LAMARTINE, ALPHONSE MARIE DE

   a French author, politician, and poet, born in Mâcon; his poetic effusions procured for him admission into the French Academy, and in 1834 he entered the Chamber of Deputies; his ability as a poet, and the independent attitude he maintained in the Chamber, gained for him a popularity which his action in 1848 contributed to increase, but it suffered eclipse from the moment he allied himself with Ledru-Rollin; after serving in the Provisional Government of 1848 he stood candidate for the Presidency, but was defeated, and on the occasion of the coup d'état, he retired into private life; he published in 1819 "Méditations Poétiques," in 1847 the "Histoire de Girondins," besides other works, including "Voyage en Orient"; he was "of the second order of poets," says Professor Saintsbury, "sweet but not strong, elegant but not full;... a sentimentalist and a landscape painter" (1790-1869).