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riments in the culture of the Apple tree, and to improve the manufacture of Cider, which he has given in a work

as to be linked with the history of their country, are generally barren of interesting incidents, and are little more than a detail of dates and publications:" this is true as applied to the subject of the present memoir; but he was well known to the inhabitants of Jersey, as a skilful agriculturist; and to his parishioners and intimate friends, as a pious divine, fulfilling the duties of his sacred office, under a full consciousness of their value and importance.

Among the ancestors of Mr. Le Couteur, we find two who had arrived at the highest ecclesiastical station in the Island-that of Dean; and during the early part of his life his maternal uncle, of the name of Payn, possessed the same insular dignity.

The Rev. Francis Le Couteur was born in the year 1744; he was early intended for the Church, to which his own inclinations, the discovery of his early talent, and by his influential family connections, naturally led. It may be presumed that he received the rudiments of his education in his native Island. We first find him entered in Jesus College, Oxford, where he obtained an exhibition, through the influence of his uncle: he afterwards became a fellow of Exeter College. He resided some years in Oxford, but when he took orders he went to serve a church at Shrewsbury, where he remained between two and three years. It appears that Mr. Le Couteur had formed an engagement to make the tour of Europe, as tutor to a young gentleman; but having met with a serious accident, in the fracture of his thigh, he was compelled to relinquish it, and he retired to his native Island, where he was presented to the living of St. Martin, but which he afterwards exchanged for that of Grouville.

Among the few incidents of Mr. Le Couteur's life, we must not omit to notice his patriotic conduct at the time of the French invasion in 1781. As he did not reside at St. Helier's, he had not the opportunity of joining those who refused to affix their signatures to the capitulation. But his merit consisted in his decided and patriotic conduct, which led to the recovery of the battery of La Platte Hogue, which a French detachment had

not unknown to the English reader: this alone would entitle him to a place in this work, but he has other claims,

occupied on their landing: this took place before the attack on the French by Major Pierson; and while others were labouring under the consternation of this unexpected surprise, Mr. Le Couteur encouraged the commanding officer of the troops at Gouray, while hesitating whether he should recognize the capitulation by the Governor, to attack the battery: Mr. Le Couteur provided him with two parish field-pieces, and offered to indemnify him for his commission, if he should lose it for disobedience to orders. This led to the bold attack by which the battery was recovered, and in which six gallant British soldiers fell, whose names are still recorded on a monument in Grouville Cemetery. It is needless to observe, that Mr. Le Couteur's firm and patriotic conduct was the more commendable, as he would have been exposed to the rigour of a military execution, for a breach of the capitulation, had the French retained possession of the Island.

Previously to the residence of Mr. Le Couteur in Jersey, the character of the cider made in the Island was far from good; and he employed the time that he could spare from his clerical and other duties, in endeavouring to improve it, by the experiments he made in the manufacture of the article. He ascertained that its inferiority was owing, not so much to the fruit as to the negligent manner of preparing it. He devoted thirty years of his life to this branch of rural economy, and he lived to see the result of his labours, the staple commodity of the Island having increased in character and reputation. In 1801 he published a work on the subject, which he dedicated to Sir J. Sinclair, and a second edition with considerable additions in 1806; this was translated into English, and is highly esteemed in England where it is known it is generally bound up with Pitt's Survey of Worcestershire. The work is continued through twenty-eight short chapters, in which the author treats, not only of the art of making cider, and the mode of preserving and bottling, the various disorders to which it is subject, and its method of cure, but the culture of the apple itself, and the best sorts for the purpose of

to notice, which will be recorded in the subjoined memoir.

making cider, and the soil best adapted to the growth of the tree. For this work Mr. Le Couteur received the most flattering testimonials of approbation from the President of the Board of Agriculture; and he had the thanks also of the Society for the encouragement of Arts and Manufactures.

Although the constitution of Mr. Le Couteur was naturally robust, yet was it impaired by the accident already alluded to, and still more weakened by the pressure of domestic affiictions. The last was the loss of his second son, Captain Philip Le Couteur, who died in the East Indies. Notwithstanding he was supported under these trials, as his reverend biographer states, by religion, yet, as he continues, "the human constitution cannot fail of being impaired under such circumstances; and worn out as he was by bodily infirmities, he did not recover from the shock: he was seized with a typhus fever, a few weeks after, and a mortification at the same time taking place in one of his thighs, he expired without a groan, May 15th, 1808, being then in the 64th year of his age."

The character of Mr. Le Couteur cannot better be given than in the words of his friend and biographer: "As a clergyman no one ever discharged his duty more conscientiously; his piety was lively and unaffected, without either ostentation or enthusiasm: he was no orator, but the earnest and forcible manner of delivery, which proceeded from his conviction of the awful truths of Christianity, never failed to arrest the attention of his hearers. His duty required him to visit the sick, and he administered advice and consolation to the afflicted. He was at the same time free from pride and superciliousness, which are never so contemptible as in the person of a clergyman."

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"In his limited sphere as public man, he never suffered considerations of private interest to come in competition with public good this was his rule of conduct for more than thirty years that he was a valuable member of the States of Jersey."Abridged from his Life, in Pitt's Survey of Worcestershire; Private Information.

Jersey certainly cannot exhibit many proofs that she has excelled in the fine arts: she has, however, produced a painter, who was highly esteemed in his native Island, and is not unknown in England, where he exercised his profession the greater part of his life. Mr. Jean was of low extraction, and was brought up to some menial trade; but, like another Opie, he surmounted his early difficulties, and by the strength of his native, though untaught, genius, soon acquired distinction in his art. Mr. Jean seeking a larger sphere for his talents than Jersey, came to Southampton, and he was eminently successful. He afterwards removed to London, where he continued in the exercise of his profession to the end of his days. He died in the year 1813. Mr. Jean's liberality to his native place must not be left unrecorded. He executed a whole-length portrait of George III., for which his majesty graciously condescended to sit to him: this he presented to the States, and it now adorns the hall of the Royal Court. But his liberality was not unrewarded. The States, by an act August 20th, 1796, voted the sum of £100 to be expended in the purchase of a piece of plate, to be presented to him as an acknowledgment of his merit and liberality.

We have now to introduce to the reader a native of Jersey, who was not only of the rank of Admiral in the British service, but a prince in his own right: the Duke of Bouillon (18) was no less distinguished by his rank

(18) REAR-ADMIRAL D'AUVERGNE, DUC DE BOUILLON. Philip D'Auvergne, Prince and Duke of Bouillon, was born in Jersey, November the 22nd, 1754. He showed a very early predilection for the naval service, and first served on board one of the Royal yatchs. In 1772 he joined the Flora frigate, as a midshipman, under the command of Sir George Collier; she made a voyage up the Baltic, and while in Russia, Mr. D'Auvergne

and honours, than by the vicissitudes that chequered his course; the waves of the sea, on which he rode the greater

had the honour of being presented, with the other officers of the ship, to the Empress Catherine. He next made a voyage of observation to Spitzbergen, in the Race-Horse, commanded by the Hon. Captain Phipps, afterwards Lord Mulgrave: for this expedition Mr. D'Auvergne's previous studies well qualifled him ; the drawings, which accompany Captain Phipps's voyage, were made by him, and he was charged with the Meteorological Registers. On his return to England, he was under Captain Vandeput, in the Asia, and proceeded in her to Boston, from thence he was appointed to the Kingfisher sloop, as acting Lieutenant, during which time he shared in several arduous services, previously to the battle of Bunker's-hill; at the seige of Boston, and in the expedition against Falmouth, in Casco Bay, where he was slightly wounded: he afterwards served on board the Preston, and on the arrival of Admiral Shuldham, to command on the American station, with his flag on board the Chatham, of 50 guns, Mr. D'Auvergne removed to her, as acting lieutenant: here we find him constantly engaged; sometimes on land, but always in boat expeditions on the rivers, and may other important services, for which Lord Howe, in 1777, sent him a commission as Lieutenant, to command the Alarm, an armed cutter, fitted for the river service. In July, 1778, he was acting as Brigade Major, to the Brigade of Seamen and Artillery, on Rhode island; circumstances having compelled the destruction of the Alarm, and other vessels on the coast. In November in the same year he returned to England, in the Leviathan.

A few days after his arrival, Mr. D'Auvergne was appointed first Lieutenant to the Arethusa frigate, of 32 guns, commanded by Captain Everitt, and while in this ship, he was wrecked on the coast of France, after an action with the Aigrette French frigate, near Ushant. During his captivity, occasioned by this disaster, he was recognized and claimed by the then reigning Duke of Bouillon as his heir, and some tempting offers were made him to leave the service of England, and join that of France; but which, to his credit as a subject of the British Sovereign, he

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