CONDORCET : A BIOGRAPHY. 209 



who under all circumstauces had been bis guide, bis support, bis foster 

 father. 



The great man, who bad snccumbed in the plenitude of his mathemati- 

 cal genius, bad assumed as a rule of conduct this maxim, which will no 

 doubt by many be considered very puritanical: "The use of the super- 

 fluous is wrong, when others are deprived of the necessary." D'xUembert 

 acted through life upon this principle and died, therefore, without for- 

 tune. In his latter days he was not only a prey to cruel physical pain, 

 the consequences of a dreadful malady (the stone) ; he suffered perhiips 

 even more deeply from the impossibility to which he had been reduced 

 by bis constant generosity, of suitably rewarding his two faithful serv- 

 ants. A classical incident occurred suddenly to the memory and brought 

 peace to the mind of the celebrated academician. 



Eutamidas bequeathed to one of bis friends the mission of taking care 

 of his mother, to another cf marrying his daughter ; a similar testamen- 

 tary request confided to Condorcet the duty of providing annually for 

 the needs of the two servants. The mission lasted long : Condorcet 

 placed it among thenumber of his first duties and fulfilled it with religious 

 fidelity. General and Madame O'Connor have continued his example. 



The arduous duties devolving upon the secretary of the Academy of 

 Sciences, the obligation of maintaining an active correspondence with 

 the cultivated men of all countries of the civilized world, an irresistible 

 inclination to take part in the debates of which the social and political 

 condition of the country was every day the object, very early decided 

 Condorcet to give up general society. The sacrifice could not have 

 cost him much, for in the eulogy of Courtauvaux be denounces its 

 amusements as dissipation without pleasure, vanity without motive, 

 idleness without repose. Outside of his scientific relations our confrere 

 frequented only a few choice social gatherings where, in contact with the 

 eminent men of the time, the young men learned to discuss the most 

 exciting questions with moderation, delicacy, and modesty. It was 

 in one of these family reunions that Condorcet met, for the first time in 

 1786, Mademoiselle Sophie de Grouchy, niece on her mother's side of M. 

 M. Frdteau and Dupaty, members of parliament. Like all the rest of the 

 world our confrere admired, first, the rare beauty, the distinguished man- 

 ners, the brilliantand cultivated mind of this young person. Soon he dis- 

 covered that these attractions were united to a noble character, a heart 

 most true, an affectionate and benevolent nature. Condorcet then be- 

 came strongly attached to the young lady, and demanded her in mar- 

 riage. Our confrere was at this time forty three years of age, and had 

 only a moderate income ; but such was the violence of his passion that 

 be made no written agreement, but only a verbal contract with bis 

 future parents for the dowry of bis wife. This, gentlemen, is very far 

 from the calculating, cold disposition which has been attributed to Con- 

 dorcet, a character drawn i'rom that of certain of his friends for whom 

 he professed an unlimited admiration, and with whom he was wrong- 

 fully supposed to be in sympathy in every way and upon all subjects. 

 S. Mis. 59 14 



