Jacques Henri Bernardin de St, the author of Paul and Virginia, was born at Havre in 1737, of a family which claimed kindred with Eustache de St Pierre of Calais. He seems to have received little regular education, to have shown as a child a passion for animals, and a remarkable power of living in a visionary yet methodical world of his own. The event of his early life was the reading of Robinson Crusoe, which awakened in him the fixed idea of founding a colony where nature was to be all beauty and man was to be all virtue. After making some progress in mathematics, St Pierre was admitted as a pupil at the school of the Ponts et Chaussées, and afterwards entered the corps of engineers. He served one campaign in Hesse in 1760, but having quarrelled with his superior officers, he left France, and offered his services to Catherine of Russia, and subsequently to the King of Poland. But his vain and irascible temper led him to regard every post as unworthy of him; and, returning to France in 1766, he succeeded, by dint of importunity, in receiving the appointment of chief engineer of the Isle of France. Disappointed also with this undertaking, St Pierre returned to France in disgust in 1771, and began to form some valuable literary friendships. He was on terms of intimacy with Condorcet, Rousseau, and D'Alembert, and resolved to enrol himself among this literary fraternity, and make letters his vocation. He accordingly set to work; and in 1784 published the first portion of the Études de la Nature, which instantly brought him both fame and fortune. These Studies came recommended to that age by their true sensibility, their gentle and vague piety, their pensive melancholy, and their keen sympathy with solitude. Just four years had elapsed when St Pierre published his fourth volume of these Études containing the celebrated idyl of Paul et Virginie, on which his fame now chiefly rests. The remainder of his life was highly prosperous. He was made intendant of the Jardin-du-Roi, and was subsequently installed professor of morals in the École Normale. He died in 1814, leaving his Harmonies de la Nature ready for publication. St Pierre's second wife survived him, and afterwards married his idolizing biographer Aimé Martin, who collected and published Les Œuvres de J. H. Bernardin de St Pierre, mises en ordre, par L. Aimé Martin, 12 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1818-20.

PIERRE D'OLERON, a town of France, in the department of Charente-Inférieure, stands near the centre of the island of Oleron. It contains a distillery, vinegar factory, and tile-work. Excellent salt is obtained here; and some trade is carried on in wine. A tribunal of commerce is held in the town. Pop. 4769.

PIERRE-LES-CALAIS, a town of France, in the department of Pas de Calais, forms one of the suburbs of Calais. It has manufactures of cotton, lace, leather, buttons, hats, Pierre, St salt, and beet-root sugar. The railway to Lille traverses the town. Pop. 11,524.

St, a town in the West Indies, on the N.W. coast of Martinique; N. Lat. 14. 44°, W. Long. 61. 18. It is the largest town not only in the island, but in the whole of the French possessions in the West Indies, and it is said to be the finest of all the towns in the West Indies. Built on a narrow strip of level ground, along the shore of a semicircular bay, it consists of three broad streets parallel to the shore, crossed by several others. The principal streets are traversed by streams of water, which produce a delightful coolness and freshness in the hot climate. The town is fortified, and contains many handsome churches and a botanic garden. The anchorage in front of the town is good, but very much exposed. A considerable trade is carried on. Pop. about 30,000.

St, a small island belonging to France, off the south coast of Newfoundland. Its area is about 8 square miles. It is occupied with rocky heights about 500 feet above the sea, and with ponds and marshes in the lower ground. Stunted pines and birches are almost the only vegetation; and the people live chiefly by fishing. A village of the same name, with a roadstead and fort, stands on the S.E. coast. Pop. about 1200.