3i8 



AUDUBON 



about the portrait the latter is to paint, and I believe I 

 will describe Cuvier's house to thee. The footman asked 

 us to follow him upstairs, and in the first room we .. ..^ht 

 a glimpse of a slight figure dressed all in black, that 

 glided across the floor like a sylph ; it was Mile. Cuvier, 

 not quite ready to see gentlemen : off she flew like a Dove 

 before Falcons. We followed our man, who continually 

 turned, saying, " This way, gentlemen." Eight rooms we 

 passed filled with books, and each with a recessed bed, 

 and at last reached a sort of laboratory, the sanctum sane- 

 tortim of Cuvier; there was nothing in it but books and 

 skeletons of animals, reptiles, etc. Our conductor, sur- 

 prised, bid us sit down, and left us to seek the Baron. My 

 eyes were fully employed, and I contemplated in imagina- 

 tion the extent of the great man's knowledge. His books 

 were in great disorder, and I concluded that he read and 

 studied them, and owned them for other purposes than 

 for show. Our man returned and led us back through the 

 same avenue of bed-chambers, lined with books instead of 

 satin, and we were conducted through the kitchen to 

 another laboratory, where the Baron was found. Polite- 

 ness in great men is shown differently from the same qual- 

 ity in fashionable society: a smile suffices to show you 

 are welcome, without many words, and the work in hand 

 is continued as if you were one of the family. Ah ! how 

 I delight in this ! and how pleased I was to be thus wel- 

 comed by this learned man. Cuvier was looking at a 

 small lizard in a tiny vial filled with spirit. I see now his 

 sparkling eye half closed, as if quizzing its qualities, and 

 as he put it down he wrote its name on a label. He made 

 an appointment with Mr. Parker, and went on quizzing 

 lizards. Being desirous of seeing a gambling house, younj 

 Geoffroy took me to one in the Palais Royal, a very noto- 

 rious one, containing several roulette tables, and there « 

 saw a little of the tactics of the gentlemen of the trade. 

 The play, however, was not on this occasion high. The 



