454 
a Grange, curacy and dispatch what is wanting to complete the 
Joseph 
Louis. 
work, and perhaps even memoirs entirely new. - 
« During this conversation, which lasted more than 
two hours, his memory often failed him ; he made vain 
efforts to recover names and dates, but his discourse 
was always connected, full of strong thoughts and bold 
expressions.” This exercise of his faculties wasted the 
whole remains of his strength. Scarcely had his friends 
left him, when he fell into a fainting fit, and he died 
two days after, on the 10th of ‘April, 1813, at three 
quarters past nine o'clock in the morning.* 
M. la Grange was of a delicate but good complexion. 
His tranquillity, his moderation, an austere and frugal 
regimen from which he rarely deviated, prolonged his 
life to the age of 77 years, two months, and ten days. 
He was twice married: first at Berlin, in order to be 
on a footing with the rest of the academicians, none 
of whom were bachelors. He brought from Turin one 
of his relations. He married her, and lost her after a 
long illness, during which he had bestowed on her the 
most tender and unremitted care. When he afterwards 
married, in France, Mademoiselle Lemonnier, daugh- 
ter of the celebrated astronomer of that name, he said to 
us, “ I had no children by my first marriage ; I do not 
know if I shall have them by my second; but I searcely 
desire them.” 
amiable companion, whose society might afford him 
some amusement during the intervals of his studies, 
and in this respect he was very successful. Madame 
la Grange, daughter, grandaughter, and niece, of mem- 
bers of the Academy of Sciences, was deserving of the 
name which he gave her. This advantage in her eyes 
making up for the difference of their ages, she soon felt 
for him the tenderest regard, He was so grateful that 
he could scarcely bear to be separated from her, and 
it. was on her account alone that he felt any regret at 
relinquishing this life; and he was often heard to say, 
that of all his good fortune, that which he prized the 
most was having obtained a companion so tender and 
attached tohim. During the ten days that his illness 
lasted, she never quitted him for a moment, and was 
constantly employed in recruiting his strength and pro- 
longing his existence. 
He loved retirement ; but did not insist upon his 
young wife following his example. On her account he 
went out more frequently, and indeed his high situa- 
tions obliged him to show himself in the world. It 
was often a ge that he continued the meditations 
in public which he had begun in his cabinet. It has 
been said that he was not insensible to the charms of 
music, In fact, in a numerous company he was not 
displeased at a concert. On one of those occasions I 
asked him what he thought of the music: «I love it,” 
says he, “ because it leaves me to myself. I listen to it 
during the first three measures, but I hear no more of 
it; I give myself up to reflection, nothing interrupts 
me, and in this way I have solved many a difficult 
problem.” Hence the finest music must have been 
that during which he was inspired with the finest of his 
thoughts. 
What he principally wished was an ‘ 
GRANGE. 
Though he had a venerable figure, he would ne- Lat 
ver allow his portrait to be drawn. More than once, 
by a very excusable piece of address, persons have | ; 
been introduced during the meeting of the Institute, 
to take a sketch of him without his knowledge. An 
artist sent by the Academy of Turin drew in this 
manner the outline from which was constructed the 
bust that was exhibited for some months in the hall 
of the Institute, and is at present in the library. A 
cast was taken of him after his death ; and some time 
before, while he slept, a picture of him was taken, 
which is said to resemble him very much, . 
Gentle and even timid in conversation, he took a 
pleasure in asking questions, either to draw out others, 
or to add their reflections to his own vast knowledge. 
When he spoke, it was always in a tone of doubt, and 
his first words usually were, I do not know. He re« 
spected the opinions of others, and was very far from 
laying down his own as a rule. Yet it was not easy 
to make him change them. Sometimes he even de- 
fended them with a degree of heat, which continued 
to increase till he was sensible of some alteration in 
himself; then he immediately resumed his usual tran- 
quillity. One day, after a discussion of this kind, M. 
la Grange having left the room, Borda remaining alone 
with me, allowed these words to escape him: “ I am 
sorry to say it of a man like M. la G , but I da 
not know a more obstinate person.” If Borda had 
gone away first, La pmange might have said to me as 
much of our associate, who was a man of excellent. 
sense and considerable wit ; but who, like La Grange, 
did not easily abandon those opinions which he had 
adopted after a mature examination. vit 
A gentle and good-natured irony was often remarks 
able in the tone of his voice ; but I never saw any per- 
son hurt at it; because it was necessary to have well: 
understood every thing that went before to perceive 
the true intention of it. 
Among all the master-pieces which we owe to his 
genius, his Mecanique is certainly the most remarkable 
and the most important. The Fonctions Analytiques 
hold only the second place, notwithstanding the fruit 
fulness of the principal idea, and the beauty of the de« 
velopements. A notation less commodious, and calcu- 
lations more embarrassing, though more luminous, will 
prevent mathematicians from employing, except in cer= 
tain difficult and doubtful cases, his symbols and names. 
It is sufficient that he has proved the legitimacy of the 
more expeditious processes of the differential and in- 
tegral calculus. He has himself followed the ordinary 
notation in the second editien of his Mecanique. 
This great work is entirely founded on calculus 
of variations, of which he was the inventor. The 
whole flows from a single formula, and from a principle 
known before his time ; but the whole utility of which. 
was far from sus This sublime composition in« 
cludes all his other preceding labours which could be. 
connected with it. It is distinguished likewise by the 
philosophical spirit which reigns from one end of it to 
the other, It is likewise the best history of that part 
* The body of La Grange was deposited in the Pantheon, beside those of a number of unknown senators, We copied the following . 
Joseph Louis La Grange 
Senateur, Comté de L’ Empire 
Grand Officier de la Legion d’ Honneur, 
Grand Croix de L’Ordre Imperial de la Reunion, 
Membre de L’ Institut, et de Bureau des Longitudes 
Né a Turin Departenient dy Po, le xxv Janvier 1736, 
Decedé # Paris le x Avril 1813, Ep, 
inscription from his stone tomb. 
