ELOGE ON BUFFON. 55 



agreeable, and render it, by the allurements of a polish- 

 ed language, not more useful, but more attractive ? 

 Since, in addressing men, it is necessary to employ the 

 words and expressions in use among men, why not 

 choose what is best fitted to secure their attention and 

 favourable regard ? Truth, you say, needs no ornament ; 

 every thing which adorns conceals it. Paint her then 

 naked but beautiful ; let her strike our attention and 

 please our taste at the same time. Is it enough to 

 make her known, if we do not make her loved ? Those 

 sciences, even, which profess the severest exactitude, 

 presenting only irresistible evidence, and which would 

 blush to sacrifice to the graces, are not without their 

 degree of elegance. In subjecting the mind to the force 

 of its proofs, it does not disdain to flatter it by a certain 

 address. If, indeed, there are studies which no charm 

 embellishes, and departments of knowledge which no 

 thing can reconcile with taste, those who cultivate them 

 are much to be pitied. But we find more to delight us 

 when occupied with nature. Like herself, mother of 

 all the arts, there is no art foreign to the sciences, of 

 which she is the object. Eloquence owes to her its life 

 and attractions ; and such is the unchangeable relation 

 subsisting between them, that we can say nothing 

 eloquent which is not found in Nature, nor make a true 

 image of Nature which is not eloquent. The beauties 

 of the one are those of the other ; all their treasures 

 are common. Accordingly, to attempt to separate them, 

 is to contradict the essence of things ; and to pretend to 



