VILLIERS DE L'ISLE ADAM. 140 VILLON. his work was never popular with the general public, and he died in povert' in the care of the Frferes Saint-Jean-de-Dieu. His first publication was a volume entitled Premiires poesies (1856- 58), and it was followed in 1862 by a romance of the supernatural called Isis. Among his other works are: the plays Eleii (1864), Morgane (1865), La revolte (1870), ?iOiiveau monde (1880), and the remarkable Axel (posthumous in 1890) ; the fine volume of short stories, Contes cruets ( 1883 ) ; the satirical romance of modern science, L'Eve future (1886); and the romances L'amour supreme (1886). Tribulcit bonhomet (1887), and Secret de VEchafaud (1888). VILLOISON, ve'lwii'zuK'. Jean Baptiste Gaspabd d'Ansse de (1750-1805). A French philologist, born at Corbeilsur-Seine, France. He early displayed great ability, and at the age of twenty-three became a member of the Academic des Inscriptions. In 1778 he was commissioned by the French Government to examine the manu- scripts of the library of Saint Mark at Venice. The results of his study there were published in his Anecdota Oiceea (1781). The most important of these results was the discovery of the famous Codex Venctus of Homer with the scholia. The years from 1785 to 1788 Villoison spent in traveling in Greece. Shortly after his return to Paris the French Revolution broke out, and he retired to Orleans; but in 1800 he was appointed professor at the College de France. His other most important publications are: the Homeric Lexieon of Apollonius (1773) ; Longi Pusloralium Lihri IV. (1788); and his most famous work, the Iliad, edited on the basis of the Codex Venetus (1788). Consult Dacier, Notice historique sur Villoison (1806). VILLON, ve'IyoN'. FKANf;ois (1431-?). The first and one of the greatest of the French lyric poets of the modern school. His real name was Francois de Montcorbier, and the name Villon, by which he is generally known, he adopted out of gratitude to JIaitre Guillaumc de Villon, who was to him a sort of second father. The kno^■n details of his life are but little edifying. The poet's immediate family was very poor and ignorant. Young Francois early showed a cer- tain vivacity of mind and facility of study, which caused Guillaume de Villon to take an interest in him and to plan to give liim an education and make an ecclesiastic of him. Maitre Guillaume took him to live with him in the Convent of Saint- Benoit-le-Bf'tournc, near the Sorbonne. Villon became Bachelor of Arts in 1449, and Master of Arts in 1452. But even the degree of Master was but an inferior one and the students of the Faculty of Arts had many long years of study ahead of them before they could reach in the other faculties the high positions to which they aspired. Villon was well liked by his fellow- Btudents, and led the roistering life that was characteristic of the students of the time. They were always in open confiict with the civil au- thorities, thanks to the custom by which the university was a recognized law unto itself. On .lune 5. 1455, Francois, apparently in self- defense, fatally stabbed a priest, named Phili|)pe Scrmaise, and took refuge in the convent. He then absented himself from Paris, while await- ing a pardon, which was granted in .Tanuary, 1456, and jjrobably at this time had a disgraceful intrigue with the Aljbess of Ponrras. In Decem- ber of that year he took part in the robbery of a large sum of money in the Coll&ge de Xavarre at Paris. He fled to Angers, and in 1457 we find him at Blois at the poetic and gallant court of Charles of Orleans, Then he began a nomadic kind of existence that led him into nearly every corner of France. In 1461 he was arrested by order of the Bishop of Orleans and imprisoned at Meung-sur-Loire, but after several months of durance was set free on the strength of an am- nesty proclaimed by King Louis XI. in honor of his recent accession. Before the end of 1462 Vil- lon returned to Paris, determined to "settle do%'n" and "become a man." Unfortunately, his good intentions were not fulfilled. In the begin- ning of November, 1462, we find him imprisoned in the Chatelet on a charge of theft, which. how- ever, could not be proved. In this same month he was engaged in a serious brawl, and, although he seems to have taken no active part therein, he was arrested and condemned to death. After more than a year's imprisonment, on an appeal to the Parlement. the sentence was commuted to banishment from Paris. From this time on Villon disappears from view. He must be judged, not by our standards, but by those of his times, in which, from a moral and social point of view, those who represented the law, and those who held their heads highest, were hardly better in many respects than he. His good points were his piety, intermittent but real, his sincerity, the Inunility with which he acknowledged his faults and planned to do better, only to fall again at the first temptation, his aflfection for his mother, his gratitude toward Mattre Guillaume, his sym- pathy for those who were sutTering the misery about which he knew so much, and his patriotism. He had seen life in all its phases, and knew every- thing, as he naively puts it, except himself. Villon's great merit lies in the intense sub- jectivity of his verse. There is no sham, no hiding of anything he feels, whether it be good or bad. His frankness about himself made him feel that he had a right to be just as frank about others, and every one with whom he comes in contact is put upon the grill. The result is that his writings form a higldy colored and generally trustworthy picture of the times in which he lived. They comprise Le petit testament (1456), a poem in 40 stanzas ; Le tfrand testament ( 1461 ) , a poem in 173 stanzas, in which about a score of ballads or rondeaux are inserted; a Codicille, composed mainly of ballads; Le jargon, a collec- tion of ballads in argot; an admirable Dialogue between the Seigneurs de Mallepaye and Bailla- vent ; and a Monologue, even more excellent, en- titled Le franc archier dr Bagnolet. Les rrpues franchrs, a curious production, describing the swindling tricks of Villon and his comjianions, has been wrongly aftributcd to him. Bim.ionK.MMiY. The first edition of his works was ]iub!ishcd in 1480. In 1533 they enjoyed the honor of having Marot for their editor. The best of recent editions is that by Uongnon (Paris, 1802). For his biography, consult Lognon (ib., 1877), Schwob. in the Revue des Deux Monde.i (.Tuly, 1802), and Gaston Paris (Paris, 1001). Consult also; Byvanck, l^pecimen d'un essai m- tif/ue sur les iruvres de Francois Villon ( Ley den, 1882) ; Sehwob. he jargon drs eoquillnrds en l.'i55 (Paris, 1890) ; Paris and Schwob, "Villoni-
