402 D'ALEMBERT. 



own observation that nothing was wanting of care and 

 attention to secure her comforts. When he became 

 famous his mother's vanity led her to desire his intimacy, 

 a step which natural affection had not suggested. Dis- 

 covering to him the secret of his birth, she would have 

 had him come and live with her. But he plainly said 

 he regarded the nurse as his mother, and only saw a 

 step-mother in Mme. Tencin.* 



In this obscure retreat he devoted himself to his daily 

 pursuits. Such books of mathematics as he could pur- 

 chase he bought; others he was obliged to consult at 

 the public libraries. From the very small scale of his 

 library, and from the degree to which in his education 

 and his subsequent studies he was left to himself, it 

 happened that he was constantly making what seemed 

 to him discoveries, and as constantly finding in some 

 book, which he had not before been able to consult, that 

 he had been anticipated. He drew from hence a very 

 inaccurate inference ; he supposed that nature had 

 refused him the gift of original genius, and that he must 

 rest satisfied with studying what others had discovered. 

 But this gave him no pain; the gratification of investi- 

 gating mathematical truth was all he desired, and with 

 tasting that in his studies he was abundantly contented, 

 regarding the glory of first making the step a very sub- 

 ordinate consideration, and esteeming the pleasure of the 



* "Que me dites-vous la, madame?" he exclaimed; "Ah! vous 

 n'etes qu'une maratre ! (Test la vitriere qui est ma mere." This 

 touching anecdote is differently related by some, as Grimm in his 

 'Correspondence.' They report the interview as having taken place 

 in presence of the old nurse; that D'Alembert exclaimed, "Ma mere! 

 Ah! la voila ! Je ne connais point d'autre." And therewithal fell 

 upon her neck and bathed it in his tears. 



