THE LAST YEARS 389 



eyes starting, his walk tottering, and hardly able to speak intelligibly. 

 His mind has not suffered. He is conscious of his condition and yet 

 feels the need of society and distraction. Madame Necker is very 

 interesting between her father and her children.' 



Another intimate sketch, from Mile, de Constant, helps us to 

 realise the domestic situation, and the bravery of the wife and 

 daughter in attempting to furnish some interest to pass the hours 

 of the sorely stricken invalid : 



' We often see my neighbours ; Madame de Saussure, the mother, 

 has written a romance and we meet to hear it read, which provides 

 pleasant evenings. The good lady is quite ashamed of her effort, 

 she apologises for it as a folly, assuring us that it was the result of a 

 convalescence [Madame de Saussure had been seriously ill in 1790] 

 that had reduced her to writing it, and that she wondered how she 

 could have the courage to read it in company. " It passes my under- 

 standing," she says, " how in this country people set up without 

 scruple as beaux esprits" In effect to write romances is to be in the 

 local fashion. There is no one who cannot draw from his or her pocket 

 a manuscript sufficient to meet the occasion. M. de Saussure takes so 

 much interest in his wife's production that directly the story becomes 

 at all moving it is interrupted by his sobs.' 1 



Madame Necker-de Saussure herself has completed the picture : 



' What a sad return for his noble and useful labours. If old age 

 in itself commands respect, what sentiment ought to be excited by 

 this premature decay, this voluntary sacrifice. How much more 

 ought we to reverence the victim of science than the victim of years. 

 His mind has preserved all its energy as his works prove, but if he 

 still lives for his own reputation and the progress of science he no 

 longer lives for happiness. These are the limits on every side set 

 round the destiny of man ; the devouring activity which raises him 

 is fated to consume him, for thought as for the summits of the Alps 

 there is an elevation where it is no longer possible to breathe.' 



The great botanist de Candolle records visits about the same 

 date, and the singular advice de Saussure gave him ; advice 

 interesting, as it shows how completely geology had absorbed his 

 attention, and leads us to believe that if his last publication was a 



1 MSS. letters from Rosalie de Constant to her brother. One of these letters 

 is quoted in a volume, Rosalie, de, Constant, sa famille et ses amis, par Mile. L. 

 Achard (Geneve, 1902). 



