2828]. ( 99 ) 



BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF EMINENT PERSONS. 



JOSEPH PLANTA, ESQ., P.B.S. 



This gentleman, who has been for several 

 years known as the principal liblrarian of the 

 British Museum, is a native of Switzerland, 

 He was born on the 21st of February 1744 ; 

 and was educated under the eye of his father, 

 who, during his latter years, was an officer of 

 the British Museum. With the usual accom- 

 plishments of a scholar, Mr. Planta became 

 master of the most important modern lan- 

 guages. After having been employed some 

 time abroad, he returned to England in 

 1772 ; and, on the death of his father, in 

 1773j he succeeded him, as an assistant li- 

 brarian in the Museum. In 1774, Mr. 

 Planta became a Fellow of the Royal So- 

 ciety ; he soon afterwards had the honour of 

 conducting the foreign correspondence of 

 that learned body ; and, in 1776? he was 

 elected to the office of its secretary. In the lat- 

 ter year, also, he became under-librarian of the 

 British Museum ; an appointment which he 

 held until 1799, when, on the death of Dr. 

 Morton, he was advanced to the office of prin- 

 cipal librarian. Such he remained until the 

 day of his death. 



Although a foreigner, no man could be 

 more generally esteemed, or could discharge 

 more satisfactorily, the onorous duties of his 

 office. It is related of Mr. Planta, that when 

 the Emperor Alexander, of Russia, on going 

 over the library, happened to remark that the 

 Museum of Paris contained a superior collec- 

 tion of the rare, of the curious, and of the 

 valuable he replied, " Your Majesty should 

 consider that we have nothing here but what 

 has been honestly bought and paid for." 



Mr. Planta's son was, several years since, 

 introduced into the Secretary of State's office ; 

 and, for some time, he was under-secretary 

 to the late Marquess of Londonderry, by 

 whom he was much and confidentially em- 

 ployed, in his important negociations on the 

 continent. 



The late Mr. Planta had distinguished 

 himself in the world of letters. He published 

 " An Essay on the Runic, or Scandinavian 

 Language ;" " The History of Helvetia," 

 in two volumes, quarto, in 1800 ; and, in 

 1802, a " Catalogue of the MSS. in the 

 Cottonian library." Not long since he pro- 

 duced " a Short History of the Restoration 

 of the Helvetic Republic." 



Mr. Planta died on the 3d of December ; 

 and, on Sunday the 9th, his remains were 

 interred in the parish church of St. George, 

 Bloomsbury. They were attended to the 

 grave by his son, and also by the chief officers 

 of the Museum. 



Mr. Planta has been succeeded in his office 

 of principal librarian of the British Museum, 

 by Henry Ellis, F.A.S. and LL.D., one of 

 the Secretaries of the Society of Antiquaries, 

 and Keeper of the MSS. in the British 

 Museum. Mr. Ellis is well known as the 



author and editor of many valuable publica- 

 tions. 



THE EARL OF TRAQUAIR, 



Charles Stuart, Earl of Traquair, Baron 

 Stuart of Traquair, and Lord Linton and 

 Caverston, and a Baronet, was born about 

 the year 1744. His ancestor was James 

 Stuart, a natural son of James, Earl of 

 Buchan, who obtained a charter of legiti- 

 mation in the year 1488-9 ; and, by his 

 marriage with Catherine, daughter and 

 sole heir of Richard Rutherford, he ob- 

 tained the Baronies of Rutherford and 

 Wells, iu the county of Roxburgh. He 

 was killed, with James the Fourth of Scot- 

 land, at the battle of Flodden Field. His 

 grandson, John, was created Baron Stuart, 

 of Traquair, in 1628, and Baron Linton, 

 and Earl of Traquair, in 1643. From him, 

 the sixth in succession to the title, was 

 the late Karl. He married, in 1773, Mary, 

 daughter and co-heiress oi George Ravens- 

 croft, of Wickham, in the county of Lin- 

 coln, Esq., and, by her, who died at Ma- 

 drid, in 1796, he had issue a son and 

 a daughter. His lordship died at his seat, 

 Traquair House, Peebleshire, on the 15th 

 of October. He is succeeded by his only 

 son John, Lord Linton, now Earl of Tra- 

 quair, boro on the 31st of January, 1781. 



MADAME GUIZOT. 



The name of Madame Guizot, the daugh- 

 ter of M. de Meulan, by his wife Jeanne 

 de Saint Chamans, has Jong been familiar 

 to every person acquainted with modern 

 French literature. Elizabeth Charlotte 

 Pauline de Meulan, was born on the 2d of 

 November, 1773. Her father, one of the 

 friends of M. Neckar, held an important 

 office in the finance department. The 

 education of Mademoiselle de Meulan ex- 

 perienced every attention ; but, although 

 she acquired knowledge with the utmost 

 facility, it was not until at a considerably 

 advanced period that she evinced either 

 genius or talent. M. de Meulan's fortune 

 was destroyed at the commencement of the 

 Revolution ; and, as he died in 1790, it 

 can scarcely be said that he survived its 

 loss. Of quick and lively feelings, it 

 was then that Mademoiselle de Meulan's 

 powers were called into action Her mind 

 rapidly developed itself; yet it was not 

 till the year 1794 that she became im- 

 pressed, instantaneously as it were, with 

 the consciousness of her intellectual supe- 

 riority. She then devoted herself to a life 

 of moral activity. She felt herself op- 

 posed to the progress cf the Revolution, 

 not in its political theory, but in its prac- 

 tice of despotism. Her mother, her sister, 

 the whole of her family, were suffering 

 O 2 



