IV PREFACE

Bonaparte gave hiin a position in the diplomatie service, but after the exécution of the duc d'Enghien, Chateaubriand resigned and started for the East, visiting Greece, Constantinople, Palestine, Egypt, the ruins of Carthage, and final 1 y Spain.

In 1809, he published his favorite work : les Martyrs, and in 1811, Itinéraire de Paris à Jérusalem in whiclr he related his travels in the East.

In the saine year, he was elected a member of the French Academy, but on account of Napoléon'»

opposition he did not take his seat until after the fall of the Empire.

From 1814 to 1830, he took a prominent part in French politics ; after the révolution of 1830, he retired from active life and devoted himself entireljr to literature.

His other important books are : Les Natchez, Voyage en Amérique, Voyage en Italie, Études historiques. Essai sur la littérature anglaise, Traduction du Paradis Perdu de Milton, Mémoires oVoutre-toiribe ; this last being published after his death which took place in 1848.

The characteristics of Chateaubriand as a literarjr genius are a powerful imagination and a brilliant style. He is one of the most celebrated French prose