REFUGEE' (Fr. refugie), a name given to persons who have fled from religious or political persecution in their own country, and taken refuge in another. The term was first applied to those Protestants who found an asylum in Britain and elsewhere at two different periods, first during the Flemish persecutions under the duke of Alva in 1567, and afterward in 1685, when Louis XIV. of France revoked the edict of Nantes. Of the numerous French artisans who settled iu England on this last occasion, the most part Anglicized their names, as by substituting Young for "Le Jenne," Taylor for " Tellier." etc., so that their posterity can now hardly be recognized as of foreign origin. Accord ing to Lower (Patronymica Britannica) De Preux became Deprose, and " Richard De spair, a poor man," buried at East Grinstead, was, in the orthography of his forefathers, Despard. There were also refugee families of a higher class, some of whose descend ants and representatives came to occupy a place in the peerage. The Bouveries, earls of Radnor, are descended from a French refugee family. The refugee family of Bin quie.re was raised to the Irish peerage; and Charles Shaw Lefevre, lord Eversley, is the representative of a family of Irish refugees. The military employment offered in Ire land after 1688 maintained a considerable number of foreign Protestants. Gen. Frederic Armand de Sehomberg was raised by William III. to the peerage, becoming eventually duke of Schoenberg. A Huguenot officer of hardly less celebrity was Henry Massne marquis de Ravigny, created by William III. earl of Galway. Lord Ligonier was also
of a noble Huguenot family, and England has had at least one refugee bishop in Dr. Majendie, bishop of Chester, and afterward of Bangor. Among other refugees of note may be enumerated sir John Houblon, lord mayor of London in 1689, one branch cf whose family is now represented by lord Palmerston; Elias Boulierau or Boireau, whose descendant was created a baronet as sir Richard Borough of Baselden Park, Berk shire; as well as Martineaus, Bosanquets, and Papillons, whose descendants have attained more or less eminence in the country of their adoption. The first French revolution brought numerous political refugees to England, and Great Britain is noted throughout Europe for affording a ready asylum to refugees of all classes, both political and relig ious. Weiss's History of the French. Protestant Refugees, from the Revocation of the Flirt of Nantes to the Present Time, translated by Hardman (London, 1854); J. S. Burn's His tory of the French, Walloon, Batch, and other Foreign Protestant Refugees settled in Eng land from the Reign of Henry VIII. to the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
REFIrGIO, a co. in s. Texas, bordering on the gulf of Mexico; drained by the San Antonio and the Arkansas rivers, its n. and s. boundaries; 900 sq.m.; pop. '80, 1585 1412 of American birth, 336 colored. The county is almost entirely occupied as pasture land, and the number of cattle exported is very large. Co. seat, Refugio.