One of the five Directors, and at the time of the dissolution of the Directorate their President. Unlike Barras and his co-directors, la Reveillière was an honest man and a sincere Republican. He refused to take the oath of allegiance to Napoleon as First Consul or Emperor, and retired into private life after the events of the 18th Brumaire (Nov. 1799). REGNIER, DUC DE MASSA, CLAUDE AMBROISE. Born, 1736; died, June 24, 1814. He was at the time of the Revolution one of the most distinguished lawyers in Nancy. He pronounced violently in favour of the new doctrines, and was elected by the _Tiers État_ of his native town as their representative at the States-General. He took a considerable part in the debates of the Assembly, and defended Nancy against the attacks of the Jacobins. When the Convention took extreme measures, Regnier disappeared from Paris until the events of the 9th Thermidor were concluded. In 1795 he joined the Council of the Ancients, and became first Secretary to and then President of the Council. He opposed the return of the exiled _émigrés_ and caused the transportation of many priests (February 1796). He was re-elected in 1799, but as he was persuaded, by this time, that the Directorate could neither serve the peace nor the aggrandisement of France, he took an active part in arranging the _coup d’état_ of the 18th Brumaire (Nov. 1799). It was in his house that the conspirators met the day before this event took place. When he was appointed a member of the _Conseil d’État_, he catalogued and investigated all details with regard to the National Domains. He was the principal author of that code of laws known as the _Code Napoleon_, still the law of France. In 1802 he became Minister of Justice and also Chief Judge of France; he held these offices until 1813. He was created Duc de Massa by the Emperor in 1805. In 1813, after resigning the portfolio of Minister of Justice, Regnier became President of the Corps Législatif. After the first abdication of Napoleon Regnier hoped to retain his position, but he was doomed to be disappointed, a misfortune which, together with the fall of the Emperor, to whom he was personally attached, probably hastened his death, which occurred two months later, at the age of seventy-eight. ROBESPIERRE, MAXIMILIEN MARIE ISIDORE DE. Born at Arras, May 6, 1756; died in Paris, July 1794. The public history of Robespierre is so well known that it is unnecessary to give it here. A short description of his early life, previous to becoming a Deputy to the States-General in 1789, may, however, be of interest, as but little is known.