LAVOISIEK. 267 



have been to retain Halley or Maclaurin in theirs, had 

 the sacred head of Newton been threatened by the sacri- 

 legious hands of their colleagues. The charge against 

 Fourcroy amounts to no more; for there is no evidence 

 whatever to support the accusation often brought against 

 him, that he had instigated the atrocious crime which 

 placed all the republic of letters in mourning, and covered 

 that of France with infamy hardly to be effaced. M. 

 Cuvier tells us that the " most strict researches had left 

 him unable to discover the least proof in support of this 

 horrid charge, and he states that this imputation " had 

 been the torment of M. Fourcroy's life."* This is very 

 credible ; the charge is hardly credible at all. But men's 

 admiration of Halle will remain for ever; and if their 

 suspicions of Fourcroy should ever be removed, they 

 must at least regard his want of courage with contempt 

 rather than pity. 



The great man whose life was thus sacrificed, was as 

 much to be loved in private life as he was to be revered 

 among philosophers. His manners were simple and 

 engaging, his generosity unbounded, his conduct without 

 reproach. His case formed no exception to the general 

 rule, which seems almost always to forbid genius from 

 descending in families, for he died childless. His widow, 

 a person of remarkable abilities and great information, 

 shared in his pursuits, and even took upon herself the 

 task of engraving the plates that accompanied his 

 'Elements/ She survived him many years, and late in life 

 was married to Count Rumford, whom she also outlived. 



* Eloge de Fourcroy, Mem. de Flnstitut, An 1810. (Tome XL, 

 Phys. et Math.) 



