4 CARNOT. 



the fortress which they were about to attack ; that, on 

 the other hand, by establishing the battery behind a rock, 

 which he pointed out, both by word of mouth and by 

 gesture, the men would be much less exposed. The 

 astonished actors did not know what to do ; Madame 

 Carnot was distressed at the disturbance which her son 

 was occasioning ; the audience burst out laughing ; every 

 one was puzzled as to the cause of such an unusual criti- 

 cism ; and the supposed frolic was nothing else than the 

 revelation of a superior military talent, the first symptom 

 of that powerful genius which, despising beaten tracks, 

 created, a few years later, new tactics, and proposed to 

 replace the scientifically and ingeniously combined forti- 

 fications of Vauban, by an altogether different system. 



From the age of twelve to fifteen, Carnot pursued the 

 course of studies at the College at Autun. He made 

 himself remarkable there by a lively, original turn of 

 mind, and by a rare degree of intelligence. He next en- 

 tered the " little seminary " of the same town. At six- 

 teen years of age he .had finished his Philosophy. The 

 firmness which we shall find in him in the course of a 

 most stormy career, was already the leading feature in 

 his character. The timid professors of the seminary of 

 Autun, had a troublesome experience of it on the day 

 when their scholar had to support his thesis. 



This ceremony always took place in public. Accord- 

 ing to regulations, the liberality of which would, at the 

 present day, appear excessive to the authorities of our 

 universities, every one of the audience had the right of 

 making objections. This criticism might be applied both 

 to the principles and to the style. Thus the amour propre 

 of the master ran as much risk as that of the pupil, and 

 the reputation of a large establishment lay at the mercy 



