56 ELOGE ON BUFFON. 



exclude eloquence from the descriptions of **ature, is to 

 deprive the painter of the use of colours. 



But every one judges by what he feels ; and the same 

 objects do not make the same impressions on all. Ac- 

 cordingly, among men who study to acquire a knowledge 

 of Nature, all have not the same manner of regarding it 

 nor of delineating it. Those who contemplate it with- 

 i>w! enthusiasm describe it methodically, measuring 

 every thing scrupulously, halting at every point, and 

 exerting all their attention to seize even the smallest 

 traits. Whatever beauty is presented to them, their 

 heart remains untouched! The greatest magnificence 

 in the adornments of the universe affords them nothing 

 but names to be classified, tables to be drawn up, cold 

 enumerations to deduce and compare. Their view, 

 unceasingly occupied in these toilsome labours, never 

 reposes on smiling images, and they find, every where 

 in Nature, the same details to draw out, the same task 

 to fulfil. But as soon as a mind of some elevation ap- 

 plies itself to contemplate it, the multitude of sublime 

 ideas to which it gives rise, transport it out of itself ; 

 and without thinking of being a poet, it becomes so by 

 expressing what it sees and feels ! Which of the two 

 represent Nature best ? The one employs the eye and 

 the pencil, the other the rule and the compass. The 

 one gives a grand and picturesque view, the other a 

 dry and minute plan. Is, then, the most faithful pic- 

 ture that which offers to the eye the dimensions of 

 objects, measured exactly, but without perspective and 



