38 ELOGE ON BUFFOtf. 



not by the pen "but by the sword, not in its councils but 

 in the field of battle, not by persuasion but by force, 

 has no other employments to attend to than such as 

 secure for our armies a superiority over other nations ; 

 that, in a word, all the knowledge a warrior needs, is 

 how to obey, to fight, and to die. 



You might, therefore, dissuade me from an art in 

 which, I flatter myself, my earliest attempts would ob- 

 tain from you a favourable consideration. Far from 

 being indifferent to my embarrassment, it a department 

 where you both give instructions as masters, and award 

 prizes as judges, you will scarcely pardon me for having 

 presumed to enter upon it ; and what I believed to be 

 an additional claim to your indulgence, may draw upon 

 me your censure. However severe that may be, I sub- 

 mit to it without murmuring ; but do not condemn me 

 without a hearing, that I may at least endeavour to 

 mitigate a judgment the severity of which I dread. 



From the period of life when I began to exercise my 

 faculties, I had a desire for instruction, and a passion 

 for study. I may appeal to all the superiors under 

 whom I have served ; to all the soldiers whom I have 

 commanded ; to all those whom I have either followed 

 or accompanied, or guided in the toils of war, to testify 

 to the fact, that these peaceable occupations never for 

 an instant interfered with my obedience, or diverted 

 my attention from the most trifling orders I had occa- 

 sion either to receive or to give. 

 , But without insisting more on my own conduct, you 



