Flahaut De La Billarderie. I. Anguste Charles Joseph, count, a French general and diplomatist, born in Paris, April 21, 1785, died there, Sept. 2, 1870. His father succeeded Buffon as director of the jardin des plantes, and was executed by the revolutionists. The property of his widow was confiscated. In 1800 Flahaut joined the army in Italy, became successively aide-de-camp of Murat, Berthier, and Napoleon, fought in Portugal, Russia, and Germany, and gained particular distinction at the battle of Leipsic, on which occasion he was made general of division, with the title of count. During the hundred days he was created a peer, and took part in the battle of Waterloo. After the revolution of 1830 he was reinstated in his rank and title. In 1831 he was for a short time ambassador in Berlin, and officiated in the same capacity in Vienna from 1841 to 1848. On the coup d'etat of Dec. 2, 1851, he became a member of the consultative commission, in 1853 senator, in 1854 a member of the commission to collect the correspondence of Napoleon I., and in 1860 ambassador to London, He married on July 28, 1817, Margaret Mercer Elphinstone, who succeeded to the peerages of the United Kingdom and Ireland as Baroness Keith in 1823, and to the Scottish barony of Nairn in 1838. The saloon of Mme. do Flahaut was a favorite resort of eminent politicians.

The count was one of the intimate friends of Louis Napoleon's mother, Queen Hortense, who is said to have composed for him her popular air Partant pour la Syrie; and he was believed to have been the father of M. de Moray..

II. Adele Filleul, a French authoress, mother of the preceding, born in the chateau of Longpre in Normandy, May 14, 1761, died in Paris, April 10, 1836. Her second husband was the marquis Jose Maria de Souza Botelho (born in Oporto, March 9, 1758, died in Paris, June 1, 1825), who was for some time Portuguese ambassador in Paris, and who prepared a valuable edition of Camo-ens's "Lusiad." Her first and best work, Adele de Senanges, on Lettres de Lord Sydenham, appeared in London in 1794, with a preface by the marquis de Montesquiou. It was followed in 1799 by Emilie et Alplionse, and by a series of other works, a complete edition of which appeared in Paris in 1821-2 (6 vols. 8vo and 12 vols. 12mo). A charming representation of the best French society in the 18th century is found in her writings.