444 



Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 



[APRIL, 



Amongst Dr. Evans's other productions, are 

 An Address to Promote a Revival among 

 the General Baptists Juvenile Pieces, de- 

 signed for Youth a Sermon on the Deaths 

 of Drs. Kippls, Stewart, and Harris An 

 Apology for Human Nature, by the late 

 Charles Bulkeley An Attempt to Account 

 for the Infidelity of Gibbon Moral Reflec- 

 tions, suggested by a View of London from 

 the Monument an Epitome of Geography 

 The Juvenile Tourist Picture of Worthing 

 Tour to Brighton, <fec. Sermons, <fec. 

 Dr. Evans was also, for some time, the editor 

 of a periodical work, entitled the Monthly 

 Visitor. He died at Islington on the 25th 

 of January. 



COUNT LANJU1NAIS. 

 M. le Comte Lanjuinais was born at 

 Rennes, in 1753. He became an Advocate 

 acd Professor ol Common Law in the Uni- 

 versity there, as well as Counsellor to the 

 States of Brittany, which were elected by 

 the three orders before the convocation of the 

 States General, in which he represented his 

 native town. The revolution had begun in 

 that province previously to the meeting of 

 the States General at Versailles. Lanjuinais 

 was at the head of the popular party. Un- 

 like the generality of the revolutionists, how- 

 ever, he Mas a man of piety, sobriety of 

 manners, and of the utmost probity in his 

 general conduct. In the famous Breton 

 Committee at Versailles, he opposed giving 

 the title of Prince to the members of the 

 Royal Family ; and he objected to the ex- 

 ternal decorations of those personages, and 

 wished to deprive the King and the Dauphin 

 of the Cordon Bleu. He attacked the usur- 

 pations of the See of Rome, and defended the 

 liberties of the Galilean Church. Mirabeau's 

 attempt to procure admission for the Minis- 

 ters of State into the Representative Assem- 

 bly was defeated by the spirited opposition of 

 Lanjuinais. However, after the insurrection 

 in the Champ de Mars, he united with the 

 constitutional party, and endeavoured to 

 check the excesses of the revolution. In 

 September, 1792, he was elected to the Na- 

 tional Convention, by the department of He 

 and Vila inc. There he was assailed by 

 Marat, who reproached him for wishing to 

 have a guard collected from all the depart- 

 ments for the security of the Convention. On 

 the 5th of November, he united with Louvet 

 in his accusations against Robespierre. Dur- 

 ing the trial of Louis XVI. he most energe- 

 tically opposed the unfair and illegal mode of 

 proceeding adopted towards the fallen mo- 

 narch ; and he voted for his confinement and 

 banishment after a peace, without recognizing 

 the right to try or to judge him. On the 8th 

 of February, he supported the decree for 

 bringing to justice the author of the massa- 

 cres of September, but was interrupted by the 

 enraged Mountaineers, not only with menaces 

 but with poinards. As one of the moderate, 

 and, therefore, equivocal party, he was pro- 



scribed at the head of a list of seventy-one 

 deputies. Having been ordered under arrest 

 he escaped, and lay concealed for eighteen 

 mouths in a hay- loft at his house at Rennes. 

 Saved by the vigilance of his wife, and of a 

 female domestic, he was reinstated in the 

 Convention in March 1795; and when lhat 

 body was renewed by the election of the two- 

 thirds, his name was 'put up by 73 Depart- 

 ments, and generally at the head of the list. 

 As a member of the Council of Ancients, he 

 endeavoured to steer a moderate course, and 

 to deviate as much as possible from the 

 rigours of the revolutionary system. 



On the return of Buonaparte from Egypt, 

 M. Lanjnina's was nominated to the Legis- 

 lative Body; and, in March 1800, he was 

 removed to the Conservative Senate. He 

 opposed Buonaparte's nomination to the 

 Consulate for life ; and he is said to have 

 exclaimed in the Senate on that occasion, 

 " You are choosing a master from that 

 island whence the Romans disdained to take 

 their slaves." On the assumption of the 

 title of Emperor by Buonaparte, M. Lanjui- 

 nais was silent ; and he was named, at that 

 period, Commandant of the Legion of Ho- 

 nour. In April, 1814, he voted for a Pro- 

 visional Government, and the dethronement 

 of Buonaparte ; and, on the 4th of June fol- 

 lowing, Louis XVIII. created him a Peer 

 of France. In 1815, he was nominated De- 

 puty to the Chamber of Representatives dur- 

 ing Buonaparte's renewed sway, and was 

 elected President of that body by a large 

 majority. Louis XVIII. however did not 

 resent this proceeding ; and Lanjuinais re- 

 tained his place in the Chamber of Peers. 

 His warm and independent spirit excited the 

 animosity of the Ultra Royalists; and on his 

 nomination to the Presidentship of the Elec- 

 toral College of He and Vilaine, he was 

 accused of republicanism, and 172 electors 

 petitioned the King against his appointment. 

 Making due allowance for the extraordi- 

 nary character of the times, M. Lanjuinais 

 carried himself through the revolution as a 

 man of honour, humanity, and spirit. His 

 scholastic attainments, which were consider- 

 able, procured him admission into the Na- 

 tional Institute. The Royal Ordonnance 

 of July, 1816, placed him in the Academy of 

 Inscriptions. Amongst his writings, are two 

 elaborate treatises, one on Tithes, the other 

 on the Constitution of France. He was also 

 the author of various eloquent papers on 

 literary, historical, and political subjects in the 

 Revue Encyclopedique. 



For some time previously to his decease, 

 which occurred on the 20th of January last, 

 the Count Lanjuinais enjoyed the otium cum 

 dignitate in a splendid mansion near Paris, 

 in the bosom of an interesting family. De- 

 putations from the Chamber of Peers, and 

 the Academy of Inscriptions, attended his 

 funeral, which was honoured with a military 

 cortege of about 200 horse, and followed by 

 a vast assemblage of the populace. Three 

 discourses were delivered at the grave. 



