Fauriel

Fauriel, Claude Charles (1772-1844), a French writer and critic, was born at St. Etienne, and educated at Lyons. He took part in the Revolution, and served for one year in the army under the celebrated Tour d'AuVergne. He then became secretary (1800) to Fouche, the Minister of Police, but, being opposed to the idea of a despotism, resigned in 1802. He turned his thoughts to literature and languages. In 1810 he translated some works of a Danish poet and, shortly afterwards, tragedies of Manzoni. In 1824-25 he published Popular Songs of Modern Greece with translation and annotations. This was during the struggle for liberty in Greece, and his work attracted much notice. The Revolution of 1830 gave him the chair of Foreign Literature at Paris. In 1836 he wrote a history of Southern Gaul under its German Conquerors, and he collaborated in a Literary History of France. He also published, with introduction and translation, a Provencal poem, which gave a history of the crusade against the Albigenses. After his death were published his History of Provencal Poetry (1846), and Dante and the Origin of Italian Literature (1854). He was on terms of friendship with Madame de Stael, Condorcet, and other noted people of his time.