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 



