(Honore Gabriel, Comte de), well known both by his writings, and the active part which he took in bringing about the French revolution, was born in 1749 of a noble family. Throughout life, he displayed a spirit averse from every restraint, and was one of those unhappy geniuses in whom the most brilliant talents serve only as a scourge to themselves and all around them. It is told by his democratical panegyrics, as a wonderful proof of family tyranny under the old government, that not less than 67 lettres de cachet had been obtained by Mirabeau the father against this son and others of his relatives. This story, if true, proves, with at least equal force, what many anecdotes confirm, that, for his share of them, the son was not less indebted to his own ungovernable disposition than to the severity of his parent. He was indeed a monster of wickedness. Debauchery, gaming, impinity, and every kind of sensuality, were not enough for him. He was destitute of decency in his vices; and to supply his expenses, scrupled not to perform tricks which would disgrace a thief catcher. His father and mother disagreeing, commenced a process of separation; when Mirabeau, just liberated from prison for a great misdemeanor, was in want of money. He went to his father, sided with him against his mother, on whom he poured a torrent of invectives; and, for 100 guineas, wrote his father's memorial for the court. He then went to his mother; and by a similar conduct got the same fum from her; and both memorials were presented. That the father of such a man should frequently get him shut up in prison, can excite no surprise; for confinement only could withhold him from the perpetration of crimes.

The talents of Mirabeau led him frequently to employ his pen; and his publications form the chief epochas of his life. His first publication was, 1. Effai sur le Defpositif, "An Essay on Depositif," in 8vo. Next, in one of his confinements, he wrote, 2. a work in 2 vols 8vo, On Lettres de Cachet. 3. Conférences sur l'Ordre de Cincinnati, 8vo. A remonstrance against the order of Cincinnati, proposed at one time to be established in America. The public opinion in America favoured this remonstrance, and it proved effectual. 4. His next work was in favour of the Dutch, when Joseph II. demanded the opening of the Scheldt, in behalf of the Brabanders. It is entitled, Doutes sur la Liberte de P.Espagne, 8vo. 5. Lettre à l'Empereur Joseph II. sur son Règlement concernant l'Emigration; a pamphlet of forty pages, in 8vo. 6. De la Cause d'Espagne; a volume in 8vo, written against that establishment. 7. De la Banque d'Espanne, 8vo; a remonstrance against establishing a French bank in Spain. A controversy Soon after the publication of these works, he was sent in a public character to the court of Berlin; where he conducted the king's affairs just as he had formerly done those of his father and mother, fully ready to sacrifice all parties, and to sell himself to the highest bidder. With such a disposition, he could not long avoid the notice of the Prussian illuminists; and Nicolai Bietter, Gedike, and Leuchtenberg, soon became his constant companions. At Brunswick he met with Mauillon, the worthy disciple of Philo Knigge, and at that time a professor in the Caroline college. This was the man who initiated the profligate Marquis in the last mysteries of illuminism.

Mirabeau was still at Berlin when Frederick II. died. That monarch, as is well known, was a naturalist, who, holding this life for his all, encouraged the propagation of infidelity in his dominions, from which resulted the very worst consequences to the peace of society. Of this truth his successor Frederick William was duly sensible; and determined to support the church establishment in the most peremptory manner, consistent with the principles of religious toleration. He published, therefore, soon after his accession, an edict on religion, which is a model worthy of imitation in every country; but it was attacked with the greatest virulence in numberless publications. It was called an unjustifiable tyranny over the consciences of men; the dogmas supported by it were termed absurd superstitions; the king's private character and his religious opinions were ridiculed and scandalously abused. The most daring of these attacks was a collection of anonymous letters on the constitution of the Prussian states, universally believed to be the composition of Mirabeau, who certainly wrote a French translation, with a preface and notes more impudent than the work itself. The monarch is declared to be a tyrant; the people of the Prussian dominions are addressed as a parcel of tame wretches, crouching under oppression; and the inhabitants of Silesia, represented as still in a worse condition, are repeatedly called upon to rouse themselves, and assert their rights.

About this time he published, 9. An Essai sur le Système des Illuminés; one of the strangest and most impudent books that ever appeared. In it he describes a sect existing in Germany, called the Illuminati; and says, that they are the most absurd and gross fanatics imaginable, waging war with every appearance of reason, and maintaining the most ridiculous superstitions. He gives some account of these, and of their rituals and ceremonies, as if he had seen them all; yet no such society as he describes ever existed; and Mirabeau employed his powers of deception, merely to screen from observation the real Illuminati, by holding out to the rulers of states this ignis fatuus of his own brain. For a while the effray certainly contributed to blind the eyes of the German princes; and Nicolai, with others of the junta, adopting the whim, called Mirabeau's fanatics Obfurationists, and joined with him in placing on the list of Obfurationists several persons whom they wished to make ridiculous.

Long before his initiation in the mysteries of illuminism, Mirabeau had been acquainted with all the revolutionary powers of the masonic lodges; nor did he, Mirabeau, when initiated, undervalue those which flowed, or might flow, from Weishaupt's inventive genius. On his return to France, he began to introduce the new mysteries among some of his masonic brethren. His first associate was the Abbé Talleyrand de Perigord, who had already begun to set the part of Judas in the first order of the church. But to have only introduced the mysteries was not sufficient for the Marquis; he would have teachers come from Germany, who were better versed than he was in the illuminizing arts. Well acquainted with the reasons that had induced the chiefs of the order to defer the conversion of France, he found means to convince them, that the time was now come for the accomplishment of their views; and at his request a deputation was sent by Spartacus to illuminate that great kingdom. See Illuminati, p. 40, Suppl.

When the assembly of Notables was convened at Paris, Mirabeau foretold that it would soon be followed by a meeting of the States; and at that period he published a volume against the stockjobbing, then carried to a great height, intitled, 10. Démonstration de l'Opportunité au Roi, et à l'Assemblée des Notables, 8vo. A lettre de cachet was issued against him in consequence of this publication; but he eluded pursuit, and published a pamphlet as a sequel to the book. His next work was against M. Necker, 11. Lettres à M. de Crottelle, sur l'Administration de M. Necker, a pamphlet in 8vo. 12. A volume, in 8vo, against the Stadtholdership: Aux Bataves, sur le Stadthouderat. 13. Observations sur la maison de force appelée Bicêtre, an 8vo pamphlet. 14. Another tract, intitled, Conférence à un jeune Prince qui veut la nécessité de refuser son éducation. 15. He now proceeded to a larger and more arduous work than any he had yet published, on the Prussian monarchy under Frederick the Great: De la Monarchie Prussienne sous Frédéric le Grand, 4 vols., 4to, or eight in 8vo. In this work, he undertakes to define precisely how a monarchy should be constituted. When the orders were issued for convening the States-general, Mirabeau returned into Provence; and at the same time published, 16. Histoire Secrète de la Cour de Berlin, two volumes of letters on the Secret History of the Court of Berlin. This work was condemned by the parliament of Paris, for the unsevered manner in which it delivered the characters of many foreign princes. As the elections proceeded, he offered himself a candidate in his own order at Aix; but he was so abhorred by the noblesse, that they not only rejected him, but even drove him from their presence. This affront settled his measures, and he determined on their ruin. He went to the commons, disclaimed his being a gentleman, set up a little shop in the market-place of Aix, where he sold trifles; and now, fully resolved what line he should pursue, he courted the commons, by joining in all their excesses against the noblesse, and was at last returned a member of the assembly.

In consequence of this, he went to Paris; where the part he took was active, and such as tended, in general, to accelerate all the violences of the revolution. He now published, periodically, 17. his Lettres à ses Constituants, Letters to his Constituents, which form, when collected, 5 vols., 8vo. It is supposed, that the fatal measure of the junction of the three orders into one na-

tional assembly, was greatly promoted by these letters. The public events of these times, and the part taken in them by Mirabeau, are the subject of general history. He lived to see the constitution of 1789 established, but not to see its consequences—the destruction of the monarchy, the death of the king, and the ruin of all property! He was accused, as well as the duke of Orleans, of hiring the mob which attacked Versailles on the 5th and 6th of October 1789; but with him was also acquitted by the tribunal of the Châtelet. The dominion of his eloquence in the National Assembly had long been absolute, and, on the 29th of January 1791, he was elected president. At the latter end of March, in the same year, he was seized by a fever, and died on the 2d of April.

The talents of Mirabeau will not be doubted, though they were certainly rather brilliant than profound. To be noticed, and to lead, were the sole objects of his ambition; and for the attainment of them, he took the side of the discontented, as the best field for his matchless eloquence. Yet there was no man more devoted to the principles of a court than this Marquis, provided he could have a share in the administration; and a share he would have obtained, if any thing moderate would have satisfied him: But he thought nothing worthy of him but a place of active trust, and a high department; stations which all knew him not qualified to fill. Wanting knowledge of great things, he was learned only in the bustling detail of intrigue, and would, at any time, have sacrificed his dearest friend, and the interests of his country, for an opportunity of exercising his brilliant eloquence, and indulging his propensity to satire and lampoon. But the greatest obstacle to his advancement under the old government was the object worthlessness of his character. Drinking was the only vice in which he did not indulge; and from this he was restrained by his exhausted constitution. To his brother, the Vifcount, who was frequently intoxicated, the Marquis one day said, "How can you, brother, so expose yourself?" "What (replied the Vifcount!) how infatinate are you? Nature has given you every vice; and having left me only this one, you grudge it me!"