MARIE-JEAN-ANTOINE-NICOLAS-CARITAT, Marquis of, a French philosophical, political, and biographical writer of distinguished eminence, descended from an ancient family in the principality of Orange, was born at Ribemont in Picardy, in 1743. He received his education at the college of Navarre, where he was distinguished at an early period of life for his strong attachment to the study of physics and mathematics. On his entrance into public life, he established a friendly intercourse with Voltaire, D'Alembert, and other literary characters who professed opinions analogous to his own, and formed a very powerful party among the French literati, whose united efforts to propagate their ideas of religion and politics have been applauded or condemned according to the principles of their different judges. Condorcet first attracted the attention of the public as a mathematician, obtaining their approbation for his treatise on integral calculations, which he composed at the age of 22. In the year 1767 his solution of the problem of the Three Bodies made its appearance, and in the following year the first part of his Essay on Analysis. In the year 1769 he was received as a member of the Academy of Sciences, the memoirs of which were greatly enriched by him with different papers on the most abstruse branches of mathematical science. His justly-merited reputation pointed him out as a fit person to cooperate with D'Alembert and Bossut in assisting the celebrated minister and able financier M. Turgot with arithmetical calculations. In the mean time he laboured indefatigably in the study of politics and metaphysics, and defended, in an anonymous publication, the sect of philosophers to which he had attached himself, from an attack made upon them in the Trois Siecles; and replied to M. Necker's essay on Corn Laws. He was appointed secretary to the Academy of Sciences in the year 1773, when he employed much of his time in writing eulogies on such of its deceased members as Fontenelle had passed over in silence. Condorcet having, like D'Alembert and some others, united in himself the characters of an elegant writer and a man of profound research, was admitted into the French academy in 1783, when he pronounced an oration on the influence of philosophy, which was ordered to be printed. From the time of D'Alembert's death, which happened this year, he filled the situation of secretary to that academy, rendering his name conspicuous by the publication of eulogies on different eminent characters. His panegyric on D'Alembert, to whom he was most sincerely attached, is a very elaborate performance, and is esteemed as a candid account of the genuine merits of that great philosopher. The encomium he bestowed on Euler furnished him with a favourable opportunity of giving a circumstantial account of the specific improvements and inventions conferred on a peculiar branch of science by the labours of that illustrious individual. His eulogy on the minister Turgot was read with avidity, and admired by all those who approved of Turgot's plans of government and system of finance. In the year 1787 he published his Life of Voltaire, which, whatever be the opinion of that philosopher's merits, is highly elaborate, and replete with lofty panegyric. The last of his biographical works was a eulogy on the celebrated Dr Franklin, published in 1790; but all of these will be read with some degree of prejudice by those who are inimical to the school of philosophy to which Condorcet belonged.

The French Revolution, which the writings of Condorcet and his associates unquestionably accelerated, naturally interested his feelings, and called forth his exertions; and at an early period he employed his talents to promote those reforms which, as he thought, were to pave the way to a new order of things. A work entitled La Bibliothèque de l'Homme Public, intended to exhibit an analysis of the writings of the most eminent politicians, was chiefly conducted by him; as was also a newspaper called La Chronique de Paris, filled with declamation against royalty. He had likewise a share in the celebrated Journal de Paris. About the time when the king fled to Varennes, he proposed a paper called Le Republicain, the intention of which is clearly deducible from its title. He was an indefatigable member of the Jacobin club, and spoke frequently, though not forcibly, at their meetings. He was chosen a representative for Paris when the constituent assembly was dissolved, and followed the general political course of the Brissotine party. He exerted his abilities in devising a plan for public instruction, the draft of which is contained in two elaborate memoirs on the subject; but, though it contains some exalted and enlarged ideas, it was too extensive and sweeping to be ever reduced to practice. He was likewise author of the manifesto addressed to the European powers by the people of France on the approach of a war. While he was president of the assembly he wrote a letter of expostulation to the king, which some have considered as unnecessarily severe; and when the king was insulted by the populace at the Tuileries, in being offered the red cap, it is said that he vindicated their proceedings. While he was degrading royalty in this manner, it seems that he was secretly soliciting the office of tutor to the Dauphin, and rejected by the king on account of his avowed infidelity. He has also been charged with the basest ingratitude by those who regard him as accessory to the murder of the Duc de la Rochefoucault, to whom he was closely allied by a marriage exceedingly fortunate for his interests; but this is generally believed to be a calumny. When the trial of the king came to be debated, Condorcet gave it as his opinion that he could not legally be brought to judgment. His conduct, however, in regard to the sentence was rather of an ambiguous nature, and betrayed that timidity and want of resolution which formed a prominent feature of his political career. The judgment pronounced by Madame Roland on this extraordinary man seems an impartial estimate of his merits. "The genius of Condorcet," said that lady, "is equal to the comprehension of the greatest truths; but he has no other characteristic besides fear. It may be said of his understanding, combined with his person, that it is a fine essence absorbed in cotton. The timidity which forms the basis of his character, and which he displays even in company, does not result from his frame alone, but seems to be inherent in his soul; and his talents furnish him with no means of subduing it. Thus, after having deduced a principle or demonstrated a fact in the assembly, he would give a vote decidedly opposite, overawed by the thunder of the tribunes, armed with insults, and lavish of menaces. The properest place for him was the secretaryship of the academy. Such men should be employed to write, but never permitted to act." After the execution of the king, the Girondist party employed him to frame a new constitution; the plan of which was presented to the convention, and obtained their approbation. It was not so highly esteemed by the people at large; and it has, perhaps not without reason, been considered as a mass of metaphysical absurdities. During the violent struggle between the Girondist and Mountain parties, Condorcet took no decided part with either; a circumstance which seems to have been owing to the native timidity of his mind, and his Condorcet, abhorrence of the state of public affairs. He was not comprehended among the number of those who were sacrificed with their leader Brissot; but having employed his pen against the victorious party, he fell under the invincible displeasure of Robespierre, who issued a decree of accusation against him in July 1793. He, however, found means to effect his escape from the arrest, and during nine months concealed himself in Paris. But at length dreading that the tyrant would order a domiciliary visit for the purpose of discovering the place of his retreat, he passed through the barriers without being noticed, and went to the house of a person in whom he confided, on the plain of Mont-Rouge. Unfortunately for Condorcet, however, this friend was at that time in the metropolis; and he was in consequence reduced to the necessity of passing two dreary nights in the open fields, a prey to hunger and cold. On the third day he obtained an interview with his friend, who unhappily durst not venture to shelter him under his roof; so that he was once more compelled to wander in the fields. At length, worn out by hunger and fatigue, and on the point of perishing for want of sustenance, he applied at a public house for an omelette, which he obtained and devoured greedily. His cadaverous appearance and uncommonly keen appetite roused the suspicion of a municipal officer who happened to be present; and the ambiguity and hesitation which characterized his answers when interrogated, justified his apprehension. He was accordingly consigned to a dungeon, to be next day conducted to Paris; but his melancholy fate rendered such a measure unnecessary. He was found dead in the morning; and, as it was generally understood that he constantly carried with him a dose of poison, to this cause his melancholy fate was ascribed. Thus, on the 28th of March 1794, terminated the career of Condorcet, who for many years sustained a brilliant and honourable reputation in the republic of letters. His manners were replete with urbanity, and he was as well qualified to please in company as could be expected in a man who was conceived, whether rightly or not, to be destitute of heart. "La bonté brillait dans ses yeux," says Grimm, "et il aurait eu plus de tort qu'aucun autre de n'être pas honnête homme, parce qu'il aurait trompé davantage par sa physionomie, qui annonçait les qualités les plus passibles et les plus douces." His character, though not exempt from pride, was always peaceful and obliging. He appeared timid and embarrassed in a numerous circle; but among his friends he displayed a gaiety and liveliness quite fascinating, and never made any pretensions to superiority on account of the great extent of his knowledge. He had read a great deal, and his memory was prodigious. Soon after his death appeared his Sketch of an Historical Draught of the Progress of the Human Mind, in which he strongly advocates his favourite scheme of the gradual perfectibility of human nature. In spite of its fanciful character, it is clearly the effort of a superior genius, and acquires peculiar interest as being composed while its author was in circumstances of danger and distress. The idea of man's progressive advancement towards perfection and happiness inspired him with consolation under his complicated misfortunes. Condorcet, although an enemy to revealed religion, was certainly a man of virtue and integrity; and his generous and arduous services on behalf of liberty and social improvement entitle him to a conspicuous place amongst those who have wielded the destinies of his country.

A uniform edition of the works of Condorcet was printed at Paris in 1804, in 21 vols. 8vo. For a complete list the reader is referred to the France Littéraire of M. Erasch. It will be sufficient here to notice the more remarkable, which are as follow:—1. Essai d'Analyse, Paris, 1768, 4to; 2. Lettres d'un Théologien à l'Auteur du Dictionnaire des Trois Siècles, Berlin, 1774, 8vo; 3. Éloges des Académiciens de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, morts depuis 1666 jusqu'en 1709, Paris, 1775, 12mo; 4. Eloge et Pensées de Pascal, Londres, 1778, 8vo; 5. Essai sur l'Application de l'Analyse à la probabilité des décisions rendues à l'Égalité des Voix, Paris, 1785, 4to; 6. Vie de M. Turgot, London, 1786, 8vo; 7. Vie de Voltaire, Geneva, Confédération, 1787, and London, 1790, 2 vols. 12mo; 8. Rapport sur l'Instruction Publique, présenté à la Convention Nationale, Paris, 1792, 8vo; 9. Bibliothèque de l'Homme Public, ou Analyse raisonnée des principaux ouvrages français et étrangers sur la Politique en général, la Science des Finances, etc., Paris, 1790, 12mo; 10. Éloge d'un Philosophe Historien des propriétés de l'Esprit humain, ouvrage posthume, 1795, 8vo; 11. Moyen d'économiser à compter de 1795, Paris, 1795, 12mo; 12. A volume of notes to the Recherches sur la Nature et les Causes de la Richesse des Nations, translated from the English of Dr Adam Smith. Along with Leceux he published a new edition of Euler's Lettres à une Princesse d'Allemagne; and he contributed to the Journal Encyclopédique, the Chronique des Mois, the Républicain, the Journal d'Instruction Publique, and other periodicals. (See Notice sur la Vie et les Ouvrages de Condorcet, by Dianayère, 1798, 8vo.)