210 
life, ‘having totally lost the use of his legs, 
he had invented a mechanically arranged 
chair or sofa, which enabled him to move 
himself about his apartment without any 
assistance : this machine occasionally served 
him as a bed, whereon to repose himself. 
He latterly also discoyered means of propel- 
ling ships at sea, without the aid of oars, 
sails, or steam: the details of this plan were 
printed ; it appeared, however, to be more 
ingenious than practically available. He has 
left a widow, several children, and an im- 
mense fortune.”—By Sir William’s death, 
a vacancy occurred in the representation of 
Plymouth. 
MARSHAL COMTE DE LAURISTON. 
This gentleman, said to be a descendant 
from the family of the celebrated Law, of 
Mississippi notoriety, was the son of a ge- 
neral officer in ‘the French army. He was 
born in the year 1768. At an early age he 
embraced the military profession, and obtain- 
ed rapid promotion in the artillery. He was 
active, and he enjoyed the friendship of 
Buonaparte, who made him one of his 
aids-de-camp. Buonaparte also employed 
him on several important missions. In 1800 
he commanded, as brigadier-general, the 
fourth regiment of Flying Artillery at La 
Fére. In 1801 he brought to England the 
ratification of the preliminaries of the peace 
of Amiens. He was received with custom- 
ary enthusiasm by the London mob, who 
took the horses from his carriage, and drag- 
ged him in triumph to Downing-street. 
This circumstance afforded to Cobbett a 
theme of vituperation for months. 
After the death of the Duc d’Enghien, 
General Lauriston happened to be in the 
antechamber of the consular court of Buo- 
naparte with M. de Caulaincourt ; when, the 
conversation having turned upon the mur- 
der of the prince, and upon the part which 
Caulaincourt had performed in the affair, 
Lauriston spiritedly exclaimed— The first 
consul has too much esteem for me, to em- 
ploy me in such a transaction.”” The con- 
versation grew warm, and it was only through 
Buonaparte’s interference that the quarrel 
was not carried to a greater height. Though 
displeased with Lauriston’s remark, the con- 
sul did not dismiss him, but sent him on an 
unimportant embassy to Italy, and contrived 
that he and Caulaincourt should never: meet 
again in his presence. 
- M. de Lauriston was in every campaign 
of note in Spain, Germany, and Russia. In 
1809 he penetrated into Hungary, and took 
the fortress of Raab, after a bombardment 
of eight days. It was Lauriston who de- 
cided the victory in favour of the French at 
the battle of Wagram, by coming up to the 
charge, at full trot, with 100 picces of artil- 
lery. In 1811 he was appointed ambassa- 
dor to the court of St. Petersburgh. This 
mission—the object of which was to obtain 
the occupation of the ports of Riga and Re- 
vel, and to exclude English ships from the 
Buwgraphical Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 
[Aveusr, 
Baltic—having failed, he was employed in 
the Russian campaign; and, after the tak- 
ing of Moscow, he was sent to the Emperor 
Alexander, with proposals for am armistices 
These proposals were rejected, 
General Lauriston, after the retreat from 
Moscow, commanded an army of observa- 
tion on the banks of the Elbe. During three 
months, he defended that river with a small 
force, and prevented the enemy from enters 
ing Hanover. Having distinguished him- 
self at the battle of Leipsic, he retreated to 
the bridge between that town and Lindenau. 
Finding the bridge destroyed, he plunged 
into the river with his horse ; but was taken 
prisoner, and conducted to Berlin, where he 
was treated with much ‘favour and kind- 
ness. 
After the conclusion of the general peace, 
Louis XVIII. created him a knight of St. 
Louis, grand cordon of the Legion of Ho- 
nour, and captain-lieutenant of the Grey 
Musketeers, an appointment rendered va< 
cant by the death of General Nansouty. 
After the 20th of March, 1815, he followed 
the royal household to the frontiers of 
France ; and then retired to his estate of 
Richecourt, near La Fére, without taking 
part in any of the transactions of the hun- 
dred days. 
On the return of the king, General Laus 
riston was made president of the Electoral 
College of the department of L’Aisne, 
lieut.-general of the first division of Royal 
Foot Guards, and member of the commis- 
sion appointed to examine into the conduct 
of such officers as had served from the 20th 
of March to the &th of July, 1815. He was 
created a commander of the Order of St. 
Louis in 1816; and, having become an 
ultra-royalist, he presided, in the course of 
the same year, over the councils of war ap- 
pointed for the trial of Admiral Linois, 
Count Delaborde, &c. 
Marshal Lauriston terminated his life at 
Paris, in a fit of apoplexy, on the 17th of 
June. 
DUGALD STEWART, ESQ. 
Dugald Stewart, son of Dr. Matthew 
Stewart, eminent as professor of mathema= 
tics in the university of Edinburgh, was 
born in the year 1753. In the eighth year 
of his age he was sent to the High School of 
Edinburgh, to commence the rudiments of 
the Latin tongue. There he formed an in- 
timacy with Robert Thomson, afterwards a 
great promoter of classical erudition in his 
academy at Kensington. These youths 
were, after a course of six years, at the head 
of the school. In October, 1766, Mr. Stew- 
art was entered at the university, under the 
tuition of Dr. Blair and Dr. Fergusson. 
Through the instructions and example of 
the former, he became an enthusiastic ad- 
mirer of beautiful, pathetic, and sublime 
poetry, in ancient and in modern languages. 
His principal intellectual pursuits were his- 
tory, logic, metaphysics, and moral philos 
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