BARON CUVIER. IDi* 



on all occasions. If she were ill, ten times in the course of 

 the day would he mount up-stairs to inquire at her bedside 

 how she felt ; if she coughed it seemed to give a pang to his 

 very heart ; and, on her part, could her redoubled devotion 

 towards him and her mother have filled up the void, their 

 great loss would have been repaired. 



In 1830, as we have already seen, M. Cuvier paid his 

 last visit to England, in which journey he was accompanied 

 by Mile. Duvaucel, who was willingly spared by her mo- 

 ther: for so fondly had these two beings watched over him, 

 that he almost required the one or the other to be constantly 

 with him. This visit happening as it did during the period 

 of the last revolution, caused several reports in this country 

 of their having fled to avoid danger. Hearing these surmises 

 whispered about the hotel where they resided, M. Cuvier's 

 faithful valet ventured to repeat them, and asked his master 

 if he were really ignorant of what was about to take place. 

 " Do you think, Lombard," replied M. Cuvier, mildly, " that 

 if I had been aware of that which was about to happen, 1 

 should have left Madame Cuvier ?" To those who knew 

 the man, this answer was the best refutation to such suppo- 

 sitions. The fact was, that the opportunities of absenting 

 himself were rare, and feeling the necessity of coming to 

 England for scientific purposes, more especially connected 

 with his great work on fishes ; feeling also that a change 

 was required by his constitution, so overcharged with men- 

 tal labour, a mere apprehension was not likely to deter him 

 from a project which had been delayed in its execution by a 

 concurrence of untoward circumstances. Till M. Arago 

 was elected in the place of Baron Fourrier, M. Cuvier could 

 not quit his Secretaryship of the Academy of Sciences, the 

 duties of which were doubled by the death of the latter; and, 

 further than that, it was requisite for him to read his admi- 

 rable eloges on Sir Humphry Davy and M. Vauquelin, at 

 the next general meeting of the Institute, and the postpone- 

 ment of that meeting threw another obstacle in the way of 

 his immediate departure. I have already mentioned how 

 deceived he was by the apparent tranquillity of Paris on the 

 morning in which he left it, and how he was induced to 

 proceed even after he had determined to return from Calais. 



As I have here spoken of the meeting of the Academies 



