144 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 



On returning to Montbard, however, he resolutely 

 pursued his studies, and as it may not be uninteresting 

 to those who think life was not given to us to be passed in 

 mere frivolities, to know how Buff on passed his time, we 

 select the following from a modern biographer. There is 

 every reason to conclude that the history of one day 

 was to a large extent similar to that of all the others, 

 generally speaking, throughout a period of fifty years : — 

 "After he was dressed he dictated letters and 

 regulated his domestic affairs, and at six o'clock he 

 retired to his studies at the pavilion called the Tower of 

 St. Louis. This pavilion was situated at the extremity 

 of the garden, and the only furniture which it contained 

 were a large wooden secretaire and an arm-chair. 

 No books or pictures relieved the naked appearance 

 of the apartment, or distracted the thoughts of 

 the learned possessor. The entrance was by green 

 folding-doors ; the walls were painted green, and the 

 interior had the appearance of a chapel, on account of 

 the elevation of the roof. Within this was another 

 cabinet, where Buffon resided the greater part of the 

 year, owing to the coldness of the other apartment, and 

 in this room he wrote the greater number of his works. 

 It was a small square building, situated on the side of a 

 terrace, and was ornamented with drawings of birds 

 and insects. Prince Henrv of Prussia called it the 



t/ 



" cradle of natural history," and Rousseau, before he 

 entered it, used to fall on his knees and kiss the 

 threshold. At nine o'clock Buffon usually took an 

 hour's rest, and his breakfast, which consisted of a piece 

 of bread and two glasses of wine, was brought to his 



