Ernest Legouvé

Gabriel Jean Baptiste Ernest Wilfrid Legouvé (pronounced [ɡabʁijɛl ʒɑ̃ batist ɛʁnɛst wilfʁid ləɡuve]; 14 February 1807 – 14 March 1903) was a French dramatist.

[1] As early as 1829 he carried away a prize of the Académie française for a poem on the discovery of printing; and in 1832 he published a curious little volume of verses, entitled Les Morts Bizarres.

In 1847 he began the work by which he is best remembered, his contributions to the development and education of the female mind, by lecturing at the College of France on the moral history of women; these discourses were collected into a volume in 1848, and enjoyed a great success.

[1] As time passed on, however, he became less prominent as a playwright, and more so as a lecturer and propagandist on women's rights and the advanced education of children, in both of which directions he was a pioneer in French society.

He was long accounted one of the best shots in France, and although, from a conscientious objection, he never fought a duel, he made the art of fencing his lifelong hobby.