Editing Prosper Mérimée (section)

==The Second Republic and translation of Russian literature (1848–1852)==
At the end of 1847 Mérimée completed a major work on Spanish history, the biography of [[Peter of Castile|Don Pedro I, King of Castile]]. It was six hundred pages long and published in five parts in the ''Journal des Deux Mondes'' between December 1847 and February 1848.

In 1847 he read ''[[Boris Godunov (play)|Boris Godunov]]'' by [[Alexander Pushkin]] in French, and wanted to read all of Pushkin in the original language. He took as his Russian teacher Madame de Langrené, a Russian émigré who had once been the dame of honor of the Grand Duchess Marie, daughter of Tsar [[Nicholas I of Russia]]. By 1848 he was able to translate Pushkin's ''[[The Queen of Spades (story)|The Queen of Spades]]'' into French; it was published on 15 July 1849 in the ''Revue des deux Mondes''. He began to attend the literary salon of the Russian writers in Paris, the ''Cercle des Arts'' on rue Choiseul, to perfect his Russian. He translated two more Pushkin stories, ''The Bohemians'' and ''The Hussar'', as well as ''[[Dead Souls]]'' and ''[[The Government Inspector|The Inspector General]]'' by [[Nikolai Gogol]]. He also wrote several essays on Russian history and literature. In 1852, he published a scholarly article, ''An Episode of the History of Russia; the False Dimitri'', in the ''Revue des Deux Mondes''.{{Sfn|Darcos|1998|pages=294–296}}

In February 1848, as a member of the National Guard, he was a spectator at the [[French Revolution of 1848]] that toppled King Louis Philippe and founded the [[French Second Republic]]. On 8 March, he wrote to his friend Madame de Montijo: "Here we are in a republic, without enthusiasm, but determined to hold onto it because it is the sole chance of safety that we still have".{{Sfn|Darcos|1998|page=313}} The new government abolished the Bureau of Historic Monuments and merged its function into the Department of Fine Arts; however, Mérimée retained the position of Inspector of Historic Monuments, and his membership on the Commission of Historic Monuments.{{Sfn|Darcos|1998|page=313}} In December 1848, [[Napoleon III|Louis Napoleon Bonaparte]] was elected the first president of Second Republic in December 1848, and Mérimée resumed his activity. In 1849 he helped organize a successful campaign to preserve the medieval [[Cité de Carcassonne|Citadel of Carcassonne]]. In 1850 he arranged for the [[Grenoble Archaeological Museum|crypt of Saint-Laurent]] in [[Grenoble]] to be classified as an historical monument.{{Sfn|Darcos|1998|pages=294–296}}

The year 1852 was difficult for Mérimée. On 30 April 1852, his mother, who lived with him and was very close to him, died. He also became entangled in a legal affair involving one of his friends, Count [[Guglielmo Libri Carucci dalla Sommaja|Libri Carrucci Della Sommaja]], a professor of mathematics from Pisa Count who settled in France in 1824 and became a professor at the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]], a member of [[Collège de France|College of France]], a holder of the Legion of Honor, and the Inspector General of Libraries of France. It was discovered that under his academic cover he was stealing valuable manuscripts from state libraries, including texts by [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]] and [[Leonardo da Vinci]], and reselling them. When he was exposed, he fled to England, taking 30,000 works in sixteen trunks, and claimed that he was victim of a plot. Though all the evidence was against Count Libri, Mérimée took his side, and in April 1852 wrote a scathing attack on Libri's accusers in the ''Revue des deux Mondes''. He attacked the incompetence of the prosecutors and blamed the Catholic Church for inventing the case. On the same day that his mother died, he was summoned before the state prosecutors, and was sentenced to fifteen days in prison and fined one thousand francs. The ''Revue des deux Mondes'' was also fined two hundred francs. Mérimée offered his resignation from the government, which was refused. He served his sentence inside one of his listed historic monuments, the [[Palais de la Cité]] prison, passing the time studying Russian irregular verbs.{{Sfn|Darcos|1998|pages=332–333}}