298 MEMOIRS OF 



solemnly bade me beware of the flilse colouring 

 which I was but too apt to receive from the per- 

 son in question ; but fearing I should feel hurt, 

 he instantly resumed his kindness of manner, 

 and lamented that the real goodness of heart, 

 the great abilities, and power of divesting him- 

 self of partiality, in my friend, should so often 

 be obscured by the desire of saying what was 

 clever or brilliant. 



Two other great traits — perhaps, I ought ra- 

 ther to call them perfections — belonging to M. 

 Cuvier, were, a total absence of all self-conceit 

 and all resentment, both of which led to a re- 

 markable uniformity and kindness in performing 

 the duties of social life. That he had prefer- 

 ences, and that these preferences were sometimes 

 formed from the first interview, was true ; and 

 few people possessed of quick and ardent feel- 

 ings can avoid these sudden impressions ; but a 

 contrary feeling led him merely to avoid inter- 

 course, and did not, in any manner, extend to- 

 wards the real welfare of the individual. Even 

 the annoyances and disappointments he met with 

 in his public career left not one grain of bitter- 

 ness in his soul ; and he generally laid the fault 

 to the ignorance, rather than the bad feeling, of 

 the offenders ; saying of them, — " They are more 



