In Search of Lost Time [volume 1] vocabulary

a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. [It] is the oldest national daily in France and is one of the three French newspapers of record, along with Le Monde and Libération.

Le Figaro was founded as a satirical weekly in 1826, taking its name and motto from Le Mariage de Figaro, the 1778 play by Pierre Beaumarchais that poked fun at privilege. Its motto, from Figaro's monologue in the play's final act, is [...] "Without the freedom to criticise, there is no true praise". [...]

Albert Wolff, Émile Zola, Alphonse Karr, and Jules Claretie were among the paper's early contributors. It was published somewhat irregularly until 1854, when it was taken over by Hippolyte de Villemessant.

The newspaper's [current] ownership by Serge Dassault has been a source of controversy in terms of conflict-of-interest, as Dassault also owns a major military supplier and has served in political positions from the Union for a Popular Movement party. His son Olivier Dassault is a member of the French National Assembly. Dassault has remarked in an interview in 2004 on the public radio station France Inter that "newspapers must promulgate healthy ideas" and that "left-wing ideas are not healthy ideas."