LEWIS FRANCIS, DUKE OF, a peer and marshal of France, and a general of distinguished reputation, was the son of Francis count of Boufflers. He was born in the year 1644, and entering early into the army, was raised in 1669 to the rank of colonel of dragoons, and in the conquest of Lorraine, served under Marshal Crequi. In the war against Holland he served under the celebrated Turenne, and frequently distinguished himself for his skill and bravery; and when that general was killed, in 1675, he commanded the rear-guard during the retreat of the French army. After performing various military services in Germany, in Flanders, and on the frontiers of Spain, he gradually rose in rank as well as in reputation. In 1690, he was created general of the army of the Moselle. In the following year, he acted as lieutenant-general, under the king in person; and while he invested Mons was wounded in an attack on that place. He conducted the bombardment of Liège, although it was defended by a superior enemy, and he forced the allied generals to abandon Luxemburg. He was entrusted with the command of the covering army, against King William, at the siege of Namur; and for this and many other important services, he was raised in 1693 to the high rank of marshal of France. In 1694, he was appointed governor of French Flanders, and of the town of Lille. By a skilful manoeuvre he threw himself into Namur, in 1695, and held out for sixty-three days, against the combined armies of the allies under King William. Having agreed to a capitulation, he was arrested prisoner of war. war, because the French had not performed the stipulated terms on which the garrison had surrendered; and when he remonstrated that the garrison should have been retained rather than himself, he received a fine compliment, by being answered, that he was estimated at 10,000 men. In the conferences which were held with the earl of Portland, and which terminated in the peace of Rylwick, he had a principal share.

During the following war, when Lille was again threatened, in 1708, with a siege by the duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene, Boufflers was appointed to the command, and made a very obstinate resistance of four months. His magnanimity was not less remarkable than his military conduct; for when a partisan represented to him that it would not be difficult to kill Prince Eugene, he was told by the marshal, that he might expect a great reward for taking him prisoner, but the severest punishment if anything were attempted against his life. He was rewarded and honoured by the king for his defence of Lille, as if he had been victorious. When the affairs of France were threatened with the most urgent danger, though a senior officer to Villars, he made an offer to serve under that general, and was with him at the battle of Malplaquet. Here he again displayed his military skill, by conducting the retreat, so that he lost neither cannon nor prisoners. He died at Fontainbleau in the year 1711, at the age of 68, and left the character of a true patriot, as well as of a great commander. Madame de Maintenon, said of him, "that his heart was the last part that died." His conduct was uninfluenced by private interest, and superior to court intrigue. When he was ordered to take upon him the defence of Lille, and permitted to have the choice of his lieutenants, he waited not to arrange or regulate his private affairs, or even to take leave of his family, but flew to the place, and carried with him only two officers, one taken from the Bataille, and another who had been in disgrace; preferring merit obscured in the shades of retirement, to the gaudy flutterer in the sunshine of court favour.