1818.] M. Le Sage. 245 



sophy, that it appeared to him the only object worthy of his 

 attention ; and being totally devoid of the ambition of acquiring 

 wealth, he was anxious to devote his whole life to study. But 

 his father, who felt the disadvantages of his own confined circum- 

 stances, insisted upon the young man entering on some vocation 

 which might afford a more certain and ample means of subsist- 

 ence, and these prudential views finally prevailed over the ardent; 

 yet timid spirit of the son. After wavering for some time be- 

 tween theology and medicine, he finally decided in favour of the 

 latter ; and for this purpose left his father's roof, and went to 

 pursue his studies at the University of Basle. 



Although, by his removal from Geneva, he was freed from 

 the immediate tyranny of his parents, it does not appear that his 

 comfort was much increased by the change. His manner and 

 disposition were totally adverse to his entrance into the world, 

 his shyness and awkwardness were become more conspicuous, 

 and his limited finances did not enable him to profit by the 

 advantages of his situation, although he eked out his scanty 

 income by teaching mathematics. Yet, notwithstanding these 

 obstacles, he enjoyed at Basle a comparatively tranquil exist- 

 ence ; and he looked back upon this period of his life with a 

 degree of regret, which would lead us to fear that happiness was, 

 at all times, dealt out to him with a very sparing hand. In this 

 situation he remained little more than a year, and then went to 

 continue his medical studies at Paris. Here he had to contend 

 with the same difficulties as at Basle, his want of personal address, 

 the narrow state of his finances, and the confirmed dislike which 

 he felt for the studies peculiar to the profession which he had 

 chosen. He appears, indeed, to have been sensibly alive to the 

 many unpleasant circumstances which attended his progress 

 through life and clouded his future prospects. In some of his 

 letters, which are still extant, he describes with much force and 

 naivete the mortifications and privations to which he was daily 

 subjected; yet he submitted with his usual resignation and meek- 

 ness to what he regarded as his unalterable fate, and never 

 ventured to contradict, or even to expostulate with his father 

 on any of the points on which they had formed such opposite 

 opinions. His residence at Paris was, however, in some respects 

 the most important period of his life ; for although his time was 

 chiefly devoted to pursuits that were altogether uninteresting, or 

 even irksome to him, yet his unremitting diligence enabled him 

 to reap some advantage from the situation in which we was now 

 placed, at the fountain-head of learning and science. His genius 

 seized every opportunity which offered of expanding itself, and 

 h<- made a certain, although not tfery considerable progress in 

 the path to which his early taste had so decidedly directed him. 

 The smallness of his income induced him at Paris to devote partof 

 bis time to instruction, as he had before done atBasle, and he was 

 engaged as a tutor in a private family for the space of a year; 



