Victor Joseph Etienne De Jouy, a French author, born at Jouy, near Versailles, probably in 1764, died in St. Germain-en-Laye, Sept. 4, 1846. Having enlisted in the army when a boy, he went to South America, and afterward to India, where he was introduced to Tip-poo Sahib. He participated in the first campaigns of the French revolution, reached the rank of major, and at the age of S3 was placed on the retired list. He now produced several light comedies, and in 1807 gained considerable reputation by La vestale, a lyric poem, set to music by Spontini; this performance was rewarded three years later with one of the great decennial prizes. He composed the libretti for Spontini's Fernand Cortez (1807), Catel's Les bayaderes (1810), Cherubini's Les amazones and Les Abencerrages (1812-'13), and Rossini's Moise (1827) and Guillaume Tell (1829). He also attempted tragedy. His Tippo-Saib was performed in 1813; Sylla, for which Talma's acting, and especially his wonderful resemblance to Napoleon, secured a remarkable success, in 1822; Belisaire in 1825; and Julien dans les Gaules in 1827. A series of his sketches was collected in 1812-'14 under the title of L'Hermite de la chaussee d'Antin, which was compared with Addison's "Spectator." In 1815 he became a member of the French academy.

Under the restoration he took an active part in politics, and his attacks brought the wrath of the government upon him and his friend Jay; both were incarcerated for a few months, which considerably added to their popularity, and was the occasion of their publishing Les hermites en prison (1823) and Les hermites en liberte (1824). After the revolution of July, 1830, he was appointed librarian at the Louvre by Louis Philippe, who granted him also in his later years an apartment in the chateau of St. Germain. He published his own CEuvres completes (27 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1823-'7).