ery mongering. Or perhaps more probably, he wished at once
to turn to animals under domestication, so as to insist early on the main
object of his work--the plasticity of animal forms.

I am inclined to think that a vein of irony pervades the whole or much
the greater part of Buffon's work, and that he intended to convey one
meaning to one set of readers, and another to another; indeed, it is
often impossible to believe that he is not writing between his lines for
the discerning, what the undiscerning were not intended to see. It must
be remembered that his Natural History has two sides,--a scientific and a
popular one. May we not imagine that Buffon would be unwilling to debar
himself from speaking to those who could understand him, and yet would
wish like Handel and Shakespeare to address the many, as well as the few?
But the only manner in which these seemingly irreconcilable ends could be
attained, would be by the use of language which should be self-adjusting
to the capacity of the reader. So keen an observer can hardly have been
blind to the signs of the times which were already close at hand. Free-
thinker though he was, he was also a powerful member of the aristocracy,
and little likely to demean himself--for so he would doubtless hold it--by
playing the part of Voltaire or Rousseau. He would help those who could
see to see still further, but he would not dazzle eyes that were yet
imperfect with a light brighter than they could stand. He would
therefore impose upon people, as much as he thought was for their good;
but, on the other hand, he would not allow inferior men to mystify them.

"In the private character of Buffon," says Sir William Jardine in a
characteristic passage, "we regret there is not much to praise; his
disposition was kind and benevolent, and he was generally beloved by his
inferiors, followers, and dependants, which were numerous over his
extensive property; he was strictly honourable, and was an affectionate
parent. In early youth he had entered into the pleasures and
dissipations of life, and licentious habits seem to have been retained to
the end. But the great blemish in such a mind was his declared
infidelity; it presents one of those exceptions among the persons who
have been devoted to the study of nature; and it is not easy to imagine a
mind apparently with such powers, scarcely acknowledging a Creator, and
when noticed, only by an arraignment for what appeared wanting or
defe