BARON CUVTER. 161 



inventions and enterprises of other countries were as inter- 

 esting to him as those of his own. Every letter to me, at 

 the time that the accidents happened to the tunnel under 

 the Thames, contained inquiries concerning it : the steam 

 carriages, rail roads, suspension-bridges, and public institu- 

 tions, were all subjects of correspondence : he read, or made 

 others read to him, all the attempts that had previously 

 taken place to perfect the same undertaking ; and when a 

 person from the country in which the scheme was going for- 

 ward came to see him, he was prepared to converse with 

 the stranger as one deeply learned in the matter. He wast 

 one day talking to a gentleman high in office at one of our 

 national establishments ; and after mentioning the ex- 

 penses of the Museum, &c. at the Jardin des Plantes, he 

 to the great surprise of his companion, stated to a fraction 

 the former, and actual costs of the British Museum. He 

 could not bear to be inactive for an instant ; and once, 

 while sitting for a portrait, which was to face the quarto 

 edition of his " Discours sur les Revolutions du Globe," 

 Mile. Duvaucel read to him the " Fortunes of Nigel." 

 He had a map of London at his elbow, which the artist 

 allowed him occasionally to consult ; and the Latin of King 

 James often excited a smile, which was a desirable expres- 

 sion lor the painter ; but unhappily the engraver was not a 

 faithful copyist, and. this published portrait is anything but 

 a resemblance. 



A change of occupation was a relaxation to M. Cuvier 

 perhaps the greatest of all was conversation ; but there 

 was yet a third, which was to throw himself on a sofa, hide 

 his eyes from the light, and listen to the readings of his 

 wife and daughters, and, occasionally, that of M. Lauril- 

 lard. By these nightly readings, for they only took place 

 when he could not work any longer, he became acquainted 

 with the literature of the whole civilized world ; and no 

 one was better able to appreciate it. for he looked on it as 

 a picture of the human mind, and judged by it of the 

 state of civilization in the country where the various works 

 were published. He frequently thus renewed his acquain- 

 tance with books read long before, in order to mark the 

 changes which had taken place in the lapse of years ; and 

 the number of volumes perused in this way was immense, 



o* 



