JUNOT, ANDOCHE, DUC D'ABRANTES, was born at Bussy-les Forges, on the 24th of September 1771, according to the duchess's memoirs, whilst all the biographical dictionaries fix the date in October of the same year. He had begun to study for the law, when the political events of 1791 !mimed him to enlist in the battalion of volunteers raised in the department of tho COte-d'Or : he soon dis tinguished himself, and his fellow-soldiers made him a sergeant on the field of one of his acts of daring. In that grade he was serving at the siege of Toulon, when Bonaparte, not yet a general, commanded the artillery, and having discerned the soldierly qualities of Junot, attached him to his person. The capture of the place raised the commandant to a general of brigade, when Junot was made a captain, and became the first aide-de-camp to General Bonaparte. For nearly two years he continued the sole aide-de-camp of General Bonaparte; he Is even said to have shared his purse with his superior officer during the few mouths that he remained unattached, prior to the 13th Vendemiaire (October, 1795).
He accompanied Bonaparte to Italy, in 1796, and was present at Lodi, Arcola, Castiglione, and Lonato, at which last battle he was badly wounded. In 1799, he took part in the campaign In Egypt, when at the combat of Nazareth, with a troop of three hundred horse, he held a body of several thousand Mursuimam in check, till Kb$bcr cams to his relief. Ile greatly assisted Bonaparte on the 1Sth Brumaire, in overthrowing the Directory. For this timely service, he was made Commandant of Paris, in ]800; married to 31.demoiselle du Permon (whose family had long teen connected with that of Bonaparte) on the ]Sth October of the same year; and created a general of division, In 1801. In 1604, he was appointed Governor of Paris. On the 1st of February 16.05, he received the title of colonel-general of humus, Leaides being decorated with the grand eagle of the Legion of Honour. Ile was likewise sent on several missions to the Court of Lisbon, his part of ambassador being suddenly changed at last into that of aggressor, when the good understanding between France and Portugal had ceased, in 1806. Junot then took forcible possession of Portu
gal, and Leld his ground there for nearly two yeera, when Sir Arthur Wellealey's victory at Vimiera, on the 21st of August 1S08, and the conclusion of the Convention of Cintra, nine days after the battle, was followed by the evacuation of Portugal by the French army, and Junot's return to Paris. Ile had already received his title as Duo d'Abrantcs; but from this period ho lost all favour with Noise:aeon, having no chief command entrusted to his orders. In ]812 he was directed to join the grande armee, and the 8th corps was ostensibly placed under his command, but the orders from Beithier wore trausuritted rather to his lieutenants than to himself, and the only time his name was mentioned in a bulletin, he was reflected upon as having shown " a want of resolution." Under this reproach his spirit sank ; he was refused employment in the campaign of 1813, and shortly after, was attacked with mental dieease. In this state he was conveyed to the house of his father, at Montpelier, on the 22nd of July 1813; the following day he threw himself out of a window, broke one of his thighs, and it became necessary to amputate the leg. He died on the 28th.
Leone PERUON, Duchesae d'Abrantee, was born at Montpelier, November 6, 1784, and was only sixteen when married to Junot, in 1800. She was a woman of great frankness of speech, and equally remarkable for the prodigality of her expenditure. As a consequence she made enemies at court, during her husband's life, and when his death and the fall of Napoleon had turned the tide of her fortune, she had no savioga to support herself and family. She therefore had recourse to her pen for her subsistence. She wrote many tales and novels; but her principal work was her 'llemoires an Souvenirs historiquea sur Napoleon,' published in 1831. As these memoirs con tained many incidents relating to the early life of the French emperor, its success was universal throughout Europe. The Duchene d'Abrantea died in extreme poverty on the 7th of June 1838.