BARON CUVIER. 293 



thirst for knowledge took an unbounded range, 

 and the inventions and enterprises of other 

 countries were as interesting to him as those of 

 his own. Every letter to me, at the time that 

 the accidents happened to the tunnel under the 

 Thames, contained enquiries concerning it : the 

 steam carriages, railroads, suspension bridges, 

 and public institutions, were all subjects of cor- 

 respondence : he read, or made others read to 

 him, all the attempts that had previously taken 

 place to perfect the same undertaking ; and when 

 a person from the country in which the scheme 

 was going forward came to see him, he was pre- 

 pared to converse with the stranger as one deeply 

 learned in the matter. He was one day talking 

 to a gentleman high in office at one of our 

 national establishments; and after mentioning the 

 expenses of the Museum, &c. at the Jardin des 

 Plantes, he to the great surprise of his compa- 

 nion, stated to a fraction the former, and actual 

 costs of the British Museum. He could not 

 bear to be inactive for an instant ; and once, while 

 sitting for a portrait, which was to face the 

 quarto edition of his *' Discours sur les Revolu- 

 tions du Globe," Mile. Duvaucel read to him 

 the " Fortunes of Nigel." He had a map of 

 London at his elbow, which the artist allowed 

 u 3 



