HE ADDRESSES THE ARMY. 401 



In effect, transport yourselves mentally back to the 

 year 1789, and consider what would be the future pros- 

 pects of the humble convert of St. Benoit-sur-Loire. 

 No doubt a small share of literary glory ; the favour of 

 being heard occasionally in the churches of the metropo- 

 lis ; the satisfaction of being appointed to eulogize such 

 or such a public personage. Well ! nine years have 

 hardly passed and you find him at the head of the Insti- 

 tute of Egypt, and he is the oracle, the idol of a society 

 which counted among its members Bonaparte, Berthol- 

 let, Monge, Mains, Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, Conte, &c. ; 

 and the generals rely upon him for overcoming appar- 

 ently insurmountable difficulties, and the army of the 

 East, itself so rich in adornments of all kinds, would 

 desire no other interpreter when it is necessary to re- 

 count the lofty deeds of the hero which it had just lost. 



It was upon the breach of a bastion which our troops 

 had recently taken by assault, in sight of the most ma- 

 jestic of rivers, of the magnificent valley which it ferti- 

 lizes, of the frightful desert of Lybia, of the colossal 

 pyramids of Gizeh ; it was in presence of twenty 

 populations of different origins which Cairo unites to- 

 gether in its vast basin ; in presence of the most valiant 

 soldiers that had ever set foot on a land, wherein, how- 

 ever, the names of Alexander and of Caesar still resound ; 

 it was in the midst of every thing which could move the 

 heart, excite the ideas, or exalt the imagination, that 

 Fourier unfolded the noble life of Kleber. The orator 

 was listened to with religious silence ; but soon, address- 

 ing himself with a gesture of his hand to the soldiers 

 ranged in battle array before him, he exclaims : " Ah ! 

 how many of you would have aspired to the honour of 

 throwing yourselves between Kleber and his assassin ! 



