(LOUIS GABRIEL, COUNT DU), was born of an old family in Normandy, on the 2d of March 1732. At an early age, he entered into the Order of Malta; and, by a fortunate accident, he became acquainted with the Chevalier Folard, author of the Commentaries on Polybius, who received him into his house, and superintended his education. Folard had a nephew, who was Minister for France at different German Courts, and under whom Buat studied History and Diplomacy. He was successively Minister for France at Ratisbon and Dresden; but afterwards, becoming disgusted with this career, he retired from public life, in the year 1776. He died at Nançay, in Berry, on the 18th of September 1787.

Buat was a man of some talents, and considerable literary attainments, but possessing little knowledge of the world; which circumstance seems to have, in a great measure, disqualified him for public employment. He appears to have written with great facility; but his style is very unequal. His works are: 1. Tableau du Gouvernement actuel de l'Empire d'Allemagne, translated from the German of Schmauss, with notes historical and critical. Paris, 1755, 12mo. 2. Les Origines, ou l'Ancien Gouvernement de la France, de l'Italie, et de l'Allemagne, published at the Hague, 1757, 4 vols. 12mo. 3. Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l'Europe, Paris, 1772, 12 vols. 12mo. This is the largest, and perhaps the best work of Buat. 4. Les Éléments de la Politique, ou Recherches sur la vrais Principes de l'Economie Sociale, 1773, 6 vols. 8vo. 5. Les Maximes du Gouvernement Monarchique, pour servir de suite aux Élémens, 4 vols. 8vo. There is also ascribed to Buat a work entitled Remarques d'un Français, ou Examen impartial du livre de M. Necker sur les Finances, Geneva, 1785, 8vo. In his youth he had composed a tragedy, entitled Charlemagne, ou le Triomphe des Lois, published at Vienna, 1764, 8vo. He likewise contributed several articles to the journals of his time, on different points of history, literature, and political economy; in particular, some excellent observations on the character of Xenophon, &c., inserted in the fourth volume of the Variétés Littéraires. See Biographie Universelle.

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE is divided from Berkshire by the river Thames, during a course of about 28 miles, from about a mile to the north of Henley Bridge to the conflux of the farthest stream of the Colne: for a course of about 14 miles, the Colne is the eastern boundary between this county and Middlesex. The Thame, in its course from the town of that name, is, for a very few miles, the boundary between Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. The Ouse first becomes a boundary between this county and Northamptonshire, near Brackley; and for a few miles beyond Westbury, it divides it from Oxfordshire; after it passes Thornton, it again becomes, for a few miles, the boundary between Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire; and just before it quits the county, it forms the boundary between it and Bedfordshire. The Ousel is the boundary between these two counties, from Eaton Bray to Linchlade. The figure of this county approaches to that of a crescent, but its outline is rendered very irregular by projections and indentations. From the south-eastern to the north-western extremity, it measures nearly 50 miles; but its greatest breadth is scarcely 18: it is about 138 miles in circumference. According to the Report to the Board of Agriculture, it contains 518,400 acres; but, according to the returns to Parliament, of the poor's rates, only 478,720; and Dr Beeke, in his Observations on the Income-Tax, calculates the number of acres at 461,729. The parishes, according to the Parliamentary returns respecting the poor's rates, amount to 223, and not 185, as stated in the Encyclopaedia. The fourteen Members for Parliament are returned,—two for the county; two for Buckingham; two for Aylesbury; two for Wycombe; two for Amersham; two for Wendover; and two for Marlow. There are seven deaneries in it. Though in the diocese of Lincoln, four parishes are in the peculiar jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and four others are in the diocese of London, and in the jurisdiction of the Archdeacon of St Albans. The great tithes of ninety-two parishes are in lay hands, and most of the remainder are held by lay leases. The Summer Assizes are held at Buckingham,—the Lent Assizes at Aylesbury. The Quarter-Sessions are always held at Aylesbury. This county contains many magnificent seats; among which the most celebrated are Stowe, the seat of the Marquis of Buckingham,—Bulstrode, formerly belonging to the Rutland family, but lately purchased by the Duke of Somerset,—Dropmore, the seat of Lord Grenville,—Taploe House, the seat of the Marquis of Thomond,—Wycombe Abbey, of Lord Carrington.

The southern part of Buckinghamshire, beyond Soil. the Thames, is principally occupied by the Chiltern Hills. The soil of these is chalk, intermixed with flints. They stretch across the country from Bedfordshire to Oxfordshire, forming a part of that great chain which extends from Norfolk to Dorsetshire. On the west side of the county, adjoining Oxfordshire, is a range of hills of calcareous stone. In that part of the county which borders on Bedfordshire, about Wavendon, Broughton, and the Brick-hills, the soil is a deep sand. The Vale of Aylesbury, of proverbial fertility, which lies under the Chiltern Hills, and occupies the middle of the county, is formed of a rich black loam, on a calcareous subsoil. In the northern parts of the county, the soil is chiefly clay; but, on the Bedfordshire border, the surface rises into gentle sand-hills. The whole of the Chiltern district is said formerly to have been a forest; the western part, occupied by the forest of Bernwood, was disforested in the reign of James I. At present, the chief woodlands lie to the south of the Chiltern Hills. On a tract of land, extending across the parish of Little Kimble into that of Great Kimble, there are about 100 acres of box-wood, apparently the natural growth of the soil. The black cherry abounds in the neighbourhood of Chesham. The prevailing timber in the southern part of the county is beech; one wood of which, in the parish of Wycombe, is said to contain 700 acres; nearly one-sixth part of the land between the road to Oxford and the Thames, is supposed to be covered with this wood. Whaddon Chace is the principal woodland in the northern part of the county, containing 2200 acres of coppices. The rivers of note are the Rivers Ouse and the Thames; the Ouse enters Buckinghamshire, on the west side, near Water Stratford, which it passes, and then flows in a devious course to Buckingham; thence winding to the north, through a rich tract of meadow land, it reaches Stoney Stratford, Newport Pagnell, and Olney; soon afterwards, turning suddenly to the east, it leaves the county near Brayfield. One of the most considerable streams of the Thames, rises near the borders of the county, in Hertfordshire, and flowing through the Vale of Aylesbury, from east to west, receives the waters of several smaller streams, and enters Oxfordshire, near the village of Ickford; its course through Buckinghamshire is about 30 miles. The grand junction canal enters this county near Woolverton, and, running eastward, goes within a mile of Newport Pagnell; thence flowing to the south, it passes Funny Stratford, Stoke-Hammond, Cinslade, and Ivinghoe, into Hertfordshire. From a branch of the canal at Old Stratford, a cut has been made to Buckingham; and another from Bulbourne to Wendover.

On the borders of Bedfordshire, are the celebrated fuller's-earth pits, one of which only is now occasionally worked. Mr Pennant thus describes the strata: "The beds over the marl are, first, several layers of reddish sand to the thickness of six yards; then succeeds a stratum of sandstone, of the same colour, beneath which, for seven or eight yards more, the sand is again continued to the fuller's-earth, the upper part of which being impure, or mixed with sand, is flung aside; the rest taken up for use. The earth lies in layers, under which is a bed of rough white freestone, and under that sand, beyond which the labourers have never penetrated."

A striated species of Nautilus is found in great abundance, and frequently of a very large size, in the yellow limestone near Dinton. The only very rare plant known to the botanists as indigenous to this county, is the Dentaria bulbifera, which grows abundantly in its south-east corner. The great snail, or Pomatia, Mr Penman was informed, is found in the woods near Gothurst; and he regards this as its most southern residence in England. We have seen it, however, near Ashted in Surrey; and the tradition there, as in Buckinghamshire, is, that it was introduced from abroad for medicinal purposes.

Formerly, the commons, common fields, and wastes in this county, bore a very large proportion to the whole of its area; but, at present, their whole extent is very inconsiderable, except in the vale of Aylesbury, where the common fields are still numerous. Between the 1st of Queen Anne and the year 1797, there were thirty-one inclosure-acts passed for this county, comprehending 38,457 acres; besides 22 acts, in which the number of acres was not specified; and during the first 40 years of his present Majesty's reign, there were 61 acts of inclosure passed. In other respects, however, the agriculture of this county has not advanced much, principally in consequence of the restrictions in the leases. It has long been remarkable for its produce of corn and cattle. "Buckinghamshire bread and beef," was an old proverb. As far back as the time of Camden, numerous flocks of sheep were fed in the vale of Aylesbury, which yielded great profit from their wool; and Fuller informs us, that, in his time (1660), the largest sheep in England were bred in this vale, and that it was not unusual to give L.10 or more for a ram. At present, this vale is principally employed in feeding oxen for the Smithfield market, and in furnishing immense quantities of butter to the London dealers. Eight pounds is the average weight of butter produced weekly from each cow in summer, and six the average in winter. In the northern parts of the county, great numbers of calves are bred, which are purchased at Aylesbury market by the farmers of the Chiltern district, and by them fattened for the markets of the metropolis. The skim and butter-milk of the dairies are employed in fattening vast numbers of swine. There is a very small proportion of arable land in the northern division of the county; and not much in any other part, except the Chiltern districts. Here the crops usually cultivated are wheat, barley, oats, beans, and sainfoin. In the neighbourhood of Aylesbury, they are famous for rearing ducks very early in the spring, and sometimes by Christmas; these are sent to London, and sold at a very high price. The ducks are prevented from laying, by artificial means, till October or November. A few weeks before they lay, they are fed highly; the eggs are hatched by hens, which are frequently exhausted to death, by sitting on three broods successively. As soon as the ducklings break the shell, they are nursed with particular care at the side of a fire.

The only manufactures of consequence in this county are those of bone-lace and paper. The former is principally carried on at Olney, Newport Pagnell, and Hanslope, a village about five miles north-west from Newport Pagnell. In this village, in the year 1801, 800 out of a population of 1275 were employed in this manufacture. The lace made here sells from sixpence to two guineas a yard. But, since lace has been made on the frame at Nottingham, Loughborough, and other places in that neighbourhood, the bone-lace manufacture of Buckinghamshire has been greatly on the decline. The manufacture of paper has been carried on in the neighbourhood of Wycombe for more than a century. On that part of the small river Wyke which passes through this parish, there are fifteen corn and paper-mills. At Amersham, besides the lace manufacture, there is a manufacture of sacking; and one for all kinds of white cotton goods. At Marlow are manufactures of paper and black silk lace, large works of copper, brass, and brass-wire, and mills for making thimbles, and for pressing rape and linseed oil. The principal markets in the county are those of Aylesbury, Buckingham, and Wycombe. Marlow fair is much celebrated for its show of horses.

The church of Stewkley is one of the most complete specimens of Saxon architecture now remaining; no part of it, externally or internally, having been altered or materially defaced; nor have any additions been made to it, except the porch on the south side, and the pinnacles of the tower. The date of 1106 is said to have been observed on a stone by some workmen who were repairing the roof or the Chancel. The Chancel of the church of Chetwode, supposed to have been founded in the year 1244, has lancet-shaped windows, with slender pillars, the capitals of several of which are highly enriched with foliage and figures of animals. Hillesden Church, which was rebuilt about the year 1493, affords a rich specimen of the later Gothic. Some of the most ancient and elegant specimens of stained glass in the kingdom, remain in the chancel of Chetwode Church: as there is little doubt that this glass was coeval with the erection of the church, in 1244, it may be considered as one of the earliest specimens of the kind produced in England. The cross built upon the side of a hill, near the hamlet of Whiteleaf, is supposed to have been erected in the reign of Edward the Elder, to commemorate a battle fought against the Danes; it is about 100 feet high, and 50 broad, tapering to 20.

In the year ending Easter 1803, the total money raised by poor's rates, and other parochial rates, was L. 105,878, 14s. 11d.; on the average of the three years 1783, 1784, and 1785, it was L. 48,242, 15s. 3d.; and in the year 1776, it amounted to L. 37,052, 18s. 1d. In the account of the poor's rates for the year ending 25th March 1815, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 26th February 1816, there are no returns from this county.

In the year 1377, the number of persons in Buckinghamshire, charged to a poll-tax, from which the clergy, children, and paupers were exempted, was 24,672. In the year 1700, the population amounted to 80,500. In the year 1801, by the returns under the act of Parliament, there were 20,443 inhabited houses, and 543 uninhabited. The total number of inhabitants was 107,444, of whom 52,094 were males, and 55,350 females. Of this total number, 25,083 were employed in agriculture, and 20,138 in trade, manufactures, or handicrafts. In the returns of the population act in 1811, the following results are given:

<table> <tr> <th>Inhabited houses</th> <td>21,929</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Families inhabiting them</th> <td>25,201</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Houses building</th> <td>119</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Uninhabited houses</th> <td>457</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Families employed in agriculture</th> <td>13,933</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Ditto in trade, &c.</th> <td>8,424</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Ditto not comprehended in preceding classes</th> <td>2,844</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Males</th> <td>56,208</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Females</th> <td>61,442</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Total population</th> <td>117,650</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Ditto in 1801</th> <td>107,444</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Increase</th> <td>10,206</td> </tr> </table>

See Beauties of England and Wales, Vol. I.—General View of the Agriculture of Buckingham by Priest.—Lysol's Magna Britannia, Vol. I.—Pemberton's Tour from Chester to London.