MEMOIR OF DAUBENTON. 
203 
man. of merit without some adversaries ; and those who 
wish to do injury never fail to find some willing to pro- 
tect them. 
Merit was so much the more fortunate in not giving 
way on this occasion, that it was not of a nature to 
strike the multitude. A modest and scrupulous observer 
could neither captivate the vulgar, nor even philoso- 
phers who were unacquainted with natural history ; for 
philosophers always judge of works which do not belong 
to their department like the vulgar, and the number of 
naturalists was then very small. If Daubenton’s work 
had appeared alone, it would have remained in the 
hands of anatomists and naturalists, who would have 
appreciated it at its just value ; and their suffrages de- 
termining that of the multitude, the latter would have 
respected the author on their word, just as unknown 
gods are the more revered the more impenetrable their 
sanctuary. But, appearing by the side of the work of 
his brilliant rival, that of Daubenton was taken into 
the toilette of ladies and the cabinet of literary men ; 
the comparison of his measured style and circumspect 
progress, with the lively poetry and bold flights of his 
rival, could not be to his advantage ; and the minute 
details of dimensions and descriptions into which he 
entered, could not remove from such judges the ennui 
with which they were necessarily accompanied. 
Thus, when all the naturalists of Europe received, 
with mingled gratitude and admiration, the results of 
the immense labours of Daubenton ; when they gave to 
