The ^^ Institute Subscribes, 



173 



was driving a pencil with great rapidity, and I discov- 

 ered that he was actually engaged in making his report. 

 I thought of La Fontaine's * Fable of the Turtle and the 

 Hare,' and of many other things ; and I was surprised 

 that so great a man, who, of course, being great, must 

 take care of each of his actions with a thousand times 

 more care than a common individual, to prevent falls, 

 when surrounded, as all great men are, by envy, cow- 

 ardice, malice, and all other evil spirits, should leave to 

 the last moment the writing of a report, to every word of 

 which the ' Forty of France' would lend a critical ear. We 

 were now in his cabinet ; my enormous book lay before 

 him, and I shifted swiftly the different plates that he had 

 marked for examination. His pencil kept constantly 

 moving ; he turned and returned the sheets of his 

 pamphlet with amazing accuracy, and noted as quickly as 

 he saw all that he saw. We were both wet with perspira- 

 tion. When this was done, he invited me to call on him 

 to-morrow at half-past ten, and went off towards the 

 council-room. 



" Septe7iiber 23. I waited in Cuvier's departmental 

 section until past eleven, when he came in, as much in a 

 hurry as ever, and yet as kind as ever, always the per- 

 fect gentleman. The report had been read, and the In- 

 stitute, he said, had subscribed for one copy ; and he 

 told me the report would appear in next Saturday's 

 * Globe.' I called on M. Feuillet, principal librarian of 

 the Institute, to inquire how I was to receive the sub- 

 scription. He is a large, stout man, had on a hunting- 

 cap, and began by assuring me that the Institute was in 

 the habit of receiving a discount on all the works it takes. 

 My upper lip curled, not with pleasure, but with a sneer 

 at such a request ; and I told the gentleman that I nev- 

 er made discounts on a work which cost me a life of much 

 trouble and too much expense ever to be remunerated j 

 so the matter dropped. 



