THE Mass of the atheist. 439 



fusion, of the causes of life, of the life which precedes life, and that 

 which it will be by its preparations previous to being. To him the 

 terrestrial atmosphere was a generating- envelope, he saw the earth 

 as an egg in its shell ; and, not being able to ascertain from whence 

 it proceeded, he refused his credence to an assigned origin : he be- 

 lieved neither in man, posterior, nor in God. Desplein was not in a 

 state of doubt, he affirmed. His atheism was simple and frank like 

 that of many philosophers, the honestest men in the world, but in- 

 vincibly atheists, atheists to a degree that religious men refuse to 

 believe that atheism can exist. And that followed not unnaturally 

 with a man accustomed fi-om his youth to dissect the being of beings 

 before, during, and after life, to dive into its profoundest secrets 

 without finding any traces of that individual soul so indispensable 

 to every religious system. On finding these three centres, the cere- 

 bral, the nervous, and the aero-sanguine, of which the first two are 

 so well qualified for replacing each other, he entertained during the 

 latter part of his life the conviction that the sense of hearing was 

 not absolutely necessary in order to hear, nor the sense of vision ab- 

 solutely necessary in order to see, and that the Plexus Solaris re- 

 placed them beyond the possibility of doubt. Desplein, finding thus 

 as it were two souls in 'man, corroborated his atheism by this fact ; 

 and although he still abstained from prejudging the Supreme Being, 

 this man died, it is said, in that state of final impenitence in which so 

 many gifted spirits have quitted their earthly existence, and whom 

 may God mercifully pardon. 



The life of this man, great as he really was, presented many 

 littlenesses, pefitesses, to employ the French expression, which his 

 jealous enemies made use of in order to tarnish his reputation and 

 give vent to their envious spleen, but which it would be more 

 agreeable to the truth to describe as apparent inconsistencies. 

 Never understanding the motives by which superior minds are im- 

 pelled to action, the envious or the silly arm themselves in haste with 

 some superficial contradictions in order to draw up a bill of indict- 

 ment, by means of which they subject them to an ephemeral cen- 

 sure. If at a later period success crowns the attacked combinations, 

 rashly deemed incongruous, by showing their correlativeness, a little of 

 the preparatory calumny is still sure to remain. Thus, in our times, 

 Napoleon was condemned by his contemporaries, when he endea- 

 voured to extend the wings of his eagle over England, and con- 

 structed his flat-bottomed boats at Boulogne: 1814 was necessary to 

 the right understanding of 1804. With Desplein, fame and science 

 being invulnerable, his enemies took advantage of his whimsical 

 humour and singular temper, while the plain fact was that he 

 merely possessed that quality termed by the English eccentricity. 

 Sometimes he might be seen superbly dressed like Crebillon the 

 tragic writer, at others affecting a singular indifference as to his 

 vestirients. Sometimes in a carriage. Sometimes on foot. By turns ab- 

 rupt and gentle. In appearance sharp and avaricious, hut capable of 

 offering his entire fortune to his exiled masters, who accepted it for 

 a short period. Never did the character of any iiulivitltutl give room 

 for more contradictory judgments. Although capable, in order to 



