He was the editor and reporter of the new financial laws. Le Brun was named President of the Directorate of Seine and Oise. In 1792, riots having occurred in his Department, he put them down by energetic measures. After August 10 he threw up all his employments and retired into private life; he was shortly afterwards arrested and imprisoned at Versailles, but, under the _surveillance_ of a gaoler, he was allowed to visit his friends and relatives. When Robespierre attained supreme power, le Brun’s captivity became severe; but for the events of the 9th Thermidor he would certainly have perished upon the scaffold. Le Brun re-entered public life in 1795. In December 1799, Bonaparte appointed him Third Consul, with control of the Finance Department, and, after the establishment of the Empire, Arch-Treasurer of France. Notwithstanding le Brun’s objection to hereditary titles, the Emperor insisted on creating him Duc de Plaisance. To le Brun France owes the establishment of the Cour des Comptes. In 1805 the Republic of Genoa was annexed to France. Napoleon despatched le Brun as Governor-General. He remained a year in Genoa, and showed both ability and moderation there. On his return to Paris he had the courage to remonstrate with the Emperor upon the proposed abolition of the “Tribunal,” and resigning his Arch-Treasurership, retired into private life. In 1810 Napoleon, who respected his honesty and valued his intellectual powers, commanded le Brun to undertake the Governorship of Holland, the throne of that country being vacant owing to the abdication of Louis Bonaparte. Le Brun was now seventy-one years of age, yet he undertook this arduous task with the vigour of a young man, and in fifteen months completely reorganised the little kingdom. He was called “the good Stadtholder” by the Dutch. In the disastrous Russian retreat the second son of le Brun perished, and after the battle of Leipzig the Cossacks invaded Holland. The Dutch, anxious to regain their independence, rose against the French. Their respect for the Viceroy was, however, so great that they conducted him to the frontier with an honourable escort and every possible courtesy. During the events of the first two months of 1814, le Brun assisted the Imperial Government to the best of his power, and vigorously opposed the departure from Paris of the Empress Marie Louise. He accepted, in the “Hundred Days,” the Grand Mastership of the University of Paris. After the Second Restoration his name was erased from the list of peers of France. It was restored in 1819, after which date, though eighty years of age, he made many important speeches in the House of Peers, and occupied himself with literary as well as political work until his death in 1824, aged eighty-five. He was not only a great statesman, but a distinguished author, and besides writing many important works, translated Tasso’s _Jerusalem Delivered_ and the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_ of Homer. LE CLERC, JEAN BAPTISTE.