of additional portraits, anecdotes, and letters of interest, but—happy is the biographer who escapes the charge of tedious prolixity! The author feels that although the material at his disposal has been greatly condensed, the thread of the narrative is maintained in its completeness, without the omission of any incident of importance in the life of the most singular and of one of the most extraordinary individuals of the last century. There can be no exaggeration in the assertion that the life of the Chevalier or Chevalière D’Eon de Beaumont is unique in the history of the world. At any rate, the author is prepared to confess his ignorance of any record of its equal. Cases of females having occupied the position of men, whether for a limited period or during their entire existence, are without number, striking instances of both, within the recollection of the present generation, being those of Captain (Marie Jeanne) Dubois, who served in Napoleon’s Russian campaign, and of a medical officer in the service of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen, who have passed away of late years. Upon the other hand, few men have disguised themselves as females, the most notable example of the kind, perhaps, being that afforded by the Comtesse des Barres, who for thirty years led a dissolute and discreditable life, but was perfectly well known to be the Abbé de Choisy. The biographer of this creature, Thoulier d’Olivet, says of him: ‘But what sort of a hero is he whose portrait I am to describe? A Court Abbé? ... what do I say? A Court Abbé! A coquette who had one thousand times greater taste for beauty spots and ribbons, one thousand times more the desire to please, than any professional coquette. It may be said that Nature made a mistake, and that it was her intention to create a female;’ then, quoting a lady’s estimate of the Abbé: ‘... male or female, ever carrying matters to extremes, whether absorbed in studies or in trifles. Deserving of esteem, because of undaunted courage, contemptible because of the coquetry of a young maiden, and in whichever character, at all times engaged in the pursuit of pleasure.’ The Chevalier D’Eon, whose ambiguity of sex was suggested in infancy and maintained until death, cannot be classed with either of the above. Female or male, D’Eon appeared as either in obedience to command, having done good service to King and Country, and we have the authority of John Britton, who was in the habit of meeting the Chevalière almost daily, during a period of three years, that she was respectable and respected, and of refined manners. The uncertainty of her sex occupied every mind. In branding the tale of Pope Joan as being _false_ and deserving the name, Gibbon shows himself to be at fault with regard to D’Eon. ‘... I would not pronounce it (the tale) incredible. Suppose a famous French chevalier of our own times to have been born in Italy, and educated in the Church instead of in the army; _her_ merit or fortune _might_ have