<Z()<2 MEMOIRS OF 



were wholly unexpected. It was during his 

 journey to Marseilles that the Institute ap- 

 pointed him perpetual secretary ; it was while in 

 Holland that he received from Napoleon, an 

 endowment, with the title of Chevalier ; he was 

 at Rome when the Moniteur informed him of 

 his having been named Maitre des Requetes; 

 in England, when he was elected to the Acade- 

 mie Fran9aise ; it was in the midst of studious 

 retirement, when he had, as it w^ere, shut out 

 the world, that the rank of Peer of France 

 crowned his administrative career ; and, lastly, 

 on the day of his death, his nomination to the 

 Presidency of the entire Council of State was 

 presented for the signature of his sovereign.* 

 It may, therefore, be safely said, that honours 

 sought him ; and now, that his decease has left 

 so great a void in every institution, in every 

 learned and administrative body which could 

 boast of his name on their lists, and most of 

 which were so powerfully served by his labours, 

 I trust that his actions, and the noble disinter- 

 estedness of his character will be acknowledged, 



* I do not reckon among these honours the election to 

 almost every learned body in the two hemispheres ; for, of 

 course, all were anxious to pay so just a tribute to M. Cuvier's 

 pre-eminence. 



