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    ' friends , in consequence of refusing them my suffrage at academic elections . I never could bear tlie weight of hatred on rny mind ; I have made many enemies by my candour , but I never- hated and have always endeavoured to conciliate them , I love whatever contributes to the perfection of mankind , and care very little for what contributes to their amusement .

    " Gratitude is so deeply implanted in my hearty that 1 weep involuntarily , whenever I recollect the proofs which I have either given or received of this feeling . The numerous instances of ingratitude , which 1 have experienced , have never diminished the warmth of my acknowledgment for favours . ' * Among the distinguished men who have honoured me with their friendship , I recollect , with

    pleasure , Montesquieu , Fontenelle , J . J . Rousseau , Dalembert , Clairaut Maupertuis , La Condamine , Voltaire , Reaumur , Euler , Barthelemi , Raynal , JVJacquer , &c . ** The last wished me to marry

    his daughter ; I refused her from a motive of friendship to the fam - ily ; she deserved a better match , u I can acknowledge , without pain , the superiority of my

    colleagues in science : I declared , in my eulogium of Pingre , that the Academy had committed a rnistake , in deciding in my favour at an election .

    " I ; am reproached with speaking too often of myself ^ I acknowledge this defect , and have no other excuse to offer , but my natural sincerity and itiy love of truth . I maintain that it is treason against the community , to be si | ent in relation to the vices of others . It is sacrificing the good from u mis-

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    taken charity to the bad . I ] ov , my family ; I have given Up to them t , he enjoyment of my income even during my life timfc . I have ' loved women much ; 1 love them still . I have always endeavoured to contribute to their improve , m ' ent ; my passion for them las

    always been reasonable ; they have never injured ray fortune nor interfered with my studies . They have never made me pay a morning visit . I have sometimes

    said to handsome women : ; It only rests with you to make me happy , but it is not in your power to make me miserable . ' They tell me that I -have never truly loved : —Granted ; if to love truly it be necessarjr to turn fool . i €

    I am rich ; but I have no caprices or wants . 1 have but few servants and no horses ; lam temperate and simple in my habits : I never ride : I can sleep any where : great opulence or high rank would be useless to me .

    I am well prepared for death when I write a note , or a memoir , I say to myself—this , perhaps , is the last ; but it is a great gratification for me to render an adiliti .

    onal service to astronomy and to add another stone to the edifice of my reputation . " 1 am satisfied not only with my physical constitution , but with my moral being , with my philosophy , with my sensibility ; with my disposition tp stigmatize vice , although it has made me many enemies ; 1 enjoy , therefore , the happiness of which humanity is capable ; I am one of the rnosj contented men on earth , and j can say as Bayard did , thatl fee my soul glide away from me , sat ^ lied with herself . '*

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    2 o 8 Account of Lalande ^ the Astronomer .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1811, page 268, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2416/page/12/