Fountain, Louis de

Going to seek happiness in Paris (1777), for a long time there he struggled with need. At the beginning of the revolution, he sympathized with the collapse of the old order, but at the same time he was indignant at anarchy and demanded order and respect for the laws. In the early 1790s. he took part in the publication of the moderate newspaper Modérateur.

After the fall of the monarchy, he retired to Lyon and barely escaped execution when Lyon's indignation against the convention was suppressed. In the same year (1793) on behalf of the Lyons wrote a petition to the convention , which spoke of the frenzy of Collot d'Herbois and other commissioners of the convention. Soon after, the Fountain was again included in the list of convicts and escaped from the guillotine only because he managed to escape. In 1796, he was appointed professor of literature at École Centrale . Together with Lagarpe, he published the newspaper Mémorial, which spoke out against the policy of the Directory ; therefore 18 fruktidora he was expelled from the institute and sentenced to exile.

He fled to England and made friends with Chateaubriand there . After 18 brummers, they both returned to France and began to publish a reactionary newspaper, Mercure de France, in which Lagarpe and Bonald also collaborated. In 1800, at a festival held by the first consul on the anniversary of the death of Washington , the Fountain delivered a laudable speech to the latter.

Thanks to the petition of Napoleon’s sister, Eliza Bachiokka , the Fountain in 1802 became a member of the legislative body. After the reorganization of the institute in 1803, he became a member of it. In 1804, he was elected president of the legislative body and performed these duties until 1808. When opening or closing sessions, he made usually brilliant speeches in honor of Napoleon. In 1808, during the reorganization of the "University" Napoleon appointed him his great master. In this position, Fountain tried to mitigate the purely military nature of school education by applying moral and religious principles. In 1810, the Fountain was appointed senator and received the title of Count.

When the fall of Napoleon became inevitable, the Fountain sided with the Bourbons and participated in the deposition of Napoleon by the Senate. Louis XVIII appointed him as a peer and gave the title of Marquis. In the House of Peers, he played the same role of official speaker in relation to Louis XVIII, as before in relation to Napoleon.

The first poems of the Fountain were distinguished by their melancholy character and were inspired by the heavy impressions of his youth. Cri de mon coeur (1778) was followed by Le jour des morts dans une campagne, Poëme séculaire sur la fédération de 1790, La Grece délivrée, Le vieux Château. Of his other works, the following are remarkable: the poetic translation of Essa sur l'homme by Pop; Epotre sur l'édit en faveur des non-catholiques; Essai sur l'astronomie and a number of critical and journalistic articles in the above periodicals.

A collection of his speeches was published under the general title “Collection complete des discours de F.”. Works published by Saint-Beuve (Oeuvres de Fontaues, P., 1839, 2 vols.). His poetry is distinguished by its artificial character and lack of inspiration. In prose, he was a brilliant stylist.

• Fountain, Louis // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 tons (82 tons and 4 extra). - SPb. , 1890-1907.