370 LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEN.

Kind and gentle to all, lending himself with facilityto every call made on him ; polite, from the pure sourceof politeness, benevolence of heart ; — every one waswelcomed, every one satisfied. A friend one day madeexcuses for interrupting him in a work he was desirousof finishing: “ Do not distress yourself,” he replied :“ you do more good to me hy interrupting me, than Ishould have done to others by working.” Though ofa sensitive and vivacious temperament, he was neverbetrayed into any show of temper. During the firstyears of his exile, when he severely felt his estrange-ment from the refined and enlightened society of thecapital, and from friends dear to his heart, he wasstill equable and cheerful; always alive to the interestsof others, never self-engrossed. He had the art ofadapting himself to the capacities and habits of everyone : — “ I have seen him,” says Ramsay, “ in asingle day, mount, and descend all ranks ; converse withthe noble in their own language, preserving through-out his episcopal dignity ; and then talk with the lowly,as a good father with his children, and this withouteffort or affectation.”

If he were thus to his acquaintance, to the friendswhom he loved, he was far more. From the divine lovewhich he cherished, as the source of every virtue, sprunga spirit of attachment pure, tender, and generous. Hisown sentiments with regard to friendship, when he ex-patiates on it, in a letter to the duke of Burgundy,are conceived in the noblest and most disinterestedsense. In practice, he was forbearing and delicate ;he bore the faults of those around him, yet seizedthe happy moment to instruct and amend. He feltthat self-love rendered us alive to the imperfectionsof another ; and that want of sympathy arose from

more enlightened opinions. “Every wise prince,” he said, “ought todesire to be only an executor of the laws, and to have a supreme councilto moderate his authority.” D’Alembert’s remarks on this expression,show how totally he misapprehended its true meaning. FtSnelon hadconversed with Ramsay and other Englishmen ; he knew the uses of aconstitution; he was fully aware of the benefit a nation derived, when thelegislative power was above the executive.