Obituary.

are . But , 91 or 97 , he was , until within the last year or two , remarkably vigorous , and his brisk step in the streets was that of a man at least 30 years younger . Whether 91 or 97 , he hacl , at all events , witnessed ten revolutions ; and his career was marked by incidents and adventures which , with a pardonable vanity , he would only attribute to his own peculiar character . He was

certainly one of the literary originals of his time , and I have heard him repeatedly assert , with evident satisfaction , that he was the only man ( in this , however , he was in error , for there is another ) who survived what to so many is fatal in France—ridicule . " No man was ever more attacked by this weapon , formidable whether emloyed in political or literary warfarethan M . Viennet .

p , As a versifier , man of letters , and politician he had the privilege , and he seemed' -to be proud of it , of having attained political and literary eminence , while reaching the very limits of unpopularity . There was a club in the little town of Beziers shortly after the Revolution broke out— -of course on the model of those of Paris—¦ and Viennetat the age of 14 was chosen presidentthe

, , , other members being none of them older , and most of them younger . At 19 he entered as Lieutenant in the Marine Artillery , on board the Ilerade . He had no time to distinguish himself , for the Ilcrcule was captured by an English vessel the year following , and fche future Academician and Peer of France spent nine months a prisoner of war at Plymouth . Whether he escaped or

was exchanged I cannot say , but anyhow he regained his . liberty , and resumed his service in the same corps . His promotion was , however , greatly retarded by his votes against the life consulate of Bonaparte , and against the establishment of the Empire ; but this did nofc ' check his military ardour . He made the campaign of Saxony in 1813 , and for his gallantry afc the Battle of Lufczen received the cross of the Legion of Honour from the hand of the Emperor . He was also present at the Battles of Bautzen and Dresden , and was made prisoner

at Leipsic , and only returned to France after the first restoration of the Bourbons . He refused to take service under the Empire during the Hundred Days ; and what was very near costing him dear was his refusal to vote for the " Acte Additionnel , " as the complement to the Constitution of the Empire . The decree for his transportation to Cayenne was actually signed , and it

required all the influence of Cambaceres , who was an old friend of his family , to have it revoked . When the Bourbons returned a second time after the fall of Napoleon , Viennet was , through the interest of Marshal Gouvion Sfc . Cyr , admitted infco the Royal Staff Corps . Here , again , his prospects of advancement were bli ghted . He was essentially froncleur , and , though born in the

Herault , was in every sense a Parisian . He had no more indulgence for the mistakes of his friends than for his adversaries . His satirical poems against the government of the Bourbons alienated from his old patrons . His numerous epistles , written in the most caustic style , raised him up enemies among all political parties . He displeased the Liberals and the Buonapartists , who , by confusion

a strange , were generally classed together , by his Epistles to the Emperor Alexander and to Gouvion St . Cyr in 1815 ; and he disgusted the Royalists by the consideration he showed towards the " Brigands of the Loire . " Then came the Epistles to the Greeks ancl to tho Kings of Christendom , ancl on the Greeks ; and , again , his Poem of Parga . In 1824 he denounced in his

"Epistle to the Muses" the romantic school and the other innovators in literature . His " Epistle to the Rag Gatherers , " printed in 1827 , was a fierce satire on the existing laws on the Press . This last production completed his disgrace with the Government . His name was struck off the list of Staff officers , but ifc made him popular with the Liberals ; and this popularity , which he always affected to disregard , was not diminished by his " Epistle to the Mules of Dom Miguel . " Tho principles of M . Viennet were decidedly monarchial , but he

hated despotism , and he professed the most intense aversion for the Jesuits . In order to combat the reactionary tendencies of the Restoration he became one of the contributors to the Gonstituiionnel , which was then Liberal and Voltairian ; and , owing to the influences of this paper and to the position of his family in his native department of the Herault , he was elected to the

Chamber of Deputies in 1827 . He took his seat with j ; he Left , and supported by his votes and speeches , as well as by his pen , the formidable opposition against the Government of Charles X , which ended in its overthrow . He took up arms on the side of the insurgents of July , and was among the first-to proclaim tho Duke of Orleans at the Hotel de Ville . The only recompense he

claimed for his services was his reinstatement in his military rank as Chef de Bataillon . He supported with all the ardour of his temperament the counter revolutionary policy adopted by the new Government , and in his speeches in the Chamber uttered fierce invectives against the factions who were working for the ruin of liberty . In a paper called the Tribune he was openl

y charged wifch receiving an allowance out of the Secret Service Fund . Ho denounced the calumny in the Chamber of Deputies , and demanded that the proprietor of the Tribune should be called to fche Bar of the House . A committee was named , with M . Persil , afterwards Minister of Louis Philippe , and now in his old age Senator of fche Empire , for Reporter . The Committee

decided by a large majority in favour of the motion . The manager of the paper and the editors , Armand Marrast , afterwards editor of the National and President of the Constituent Assembly , and Godfrey Gavaignac , brother of the General , appeared to the summons . A prosecution was instituted , and the manager was convicted and sentenced to 10 , 000 fr . fine and two years ' imprisonment . Viennet continued to denounce the licentiousness of the Press and the Republican conspirators , and lost whatever i-emained of the

popularity his " Epistles to the Rag-gatherers " had gained him . After the insurrection of April , 1834 , he energetically supported the repressive measures introduced by the Government . Ifc must have delighted him to find that he was at thafc moment , beyond all comparison , the most unpopular man in France . He boasted of it . He said , in one of his speeches : —

" 1 have counted not less than 500 epigrams published every year on my person , my features , my poems , my speeches in the Chamber , my tuft of hair rebellious to the comb , and my green surtoufc . There is not a runaway scamp of a schoolboy ambitious of producing a feuilleton who docs not flash his pen on my frippery , and think ifc his duty to havo a kick at me . "

It was in 1840 that M . Viennet was i * aisedto the peerage by Louis Philippe .. The mockery and violence of his political adversaries redoubled , and his own caustic tongue and pen added to it . Among other pleasantries about him , repeated over and over again , ifc is said that , to save coach hire , he used fco go fco the Chamber of Peers on the top of an omnibus , or on foot , wifch an old cotton

vimbrella under his arm , like the citizen King in the first days of the July monarchy . Bub ifc was not merely with political parties that M . Viennet provoked a warfare waged on both sides with an intensity which may well astonish the present generation ; he was what is called a Classic in literature , and actually seemed to consider the romantic schools as the o :: emy of civilization ,

if not of society at large . His controversy with the partisans of the modern ideas gave him additional notoriety independently of his own productions . He became a candidate for the honour of the French Academy , and was elected in 1830 , his competitor being Benjamin Constant , to the chair vacant by the death of Count de Segur , father ofthe well-known historian of the Russian campaign , ancl himself distinguished for his literary talents . Viennet is said to have been tho fourth " Immortal" that the little town of Beziers has produced .