Paul Louis Courier

He entered the school of artillery at Châlons, however, and immediately on receiving his appointment as sub-lieutenant in September 1793 he joined the army of the Rhine.

The savage independence of his nature rendered subordination intolerable to him; he had been three times disgraced for absenting himself without leave, and his superiors resented his satirical humour.

After leaving the army he went to Florence, and was fortunate enough to discover in the Laurentian Library a complete manuscript of Longus's Daphnis and Chloe, an edition of which he published in 1810.

In 1817 he was a candidate for a vacant seat in the Institute; and failing, he took his revenge by publishing a bitter Lettre à Messieurs de l'Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (1819).

He also projected a translation of Herodotus, and published a specimen, in which he attempted to imitate archaic French; but he did not live to carry out this plan.

[1] The writings of Courier, dealing with the facts and events of his own time, are valuable sources of information as to the condition of France before, during, and after the Revolution.

Sainte-Beuve finds in Courier's own words, "peu de matière et beaucoup d'art", the secret and device of his talent, which gives his writings a value independent of the somewhat ephemeral subject-matter.

[1] In the centre of Veretz there is a stele, raised in honour of Courier 50 years after his murder, and the opening was observed by many eminent writers of the time.