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DUCIS, JEAN

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 630 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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DUCIS, JEAN

DUCIS, See also:
JEAN
JEAN See also:

FRANCOIS (1558-1614)

FRANcoIS (1733–1816), See also:

French dramatist and adapter of See also:

SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM (1564-1616)

Shakespeare, was See also:

BORN, IGNAZ, EDLER VON (1742–1791)

born at See also:

VERSAILLES

Versailles on the 22nd of See also:

AUGUST (originally Sextilis)

August 1733. His See also:

FATHER

father, originally from See also:

Savoy, was a See also:

LINEN

linen-See also:

draper at Versailles; and all through See also:

LIFE

life he retained the See also:

SIMPLE

simple tastes and straightforward See also:

independence fostered by his See also:

bourgeois See also:

EDUCATION

education. In 1768 he produced his first tragedy, Amelise. The failure of this first See also:

ATTEMPT (Lat. adtemptare, attentare, to try)

attempt was fully compensated by the success of his See also:

HAMLET

Hamlet (1769), and Romeo et Juliette (177 2). C dipe chez Admete, imitated partly from See also:

EURIPIDES (48o–4o6 B.C.)

Euripides and partly from See also:

SOPHOCLES (495-406 B.c.)

Sophocles, appeared in 1778, and secured him in the following See also:

YEAR

year the See also:

CHAIR (in. Mid. Eng. chcere, through O. Fr. chaire or chaiere, from Lat. cathedra, later caledra, Gr. xaOi3pa, seat, cf. "cathedral"; the modern Fr. form chaise, a chair, has been adopted in English with a particular meaning as a form of carriage; chaire

chair in the See also:

Academy See also:

LEFT

left vacant by the See also:

DEATH

death of See also:

VOLTAIRE, FRANCOIS MARIE AROUET DE (1694–1778)

Voltaire. Equally successful was Le Roi See also:

LEAR, EDWARD (1812-1888)

Lear in 1783. See also:

MACBETH

Macbeth in L783 did not take so well, and Jean sans peur in 1791 was almost a failure; but Othello in 1792, supported by the acting of See also:

TALMA, FRANCOIS JOSEPH (1763-1826)

Talma, obtained immense See also:

APPLAUSE (Lat. applaudere, to strike upon, clap)

applause. Its vivid picturing of See also:

DESERT

desert life secured for Abufas, ou la famille arabe (1795), an See also:

ORIGINAL

original See also:

DRAMA (literally "action," from Gr. Snail, act or do)

drama, a flattering reception. On the failure of a similar piece, Phedor et See also:

Vladimir ou la famille de Siberie (18o1), Ducis ceased to write for the See also:

STAGE (Fr. 6/age; from Lat. stare, to stand)

stage; and the See also:

REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest of his life was spent in quiet retirement at Versailles. He had been named a member of the See also:

COUNCIL (Lat. concilium, from cum, together, and the root cal, to call)

Council of the Ancients in 1798, but he never discharged the functions of the See also:

OFFICE (from Lat. officium, " duty," " service," a shortened form of opifacium, from facere, " to do," and either the stem of opes, " wealth," " aid," or opus, " work ")

office; and when See also:

NAPOLEON

Napoleon offered him a See also:

POST

post of See also:

HONOUR (Lat. honos or lwnor, honoris; in English the word was spelled with or without the u indifferently until the 17th century, but during the 18th century it became fashion-able to spell the word " honor "; Johnson's and Webster's Dictionaries stereoty

honour under the See also:

EMPIRE

empire, he refused. Amiable, religious and bucolic, he had little sympathy with the fierce, sceptical and tragic times in which his See also:

lot was See also:

CAST (from the verb meaning " to throw "; the word is Scand. in origin, cf. Dan. kaste, and Swed. kasta; " cast " in Middle Eng. took the place of the A.S. weor pan, cf. Ger. werf en)

cast. " Alas!

" he said in the midst of the Revolution, " tragedy is abroad in the streets ; if I step outside of my See also:

DOOR (corresponding to the Gr. Bbpa,. Lat. fores or valvae; the English word, with other forms common in allied languages, comes from the same Indo-European stem as the Gr. Obpa and Lat. fares)

door, I have See also:

BLOOD

blood to my very ankles. I have too often seen See also:

ATREUS

Atreus in clogs, to venture to bring an Atreus on the stage." Though actuated by honest admiration of the See also:

GREAT

great See also:

ENGLISH

English dramatist, Ducis is not Shakespearian. His See also:

IGNORANCE (Lat. ignorantia, from ignorare, not to know); want of knowledge, a state of mind which in law has important consequences. A well-known legal maxim runs: ignorantia juris non excusat ("ignorance of the law does not excuse")

ignorance of the English See also:

LANGUAGE (adapted from the Fr. langage, from langue, tongue, Lat. lingua)

language left him at the See also:

mercy of the See also:

TRANSLATIONS

translations of See also:

PIERRE

Pierre Letourneur (1736–1788) and of Pierre de la See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

Place (1707--1793); ; and even this modified Shakespeare had still to undergo a See also:

PROCESS

process of See also:

PURIFICATION

purification and correction before he could be presented to the fastidious See also:

criticism of French See also:

TASTE (from Lat. taxare, to touch sharply; tangere, to touch)

taste. That such was the See also:

case was not, however, the See also:

FAULT (Mid. Eng. faute, through the French, from the popular Latin use of fallere, to fail; the originallof the Latin being replaced in English in the 15th century)

fault of Ducis; and he did See also:

GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good service in modifying the See also:

JUDGMENT

judgment of his See also:

FELLOW

fellow countrymen. He did not pretend to reproduce, but to excerpt and refashion; and consequently the French See also:

PLAY

play sometimes differs from its English namesake in everything almost but the name. The See also:

plot is different, the characters are different, the motif different, and the scenic arrangement different. To Othello, for instance, he wrote two endings. In one of them Othello was enlightened intime and Desdemona escaped her tragic See also:

FATE

fate. Le Bang1set de l'amitie, a poem in four cantos (1771), Au roi de Sardaigne (1775), Discours de reception d l'academie francaise .(1779), Epttre d l'amitie (1786), and a Recueil de poesies (18o9), See also:

COMPLETE

complete the See also:

list of Ducis's publications. An edition of his See also:

WORKS

works in three volumes appeared in 1813; Euvres posthumes were edited by Campenon in 1826; and Hamlet, tEdipe chez Admete, Macbeth and Abufar are reprinted in vol. ii. of See also:

DIDOT

Didot's Chefs-d'ceuvre tragiques. See Onesime Leroy, Etude sur la personne et See also:

LES

les ecrils de Ducis (1832), based on Ducis's own See also:

MEMOIRS

memoirs preserved in the library at Versailles; Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du lundi, t. vi., and Nouveaux lundis, t. iv.; See also:

VILLEMAIN, ABEL FRANCOIS (179o-1867)

Villemain, Tableau de la lilt. au X VIII, siecle.

End of Article: DUCIS, JEAN

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