Men and Women of the Eighteenth Century [pp. 63-77]

76 ~I,en and Women of tlte Figitteentlt Century. [July,
sades, had brought these shells to France from Syria. It took a
naturalist like Buffon to mistake this joke for serious. At first he
got angry, and then afterwards acknowl~dged that lie was wrong Ia
so doing. This little quarrel was soon settled; each of the two opponents settled it in his peculiar way: Voltaire by a stroke`I do
not wish to remain at sword's point with M. de Buffon for a cockleshell;' and Bnffon by an elegant phrase,`It may he thought, as I
think myself, that I have not treated ~I. de Voltaire with sufficient
seriousness. I acknowledge that it would have been better not to
liave uttered this opinion at all, than to have uttered it with a joke.
I declare so much for M. de Voltaire, myself, and posterity.' This
interchange of courtesies did not stop here. Bnffi~n presented Voltaire with a copy of his works; Voltaire wrote him a letter of thanks,
in which lie spoke of Archimedes the first, as the predecessor of
Buffon. Buffon, in reply, remarked that a second Voltaire would
never be spoken of."
It would not do to pass over Wattean; he, perhaps, is
the truest representative of the age among its painters.
"~Vhat a beautiful romance could be made out of a landscape of
Wattean The romance is, however, ready made; there is but one
page; all that is needed for the romance of happiness. Mark those
ever-verdant trees, on which the sun throws all its brilliancy; advance under their shadow, where are scattered the most beautifl~l of
women and most ardent of lovers. Listen: it is an intoxicating
concert: the breeze shakes the roses and violets the fountain spreads
its crystals on the moss in so beautiful a place the dove flaps her
wings in passing; the turtle-dove coos near by. Listen yet here
those rosy lips are singing of love; the charming mouth promises
happiness! Do you hear, farther of'; those gentle words, that kiss
taken ere granted Do you perceive tlie eloquent silence? The
grass is fresh and covered with flowers; come forward again, to admire the ornaments of these beautiful ladies they have none other
than their smile and their glance! Find me a diamond as sparkling as that eye, a rose as fresh as that smiling mouth They are
covered with nothing, as if from the love of God! An indiscreet
bodice, where a hand is somet?mes placing a bouquet, a rumpled
pettico~, a scarf which plays in the wind and plays with love; more
frequenfly a domino, satin slippers, and a fan, that is all, but quite
enough, I ian~v. It, however, often happens that this dress is doffed
for a bath in the river. What capriuous naiads! We have then
no other veil than the waves, the foliage, the evening mist, the atmosl~here. The landscape is alwaya a master-piece. A statue
stands near the old elm tree, art amid nature. The vapoury distances attract, the brilliancy of the foreground dazzles you I regret,