BARON CUVIER. 13 



turalist, but he had never lost an opportunity of 

 remarking and dwelling on his perfections. 



At the age of fourteen we find the dawning 

 talents of the legislator manifesthig themselves ; 

 and the young Cuvier then chose a certain 

 number of his schoolfellows, and constituted 

 them into an academy, of which he was ap- 

 pointed president. He gave the regulations, 

 and fixed the meetings for every Thursday, at 

 a stated hour, and, seated on his bed, and 

 placing his companions round a table, he or- 

 dered that some work should be read, which 

 treated either of natural history, philosophy, 

 history, or travels. The merits of the book 

 were then discussed, after which, the youthful 

 president summed up the whole, and pronounced 

 a sort of judgment on the matter contained in 

 it, which judgment was always strictly adopted 

 by his disciples. He was even then remarkable 

 for his declamatory powers, and on the anni- 

 versary fete of the sovereign of Montbeliard, 

 Duke Charles of Wiirtemberg, he composed an 

 oration in verse, on the prosperous state of the 

 principality, and delivered it fresh from his 

 pen, in a firm manly tone, which astonished 

 the whole audience. Like most of the young 

 people at Montbeliard, whose talents rendered 



