This section is from "The American Cyclopaedia", by George Ripley And Charles A. Dana. Also available from Amazon: The New American Cyclopædia. 16 volumes complete..
Angustin Eugene Scribe, a French dramatist, born in Paris, Dec. 24, 1791, died there, Feb. 20, 1861. He studied law, and produced at the age of 20 Les dervis, a light comedy, which failed. His next attempts were scarcely more successful, and some of his plays were hissed. Finally he wrote, in conjunction with Deles-tre Poirson, Une nuit de la garde nationale, which succeeded. In 1816 he brought out Le nouveau Pourceaugnac and Le solliciteur, which Schlegel thought better than Molière's Misanthrope. A new theatre having been established in 1820 by his friend Poirson, he was engaged to write exclusively for it, and within ten years (1821-30) produced over 100 plays, many of which are still considered masterpieces of their kind, such as Le mariage enfantin, La loge du portier, La reine de seize ans, La marraine, and Le mariage de raison. In many of his plays he was assisted by several other dramatists, the chief of whom were Germain Delavigne, Mélesville, Dupin, Var-ner, Carmouche, and Bayard. In 1822 he brought out at the Théâtre Français the drama of Valérie, the success of which was mainly due to the acting of Mlle. Mars. He also produced there, among other plays, Une passion secrète (1834); Le verre d'eau (1842); Adrienne Lecouvreur (with Legouvé, 1849); La bataille de dames (1851); Mon étoile (1853); and Les doigts de fée (with Legouvé, 1858). He wrote the libretti of La dame blanche for Boïeldieu; La neige, Fra Diavolo, Le domino noir, La sirène, Haydée, La Cir-cassienne, La fiancée du roi de Garbe (produced in 1864), and other operas, for Auber; La fée aux roses and Le Juif errant, for Ha-1évy; Les vêpres siciliennes, for Verdi; Les martyrs and Don Sébastien, for Donizetti; and Robert le Diable, Les Huguenots, Le prophète, L'étoile du Nord, and L'Africaine (posthumously produced in 1865), for Meyerbeer; besides writing a great number of libretti for Massé, Adam, Clapisson, Boisselot, Balfe, Thomas, Offenbach, and other composers.
He also wrote several novels, as Carlo Broschi, Une maîtresse anonyme, and Piquillo Alliaga. In 1836 he was elected to the French academy. At an early stage of his career he had secured a competence by his literary labors; his wealth increased afterward at a rapid rate, and he left a large fortune. As early as 1836 a catalogue of his works filled 36 columns of La France littréaire; now the whole number of his plays alone, is estimated at more than 350. These have been printed separately, and in various dramatic collections. The first complete edition of Scribe's works is now in course of publication in Paris (vols. xi. and xii., 1875), to be comprised in 50 volumes.
 
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