ELOGE OF VAUBAN. 13 
and soars majestically into the air. Oh! on the instant 
passing without transition from the most complete in- 
credulity to an unbounded confidence in the powers of 
the human mind, the old Maréchale falls on her knees, 
and, her eyes bathed in tears, gasps forth these sad 
words: “ Yes, it is decided, now it is certain; THEY will 
discover the secret of never dying, but ¢t will be when I 
am dead!” 
Carnot, being of a rigorous turn of mind (though he 
was not yet eighty years of age), took good care not to 
go so far as the Maréchale de Villeroi. Nevertheless, he 
appeared in the ranks of the enthusiasts. He then be- 
lieved, and always did so afterwards, in the possibility of 
directing balloons, and consequently in the applications 
which science and the art of war had hoped from them. 
The archives of the Academy ought to contain a paper 
in which Captain Carnot of the engineers submitted to 
the authorities an arrangement of light oars, which, in 
his opinion, should attain the desired end. This paper 
has not yet been discovered. I will continue my re- 
searches for it, and if the work seems likely to add to 
the reputation of our fellow academician, the public shall 
not be deprived of it. Perhaps I shall join with it a 
memoir of the same nature, also unpublished, by another 
academician, the illustrious Meunier. 
ELOGE OF VAUBAN BY CARNOT.—HIS DISCUSSIONS 
WITH M. DE MONTALEMBERT. 
A certain literary society of a very small town once 
on a time gave itself the title, on its own full authority, 
of Daughter of the French Academy. Voltaire thought 
that they should not refuse it this title: “ Indeed, I 
esteem her,” said he, “as a very virtuous daughter, 
