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Lyons. His father wished him on leaving school to go into the army, and then suggested business. But Quinet was determined upon literature, and after a See also:

time got his way. His first publication, the Tablettes du juif errant, appeared in 1823. Being struck with See also:

HERDER, JOHANN GOTTFRIED VON (1744-1803)

Herder's Philosophic der Geschichte, he undertook to translate it, learnt See also:

German for the purpose, published his See also:

WORK

work in 1827, and obtained by it considerable See also:

CREDIT (Lat. credere, to believe)

credit. At this time he was introduced to See also:

Cousin, and made the acquaintance of See also:

MICHELET, JULES (1798-1874)

Michelet. He had visited See also:

Germany and See also:

England before the See also:

APPEARANCE (from Lat. apparere, to appear)

appearance of his See also:

BOOK

book. Cousin procured him a post on a See also:

government See also:

MISSION

mission to the Morea in 1829, and on his return he published in 183o a book on La Grece moderne. Some hopes of employment which he had after the revolution of February were frustrated by the reputation of speculative republicanism which he had acquired.

But he joined the See also:

STAFF (O. Eng. staef, cf. Du. staf, Ger. Stab, &c.; Icel. stafr meant also a written letter, and O. Eng. stafas, the letters of the alphabet; " stave," one of the thin pieces of wood of which a cask is made, is a doublet)

staff of the Revue See also:

des deux mondes, and for some years contributed to it numerous essays, the most remark-able of which was that on See also:

Les Epopees francaises du XIIeme siecle, an See also:

early, though not by any means the earliest, appreciation of the See also:

long-neglected chansons de geste. Ahasverus, his first See also:

ORIGINAL

original work of consequence, appeared in 1833. This is a singular See also:

PROSE

prose poem, in See also:

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

language sometimes rather bombasticbut often beautiful. Shortly afterwards he married Minna More, a German girl with whom he had fallen in love some years before. Then he visited See also:

Italy, and, besides See also:

writing many essays, produced two poems, Napoleon (1835) and Promethee (1838), which being written in See also:

VERSE (from Lat. versus, literally a line or furrow drawn by turning the plough, from vertere, and afterwards signifying an arrangement of syllables into feet)

verse (of which he was not a See also:

MASTER (Lat. magister, related to tnagis, more, as the corresponding minister is to minus, less; the English form is due partly to the O. Eng. maegister, and partly to O. Fr. maistre, mod. maitre; cf. Du. meester, Ger. Meister, Ital. maestro)

master) ar( inferior to Ahasverus. In 1838 he published a vigorous reply to See also:

Strauss's Leben Jesu, and in that See also:

YEAR

year he received the See also:

LEGION (Lat. legio)

Legion 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. In 1839 he was appointed See also:

PROFESSOR (the Latin noun formed from the verb profiteri, to declare publicly, to acknowledge, profess)

professor of See also:

FOREIGN

foreign„ literature at Lyons, where he began the brilliant course of lectures afterwards embodied in the Genie des religions. Twe. years later he was transferred to the See also:

COLLEGE (Collegium)

College de France, and the Genie des religions itself appeared (1842). Quinet's Parisian professorship was more notorious than fortunate, owing, it must be said, to his own 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. His 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 was one of See also:

SOUTHERN

Southern Literature, but, neglecting his proper subject, he See also:

CHOSE (Fr. for " thing ")

chose, in See also:

CONJUNCTION (from Lat. conjungere, to join together)

conjunction with Michelet, to engage in a violent polemic with the See also:

JESUITS

Jesuits and with See also:

ULTRAMONTANISM (Lat. ultra, beyond, monies, the mountains)

Ultramontanism. Two books bearing exactly these titles appeared in 1843 and 1844, and contained, as was usual with Quinet, the substance of his lectures. These excited so much disturbance, and the author so obstinately refused to confine himself to literature proper, that in 1846 the government put an end to them—a course which was not disapproved by the See also:

MAJORITY (Fr. majorite; Med. Lat. majoritas; Lat. major, greater)

majority of his colleagues.

By this time Quinet was a pronounced republican, and some-thing of a revolutionist. He appeared in arms during the disturbances which overthrew See also:

Louis Philippe, and was elected by the department of the Ain to the Constituent and then to the Legislative See also:

ASSEMBLY, UNLAWFUL

Assembly, where he figured among the extreme See also:

RADICAL (Lat. radix, a root)

radical party. He had published in 1848 Les Revolutions d'Italie, one of his See also:

PRINCIPAL

principal though not one of his best See also:

WORKS

works. He wrote numerous See also:

PAMPHLETS

pamphlets during the See also:

SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short-lived Second See also:

REPUBLIC (Lat. respublica, a commonweal or common-wealth)

Republic, attacked the See also:

ROMAN

Roman expedition with all his strength and was from the first an uncompromising opponent of See also:

Prince Louis Napoleon. He was banished from France after the coup d'etat, and established himself at See also:

BRUSSELS (Fr. Bruxelles, Flem. Brussel)

Brussels. His wife had died some time previously, and he now married Mademoiselle Asaky, the daughter of a Roumanian poet. At Brussels he lived for some seven years, during which he published Les Esclaves (1853), a dramatic poem, Marnix de Sainte-Aldegonde (1854), a study of that Reformer in which he very greatly exaggerates Sainte-Aldegonde's See also:

LITERARY

literary merit, and some other books. He then moved to Veytaux, on the See also:

SHORE

shore of the See also:

Lake of See also:

Geneva, where he continued to reside till the fall of the See also:

EMPIRE

empire. Here his See also:

PEN (Lat. penna, a feather, pen)

pen was busier than ever. In 186o appeared a singular book, somewhat after the See also:

FASHION (adapted from Fr. facon, agon, Lat. factio, making, facere, to do or make)

fashion of Ahasverus, entitled See also:

Merlin l'enchanteur, in 1862 a Histoire de la campagne de 1815, in 1865 an elaborate book on the French Revolution, in which the author, republican as he was, blamed the acts of the revolutionists unsparingly, and by that means See also:

drew down on himself much wrath from more thoroughgoing partisans. Many pamphlets date from this See also:

period, as does La Creation (1870), a third book of the class of Ahasverus and Merlin, but even vaguer, dealing not with See also:

HISTORY

history, See also:

LEGEND (through the French from the med. Lat. legenda, things to be read, from legere, to read)

legend, or See also:

PHILOSOPHY (Gr. gthos, fond of, and vo4 (a, wisdom)

philosophy, but with See also:

PHYSICAL

physical See also:

SCIENCE (Lat. scientia, from scire; to learn, know)

science for the most See also:

PART

part. Quinet had refused to return to France to join the liberal opposition against Napoleon III., but immediately after See also:

SEDAN

Sedan he returned.

He was then restored to his professorship, and during the See also:

SIEGE (0. Fr. sege, siege, mod. siege, seat, ultimately from sedere, to sit, cf. Class. Lat. obsidium, a siege)

siege wrote vehemently against the Germans. He was elected See also:

DEPUTY (through the Fr. from a Late Lat. use of deputare, to cut off, allot; putare having the original sense of to trim, prune)

deputy by the department of the See also:

Seine in 1871, and was one of the most obstinate opponents of the terms of See also:

peace between France and Germany. He continued to write till his See also:

DEATH

death, which occurred at See also:

VERSAILLES

Versailles on the 27th of See also:

March 1875. Le Siege de See also:

Paris et la defense nationale appeared in 1871, La Republique in 1872, Le Livre de l'See also:

EXILE (Lat. exsilium or exilium, from exsul or exul, which is derived from ex, out of, and the root sal, to go, seen in salire, to leap, consul, &c.; the connexion with solum, soil, country is now generally considered wrong)

exile in the year of its author's death and after it. This was followed by three volumes of letters and some other work. Quinet had already in 1858 published a semi-biographic book called Histoire de See also:

mes idees, Quinet's See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character was extremely amiable, and his letters to his mother, his accounts of his early See also:

LIFE

life, and so forth, are likely always to make him interesting. He was also a man of great moral conscientiousness, and as far as intention went perfectly disinterested. As a writer, his See also:

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief fault is want of concentration; as a thinker and politician, vagueness and want of See also:

PRACTICAL

practical determination. His See also:

HISTORICAL

historical and philosophical works, though showing much See also:

READING

reading, fertile thought, abundant facility of expression, and occasionally, where See also:

PREJUDICE (Lat. praejudicium)

prejudice does not come in, acute See also:

JUDGMENT

judgment, are rather (as not a few of them were in fact) reported lectures than formal See also:

TREATISES

treatises. His rhetorical See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power was altogether See also:

SUPERIOR

superior to his logical power, and the natural consequence is that his work is full of contradictions. These contradictions were, moreover, due, not merely to an incapacity or an unwillingness to argue strictly, but also to the presence in his mind of a large number of inconsistent tastes and prejudices which he either could not or would not co-See also:

ORDINATE

ordinate into an intelligible creed. Thus he has the strongest attraction for the picturesque See also:

side of medievalism and catholicity, the strongest repulsion for the restrictions which See also:

MEDIEVAL

medieval and See also:

CATHOLIC (Gr. KcaBoXuK6s, general, universal)

Catholic institutions imposed on individual See also:

LIBERTY (Lat. libertas, from liber, free)

liberty.

He refused to submit himself to any See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form of See also:

POSITIVE (or PORTABLE) ORGAN

positive orthodoxy, yet when a man like Strauss pushed unorthodoxy to its extreme limits Quinet revolted. As a politician he acted with the extreme radicals, yet universal See also:

SUFFRAGE (Lat. suffragium)

suffrage disgusted him as unreasonable in its principle and dangerous in its results. His pervading characteristic, therefore, is that of an eloquent vagueness, very stimulating and touching at times, but as deficient in coercive force of See also:

MATTER

matter as it is in lasting precision and elegance of form. He is less in-accurate in fact than Michelet, but he is also much less absorbed by a single See also:

IDEA (Gr. Ibia, connected with i&eiv, to see; cf. Lat. species from specere, to look at)

idea at a time, and the result is that he seldom attains to the vivid See also:

REPRESENTATION

representation of which Michelet was a master.

End of Article: QUINET, EDGAR (1803-1875)

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