XIV MEMOIR OF BUFFON. 



Buffon continued for nearly eight years in severe affliction previ- 

 ous to his death : he retained his reason till within a few hours of 

 his death, but sunk under excruciating torture, on the 16th April 

 1788, in the eighty-first year of his age. His body was embalmed 

 and conveyed to Montbard, to be placed according to his directions, 

 in the same vault with that of his wife. Every earthly honour was 

 paid to his memory : a concourse of academicians, and of persons of 

 rank and distinction, attended the funeral: a monument was errected 

 to his memory ; and though there is much to blame in the private 

 character of Buffon, his name as a naturalist will long continue to be 

 remembered. 



Buffon left one son, who inherited considerable abilities, and ap- 

 pears to have been fondly attached to his parent. He entered the 

 army, and rose to the rank of major in the regiment of Angoumois. 

 He was destined, however, to live in a more unsettled period, and 

 during the revolution was condemned to death, and perished on the 

 scaffold. The abilities of the father were no safeguard for the son ; 

 nor was the utility of his own works, or his kindness during life to 

 his retainers, a greater protection afterwards to his own remains, 

 against the ruthless hands of popular fury. The hatred to the noblesse 

 and aristocracy of France was borne by so violent a tide, that the re- 

 mains of this illustrious naturalist were torn up and leftunburied, the 

 leaden coffin carried off, and his monument razed to the ground. 



The personal appearance of Buffon is said to have been command- 

 ing, while his countenance was intelligent. Our engraving represents 

 his forehead high and ample, but we should scarcely say that his coun- 

 tenance was very prepossessing. 



The study of a subject, so as to acquire its mastery, must however 

 cost considerable labour ; and he was always inclined to be led away 

 by beauties or defects, which a lively power of imagination presented. 

 This we can every where trace in his writings; by the best judges 

 they have been pronounced elegant, but more attention is always 

 given to the style and detail as it were, of the story, than to that rigid 

 adherence to truth which is so essentially required by the naturalist. 

 This may be preserved without dry and weary detail, and at the same 

 time without wandering theoretically from the subject. Nature pre- 

 sents innumerable instances, where there is no need of any embellish- 

 ment, beyond the garb in which she has already dressed them, and 

 where the gaudy trickery of language is unnecessary, to give addi- 

 tional lustre to her beautiful but chaste productions. 



M. De Buffon's conversation was unadorned, rarely animated, but 

 sometimes very cheerful. The power of communicating information 



