er military
service in 1822. During the following six years he wrote no less than
twenty-three operas, many of which were cheap imitations of Rossini. In
1880, stung by the success of Bellini, he wrote "Anna Bolena," which
inaugurated his second more original period, which included "Lucrecia
Borgia" and the immensely popular "Lucia di Lammermoor." The prohibition of
his opera "Poliecto," while he was serving as a director of the Naples
Conservatory, so exasperated Donizetti that he betook himself to Paris in
1838. There he brought out the "Daughter of the Regiment" and "La
Favorita." After a few years he went to Vienna, where his "Linda di
Chamounix," sung in 1842, achieved an immense success. Having returned to
Italy he was stricken with paralysis from overwork in 1845. He never
recovered. Besides more than threescore of operas, Donizetti composed seven
masses, twelve string quartets, and a host of songs, cantatas and vespers,
as well as pianoforte music.

[Sidenote: Death of Chateaubriand]

[Sidenote: New world inspirations]

[Sidenote: "Essay on Revolutions"]

[Sidenote: "Atala"]

[Sidenote: "Rene"]

[Sidenote: "Genius of Christianity"]

[Sidenote: "The Last of the Abencerrages"]

[Sidenote: "The monarchy under the Charter"]

[Sidenote: The poet's political career]

Another figure of world-wide renown was lost by the death of the French
poet Francois Rene de Chateaubriand. Born at chateau Combourg in 1768, the
scion of one of the noblest families of France, he received a careful
education at chateau Combourg. Roaming about on the sea-shore and in the
famous forest of Brezilien, the youth received his earliest impressions of
the grandeurs of nature. Shortly before the outbreak of the French
Revolution he was sent to Paris, where he received a commission in the
royal army. It was then he published his first poem, "L'Amour de la
Campagne," in the Almanach des Muses. Dissatisfied with the revolutionary
turn of affairs, he resigned his commission in 1790, and journeyed to North
America. There he travelled extensively, seeking poetic inspiration from
the wilderness and the primitive customs of the Indians. After the downfall
of King Louis XVI. and the French nobility, Chateaubriand hastily returned
to France and joined the army of emigres under Prince Conde. At the siege
of Thionville he was wounded and went to England. By the time
Chateaubriand recovered he found himself in abject poverty, and had to
spend hi