XAVIER DE

See also:

• MAISTRE, JOSEPH DE (1754-1821)
• XAVIER DE MAISTRE (1763-1852)

MAISTRE (1763-1852)  , younger brother of Joseph de Maistre, was born at Chambery in October 1763 . He served when young in the Piedmontese army, and wrote his delightful fantasy, Voyage autour de ma chambre (published 1794) when he was under arrest at Turin in consequence of a duel . Xavier shared the politics and the loyalty of his brother, and on the annexation of Savoy to France, he left the service, and took a commission in the Russian army . He served under Suvarov in his victorious Austro-Russian campaign and accompanied the marshal to Russia . He shared the disgrace of his general, and supported himself for some time in St Petersburg by miniature painting . But on his brother's arrival in St Petersburg he was introduced to the minister of marine . He was appointed to several posts in the capital, but also saw active service, was wounded in the Caucasus, and attained the rank of major-general . He married a Russian lady and established himself in his adopted country, even after the overthrow of Napoleon, and the consequent restoration of the Piedmontese dynasty . For a time, however, he lived at Naples, but he returned to St Petersburg and died there on the 12th of June 1852 . He was only once in Paris (in 1839), when Sainte-Beuve, who has left some pleasant reminiscences of him, met him . Besides the Voyage already mentioned, Xavier de Maistre's works (all of which are of very modest dimensions) are Le Lepreux de la cite d'Aoste (1811), a touching little story of human misfortune; Les Prisonniers du Caucase, a powerful sketch of Russian character, La Jeune Siberienne, and the Expedition nocturne, a sequel to the Voyage autour de ma chambre (1825) . His style is of remarkable ease and purity .

His works, with the exception of some brief chemical tractates, are included in the collections of

Charpentier, Garnier, &c . See Sainte-Beuve's Portraits contemporains, vol. iii .