FRANCE.] MALESHERBES. a wound." Retired to Malesherbes, where he gave an asylum to several of his late associates, this worthy magistrate devoted himself entirely to his taste for study and agricultural pursuits. He cultivated his garden, collected foreign plants, familiarized them to the climate, shed upon them the sun of France, and lived as a private man, a scholar, and a philosopher, in learned leisure→→ docta per otia. In the year 1774, upon the re-establishment of the sovereign courts, M. de Malesherbes appeared for a short time at the head of the Court of Aids, with a view of recommending the love of peace and a generous oblivion of the past. Soon after a command from Louis XVI. joined to the repeated solicitations of his virtuous friend Turgot, determined him to enter again into administration. He succeeded M. de la Vrilliere in the department of the court and of Paris, which he only retained nine months, but during which period many abuses were removed. His first care was to empty the state prisons; after which he established an amicable tribunal, composed of men of virtue and probity, in order to judge in what cases Lettres de Cachet, and Lettres de Surseance, were absolutely necessary. The enemy of all rigid reform, he was desirous that nothing should be rooted up, even in matters that promised to be productive of good. In 1776, the dismissal of M. Turgot induced M. de Malesherbes to retire from administration, and to return to his farm. Ten years afterwards some particular occurrences recalled him a second time to the council. This he attended unaccompanied by any office, and had again an opportunity of promoting the public welfare. To him his country is indebted for one of the acts which reflected the greatest honour on the reign of Louis XVI. that which gave to the protestants the title and a portion of the rights of a citizen. M. de Malesherbes opposed, as much as it was possible, the measures adopted by the Archbishop of Toulouse. Foreseeing the crisis which the errors of administration, and the disorder in the finances, were about to produce, he composed two pamphlets, one Sur la necessité et les moyens, de diminuer les depenses, the other Sur la situation presente des affaires; but perceiving that he could not enter into the political views of the minister, without having a particular conference with the king; and as he imagined that it was the duty of those who are of the national councils to make the public believe that they inviolably approve the deliberations there adopted, he felt himself again compelled to retire. To return to private life was to him only a change of labour. From his youth, and in the midst of the most important occupations, he had always cultivated with similar devotion, literature, the sciences, and the useful arts. Informed of every thing, and most deeply informed, he was even superior to men of letters, from the penetration, the sagacity, the vivacity, the warmth, and the gaiety of his mind; as he was to the greater part of the learned, by the variety, the extent, the solidity of his acquirements, increased and embellished by native genius. Different from so many men, whom their knowledge overpowers, he had so incorporated his erudition into his very substance, that his mind was no more embarrassed than his body with its apparent weight. M. de Malesherbes, during the life-time of his father, had had the care of the library: it was truly the golden age of letters in France. During his administration literature assumed a great character of utility, in elevating itself to the po FRANCE.] MALESHERBES. litical sciences, in producing a number of excellent works upon agriculture, commerce, the finances, and by a natural consequence, upon the different branches of the administration. It was under his auspices that the Encyclopedia appeared, the grandest and most comprehensive literary monument of the last century. The partizan of a discreet liberty, a sincere admirer of real talent, zealous for the progress of reason, a stranger to every species of sect, to all kind of prejudice and pretension, M. de Malesherbes was an example of perfect toleration: all parties, therefore, after having complained of him alternately, concluded by acknowledging and admiring the wisdom of his deportment. The three principal academies of Paris called him successively into their body: and no one more truly merited that triple honour, so rarely bestowed, than himself: no one carried into literary commerce more amenity, in its labours more enthusiasm, into its discussions more modesty, united with more intelligence. When he was consulted, his first expression always was, "I am ignorant of the general opinion on a subject that has not been the particular object of my studies; only-and this only usually produced a learned dissertation and a satisfactory reply." M. de Malesherbes has written upon all sorts of subjects, although he published but a very few works; among which are two admirable Memoires sur les Mariuges des Protestans. Out of deference to Buffon he could not be persuaded to put to the press some observations he had made on the first volumes of his Natural History; the principal object of which was to vindicate Linneus, and some other naturalists, ill-treated by that celebrated author. They were suffered to remain above forty years in manuscript; being only printed in the year 1798. It is an object greatly to be desired, that his other considerable works, on important branches of the administration, should be likewise published; in which this profound civilian, uniting to his vast knowledge the results of his experience and meditation, established so many excellent principles, and proposed so many useful reforms. In these, as in his Memoires sur les Protestans, M. de Malesherbes distinguishes himself by a learned, luminous, and moderate discussion; no trace of that false contempt which political writers ordinarily affect for the objections they refute, of that mania to condemn as absurd every thing which deviates from their own opinion: the research for truth is at all times accompanied with so much candour—a regard for the public welfare is so visibly imprinted upon them-the rights of reason, of justice and humanity, are exposed and defended in a tone so amiable, so persuasive, that if we were able to resist the force of his arguments, we must necessarily yield to the charm of virtue. It seems, in fact, that in this singular man all the qualities of the heart were combined to exalt the brilliancy of his talents. Learned, without ostentation; philosophical, without austerity; wise, tender, upright, and affectionate; delicate and refined in his pleasures, no one carried to a greater extent the exercise of all the domestic virtues. The enemy of arbitrary power, he devoted his public life to defend the oppressed; beneficent, without prodigality, he sacrificed his private fortune to assist the indigent. This was more than once greatly reduced : "What would you have had me done? they were so truly miserable;" was his constant reply to those who censured his benevolence. Although very laborious, and always FRANCE.] MALESHERBES. busied in important occupations, M. de Malesherbes was fond of society, saw a great deal of company, and was even extremely polite. He was wholly unacquainted with that presidential haughtiness which is called dignity: remote from all affectation as from all asperity, he was affable, natural, and simple; but through the veil of a sprightly and erudite simplicity, his vast superiority was apparent. The activity of his imagination, the richness of his memory, the accuracy of his judgment, the habitual serenity of his mind, his tender gaiety, his affecting good nature, even his occasional eccentricities, gave a peculiar charm to his conversation. To add to the abundance of his knowledge, he travelled through his native country and the neighbouring states, preserving always the incognito; and like Germanicus, enjoying his reputation, and the pleasure of hearing his eulogium from tongues the least suspected. In fine, what rarely happens to the most virtuous men, the death of M. de Malesherbes was worthy of his life. Estranged from all the events of a revolution, of which he had long foreseen the fatal results; he was terminating quietly his career, occupied with projects useful to agriculture, when the disastrous fate of Louis XVI. called him from his labours. He learnt that that unfortunate prince was to be tried by the Convention; and consulting only the dictates of his heart, offered him self to defend him. "I have been twice called to the councils of him who was my master," (he wrote to the president of the Convention,) "at a time when that function was the object of general ambition: I owe to him the same service, now that the office is esteemed by many peculiarly dangerous." The king forgot, for a moment, his deplorable destiny, in pressing to his bosom |