156 MEMOIRS OP 



if he could, he would have prevented their wishes, inquir 

 ing if they had all they required in their own rooms, sum 

 moning them to the drawing-room, if, by chance, any on< 

 arrived whom he thought they would like to see, express!; 

 inviting those to his house who had excited either their cu 

 riosity or interest, and devising every thing he could thin] 

 of for their enjoyment or entertainment. At the time whei 

 Paris was half mad about the Greeks, he suddenly re-ap 

 peared, after he had taken leave of us, with a beautifi 

 Greek boy, the son of Colocotroni, whom he had accidentall; 

 met as he quitted the Jardin ; but, fancying that we shoul 

 like to be acquainted with this intelligent, animated chile 

 he took the trouble of coming back on purpose to preseu 

 him to us. He frequently walked, or rode home in a cabriole 

 in order to lend his carriage to the ladies of his house ; if 

 wish was expressed to see a scarce book that his own irr 

 mense library did not contain, he would bring it home fror 

 the Institute for inspection ; and, while carrying on th 

 most important duties of the savant and the legislator, h 

 yet found time to think of others and their trifling desire; 

 Now and then, when the summer lessened some of hi 

 heavy public duties, he would take a walk with us ; and n 

 schoolboy, with permission to go out of bounds, could s< 

 off with more delight than we all did. Sometimes h 

 would confine himself to the Jardin ; and in one of thee 

 more limited excursions he was attracted by the brilliant af 

 pearance of the Coreopsis tinctoria, which was then new i 

 France, and which he saw for the first time during this ran 

 ble. He in vain inquired the name of us, and we contim i 

 ed our walk. On returning to the house, he quitted us i \ 

 the door, and, in about half an hour, he re-appeared, am 

 stopping, for an instant, as he descended to his carriage, h 

 said, " Ladies, I have been to M. Deleuze (a learned bota 

 nist of the Jardin,) and ascertained the name of the flow 

 er:" he then gave it us, genus, species, country, and th 

 reason for its appellation, and, making his bow, retired, pel 

 fectly happy at the knowledge he had acquired and inr 

 parted. As in this trifling circumstance, so was it in a 

 things ; he never hesitated saying when he did not know 

 he never rested till he did know, if the means of acquirin 

 the information were within his reach ; and, once knowi 



