Vauvenargues, LUC DE CLAPIERS, MARQUIS DE, a French writer of Pensées, born at Aix, near Marseilles, 6th August 1715, of ancient but impoverished provincial nobility, entered the army as lieutenant in the Regiment du Roi, 1733, and became known for his simple life and studious habits. In 1737 he wrote a treatise on Free-will, and began a correspondence with his cousin, the Marquis de Mirabeau—otherwise known as 'the Friend of Man.' Vauvenargues' health suffered from the hardships of campaigning, and in 1743 he left the service after bearing part in the defeat of Dettingen. With health and means hopelessly impaired, he retired to his native place, having vainly sought for diplomatic employment. In 1744 his health was further shaken by an attack of smallpox; on recovering he resolved to settle in Paris, where he became intimate with Marmontel and his set. The conditions of such a life, always embarrassed by bad health, did not allow of a high level of literary attainment. He obtained, however, the good opinion of still more important literary men, especially by a comparison between Corneille and Racine which he sent to Voltaire. In 1746 he published his Introduction à la Connaissance de l'Esprit Humain, with Réflexions et Maximes appended. The work was anonymous, but obtained commendation from Voltaire, who said that 'he knew of no book better suited to form a well-born, well-trained spirit.' Next year the author died. Vauvenargues never mastered the languages of Greece and Rome; never even formed a mature taste in the literature of his own country. Yet his 'Greek style' and 'neat justice' have been praised by Sainte-Beuve; and the 'Advice to a Young Man' which closes the Réflexions is a fine piece, full of noble character and subtle thought. Vauvenargues was pious, though liberal; and Voltaire continued to praise him after death had prematurely arrested his career. Less pungent than his prototype La Rochefoucauld, Vauvenargues seems to have gained upon him in the favour of posterity: he is an instance of the power of sympathy: and his goodness is a source of strength and even of a certain sort of greatness. Often trivial and bald, sometimes reaching only a truism or a shallow paradox, he yet arrests the attention of his reader, and endears himself to his heart. Close observation, suggestive, if hardly profound thought, insight into the fundamental conditions of morality have proved less effectual to this end than his inherent goodness of heart. His literary fortune is illustrated by his own saying: 'Les maximes des hommes décelent leurs cœurs.'
The chief editions are by Gilbert (2 vols. 1857) and Plon (3 vols. 1874). See Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du Lundi, vols. iii. and xiv.; also the monograph in 'Les Grands Écrivains Français,' by Maurice Paléologue (1890).