indre-et-See also: Loire), but frequently visited Paris, and divided his See also: attention between literature and his See also: farm
.
After the second restoration of the Bourbons the career of Courier as political pamphleteer began
.
He had before this time waged war against See also: local wrongs in his own See also: district, and had been the adviser and helpful friend of his neighbours
.
He now made himself by his letters and See also: pamphlets one of the most dreaded opponents of the government of the Restoration
.
The first of these was his Petition aux deux chambres (1316), exposing the sufferings of the peasantry under the royalist reaction
.
In 1817 he was a See also: candidate for a vacant seat in the Institute; and failing, he took his revenge by See also: publishing abitterLettre dMessieurs de l'Academie See also: des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (1819)
.
This was followed (1819–1820) by a series of political letters of extra-ordinary power published in Le Censeur Euro peen
.
He advocated a liberal See also: monarchy, at the See also: head of which he doubtless wished to see See also: Louis Philippe
.
The proposal, in 1822, to
See also: purchase the estate of Chambord for the duke of See also: Bordeaux called forth from Courier the See also: Simple Discours de See also: Paul Louis, vigneron de la Chavonniere, one of his best pieces
.
For this he .was tried and condemned to suffer a See also: short imprisonment and to pay a See also: fine
.
Before he went to prison he published a compte rendu of his trial, which had a still larger circulation than the Discours itself
.
In 1823 appeared the Livret de Paul Louis, the See also: Gazette de See also: village, followed in 1824 by his famous Pamphlet des pamphlets, called by his biographer,Armand Carrel, his See also: swan-See also: song
.
Courier published in x8o7 his translation from See also: Xenophon, Du commandement de la cavalerie et de l'equitation, and had a share in editing the Collections des See also: romans grecs
.
He also projected a translation of See also: Herodotus, and published a specimen, in which he attempted to imitate archaic French; but he did not live to carry out this See also: plan
.
In the autumn of 1825, on a See also: Sunday afternoon (See also: August 18th), Courier was found shot in a See also: wood near his See also: house
.
The murderers, who were servants of his own, remained undis-
covered for five years
.
-
The writings of Courier, dealing with the facts and events of
his own time, are valuable See also: sources of information as to the condition of See also: France before, during, and after the Revolution
.
Sainte-Beuve finds in Courier's own words, " peu de matiere et beaucoup d'art," the secret and See also: device of his talent, which gives his writings a value See also: independent of the somewhat ephemeral
subject-See also: matter
.
A Collection complete des pamphlets politiques et opuscules litteraires de P
.
L
.
Courier appeared in 1826
.
See See also: editions of his CEuvres (1848), with an admirable biography by Armand Carrel, which is reproduced in a later edition, with a supplementary See also: criticism by F
.
See also: Sarcey (1876–1877) ; also three notices by Sainte-Beuve in the Causeries du lundi and the Nouveaux Lundis
.
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