BARON CUVIER. 303 



various kinds were passing round, the convers- 

 ation passed brilliantJy witli them. Descrip- 

 tions of rarities were given, travellers wonders 

 related, works of art criticised, and anecdotes 

 told ; when, reserving himself till the last, 

 M. Cuvier would narrate something which 

 crowned the whole ; and all around were either 

 struck with the complete change given to the 

 train of thought, or were forced to join in a ge- 

 neral shout of laughter. One evening, the va- 

 rious signs placed over the shop doors in Paris 

 were discussed ; their origin, their uses, were 

 described ; and then came the things themselves. 

 Of course, the most absurd were chosen ; and, 

 last of all, M. Cuvier said that he knew of a 

 bootmaker who had caused a large and ferocious 

 looking lion to be painted, in the act of tearing 

 a boot to pieces with his teeth. This was put 

 over his door, with the motto, " On pent me 

 d^chirer, mais jamais me d^coudre."* I was in 

 Paris when the celebrated picture, painted by 

 Girodet, of Pygmalion and the Statue, was ex- 

 hibiting at the Louvre. It caused a general 

 sensation ; epigrams, impromptus, were made 

 upon it without end ; wreaths of flowers, and 



* " I may be torn, but never unsewn." 



