CHEVALIER DE STANISLAS

See also:

• JEAN

JEAN

See also:

• BOUFFLERS, LOUIS FRANCCOIS
• CHEVALIER DE STANISLAS JEAN BOUFFLERS (1737-1815)

BOUFFLERS (1737-1815)  , French statesman and man of letters, was born near Nancy on the 31st of May 1738 . He was the son of Louis Francois, marquis de Boufflers . His mother, Marie Catherine de Beauveau Craon, was the mistress of Stanislas Leszczynski, and the boy was brought up at the court of Luneville . He spent six months in study for the priesthood at Saint Sulpice, Paris, and during his residence there he put in circulation a story which became extremely popular, Aline, reine de Golconde . Boufflers did not, however, take the vows, as his ambitions were military . He entered the order of the Knights of Malta, so that he might be able to follow the career of arms without sacrificing the revenues of a benefice he had received in Lorraine from King Stanislas . After serving in various campaigns he reached the grade of marechal de camp in 1784, and in the next year was sent to West Africa as governor of Senegal . He proved an excellent administrator, and did what he could to mitigate the horrors of the slave trade; and he interested himself in opening up the material resources of the colony, so that his departure in 1787 was regarded as a real calamity by both colonists and negroes . The Memoires secrets of Bachaumont give the current opinion that Boufflers was sent to Senegal because he was in disgrace at court; but the real reason appears to have been a desire to pay his debts before his marriage with Mme de Sabran, which took place soon after his return to France . Boufflers was admitted to the Academy in 1788, and subsequently became a member of the states-general . During the Revolution he found an asylum with Prince Henry of Prussia at Rheinsberg . At the Restoration he was made joint-librarian of the Bibliotheque Mazarine .

His wit and his skill in

light verse had won him a great reputation, and he was one of the idols of the Parisian salons . His paradoxical character was described in an epigram attributed to Antoine de Rivarol, " abbe libertin, militaire philosophe, diplomate chansonnier, emigre patriote, republicain courtisan." He died in Paris on the 18th of January 1815 . His Uiuvres completes were published under his own supervision in 1803 . A selection of his stories in prose and verse was edited by Eugene Asse in 1878; his Poesies by 0 . Uzanne in 1886; and the Correspondance inedite de la comtesse de Sabran et du chevalier de Boufflers (1778-1788), by E. de Magnieu and Henri Prat in 1875 .