1800. ] 
ing characters of his mind. Inthe ftudy 
of the higher geometry, he has acquired 
fome ability and great facility, which early 
procured hima great reputation in invefti- 
gations of that “kind. . This facility has 
allowed him fome leifure to cultivate lite- 
rature with fome fuccefs. His ityle 1s 
concife, clear and precife, commonly eafy, 
without pretenfion, though chafte, fome- 
times a little dry, Mei never uncouth, 
more energetic than ardent, more jull than 
poetical, and more dignified than infinu- 
ating. 
Having been devoted to retirement and 
labour, till he had pafled his twenty-fifth 
year, he entered very late into the world, 
and never was able to give it much pleas 
fure. He could never bring him{clf to 
learn its ufages and its language, and per- 
haps he is not free from a fort of little 
vanity which makes him deipife them, He 
is not, however, on any occafion unpo- 
lite; becaufe he is neither rude nor mo- 
rofe; but he is fometimes uncivil, from 
inattention or ignorance. Compliments 
embarra{s him; becau‘e he has not always 
ready the formulary by which they are to 
be anfwered. His converfation poffeffes 
neither gallantry nor grace; and he fays 
obliging things, only becaufe he thinks 
them, and becaule thofe to whom the ad- 
dreffes them are agreeable to him. Thus 
the leading features of his character are 
franknefs and ‘truth, often fomewhat 
clownith, but never offenlivre. 
Impatient and choleric in a violent 
degree, contradiétion and infult make on 
M. D’Alembert an impreffion fo lively, 
that he is not always matter of it; but it 
diflipates while he is expreffing his feeling 
of it. At bottom he is very gentle, eafily 
pleafed, more complaifant than he ap- 
pears, and governed with great facility, 
provided he does not perceive that he is go- 
verned; for his love of independence rifes 
to fuch a pitch of enthufiafm, that he has 
often refufed things which would have 
been agreeable to him, if he had not fore- 
feen that they would have brought him un- 
der fome conitraint—a difpofition which 
drew from one of his friends the well- 
founded= remark, That M. D?Alembert 
was the flave of his liberty. 
Some people cail him wicked, for no | 
other reafon than becaufe he does not 
{eruple to laugh at the foolith pretences 
which, difeuft him. But, if that be a 
wickednefs, it is the only one of which he 
is capable. He hasneither {pleen nor pa- 
' tience to go farther ; and it would make 
him miferable to think that any one, even 
of thofe who have taken the moft pains to 
Menzoirs of D’ Alembert. 
(239 
injure him, fhould be made unhappy by 
his means. Not that he forgets injuricus 
attempts and actions; but ‘he knows no 
other method of revenge than a conttant 
refufal of hts friendfhip and confidence to 
thofe of whom he has reafon to complain. 
His own experience, and the example of 
others, have taught M.D’ Alembert that he 
ought to diftrufi mankind in general; but 
his extreme opennefs does not permit 
him to exercife this diftruft with any one 
in particular. He cannot bring himtelf to 
believe that he is deceived; and this de- 
fect (for it certainly is fuch, though ori- 
ginating in a good principle) produces in 
him one ftiil greater, namely, that of be- 
ing too eafily ere of the impref. 
fons intended to be made on him. 
Without afamily, and without connec- 
tions of any kind, early abandoned to his 
fate, habituated from his infancy to an 
obicure and confined but free manner of 
liie; happily born with fome talents and 
few palltons; M. D’Alembert has found 
in ftudy and in his natural gaiety a reme+ 
dy azainft the ftate of defertion in which 
he was placed. He has preferved a fort 
of exiftence in the world, without too 
much anxiety about it, and without the 
affiftance of any perfon. As he owes no- 
thing, except to nature and to himfelf, he 
is ignorant of low cunning and manage- 
ment, arts fo neceflary to menwho make 
their court to the great in order to ar- 
rive at wealth: nay fo great is his con- 
tempt of names and titles, that he had the 
imprudence to prefix that fentiment to one 
of his works. This made him fo many 
enemies among that haughty and power- 
ful clafs of men, that they wifhed him to 
be'thought the mo vain being upon 
earth ; but he is only high- fpirited and 
independent, and more apt to appreciate 
himfelf below than above his real value. 
Although his vanity is by no means fo 
exceflive as many people think, he is not 
infenfible to its influence; he is even very 
fenfible to the firft impreflion, both of 
praife and reproach; but in a moment re- 
flection reftores the balance of his mind, 
and makes him regard panegyric with in- 
difference, and fatire with contempt. 
His maxim is, That a literary man who 
withes to raife his reputation on a durable 
bafis, fhould attend very much to what he 
writes, fufficiently to what he does, and 
moderately to what he fays. M. D’Alem- 
bert regulates his conduct by this princi- 
ple: he fays many foolifh things, writes. 
but few, and does none. 
No man carries difintereftednefS to 2 
greater length. But as he has no wants 
or 
