OF VAUBAN. 13 



and soars majestically into the air. Oh ! on the instant 

 passing without transition from the most complete in- 

 credulity to an unbounded confidence in the powers of 

 the human mind, the old Marechale falls on her knees, 

 and, her eyes bathed in tears, gasps forth these sad 

 words : " Yes, it is decided, now it is certain ; THEY will 

 discover the secret of never dying, but it will le when I 

 am dead ! " 



Carnot, being of a rigorous turn 'of mind (though he 

 was not yet eighty years of age), took good care not to 

 go so far as the Marechale de Villeroi. Nevertheless, he 

 appeared in the ranks of the enthusiasts. He then be- 

 lieved, and always did so afterwards, in the possibility of 

 directing balloons, and consequently in the applications 

 which science and the art of war had hoped from them. 

 The archives of the Academy ought to contain a paper 

 in which Captain Carnot of the engineers submitted to 

 the authorities an arrangement of light oars, which, in 

 his opinion, should attain the desired end. This paper 

 has not yet been discovered. I will continue my re- 

 searches for it, and if the work seems likely to add to 

 the reputation of our fellow academician, the public shall 

 not be deprived of it. Perhaps I shall join with it a 

 memoir of the same nature, also unpublished, by another 

 academician, the illustrious Meunier. 



ELOGE OF VAUBAN BY CARNOT. HIS DISCUSSIONS 



WITH M. DE MONTALEMBERT. 



A certain literary society of a very small town once 

 on a time gave itself the title, on its own full authority, 

 of Daughter of the French Academy. Voltaire thought 

 that they should not refuse it this title : " Indeed, I 

 esteem her," said he, " as a very virtuous ^daughter, 



