C L E R C. 
cepiions, by denying or neg 1 e£Hng the inftances produced 
on the other fide. Further, he not unfrequently gives 
the mere inferences from his opinions as if they were 
known and tided faffs : thus dangeroufly confounding 
hypothr(is with that experience which is the only true 
bafis of all natural knowledge. He often attributes more 
to the operation of certain caufes, fucii as change of cli¬ 
mate, domeftication, and the like, than fober realon can 
warrant • and even, according to the tenor of his argu¬ 
ment, fometimes alcribes oppolite effefts to the very fame 
caufe. Thefe blemiflies materially ieflen the confidence 
with which his work can be ufed as authority, and later 
enquirers are continually detecting errors in his ftate- 
ments. Yet the great mafs of matter will probably always 
remain unimpeached ; and certainly no writer has ever 
done fo much to render natural hiltory entertaining, and 
to elevate its rank among the objefts on which the human 
intelleft is employed In one point, however, he will by 
many be thought to have derogated from the true dignity 
and value of his fuhjeft. He is everywhere the enemy of 
the doftrine of final caufes ; and lubftitutes, to a defign- 
ing'and benevolent author, the fortuitous operations of \ 
certain unconfcious nature, which as often exhibits ex¬ 
amples of blunder and defect as of fkilful and happy con¬ 
trivance. It cannot be denied, that thofe who have made 
final caufes the proftfled objeflsof their fearch, have often 
dilplayed more piety than philofophy ; and in their zeal 
to colieft proofs have dwelt upon‘ circumftances either 
extremely trifling, or fuch as are overbalanced by con¬ 
trary fa 61 s. Yet Itudioufly to overlook fo beautiful a part 
of the economy of things as the adaptation of means to 
ends, is furely as inconfiftent with the philolophical as 
the religious fpirit. The fault is aggravated in Buff’on 
by the plealure he occafionally takes in declaiming upon 
the defects of nature, in a itrain which would ieem to 
impute malignity of intention to the Author of being, 
and which he appears to have derived from the fliallow 
philofophy of his predeceflor Pliny. The moral reader 
of Buffon will iikewife be frequently offended with the 
grofinefs of his deicriptions in all points relative to fex ; 
in which he not only indulges in anatomical plainnefs of 
language, but, what is much worfe, adopts a ttudied l'en- 
fualifm, the objett of which is to exalt the value of fexuai 
gratifications, and make a propenlity to them one of the 
indications of noblenefs of nature. This impurity of 
fentiment is, however, in fome degree national, and has 
infeffed fome of the firft French writers of the age, who 
have dangeroufly exhibited it in their eftimates of human 
characters. 
To proceed with the account of Buffon’s publications. 
In 1771 his Hiltory of Birds began to appear. In the 
compofition of this work he made great ufe of the labours 
of M. Gueneau de Montbeiilard, who was the principal 
writer of the firlt two volumes in quarto. The four fub- 
fequent ones were the joint produ£tion of both writers. 
The three lait were written by Buffon himfelf, with the 
affiitance of the abbe Bexon in forming the nomencla¬ 
ture, and drawing up the deferiptions. This work, corn- 
pleated in 1783, is a worthy lequel of the Hiftory of Qua¬ 
drupeds, though from the much greater number of fpecies 
of birds, the want of a fyflematic arrangement is more 
fenfible. 
I11 1, 74, he began to publifh a Supplement to his Na¬ 
tural Hiltory, confiding of the Hiltory of Minerals. The 
firlt volume of this work contains his remarkable inven¬ 
tion of a burning-glafs, compofed of a number of plane 
mirrors, fo difpofed as to throw all their reflexions of the 
folar beams on the fame fpot. He conftrudfed an inftru- 
ruent of this kind, confiiting of 360 plane mirrors, each 
capable of being feparately adjutted by a ferew, with 
which he kindled wood at the diltance of 210 feet, thus 
realifmg what has been related of Archimedes at thefiege 
of Syracufe. Thefe fupplemenlal volumes, of which tne 
fifth, quarto, appeared in 1779, contain many curious 
and valuable experiments, as well as much theory, rather 
659 
too lax for the rigour of modern fcience. The conclud¬ 
ing volume may be confidered as a kind of philolophical 
romance. It is on the Epochas of Nature, or thofe great 
changes in the Hate of the earth which the author fup- 
pofes would fuccefiively relult from his hypothefis of its 
original formation out of the body of the fun. Of thefe 
he enumerates feven, fix of them previous to the crea¬ 
tion of man. It is needlefs to remark how much fport of 
the fancy there mult be in the eftablifhment and descrip¬ 
tion of tbele epochas; but, as a critic has obferyed, 
(Monthly Rev. iv. 61,) in the reveries of Buffon there 
is entertainment, and always inftruftion, of fome kind 
or other.” Thefe are the principal works of this great au¬ 
thor, which have been publilhed together in thirty-five vols. 
4to. and fixty-two vols. 121110. They are received among 
the ftandard and claflic books of the nation, and new edi¬ 
tions of them are at this time under publication. Buf¬ 
fon was a member of the French academy, and was per¬ 
petual treafurer of the academy of fciences. He wifely- 
flood apart from the intrigues and parties which fb dil- 
gracefully occupied moll of the French literati of his 
time ; and, probably for the prefervation of bis tranquil¬ 
lity, he made a point never to reply to the attacks upon 
his works, though fome of his antagonills could by 
no means be deemed unworthy of his notice. In 1771 his 
eflate of Buffon was erebled into a comte ; and thus the' 
decoration of rank, to which he was by no means indif¬ 
ferent, was added to the fuperior dignity he had acquired 
as one of the moll diftinguifhed members of- the republic 
of letters. 
Buffon had a fine perfon, of which he appeared not a 
little vain. He vyas particularly fond of having his hair 
in exa6t order, and even in his old age employed the fri- 
feur twice or thrice a-day. He loved fine clothes, and 
thought it incumbent on his rank to appear in lace be¬ 
fore the peafantry of Montbard on Sundays. He fat long 
at table, and was pieafed with trifling gofliping conver- 
fation. Like many of his countrymen, he was indelicate 
in his plealantries, and often obliged women to quit the 
room. His pra&ice, with refpeft to female conne 61 ion?, 
was at leafl as lax as his principles. During the life of 
his wife he was guilty of frequent infidelities; and in 
his amours he did not fcruple the debauching of young 
girls, and then employing means to procure abortion. 
One of his miftreffes, a peafant’s daughter, obtained the 
chief influence over him in his advanced age. He was 
very acceflible to adulation, and with lingular naivete 
would praife himfelf. “ The works of eminent geniufes,” 
faid he, “ are few; they are thofe of Newton, Bacon., 
Leibnitz, Monrefquieu, and my own. Newton,” conti¬ 
nued he, “ may have difeovered an important principle, 
but he fpent his life in frivolous calculations, and was 
no matter ofttyle.” He thought higher of Leibnitz than 
of Bacon. He ipoke of Montefquieu’s genius, but thought 
his ftyle too ftudied, and wanting evolution : “ Tliis, 
however, (faid he,) was a natural confequence of his 
frame of body. I knew him well; he was almoft blind, 
and very impatient. If he hail not dipt his ideas into 
fhort fentences, he would have loft his period before the 
amanuenfis had taken it down.” 
Convinced of the importance cf religion in maintain¬ 
ing the due fubordinations of fociety, he always paid it 
external refped, and regularly performed its public duties; 
and thus he flattered himfelf that he avoided (haring in 
the mifehievous attacks which Voltaire, Diderot, and 
others, had made upon religion, though by his writings 
he was perpetually lapping its foundations. He was very 
regular in the diitribution cf his time, and patted a life 
of great indultry. Compofing was a difficult tafk to him, 
and his writings palled through a number of revifals be¬ 
fore they were made public. Indeed flyle was one of the 
capital objefifs of his admiration. He could not bear the 
leafl; deviation from accuracy and propriety in the ufe of 
language, and hence was a fevere cenfor of poetry, which 
lie had attempted in his youth, but foon quitted for profe. 
A nice 
