198 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



but I am too little French by character, and 

 too anxious to live in Switzerland, not to pre- 

 fer the place you can offer me, however small 

 the appointments, if they do but keep me 

 above actual embarrassment. I say thus much 

 only in order to answer that clause in your 

 letter where you touch upon this question. I 

 would add that I leave the field quite free in 

 this respect, and that I am yours without re- 

 serve, if, indeed, within the fortnight, the ur- 

 gency of the Parisians does not carry the day, 

 or, rather, as soon as I write you that I have 

 been able finally to withdraw. You easily un- 

 derstand that I cannot bluntly decline offers 

 which seem to those who make them so bril- 

 liant. But I shall hold out against them to 

 the utmost. My course with reference to my 

 own publications will have shown you that I 

 do not care for a lucrative position from per- 

 sonal interest ; that, on the contrary, I should 

 always be ready to use such means as I may 

 have at my disposition for the advancement of 

 the institution confided to my care. 



My work will still detain me for four or five 

 months at Paris, my time being after that 

 completely at my disposal. The period at 

 which I should like to begin my lectures is 

 therefore very near, and I think if your people 



