Historical Elogd ofM. Vauquelin. 1819 



posterity ; and I am not certain that he ever read (ibe verses I 

 have quoted. , 



Nothing, indeed, could be more simple than his mode of life ; 

 no one could be more a stranger to the affairs of the world. 

 Having been raised without effort on his part, through the in- 

 fluence of another, from a state bordering on indigence to a very 

 considerable fortune, which increased the more rapidly as^^his 

 personal wants were so few ; elevated to the chair left vacant by 

 the death of his patron, by the spontaneous homage of all the 

 other candidates who unanimously gave up their claims in his 

 favour ; and honoured with all the marks of public approbation 

 consistent with his station in society, he was never placed un- 

 der the necessity of courting the notice of men in power or 

 their subordinate agents, to promote his views. When about 

 the age of sixty, however, an unexpected occurrence interrupt- 

 ed the accustomed serenity of his life. In 1824 some disturb- 

 ance among the scholars led the University to adopt some 

 measures regarding the faculty of medicine, which so slight an 

 occasion did not seem to authorise. It was speedily settled, but 

 the names of Vauquelin, of Jussieu, of Pinel, and of Dubois, 

 were forgotten to be replaced on the list, a neglect the more un- 

 accountable, as these were not only men whose high celebrity 

 had tended to increase that of the establishment, but whose 

 mode of life was most widely removed from every thing that 

 could bear the least resemblance to turbulence. 



It is thus that the most virtuous men too often act contrary 

 to their own intentions, by allowing the management of affairs 

 to fall into the hands of those whose interests are at variance 

 with theirs. The little importance of this loss with regard to 

 fortune, and the names of those with whom it was shared, might 

 have rendered M. Vauquelin indifierent to a disgrace so little 

 merited ; the public, and even the government after becoming 

 sensible of its error, used every endeavour to make reparation. 

 He experienced a striking proof of the estimation in which he 

 was held by the inhabitants of his native department, by being 

 nominated by them to^ the Chamber of .Deputies ; but nothing 

 n could console him for. his. expulsion from the chair which his 

 master and friend had filled, and which he regarded as his high- 

 est honour. 



