Scribe

Scribe, AUGUSTIN EUGÈNE, a French dramatic writer, son of a wealthy silkmercer of Paris, was born in that city on 24th December 1791, and died there on 20th February 1861. Although educated for the legal profession, his whole life was given to the 'manufacture' of stage-pieces of all kinds. His first play that can be identified was a failure, in 1811, and it was not until 1816 that he had any success to boast of. From that time, however, his productions were so greatly in demand by theatrical managers that he established a sort of dramatic manufactory, in which numerous collaborateurs were constantly at work under his supervision. His plots are interesting and his dialogue light and sparkling; and not a few of his pieces have been adapted for the English stage. As literature they have little value. The best known are Le Verre d'Eau, Adrienne Lecouvreur, Une Chaine, and Batailles de Dames. Scribe also wrote various novels, and composed the libretti for a considerable number of well-known operas, including Masanello, Fra Diavolo, Robert le Diable, Les Huguenots, Le Prophète, and L'Africaine. His Œuvres Complètes were published in 76 vols. in 1874-85. See Life by Legouvé, one of his assistants (1874).