Châteaubriand

or Châteaubriant,(-bre'awng,) a town of France, on the Cher, dep. Loire Inférieure, 26 m. W.N.W. of Ancenis. In the fine old castle here, Francoise de Foix, Counte of Chateaubriand, the beautiful mistre of Francis I., ended her days. Pop. 5,099. Châteaubriand, FRANÇOIS AUGUSTE, VISCOUNT OF, a French poet,historian, and statesman, B. 1768.In 1791, he embarked for America with a design to discover the N.W. pa age, from which project he was di uaded by Gen. Washington. Recalled to Europe by the French revolution, C. resorted to London, where he employed himself in the occupation of a teacher. In 1800, he returned to France, accepted the Swi emba y in 1803, and, 3 years later, undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He afterwards represented his country in various high diplomatic capacities, and, on the acce ion of Louis Philippe, to whom he refused to take the oath of allegiance, retired into private life. D. 1848. C. is one of the giants of the French literature of the 19th cent.; his greatest work, the Genius of Christianity (1798), and his fine poems of Atala and Réné, gave him a reputation as universal as it was immediate. Among his other pp. works are: The Martyrs, and The Natchez (two novels); Travels in America; Itinerary from Paris to Jerusalem; and Historical Studies. [s. 170]