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    aod original * was certainly the most learned astronomer of France , and the principal benefactor of the science to which he was so passioru aiely devoted . He was remarkable for the most egregious vanity , and

    for the ' broadest eccentricities of character , and almost equally eminent for the most noble virtues of the heart . By a very singular

    perversion of intellect , he became a professed Atheist , about the commencement of the Revolution ; pronounced , in the year 1793 , in the Pantheon * a discourse against the existence of a God , with the red cap upon his head ; and

    displayed , on this subject , the most absolute insanity during the rest of his life . This monstrous infatuation betrayed him into the most whimsical acts of extravagance , and particularly into the publication of a Dictionary of Atheists , in which he enregistered .

    not only many of the illustrious dead , " but a great number of his contemporaries , and among these , some of the principal jiignitaries of the empire . ' This circumstance led to an occurrence in the Institute , which that body will not soon forget . At

    aa e xtraordinary sitting of all the classes convoked for the purpose , when Lalande was present , a letter from the emperor was announced and read aloud * in Which it was declared that M . de Laknde had fallen into a state of pa ge , and was forbidden to publish thereafter any thing under his ° * n name . The old astronomer rose ver y solemnly , bowed low , ™ replied , that he would certaintyobey the orders of his Majesty . 7 ath eistical absurdities descrv-JV > ° doubt , to be repressed ; but ^ % 'sthe singularity of this form

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    of interdiction , there was an unnecessary degree of severity in it , as the end might have been attained without so public a humiliation . Lalande was notoriously superannuated , and not therefpre a fit object for this species of punishment . Some consideration , more - over , was due to his many virtues * to his rank in the scientific world , and to the large additions which he had made to the stock of human knowledge . His atheistical opinions arose , not from any moral depravity , but from a positive

    alienation of mind on religious topics . He was not the less conspicuous for the most disinterested generosity ; for warm feelings of humanity ; for the gentleness of his manners ; for the soundness of his

    opinions on questions of science , and for a certain magnanimity with regard to the merits of his rivals and detractors . The extravagance of his opinions and his manners *

    during his dotage , rendered him an object of- almost uniyersal derision in Paris , and subjected him to the most cruel and indecent

    mockery . It became fashionable , even among those who had derived their knowledge from his lessons , ahd experienced his bounty , to depreciate his merits , both as aji , astronomer and as a man .

    Lalande had the misfortune of living to see a maxim verified in his own regard , which has been exemplified in every age and country , — that some disciples may become

    superior to their masters . But he was , nevertheless , at all times , among the luminaries of science , and to him astronomy was indebted for more substantial and

    unremitted services , than to any one of his contemporaries . No person * of the last century ¦ ¦

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    Account of Latmdey the Astronomer . ^ 26 #

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    T 0 *"* l . - SM *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1811, page 265, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2416/page/9/