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 In 1750, when upwards of eighty-two years of age, he besought the king to accept his resignation; and he was accordingly permitted to retire, the king continuing to him the honours of his office as a special mark of his approbation. He died in the following year; and was interred, according to his own request, in the common burial-place of the village of Auteuil, where the remains of his wife, who died there in 1735, had been deposited. The name of this lady, whom he married in 1694, and by whom he had several children, was Anne Le Fevre d’Ormesson.

This great man has not, in all respects, been equally praised by those, who have, in their writings, transmitted his character to posterity. Saint-Simon and others reproach him with a degree of tardiness and indecision in his judgments, which sometimes greatly obstructed the course of justice. His own answer to this charge has been recorded by Duclos, and is worthy of notice: “When I recollect,” said he, “that the decree of a Chancellor is a law, I think myself warranted in taking a long time for consideration.” Saint-Simon and D’Argenson also impute to him some defects as a statesman; but his elevation of mind and extensive knowledge, his piety, probity, and disinterestedness, have been universally admitted and extolled. In his magisterial capacity, he was grave and dignified, without any approach to haughtiness; in private society, his manners were mild, equal, and even playful. He was particularly remarkable for the tenaciousness of his memory, and for the facility with which he could direct his attention to the most diversified exercises of intellect or imagination. At eighty years of age, he has been heard to repeat whole poems, which he had never perused since the days of his early youth; and when fatigued with professional duties, he could turn with equal alacrity to Euclid or to Racine. In summing up his character, all must agree with La Harpe, that he was “a man who did honour to France, to the magistracy, and to letters, by his virtues, his talents, his profound and various learning, and his enlightened views in the science of jurisprudence.” (Cours de Litterature, Tom. XIV. c. 1.)

His published writings form a collection of thirteen volumes quarto; of which the first volume was published at Paris in 1759, and the last in 1789. The far greater part of these volumes relate to matters connected with his professional character and studies; but they also contain a variety of pieces upon miscellaneous subjects. We have already mentioned his discourses on the studies befitting the students of law, and his treatise on Money; and besides these, and some theological pieces, there is a Life of his Father, interesting from the view which it affords of his own early education under that excellent person; together with “Metaphysical Meditations,” written in vindication of the grand truth, that, independently of all revelation, and all positive law, there is that in the constitution of the human mind which renders man a law to himself.

See ''Histoire des Hommes Illustres de Regnes de Louis XIV. et de Louis XV.'' par le Duc de Saint-Simon. Memoirs Secretes, par Duclos. Les Loisirs d’un Ministre d’Etat, par D’Argenson. Eloge de D’Aguesseau, par Thomas. AIR. We had intended to exhibit, in a collected view, the various properties, physical and chemical, of this important elastic fluid; and also to have given the results of some original researches on its relations to heat; but as our experimental inquiries, undertaken with this view, are not yet completed, we shall refer the whole to a more comprehensive article. See. ALBANIA, a country of considerable extent, which, though in fact nearly independent, forms nominally one of the provinces of the Turkish empire. It extends from the thirty-ninth to the forty-third degree of north latitude, for the space of about 250 miles, along the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Venice. The extent inland nowhere exceeds one hundred miles; and is, in the southern part, not more than thirty. The chain of Pindus, called now the mountains of Sagori, of Metzovo, and of Suli, separate it, by an ill defined line, from Macedonia and Thessaly. The Turks divided it into Pashalics; of which the principal are those of Scutari, Ochrida, Vallona, and Butrinto; but these distinctions, in its present state of independence, are in a great measure obliterated. The divisions chiefly recognized are those formed by the varieties of the native tribes. Major Leake, who is allowed to be the best informed traveller on this head, divides them into the Ngege, or Ghegides, whose principal towns are Dulcigno, Scutari, and Durazzo; the Toske, or Toskides, who occupy Berat and Elbasan; the Liape, a poor and predatory race, who inhabit the mountains between the Toske and Delvino; and the Tsami, who inhabit the most southerly district, and whose principal towns are Suli and Paramithia. There are, besides, a great number of smaller divisions, too tedious to enumerate. (Leake’s Researches in Greece.)

Albania nearly coincides with the country known to the ancients, under the name of Epirus. This country was then, as now, distinguished by the rude valour of its inhabitants. Its remote situation, and the want of union among its tribes, generally prevented it from acting any conspicuous part in Grecian politics. The only remarkable exception occurs in the reign of Pyrrhus II., who was justly ranked with the greatest captains of antiquity. After his death, the country was again split into a number of petty states, which were unable to resist the united strength of Macedon; and to that kingdom, Epirus continued subject, till both were alike subdued by the Roman arms.

It was during the time of the Greek empire, that the name of Albania was first given to this district. During the decline of the empire, the Albanians gradually rose fo distinction, and at last to independence. Their valour enabled them to maintain their ground against the Bulgarians, who had occupied all the neighbouring districts of Greece. Nor were they less successful against the Turks, a more formidable enemy. Under the command of the celebrated George Castriot, commonly called Scanderbeg, they baffled all the efforts of Mahomet II. the conqueror of Constantinople. That powerful monarch entered Albania only to experience a succession of defeats, and was at length compelled to acknowledge its independence by a formal treaty. On the death Rh