LATOUR D'AUVERGNE LATUDE 203 1848. He has published several volumes of poems and miscellaneous writings, and has translated into French Le mie prigioni of Silvio Pellico, the memoirs of Alfieri, and the dramatic and epic poetry of Manzoni. Among his other works are: Seville et V Andalousie (2 vols., Paris, 1855) ; Tolede et Us lords du Tage (I860) ; L'Espagne religieuse et litter aire (1863) ; Etudes litteraires sur VEspagne con- temporaine (1864); and Espagne, traditions, mceurs et litterature (1873). Two volumes of his translation of Oalderon appeared in 1873. LATOUE D'AUVERGIVE, Theophile Malo Corret de, a French soldier, horn at Carhaix, Brittany, Nov. 23, 1743, fell at Oberhausen, Bavaria, June 27, 1800. He entered the French army in 1767, and subsequently the Spanish, and in 1782 served at the siege of Port Mahon. In the service of the French republic he dis- tinguished himself at Chambery and in the Pyrenees. He refused promotion, saying that he was only fit to command a company of grenadiers. All the grenadier companies being however united in one, he found himself, while still retaining the simple title of captain, at the head of 8,000 men, who as a part of the van- guard of the army soon became the terror of the enemy under the name of "the infernal column." After the peace of Basel (1795) he retired from service, and devoted himself to literary work. Making a sea voyage for his health, he was taken prisoner by an English privateer, but was exchanged in 1797. He re- entered the army as substitute for the son of a friend, fought under Masse*na in Switzerland, rejoined his own company in Germany in 1800, and fell by the lance of a uhlan, exclaiming that it was in this manner he wished to die. Napoleon, by order of the directory, at one time sent him a sword with an inscription de- claring him to be the first grenadier of France, which he refused to accept, saying: "Among us soldiers there is neither first nor last." A monument was erected on the spot where he fell, and his heart, embalmed and kept in a silver vase, was carried by his company. His name continued till 1814 to be called at roll, when the oldest sergeant answered : " Died on the field of honor." He was the author of a work entitled Nouvelles recherches sur la langue, Vorigine et les antiquites des Bretons (Bayonne, 1792 ; reprinted with the title Ori- gines gauloises, Hamburg, 1802). LATREILLE, Pierre Andre, a French naturalist, born in Brives, Nov. 29, 1762, died in Paris, Feb. 6, 1833. He belonged to a poor though distinguished family, and owed his education to friends, one of whom, a merchant, by lend- ing him works on natural history, awoke in him a love for that study. In 1778 the baron d'Espagnac, governor of the Hotel des Inva- lides, placed him in the college of Cardinal Lemome. He studied theology, and was or- dained priest in 1786, after which he retired to Brives, where he passed his leisure in the study of entomology. In 1788 he returned to Paris, where he became intimate with Fabricius, Olivier, and Bosc, and brought to the notice of Lamarck several rare and curious plants. He published at this time a treatise on ento- mology, and contributed to the Encyclopedie methodique. The revolution drove him from Paris. He was arrested and sentenced to trans- portation, but the naturalists Bory de Saint- Vincent and Dargelas obtained his freedom. He was again arrested in 1797 as an emigre, but was once more saved by influential friends. In 1798 he was placed in charge of the ento- mological department of the museum of natural history. In 1814 he was elected a member of the academy of sciences. He was appointed assistant professor to Lamarck, and succeeded him in 1829. His writings are very volumi- nous. Those best known are: Eistoire natu- relle des crustaces et des insectes (14 vols., 1802- '5) ; Eistoire naturelle des fourmis (1802) ; Genera Crustaceorum et Insectorum (4 vols., 1806-'9) ; and Cours ffentomologie (1831). He also wrote parts of the "Natural History" of Buffon, and of the entomological part of the Eegne animal of Cuvier. LATUDE, Henri Masers de, a French prisoner of state, born near Montagnac, March 23, 1725, died in Paris, Jan. 1, 1805. He entered the army while young, but in 1748 went to Paris to study mathematics. Being ambitious of ma- king himself known at court, he obtained an interview with Mme. de Pompadour, and in- formed her that he had seen a box placed for her in the post, probably for no good purpose. The box came, filled with a harmless powder; and ascertaining that Latude himself had sent it, the marchioness had him cast into the Bas- tile, May 1, 1749, whence he was transferred to the prison of Vincennes. On June 25, 1750, he escaped, but six days afterward voluntarily gave himself up to the king, who sent him again to the Bastile. The marchioness, piqued that he had not applied to her for mercy, pro- cured his confinement for 18 months in a dun- geon, after which he was placed in an ordinary room of the prison. From this place he es- caped, Feb. 25, 1756, by means of a long rope ladder prepared with wonderful perseverance from a quantity of linen, and fled to Amsterdam, where he was again arrested on June 1, and reconducted to the Bastile. He was now con- fined in a dungeon, chained hand and foot, and obliged to sleep upon straw without any cover- ing. While in this condition he submitted to the government some projects of public utility, one of which was adopted, but procured him no better treatment; but in 1762, his dungeon becoming untenantable, he was removed to an upper room. In 1764 Mme. de Pompadour died, and Latude, having learned the fact, pe- titioned Sartine, lieutenant general of police, for his liberty. Sartine demanded the name of the person who had given him the informa- tion, and as Latude refused to betray the se- cret he was doubly ironed and kept on bread and water. Having been removed to Vin-
