SMILE

DESCHAMPS (1791-1871)  , French poet and man of letters, was born at Bourges on the 20th of February 1.791 . 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 cenacle gathered round Victor Hugo, and in July 1823 Emile founded with- his master the Muse Irancaise, which during the year of its existence was the specialorgan of the romantic party . His Etudes francaises et l trangilres (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 Romeo e ! Juliette of Berlioz . The list of his more important works is completed by his two volumes of stories, Contes physiologiques (1854) and Realites fantastiques (1854) . He died at Versailles in April 1871 . His CEuvres completes were published in 1872-1874 (6 vols.) . His brother, Antoine Francois 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, Dernieres Paroles and Resignation, were republished with his brother's, in 1841 .