BOUFFLERS, STANISLAS JEAN, CHEVALIER DE (1738-1815), French statesman and man of letters, was born near Nancy on May 31, 1738. He was the son of Louis Francois, marquis de Boufflers. His mother, Marie Catherine de Beauveau Craon, was the mistress of Stanislas Leszczynski, and the boy was brought up at the court of Luneville. He spent six months at Saint Sulpice, Paris, and there wrote his popular story, Aline, reine de Golconde (1761). Boufflers entered the order of the Knights of Malta, so that he might be able to follow the career of arms without sacrificing the revenues of a benefice he had re ceived in Lorraine from king Stanislas. In 1785 he was sent to West Africa as governor of Senegal. He proved an excellent ad ministrator, and did what he could to mitigate the horrors of the slave trade ; and his departure in 1787 was regarded as a real calamity by both colonists and negroes. The Memoires secrets of Bachaumont give the current opinion that Boufflers was sent to Senegal because he was in disgrace at court ; but the real reason appears to have been a desire to pay his debts before his marriage with Mme. de Sabran. Boufflers was admitted to the Acad emy in 1788, and was a member of the states-general. During the Revolution he found an asylum with Prince Henry of Prussia at Rheinsberg. At the Restoration he was made joint-librarian of the Bibliotheque Mazarine. His wit and his skill in light verse had won him a great reputation and he was one of the idols of the Parisian salons. His paradoxical character was described in an epigram attributed to Antoine de Rivarol, "abbe libertin, militaire pliilosophe, diplomate chansonnier, émigré patriote, republicain courtisan." He died in Paris on Jan. 18, 1815.
His Oeuvres completes were published under his own supervision in 1803. A selection of his stories in prose and verse was edited by Eugene Asse in 1878 ; his Oeuvres choisies by 0. Uzanne in 1886; and the Correspondance inedite de la conztesse de Sabran et du chevalier de Boufflers (1778-88), by E. de Magnieu and Henri Prat 1875.