UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 13 



but having unfortunately resented some insult 

 ami killed his adversary, he was condemned to 

 die, it being contrary to the rules of the order to 

 use arms against any one but an " enemy of the 

 Faith." The grand-master, however, pardoned 

 him 5 but the pardon not being immediately con- 

 firmed by the Pope, he continued in captivity 

 nine months, before he was released. By this 

 time, Dolomieu had become, as it were, a new 

 man ; the solitude and silence of his prison, and 

 the necessity of dispelling his inquietude by oc- 

 cupation, had given him a habit of deep me- 

 ditation ; and he determined to devote the rest of 

 his life to the acquirement of knowledge. He 

 hesitated for some time between classical litera- 

 ture and natural history ; but, at length, decided 

 for the latter, in which he afterwards made so 

 conspicuous a figure. 



It cannot be denied, Mary says, that this is a 

 proof that the mind may be led by circumstances 

 to any pursuit. She then gave us some anec- 

 dotes of Baron Guyton de Morveau, as being 

 still more favourable to her system. 



" Guy ton's education was not neglected in the 

 common routine of classical and theoretical learn- 

 ing; but his father, who had a passion for building, 

 employed various artificers about his house, and 

 young Guyton insensibly caught a taste for me- 

 chanics. This, which might have been considered 



