Fanny Burney, albeit marriage with a French general had made her a French subject, cannot be passed over. Law de Lauriston, a collateral descendant of the famous financier, arranged, on his visit to London with the ratification of the treaty of Amiens, that his friend d'Arblay, after serving a year in St. Domingo, should retire from service, but an indiscreet letter to Bonaparte, signifying a resolution never to bear arms against his wife's country, resulted in his being cashiered. D'Arblay, however, resolved to stay a year in France in case Bonaparte's anger should cool down, and in April 1802 he sent for his wife and son to join him. When war broke out their return was impossible. Not till 1812, during the Emperor's absence in Russia, could a passport be procured for mother and child.
Sir Humphrey Davy, however, was not only awarded in 1809 the Institute prize of 60,000 francs for improvements in electricity, but was permitted to pass through France on his way to Italy, and several Englishmen were left unmolested. Sir Herbert Croft, who wrote the life of his friend Young for Dr. Johnson, and who was too late to succour two suicidal poets—Chatterton[1] in London, and Grainville, Bernardin St. Pierre's cousin, whose
- ↑ Croft sent Chatterton's sister £10 for the loan of the poet's MSS., but published them without her sanction. Southey held him up to odium for this breach of trust, and a handsome subscription was raised for the sister.
