CONTINENTAL PATRONAGE. 34-7 



Russia, and last, though not least, the famous 

 Linnaeus in Sweden, are some of the most striking 

 and familiar instances where scientific attainments 

 were rewarded either with high appointments, 

 honorary rank, or liberal pensions ; but, what was 

 still more gratifying to the feelings of such men, 

 they enjoyed the confidence of their sovereigns, the 

 converse of their ministers, and the influence they 

 merited. Such an age was not unworthy of that 

 which immediately preceded it, when the sun of 

 patronage arose with such lustre in Italy, and shed 

 a halo of glory over the reign of the Medici, 

 the Emperor Rodolph II., and those sovereigns and 

 princes who courted the acquaintance of Tycho 

 Brahe, and contended for the honour of retaining 

 Descartes at their respective courts. These, and 

 other equally striking proofs of the respect and 

 admiration paid to such men need not be dwelt 

 upon ; for it may be urged in explanation, that high 

 scientific attainments were then rare, and were con- 

 sequently more calculated to excite wonder and 

 respect than they are at present. 



(242.) Let us now bring the parallel nearer to 

 our own times ; and let us see if, in an age wherein 

 science is more diffused, — and has by this diffusion 

 lost part of its wonderment in the eyes of the mul- 

 titude, — whether other nations treat it with that 

 indifference and neglect which we complain of. Is 

 France, in the nineteenth century, indifferent to her 

 scientific sons? and does she suffer her philosophers 

 to live unhonoured and unrewarded. Let the names 

 of La Place, Chaptal, Carnot, and Cuvier, created 

 by the government peers o f France, and esteemed by 



