Paul Stapfer was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 essay

Essay

An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...

ist, born in Paris, and educated at the Bonaparte Lyceum. After serving as tutor

Tutor

A tutor is a person employed in the education of others, either individually or in groups. To tutor is to perform the functions of a tutor.-Teaching assistance:...

 in the family of François Guizot

François Guizot

François Pierre Guillaume Guizot was a French historian, orator, and statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics prior to the Revolution of 1848, a conservative liberal who opposed the attempt by King Charles X to usurp legislative power, and worked to sustain a constitutional...

, he became a professor at Grenoble

University of Grenoble

University of Grenoble or Grenoble University was a university in Grenoble, France until 1970, when it was split into several different institutions:...

. In 1883, he accepted a similar professorship at Bordeaux

University of Bordeaux

University of Bordeaux is an association of higher education institutions in and around Bordeaux, France. Its current incarnation was established 21 March 2007. The group is the largest system of higher education schools in southwestern France. It is part of the Academy of Bordeaux.There are seven...

. Stapfer's essays are remarkable for their clarity of style, perfection of finish and accuracy of detail. He edited the Grands écrivains series. Among his works are:

• Petite comédie de la critique littéraire de Molière selon les trois écoles philosophiques (1866)
• Causeries guernesiaises (1881)
• Shakespeare
  William Shakespeare
  William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
  
   et l'antiquité (1883), which revealed to anti-Stratfordians the depth of its subject's knowledge of Latin
  Latin
  Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
  
   and his formidable acquaintance with Greek
  Greek language
  Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
  
  .
• Goethe
  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
  
   et ses deux chefs-d'œuvre classiques (1881)
• Racine et Victor Hugo
  Victor Hugo
  Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
  
  (1886)
• Rabelais, sa personne, son génie, son œuvre (1889)
• Montaigne
  Michel de Montaigne
  Lord Michel Eyquem de Montaigne , February 28, 1533 – September 13, 1592, was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance, known for popularising the essay as a literary genre and is popularly thought of as the father of Modern Skepticism...
  
  (1894)
• La grande prédication chrétienne en France: Bossuet, Adolphe Monod
  Adolphe Monod
  Adolphe-Louis-Frédéric-Théodore Monod , was a French Protestant churchman. His elder brother was Frédéric Monod....
  
  (1898)
• Des réputations littéraires and Victor Hugo
  Victor Hugo
  Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
  
  et la grande poésie satirique en France (1901)
• Questions esthétiques et religieuses (1906)
• Vers la vérité (1909)