BARON CUVIER. 311 



ence of opinion would cross the Channel in the 

 shape of a dreadful and almost murderous 

 quarrel. 



The first intention of the travellers was to 

 proceed by way of Dover ; but, to please Ma- 

 demoiselle Duvaucel, M. Cuvier ascended the 

 river, and landed at the Tower stairs. Often 

 did he congratulate himself, afterwards, on this 

 compliance, which afforded him a view of the 

 banks of the Thames, and the thousands of ves- 

 sels which float on its surface, and of which no 

 foreigner can possibly form an idea without ac- 

 tual inspection. The object of one of M. Cu- 

 vier's first walks, after his arrival in London, 

 was to see all the new caricatures contained in 

 our shop windows ; for he was a warm admirer of 

 our performances in this art, and already pos- 

 sessed a voluminous collection of the best whicli 

 had appeared. They afforded him more than 

 mere amusement, for he considered them as cu- 

 rious documents of the moral and political his- 

 tory of certain periods ; and often, in the midst 

 of a serious conversation concerning the events 

 of our own times, or those immediately pre- 

 ceding us, he would cite various circumstances 

 which had been stamped upon his recollection 

 by the siglit of an Englisli caricature. During 



X 4 



