BARON CUVIER. 181 



siroLis of pointing out its own powers of dis- 

 crimination by dwelling on the imperfections of 

 others, and when (fame being then dearest) it is 

 but too much inclined to steal into its composi- 

 tions somewhat of self, some allusion to its own 

 labours and feelings. None of this is perceptible 

 in the ^loge of Daubenton, any more than in the 

 rest of M. Cuvier's biographical notices : there 

 is the desire to do honour to his predecessors ; 

 there we liave laid before us the influence that 

 past labours are likely to shed over the future ; 

 there is the strict love of justice, pointing out 

 errors to serve as beacons for those who follow 

 the same career; there is the gentle and unwil- 

 ling exposure of faults, that desire to admit every 

 circumstance which could palliate the defect ; 

 there is the benevolent heart that is so evidently 

 gratified when opportunity is given for com- 

 mendation ; and in each, and in all together, 

 we trace the just celebrity which France has at- 

 tained from her biographical writers. 



Although a shorter notice will suffice for the 

 other eloges, it will be necessary to mention 

 them all, in order to show the variety of the 

 subject, and occasionally to introduce an original 

 passage, not as a better specimen of style than 

 could be found elsewhere, but as combining 

 N 3 



