20^ The Life and Writings of M. Desfontaines. 



the revolution, he judged it to be at the close of the year 1751 or 

 beginning of 1752. His father, whose fortune was very moderate, 

 was desirous of giving him the advantages of as good an education as 

 could be procured at a distance from the large towns, and according- 

 ly placed him at a boarding school in his native village. Here he 

 was taught a little Latin, but the master, with a view to form his 

 morals, adopted a very rough and rigid treatment, which, although 

 it may succeed with certain dispositions, almost always revolts those 

 whose native energy gives them some superiority. Reprimand and 

 correction applied for the slightest infractions of duty, and the fre- 

 quent and repeated assertion that he was good for nothing at all, dis- 

 gusted the young Desfontaines, and almost persuaded him that he 

 had no capacity. In this state of discouragement he was one day 

 threatened with severe punishment for having taken a few apples 

 from an orchard ; a fault from which few children perhaps are exempt. 

 Wishing to avoid this punishment, he escaped through a window 

 and fled for refuge to his father's house. Great was the embarrass- 

 ment of the family ! what shall we do said they with this naughty 

 fellow, who resisits every chastisement and is good for nothing. His 

 father, prejudiced by the evil reports of the master, and believing 

 that his son was not likely to succeed in his studies, resolved to send 

 him to sea as a cabin-boy. It is not known what were the circum- 

 stances which diverted him from this project, the execution of which 

 might have deprived Science of one of her honored sons. I am in- 

 duced to believe that maternal influence had a principal share in 

 changing his destination. A flirther trial in the way of a literary ed- 

 ucation was decided on, and the little robber of orchards was sent to 

 the College of Rennes. 



The young scholar was still under his first impressions : disliking 

 study in consequence of the rough manner in which he had been in- 

 itiated, and persuaded that he never should succeed in the career of 

 intellect, he entered upon his duties with great indifierence. Noth- 

 ing equalled his astonishment when, on the occasion of one of his 

 first compositions, he heard his name called among the three or four 

 highest boys of his class. This worked a complete revolution in his 

 mind. He began to think that his first master might have been mis- 

 taken," and he was not perhaps sorry at the prospect of proving him 

 to be so. If there are children whose self confidence requires to be 

 repressed, there are others, and among them not always the most 

 mediocre whose courage must be sustained, and to whom a first evi- 



