been elected a member in 1733. The most important of these communications detailed his experiments on the construction of a mirror like that of Archimedes, for the purpose of setting fire to objects at a considerable distance; and on the strength of timber, and on, the means of increasing it, chiefly by depriving the trees of their bark a considerable time before felling them. Hitherto it was only a general love of the sciences and literary renown that had animated Buffon in his labours: his appointment to the place of super intendant of the Royal Garden, gave a determinate direction to his studies, and introduced him to the career in which he has acquired immortal glory. His friend and predecessor Dufay had begun to raise that institution from the decay into which it had been suffered to fall by the king's chief physicians, who had long held it in uninterrupted succession as an appendage to their office. On his deathbed, in 1739, he had recommended Buffon as the only man capable of executing his plans. Being accordingly appointed Dufay's successor, he immediately began to calculate what could be effected by zeal and industry; and had the prudence to secure to himself all the support which he might need. Before his time the writers on natural history had been mere compilers, or dry systematists. There existed indeed a great number of excellent observations on single subjects: but Buffon formed the determination to unite the extensive plan and eloquence of Pliny with the profoundness of Aristotle, and the minute accuracy of modern naturalists. His genius and imagination were equal to comprehensive views, and the lively delineation and colouring which the execution of such a plan required; but, finding that he wanted patience and ability to observe and describe the numerous and very minute objects of natural history, he called in the assistance of his countryman, Daubenton, in whom he had early discovered the qualifications in which himself was deficient. After ten years' persevering Jabour and diligence, the two friends published the three first volumes of Natural History. They continued, jointly, from 1749 to 1767, the fifteen first volumes, containing the Theory of the Earth, the General History of Animals, the History of Man and of the Viviparous Quadrupeds. All the shining parts of the work, the general theories, the views of the manners and habits of the animals, and of the grand phenomena of nature, belong to Buffon: the subordinate co-operation of Daubenton was limited to the anatomy and minute description of natural bodies. The nine following volumes, which appeared from 1770 to 1783, contained the History of Birds. Daubenton declined having any further share in it, because Buffon had given permission to Panckoucke, the bookseller, to print an edition of the History of Quadrupeds, in which the whole of the anatomical part was omitted. The work hereby received another form: only short de scriptions, in which the anatomical part was almost wholly neglected, were incorporated with the historical sections, which were partly composed by two of Buffon's friends: at first G. M. Guéneau de Montbeillard, who sometimes very happily imitated his style; and afterwards by the Abbé Beron. The five volumes on Mineralogy were published by Buffon without any assistant, between 1783 and 1788. The seven supplementary volumes, the last of which did not appear till after his death in 1789, consisted principally of dissertations relative to the three grand divisions of the work. The great work on which Buffon had been employed without interruption during fifty years, forms, however, only a division of his comprehensive plan: and although Lacépède has successfully pursued it in his History of large Aquatic Animals, of Fishes, and of Reptiles; yet the History of the Animals without Vertebræ, and the whole of the Vegetable Kingdom yet remain to be completed. On Buffon's literary character there exists only one opinion with respect to sublimity of views, dignified majesty of images, noble energy of language, and equable harmony of style, while treating of important subjects, few have equalled him. A certain want of pliancy is objected to him: sometimes, however, detailed descriptions, replete with enchanting grace, have flowed from his pen. He frequently endeavours to give variety to a dry subject, by excellent moral reflections; and in each of his pictures of the grand phenomena of nature, we find a peculiar indelible character combined with the strictest adherence to truth. Accordingly the work was every where received with applause. In every country, men, the most distinguished for rank and talents, were unanimous in paying homage to the author; foreign 1814.] Cuvier's Memoirs of Buffon. foreign princes emulated each other in confering upon him marks of their regard; and in his native country he enjoyed, in a peculiarly high degree, the favour of government. Louis XV. annexed the title of count to his estate of Buffon. M. d'Angevillers, surveyorgeneral of the royal buildings during the reign of Louis XVI. erected to his honour, while still living, at the entrance of the king's cabinet of natural history, a statue with this inscription, Majestati naturæ par ingenium; and except a few obscure and already-forgotten critics, scarcely a voice was heard to detract from the praise with which he was honoured. With respect to his merit as a na turalist, opinions were more divided. His countrymen, Voltaire, D'Alem bert, and Condorcet, severely censured his hypotheses, and his philosophical reasonings, which are not founded upon calculations or experiments, but deduced from certain general views: and several foreign naturalists have noticed, with disapprobation, certain errors in the details of his history, and particularly his rejection of a methodical nomenclature ; without, at the same time, doing justice to his merits on account of the various additions with which he had enriched the science. Although in these censures many things are founded in truth; yet it must be owned that they are accompanied with considerable exaggeration. No one will now undertake to defend Buffon's first or second Theory of the Earth:-his comet tearing fragments from the sunhis vitrified or red-hot planets, which gradually cool, some sooner and others later the organic creatures which gradually appear on their surface as the temperature becomes milder-can only be considered as ingenious sports of imagination: It must, nevertheless, be allowed, that he had the merit of generally diffusing the conviction that the present condition of our globe is the result of several consecutive revolutions, of which it is possible to find the traces: that it was he who directed the attention of observers to the phenomena, which may be adduced as proofs of these great changes. His Theory of Generation, and his Doctrine of Organic Molecules appear, without saying any thing of their obscurity, and a certain contradiction in terms, to have been completely refuted by later observers, particularly by Haller and Spallanzani; 233 still, however, his eloquent sketch of the physical and moral developement of man, is an excellent production, which will bear a comparison with some of the best passages in the writings of Locke. He was wrong in endeavouring to substitute for the instinct of animals a kind of mechanism, which, however, is much more intelligible than the Cartesian theory: but his ideas on the influence of the tenderness and degree of deve lopement of single organs, will claim the attention of the philosopher who devotes his studies to natural history: they have indeed done such essential service to systematic description, that the author may, on that account, be forgiven the invectives he poured forth against it. His ideas on the degeneration of animals, and the limits set by climates, mountains, and seas, to the extension of species, may be considered as real discoveries, which daily receive additional confirmation. The most perfect part of Buffon's works is his History of Quadrupeds. Before his time the knowledge of exotic mammalia was very confused, and interwoven with numerous errors.. The me thod introduced by him of describing every species of animals singly and separately, and to subject the history thereof to a strict criticism, has become a pattern for all important contributions towards natural history, and particularly for the labours of Pallas. The state in which Buffon found this class of animals, inspired him with his dislike of methodical nomenclatures: but he did not obstinately adhere to this prejudice, for we find that he silently submitted to the necessity of arrangement and classification in his Ornithology, which, though inferior in other respects to the History of Quadrupeds, has become the principal source whence subsequent writers on the subject have derived; and making allowance for the time in which it was written, no other work on the subject exhibits so much critical accuracy. The weakest part of his works is the History of Minerals. The many op portunities he there met with of indulging his propensity for hypothesis, seduced our author; and he neglected to call in sufficiently the aid of chemistry, or to follow the rapid progress of the science by the labours of Romé de Lisle, Bergman, Saussure, and Hauy. At the same time that Buffon was engaged on this great work, he was erecting erecting another monument to his fame. The cabinet and garden, which had been committed to his care, were considerably enriched by his active superintendance, by every advantage derived from the favour of the ministers, and by presents from his admirers in every part of the world. He had the merit likewise of exciting a general inclination towards the study of natural history; and the zeal which princes and nobles have shewn for the promotion of the science. Buffon resided alternately at the Royal Garden and his country seat of Mont. bar. From intense study he sought for recreation in amusements which he could easily procure. Homage and praise he willingly received, but without taking any other trouble to obtain them except such as the perfecting of his literary productions required. From the cabals of the political and literary world he kept himself aloof, and did not deign to reply to the criticisms on his works. His tranquillity was further secured by an obliging politeness towards men of high rank and office; and accordingly the peaceful tenor of his life was seldom disturbed, except perhaps by his dispute with the Sorbonne, whose zeal he was forced to soften by a kind of recantation. Continual pain from the stone in the bladder embittered his latter years, with out however interrupting the progress of his labours. He died at Paris, on the 16th of April, 1788, in the 81st year of his age. In 1762 he had married Mademoiselle de St. Belin, and left by her an only son, who fell a sacrifice on the revolutionary scaffold, fourteen days before the 8th of Thermidor, which put a period to those scenes of mourning and horror. Buffon possessed a noble and expressive countenance; and his manly form and dignified deportment inspired reverence. In his private life he has been charged with a love of finery and an unseemly vanity, to which his studies and literary eminence should have rendered him superior. It is said, that, devoting the powers of his mind wholly to the study of natural history, he neglected the arts of social intercourse, and used, in conversation, vulgar expressions, and a language extremely different from the style of his books: and it is likewise asserted, that he was more pleased with the society of flatterers and admirers than of judicious critics; and that in his latter years be exhis bited an exclusive fondness for his own writings. We must however own that he has never betrayed this excessive predilection in his own works, where he never forgets the dignified manner which a man addressing the public should always maintain. es Of his manner of composing, an idea is presented in his Discourse on Style, which he pronounced at his reception into the French Academy in 1753: precept and example are here found together; and this discourse may be reckoned among the most excellent prose says in the French language. He has not, however, mentioned there the extraordinary care which he bestowed on the finishing of his writings, by which he gave them the admirable harmony by which they are so peculiarly distinguish ed. It is asserted that he had the manuscript of the Epochs of Nature copied eleven times before it was sent to the press. Indeed, in his familiar letters, we find scarcely a trace of the splendid style of his printed productions. Of Buffon's Natural History, two quarto editions issued from the royal press; one, published in 1749 to 1788, in thirty-six volumes, is held in the highest estimation, and none of the subsequent ones can supply its place to the naturalist: the second, which appeared in 1774 and the following years, in twenty-eight volumes, is little sought after, although the supplements are here incorporated with the body of the work: but it wants the anatomical contributions of Daubenton, and the impressions of the plates are inferior. With both edi tions are commonly bound Lacepède's Oviparous Quadrupeds and Serpents, which appeared in 1787 and 1789, in two quarto volumes; his Fishes, published in 1793 and 1803, in five quarto volumes; and his Cetaceous Animals, published in 1804, in four volumes. The royal press likewise furnished a duodecimo edition of the Natural History, begun in 1753, and consisting of seventy-three volumes with, or of only fifty-three without, the anatomical part: the continuations of Lacépède form se venteen volumes of this size. In the years 1766 and 1779, Allamand, professor at the University of Leyden, republished, at Amsterdam, all that related to General History of Nature and, of Quadrupeds, in twelve volumes quarto; adding many important observations of 4 1814.1 Guvier's Memoirs of Buffon: his own, which were afterwards adopted by Buffon into his Supplements. The Deuxponts edition of 1785 and 1791, in fifty-four volumes, is very carelessly printed. As soon as ten years after the author's death had elapsed, the French booksellers emulated each other in new editions. In 1798 and 1807 there appeared at Paris, in 127 octavo volumes, a General and Particular Natural History, with Notes, &c. a work forming a complete course of natural history, edited by Sonnini. The sixty-four first volumes of this extensive collection, con. tain Buffon's work, with notes and additions by the editor: eight are devoted to reptiles by Dandin; six to the mollusca by Denys-Montfort; fourteen to crustaceous animals and insects by Latreille; thirteen to fishes by Sonnini; one to the large marine animals, likewise by Sonnini, but chiefly taken from Lacépède; and eighteen to the vegetable kingdom, by Brisseau, Mirbel, and others. The three last volumes contain the index by Sue. Sangrain, a bookseller, and Panquet, an engraver, set on foot in 1799, &c. a systematic edition of Buffon's Natural History, in 56 vols. in sixteens, according to the plan of Lacépède, to whom it was dedicated by the editor. All observa tions relative to synonyms are here omitted; but to the 14th volume of the Mammalia, a systematic synopsis is added of all quadrupeds and birds described by Buffon; in which they are classed ac. cording to Lacepède's system, and to his and Buffon's synonyms are added likewise those of Linneus. The 20 vols. of the edition in sixteens, of Lacépède's above-mentioned works, on fishes, serpents, and marine animals, are generally bound with this edition. A number of the copies have likewise appeared with Didot's name to the title page, and are considered as forming part of his stereotype collection. M. Castel printed in 1799 and 1802, in 18 vols. sixteens, a Complete Course of Natural History, in which an abridgment of Buffon's works, arranged according to the Linnean systein, fills 26 volumes. Patrin has treated of the fishes in 10 volumes, according to Bloch's Ichthyology; to which are added 4 volumes on Reptiles, by Sonnini and Latreille; 10 volumes on Insects, by Tigny and Brongniart; 10 volumes on Crustaceous Animals and Vermes, by Bosc; and 15 volumes on Plants, by Lamarc and Mirbel. The commencement of an 1 235 Italian translation of this abridgment of Buffon lately appeared at Placenza, in sixteens. In 1804 P. Bernard published in 11 octavo volumes, Histoire naturelle de Buffon, reduite à ce quelle contient de plus instructif & de plus interessant. Of the Natural History of Birds there appeared in 1771 & seq. a splendid edition from the royal press, in folio and quarto, with 1008 coloured plates, executed under the inspection of the author, by M. DAUBENTON, a younger brother of his first associate. These plates are likewise sold without the text. The publications against Buffon's Natural History were very numerous; they were mostly ephemerous productions, which sunk the sooner into oblivion, because Buffon preserved an unconquerable silence respecting his censurers and adversaries. The Lettres d'un Americain, however, which appeared in 9 vols. 12mo. at Hantburgh, in 1751, and the following years, attracted considerable attention. These letters were written, at the instigation of Reaumur, by the Abbé de Lianac, a Capucine friar, who had deserted from his convent and order. We likewise find valuable remarks in Malesherbes's Obsernations sur l'Histoire Naturelle de Buffon, which were published at Paris, in 1798, in 2 vols. 4to. Buffon's Natural History, notwithstanding its great extent, has been trauslated into the English, Italian, Spanish, and German languages; and some of the translations are accompanied with notes and additions. In 1810, Bastien, a bookseller in Paris, began a new complete edition of his works, in 36 volumes: above twenty of which have already appeared. At the beginning of the first volume he has given several poems, &c. relative to the author. The additions, supplements, and notes, will be inserted in their proper places: which will constitute the sole merit of this edition. CONDORCET, as Secretary of the Academy of Sciences,and BROUSSONET,as Secre tary of the Parisian Society of Rural Eco. nomy, read to these learned bodies historical memoirs and eulogies of Buffon. VICQ-D'AZIR,his successor in the French Academy, has, in his inaugural discourse, expatiated on the merits and fame of the deceased member; and LACEPEDE has paid him an eloquent tribute of praise in the first volume of his History of Serpents. Two lives of him appeared nearly at the same time in 1788, one anonymous, and the other by M. Aude. But the most curious curious anecdotes respecting him are to be found in Hérault de Séchelles' Voyage Montbar, containing very interesting See a former number of the Monthly Magazine. details respecting his character, person, and writings, first published in the Mer cure, and afterwards as a separate work in 1801. Extracts from the Portfolio of a Man of Letters. NIMBUS OR GLORY. HIS ornament, in which much mysTtery has been found, represented only the sun. This emblem, placed over the heads of saints and even of kings, was an imitation of the custom of the Romans, who meant by it merely to express the deification of their great men. POEM ON GODFREY OF BOULOGNE. In the public library at Lyons, in France, exists a quarto manuscript poem of more than thirty thousand verses, entitled, Godefroi de Bouillon. It was composed in the year 1469, or transcribed at least, by one Pierre Coudron, a poet patronized by the family of Saint-Priest, which possessed in the Lyonese the manor of St. Chaumond. It may be suspected that Tasso owes something to this epopea, which terminates with the following lines: Si finit l'ystoire Godefroi de Bouillon, Qui l'a faite ecrire Dieu fasse pardon ; Ecrire la fit un moult noble baron, Leonard de Saint-Priest, seigneur de Chau mon, Par un nommé Pierre, qui fut né à Laon, Dieu donne à l'ecrivain remission, The poem is divided into short chapters, but not into stanzas, or cantos: it proves the stabile popularity of the first crusade, which was formed to call forth some epic poet of eminence. JOHNNY DORY. The black spot on each side of the neck of the baddock, is commonly as cribed to the pressure of St. Peter's thumb and finger, on the occasion of finding the tribute-money, or carach, in the mouth of the fish. It is, however, doubted, whether the baddock be found in the Mediterranean; but certainly it is unknown in the lake of Tiberius. The truth is, that a very different fish is supposed in the Mediterranean to have been honoured by the Apostle's touch. This, in allusion to the employment of St. Peter, as the porter, or keeper of the gate of Paradise, is called by the Italians the Janitore: from which we have received our English Johnny Dory: an exertion of etymological genius, not a whit behind that by which the Italian Girasolé, or Turnsol, is transformed into a Jerusalem artichoke. FIRST PERSECUTION FOR HERESY. Maximus, who commanded in Britain, after the death of Theodosius, made the support of the peculiar system of christianity, then established in the empire, a pretence for the exertion of his ty ranny and avarice. He put to death Priscillian, and some of his followers, convicted of holding heretical opinions; that is, of exercising the rights of human beings, on matters of the highest importance to themselves alone. The Priscillianites had reposed such confidence in the understanding and equity of the chief magistrate, as to appeal to him from the ecclesiastical sentence pronounced against them by an assembly held in France, where Maximus then was. It will ever be remem bered, to the honour of St. Martin of Tours, that he laboured strenuously in the defence of the suppliant heretics, representing to the tyrant the horror of shedding innocent blood; that it was even more than sufficient, that such as had incurred the censure of the church, should be excluded from the public ser vice of religion; but especially, that it would be a thing unheard of, for a secular judge to interfere in the cause and concerns of the church. This, says the historian Zosimus, was the first fatal instance of persons being put to death for heresy, by the sword of the magistrate. Father Menestrict compiled a great book ou mottoes, which was published at Paris in 1686, under the title La Science, et l'Art des Devises. This book should be new-made, and attached to the works on heraldry. Our gentry some times forget in their mottoes the laws of grammar, sometimes the precepts of taste, and sometimes the duties of nationality. The French language, the French |