LUCIEN BONAPARTE, Prince of Canino, and brother of Napoleon, was born at Ajaccio in 1775, and received his edu cation in the college of Autun, the mili tary school at Brienne, and the seminary at Aix. In 1798 he was made a member of the Council of Five Hundred, and formed a party favorable to the views of his brother Napoleon. Shortly before the 18th Brumaire he was elected Presi dent of the Council of Five Hundred. During the ferment which followed Na poleon's entrance, Lucien left his seat, mounted his horse, and, riding through the ranks of the assembled troops, called upon them to rescue their general from assassins. Afterward appointed Min ister of the Interior. As Ambassador to Madrid (1800) he contrived to gain the confidence of King Charles IV. and his favorite, Godoy, and to undermine the British influence at the Court of Spain. Lucien was a Republican in opinion, and, therefore, opposed to the absolute rule of his brother; and his second marriage to the widow of a stockbroker did not im prove their relations. On condition that he would divorce his wife, the crowns of Italy and Spain were offered him; but he refused them, and preferred living in retirement at his estate of Canino, in the province of Viterbo, where he devoted his time to art and science. Here he en joyed the friendship of the Pope, who created him Prince of Canino and Mu signano; but, having denounced the arro gant and cruel policy of his brother to ward the Court of Rome, he was advised to leave the city. In 1810 he took ship for America, but fell into the hands of the English. After the defeat at Water loo Lucien Bonaparte alone seems to have preserved his presence of mind. He immediately advised his brother to dis solve the Chambers, and assume the place of absolute dictator. After the second ascent of the throne by Louis XVIII., Lucien lived in and near Rome, and died at Viterbo in 1840. He possessed con siderable talents and firmness of char acter.
His eldest son was CHARLES LUCIEN JULES LAURENT BONAPARTE, Prince of Canino and Musignano, born at Paris in 1803. He never exhibited any incli nation for political life. He acquired a considerable reputation as a naturalist, and especially as a writer on ornithology. He died in 1857. He was a member of the principal academies of Europe and the United States. His chief publica
tions are a continuation of Wilson's "Ornithology of America," and "Incono grafia della Fauna Italica." The sec ond son, PAUL MARIE BONAPARTE, born in 1808, took a part in the Greek War of Liberation, and died by the accidental discharge of a pistol in 1827. The third son, LOUIS LUCIEN BONAPARTE, born in 1813, at Thorngrove, Worcestershire, during his father's imprisonment in Eng land, early devoted himself with equal ardor to chemistry, mineralogy, and the study of languages, and became an au thority of the first rank in Basque, Cel tic, and comparative philology generally. His election for Corsica in 1848 was an nulled, but he was sent to the Constit uent Assembly for the Seine department next year, and was made Senator in 1852, with the title of Highness in ad dition to that of Prince, which he al ready possessed from his birth. Most of his contributions to linguistic science have been privately printed. Among these are a translation of St. Matthew's version of the parable of the sower into 72 languages and dialects of Europe (1857) ; a linguistic map of the seven Basque provinces, showing the delimi tation of the "Euscara," and its division into dialects, subdialects, and varieties (1863) ; a Basque version of the Bible in the Labourdin dialect (1865) ; a mas terly treatise on the Basque verb (1869) ; besides many papers of profound learn ing in the philological journals. A great work produced under his patronage from 1858 to 1860, was a version of the Song of Solomon in 22 different Eng lish dialects, besides four in Lowland Scotch, and one in Saxon. He long lived in England, where he was granted a Civil List pension in 1883. He died Nov. 3, 1891. The fourth son, PIERRE NAPO LEON BONAPARTE, born in 1815, passed through many changes of fortune in America, Italy, and Belgium, and re turned to France in 1848. In 1870 he shot a journalist, Victor Noir, a deed which created great excitement in Paris; and, being tried, was acquitted of the charge of murder, but condemned to pay $5,000 to Victor Noir's relatives. He died in 1881. The youngest son, AN TOINE BONAPARTE, born in 1816, fled to the United States after an affair with the Papal troops in 1836, and returned to France in 1848, where he was elected to the National Assembly in 1849; he died in 1877.