82 EVOLUTION, OLD AND NEW. 



imperfect with a light brighter than they could stand. 

 He would therefore impose upon people, as much as he 

 thought was for their good ; but, on the other hand, he 

 would not allo\v inferior men to mystify them. 



"In the private character of Buffon," says Sir 

 William Jardine in a characteristic passage, " we regret 

 there is not much to praise ; his disposition was kind 

 and benevolent, and he was generally beloved by his 

 inferiors, followers, and dependents, which were numerous 

 over his extensive property ; he was strictly honourable, 

 and was an affectionate parent. In early youth he had 

 entered into the pleasures and dissipations of life, and 

 licentious habits seem to have been retained to the end. 

 But the great blemish in such a mind was his declared 

 infidelity; it presents one of those exceptions among 

 the persons who have been devoted to the study of 

 nature ; and it is not easy to imagine a mind apparently 

 with such powers, scarcely acknowledging a Creator, 

 and when noticed, only by an arraignment for what 

 appeared wanting or defective in his great works. So 

 openly, indeed, was the freedom of his religious opinions 

 expressed, that the indignation of the Sorbonne was 

 provoked. He had to enter into an explanation which 

 he in some way rendered satisfactory ; and while he after- 

 wards attended to the outward ordinances of religion, 

 he considered them as a system of faith for the multitude, 

 and regarded those most impolitic who most opposed 

 them." * 



This is partly correct and partly not. Buffon was a 

 free-thinker, and as I have sufficiently explained, a 

 * 'The Naturalist's Library,' vol. ii. p. 23, Edinburgh, 1843. 



