DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11636#0040
travels in upper
CHAP. II.
Buff on—Departure from Montbard—Coral—Tro-
glodyte—Languedoc—Phalangiste—■Preservation
of fishes—Pleasant anecdote—Gulf of Lions.
On returning from my second voyage to Ame-
rica, I repaired to Montbard, where Buffon had
expressed a wish to see me. In this retreat I
passed the greatest part of six monthsj and that
period, which fled away with too much rapidity, is
assuredly the portion of my life which has furnished
memory with the most precious recollections. To
my abode at that temple of taste and the sciences
I am indebted for the little I am worth. They
were the winter months, and the severity of the
weather secured us from intruders. Mydaysflowed
there in a delicious succession, in the service and
society of the great man; charming society, which
no inequality of temper ever ruffled, and which
I have no where since found ! Buffon was not of
the number of those men of letters whom Erasmus
humorously compares to the huge figures in Fle-
mish tapestry, which,to produce their effect, must be
viewedat a distance. His conversation wasas agree-
able as interesting, and he blended in it an easy
gaiety, atone of good nature which put all around
him
CHAP. II.
Buff on—Departure from Montbard—Coral—Tro-
glodyte—Languedoc—Phalangiste—■Preservation
of fishes—Pleasant anecdote—Gulf of Lions.
On returning from my second voyage to Ame-
rica, I repaired to Montbard, where Buffon had
expressed a wish to see me. In this retreat I
passed the greatest part of six monthsj and that
period, which fled away with too much rapidity, is
assuredly the portion of my life which has furnished
memory with the most precious recollections. To
my abode at that temple of taste and the sciences
I am indebted for the little I am worth. They
were the winter months, and the severity of the
weather secured us from intruders. Mydaysflowed
there in a delicious succession, in the service and
society of the great man; charming society, which
no inequality of temper ever ruffled, and which
I have no where since found ! Buffon was not of
the number of those men of letters whom Erasmus
humorously compares to the huge figures in Fle-
mish tapestry, which,to produce their effect, must be
viewedat a distance. His conversation wasas agree-
able as interesting, and he blended in it an easy
gaiety, atone of good nature which put all around
him