IRONICAL CHARACTER OF BUFFOWS WORK. Ql 



then there is no further limit to be set to the power of 

 nature, and we should not le wrong in supposing that ivith 

 sufficient time she could have evolved all other organized 

 forms from one primordial type (et Von n'auroit pas tort 

 de supposer, que d"un seul etre elle a su tirer avec le temps 

 tons les autres etres organises)." 



Buffon now felt that he had sailed as near the wind 

 as was desirable. His next sentence is as follows : 



" But no ! It is certain from revelation that all 

 animals have alike been favoured with the grace of 

 an act of direct creation, and that the first pair of 

 every species issued full formed from the hands of the 

 Creator."* 



This might be taken as bond fide, if it had been 

 written by Bonnet, but it is impossible to accept it 

 from Buffon. It is only those who judge him at second 

 hand, or by isolated passages, who can hold that he 

 failed to see the consequences of his own premises. No 

 one could have seen more clearly, nor have said more 

 lucidly, what should suffice to show a sympathetic 

 reader the conclusion he ought to come to. Even 

 when ironical, his irony is not the ill-natured irony of 

 one who is merely amusing himself at other people's 

 expense, but the serious and legitimate irony of one 

 who must either limit the circle of those to whom he 

 appeals, or must know how to make the same lan- 

 guage appeal differently to the different capacities 

 of his readers, and who trusts to the good sense of 

 the discerning to understand the difficulty of his posi- 

 tion, and make due allowance for it. 



* Tom. iv. p. 383, 1753 (this was the first volume ou the lower animals). 



