constitutions followed the dead wit to the
grave.

The writings of Chamfort, which include comedies, political articles,
literary criticisms, portraits, letters, and verses, are colourless and
uninteresting in the extreme. As a talker, however, he was of
extraordinary force. His _Maximes et Pensees_, highly praised by John
Stuart Mill, are, after those of La Rochefoucauld, the most brilliant
and suggestive sayings that have been given to the modern world. The
aphorisms of Chamfort, less systematic and psychologically less
important than those of La Rochefoucauld, are as significant in their
violence and iconoclastic spirit of the period of storm and preparation
that gave them birth as the _Reflexions_ in their exquisite restraint
and elaborate subtlety are characteristic of the tranquil elegance of
their epoch; and they have the advantage in richness of colour, in
picturesqueness of phrase, in passion, in audacity. Sainte-Beuve
compares them to "well-minted coins that retain their value," and to
keen arrows that "_arrivent brusquement et sifflent encore._"

An edition of his works--_OEuvres completes de Nicolas Chamfort_--Was
published at Paris in five volumes in 1824-1825. Selections--_OEuvres
de Chamfort_--in one volume, appeared in 1852, with a biographical and
critical preface by Arsene Houssaye, reprinted from the _Revue des
deux mondes_; and _Oeuvres choisies_ (2 vols.), with a preface and
notes by M. de Lescure (1879). See also Sainte-Beuve, _Causeries du
Lundi_.

CHAMIER, FREDERICK (1796-1870), English novelist, was the son of an
Anglo-Indian official. In 1809 he entered the navy, and was in active
service until 1827. He retired in 1833, and was promoted to be captain
in 1856. On his retirement he settled near Waltham Abbey, and wrote
several nautical novels on the lines popularized by Marryat, that had
considerable success. These were _The Life of a Sailor_ (1832), _Ben
Brace_ (1836), _The Arethusa_ (1837), _Jack Adams_ (1838), _Tom Bowling_
(1841) and _Jack Malcolm's Log_ (1846). He wrote a number of other
books, and edited and brought down to 1827 James's _Naval History_
(1837).

CHAMILLART, MICHEL (1652-1721), French statesman, minister of Louis
XIV., was born at Paris of a family of the noblesse of recent elevation.
Following the usual career of a statesman of his time he became in turn
councillor of the parlement of Paris (1676), master of requests (1686),
and intendant of t