Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/280

AUGIER. haps, to the collaboration of Sandeau, who also fur- nished the plot for Le gendre de M. Poirier { 1855) — Augier's first gi'eat drama, and thought by many the greatest since Bcaumarchais's Mariage de Fi- garo. It is a model comedy of manners, its comic force resting wholly on the interplay of characters, every one of whom is drawn to and from the life, without idealism and yet with no touch of bitter- ness, such as is felt in Augier's Ceinturc doree { 1855), a satire of conventional marriage and the stock-exchange, foreshadowing his great series of social satires that begins withies eff routes ( 1801). Progress toward sterner ethics may be noted in Le mariage d'Olympe (1857), which earned Augier his election to the Academy. La jcunesse (1858) is insignificant, but Les lionnes pauvres (1858) contains, in the cold, cowardly and per- verse Seraphine. Augier's greatest female charac- ter, and verges on tragedy in the dread of destiny that it rouses at the close. Vn beau mariage (185!)) completes the cycle of 'domestic dramas,' and Les effrontcs (1861) turns to the corrupting of society through the struggle for unearned wealth. Here Vernouillet is the typical specu- lator, and Giboyer the typical venal wit. who, in Le fils de Giboyer (1862), becomes a hardly dis- guised portrait of the clerical journalist, Louis Veuillot (q.v. ). In no drama of Augier's is the interest more unflagging, tlic irony more caustic, and the dialogue more sparkling, than in this tri- angular struggle between a decaying aristocracy, a vain plutocracy, and the unscrupulous exploits of both. The dramas that follow hardly reach this height. Ma'itre Guerin (1864) is a fine study of the tricky country lawyer; Paul Fores- tier (1868) is insignificant; La contagion (1S66) and Lions et rcnards (1869) elaborate the theme of Les effrontcsi. and show in Estrigaud a type of the Parisian blngueur. After the Franco-German War, Augier wrote the patriotic, but prosaic, Jean de Thommeray (1873), Madame Caverlet (1876), dealing with divorce, and Les Foiirrham- badilf (1878). which pushes the illegitimate son to the front, and marks by its melodramatic senti- ment the beginnings of a reaction from literary naturalism. Augier's style is vigorous, often dar- ing, in its use of new words, and even of slang. His moral earnestness makes him at times harsh ; but he looked at the world with the honest sym- pathy of an upright and sincere student, of nature. He died at Croissy, October 25, ISSn. Consult: Parigot, Emile Augier (Paris, 1800) : Lacour, Trois tMatres (Paris, 1880) : Doumic, Portraits dVcrivains (Paris, 185)4) ; Matthews, French Dramatists (New York, 1881).

AUGTTE, a'ult. See Pvkoxexe. See AUG'MENTA'TION, in Hekaldrt. Hehai.duy. AUGMENTATION. In music, the repetition of a theme in such a manner that each note is increased to double its original value. Aug- mentation occurs most frequently in the fugue, but also has its value in the free style of writ- ing. For augmentation of intervals, see In- TEinAL.

AUGSBURG, ougz'biirK (Lat. Augustus, the Roumn Emperor who Iniilt it -|- Ger. Burg, fort, stronghold; anc. Augusta VindeUeorum, Augusta of the Vindelici ). Capital of the Bavarian Gov- ernment district of Suabia and Xeuberg, situ- ated in latitude 48° 21' N., longitude 10° 54' E., about 1625 feet above sea-level, on the point of land formed by the junction of the rivers Wertach and Lech, 39 miles west-north- west of Mimich by rail (Map: Germany, D 4). It has a mean animal temperature of about 45° F. It consists of the inner town and six suburl>s, and in spite of the fact that its ancient forti- fications have been removed, and their place taken by broad avenues and sqviares, the town still presents a distinctly mediieval appearance, several of the streets, such as the .Jacoberstrasse and Barfussergasse, being rich in buildings of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries. The main thoroughfare is the handsome Maximilianstrasse, lined with numerous interesting buildings and adorned with three fine bronze fountains. Several of the churches are fine Gothic structures, notably the cathedral, begun in 995 as a Romanesque basilica, but altered in the Fourteenth Century to the Gothic style, with fine bronze doors, old stained-glass windows, and several altar-pieces by Holbein the elder. Among the others niaj' be mentioned the Church of Saint Anna, dating from the Fifteenth Century, with several valuable altar-pieces; and the beautiful memorial cliapel of the Fugger family; the two churches (Roman Catholic and Protestant) of Saint I'lrich, the former being particularly rich in ornamental metal work ; and the Church of the Holy Cross, dating from the Twelfth Century. The most notable of the secular buildings is the handsome Renaissance Rathaus, built in 1615-20, by Elias HoU, and containing the famous so-called Golden Hall, one of the finest halls in Germany; the former palace of the prince-bishops in which in l.')30 the Augsburg Confession (q.v.) was presented to the Emperor; and the Fugger House, with rich frescoes, illustrating the history of the town. There is a picture gallery, containing a number of ])aintings belonging to the old (ierman school, as well as several specimens of early Dutch masters. There are also a number of learned societies, a library with 200,000 volumes, and a collection of archives, containing many valuable documents relating to the early history of (Germany. The town contains a fine theatre, oiiened in 1877, and publislies six daily newspapers. The charitable and benevolent institutions are numerous, and some of them were founded in the l)eginning of the Thirteenth Century. Augsburg lias increased considerably in industrial importance during the Nineteenth Century. It contains large cotton and woolen mills, chemical works, paper-mills, and machine shops, which give employment to a third of its peo]ile. Population, in" 1800, 75,523; in 1900, 88,700, the majority Roman Catliolic.

Augsburg was founded in the year B.C. 15. It was laid waste by the Huns in the Fifth Century, by Charlemagne in the Eighth, and by W'elf of Bavaria in the Eleventh; it rose each timeonly to greater prosperity. In 1270 it became a free city 01 the Empire, and reached the summit of its prosjierity toward the end of the Fourteenth Century, Aliout this time (1308) its aristo- cratic government was set aside for a democratic constitution, which lasted for 170 years, till the aristocracy, favored by Charles V., regained the ascendency. At the time of the Reformation it was one of the most flourishing cities of Europe, preeminent in commerce, manufactures, and art. By the side of Nuremberg it was an emporium of the trade between northern and southern Europe, and its merchants were princes whose ships were