MEMOIR 



OF 



M. LE COMTE DE LACEPEDE. 



As LE COMTE DE LACEPEDE was the author of that 

 elegant and classical work on the Cetacea, which 

 for so many years has heen the most popular treatise 

 on the subject, we have thought that we could not 

 submit to the attention of our readers a more ap- 

 propriate biographical memoir than a brief sketch 

 of this very illustrious and most amiable man. 



BERNARD-GERMAIN-ETIENNE DE LA YILLE was 

 born at Agen on December 26, 1756. He was 

 descended from a long line of honourable ancestors ; 

 and his father, Jean Joseph de La Yille, was lieu- 

 tenant-general of Senechausee. Lacepede, however, 

 did not value himself on his extraction, but entered 

 life with the determination of exhibiting his birth 

 only by the urbanity of his manners and the upright- 

 ness of his conduct. This resolution he maintained 

 with the most scrupulous uniformity throughout his 

 chequered history ; his politeness was proverbial, 



