296 MEMOIRS OF 



others, I recollect that, during one of my visits 

 to his house, he appeared most unusually sad, 

 and all the efforts to amuse him were repaid by 

 a mournful smile. All his family were aware 

 that no calamity could have produced this, and 

 guessed it was some trouble connected with 

 others, into which they had, perhaps, no right to 

 enquire; and they were not wrong in their con- 

 jectures. Walking home one evening quietly 

 with his daughter-in-law, in reply to her remarks 

 upon his dejection, he confessed that a favourite 

 friend and pupil had, from motives of self-in- 

 terest, publicly sided with his enemies, and it 

 was an affliction to which he could not easily 

 reconcile himself. 



The benevolence of M. Cuvier was evinced 

 in every form by which it could be serviceable 

 to others; and students themselves have told me, 

 that he has found them out in their retreats, 

 where advice, protection, and pecuniary assist- 

 ance were all freely bestowed. Frequently did 

 his friends tax him with his generosity, as a sort 

 of imprudence; but his reply would be, — " Do 

 not scold me, I will not buy so many books this 

 year." Many anecdotes have been told me of 

 his purse being made a resource, not only for the 

 advantage of science, but for those who had fled 



