[210] He had defeated Prince Ferdinand at Clostercamp, in the battle which made the name of the Chevalier d’Assas so illustrious in the French annals. In the reign of Louis the Sixteenth he became Minister of Marine and was much respected. He died in 1801, aged seventy-four.—E.
[211] The Duc had none of the brilliancy of his cousin. His manners were cold and reserved, which his enemies ascribed to pride, and his friends to modesty. He never was popular. As Minister of Marine he appears to have discharged his duties efficiently, and the French fleet under his administration recovered the losses it had suffered in the war. His splendid seat near Melun, still in the possession of his descendants, and formerly the delight of the Intendant Fouquet, shows that his public services were not unrewarded. He died in 1795, aged seventy-three.—E.
[212] Madame de Staël paints him to the life: “C’étoit un homme d’esprit dans l’acceptation commune de ce mot.... Sa dignité de Prêtre, jointe au désir constant d’arriver au Ministère, lui avoit donné l’extérieur réfléchi d’un homme d’état, et il en avoit la réputation avant d’avoir été mis à portée de la dementir.... Il n’étoit ni assez éclairé pour être philosophe, ni assez ferme pour être despote; il admiroit tour à tour la conduite du Cardinal de Richelieu, et les principes des encyclopédistes.”—Considérations sur la Révolution Française.—His brief administrations made the Revolution inevitable, and he was among its early victims. The manner of his death is uncertain; the Abbé Morellet, his friend and dependant, insinuating that he poisoned himself. According to an article in the Biographie Universelle, which is very carefully written, he died in consequence of the brutal treatment he received from some soldiers at Sens. The Abbé makes a feeble effort to defend his memory.—(Mémoires de Morellet, vol. i. p. 17; vol. ii. p. 16–467.)—E.
[213] He also became at a great age Chief Minister, in the next reign, and died so. Walpole must have written this eulogy on Maurepas before the latter was restored to office. Agreeable as he might be in society, he proved a most inefficient minister, and altogether unequal to the times. He died in 1781, eighty years old, regretted only by the King and the courtiers, who enjoyed his wit and profited by his patronage. One of his last acts was the disgrace of Necker, a minister who perhaps could then have saved the monarchy, though he afterwards hastened its downfall.—E.
[214] He was related to the Duc de Bouillon by his mother, the Princess Clementina Sobieski.—[Lord Mahon’s Hist. of England, vol. iii. p. 523.—E.]
[215] Clement XIII. His name was Charles Rezzonico, a Venetian.
[216] Avignon.
[217] After a reign of twenty years. He had governed his small kingdom with prudence and ability; and had shown spirit and firmness in the manner in which he met the preparations made by Peter III. for invading Denmark, in 1762. He has the honour of having employed the celebrated Niebuhr, on that scientific expedition to the East, of which the latter has left so interesting a description.—E.
[218] The Duke of Newcastle, besides having joined Lord Bute against Mr. Pitt at the beginning of the reign, had personally offended the latter, by contriving to have his American pension paid at the Treasury, which subjected it to great deductions.
[219] George Bussy Villiers, only son of William Earl of Jersey.