nded in 1730 by A. Demidov, to whose memory a
monument has been erected. Pop. (1900) 29,850.

BARNAVE, ANTOINE PIERRE JOSEPH MARIE (1761-1793), one of the greatest
orators of the first French Revolution, was born at Grenoble in Dauphine,
on the 22nd of October 1761. He was of a Protestant family. His father was
an advocate at the parlement of Grenoble, and his mother was a woman of
high birth, superior ability and noble character. He was educated by his
mother because, being a Protestant, he could not attend school, and he grew
up at once thoughtful and passionate, studious and social, handsome in
person and graceful in manners. He was brought up to the law, and at the
age of twenty-two made himself favourably known by a discourse pronounced
before the local parlement on the division of political powers. Dauphine
was one of the first of the provinces to feel the excitement of the coming
revolution; and Barnave was foremost to give voice to the general feeling,
in a pamphlet entitled _Esprit des edits enregistres militairement le 20
mai 1788_. He was immediately elected deputy, with his father, to the
states of Dauphine, and took a prominent part in their debates. A few
months later he was transferred to a wider field of action. The
states-general were convoked at Versailles for the 5th of May 1789, and
Barnave was chosen deputy of the _tiers etat_ for his native province. He
soon made an impression on the Assembly, became the friend of most of the
leaders of the popular party, and formed with Adrien Duport and Alexandre
Lameth (_q.v._) the group known during the Constituent Assembly as "the
triumvirate." He took part in the conference on the claims of the three
orders, drew up the first address to the king, and supported the proposal
of Sieyes that the Assembly should declare itself National. Until 1791 he
was one of the principal members of the club known later as the Jacobins,
of which he drew up the manifesto and first rules (see JACOBINS). Though a
passionate lover of liberty, he hoped to secure the freedom of France and
her monarchy at the same time. But he was almost unawares borne away by the
mighty currents of the time, and he took part in the attacks on the
monarchy, on the clergy, on church property, and on the provincial
parlements. With the one exception of Mirabeau, Barnave was the most
powerful orator of the Assembly. On several occasions he stood in
opposition to Mirabeau. After the fall of the Bastille he