420 
on the part of the French crew; defpair- 
ing to be able to avenge themfelves on 
thofe who were encamped on the fhore, 
and protected by their artillery, they 
watched an opportunity when an officer 
and two men had ventured into the heart 
of the country: thefe they inftantly pur- 
fued, overtook, and menaced with inftant 
death. The aReer: being deftitute of all 
means of defence, had no other refource 
than to afk the chief of the affailants if he 
had a daughter, and offered to take her for 
his companion. From this moment all 
animofity ceafed, and a bitter and impla- 
cable enemy became a faithful ally and a 
gender friend. 
Bruguiéres drew up a curious account 
of this voyage, and whichis fo'much the 
more interefting, as the failure in point of 
faccefs prevented the Government from 
publithing the papers relative to its This 
manufcript is perhaps till’ to>-be found 
among his papers; and it is likely that 
the printing of it will no longer be defer- 
red on account of any perfonal confidera- 
tion, 
On his return to France, in the month 
of September, 1774, he {pent nine months 
in Paris before he was enabled to obtain a 
very inadequate reward from the Govern- 
ment. He then fet out for Montpellier, 
where he remained during feveral years 
without interruption, and continued to 
profecute his ftudies in the ufual manner. 
It was there, alfo, that he arranged and 
defcribed the plants he had colleéted dur- 
ing his voyage, and then drew up a rela- 
tion of the particulars. 
Barthés, the Chancellor of the Univer- 
fity of that city, engaged him to give a 
courfe of botany, as his fubftitute, and 
éven afforded him hopes that the place of 
Demonfirator of that fcience fhould be 
revived in his favour. Bruguiéres was 
defirous, on the other hand, to be fent to 
Corfica, with a view of undertaking a de- 
fcription of the natural hiftory of that 
country; but he was not fufficiently preff- 
ing in his applications to fucceed. 
Some f{peculations relative to a coal- 
mine, which had been difcovered in the 
neighbourhood of Montpellier, for fome 
time enzaged his attention : but a certain 
fpecies “of fatality feems to have been at- 
tached to all bis proceedings ; ; for the firt 
fiep taken by Bruguiéres on the road to 
fortune, inevitably condu&ted him again 
to the career of the fciences. The fearch 
peceflarily made upon this occafion, had 
difcovered a variety of curious foffils and 
petriications ; thefe objects reanimated 
bis ardent imagination, and he felt the 
Biographical Account of Bruguicres. 
[Dec. 1, 
importance of their ftudy, relative to ‘the 
various revolutions undergone by the 
‘earth ; on this he forfook his coal-mine, 
which perhaps . have enriched but 
not inftru€ted himj and now dreamed only 
of foffils! He accordingly not only de- 
fcribed thofe which he himfelf had difco- 
vered, but all fuch alfo as were contained 
in the cabinets of Montpellier. After this, 
he caufed drawings to be made of ‘them, 
which were engraved in twenty plates, 
ftill, perhaps, to be found among his pa- 
pers; and it was with thefe that he re- 
paired to Paris, for the third time; at the 
end of 1781, with an intention to continue 
and publifh the fruit of his labours.’ 
No other man, perhaps, but himfelf, 
would have hazarded fo much im’ confe- 
quence of fuch a refource ; and thofe peo- 
ple who are accuftomed to calewlate all 
their actions, and undertake nothing the 
refult of which has not been anticipated, 
will undoubtedly condemn him; but in 
private life, as well as in war and poli- 
tics, there is fometimes lefs danger in 
abandoning ourfelves blindly to fortune;” 
than in endeavouring to direct her. Aman 
of learning, if deftitute of wealth, is in 
forme meafure buried alive in the depart- 
ments, while in Paris he can find a:vari-’ 
ety of ermployments, and obtain a lefs in-) 
adequate reward for his labours. 
Bruguiéres felt this difference of : fitoa- 
tion to a diftrefling, degree. <* 1 There! 
(faid he, in a letter written to his friend: 
Juffieuw in 1778) 1 it is neceflary to depend) 
only on’ one’s felf for refources of any’ 
kind, and expe& nothing from others but. 
criticiten happy, indeed, whemitis founds 
ed in truthy and. may confequently prove 
ufeful.”” 
He had been received as a member of 
the Academy of Montpellierin 1776} At 
Paris he had many ‘friends among® the: 
learned men of the capital, and there he 
of courfe’ expegted to find that» fupport 
which hein fact at lenoth experienced.» > 
Our refpectable colleague Daubenton, 
perceiving that no one in the metropolis 
addigted himfelf to the methodical ftady of 
that clafs of animals to which Linnzus 
has given the appellation of Vermes, re- 
folved to. undertake it himfelf, and he was. 
afterwards employed to: {fuperintend -this 
branch. of natural hiftory in the new: Ena 
cyclopedia.* Being in want of fome-per- 
fon to make the neceflary extraéts, and 
undertake the details, which he himfelf 
was prevented from attending to by his 
age and his other occupations, his friend 
we: 
Thi voi Bite d& Y 
* Encyclopédie Mithodique. ; 
Brouffonet, 
