Noailles, a French family, called after a village of that name in the ancient province of Limousin and the present department of Cor-reze, and which traces its origin to the 10th century. The following are its most celebrated members.

I. Autoinc Dc

Autoinc Dc, born Sept. 4, 1504, died in Bordeaux, March 11, 1562. He distinguished himself at the battle of Ceresole in 1544, was appointed grand admiral by Henry II. in 1547, and negotiated the truce of Vau-celles in 1556, after having been for three years ambassador in London, where he was succeeded by his brother Francois (1519-'85). Their joint work, Negotiations en Angleterre, was published by the abbé Vertot (3 vols., 1763).

II. Anne Jules

Anne Jules, duke de, a descendant of the preceding, and a son of Anne, count and afterward duke de Noailles, born in Paris, Feb. 5, 1650, died in Versailles, Oct. 2, 1708. He was actively employed in the campaigns against Spain (1668) and Holland (1672), where he was aide-de-camp of Louis XIV. He was mado governor of Langucdoc in 1682, and showed great leniency toward the Calvinists after tho revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685. In 1689 he commanded the French army in support of the revolted Catalans, and in 1694 defeated the Spanish royalists.

III. Adrien Maurice

Adrien Maurice, duke de, and marshal of France, son of the preceding, born in Paris, Sept. 29, 1678, died there, June 24, 1766. He married a niece of Mme. de Maintenon, served for many years in the army in Spain, and in 1715, on the death of Louis XIV., became a member of the council of regency. As president of the council of finance, he introduced great reforms, compelled the farmers of the public revenue to make restitution of dishonestly acquired funds, and opposed the schemes of John Law, in consequence of which he lost his financial office; and in 1722, through the enmity of Cardinal Dubois, he was dismissed from the council of regency. He resumed military service in 1733, captured Worms, and won the rank of marshal at the siege of Philippsburg (1734). During the war of the Austrian succession he was defeated at Dettingen, in 1743, by George II. of England. As ambassador to Spain in 1746 he effected a reconciliation between the two courts, and subsequently he was a member of the cabinet. His Memoires were published by the abbe Millot in 1777 (6 vols. 12mo).

IV. Louis Marie

Louis Marie, viscount de, grandson of the preceding, born in Paris, April 17, 1756, died in Havana in January, 1804. His father was Philippe de Noailles (1715-'94), who became marshal under the title of duke de Mouchy. He fought gallantly in several engagements during the American war of independence, and subsequently espoused the cause of the French revolution of 1789, proposing the renunciation by the nobles of all their feudal privileges. After the flight of Louis XVI. to Varennes he served on the northern frontier, but on the imprisonment of the king he resigned his commission and retired to England. Returning to France after the 18th Bru-maire, he was sent as brigadier general to Santo Domingo, and was mortally wounded in capturing an English sloop of war near Havana.

V. Paul, Duke De

Duke De Paul, born in Paris, Jan. 4, 1802. The offspring of a younger branch of the family, he inherited the title of duke from his great-uncle, who died in 1823. He took his seat in the chamber of peers in 1827, and kept it after the revolution of 1830, though an adherent of the exiled Bourbons. In 1848 he retired to private life. In 1849 he was elected to the French academy as successor of Chateaubriand. His principal work is Ilistoire de Madame de Maintenon (4 vols., 1848-'58).

VI. Emmanuel Victurnien Henri

Emmanuel Victurnien Henri, marquis de, son of the preceding, born at the chateau of Maintenon, department of Eure-et-Loir, in 1830. He married a Polish lady, and published La Pologne et ses frontieres (1863), and Henri de Valois et la Pologne en 1572 (3 vols., 1867), for which the academy gave a prize. He was minister at Washington from July, 1872, to February, 1874, when he was transferred to Rome.