HIS REPUGNANCE TO VERBAL Discussions. 441 
“Do not be anxious upon this point,” replied the 
officer, who at that moment seemed to awaken from a 
long dream. “In case of necessity, I might guarantee 
the accuracy of your statement. It was I who, at the 
head of the grenadiers of the 13th and 85th semi-bri- 
gades, forced the entrenchments of Mattaryeh, by patainé 
over the dead bodies of the Janissaries !” 
My neighbour was General Tarayre: you may ech 
much better than I can express, the effect of the few 
words which had just escaped from him. Fourier made 
a thousand excuses, while I reflected upon the seductive 
influence, upon the power of language, which for more 
than half an hour had robbed the celebrated general 
even of the recollection of the part which he had played 
in the battle of giants he was listening to. 
The more our secretary had occasion to converse, the 
greater repugnance he experienced to verbal discussions. 
Fourier cut short every debate as soon as there presented 
itself a somewhat marked difference of opinion, only to 
resume afterwards the same subject upon the modest pre- 
text of making a small step in advance each time. Some 
one asked Fontaine, a celebrated geometer of this Acad- 
emy, how he occupied his thoughts in society, wherein 
he maintained an almost absolute silence: “I observe,” 
he replied, “ the vanity of mankind, to wound it as occa- 
sion offers.” If, like his predecessor, Fourier also studied 
the baser passions which contend for honours, riches, and 
power, it was not in order to engage in hostilities with 
them: resolved never to compromise matters with them, 
he yet so calculated his movements beforehand, as not to 
find himself in their way. We perceive a wide difference 
between this disposition and the ardent impetuous char- 
acter of the young orator of the popular society of 
Auxerre. But what purpose would philosophy serve, 
