IRONICAL CHARACTER OF BUFFON'S WORK. 8 1 



Perhaps the key to this piece of apparent extra- 

 vagance is to be found in the word " mysterieuse." * 

 Buffon wished to raise a standing protest against 

 mystery mongering. Or perhaps more probably, he 

 wished at once "to turn to animals and plants under 

 domestication," so as to insist early on the main object 

 of his work — the plasticity of animal forms. 



I am inclined to think that a vein of irony pervades 

 the whole, or much the greater part of Buffon's work, 

 and that he intended to convey, one meaning to one set 

 of readers, and another to another ; indeed, it is often 

 impossible to believe that he is not writing between his 

 lines for the discerning, what the undiscerning were not 

 intended to see. It must be remembered that his 

 'Natural History' has two sides, — a scientific and a 

 popular one. May we not imagine that Bufifon would 

 be unwilling to debar himself from speaking to those 

 who could understand him, and yet would wish like 

 Handel and Shakespeare to address the many, as well 

 as the few? But the only manner in which these 

 seemingly irreconcilable ends could be attained, would 

 be by the use of language which should be self-adjusting 

 to the capacity of the reader. So keen an observer can 

 hardly have been blind to the signs of the times which 

 were already close at hand. Free-thinker though he 

 was, he was also a powerful member of the aristocracy, 

 and little likely to demean himself — for so he would 

 doubtless hold it — by playing the part of Voltaire or 

 Eousseau. He would help those who could see to see 

 still further, but he would not dazzle eyes that were yet 

 ' Tom. i. p. 33. ^ 



■J 



a 



