See Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du hindi, t. iii.; G. de Molènes, “Les femmes poètes,” in Revue des Deux Mondes, July 1842; Taxile Delord, Les Matinées littéraires, 1860; L'esprit de Madame Girardin, avec une préface par Μ. Lamartine, 1862; G. d’Heilly, Madame de Girardin, sa vie et scs oeuvres, 1868.

GIRARDIN, Saint-Marc (1801-1873), a politician and man of letters whose real name was Marc Girardin simply, was born at Paris in 1801, and died at Morsang-sur-Seine on the 11th of April 1873. His school career at the Lycée Henri IV. was a distinguished one, and he afterwards took university honours both in literature and law, but he never practised at the bar. During the reign of Charles X. he obtained several Academy prizes, and a mastership at the Lycée Louis le Grand, though his liberal principles stood a little in his way. In 1828 he began to contribute to the Journal des Débats, on the staff of which he remained for nearly half a century. At the accession of Louis Philippe he was appointed professor of history at the Sorbonne and master of requests. Soon afterwards he exchanged his chair of history for one of literature, continuing to contribute political articles to the Débats, and sitting as deputy in the chamber from 1835 to 1848. As a professor he directed his efforts chiefly against the clerical reaction. In 1844 he was elected a member of the Academy. During the revolution of February 1848 Girardin was for a moment a minister, but after the establishment of the republic he was not re-elected deputy, nor did he take any prominent part in politics during the second empire save with his pen. In the capacity of journalist he continued to be active, and interested himself not merely in moderate opposition to the Government at home but also in foreign politics, especially in the affairs of Syria, Greece, and Turkey. After the war of 1870 he was returned to the Bordeaux assembly by his old department—the Haute Vienne. His Orleanist tendencies and his objections to the republic were strong, and though he at first supported Thiers, he afterwards became a leader öf the opposition to the president He died, however, before Thiers wa's actually driven from power. Saint-Marc Girardin was one of the most distinguished of the many writers whose political and literary activities combined have raised them to distinction in France during this century, but to whom there cannot be assigned the highest rank either as politicians or as littérateurs. His political claims were not above those of a vigorous and intelligent journalist. His professorial lectures were popular and well attended; his literary knowledge was wide, and included German and Italian; his criticisms, on which his claims as a man of letters rest, were acute and well expressed, but not remarkable for great subtlety or novelty of thought or style.

His chief work is his Cours de littérature dramatique (1843- 1863), a series of lectures the delivery and publication of which lasted for over twenty years. This λvork has for second title De Γ Usage des Passions dans le Drame, which describes it more accurately. The author goes through the list of the various passions, and. of the chief situations which call them out, discussing at the same time the mode in which they are treated in the most celebrated dι - amas of ancient and modern times. The source of these illustrations is not indeed limited to drama, and the lecturer takes a wide range over the fields of poetry and romance. The result was doubtless as a course of lectures interesting and stimulating; as a book it is somewhat desultory. Among his other works may be noticed Essais de Littérature (1844, 2 vols.), made up chiefly of contributions to the Débats, his Notices sur T Allemagne (1834), and many volumes of collected Soxιυenirs, Reflexions, &c., on foreign countries and passing events. His latest works of literary importance were La Fontaine et les Fabulistes (1867) and an Étude sur J. J. Rousseaι<, (1870) which had appeared in the Revue des Deux Mondes.