348 STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
the intellectual world as princes of science, exonerate 
our neighbours from such ingratitude. Wealth, the 
mammon of this country, is here considered a neces- 
sary requisite for attaining the honours of the peerage: 
but it is different in all other countries. We know 
not the average extent of “ worldly goods” possessed 
by the illustrious men just named; but they have 
never had the reputation of enjoying more than 
what, among us, would be termed moderate inde- 
pendence. Such, at least, was the case with the 
Baron Cuvier, the simplicity of whose table and 
establishment would have been thought mean by 
a purse-proud shopkeeper of London, Yet, if these 
and numerous others, scarcely inferior in the re- 
public of science, were not wealthy, they were suf- 
ficiently rewarded by appropriate offices in the state, 
or by pensions, to be placed above the necessity of 
labouring in matters foreign to science. They were 
rendered independent, and thus enabled to direct, 
undisturbed, all the energies of their talents to the 
respective sciences they have so much adorned. 
Can we find any parallel instances to these in 
Britain? can we point to such names as Dalton, 
Ivory, Herschel, Murdock, Henry Bell, Robert 
Brown, and many others; and say that any one has 
received honours worthy of such names, or have 
had the means given to them to secure a respect- 
able independence? Nor is this studied patronage 
of philosophy confined to France. ‘Turn where we 
will, either to the leading powers or to the subor- 
dinate states of Europe, the same fostering pro- 
tection shows itself. Prussia has risen to a proud 
pre-eminence in this respect. The attachment of 
