“ 
429, 
which they confecrate to their own glory ; 
and it muft be confeffed that infulated de- 
feriptions, and minute difeuffions, do not 
lead to it. 
Bruguiéres, however, was an exception 
to thefe remarks. Retired to modeft lodg-~ 
ings in the fuburbs, in the vicinity of the 
Gardea of Piants, he frequently {pent ma- 
ny weeks at home, folely occupied with 
his labours, and unacquainted with any 
other amufement than what he obtained 
by varying his readings. He even car- 
ried the love of retreat to excefs, for he 
but feldom attended the meetings of the 
Society of Natural Hiftory, although he 
was one of its founders. This indolence 
and phyfical imimobility contributed not a 
little to hurt bis health. Although fearce- 
ly forty years of age, he had become fat 
and heav y, and was rendered ineapable of 
encuring fatigue. His friends were, there- 
fore, greatly aftonifhed when they learned 
that he had undertaken a voyage to the 
Eaft.* Intruth, this expedition contri- 
buted nota little to deftroy his health, 
and it was undoubtedly owing to the fee- 
blenefs refulting from it, that he fo 
quickly fell a prey to his late malady. 
Such was the progrefs of the difeate, that 
its effeéts were vifible to every one. Hav- 
ing difembarked on the 23d Fruédfidor, 
(Sept. 11) at Butrinto, he arrived at 
Ancona on the 2d Supplementary Day, 
and he was there attacked by a malignant 
fever, which carried him off rather fud- 
denly on the 11th Vendemiaire of the 7th 
year, (O&. 1, 1799). He left a wife 
and three children behind him, all of them 
ceftitute of the gifts of fortune ; but the 
Gevernment will not ferely permit the 
family of a man who has devoted his life 
tothe public, to become the viétim of his 
attachments. 
The Citizen L’Heretier has confecrated 
a plant of a new genus to the memory of 
this naturalift, under the name of Brzgui- 
éra. The fpecies was difcovered by Bru- 
eweres himéelf, among the rocks of Ma- 
dagafear, during his veyeES to the Indian 
Seas. It if of a middle fize, and its ge- 
neric character, which is very remarkable; 
confits in this, that the famina’ are en- 
jerged, and refemble petals, while the 
anthers are placed’ on the middle of the 
ditk of thefe falfe petals. + 
* This was in 1793 and its. cbjeéts were, 
the natural hiftory, arts, &c. of the ifles of 
the Archipelago, Egypt, Syria, Leffer Afia, 
‘Turkey, and Perfia. The companion of Bru- 
guicres was C, Olivier, author of a Hiftory of 
infects. 
% 
Biographical Notice of Nitholas De Flue. - 
(Dec. 3 
BIOGRAPHICAL ‘NOTICE of NICOLAS ‘DE: 
. FLUE. 
DE FLUE was'defcended from one 
e of the firft families of Switzerland. 
He fought feveral times in the fervice of 
his country, and’among others in the war 
of the Swifs with Sigifmund Duke'of Auf 
tria. It was during this war that the 
Swils, when about to fet fire toa convent, 
were prevented by the remonftrances of 
Nicolas—‘* When God gives you the 
victory over your enemies (faid he), you 
ought to refpeét edifices confecrated to 
him.” He afterwards became one of the 
magiftrates of his canton, but he obfti- 
nately refuled the fir office being dif. 
pleafed with the condu& of fome of his 
colleagues, whom ‘he’ delpaired of cor- 
recting, and would not irritate by vain 
refiftance. Thefe circumftances, his ha- 
tred of vice, a devotional turn of mind, 
and the fpirit of the times, led him to quit 
his family and the world at the age of so. 
He chofe himfelf a ruéic retirement near 
Stantz: a board was his bed, a ftone his 
pillow, a thick tree his fhelter; but his 
countrymen haftened to build him a little 
hermitage and a chapel. Nicolas had 
long been confidered as a holy man—hie 
retirement increafed his reputation. He 
addrefied the wifeft exhortations to thofe 
who came to vifit his cell, and never 
ceafed to reprefent to them that the prac- 
tice of virtue alone conducted to happinefs 
on earth. “ My friends (he would fay), 
jove is the fource of all virtues in heaven 
and on earth—it is fhewn by virtuous 
men every where, and in all conditions 
of life. It in{pires the prince with juftice 
—the fubjecét with obedience. ' Let every 
one be juft and faithfu] in his own ftation 
—tew are called to that which I have 
chofen.’? When any one confulted him, 
he modeftly aniwered, ‘* Do not confult a 
man who can neither read nor write ; afk 
your Dofters, they know better than E 
do.—My brethren (he often repeated),. 
may love always guide you! difcord de- 
itroys and is defiroyed—always feek peace, . 
Your union has vanquithed your enemies 
—by it you have become a nation ; in- 
tereft and ambition alone can deftroy it. 
Enjoying peace and liberty, your hearts 
ought to be filled with contentment and 
gratitude to the Supreme Being. Never 
attack firft, but refit unjuft force, and 
continue to defend the widow and the or- 
phan. Do not extend your liberty too 
far, nor offer it to all exiles—fhun great 
lords and their gifts, and follow my coun- 
fels while yet you may.” This hermit 
was avery fine figureehe was apn 
an 
