BEAUMARCHAIS BEAUMELLE 429 His secrecy, his sagacity in interpreting a hint from a minister without forcing him to com- mit himself even verbally, his quickness of per- ception, and his social attractions, made him a convenient instrument. His papers served to fix the wavering purpose of the king, and when Maurepas, the chief minister, hesitated, Beaumarchais, by letters, representations, and adroit flattery, assisted to bring him to the de- cision which his own love of ease would have shunned. The French cabinet consented to help Beaumarchais in his plans to furnish the colonies with arms and ammunition. For that purpose they secretly advanced to him 1,000,000 livres, an equal sum being furnished by Spain, and delivered to him arms and ammunition from the public arsenals, on the condition that he would pay for or replace the same. Beau- marchais, under the firm of Roderique Hortalez and Co., as early as the beginning of 1777 for- warded three of his own ships, carrying 200 pieces of ordnance, 25,000 muskets, 200,000 Ibs. of gunpowder, and other ammunition. He had also engaged more than 50 officers, who sailed on board the Amphitrite, his largest ship ; and among the number were La Rouerie, Pulaski, and Steuben, who so powerfully aided in the success of the American troops. This first fleet safely arrived at Portsmouth, and in- spired the colonists with renewed hope. Sev- eral other ships were sent out during the same year, and about the month of September Beau- marchais's disbursements amounted to more than 5,000,000 francs. Congress, being under the impression that these supplies were gra- tuitously furnished by the French government, under a disguised form, neglected to make re- mittances to Beaumarchais, who found himself in embarrassed circumstances, from which he was relieved by the French government ad- vancing him another million of francs. The forwarding of supplies was continued, and to- ward the beginning of 1779 no less than 10 ves- sels sailed at once, but few of them reached their destination. At that time the United States were indebted to Roderique Hortalez and Co., or rather Beaumarchais, to the amount of more than 4,000,000 francs. Although con- gress did not hesitate to acknowledge its obli- gations toward the French firm, the settlement of so large an indebtment met with many diffi- culties, and it was not till 1835 that the final balance of about 800,000 francs was paid to the heirs of Beaumarchais. The transaction, far from having been profitable to the latter, as it has been frequently asserted, resulted in losses, which he was enabled to withstand through government aid and some more suc- cessful speculations. In an interval of his occu- pations, he produced in April, 1784, his Manage de Figaro. Its production was vehemently opposed by the court, and the fact that it was played at all was a remarkable triumph for its author, to say nothing of its popular success. In 1785 he had a quarrel, famous at the time from the notoriety and caustic writings of both parties to it, with Mirabeau, on the questions connected with the introduction of water into Paris an enterprise in which he was largely interested. This ended with only a war of words. In 1787 he produced Tarare, another play which failed utterly, but which Beaumar- chais afterward claimed he had written in sympathy with the growing signs of the revo- lution, in his Requete a MM. leg representants de la commune de Paris, 1790. The events of 1789 found him just finishing a magnificent house not far from the Bastile, and about to begin what he hoped would be for him a period of quiet. He expressed sympathy with the ends of the revolution, but did not enter with enthusiasm into the means taken to attain them. For a time it seemed that he would succeed in keeping apart from public affairs; but his apparent apathy regarding much that happened, and a sale of arms to Holland, con- ducted by him solely as a speculation, but used against him by his enemies, threw him into disfavor, and finally caused him to leave the country. Soon after, and while he was in England and Holland, his enemies caused his name to be enrolled in the list of emigres and his property to be confiscated. After many endeavors he finally succeeded in gaining per- mission to return to France, but could not recover his wealth, though he constantly peti- tioned the directory during the remainder of his life to restore it. On the morning of May 19, 1799, Beaumarchais was found dead in his bed, having been seized during the night by an attack of apoplexy. Of the plays written by Beaumarchais, the Barliier de Seville, the Mariage de Figaro, and La, mere coupable form a trilogy, being parts of a dramatic story, and properly standing in the order named. Lea deux amis and Tarare are distinct dramas. All these works, with perhaps the exception of Les deux amis, are principally devoted to exceedingly witty attacks on the old regime, and to the promulgation of ideas called revo- lutionary at the time of their publication. Be- sides dramas, Beaumarchais wrote many able arguments and pamphlets connected with his suits at law, and a celebrated justification of his conduct, addressed to the convention, and called Met six epoques. He prepared, at enor- mous expense and great loss to himself, a com- plete edition of the works of Voltaire. His own works were published by Gudin de la Brenellerie (7 vols., Paris, 1809, and 6 vols., 1821-'7); and memoirs of his life have been written for that edition and as a separate work by Cousin d'Avallon ( Vie privee, publique et litteraire de Beaumarchais, Paris, 1802). See also Beaumarchais et son temps, Etudes
- ur la societe franfaise, &c., by Louis Leonard
de Lomenie (2 vols., Paris, 1856 ; 2d ed., 1858). Ill MI Kl.l.i:. Lanrent Angllviel de la, a French author, born at Valleraugue, department of Gard, Jan. 28, 1726, died in Paris, Nov. 17, 1773. He became professor of belles-lettres at Copenhagen, and while there wrote Meg pen-
