ch of itself deserves to keep Arnault's memory green, is 'La
Feuille.' Marie Joseph Chenier, the younger brother of Andre, and,
unlike him, a fervent republican, is chiefly known as a dramatist. He
had, however, a vein of satirical verse, which was not commonplace.
Another dramatist, Andrieux, also deserves mention in passing. Superior
to either of these as a poet, and wanting only the good-fortune of
having been born a little later, was Nepomucene Lemercier, a playwright
of no small merit, and a poet of extraordinary but unequal vigour. The
_Panhypocrisiade_, a kind of satirical epic _par personnages_ (to use
the old French expression for a dramatic narrative), is his principal
work, and a very remarkable one. Last of all have to be mentioned
Fontanes and Chenedolle, who are the characteristic poets of the Empire,
with the exception of an epic school of no value. The chief importance
of Fontanes in literature is derived not from any performances of his
own, but from the fact that he was the appointed intermediary between
Napoleon and the men of letters of the time, and was able to exercise a
good deal of useful patronage. Chenedolle was in production, if not in
publication, for he published late in life, a precursor of Lamartine,
much of whose style and manner may be found in him. An amiable
appreciation of natural beauty, and a tendency to facile pathos, derived
from the contemplation of natural objects, distinguish him from his
predecessors.

[Sidenote: Light verse. Piron.]

[Sidenote: Desaugiers.]

The vigorous, if not always edifying, work of the song-writers and
authors of _vers de societe_ during this century remains to be noticed.
The example of La Fontaine's tales was followed by many writers of more
talent than scruple, but their literary value is not sufficient to
entitle them to a place here. No history of French literature, however,
would be complete without a notice of Piron, the greatest epigrammatist
of France, and one of her keenest and brightest wits. Piron's temper was
an idle one, and he did little solid work in literature, except his
epigrams and one comedy, _La Metromanie_. He wrote many vaudevilles and
operettas, and no one, with the possible exception of Catullus, has ever
excelled him in the art of packing in a few light and graceful lines the
greatest possible quantity of malicious wit. Panard, also a
vaudevillist, is remarkable for the number and excellence of his
drinking songs, and the va