1827.] 



96 J 



BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF EMINENT PERSONS. 



THE DUKE DE ROCHEFOUCAULD. 



The Duke de Rochefoucauld, long known 

 as the Duke de Liancourt, a title which he 

 derived from his estate in the Beauvais, was 

 born in the year 1747. It was at the restora- 

 tion of the monarchy that he took the title 

 of Rochefoucauld, which had descended to 

 him from his cousin, the Duke de Roche- 

 foucauld d'Enville, who was assassinated at 

 Gisors, in 1792. When the revolution be- 

 gan he was Grand Master of the Wardrobe 

 to the King, an office previously held by his 

 lather, the Duke d'Estissac. In the As- 

 sembly of the States General he was one of 

 the deputies for the noblesse, and was one of 

 the early advocates of reform. At the time 

 when the bastille was destroyed, he appears 

 to have had great influence with the king. 

 On the morning of the 15th of July, the bas- 

 tille having been taken on the preceding 

 evening, it was openly maintained that 

 Louis XVI. ought to be compelled to de- 

 scend from his throne. M. de Liancourt 

 was, at this moment, in the presence of his 

 unfortunate sovereign ; and, fearing to behold 

 his crown torn from him, and his life endan- 

 gered, lie prevailed on him to recal Neckar, 

 ami to remove the troops encamped in the 

 neighbourhood of Paris and Versailles. The 

 king did so, whether wisely or not it would 

 be difficult, if not impossible, to determine. 



In the same year M. de Liancourt pro- 

 nounced a discourse in the Assembly, on 

 the necessity of the royal veto against all 

 legislative acts deemed by the King con- 

 trary to the interests of his people or of his 

 crown. He contended also (hat the military 

 in actual service blight not to be permitted 

 to take part in the deliberations of the politi- 

 cal clubs. Subsequently M. de Liancourt 

 occupied himself chiefly in subjects con- 

 nected with practical improvements in the 

 condition of society. He was a member of 

 the constitutional body termed the Feuillans. 

 On the question of replacing the ancient 

 academies by new institutions, be proposed a 

 plan, differing but little from that of the Na- 

 tional Institute, established in 1795. 



In the affair of the 10th of August the 

 Duke saved himself by flight retired to 

 England, and afterwards proceeded to Ame- 

 rica, where be remained till 1799. There 

 he travelled much, applying himself closely 

 to the study of American arts, agriculture, 

 commerce, political economy, &c. Alter 

 the 18th of Brumaire (19th of Nov. 1799,) 

 he returned to France. The greater part of 

 his estates had been confiscated and sold ; 

 but a larga property was still in the posses- 

 sion of his wife in her own right, she, for 

 the purpose of preserving it for "the family, 

 having obtained a divorce during the Duke's 

 absence. M. de Liancourt fixed his resi- 

 dence in a part of his mansion that had es- 

 caped i-he fury of the populace, and estab- 

 lished within it a cotton manufactory, which 



speedily attained considerable importance. 

 He uniformly declined receiving employment 

 from Buonaparte, who, notwithstanding, 

 conferred on him the decorations of ihe Le- 

 gion of Honour. He devoted himself exclu- 

 sively to the concerns of his factory, from 

 which the neighbouring poor derived constant 

 employment and support. 



It is chiefly owing to the Duke de Roche- 

 foucauld that France has participated so ex- 

 tensively as she has done the benefit of vac- 

 cination. From his estate of Liancourt, into 

 which he introduced this life-preserving art, 

 it has spread to every part of the king- 

 dom. 



In 1814 the Duke was named by the King 

 a Peer of France. During the government 

 of the Hundred Days he protested, in his 

 capacity of member of the Electoral College 

 of the Oise, against the revolution of that 

 period. On the second return of the King 

 he was again named a member of the Cham- 

 ber of Peers ; in which, whenever he has 

 spoken, he has evinced the firmest attach- 

 ment to the principles of a constitutional 

 monarchy. He was a zealous advocate of 

 every improvement in the moral character 

 of the poor ; and he not long since an- 

 nounced to the Society for the Encourage- 

 ment of Elementary Instruction, that be had 

 established a school at Liancourt, according 

 to the new and popular mode of teach- 

 ing. 



In the course of his life the Duke d? 

 Rochefoucauld published several valuable 

 works, of which his " Travels in the United 

 States" is the most important. He died oa 

 the 27th of March ; his funeral was on the 

 30th. It was attended by some of the lead- 

 ing members of the Chamber of Peers, and 

 of the Chamber of Deputies, and by a great 

 number of other persons of distinction. The 

 students of L'Ecole des Arts et Metiers of 

 Chalons, of which the deceased had been 

 Inspector General, assembled at the family 

 hotel, and carried the body to the church 

 of the Assumption, where the service was 

 performed. On the question, however, of 

 carrying the body from the church to the 

 barrier of CJichy, a disgraceful disturbance 

 occurred between the military escort and the 

 students, in which several of the latter \ver 

 wounded, and the coffin was thrown to the 

 ground and rolled in the kennel. Ths com- 

 mander of the escort has been strongly cen- 

 sured for this disturbance ; and the King of 

 France has been pleased to convey an ex- 

 pression of regret at the occurrence to the 

 family of the deceased. Sterne, -we appre- 

 hend, would not have said that they ma- 

 naged such affairs best in France. 



DR HAWKER. 



The Rev. Dr. Hawker was born about the 

 year 1753. He was educated at Magdalen 

 College, Oxford ; and, for the long period of 



