martine, who was then at
Marseilles on his way to the East. The elder poet persuaded the young man's
father to allow him to follow his poetic bent, and Autran remained from
that time a faithful disciple of Lamartine. His best known work is _La Mer_
(1835), remodelled in 1852 as _Les Poemes de la mer. Ludibria ventis_
(1838) followed, and the success of these two volumes gained for Autran the
librarianship of his native town. His other most important work is his _Vie
rurale_ (1856), a series of pictures of peasant life. The Algerian
campaigns inspired him with verses in honour of the common soldier.
_Milianah_ (1842) describes the heroic defence of that town, and in the
same vein is his _Laboureurs et soldats_ (1854). Among his other works are
the _Paroles de Salomon_ (1868), _Epitres rustiques_ (1861), _Sonnets
capricieux_, and a tragedy played with great success at the Odeon in 1848,
_La Fille d'Eschyle_. A definitive edition of his works was brought out
between 1875 and 1881. He became a member of the French Academy in 1868,
and died at Marseilles on the 6th of March 1877.

AUTUN, a town of east-central France, capital of an arrondissement in the
department of Saone-et-Loire, 62 m. S.W. of Dijon on the Paris-Lyon railway
to Nevers. Pop. (1906) 11,927. Autun is pleasantly situated on the slope of
a hill at the foot of which runs the Arroux. Its former greatness is
attested by many Roman remains, the chief of which are two well-preserved
stone gateways, the Porte d' Arroux and the Porte St Andre, both pierced
with four archways and surmounted by arcades. There are also remains of the
old ramparts and aqueducts, of a square tower called the Temple of Janus,
of a theatre and of an amphitheatre. A pyramid in the neighbouring village
of Couhard was probably a sepulchral monument. The chapel of St Nicolas
(12th century) contains many of the remains discovered at Autun. The
cathedral of St Lazare, once the chapel attached to the residence of the
dukes of Burgundy, is in the highest part of the town. It belongs mainly to
the 12th century, but the Gothic central tower and the chapels were added
in the 15th century by Nicolas Rolin, chancellor of Burgundy, born at
Autun. The chief artistic features of the church are the group of the Last
Judgment sculptured on the tympanum above the west door, and the painting
by Ingres representing the martyrdom of St Symphorien, which took place at
Autun in 179. In the cathedral square stands th