Drouet, Jean Baptiste, notable king-taker, a violent Jacobin and member of the Council of the Five Hundred; had been a dragoon soldier; was postmaster at St. Menehould when Louis XVI., attempting flight, passed through the place, and by whisper of surmise had the progress of Louis and his party arrested at Varennes, June 21, 1791, for which service he received honourable mention and due reward in money; was taken captive by the Austrians at last; perched on a rock 100 ft. high, descended one night by means of a paper kite he had constructed, but was found at the foot helpless with leg broken (1763‒1824).
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Droste-Hülshoff, Fraulein von * Drouet, Jean Baptiste, Comte d'Erlon