Page:Journey Round my Room by Xiavier de Maistre trans. Henry Attwell.djvu/9

 PREFACE.

HE author of the "Voyage autour de ma Chambre" was the younger brother of Count Joseph de Maistre, a well- known writer upon political and philosophical subjects. Chambery was the place of their birth, but their family was of French origin. Both brothers were officers in the Sardinian army; and when Savoy was conquered by the French, Xavier de Maistre sought an asylum in Saint Petersburg, where his brother resided in the capacity of envoy from the court of Sardinia. Xavier entered the Russian army, distinguished himself in the war