Choiseul Gouffier

Choiseul-Gouffier, Marie Gabriel, Comte de, was born in 1752, and visiting Greece in 1776, commenced the publication of his travels, a work which obtained him a place in the French Academy in 1784. He was sent as Ambassador to Constantinople, and was there at the outbreak of the French revolution, when, to avoid arrest, he took refuge at St. Petersburg, and was received with distinction. In 1802 he returned to France, and resumed his political and literary career. He died at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1817, and his interesting antiquarian collection may be seen in the Louvre.