leaning towards it. When the seals were at last restored to him, he completely withdrew from all affairs of state, and devoted himself entirely to his duties as chancellor, and to the introduction of those reforms which had long occupied his inquiries and meditations.
Besides some important enactments regarding Donations, Testaments, and Successions, he introduced various regulations for improving the forms of procedure, for ascertaining the limits of Jurisdictions, and for effecting a greater uniformity in the execution of the laws throughout the several provinces. These reforms constitute an epoch in the history of the jurisprudence of France, and have associated his name with those illustrious benefactors of her Civil Code, L'Hôpital and Lamoginon.
In 1750, when upwards of eighty-two years of age, he besought the king to accept his resignation; and he was accordingly permitted to retire, the king continuing to him the honours of his office as a special mark of his approbation. He died in the following year, and was interred, according to his own request, in the common burial-place of the village of Antoile, where the remains of his wife, who died there in 1735, had been deposited. The name of this lady, whom he married in 1694, and by whom he had several children, was Anne Lefèvre d'Ormesson.
This great man has not, in all respects, been equally praised by those who have attempted to transmit his character to posterity. Saint-Simon and others reproach him with a degree of tardiness and indecision, which sometimes greatly obstructed the course of justice. His own answer to this charge has been recorded by Duclos, and is worthy of notice: "When I recollect," said he, "that a decision of the chancellor makes a law, I think myself warranted in taking a long time for consideration." In summing up his character, all must agree with Labarre, that he was "a man who did honour to France, to the magistracy, and to letters, by his virtues, his talents, his profound and various learning, and his enlightened views in the science of jurisprudence."—Cours de Littérature, tom. xiv. c. i.
His published writings form a collection of thirteen volumes quarto, of which the first was published at Paris in 1759, and the last in 1789. The far greater part of these volumes relates to matters connected with his professional occupations and studies; but they also contain a variety of pieces upon other subjects. Besides the already mentioned discourses, an elaborate treatise on money, and some theological pieces, there is a life of his father,—interesting from the view which it affords of his own early education under that excellent person; and Metaphysical Meditations, written in vindication of the grand truth, that independently of all revelation, and all positive law, there is that in the constitution of the human mind which renders man a law to himself.—See Histoire des Hommes Illustres de Regnes de Louis XIV. et de Louis XV. par le Duc de Saint-Simon; Mémoires Secrètes, par Duclos; Les Loisirs d'un Ministre d'Etat, par D'Argenson; Éloge de D'Aguessaun, par Thomas.
AGUILAR de la Frontera, a very fertile district of the province of Cordova in Spain, with a population of 18,844, chiefly engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding, and the manufacture of oil and pottery.
Its chief town, of the same name, stands near the river Cabra, seven leagues S.S.E. of Cordova. The houses are well built, and distinguished by their cleanliness and regularity, both external and internal. The principal buildings are the parish church, the chapter-house, the prison, and the markets. There are two convents, two public schools, a charity-hospital, and a house of refuge. Near the church are the ruins of a once magnificent castle. The principal products are wine and oil. Pop. 11,836.