MARMONT, Auguste FrédéricLouis Viesse de (1774-1852), duke of Ragusa, and marshal of France, one of Napoleon’s earliest friends and most trusted generals, was born at Châtillon-sur-Seine, on July 20, 1774. He was the son of an ex-officer in the army, who belonged to the i)etite noblesse, and had adopted the principles of the Revolution. His love of soldiering soon showing itself, his father took him to Dijon to learn mathematics prior to entering the artillery, and there he made the acquaintance of Bonaparte, which he renewed after obtaining his commission when he served in Toulon. The acquaintance ripened into intimacy; Marmont became General Bonaparte’s aide-de-camp, and accompanied him to Italy and Egypt, winning distinction and promotion as general of brigade. In 1799 he left Egypt with Bonaparte to the mercy of the English; he was present at the revolution of the 18th Brumaire, and organized the artillery for the expedition to Italy, which he commanded with great effect at Marengo. For this he was at once made general of division. In 1801 he became inspector-general of artillery, and in 1804 grand officer of the Legion of Honour. In 1805 he received the command of a corps, with which he did good service at Ulm. He was then directed to occupy Dalmatia with his army; he defeated the Russians on October 30 at Castel Nuovo, and occupied Ragusa. The next five years were the most creditable in his life; he was both military and civil governor of Dalmatia, and has still left traces there both in great public works and in the memories of the people. In 1807 he was made duke of Ragusa, and in 1809, being summoned up to the help of Napoleon, who was closely beset in the island of Lobau, earned the marshal’s baton by his conduct at Wagram. In July 1810 he was hastily ...

MARMONTEL, Jean François (1723-1799), one of the most distinguished men of letters in Paris during the latter half of the 18th century, was born of poor parents in Limousin, on the 11th July 1723. After studying with the Jesuits at Mauriac, he taught in their colleges at Clermont and Toulouse; and in 1745, acting on the advice of Voltaire, he set out for Paris to try for literary honours. From 1748 to 1753 he wrote a succession of tragedies which, though for the most part considered prolix and artificial by modern readers, had great success on the stage, and secured to Voltaire’s new disciple a good position in literary and fashionable circles. Being now associated with Diderot and D’Alembert, he wrote for the great Encyclopédie a series of articles evincing considerable critical power and insight, which in their collected form, under the title Éléments de Littérature, still rank among the higher French classics. He also wrote several comic operas, the two best of which probably are Sylvain and Zémire et Azore. In 1758 he gained the patronage of Madame Pompadour, and was soon after appointed manager of thθ official journal Le Mercure, in which he had already commenced a series of elegant and attractive tales. These were the Contes Moraux, on which, according to some critics, Marmontel’s literary reputation mainly rests. Their merit lies partly in the literary style, which in delicate finish frequently rivals that of his master Voltaire, but mainly in their graphic and charming pictures of...