benefit of a fair trial. Among the en- | lightened men at Toulouse whom Voltaire interested in favour of his client, the Abbé Audra was foremost. A correspondence immediately commenced between them. Audra's letters are not preserved, but from those of Voltaire, which are in his general correspondence, it is evident that Audra's exertions not a little contributed to the acquittal of Sirven. In the first of these letters, dated Jan. 3rd, 1769, Voltaire writes to Audra"This unhappy family will owe you fortune, honour, and life; and the parliament of Toulouse will owe you the re-establishment of its honour, at present tarnished in the eyes of all Europe. You will have seen the factum of the seventeen advocates of the parliament of Paris in favour of the Sirvens. It is very well done; but Sirven will owe much more to you than to the seventeen advocates, and you will have performed an action worthy of philosophy and of yourself." The other letters of Voltaire to Audra upon this subject were written at intervals between the date above mentioned and the nineteenth of June in the following year. They all bear similar testimony to the high estimate which Voltaire formed of the energy and talents of his correspondent.

In the year 1770 Audra published an anonymous work entitled " Histoire générale à l'usage des collèges, depuis Charlemagne jusqu'à nos jours," tome premier, Toulouse, 1770, 12mo. Only the first volume appeared. This work was an abridgment of Voltaire's "Essai sur les Mœurs," and its latitudinarian and philosophic spirit gave considerable of fence to the clergy and the orthodox party generally in France. Shortly after its publication, Voltaire wrote to compliment Audra upon his performance. "D'Alembert," he says, "is very well contented with your abridgment, some fanatics are not so well pleased, but it is because they have neither esprit nor manners. For your sage hardihood you have nothing to fear; there is not one word in your publication, for which they can annoy you. For the rest, you have an archbishop who is of the same sentiments with yourself, and who will shortly be a member of the Academy." But this was an unfortunate publication for Audra. The archbishop of Toulouse (M. Loménie de Brienne), contrary to Voltaire's opinion, was unwillingly compelled to censure the work; although he did this without naming the author. Audra nevertheless felt it incumbent on him to resign his professorship; he retired, overwhelmed with chagrin and disappointment, and died of brain-fever, after an illness of twenty-four hours, on the 17th of September, 1770. Voltaire was much affected by this event, and the editor of his works (70 vol. edition), in a note on the 62nd chapter of his Essai," informs us that it drew tears from him a very few days be

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fore his death. D'Alembert, in a letter to Voltaire, dated December 21st, 1770, justifies the conduct of the Archbishop of Toulouse; he states the case at full length, and proves that the archbishop for a long time withstood the representations of the bishops, clergy, and parliament of Toulouse, as to the dangerous tendency of Audra's abridgment, but that he was at length compelled, contrary to his own judgment, to yield to their clamours, and to issue his ecclesiastical censure of the publication. Audra, moreover, himself in a measure precipitated the archbishop's censure, by indiscreetly stating that one of the grand-vicars had seen and approved of the work. "You see, my dear master," D'Alembert says at the conclusion of his letter, "that the Archbishop of Toulouse has only done what he could not help doing with respect to the Abbé. Rest assured that he will never persecute any one; but his position will not always allow him to yield to the suggestions of his own disposition and principles, which are both in favour of toleration. I saw him myself before he set out for Toulouse, and I assure you that he was not in the least disposed to be unfriendly to the Abbé Audra."

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The work above alluded to as having been attributed to Audra, is entitled "Recherches sur la Population des Généralités d'Auvergne, de Lyon, de Rouen, &c., par M. de Messance, receveur des tailles de l'élection de St. E'tienne," Paris, 1766, 4to. The "Dictionnaire Universel Historique," and the "Biographie Universelle" speak of this work as the production of Audra, and the fruit of his intimacy with M. de la Michaudière. Barbier ("Dictionnaire des Anonymes," &c.) controverts this statement, and quotes Beguillet and Grimm, the latter of whom, in his correspondence, attributes it to M. de la Michaudière; and Barbier inclines to the same opinion. But these writers appear entirely to overlook the name of M. de Messance (the Biographie Universelle" calls him "Mezence"), the receiver of taxes mentioned on the title-page; or, at best, they only treat him as an imaginary personage. But M. de Messance was a real personage, and the author of the work which bears his name. In support of this assertion the reader is referred to a supplementary publication issued at Paris in the year 1788, 4to., entitled "Nouvelles Recherches," &c. by M. de Messance. In the commencing pages of this, the author speaks in his own person of the work published by him in the year 1766. He mentions it by name, and informs us that he commenced it while he was secretary to M. de la Michaudière, from materials originally supplied by M. de la Michaudière. He himself procured additional materials; the work grew under his hands; and although he laid it aside for a time, he at length published it in the year 1766. In all this not one word is

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CLAUDE AUDRAN II., the second son of the first Claude, painter and, according to Heineken, engraver, was born at Lyon, in 1639. He studied drawing for some time with his uncle Karle at Paris, and subsequently went to Rome, and after his return was engaged by Le Brun at Paris, where he was elected, in 1675, a member, and, in 1681, a professor, of the Royal Academy of Painting, &c. He assisted Le Brun in his Battles of Alexander, at the Passage of the Granicus, and the Battle of Arbela, and in many other of his works, and was an imitator of his style. He painted in fresco, under the direction of Le Brun, the chapel of Colbert's Château de Sceaux, the gallery of the Tuileries, the grand staircase at Versailles, and some other works. He drew well, and had a great facility of execution: his brother Girard and his nephews Benoît and Jean engraved a few plates after his works, of which the best are a Miracle of the Five Loaves, and the Death of John the Baptist. He died at Paris, in 1684.

GIRARD AUDRAN, sometimes, but improperly, says the Abbé de Fontenai, called Gerard, the third son of Claude I., designer and engraver, and the most celebrated of all the artists of this name, was born at Lyon in 1640. His father taught him the elements of drawing and engraving, in which he early distinguished himself. He went to Paris, where he attracted the notice of Le Brun, who employed him to engrave Constantine the Great's victory over Maxentius and his triumphal entry into Rome, which he did in four plates; and Le Brun was so struck with his ability that he spoke very favourably of him to the minister Colbert, and to Louis XIV., who gave him apartments at the Gobelins. He afterwards went to Rome, where he remained three years, but at the expiration of that term he was recalled to Paris by Colbert, and when he returned was appointed engraver to the king, with a pension for life.

At Rome Audran engraved several excellent plates, especially a portrait of Pope Clement IX., from a drawing of his own. He was an excellent draughtsman, and in drawing improved many of the works which he engraved this is conspicuously the case in the prints of the battles of Alexander after Le Brun; that painter himself acknowledged it. Watelet says of this engraver, that for the beauty of their drawing alone his prints are very valuable, but this is only one of their merits; the point and the graver in his hand assumed the powers of the brush, all objects have their natural appearance, and to produce other works like his, he himself must be brought to life again, for they cannot be imitated. He terms him the first of en

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and of a similar class; which is a proper discrimination, for the qualities of Girard's vigorous and correct style, though adequate to a duly faithful representation of all objects, are not the most suitable for such works as are distinguished for mere superficial imitation; as, for instance, highlywrought stuffs, or pictures of flowers, fruit, and still-life. Strutt, who was himself an engraver by profession, terms Girard Audran "the greatest engraver, without any exception, that ever existed in the historical line.”

Distance is admirably kept in Audran's prints; parts are cut with great boldness by the graver, and other parts are merely etched with the needle, and the colours of various objects are finely distinguished by an admixture of dots and small lines, both with the graver and the needle.

In 1681 he was made a member of the council of the Academy of the Arts. He died in 1703, aged sixty-three.

Audran's masterpieces are his Victories of Alexander, after Le Brun, of which he engraved four, in thirteen plates; the Passage of the Granicus; the Battle of Arbela; the Defeat of Porus; and Alexander's Entrance into Babylon: the fifth, representing the Tent of Darius, was engraved by Edelinck. The best impressions are those printed by Goyton, and which bear his name, but they are very scarce.

Audran etched and engraved also after Raphael, Giulio Romano, Andrea Sacchi, Titian, Romanelli, Palma the young, Annibal Carracci, Domenichino, Guido, Guercino, Lanfranc, P. da Cortona, Bernini, N. Poussin, Le Sueur, Coypel, Mignard, Testelin, Girardon, La Fage, Bourguignon, and others. He engraved thirty-eight plates after Le Brun. Among his prints after Raphael are two of the cartoons-the Death of Ananias, and Paul and Barnabas at Lystra.

He is also the author of a work on the proportions of the human figure, published under the following title, at Paris, in 1682: "Les Proportions du Corps humain, sur les plus belles Statues de l'Antiquité, à Paris, chez Audran, Graveur du Roi." There is an English copy of it, which has gone through many editions; it contains a preface and twenty-seven plates of ancient statues, with the relative proportions of all the parts marked upon them.

CLAUDE AUDRAN III., the eldest son of Germain Audran, was born at Lyon in 1658. He was a painter of ornaments and grotesque subjects, in which capacity he was appointed painter to the king. He died in 1734, in the palace of the Luxembourg, of which he was keeper or concierge for twenty-nine years. There are many of his works at Versailles, Marly, Trianon, and Meudon. The celebrated Watteau is said to have been his pupil.

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BENOÎT AUDRAN I., designer and engraver, second son of Germain, was born at Lyon, in 1661. He also learnt the first principles of drawing and engraving from his father, and afterwards went to Paris, and completed his studies with his uncle Girard. His prints are bold and clear, but they want the mellowness of his uncle's; he however attained considerable celebrity as an engraver, was appointed engraver to the king with a pension, and in 1715 was elected a counsellor of the Academy of the Arts. He died in 1721, at an estate of his own near Sens. His prints are very numerous; the following are considered the best-the Seven Sacraments, after Poussin; the Brazen Serpent, after Le Brun; the Illness of Alexander, and St. Paul preaching at Ephesus, after Le Sueur; and two of Rubens's series of the Life of Maria de' Medici, the Birth of Louis XIII., and the Exchange of the two Princesses, Isabelle de Bourbon and Anne of Austria, by France and Spain.

There are also twenty-five prints after Watteau by B. Audran; he engraved likewise several other good plates after Le Brun and Le Sueur; and some after Raphael, Daniele da Volterra (the David and Goliath in the Louvre, falsely attributed to MichelAngelo), Annibal Carracci, Domenichino, Albani, Guido, Lanfranc, Caravaggio, Paul Veronese, Mignard, A. Coypel, and others. He made also copies of his uncle Girard's print of Porus conquered, and of Edelinck's print of the Tent of Darius, after Le Brun: on the former is inscribed "La Vertu plait quoique vaincue;" on the second, "Il est d'un roi de se vaincre soi-même."

equalled his uncle. He wants that harmony in the effect; his lights are too much and too equally covered; and there is not sufficient difference between the style in which he has engraved his backgrounds and his draperies."

Jean Audran's prints are very numerous; he has engraved after upwards of fifty distinguished painters. His master-piece is, perhaps, the Rape of the Sabines, after Poussin. Among his portraits are those of Fenelon, after Vivien, and of Rubens, after Vandyck. Of his historical pieces, the following are the best: Galatea, after Carlo Maratta; four of the victories of Alexander, after Le Brun, copied from the prints of his uncle, as companions to the two engraved by Benoît from the fifth, and the print by Edelinck; the Raising of Lazarus, and the Miraculous Draught of Fishes, after Jouvenet; the Resurrection of Christ and the Finding of Moses, after A. Coypel; the Coronation of Maria de' Medici, and two others of the Luxembourg gallery, after Rubens; the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, after M. Corneille; and the Miracle of the Five Loaves, after Claude Audran, his uncle. There are many others of nearly equal merit.

LOUIS AUDRAN, engraver, the fourth son of Germain, was born at Lyon in 1670. He followed the same course as his brothers, and went to Paris to complete his education as an engraver with his uncle Girard, after he had acquired what his father could teach him. He had considerable ability as an engraver, but dying suddenly in 1712 in his forty-second year, he had not the opportunity of producing many good plates. He made some good copies, on a small scale, of some of the best plates engraved by his uncle and brothers after the great French masters; he was probably employed in a subordinate capacity by those engravers. Of his own prints, the following are mentioned as the best: the Seven Acts of Mercy, after Seb. Bourdon; the Slaughter of the Innocents, after Le Brun; and a piece called Le Cadavre, after Houasse.

BENOÎT AUDRAN II., or le Jeune, the son of Jean, was born at Paris, and was living when his father died, 1756. He was very inferior to the distinguished artists of this family; his prints are few, and they may be distinguished from his uncle's of the same name, by their inferiority. He engraved the Descent from the Cross, after the picture by N. Poussin, which is now at St. Petersburg; and also the picture of Christ with his two disciples at Emmaüs, by Paul Veronese, which is likewise in the Imperial gallery at St. Petersburg. (Lacombe, Dictionnaire des Beaux Arts, &c.; L'Abbé de Fontenai, Dictionnaire des Artistes; Heineken, Dictionnaire des Artistes, &c.; Watelet and Levesque, Dictionnaire des Arts, &c.; Strutt, Dictionary of Engravers; Huber, Manuel des Amateurs,

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AUDRAN, PROSPER GABRIEL, son of Michel Audran contractor for the manufacture of the Gobelins tapestry, and a member of the family of the celebrated engravers, was born at Paris on 4th February, 1744. He studied law under Pothier, by whom he was highly esteemed. His father purchased for him the situation of Conseiller au Châtelet, or judicial member of the civic court of Paris; and he entered on his duties in August, 1768. The Châtelet was one of the inferior courts which, after the banishment of the non-conforming members of the parliament of Paris, offered resistance to the projected judicial alterations of the chancellor Maupeou; Audran was exiled, with the other members of his court, in 1771, but he returned in 1774, on the accession of Louis XVI. He resigned his judicial situation in 1784. He seems to have before this time indulged in strong religious feelings, which increased till they assumed the aspect of asceticism. Fortunately for literature, his enthusiasm took the direction of an intense and minute study of the sources of the Christian religion. During the Revolution he appears to have lived in retirement; and though he favoured republican principles, he did not participate in any of the public proceedings of the time. The character of his studies pointed him out as the person best fitted, on the death of Rivière, to succeed him in the chair of Hebrew in the University of Paris. It was with much difficulty that he was prevailed on to abandon his retirement; but he at last accepted the chair, on the 15th November, 1799. He died at Paris, on the 23d June, 1819. He is said to have been amiable in his character, but to have carried in his manners the peculiarities which frequently accompany a retired and studious life, such as he had led for many years. In 1805 he published "Grammaire Hébraïque, en tableaux," 4to., of which a second edition appeared in 1818. In this latter year he published "Grammaire Arabe, en tableaux, à l'usage des Etudiants qui cultivent la Langue Hébraïque," 4to. In the “Biographie Nouvelle des Contemporains" (1820), the account of Audran differs from the above; but it is there stated that little is known of him. (Biog. Universelle, Supplement ; Quérard, La France Littéraire.) J. H. B.

AUDREIN, YVES MARIE, a miscellaneous writer and politician connected with the French Revolution. The date of his birth is not known. He was a professor of the College of Quimper in Bretagne, superintendent of studies in that of Louisle-Grand, and coadjutor and vicegérant of that of Grassins, founded by Pierre Grassin for poor students of the town of Sens. He had acquired a reputation as a preacher, was chosen grand-vicar, ad honores, to several bishops, and became vicar-episcopal of the diocese of Morbihan. He was a

member of the National Assembly, and, at the sitting of the 6th March, 1791, he distinguished himself by moving that all the schools of the realm should be taken out of the hands of the particular corporations by which they were administered, and subjected to a uniform system under the control of the central government—a proposal which seems to have attracted slight attention in its day, but embodies a principle which in later times has been the subject of much discussion in various parts of Europe. At a later period an educational superintendence, resembling that which Audrein appears to have had in view, was actually vested in a department of the government of France. He sat in the Legislative Assembly as deputy for Morbihan, and represented the same department in the Convention. He had been the instructor of Robespierre and Camille-Desmoulins, had the reputation of teaching them some of the doctrines they practised, and was in his own person a violent partisan of revolutionary principles, but humane in acting up to his opinions. He signalised himself in the Legislative Assembly by denouncing the Spanish representative in France as an enemy to the constitution, and by proposing that the Assembly should receive the addresses of popular bodies. He took part in the proceedings against Louis XVI., but used his exertions in favour of the younger members of the royal family. It is stated that, in 1795, he wrote a book, or pamphlet, in favour of the daughter of Louis XVI. (who must have been the Duchess d'Angoulême), then confined in the Temple, which had the effect of mitigating the severity of her lot-this publication is not mentioned by Quérard. On the restoration of bishops, and the meeting of the Assembly of the clergy at Paris, in 1798, he was chosen by the directory Bishop of Quimper-Corentin. In his episcopal capacity he attended the council convoked by the consular government in 1800, and he there preached a sermon inculcating principles which he appears to have previously promulgated in one of his works viz., that the writings of the "philosophers' were the cause of all the evils of the Revolution. appears to have at that time retracted may of his old opinions, as he adduced the death of Louis XVI., to which he was instrumental, as one of those evils. He was not thanked for his recantation. Proceeding to Morlaix, the metropolis of his diocese, the diligence in which he travelled was surrounded by a band of Chouans, headed by Le Cat, who, commanding the other travellers to remain quiet, directed Audrein to descend, and put him to death in retribution, as he was told, for the death of Louis XVI. This occurred in October, 1800. A list of his works will be found in Quérard. The more important seem to be;-1. "Apologie de la Religion, contre les prétendus Philosophes," 1797, 8vo.

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2.