The circumstances of his having been left an orphan at the age of four years, and having received a very imperfect education, may, perhaps, account for some of his eccentricities. He embraced the military life; but when he had served for five years, an escape from danger, which he considered as miraculous, induced him to make a vow to withdraw from all worldly pursuits. The rules of the Carthusian monks not being strict enough to satisfy him, he entered at La Trappe, where he so much injured his health by supererogatory austerities that the Abbé de Rancé, the superior of the convent, was obliged to dismiss him. Bucquoy then abruptly resumed his warlike attire; but soon after, with equal abruptness, again cast it off, to dress himself in rags, and become a hermit. Flying from the temptations of Paris, he next settled at Rouen, where, under the name of La Mort, he for two years kept a school, to give gratuitous instruction to the poor. The Jesuits of that city admired his talents and his humble demeanour, and fruitlessly endeavoured to enrol him in their fraternity. Having been accidentally recognised by a person who had been a brother officer, he could no longer preserve his incognito, and he therefore quitted Rouen, and bent his way to Paris. There he formed the plan of founding a new monastic order, destined to prove to unbelievers the truth of the Christian religion. It appears to have been about this time that he assumed the garb and title of an abbé. But while he was thus planning the demolition of incredulity, he so bewildered himself in his theological speculations and reasonings, that he became a sceptic. One thing which contributed much to produce the change in him was, that, notwithstanding his self-inflicted severities, he had failed to obtain the power of working miracles. This alone would suffice to prove that his intellects were disordered. At this period, his relatives, who had long believed him dead, were made acquainted with his being in existence, and they procured for him a benefice. Bucquoy, however, had got rid of his religious schemes, and had relapsed into a taste for the profession of a soldier. His wish was now to raise a regiment. But while he was indulging this new freak, he attracted the attention of the government by his invectives against despotism and the abuse of power. He was mistaken for the Abbé de la Bourlie, who afterwards became notorious in England under the name of Guiscard, and was arrested. When the mistake was discovered, he would have been set free, had not his indiscreet language and conduct caused him to be detained. He was committed to Fort-l’Evêque, from whence, however, he contrived to escape. After having been at large for a considerable time, he was caught and shut up in the Bastile, with a strict charge to the keepers, that he should be closely watched, as being an enterprising and dangerous person. The officers of that prison were seldom slack in