The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1804-08-15

The Hhtory o. luxurious men deierves to be {tudi-
~. We only experience comfortable benefit
from examining the various circumstances o. their edit
cation, and tracing the influence of the different eaues
which made them what they were, but alto derive
great Improvement from lurveyng iuch ipendid
emplars OF virtue ana talents. Whether We ihape
character by aheSct7 naxns, or ny eOnfsr4!ive
excellence, the methods by which the urgsfard
ing accuEolned TO regulate purlts, the ule of
thes Biographical Sketches is equally admirable. If
puriue the precepts of ATTRACT fpeeulGtion, tie
lives Of ;hele luxurious Will lend both iiberahe
principles by charging conceptions of
virtue, and to increae confidence IN their practical
billy, by ihewing who have sclua'iy reduced
them practice five ihape puriuts by coniYa-
rative excellence, what circanance have naore
powerful effect producing dti;deuce of tie extent
OF our attainnents Scof the grandeur OF our
virtues, than enlargng the range of compariio,
and aulyiinS the htory Of men more highly accom-
plhed, than thole with whom we have been accultoni-
ed to compare ourfelves? When the lives OF thoie
have been diaingu;hed b. heroic, ambitious
and military achievements, but h tae more attractive
aainnents OF Science, the exerc:e OF great polt
cal knowledge, what Biographical Sketches cGn be
more, properly adapted to the contemplation Of
the Americans-And fuch the celebrated
CondorcsI oi FRANCE.
The following imperfect HiRory of CONDOR
:, GET Is extracted from
/" Biographical Anecdotes of the Founders oft
French Republic, and OF other Eminent Cha
raSters, who have dilfiDguilhed themislves in
tie progreis OF the Revoution"--in two vo-
lumes-lT9S.
THE name Of this great man, alike dear to IL
bcrty and the fciences, can never be pronoun-
Ced without exciting variety of melancholy
fenfations. After the death Of his friends and
preceptors, Valtaire, Button, D'Aemtert &c.
who ihone like 60 many brilliant fairs in the ga
lazy of French literature, he was coniidered as
the chief OF the philosophers of his native coun-
try. His character threw luilre even on the
revolution, and deied the ilander Of thofe who
ahcrted that great event 20 have been produced
and fappofted by mean and forbid minds but
his death gratified their malice, rs it enabled
them 10 maintain that neither virtue, nor ia
Tents, nor patriotiim, were facred from the fl-
Gor ofrevolutionary deitructor.
NJ. de Cartat, formerly Marquis de Condor
Get, was defended from an ancient family He
had addicted hinfelf from his youth TO fudy;
and AS men of genius generally anticipate the age
in which they live, the constitutional monarchy
found him citizen already devoted to the caufe
CT freedom, and at the fal! of the throne, the
people in him beheld jealous and dnterefed
republican.
Condorcet was the fcholar of D'Alembert
Under that great matter, who predicted his flu
ture celebrity, he applied himfelf to mathema-
ticks, and in 1916 publilhed his hrf work.
eEGai d Analyfe." His fecond, under the title
to Lis former fame, and obtained for him the re-
putatou of mathematician of the ir1t cafs
The fame of his talents at length attracted the
attention of government, and under the ph.lo-
fophics administration of NJ. de Turgot, lie
was fele6ted, along with D'Alembert and Bo:iut
TO ai,iH that great miniter in all the political
operations which required an eXtenive know
ledge of mathematics.
A chain intervenes in his literarylifc between
:as years -; az! i7e2, during which he pub
liiheS nothing, except few difiertations nfert-
ed in the Tranfactions of the Academy of Sci
ences. He, however, was not idle I; for, after
having injured the reputation of one of the
greatet ulathematicians OF his age, he applied
hirnfef to other branches of fcience, and efpe-
cially to metaphysics and politicke.
The irG remarkable publication CT NJ. Con-
dorcet, after thofe we have already enumerated,
was the fpeech pronounced by him 4. his recep-
ton into the French academy, IN February 1882.
In this elaborate production he exhibited the re-
full of that nefimable phofophy which he had
imbibed from his friends and matters, and pre-
tented complete analysts OF the preftnt tate
of the human mind
While D'Alembert was fill fecretary TO the
French academy, Condorcet had been appoint
ed his fucceifor and when that illuifriouS phiio-
iopher happened to die, in the year 1888, he
fulfilled all the duties of that Office. This open
ed new field to his talents; Cor he now en-
pioyed his pen IN writing The sI2Se5 o. his decs2i-
cd colleagues.
Every one knows how much the French lite
rati have excelIed in this ipecies of biography,
and il is likewife known how much it has been
improved from one generation to another.
Fontenelle, Thomas, D'Alembert, had fur
pa;fed each other in their turn, and il wasre-
ferved for the glory of Condorcet to excel his
three luxurious predeceforS, by uniting the elo-
quence of Thomas with the philofophy of d.
Alembert. His hrt fpecirnen, dedicated to the
memory of his friend and preceptor, was rected
before the academy, in the year 1894 the eulo
GUM of the celebrated mathematician Euler
was delivered in 1855. 80
We're mathematics favourite purfut with
the generality of readers, we ihould enter into
fome details relative to thefe two masterpieces
of biography. We cannot refrain, however,
frorn taking notice Of two fubIine paGages.
NJ. D'Alembert was bafard, and elevated
in the foundliDg hofpital:
What is thai" Jays MS ibiosiap'iei, e &c, a
great man? His true ancetors are thofe who
have preceded him in the career of genius; his
poaerity are thofe who initiate him I"
Speaking Of Euler, the author Of many i'm
portaut difcoveries
'Tbis is the man." flys Condorcet, " who
has repaired the honour ofthe continent, which