EULOGY ON AMPERE. 157 



singular concourse of circumstances had initiated the public into all the 

 details of his private hfe. They interested themselves almost as much 

 in what they called his credulity, his eccentricities, his absence of mind, 

 and his very frequent alternations of wonderful activity and profound 

 apathy, to which he was subject, as in his brilliant discoveries. Our friend 

 gradually became the principal actor in a multitude of fantastic adven- 

 tures, creations of the imaginations of a few idle people. Calumny, 

 always on the watch for such opportunities, began early to exercise its 

 detestable role; and thus it is that I woidd not attain my end were I to 

 neglect to give a faithful sketch of the character and habits of Ampere. 



I have just spoken of calumny, but am far from wishing to apply so 

 severe a term to those who do not share the estimate I have formed of 

 Ampere's character. Philopoimin once ^^paid the fine of his deformity,''^ 

 said Plutarch. Ampere also paid the penalty of certain manners and 

 habits which it is not my intention to extol. I freely acknowledge that, 

 with the kindest feelings in the world, no one could help admitting a 

 want of dignity in his too profound salutations. 



We have passed over times in which a man of letters, a man of 

 science, such as Ampere, had any reason to fear that he would be 

 strii^ped of his office if not orthodox in matters of religion and a parti- 

 san of the political systems of the day. Perhaps, under such circum- 

 stances, our associate recalled too vividly his responsibilities as the 

 father of a family; j)erhaps an ardent imagination painted in exagger- 

 ated colors the brutal condition to which such a deprivation would 

 reduce him; and he thus stooped to measures, such as visits and pre- 

 sentations, which can be legitimately and justly condemned. The right 

 of doing so, however, can only be conceded to those who have never 

 been guilty of like faults, and which I refuse unhesitatingly to those 

 functionaries, infinitely more numerous, whose only advantage over 

 Ampere is that of having discovered the secret of diverting atten- 

 tion. Besides, do not believe that the judgments and opinions whose 

 organ I shall be, aud which it would give me so much pleasure to have 

 prevail here, rest on so unsound a foundation as rumor or the chit-chat 

 of society — but on acts misunderstood and susceptible of different inter- 

 pretations. I have formed an estimate and judgment of Ampere's char- 

 racter from a private correspondence not destined to see the light — which, 

 indeed, in strict accordance with the express wish of our friend, should 

 have been destroyed. In such documents I could hope to find Ampere's 

 thoughts free from all delusive alloy. It was while reading this precious 

 correspondence I learned more and more to love our associate. Are 

 there many men who would thus gain by being stripped of the mask so 

 generally worn in public? These reflections have occupied much time, 

 gentlemen. You will pardon me if I say it is a mistake to consider them 

 a mere preamble ; they are a direct refutation, and by way of anticipa- 

 tion, of the objections with which the last portion of this notice is 

 threatened, even before being given to the public. 



