ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL. 385 



forthwith to the frontier. Unfortunately these struggles 

 of the forum, in which so many noble lives then exer- 

 cised themselves, were far from having always a real 

 importance. Ridiculous, absurd, and burlesque motions 

 injured incessantly the inspirations of a pure, sincere, 

 and enlightened patriotism. The popular society of 

 Auxerre would furnish us, in case- of necessity, with 

 more than one example of those lamentable contrasts. 

 Thus I might say that in the very same apartment 

 wherein Fourier knew how to excite the honourable 

 sentiments which I have with pleasure recalled to mind, 

 he had on another occasion to contend with a certain 

 orator, perhaps of good intentions, but assuredly a bad 

 astronomer, who, wishing to escape, said he, from the 

 good pleasure of municipal rulers, proposed that the 

 names of the north, east, south, and west quarters should 

 be assigned by lot to the different parts of the town of 

 Auxerre. 



Literature, the fine arts, and the sciences appeared for 

 a moment to flourish under the auspicious influence of 

 the French Revolution. Observe, for example, with 

 what grandeur of conception the reformation of weights 

 and measures was planned ; what geometers, what 

 astronomers, what eminent philosophers presided over 

 every department of this noble undertaking ! Alas ! 

 frightful revolutions in the interior of the country soon 

 saddened this magnificent spectacle. The sciences could 

 not prosper in the midst of the desperate contest of fac- 

 tions. They would have blushed to owe any obligations 

 to the men of blood, whose blind passions immolated a 

 Saron, a Bailly, and a Lavoisiere. 



A few months after the 9th Thermidor, the Conven- 

 tion being desirous of diffusing throughout the country 



17 



