340 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



leading minds of the day, and Cuvier, as well as Geoffroy 

 Saint Hilaire, fully recognised the value of his labours. 



If, however, the scientific claims of Buffon's works 

 have been made a matter of dispute, there can be 

 no doubt as to their literary merits. Excepting MM. 

 D'Alembert and Daubenton, who both disliked him, and 

 excepting a few of the naturalists, who thought that a 

 work of science should exhibit a greater amount of sim- 

 plicity, his cotemporaries always did justice to his style, 

 which, although somewhat pompous, is really dignified, 

 always clear and often precise, and admirably depicts 

 that which had been only hitherto imperfectly described. 

 Posterity has in this respect confirmed the judgment of 

 his cotemporaries. But it was not without great labour 

 that Buffon attained this degree of perfection, for 

 his letters to his friends are written in a bald and trivial 

 style, and in reading them, we can readily comprehend 

 how much trouble it must have cost the author to have 

 composed those magnificent passages which are scattered 

 through his works, and we may even believe the state- 

 ment that has been handed down to us, that the Epoques 

 de la Nature were recopied eleven times before they were 

 finally sent to press. 



Buffon was tall, and had a handsome and expressive 

 face, and his whole air and carriage \vere dignified and 

 impressive. His disposition was kind, benevolent, and 

 serene. Although he was keenly attacked on different 

 occasions, yet he only deigned once or twice to reply to 

 the invectives directed against him, and he then re- 

 proached himself for having been guilty of a weakness 

 in defending himself at the expense of time which might 

 have been better employed. He died from stone in the 

 bladder, after suffering excruciating agony, and left one 

 son, who perished by the guillotine. 



(For further particulars in reference to the life and 



