1800.] 
of that Prince, who affigned him apart- 
ments in his palace, ‘admitted him daily 
to his table, and diftinguifhed him with 
marks of kindnefs, of efteem, and even of 
confidence. 
In the fame year he had the moft ho- 
nourable reception at the court of Brunf- 
wick-Wolfenbuttle, to which he accom- 
panied his Pruffian Majetty. 
While M. D’Alembert had the honour © 
of refiding at the court of that monarch, 
he ufed every endeavour to induce him to 
accept of the place of Prefident of the 
Academy of Berlin, which the death of 
M. Maupertuis had rendered vacant in 
1759. But, notwithftanding the obliga- 
tion he owed to Frederic, the fame mo- 
tives which had prevented him from yield- 
ing to the wifhes of the Emprefs of Ruf- 
fia would not permit him to accept his 
Majefty’s offers. In addition to thofe 
motives, the philofopher ftated to his Ma- 
jefty, that the Academy of Berlin num- 
bered among its members men of the moft 
diftinguifhed merit, who were in every 
refpeét worthy to. fill the place, . of 
which it was neither his wifh nor his duty 
to deprive them. 
did not hinder the king from writing 
with his own hand to M. D’Alembert,* 
two days before his departure from Ber- 
lin, that he would keep the place of Prefi- 
dent vacant, till M. D’Alembert fhould 
think proper to come and fill it ; and, in 
fact, that refpectable fituation is ftill va- 
cant. : 
In 1768 M. D’Alembert, having deli- 
vered in the Parifian Academy of Sci- 
ences, before the King of Denmark, a dif- 
courfe which: was afterwards printed in 
the Memoirs of the Academy for that 
year, and in various journals ; the young 
Duke of Parma, into whofe hands a ma- 
nufcript copy of that difcourfe happened 
to fall, made an Italian tranflation of it, ~' 
which he fent in his own hand-writing to 
M. D’Alembert. This was fhortly fol- 
lowed by a letter, allo written with the 
duke’s own hand, full of expreffions cf 
efteem for learning in general, and for that 
philofopher in particular. 
M. D’ Alembert was alfo honoured with 
feveral autograph letters from the Emprefs 
Catherine, the King of Denmark, the 
Prince Royal of Prufhla, and the Princes 
of Brunfwick. The King of Pruflia wrote 
to him frequently, and he has preferved a 
great number of the letters of that mo- 
narch, which would do the greateft honour 

* See a copy of that letter in the Supple- 
ment, 
Memoirs of D’ Alembert. 
But this reprefentation. 
235 
to the fciences, to philofophy, and to his 
own beneficence, if a refpectful deference to 
the writer would permit M. D’ Alembert 
to lay them before the public. 
Befides the mathematical works of M. 
D> Alembert, contained in fifteen vo- 
lumes, he has publithed five feparate vo- 
lumes, in 12mo, of mifcellanies in litera- 
ture, hiftery, and philofophy. 
He reviled all the articles in mathema- 
tics and natural philofophy, which were 
inferted in the Encyclopedia, and he new- 
modelled entirely, or almoft entirely, ma- 
ny confiderable articles relative to thofe' 
{ciences, and which contain new views of 
the elementary parts, which are not to be 
elfewhere found. See, among many other 
articles, Cas Irreductible, Courbe, Equa- 
lion, Differentiel, Figure de la Terre, Geo- 
metrié, Infinit, ©c. (irreducible Cafe, 
Curve, Equation, Differential, Figure of 
the Earth, Infinite, &c.) Befides thefe. 
articles, M. D’Alembert furnithed the 
Encyclopedia with a confiderable number 
of others on general literature and philo- 
fophy, fuch as Elemens des Sciences, Eru- 
dition, Dictionnaire (Elements of the Sci- 
ences, Erudition, Dictionary), and many 
lefs important articles, not to mention a 
variety of fynonymous terms. There are 
alfo inferted in the volumes of the Acade- 
mies of Sciences at Paris arid Berlin, many 
memoirs written by M. D’Alembert, 
moft of them on fubje&ts dependent on the 
fublime geometry. | 
SUPPLEMENT fo the preceding MEMOIRS.» 
M. DDALEMBERT, in his 4th year, 
was placed in a boarding-fchool, where 
he remained till the age of twelve. But 
fcarcely had he.attained his tenth year, 
when his mafter declared that he could 
teach him nothing more, that young D’A- 
lembert was only lofing his time by re- 
maining with him, and that he fhould, be 
fent to college, being qualified for the fe- 
cond form.* But, on account of the 
* The memory of the mafter, who gave 
this proof of his honefty, is ftill dear to M. 
D’Atembert, whom he tenderly loved. He 
affitted his fcholars in their ftudies,with every 
little help, which his income, then very mo- 
derate, put in his power. M. D’Alembert 
retains the fame grateful remembrance of the 
woman who nurfed him, and tock care of 
him till he was four years of age. Immedi- 
ately on his leaving college, he returned to 
her houfe, where he lived almof thirty years ; 
for he did not leave it till 1765, and thea 
only in confequence of the advice of his phy- 
fician, M. Bouvart, who reprefented to him, 
that the ftate of his health, which had been 
difturbed by a long indifpofition, abfolutely 
required a more falubrious habitation. 
Fitz _weaknefs 

