162 MEMOIRS OF 



though the reading seldom or never lasted more than two 1 

 hours. There was yet another advantage which attended i 

 this manner of closing the day by such a rational amuse- i 

 ment : it served to quiet his mind, which had often been '. 

 previously excited ; and ensured him that undisturbed re- i 

 pose, which fitted him for succeeding labours, and which 

 his appearance the next morning generally indicated that 

 he had enjoyed. Could that man's slumbers be otherwise 

 than sweet, who had passed every moment in the fulfilment 

 of the most important duties of life ? The services thus 

 rendered to M. Cuvier were often returned by him in kind ; 

 for if any member of his family were ill, he would take his 

 books and his newspapers to the bed-side, and read aloud 

 by the hour together. He never slept except at night ; and 

 I never heard of any one surprising him in such a state of 

 inaction at any hour in the day, in his house or carnage, 

 whatever might have been the fatigue he had undergone. 

 No one was ever more sensible to kindness than M. 

 Cuvier, and the slightest services always received acknow- 

 ledgments beyond their value ; it is not surprising, then, 

 that in the same character there should be an equal sensibi- 

 lity to ingratitude. To find any one thus return the affection- 

 ate cares he had bestowed, was a real affliction ; and as an 

 instance, among several others, I recollect that, during one 

 of my visits to his house, he appeared most unusually sad, 

 and all the efforts to amuse him were repaid by a mournful 

 smile. All his family were aware that no calamity could 

 have produced this, and guessed it was some trouble con- 

 nected with others, into which they had, perhaps, no right 

 to inquire ; and they were not wrong in their conjectures. 

 Walking home one evening quietly with his daughter-in-law, 

 in reply to her remarks upon his dejection, he confessed that 

 a favourite friend and pupil had, from motives of self-inter- 

 est, publicly sided with his enemies, and it was an afflic- 

 tion to which he could not easily reconcile himself. 



The benevolence of M. Cuvier was evinced in every form 

 by which it could be serviceable to others ; and students 

 themselves have told me, that he has found them out in 

 their retreats, where advice, protection, and pecuniary assis- 

 tance were all freely bestowed. Frequently did his friends 

 tax him with his generosity, as a sort of imprudence ; but 



