1800. ] 
Shortly after their feparation, Lauzun 
was ordered with his regiment to Ame- 
rica, It was now that the ardour of his 
foul blazed forth unftifled : he panted for 
glory, he fighed for military diftin€tion ; 
he was eager to entwine the laurel of vic- 
tory with the infignia of nobility. But 
Lauzun was dettined through life to be 
the vafial of his fenfibility; and the more 
delicate, the more refined paffions of his 
heart perpetually interrupted his progrels 
towards fame. 
While he was preparing to embark for 
America, intelligence reached him, that 
the lady for whom he had once cherifhed 
the moft ardent affection, was at that mo- 
ment expofed to fome pecuniary difficulties, 
and labouring’ under the anxiety of ne- 
gle&t even from thofe in whom fhe had re~’ 
pofed anbounded confidence. ‘The fufcep- 
tibility of Lauzun’s heart could not calmly 
endure the inquietude occafioned by fuch 
events ; therefore, after obtaining leave of 
abfence for a fhort interval, he colleéted 
the remnants of his pecuniary refources, 
inclofed the fum in a {mall port-folzo, and, 
on a poft-horfe, unattended, fet out from 
Paris.. Thus did he travel many. hun- 
dred miles, with little corporeal and. ftill 
Jefsmental reft, till he arrived at the abode 
of the fair reclufe. It was im.the dreary 
feafon of the year ; the fituation wild and 
barren ; and nothing le(s ‘eccentric than 
the feelings _of fuch a charaéter’ ‘could 
have prompted or performed fo romantic 
an expedition. 
-He was immediately admitted; he found 
the lady alone; he had not power to utter 
a fyllable; but, after placing the port-folio 
on a table which ftood before her, he 
* quitted the room, remounted his horfe, 
and remeafured back his route towards 
Paris; fhortly .after he embarked for 
America, where by his gallant conduét 
he foon became highly difinuithed. He 
was the friend of the Mar ‘quis de la Fayette; 
and tie allo enjoyed the elteem even a his 
military adverfaries, among whom may 
be named the Earl of Moura, then Lord 
Rawdon; aman no lefs diftinguithed: for 
valour than for virtue, for pohtical know- 
Jedge than for genuine philanthropy ! 
When York-Town was furrendered by 
the Englifh, Lauzun was dil {patched to the 
Court of Verfail les, with the important 
tidings. - On his arrival at Paris, he. was 
received with acclamations of tranf{port ; 
the meflenger of conguefl, the harbinger 
of that peace which was in a great degree 
accelerated by this important capitulation. 
The metropolis of France now became a 
fcene of the moft brilliant feftivity—(the 
- Memoirs of the late Duc de Biron. 
AS 
writer of thefe pages was then at Paris);— 
Verfailles was the temple of delight ; and 
Lauzun was the idol of the day. ' His 
name was re echoed by all ranks of peo- 
ple ; and the furrender of York-Town was 
conlidered as the moft promifing event 
which had been recorded on the annals of 
the American war.s But the French peo- 
ple, particularly thofe who were blinded 
by courtly {plendour, did not forefee, that 
thofe, who by their valour had contributed 
towards the eftablifhment of liberty in Ame- 
rica, would fcarcely permit the ardent ef- 
feéts which it produced to lie dormant‘n 
their bofoms. 
The Duc de Lauzun, at this period, 
poffefled afmall villa at Mozt- rouge, in ie 
vicinity of Paris. It was completely fitted 
up after the Englith fafhion; all the do- 
meftics, excepting one or two, were of this 
country, and even his table was arranged 
after the manner of the Englifh. . This re- 
treat was the {cene of rational feftivity, | 
very unlike the témples of fome illuftri. 
ous perfonases, who dedicated their villas 
to the moft profligate debafement. 
The late Duke of Orleans, then Duc 
-de Chartres, followed the example of 
Lauzun; and the fairy palace of Mouceau 
was inhabited by Englifh domettics.— 
There Englith liberty -was enthufiaftically 
extolled, ane French defpotifm daily dif- 
cuffed without referve ; till a {pirit of res 
form, and a glow of newly awakened in- 
dependence, faftened on every mind, a- 
mong the inferior clafies of fociety. 
Shortly after the cOmmencement of the 
revolution, the fubject ef thefe pages, then , 
Duc de Biron, having fucceeded his uricle 
in fortune and title, We out for England. 
His perfonal attachment to the Queen in 
a great degree kept down the fpirit of re- 
publican ardour,—-and fuppreffed that ac- 
tive zeal which would otherwife have in- 
fluenced his conduct in the caufe of free- 
dom. 
ry.— The Queen of France was, beautiful, 
and perfecuted. The event-of his depar- 
ture terminated unfortunately. Biron’s 
refources were locked up by the ftrong 
hand-of anarchy: he had many debts in Eng- 
land: his creditors, either under, the fuppo~ 
fition that he was become opulent by the 
death of his uncle or that. he would 
fhortly be expofed to indigence by the con- 
vulfions of political changes, arrefted him 5 
and he was, tor feveral weeks, confined m 
the houfe of a fheviff’s officer. 
It was there that the enterprifing foul of 
Biron indulged in the varying emotions 
which his chequered deftiny gave birth to ; 
and, while his bofom glowed with the en- 
thufafm 
Biron was the very foul-of chival- - 
‘ 
\ 

