Bouilly, JEAN NICOLAS

Bouilly, JEAN NICOLAS, a prolific French dramatist, born at La Coudraye, near Tours, 24th January 1763. During the fever of the Revolution he filled with rare prudence several important public offices. He died at Paris, 14th April 1842. In his writings, Bouilly reveals a character of rare elevation and sincerity, but the effect is somewhat marred by his prolixity and by an oversentimentality that earned him the name of the 'poète lacrymal.' Of his plays the following deserve mention: the comic opera Pierre le Grand (1790), L'Abbé de l'Épée (1795), Les deux Journées (1800) for Cherubini's music, Fanchon (1803), Une Folie (1803), Madame de Sévigné (1805). He wrote many popular books for the young, including Contes à ma Fille (1809).