CHOISEUL-GOUFFIER, Marie Gabriel Auguste Florent de, COUNT OF, French antiquarian and diplomat: b. Paris 28 Sept. 1752; d. Aix-la-Chapelle, 20 June 1817. He was colonel in the Queen's regiment, lived at the court of Marie 'Antoinette, and was the • friend and co-worker with Talleyrand. He early displayed a particular interest in every thing relating to Greece. His wish to visit that country was gratified in 1776, and in 1782 ap peared the first volume of (Voyage pittoresgue de la Grece,' which attracted much attention and procured him a seat in the French Acad emy in 1784. The other volume appeared in 1824. The first was entirely revised by him before his death. The same year he was ap pointed ambassador to Constantinople, where he remained till 1791. The appointment 'of am bassador to London Was then offered to him, but he remained at Constantinople and sent his official correspondence to the exiled French princes. This correspondence having fallen
into the hands of the republicans the conven tion gave orders for his arrest, but he escaped, taking refuge in Saint Petersburg, where Paul I made him a privy-councilor, director of the Academy of Arts, and superintendent of the imperial libraries. He returned to France in 1802 when his • friend Talleyrand again took office and resumed' his seat in the Academy. He was made a peer of the realm immediately after the restoration. He also became a mem ber of the privy council, with the rank of Minister of State and Lieutenant-General. His antiquarian researches were chiefly inserted in the memoirs of the •National Institute, and his very valuable collection of antiquities is now in the museum of the Louvre.