118 MEMOIR OF C. F. BEAUTEMPS-BEAUPRE. 



ing Neuville au Pont about the year 1776, was struck with the intelligent coun- 

 tenance of his young relative. He was pleased at the idea of associating with 

 himself a docile intelligence which might be trained to the conduct of the patri- 

 monial business, and readily induced the little Beaujjre to accompany him to 

 Paris. Thus the latter found himself installed, at the age of ten years, in the 

 midst of the hereditary traditii)ns of a house which had become, in some sort, 

 the focus of geographical studies. He was charged Avith the arrangement and 

 preservation of those charts, atlases, and globes with which we liave most of us 

 been occupied at some period of our lives. To this labor, Avhich would have 

 repelled the generality of young persons, he gave himself with unbounded de- 

 votion. He lived among his dear maps, assorting, adjusting, studying them; 

 hence he was not long in mastering all that was necessary for understanding 

 them. His vocation stood revealed to him; nor, with such innate tastes, could 

 his eventual accession to this Academy be a matter of doubt, provided that for 

 him, also, the condition stipulated in the distich of La Fontaine should be 

 realized : 



"Little fisli to large will grow, 

 If God shall only life bestow." 



M. Buache, gratified at the manifestation of so happy a turn, afforded every 

 facility in his power for its development. 



The attention of this learned geographer was by no means confined to the 

 commerce of his establishment. He had assisted in the education of the three 

 princes who became, successively, Louis XVI, Louis XVIII, and Charles X, 

 and maintained with the first of these monarchs, himself a distinguished geog- 

 rapher, relations of confidence founded on a similarity of tastes and studies. It 

 is to be presumed that he contributed much towards shaj)ing the views of the 

 excellent King in relation to the expedition of la Perouse, and being intrusted, 

 jointly with M. Pleurieu, with the preparation of instructions for the voyage — 

 instructions strongly impressed Avith the benevolent spirit of Louis XVI — it 

 became necessary for him to execute in the short space of three months a nu- 

 merous series of charts. Naturally he turned for assistance in this labor to his 

 young coadjutor, with Avhose talent for this species of design he had been so 

 much delighted ; and, quite as naturally, the youthful enthusiast, in Avhom 

 there Avas much more than the material for a draughtsman, groAv enamored, 

 as he proceeded, not only of the charts but of the expedition, and eagerly 

 pressed to be alloAved to embark on one of the frigates. Happily for himself 

 and for science, M. Buache decided that, at the age of eighteen, there was yet 

 too much for him to learn to make it advisable that he should engage in such 

 an enterprise, and thus prevented his taking part in that fatal expedition from 

 which no one Avas destined ever to return. 



The young Beaupre had not, hoAvever, escaped the notice of M. de Fleurieu, 

 and Avas transferred as engineer in 1785 from the department of the Marine, in 

 which he had heretofore serA^ed under the orders of M. Buache, to that of the 

 Controls, Avhere, in immediate subordination to M. de Fleurieu, he was required 

 to assist in the execution of the charts of the Baltic KejHune. 



MeauAvhile the expedition commanded by la Perouse had sailed from Brest, 

 August 1, 1785. After having traversed the coasts of the Pacific ocean in aU 

 directions, and moored in the harbor of Botany Bay, it had again put to sea, 

 March 10, 1788, in order to prosecute the route marked in its instructions. 

 From that time nothing had been hdard of it, and apprehensions for its safety 

 began to be entertaineil Avhich Avere unhappily too Avell founded. 



The National Assembly having petitioned the King to despatch armed ves- 

 sels in search of the distinguished navigator, two new frigates, la Recherche 

 and rExperance, Avere designated to sail, under the orders of Rear- Admiral 

 Bruny d'Entrecastcaux, upon this laudable mission ; and this time M. Beau- 



