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 Polard, author of the *Commentaries on Polybius*, who received him into his house and superintended his education. Polard 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 Nancy, 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 Babastis largest and perhaps the best work of Buat. 4. Les Éléments de la Politique, ou Recherches sur les vrais Principes de l'Économie Sociale, 1773, 6 vols. Svo. 5. Les Maximes du Gouvernement Monarchique, pour servir de suite aux Éléments, 4 vols. Svo. 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, Svo. In his youth he had composed a tragedy, entitled Charlemagne, ou le Triomphe des Lois, published at Vienna, 1764, Svo. 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, inserted in the fourth volume of the Variétés Littéraires. (See Biographie Universelle.)