BUFFOK. 14'1 



Euclid with a fervour equal to that displayed by Parson 

 Adams for his ^Eschylus. 



►Such a mode of spending leisure hours, which other- 

 wise would have been those of play, brought forth its 

 fruits in due season, and many stories were current that 

 he had anticipated Newton in some of his discoveries, 

 but that he had withheld his claim, observing that 

 people were not obliged to accept the assertion. These 

 statements, in the light of the present day, should 

 be received with reserve, for, to leave dates out of the 

 question, it cannot be denied that vanity was certainly 

 not absent as an ingredient in the character of young 

 Buffon. 



When he was about twenty years of age he made the 

 acquaintance of Lord Kingston and his tutor, both 

 of whom he met at Dijon. This soon ripened into 

 friendship, and he arranged to travel through Italy in 

 their company. The tutor appears to have been 

 possessed of high scientific attainments, and his pupil 

 at the same time a ready partner in his pleasures. 

 While in Italy he received intelligence of the deatli of 

 his mother, a lady of considerable intelligence. This 

 event placed him in possession of a large income, nearly 

 £12,000 a year, and from this time onward his life was 

 a completely independent one, and he was enabled to 

 devote himself entirely to his scientific pursuits. 



On his return to Montbard, he, on account of some 

 private entanglement, found it necessary to leave the 

 place for a brief period, and he accordingly went to 

 Paris, and visited England. He did not settle on b a 

 estate "for good" until he had reached twenty-five. 



