Sismondi, JEAN CHARLES LÉONARD SIMONDE DE, a historian of Italian descent, was born at Geneva on 9th May 1773. The outbreak of the French Revolution ruined his father and drove the family into exile, first to England, then to a small farm near Lucca; but in 1800 Sismondi himself went back to Geneva, and, having obtained certain municipal offices, applied himself to his favourite literary pursuits. He was introduced to Madame de Staël, and became one of the intimates of her circle, like Benjamin Constant and Schlegel. Whilst in the company of this lady he formed the beginning of a fast friendship with the celebrated Countess of Albany, widow of the Pretender and mistress of Alfieri. His Histoire des Républiques Italicennes du Moyen-Âge (16 vols. 1807-18) placed him in the first rank among contemporary historians. The events of the Hundred Days brought about one of the most memorable passages in his life—an interview with Napoleon. In 1813 appeared his Littérature du Midi de l'Europe (Eng. by Roscoe); and in 1819 he began his second great work, Histoire des Français, with which he was occupied until his death. As a historian Sismondi was distinguished more for industry than for natural gifts or graces of style. He took a lifelong interest in political economy: his first book on this subject, De la Richesse Commerciale (1803), is written from the standpoint of the Wealth of Nations; but in a later book, Nouveaux Principes d'Économie Politique (1819), he modified his views so far as to adopt a more decidedly moral or socialistic attitude. Amongst other products of his unwearying industry and perseverance may be named Histoire de la Renaissance de la Liberté en Italie (2 vols. 1832), Histoire de la Chute de l'Empire Romain (2 vols. 1835), and an abridgment (1839) of the twenty-nine volumes of his Histoire des Français. Sismondi died at Chêne near Geneva on 25th June 1842.
See Quarterly Review, September 1843; Vie et Travailleurs de Sismondi (Paris, 1845); Sainte-Beuve's Nouveaux Lundis (vol. vi.); and collections of his own Lettres Inédites (1863 and 1878).