548 



Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 



[MAY, 



tracted, however, by the military profes- 

 sion, he, at the age of eighteen, entered 

 as a lieutenant in the regiment of Conti ; 

 from which he afterwards removed, to be 

 captain of dragoons in another. He next 

 purchased into the Hundred Swiss, which 

 formed a part of the king's household, ob- 

 tained the brevet of colonel, and shortly 

 afterwards the Cross of St. Louis. 



In 1788, the Count de Puisaye married 

 the only daughter of the Marquis de 

 Mesnilles, a nobleman of great landed 

 possessions in Normandy. In 1789, the 

 nobility of Perche returned the Count as 

 their Deputy to the States General. In the 

 States, and in the Constituent Assembly, 

 he invariably proved himself the friend of 

 a well regulated liberty, desirous of sup- 

 porting no less the rights of the people 

 than the dignity of the throne. 



In 1791, the Count de Puisaye was 

 raised to the rank of major-general. At 

 the close of the Session of the Assembly, 

 he retired to his estate of Mesnilles, and 

 was placed at the head of the National 

 Guai'ds of the district of Evreux. Aware 

 of the designs of the Jacobins, he pro- 

 jected the raising of an army in Nor- 

 mandy to protect the king from the fac- 

 tions. This project, however, was frus- 

 trated by the events of the 10th of August ; 

 but a force was, nevertheless, raised by 

 the Norman departments, in 1793, for 

 self-defence, against the tyranny of the 

 Convention. The chief command was 

 given to General Wirnpffen, the second to 

 the Count de Puisaye. The struggle was 

 brief and unsuccessful ; and a price hav- 

 ing been set on his head, the Count was 

 compelled to seek an asylum in Brittany. 

 There, his hair-breadth escapes were in- 

 numerable, and of the most romantic cha- 

 racter. Although an utter stranger in the 

 province, he, whilst a fugitive, conceived 

 the daring plan of arraying all Brittany, 

 and the circumjacent district, in arms 

 against the Convention. By the summer 

 of 1794, the royalist organization in this 

 quarter was complete. Aware that foreign 

 aid was essential, the Count left the com- 

 mand, with M. Cormatin and a council, 

 and came over to London, where he re- 

 sided for several months, and prevailed on 

 the ministry to afford the requisite assist- 

 ance. While he was thus engaged, Cor- 

 matin, in violation of his duty, and of his 

 instructions, concluded a treaty with the 

 Republicans. Over this new difficulty, 

 however, the Count triumphed ; and every 

 thing was prepared by the Bretons to join 

 the British and emigrant troops, as soon 

 as they should appear on the coasts of 

 France. The corrupt agents of Louis 

 XVIII. again counteracted the measures 

 of the Count de Puisaye, and succeeded in 

 diverting the expedition to the coast of 

 Vendee. The command of the emigrant 

 regiments was given to the Count d Her- 

 villy, a respectable but inefficient officer. 



Through the detail of events from this pe- 

 riod till the close of 1797, it is impossible 

 for us to follow the Count de Puisaye. 

 At that time he visited England, in the 

 hope of persuading a Bourbon Prince to 

 put himself at the head of the friends of 

 royalty. The attempt failed. At length, 

 wearied and disgusted, he resigned his 

 command, and settled, with several of his 

 officers, in Canada, on a grant of land 

 from the British Government. After a 

 short residence in that colony, he returned 

 to England, which he always regarded 

 with affection, as his adopted country, and 

 resided there till his death. 



The Count de Puisaye was tall, well- 

 formed, and graceful ; his face was hand- 

 some, and was animated by that strong 

 and varying expression which transcends 

 mere beauty of feature; and his eyes 

 beamed with intelligence and spirit. His 

 intellectual powers were of a high order, 

 and his acquirements, from study, were 

 extensive. He was well read ; brought 

 his knowledge to bear, with facility and 

 effect, upon any subject; reasoned with 

 force and precision ; and spoke with a 

 fluent and polished eloquence, which he 

 frequently enlivened with flashes of play- 

 ful or pointed wit. In literary compo- 

 sition he was no less prompt and fertile. 

 Added to all this, his character was frank, 

 upright, and full of honourable feeling. 

 He died at Blythe-house, near Hammer- 

 smith, on the 13th of December, after a 

 long and painful illness. 



MR. STEPHEN JOXES. 



Mr. Stephen Jones, a gentleman well 

 known as the editor and compiler of va- 

 rious useful works, was the son of Mr. 

 Giles Jones, secretary to the York Build- 

 ings Water Works. He was born in Lon- 

 don, in 1763, educated at St. Paul's School, 

 and placed under an eminent sculptor. 

 Subsequently, however, he was apprenticed 

 to a printer, in Fetter-lane ; and, when out 

 of his time, and at different periods of his 

 life, even until nearly its close, he was en- 

 gaged as reader, or corrector of the press, 

 in the offices of Mr. Strahan, Mr. Wright, 

 &c. 



In 1794, Mr. Jones published an Abridg- 

 ment of Mr. Burke's Reflections on the 

 Revolution in France. On the death of 

 Mr. Wright, in 1797, he relinquished, for 

 a time, the employment of corrector of 

 the press, and became editor of the White- 

 hall Evening Post. Afterwards, he was 

 editor of the General Evening Post, which 

 he conducted until within these few years, 

 when it passed into the hands of new 

 proprietors, and was united with the St. 

 James's Chronicle. He was also con- 

 cerned in the Freemason's Magazine. 

 After the death of Mr. Isaac Reid, 

 the annotator upon Shakspcarc, he con- 

 ducted the European Magazine, of which 

 he had, for some time previously, been 



