en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Chamfort
4 corrections found
The Merchant of Smythe, comedy
Chamfort’s comedy is titled *Le Marchand de Smyrne* (“Smyrna”), not “Smythe.”
Full reasoning
This work title is incorrect. Bibliographic records for Chamfort’s works list the 1770 comedy as Le Marchand de Smyrne, not “Smythe.” “Smythe” is not the title of the play; it appears to be a mistaken substitution for Smyrne (Smyrna).
2 sources
- Sébastien-Roch-Nicolas de Chamfort (1741?-1794) - Œuvres textuelles de cet auteur
Le Marchand de Smyrne, comédie, par Chamfort, représentée, pour la première fois, le 26 janvier 1770.
- Chamfort, Sébastien-Roch-Nicolas - Treccani
Una sua commedia, La Jeune Indienne, ... fu seguita da un'altra commedia, Le Marchand de Smyrne (1770).
while taking the waters at Barges
The spa town was Barèges, not “Barges.”
Full reasoning
The place name here is wrong. Contemporary and later biographical sources say Chamfort went to the waters of Barèges in the Pyrenees, where he met Mme de Gramont. “Barges” is a misspelling of that spa town’s name.
2 sources
- Page:Chamfort - Maximes, Pensées, Caractères et Anecdotes, 1796, éd. Ginguené.djvu/20 - Wikisource
il eut encore une rechûte qui l'obligea de partir pour les eaux de Barèges ... Ce fut à ces eaux qu'il fit la connoissance ... de madame de Gramont
- 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Chamfort, Sebastien Roch Nicolas - Wikisource
In 1775, while taking the waters at Barèges, he met the duchesse de Grammont, sister of Choiseul, through whose influence he was introduced at court.
He fell in love with and married a lady attached to the household of the duchesse du Maine
The marriage claim is unsupported by the record cited by later biographers; the woman was Marthe-Anne Buffon, still described in her death record as a widow, and a scholarly biography says this disproves the marriage legend.
Full reasoning
The problem is the phrase “and married”. A later scholarly biography identified Chamfort’s companion as Marthe-Anne Buffon, “widow of a physician to the comte d’Artois,” and quotes her 1783 death record, where she is still described as “veuve” (widow). The biographer explicitly says this document “destroys the legend according to which he married this rare friend.” Modern summaries likewise describe Anne-Marie Buffon as Chamfort’s companion/liaison and as a widow, not as his wife. That makes the article’s marriage claim incorrect.
2 sources
- Page:Pellisson - Chamfort, 1895.djvu/111 - Wikisource
« ... dame Marthe-Anne Buffon, veuve de M. Buffon ... » ... « cette pièce offre cet intérêt qu’elle détruit la légende d’après laquelle il se serait marié avec cette rare amie ».
- Chamfort (1740-1794) | Philosophy Now
At the salon of Madame Agasse he met Anne-Marie Buffon, the widow of a doctor, beautiful and witty, and twelve years his senior. ... They set up home together near to Etampes.
The Fountain of Praise (1774)
This title is wrong: Chamfort’s 1774 work is *Éloge de La Fontaine* (“Praise of La Fontaine”), not “The Fountain of Praise.”
Full reasoning
The 1774 work is not called “The Fountain of Praise.” Chamfort won the Marseille academy prize in 1774 for Éloge de La Fontaine. The error seems to come from mistaking La Fontaine (the surname of Jean de La Fontaine) for the common noun “fountain.”
2 sources
- Chamfort, Éloge de La Fontaine - Persée
Le 25 août 1774, l'Académie des belles-lettres, sciences, et arts de Marseille décernait son prix annuel à Sébastien-Roch-Nicolas de Chamfort ... pour son Éloge de La Fontaine.
- Chamfort, Sébastien-Roch-Nicolas - Treccani
Un suo Éloge de Molière fu premiato ... (1769), un Éloge de La Fontaine dall'Accademia di Marsiglia (1774).