Biographical Memoir of' Michel Adanson. 19 



terrible sword continually suspended over all that had possessed 

 celebrity, and which, perhaps, would have spared none of them, 

 had not the ministers of its fury been as ignorant as they were 

 cruel. 



At this period when the most opulent suffered the loss of 

 every thing, it may easily be imagined what must have been the 

 state of an old man of seventy, already infirm, whom twenty 

 years of sedentary labour had left bereft of every relation, and 

 had shut out from all knowledge of men and the world. I have 

 not courage enough to retrace so afflicting a picture. Would 

 that I had the power to paint his admirable patience, and that 

 invincible ardour for study, which survived unimpaired, amid 

 the most calamitous circumstances ! 



It seemed that he was himself ignorant of his misfortunes. So 

 long as he could meditate and write, he lost nothing of his 

 serenity. It was an affecting spectacle to see this poor old man 

 bent near his fire, sitting in the light of an expiring ember, 

 attempting with a feeble hand still to scrawl a few letters, and 

 forgetting all the difficulties of life, when a new idea, like the 

 visit of a gentle and beneficent spirit, came over his imagination. 

 Without doubt the love of fortune is not the motive which 

 induces men to devote themselves to science, nor is it worthy of 

 such influence ; glory itself presents but an uncertain prospect : 

 but who could resist the intrinsic charm of science itself, and 

 that pure happiness, independent of men and of fortune, of 

 which the history of the learned continually presents such as- 

 tonishing examples ? 



A milder day, however, dawned upon France. The Conven- 

 tion, delivered from its oppressors, abjured their barbarities : and 

 one of the last acts of its power was the re-establishment of the 

 Academies, by uniting them into a single body, under the name 

 of the Institute. 



At the signal of authority, and after four years of dispersion, 

 those illustrious men every where issued from the obscurity of their 

 retreats, and assembled themselves anew. Their first meeting 

 presented a scene never to be effaced from the mind : their tears of 

 joy and congratulation, the eagerness of theirmutual inquiries re- 

 specting their misfortunes, their retreats, their occupations ; the 

 mournful recollections of so many associates who had fallen vic- 

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