Ligne, Charles-Joseph, prince de (1735-1815). Known during his lifetime as a field-marshal and military writer, as the friend of many members of European literary and court society, as a wit and a lover of women, the prince de Ligne is now remembered primarily as a letter-writer and author of aphorisms and memoirs, the latter containing portraits of famous contemporaries such as Voltaire and Rousseau. His written style was that of his speech—he was a noted raconteur. Late in his life Germaine de Staël undertook, with his approval, the stylistic revision and publication of a volume of his selected writings (Œuvres choisies, 1809). His
[Dennis Wood]
