De Lolme,

De Lolme, JOHN LOUIS, born at Geneva in 1740, was originally an advocate in his native town, but about 1769 came to England, where, in spite of his literary activity, he lived for several years in great poverty, always in debt and repeatedly in prison. Having inherited a small property, he returned to his native country in 1775, and died at a village in Switzerland, July 16, 1806. De Lolme's principal work is The Constitution of England; or an Account of the English Government; in which it is compared both with the Republican Form of Government and the other Monarchies in Europe. It was first published in French at Amsterdam in 1771; the English translation, by another hand apparently, did not appear till 1775. The work, which flattered England, threw no new light on the subject, long enjoyed a high reputation, and reached a tenth edition (with Life, 1853), but has long been superseded; its author was called by Isaac D'Israeli 'the English Montesquieu.' In 1772 he also published anonymously in English, A Parallel between the English Government and the former Government of Sweden; ten years later, his History of the Flagellants; in 1796 an Essay containing Strictures on the Union of Scotland with England, and numerous political pamphlets. In 1816 Dr Busby tried to prove that De Lolme was Junius.