MEMOIR oi 1 BtrrFOff. 19 



always carried a copy in his pocket, and was often 

 observed to retire from his companions at play, and 

 to attempt, in some solitary corner, the resolution of 

 any problem with which he had been perplexed. 



This constant study and perseverance, at a period 

 80 early, and when youthful minds are generally most 

 idly inclined, was attended with very brilliant results. 

 He is even said to have anticipated Newton in some 

 of his most remarkable discoveries, and in after life 

 withheld the circumstances, upon a principle of some 

 singularity, and at variance with his failing of vanity : 

 he said, " that nobody was obliged to believe it." 



At the college of Dijon he became acquainted 

 with Lord Kingston, a young nobleman who was tra- 

 velling, accompanied by a tutor. Buffon fortunately 

 became acquainted with both ; and the latter, being a 

 man of considerable attainments, and devoted to the 

 sciences, found a ready access to the mind of a youth 

 endowed with such temper and abilities. It was 

 agreed that he should accompany them in the prose- 

 cution of their travels, and he became equally accept- 

 able to his friends, and pleased with their society; 

 afterwards remarking, that while the one became his 

 companion in pleasure and amusements, the other 

 gained his esteem by his more solid qualifications. 



They travelled onwards to Italy ; and here, amidst 

 all that is placid and sublime in nature, or lovely in 

 the arts, he continued to pursue the more abstracted 

 departments of science, almost neglecting the artificial 



