378 JOSEPH FOURIER. 
which was conducted at that time by the Benedictines 
of the Convent of St. Mark. There he prosecuted his 
literary studies with surprising rapidity and success. 
Many sermons very much applauded at Paris in the 
mouth of high dignitaries of the Church were emana- 
tions from the pen of the schoolboy of twelve years of 
age. It would be impossible in the present day to 
trace those first compositions of the youth Fourier, since, 
while divulging the plagiarism, he had the discretion 
never to name those who profited by it. 
At thirteen years Fourier had the petulance, the noisy 
vivacity of most young people of the same age; but his 
character changed all at once, and as if by enchantment, 
as soon as he was initiated in the first principles of 
mathematics, that is to say, as soon as he became sen- 
sible of his real vocation. The hours prescribed for 
study no longer sufficed to gratify his insatiable curi- 
osity. Ends of candles carefully collected in the kitchen, 
the corridors and the refectory of the college, and placed 
on a hearth concealed by a screen, served during the 
night to illuminate the solitary studies by which Fourier 
prepared himself for those labours which were destined, 
a few years afterwards, to adorn his name and his 
country. 
In a military school directed by monks, the minds of | 
the pupils necessarily waver only between two careers 
in life—the church and the sword. Like Descartes, 
Fourier wished to be a soldier; like that philosopher, he 
would doubtless have found the life of a garrison very 
wearisome. But he was not permitted to make the ex- 
periment. His demand to undergo the examination for 
the artillery, although strongly supported by our illustrious 
colleague Legendre, was rejected with a severity of ex- 
