644 
anfwer: ‘I always loved Mevlas; 1 
admire Chamfori.”’ A few days after, 
they met, and the mafter and the pupil 
embraced each other with tears. 
Nor was he deceived by his prefenti. . 
ment of his furpre fortune. By the cares 
and interefi of his friends it gradually 
{welled to cight or nine thoufand livres 
a year ; but the. greateft part of it con- 
fifted of penfions, and the whirlwind of 
the revolution fwept them away- The 
_day after they were fuppreffed, he went 
to feehis fellow academician, Marmon- 
tel, and found him lamenting the. lofs 
that his children would fuffer by the fame 
decree. Chamfort took one of them upon _ 
his knees: ‘& Come here, my little fel- 
low,’ faid He, “ you will be a better 
man than either of us, Some day or 
other you will weep over your father, on 
hearing that he had tae weaknefs to weep 
over you, becaufe he feared that you - 
might not be fo rich as himfelf.” 
That meteor that rofe in the French 
revolution ; rufked through the politica! 
fyftem like a comet ; and difappeared in 
the midft of the long furprife and uncaty, 
admiration it excited—Miirabeau, in 
fhort, was the friend of Chamfort, and 
often borrowed his pen. The molt elo- 
quent paflages in the Lefiers on ihe order 
of Ciaciunalus belong to the lattcr. He 
was, indeed, his council upon al! occa- 
fions ; and when Mirabeau went to pafs 
an hour with him, as was his cuftom in 
the morning, -he ufed to call it going to 
yub the matt eleétrical head he had ever 
met with. d 
The light emitted by this. eleétrical 
head could not fail to fhine in oppofition 
to the blafting rays of, the mock fun of 
liberty—of the felon Robefpierre—to 
whom talents and virtue were alike ob- 
noxious. ; 
It was difficult, however, to lay hold on 
Chamfort. Frank, upright, decided,and 
independent of all parties, he nad fleertd 
a fteady courfe through the revolutionary 
form, openly profefling an equal hatred 
of priefs and nobles, and of Marat and 
the reft of the men of blood. At thesfame 
time that he: was author of the faying, 
*® ¢ Guerre aux chateaux, paix aux chau- 
misres,” he explained by the appella- 
tion of the po of Cain and Abel, the 
compulfive fyftem of fraternization de- 
vifed by the Jacobin Club. 


* War to the feat, Peace to the cot- 
age. 
Original Anecdotes—Chamfort 
{ Sept. 
At length, however, an obfcure in- 
former was found to denounce him, and 
Chamfort was carried to the Madelon- 
nettes. Unable to obtain there the at- 
tentions, and the occafional folitude that 
fome habitual sb imperioutfly re- 
guired, he conceived fo profound a hor- 
ror of imprifonment, that when he was 
fuffered to return a few days after to his 
apartments under the cuftody of a guard, 
he fwore he would rather die than be, 
immured anev. 
En-Hrtle more then a month the gen- 
darme. told him he had orders to carry 
him back toa houfe of confinement.— 
Chamfort retired to a clofet, under the 
precence of making his preparations ; 
fred a piftol at his head ; fhattered the 
bones of the nofe ; and drove in his right 
eye. Atonithed at finding himfelf alive, 
and refolved to die, he took up arazor, 
tried to cut his throat, and mangled the 
flefh in the moft dreadful manner. The 
weaknefs of his hand made no change in 
the refolution of his mind: he attempt- 
ed feveral times, in vain, to reach his 
heart with the fame inftrument; and 
finding himfelf begin to faint, made a 
laft effort to open the veins at his knees: 
Atlength, overcome by pain, he uttered 
a loud cry, and fell almoft lifelefs intoa 
chair. 
The door was broke open and furgeons 
and civil officers foon repatred to the 
foot. While the former were preparing 
dreflings for fo many wounds, Chamfort 
diétated to the latter the following truly 
Roman declaration : “ I, Sebaftian Rech 
Nicolas Chamfort, declare it was my in- 
tention to die a freeman, rather than. to 
be carried back, hke adlave, to a houfe 
of confinement. I deglare, moreover, 
that if violence be wled to carry me 
thither in the fate [am in, EF have full 
firength enough to finifh what I have 
begun.” 
An hour or two after, he became per- 
feétly calm, and refumed his ufualironi- 
cal manner. ‘ See what it is,” faid he. 
* to want dexterity ; an aukward man 
cannot even kijl himfelf.”” He then 
went on to relate how he had perforaied 
his eye, and the lower part of his fore- 
head, inftead of blowing out his brains; 
feored his throat, inftead of cutting it ; 
and /carifed his breatt, without reaching 
his heart, ‘ At laft,’” added he, “ I 
recolleéted Seneca ; and in honour of Se- 
neca, | refolved to open my veins; but 
Seneca was a yich man; he had a warm 
bath, and every thing to his with : Iam 
@ poor 
