1813,] 



M. do Fourcroy. 



325 



letters in favour of Fourcroy; and the voice 5f the public was 

 so loud in his favour, that he was appointed to the situation, in 

 spite of the high reputation of his antagonist, and the superior 

 interest that might be supposed to result from his fortune and 

 his situation. 



Fourcroy continued professor at the Jardin des Plantes during 

 the remainder of his life, which lasted 25 years; and such was 

 his eloquence, or so well was it fitted to the taste of the French 

 nation, that his celebrity as a lecturer continued always upon 

 the increase : so great also were the crowds, both of men and 

 vromen, that flocked to hear him, that it was twice necessary to 

 enlarge the size of the lecture-room. I had myself an opportunity 

 of hearing him lecture two or three times, and must acknowledge 

 that I found it difficult to account for the celebrity which he en- 

 joyed. His style was precisely similar to that of his books, flowing 

 and harmonious, but very diffuse, and destitute of precision; and 

 his manner was that of a petit maitre, mixed with a good deal of 

 pomposity, and an affectation of profundity. There must be 

 something, however, in such a manner, capable of attracting 

 the generality of mankind ; for I know a professor who possesses 

 as much of it as is consistent with the British character, and 

 who is far inferior to Fourcroy as a man of science; who, 

 nevertheless, enjoys within his own sphere nearly the same 

 degree of popularity that Fourcroy did in his. 



We must now notice the political career which Fourcroy ran, 

 during the progress of the revolution. In a country where 

 political changes were going on with so much rapidity, and 

 where every description of men were successively had recourse 

 to, it was not possible that a professor so much admired for his 

 eloquence could escape observation. Accordingly, he was 

 elected a member of the National Convention in the autumn of 

 1793. The National Convention, and France herself, were at 

 that time in a state of abject slavery; and so sanguinary was the 

 tyrant who ruled over that unhappy country, that it was almost 

 equally dangerous for the members of the Convention to remain 

 silent, or to take an active part in the business of that assembly, 

 Fourcroy, notwithstanding his reputation for eloquence, and the 

 love of eclat which appears all along to have been his domineer- 

 ing passion, had good sense enough to resist the temptation, and 

 never opened his mouth in the Convention till after the death of 

 Hobespierre. This is the more to be wondered at, and is a 

 greater proof of prudence, as it is well known that he took a 

 keen part in favour of the revolution, and that he was a deter- 

 mined enemy to the old order of things, from which he had 

 suffered so severely at his entrance into life. 



At this period he had influence enough to save the life of 

 some men of merit: among .others, of Darcet, who did not 



