~ 
6713 | 
kind of privation, and was at length sub- 
jected to all the horrors of want: In fine, 
so deplorable were his necessities, that 
he was actually deprived of both fire and 
candle, which rendered him unable to 
continue his studies during the long nights 
of winter. 
‘¢ The lot of the unfortunate Adanson 
was in some degree ameliorated by the 
mimister Benezech, But it was reserved 
for another minister, a poet and a man 
of genius, to form a ate estimate of the 
value of so great aman: M. Francois de 
Neufchateau is the person to whom we 
now allude. He alleviated his situation 
zs much as possible, dur 1g the distres- 
sing period in question ; -“he paid him 
every possible degree of respect; he in- 
duced the public to recollect the services 
which he had performed for it; and he 
testified the ceepest regret, that 1t was 
not in his power to furm ish the sums ne- 
cessary for che impression of his Bney- 
clopedia. In- addition to all this, he 
laced his bust among those of the great 
men; and when the Tmunificence of the 
government had ceased to be under his 
management, the ex- -minister took every 
opportunity to recommend him to his 
successors. 
Adanson both wrote and read in an 
attitude singularly calculated to hurt his 
Health for he sat on both occasions in an 
arm-chair, with his body bent down- 
wards, and his legs elevated on the chim- 
ney-piece. After his residence at Sene- 
gal, his body ev inced an extreme degree 
of sensibility, both in respect to cold ‘and 
damps. His Pheuuiabion too, was not 
a little auginented by the apartments 
which he inhabited during. the Revolu- 
tion, which was a parlour in a kind of 
cottage, ona an with the street, situ- 
ate in Rue Chantereine, now called Rue 
de la Victoire. 
‘Even there he cultivated a few plants, 
in the little garden attached to Ins hum- 
ble habitation, where he would lie down 
extended on the earth, the better to ob- 
serve every thing around him. When a 
friend arrived, he was accustomed to 
stretch forth both his hands, and ex- 
claim: 
“¢ Non indecoro pulvere sordidum! 
At this period he also collected a num- 
ber of frogs, for the express purpose of 
becoming better acquai inted with their 
instinct; each received a Bae as apa 
pellation from him; and the habit of 
seeme and examining these, seemed to 
have rendered them more docile. Du- 
sing the evening, he was employed in his 
Retrospect of French Literature Biography. 
closet, 
several nights im succession, to take any 
rest. 
‘‘ He had been for a short period af- 
flicted with an ulcer in the right thigh, 
which was followed by a fracture ; and. 
having been obliged, while in this state, 
to betake Ficaetes to his bed, he patiently 
awaited the effect of those succours which 
he expected from the intervention of a 
skilful surgeon. At first he tasted the 
juice of the grape but seldom; yet on 
the expiranen of the fourth month, he 
asked for the vin blanc de Chablis. 
and he sometimes omitted, for. 
He 
began by drinking it mixed with water,, 
and afterwards by itself, to the amount 
of three half pints a-day: this and milk 
were taken alternately by him, During 
the last fourteen days of his life, lemon- 
ade alone was administered ; 
aking notes and making 
tions, without recurring to Soh aid of 
spectacles. His ardour for study, which 
had in some respects relaxed, appeared 
to be reanimated on the evening before 
his death; and he was in full possession 
a all his faculties on the Sd of August, 
806, on which day he expired. Hieveu 
hours after his demise, all his bones be= 
came so soit, that they could scarcely be 
distinguished from the flesh. 
“Tn respect to organization, Adanson 
was of a dry temperament, and emmently 
nervous. His gestures were lively and 
impatient: in point of height, he did not, 
exceed ee feet. During “has youth, he 
had excelled both in fencing and dan-= 
cing, and was also very adroit in the ma- 
nagement of fire-arms. His sensibility 
was exquisite: Good music, and more 
especially the compositions of Gluck, 
filled his breast with imdescribable trans- 
ports.. Even when near eighty years of 
age, he was extremely delighted on being 
ee Serene in this manner. 
‘ Being uncommonly sober, sugared 
water was Be. favourite liquor, even at 
his repasts; his principal ahment, coffee 
or milk: it often happened that he took 
no other nourish ya unul seven o’clock 
in the evening. After Hippocrates, Aris- 
totle appeared to ‘Adanson to-be the finest 
genius of antiquity ; but, without adopt- 
ing his errors, he contemplated Deccan 
as the greatest of all the philosophers, 
both ancient and modern ; he considered 
bin indeed, as far superior to Newton, 
«Mémoires de M. de la Harpe,” &c. 
—Memoirs of the late M. de la Harpe, 
with a list of his works. 
We have already presented our readers 
with 
hand, 
| yet he. 
was seen every morning with a pen In his- 
observa-- 
Co 
