20 MEMOIE OF BTJFFOff. 



productions ; and at this same period seems to have 

 imbibed many of the theories and ideas, which fanci- 

 fully, but eloquently, adorn the chapters of the first 

 volumes of his great work. 



During the period of these travels Buffon lost his 

 mother ;* and by her death, before he had attained his 

 majority, succeeded to an income of nearly twelve 

 thousand pounds yearly. An accession of such amount 

 to his fortune, enabled him to follow out every design 

 which his studies had suggested ; but it also allowed 

 him to pursue, with almost unlimited control, every 

 indulgence which his inclinations prompted. His 

 European travels still appear to have been continued, 

 and after his return to Montbard, being embroiled 

 in some affair of honour which required his absence 

 until matters were arranged, he visited Paris and Eng- 

 land, and did not finally settle at his paternal resi- 

 dence, till about the age of twenty-five, when he de- 

 termined quietly to pursue the studies in which he had 

 so much delighted. He seems to have laid down for 

 himself, even at this early period, a decided and rigor- 

 ous division of his time, and to have attended generally 

 to the Sciences, Natural History, and Polite Literature. 



The division of his time and labour is thus detailed 

 by a modern biographer : " After he was dressed, he 

 dictated letters, and regulated his domestic affairs ; 



The maiden name of his mother was Mademoiselle de 

 Merliu. 



