The New International Encyclopædia/Daru, Pierre Antoine Noël Bruno

DARU, dȧ'rụ', Pierre Antoine Noël Bruno (1767-1829). A French historian, poet, and statesman, born at Montpellier, January 12, 1767. He entered the army in 1783, was imprisoned (1792-93) on a charge of treason to the Republic for eighteen months, during which he produced a highly esteemed translation of Horace. Under the Empire he served with distinction as soldier and diplomat, and during the Restoration was made intendant-général by Louis XVIII in 1814. At the second Restoration he retired for a time (1815-19) to private life and study, but was made member of the Chamber of Peers in 1819 and became a distinguished defender of constitutional liberty. He died on his estate, near Meulan, September 5, 1829. His Histoire de la république de Venise, and Histoire des ducs de Bretagne (1826), are impartial, erudite, and accurate. His occasional verses are unimportant. Sainte-Beuve devotes three articles to him in the Causeries (vol. ix.). A Life by Viennet is prefixed to the fourth edition of Histoire de la république de Venise (Paris, 1853).