18 Baron Cuvier's -E/cg*^ o/* 



been, in some measure, the centre of botany, and the mart of 

 new plants and shrubs. 



The confidence, arising from this community of occupations, 

 gave Sir Joseph opportunities of still more directly serving his 

 country ; and it is said, that the minister sometimes employed 

 his influence to make the monarch adopt resolutions which po- 

 litical circumstances rendered necessary, but which his natural 

 affections rendered repugnant to him. . 



Any one who has an idea of the complicated and mysterious 

 progress of the smallest affairs in a government, where intrigues 

 of the heart mingle every moment with the interests of party, 

 must at once conceive the importance that a man might acquire in 

 a situation such as this. It is a thing to be wondered at, that 

 Sir Joseph neither used it for increasing his fortune, nor for gra- 

 tifying his vanity. 



Whatever favour he possessed, he always made it reflect upon 

 the sciences which had procured it for him. Wherever an as- 

 sociation was formed for a useful enterprise, he hastened to take 

 part in it ; every work that required assistance in money, or 

 patronage from authority, might reckon upon his support. 

 Whenever any important inquiry was to be undertaken, he 

 pointed it out, and made known the most efficacious means for 

 accomplishing it. He was thus a party in forming the plans of 

 all the great voyages undertaken after his own : he contributed 

 much to the establishment of the Board of Agriculture : being 

 one of the first and most active members of the African Asso- 

 ciation, he constantly obtained encouragement for those who 

 have attempted to penetrate into that part of the world. It 

 was in consequence of his repeated recommendations that the 

 discovery of a North-west Passage round America was thought 

 of being tried, and that the enterprise was persevered in, not- 

 withstanding the bad success of a first attempt. All the opera- 

 tions referring to the measurement of the meridian, whether it 

 was EngHsh or French that laboured in them, were favoured 

 by him ; in the time of war, as in peace, passports and hospi- 

 table treatment were assured to them by his exertions. But 

 what we have already stated, and what it is especially our duty 

 to celebrate in this discourse, is the indefatigable generosity with 

 wnich, amidst the most violent national antipathies, he softened 



