8 THE LIFE OF PASTEUR 



her just as she was. The portrait is full of sincerity and noi 

 unlike the work of a conscientious pre-Raphaelite. The power- 

 ful face is illumined by a pair of clear straightforward eyes. 



Though they did not entertain mere acquaintances, the 

 husband and wife were happy to receive those who seemed to 

 them worthy of affection or esteem by reason of some superiority 

 of the mind or of the heart. In this way they formed a friend- 

 ship with an old army doctor then practising in the Arbois 

 hospital, Dr. Dumont, a man who studied for the sake of 

 learning and who did a great deal of good while avoiding 

 popularity. 



Another familiar friend was a philosopher named Bousson 

 de Mairet. An indefatigable reader, he never went out with- 

 out a book or pamphlet in his pocket. He spent his life in 

 compiling from isolated facts annals in which the character- 

 istics of the Francs-Comtois, and especially the Arboisians, 

 were reproduced in detail, with labour worthy of a Benedictine 

 monk. He often came to spend a quiet evening with the 

 Pasteur family, who used to question him and to listen to his 

 interesting records of that strange Arboisian race, difficult to 

 understand, presenting as it does a mixture of heroic courage 

 and that slightly ironical good humour which Parisians and 

 Southerners mistake for naiveness. Arboisians never distrust 

 themselves, but are sceptical where others are concerned. They 

 are proud of their local history, and even of their rodomontades. 



For instance, on August 4, 1830, they sent an address to 

 the Parisians to express their indignation against the ^'Ordon- 

 nances" ^ and to assure them that all the available population 

 of Arbois was ready to fly to the assistance of Paris. In April, 

 1834, a lawyer's clerk, passing one evening through Arbois by 

 the coach, announced to a few gardes nationanx who were stand- 

 ing about that the Republic was proclaimed at Lyons. Arbois 

 immediately rose in arms; the insurgents armed themselves 

 with guns from the Hotel de YiUe. Louis Pasteur watched the 



1 Ordonnances du 26 Juillet, 1830. A royal Decree issued by Charles X 

 under the advice of his minister, Prince de Polignac; it was based on a 

 misreading of one of the articles of the Charter of 1814, and dissolved 

 the new Chamber of Deputies before it had even assembled; it sup- 

 pressed the freedom of the Press and created a new electoral system 

 to the advantage of the royalist party. These ordonnances were the 

 cause of the 1830 Revoluticn, which placed Louis Philippe of Orleans on 

 the Throne. [Trans.] 



