BARON CUVIER. 287 



conduct ; so elevated, yet so fascinating, was the 

 tone of his unrestrained conversation. 



M. Cuvier's liours of audience generally took 

 place before and after breakfast, and he was ac- 

 cessible to every body ; for he said, " when 

 people lived at such a distance as the Jardin des 

 Plantes, they had no right to send any one away 

 who came so far to request their advice or as- 

 sistance," I have seen the young and the old, 

 the widow and th*e orphan, the poor and the 

 rich, throng his door, all in the security of being 

 well received. I met an unhappy woman one 

 morning, crying as she came down stairs ; and 

 on asking her what was the matter, she replied, 

 " It is not M. Cuvier who has made me cry ; 

 but it is because even he cannot help me that I 

 am in such trouble ;" evidently thinking that, if 

 he could not serve her, she had no hope. The 

 meal-times were always anticipated by his family 

 and friends with the greatest pleasure ; for theft 

 it was that questions were asked, and histories 

 related on all sides. As if knowing the few op- 

 portunities there were of conversing with him, 

 he suffered himself to be constantly interrupted, 

 and never hesitated giving the desired inform- 

 ation concerning public or private circum- 

 stances ; and frequently, when the former were 



