196 condoecet: a biography. 



tiou Tfith you.' Thus, iu the midst of the destructiou of his organs he 

 had not forgotton the objects of his studies, and remembered the friend 

 with whom he had all iu common. Father Jacquier was forcibly taken 

 from the arms of the dying man by the friends who, to use Jaequier's 

 own expression, did not wish to lose them both. He resumed the chair 

 his health had obliged him to vacate ; caring little to prolong the days 

 no longer brightened by friendship, he still wished to fill them with 

 useful labor and thus divert the feelings of sorrow which nothing could 

 cure. He knew better than to add the weight of time to that of grief. 

 For minds that suffer, leisure is the most cruel torture." 



The valuation Condorcet has given of the divers virtues of Conda- 

 mine could, if we are not mistaken, be placed, without disadvantage, 

 besule the eloquent speech Bufifon addi^essed to the illustrious traveler, 

 on the day of his reception by the French Academy. It would bear as 

 well comparison in elegance with the eulogy of the same academician, 

 pronounced by the Abbe Delille, his successor. 



The biographical compositions of Condorcet please because they con- 

 tain what should naturally be their essence. The history of the human 

 mind is in them viewed from a high standard. In the choice of details 

 the author has constantly in view instruction and utility rather than 

 entertainment. Without trespassing in the least upon truth, whose 

 demands he places before every other interest or consideration, Con- 

 dorcet is constantly ruled by the thought that the dignity of the savant 

 is to a certain degree that of science ; and that any applause which 

 might be accorded to a witty portrayal of a ridiculous incident, would 

 be a poor return for even a slight wrong done to the most modest 

 branch of human knowledge. 



We expect too much of Monsieur plus que Fonfenelle, as Voltaire calls 

 our confrere in several unpublished letters I have in hand, if we hope to 

 find in his eulogies any chapters devoted entirely to the subsequent 

 history of the sciences. Condorcet did not commit the error of giving 

 to his auditors food stronger than they could digest. 



Our former secretary was especially distinguished in his eulogies by 

 the utmost impartiality, by philosophic thought, and by the interest he 

 gave to the most simple biographical circumstances, by his constant 

 abnegation of all personal feeling, of all party spirit, of all self-love. 

 Condorcet described his own works, as well as those of Franklin, when 

 he said of the latter : " We seek in them in vain for a line which could 

 be suspected of having been written for his own glory." 



The long career of Franklin certainly does not offer a better instance 

 of frank, true modesty than is contained in this passage from the eulogy 

 of Fontaine : "I thought, at one time, said this geometer, that a young 

 man with whom I had been brought into connection had more talent 

 and might attain greater eminence than myself. I was jealous of him, 

 but I have not feared him since." — *'The young man in question," added 

 Condorcet, "is the author of this eulogy." 



