ruction it
ceased to be the capital of the country.

AZAIS, PIERRE HYACINTHE (1766-1845), French philosopher, was born at Soreze
and died at Paris. He spent his early years as a teacher and a village
organist. At the outbreak of the Revolution he viewed it with favour, but
was soon disgusted at the violence of its methods. A critical pamphlet drew
upon him the hatred of the revolutionists, and it was not until 1806 that
he was able to settle in Paris. In 1809 he published his great work, _Des
Compensations dans les destinees humaines_ (5th ed. 1846), which pleased
Napoleon so much that he made its author professor at St Cyr. In 1811 he
became inspector of the public library at Avignon, and from 1812 to 1815 he
held the same position at Nancy. The Restoration government at first
suspected him as a Bonapartist, but at length granted him a pension. From
that time he occupied himself in lecturing and the publication of
philosophical works. In the _Compensations_ he sought to prove that, on the
whole, happiness and misery are equally balanced, and therefore that men
should accept the government which is given them rather than risk the
horrors of revolution. "Le principe de l'inegalite naturelle et essentielle
dans les destinees humaines conduit inevitablement au fanatisme
revolutionnaire ou au fanatisme religieux." The principles of compensation
and equilibrium are found also in the physical universe, the product of
matter and force, whose cause is God. Force, naturally expansive and
operating on the homogeneous atoms which constitute elemental matter, is
subject to the law of equilibrium, or equivalence of action and reaction.
The development of phenomena under this law may be divided into three
stages--the physical, the physiological, the intellectual and moral. The
immaterial in man is the expansive force inherent in him. Moral and
political phenomena are the result of the opposing forces of progress and
preservation, and their perfection lies in the fulfilment of the law of
equilibrium or universal harmony. This may be achieved in seven thousand
years, when man will vanish from the world. In an additional five thousand,
a similar equilibrium will obtain in the physical sphere, which will then
itself pass away. In addition to his philosophical work, Azais studied
music under his father, Pierre Hyacinthe Azais (1743-1796), professor of
music at Soreze and Toulouse, and composer of sacred music in the style of
Gossec. He wro