520 Account of Munoz, 
Citizen Corvifard, whofe fuccefs is known 
to every one. 
Poiffonier ftill continued, however, to 
prefide here as fenior member, in confe- 
quence of a refolution of the 11th of Ja- 
nuary, 1778: he did lefs honour to that 
‘ficuation by a noble and commanding af- 
pect, than by the dignity of his. orations, 
the elegance of his manners, and the con- 
fideration he enjoyed in the eftimation of 
the world. We have all heard him {peak, 
at the periods of our re-aflembling during 
twenty years, ina manner that did honour’ 
both to the fociety and its.chief.. He died 
on the 29th of Fructidor, 6th year, (Sep-, 
tember asth, 1798) at the age of 78, in 
confequence of an abcefs that had been 
too fuddenty clofed. He efpoufed Mary- 
Catharine Martinon who, as well as him- 
felf, was a native of Dijon, in 17533 this 
lady was indebted to him for an important 
piace, having been appointed nurfe to 
the Duke of Burgundy through his in- 
tereftt. He loft her in 1783: her merit 
and talents rendered this lofs extremely 
afflicting to her hufband. 
- In 1738 he married Jeanne Molay de 
Revroi, who was fo attached to him, that 
the died fuddenly of fenfibility, uneafinels 
and fatigue, two months betore Citizen 
Poiffonier, while affifting by the fide of 
is bed, during his laft illnefs. 
He has left behind. him an only fon, 
who obtained the rank of Advocate-ge- 
meral of the Parliament of Burgundy, 
which prefuppofes talents, and who fuc- 
ceeded Citizen Guyton Morveau, whofe 
reputation as a chemift has furpaffed that 
which he had obtained as an orator, lawyer 
and legiflator. The Citizen Sue,. Secre- 
tary to the Society of Medicine, will foon 
yendera mere fuitable homage to the me- 
mory of our illuftrious Prefident. 
TRANSLATION of @ LETTER from SIG- 
NOR A. J. CAVANILLEs, relative ta 
MUNOZ, the SPANISH HISTORIAN. 
E Idadrid, Nov. 22d, 1799- 
JF-HAVE juft received your packet 
jt with an inclofure for Munoz, who 
alas! isno more. A fit of apoplexy, on 
the 19th July, 1799, fnatched this learned 
nan, whofe lofs I shall eyer deplore, from 
the career of letters. ae, 
-He was, born in the year 1745, af 
Muteros, a village rather more than a 
league diftant from Valentia, and he com- 
pleted his ftudies in the Univerfity of that 
citys dlways fagerior to the young men 
the Spani/h Hiftorian, 
of his own age, he was their model, and 
not. unfrequently their dire€tor in’ the 
different departments of. delles lettres, 
philcfophy and theclogy. It:was he who 
overturned the idol ot the Peripateticks, 
and fubitituted in its place good tafte, the 
difcoveries of the mederns, a found logic, 
a real knowledge of nature, and, in fhort, 
afure method of making a rapid progrels 
in the fciences. 
At the age of twenty-two years he drew 
up the Prefaces to the Rhetoric of P. 
Luis de Granada, and the Logic of Vernei, 
in which he difplayed an aftonifhing degree 
of erudition acquired by him im confe- 
quence of the fiudy of thofe authors who 
were the reformers of letters in the r5th 
and 16th centuries. 
Invited afterwards by the Government 
to fill the place of principal Cofmogra- 
pher of the Indies, he made himfelf 
acquainted with the various branches of 
this employment, which he filled with 
diftin&tion until the moment that the 
Minifter Galvez appointed him to draw up 
the Hiftory of America. That he might 
execute this tak with honour to himielf, 
during a period of five years, he vilited 
and canfulted the archives of Simancas, 
Seville, Cadiz, Lifbon, &c. and thus ob- 
‘tained admiflion to fources of information 
who had preceded him in the fame career, 
[Jan. ty 
unknown, and even prohibited to thofe— 
Thefruits of his zeal confifted of one hun- ~ 
dred and thirty volumes oi inedited papers, 
fuch as original ietters from Columbus, | 
Pizarro and Ximenes ; a correfpondence 
precious in.refpeét to America, fo far as- 
its ,hiftoyy both natural and. political is 
concermed. ‘ 
-tions that he commenced his labours, the 
firft, volume. of which has, already been 
feen by the public; and the fecond, ac- ° 
companied with jultificatory papers, will 
foon make its appearance. Previoufly to 
\ 
It was on fuch folid-founda- | 
his death he had completed the two frft © 
books of Vol. I, and the third was nearly 
finithed ; indeed, he was employed on it 
the day’ preceding his death, ‘until .two 
o°clock inthe afternoon., «+ 
‘Munoz was. the bett hufband, the moft, 
tender father, the moft faithfui and moft 
couftant of frierfds. I write you thefe 
particulars concerning him, without ob- 
ferving any order or ceremony, as they 
are merely intended to announce the, per-- 
haps, irreparable Jo{s of my learned friend. 
I fhall tranfmit you his eulogium which 
is now preparing, and requelt you to ren- 
dey it public. 
. oS ORIGINAL 
~ A. J. CAVANILLES. 
