234 CONDORCET: A BIOGRAPHY. 



Lagrange and d'Alembert bad a very low opinion of the Lettres cVEu- 

 ler a une Princesse cVAllemagiie. They bad even gone so far as to call 

 them, in allusion to a feeble work written by Newton in his old age, 

 "the commentary upon the apocalypse of Euler "; Condorcet regarding 

 them from another point of view found the letters useful, and not con- 

 tent with praising them, became the editor of them, without the slight- 

 est suspicion that this independence of opinion might cause umbrage to 

 his best friends. 



The book of Helv^tius had irritated Turgot, who expressed himself 

 very emphatically about it, in his correspondence. Upon this point the 

 celebrated iutendant of Limoges was impatient of contradiction. Con- 

 dorcet nevertheless maintained his own opinion of the work with great 

 firmness; he was far from considering it irreproachable, but thought 

 that its dangerous tendencies were exaggerated. 



Vanity reigns supreme in all classes of society, particularly, it is said, 

 among men of letters. We can nevertheless affirm that this active and 

 universal stimulant of our actions never affected the beautiful soul of 

 our former confrere. A number of circumstances give evidence of this 

 rare ijhenomenon. Jealousy is the just punishment of vanity ; yet Con- 

 dorcet never experienced this cruel infirmity. When absorbed by his 

 arduous dulies us secretary of the Academy, and by his literary and po- 

 litical engagements, our confrere was obliged to renounce the great and 

 pure pleasure of scientific discoveries ; he nevertheless wrote to Euler, 

 to Lagrange, to Lambert (d'Alembert was sick at that time), " Give me 

 news of your work; I am like one of those old gourmands, who, unable 

 longer to digest, still take i^leasure in seeing others eat." 



Condorcet carried so far his desire to be useful that his door was never 

 closed against anyone; he was always accessible; he received every 

 day without impatience, without even appearing to be fatigued, the 

 interminable visits of the legions of troublesome and idle fellows who 

 abound in all great cities, especially Paris. Considering the value of 

 his time, this was kindness carried to heroism. As to Condorcet's dis- 

 interestedness, I need not speak of it, as it is well known. " In ethics, " he 

 wrote in a letter to Turgot, " I am an enemy to indifference and a friend 

 of indulgence." The phrase would not represent the truth if taken in 

 an absolute sense. Condorcet was very indulgent toward others but 

 very severe with himself. He was very independent in action, so much 

 so as to injure himself seriously by considering certain forms of polite- 

 ness, current in society, as species of small change too trifling to be 

 taken into account. As an example of his disregard of popular opinion, 

 especially where a principle was concerned, I give the following incident: 

 M. de Maurepas was very much irritated by a letter directed against 

 Necker, and in which occurred some passages which could be injurious 

 to the public credit. It was wrongfully attributed to Condorcet. The 

 Duke de iSiivernais endeavored to persuade his friend and confrere to 

 write to the minister, but he resisted with a firmness whicil, at the time, 



