As a great number of persons are mentioned in the narrative of French events for this year, of whose previous lives our English readers can have had no opportunity of gaining any very accurate knowledge-persons, indeed, of whom the greater, or at least a very considerable number, had rarely been mentioned in any histories of our times, till after the restoration of King Louis-we have thought that we might be rendering an agreeable service, by collecting from various French works which have fallen into our hands, the most authentic notices of them. Our obligations have chiefly been to the excellent book lately published, under the name of "Biographie des Hommes Vivants," the writers of which deserve infinite credit for the exertions they have made to collect materials, with regard to the eminent individuals of this and of many other countries, as well as of their own.

The individuals, of whom we now give sketches, are,

1. Duc de Fitz-James.
2. Vicomte de Chateaubriand.
3. M. Pasquier.

4. Duc de Richelieu.
5. Count Vaublanc.
6. M. Lainé.

7. Baron Louis.

8. Duc de La Rochefoucauld. 9. Etienne Duc de Damas-Cruz. 10. Count Charles de Damas. 11. Count Roger de Damas. 12. Baron Maxence de Damas. 13. Count Philip de MontesquiouFezenzal.

14. The Abbé de Montesquiou-Fczenzal.

15. Count de Choiseul-Gouffier.
16. Duc de Choiseul-Stainville.
17. Duc de Choiseul-Praslin.
18. The Baron de Vitrolles.
19. Mademoiselle d'Orleans.

This nobleman was born in the year 1776. He is descended from the royal house of Stuart, being the great-grandson of the famous Marshal Berwick, grandson of Marshal Fitz-James, and grand-nephew of the

Bishop of Soissons. After having received an admirable education, he close to leave France, where the Revolution had commenced, and retire to Italy. In that classical country he did not idle away his time, but ac

quired new knowledge and accomplishments. After a stay of two years, however, he joined the army of the princes in Germany, and served with much honour as aide-de-camp to Marshal de Castries. The next country which he visited was England, to which he received permission to retire. During his stay in the British dominions, he devoted himself to study-visited the most remarkable places of the three united kingdoms, and found, from the reception which he received in the Highlands of Scotland, that the name of Stuart is still venerated there. M. de Fitz-James married in England Mademoiselle de la Touche, who has brought him three children. At last, when the revolutionary tempest began to calm, he returned to France; but the property which he had left there was passed into other hands, and he lived in an honourable obscurity. He might, had he chosen, have done otherwise, for he received the highest offers from the Imperial Government, but per sisted in refusing them. At the close of the year 1813, he entered as corporal into the first legion of the National Guard of Paris, judging that in that situation occasions might occur in which he could be useful to the royal cause. It happened, that on the 30th of March, 1814, when the battle of Paris took place, he was on service at the barrier of Mousseaux. The intention was, that a desperate attack, commencing with the National Guard, should be made against the allied troops, a scheme which appeared likely to involve the ruin of Paris; and when he saw some of the guard beginning to skirmish with the Cossacks in the plain, his anxiety was extreme. At this juncture, the commander of the legion appeared with an order, signed Joseph Buonaparte, to move towards the enemy. There was not a mo

ment to be lost. The column was in motion to obey, although eight days before the most solemn promise had been given that it should never be required of the National Guard to pass the barriers. Here M. de FitzJames interposed. Leaving the ranks and standing on a small eminence, he harangued the company, and represented in a few words, but with great force, what conduct they ought in their present circumstances to pursue. He told them expressly, "That it was their duty to disobey-that the safety of the inhabitants of Paris would be compromised if they should advance a single step-that nothing could be more extravagant than to expect that a few thousand citizens, ill-equipped, were able to oppose those troops, before which the bravest army in the world had been obliged to retire-that if Paris should be entered by force, nothing could save the women and children from the fury of a soldiery irritated by the opposition they had encountered-in short, that the only end which such an order as this was calculated to serve, was to sacrifice the capital, and give a shock to the whole country."

The speech of the duke had the desired effect. In vain did some of the officers rush forward, presenting the points of their swords to his breast. Some debating ensued, but, the opinion of Fitz-James was generally approved of; for, with the exception of a few of the privates, who were speedy enough in coming back, all the battalion remained within the barrier. Next day, Fitz-James joined the royalists, who shewed to the Emperor Alexander, by their cries of "Vive le Roi!" and their white cockades, that the Bourbons were not forgotten by the French. The lively emotions, however, which he felt on that glorious day, with the agitation which he had suffered before, had

hearly cost him his life; for he returned to his house oppressed by a burning fever. The indisposition, however, soon left him, and only deprived him of the happiness of as sisting at the entrance of Monsieur into Paris. That prince, who was well informed of the proofs which he had exhibited of his attachment to the royal cause, immediately appointed him one of his aides-de-camp. In this capacity, he had the honour of attending the brother of the king in his journey to the south of France; and, on returning to Paris, was named first gentleman of the bed-chamber to Monsieur.

On the 4th of June, he was created a peer of France. When Buonaparte landed, he attended Monsieur to Lyons, and returned with his royal highness to Paris. He then went with him to Ghent, and was one of his suite when he again entered France.

In the year 1814, he had received the charge of transacting a delicate piece of business with the king for General Bertrand, with whom he was connected by means of his duchess, the half-sister of Madame Bertrand. Towards the end of August, 1815, M. Bertrand de Chateauroux, the general's father, denied the authenticity of a letter, in which his son entrusted the Duc de Fitz-James with the business of presenting to his Majesty, Louis XVIII. the assurances of his loyalty and devotion, charged the duke with ingratitude, and, in support of that charge, made many unwarrantable assertions. The following was the answer of the duke. It was dated 7th September, 1815, and appeared in the public journals. "It was impossible for M. Bertrand to make any reply, except by insult or declamation, to that which had been proved before a notary to be true-Declamation is ridiculous-insult will not be able to hurt me.

"It had been better for him to have kept silence; for his letter does not disprove the authenticity of that of his son, nor the lies to which I had replied and these were the only points of the least importance.

"Being unable to deny what I affirm, he has resorted to falsehood, in order to injure my character; but the time is now passed for calumny to remain unrefuted. I am indebted to General Bertrand neither for my liberty nor for my life, and I am not a little astonished to hear him called my benefactor. If I lost my fortune while performing my duty, I never was in circumstances which rendered it necessary for me to have recourse to the generosity of any man.

"The general is my brother-in-law, having married my sister-in-law-not my unfortunate sister. I never asked a favour from him, and I lie under no obligation to him whatever. He made several attempts to bring me over to his master, and from the manner in which he listened to and appreciated my refusals, I was led to think him a man of honour. I was his relation, and frequently met with him, but was never his intimate friend. I esteemed him for the step which he took, on departing for Elba. He professed that he was loyal, and I entertained no doubts of his sincerity. Thinking that he was incapable of breaking his word, I transmitted his letter to the king, and pledged myself for his fidelity. But the month of March proved how much I had been mistaken with regard to him. The man who is guilty of taking false oaths, and who, from the dictates of a criminal ambition, becomes the abetter of odious projects, which end in the misery of his country, must cease to have any share of my regard; and, however intimate I may have been with him, I can no longer consider him among the number of

my friends. It is a matter of small importance to me, in what light my principles are considered and spoken of by the family of M. Bertrand. These principles are known to my friends, and are held in estimation by those whom I esteem; and certainly there is no chance of my parting with them, and of my adopting those principles which have ruined General Bertrand, and which distinguish those persons who perceive in him a model of honour and a hero of fidelity."

On the 21st of October, he proposed to the Chamber of Peers, that some testimony should be given to the Duke of Angouleme, of the high approbation with which they viewed his conduct in the trying juncture of the preceding March.

"On that occasion," said he, "when so many great actions were performed, when so many brilliant instances of energy and of patriotism were to be witnessed, such as render us proud of the name which we bear, I must place at the head of those who deserved well of their king and of their country, one whose name you are ready to utter, and the remembrance of whose services will never be effaced from your hearts-that prince who is che

rished with the most enthusiastical affection in the south, and who is the pride and the glory of all France."

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In the month of December following, he was made colonel of the National Horse-Guards, and on that occasion addressed a speech to those men whom he was appointed to command, and who, at the restoration, had been so highly distinguished for their loyalty. If," said he, in conclusion,"circumstances should render it necessary, if the factious should once more dare to raise their heads, and if an usurper should again shew himself amongst us, I would advance to the foremost post of danger, and I know that you would all follow me thither." Here he was interrupted by the shouts of Vive le Roi, and by the protestations of the guards, that they would follow him to whatever place of danger he would conduct them.

In concluding the account of this excellent nobleman, we may mention, that the motto which was given to the regiment of Berwick, has been often, and with great justice, quoted as containing the description of his character, 66 Semper ubique fidelis.”

Francis-Augustus de Chateaubriand was born in 1769, at Combourg, in the neighbourhood of Frugeres, and is descended of an ancient family of Bretagne. He embraced the military profession by entering the regiment of Navarre (infantry) in 1786, and next year he was presented to his Majesty Louis XVI. His eldest brother, the Count de Chateaubriand, was married about that period to Mademoiselle de Rosambo, daughter of

the president of that name, and granddaughter of the illustrious Malesherbes.

At the commencement of the Revolution, when the army began to mutiny, he left his native country, and went to North America. This was in the year 1790. Being an enthusiastical admirer of the beauties of nature, he buried himself with delight in the forests of the new world. We may easily conceive the powerful

impression which the scenes to which he was now transported must have produced upon an imagination of so lively a nature as that which he possessed, and it is impossible to doubt that to that impression we ought chiefly to attribute the bent of his extraordinary genius. In describing the emotions which he then felt, M. de Chateaubriand has himself informed us, that while he was studying with avidity the character of the strange tribes which roam through the wilds of America, and while he was contem. plating with the most enthusiastical admiration the beauties of nature in her virgin state, he occupied himself with arranging his ideas, and classifying his observations.

It was during that period that the first germs of his eloquent writings developed themselves. He informs us that he finished a poem in prose, entitled Les Natches, in which he described, along with the country, the customs and manners of the savage people which had afforded him their hospitality. By some accident the poem has been lost; the Episode of Attala has alone been preserved; and indeed no better specimen can be fixed upon than this, to prove that it was by his sojourn in North America that its author was inspired with the fire of poetry. We observe in it those brilliant images to which nothing similar existed before in our literature ;thoughts of the most elevated order, but often, wild and disorderly, and in defiance of common rules. In one word, we discern in it that new species of poetry, which has afforded so fine an occasion for the critics to open their batteries, but which has excited in a very high degree our won der and admiration. M. de Chateaubriand, after having remained in the wilds of America for two years, returned to Europe, enriched with many new observations. His original inten

tion was to have traversed the continent of America in its whole extent, from the North to the Pacific Ocean; but having learned that the war was commencing in Europe, he thought it his duty to place himself under the colours of the French princes. At the siege of Thionville, 1792, he was struck by a bomb-shell, and the wound which he thus received, together with an attack of illness, which, for three years, threatened to put an end to his existence, made him quit the service. He then passed over to England, where he had to endure all the evils of poverty and neglect. It was during that unfortunate period of his life that he became tainted with misanthropical feelings, and gave vent to them in a work, which he published in London in the year 1797, entitled, "An Essay on the Revolutions of Ancient and Modern Times." In that work, while we often discern the most profound political views, we cannot help occasionally perceiving, in conjunc tion with these, sentiments which cannot stand the test of a strict scrutiny. But these errors he has, with a candour which does honour to his character, avowed, although this has not been sufficient to put his enemies to silence. "The enemies of Christianity," says M. de Chateaubriand, in the preface of his great work, "have often attempted to throw suspicions upon the sincerity of those by whom it is defended. This method of attack, which is employed to destroy the usefulness of a religious work, is well known, and I question if I, who am chargeable with having fallen into errors, will escape it. My sentiments with regard to religion were not always the same as they are at present. While I always was aware of the necessity of a religion, and while I admired the Christian system in general, I despised particular parts of it. Being struck with the abuses of some of its