f 
4SS 
Hiost extraordinary men of his age, was 
among tiie first of the .distinguished sg~ 
funSi uitli whom it was my good fortune 
CO become acquainted. He died during 
my residence at Paris, and, after his de¬ 
cease, had that justice done to his stu¬ 
pendous powers and acquirements 
vihich, as it happens to many others, was 
refused to iiiin during the Jast years of 
ins life. Lalande, if not the most pro¬ 
found and original, was certainly the 
most learned, astronomer of France, and 
the prmcipal benefactor of the science, 
to which lie was so passionately devoted. 
He was remarkable for the most egre¬ 
gious vanity, and for the broadest eccen¬ 
tricities of cJiaracter, and almost equally 
eminent for the most noble virtues of 
the heart. By a very singular perver¬ 
sion oi inteliect, he became a professed 
atheist about the commencement of the 
revolution, pronounced, in the year 
1793, in the Pantheon, a discourse against 
the e.xistence of a God, with the red cap 
upon his head, and displayed on this 
suf.ject the most absolute insanity during 
the rest of his life. This monstrous in¬ 
fatuation betrayed him into the nmst 
whimsical acts of extravagance, and par¬ 
ticularly into the publication of a Dictio¬ 
nary of Atheists, in which he enregister- 
cd, not oniy many of ‘‘ the illustrious 
dead,” but a great number of his cotem¬ 
poraries, and, among tl.ese, some of the 
principal dignitaries of tlie empire. 
This circumstance led to an occur¬ 
rence in the Institute, which that body 
will not soon forget. At an extraordi¬ 
nary sitting of all the classes convoked 
for the purpose, when Lalande was pre¬ 
sent, a letter from the Emperor was an¬ 
nounced, and read aloud, in which it 
declared that M. de Lalande had fallen 
into a state o/'dotagey and wai forbidden 
to publish thereafter any thing under his 
own name. — The old astroiromer rose 
very solemnly, bowed low, and replied, 
that he would certainly obey the orders 
of his majesty. His atheistical absurdi¬ 
ties deserved, no doulit, to be repressed, 
bur, besides the singularity of this t’orin 
of interdiction, there was an unneces¬ 
sary degree of severity in it. as the end 
might iiave been attained without so 
public a humiliation, Lalande w'rs no¬ 
toriously superannuated, and not there¬ 
fore a fit object for this species of punish¬ 
ment. Some consideration, moreover, 
was due to'his many private, virtues, to 
his rank in the scientific \vorld, and to 
the large additions which he liad made 
to the stock of human knowiedge, liis 
.[Dec. 1, 
atheistical opinions arose, not from anv 
moral depravity, but from a positive alie¬ 
nation of mind on religious topics. He 
was not the less conspicuous for the most 
disinterested generosity ; for warm feel¬ 
ings of liumamty ; for the gentleness of 
his manners ; for the soundness of his 
opinions on questions of science, and for 
a certain magnanimity with regard to the 
merits of his rivals and detractors. Tiie 
extravagance of ins opinions and his man¬ 
ners during his dotage, rendered him an 
object of universal derision in Paris, and 
subjected him to the most cruel and in¬ 
decent mockery. It became fashionable 
even among those w'ho had derived their 
knowledge from his lessons, and expe¬ 
rienced his bounty, to depreciate his 
merits both as an astronomer and as a 
man. Lalande had the misfortune of 
living to see a maxim verified in his owh 
regard, which has been exemplified in 
every age and country—that some dis¬ 
ciples may become superior to their mas¬ 
ters. But he was, nevertheless, at all 
times among the luminaries of science, 
and to him astronomy was indebted for 
more substantial and unremitted services, 
than to any one of his coteiuporaries. 
No person of the last century made so 
brilliant.a debut upon the world of 
science as Lalande, nor was .any ^avunt 
ever rewarded, during so long a course 
of years, with so many scientific honours, 
or feasted with more intoxicating homage. 
Before the age of twenty-five, he was ad¬ 
mitted into almost all liie learned acade¬ 
mies of the world, and pensioned by the 
principal monarchs of the continent. He 
travelled through nearly all the States of 
Europe,and wasevery-wherereceivedwitb 
demonstrations of the most enthusiastic 
respect, not only by the learned of every 
description, but by all who were most 
distinguished in rank or fornme. In 
Italy, upon which he wrote the best book 
of travels now extant, lie was over¬ 
whelmed with attentions by Clement the 
Tfiirteenth, and pursued, from the remo¬ 
test extremities of that country, by its 
most distinguished ornaments in every 
department of knowledge and taste. He 
found his bust in most of the observa¬ 
tories of Germany, and was greeted with 
the surname of the God of Astronomy in 
some of the cities of the North. His 
reception in England was of the most 
thittering kind, and in fact all. his jour¬ 
neys were bur a*continued succes.sion of 
brilliant triumphs. Before he bad passed 
the age of thirty, he numbered among 
liis correspondents and his private friends, 
4 ^onilL 
Lalandco 
