1831.] The Character and Anecdotes of Nicolas Chamfori. 373 



simply this : — the dishonest man and the fool have less difficulty in assimilating 

 themselves to the manners and tone of the world in general — which is, in fact, 

 nothing but dishonesty and folly ; while, on the other hand, the man of honour 

 and talent, not being able to enter immediately into a commerce with society, 

 loses an opportunity the most precious for ' pushing his fortune.' The first are 

 merchants, who, knowing the language of the country, dispose of their goods, 

 and provision themselves without delay ; the others are obliged to learn the 

 language of the sellers and the purchasers, before they can either submit their 

 merchandize to public inspection, or enter into any arrangements. Sometimes 

 they disdain to make themselves acquainted witli this language, and then they return 

 to their own homes without even a handsel." 



The concluding remark is full of melancholy reality. How many 

 proudly-gifted men, from the Grecian philosopher to our own painter, 

 Wilson, have passed from the cradle to the grave, unhonoured and 

 unappreciated by their contemporaries, and unornamented by any of the 

 Avorld's honours, simply because of their ignorance of this necessary 

 dialect ! He who is the most conversant with the feelings and tempers 

 of men, is, after all, a greater linguist than Magliabrachi ; for that 

 language alone, so universal is its acceptation, will carry them from one 

 end of the world to the other. 



There is something grand and striking in this observation upon 

 Bacon : — 



"When we behold Bacon, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, pointing 

 out to the spirit of man the path which it ought to follow to rebuild the edifice 

 of the sciences, we cease to admire the great men who succeeded him — such 

 as Boyle, Locke, &c. He distributed to them the land which they were either 

 to clear or to conquer. It is Caesar, lord of the world, after the victory of Phar- 

 salia, bestowing his kingdoms and provinces upon his partizans and favour- 

 ites." 



The aphorism has more of imposing effect than truth to support it. I 

 am perfectly ready to agree with Chamfort in considering the author of 

 the treatise on the " Human Understanding" much over-rated : he bor- 

 rowed his system from Hobbes. Columbus was not the first discoverer 

 of America, j^et the credit will always be assigned to him by the majo- 

 rity. Philosophy, after all her vauntings, has done little during her 

 long sojourn amongst us ; she appears to become more feminine and 

 gentle every year of her existence; no longer the Minerva of the 

 ancients, breast-plated and helmeted, yet beautiful exceedingly in her 

 majestic loveliness — the instructress of Socrates — the companion of Plato ! 

 A philosopher, as Chamfort remarks in another place, is a man who 

 opposes nature to law, and reason to custom, and conscience to opinion, 

 and judgment to error. A philosopher would dare to be virtuous in 

 the saloon of a theatre, and to speak the truth at a court drawing-room. 

 Need we wonder at the paucity of such individuals ? 



I will give two or three remarks from the chapter Dcs Femmes de 

 I' Amour a Marriage, &c. The author's experience constituted him a 

 ]\Ientor worthy of belief: — 



" Women have phantasies, infatuations, and sometimes tastes ; they can 

 even occasionally elevate themselves to the passions. The quality of which they 

 arc least susceptible is — attachment. They are made to hold communion with 

 our weakness, with our folly, but not with our reason. There subsists between 

 them and man an external sympathy — des sympathies d'ejiiderme, as the author 



