IRONICAL CHARACTER OF BUFFON'S WORK. 95 



reading with no other end than with that of catch- 

 ing at all words and phrases which can be forced from 

 far or near into some kind of relation with his subject 

 I see him copying all these passages, or getting them 

 copied for him, and arranging them in alphabetical order. 

 He fills many portfolios with all manner of notes, often 

 taken without either discrimination or research, and 

 at last sets himself to write with a resolve that not one 

 of all these notes shall remain unused. The result is 

 that when he comes to his account of the cow or of the 

 hen, he will tell us all that has ever yet been said about 

 cows or hens ; all that the ancients ever thought about 

 them ; all that has ever been imagined concerning theii 

 virtues, characters, and courage ; every purpose to which 

 they have ever yet been put ; every story of every old 

 woman that he can lay hold of; all the miracles which 

 certain religions have ascribed to them ; all the super- 

 stitions they have given rise to ; all the metaphors and 

 allegories which poets have drawn from them ; the 

 attributes that have been assigned to them ; the repre- 

 sentations that have been made of them in hierogly- 

 phics and armorial bearings, in a word all the histories 

 and all fables in which there was ever yet any mention 

 either of a cow or hen. How much natural history 

 is likely to be found in such a lumber room ? and how 

 is one to lay one's hand upon the little that there may 

 actually be?"* 



It is hoped that the reader will see Buffon, much 

 as Buffon saw the learned Aldrovandus. He should see 

 * Tom. i. p. 28, 1749. 



